Thank you, THANK YOU, all the readers who hang on with me. This story didn't get a lot of reviews, but just taking a look at my story means SOOOO much to me. I can't thank you guys enough. I'll be back hopefully next month for the sequel. Thank you GriffinsMustFly for encouraging me throughout my doubts, for reminding me to stick to my guns and hang in there. It's very sad to see the Yin Yang Yo! fandom just randomly die off like this; it's like she and I are the remains of the already-small community.

Our bodies were nearly broken, blood-stained and tired. Having fought one nightmarish battle, pushed beyond our limits. The end result of it was this. My student, my son, Yang…gravely wounded and exhausted. Sleeping. Lying unconscious on my lap, saved by Weiss' selflessness. The new Lupin, as referred to by Woo Foo "Elders", Ti and Chai…

Like my precious Lupin before him, Yang had let his ambitions get the best of him. Wholeheartedly doing everything he could to make his hopes and wishes a reality. Thinking that everyone should have something to believe in, but just doing so was not enough. That action was still required. Lupin and Yang… They're not wholly different. They're well-meaning. Stubborn. Caring. Aspiring. Proud. Dedicated. Valuing the people they care about. Always being a good brother, in Yang's case. Being the perfect student and a son to me, in Lupin's.

Then it struck me. Why I was so complacent. Why I acted apathetically to Lupin. The reason I lost him in the first place…

"Master Yo! Look, look, look!"

"Yes, Lupin?" Lupin…age eight…

"I finally got that spell right! Here, check it out! Trans-Foo-mate‼ Yah!"

"Wow. You got it! Attaboy!"

"And it's all thanks to you." He jumped at me with arms wide open, laughing as I carry him around. His tail curling around my back, adding to his already warm embrace. I let go of him and place him to the ground. He continued happily. "Now I'm gonna go upstairs and try that fire spell!" And off to his room he went, his steps up the stairs noisy.

"Do it outside, Lupin! I don't have fire insurance covered."

"Okay! Just need to get that spell book."

That was it. I wanted him to stay that way. All this. Let him continue to be the perfect student and child, as a way to fill this hole in me. This void that I don't understand up until today. I had loved Lupin more than anything. My complacency was out of fear that I might lose him – a painful irony in the end. In the process of being blinded by bliss, the desire to keep him with me for as long as I live, I had lost him in the sands of time. After that one falling-out, that argument. If I had truly loved him, then I shouldn't have deprived him of his freedom. The freedom to cherish his Woo Foo heritage, just as I have cherished him. To traverse the horizons and honor its name. He was willing and ready. And I was a senescent, repressive and reluctant panda. The only true regard in which we differed.

I stroke my little boy's face lovingly, finally fully grasping the meaning of it all. Smiling at him as though he smiled back if he was awake. His lips move gently and turn into a small crescent, enjoying the breezy feeling of my fingers caressing his cheeks.

"You'll be alright…", I say to him as the father I am. "…my son."

My daughter Yin places her arm over me and beams along with me. "Yeah… I'm here too, big brother. We're all here." I told her to cherish her brother. Reminded her that something as special as a sibling only comes once in a blue moon.

The span is cut short by an echoing laughter. A spiral of what looked like a black mist swirls before us – a portion of Fog made visible.

"Surprise, surprise, surprise", a jeering voice appears out of the blue. The vortex scatters and fades to reveal a wolf with a long tail, deep green eyes, dark fur and a smug smirk. His ensemble, a black leather longcoat showing a six-pack underneath and a pair of leather pants. He flexes his claws and cracks his knuckles before folding his arms. "Looks like I've hit the jackpot."

The entire crew braced themselves, putting their dukes up and brandishing whatever weapon they were armed with.

This new presence continued to mock, pretending to avoid conflict. "Hey, hey, hey. Come now. Didn't you kids know that it's not nice to point dangerous objects at someone? Especially strangers? Didn't your mommies and daddies teach you that?"

"Weiss, get behind me", I ordered beneath my breath, casting my arm in front of her. And Earth Hand along with it.

"Who are you?" Yin called, gripping Yuki no Hana tightly by the hilt.

"Are you…Lupin?" Asked Lina, the Silent Dragonfly boomerang hanging and dangling by her shoulder.

"Lupin? Oh darling, I think you've got it twisted." The dark wolf paced, each step he took having an uncomfortable, enfeebling force behind. He held his hip with both hands, saying, "You can call me…Makai." The name fell off his tongue slyly and wickedly.

