A/N: HEY GUYS, GUESS WHAT! I'M NOT DEAD! , I am sooooooooooooooooo sorry for the looooooong-ass wait for this update! DDDDX I kind of found an interest in another TV show and so all my attention went to that and I lost my amazing obsession over Xiaolin Showdown... but recently, I got over that other TV show and re-watched a couple episodes of XS and got back into this story again! I never really had gotten over XS, cuz it's too awesome to EVER get over ((and Raimundo is seriously one of the hottest cartoon characters that has ever been created, like, ever)). SO YEAH. Here's the long overdue chapter four!
4. Reunion
Jeffrey walked towards the flight of stairs at the front of Chase's lair, a smug smile on his face. He had been right, of course, about the fact that Chase Young had recently taken an interest in the Dragon of the Wind – it was one of the very limited amount of things that the two of them shared, although the levels of interest between the two differed greatly.
As Jeff came to the top of the stairs, his parrot swooped down through the air, circled around his chest, and perched lightly on his left shoulder. Jeff paid it no mind, as his eyes were fixed on the grumbling redhead sitting in the corner, working on one of his many inventions. Jeffrey smiled to himself and whispered something in the parrot's ear before beginning to descend the staircase. The colorful bird took flight again and glided out the lair entrance as Jeff folded his hands behind his back and approached Jack quietly. The redheaded teenager was facing away from the newcomer, so when Jeff leaned down, put his lips to Jack's ear, and murmured, "Hello Jack", the self-proclaimed evil boy genius shrieked girlishly and threw his wrench into the air as he jumped to his feet.
"Don't… do that!" Jack shouted at him when the pale boy had set eyes on Jeff. Jeff simply smiled at him in response, causing Jack to huff in anger and sit back down on the ground, his back to Jeff again. "My God," he muttered, reaching over to pick up his discarded wrench.
"My apologies," Jeff said quietly, moving around to Jack's front. The newcomer sat down cross-legged on the ground, opposite the pile of junk from Jack. The eighteen-year-old glanced up at Jeff through his eyelashes very briefly before returning his attention to what he was doing with his wrench. "Believe it or not, my intention wasn't to startle you. You do seem to be very easily scared, however."
"I am not!" Jack protested, throwing his head up and shooting a cold glare in Jeff's direction. "I'm as hard to scare as Chase Young himself!" Jeff laughed out loud.
"Chase Young is a fool because he claims to know no fear," the newcomer chuckled. "Someday, he'll experience fear… and someone other than himself will have the last laugh." Jack's eyebrows rose in confusion; Jeff seemed to notice the change of expression in Jack's face, for he was quick to change the subject. "What are you working on, boy?"
Jack hesitated slightly before answering warily, keeping his eyes on Jeff's face. "There's a small malfunction in my heli-bot that I'm trying to fix. Why do you care?"
"I never said I did," Jeff simply replied. Jack waited a few seconds for Jeff to continue, but when he never did the redhead went back to his work. Something was seriously strange about this Jeff guy, but Jack just couldn't seem to put his finger on what it was. Every few seconds or so, Jack would flick his eyes back over to where the newcomer sat quietly, his expression and position never changing. It was almost awkward; the two of them sat there in complete silence, save for Jack's work on his invention and the sounds of the waterfalls in the background. So, naturally, after about five minutes of this silence, Jack jumped again when Jeff suddenly spoke.
"Chase sent me to tell you to return to the temple and to steal some useful Shen Gong Wu."
Jack disregarded the fact that Jeff had made him jump for a second time and rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever. Why don't you go do it? You're perfectly able."
"I'm… preoccupied."
Jack's eyebrows rose again as he looked up from his heli-bot to Jeff's perfect poker face. "You sure don't seem like it," the pale boy said, watching Jeff carefully, "just sitting here, watching me work on my heli-bot."
"Boy, I would advise you to not attempt to pry into my personal agendas," Jeff said, and Jack could easily sense the threat that shadowed those words.
"Yeah… right…" Jack began hesitantly, looking over at Jeff with a strange expression. "Well, uh, lucky for both of you that I just got my, er… my heli-bot working again."
A quiet, dark chuckle slipped past Jeff's lips. "Very lucky indeed," he muttered, his sarcasm very apparent in his voice. Jack just rolled his eyes and turned away, slipping his heli-bot onto his back. He reached his right arm under his left to hit the small switch on the backpack, releasing the whirling blades.
"I'll get what I can get, but Chase had better not be expecting anything specific," Jack said, making his way towards the lair entrance. Jeff was already back on his feet, watching the redhead go with a small smile on his face.
"I'll be sure to let him know," he murmured under his breath. The newcomer kept his eyes on Jack until the tail of his black trench coat could no longer be seen, then he turned towards the staircase.
"Where is Spicer going?" Chase Young demanded from the top of the stairs, stopping Jeff before he could even take the first step. The lean boy looked up at where Chase stood, his arms held calmly behind his back as they commonly were, and then continued up the stairs.
