Yes, I know. What the heck took me so long? Aside from the fact that both me and my muse are lazy, despite what TigerOfTheSpear says, this story does not shield against homework. At least, not mine. TO those who reviewed thank you so much for the comments and for asking me to continue. This skips forward about a year ahead of the first chapter. Raimundo is gone, and now Omi has been tricked into siding with Chase Young.

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The transformation itself was quick and painless while a most strange sensation did accompany it as it occurred. I of course knew that humans' shapes were quite dissimilar from others, but I had never even imagined how different a new life form's body would feel once inside one. All these new functions and senses that I found frightening had replaced old ones I was quite fond of. My bone structure took a shape that made it impossible for me to walk upright. My tail bone stretched to a tail. A coat of fine golden hair covered my skin. My sight and hearing had become acute. The cat's body was most alien to me after I had only experienced a human's.

I turned to my friends to attempt to say goodbye, but my voice box had changed as well, and only my sorrowful words were changed to an aggravated meow. They flinched and gasped and looked at me in such horror, that I could actually feel their gazes piercing knives into my heart. Couldn't they see that I had to do this? Why could they not solely express sorrow for my fate?

I started toward them; I did not know what I intended to do, but I hoped to see a glimmer of understanding in at least one of them. Dojo, he had to understand the codes of honor of a monk; he had lived at the temple longer than I had. But then why did he look as stricken as Kimiko and Clay?

"As you can see," Chase Young's voice rasped from behind, causing me to stop in my steps. "Omi belongs to me. Now, and Forever." Then he chuckled as he snapped his fingers.

Taking his cue, all the cats began to close in on my friends. I joined them, praying that Dojo would get Kimiko and Clay away from this wretched place before harm came to them. With mournful faces, Kimiko, Clay, and Jack mounted a wounded-looking Dojo ascended into the darkened sky. Chase Young's mean chuckle grew into full-fledged cruel laughter and I felt an abrupt burst of energy from behind me. My head tilted fully back so I could see some of what was happening behind me as well as my friends' departure. A beam of dark light shot up, blasted through the roof of the lair, and sped into the sky. I turned my attention back to my friends. I watched with a heavy heart through the eye of the lair as they disappeared into the misty clouds covering the sky. I knew that the only times I would ever see them again would be in battle; battles I would be expected to fight and win at any cost. Chase Young's laugh echoed throughout the cave and with each cackle my pride took another blow. I was forever a servant of Chase Young. It was all I could do to keep my tears back and hold my head high. Suddenly something wet struck my cheek with such force it startled me out of my sorrow. I looked up at the clouds. It did not appear to be raining. I licked my cheek. Salty. I knew with surprise that it had to be a tear, yet I knew it was not my own and I could not locate the true source.

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Hills, trees, large rocks, and streams were rushing along underneath me. Or rather, I was rushing over them. I was soaring above the landscape. And I was back in my human form. It was so strange. I knew I must be dreaming, yet I could truly feel the wind in my face and the full structure of my body. I would never again take the original arrangement of my bones for granted after experiencing another.

Then the land fell into an abrupt drop that met with a sandy area. As I approached it, gravity slowly returned to my body and as I pulled myself into an upright position, my feet met with the lush grass covering the top part of the cliff. I then took in the scene before me. The clear blue sky was dotted with birds of vibrant colors. Flourishing vegetation blanketed mountains that towered behind a city made up of structures not quite as impressive and well-designed as the ones in Tokyo, but held a certain majestic air nonetheless. The sunlight glittered as it reflected off the gorgeous blue ocean and the sea's foam-tipped waves slowly skimmed over the sandy white beach strewn with the most unusual looking plants. The bottoms resembled thin snaky tree trunks, but the green leaves they were topped with were like large flat drooping stars. It was a wondrous sight to behold. Somewhere in my amazement, I was grasped with the feeling that it reminded me of something, but I couldn't think of what.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

I started at the voice nearby, not just because I thought I was alone here, but because I knew the voice quite well indeed. I nearly knocked myself off balance at the speed I spun around to find its source. Sure enough, there was Raimundo sitting at the edge of the cliff cross-legged in his usual slouch, gazing upon the magnificent city and the beauty of the ocean before him. It was all I could do not to cry out. I was now certain that this was a dream, but if so I hoped to sleep a hundred years. Raimundo looked away from the breathtaking view to me. He smiled at me and patted the grass beside him. "C'mon. It's a long way from China to here. Get a load off and relax."

