Big changes here too!:) please read!
Chapter Three
Kim's POV
"Young monks.." Master Fung sighed as he looked at every one of us. We all stared at him, confused at his strange dismayed expression. We could always tell when something was wrong with him. And when something was wrong with him, something bad was about to happen. Raimundo took it very lightly though.
"What? Ten thousand years of darkness.. bla bla bla. Yeah I think we get it by now Master Fung. Who do we gotta beat this time? We can handle it." Raimundo said while slamming his fist into his other palm, smiling confidently. I, on the other hand, was a little concerned. I'd never seen Master Fung so worried. But what worried me more was as he looked at us, his worried expression seemed to worsen as his gaze fell upon me.
"I'm afraid it is not ten thousand years of darkness, but far worse. An eternity of darkness." Master Fung stated, his eyes still focused on me. I squirmed uncomfortably. Why did he keep looking at me? Did he know about my dream? Did it have something to do with what he was about to tell us?
"What do you mean?" I asked, my thoughts still swirling around in my head.
"And this time.. there is no 'we', as much as I wish it could be. It is but one monk who can stop this." Master Fung said, he looked over us again, his eyes still lingering on my face. I shuddered. I did not want it to be me. But leave it to Omi to disrupt the seriousness.
Omi puffed out his chest, his head swelling with pride. "It looks as though I will have to save the world once again. Do not worry my friends, I shall save your arms-"
"Butts." Clay put it.
"That too, I shall save your butts once again!" He exclaimed, thrusting his small yellow fist into the air.
"And what makes you so sure you are the special monk who gets to take on this challenge, cheese ball?" Raimundo glared down at Omi's confident little self.
"Because I am the chosen one!" Omi pointed to his large forehead. "I am the one with the dots, do you not remember? Or shall I remind you of what happened about a year ago...?" Omi said as his mind started drifting off to that day again.
"Yeah? Well I'm the leader, maybe this is some special.. leader mission! Yeah! I'm going to save the world from eternity on my special leader mission! And when I do, I'm gonna rub your big fat-"
"Hey now!" Clay interrupted again.
"Head in it." Rai smirked over at Clay before shifting his gaze back to the still too confident Omi.
Clay and I both rolled our eyes as the two continued arguing. As far as I was concerned, I really did hope it's one of them. I didn't want the responsibility of the world on my shoulders. I've never dealt with something like that, on my own at least, and I didn't want that to start now. Today was already weird enough, I didn't need more weirdness.
Master Fung cleared his throat, which made Omi and Raimundo look up, then bow. "Sorry Master Fung." They said in unison.
"As I was saying, this only includes one Monk. One.. female.. monk." His eyes fell upon me, as did everyone else's.
I stumbled backwards, shocked. "M-me!"
"Her!" Omi screamed. He pulled out his 'Ancient Guide to Females' book. "But it says nowhere in here that females are to save the world in here! The men are the head of the house! That means men are to save the world! Kimiko is not capable of doing such a thing."
My shock suddenly turned to anger as I turned to Omi. "Excuse me!" I glared over at Omi, who was still much too full of himself. "I think I'm pretty capable of saving world all by myself, thank you very much." I stated matter-o-factly and crossed my arms. Actually deep inside of me right now, I was completely freaking out. Me. Kimiko Tohomiko, a four and a half foot Japanese girl, saving the world. I almost laughed at the thought. But it also made me want to hurl.
I thought of all the training we had been doing the past two weeks, and realized most of the time that Master Fung was most focused on me. No one thought anything of it, and neither did I, until now. Now I know why he had been working us so hard lately. Well, me actually.
"Silence." Master Fung ordered.
Omi and I looked up from our bickering, and bowed in obedience. "Sorry Master Fung."
"Kimiko." Master Fung looked at me, dead serious. "What I am about to tell you may shock you, but you must know, it is to save the world."
I could feel my body beginning to tremble. But as I looked up I saw everyone looking at me expectantly. I couldn't show them I was scared out of my mind. So I stood confidently, and managed to pull off a weak smirk, which I knew didn't convince anyone. "Yes Master Fung, I'm willing to do anything."
"Well.. let's start at the beginning. Long ago, about one thousand years ago actually, Chase Young fell in love."
We all stood there with our mouths agape. Chase? How could Chas, an immortal being, fall in love? Was that even possible? The Chase I knew had absolutely no interest in girls, only world domination.
