"One Wu Love"
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters. However, it did take me a little bit of time to create a fake shen gong wu.
R&R!
I'm going to try longer chapters this time. Longer than the intro anyways.
This chapter is pretty slow as I'm still getting everything set into place. I also tried to portray the characters as closely as possible. This is my very first fanfic, so I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter II: A Girl's Passion
It was hot, blistering hot, and where were they searching for this newly activated shen gong wu? In a bustling city with its cars, cement, skyscrapers tiled with mirroring glass, and black tar streets.
Nice combination.
Riding on the back of the green-scaled beast guardian, the four Xiaolin warriors were bathing in their own oils and sweat. Clay even had his ten-gallon hat off and was whipping it around feverishly around his face hoping it would serve as a coolant. Kimiko did the same, only with a paper fan with the Japanese character for FIRE stamped in bright red on the thin material. Raimundo yanked off his long-sleeved shirt and tossed it aside, reclining back to bask his tan abs in the shining sun.
Omi, on the other hand, being more attentive to the situation, perched himself on top of Dojo's head with a hand pressed horizontally against his forehead scouting out for anything peculiar in the area. So far, no sign of that new wu.
"How much farther, Dojo?" Kimiko whined flapping the fan about circulating even more hot air into her face. Her wig this time was short, layered, fiery red, and with the ends dyed orange; part of the pieces of imitation hair plastered itself to her face. "I noticed you haven't itched yourself for a while now…"
Dojo's tongue was hanging out of his mouth and he panted slightly like a canine before using a claw to wipe off a bit of dragon sweat. "I haven't been scratching myself because I'm too busy wiping off all this sweat. Who knew dragons had sweat glands?" His tail twitched abruptly which whipped his body a bit causing the gang to tumble over a bit.
"There? Y'see, that shiver was involuntarily. It's gotta be close now." He said with another involuntary twitch, this time making his head whip to the side. Omi, still on his perch scanning the horizon let out a wail and fell to his feet clutching at Dojo's jade locks as Dojo's head shook.
"Please Dojo! Quickly! Descend to the ground so that I may continue my search for this new shen gong wu!" He exclaimed being quick to take charge as usual.
With a slight scratch of his neck, Dojo lowered to the street and allowed everyone off his back. "Hey buddy. Don't forget your shirt." He told Rai pointing a talon at the discarded clothing. "Yeah, what we really need… you luring girls over and distracting us from our mission. Keep your shirt on." The dragon lectured while Rai jumped up and snatched the clothing from his elongated back. Rai gave a scoff and trudged away while Dojo shrunk to his smaller size.
"Look sharp everyone!" He started, keeping up his guardian persona and keeping everyone on task. "I got shen gong wu jibes and they're coming from that direction over there." With a scaly finger, he pointed across the busy street and towards an alleyway.
Without a moment's waste, the four whisked off in that direction, their eyes quickly darting the scene for any shiny or mysterious objects floating about or causing mayhem.
"Hey Rai," Kimiko started turning to the Dragon of Wind who was now pulling his top down over his head. "What type of shen gong wu is this one anyways?" There wasn't much of a briefing earlier at breakfast. Dojo just burst into the room carrying the Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu frantically announcing that a new wu had just revealed itself. That signaled that everyone should drop what they were doing and instantly pile on the beast's back and be whisked off somewhere.
"I think it had something to do with uh, y'know, some swirly spinning mechanism." He shrugged sheepishly and smiled down at her; "You should know by now that I was barely awake when I hopped onto Dojo's back."
This prompted an eye roll from Japanese teen and she crossed her arms. "Really Rai, sometimes I wonder how you even dress yourself when you wake up when you can't even remember what shen gong wu we're looking for." She commented and stalked off in another direction.
"Yeah, well girly, you don't even know what wu it is either, or else you wouldn't even be asking." He snapped back with eyes bulging, arms crossed, and a pout playing on his face. "Girls, who needs them around eh?" He remarked with a glance at Clay who only returned a placid smile.
"Well, I reckon if you didn't just lie to her and guessed at what shen gong wu we was looking for, then maybe she wouldn't have gotten so angry with you."
"Eh, whatever dude."
"I can't believe Raimundo. Really, he can be so clueless sometimes." Kimiko complained as she continued marching down the sidewalk. She kicked a metal trashcan out of her way splaying trash, banana peels, and debris across the street and cement.
'Okay Kimiko, just chill out, forget all about the stupid dragon of wind and focus more on finding that latest shen gong wu.'
