Step, stretch out, pull back, step, stretch out, pull back.
Sheila repeated her steps in her Tai Chi movements. It was a little early in the morning, the sun was just shining over the treetops. Sheila had woken up earlier than usual, made breakfast for everyone else, ate by herself, she cleaned her plate and set out to the training grounds for more practice. She had found peace of mind and was undisturbed for almost an hour. For the first time in a while, she had a genuine smile on her face.
"Good morning, Sheila." Omi's voice came from behind. "Are you ready to be humiliated again?"
Sheila never turned around or even opened her eyes, but she could imagine a little smirk on his face. "I'm training on my own today, Omi. Now kindly leave me alone." She said it a little more sharply than she intended. When she didn't here a reply, she figured he must've taken the hint. She then moved on to the next set of moves that she learned from reading some of the scrolls. She was able to translate them thanks to her computer.
'Imagine roots growing out from underneath your feet. You are a part of the ground, never losing balance, focus, look for your centering. Your limbs sway like branches in the wind, never hesitating for fear or apprehension. You are rooted.' She repeated to herself in her mind.
She tried the Single Whip move. In this move generally one hand stays in the "beak hand" position. You can probably guess why - it sort of looks like a bird's beak. Her four fingers were lightly touching her thumb and her palm should be facing downward. As for her arms, each style of Tai Chi is slightly different, but generally they were at shoulder height and spread like loose wings. She lifted her leg up and when she was about to swipe her hand forward like a whip, she-
"Your leg is supposed to be higher." Omi's voice broke her concentration.
"I said I was training on my own. Now please leave me in peace, Omi." Sheila gritted through her teeth. Though her concentration was broken, her stance remained intact. She returned to her breathing.
This time she practiced on the Crane Spreads Wings move. For this one, her weight would always be on one leg - but both feet should always be on the ground. She'd be shifting back and forth as she tested her balance. So too her arms should be opposite - one should be moving fast and on different planes and the other should be slow and deliberate (but never flaccid and weak).
"You may need help with your Tai Chi. If you want, I can teach you. I mastered those moves within a week. But with your abilities and skills, it may take more than a month." Omi said as he stood right in front of Sheila. He was a little bit too close inside her personal space bubble, and this caused Sheila to lose all of her balance and she tumbled backwards, landing hard on her arse (ass).
"You know what I want, Omi," Sheila was on the verge of throwing the little monk like a football (the American football). "I want you to go-" Sheila stopped herself. 'Calm yourself, Sheila. Omi may be smart, but since you've known him, you know how naive he can be.' She spoke to her within her own head.
Sheila took a deep breath and put on a friendly smile. "Actually Omi, there is something I need for you to do. Do you think you can handle it?" Sheila asked, putting as much honey in her voice as possible.
"Of course, I can. What is it that you need?" Omi asked.
"I need you to go get me," Sheila answered. "A rose."
Omi gave her a perplexed look. "A rose?"
"Yes." Sheila gave him a loving smile. "A rose with purple petals, blue leaves, and black thorns."
"Why do you need it?" He asked.
"For, uh. . . medicinal purposes." Sheila patted Omi's head and batted her eyes at him. "Can you do that for little ol' me?" Omi blushed and nodded his head excitedly. Without another word, Omi dashed off into the forest to look for the purple rose with blue leaves and black thorns that didn't exist.
"Sometimes, I can be a Dunny rat (very cunning person)." Sheila smirked to herself. She went back to her Tai Chi. Now that she was happy, she was able to concentrate more than ever. It took almost two hours, but she was able to master the moves without any disturbances. Her smile was brighter than ever. In fact, it almost made her cheeks hurt. For the first time since Sheila arrived at the temple, she had mastered something other than chores!
"I have returned." Omi announced behind her. But he said it in a sad tone. Sheila turned to see that he was sad and empty-handed.
"I could not find the medicine plant that you requested." Omi explained.
"Actually mate, I sent you on a wild goose chase." Sheila admitted.
