While Cyclops climbed the massive invisible ladder Le Mime had provided for the small group, Jack thumbed through a birdwatching manual in his seat on the giant's back. The albino boy had added a bit of adventurer flair to his outfit today, sporting a slouch hat around which his goggles rested, along with matching khaki vest and shorts. Every now and again he liked to roll with a theme, and in the midst of the Redwood Forest, he was just feeling it today.
Le Mime leaned over curiously to see what Jack was looking at.
Jack growled lowly. "Crowding..!" he informed haughtily. Le Mime promptly leaned away and modestly folded his hands between his knees.
To the beefy, gap-toothed blonde with a bowlcut dangling from a rope around his waist, Jack called, not looking up from his reading, "How ya doin' down there, Vladcakes?" From underneath the carrier basket, the young Russian man formed an unseen 'okay' hand sign. "As good as Master Jack is saying so..!"
"Good, good..." Jack mumbled dismissively, "Are we there yet?!" Putting one hand over his eyes like a visor, he looked up to find they were only about halfway up the tree. "Man, when they say tallest trees in the world, they aren't kidding..!"
"Maybe you just need the right equipment!" a snide voice cut in, and a black blur with claws shot up past the cluster.
"Wha..?"
Looking down from the figure that had passed them, Jack only found Wuya now jumping into view. She thrust her own talon-like nails into the tree at the boy's level and stopped her ascent to sneer, "She's right, you know~. Nice hat. Planning on gator wrestling a few pigeons while you're here?"
Indignantly, Jack hunched and growled, the witch only sneering harder and following her accomplice up the tree.
"Climb, faster, Cyclops! Faster! Yip yip!" Urgently, the boy genius indicated up the tree. The red giant garbled some sort of affirmative and attempted to comply.
Vlad saw something moving through the thick and pointed, not that anyone could see him. "Master Jack..! Is that one of the birdies you have been seeking? It is green..!"
With a curious note, Jack moved to the other side of the basket and looked down, only to throw himself backwards with a sharp outcry as a twenty-foot green serpent shot past in a sharp upward turn.
"On second glance," Vlad reported, "It may just be the Xiaolin Warriors..."
Having plastered himself nigh directly on top of Le Mime as the two were now against the back of Cyclops' head, the silent man took full advantage of the irony and formed a haughty pout quite similar to the one Jack had worn moments ago, and lifted a dainty wrist to make a shooing motion.
Brow furrowing, Jack just huffed, "Don't make me vaporize you..!"
While Le Mime sent his eyes sliding sideways in a compliant sort of sulk, Jack looked up again and growled. No way they were going to catch up to the action at this rate. Changing plans, the redhead activated his helibot.
"Alright, Skinny, we're taking the express elevator. Cyclops, follow as fast as you can." Le Mime being the only one he had any hope of carrying, Jack hovered unsure about how to grab him. This worked itself out when Le Mime opted to simply leap for a tight cling around Jack's legs and hold on for dear life. Wobbling a bit, Jack supposed that was as good as anything and flew up to meet the others already approaching the area with the active shen gong wu.
The branches were wide and many, but crowded. The first thing Jack did was blink at the new faces in the stand-off. "Woah, what? Is that Jermaine?" he noted on the Xiaolin branch cluster.
The dark-skinned New York City boy wearing a blue basketball jersey and red cargo pants thumbed his nose. "One and only."
"Huh. Okay. Unexpected. Welcome back." Looking over to Wuya on his other side he tilted his head in confusion. "And...Katnappe?" So that was who had darted past him.
The catsuited girl posed with her claws flashed and mimicked a hard purr as she sent a smug, sharp stare across the treetops. Beside her, Wuya placed an elbow on the girl's shoulder and sent her own cattish smile to Jack.
"Jealous~?"
One of Jack's cheeks pinched. "Wait...seriously? That's what you're going with?" All of a sudden he laughed harshly, clutching his gut. "You're actually still trying to win me over...and you're doing it with her? Again?" Suddenly he felt a lot less in danger regarding the witch's failed sales pitch.
With a distasteful sneer, Katnappe hissed. "I'm faster than you, aren't I? Plus, I don't like you."
Jack's arms spread. "You don't even want to rule the world..! So not my problem! If my parents didn't know your parents, we'd never even talk anymore!"
"Hmph! Got that right," the blonde girl spat, "But anyway, Wuya wants to rule the world, so I'm game with anything that stops you from getting it. I mean really. Not that I ever liked you, but even after all that freelance garbage with Team Evil I still put up with? Sending robot lions after me? That is so not right! I should be riding lions, if anything!"
Expression flat, Jack looked to Wuya. "You know she uses a litter box, right?"
Wuya's brow pinched in concern as she looked down at the girl twisting sharply around to give her an innocent grin.
In the Xiaolin corner, Kimiko raised a disgusted index finger. "Um...we can actually vouch for that...we've had to clean it."
Jermaine's brow raised. "For real?!"
Dojo, the only one present who had a valid reason to use a litter box as well, was the only one to defend, "Hey, what's wrong with litter boxes? At least you don't have to worry about getting sucked down any pipes..!"
Even more perturbed, Wuya informed her cohort, "You know there's a gimmick, and then there's just too far." How she'd ever been infatuated with the idea of working with this girl, she'd never know. She'd made a good first impression back when Wuya had been newly-released.
Blushing furiously, Katnappe hunched and growled a very cat-like growl. "What-ever! You guys are still going down!" To Wuya she shot, "Where's the wu already?!"
Dojo cut in again here, trembling and fighting a major case of the sniffles. "Close! Very close!"
Everyone looked in different directions. Raimundo figured his team had the most shots to spot it and simply commanded, "Scatter!"
At once, each monk hopped away to fan out, Dojo remaining on his branch, where he leaned against the tree trunk and tended his nose.
