Being dragged back through the years, Kimiko found that she was watching herself at the temple. She couldn't believe how young and happy she looked. How she longed to be that girl again …
Kimiko was sat at a table tapping away at her laptop. Someone was sneaking up behind her. She didn't even sense him. He crept closer and closer, slowly raising his hands. He was right behind her and she couldn't even tell. She was too involved in the online conversation she was having with Keiko. On screen was a lot of 'OMG' and 'LMAO' with gibberish no one else could understand in between. He slower drew right up against the chair and …
"Oh my god!" Screamed Kimiko a Raimundo put his hands over her eyes.
"Guess who," He laughed.
She grabbed his hands and pulled them away from her eyes before turning around and hugging him. He kissed her gently and then she turned back around.
"Shouldn't you be in training?" Asked Kimiko.
"I 'should' be in training," Said Raimundo, "Whether I'm going to be or not depends on whether you're busy or not."
"I am," Said Kimiko, "I've been promising Keiko I'll catch up with her for ages!"
"Okay," He said a little disappointedly, "Okay I'll get going … hey what you talking about?"
"Go Raimundo!" Said Kimiko with mock sternness.
"Do you even know how to use capital letters?" He asked, leaning over as she tried to push him away, "What the hells a 'rofl'? Is that a technical term? Okay I'm going!"
He laughed, kissed her and then ran for the door. She rolled her eyes and the turned to her screen. She put down the conversation with Keiko and pulled up the search engine. She typed in 'Black Thorn ring'. Several million results came up from just those three words. She rolled her eyes and began working through the pages to find was she was looking for.
The black thorn ring was a Shen-Gong-Wu of sorts she had read about in a scroll separate from the main Shen-Gong-Wu scroll. She wondered why it had been separated, but hadn't found time to ask Master Fung about. She searched the scrolls until she had found a few paragraphs about it and from the sound of it, it was incredibly powerful. Possibly the most powerful of all Shen-Gong-Wu. It had only mentioned things like enhancing the strength at first, but then it had gone on to mention the power to draws the power of other Shen-Gong-Wu and to enhance the abilities of the dragons who had possession of it with strength unrivalled by any other. This, she thought, was the most important part. They would be able to defeat Chase Young easily with this Shen-Gong-Wu.
She pressed print and sighed as she studied the page she had found. Who in their right mind came up with the idea of a magical search engine? She wondered who made all of these magical websites. She suddenly had the image of Master Fung sat at a laptop forehead creased with concentration and had to stuff her fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
She picked up the piece of paper with the information on it and folded it before sticking it in her pocket. She could always ask Master Fung about it later. Right now she needed to relax a bit. Who would think that dating Raimundo would be a 24/7 job?
She sighed and walked towards the courtyard with a happy little smile on her face, not even realising she was wearing it. She twisted a strand of black hair between her fingers and gazed off into space.
"Why does Kimiko look like she has just hit her head?" Asked Omi.
"It's called love and she's daydreaming about it." Said Clay.
Kimiko snapped to and turned to Clay and Omi.
"Why don't you two mind your own business?" She asked testily.
"Well, mostly because there's nothing better to do than annoy you around this temple," Said Clay, "And we don't want to go to training with Raimundo. He's a control freak in training."
"Well at least he's taking initiative instead of leaving everything to everyone else like he used to." Said Kimiko, smiling.
"I bet that's how she likes it." Muttered Clay to Omi, before ducking a punch aimed at him.
"What are you three doing in here?" Asked Raimundo, walking through the door looking mildly annoyed.
"Just catching our breath." Said Omi.
"Catching your breath?" Asked Raimundo with fake pleasant interest.
"Exactly," said Omi.
"When you haven't actually done any training yet?" Asked Raimundo.
"Uh … the walk to the courtyard was most exhausting!" Said Omi quickly.
"Then you're obviously very unfit and must do twice as much training. Come on! Out you go!" Said Raimundo.
"Ever since you became the leader you've become seriously bossy." Said Clay.
