Chapter 1
There it was.
Just at the bottom of this hill, in the middle of a valley, rested the famous Xiaolin Temple. Well, it was famous to anyone who practiced martial arts. She'd trained all her life for this moment. Well, not this moment… This was just the first step.
Hitomi Kurosawa was a sixteen-year-old girl from Tokyo, Japan. She stood at 165 centimeters with clear, ivory skin. Her long, dark brown hair was parted in the middle and pinned up by two, crystal chopsticks. Her almond-shaped, dark brown eyes were fixed in determination as she stared down at the grand temple.
She worried her pink, bottom lip shortly in nervous anticipation before releasing it. Could they help her here? Of course they could. She'd heard legends of the great Xiaolin monks who resided in this temple and protected the world from the forces of evil. Without another thought, she leapt down from the top of the hill and down onto the ground below. She landed gracefully without any flaws to her form. At once, she took off in a run towards the ivory and blue temple.
She ran through the thick forest while leaping over exposed tree roots and ducking under hanging branches and vines. Her short-sleeved, red kimono clung to her frame, while still providing enough freedom for her to move. The short kimono stopped mid-thigh and surely would have revealed her more intimate areas were it not for the black, fitted, knee-length tights that she wore underneath. Fallen leaves crunched under her black ballet flats as she passed over them.
Sooner than she had hoped, Hitomi stopped at the entrance to the Xiaolin Temple. With a deep breath, she approached the wide, stone arch. As she stepped on the temple grounds, she looked around once curiously. There was no one around. Surely one of the skilled masters of the temple had sensed her approach?
Suddenly, Hitomi heard the sound of a noticeably female voice yell rather loudly "Wait until I get my hands on you!" Hitomi frowned. She had thought that the Xiaolin Temple contained an entirely male population. Following the scream, the sound of something falling and shattering could be heard before a male voice exclaimed, "Kimiko did it!" Now more than confused, Hitomi decided to follow the voices further into the temple.
When Hitomi did spot someone, it had been a bald, elderly monk standing in blue and white robes with black pants poised before a group of teens with a small, green lizard on his shoulders. The teens consisted of three boys and a girl, all in red and white robes. The girl (who Hitomi guessed to be of Asian decent) was practically breathing fire at a taller, tan boy. The boy was smirking down at her in a cocky way with his arms folded over his chest. His robes were a slightly different color scheme from the others. The remaining boys were a tall, burly, blonde boy with blue eyes and a cowboy hat and an extremely short boy with a yellowish skin tone and round, bald head.
"Master Fung, it's all Raimundo's fault!" the girl seethed.
"Is this true Raimundo?" the elderly man questioned.
"Don't look at me. It was Omi who was going through Kimiko stuff," the tan boy shrugged with a grin that spoke of anything besides innocence.
"Omi?" Master Fung questioned in a dubious tone.
The short, bald boy balked. "Master Fung, I was simply looking for the scroll Kimiko was hiding in her possessions! It holds the key to perfecting the Flying Panda Eating Snow Cone!" Omi exclaimed. Hitomi raised a brow at that. The what?
"I think Rai was pulling yer leg there, lil buddy," the cowboy said softly and patted the indignant boy on his round head.
"What!? Raimundo, you tricked me! I cannot believe I let you pull the cotton over my eye sockets!" Omi exclaimed while glaring up at the taller boy. What?
"I think you mean, "pull the wool overyour eyes"," the Raimundo boy corrected with a grin. Hitomi nodded to herself. That made more sense.
"Same difference!" Omi yelled.
Up until this point, Hitomi had gone unnoticed by the group. It wasn't until the little green lizard looked back at her that she straightened expectantly. The green lizard tapped the older monk on his bald before directing his line of sight to her. When the monk known as Master Fung turned to her, she swallowed once. One by one, the others noticed her as well. "It appears that we have a guest. May I ask who you are young one?" Master Fung questioned.
