DISCLAIMER: I do not (although I wish I did) own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters (However all OCs and Ideas are mine…so put that in your juice box and suck it copyright infringement laws!!) I should also mention that my name used to be 'Iwritesinsnottrageties' and that this is just a re-edited, revised, and just overall better version of a story that I wrote back in 8th grade (lol four years ago XD) that was called 'The Regiment of Twilight'. If you read it...awesome, if you didn't...read it now :D

Prologue.

A Message

The dark, towering, cavern-like room buzzed with a single creature as a faint and pale light resonated from the large machine seated directly in the centre. There was a small metal chair that was attached to the masive metallic chamber behind. There were dozens of cables of every shape and size attached to the monstrous contraption that spread in every direction across the dark marble room. The last of this contraption's features what what appeared to be a system of keys.

A tall cloaked woman stood behind the machine, fervently typing some system of coordinates. She stopped suddenly and turned her head to the passageway behind her. Three dark, hooded figures strode into the chamber, eager to speak to the machine's master.

"Master," The first of the shadows began, bowing before her and extending his arm out to her. He was holding something in his hand, and as her eyes fell upon the item, a smile made its way across her face.

"Zetsumei," She smiled, seizing the item from the shadow, "I see you were successful in retrieving the Shen-Gong Wu. But do you have the Key?"

"I am afraid I was unsuccessful," He replied meekly, "The information that the hag gave us was…"

"False!" She growled, "Of course it was…That was one of Kiade's Lackeys. That witch is trying to throw us off course. But no matter, you did bring back a Shen-Gong Wu didn't you?"

"Yes my master," He replied with a bow, "The Mantis Flip Coin is now yours."

"Perfect," She hissed. He voice was harsh and cold, and as she spoke, she sent shivers down the spines of her minons, almost as though someone was pouring ice water down their backs, "It's not much, but for now it's all I will need…"

"Now that we have one of the Shen-Gong Wu in our possession we can enact our plan?" He inquired, sounding rather hopeful.

"Patience Zetsumei," She replied, taking the item and placing it into her monstrosity of a machine, "The Mantis Flip Coin is only a lesser Shen-Gong Wu, and I will require more than one measly little artifact. By the time I have enough of the Shen-Gong Wu to fully power my machine, this planet will be nothing but a floating rock in space and we will be all that is left. The power contained in the Mantis Flip Coin alone can open the rift to our world for only a few moments, but for now…That's all we'll need…"

"Excuse me Master?" He inquired, taking a step back from her and her machine.

"It's time to send a message," She began, placing the Mantis Flip Coin into her contraption and activating some sort of dark sequence, "To not just the earth, but to the Spirit Council as well…by the time I've gathered all that I need, it will be too late."

"With all due respect Master," He began, staring into the Machine, "Why are so many of the Shen-Gong Wu required?"

"The power contained in those artifacts are far powerful than those ignorant fools at the Xiaolin temple can comprehend," She began as he machine screamed and hissed, "Inside of them contains the one thing that we require to be fully human…Once we use enough of them to open the rift to our world, we will use the rest to make our people fully human."

Her cloaked compainon smiled at these words as he stood back and watched a large violet portal tear into the space inside of the machine's horrific chamber. Many loud screeching noises followed that made the three shadows cringe in pain, but their leader watched with pride and confidence. Inky black creatures with piercing red eyes, jagged teeth, and large ivory claws began pouring out of the rift like water through a flood gate. Several hundered poured into the room before the dark portal sealed shut with a flash of light.

"My Children," She smiled wickedly as she looked before the dark creatures who were looking rather less eager to greet her and rather wanting to devour her instead, "You may either stay here and soon be transported back to the hell of a world that you call home to rot for eternity, that, or you may pledge your alleigence to me and bring havoc to the humans that created you…your choice."

The grusem creatures holwed and screemed, appearing as though they were cheering at the thought of causing harm to humans. The cloaked woman smiled and gestured the creatures to the passageway behind her.

"Do as you please," She commanded, directing the creatures to go unto the world, "leave as little surviors as possible."

The beasts hissed with glee as they flew out of the chamber and into the dark passageway. The cloaked woman stood, looking as confident as ever, knowing that whatever she had planned was going swimmingly.

"You think it wise to send those things out into the world?" He companion scoffed as the last of the beasts left the room.

"Those things," She began, looking back into her machine, "Are merely my pawns. When the Spirit Council discovers that shade have been released from the expanse, it will surely get their attention, and they'll be so busy trying to round them back up that they won't pay any attention to us. Now come Zetsumei…phase one is complete, you know what to do."

He smiled at his master and then turned to the other shadowy figures behind him. They nodded as they left the chamber. He followed shortly after, as so he would not miss any more instruction from his Master.

"Oh and Zetsumei," She called, before he was out of earshot, "I want all thirteen of those aspects dead before the end of the month…am I clear?"

"Crystal," He replied, with a bow. He turned to continue down the passageway until he faded into the darkness.

"Now," She whispered to herself in the darkness of the room, "Not even Adinya can stop me…"