Despite the new heap of chores given to Jack as punishment for his disobedience, the Dragon of Metal spent the next several days parading around the temple, reminding everyone at every possible moment of his crowning battle success with his green monkey army. Eventually, though, the temple mood simmered back to normal, and the young apprentices were still stuck with their unsolvable problem with the Dragon X Kumei formation. Honestly as puzzled as they were, Master Monk Chase decided to offer a potential solution.
"I'm sending you on a quest," he announced one evening during dinner. Omi, Kimiko, Clay, and Jack all looked up from their bowls, and Master Monk Chase stood from his seat. Holding up and unrolling an ancient map for his young students to see, he continued, "You are to follow this map to the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman. Within the treasure dwells a powerful spirit with untold knowledge and wisdom. It is guarded by ancient Xiaolin magic designed to keep the Heylin side at bay. As you approach, this magic will manifest as your future Wudai Weapons."
Omi gasped, and his eyes lit. "Ooh! I have always wanted my own Wudai Weapon!"
After tapping a finger to his chin, Clay sat forward in his seat and tilted his hat back. "Do you reckon this blind swordsman spirit might know why our formation ain't workin'?"
"I do." Chase rolled up the map and held it out for Clay to take. "In fact, I am counting on it." Raising an eyebrow at Omi, who seemed gleefully lost in a daydream, he added, "As you travel, you will encounter and obtain your Wudai Weapons, though you will not yet be able to wield them. Remember, though: you will not pick your weapon. Rather, it will pick you."
"Most excellent!" Omi sprang on to the table, rattling the dinnerware. "This quest will solve everything! We will find the treasure, its spirit will help us fix the Dragon X Kumei formation, and then when we are finally promoted to Wudai Warriors, we will already possess our Wudai Weapons!"
"Can I come, too?"
The low, quiet voice made everyone in the room turn their heads. Raimundo stood in the doorway, rubbing at his scruffy hair. Master Monk Chase's lips curved down, and he said, "Raimundo, you should be resting in the infirmary."
Raimundo bit back an aggravated scowl. "Dude, I've been stuck in there for a week. The only symptom I have is cabin fever." Stuffing one hand into a pocket, he took a step closer to them and shrugged. "I just... you guys are trying to help me. Let me help you back. I can still fight Guan and stuff, and my neck is all better. Couldn't hurt to have me around, right?" He gave them a sheepish smile.
Clay's shoulders stiffened, and he drummed a couple fingers on the table. "I dunno, partner, what with everythin' goin' on-"
"We would be happy to take you with us!" Omi exclaimed, waving his arms outward and forcing Clay to duck. "You can witness my Wudai Weapon choose me! I am certain I will be the first picked. I usually am."
Hoping that his bangs hid the uncomfortable shift in his eyes, Clay glanced at Kimiko, who shrugged and kept her gaze fixed on the table when she said, "I mean, if Rai feels fine..."
"Yeah, let's bring Beta Brawn with us!" said Jack with a delighted grin. "All five of us fighting evil together... it'll be just like old times!"
Raimundo's expression lit through the dark circles under his eyes. Master Monk Chase dipped his head in acquiescence, and Clay's mouth pressed into a thin line. He peered around at his comrades that had completely outnumbered him without even realizing it, and he said nothing.
Despite the uneasy pit in his gut, Clay's spirits lifted instantly when the map led them to his favorite place on Earth: good ol' Texas. While Raimundo and Jack whined about a "wet coyote" smell, Dojo drifted down, gingerly landed among a forest of cacti, and announced, "The nearest I can tell, this is Cactus Creek." He pursed his dragon lips. "Or Cleveland. Tough call."
As if on cue to their arrival, a shiny glint sparked to life at the edge of a distant plateau, glowing almost as brightly as the sun. Omi jumped to his feet and called out, "Look! My Wudai Weapon!" He clambered over Dojo's face and leaped off his nose.
"Hold on there, partner," hollered Clay, whipping out the Lasso Boa Boa and snagging Omi out of the air. Letting the eager monk swing back to them without touching their surroundings, Clay shook his head. "If you ain't careful, you'll be full o' more needles than a crested porcupine."
Completely ignoring the surrounding threat of cactus thorns, Omi cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "Come here, my Wudai Weapon! Here, boy! Here-" He whistled at the glimmer in the distance, and even though Clay couldn't spot any change, Omi wriggled free of the rope and cried out joyously, "Yes, it has heard me!"
