"AAAAACHOOOOO!"
The sneeze was accompanied by a fire ball. Raimundo and Omi jumped out of the way in time, but Clay, who had just rounded the corner, took a fire ball to the hat. "Dang nab it, Dojo, that is the third hat this month!"
Dojo sniffed and wiped at his nose. "Sorry, Clay. Can't help it," he stifled another sneeze before it started. It was still early morning, and the Dragons of Wind, Water and Earth were waiting on the Dragon of Fire so they could get started on their training.
"Has a Shen Gong Wu gone active?" Omi asked hopefully. Dojo shook his head.
"Nope, just a little head cold."
"Well, keep it away from me," Raimundo pushed Omi in front of him. "I've got no interest in catching your gross dragon germs."
"Don't worry, it can't affect humans," Dojo chuckled. "Not unless one of you guys can breathe fire..."
As if in answer, there came another sneeze and fire ball – but this time, it came from the opposite direction. Kimiko had just joined the others in the court yard, but she looked sweaty and even more pale than usual. The second fire ball had come from her and since Raimundo was closest, he now had a hole in the back of his pants.
"And that's my third pair of pants this month," he complained. "So let me guess, Kim can catch it since she's the Dragon of Fire?"
"Sure looks that way," Dojo shrugged.
"Catch what? Huh?" Kimiko seemed to be having a hard time staying focused on the conversation. She sneezed again, but this time only a bit of soot came out. "I feel awful."
"Yeah, you look it." Raimundo responded. Kimiko looked ready to fight, but seemed to lose her fire before she could say anything. "...And since you didn't just purposefully lob a fireball at me, that means you're really sick, Girl. Get back to bed."
"No, no. Training. Have to do training..." Kimiko took a step forward, but Clay picked her up.
"Little Lady, I reckon you're gonna end up hurting yourself if you try to train today."
"Yes, you look most disgusting right now," Omi added. "You would feel better if you rested. I will make you soup. You look sick as a gopher."
"That's 'sick as a dog'," Raimundo corrected.
"She does not look like a dog," Omi cocked his head, studying the Dragon of Fire momentarily. "But nevertheless, she and Dojo should both be taking a nap."
"Yeah," Clay agreed, "Just until you get the hitch back in your git along."
"Too tired and sick to point out how much I hate your home down sayings," Kimiko yawned. She pushed herself out of Clay's arms. "C'mon, Dojo. You can come take a nap with me."
"That sounds like a great id-...id-...id..." Dojo's tail started jerking back and forth violently. "No, not now! I need to rest!" he whined. "We got a Wu alert, gang. ACHOO!" he sneezed again, this time taking care not to aim at any of the Monks. Instead, he hit a nearby tree. Omi sighed and put the flames out with his water powers.
"Just tell us where to go, Partner. We'll take the Silver Manta Ray so you can rest." Clay suggested. "Kim, seriously, get back to bed right now. I'll make you some of my Aunt Franny's Healing Soup when we get back."
Kimiko sighed but didn't argue. She simply made her way back to her room. "Clay's right," Raimundo continued "You can sit this one out, Dojo. Just tell us what and where."
Dojo pulled first a handkerchief and then the Ancient Scroll seemingly out of nowhere. He blew his nose, then opened the scroll. "Looks like it's the Love Spring," He shuddered. "Can be a creepy thing.." they all watched as the scroll showed a black figure activating the Wu in front of an enemy. Suddenly hearts started forming in the enemy's eyes. "It's got two settings – friend or love. Dashi used to use the first mode to stop small conflicts. Only saw the love setting used once, and it didn't work..."
"So you are saying there is not much use for this Wu?" Omi asked. Dojo shook his head.
"Not saying that exactly. And manipulating love can lead to some really bad Juju, kid. Trust me, you don't want this in the wrong hands. Even on the friendship setting, it can be dangerous. It could make you like Jack Spicer so much, you'd just hand him over all the Wu because you thought he was your best friend. The love setting will only work if you could realistically be attracted to the person. There's no rules on the friends setting, though."
"Okay, so where can we find this Wu?" Raimundo asked. Dojo allowed his tail to jerk around some more as he closed his eyes to better sense how far the Wu was.
"It is about three miles from here, up in the mountains. Can't get more specific than that with this – ACHOO! - cold going on."
"Thank you, Dojo. You should probably also rest now," Omi gave the dragon a pat on the head.
"Agreed. Good luck, kids."
"It's a bracelet with a heart on it," Jack said as he examined the Wu. "Doesn't really seem like something to be interested in."
"Put the bracelet down, Jack Spicer!"
"And there's Chrome Dome," Jack sighed. While he'd made it to the Wu first, he was not surprised to see the Xiaolin Dragons close on his heels. "Wait, where's Little Miss Hot Head?"
