Bewarethedarkness- Thanks for reviewing!
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Chapter 2- A Stone And A Showdown
"We're here," Dojo announced as they reached a clearing.
For a while now they had been flying over dense forests, which would have been hard for Dojo to land in. He titled forward slightly and they glided down to the floor- a slightly bumpy landing. As he reached the ground all five warriors leapt off, scanning the surrounds for what might be the Tianse Compass. The trees were packed together and looked quite dark. The only light in the forest was shining down in the clearing, where the Xiaolin Warriors now stood.
"You know exactly where it is, Dojo?" Kimiko asked him, knowing it could be anywhere in the forest.
The dragon- who had now gone back to his gecko-size, answered: "It should be just around this open space."
"But we can't see it here," Raimundo moaned in his usual attitude.
Dojo replied to him, "Then you'll just have to look a little harder then, won't you?"
Rai sighed and went over to look by a rather large tree. He gazed at the bark for a few seconds before declaring that the compass wasn't there, and sat down in the shade. The others were too busy searching to notice Raimundo relaxing.
"Stupid branches," a muttering could be heard from the tree he was sitting under. "They do nightmares to your hair…"
Raimundo looked up, only to have a circular object fall down on him, followed by a similar aged girl. She was Mexican- wearing a purple top, with matching headband, pink jeans and sneakers. The girl took a moment to realise where she was, instantly leaping to her feet when she did. Raimundo took longer to comprehend the situation.
"Jade?" he shook his head in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"I came for the treasure," she frowned- twiddling with a lock of her dark brown hair. "But I guess now you're going to challenge me to a Showdown."
Raimundo scanned the floor and spotted the Tianse Compass at Jade's foot. It looked very old, with numbers engraved in Chinese across its surface. He made a grab for the Shen Gong Wu, but Jade was already touching the artefact with her right sneaker.
"I challenge you- Jade- to a Xiaolin Showdown," Raimundo announced.
For the Xiaolin Warriors, whenever two people are in a stalemate over a Shen Gong Wu, one challenges the other to a Xiaolin Showdown. This can be any sort of challenge, and they can also wager other Shen Gong Wu in it as well. The winner of the Xiaolin Showdown gets the Shen Gong Wu they were fighting over in the first place, and all the others that were betted as well.
She nodded, so he continued. "My Sword of the Storm against your Tongue of Saiping. First one to fall loses."
Jade spoke almost immediately after, "I agree, Xiaolin Showdown!"
As soon as those words left her mouth, the environment began to change. Trees twisted and turned amongst each other, becoming entwined. They rose hundreds of feet into the air, before they stopped changing. Dojo, Guppy, Clay, Kimiko and Omi were all sitting atop a branch on the sideline. They usually did this when a Xiaolin Showdown started, so they could watch the action and help their friends. Both Jade and Raimundo stood on branches- facing the other- competitive smiles on their faces.
To start the Showdown, they both let out a cry of 'Gong Yi Tempai' which basically meant: ready, set, go!
"Sword of the Storm," Raimundo called, unleashing his Shen Gong Wu. It was a long golden blade, and when he spun it, released a powerful blast of wind.
Jade ducked his attack and started climbing higher and higher in the trees. She was trying to bide time so she could unleash her full power. Clay saw right through her though.
"Be careful buddy," he spoke to Raimundo. "Remember she can turn into a dragon."
Jade wasn't an ordinary Mexican girl; she had been cursed as a small child. Every so often she grew a part of an Ampithere dragon- may it be tail, wings or even head! All it took was time and she could use this against Raimundo.
"Sword of the Storm," he tried again, this time hitting Jade's foot.
She tripped over over, falling off of her branch and luckily catching one lower down. Giving up on her original strategy, she went for a new tactic.
"Tongue of Saiping," she started to speak through her Shen Gong Wu. "Magpies; get him!"
The Tongue of Saiping was a magical item which would let you talk to animals. It was favoured to send them on your enemies during a Showdown. By now quite a lot of magpies were flying at Raimundo, who was having a difficult time dodging the skilful animals. He, being able to control the wind- as that was his element- sent them flying away with a flick of hand when he gained balance. By now Jade was back up on her branch, so the two were even.
Suddenly- after a flash of light- Jade had grown a flickering tail. It swayed in the wind, bring extra balance and defence to her.
"Look out Raimundo," Guppy told him. "I don't think you'll be able to blow her away anymore with the weight of her tail."
He nodded and looked back to his opponent. How could he knock her off? Jade however wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to him. She was staring down to the ground, focusing on her sight.
She muttered to herself- very quietly. "Treasure…"
Raimundo took this opportunity well, and aimed a sweep-kick to her feet. She fell once again, but this time didn't manage to grab a branch. It's lucky Ampithere dragons have large feathers at the ends of their tails, as without them to soften her landing, Jade would have sustained a few bad injuries. The moment she touched the ground, the Xiaolin Showdown was over. The surrounding went back to their original state and Raimundo now had three Shen Gong Wu in his arms.
"Why did you suddenly stop fighting?" he walked over to Jade, who was lying on the ground- too deep in thought to stand up.
"There's some kind of treasure in this forest that's meant to be a secret," she said. "It's calling me."
She lifted herself up off the grass and started to walk away, but was stopped as Clay put his arm across her path.
"If Grandma Lily puts a pie on the windowsill, you leave the pie on the windowsill," he told her, very sternly.
She ignored Clay's words of advice and ducked under his arm, heading into a section of the forest. The Xiaolin Warriors- knowing this meant trouble- followed. They were lead on a rather murky trail. It was that dark that they wouldn't have been able to pursue Jade if she hadn't have kept breathing fire at insects who dared to come close enough to her. They were lucky enough that wild cats weren't leaping out at them. The amount of dangerous wildlife in the forest was amazing.
After relatively long time, they arrived in another clearing. This one wasn't as light as the first, as hanging trees blocked the daylight's path. The floor was marshy and squelched as the children ambled through. At the other side of the empty space there stood a shrine. It wasn't the nicest-looking of developments, but what really stood out was the stone perched at the top. It was pitch-black but shined with beauty. Small, dark balls seemed to float around the stone- magically.
Jade informed, breaking the silence, "The treasure!"
"I don't think you should go near it," Omi spoke up for the first time in hours.
"And why shouldn't I?" she replied, rather spitefully.
He paused before telling her, "It's evil. That stone will do something bad to us all- and the world- if you do."
"Like what?" Jade wanted to get a bit more evidence of off Omi.
"Destroy the world? I don't know. It came to me during meditation," he wasn't quite sure of himself as he spoke.
Jade hesitated for a moment- knowing that she didn't want to disappoint the little monk, but still wanting to keep her side of the argument. After a brief pause, she gave in to them, "Well… ok. I don't want anything bad to happen to us."
The warriors smiled in relief. She wasn't going to take the stone after all. The Mexican turned back around to face them- forgetting she still had her dragon tail. With one great sweep, it broke through the ancient shrine, sending the stone tumbling to the hard, rocky surface below. The warriors watched as it smashed on the ground, too quick for them to do anything about it. Almost instantaneously, the clearing was thrown into darkness. As well as a scream from Guppy- the children could hear a shrill laugh, escalating high into the trees. In confusion, they all stood still, staring up at the dark sky. Omi's prediction had come true. Something terrible was happening.
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