CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: PLANS

"He's back!" Shouted Raimundo to the other monks in the cave, who snapped their heads in the direction. Sure enough, there was a thin green streak in the sky, which was growing clearer by the second.

Dojo had been gone a long time. It was almost midnight already.

"Wait, he's got someone with him…" Raimundo said as he shielded his eyes with his hand, trying to see whom the tiny figure looking over the edge of the dragon was.

"Is it Kim?" Clay hopped over on his crutches excitedly, looking up at Dojo, who was lowering himself outside the cave.

"No…" Raimundo's heart sank. He hadn't known why they had thought it was Kimiko, she couldn't come back even if she wanted to, which he doubted she did. "It's not."

Master Fung was sitting by the fire still, but he looked up as Dojo lowered to the ground and shrunk back into his tiny size. The person on his back landed swiftly on his feet. Omi rushed to Clay and Raimundo's side to see the new person.

"You guys are Omi, Clay and Raimundo, right?" Jimmy asked as he looked up at the three boys staring at him.

They all nodded in unison.

"Dojo, who is this?" Clay asked the small green dragon.

"This is Jimmy, I found him shouting for help as I was flying back. I went to investigate and well… I'll let him tell you the rest." He said.

Raimundo, Omi and Clay all stared at Jimmy, who felt uncomfortable as they scrutinised him. He was focusing on the promise he'd made to the girl who had saved his life. He wished he knew her name.

"You have to help us! There was this girl who attacked my village. She took everyone and told them they were going to serve under someone called 'Chase'. She burned everything effortlessly, it was like she could control fire or something, and she had all these big cats with her, like lions and tigers. They all followed her like she was their leader. You have to save my village! She took them somewhere and you guys have to help me get my parents back!" Jimmy finished, finally taking a breath.

The Xiaolin monks exchanged worried glances.

"What did she look like?" Raimundo asked, but he already knew the answer.

"She had black hair and she wore black robes. She didn't even bat an eyelid as she burned everything that I've ever known." Jimmy was finding it hard to remember why he was even here. He should have stayed with his parents. How could he be so sure that she would keep her word?

"Yeah, that's her alright." Clay turned around and made his way to the corner of the cave.

Master Fung appeared behind Omi and Raimundo to observe Jimmy. Master Fung squinted his eye for a moment, then made a satisfied noise that his observation was correct.

"So, you're telling me that Kim burned your village?" Raimundo asked Jimmy, who nodded.

"Did she have anyone with her? Like, a tall guy with long black hair. Doesn't smile a lot? He's got weird eyes?" Raimundo couldn't hide the hope in his voice.

"No, she was alone. But she said she was under orders to kill if anyone refused to go with her." Jimmy told them, unsure whether he was doing the right thing.

"You should have heard her, guys." Dojo piped up. He looked like he was about to burst into tears. He was clearly still shocked. "She wasn't like Kimiko at all. She sounded just like him. She was so forceful. I'm telling you, guys, that wasn't Kimiko. She's turned into him."

"Her name's Kimiko?" Jimmy asked. Omi nodded slowly and turned around.

Master Fung spoke then for the first time.

"Kimiko is only doing as instructed."

"No, Master Fung. Kimiko isn't Kimiko anymore. The Kimiko I knew would have fought against Chase!" Raimundo snapped. "She would have defied him! She wouldn't have strolled into a village and burned everything! You're wrong! If Chase instructed her to do it, why wasn't he with her? He obviously trusts her enough for her to do it by herself now! I don't know about you guys, but to me, Kimiko's gone. We all know that we have to take her and Chase down."

Master Fung shook his head slowly, but said no more. He returned to his place by the fire.

"Jimmy." Omi looked at him, "If what you're saying is true, how did you escape?"

Jimmy shifted uncomfortably. "I managed to run as she moved us through the forest. She sent those cats after me, but I swam across a lake so they wouldn't follow me. I was wondering around looking for someone to help when Dojo flew down and said that you would help me."

"Omi, why don't you get some food and water for Jimmy? He must be hungry." Raimundo patted Omi on the shoulder and Omi moved to the fire to fetch a small portion of rice for Jimmy, who walked into the dwelling.

"Clay… Could you come here for a second?" Raimundo stood outside the cave so that he and Clay could speak in private. Clay hopped over.

"You know we're going to have to take her down?" Raimundo's heart sank horribly as he said the words that he hoped he'd never hear. Clay nodded, looking just as miserable.

"Chase has broken her completely. I don't think Omi could do it, if it came to it. It'll be hard to do… when we finally get the chance. But it's not going to be easy, but when there's an opportunity to… do it, we have to take advantage." Raimundo whispered to Clay, who was nodding sadly.

"I hear ya', Rai. But I reckon' we should let the lil' guy come with us when we go. He's our strongest fighter and he's gonna help us a lot." Clay stopped for a moment. "I'm not sure I can do it, Rai. I mean, our job is to save people, not kill them. Are you sure you could do it, because I'm not sure I can? I don't think I could do it to anyone, let alone someone who used to be one of us, partner…"

"I know, Clay, but the sacrifice of one evil life for a hundred good lives is a fair sacrifice." Raimundo was trying to keep this in mind.

"But Rai, what if Master Fung's right, and she's not really evil?"

"How can she not be? You've heard what she's done." Raimundo folded his arms.

Clay stared at the moon. "I suppose you're right, partner."

"We have to start planning the infiltration." Raimundo looked at the moon too.

A terrible sadness weighed down Raimundo's heart. His subconscious was telling him that Master Fung was right, but his head told him that he was wrong. He was confused, but Raimundo was certain of one thing. If it came to it, Raimundo would kill her. He would hate to do it, but Raimundo had to think of how many lives he could save by taking Kimiko's. Raimundo guessed that he would have to be the one to do it. Clay and Omi would hesitate for too long.

