Chapter 6: All Work And No Play
Dojo rushed through the air as fast as he could, away from the site of the Komori Sword showdown. He had nearly reached the Xiaolin temple. He flew close to the ground, through the valley, following the river upstream, along the path that would eventually lead to the mountains that surrounded the temple. Far ahead, clouds had formed above the mountain range, covering the area directly underneath in darkness, in stark contrast with the bright sun-covered beauty of the valley just before it.
As he came closer, he could see that something was definitely wrong. The clouds in the centre were green, spinning round in a spiral, an ominous cyclone the centre of which was above the temple.
He hurried even faster.
The vampire of Folsense turned out to be a pretty decent bloke, as vampires went. He didn't fight, or bare any fangs, or try to stop Dashi from looking at the shimmering piece of purple glass that had appeared above the long table in his dining room. In fact, he seemed quite distraught over its sudden appearance, and both pleased and relieved that someone knew what it was.
He was young, and pale, and handsome, as vampires usually were, and wore a purple cape, as they usually did. His name was Anton, and he had a beautiful castle that was much more pleasant to look at on the inside than it was on the outside. Grand halls, stone staircases, glass chandeliers, paintings on the walls, suits of armour, decorative swords, a creepy-looking butler - it was all there.
And he was completely co-operative. It was almost disappointing, really. Dashi had been fully expecting a fight, but the vampire wasn't having any of it. He was as cordial as Professor Layton had been.
But...
Yes, there was a but. And it was this: the Woozy Shooter feeling, the brain's feeling of being dozy and all fogged up, was at its strongest here. If this castle was the source of the mystery surrounding the town of Folsense - and Dashi had a feeling that it was - then Layton would certainly need to keep his wits about him if he was going to solve it.
Unfortunately, Dashi would have to leave the professor to it. This wasn't his world, and he couldn't interfere with this world any more than he could interfere with a timeline in his own world. He daren't make things worse than they already were. Besides, if he stopped to help every world he came across, he'd never get round to fixing his own one.
Dashi touched the third piece of glass, and disappeared.
"I must be dreaming," said Anton.
"Very good, sir," said the butler.
A couple of hours passed, and the town of Folsense saw Professor Layton engaging in a conversation with a man outside a greengrocers, slightly distracted by the stink of garlic. The shop's owner had stocked his entire store and the stalls outside with garlic and nothing else; and the keeper of the watch tower next door had seen fit to hang strands upon strands of the pungent vegetable at the tower's open entrance.
No vampires here, then, thought Luke triumphantly.
There was a voice from inside the tower which said, rather unsurprisingly: "This stinks!"
And then a small, grey dog stepped out. Luke was very good with animals; his brain immediately identified the breed as Shar Pei.
On the surface, Luke may have appeared to be an ordinary schoolboy, but one thing that set him apart from the average eleven-year-old was his ability to talk to animals. Though the professor knew about this unusual talent, it was not something Luke broadcast publicly. The last thing he wanted was to become a complete outcast in the eyes of his peers, or to have someone use the ability for an unscrupulous reason - both of which had happened in the past, due to his naiveté. Now he just kept quiet. Things were just safer that way.
And, it didn't necessarily mean he was perfect with animals, anyway. Animals could be just as temperamental as humans, and more often than not he'd ended up with a scratch or two from a cantankerous cat. Nonetheless, the ability did come in handy on the odd occasion like this one, and he approached the little dog, not expecting too much, but prepared just in case. Not every animal was willing to talk, but when they were, they were often very useful sources of information.
"Hello," said Luke, in animal-speak, bending down and offering his hand out for the dog to sniff. "I wonder if you could help me?"
"You can speak Animal?" said the dog, in English.
"You can speak English?" said Luke, also in English.
"Well, a human speaking Dog is just as unusual as a dog speaking Human," the dog insisted stubbornly. It turned around and quickly walked back through the iron gate, inside the entrance to the watch tower. Luke followed, where the stench of even more strands of garlic awaited, along with a boy who was frowning at the grey dog. The other boy was a little taller than Luke and looked slightly older, and he wore a red jacket, with blue-jean shorts. He had black hair that put Luke in mind of a magpie, because of the green sheen that shone off the hair when the light hit it a certain way.
"Ugh, way to give the game away!" the magpie-boy exclaimed in frustration; obviously he'd heard the outside conversation.
"Hey, hey, hey - he can speak Animalese," the dog responded. "I gave away nothing."
It's gotta be a robot, thought Luke, giving the Shar Pei an intense, but thoughtful stare. How can a dog speak English?