Whether or not the gleam had heard Omi, it wasn't the only one. The surrounding cacti began to creak and groan as they leaned over the monks and Raimundo. Watching the cacti's needles lengthen like knives, Kimiko muttered, "Looks like we've got unwanted company." The cacti began to step out of the earth, legs splitting the bottoms of their trunks while their branches bent into arms. Toothy mouths split across their trunks, and the cacti's roars echoed across the desert landscape.
Cowering behind Raimundo, Jack wailed, "More evil plants? Gee, it sure would be nice to have a plant-devouring green monkey army here right now!" He feebly swung at the nearest cactus monster with the Monkey Staff and whined, "'Give me the Tongue of Saiping,' Chase said. 'It's too dangerous to use both Wu,' he said!"
Raimundo cracked his knuckles and said, "Looks like we'll have to teach these weeds who's top of the food chain!"
While Dojo shrank down and darted into Omi's sleeve, Kimiko straightened her back and grinned. "Stand back, boys: I got this one." Springing onto her hands and then leaping into the air, she cried, "Judolette Flip, Fire!" Whirling across the sky, she swung her limbs outward, and a wave of fire blasted from her body and fanned out across the cacti. She landed casually, but then her eyes widened; her attack had barely singed their opponents.
"Fire ain't gonna do much against Carnegiea gigantea," said Clay. The other monks and Raimundo paused to stare at him. Blushing a bit, he added, "Saguaros. They're full o' water-"
His impromptu science lesson did not last long. The cacti army barreled toward them, and the group sprang out in separate directions. Clay heard Omi yell out in the distance, "Full of water... and full of evil! Orb of Tornami, Ice!" The ensuing blast of icy water sent a cactus sailing in an arc across the dusty battleground.
"Monkey Staff!" Jack called. Sprouting his signature fur and tail, he charged at the nearest cactus with an earsplitting shriek, sprang upon it, and promptly bit into its spiky side. His regret was immediate and loud. He yanked his face away, sticking out his thorn-encrusted tongue with a deafening wail, and the cactus monster tossed him across the battlefield.
Summoning his element, Raimundo sprang into the air, and he caught Jack before he could crash. When he landed lightly in the sand, he raised an eyebrow at Jack, whose tongue was still sticking out while his eyes watered. Raimundo said, "You bit a cactus. Honestly, dude, I don't know what you expected."
Dragging another cactus across the field with the Lasso Boa Boa, Clay yanked the creature over his head and sent it crashing into a cluster of more cacti. Through the rising dust, he saw Kimiko blasting fireballs at yet another swiftly approaching cactus. He slammed his heel into the sand and yelled, "Seismic Kick, Earth!" Through the sand erupted a pillar of stone that rose overhead, creaked and shivered in the sunlight, and then dropped down to crush Kimiko's opponent.
The fire at Kimiko's fists ebbed, and she tossed her hair when she straightened her back to smirk at him. "Aww, is this the part where I swoon into your arms and say, 'My hero'?"
Trotting to her side, Clay tipped his hat and winked. "Only if I get to swoon into yours when you save me next time, lil lady." He thought he might have heard an exasperated gagging sound from Omi's general direction, but Kimiko actually giggled and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.
"Would you two just kiss already?" yelled Jack in the distance, still sitting in Raimundo's arms while he plucked thorns out of his own mouth.
Kimiko's smirk dropped when she rolled her eyes. "Hey, kettle," she said, nodding to Clay and then pointing at Raimundo and Jack, "I'd like you to meet my friends, the pots."
"What are you all talking about?!" yelled Omi, darting between the two couples while dodging a flurry of thorns. "There are no pots or kettles here, Kimiko, only an army of angry cacti! Now if you four would please stop being hormonal teenagers long enough to help me get-" He skidded to a stop, pointed upward, and squealed, "My Wudai Weapon!"
The spark of light burst free from the plateau at the horizon. It glided down, bounced through the cacti army, and sailed past Omi's outstretched hands. The glow faded enough to reveal a blue, metallic boomerang that skittered across the sand and finally came to a stop against Clay's ankle. While Omi dropped his arms and pouted, the boomerang practically nuzzled at the cowboy's boot. Clay rubbed his neck and said, "Oh. Sorry, partner, I think it's sweet on me."