I'm going to have to kill my best friend… The words echoed in his mind, over and over again.

"It's my fault…" He whispered after a long time. Clay turned his head towards him.

"What is, buddy?"

"That she's there." Raimundo carried on staring at the moon.

"No it isn't. It's no one's fault."

"Clay, don't you remember the night she left? If Chase hadn't caught me, she wouldn't have given up." Raimundo touched the scar on his neck where the blade Chase had held to his neck had left a shallow cut.

"Rai, we all thought Kim would stay on our side. I never thought I'd see her on the Heylin side, be we just gotta accept that she ain't with us anymore. It ain't your fault, you would've done the same for her. We all would've."

"Hmm." Raimundo responded.

He wondered if Kimiko knew that she was going to die at the hands of her former friend, or if she thought she was invincible, just like all evil people seemed to do.

Little did he know, at the moment in time, she was dying in someone else's hands.

She could hear shallow breathing. It was quiet, but definite. Slowly, Kimiko's mind seemed to start working again. Kimiko's own breaths were long and slow. She opened her eyes slowly, which were glazed and unfocused. She saw a blur of grey, until she blinked again. Her eyes slid into focus slightly, and she could make out that she was in her bedroom at Chase's home, lying on her bed. She slowly sat upright, bringing her arms, which felt like dead weights, to her sore neck. She gasped when she touched her neck, as pain shot through her.

"You have a nasty bruise there and a shallow cut above your right eyebrow. You've also got a bruise on your forehead and a black eye, but no lasting damage as far as I can tell." A sly voice whispered from somewhere to Kimiko's left. She slowly turned her stiff neck towards the source of the noise, which made her whole body ache and pain shoot through her again.

"Don't strain yourself." Chase warned. He was leaning in the doorway casually, staring at her.

Kimiko stretched her arms and legs. The feeling seemed to return to them as she did so.

"What happened to Wuya?" Kimiko was surprised at how hoarse her voice sounded. She sounded like she'd been smoking for too long. She coughed and her throat stung painfully.

"She is gone now. I doubt she will be back." Chase told her. He folded his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.

"How long was I… out for?" She asked, ignoring the stinging pain in her throat.

"Luckily, I got to you in time. Seconds later, you would have died. You were only out for a few seconds. I gave you something to make you sleep straight away. You will heal faster if you rest." Chase informed her.

"Does this mean I don't have to train?" Kimiko asked hopefully.

"I suppose I can let you off for a few days, since you almost died." Chase cracked a smile.

"I'll leave you to get some more rest now." He turned on his heel and closed the door swiftly behind him.

Kimiko lay back down in bed for a while, but she felt too energized to sleep. Slowly, she climbed out of bed. She slowly and stiffly made her way to the mirror on the opposite side of the room. After hobbling over, she looked in the mirror and almost fainted.

Her whole face and neck area was a mass of blue. Kimiko looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was only ten in the morning, which meant it had been nine hours since the incident at the most. It was unusual for someone to bruise this badly is such a short space of time, but Kimiko assumed this was only because of the scale of the incident.

Kimiko looked at her face closely; her right eye was swollen slightly and blackened. There was a shallow slash just above her right eyebrow and a large bump on her forehead. She gasped when she saw her neck. Where Wuya's hands had wrapped around her neck were large bruises, which made it quite obvious what had happened to her.

She sat back on the bed.

Kimiko remembered the feeling she had got before she had lost consciousness. It was like she was free at last. It had felt wonderful and she hoped that she would soon feel it again. She wondered if she would feel the same way when she died. Remembering that she had sent Jimmy to find the Dragons, Kimiko wondered how long it would be before they finally came for her and ended her life.

The thought of Jimmy made her remember that Kimiko still had to keep her end of the bargain. She opened her bedroom door and peeked outside into the corridor. It was completely empty. There wasn't even a jungle cat outside Chase's bedroom door. She hobbled down the corridor, slowly making her way towards the dungeons.

The villagers had been shoved into cells in the dungeons. There were four in each cell, which made finding Jimmy's parents very time consuming for Kimiko. She was bombarded by abuse from the moment she opened the door to the dungeon. One angry male had even thrown a piece of stale bread at her. Some had shouted that her bruises were well deserved.

If Kimiko hadn't been so pre-occupied with finding Jimmy's parents, she would have stopped and apologised for her behaviour, or been upset that they would say such things to her.

After looking through rows and rows of cells, she finally found Jimmy's parents. His mother was sobbing in the arms of her husband, who was leaning against the stone walls of the cell.

"Are you Jimmy's parents?" Kimiko asked through the bars of the cell.

"You!" The mother screamed, flinging herself at the bars of the cell, aiming punches at Kimiko. The dungeon fell silent. "You killed my son!" She screeched. Her face was tear-stained and her eyes were bloodshot and red.

"No! I didn't! Please listen to me!" Kimiko's hoarse voice was barely audible over her screams. Kimiko grabbed her wrists as she aimed punches through the bars and repeated herself, staring Jimmy's mother in the eyes.

"I didn't kill your son."

"Get off my wife!" Her husband shouted, pulling her back.

"You're a liar. You killed my boy…" She broke into sobs again.

"I didn't kill him. He's alive. He went to get help." Kimiko told her, releasing her wrists.

"You mean, my Jimmy is alive?" She stared at Kimiko with hope in her eyes.

"I had to move you all along so I could make a deal with him. I asked him to go and find some… help… They're going to come here and take down Chase and me. Then you can be with him again. They're going to take care of him until then. He's safe with them." Kimiko told her.

"Why would you do that?" The husband asked, staring at Kimiko.

"Because I'm just as much a prisoner as you are." Kimiko replied.