Chapter 9: Indiana Jones and Harry Potter
From the look of things, I'll be able to upload 1-2 chapters a month. I have another story that takes precedence over this one, so sorry if you have to wait.
"Kimiko-bot stole everything!" Valerie cried, outraged as she bandaged her bleeding hands. She was in the Shen Gong Wu vault with the others and Master Fung, searching for even a sliver of the mystical objects. The master had conveniently brought a first-aid kit, which Valerie was using at the moment.
"This is most unfortunate," Master Fung said in his slow, calm monotone.
"They're all gone," Raimundo said, in shock. He had spoken it quietly, but the words echoed in the blue chamber.
"Not all of them," Kimiko announced triumphantly. She held up a small glowing disk- the Mantis Flip Coin.
That reminded Valerie. "We got a second right here." She quickly untied the Shroud of Shadows from her waist and held it up.
"The Mantis Flip Coin and the Shroud of Shadows," Clay said. "That ain't much."
"This has gotta be the work of Jack Spicer!" Raimundo declared.
"No shit Sherlock," Valerie said irritably, handing the first-aid kit back to Master Fung with a thank-you.
"But how did he do it?" Omi inquired.
"Didn't he have the Changing Chopsticks?" Clay said. "And his hover-pack…"
Valerie shook her head. "You gotta admit; he's a lot smarter than he lets on."
"This coming from the girl who took so long to figure out what was wrong with Kimiko-bot earlier," Raimundo said caustically. Valerie glared at him.
"And this coming from the boy who never figured it out at all," she shot back.
"Now let's all just calm down here," Clay said, putting his giant self in between the two of them. "We just got a real nasty shock and we're all frustrated. That ain't no reason for our tempers to be turnin' on each other."
"Clay is right," Master Fung interjected. "Accusing each other now will give the Heylin side another victory."
Valerie looked at Raimundo. "Sorry," she said quietly.
"Yeah, me too," he said, smiling slightly. "How're your hands?"
She shrugged and held them up. "Nothing I can't handle. The robot was made out of tougher stuff than I thought. When Omi kicked it back earlier, I thought it was weaker."
Everyone turned to Omi, who shrugged his shoulders bemusedly. "Spur of the moment?"
"Really?" Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "When I kicked it yesterday I almost broke my foot. That's how I was captured."
Everyone stared at Omi, who was now sweating bullets. "Spur of the moment?" he repeated weakly.
"Do you think he's a robot?" Valerie whispered as loudly as she could to Kimiko. "It'd explain a lot."
"I am not a robot!"
"Of course he is not," Master Fung scoffed. "He is simply better trained than you. He has been here longer, so technically he must be stronger."
"Either that or he's a robot," Raimundo joked.
"I AM NOT A ROBOT!" Omi roared his yellow face tomato red. Everyone began to laugh, lightening the mood considerably.
"Are you sure he has all the Shen Gong Wu?" Theo asked his twin as they entered Jack Spicer's basement.
"For the millionth time, yes!" Hazel hissed as she took off her pink butterfly hairpin. It quickly transformed into a square with a screen and flashing buttons on it. The screen was a black grid with a few blinking green lights on it. A cluster of them was concentrated near the back of the lair. Hazel walked up to a metal closet and opened it.
"What are we taking?" she asked her brother absentmindedly. She held up the Eye of Dashi and gently traced the gem with her finger.
"Why not all of it?" Theo asked as he grabbed the Komori Sword.
"We don't have a bag big enough to hold all of them," Hazel pointed out. "We should just take half of them. That way we give Spicer and the monks a fighting chance."
"The monks will try to take them back," Theo mused. "Trying to make things interesting, are we?"
She smirked. "But of course. Now come on, we don't have much time. Grab what you can and let's go." She quickly took the Tangled Web Comb and stuck it in her hair. Theo took the Sword of the Storm and tied the two swords to his back with some rope he found lying around.
Hazel had just grabbed the Third-Arm Sash when a loud siren went off. The lights in the lair went bright red, and the robot pieces in the room were starting to move.
Theo quickly closed the door. "Let's get out of here!" No sooner had he said that when a Jack-bot appeared out of nowhere. Three more swarmed the twins from their sides.
"Haze, get us out of here!" Theo shouted, since he couldn't untie his Wu in time.
