"Twenty years ago, you came and saved the universe. It may have been a long time Omi, but I still remember you," Raimundo thought to himself.
Raimundo and Kimiko looked like the youngest out of all the monks at the temple, Raimundo was now 35, but had the appearance of a 20 year old. He still had a similar hairstyle, but he had grown a small goatee on his chin. He still wore similar Xiaolin robes to what he wore two decades ago. The wind warrior sat alone in the courtyard, staring up at the sky at the large object that hung in the distance ahead.
It was the massive ice crystal that Omi had imprisoned himself in, it was in the distance in a fixed position floating over Beijing in the night sky, the city where the climactic battle between him and the Beyonders had occurred. The greenish blue airborne iceberg looked like a massive Christmas decoration, like the star on top of the tree.
"It's nice to see that your enjoying our last few days here, we're going back to Japan after all," said a female voice.
It was Kimiko, still as young minded as she was 20 years ago, only in the body of a 33 year old. Her hair had grown longer; she had grown out of the habit of dying it so she could keep up with today's fashion, fashion didn't matter to her anymore. All that mattered was her husband and daughter, along with her friends she rarely saw.
Kimiko worked as one of the main supervisors for ST Corporation, Tohomiko electronics and Jack Spicer had made a deal, they were now one large company. Kimiko's father and Jack were the two leaders of the business, Toshiro dealt with electronics and toys while Jack invented robotics and more advanced technology. Currently, he and NASA were planning a mission to Mars, with passengers in suspended animation capsules that Jack had invented. There was little competition, the only competition they had was from Kentech, a not so well known but powerful company that created most of its technology for warfare.
"Honey, I'd like to see what Mitsuko thinks about Laster. He's still coming to visit isn't he?" Raimundo asked his wife.
"Oh yes, I'm sure that they will get on fine. The first time they met they were babies, dad and Jack have been so busy that they haven't had a chance to meet until now," Kimiko replied.
They both looked at the starry sky; Kimiko fixed her eyes on Omi's icy tomb as well. She sighed deeply.
"Master Fung said something about the youkai problem that's been happening here in China, for some reason the monsters from my country have been popping up all over here," she said afterwards.
"You mean those freaky Japanese ghosts? I wonder why they're so bothered about coming to such a quiet place," said Raimundo.
He heard a horrible sound in the distance, but this was a common noise. It was the sound of a youkai; they made a lot of noise during night, which was when they were most active. The odd cry was the calling of a Basan, a creature that was literally a chicken from hell.
"Come on, the area around the temple is really freaky now, we better get inside anyway," Kimiko yawned, heading back to their room.
Raimundo had one last glimpse of the giant ice crystal before he headed inside, he could only see it during night. It was completely transparent during daylight hours; planes had put markers on it to prevent them from bumping into it. People had landed on the crystal, but didn't actually go inside. Apparently there was an entrance to the inside located on the topmost spire, the tunnel went deep into the icy object. There was supposedly a chamber within where Omi slept, but nobody wanted to defile the icy palace where he was imprisoned.
Morning came swiftly; at about 9:10 Mitsuko awoke. She was a fairly short girl who wore clothes similar to the ones that Kimiko wore when she was her age, only Mitsuko kept with the same style for more than just one day. She kept her ordinary hair colour, black. Her eyes were green like her fathers however; she thought it was pretty cool to have eyes that were an uncommon colour. Unlike most of the girls in her class, she had no acne whatsoever. Mitsuko was about fifteen, but she was the youngest in her class.
Buck slept in a room next to her, being Clay's son; he wore his father's hat. But that was kind of where the similarity to his father ended, he was short and inherited most characteristics from his mother. He had brown hair and blue eyes; he also had a lot of freckles. Buck was about thirteen, he wore a light blue shirt and jeans with a red handkerchief like Clay did when he was a teenager. Clay was at the ranch back in Texas; Buck was playing a visit for a short while. People at school often teased him because his name was Buck, and the coincidence that his front two teeth stuck out a bit.
"I'm looking forwards for this Laster guy to come, we haven't seen each other since we were one year olds," Mitsuko said to Buck.
"I wonder what he is like, I'd like to have more friends than just you and some of the boys at school," said Buck.
Master Fung was in the garden, he still enjoyed it, even though his old body had weakened. Dojo the phoenix sat on one of the handles of his wheel chair, though an immortal daemon, Dojo had changed appearance. He still had his original green and yellow feathers, but now he had the colour red added to his plumage. His tail feathers had grown longer too, he looked a lot like a peacock.
"Ah, Mitsuko, Buck. Raimundo and Kimiko are waiting in the main hall, Laster is there too. It may be a good idea to help unpack his bags," the wise master said when Mitsuko and Buck entered the garden.
"Thanks master, we'll help him strait away," Buck exclaimed, he was always ready to help someone.
The two teenagers ran into the main hall, they couldn't wait to see what Laster looked like now. Mitsuko had photos of him and her together when they were babies, but everyone knows how much a baby changes, even in the first two years of life.
"Morning sweetie, Laster has just arrived!" beamed Kimiko as her daughter and Buck entered the room.
Laster was a lot like his father when he was young, he had vivid red hair, but it was flat and neatly combed. One half of his fringe covered his eye, Mitsuko had seen a lot of boys with this look. Was that makeup he was wearing under his eyes? His tank top was a deep red, the pants he wore were jet black. The buckle on his belt was in the shape of an eagle, he wore sandals with socks. Two large suitcases were behind him, though they were large he could carry them himself. Laster had a muscular physique, he was aged sixteen and probably did a lot of sport at his school.
"Umm…Hi," Mitsuko said, sheepishly.
Laster noticed her and made eye contact, he smiled.
"Hello, pleased to meet you."
Mitsuko did not like the look of this character; his voice was fairly monotone and lacked emotion. Still, Mitsuko knew that she should never judge a book by its cover.
"Shall we go outside? It's a nice sunny day today," she asked Laster.
The boy looked unsure about the question.
"I have some holiday homework to do, can we go later?" he asked.
"But the holidays haven't ended yet! Could you do it later maybe?" Mitsuko questioned.
Laster sighed; it became apparent to Mitsuko that this boy liked his academic work.
"Okay, I do have all summer to complete it, but after we've gone out I would like to crack on with it," he said.
