Nothing belongs to me except Marylyn Orre, Henry Spicer, and Leandra.
Yes, all these ending chapters are treats. This one is a treat for all you Rai fans…because he finally makes an appearance! I really did want Rai in the story for these last parts. I made up everything about his family…hope it isn't terribly wrong. Near the end, you'll get to see what Jack was making last chapter. I know the ability of the Rag of Resurrection has been done before, but it was actually my first made-up Shen-Gong-Wu and I wanted to include it. There's something about a random "meteorite" falling further on, and that will be explained if I do a sequel. And yes, right before the end, I am poking fun at the Rai/Jack pairing. Actually, some Rai/Jack isn't that bad, but when it goes beyond kissing, it just freaks me out… So, in this fic, they're just going to be friends. Besides, all the Jack/Kim stuff comes next chapter!
I want to thank Funkmaster, since I don't think I ever thanked him… From now on, I won't delete spoilers and references to S2, but I'll put signs like this:
(SPOILER) (sentence or paragraph) (SPOILER) or (REFERENCE) (sentence or paragraph) (REFERENCE) so that you can skip these sentences/paragraphs if you so choose. I hope this system will work smoothly and without too much confusion and problems. Enjoy anyway!
(-)
Chapter 10: Xiaolin Dragons Reunited
Morning had come again. Unfortunately. A frustrated Kimiko stood outside of the wooden door just at the bottom of the stairs where she'd been waiting for the last five minutes. She rapped against it a fourth time for good measure, before yelling, "Jack! Get out here already! It's 6:45! You're going to miss breakfast!" She figured that would definitely do the trick. Yet there was still no response from inside the "non-evil laboratory".
She thought she heard dull scraping and thumping noises somewhere in the distance. He sure was taking a long time to get ready. "Helloooooo!" Kimiko called again. "Geez, aren't you ready yet?" Still nothing.
She growled again and crossed her arms. Alright, that was it. She was finally fed up with playing this waiting game with her noncompliant new teammate. Kimiko reached out and began to turn the door handle. He was probably listening to screaming loud music and couldn't hear her, or he was too wrapped up in whatever he was doing on his computer to notice anything around him.
However, the instant the door began to click open, Jack's voice came out, loud and with a frantic tone. "D-Don't come in here! I…I'm not wearing pants!"
Kimiko flushed red and slammed the door closed. "Ugh…" she groaned to herself, now leaning against it and feeling sick. For one odd and disturbing moment, she wondered what underwear Jack was wearing if it weren't the smiley-face ones.
Thankfully, a few minutes later he struggled out of the lab doors, in the same cargo chain pants and skull sweatshirt. In fact, it didn't even look like he'd taken them off at all. So why had he…? "Eh…sorry about that," he mumbled, strangely trying to catch his breath. "I didn't get much sleep last night… I'm working on a new Shen-Gong-Wu ordering system for the vault…" Suddenly, he yawned loudly and cut off his sentence.
"Well, I told you not to stay up too late," Kimiko argued, grabbing him by the sleeve and almost dragging him up the stairs. "Come on. We're having breakfast out on the porch."
When the two of them reached the mat under the overhanging outside, Omi and Clay were already sitting at the low table, naturally, eating and discussing something about the day's duties.
Kimiko sat on another end, and Jack mindlessly followed her to sit beside her. She grabbed something out of the basket at the center of the table, and turned to her new shadow. "You want an omelet sandwich, Jack?" she asked.
"Nah," he replied, rubbing one of his bleary, dark eyes. "What else've you got?"
Kimiko froze. Clay stopped chewing, and Omi even stopped talking. "Er…today's egg day," Clay at last explained. "The only things we have are egg products."
"You're joking…" Jack said, stunned but tired at the same time. "Come on, you've got to have other breakfast stuff in the Xiaolin Temple refrigerator, or wherever you keep it."
The other three shook their heads, and stared at him with wide eyes. "Yeah, we do, but…" Kimiko slowly began. "We're supposed to save it for a different day…like pancake day tomorrow."
"Well, go and get it out!" Jack tried to order them. "I'm hungry; I want some breakfast."
"You could just eat an omelet sandwich," Kimiko objected.
"But I don't like omelets!" Jack complained back. "They're nasty! I hate eggs!" The atmosphere fell silent. It was the first time anyone had dared to say anything bad about the food Master Fung had cooked. "Well…" Jack finally stated again, suddenly remembering that horrible Facist camp in the future world. He hesitantly reached forward, and at last grabbed an omelet sandwich. "…I hated oranges, too."
Kimiko, Omi, and Clay continued to stare, and you could almost see the question marks above their heads as Jack forced himself to take a bite of the sandwich. Oranges They shared the same thought length. What has any of this got to do with oranges?
"What?" Jack spoke up again, glancing up at them. "What?"
"You're acting weird," Kimiko explained.
"Yeah…" Clay hesitantly added. "Last I remembered, there were no oranges anywhere around here…"
"Oh!" Jack responded, realizing what he had said again. "Never mind. If I say weird things like that sometimes, just ignore me, okay?" The future was still bothering him all the time and he kept blurting out things from the future that the Xiaolins wouldn't understand. Well, how could it not be still bothering him? That had only been two days ago. So much had happened since then; it seemed like a lot longer. As those horrific events ran through his memory again, he threw aside his omelet sandwich and stood up from the chair-less table.
"Hey, where are you going?" Kimiko quickly responded in concern. "You only had one bite. You don't want the rest?"
"Nah," Jack softly replied. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going back down to my lab for a little while." The other Xiolain Dragons stared as he shuffled back into the temple and down the stairs on the left.
"Who was that?" Omi finally voiced his thoughts, holding his sandwich up.
