AN: As you know my other two stories are period stories, this time I'm breaking my pattern and writing one set in the present day. I hope you like it please please please review and let me know. And here it is
Chapter 1
The Wasabi Warriors piled off the bus at the International Karate Tournament and Martial arts exposition in Tampa Florida. Jack's victory in the last inter Wasabi dojo tournament had resulted in Sensei Rudy's dojo being chosen by Bobby Wasabi to represent the Wasabi Chain at the exposition. They had decided to go a day early so they would have time to settle in before things really got underway.
Rudy gave Jack the room keys and hurried off to set up his booth. As Jack stood at the counter getting everything squared away with the clerk, Kim was watching him.
About an hour after they had received word that they had been picked to come to Tampa, Jack had received a text message. Ever since then he seemed to have been worried about something.
While they were on the plane Jack and Kim had sat together, Jack was pleasant enough, but she knew that he had something on his mind. Every time she had asked if anything was wrong he would smile and say no.
When he dozed off, she snuck a look at his cell phone. It only took her a couple of seconds to find the text message she was looking for. After she saw it though, she was even more confused. The test message read.
From: JK
To: Jack
321898181
It was just numbers. It didn't make a lick of sense. Inside the notebook she had brought with her Kim had used two entire sheets of paper trying to figure out what these numbers meant. She had tried to exchanging numbers for letters but it only came out CBAHIHAHA and that didn't make any more sense that the numbers themselves did.
Kim decided then and there that she would just have to keep an eye on Jack until she could figure out what was going on. She was brought out of her musing by Jack's voice.
"Reality to Kim, come in," he said waving a hand in front her eyes.
"Oh sorry," said Kim, "What is it Jack." Then she saw that he was holding her room's key card out to her."
"Room 1210, Kim," said Jack giving her a puzzled look.
"T-Thanks, Jack," said Kim said trying to save a little of her dignity."
"Pull yourself together, Crawford, you're losing it!" Kim mentally berated herself.
The rooms that Wasabi Warriors had were rooms 1210, 1212, 1214 they were right next to each other on the even side of the 12th floor hallway. The hotel was one of the nicest in the whole city, and the rooms turned out to be suites.
Jack, Milton and Jerry were in 1212 and Rudy was in 1214. Kim stowed her stuff and when she saw the size of the bathtub, decided the first thing that she would do was take a nice long bubble bath.
Kim had turned on the water and had sat down on the bed to undress. She had just unzipped her denim skirt, when her phone buzzed. She picked it up. It was a text from Milton.
MK1918: Kim, Have U seen Jack? He said he was going to C Rudy's Booth.
Kim: asked Rudy?
MK1918: Yeah, Jack Never Showed
Kim forgot about taking a bath something was definitely up, and if there was one thing that Kimberly Anne Crawford would not put up with it was being kept out of the loop. She stoop up resolutely, determined to get to the bottom of this one way or the other. She started toward the bathroom to turn the water off and promptly fell flat on her face.
Pulling her face out of the carpet she looked at her legs and realized why she fell. Her skirt was down around her ankles.
"Real smooth, Crawford!" She snapped at herself. She pulled herself up and then pulled her skirt back up.
Meanwhile…
Jack didn't like lying to his friends, but considering the text message and what he knew it meant, he figured the less they knew the better. The mysterious numbered text message was one that he hoped he would never receive but he had and now here he was taking the special private elevator up to penthouse suite number 1 the most luxurious lodging in the whole hotel.
He arrived at the penthouse and the elevator opened right into the living room area. On either side of the living room area, there were two pairs of doors each leading to one of the four guest bedrooms. There was grand staircase on the other side of the living room that leading up to what Jack guessed was the master bedroom.
Just as he walked to the center of the room, the doors of the master bedroom were thrown open and a five foot five inch blonde with a bob haircut came flying down the stairs. She slammed into Jack so hard that he wound up flat on his back with her on top of him.
"Jack," she cried, hugging him "You came I so glad you're here!" Jack Lay there on his back looking anything but surprised by this over the top greeting.
"Hello, Jodi," he's said, "it's nice to see you too."
"Well," said another voice, "I just can't trust you two to behave can I?"
Jack and Jodi, who was still half sitting half lying on Jack's chest, both looked up to see another guy about Jack's age standing there looking down on them with a smirk on his face.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Jason, shut up, Jodi, Let me up." He said.
"Oh sorry," said Jodi hopping off his chest.
"Well, here we are," she said happily as Jason gave Jack a hand up, "the three musketeers of Camp Winnoka Falls back together again."
"Jodi," said Jack, "What's the Idea of this text. You sent us both our secret emergency code?" Jodi shushed them and turned serious.
"I'll tell you about it but not here, with the staff around there are too many ears," she said in a hushed voice, "Meet me the restaurant downstairs in 30 minutes."
Jack and Jason nodded, they knew Jodi well enough to know that we she got that serious something was really wrong.
Kim had been from one end of the hotel to other had hadn't found hide nor hair of Jack. Where had he run off too? She met back up with Milton and Jerry down at Rudy's booth. Rudy had done a good job the entrance of his booth was a slightly smaller but fairly accurate model of Shinto shrine. The inside of the booth looked like a miniature version of the Dojo back home.
When the kids walked into the booth Rudy was just putting the finishing touches on it for the official opening of the tournament and expo the next day. The kid's entered single file. First Kim then Milton, then Jerry, as Jerry walked in a Bo staff that Rudy had mounted on brackets on the inside of the shrine came off the brackets and conked him square on the head.
"Ow," he hollered rubbing his head, "Dude, you've got to move that thing!"
"That's never happened before," Said Rudy picking up the staff and looking at it.
"Rudy we couldn't find Jack anywhere," Said Kim as Rudy put the offending bo staff back up on its brackets.
Rudy looked at his watch,
"It's just about Dinner time," he said, "have you checked the restaurant?"
"Good idea," said Milton, "Come on guys let's go!"
Milton, and Kim rushed out of the booth with Jerry behind them. As soon as Jerry passed under the shrine on is way out the staff fell and conked him again.
"Dude, really?!" he said.
"Rudy," he said over his shoulder, "I telling you, man that bo staff is out to get me."
###
There were two doors that led into the restaurant. Kim took one door and Jerry and Milton took the other. Kim was almost to the back of the restaurant when she stopped short. There at one of the private VIP tables in the back she saw Jack. What really took her back was that Jack wasn't alone. He was with a very attractive blonde and he seemed to be hanging on her every word.
Kim couldn't believe her eyes. I mean it wasn't like she a Jack were dating or anything because they weren't so why did she feel like someone had kicked her in the stomach. She turned and raced out of the restaurant.
She never heard Milton and Jerry calling her name as she darted past them. When she got back to her room she stood for a long time on the balcony. She had finally forced herself to face why she felt this way. She liked Jack.
"Well this is your own fault," she berated herself, "you never got up the nerve to tell Jack how you felt and now it's too late."
To be continued…
Will Kim tell Jack how she feels?
Why has this Jodi sent for Jack and this mysterious guy Jason?
Will Jack tell Kim and rest of the Wasabi Warriors what's really going on?
And what about this mysterious ode language that Jack and his old friend seem to know?
How does it all connect?
I'll began to answer these questions in the next chapter.
Please leave a review if you want me to continue this one.