Time & Again
Chapter 1 - Never Contend With a Man Who has Nothing to Lose
Omi sighed as he and his fellow monks gathered in the courtyard to face Master Fung.
“I am sorry, Master,” he said quietly. “We failed to retrieve the Panda Pagoda.”
Fung
sighed and bowed his head. “I’m certain you did all you could, young
Dragons. Hannibal Bean is a most formidable foe. It is bad enough that
you must contend with the likes of Chase Young alone, now you are faced
with him and the one who turned him to Evil.”
“Yeah,” groused
Dojo, slithering forward to climb his way up onto Fung’s shoulders.
“It’d be nice if Chase had never listened to Hannibal, but them’s the
breaks.”
While the others followed behind Fung and Dojo, Omi stood frozen as an idea began germinating in his mind.
~*~*~*~
Later that evening, he sat with his friends around the firepit in the meditation garden.
“I believe I have the solution to our problem,” he told his friends with a grin.
“Like
what? Just hand over our sashes and start waving ‘Go, Heylin, Go!’
banners?” Raimundo snapped, and fell backwards onto the grass to look
up at the stars.
“Sure looks like it might be a possibility,” Clay said dejectedly.
“You guys can give up, but I’m going down swinging,” Kimiko declared.
“But with my solution, we do not have to go down at all!” Omi said excitedly.
“Oh, sure… go on, Omi – tell us just how you’re going to save the day again,” sighed Raimundo.
Omi hesitated, stung by his friend’s words and tone.
Raimundo
noticed and he grimaced. Rolling over, he reached out to lightly touch
Omi’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, bro – I know you mean well. Go on
and tell us what you have cooking in that round head of yours.”
Omi
smacked Rai’s hand off his shoulder and gave him a mock-glare, but then
grinned and said, “Dojo gave me the idea earlier. He said that it would
be better if Chase Young had never been influenced by Hannibal Bean.”
“Well, that’s right true enough,” began Clay. “But, I don’t—“
“Remember
that my elder self from the future hid the Sands of Time? I know where
he – I mean, I – would have hidden it,” interrupted Omi. “I say we take
the Sands of Time and go back to when Chase Young was still on the side
of Good, and convince him that the Heylin path is the wrong path to
choose.”
Earth, Wind, and Fire sat up straight and looked worriedly at Water.
“Whoa, hold on there, partner,” Clay said, holding up one hand, palm outwards.
“Omi, mucking around with Time is dangerous,” argued Kimiko.
“Yeah, dude! You could go back and accidentally start your own family line, or change things for the worse!” Raimundo added.
“I have no intention of starting any family and I do not see how things could get much worse,”
snapped Omi. “We have not won a Showdown in weeks; we are plagued by
Hannibal Bean and Wuya, Chase Young, and Jack Spicer. It is like using
kung fu against a swarm of plankton! Tell me, how can it possibly get worse?”
No one had a readily available answer beyond: “I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Omi sighed and wondered if this discussion was worth the headache.