With an irritated face, she turned to the right to see a group of businessmen walking down the sidewalk with cell phones glued to their ears. Kimiko released a sigh and contemplated pulling out her own mobile, dialing Keiko, and complaining about what Raimundo said this time.
Tossing aside that idea, Kimiko rounded the corner to another batch of pedestrians and even some scattered tourists. She turned around to walk away from the ongoing crowd and almost tripped over a rotund head. Catching herself, she reared back to find Omi standing still peering curiously up into her face like a child.
"Kimiko, why is it you wandered away from the search?" He inquired continuing to look at her with a peculiar expression.
"Oh, sorry Omi. It was stupid Rai. He just made me mad again." She told him with an awkward face. "C'mon, let's go back and look faster before Jack and his goons decide to show up."
"Ah yes! Even if he decides to show his face, I will freeze him in his path!" He shouted out confidently.
"Uhh…don't you mean, stop him in his tracks?" Kimiko corrected.
"Yes, that is what I meant." He agreed with a firm nod and with a wide grin, went back in the direction Kimiko and he had come.
Kimiko followed behind quietly, silently dreading the awkward silence that would drag on between her and Raimundo. The distance between her and Omi was lengthening and he dashed back into the alleyway yards away from her. She stopped short and debated remaining behind and let the other search on without her. After all, she was being rude to Rai and got annoyed with him faster than usual.
"…Maybe, I can get him to forgive me if I bought him something." She perked and instantly the idea stuck when her eyes started glancing about looking for mini-shops. Perhaps he'll want something to eat or….what do guys like? Maybe a handheld electronic fan would cool him off… literally and metaphorically."
Kimiko found a few shop carts lined up on the other side of the street and her mood instantly peaked. Dashing across the street, avoiding the few taxis and cars roving past, all confidence that her friendship with Rai would be renewed to before their little spat surging through her, she scampered over to the cart and her eyes danced around the wide array of items.
Her face sunk when she found no battery-powered fan; actually there wasn't even a single dry-cell battery around the cart. It was filled with jewelry, purses, perfume, girly items.
Kimiko retreated from the cart for a moment and pondered where her next gift scouting should be when the merchant eyed the panda-decorated backpack attached to her back and strung over her arms with greed.
"Pardon me, Miss," the cart owner purred attempting to catch her attention. Kimiko glanced over at him for a minute and turned to face him from her side of the car.
"Might I interest you in some jewelry. You look like a girl of class, so may I suggest trying one of our new mood rings on for size?" He suggested rubbing his bulbous hands together and spreading a wide, malicious grin.
"Uhhh…okay, whatcha got?" She asked feeling slightly creeped out, but out of respect for her elders, Kimiko would at least spare her attention for a few moments.
"This just came in today and I believe it will look just fabulous on one of your delicate fingers." He reached out towards Kimiko with a heart-shaped multi-colored ring pinched in-between his forefinger and thumb.
'Oh, he's laying on thick isn't he? Well, whatever.' Her hand reached over the trays of items and Kimiko allowed him to slip the ring onto her finger and pulled back to glance at the handiwork. It fitted perfectly and it didn't look so bad after all.
Kimiko's eyes widened and her cheeks flustered pinker than her usual batch of rose-colored blush. "Hey, this ring isn't so bad. I think I'll take it."
"Excellent." The cashier said with a pleased expression and rang up the transaction. Without taking the ring off, Kimiko pulled off her bag, unzipped it and reached into its contents to pull out a wad of cash. She took out two bills and a few coins and discarded the money into the merchant's outstretched hand.
"Thank you very much for the business, ma'am." He said with a deep bow beneath the awning of the cart. Kimiko dumped the cash back into the bag, zipped it up, and replaced its position back on her shoulders.
"My pleasure. It's actually a very beautiful ring." She complimented, eying her new treasure with a wondrous look. She turned her back on the cart and in the direction of the alleyway to wander back where she first had to be. A shadow cast itself over her and she looked up with a smile which immediately changed to an alarmed look.
Ending Notes;;
I'm pretty happy that I was able to keep everything going and flowing along as I had originally planned. I don't know how long this fanfic is going to be; hopefully a decent length.
I'd like to thank everyone for the comments so far. They cheered me up immensely and gave me the confidence to continue this fic. :)
Responses to Reviews:
Kimiko-Pedrosa: I have set my pairing in stone yet, so you'll just have to wait and see how far it'll develop!
Krystalmaze: Ohhh, you'll soon see what's up with the ring.
Akiko142: Yes, yes. Poor Kimiko. xD; Don't worry though! I won't torture her character that much?
Well everyone :D You asked for an update SOON, so here it was! I hope you enjoyed it!