Hi everybody. I know, another reasonably timed update. I must be sick or something. And changing the subject, I figured the last chapter would get more reviews...any one care to tell me where I went wrong on this one? Major thanks to Amulet Spade for reviewing that chapter (Nobody outside of me and my version of Microsoft Word will ever know Chase's evil schemes. Yes. That's right schemes. That's all you're getting out of me). Thanks also to the anonymous reviewer who reviewed Talk You Down (note, that will never be updated. It is a oneshot. It ended sadly because when I tried to write a happy ending it didn't feel right.)
On another note, I'm going to be away for three weeks. I've got Soccer Camp, then Science Camp, then two back to back two day horseshows. I'll try to write out a chapter in my notebook though and get it typed up as soon as possible.
Disclaimer: The radioactive pig in a jar outlasted Grissom. It's not going anywhere. I will never own Xiaolin Showdown.
The Elegant Universe
The door was surprisingly small, someone of Clay, or even Rai's height would have had to stoop to enter. It was simple too. Just a plain dark wood door to nowhere set in a beige stone frame in the center of the room.
"You kids are going to make Master Fung so proud," Dojo said, lying calmly on the marbled floor.
"Provided you're not turned into dragon food," Minerva said, a sarcastic smirk on her face. Guan shot her a glare and the sorceress rolled her eyes. "What? It's a valid possibility."
"Be that as it may, the time has come for the four of you to enter the spirit world," Guan said. "Unlike the YinYang world, you will be subject to the laws of physics, but the dragons are not. Your powers will also stop working the closer you get to the dragons. That's not the most difficult part though." He went quiet for a moment, as if this was a bit difficult to talk about.
"In there you're completely alone. You go in expecting to have a friend by your side for at least part of the way, but that's not the case," he said. "You are used to operating as a unit. Being truly alone for the first time is unnerving to say the least."
Kimiko didn't like the idea of being alone, and she could tell the others were wary of being split up too, but if it was necessary to keep the world safe then she would do it. She wasn't about to even consider risking the safety of the world over slight nerves.
Rai stepped forwards, volunteering to go through first. "Sorry boy. Dragons of the Wind are inherently cowards. We go last," the sorceress said, fiddling with the cuff on her black pant suit.
She could practically feel Raimundo tense up at being called a coward. She put a hand on his upper arm, but he gently pulled away.
"Omi," Dojo said, slithering forward. "I don't know much about controlling the elements, only what I've learned from watching you kids and these old codgers, but I do know that Dashi always said that water needs change. Without change, it becomes stagnant. Kiddo, you've got big shoes to fill. Good thing your feet are still growing."
With that, the little dragon gestured for Omi to go through the door. Omi opened it, and she was surprised to see not another world, but the other side of the room. However, when he stepped through, he vanished.
"Clay, you did well today," Guan said. "I know it's not in the nature of Earth dragons to fight, but we can when pushed. Don't let Gaia push you around." The Texan went through the door and left her and Raimundo alone in the room with the immortals.
"Kimiko, I believe that honesty is the best policy," Guan said, looking directly at the sorceress as he said the last five words. "So I'm going to tell you up front, these words are not from us."
Minerva shot him an irate look before beginning to speak. "Everybody tells you that fire is about passion. They don't tell you about the focus that you need. Any fool can use fire. It takes a true master to focus it and use it effectively." She knew these were Chase's words, but knew from experience that they were absolutely true.
She gave Rai a quick kiss and he held her for a moment, both of them reluctant to let go.
"Kim, promise me you'll be careful in there," he whispered to her.
"I will if you will," she said, smiling. "Seriously Rai, we've dealt with hundreds of end of the world scenarios. It's going to take more than a stupid gecko to break me."
"Tough little phoenix aren't you?" he said, playing with a strand of her hair. "I'm serious here Kim. Don't do anything I would do and I won't do it either."
"Oh look, our Shoku's making his first nonsensical wise proverb," she said, grinning at him. "So we have a deal then."
Then she walked forwards, not hesitating when she pushed the door open. Looking through, all she saw was the other side of the room. As soon as she stepped through, the scenery changed.
She was alone in the middle of a vast desert. She knelt down, took a handful of sand, and let it run through her fingers. In spite of the bright sun, the position of which put the time as about noon, it felt cool. Her powers were still working. She had no idea which way to go though.
Forwards was as good a direction as any. Besides, the red glow on the horizon in front of her might have been an indicator of something. She quickly checked her bag before setting off. Water, granola bars, first aid kit, and a blanket. She wasn't sure how long the water would last and she wished she'd brought sunglasses and sunblock.
