A/N: This story takes place somewhere between "Finding Omi" and "The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean". Please support Xiaolin Showdown!
Good Jack's Lost Adventure
"Ying Yo Yo!" his partner cried in triumph, before disappearing with the carton of chi bottles in hand.
He smiled when the portal closed; feeling more than confident his other self would finish what he set out to do.
The beast, angry and determined, locked onto the boy's blue sweater vest and yanked him around in the air, making the swirling clouds of the Yin Yang World puff up and away. But for some reason, neither the eerie mood of the Ying Yang World nor the fact that he was being attacked by the Chi Creature made Good Jack any less positive. Although, he was starting to get dizzy.
The next moment he soared through the dark air. He yelped as the ground met his face. Hello there. Oblivious to the beast for a moment, Good Jack scrambled up and suddenly realized...what was he to do now? The other Jack (courtesy of the Ring of the Nine Dragons) had left to deliver the Xiaolin monks' Chi. He himself merely helped him get there. That was all he needed to do-all he wanted to do: to help them, even if it meant being trapped in the Ying Yang World with no way out. So...
...perhaps Jack should take care of the raging monster behind him. But before he could turn around, the creature had him by the collar again. He tried saying, "I don't want to hurt you, Chi Monster!"
The Chi Creature ignored him and whipped the boy off to the right. He slid fast, right through the towering aisle of chi bottles like it was just a thin, misty figment, flailing his arms to try and stop himself, to no avail. Jack quickly noticed he had been motoring along for quite longer than he thought possible. Friction was fortunately nonexistent for the moment, causing the Chi Creature to chase him down, snarling and impatient.
Lying in a supine position, head first, Good Jack let the odd physics carry him just out of reach of danger until he abruptly slid to an upright position by way of a steep ramp that was imperceptible from a distance. The Creature seemed to smile as it came ever closer. This can't be good. Jack gulped in fright and threw his arms up in front of his face to make an "X" of protection, not daring to throw a punch. That would be rude. The beast quickly caught up and swatted at the boy with a powerful arm, knocking him to the side where he stumbled over the edge of a foggy cliff. "Oh dear!" he gasped.
When he opened his eyes again, hugging his knees and trembling, he witnessed complete darkness. Jack hastily scanned the space around him. He sat on solid ground and there weren't any clouds, no floating Chinese characters either. He wasn't harmed and the creature was nowhere in sight...
Black, silence…
…Light! He was looking directly behind himself when he spotted a column of bright, dancing light in the distance. He squinted hard at it when suddenly he felt something there.
Shifting his gaze downward, he saw the regular curling clouds drifting around him once again, forming into a misty floor rug. As soon as he looked back up, Good Jack slapped his hand over his mouth in astonishment. He was sitting in front of a grand structure of dark, sturdy walls with bright spotlights and abnormal rock formations peeking over the top.
What a strange place!
Good Jack tapped his chin. Upon taking several cautious steps towards the wall, he saw a spiky double door with a sign reading 'Do not feed prisoners. Not responsible for loss of finger'. "How peculiar," he mumbled. "Perhaps a mystery like this is better left unventured."
Jack unquestionably spun around on his heel, but froze instantly. His eyes locked on a black, slinking figure approaching the spot he had appeared in moments ago. Drat! It had caught up! Rethinking his decision, Good Jack slowly backed up into the door until it opened. He shifted inside and shut it quietly as he sighed in relief; the Chi Creature could have been upon him at any second.
Good Jack found himself ascending a twisting, jagged staircase in a tall room. The spider web-like walls and general darkness made him wring his hands absently, wondering what sort of macabre existence presided above him. "I really shouldn't be here right now," he scolded himself.
Eventually, the boy reached a spot where the stairs met the round ceiling. He tilted his head with curiousity and a quick glance around told him he only needed to climb the webbed walls the rest of the way up. Once on the top floor, a chill ran down his spine.
A sinister, heavy accented voice rang, "Hello! What do we have here?"
Before fear could completely fold him into himself, Good Jack sidled to the middle of the hall where a dim blue light passed over him from flickering torches. He looked into a huge circular contraption with metal claws jutting from the sides. The glowering face on the screen didn't move as it spoke again, "What's your name, son?"
Jack replied slowly, "Might I ask...who you are first? If I may?"
The voice chuckled. "You're talkin' to Hannibal Roy Bean."
Jack frowned. "Hannibal Bean? I know you. You're a villain my bad half looks up to."
"Bad half? What do you mean?"
The metal pincers, moving as if they were attached to a live animal waiting to jump at him, warned Good Jack to respond truthfully, "I split myself up with the Ring of the Nine Dragons. It's kind of complicated."
"I see," Bean's voice said, beginning to assess his new visitor. "You know of Shen Gong Wu." He noticed Jack beginning to tremble. "What? Afraid 'a somethin'? Too dark in here?"
"I do sleep with a nightlight..." Jack muttered. "And your face kinda reminds me of a clown..."
Hannibal chuckled again. The circular screen powered down with a puff of smoke and locked into the floor, revealing a tall cage behind it that concealed an intricate suit of armor, sitting contently on a throne at the top of a small flight of stairs. A gray and black bird sat on his shoulder, absently fluffing his feathers. Good Jack let out an "Oh!" of awe at the transformation, even though the new owner of the voice didn't look any easier to talk to.
"So, your name, boy?" it asked.
"Uh, Jack Spicer."
A short silence settled before Bean said, "I sense a lot of good in you, Jack. A weakness. What are ya here for?"
