AH! Okay that was an odd way to start, but my first Fan-fic on this site will be a Xiaolin Showdown one. I'm not sure if anyone reads much XS fanfics anymore but I started rewatching episodes of the original Xiaolin Showdown series in my spear time for childhood nostalgia and am falling in love with it all over again. I also decided to revisit an old Kimiko x Jack fanfiction I'd read on here years ago written by Kreepi Spicer called "In Jack's clutches." It's a really charming read so please check it out too, because of it here is this Jack x Kimiko fanfic. I hope you enjoy it, thanks :D
Quick A/N: This fanfic is set at the beginning of season 2, roughly sometime after the third episode: "The Shard of Lightning." So Raimundo is not yet a Xiaolin Apprentice and the warriors know that Wuya has returned and that she isn't with Jack.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Xiaolin Showdown series or it's characters.
His face is getting closer.
Kimiko...how the heck did it come down to this?
Why of all people is it him?
Why is Jack Spicer, the guy I once considered an enemy, a fool and a selfish coward going to be my first kiss?
And why... why right now is it him whom I so badly want it to be above anyone else...?
CHAPTER 1- THE LABYRINTH LOCK
"So, let me get this straight. This Labyrinth Lock sort of break dances open and makes other people want to join in? It gets street cred but isn't very threatening... still I get that over-exertion is a thing. "
Raimundo queried jokingly, prodding at the Shen Gong Wu scroll hanging loosely in his hand. The Labyrinth Lock in question was a newly activated Shen Gong Wu that took on the form of a large padlock.
"No, no …I mean yeah that's what it looks like from the moving image- sometimes I wonder how the scrolls come up with these..." Dojo remarked as he transported the young Xiaolin warriors through the chilly skies above the Norwegian highlands.
"Anyway," he continued, "the Labyrinth Lock does this thing where it, you know…spins and you fall inside… because it er… opened..."
"I see! So it traps another in a manner similar to that of the puzzle box that sealed Wuya?" Omi, who was seated in front of Raimundo, asked with a finger and thumb stroking the chin of his bulbous head.
"Well not exactly…I think, yes, there was something el-" Dojo began, but Omi, who had climbed closer to Dojo's head to hear him clearly over the roaring sound of a sudden chill wind cut him off,
"So how exactly does one open this Shen Gong Wu?"
"Well… like I said," Dojo answered loudly, "it spins and then BAM, WHOOSH, open and they're in…" Dojo sniffled uncomfortably enough that it didn't escape a perceptive Raimundo who often waited for any opportunity to laugh.
"Of all the Shen Gong Wu descriptions you've ever given Dojo, that, by far was the best. Excellente man." he clapped slowly, his voice thick with sarcasm.
"But that did not sound very informative, on the contrary I am now even more confused. Why does it go BAM and WHOOSH?" Omi raised his eyebrows puzzled by Raimundo's praise.
"Ha ha, fine I don't remember okay? Look you two, I'm tired. This was a long trip and we've been in the air and on the look out for ages- not to mention I'm getting older." Dojo groaned defensively
"Heh, "getting"" Raimundo snickered nudging Clay, who was behind him, lightly in the gut. Clay had a wide smile slapped on his face.
"Oh shut it. Glad to see you still have so much youthful energy." Dojo moped in response. " Back in the day there were some weird Shen Gong Wu Dashi kept the details for under wraps, that or the incidents related to them were so embarrassing that I forced myself to forget."
"Or you're just old," Raimundo offered teasingly. He turned to Clay for approval but Clay's face was still frozen in the same huge grin.
"Dude, what's up with you?"
"Can't…talk…stuck…air…cold." Clay managed to mumble out through the side of his mouth.
"Dojo, we almost there? This cowboy needs to get his butt back into some Texas-styled heat." Raimundo rubbed his palms together and blew hot air into them, then directed them towards Clay playfully imitating a heater.
"Oh yes, let us quickly find the Labyrinth Lock so that we may warm Clay's behind." Omi responded innocently.
"We're really close this time, I'm lowering altitude now."
" You said that ten times already and what the heck is a Labyrinth anyway?" The long journey was getting to them all.
Kimiko who was sitting at Dojo's tail end had been tiredly letting the others' small talk slide through her ears, but she perked up at Raimundo's question- when the chance came to consult her PDA she'd take it. She had installed a unique Encyclopedia app that gave a background to everything without needing Wifi.