"My thoughts exactly," Kimiko agreed. She continued to look down that hall with a slightly worried expression crinkling her forehead.
(-)
After breakfast, it was time for the morning training session, naturally. While Clay, Omi, and Kimiko were all outside, practicing with new Shen-Gong-Wu moves together, Master Fung kept Jack in the main, wooden training room with him and Dojo for special lessons.
"Okay…" the bald, blue-eyed man began, sucking in a deep breath and preparing for the long work ahead of him. "…Since you're new to this, Jack, we'll just start with a few basic kung-fu positions first…" Soon, he had him copying different sitting postures, relaxed standing positions, attack and defense positions, and also a few basic principles, like paralyzing, avoidance, and pressure points.
"Geez," Jack commented after his new master finally announced that his first beginner lesson was over. "How am I supposed to remember to do all that stuff when some enemy is trying to attack me?"
"If you keep an open mind, it will come to you."
Jack snorted to himself. The others would always scold him for making noises at their leader like this, but everything that came out of this guy's mouth was always so…corny. How could he not laugh at a statement like that?
"Well…" Master Fung slowly decided as he looked over at a handed clock on the opposite wall. "…We've still got a little more time; what do you say we move on and try a few simple moves? I know you've had no experience with this, but…"
"Actually," Jack hesitantly spoke up, remembering his actions in that future world. "I did a pole vault, and I flipped over my…uh, someone's head, and I did this weird spinning thing and kicked the people that were trying to capture me… I don't know how I did all that, though."
"Really?" Master Fung stated, placing his bearded chin in his hand, interestingly. "Hmm…this is different. I always enjoy training Dragons of Metal, because each one has always had a unique power…"
Jack obviously wasn't listening, because by this time, he would have been agreeing and going off on a long gloat. "Ermmmmmm…" He at last attempted to reply. "…Could we finish tomorrow? I'm really tired."
"Of course," Master Fung replied, turning his back and beginning to walk away. "I have a few things to figure out, anyway."
Dojo, however, turned around on his shoulder to keep an eye on their new, suspicious member. Jack slowly closed his eyes, and curled into one of the sitting positions on the carpet, trying to pretend he was practicing while he took a nap. Dojo smirked a little to himself before the scene disappeared behind a block of concrete that was part of the door frame.
(-)
By afternoon, everyone had fairly gotten back to normal. It was only a moment after lunch, which today, was rice. Jack forced himself to finish it, since he hadn't had much of a breakfast, but not before making it known to the rest of the world that he hated rice even more than omelets.
Now, Clay was creating a new figurine by tying piles of hay together at different angles. It was beginning to resemble a horse now. Omi was reading out of an ancient Chinese method book, out loud, and of course they couldn't understand a word of what he was saying. Jack was just laying his head against the low table and trying to catch a few extra Z's.
Kimiko was trying out a new, swept-up hairstyle and studying the effects in her hand mirror. "Hey, what do you think of this style?" she asked, pulling away from the reflecting surface.
"It doesn't matter to me," Clay replied. "However you like it is fine."
"Omi?" Kimiko asked for his input.
"Huh?" the young monk replied, breaking out of his Chinese trance.
"What do you think of my new hairstyle?"
"…What new hairstyle?"
Kimiko rolled her eyes. She should have known better. When Omi was in one of those concentrating, Chinese modes, he didn't notice anything else around him. "Jack?" she tried next, though she figured he was sleeping and would only make fun of her hair if he did respond at all. She just wanted some acknowledgement that her hair had changed at all.
At last, Jack lifted his cheek from the smooth tabletop and blinked his bleary eyes at her. He waited a moment for her to come into focus, before blurting out, "No. I like your hair better when it's down and straight, like…" Thankfully, this time he managed to catch himself before he referenced the future again. He'd been just about to say "like Julie's", but Julie didn't even exist. She probably never would exist.
"Like what?" Kimiko asked, confusedly.
"Never mind," Jack replied, laying his head back down on the table.
The frustrated Japanese girl was just about to yell at them and force some positive response out of them, but stopped to look into her hand mirror. "You know," she finally decided. "I don't like it either." And then she pulled the bands out of her hair and let it fall down her back. Jack perked up again, and stared at her for a few moments before she got her hair back up in pigtails.
At last, they all looked up when they heard a crashing in the distance coming in their direction. "Yo," Dojo suddenly spoke up as he slinked his way into the room. "We've got another Shen-Gong-Wu, you guys!"
"Wow, you seem so calm about it," Jack commented, looking up from the table for a moment. "Wuya always used to break out and go…" He suddenly heightened and purposely scratched his voice, while curling his hands in his best Wuya impression. "…Aagh! Jack! Another Shen-Gong-Wu has just revealed itself!" …or something like that."
Kimiko and Omi chuckled. "You know her pretty well from being around her so long, huh?" Omi said, almost picturing Wuya saying what he had just said.
"Yeah…" Jack answered. "…I'm glad to be rid of her, though…even though I am going to miss the way she used to say blast…" He switched back to his Wuya voice for a moment to yell, "Blast!" and the three Xiaolin Warriors all broke into light laughter.
"Um…hello there!" Dojo called, knocking on an invisible door in front of him. "Xiaolin Dragons! We have a Shen-Gong-Wu to snatch here!"
"Aw, what's the rush?" Clay objected, crossing his legs and laying back in his chair. "Wuya's trapped in that scepter and Jack's on our side. There's no hurry to get the Wu before anybody else."
"True…" Dojo commented, running out of excuses to make them all shut up and listen to him. "But…but what if some normal person stumbled across it and used it wrongly? …Not that this one can be used wrongly…it's not in any way dangerous, but…we still need to go get it, stat!"