"Not entirely sure," Jeff answered. "All he told me was that he was leaving. I think he mentioned something about Shen Gong Wu, though." Chase's eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of the mystical items. Jeff reached the top of the stairs and a smile found its way back onto his face as soon as he passed by Chase's side. Before going too far, though, he turned around again and faced Chase's back. "I hope it doesn't interfere with any plans of yours, but I was actually planning on stepping out for a while myself…"
"Just don't be gone long," Chase responded without turning around. "I'd like to begin planning our next move against the monks." Jeff's smile broadened. "And," Chase continued, "if you happen to see Spicer, tell him that I will be demanding a reason as to why he left when he returns."
"I'd be happy to oblige," Jeff said, nodding his head even though he knew that Chase couldn't see it. With another twist of his lips, Jeff added, "Though, I highly doubt I'll run into him…"
Raimundo was surrounded by a gray fog, a slow, comfortable breeze sifting through his hair, across his skin, around his robes. His eyes were closed, his breathing steady, as he sat silently in the familiar lotus position. A large, dark shape loomed within the clouds, circling around the area in which Raimundo sat. It flew up and down in some sort of silent sky dance, in perfect rhythm with Raimundo's quiet breathing. Everything was peaceful and in perfect harmony…
"Raimundo!"
Omi's voice rang out through the clouds, throwing the dark winged shape out of rhythm. The clouds became darker and Raimundo's breath hitched in his throat. The breeze picked up, whipping his hair and robes around him. A deep roar filled the air as the dark shape disappeared into the clouds.
"Raimundo!" Omi yelled out again. This time, Raimundo's eyes snapped open. The clouds were gone, the wind no longer existed, and Rai's green eyes opened to Omi's black ones.
"Ah! Omi! God!" Rai screamed, leaning back. "What-"
"Many apologies for interrupting your meditation, but there is trouble!" Omi exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air. Raimundo blew a strand of his messy brown hair out of his eye before pushing himself to his feet and dusting himself off.
"What kind of trouble?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"Kimiko discovered that three of our Shen Gong Wu are missing from the vault!" the little yellow monk reported, distress written all over his face.
Running a hand through his hair, Rai asked, "Which ones?"
"The Serpent's Tail, the Reversing Mirror, and the Third-Arm Sash."
Raimundo walked out of his cubicle and began the trek to the vault with Omi at his side. "Those are three completely random Wu," Raimundo spoke aloud as he walked, his arms crossed across his chest. "Wuya is already in her human form, so there's no real point of having both the Serpent's Tail and the Reversing Mirror… and the Third-Arm Sash is just, well, the Third-Arm Sash."
"I suspect that Jack Spicer is behind this," Omi said matter-of-factly. "He's never been known to think things through very well."
"And he sure does raid our vault often enough," Raimundo added, rolling his eyes. It got pretty annoying, the amount of times they had to deal with Spicer breaking into their vault in an attempt to steal their Shen Gong Wu. The poor guy just didn't know how to get things done properly, however, for the Xiaolin monks were always quick to whoop his butt and return the Shen Gong Wu to their rightful places.
Omi and Rai ran across the temple grounds until they reached the vault, where Kimiko and Clay were nowhere to be seen. Master Fung, with Dojo wrapped around his shoulders, stood on the edge of the staircase that led down into the vault, looking down into the darkness.
"Master Fung," Raimundo said, walking over to the elderly man. The old monk turned to face the Shoku Warrior as Omi ran down the stairs into the vault. "Spicer again, huh?"
"We believe so, yes," Master Fung replied, giving Rai a small nod.
"But it's such an odd combination of Wu to steal," Rai said, glancing down the staircase. "Even for Spicer, who never has a plan."
"It matters not whether there is a plan or not, but what does matter is that we are indeed missing three Shen Gong Wu," Master Fung said wisely.
"And that we need to get them back as fast as possible," Dojo added.
Jack flew nearer and nearer to the Xiaolin temple, scanning his eyes over the entire premise before crossing onto the territory and making his way towards the vault. Angrily mimicking Chase's voice beneath his breath, Jack landed on the roof of the vault and stopped his two whirling blades. He looked down into the vault via the circular window on the roof and saw Raimundo and Master Fung standing down below, and Kimiko, Clay, and Omi all exit the vault with nothing in their hands. Jack hurriedly scrambled away from the window so as not to be seen by the Xiaolin monks.
"Oh, crap!" he muttered as he crawled out of the monks' views. He let out a quiet breath before mumbling, "They would be in there right now." He poked his head back in front of the window and looked down at the monks, who were all discussing something with each other, and then flew from the vault roof over to the temple roof. He snuck quietly along the roof's tiles, knowing in his head which part of the temple he was going to. Not like he could get into the vault at the moment anyway…
Raimundo, Omi, Clay, and Kimiko all exited the vault with Master Fung behind them. Dojo was now wrapped around Clay's hat, and none of them noticed the figure crouched in the shadows nearby. They all walked back into the temple, leaving the vault wide open for Jeffrey to infiltrate. A smirk slipped onto his lips as he started to slowly make his way towards the door of the vault, but he stopped suddenly when he saw a figure making its way across the temple roof. In the dim light of dusk, Jeff could just make out a head of red hair.
