Please do not ask me when I will upload chapters for things. They will be uploaded as I complete them, and completion times vary greatly, as I have two jobs and a busy life. Writing is a side hobby. Thank you. Anyways, enjoy!


"We're making good time," Dojo said as he glanced over at the setting sun.

"We are?" Kimiko asked. "But it'll be dark by the time we get there…"

"That's good! Remember how the Sun-Chaser Stallion disappears at night and reappears in the day? Well, the Mare is the opposite. Of course, that rule only applies when they're active and not currently being used…"

"So," Clay said, "if we use the Stallion at night, it won't vanish on us?"

"Nope. Er, but it probably won't listen to you either. Oh! This is it!"

He turned and lowered himself in the air towards the ground. Everything below looked almost jungle-like and dense with overgrown vegetation and roots. They could make out the ruins of old stone buildings in some spots. The most prominent feature, though, was the flight of stone steps leading up to a large destroyed temple covered with moss and vines.

Dojo landed at the top of the stairs and shrunk down. "I don't sense that it's active yet," he said, "so, the Mare should still be somewhere in this old temple. Er, watch out for snakes."

"The only snake here is Jack Spicer," Clay growled.

A familiar bronze and black colored jet came to land nearby. The hatch opened and a red-haired young man jumped out, grinning at them. "Well, well, if it isn't the Xiaolin chumps. I knew you losers would come snooping around here for that moon pony."

"But how?" Omi asked. "You know about the Moon-Dancer Mare? Then, why were you not there when the Stallion became active?"

"Ha, don't worry about it, cue ball. You should be worried about how I'm gonna snatch the Mare right out from under you. Or, in your case, over you." He laughed. "Get it? You're short!"

"Jack!" A ghostly purple figure snapped at him. "There's no time for your awful attempts at insults. Go get that Shen Gong Wu!"

"All right, all right already. I'm going." He ran into the ruined temple, Wuya flying after him.

"We gotta get a move on," Clay said. "Before that no-good Jack gets to the Mare before we do!"

They rushed inside and halted to glance around. The interior was dark, vast, and maze-like with some corners and hallways blocked off by collapsed walls and columns.

"Split up!" Kimiko said, darting off in one direction while the others went separate ways.

Raimundo vaulted over a fallen column, shouting with surprise as he almost stepped on an angry snake that hissed at him. He hopped around it and turned the corner, bolting through the dark hallway until he came to a branching path. He gritted his teeth. "Maybe…"

He reached into one of the pockets of his cargo pants and produced the statuette form of a bronze horse. Despite the others' concerns, he had decided to bring the Stallion on their trip as a precaution. He stared down at it for a minute, mulling it over in his head.

If the Mare was somewhere nearby, then the Stallion would be calmer; at least a little bit. Therefore, like Shun said, it would at least be willing to listen to Raimundo's request. Of course, there was the chance that it would deny him and start running amok again…

"Darn it! There's no time!" He held the figure out by its tail and shouted, "Sun-Chaser Stallion!"

The statuette glowered brightly and began to grow and change until the large bronze beast was standing before the boy. He had half expected it to immediately take off, but the horse only snorted and turned its head to look back at him.

"Uh, nice horsey," he soothed.

It snorted again and turned to face him, kicking one of its front hooves in a threatening manner and lowering its head as if about to charge him.

"W-Wait! I need your help to find the Moon-Dancer Mare!"

The Stallion paused, placed its foot down and raised its head, watching him with interest.

Raimundo was pleasantly surprised. "That's right. We're back at your old home, and the Moon-Dancer Mare is somewhere in this building. We have to find it before Jack does. Who knows what that creep will use it for! You must be able to sense the Mare, right? So, um, will you help?"

The Stallion stared at him for a long moment before finally letting out another snort and turning to present its back to him.

He was even more pleasantly surprised. "Really? Awesome! Thanks!" He jumped up onto its back. "Let's go!"

The Stallion reared up with a loud neigh before taking off through the halls at great speed. Startled, Raimundo quickly grabbed onto its neck and held tightly. Not only was it fast, but it was surprisingly agile and turned corners with ease, hardly loosing any momentum as it did. When faced with obstacles like fallen columns, collapsed walls, or other debris, the beast either leapt over it or simply smashed through it without hesitation or harm to itself or rider.

Along the way, the Stallion smashed through a cracked wall and leapt from the dust over the head of a very startled Omi.

"Raimundo?" Omi hurried after them. "What are you doing!?"

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm riding a horse!"

"Yes, but -! Do you need assistance?!"

"Relax, I got this!"

They bolted past Kimiko and Clay, who had met up in the intersection of one hall.

"Whoa!" Dojo said from Clay's shoulder. "Watch it!"

They watched Omi run past after the Stallion and Raimundo then hurried after them as well. They were running out of breath trying to keep up with it, but, finally, it came to a halt in one room, rearing its front hooves up to stop itself before placing them back upon the floor and standing there calmly.

At the other end of the room was an altar of some sort, and placed upon to top was the obsidian statuette of a horse. A beam of moonlight shone down on it from a crack in the ceiling, making it sparkle with starlight.

"That's it!" Dojo pointed.

Raimundo jumped down from the Stallion's back and ran over to it, reaching out and touching it just as Jack did from the other side of the altar. The Shen Gong Wu began to glow.

"Well looky here," Jack grinned. "Raimundo, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown! Your Sun-Chaser Stallion against my Reversing Mirror."