"She is most sick and is resting, but we will be happy to tell her of how we are going to kick your butt!" Omi explained.
"Omi, don't tell the bad guys when a team member is down," Raimundo put his hand to the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Though this is Jack, so I don't see how it will matter."
"Reckon I got this one," Clay said enthusiastically. He pulled his lasso out and swung it around Jack, pulling the self-proclaimed evil genius over to the Dragons. "Hello, Jack, you no good varmint," Clay put a hand on the Love Spring, which started to glow. "Now we got ourselves a proper show down. Name your game."
"Ugh, fine. The game is Mountain Climbing – first to the top wins. I wager my Monkey Staff versus your Lasso Boa Boa."
"Let's go," Jack and Clay spoke in unison, "Xiaolin Showdown!" The mountain grew larger and Clay, Omi and Raimundo's clothes were replaced with their Showdown outfits. "Gong Yi Tenpai!"
"Monkey Staff!" Jack activated the staff and let out a primal screeching before taking off at top speed.
"Now you'll have to do better than that, Jack," Clay chuckled. "Lasso Boa Boa!" The Texan used the Wu lasso to grab the Monkey Staff from Jack, who instantly turned back to a regular human.
"Aww, man!"
"Monkey Staff! Lasso Boa Boa!" Clay used the staff to make himself part monkey and get a better foot holding. From there, he started using the lasso to lasso a higher ridge of the mountain and pulled himself up. The Showdown was over almost as soon as it had begun.
"I didn't want that Wu anyway," Jack sniffed. "Doesn't go with my outfit."
"How does this thing work, anyway?" Clay put the bracelet on and aimed it at Jack. "Love Spring – Friendship!" The boys couldn't see it, but a puff of something rose out of the bracelet and hit Jack in the face.
Jack's eyes seemed to widen. "Clay! Clay, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever," He grabbed Clay and hugged him tightly.
"Three second rule, Partner!" Clay pushed Jack away. "Well, now we now how it works there. Reckon we shouldn't attempt the Love setting..." None of the boys noticed the second puff that rose at the mention of the word Love – all of them wiped their faces a moment later, vaguely aware of an unpleasantly moist feeling that had touched them.
"Let's get back to the temple and check on Kimiko and Dojo," Raimundo suggested. "Hopefully they haven't burned the place down yet."
"Oooh, ooh! I'll come with you to help my good friend Clay!" Jack suggested.
"I hope this wears off soon," Clay face palmed. "This might get a mite bit tiring."
"And just a bit more pepper. Jack, if you would be so kind as to grab it for me?" Jack followed Clay's orders and grabbed a pepper. Clay shook his head. "No, not a bell pepper! This calls for a Ghost Pepper. Better for clearing the sinuses! We'll have Kimiko and Dojo all fixed up in just a matter of seconds with this!"
Jack handed Clay the correct pepper and was rewarded with a bite of the soup. "How do you like that, Jack?"
Jack opened his mouth to answer, but all that came out was smoke.
"All right, now to take 'em both a bowl," Clay served up the soup. "C'mon, you carry one bowl and I'll get the other. If we spill any o' this it might burn a hole through the floor."
Jack and Clay reached the bedroom and went to Kimiko's compartment. She sat up when she noticed their presence.
"Clay? What is Jack doing with you? ACHOO!"
The moment she sat up, both Jack and Clay felt heat rising to their faces. "Ummm...umm...umm..." Clay had suddenly become tongue tied. He spilled the bowl of soup, but didn't notice it until it started burning through his shoe. "OUCH! Dang if that ain't hotter than a tin roof on a summer's day!"
Jack handed Kimiko the other bowl of soup and stared at her. "Oookaay, this is getting creepy. Dojo, what Wu did you say they went after?"
"Huh? ACHHOOOOOO!" Dojo once more unleashed a fire ball, this time catching Jack's jacket on fire.
"I asked what Wu they went after. Jack's here for some reason and acting dumber than usual. And it looks like he rubbed off on Clay."
"What's all the commotion?" Raimundo and Omi burst into the room at the same time.
"Yes, what is the bub hub all about?" Omi asked, striking a fighting stance.
"That's 'hub-bub'...or maybe hullaballoo. I can honestly never be sure with you," Raimundo shrugged.
"Kimiko, are you all right?" Omi asked. "We heard a girl screami-" He cut himself off as he stared at Kimiko. "Kimiko, you look most pretty today."
"Uh, thanks, but I have no make up on and still feel lousy."
"You do not look as though you have any lice..." Omi meant it as a compliment, but instead Kimiko just shuddered.
"Hey, I was here talkin' to her first! You can just wait in line, Partner!"
"No way, I was here first! And I actually gave her the bowl of soup!" Jack whined. Raimundo looked back and forth between the now fighting guys and Kimiko.