"Yes, but the woman he loved wouldn't marry him unless he gave up being evil. But Chase loved be evil, and he had already given up his soul. After sometimes though, he learned to love the woman more than evil. He did some research in his study. He found that if this woman could past three dangerous tests, Chase could be free of his bind on evil. Then she would marry him. Chase was not happy about this though, and refused to let her do the challenges. But the woman insisted. They had no idea how tough the challenges were. She barely made it through the first two, but on the third one, she did not survive."
I was listening intently. It was one of the most intense love stories ever! She couldn't believe it though, that Chase had learned to love this woman more than evil. I thought Chase had created evil himself, he was so good at it.
Master Fung continued. "Chase was so angry for allowing her to do that. He vowed never to love again, and to conquer the world. And now his plan may be coming true. In a few days, Chase Young will become incredibly strong."
"Why?" We all asked, confused. Poor Chase. He lost the love of his life. No wonder he seemed so evil now, he didn't despise the world.. he despised himself. I couldn't help but feel a strange pang of pity for him.
"All of the dragons lives that had been lost to make the Lao Mang Long Soup Chase drinks powers' shall become his. No one will be able to stop him with elements or strength. He will become virtually invincible. There is but one way." Master Fung turned to me. "That is where you come in Kimiko."
My eyes widened. What? Me? What could I do? I couldn't take on a fifteen-hundred year old dragon thing that was invincible. "Me? How can I stop Chase when he's invincible?"
"You can't stop him while he is invincible. But you can stop him before he is invincible. The prophecy Chase had read many years ago." He stated simply.
I cocked my head to the side. "Huh?" Prophecy? Did he mean the one about the three trials?
"A willing lady must take on those three challenges in order for Chase Young to give up being evil." Master Fung continued.
"So.. I'll have to go through three deadly tests?" I asked with a shaky voice, starting to let my fear show. If the woman was fueled by love to complete the tests, but couldn't, then how could I complete the tests when I was fueled by.. fear? This can't be happening.
"Ah, but you do not remember the whole rule Kimiko. Once the woman completes the tests, Chase does not give up being evil until..."
I gasped, covering my mouth with shaking hands. This really cannot be happening. I stumbled backwards and tripped over a rock, crashing to the ground.
It was clear now. The dream. I knew what it meant. Those reptilian hands, the wedding, everyone chained up. It all made sense.
I had to complete three deadly tests. Then once that was done, my prize was.. was..
The root of all evil.
Marry the Prince of Darkness.
I had to marry Chase Young.
And with that thought lingering in me head, I slowly slid into the clutches of unconsciousness.
Chase's Lair
No POV
Chase sat on his throne, watching the scene play over again in the crystal eye.
He watched as Master Fung told Kimiko what she had to do, and he slowly realized what prophecy the ghost had been talking about.
The one that had taken the ghosts' life. Yes, he finally accepted it as her. He knew the hair and eyes all too well for it to be anyone else, even after a thousand years.
Kimiko was going to have to go through the three trials just as she had years ago, and if she succeeded, he would marry her.
Marry Kimiko.
Chase put his head in his hands while his thoughts jumbled together. Questions starting popping up here and there.
Would she ever forgive me? Could I actually go through with the prophecy? Would it really be that bad?
Chase stopped cold as he realized what he had just thought. He roughly got up from his throne, throwing it backwards until it collided into the wall, and stormed out of the room for the second time today.
He would never love anyone else. He would not fall under the spell of love again. He would not make that mistake again. Love makes you too vulnerable, he thought. It's a worthless emotion, as every emotion is.
He found himself in the middle of his large library, looking up at the many shelves of books he had collected over the years. His eyes scanned the book shelves for one in particular. He quickly found it and pulled it out, dusting it off. He turned to the exact page where he could see the title of a new passage.
Marriage Prophecy
Chase threw the book into the wall and cursed under his breath. He knew Kimiko was strong, he knew she could probably make it through the tests. Chase didn't want to give up being evil. At all.
Xiaolin Temple
Kim's POV
Inside my head, it felt as though only foggy clouds were swirling around in there. Normally when I pass out, I can still think. But my mind was way too clouded right now. I was just swirling around with the dark clouds inside my own head.
But in a way, it was good. It gave me a nice, peaceful sensation, where I didn't have to think about anything happening on the outside world. It was my safe zone. Normally it was for me to think, but I never thought about just getting lost, not in my own thoughts, but just in my own head. Not thinking about anything. Just completely relaxing.
