A/N: Alright, time to find the Dragon of Wood! Well, maybe. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown or Xiaolin Chronicles.
Omi's tongue poked out of his mouth in concentration as he played the latest Goo Zombies game on Kimiko's Gamepal. He was halfway through the game, and he didn't plan on losing now. Nearby, Clay sat carving a pig out of a block of wood, and Kimiko was on her PDA.
Raimundo walked in, saying, "Okay, guys, I think I learned about all I'm going to from Willow right now."
His tone didn't scream success, so Omi looked up at him, curious. "Did you discover anything that would lead us to the Dragon of Wood?"
"Yeah, what did you learn, Rai?"
"What I learned is the girl can keep a secret," he admitted, taking a seat on the floor near Omi. "The whole time we were talking, she gave me the most vague answers about herself and switched the conversation to me. Any time I'd try to get back to talking about her, she'd flip it around again. She did tell me that she's from Australia, doesn't have any formal training, barely got her parents to let her come here, and did gymnastics."
"Well, that's about as helpful as a tractor with a missing tire," Clay said.
"It is nice to know that she has training in something, at least. But what are gymnastics?" Omi asked.
"A type of exercise that you'd probably be really good at. Lots of balance and flexibility involved in it," Rai answered, bored.
Omi's eyes lit up as he said, "Oh, yes, I would be the most skilled gymnastics master of all time!"
Kimiko shook her head, rolling her eyes at Omi's response, then turned her attention back to Raimundo and said, "What do you mean, she kept switching the conversation to you? What, exactly, were you guys talking about?"
Raimundo blushed, and Kimiko knew the answer without him saying a word. "Oh, uh...just—things we like to do, where we're from, things like that."
Kimiko groaned. It was obvious to her that Raimundo had, once again, fallen for a pretty face. Honestly, it drove her crazy when the boys acted that way, but Raimundo was the worst.
"Right, well, I reckon that don't really help us none," Clay said, getting things back on track. "I mean, it's good to know, but that means she's startin' off about the same place as Ping Pong. Should we take her along for the next Shen Gong Wu round-up, see how she does in a real fight?"
"That would be a most wise idea!" Omi agreed. "After all, both Jermaine and Ping Pong have already had the honor of accompanying us on one of our quests, and both proved themselves quite capable against the evil Jack Spicer. Willow should be granted the same opportunities as them, in the interest of faring."
"Interest of fairness, but yeah, you've got a point," Raimundo said. "We'll take Willow with us the next time a Wu goes active, along with Ping Pong and Jermaine. It'll be up to the three of them to try to get the Shen Gong Wu, but we'll help if they need us. That way, we can field-test all of them—not only their skills but also their teamwork."
"Works for me. Just try not to let Willow get in your head anymore, Raimundo. You're supposed to be our team leader, so you can't go losing it over a pretty face," Kimiko said, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Like I needed you to tell me that," he muttered, hoping Kimiko wouldn't hear it. No such luck—she punched him in the arm for his comment.
They didn't have to wait long for a chance to test their trainees out. That afternoon, Dojo burst out into the obstacle course while the monks were playing around, calling, "Look alive, people! We've got a hot one!" In his hands, he carried the scroll of the Shen Gong Wu, making it brutally clear what he meant.
Kimiko took the scroll from him and opened it, revealing what they were going after. "The Imo Gazer."
As they looked at the image on the scroll, it showed what looked like a fancy, short telescope. The image spiraled, switching to showing the effect of the Wu in question. The little figure who used the Shen Gong Wu held it up to his eye while looking at another person, who instantly fell asleep.
"It lets whoever uses it put their opponents into a deep sleep with just a look," Kimiko said.
"Well, we know some people who don't need that. We could probably bore people to sleep if we just let Omi tell them about himself," Raimundo teased, earning a glare from the smaller monk.
"Come on, people!" said Dojo, morphing into his larger size. "Let's go get that Shen Gong Wu!"
Raimundo looked at his three teammates, then looked toward the trainees. "Jermaine, Ping Pong, Willow! Come on! We got a Wu to bag!"
