Chapter 20 - Training, Trouble, and Toads!

It was a calm, tranquil, peaceful morning here at the Xiaolin Temple. It was nice and sunny, and the slight breeze that blew pushed several lotus petals off of their tree branches. It was the first day of summer, yet the sun did not show it. It was only about 79 degrees out. It had been a long night for both Ally and Tron, and they were both silently and sweetly dreaming the day away. So, let's get back to the story at hand. We start off with our hero, Tron, sleeping peacefully.

"ZZzzzzzz...zzzzzzzz..." I snored softly, my head resting on a pillow and my tail rocking softly as it rested on my belly. I was calm and healed, not having had a good sleep since I was first turned into a fox. It felt good to be able to rest again, to heal my tired body and regain some strength. Yep, everything was calm and peaceful until...

SPLASH! A torrent of water suddenly flooded my small, cubicle of a resting place, waking me up with a shock.

"AAUUGGH!!!" I yelled, rising from my covers with a shock. "WHAT THE HECK?!?" I looked around to see my sleeping place covered in water, and my pajamas drenched in water.

"Good morning my new freind!" I heard before me. I looked at the entrance to the area to see my new frend, Omi, a small boy with a yellow head, holding a small, blue orb. "I see you have awoken!"

"WELL DUH! THANX TO YOU AND THAT STUPID...uh...that stupid...What is that thing?" I yelled then slowly asked, wiping my brow off with my metallic arms. I was still soaking wet.

"Oh! This, my freind, is the Orb of Tornami. A Shen-Gong-Wi that holds an infinite amount of water within." He explained, putting the Orb away into a small rucksack he was carrying. "Anywho, I was sent here to wake you and give you...this!" Omi then reached into the rucksack I mentioned earlier, and pulled out a pair of Xiaolin robes. The same of which he was wearing.

"Oh, thanks Omi." I said, taking the clothes from him. "I'll...get dressed I guess."

"Okay Tron! When you are done, we shall be in the courtyard. Meet us there!"

"Got it." I said uncaringly, sending the boy away. So, I then proceeded to getting dressed, fitting easily into the silky outfit. It consisted entirely of a pair of white, silk, pants and a red overshirt that was worn like a bathrobe. Lastly, I had a black sash that was tied around the base of the shirt to keep it together.

When I was finally, done dessing (don't worry, the entire place was empty, including Ally who had already left to start the day), I looked in the hallway mirror.

"Wheeeew!" I whistled impresively, liking my new look. "They got everything right, straight down to a hole for my tail!" And so, finally, I left the temple to begin my first day training as a Xiaolin Warrior.

I ran outside, remembering Omi's instructions. 'Okay Tron! When you are done, we shall be in the courtyard...' I recited, looking around and stroking my chin. I knew where to go,the only problem was...where was the courtyard?

"Oh cripes." I muttered, walking in circles. I still had no idea where I was going. I passed up many buildings, fountains and shrines, but still had no idea where to go! I was just about to give up hope when suddenly-

BOOOM!!! I heard from a direction to the east of me. I quickly looked over to the direction, sensing that we were in trouble. What I saw shocked me...a large, billowing smoke trail leading from the ground and into the sky. Had there been an explosion? Were we under attack?

So, not taking even another thought about my actions, I ran towards the scene quickly, coming to many dead ends and stops on the way. Eventually, after about 10 minutes of simply running into walls, I had given up on the idea of running to the crash and simply decided to get there some other way...these Teple grounds were hard to manuever! So, I did the next best thing. I ran a little more until I reached a dead end. Then, I reared back and ran forward again as fast as I could, finally jumping at the end of the hall. Then, thankfully, with my speed, I had reached the roof!

I pulled myself up unto the blue tiled roof and began to walk around, they were to unstable to run on. I still was looking up into the sky to follow the smoke trail made by earlier. So, I ran on top of the buildings, jumpig from temple to temple and swinging on the occasional tree until finally...

"Guys!" I yelled, jumping to the ground with a small cloud of dust and seeing my new freinds standing in a circle around a large crater, the cause of the smoke. "There were 4 of them, Ally, Omi, Clay, and Kimiko, but where was Raimundo? "I'm here! What happened?"

"Oh, dont worry about it Tron." Ally said to me, sporting a sly, toothy grin. "Everything's okay...heh heh heh..." She walked over to a nearby wall and leaned against it, still chuckling as I walked over to the crater.

