I don't own any of Xiaolin Showdown or any of it's awesome characters. (Although, my OC(s) for this story are mine) This is my first story, so be honest but please be nice.


"PLEEEEEEEASSE?" Omi begged on his knees to his tall, Brazilian friend.

"Omi, I said no! We've been training all morning and when Master Fung gives us a break I like to not spend it doing more training," Raimundo said back to his small, monk friend. Getting annoyed, he tries to block him out by leaning up on a post by the stairs outside the temple building with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Clay sits not too far away on that porch connected to those stairs with Kimiko by him searching on her laptop.

"But Raimundo, I wish to very much help you with your attacks. If I recall our earlier training, your foot work was most sloppy. You looked as though you were prancing with too many toes," Omi said wagging a finger towards Raimundo. Rai annoyed, opened his eyes and rolled them with a sigh and sat up on the step.

"I think you mean dancing with two left feet, Omi," Kimiko called over to them on the stairs.

"Either saying is accurate to how you move," Clay stated standing up and walking over to the stairs and sitting down. Rai looked at them both with irritation growing in him.

"Excuse me? This is the Dragon of the Wind you're talking about. Of course I can move," Rai said defensively back to his friends.

"Yeah, you can move," Kimiko said from behind Rai with her laptop in hands. "Move aside and let me sit down." Clay and Omi chuckled slightly at her pun. Rai stood up in a huff and walked down the small length of stairs to the grounds of the training yard. Kimiko sat down in his former spot on the top step placing her laptop back on the tops of her legs. Rai groaned as he stepped further away from the stairs and stopped a few feet away with his back to his fellow monks. Kimiko noticed he wasn't just annoyed now, he was slouched over with his fists clenched slightly but she could tell he was mad about what they said. Kimiko respected Raimundo too much to not try to apologize. "Rai?" Kimiko tried to get his attention back. He turned to look over his shoulder at her with a blank expression on his face but irritation in his emerald eyes. "Rai, we were just joking," she said tilting her laptop scene down half way. "You are the Dragon of the Wind, if you can't move then the air itself may as well have no breeze at all," He smirked brightly at this compliment and she smiled back knowing he wasn't mad anymore. At least until the other two started talking again.

"I'm sorry too Rai, in a fight you're faster then a Kansas tornado. But I've see you square dance partner, and those kinds of moves are just sad," Clay stated at first to apologize but quickly turned into another tease. Omi giggled at this comment as Rai's fetchers shifted back to frustration.

"Oh, so now you're saying I can't dance?!" Raimundo hollered louder then necessary to get the monk's full attention. All three of them looked at their leader with shock that he was raising his voice like that. Rai turned his head away quickly, feeling shame for blowing this out of proportion.

"Can you dance Rai?" Kimiko asked with growing interest and curiosity. Rai looked back at them, took a deep breath and walked back over to the first stair. Before Kimiko could protest or react at all, Raimundo snatched her laptop out of her grasp, sat down on the bottom step and started typing something into the search bar. "Rai, what are you…"

"Just watch," Rai cuts her off and clicks the play button to a video titled 'Rio de Janeiro New Year's, Young Persons Dance Competition.' The three monks all leaned in to see the screen better. The video showed a big stage with a purple curtain draped across it, and suddenly a faceless announcer's heavy accented voice came on.

"And now, dancing the Salsa, all the way from the great state of Sao Paulo, Franciscka Barros, and her partner, local of Rio, Raimundo Pedrosa!" The three monks gave small gasps as they heard the name of their leader and the purple curtain rose to revile a younger Rai on stage with a girl roughly his age in a sparkly dress. Kimiko gave Rai a quick look but his attention was only on the clip. As music started to play from the laptop, Kimiko looked back to the screen and watched as the two tweens danced.

As all four monks watched, the Dragons of Earth, Water, and Fire never blinked. Rai's movements were not only breathtakingly pleasing to the eye, but they looked so natural. He danced like his bones and flesh were light air under his skin, but at the same time he was strong and locked with his partner amazingly well. The girl named Franciscka was wonderful too. Her presence and form on stage held not only beauty, but also showed experience and refinement. She and Raimundo dominated that stage like they owned it. They ruled over the stage with their Salsa.

