Uploaded: 21st February 2005
There's a little bit about Dojo, a tiny bit about Omi, but it's mainly a Jack chapter. Very slight hint of Jack/Kimiko. Oh, and thanks for the reviews, everyone.
Chapter 13: Ping-jing – reunion
After leaving the Xiaolin warriors to see Befana, Omi's parents had carried the Shen Gong Wu to a grand stone fountain, placing them in a small pile beside the fountain, before joining the meeting that was taking place there. Dojo was in front of a large group of creatures and humans that had gathered around the fountain, which wasn't far from the edge of a great shimmering lake. Directly beside him was a golden-bearded man in the same beige robes that Omi's parents had worn, although this man had a wider, stockier build than Mr Chow.
Dojo was looking ashamed, head drooped and eyes to the ground. This was the first time he'd seen he'd seen his father in fifteen hundred years …
When Wuya absorbed the essence of Lightning all those years ago, the Shen Gong Wu became unbalanced. She already knew of the Shen Gong Wu since she owned a few herself, so she tried to find and keep the rest of them for herself. Dashi had already trained at all of the temples, and so Long asked him to stop her before she could bring them all together.
After Wuya absorbed the essence of Wood, the world was plunged into darkness, and it had been SilverClaw and Dojo's duty to accompany Dashi in the final battle against her. But, feeling that he had nothing to contribute, Dojo left them mid-battle, and they were forced to fight Wuya without him. Thankfully, Dashi defeated Wuya, but while Dashi received a hero's welcome in Ping-jing, Long and the other inhabitants were extremely disappointed in Dojo's cowardice. Feeling disgraced and dishonoured, Long angrily ordered his son to leave Ping-jing.
It was then decided that the Shen Gong Wu scroll was to be kept inside the Xiaolin temple. Wuya had killed the previous temple guardian, and SilverClaw declined the offer to be the replacement, as there were things she needed to sort out amongst her own people, who were scattered and few, thanks to Li Jin. Dashi vouched for Dojo, saying that without him, they would never have been able to find many of the Shen Gong Wu. Dojo became guardian of the Xiaolin temple as well as the Shen Gong Wu scroll, but Long had never seen his son since …
As soon as Master Fung had told the Xiaolin warriors to leave the temple with the Shen Gong Wu, Dojo knew he would have to take them here, and he had dreaded coming back here at the best of times. But fortunately for Dojo, none of the creatures in the village here and now had been alive back then. Just Bai Hu, Raicho, and … his father.
"I'm … sorry, Dad," he said to the gold bearded man beside him. "You know I am … But … without my pearl, what use could I have been to Dashi? I was just in the way …"
Long shook his head. "I'm sorry too, my son."
Dojo looked up in shocked bewilderment. "You are?"
"It seems that I was hasty in my actions to throw you out … and too stubborn to admit I was wrong to do so. So stubborn, in fact, that I never even visited the Xiaolin temple to see how you were doing. I was too proud to admit I was wrong. But I freely admit it now: I was wrong, and Dashi was right."
All Dojo could remember was how angry his father had been when he had returned to Ping-jing that day. "Wait a minute … you're supposed to be mad at me and yell at me and tell me how lazy and irresponsible I am!"
"Time is a strange thing … I stopped being angry a long time ago. I'm just glad to see you're safe."
Dojo didn't know what to say. He was angry with his dad for not telling him this sooner, and making him worry for all this time, but at the same time, he was overjoyed. He was being forgiven for something he felt he didn't deserve forgiveness for.
"I don't mean to be rude," said a blue wyvern, saving Dojo from any further awkwardness, "but we need to get back to why we're all here."
"Yes, yes, forgive me," said Long, facing the whole group. "Wuya's resurrection … Now that you're here, Dojo, you can tell us what you know. How did Wuya come back to life?"
Dojo told them what had happened over the last couple of days, from Raimundo's desertion after the Reversing Mirror showdown, to the encounter with the Huai-Ren at Jack's house.
"So …" said Long, after a long, reflective silence. "The Dragon of Air has betrayed us …"
"As long as she doesn't have the Sun Chi lantern," said a pink fairy, "then there's still time."
"Too late," said Dojo sadly. "That was one of the ones the Huai-Ren got away with."