Omi raised a long, thin eyebrow. "What does any of this have to do with statistics? Dojo, you're beginning to say weird things, like Jack…"
"It means, 'right away'!" Kimiko explained, getting a little fed up with his obliviousness. "I would think you would at least know that."
Dojo spontaneously pulled out the magical Shen-Gong-Wu scroll and unrolled its ends to reveal a swirling blue design in the middle. "This one is called the Rag of Resurrection," he explained, and as he said the name, 'Rag of Resurrection' appeared in fancy black letters under the round blue vortex. Two people figures appeared in the vortex and began to move around. One of them fell down and broke his leg, while the other pulled out a sheet and draped it over his companion. The second person's leg was instantly fixed, and the two of them walked away. "As you can see from the illustration, it has the power to heal anyone or fix anything that is broken," Dojo continued. "And from the strange, dry itch I'm getting under my chin, it's located in Brazil!"
The new Xiaolin Warriors gave each other odd, disgusted looks. Kimiko was the first one to realize what this truly meant. "Brazil!" she cried. "Do you think it's with Raimundo!"
"It's a possibility," Dojo answered her. "Which is precisely why we need to leave, stat! After he's been there for the last month or so, who knows who's side he's on?"
"But…I just got an e-mail from him three days ago," Kimiko objected. "He sounded completely normal in the message- he was saying how he's working on a new circus trick with his family."
"Yes, but who can tell?" Dojo insisted. "Rai's a chronic turncoat, and we can never be sure of anything, especially with him being away for so long…"
"Rai's a what?" Omi asked, baffled once again.
"A chronic turncoat," Clay repeated. "It's someone who keeps switching sides."
"Am I a chronic turncoat too?" Jack wondered aloud. "Except I have no coat now…"
"Let's put it this way…" Kimiko spoke up. "We hope you're not a chronic turncoat anymore."
"Well, let's get going!" Dojo cried. "No more discussion!" He instantly morphed into his thirty-foot form and this time slammed into a wooden post holding up the awning outside.
"Dojo," Omi scolded, stepping up to pull the large dragon's flattened head away from the pole. "What has Master Fung told you about transforming inside the temple?"
Dojo grinned sheepishly. "I'm overly eager for this Shen-Gong-Wu…it's tingling in all kinds of weird places!"
The Xiaolin Warriors once again simultaneously wrinkled their noses, but climbed aboard their reptilian friend after grabbing their Shen-Gong-Wu. Dojo zoomed off, and everyone looked out into the blue sky ahead. Ahead of them lay Brazil. And ahead of them lay Raimundo and their next challenge.
(-)
Dojo finally touched down right outside a colossal circus tent. Its red-and-white stripes converged at two points where the long poles held the covering up. A large crowd of South Americans were gathering in front of it, mostly families with children. Fortunately, this time Dojo remembered to land behind a rock on the opposite side of the tent so no one would get suspicious.
"It is…" Kimiko said to herself as she surveyed the area. This was exactly how it had been described in that e-mail…large, red-and-white striped, with trailers lined up in the back, and families milling about at the entrance line. "This is Rai's circus troupe!"
"Well, that's funny," Omi commented. "Little did he know, he had a Shen-Gong-Wu right up his nose!"
"Eew," Kimiko commented. "You mean 'right under his nose'."
"Yes, that too!"
"So, d'ya think we should get Rai's assistance for this one?"
"Yeah, of course," Kimiko replied, slipping off Dojo and landing, gracefully on the dusty ground. "He may even know where it is. He didn't say anything about it in his e-mails, but maybe he's keeping it a secret from us."
"Which is another factor supporting him being a chronic turncoat," Dojo commented.
"Let's go meet him in the back," Clay suggested. "Judging from the crowd outside, I'd say the circus hasn't started yet." He jumped down on the other side of the Japanese girl.
"Yes, let us go and speak to him!" Omi added, landing softly on the other side. The three of them nodded at each other and began to sprint away in the direction of the trailers.
"Hey, wait!" Dojo yelled, halting them in their tracks. "You forgot something!" He shook his tail and flung a sleeping Jack to the dusty ground beside him.
He instantly awoke and began coughing out the sand in his mouth. "Ugh…are we there yet?" he asked as he slowly lifted his throbbing head.
"Yeah, we're here! We've been here for the last five minutes," Kimiko snapped. "If you hadn't fallen asleep on the ride over, you would've known that!"
Jack shrugged. "It was boring, and I was tired, so…"
"You've been tired all day," Kimiko argued, as she unwillingly reached down to help him up. "It's like you didn't even sleep last night."
"No, no, I was just taking one of my thirty-minute genius naps," Jack quickly replied.
"I thought it was five minutes…" Kimiko argued back under her breath. "Never mind!" she cried aloud to everyone else. "C'mon, guys, let's go get Rai!"
Excited and enthusiastic, Omi, Kimiko, and Clay resumed their sprint towards the trailer convention, with Jack following, reluctantly behind. As they approached the stationary traveling houses, a pair of men with "Zephyr Bros. Circus staff" printed on their fuchsia tee-shirts stepped up just in front of them.
"Where do you think you're going, kids?" the first one on the right stated. "Only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point."
"Please," Kimiko begged, staring innocently up at the men, and trying to manipulate them. "We have an important message for one of the performers. His name is Raimundo Pedrosa…"
"Sorry," the second man spoke up, crossing his arms, defiantly. "No one is allowed to see the Great Pedrosas, especially so soon before a performance. If you need to talk to him that badly, perhaps you can catch him after the show."
Kimiko sighed. Rai was right there; he was probably one of the closest trailers to them, and for a moment, she considered just trying to run past the men to see him, but fortunately, she knew better than that. So, the three disheartened Xiaolin Warriors turned around and headed back towards the rock that Dojo was hiding behind.
