Thunder crashed through the darkened sky. Rain fell down in sheets toward the cool autumn ground.
"I guess there won't be any training today." Kimiko sighed contently over a cup of tea.
"Yeah, it's a real shame." Raimundo joked with a shake of his head. "Who wants popcorn?"
"Send it over here!" Clay cheered from a worn couch in the nook of the sleeping hall.
"We should be spending our time meditating or doing something productive," Omi moped, "not wasting our time with movies."
"Pfft, you're only saying that cause your movie wasn't picked first." Raimundo said as he plopped down next to Clay.
"Charlotte's Web is a most fitting form of visual entertainment!" Omi objected.
"That's all well and good," Clay agreed, "but don't you think it's a little… young?"
"Don't listen to them Omi, we can watch your movie next." Kimiko said as she set up her laptop so everyone could see.
"So what do we got lined up first?" Clay asked.
"One Missed Call." Kimiko grinned. "A spirit uses phone calls to kill people in gruesome ways. It's kinda like Final Destination, only with more of a plot."
"And we are quite certain that this is the movie of choice?" Omi asked, pulling his knees to his chest to make room for Kimiko.
"Wait a minute, are you scared?" Raimundo asked. Omi shook his head fervently. "If you are, we can pick something else." He suggested with sincerity.
"No, I am fine. Just put the movie in."
"Raimundo." Master Fung called from outside the dorm.
"Yeah, hold on," Raimundo called back, "don't start the movie yet guys, I'll be right back." He sprung up from the couch and answered the door. "What's up? Is something wrong?" Master Fung shook his head.
"You are late for today's lesson."
"Sorry, I just figured practice was canceled 'cause of the rain." He gestured to the slow growing pools on the temple grounds.
"A Shoku Warrior trains not only body, but in mind. You have but one assignment for today, and then you can return to your motion pictures." Raimundo took one forlorn glance back to his friends.
"Is everything alright?" Kimiko asked.
"Yeah, just… go ahead and start without me. I have a Shoku assignment to do real quick, and then I'll be back."
~ v ~
"So what's the deal with this whole 'Dragon Festival' thing?" Raimundo asked as he skimmed over a torn scroll.
Dojo safely shook his head. "Oh no you don't, Master Fung said you had to research this on your own." He said, as he munched on a handful of funions.
"Then why are you here?" Raimundo frowned.
"With so many scrolls eaten in the great potato famine, I'm here to fill in the gaps, so to speak." He chuckled. "Once you find them that is; other than that, my lips are sealed. No hints! Besides, this room is nice and sound proof. I prefer to eat my chips without the ambiance of dying scream queens." He shuddered and went back to shoveling in his pungent snack.
Raimundo rolled his eyes and went back to his reading. He had found numerous accounts of the ritual preformed at the festival, foods that were eaten and jokes that had been told. But very little was written about how it came to be and why the yearly celebration came to an end. Supposedly when the temple found a new dragon, the dragon festival was used to introduce them to the world. Yet from the day they arrived the only celebration held was a humble new years and a short vacation for Christmas. All other events had been left in the hands of the young monks, not the temple elders. Come to think of it, he had never even talked to the elder monks.
"Why wasn't the festival on when we showed up at the temple?" Raimundo asked as he turned to the small dragon. He rapidly shook his head, spreading crumbs across the room. "Come on Dojo, you gotta give me that." Dojo shook his head again fervently. Raimundo sighed and turned back to the scroll. "As the rim of the sun left the fountain, expectant mothers would don the robes of the previous dragon warrior in hopes that their child would be chosen to become a Xiaolin Warrior." He recited as he read. This was going to take longer than he thought.
~ v ~
The laptop screen flashed as the heroine reached for her friend, begging him not to answer the phone. He flipped it open and the elevator above him came crashing down on top of him. With a terrified scream, the girl curled up in front of the crushed body, her profuse tears blocked by Omi as he ran out of the room.
"Omi?" Kimiko asked.
"He's probably going to the bathroom." Clay shrugged, his eyes trained on the screen. "Oh come on! That's not how a bone fractures!" Kimiko waited about ten minutes before going into the kitchen to check on the youngest member of their group. "Omi, are you in here?" There was a short clatter as a familiar yellow head peered over the island counter. "What's going on, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just getting some snacks." Omi quickly replied. He shifted, distracted, to the cupboards.