"Pickypedia says," she began informatively in a voice that was mature for her fourteen years, her heart-shaped face lightly aglow from the blue light that the PDA emitted. "A Labyrinth is a complicated structure, much like a maze, made specifically to have one lost in it. But, it also says, in some legends that a Labyrinth reveals one's unmasked self or even leads them towards their true... holy cow!"
"...Towards their true holy cow?" Raimundo and Omi gawked at her over Clay's iced-over shoulder.
"Not that, look guys, it's gorgeous!" Kimiko pointed towards the scene ahead of her:
A grand meandering fjord with crisp waters of a cornflower blue surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains. Hanging majestically high above the fjord was a long rock plateau that seemed to catch the sunlight on it's surface as they observed it.
"Yes, it is truly magnificent!" Omi's eyes expanded to five times their size.
"It's kinda ominous though." Raimundo said in a dark tone aimed to cancel out their opinions.
"Really? Seems more romantic that eerie." Kimiko mused.
"Yeah you're so right, if you're looking to make your lover take a nose dive off the cliff instead of just calling it quits." Raimundo smirked at her as she frowned.
"Ah, Pulpit Rock- I hear it's a great attraction for film-makers. The Labyrinth Lock has got to be somewhere around here, let's hope we don't run into any camera crew while we're at it." Dojo commented as he circled the area.
"That wouldn't be half as bad as a Jack Spicer." Kimiko croaked out cringing.
She didn't have too many people on her dislike list, but, the self-proclaimed, self-centered, whiny evil boy genius Jack Spicer was one of them. Sure he'd helped them out two months ago with a time-machine when Omi needed to travel to the past, sure, he was talented with his tech but he'd made it very clear that it was all for his own "future world dominating" gain.
Would it kill him to think of someone other than himself? Probably, because he'd revealed to them time and again that he'd ally with and betray anyone once it pushed him to the top.
"Hey Kim…?"
Kimiko bit down on her lip as she thought. She had once on a slow day happened to fleetingly wonder (very minutely) why it was that Jack wanted to rule the world? Simply for the sake of living up to his "evil" title? Did he think that winning at evil was a contest- that it wouldn't also involve messing up others' lives?
"Yo Kim-i-ko…!"
Well one thing's for certain, Kimiko deliberated, Jack wore all of what he was on his grimy overcoat sleeves and they could be summed up in one word: "jerk."
"Ring ring, calling Kimiko, hello!?"
"Huh? What is it Raimundo?" She asked a little sharply. His singsong voice had tugged her out of her angry thoughts.
"You okay, sleepy?" He appeared concerned.
"Mm?" She mumbled distractedly.
"You spaced out for a while there girl. I was trying to tell you not to jinx it by mentioning Spicer and asked what Wu you got on you?"
"Oh…yeah?" She responded, her tone softening, "Sorry Rai- along with the Star Hanabi I've got the Lotus Twister."
Damn did I let my mind stumble on Jack for that long ?…Never again!
Raimundo stared at her - the caring light in his eyes was snuffed out by a mischievous glint poised to stir trouble.
"Were you planning up some date ideas for this "romantic" location?"
"WHAT, NO!" she blurted ferociously. "With him? Not in this universe or any other!" Raimundo raised his eyebrows stunned by her reaction. Omi peered over the top of his shoulder curious. Kimiko fumed.
"Woo wee it sure is one hell of a sight."
"Heh...Glad to see you finally melted Clay." Raimundo chuckled ignoring or maybe just trying to steer the attention away from Kimiko's random outburst.
Once she'd calmed down a bit she was able to ponder on the fact that it was nice having Raimundo back in their small group. Kimiko had initially been furious upon his teaming up with the Heylin side- a moment of prideful pettiness she would normally associate with a certain gothic jerk. She'd chosen to overlook the impatience and anger that had been slowly festering within him the days leading up to his betrayal- thinking that he'd be Raimundo- mull it over and then return to his care-free self, except, that hadn't happened. However, when he re-captured Wuya, re-grouped with the Xiaolin warriors and apologised she forgave him instantly, missing that sense of normalcy he'd brought to their crazy abnormal life.
In Raimundo's short absence they'd had Jack. Things had been too hectic, too wild, too chaotic for her to have studied any effects Jack had had on their dynamic. He'd floundered around. They asked him to be helpful. He screwed that up. She'd gotten mad. The one positive thing that she could currently strain from her memory was the look he wore when Omi asked him to stay. He understood the concept of pity at the very least.