Jack and Katnappe took tense stances as they glowered at one another. Jack jabbed a finger in her direction and barked, "Piano her!"
Perking while the girl blinked in momentary confusion, Le Mime reached to grab an imaginary rope from right beside him, then calmly reaching and pretending to slice the rope as though his fingers were scissors.
Catching on just in time, Katnappe gasped and leapt back as a loud, musical crash sounded where she'd once stood. While she'd been distracted by this, Jack activated his helibot once more and flew off in search of the mystical artifact everyone was here for.
All at once, the treetops were abuzz with activity, several bodies flying or flitting between trunks and seeking the single thing that didn't belong. There wasn't even much clash as everyone was too focused on the hunt.
Jermaine used his abilities to stretch various parts of the trees as he searched. Wuya sniffed to detect the scent of magic. Jack simply soared among the canopy and scanned as fast as he could, crossing paths with Raimundo as he did the same. Katnappe marked off places she'd checked already with her claws. Cyclops and Vlad finally made it to the top of the trees and Vlad questioned what was happening as Le Mime stood in place and rotated with a pair of invisible binoculars.
Suddenly, Jack's excited squeal rang out. "Oh my gosh, you guys, look!"
A cluster of attentive heads all poked to surround him from behind.
Jack's finger was stuck straight out to point at...a bird. A black and white speckled bird sleeping peacefully in a coniferous nest.
"It's a marbled murrelet~!"
Clutching his hands to his chest and turning to face the crowd, he found not a single face sharing his enthusiasm.
Opening his palms in a meek shrug, Jack countered, "What? They're endangered." It was a rare find.
At least a dozen eyes rolled as the others returned to the real hunt. Omi dangled upside down from a branch to deliver a sympathetic pat to Jack's head. It was nice that Jack had hobbies, but now was not the time.
With a sulky note to himself, Jack pulled out a camera and took a snap of the snoozing bird. As he removed the print and flapped it in the air to develop it, drifting back the way he'd come, he mocked everyone's silence to himself with vague 'mnyeah' noises.
Looking at the photo, the albino boy scanned it critically, finding it rather decent. Then his eyes inflated and he jolted to hunch closer and stare harder. Another excited note burst out of his throat and he immediately twisted to zoom back for the nest, knocking into Katnappe as he did.
"Outta my way, Ashley!" he sneered as he went. The girl hissed and scowled after him, then pausing to raise a brow at how he seemed to know exactly where he was headed. She followed.
Slowing to a gentle hover, eyes just level with the murrelet's nest, Jack reached gently to scoop under the resting bird and lift it. His other hand snaked in under it and pinched the corner of cloth he'd seen poking out under those belly feathers in his photo.
Delivering the snoozing bird an enthralled smooch, Jack then placed it back in the nest and turned away with the strip of cloth overhead. It was deep red with one segment of interlocking golden squared curls in its center. "Jackpot for Adventure Jack~!" he announced merrily.
"Yyyyoink~! I don't think so!" From above, Katnappe swiped the cloth strip as Jack passed.
A dismayed cry from the goth boy as the catgirl wannabe darted off on all fours, jumping between trees. In reaction, Jack activated his wristwatch and called into it, "Evil team, assemble! Wu on the run!"
The summoned trio did their best. Le Mime tried roping Katnappe with an invisible lasso, but she sliced it away with her claws. Cyclops tried simply grabbing the girl, but she was too spritely for him to get his fist around. Vlad found the best solution and held a tree branch back until she came to pass him, letting it go to smack her in the face. This worked, but his swipe for the wu failed and she took it with her as she plummeted.
The others had heard the commotion by now, and come to gather. Jermaine rode a branch out to catch the falling girl swiping wildly to grab hold of anything, and he caught her by the cloth she held. She wasn't about to give it up, though, hissing vehemently at him. Between them, the item began glowing.
Jack smacked both hands to his forehead. "What?! No, no! I had the Mindfold first! I wanna do a Showdown..! It's the first one since I ruled the world! And I wanna use my Porcupine Quilt..!" As he whined, he pulled out the fluffy blanket to show. "Can't we work in like...a Showdown Trio~?"
"Shut it, Steve Nerdwin!" Katnappe scowled, then to the boy in front of her curtly bit, "Okay, whatever your name is! I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"
A dismissive note left the New Yorker's nose. "Name's Jermaine, Kitty Litter. And I accept. Name your game."
"Hmph! Well, I do vote we make it interesting. Shen Yi Bu Dare! I'll put up my and Wuya's last two wu, the Wushan Geyser and Eagle Scope, against your Shui Jiao Pillow and Woozy Shooter! The game is treetop capture the flag. In the dark! And if you get scared by any of the creatures going bump in the night? You lose~!"
Grabbing the edge of some foliage as she glowered down at her partner, Wuya called, "You'd better know what you're doing, girl..!" She wasn't about to lose the only two shen gong wu to her name!
Scowling even further at her supposed partner's confidence in her, Katnappe ignored Wuya as Jermaine let an unflapped note out of his nose. "Sounds good to me."
Then both parties declared the agreement by shouting, "Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!"
All at once, the environment shifted dramatically, containing itself in a pocket dimension of magic as an arena was crafted to fit the fight's rules. The trees became even taller and thicker, the ground disappearing into an endless black void. The sun shifted harshly out of view to let an inky sky roll in. The trees themselves gnarled and clawed into warped versions of themselves that would have been at home in any horror movie, long shadows casting creepily over one another in the moonlight. The shen gong wu between the two fighters was pierced by a solitary wooden pike shooting up in what was being established as the center of the arena. Approximately one hundred feet in either direction from this post, two different trees morphed themselves to form circular goal areas with their branches, a lone spike in the center of these showcasing where the flag was intended to be taken.
