This will probably be the one and only authors note I write. This is mainly sentimental whatnot. Looking through this stuff has given me memories since it's been such a long time since I've posted on here. It's quite embarrassing to see what I've written in middle school and that people actually read that crap. I'm sorry for the bleeding eyes and melting brains. Despite being a lot older I was thrilled when I saw they brought my childhood show back... until I actually watched it. I'm disappointed in what it has become. It's also sad to think that the kids who are watching it now might not see what it originally was or think it's not good enough to look into. I'm sure there are others who liked the original who can agree with me.
Also note that this chapter is just a pilot to see if this is actually worth continuing as an idea. There is no guaranteed second chapter despite me pretty much knowing what I want to write for it.
/*****************
The summer night's air was cool and comforting. The difference of temperature had woken Raimundo's mind a bit more from it's tired state. Getting up at 3:30 AM sure did suck. Long past were the days where he slept in until the afternoon, his internal clock probably wouldn't let him if he tried. The average amount of four or five hours of sleep seemed to be all he needed now. With those extra hours meant he could train more independently.
Ever since he was declared leader he knew he had to get his act together. He knows that if he ever screwed up or failed his friends they would say he wouldn't need to worry about it. It wasn't like any of them didn't have faults. However, Rai didn't ever want that day to come. He can't just simply brush off failures. Once you start accepting failure it's bound to happen more. The only way he can prevent that is to work harder and longer than he's ever had.
His friends show concern for his change in personality, saying that he's taking it too seriously. He was already coming up with plans and instructing them before he was chosen as leader. There really wasn't any difference except for being given a title. But it really was all about the title. He already knew they were going to say these things to him, but that's the exact reason why he had changed. He was given an opportunity and he was not ever going to take it for granted, despite if it really was only a label and nothing more.
From the moment he was given the position he practically made a creed that he would live by. He would become stronger to protect his teammates. He would do everything in his power to not fail. If there ever became a time that he did mess up, there would be no drowning in self pity. Instead he would stop at nothing until it was fixed.
This lead to the daily routine of waking up at 3:30 in the morning to train on his own. His friends would still be asleep for another three or four hours. He would start by jogging two miles to the mountains near the temple. From there was an additional mile run to the top of one of the lower peaks. Beyond it was a stone plateau with a small river running off to his right. The water was a collection from the melted snow from the higher peaks of the range.
He would sit and meditate for what seemed like hours practicing with his element in the middle of this plateau. At such a high altitude he could really feel the force of his element rushing around him. This was a perfect spot for him to just relax and concentrate on mastering his element.
At one point he managed to find the old puzzle box that once trapped Wuya around the temple. Who knows how it got back to the temple but he didn't really care since he had an idea. At the time he betrayed his friends for the dark side, he saw Dashi's spirit come out of the box. If it happened once, who's to say it wouldn't happen again? He had only gotten this idea to work one other time and it didn't really accomplish anything since he was so shocked he actually managed it and lost focus. However, he was always willing to try as many times as it took to talk to the creator of the Shen Gong Wu again. Everyday he would keep bringing the box with him.
Though today he mostly wanted to focus on manipulating his element. For a while he's been wanting to see how far away from him he could manipulate the air. Pushing the air away from him wasn't hard but making a wind current from far off to be rushed toward him was a different story. It was amusing one day when his friends were telling him about this weird morning where there would be a strong wind as though there was a storm coming but there was no cloud in the sky. He kept quiet the fact he was behind that since he wasn't quite ready to tell his friends how powerful he had become.
Manipulating the wind was much harder when not calling upon it. When the monks said their war cries it was like everything instantly would bend to what they were thinking. Conjuring their elements without these phrases made everything more complicated. He soon found out that these phrases were also very helpful to keep everything in control. As soon as concentration is broken it could be very hard to get everything under control. At one point he almost blew himself off the mountain. Ever since then he's been careful not to get distracted. That was also the only time that he had gotten a headache from his powers running wild.
That incident was a long while ago and since then he's been able to avoid another one happening. He made the assumption that the more he was controlling, the harder it would be to calm everything if he lost it. He wasn't about to see if his prediction was true.
