Magic is lost

By Casey Hayes

Jack

I couldn't believe what had happened. It was a saturday morning, I was in my parent's basement as usual. The place was grey and drab as usual. Nothing had changed in the appearance, still littered with my machines, works-in-progress, and my empty pudding cups were still piled near the trash can, everything was in order. Except for the fact that my bots were all gone, all of them. Every. Single. One... I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I walked over to the middle of the room, where my work table was, I looked around to see if there was anything left at all, what I saw was a small calling card. I looked at the picture and realized that I had seen the insignia before. It was all over the internet, and had come to symbolize a movement called "the greater good." Why would they steel my robots? How did they even KNOW? These same questions kept circling my head for the next thirty minutes, as I sat down taking in what had happened.

"How the hell did they get in here?" I wondered this aloud then realized that there was no-one to hear me. I took a look at the back of the calling card. On the back there was a phone number. I quickly used my specialized gloves to bring out the large t.v. screen I use to make important phone calls, and dialed the number. This girl in a mask, the head of the opperation, answered almost immediatly. Apparently they were expecting me.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the infamous Jack Spicer. You know, you've been becoming more and more of a problem for us. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'tsashame that you had to lose your robots over this, and don't bother with the machines either. The only one that still works is the refrigerator."

"May I ask who I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

"I don't even tell the people that I work with who I am, why would I tell a potential enemy?" I had to admit, she had a good point.

"Why did you take my bots? And apparently ruin my machines?"

"The machines will be easily fixed, just a few cut wires. But the bots will remain here for the time being." She appeared to be taking a break, as if thinking of something.

"That doesn't answer my question," I stated simply, to get her back on track.

"Yes, yes. The question of why. But you must understand this, my answer to your question depends completely upon your answers to mine." She said this as if to intimidate me, but I wasn't going to be intimidated, I needed my bots back. To replace them all would take at least two weeks, and what if another wu revealed itself?

"Ask away."

"What is it you want most in this world and why? Please remember that we need the absolute truth from you in order to assertain the full situation."

They need to assertain the full situation? This just keeps getting better and better. "I want to controll this world, like most evil villains. I want to rule over it, and cause darkness to cover the earth-"

"Why?" She interupted me in a very rude manner.

"Because-" And there it was. I couldn't think for the life of me why I wanted to rule the world. At first I thought I just wanted to be able to have control, then for the attention. I thought I wanted to make a mark on history, but the thing is I really didn't care about those things. I just wanted to rule the world. I wanted to look at myself, and look at what I had accomplished. "You know, for a long time, I had trouble figuring out what I wanted to gain from all of this. But now I know, I want to prove to everyone who ever told me that I wouldn't amount to anything, that I could. I want to make them realize that I can accomplish more than they could ever even dream of getting done."

"Now, that is something. What do you hope to change in this world?"

"First order of bussiness will be to change some of the laws, get rid of laws that keep justice from ever getting done, and add some that will ensure that justice is served. More or less I want to make this world a better place. That doesn't sound very evil I know, but I never was actually evil."

"Yes, we figured you weren't, now, if you look in the drawer on the right hand side of your work table, you will find an address enclosed in an envelope. Go there to get back your robots. By the time you get back your machines will be opperational once more, and you will find a surprise awaiting you at the next sheng gong wu finding. Good luck."

At that moment the screen turned off and I was left alone in the room again. I couldn't help but wonder how she got me to tell her that so easily, something in her voice told me that I should... I also didn't know how I trusted her so easily, and how I'm not even remotely mad that she got that out of me... How DID she get it out? I didn't even actually know the reason until she asked... I decided to stop thinking about it, it was making my head hurt... I got the address out of the table, and it for some reason didn't surprise me where they were keeping my Jack-bots. I activated my heli-pack and opened the hatch, and headed out, my destination set into the pack using my electronic gloves. On my way out of the lair, I kept thinking about what she had said about the next showdown. About how there would be a surprise for me there. It struck me that something big was going to happen soon, maybe not at the next showdown, but it would have to do with what I found.

Omi

I sat, wondering whether there was something down with the new girl, Jai-li. I didn't know why, but I didn't trust her. Master Fung said that he shared some of the same concerns. But, she was rather nice, despite us tricking her into doing all of our chores for a week. Dojo ended that trick, but she didn't even get mad. She even laughed. I am most confused on the subject of this girl. She is the dragon of lightning, and is very skilled. She learned her element even quicker than I learned mine... I was just so shocked I thought something had to be wrong with it... I despise the feeling I get when I am around her, because she is so good to us.

