A Blight Upon the Land ch. 28

"Hey! This is no time for moping, guys!" Dojo exclaimed, "The Helmet of Guî just revealed itself! We have to get it before those crooks do!"

"He's right!" Buttercup agreed, "Move it, people!"

The Powerpuff Dragons, rather intimidated by the green puffs shouting, were quick to take action, even Bubbles, who was still rather bummed and quite miffed at losing the showdown and being called stupid, moved quickly.

"So, Dojo," Blossom asked as her team took to the sky, "what exactly does this 'Helmet of Guî' do?"

"It allows whoever wears it to project their soul out of their bodies and explore as a ghost," Dojo explained, handing her the scroll to illustrate his point.

"What good would that do?" Bubbles asked.

"You could spy on anyone completely undetected, and tangibility wouldn't hold you back, neither," Clay answered, adjusting his hat.

"So, where's the Helmet at?" Raimundo asked.

"It'll be found in Germany, if my memory serves," Dojo answered, "Somewhere in the Bavarian Alps."

"We'll need to make a quick stop at home to get some snow gear," Bubbles said.

"Can we afford that time?" Kimiko asked, "That could give the Mascots a huge head start."

"They'll need winter gear, too," Buttercup put in.

"Then it's settled," Blossom announced.

Both teams made a detour for their homes to put on winter clothing, then quickly resumed their pursuit.

The Bavarian Alps, Germany, sometime later...

"How close are we, Jack?" Sedusa asked, pulling on a winter coat.

"Not far now, Jack replied as the sky train roared through the clouds just above the mountain range, smoke pouring from its funnel, "I'd say less than a minute."

"Nigh, ye remember whit ter do, roi?" Oliver called out.

"Yep. Sedusa, kitty and I go first and grab this helmet," Princess smiled, pulling up the hood on her yellow coat.

"Gran. Jackie, ye stay 'ere and keep this craft in the sky. Tubbi, ye keep Jack safe."

"Understood," Tubbimurra said, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Boyos," Oliver continued, turning to the Rowdyruff Boys, "ye're wit me. De four av us are gunna keep as many av those do-gooders as occupied as we can."

"We're over the drop point!" Jack shouted.

"Alright, ladies! Dis is yer golden moment!"

Oliver opened the coach door as Jack brought the sky train to hover mode. Katnappe was first, darting forward and diving into the air. Sedusa followed close behind. Princess brought up the rear.

"Make it rain, bitches! Whoooooo!" She shouted as she began her skydive.

"Wow. She's enthusiastic," Jack stated.

"You have no idea," Brick replied.

"Cum on, boyos! Let's rock an' roll!" Oliver shouted, as he jumped out of the sky train, activating the Jetbootsu and soaring towards the Powerpuff Dragons, with the Rowdyruffs right behind him.

The Powerpuff Dragons had just flown into the mountain range and the Xiaolin warriors had jumped down to the mountain to retrieve the Helmet of Gui when Oliver and the Rowdyruff boys began their attack.

"Watch out!" Buttercup cried as she and her sisters were attacked.

"Banzai!" Butch shouted, kicking his counterpart into the clouds and following.

"An' the Emmy goes to..." Oliver grinned.

"Buttercup!" Bubbles cried, and was about to dash to her sisters aid, but was met with a flaming fist in her face, curtesy of Brick.

"Chef Boomer, Oi'd looke ter place an order av four lighting-fried Xiaolin Dragons, please," Oliver said, pointing in the direction down the mountain the Xiaolin warriors had gone.

"You got it, Mr. Harrington," Boomer grinned, his body crackling with electricity as he flew after them.

"Nigh, then. Whit ter-DURG!" Oliver gasped as Blossom punched him into the snow-covered mountain.

"That was just a FRACTION of what you deserve," Blossom said coldly.

"...ouch," the Irishman groaned, massaging his jaw.

"And I plan on giving you more," she continued.

Further down the mountain, Princess, Katnappe and Sedusa had found the Helmet of Guî and we're just about to call for Jack to bring the sky train over when the Xiaolin Warriors sped down the mountain right at them, Omi swooping the helmet from Princess as they passed.

"Omi! Toss it over here!" Clay shouted.

"Get them!" Sedusa ordered, as Omi threw the Helmet of Guî to Clay.

"Give that back!" Princess exclaimed, abandoning her snowboard as she took flight, firing several energy blasts from her hands at the cowboy.