The two warriors glanced around to take in the setting as they too were floated to land on a pair of symmetrical branches close to the middle. Jermaine was granted a wardrobe change into a navy blue set of combat robes. As soon as the arena had finished constructing itself, Jermaine and Katnappe looked back at one another with set faces.
"GONG YI TAN PAI!"
With the match declared started, Katnappe whipped out a silvery helmet faster than Jermaine could make a move for her and shouted, "Wushan Geyser!"
A bright flash shot through the darkness, fading away quickly, but still leaving Katnappe with an evil sneer as she quickly turned to climb the post the flag was atop.
Jermaine blinked, hand going to his forehead as he puzzled for a good moment, then glancing down and gasping as he saw an endless drop underneath him. He looked around in further confusion as he registered what appeared to be treetops he was standing in, though heavily warped. On the sidelines, he spotted his friends, along with a cluster of enemies, inside what appeared to be a viewing gallery constructed from branches.
"Guys..? Hey, what's happening? Wasn't Dojo just sayin' something about a new wu? Where are we? What am I wearing?"
Frantically, the monks leaned over the rail they had to view behind, insisting all at once.
"You are in a Showdown for it already!" Omi insisted irately, "Is it not obvious?"
Bumping Omi and his curt tact out of the way, Raimundo called, "It's the Wushan Geyser, dude! It makes you forget stuff! You got zapped!"
Clay added, "Katnappe's already goin' for the wu!"
Beside the monks, Jack was giving an open shrug and admitting to his teammates, "Y'know? I don't even know who to root for in this scenario." He wrapped his fuzzy brown quilt around himself in sulk.
These were the only pieces Jermaine could make out clearly as the Xiaolin section shouted over one another. Behind him, a hulking shadow with beady yellow eyes and gnarled limbs shifted through the surrounding tree trunks.
Jermaine's head tilted at his friends as he heard Kimiko shout something that sounded like "don't get scared" before a low, gurgly rumble entered his ears. Freezing, then turning cautiously, he saw the enormous pitch black figure holding onto the trees. It's formless head cracked and twisted in an impossible tilt as it let out a raspy, aggressive hiss.
About to scream, Jermaine realized what Kimiko meant in an instant and slapped his hands over his mouth. He had no idea Showdowns could make monsters or anything even close to that thing!
From above, Katnappe giggled, waving the shen gong wu playing the part of the game's flag. "Awww. You don't scare as easily as I'd hoped, huh? Oh well~. Guess we'll have to play a little longer after all...Wushan Geyser~!"
Another flash, and the girl was leaping off towards her own end of the field. She reached it in no time and placed the flag, a clock timer held in place by the bramble overhead beginning to count down.
Shaking his head in confusion again, the first thing Jermaine heard this time was his friends already screaming about not screaming and hastily trying to tell him he was in a fight. He glanced around, wondering what he was supposed to not be screaming at as he saw nothing. He saw Katnappe, however, and did recognize the situation. Raimundo was yelling something about how he had twice the wu to use as her, too, since the Eagle Scope was useless to the girl here.
Not remembering anything about this, Jermaine did check his pockets and find he was carrying two magical items, however. Getting a bit annoyed, he darted to the girl watching from her goal.
A wild-maned thing with a ring of glassy black eyes and three tendril-like tongues sprouting from its mandibles dropped in front of Jermaine's path. It shrieked venomously.
Gasping, Jermaine realized once again why he shouldn't be screaming and clasped a hand over his mouth, the other reflexively swiping to defend himself. A thick branch shot out from nearby and slammed the monstrous thing into the void below. With spite, Jermaine looked up to Katnappe, who was puffing a cheek in pout that the boy hadn't frightened a second time.
Pointing at the girl in the catsuit, Jermaine stated, "Alright, I don't know what you're doin' to me, but you're still in my world, Kitty Cat. So let's dance."
Motioning his arms pointedly, the side of the wooden goalpost Katnappe had her claws dug into rolled, causing her to gasp, and flung her forward with a startled meow. Likewise, the darker boy willed the branch he was already on to extend towards the girl. He caught her in a brief dance pose, twirling with her once before throwing her up into the air. Launching up behind her with his branch's help, he swirled himself around aiming for a round kick.
To his surprise, Katnappe managed to catch his ankle, seemingly over the realization that he could manipulate wood, and rolled to fling him down instead. However, as he was heading straight for the blonde girl's goal, Jermaine simply grabbed hold of the side of the goalpost he was aimed towards, swinging around it and snatching up the flag on his way.
Letting go, he simply landed facing the other end of the field and began surfing branches towards his own goal. Tipping his fingers off his forehead at his opponent, he simply quipped, "Thanks for the boost~."
Having landed above, Katnappe hissed in displeasure and gave chase. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a cluster of white feline bodies.
"Go, my kittens~!" she cheered, "Claw his twigs to shreds!"
Viciously, the kittens bared their fangs and yowled obediently. With genetically altered super strength, they attacked Jermaine and the wood beneath him, severing the branch on which he'd been riding. With a stunned yell, he fell, having no idea this girl was even carrying such pets.
Swatting cats off his face and clinging tight to the shen gong wu they were trying to steal from him, he managed to get one branch to push him towards the tree's trunk, where he clung. Here he got enough stability to use one arm to summon a swishing vine.
Instantly, the kittens all paused, hypnotized by the motion, before leaping to tackle that instead. Jermaine sent the vine out far away from him to dangle over the void below, the kittens pausing in fresh alert to realize that if they destroyed the vine, they'd drop too.
Smirking to Katnappe, Jermaine now shot, "Don't you know cat's get stuck in trees?" With that, he launched himself back upward to get to the arena's main platform area.
