The Xiaolin and Heylin

Chapter 7: Civil and Rude Awakenings

It's been two days since the rumble at the docks. Awakenings were on the way.

[Land of Darkness: Evernight Castle]

Arthur Watts, a scientist and part of the court of Salem was processing what he was seeing. He had just arrived via his airship. For a while now, Salem hadn't been communicating with any of those in her inner circle. As a result, Watts wanted to know why that was the case and took a trip back to Evernight Castle.

Before him, there should be a castle, the headquarters, and the domicile of their leader, Salem. However, there was no castle or even a sign of their leader. No. All there was an enormous crater that spanned about a mile in diameter.

Watts looked at the area with curiosity and surprise. It was one thing for the castle to be gone, but Salem's absence was unprecedented.

"Just what happened here?" He asked.

A question that would be answered in due time for the Witch's Inner Circle.

[Forever Falls: Secret Training Chamber]

Beneath Forever Falls, there was a secret training hall, used for covert tutelage. In the area, there were Sun Wukong and Ruby Rose. At the moment, they were training.

Sun was flying due to his manipulation of the wind, practicing aerial combat.

Ruby sat next to a bowl of water. She closed her eyes and focused. Soon, the water began to rise. However, she began to feel the strain. In seconds, the water fell back into the bowl, and she panted. While Sun had a year to train his powers, Ruby just got hers and was therefore wet behind the ears.

Two of the Five Xiaolin Dragons had risen. The other three would reveal themselves soon.

That night at the docks, Ozpin talked with Sun, having recalled how the monkey-Faunus knew about the Shen Gong Wu. Long story short, they shared their information and decided to join forces to stop Wuya and the Heylin. It was also from that conversation that it was revealed Ruby was chosen to be the Xiaolin Dragon of Water.

The very next day, Ozpin, Tai, Summer, Glynda, and Summer shared this news with Ruby. While she was surprised by the news, she thought getting a new superpower was awesome. Still, despite being welcomed into the inner circle, Ruby and Sun were kept in the dark about Salem and her immortality. The inner circle decided that the students knowing about Salem's true abilities and immortality were a lot to process on top of their Xiaolin powers and the Shen Gong Wu. Still, they would reveal more about Salem, but later on.

The students only knew Salem was the leader of another faction besides Wuya's faction trying to get the Shen Gong Wu. Still, Ozpin and his group weren't the only ones keeping secrets.

Upon Ozpin's revelation and Summer's insistence, Ruby couldn't reveal her training, new-found powers, or the existence of Shen Gong Wu. She had to keep this a secret from her sister, friends, and team. While she didn't like keeping such big secrets from her friends, she agreed with her mother's advice and Ozpin's wisdom.

Sun was no different. He had to keep the secret of his powers and the Shen Gong Wu, only using the former when he really needed to. 

However, if anyone asked why Ruby and Sun spent time away from their team, the headmaster just brushed it off as extra leadership training. Not many questioned it, while the few who did, did not speak up.

So, there you have it. Ruby and Sun were training. The strange thing is that Ruby never had a proper conversation with the chi beast like Sun did. No. Only a few words.

"Manipulate the water."

And that's what she's been doing ever since. She wondered why her chi beast limited conversation, but only would get her answer later on. She could only train her manipulation of water.