Long made a noise that was a mixture between a sigh and a growl. "No wonder she recovered her powers," he said grimly.
"This is … disturbing news," said Mr Chow. "She has the means to continue what she started fifteen centuries ago."
"Would you say the Dragons are strong enough to attack Wuya directly?" the fairy asked Dojo.
"Uh, well …"
Again, Dojo was at a loss for words. He didn't want to say anything bad about his friends; they had all worked hard over the past few months and he had no doubt that they would be able to fight Wuya in a hand-to-hand battle … one day. But they were nowhere near Dashi's skill level; they hadn't even been able to touch Wuya when she'd first come back to life.
"It's as I feared," said Long, reading Dojo's expression correctly. "We have a dilemma … on the one hand, the Dragons are not experienced enough to fight against Wuya in a head-on attack. On the other, we must still try to get as many Shen Gong Wu as we can. Without them, we may never be able to stop her. We must still send someone to retrieve them, and the only ones qualified are the Dragons themselves …"
"Who would be willing to help my son, and the other Xiaolin warriors?" Mr Chow asked the group. There was an uncomfortable moment where everyone looked around at everyone else. No one wanted to risk meeting Wuya in a dark forest if they could avoid it.
And for once, Dojo actually felt brave. Unlike the majority of the creatures there, he had seen firsthand what Wuya could do, and he was scared, so, so scared. Far more scared than the rest of the creatures could possibly be. He had barely escaped her in the Horn of Qilin cave. But he would still take the Dragons to every Shen Gong Wu he sensed, regardless. He was the only one who could. And they were his friends; he wouldn't leave them when they needed him the most. He wouldn't desert anyone again. He'd make sure of that.
"I'll go," Bai Hu volunteered.
"You can't," said Long sternly. "You're not just the guardian of the west. You're also the guardian of the Metal Temple and if Wuya captures you – "
"If Wuya finds the Dragons, she'll steal their jing and chi and there'll be no one left with the powers to fight against her, Shen Gong Wu aside. At least if I go with them, they'll be able to escape quickly."
"Oh, you're all still here …" This was from Befana, who had finished her healing for the moment. She walked across the group to stand next to Long. "Didn't miss anything important, did I?"
"No, not really," said Bai Hu cheerfully, a lively grin lighting up his face. "Just me signing up for the role of keep-Wuya-from-killing-the-Chosen-Ones …"
"How can you be so – carefree at a time like this?" scolded a centaur..
"It's better than being all gloomy and depressed," Bai Hu replied. "I don't mind doing what I can to help. Besides, I'm sick of staying in the Metal temple. The only time I leave is when I've got to sort out everyone else's problems, and I'm tired of that as well. There hasn't been a Metal elemental in two hundred years, and … well, not that I wanted Wuya to come back, but at least there's some action going down."
"Fine," said Long, sounding exasperated, "go, but be careful, please."
Befana looked down at the pile of Shen Gong Wu beside the fountain. "I still have to do all of these Shen Gong Wu …?" she said, mostly to herself. "That's going to take long. Oh, Omi's been healed, so if anyone wants to see him …"
"Thank you, Befana," said Mrs Chow. "We are in your debt."
"We must go to see him too," said the blue wyvern. "I haven't seen him since he left for the Xiaolin temple all those years ago. He must be so big now!"
Long nodded. "Yes … we can discuss what to do about Wuya over dinner. Let's go to see Omi."
After Omi and the others were healed, the group, minus Ashley, left for Omi's old house. Minus Ashley because her parents had freaked at the sight of a witch, a Dwarf, a blue ghost and a griffin cub (which woke up to the sound of Ashley's mum screaming in her husband's ear, "I told you ghosts were real! But you didn't believe me!") and Ashley had stayed to calm them down. Jack's parents had stayed behind in Befana's cottage also, Jack's mum frowning deeply at Jack's dad because he actually seemed to be enjoying all the strangeness.
The silver griffin cub followed Jack outside like a friendly kitten (and Jack wasn't too pleased to have it constantly around his heels), and Kimiko couldn't resist pointing out how cute it looked. The group arrived outside Omi's house soon after, and Omi told them about all his life in the village as he remembered it, prior to his departure for the Xiaolin temple. Shortly afterwards, Omi's parents also arrived, and Omi beamed, full of happiness at seeing them again.