Clay dodged and swerved to avoid the magic blasts, but Princess wouldn't let up.

"Raimundo! Take it!" Clay cried, tossing the helmet to his leader just as a large blast knocked him off balance and sent him tumbling into a snow bank.

"Omi, help Clay!" Raimundo commanded, "Kimiko, we'll keep their attention here!"

"Right!" They shouted.

"Hey, cat-litter! Catch!" Kimiko shouted, throwing a fireball at Katnappe.

"Try aiming, Loser!" Katnappe called back, dodging the blast.

Back up near the mountaintop, Butch and Buttercup were beating the tar clean out of each other, while Brick and Bubbles weaved in and out of the rocky slopes, throwing punches and kicks. Meanwhile, Blossom was attempting to freeze Oliver with her ice breath, but so far, the Irishman had dodged each blast.

"Climate change aside, any reason why ye're relying on ice breath? Oi know ye've got more dan that in yer repertoire," He said.

"Who said I was relying on it?" Blossom smirked.

Oliver, confused, looked around and saw that the pink powerpuff had bottle necked his pathway.

"Ah, crumbs," he muttered.

"Come on, is that really the best you've got?!" Buttercup shouted at Butch.

"Not at all, babe!" Butch shouted back, delivering a vicious uppercut to Buttercups jaw.

Bubbles and Brick weren't making any headway, either.

"Maybe you should get your eyes checked, Blue," Brick grinned, dodging a blast from Bubbles eye beams.

"Been meaning to ask this earlier, but what happened to your compensation look? Haircut?" Bubbles shot back, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I got a haircut recently and- wait, what do you mean "compensation?!" The red ruff cried.

"Why else would you keep your hair so ridiculously long?" Bubbles smirked, using Bricks ego against him.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" He shouted, charging after Bubbles as she flew deeper into the mountains.

Further down the mountain, the Xiaolin Warriors found themselves in quite the sticky situation.
Especially since they had lost the Helmet of Guî, Clay and Kimiko were tied up in Sedusas hair, and Raimundo and Omi found themselves unable to move under Princess' magic. The situation was made worse by the fact that Boomer had arrived and was now holding the Helmet.

"Now what?" Boomer asked, the cold causing the boy to sniffle.

"Well, we could let 'em go," Princess suggested.

"Really?" Sedusa asked.

"Of course not!" Princess laughed, lifting the two Xiaolin Warriors into the air and spinning them around.

"This spinning sensation is most unpleasant!" Omi cried.

"Put them down!" Kimiko shouted.

"You're in no position to make demands, little girl," Sedusa replied, a tendril of hair snaking around her neck.

"I'm not little!" Kimiko exclaimed, shooting miniature fireballs from her hands at Sedusa's hair, causing her to let go, for fear of being burned. 

"Whoa!" Boomer cried. 

"You just don't know when to quit!" Princess sneered, turning to the Japanese girl.

"Wudai Neptune! Snow!" Omi shouted, spreading his now free arms and summoning the snow around him, shooting it into the faces of Princess, Sedusa, Katnappe and Boomer.

"Gah! It's so cold!" Boomer cried, dropping the Helmet of Guî. 

"Wudai Crater! Earth!" Clay shouted, stomping on the ground and encasing Katnappe in a sphere of rocks. 

"Wudai Star! Wind!" Raimundo shouted, clapping his hands together and generating a gale of wind. 

"AAAH!!!!" Princess cried, shielding her face from the stinging wind, made worse by the tiny snow and ice pellets that flew like bullets. 

Further up the mountain, the commotion hadn't gone unnoticed by the Powerpuff Girls, as well as Oliver, Brick and Butch. 

"The 'ell wus dat?" Oliver asked. 

"Sounds like our friends could be in trouble!" Blossom answered. 

"Let's go see," Buttercup said, disengaging from her fight with Butch and flying toward the noise. 

"Right behind you," Brick concurred, breaking off with Bubbles as they flew towards the ruckus. 

Thanks to the diversion she had caused, Kimiko had found an opening and made a grab for the Helmet of Guî. Unfortunately for her, her actions didn't go unnoticed by Sedusa, who also made an attempt at it. Just as Kimikos fingers wrapped around the horn crest of the helmet, Sedusas hair wrapped around the helmet itself. 

