Chapter 2: Glimpse
(A/N) Wow! Thank you guys and gals for the lovely reviews, alerts and favs. I'm glad I got a good response for the first chapter. Puts a smile on my face whenever I see someone likes my work. Hopefully you'll continue to enjoy the story as it progresses.
Anyways, I always give a big shout out for all those who took the time to review, so big special thank you to;
CrazyBitchair: Thanks for reviewing! And im glad ur enjoying it so far. I'll do my best to try and make the romance as realistic as possible so there may not be romance for a while :)
Guest: Thank you!
Guest: Aww thanks!
AnonymousDarkWriter: Thank you! I'm actually quite a big fan of your stories so its awesome getting a review from you! Thanks!
Finley: Thank you! I'm going to try and update my other stories soon, key word being try. I've just been really busy with college so I barely have time to write. Hopefully I'll have a chance to update this story some more and also 'Lucky or Unlucky?'
HappyTheDragon: Thanks! In the next chapter we'll get to see the AnaAna Anaimator at work and in this chapter you get a brief taste of what the Caves of Enlightenment are capable of.
Guest:Thank you!
Ann4ever17: Thanks for reviewing! I'm a big time klaroline shipper too! Love em to bits! I doubt I'll be able to pull off anything quite as epic as the klaroline relationship but I'm definitely going to give it my best shot at giving Chamiko that sort of relationship!
On another note, I had to cut down this chapter as it was getting way too long and would have taken even longer to write which meant longer to update, so the showdown will be in the next chapter: Mirror Madness. For anyone curious about when Kimiko and Chase will get sent to the reverse world it'll be in chapter three, possibly four.
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of the characters from the show or any other characters from other shows/movies mentioned.
"A person should try to understand dreams. A person should take warning from them."
Emily Wing Smith-Back When You Were Easier to Love
Dojo ripped through the sky, ploughing through the field of rainy clouds that lay before him. A strong wind blew in his face, causing his now wet mane to blow wildly behind him.
Clutching onto the scales on his back were the Xiaolin warriors whom braced themselves against the elements as they slashed against their skin.
"Oh man" Raimundo whined, wincing as the rain lashed down more heavily."Could this weather get any worse?"
"Don't tempt…" Dojo began but a flash of lightening lit up the sky in an electric blue light, followed with the crackle of thunder. "Fate" he muttered dryly with a sigh.
"Oh, how much longer till we get to Antarctica, Dojo?" Kimiko asked, tightly grasping onto her woolly hat to prevent it from blowing away. Her two pig tails that hung out from either side of her hat whipped around her face angrily. "I don't think my hair can take much more of this!"
"We should be there in another five or ten minutes" Dojo yelled behind him as he plunged through another cloud.
The warriors felt their stomachs drop as the dragon sharply descended before spiralling up higher into the clouds.
"Hold on kids, I'm gonna take us above the clouds so we can get out of this storm!"
"Why didn't ya do that in the first plate, ya Dojo!" Clay shouted, both hands clutching onto his hat as though his very life depended on it.
The need to shout stopped when Dojo broke through the stormy clouds. Everything seemed infinitely quieter up here, the only sound was the noise of the thundering clouds a fair distance below them. They all peered over Dojos sides and saw the thick sheet of grey clouds below flashing with the odd blue light of lightening. Up here, the sky was a darker blue than the baby blue they had grown accustomed to.
"Wow" Kimiko gasped, "How high into the atmosphere are we Dojo?"
Dojo tapped his talon off his chin in thought. "I'm pretty sure this is the stratosphere and by far the highest point we can get to before it becomes way too difficult for you guys to breath. We're pretty much border lining the mesosphere" Dojo said as he steered to the left. "Now you might find it's a bit tougher to breathe up here and start to feel a little light-headed but don't worry, we'll only be up here for a few minutes while I fly us over this storm. So just hold on till then."
Kimiko took a slow, deep breath. Now that Dojo mentioned it she realised it was getting quite difficult to breath. She could feel her eye lids getting heavier and a soft wave of tiredness threatening to envelope her.
'Don't go to sleep, Kimiko' she chided herself. They had a wu to find, sleep should be the furthest thing from her mind. And yet here it was, whispering sweet seductions of slumber to her conscious mind.
Perhaps it was just the effects of having lazed out in the sun all day finally kicking in. The strong heat, although it hadn't burned her or bothered her in anyway, seemed to have that effect on everyone causing them to feel dozy and sapped off energy.
