Episode 17: New Year Resolve
Steven was with Greg at this time, so the monks were setting up the new year beach fireworks, helping out with Sadie, Jenny, and Sour Cream. Omi was mostly making sure they have the fireworks needed, Kimiko was unpacking the fireworks while Clay, Sadie, Jenny and Sour Cream handle the setting up of the fireworks. It was fairly midday and the Gems are mostly busy getting ready for the show with Steven and Greg. Omi mostly looks out in the ocean a few times during the counting. "Omi...Omi?" Sadie said. "Uh?" Omi said, snapping out of his long gaze. "You seemed to be tuned out for a good while." Sour Cream mentioned. "My sincere apology, Sour Cream...it's just that…" Omi said as he drift off a little bit. "We know…Raimundo is AWOL." Sadie said. "And we can hopefully wish him the best of luck on potentially returning to you guys." Jenny added. "Yea, but we don't know if Raimundo would like to return anytime soon." Kimiko said. "Yea, he seem pretty jaded from his denial of being a Xiaolin Apprentice." Clay added.
"I've been meaning to ask, what's the difference between a Xiaolin Monk and Xiaolin Apprentice?" Sadie asked. "Well, you three are about to find out." Master Fung said as he walked up. "Master Fung, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you get ready for the fireworks show?" Kimiko said. "Well, I figured that you might be needing some quick training and demonstrations on how to use your new Apprentice ability." Master Fung explained. "Kimiko, take the Star Hanabi, call it out while adding your element power." Master Fung hand Kimiko the Star Hanabi. "I wouldn't recommend doing it against the fireworks." Jenny said. "Don't worry, I got a different thing in mind." Kimiko said as she turns to a big rock on the beach. "STAR HANABI FIRE!" Kimiko said, launching a more powerful Star Hanabi. It destroy the rock with ease, making it several smaller rocks and flew back to her hand, smoking.
"Cool…" Sour Cream said with an impressed look on his face. Clay receives the Fist of Tebigong. "Fist of Tebigong…EARTH!" Clay said, slamming it down on the ground. It created a new massive rock in place of the destroyed rock. "Woah, now that's strong." Jenny said. "Omi, your turn." Master Fung said, handing Omi the Orb or Tornami. "Orb of Tornami…water!" Omi said as it fires as stream of instant freezing water on one of the smaller rock, in casing it in a thick sheet of ice. "Now that's cool." Sadie said. "I have ice powers…that is most interesting." Omi said. Kimiko did wonder something.
"Did you come out because we were talking about Raimundo?" Kimiko said. Master Fung shakes his head no. "It was mostly a coincidence that you were talking about Raimundo when I was nearing you 6." Master Fung explained. "You see, I was wanting to give you a demonstration of what power you 3 have. Yes, it's disappointment that Raimundo departed on a very sour note, but life moves on, and sometimes finds a unique way." This led Kimiko to think a bit. They miss Raimundo but they have to move on sooner or later. Just then, she sees Steven walking up to the boardwalk, kinda in deep thought at that point. Kimiko quickly rushes over.
"Hey, Steven." Kimiko said. "Oh…hey, Kimiko." Steven said. "What's going on?" "Eh, nothing much, helping out with the fireworks, discovering our Xiaolin Apprentice skill, nothing too out of the ordinary." Kimiko said. Steven went back to thinking a bit. "Something on your mind" Kimiko asked. "It's just...It's my dad and Amethyst. They are watching this show called Lil' Butler and they watched it all day yesterday and most of today." Steven explained. "Never heard of that show." Kimiko said. "Well, I didn't watch any of it because, you know, grounded." Steven said. "Well, it still shows that they love you but they got to be firm on how to treat you." Kimiko said. "I feel like if it wasn't for Raimundo...things would be very worse on the grounded part." Steven said. Kimiko softly nods and sighs. "Look, we got to move on from Raimundo sooner or later. Either he does come back or he doesn't. We got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst." Kimiko said. Steven softly nods. "I guess we can start the new year fresh and new again." Steven said with a bit of smile. "There you go." Kimiko said with a smile. "Come on, I'll treat for lunch." Kimiko said. They rush off to a local diner.
At Katnappe's place, she finished another contract mission and got payed handsomely. However, she has been unlucky on finding a genius level intellect to work for her. Even with all the dollars she was flaunting, she just can't seem to get anyone to agree to help her out. She kept running into the issue of keeping the Shen Gong Wu a secret and the need of a Wu tracker. She had no other choice but to pretty much scrap it and just wait for the chips to fall as they play. "Stupid geniuses...always outsmart me…Well, I'm going to get the last laugh as I'm saving money for my own luxury." Katnappe said to herself. She begins to remember how Steven bested her and caused her to get fired. "If I could get revenge on that Steven kid…Ohh, I would do it in a heartbeat."
Katnappe ponder some more. "However, if those gems manage to injure Jack with a metal ball…I wonder how they would damage me." she said. "Maybe it was secretly good that I lost…" She ponders even more. "What am I saying?! That was a humiliating defeat and they knew it." Just then, she felt something rubbing on her leg. It was one of her little kittens. She picks it up and cuddles it a bit. "You're right, I need to simmer on it and maybe the future might give me something." Katnappe said to the kitten. The kitten meows cutely. "Yea, maybe life finds away. That's a good quote right there." She looks at her next contract and the offer was big but was not for another three weeks. "Maybe, I'll keep my options open and wait for the right time to get revenge." Katnappe said. She slowly gets up and carries the kitten with her to the couch.
