Hey. Sorry about the long wait. Been busy with stuff (AKA feeling wicked lazy.) Also, for most of this chapter I felt like I was writing a Scooby Doo episode so...random reference that sort of doesn't belong. Thanks again for the reviews. All of your questions will be answered in good time (insert evil jack laugh here.)
Notice: the first half of my chapter five felt like it belonged with this chapter. I have updated accordingly.
Disclaimer: I own Xiaolin Showdown and anything I reference the day Dr. House gets a puppy.
Of Thieves and Treachery
"Come on Kimiko. I want to get back before Raimundo so he can show me some assassin moves," said Omi, running down the street with a stack of pizza boxes balanced on his head.
"You mean killer moves, and I think it might be a better idea to let Rai relax for a while before you start asking him to teach you moves," she said keeping pace with the yellow boy.
"Why is that?" Omi asked.
"You remember how tired we all were after stepping up our training at any point?" She asked, remembering an especially tiring day soon after they were promoted to Wudai Warriors. Omi motioned with his hands to say he understood so as not to upset the pizza boxes. "Were you in the mood to teach moves to anyone at that point?" She didn't add that Dojo had talked about Raimundo's mentor like he was terrified of her.
"You are correct. I am just so eager to learn so I too can one day rise to the rank of Shoku and training will not be as difficult," Omi said with a resigned tone. "Not that it would be difficult for me anyway."
"Exactly. Don't worry, we will make him teach us what he's learning eventually," she laughed.
They darted down the stone path to the temple where Dojo was already waiting for them at the gate. "Hey Dojo, how's Rai?" She asked.
"Actually better than I expected. I'm pretty sure he's not going to want that pizza though" he replied. "He went straight to the showers and then to bed."
"How is that better than expected?" Omi asked, sliding the boxes off his head and into his hands. Kimiko had to admit, she was thinking the same thing. Even Master Monk Guan had never driven them that hard.
"The last time one of her apprentices came back from a solo session for the first time they bypassed bathing entirely and fell asleep by the pond" Dojo said, eyeing the boxes hungrily. "No sense in wasting perfectly good food though."
"Quite correct Dojo," Omi said, following him into the dining area where Clay was waiting.
She sat down next to the cowboy and grabbed a slice of white garlic pizza. "How'd he look when he got back?" She whispered. She figured that Clay would be more inclined to be less protectively dishonest than Dojo.
"Real tired, like a three-legged mule after running the Belmont" Clay replied. "He didn't laugh when I tried to tell him how we had to shut off those darn speakers." She winced, thinking about crawling under the porch of the main building for over an hour trying to find the off switch.
"That bad?" She asked. She thought she saw something move behind her, but when she turned around there was nothing there.
"Yeah. I have a feeling he'll be fine by morning though. Don't worry," he said before getting into an argument with Omi over the location of the rock garden.
She sat back and enjoyed the cool night air for a little while the boys and Dojo gorged themselves. Her eyes stopped on the tree outside the entryway. A tall form jumped down from the branches and disappeared deeper into the temple. She jumped out of her chair and ran out of the room to follow them. Clay and Omi followed her example with exclamations of surprise.
She lost track of the form near the meditation garden. The reeds by the pond were pressed down, as if someone had run through them. She walked over to them and conjured up a small flame at the end of her finger.
"What in the name of the lone star state is going on?" Clay asked, peering over her shoulder.
"I saw someone running into the temple," she said, examining the reeds. "They came this way."
"Are ya sure ya saw anything?" He said. "I'm not seein' anything."
She didn't respond however. In the mud at the edge of the pond, there were a series of clawed footprints leading towards the temple wall. "Omi, check the vault. Clay go and get Master Fung now," she said. They both nodded and ran off on their assignments.
Kimiko continued to examine the area, but to her dismay, she found no further evidence leading to the identity of the intruder. She thought that she had a pretty good idea, but it was proven wrong when Omi came back bringing the report of the vault.
"We are missing the Star Hanabi, the Ruby of Rameses, the Lotus Twister, and the Black Beatle," he said. "It is most strange that the vault was not forced open and the wall is not broken." This news only served to confuse her, as no one outside the temple knew the sequence of wind chimes that would open the vault.
"Why would someone take those Shen Gong Wu?" She asked. "There are much better Wu to take if you were going to conquer the world."
"I am sure the answers that you seek will be revealed in time," Master Fung said from behind her. "In the meantime, why don't the three of you look in the scrolls for any creature that could have made those tracks? Or why don't you look around the vault for more clues?"
"Master Fung, why aren't ya worried about the missing Shen Gong Wu?" Clay asked, following the old monk towards the vault.
"Once a tree has fallen, you cannot restore it to its original glory," Master Fung replied. "Besides, there are far more dangerous Shen Gong Wu that could have been taken tonight. We should consider ourselves lucky that something like the Ying-Yang Yo-Yo was not taken."
"You are most correct Master Fung, but they must have been taken for a reason," Omi said. "And if I know the Heylin side, they are going to be put to very sinister use."
