AUTHOR'S NOTES - READ THIS FIRST
The concept is based off of a website known as dragcave(.)net. Many of Xiaolin Showdown writers whom I look up to had taken to this trend, and I couldn't ignore it. A plotbunny struck, and so this was born; hence the shortness. There will be more, by the way. Each chapter thus far is fairly short, intended so because I can focus on it much easier when the checkpoint is a short distance away. You can find more chapters at my Home Page.
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Jack huffed and slung his temporarily broken Heli-bot over his shoulder. He couldn't believe he was still attending these stupid Showdowns when he wasn't even winning, but then again, he could get lucky.
As of now, however, his luck was less than favorable.
The Shen-Gong-Wu he'd just lost was all the way up in the Himalayas, on the actual mountains. It was high enough to be less-than-pleasantly chilly, but not so high that air was an issue. It was high enough that if his Heli-bot busted, which it had, he'd have to either find some way to fix it without tools, or gamble with Fate and edge his way down.
About 200 feet down.
Hells, no.
Gazing out into the almost-blinding haze surrounding the mountain's waist, Jack Spicer breathed in and sighed loudly. This was hopeless. The monks must have decimated his Heli-bot on purpose, knowing full well that he'd be stranded.
Well, he wasn't going to get anywhere just standing around, was he?
I*~*I-I*~*I
He'd lived a good life, he thought as he clung to the mountain for dear life. Maybe not a satisfying one, but it had been fun. Okay, not so much fun as of now, but overall, he supposed.
Jack had almost slipped, and with the wrong step he'd taken earlier, he was probably going to soon if he moved at all.
He whimpered, staring down into the haze below him that did little to calm his frayed nerves.
"Well, Jack, you've managed to royally screw yourself over on this godforsaken mountain in the comedy of errors that is your life, no less, with a oxymoronic predicament that both sucks and blows."
Apparently, mountains are easily offended.
The giant rock slab Spicer had practically glued himself to suddenly cracked and sprang away from the mountain side, taking Jack with it.
The boy screamed bloody murder, flailing and then curling in on himself, bracing for death and trying to find his happy place as a pleasant final thought.
He didn't fall too far. Jack landed on his back hard, grunting with the wind knocked out of him. After a moment of recovering, he was then surprised; not only was he still alive, but nothing felt broken. Looking around, he seemed to have landed on a small ledge.
Glancing up, Jack shrieked and threw himself to the side as the offending slab crashed and exploded in a shower of rock chunks and dust, right where he had been.
Spicer, on his side now, gripped his seizing heart through the coat material and heaved, staring wide-eyed at the debris that could've been him.
Why was the world and everyone in it always out to get him?
It then occurred to Jack that this ledge was A) sturdy enough that the slab's impact hadn't sent the ledge crumbling away, yet, and B) jutting far out enough that he was able to land on it. Also, his back should've hit the mountainside upon rolling out of harm's way, and it hadn't.
Hesitantly, Spicer rolled over a bit more and peered over his shoulder. What he found behind him was not solid mountain, but a gaping cave.
Even more curious, Jack slowly rose up and treaded inside.
He saw, just barely peeking out of the shadows, something red.
Deep, crimson red, and round.
Jack fell to his knees and pulled the flat rocks covering the object away, then brought the surprisingly heavy, surprisingly warm round thing into the light.
Jack gasped; he was holding a giant, scarlet egg.
Spicer immediately glanced back into the cave, hoping that a mother... whatever animal lays red eggs... wasn't awake or in at the moment. He didn't know what it was, but something about this egg...
It was red.
It was unique.
He wanted it.
Carefully sliding the egg into one of his larger inner coat pockets, Jack resumed his downward and significantly shorter climb. He took care to watch his step a little closer this time, now that he had another life at stake.
The ground was in sight now; that fall must've brought him closer than he'd thought. He'd find the nearest building, and get his Heli-bot fixed up so that he could fly home and incubate the egg.
Jack couldn't wait to see the animal that would hatch from it.
I*~*I-I*~*I
Jack had made it home just before dusk settled in, and quickly crafted a very basic heating chamber for his new little friend. Once safe and sound, he withdrew his trusted laptop, made himself comfortable next to the eggs chamber, and began searching the Internet for any animals that could lay blood-red eggs roughly the size of basketballs.
He hadn't even been looking for an hour when a very familiar Heylin aura made his neck hair prickle.
Spicer snapped his computer shut and shot in front of the egg. "Chase! Chase, Chase, Chase... umm, fancy seeing you here!"
Chase, who was leaning back against the opposite wall with his arms folded and his eyes drilling a hole through Jack's skull, snorted dryly.
