Disclaimer: -walks in and looks around- ...Hey! Where's the disclaimer? -spots Haruki looking around embarrassedly; warningly- Haruki... -growls and wields a somewhat re-battered Block Basher-

Haruki: -sighs- Oh, alright. Calistar Heir does not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters. -pauses- But she does own me (unfortunately,) Brant and his family, and Wraith.

A/N: Yes; as you can see, Haruki's sorta become a muse. One or two of you may have seen him in reviews; anyway, you'll be seeing him around.

Haruki: Lucky me. -notes Calistar's expression- Er, I mean, lucky me! Eheh... -.-;

Anonymous reviewers! Look here for replies!

unknown: Thanks, both on the cliffhanger and Omi's new resolve. I actually laughed while writing that part.

Ali: Urgh, I hate it when that happens. Yeah, Wraith's really that powerful; and there's more where that came from, trust me.

Mari: Welcome! Thank you for reviewing!

So anyway; should I keep torturing them?

Haruki: ...Nah. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you got any writing done at all; I mean - it's been an eventful time since you last updated.

It's been a few weeks since I last updated. -.-; Here's the update.

Prophecy

A Xiaolin Showdown fanfiction
Written by Calistar Heir

Chapter Ten: Ready, Set, Go

Kimiko could still feel the irritation from the argument, even while the familiar feeling of Dojo in flight rippled beneath her. Raimundo situated just behind her didn't help matters either, especially since his steady breathing was sending a tickling sensation up and down her spine. Shaking her head impatiently, she tried not to think about it, or all the other oddities she'd been feeling lately when it came to Raimundo. Stupid Rai...

...Actually, it wasn't that she was still irritated from the argument. It was that, no matter how much she tried not to, she felt herself slowly starting to forgive Raimundo... and, she thought, far too easily.

Or maybe, she ventured as they continued their flight, it was the addition of what had happened earlier. Because as much as she hated to admit it, her Brazilian friend was right:

Something wrong had happened back there.

Frowning in confusion to herself, Kimiko almost subconsciously lifted her hand to look at it. She wanted to wonder about it, question it, find some sort of reason for the problem, but no such things came to mind. All she could think was the same question she'd uttered while in Raimundo's arms: Why?

Sighing, she placed her hand back onto Dojo for balance, and tried to find entertainment in staring at the back of Omi's head. She had to admit, the reflection was fascinating, but not enough to engross her confused mind. Furrowing her brow, Kimiko realized that Omi had been acting a little strangely...and Raimundo, too, for that matter. Clay hadn't been too strange around her, but he tended to start chuckling under his breath when looking at his friends, and Kimiko wondered what the cowboy knew that she didn't.

These may have troubled Kimiko, but everyone else had other things on their minds; things Kimiko knew she should have been worrying about, too.

For one thing, there was Wraith. For some reason, everyone seemed nervous when talking about the cat. Kimiko really didn't know why her friends acted the way they did, but she knew why she did. Though she was pretty sure she'd never seen Wraith before, Kimiko knew without doubt that she had seen those eyes. With a jolt, she wondered if he had been the source of the flames from that moment... But, if he'd attacked her, how had she countered it?

Kimiko doubted that they would have had too much trouble with Wraith were he alone, but that was where Brant came in. Although they hadn't seen very much of his fighting skills, they were certain that he wasn't to be looked over. Well, she, Raimundo, and Clay had come to that conclusion; Omi hadn't said much on the subject, and instead seemed to have become lost in thought. And Kimiko couldn't blame him, either.

Still the question remained: What were Brant and Wraith up to, anyway?

That brought Kimiko and the others to sitting on Dojo. She and her friends were now headed to the best source of information they felt they could risk: Jack Spicer. In all honesty, it was a very slim chance that Jack had even the slightest glimmer of light to shed on the shadowed situation, but the Wudai Warriors were desperate, and Jack always seemed up to date with anything evil. (Kimiko still couldn't fathom that the Heylin side had its own advertising and production system, but she'd found that there was always something surprising just around the corner in her current lifestyle.)

Besides, it was either Jack or Chase Young and Wuya, and no one currently wanted to take a road trip to the Land of Nowhere (again) anytime soon.

"So...," said Kimiko slowly. "What're we going to say when we get there?'"

