Author's Note: I'm tired of writing this chapter, so I'm just working in how I originally planned to end it into the next chapter's beginning. Besides, I've made you guys wait long enough and you deserve something.

Gentle brush strokes. Gentle, precise, brush strokes. Her tongue sticks out slightly in her concentration. A fox carved of wood sits in one of her paint stained hands, a pointed brush dipped in orangey paint held in the other. She holds the wooden fox away from herself, inspecting it, before bringing it back to herself and passing the brush over it once more.

From across her Clay sits whittling into a piece of wood, carving another creature to add to the collection placed between them. Every few tendrils he shaved away he would look over to Kimiko, grin, and continue talking. Though, at this point, he wasn't entirety sure she was still listening. He presses on the brim of his hat with the butt of his knife. The hat goes up and back just a bit. The knife returns to shaving away wood from what looked like a bear. "It wasn't no fancy thing either. Not worth a dime, but-" a whistle, "it sure got the job done." He looked over at Kimiko again who gave him a hum in response to let him know she was still listening, though in honesty she was tuning in and out. She wasn't ignoring him because she found his stories boring, she was just using a lot of her concentration on what she was doing, plus her brain had registered that he wasn't saying anything too important.

Kimiko sat up, stretching, rotating her shoulders, then cleaned off her paintbrush before dipping it in white paint. She hunched over again, twisting her hand to paint on the other side of the wooden fox. Suddenly, her hands freeze and she leans back. A split second and a soccerball whir by, missing her nose by an inch. There's a sound of shattering that follows and she deduces the ball has made contact with a vase. She whips her head around to look at the culprits. She can hear Clay asking if she's alright and she replies with a nod. But her eyes are fixed on Omi and Raimundo. There's a flash of fear in the duo's eyes before they look at her apologetically.

"Oh man, Kimi! Sorry! I was teaching Omi some new tricks. And he got a little competitive." explained Raimundo. At this, Omi steps up to point a finger at his friend.

"Oh, Raimundo. You cannot put all the blame on me!" He bows towards Kimiko anyway. " But yes. We are both very sorry for any distress we have caused you."

Kimiko does not accept nor reject the apologies. She raises her eyebrow instead, turning from where she sat to fully face them, her legs now dangling over the temple's porch. "uh, yeah. I'm fine. But I don't think I'm the one you owe an apology to." it's at the end of her words that they notice the calm steps approaching behind her.

"Yes, I do believe there's a plant in need of a new home now." Kimiko hides a smile as Master Fun makes himself known. He's holding the ball, the cause of the aforementioned plant's sudden homelessness, and looking down at Raimundo and Omi from his spot behind Kimiko. That always calm expression on his face. He tosses the ball to Raimundo, who shoots him a sheepish grin in return.

"Uh, we wouldn't happen to be out of glue, would we?"

Master Fung lifts an eyebrow. Somebody sighs. A giggle. Kimiko sets the fox she had been painting down, taking notice of how much paint she'd gotten on her hands. She wipes her brush clean and stands, smiling at Raimundo. "I think I have some glue you can use. Let me just clean up this painting stuff."

Raimundo leans back to look at her. She barely makes it a half head over him standing on the porch. There's a gleam in his eye, like he's thought of a witty comment. But, he snaps his fingers and points to her. "Girl, you always come through."

Kimiko rolls her eyes, paint supplies now gathered in her arms. "we've known each other five years. Of course by now I would have thought of everything you might need. I have a drawer chock full of stuff for 'Raimundo happened ' things." she laughs to herself, but the others seem to have been caught up in her previous statement. Had it really been so long? Raimundo steps up onto the porch so that now he's the one that needs to look down at Kimiko. He clicks his tongue.

"Hey, now that's just offensive." He takes some things from Kimiko's arms. "I'm not the only that breaks stuff around here."

"Well, I have drawers for everyone. Of course, they share. You, on the other hand…" she shrugs.

The others laugh. Raimundo rolls his eyes, but lets out a puff of laughter soon after. "Alright, point made. Take me to my designated glue." Kimiko walks into the temple, and Raimundo follows her in.

The sound of water pouring from one of the bathroom faucets is magnified by the empty hallway. Raimundo waits just outside, leaning against the door's frame. Seconds, minutes pass before the sound of pouring water is overpowered by the squeaking of the faucet knob being turned. Kimiko gathers her things again and goes to meet up with Raimundo at door. "We really need to fix those things. At least put a little grease on them."

