Xiaolin Showdown does not belong to me.

"You know, we haven't seen Chase Young for a while," Kimiko said.

Raimundo rubbed his chin. "Huh. You're right. Ah, whatever. I'm sure he'll attack us any day now."

He didn't. Days passed, weeks passed and eventually, months passed and no Chase Young. Omi kept looking over his shoulder expecting to see Chase Young hovering above him, but eventually his paranoia and uneasiness went away. He celebrated with the rest of them.

After a year of pretty much nothing happening, they decided to take a break because no Shen-gong-wu were appearing. Jack and Wuya weren't causing trouble either. It was okay.

Kimiko went back home to visit her father and she brought many toys for them when she came back.

"The mall was just as awesome as I remembered it!"

Omi had never really visited a mall, so he wanted to hear all the details. Kimiko laughed and patted his ever-bald head.

"There's candy and toys and stereos and lights and food."

"But you couldn't get me what I wanted…"

Kimiko gave Raimundo a nudge. "Oh, you big baby, I already told I'm sorry."

"But I really wanted it."

Clay went on a long search for his sister. When he came back, he said he found her in a run-down shack in Colorado. They went to a diner and talked, but Jessie refused to go back home.

Kimiko made a face when Clay mentioned how dirty Jessie had been. She remembered being dirty, after hanging upside from a two-bit rope when Jessie had captured them.

"So was she real happy to see you?"

"Well, I dunno about happy, but she didn't yell at me throughout dinner."

Raimundo decided to spend the summer in a little beach house that his family rented. He came back all grubby and sandy, but happy.

"The babes were all over me."

Clay rolled his eyes. Kimiko frowned.

"You're just making that up."

"Nu uh! I got numbers!"

Kimiko sighed when Raimundo shoved those little papers in her face. Clay could have sworn that she looked jealous or something.

Omi didn't go anywhere, but he wasn't sad about it.

"This is my home."

Nothing happened after their break. They became suspicious. They sneaked on over to Jack's house. They found nothing, just a bunch of broken Jack-bots, half-eaten burgers and oil spills and the distant voices of parents upstairs.

Nobody knew where they went or why they went. They ignored the scary-movie chills that they got from time to time as they continued to mature and play. They could feel a great storm in the distant.

Raimundo tried to brush it off. "I'm sure it's nothing."

They grew up bright and happy; powerful and wise; no longer threatened by ancient forces that really shouldn't exist.

Omi found it funny that while there was change in the air, he hadn't changed at all.

He was still terribly little; his feet and hands still terribly little, but his head stayed terribly big.

Omi didn't think it was because his parents might have been short, but more likely because his time-traveling had gone awry. Something must have happened. He knew he had grown three inches before traveling all over time.

He tugged on his old, but still shiny robes as the nervous anticipation grabbed him by the throat again.

He needed to grow up. A great storm was coming.

Once Omi came to terms with himself, he started to grow up a little bit. He was still shorter than everybody else, but his face was thinner and his legs were long enough to run alongside his friends. Best of all, his head wasn't so big anymore.

He was still upset, though. It had taken him forever to grow up! All of his friends had grown up and left him behind to catch up with his short legs.

Not fair.

Raimundo was the tallest; Clay was the strongest; Kimiko was the prettiest. When Keiko came to visit, she took one long look at her friend and declared that Kimiko had finally gotten some T&A. He asked what that was, but everybody looked away.

What exactly is T&A? Why won't anybody tell him? Not fair.

Despite his almost-same appearance, Omi was kind of happy with his changes because his powers had grown along with him and not a moment too late.

Chase Young had awakened from his lair and while everybody expected him to be same old Chase who never really did anything, he was definitely not the same. Before his disappearance, he had been honorable.

Omi judged him dishonorable when Chase attacked a defenseless Kimiko. She now had a barely noticeable scar just above her jaw. She carried it proudly and smugly because Raimundo had always wanted a scar.

Before his disappearance, he had been as patient as Master Fung.

Omi could see that he was more impatient because Chase's plans started to fail miserably, like that one plan with that stupid monster and those bubble things.

Before his disappearance, Chase Young used to be some sort of friend to him. He wasn't anymore, not after that really horrible trap that left Omi rattled.

