Okay, so I was writing this chapter and BOOM! Mega plotlines just crashed in to my mind so get ready for some confusing yet dramatic instalments to this story, my friends ;) The storyline just got a lot more complicated and adventure-packed! Woo!
Also thanks to xxx-benedictbrothersfan-xxx for the review. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story enough to let me know ;) I really appreciate that.
Enjoy~~~~~~~~~~~~!
*~The Darkness Inside ~*
*~ Chapter 12 ~*
Raimundo used his element to leap from the last tree, fly across fifteen feet of the open field and land gracefully on the grass as I came up behind, laughing and wheezing at the same time.
He smiled at me and placed his hands on his hips, "I think that means I win and your loser prise is my chores for the rest of the week."
"Hey, that's no fair! I didn't agree to that!" I cried punching his arm half-heartedly, "I didn't even know the way for the most part! I was following you."
"Okay, okay," he chuckled and then added, "Just for today then?"
I laughed at the cheek of it all, "I hope you're joking."
"Shall we settle this with a race back to the temple itself?" Raimundo asked.
I didn't give him an answer, instead I dashed forward. Head start!
"Hey!" he cried out behind me and I heard his feet start pounding the ground in pursuit as our laughter filled the air.
Quick! Quick! Quick! Stay in the lead! Stay in the lead! Then he came rushing to my side. He winked at me and sped ahead.
How the hell is he that fast? Then I felt the chill in the air and realisation washed over me. He's using his element! Well, two can play at that game!
I smirked as I fixed my sight on his shadow and I held my breath trying hard to push the shadow forward. After a strained few seconds the shadow slid ahead of its castor, twister upward and solidified just long enough to catch his foot and sending him crashing to the ground.
He fell with a yelp of surprise as I dashed past with my head thrown back, laughing. I looked back over my shoulder and saw him smiling, so he clearly knew that it was my doing. I watched as he looked at me and grinned whilst shaking his head. It was the kind of look that says 'You're in for it now' and the thought sent a chill down my spine.
I looked back ahead and tried to push my legs to move faster, knowing that he was going to be using his element full force now.
Almost there! Three feet away from the threshold of the temple grounds pathway and suddenly I was being lifted in to the air.
I cried out in surprise. I had been thrown in to the air. As I rolled about mid-air I tried to gather my bearings but while you're weightless and rapidly turning, that's rather a hard thing to do. Only after I fell and landed in Raimundo's arms did I finally realise what had happened.
"That's so not fair!" I yelled as he smiled at me.
"Hey, I was going easy on you but you decided to play rough," he pointed out, putting me back on my feet.
I crossed my arms and frowned at him, "That's still not fair. Your element is stronger than mine."
"Only cause I've trained longer," he shrugged and then nudged me with his shoulder, "C'mon, let's go find the others.
I rolled my eyes and then smiled again, "Okay, fine."
As we walked back to the dorm we didn't see any of the older monks walking around or mediating in their usual spots. It was like it had been deserted while we had been gone. We shared a puzzled look and then quickened our pace. We rushed in to the dormitory room we all shared.
"They're not here!" I cried.
"Yeah, I can see that," he grumbled quickly becoming confused, but trying to remain calm – I was failing.
"What happened? Where is everyone?" I asked.
"I don't know, Rae," he snapped back at me.
I shut up as he was clearly running through every scenario in his mind. He sighed and it came out like a quiet growl. Clearly he had no idea what was going on. He took my wrist and pulled me with him out of the dorm.
"C'mon, the main hall," he said whilst leading me in that direction.
Then suddenly I was being shoved up against a wall.
"Hey, what are you do-!" I cried but Raimundo cut me off by covering my mouth with one of his hands. He put the index finger of his free hand to his lips and made the universal signal to be quiet.
He then peered around the corner and so I did too and there were some of the goth boy's robots flying around.
"Aren't they-?" I began but was cut off again, "Ah-!"
"Ssh!" he pulled me back round the corner and then down to the ground behind the shrubbery to left. He looked around and then turned to me whispering, "Yeah, Jack's here."
"Well…how are we gonna get to the hall?" I asked him.
"You stay here," he told me and then added, "Don't move and don't make a sound."
"But-"
"Can you jump a wall yet?" he asked, "Can you shimmy up the gutters and on to the roofs?"
"Ah…no," I replied, I hadn't even tried the second one yet.
"Well then, stay put," he commanded and then began to climb up the drain pipe on the side of the temple I was hiding beside, amongst the shrubbery.
I watched him go all the way and then disappear on to the roof.
So I just sat there waiting, hidden and watching as the robots flew around not seeing me in my hiding place. I needed to train real hard after all this was over because I was clearly not strong enough to be of any help to anyone. I was quite obviously useless right now, more of a burden than aid. That was why I was here right now, in case I got in to trouble or if I got us both in to trouble. But to sit and wait when I could be doing at least something…it was rather frustrating.