Well, that was until I let a thought seep through my foggy cloud pillows. It came spiraling down at me, until it finally collided.
I sat bolt right up in an unfamiliar bed. I could feel a cold sweat coming up just beneath the surface of the skin on my forehead and my neck. Then suddenly, the weight of the thought that had just collided with me had sunk in, and I held my head in my hands.
Chase.
I remembered the last thing that had happened before I blacked out. The prophecy, the marriage, the test, everything.
I plopped back down on pillow of the unfamiliar bed I was in and stared up at the ceiling.
Was I really going to go through with this? Was I really going to risk my life, to marry Chase Young? Ha! Of course not.
I was going to risk my life, to save the earth. Not for Chase.
I blinked, and thought back to the good part of my dream, when Keiko and I were only seven years old. It was odd that my dream actually was something I used to do. Keiko and I always used to play wedding. We loved planning our wedding days. We would always imagine the perfect wedding, with the perfect guy, the perfect everything.
Then my mind jumped back to the worse part of my dream. Only now I imagined things that didn't happen in it.
I was walking down the aisle, with no one by my side. Dark funeral music was playing in the background. I looked to both sides of me, and could see my friends chained to the pews. Master Fung, Dojo, Omi, Clay, even Keiko. But this time I imagined Raimundo there, not knowing why he wasn't in my dream. It hurt the most when I imagined his face. The boy I had been crushing on for so long. His face had a tortured look in it, and his eyes were pleading. I looked away and focused my eyes straight forward to my destination, hoping my black veil would hide the tears glistening in my eyes, and they were not tears of happiness. When I finally made it to the end, the music stopped. Then slowly my veil was lifted out of my face and I looked up. What I saw made me scream. It was a dragon. A fifteen-hundred year old, scaly, sinister dragon staring down at me with those horrid golden eyes.
Everything I was imagining inside my head was so real, I forgot it really wasn't. The scream I imagined was real, and I found myself sitting up again and hugging my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth.
"I can't do this.." I said to myself, choking back tears. "I cannot do this!" I blinked and hot tears rolled down my cheeks. "Why me.." I whispered over and over. I watched as those fresh tears dropped off of my chin, and landed on the white sheets covering the small bed. The tears slowly soaked into the fabric, and they were lost forever. I stared down at them, wishing I could just disappear forever.
Suddenly Raimundo came rushing in. "Kimiko are you alright! I heard a scream and I..." His eyes melted from worried and frantic, to worried and sympathetic as he saw me sitting there with my knees brought up to my chest, and my eyes trying to hold back more tears from falling. "Kimi what's wrong?" He sank down next to me onto the bed and draped an arm around my shoulder.
I sniffled a little bit before wiping my nose and resting my head on his shoulder. "I can't do this Rai.. my wedding is supposed to be perfect.. It's supposed to be with someone I love.. I can't marry a fifteen-hundred year old dragon.. it's.. it's.."
"Disgusting? Appalling? Nasty? Revolting?"
"Icky." Is the only word I could find. He chuckled softly at this and began stroking on of my arms with his other hand.
"You're in such a mess.. yet you always find a way to still be so.. childish." He looked down at me and smiled.
"Look who's talking." I smirked as he nudged me slightly and continued stroking.
We sat there in silence, just enjoying this peaceful moment. I should have been freaking out. The man I had been crushing on for so long was right here, holding me in his arms. But for some reason.. I couldn't help but not feel that spark. It was just nice to be comforted at a time like this, I guess.
Chase's Lair
Chase's POV
I sat on my thrown yet again, scowling at the image inside my sphere, not knowing why I kept spying on her. The image made me sick.
In the sphere, was Raimundo and Kimiko. Raimundo was holding Kimiko in his arms and gently stroking her arm and whispering to her words of comfort. She gladly accepted them, and would sometimes smile ever so slightly.
I hurled the sphere across the room and watched it shatter into a million pieces against a wall, before all the tiny shards began falling like a waterfall down to the cold stone ground below.
I couldn't explain what made me so angry about that, but I just couldn't help it. I was mad that I even spied on her in the first place. Why? Again I don't know. I can try and find her weaknesses, make sure she isn't able to complete the tests.