How can a human speak Animal? his brain shot back.
Be quiet, brain.
Luke had seen robots before, ones that were incredibly life-like - so life-like, in fact, that you couldn't even tell they were robots until you opened their stomach compartments and removed their gears and clockwork.
But if you're gonna use a robot to create an illusion of a living creature, why have a talking dog? Not very realistic, is it? Everyone knows dogs can't talk.
The magpie-boy and his dog were still arguing - the boy looked particularly frantic about the revelation of the 'secret', waving arms about - and Luke noted that they both had American accents. Wonder what they're doing here? Are they looking for the Elysian Box as well?
"Uh, look," Luke said out loud, not wanting them to get into a fight because of him. "I won't say anything, I promise. I'm just lookin' for something, that's all. My name's Luke, by the way," he added, extending a friendly hand.
"Uh, Jake," said the other boy, shaking hands. He still looked somewhere between aghast and annoyed. "Jake Long. This is Fu Dog."
"Nice to meet ya, kid," said Fu Dog, waving a paw.
"So, er, Jake," said Luke, "you haven't seen any pieces of torn paper lying around, by any chance?"
"Pieces of paper?" asked Jake, his expression changing to one that was baffled. True, it was quite an odd thing to ask of someone you had just met, but after travelling with the professor for quite some time, Luke was used to asking random people for equally random information. You never knew when someone would give away a vital clue.
"Yeah, they're s'posed to be a photo of this box we're looking for, but the picture was torn. They're scattered all over town."
"Oh, wow," said Fu Dog. "And I thought our object-gathering task was hard."
Jake crossed his arms, shaking his head. "Haven't seen any, I'm afraid. But while we're at it... Well, I'm looking for an egg, 'bout yay big." He indicated the size of the egg with both index fingers.
Luke made a puzzled face; their request was in some ways more bizarre than his own one. The size was too big to be a chicken's egg, but probably too small for an ostrich...
"An egg? Can't say I've seen one, specifically - but you could try the grocer's next door."
"All right, thanks!" said Jake, already sprinting out of the entrance, Fu Dog right after him.
Not really sure what was so special about an egg, Luke walked back outside, just in time to see Jake scream, "Arrgh!" and race towards Professor Layton - who was holding a rather large egg in his left hand. The man that the professor had been talking to was still there: a middle-aged man with a green cap, who was affiliated with either the grocer's or the watch tower by virtue of the fact that he wore garlic around his neck.
The egg itself was not an egg you could eat; it looked like some kind of talisman.
"Hmm," said the professor, "I'm quite sure I've never seen one like this before. A gold spiralling pattern on the outside... It feels quite fragile, too."
"Well, you keep it, then. Don't got no room for no bad luck talismans in my tower. Gotta keep the vampire away, right?"
"Indeed," said Layton.
"Ah, please can I have that egg?" said Jake urgently, apparently not caring that he was barging right into someone else's conversation. "It's mine." Fu Dog was by his side.
Layton gave the garlic man an I thought it was your egg look, silently asking for permission to give the egg away.
"It's yours, Mr. Archaeologist," said the man, shrugging. "I gave it to you."
Layton gave Jake a suspicious look. "Is this really yours?"
Jake clenched his fists, but kept his cool. "Yes!"
"All right," said Layton. "I'll give it to you -" and Luke recognised the smile that appeared - "if you can solve this puzzle first."
"What? No fair! It's mine, give it back!"
"That's how we do things 'round 'ere," said the garlic man. "I found that egg fair and squares, like. You want something, you gotta earn it. You earn your keep by solving puzzles."
"Okay, fine," said Jake, smirking and folding his arms in haughty nonchalance. "I can handle one little puzzle."
Really, thought Luke, quickly annoyed with Jake's sudden confidence. The professor didn't just hand out little puzzles.
"Let me see..." said Layton, pausing thoughtfully. "Ah, here we go. King Henry has nine coins, which appear identical, but in fact one of them is an underweight fake. He has a weighing scale. Now: tell me how he can determine the fake coin..."
"Yeah..."
"...Without using the scales more than twice."
"Without using... W-what? I have to... solve that? Now? What are you, some kind of math teacher?"
"Professor Layton," said he.
"A professor? Even worse!" said Jake.
He took a wistful look at the egg, sighed, and combed a hand through his green-black hair. "Um, so... let's see, nine coins. Two tries. Nine coins, two tries. So, four is four... on that side... but if I put four on that side..."