"All aboard!" cried Dojo, springing from Omi's sleeve and expanding to full size. He scooped up the monks and took to the dusty skyline, leaving the evil cacti far behind. "Next stop: anywhere but here!"
The map led the group further west, and Dojo eventually landed in front of an old saloon, a lone square building in the middle of the desert. Jack squinted at the map and said, "Well, guys, the next Wudai Weapon is supposed to be here."
Eyeing the ominous skull painted on the building, Clay read the words scrawled over the saloon's door out loud, "The Last Breath Cantina."
Dojo winced. "Kinda takes your breath away."
The group stepped up to the hanging doors and swung them open, but the saloon was deserted. Faded wallpaper hung in torn sheets off the walls, wooden chairs lay in splintered pieces across the floor, and a thick layer of brown dust coated the entire room. However, as they stepped inside, a dingy blue piano vibrated and began to play a jaunty, bouncy melody all on its own. From atop Clay's hat, Dojo grimaced and said, "Catchy little tune, heh..."
"Look over there!" Kimiko pointed up at an animal's skull displayed on the wall. Clay was momentarily distracted trying to identify the animal- definitely not a cow, antlers too big for a deer, but jaw shaped all wrong for a moose- and it took him a couple seconds longer than the others to notice the embroidered, faintly glowing bag resting atop its nose.
"My Wudai Weapon is calling for me!" said Omi, bouncing and pointing.
Clay clasped his fingers and held out his open palms for Omi to step onto them, and he lifted the young monk upward. However, when Omi passed a painting under the skull and grabbed at the bag's decorative feathers, the grizzled man within the painting snarled, "If you're lookin' for trouble, cowpoke, you sure enough found it."
Before Omi could recover from his shock, the man stretched his arm out of the painting and slapped Omi to the ground. The rest of the group braced for battle as the grizzled man climbed out of the painting, eyes white and empty under his black cowboy hat. Omi recovered swiftly, sprang back up to his feet, and said, "Step aside, and I will spare you the humiliation of defeat!"
Expression blank, the man said, "Looks like I'm gonna have to teach y'all some manners." He grabbed at the nearest chair and threw it at Omi, who effortlessly sprang out of the way. Clay barreled at the man, but when his opponent silently ducked to the side, he smashed into the wall and toppled all the way through, landing in the dirt outside.
Barely fazed, Clay coughed and stood, ready to whirl back around and clamber back into battle, but before he could turn, a bird's shadow passed overhead. He glanced up, and the crow drifted down to land on the roof of the saloon. Below it, leaning against the wall within the saloon's shadow, stood Warlord Guan, empty-handed and arms crossed. His left eye, the one Jack had stabbed with the Spear of Guan, was still red and marred by blackened scar tissue. Judging by his glare, he had neither forgotten nor forgiven the incident.
Clay clenched his fists. "And what do you think you're up to, you no-good snake in the grass?"
Guan raised an eyebrow and otherwise remained perfectly still. "Observing." He turned his head just a fraction to better hear the chaos within the saloon, where the other monks and Raimundo continued to grapple with the man from the painting.
Clay sidestepped closer to the hole in the wall. "So am I supposed to believe that you just happened to be in the neighborhood? I'll tell ya what, you ain't gettin' your grubby hands on our Wudai Weapons-"
"I'm not interested in your Xiaolin trinkets." Guan casually pushed himself off the wall and stepped into the harsh sunlight. His scowl gave way to a smirk. "I'm far more interested in recruitment."
Clay almost scoffed out loud. "That horse has long left the waterin' hole." Taking a threatening step toward Guan, who did not flinch, Clay jabbed a finger at him and said, "After what you did to my dad, after what you did to Master Chase, you still think I'm gonna up and leave for the Heylin side? You and I have nothin' in common, and that ain't ever changin'."
A chuckle escaped through Guan's open sneer. "I see your teacher's ego has rubbed off on you. And I thought you were the humble one. I'm no longer interested in recruiting you to the Heylin side, Dragon of Earth. Quite frankly, Hannibal Bean was never interested in the first place." Leaning back, he turned his attention back to the saloon. "No, his sights were set from the start on your team's current little tag-along."
Clay blinked and frowned. Within the building, he heard an unmistakable Jack Spicer scream, followed by what he could only guess was a string of Brazilian swearwords, followed further by the crash of someone shattering an old table. Starting to sweat under the hot sun, Clay took a sharp breath and asked, "You talkin' 'bout Raimundo?"