"But you sent me for a rose. Not a bird." Omi replied. Sheila had to stifle a giggle.
"No, it means I put you up to a pointless task. Because that rose don't exist, mate." Sheila explained. "I tricked ya into leavin' me alone."
Omi stared blankly for a moment. He blinked before getting angry. "WHAT?!" He yelled.
"Omi, calm down. It was just one little trick." Sheila said. "It's not like I put ya in danger."
Omi just huffed before walking back inside the temple. He was almost inside, when Dojo came slithering out. "We've got a level 3 Shen Gong Wu alert." He shouted.
The other monks followed up behind him. He unrolled the scroll to reveal a triangular dagger. A figure pointed it at another figure and the figure that it was pointed at was shot with a beam and the figure was frozen into a block of solid ice.
"The Jian Bing Dagger. Whoever wields it could freeze their opponent into a block of solid ice." Dojo explained. "Dress warmly, we're going to the coldest place on earth." Dojo advised.
Snow Hill Island, Antarctica was not as bad in the summer as it would've been in winter.
Sheila dressed in a blue parka over a long sleeved blue sweater, with long layered jeans, thick winter boots and thick mittens, with a wool scarf. The cold didn't bother her that much, but Antarctica was not something to take lightly. She prepared her denim backpack with five blankets, flares, a first aid kit, hot sauce, extra gloves, and a bottle of vinegar. It was a big, yet lightweight backpack.
When they arrived at the freezing continent, Raimundo had handed her the Ruby of Ramses. It was a large, eight-sided, conical shaped ruby and had numerous spikes close to the base of the ruby. She was told that it let the user have mental telekinesis.
"Try not to lose it this time." Raimundo warned with a glare of contempt. That really shook Sheila. Her comrades had barely any faith in her. She looked down and remained silent. A cold wind blew, whipping her white stripe braid across her face. On the inside, she was screaming and beating the crap out of Raimundo and calling him things that would make even Alexis shiver, and she cursed like a sailor.
But it was Dojo who was shivering more than anyone. In fact, he was very sleepy. "I feel like I need to take a nap." He said. He was almost drifting off to sleep while he curled up around Clay's hat. None of the other monks thought much of it, until Sheila figured out what was wrong with Dojo. She quickly grabbed him from Clay's hat and stuffed him into her back pack and made a nest out of the blankets.
"Sheila, what are you doing with Dojo?" Kimiko asked out of confusion and curiosity.
"Making Dojo warm enough to keep him awake." Sheila answered quickly. She focused on making the little shapeshifting reptile as warm as possibly.
"How could Dojo be able sleep in this temperature?" Raimundo asked.
Sheila rolled her eyes. "Because if a reptile gets too cold, they go into a hibernation state. Reptiles are often described as coldblooded animals. This implies their blood is cold, but that's literally true. "Coldblooded" refers to a system of body temperature control. Reptiles have ectothermic body temperature regulation systems. Humans don't. Our bodies use homiothermic systems that maintain a constant internal temperature, regardless of external temperatures. Reptiles' body temperatures are directly dependent on external surroundings.
"Chilled reptiles fall into torpor (a slowed metabolic state). Under natural conditions some reptiles hibernate. In captivity, reptiles are unable to prepare for hibernation on their own. When the body temperature falls below a critical point enzymes are unable to function. This means that digestion ceases or is incomplete, immunity is impaired, and reproductive function declines. Chilled animals are at high risk of disease and, of course, death."
Everyone stared at her. But when they were about to ask questions, Dojo began to snort and came around.
"Wha-What happened?" He asked groggily.
Sheila let out a long breath of relief that was swept away by the wind. "You almost went into hibernation. I was able to make you a nest to keep you warm. You can stay in my backpack until we find the Wu."
"Oh," Sheila added. "Make sure you drink some the hot sauce in there. It'll spike ya body temperature."
Dojo did as suggested and reluctantly took a few sips of the mild hot sauce. "Thanks Sheila." He said, trying not to throw up.