I looked at the 3 kids who were surrounding it, all wide-eyed and open-mouthed. They were staring into the crater and were all shivering lightly. I tapped Omi, who was the closest to me, to get his attention.

"What happened here dude?" I asked softly, still staring into the pitch black, smoke covered crater.

"Your freind with the multiple tails is quite powerful!" Omi said shakily, backing away from the crater in fear. "She is almost scary!" What was that all about? That's when I had an idea...

"Oh no...tell me she didn't..." I groaned, hopping into the crater. I sifted through the smoke and rocks until I found what confirmed my suspicions. "Aww man! Not again! TAILS!!!!"

I hopped out of the crater carrying the lifeless and unconscious body of Raimundo. Ally walked slowly over to me, humming lightly and hiding her hands behind her back.

"Are you responsible for this?" I asked her, sounding like a dad. "Did you knock Raimundo out?"

"Heheh...maybe!" She said slyly, giggling and on the verge of tears.

"All right, let me see your fists." I said demandingly, needing this las t piece of info to know if she did it or not. She took them from behind her back, revealing 2 fists that glowed bright green with the power of her Solar Flaric Punch. "Awww man! Ally! It hasn't even been 1 day here and you've already put Raimundo into a coma! Could you at least tell me why?"

"Oh, okay then!" She said cheerfully as I still struggled, holding the body of Raimundo, which was still smoking as his red and black robes tattered in the wind. "You see Tron, I was just coming out here to the courtyard to begin my day when Raimundo here tries flirting with me again! And you remember that I told him last time that if he ever tried flirtig with me, I'd make him 3 parts dead! So, I did just that!''

"Huh...Ally...what am I gonna do with you..." I laid Raimundo on the ground and walked over to the training area where Master Fung was already waiting for us, completely uncaring of the situation at hand. By this time, the others were already done staring in awe and were also walking to Fung to begin the day NORMALLY.

"So, are you done with your fun, young ones?" Master Fung asked, currently sitting down and waiting for us. He had a slightly annoyed look on and was leaning against an old, dusty brown rectangular box with a tarp over it. "And I see you have FINALLY arrived Tron."

"Oops." I said, feeling a little responsible for both Raimndo's injury and my lateness. "I'm sorry Master Fung! I'll try to be earlier...and control my freind before she murder's somebody." I looked sinesterly to Ally, who was sitting next to me, grinning innocently with a small sweatdrop.

"Okay then, shall we begin with today's training excercise?" Master Fung asked us, standing up and holding one edge of the tarp in his hands. "Today's excecise shall be-"

"Xiaolin Surprise?" Raimundo suddenly said guessingly, surprising everyone as he sat down in the group with everyone else. He was bandaged on his left arm and was currently bandaging his right shoulder.

"Why yes Raimundo." Master Fung answered. He also seemed slighty surprised that Raimundo had survived his recent...obliteration. "This is a training course meant to-"

"Sharpen one's Tiger Instincts!" Omi jumped in, giving a small triumphant smirk and staring at Raimundo. He was obviously trying to compete with him, Omi always wanting the spotlight.

"Also good, Omi." Master Fung congratulated the little monk, who was smiling widely, making Raimundo also get a tiny bit competitive. "You see young ones, the Tiger Instincts are-"

"The ability to predict and counter your opponent's moves while in battle!" Both Omi and Raimundo yelled, electricity shooting out of their eyes at each other. "Grrr....."

"Correct once more. So, to begin, you will all be put into pairs of 2 to spar with each other using the Shen-Gong-Wu. The object of this excercise is too defeat your opponent by using your Tiger Instincts, Wuu, and martial arts abilities. So, if we have no questions, let us begin!" Master Fung finally concluded, lifting the tarp and lid off of the box, revealing MANY Shen-Gong-Wu inside. "So who would like to be first?"

"US! US! US!" Raimundo and OMi said confidently, raising and flailing their hands madly.

"Hm? How about you two, Tron...Alyssa?" Master Fung asked. "Would you 2 like to spar and demonstrate your current abilities?"

My blood suddenly got chilly as I cautiously looked to my left. I saw Ally grinning toothily and slowly nodding her head, cracking her knuckles. "Sure Master Fung...I'D love to! Heheheh..."

I then looked at Master Fung, nodding my head 'NO!' as fast as I could. I had witnessed Ally's amazing fighting powers one too many times before. I mean...look what she had just done to Raimundo!