Jack followed his Detectobot's signal to the location of the latest Shen Gong Wu, the Imo Gazer, hoping the Xiaolin monks wouldn't keep him waiting for long. He could have used his teleporter to get here quicker, but then he'd be left waiting for however long it took Kimiko to do her hair and makeup, and he didn't really feel like that would be a good use of his time. For once, he wasn't worried about getting the Shen Gong Wu. No, he had far more important goals on his mind today.
"With any luck, since they took two of their wannabes with them to steal the Wu back from me, they'll bring all of their wannabes on a Shen Gong Wu hunt. Then Willow can use my Wood Cuff to make it look like she's got the same crazy powers over plants like the rest of them have over their elements. Once she does, they're bound to pick her as their Dragon of Wood, and it's Chase Young apprenticeship time for me, baby!" He laughed evilly, then quickly looked around, hoping the Xiaolin warriors hadn't arrived in time to hear any of his evil plan. He was quite relieved to see that he was still alone.
To keep up appearances, he went looking for the Shen Gong Wu. He couldn't have the monks thinking he wasn't taking this seriously, after all.
Dojo flew the kids to northern Brazil, where he landed them in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The monks dismounted their flying friend and set off in search of the Imo Gazer.
"How's it feel being back in Brazil, Rai?" Clay asked, hoping to ease some of the tension that had pervaded their trip—Willow had sat very close to Raimundo and had been flirting with him for the entire flight, leaving Kimiko pretty steamed up, even though Raimundo was trying his best not to engage and even asked Willow to save it for another time. Clay, personally, thought he should have told her to stop entirely, but he knew that would just be wishful thinking.
"Well, it's not like I spent a lot of time in the rainforest when I lived here, Clay, so it's not really like I went home," Raimundo answered as he pushed aside a plant in his search for the Shen Gong Wu.
"Perhaps, since we are so close anyway, this might be a chance for us to visit your family," Omi suggested hopefully. "We have already met Clay's daddy and sister, and we met Kimiko's papa, but I have never met your family, Raimundo." In fact, now that Omi thought about it, he'd only really heard Raimundo mention his family at Chinese New Year. He knew next to nothing about them other than that there were a lot of them.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Willow chimed in, batting her eyes at the Xiaolin leader. "I'd love a chance to meet your parents, Rai."
"Yeah, maybe we can stop by for a sec," Raimundo answered, trying once again to ignore the way Willow was looking at him—and the glare Kimiko was giving him. "Right now, though, let's focus on bagging this Wu."
They searched around the area for a bit before Ping Pong finally spotted it in the middle of a small pool of water, where it sat atop a small patch of relatively dry land. "There! The Imo Gazer!"
"Thanks for the update!" said a familiar voice as Jack Spicer came flying down toward them. As usual, he was flanked by a small arsenal of Jackbots, his machines that the Xiaolin Dragons had become experts at destroying.
"Jack Spicer!" Omi exclaimed. "Why are you always upon my head!?"
"I think you mean in your face," Raimundo corrected. Then, turning to his team, he said, "Remember, Shoku Warriors, stay out of this. Let the trainees take this one. We only step in if they need backup." To the apprentice candidates, he added, "Kick Spicer butt and get the Imo Gazer."
The other three Shoku Warriors nodded, Wudai weapons in hand in case they were needed—they remembered the plan. Jermaine, Ping Pong, and Willow nodded and moved into fighting positions.
"Whoa, wait, time out!" Jack said, making a T with his hands. "Are you telling me you're not even going to fight? You're just gonna let those three do all the work!?" He gestured at Jermaine, Ping Pong, and Willow, all of whom maintained their battle positions, waiting.
Raimundo shrugged, amused at Jack's indignant expression, and said, "Yeah, pretty much, dude. I mean, if they can't whup your butt, they won't stand a chance against anyone else."
Jack growled, feeling rather irritated at being a training exercise for the new monks, but he recovered quickly enough. "Whatever, loser! If you're that afraid to fight me yourself, then you, Chrome Dome, and the other two can stand back and watch as I tear your trainees to pieces! Jackbots! Attack!"
Jermaine leaped out of the way of a blast from a Jackbot, then bounced off a tree trunk into the air, slamming said bot into another tree and breaking it. "Nah, dawg, you ain't gonna take me down that easy! I've been whupping you since Queens!"