But as Kimiko watched their dance grow more intense and Rai and his hands moved more and more all over his partner, she felt a sting of jealously burn in the sides of her mind. Kimiko realized this and shook her head to snap it out of her. 'Why should I feel jealous?' she though. 'Just because some over glittered, toe-tapping tramp is throwing her self all over Rai with no objections from him?' Kimiko realized what she just asked herself and sighed in her mind. 'Their doing a Salsa, of course they're supposed to be touching each other like that. And how could you call that girl a tramp? You don't know her,' Kimiko badgered herself. 'So why am a still upset?'

Kimiko was pulled back from her thoughts as their dance concluded with a one arm spin and dip. The giant audience in the video erupted in applause as Raimundo and Franciscka stood tall center stage with their fingers intertwined with each others held high above their heads and they both took a bow. As they raised their heads, the screen showed their huge grins as the video's time ran out. Raimundo immediately slapped the laptop closed and turned where he sat to put it back in Kimiko's hands. He immediately got back to his feet with his arms crossed and stared at his dumbfounded friends for a few seconds.

"I accept my apologizes verbally spoken or in writing," he stated darkly with a bit of sarcastic pride buried deep but with a light frown. The other three monks looked at each other still shocked for a few seconds more, then Clay gave a big grin, stood up and started to clap loudly. Omi then looked back to Raimundo, stood and began to clap as well. Kimiko giggled, placed her laptop on the porch, stood and also began to clap. Raimundo unfolded his arms and just stared at his friends applauding him. Clay even also gave a two fingered whistle between his clapping. Rai could see what they were trying to say and smiled. He then stuck his right hand to his lower back and raised his left arm high above his head, and bowed with a dramatic flutter of his hand. "Please, you're too kind," Rai said sarcastically flattered as he raised his head back up. As their clapping slowly died down they sat back on the stairs.

"Dang Rai, that was something else," Clay said in a laugh.

"Yes Raimundo, I never thought I would see anything quite as beautiful as ti chi, but still that was a most impressive display," Omi said very excited at this new style. "But what was the point of those moves if you were not fighting that girl?" Omi asked Raimundo curiously and confused.

"It was a dance contest Omi, not a sparring competition," Raimundo explained. "The point is to show off your skills with the person you're on the stage with. Our opponents were the other pairs of dancers not on stage with us. Each pair goes on one at a time while being judged by a few people with professional experience and compares all the dancers to each other to see who's the best and pick winners." Omi still looked puzzled.

"But what were you all being judged on exactly?"

"How we moved, how we and our partner moved together, and how well we did the type of dance we were doing," he replied.

"You mean there are many other different types of those dances that exist?" Omi asked getting more intrigued.

"Yeah, like all those different fighting moves we all learned from Master Fung." Omi smiled still fascinated. Now it was Clay and Kimiko's turn to ask questions.

"So, now that Omi knows what a dance competition is," Kimiko began.

"Maybe you could shed a bit more light on why you were in one?" Clay finished. Raimundo sighed lightly. He knew if he showed them that clip they would want the whole story.

"It was five years ago, only a few months before I left to come here to China," he began as he sat on the ground of the training yard in front of the stairs. "I knew I liked to dance with my friends on the streets, but I was never taught any of those real dances. I heard about the contest but didn't think much of it. I knew those contests wanted to see real dances not free-stylers. Then I met Franciscka. She was in town for the contest and she was looking for a partner. She saw potential in me, taught me how to Salsa and a few other dances for fun, and we were good to go," Rai smiled remembering his old friend. Kimiko noticed this look and some of the sting came back. Clay's outburst distracted her from it for a second.

"Did you guys win?" Clay asked with anticipation. Raimundo gave a weak smile.

"We placed for third. A small bronze trophy and…" Raimundo hesitated for a second before continuing. Kimiko noticed this. "…$2,500 in prize money."

"Rai, that's awesome. Third place out of all those other great dancers and $2,500," Kimiko trying to reassure him after noticing his ashamed look.

"There were only 11 groups. And they only gave trophies and cash prizes to the top three pairs. Second was $5,000, and first was $10,000. And Franciscka and I only got moved up to third place because there was a disqualification," he replied still speaking like something was bothering him a bit. "And I wouldn't have had a chance without Franciscka."

"Did you two stay in touch after that day?" Clay asked.

"After she went back to Sao Paulo, we exchanged e-mails for a couple of months, but I had to tell her I couldn't message her too much anymore because I was leaving Brazil," Rai said, still with disappointment somewhere in his voice. Why did he seem so down? Kimiko wanted to know.