This was her chance. Forget her nerves. If she wanted to be taken seriously as a warrior, she had to stand tall now. Squaring her shoulders, Hitomi prepared to speak, but she was cut off by the tanned boy. "A better question is, "Where have you been all my life, Beautiful?" the tanned boy said in his thick accent as he materialized next to her. He shot her a confident smirk and winked once flirtatiously.
"Probably hiding from you," the girl grumbled loud enough for everyone to hear. The boy didn't pay her any mind, however.
Hitomi sidestepped the boy in order to face the oldest monk. "Are you Master Fung?" she asked him with an urgent tone to her voice.
"Yes. What ails you, young one?" he questioned then, curious sympathy entering his voice.
"I came to you because I know you would be able to help point me in the right direction. My name is Kurosawa Hitomi. I believe you knew my mother, Naomi, quite well. Several decades ago, you taught her everything she knows about martial arts," Hitomi started.
The Master paused for a second before nodding once with a small smile. "Yes. I believe I am familiar with the person you speak of," he replied. Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief. She had been worried that he would not remember at all.
"Well, I don't remember her. I don't think we can trust this girl," the green lizard whispered not too quietly into Master Fung's ears.
"Please forgive Dojo. His paranoia is quite reasonable given our situation. We have made many allies only to find out that they were less than trustworthy," Master Fung explained. At these words, the other teen monks stepped forward to stand at their Master's sides.
Hitomi nodded once. "That is understandable. Please believe me when I say that I have no intention to betray nor harm any of you," Hitomi spoke honestly. She may not consider herself to be a Xiaolin warrior, but she was definitely not evil. She was somewhere in the middle. She wasn't above a little bit of rule breaking on occasion so she wasn't about to gain a halo anytime soon. That didn't mean that she couldn't tell right from wrong.
"Then how may we be of service to you?" Master Fung asked her with an accepting nod.
"I need to know where I can find Chase Young," Hitomi asked with a serious expression. The others balked at her bold statement before exchanging wary glances with each other.
~:~
"Correct me if I'm wrong here. But, Chase Young is an evil, strategic, mastermind who eats dragons for breakfast and is bent on taking over the world. And you want to find the creep?" the dragon known as Dojo Kanojo Cho asked Hitomi. He had made it quite clear that he was a dragon and being called a lizard was an insult.
They were all sitting at a small table inside the temple with cups of tea all around. Master Fung sipped from his tea quietly while the other monks watched Dojo slither around the table while making grand gestures with his arms. Suddenly the cowboy named Clay spoke up, "I don't think you know what yer askin' there, little lady. Chase Young is as bad as it gets," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone.
"Yes. Clay is most correct. A young female such as yourself could not possibly understand what you are asking," Omi dismissed with his nose held high as he sipped his tea. Hitomi shot the monk a sideways glare.
Kimiko rolled her eyes at Omi before speaking up, "Why do you want to find Chase Young anyways?"
Hitomi gripped her tea cup before frowning down at it. "Because he took my mother away from me," she answered in a hard tone. At this, everyone seat up straighter. Master Fung placed down his half-filled tea cup with a serious expression on his features. "It was about a decade ago. I was only six at the time. I lived with my mother in the village of Mihonoseki at the time. My mother was going to start instructing me in the art of martial arts. Not long after she started, we were visited by Chase Young out of the blue. He had said that he had heard of my mother's martial arts skills and wanted to test her prowess in battle. I was sure that my mother would have won. I was young. I didn't think anything of the consequences of her loss.
"But, she did lose. She put up a valiant effort. The battle went on for over a day before Chase caught the upper hand. He had the chance to end my mother's life, but instead spared her. He spared her so that she could join his ranks as one of his Fallen Warriors. Chase Young took my mother away from me and now I want to get her back," Hitomi finished in a hard tone. The others watched her with sympathetic and understanding looks, but said nothing. "Please tell me that you will help me."
