AN: To all the people that visited this waste of space and cared to read this, thank you. I usually constantly perform minor updates my stories after seeing minor errors on my nook.
Blood.
Kimiko gasped as she felt the blade slice through her skin once again, cursing herself for being tricked by the cheap-shot.
Weakly, she brought herself to her knees and shot a small tendril of fire from her fingers at the assassin's chest.
The crude armor sizzled as a new hole was burned into it and the pair of red eyes glowed angrily under the scarlet-horned helmet. It tilted its head upward and lowly hissed, sending shivers up the teenager's spine.
It was dressed like a traditional samurai, with layers upon layers of armor and a helmet. Dual swords were grasped in its hands, one red, one green, but both were lined with strange engravings along their lengths.
The assassin charged, sabers blazing fiercely and leaving twin trails in the night.
Kimiko dropped to the ground and swung a leg, catching the armored being's legs in hers. With a startled cry, the specter stumbled.
The dragon of fire used the given time to her advantage and shot several balls of fire toward it.
It swerved and charged once more, swords poised to gore through the young Japanese girl.
She closed her eyes and gathered the elemental energy within her, just praying for a miracle to happen.
'If I'm going to die here, I'm at least going to die with some dignity' she thought, hoping that it wouldn't be the last thing that she ever thought to herself.
Kimiko heard him get closer and closer. She inhaled, thrust her palms forward, and expelled her energies.
There was a shriek, and blood stained Kimiko's clothing.
Cautiously opening her eyes, a horrid scene lay before her.
A blade had pierced through its chest, and its hands were scrabbling at the sword, half trying to remove it, half flailing as it shrieked in alarm. Light brilliantly glowed from within its armored form, and with a blast that sent the clothing and weapon items everywhere, the specter fell to its knees and then on its side. It was already dead well before it hit the ground.
Kimiko silently retrieved the blades and the mostly-undamaged armor, too preoccupied with the oncoming horde to notice their weight.
She patiently stood on the beach as more specter-samurai charged toward her, armed with the knowledge of how to defeat them. The rain softly pattered upon the fighting warrior, making her hair stick to her forehead.
Her cerulean eyes flashed, and both sides leapt into battle.
Several hours later, a very-rain soaked Kimiko face-planted into the sand, not bothering to get up. Blood streamed from new cuts, though she made no attempt to neither clean nor bandage them; she simply was just relieved that this was over. All she wanted to do was get some sleep- some nice, wonderful... slumber...
The rain had stopped quite a while ago, allowing the moon to break through the thinning grey clouds. Crawling over to the shade of some palm trees, she curled up and slid into a dreamless slumber.
"Arise your shine!" a child's voice shouted at her.
Kimiko mumbled something in reply, her voice further muffled by the sand as she vocalized her annoyance at being woken. She turned over and prepared to go back to sleep when the child yelled "Orb of Tornami!" and a splash of chilled water stuck the back of her head.
"Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" she grumbled, irritably swatting the boy away as all traces of her exhaustion was washed away by the frigid liquid.
Yawning, she opened her eyes and saw a small Asian child that looked not a day over 10 years old standing before her, holding a crystal or glass-like orb in the palm of a hand. He wore a layer of fur, black gloves, and a cloth that covered most of his head save for his eyes. She blinked, and before she knew what happened, she was flying through the air.
Thinking quickly, she somersaulted backwards and landed on her feet.
A yellow fist flew at her; Kimiko instinctively ducked, the fist grazing her hair. A kick however, sent her sprawling on the sand again. Her leg shot out and wrapped around the boy's legs while he was recovering. Omi stumbled, but used two fingers to 'walk' on the ground, snidely grinning.
"You have done well for a female" the child said as he shifted into a fighting position, holding the strange orb in an open palm. "I have not expected you to go through the specters so quickly"
"Thanks" Kimiko sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes at the boy's comment. "I try to do my best"
"Then perhaps your best isn't good enough for me" Omi replied, "Prepare yourself for a most humiliating defeat!"
Omi leaped into the air, shifting his hold on the orb so that it was now between his palms. "Orb of Tornami, ice!"
Kimiko flipped backwards as the rapidly freezing water splashed onto the sand and created a thin layer of ice on top of it. Omi suddenly came towards her, gracefully gliding on the ice with a fist extended.
"Mantis Flip Coin!"
Omi's fist crashed onto the icy ground where she had stood, instantly shattering it. She jumped into the tall palm trees, using the Wu to accent her defensive fighting style. Omi, however, found fighting on higher ground difficult due to his small stature.
Mano a mano, they leaped through the trees, punching and swiping rhythmically, as if it were a dance of some sort. Kimiko had gotten the brunt of his attacks while Omi seemed untouched by hers. However, since their Wu were used extensively, it balanced the experience difference between Omi's fighting skills and Kimiko's- Kimiko used the trees and the coin to her advantage where she lacked martial arts training.
"Dog playing poker!"
