Lightning struck through the roof of the Temple, through the ground and into the underground Temple where it struck the statue. The Temple above slowly disappeared as the Sacred Underground Temple began to rise to the surface. Lightning and fire engulfed the statue of Shekan. The gem slowly faded into the chest of the statue. There was an earthquake and a terrible storm as the roof of the Sacred Temple was ripped off and its walls collapsed leaving only a few pillars and the ground. A Dragon Zone appeared on the ground and the light from the moons of Tristran engulfed the Statue. Then slowly, the light, lightning and fire imploded into the statue and suddenly released a tremendous burst of power. Ryu and the others shielded their eyes. The burst knocked Ryu, Rokkan and Atlanta off the Temple grounds to lower ground. They stood up and watched the manifestation of power in awe and fear. When all the elements faded, the Dragon Zone had disappeared. Ryu and his friends unshielded their eyes and stared in the direction of the statue of Shekan, except for the fact that, there was no longer a statue. Where the Statue once stood, there stood a boy, about Ryu's age who bore a striking resemblance to Ryu except for the fact that, he had brilliant crimson hair. He wore a costume similar to Ryu's in design but more elaborate.
"So I live again after centuries of imprisonment" he said calmly.
"Is that…?!" Nadia exclaimed in shock.
"Could that possibly be…?!" Michael exclaimed.
"Yes, that's him. That's Shekan!" Ryu declared as a fearful bolt of lightning illuminated the figure.
"TRISTRAN! RELEASE MY FATHER IMMEDIATELY!" Nemesis demanded.
Shekan chuckled sinisterly.
"Foolish mortal, your days are but a wisp of wind…yet you dare challenge…A GOD?!" Shekan roared as lightning illuminated the area.
"HHHAAAAAH!" Nemesis roared as he charged to attack Shekan.
"Very well then…you shall be…my very first victim!" Shekan declared as he suddenly appeared before Nemesis and gave him a powerful body blow.
Nemesis' armour was shattered instantly! Nemesis screamed in pain.
"So fast!" Rokkan exclaimed in horror.
"And strong!" Ryu added.
Nemesis fell to the ground. He was trembling uncontrollably.
"Nemesis is…afraid?!" Nadia exclaimed in shock.
"I prefer you this way…bowing to your new master" Shekan said with a smirk.
Ryu stared at his comrades. They were staring at Shekan in fear and trembling. Ryu held his heart. He could feel it beating quickly but not out of fear…but excitement. It felt like his spirit, his entire being had been awaiting this moment even long before his birth.
"It's finally time" he said as Shekan turned to face him. "Time to fulfil our destiny!" he said as he lifted his hand.
The others found the courage to do the same. In a tremendous outburst of power, the Dragon Saints appeared. When they saw Shekan, they narrowed their eyes.
"SHEKAN! SO YOU'VE FINALLY AWAKENED!" they roared.
Shekan turned to look at them and saw them standing behind their respective human saints.
"Crystal, Molten, Tornado, Terranica, Torpedo, Hurricane, Melody. Finally, I get to destroy you for sealing me!" Shekan said as a fearful crimson Ryuugan appeared in his eyes.
"We are not alone! Our human saints will help us reseal you!" Crystal declared.
"These puny human children…will reseal me? You sure got better at joking in these past few centuries Crystal. I haven't had such a laugh in a while. Well then, if it is a challenge you want, I'll answer back" Shekan said with a sinister chuckle.
"I'm not going to just stand here and watch him insult us!" Ryu roared as he charged to attack Shekan.
"Human Saints, we will create a new Dragon Zone to reseal Shekan. Keep him distracted until then!" Crystal declared as the Dragons flew to The Temple grounds and formed a circle.
They stretched their wings so that their wings connected them in a circle. Then they began to utter prayers.
Ryu charged on Shekan and leapt into the air to deliver a flying kick. Shekan effortlessly dodged to the right and Ryu's attack missed. Ryu landed on his feet then performed a backwards roll in an attempt to deliver a horse kick but Shekan dodged again without much effort. Then Ryu performed a spring up and began to attack with his fists. Shekan blocked his attacks. Ryu's attack became faster and faster but Shekan blocked with little effort.
"Not half bad. You follow up your attacks pretty well. Hiruko trained you well but you're still a millennium too early to challenge me!" Shekan declared as he stepped into Ryu's range of attack and delivered a quick body blow.
Ryu grunted in pain but he didn't let up on his attacks. Ryu performed a quick sidestep and evaded one of Shekan's blows then he got behind Shekan and attempted to deliver a chop but Shekan blocked his attack without even looking.
"You're so naïve. Attacking an enemy from behind is a tactic only effective in low level battles" Shekan said as he grabbed Ryu's hand and threw Ryu to the ground. Then he elbowed Ryu in the stomach.
Ryu grunted in pain. The others could only watch in horror.
Ryu stood up weakly.
"I'll show you a real attack!" Shekan declared as he suddenly appeared before Ryu and aimed a blow to Ryu's face.
Ryu raised his hands to block on instinct and shut his eyes. He felt no pain. When he opened his eyes, he found Shekan's fingers on his chest like a knife.