And it wasn't just Mr and Mrs Chow who were happy with Omi's return. Luma Luma, Long and a whole host of different creatures had returned from their meeting at the Jing Fountain, to welcome their Xiaolin Dragon back. Clay and Kimiko were both pleased for Omi's sake, although Kimiko couldn't help wondering if her own family was okay, back in Tokyo.
But not everyone was happy to see the reunion. Jack remained slightly apart from the group, Cloudstorm the griffin never too far away from him. He couldn't remember the last time in his life when his parents had been as loving with him. His mum hadn't even hugged him when she'd been healed, just given him a cold snooty, "I'm glad you're all right, Jack." But Jack would not – could not – accept that he was jealous of Omi. Watching the fairies fly excitedly around him, the centaurs stamp their hooves in celebration, a giant blue wyvern roaring in delight, the metallic simurgh bird shaking its peacock feathers in a playful dance, Luma Luma patting him gently over the head – it was all too much. Jack would never receive that kind of a welcoming back home. Just as he'd envied Omi when Kimiko hugged him back in the lab, he now envied Omi for being the centre of so much praise.
Finally, Jack couldn't take it any more, and he turned around furiously, walking away towards where he'd left his plane. Cloudstorm cocked his feathered head slightly, and sighed.
Feeling slightly detached from the welcoming herself, Kimiko noticed Jack's departure, and she followed him.
After walking for five minutes, she asked: "What's wrong, Jack?"
Jack hadn't realised Kimiko was behind him. He stopped in his tracks, his head slightly bowed. "Nothing," he said calmly, turning to face her. She looked back at him with searching eyes that held a sincere touch of sorrow and concern.
She's staring at me, he thought, feeling awkward all of a sudden. But why would she care? She hates me.
"Are you sure?" she asked gently.
"Yeah, I'm sure." There was nothing in his voice to suggest otherwise; but his red eyes gave away his true feelings. She could see that there was a small piece of sadness embedded inside the arrogant indifference of his heart. It was tiny, but it was there.
"Doesn't seem like nothing," she told him.
"It's nothing!" he snarled angrily, suddenly losing his temper. What did she know? Of course, the minute he'd lost his temper, he'd given away that he was in fact troubled by something. But all of a sudden, he didn't care what she thought. "Just drop it, okay? Leave me alone!"
"Fine, no need to bite my head off," she snapped back. "Forgive me for thinking you might actually be human like the rest of us, Spicer!"
She stomped off angrily, back in the direction of Omi's house, and Jack swore under his breath. Why had he snapped at Kimiko like that? It wasn't her fault his parents were selfish jerks. And, as much as he hated to admit it, it wasn't Omi's fault either.
In furious anger, Jack punched a nearby tree, and immediately regretted it.
The tree opened two huge, green eyes. "What da hell d'ya think you're doin', sonny?"
"Sorry," Jack apologised half-heartedly, not really in the mood to argue, especially with a plant.
An old, withered woman appeared from behind the talking tree. "You're Jack Spicer!" she yelled. "I heard the girl say so! Come on, guys, he's over here!"
Jack found himself surrounded by about twenty creatures, about half of whom were shrunken old women. The other half comprised of two sphinxes (male and female); one griffin-like creature, a great lion, a unicorn, and three centaurs. Despite still feeling upset, he just couldn't help himself.
"Didn't know I had a fan club," he said, grinning.
"Fan club?" snarled the unicorn. "This guy thinks he's funny! A laugh riot, he thinks he is!"
"Uh …" said Jack, his grin fading. They didn't look happy to see to him at all; they looked severely pissed off.
"We'll show you," growled the griffin, pounding the ground with an angry paw. Jack paled. Getting torn by lions' claws, trampled by hooves and gorged by a unicorn's horn was definitely not his idea of fun.
"Wait!" he yelled. "What did I ever do to you guys?"
"YOU OPENED WUYA'S PUZZLE BOX, YOU LITTLE PRICK!" the unicorn shouted. "AND NOW WE'RE ALL DOOMED!"
"Ah …"
Omi had lived in Ping-jing until he was seven years of age, when Long had discovered that he might have an element, the first human in a while to have an element since the Dragon of Balance had passed away a few years beforehand.
