~ Chapter One: A Graceful Gazelle and a Fierce Lioness ~
"Wow! How did Kimiko do that?" Omi tugs the golden-trimmed sleeve belonging to Raimundo's robe. His onyx eyes are engrossed with the Fire Dragon's movements that units a gazelle's grace and lion's fierce pounce.
"Pfft, she's a girl. It's not that impressive." Raimundo jerks himself loose. He illustrates his comment with a quick eyeroll. Omi stumbles backwards; his weight displaces between two different bamboo shoots.
"But-but I've never seen marital arts like that before!" Omi's arms flail on either side of him.
"I reckon' he's right." A heavy hand against his shoulder, Clay stabilizes the Water's Dragon, permitting him to shift himself back onto a single shoot.
"Thank you, my friend."
"No problem, Lil Buddy." Clay glides his fingertips across his hat's rim. "Rai's got a point, though."
"About what?" A question mark flutters above Omi; his pencil-thin eyebrows knit together.
"'Bout Kimiko." Clay answers around a low sigh and above Raimundo's vocalized annoyance, exemplified through another eyeroll and simultaneous facepalm.
"It's not martial arts, Omi. She's just combining stupid dance moves with her martial arts skills."
"I wouldn't call 'em stupid, Rai, but it's definitely girly."
"I'm not deaf!" Eyes – onyx, jade, and topaz – encounter the hard and emblazed Fire Dragon's sapphire glower. Kimiko props her fist against her hips, sparing the males a look only females can muster.
"You look very much alive to me."
"Deaf, Omi, deaf, not death." Kimiko facepalms. "You know, just…whatever. If you guys are gonna talk about me, then at least have the decency to do it behind my back."
"Ah, we're just playin' around, 'Lil Missy. No harm meant."
"Not everyone is 'playing' here, Clay." Her eyes flicker between the Dragons of Wind and Water. Raimundo shrugs; a smirk emerges as his eyebrows worm across his forehead. Omi glares skyward; his thought pattern dictates his facial expressions. Kimiko forces an audible sigh.
"What is the trouble, Young Ones?"
"No trouble, Master Fung." Clay calls back. "We're just waiting for Kimiko to throw the ball." Crimson colors the girl's cheeks and ears, while her jaw throbs from clenching.
"Kimiko cheated!" Omi says, pointing an accusatory finger. "We are supposed to use our martial arts. She should have dropped the ball if not for her dance, so she should receive punishment!" Punishment meaning chores. After concluding sunrise meditation alongside the Temple Monks, Master Fung proposed a challenge for his student. While hurling a hundred-and-fifty plus pound steel ball at one another and climbing across the displaced bamboo shoots, the goal is keeping the ball from touching the ground. If the ball remains upright, the apprentices are excused from their evening chores, allotting them rare free-time. However, if the ball is dropped before the allotted three-hour time limit, all four apprentices are assigned extra chores. The Dragon responsible for the ball's disappearance from play receives the other three apprentices' chore list for the coming month.
"Shut up, Chrome-Dome." Raimundo slaps Omi upside the head. "If Master Fung punishes her now, we can't finish the training session, and we all have extra chores."
"I guess that's true, Partner, but seein' as Kim's gotta do our chores for a whole month. Seems like a mighty fine payoff to me."
"Yeah, but Master Fung could give us a month's worth of chores to complete in a week."
"I suppose your right, Rai."
"That's why he's leader." Omi chirps, while his shoulders slump forward. "Either way," His chest swells. "Kimiko cheat–" Obsidian streaks across the sceneries duller color-scheme, and the steel ball collides with Omi, propelling him back. Utilizing several, instinctually-calculated steps, he secures his footing.
"You. Boys. Need. To! Shut! UP!" Kimiko's arm falls against her side, fists and jaw gritted. Her pride will not stand for the Water, Wind, and Earth's ignorance or insults. She may reap a month's work of chores, condensed into one week, but the boys will burn alongside her.
Kimiko clicks her tongue as Omi pulls himself upright rather than toppling towards the Earth. Although Clay's balance is poor compared with any of the other three Dragons, his solid stature and "Texas-size butt," as Raimundo eloquently remarks, would hold against Kimiko's meager strength. In comparison, Raimundo is more agile and heavier than Omi. Kimiko may catch him off-guard, but he could better defend himself than the smallest monk, or so Kimiko assumed. Her rage miscalculated Omi's "Tiger Instinct."
Swinging himself around, Omi launches the ball back. However, unlike Kimiko, he is only
throwing rather than aiming or calculating. Clay teeters over the bamboo shoots edge. He tosses the ball upwards before disappearing. Raimundo stumbles forward and just catching it with his fingertips. The remaining three Xiaolin wince as both the ground and bamboo shoots tremble beneath their feet when their fourth companion contacts the ground below sightline.
"Well, it appears that Clay, our friend, has lost." Omi hangs his head.
"Uh-uh. Master Fung said the person who drops the ball gets chores for a month. Besides, it ain't over yet."
Kimiko swallows. Clay really was "playing" around before. And, while he believes almost any crap about females Raimundo or his idiotic book feeds his moldable mind, Omi would never agree to ganging up on her for the sake of a day. However, Raimundo is different. The Wind Dragon is always cocky and stubborn, or "free-spirited" as he describes himself. Since accepting his leadership position, though, Rai has changed. No one disagrees that Raimundo is more than capable as leader. Yet, he never backs away from a challenge, either subtle or brazen, because he views it as a form of insubordination.
"Are you ready for this, Kim? Cause you'll be doing my chores for the next month." As a response formulates on her lips, Raimundo hurtles the ball.
From below, Clay glances towards the elder Xiaolin. "Don't ya think this is goin' too far, Master Fung?"
"Just watch, Young One."