I was not sure what load he was referring to, but I went the area his hand had just touched and sat down. Still smiling, he looked back at the view. I took the opportunity to examine his face. He looked exactly as I remembered him, with the same youthful and roguish personality brightening his profile and the energetic spark in his dark green eyes. I didn't know how to react, even knowing this was not real. I wanted so much to embrace him and tell him how greatly he was missed. I had a thousand questions I was desperate to have answers to and could only get from him. But doing either of these things would only confirm the fact that he had been gone and for now I did not want that to be true. And it would also be quite nice to just spend time together. I looked upon the view with him for a little while before trying to create harmless chat-chit. I attempted to think of a subject that would not bring us to dangerous grounds and then remembered what the landscape reminded me of. "Which place is this? Mont Carlo?"

Raimundo's grin grew wider. "Good guess. Mont Carlo's almost as good as Rio, but not quite."

Rio. The city Raimundo spoke so fondly of.

"It is most beautiful. No wonder you missed it so."

Raimundo gave a murmur of appreciation for the comment. Silence followed. It became apparent by Raimundo's expression that simply looking at the scene gave him tremendous pleasure. One of my questions came to mind at this observation. I was hesitant to ask, but saw little harm in it and knew nothing would be accomplished if I kept silent. "Was this your home?"

Raimundo chuckled and shook his head. "No, although sometimes I really wished it was. Rio was just one of the million places we would pass through. I never really had an actual home before the temple. Sure, there could've been a real bed and less chores, but at least I got a chance to get used to the place and stay in one spot. You know, form actual attachment."

"Why could you not do so in Brazil?"

Raimundo smirked. "Well, one of the whole points in being in a traveling circus is kinda to keep traveling."

My eyes widened. I grew most excited at the prospect of learning something of Raimundo's past, even though I did not know exactly what it was. "The traveling part I can understand. But please tell me what this 'circus' is."

Raimundo laughed and my ears were filled with the joyous sound I had so achingly missed over the time gone. He unfolded his legs from underneath him, stretched them out in front of him, then let his shins and feet dangle off the edge of the cliff. Then he turned to me, lay on his side, and leaned on his elbow. He then explained to me about large festive gatherings and both animals and people who were skilled in the art of performing jokes, difficult tasks, and astounding feats would display their talents for others who would watch while emitting cheers, gasps, and screams of laughter. I was enjoying his company and fascinating tales of this splendid moving event so much, I completely forgot that this was a dream and while what he was telling me was certainly a possibility, there was little chance that this was the actual background of the real Raimundo.

Once I had recovered from laughter after hearing a humorous trick of how clowns would place one hundred set mousetraps on the ground, take off their shoes, tied on blindfolds, and walked across them singing opera and attempting to throw them at one another, I noticed Raimundo was now looking at me with an emotion I could not place, but it made me most uncomfortable. I squirmed under his gaze and tried to break the sense of discomfort. "Are there any other stories that would be entertaining to hear?"

Raimundo raised an eyebrow and his fingers drummed the ground. "Yeah, but enough about me goin' on about the past. Why not tell me what's been going on with you, Kimiko, and Clay lately?"

I turned to the city for I could no longer look at him. Everything that had happened today flooded my mind. How could I tell him that I had become a villain? How could I even begin to explain to him why? Raimundo was a great warrior, yes. But I do not think he ever really understood the meaning of being a xiaolin monk. He never agreed with the ways of the temple; he would voice his negative opinions of them freely, but he almost always followed them respectfully. Until the time of Mala Mala Jong. Not a day passes that I don't wish with all my heart that I had won that xiaolin showdown against Jack Spicer for the Heart of Jong; perhaps then Raimundo's chaotic feelings never would have risen against the temple.

Not wishing to bring up discomforting memories and explanations I was not certain I could drive into such a shut mind, I attempted to change the subject. "Oh, actually nothing of great importance has occurred recently. Has anything with you?" I blushed as my last remark left my mouth. How could anything have happened to him? I momentarily forgot that he was . . . .

Raimundo snorted. "If today was nothing special, I don't even want to think about what a hard day for you guys must be like."

I froze. No. He could not possibly know. "I do not know what you mean." I replied, upset that my voice had a slight tremor to it.

"Really? So the name Chase Young doesn't do anything for you?"

I did not know how Raimundo knew about Chase Young, but just hearing him say his name brought tension into each of my muscles. Raimundo noticed.

