A/N: I have no idea if this has been done before, if it has, let me know... nicely!
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Omi Appleseed
The Jackophile
One day, Omi sat with a beautiful red apple in his hand.
"I wonder where they came from…" he thought aloud.
"A tree, of course," Clay informed.
"No, but where is there a tree where I can pick one from?"
"Hm," Clay though, "None 'round here, sorry little fella'."
"Where can I get one to plant here? I think a big apple tree would be very nice in that spot where that ancient Gingko tree was that Raimundo blew away in training."
Clay chuckled, "I recon, you're right. Well, you see that apple you're eating there? Well, inside it are some seeds. Take 'em out when you see 'em and plant them where that old tree was. Eventually, they'll grow into a big ol' apple tree."
"Oh, that sounds wonderful, Clay. I will collect the seeds and plant them as soon as I finish the apple."
"Sounds good, partner," Clay tipped his hat to Omi and left.
Omi ate the apple until he saw the first seed.
"Hooray! My first apple seed! I cannot wait to plant you!"
Omi went on to find three more seeds in the apple.
"This is most wonderful! With four seeds I should be able to grow a most amazing tree!"
Omi ran to the corner of the training grounds where the Gingko tree had been. He dug a tiny hole and placed each of the seeds in the hole, giving each one a unique name as it went in.
"You shall be Omi Two, you shall be Omi Three, you shall be Omi Four, and you shall be Omi Five!"
Omi covered the hole with dirt and stood back to wait for something to happen.
Raimundo walked out of the temple to find Omi standing in the corner of the training grounds staring at the ground.
"Omi, what are you doing?" He asked as he approached the tiny monk.
"Waiting for my apple seeds to grow into a magnificent tree," Omi said with a nod.
"You're kidding, right?" Rai snickered.
"Not at all, Raimundo. Something must replace the ancient Gingko you destroyed."
"Why do you have to keep bringing that up? So what if Grand Master Dashi used to hang out in it when he was a kid?"
Omi shook his head, "This is very important, so will you please leave me to watch my plant grow?"
"Well, first off, it needs water and sunlight. It won't grow with you just looming over it like that," Rai laughed.
"Oh! I'm sorry," Omi stepped away, "I was blocking your sunlight! Would you like some water?"
"Omi," Rai said flatly, "Are you talking to that patch of ground?"
"No, I am talking to my apple tree!"
"Oh," Rai said slowly, "okay…"
Rai laughed softly to himself as he walked off.
Omi ran into the temple to find a bucket to fill with water. He hauled the large bucket back to the plot and slowly poured the water onto the patch. Once the bucket was empty, he stood back, out of the way of the sunlight, to watch the plant grow.
Kimiko was walking around playing her GamePal when she ran into Omi.
"Whatcha doin' there, Omi?" She said as she recovered from her collision.
"I am watching my apple tree grow."
"What?"
"I wanted to replace the tree Rai destroyed with a nice apple tree, but it seems to be having a hard time growing…"
"Hmm," Kimiko thought, "Well, there was once a tree here so it probably depleted a lot of the nutrients in the soil. You should get some fertilizer to make the soil healthy again."
"Where can I get some of this, fertilizer?"
Kimiko shrugged, "A farm I guess. Maybe Clay has some," she suggested.
"Oh, let me go see if Clay has some fertilizer!"
Omi ran off while Kimiko stayed back and looked down at the ground where Omi had been standing.
Omi was back shortly after he left.
"You were right, my dear Kimiko, Clay did have some fertilizer with him!"
Kimiko cringed.
Omi ripped into the bag.
"Calm down, Omi. You only need a little for now. Take two fist-fulls and mix it into the dirt you planted the seeds in."
"Okay," Omi chirped.
After he had done as he was told, Omi stood back and watched the ground.
Once Kimiko got the batteries back into her GamePal, she walked off, leaving Omi to watch his tree.
A while later, Master Fung arrived.
"Omi, why are you simply standing here like this?"
"Oh, Master Fung. I am waiting for my apple tree to grow."
"Is that so? Well, it will not just happen. Things take time. You must not forget your duties as a monk of the Xiaolin Temple, Omi. Come, let us practice. This spot will still be here when you are done."
Omi looked up at Master Fung pitifully, "Okay…"
After training, Omi ran back to the seed plot.
"I was gone for some hours and you still haven't grown any! Why won't you grow!"
"Omi?" Clay showed up again.
"Clay! Why won't my tree grow?"
"Give it time, Omi. Leave it alone for a while," Clay explained.
"Oh, I understand. Even a tree needs some privacy. Okay, I will check on it again tomorrow!"
Omi checked on his tree everyday. Rain, sleet, snow… Omi never went a day without checking on his beloved tree.
One day in Spring, Omi approached the plot. Joy filled him, but it was quickly overridden with disappointment.
"That is it?" Omi shrieked, "A tiny sprout? But I wanted a majestic tree!"
"What's wrong, Omi?" Kimiko asked as she approached with the other dragons.
"My tree is a failure!"
Clay looked at the sprout, "Not if you ask me. That's pretty good. Just keep taking care of it and it'll be a tree someday."
"'Someday'?" Omi repeated.
"Yeah, Omi. Trees take time to grow," Kimiko explained.
"Yeah, like years," Rai added.
"'Years'?"
"Why?" Clay asked, "You didn't expect it to grow into a tree overnight, did you?"
"But… I… I took very good care of Omis Two, Three, Four, and Five! Why didn't they grow into trees?"
"They will," Kimiko put a hand on Omi's shoulder, "Just give them time…"
Never did a day go by that Omi didn't check on his apple tree. Eventually, the other monks had given him the nickname of Omi Appleseed. Omi hopped that the apple tree would be around longer than the Gingko tree. His tree was better anyway…