Raimundo turns at the sound of her footsteps, straightening up as she passes him. "And risk a grease fire?"

Kimiko moves to elbow him but holds back when she feels the things in her arms threatening to fall. "Please, you should know by now that that's not how my abilities work." Her eyes widen, a cocktail smile playing on her features. "Plus, are you really doubting my control?"

Their steps fall in sync. Raimundo can't help staring down at his friend. When had she stopped growing? When had he gained so much height over her? Even Omi was taller now. It really had been five years. He supposes it's hard to notice the passing time when they see each other every day. It was like Clay's stubble. Subtle. He manages to look away when Kimiko stops in front of her room. She draws the curtain aside, steps in, motions for Raimundo to join her, then draws the curtains close again. He looks around the room for the while that it takes Kimiko to dig out his designated glue. There's both faded and new posters on the walls. Her bed is pressed against one of the walls, a bear outnumbered greatly by pillows sits on top of a cream colored bedspread. Raimundo makes out a faint pattern of roses. The desk she's rummaging through sits on the other side. On it are her laptop, a small face mirror, and… tools? Did she still tinker in her spare time? He sits on the trunk on the foot of her bed, taking notice of a table under her window. He didn't remember seeing that before. His thought is interrupted by Kimiko waving a bottle of glue in front of him.

"Here's the glue for your self-made puzzle." She laughs. Raimundo snatches it playfully. He tosses it up and catches it again, shooting her a wink.

"You know; puzzles are funner with two people." He says.

Kimiko gives him a shove once he has stood. He takes that as a cue to step out of her room. She follows behinds, replying to his previous comment. "Hm, sorry, but puzzles are more of a solo thing for me. It's just easier for me without all the arguing of which piece goes where, you know? But maybe Omi or Clay might share your opinion."

Raimundo shrugs. "Worth a try."

She goes on. "You know who likes puzzles? Dojo." And just as the words left her mouth did they hear the green dragon's voice blare through the temple halls. Without second thought, the pair took off down the hall and out into the courtyard. It had been quite a while since their last Wu hunt.

The others were already surrounding the trembling dragon. "Ah! We got a live one!" He curled around himself, grabbing his still rattling tail as the group closed in on him. "And I do NOT like the feeling of impending doom it's giving me."

The dragon warriors exchanged glances with each other. Clay bent over, scooping up the dragon in his gloved hands. "Now what kinda wu would get ya all rattled up like this."

"Where's the scroll?" Asked Omi. All turned to look at Kimiko expectantly. Her eyes went wide as she processed why they were doing so, then her confusion was replaced by a sheepish grin.

"Right. I'll go get it."

They watch her turn on her heel and run back into the temple, hurried footsteps fading as she disappeared. Raimundo whipped his head back to the group. "Okay, so while she does that, mind telling me how plans are comin' along?"

"Uh… plans?" Dojo asked, immediately feeling left out of whatever the three boys were up to. Raimundo laughs through his nose. He twirls a finger, his eyes shifting to the side.

"Kimiko's been looking kind of bum lately. Thought we should throw her a little something to cheer her up." This seems to be news to the green dragon as he lets out a yell in response. How could he have not noticed one his kids was down in the dumps? He's interrupted when Clay clamps his snout shut with his fingers.

"Don't worry Lil par'ner. She's very good at hidin' it." Clay reasoned with the dragon who was mentally scolding himself. Said dragon, of course, only shook from the suddenly doubled stress. He should have been one the first to notice. How could he when Kimiko was always smiling and cracking jokes?

Omi, whom was feeling the complete opposite of Dojo, bounced on his feet in excitement.

"Ohoho, worry not my dear Raimundo, for me and Clay are on the very top of it. Even the villagers have offered a hand." He announced, quite content with himself. Clay patted his shoulder. "I cannot wait to see her face! I bet she won't even be able to contain herself and kiss me from the gratitude she will be feeling!" Raimundo snorted at his last comment.

"Wow. I should've known there was a reason you were so eager to help." He said. Omi turned red as he realized what he said.

"Oh, I was not supposed to say that outloud." He scratched his cheek.

"To answer your question Rai, well, they're going well." Clay assured.

"Got it! Got it! Got it!" Kimiko skidded to a halt behind them. The boys stiffened, turning to her with poorly constructed smiles. At least Raimundo and Clay did. She had caught Omi much more off guard. He jolted, stuttering gibberish until he finally got some coherent words out.

