Me: Ohmygoshshesback! (hides behind conveniently placed tree)
Cari: Hey Kitty! Where are you?
Me: Kitty is not here right now. Please leave a message.
Cari: Har har, very funny. For those of you who don't know, Kitty here bound and gagged me and then shipped me off to Colombia. Nice, huh?
Me: In my defense, I didn't know she'd be able to get back at all. (ducks and narrowly misses being hit with a baseball bat)
Cari: Better run and hide Kitty, 'cause I'm gonna getcha!
Me: Please enjoy Chapter 10 while I go and run for my life.
Kimiko was literally seeing red. As she sprinted through the dense forest, everything was in a red haze. When she got to the clearing where she and Rai had left Clay and Emeline, she saw that Omi and Lilia had joined in the fight, and that the Xiaolin monks had managed to win some Wu. Unfortunately, the Shen Gong Wu they really needed was back at the temple.
"Hey Kimi-cub, guess who won another-" Lilia said cheerfully, then stopped cold when she realized that Kimiko was alone and she was wearing Shoku robes.
"What happened?" Omi asked flatly. Kimiko took a deep breath to steady herself, to no avail.
"Chase happened. He ambushed me and Rai, but I didn't realize until it was too late that it was a trap and now Rai's in the Ying Yang World with Chase and if anything happens to him it'll be my fault." Kimiko's voice broke at the end. In a flash, Emeline and Lilia had their arms wrapped around Kimiko, hugging her tight.
"Do not blame yourself, Kimiko. What happened, happened. Don't think about that anymore." Emeline said soothingly.
"Instead, think about how we're gonna go and rescue Rai." Lilia said.
"But Chase has the Gauntlets. He'll beat us all to a pulp." Kimiko whispered, the red haze gone, only to be replaced by the feeling of hopelessness.
"Chase Young may have the Xiaolin Gauntlets, but even so, he will crumble against the might of the Xiaolin Warriors." Omi said encouragingly.
"No matter what happens, Kimiko, even if we have to go down, we're gonna go down fighting." Clay said. Kimiko looked around at her friends, and as she looked, she felt her throat tightening and her eyes start to water.
"Thanks. I really needed that." she said, and wiped her eyes dry.
"Hey, that's what we're here for!" Lilia gave Kim a cheeky grin and a wink.
"So what's the plan?" Clay asked her, which reminded Kimiko of her role as their new leader.
"The plan is, we go in the Ying Yang World, kick Chase's ass, get Rai and get out. Got it?" Kimiko stated simply.
"I doubt it's gonna go that easy." Emeline said as the five warriors climbed onto Dojo to fly back to the temple.
"I never said it was gonna be easy." Kimiko said.
Kimiko tightened her Cat's Eye Draco over her arm and made sure her Arrow Sparrow were in a bag tied near her waist. After a second of thought, she also decided to bring the Blade of Elements with her. Kimiko looked around to see that everyone else had their elemental Wu, except for Lilia and Emeline, who still hadn't received theirs yet. The monks trooped out of the Wu vault and stood in a loose semi-circle formation around Master Fung.
"My young warriors, I have seen you grow from young teenagers into proud adults. Know that I love all of you as if you were my own children and that I want no harm to befall upon any of you. Which is why you must try your absolute best to not involve Chase Young in a Xiaolin Showdown because with the Xiaolin Gauntlets, he will be very powerful, and very dangerous. I wish you all the best of luck and a safe return home." Master Fung looked them all in the eye and what he saw there made him very proud. Kimiko stepped forward and made a low bow.
"Yes, Master Fung." Kimiko said, then surprised everyone by giving him a hug.
"I promise I'll bring Raimundo home." Kimiko whispered, then before she could get emotional, brought out the Yang Yo Yo.
"Yang Yo Yo!" Kimiko opened up a portal the Ying Yang World and jumped through, followed by Omi, Clay, Emeline, and Lilia. The portal closed as Master Fung looked sadly after them.
"Take care, my young ones."
'How in the hell did I end up the damsel in distress?!' Rai thought furiously to himself.
After Chase had kidnapped him and sent them both into the Ying Yang World, Chase had brought him to the section of the World where all the Chi were kept. Right now, Chase had a Chi bottle in his hands with the name Kiyomi written on it in Kanji. The name was vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't figure out why. What was really getting on his nerves, however, was the fact that Chase just wouldn't stop gloating. So for now, Rai tuned him out and sent his thoughts somewhere else.
