Chapter 4: The Chiyu Box
Chase Young sat at the edge of a cliff on his eerie looking mountain lair, patently waiting for his pets to return with their prize. Despite the straight look on his face, anyone could easily tell that questions were racing through his head. One question in particular wouldn't stop prodding at his brain. Why had his minion given one of the charms to Jack Spicer? It irritated Chase to no end. The fool had challenged Chase, wagering his eternal loyalty, and had lost. How was it possible that the one who wielded the Hitsuji Hammer had defied him, even for a second? Chase lost his train of thought when six black panthers came leaping over the edge of the cliff.
Chase got to his feet and held out his hand to the beasts. The panther in the lead padded up to him and gave a small golden lightning bolt to him. It looked up to him, along with the other five, awaiting their next orders. "Excellent. Now get out of my sight." The group of panthers bowed to him and disappeared into the mountain cave.
Chase turned back to the sky, once again deep in thought. So, I have the final charm to the bracelet at last. I wonder how he has been doing, memories of my face and name plaguing his dreams yet not knowing why he knows me. It almost seems like the perfect torture. Chase chuckled at his own thoughts. It would certainly seem like torture, if he had a consciousness to be tortured. Chase looked down to the charm in his hand. He wasn't sure why, but now that he had the final peace to the bracelet, memories of his past were starting to surface. Memories of before he'd eaten the Lao-Mang-Lon soup. "I shall relieve him of his burden and be rid of these accursed memories." He raised his hand to the sky, dangling the charm ever so lightly between his thumb and index finger. He called out it name, erasing his minions final memories of his master.
Then, without so much as a word from Chase, a lioness came patting out of the entrance to Chases lair to take the charm from him. Chase was gladly rid of it. But, for the first time in fifteen-hundred years, Chase betrayed himself. For because of his own wishes and not turning to watch the lioness leave, he did not notice it suddenly change form. From a golden cat to a black and gray bird. The bird soared away, in one talon the lightning charm, in the other the rest of the Memory Charm Bracelet.
RAIMUNDO'S ROOM
"Are you sure that you don't need me to come with you guys?" Kim asked. Omi, Clay, Saya, and Dojo were about to leave to look for the Chiyu box, stopping by Rai's room to say goodbye to Kim and a still unconscious Raimundo. And despite the fact that Kim didn't really want to leave, she'd asked just so that Saya wouldn't make a smug remark before departing.
"No, we will be fine." Omi assured her.
"Yeah," Saya agreed. "And, no offence, but you'd probably just get in the way with your hand and all."
"We'll be back before you can say-" Dojo said, proceeding to say an extremely long and uninteresting sentence that no one was listening to. Dojo didn't seem to notice.
"And don't worry, we'll be back quicker than a-" Clay began. But he was cut off when Saya started pushing him towards the door.
"No time for metaphors now cowboy. You can give us a list on the way to the Shen Gong Wu." She said. The two of them could be heard arguing all the way to the courtyard. Omi and Dojo waved and said goodbye one last time before chasing after them.
And that was that. For the rest of the day and possibly days to come, Omi and the others would be gone from dawn until dusk, returning only to eat and sleep. It was going to be boring around the temple for a while: no Omi constantly practicing and making stupid remarks; no Clay practicing his trick roping and eating five meals a day; no Dojo for comedy relief; and no Saya to, well, just be Saya. And to make things worse, Kimiko would have practically no time for herself, having to constantly take care of Rai. But for some reason, that last part didn't seem to bother her that much.
So, what to do now? Kim asked herself.
LOCATION UNKNOWN
"Excellent work my pet, you've brought me the first piece of the puzzle." Hannibal Bean said, praising his precious pet, the Ying-Yang Bird. "Now only a few pieces remain. But for my plan to work to its fullest, I will need more power." Hannibal rubbed his tentacle arm against what would normally be a person's chin, pondering what to do next.
It was true; the Memory Charm Bracelet was more than enough to begin his plan. But he'd need a few more Shen Gong Wu to complete it, and these few that he needed hadn't been found yet. And to make things worse, the only Wu that could stop him hadn't been found ether. So how to proceed? He needed leverage against the Xiaolin Monks, a pawn to do his bidding, and a scapegoat just in case. The scapegoat was easily within his grasp, but the pawn was needed before the scapegoat could be used in any manner. "All right, Yingy, now I need you to go the Xiaolin temple. Steal a multitude of Shen Gong Wu and offer them to that dumbass, what's his name? Jake Sprinkler or something." The Ying-Yang Bird crowed once and spread its wings to take off. "Oh, and one more thing, bring me the Moby Morpher!"
SAHARA DESERT
Jack Spicer, not Jake Sprinkler, stood upon a sandy dune in Africa's northern region, holding three new Shen Gong Wu under his arm, the Yajuu Card and Serpents Tail in his hand, and Wuya hovering over his shoulder. The first new Wu was a small golden statue of a sleeping boar, the second was a golden sickle, and the last was… a sombrero? Jack was beaming with delight at his almost effortless capture of these three Wu. The Xiaolin Monks hadn't even shown up to at least try and stop him. It was like a Christmas miracle!