"Ahaha! Oh Kimiko, that is very good! You are very good!"

Kimiko furrowed her eyebrows, looking to the other two plus Dojo for some sort of explanation. They shrugged, awkward smiles still plastered on their faces. Not much help. She turned back to Omi, mimicking the others' shrugs.

"Uh… thanks, I guess?"

Dojo lets out a yelp, reminding her of why she had left her friends' presence in the first place. He's rambling on about how the activation of this Wu is giving him the 'heebie jeebies'. He's shivering, curling up. On the group's cue she unrolls the Shen Gon Wu scroll. They wait for the usual graphics to appear: a name, information on the Wu, and an animation on how to use it. And they wait. And wait. And wait. The scroll remains blank. Heads are tilted, expressions of confusion all around. Kimiko closes the scroll, counts three seconds, and opens it again. Nothing.

"Uh, is it broken?" Asks Raimundo.

"Maybe it's a glitch…" Says Kimiko.

"Dojo, are ya sure it's a Wu yer sensing?" Clay asked.

"Hey!" Dojo pipes up, taking a break from shivering to look momentarily offended. "Do you think my senses have gone dull or something? Because they have not. And I'm telling you, one just activated, and it's out there. Alive! And ready to doom us all!"

"If it falls into the wrong hands." Omi adds.

"Which has a very high chance of happening if we don't go and get it right now, instead of waiting for this thing to work." Raimundo said. Dojo shifted into his larger form in agreement with his statement.

"Right! All aboard, kiddos!" The others made no other comments until they boarded the dragon and had taken to the skies.

Kimiko tried opening the scroll again. Raimundo looked over her shoulder. "Still blank?"

"Maybe it didn't get the memo?" She closes it and opens it again. "Maybe it can't find the information. I mean, how exactly does thing work anyway?" She closes it again. "How much information does it hold? And where does it store it?"

"Beats me."

Her eyes flash for a moment. "Usually… Dojo tells us the name of the Wu when we open the scroll. But, he didn't this time... Does it work like a search engine?" She pulls the scroll open again and says the name of the first Wu to pop into her head. "Denshi Bunny." And just as she had hoped, black scribbles warbled on the before blank scroll until they formed words. Animations played in the circle drawn on the center. She couldn't help grinning to herself. Raimundo pulls her back from her shoulder, eyes wide from Kimiko's discovery. Kimiko stiffens from the sudden motion, only her arms moving to slam the scroll shut.

"What!? How? How had we not figured that out before? All these years I thought this thing could just…sense the Wu. Like Dojo! Does he know? Do you think Dojo knows about this?"

Clay can't help laughing from behind them. "Well, that's quite the discovery you've made. And to think, you made it because ol' Dojo was too shaken up to tell us the name of the Wu- Woah, there partner!" He held down his cowboy hat with one hand, the other he extended out in reflex to keep his teammates from going overboard from the dragon's sudden jolt. Omi had almost scooted onto Kimiko's lap, the jolt having disturbed his meditating too abruptly.

"A little bit of warning would have been much appreciated, thank you!" He yelled.

Dojo huffed. "Geez, kid. Sorry. Can't control it. You know that." A shiver runs through him. "Prepare for landing. He says, taking a dive. Kimiko pressed a hand against Omi's back, then looks over Dojo's side. She was sure they hadn't flown long enough to be outside of China, but the ruins laid below put a dent in her assuredness. She narrowed her eyes, stuffing the scroll into her backpack.

"Where are we?" She asked. Dojo took care of landing before referring to her question.

"Uh…" He tapped a claw on his chin, now back to his small, carrier friendly size. "We should be somewhere on the edge of China… between Yining and Karamay."

"This… doesn't look like China." She says in reference to the ruins. "It has more of a 'Greek' feel to it."

Dojo inspects the ruins, claw on his chin, before shrugging. "Different tastes? Maybe they were trying something new." He says slithering towards them. He suspects the Wu to be inside.

Kimiko quietly accepts the explanation. Maybe Dojo had a point. Not to mention she was no expert in what migration patterns were like back then. She followed behind him until Raimundo pulled the scroll from her knapsack.

"Hey, Doj', wait up. You got a name for this Wu we're loking for?" He asks.

Dojo looks back at him. "Yeah, yeah. It's called… uh… gimme a sec. My memory is a bit rusty."

