Summary: AU- Kimiko wakes up with no memory of where she is on a sinking ship. She is helped by a mysterious man, discovering her hidden powers along the way, and is stopped by Jack Spicer's legion of robots. Kimiko must go on a path of self discovery while avoiding the Heylin Hunters through her perilous trek and reach Xiaolin Valley before she is killed.
Kimiko recognized the ocean way before she could see it. The chilled salty air blew through the loose strands of her hair, gently tugging at the roots. The surface she lay on rocked back and forth in tune with the waves, making the young girl a bit seasick.
'Wait, ocean...' she thought, springing upward in surprise and shrieking in agony as a splitting headache suddenly decided to make its appearance known.
The first thing that greeted her vision was debris-littered rotting wooden planking. Suddenly, the world began to spin, and Kimiko moaned in annoyance, holding her head in her hands. Groggily, she blinked slowly, waiting until her vision stopped spinning before lifting her head and warily looked around.
The ship was terribly old- rusting metal encroached upon the white paint, leaving trails of reddish brown coloring in its wake. Aging cranes towered above the lower platform dotted with various cargo boxes, silent and still.
Upon seeing nobody, however, she quietly sighed and cursed herself, leaning against the steel railings of the research ship. Her ears strained for the slightest sound that indicated a human presence, but was denied even the quietest of man-made noises. Only the sound of saltwater waves slapping against the boat and the squawking of seagulls circling above reached her ears.
Kimiko groaned and turned her gaze to a metal vent, where it displayed her reflection. Her clear blue eyes widened and she stifled a shout of surprise before uncovering her mouth, remembering that nobody was around. Still, as she performed a cursory check to be sure, she could not help but feel that she was being watched. She turned back to her reflection and miserably picked at the tattered remains of what she wore- a ratty pair of jeans, worn red and white colored sneakers, and a black T-shirt. Her unkempt hair was tied up into two messy pigtails by mere shreds of red ribbons. Around her neck was a strange red and gold medallion held up by a thinning piece of black string.
Kimiko allowed her body to slouch, depressed with her haggard appearance. Suddenly, a series of loud explosions broke the silence. The research ship rocked and began to list to the left as water poured in through the gaping holes blasted into its port side. Alarmed, Kimiko clung onto the railing for support and heaved her body upward until she was shakily standing in an upright position. She listened for any screaming or any sign that she ship was occupied by humans, but the vessel remained silent except for a wailing alarm that was triggered by the blast. Perhaps this ship was truly abandoned after all...
"Whoa!" she yelled, her voice cracking in terror. "What's going on here?"
"Kid, I think it's in our best intentions if we, ah... leave this sinking ship before we're dragged with it to the bottom of the ocean" a quiet voice whispered in her ear.
The Japanese girl nearly leapt off of the ship in surprise, whirling around just in time to be face to face with a strangely clothed, bald Chinese man in his late forties.
"Sorry, kid" he said, slightly bowing his head in greeting before repeating himself. "Not to interrupt your panic, but I believe we must be getting off the research ship now before we're dragged to the bottom of the ocean. If I remember correctly, we should have enough time to-"
"Well, I... I don't remember anything at all!" Kimiko interrupted, growing more panicked by each passing second instead of being relieved at meeting another human being. "How did I get here!" she cried, narrowing her eyes as a sudden thought entered her head, "...How did you get here?"
"That's not important," the man replied coolly, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the ship's bow. "I'll try to explain your situation along the way, though."
"But how-"
"Are you Kimiko Tohomiko?" the Chinese man questioned; only giving the girl a sidelong glance.
"Yes, but-"
"Then you are the Dragon of Fire" he interrupted again.
"Wait, what did-?"
"We've been waiting for you for a long time. Those bone-headed idiots didn't quite know where you'd appear, but we had our ancient scrolls to assist us... 'Course, they had to be studied for several centuries and Chucky Choo managed to 'lose' some, but that's beside the point"
"Who's we?"
"They will be here any second now..."
"Stop!" Kimiko shouted, digging her heels into the planking and ferociously tugging her arm out of the man's grip. "Who's they?"
However, the mysterious person didn't appear to be pleased and snatched her arm again, dragging her towards the front of the ship with renewed vigor.
"Whoa there, kid! We can't stop right now" he shouted, scanning the skies. "My name is..." he paused for a moment as if considering whether to tell her before continuing, "Well, my friends call me Dashi. I was sent to find you." He looked back at her once more and gave her a thin smile when she did not attempt to stop him. "We have been waiting for you for a long time. You are special, young lady. You see, you possess a unique quality that they want to obtain."
Kimiko stared, her mouth agape. Her mind did not even register being pulled along by a complete stranger anymore. In less than 5 minutes since she had regained consciousness, she had found herself on a sinking ship with no memory of having embarked on in the first place and an old man named Dashi scream at her and spout gibberish about her having these mystical powers that they wanted to have all for themselves.
"We have company!" Dashi yelled, pushing her to the floor as bullets tore through the air above their heads.
A horde of robots flew straight towards them, using their jet packs to charge at the two. On their chests were white skull symbols and black tattooing that read "Jack Spicer- Evil Boy Jeenius". The red lenses that served as their eyes flashed malevolently, scanning both humans and evaluating their weaknesses, coming to a conclusion in mere seconds. Their arms extended from their torso, each shaped into a cruel-looking automatic weapon.
"Jackbots..." He growled. "I should have known Spicer was watching"
"Spicer...?"