Having caught up, Katnappe spat, "We'll see about that!" She managed to engage the New York boy in a brief hand to hand spar before Jermaine tripped her up and continued on his way, delivering the flag to his own goal and starting his own clock's countdown.
Sitting up, Katnappe growled. She pounced back to her feet and came forward, reaching behind her back, but this time Jermaine was ready. He pulled out a curled brass horn and called, "Woozy Shooter!"
A purple fog blasted Katnappe in the face, immediately causing her to halt and stagger with great wobble. She was incredibly giggly all of a sudden, despite trying to remain focused.
"I'm gonna get youuuu~..!" she swirled a vague playful point at Jermaine. Shutting one eye and putting her thumb and forefinger in front of the other, she pinched them to make it look like she was crushing the boy. "Getchya! Getchya! Squish, squish..!" Something else caught the corner of her eye and she turned with a dazed smile to realize it was her own tail. Crouching, she warned it, "Ooo, I'm gonna get you, tooooo~..!"
And then she was running in circles on all fours, attempting to wrestle the thing poking out the back of her catsuit into submission while Jermaine laughed at her. He almost jumped when one of the Eldritch horrors hiding in the trees popped out again, but this time it was going for the girl. Unfortunately, all she did was laugh incredibly hard at it and grab it by the face, cooing at it about how silly and cute it was. It actually had to fight its way out of her hands and flee, leaving Katnappe to fall back on her butt and giggle wildly some more.
Jermaine almost felt like this was going to be an easy win now, but what he hadn't counted on was the Woozy Shooter wearing off. It only took another moment, some great willpower and a strongly-shaken head for Katnappe to regain her senses.
Seeing Jermaine's timer had almost reached zero, she growled and launched herself to snatch the flag. Jermaine calmly swished a branch to stop her.
"Nope."
She slashed it down and he grew another in its place.
"Nuh-uh."
A few more hurried rounds of this before Katnappe rounded on him with a deep scowl. As she leapt for him, Jermaine crossed his forearms in front of his face and grew a protective row of tough branches to shield himself.
He blinked when a slash didn't come, looking up to find Katnappe waving the flag in her hand as she perched atop the pike to which it had been tied. She'd pulled back at the last second, backflipping herself up to snatch it as she'd gone. And now she was gone again, bounding off towards her own side of the field.
"Hey!" Frustrated by the ruse, Jermaine followed. He and Katnappe both dodged around a smattering of humongous arms and long, slithery bodies as they hopped through the trees. Then, all at once, before her goal, Katnappe stopped and did something completely unexpected to her opponent.
"Mindfold!" Activating the thing in her hands, she then tied the cloth around her own eyes. It went from deep red to a pure black as it glowed, and Jermaine felt his face fall in stun. Okay, well, she wasn't exactly a threat now.
"Say what?" he said nonetheless.
Coyly, Katnappe put a claw to her lip. "Oh, I'm sorry; I never said you couldn't use the flag~..! And now, my eyes see everything your eyes do~."
"Yeah, well I'm guessing that means you can't see nothin' yourself," Jermaine countered, and thrust forward to palm strike, only finding Katnappe bending back to avoid it.
"No~," she answered, "But I can see you see me..! And this way, you're the only one the monsters can get~."
Realizing the girl was going back to that win tactic, Jermaine glanced about, noting that that was true. If they were both looking through his eyes, he was technically the only one who could end up startled. He also saw her attempt to take the Wushan Geyser out again.
Promptly, he shut his eyes.
Katnappe's spine straightened. "Hey, what? That's not fair!" She heard Jermaine move, but didn't know where he went. That is, until a kick struck her side from behind. Letting out a meow-like cry, she tumbled and swiped wildly to stop herself from entering the void. She managed to get ahold of a nearby thick branch.
Sensing Katnappe was still present, Jermaine figured if he could just incapacitate her and get the Mindfold back to his goal and run out those last few seconds, that would be easiest. Taking out the Shui Jiao Pillow, he held it aloft and prepared to call its name, only to suddenly feel a sharp pain as a high heel made contact with the back of his hand.
Katnappe had ripped the Mindfold off and launched herself at the boy as soon as she saw the wu, attacking in the brief glimpse he was distracted with using it. In a flash, she'd tied the cloth around her goalpost once again and jumped high to catch the pillow in her claws.
"Shui Jiao Pillow!"
Before Jermaine could react further than nursing his stinging hand, the white ceramic had slammed into the side of his head and sent him crashing to lie against the branch on which he'd stood. His eyes were closed and all at once he was clearly in a deep sleep.
Cackling, merrily, Katnappe brushed her claws against her collarbone as she leaned against the side of her goal. The timer ran out amid a chorus of dismayed shouts and one pleasantly surprised Wuya's calls.
In another flurry of magical lights, the environment retracted, returning itself to normal. Katnappe's kittens found themselves able to leap back into their caretaker's arms and she gladly caught them to nuzzle affectionately.
Along with kittens, four shen gong wu were magically materialized in front of her, which Wuya happily came to claim. "Well, done, Katnappe!" she beamed as she did, "Such flexible thinking..! At this rate, we will have all the shen gong wu in no time!" Coyly, she glanced over at Jack.
Scoffing, Jack called over, "Yeah, good luck ruling the world by giving everyone loopy dreams they forget..!" Those wu hardly complimented each other. "Still not interested, Wuya..!"
Meanwhile, the Xiaolin crew was circled around Jermaine as he woke up and gave one eye a groggy rub. "Mmmmh...yo, what happened..?"
Raimundo gave an airy shrug. "Oh, y'know, you lost three wu to Katnappe in a Shen Yi Bu Dare, had most of your memories wiped from this morning...no big."
Sitting up, Jermaine quirked a brow as he blinked. "Who's Katnappe?"