For the rest of the way, they walked in silence. The cold seeped through everyone's clothing and everyone was shivering and freezing to the bone, but they all kept walking and listened to each other teeth chattering. There wasn't anymore excitement until there was weird sound of chittering and squawking. Sheila gasped happily and ran on top of the newest snowbank to look over.
She beamed brightly at the sight of so many: "Emperor penguins!" Sheila exclaimed when everyone ran over to see what she was so happy about. Thousands of Emperor penguins were huddled onto the snowy landscape down below the snowbank.
"Wow, that is a lot of birds." Omi commented. The adult Emperor penguins had deep black dorsal feathers, covering the head, chin, throat, back, dorsal part of the flippers, and tail. The black plumage was sharply delineated from the light-colored plumage elsewhere. The underparts of the wings and belly were white, becoming pale yellow in the upper breast, while the ear patches were bright yellow. The upper mandible of the 8 cm long bill was black, and the lower mandible were either pink, orange or lilac, depending on each penguin. The Emperor penguin chicks were covered with silver-grey downy and had black heads and white masks.
"I can sense the Wu nearby," Dojo's voice came from within Sheila's backpack. "Or, it maybe the hot sauce." He added before belching some smoke and feeling his stomach growl as he clutched it.
"Drink some of the vinegar. It'll settle ya stomach." Sheila advised as she slid down the snowbank towards the penguins. Sheila shifted the backpack to her front and used it as more of a baby pouch for Dojo.
"Warmer, warmer." Dojo kept saying as Sheila stepped toward the penguin colony. "Fire!"
Sheila looked down to see an adult Emperor Penguin, which came up to her shoulders, looking up at her. It cawed at her face before it rubbed up against her affectionately.
Raimundo snickered at the sight. "Looks like Sheila's got a boyfriend."
The others laughed along with his joke. But to Sheila, it only made her blush and cover her face with her hat again. To her, any displays of affection, in public no less, seemed uncomfortable and it brought too much attention to her.
The penguin, as if sensing Sheila's embarrassment, waddled up behind Raimundo and pecked him on the butt.
"Ow!" Raimundo yelped. Everyone else laughed as the penguin continued to peck Raimundo's arse as he tried to get away from the large bird, but failed to do so.
'These blokes will laugh at any sort of humiliation that a person endures.' Sheila scolded in thought. 'And I thought they call themselves the 'Good Guys'.'
While the others were laughing, Sheila went straight to the snow banks to search for the Wu. Snow Hill Island had more than just snow, it also had some rocky patches. It would be the best suitable place for a dagger. She climbed up and around the rocks, while she lost track of the other monks. But based on the intelligence they showed they were probably looking among the penguins. But, she tried to distance herself from that to focus on finding the dagger. She searched along the rigid top of the rocky line while the others were actually gathering around Omi as he explained what Sheila had done to trick him.
"She sent me on a wild duck chase." Omi explained.
"Goose." Raimundo corrected.
"Where? I only see penguins." Omi looked around, while Raimundo gave himself a face palm.
"Anyway, what if she'd gotten into the vault while she had distracted Omi?" Kimiko asked the boys.
"Nah, when we were stockin' up on Wu, everything was still there." Clay answered.
"Here, let me try something." Raimundo said as he brought out a golden conch shell with a black pattern and pointed it in Sheila's direction while her back was still turned. "Mind Reader Conch." Raimundo had intended to read Sheila's mind, hoping they'd find something that would help them find out more about her.
'Maybe if they goofed off less, they wouldn't be such dills (idiots) and I wouldn't have to explain everything to them. I'm the one who found the last two Wu. Sure I lost the second one in a showdown, but it's not like everyone is supposed to be perfect!' Sheila's mind read.
"What'd you hear?" Clay asked.
"I think she just called us idiots." Raimundo guessed. "She also said that we goof off too much."
"Well, what has she been doing that's-" Clay started.
