They flew for some time, Omi trying hard not to get sick over top of his friend. The high elevation plus the intense speed of the dragon wasn't agreeing with his tiny stomach.
"Dojo…." The monk threw up in his mouth a little. "…are we almost there?"
The green reptile lowered through the thick clouds until a slew of tall building came into view. They were covered in what seemed like a layer of dust, making the whole scene a grimly looking tone of brown and grey. Everything looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Cars were in the streets, abandoned. Almost like life itself just stopped existing.
"Here it is, Tokyo Japan." Dojo swiftly landed in the middle of the street behind an empty grey car. Omi thankfully jumped off the dragon, running over to the sidewalk to evacuate the contents of his stomach.
"Yeah, sorry about that, kid. You'll get used to it. Everyone has a rough first time on the Dojo Express."
Once colour returned to the small monks face, he lifted his head up and looked around.
"Wow…..Dojo look at all the buildings and strange metal things!" Omi touched the vehicle in front of them.
"This is Tokyo. It used to be the center of technology in the world. Really busy city, packed with people, cars, and buildings. After the war though, people fled." The two started walking down the street.
"How are we supposed to find a Xiaolin Dragon here?"
"I dunno….the scroll isn't very specific on that, is it?" Omi pulled the scroll out of his robes and handed it over to Dojo.
"Here. You know more about these than I do. You were around when they were written."
Dojo opened the scroll as they walked. "Hey I don't know a lot about the scrolls either. It's not like I sat there and wrote them myself. Besides, this one doesn't have any other information. Just the four elemental Shen Gong Wu and a map."
"Do you know what the Shen Gong Wu are?"
"Yeah. See that top one is the Orb of Tournami. That's your Shen Gong Wu. It has an unlimited supply of water that you can use against your enemy to basically drown them."
"Cool." Omi looked over at the ink drawing of his Shen Gong Wu. It was just a circle. He didn't really know what he expected.
"What's the one for this place?"
"That's the Star Hanabi. It shoots bolts of fire out of the gem in the center of it."
Omi's eyes went wide. "Ooohh Dojo I want that one!"
"Too bad, kid. That's a fire element. You're stuck with water."
The two stopped their conversation at a noise. It sounded like a piece of metal being dropped. They looked around quickly.
"Hello?" Omi asked into the empty street. "Is anyone there?"
The question was met with silence. Dojo retreated to around his partner's robes with the scroll. The bald monk held his ground.
"Dojo, there is nothing to be afraid of. Come out and…"
The boy's sentence was cut short when a hand wrapped around his mouth and quickly dragged him backwards. He tried shouting at first, but then remembered the martial art skills his master had taught him. By the time they had gotten into a nearby alley, six dots on Omi's forehead began to glow, which meant he was focused, and he grabbed the arm around him, flipping his enemy forward. He heard a grunt as the surprisingly light person was flung forward and landed hard on the gravel ground. Omi put himself into a defensive position.
"Leave now, unknown assassin. We have no business with you."
The small figure stood up, not much taller than Omi. Small, thin, covered in a black, skin tight outfit with a utility belt strapped around their waist. The figure reached up to its bandana covered face and pulled the loose piece of cloth off.
"Shhh. Keep your voice down you idiot! Do you want to be killed!?"
The boy was taken aback. It was a girl. She had two pigtails in with wiry black hair and deep red lipstick. Her eyes were brown and her skin was porcelain like a doll. But she had a fire in her look.
"You…..you're a woman!" Omi had never met a woman in real life before. He had seen them in scrolls, mainly one witch that Dashi locked up years ago. But he had never encountered a real one.
The woman blinked her eyes. "Wha….of course I'm a woman! Do you have a problem with that punk? Because I could still kick your…"
Dojo poked out of Omi's robes to see the commotion.
"Hey, who's the girl?"
"You two…..you're in the wrong place, aren't you?" She relaxed her stance.
"Definitely not!" Dojo piped up. "I know my way around Asia."
The girl reached into a pouch on her utility belt and pulled out a square white device, unravelling a wire around it, and hooking it around her ear.
"Well then I suggest you leave as quickly as you got here before you get yourselves shot."
"We are here on a mission!" Omi demanded, holding onto his scroll. The female sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh great. Another saint thinking they're going to come here and clean up the streets of Tokyo."
"No…were just…"
"You think anyone here is going to listen to you, cheese head? You're just a snack to the people out here. Outsiders last about 10 minutes in the streets."
"I was just…"
"And you're stupid enough to just be wandering around, keeping your voices up in plain sight! I've seen rats smarter than you!"
"I'm not here to…"
"Because of me you get a second chance. Take it and run."
"I will not run until I have completed my…"
"Shhh!" The black haired girl silence Omi, holding a finger up to her ear. Omi stayed silent for a few moments, but was irritated by the stranger in front of him constantly interrupting him.
"I am not leaving!" The youth demanded. "Master Fung trusted me with a job and I'll finish it even if it kills me!"
The dark haired girl grabbed Omi's hand and pulled him to the ground just as a loud bang was heard.
"You idiot I told you to shush!" She growled. Dojo retreated back into the safety of his partner's cloths.
She stood up, grabbing the boy. "Keep your head down and run!"
More bangs as bullets came whizzing by their heads and Japanese words coming from a shadowy group of people firing. Omi ran alongside her, ducking every time he heard a gun bang. His small heart pounded from fear. The young monk never had experience with people outside of Master Fung. But from his first encounter, he already had quite a scary, negative opinion.
