CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: EPIPHANY

Omi was meditating in the small cave completely alone; awaiting his friends' return. In the other monks' absence, Master Fung and the other old monks had left the cave, unable to allow their frail bodies to sleep on the cold floor any longer. They had begun travelling to a nearby town, seeking accommodation and materials to rebuild the Temple, which had been left in its' smouldering ruins. In fact, it was barely a Temple anymore; just a few bits of blackened wood left standing.

The fire that was lighting up the cave was slowly dying, and sooner or later, Omi knew he would have to revive it. After meditating for so long, his head was beginning to ache from his odd choice of poses for meditating. The stony floor was cold and hard, which made him finally move from his pose. He tilted his whole body and fell onto his side, sitting upright. He felt dizzy at first, but then, he usually did after meditating – he was essentially balancing upside down on his head for hours on end.

Now the world was the right way up, Omi moved to the back of the cave, where he and the others had been storing wood. He lifted one of the smaller logs from the pile and threw it onto the fire. He gave it a small poke with a twig to help it along and wandered to the mouth of the cave.

With a small sigh, he paced along the edge of the cave, rubbing his forehead. He knew that Jimmy, Clay and Raimundo should be back by now. It was all too odd that they were not. It was way past midnight, yet there was no sight of any of his fellow monks.

Where are my fellow friends? They have spent much time away now, I wonder if I should search rather than wait for them.

Omi was one of the antsiest people that the other monks had ever known. When forced to make decision, Omi nearly always knew exactly what he wanted, but he nearly always sought Master Fung's advice. He did try to stay focused, but he wasn't often successful when he worked alone. He just got easily distracted.

Sighing, Omi sat at the mouth of the cave, feeling rather alone and watched the scene of the forest and the night skies, hoping for the safe and fast return of his friends.

Kimiko panted, dashing through the corridors of Chase's home. She burst through the doors of the dungeon, aiming a well-timed kick towards the jungle cat guarding it, and plunged the room into light. The prisoners inside the cells all shielded their eyes. They stuck their bony arms through the narrows gaps in between the bars of the cells, showing just how malnourished they were.

"Help us…" Some pleaded weakly. How could she have let them reach this state? They had looked hungry last time she had seen them, but now, some of them looked emaciated. Kimiko ran to the far end of the room, skidding to a halt along the slippery floor.

She almost slipped as she rushed towards the cell containing Jimmy's parents. She stuffed the tiny key in the lock and turned it. The bars swung open.

They were both in a bad way. They were cuddled together, leaning against the wall. Their chests were heaving in unison, both equally underweight.

"Kimiko? Is that you?" Jimmy's mother asked, squinting her eyes.

"Yes…" She managed to wheeze. It was amazing how out of shape she felt now. "We have to hurry. I don't have much time. Can you take this and let out the out the others as fast as you can, please?" She handed the tiny key to Jimmy's mother, who used the wall to push herself upright and staggered out of the cage.

Kimiko watched the pitiful sight.

"Jimmy is here." Kimiko added, hoping it would give her the motivation to move more quickly. Chase would know what Kimiko was doing by now. Why hadn't he appeared? Why had he not attacked or punished her?

More importantly, why hadn't he stopped her?

Just as Kimiko had hoped, Jimmy's mother face lit up, spreading into a wide smile. Suddenly, she couldn't move fast enough. Her staggers had turned into sprints. It took her moments to unlock a large amount of cells.

Kimiko, however, wasn't looking anymore. She bent down, lowering her body onto one knee and peeked inside the smallest cell. Inside, was the tiny girl she had met before. The sight almost made Kimiko burst into tears. Her frail body was slumped against the wall, eyes closed. Her face was filthy and tear-stained. The tatty rag doll that she had carried before was in pieces, with its' stuffing scattered around the cell on the floor. She didn't even look like she was breathing.

Kimiko's heart started to pump loudly; too loudly. So loud that she could barely do anything but dash to Jimmy's mother, snatch the key from her hands, run back to the girls cell and unlock the padlock on the door. Kimiko rushed inside, putting her hand in front of her tiny face to feel for her breath. She could feel it, only just, but it was there.

Kimiko's heart was aching. It was too much. She couldn't deal with it anymore. Chase had wanted to turn her evil, but wasn't that exactly what he had done? In trying to rebel against Chase, she'd only caused more pain. Hadn't she whipped Raimundo? She'd burnt the Temple, she'd almost killed the people in the dungeons, and she'd burnt villages. Then Chase had got what he wanted – to cause pain. Even if it wasn't to others, it was to her.

Now Kimiko couldn't deal with it anymore. She remembered the promise she'd made the last time she'd been in this room. She had promised that if Chase didn't kill her when this was over, she would kill herself. Now, the need to fulfil that promise was stronger than ever.

Lifting up the small girl in her arms, Kimiko called out into the dungeon.

"Does anyone have the strength to carry this girl?"

A few of the prisoners mumbled. Then Jimmy's father called, "What about you? Why can't you carry her?"

"I need to do everything I can to make sure that Chase is stopped. I gave my word that I would be loyal to him as a Xiaolin Monk, but if I can never return to be a monk, then I have nothing to lose, therefore I will do whatever I can to make sure that this never happens to anyone ever again."

The prisoners cheered and whooped. One of them took the girl from her. Kimiko felt a sense of determination. After everything those villagers had been through, simply because Kimiko was too scared to be scolded, punished, or raped again. She should have taken the blow for them, not assisted in helping Chase dish out pain.

Kimiko realised she had been incredibly selfish. Her duty as a Xiaolin Monk was to protect people, yet she hadn't done that at all. She'd been so caught up in trying to make Chase think that she was evil, that she had lost sight of what she had really being trying to do in the first place.