It had been a lonely life for Omi; while other children were outside playing, he was training hard, sticking to the strict regiments of the temple. He often went to Dojo for advice, and sometimes just to talk, for there were no other children at the temple. Master Fung had known it was difficult for Omi; while training and discipline was important, Omi still needed the company of children his own age. Fung had been delighted when three of the elements had been discovered in other children too.
Clay had always stood up for Omi, pretty much from the word go. He knew Omi could be very excitable at times, always talking about fighting and battles and techniques, and sometimes that meant he missed out on simple things that made life worth living. Clay liked to take things easy, and had been happy to teach Omi that you didn't always need an adventure to make life exciting. Life was the adventure.
Still, if Omi had been brought up in a village of strange creatures like this, it was no surprise that he was expecting action at every turn. And that was one of Omi's strengths: it was difficult to take him by surprise when he was expecting something to happen all the time.
Clay watched as Mrs Chow held her son in a tight embrace, and gave a big smile of his own. He'd never seen the little guy so happy. He then looked at Kimiko, who seemed unhappy for some reason.
She probably misses her family, he thought, remembering how she had asked about whether Wuya would attack them, while they had on their way to Ping-jing.
Kimiko was actually still annoyed with Jack, but despite that, she was still as surprised as everyone else to see him zooming through the crowd with his heli-pack whirring away, closely followed by a unicorn, three centaurs, one singa (lion), two sphinxes, and an axex; and these were eventually followed by about eight or nine old women shaking angry fists.
Long grew into a large, snake dragon, with a golden lion mane, and stood between Jack and the angry mob.
"What's going on?" he roared.
"It's his fault we're so grey and withered," said one of the old women, pointing a gnarled finger at Jack.
"And the world is covered in darkness because of him!" the unicorn said.
"Yes, he opened the Puzzle of Gui Xian!" added a centaur.
"Enough!" boomed Long. "I know all this already! But he saved Omi and my son from Wuya, and he helped the Xiaolin warriors on their way here; surely that proves that he is no longer on Wuya's side."
"That's not good enough!" bellowed the same centaur. "You know the rules, Long! That boy must be punished!"
"Please, leave him alone! It's my fault."
This came from Mr Spicer, who had appeared with Mrs Spicer, Befana and Ashley. Mrs Spicer gasped.
"How so?" asked Luma Luma sleepily.
Mr Spicer took a deep breath. "I was the one who gave him the Puzzle of Gui Xian to open."
Everyone spoke at once.
"What?"
"How is this possible?"
"How could this human penetrate the Temple of Balance?"
"He's in league with her too!"
"Quiet, all of you!" snapped Befana. "Let the man speak."
Mr Spicer walked until he was in the centre of the large group. "It was my understanding that the Shen Gong Wu would be easier to find if the spirit inside the puzzle-box was released."
Mrs Spicer's face blew up into a red balloon of anger. "You promised me you wouldn't get caught up in this Shen Gong Wu nonsense!"
"I'm sorry … Let me explain. We've lived in the family house in China for twelve years. We moved from America. One day, not long after we moved, I found several Shen Gong Wu in the attic, and a record of every one that has ever existed. I discovered that my family has had several Shen Gong Wu in the family for generations, and I grew curious as to the nature of their powers. But, no matter how hard I tried, I could never get any of them to work. I studied them for years, trying to find more, but they were always so difficult to track down. But then Hilda –" Mrs Spicer's frown was a thin, narrow line of displeasure "– felt that I was spending too much time on them … So I stopped."
"What changed?" Befana asked.
"About six or seven months ago, I was visiting a friend in Hong Kong, and I was approached by an odd man in a hood. At first, I turned him away, but when he showed me the Puzzle of Gui Xian, I was fascinated, and I had to find out more. He told me there were more Shen Gong Wu to be found, and that if the Puzzle of Gui Xian was opened, I would be able to find them all. I asked him why he was helping me if he was a Shen Gong Wu collector too; but he told me that he needed me because my son Jack was the only one who would be able to open it …"
"What?" exclaimed Jack, shaking in surprise. "How would he know that?"