She grumbled,
What's my problem!?
She was thinking about Spicer again- this trip needed to end. Still, there was still a plus side to the long day- she got to see that view.
When Kimiko had heard they were going to Norway- somewhere she'd always wanted to visit, she decided to dress for the occasion. Her hair was it's natural black, parted to the side and in one low, wavy braid that reached to the middle of her back. She'd accented it with hair clips on both sides shaped like angel wings and of a glistening silver. She had on a black long-sleeved cheesecloth, v-neck shirt with a maroon coloured, leather, warrior styled waistcoat. Her Culottes pants were also maroon and accessorized with a large silver-coloured belt. To top off the ensemble she wore a medium grey, fur-lined coat that just about stopped at the top of her tall, black, strappy leather boots.
Before her mom had passed away she had always used to dress up her and her sister in fantastical clothes to their amusement, so Kimiko had continued the trend which she enjoyed to hype her up for their quests. Not to mention she always had unlimited access to several fashions.
"Wait, stop Dojo! I think I spotted something out of the top of my irises."
"That's "the corner of my eye" partner."
"Correct!"
They landed on a pathway that lead towards Pulpit rock and Dojo shrank to his original size.
"Omi's right, what's that shining thing over there ?" Kimiko had seen something hanging loosely from a branch that seemed to be stuck in the rock face just beneath the cliff's edge. The glow of the mid-afternoon sun bounced off its surface.
Dojo suddenly whipped on a magnifying monocle to inspect what it was before they made their way over.
"Yep that's got to be the Labyrinth Lock. I can see it…and feel it." he shuddered dramatically.
The warriors ran swiftly towards the cliff's edge when nearby they heard a dismally familiar buzzing noise.
" You jinxed it Kim." Raimundo commented flatly. They assumed a wary fighting stance as a smug Jack Spicer and ten of his Jack bots hovered before them.
"Well, welly well it's the Xiaolin failures looking all washed out," he'd noticed the bags under their eyes and their half-frozen cowboy. " You're more than outmatched, the way I see it I got this Wu locked! Ha, get it? Locked?" Jack cackled wildly at his sad attempt at a joke.
"Spicer, your jokes are as flat as Daddy's farmland after harvest day and I'd say you're looking more pathetic than before without that old ghost hag on your shoulder… which is saying something." Clay taunted gaining back his fire.
"Shut it meat face… I don't need Wuya on my side with these new beauties," he gestured with his thumb at the Jack bots. "I got here fine on my own." He scratched at his nose, Kimiko could tell he was obviously pouting.
"What happened to your devious doppleganger?" She scowled, knowing that just one Jack in their lives was more than enough.
"Seems like even you weren't on your own side..." Raimundo smiled at her and shrugged at Jack in mock concern.
"Stuff it Douche-mundo, Robo Jack was acting up, what can I say- he's me, but I blame the added hormones chip. He needs a bit of tweaking to reach this perfection. " Jack pointed to himself with two pale, crooked fingers. "Enough wasting my time. Ultimate Jack bots attack!" Jack ordered loudly before they could contribute to any more insults.
Kimiko rocketed into the air with her signature move "Judolette flip" and easily took out a share of three "ultimate" Jack bots with streams of blazing fire.
"Allow me to make up for that jinx!" Kimiko addressed Raimundo as she darted towards where the Lock was beneath the cliff.
She was still disturbed that she'd had Jack in her thoughts for even a second.
Jack himself was already heading towards the direction of the Labyrinth Lock on his helipack whilst the others had just finished destroying the Jackbots that came at them…well except for Raimundo who yelled and sent two flying off the side of the cliff moments after there's.
"Knock yourself out girl!" he called back at her, a little out of breath. Normally these bots were a cinch for them to destroy but with sleep deprivation thrown in, they were just a tiny bit more meddlesome. Like having to swat a mosquito instead of a fly.
"You see, if Raimundo was at Xiaolin Apprentice level he would have also defeated these simple enemies very quickly."
"Omi, don't you dare start with that again!" Raimundo and Omi bantered away- but to a focused Kimiko it became background noise.
