"Raimundo!"

Rai growled and shot a glare over at Jack's side, then opened his eyes wide. Zephyr had the same look as Jack grabbed his arm and made him wave at his brother, while Entropy wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek, and Cinder stuck her tongue out at Rai and pointed up at him.

"Zephy says hi!" Jack taunted.

"Quit using him against me Spicer!" Rai snarled. This was the third time the goof troop had distracted him using Zephyr, and he was finding it hard to keep his grip on the rope that he was climbing. Why Stryker had chosen to have them climb to the Shen Gong Wu was beyond him, but now he knew what the cheater's game plan was.

"You keep saying that as if I'll listen!" Jack laughed, moving Zephyr's hand to his forehead and using his fingers to make an L. "Such a loser!"

"Yeah!" Rai shouted, oblivious to Stryker shimmying up the rope beside him. "Well you're such a jack-"

He shouted when Stryker kicked him in the shoulder, loosening his grip enough for him to slide about a foot down.

"No foul language, Rai-Rai!" Stryker teased, continuing his climb to the Indigo Pyramid, a Wu that allowed the user to change their opponent's mind.

"Coming from you? Hilarious!" Rai snarled as he struggled to catch up.

Do you have to use Zephyr to distract him, though? Stryker telepathically asked Jack.

Hey, whatever works, right? Jack answered. ...Am I detecting jealousy?

Stryker knew he was teasing, but even so he sent a quick glare at the redhead. Jack cocked an eyebrow and lowered his eyelids, a little smirk on his face. Apparently he had detected envy.

"C'mon, Rai, you can do it!" Kimiko shouted up to him.

"Yeah, do it for your bro, Rai-Rai!" Entropy added maliciously.

"Zeph, tell your new friends to shut their cakeholes!" Raimundo snapped.

Zephyr grinned. Rai was gaining on Stryker quick, but that aggravation would certainly distract him.

"Why?" he asked. "Don't you wanna win for me?"

Raimundo froze and stared aghast at Zephyr. Stryker snarled and pulled out the Silk Spitter, pointing it right at Rai.

"Silk Spitter!" he shouted, bringing Rai's eyes to him.

The Wu shot a webbed net that encompassed his head, blinding him. Rai, forgetting what he was doing, reached up to remove it, then shouted as he flew off the rope and down towards what looked to be an abyss. He stuck his arms out and grasped rope after rope, trying to catch himself. He finally got one and latched on, jolting himself to a stop and hanging for a moment. Stryker had reached the top of his and removed the Pyramid from its podium by the time Rai removed the silk from his head.

The environment shifted back to the icy mountaintop they had been on. Stryker shivered as the others ran up to congratulate him.

"I could have done that without all the distracting, you know," he told them.

"We know," Entropy said.

"We just wanted to mess around," Cinder snickered.

"You did really great out there," Zephyr told him. "Better than I could have."

Stryker squinted at him, then blew some of his Mohawk out of his eyes and started towards the jet, ignoring the knowing look Jack gave him.

"...Did I say something wrong?" Zephyr asked worriedly.

"Nah," Jack said. "Stryke just...doesn't like being helped during Showdowns. He's more of a "I can do it myself" kinda guy."

"Well he needs to adjust his attitude," Entropy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, less because she was angry and mostly to block out the cold. "We're a team, of course we're gonna help."

She grabbed Cinder's arm and dragged her towards the jet; Zephyr started to walk with Jack, then stopped and turned when he felt eyes on him. Rai had paused as well before boarding Dojo, looking across the snow at him. They stared a moment longer, then Zephyr chuckled and gave him a lazy salute. Rai tried to smile too as he watched Zephyr climb into Jack's jet, but it came out as more of a cringe. He tugged on the collar of his coat before accepting Clay's help onto Dojo and they flew off.