A storm was brewing on the outskirts of Xinping, a small fishing village in China. Waves crashed against the docks, rocking the little wooden boats. The village itself was silent as it braced itself for impact, the silence before a storm. The little dirt streets were deserted except for a lone man. This man walked slowly, as if the weight of a thousand years lay on his shoulders. He held in his hands a sword, a most peculiar sword. He held it as though he was about to block a strike from some invisible enemy, this was not far from the truth. The man new the hidden assailant was watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake, just one foot out of step. A gust of wind that blew up the dust on the road provided the opportunity. Just for an instant, the man blink dirt out of his eyes, and instant was all it took. In a flash he was on the ground. Another younger man was standing above him, holding a large, dark shroud. He quickly picked up the strange looking sword and dispatched the older man. The young one whispered and in an instant, the storm was gone, the sun out and shining as if nothing had occurred, as if no lives had been lost. The younger man fled the scene with the sword and the shroud as quickly as he could. The people of the village were beginning to come out of their homes, confused as to the quick and sudden disappearance of the storm. The villagers saw the body of the old man and the crowd quieted again.
No service was held for the old man. The only mention of his death came in the town newspaper the following day. "Storm takes 1 life, Raimundo Pedarosa dies at the age of 68". Nobody cares much for it except for one person, thousands of miles away. Her name is Kimiko Tohomiko. As she read the paper that had been specially sent from China all the way to England, she began to cry. It was her 68th birthday that day, but nobody knew, she didn't have any friends or family, at least not anymore. She looked up at the mantelpiece above her furnace and gazed upon, embedded in an intricate design, a golden star. Kimiko swore under her breath at the star, "Nothing good came of you," she screamed. Kimiko approached the star and yanked it out of the design. Kimiko grabbed her coat and ran as fast as she could out of the house. Her home stood alone on a hill in the middle of a small village known as Karthwest and normally the climate was calm and warm, but this day was different, something was off. Kimiko could feel that the balance of the world was shifting, and quickly, she remembered her days with Raimundo when they were young, traveling around the world. A rustle in a bush near her brought Kimiko back to the real world. Kimiko quickly turned towards the noise and watched. A small squirrel dashed out of the bush and down the hill. Kimiko sighed and began down the hill as well. The town was quiet, the people milled around in the dreary cold. Kimiko hated this place, but it was for her own good, as Raimundo has assured her years ago, "But now he was gone, so what did he know anyways?" Kimiko thought. She turned a corner and entered the town square. As always, the large statue of the founder of Karthwest greeted her. Kimiko approached the old stone and rubbed its leg. Raimundo had told that if she ever needed help, just whisper into the statue's ears and he would come. Kimiko needed help more than ever. She pulled herself up onto the tall rock to its shoulder, showing strength not typical of a 60 year old woman. The people in the square were watching her now, but she didn't care. Kimiko grabbed the statues ear and whispered, "Raimundo, why did you fail! You told me that everything would be okay, but it's not! It's been thirty years and you're gone, Clay is gone, and Omi is nowhere to be found. If some part of you can still hear me, then show me what you think I should do. What happened to you, it couldn't have been the storm that killed you, you're the dragon of the wind! Who is it, who is it that's hunting us down and killing us. Please, just some hint that you are still there!" Kimiko moaned.
A voice boomed across the square. "I have heard you Kimiko, Raimundo has sent me," Kimiko did not recognize the voice. She turned and saw that the square had rapidly cleared, but several people were standing off to the side watching.
"You are no friend of mine!" Kimiko shouted back.
"You are correct," the man replied. The man reached to his waist and grabbed a hilt from his belt. He slowly unsheathed the strange blade that Raimundo had possessed. He twirled it around his body and admired it. "The Sword of the Storm, one of Raimundo's signature Shen Gong Wu, correct?"
Kimiko held her star tighter, "So you have come for me then. First Clay, then Raimundo and now me. But you will never find Omi, he was the best among us!"
The man grinned and reached into his jacket and pulled out a small blue orb. "I think you mean first Omi, then Clay, and then Raimundo. I'm well aware that Omi was the strongest dragon which is why he was dispatched quickly and quietly. Now, down to business. I want to know where the ancient scroll is hidden. I will let you live out the rest of your life if you tell me. This is the same offer I give the other three dragons, and I will give it to you too,"
Kimiko shook her head, "I would never tell you where the scroll is, and you shouldn't want to know where it is either. These things," Kimiko held out her star, "These Shen Gong Wu, are evil, they only bring destruction. I will not tell you where the scroll is, and if you kill me, your last hope of finding it will die too,"
"You think you're in a position to bargain, Kimiko? You do not know who I am, where I came from, or how I even know about your Shen Gong Wu, let alone how I used them to dispatch your three comrades,"
"You are right, I don't know where you came from, but I know exactly where you are going. You want to collect all of the Shen Gong Wu and use them to gain immense power or something like that. You may have never heard of him, but there was a man, Jack Spicer, who was-" Kimiko is cut off by the man.
"Killed in one of your Xiaolin Showdowns, I know this. As you aged, the competition for the Shen Gong Wu grew more serious. Until you were willing to kill to secure the win, is that not how Master Fung died, too? In a battle for the Richter Fork?" the man interrupts.
Kimiko backs away from the man. "Who... who are you?"
"I am the coming of the new age!" The man proclaims. "ORB OF TORNAMI!" The man lifts the blue orb up to face Kimiko as a gush of water bursts out from its mouth. Kimiko nimbly jumps to the side of the blast and prepares her counter attack, but before she can use her Shen Gong Wu, the man redirects the blast of water. Kimiko is thrown back into the statue behind her. Kimiko lays on the ground helpless as the man approaches. She groans in pain as the man pulls out the Sword of the Storm. "Good bye Kimiko, your Shen Gong Wu will prove most useful in the coming days,"
The next day, a man sat at a cafe in Rome. He held a newspaper from a small town in England. He was reading through the obituaries when he came across a strange entry for an older woman named Kimiko Tohomiko. The entry said she passed away quietly due to natural causes. The man checked his watch, stood up and walked out of the cafe and down the street. He hopped into a car and drove out of Rome into the country. At a small rest area on the side of the road, the man got out of his car and opened the trunk. Inside was a small brown box. He pulled it out and quickly opened it. Inside were two identical armguards. The man fit them on his arms and whispers the ancient name of the artifacts. The man almost instantly transformed. The new shape took of the armguards, placed them back in the box and took off into the sky...
To be continued...
