Things were awkward at the next Showdown.
Chase came along for this one and soon Omi and the eternal everlord were twisting and vaulting over a magical chasm, calling out the names of the moves they used.
The other Dragons waited on ledges jutting out of the surrounding cliffs, watching intently. Jack and Wuya were also on the precarious perches.
As was Johnny Betty.
In fact, JB was on a perch very close to Clay's.
And boy, could he feel it.
The Dragon of the Earth kept his eyes locked on the competitors and tried to ignore the ripple of the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. She was staring at him; he could feel it. He could feel her dark eyes raking over him, as if committing every feature to memory.
'I shouldn't have called her my ladybird,' Clay thought. 'Now I started something I ain't sure I want to finish.'
Clay finally twisted his head around to look at her.
Johnny Betty snapped her eyes forward.
Clay blushed. She had been staring at him. Creepy!
JB peered up at him hesitantly.
"Did you get in trouble?" She asked.
"In trouble?" Clay echoed. "For what?"
"Your aunt said she was gonna tell your Daddy about . . . us," Johnny Betty clarified. "Did you get in trouble?"
"'Us'?" Clay echoed again. "There ain't no 'us'. An' I been dodgin' his phone calls."
"I – I just meant findin' us . . . together like that," JB clarified, wiping her palms on her jeans.
"Oh," Clay sighed. "L-listen; I think I know why you . . . kinda . . . got excited back there. You're evil an' . . m-maybe you like it when a fella . . . . . . treats you rough. Well, I ain't into that and it won't happen again, so just. . . . don't get your hopes up!"
The cowboy rushed through his impromptu speech and hazarded a look at Johnny Betty.
She was staring at him blankly, a look of pure confusion on her face.
"'Treats me rough'?" JB echoed. "When did you treat me rough?"
"In Laredo?" Clay prompted.
JB considered this tidbit of information for a moment. She gave Clay another confused look, then went back to pondering what on earth the cowboy could be talking about.
"When I grabbed you?!" he stressed.
"That?! You call that li'l squeeze bein' rough?" the black haired girl giggled, thoroughly delighted. "You are really too cute, sugar!"
Clay blushed to the tips of his ears.
"My Daddy woulda nailed my hide t' th' barn wall if'n he'd seen that," he admitted. "He taught me t' always treat ladies like ladies. Even holdin' a lady against her will like that woulda killed him. He'd'a—."
"The last guy I blew off fer a roll in th' hay punched me square in th' face," Johnny Betty announced.
Clay froze. His jaw worked soundlessly for a few moments.
"Yeah. John Bunyan; what an asshole. If'n he'd tried that shit now, I'd'a killed him but I was only fourteen at the time. I was scared. I didn't know what t' do."
Clay's jaw sagged further.
"My daddy wanted me to marry him; the Bunyans are well-respected in our circle. I told Pa I was a lesbian so he shipped me off to this anti-gay camp t' cure me. That's where I met Jack."
For the first time since the Showdown started, JB wasn't looking at Clay. She stared off in front of her, not focused on anything at all.
"When my Mama showed up again, he took me t' meet that side a' th' family. Manabozho cornered me in Grandma's home and pawed at me for a few minutes before Hinu showed up an' chas'd him off." Johnny Betty's eyebrows quirked together slightly. "For a while I thought maybe I was a lesbian, 'cause th' thought of any man havin' his way with me made me sick t' my stomach. But . . . I feel good when you touch me, Clay. An' you have kind eyes an' a gentle smile. Even if'n you don't smile at me."
JB blinked as if she had woken up from a dream and looked over at Clay. The Dragon of the Earth blushed hotly and looked down at his boots.
Kind eyes? A gentle smile? Bad girls weren't attracted to those things; smoking hot bad girls especially! What was he supposed to say? She looked so sad! But how could he smile at her when she was an enemy?! You were only supposed to laugh at enemies and after what JB had just told him about her love life; Clay'd never have the heart.
"Th-That guy," he began, his voice hoarse. "Th' one that hit you; he still alive?"
"John Bunyan? Yeah, probably," JB returned.
"If'n you ever see him again, you point him out t' me." Clay finally tore his gaze away from his toes and looked over at Johnny Betty. "I'll kill him for you."
JB snorted softly.
"Clay, darlin', you wouldn't say such things if you saw him. John's a son of the Bunyan Clan; he's ten feet tall and stronger than me."