"No Master Fung! Let Raimundo and I spar!" Omi yelled rudely, to which I gave a sigh of relief and crossed my fingers.

"Okay Omi." Fung replied simply. "How about Alyssa and you pair up, while Tron and Raimundo spar? Does that work for you?"

"Sure! Works for us!" We all (except for Omi) agreed, sitting back down.

"And I guess that means Clay and I can spar later!" Kimiko chimed in cheerfully.

"Alright then, it is decided. So...TRON! RAIMUNDO! GO!" Fung said.

Instantly, Raimundo and I locked eyes fiercefully, and jumped into the pre-drawn arena. We both couched down near the box and chose our weapons.

"I choose the Mikado Arm! This Wuu gives the user amazing upper body strength!" He said, grabbing the Wuu, but not activating it.

"Okay then, I choose the Shimo Staff! Omi told me that this crystal Wuu can transform into any weapon!" I then yelled, holding the small blue stick in my right hand.

"Okay then...begin!" Fung said, starting the match.

Suddenly, as the scene got more tense, Raimundo charged at me, holding his fist out as I stood paralyzed with the shock.

"Oof!' I grunted as I was socked in the gut, being sent toppling to my knees as Raimundo towered above me, having an uncaring yet strong look on his face.

"Mikado Arm!" He yelled, his entire body from his waist up geting Super-Sized. I suddenly regained my comosure, quickly looking up and rolling out of the way as Raimundo slammed his fists into the ground where I was seconds earlier. Instantly the earth beneath me rumbled quite loudly as bits and pieces of rocks and pebbles were sent into the air, littering both the ground, the others, and me in a shower of brown.

"Woah...that was close." I panted, standing up slowly and dusting bits of dirt from my hair as Raimundo raised is fists. "Gotta move!"

So, I decided to try to use my own Wuu, the Shimo Staff. So, I simply held it tightly and invisioned in my mind's eye a Wooden Katana. Then, in the blink of an eye, I saw the small blue stick transform into a long, crystal like katana with a round blade, so I wouldn't hurt Rai too bad.

So, I charged at him, he haveing reverte back to his original proportions. Luckily, I caught him off guard, and managed to get a good sweep at his legs before he caught on.

He went flying backwards into the air as I reared back and prepared for another blow. But suddenly, he flipped over backwards, landing safely on his legs and dashing forwards, fist out, punching me in the stomache again.

"Yowww!" I yelped, dropping the Shimo Staff and clutching my stomache again, sinking low to the ground. Apparentally, Raimundo's Tiger Instincts were alrady honed to a superior level! Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me and turned around once more to see the huge, brutish, Shen-Gong-Wu improved version of Raimundo once more. "Aww crap!"

Unfortunately, I was still paralyzed with pain by Rai's punch (which had had the bonus effects of his jump, speeding it up tremendously) and was powerless to move or defend myself for Rai's next move, grabbing me by my leg and then throwing me high into the air. Luckily for me, I managed to grab hold of the Shimo Staff before I was sent flying.

"Yaaaahhhh!" I yelled as I soumersaulted through the skies and getting very dizzy! I tried my best to use my Tiger Instincts and think quickly. Now...what would I do if I were Raimundo...? Hmm...wait!

I quickly used the Shimo Staff and turned it into a shield. Just in time too! Just as I had predicted, Raimundo had jumped up high and tried to grab me. Luckily though, the crystal-like shield I had just made repelled his hand, sending him flying back to the ground with red knuckles! Yahoo! But on the OTHER hand...

"WAAHHH!!!" I yelled as I fell from my 37 foot drop. I felt the sky whiz past my body as I dropped at an incredible speed. About 20 mph and gaining I'd say. But anyway, I tried to think of something I could use to help break my fall but...

BOOM! The ground shatteed and quaked as I hit it sheild-first, getting many small boulders put around me and, coincidentally, on my tail!

"YEEEEEOOOOWWWCCCHHH!!!!!" I yelped at the top of my lungs, a wave of intense pain surging through my body. I was crying and red in the face as I turned to my left to see a pretty mad Raimundo coming towards me.

