I'm glad this story's getting such a positive response so far! In response to my guest reviewer: I'm sorry, I can't answer that question. It'll get answered later in this story, though, so don't worry about that! So, without further ado, here's chapter 2! Enjoy! I don't own Xiaolin Showdown (or Chronicles since that now needs to be mentioned).
Edit: Changed some character lines and other minor details.
On the day the apprentice monks were due to arrive, Raimundo gathered his team in the temple yard to greet them. The elder monks all joined them as well, keeping back some distance to allow the Shoku warriors to deal with the new monks.
Raimundo scanned the prospective dragons. There were about 25. Not a huge number, sure, but more than he really wanted to deal with. They ranged in age from 10 to 19, telling Raimundo all he needed to know about the possible ages of their Dragon of Metal. Regardless, this wasn't the time to be worrying about that monk—he had to find a Dragon of Wood first.
Raimundo stepped forward, holding his arms out in a gesture of welcome. "Welcome to the Xiaolin temple," he said by way of greeting. He felt a bit out of his element, but Master Fung had made it clear that this was his responsibility. "I'm Raimundo, Dragon of the Wind and leader of the Dragon Warriors." He gestured behind him, introducing his teammates, "The three monks behind me are the other Dragon Warriors. Clay, the Dragon of Earth."
The cowboy tipped his hat with a friendly smile.
"Kimiko, the Dragon of Fire."
She waved, smiling as well.
"And Omi, the Dragon of Water."
"Welcome, new friends!" Omi said to the apprentices.
Raimundo was pleasantly surprised that Omi didn't make a single disparaging sound throughout all of that.
"As you all know, we're thinking of taking on another monk as an apprentice. Your element would be wood. We'll start training all of you, and whoever shows the most potential will be the one we choose. I wish you all the best of luck! Now, let's get this party started!"
When it came to training the apprentices, Raimundo was more than happy to let Omi take the reigns. After all, as leader, he had the right to delegate less desirable tasks to his team, and that was how he viewed the whole elimination game they were playing.
Omi assigned each apprentice a number, saying that there was no reason to remember all of their names since only one would be staying. That seemed a bit impersonal, but he had a point, so nobody complained.
As Omi had the new apprentices sparring with each other, Raimundo and the others stood nearby, watching. Ultimately they all had to decide who would be their new teammate. Raimundo never countered Omi's choices as he told several apprentices that they could leave—they weren't doing nearly as well as the others, after all.
"Pardon my asking, but why are we just letting the little feller train them? Didn't Master Fung say we all had to choose an apprentice?"
"Yeah, but do you really wanna go through 25 different people with all four of us having to agree on them?" Raimundo asked Clay. "It'll take forever! I figure we can let Omi narrow it down for us, then we can pick the best of what's left."
"Why Omi?" Kimiko asked. "Why not you?"
"As if! Look, Omi's all too happy to have a bunch of apprentices all to himself. Besides, he grew up here in the temple, so he's got more experience than any of us. All things considered, he's the obvious choice."
"13! 21! You may go. Thank you for your time," Omi said, calling out two of the older apprentices. Both walked off, looking disappointed.
Raimundo stretched, eager to go do something else—and he knew just what, too. "Well, I'm gonna go see if I can't figure something out about this Dragon of Metal." He started walking off, adding, "Later. Tell Omi to stop when he's got it down to three candidates, then come get me."
He figured he'd have some idea how to find the last monk by then.
Up above, Hannibal Bean watched from the temple roof. "Hmm. The Xiaolin monks are training another apprentice, are they? Well, we can't have that now, can we?" He laughed through his lips, hopping onto Ying-Ying and flying away.
While evil was afoot above the temple, evil was just as present within the temple walls. With the Xiaolin monks occupied with their apprentices, there was nobody to guard the Shen Gong Wu vault.
Deep below the building that housed the vault was the vault itself. Protected by a musical combination that opened the floor and granted access, the vault was easily broken into. It was even easier to break in if you happened to be an evil boy genius with a teleporter.
A flash of light brought Jack Spicer into the vault. Having been here before, he knew the coordinates he needed.
"Nobody can stop Jack Spicer, evil genius! Especially if they don't know I'm here!" He gave a high-pitched laugh, then covered his mouth quickly, realizing that sound could carry easily down here. He glanced around, then uncovered his mouth and started gathering Shen Gong Wu into a bag.
"Let's see... Cannon Blaster, check," he said, bagging the Shen Gong Wu. "Lotus Twister, check. Orb of Tornami, check! Man, Chrome Dome will flip when he finds out this one's mine! I wish I could see the look on his face when he realizes it's gone! Ha!"
Jack continued looting the Shen Gong Wu vault, figuring he had all the time in the world.
"Alright, time to unravel that mystery!" Raimundo said, alone in his room. "Who's the Dragon of Metal?"
There was one person that clearly came to mind when Raimundo thought of the requirements—stubborn and technologically gifted. If that was all it took to be the Dragon of Metal, then Raimundo could think of a name off the top of his head—an impossible name, but a name all the same. That was why Raimundo was certain it had to be somebody they'd never met.
