REBORN Emerald Phoenix

Fanfic: Xiaolin Showdown © Christy Hui
Chapter 1: The Emerald Phoenix
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“I sense the Shen Gong Wu right around here!” Shouted an excited Dojo as they neared a forest somewhere in the United States.  Probably Indiana or somewhere like that in the North.  But anyways, getting back to the story…

“Which Shen Gong Wu are we looking for today, Dojo?” Kimiko asked as she finished applying her make-up.

“It’s called the Emerald Phoenix,” Began Dojo, as he came down with a smooth landing on the banks of a river.  “It’s said to give the user the ability to see into even the darkest places.  Basically, it allows for temporary sight where you can’t see.  It sure beats the Falcon’s Eye when it comes to night vision!”

“Sounds like somethin’ handy fer Night Tag,” Clay said as he slid off of Dojo’s back onto the ground.

“Whatever, Clay,” Raimundo scoffed, jumping to the ground.  “I’d love to use that Wu to pull some midnight pranks!” A mischievous grin spreading across his face.

“Let us not get distracted from the task that is by hand,” said Omi, already in a tree and surveying the surrounding area.

“That’s ‘at hand,’ Omi,” Raimundo said, correcting the short, bald monk out of habit.  Just then, Dojo, back in his gecko-size form, trembled all over.  “Whoa!  It’s close, I can feel it!  Let’s find that Wu!”

That said, all four Dragons Warriors began searching the immediate area.  Omi exploring the trees, Raimundo the shrubbery, Kimiko the ground, and Clay the river.  After about an hour of searching, nothing had come up.  The frustrated apprentices decided it was time to take a break and sat on the banks of the river.

“Well, now I know how a bloodhound feels after losin’ th’ trail…” Clay said, disappointed.  The others added in their agreements and looked at Dojo.

“Well…  Maybe it’s farther down the river…?” Dojo offered to the four monks.

“Thanks for the directions, Xiaolin Losers!” Proclaimed the all-too familiar and annoying voice of Jack Spicer, as he flew down low enough to survey the monks, HeliPack whirring.  “I guess I’ll just go and find myself the Emerald Phoenix!”

“Put your Wu where you mouth is, boy!” Wuya scolded as she floated into view.  “Quit yakking and get to tracking down the Phoenix!”

“All right, all right,” said Jack in an attempt to reassure the paranoid ghost.  “Geez, can you get any CRANKIER?!”

“Give me enough grief and I CAN!” Wuya yelled after Jack as she followed close behind him in pursuit of the Emerald Phoenix.  But, during this time that Jack and Wuya had been arguing, Clay’s 10-gallon hat had turned into a 10-gallon kite with the assistance of Jack’s HeliPack, and began drifting through the woods.

“No, my hat!” Clay cried out, chasing it down.

“Clay!  Get your Texas-sized butt back here!” Kimiko demanded of him, but he didn’t hear her.  His attention fully concentrated on catching his runaway hat.

“Let him be, Kimiko,” Omi told her.  “We can easily handle Jack Spicer without Clay’s assistance!” And with that, the other three dragons set off after Jack and Wuya.

Getting back to Clay…

Clay had wandered farther into the woods than he had realized.  By the time he was able to catch up with his hat the others were far out of sight.

“Gotcha, you rascal!” Clay gripped the brim of his hat firmly. After a quick inspection to make sure it wasn’t harmed, he set it atop his head more securely than last time.  This was when Clay realized that he didn’t know where he was.  “Um… This could be a problem…” He stated the obviousness of his dilemma.  “Now I’m really wishin’ I had Kimiko’s PDA t’ find my way back…”

“No one needs any high-tech gear to find their way out of a forest, stranger,” came a voice from nearby.  Startled, Clay took on a defensive position and looked about for the owner of the voice.

“Who’s there?!” He demanded.

“Hey now, you don’t need to worry about me,” said what Clay registered as a female voice.  A girl stepped out into view from among the surrounding trees.  Clay took notice of her appearance:  a simple black shirt and jeans, black tennis shoes crunched the gravely ground.  Her dark brown hair back in a single braid, she had dark sunglasses on as well as a smile.  She also had a necklace with a green pendant around her neck.  In her right hand was a walking stick with a few carved decorations.

“The name’s Selia Maha, stranger.” The girl introduced herself, and jumped from a rock onto the ground more level with Clay.  She was couple inches shorter than Clay, and appeared to be around his age, maybe younger.  “How about yours?”

“Clay Bailey, miss,” The cowboy politely said with a tip of his hat.

The girl gave a little giggle.  “I love you accent!  Are you from Texas?”

“Why, yes I am, miss.” Clay proudly replied, his chest puffed with Texan pride with that statement.  He ignored the burning of his blushing cheeks, hoping she didn’t notice.

“Anyways, you’re lost, I take it?” Selia asked, cocking her head to the side.  “Not surprised, really.  These woods get me lost in them sometimes, and I’ve grown up here my whole life!”

“Yeah, I reckon I got sep’rated from my friends tryin’ to get my hat,” Clay explained to Selia, the embarrassment only adding to his blush.

“Well then, I can help you there, my Texan friend,” to Clay’s surprise, Selia knelt down on the ground and rested her ear against the ground.  After a moment of silence, she sat back up and placed her hand on the ground; more silence.  She then stood up, and pointed to her right.  “They’re that way.  About three sets of footsteps I hear running around that way.”

