"Honey? You in there?" a voice asked from the kitchen, and Rory shut her book.

"Yes mom," she shouted in exasperation, quickly shoving the diary under her bed. Apparently, she had a sixth sense or something because at that moment her mother came in.

"What'cha doing?" the elderly women asked, sitting down on the girl's bed.

"Just meditating," Rory replied, sweeping her long, messy brunette locks out of her face.

"Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" This last comment only made the young girl roll her eyes and bound towards the door, opening it up and racing down the stairs.

"Three, two, one, DADDY'S HOME!" the new teenager exclaimed, jumping on her dad before he could even shut the door.

"Ria, who is she and what has she done to our daughter?" the new arrival asked, and Ria shrugged.

"I don't know Ray, but maybe she's acting weird because it's her birthday and she knows we have presents stashed in the house," the mother suggested, kissing her girl on the head despite complaints. "Alright, you know the rules. Me and your father will guard the two hints, blindfolded, and when you put them together you'll find the next present, along with another hint. Continue on until you find the greatest gift of them all, and then we'll have cake and ice-cream. Ready? Give us ten seconds… NOW!"

The couple separated, one jumping up the stairs while the other ran down the hall.

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What seemed to be an hour later, Rory was content with her new presents. Her parents had even given her another Shen Gong Wu to add to her collection. Currently, on a shelf above her bed a protected by 'magic,' were the Changing Chopsticks (Age 1), the Ants in the Pants (Age 2), the Wudai Time Tables (Age 3), and the Manchurian Musca (Age 4).

On another shelf, this one in a more discreet area, she had four more Shen Gong Wu. The Gills of Hamachi (Age 5), the Lunar Locket (Age 6), the Silk Spinner (Age 7), and the Tongue of Saiping (Age 8), also protected by magic.

Once she had turned nine, her parents gave her the more powerful Shen Gong Wu, such as the Eye of Dashi (Age 9), the Star Hinabi (Age 10), the Orb of Tornami (Age 11), and the Tangle Web Comb (Age 12). These were protected with the most powerful magic of all, and only Rory could access them. She went downstairs to get her newest addition, the Moby Morpher. Her mother had said it would help her prepare for school in the morning, but she still had no idea what it did.

Deciding she would wait until tomorrow, she went back in her room where her parents tucked her in for bed. "First day of school tomorrow, get some rest," her father said, bending down and kissing her forehead and walking to his wife in the doorway.

"Good night sweetie," she said, shutting the door and walking down the stairs. Turning on the bedside light, Rory opened the diary back up.

'The diary of Raimundo and Torie,' she thought for the thousandth time, again wondering who they were…

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"Why? Why would she leave?" Kimiko asked for the hundredth time.

"Ugh, it is because she is evil!" Omi yelled, answering the same way.

"She is not evil!" Rai shouted, his voice ten times louder than Omi's. He hadn't mentioned that it was her that knocked him out. He knew that would sway them towards Omi's suspicions, and he didn't want that to happen.

"I still don't see why…" Kimiko again began, before Raimundo pushed his chair roughly back and stormed towards his room.

'They're going to be at this all night. Might as well spend some time with myself,' the monk thought sullenly. But rather than going into his own room, he ducked into Torie's and sat on the bed. "Maybe there's something in here to help me out," he said to nobody in particular. Opening up a random suitcase, he closed it immediately.

Definitely didn't care for her clothes. Rai was, after all, looking for something to explain her disappearance.

Dojo suddenly slithered up to him, cocking an eyebrow. "You really miss her, don't you?" he asked, his only response a microscopic nod. "Well, we've got to go fetch a new Shen Gong Wu. You coming?" Raimundo stood up, walking out with Dojo and meeting with the others. They kept quiet as they boarded Dojo, and flew off into the evening sky.

((Ha-ha, not what you were expecting, huh? Who would've thought this whole thing is actually being read by a teenager, and it's really just her imagination piecing it together to make a story.

Never would've guessed, huh. Anyways, I thought that was an interesting twist on things, and it plays a HUGE roll towards the end of the story.))