When Raimundo woke up, he found that Kimiko was asleep, leaning against Yuuji who was breathing softly, his eyes shut in a peaceful doze. He had his arm wrapped around her and she looked so peaceful, even with the eye patch. Raimundo smiled, feeling almost happy for them. They had the type of relationship that Raimundo would love to have with Kimiko, but at least Kimiko was happy. Even if it wasn't with him.

He looked over at Clay's bed. It was empty. Raimundo got up and left the room, pulling on his jacket. He looked up and down the corridor and spotted the tattered cowboy hat at the end of the hall.

Clay was leaning on the balcony, looking out over the city of Chikatetsu Machi. Raimundo walked up to him and leaned out over the edge too. They grinned at each other and looked out again without a word. They couldn't tell how long they had been like that. The light never changed in the underground city. The lights were never turned off.

"So … welcome to the future!" Said Clay in a voice much deeper than it used to be as he rubbed his knuckles on his stubble.

"Yeah … what a dump." He said and they both laughed.

"I don't get it," Said Clay.

"Get what?" Asked Raimundo.

"How you can be okay with … everything." Said Clay.

Raimundo looked back out over the city. He knew that Clay had been going to mention Kimiko and Yuuji, but had decided against it. Even if Kimiko had forgotten what they had had, Clay obviously hadn't. Then again, wasn't that the way it always was in movies? The way the friends could always tell if someone liked someone before they could? Yes, that was it, but Kimiko and Raimundo had known it as well, they just weren't going to say anything about it.

"I'm not." He said quietly, "But there's no point in going crazy wondering about it. I'm just going to have to get over it."

"That's what I was going to say." Sighed Clay, "I had a speech sorted out in my head an' everything."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Said Raimundo.

They stood in silence for a few minutes longer. This wasn't the peaceful silence they had had in the beginning; this was awkward. Two friends who hadn't spoken in years and now they were thrown into a partnership again.

"So, what you been up to?" Asked Clay.

"Flying through time." Said Raimundo, "you?"

"Fighting an evil dictator." Said Clay.

"Sounds interesting." Said Raimundo.

"It is, you should try it some time." Replied Clay.

"I intend to." Said Raimundo.

They stood in yet another silence.

"Was it always this difficult to talk like this?" Asked Clay.

"No, we used to just laugh about stuff," Said Raimundo, "mostly me or Omi …"

He trailed off. Omi.

"What are we going to do about Omi?" He asked.

"I … I don't think there's anything we can do." Said Clay, "We've tried talking to him. We've tried fighting him to the point of exhaustion. We've tried trying to reverse the spell. We even tried to kidnap him, try and take the magic out of him. Nothing works. Chase Young's magic is too strong for us."

"There has to be something we can do …" Raimundo began, but Clay was already shaking his head.

"We had Jack on the inside, trying to figure it out, but Chase figured him out first." Clay rubbed his chin, "When I found Jack, he'd been half tortured to death. I got him back to our base, stabilised him and then they were on top of us. Luckily Dojo came back right then and got us both out before Omi could do to me what ever they did to Jack."

Clay looked sideways at Raimundo.

"We might have a problem with Jack," He said in a hushed tone and people began to walk past them, "He'd been tortured for weeks before I got to him. He wasn't in his right mind when I got him out of there. For all I know, he might still not be."

"We'll sort it out," Said Raimundo, "We're not ones to give up on a member. You proved that when you helped me back into the temple after Wuya …"

Raimundo shivered and looked Clay straight in the eyes.

"I'm not going to give up on Jack anymore than I'm going to give up on Omi." He said.

"Then I'm with you all the way!" Said Clay, slapping him on the back.

"Thanks," Said Raimundo, "Just like old times huh?"

"More or less," Said Clay, grinning.

The yellow eyes with black slits for pupils glared out, cutting into the people in front of him. His black hair shifted in the breeze before falling back into place. He was glaring down at his faithful big cats, but in the lead was a yellow cat. Large and by far the most powerful.

"You let them get away!" Chase Young said calmly, glaring down at them.

There came no reply. The cat gazed at him with those powerful, yet fearful eyes. They were taken over by the power of Chase Young of course, but a slight reminder of the original person was hidden in the hatred deep in his controlled mind that shone through those black eyes.

"Wuya!" snapped Chase Young.

"Chase," Said Wuya stepping forward from where she had been standing some ten steps behind him.

"Take him, find them and bring them to me!" snapped Chase, "If you don't know where to start looking, go and talk to our latest friend. See what you get 'get out of them'."

Wuya smiled cruelly and gestured to the yellow cat to follow. It came up to her waste and trod with a certain dignity that many of the other cats lacked. It new it was the best and wasn't afraid to hide it. They walked through Chase Young's palace until they came to the dark cells. The walls were made of black stone, dripping with the damp that had built up over the years. The floor crunched with the dirt and skeletons of rats, which had died and had never been picked up.