"Eye of Dashi!" she shouted. Lightning shot out of the gem and hit the nearest robot, incinerating it. "Whoa," she said as smoke lingered around the Eye.
"Hazel!" Theo cried out a warning. She turned to see her brother fighting a Jack-bot and losing pitifully. Theo had never been good at sports.
Hazel got the Comb out of her blonde hair and said, "Tangled Web Comb!" Hairy vines erupted from it, tying up the robot. She swung her arm and hit it with another Jack-bot, sending them crashing to the wall. It created a conveniently large hole for them to escape through.
But there was still one more robot. Theo snapped the rope off one of his swords. "Komori Sword!" he shouted. He swung the sword as hard as he could and sliced the Jack-bot in half. Panting, he smiled triumphantly.
"Let's go!" Hazel ordered. Theo nodded and together they jumped through the hole.
"RAIMUNDO!" Omi shouted. "PREPARE FOR A MOST SHAMEFUL DEFEAT!"
Raimundo scoffed in front of the goal post. "Oh, yeah? Take your best shot, Omi!"
Omi kicked the soccer ball as hard as he could at the goal. Raimundo tried to block it, but he acted too early; he fell onto the grass as the ball whizzed past him, hitting the net.
Omi jumped into the air and shouted, "GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!"
Raimundo lifted his head and spat out grass. "Nice one," he admitted. "Hey, where are you going?" he asked as Omi ran past him. He ran over to Kimiko, who was playing her videogame.
"So, Kimiko, you were saying?" Omi asked her quickly. Valerie walked over to the goal post and picked up the soccer ball. She and Raimundo watched as Kimiko quickly explained the videogame to the little monk. He then took the game and quickly surpassed level one.
Clay then walked over holding two separate ropes. "Hey, Omi, I tracked down that extra lasso," he said. "You wanna try trick ropin'?"
Valerie threw the ball high into the air and bounced it back and forth on her knees when it landed. She did this while she watched Clay teach Omi how to rope some doggies.
"You're pretty good at that," Raimundo said admiringly as he watched Valerie absentmindedly kick the ball with her knees.
"I played a lot of sports when I was a kid," Valerie said simply.
"I take it the enigmatic Eric taught you," he said slyly.
Valerie stopped bouncing the ball and held it. "I never told you about him?"
"You may have mentioned him."
She shrugged. "He's the guy who's been taking care of me ever since I was little."
"What about your parents?"
"They're busy with work." Valerie dropped the ball and put her foot on top. "We gonna play or not?"
Taking the hint, Raimundo smirked and guarded the goal post. "Bring it on."
Valerie kicked the ball as hard as she could towards the goal. Raimundo caught it in the stomach, his arms around it. He kneeled on the ground as he gasped for breath.
"Ai, girl, you kick hard," he panted.
Valerie walked over to him and helped him up. "Eric always was a good teacher."
Becoming bored, Raimundo watched as Omi tried to lasso and play the videogame at the same time. An evil smile spread on his face as he kicked the ball up into his hands.
Valerie gave an evil smile of her own. "Do it."
Raimundo kicked the ball towards Omi, saying, "You better protect your goal, Omi!" With determination, Omi went after him with the videogame and lasso in hand. He stood in front of his goal post and tried to guard, only to get tied up in his lasso in the process.
Omi detangled himself and said, "I am most humiliated."
"Maybe if you just did one thing at a time, you might have more luck, Omi," Clay said wisely.
"But all these recreational activities you have shown me; I must master them all!" Omi declared. "Especially the confusing Ring Lord book."
"You mean Lord of the Rings," Valerie pointed out, delighted that he was trying to read one of her books.
"That too. But then there is combat practice and chores…"
"And there aren't enough hours in the day, huh," Kimiko said.
Dojo chose that moment to slither up to them. "Hey, Dojo," Raimundo greeted him. "What's shakin'?"
"M-m-me!" Dojo said as he began to tremble. "A new Shen Gong Wu just activated!"
Five Minutes Later
In the room of the Ancient Scroll, Master Fung was explaining the newest Shen Gong Wu.
"The Ring of the Nine Dragons," he began. "It makes one warrior into as many as nine."
"Nine different places at one time?" Omi exclaimed. "Ooh, that would be most helpful!"
"At this point, any Shen Gong Wu would be helpful," Kimiko said grimly.
"True," Raimundo agreed woefully. "We only got two Shen Gong Wu."