The others pointed in unison to where the blonde girl was scoffing at Wuya like asking if the witch was seriously only using her to try and impress Jack.
"Oh. Why do I feel like I should know that?" Jermaine recognized the girl he'd just been fighting, but the name didn't sound familiar.
Omi gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "Do not feel bad. We cannot all win our first Showdowns by ourselves~...as I did!" He couldn't help feeling smug over the fact that he had won the first Xiaolin Showdown his team had faced, and indeed on his own...well, along with some things he'd learned from his friends.
"Um...yeah. Good pep talk, Omi." Jermaine noted sarcastically as he stood.
"Thank you!" Omi beamed proudly, happy for the acknowledgment.
Brushing that off with a sigh, Kimiko chipped in, "Really though, that was close..! You guys were neck and neck!"
"Yeah, dude, and you got style..!" Raimundo praised, "Smooth moves."
With a light tut, Jermaine teased, "You jealous I didn't ask you to dance first?"
Smirking back, the brunette shrugged, "What'll you do about it if I am?"
"Hmmm." Jermaine pretended to think about it. "Dance-off back at the temple?"
"You're on!"
Clay perked up here. "Homestyle hoedown? Count me in!"
Kimiko let out a small note through her nose. "Well count me out. I've got net surfing to do."
Dojo, who had been simply enjoying having clear sinuses as the spike in magic dissipated, enlarged himself as he snaked through the monks' legs to scoop them up. "Wonderful," he quipped, "If you've got all your post-butt-whupping plans settled, can we get a move on?"
A few branches over, Jack was instructing Cyclops. "Take these guys back and then meet me back home, okay, Ugly? I'm gonna back a little late." To the Russian in the pink shirt he added, "Turns out I didn't need backup after all. Sorry to call ya out here."
Vlad offered a thumb up. "That is perfectly alright. Vlad is only happy to come when Master Jack calls."
Arms folded, Jack just looked at him for a second. "Y'know? I kinda miss when you were almost like a really mean friend." Vlad had never actually hated Jack, and had probably been the closest thing to a friend the goth had had on the evil side, sad as that was and despite Vlad also mocking him as harshly as everyone else had, even to the point of making him cry. Now Vlad was simply a willing grunt afraid of being disposed of should he fail to follow orders. Was Jack so lonely that he'd welcome such a toxic friendship in place of obedient minions?
Vlad's eyes shifted from side to side, uncomfortable from the statement and unsure what to say. "I...could be mean? If Master Jack wants..?" Was this some sort of trick?
Eyes going upward, Jack just sighed and flapped a hand loosely in dismissal. "No...just go. I'll call if I need you."
With Cyclops escorting Vlad and Le Mime back down the trees, Jack turned at the sound of Dojo's enlargement, hurrying to fly over and point an accusing finger the group's way. "Hey!"
They all faced him. Jack shrugged openly. "When were you going to tell me Jermaine was a Dragon now, huh? A little consideration for your greatest enemy?"
The others glanced between each other. Clay noted, "Seemed like somethin' that'd be pretty easy to figure out."
"It's the principle!" Jack scoffed. "How many more of you do I need to plan on squashing, huh?" A fist plopped into an open palm.
"None," Omi replied confidently, "As there will be no squashing. But that reminds me. Jack Spicer, may I accompany you home from battle today?"
Shrinking, Jack glanced around oddly. Likewise, the monks looked at Omi. This was new and unusual.
Raimundo put a hand on his hip. "Did you finish trimming everything in the temple already?" Master Fung had tacked on lawn duty after that practice had gone awry, and it was taking Omi days to meticulously complete his chore.
Omi's eyes went sideways. "Perhaps not completely...but Master Fung has only said I cannot leave the temple to make visits. He did not say I cannot accompany Jack Spicer when I am already outside it..!" A finger raised wisely.
Jack snorted. "Wait, you got grounded? From seeing me?" A short laugh. "Ah, that's great. I'm a privilege! I wondered where you'd been all week." A pause and a vague hand swirl. "Y'know, not that I've been waiting around or anything."
Jermaine felt one of his eyebrows tick. He barely knew who Jack was, but he sensed a strangely domestic vibe here. He knew Jack was supposed to be an enemy, and had faced him by Omi's side, but this was decidedly different. This felt like a completely normal issue involving teens being kept apart. When there was nothing to fight over, had this always been there?
"Yo, dawg, if this is what Omi's been wantin' to play Hooky for, let him," the darker boy voted for the others, "Ain't no thing. Can't tell you how many times I snuck out back home to see friends. Or...other."
"Well, yeah, same," Raimundo shrugged, "But like...won't we get in trouble for not bringing him back?"
Jermaine waved a hand. "Naw, we can cover. Just be home before dinner, right, Omi?" He winked at the yellow boy.
Omi let out a small laugh of his own and actually felt incredibly grateful for Jermaine vouching for him. He offered the boy a quick bow. Leaping from Dojo's back, he flipped himself to land on Jack's back, causing the albino to wobble and let out an equally wobbly noise of confusion.
"Hey, wait..!" he argued, "I'm not even going home..! I was just gonna hang out and birdwatch first..!" He held up his manual meekly as though it would somehow deter the group from allowing this.
"Most wondrous!" Omi leaned next to Jack's cheek to beam, "That is a much quieter activity than the ones you have shown me thus far! I too would like the watching of birds now that there is no battle to wage!"
Raimundo snorted, the others finding Jack's obvious discomfort amusing by this point and only leaning harder towards leaving him with Omi as a result. "Well, uh, good luck with that, then. Later, Omi!" Dojo had been lifting into the air, and with a row of arms from the monks on his back lifting to wave farewell, departed.
Quietly among themselves, the Dragon Warriors questioned whether or not Omi was starting to get a little too chummy with Jack Spicer.