Raimundo rolls his eyes.

Dojo snaps his claws. "Pandora! Er… Pandora something…"

"Pandora's box?" Raimundo suggested.

"I think it's Pandora's jar." Clay corrected.

"No, no. It's a box." Raimundo said. "The story says it's a box."

"Not the way I heard it." Clay scoffed.

Omi looked back and forth between the two, not really knowing what they were talking about. Kimiko, on the other hand, dared to interrupt the dispute.

"Pandora? As in 'released all the world's evils' Pandora?" Then proceeds to voice the beginnings of the thought everyone had at the moment. "You don't think this Wu…"

In unison, they all faced the ruined temple and made haste, Kimiko having grabbed Dojo by the tail to pull him along, hopping over ancient debris without a sweat. Raimundo unrolled the scroll and uttered the name of the Wu as he went. As expected the ink on the scroll swirled to form the entry. The image glitches as if it had trouble forming the information. It took a minute for it to settle. The name was partially smudged but Raimundo could make it out as 'Pandora's hope'. The name earned a raised brow. So both Clay and he had been wrong it seemed. He watched the animation, slowing his pace towards the temple, lest he trip for not paying attention to where he was going. Flickering, black figures moved in the circle. One silhouette kneeling and picking something up that took the shape of a small box. The silhouette opened the box, swirls of smoke pouring out of it, some enveloping the figure and some beginning to take shape as it floated away. Then, the animation seemed to play in reverse, earning another expression of confusion from Raimundo. He decided to read the description, finding it to be just as useless.

Pandora's Misery. Wu appears different to different souls.

Dangerous. Necessary. Fear is key. Courage is key.

Edit later.

Edit later? What? What, what, what? Was this a joke? Exactly what was this scroll? Wu entries could be edited!? In that case, who was the guy in charge of making these entries so Raimundo could give him a piece of his mind! He let the scroll shut in sudden agitation, making a mental note to bring this up to Master Fung later. For now, he had a stupid Wu to retrieve. He gave himself a boost with the wind, catching up to the others in a breeze.

He came to a halt, along with the others, but a few mere feet in front of the entrance...what was left of it. The sound of whirring blades cutting through the air caused them to pause and look up. Omi wasted no time in calling up to the ascending figure, brows furrowed, arms up. "Jack!"

"Omi." Jack said back, nose up as he landed on the steps of the temple's entrance. "Long time no see. Say, has your head gotten shinier?"

Omi stomped a foot. "We have no time for the throwing of insults! Out of the way!" He begins moving forward, only to be stopped by the ever annoying Jack-bots. He skidded to a stop, frowning at the robots spinning claws and gatling guns pointed at him. What a waste of time.

"Aww, Omi, why the long face? Look on the bright side. This way you can make time to hear all the insults I've come up with since we last saw each other. Jack-bots!" He twirled a finger. "You know the drill."

The dragons sighed in simultaneous fashion. All wore a similar expressions of annoyance.

"Ay, doesn't this guy ever learn?" Raimundo voiced with a roll of the eyes before dropping into a stance.

Clay took up a stance to his back. "You don't suppose all that hair dye is messin' with his memory?"

Raimundo snorted. They took a breath in sync and took to dismantling the robots around them.

Kimiko, who had managed to make it closest to the entrance before they were interrupted, broke no sweat in defeating the robots assigned to her, or rather, forcing them into surrender. A calming breath or two as the robots took aim at her. She really hoped what she'd been practicing would work. She put her hands up at the sound of the guns being discharged and when she narrowed her eyes the bullets, having suddenly lost their firepower, lost out to gravity and pooled on the ground. The bots looked down at the bullets lying on the ground and back at Kimiko. One of them produced a white flag from one of its compartments and waved it. Kimiko would have laughed at that, but there were more pressing matters at hand. She turned her attention to Jack. He was still standing at the top of the steps, seemingly shocked at what had just occurred, if the slack jaw was anything to go by. One would think he would've used the time more wisely, like going in for the Wu ahead of them.

She glanced back at her team, noting they still had an onslaught of bots to go through. "Looks like we'll be going ahead." She whispered to Dojo.

"Fine by me, kiddo." he said.

Jack straightened up. "Ah, ah-ah. I'm not letting you through!"

"What? Trying not to let Wuya down this time?" Kimiko said.

"I'll have you know Wuya isn't with me this time." he replied. He tilted his head back. "I don't need her or her approval."