As Wuya drew up to a cell, she glanced in through the small window covered with bars. She smiled again and drew out a slender key before slipping it into the lock of the wooden door and letting it swing open. Inside was a hunched up figure with blonde hair down to their elbows, hanging in dirty braided knots. Their skintight black costume was torn in places. It was definitely a girl, even if you couldn't tell as easy from behind the dirt on her face. She was leaning against the wall, her eyes closed tightly, muttering something to herself.

Wuya kicked her in the side. She curled up and hissed slightly before starting to mutter to herself again.

"What are you saying girl?" Asked Wuya, listening closely to the muttering, "Jack will find you? My dear girl, no one will ever find you. No one cares. No one."

"Jack will find me. Jack will come for me!" Muttered the girl, rocking back and forth, hissing occasionally.

"Jack is gone!" Laughed Wuya, "They took him away! He escaped and left you alone!"

"Jack will come, Jack will come. They'll bring him back from …" At this point she slipped back into muttering.

"From where, girl?" Asked Wuya, wrapping her sharpened nails around her chin, lifting her face to her own, "From where?"

Kimiko had woken up just as Raimundo had left to go and find Clay. She had pulled away gently from Yuuji and had gone to sit next to Jack to check his vitals. He was almost fully recovered. She flipped through his chart. His mind could be in any condition, but his body was almost back to normal.

"Ashley …" He whispered.

Kimiko jumped. She had though he had been asleep.

"Jack? Are you okay?" She lifted back his red hair, "It's me, Nihon."

"Where's Ashley?" He whispered.

"She's working," Said Kimiko, slightly confused, "You're working at spies, remember? You got found out. She's still undercover."

"We got found out together … at the same time." Said Jack, "Where is she?"

"Oh … God …" Said Kimiko, "she must still be there."

"I've got to go get her …" Said Jack.

"No, you're too weak. We'll figure a way to get her out of there." Said Kimiko.

"Thanks … Kim …" Said Jack before falling back into his peaceful sleep.

Kimiko groaned and ran a hand through her hair. Katnappe had been found out as well and they thought she was still undercover. They'll be doing unspeakable things to her and they were helpless to help her out of it.

Raimundo and Clay were leaning over the balcony still when Kimiko found them. They were laughing just like they had used to.

"What you boys up to?" She asked in the same way she would've done when they were back at the temple.

"Just catching up," Said Clay, "You?"

"Jack just woke up," Said Kimiko.

"Is he okay?" Asked Clay.

"He's gone back to sleep, but …" She looked him straight in the eye, "It seems that it wasn't just Jack they found out …"

Raimundo looked from one to the other and instantly knew that they understood each other even if he didn't.

"What? Who got found out?" Asked Raimundo.

"Katnappe," Said Clay, "When did they …"

"Same time as Jack, but they didn't make it as obvious as with Jack." Said Kimiko, "I think … they might've made it more obvious that Jack had been found to get you to go and try to rescue him so they could follow you back and … well, y'know."

"That means that we don't have any spies on the inside anymore," Said Raimundo, "Which means we have no way of figuring out their plan."

"Not to mention that we've got no one covering the American area," Said Kimiko, "We need to set up another base over there while we figure out how to get Ashley out of there."

"Have you been in contact with Igirisu?" Asked Clay.

"No recently, why?" Asked Kimiko.

"Master Fung?" Asked Raimundo, "What about him?"

"Katnappe didn't know the location of this base, but she did now his. If they're torturing her in the same way they were Jack …" Clay stopped, but they both knew what he meant.

"I'll go to the front desk and ask Tammy to get in contact with him," Said Kimiko, "To warn them to get out of there while they still can. I'm not letting the monks come to harm."

"I'll go if you want," Said Raimundo, "You talk to Jack."

"Right, thanks," Said Kimiko, smiling briefly before turning around.

"I'll come with you," Said Clay.

Raimundo nodded and they left for the carts that would carry them down to the front entrance.

"If Master Fung goes that means that two thirds of the world belong purely to Chase Young," Explained Clay, "We can't let that happen."

"God, everything's just falling apart at the moment," Said Raimundo as they ran along the passage.

"That what happens" Said Clay, "I've had to relocate my people three times, but this is the first time Omi and Chase actually arrived before we had all left for safety. I don't want it to happen to Master Fung and the monks as well. Not that they can't still kick butt even at their age, but it's a bad idea to let them try and take on Chase and Omi if they don't have to."

Raimundo grimaced as they continued to run down the passage. Master Fung had to be a pretty ancient guy by now. Even more so that he used to be. Could Master Fung still keep up the fight at his age? Raimundo would rather not wait around and find out.

(A/N) I hope you like it. Please tell me what you think. Sorry I didn't update last weekend. Christmas Shopping. I'm sorry it's late this weekend, I've got mock exams after the holidays and they've been piling up on stuff for me to do before they even started. Luckily I'm now on holiday and there's not a damn thing they can do about it! Ha ha!

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying it. I'll try to update during the week rather than on the weekend coz, y'know, Christmas.

Lots of luv, Becky.