The two turned fast around a corner, and deeper into the back alleys, jumping over garbage and splashing across puddles.
They ran until they were trapped by a dead end in between two tall buildings with no chance of escape. Footsteps could be heard following close behind. The small monk bravely moved between the girl he just met and the footsteps coming toward them.
"Don't worry, miss girl! I shall protect you!"
As soon as the shadowed figures turned the corner with their guns cocked, Omi set himself to attack. But before he could make a move, a large jet of fire passed over his shoulder and towards the enemies. Bullets were shot back, but way off target. The boy looked back to see the girl he was with holding a lighter in her hand and waving her other hand over the flame, causing another stream of fires that hit closer to the opposing group.
"Get away before I set you all on fire!" The female yelled. The group backed up slowly. One to them pointed their gun threateningly.
"Watashitachiha, aru hi anata o shutoku shimasu…" and they were gone. The two breathed as the black haired girl put out her lighter, putting it back into her utility belt.
Dojo, sensing the danger was gone, popped back out of Omi's shirt.
"Wow, I think we've found our Xiaolin dragon of Fire."
"Dragon of Fire?"
"Yeah!" Dojo walked over to the other person. "You have fire manipulating abilities. You're what we are looking for here in Tokyo."
"M…Me?" She asked. "You're looking for me?"
"Dojo, you must be wrong! We are looking for a great warrior not a….a girl!
The woman snarled and smacked the little monk hard across his face, causing him to land face first two feet from where he was standing.
"Ah….I stand corrected…." He moaned. "Girls can be warriors…"
"So what's your name, little lady?"
"Kimiko." The pale skinned woman beamed. The green dragon shook her hand.
"Dojo, magical flying talking dragon."
Their new acquaintance walked over and held her hand out, helping Omi back up.
"My name's Omi." The youth greeted. "And I am the Xiaolin Dragon of Water."
"Water? So you can do the thing I can do but just with liquids?"
"Yes." Omi nodded as he looked over at a puddle and then closed his eyes. Moments later all the water from the puddle was floating over their heads.
"See?" The monk opened his eyes, only to lose focus and drench the three in water. Kimiko gasped.
"Hey, watch it!"
"Oh…sorry. I'm still kind of practising."
Dojo sneezed and began shivering dramatically, indicating to his partner that he was cold and wet.
"I know a safe place we can go if you two want to dry off." Kimiko pointed to the top of a building. "Around the corner there is a fire escape." She grabbed Omi's hand and led the young boy around the corner to a half pulled down ladder attached to a platform.
"I'll jump up first and then help you up, kay?"
"No way." Omi shook his head. "I don't need help! Especially from a…."
Kimiko raised her fist. Omi closed his mouth. She then looked up, jumped, placing her foot against the brick wall, boosting herself up to the half hanging down ladder, climbing up to the first platform.
"Hah. Easy!" Omi snorted, copying his new friends' moves with ease. Kimiko smiled.
"Impressive. You got some moves." She crossed her arms. "Let's see if you keep up."
The girl flipped up, grabbing onto a hanging bar and twirling herself around onto the next platform. The round monk eyed his target, and then flawlessly grabbed the bar, flipping his body weight upwards onto the platform.
The two challenged each other until they both reached the top of the building, landing expertly on the cobbled roof.
"Kimiko, you are the first girl I have ever met, but you are also very talented. My view of girls has changed most drastically."
She smiled, walking over to the center of the roof. "I'm the first girl you ever met? What about your mom?"
"No, I have no parents. I was raised by Master Fung, my martial arts master."
The dark haired girl made a small fire in front of her with her powers.
"Oh that's sad." She consoled. Omi sat beside her in front of the fire and Dojo slithered from around him to the roof floor.
"It is not so sad. It would be sad if I knew them first and then lost them."
"Yeah that's true." Kimiko pulled out a few white objects from her utility belt, putting them on a stick and holding them over the fire.
"So what is the whole fire and water thing?"
While they ate and warmed up, Omi rolled out the scroll for Kimiko to see. He explained about the imbalance of good and evil in the world, and that the four Xiaolin Dragons had the job to restore that balance.
"…so I will travel around the world to find the four dragons, the four Shen Gong Wu, and return the world to a proper balance."
Kimiko looked fascinated as she ate a marshmallow.
"So….you and I are….mhm….dragons?" She swallowed her food.
"Dragons, like warriors. Not a dragon like Dojo." He took a moment to grab another marshmallow and begin roasting. "So, will you please join me on my quest to rescue the world?"
The Japanese female thought about it.
"So you say we are going to go all over the world?"
"Yes."
"Well I don't know how you got into Tokyo, but it is near impossible to leave. Gangs have almost every boarder blocked. I know, I've tried several times to get out of this place."
Dojo laughed, marshmallow fluff almost gluing his lips together.
"You don't worry about that little lady. You will be riding on the Dojo Express!" The scaly dragon grew into his full sized self.
"So that's how you got in here. You flew."
"And that's how we're going to get out of here, too."
"Well then let's get out of this living hell!" Kimiko grabbed the scroll, rolling it up and shoving it in her belt. The two jumped on the now dry and warm Dojo and lifted off into the air.
"The scroll. Where does it say to go next?" Omi shouted to his new partner. Kimiko pulled it out, making sure to protect the material from the wind.
"That X right there. What is that one?" The young boy pointed. Kimiko pulled out her square white device again, touching the screen with her finger.
"According to my map, that is Brazil. To be exact, Rio de Janeiro"
I'm sorry for my poor Japanese.
