With the Talismans swapped for convincing fakes, it was only a matter of waiting for the Dark Hand to be rested enough to make their move. As a result, everyone kipped down for the night, leaving Audrey III on watch to wake them once the Dark Hand made their move. Audrey had expected this, since he didn't actually need to sleep. As long as he found sufficient nutrients in the soil, he'd be able to pull up roots and head with the others after the Dark Hand. And with vines stretched into the rooms wrapped around the legs of the beds, it would be easy enough to silently wake the group when the Dark Hand made their move.
Relative to Audrey's perception of time - which was entirely related to "things happening in his vicinity" - it wasn't long before the sun had cleared the horizon and the Dark Hand were moving. The dark wizard led the way on foot, with his Dark Warriors and Hak Foo at his side. "Keep up!" he snarled angrily as Ratso, Finn, and Chao staggered out into the sun.
"We're coming, we're coming..." Finn groaned, rubbing at his eyes.
"Yeah, keep your robe on..." Ratso grumbled with a yawn as he settled his Talismans.
As they stumbled off, Chao glanced in Audrey's direction to get the sun's glare out of his eyes as he pulled on his shades. He then froze, staring at Audrey. Audrey turned his bulb to look right back at him. After a time, Chao slipped his shades on, turned, and walked back to the rest of his group.
"Something wrong?" Ratso asked curiously.
"Nope!" Chao responded firmly.
Audrey couldn't help but grin as he shook the beds to awaken the others. "Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na, Bat-Plant!"(1)
With everyone gathered, it didn't take long to tail the Dark Hand agents to an old temple, in time to witness the Dark Wizard ordering his Warriors to cut their way through a sealed door. They then made their way into an ancient chamber, the walls covered in inscriptions, all surrounding a single pedestal with the artifact resting upon it. It was a somewhat elongated octahedronal box, dark blue with gold at the four compass points of the middle and on the top and bottom. There appeared to be grooves around the outside horizontally and vertically, dividing the box into sixteen pieces like some strange puzzle. There were green markings on the flat top, and presumably on the bottom, though they couldn't be seen.
"There it is," the Dark Wizard proclaimed. "The Pan'ku Box. Now, one of you grab it!" he instructed the humans with him firmly.
As the four moved forward, Finn glanced at the wizard. "Uh...Daolong Wong, dude? Why don't you take it?"
"We went over this!" Daolong Wong snapped. "It is an artifact forged of pure good magic! As I have enhanced my physicality with the Dark Magic I practice, I can no more touch it than a demon could. And my Dark Warriors are creatures of Dark Magic, touching it would banish them!"
"...seems a real design flaw," Ratso murmured. "I mean, if you've made Dark Magic constructs, isn't good magic the thing you're going to need them to fight the most? Kinda seems to defeat the purpose of making 'em. I mean, I never heard of Good Magic constructs going poof just because they touched something Evil. Quite the opposite, really."
Daolong Wong glared daggers at Ratso. "Just...take the Box," he growled out.
"I think not," Jackie stated boldly as the group stepped into the room.
As Daolong Wong and the others spun, they found Jackie, El Toro, Viper, Tohru, Uncle, Jade, Paco, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Audrey III arranged to battle them. Daolong Wong's eyes locked on Uncle, narrowing to enraged slits. "You!" he snarled out angrily.
"Daolong Wong," Uncle responded coldly. "I have heard of you..."
Daolong Wong began to choke and splutter. "Heard of? You...you...do you know what you cost me? What I could have been if you'd simply kept your nose out of it? The secrets of Light and Dark were in my grasp, and I would have had it all if not for you and your lizard!"
"Uhh..." Ratso began worriedly. "Should you...really be talking like that in front of kids? I mean, there's evil, and then there's just inappropriate-"
"Oh!" Scootaloo suddenly gasped out. She turned to Uncle and pointed at Daolong Wong. "He's the 'Liar Liar Pants on Fire' kid from chi magic school! I loved when you told that story!"
"...uhh..." Chao deadpanned, unsure what was going on.
"Oh!" Uncle declared as he remembered. "You bad kid Fireball burned pants off, got expelled cause it made you drop dark magic items you weren't supposed to have!" He burst into laughter. "Hated me for that all this time? Pfeh! You need to get a life!"
"Oh, I intend to," Daolong Wong growled out angrily. "I intend to take yours! Kill them all!"
The Dark Warriors immediately drew their weapons - a three-section chain staff, a windmill shuriken boomerang blade, and a sledgehammer - which glowed blue-purple with their dark magic.
"Wait, kill?" Finn gasped out in surprise. "Look, Wong, I get that-"
"You will shut your mouth and fight or you will die first to put your Talismans to better use!" Daolong Wong snarled viciously, swinging his staff towards Finn.
Finn swallowed convulsively. "Y-you're the boss," he confirmed as the group brought forth their Talismans.
(1) See Author's Note.