"Shouldn't you wallabies be findin' the Wu?" Sheila's voice came from behind them. The monks jumped from the sudden intrusion of their conversation. Her footsteps were once again silent, even in the crunching thick snow of Antarctica. She was giving them a curious look, meaning she didn't know what they were talking about.
"Of course we are. What else would we be doing?" Raimundo answered quickly. Sheila was about to say something else, when they heard a voice over all the cawing of the penguins.
"Why does the Wu have to be in the coldest place on earth?" It was Jack Spicer's voice. Everyone looked over to see that he had landed within the penguins almost one half of a mile away. He was shoving his way through the penguins, looking for the dagger as well.
"Jack Spicer!" Omi yelled.
"What?!" Jack shouted in frustration before giving an unimpressed face. "Oh, it's you guys." Jack pressed a button on his wristwatch and the ground began to rumble. Out of the snowy hills walked a giant robot. It was at least fifteen feet tall with the black and white patterning of an orca. It had the shape of an Emperor penguin, but with red glowing eyes.
"Penguin Jack-bot, attack!" Jack yelled. The robot made a whirring sound and its eyes began to glow brighter. All of the monks got into a stance, even Sheila, who had grown more confident in her abilities.
But when the penguin took one step forward, the ice began to crack. It cracked until the ice split open and huge chunks of the ice seesawed in the water. Jack was flown off into the rocky parts of the island, and the monks were catapulted with him. Meanwhile the penguin robot was sinking faster and faster, until it was completely submerged into the icy waters of the southern ocean.
Everyone crashed into the rocks, well away from the water. The rock that they landed on cracked and split open revealing a dagger with a hilt made of polished silver with an eighteen inch triangular blade made from a perfect diamond, and it was embedded in the rock, as if it were the Sword in the Stone.
"The Jian Bing Dagger!" Sheila cried. She was the first one to get up along with Jack and they both raced for the dagger. Upon reaching it, they both grabbed the hilt at the same time. But a third hand also had the hilt in its grasp.
Connected to the third hand was a handsome young man. He had long raven black hair and it was pushed back behind his face, and his skin was Caucasian, and was wearing dark green armor. His eyes were like an amber-gold and they were like lizard eyes with diamond slits, and they were hypnotic. He couldn't be older than his early to mid 20's.
"Chase Young!" Omi gasped, but his tone was menacing. "What are you doing here?"
"A little bird told me that new monk has joined the Temple. I wanted to see it for myself." The man named Chase said in a sultry voice.
"Oi! Are we gonna just sit here and freeze our arse's off, or are we gonna start this showdown?" Sheila asked with an irritated tone.
"Alright, alright." Jack said. "I challenge you, Sheila and Chase Young, to a showdown trio. I wager my Monkey Staff against your Ruby of Ramses and your Culver Crystal!" Jack pointe to Chase Young for the last one.
"What's the Culver Crystal?" Kimono asked.
Dojo poked his head out of Sheila's backpack with the scroll. "The Culver Crystal is a Shen Gong Wu used to create a glittering and blinding sphere of light that helps its users during escapes." Chase Young held up a sphere with a diamond inside of it. Sheila quickly pulled off her backpack and tossed it to Clay to hold Dojo and took the
"The game is Ice Hopper. Last one to fall wins!" Jack explained.
"Let's go!" All three of them shouted at the same time. "Xiaolin Showdown!"
13 ice columns began to grow from the waters at least 65 feet below the three competitors, and the 13 ice columns took a triangular shape when lined up together. There was nothing for miles but open water. The other monks were floating on a platform of rock with their weird blue suits on, while Sheila had her robes on. Chase Young, Jack, and Sheila stood in a triangular formation on either sides.
"Gong Ye Tempai!" The three yelled. The columns of which they were standing on began rumbling and began to crumble into the ocean.
"Monkey Staff!" Jack yelled in a panic. Just like last time, he grew into a monkey. He jumped from the column at the last minute before it tumbled into the ocean.