"HA! This is great!" Jack grinned.
"Don't get cocky boy!" Wuya growled, "Just because the Monks haven't shown up lately doesn't mean they're gone for good. You need to be alert at all times."
"What for? I'm collecting Shen Gong Wu like crazy! Heck, with the Serpents tail and the Combo-Sickle I could easily steal every Wu that the Xiaolin Losers have and get away without so much as a noise." Jack explained holding out the Serpents Tail and the sickle-like Shen Gong WU that he'd just found. The Combo-Sickle, as it was called, had the ability to attach two or more objects together rather than splitting them like a normal sickle would.
"Or you could use the Serpents Tail to get the Hoduku Mouse back and stop yourself from losing half those Shen Gong Wu in the first place!" Wuya shouted.
"The Hokuku Mouse? But I dropped it in molten lava. It's long gone."
"What are you talking about?" Wuya grumbled. "The Emperor Scorpion survived in the earth's core for fifteen-hundred years. You think the Hoduku Mouse can't go a few months in a lava flow that's most likely cooled by now?"
"Hm, good point." Jack said. "So, what do these other two Wu do anyway?"
"Well, the Mariachi Sombrero plays Mariachi music when placed on your head and gives you amazing dancing abilities, for some reason. I think Dashi only used it for parties or something. Then there's the Sleeping Boar, I'm not quite sure what it does."
"So, I have a musical hat and an as of now useless pig statue. That's… irritating yet surprisingly pleasing. Plus I got this cool scythe! Now I've got a lethal weapon that can bind my targets to a wall or something first!"
"Oh shut up. Let's stash a few of these back at your house quickly before going after the Hoduku mouse."
"What's so important about that mouse anyway? All it can to is undo the users' mistakes. All we could do is get back a multitude of Shen Gong Wu, stop you from becoming a ghost again, and a few other things that I'm to lazy to mention right now."
"That's exactly my point you blathering idiot!" If it weren't for Wuya being a ghost, she would've strangled Jack right then and there. But as it were, that wasn't the case. Plus her thoughts of murder were quickly dismissed with the activation of yet another Shen Gong Wu. "Ah! The Chiyu box has just activated. The healing Wu is within my grasp."
"Hey, what do you mean your grasp?" Jack asked as he threw the Mariachi Sombrero on his head, the music started playing. "If anything, it's in my grasp. 'Cause you don't have a grasp, unless you can suddenly pick up things with those see-through hands"
"Stop falling back on old jokes and get going!"
AUSTRAILIAN OUTBACK
"Dojo, would you pick a direction and stick to it!" Saya yelled. Dojo had been flying in circles for over and hour now and it was starting to get on everyone else's nerves. Omi was, amazingly, perfectly balancing on his head while trying to suppress and on slot of angry shouting; Clay had fallen asleep; and Saya had already snapped, obviously.
"Hey I can't help it!" Dojo snapped. "Four different Wu have activated today and it's hard to keep track of just one of them. If I can't point out the Chiyu box in particular we might end up on the wrong side of the continent or something."
"Well figure it out already!"
"Geese, who put a wasp in your underwear, Sis?" Omi asked, finally flipping off of his head.
"Bee in yer britches." Clay corrected him in a voice that said I'm still half awake.
"That too. And give Dojo a break. Maybe if you wouldn't yell at him he could pinpoint the Shen Gong Wu we need."
"And maybe if your head wasn't so big you could've grown a few inches taller!"
Clay suddenly sat up, grabbed the two of them by the head and pulled them as far apart as possible. "Now quite yer bickerin'. We've all gone a little crazy from this heat and I for one have sun burn. Dojo, could you please try to get us in the right direction? I'd be more thankful than a dog eatin' a T-bone steak if ya did."
"I'd be glad to, Clay." Dojo replied, muttering, "Finally, someone asks nicely," under his breath. He circled around a few times before setting off in a south-west direction. "Look's like it's at Ayers Rock." He finally announced.
AYERS ROCK
Clay and Jack stood at the base of Ayers Rock, both crouching over and holding onto a small green box with golden edges and a silver padlock; the Chiyu Box. Omi, Dojo, and Saya stood not far off waiting for something to happen. A horde of trashed Jack-bots was scattered across the area. The Chiyu Box emitted a golden glow. "Clay, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown." Jack announced. "The game is Battle of the Beasts. You're Sweet Baby Among Us against my Yajuu card, whoever's creature to take out the other first wins!"
"Alright Jack, I accept yer challenge. Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!"
The sky suddenly darkened with pitch black clouds; the piles of trashed Jack-bots started clumping together in a circle around Jack and Clay to form the arena; stone spikes towering fifteen feet tall shot out of random spots in the circle; and four gargoyle statues rose from the ground in a square pattern.
Clay and Jack had their Shen Gong Wu in their Hands. They both called out, "Gong Yi Tanpai!" and the Showdown started.
Clay tossed his golden statue of a chubby baby into the air and called out its name, "Sweet Baby Among Us!" the statue flashed and a giant golden baby came crashing to the ground.