"Bring it, Spicer," he growled.

"Wait," Omi said. "Wagering the Stallion sounds like a very risky move."

"You bet it is, cue ball!" Jack laughed. "Better yet, let's make it a Shen Yi Bu Dare! I'll wager my Monkey Staff against your Serpent's Tail!"

"Fine. Name your game."

He glanced around. "Hm. Ah! First one to mount the Moon-Dancer Mare wins!"

"All right."

"Xiaolin Showdown!"

The temple around them began to tremble and shake as stones and columns rose from the ground to form some huge elaborate obstacle course. The statuette of the Mare shone brightly and shifted, growing into the form of a large, jet-black horse with a spiky white mane and tail. It looked around for a moment before spotting them, then it galloped away into the course.

Jack and Raimundo leered at each other and shouted, "Gong Yi Tanpai!"

"Monkey Staff!" Jack called as he held up the staff. It immediately changed his body into a more monkey-like posture and appearance, even sprouting a tail from his rear. With an excited monkey call, he jumped up to a floating pillar and began to leap from obstacle to obstacle.

Raimundo hurried over to the waiting Sun-Chaser Stallion and threw his leg over its back. "Let's go! After it!"

With a loud whinny, it reared up then took off through the course, catching up rather quickly to the galloping Mare. As it came up along the Mare's side, Raimundo lifted himself to crouch on the Stallion's back, preparing to jump to the other horse, but monkey Jack suddenly threw himself from the top of a wall and kicked him off to take his place on the Stallion's back. Jack made to laugh at Raimundo but yelped instead and grabbed onto the Stallion as it suddenly stopping running and began to furiously buck and throw itself in an attempt to get him off.

"Whoa! Whoa, horsey!"

It stopped and stood there with its head lowered.

"Hm? Huh. Looks like old Jack is a real master of the bucking bronco-OWOWOW!" He threw himself off of the Stallion as its back burned his rear and thighs. He was jumping around in pain, holding the Monkey Staff with his tail and holding his burning rear with his hands. "OWOWOW! HOT!"

"Jack!" Wuya yelled from the sidelines. "Quit monkeying around and get that Shen Gong Wu!"

He whimpered and finally stopped bouncing. "Sheesh. No sympathy…"

The Stallion whinnied and reared up, preparing to bring its large front hooves down on Jack, but he had already planned this out. He quickly held up the Reversing Mirror and aimed it at the Stallion.

"Reversing Mirror!"

There was a bright flash and the Stallion froze. It stood there with its front hooves in the air for a long moment before calmly lowering them back to the ground and looking at Jack expectantly.

"Ha! It worked! It really worked!" He jumped onto its back and pointed. "Man, I'm a genius. After it, horsey! Whoa!" He grabbed its neck as it bolted after the other horse.

"Damn!" Raimundo wiped his mouth and got to his feet. "Serpent's Tail!"

The Serpent's Tail flew him swiftly after them, phasing through any solid walls or other obstacles that got in their way. It pulled him around and turned suddenly, heading straight for the Mare. As if surprised, the Mare stopped running and reared up. As the Serpent's Tail pulled him through the horse, he let it go and turned to grab the Mare's spiked mane, but as he touched it, it sent an icy cold shock through him that caused him to let go just as soon as he had touched it. In that same moment, the Sun-Chaser Stallion caught up from the side and slammed its head into the boy and threw him out of the way while Jack jumped onto the Mare's back. There was a sudden bright flash and then everything around them was back to the way it was before the showdown, but Jack was carrying in his arms the innate forms of the Reversing Mirror, Serpent's Tail, Monkey Staff, and both the Moon-Dancer Mare and Sun-Chaser Stallion.

He laughed loudly, his laugh echoing through the broken chamber. "I knew that would work! No Shen Gong Wu is immune to the Reversing Mirror! Not even these weird horses! Ha! Haha!"

"Amazing, Jack!" Wuya smiled. "Now, let's get out of here."

"You got that right!" The pack on his back produced two rods with blades that began to spin and lift him from the ground and up to the big crack in the ceiling. "Later, losers! Have fun licking your wounds! Hahaha!"

"Rai, are you okay?" Kimiko went to help him up but he brushed her off.

"No!"

"Of course he is not," Omi said. "He just lost us so much valuable Shen Gong Wu! Including the Stallion that we went through so much trouble to get in the first place!"

"Like you could've done any better!" He snapped.

"I could!"

"Yeah? Well –"

"Now hold on there," Clay interrupted. "We all make mistakes. Win some, lose some, it happens. I mean, sure it's a big loss, but we'll have a chance to get them back, right? I mean, come on yall, it's Jack we're talking about here."

"Clay's right," Kimiko nodded. "We shouldn't argue over it. What's done is done, but we'll figure out a way to get them back." She placed a hand on Raimundo's arm in an attempt to console him. "Then we'll be able to go find Violet."

He huffed and walked away without another word.

The others exchanged looks before Kimiko sighed. "Come on, guys. Let's get out of here so Dojo can take us home."

"What an interesting turn of events… Hm. Looks like someone's not quite as useless as I thought. Wouldn't you say?"

The crow cocked its head at him and narrowed its black eyes, then cawed loudly in response.

"Yes…" He waved a dismissive hand at it. "Go now. You know what to do."

With another caw, the bird fluttered its wings and took to the air.

To be continued…