"Or it could have been Jack being stupid" she said rolling her eyes. "He does have the Serpent's Tail."
"Jack doesn't leave tracks like that," Clay said. "He's not that picky either. Those Wu aren't even sort of close together in the vault."
They continued to argue until they came to the vault. Omi pointed out the things that he had noticed when he came here earlier. Like how other than four drawers left open, there was nothing to indicate that the vault had been broken into. Also, he brought their attention to two other curious sets of footprints in the dirt heading into vault. One of them human, the other definitely feline, but only the feline prints left the building.
Suddenly, her hypothesis from earlier was looking more and more likely. But how would Chase have gotten into the vault? I'm sure the pass codes have changed in fifteen hundred years, she thought. And another thing, why would he leave tracks coming in, but erase them coming out. And why leave his cat's trail visible? The guy in the tree was way too short to be Chase anyway.
"What do you make of this Dojo?" Master Fung asked the dragon slithering out of his sleeve, interrupting her thoughts.
"I'd say that because of the incredibly brave actions of these meddling kids and their dragon that the Wu are going to be rescued, but this has really got me stumped" Dojo said, rubbing his chin. "You have no idea where the cat tracks end?"
Omi shook his head before saying that he would go and find out. The bald monk walked off with a flashlight that Clay gave him to find where the tracks ended.
"Clay, Kimiko, the two of you will go to the scroll library to look for any possible explanations for these strange events" Master Fung said. "Dojo will be along shortly to help you find anything."
While they walked over to the library, Kimiko bounced her theory about the intruder's identity off Clay. He admitted to having similar ideas, but couldn't figure out how anyone could have gotten in without help.
"It all fits because there are two sets of tracks going in, but only one coming out, and only members of the temple know the combination" he said. An uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them as the potential meaning of his words sunk in. "But that doesn't mean that someone from our corral has to be a no good varmint." He added hastily.
"Whoever broke in probably got lucky" she said, attempting to reassure both herself and Clay that there were no traitors in their midst again.
The two of them settled awkwardly at opposite ends of the library's only table with an armful of scrolls on wildlife -both magical and otherwise- and combinations of Shen Gong Wu. They spent about twenty minutes reading before Omi and Dojo came in. Omi told them about how the tracks ended at the tree by the dining hall and the clawed footprints that they had originally found started on the other side of the tree.
She blankly nodded her understanding and handed Omi a scroll. Upon sensing the tension in the room, the little monk tried to cheer up his friends. He soon found that even his story about the giant squirrel that he had faced in the woods two weeks ago could not lift their spirits.
Kimiko tried to keep her mind off the issue and concentrate on the scroll, but the nagging thought kept coming back. It was obviously an inside job, and there was only one monk that had no alibi for the break in. One monk who had proven that he could turn Heylin.
No, she thought. That was two years ago, he wouldn't do that. He couldn't do that. She couldn't totally banish the thought from her mind until Master Fung came in hours later telling them to go to bed and return to the problem at hand the next day.
That night no one in the temple slept well with the thought of another raid hanging over their heads. She could hear Clay roping various objects in his room and Omi planning out the proper way to defeat a legion of armed ninjas. She tossed and turned for about half an hour before deciding to web surf. There was a set of evil chatrooms that she had been meaning to check out and her favorite designer released their fall catalogue online a few days ago.
The catalogue disappointed her. Loads of beautiful clothing, but nothing that made sense for fighting evil in. Although I'm sure that Alistair Paro's first thought when designing blouses is a person's ability to kick robot butt in it, she thought, rolling her eyes and starting on the "League of Wicked Malicious, Seriously Evil, and Totally Not Living in Their Mother's Basement Super Villains" main chatroom. She groaned when she realized that it was mostly just a bunch of wannabe world conquerors trading evil laugh advice and "yo mamma" insults. She was about to exit the page when she noticed an odd post under "Miscellaneous Villainy."
Apparently, over the last three days there had been a string of robberies around the world. In every one, the thief had passed up a fortune in gold and other jewels, taking only rubies. Also, in each case there was no point of entrance or exit that the police could identify. Almost identical to the break in at the temple. She would have to show this to Master Fung and the others in the morning.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
"Sink and shimmer my friend," said an overly cheerful voice that at seven in the morning could only belong to Omi. Raimundo's sore body told him to do otherwise and he only pulled the blanket further over his head. He couldn't believe that Master Fung wasn't giving him some down time after those three days in hell. Just an extra hour of sleep would do.
Omi waited for a few minutes outside his room before resorting to using the Orb of Tornami. Rai muttered something that he heard Minerva say after a failing obstacle course run before dragging himself out of bed and pulling on his robes. By the time he got to the dining area, he realized that he wasn't so much tired mentally, he figured that he got about twelve hours of sleep, as physically.
The others were another story however. Clay and Kimiko sat at the table, sipping what smelled like extremely strong coffee, while Omi practically flew around the room, the dark circles under their eyes and half-asleep expressions starkly contrasting Omi's boundless energy. The source of which stood half finished in a mug next to Clay.