"What?" Jack cried when he saw them walking back. "All that walking for nothing? …I could have slept a little longer…"
"We have to wait until the circus is over," Kimiko complained, as she hung her head.
"Hey…" Clay suggested to his disappointed teammates. "Why don't we all go see the show? We have to wait until the end anyway."
"Yeah, that would be great!" Omi agreed, excitedly. "I have never seen a circus before!"
Even Kimiko began to cheer up. "Great idea, Clay! It would be cool to see Rai in one of his performances!"
"Yeah, I want to go too!" Dojo exclaimed, shrinking into 'gecko' form.
"Come on, Jack!" Omi called over to their tired goth partner. Jack sighed again and rolled his eyes. Somehow, he always got dragged into things like this… Soon, Clay was at the window, paying for their four circus tickets, and they settled into the sea of children and parents near the tent-flap entrance.
The circus staff opened up a portion of the tent and sent out a group of clowns to entertain the crowd as they set up. One with green, curly hair and a bright, clashing outfit stepped up beside Omi and watered his head with his squirting flower.
Suddenly, Kimiko and Clay heard a terrible, high-pitched scream from behind them, and whipped around to see Jack barreling towards them. He literally jumped on Clay and clung to his neck for dear life. Clay looked, uncomfortably up at him. "Uh…what's the matter there, partner? You're actin' like you've seen a ghost."
"C-C-Clowns!" Jack stuttered, squeezing Clay a little harder. "I'm…terrified of clowns! Clowns are the scariest things in the world!"
(REFERENCE)
"…Aside from being flushed down the toilet," Kimiko added for him.
"Yeah, aside from…" His face suddenly turned red. "Wait, how did you…?"
(REFERENCE)
"Yea! Yea!" Omi cried as the men at the tent flaps began to usher the crowd of people in. "The circus is starting! C'mon, everyone, the circus is starting!"
"At least I don't feel so awkward about coming here," Kimiko commented. "He's acting just like a little kid. We can pretend he's our little brother."
The clown group waved to their customers and ducked back into the circus tent, so Jack slowly relaxed and allowed Clay to breathe again. "Maybe you ought to stay out here and wait for us," Kimiko told him. "This is a circus; there's bound to be a clown act…"
"No, I think I'll be okay," Jack replied, panting and trying to calm down. "As long as they keep them in their cages…"
Clay and Kimiko gave him odd looks, but continued to follow Omi into the circus tent. The lights were dimmed inside the tent, and only a small portion of the ring was lit by a spotlight, on the platform where the ringleader would appear.
They had a brief squabble when Omi wanted to sit in they very first row, and Jack wanted to sit way in the back. They ended up taking seats somewhere in the middle, and a few minutes later after everyone was settled, the show began.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages. Welcome to the astounding display of the Zephyr Brothers' traveling circus…" the voice on the translation machine sounded terribly boring as it droned on and on. The man was speaking in Spanish, but the speakers on the sides were translating his speech into English, for all of the English spectators. Thankfully, the blaring music came on a minute or so later, or else Jack would have fallen asleep again, in his seat.
As usual, a parade of horses, elephants, and acrobatic bareback riders came parading around the ring, to welcome them. Kimiko squinted, and thought she might have seen Rai somewhere among them, but she wasn't sure, and never got a chance to get a good look at the boy.
Up first were the animal displays. A lady in a sequined outfit commanded a group of three elephants who did tracks together. Then, a second lady, in a similar sequined outfit guided two performing tigers. Kimiko endured through the motorcycle riders, the tightrope walkers, and even held her breath and let Jack cling to her as the clowns did several comedic routines.
"You're such a coward," she complained under his black sweatshirt.
"B-But they're scary!" he cried, trying to bury his face in her shoulder.
"Aw, poor baby," Kimiko joked, reaching over to purposely mess up his hair. "You think you'll live? Oh no, maybe the scary clowns will eat you!"
When she said that, Jack began to realize it. Maybe he was being a little ridiculous. He lifted his head from her shoulder for a moment. Well, the clowns hadn't blown anything up yet, so he figured he was safe.
Then finally, the droning translator on the side of the stage made the announcement. "This family of acrobats has been performing with us for generations. Please give a warm welcome to- the Amazing Pedrosas!"
A man stepped up on the platform, wearing a white and blue leotard. Was this Rai's father? Kimiko wondered, and kept close watch in order to find out. After the man finished his routine, a slim brown-haired woman stepped up next to him, and the two began to perform trapeze tricks together. And was she Rai's mother? They were awfully good, flipping and catching each other in midair.
Then, a young man entered the ring and began to perform various contortion exercises, and then to catch his mother and father as they fell from the trapeze. But…this wasn't Rai. He looked much older, maybe 18 or 19, even though he had the same brown hair and green eyes.
At last, a shorter figure stepped up next to the guy, and Kimiko's heart skipped a beat. That was most definitely Rai, and for a moment, she thought he was looking straight at her. She hadn't seen him in so long that it was a surprise to her just to see him at all. He looked strong and toned in his leotard, and even more so when he launched into a flying, flipping routine with what she now surmised was his older brother. Then, finally, a little girl, about 9 or 10 joined them for the finale.
"That's cute," Kimiko commented to her friends as she furiously clapped for them. "I never knew Rai had a little sister, or even an older brother." She could barely sit through the rest of the circus. A few more animal exhibits came next, with the standard 'shooting-out-of-a-cannon' trick.
The instant the lights swept away and the ringleader announced the end of the show, Kimiko stood up and made a beeline for the entrance. Jack zoomed after her, only because the clowns were now coming up into the stands to entertain the audience as they exited.