By this point, the puffs and mascots who had been fighting topside the mountain had arrived on the scene. 

"Sedusa, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!" 

"I accept! Name your game, sweetheart!" 

"The contest is who can capture who first! I wager the Star Hanabi!" 

"And I'll wager the Arctic Ring!" Sedusa replied.m

"Let's go! XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!!!"

The Bavarian Alps transformed into a labyrinth of ice, rocks and snow, the Powerpuff Dragons and Mascots of Anarchy watching from the sidelines. Kimiko and Sedusa stood in the center, eyeing each other down. 

"GONG-YI-TAN-PAI!" The two shouted.

"Star Hanabi!" Kimiko called, throwing the Wu like a shuriken at the seductress. 

"Arctic Ring!" Sedusa exclaimed, generating a wall of ice in front of herself, ricocheting the star back at Kimiko, who caught it with ease. 

""Judolette flip! Fire!" Kimiko cried, jumping forward and delivering a flaming kick through Sedusa's ice wall and impacting her in the stomach. 

"Ugh! You little brat!" Sedusa coughed, swinging her hair tendrils around like whips, delivering several painful lashes to Xiaolin Warriors torso. 

"Kimiko!" Bubbles cried. 

"Star Han-!" Kimiko shouted before a hair tendril wrapped itself around her mouth, just as several more wrapped themselves around her arms, legs and stomach. 

"Now, what to do with you?" Sedusa sneered, sliding her fingers along Kimikos face, the tendril that covered her mouth snaking down to her neck, "What to do, what to do?" She continued as her hair began to squeeze. 

"She's chocking her!" Clay exclaimed, fear rising into his voice. 

"I forgot that Sedusa's insane, too!" Blossom gasped. 

"Another win for the Mascots!" Brick grinned. 

"We're on a roll!" Princess smiled. 

"We sure are," Katnappe agreed, "And to think I once thought this whole 'criminal conglomerate' thing would be a bust." 

"Glad ye tink so, Kitten," Oliver said, lighting a cigar. 

The cat-burglar scowled at the nickname her Irish boss had given her, but she couldn't deny it wasn't a bad one. 

Back on the playing field, Sedusa was enjoying herself immensely. 

"I could just end this right now, but I want to hear that pretty voice scream," she grinned, loosening the hair tendril around Kimikos mouth. 

"You want me to scream?" Kimiko gasped out, "Fine! STAR HANABI," 

With a great effort, Kimiko threw her flaming Shen Gong Wu into Sedusa's hair, setting it ablaze. 

"GYARH!!" Sedusa cried, instantly dropping Kimiko and sprinting towards a large bank of snow, desperately trying to douse the flame. 

While the seductress covered her hair with snow, Kimiko seized her chance. 

"Star Hanabi! Fire!" She shouted, encasing the star in flame and tossing it at the large column of ice in front of Sedusa. When the star struck, it easily sliced through the column, it's heat causing it to rapidly melt into smaller chunks. Sedusa had no time to react as the large mounds of frozen water fell around her, trapping her inside.

"I'm putting you on ice!" Kimiko smirked as the showdown ended.  

The Alps transformed back into their original shape as both the Powerpuff Dragons and the Mascots of Anarchy rushed towards the two ladies. 

"Sedusa!" Princess cried, helping the seductress to her feet. 

"Ye alright, Jenny?" Oliver asked. 

"I'm...I'm fine," she sighed, frustration and disappointment blending together in her voice. 

"Princess, call Jackie an' tell him ter bring de sky train down 'ere," Oliver said, "Boomer, Breek...'elp Jenny." 

While Princess called her boyfriend and relayed the Irishman's instructions, Brick and Boomer kept Sedusa company, as well as do their best to keep her spirits up. Meanwhile, Kimiko was showered with praise from her allies. 

"That was amazing, Kimiko!" Blossom exclaimed. 

"Ya had us all more worried than mice in a house full of cats an' snakes!" Clay added. 

"Way to kick her to the curb, Kimi," Buttercup smiled. 

"I am most proud of you, Kimiko," Omi agreed. 

"That was so cool, Kimi," Raimundo added. 

"Now what, boss?" Butch asked as the sky train descended. 

"We'll get our chance, boyo," Oliver answered, as the other mascots climbed aboard, "There'll be other Shen Gong Wu, an ye can be certain we'll crush 'enpm next time."