"You guys let him have coffee?" He asked incredulously, sitting down next to Kimiko. Did he imagine it or did she shrink away from him?
"Dojo's secret stash" she said. He shuddered a little bit. The coffee in Dojo's stash had a label that said "Warning, high caffeine content may cause mild hallucinations." "Don't look at me that way. After last night we all were basically dead where we stood." He couldn't remember Master Fung giving any assignments that left the team in such a state that would warrant giving Omi coffee.
"What happened last night?" He asked. Kimiko and Clay proceeded to fill him in about the theft. His jade eyes grew wide when he heard about the temple break in and Kimiko's discovery of similar robberies around the world.
"You guys should have gotten me," he said.
"We would've, but ya looked deader than half a possum on Uncle Billy Bob's front bumper," Clay said. "Besides, Kimiko had it under control."
"Kimiko's not your leader, I am. And I need to feel like I can trust you guys to tell me when there's something wrong" he said and instantly hated himself for it. They were only looking out for him and here he was biting their heads off.
"What was it ya said last night? "Unless it's at least two thousand years of darkness, don't bother coming to me"" Clay said, calmly pouring more coffee.
"You weren't exactly all there and we needed people who could think clearly," Kimiko said, staring at her own mug as if it was to blame for the tension within the group.
He didn't respond to that, instead he got up from the table and went into the kitchen to see how breakfast was coming along. Dojo flitted around the room while various pans simmered on the stove.
"Loving the apron mom," he said, gesturing to the pink lace that Dojo was wearing.
'I'll have you know that this is a powerful artifact from a dangerous place known as the clearance bin at Home Goods," the little dragon said as he flipped an omelet.
"The horrors you must have faced to get it," he said, shaking his head in mock reverence.
"According to Master Shu, he had to face off in an epic battle of good and evil with a cheerleading coach for this apron" Dojo replied. "So what's eating you kid?"
"Nothing," he responded.
"You're in here with me instead of seeing just how badly Omi reacts to caffeine. Something's definitely up," the dragon said, sliding buttered toast onto a plate.
"It's nothing. I just think that you guys should have gotten me when you found out about the break in," he said.
"You sure it's that and not that you're feeling left out?" Dojo asked, taking plates and slithering out of the kitchen.
"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm thinking" he responded, following Dojo's example and taking plates.
Dojo made a noise not unlike a badly played bassoon before placing the food on a side table. The other three monks staggered and bounced over a few moments later.
"I still can't believe you let him have coffee," he said with a lopsided grin.
"I'm just surprised that he reacted like this. Omi's had tea his entire life" Kimiko replied, rolling her eyes and taking some toast.
"Master Fung would only permit me to have decaffeinated tea," Omi bubbled, heading back over to the table with his food. "But this is a most wonderful change."
Almost as soon as he sat down, Omi assaulted him with questions about his time training with Minerva. "What did you learn? Can you teach me? How does it feel to be in possession of such power? What was your mentor like?" The bald monk asked, his voice much faster than it Raimundo remembered it.
"Nothing. I can't teach nothing. Sore," he responded, much more interested in his omelet than in the younger boy's questions. He was so hungry that even Dojo's cooking tasted good. He wasn't entirely sure about how to answer Omi's last question. He didn't want to freak the kid out, but at the same time he doubted that he could convincingly hide his dislike for the griffin.
"My mentor's interesting," he said carefully, it wasn't entirely a lie. "Even though I was only there for three days and it was only assessment, she pushed me to be perfect."
"Your mentor's a girl?" Omi asked, his eyes widening in shock. He could see Kimiko's hand tighten visibly around her fork, but she didn't say anything.
"Yeah and she's one of the best fighters I've ever faced. She's blindingly fast and far cleverer than Jack or Bean Breath," he said. "But I have to say, that mangy old griffin's a god awful cook."
Omi continued to pester him with questions, but his answers stayed similarly vague. Between answering Omi's questions, he asked some of his own about the Shen Gong Wu theft. He reminded himself to check out the footprints later as he had his own suspicions about the identity of the intruder.
Aside from the interrogations, breakfast was a relatively subdued affair. As was training that morning. Master Fung apparently decided to take mercy on his worn out pupils.
By the time the noon break rolled around, he was beginning to become bored with the same routines that they had done for the past year. The rest of the group called to him to hang out from under the cherry tree, but he was more interested in looking at the footprints by the vault.
The first set was definitely human like they said, but those weren't the prints he was looking at. He stared at the other set, trying to remember the size of Minerva's hind paws. From the way the tracks were placed, he guessed that the intruder with the paws had stepped on their own tracks, which would have been unnecessary had the intruder had front paws instead of talons. The dinner plate sized tracks would have easily covered anything left from her front feet, and he figured that the stride length was about right, but he didn't feel like he had enough to go on before going to Master Fung with his theory.
Besides, just because he disliked the way she was going about training him didn't mean that she was on the Heylin side. Dojo said that she trained one of the greatest warriors on earth. That had to count for something.
As always, that blue review button is your friend. Reviews would be lovely right now. I'm aware that this is by no means my best work. I would appreciate the criticism.