"What in the hell is that idiot doing?" he asked through his teeth, and then began following Jack on the ground.
Jack moved across the roof very quietly and carefully, only sliding down and dropping to the ground when he knew that he had reached his destination. He quickly looked all around, making sure there were no monks around, before slipping into the temple through one of the many open doorways. He tip-toed down the hallways, staying pressed up against the wall as much as he could, and inched his way towards the area he knew the four Dragons' cubicles were located.
Just as he was about to turn into the room where the cubicles were, he heard footsteps enter the room from another doorway. An exhausted sigh broke free from weary lips, and Jack heard the familiar groan of Raimundo as the teenage boy made his way towards his own cubicle. Jack sighed to himself, his eyebrows knitting together as he muttered to himself, "Great."
"Well, well, well, fancy meetin' you here, eh, boy?"
Raimundo jumped to immediate attention, twirling around from his cubicle to face the open room with his arms up in a defense position. Jack had to slap a hand over his own mouth to keep himself from screaming in surprise, and nearly fell into the room and exposed himself to Raimundo.
"Show yourself," Raimundo ordered, although he already knew who had spoken to him just by the sound of his voice. The ever-so-familiar dark cackle of Hannibal Roy Bean echoed throughout the room as the tiny bean hopped out of the shadows. Raimundo's eyes immediately caught sight of him and he turned his body to face the creature.
Still chuckling, Hannibal raised his two roots together, each of which had a black sort of glove on it, and yelled, "Moby Morpher!" Instantly, he grew to his much larger size, becoming a much more potent threat. Rai didn't even flinch as the villain grew hundreds of times his normal size.
"Hannibal Roy Bean." Raimundo spat the name, hating having to roll those words off his tongue. "What are you doing here?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Hannibal shot back darkly, his fowl smirk never leaving his face.
"I'm not going to let you get any of our Wu," Rai told him, stepping further out into the room and away from his cubicle. Jack watched from around the corner of the doorway, being as careful as he could not to be seen by either of them, and suddenly wrenched his hand into the pocket of his trench coat.
"Yes, you seem to be guarding your Shen Gong Wu very well," Hannibal commented. "Considering a bumbling idiot such as Jack Spicer was able to slip past your defenses-"
"How did you know about that?" Raimundo cut him off. Jack looked up into the room again as the two enemies stared each other down, the smirk on Hannibal's face ever-so slighter. "Have you been watching us or something?"
"My sources are my own," the bean merely said, standing up tall, making it clear that he wasn't going to say anything more on the matter. Raimundo clenched his teeth and thrust both of his arms out in front of himself, sending a strong gust of wind straight towards Hannibal. The attack was so sudden and out of nowhere that Hannibal had no time to dodge or to prepare for it, and so he was blown back into the wall behind him. Rai swung his hands in a circle above his head, readying another attack, but Hannibal was quick to get out of the way this time. And before Rai could even prepare another attack, Hannibal had whipped out one of his roots and smacked the Dragon across the room and into a different wall. The Brazilian boy hit the wall so hard that there were cracks left behind when he slid down to the floor, nearly unconscious. Hannibal used his roots to walk himself over to stand over Raimundo, who weakly lifted his head and looked up into the bean's red eyes. They merely stared into each other's eyes for one short, silent moment, before Hannibal's lips cracked into a smirk yet again.
"So we meet again, Raimundo," he said, almost in a whisper.
A/N: Regarding the first few paragraphs of the Raimundo part - I've always thought that when the Dragons meditate, they go into a completely different realm in their minds. And this realm is completely their own. When they're meditating, they're trying to achieve peace and to relieve themselves of stress, which is why I like to think that they go to these peaceful realms within their minds and become one with their element. As I described in this chapter, Raimundo was surrounded by grey clouds because his element is wind. The "dark shape", hopefully you understood was his elemental dragon, which I believe they also become one with when they reach total concentration. And as soon as Rai's concentration was broken by Omi, Raimundo and his dragon lost their sync, throwing everything within Raimundo's realm into chaos until he finally opened his eyes back in reality.
Obviously I put a LOT of thought into this, lol. I really like the things this show plants in a writer's mind, because there are just so many elements that can be touched upon in so many different ways... this is just my own personal way of seeing how the Chosen Ones meditate. :)
Anyway, I will try my darndest not to take such a freaking long time with the next update. I know that everything seems confusing and it might seem like I'm just throwing everything together last minute, but I promise you that I'm not. Every little thing, and I do mean EVERY little thing, plays a part into the plot of this story, and as we continue you may find yourself reflecting back upon these past moments and going, "Ooooohhhhh!" ;)
Please review! It really means a lot! Thanks guys!
(( Claire ))