"Mikado Arm!" He yelled cockily, enlarging to Hulkish proportions. He then slowly and menacingly walked towards me, a fiendish look in his eyes. I didn't need my Tiger Istincts to tell what he was going to do. He slowly approached my tail, laughing deeply as he raised both of his arms high into the air, preparing to slam me as he did earlier. Seeing as I was trapped, with my tail being restrained and whipping about like crazy, and had no other possible moves to make, all hope seemed lost. So, I did the only reasinable thing. I swung the 4" long Shimo Staff in front of me, trying to guard myself. I was in too much pain to concentrate hard enough to make another sheild. So, with tremendous force and strength, Rai brought his hands down, as I felt a weird yet familiar tingling in my hands and closed my eyes.

I shut them tight waiting for immense pain to come when suddenly...

SHINK! BOOM! YEOW! I heard in that order, feeling a violent shaking. Confused, I opened my eyes and looed up, not believing the sight that I saw. In my hands, where the Shimo Staff used to be, was...a keyblade!

It was long and light blue, looking mysteriously like the Shimo Staff. It had a deep red handguard and the handle was...the Shimo Staff?!? I hadn't ever encountered this blade before but came to the conclusion that it must have come to my aid when I swung my hand out in front of me earlier. Apparentally, the Keyblade and the Shimo must have fused together in my hand when it came!

I next looked forwards to see Rai's fists red and his body regular again, the crystal structure of my new Keyblade most likely repelling him again. So, I used this opprotunity to swipe the boulder away with my key, the Shimo alone being to weak and narrow to do it alone. So, having regained my energy, I jumped forwards, suddenly having a hunch about my new Keyblade.

I concentrated hard and imagined a rope. Instantly, my keyblade transformed into a crystal rope, which I then gripped, running towards the still in pain Raimundo. I threw it at him, effectively lassoing him and pulling him to the ground. I then pulled him towards me, my tail still throbbing, and hog-tied him, thereby defeating him and ending the match! (Whew! Finally!)

"Huh...huh...huh.." I panted, exhausted thouroghly by the fight. Raimundo was a better fighter than he seemed, not to mention the fact that he was still damaged from Ally's attack! "That was...a good...fight..." I collapsed to the ground, completely worn out by the match. Wow! So this is what training was like at the Xiaolin Temple!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke later in my sleeping area, still fairly tired and worn from this morning's excercise. I lazily blinked y eyes open, and looked out of the nearby window on the wall...still morning time. I'd say I'd only been out for about, what? An hour?

"Oh!" I suddenly heard from the front of my area. "You're awake." I slowly and painfully looked up to see who it was, only to find Raimundo, bandaged around his hands and playing a small handheld videogame.

"Rai?" I said confusedly, rising up even farther. "Wh...what happened?" He was looking pretty agitated and reluctant to answer.

"You...you won the match." He eventually said after a long pause. He seemed pretty dissapointed and was a light shade of pink. "Pretty flashily too...show-off!"

"Aw, don't be embarrased! It was a good fight!" I sadid cheerfully, surprising Rai a little. "I mean...look what you did to my tail!" I brandished my tail, which was now also bandaged and slightly limp, hurting traumaticallywhen I moved it.

"H...huh?" He answered, confused. "I'm not embarrased!" I raised an eyebrow to him, to which he got even redder. "I mean, if it weren't for this new Shen-Gong-Wu of yours, I'd have won the match!"

He raised my new Keyblade, which for now, I'd call the Shimo Key, and showed it to me.

"Hey!" I yelled at him, slightly angry that he had used my unconsciousness as a chance to swipe my new Keyblade. "Give me that back!"

I dove for the Shimo Key, only to fall back unto my face when Raimundo raised it.

"Just wait a second!" He said, a bit annoyed at my haste. "I just wanna try it out! I mean, LOOK at it! It's so cool looking! And powerful too! I should know, seeing as you just beat me with it!"

I slowly got up from the floor and sat down by the boy, a sympathetic look on my face.

"Heh...sure, why not?" I said to him, feeling like I owed it to him for beating him with it. "But for future reference, it's not a Shen-ong-Wu, okay? It's a Keyblade!"

"A key...what?" he said, obviously not knowing ANYTHING about the mystical weapon.

"A Keyblade!" I shouted, much to Raimundo's annoyance. You know, a magical weapon built to defend the world against Heartless and Nobodies?"

He simply stared at me in confusion, obviously having not even the slightest idea of what I was speaking of. So, with a sigh, I took my Keyblade from him and racked my ind. I was going to tell him all that I knew of the Keyblade when suddenly-

BOOM! A loud explosion vibrated through the air, knocking over many things and making a huge mess inside the sleeping quarters. It was coming from outside.