Raimundo decided to play another prank on her, but she overheard him talking to Clay and I about it, and decided to play a trick on him as he finished laying down his trick for her. She then started a pranking war between her and Raiundo, and niether one of them are going to stop until the other admits defeat. I just wish I could find some way to trust her, or find some reason not to so that I know that my feelings are not lies. I don't understand how she could be so kind, and so careing, but give me the feeling that she will betray us in some way.

I suppose that I could confront her, but I was not sure how to handle the situation. I could ask Kimiko how she felt about it, she has barely said anything since Jai-li arived.

I pondered all of this as I walked down to the bedrooms, to see if Kimiko was there. I walked into her partiton and saw her on the floor. "Hello Kimiko. How are you this morning?"

"I would be better if a certain little monk hadn't interupted my meditation."

"Oh, sorry." I wasn't sure what to say then, I kept thinking of what I should say next.

"Omi, are you okay? You seem... off."

"Well, It's the new girl, Jai-li-"

"You're not mad because she figured out how to control her element faster than you did are you?"

"Well, that's part of it, I guess. But I am thinking big picture, she gives me a bad feeling, and has since she came here. I really don't know why, because she is so nice. But something just seems, wrong."

"Omi, I really don't know whether to think that you are jealous, or if you are right, because I've been feeling the same thing whenever I get near her. I really don't know what to do about it though."

"Neither do I, and master Fung feels similar, but that might just be because of the last few people we let in..."

"Come to think of it, that might also be the reason you and I are so paranoid about it Omi. We probably feel as though she will steel our sheng gong wu at any moment because of all the other times we've let people into the temple to stay with us."

"You are probably right Kimiko, why don't we go and see what shenanagins are being played right now between her and Raimundo!" Kimiko and I smiled at the thought of pranks on Raimundo, and we both jumped up and ran down the hallway into the courtyard.

Raimundo

This girl is good, but she's no match for me, I just have to plan the perfect escape route just incase something goes wrong. I really hope this plan works though. She is pretty good at this, but I'm better, after all, I had 8 enemies that lived in the same house as me, I can beat one little girl.

It was at that moment that Raimundo had finished his planning for the spitwad attack and was setting up all of the extra straws and spit wads. He knew that Jai-li was hanging out with Clay learning the ropes, litterally. She said that she was actually born in Texas and had always wanted to learn how to use a lasso properly, and to learn how to hog-tie someone. He made his way toward the court yard where he was sure they would be, and he was right. He snuck up behind the tree and started to climb as stealthily as he could, considering how close he was to them. But Jai's tiger instincts were almost as good as Omi's usually were, and she took her lasso and performed the manuver Clay was just showing her on Rai, and yanked him to the ground and hog-tied him quick enough to beat Clay's record by a mark.

"Hello Rai, want to join us? Clay has another rope." Rai wondered how she could be so sweet and kind, right after she kicked his but and not even gloat a little.

"Can you untie me first? And then I bet we could get Omi to join us for a game of soccer!"

"No time for that kids! A new shengohngwu has just activated. We have to get to the north pole quick!" As Dojo was saying this, Omi and Kimi followed him out and watched as Jai and Clay worked together to get the knot holding Rai in the uncomfortable possition undone.

"Alright, we can play after."

"You got it bro." That was one thing Rai never understood about her, she would call people bro, dude, broett and dudett all the time, and she would randomely switch which era of slang she wanted to use weekly, sometimes more frequently. One thing was for sure, it was going to be interesting to see how she reacted to her first wu finding, especially if she was the one in the showdown.

Jai-li

Sweet! My first wu finding! I can't wait until I see it, but of course I would never say that out loud. I have an image to protect, especially if I want to keep my secret... I wish I could tell them what's going on, they're such nice people. But, I don't have time to worry about that. I have to focus, find the wu, get to it before any of the other dragons, attempt to challenge Jack, and explain to him what I meant on the screen. Of course it was me who told him about the surprise, but I have to lay low and keep from giving him a hint at who I really am. I have to keep everyone out of the know. Disguised as a lower level assistant, I'm not even aloud to watch 'her' on screen. The perfect disguise! Of course, when people mistake my orders in the slightest it bothers me, but if I said that I had watched the video, I'd be punished as an assistant. So I have to sit back and wait for people to mess up and the higher level personel to take care of it for me, which they do a pretty good job of. There's not a single person who knows who I am, and I'm not about to let anyone know either.

