Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Anyway, I realized I don't usually say thank you for the reviews. I know I should. The last ones were possibly the nicest things anyone's even said to me. Thank you.

dArkliTe-sPirit: Thanks, but you didn't really to do that math because it doesn't really work that way. Dojo will explain in this chapter

Elemental-Zero: Thanks. I really appreciate that.

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Omi had finally managed to hit the ghastly beast with a jet of water. It shrieked more horribly than before, fell from the sky, and hit the ground with a painful thump. It lay twitching. Omi blinked. He had only hit it once. Was it really that easy? He picked up a nearby stick and tossed it at the creature. It flinched when it was hit and to Omi's astonishment, began to change into the white-haired boy, Moonskin. So that was the reason for his bizarre appearance. He was a monster. He started wiping his skin hard as though he was soaked in acid and not water. Omi went to him, grabbed him just above his hood, and lifted so he could look into his face. Moonskin's eyes were full of pain. Omi thought it must be because of the fall and decided this would be a good time to get right to the tip.

Don't you mean point?

That too. "What are you?"

Moonskin flinched as if Omi had hit him again. He opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice "A creature that's been dead for nearly five-hundred years, yet continues to live whether it wants to or not."

Although Omi was a little crawled-in by the answer, he remembered what happened with the girl, Daggereyes, and willed himself to keep a strong hold on the boy's hood no matter what.

Creeped-out, not crawled-in.

Fine. "Why have you chosen to work with the forces of evil?"

Moonskin's voice was so hoarse Omi could barely hear him. "What you call 'the forces of evil' is the only place I have left to turn and still keep my honor. Also no one cares whether I'm dead or alive."

Omi searched his mind for a subject less disturbing and more important. Then he remembered. "What is this war your companion, Daggereyes, speaks of?"

Moonskin's eyes rolled up into his head and his eyelids closed. Omi started to shake him so he could continue questioning him, but then something behind Omi grabbed his arms, pried his off of Moonskin, and flung him away. Omi jumped up and saw Raimundo attempting to make Moonskin stand while saying to him "I told you you should've gone for the girl. Less risk of defeat. Sorry about this, but you brought it on yourself."

Raimundo pulled a small red ball from his mouth which Omi recognized as the thing Daggereyes gave him with his pizza. Raimundo forced Moonskin's mouth open and dropped the ball inside. Moonskin's eyes flew open. He changed into his monstrous bat form in the time Omi blinked, thrashed out of Raimundo's grip, lunged at Omi, and knocked him down.

Omi was struck again and again. He tried to fight the bat, but it was moving so fast it was scarcely a blur. Suddenly Omi felt a sharp pain in his left arm. When he looked at it, part of his sleeve was ripped away revealing a huge gash. A stream of blood began to trickle out. The bat stopped abruptly beside the wound. Something was gleaming menacingly in its red eyes that frightened Omi. Its head started moving closer to the wound. "Okay, that's good!" Raimundo shouted.

The bat was thrown six feet backward by some invisible force. When Omi picked himself up, he found that he was trapped inside a tornado. He jumped and tried to punch and kick at it, but he was unable to break through the wind surrounding him. Then he realized the bat was running directly at him and instinctively shielded himself with his arms. But the bat crashed against the wind barrier and was thrown backward again. It got up and threw itself at the wall of wind again and again, but had about as much success of breaking it as Omi, who was suddenly thankful the whirlwind was there.

Then a thought ran through Omi's head. If Raimundo could create something this strong without shen-gong-wu, it must surely have taken a great deal of energy out of him. But when he looked at Raimundo, he was surprised to see that he didn't look tired at all. He was just standing there gazing unblinkingly at the tornado. Omi was shocked. Raimundo had indeed mastered his element. Omi was amazed that this was the same Xiaolin dragon that could not even do chores without complaining about it, turning it into a game, or avoiding it in every way possible.

The bat was thrown back once more and didn't get up this time, panting heavily. It slowly changed back into Moonskin. Raimundo walked over to him and helped him up. "You think you'll live?"

Moonskin lost his balance and fell into Raimundo, who propped him against him. "I guess so. I can't believe you and Daggereyes actually like that stuff."

Raimundo half shrugged. Moonskin looked at Omi and his eyes fell to the gash. The frightening gleam in his eyes returned and made Omi so uncomfortable that he covered the cut with his hand. Oddly enough, the gleam vanished and Moonskin shook his head as though to clear it. Then he looked at Raimundo. "So if you don't want him dead, what should we do with him?"

Raimundo examined the situation and said "Oh what the hell." He snapped his fingers and the tornado stretched up. So of course it got thinner and closed in on Omi. This time when he touched the barrier instead of bouncing off it, it pulled him into it. He went round and round and round and up and up and then everything went black.