"Listen, use the Mantis Flip Coin... The medallion around your neck" he clarified before leaping towards the oncoming opponents. "Its powers should be activated once you call its name"
"But-"
"Mantis kick!" he shouted, neatly obliterating two of the metallic menaces with a perfectly executed split kick. "Hah! Cougar Strike!"
The Japanese girl stared at the grand master with wide eyes, stupefied as he tore through robot after robot with his bare hands before yelling at her to use the Mantis Flip Coin once more.
"M...Mantis... Flip Coin?" Kimiko asked uncertainly, holding the object with a shaking hand.
The Shen Gong Wu softly glowed white in response to her voice. Emboldened at her minor success in a new confusing world, Kimiko took several steps forward, but cried in shock as she suddenly found herself catapulted through the air. She landed on a Jackbot's head, instantly crushing it underfoot and causing the automaton to fall from the sky and crash into several of its partners, damaging them as well.
Gleefully, Kimiko repeated the process several more times, encouraged by Dashi's inspirational cries and war shouts. A strange feeling in her gut began to form, but Kimiko paid it little mind. It was like an adrenaline rush, urging her to continue destroying and rending the attacking machines into useless pieces of scrap metal. It possessed her, making her fight like a wildcat with the power and grace of one. A smirk grew on her face, and a fire sparked to life in her eyes.
Dashi nodded in satisfaction and calmly instructed her in between dismantling a 20-foot tall Jackbot by slicing and crushing it into multiple fragments, "Now, focus on your inner energy. Concentrate on it, and release while saying the name of your element."
Curious, Kimiko followed his advice and targeted one of the remaining combatants. She sharply inhaled and tensed her muscles, shooting her hands forward with her palms out. The energy resting at her core now traveled to her arms, sending a strange tingling feeling to them that was neither pleasant nor frightening. It concentrated at her wrists, which throbbed as more energy was being stored.
With a cry, she released a small fireball from her hands that melted through the metal armor of the robot, revealing its crudely made inner workings. The strange feeling in her gut grew more intense each time Kimiko rapidly shot small bursts of fire from her hands in combination with the Shen Gong Wu, in turn making her attacks more powerful. A few bullets had grazed her skin, but it only made her angrier and her attacks stronger.
"This is amazing" Kimiko breathed, enthralled by the wisps of red energy coating her arms as she tore through the last of the machines that attempted to attack her.
Dashi nodded approvingly and made a deferential comment on how she had managed to use her sense of intuition to avoid being mostly caught in the crossfire. He however, was unable to. Some bullets had completely punched through his skin in several places, and blood dripped from the holes, creating red trails on his light colored skin. His breathing was ragged, and his posture was slightly hunched over.
Kimiko opened her mouth and prepared to speak, but a laser sizzling the air in front of her face stopped her. The scent of fire filled their nostrils as a few pieces of her burned raven-black hair drifted to the battle-scarred deck below.
Reinforcements for the motley crew of would-be assassins appeared from behind the upper decks, bolstering support for their comrades with streams of deadly laser fire and whirring circular saw blades. Kimiko nearly collapsed to the floor in pure, unadulterated shock and her spirit wavered a little.
"Listen, kid, I can't stay here much longer, but you need to reach Xiaolin Valley!" Dashi gasped in between dodging an oncoming hail of bullets and retaliating with an impressive string of martial arts moves to deflect a blade aimed for his head, only to end up with deep lacerations to an arm.
Dashi cried, clutching the wounded arm before shooting the robot a venomous glare and lancing it with a broken metal shard.
"You need to make it to shore and head northwest to Xiaolin Valley. I can't help you much longer but I can say this..." Dashi said, his voice dropping to the point where it was almost a whisper. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You, Kimiko Tohomiko, must begin that journey"
"What's so important about Xiaolin Valley!" Kimiko screamed, but Dashi only continued to shout the name of the mysterious place and a few pieces of advice pertaining to her element before his stance faltered and fell off the ship.
Kimiko savagely fought to the location he had been and looked down, but he had disappeared.
The sound of multiple guns cocking brought her back to her senses and the young girl whirled around in fright. 10 heavily damaged but still functional robots stared back at her through lifeless eyes, training the paltry remainder of their automatic weapons and laser sights on her head. Her eyes widened, and she tried to call up her fire powers, but with her inexperience with using them coupled with intense pressure and anxiety, she only created a tiny flame between her fingers. Her other hand played with the Shen Gong Wu in her pocket, but she knew she couldn't use it- there weren't any other platforms nearby, and she'd be an easy target while free falling.
'You have got to be kidding me' Kimiko thought; anger turned to terror as she remembered her only escape route.
With little hesitation, she turned around and faced the water once more. Part of her resented the Grand Master for having apparently abandoned her, but the other part argued otherwise. The frothy ocean waves calmly licked at the sinking research ship, as if it were inviting her in. Kimiko repressed a shudder- she was petrified of the water and needless to say, never exactly learned how to swim. Taking a deep breath, the young dragon of fire pinched her nose with a hand, vaulted over the steel railing, and plunged into the water just as hundreds of bullets fired simultaneously.
The misspelling of the word "genius" was obviously intentional.
Dashi knew what he was doing by essentially leaving Kimiko for dead. The ship was supposed to be a 16-tier cruise ship, but then I realized that jumping from the 14th tier would most likely kill her (violently), so it was changed to a research vessel instead.
I may or may not update this in the long run, considering how I'm caught up in the middle of midterms and all. I should manage to write some ideas down, however. Unlike my other stories I have yet to finish, I have a clear definite idea of where I'm going with this. At the least, 1 update per month. At the very least, a few updates per year...
...On the condition where I find enough motivation to keep publishing more chapters.