“Thank you kindly, miss.” Said Clay.  “Now, to find th’ Emerald Phoenix-!” Before Clay was able to finish his sentence, the pendant around Selia’s neck glowed, which caught Clay by surprise.  ‘Wait a minute…’ he thought.  Taking a closer look, the cowboy noticed the intricate carvings on the pendant, creating a bird-like figurine.  “Miss, where’d you get that necklace?”

“Oh, this?” Selia placed her free left hand over the now faintly glowing pendant. “It’s been in the family for a generation or two.”

“This’ll prob’bly sound crazy t’ ya, but that’s what my friends and I came lookin’ for…” Clay tentatively said, trying to pick his words just right.

“Really?  Whadda ya need it for?” the girl asked, cocking her head to the other side, curiousity in her voice.

‘Well, here i’ goes…’ Clay took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t be thought of as loco.  “Y’see, we’re monks that’ve been trainin’ at a temple somewhere ‘bouts in China and a part of th’ trainin’ is to find and protect these here Shen Gong Wu- er, um… magical artifacts, that is…” the cowboy sheepishly grinned, knowing his explanation sounded dumb to those not in the know.

“So you’d like to have it?” Selia asked bluntly, fingering the chain the Emerald Phoenix was on.

“I’ll understand if’n ya don’t want to-” before Clay could finishing his sentence, the girl reached for the pendant’s chain and started to pull it over her head.  “Wait, you don’ have t’ just give it t’ me-”

“I don’t see why not.  It’s kinda heavy to be wearing anyways…” And with that, Selia pulled the necklace off over her head, but the chain caught her sunglasses causing them to fall and hit the ground.  “Well, shoot,” Annoyed, she picked up her glasses, placed them in her hand holding the walking stick before holding out the Emerald Phoenix to Clay.  But Clay hesitated.

“Miss?” Clay asked, staring at her eyes.  “Please don’ take offense…  Are your eyes…?”

Selia smiled as he couldn’t finish the sentence.  “Yes, sir, I'm blind.  Could you take this from me, please?”  Clay gently took the Emerald Phoenix out of her outstretched hand, not breaking his gaze with her sightless eyes.  She slipped the sunglasses back on over her clouded, sapphire-blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’ know-” Clay began.

“It’s fine, my Texan friend,” She said with a smile.  “In fact, I was hoping you wouldn’t find out during this by-chance meeting, but whatever.”   She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  “By the way, your friends sound like they’re in trouble,”

“What-?” Clay looked to his left, and sure enough, JackBots came flying through, followed along by Raimundo, Kimiko and Omi.  Jack was busy ‘perfecting’ his evil laugh while Wuya was annoyed with Jack’s lack of focus, as usual.

“JakBots!  Smog!” And with that command, all the JakBots released a thick, black fog that blanketed the area.  Clay, remembering that the Emerald Phoenix was in his hands, knew what to do.

“Emerald Phoenix!” He shouted, and the pendant turned into a set of goggles, automatically fitting to his head.  Clay was now able to see where everyone was, and took this opportunity to trip up Jack, confusing him.  Clay managed to direct all the JakBots right for Jack, which caused the JakBots to immediately begin attacking their creator.

“GAH!  OUCH!  THAT HURTS!  JAKBOTS!  RETREAT!” Jack commanded, and with that, the threat was over, the smog cleared.  Once the other dragons were able to see, they saw that they had Clay to thank for the rescue.

“That was great, Clay!” Kimiko said, complimenting the cowboy.  “How’d you manage that?”

“Nice one, Clay!  Sending Jack’s ‘bots after him was a slick move!” Was the thanks coming from Raimundo.

“I had it under control Clay, but I appreciate your valiant effort!” were the words from the egotistic monk Omi.

“Ain’t nothin’,” was Clay’s modest reply.  Looking at the Emerald Phoenix pendant in his hand, Clay was reminded of the girl in the woods and he suddenly worried what had happened to her.  He quickly glanced around for the blind girl, but she was nowhere to be found.  “Selia?”

“Selia?  Who’s that?” Kimiko asked, confused.

“Someone who gave me th’ Emerald Phoenix.  But where’d she go…?” Clay said, anxiously looking around.

“Eh, whatever,” Came out of Raimundo’s mouth.  “At least we have the Emerald Phoenix.  Now let’s head back to the temple.  I’m starving!”  As everyone else agreed with Raimundo and hopped onto Dojo’s back, Clay glanced around one more time in hopes of seeing the blind girl again, but to no avail.

“What’re you waiting for, Clay?  An Invitation?” Kimiko said impatiently.  Clay hopped onto Dojo’s back, and as the dragon took off, Clay took a glance at the Emerald Phoenix in his hand.  He felt a rough texture on back of the pendant.  Curious, he looked on the back of it, and saw that there was a piece of water-proof paper taped to it.  He gently removed it, opening it out of curiousity.  Selia’s name and address were written on the small scrap of paper with “If lost, please return” written at the top.  Knowing that this wasn’t meant to be returned, he just pocketed the piece of paper, and allowed his thoughts to return to his home back in Texas.
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Author’s Notes: Hey everyone, long time no update!  Life has taken so many twists and turns in my life that I all but abandoned my fanfic writing: my writing muse was dead.  I’ve taken on the project of rewriting/remastering “The Emerald Phoenix” ‘cause, looking back, I was SUCH a n00b in my writing.  To give me some credit, though, this was only my second fanfic.  Hopefully these remastered chapters will read easier, have better word flow, and be more enjoyable for a lazy summer day’s reading in front of the computer with a cold soda in your hand.  Please R&R, C&C whatever you can, I do love hearing from you guys.