Sheila jumped from the column just when it started shaking on to the next one. But when she tried to land, she slipped on the ice and almost slid over the side, but she caught hold of the ledge just in time. She hung over the side with her fingers clutching onto the freezing cold edge.
"We are very much watered." Omi said.
"I think he means hosed." Clay guessed.
"That makes no sense." Omi replied.
'Thanks for the encouragement, ya mugs!' Sheila yelled in her head. Looking around, there was no way she could climb up without the risk of slipping. Planting both feet in front of her in a bent position, she pushed with all of her weight being put into her hand that held onto the ice and flipped over on top.
Meanwhile, Chase had done the simplest part and got rid of Jack Spicer by just simply kicking him off the first column Jack jumped onto. He tried to deploy his helipack, but his watch had frozen over from the temperatures. He was only in the showdown for ten seconds.
Chase then set his sight on the new monk. Their own ice columns began to shake underneath their feet. Sheila got a running start to the next column until she felt something grab the collar of her robes and yanked her back. She slid back on her arse and nearly slid over the edge again, but she stopped herself by shoving the tip of the Ruby of Ramses into the sheet thin ice.
She let a breath of relief go, but was then kicked in the face. The Ruby of Ramses was removed from the ice, but remained in Sheila's hand as her back was slammed into the nearest ice column next to the previous one she was began to crumble.
Her vision blurred and spots danced around her eyes. Gravity went into effect on her body, and she peeled off from the column and began to fall. Thinking furiously, Sheila recalled the Ruby had the ability to levitate objects, so why not a person? Can't hurt either way, she was already losing.
"Ruby of Ramses!" She shouted. She imaged herself floating UP and concentrated, blocking out all others distractions. Within seconds she felt weightless, and the wind was pushing down on her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was lifted upwards and was covered in a red glow. She then pictured being moved to the farthest column from Chase.
When her feet touched the ice and she opened her eyes.
Only to find Chase Young staring straight down at her.
'Yeah, I kind of expected that.' She thought. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other columns had fallen and they were standing on the only one left.
Chase Young was only giving her a foot of space. He glared down at her. His lizard eyes were so . . .
Sheila couldn't even find the words to describe his eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest and her palm, in which she held the Ruby of Ramses, was sweating heavily, despite the below freezing temperatures. Her cheeks blushed deeply until they almost turned purple as Chase bent down slightly to get a closer look at her. She returned the favor by bending back and trying to avoid eye contact. But she didn't dare to move another muscle.
"Why is Chase Young just staring at Sheila?" Omi asked.
"Maybe he's passing on some secret mission for her to carry out against us." Raimundo scolded in Sheila's direction with a glare. "COME ON! LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH! JUST GO AHEAD AND LOSE SHEILA!" He shouted at the two competitors.
Sheila just twisted her head slightly in their direction with a little pang of hurt in her heart. 'Well, if they want me to jump the gun, then I'll jump.' She thought to herself as she took off running towards the edge and jumped off the column. On her way down to the ice cold water, a single tear streaked from her eye.
A slight shock ran up her body as she hit the water. Thus ending the showdown.
The island returned to the way it was. Jack had fallen into the icy water and came up scrambling for air and tried to grab ahold the ice to climb onto. He pushed himself up and curled into a ball to heat himself. He activated his helipack and flew off back to his home.
Chase stood victorious on the rocks while Sheila sat down at the base of the snowbank and was still soaked, but had been returned to her normal clothes. The cold water didn't chill her as much as it would to another person.
"Here." Chase said to Sheila as she stood up. He tossed her the four Wu that he had rightfully won. She instinctively caught it, but was majorly confused.
"But you won." She said.
"I have no use for Wu. I just wanted to meet you." Chase explained with a smile.
Sheila blushed and looked at the Wu. 'He just wanted to meet . . . me?'
She looked back up to him, but he was gone without a trace. Sheila was so confused. She had completely forgotten that the other monks were standing right behind her.