"What was that?!?" I yelled from the floor, having been knocked over from the explosion's shockwave.

"I don't know! But I think it came from the courtyard! Let's go!" Raimundo responded, jumping to his feet and out of the door. I soon followed suit, rushing out of the door without a second thought.

Before long, we were back at the courtyard, where several pillars of smoke were now rising. Ally better not have knocked the others out, I thought to myself, gritting myself as a sweatdrop formed. Luckily though, my assumptions were proved wrong as the others, all except for Omi, came rushing towards us through the smoke.

"What's happening guys?" Raimundo asked them as they finally approached us. They were out of breath and looking pretty relieved.

"Thank goodness you 2 are okay!" Kimiko said first, a slightly frightened look on her face after closer examination. I also saw that she looked..."Battle Scarred", having slightly torn robes and bleeding slightly.

"Oh my gosh Kimiko! What happened to you?" I asked worriedly, now noticing scars and signs of battle on all of them. "What happened to ALL of you?"

"It's Jack! He's back! And he has some new 'freinds'." She explained, pointing towards the pillar of smoke from which I now heard a low buzzing.

The other's now heard it too and faced the smoke, from which the buzzing got louder and louder until finally, a boy appeared. He seemed to be about Raimundo's age and was wearing a black cloak. He had red hair, and was wearing...eyeliner?

"That's right baby!" He yelled, stopping his heli-pack and sitting on something large, yet undetectable behind the smoke. "It's Jack Spicer, Master of Evil!"

So THIS was that Spicer fellow they were talking about earlier, when Ally and I first got here. He didn't seem too tough, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

"You're goin' down dude!" I yelled at him, clapping my hands. I then touched the ground, and made a small, but effective catapult out of stone. "I'll make sure of that!"

So, I jumped into the catapult, and hurled myself at Spicer, debris and smoke clouding my face as I flew threw the air. Eventually though, I reached Spicer, kicking him in the face as I flew in ront of him.

"Oof!" He grunted as he tumbled backwards on the large object we were on. "Ow! Why you little...wait? Who are you?"

He stared at me confusedly, most likely because he didn't know who I was. I simply stared bacck in distaste, not wanting him to hurt my new freinds.

"The name's Tron Middleton, Keyblade Weilder and Alchemist. And you?"

"I'm Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius! Mwahahahah!!!" He yelled dramatically, annoying me a lttle. "And I realy don't care WHO you are! If you're with the monks, you're goin' down! Besides, you're not the ONLY ones who have new help! Jack-Swamp Battalion! ATTACK!"

Suddenly, the entire structure I was on lurched, knocking me over. I fell over the edge but was luckily caught by Ally. We stared into the air as Spicer flew away to safety with his Heli-Pack and commanded his minions. We waited in suspenseful agony until finally- the smoke cleared and we saw our enemy...and it was soething worse than I could ever imagine.

BURRRRBUR!!! The giant toad croaked, rocking the entire Temple. We all stared in disbelief at the huge thing, being warty, smelly, and green.

"WHAT THE HECK?!?" Ally yelled to the others. "WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?!?"

"It's...a giant toad?" Kimiko replied, also confused. "Jack's never tried this before! What's he thinking?"

"It doesn't really matter what he's thinkin'! Let's just get rid of the thang! It's startin' to stink!" Clay said, getting battle ready.

And so, the others, all but me, nodded and jumped into battle, grabbing some Shen-Gong-Wu from the nearby crate from this morning's excercise. I unfortunately, did not jump, I was frozen in my spot. Ally, before jumping in, must have noticed this and said-

"Tron! Get your head in the game! We need to get rid of Froggy here!"

I simply remained frozen, staring at the collosal thing.

"Hello? Trroooonnn?" She rang, shaking me. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I-it's a...fr-frog..." I stammered, my blood getting cold. "N...no. It's w-w-worse...a t-toad..."

"And?" She questioned me. "What's wrong with a dumb frog?"

"Can't fight...R...ranidaphobia."

"Ranidowhatia?"

"Ranidaphobia! THe fear of frogs and toads! I'm outta here!" I yelled, running for my life. That's right, my fear had been revealed (please dont laugh. It's actually true.). Whether it was by coincedence or by destiny, Jack spicer, the bad guy, had found my weakness...this was bad...REALLY bad.

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