At Jack's HQ, he took a bit of break of his Project Morph and Project Rebirth. He's been working hard and just found a breakthrough on Project Morph. If he could work just a bit more, he might have it ready in a few months to even a year. He just need some approval. However, Peridot isn't going to visit Earth anytime soon, but she did mention that she is considering sending more robonoids to check up the Kindergarten. Jack meanwhile is now working on a mini project. "Just some more work done for next year and this baby will be ready in a jiffy." Jack said. He sits back down and look over the calendar. He softly sighs. "I still can't believe Wuya would do me dirty like that. After that success of getting the Heart of Jong, she would replace me in a heartbeat." Jack bemoans. He begins to think. "Wait a minute. She had been planning this since...When I used the Chameleonbot!" he realized.
Jack was more angry than before. All that effort, all that losses, and that injury, that was Wuya's planning. She never intended to stay with Jack for long. In fact, she most likely intended Jack to be nothing more than a fiddle and a lackey. All that promise of World Domination, all that help he thought he was getting, those were nothing but empty lies. He even congratulated her and yet wasn't happy about it. This made Jack even more angry. "Well, Wuya, if you think I'm going to lie down and suck my thumb on losing, you are thinking wrong." Jack said, with fires in his eyes. "Next year, with Peridot, I will truly be able to evolve into one of the biggest threat the Monk and Gems will ever see. Not only will I prove Wuya wrong but remove the stigma that I'm a wimp. And it'll all start with Project Rebirth and Project Morph." Jack said. He sits down and begins drawing up more of his project plan. A fire has been lit under Jack and it might not be extinguished for a good while.
Back at Beach City, it was night time now. Clay, Kimiko and Omi sat next to Garnet, Pearl and Steven, waiting for the fireworks. Pearl was wearing a sweater and Garnet wore a jacket with Cool Dad on the back. "Well, that's an interesting look" Omi commented. "Well, I got them from the storage unit." Steven mentioned. "Oh, duh. That's where we got the Longi Kite from." Kimiko said. "Yea, and this "Laser Light Cannon" You guys mentioned." Clay added. Omi pondered something. "Wait a second. There was a mention of poofing of Pearl. What exactly happen?" Omi said. Pearl sighs. "Well, if you like to know…it's rather…embarrassing. Before why I got poofed, some background. You see, we Gems do have limits and if we poof, we retreat to our gem, leaving vulnerable to be shatter. Once you shatter…" Pearl said before drifting off. "What does happen?" Omi said. Pearl doesn't know how to say it. "Basically, you can't reform…ever." Garnet said, bluntly.
The monks now get what they were saying. "As for my poofing…well, it was due to a sword training incident." Pearl said. "She got stabbed though the body by her holo-pearl." Garnet said. Pearl blushes madly in embarrassment. "Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Kimiko said. Clay looks around. "Hey wait, where's Amethyst." Clay said. "She would have helped out on clearing the air more." "Yea, that's strange. Why would she be bringing Greg." Pearl said before gasping "Are they hanging out again?" "Wait, what, again? What do you mean by that?" Steven asked. "Does it have to do with Lil' Butler?" Kimiko mention. Garnet just scoffs. "Unbelievable, they are hanging out again." Pearl said. "They used to disappear for days on end, watching those tapes over and over again. They did that until…" Pearl said before drifting off again. "Until what?" Omi and Steven said at the same time. "I don't know, they just stopped one day." Pearl said.
Just then the fireworks began to go off, signaling the new year. Pearl began hitting her pan with a wooden spoon. Everyone was celebrating…well, all but Kimiko. She looks to her side and just remember Raimundo. It's still stings her even for a bit. She grown close to Raimundo as a friend and now he's gone. Clay also misses Raimundo. But this is a new year, they can't mope around all this time, they got wus to collect and a world to save. They believe that this is the year where they can recover more wus before Jack could even get to them. Kimiko looks back to see Steven starts to walk back to the Storage Unit. She want to pursue but thought against it. Let Steven resolve it himself. It's his Dad and Amethyst. What the worst that could happen.
A bit later, The Monks were setting up for bed. They were still waiting for Amethyst and Steven. Amethyst then rushes inside, looking really shaken. "Amethyst, you're back!" Kimiko said. "I'm not in the mood of talking right now." Amethyst shouts. She then rushes into the temple and into her room. As for the Monks, they were confused by it. A bit later, Steven arrived back and the Monks began to wonder what happened. "Hey guys." Steven said with an awkward chuckle. "Steven, what happened to Amethyst and Greg?" Kimiko said. "Yea, she came in, just said she didn't want to talk and ran into her room" Clay added. "She ran faster than a mongoose on a hot summer day." "Well…Dad and Amethyst got into an argument after discovering that the fireworks were going off and Amethyst…Amethyst…shape-shifted to my mom." Steven explained the best he could. "Okay, that is so uncalled for." Kimiko said. "I understand…" Steven said. "Hey, look, Dad and I are going to clean up the Storage Unit tomorrow. You guys get some rest. It's really late." The monks nods as they go and rest on the couch and bench.
End of Episode 17