Kimiko coughed from the mud she'd inhaled out of shock as she'd been pulled down into the cave. "Jeeze, whatever you do Raimundo, never breath mud," she said jokingly.
"What the heck happened? Kimiko? You ok?" Raimundo asked, pushing on something squishy with his elbo trying to get up out of the mud. Jack squealed as Rai's elbo was burried in his shoulder. "Oh, boy. We're trapped in a cave with Jack Spicer and a rather steady flow of mud," Raimundo observed.
"Way to state the obvious, Raimundo. Would you losers get off of me?" Jack remarked.
"I'm alright, just covered in mud," Kimiko answered, climbing down off of the pile of boys and mud.
"Yeah, Jack. Didn't realize that was you I landed on," Raimundo replied, almost sympathetic... Almost.
"You were pushing your elbo into my shoulder. How would you feel if I was doing the same to you?" Jack asked.
"I'd kick your butt, if you did that to me," Raimundo answered.
"I don't think you'd be able to kick my butt from underneath me AND an enormous amount of mud," Jack snapped.
"You think you can take me, Jack? Cause you've proven in the past that you can't," Raimundo exclaimed.
"Hey! Woah woah... I wasn't trying to pick a fight. Just explaining the position I'm in. I guess I shouldn't have expected you to sympathize with the emeny," Jack said snobbishly.
There was an awkward silence between the two boys for nearly an entire minute before Kimiko said, "Listen, if we're all going to be stuck in a cave, maybe we should try to get along?"
"How bout I try to get us out of here instead? We're enemies, why should we get along," Raimundo replied.
"Agreed," Jack said, crossing his arms, "Let's just get out of here." He realized that it was too dark in the cave for anyone to see his expression, but he was slightly hurt, that Raimundo still acted so cold toward him. He could expect nothing less from the Xiaolin Apprentices though. He realized that they were just a bunch of kids that'd been put in charge of saving the world. Nothing but a bunch of bullies, who taunt and tease. He was no better, but at least he had an excuse. They were supposed to be the good guys for goodness sake.
Raimundo felt around the cave. There was not even enough light for him to see the general layout of things. The floor was uneven, and the walls and ceiling ran together in a lumpy mess, that seemed to match the floor. There were places where he could barely squeeze through and large open rooms. The topography was somewhat like living spaces carved out of solid rock.
"Where are we, anyway," Jack asked, "The last thing I remember is being burried under the mud, and pulling on this rootlike thing..."
"That was my foot, Spicer! Not a root!" Raimundo shouted from further up in the cave from where they had entered.
"Well, how was I to know it was your foot? I had mud in my eyes," Jack whined.
There was a slight glow as Kimiko began to get more and more angry at the two bickering boys that she'd been stuck with. "Look guys. Raimundo is right. We've got to get out of here soon. The mud is flowing in pretty fast, and I don't know how long the air will last. And you'd better find an exit pronto or you're both getting your butts kicked," she said, her voice getting louder and louder as she spoke, until she was litterally screaming.
Luckily the sound was muffled by all the mud, but it also resonated off the rocks further up in the cave. Raimundo got the worst of it. "Hey, girl, I'm working on it. Just give us a break," Raimundo said.
"Yeah I'll look too," Jack said in a rather frightened voice. He crawled up out of the mud, knocked his head on the ceiling, slipped, screamed, and fell directly in Raimundo's lap.
"Whoa, dude. That's so not cool," Raimundo said in surprise, "Get out of my lap!"
"That was your lap? I wondered why it was so warm and soft," Jack said. Then, realizing how bad that sounded, Jack laughed nervously, backing away from Raimundo carefully so as not to fall again in the wet mud.
Kimiko couldn't help but laugh. It really lightened the mood for her, but it seemed to create a different sort of tension between Rai and Jack. "Why don't I provide a little light," she offered.
"Uh. No no, that won't be necessary," Jack said in a panic.
But it was too late to change Kimiko's mind. She made a small flame in her palm to light the cavern. This illuminated, among other things, Jack's face, which she now observed was laced with shades of red and pink the color of which was intensified by the orangy color of her flame.
Jack turned away. A rather worried and embarrassed look was on his face as he did. "Why of all things did I have to grab Raimundo's leg? Of all things, of all people, it just had to be his leg," Jack thought as he hurried up to an abandoned corner of the cave. "I'll check over this way. Maybe there's an opening," he said, scrambling up rock formation that blatantly resembled an enormous recliner.
"Kimiko, maybe it's best if you don't use fire. It might cause problems with our air supply. I'm not sure how far this cave goes or if we're fully closed in or not," Raimundo remarked.
"Yeah, you're right, Rai. I should have thought of that. Jack, why don't you check what's in that direction? If we reach a dead end down here we'll be back after you. If you don't find a way out that direction, come back this way after us," Kimiko suggested, putting out her flame. The entire cave went dark again. There was no light whatsoever now.
Jack wimpered, dreading having to go off in the dark alone. "Why couldn't one of you come this way with me? Or how bout we not split up? That seems alot safer. What if there's a cave-in? Or a-a-a-... "
"Jack, relax. We'll be back that way in a bit most likely. Why do you always cling to us when we're in a jam together? We're your enemies," Kimiko said.
Raimundo stumbled off into the darkness in the oposite direction as Jack had. Kimiko followed. There wasn't much he would like less than spending time in a dark cave with a whiny idiot who smells of metal and lubricants. "Evil boy genius my butt! I bet he has cheat sheets even to make his robots. Some of his machines are pretty impressive but how could it all come from the mind of such an idiot," Raimundo thought aloud as he and Kimiko searched further and further into the cave.
Kimiko couldn't help but have noticed the blush on Jack's face earlier. She wondered if maybe he had a thing for Raimundo. If that was true, it would easily explain his reluctance to split up. It really wouldn't surprise her if Jack was into guys. And of all the guys around, Raimundo had to be the hottest. At least Jack had good taste, but Rai's additude toward Jack had to change, if Jack was going to have any chance at all with Raimundo. She wasn't sure how well it would work, but Kimiko had a plan.