dl-sPirit: Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long! (is splatted by tomatoes) HEY!
Jack and Raimundo: (laughs)
Ferret and Omi: (pointing to Jack and Rai) They did it!
Cosmo:...I LIKE PIE!
dl-sPirit: o0 Uh-huh. (to Raimundo) Rai, you better not do this again! For that, you're doing disclaimer!
Raimundo: WHAT!
Omi: You must obey her!
Raimundo: (growls) dl-sPirit doesn't own Xiaolin Showdown.
Jack: Ok, onto the reviews!
To Angelus-alvus:Omi: Here is your update!
To t-anonymous: Raimundo: Yeah, it was. dl-sPirit says thank you. As for me, it's great to find another fan:)
To Rave Slave: Jack: Same here! I'm too scared of you!
To Elemental-Zero: Ferret: Thanks for updating and for the compliement! And, don't forget - we still have the swordfishes (laughs evilly)
Jack: That's a bad imitation of me!
Ferret: (glares)
To firewu: Omi: Your wait is over!
To SaphireStars: Cosmo: You're worse than my anti! (hides from SaphireStars)
To Kosmic: dl-sPirit: Thanks (blushes)
Raimundo: Aw, look, the two lovebirds!
dl-sPirit: That's it! You're beginning to annoy me!
Raimundo: (smirking) So?
dl-sPirit: FINE! COSMO, I WISH RAI WAS A FAIRY!
Rai, Jack, Omi, and Ferret: WHAT!
Cosmo: Done! (raises wand and grants wish) (Raimundo vanishes momentarily and reappears as a Butch Hartman-style fairy)
dl-sPirit and Jack: (laughs)
Ferret:...read this, while we try to calm down Rai.
Clay grinned as they met in the vault with the ingredients. Though they had all lied to Master Fung for why they needed the meditation cauldron, he couldn't help but feel good that they were gonna brew the potion now. Dojo was reading over the instructions while Clay, Kimiko, and Omi were taking out the ingredients: the dried leaves of the nightshade, the winkled petals of the cuckoo flower (A/N: That would happen), the newly-formed palm tree resin (A/N: It hardened), Rai's scale, and Necro's blood.
"Ok, first thing we gotta do is grind up the 'dragon's blood' and scale. Then, we mix it with Necro's blood," Dojo directed, looking up momentarily. Clay obligingly ground up the scale and resin, using the Fist of Tebigong, and Kimiko, who used to cook a lot, mixed the powders and blood together perfectly. It fizzled for several minutes before the powders seemingly melted and fused with the blood. A bright green liquid now rested in the pot, creating heat from itslf, beginning to boil.
"Now, we put in the cuckoo flower and nightshade, and just let it steep for a few hours. Then we put it in the Amulet and we're done," Dojo finished, placing the instructions on the floor. Omi carefully placed the plants in - and realized something. "In the Amulet?" he questioned.
"Well, sure, it's hollow-" Dojo started. He was cut off as he began spazzing. "I don't believe it! The Amulet of the Moon just lit up!" he cried, unable to believe their luck. The others seemed to share the same attitude momentarily before Omi recovered and said, "Then we must leave at once! We have no time to dally or daise!"
"Dilly-dally?" Kimiko suggested as Dojo grew to full size. Omi gave her a confused look and replied, "That makes no sense at all."
(---)
Raimundo half-listened as Wuya screeched something about a new shen-gon-wu while Jack played a CD of his. Raimundo tuned them out, expecting Jack to come and let him out like he was a dog, merely to fight his friends over the shen-gon-wu. But, to him, it didn't matter. Nothing did. Maybe he'd lose on purpose, let Jack finish him off.
There was a door slamming, bring the brazilian out of his thought. Wait. They left...going after a wu...and left him behind? It didn't add up. Raimundo listened as Jack's last song, 'Letterbomb', faded out. Then, the next song came on. It was one he usually liked, but now wasn't the time for it.
'I walk a lonely road,
The only one I have ever known.
Don't know where it goes,
But it's home to me and I walk alone.'
He knew this song by heart. It was something he could relate to so well, it frightened him. But it was true.
'I walk this empty street On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams,
Where the city sleeps,
And I'm the only one and I walk alone.