"What is even going on here?" He asked. Kimiko shrugged. He gave a low whistle to try to get everyone's attention. "All right, everyone out of the girl's bedroom so she can sleep. You're all actin' reaaaaaaal creepy right now."
"Oh?" Dojo sat up looking closely at Jack. He opened one of Jack's eyes as far as he could, studying the pupils. "Yep, looks like they got hit by the Love Spring."
"No one activated it on the love setting!" Raimundo insisted. "Clay tried the friendship thing on Jack, which is why Spicer followed us home, but..." he hit his face with his right hand. "When he said he wouldn't activate the love side, he accidentally activated it. How long do these effects last?" He managed to hold the other three boys back from Kim with one hand, but he looked aggravated.
"Could be a few hours, could be weeks."
"WEEKS?!"
Dojo shrugged and blew his nose. "Look, I told you I never saw the Love part work. Dashi thought it wouldn't be right to force those feelings on people unless it was an emergency."
"Okay, so how do we get them back to normal?"
"Please," Kimiko scooted further back into her compartment, away from the hands that were reaching from her. "This is getting really creepy, Dojo. Do you know of any way to fix it?"
"Well, it works based on pheromones. You'd have to get the pheromones off of them. Best way to do it would be a shower."
"I am not feeling this way because of some silly scent!" Omi insisted. "I am merely in love with Kimiko!"
"Ditto," Jack agreed, crossing his arms.
"Goes double for me," Clay added.
"Look, are you guys up for a showdown? Winner gets a kiss from Kim?" Raimundo suggested.
The boys all agreed to it, but suddenly Kimiko was back on her feet. "Nuhuh, No way, I did not agree to this! And if the fight's over me, then I'm going to be fighting."
"Aren't you not feeling well enough?" Raimundo asked. He seemed genuinely concerned, but that just irked Kimiko more.
"I am always feeling well enough to kick butt," Kimiko insisted.
"Is this going to be a Xiaolin Showdown or a regular one?" Dojo asked, pulling out the rule book. "I need to know what's legal or not."
"Regular showdown," she smirked. "The game is water tag."
"You're going to make yourself worse," Rai pointed out. He moved his arms so that the other three were now able to move towards Kim.
"Only if they manage to tag me," Kimiko pointed out. She raced out of the building and into the courtyard. "All right. Who's going to come at me first?" She tried to quiet her mind, listening for anyone trying to sneak up on her. When she could hear nothing, she knew who her first opponent was going to be.
Omi.
He was the only one quiet enough to actually sneak up on her, but realizing it would be him first gave her the edge. She managed to grab him out of mid air and hurl him into the bird bath. "You okay, Omi?"
"Yes. I am sorry, Kimiko. That was most unlike me."
"It's okay. I'm just glad you're back to nor-" Clay grabbed her from behind.
"All right, let's just get you over to the fountain so I can claim my prize."
"I am not a prize and I never agreed to those terms!" Kimiko allowed her heat to grow around her, encapsulating her in flames. And forcing her cowboy friend to let go of her. But now his hands were burned so badly he immediately went for the water fountain himself and threw himself in. "I feel like I've been knocked three ways to Sunday. Sorry, Kim. That was no way for me to be talking to a lady."
Kimiko nodded her agreement but said nothing. She was still waiting on Jack to make his move. But a moment later, he popped out of the same fountain Clay had just come out of. "I got myself wet! HA! Now there's no way for you to ..." he seemed to lose track of his thoughts. "What was I fighting for again?"
Kimiko made her way back to bed and passed out. Her fever was still high and having to fight while sick had wiped her out. Raimundo waited until she laid down, then pulled a blanket over her and set a cool cloth on her forehead.
"You know, Raimundo, from what Clay and Omi told me, you were close enough that the Love Spring should have had an affect on you," Dojo had been hiding behind Kimiko's pillow, waiting to see if the Dragon of the Wind would show up.
"Maybe I'm stronger willed than them."
"Maybe. But you know, when I didn't see it work on the Love setting? It was because a monk used it on another monk. See, he was in love with her and scared she would never love him. Turns out she'd loved him all along, so the Spring couldn't be used on her. Not by him, at least."
"And what are you getting at?"
"Nothing," Dojo said innocently. "Certainly not that you might be in love with -"
"She's sleeping. Shh." Raimundo rose to his feet and glared at Dojo.
"I'm just saying..."
Kimiko yawned and rolled over in her sleep. Raimundo watched her momentarily, then returned his attention back to Dojo. "Just don't tell the others, okay? Especially not Kimiko."
"You have my word as a dragon," Dojo offered. "But you probably should tell her. Sometime."
"Maybe. Not today, though. I think the last word she wants to hear today is love."
Author's Note: I thought about making this longer, but I didn't want to make it too drawn out. I know that made the fight scenes go by very quickly, but it's how I felt the story flowed the best. Thank you for your time.