Clay had been walking for rather a long time when he realized something odd. It was completely silent. No bickering between Jack and Wuya, no comments from Omi, not even the odd explosion from Chase and Hannibal. It was decidedly strange. "Y'all with me?" he called out.
His voice echoed discouragingly.
"Oh, no. They must be lost. Nobody's here," Clay muttered to himself.
"Hey, I'm here. Do I not count as someone?" Dojo said indignantly from under the cowboy's hat.
"But I knew you were here," Clay said, but was cut off.
"I'm here too," came Wuya's disgruntled voice from behind Clay. "You are moving far too fast. How much longer until we get out?"
"Well, we're definitely moving uphill," said Clay uncertainly. "Have we lost the others?"
A long pause.
"I'd take that as a 'yes,'" Dojo put in.
"This is bad," Clay muttered. "They could be anywhere by now."
"Well, we know that we're at least headed up. Once we get out, we'll go back to the temple, bring the Serpent's Tail or Tunnel Armadillo, and come to the rescue."
"Sounds like a plan," Clay said happily.
---
"I'm tired," Katnappe whined. "My feet hurt from walking so far."
"We've hardly been walking ten minutes," said Raimundo in annoyance. "Will somebody please shut her up?"
Predictably, nobody responded. "Oh, great," Rai muttered disgustedly. "Stuck with the cat lady."
"You're strong, aren't you?" Katnappe was moaning. "You could carry me?"
"No thanks!" Rai grimaced. "I've got enough to worry about. Like finding the others… they must have gotten lost. Come on."
Still whining and complaining, the girl followed, muttering about how her hair must look.
---
Omi was still blissfully unaware that he had been separated from the other Xiaolin dragons, chattering happily. His single companion continued with him in stoic silence, but finally lost his calm. "Will you please shut up!" shouted Hannibal.
"Oh! I am sorry, small friend. Am I… annoying you?" Omi grinned winningly, although it did him no good in the blackness. The young monk sighed. "I am most bored at the moment. Clay, do you know how much further we have to go?"
And thus the discouraging echo makes its second appearance.
"…Clay? Raimundo? Kimiko?" Omi sounded nervous. "Oh, no! How will they manage without me? They will be so scared and lonely and lost! We must find them at once!"
"Yeah, you jump to it," muttered Hannibal.
Omi ran forward a few paces. Then he stopped. "I… do not know where I am going," he said sheepishly. "It is most dark in here!" He paused. "Do you have a flashlight, small bean?"
"No…"
"That is too bad." Suddenly Omi laughed. "A bean! You know, you are the first evil bean I have ever met! I never dreamed that such a small vegetable could be so evil. Like you, little friend."
"That's enough!" roared Hannibal, who was by now very angry indeed. "Moby Morpher!"
Nothing.
"… Moby Morpher!" he shouted again. Then he noticed that his precious Shen-Gong-Wu was missing. "The Moby Morpher is gone!"
"We have another mystery on our hands," said Omi, frowning and continuing on. "This is most alarming!"
A/N: Yes, short chapter. but at least it's something, right? XD and I had to end it there for it to be a cliffhanger - though I bet y'all can guess who has it now.
Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Yes, the
Braclet of Loki is named after the Norse god. I'm not sure what it'll
do yet, but it will have to be something suitably chaotic... and that
will probably come up either in this fic or in another. x3