He didn't want to believe it. There had to be some sort of explanation, but he really couldn't think of one, not really anyway.

"He's not Chase Young!" he exclaimed one day. "He's an imposter!"

"Man, of course he is. He's playing with us," Raimundo argued. "It's probably a trap. Get us to let down our guard down and then bam!"

No. Omi knew that was a lie. The Chase Young of now was just a stranger wearing his old skin.

He would have mourned, but not-Chase gave him no time to grieve. He attacked day in and day out with no rest at all. They came home with tender bumps and bruises, but their wills were still strong.

He smiled at them one day and for the first time ever, they shivered. Chase Young was now a dangerous threat.

Wuya and Jack were still not back. Maybe, they had discovered something about Chase and fled before this happened. They were probably waiting out the storm somewhere. They bet that it was Wuya's idea. They bet that Jack was whining about it.

Hannibal was back, though. Chase Young let him stand on his shoulder, like an ugly parrot. Together, they unleashed monsters and ghouls and everything ancient. There was always a battle. Eventually, Omi started keeping a diary.

Girls weren't the only ones who had diaries, you know.

His diary contained sloppy pictures of his past battles, entries about his friends and sometimes something about a ladybug that kept coming into his room. He also kept little details that might be useful later. All of this was stored in the Shen-gong-wu vault.

He sat back with his back against the wall, ears concentrating on the hush-hush of the night. There was nothing to worry about, really, because everybody was asleep for once.

Omi wrote. Yesterday's battle unfolded in the yellow pages, forming pictures and fresh memories.

Dear Omi,

Today's fight was a little easier. I hit Chase Young many times. Sometimes I even managed to make him stumble. Even Raimundo got to strike! I know, I know, I don't believe it myself, but it happened.

Chase Young looked tired today. Maybe he did not get enough sleep? His face was so white! It made that little wrinkle stand out like a painful finger.

Raimundo called them "toilet ideas" and Kimiko called them "epiphanies."

Omi's face was bright and flushed with excitement. His treasured Po-Chi pen swayed back and forth, leaving bold black lines.

He wrote and wrote and wrote. His bare little feet twitched, tired and sore from being crushed. On and on went the black letters as they described Omi's proud ideas.

He leapt up, almost tripping over his worn blanket. He ran outside, forgetting his shoes. He was so eager to show them what he had discovered. They would be so surprised!

"Clay! Kimiko! Raimundo!" he yelled happily.

He skidded to a halt and fell back to the ever-familiar stance of justice.

"Chase Young!"

He realized too late that his journal was no longer in his hands. That man read his journal and most certainly, his most recent entry. Omi waited, stiff and still, for the bomb to fall.

The man who was not Chase Young threw his journal aside. It fell some distance away from him, close enough for him to reach.

"A trap?" Omi wondered.

Lightly, his fingers brushed against the journal. He eyed not-Chase cautiously. He was just looking down upon him, eyes cold and impatient and glowing.

Omi quickly clutched his memories close. He couldn't move from his spot. The moment was heavy and unpleasant.

"Come along then."

"What-"

With the book still held against his chest, he was picked up by the collar. His bare feet dangled desperately as he came face-to-face with still-not Chase Young. His face was too unpleasant to look at, so he focused on a little wrinkle just to the side of imposter Chase's nose.

He noticed that there were two other wrinkles under Chase's eyes.

"You're getting old…" he said, not meaning to insult.

His whisper was met with "You're growing up."

Omi shivered. That didn't sound good. Imposter Chase's hand tightened its hold on his collar as if preparing to do something. Maybe kill him, control him or drop him? Who knew?

Omi, who forgot to fight, remembered to yell. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see lights being lit. Before he could yell again, not-Chase clamped a hand over his mouth.

His yells were muffled. He kicked and thrashed around, desperate to get away, from this, this thing that wasn't Chase.

They flew into the air. Omi was still kicking and mumble-yelling, but he didn't want to be let go now.

This definitely was not Chase Young. He never took somebody against their will. He likes people to come to him willingly or at least with a little convincing.

Omi had dropped his journal along the way. He hoped that his friends would find it and save him.

His heart hammered. He could feel cold sweat. He was breathing quicker and quicker. He could see the pointy beginnings of not-Chase Young's lair. He passed out before they arrived.