I fiddled with my hair as I waited for Raimundo to return and as I started to braid it I noticed a rather large tangle. I sighed, my hair must have become a little matted from all the running and getting thrown about. I pulled out the Tangle Web Comb – it may have been a Shen Gong Wu but it was still a comb nevertheless. I shook my hair out of the braid again and began brushing out the mess from my hair. I continued to watch the robots flying around as I did this.
Then two rounded a corner leaving one by its lonesome self and then longer I stared at it the slower my movements became.
What if I just…I looked down at the comb in my hands and then up at the robot facing the other direction just a few feet away. I stood up clearly in the open now and raised the Shen Gong Wu at it.
"Hey!" it turned to identify where the sound was coming from and when it saw me it instantly came toward me, "TANGLE WEB COMB! DARKNESS!"
The dark threads of the comb shot out towards the robot and wound around it. The teeth then let go receding back in to the handle and but the shadow surrounded the robots entirety taking control of it.
The other two robots came back clearly hearing the commotion. I used my mind to fly the shadow robot in to one of them and then used the Tangle Web Comb to grab hold of the other and swing it in to the side of the temple building.
I did it! But now more were coming, clearly having been alerted somehow about an intruder or an attacker – me. I tried my best, shooting shadows here and there, throwing robots around and colliding them with one another but in the end, I was surrounded and the Wu was taken from my hands.
One of the bots shot a rope with two balls on either end toward me and when it hit me the balls wrapped the coils around my arms and torso rendering me useless, yet again. I struggled but the bonds of the rope were too thick and tight to break or budge. I was stuck, I was caught.
One of the bots grabbed hold of the ropes and lifted me in to the air flying me to who knows where; I could only look down watch the temple fall away from me. Where were they taking me? Wherever it was I was sure to find the others there too…hopefully…
"So her real name is Rachel Wood and she's lived with her father in London for ten years after her mother left when she was nine. She's had constant lapses of power now throughout her life and her father doesn't like this sort of thing. He's rather afraid, believes that it was the reason his wife left them, am I right? Rachel couldn't ignore her power, of course, and got in to some trouble when she was younger but now seeks help after she found out about the Xiaolin Temple," Chase recited as he paced about. He then turned to the figure in the shadows and asked, "Well done, but I'm curious as to how you acquired all of this information?"
"I am one of the Oracles of Time, Chase, I know everything," the hidden figure giggled and then added, "More or less. I am not god after all."
"You seem to know more than you should," Chase muttered then folded his arms and turned to glare at the figure, "But yet you didn't know where to find her, you still don't know where to find the other one and now you don't know if the plan will work after all. Why is it that you don't know the answers to the questions that matter the most?"
"But do they matter the most?" the figure asked shrugging nonchalantly, "I apologise that I cannot offer you more than I already have, dear Chase, but every era changes. The Siblings of Sight bare new challenges every time they come to be. I cannot envision their future, only remember their past and guide them to what they were created and born to become. I can only help them find their balance. That was what I was created for."
"Woman, you speak nonsense to me," Chase growled and turned to continue pacing.
"It's nonsense to you because you did not yet understand," she purred from her darkened place in the room. She then added as an afterthought, "If you truly wish to peek in to the future you will need to gather the other Oracles as well. We may only travel through time together. But that is only if you are desperate."
Chase turned to narrow his eyes at her challenging grin and then asked curiously, "Where would I find them?"
"You might find the Sun in India and you may find the Spirit in Scotland," she then giggled and said, "But I cannot be sure. My sisters are ever so sneaky. Constantly hiding from me in each life we share. But I believe you'll find them…eventually."
The dark lord of evil sighed deeply, why did she have to complicate and riddle her speech so much? Couldn't she just tell me where they were and be done with it, goddammit! Chase sat down on his throne and while he thought about his next move, he absent-mindedly stroked the fur of the cat to his left.
"Fine," he finally said, "I will bring back the Sun and the Spirit. Can I trust you not to leave?"
"The Moon is alive and with the earth again," the oracle sat down on the ground with her palms spread out on the floor in front of her. She smiled up at him, "The Moon is happy to stay wherever she is needed."
Jack - Oracles of time? The Sun, the Moon, Spirit? What is this? What is Chase up to?
Hazzard - And what are you up to, Jack?
Jack - Well that's obvious! World domination is always my game! You know that!
Hazzard - Everybody knows that! But how are you to do that in this story?
Jack - Well, it says here in your notes that I -
Hazzard - *Slaps with a rolled up news paper* SHUT UP! DON'T GIVE AWAY THE STORY LINE! GODDAMMIT, JACK!
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