CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: SORRY

After seeing a clearly troubled Raimundo disappear with Dojo, Jimmy stood up. Now was the time for action. Jimmy could plainly see that Raimundo was growing tetchy, and Clay knew it too. Clay looked nervous.

"I should have gone with him." Clay said, pacing the mouth of the cave, glancing towards the sky again. "He could rope Dojo into all kinds of trouble. I should have gone with him. Rai gets real nervous and tends to do somethin' stupid when nothin' happens for a while." Clay used his thumb to scratch his head, and then sighed nervously.

It's now or never. I have to do something. Clay's nervous of what Raimundo might do. I have to tell him.

"I have a confession, Clay." Jimmy trembled as Clay looked at him, "You remember all that stuff I said about ... Kimiko... when I first came here?"

Clay looked at him with raised eyebrows, and Jimmy trembled more, but still made an effort to continue. His heart thudded in his ears.

"It's n-not true. None of it. She asked me to make the whole thing up, so you would think she's evil and act against Chase. I mean, they did take my family. She told the guards she was going to kill me, but she let me go free and asked me to find you guys and tell you what I've told you..."

Clay's jaw dropped.

"We gotta catch up to Rai before he does somethin' stupid." Jimmy nodded, frightened and nervous. Clay went to the corner of the cave and dived into a chest that Master Fung had kept all the Shen Gong Wu in. Clay rumbled around inside it for a moment and pulled out the Crouching Cougar. He activated the Shen Gong Wu and climbed inside.

"Are you comin' bud?" Clay called, whilst Jimmy felt like he was about to faint. He had never seen anything quite like this, and the sight of it made his knees knock together. Clay rolled his eyes, "Now's not the time to be skittish of the Wu, Jimmy. Now get in the Wu cos' we've really gotta go!"

Clay held his enormous hand out to Jimmy and helped him climb inside.

"Hold on tight, partner, we gotta lot of distance to cover in a short amount of time." Clay said as Jimmy braced himself. He still looked terribly pale and weak.

"I just hope we get there first." Jimmy said quietly, mostly to himself.

Kimiko stood, feeling exceptionally powerful as she watched over the frightened villagers.

"So, since you all want to live, do you all agree to live under Chase's rule?" She smirked, impersonating Chase again.

The frightened villagers nodded, whispering to their loved ones and clutching each other tightly for support. The jungle cats were sitting around the huddled bunch; it was not a large village at all, just a small farming village, surrounded by fields of crops and pens full of farm animals.

Kimiko smirked again.

"Good, then I can leave you all alive and well – but know this, if anyone rebels against Chase, he will kill you."

A shadow in the sky happened to cross Kimiko's sunlight, making her look up, just in time to see the tail of a dragon disappearing over her head. She whipped around as he heart started pounding in her ears. Then she saw it. It was unmistakably Dojo.

"They're coming." Kimiko said flatly to herself, "Shit..." She whispered. She turned away from the villagers and gestured towards the jungle cats, "Quickly, we have to get out of here."

The jungle cats snapped at the feet of the villagers as they passed them, causing several squeals of terror and fright, but no one was injured.

"Quickly!" Kimiko hissed at them. She never realised frightening she was until the villagers jumped when she spoke, startled by her sudden burst of anger. They were all clearly confused, but Kimiko didn't care. She couldn't let the monks find her here. It had to be perfect – she had to be at Chase's home so that they could take him down too. Why didn't they understand this?

Kimiko turned on her heels and ran, faster than she'd ever run before, across the fields. She hoped that the crops would provide some cover for her, but she realised that from the sky, a black figure followed by various moving splotches of brown, orange and black would be highly noticeable in fields of green and yellow.

Cursing under her breath, Kimiko kept her eyes peeled for Dojo as she darted through the field, trying to get back to Chase's home as fast as possible. She spotted a tiger in front of her that was running faster than the rest of the cats, and in one quick burst of power; she leapt onto its back. It flinched under the added weight, but kept running.