From above, Kimiko smirks. With her rage quieted, her intellect directs her movements and guides her instincts.
"Judolette Flip Fire!" Kimiko back-handsprings across the bamboo shoots, gaining momentum. Fire cumulates in compressed ringlets around her ankles and wrists. Manipulating the rings against her ankles, she thrusts herself into the ball's purposed trajectory and dances across the air; crimson streaks outline her composition. Hovering above Raimundo, Kimiko reels her arm, ball in hand, back with the compressed fire ringlets swirling against her wrists. Her leader contends with only two options: catch the ball and plummet towards the ground or avoid it. His pride prevents him from evading it. "Prepare to eat your wor – AGH!"
A scream, clawing insider her throat, displaces her words as a jot rushes along her spine and ebbs throughout her entire being, Searing, comparative with a white-hot sensation, pain burns along her forearm into her fingertips. As tear cumulate and sweat beads, Kimiko's vision wavers until her consciousness surrenders itself into the black void. However, even in her unconscious state, pain lingers within flooding dreams.
Kimiko plunges towards the Earth's surface. The steel ball trails dangerously close behind her.
"Kimiko!" Raimundo, Omi, and Clay pounce.
"Shoku Astro Wind!"
"Wudai Neptune Water!"
"Wudai Crater Earth!"
The Wind, the Water, and the Earth propel into the sky. Wind decreases the Fire and steel ball's oncoming decent. Earth deflects the steel ball from crushing the Fire in its direct cadence. Water collects the Fire herself.
Ground swaying and vision blurred, Kimiko peers into the surrounding faces.
"What happened?"
"Are you alright, Lil Missy?"
"Did you strain yourself, my friend?"
"Wha-what?" Kimiko thrusts her palm against her eye, willing away the lingering nausea.
"Are you hurt in anyway, Kimiko?"
"No, I think I'm alright. What happened?"
"You fell."
"I get that much, Omi. Ah!"
"Sorry, Lil Missy."
"I-it's fine, Clay. Just don't touch my wrist. Seriously, though, what happened to me?"
"That's what we wanted to ask you." Master Fung says, utilizing an imploring tone.
"I don't know. I was about to kick Raimundo's butt when – my wrist!" Kimiko's exclamation startles the other three Dragons into retreating an instinctive step.
"What about your wrist, Kimiko?"
"It-it started burning, searing actually, and a really weird mark appeared! Hey, it's gone."
"May I see?" Kimiko extends her hand on Master Fung's request. She hisses as he strokes the tender flesh but refrains from withdrawing. "It appears alright to me. Perhaps, you were not ready to utilize the Judolette Flip in such a manner?"
"No!" Kimiko reels her wrist back. "There was a mark! I'm sure of it!"
"You sure it ain't just lightening?" Clay ponders. All eyes divert towards the approaching storm, lightening streaking in rapid succession.
"I'm positive."
"Could be pretending too." Raimundo shrugs.
"What?"
"Explain yourself, Raimundo." Master Fung commands.
"I'm just saying, maybe Kim couldn't control her whole twirl in the air, using fancy footwork, whatever."
"So, she just fell?" Omi asks.
"We'd feel sorry enough for her, 'specially if she hurt herself, that she wouldn't have to do any chores."
"I wouldn't pull dirty, underhanded tricks like you, Rai."
"I reckon' she's got a point."
"Whatever. Kim still dropped the ball, meaning she's gotta do our chores for a week."
"And you, Clay, and Omi have extra chores this coming week."
"What?" All three boys exclaimed, bickering over one another until the Master raised a single hand. Immediate silence follows.
"I was listening the entire training session, remember? This exercise was meant for building teamwork, not criticize Kimiko's gender or ingenuity. Omi, Kimiko mixing her dance abilities with her martial arts is not cheating. Rather, it may confuse the enemy or give her advantage as it did with the ball."
"But-but, she used her element!"
"I never specified that you could or could not use elemental powers." Master Fung shakes his head. "That's beside the point. You succeed as a team or you fail as a team. The little tidbit about one person doing everyone else's chores for a month was to implement temptation. See if you could work past your differences. Apparently, everyone still has much to learn." He directs his glare onto Raimundo. "Especially, our leader. Young Ones, why are you here?" Question marks flint above the apprentices' heads.
"Because you told us to train?" Omi supplies.
"No, Omi. Why do you fight? Why do you train? Why do you search for Sheng Gong Wu at your own peril with little reward?"
"Master, saving the world is its own reward."
"Well said, but do you believe it?"
"Master?"
"Omi, if no one recognizes you as the 'Mightiest Xiaolin Warrior,'" Omi blushes fierce underneath his companions' glare. "If you never appear alongside Master Dashi in the history scrolls, would you still fight?" Omi hesitates. Master Fung moves down the line. "If you weren't obeying your father, would you still fight?" Clay shrugs. "If being Xiaolin made you 'uncool,' would you still fight?" Raimundo ducks his head. Finally, he fixates his challenging glare onto Kimiko. "If the men dominate over you, undermining everything you do and say, would you still fight."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I have people that I want to protect."
"I agree with Kimiko."
"I reckon she's right."
"Yeah, what she said."
Master Fung winks at the Fire Dragon. "Well put, Young Ones."
"So, about the chores…?" Raimundo trails off. Master Fung sighs, while removing three toothbrushes from his inner sleeve and dividing them among the boys.
"Because Kimiko dropped the ball, she will complete your chores for the next coming month. However," a dangerous glint arises within the Master's eye as Clay, Omi, and Raimundo celebrate themselves. "For degrading your equal, you three have extra chores this week."
"So, um, Master what are these for?" Omi waves the toothbrush.
"Scrubbing the Grand Hall. I expect it spotless before midnight."