"Don't care," Clay returned. "I've taken on bigger than that."
For a few minutes, only the sounds of the contest going on before them echoed off of the cliffs, punctuated here and there by shouts of encouragement from some of the onlookers.
"Do you always change into that get up when someone's in a Showdown?" JB asked.
Clay looked down at the mystic battle robes of the Dragon of the Earth.
"Yeah, we all do. Don'tcha like it?" He tried to inject some levity in his voice but got the feeling he failed miserably.
JB's eyes studied the dark blue robes carefully.
"You look better in your jeans and boots," she admitted. "I can't see your face in that outfit."
The black haired maven suddenly gave him a wicked smirk.
"Or your butt," she teased.
Clay's face was covered by a mask, but his ears turned a vibrant pink. His butt? She liked looking at his butt?! Lordy! Some small part of him felt proud of the fact that a good looking gal like JB was checking him out, but the majority of him was mortified.
"You're cute when you blush," Johnny Betty giggled.
"N-now lookee here! You can't just -." Whatever JB couldn't do remained unsaid, because as Clay rounded on her in gentlemanly indignation, he put one foot over the edge of the ledge he stood on and pitched into the chasm.
He let out a strangled yell, but before he could summon his elemental powers, a leather lash coiled around one ankle and brought him up short.
Johnny Betty sat back on her boot heels and hauled on the end of the bullwhip that was wrapped around Clay's leg.
"Be careful!" She yelled, hauling him up like a fish on a line. Without any apparent effort on her part, she pulled him up onto the ledge with her and coiled up her whip.
"You all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thank you," Clay panted, straightening his hat.
The big cowboy jumped when JB laid her hand on his cheek.
"Don't scare me like that, honey," she murmured softly.
The Dragon of the Earth found himself staring into a pair of warm brown eyes. They still reminded him of chocolate, only now it wasn't boiling. Now it was warm and sweet; it made him think of mugs of hot cocoa and snuggling up under cozy blankets on the couch on a cold winter day.
Johnny Betty was standing very close to him now. Clay remained still until she hooked one finger in his mask and tried tugging it down.
"No, don't!" he gasped, grabbing her wrist.
The Apache girl blinked. There was a hot blush on her cheeks and Clay knew without a doubt that if she got his mask down they'd be entwined in another kissing frenzy.
"You don' like me?" She asked. "But . . . Laredo . . ."
"I – I – I don' not like you," Clay protested lamely. "You confuse me, darlin'. You're Heylin. I ain't supposed t' get involved with evil girls, but – God, you're temptin'."
A tiny smile quirked JB's lips.
"I ain't that evil," she offered. "Maybe I was jest led astray by bad companions."
Clay gave her a look.
"Somethin' tells me nobody leads you where you don' wanna go, Miss Pecos," he stated dryly.
Johnny Betty giggled at the strange endearment.
"All right, I admit it; I'm a tumbleweed. I go where ever the wind takes me. I just happened t' fetch up against Jack for a while." She paused and gave Clay a smoldering look. "Who knows where it's gonna blow me next?"
The Dragon of the Earth swallowed.
All right, so JB was hotter than a tin shed on the Fourth of July and she was interested in him. Now she was pretty much admitting that she had no real commitment to the Heylin side. Maybe . . . maybe he could sweet talk her into coming over to the Xiaolin side. Then she'd be with him. Like, with him.
Heat washed through Clay. JB was tugging his mask down again, but this time he didn't protest.
"Darlin', you're finer than frog's hair," he growled.
Sometime in the last the couple of minutes, Chase had handed Omi's canary butt to him. Just as Johnny Betty freed Clay's mouth from the dark blue fabric, the Showdown came to an end, jerking the pair apart as the landscape returned to normal.
Clay could do little more than stare and blush as JB stood with her Heylin companions.
"I simply cannot understand Chase Young! When he wins Showdowns, he does so with such ease that I believe he is tossing the matches when he loses! Why would he do such things?" Omi ranted.
"Throwing the matches. You think he's throwing the matches. And yeah, he probably is," Raimundo corrected, scooping up more rice on his fork.
"He just does it to confuse you, Omi. Try not to over-think it," Kimiko opined.
As the yellow skinned monk returned to ranting about Chase Young, the Dragon of Fire looked over and saw something she thought she'd never see.
Clay wasn't eating.
The Dragon of Earth picked at his dinner, simply shoving the food around on his plate rather than eating.
