Chapter 73: We Need a Plan, and Don't Sweet Talk Me.
If you should know, there's a solution to every single thing. Though some people don't want to use their heads to find out. Like Raimundo. Kimiko; knew him, and knew his laziness.
"What time is it?" asked
Raimundo, still on the ground, sleep talking. "About eight o'clock in
the morning..." she replied, arching her eyebrow. Raimundo shifted
around and began another sentence. "Do you think we'll get any where
like this? We're still at the Temple and everything..." Kimiko sighed.
He was still thinking about the Temple? It was long gone. She poked him
while she pondered over this.
He didn't move. Poke. Nope. Poke. Hm... Poke.
"Raimundo,
wake up. Are you being serious about this or not? You have to think
about something! Look, we're in the trap of the Evil Prince of
whatever! And you're going to sleep on it!"
He lifted up an arm and muttered a curse.
"I don't want to."
UGH!
Kimiko got up, and paced. Being away from the Temple made her not have
any new clothes... The scent of blood was enough to make her want to
vomit.
She turned her back to the waterfall, while she looked in
the direction of the Temple ruins. "Why don't we do something about our
health first? I mean... We can't go beat the snot out of Chase just
like that. How about we rebuild the Temple?"
A suggestion from the
oh-so-lightheaded Raimundo? Kimiko moved her eyes to him. He was awake,
but still sleepy. "Why would we do that? It won't ever be that same.
Nothing will, and for who knows, Dashi might have even built it with
some sort of magic power! We can't do anything, unless Master Fung has
the entire Temple memorized, which I think he doesn't"
"Note the word... think?" Raimundo shrugged while he said this, giving her another fit.
He didn't know anything, and he wasn't trying to help!
"Rai,
try using your head! We could try and ask Master Fung..." Nodding
along, Raimundo got up and stretched his sore body. "You know... He
might be right over there or something like that. He's going to be here
right about now, asking whether or not we were talking about him."
Raimundo said, crossing his arms.
Kimiko opened her mouth and glared at him. No cockiness was allowed yet!
"Were you asking about me, Kimiko?"
There. Raimundo gave Kimiko an I-told-you-so look. Master Fung frowned.
"I
have heard you were talking about the Temple? It would be possible to
rebuild. If all of you Xiaolin monks remembered what parts of the
Temple looked like."
Well I knew that...
Kimiko drifted off and thought about the Temple. She remembered her room, Raimundo's room, the roof, the training grounds, and the piano room. That was so far back.
"Yo, Kim. Listen to what Master Fung is
saying." Raimundo said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. He
wasn't listening either!
Kimiko wrinkled her nose at him and bowed to Master Fung.
"Did
the others hear about this Master Fung?" asked Kimiko, dragging her
shoe along on the ground. Master Fung didn't nod, or do anything. "Find
out for yourself. I can not help you with your quests and duties."
...What?
And the Master of the Temple left both Raimundo and Kimiko there, trying to figure out what he said. Find it out yourself.
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"Rebuild
the Temple? That's going to talk too long! We have to fight Chase Young
first!" Clay exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. He wasn't
bloody, but you could tell he was stressed by the look in his usually
cheery blue eyes.
"But we have to! Kimiko wants to, so I want to!" pouted Raimundo.
Kimiko stood there and thought it over. Why didn't Clay care?
Right
now they were living on some berries Omi found which were really bitter
tasting. And Clay didn't care about that? He even left everything he
had back there. How about Omi?
"I would try to rebuild if we beat
Chase Young!" Clay shot back. Raimundo crossed his arms and kicked a
clump of dirt on the ground. "Then we'll see what Xian, Omi, and Jill
think! Oh yeah, and I thought you wanted the best place for your wife!"
Clay first made a face at Raimundo. Then he slowly hunched his shoulders foward. "Fine Raimundo. We'll build the Temple." Score!
"Build the Temple? Alright!"
Jill?
Everyone turned their faces toward the voice. It was indeed her, but
she was standing some how, even though she was pregnant. The baby was
on the way too. She should have stayed on the ground.
