Me: Yes, I am back! (For now, at least) I have no witty remarks right now, so enjoy the story! :)

"Wow. So amazing." Emeline breathed. The others nodded with wide eyes. Kimiko had just finished telling Master Fung and the others what had happened on the cliffside, and they were shocked, to say the least.

"What do you think?" Rai asked Master Fung.

"Kimiko, you have done very well today in regards to your new powers. Now, you must take extra caution in not drawing unwanted attention to yourself. The Heylin would love nothing more than to be able to use your power for their gain." Master Fung said solemnly. Kimiko was about to respond when Dojo came slithering into the room.

"Hey guys and girls, we have a Wu alert!" Dojo held up the scroll to Rai.

"The Xiaolin Gauntlets. Whoever wears these has the ability to increase their power 10-fold." Rai read from the scroll. Clay whistled and tipped his hat back.

"That is a helluva lot of power." Lilia stated.

"Which is why we must not let the Heylin get this Shen Gong Wu!" Omi said fiercely.

"Omi's right. Alright everyone, get dressed and meet me in front of the vault in 5." Rai ordered.

"So where are we headed Dojo?" Clay yelled over the roar of the wind.

"The Amazon Rainforest." Dojo yelled back.

"Uh guys, we have company!" Lilia pointed below them. Hundreds of Jack-bots were headed towards them, and in the center of it all was Jack.

"Crap! We don't have time for this!" Rai shook his head in anger.

"Raimundo! You go on ahead! Lilia and I will take care of Jack Spicer." Omi yelled.

"We'll be able to get back with the Silver Manta Ray." Lilia added.

"Alright guys, good luck, and be careful!" Rai yelled as they jumped off Dojo.

"Ready to have some fun Omi?" Lilia asked him as they landed on some Jack-bots.

"Always, my love." He smiled at her.

The next obstacle didn't come until the four warriors were actually in the Amazon.

"I hope Omi and Lilia are OK." Emeline said worredly as they landed on the lush forest floor.

"Relax Emmy." Clay put an arm reassuringly around her shoulders. "You know Omi would rather die than lose to Spicer. And Lilia can definetly take care of herself."

"I wouldn't worry about them, right about now." came a familiar drawl behind them. They turned to see Wuya and Hannibal Roy Bean stepping out from the trees, both with identical evil grins on their faces.

"Oh great. Just what we need. The hag and the baked bean." Kimiko said disgustedly.

"Now now Kimiko. Play nice. We wouldn't want something to happen to you, now would we?" as he was talking, one of Hannibal's roots shot out straight for Kimiko, but just as it was about to impale her, Rai grabbed the root with one hand and stopped it, the look in his eyes murdurous.

"So the Shoku warrior has gotten a bit more powerful? Well, we'll just have to put a stop to that." Wuya smiled darkly.

"Oh no you won't." Clay and Emeline planted themselves firmly in defensive positions between Rai and Kim and Wuya and Bean. Emeline tossed her long hair over her shoulder and turned to smile at her friends.

"We will take care of these two. You go on ahead. We have the Crouching Cougar; We'll be able to catch up." she turned back to face the Heylin with a dark scowl on her face. Rai and Kim shared a glance then nodded uneasily.

"Fine." was all he said before taking Kim's hand and propelling them deep into the forest.

Raimundo and Kimiko looked for an hour before they stopped to rest. Panting, their robes clinging to their bodies with sweat, they plopped down onto the floor to catch their breath.

"Why haven't we heard from any of them? It shouldn't take this long to kick their butts." Rai growled. He got up and started pacing. Kimiko leaned wearily against a tree and watched him.

"Omi and Lilia should be here by now. Spicer is barely a threat. Wuya and Hannibal Bean though..." his voice trailed off. Suddenly he stopped his manical pacing and whirled to face Kimiko, the blood drained from his face.

"They've been captured. Or worse. That's why they're not here. We have to go back." he ranted. Then Kimiko did something very unexpected.

She walked up to Rai and slapped him across the face. Rai was too shocked to even move. His bewildered emerald eyes bored into her fiery sapphire ones.

"Get a hold of yourself Rai. Right now, our priority is to find the Wu. Once we have it, we'll worry about the others. But don't forget that they can take care of themselves. It would not be good if the Heylin get their hands on the Gauntlets, especially Chase." Kimiko said his name with loathing.

"I'm afraid you're a bit too late for that, Kimiko." Chase's cool voice came floating from the trees above them. They whipped their heads up to see Chase standing on a thick tree branch, holding the Gauntlets.

"Oh no." Kimiko whispered, horrorstruck.

"Hello Raimundo. It's been a while. I recall that last time we saw each other you tried to kill me." Chase's eyes grew icier.

"Just repaying the favor." Rai said coolly. Chase smirked.

"So you gonna give us the Gauntlets, or do we have to fight?" Kim asked menacingly, summoning up fireballs in both her hands.

"You wouldn't dare." Chase's smirk widened. Kimiko growled under her breath.

"He's right. You could burn the forest, and us, down. Let me handle it." Rai murmured to her.

"Crest of the Condor! Blade of the Nebula!" he yelled, bringing out his elemental Wu.

Chase jumped out of the way at the last second, only to land on another tree branch. Rai followed him, jumping on thicker tree branches. Kimiko stayed on the ground, analyzing the fight.

'There's something different about this fight.' Kimiko wondered about this as she watched Raimundo and Chase fight. Suddenly, she realized two things at exactly the same time that made her blood run cold.

One, as they were fighting, they were getting higher and higher in the trees.

Two, Chase wasn't fighting back.

Which could only mean one thing to Kimiko. She started panicking as soon as she jumped to the first branch.

"They're too far ahead, I won't get there in time!" she said to herself. So the took a deep breath.

"Rai! Get back! It's a trap!" Kimiko yelled, all the while jumping to where they were. The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. She saw Rai turn at the sound of her voice, saw Chase bring out the Tangle Web Comb and aim it at Rai. Saw Rai get caught, and tried to tell him to relax, that that was the key to escaping the Comb, only no sound came out of her mouth. She tried to jump faster, to save Rai, but still couldn't reach them. Finally, Chase brought out something Kimiko wasn't expecting: the Ying Yo Yo.

"Catch us if you can, Kimiko." Chase taunted her. He opened a portal to the Ying Yang World and threw Rai in. With one last smirk to Kimiko, he jumped in after Rai. As the portal closed, Kimiko noticed a white light surrounding her, so she looked down and was dismayed to see that her purple and white Hanikara robes had changed, and that she was now wearing Rai's Shoku Warrior robes.

Me: So, you guys like it or not? Review please! But first, some things I want to bring up. First, thank you guys and girls for putting up with me and my insane updates. I really do appreciate the nice reviews everyone still leaves me! Second, I want to change the ages in this story because I pretty much have the ending planned out, and something's gonna happen at the end, and I would prefer the characters to be a bit older. So instead of the 16-17 age range, I'm changing it to 18-20, Omi and Lilia being 18, Kimiko 19, and Clay, Rai and Emeline 20. Third, I know it's sad, but this story is nearing the end. (cries) I know, so sad. Anyways, I'm not sure whether to continue the Thunder and Lightning series, or just finish it with this story. Because I can do both. So, I'm leaving it up to you! There's a poll on my page, just go there and vote! (takes deep breath) Ok, now I'm finished. Byeas!