Silence followed, in which one could actually hear them thinking. Finally, a suggestion surfaced.

"We must be open with him," said Omi simply. "That is all we can do."

"...I guess that means the Bashing-Jack's-Face-into-the-Wall option is out?" said Raimundo. Stifled snickers followed this statement, though Omi tsked disapprovingly before showing amusement.

Looking back slightly, Kimiko could've sworn that an annoyed expression crossed the Brazilian's eyes, as though he'd heard something that had irritated him. She blinked, feeling confused, and looked around; the Japanese girl hadn't heard Omi misuse slang or Clay say a particularly confusing saying. And she knew that she hadn't said anything...

Giving him a measured look, Kimiko said, "You okay, Rai?"

Raimundo blinked, shook his head as though to bring himself to the present, and managed to turn the corners of his mouth upwards. "Fine, Kim; why do you ask?"

Feeling her confusion starting to show in her eyes, Kimiko opened her mouth, but Omi spoke first. "She asks because she is most concerned for you, Raimundo."

Jumping, Kimiko realized that Omi's voice had sourced from right next to her ear, and looking around she saw that her small friend had leaned in, as though this were a fierce debate on the best martial arts moves. Out of the corner of her eye, Kimiko noted the somewhat mortified expression Raimundo was giving Omi, and the tiny smirk that was now gracing Clay's face. Quite suddenly, Kimiko felt she'd been thrown from the loop. "Well, yeah I'm concerned-"

"Oh, you need not say anything," Omi interrupted reassuringly, patting her hand gently. However, Kimiko was far from reassured. He looked at her intently with his dark eyes. "After all, with the way you feel for him, it is most normal for you to be so worried."

For a miniscule second, Kimiko felt that Omi was actually going somewhere with that sentence. But then reason kicked in and quickly punted whatever idea it was out of her head. Meanwhile, Raimundo was looking quite ready and willing to start pulling Omi's teeth out one by one. Somewhere in her mind, Kimiko knew that maybe she should try and calm the situation.

But forever the peacemaker, it was Clay that spoke next. "Maybe we should drop it, pardners. We're getting close to Spicer's place."

"Cowboy's right," broke in Dojo's voice unexpectedly. "It's coming up on the horizon."

Resignedly, Omi settled back into position, though Kimiko could still feel Raimundo's intense glare singing her hair as it fixed itself on Omi's head. Kimiko had half a mind to ask one of the boys just exactly what it was she'd just witnessed, but it seemed that all she could do at the moment was sit and blink in confusion, which didn't clear until the mansion Jack Spicer lived in came to view and the incident was shoved to the back of her mind.

After Dojo had landed and after a few moments of prying the door open, the foursome found themselves, once again, in the dark recesses of what Jack liked to call home. And even though they already knew that Jack was a weirdo, that didn't make what they were seeing any less unusual.

Jack, whimpering and yelping, was scrambling around the place, grabbing parts old and new and shoving them together, building Jackbots as fast as he could. Apparently he'd been at it for a while because an already large host of Jackbots were floating around, ready and waiting; yet Jack didn't seem even the slightest bit comforted. So absorbed was he that he didn't even notice when the door slammed open. Though by all accounts, from the way he was acting, Jack should've been clinging to the ceiling by now.

Exchanging a look, the friends sipped quietly down the stairs to where Jack was still plowing away, whimpering nonsensical words they doubted even he understood. Moments passed, and they stood there, waiting for Jack to notice his long-time enemies standing like perfect statues behind him. When he didn't even look back once, Raimundo glanced around at his companions, leaned forward so that his head was mere centimeters from Jack's, and coughed.

The already ear-blowing girlish scream was amplified to skull-fracturing proportions within the uncarpeted basement that served as Jack's solitude. That, or Jack was just more on edge than usual. After leaping into the air, the redhead was immediately on his knees, hugging Raimundo around the legs so tightly that the boy was certain his shins were going to break. This accomplished, Jack exclaimed his well-known cry of, "I SURRENDER! Don't kill me! I swear, whatever it was you think I was going to do, I won't do it, promise!"

"...Wow," remarked Kimiko in the blank silence that followed. "Usually we have to look at each other before this happens."

For the first time, Jack opened his eyes and looked at who was visiting. After a few seconds of blinking up at them, he leapt to his feet and brushed himself off, saying, "I knew that."