"We've fought Chase before. He's not easy to beat," Raimundo offered up.
"You won't discourage me. I do not mean to insult any of you, but I have been training for this fight for many years," Hitomi went on.
"But Chase Young has been training for over fifteen hundred years," Kimiko reasoned.
"There's some truth to those words," Clay said in his Southern drawl.
"I'm not asking any of you to fight alongside me. I only want you to point me in the right direction," Hitomi urged.
"I must urge against this, Hitomi. I do not think your mother would want you to rush into battle. Not even on her behalf," Master Fung interjected kindly. Hitomi looked ready to argue once again, but held her tongue. She wasn't about to argue with a Master. With her jaw set, she glared down at her cool tea in frustration. "You are more than welcome to stay at the temple until you decide the best course of action," Master Fung finished before rising from the table. That was his final word on the situation.
Hitomi wanted to scream. She'd trained, pushed herself to her limits time and time again, travelled all the way out here, and they wouldn't even help her because they deemed her unready to face this challenge. No matter how upset she felt, she couldn't help but feel some doubt. Were they right? They had all faced Chase Young before where she had not. Maybe she was underestimating his skill or overestimating her own?
But what could she do? Master Fung had offered her stay in the temple. For so long, she'd provided herself with food, water, clothing, and shelter. After being orphaned at the tender age of six, she'd stayed with a family friend. They were a martial arts master like her mother, but nowhere near as competent. At thirteen, she'd gone out on her own in order to travel the world and hone her skills. So many years of training under different masters was going to waste.
Suddenly, Dojo let out a startled shout and convulsed on the table. He twisted and bended before starting to rake his claws over his scales. "Stop what you're doing!" he exclaimed.
"We weren't doing anything," Raimundo said dryly.
"I'm sensing a new Shen Gong Wu!" Dojo exclaimed.
"A new what?" Hitomi asked.
Dojo pulled a scroll seemingly out of nowhere before unrolling it and placing it on the table. Everyone leaned in to see what he was showing them. Hitomi's eyes widened at the sight of moving pictures surrounded by Chinese writing on the scroll. "The Genggai Gecko Shen Gong Wu is a very powerful Wu. It has the power to transform into any other She Gong Wu," Dojo explained.
"Any of the Wu?" Kimiko asked with wide eyes.
"I still don't understand what Shen Gong Wu are," Hitomi spoke up.
"It is to be expected. Shen Gong Wu are mystical objects that we, as Xiaolin Warriors, must fight for to keep them out of the hands of evil to maintain the balance of the world," Omi explained to her.
"So there's no time to lose. Let's get moving, kids," Dojo said as he slithered out of the room with the teen monks following him.
Once out in the courtyard, Hitomi hung back from the other monks. She watched as Dojo grew more than three times his size into a large dragon. The other monks leapt onto his back quickly with serious expressions on their faces. "Young monks!" Master Fung's voice called out suddenly. Before they could leave, Master Fung appeared. "Why don't you join them, Hitomi? I am sure that the monks would be more than grateful for the help."
"But Master Fung! We are Xiaolin Warriors! We do not need any help," Omi reasoned.
"Omi, wise is the one who readily accepts help when it is offered, despite one's capabilities," Master Fung chided softly. Hitomi raised a brow at the older man. Had he just made that up? She didn't have time to think about it as she was quickly whisked away on Dojo's back.
~:~
Hitomi looked down at the mountain peaks as they passed, barely holding in her lunch. Her hands and arms held onto Dojo's back for dear life as she wrapped her body around his form. 'Don't look down… Don't look down…'
"Hey! You alright back there?" Dojo called out. At the dragon's question, the four Xiaolin monks looked behind them.
"Yeah! Just great! I've always wanted to ride on the back of a dragon!" Hitomi called out with her eyes shut. Was the wind always so loud and cold?
"Look! It is Jack Spicer! He has come for another defeat," Omi exclaimed.