Down below, Jack gaped open-mouthed at how the others had just abandoned him here in the middle of nowhere with the walking ray of sunshine on his back. Opening his arms wide, he called out, "How could you all do this to me?! This is cruel and unusual punishment!"
Amiably, Omi laughed. "I missed you, too!" Promptly, he delivered a warm squishy hug around the back of Jack's neck.
Jack hovered there for a moment, feeling his cheeks steadily darken as he absorbed the sweet sentiment and the fact that no one was around to stop Omi from clinging to him as much as he liked.
Then, all at once, he let out a weird noise filled with confusion and fright, zooming over to the nearest branch and reaching over his head to pull Omi off of him, plopping the short boy to sit. With a great release of breath, he landed to stand next to him, one hand to the redwood trunk and one to his own chest. From there, he opened his birdwatching manual and pointedly buried his nose in it, ignoring Omi.
Using his chi to fasten himself to the bark, Omi crawled along the underside of the branch and up the tree trunk to look over Jack's shoulder again.
"What kind of birds are you looking for?" he asked, earning a grouchy grimace as the taller boy held the book away from him. Omi lifted a hand to point to a bird about a dozen feet away. "What is that bird? How do I watch it correctly?"
With a mild grumble, Jack informed, "It's a pigeon. Whoopee." One finger swirled a sarcastic circle in the air.
"Ahhh, whoopee indeed~..!" Omi agreed, crawling back down to stand beside Jack, "So? What do you do to watch the pigeon? Should I be wearing an outfit similar to yours?" He bounced enthusiastically in place, clearly eager to hear more.
Unable to prevent enjoying another person taking interest in what he was doing, Jack couldn't bring himself to fly off. He sighed. So long as Omi stayed off him, he supposed it couldn't hurt to have a birdwatch buddy.
"I dunno," he admitted, "I just started this today. Looked fun to try. But so far as I can tell, you read about the bird, you find the bird, you take pictures of the bird. And the rarer the better." Turning the manual towards Omi, he pointed out the ring-tailed pigeon and its common rating. "Pigeon? Not very exciting."
Leaning forward to study the text beside the image, Omi argued, "Are you sure? According to this, pigeons are veeeery good at...carrying diseases?!" Eyes wide, he looked up to the bird minding its own business, wondering if he had to start being afraid of pigeons as much as squirrels. The pigeon's head twitched, sending an eye glancing his way. He blanched.
Jack tapped his jawline thoughtfully. "That is pretty evil. Okay, a point for pigeons." Taking out his camera, he lined up to take a quick snapshot.
Several birds later, things had no right to be as casual as they were. Omi found it greatly fascinating to try and identify real-world specimens from the book, as well as feed Jack random tidbits of information as the taller boy manned his camera. He had no idea there were so many different kinds of birds. Omi even stepped in front of the lens a time or two, or took a picture of Jack if he wished to proudly pose near a spotted target. It was weirdly relaxing, though Jack complained quite readily about Omi's lack of camera skill.
While the boys sat cross-legged on one particularly thick branch, keeping an eye out for any fresh feathered bodies coming through, Omi found himself curiously looking at the khaki twist Jack had put on his wardrobe. This wasn't the first time Jack had put a spin on his outfit, but since they were having a peaceful moment, the bald boy felt like he could ask about it.
"May I ask why you have dressed yourself in this strange, unflattering clothing?" he polled, reaching to take a tug at the hem of Jack's vest, "Is it a uniform for the watching of birds? Is that why you sometimes change your clothing the way Kimiko does? They are uniforms?"
Annoyed, Jack slapped Omi's hand off of him. "No!" Then pausing, he had to admit, "Okay, well, I mean...they're not uniforms, but it's probably a little like Kimiko. It's fun. I don't like accessorizing nearly that much, but sometimes you just gotta roll with a theme. I'm creative. I gotta express myself sometimes." Puffing, he placed tented fingers to his chest.
Omi's head tipped curiously. "It is fun to fight with a theme?" The battlefield still seemed a strange place to want to be a film director or an Old West outlaw or...whatever this was. He and his friends had worn location-appropriate garb before, but he couldn't say he'd specifically thought about what he was wearing while doing battle.
Jack shrugged defensively. "Yeah, maybe..! Look, I don't exactly get a lot of opportunities for fun, so I gotta make my own. Why should ruling the world be all serious stuff anyway? That's the first thing I think the others have got wrong."
Omi blinked. "Why do you not have time for fun?"
Helplessly frustrated, Jack's hands swished around. "I'm always working! Or being mocked! I never had any friends, my folks never want to be around me, who else is gonna make time for me but me?"
The smaller boy felt his brow pinching sympathetically as Jack bristled. "Is that why you first chose the Heylin way..? You are lonely and lashing out for attention?"
Pouting, Jack refused to look at the other and just took his hat off to fiddle with it in his hands.
"Or you are simply...lost? What is this about your parents?"
With a scowl, Jack didn't even know why felt the words bursting to get out. Maybe he just wanted to shut Omi up. "They hate me, alright?!" Seeing the shorter boy's face indeed fall silent in stun, he pressed, "Yeah, I don't know where you guys got that whole 'mama's boy' thing, because my folks have never been proud of anything I ever did! They're always halfway across China on business, and when they do come home, it's just to throw parties they don't even invite me to! Not like I'd want to be around all those snobs, but it's just the fact that they think I'm some kind of circus freak they can't even show off. I look too wrong, and they don't think I have any skills worth making up for it. Heck, they think my robots are literally just toys. When Mom said I needed a hobby, she didn't even bother looking when I told her I found one. So she and Dad both think I'm just wasting my time in the basement, and let me stay there because they're embarrassed and ashamed."