"It is Chase Young, right? He's the new stronger and smarter Jack Spicer? Prince of evil and darkness and all that, totally bent on world domination? I heard that you're his newest jackbot model."

"It is not like that."

"Then how is it?"

For a moment I was not quite certain how to answer him. Aside from both being Heylin, I never saw similarity between Jack Spicer and Chase Young. But the way Raimundo described them; it was almost as though they were the same person.

"Chase Young does not pursue shen-gong-wu. And he is a much more honorable opponent than Jack-"

"Give me a break, Omi." The disgust in his voice was anything but subtle. "There's no such thing as an honorable villain. You should know that better than anyone."

His words produced a stunned and stinging sensation as if he had struck me. No. No, Chase Young was nothing like Wuya and Jack, he was- but as I searched for events and describing words of Chase Young to disprove Raimundo's last statement, my mind simply drew a blank. Before today I would have claimed that there was still some good and honor in Chase Young, but now that I could see his favors and advice to me had formed a path on my life's maze that led me straight to where I was now. Serving at his side.

Apparently Raimundo took my stunned silence as stubborn withdrawal of the conversation he was leading. "Oh, so you're just gonna clam up? What, can't handle the truth about you and your role model? C'mon, about a year ago you hardly actually understood what bad and evil was. Now you're pretty much its representative?"

These words produced a surge of anger that pulsed through my veins. "You make it sound as if this was my choice." I muttered through clenched teeth as Chase Young's words echoed in my mind. "I belong to Chase Young now. And-"

"Bullshit." I looked at Raimundo. I did not know what this new slang term meant, but I took from Raimundo's angry expression that it was not good. "There's always a choice. You don't belong to anyone but yourself."

I hung my head and clenched my hands into fists. It frustrated me how easily he could think of honorable pledges as simple words instead of binding chains. "Apparently you do not know as much as you think you do. It is much more complex than that."

"Okay, so then spell it out for me."

'Spell it out?' This caught me off guard enough for me to look back at him. How was I supposed to explain my feelings and an event with a small arrangement of letters? My confusion must have shown clearly on my face for his expression and tone softened a little and the corners of his mouth twitched. "Make me understand."

I hesitated. Then I remembered the horrified looks on my friends' faces and how I hoped to ease them before they left. I never got the chance; I did not even get to bid them farewell. I glanced up at Raimundo. Having calmed a bit, he seemed more patient for my reply and he honestly seemed willing and intent to hear my explanation as well as grasping the nature of my sins. Perhaps if I could make Raimundo see my reasons, then the next time I met my friends in eventual forced combat I could somehow do the same to them. It was valued a bullet.

"How much do you know exactly?"

He shrugged. "Not that much actually. I know about Chase Young; how he's powerful, a great fighter, suave and conceited as can be, but in reality is one ugly overgrown lizard and has a fetish for jungle cats."

"A fetish?"

Raimundo ignored my question. "I know that he tricked you to take out your good chi and promise you'd always work for him, and then when Kimiko and Clay got you to think clearly again, you wouldn't go with them because you wanted to keep your promise to a villain."

"I did not wish to keep a promise to a villain. I take my word as a xiaolin monk most seriously. Honor is what separates us from evil."

"Uh-huh." He crossed his arms and stared at me in the most incredulous way. Then he features softened to something similar to pitying. "Oh boy, I didn't want it to have to come down to this. Geez, how do I say this? Um, Omi . . . ." He trailed off for a moment before continuing. "What exactly do you think you are now?"

His question confused me. "I fail to understand."

He inhaled, a hint of dread creeping into his expression. "Even though you're working for Chase Young now, do you still call yourself a xiaolin monk?"

Yet another unforeseen verbal strike; so severe and vigorous, my involuntary body functions momentarily froze. After a fearful moment when I found my breath and my heart shakily began its pace once more, my skin felt chilled as if touched by frigid water and I summoned my strength to reply.

"What?" I knew on some level what he was speaking of, but a part of my mind and heart had difficulty taking this unthinkable theory in.

"Omi, I'm sorry, but c'mon, think here. Was I still considered a monk after I went bad?"

I could not manage to work my jaw, my tongue felt like a clump of soggy cereal, the nooks of my mouth were as dry as parchment, and my voice ended at a discomforted grunt. Raimundo winced as my troubled silent state became apparent, but continued when I did not reply. "I mean, you just said, honor is what separates you from evil. Technically, isn't that kind of what you are now? Evil?"