"I think 'power mad' is the term you're looking for." Said Kimiko, grinning.
"That's it." Said Clay, nodding at her.
Raimundo looked seriously put out by this point and glared at the three of them.
"Fine, don't bother training then." He said, "Enjoy getting your butts kicked by Jack Spicer!"
"Yeah like that will ever happen!" Said Clay, "A flabby old cow could beat Jack Spicer."
"I think we should actually put that to the test." Said Kimiko, laughing.
"Is anyone actually going to do any training today?" Asked Raimundo.
The three of them looked at each other and burst out laughing. Raimundo, grudgingly, yielded a smile and shook his head at them.
"You three are hopeless." He said.
"Aw," said Kimiko, "poor baby."
She hugged him and kissed his cheek.
"I've got to talk to Master Fung about something." She said, "You coming with?"
"Well it's not like I have anything better to do anymore." He said sulkily, taking her hand.
They found Master Fung sat at a low down table in the gardens.
"Kimiko, Raimundo, you wish to speak to me?" He asked.
"Kimiko does," said Raimundo as they sat down.
"What do you wish to speak about?" Asked Master Fung, his gaze settling on Kimiko's blue eyes.
Kimiko pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it.
"I've been researching something." She said, "It's a Shen-Gong-Wu I think, but it's not in the scroll. It's called the 'Black Thorn Ring' and I've heard it's the most powerful of the Shen-Gong-Wu. Can you tell me anything about it?"
Master Fung's eyes went wide at the mention of the ring, but then settled again.
"You must not pursue this ring Kimiko." He said.
"Why not?" Asked Raimundo.
Master Fung looked from one to the other, as though judging whether or not they were going to be able to handle this information. He made his decision.
"The Black Thorn Ring is a Shen-Gong-Wu, but not as you understand Shen-Gong-Wu." Explained Master Fung, "Whereas most of the Shen-gong-Wu are created by good or neutral forces, allowing them to be used by anyone, the Black thorn Ring was created by the powers of darkness. It can only be harnessed by someone with incredible magical abilities. Anyone without sufficient power is most likely to be killed be possessed or even killed by it."
"Then what happens if it possesses you?" Asked Raimundo.
"It devours your sanity and your soul. It can be contained with a great amount of inner control and strength, but only a fully trained Dragon or someone with powerful dark magic could ever harness the power to their will." Explained Master Fung, "Even so, only a fool would even attempt it."
"Is it here at the temple?" asked Kimiko, "Are the monks guarding it, like the Heylin seed?"
"No, the Black Thorn Ring has never been permitted to enter the temple." Said Master Fung, "However, had we gotten there soon enough we would have positioned guards at it's original location."
"Gotten there soon enough? Does that mean someone else has already taken it from the original location?" asked Kimiko.
"Yes," said Master Fung, "It was originally taken by a young Dragon who believed he could harness the power. It destroyed him. It then passed from hand to hand throughout history, leaving destruction in its wake. It has, however, been out of circulation now for several decades. I believe its current owner is none other than Chase Young."
Kimiko and Raimundo gaped at him.
"Chase young has it? No wonder we could never trash him!" Said Raimundo.
"No, that is purely up to his own level of power," Said Master Fung, "Chase Young is no fool, he has never attempted to harness the power of the Black Thorn Ring. He also knows better than to risk anyone getting their hands on it. In consideration, there is probably no better guard for it than Chase Young himself."
Master Fung stood up to go and put a hand on Kimiko's shoulder.
"Put this Shen-Gong-Wu out of your mind young one," He said, "it is better for yourself and everyone else if the black thorn ring stays where it is."
He left and Raimundo stood up to leave too.
"Come on Kim, you heard what he said." He said.
"Hm," Said Kimiko in way of an answer, but in her own mind, she had no intention of giving up that easily.
(A/N) You can probably guess where this is going. I'll be continuing in the memory world thing next chapter and we'll see where it goes from there. I wrote this chapter ages ago and I forgot about it. Finally got around to uploading it!
Lots of luv,
Becky.
XxX