Gritting his teeth, Jack couldn't seem to stop talking now. "You know I didn't even go to a normal school? I didn't meet someone my age until I was seven thanks to those parties. And it went about as well as you'd expect! Poking, pinching, mocking, terrorizing...good times." His expression was dark as he expressed the driest sarcasm.
"You can bet that was the first and last one I bothered with. The learning material all my home tutors had for me was so boring, but it never ended. It was like as soon as they found out I was smart, they just wanted to see how far they could push me. And all I wanted was to go play. But I tried. I did, I tried so hard..! Perfect grades were bar minimum, and anything else was failure, but I did it! But they were never proud. I...I just wanted someone to be proud of me. Anyone." Any enthusiasm he'd had for academics quickly went out the window, and he'd begun cheating and taking shortcuts just to get it over and done with.
Omi was perfectly still as he watched liquid brimming in Jack's eyes, afraid that if he moved, he might startle the taller boy into fleeing, and quite honestly, he wanted to hear this.
"My granny was the only one who ever had a good word. She gave me my helibot when I turned evil in Kindergarten, and got me interested in robots in the first place. She didn't care if I was evil. She just wanted to support me. She was...nice." A soft smile there as he remembered the woman, which then fell away once more. "But once she was gone, I just turned into the butt of everyone's joke. I've tried my damnedest my whole life, but who cares? I'm the only one I can trust. I'm the only one who roots for me."
A low, bitter tut. "You wanna know why I gave up on the Xiaolin side? It's easier to just keep doing what I'm doing."
Sensing Omi tense, Jack turned his head enough to glare at him through the welling water in his eyes.
"Yeah, I was sure I would fail at it. Yeah, I didn't want to stay longer than I had to to avoid disappointment finding out it was true. But it's also easier to take your punches than a smile. I'd rather keep fighting to make it work with other villains. You know, it wasn't just because I'm tired that I stopped doing so well fighting. Part of it was well...that's how people seemed to like me. It was easier to be stupid than to fight back. I was already too worn down, and felt myself losing my edge too much to care, so I just threw myself at routine, hoping something would click. And hey. At least it did. Now I have confirmation that I will succeed with this path...eventually."
Somberly, Omi locked his gaze with Jack's, seeing the pale boy need to look away in turn. Gently, Omi reached to place a gentle palm on Jack's knee, feeling the boy wince as though he'd been struck.
"And...do you feel you have found that you truly belong on this path?" was all the monk asked.
Wrapping his arms around himself in a firm hug, Jack stared at the hand on his knee, and then into space. It truly scared him how kind and pleasant that hand felt.
Heavily, the tears began leaking.
"I don't know..! I don't know where I belong..! I never did!"
Silently, Omi shifted to face the other boy and leaned forward to wrap him in a warm embrace. Here he simply hushed, "I am proud, Jack Spicer. Proud that you have never given up."
Jack's breath only hitched harder, and he threw himself around Omi in turn in an instinctive instant. It was the first time they'd hugged that was mutual. Always one or the other had gone for the action, only for one of them to deny it. But here, finally, it seemed they both felt a necessary connection. Jack couldn't help feeling it over simply hearing that despite the trash talk, despite the betrayals, Omi never stopped caring about him and wanted to hope for him. To grant him basic human decency. Jack had forgotten just how badly he missed that. Omi, meanwhile, simply wished Jack did not have to feel so burdened by his experiences. He knew there had been something inside drawing him to the other boy all this time, and he wanted to help. He could show Jack how to belong. He wanted Jack to belong with him.
As Jack clung to him, Omi reached to stroke the redhead's hair, feeling him flinch, but soon relax as though realizing curiously that he enjoyed it. The yellow boy took his turn to speak.
"I can find myself relating to having parents who are never there, as I am an orphan and I never knew mine, but I cannot imagine how much harder it must be to know they are there and choosing not to know you. Nor can I understand having parents and not wanting to love them, but it saddens me to hear that this can be the case."
Having a moment of silence, remembering in guilt an instance of using that very fact of Omi's unknown origins, Jack sniffled and finally mumbled, "Yeah...um...sorry about that one time. With the whole building a village of fake relatives of yours and everything...it prob'ly stung. But Bean and Wuya made me do it..!" Tensely clutching his fingers into the back of Omi's tunic, he couldn't help reminding in his defense that he'd been coerced.
Giving a small unseen smile, Omi just rubbed Jack's scalp some more. "I appreciate it."
"W-Well good...'cause...I don't feel bad about anything else I did to you..! You're only getting that one! 'cause I can...empathize. A little."
Giving a small chuckle over the way Jack continued to protest, Omi squeezed tighter around the other boy. "Nevertheless. I thank you for saying it, Jack Spicer."
After another small moment like this, the pair found themselves parting naturally. Jack refused to make eye contact, but Omi kind of expected that, just smiling warmly and waving his hand. Curiously, Jack watched as his tears collected off his face and floated to swirl in a tiny glistening ball over Omi's palm. Then they were gone as Omi forced the salty liquid to evaporate into nothingness.
"Huh," Jack noted as he touched his own cheek softly, "Thanks." Then the first cautious question he had was, "Is my makeup okay..?"
Folding his hands into his sleeves, Omi turned away slightly in skepticism. "I believe, for the sake of this moment, that it is best I do not tell you how bad it looks."
Jack's face fell flatly. "Swell." If that didn't tell him he had streak smudges, he didn't know what did.
His expression softening some, Jack turned his own face away from the other slightly, but glanced back at him with his eyes. "Um. I mean it, though. Thanks for...this. I feel kinda better. For some reason. And maybe it was nice to try something new with someone else for once." Standing, he concluded, "I kinda wanna go home now, though."
"You are most welcome, Jack Spicer." Standing as well, the shorter boy picked up the discarded slouch hat while Jack activated his helibot, and placed it on his own head. "Yes. And for our journey, I will be Adventure Omi..!"