Omi was still staring in fascination at the empty ring, and Clay had to grab him and carry him away before they lost Jack and Kimiko in the crowd. The four of them bumped and jostled their way through the sea of circus goers, despite the cries of "hey watch it" and "wait your turn, kids". At last, they reached the other side of the tent, and…there they were.
"Rai!" Kimiko called, desperately. She could see the glittering white-and-blue uniforms of the Pedrosa family in the distance, amongst some of the other performers. "Hey, Raimundo!" Wherever the boy was in that crowd, he couldn't hear her voice at all.
Jack finally realized that he should be far enough away from the clowns by now, and fell onto the dusty ground, panting. Clay whizzed past him, holding Omi under one arm like a package.
They were a little closer now… The amorphous clump of people soon parted a bit, as some went off to their trailers. At last, Kimiko had a full view of Raimundo in his acrobat leotard. The rest of his family was walking a bit ahead of him, while he lingered back, chatting with one of the bird handlers. Kimiko stopped running when bits of their conversation began to enter her earshot.
"Oh…yeah, that one bit me on the wrist," the girl was saying. "I knew it was a little too early to be using the new falcons in the show…" She was around their age, with dark chestnut-brown hair, tied up in a shimmering ponytail for the circus. Her tanned skin and Spanish accent indicated that she was also a native Brazilian.
"Hey, no problemo," Rai replied, fishing something out of a slim pocket on his costume. "If you wanted me to fix it, you could have just said so…"
Kimiko gasped. Rai was holding a silvery scrap of fabric that seemed to glow with internal power. It looked vaguely familiar, and in that instant, she knew.
"Oh, it's okay," the Brazilian girl replied, trying to wave the object away. "It's only a minor bite. That thing should only be used for emergencies…"
Kimiko's heart thudded against her chest as she watched Rai take the girl's hand, and hold it up in a gentlemanlike fashion. "If something hurt you, than it's always an emergency to me."
The girl blushed.
"Rag of Resurrection!" he called, and placed the fabric strip over a red gash on her hand. An instant later, he pulled it off, and the wound had completely disappeared.
Kimiko felt the rage surge up inside her, but fought to keep it inside. How dare he…? How could he not tell her so many things…that he had the Rag of Resurrection…and a girlfriend! Secretly, in the back of her mind, Kimiko thought that someday she might have a chance with him…how could he crush her hopes like this?
At last, Clay and Omi caught up with her, and the large blond cowboy screeched to a stop. "Run, Clay run!" Omi yelled up at him. "Kimiko is about to blow up her bottom!"
"That's 'blow her top'" Clay corrected, "and I think you're right. Geez, Kimiko, what's all the fuss about?"
When she heard her friends behind her, Kimiko took a deep breath and tried to get back to normal. She shouldn't be acting this way…it wasn't like Rai had been her boyfriend at any time at the temple…and he had never let on that he liked her in the way she liked him. She sighed. "It's nothing. C'mon, let's go talk to Rai; he's got the Rag of Resurrection."
"Really?" Dojo spoke up, popping up from behind Clay's cream-colored cowboy hat. "That's why it felt so weird….it was already in his possession. Oooh… Hurry up and go get it from him, will ya?"
Finally, Jack came trudging up next to them, covered in dust. "Have you found that stupid Wu yet?" he complained. "I actually can't wait to go back to the temple."
"Raimundo has it," Omi filled him in. "We have to go get it from him, but Kimiko's freaking up for some reason… Uh, Clay, you can put me down now." The cowboy complied, lowering the little monk to the ground.
"Raimundo!" Kimiko shrieked in anger and frustration. At last, that seemed to catch his attention.
The brown-haired boy glanced over at them, and his jaw dropped in astonishment. Obviously, he hadn't expected to see any of his old temple friends here, and especially to see Kimiko giving him that enraged glare. It felt like so long since he'd last seen them.
One night, when the other Xiaolin Dragons were training, Rai was looking through his mail and realized how much his family back in Brazil were missing him, while the Xiaolin Apprentices still felt awkward and uncomfortable around him. He wasn't needed here, he'd decided at that moment; he was most needed at home, where he could better himself as an athlete and an acrobat.
So, that night, he hastily packed up his things and jumped on the next plane to South America. He hadn't bothered to say good-bye to the Xiaolin Warriors, because he knew they'd only try to stop him, and probably succeed. Things were better this way, he'd had to tell himself for the longest time, and he had been starting to believe it, but now their reappearance could ruin everything.
Nevertheless, Rai forced himself to meet with his old friends, bringing his new girlfriend up with him. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" he asked, looking over all of them, a very puzzled look crossing his normally cool and confident face.
"We came here looking for the Rag of Resurrection…" Omi began, staring up at him, suspiciously. "…but we didn't know you had it!"
"Oh…" the bird handler girl asked, nervously. "Are these your friends, Rai? I didn't know they were coming today…"
"Neither did I," Rai replied under gritted teeth. "But…um, everyone, this is my new girlfriend, Leandra. Leandra, these are Kimiko, Omi, and Clay." They nervously waved to each other.
"I didn't know you got a girlfriend," was the first statement Kimiko made to him.
"Ah…well, I didn't figure you needed to know," Rai tried to explain. "Besides, you never told me about your new friend, either."
"New friend?" Kimiko asked, and her eyes settled on Jack. "Oh…you mean Jack?"
"Huh?" Rai asked again, still not recognizing his former nemesis. "Who are you?"
Jack snapped into reality and jumped in front of the others, striking a ridiculous pose. "Who am I?" he announced, in a pseudo super hero voice. "Why, I'm Jack Spicer- non-evil boy genius and legendary Dragon of Metal!"