Raimundo bit back a laugh. "Sure, dude. It's nice to know you won't be fighting."

Jack blinked. "Huh?"

"You surrendered," Clay reminded him.

"...Oh; yeah," said Jack, frowning in thought. Kimiko could've sworn she smelled burning, but that could've been anything from the cooling Jackbot to the familiar warmth settling around her fingers.

"Anyway," said Omi, looking around curiously. "Why are you building Jackbots as if there isn't any yesterday?"

"It's 'no tomorrow' Omi," corrected Raimundo.

Omi blinked. "That makes no sense."

Kimiko just managed to catch Raimundo grumbling under his breath, "It makes a lot more sense than 'isn't any yesterday'." She tried not to giggle, but a tiny noise came from her and Raimundo gave her a glance. When she winked at him, he grinned in return.

"So; the Jackbots?" probed Clay.

Jack stared unintelligently at the cowboy for a few moments; then he blinked, and it seemed to dawn on him. "Oh! Well-" Suddenly he broke off with a confused expression, and then crossed his arms and turned to the side, giving them a degrading look. "What's it to you? Can't an evil genius build his robots?"

Kimiko shrugged. "Well, sure. You just seemed a little more frantic than usual."

"That's what happens when someone wants you dead." For some odd reason, Jack seemed smug about this. Kimiko wondered vaguely if he'd finally snapped due to his current lifestyle when he smirked at his visitors' dumbfounded expressions. "Yeah, that's right! Someone wants me dead!" Suddenly he started dancing around triumphantly, singing, "Someone wants me deeaad, and no one wants yoouu. I'm more important -"

Instead of following the impulse of punching Jack in his idiotic face, Kimiko released her frustration by tripping him instead, which caused him to get his nose hurt anyway. "Yeah. Y'know, that's not much of a good thing."

Still flat on the ground, Jack mumbled an unintelligible reply. Strangely, no one cared.

"Soo..." Kimiko squatted onto the ground next to him. "Who wants you dead?"

Jack dazedly raised his head, shook it, and shifted into a more comfortable position for talking while still on his stomach. "I dunno, really; I was listening in on them with my bug." He motioned towards a pair of earphones, which seemed to have been thrown off a hysterical boy's head, judging by its position. "Don't bother trying to test it out; the guys who were talking found the bug and broke it."

"I bet that hurt," remarked Raimundo.

"Not really," Jack replied absentmindedly. Seeing the looks his enemies were giving him, he said, "What? An evil genius always makes sure that his ears won't get hurt when he's eavesdropping."

"How'd you pull that off?" asked Kimiko.

Jack shrugged conspiratorially. "Meh, it's too technical. Some of you wouldn't understand." He looked pointedly at Clay when he said this, who only glared stonily back. "Uh, anyway, some guy and his cat were talking-"

Whatever Jack was expecting, it wasn't his visitors suddenly looking extremely interested. "A guy?" said Kimiko.

"And a cat?" added Omi, wide-eyed.

Taken aback by the sudden intensity, the self-proclaimed Dark Prince of the Universe recoiled slightly, and nodded.

"Well, what were they talking about?" probed Clay.

When he next spoke, Jack was starting to stammer. "W-well, Thingy cut Whoever off before he could say anything really interesting, but apparently Thingy's scared of me."

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then the room was alive with the echoes of loud laughter. But Jack took this in stride.

"Yeah; that was Whoever's response."

They immediately sobered.

"A-anyway,' said Jack, "I didn't hear what was so scary about me to Thingy... I couldn't understand a word coming from his mouth."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. He's a cat." For a second, she was almost certain that Raimundo stiffened a little, but when she looked at him his face was impassive. Casting it aside as her imagination playing tricks on her, she turned her attention back to Jack.

"So...that's all that you can tell us?" said Raimundo disappointedly.

Jack shrugged. "Pretty much."

Collective groans were echoed through group.

"But, but!" said Jack suddenly, lifting an index finger. "My dad might! Oh, but-" His face fell. "-he's out of town..."

Five minutes and much persuading later, the group managed to escape Jack's lair, all agreeing on one thing:

"Well, that was a complete waste of time," grumbled Kimiko. The boys grunted their agreement.

"...And even if his dad did know anything," muttered Raimundo, "how would we be able to get a meeting with him?"

