Storm Rising

Kimiko could hardly sit up as they flew back to the Temple. Raimundo and Clay had to hold her in place to keep her from falling off every time Dojo made a sharp turn or dipped to avoid an aircraft or a low-lying cloud. When they arrived, she walked away from them vaguely and went off to her room, falling asleep as soon as she landed on the bed.

Master Guan's temple had a healer, a wizened old woman with a mat of curly hair and a bag of small herbs and potions that she prepared from the plants outside the monastery. She had tested Kimiko for all sorts of mundane injuries. The process had taken an hour, and during it Omi, Raimundo, Dojo, and Clay paced outside nervously.

When the healer finally emerged, she was immediately besieged with questions.

"What happened?" Dojo and Clay asked simultaneously.

"Will she be okay?" Omi questioned.

"Was it a head injury?" Rai asked. "I saw Jack's laser hit her in the head. It has to be a head injury."

The healer shook her head. "She has no physical injury that I could find. Whatever did this to her was magical in nature."

"So it wasn't a laser." Raimundo said. "That necklace that Jack was wearing... it must be some kind of mystic artifact. But where would he get something like that?"

"The library would have books on it." Omi said.

"That's where we'll go." Dojo said. "If this is magic, one of Guan's books will definitely tell us what it is, and hopefully how to cure it."

The three monks and their dragon made their way to the library. Each one was wondering what had happened to their friend, and how they would be able to save her from whatever evil spell had afflicted her.

Jack Spicer returned to his lair. A puddle of water on his front lawn called out to him, but he ignored it. The toilet in the hallway bathroom tried to get him to listen. He climbed down the stairs into the basement, ignoring the hissing coming from the pipes. He was in a profoundly bad mood and didn't need to hear anything from anyone for a very long time.

He managed to go three hours before slipping up and asking his Yes-bot for a cup of chocolate milk. As soon as it was brought over, his mystery counselor began to speak with him again.

'Did you retrieve the Crown?'

"No!" Jack snapped. "Go away, I'm trying to drink my calcium."

'What? You f-- you must retrieve it at once! It is vital to our plan!' The voice snapped.

"I'm going to get it, okay! Just not now!" Jack Spicer said.

The voice was silent for five blessed minutes. Then...

'If--if you do not mind my asking, WHEN are you going to bring it? You do remember that it is your birthright, your chosen weapon, your greatest--,'

Jack gritted his teeth. "I'm going to get it back as soon as I finish working on this new robot. Now go away!" He picked up the chocolate milk and poured it out onto the ground. The Yes-bot zoomed over and vacuumed up the liquid before zooming off, humming a tinny tune nonchalantly.

The Xiaolin dragons and Dojo were scattered throughout the library, crouched over heavy leatherbound tombs and scrolls of papyrus and parchment in search of something -- anything -- that could help them rescue Kimiko. They had knowledge of every amulet that had ever been devised and every spell in existence but none of them could find anything worthwhile.

"Maybe we should call Master Fung." Clay suggested.

"No, we can't interrupt them." Raimundo said. "We just have to keep reading so that we can find whatever is that's affecting Kimiko."

No one said anything for a while. They pored over book after book, scroll after scroll, only to find dead end after dead end. The hours seemed to blur together and no one had any idea what time it was until a monk rang the gong that signalled the end of dinnertime.

It was only a few minutes later that Dojo let out a yelp of surprise.

"Guys!" He said when the three Xiaolin monks looked around. "Guys, I think I found something." The monks got up and walked over to him. The little green dragon was reading a book entitled 'Old-School Evil: A Manual for Heylin Masters'. "Chapter Five is all about this really weird artifact," Dojo said. He flipped through the text until he reached a page somewhere near the middle of the book. One page featured a large, glossy illustration of a silver necklace while the page next to it described it in detail. "According to this, Jack's necklace is actually a mystical amulet belonging to Mayun, a sorcerer who was once tried to take over the world."

"Does the text tell of how to reverse its powers?" Omi asked.

"I'm getting to that!" Dojo snapped. He propped up the book in front of his snout and continued reading. "The Amulet is said to be able to drain the chi out of living beings. The only way to reverse it is to find Mayun and steal back the stolen chi."

"Where can we find this guy?" Raimundo said.

Dojo turned slowly towards him. "In the Yin-yang world." He said in an ominous voice.

The Xiaolin monks went down to the vault and retrieved the two Shen Gong Wu necessary to enter the Yin-Yang World. "Are we all ready?" Clay said as he took both Wu in his hands.

"Wait!" Omi said. "Someone should stay behind to guard the Temple."

"I pick you." Raimundo said, snatching the Wu away from Clay. "Keep the Temple safe for me. When I come back, I'm going to have Kimiko's chi with me."

"Uh... okay." Clay said.

"Yin Yo-Yo!" Raimundo shouted. "Yang Yo-Yo!"

The portal opened up in the middle of space, swirling around them all like a terrible storm. Raimundo closed his eyes as he stepped through it to that terrifying land where monsters and evil forces were all too commonplace. All he could wonder was how he was going to find Kimiko's chi and return in time to help his friends continue their battle against the forces of evil.

Omi and Clay decided to distract themselves by going on their nightly patrols throughout the Temple. Both were still worried sick over Kimiko but they both realized that there was nothing they could do while she was still unconscious and without her chi. The only thing that they could be thankful for now was that Chase Young, Wuya, and Hannibal Bean were out of action.

BWAAAAAMP

"What was that?" Omi whispered as he and Clay walked across the courtyard.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMP

"I dunno," Clay replied. "But it sounds like trouble."

"And it smells like... " Omi muttered.

"Jack Spicer has arrived!"

It was then that the two Xiaolin dragons finally saw the source of the eerie sound. Jack Spicer, self-proclaimed evil boy genius, was sitting on the back of one of his newest inventions. It was a giant robot, over 20 feet tall and almost half as wide. It had four arms, each one rotating at high speeds. Its chest was loaded with laser-cannons and gun turrets that were all cocked and pointed at the monks. Supporting its massive body was a pair of treaded feet, built like an assault tank.

"Say hello to my little friend!" Jack quipped.

"What is it?" Clay demanded.

"It's my super-duper new heavily-modified and heavily-fortified Transforming Bot Four Point Oh, designed to take down any four do-gooder monks that I want!" Jack explained.

"It does not matter how powerful your robot is," Omi said. "You will once again suffer a humiliating defeat."

"Oh yeah?" Jack said. He pressed a button on the Transforming Bot's console, causing all of its massive weaponry to lock itself onto Omi's big round head. "Bring it on, Cueball, bring it ON!"

Brief Note: I can't remember how many times Jack has upgraded his robots before, so I just picked 4.0 as a pretty good estimate. I suppose it doesn't really matter anyway.