"Well." Kimiko coughed. Sheila was startled and clumsily juggled all of the Wu before dropping them into the snow.
"Well, what?" Sheila asked with a cracked voice.
"What did Chase tell you?" Raimundo asked suspiciously.
"All he did was just give the Wu and that was it." Sheila answered as she picked said Wu. "Can we go now? I'm cold."
Dojo slithered out of Sheila's backpack and grew into his full size, scooped up the monks, and flew back to the temple.
When they arrived at the temple, Sheila went back to her room.
Where she found a little surprise.
On her trunk, sat a vase of beautiful purple roses with blue leaves and blacks thorns. She stared at the roses in curiosity with a mixture of confusion.
'But. . . But. . .' Sheila stuttered in her mind. Getting over her mental brain-fart, she approached them wearily and inspected them. The water in the crystalized vase was completely clear of any food coloring, and the roses were real, as she had felt the rough leaves and the velvety petals.
"But how can this be? Flowers like this couldn't exist!" Sheila said to herself. "Could they?"
Another image caught her eye. It was a some card in an envelope. Sheila set down the vase and opened the card.
A little bird told me that these were the flowers that you were looking for.
I hope they were exactly what you wanted.
There was no signature or any kind of clue as to who would give these roses to her. She plucked one of the roses from the vase, carefully avoiding the thorns, and sniffed it.
Its sweet perfume fragrance enlightened her to heaven. It was intoxicating. Suddenly the world around Sheila was sharper, the colors were clearer and her senses were heightened even more. She seemed much calmer. She just wanted to stay in her room all day and smell her roses.
BONG!
The training gong was sounded and Sheila quickly snapped out of her trance. She carefully put the rose back into the vase and changed back into her training robes. But before she left for the training grounds, Sheila put the roses on the window sill in her room, so that they could receive as much sunlight as possible.
But when she left, the roses immediately turned AWAY from the sunlight, wanting nothing to do with it's warmth and withheld it's stance with prejudice.
Later that night, everyone had gone to bed, as it was nearly 12:30 a.m.
Sheila laid on her mat and had fallen asleep with ease. She was always able to fall asleep quickly, and woke up earlier the next day.
But her face began to twitch. It grimaced as her eyes tightened and nose scrunched up, like a dog growling. Sheila twisted and turned, her blanket getting tangled with her legs.
*She could hear the screams. Those terrifying and haunting screams from her childhood that would forever haunt her memories. Her tears were streaming down her face as her brother's face flashed through her head. His eyes bulging with terror, his body writhing in pain, and his screams were influenced by pure agony. Everyone was pulling her away from him, but she only wanted to be with him in his hour of need. She needed to be with him! He needed her!
"BOOMER!" She screamed.*
Sheila gasped and sat up at the speed of light when she woke was bathed in her sleep-sweat, a condition she had where if the temperature was too warm, she would sweat in her sleep. It made her PJ's, an old, faded-blue T-shirt with gray sweatpants stink so much. She grabbed her phone and dialed a number on speed dial.
"Oi, who's this?" A boy's voice came from the other end of the line.
"It's me." Sheila answered. "I had that nightmare again."
The line was silent for a moment.
"You wanna talk?" The voice asked.
"Yeah, just give me a sec." Sheila said. She poked her head out of her room and looked across both hallways. The coast was clear. She carefully, and silently crept outside the sleeping quarters. What Sheila didn't know was that Raimundo waiting for her move. Once she was out the door, Raimundo slipped out of his room and proceeded to follow her.
Sheila, unaware of the intrusion of her privacy, walked out of the temple and ran off into the forest. She found a stump to sit on in the pale moonlight. Fireflies danced with their flashing lights and the nightingales sang their enchanting song as Sheila continued her conversation on the phone. Raimundo on the other hand had climbed the tree above Sheila, to find out who she was meeting here. He stayed perfectly silent as he hovered over her on a low-baring bough.
"Okay, I'm back." Sheila's voice was now quivering as tears outlined her eyes. "I'm sorry to call so late at night, I just really needed to hear your voice again."