I stood up and descended quickly down the stairs and through a wooden door leading down a familiar hallway. I listened to the echo of my feet tapping lightly against the stone floor. It was somewhat soothing, and soon I found myself getting lost in the rhythm of my footsteps, that was until I heard a door creak open behind me.
"What do you want Wuya? I am quite busy right now." I said in annoyance as I continued my stride down the long hallway.
She hurried to catch up with me and fell into stride with me before speaking. "It's about Kimiko." She spoke in a sly whisper.
I suddenly stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" I asked.
"Well.." She fiddled with a piece of her jewelry nervously before looking up at me. "You don't think she's really going to go along with this.. do you?"
I was surprised by her question, but I didn't let it show. I merely stood there with my hands behind my back, giving her a serious look. "I am sure she most definitely does not want to..." My mind drifted back to the image of her and Raimundo I had seen a few minutes ago. "And of course no one can force her to, but I am sure her position as a Xiaolin warrior will not let her do otherwise, for the good of the world."
"Then how shall we get rid of her?" She smiled evilly.
I didn't think about that. As much I should be wanting to get rid of her, I couldn't bring myself to think that. I could hurt her enough to where she couldn't do the tests, but get rid of her? It never crossed my mind.
"You know she is the only one capable of even surviving this test. She is the only thing standing our way of world domination." The hag spat.
"Our? It is my world domination, and we are not getting rid of her. We may injure her until she is unable to fight, but we aren't going to destroy her. Besides, once I rule, her powers may be useful for destroying large towns, once she knows how to use Heylin power to fuel her fire, instead of Xiaolin." I stated, starting to get bored and walking away.
"You cannot be serious!" She shrieked, following right behind me. "You are willing to let this little brat pass the test and marry you! She doesn't deserve to marry someone like you!" I already knew where this was going. Of course she was jealous. "You've already made the mistake of trying to marry someone you 'love' Chase. Don't make it again."
My eyes tightened and my fists clenched. The inner being of the dragon inside of me began tearing through. The armor on my arms began splitting open as my muscles grew larger. I reached one deadly clawed hand out and grabbed Wuya by the neck and pulled her in front of me. I dug my nails deep into her throat until blood began too ooze out of the punctures I had left. She gasped and choked and clawed desperately at my arms.
"Don't you ever talk about her again."
I released my grip on her neck and threw her down to the ground, as if she were nothing more than a mere piece of trash. I calmed my self down before I could transform into the beast that lived inside of me, and glided swiftly down the hallway. I stopped in front of my door and stood there for a minute.
Flashback
She wrapped her slender arms around my neck and kissed me once before we had to say goodnight.
"I love you Chase." She smiled that sweet smile that I loved so much. I wrapped my arms firmly around her waist and kissed her back.
"I love you too." I smiled that smile that only she could make me smile. No one else had ever made me this happy before. I slowly let her slip from my grasp to set her back down on the floor, but a thought ran through my head as I picked her up again and pushed through my door.
I slowly opened my large wooden door and peered inside to my room. My eyes traced over everything inside. A large chair in the corner. A round rug that took up half of the room in the center. And a large king sized bed pushed to the side of the room. My eyes stopped at that.
"Chase," She whispered. "What are you doing?"
I didn't answer her and gently laid her down onto my bed. I crawled in next to her and began kissing up her body.
"Chase..." She gently pushed me back and began sitting up. But I lightly pushed her back down and wrapped an arm around her waist and whispered into her ear.
"Please..." I let the arm around her waist start slowly slipping up the back of her shirt before her delicate hand caught mine, preventing it from venturing farther.
"You know I won't until we are married." She firmly stated and got up out of bed. "If you love me so much, then why won't you just quit being evil and find a way to get your soul back or something." She glared at me.
"Honey, it's not as simple as you think..." I tried to explain.
"Oh it's simple alright. You love evil more than you love me. Just forget it." She walked out the door and slammed it shut. I continued laying there.. not sure of what to do.
I slowly walked over to my bed, and glided one of my hands over the smooth velvet comforter placed on top of my giant mattress. I slowly sat down onto the bed, and stared over at my door. I cannot explain what I am feeling right now.. I shouldn't be feeling anything at all. But I do know it is not love. It was not love I was feeling as I remembered that beautiful woman.
No, that love was locked up inside of me.
No POV
Little did he know, is that lock was beginning to rust.
Sorry for more changes:( but I hope you like them!