Leandra began giggling at his side, but Rai looked like he was about to faint. "What? Alright, that's it. I'm having a nightmare. You guys just suddenly show up, and you're looking for the Rag of Resurrection, and Jack Spicer is a good guy? Someone has to wake me up right now."
Kimiko crossed her arms and pushed Jack out of the way. "We're not an illusion, Rai. Even though you wish we were. Just like I wish you were, but you're not."
"Look, Kim, I'm sorry," the nervous Brazilian boy tried to continue. "I didn't know how you'd react to hearing the news. I wasn't even planning on letting you know at all. We might have been close before, but… I can't go back to the way things were before. My place is here now." He paused when he saw the confused, upset looks on Kimiko, Omi, and Clay's faces. "I'm sorry," he added, turning to walk away with Leandra.
The circus girl looked like she wanted to object, but followed her boyfriend into the whirling dust.
Kimiko hung her head. "I can't believe that guy! Rai!" she yelled after him, although she knew he couldn't hear. "You can't just walk away! You're the Dragon of Wind! It's your destiny to come with us!" She only sighed in defeat when there came no response.
Rai and Leandra were headed for one of the trailers in the distance. It was almost too late…
"What are we going to do?" Omi wondered aloud. "We need to get the Rag of Resurrection from him…" Clay glanced solemnly at the ground.
Jack, who had been unnaturally calm ever since the clown incident, stepped back from the others and thought for a minute. As he remembered those influential images from the future world, he thought he might be able to do something similar with his Shen-Gong-Wu…but why? The other Xiaolin Warriors had never really done anything for him…and he didn't even know this Rai guy.
Still…the Xiaolin Warriors had helped him to find the right path, and protect the world from himself. Maybe this Rai guy just needed something to help him, too… "…Hey…" he awkwardly began to say.
The others turned around to look at him, half expecting some complaint or unimportant statement.
Jack lifted the Vase of Viscous Visions to his shoulder. "Maybe…well, I'm not sure, but maybe I could use this to make him see his memories of the time he spent with you and want to come back again."
The other Xiaolin Warriors just blinked for a moment in surprise. "…Really? …Jack? …You'd do that?" Kimiko finally managed to say. It was almost unthinkable that he would just step up to help someone he'd never even known before and especially on only his second day of being a good guy, but the other three Warriors stared, surprisingly as Jack ran out after Rai and Leandra.
"Wait up!" he yelled, and the two circus performers at last turned around. Rai only looked more confused and disgusted, as Kimiko, Clay, and Omi came running up behind Jack.
(REFERENCE)
"See," he said. "Just as I always thought. You guys even trust Jack Spicer more than you trust me. You don't need someone around who'll only worry you."
"That's not true," Kimiko tried to persuade him. "Well, yeah, we trust Jack, but only after he became the Dragon of Metal and decided to stop being evil. You might worry us sometimes, but he worries us too, and…"
(REFERENCE)
Jack held up the blue vase, gripping it by its two handles, and then Kimiko knew to be quiet and let the Shen-Gong-Wu do its thing. "Vase of Viscous Visions," he commanded, and instantly the swirling, bubble colors swelled up and over the edges of the item.
Kimiko, Omi, Clay, and Leahandra all gasped as the liquid flew forward and coated Rai's body. They couldn't see what was going on within the psychedelic bubble, but they could tell that he was seeing something.
At first, Rai only stared in shock at the images before him, but before long, they could see him laughing, and once, he even looked sad and longing. He had been together with Omi, Clay, and Kimiko quite a while, and despite their differences, they'd had a wonderful time together. (SPOILER) Of course, he finally decided, when a vision of the day he'd captured Wuya and saved the world flickered past in the Vase's liquid coating. (SPOILER) They needed me then. And that other time…and that other time… Perhaps the place where I really belong is…
Finally, the wave of watery memories receded back into the pot from whence it came, and Raimundo stepped out of his trance, smiling mysteriously. "Well…" he admitted. "Now that I think about it…"
"You're going to come back to the temple with us!" Omi blurted out in hopeful anticipation.
Suddenly, before he could reply, a strange golden object came hurtling through the air straight for him. Leandra screamed, but before anyone else could do something to stop the falling meteorite, a large gray-colored sphere popped up around them. The object crashed into the shield and went flying far off into the distance.
"What was that?" Rai cried, questioning both the object that had fallen from the sky and the shield that had protected everyone from it.
"Gee…that just came out of nowhere!" Kimiko stated as she finally began to calm down.
"I did it!" Jack exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and trying to look important. "I did the Silver Shield!"
While Clay, Omi, and Kimiko nodded and uttered words of gratefulness, Rai cocked his head, not knowing what he was talking about.
"So, everyone," Dojo spoke up, enlarging himself and nearly crushing Clay. "Are we ready to head back?"
"Just a second," Rai told him. "I need to okay it by my parents. We were supposed to leave here and do another show tomorrow…and Leandra…" He looked back, worriedly at the sequined girl standing just behind him.
"Oh, don't worry," she urged him. "We can still talk to each other on the internet. And maybe sometime you could call me… Go ahead with your friends. I know how much you missed them, since you were always talking about them…"
Rai blushed a little and fiddled with his Pedrosa family uniform. "Well…I just thought you'd be angry with me for choosing them over you…"
"Don't be silly," Leandra replied, with a giggle. "If I had special powers and got to ride around on a giant Chinese dragon, I sure wouldn't want to leave that."
"Well, we'll come back and visit!" Dojo decided, raising his neck, proudly. "And I'll give you a ride, since someone actually wants me to give them a ride…"
A few minutes later, after Rai had talked to his parents, the Xiaolin Dragons once again boarded their temple guardian and waved to Leandra and the Pedrosa family below.