At least Minerva's memories were of some use here. She was born and raised in the Egyptian desert. The sand and heat was an old friend to her. She knew that she should be traveling at night, but she knew nothing about this world. Maybe it was never night here.
She knew that she was at least dressed right. Baggy pants and a long sleeved shirt would help with air circulation and strangely enough keep her cool. A hat would have been nice though.
Her feet sank a little into the sand as she walked over the dunes, this was expected though. Wind whipped the sand into her body and constantly changed the landscape. She glanced back over her shoulder upon reaching the top of the first dune. The little stone door was nowhere to be seen.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X
"Boy," Minerva said, jarring him out of his dreamlike state. "So nice of you to listen. I know you're stressed out about recent events." She sounded like she meant just the Celestial Dragons, but he knew that she was also referring to his problems with Chase. "Wind's good at handling pressure though. The fate of the world is on the line now. Failure is not an option."
"One more thing. I want you to remember this. No matter how she acts, or what she says, Tempestra's not insane," she said. "She'll play with you, try to break you, it'll all look the work of a mad beast, but she's as calculating as I am."
He felt as if he should have known that words of encouragement were too much to expect, but he just had to know one thing. "I have a question." An exasperated expression crossed her face but allowed it anyway. "Do you believe in me?" He had to know if he could handle Tempestra.
She shot Dojo and Guan a pointed look then flicked her head to indicate that they should leave. For a minute, they didn't and she was locked in a staring match with Guan. He looked away first and they left the small room.
"I'm going to be honest with you," she said, her voice grave and her storm cloud eyes unyielding. "No." She stopped to let her words sink in before continuing. "You know who I do believe in?" He shook his head.
"There was this moron once. He was so sure of himself he once ambushed me in order to prove me wrong. If you can find him," she flicked him in the forehead, "then we have a chance against Tempestra, but you no."
"So what you're saying is that we're as good as dead," he said, kicking at the floor. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the door.
"Your amazing aural abilities have always astounded me. I never said that," she said, rolling her eyes. "Now go on. Play the hero game and save the world."
"What if I can't?" He asked, more to himself than to her.
"Raimundo," she said. Was he imagining it, or did she just use his name? "If you can't figure out who that moron I was talking about earlier is, then you're a bigger idiot than I think you are. And I think you're a huge, incompetent, idiot."
"Thanks for the encouragement," he said, rolling his eyes. His hand hesitated over the door handle. "And thanks for calling me by my name."
"I did nothing of the sort," she said, her voice fading as he stepped through the door.
He groaned when he saw that he was on another mountain ledge. He'd just gotten done with the whole concept of rock climbing. He glanced up, the grey stone spire rose far beyond the clouds. At least for now he still had his powers. He summoned the most controllable wind he could and started flying towards the top of the spire.
The air was a bit cold as he rose towards the clouds and it smelled of the air right before a rainstorm. There was an electric feel it too. Like socks in the dryer. The charge grew and grew until his hair stood on end. He was unsure if this was a good sign or not. The clouds weren't storm clouds, but it still felt like lightning.
The higher he rose, the slower he went. He knew he needed to use more power. Perhaps because of a lack of practice, it was surprisingly difficult to go faster. He wasn't going to push it though. Losing control in the real world was one thing, but he had no idea what could happen here. As much as he wanted to let go and fly, he couldn't lose control again.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
A perfect snowflake landed on Omi's nose as he walked across the snowfield. It was strange to see nothing but an unending field of blue and white for miles around. He had no idea how far he'd gone since starting out, no idea how long he'd been walking, but he knew that he was going the right way.
The path before him showed signs of disturbance and the ice beneath him was much thinner than the surrounding ice. Like it'd been broken often by something large moving at high speed. He wasn't worried about this. It was more than thick enough to hold him up.
The spirit world wasn't that bad all things considered. He loved the snow and it wasn't cold. He was the dragon of Water though. He and Kimiko were protected from the extremes in temperature by their elements. He had a warm coat for when his powers stopped working and a little camp stove too. His only concern was that he run out of food or that he would be unable to use water without it freezing.
But he knew that appearances were deceiving. Especially where water was concerned. A placid ocean surface could conceal a deadly riptide, and a winter wonderland could turn out to be an icy deathtrap. So for now, he would ignore the urge to make a snowman and proceed with caution. Even if he did have a perfect set of coal eyes.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
Light filtered through the leaves, bathing everything in an eerie green. It was sort of nice in an odd way. It definitely had a very peaceful feel. Ivy wound around rough barked trees and leaf litter in the trail made each step sound like Dojo with a bag of potato chips.