A quick little nap before they arrived couldn't hurt, would it? After all, they had sometime before they arrived at the location of the wu. If anything a bit of shut eye may help her feel more energetic and alert. Really she knew it wouldn't and would instead leave her feeling groggy, but the appeal of sleep was far too tempting for Kimiko to not succumb to.
Besides, Omi would wake her up when they were nearly there.
Gently, she tucked her head into Dojos mane and allowed her eyes to gently drift shut, engulfing her vision into darkness.
The nightmare came again, only this time it was different.
For one thing, it didn't start in the middle of the graveyard. Instead it carried off from where it always left off, with her standing before the silver mirror with her darker self watching her intently. Another difference was it wasn't like an out of self experience she had grown accustomed to; it was almost like she was actually in the dream, but not in control of anything she was doing or seeing. She was watching everything through the eyes of her dream self. She was nothing more than a spectator trapped within her own dream.
She watched as the red of her sleeves came into vision as her hand gently placed itself upon the icy glass before her.
With an almost feline grace, the dark Kimiko rose her hand and pointed to something in the distance.
Curious, Kimiko felt herself turn. What she saw sent a rush of fear sweeping over her.
Two pairs of black eyes seemingly glowing in the snowy white mist, their owners nothing more than a dark blur of shadows standing between the silhouetted crooked trees and warped up roots.
When the dark figure didn't move, Kimiko found herself taking a cautious step forward against her will. All she really wanted to do was run, run far away and never look back. She wanted to get away from the strange mirror girl and away from the fathomless pair of black eyes; but her body was moving on its own accord.
As she drew closer, she started to be able to make out the figures… but it wasn't two people like she had first thought. Instead she could only make out one dark shape which meant that all four eyes must belong to only one being.
Something like Déjà vu swept through her. There was something… something about those eyes that seemed hauntingly familiar to her. The black eyes were filled with an almost childish mirth, a wild energy contained within them pricked at her memory once more.
Something inside her, something deep within her whispered urgently to her that she knew those eyes, that she had seen them before. But whose eyes were they?
Finally, when she was but a few feet away her body came to a stop.
A strong breeze suddenly stirred the air, blowing away the mist that cloaked the owner of the dark eyes. Squinting to make out the figure in the darkness, Kimiko began to take another step forward. She could almost make out the shape of-
A hand suddenly clamped down on Kimikos shoulder.
Inwardly Kimiko let out a scream as terror clutched at her heart. Struggling with all her will, Kimiko managed to slowly crane her head around. A barely audible gasp escaped her lips as came face to face with the owner of the hand on her shoulder.
It was dark Kimiko.
'She's out the mirror... She's out the mirror!' Kimiko's inner voice shrilled, barely being heard over the sound of her thundering heart.
Kimiko felt her eyes widen and her mouth go dry.
Never... in any of her dreams had her reflection broken out.
The glass had always served as a protection. An impenetrable barrier that separated the two girls. But now here they were, face to face, with dark Kimiko even breaking the touch barrier with her fingers digging harshly into Kimikos shoulder.
With a smirk, dark Kimiko titled her head, looking at Kimiko as someone would do an interesting toy. Then faster than she could register, the black clad warrior moved forward, grasping her arm and bending it painfully behind her back, forcing Kimiko to turn around and face where the creature in the mist had been lurking.
"Open your eyes" a voice, so much like hers that Kimiko almost believed she herself had said the words, whispered in her ear.
Wincing as her capturer twisted her arm harder, Kimiko obeyed.
Her eyes widened and her heart dropped.
"Sibini?"
"Kimiko, you must wake up! Dojo insists that it is bad for one to sleep at such high altitudes" Omi said as he roughly shook the sleeping girl awake.
With a start Kimiko shot up from Dojos mane, bumping into Omi who had been leaning over her to shout in her ear. The two butted heads and fell backwards with a yelp of pain.
"Owe!" Kimiko whined, rubbing her now aching head.
Omi lay flat on his back, little stars encircling his head as his eyes were replaced by swirls. Shaking his head, the little monk sat up and placed both hands on his head in an attempt to sooth the pain and cease the circling of the stars.
"Try and stay awake kiddo, we're almost there" Dojo called back.
"Ugh, thanks Dojo" Kimiko muttered, leaning backwards so her back was against Dojos mane. "How long have I been out?"
Omi removed his hands from his head and moved to sit crossed legged in front of Kimiko, his hands slipping into the sleeves of his robes. "I believe you were counting to the out for five or so minutes."
"You mean 'out for the count'" Kimiko corrected.