"That boy has more evil in his heart than anyone I've seen in a dozen generations." Guan narrowed his uninjured eye at Clay. "Don't be fooled by his remorseful facade; that little sickness in his soul has turned him into a monster, and if you aren't careful, you and your friends will pay dearly for your kindness to him."
Clay gritted his teeth, trying to ignore that uneasiness and dread that had been bubbling within him since the quest started, the feelings he had dismissed as unfair and kept to himself to maintain the peace. "The others trust him."
"But you're not as stupid as your peers, are you, Dragon of Earth?" Silently stepping around Clay, circling him like a buzzard, Guan said, "You can sense it, too. Your tiger instincts are warning you. But you're a coward, too meek to speak out, too soft-spoken to stand up to your own teammates, too weak to take charge." He paused, teeth gleaming under the harsh light, and then he backed into the saloon's shadow. "So I lie in wait. We'll see just what evil Raimundo can accomplish all on his own, unless you find the strength to stop it."
"Clay?"
At the sound of Kimiko's voice, Clay's gaze flickered for just a moment to the hole in the wall, but that split second was all it took for Guan to vanish. While Clay stared at the empty space against the wall where his adversary had just stood, Kimiko popped her head out through the hole and said, "Clay, you missed it! I threw a jug of ancient spit at him, and the Wudai Weapon picked me!" Her smile dropped a fraction. "You alright?"
Clay licked his lip and ducked his head. Scratching at his hair while Kimiko stepped out of the hole and the other three went around through the front door, he finally turned to face the group and shrugged. "S-sorry, might've hit my head when I fell through the wall. Didn't mean to miss the fight."
Kimiko raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, but Omi trotted to Clay's side and said, "Not to worry, Clay. You still have not witnessed the battle where my Wudai Weapon picks me, which I am certain will be the grandest fight of all!"
Dojo drifted further eastward, but the sun had set by the time he landed again, and the group decided to camp out for the night. Under the wide, star-spangled Texas sky, while Dojo threw a mishmash of ingredients into a boiling pot and the other four waited around the campfire, Clay normally would have felt inspired to play a guitar or something equally nostalgic. Tonight, however, he found himself staring into the flames at the group's center to avoid everyone's eye contact.
Dojo dumped the contents of a gray can into the pot, stirred with the ladle, and took a sip. "Dojo-licious!" He rubbed his serpentine belly. "Soup's on!" Slithering to each teen, he filled each of their bowls and said, "I call it Dojo's Little Brown Surprise."
Omi frowned at the contents of his bowl. A live spider crawled out of Kimiko's, prompting her to silently dump her stew into Omi's. Jack's face turned green, and Raimundo clamped his mouth shut like he was about to throw up into his own mouth. Clay, who had a stronger stomach than all four of the others put together, peered into his own Little Brown Surprise and found a shrunken, intact set of stained tighty whities.
While Clay's brain went to war with his empty stomach, Jack gingerly held his bowl away from his body like a bomb about to explode, and Raimundo said, "Dojo, I'm not sure if anyone told you, but most humans are kind of allergic to..." He tilted his bowl, and the contents began to ooze out like tar, "uh, sludge."
Dojo huffed and snapped, "I slave over a hot fire all night, and this is the thanks I get? I don't see any of you kids making dinner!"
While Clay plucked out the underwear and gave the remaining stew a cautious sniff, Omi tossed the contents of his bowl over his shoulder as soon as Dojo had his back turned. Jack set his bowl down, leaned toward Raimundo, and said, "I dare you to chug it."
Ears and cheeks turning pink, Raimundo jumped at Jack's sudden closeness, but he recovered quickly. Leaning toward Jack until their noses were inches apart, he smirked and asked, "What do I get if I do?"
Jack grinned. "Hmm. I'm not telling you yet. I'm calling it..." He glanced over at Dojo and pursed his lips, "Jack's Little Brown Surprise." At Raimundo's incredulous snort, he blinked and added, "Wait, that didn't come out right."
Kimiko's face fell into her palm, and Raimundo started laughing. Omi's eyes rolled into his skull, and he let his bowl drop to the dusty ground. "And here I thought I could not lose my appetite any further."
"As tempted as I am to find out what your 'little surprise' is, querido," said Raimundo, passing his bowl to Jack, "I'm gonna pass on that one."