"Go! Quickly!" She ordered the cat, holding onto its fur tightly. Kimiko swivelled her head round, trying to watch from all directions for Dojo. It was imperative that the monks be at Chase's home when they attacked. If they thought Kimiko was running from them, they would most definitely pursue her. Kimiko knew her best chance was to run to Chase's home, where they would most certainly follow. She looked behind her to see a green blob in the cloudless sky. The blob was far behind her, but very low. She thought she could see another blob on top of Dojo, but she couldn't make out who it was – Dojo was too far behind them. Urging the tiger forward, Kimiko held its' fur tighter.

"Please..." She pleaded in the tigers' ear, "We have to get out of here..."

She wheeled her head around again. Dojo was drawing closer. She could now see him much more clearly. Kimiko squinted to see that figure on Dojo's back. There was definitely someone with him and whoever it was, was going out of their way to make sure that Kimiko knew she was being followed; Dojo hated flying low and Kim knew this. Whoever was with Dojo was making him fly lower to the ground.

She wasn't sure if it was the thudding of the tiger's paws against the soft dirt or her heart, but something was thudding far too loudly for Kimiko to think straight. As Kimiko and the rest of the jungle cats reached the edges of a forest, she knew they could slow down slightly, as Dojo would have a harder time seeing through a thick forest he was too big to fly through.

Panting for breath and trying to steady her heart rate, Kimiko made the cats slow down a little. She climbed off the tiger's back, feeling sorry for making it run so far so quickly. Kimiko kept glancing around nervously. She knew that they weren't far from Chase's home now. It was on the other side of the forest, but it was a fair walk to get there. Kimiko kept up a brisk pace as she made her way through the forest, glancing round for Dojo's shadow.

After what felt like hours of walking, there was still no sign of Dojo and Kimiko felt much more at ease. The jungle cats followed behind her loyally, but Kimiko could tell they didn't have the faintest idea what she was doing. They probably assumed that Dojo had frightened her.

They finally reached the edges of the forest. Kimiko searched the sky, looking for a shadow or a flicker in the mass of blue; but there was nothing, not even a single cloud in the sky. Kimiko stepped out from the safety of the forest and kept a fast-paced walk towards the mountain path that led to the entrance of Chase's home.

Suddenly, there was a loud yell and a whimper of pain as one of the jungle cats was flung across the clearing back towards the trees. It slammed into a rock and lay still. Suddenly, there was a flash of white and brown. A blurry figure was darting across the clearing, picking off the cats one by one. The air was filled with the whimpers of injured cats and the cries of effort from the figure. Kimiko didn't even stop to notice who it was. In the confusion, she ran up the path, trying desperately to get to Chase's home. It wasn't too far away now.

A set of footsteps echoed behind her. She didn't dare turn around to see how close they were to catching up with her. The volume of the footsteps told her that they were far too close for her liking. She could hear the person's breath and their panting, as well as her own – but the far loudest noise of all was her heartbeat. There was a groan of effort and a cyclone of wind brushed past her, narrowly missing her.

By this time, Kimiko knew who was behind her. Her throat was dry and there were stabbing pains attacking her heart that had nothing to do with her fatigue. It was all too much. The footsteps grew dangerously close. He was surely within grabbing distance of her now and Chase's door was only a few feet away.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered as she curled her fingers. She closed her eyes as a single droplet leaked from her eye. Fire burst from her fingertips and shot straight from her hand at Raimundo. There was a loud noise confirming that the fire had hit its' target. Then the thud of Raimundo hitting the stoney floor and the groan of agony that followed. Kimiko wiped the moisture from her eyes and ran through the door. She rushed to close it behind her, just in time to see Raimundo staring at her with a pained expression as she closed the door.

The noise of the door slamming echoed through Chase's home. It cut off all the sounds from outside. Kimiko's panting suddenly seemed a million times louder and her heart was thudding too quickly. She found it strange that her heart was silent as it cracked inside her already hollow chest.

She leant against the door, wiping her eyes and nose, trying to pull herself together. The booming voice of Chase echoed through his home.

"KIMIKO!"

The floor shook beneath her. Suddenly Kimiko couldn't remember why she had tried so desperately to return to the place she loathed.