Shekan smiled and took in a deep breath.
"KNUCKLE!" Shekan declared as he knuckled Ryu in the chest!
"FIST!" Shekan roared as he turned his knuckle into a fist.
"WRIST!" Shekan roared as he transformed that attack into a wrist punch.
Ryu screamed in pain.
"ELBOW!" Shekan roared as he transformed that attack into an elbow attack.
"SHOULDER!" Shekan roared as he suddenly rammed Ryu with such force that it sent Ryu flying.
"DARK SECRET ART! SIX JOINT STRIKE OF THE MAD DRAGON!" Shekan declared.
Ryu fell to the ground and coughed up blood. Shekan turned to face the others.
"Afraid? You are even more pathetic than I imagined. The warriors of Gaiden's time possessed far more spirit than you're showing" Shekan said.
Ryu stood up.
"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS IDLING ABOUT FOR?! WE'VE ALL GOT TO WORK TOGETHER TO DEFEAT SHEKAN!" Ryu scolded them.
"You're right Ryu" Rokkan said as he formed seals.
"It is our destiny as well! CRYSTAL ELEMENT!" Atlanta called as sharp crystals arose from the ground.
Atlanta controlled them around herself like sharp swords.
"CRYSTAL SWORD BARRAGE JUTSU!" Atlanta roared as she sent the elements flying towards Shekan.
Shekan simply swatted them all away like flies.
"CRYSTAL ELEMENT! CRUSHING CRYSTAL JUTSU!" Atlanta roared as a cave of crystals surrounded Shekan.
"Nice try but too weak! EARTH ELEMENT! PILLARS OF ORIGIN JUTSU!" Shekan called as pillars of earth arose from the ground and shattered Atlanta's jutsu. "That was simply pathetic" Shekan said.
"We were just testing your strength" Ryu laughed.
"The real battle begins now!" Rokkan roared as he and Ryu suddenly disappeared.
Atlanta quickly created a cave of Crystals around herself and the others.
"FIERY ELEMENT!" Ryu's voice sounded above Shekan.
"THUNDERSTORM ELEMENT!" Rokkan roared.
Shekan raised his eyes to look at them.
"Attacking from above I see. It's still not enough" Shekan said as he raised his hands.
"GARGANTUAN GEYSER JUTSU!" Ryu called.
"LIGHTNING BOMBADA JUTSU!" Rokkan roared.
Their techniques combined to form a great pillar of fire and lightning that engulfed Shekan. Intense smoke enveloped the area. Atlanta dropped the Crystal cave.
"Did we defeat him?" Ryu asked Rokkan as they landed on the ground.
The smoke began to clear. As it slowly cleared, the friends could see the outline of an orb and after the smoke cleared, to their utter shock, Shekan stood protected by an orb of crystals, darkness and earth. He was completely unscathed.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Ryu and Rokkan exclaimed in horror.
By that time, two moons of Tristran had moved into their alignment positions.
"Let us help!" Michael called as he formed seals.
"WATERWHIRL ELEMENT! GRAND DOUBLE HEADED WATER DRAGON JUTSU!" Michael called.
"ICE ELEMENT! ICE IMPRISONMENT JUTSU!" Nadia called.
"GAEIAN ELEMENT! CRUSHING WALL JUTSU!" Rokkan roared.
FIERY ELEMENT! FLAME KAISER JUTSU!" Ryu called.
"GALE ELEMENT! SAHARA WINDS JUTSU!" Ken called.
"CRYSTAL ELEMENT! CRYSTAL LABYRINTH JUTSU!" Atlanta called.
"SOUND ELEMENT! SHRIEKING BANSHEE JUTSU! Tanya called.
"OMNI-ELEMENT!" they called in unison, "FLARE OF THE ELEMENTS JUTSU!!!" they released a tremendous combination of all the elements together.
"DARK ELEMENT! BLACK HOLE JUTSU!" Shekan called as a black hole appeared and absorbed all their elements.
"NO WAY!!!" they all exclaimed in shock.
"How do we defeat someone like this? Is he even human?!" Nadia exclaimed in horror.
"We don't give up! That's how we defeat him! Even if this battle lasts for another millennium, we must not give up!" Ryu declared.
"That was actually quite impressive but not nearly good enough!" Shekan said with a smirk.
"But even our elements can't hurt him" Atlanta said.
"I know… he is beyond us! He may not be human and we might say…we are only human but as humans we have something he does not! We have the power to open all the gates of miracles in this world! The power to have faith! The power to hope even in times of hopeless darkness! That is why…DARKNESS WILL NEVER OVERCOME HUMANITY!" Ryu declared.
The others stared at him in awe.
"Since when did Ryu become this mature?" Michael asked.
"Since when did Ryu become this strong?" Atlanta wondered.
"He is like a light in this intense darkness" Tanya said.
"Let me show you what I mean!" Ryu declared as he unsheathed the Aurora Sabre.
Rokkan unsheathed the Sword Of Rai.
"Fools! That should have been your last resort. Drawing a sword before me is the same as admitting your own defeat. Now you definitely have no hope left!" Shekan declared as he summoned the Death-Sabre.