"I got no place to go!"
dl-sPirit: Hello, it's me again. For those of you who saw the episode, "The Return of Master Monk Guan", you probably heard Raimundo say that line. It really got me thinking... Then, I began wondering, what if Raimundo had gone evil? The result of all that thinkingis below.
I don't own Xiaolin Showdown. Now on with the story.
"Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!"
In a flash of light, the temple grounds changed into several tall white pillars, with a blue-tiled roof overhead. Two males, one short, one tall, appeared on one of the pillars. The tall male was glaring at the shorter one. "Bobo, I do not wish to fight you," Omi protested.
"My name is Raimundo! And it's too late now," Raimundo growled. Then, they both yelled, "GONG YI TEMPAI!" And the showdown began.
Before Omi could get into position, Raimundo had already leaped over and delivered a kick to the Dragon of Water's stomach. Omi winced, but he counterattacked by knocking Raimundo's feet out from under him. The brazilian's eyes showed even more rage than before, and, getting up, continued to attack Omi. Everyone watching - Hannibal Bean, Master Monk Guan, Clay, and Kimiko - noticed only one thing: they were evenly matched. Omi's size allowed him to dodge Raimundo's blows, but Raimundo's anger was giving him power, strengthening him. "C'mon, Omi, ya can do this!" Clay yelled, encouraging the yonger monk. Kimiko quickly added, " I know you can beat him!"
Raimundo gave a growl. With a cry of "Fancy Feet!", he knocked Omi down. Kneeling so only Omi could hear him, he hissed, "Yep, they all care for you. No one wants to deal with the troublemaker. No one cares about me." He got up to kick Omi, sending him back a few feet.
"I know about all of you," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "But how much do you really know about me?" Omi didn't answer. He was confused. What did this have to do with anything? Also, truth be told, he really didn't know much about Raimundo. Except that he had been an acrobat in a traveling circus, Omi knew little about the brazilian's life.
"Raimundo, I do not understand. Why is this important?" he asked innocently. Raimundo snorted, preparing to strike. "When you had problems, you could turn to Master Fung. When Kimiko had problems, she could talk to her dad. Clay always had his dad by his side to help. Do you want to guess who I had?"
Omi remained silent, getting up. He guessed slowly, "Wasn't your mother-" He ducked to avoid a punch from Raimundo, who replied, "My mom left. She's in Salvador - with another man and two kids." Omi, though he still threw a punch, was taken back by this information. Raimundo's mom had left? So, that meant...
"Your father-" Omi started. "- was too busy getting drunk. He died when I was 10," Raimundo stated bluntly. Both Dragons continued fighting. Omi noticed another emotion in Raimundo's eyes: pain. Tears had begun to leak out of the brazilian's eyes. "I understa-"
"No you don't! No one depended on you. If you forgot something, nothing bad happened. Me, if I forgot all of my brothers and sisters would go to bed hungry. You can't even pretend to understand!" Raimundo was beginning to have a mental breakdown, and he didn't care. After all why should he care about himself when no one else did? "When the social worker finally came around, guess who they forgot? Me. My uncles and aunts didn't care. No one wanted the 'problem child'. I've had too many people depend on me, turn to me. And I have no one. I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
His last sentence set everyone into an awkward silence. Kimiko and Clay suddenly felt guilt. When had they last asked Raimundo if he needed any kind of help? When was the last time they had listened to him about his problems? Never. And yet he and Master Fung were the two most understanding people at the Xiaolin Temple. Though Raimundo didn't act like it, he was a good listener, and he would often help them if they needed it.
Raimundo, drained from the sudden mental breakdown, his past rushing back, and the sparring collapsed. "I give up," he whispered, "Just take it all away."
This ended the showdown. The pillars vanished, and the scenery returned to normal. Omi now held all of the shen-gong-wu. Master Monk Guan, Kimiko, and Clay walked over to Omi, with only Master Monk Guan congratulating Omi for defeating "Bobo". "Omi, are you ok?" Kimiko asked gently.
"I-I'm not sure," Omi stuttered. He suddenly felt very bad for all of the times he had put down Raimundo. Clay slowly suggested, "Well, maybe we should talk to Raimundo-" He turned to where Raimundo should have been, but saw only a bare patch of ground. "He's gone!" the Dragon of Earth cried.
"What? How?" Kimiko asked, shocked. Hannibal Bean, who had been ranting about his newest "friend"'s loss, remarked slyly, "Maybe I lost the Fancy Feet, but now that boy is gone." Chuckling to himself, he folded up his armor and jumped onto the Yinying Bird. Kimiko saw something on the gound and picked it up. It was Raimundo's medallion, with a note reading, "Kim, take this. I won't need it anymore." "Oh no," she gasped.
"We must split apart and find B- Raimundo!" Omi decided. Master Monk Guan, displeased, ordered, "Warriors, I order you to go to your rooms now!"
"But, Rai-" Clay started.
"Was that a question!"
"Master Monk Guan, couldn't your hear Rai?" the Dragon of Fire asked, "He has no one to help him. He left me his medallion. Raimundo has never left the medallion leave his sight before. I don't want him to do something stupid. Like..." She couldn't bring herself to finish as she began to sob into her hands. Master Monk Guan was about to yell at her for asking a question, but his expression softened as she began to cry. Sighing, he told them, "I will let you go to find Raimundo. I will come along to help, should we encounter Hannibal Bean. If he leaves again, or betrays us, I will not allow you to bring him back again."
"If anyone finds anythin', send up a signal," Clay told. With that, the three warrior and Master Monk Guan left the temple and split up.