'Kimiko, where are you? Please be safe.'
"You have got to be kidding me. How is it so hard to find an evil maniac and a Shoku warrior?" Lilia cried, running her hand through her hair.
It seemed to Kimiko that they had been searching for hours and still no sign of Chase and Rai. She was starting to get desperate, so to distract herself, she thought of places in the Ying Yang World where they hadn't searched. Which really wasn't that easy, considering there were very few landmarks here. Suddenly she gasped.
"Chi!" she exclaimed. Everyone else just stared at her. Then, Omi snapped his fingers.
"I had forgotten about that! The shelves with the Chi bottles, we have not looked there yet!" he said excitedly.
"What?" Emeline looked to Clay for help.
"Oh, that's right, you girls haven't been to the Ying Yang World before, have you? Well, there's this place where they have shelf after shelf of Chi. It's guarded by the Chi Monster." Clay clarified for Lilia and Emeline.
"The Chi Monster doesn't sound very friendly." Lilia said, rolling her eyes.
"Just leave it alone and it will not bother you." Omi said, taking her hand.
"Ok, so which way is it?" Emeline asked.
"That way." Kimiko, Clay and Omi said in unison, pointing in different directions.
"Uh oh." Lilia muttered to Emeline.
"No offense, Kimiko, but I think it's that way." Clay said.
"I am sorry to disappoint you both, but I am certain that it is that way." Omi insisted stubbornly.
"Well I say it's that way." Kimiko crossed her arms. The three of them stared at each other, while Lilia and Emeline just waited for them to stop acting like kids and decide on a direction.
"Ugh, would you guys just stop it?! We are wasting precious time here. Look, Emmy and I are going this way, whether you like it or not. You guys can either follow, or stay there and act like brats while Chase has Raimundo." Lilia said angrily, then she and Emeline started to walk away from them. After a few seconds, Clay, Kimiko and Omi followed.
"I really do suck at this leadership thing. No wonder we ended up as Spicer's prisoners." Kimiko said after a few minutes of silence, referring to the future Omi had seen if Kimiko had been chosen as leader.
"You'd make a great leader Kimiko. You would just have to work on your stubbornness, that's all." Emeline assured her. Omi was about to add to that when Lilia stopped suddenly.
"Hey, we were right!" she said, pointing ahead. There, ahead of them, were the shelves of Chi bottles. In front of the shelves were Chase and Rai, the latter still tied with the Tangle Web Comb. The warriors ran toward them, then stopped when they saw one of Chase's cats guarding Rai.
"You've come just in time for the grand finale." Chase smirked at them as he dropped the Chi bottle in his hand onto the ground. What he took out next shocked the warriors.
"Gem of Life." Chase said, pointing the Wu at the puddle of Chi. Everyone watched as the Chi began to morph itself into the shape of a woman. The woman had silky black hair that fell past her waist, and dark brown eyes. Unfortunetly, the woman was also naked, and as soon as Rai, Clay and Omi realized this, they turned quickly away. When the woman stood tall and complete, Chase tossed her a Mandarin-style dress robe, similar to the one Kimiko wears as her Hanikara robe. Kimiko, however, saw none of this. She was transfixed on the woman's face.
'I've seen her before. She's the woman in the painting at the House of Horrors.' Kimiko thought. But it wasn't until the woman looked her in the eye that she saw another connection. To everyone's surprise, the woman named Kiyomi spoke to Kimiko, and the sound of her voice brought back deep memories Kimiko had thought she had buried in her heart.
"Konnichiwa, my little Kimi-chan." Kiyomi said.
'No. That's impossible. She can't be...' Kimiko's breathing accelerated as she tried to sort out her jumbled thoughts.
"Kimiko, who is she?" Lilia asked uncertainly, turning to look at her sticken face.
"That's my mother." she whispered.
Cari: Whoa. I so didn't see that coming.
Me: You and everyone else. Ok, peeps, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and I would REALLY like it if you would review, 'cause I live for reviews. Oh, and I have a request. I'm looking for someone who can draw. Like, really draw. Cause I've been wanting someone to draw a picture of Lilia and Emeline for me. No special reason, I just would really like that. So if you would be willing to draw me a picture of them, PM me please!
Cari: Betcha $20 that no one steps up.
Me: You are so on. Anyways, byeas!