Master

"Release me you vermin! You can not keep me tied up for ever! I will rip your hearts out and my master will be proud!" Came the insane dragon's cries. Omi sighed and shook his head. That thing hadn't shut up since they had gotten back to the temple. It's wrists and ankles were securely fastened to the walls by the tangled web comb's ropes, but little could be done to get it to shut up. They had tried binding it' mouth, but thats hadn't worked very well. He turned and looked in the door's window. It was an amazing creature, but was so insane that reason would be pointless. With a seconds hesitation he turned and preceded down the hall. The other monks were in the library, seeing if they could find anything out about this dragon, reversing Hannibal's affects, and Rai's medallion. Omi groaned. He had been left to guard the prisoner even though the obvious choice would be Clay or Deyna. Clay for obvious reasons and Deyna because of her unrelenting savagery. Rai and Kim had been excluded, mainly because Kimiko couldn't see it and Raimundo would probably have his throat cut out.

As he entered the room Omi sensed an immediate change in atmosphere. Deyna was no where to be found, she was probably off scrubbing toilets with a cotten swab for the prank she pulled. The young monk smirked at this. His friend was often in trouble, but mostly for little stuff, not like scaring the hell out of her friends like that. "Hello my friends! How are you doing today?" He asked, waltzing in on ever lengthening legs. The others narrowed their eyes at him. Although he wasn't verbally bragging, extending his limbs just to prove he could was more than enough. The other monks didn't use their powers as much a he did. Kimiko really didn't have any, Omi thought. She saw thermal energy. Wahoo. Big deal. Raimundo could turn invisible, so what? Clay couldn't even control his power and Deyna barely used hers! It was a waste to give power to those who do not deserve it. Omi shook his head, puzzled. Why did he just think that?

Kimiko suddenly snapped. "Will you stop that?! We haven't found anything, we now have an expiration date and I am out of coffee! Now piss off!" She howled furiously, steam shooting from her ears. Omi held up his hands in self defense, looking rather taken aback.

"I did not mean to upset you my friend," he said, putting on what he thought was his most endearing smile. This did nothing to calm her down. Kimiko advanced toward him menacingly, eyes burning with internal fire.

"Too late, bub!" She screamed, striking him across the face with a flaming hand. "Will you stop growing you fricken' legs already?!? We all know you can, so stop it!" Tears were falling from her eyes, but were evaporating as they hit her skin. Omi scrambled backward, forming a dome of ice around himself once he was safely in a corner.

Raimundo scrambled between them, barely visible from behind the veil of ice. "Hey, calm down, alright? You don't need to deep fry him!" Shouted the dragon of wind. Kimiko looked up at where she thought his face was, eyes steaming.

"I know I don't but at this point, I'm ready to start slicing to calm myself down!" She screamed. Clay looked from her to Raimundo and shifted his foot on the ground. Omi's ice dome was shattered, replace by a stone one, in case Kim broke out the fire power.

Rai looked at her, eyes dripping with concern. "Why would you slice yourself? You aren't emo, Mei-Mei," He said, using a name Deyna had given her back when they were apprentices. Mei-Mei meant little sister, which was odd because Kimiko was four months older than Deyna. Kimiko smiled up at him, her face tear stained.

"I know, but, apparently, when your genetic make up begins to dissolve, your skin tears off in sheets, like wrapping paper. And then your muscles, organs, your bone flakes away and clots your blood..." she shook her head, trying to clear it of the self-imposed mental image. "And, horizontal cuts across your skin releases pain and stress. That's why people do that sometimes." She added. A figure slouched inside, looking and smelling like a septic tank.

"Wow Kim, didn't realise your were emo. Well, now we all know why people like Jack Spicer do that, stress releif. I bet doctors will be prescribing it now," came a scathing tone. Rai looked over Kimiko's head and saw Deyna, covered head to toe in what he hoped was mud. She had a smirk on her face so reminescent of his own, it looked as though he was looking in a mirror. A filthy, stinky, disgusting mirror. Clay took one look and turned his attention back to the book he was holding. He did not want to get in the middle of this. Kimiko glanced at the floor, not wanting to meet her best friends eyes.

"My mom was a nurse, so was my aunt and Hiro's studying to be a nurse. I picked some stuff up," came the tearful reply. Deyna's face softened slightly. She smiled and flopped onto an Egyptian couch, since it had no back, and grabbed a book.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm just pissed from cleaning the toilets with a tooth brush. There's like fifty toilets in this damn place, and I had to clean them all!" Deyna said carelessly, leafing through the pages of the book. She glanced over to the corner of the room where Omi was hiding. "Did you know there's a Omi-sized stone dome in the corner?' She asked, pointing a finger at the corner. As the others turned around Clay dragged his foot across the floor once more, pulling the dome into the ground. What they saw made them laugh.

Omi had contorted himself to resemble the dome, rounded on one side and flat on the others. Half of his face was sticking outfrom the wall. He gave a quick smile and unwound himself, going back to human shape. Clay looked at him with a look of disgust on his face.

"That's gross little buddy," the cowboy commented, and went back to his reading. Rai swiped his hand softly against Kimiko's cheek to wipe away the tears, and grabbed another scroll. Omi sat down and began to meditate. The others could do the drudge work. He was in charge, so he shouldn't have to do anything but sit around and give commands.

For the second time that day Omi found himself thinking things that he normally wouldn't think. Why am i thinking these things? He wondered to himself, clearing his head with a strong shake. Because it's true. Came a voice like an angle, floating into his head. "Huh? Who said that? Show yourself!" Omi demanded, glaring around the room. No one answered. His friends had all fallen asleep, Clay spread -eagled in his chair, Rai and Kim curled up by a pile of scrolls. Deyna had turned into her wolf form to sleep, and was balled up on the tiny couch.

He he he. Omi, you can't see what's inside of you, now can you? Came the sickeningly sweet voice once again.

"Who are you? What are you doing inside my head? What do you want?"

You ask a lot of questions for one so young. I like that. My name is Zin Tao. And i want you to release me.

Ha ha, good old fashioned cliffie. Like I said, there's a lot more Omi in this chapterso enjoy. I had a lot of fun writing this. R&R please! (and for all those who are wondering, no, I'm not emo. All the stuff I said about slicing I got off an episode of House. I repeat, I'm NOT emo.)