Makai…

"Makai… You mean like that Hawaiian word for 'seaweed'?" Yuck asked with blades for arms.

Infuriated and feeling insulted, he reacted immediately. "No!"

Makai… The meaning infiltrates my mind. The translation seeps into me.

My little girl gasps at the other meaning of the word. "Isn't that how you say 'hell' or 'inferno' in Japanese?"

He exclaims to the wind jubilantly. "Ding ding ding! We have a winner! You really are the braniac, eh, Yin?" How does he…know her name?

"How do you know my name?"

"Don't take it personally. I know all your names. After all…" He breaks into silence and keeps us waiting impatiently before finally finishing the rest. "…the Infernal Beast sees, hears and feels e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.Fog is what the Infernal Beast is made of."

The ending statement plucked out a gasp from each of our mouths. The Infernal Beast. That's it! Makai…the Heart of the Infernal Beast. A tyrannical, destructive and terrifying wolf-like monster that set foot on this world five thousand years ago. And the Fog all around is the very fiber of the Beast. Its building blocks, its very foundation.

He refuses to die…

"Makai! You don't quit, do you?" I put my fists up and brace myself.

"Oh, NOW you remember me! Thanks a lot, Yo." The sentence slides off with a hint of sarcasm; he intentionally takes every situation for granted, just to infuriate those around him. "But it's okay. It doesn't matter…because I'm baaaaaack, baby!" He sung the last phrase, mocking us even further, if that was possible.

"But we killed you! The four of us!" Me…and my three brave female comrades. I was the leader of the bunch, but that did not automatically mean we weren't equals. My friends… A strong, proud and majestic white wolf… An inexhaustible, energetic and courageous arctic fox… A graceful, elegant and vivacious white rabbit, her beauty radiating. Their beauty. The four of us were gallant Woo Foo warriors back in our day, in our prime. Our greatest battle was against Makai, for the world. We won, yet had no full knowledge of how Fog can operate. The many ways it can be used, some of which have yet to be discovered.

Makai grinned from ear to ear, sowing fear into our hearts and minds. "On the contrary, panda, you did not. You only kept me waiting, and that was all I had to do. I waited…and waited…and waited…until I was able to sucker your precious little Lupin…into doing all the work for me." He uncovered a toothy grin and chuckled, proud of what he had done. Leaving me wide-eyed with what he told me as I now understand.

This…thing… This…creature… This devil…! He…was the one…who tempted my dear student…! Using Lupin's ambitions, his aspirations…his dreams…against him…! A tool to revive himself. Unforgivable… Irredeemable…

Everyone called out.

"You?"

"You were behind all this?" Weiss asked.

The black wolf nonchalantly shifts his attention to his claws, flicking off small bits of dirt, saying arrogantly with confidence in his unlimited power, "Yup. All me."

Yuck added. "But the Infernal Beast was killed by the Mediator and the Governor five thousand years ago! If you say you're the Infernal Beast, then how can you be here right now?"

Breaking character, he giggles and holds his hand over his mouth, amused by the statement. All before explaining the everything. That the Mediator and the Governor didn't completely kill him, how the Infernal Beast as a whole degraded into Fog and faded from the common eye. How even though the two Founders of Woo Foo "scored a few lucky punches", he lived off the negative emotions and traits the world exhibited. It took him many more years to regain enough strength to act again despite the lack of a definitive physical form, through that segment of Fog that made up the Beast's heart. Evident from the faint heartbeats that would occasionally ring wherever he was. It was when my companions and I were alive that he could finally assume this exact same body he stands before us with now. He mentions how we overcame his wrath and that he waited behind the scene. Waited for the right time… When Lupin was born…

I hear Yang groaning, impelling his body to move just a little and his eyes to open slightly. He wondered as he looked on at Makai who turns to him demeaningly with a smile that I would more than love to slap off.

"Yang…" He fakes warmth in his grin, using it to conceal his underhanded inclinations. "Dear, dear Yang… The new Lupin. You two are so much alike when you think about it. You're brash. You're cocky, stubborn, hardheaded and determined. You'd do anything to get what you want, just like Lupin. And it's lead you to this. You intentionally turned on everybody you care about and love all because you wanted to protect them. And instead, you ended up hurting them, and inhumanely I might add. Ironic, ain't it? But don't feel bad. After all, you've been a great help and you pulled through for me. Without you, I wouldn't be here right now. I gotta tell ya. That Woo Foo Grimoire ya got there? It is sooooo kick-ass. I really must thank you. Oh shucks, if only I brought you a big plate of cookies or something."