Unable to help it, and trying to hide it with his hand, Jack gave a genuinely endeared snort over the cheesy grin Omi wore as he adopted this copycat persona. Omi did him a kindness and pretended not to notice the smile.
The flight back to Spicer Mansion was strangely calm. Chat was minimal but amicable as Omi stayed perched on Jack's back. The air was cool and pleasant. Things didn't start to feel strained between the two, either, as Jack had feared and expected. Rather, it just kind of felt like he and Omi had gotten...closer? Weird. It was nothing like any connection he'd ever known, and it was still scary just for how genuine it seemed, but he still couldn't bring himself to want to shut it down at this point. He supposed he'd see what happened, then.
As Jack meandered down into his basement, Omi passed the hat back over and watched Jack move to store it in a box of previously used costume parts. Then he headed into the bathroom to change into his normal clothes, leaving Omi to look around at the basement walls and form another question in his head.
When Jack reemerged, redressed and refreshed, stretching grandly and happy to have his makeup once more pristine, Omi greeted, "Forgive me if it is disrespectful to ask, but I must wonder, why have you chosen the basement as the place in which to hide away from others?"
Tossing his adventure outfit into the box, Jack shrugged, not all that plussed about his reasoning in avoiding his parents here. "Convenient. Cozy. Atmospheric." It certainly felt the part of an evil lair. Folding his arms loosely he added, "Plus, I can keep the lighting low and nobody cares. Albinism makes my eyes kinda super sensitive, so it's nice to have a place that's not stupidly bright."
Brow going up, Omi hopped onto the central table, causing Jack to lean back just as curiously. "Really? May I see?"
"Huh? See what?"
"Your eyes..! I am most curious about them."
"Uh..." Before Jack could even give a real answer, Omi had cupped his cheeks and pulled his face within two inches of his, intently staring with shimmering black irises to study Jack's pigment-free ones, just wondering if there was a visible difference to be spotted outside the color.
Jack felt a warm pit erupt in his gut as the atmosphere became thickly tender all of a sudden. He felt his breath hitch slightly. Omi had deeply-colored eyes that looked like pools one could get lost in when they sparkled that way...the way Omi's palms felt cool on his cheeks told Jack he had to be blushing. The way Omi's eyes glistened at him in such innocent admiration, and now slowly softened surely told that he had noticed what he'd caused too.
"Oh...you're eyes are very pretty, Jack Spicer," Omi confirmed the discovery, noticing how strangely compelling it was to continue looking into those deeply pink orbs. "They are like pink sapphire."
Face turning just as pink as his eyes, Jack found it in himself to throw the other boy's hands away from his face and step back. "Okay! You can go home now!" Never in his life had he heard anything like that! It was so...stupid! And it sent some weird torrid splash all over his insides. He would like that to stop now, please.
Omi blinked. "I am sorry?" Had he done something wrong?
"Home! Now! Go, please! Thank you!" Jack's index finger swiped for the oversized storm door leading outside. "I'm busy!"
Hopping down from the table, Omi found Jack's demeanor curious, but thought perhaps he must be feeling awkward about their talk in the Redwood Forest. With a small beam, Omi granted, "If you are certain. I will be seeing you on the flippy side, Jack Spicer!"
Very quickly, he rushed forward to squeeze one last friendly hug around Jack's legs before scurrying off with an impish giggle.
Lips in a frazzled waver, Jack mumbled, "Flipside..."
...
Omi returned to the Xiaolin Temple with plenty of time to spare before dinner, and his friends seemed to have scattered after their venture goofing around with music. Jermaine and Raimundo were still together, watching a monster flick on a projection screen as they talked about their experiences in New York City and Rio de Janeiro respectively. Clay was off practicing to lasso bottles off poles. Kimiko was shopping for new wildly-styled wigs to wear out wu hunting.
Each friend had note about how early he was, and a quip about how pleased he seemed with himself. Since they were all doing their own things, Omi just told them that things had gone rather well regarding his time with Jack, and, with a merry hum, went his own way to work on trimming the temple grass.
Come dinner, the monks talked as animatedly as they ever did, but tonight Omi listened more than spoke, a lazy, wide but subtle smile stuck on his face. He couldn't stop thinking about his afternoon spent with Jack. How warm it had been to hug him and actually be hugged back. How fulfilling it had been to wipe away his tears. How vivid his unusual eyes were. It had been a very nice day. Had they even lost a Showdown?
Clay waved a hand in front of Omi's face while Raimundo called, "Hellooooo..! Omiiii..! Can you pass the dim sum already?"
With an airy sigh, Omi reached for a bowl of red bean soup and didn't seem to notice it was the wrong item as he polled, "Ahhh, of course, my friends. Have you ever noticed how pretty Jack Spicer's eyes are..?"
At this complete non sequitur, the table froze, all eyes on the yellow boy. The wonton Clay had been about to eat plopped back into his broth with a splash.
"Nnnnnope," Raimundo broke the silence with a shake of his head, "Can't say that I have." To the others, he noted, "Okay, scratch maybe. They are definitely getting too chummy. Yeesh, maybe I wasn't too far off calling Jack his new boyfriend." An open palm gestured to the boy staring into space and seemingly very proud of himself, and then down to the serving bowl of soup the Brazilian hadn't asked for.
"Please don't make me think about Jack being someone's boyfriend," Kimiko said with disgust, "I'm trying to eat."
Self-satisfied in a different way, Jermaine pinched a fresh piece of broccoli into his mouth with his chopsticks. "Mmmm-hm. I knew I knew that vibe." Good, evil, or whatever, there was something deeper than conversion going on with Omi and that Jack guy.
Clay remained frozen, seemingly unable to process any conceivable connection between the words 'Jack' and 'pretty'.