"In your dreams, loser!" a red-haired, pale boy in a black trench coat with a funny looking jetpack exclaimed. If Hitomi squinted hard enough, she could even see traces of eyeliner on the boy. "That Shen Gong Wu is mine!"
"He says that every time, but we still end up kicking his butt," Raimundo scoffed.
Dojo landed softly onto some grassy terrain then and allowed the teens to hop off his back. As soon as she was grounded, Hitomi quickly rushed into some nearby bushes and proceeded to empty her stomach. The others chose to ignore the sounds of her retches as they sprang into action.
"I don't think so. Jack-bots, attack!" Jack Spicer exclaimed before flying towards the shining, green, Gecko shaped Shen Gong Wu that rested in the middle of a grassy plain. Jack didn't look back as he heard the sounds of his bots being destroyed. With the press of a button, more easily appeared to take the place of the destroyed ones. It was his latest and greatest plan yet. Normally, those Xiaolin losers would tear through his bots like nothing. All he needed was bring enough bots to keep them busy long enough for him to escape with the Wu. Kind of like a Jack-bot shield. Jack grinned at his own genius. He wasn't an Evil Boy Genius for nothing…
"Jack's gonna get the Wu!" Kimiko exclaimed.
"Not if I can help it. Tornado Strike, Water!" Omi exclaimed before calling forth a wave of water to knock Jack off course. Not wasting any time, Omi leapt into the fray after Jack. The small warrior used the incoming bots and stepping stones as he propelled himself off of their heads.
Jack screamed loudly as the wave of water and Omi closed in on him. Before quickly pressing a red button on his jet pack. Suddenly, a blast of fire shot out of the back of his jet pack and collided with the water to quickly evaporate it. Omi halted in his movements when he spotted the incoming fire, and quickly dodged to the side. "Too late, losers! The Wu is mine!" Jack exclaimed as he reached out his pale fingers for the Wu.
Just as Jacks hand touched the green, inanimate gecko, another hand grabbed it as well. Jack looked up in confusion to see a pair of dark brown eyes glaring back at him. "What?" Jack questioned. Jack was about to say something else, but stopped when he saw how close he was to this new, pretty girl. She definitely wasn't a Xiaolin loser. Hitomi tried to pull the Wu away from him, but Jack objected loudly. "No fair! This Wu was mine!"
"Get over it!" Hitomi yelled back as she wrestled the Wu away from Jack.
"I'm not gonna let some nobody push me around. No matter how cute they are! I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown, uh… What's your name again?" Jack started.
"Hitomi has the Genggai Gecko," Omi remarked with wide eyes.
"Hey! I got to it first," Jack objected to the monks before rounding on Hitomi. "Like I was saying, Hitomi, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown. Winner gets the Genggai Gecko. I wager my Golden Tiger Claws against your… What Shen Gong Wu do you have anyways?"
"Those are not your Tiger Claws, Jack! You stole them from our vault!" Omi objected heatedly. Jack shrugged him off carelessly.
"I don't have any Shen Gong Wu," Hitomi frowned.
"What? You've got to be kidding me!" Jack exclaimed.
"Hold on a minute. Let me consult the rules here," Dojo interjected. Hitomi raised a brow. Was all of this really necessary? She had the thing in her hand! She could knock Jack out cold right now and go home! "The rules say that anything can be wagered in a Showdown that is of great value. This includes, but is not limited to, chi, Wu, or any magical artifact," Dojo read off from a book before removing a pair of reading glasses from the bridge of his snout.
"What about these?" Hitomi offered and removed her chopsticks from her hair. Her long tresses fell at once and she shook them out once, leaving all the males speechless. Kimiko rolled her eyes once. "These are a one of a kind pair of Wǔqì Chopsticks."
Dojo slithered closer to her while donning his glasses. He leaned in closely to inspect the chopsticks before nodding once. "Yep. Those are the real deal alright. Very nice. They count," Dojo declared.