When the tornado stretched, Clay and Dojo could see it from where they were lying. The top of it started slowly curving in their direction. At this point they could see something yellow, black, and red spinning inside it. The whirlwind began falling towards them, then the top part of it hit the ground a few feet away from them, then it straightened out so that the other end came up and became the top part. (Anyone who has ever owned a slinky understands what I'm talking about). The whirlwind slowed, making it so an unconscious Omi could spiral smoothly down. The wind carried Omi gently to the ground like it would an autumn leaf. Then it shrunk few yards down and instead of going slowly round and round began pushing strongly down so that even if Omi awoke he couldn't even raise a hand.

"Dojo," Clay said wonderingly. "Are you sure Master Fung didn't think Raimundo was ready to become a xiaolin apprentice?"

"He probably wasn't then. Remember, Raimundo's had a lot more time to practice his element than you guys."

"We know." Then Clay remembered the strange watch Moonskin had and what he said about it. "Dojo, do you know if time here moves at completely different rates?"

Dojo looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, like sometimes a minute in our world can be a day and a half here and sometimes it can change to a different rate."

Dojo didn't respond for a second then he glanced down at the saliva snake's coils and looked back at Clay. "In case you didn't see, I tried to shrug. Anyway, you're very close. The time rate between here and our world only changes if you're traveling. Like here it could be a day for every fifteen minutes there, then it could be a half hour there for every week where Master F-"

Dojo stopped talking abruptly. His eyes got wide. He looked at Omi, then in the direction he had come from and shuddered.

"Dojo? What is it?" Clay asked.

"Do you know if anyone else besides Silvertongue is over there?"

"There's another boy named Moonskin. And Kimiko and a boy called Rustfoot went in there awhile ago. Why?"

"Silvertongue's got us pinned down like helpless butterflies right where he wants us and he's not back yet. So he's probably going to help his guys bring her down. Let's hope she can hold them off long enough for someone to come by and help us."

Actually, Kimiko was having a hard time just keeping Rustfoot from bringing her down. This kid was very strong, very fast, and was wielding sharp teeth and claws that could possibly be poisonous. She tried using the Star Hanabi on him a couple times, but even though it was just two words it took too long to say them. When she tried, he came way too close for comfort to driving his long nails into her skin. It was tough fighting alone.

Finally she somehow managed to kick him hard in the stomach, sending him sprawled on the ground. When she kicked him, something fell out of the large front pocket on his hooded sweatshirt.

Kimiko gasped. "My backpack!"

She reached down to grab it. Then she heard a crunch above her. She looked up and let out a soft yelp. Rustfoot's nails were sunk into the tree trunk behind her. Apparently he had lunged at her and missed when she bent down to get her backpack. Kimiko bolted while Rustfoot struggled to pull free. She ran and ran, making turns and twists now and then to loose him in case he got free. After awhile she slowed to a jog when she decided she was safe. But then she heard a different set of racing footsteps and Rustfoot's familiar heavy breathing. She quickened her pace, going faster than before and mentally kicked herself. He was a werewolf. She couldn't lose him. He could hear her, smell her-

She stopped. Stretched out in front of her was a muddy pond. There was no time to go around. He would reach her, the only option was to fight. Wait. She realized the pond may not be an obstacle, but her opportunity to escape. Kimiko dove in. The pond was shallow and there was plenty of gooey mud on the bottom. She rolled in it, covering herself to disguise her scent. She could hear Rustfoot coming closer. She quickly crawled to the bank and lay down, watching and waiting for him. Rustfoot appeared. At the last minute Kimiko covered her mouth and nose to keep her breathing silent and tried to ignore the bugs.

Rustfoot knew Kimiko was here, but couldn't pinpoint where. He perked his ears up, but all he could hear was the bugs buzzing. He sniffed the air, but could only smell mud. He growled as he looked on the pond. "Where are you, you filthy slut?"

He waded out into the middle still sniffing for her. He paid no attention to the swarming bugs until one flew up his nostril. He cursed and snorted and slapped at all the other bugs around him until he got it out and then he ran out of the pond. When he got rid of the remaining bugs, he sighed in defeat. "Smart girl,"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Dammit, Moonskin, you were supposed to go for her. Of all the orders to go against . . . wait a minute."

His hand dropped and he grinned darkly. Rustfoot reached into his front pocket and pulled out a palm pilot. Kimiko's eyes narrowed. How was that going to help him in this situation? He fiddled around with it, then mouthed "Three, two, one-"

'I am such an idiot!' was the first thought that passed through Kimiko's mind when her cell phone went off.