The palm underneath her snapped from a kick sent by the 'big fat cheese head', and she rapidly grabbed the one underneath his feet. The added weight caused the flexible plant to dip towards the ground. Both fighters were too preoccupied with glaring at each other, but as soon as Kimiko's grip faltered from her exhaustion and she released her hold, Omi was shot into the air and landed on the ground. A small plume of dust followed a muffled crunching sound. At this point, Omi was jabbing his pointer finger in her general direction and started screaming, furious beyond belief at his crushed ego.
"As a Xiaolin apprentice, I order-"
'Wait, Xiaolin?'
"-hand over the Shen Gong Wu immediately!" he continued as he rapidly shot streams of water, attempting to take advantage of her momentary distraction and knock her from her perch.
Kimiko catapulted, ducking and hiding in between the protective trees.
"Do you know the way to the Xiaolin Valley?" she called, not daring to peek around the corner of a trunk.
"I think it would be most wise if I left you in the shadows, Heylin witch!"
"...That's 'keep you in the dark, and don't call me a witch" Kimiko snapped, shooting from the relative safety of the canopy and aimed a punch at his chest, which sent the young lad flying backwards.
"That too!" Omi spat as he rolled backwards to go back into a standing position.
"Then, I hope you don't mind if I bring a torch!" Kimiko retorted, igniting her hands and throwing pitifully weak fireballs at the young boy, trying her best but at the same time unwilling to risk the chance of seriously hurting the child with her element. Unused to her powers, the flames were wildly off target, either spiraling above his head or arcing to the side.
Omi smirked as he broke through her attacks with little ease, using an impressive combination of water attacks in retaliation. He didn't even need to use any of his true power over the element to break through her attacks. 'Although...' he thought, 'throwing fire is no ordinary feat...'
"Your fire powers resemble most like the dragon of fire" he stated, shooting several shards of ice towards his opponent. "But I shall not be confused with him, for your imitation of the dragon of fire shall not fool me, Wuya! The true fire dragon shall reveal himself... and take revenge on you for mocking his identity. But for now, my powers are most powerful- and shall continue to be for the next few hours! Prepare to be utterly defeated!"
Kimiko looked over his shoulder and smirked as a familiar warm energy returned to her, only a wee bit stronger than when she originally encountered it. For a moment, Omi's sly smile turned into a confused frown as he tried to figure out what he meant.
"Wrong. You rise with the moon, but I rise with the sun!" Kimiko yelled as she swung her palms towards him, sending an impressive amount of flames towards him.
Omi shouted the name of his element and used it against Kimiko's fire, but the short range of the attacks' explosion sent him tumbling. He gazed in awe as he saw the streams of flames emitted from Kimiko's hand, suddenly realizing his error. Kimiko collapsed onto the beach, her wounds taking a heavy toll on her battered body as her power left her.
The fire crackled as it lapped at the trees, blackening the leaves and branches. Omi frowned at the sight of the island burning to ashes and hastily, almost apologetically, offered the heavily panting teenager a temporary truce, which she gladly accepted.
"Orb of Tornami, water!"
The icy spray splashed at the source of the conflagration. With a loud hiss, the fire was extinguished, sending plumes of white smoke to the sky. Omi grimly smiled and tucked the sphere within the confines of his orb.
"This is... most embarrassing" Omi admitted after a moment of silence had passed. "I... apologize for this confusion"
"It's alright." Kimiko mumbled before quickly changing the subject to avoid the awkward situation. "So you're a Xiaolin Warrior"
"Of course"
"Then you know where the Xiaolin Valley is"
Omi gave her a funny look that clearly read 'duh'.
"Then you'll take me there, then?"
"I believe I did not say that" Omi responded, but felt a stab of guilt upon looking at her bleeding form. "But I believe it is my duty as a Xiaolin monk to assist you."
He pointed to an ominous-looking mountain range. Clouds gathered above the summit of the tallest mountain. Lightning flashed overhead, and for a moment, Kimiko thought that it looked like a glaring face.
She was so entranced by the overly clichéd dramatic appearance that she did not notice Omi placing his hands on her wounds. His hands glowed a soft lightly blue and the dragon of fire twitched slightly as a tingly feeling raced up and down her spine. However, she remained silent until he finished, leaving her only with faint scars as testimony to her struggles.
"We shall depart in a few hours' time" Omi declared, a tiny hand reaching out once more. "Once again, I am most..." Omi was cut off when Kimiko embraced him, purely grateful for the small act.
"Can I have another hug, please?" Omi pleaded, extending his arms and using his puppy dog pout.
Kimiko rolled her eyes and sighed.
As you can see, Kim still needs to work out controlling her powers. Anything other than her weaker attacks would burn everything around her to a crisp.
Stats:
Kimiko, lv. 3, destroyer
Special abilities: Flash fire- attacks of team are stronger
Omi, Lv. 5, medic
Special abilities: Water absorb- basic healing