Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown. It belongs to Christy Hui.
Author's Note: Here's the second part of chapter 5. Did Raimundo and Omi accepted Jack's request? Read on and you'll see.
United as One
Chapter 7: The Disease
Kimiko glanced towards the gate, waiting anxiously inside the building's door frame for Omi and Rai's return. After Clay and her had finished fixing up the wall, they both decided to wait for them at the Temple. It hadn't taken long for the Dragons of Fire and Earth to finish their assigned work, so they thought they wouldn't see the two boys until a few hours later. Imagine their surprise when they returned a few minutes later, quickly followed by a gothic teenager in his black trench coat.
As Omi and Raimundo walked across the courtyard with Jack at their heels, Clay and Kimiko stared at the genius with wide eyes and open mouths.
"What in tarnation...?" Clay said, dumbstruck.
"What's he doing here?" Kimiko asked, pointing towards Jack accusingly while Omi and Raimundo approached her.
"We have encountered Jack Spicer while our visit to the plains," Omi explained calmly, glancing at the teenager. "He said he wished to become good."
"And you believed him?" the Texan asked in disbelief, his hat almost falling off his blond scalp.
"Hey, keep cool guys," Raimundo said calmly, lifting up his hands in a defensive manner. "He deserves a chance, don't ya think? He actually helped us a few times."
"That's doesn't matter!" Kimiko glared at the Brazilian, lifting her arms up in the air in frustration. "He's been trying to kill us since we first met! We can't trust him! He's a dork and a robot freak!"
Jack took a step closer, an annoyed look on his face. "Hey, you do realize that I can hear everything you say, right?"
"Yes, and I don't care!" the Japanese replied harshly.
"Why don't we ask Master Fung what he thinks 'bout 'tis," Clay suggested after a short pause. "We can't just let ol' Jack Spicer come 'n as if he already was one of us, anyway."
Omi sighed, his head throbbing with fatigue. All the arguing was weakening his mind slowly, slumber threatening to overcome his body. "Please, all of this is pointless," he said pleadingly, looking up to his friends. "I understand your doubts on Jack Spicer, but I truly believe he can be one of us. His past may be filled with evil deeds, but a heart can easily change of side." Feeling his strength slipping away, the young monk leaned his back on the Temple's wall and slided down to a sitting position, rubbing his forehead and placing his cane beside him. "Just, please, stop arguing."
The other three Dragons looked at him in concern, afraid that Omi was already beginning to lose his good shape.
"We're sorry, Omi," Kimiko said gently, kneeling beside the young boy. "We didn't want to make you sad."
"I am not sad," he replied calmly, looking down at his feet. "I am simply tired of fighting when it is pointless." He closed his eyes tightly and frowned. The pain was starting to grow bigger.
"Hey, dude, are you alright?" Raimundo approached the yellow-skinned monk, kneeling on his other side. Placing a hand on the boy's forehead, the Xiaolin warrior yelped and backed away suddenly. "Woah, you're completely burning up!"
Omi coughed lightly, his skin slightly turning pale. With a hoarse voice, he said, "I am not feeling too well... Please, go get Master Fung..."
"I'm on it!" Clay quickly disappeared beyond the door frame, walking as fast as he could in search of the old man.
Jack, who had felt somewhat like an outcast, took a step closer to the three remaining Dragons, inspecting Omi's condition at a safe distance. He stared at him for a moment, before muttering to himself, "Uh-Oh."
"What?" Kimiko said angrily, glaring at him. "If you don't have anything better to do than stare at Omi, you can just leave."
"No, wait!" Jack knelt in front of the young monk who's eyes were unable to stay open. "I think I know what's wrong with him!"
"Well, why don't you just spill the beans, Spicer?" Raimundo asked in annoyance.
The red-haired boy stood up, a horrified look taking over his curious expression. "We should get him to a bed first, and fast!" He gently picked up Omi in his arms before the two Dragons could retort. He ran through the courtyard, knowing exactly were the infirmary was, himself once trained as a Xiaolin warrior before. He rushed himself into the building and placed Omi on a near bed, then quickly picked up several blankets from a shelf.
"Hey, do you mind telling us what's going on?" Kimiko said in rage, her head steaming as she entered the infirmary, Raimundo by her side.