"Clay? Are you all right?" She asked.
"Hmmm?" Clay blinked at her as though startled anyone had noticed him. "What? I'm fine, why?"
"You aren't eating," Kimiko pointed out.
This shocking announcement stopped Omi in mid-rant.
"Clay is not eating?"
"Dude, are you sick? Did you get clocked in the jaw at the Showdown?" Rai asked.
The large Texan sighed roughly.
"I ain't sick," he groused. "I was just thinking . . ."
"Did it hurt?" Rai asked.
Clay made a face and flicked a snow pea at the Dragon of Wind. The monks started to smile. Whatever was bothering the cowboy didn't seem to be too serious.
"No, I was just thinkin' about Johnny Betty," Clay announced.
All smiles fell away.
"Why would you be thinking about her?" Kimiko demanded.
"Perhaps because she is so pretty?" Omi suggested. The Water Warrior's lids drooped suggestively. "I often find myself thinking of pretty girls."
There was a moment of awkwardness.
"But you must not forget what happened with Dyris!" Omi snapped. "Johnny Betty Pecos is evil and cannot be trusted!"
"Exactly! No evil sluts, Clay!" Kimiko agreed.
"Seriously, dude, it's the exact same as with that evil mermaid. Well, not exactly the same. There's no tail, so there's a lot more fun to be had, but—" Raimundo ducked as Kimiko threw a butter knife at him hard enough to drive the dull blade into the wall behind him.
"JB ain't the same as Dyris!" Clay snapped.
The other three warriors stared at him. Clay did not snap.
"I mean . . . . if'n you talked t' her you'd know. Dyris was all charm an' coaxed information outta us as easy as noodlin' a catfish outta his hole." Clay thought about JB and her innocent, awkward bumblings.
"Do what to a catfish's hole?" Omi wanted to know.
"Don't ask. They do things different in Texas," Rai muttered darkly.
"My point is: Johnny Betty's just been dealt a bad hand. I think she could be convinc'd t' switch sides."
This information was considered carefully.
"Switch sides?" Rai echoed. "As in, join the Xiaolin side?"
"Well, yeah." The first hurdle cleared, Clay hurried through the rest of his thoughts. "I talked t' her at th' last two Showdowns an' she ain't really evil! Some a' th' things she's told me . . . . th' girl's had a rough life! JB ain't got a friend in th' world an' she just happen'd fetch up against Jack. She ain't got anywhere else t' go or anyone t' turn to. If we gave her someplace t' call home . . ."
"Here?! You want to bring her back to the Temple?!" Rai squawked. "She's not even that hot!"
Clay and Omi looked at Raimundo as if he'd just said: 'The sky's not really blue!'
"If that's what this is all about, you have horrible taste in women!" Kimiko snarled.
"It ain't! I'm not tryin' t' bring JB to th' Xiaolin side 'cause she's beautiful! I honestly think she ain't happy workin' fer evil but she don't have a choice!" Clay protested.
"Truly?" Omi appeared to consider this. "Johnny Betty Pecos' fighting skills are formidable – though nothing I couldn't best! But if she would like to turn to the side of good . . ."
"Oh hell no!" Kimiko roared, starting to her feet. "You and Omi are always trying to take in stray dogs! First Vlad, then Jack – Jack twice – then Dyris, now JB; how long is it going to take to figure this out?!"
"Ah, you're just jealous 'cause she has tits," Rai interjected. "But Master Fung's never going to let us try to convert another enemy."
Raimundo had a valid point about Master Fung's protestations; however, when he tossed off that casual comment about Kimiko's lack of breasts Clay and Omi both dove under the table.
"What. Did. You. Say?!" The Dragon of Fire snarled through gritted teeth.
The white-washed wall near her back started to blacken from the heat suddenly radiating from her frame.
"Er . . ." Raimundo summoned a wind to whirl around him protectively.
"Er . . . so, you believe Johnny Betty can be transformed?" Omi asked rather more quickly than the casualness of the question.
"Converted, not transformed," Clay corrected, hearing the soft 'whump!' as Kimiko ignited the oxygen in the air. "And, er, yeah, I think she can."
A spoon hurled by hurricane force winds drove through the tabletop between the two monks.
"You want to go ask Master Fung now?" the Dragon of Water inquired.
"Yeah, I think now's good!" the Dragon of Earth seconded.
A moment later they were both fleeing the dining room cum war zone.