"Yeah, yeah. This time'll be different!" Jack started flying toward the Imo Gazer as the trainees took on his robot army.
Ping Pong bounced from robot to robot as quickly as a ping pong ball, taking out ten in mere seconds. Suddenly Raimundo understood why Omi had named him Ping Pong. Willow and Jermaine, of course, played a part in the defeat of the Jackbots, each taking out several on their own, but Ping Pong was by far the quickest of the lot.
As Jack reached to grab the Imo Gazer, Ping Pong caught sight of this and gasped. Quickly assessing the situation, he leaped down to take on the robots assaulting Willow—she was the closest to the Imo Gazer and had a better chance of getting to it quickly. "Sister Willow, I will handle the robots," he said to her. "Go now and retrieve the Imo Gazer before Jack Spicer!"
She nodded and hurried to do that as Ping Pong delivered a swift kick to one of the Jackbots, sending it flying into one of its fellows and breaking both. Realizing she didn't have the time to get to Jack before he got his hands on the Imo Gazer, Willow reached out her hands and, smirking slightly, pressed one of the buttons on her bracelet. Plants seemed to quickly sprout underneath the Imo Gazer as a gnarled tree trunk sprang up out of nowhere.
Jack's eyes widened in shock. He let out a girly scream as he fell back away from the sudden tree trunk. The Shoku Warriors watched, shocked.
"What in tarnation's goin' on!?" Clay asked.
"Did...Willow just grow a tree?" asked Kimiko.
"It appears that we have found our Dragon of Wood," Omi said, looking at Willow with awe. She wasn't even a Xiaolin apprentice yet, and she was already commanding her element.
Willow leaped into action, jumping up into the trees above and leaping from branch to branch as she made her way to the Shen Gong Wu. Recovering from his initial shock, Jack flew up there as well. Both his hand and Willow's touched the Imo Gazer at the same moment.
"Willow, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!" Jack said to her. "I wager my Monkey Staff against your—uh, what do you have, anyway?"
Willow pulled out the Tangle Web Comb, saying, "I'll wager the Tangle Web Comb. What's the game, Spicer?"
"Jungle grinding. We'll use the vines like rails and grind through the forest. First to get the Imo Gazer wins."
"Alright, I accept!"
"Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!"
The world around them changed, with the forest around them becoming more overgrown. Two thick vines snaked through the canopy, looping and curving as they did. On one vine stood Jack Spicer. On the other, Willow. The other Xiaolin warriors, four of whom had their clothing changed to their battle armor when the showdown was called, stood on the branch of a very thick tree to watch.
"Gong yi tanpai!" called the competitors, and they both raced down the vines, grinding them as if they were railing in a skate park.
"Go get 'im, Willow!" Raimundo called.
"Show that no-good hombre what for!" Clay cheered.
Willow pulled out her Shen Gong Wu and pointed it at Jack, calling out, "Tangle Web Comb!"
Tendrils shot at Jack, aiming to tie him up. He sneered and cried, "Monkey Staff!" Just at the last second, he leaped out of the way, grabbing a tree branch overhead and swinging from it for a second before launching himself further down his vine, ahead of Willow. "Too slow, loser!"
"Willow, get your heart in the show!" Omi called, cupping his hands around his mouth.
Raimundo pulled down the mask on his armor, looking at Omi in disbelief. "Omi, you've seriously gotta be doing that on purpose."
When Omi merely looked at Raimundo in confusion, Jermaine corrected, "It's head in the game, homie."
"Oh. That, too."
Not willing to be outdone, Willow reached for a vine over her head. Discretely, she pressed another button on her bracelet, calling out, "Wood!"
Unseen by the other monks, the small Seedbots shot onto the vine over Willow's head. As they landed on it, they grew, extending into a shorter, more direct path to the Imo Gazer. A couple of other vines grew so that they hung down, and Willow grabbed these ones to swing herself up onto the new path.
"Most wondrous!" Omi said, eyes bugging out of his head. "She has already mastered the element of wood!"
"I reckon there ain't no denyin' it, partners. That there's our Dragon of Wood."