I walk alone,
I walk alone.
I walk alone,
I walk a-'
The song described him all too well. He alone had to carry the burden of knowing he was a monster. No one else could afford to know. That was why his father died, he learned the truth about his son. Dojo was spared because he was a dragon. But, it never ceased to confound Raimundo, why did Escuro choose to spare the circus? More importantly, his mom?
'Vento, was it not obvious? They were of no threat to our existance. They feared us far too much to do anything,' Escuro replied, an I-know-something-you-don't tone in his voice. "I hate smug know-it-alls and psycho spirits, and that defines you," Raimundo retorted. 'That means you also hate yourself and Wuya, correct?' "Shut it."
'My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.
Sometimes, I wish someone out there will find me.
Till then, I walk alone.
Aah-ah, aah-ah, aah-ah, aaaah-ah,
Aah-ah, aah-ah, aah-ah.'
Raimundo was surprised when, for once, Escuro obeyed him. Trying to forget his darker half, he concentrated on the song. But it seemed to keep bringing his mind back to reality. Escuro, his 'shadow', was always with him, though he had never shown himself before. He wondered why his friends had not come to help him yet. They get in easily, right?
'I'm walking down the line
That divides somewhere in my mind
On the borderline Of the edge and where I walk alone.'
Escuro, he knew, was doing everything possible to push him off the edge of sanity. Inside himself, he was divided. Though most of him had faith that his friends wiould come, there was a slowly-growing part of him that said, "They never liked you, so why would they come for you? They're happy that you're gone, they don't even remember you." In Raimundo's opinion, Escuro really got him screwed up.
'Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's all right.
Check my vital signs To know I'm still alive and I walk alone.'
I walk alone,
I walk alone.
I walk alone,
I walk a-'
'Vento, child, do you know what today is?' the dark spirit asked, a hint of malevolence in his voice. Raimundo wanted to yell 'I'm not a child!' but he chose to, instead, shake his head no. It was true. He had lost track a while ago. It was impossible to tell what was day and night in his dingy prison. 'Let me give you a hint: Happy birthday, Vento,' Escuro sneered. Raimundo gasped.
'My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.
Sometimes, I wish someone out there will find me.
Till then, I walk alone.
Aah-ah, aah-ah, aah-ah, aaaah-ah,
Aah-ah, aah-ah
I walk alone, I walk a-'
Raimundo grit his teeth as waves of pain wracked his weak body. He could feel his form changing, dragon and human fusing together. The brazilian began shaking uncontrollably as Escuro began to take control. He didn't want to change, he just couldn't allow himself to!
But, there was that tiny part of him. It accepted the change, wanted it, and was beginning to poison the rest of him. He was changingly physically and mentally, he couldn't stop it. He gave one last piercing scream that echoed thoughout the empty house.
'I walk this empty street On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams,
Where the city sleeps,
And I'm the only one and I walk a-'
His final cry died down and his form fell to the ground, unmoving, eyes shut. All was silent. The transformation was complete.
'My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.
Sometimes, I wish someone out there will find me.
Till then, I walk alone...'
His eyes snapped open, but the familiar mischievous twinkle was gone, replaced by cold hatred. He slowly got up. As the song and the echoing scream faded, a new sound echoed thoughtout Jack's home: malicious, triumphant laughter...
Omi: Raimundo, are you ok?
Raimundo: I'M SHORT! WHAT DO YOU THINK! (hears Jack and dl-sPirit still laughing) (growls)
Cosmo: (poofs up cheese and eats it with his feet)
Raimundo: How do you poof up stuff?
Ferret:...I'll go say hi to Kosmic.
Jack: (stops laughing) I'll go with you. (both go hide)
Cosmo: You just think 'I wish...' and the wand does the rest!
Raimundo: (thinking) I wish I had an axe. (Raimundo's wand turns into an axe) (grins darkly at me)
dl-sPirit: (stops laughing) HOLY CRAP! (runs)
Raimundo: GET BACK HERE! (chases after dl-sPirit)
Cosmo: THAT'S FUNNY! (points and laughs)
Omi: Please review! (laughs as, somewhere in the distance, dl-sPirit screams while running from Raimundo)