Before starting there are a few things. First my gratitude to my beyond great reviewers for my other story, The Gift, so to Eternal Fluffy, Jadebell, LeperDoctor, Undocumentedchicken, Chibi-Hannah-Chan, and Firewu thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart for all your kind words and encouragement. Next, this is also a Jack-centered story, so you have been warned, however hopefully this one will feature a more mature, cooler Jack with a twist, well at least later in the following chapters. I will note that this fic does not feature Metal Dragon! Jack purely, however he does have the potential, for a price of course (grins)
Pairings: Eventual Jack/Kimiko (hopefully)
Disclaimer: The author forfeits any and all ownership of Xiaolin Showdown and the characters within it, she does however own the guardians (Adelaide, Blake and Kira), Fafner, the temple Mania, the fountain Shiva, Master Long and the plot.
Throwing down the Gauntlets'The phrase "throw down the gauntlet" derives from medieval Europe. One knight could challenge another by throwing his gloves (gauntlets) onto the ground before another knight. If the other knight picked up the gauntlets, he accepted the challenge and the two would fight.'
Beginning is easy; continuing, hard
A dark figure nimbly stole silently into the Spicer residence; the current and only resident having left for a new item that had revealed itself. However the young Spicer heir had several associates who could easily aid in the retrieval of whichever item it was that had decided to reveal itself, and no doubt the witch Wuya had almost immediately contacted at least one upon sensing the Shen Gong Wu. Whilst the intruder was not entirely sure of their purpose here, it was undeniably important to events soon to take place and time was not, apparently, going to be something of which they had great amounts.
The security system in itself was a work of pure genius; someone had obviously redone the original system and had since remade it several times. Fortunately this was of no consequence to the trespasser who evaded the traps that no child should know how to use let alone build, with all the swiftness of experience until coming to a sudden halt in the middle of a hallway,
"Damn, which way now?" a soft, distinctly feminine sigh emerged before the stranger took out a small round ball from within the small bag strapped to the hip. It was the size and shape of a tennis ball and glowed a soft pearly blue, "Summoning Sphere." A tiny, pinprick of light separated from the globe and steadily grew to the size of a golf ball as it came to stop, floating just over the figure's head, "show me the way spirit." The spirit hovered for a moment, then swiftly moved down a left corridor, it's mistress swiftly following as the two ducked and wove through the Spicer household until it stopped and hovered, glowing gently just outside the door to the basement before winking out of existence. Growling lightly in frustration, the figure cast an irritated look at where the spirit vanished. A quick examination of the door revealed a lock, however the soft but gradually growing louder sounds of Jack's helipack rang out. The intruder gave hiss of annoyance as she turned and fled the building, lightly darting through the shadows.
He had yet again lost a showdown, something that Wuya would not let him forget, nor would she probably for the next week or so. He wondered when she would get the hint that, in all honesty, while the Shen Gong Wu were great and he highly disliked loosing a showdown, they weren't the most important things to him or his plans of world domination. The sharp taps of Jack's boots echoed throughout the darkened house, the redheaded child protégé frowning in deep thought. Designs for another robot twisted through his mind as he attempted to block out the sounds of Wuya's nagging voice next to his ear. He hesitated outside the door to his lab; Wuya simply floated through the door, her steady stream of complaints never ending, as he impulsively glanced around with the sensation of something wrong in his house. Pivoting and finding nothing out of the ordinary he shrugged and ignoring the feeling stepped into his lab, immediately calming in the familiar atmosphere, this was all he needed.
The temple Mania was one few knew of, it was located on the Tiber River near Latium, in Italy. A truly magnificent structure carved from massive amounts of white marble, it stretched to the size of a small to medium sized village, a sprawling collection of columns, hallways, chambers, courtyards, and statues. It remained shrouded by a multitude of spells cast during its construction at around 1000 BC. It was the only temple to hold balance between both the Heylin and Xiaolin sides, due past agreements and it was here that the Jack's midnight visitor finally stopped.
"Adelaide!" The figure's head turned as a slightly shorter blur suddenly rushed into her side, knocking the two over. The ski mask was swiftly whipped off Adelaide's head by a third party, revealing a smiling pale, ash blond young woman in around her late teens to early twenties,
"Kira, I take it you missed me?" The sable haired girl next to her narrowed sharp violet eyes at the blond,
"No, I often knock people over and call them by your name." A pale eyebrow rose,
"Is that so?" Kira simply huffed at the chuckles from Adelaide and the light smirk on her brother's face.
"I don't appreciate you teasing me for my concern over your well being." She did accept the hand offered to her by Blake though, Adelaide quickly jumping to her feet too, hiding her smile behind one hand,
"I take it your trip went well?" The three turned to the speaker and bowed, Adelaide smiled calmly,
"Master Long, how have you been?" The shorter monk inclined his head,
"Well, thank you." Adelaide nodded,
"My trip was interesting, thank you for asking and allowing me to go,"
"Quite alright, family is important." She flinched lightly and the other two exchanged weary glances,
"Yes it is. I will return to my duties now, no doubt there is much to be done." She bowed again to the monk and turned to leave when a voice called her back,
"Oh, and Adelaide?" She tilted her head slightly,
"Yes Master Long?"
"Remember, we can not interfere, it is against the rules and why we remain in peace."
"Yes Master Long, I know" his eyes narrowed slightly,
"Do not forget then."
"Of course," she murmured softly, swiftly leaving the area to escape the scrutinizing gaze, already feeling guilty for loosing control and entering Jack Spicer's house on a feeling alone and breaking the most important rule in the contract.