"Fine. My Golden Tiger Claws against your Wǔqì Chopsticks. The game is a race across the field. First person to the Wu wins," Jack grinned a yellow-toothed grin. Hitomi recoiled from the boy in slight disgust. "Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!" Jack exclaimed.
Hitomi gasped as the earth began to rumble beneath her feet. Suddenly, the already large field grew to three times its size. She watched at the ground stretched and a tall pillar of rock rose from the ground on the opposite side of the field. On top of the pillar rested the Genggai Gecko. To her far right, the Xiaolin monks stood together in new, navy blue ninja-like outfits with their elements blazing on them. Jack stood at her right, looking ready to run across the flat grassy field towards the Wu. Suddenly, Jack yelled, "Gong Yi Tampai!"
Hitomi was only momentarily surprised when Jack took off running as quickly as he could. At the monks' cheers for her to go, Hitomi took off at once. Her face fixed in determination as she quickly caught up to Jack and passed him. "Hey! No fair!" Jack exclaimed before using his jet pack to take to the air.
Just as he did, an earthquake tore through the field, causing Hitomi to misstep and trip. She fell to the ground with a thud as the earth shook beneath her. At Jack's loud, obnoxious laughter overhead, Hitomi glared at his back. Pulling herself up quickly, she took off again. Just as she was about to catch up to Jack, another earthquake ravaged the field. Now prepared for the upset, Hitomi held her ground. "You may want to pick up the pace, Hitomi!" Jack sneered behind him.
Hitomi glared. 'Oh to hell with this,' she thought and gripped her chopsticks. Suddenly, the chopsticks glossed over before merging into one and lengthening into one, crystal archer's bow. To accommodate her, crystal arrows materialized in her hand just as she drew back on the bowstring.
"How'd she do that?" Omi asked with wide eyes.
"It's the Wǔqì Chopsticks," Dojo started. "They have the ability to shape shift into any weapon the user wants, like a bow."
The monks turned at the sound of Jack's scream to see the evildoer falling to the ground, his jet pack destroyed. The crystal arrows had pierced the pack and caused it to explode on his back. As Jack skidded to stop in the dirt, Hitomi quickly overtook him. Once again, the monks started cheering loudly.
"No way," Jack groaned and spat out some dirt and grass. "I'm not losing to some nobody. Golden Tiger Claws!"
Hitomi gasped when she no longer sensed Jacks presence on the field. She glanced behind her quickly before speeding up. However, in a second, she spotted Jack at the bottom of the rock pillar. He was laughing loudly while making faces at her. Growling lowly, Hitomi glared back. He was cheating! She'd tried to honor the Xiaolin Way and played fair and what did she get? Cheated.
Having her ire stoked, Hitomi quickly and literally leapt into action. She crossed the rest of the field almost instantaneously, her face fixed in concentration. With a battle cry, she raised her foot and leapt at Jack and the pillar. At the sight of Hitomi closing in, Jack let out another loud scream and crouched into a fetal position. The impact from her foot completely obliterated the pillar and sent Jack flying with yet another fear-filled scream. Hitomi landed gracefully in a crouch before standing. The Genggai Gecko fell into her waiting hands.
As if a switch had been flipped, the scenery changed once again. The field shrunk back to its normal size and the surroundings returned to normal. Hitomi stood grinning with the Golden Tiger Claws and Genggai Gecko as the monks ran up to her. They all congratulated her cheerfully while admiring her winnings.
"Way to go, girl," Raimundo congratulated her.
"I am most impressed. You fought very well," Omi praised.
Hitomi smiled and thanked them all before allowing them to take the Wu. After seeing these Shen Gong Wu in action, she was sure that she knew enough about them. Maybe they could help her find Chase? The Xiaolin monks were nice enough, but they had no way of knowing what she'd been through. She would only need to borrow one. She would give it back once her mission was completed and Chase Young had been defeated.
