Chapter 09: A New Kind of Blue
At the foot of Mount Hong, Raimundo scanned the woods for any signs of the predator Shen Gong Wu. He thought a haunting, blue dragon would stand out in the groves, but the beast was proving to be extremely elusive. Occasionally, he would catch glimpses of the others shooting through the trees, but the rest of his surroundings seemed foreign, even though he had spent the last two years living on the border of the expansive forest.
After the sun had risen for the third time since the exercise began, Raimundo found his way into a clearing, a lustrous pasture blanketed with wildflowers for every section of the color spectrum. The serene breeze draped around him like a warm blanket on a quiet winter night. He had only a few minutes to absorb the tranquility before a roar from behind signaled the approach of the creature he had spent the last few days in search of.
Once the dragon had wound its way into the enclosed field, it made a lunge for the monk, who leapt into the air and activated his elemental powers with a booming "Wudai Star Wind!" Deciding it was best to keep a distance between his target and himself, Raimundo soared threw the sky, dodging blasts with the power to petrify him into pure sapphire.
"Enough!" he told the 'Dragon', "Shut it!"
With a great gust of wind, he extinguished the beast's flames and flung a tree at its head with another surge of element-summoning. His body had taken a toll from all the energy he put into his elemental powers, but the 'Dragon' remained still beneath the uprooted willow. Through the rim of trees surrounding the pasture, Clay emerged with a grin on his face.
"Hey, Rai, we've gotta return to the temple n- What in tarnation!" he exclaimed as the 'Sapphire Dragon' rose up from beneath the log.
"Stay back, Clay!" Raimundo told him. "I'll take care of this!"
"Raimundo, you don't understand! Kimiko beat the 'Sapphire Dragon' half an hour ago! She soaked the soot through the 'Black Beetle' like a turkey slice in a bucket full of gravy."
"What! Are you sure!"
"Dead sure, partner." The Texan replied, revealing the 'Sapphire Dragon' Shen Gong Wu, now reduced to a dormant bobble.
"If that's the 'Sapphire Dragon', then what the heck is this thing?" demand Rai, looking up at the dragon gazing down at them.
"Now, why did you have go and ruin the surprise?" the dragon inquired. And with in a split-second, the beast transformed into…
"Hannibal Bean!" Rai exclaimed. To Clay he bid, "Go back to the temple and get the others!"
As Clay sped off toward the Xiaolin Temple, Hannibal used the 'Moby Morpher' to grow to the size of Tubbimura. Raimundo rushed the inflated pod, burying his fist into him before being thrown across the clearing by one of Hannibal's sprout arms. His reflex commandeering control of his body from his brain, Raimnudo rolled out of the way as the bean slammed into the spot where he had land. Seizing the opportunity, Raimundo tackled Hannibal Roy Bean to the ground and began smashing into the villain with all his might.
Bean flicker for a moment, and an instant later he assumed the form of Clay, who said, "Raimundo, if you hit me again, I'm gonna make you hurt you more than Jack Spicer wearing a red cape during the bull-riding portion of a rodeo."
"Stop with the farm analogies!" Raimundo yelled, punching the doppelganger Clay's face, just as Kimiko and the real Clay entered the clearing.
"Raimundo, you must cease hitting me before I am forced to bring you your lunch." Hannibal said, replacing his Clay disguise with an Omi one.
"Speak English! And it's 'before you get served'!" demanded Raimundo before burrowing through the fake Omi's stomach with his fist.
A moment later, Hannibal transformed into Master Fung Rai and scolded, "Raimundo, you must learn to control your anger."
His anger and irritation at its greatest ever, Rai bellowed before slamming his fist down again, "What kind of bed is a floor mat!"
But his assault stopped a second later as Kimiko lay beneath him, tears in her eyes as she begged him "You wouldn't hurt me, would you, Rai?" Raimundo paused, his arm in the air, ready and willing to beat whatever the sadistic bean was filled with, but his heart froze every muscle in his body. Even if it wasn't really her, how could he bring himself to hit Kimiko?
The clone Kim took smirked at Raimundo and rolled him over, both hands on his chest and a twisted smile defiling her face.
"Wudai Mars Fire!" she shrieked as her hands began to burn into Raimundo. But a scarlet jolt of lightning rescued him, sweeping Hanni-Kim to the ground. Raimundo rose to find Omi standing in front of him in his usual battle-ready and eager to fight attitude.
"Even if Chase Young believes you to be a stronger warrior than I, I cannot allow my friends to be beaten be a gigantic bean!"
"Good thing he came to rescue you," Hannibal told Raimundo, his original form now showing, "because I personally don't think you could've saved yourself. Poor Raimundo can't even bring himself to punch someone who ever looks like the girl he l-"
"SHUT UP, YOU SHAPE-SHIFTING FREAKSHOW!" bellowed Raimundo before he charged once more to attack the evildoer. But from behind, he heard a malevolent voice telling him, "I wouldn't do that if I were you…"
Raimundo spun around to find Wuya standing over Clay' barely conscious body, Kimiko knocked out and tucked limp under her arm.
"Not if you want to protect you precious little 'treasure'."
"Put her down, Wuya!"
"Sorry, Raimundo, but we have so many things on our To-Do list. We really must be going." the Heylin witch said with a smile before leaping onto her partner in evil, who became a phoenix as she spoke.
The bird flapped its enormous wings once and took flight, Kimiko in tow. Leaving the ground, Raimundo chased after them, and with all the rage, energy, and power left in him he bellowed "Xiaolin Soul Wind!"
Mount Hong and its surroundings were engulfed by a violent tempest with winds that dissolved the mountain into dust. The once calm breezes of the clearing ripped the surrounding trees from the ground and deposited them into a tornado that drilled far enough into the earth's crust that it drew magma to the surface.
Standing behind an earthy wall Clay had made to shield them from the magma, the two Wudai Warriors still on the ground looks up in disbelief.
"Holy Bessie!" cried Clay, unable to peel his eyes from the destructive force Raimundo had accidentally unleashed from his loss of control. Omi, on the other hand, was at a loss for words and when he finally spoke, it was in a stupefied whisper.
"Dragon level powers…?"
But Wuya's voice calling out "Serpent's Tail!" told Raimundo that the storm would not stop them, and too exhausted to fly after them, he fell to the ground. As the villains left, he could hear the laughs carried and magnified by the winds drifting from the dispelled hurricane.
"KIMIKO!"