"Stop yapping and quickly grab some covers!" Jack stuffed the large pieces of cloth on the young boy who was starting to shake violently. "If you don't do anything, then be ready to face the consequences! And just so you know, that ain't gonna be pretty. Now stop asking questions and help me out here!"
The Brazilian and Japanese glanced at each other with confused looks, but obeyed Jack's orders. They grabbed all the blankets necessary and placed them over the ones the teenager had already spread out over the yellow-skinned monk. Omi, who was turning paler and paler every minute, stopped shivering and started to breathe deeply, slumber finally taking over.
Raimundo leaned against the wall, gasping a bit, his ribs throbbing madly. "Okay, now can you tell us what's going on?" he asked to Jack.
The teenager sighed and looked down at his feet. "Omi's terribly sick."
"Yeah, we figured that much," Kimiko muttered, her hands on her hips.
"But it's not the kind of sickness you think," Jack continued, glancing at the newly occupied bed. "Omi is affected by a very rare disease that can totally annihilate him."
"Do you mind explaining a bit further?" Raimundo asked, obviously not understanding a thing.
Jack slapped his face in annoyance. "Okay, let me explain from the beginning." He took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "The disease Omi has is currently unknown to doctors and specialists around the world. It's very rare and can possibly infect people with certain special characteristics only. The virus' symptoms are unknown, as they are different for everyone." He glanced to the young monk, a sad expression on his face. "My guess is that Cheeseball here will have a high fever, severe cough, and a lot of fatigue for the next few weeks."
"But how can you be so sure?" Kimiko asked, glaring at Jack. "I mean, if this disease is unknown to doctors, how come you know so much about it?"
The teenager looked down at his feet, an embarrassed smile crossing his face. He sighed and mumbled, "That's because I'm the one who created it."
The Brazilian and the Japanese stared at the teenager with wide eyes, dumbstruck. "You WHAT?"
"Hey! It's not my fault my lab keeps being trashed by you guys!" Jack retorted defensively, throwing his arms up in the air. "I was working on it a long time ago, but ever since Wuya appeared in my life, I totally forgot about it. And then, because you Dragons keep destroying everything, the test tube containing the virus broke and the germs escaped!"
"Why would someone ever try to create such a disease, anyway?"
"Hello, I'm a super evil genius! Does 'total super evil world conquest' mean anything to you?" Jack crossed his arms and pouted. "You can blame me if you want, but just know this: I'm the only one who can save Omi. If you want me outta here, then your little friend is destined to die!"
Raimundo and Kimiko fell silent, the teenager's last words echoing in their heads. "He's... he's going to die?"
"That's exactly what I said."
"But... don't you have a cure?" the Brazilian asked, a pleading look starting to spread upon his face.
Jack shook his head. "I never had quite the time to think about it."
"But why?" Kimiko asked gently, tears threatening to flow down her cheeks. "Why him? Why not us?"
"My guess is, he was too weak to fight against the virus," Jack said gently. "Face it, he's short and does crazy stuff constantly. Omi keeps doing stupid stunts to impress you guys, but I'm sure he took a hit out of it. He must have grown weaker during your training sessions, but it made him stronger at the same time, so the weakness wasn't really apparent. But, because of his last fight - which I presume he got out of by a slim strand of life - the virus was able to infect him. You guys weren't affected because compared to Omi, you're in great shape."
"But that's not true!" Raimundo said angrily. "Omi's stronger than all of us! We could never beat him in a Xiaolin Showdown!"
"Hey, I wasn't talking about the first time you met," Jack said calmly. "I'm talking about the past few months. You know, when you were doing those quests stuff so you could go to the next level or whatever? Omi went to the past, and he told you and me that I was to become a great evil emperor in the future, remember? That travel obviously made him weaker, someway or another. Then, there was that fight against the Heylins in the alternate time line. I know, you were the one who got beat up, but did you ever think of Omi? He saw Chase become a horrible lizard, when at that time they were very good friends. And to top it all, you got to advance to Wacko warrior, or something."
"That's Shoku warrior."
"Who cares? What I mean is, Cheeseball didn't exactly grow weaker physically, but more psychologically. Something happened during his time traveling and obviously messed up his mind."
"But what could have possibly gone wrong?" The Dragon of Fire thought for a second before asking to Jack, "You did say you became an evil emperor, right?" The teenager nodded. "Well, didn't Omi say anything else about this?"
