"Come again?" Clay was certain he heard Kimiko wrong. Unfortunately, he didn't.

"Raimundo. He's here."

"Is he alright?" Omi asked quickly.

To Kimiko's annoyance, Omi looked worried and anxious about the answer to this question. When was this kid going to get it through his skull? Raimundo was an enemy. He betrayed them. Then Kimiko felt a twang of sympathy for Omi, looking at his face. Omi was young and innocent. He had a lot of faith in his friends and high, unpromising hopes for Raimundo. If only Rai knew how much pain he was causing the poor kid! If only he knew how much pain he was causing all of them!

Kimiko decided to humor Omi. "He looked just fine."

Omi relaxed and smiled.

"Did you see any sign of the shen-gong-wu affecting him?" Omi asked.

"Nope, but it was only a glimpse so it doesn't mean they didn't."

"But how did he get here?" Clay asked.

"On that subject, I know about as much you do."

"Who were the people he was with?"

"Hey I told you, I only caught a glimpse and most of it was focused on Raimundo. But I saw that they all had hoods. I think they were followers."

"Of Wuya?" Omi looked alarmed.

"I don't think so. I mean Wuya abandoned him, didn't she? And from what I've heard, it sounds like he's started being his own boss."

"Huh?" Clay looked at her. "Raimundo's well known around here?"

"Oh yeah. It didn't make any sense to me at first either. But remember, you said I was gone for a minute and I've been here for a day and a half. Time must go really slowly here. Rai's been away from our world, what, a few hours? If a minute's a day and a half, a few hours . . . well, that's gotta be a real long time. Long enough for him to get a reputation here. This was the first time the wood nymphs have seen any sign of him here, but they've heard stories from other places about him. They've heard he kills anything that breathes and spares only those who join his forces. Everyone thinks that he's a sorcerer or something."

"Just because he can control wind?"

Kimiko smirked. "That's it."

"But he has not fully come to grasps with his abilities yet!" Omi protested. "And he is not even a Xiaolin apprentice!"

"It doesn't matter about those things here. No one's seen anything like him before. Besides, if he's been here as long as we think he has, you can bet he's been practicing."

"Wait, kills anything that breathes? I find that hard to believe. Raimundo is not that dark."

"Remember, these are just rumors. They're not likely to be true. I wouldn't be surprised if Raimundo himself is spreading them around to sound tougher." Although she didn't really believe what she was saying. Who knew how much Raimundo had changed. He could be as evil as Wuya for all they knew. But she didn't tell Omi this. It would hurt him to much. "Hey, guess what? He's made a new name for himself. 'Silvertongue.'"

"Why Silvertongue?" Omi asked.

"I don't know. I guess he just thought it sounded cool."

Suddenly they heard a twig snap near them. Omi and Clay quickly got into their battle positions. Kimiko said "Come on out, Agatha. They're just some friends of mine."

From behind a redwood emerged what was probably the most beautiful woman either Clay or Omi had ever seen. But neither of them really got a good look to be sure. At first sight of her, Clay blushed, looked away, and quickly covered Omi's bulging eyes because all she was wearing was a white lily in her floor length, tangled, dirty-blonde hair. She giggled softly and her tan, delicate hand moved up to cover her full, pink mouth. Her dark brown eyes moved from them to Kimiko. "You finally found them. That's wonderful."

Kimiko smiled at her. "Thanks. You'll have to forgive them. Guys can be weird."

"Yes. You told us. I came down to see if you were alright."

"Everything's great."

Agatha's eyes strayed to the bucket of water.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I got sidetracked." Kimiko held out the pail. "Here. You can move faster than I can in this forest."

Agatha squatted down, picked up an empty bucket from behind the tree, then straitened and walked over to Kimiko. "Would you get some more water? We're going to need a lot."

"Of course. I promise it won't take so long this time." Kimiko said as they swapped buckets.

Agatha turned and sprinted off into the forest. Omi heard her leave and pushed Clay's hand away. They were silent for a moment. "Soooo . . . . that was a wood nymph?" Clay managed to ask.

Kimiko nodded. "And if you're going to act like that around all of them, you might want to stay here."

"My goodness." Omi said. "Wood nymph's bodies are quite strange looking. Such bizarre creatures!"

Kimiko and Clay exchanged glances. Omi didn't know exactly how girls were different from boys and assumed that only wood nymphs were built like that. Kimiko and Clay knew Omi had to learn about the birds and bees soon, but they weren't about to be the ones to tell him.

"Look, why don't you guys look around for any sign of Raimundo while I help the wood nymphs take care of their injuries. If you find anything it might help us learn more about him or point us in his direction. Here." Kimiko gave Omi the Star of Hanabi. "Use this to let me know where you are if you find anything."

She started back to the pool. Then Omi remembered something important. "Kimiko!" He called after her. "Where are the Jet Bootsu and Reversing Mirror?"

Kimiko stopped dead. She slowly looked back at them with a sheepish look. "Uhhhh- see, about that. I, uh, I couldn't really get around in the Jet Bootsu very well in this forest and . . . well, the wood nymphs offered to hold on to them and gave me these to wear." She motioned to the sandals she was wearing. "Well, I didn't want the Reversing Mirror to get worse then it already is so . . . . well, I gave them that too. And . . . well, uh during the ambush the goblins didn't just fight. They pillaged. We uh, found out after the whirlwind came and took 'em that a lot of stuff was taken, including the . . . ."

In other words, they were gone. Kimiko started running back to the pool. Omi and Clay were irate. The plan wouldn't work without the Reversing Mirror! Then Omi remembered something else and shrugged. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter anyway since we forgot to bring the Heart of Jong."

Neither of them thought things could get worse when something suddenly struck Clay. "Come to think of it, how are we all gonna get back home?"

Surprised, Omi turned and blinked at Clay. They stared at each other for a moment, then without warning Omi started hollering and running in circles around Clay.