While Jake continued to think over the question, Luke felt some pressure against the back of his ankle. He looked down, and saw that Fu Dog was using his head to nudge it.
"Nine coins, two tries..." said Jake.
"Woof, woof," said Fu Dog, who had apparently made the decision to revert to Dog in the presence of the adults. His left paw was treading on something: a piece of torn paper.
"Oh, Professor," said Luke sharply.
"What is it?"
"Nine coins, two tries," said Jake.
"Woof, woof," said Fu Dog. "Woof, woof, woof."
"Uh, he says, 'What about if I give you a piece of the picture? Will you give us the egg then?' "
"Ah..." said Layton, following Luke's gaze, "that's a photo scrap..."
Fu Dog lifted his paw, and Luke bent down to pick up the piece of paper.
"Yes," said Layton, looking over Luke's shoulder, "it's part of our missing photo." He turned to Jake, who was still muttering about nines and twos. "All right, young man, fair is fair. Here you go."
"Phew," said Jake, taking the egg and hold it close as if it was a baby, "thank goodness for that."
"Bah," said the garlic man in disappointment, retreating to the watch tower.
"Uh, thanks," said Jake hastily, looking very eager to leave. "Bye!"
"Wait - before you go, may I ask what the egg is?" said Layton.
"Huh? It's the, uh, Griffin Egg," said Jake, slightly taken by surprise. "I'm supposed to be looking after it. It's for my grandpa."
"It doesn't have any special properties, does it?"
"No," said Jake slowly.
"I see," said Layton, carefully. "Well, take care."
"Bye!" Luke called.
With that, the magpie-boy and his talking dog left. Luke and Layton started to walk in the opposite direction.
"I wonder what was so special about that egg?" said Luke. "It all seemed a bit fishy to me."
"Yes, I think so too, but we'll have to put it to one side for now. We're here for the Elysian Box, remember."
"We're nearly there!" said Luke excitedly. "Probably one or two pieces left, and then we'll know what it looks like!" He yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Wow. Sorry, Professor, guess I'm tired."
"Perhaps we should take a break," said Layton, looking at his watch. "It's quite late. We've been going at it non-stop. It would be good to stop for a while and recharge our batteries."
"Right you are, Professor. You know that saying: all work and no play."
"Makes Jack a dull boy. Yes."
It was dark within the eye of the storm, where it harboured an uneasy, unusual dimness like that of a solar eclipse. Dojo landed on the very edge of the temple grounds, not really wanting to go any nearer. What little light there was cast the temple buildings and trees in a dismal grey, and threw long, menacing shadows in completely unfamiliar places.
"Do you think Wuya managed to get her body back again while we were frozen?" Kimiko wondered, folding her arms and shivering a little in the wind.
"Mayhaps Omi's gone and done something in the past," Clay said, offering an alternate explanation. Omi was still missing, taken away by the rogue actions of the Sands of Time.
"Yeah," Raimundo said, "but if he had, we wouldn't notice any difference because we'd be in the changed timeline." He paused thoughtfully, brow slightly creased in confusion. "Or would we?"
Dojo frowned at the sky. "I have a really bad feeling about this…"
Clay rolled up his cowboy gloves, drawing himself up to full height. "Right!" he said. "Nothing to it but ta do it!" Showing no hesitation whatsoever, he started walking into the grounds without the others, seeming to taking the lead in Omi's absence.
"Glad he's so friggin' eager," Raimundo remarked with a sarcastic frown, not quite sharing his companion's enthusiasm.
"I hope Omi's okay," said Kimiko worriedly. At times, it could be very frustrating being the only girl at the temple, as she often had to prove to the guys that the fairer sex did not mean the weaker sex, and that usually meant putting on a tough face. That, combined with her fiery temper, meant that she rarely showed a softer side. Still, she did have a soft spot for Omi, who - she thought - would actually be pretty sweet and cute if he would just get off his high horse once in a while.
"Omi may be a little guy, but he's tough," said Raimundo. "As long as he doesn't meet any crazy monster squirrels, he'll be fine."
Kimiko nodded, allowing herself to smile at Raimundo's faith in Omi. "You're right."
Dojo coiled himself around Raimundo's shoulders. "Shall we go after Clay? I mean, he is in there, all alone..."
"Tch," said Kimiko, "as long as no one mentions his grandma, nothing bothers him."
"Good," said Raimundo, "because me? I'm seriously getting freaked out here."
"You and me both," said Dojo.