"Really you've been gone for 15 minutes." Kimiko frowned.
"Yes, I just had to get some delicious," He pulled out a random box and glanced down, "Raisin Bran." Another scream emanated from the sleeping quarters, coupled by Clay's indignant outcry about inaccurate anatomical representation. Visibly startled, Omi clutched the box of cereal looking away from the hall.
"Are sure you're not afraid of the movie?" Kimiko asked as she joined him at his side.
"Of course not, I'm a Xiaolin Warrior. I can handle anything." He argued and took three forced steps before another scream stopped him in his tracks.
"You know it's okay to be scared." Kimiko soothed. "We can watch something else, I'm sure the others won't object."
"That doesn't make sense…. How is it okay to be scared? If you're scared, you can't help anyone, you're weak." He didn't move, his stare trained at the floor.
"Well, everybody gets scared sometimes." She reasoned.
"But I'm not everybody; if I fail, I could lose everything!" Omi shouted frustrated.
"This isn't about the movie is it?" Crouching down, she looked him in the eye. "What's really bothering you." He looked away. "I promise I won't laugh or anything." She said crossing her heart with her finger.
"I… I keep having nightmares." Omi mumbled. "Everyone around me is so old, and because I went missing; the whole world is destroyed. I kept trying to do the right thing, but I fail. I failed and you all and he-" Omi whimpered, the box he was holding slowly crushed under neither his frustrated grip. It had felt so real, each night seeing the same scene play out like a haunting memory. His friends had died before him and he was powerless to stop it.
"Hey, hey," She gingerly took the cereal from him and pulled him in for a hug, "it's just a bad dream; it never really happened." She didn't quite understand what was going on, but Omi obviously wasn't quite ready to talk about it yet. Omi shook his head. All Dojo kept telling him when he brought it up was that in 'this world' it hadn't happened, and since they were the only ones that would remember it, it never really happened. After a while the memories would fade and everything would go back to the way it was.
"But it could happen," Omi argued, "I have to stop it, but I don't know how!"
"Omi calm down, look at me. I'm right here; Raimundo and Clay are right down the hall. If something really bad does go down, you won't be alone, you have us." She reasoned. "That's why you have us; we're here together so we don't have to go it alone." There was another shout from Clay, accusing the movie of using too much blood. "Whenever you're ready, we can go talk to Clay and see if we can watch something else, okay?" Furiously whipping away his tears, Omi nodded. He felt a little silly crying about what Dojo assured him were just dreams, but it was nice knowing that Kimiko wasn't going to give him a hard time about it.
~ v ~
An electric hum harmonized with the thunder outside the suburban home. A lone figure sat illuminated by artificial light within the darkened lab.
"Tubbimura… no." Jack sighed as he deleted the e-mail address from his contact list. "Panda Bubba… definitely not. Ashley… nah, not worth the cat puns and drama." He had originally planned to weed out a few dead contacts from his computer. However, as he went down the list, he found most of the evil doers he knew had betrayed him at least twice. "Chase Young…" His cursor hovered over the delete bar. Countless times he had tried to impress the self proclaimed 'Dark Prince', and each time he fell flat on his face, literally. One click and he could jump out of the cycle.
He skipped over it. Sure he had messed up a few times in his hero's eyes, but that wasn't his fault. He was perfect apprentice material. Even if it meant a downgrade in title, he would contact the villain again, only after he got a killer plan as inscrutable proof of his worth. That could take a while to procure. Especially with the way his address book looked lately.
"Vlad… still on vacation. The Black Vipers… I don't think Jessie blocked me… yet." No good, now he was just getting frustrated. "There has to be someone left to team up with!" He rubbed his temples. "I can't even bug the Xiaolin losers until it stops raining. Maybe the rain'll give me some ideas." He sighed and opened a window to let in the autumn drizzle. In the meantime, he'd have to find a different way to kill some time.
~ v ~
It had been an hour and a half, and Raimundo had gotten no further than he had fifty minutes ago.
"I gotta go clear my head." He told Dojo. The dragon nodded silently in reply. "I'll be back in a couple minutes." Taking his leave, Raimundo strolled down the dimly lit hallway. He had never gone so far back in the temple before. Anything past the eastern door to the meditation room had never been necessary for their training. However, he really needed a change of scenery. Eventually he came to a simple, elegant door. Golden dragons formed the handle, begging to be opened by an inquisitive mind. With a great deal of effort, Raimundo pushed the door open and walked inside.