Jack pulled a golden card out of his pocket and held it up to the sky. "Card of the Beast!" he called out. The card flashed before a wolf that stood on its hind legs with a hunched back and almost human looking front paws appeared out of thin air. It stretched out its arms and howled at the sky. "Let's see how that giant crap machine does against a werewolf! Attack!" the werewolf charged, zigzagging through the arena like a maze to confuse the Sweet Baby. The baby let out an earsplitting scream, the sound waves shattering multiple stone spires. Jacks werewolf jumped off of one of the spires, barely dodging the baby's scream, then it grabbed some of the shattered spire rocks from the ground and chucked them at its opponent, hitting it square in the forehead. This angered the baby and it began to shoot its diaper projectiles in at the werewolf. The wolf easily dodged them, slowly making its way closer and closer to the golden behemoth. Jacks wolf zoomed between the baby's legs just before it let out another scream. It flipped around, jumped onto the baby's back and sank its teeth into its neck. The baby cried in pain as it ripped the wolf from its back and threw it half way across the arena, launching another diaper projectile and hitting the wolf in the back. The wolf yelped as it skidded over the ground. It snarled before charging again, this time jumping from spire to spire to gain speed. It jumped into the air, fangs bared and claws outstretched, ready to land on the golden baby and tear it to pieces. It almost looked like it would succeed, only to be thrown back by another one of the baby's screams.
Omi, Saya, and Dojo watched this battle in utter silence. Despite the fact that Jack and Clay weren't actually doing anything, it was one of the most intense showdowns they'd ever seen, but that was kind of obvious in Saya's case. Not even Dojo could recall the last time the Sweet Baby Among Us was used like this. Omi was obviously amazed at how fast and agile Jacks werewolf was.
Jack's werewolf howled again. It began to circle in on the Baby with amazing speed. Within seconds, it had wrapped its claw around on of the baby's ankles, pulled it to the ground, ripped a spire from the ground, and smacked the baby in the back of the head knocking it out cold. The baby reverted to its statue form and disappeared from sight. The area went back to normal as Jack activated his Helabot and the Sweet Baby Among Us and Chiyu Box appeared in his arms. He gave the monks the usual, "So long losers," before beginning to fly off.
Clay slumped over for his defeat. He knew that they couldn't afford to lose the Chiyu Box and he'd blown it. Now they'd have to challenge Jack for it some other time if they wanted to help Rai any time soon.
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Omi muttered under his breath. Nine glowing dots appeared on his forehead. "Tsunami strike, WATER!" Omi leapt into the air. He met with Jack Spicer in the air, snatching the Chiyu box from his quickly and descending back to earth. "Dojo, get us away from this place!" Omi shouted, misusing the term, "Get us out of here."
"Hey, I won that fare and square! Give it back!" Jack complained.
"I would say I am sorry Jack Spicer," Omi said as he landed on Dojo's back after he changed size, "But we need this Shen Gong Wu more than you can understand." And with that, Saya and Clay jumped onto Dojo and he flew off.
THE TEMPLE
Kim was still sitting next to Rai's bed, trying her best to type on her PDA with one hand. She'd been sitting there all day doing absolutely nothing. Rai hadn't even woken up once! Figures, Kim thought, I get shang highed into watching this guy and he doesn't even need anything! She'd actually thought this over throughout the past day. If it weren't for Master Fung's strict orders not to leave Rai's side unless absolutely necessary, she would've left hours ago. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.
She looked down to the Brazilian boy on the bed. From her point of view, he looked fine, or about as fine as a person in a comma could look. But under the quilt that covered most of his body was a cast over his left arm, liquid paper white medical bandages that covered most of his upper torso and shoulders, and a random assortment of other bandages for miner cuts. Kim shuttered at the feeling that this was her fault. "Maybe I should apologize to him when he wakes up." Kim said to herself.
Kim gasped when a groan came from the unconscious boy lying next to her. "Ugh… apologize… ugh… for what?" Rai groaned. Kimiko turned her head to find Rai's turned to her, though his eyes were still closed as far as she could tell.
"Rai! You're awake!" Kimiko gasped. She leapt up from her seat, dropping her PDA to the ground, to shout for Master Fung. But Rai, with a great deal of pain, lurched out with his good arm and grabbed her wrist.
"Answer… erg… the question, girl." He demanded.
Kimiko could've easily escaped his grasp, he was still very weak after all. But instead, she slipped her wrist out of his hand, knelt down next to him, and placed her good hand onto his forehead. "Like you need to ask Rai." She giggled. "You're like this because you jumped in the way of that hammer to protect me. It's the least I could do to apologize."
Rai smiled weakly. "Thanks. But you… ugh… don't need to. I'd… erg… do it again… ugh… if I had to." And with that, he passed out again.
OK, now she couldn't believe what she was hearing. He'd do it again? That did not sound like Raimundo at all. And why did her heart beat quicken Rai's word ran through her head. Maybe Saya is right, Kim thought, maybe… maybe I have been denying it. Maybe I should just admit to myself that-
Her thoughts were cut off as the all too familiar voice of a certain boy from Texas boomed throughout the temple. "We got it! We got the Chiyu Box!"