Then again...
He got up and headed for the Shen Gong Wu vault, a plan forming in his mind. There was one Shen Gong Wu that might be able to help. He'd used it once to find out where he would find Omi when the little guy had left the temple. Maybe that same Wu could be used to show him where the Dragon of Metal would be found.
He entered the building, opened the vault with the musical combination...and immediately knew something was wrong. Several of the drawers that should have held Shen Gong Wu were hanging open, empty. He ran down into the vault, hoping that the thief was still here so he could kick their butt.
When he was halfway down the stairs, he heard a girly scream and some beeping, as if somebody was pushing buttons on a keypad or something. A moment later, there was a flash of light, and, when Raimundo arrived at the source, there was nothing except more missing Shen Gong Wu.
"Darn it! How did he get out of here so fast?" Raimundo wondered.
That girly scream could only have been one person—Jack Spicer. Raimundo started checking the vault, looking to see how bad the damage was. It wasn't too bad, although Omi would be less than happy. The Orb of Tornami was among the missing Shen Gong Wu. Unfortunately, so was the very Wu he wanted.
"Well, so much for that idea!" Raimundo said, irritated.
Knowing they couldn't let Jack keep that Shen Gong Wu, Raimundo ran out to get his team. Training apprentices could wait. They needed a plan to raid Jack's lab and steal back what he'd just stolen from them.
Omi was rather impressed with several of the apprentices. Sure, some were pretty pathetic, but then there were numbers 4 and 16. Number 4 was a girl, which seemed strange to Omi, considering that girls were very clearly weaker than boys, but he wasn't going to say that with Kimiko watching his every move. Number 16 was probably the youngest of the apprentices, but he was very skilled for his age. His ambition reminded Omi a fair bit of himself, although the young monk was more humble than Omi himself.
After seeing number 16 finish the obstacle course in the span of about five seconds, Omi knew this was his choice. He had bounced around that obstacle course like a ping pong ball and was more than an equal match for any of the other apprentices. Well, except for maybe number 4, but Omi would worry about that later.
"You, number 16!" Omi called.
The young monk turned, hoping that he wasn't about to get sent home. "Yes, brother Omi?" he asked.
"You have a very fierce method. What is your name?"
"Respectfully, brother Omi, my official title is Boris Antonio Rolf Jean-Pierre Gaulle LeGrand IV."
"That does not sound like a fearsome warrior. Hm... I shall call you Ping Pong!"
Boris Antonio Rolf Jean-Pierre Gaulle LeGrand IV—or Ping Pong, as he was now called—seemed not only okay with Omi renaming him but positively thrilled. He hugged Omi, exclaiming in French, "Fantastique! Brother Omi, you are true to your reputation! You are most intelligent!"
Yes, Omi was growing quite attached to this young monk.
Kimiko watched as Omi narrowed their choices down considerably. He was definitely efficient, she had to give him that. In the past four hours, he'd kicked out 8 of the 25 possibilities. There were a couple that Kimiko thought were showing great promise—one was a girl with long blond hair, the other a small boy much like Omi if he wore glasses. Omi seemed to be rather impressed with the boy especially, even going so far as to talk to him alone.
"Am I too late for the tryouts?" a voice asked from behind her.
Kimiko turned to see a familiar face—their friend from New York, Jermaine. He was wearing his Xiaolin robes, the ones he'd been wearing while he was Chase Young's apprentice.
"Jermaine! Don't tell me you want to try out with these guys? You're way out of their league!"
"Yeah, I know. But I heard you were looking for another monk, so I figured I'd boogie on over and see if there was room for one more."
"I've got no problem with that," she answered. "But it's not really my call. Rai's in charge around here. You'd have to ask him."
"Rai? What about Master Fung?"
"He's still our master, but Rai's our leader. Any big decisions about our team have to go through him now."
"Yo, that's great! Where is Rai? I—"
Before Jermaine could finish that, Raimundo came skidding over, yelling, "Hey, guys! We've got trouble!"
Omi turned, along with the remaining apprentices. Kimiko and Jermaine looked as well. Clay came running out of the temple, hearing the commotion.
"What's all the hoopin' and hollerin'?" he asked.
"Rai, what's wrong?"
"Spicer just raided the Shen Gong Wu vault! And he took the Crystal Glasses!"
"Oh, that is most troublesome," Omi said, walking over. "With the Crystal Glasses, Jack Spicer will be able to look into the future and see our every move. He would become most formidable!"
"Well, we'll just have to get 'em back," Clay said.
"Need a hand with that?" Jermaine asked.
One of the young apprentices, the miniature Omi with the glasses, walked over and said, "I don't mean to impose, but perhaps I could help?"
"Oh, yes! Ping Pong could learn much by observing me."
"Ping Pong?"
"That is what Brother Omi calls me," the young monk replied happily.
"Great. Shoku warriors, Jermaine, and Ping Pong, come with me! I've got a plan. The rest of you," Raimundo addressed the remaining apprentices, "take a breather. We'll be back."
The four Xiaolin dragons, along with their two would-be teammates, headed off to retrieve the stolen Shen Gong Wu.