Kimiko ran through the directions out of Chase's home, giving them a route so that they would not run into any jungle cats.

Then, she ran through the middle of the crowd of villagers and started to run towards Chase's throne room; where she expected he would be hiding.

Omi snored lightly. He didn't even notice the small dragon shaking him.

"Omi! Wake up!" When the monk didn't stir, the dragon resorted to other means of waking the monk. In true Dojo style, the small dragon slithered over to the corner of the cage, dived into the small chest where he kept his few belongings and pulled out a gong. He thumped the gong with the beater, and Omi jolted awake.

It was almost morning. The monk rubbed his eyes.

"Dojo? What is the meaning of this, my friend?"

"Omi, you gotta get your butt over to Chase's. We managed to find Kim, but she got away, until me and Raimundo trapped her outside Chase's house. Raimundo almost had her, but she dropped him with one of her fireballs. After that, the jungle cats got Raimundo and took him inside. I waited for a few hours, hoping to see some sign of him. I even flew above the mountains, to see if I could see him. But there was nothing, until I heard screaming. They were definitely Raimundo's. After that, I flew back here to get you, Clay and Jimmy. I saw Clay as I flew back. He told me that Jimmy had given him the slip, ran into Chase's and Clay had been looking around for Raimundo. When I told him what had happened, he went dashing off towards Chase's house. Told me to come and find you and tell you. He think there's gonna be a real big showdown. He says that it's time."

The dragon panted, having rushed through his entire story. Omi hadn't even changed his expression.

"So, what you are telling me is that Raimundo, Clay and Jimmy are all going to possibly challenge Chase, yet I am here, not challenging Chase?"

"Well… yeah."

"Then, Dojo, put on a move my friend!"

"Get a move on?" Dojo guessed, transforming into his larger self and awaiting Omi to climb on his back.

Kimiko burst through the doors to Chase's throne room, to find him exactly where she expected; sitting on his "throne."

She marched up to him, her chest swollen with pride.

"Ah, Kimiko…" He drawled in a bored tone.

"Chase." She spat viciously.

"What can I help you with?"

"I want to know why you picked me. You used to think that Omi was the best suited to be evil. Even Raimundo had his moment. So why the fuck did you have to take away that from me? You've stolen too many things from me now."

Chase picked up on her reference.

"As I recall, it was merely two things." He said in the same tone, appearing to be completely bored by her.

"No, it's three. On top of what you took from me that time…" Kimiko's mind flashed back to when Chase had raped her, making her flinch slightly, then she glared again. "You took away my clean record, my innocence, my dignity. But most of all, you took away my ability to go back to my old life. It was easy for Raimundo and Omi, they never got in this deep. They weren't forced to punish, to hurt people, to destroy livelihoods." Kimiko snarled.

Chase stood up abruptly, narrowing his reptilian eyes, producing a fierce glare. "As I recall, I forced you to do nothing. I merely told you that if you did not, I would. You chose to act of your own accord. Do not think that you are innocent. I did not take that from you, Kimiko."

"If I'd refused, you would have forced me to do it, worse than I would've."

"Maybe, but it was your choice to choose that. You inflicted pain upon those people of your own accord."

"You're wrong." Kimiko said, but she knew he was right.

"Your friends are almost here…" Chase said, looking up.

"Then I'd better hurry up." Kimiko smiled, with a determined feeling swelling inside her.

Brandishing her finger and pointing it at him, she said the words she thought she'd never hear again.

"Chase Young, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown…"

At that precise moment, Omi and Clay burst through the doors, with Jimmy carrying Raimundo over his shoulder behind them. Raimundo still looked like he was in a pretty bad way; he still wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. But there was no time for resting now.

"Chase Young!" Omi yelled, "We challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown."

"You're too late Omi." Chase said quietly, smirking.

Omi's jaw dropped in a defeated manner.

"Whaddaya mean, you dirty snake!" Clay shouted.

Both of them had failed to notice Kimiko's presence. Jimmy was the only one who acknowledged her. Kimiko gave a small smile and a nod to him. She saw him sigh in relief. They both had kept their promises.

"I challenged him." Kimiko said, and both Omi and Clay looked at her. Their jaws dropped in unison. The sight of her former friends made Kimiko's heart fill with joy, which made her feel invincible; like nothing could harm her now.

"Name your terms." Chase said, watching Kimiko closely. His face remained expressionless.

"One on one. If I win, I get to leave, and so do they." She flicked her arm to show that she meant the fellow monks and Jimmy.

"And if I win?"

"Then I will willingly give up my mind without resistance. I will be at your disposal."

"You were already at his disposal, I thought!" Jimmy butted in, leaning Raimundo against the wall.

"Not exactly." Kimiko was purposely being vague. She didn't know how they would react if they knew that she intended to kill herself after her ordeal was over. They might try to stop her, but they might also encourage her.

"Fine." Chase said, folding his arms. "And the game?"

"You choose." Kimiko said, gaining an aggressive stance.

"Kimiko?" Clay asked in disbelief. He couldn't comprehend her behaviour. She had hurt Raimundo, burnt the Temple, and done evil things, yet she was prepared to fight against Chase, after swearing loyalty to him? She'd given her word as a Xiaolin Dragon to remain loyal…. Unless…?

Something in Clay's brain clicked.

He'd figured it all out; the reason why Kimiko had given up her word – because she wasn't going to be a Dragon anymore.

"Kim… don't!" Clay shouted.

But it was too late.

The words had already escaped Kimiko's lips:

"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!"