All around him weapons and sashes were displayed like trophies. Some had names engraved beneath them, others their respective level or element. It appeared he had had found where Master Fung kept all of the Xiaolin Warrior stuff. On the far back wall, a glass case hung, with five Chinese symbols engraved on the top. Inside he found the robes he had read about humbly displayed. Fine silk was woven together with hues associated with their element. The slightest glimpse of a tail and claws suggested that there was a dragon stitched on the back. He recognized the wind robe as the one Dashi had worn, but two of the dress stands were bare.
"WHO'S THERE!?" A weathered voice boomed as the wooden doors slammed open. Raimundo squinted at the sudden intrusion of light, unable to recognize the silhouette or voice. "You've picked the wrong temple to steal from you scrawny little urchin!" The old man hobbled over angrily and took a tight hold of Raimundo's arm. He pulled roughly, dragging him out of the room.
"Let go of me, I'm not a thief!" As the doors slammed shut, Raimundo wrenched his arm free. He quickly gestured to his attire, hoping the room's dim lighting was responsible for the misunderstanding. "I'm the Shoku Warrior of Wind! I was just doing a research assignment." The weathered old man curled his peppered mustache into a disgruntled sneer. He huffed, a weariness hidden within his abundant anger.
"Didn't your babysitter tell you where the scroll room is?" Raimundo was quick to recover from the stab at both Master Fung and himself, to which he retaliated in kind,
"Yes, as a matter of fact, he did." He crossed his arms to keep from fidgeting.
"Then you would do well to remember your place and go back from where you came. I don't care how high up you think you are, children are not allowed in this part of the temple. Especially unsupervised ones. If I catch you poking around in other people's business again; I can assure you, you won't remain the dragon of wind for long." He waited for Raimundo to begin walking back toward the scroll room before leaving himself. As Raimundo glared angrily over his shoulder, he saw an elegant dragon stitched into the old man's robes, surrounded by silk vines.
~ v ~
At last the rain had subsided. Jack eagerly took the chance to ditch his game and raid the temple. As he crept across the grounds, he noted that it was eerily quiet. Without a second glance, he entered the vault and pulled out something akin to a shopping list. He stopped short when he noticed the vault was already open. Without any Jack bots to protect him, he resorted to ducking behind a pillar. When he peaked to see who was there, he found the last person he expected to see.
"Le Mime? What are you doing here?"
Equally startled, the French clown turned to Jack and grabbed his own hat. After placing a hand over his heart, he gestured to the vault and then held up the Serpent's Tail; a sword hung from his back.
"Well I kinda figured you were stealing stuff," he said with an eye roll, "but what are you doing here? I thought you had gone back to France?"
Le Mime held up a finger then cupped his ear in the direction of the hallway. A dull crunch reverberated down the hall. Jack swore under his breath and swooped into the vault.
"Yeah, I know," Jack whispered in reply to the Mime's wild gestures toward the door. "I'm just getting something real quick. I have a jet out back." With a face palm, Le Mime kept watch. The crunching sound grew louder, until a small green dragon with a bag of chips slithered through the door.
"What on Earth?" Dojo muttered as he saw the two teens and the open vault. "HEY-" In a panic, Le Mime clumsily swung the sword at the dragon's throat.
"Dude, what the heck man!" Jack exclaimed. Yet the dragon didn't have a scratch. With an exaggerated mimic of a sigh, Le Mime held up the handle of the sword and displayed the newly attached orb. Then he gestured at the dragon who, try as he might, couldn't say a word. "Don't scare me like that!" Le Mime urged Jack to leave, closing the vault behind them as an afterthought. As they closed in on the jet, a thought struck the boy genius. "Hey, you actually had my back there." It wasn't like the clown had to help him, they just ran into each other. "Do you… uh, need a ride?" Le Mime nodded his head emphatically as the alarm on the grounds went off. "Hop in."
The jet flew off, free of pursuit. Neither the smeared scenery nor Jack's confused babbling succeeded in capturing the mime's attention. He glared down at his prize, this wasn't the one he was looking for, but it was worth a shot.