"I don't know, son," said Mr Spicer. "But when I asked you if you'd been able to open it, you said no, so I assumed the guy had lied to me …"
"Those black creatures," said Mrs Spicer, looking a little frightened as she remembered her encounter with the Huai-Ren, "they wanted the Shen Gong Wu, didn't they?"
"Yes," answered Long gravely. "Joseph Spicer, you do realise that your actions may have doomed the entire world to an eternity of darkness and servitude?"
"Woah, that sounds gloomy," said Mr Spicer, chuckling a little. "Don't you think you're overreacting a bit? I mean, so what if Jack released a ghost? No offence, but the amount of weird creatures I've seen in this place … A ghost's normal compared to them."
"That ghost," said Befana sharply, "is one of the most – if not the most – dangerous Heylin warriors that has ever lived – and now she's got her body back."
"You guys need to lighten up," said Mr Spicer. "Can't you just trap her inside the puzzle-box again?"
"You honestly think it's going to be that easy?" the unicorn blurted out. "She won't be foolish enough to fall for the same trap twice. Don't you see? She's already cast the world into darkness; it's only a matter of time before she takes advantage of the confusion and conquers the entire planet."
"The entire planet? She's that powerful?"
Nearly everyone answered.
"YES!"
"Whoopsie," he said offhandedly, and Mrs Spicer grumbled, "You just had to do it, didn't you? You just had to start looking for them again." The Xiaolin warriors were beginning to see where Jack got his laid-back manner from, while Long was instantly reminded of Bai Hu, and gave an involuntary sigh.
"What's the problem? You can fix all this, right?"
"She'll be on her guard, and extremely vigilant," Befana said. "It will be very difficult to defeat her."
"Vigilant?" Jack said, feeling the need to comment on that remark. "HA! She couldn't even guard my pudding cups."
"Don't go blaming that one on Wuya; you left your own pudding open to attack," said Ashley, smirking triumphantly at him.
Bai Hu looked intrigued, and beamed. "You made Wuya guard pudding?"
"Psh! Was her own stupid fault. She went into a hissy fit just because I tested my force-field on her and – what's so funny, stripes?"
Bai Hu was laughing, and the unicorn let out a gasp, his expression of horror mirrored by nearly every other creature there.
"She can't have liked that!" the tiger chuckled.
"Psh," said Jack again. "Who cares what she thinks?"
"We found an intruder, Long!" an elf called out. Two different centaurs appeared behind him, one holding up a struggling girl in strong arms. "Probably a spy for Wuya," the elf said, sounding pleased with himself.
"That's not an intruder," said Jack in frustration, rolling his eyes. Stupid paranoid mythical creatures.
"And how would you know?" asked the axex.
The girl transformed mechanically into a bird, freeing itself from the centaurs, and there were more cries of distress and horror.
"Calm yourselves!" Long ordered. "Will you let yourselves become alarmed by a simple shape-shifting creature, or will you act rationally and responsibly?"
"That is Jack's Chameleon-bot," added Omi.
Mr Spicer looked at the robot in astonishment. Jack's parents had seen some of his robots; he normally used them to patrol the perimeter of his house. But they'd never seen the Chameleon-bot before.
"You built that? That's amazing, son!"
Jack shrugged, slightly surprised. He wasn't used to praise from anyone other than himself, especially his parents. "No biggie …"
"It is … a machine?" asked the female sphinx, eyeing the robot curiously.
Kimiko had a sudden thought. "That's another thing, Jack," she said. "How does all your equipment work when everything electrical has gone kaput?"
"Need I even answer? They're all Wuya-proof."
"Wuya-proof?" exclaimed Bai Hu, rumbling with laughter. "This kid's slaying me!"
"A right comedian," said the unicorn flatly.
"And how," squawked the axex, "can your devices be 'Wuya-proof' when the rest of the world's electronics have been completely drained of their energy?"
"I had to test my inventions out on something, didn't I? How else would I be able to get the Shen Gong Wu?"
"Don't understand why they're all so uptight," Mr Spicer said. "Why didn't you tell me you were after the Shen Gong Wu, Jack?"
"Why didn't you?" Jack retorted, and Mr Spicer fell silent. Suddenly it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. "You didn't trust me … You were just using me," Jack went on, suddenly angry, "just like you always do."