After nearly a month since her trip to the Spicer household, Adelaide entered to her scouring room for another day filled with meditation and attempting to track the source of current unease that riffled through the spirit world. She smiled and glanced around the room, with the familiar mist that filled and cloaked it in a haze, the scent of incenses burning, and the endless whispering of spirits.
'Or more likely gossiping.' She thought in amusement. Sitting in her usual place she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she sank into a trance like state, reaching out to her spirits and listening to their words. Unfortunately her own thoughts were filled with her trip to Jack's house after another conversation with Master Long, added with the guilt that persisted in making itself known to her. Her spirits swiftly noted her thoughts and took immediate, malicious glee in teasing her about them. She battered their teasing words and hundreds of questions away, irritated, and again attempted find out what was happening, however none of her spirits were willing to let such a topic drop. To Adelaide's endless annoyance, out of the myriad of voices, one spoke clearly, ringing with the deep tones of a gong,
"Do these thoughts deceive me, or did you, Adelaide, break the break the rules?" amusement was evident in the deep voice,
"Fafner," was her neutral response to the dragon who had once guarded the fountain Shiva that could both grant and take life, however its greatest importance was its ability to remove the soul from the living. Fafner had been tricked by a mischievous water nymph though, and drank the water that separated the soul from the body. The dragon spirit's body was in fact alive somewhere in a deep sleep, however no one could remember where it was, including Fafner himself and the dragon was left trapped in the spirit world as he tried to remember the location of his body. A huff echoed through her head,
"Oh, I see, already feeling guilty are we? Why in heaven must you be so foolish?"
Adelaide felt a bolt of irritation at the dragon's chiding, "I broke a major rule by interfering in something I had no right to, Master Long is no doubt very disappointed in me."
"Pish posh, the kid wasn't even home, and Master Long is a doddering old fool with an inflated sense of self importance." Adelaide bit her lip to keep from smiling, and instead snapped at the dragon,
"You shouldn't insult Master Long, he's right it was wrong of me." She was answered with the sensation that Fafner was rolling his eyes at her statement however he changed the topic,
"Tell me about the Spicer child."
"There is nothing to tell,"
"Liar liar pants on fire."
"I told you, there is nothing for me to tell, I have not met him, and there were barely any pictures of him anywhere in the house."
"But there were some, what does he look like?" Adelaide sighed, wondering how he could be so childish over something so unimportant,
"He has red hair and eyes from what I saw, pale skin and a tendency to wear dark clothing."
"And?"
"That's it, oh, there was one other thing."
"Yes?"
"Under his left eye, there was an odd mark, it was just one black line under the left eye and a slash down the middle of it, but it caught my attention." She frowned slightly at the non-existent response, "Fafner?" A deep silence other then the continuous chattering of the other spirits answered her, until he replied slowly as though he were deep in thought,
"Adelaide, you must leave now." She started, surprised,
"What?"
"You must leave this trance, you have company," He paused again, "I am afraid this will be the last time we can talk for a while."
"Wha-why?"
"You will need to break the rules again and leave, and even if you choose not to, I do not think it is safe for you to stay in the temple any longer. I will not be able to speak with you for a while anyway, I need to return to my body"
"Wait, I thought no one, including you knew where it was." She waited momentarily and knew he was gone. Adelaide blinked slowly, and felt herself rise from the trance she was under until she was again in the smoke filled room. This time however, she was not alone as the faces of Master Fung, the protector of the four chosen, and the dragon guardian of the Shen Gong Wu scroll, Dojo, in his miniature form appeared before her.
"Master Fung, Dojo, as honored as I am to have you have you visit me, may I ask the purpose of your visit here, along with the whereabouts of chosen who should be under your protection?" The aged monk looked older then ever,
"Adelaide, you are aware that recently four of the Shen Gong Wu revealed themselves simultaneously, yes?" At her affirmative nod he continued, "Then you are aware that my young dragons would have gone as is their duty to collect them."
"I am, but that does not explain the reason for your presence" The dragon master exchanged a look with Dojo before taking a deep breath and continuing.
"Spirit Guardian Adelaide," her eyes widened slightly at the formal address, "the purpose of my visit is to request the help of yourself and the help of your soul siblings. The location of my students is unknown to me, as they have been abducted during their last mission."
FinAt the Studio
ChibiChaos: (waves cheerfully) Hi there, wow, it's been a while since I did this.
Chase: Well maybe if you weren't so lazy…
ChibiChaos: Hey, I've been studying hard for my exams thank you very much
Chase: You're welcome
ChibiChaos: Hmph, as obviously seen, Chase here has decided to grace us with his presence and is now mooching around my studio
Chase: Hey, who's mooching? I'm not mooching around anything
ChibiChaos: Fine then, you're bumming around my studio
Chase: Remind me why I bother visiting you again
ChibiChaos: Personally, I find that there are three theories to that query:
1)You want the chance to, as I said, mooch around on my nice, soft, overstuffed furniture.
2)To escape Jack and Wuya. Or what I personally believe,
3)The free waffles you sneak out of my freezer
Chase: You think I sneak waffles out of your freezer?
ChibiChaos: Well obviously you cook them after, but yeah
Chase: (raises an eyebrow)
ChibiChaos: In any case, here are a few things that should hopefully clear any misconceptions, Adelaide, Blake and Kira are NOT dragon warriors, they are guardians which is different, as obviously seen as they have a whole different set of rules to follow. I know there wasn't much on Jack here but this chapter is basically building up the background so that I don't just introduce characters that have people wondering where they came from. Next chapter will have much more Jack, and much more information on the truth about Jack. Until the next chapter, feel free to leave a review, they're much appreciated.