~ v ~
At the sound of the alarm, the group came running from all corners of the temple. When they arrived, nothing seemed out of place, that than Dojo flailing excitedly on the floor.
"What in Sam Hill is going on?" Clay asked. Dojo pointed to his silent, gaping, maw.
"Maybe a Shen Gong Wu's been revealed," Kimiko suggested, "it would explain why he's not talking." A quick scan over the scroll yielded nothing. Whatever had set the dragon off, it wasn't a new Wu.
"Great, this day just keeps getting better." Raimundo sighed as Dojo searched through the scroll. "I just ran into some crotchety old man on a power trip who though I was stealing something. We've been here for like what, a year? He can't kick me out just for looking at some old clothes."
"This man, did he have three scars down his right eye?" Omi asked. Now that he thought about it, he did have three claw like scars down his face.
"Yeah, you know him?"
"That was Grand Master Bardon," Omi said solemnly, "he is the one who runs this temple."
"If he runs the temple, why have we never seen him?" Clay asked.
"Yeah, I always thought Master Fung was in charge." Kimiko added.
"Well, he hates outsiders. Even I've never seen him myself." Omi sighed. "Technically, the temple is closed to the public, but since Master Fung is training us, we are allowed to stay. You're the first new students since, well, me."
"That doesn't seem right," Kimiko sighed, "I mean, how could all of these old men start learning if the temple was closed off to everyone except the dragons in training?"
"No kidding," Raimundo agreed, "this place used to have all kinds of festivals that the whole town would come to." A clatter startled the group as Dojo came to the section of scroll he needed, only it had been used as food during the great potato famine. They really should start keeping a new copy of the scroll for times like these. He held up the torn scroll in frustration. "Yeah, I get it, I'll go finish my assignment. Clay, before you get back to the movie, could you check the security system. If a loose wire is setting it off then we need to know. I have more scrolls to read."
~ v ~
"Man, I wish I could have seen their faces!" Jack cackled as the door to his home swung wide. "You know, that worked pretty well. I bet if we keep at it, we could slowly empty the vault right under their nose."
Le Mime took a long look around the foyer of Jack's elegant home. Surprised by the darkness of home, he pointed to a picture of a well-dressed couple.
"Hunh?" It took a while to translate what the Mime was asking. "Those are my parents, they aren't home. But check out what I snagged." He held up the Heart of Jong with pride. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's going to be awesome!"
With a pointed look at Jack, Le Mime held up his new Wu, and placed it inside an invisible safe. When Jack didn't reply, he repeated the action and pointed at Jack.
"No thanks, I have my own." Jack dismissed.
With his hand pressed to his fore-head in mock salute, Le Mime made a large sweeping motion as if to look for something.
"It's not up here, it's downstairs in the lair; Le Mime?" The clown hurried downstairs, and looked for the safe. "Dude, chill out, there's no hurry." He said as he removed a picture of a safe. "It would be best if we lay low for a few hours, just to keep the Xiaolin losers off kilter." He opened a steal panel and placed his Wu inside the empty safe.
Le Mime was shocked that the boy genius didn't have more Wu. He attempted to act out his inquiry; however the abstract concept was difficult to mime and earned only a perplexed look from his companion.
"We have to get you a chalk board or Google translate or something." He said with a shake of his head. "I just got the new Soul Fighter game, want to go head to head?"
Admitting defeat for the moment, Le Mime shrugged his shoulders and followed him back upstairs. In a few hours, they would try to hit the temple again.
~ v ~
When the darkened clouds finally began to dissipate, the sun was far too low for it to have an impact on the sky line. Raimundo joined his friends for dinner, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"That took way a lot longer than it should have." He sighed over his noodles. "I knocked over a pile of scrolls that I already read and had to sort through them again to find the one scroll I needed."
"At least you're done now." Kimiko smiled. "You can just chill out for the rest of the day."
"What was it you had to research?" Omi asked after a sip of tea.
"The legend of Long Mu*, she was some lady that raised and trained the first five dragon warriors. In honor of her sacrifice, the dragons continued to protect the temple after her death. From their whiskers, these robes were made and passed down to powerful warriors. Some stuff with Wuya happened, the original temple was destroyed, and Dashi rebuilt it. The day it was finished was the first dragon festival." He rubbed his temples. "Huge chunks of the scroll were missing, but Dojo wasn't anywhere to help."