Though his training was making a difference which he was grateful for. He was even able to fly a little bit by circulating the air around him to push him up. He imagined that if you could see it, it would look much like a water fountain balancing a ball at the top of the spout. This he could do without concentrating like he is now. He could be distracted by anything while walking around and still able to do this. He would like to think his sessions out here were like building up muscle memory. Letting his mind expand to know how to manipulate what's around him over and over so he can replicate it later.
Unbeknownst to Raimundo there was another presence approaching the mountain fast. Jack was on his way to the temple for a surprise Wu raid. He could help but cackle in excitement when thinking of all the things he was about to steal. His robots followed him as per usual through the sky as their destination came into view. It was a surprise to him when he spotted a figure motionless on the top of the mountain. Examining this character a bit more closely he could tell by his black and gold uniform that it was the leader of his sworn nemesis', the Xiaolin dragons.
Considering this was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up, he paused his mission to watch the dragon. The leader seemed to be too involved in what he was doing to even noticed that Jack was in perfect view. this victory was going to be too easy, the Brazilian won't even see it coming.
Which was true, Rai didn't see anything coming at all.
His instincts were the only thing that saved him. Right when the robots metal razors for fingers were about to rake his flesh, Raimundo used his element to propel himself backward. Though it wasn't fast enough to avoid the robots bladed hands. There were three gashes on his chest bleeding quite a lot for not being deep.
At the moment he has bigger problems than the robots and the annoying child who controlled them. His focus was broken and he lost of everything that he was manipulating. A half a mile radius around him was filled with wind currents was blowing in every direction. The streams were crossing each other and disrupting anything that happened to trapped in it. Birds were being thrown like rag dolls thrashing in a different direction every second.
The robots pretty much took care of themselves with either being crushed into the side of the mountain or each other. Jack had to attempt to dodge their parts that were still being thrown about. Raimundo barely even saw what was happening around him. His head felt like it was splitting open in pain and his heart was attempting to pound out of his body. He had to calm down fast, but his body was acting on adrenaline. He felt the gashes on his chest start to burn. This really wasn't good.
He positioned himself to mediate preparing to take control of the mess he had made. He raised his arms and took a slow, steady breathe in. As he exhaled he focused on countering all the wind streams in the immediate area around him. He was shaking terribly already from blood loss. He could feel the whole front of his shirt wet with the red fluid. Thinking in the back of his mind that if he were to pass out that would solve the problem of the wind currents since they would disappear once they were disconnected with the powers flowing through him.
But that would be considered giving up. He's not ready to start doing that anytime soon. Now that he wasn't getting bantered with his own element he could finally attempt to calm down. He drew more breaths which slowly but surely calmed his pulse. As the adrenaline disappeared so did the air. Eventually everything settled back down to the way it was before he manipulated anything. He heard the faint sound of girly screaming in the distance but decided to take no note of it. he had to get back to the temple to bandage his wounds. His head was still throbbing as he made the descent to his home.
Inwardly he hoped that the other monks wouldn't be up still but considering it was light out already he doubted that wish would come true. He really doesn't need attention right now after what had transpired. Most of the inhabitants of the temple will leave him alone after he requests so a few times. But most of the inhabitants weren't hot tempered, needing to know everything and probably menstruating knowing his luck.
Of course, ten feet from the bottom he just had to trip. he grunted in frustration at his clumsiness. He needs to be stronger than this, especially when he still has a two mile walk back to his home. It doesn't help that he landed in bushes after his fall. A dozen more cuts littered his body but were more just a conceptual nuisance then actually painful. These marks were hindering his naturally good looking face. He can deal with scars as long as it doesn't affect his money maker.
The room drops into silence as he steps into the kitchen once he finally reaches the temple. He curses the idiot who designed this building since you have to pass through this room to get to the infirmary. As soon as he realized this on his walk to the temple he knew there would be no way for him just to shrug this off without anyone knowing.
"Whoa Rai buddy, what happened to you? You looked like you got mauled by a mountain lion." Clay rose from his seat to greet his worn out looking friend.
"Eh, something like that, I'll tell ya about it later. It's really not that bad as it looks though, I'll be fine." To prove his point he sat down with the others careful not to get blood on anything.
This information was good enough for Omi, "Raimundo you are just in time to hear about the weird dream we had last night!"
"Oh really?"
"Oh! Oh! Me first!" cried Dojo who popped out of Omi's shirt. "I had a dream where I was tap dancing with Master Fung. I was surprisingly good for no feet. Maybe I found a new career path."