"Thanks to that dirty snake Jack Spicer," Clay hissed.
"Then let's stop gabbing and start grabbing, shall we?" Dojo said from atop of Clay's hat.
The hot sun made Valerie glad she was wearing jean shorts and her blue t-shirt with the Superman logo on it. The bandages on her hands were itchy, but it didn't deter her from finishing putting her hair in a braid. She spied a square Aztec pyramid with giant steps leading into the interior.
Dojo landed in the front where Jack Spicer's bonze hovercraft was parked. "Is that Spicer's jet car?" Kimiko asked rhetorically.
"Top of the line, fully loaded…evil?" Clayanswered. "Yep, that's Jack's."
Valerie spied a green Hummer with airplane wings attached to the sides parked on the left. "And who does that belong to?" she asked, pointing to it.
"You don't think Theo and Hazel?" Kimiko asked worriedly. Valerie bristled at the thought of Theo as Dojo landed in front of the temple.
The temple wasn't nearly as impressive inside as it was outside. In fact, it was dark with spider webs in the corners. Valerie couldn't understand how they were supposed to see the Shen Gong Wu in this darkness.
"Hey, Kimiko, you wouldn't by any chance have a flashlight, would you?" she asked. She was only able to make out her friend's violet hair and her bright green shirt and loud pink socks. Kimiko smoothed down her brown skirt as she said, "No, sorry, Val."
"Afraid of the dark, Val?" Raimundo sniggered.
"Jack has the Komori Sword, which allows him to fight easily in darkness," Valerie stated. "If we have some light, it'll give us an advantage against him."
"True, but I'm not Jack," a female voice said through the darkness. A slicing sound could be heard, and Valerie dodged in time to see a glowing green blade hack the floor in front of her. She landed into Raimundo, who held her arms cautiously.
Hazel was sneering at them, despite being surrounded by Xiaolin monks. She easily unstuck the blade from the ground and lifted the Komori Sword over her shoulders. "Theo never could use this right," she said almost sadly.
"I thought Spicer had that Sword," Clay said, confused.
Hazel barked out a harsh laugh. "I stole it from him, nimrod!"
"Do not talk to him that way!" Omi yelled defiantly. He launched himself at the villainess, fists flying.
"Komori Sword!" Hazel shouted, the blade glowing green once more. She leaped into the air, just narrowly dodging Omi. He landed into Clay instead. Hazel hung from the roof upside down, her feet sticking to the ceiling. She gave the impression of a pink bat.
"It's been fun playing with you losers, but I have a Shen Gong Wu to find," she sneered. "Later!" The shadows overtook her and she was gone.
"Dojo, we need to find the Ring," Kimiko said with urgency in her voice.
"Say no more." Dojo immediately began to shake. He pointed to the wall in front of them.
"But that's a dead end," Valerie pointed out, puzzled.
"Press the stone here," the green dragon said. Clay pushed the very center stone, and it slid back far into the wall. Nothing happened.
"And then what?" Kimiko asked hurriedly.
"Master Dashi said 'ah!'"
"As in 'ah, I understand?'" Raimundo suggested.
"No, it was more like…" The floor beneath the six of them fell away into a dark pit. Everyone screamed "AAAAAHHHHH!" as they plummeted to their deaths.
"Right, like that!" Dojo shouted unhelpfully.
Omi's forehead began to glow and he dove right into the bottomless pit, latching onto a square hole in the wall. Just as he slid in, Clay got out a lasso as the rest plummeted downward.
"Grab my hand!" Clay ordered them, and the three of them grabbed on as he sent the lasso towards Omi. Omi caught it and they stopped falling. They then saw the sharp spikes at the bottom in the greenish water.
Valerie gave a relieved sigh. "That was way too close."
"No kidding," Raimundo agreed.
Clay put his feet to the wall and said, "Hang on." He began to rope climb the wall. Kimiko, Raimundo, and Valerie clung to his shoulders and waist as he quickly went into the hole.
Valerie climbed deep into the tunnel before finally lying down on the cold stone floor. "Woo, sharp spikes." Dojo slapped his head. "You'd think I remember something like that. Go figure."
Knowing that the rest was over, Valerie led the way through the tunnel while the others followed her. It was long and winding, but the end revealed a room with an empty pedestal. Wasn't the Ring of the Nine Dragons supposed to be there? Where was it?