"Now hold on minute, what do you mean five dragons?" Clay asked. "There are only four of us." Raimundo frowned. Five robes were made for the dragon warriors. One was missing; the other was on the back of the Grand Master.
"Right, there are four dragons in training, one dragon warrior," Raimundo agreed, "Grand Master Bardon has to be the last one, he was wearing one of the robes-" A loud siren blared through the hall. "Not again—alright, move out!"
~ v ~
The group plowed into the vault, a bitter breeze ventilated the darkness. Through the dampened lamp light they could see the staircase had been lowered, yet it didn't appear that anything had been taken.
"Let's go check it out." Kimiko suggested, but Raimundo held up a hand.
"Hold up, something isn't quite right." There was a subtle sound of metal hitting stone, at the far corner of the temple vault. "Fan out." He whispered. Kimiko swept the side of the vault with a blast from the Hanabi Star. The flames licked at the floor, creating shadows of a lone figure along the wall.
"Shoku Wind!" Raimundo summoned and sent a torrent toward the source of the shadow. After a few tumbles, Jack stumbled into view.
"Jack Spicer!" Kimiko hissed, "How did you get past our security?!"
"Are you kidding?" Jack scoffed, as he straightened his jacket. "The vault combination is my ringtone." He glanced nervously at the vault. "Besides, that motion sensor laser is easily avoidable."
"If it's so easy to avoid, how'd it get tripped?" Raimundo asked, as he slid into a fighting stance.
"I don't know. Maybe it was a bird." Jack shrugged. Clay wrinkled his brow. Jack was one for monologuing, that was for sure, but this was too casual for a typical break in into the vault. He wasn't making his usual jabs at the team, yet he also wasn't begging for his life. He was stalling. Slipping behind the others to check on the vault, he noticed a few of the drawers had been opened. There was the slight feeling of warmth behind him, and as he turned he grabbed the first thing he could to block the swing of a sword.
"Well, well, well. Look who's back!" Clay grimaced. The bell chain in his grasp was silent, but his snide comment caught the attention of his teammates. In a frenzy, the other monks chased after Jack who was zooming around the room with the help of his helipack.
Le Mime gritted his teeth. The handle of his sword was weighted with the crystallized sounds from the bells and drawers of the vault. Without the Reversing Mirror, they wouldn't do him much use. He took a step back, which gave Clay a chance to let go of the bells. As he reached for the Fist of Tebigong, Le Mime took another slash, nicking Clay on the arm. With a sly grin, Le Mime swung the sword in a lazy circle. Clay slide his hand into the glove and opened his mouth the call out the Wu's name.
But nothing came out.
The Wu refused to summon magical strength. Taking advantage of his confusion, Le Mime kicked Clay in the chin, sending him stumbling backwards. Raimundo slipped behind them, and used the mute bells as a bola. Le Mime became tangled, his weapon dropped out of reach.
Kimiko's rapid fire technique finally produced results. One of the flaming missiles aimed right for Jack's chest.
"Reversing Mirror!" He shouted. Kimiko dodged the rebound and threw another that hit the square into one of Jack's propeller blade. He crashed a few meters away.
"Get him Omi!" Kimiko shouted. The boy genius scrambled backwards in a haphazard crab walk. Omi gripped the Orb of Tornami in his hands as he stared at the face of his longtime rival. Though Jack looked frightened, Omi couldn't shake the haunting image of the aged Emperor of Darkness that had lead to the demise of his friends. "Omi, what are you doing?" His muscles felt ridged and cold, and once again he couldn't will his limbs to move. Jack pulled himself to his feet and ran away from the tiny Xiaolin Warrior.
"I-I forgot my Jack bots at home!" Jack squealed. "I'll be back though!" He ran out of the temple and the monks focus turned to Le Mime.
"Clay," Raimundo asked as he repeatedly slapped the gasping Cowboy on the back, "what's going on?" Dojo slithered out of Clay's hat and made a beeline toward the sword. He riffled through the cluster of orbs until he found a light green one. Heedless of the monks warnings, Dojo swallowed the orb like a bitter pill. With a hoarse cough he held up the katana.