Jack rocked on his feet, unsure of what this encounter would put him through. Though, he was a bit curious. "Nothing in particular. Actually, I was just escaping a monster. Quite dedicated, he was." As much as he didn't want to, for protection's sake, he added, "Maybe I could stay here for a while?"
Craftily, Hannibal Bean answered, "I don't see why not. But since we're gunna be sharin' abodes now, I have somethin' I want you to take care of. It would be mighty nice of you to help me."
Naturally, Good Jack had the tendency to accept any request (who could really resist perking up an ear to a sentence containing both the words "nice" and "help"?), but instead he replied, beaming with confidence, "I'm not letting you out of there, if that's what you want. Anything else, though, and I'll try my best."
"With your coming, I can predict my escape from this cage will come very soon, whether you let me out or not," Hannibal said with villainous assurance. "Now, this here's a task to benefit ev'ryone. I need ya to get rid of that Chi Creature out there."
"Get rid of it? Is that even possible?"
The suit's red eyes seemed to sparkle. "Here's what ya do..."
With Hannibal Roy Bean's instructions, Good Jack left the prison and sought out the black creature. The misty clouds rolled lazily over his pure white shoes as he walked uneasily through the darkness, avoiding Ying Ying, who had flapped dutifully past him, and kept his guard up. Bean had told him the Chi Creature could sense him out anywhere he went, but what was the other thing he said?
"On my unfortunate trip here, I spotted a vortex somewhere high in space. I sent Ying Ying to investigate. With the Ying Yang World's unpredictable, yet powerful qualities, I surmise it'll come in handy for your job."
Where is it?
"Use your mind, boy! You'll find it."
Good Jack stopped dead in his tracks. "Of course!" he said, clapping his hands. This is the Ying Yang World! He thought about finding it.
Sure enough, with a sucking, robotic noise appeared a vast vortex far above Jack's head. He craned his neck and gaped at it. The whirl warped everything it touched; it broke floating Chinese characters into white curls and sent them slowly down it's black center.
A broken apart, hazy staircase lead all the up to a thin platform that revealed itself just underneath the vortex, as if it expected company. Jack started his way up, nimbly hopping onto the first segment he could reach and climbed the short way up it. The segments moved independently from each other, some were too quick while some hardly moved at all. A few stair pieces were even tricks; Good Jack found himself falling through broken and crumbling steps, even intangible steps more than once, forcing him to start climbing from the bottom over and over again. How unpleasant! And throughout the struggle, the Chi Creature was nowhere to be seen.
After uncountable failed attempts, Good Jack finally made it onto the platform, still managing to keep high spirits. Only a moment later, he heard a loud THUMP. The creature! With a peek down below, Jack witnessed the beast thundering up the disjointed staircase with ease, pounding the pieces so hard that they fell to the floor and disappeared on contact.
Good Jack gulped loudly and backed up as far away from the edge of the platform as he could, but then ended up in the middle, for the vortex on the other side wasn't an ideal place to be either. The Chi Creature leapt onto the exact spot Jack had just been and gave the boy a menacing look, baring its teeth. The beast was about to run forward, but stopped immediately at one sight of the huge swirl. It backed away with its head down.
"If it's afraid of the vortex, how do I get it to go in?"
"Easy, you go in first! It likes a good chase. Heh heh heh!"
Jack shuddered. In there? Won't he be lost forever?
But then again, the Chi Creature was nothing but trouble, right? So if it will benefit everyone... Good Jack turned and ran full speed toward the warping vortex.
Right before he could get there, the Chi Creature giving chase despite his fear, a chunk of the thin platform broke away perfectly under Jack and descended with haste, causing the boy to scream and wobble around in shock. In a swift movement, the Chi Creature was swallowed by the mysterious whirl, never to be seen again. Jack had righted himself enough to wave goodbye.
With his eyes scanning the ground, Good Jack trudged back into Hannibal's prison. He climbed the twisting staircase and confronted the armor-suited bean sadly.
"You're back," Hannibal said, almost as a disappointed question. "You did trap the creature, didn'tcha?"
"I did," Jack replied and then began tearing up as he confessed, "You know, I haven't seen my mommy in what seems like more than a day. I miss her so much!"
Bean kept his voice flat. "You poor child."
Though not happy to admit it, Hannibal was certainly impressed his temporary pawn was in front of him in one piece-actually, that he was here at all. But it wasn't ideal. He was just about to dismiss the boy before Jack spoke up abruptly. "What you made me do to that creature... I'm starting to think I made a mistake."
"Are you?" Bean said impatiently.
"Yes," Jack answered dramatically. "Surely the Chi Creature wouldn't have caused anyone harm if it was loose in its natural home, instead of a dark, all-consuming vortex. To help such an evil villain as yourself... I fear my goodness has blinded me! I was willing to give my all..." He held his forearm over his forehead, as if shielding himself from further influence. "Tell me: have you ever had the feeling that you were being used for a sinister deed?"
"No."
"Also, I think you were trying to get rid of me! And well, I don't want to be involved in your dirty business anymore." With that, Good Jack spun around with his nose in the air and left Hannibal's sight.
Once outside the large prison wall, Jack settled himself down on the ground in defiance. Not long after, he saw the gray and black bird soar by and- could it be? -his other half running up behind it! He had turned back into his regular self! What a joyous moment to see him again!
The black-clad Jack made his way smugly toward the front gate and Good Jack couldn't help but call out a warning, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you...which I am!"
THE END
A/N: I want to thank my beta reader Taira-chan!