Ping Pong looked at the Xiaolin Dragons, his heroes, with disappointment clear on his face. He had so been hoping that he would be the one chosen as the Dragon of Wood, yet even he couldn't deny that Willow was manipulating the element to her advantage. He looked down, dejected, as he realized that he would soon be saying goodbye to the Xiaolin temple and returning to France.
As Willow soared past Jack, making a beeline for the Imo Gazer, his eyes widened. The normal vines made a much more winding path than the one she had created. "Hey, no fair! How'd you even do that!?"
Willow didn't answer him. She simply reached the Imo Gazer and grabbed it, ending the showdown and returning the world around them to normal. The Xiaolin Warriors all ran up to her, eager to celebrate her victory.
"Mighty fine work, Willow," Clay said, tipping his hat to her.
"Yeah, you go, girl!" Raimundo cheered, clapping her on the shoulder.
"How did you know you could do that vine thing?" Kimiko asked, raising an eyebrow at the other girl.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't, but I figured I didn't have anything to lose from trying, especially after what happened before the showdown," Willow answered. "I'm just happy it worked so well."
"Willow, there is not a shredding of doubt in my mind that you are the one most worthy to be called the Xiaolin Dragon of Wood," Omi told her. "You have my vote."
"I think, after that one, she's got all our votes," Raimundo said. Glancing at his other two teammates, he asked, "Well?"
"If it ain't Willow, then this forest's got some plants that are wilder than a rabid raccoon diggin' through the trash on the day after Thanksgiving."
Kimiko looked disturbed before answering, "Uh...yeah. What Clay said."
Satisfied, Raimundo said, "Alright! Then it's settled. Willow's staying on as Dragon of Wood."
"What about me?" Ping Pong asked, stepping forward with wide, sad eyes. "Does this mean that I should return home?"
The four Shoku Warriors turned to him, and Omi looked at him with sympathy. He opened his mouth to respond, but Raimundo beat him to it.
"Guess so, little dude. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're good, but..."
"But Willow's the one with the power over wood," Kimiko finished. "Sorry, Ping Pong, but that's how it goes."
Ping Pong looked dejected for another moment before regaining his composure and smiling at them all. "That is quite alright, Sister Kimiko, Brother Raimundo. I understand. I am just grateful to have had the chance to meet all of you and train with you, even if it was only for a short time." He bowed respectfully and finished, "When we return to the temple, I shall pack my belongings and return to France."
"Feel free to keep in touch, dude. Maybe things'll change and we'll have another opening sometime soon," Raimundo offered.
"Thank you, Brother Raimundo."
"And where does that leave me?" Jermaine asked.
Raimundo looked at him and shrugged. "Same thing, I guess. I mean, technically, we do still have room for one more apprentice, but the element that goes with that is supposed to be stubborn, so Dojo said they wouldn't join us without a fight. Since you and Ping Pong signed up for this on your own, I doubt you're the one."
"But Jermaine just got here!" Omi protested. He honestly wanted to spend more time with his friend before sending him on his way. "Perhaps he could stay a few days?"
Raimundo looked at Omi and raised an eyebrow. "You seriously think I'm kicking either of them out of the temple? Omi, come on! They can stay as long as they want, as far as I'm concerned, but you know that's Master Fung's call, not mine."
"Well, in that case, I figure I can hang around for a bit. Doubt Master Fung will mind, since he let me crash here last time I visited. We got a lot of catching up to do after two years," Jermaine said, smiling at Omi, who returned it eagerly.
"Oh, yes, we most certainly do! I cannot wait to tell you all about the adventures we have had and all of my accomplishments since we last met!"
Raimundo rolled his eyes as Dojo grew to his full size. "Right, you have fun with that, Omi. Come on, guys. Let's head home."
The monks all climbed aboard Dojo, who flew them back to the temple. Along the way, Omi regaled Jermaine with heavily embellished stories of their adventures as Wudai Warriors that somehow made him seem like the hero at every turn. Other than rolling their eyes or groaning on occasion, the other warriors chose to ignore him.
As the Xiaolin monks headed back to the temple, their oldest enemy watched on with a wicked sneer on his face. "They fell for it! I might have lost the Monkey Staff, but it'll all be worth it once I start training with Chase Young!" Jack laughed evilly, pleased with this turn of events despite his current lack of any Shen Gong Wu.