"Hey, it's apples (it's okay), Sheila. I'm happy to talk to you at anytime." The voice reassured her. "Is there something going on?"
"Not really." Sheila sniffled. "But ever since . . . ya know, we promised we would never be apart ever again." Sheila curled up on the stump, wishing she had brought some socks or shoes, or even a blanket. "But then I got invited here, and now were so many miles apart. And I miss you Boomer!" Sheila let her tears fall to the grassy forest floor.
"What a cry-baby." Raimundo said to himself. "And I thought she couldn't get any lamer." Thought, he may have said it a little too loudly.
Sheila gasped and jumped off the stump. "Who's there!?" She shouted.
"What?! What's wrong?!" Boomer's voice became urgent, thinking his little twin sister was in trouble.
Raimundo tried to stay as still as he could be. But that wasn't much of an option as the tree limb he was squatting on began to crack. And what's worse was that he was right on top of Sheila. The tree limb cracked once more and gave way.
"AAH!" Raimundo fell to the ground and also startled Sheila. Luckily, she had walked out of the way.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Sheila towered over Raimundo with a fierce look in her solid sapphire blue eyes.
"Sheila! Are you okay?! What's going on?!" Boomer's voice shouted through the phone.
"I'll call ya back." Sheila answered sternly before hanging up her iPhone.
"Who were you calling?" Raimundo got up and met Sheila eye-to-eye. "It was probably Chase Young."
"No it wasn't!" Sheila protested. "I was calling my brother! Why do you guys hate me so much?!"
"Because. . ." Raimundo paused trying to think of a good reason. "Because. . ."
"Because," Sheila finished for him, "You all see me as weak, weird, and you think I'm working for the Heylin side. Well, I'm not. I just have a hard time fitting in with others. Especially when I don't know them. I'm terrified of social confrontation. I hate socializing. I never had to when I was little because my brother was always by my side."
"So, that's why you seemed so scared of us when you arrived." Raimundo suddenly had a realization like an anvil just hit him on the head. "Wait, then, why don't you like people touching you?"
"My sense of touch is overdeveloped. Along with my eyesight and hearing." Sheila explained.
"But, how-?" Raimundo's brain just clicked. "Are you. . . Autistic?"
Sheila hesitated. "How did you figure that out?"
"I come from a family of eight siblings. My younger brother, Raj, he would often scream when someone wears colors that are too bright and he would sometimes stare off into space. He would rarely ever talk, and only cried when he needed something. When my folks took him to a child psychologist, they diagnosed him with autism."
"Well, to answer your question, yes. But I only have a mild case of Aspergers. I can still communicate, but it would take a lot of pushing for me." Sheila sat down on the stump. "The only person who had actually understood me was Boomer, my twin brother."
"Well, all you had to do was tell us. I would've explained to the others to help them understand."
"It's embarrassing and humiliating! Me oldies (my parents) even distanced themselves from me, my siblings are a bunch of loonies, and-"
BOOOOOM!
An explosion at the temple interrupted the conversation. A cloud of smoke erupted from where the Shen Gong Wu vault should've been. Jack-Bots hovered over the smoking ruins of the temple with the Wu in their hands.
"JACK!" Raimundo and Sheila shouted at the same time. The two monks looked at each other and nodded, as if they had shared a secret message. 'We'll talk later.' And they both ran to the temple's aid.
The monks that had remained at the temple awoke to an explosion interrupting their peaceful slumber and were still dressed in their pajamas. The Jack-Bots had corralled them into the courtyard and surrounded them with malevolent intensions.
The monks were wide awake at this point and had taken their battle stances. The laser cannon erupted from the chests of the Jack-bots and began to fire. The monks, being used to this sort of thing, jumped into the air and over the Jack-Bot's heads.
"Wudai Mars Fire!" Kimiko shouted. Her hands and feet immediately lit up on fire. She jumped between two Jack-Bots and kicked off their heads, both of which collided with the other two Jack-Bots that were beside them, making them explode.