"From what I hear, he's real high class," said Clay. He glanced at Kimiko. "Your dad and Frederick Spicer were acquainted, weren't they, Kimiko?"

Kimiko stopped dead in her tracks, the wheels in her brain turning. "Yeah..."

Jack had already settled back into the many clanks of putting Jackbots together. He nearly flew through the roof when Kimiko burst into the room like a hailstorm, a little out of breath and a light in her eyes.

"Jack! You said your dad's out of town?"

"Y-yes..." Jack stared fearfully at the somewhat deranged looking Kimiko.

"Well, do you think you could inform us when he gets back in town?" she said, excited as ever.

The redhead blinked slowly at her. "Uh... sure..."

Kimiko beamed at him. "Great! Thanks, Jack!" And she sped from the room as quickly as she'd come, leaving Jack Spicer to sit among his machines, blinking stupidly and wondering just what the heck had happened.

The rhythm of the ocean waves was calming.

Here, in a cave right in the cliff wall, sitting on the brim of the ledge was exhilarating and soothing. Far below, the steady crash of water seemed like the breathing of the world... A steady beat to a tune you truly had to listen for.

It was here that Brant meditated, mere centimeters from falling to the merciless pounding beneath. He cleared himself of all thought, all emotion, and allowed himself to become one with the never ending sound, punctuated by the distant and not so distant cries of wheeling seagulls. ...It was peaceful.

But without fail, a pair of dark eyes flashed through his mind.

Eyes snapping open, Brant was almost startled by the amazing hue of the sky. A setting sun was turning the endless water and sky bright orange, setting everything afire. Fire... fed by wind, killed by water, and both fed and killed by earth.

Struggling to swallow the brief flare of anger that the memory of the eyes brought, Brant stood, still not looking into the cave. Pushing all thoughts that would cause him anger, he instead focused on the things that had passed since that afternoon. He had been slightly surprised to find Spicer's bug in Wraith's paw, but it didn't matter, really. He saw Wraith's point, but the question was, did Spicer? Admittedly, the wannabe-Goth wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but Brant knew he'd be an idiot to overlook him. In this particular game he and his cohort had gotten themselves into, everything counted.

For example: the two in the cave behind him.

A smile spread across his lips, and he turned to look at the dark skinned fourteen-year-olds bound together at the back of the cave. He and Wraith had stumbled (literally) upon them just beyond the Xiaolin Temple, obviously exhausted from a journey they weren't used to. But it had been obvious what their destination was; and in this situation, Wraith wasn't one to take chances.

They were supposed to be unconscious, and he could tell they were trying to appear as such, but their breathing was too fast for them to not be awake.

"You can quit acting now," said Brant. He received no reply. "Oh, come on; what's the use in pretending to be unconscious if the one you're trying to fool already knows you're awake?"

There was the tiniest of shifts from the girl; however, the boy didn't react at all. But Brant could still tell he was awake.

He's been trained... Brant thought silently. But not enough.

Deciding that the boy would be harder to crack, he turned to the girl.

"You, girl," he said, his tone unquestionable. "Look at me."

Her head rose a little, just enough that he could see the hazel eyes looking up at his face. Next to her, the boy shifted.

Brant glanced briefly at him, but only for a second. "What were you and your friend doing in the area of the Xiaolin Temple?" he demanded; direct approach first. If that didn't work, he had other ways to wheedle it out of them, one or the other.

The girl, like before, did not answer him, and instead turned her head back into its previous position. For the few moments it took for this action to take place, Brant was sure he saw a spark of defiance in her eyes. Spirit, he noted, and felt a gush of approval.

He then became aware of Wraith's presence at the cave entrance, and he turned just in time to see the thetishakan land on light paws on the ledge. He knew the question in his companion's eyes before the words were spoken.

"They won't say anything," he informed Wraith as the cat-like creature walked calmly over. "Same as before."

"Yes...," said Wraith, sitting back on his haunches as his eyes studied the pair. "I suppose not."

"Spirit," Brant remarked.

Wraith nodded in agreement. "I can smell it in them. And..." He blinked, and a curiously amused look came to his expression. "...interesting..."

Looking at Brant's quizzical look, the cat smiled and crept over to the boy, who seemed to shudder a little when the carnivore's breath brushed against him. "You have been to Chase Young."