The trail before him was a bit overgrown, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle with his powers and a little bit of manual labor. Just like gardening. If gardening involved vines that were probably hundreds of years old and refused to leave their patch of dirt, and what looked like sentient poison ivy. Thankfully, the latter plant scurried away when he went to move it.
The further he went along the trail, the quieter the forest became. Whereas before the quiet had been a peaceful sort, birds, creaking trees, normal forest kind of quiet, it was almost too quiet now. The only sound being that of his boots on old leaves. Hell, even mosquitos buzzing would have been welcome.
X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X
"Hey Birdy," Dojo said, upon seeing the sorceress enter the room. "How goes the tribunal?"
"I had the psych exam today," she said, sounding just the slightest bit less bored than usual. "Then I went out for drinks with Niccolo afterwards. Bloody Italian was too cheap for dinner so I'm starved."
"I thought you weren't allowed to talk with people associated with your tribunal," Guan said. Dojo was sick of the whole "who has authority over whom" thing between the two of them. Thinly veiled insults about each other's teaching style and moral code were getting old. If a Wu went active, he'd rather go alone than go on retrieval with both of them.
"I said drinks, not conversation," she said, sitting down on a couch cushion. "Really though, we had a notepad and a pen. And I thought we agreed we weren't going to let the girl know about who really said those words."
"Like I said, honesty is the best policy. I've been around these kids for far longer than you have. Kimiko will be uncomfortable with the news for a few days, but if she found out on her own, and she will, she will quite probably refuse believe a word of it," he said. "What did you say to Raimundo?" An unspoken bargain, one piece of information in exchange for another.
"Exactly what he needed to hear," she said. Dojo suspected "what he needed to hear" probably wasn't pleasant. "Why is it that they always fall apart here?" This last part was added on almost as an afterthought, meant only for her. Dojo remembered the last time they were here. It wasn't at all nice. And not just because of "the incident."
"Because the Dragons make you question everything you ever thought about yourself and you don't always like the answers," Guan said, leaning back in his chair.
"I'd say you can always change the answers, but even I'd call that cheating," she said.
"Personally, I'd call it personal growth," Dojo said from his hammock in the potted plant. He'd seen the current group of Xiaolin Dragons grow over the years from a bunch of misfits into a group whose loyalty ran deep as blood. "This is just like old times isn't it? Friends joking about the fate of the world."
He knew this was the wrong thing to say as he watched their faces fall. Because it wasn't like old times. For their group to really be complete Dashi and –as much as he hated to admit it- Chase would have had to be there. The little dragon smiled thinking about his old friend. Even though Dashi claimed an allergy to laundry, he was the best friend a dragon could ask for.
The sorceress broke the silence first, waving her hand to conjure up three glasses of chardonnay on the coffee table before saying, "To Dashi," while standing and taking her glass. Being a politician by nature, she knew better than to propose a toast to both of them. Especially given that she and Chase were still close. "A man who trusted me when no one else would."
"A brilliant leader and wonderful mentor," Guan said, following suit.
"The only person to ever call the Emperor "pops" and live," Dojo said, recalling hundreds of trips to the palace. The former Water dragon would have appreciated this listed as one of his greatest accomplishments.
The three of them touched glasses, just as his tongue was about to dip into the scarlet liquid, a horrific noise came from Kimiko's room. It appeared that the dragon of Fire left her phone behind.
"Somebody get that," Minerva said, running her hand through her hair.
"I was looking for an update on whether or not Keiko dropped that skater boy anyway," he said, slithering into the room and taking the phone from atop the nightstand. Strangely enough, it wasn't a text with the details of Keiko's romantic life, but a call from the temple.
"Hello, Kimiko's not available right now, but you've got the amazing Dojo here," he said, happy to be hopefully talking to Master Fung for the first time in almost two days.
"Dojo, good. I was afraid Kimiko had taken her phone with her into the spirit world," Master Fung said. From his slightly panicked tone of voice and the shrieking of Master Vic in the background, he could tell that the vault had been broken into. And just when he finished cataloguing the Wu they brought in today. "The Shroud of Shadows and Ring of Isildur are missing from the vault."
R is for reading this fic, E is for enjoying it, V is for vuvuzelas, which bug me and are irrelevant to the topic at hand, I is for "I've given up caring about making this into an alphabet book and am just going to ask for a review like a normal person." PS. Check out my Crack Contest on your way out. I'm still looking for entries.