"You keep calling me that," said Jack, putting Raimundo's bowl on the ground, where Dojo indignantly scooped it up and brought it back to the fire with an angry huff. "Querido. What does it mean? Are you calling me 'genius'?"
"Uh." Raimundo's face turned scarlet under the campfire light, and he leaned back to duck his head and scratch at his hair. "The opposite, actually. It means 'dumbass'."
Jack gave a melodramatic gasp. "Hey!"
Kimiko raised an eyebrow at Raimundo, who pointedly avoided her stare, but Omi beamed and said, "At last! Leave it to Raimundo to find a fitting title for you, Jack Spicer!"
Jack threw his own bowl across the fire at Omi, who neatly ducked out of the way and threw his bowl back. While Omi and Jack launched into an impromptu food fight, Raimundo scooted out of the line of fire, and Dojo whined about the boys "wasting soup," Kimiko shifted over to sit next to Clay.
Her eyes flickered down to the stew that Clay still hadn't discarded, and she said, "You're not actually going to eat that, are you? Clay, listen, I've seen you eat month-old pizza, but you've gotta draw the line somewhere."
"It ain't polite to reject food someone made ya," mumbled Clay. "Didn't wanna hurt Dojo's feelings." However, at Kimiko's pointed stare, Clay's brain took a remarkable and unusual victory over his stomach, and he tossed the stew onto the dusty ground while Dojo was preoccupied.
Kimiko tilted her head to him. "You okay? You're quieter than usual, and that's saying something."
"Just got some stuff on my mind, nothin' important."
"Like, homesickness? Since we're in Texas?"
"Nah, nothin' like that." Clay stole a glance at Raimundo, who was standing far from the campfire now to avoid Jack's and Omi's scuffle. Without the light from the flames, his features were cast in darkness. Clay's jaw clenched shut, and he turned back to Kimiko. "I'm, uh, I'm sure I'm just gettin' worked up over nothin'. I probably just need some time to think, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?" At Clay's emphatic head shake, Kimiko shrugged and said, "Okay, big guy. I'll give you space. But it's not good to keep stuff bottled up, y'know?" She raised her eyebrows at him before she stood and reentered Jack's and Omi's battle zone, now saturated with Dojo's Little Brown Surprise. After she and Dojo teamed up to split the two drenched boys apart, Dojo promptly declared bedtime for everyone.
Clay watched Raimundo shuffle back to the group, and the six quest members eventually all settled down around the campfire. After some whining from Jack about the lack of a camping tent, the night gave way to quiet. Clay lay on his back with his hands folded under his head, wondering why he couldn't relax. He was not a paranoid person, and his teammates weren't stupid. If everyone else trusted Raimundo, what was the problem? It wasn't his place to go rocking the boat, not when things were going back to normal. "Just like old times," Jack had said.
Still, if Raimundo truly was remorseful for the evil things he had done, then why was Guan after him? What conversation had the two had on the Pedrosa rooftop before the Xiaolin monks had intervened? What had Raimundo been doing with the Ying Yoyo? If there really was some reaper thing infecting him, then why was he so insistent that it wasn't? Things just weren't adding up.
Through the faint snores, Clay heard an odd shuffling sound, and he tilted his head up. The fire was dead and dark, leaving only faint moonlight to illuminate their campground. Jack, Omi, and Kimiko were all asleep under their blankets, but Raimundo's silhouette crouched on all fours, facing Kimiko, still as a hunting cougar.
Clay inched upright, frowning and muttering under his breath, "What in tarnation...?"
Raimundo's face was in shadow, but Clay started to hear an odd, rumbling sound. Just when Clay realized that Raimundo was snarling, Omi jolted upright with a panicked yelp, dots lighting up the scene, and Raimundo pounced.
Kimiko could only let out a shocked squeak before Raimundo had her in a headlock. Clay scrambled to his feet, and Kimiko set a blast of fire out behind her, but it missed. She and Raimundo rolled in the dirt, and by the time Clay reached them, Raimundo's hands were tight around her throat.
"GET OFF OF HER!" Clay slammed his boot into Raimundo's skull, tossing the teen across the dirt and sand. Kimiko collapsed at Clay's feet and gave a feeble cough, blinking up at the stars. Clay stormed around her toward Raimundo, who was dazedly rolling onto his stomach. "What in the blue wide-" Grabbing Raimundo by the hair and lifting him off the ground, Clay shouted, "What was that?!"