Brant's eyebrows flew upward. "Young?" Of course...who else?

"...But other than that..." Wraith turned back to Brant. "This one is not a Chosen."

"Pity," Brant remarked vaguely. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, unidentifiable and aloof, as to not be deciphered. He glanced at Wraith, who met his gaze for a long moment, thoughts being shared silently with each other. Then the cat motioned away from the two with his tail, and the mismatched pair walked to the ledge to discuss things. As they walked, Brant heard the whispery echoes of a short conversation.

"You scared, girl?"

"...In all honesty, yes."

The boy chuckled quietly. "Yeah; me too."

"How do you think we'll get out of this?"

There was a small pause. "...I don't know. But we will. If no one else, my pals will get us out of this."

"...I hope so."

Pain.

It had crept up so unnoticeably: just a tickling sensation at her fingertips, and then it prickled, spreading down to her wrists, and then something like a numbed headache spreading down through her arms, until her entire body seemed to have been attacked by fire she couldn't control. She could feel the green flames attacking her own, pushing through... it hurt so much...

Then she plunged into darkness, a lone fiery comet streaking towards the ground, green eyes watching her every inch of the way-

And Kimiko Tohomiko awoke in a cold sweat.

Sitting bolt upright, she looked around the darkened room. As usual, the boys were sound asleep in positions Kimiko couldn't help but wonder about. But the calm breathing was soothing to her still madly pounding heart.

Breathing deeply, Kimiko passed a shaking hand over her eyes. She could feel the fear still seeping through her veins, quietly constant. And feeling scared made her feel angry. Feeling angry made her want to hit something.

And that wouldn't go over well with her sleeping comrades.

With a sigh, Kimiko swung her legs over the side of the bed, deciding that a walk would do her good. Her feet almost immediately found her slippers, and, with a small yawn, she shuffled out the hall, towards the kitchen. The moon was bright above, the navy sky dotted with tiny pinpricks of light and the occasional cloud. She gave it all a brief look, and then continued to the kitchen. Upon reaching it, she was surprised to find it wasn't empty.

Raimundo, smiley-face pajamas and all, had made a sandwich for himself, and was currently in mid-bite. When she entered the room, there was a moment in which the two merely looked at each other, as though they were both surprised the other was there. Then Kimiko blinked and walked over to the cupboard to grab a cup. "You shouldn't eat so much at night," she commented. The Dragon of Wind replied with a half-hearted shrug.

Filling her glass with milk and grabbing a napkin, she sat down opposite of Raimundo, placing the glass on the wood and staring intently at him. After several moments passed, and Kimiko didn't look away, Raimundo began to feel uncomfortable and asked her, "What; is there something on my face?"

Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "You really want me to answer that?"

Exasperated, Raimundo rolled his eyes. "Fine; what is it?"

"Nothing," said Kimiko simply with a shrug. "Just wondering about a few things."

"Yeah, well...," Raimundo mumbled into his sandwich. He took another bite and chewed on it for a little while, allowing the silence to cover them. Kimiko said nothing, but just looked at the wood, and taking the occasional sip from her glass. In the back of her mind, Kimiko realized that this was pretty abnormal. Here she was, at one in the morning, sitting across from Raimundo Pedrosa, a boy who was rarely seen awake in the night after falling asleep. And not only that, but he was actually subdued. She shook her head; maybe it was just that it was really early in the morning. (Or was it late at night?)

Finally, Raimundo swallowed his mouthful and cocked his head to the side, eyes curious. "How'd that happen?"

Kimiko blinked up at him. "How'd what happen?"

"That...," he said while pointing at her hand. "That burn..."

Blinking a few more times, Kimiko looked at the hand in question, and saw Raimundo was right: it looked as though it had been burned. Nothing serious, but...

How did that happen? Kimiko wondered. A flicker of worry penetrated her mind. Was she actually losing hold of her fire powers? If not... then what was it?

For a reason she couldn't comprehend, she looked up at Raimundo, up into his concerned eyes, and saw that he was thinking the same thing she was. And in an instant, Kimiko felt relieved that someone was as concerned about it as she was.

Then quite unexpectedly, a playful smirk broke across his features. "Having a little trouble with your element these days?" the Brazilian teased. Kimiko replied to this by rolling up her napkin and throwing it at the boy; it bounced off of his nose, and after looking pointedly at Kimiko he pulled a theatrically scandalized face. The expression was so comical that Kimiko couldn't help but laugh.