Valerie jumped down and examined the pedestal. "It's gone," she stated.
The others followed suit with Clay making the most noise. "You're kidding," Kimiko said in disbelief.
"Hazel and Theo!" Raimundo snarled.
"You called for us?" Theo said in a slimy voice. He and his sister walked out of the darkness, a sword strapped to each of their backs. "About time you got here. I was getting bored waiting for you."
Hazel held up her left hand, revealing a black gold ring. "How do you like the Ring of the Nine Dragons? I think it looks better on me."
"You waited for us to get here?" Dojo asked, scratching his head. "When you could've just walked away with the Ring?"
"That'd be too easy," Theo said. Hazel slid the Ring off her finger. "It's more fun with a fight!" On that signal, she tossed the Shen Gong Wu into the air.
"Mantis Flip Coin!" Omi shouted, flipping through the air. He grabbed the Ring in his hands.
Theo took the sword off his back. "Sword of the Storm!" He spun the blade in a circle, sending a whirlwind at the monks. The wind pinned them all to the wall, and Omi dropped the Ring.
The Ring clattered into the center of the room. Theo stopped his attack and went for it. Clay threw himself across the floor and slid towards it. Both touched the Shen Gong Wu at the same time.
"Theo…uh, what's your last name?"
"Armstrong."
"Theo Armstrong, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown," Clay said. "You're Sword of the Storm against my Shroud of Shadows. Whoever finds the Ring in the labyrinth wins."
"Let's go: Xiaolin Showdown!" both boys said in perfect cadence. A blinding light washed over everything. The ground rumbled and shifted, lifting the Xiaolin monks high into the air. The pyramid itself seemed to flip over, revealing the booby trapped maze beneath it. The Ring of the Nine Dragons rested on a pedestal in the very middle.
Valerie blinked when she noticed that she and her friends were in a tree. There was a stone ledge attached to it, making it safer to stand. It was a strange contraption. She looked to her left to see Hazel and Jack Spicer on their own respective stands, staring over at the match. Valerie turned her attention back to Clay.
"GONG YI TAN PAI!" the two boys shouted before going their separate ways, Theo going to the left, Clay to the right. Theo immediately fell into a pit with spikes on the bottom.
"Was that the same pit we fell in?" Omi inquired the others.
"Ha! He fell for it!" Dojo jeered, pretending to wipe a tear away.
"GOD DAMN IT THEO!" Hazel roared at her brother.
And then the labyrinth did something unexpected; it began to shift. The stone walls were moving, destroying old routes and creating new ones. It was like the magical staircases in that one Harry Potter movie Valerie saw.
Bewildered, Clay kept going, since his earlier route seemed unchanged. He ran as fast as he could to the center, the untouched part of the maze. Suddenly he stepped on a booby trap, and a giant stone ball magically appeared from behind him. With a scream he ran away from it, clutching his cowboy hat Indiana Jones style.
"You can do it, Clay!" Valerie shouted as Clay dodged to the right. He landed in another pathway and waited for the ball to roll past him. He stood up and then climbed the wall to the top. Keeping his arms out for balance, he stood on top of the ledge and looked at the very center of the maze.
Theo had just gotten out of the pit, the hilt of his Sword clamped between his teeth. Taking it out, he shouted, "Sword of the Storm!" He launched himself upward, the Sword swinging from underneath him like a propeller. He lay flat with his arms outstretched under him, and he began to move.
"BOO, YOU SUCK!" Jack catcalled.
"Shut up, Jack!" Hazel snarled at him.
Clay noticed Theo with wide eyes. He took out the black shroud and said, "Shroud of Shadows!" He covered himself with the invisibility cloak and disappeared.
Theo propelled himself towards the center, darting his head back and forth as he searched for Clay. He was almost there when he was suddenly knocked to the side by some invisible force. The Sword of the Storm clattered away from him as Theo landed painfully onto the ground.
Clay suddenly reappeared on top of him and he hopped back onto the wall, standing over the edge. He made his way like that over to the Ring of the Nine Dragons, hoping from one ledge to another.
"Ooh, how brilliant!" Omi acknowledged happily. "Now he does not have to worry about the booby traps."
"But he still has Theo after him." Kimiko pointed a finger. "Look!"
Theo was getting up. Grabbing the Sword, he climbed up the stone wall and copied the way Clay stood on the ledges. He jumped to the next ledge, making his way towards Clay.