"I had a dream where we all went on a quest to find our very own temple because this one was destroyed" Omi sadly declared.
"Awe, don't be sad little Omi, this place ain't going no where." Clay comforts the small monk by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Plus I don't think we would just abandon this place," said Kimiko setting her face on the palm of her hand with her elbow on the table. "Besides, I think I would go nuts being trapped with only you guys the rest of my life. The older monks aren't that entertaining but at least it's better than no one."
Dojo nodded in agreement with her, "Yeah, we've already had to rebuild all the buildings a few times already since you guys really do have a habit of tearing them down. We could just rebuild them again"
They were silent for a few moments debating what it would be like having their home taken away from them. Clay decided it would be a good idea to change subjects.
"Sorry Rai but I had a dream where you were a childhood clown crying." Clay sheepishly smiled at his friend waiting for the angry response.
"Ugh, seriously? Just because I was acrobat at a circus, doesn't mean I was a clown! Blame my mom for working there when I was growing up." Raimundo was scowling as he rose from his seat.
"Hey, I didn't mean it to be offensive!"
"You're fine Clay, but I should probably get this cleaned up." With that he walk out of the room to make his way to the infirmary. After a few seconds Kimiko followed.
As he made his way down the hall, he was constantly stopped by an elder to explain why he was so beat up. He simply brushed off the question by responding that he would bring it up later after he cleaned himself off. Briefly he noticed behind him that Kimiko was walking in the same direction as he was. He really hoped that she wasn't going to follow him into the infirmary. But, of course she does.
"Do you mind?" His shirt was discarded in a soggy heap. It's not that he was self conscious that she was seeing him without a shirt on, he just didn't want any attention about the whole ordeal. It wasn't even that big of a deal anyway, why couldn't people just leave him alone?
"That you're keeping a secret from everyone? Yes, I do mind."
"It's not that I'm keeping what happened from everyone, I just want to recover a bit before I tell everyone. But seriously, I can take care of myself right now."
"You're kidding right? You would probably end up bandaging yourself wrong and then those cuts will get infected. Then you'll be out for even longer."
Seeing there was no winning Rai figured he should be the mature one and give. Also, he convinced himself that she was probably, most definitely, menstruating so he should probably let her have her way before the physical abuse starts. "Fine, fine, you can help bandage me. I know you're just here for the view anyway girl."
He winked to top the teasing off to get the pleasure in watching her fume over the comments. Getting under her skin was always too much fun.
It was honestly hard for Kimiko not to look at his toned muscles. She forced herself to stay on task solely to prove a point to Raimundo that she didn't want to look at his body. Even it that was just teasing that he's probably forgotten about already. The cuts on his chest were cleaned thoroughly only to be covered carefully with bandages.
Raimundo had his eyes closed, enjoying the fact he can rest his feet for a few moments. Feeling Kimiko's tender touch against his chest was relaxing as well. Sensing her movement away from him made his eyes snap open. She was walking over to where the supplies were stored to put what she didn't use away. The corners of his mouth turned up as he got an idea.
As Kimiko turned around from storing the supplies, her gaze was immediately met with the bandaged chest she just got done fixing. She looked up to see Raimundo's face was barely an inch from her own.
"W-what are you doing?" She hesitantly asked trying to control her rushing heartbeat.
"Nothing." Their heads were instinctively turning to the side as if to get even more close to each other. Kimiko's eyes were closed until they were slits. He continued, "I just wanted to say thank you."
Suddenly he gripped her shoulders while straightening his face to look her directly in the eye. "So, thanks!"
With that he turned on his heel, grabbed his soiled shirt, and retreated out of the room. He took long strides down the hall to get away from Kimiko as fast as possible before she registers what happens. He was more scared of the seething face she probably had on then he wanted to laugh at it.
He knows his actions are probably going to leave her confused but he can't help it. He would be lying if he ever said that he wasn't attracted to Kimiko for a long time. They both knew that they were warriors and their duties came first. But as he gets older, resisting the urge to be with her has been getting harder. Despite him trying to focus more on getting stronger, the reason he got distracted during training was mostly because of her.
Pushing his thoughts about her to the side for now, he reaches his room to get some rest. For once in a long while he thinks he'll be able to sleep in until the afternoon again.
/**********
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.