He woke up to darkness. He waited for the lights to turn on, waited to see the comfy room that Chase always put him in whenever he brought him here; he waited for Chase to come in and try to convince him to join him. He waited for anything familiar to happen, needed something familiar to happen because this was scaring him, really scaring him and where were his friends? Didn't they know he was in trouble?

"Omi! There you are!"

Kimiko smiled with chapped lips. Poor little guy must have been wandering Chase Young's creepy, animal-less woods for days. Her heart went out to him. Luckily, he looked unharmed and that was a real good thing.

She jumped off Dojo and ran over to hug him; she couldn't wait to have him home safe and sound. The next thing she knew was that she was the ground.

Everybody but Kimiko yelled at Omi's rudeness. She thanked Clay for helping her up while Raimundo scolded Omi for doing something so uncool.

"Why should I be sorry?"

"Because she's your friend, dude!"

Omi shrugged, face haughty. "The Dragon of Fire is no ally of mine."

"What?"

Omi looked at Raimundo with a sort of angry twist to his lips. "You heard me. She is no ally, never was, never will be, just like you and all the rest."

"What are you talking about? Are you crazy or something?" Raimundo demanded, this close to shoving Omi.

Omi looked at his hands. "No, I am sane. My mind is intact, even after the transfer…"

"You okay, little buddy?" Clay asked as he peered closer at Omi's face.

Omi mumbled a bit more and stumbled a bit more. Raimundo forgot his anger. They moved to help Omi.

"Oh, why thank you! You found him!"

Hannibal swooped in with his traitorous bird, eyes beady and evil. He bounced off the bird, bounced off the gnarled tree to land on Omi's shoulder, like he was a friend. Omi didn't flick him off, like he should. He just continued to be strange.

"I apologize. Chase Young isn't feeling like himself these days."

They looked around for Chase. There was nobody here but them and Omi and Hannibal. Hannibal's smile was cruel and all-knowing. And it dawned on them.

Raimundo leaned against a tree, too brave to admit that his knees were shaking. "That's Chase? C'mon! Like we're gonna fall for that!"

"Believe what you want, boy, but that cheeseball is now Chase Young," Hannibal said, keeping a wary eye on the stumbling possibly-not Omi.

"In Omi's body…?"

Hannibal smiled a crooked smile full of crooked teeth. "Yessir."

Clay moved to still the wobbly not-Omi, forgetting that it wasn't Omi. Imposter Omi snatched his hand away with a never before heard growl.

"Why is he like that?"

Hannibal wondered if he should play gracious host to his enemies, but seeing as they were close to being traumatized, he decided to.

"The little monk put on a good fight! You should've seen him! He fought like a dog, but Chase was older and well, crazy, so he didn't a real chance. Poor thing, really."

All of them were horrified and a little sick. Omi who was Chase or Chase who was Omi was still mumbling, eyes wide and wild.

"Don't you worry about him, though. Chase Young will be up and running in no time."

"You didn't tell us why."

Hannibal faced Clay, impatience written all over his cruel face.

"Because Chase Young was getting older."

"Liar! Chase drinks that stupid soup to keep himself young!"

"I don't have to tell you why or how, but you do know how Chase likes to keep himself pretty."

"Why Omi?" Kimiko asked. She just had to know.

"Chase Young always had a fixation on the poor little cheeseball. Always had such big plans for him and whatnot. Jack told me so or was he wrong?"

They shook their heads. Truth was truth.

"Well, this is just another plan of his."

Omi laughed as freely as he did before.

Jack Spicer came back. It might be because he was guilty or giddy or both. He looked about the same as he did years ago, just a little knobbier around the knees and maybe a little tired-looking. Raimundo thought a run around the beach would do Spicer a lot of good. He was about to tell Spicer that he would take him to one, but then he remembered that they were enemies.

They were really relieved when it became clear that Jack was still clumsy. They needed something constant right now. Everything was changing and they weren't ready for change anymore.

"I knew what was going to happen," Jack confessed from the ground as he rubbed his stinging cheek.

"So you left? Without telling us?"

Jack faced them with a rare brave face. They were thrown back. This was Jack, evil Jack, not good Jack. "We're enemies. Enemies. You would've done the same thing."

