This chapter goes to why Raimundo might have left.

Just as we all got out of bed and got dressed, Dojo sensed a shen-gong-wu. The painless cuff, which was supposed to make you oblivious to pain. I guess was going to tell the guys my theory of why Raimundo left, but when we were in the air, Clay said "Kimiko, in case we run into Raimundo again, I guess we should tell you that while we were lookin' for you, we crossed paths with him a few times, and he's been acting mighty strange,"

I gave him a weird look. "What else is new?"

"No, not normal weird. Really weird. Once when we were fighting, we tried to talk to him. He seemed a little hesitant about fighting us then, but then he winced like he was in pain, pulled his hood more over his face, and started fighting like he wanted to send us to the emergency room,"

"Then after Clay and I split up to look for you, I met up with Raimundo again. I told him that if I had said or done anything wrong, I was sorry. He looked confused for a moment, then cried out and clutched his head, then started to fight me.

"That is strange. Well, this time if we see him, let's get him to talk to us even if we have to tie him up and beat him with sticks,"

I believe Wuya has done something to him, but the questions are, what, why, and when?"

We landed in a dessert. Dojo said it was close, but there was only a cactus and the sand. We didn't see it hanging off the cactus, so we guess it was in the sand. "You know, this would have been easier if we had brought sifters or the falcon's eye," I complained as started digging.

After about an hour of digging, we heard Raimundo's voice.

"You realize you wouldn't have to do this if you checked underneath the flower on the cactus,"

We turned to see him standing by the cactus, holding a flesh-colored manacle. We could tell he had been watching us for awhile by the precipitation dripping from his face. If he just pulled down his hood he wouldn't be so hot! Then Raimundo made a portal with the golden tiger claws and started to leave, but Clay ran over, reached in the portal before it closed, and pulled him out. Held up momentarily, Raimundo kicked him with both legs in the stomach. Clay dropped him and doubled over. Raimundo was about to use the tiger claws again, but when he raised them, Omi kicked them out of his hand. Raimundo tried to get them back, but then Omi started fighting him. Clay, who had recovered, started to help Omi. I knew I should help to, but now that I knew what a hard time Raimundo's had, I felt sorry for him. But I knew Omi and Clay were counting on me, so I decided to just knock him out. I leapt into the air and sent a flying kick at his head. He just got Omi and Clay off him for a moment, then turned to go for me. When he saw me coming at him, he ducked, but not quickly enough for me to entirely miss. My foot got caught in his hood. I pulled it down before I landed hard on the ground. Luckily the sand cushioned the fall.

"Great Ghost of Dashi!" Omi exclaimed.

I looked up at Raimundo, saw why he said that, and would have lost my breakfast if I had eaten any. Across his head was a flat, thick, metal, rope-like thing that was holding in places what looked like the ends of needles. The tips looked like they were deep in Raimundo's head and dark red stuff was coming out of the areas the needles were in. At first I thought it was blood, but then I noticed it didn't really look like liquid. As quickly as it has come down, Raimundo pulled his hood back up, and turned to give me a look that could kill. If Raimundo had changed his mind about killing me, I was sure he changed it back.

What do you think the thing on his head is? Hint: it's not a mind control device. I'll update as soon as I can.