I forced myself to speak. "The servants of Chase Young may take on the appearance of large felines and carry out his demands, but that does not change what they once were. I am a xiaolin monk-"

"You're a xiaolin warrior." Raimundo interrupted. He had a pained expression on his face as though he could almost understand how much distress his words were causing me. "A xiaolin monk would refer to what's in your heart or soul or whatever and what you believe, not your physical abilities, strengths, and techniques. Chase only wants you and the other slaves for the things you can do, he couldn't care less about what you believe and think. He's smart enough to learn about what you care about and how to make them work against you, but once he has you, he's going to pound out any free thinking, willpower, and spirit you've got until all you know is what you're told and the things you do. Omi, have even one of the other jungle cats spoken to you or anything? Any welcomes or sympathies or anything? Why do you think Jack uses robots to do his dirty work? They don't question, they don't think for themselves, they don't have feelings or morals, they don't say no, they're easily expendable, they do any thing they're told; except for the fact that they're all breakable as glass to us, they're a perfect army."

He paused for a moment to check my reaction to his words. I could give none. I could not look him in the eye. My body was so cold and rigid I could not move. I wished desperately for his to stop, yet a part of me wanted him to continue. After a moment, he did.

"Even if you try to keep you beliefs, if you let them interfere with Chase's requests, you're in for some big trouble. Your conscience is going to get in the way of what he wants you to do, and after some time you're going to swallow up anything he says even if part of you knows it's not true just so you can sleep at night. You're going to spend so long under his thumb that you're going to forget or reject anything moral or personal you ever were or were taught and become this hollow fighting machine. Like I said, the newest Jack-bot model."

I felt the possible truth in his words sting me sharply and bring tears surging to my eyes. I fought them down, hoping foolishly I could somehow twist everything he said to mean the opposite. I wrenched open my mouth, but my voice still failed to operate. As I took a deep breath in hopes in would ease my tension, Raimundo asked "Omi, do you know what a loophole is?"

This sudden topic change hurled me on and some of my distraught feelings were replaced confused and curious ones. I looked quizzically at Raimundo. Since my mouth was already open, the first possibility on my brain came out. "A hole that is shaped like a loop?"

Raimundo's face relaxed and he grinned. "Uh, actually it's a term for a way of bending the rules around something, like a deal."

"Bending the rules?"

"Um, it's kinda like breaking rules except you're not really breaking them. It's a play on words, you can twist them a certain way so that you can do or don't have to do something. See, as a xiaolin monk, you're bound by your word. But if you're not a monk, then . . . ."

I could see now why Raimundo was so persistent to convince me that I was no longer a part of the temple. A chill ran through my skin and I struggled to suppress the rising tears and to keep my voice flat. "No."

"Omi, look-"

"Your theory is incorrect. I am, and always will be a xiaolin monk. This is something I cannot discard as easily as a piece of litter. It is my destiny, my herita-"

"Yeah, by 'can't' do you think you might mean 'won't'? Are you seriously telling me you'd actually prefer to stay with Chase and do his dirty work than give up a title and place you can't even use anymore? Geez, how many options do you think you've got here? Would you rather be a villainous henchman pretending you've still got something to hang onto, or someone who admits to hitting rock bottom and is ready and willing to make the climb up? C'mon, in most cases you're always the first back on your feet and rarin' to get in the game. And now you're just gonna throw in the towel because-"

"Raimundo, please stop talking. Perhaps it is simply a name to you, but it is much more to me." I had been a xiaolin monk since the day I was born and my focused goal in life was always to become better than I was. It was a large aspect of my identity and without it . . . . I wasn't quite sure.

"Listen, I'm not talking permanent here. Once you bring down Chase, you're free to become a xiaolin monk again."

My barriers of strength dissolved and tears burst through. My voice was wracked with sobs. "Raimundo, I have always been a xiaolin monk, as I have always been a human being."

A corner of Raimundo's twitched nervously upward. "Well, technically, you're not even that anymo-"

My voice rang out in a soppy mangled cry. I could no longer speak. I lunged for Raimundo and buried my face in his chest, soaking his shirt with my tears. I felt his arms wrap around me, rubbing the back of my neck and pulling our bodies into a more upright comfortable position. "Hey, hey," he said softly, his tone now completely sympathetic. "Omi, I'm so sorry. That was way outta line. Listen, I can't even imagine what you're feeling now, and I know that what I'm asking must seem like asking you to give up air or something like that; it's a way you've always lived. But if you stay with Chase, you're going to be doing things that you're always gonna regret. Chase is gonna have you destroy everything and everyone you've ever cared about and fought to protect. You'd be living the rest of your days in depression and guilt. Omi," Something in his voice brought me to look up at him. He smiled hopefully, his eyes concerned and sorrowful, feelings I had never seen in him before. "I'm giving you a chance here, buddy. To get off here scot-free, with a clear conscience. Trust me," he went on, his smile vanishing and shadows filling his eyes. "Even when you think or know what you're in for in situations like these . . . ."