As Raimundo and Kimiko ran to catch up to Clay, Clay slowed his pace to a more tentative one, finally coming to a stop at the entrance to the training area.
"Well?" Raimundo said.
Clay shrugged. "Doesn't seem to be anything here."
They slowly made their way through the training grounds, trepidation and unease radiating from them collectively. It was reminiscent of the time the Sapphire Dragon had first come to life, having to check through nooks and crannies, having to keep an eye out behind you in case the Dragon was waiting to turn you into sapphire with a single blast, except this time they weren't really sure what they'd find when they turned around.
The slightest movement was enough to turn anybody's head. Indeed, the dangling axes that they used for training exercises leered in the darkness, like they would suddenly come alive of their own volition and start chopping everybody to pieces. The vases, normally a cheerful blue colour, were now a dull grey, and sported cracks that almost looked like teeth…
They reached the other end of the training ground. There was the sound of water. It was coming from the fountain, in the middle of the courtyard beyond the training ground. They approached the fountain with similar caution.
"Well?" said Raimundo.
Clay's shrug this time seemed to say why are you asking me for?
Raimundo's folded arms responded: you're the one leading.
"Doesn't seem to be anything her–"
The fountain erupted.
The water came shooting up, firing swiftly upwards like a geyser. As they'd been half-expecting something to happen, no one was taken by surprise, and they leapt back, each moving into their own offensive stance. But no amount of training could have prepared them for the sight they saw.
The figure landed, body hunched over and both gangly arms swinging loosely, faded grey robes torn and shredded, all dripping a muddy, dirty wet.
It was Master Fung.
Kimiko screamed. He had a huge hole in the right side of his abnormally pale face, a gaping crater from his temple to his cheek. Completely hollow, no bone or skull, no brain, no muscle - just a hollow husk of a body, the skin torn and ragged at the edges, like something had just tore a hole in his face, reached in and ripped the innards out. The left side of his mouth was stuck open in a half-O, missing several teeth.
And the smell…
Despite having a staggering, almost drunken gait, he was just as agile without a brain, and he jumped forwards, Kimiko only just avoiding his swipes. Raimundo stood gaping, completely frozen, and similarly Dojo stammered incoherently, but Clay charged from the side, a full-force body tackle that smashed into the zombie Fung.
The impact was like hitting a piñata.
Maggots exploded everywhere, squirming and making squelching noises and splattering blood and fluids all over Kimiko and Clay. And the smell – the overwhelming, dizzying stench of mud and blood and rotting meat was overpowering. Everyone was shouting, panicking; Kimiko shuddered and scrambled to get the squiggling insects off her. Raimundo finally regained his senses and used the Sword of the Storm to blow the messy insects and husk pieces away. Clay pulled Kimiko up, carrying her as he dashed back to the training grounds – suddenly the axes they'd passed earlier seemed inviting compared to this – and Raimundo quickly followed.
They kept running, only coming to a stop once they were sure they weren't being chased. Everyone was breathing hard.
"Sorry, Kimiko," said Raimundo once he'd got his breath back, "I totally lost it back there. I mean…" He averted his gaze to the ground. "Master Fung," he finished lamely, turning back up with sad eyes. "What if Omi's like that too? What if everyone's like that?"
"Don't worry," said Clay, "we'll figure this out. There must be a Shen Gong Wu that can do the ol' reversal."
"I don't think you'll be doing much of anything, actually."
They turned around.
Jack was floating ten feet in the air without his heli-pack. Without the aid of anything, in fact. While he had any number of inventions that could make this par for the course, the ethereal green glow that surrounded his body suggested that his levitation was of a mystical nature, rather than a mechanical one. An unsettling, red-eyed gaze swept across the warriors, a lazy, uncaring stare that made it seem like he wasn't truly acknowledging that anyone else was there. Along with a dreamy smile, this gave the impression that Jack was not quite sane.
He flew closer towards them, though still staying high up and out of reach, and then came to a stop, opening his arms wide, dramatically gesturing to the world at large.
"Like what I did to the place? My new masterpiece!"
"You did this?" Kimiko asked in disbelief. Clay's explanation for events was looking more and more likely, but the timeline must have been really screwed up for Jack to able to do something like all this. Perhaps he'd managed to learn Heylin magic in this timeline.
Still hovering, he leaned forward, letting his arms and legs droop downwards so that they were dangling. His movements were very slow and deliberate, as if he had all the time in the world.
"Fun, huh?" he went on conversationally. "The maggots were a neat touch, eh?"
"Fun?" spat Kimiko, a hair's breadth away from an emotional breakdown. "Fun?!"