"I can't believe I did the Silver Shield," Jack spontaneously commented, when they were too far up in the sky to see them anymore.
"Yeah…" Kimiko slowly responded. "We have a lot to tell Master Fung once we get back to the temple."
"Yeah, I did the Silver Shield!" Jack repeated, sitting up straight and proud. That seemed to be the only thing he could say.
A few uncomfortable hours later, Dojo touched down again just outside the Xiaolin temple's blue-and-yellow trimmed buildings. "Well…welcome home," he said, twisting his long scaly head around to look at Raimundo.
"Yeah…" he replied, a small smile appearing on his tanned face. "It feels good to be back here."
The new group of five Xiaolin Warriors hopped from the dragon's back and ran excitedly back into the main temple together. For the first time, they were all together…at least, the first time they were all together as Xiaolin Dragons. "We're ba-ack!" Omi announced as they hurried through the doors and into the long central chamber.
"Hey, old man!" Jack cried, running ahead of the others and up to the base of where Master Fung stood.
"That's Master Fung to you," he corrected, scowling down at his newest pupil.
"Of course, oh great master…" Jack said, bowing in false reverence. "But, I just had to tell you…I finally did the Silver Shield!"
"Oh, really," Master Fung acknowledged, though his facial expression read "took ya long enough."
"And more importantly…" Kimiko announced from behind. She stepped up in front of Jack, much to his frustration, and pulled Raimundo up beside her. "Rai's back!"
"Well…welcome back, Raimundo," Master Fung said to him. "I trust you've made a firm decision this time…"
"Yes," Rai answered, clenching a fist. "This is where I am really needed. And it's not like I can't still see my family and friends across the ocean… I'm the Dragon of Wind, and I need to perform my duties, no matter what!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit, kid!" Dojo said, scuttling onto Rai's shoulder, protectively.
"Get off," he only responded, flinging the gecko-sized dragon off.
"Hmm…" Master Fung thought aloud to himself. "This is the first time in quite awhile that all five Elemental Dragons are together… It'll be interesting to see just how far your powers will go…"
"What do you mean by that?" Omi asked, hurrying up to the front in fascination.
"Never mind," the temple master disappointed him. "You don't need to know any more right now. Besides, there might not even be a need for…" He cut himself off and waved a hand at them, lost in thought. "You may go now. I believe you still have a few tasks that need to be done…"
The group glanced at each other, but trooped out into the hallways of the Xiaolin Temple together.
(-)
"You ought to go place that Rag of Resurrection in the Vault," Clay told Rai as they walked along.
"Yeah, I'll do it later," he casually replied. "Besides, you guys haven't returned your Shen-Gong-Wu either."
"We could have never guessed that you were holding that Shen-Gong-Wu," Omi spoke up, looking up at Rai. "It's funny how that worked out."
"…And after all that, we still have chores to do!" Kimiko complained, checking her schedule. "Don't worry, Rai, you just came back and you're not on the list, so he won't make you do any."
"I wouldn't have minded," Rai replied to everyone's surprise. "I do have to get back into the routine around here."
"Well…" Kimiko continued, looking back down at the schedule. "Today, I'm taking out the garbage…yay… Omi's doing the gardening, Jack has to wash dishes, and Clay is doing the laundry. Hmm, there's no one making dinner today…"
"Isn't it a little late to be doing gardening?" Omi asked, looking outside at the dark, moonlit sky above the flower patch.
"Well, we were supposed to have started at 3:00," Kimiko explained, "But we were out getting Rai at that time… Shen-Gong-Wu recovering is more important than daily chores."
Omi was about to point out that they had actually been watching the circus at 3:00, but didn't want to stir up trouble.
Clay hurried to the laundry room, while Kimiko began to unload the first trash barrel in sight. As she pulled the trash bag from its plastic container, she happened to look back up at Jack, who hadn't moved an inch yet.
"Hey!" she called over to him. "What are you waiting for? You have to do the dishes, you know." She'd been slightly surprised when she hadn't heard his voice earlier, complaining about actually having to do manual labor and wondering why they didn't have a dishwasher.
Jack was simply standing in the corner, smiling secretively to himself. He was definitely up to something.
"Hey…" Rai spoke up, crossing his arms and raising a thick eyebrow. "Now what's that smile for, Jack? I got a funny feeling you're hiding something from us…"
"Mmm…" Jack tried to answer, his smile widening as he fought against the urge to break out in an evil grin. "…It's time I introduced you to my newest inventions…" he at last managed to say, the grin finally winning over.
Kimiko jumped up, on alert. This whole thing really was a cover-up after all!
Jack thrust his arm out, pointing towards the kitchen, dramatically. "Washerbots, go!" he commanded.
Instantly, an army of robots with sinks in the tops of their square bodies and washing machine door paraded into the kitchen. Robotic arms popped up from their sides, and they grabbed the dishes, squirting soap on them, dunking them in their sinks, and placing them back in the strainer, sparkling clean. Jack smiled and crossed his arms proudly as the Washerbots finished their work.
Kimiko and Rai stared, both in anger, fascination, and relief. "Jack!" Kimiko cried. "That's cheating!"
"Nuh-uh," the "non-evil boy genius" replied. "I'm just doing my chores."
"No, you're not!" Kimiko insisted. "Those robots are doing your chores!"
"Well, I made those robots that are doing my chores, so I am, in fact, indirectly doing my chores," Jack argued, nonchalantly.
Rai watched the robot brigade with surprising astonishment and admiration. "Hey…" he asked, looking back at Jack. "Can I borrow those Washerbots next time I have to do the dishes?"
"Rai!" Kimiko complained. "Not you too!"
"Sure thing," Jack replied, throwing a smile over at the Brazilian. "I need to test out my new Sweeperbots too, so let me know when you have to do the sweeping."