His eyes never left mine, but they didn't appear to see me any longer. As he continued to speak, I knew that they were watching something else that took place a long time ago. It was foolish of me to only realize now that Raimundo could relate to my dilemma. My tears lessened as I took in that this was no longer only about me. "You don't feel it until it's time. That crucial moment and you're standing in the wrong spot. Something in you freezes. And for a second you stop feeling anything. You wonder if anything you think or want or need is actually worth what you did with your bare hands. If you can be happy the rest of your life with this iron hole eating you from the inside. Do you even deserve to be breathing . . . while the ones who do deserve life more than anyone, but would give it up in a second for what they know is right, disappear right in front of you. And suddenly nothing matters . . . . except finding a way to turn back the clock."

For a long while we are both silent. I watch as the shadows dance across Raimundo's green eyes, darkened by the past. Finally the shadows leave. Light returns to Raimundo's radiant eyes and he takes on the look of one who has awakened from a horrible nightmare. He smiles again. "I never would've had that chance if it wasn't for you. You saved me."

"No Raimundo. I merely provided you with the tool you needed to show the world light. You could have stood by and watched, forever shrouded and ensnared in the darkness, but you and your good heart made the choice use it, to return and admit your mistake. It must have taken great courage, but you did it, and no one could have made that choice but you."

Raimundo's face broke into an excited grin. "There! Exactly! You just said it!"

"I said what?"

Raimundo continued to grin at me and then our original topic came falling back on top of me. I too, was standing where I did not belong. If I stayed, I would live a long life physically while carrying my soul, dead and limp inside me. I would be forced to make horrific decisions throughout that time, and I would always choose wrong. Raimundo was offering me a way to escape that. He had given me everything he could provide to save me, but now it was up to me to take it. If I left, that would mean admitting that I was no longer a monk and if Raimundo's theory was incorrect, I would be marked a traitor, dishonored and untrustworthy. I would be on my own, I could not return to the temple if I was no longer a monk. I would never see my home or family again. Of course, if I stayed, I may only assist in destroying it and them, as well as other things I did not wish to think about. I left I would throw away everything I had worked for and struggled to become. These ideas frightened me, but not as much as much as the image of what I may most likely become if I remained with Chase Young. For awhile, if I stayed, I might be able to keep my sense of who I am, but how long would that last? I thought of my friends. I thought of how their lives must have been before the temple. Despite the lack of xiaolin dragon titles, they were still good people. I thought of Jermaine, my friend in New York. He risked getting hurt to help me, without even knowing who I was. He was not a monk then, and still did great things. Perhaps it did not matter what or who I was, if I strived to cleanse what evil I saw, I may still be destined to be great and to be loved. Perhaps it was not the future I had planned, but by now I had learned things rarely happen as we wish them to. I might be a traitor, but there was always the possible chance of redemption.

I looked at Raimundo, shrugged, and tried a curious smile. "Perhaps on the rare occasion, it is necessary when we must do the wrong thing to be right rather than to do the right thing to wrong."

Raimundo whooped and pulled me into an embrace. "Good for you, Omi!"

"Did that even make sense?"

"About as much as Master Fung's proverbs, but I got what you meant."

I thought for a moment. I no longer knew what I would be doing or where I would be going or how I could possibly hope to accomplish my goal of defeating Chase Young, but I knew I would continue to fight for what I knew was good. I was mournful of losing my place, but understood that it was for the best. Still, I was troubled. I glanced shyly up at Raimundo and whispered "If I am not a xiaolin monk, than what am I?"

"You're Omi." Raimundo answered matter-of-factly. "You always will be, no one can take that away from you. You're nothing more or less and no one expects you to be anything other than that."

"Please tell me, when did you become so wise?"

He laughed. "You'd be surprised how much time I've had to think about this."

I was about to ask him what he meant, when suddenly I noticed that my eyes were level with Raimundo's. Perplexed, I looked down and saw that I was gently rising up from the ground. I grasped tighter to Raimundo to halt my assent and looked at him in uneasy surprise. "What is happening?"

