Battle to Love

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or ideas related to Xiaolin Showdown.

Jack pulled his head back away from the door, and stepped back into the safety of the little room from which he had come. Kimiko turned her head and looked at Jack.

"What's this all about?" she hissed.

"Uh, uh, I have no idea," he shrieked. "What do we do now?"

"Well, they have to be here for some reason. Don't you know what that reason is?" Kimiko said quickly.

"No!"

"Call more robots to hold them off. We have to figure out what they want."

"Right," Jack poked his head back around the corner and called "Jackbots, attack," in a

loud voice. From somewhere in Jack's workroom, ten more robots came flying into the

Room where Panda Bobba's men stood. They promptly started banging into the enemies

and shooting steel balls out at them. (Jack proudly announced that the shooting steel

balls was a new feature.)

"At one time you joined up with Panda Bobba." Kimiko began. "What kind of a

partnership did you have with him?"

"Well, I gave him a Shen Gong Wu and in return he gave me parts for my robots. But

that's about it." Jack said.

"Did you make him mad in a way that would make him want revenge?" Kimiko asked

"I don't think so"

"Hmm." Kimiko strode back out the door. She saw that all but two of the wimpy Jackbots had been destroyed. She went into a fighting position once more wishing sorely that the other three apprentices were with her.

"We've got to fight them. Come on," Kimiko said uneasily.

Before Jack could reply that they could never beat all of the enemies, Kimiko flipped out into the center of the floor to stand right in front of the group of sour-faced men. Without any word to them she sprang into action, punching here, and kicking there. In less than a minute she had taken down three of Panda Bobba's henchmen. She had kicked one right in the face making him fall backward and causing a broken nose, which was bleeding terribly. Jack was helplessly standing by the wall trying to avoid the attackers. But soon enough two of the remaining men were in pursuit of him. He ran into another room where he grabbed two of his Shen Gong Wu, the monkey staff, and third arm sash. He ran back to where Kimiko was struggling to hold off Panda Bobba's men. He threw her the third arm sash and used the monkey staff himself. With the help of the Wu, they worked together until all the men were knocked out. Kimiko stood panting and Jack leaned against the wall, both out of breath from their hard fighting.

"They'll soon be back up and fighting again if we don't do something about it," said Kimiko, referring to the men, some of which were already sitting up again.

"What do we do?" asked Jack.

"Don't you ever have any ideas?" Kimiko spat, angry for his ever present lack of thought.

"I always use robots, and they have the tendency of being shattered to pieces before any of them do harm!" Jack said irritated about the whole situation.

"Come on, use the monkey staff to help you fight. The only thing we can do is keep fighting them while they're down until they are all unconscious." Kimiko then leapt forward with a sudden burst of energy and began punching one of the enemies.

………………………………...

That day, Omi, Rai, and Clay continued their unpleasant journey to Jack's lair. They fell into a pattern of walking for an hour, taking a short rest break, walking another hour, stopping to eat, walking, stopping, and so on throughout the day. By evening they were all in irritable moods and were constantly bickering. Finally they agreed to call it a day, and stopped for the night. They made a fire, cooked beans from a can, ate, and all went to sleep.

None slept well on the hard ground and by morning they were stiff and sore. After eating breakfast, Clay voiced what they all were dreading and recommended that they start their day's walk. Omi and Rai half heartedly agreed and once again they were back into their miserable pattern of travel.

………………………………...

After checking each of Panda Bobba's men and confirming that none of them would be able to fight back, Kimiko began the process of chaining up each of them. Jack and Kimiko made their way around them, chaining one after the other. Finally when all were immobile, they dragged them all into the room of Jack's lair which had been Kimiko's room. Jack explained that it was the only room with enough floor space for all of them.

Jack and Kimiko sat down together on the little couch in the room and stared across the room at all the men, lying uneasily on the floor.

"Wonder why they're here," Kimiko mused.

"Me too," said Jack blandly. "But what are we supposed to do with them? We can't leave ten strange men laying on my floor forever."

"I know. We have to ask them why they're here and maybe then we can somehow get them to leave," Kimiko said, with a doubtful expression.

Kimiko walked over and crouched down beside a man that was fully conscious. He stared at her hatefully. Kimiko asked what they wanted and after talking to him for a few minutes and threatening to strangle him with the third arm sash, she had gathered some information. Panda Bobba had sent them to attack Jack so that they could hack into his computer and get information about his robot inventions. Apparently, Jack was smarter then Panda Bobba in inventing, and Panda Bobba needed some of his information to create his own robots. He would use these robots as part of his own world domination scheme.

Kimiko then left the man alone and she and Jack left the room to talk it over. They tried to concentrate on forming a plan.

"We have to do something. Something so that Panda Bobba's men won't attack again, and so that we don't have to give them your inventing secrets. This is making my head hurt," Kimiko grumbled.

And indeed, neither one of them could come up with anything, and after considering many different plans, none of which would work, their heads were both tired and muddled. Kimiko and Jack eventually found themselves drifting off to talk about different subjects.

"I'm hungry," Jack mumbled.

"I'm hungry," Kimiko said.

"I don't feel like getting up."

"Neither do I."

Jack was sitting on his bed with his back against the wall. His eyes were closed, as he was very tired. Kimiko sat slumped against a pillow in an armchair which Jack had in his bedroom. She was facing Jack diagonally, staring out at the room, content to be relaxing after her fight earlier in the day. Jack didn't bother about having Kimiko locked presently. He knew she wasn't trying to escape right now and that he needed her help if he ever wanted to be rid of Panda Bobba's men. In this way, they sat for a long time, talking, then just resting silently. They began feeling more and more comfortable in their conversations, and the awkward silences which were formerly present, became less frequent. They hardly realized the time passing.

They got up at one point to finally eat, but then resumed their positions in Jack's room. It was now late at night and without really noticing, they both dropped off to sleep.

A/N: Well… it's been a while, eh? Sorry for the long delay… you all probably had to go back and read the entire story just to know what was going on. Now that I'm back into it I'm going to try to keep writing, and hopefully the chapters will come more regularly. Please review!