Little question marks of confusion popped around Omi's head as he thought over the correction of the saying. "I do not see how…"
The sound of Raimundo and Clays heated voices caught the other two warrior's attention, causing them to look over to where the other two boys were sitting, currently in a heated argument.
"And what's got them so riled up?" Kimiko asked with a quirked eyebrow as she watched steam hiss from Clays nostrils.
"Something or other, I am not too sure. I took the towel and threw it away as to trying to follow their foolish argument."
Kimiko blinked once, then twice.
"I think he means 'he threw in the towel'" Dojo suggested with a shrug to a confused Kimiko.
"Ah" Kimiko drawled. "That makes more sense."
"Besides, unlike some" Omi casted a disapproving glance at Raimundo whom somehow seemed to sense the other monks gaze and turned to look at him, "I am a disciplined warrior who is above such pitiful things as arguments."
"Excuse me?" Raimundo shouted in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me! All we ever do is argue…"
"No more arguments" Dojo cut in before the raging Raimundo could explode. "Don't make me come back there you two! You and Clay have already given me an aching headache with all your shouting."
"Well then tell cheese ball to, waah!" Raimundo let out a startled cry when Dojo nose-dived and spiralled down into the clouds.
The dragon of wind went flying backwards and barely managed to grab onto the scruff of Dojos tail. He clung to it for dear life, screaming all the while as the air rushed against his face.
"Hold on partner!" Clay shouted back to Raimundo, taking out his lasso. "But first things first. Admit that I was right and you were wrong!"
"What! Are you kidding!" Raimundo screamed.
"Clay! Help him!" Kimiko shouted over the rushing wind.
"Not until he admits that I was right and he was…"
"What are you talking about? Right about what?" Kimiko hissed, turning her head to look at Clay.
She could tell with one look at his face that whatever it was Clay was talking about that he wasn't going to budge until Raimundo complied. Clay could be stubborn when he wanted to, a trait she assumed was attributed to his element. She looked past the Dragon of Earth and back to the Dragon of Wind.
"Raimundo, I don't know what you two were arguing about but just apologize or admit you were wrong!" Kimiko shouted angrily.
"No way! He's completely wrong!" Raimundo yelled back, his voice becoming horse from all the shouting. "I'd rather fall the last thousand feet than admit…"
"Are you kidding me? Are you really willing to die rather than admitting you were wrong?" Kimiko shouted furiously. "Just say it!"
Raimundo looked down and saw the ground rushing to meet them. His hands were becoming sweaty and he could feel Dojos tail hairs slipping through his hands. He gulped down his pride.
"Fine! I admit it! Goo Zombies one was better than Goo Zombies the Return!" Raimundo screamed. "You happy now?"
Clays lasso encircled Raimundos waist just as the tail slipped from his grasp. He let out a cry as he went flying backwards before beginning yanked back onto Dojos back by Clay pulling on the rope.
"There you go partner, now that wasn't so hard was it?" Clay grinned as he roped in his lasso.
Kimiko shook her head angrily. Were the boys really so immature? Really? The urge to slap them upside the head and scold them was rather tempting but she bit it back. Then again, if they thought Goo Zombie one or Goo Zombie The Return was better than Goo Zombie Revenge then she might just have to knock some sense into them.
Scolding and beating them would have to wait till later though, as snow began descending from the sky. Kimiko looked up at awe at the sight of billions of snowflakes gently falling from the sky.
"Wow" she whispered at the angelic sight.
"Did you know guys…" Kimiko began softly, catching all the boys attention. "That every single snowflake that falls is unique? Not a single one has the same pattern."
Omi looked in fasciation, putting his hands up to catch the snow and allow it to build up upon his hand. He looked at it with a tilt of his head. "Really? That is most amazing. But surely there is a least one the same with their being so many?"
Kimiko shook her head slowly, a soft smile gracing her lips. "Nope. Everyone's different and unique."
"Where did you learn about that?" Omi asked curiously.
The words left her mouth before she could stop them. "My mum told me."
The confession caused a silence to fall over the monks.
"Hey Kimiko" Raimundo began timidly. "If you don't mind me asking, what's the deal with your mum, like is she…"
Dojo let out an ungodly sneeze and sharply flipped over, knocking everyone off his back. They all let out a scream as they free fell the last few feet and landed in the snow. Kimiko was the first to pop her head out of the snow, shaking the snowflakes from her hair and hat with a vigorous shake of her head.
Raimundo and Clay popped up next and let out a groan.
"Geese Dojo! Mind giving us the heads up first next time?" Raimundo whined as he and Clay freed themselves from the snow which they had been buried to their waists in.