Jack

Jack sat wondering exactly what kind of a surprise was waiting for him at the showdown, but he knew that it had to be something amazing, other-wise, she never would have bothered with him. She wanted to make sure that he wasn't really evil, and that he would do something great with whatever the surprise was. Or maybe she thought that inviting him to join would be a good idea, unlike the Heylins and Xiaolins thanks to his acting abilities. He tried to make them think he was an idiot, and so far, it was working. By making them underestimate him as much as they do, he now has them right where he wants them. He could go around and masquerade as the biggest bad guy on the planet, and no-one would suspect him. People would just put up with his annoying comments about how cool the new guy looks and acts while they try to find out who he was. The perfect setup.

He was already at the wu sighting-the wu just so happened to be the Silver Shark tooth, a dangerous wu that allows the user to transform into a shark, or if on land, have a sharks swiftness- just waiting for someone to get there first so he could make a dramatic entrance, like he always did. Just because there was something to surprise him at this showdown didn't mean that he could stop with the façade. It just didn't work like that. He had to keep it up to keep other people from finding out who Jack Spicer REALLY was.

Jack waited for about five minutes before the dragons showed up on Dojo's back, but there was someone else with them. Jack knew right then and there what was going on, the new dragon must be her. It just made sense to him. If it turned out that she was anything other then he would eat his shoe. This was the time to make his dramatic entrance, and send all the jackboots at everyone but her, so that he could challenge her to a showdown and get the info he needed.

"Ha! Well well, look what we have here. Another xiaolin LOSER!" Jack, of course, only said this to keep up the façade, he knew that she would overlook it and act the part she gave herself if it really was her.

"Jack Spicer! Prepare for a humilia-"

"Jack-bots!Attack!" Jack interrupted Omi in order to save some time. He raced down towards the wu where he knew that she would end up around the same time as him. He was right, he got there at the same time as her, and they both grabbed the wu.

"Well, pipsqueak, tell ya what. I'll go easy on ya since this is your first time." Jack said this to see if she would remain calm, or try to defend her argument. As it turned out, she already knew everything about the showdowns, so she didn't have to ask questions.

"The game is jenga. First person to knock over their tower wins!" She said this loud enough for the other dragons to hear, but not to actually see, since they were still fighting off most of the robots. They would not be able to see the fight, and Jai-li and Jack knew that.

The grounds changed into an arena with two giant jenga towers. They would both have an equal chance with this, and they could talk the whole time.

"So, what's your name?" Jack quickly switched to a plesant tone, so he could find out a bit more about what was going on.

"Jai-li. I presume I have the pleasure of speaking to Jack Spicer?" She had the air of a countess about her, and Jack thought that the confidence level just proved his theory, but he also knew he would have to be patient.

"You presume correctly. So, what exactly is going on?" Jack said this with the air of a count, to both match her tone, and see if she would quaver and submit or keep her calm. When her face showed both no sign of amusement and no sign of offense, he couldn't think of anyone who could act that well but he himself. He knew he was right not, but of course, had to keep calm and find out a way to get past her careful guard so that he could actually figure out exactly what was behind the mask.

"What's going on is that I have a message from her…" She trailed off a bit, to let the emphasis on her words speak for themselves. Jack thought that amusing.

"What's the message?" Jack said this in a semi curious tone that made it more casual than business like so that they could both relax a bit more and be less agitated. He hated the agitated tones of most discussions like this. It ruined his mellow, and killed his buzz.

"My message is that you need to find-"

"Your, message?"

"Sorry, HER message is that you need to find the next three sheng gon wu. They are the ones that will truly help you take over the world. This one will help two, but my boss told me that I needed to keep this one just in case something happens." She said the last part appolegetically.

"Don't worry, I get it. Don't trust the evil boy genius. Not a problem." As Jack said this he knocked over his jenga set, and waited for the showdown to go back to normal.

The arena went back to normal, and by the time they got back, all the Jack-bots had been destroyed and it was easy for Jack to fake being upset. His parting words were, "I will avenge them! My poor, poor Jack-bots."

Jack flew off a ways just until the dragons had finished their congratulations, and had flown off, and circled back so that he could look around. He had managed to create a prediction machine which would predict the place and time the next shen gon wu would reveal its self. It would also tell you which shen gon wu it was and what properties it had. He knew that the next wu would have revealed its self within an hour and would have been in the exact same spot. If he was supposed to find the next three shen gon wu, he might as well get a head-start on the xiaolin monks.