Raimundo flinched, sensing that something bad was going to happen. Before Jack could say a word, he quickly stepped in. "Hey, I just thought of something!" he said loudly. "Clay must be looking for us right now, we better go get him!" He grabbed Kimiko's arm and dragged her hastily outside the infirmary.
Once inside the courtyard, the japanese girl looked angrily at the Dragon of Wind who immediately released her with a sigh. "Rai, what's going on here?" she asked bitterly.
The Brazilian turned to her, a grave expression on his face. "Look, Kimmy," he said gently, "I don't think you're ready for this."
"For what?" The girl's eyes were burning in anger. "There's something weird going on between Jack and you. Do you mind telling me what happened during your visit in the plains?" Rai looked at the ground sadly, unable to answer. Kimiko's patience was running short. "Fine, be that way!" she said angrily. "If you won't tell me, I'll ask Jack!"
She was about to turn around when Raimundo quickly grabbed her shoulder, staring at her pleadingly. "Okay, I'll tell you," he said in defeat. "But please, Kimmy, don't ask Jack and promise me you won't make a huge deal about it."
"Make a huge deal about what?" the Dragon asked, crossing her arms in annoyance. "Rai, can't you just say what happened already?"
Raimundo stared at her for a while before saying with a sigh, "Let's start with the beginning." He rubbed his brown scalp, trying to figure out where to start. "Okay, so Omi froze himself so he could go to the future, right?" Kimiko nodded. "After retrieving the Sands of Time, the little dude went in the past and then back to the present to see the results of his travel. Thing is, it wasn't what he thought it would be like. So after all that happened that day, he never actually got the time to tell us of his visit to the future."
"I already know that."
"I'm not done yet." The tall monk took a deep breath and went on. "When we went to the plains, Jack appeared and started babbling about how evil and good he was at the same time. Omi then said something that he should have told us weeks ago. That's the evil emperor part."
"I asked you to tell me the details, not what I already know," Kimiko said angrily.
"Gee, you're such a hot-head." Raimundo quickly shut his mouth when the Japanese glared at him. "Um... moving on, then! So, Omi told Jack he would become way evil in the future and that he wouldn't hesitate to attack us, even if we were old people. And I think that's why Omi was so down."
"You're kidding right?" Kimiko asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're not telling the whole truth. Spicer attacks us almost everyday! It wouldn't matter even 80 years from now."
"It would if Jack wished to kill us."
The young girl stiffened. She stared silently at Raimundo, eyes wide. "What?"
The Brazilian looked at her sadly. "Omi saw us die in front of his very own eyes."
"No, this can't be true," the japanese girl muttered. "He actually saw our deaths? But how..." She trailed off, unable to say the remaining words of her sentence.
"He didn't give me the details," Rai said with a low sigh, "but he told Jack that during a battle, me, you and Clay would lose our lives."
"Oh, Omi..." Kimiko hid her face in her hands, a low sob escaping her throat.
"Hey, you promised not to make a big deal about it, remember?" Raimundo said soothingly, placing a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Omi probably kept this from us so we wouldn't feel depressed. Now turn this frown upside down, will you? No one likes to see you cry, especially Omi." A goofy grin appeared on his face, a trick that would always cheer someone up.
The Dragon of Fire cleared her face and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping away her tears with the sleeves of her red Xiaolin robe. "I just couldn't contain myself."
"Hey, it's no biggy. I would have probably done the same if Jack wasn't around right now."
Kimiko's sadness quickly vanished to be replaced by rage at the mention of that name. "Jack is so going to pay fo this!" she said angrily. "He won't ever become a Xiaolin warrior after what he did! And he pretends to be good? He almost killed Omi!"
"Not that again," Rai said, rolling his eyes. "Look, Kimiko, can you forget about Jack's evil deeds for now? Just like he said, he's the only one who can save Omi. We should let him stay at least until he finds a cure for Cue-ball. Who knows, maybe he'll actually give up evil for good."
"I still don't trust him," the Japanese said stubbornly. Then, with a more gentle voice, added, "But you're right... We can't help Omi without him."
"Come on, let's find Clay and Master Fung." Taking his hand in hers, the Dragon of Wind lead Kimiko out of the courtyard and into the Xiaolin Temple. They both started to quickly search the corridors for their friend and master, knowing time was running short for Omi.
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Author's Note: Now, I bet you didn't see that coming. Hehehe, things are getting interesting, don't you think?