"Sorry guys, I think my allergies are kicking up again" Dojo sniffed, pulling a handkerchief from seemingly nowhere and blowing his dripping nose.
After blowing his nose he dangled the handkerchief at arm's length from himself. Kimiko and the guys looked at the once white cloth that was now green and dripping with mucus. The monks all blenched, feeling sick at the disgusting sight.
"Hey, where's shorty?" Dojo said, sniffling as he felt another sneeze approaching.
"Over here!" a muffled cry that sounded like Omi came from behind the warriors.
Everyone peeked behind Clay and saw a little snowman with a striking resemblance to Omi. They all approached it and Kimiko called out Omi's name. The snowman literally jumped in response, some of the snow falling to reveal the top of Omi's yellow head.
"We'll get you out there, little buddy" Clay said and dug his hands into the snow and pulled out the shivering little monk.
"That was most appreciated, Clay" Omi said through chattering teeth.
"Come on guys, we need to hurry up and get to the wu!" Raimundo said, crossing his arms. He turned to Dojo, "Right, now where are these caves?"
Dojo pointed a talon over his shoulder.
Behind Dojo was an enormous snowy mountain. At its base a few feet away were two large rotten wooden doors about thirty feet high with two rusted door handles shaped in the form of ancient dragons coiled in on themselves. The massive doors were a rather daunting sight and immediately sent the monks on edge.
"Allow me to present The Caves of Enlightenment!" Dojo announced, gesturing with an exaggerated grandness towards the cave entrance.
Raimundo gulped. "Well… let's go!"
It took the combined effort of all the monks to push open the door. Once inside they were greeted with a tunnel of eerie darkness.
"Looks inviting" Dojo nodded, "I think I'll wait outside."
Dojo turned to leave when the doors closed shut with an almighty slam on their own accord. With the light from the entrance gone, everything plunged into darkness.
"Or I can… come along with you guys" Dojo laughed nervously, feeling around in the darkness for someone. Anyone!
"Hey Kimiko, mind shedding us a little light?" Clay asked as he squinted into the darkness.
"Sure thing" Kimiko shrugged, then alighted her hand with a bright flame.
The tunnel lit up and the monks were able to see everything more clearly. It was a large tunnel, about twenty feet high. The walls of ice were riddled with spider web like cracks, giving them a mosaic like appearance. Every shape, made by the cracks of the ice, reflected the warriors reflections as perfectly as mirror, one could hardly tell it was ice at all.
"Neat!" Raimundo whistled, watching as the thousands of mirrors reflected him and the others at different angles.
"Oh it's neat now, but just you wait till it starts reflecting your inner most self, or your deepest fear or desire!" Dojo said as he scurried over to Clay and scuttled up his leg, chest, around his neck and onto his hat.
"Right the fear thing I can get but what's the dilly with seeing your greatest desires and stuff" Raimundo shrugged. "What's so bad about that?"
"Me, and my old friends, Toothless and Puff, came here once on a dare once. Turns out Puff had a secret desire to become a magicians…"
"Let me guess, you guys saw his reflection as him dressed as a magician" Raimundo tried to finish for Dojo.
"Not quite. Now… if you had let me finish" Dojo remarked crossly, folding his arms. "Turns out he had a secret desire to be a magician assistants. Pink tutu and all. He ain't called puff the magic dragon for nothing, you know. Toothless never let him live it down." Dojo said sadly, shaking his head.
"So we might get a little red faced, ain't the worse that could happen" Clay shrugged.
Dojo shook his head, muttering something inaudible under his breath.
They all started walking further into the cave, Kimikos flame the only source of light in the darkness.
"Just wait and you'll see what I mean. Now you all have to promise me that anything you see relating to me in here stays in here! Don't go gossiping to anyone or using it against me!" Dojo said, peering over the edge of Clays hat to look at the cowboy.
"No promises there Dojo" Clay laughed.
They walked in silence for a short while, following the tunnel. Sometimes they came to forks in the path and would take a vote on whether to go left or right, or in some cases up or down. Eventually they came to four way split in the tunnel.
"Looks like we'll need to split up. Let's go guys!" Raimundo said.
"And what are you guys going to use for light?" Kimiko asked with a quirked eyebrow, tossing her ball of flame in the air then catching it again in her palm.
Dojo placed a talon on one side of his nose, effectively shutting close one of his nostrils. He blew hard, causing three items to spill out. Pulling out the Changing Chop Sticks he enlarged the objects.
"Here you guys, three wooden sticks. Kimiko can set em alight and we can use em as torches."