To my amazement and discomfort, Raimundo's eyes began to glisten as if wet. He attempted to give me one of his familiar confident smiles, but it came out shaky and saddened. "Must be wake-up time."

At first I did not understand what he was talking about. Then cold realization struck me. This was nothing more than a most realistic, wonderful dream. Tears once again sprung to my eyes. "No, please. I do not wish to lose you again."

Raimundo gave a quivering chuckle. "Well, I don't want to lose you again either, Omi, but this is just something we don't have control over."

That's when I noticed his feet had left the earth as well. Except we were not simply traveling upward. An invisible force was attempting to pull me toward the route I had come and I sensed Raimundo was being tugged in the opposite direction, towards the city. With all my strength, I wrenched Raimundo closer to me, wrapped my arms around his torso until my fingers were locked across his lower back, and held him as tightly as I could. I was not about to let him go again. The fight against evil had become much harder to bear without his playful and joyous manner to spread about and lighten the negative emotions weighing us down.

"There must be some way to stop this!"

Raimundo chuckled. "Yeah, while we're at it, why don't we see if we can keep the sun in place? Really, don't you think that it's amazing that we got to meet again at all? Look, I know this is gonna sound ridiculous coming from me and don't follow this for your Chase Young problem, but sometimes you just have to accept things the way they are."

"You are correct. That is most ridiculous coming from you. Raimundo, we can fight!"

"Right now, save your strength for the fights you've got a shot at winning. I just- I . . . . . I can't go back. Omi, please, this is just the way things are supposed to be."

"You are still young! You are not nearly old enough to be condemned to this fate! You are not to be responsible for that terrible tragedy!"

"Neither are you."

This reply threw me off balance. Raimundo's face was abruptly sober.

"What happened to me wasn't your fault."

I was taken most aback. How could he have read my mind on that matter?"

"I'm totally serious. Even if you had known what was coming, there was nothing you could've done to stop it. And . . . ." He paused, smiled, and shrugged. "Thanks a lot for everything you did for me. Please tell the same to Kimiko, Clay, Dojo, and Master Fung when you finally go back."

When I finally returned. How long would that be? On this journey I was about to take, I would not only be without Raimundo, but without Kimiko, Clay, Dojo, and Master Fung. I would not face them as a villain, nor as a xiaolin monk. Only once I had rightfully earned my place back by somehow defeating Chase Young would I be able to see them again. It would take a long time before I would be prepared for that battle, and throughout all that time, I would be alone. Sorrow and fear flowed from this thought to my eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. Omi, I know this is hard for now, but it's really not as bad as you think."

An odd thought struck me. I recalled after Raimundo's death, Kimiko and Clay told me of a wondrous place that people's spirits remained afterwards and would always be happy. Was this that place?

"Raimundo, is this your heaven?"

My friend looked genuinely surprised by my question. He opened his mouth, then closed it, his face thoughtful. He looked over at Rio, then back at me, a slow smile spreading across his face. "You know, maybe it is."

Though I was confused by his hesitation, I relaxed as I knew he would remain somewhere where he was safe and happy.

Then he smiled, tears emerging from the corners of his eyes and being whisked away by the wind. He grasped my arms and squeezed me to his chest. "Man, am I gonna miss you."

Before I could comprehend what was happening, Raimundo gently pried my fingers away, spread out my arms, and pushed me away.

"RAIMUNDOOOOO!" I screamed, flailing wildly in all directions in vain hopes of grasping my friend, who was already speeding away as quickly as I was. Tears blurred my vision and my violent movements caused the rest of my body to spin rapidly out of control. Suddenly I was overtaken by the sensation of falling and everything went dark and then quite bright. I was aware I felt hard rough ground beneath me. My head shot up and my eyelids burst open through the seal of tears. Sleeping cat outlines filled my vision. My shape returned to feline or perhaps it had never changed at all. My furry head sank back to the ground as realization flooded me; becoming Chase Young's servant was no dream, but Raimundo alive and well was. I was here and he was not. While I was surrounded with company, I was alone once again mourning the loss of my dear friend. I buried my face into my paws, determined to keep my cries silent. My sobs ceased, but I could not stop the steady flow of tears until sunrise.

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Hence the title. This is about all I've got planned out so from here it might get a bit random. I have a basic idea though. The trick Omi describes with the mousetraps, blindfolds, and clowns I actually saw, except it was an improv group. Hilarious. I was impressed that they could do it without swearing.

Please insert your two cents in the light purple square below.