"Wudai Neptune Ice!" Omi created a rain of sharpened icicles from out of his sleeves. They punctured the exterior of the six Jack-Bots in front of them and froze their innards. They dropped to the ground and short-circuited.
"Wudai Crater Earth!" Clay smashed his fist into the ground as he landed behind the Jack-Bots and several rocks floated before him. One-by-one, he kicked the rocks into the backs of the Jack-Bots. The rocks caused massive explosions as they hit each Jack-Bot.
"Where is Raimundo?" Omi asked over the explosions.
"I don't know, but we could use his help!" Clay responded as he punched a Jack-Bot upside the head.
"Shoku Astro Wind!" A familiar voice echoed throughout the temple. Rushing beams of compressed air pushed eight Jack-bots together as Raimundo and Sheila ran into the action.
"Where in tarnation have you two be-" Another explosion interrupted Clay's angry voice. This one came directly from the Shen Gong Wu vault.
"Action now!" Sheila shouted. "Questions later!"
The monks ran to the vault as a huge gold and black robot was digging through the vault staircase and gathering Wu in a sack (imagine the posse Jack-Bots but much bigger and wider). The robots must've sensed the monks behind it and got up, turning toward them. It was massive, almost as tall as the vault building itself, but it was stalky, almost thin but not quite. It looked like every other Jack-Bot, except it had arms and legs.
It looked at each of the monks, scanning them as a possible target before its radar landed on Sheila. It beeped rapidly and its huge metal claws reached out for her. Clay, with his strength, pushed Sheila out of the way and took her place as the robot's target. The robotic arm punched Clay, sending him straight through the wall (or whatever remained of the wall), when the robot realized it had missed its target.
Omi, taking this opportunity, flipped onto the robot's stretched arm and ran up until until he had reached the head. Omi began kicking and punching the head of the robot, but it do anything except piss it off. The robot used its other free hand to flick Omi off of his shoulder. He slammed into the pillar of the building and slid down with stars circling over his massive, bald head.
Kimiko and Raimundo worked together and combined their elements. Kimiko sent off a fire blast and Raimundo tripled its power and speed by backing up with his own turbulence. But all it did was make the robot steam, literally. The robot retracted its arm and swung it, knocking Kimiko and Raimundo away and turned it direction back towards Sheila, who stood frozen in fear.
'Focus! Stop being a chikkie (chicken) and fight!' Sheila yelled at herself. 'This robot might be strong, but that means it is slow. If you can build up enough speed, you can knock this thing down!' She calmed her breathing, she focused on letting all of her energy go into her strength and speed.
Outside, a thunder cloud began to rumble, lightning spritzed and sparked, threateningly close to the temple vault. Time had slowed down a bit outside for Sheila as her mind circled around building up energy.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck Sheila. But it went right through her. Time just moved so slowly when it hit her. The robot's arm was almost wrapped around her, but she calmly slipped out of its grasp and walked out the hole in the wall and walked 30 meters away. When she was far enough away, she suddenly snapped back and ran, leaving a golden trail of light with a white stripe behind her. She came within 15 feet of the robot, she jumped and aimed her feet at the monster's chest. She twirled around in a spin and jumped back, landing in an almost perfect split.
The robot was ssslllooowwwlllyyy thrown back from the force, from Sheila's point-of-view. It collapsed the wall, behind it, causing the vault to crumble. But with just enough strength and speed left, Sheila gathered the still monks and pulled them away the danger zone.
From what the monks saw, this took no more than 5 seconds!
When Sheila returned back to normal time, she fell to the ground in exhaustion. Her vision was hazy and her legs were like gelatin. The monk's voice echoed in Sheila's mind, but she was fading too quickly from consciousness to realize what they were asking, before everything turned black.
Well, that's all for this chapter.
And at this point I should tell you, that Sheila is no longer the Dragon of Animals but something much different! You will find out in the next chapter!
If she survives!