"Don't do
that Jill! You might hurt yourself!" Kimiko squealed, rushing to her
side. Jill raised her eyebrows and wobbled over to Clay. She leaned on
his chest while she muttered, "Kimiko. I'm fine, and you don't have to worry about what's going to happen to. Besides... We're going to rebuild the Temple, so be cheery."
Raimundo rolled his eyes and brushed back his hair.
"At least Kimiko didn't have as much problems, Clay. She didn't go scrambling away."
He was cut short by Clay's semi-glare.
"That's
enough joking around, Rai. We have things to do, and thinking to do. So
get to work. We all have to go back to the Temple... ruins. Get Xian
and Omi, Clay. We'll see what's up with the place..." Kimiko said, using Raimundo's terms.
He gave her a small smile. Everything might turn out fine...
The thing that was bothering him was Elinor, and the thinking part. Who needed to think? All you need to do is think about the first solution, and then put it into action! That was his way of thinking, which got him into too much trouble too many times.
Raimundo zoned out; not really thinking about it but looking over it quickly.
Kimiko let down her shoulders and took him by the hand. "You're so slow Raimundo.
"Shaking his head like he came out of a trance, he asked, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I thought I thrust-"
"Okay Raimundo,
you're fine. Now let's get going." Yanking him away, the whole group
filed out. They forgot Master Fung, but he kept his distance and
followed along. He wasn't allowed to interfere with their quest.
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The
Temple wasn't in that bad. Some things were burnt, and nothing that
expensive was there. "It seems so... different." Xian commented
quietly, trembling a little. Omi shuddered involuntarily.
"This is most disturbing. My home has been destroyed!"
Raimundo
shook his head and looked to the bright side. "There's not that much
damage! Look, all we have to do is put together more than fifty walls,
and do hours of hard labor! Now since Jill can't do anything because
she's basically decapitated, we have about seventy hours! Let's get
started!"
Oh sure. That sounded so easy that I could do it with my hands tied behind my back! Not...
"Raimundo!
You're making it much more complicated!" hissed Kimiko, taking a piece
of charred wood off the ground. Raimundo gave her a cheeky grin.
"It's not complicated if you use Wind."
"But that will drain your powers!"
"Oh yeah..."
Now he was making no sense. Omi, Xian, Clay, and Jill took a seat on the ashes. "We'll never do anything at this rate! What do we do?" asked Xian, covering her face with her yellow hands. No one had an answer.
Raimundo
snapped his fingers again, and he blurted, "How about we do it the old
fashioned way, by moving it by ourselves!" Kimiko thought for a moment.
"That
will take days idiot!" Raimundo gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. "So?
You wanted it this way. And you get whatever you want."
"Stop
trying to charm me!" Kimiko slapped him on the arm, while everyone else
rolled their eyes and thought. Minutes passed. Kimiko paced back and
forth, Raimundo kept brushing his hair from his face, Clay wiped the
sweat from his forehead, Jill bit her nails, Xian trembled; and Omi
jumped about, fighting an invisible foe.
"Has anyone thought of
anything?" asked Omi, in flight. Everyone did the same thing. Five
heads shook, and four minds went to work. More minutes... Kimiko turned
her face to Raimundo, who was thoughtfully rubbing his chin. He looked
good... But he wasn't really doing anything! "Why are you doing that?"
"It makes me seem smart." he replied, giving a dignified look. Looks smart...
Not answering him, Kimiko tried to think. Her thought was always interrupted by Raimundo, who was sighing.
Can't anything go right? There had to be a way to fix up the Temple without using all those days! There was a way, and there was a solution.Someone just needed to think. But who would come up with the answer? It couldn't and wouldn't be Raimundo... He was too... Stupid. Shaking this off, Kimiko picked at the ground. There was something underneath the ashes.
What could it be? How could it be hidden all this time, without someone knowing? Was it a trap from Chase Young? Would she survive if she touched it, just a little bit? Would anyone figure out she was doing something dangerous that could end her life? Too many questions... Cautious, Kimiko didn't alert the others. She brushed away some dirt, glancing at everyone once in a while to see if they were watching. Her hands moved toward it.