A part of Kimiko knew that she should have been insulted, but, surprising herself, she wasn't. Maybe it was just that since someone could laugh about the situation, it couldn't be all bad. Raimundo joking about it caused a flicker of hope to rise up within her: the hope that this would pass, and fade in time into a speck on her memory.

"There: something to use when you've finished that sandwich," she said smartly, taking another swig of her milk.

Raimundo glowered playfully at Kimiko, but all it did was cause her to nearly choke on her drink. "I don't need a napkin."

"Uh, yes, you do," said Kimiko. After downing the rest of her milk, she got up to wash the cup, saying, "If you leave that mess, Master Guan will have your head." As she took the washcloth to the cup, Kimiko glanced at her friend and saw that she need not say more.

While drying the cup, Kimiko found herself lagging. In a strange way, she didn't want to leave the kitchen. The atmosphere Raimundo had created was so peaceful that the Japanese girl felt she could have stayed there all night. For once since all the out-of-the-ordinary (or at least, as ordinary as it got when you were a Shen-Gong-Wu collector) things had started, there was a moment for thought, just a brief speck of time to breathe.

And then her cup couldn't be dried any more, and she reluctantly placed it back in the cupboard. However, when she turned and started out the door, the scraping of a chair and Raimundo's voice stopped her.

"Kimi?"

Kimiko immediately stopped and turned around. The Brazilian was standing, and had taken a few steps towards her; she was surprised to see him looking sober. "Yeah, Rai?"

Suddenly Raimundo seemed a little uncomfortable. He looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet a little and rubbing the back of his neck. "...I'm – sorry I bit your head off the other day."

Something clicked in her brain which she'd forgotten, and she realized that she couldn't meet her friend's eyes. "Yeah...," said Kimiko quietly. "Me, too." When he looked at her curiously, she added, "Today."

There was a small silence, and then they both started talking at once.

"I didn't know how to explain-"

"I was kinda spooked-"

"I was still really confused-"

"Same here."

The pause came again, and an intangible tension seemed to settle between the two. It was then that something began to nag at her again, a detail that had been bugging her all day. At last, it wouldn't stay silent. Uncomfortable as ever, Kimiko mumbled, "Thanks – for catching me."

She heard more than saw Raimundo shrug. "No problem." Looking up at him, Kimiko briefly saw a foreign softness in his emerald eyes, and felt a blush creeping into her cheeks. Realizing that the color was in her face, Kimiko clasped her hands behind her back and turned her gaze from his again.

"Well...goodnight, Rai," she said, glancing around a little embarrassedly. "Are you coming?"

Raimundo shook his head. "No. I'm not really tired at the moment... Besides," he added quickly, "I've got to finish the sandwich..."

Kimiko shrugged, turning around to head back to bed. "Suit yourself."

Raimundo said nothing more, but the Japanese girl was sure that his eyes had followed her until she was out of sight.

It wasn't until she was creeping back into the bedroom that Kimiko fully realized that she'd been blushing (blushing, for crying out loud!) around Raimundo Pedrosa. Now why'd that happen?

...Because I felt safe in his gaze?

She closed her eyes. It was just Raimundo... Stupid Rai...

Then...why's my heart pounding?

With a small growl, the girl tried to dismiss it all while climbing back into bed. But there was still one last question before she drifted off to sleep:

Was it because that, deep down, she actually liked being held by Raimundo?

"You can do it...just don't look back..."

Brant became aware of the conversation again, and realized that he was coming in late. His eyes narrowed.

"I...I don't think I can, J."

"You can!" whispered the boy's voice bracingly. "All you have to do is keep going; don't stop until you collapse. You're fast, girl, you can do this..."

"I won't leave you behind."

"You're gonna to have to. On my signal-"

"You're coming with me and-"

"You know the plan-"

"J, I won't-"

"GO!"

Suddenly, the two broke loose of their bonds, and Brant just barely managed to dodge the boy flying at him. He chanced a look at Wraith just in time to see the girl slip away with a kick at the feline; Wraith went for pursuit but the boy clung to his tail. Brant went after the girl but was tripped by the boy knocking the feet out from under him.