(---)
The rain fell hard. Lightning flashed in the sky, and not a creature was heard. After all, why would any sane person be out in this weather? Unless you happened to be looking for a very depressed friend, there was hardly any reason to be outside.
The youngest monk was walking through a dense pine forest on the mountain, thinking about all that Raimundo said. No one cared? He had no one to turn to? His expression became determined as he decided that he'd prove Raimundo wrong. He would care about Raimundo. He would let Raimundo turn to him.
Click.
What was that sound? It echoed thoughout the treetops. Omi got ready to fight.
"My name is Raimundo Pedrosa. I am fourteen years old. If you find this, take it to the Xiaolin Temple and give it to Omi, Kimiko, and Clay. There may be a reward. There may not be. I don't know how much they'll care."
Raimundo? What was he doing, talking to himself? Much to Omi's shock, the anger had left his voice. Sobs could be heard though. That couldn't be good. He followed Raimundo's voice.
"First of all, guys, tell Master Fung and Master Monk Guan that I'm sorry for taking up their time, and for annoying them to no end. I never meant to."
Omi finally decided that Raimundo was speaking into a tape recorder. But why?
"Next, Dojo. I'm really sorry for calling you worthless, or a gecko, or whatever else I left out. No hard feelings."
Omi looked through the dark shadows between the trees. Where was Raimundo?
"Clay. I feel bad for all of those times I've dissed you, and I really hate myself for the time when I filled your hat with milk. Under my bed is a stash of chocolate bars and bubble gum. It belongs to you now."
This wasn't good. Why was Raimundo giving all of his stuff? Unless... Omi realized, with horror, what he was doing. Raimundo had told him about people who killed themselves.
"Omi, little man, I feel really bad for you. I've pantsed you, dissed you, and you still don't mind. And now I've burdened you with my past. I'm really sorry.I'd like you to have my soccer ball and surfboard. I know you always liked them."
Omi ran faster, Raimundo's voice becoming louder. The sobbing increased, but Raimundo's voice was losing emotion.
"Kimiko...I'm really sorry. I never told you the truth. I love you with all my heart, even though you love Omi. I need you to keep my medallion. If you like, you can also take my PDA.
"You guys can donate the rest of my stuff, except for my flag. When you find my body, I want you to burn my body and the flag together."
Omi peered through two trees to see, much to relief, the brazilian. The Blade of the Nebula was pressed against his neck, threatening his life, and held by his right hand. His left hand was holding the tape recorder.
"Sorry for holding you back in the past. You'll probably be able to do more without me.
"Bye guys. See you on the other side."
With that, Raimundo clicked the tape recorder off and placed his left hand on the Blade of the Nebula. Tears were streaming down his face as he closed his eyes. The raindrops mingled with his tears, washing them away, as if reminding him that he would soon be forgotten.Omi knew he had to stop Raimundo. He pulled out his Wudai weapon.
"So long world-"
"Shimo Staff!"
As Raimundo moved to slice his neck open, the Shimo Staff morphed into a chain, which Omi threw around the Blade and stopped it. The Dragon of the Wind tried to free his weapon from the chain. Omi, in reply, jerked suddenly on the Shimo Staff and whipped the blade away from the Dragon of the Wind into his other hand.
"Why?" The word came as a half-whisper as Raimundo stared at Omi, his eyes void of emotion. Omi was confused."Why are you keeping me here? I coulda been free."
"Raimundo, You can't do this to yourself. Kil-" Omi checked himself. A lecture on honor was not what Raimundo needed. "Raimundo. People do care about you. Clay, Dojo, Kimiko, me."
"Then you'd let me go," Raimundo argued softly.
"That is not the answer." There was a silence as Raimundo found himself unable to answer. Omi then had an idea. Putting the Shimo Staff and Blade of the Nebula down, he walked over to Raimundo and, swallowing his pride, said, "You can turn to me."
Raimundo was silent, looking away from the Dragon of Water. Omi frowned lightly, but brushed it off and continued, "Raimundo, I do not want you to die. Nothing of yours is worth enough to allow me to let you die. I won't ever leave you aside."
Almost instantly, Raimundo threw himself around Omi, much like how a little kid would do to his mother. He was crying even harder. Omi patted Raimundo on the back. Then, he remembered. The signal.
"Wudai Neptune - Water," he whispered, shooting a ball of water into the air and making it explode like a firework.
From three seperate spots, three monks saw the explosion. When they reached its origin, they found Raimundo, sleeping softly, his shed tears still glistening on his face,and Omi, smiling lightly.
The Dragon of Fire had picked up the Shimo Staff and Blade of the Nebula, and understood what had happened. "Omi, is Raimundo-" Kimiko started.
"Raimundo will be all right now," Omi replied.
Everyone else, not including the sleeping brazilian, gave a sigh of relief. Kimiko took out Raimundo's medallion and placed it in the teenager's hand. He closed his hand around it, not waking up. However, a tiny smile appeared on his face.
"We need to get back," Master Monk Guan announced. Very carefully, he picked up Raimundo and placed his over his shoulder. Clay took the two Wudai weapons. And the four began the hike back up to the temple in the rain.
Omi momentarily reflected on his new duty as a person for Raimundo to lean on. It would be difficult, seeing as the young monk had little in common with the brazilian - but, remembering how Raimundo had been crying so hard, feeling so alone,he decided that it'd be worth it.
Though his tunic was soaked and a cool wind blew, he had never felt better.
dl-sPirit: Ok... please review...and don't kill me!