"We so would not."

"What could I've done? Fight Chase? The greatest bad guy around? I would've been dead!"

Raimundo gritted his teeth, annoyed again by Jack Spicer after so many years. "What happened?"

Jack sat on the floor, chin resting on his knees, looking like a thirteen-year old boy again. "Man, I don't know. It just happened. After the mess that Omi made, Chase just wasn't the same. The cheeseball really got to him, so he stopped drinking the soup."

Master Fung brought them tea, except for Raimundo who preferred no-nonsense coffee. He sat down with his own cup of tea and listened, just listened.

"I thought it was really funny when Chase freaked out over a little wrinkle. I told him hey, man, it's just one little wrinkle, don't worry about it, but he got all crazy. He tried to go back to drinking the soup."

"Did it work?"

"Idiot, if it had worked, none of this would have happened. He later got the bright idea of using Omi. He was nuts by then, so there was no arguing with him. I tried, really I did, but like I said, nuts. Wuya said that we should go away until he kills himself or something."

"So how do we get Omi back in Omi?" Kimiko asked, again just wanting to know if things would work out for the better or worse.

Jack slumped, looking really sorry. "You can't. Wuya said so."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm quitting. You guys are going to be all mopey and boring now and Chase Young and Hannibal Bean are going to take over the world anyway. There's nothing for me here. Plus, I got a job over in New York working as a mechanic. Wuya doesn't like it, but what does she know, right?"

"Are you really going to give up your dream of being evil genius overlord?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Beats getting squashed like a bug, but maybe Wuya will find a super secret weapon that will make me Emperor Jack."

Good ol' Jack, they thought.

He sighed wistfully. "Yeah, that'd be great."

They saw Omi-Chase a lot. Chase kept Omi's robes. Chase Young gloated at them with Omi's voice and Omi's eyes.

"Omi is finally fighting for the right side."

Raimundo decked him and regretted it because it was Omi's face and Omi's widened eyes.

At first, whenever, they saw Omi, they expected Omi to greet them with smiles and messed-up slang.

Chase Young took advantage of that. He smiled pleasantly and waited until they were close enough to strike. He attacked them. They attacked back. For once, it looked like they were winning. Omi's lips were curled in anger and gathered up all his strength and then he attacked.

Water hit them. They fell, soaked to the bone and stared, just stared and couldn't believe it.

Kimiko shook her head as she fought to stand. "No, no, no! You can't use that! You shouldn't be able to! That's Omi's element, Omi's!"

Chase Young was smiling with Omi's mouth as he moved water. His eyes were soft and it looked like he had forgotten them. He laughed. He attacked them and they lost consciousness. That's when they learned to mostly Chase when he smiled Omi's smile.

They were loosing badly one day and who but Jack Spicer came to save them.

"I have to protect my future as Evil Overlord, you know," he quipped while looking like a big damn hero.

Chase Young laughed. "What future?"

Wuya snarled. She attacked with that small bit of power she had.

They won by the skin of their teeth. Chase Young left, bruised but still laughing.

"So, what now?" Raimundo asked.

Jack decided to stay with them because he didn't want to go back to that house. He refused to wear the robes, though.

They're going to visit their parents. They're gonna say hello and I love you and goodbye. They're gonna eat and laugh. They're not gonna mourn while they're there. They'll come back and they're gonna fight harder then ever because Omi was still in there, he just had to be.

Maybe someday they'll find a way to get Chase's smug expression out of Omi. Then, he'd be laughing and doing the same old stupid things he always did.

"Remember when he played with his toys, like a regular kid?" Kimiko asked.

Clay and Raimundo nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

"Me too."

"That doesn't sound like the cheesehead," Jack protested. "Didn't he, like, practice all the time? And talk like an old man?"

Kimiko threw him a dirty look.

"Hey, hey, I'm just saying."

Everybody ganged up on Jack, shoving in his face all of the examples they had of Omi acting like kid. Jack started to laugh.

"Ok. Ok. I believe you," he said as his laughter died down. "Man, I wish I could have seen that."

Raimundo slung an arm over Jack's shoulder. Jack startled, but let it stay. "You will, dude, you will."