Everyone else watched in silence. This was the first time either parent had seen such vibrancy, such flare from their otherwise taciturn son. Usually, he acknowledged their existence, but getting him to say more than one sentence at the dinner table required nothing short of a miracle; getting him to socialise and attend their friends' parties was outright impossible.
"That's not true," Mrs Spicer replied slowly, looking shocked and distraught, but as she looked into her son's determined eyes, she knew it would be hard to convince him otherwise.
"I'm just an object to you – just something you can show off to your upper-class friends – you don't know anything about me, do you?"
"Jack," said Mrs Spicer sadly, "I know we may not have shown it in the best way, but … we love you."
"Do you? Do you really? And what the hell are you all looking at?" Jack yelled at everyone else. Most of the creatures looked away awkwardly. "Forget it, I'm outta here," he said, flying off. Once again, he'd had enough.
"Wait!" Mrs Spicer called. "Jack!"
Kimiko realised she hadn't been wrong when she thought Jack had actually had feelings. But … whether he would ever admit this to himself remained to be seen.
Jack flew through the village, not caring about the stares he received from the creatures and people that were now present. He soon found himself at the same fork from before. The right path led up to Befana's cottage, so this time he flew left, never stopping until he reached a pool of water that shone a bright white colour. He sat down on a rock on the lake's edge, pondering and thinking.
Jack was spoilt as a child, and had been given many material possessions, but it had been no substitute for human contact. The boy became frustrated with the items he received – what good it was having the latest toys and games if you had no one to play them with? He had been so bored once, he'd fixed his dad's stereo without telling him. He'd actually enjoyed taking it apart, fixing it and adding his own modifications. And since then he had always been building things, stealing parts from other electrical appliances to make his own inventions. But this was something he had never shared with his parents at first. He had just never felt comfortable enough around them to talk about close, personal things.
Over time, he became so absorbed in building his machines that he lacked the ability to mix with other people. Having never received real love himself, he found it hard to identify with other people. He couldn't understand why everyone was so happy, and bright, and why they needed to socialise with other all the time. No one at school understood him – not because he couldn't speak Chinese very well, but because he was always so dark and unapproachable. And so, he focused on the one person who could truly understand him – himself. He always looked at himself in the mirror, telling himself he was superior, that he was better than everyone else. He alone deserved to be have everything the world had to offer. But did that mean he deserved to be alone?
He always prided himself on knowing everything, but he looked in the shining water, and all he could see was a confused, troubled boy; someone who didn't know what he wanted at all.
"Something the matter, young one?"
Jack didn't even look to see who had sneaked up to sit beside him. "Go away."
"I bet you're feeling sorry for yourself," the creature went on, with a slightly arrogant, all-knowing tone that Jack didn't like.
"So what? Who else is gonna feel sorry for me? Not the Xiaolin losers, that's for sure."
"You're wrong there, young one."
Jack turned his head left to see who was speaking to him. It was the griffin cub, Cloudstorm.
"But if you want to stay miserable and alone, well – that's your decision."
Jack said nothing for all of five minutes, hoping that if he ignored the silver griffin, it would just fly off and leave him alone. Unfortunately, Cloudstorm wasn't to be put off by Jack's moodiness. He just stayed at Jack's side, looking back at him with annoyingly intelligent eyes.
Jack sighed. If the only way to get this thing to leave him alone was to talk …
"I don't want anyone else's pity. I've survived this long on my own. I don't need anyone dragging me down."
"But … haven't you ever wanted to join in with anyone else? To belong?"
"No," Jack lied. He'd always been different, had never quite fit in at school, and he'd taken on the attitude 'I don't care about anyone else, so leave me alone!' to get people to steer clear.
But … if for one day, he could be accepted …
I'm just deluding myself. That would never happen …
"What about the Dragon of Fire?" Cloudstorm asked quietly.
"What about her?"
"You like her, don't you?"
Jack scowled, wondering how this griffin had found out about this. Had these creatures been keeping really close tabs on him, or what? "Mind your own business, fluff-ball!"
Cloudstorm chuckled knowingly. "No shame in liking someone. You're at that most delightful stage of human development called puberty."
Jack's expression became softer. Talking to Cloudstorm didn't really seem as daunting as talking to his parents did. There was something about the little griffin that made him feel … comfortable. Safe.