"Oh? Who did she leave you for this time?" she shot.

He leaned forward, her comment hitting a spot. "She didn't leave me for anyone! We just thought… it would be better if we… she was getting annoying so our alliance is on hold! Why am I telling you this?"

Kimiko shrugged. "I just have one of those faces." Then she crouched. In one swift motion, she launched herself forward, a blast of flames giving her a boost up to Jack. He let out a shriek and shielded himself with his arms. She made no motion to attack him, however. She just landed in front of him in a crouch and upon noticing he reacted as she expected she gave herself another flame boost past him and into the temple. Jack unshielded himself, having never felt impact, and looked behind himself at the sound of running.

"Hey! That's cheating!" He shouted after her.

"You had your chance! and you wasted it!" She shouted back.

Jack narrowed his eyes until what she was referring to hit him. And then he hit himself, palm to the forehead. He gritted his teeth, twisting his wristwatch and inputting an order for his bots to keep doing what they were doing. He turns on his heel and takes off after Kimiko.

Once they were well ahead, Kimiko had placed Dojo back on the ground to lead the way. The further they ventured into the temple, the more intact the structure was and the harder it was to see. Dojo produced a flashlight from only he knows where and illuminated the path. Kimiko browsed the walls, adorned with lovely ink paintings. Birds, and graceful people, and flowers. Though most seemed to have faded with time. The deeper they went, the stranger Kimiko found the decor. Suddenly there were dragons and other mythical creatures carved from marble. She stopped to look at one. A woman with her hair pulled up and a strung bow in hand. A dragon wrapped around her body. She seemed to be looking down at her. Kimiko reached out to touch the dragon, and as she did she could have sworn someone said her name. She turned to Dojo. "What?"

Dojo turned and looked at her. "Hm?"

"I said 'what?' You said my name, didn't you? Did you find something?"

Dojo looked confused by the statement. "Is this place getting to you kid? It's okay to admit if you're scared. I'll admit this place gives me the heebie-jeebies. All these statues make me feel…" he clacked his teeth, a shiver running through him, "watched."

Kimiko frowned, stalking after him. "I'm not scared. I really did hear my name." She slows her pace once she's caught up to him. "You really didn't say it!"

"Haven't said a thing. Ooh, we are getting closer, I can feel it."

"And you didn't hear anything?"

"Kid, now you're just being paranoid."

Kimiko's frown deepened, her brows furrowing. She was about to shoot back when they heard rushing steps. They looked back to see Jack running towards them at full speed. "Ha! Haha! Caught up to you losers!"

Kimiko and Dojo wasted no time in reacting to the approaching Jack Spicer, Dojo slinking himself around Kimiko's leg and Kimiko turning on her heel and running, flashlight now in her hand. It didn't take much to put some distance between them again, but Kimiko had to come to halt when she noticed the walls were different. "Uh... Well that's not suspicious at all."

Dojo let himself slide to the ground, examining the walls. "Yup. I wouldn't put it past this place to have traps set up. Just what kind of people lived here, ey?" He stroked the tuft of fur on his chin. "So how should we check if it's still active?"

"Well, first we'd have to find what activates it. Like is there a trip wire, or is it weight sensitive? Or there could be a button somewhere." Kimiko suggests.

"Well, I don't see any wires." Dojo informed her.

"I don't either." she said. She takes off her knapsack and rummages through it until she pulls out a water bottle. "Let's throw this in there and see what happens."

Just as the idea left her, Jack made himself known again. "Aw, you guys didn't have to wait up for me." He teased as he aimed to pass by them. Kimiko turned to him wide-eyed, putting her hands out in a stop signal.

"Jack, wait!" but Jack did not stop. He ran right past them and into the trap they were testing. As soon as a click was heard Kimiko dove in for the rescue. They both slammed into the ground and Jack froze in terror as he heard and felt the barrage of arrows flying over them from either side. Dojo can only look upon the scene, dragging his face down in worry. Kimiko huffs, sitting up, a red mark on her cheek. Jack moves to sit up, but Kimiko puts a hand over him when she swears she felt the floor move. She notices the cracks slowly forming on the ground. Two traps? Dojo makes his way to them, but stops when he hears Kimiko shout.

"Stay back!" In a swift motion she lays back on the ground, pulls Jack on top of her (who lets out a squeal of resist), and launches him over Dojo with her legs. The floor gives in and she falls.