Clay turned around just in time to see Theo leap through the air, the Sword held in his hands like a katana. With wide eyes he jumped back just as the Sword hit the stone with a loud CRACK. Clay landed on his back, the Shroud right next to him.
Theo unstuck the Sword from the stone and began to shout the name. Clay reached for the Shroud again, only to land his hand on another stone that slid into the ground. Theo stopped midsentence and both boys watched dumbly as black spots in the walls appeared. Out came stone statues with loincloths and spears and helmets that looked like eagle heads, with the beaks covering the face. They slowly marched towards the boys.
"Shroud of Shadows!" Clay shouted, once again invisible. Now with only one boy around, the statues made their way towards Theo.
"Sword of the Storm!" He twirled the Sword again, using the whirlwind as a weapon. The stone statues stood stock still as the wind passed over them harmlessly. It didn't even move them an inch.
Theo stopped the attack, petrified. And then something snatched the Ring of the Nine Dragons off its pedestal, and the Showdown was over. With a blinding light, everything shifted back into its normal positions.
"You idiot!" Hazel shouted at her brother. "This is why I should do the Showdowns!" Theo muttered something unintelligibly. To Valerie, it sounded like, "Fuck off."
Jack Spicer sneered at them. "Not so tough now without a Shen Gong Wu protecting you!"
"Komori Sword!" Hazel lifted the Sword high into the air, and in seconds, she and her brother were encased in shadows and gone from their sight.
Spicer turned to Clay, who had the Ring, the Shroud, and the Sword of the Storm in his arms. "You win this time, Xiaolin losers!" he declared. His hover pack produced the spinners and lifted him up into the air. "But next time, beware the awesome power of Jack Spicer, evil boy genius!" And with an evil laugh he flew through the tunnel he came through.
Everyone turned to Clay, who was smiling triumphantly. "I reckon we got us a nice haul here."
The night air was pleasantly cool as Dojo flew the monks back to the temple. The full moon gave them plenty of light for Clay to show off the Ring of the Nine Dragons.
"I cannot wait to try out the Ring of the Nine Dragons!" Omi said happily as he took the Ring out of Clay's hands. "Now I can be in nine places at once and do all those recreational activities."
"Hold your horses there partner," Clay chided him jovially. "We should wait to see what Master Fung says about this."
"He's right Omi," Valerie pointed out. "Cloning things can get easily out of hand. It's too dangerous for us to use outside of emergencies."
"Can't I just try it out once?" Omi pleaded, giving the puppy dog pout. Tears were even pouring out of his eyes.
"We better not," Kimiko said gently.
"But if Master Fung says it's okay, then you can use it do to whatever you want," Raimundo reminded him. Omi instantly perked up.
"Then I will wait for the Master's verdict," Omi declared. He held out the Ring for Clay, but then began to wobble as Dojo began to shake his large body.
"Sorry, kids, we've got some turbulence," Dojo called as the wind buffeted them. Everyone hung onto Dojo's scales for dear life. Omi tried to put the Ring in his shirt sleeve, but it slipped out of his fingers and went over the side.
Valerie saw and immediately went for it. She reached over the edge and caught it before it fell over the side. But then the wind picked up again and she fell off the dragon's back, plummeting to the ocean below.
The others were screaming her name in fear. Valerie was also screaming, but it was in delight. She was freefalling, shouting, "WWWHHEEEEEEEE!" at the top of her lungs as Dojo immediately went to save her. Just before she hit the icy spray of the ocean, she saw the green lizard fly below her, her friends reaching out their hands to catch her. She landed on top of Clay in a heap, and Dojo flew back towards the air.
"That was so stupid!" Kimiko screeched fearfully. The worry was etched on her face. "Did you do that on purpose?"
Her heart was pounding, the adrenaline rushing through her veins like a drug. Valerie unclenched her hand and palmed the Ring back to Clay. When she found her voice, she said, "Of course I didn't. I just wanted to get the ring back."
"And you fell off you idiot!" Raimundo put a finger in her face. "You could have died!"
"I knew Dojo would save me," Valerie said simply. And then she said, in a tiny voice, "Can I go again?"
I can't be the only one who thinks the Shroud of Shadows acts like an invisibility cloak. XD As for the Indiana Jones reference, I had to. They were in an ancient temple, for Christ's sake! It was too hard to pass up.
So, thoughts?