"She doesn't even like me, so it doesn't matter."
"And there's no shame in asking for help, either."
"Let's face it … who's gonna want to help me?"
"I'll help you," said Cloudstorm loyally, rubbing his head against the end of Jack's leg like a contented cat. "I know your path ahead will be difficult; Wuya won't be easy to beat, and allies will be far and few between. Although many will claim to help the Xiaolin warriors, most are weak; and terror will cause discord amongst our ranks. They might even rally to Wuya's side, such is the greatness of their fear of her. You saw how easily fired up the creatures here were …"
Jack nodded. The mythical creatures were certainly quick to place the finger of blame on him.
"And those are the creatures we know are on our side. In short, you need all the help you can get. I'll be happy to join you."
"But … don't you know who I am?"
"Of course I know, silly!"
"And you still want to help me after everything I've done?"
"It doesn't matter what you've done; to me it matters what you're going to do. The past is important; but you mustn't let that dictate your life. The most important thing is to live your life today, young one. Who cares what everyone else thinks? If they're angry, they're angry. But in time … I know that they'll forgive you."
At first Jack grimaced, about to reply that he didn't want anyone's forgiveness, but the little griffin spoke sincerely, as if he really believed in what he was saying. And, even though the griffin was young – only five years old in human years – he looked like he knew so much, like he was an ancient creature of thousands of years gone by.
It was strange, Jack knew. But every time he looked into Cloudstorm's crystal blue eyes, shining with a kind wisdom that was far beyond his years, Jack felt that he could trust him.
"Thanks … I guess …"
"I have to look after you, you know. You have great strength, Jack Spicer, and it's my job to make sure you realise that."
"Why …? I don't understand …"
Why did this griffin cub feel that he had to protect him? He'd never even met him before today.
Cloudstorm didn't answer. Instead he said: "Remember, true power doesn't come from exploiting or subjugating others. True power comes from – " he raised his right eagle's foot and placed it over his chest – "in here."
"What are you talking about? I haven't got any inner power. I can't fight like the Xiaolin warriors …" Jack was actually willing to admit that Wuya had been right about him. He was a useless incompetent …
But Cloudstorm had to disagree again. "The best fighter not only conquers danger, but conquers themselves. You have great inner strength. But you rely so much on your machines that it hasn't had a chance to surface yet."
"But … "
"Physical strength isn't everything. One with strong willpower will always triumph over one who is weak-minded. Don't forget that. If you believe in yourself, and have strength of mind, then you will be strong in body also.
"Just remember this too: whenever you need help or guidance, don't be afraid to look deep within yourself for the answers. When all hope is lost, you can always call upon your inner strength."
"Are you talking about chi energy?"
"I'm talking about much more than that. Haven't you ever wondered why you're able to be so inventive? People have already tried to take advantage of you for that."
"Yeah … Wuya …"
"No, actually … The whole time you were with Wuya's spirit, you were being watched by a creature named DarkClaw."
"What? Why? And how do you know this?"
"DarkClaw was the one who sacrificed the Third-Arm Sash and Jet Bootsu and left them for you to find, so that you would be able to continue with the showdowns. He was the one who recruited Tubbimura to steal the Puzzle of Gui Xian from the Temple of Balance; and he was the one who gave the Puzzle to your father, knowing that you would be able to open it."
"But how did he know that I'd be the one to open it?"
"Simple," said Cloudstorm, once again looking as if he knew not only everything that had happened in ancient times, but everything that would come to be, too. "You created it."
More notes
axex: Egyptian griffin, which differs from other griffins in that it has lion front feet instead of eagle front feet.
simurgh: a Persian winged monster in the shape of a bird, with metallic feathers, the head of a dog (although it's sometimes shown with a human head) and a peacock's tail.
singa: a mythical creature that looks like a serpentine dragon with elephant's tusks. It usually appears in the form of a lion. (singa means lion in Malay).
sphinx: Just want to differentiate between the Greek sphinx and Egyptian sphinx. Both have the body of a lion and the head of a human. However, Greek sphinxes were female, and had wings. Egyptian sphinxes were usually male, and usually did not have wings. It was the Greek sphinx who asked the riddles to travellers as they passed by.