"Behold the dreaded Sword of Silence. A powerful Shen Gong Wu that has been causing me trouble all day. Clay I believe this is yours." He tossed a golden orb. "Fair warning, it'll taste like it sounds so…" He trailed off leaving the judgment up for interpretation. Clay swallowed it quickly, pounding on his chest as it crawled down his throat.
"Why would someone make something like this?" Raimundo took the sword from Dojo to examine it closer.
"Well, to keep people from using other Wu." Dojo nodded. "If Wu acted on thought," he whistled, "we may not have had as many Grand Masters as we do. Kids think weird things sometimes, best to keep that away from magic at all cost."
"What are we going to do with him?" Clay asked.
"I'm sure the Eiffel Tower misses him dearly." Kimiko chuckled, the Golden Tiger Claws in hand.
~ v ~
The house was as dark as Jack had left it. He thundered down the stairs to his lab and flicked on the lights. To his surprise, the lab was completely trashed. Nothing seemed to be missing, but all of his stuff had been tossed about and rifled through. Cast aside on the floor was Le Mime's Serpent's Tail. The usual ambiance of humming machines was broken by a dark chuckle from the ceiling.
"It seems someone was looking for you, or at least something you have."
"Hannibal Bean!" Jack exclaimed. "W-what do you want?"
"Me? I was just trying to provide decent company, seeing how the last person you let in your home wanted to rob you blind." Hannibal gestured an undulating sprout toward Jack's chest. "He probably didn't notice you were wearing it the whole time." Jack tugged on a chain around is neck to stare his shrunken Reversing Mirror. It had done a good job acting as a safety net for when he was unarmed.
"No, that doesn't make sense. Le Mime won't use everyday Wu." Jack said with a shake of his head. Hannibal was trying to play him again, probably trashed the lab too. "He doesn't talk."
"But combined with the Sword of Silence he could." Hannibal suggested casually. "Then again, natural magic tends to be unpredictable in the presence of the Shen Gong Wu." Jack's shocked face made him chuckle. "What, did Wuya forget to teach you that when you learned to detect magic?"
"Wuya didn't teach me to detect magic, she always did it herself." Jack confessed. Hannibal scoffed at the idea.
"That's the first thing one learns aside from the basic rules of magic." He waited a beat before prompting. "To gain ultimate power one must…"
"Take over the world?" Jack offered.
"Make the ultimate sacrifice!" Hannibal corrected. "Like your clown friend gave up his voice to use magic, or how Dashi gave up his body to achieve enlightenment. What kind of apprentice doesn't-"
"I was never Wuya's apprentice!" Jack interjected. "She never taught me anything. We were partners, well, we were supposed to be. I had to figure everything out on my own."
"Oh," Hannibal shrugged, "I guess she never trusted you." He always had a talent for hitting sore spots. The way the red headed genius deflated over a single sentence was delicious.
"That- that's her loss." Jack snorted. "I don't need her. I don't need anyone and that includes you." He turned his back and loaded a cleaning program into two of the Jack Bots.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid." Hannibal said with a shake of his head. He sneered as a third Jack-Bot floated up toward his hiding spot in the rafters. "I'd prefer to show myself out."
~ v ~
Later that night, Omi sat under the temple's protected awning as rain pounded on the ground. Master Fung quietly took a seat next to him, his gaze trained on the temple ground.
"I am surprised you have yet to question my decision in letting Raimundo advance before you." Master Fung stated gently. "What changed?"
"I have brought shame to this temple." Omi frowned.
"Oh? How so?"
"I stood in the face of the enemy, and I froze, I- I couldn't fight." He pulled his legs to his chest. "…a few times."
"Omi," Master Fung said sternly, "you cannot bring shame to this temple by being human." He sighed. "A warrior's honor is not tied to his courage. We protect those who cannot protect themselves, yes, but that duty alone is not what defines us." Omi nodded absently. He meant no disrespect, but he knew if he were to try to speak his mind we would begin sniveling again. "I have no doubts that you will be able to find a balance."
*Long Mu: Also spelled Longmu, translates literally into 'Mother of Dragons'. She is human figure in Chinese mythology that transcended to the status of goddess after raising five dragons.
AN: Sorry this is taking so long. I ran into some serious writer's block when it came to the final battle scene for this chapter, had to cut a few scenes too for length. Thank you all for reading and reviewing.