"What about tomorrow?" Kimiko asked, trying to catch Jack with something. "You have to cook dinner."
"No problem," he answered, calmly. "I'll get to try out the new Chefbots!"
Kimiko hit the floor in exasperation. No wonder he was so tired today, she realized, he was up all night making these chore-alleviating robots! Naturally, it took Kimiko, Omi, and Clay a lot longer to finish their chores, and at one time, Kimiko even considered asking Jack if he had any trash-collecting robots.
Finally, when the five met up again, it was around 6:30. "Well, let's decide what we're having for dinner," Clay suggested. The three of them were staved after their work.
"We should have something to celebrate Raimundo's return to us!" Omi exclaimed.
"Can we at least have something I like for once?" Jack complained.
"I have no idea," Kimiko commented. "You don't seem to like anything we have. What do you like, anyway?"
"Oh, just normal stuff," he answered, coolly. "Like pizza, hamburgers, potato chips…"
"Junk food," Omi corrected him.
"It's not junk food!" Jack argued back. "I've been eating that stuff all my life, and I'm perfectly healthy."
"…Well, pizza doesn't sound so bad," Kimiko consented. "We could order a few pizzas and have a pizza party." Of course, this turned into a struggle when everyone wanted different toppings, and Omi wanted to try each one, since he'd never had pizza before. Kimiko eventually had to order four pizzas, all with different toppings.
About thirty minutes later, when the delivery man arrived, they begged Master Fung to let them have a pizza party, and he grudgingly agreed, since it was a special occasion. Of course, Dojo wanted to join them, since there was food involved, and they decorated the kitchen with streamers for the event.
For the rest of the night, the five Dragons and the dragon ate and talked together. Clay even tried to get the others involved in a hoedown, although he only got Omi and Kimiko to join him on the dance floor. Dojo ended up eating a whole pizza and had a stomachache for the remainder of the party.
Since the others pointed out that it was her day to take out the trash, Kimiko unwillingly tore down the streamers and carried out the empty pizza boxes at the end of it. She hoped Master Fung wouldn't mind that it was actually 9:30 that they were going to bed instead of 8:30.
Jack was the first one to reach the dormitory hallway, since he was actually tired tonight, from his lack of sleep last night. As he looked around, he decided to try to sleep in his assigned cubicle tonight, since he didn't feel like going back down to his lab. He lied down on the mat in the center of the "room" and pulled a dark sheet over himself, too tired to worry about changing into pajamas.
Omi reached his cubicle next, since he wasn't used to being up at 9:30, and fell asleep as soon as he got there.
Kimiko and Clay came next, chatting with each other as they entered the hallway. Then, they separated to go to their separate cubicles. None of them even thought about their new problem…
Rai entered the hallway, stretching and looking around. He was carrying his things in a suitcase, and set it down inside what he remembered as his old "room". Yup, he affirmed. It was definitely his; some of his posters were even still tacked to the wall. He clicked the suitcase open, and shuffled through his belongings. It was too late to worry about changing into pajamas, he decided, and just placed his pillow on the mat at the center of the room, and pulled out a blanket to cover himself with. Strange…the mat seemed a bit darker and lumpier than he remembered, but then again, he hadn't been here in a while.
Rai finally took a deep breath and lied down, flipping the blanket over him, contentedly. Something didn't feel right… Rai shifted his body to the right and tried to figure out what that warm, bumpy feeling was, and then he realized that, to his horror, there was another person lying beside him!
Jack's eyes popped open again when he felt another body bumping against his back. Sure, he'd been hearing rustling around him, but he figured that had only been Omi or Clay in the next door cubicles. But there was someone sleeping on the same mat with him! He slowly sat up and turned around to see who it was.
Rai slowly sat up to see who it was.
When the two saw each other, they simultaneously screamed, and jumped up out of their blankets. Jack shot off down the hall, while Rai figured it was safe to run around the corner and into Kimiko's cubicle.
"Rai!" Kimiko exclaimed, since the screaming had instantly woken her up. "Geez, Rai, what's the matter?"
"What's the matter?" he cried, running over to her in a frantic gesture. "What's the matter? Jack Spicer was in my bed!"
"What?" Kimiko cried, imagining all kind of terrible things, but then she calmed down and realized what must have happened. "Oh no. I forgot about that. See, we told him he could stay in your old room, and…"
By this time, Omi and Clay had also ventured out to see what all that screaming had been about, and found Rai and Kimiko in her cubicle. They had to explain once again what had happened to them.
"What's the big deal?" said the always clueless Omi. "They could just share the room." Rai shot a death glare at him.
"Where'd Jack go?" Kimiko asked. "We could probably just get him to sleep in his laboratory instead."
"I don't know," Rai testily replied. "I was too busy running for my life!"
"I'll go look," Clay volunteered, and soon found him, locked up in the bathroom. When they both returned, the others all noticed that Jack looked just as shaken and flustered as Rai.
"I forgot!" he called to them. "I'm sorry. I shall go get my blanket and never return to this hallway again!" They watched as he stomped off to his lab, dragging the black sheet along behind him.
"Well…that settles that," Kimiko summed up. "You can go back to your room now, Rai."
"…I don't think I want to," he replied, trying to shake off the shock. "I think I've been scarred for life!"
"Oh, come on, it was just a misunderstanding," Kimiko told him. "No go back to bed."
Finally, Rai, Clay, and Omi trudged off back to their rooms, and Kimiko laid her head back down on her pillow. This place is too full of guys… she thought. Well, at least we have all of the Xiaolin Dragons together now… Boy, is this going to be interesting… And at last, a soothing tranquility settled over the Xiaolin Temple, for the first time in what seemed like ages.