"No point in trying to hide you new prize, Jack; I've been standing here for about five minutes."
Jack stumbled. "But, how come I didn't--?"
"Do you honestly think I cannot conceal my aura's strength at will, Spicer?" The lord questioned with a quirked brow.
Jack fell silent.
Chase uncrossed his arms and walked to the egg, where he then put his hand against the glass walls. With a spark of Heylin magic, the egg was covered in coal and smothered in a roaring fire.
Jack yelped, nearly dropping his laptop. "Hey--No!! You're gonna hard-boil it at that temperature!"
Chase cast a loathsome glare back at him. "A dragon's egg, Spicer? At the temperature you supplied, the egg would have very well died of hypothermia."
Jack missed everything his idol said after 'dragon's egg'.
"It's a- it's a-a-a-a d-d-dragon... egg!?!" He stuttered, nearly choking on the words.
"Can you think of any other animal that lays," he motioned to the premature guest, "crimson eggs?"
"Well, no..." Jack trailed off. "But... that's the answer I was looking for on the Web a few minutes ago."
Chase rolled his eyes. "I figured as much. I will admit, I'm unsure of how you managed to steal one without being brutally slaughtered, but I refuse to leave something of this importance in your care, Spicer."
Phase #1: Denial
Jack was stark shocked. "Wh-what!? No-- you can't take my egg! It's mine! I found it!"
Chase raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Just watch me, then."
Phase #2: Anger
Jack dropped his laptop on the ground (it wouldn't break; Jack had designed it well) and quickly cut between Chase and the egg with an angry look as the lord advanced on the treasure; a very bold move on Jack's part.
"Why?" The genus started wryly. "Because you don't think I have the responsibility, or because you don't want me owning something as powerful as a dragon."
Then, Chase actually smirked. "Why not both? Even if you do manage to keep the egg alive long enough for it to hatch and eventually mature, it would be near impossible for you to control it. Dragons are naturally wild and unpredictable creatures; I should know," his smirk waned into a sneer. "If you can't even control your own actions, Spicer, then exactly how do you hope to harness a dragon's power?"
Phase #3: Reasoning
"Maybe I don't want to harness its power," Jack countered matter-of-factly, and crossed his arms. "Maybe I just think it would be cool to own a dragon. After all, the first one I met doesn't seem to appreciate any of my graciousely-offered help; maybe this one will."
Jack was ready to get clobbered for his sudden ballsy attitude, and accepted it because he knew he was right. Every time Jack chose to help Chase out, he ended up thrown aside, crushed, or flat-out forgotten. Never once had he received a 'thank you' or a 'well done' or heaven forbid a simple nod of gratitude.
However, Jack was not killed for his point; simply laughed at. "This old dragon, apparently, doesn't need to appreciate your blind generosity because despite everything, you continue to aid me."
The shock and aggravated fury in those blood eyes was so intense that Chase half-expected something in the room to spontaneously combust - if not himself.
Phase #4: Depression
The anger didn't last very long at all. As quickly as he's reared up, Jack sighed raggedly and caught his head in his hands.
He spoke quietly. "Chase... please? I've only ever had dinosaurs as pets before, and that wasn't even for a day. I just want an animal that I can truly call my own. Is... I mean, is that really too much to ask for?" He looked up at Chase then, pure longing in his eyes.
Chase paused, and considered it for a long time.
Phase #5: Acceptance
"If I don't take good care of it, Chase, then you can take it and I won't stop you."
It was the honesty in Jack's voice, the care not to own, but to raise and sustain the egg that made up his mind.
"Build the egg a new incubator. Keep the egg smothered in coal and blazing at exactly five-hundred degrees, no more, no less. At the exact moment you see the first cracks in the egg's shell, turn the flame down fifty degrees, and fifty more for every new crack. Do not let the temperature fall below three-hundred degrees, no matter how many cracks emerge."
Jack's eyes lit up, excited, but kept himself collected and nodded, noting each new fact. "Shall do, Chase!"
The warlord nodded and, satisfied, turned to leave.
"But, Chase," Jack called back. Chase stopped, listening.
"What do I do when the dragon hatches?"
"If it lives that long, then let me know immediately. We'll talk, then."
He was gone before Spicer could ask any further.
Jack hurried to his worktable, withdrew some blank blueprint sheets from the bottom drawers, and began mapping out the new incubator's design. He worked quickly and thoroughly, triple-checking each measurement and re-redoing each equation.
But the entire time, he was murmuring the La Cucaracha tune.
"I got a dra-agon! I got a dra-agon!
I got a dragon egg today,
Soon it be ha-atchin', soon it be ha-atchin',
And Chase did not take it away!"
... THE END?