Wincing and digging his fingernails into Clay's hand, Raimundo hissed, "What was what? Let go of me!" He swung a leg into Clay's side, and Clay threw him back into the dirt. Raimundo rolled, clambered to his feet, and said, "What's your problem?"
"What's my-?" Clay towered over the teen and yelled, "You attacked Kimiko! I watched you do it- You were hurting her!"
"No, I didn't!" Raimundo snapped. "You attacked me!"
"Grabbin' a lady in her sleep, you dirty lil snake, I oughta—"
"I didn't do anything!"
The light from Omi's dots shifted behind them as the little monk approached Kimiko and said, "Are you alright?" He offered a hand to help her sit upright. "I woke up because I sensed a great evil, but..."
Raimundo's bewilderment and rage faded at Omi's words, and his eyes widened. "Kimiko? Omi? You..." He tried to step around Clay to get a better look at them, but when Clay stomped a foot to block him, he jumped back and said feebly, "Wait, what did I do?"
"You were chokin' her, you nasty lil brute!" Clay took another threatening step toward him, prompting Raimundo to scurry back further. "You tried to kill her!"
Raimundo's eyes grew round, and his shoulders slumped. "I... what?"
Voice hoarse, Kimiko called, "Clay, I'm fine, he only had me for like a second—"
Trotting to the two, Omi said, "Wait, if Raimundo does not remember attacking her..." With a gasp, he grabbed at Clay's sleeve. "It was the reaper! Master Monk Chase warned us about this happening. The reaper took control and attacked Kimiko; this was not Raimundo's fault!"
Through gritted teeth, Clay growled, "I don't care whose fault it is, he still did it!" He yanked the hat off his head and threw it to the ground. Jabbing a finger into Raimundo's chest, he shouted, "I knew I shouldn't've kept quiet, I knew somethin' was wrong with you, we all knew it, even Guan knew it- He tried to warn me, and I didn't listen, and now look what you did!" Clay raised his fist, Kimiko and Omi gasped, and Raimundo didn't make a single move to defend himself.
A rock came flying out of the dark and smacked into Clay's shoulder. Clay turned his head, and Jack stepped into the light from Omi's dots. He darted between Clay and Raimundo, clenched his clammy fists in front of his chest, and hollered, "Back off, cowboy!"
Clay wrinkled his nose at Jack, the scrawniest, frailest member of the team, threatening to square up against him like he was the threat. He grunted and shook his head. "Don't be stupid, Jack, you know that boy's trouble, you know better than any of us—"
"You're right, I know him better than you, that's for sure!" Jack bounced on the soles of his feet and slapped a palm to his chest. "And if you keep trying to bash his head in, you're gonna have to go through me!"
Out in the desert horizon sparked a glimmer of light. Omi's dots faded, casting the group in darkness, but the light in the distance grew brighter as its source soared to them. A glowing, metallic slingshot bounced across the sand and landed in Jack's outstretched palm, igniting the scene like a burning torch.
"Is that...?" asked Kimiko.
Omi gasped. "It's a Wudai Weapon!"
Jack barely looked at the slingshot before pointing it at Clay and pulling back the straps. "Don't make me bust you up, Clay!"
Clay almost pointed out that a Wudai Weapon was useless in the hands of a Xiaolin Apprentice, but he knew that wasn't really the point. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he tried to release the tension in his shoulders and said slowly, "You ain't thinkin' with your head, Jack. I know you want Raimundo to be a good guy like the rest of us, but a leopard don't change its spots. I knew that all along, but I went along with y'all because I wanted to believe otherwise, just like the rest o' you. It's my own fault for not speakin' up when I had the chance," His face hardened, and he took a step closer to Jack, "but I ain't keepin' quiet anymore, and I ain't backin' down."
Jack set his jaw. "Yeah, well, neither am I."
The two stood at an impasse. Clay's teeth ground together, squinting in the glow of Jack's Wudai Weapon, refusing to move backward or forward. He wasn't about to throw the first punch, not against Jack, whose only crime was refusing to give up on his best friend.
He heard small steps shuffle behind him, and then Omi asked, "Where did he go?" The small monk trotted out into the darkness and called, "Raimundo?" Clay's fists and Jack's weapon sank down while the two turned to face where Raimundo had stood, but he was gone. Jack lifted his Wudai Weapon high, casting a glow across the sand, but the campground was empty. Raimundo had disappeared into the desert.