"LOTUS TWISTER!" She cried out and stretched one long arm to grab onto the cliff's edge, leaped into the air and swung fearlessly out into the open above the fjord's water that was miles below. She took a grab with her free hand for the Lock just as Jack reached for it, but, seeing her lunging explosively in his direction startled him and he clumsily flung backwards on his helipack. The push of his retreat was so forceful that one of his lanky legs accidentally kicked at the branch that the Lock was dangling from and sent the Shen Gong Wu propelling downwards.
Oh crap.. Kimiko internally cried.
She extended her reach with the Lotus Twister to as far as it would take her whilst Jack twisted in mid air above her and dove for the Shen Gong Wu as it fell. She managed to grab hold of the large padlock's body at the exact moment as Jack took hold of its shank. She let her Lotus Twister-ed arm that was clutching at the cliff go so that she could grab onto the large Labyrinth Lock with both hands.
She relied on the pull of Jack's helipack and the powers tied to a Xiaolin Showdown to keep her afloat.
She was right to.
She and Jack hovered in mid-air holding onto the now illuminated Shen Gong Wu with their eyes locked in a challenge- hers a sky blue and defiant and his a taunting but cautious crimson red. Their bodies were angled opposite each other at almost 180° as if they were para-diving.
Kimiko was just about to shout it out when a triumphant Jack beat her too it.
"I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown! My lovely Kimiko- " she flinched at the word "my."
"When was the last time we Showdown-ed again?" He grinned baring all of his teeth.
"That time I beat you! Remember? You fell off a cliff sort of like this one and onto your face just like normal- like the loser you are- which is always."
"Really easy with words aren't you? That's why you're still my favourite." Jack breathed, his tone condescending. His voice was gravelly, openly amused and often started in a high cadence, to Kimiko it sounded like it was only just breaking. He was such a creep with his cheesy "smooth talk" but a big cry baby when it came to the actual fight.
"Just shut up and name the game Spicer."
"Play nice…whatever. The game is Hang gliding- the Lock will continuously fall until one of us is able to catch it on gliders. Think of it like flying a broomstick and catching the Golden Snitch"
"You're stupid, but fine. Let's go Xiaolin Showdown!"
"GONG YI TAN PAI!" Kimiko and Jack roared in unison.
Up on land the other Xiaolin warriors were watching them and shouting their support for Kimiko.
Dojo on the other hand began to pace.
"No… there's something…what is it? Labyrinth Lock…Labyrinth Lock…GAHH!" Dojo suddenly exclaimed.
"What's wrong, what is it Dojo? Clay asked concerned.
"I remembered, Oh no… this is bad…so bad! Kimiko let go of that Shen Gong Wu, you weren't supposed to touch it at the same time!" Dojo panicked as he dashed closer to the edge of the cliff yelling.
"Dude are you crazy? If she let's go now she'll fall!" Raimundo berated, animatedly.
"Not to mention we forfeit the Xiaolin Showdown." Omi added confused by Dojo's lack of fighting spirit.
"Trust me," Dojo said loudly, addressing mainly Kimiko and Jack. "It's a much better alternative, let that thing go Kimiko, I'l just catch you! This Wu isnt your average Wu!"
Kimiko had already sensed something was off when they grabbed hold of the lock but Dojo's words just served to confirm her suspicions.
"Okay…correct me if I'm wrong here but when we shout Gong Yi Tan Pai doesn't the whole place start changing up all wonky and crap and we get into the game? So tell me why that isn't happening right now?" Jack said shakily and his voice grew shakier with each word. Only it wasn't Jack's voice that was shaking but the Lock had started to violently vibrate.
"Stop doing that idiot!" Kimiko cried once she realized she was unable to let go.
"It's not me, are you making it do this…? You… crazy rich Asian woman…I..I don't like this…mommy!" Jack started to wail his voice rising several octaves as they were rocked from left to right.
Kimiko growled loudly back "I'm not doing this either you jerk, it's got to be the Shen Gong Wu!" Her voice trembled with the movement.
There was a quick flash of light and the two of them were thrown higher into the air. The Labyrinth Lock, floating on its own, suddenly began to spin rapidly. The Shen Gong Wu had released them but was now pulling them inwards. Their helpless bodies orbited around it like they were being sucked into a vortex and were shrinking in size to fit.
Jack was swallowed by the lock first and the last thing Kimiko heard before she fell into darkness was the sound of her friends shouting her name.
A/N: I apologise for the Harry Potter- golden snitch and Crazy Rich Asians reference lines...I just couldn't help myself xD
Disclaimer: I own the rights to neither of the above references made.