"Y-you… You did this…?" Yang strained and coughed, his current condition and stinging scar stopping him from unloading his rage on Makai. "You…used me? And Lupin…?"

"Yup. Only… You're not completely useless like the damn dog. He didn't do his job right. He did. Not. Get. It. Done. I mean I was stuck in the Pit along with him because of him. Yeah, you heard me. That dumb Sealing spell kept me locked up… But all that's behind us now, so whatever." Useless? Lupin? MY LUPIN?‼ This son of a…

My hand vibrated and I eyed him in a deathly stare, my contained rage just wanting to explode and be known, saying, "Lupin… What did you do to him…? What did you do to Lupin? WHERE IS HE?"

Makai shrugs his shoulders; we were all getting really fed up with that behavior. "Dunno. Probably off somewhere in the dark…dying or something. Who knows? But in all honesty, does it really matter to you, you old fart? You didn't give a damn about him, and I don't blame you. A worthless, no-good, gutter piece of trash, that boy is. Failure with limbs."

That was the last straw… He had to remind me of my poor parenting and selfishness. He had to implant pictures of how I acted like I wasn't proud of Lupin. How I had let those small, precious wonders, the joy he's given me, all go to waste. He had to go that far…

My eyes swam in warm, cascading tears. I snarled violently, letting out a roar and charging at him. Earth Hand glowing around my arms. Makai crosses his arms and keeps that irritating smile and summons a dark forcefield to block off my fist, bouncing me back.

"Daddy!" Yin called.

"Dad…" Yang whispered, attempting to stand on his feet. Falling to his knees instead and coughing blood. "Damn…bastard…!" Losing consciousness again.

His sister holds his back, telling him, "Yang, please. Save your strength."

Makai glances at his wrist as if he were wearing a watch. "Whoops, I've overstayed my welcome. I really must go. But don't be sad, kiddies. Yo. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

"What are you going to do?" Yin rises up and brandishes Snow Flower.

"You'll know… Eventually. Somehow. Until then, arrivederci." He turns his back on us and walks the opposite way, laughing loudly a maddened laugh.

"Makai!"

"Wait!" My daughter shot a spell of ice, but Makai had already vanished into the night sky.

The Infernal Beast. It hasn't really died. All along, I thought it was nothing more but a mindless terror, bent on nothing but destruction. Acting without consideration. A wolf-shaped monster of infinite brute strength. Everyone thought the same. The Mediator and the Governor, the two knights that have created the art and culture of Woo Foo, did not put an end to the Beast. Only put it in a comatose state, a stasis. My greatest fears have come. The Woo Foo Elders, Ti and Chai, have predicted it incorrectly. Despite being a wolf and bearing wolf's blood, Lupin was not to be the vessel that will become the Infernal Beast. The monster used him as a vessel to accumulate enough Fog to attain a physical form. To be able to carry on the work, the mess that my student and my son have both unknowingly caused in his stead. The worst had come. A much greater threat is coming, and Woo Foo is the world's only real hope of neutralizing this impending danger.

I lift myself up and focus on the dark cave. We have to be ready. All of us. The Mediator and the Governor have told us that it is only through a shared, unbroken bond that we can triumph over the Beast. We need all the tools we can get.

"Everybody", I direct the crew and wait for them to huddle behind me. "We're going in that cave."

"Huh?"

"Why?"

"What could possibly be in there?"

This was just a hunch… "There could be weapons in there. Woo Foo Talismans, Woo Foo Crystals, you name it. Find and bring out whatever you can. Leave no stone unturned. Weiss, stay with me at all times." If Yang could use those weapons he just used, there might be more.

"Yes, sir."

"Yuck, watch my boy for me."

"Got it. You'll be fine, dude."

"Everybody, let's move. Go, go, GO!"

We all scrambled into the cave and searched high and low, salvaging everything we could find. Inside, I close my eyes and ponder. The rest continued on ahead, without me.

"Master Yo, what're you doing?" Lupin, age eleven…

From the Woo Foo Armory, I brought out a Ball and Chain crafted from a mystic mineral. Designed to suppress the strength and power of the one it is attached to. Lupin's power was at its absolute peak. He has mastered the strongest spells and techniques. He could flip a truck like a pancake. He could demolish buildings. He was capable of obliterating an entire nation's army. The thought sparked. How dangerous could an eleven year-old boy with that much power be?