Kimiko snapped her fingers and all three torches were set a flame with bright orange flames. Dojo handed one to each boy. And with that done, the warriors each took a different path. Kimiko went down the one to the right, her hand held out to her side alight with her flame. The only sound was her soft footsteps clicking off icy floor.
"Where oh where is that wu?" Kimiko sung quietly.
After half an hour of wondering down the path, every so often having to decide between left or right, something caught the corner of her eye. Stopping, she turned to her left to look. All she saw was her reflections mimicking her actions. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary there.
"Strange… I could have sworn I saw…" a gasp escaped her lips when her eyes landed on an image in one of the mirrors.
In a rectangular piece of mirror to her left there was her reflected back, only she was a bit older wearing a smart business outfit; a white blouse, navy blue jacket and matching pencil skirt. The image mimicked Kimiko's every movement, from her wide eyed expression to the way she slowly approached the mirror. Behind the other Kimiko was looked to be her papa's office.
"The mirror image often, when one least suspects it, reflects ones inner most self, their desires of what they could be, their dreams of what they wish they could be, or even… their greatest fears of the may become."
Master Fungs words echoed in her mind, and suddenly it all sort of made sense to her.
Ever since she was a little girl her father had made it clear that one day she could, if she wanted, take over his company when he retired. When she was younger she would imagine herself all dressed up in a business suit, working away busily in her father's office. She supposed the image reflected back had at one point been a desire of what she had thought she would one day become, a future she wasn't too sure she wished to pursue any longer.
She blinked. And the older Kimiko in her business attire was gone, replaced by how Kimiko appeared now. In her woolly hat and matching winter gear.
Shaking her head, she continued down the tunnel, now more vigilant than ever.
After having had a brief taste of the capability of the Caves of Enlightenment, she was beginning to see why Master Fung and Dojo had been worried. Seeing flickers of yourself as you had once desired to be brought with it an emotional baggage.
If someone had always wanted to be an astronaut but never succeeded then came here and saw themselves as one, it would bring with it pain and feeling of bitterness and regret. Seeing it was like a kick in the face, it was almost as though the mirrors were mocking you, taunting you for that which you failed to achieve.
For Kimiko, seeing herself as the new leader of her father company brought with it questions she had pushed to the back of her mind for so long. Questions on her future: when the time came would she take over her father's company? Did she really want to? Did she have a choice? Could she really just abandon her father company to wolves like Panda Bubba or someone else who could exploit it? Would her father want her to take it over rather than a stranger?
Questions like those where not ones she wished to think of right now. In truth she'd rather not think of them. Ever. But of course she couldn't run away from them forever. But that didn't mean she wouldn't try!
In her head she felt like she had no choice but to take it over one day. But a part of her, deep within her, told her she didn't want to take it over. If she did then it meant her future had been set in stone from the day of her birth into the Tohomiko family. It meant that no matter what she did she had always meant to go straight back to the company, take it over and work there for the rest of her days.
And that was a fate that she didn't want.
She wanted to weave her own fate.
With a sigh Kimiko shrugged off the unwanted thoughts. She had to concentrate on retrieving the wu.
After a while she finally came to a large cavern that was brightly lit from the sunlight steaming through the gaping hole in the ceiling. Unlike the tunnels, the walls of this cavern were unbroken and lacked the mosaic appearance. Instead the mirrors that coated the walls stretched from the ground and arched all the way up to the dome like ceiling.
In the centre of the cavern atop of heap of snow and ice a shimmering golden light caught her attention. It was the Sheng Gong Wu!
"Bingo!" Kimiko grinned.
Wasting no time Kimiko rushed forward and leapt up to the top of the heap. With a victorious smile she reached a hand out to grab it by the thin handle. What she didn't expect however, was to feel cold leather wrap around that same hand.
Kimiko froze as she looked at the black leather glove wrapped around the top of her hand and the Ana Ana Animator.
Slowly, her eyes drifted from the shimmering wu, up the armour plated chest of her opponent and straight into a pair of smirking golden eyes.
"Chase Young" Kimiko growled.
(A/N) I was going to make this longer and have the showdown in this chapter but it was getting way too long and it meant it would have taken even longer for me to update. Sorry for how long this took me to update but life has, alas, been hectic.
So, what do you guys and gals think? What does Kimiko's reoccurring dream mean? And why did she see Sibini in it? Also who will win the showdown? Kimiko... or Chase Young?
If you have any questions, tips, advice or suggestions please feel free to say :) Thanks for taking the time to read this! xx
P.S In case anyone doesn't know yet Xaiolin showdown is back! Its called Xaiolin Chronicles!