Thus almost a minute passed in a whirling, screaming, snarling cloud of dust, fur, and fists. Finally the boy ended up pinned firmly by Brant and Wraith, all three of them out of breath.

Wraith glowered down at the boy. "Where is the girl headed towards?"

When the boy didn't answer, Brant restated the question. "Where's she going?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," growled the boy through a mouthful of dirt and rock.

Brant noted the look in Wraith's eyes and swiftly moved out of the way moments before the thetishakan flipped the boy over onto his back. Wraith glared into the boy's dark eyes, but the youth only shut his eyes firmly against the glare. With a snarl, Wraith batted the boy back into the cave, and said, "In the future, we shall need to keep an eye on prisoners at all times."

"That's assuming we trust anyone with the responsibility," muttered Brant.

Wraith looked at him, eyes narrowed. "I mean no disrespect to you, Brant, but your race is filled with bumbling fools and half-brained twits. The types we require are rare and few, compared to the civilization that lives upon this planet."

Brant returned Wraith's look calmly. "Did I ever imply that I didn't already know this?"

For a moment the cat just stared at him, and then something a bit like an amused smirk came to light. "I do not recall you ever truly praising your people."

"Do we bother to go after the girl?" asked Brant quietly, but knowing the answer.

As expected, Wraith shook his head. "She must be too far away to bother with now."

Brant nodded, and turned to look outside. The moonlight reflected on the never ending water, casting silver in dark navy blue.

"Curse it to Wuya."

Ignore the cold. Ignore the leaves. Ignore the twigs. Ignore the distant calls of birds and animals. Ignore the fear. Ignore the ache in your legs and feet. Ignore the fact that you are leaving him behind.

Ignore, ignore, ignore.

The girl repeated this to herself, running blindly through the dark trees, a quite night with the exception of her crashing through. Forestry and startled animals flashed by her in a blur. Nothing registered with her mind. She repeated the mantra to herself; she remained focused on what she had to do.

You have to find Master Fung. You have to tell him.

As the moon rose in the sky to shine light through leafy boughs and she ran further and further, she didn't care about the distance. She didn't care if she had to run a thousand miles before she reached the Xiaolin Temple. She was going, and running, and finding Master Fung.

For J; for the hope of seeing 'Maine again - alive…

The thought of what they might do to him caused a bolt of panic to shove speed into her feet and blinding tears to block her eyes. And the next thing she knew, there was pain in her foot and she was flat on the ground, gasping for air.

Forcing her arms to push herself up, she looked around to see what had tripped her, and spotted an up-grown tree root; she rolled her eyes. Of course. But now that she was stopped, she realized a very important fact: she had no idea where she was.

Springing to her feet, the girl looked around, panic settling in her heart as she tried to keep breathing. Not only was she lost in the woods at night, but she was also lost in the woods at night with a very important message that needed to be delivered A.S.A.P.

She didn't know much at that moment, but she did know that this sucked in the worst kind of way.

And then, as though through divine intervention, she heard voices a little way off. After freezing for a moment and looking in their direction, she felt hope surge through her, revitalizing her weary limbs, and sped off again.

She knew that she must have been quite a sight to the trio of hikers, bursting out of nowhere, completely disheveled, and grinning like a maniac, but she didn't care. Momentarily blinded by the startled groups' flashlights, the girl blinked through the colorful dots that obscured her vision and looked at the threesome's identically dumbfounded faces, jaws hanging and eyes large.

"Hi!" she panted, trying to catch her breath. "Do- do any of you know where I can get to the Xiaolin Temple? It's urgent- very urgent."

After a few seconds of the group mouthing wordlessly at her, one of them said, "We could get you there; it shouldn't take long if we hurry."

The other two stared at their third companion as though he'd just said he could sprout wings and fly. But the girl didn't mind in the least; she beamed joyfully at him.

"That'd be great! Thanks!"

Then the remaining pair blinked back at the girl, and one of them, a roughly sixteen-year-old girl, asked, "Do you have a name?"

She nodded. "Aderyn."

Okay, that was shorter than my other chapters. But bear with me here, people!

How did I do with the kitchen scene? If Raimundo seems a little OOC, it's because I'd originally planned it to be between Kimiko and Jack. But it seemed like Kimi was being a little too friendly with Mr. Spicer, so I changed it to Rai (with some editing, of course.)

So... Review! Please! Pretty please!