"You did that to Master Fung?" Clay added, holding onto Kimiko by the shoulders and stopping her from shaking before she exploded with rage. Somehow, Clay couldn't quite believe it either. He had to hear it directly from Spicer himself.
"Well," Jack replied, tilting his head, still with the glazed, distant look, "you took ages to get here. I was bored."
As he spoke, he held up a hand, palm glowing green. Everyone braced for an attack, tried to move, and found, suddenly, that they couldn't. They struggled, and though they were able to move their heads, they couldn't move any other part of their body. Jack had not fired a direct attack, but had instead frozen them in place with some kind of green energy shield.
"Still," he continued, "now that you're finally here, maybe you can help me with something." He landed, walking up to the group, completely at ease. And then all of a sudden, his expression changed from dreamy to hostile like a switch had been flicked. He scowled, narrowing his eyes at the closest person to him – Raimundo.
"Where are the Sands of Time?" he growled, his voice clipped, to the point.
"The Sands…?" Raimundo started, temporarily thrown by the abrupt change in demeanour.
"Or perhaps you'd like to join the old man as maggot bait?" Jack hissed, pulling on the edge of Raimundo's hooded top so that he was right in his face, seemingly angered by Raimundo's hesitation.
"Like we'd tell you," Raimundo snapped, mirroring Jack's glare with one of his own.
For a long moment Jack held the stare, as if he was contemplating something. Then he blinked, letting Raimundo go. The broad smile returned, though this time with a slight malicious edge.
"Omi…"
He held up his right hand, deliberately showing off the Golden Tiger Claws. "I guess I'll use these and be on my way, then," he said cheerfully, back to his distant smiley self. "Maybe I'll have more 'fun' with some other people first, eh? But don't worry - I'll be back to kill you all real soon."
After floating high into the air, he waved a hand to release them, then sliced the air and jumped into the hole, letting loose a manic, gleeful laugh. Instantly, the overhead storm clouds vanished. The vases in the training grounds sparkled as the sun returned, colour and life returning to the temple as if they had always been there.
"What," said Raimundo, "was that all about?"
"Ah, you've returned," said a voice. "I was just about to… where is Omi?"
Clay blinked in disbelief. "Master Fung?"
"Is it really you?" Kimiko asked, relieved beyond belief to see him alive and whole and not looking like someone had scooped the insides of his head out like ice cream out of a tub.
"Yes, of course…" he said, frowning a little. "Is everything all right?"
"Oh, you're all right!" Dojo rushed to hug the old master on top of his bald head. "Thank goodness!"
"So… all that… It was… an illusion?" Raimundo wondered out loud. He remembered, back when Wuya had first been trying to convince him to switch sides, she had shown him a realistic illusion of how things could turn out if he had accepted her offer. It had been a similar feeling, he realised.
He said as such, and by the end of the explanation Clay was fuming. Kimiko was prone to bursts of temper, and true to form, she looked like she was going to self-destruct. But it took a lot to get Clay angry; prized cowboy hats aside, he was normally one of those people that had an endless supply of patience, so it showed how truly upset he'd really been by Fung's supposed death.
"What happened in this illusion?" Master Fung asked, concern coming over his features at the sight of his students becoming so distressed.
Kimiko faltered, and Clay immediately stopped letting loose a string of Texan death threats that he'd promise he'd carry out when he next saw Jack.
Raimundo growled. "Jack happened, that's what happened," he said angrily. He also couldn't believe that Jack had toyed with them like that, just for fun. Though, despite a change in the timeline as a possible reason, he still had to wonder what had made Jack abandon his love of machinery in favour of Heylin magic… And if he had learned magic, why didn't he finish them off when he had the chance? Why go to all the bother? He couldn't put his finger on it, but something wasn't quite right. They were missing something.
"Oh, and -" here Raimundo became sheepish and tried to avoid Master Fung's gaze "- Omi's stuck in the past. Or future. Or somewhere."
Master Fung instantly understood. "I warned you not to overuse the Sands of Time," he said sternly.
"Yeah, we know ya did," Clay said, also now looking a little shame-faced, "but it wasn't Omi's fault, honest, it was just actin' real weird. Dojo reckons there might be some info about it in the scroll room."
"Is that so?"
"Yep," Dojo said. "We'd better get cracking on finding Omi, before everyone else goes completely mad!"
"Indeed," said Master Fung, who wasn't going to worry his students further by telling them that he couldn't remember what had happened in the last half hour... except for the flash of green light.