"Hold still, Lupin", I said and took his ankle, clipping the steel ball on. "Now try walking for me."He was walking fine; this particular Ball and Chain wasn't really heavy. I sigh comfortably. "Good."

Lupin… My student, my pupil. He can't be dead. Not that easily. I know him all too well. The only Woo Foo Grandmaster, and with very good reason. One of the most powerful Woo Foo warriors I know… I know he'll be fine. I know I'll see him again one of these days. On better terms.

A large void… A soundless space… Infinite loneliness. In the middle, a large crimson griffin hunched in a ball, suspended and floating. He did not realize that his sentence was soon to end.

In front of the beast crackled and opened an ominous oval-shaped portal. Stepping forth out of it was the Heart of the Infernal Beast, Makai. Grinning all the way. The griffin looked at him as a being he has heard of from timeless tales and stories, whose presence and influence he was very well aware of.

"Eradicus, I presume", Makai's voice penetrated the silence.

The griffin was stunned, exclaiming, "Makai? The Heart of the Infernal Beast?"

"The one and only." The black wolf winked and bowed, opening his lips to show a toothed smile underneath.

"B-but…you died."

"If I were dead, could I touch you like this?" Makai took his cold hand and touched the griffin's wing.

As a first, Eradicus gasped to show disbelief and fear. He was not the original Night Master – fabrications that were somehow believed to be true. It was the wolf that was before his very eyes, the Infernal Beast. The one who had once laid waste to the planet. The only one more powerful. His one thousand years of existence falls in extreme comparison to the five thousand that Makai has lived.

Not knowing Makai's intentions, Eradicus asked out of suspicion. "What do you want?"

"Why, isn't it obvious? I'm here to enlist your help. You've got an awesome resume for dastardly deeds, griffin. By the way, how do you spell 'griffin'? I'm always confused. Is it g-r-i-f-f-i-n? Or is it g-r-y-p-h-o-n? It really gets to me, y'see, and—"

Eradicus immediately intercepted, preventing any further deviation. "Makai! Why would I trust you? What makes you THINK that I will lend you a helping hand?"

Makai chuckled and answered in an overexaggerating and sarcastic tongue, "Because I'm the only one, I repeat: the only one, who can get you out of here. No offense, but this is by far the biggest shithole I've ever seen. I mean you don't have a bed to sleep on, you got no kitchen, no TV, no patio, you don't have a toilet, for goodness' sake!" He turned his back and paused, looking over his shoulder to let one last bit of information out, smiling a sinister smile beneath. To put the cherry on top of the cake. "That, and I can guarantee you the keys to the castle. You and I, Eradicus and Makai, on top of the world. Whaddya say?"

To accept and be free or to refuse and remain. An obvious choice. This was a no-brainer.

After a moment of thinking, Eradicus stretched out his talon and shook Makai's paw. A dark pact has been made. A covenant of evil. Two titanic forces joining together, ready to bring the planet to its knees. Ready to reduce all to dust.

"My minions", the griffin demanded. "This is not official unless one particular condition is met. I will not join you until you agree to set free my minions."

"That's all? You got a deal, then. Easy. As. Pie." The handshake lasted a minute. A villainous grin crept upon Eradicus' beak. Makai's remained, stayed unchanged.

From the wolf's maw slipped a chuckle. The chuckle became louder into a diabolic laugh, only increasing in volume until it could no longer do so. The griffin joined in the twisted jubilation. An age of darkness is soon to come. Eradicus, the merciless and vile griffin, and Makai, the Heart of the Infernal Beast. With their combined forces, that hellish era was fast approaching.

A war against Woo Foo. The eternal conflict between good and evil shall begin…again…

I have enjoyed doing this story SOOOOO much. I don't think I can find the words to explain that.

Please, please, PLEASE, review and leave me your comments, your gripes and what you loved about the story. Were my main OC's, Lupin and Weiss, lovable? Even if there's one in the works, does this story REALLY deserve a sequel? Leave me your personal thoughts, send me a private message, anything. I'll see you guys when I see you ;)

Disclaimer: Yin Yang Yo! is the intellectual property of Bob Boyle/Jetix/Disney. I do not own the show and its characters.

- CRMartin