Setting: Chase Young's citadel. Present day. Later in the afternoon.
Chase never forgot about the day he met Serena, and didn't plan to.
But he did often wonder about where her father disappeared to, or if they would ever see him again.
However, he did know that she wouldn't survive if she ever was confronted by her father.
Shrugging off that thought, he proceeded to his daily routine.
Serena awoke once more later in the afternoon…but she didn't leave her room.
Chase had noticed this as well. Her attitude had never been that sunny, but ever since he had turned evil, she had entirely crashed.
Setting: A few years after Serena had joined the Xiaolin temple. A bamboo forest a little ways away from the temple.
Serena was out watching as Guan and Chase practiced their sparring tactics.
Guan stopped.
"Let me go back to the temple and get a pair of staffs." He told Chase.
The other fighter nodded. He walked over to Serena, who was sitting on the ground in front of a rock.
She smiled softly at him.
"You're both really strong." She said quietly.
Chase frowned. "But he is still stronger…"
She looked down. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a long, hearty laugh.
Both Serena and Chase looked around cautiously.
"Down here."
Their attention was directed to the rock.
What was sitting there surprised the two.
"Who are you?" Serena asked.
The thing laughed again…it made her cringe.
"I am Hannibal Roy Bean."
Chase warily lifted an eyebrow.
"And boy," it continued, "I can give you what you want."
This caught Chase's attention.
"Go on."
"You want to beat your rival." It observed. "And the only way to do that is through eternal youth."
"Chase, maybe that's not such a good idea." Serena said to him.
He ignored her.
"How do I obtain this eternal youth?"
As if out of nowhere, Hannibal Bean provided Chase with a bowl…of nothing more than soup.
Chase began to get suspicious. Was Hannibal Bean serious? Or was this a joke?
"That's it?" Serena heard herself ask…but she knew that there had to be much more to it than that.
Hannibal nodded. "That's it."
Having reconsidered, Chase extended a hand for the soup, but Serena stopped him.
"Chase," She said softly, "I don't think that this is a good idea."
But he ignored her once more, and took the bowl.
Serena shut her eyes tightly as he lifted it up to his lips and drank.
Immediately, he clutched his throat in agony, and transformed…He became a beast.
Hannibal Bean laughed some more.
"What did you do to him?" Serena asked in horror; wide eyed.
"It's the curse of the Lao Ming Lon soup." He explained. "If he doesn't want the beast to take over him completely, he must continue to drink the soup."
Chase let out a roar of frustration in his draganoid form, while Hannibal laughed one last time. Cackling, the bean jumped off of the rock and onto a passing bird.
Now alone with her, Chase turned to face Serena.
She was terrified, and so she did the first thing that came to mind- she ran.
She dare not look back; as she knew what she would see.
She stopped at the temple, panting heavily.
Guan and Dashi came out to inspect what the problem was.
Serena couldn't speak. The demonic transaction that she had just witnessed left her dazed and helpless.
Dashi sat her down, and the two repeatedly asked her questions.
She heard their voices, but their words didn't register in her mind.
All that she could focus on was seeing Chase transform into that…thing.
Tears flooded down her face, and she began to shake involuntarily.
"Serena! What happened??" Guan yelled to her, silencing Dashi.
She shook her head. "Chase…" She whined.
This alarmed the two. "What? What about Chase??"
She shook her head again. "I can't…Bean…Soup…" She tightly shut her eyes and drew her knees up to her chest.
The two drew back, confused. Could she mean…? No…Chase would never…Would he?
"Where is Chase?" Dashi asked her.
"He's coming." She said quietly. "It's too horrible…You must stop it…"
She was calming down- the two monks could tell.
"But what happened to Chase?" Guan wanted to know.
"Wouldn't you rather hear it from me?"
The two men turned to find Chase Young smirking and leaning up against a pillar inside of the temple.
Serena tightly closed her eyes and hugged her knees.
"Chase," Guan asked, "What have you done?"
Chase chuckled darkly.
"I have finally figured out how to surpass you, Guan." He replied.
"Oh, really?" The master monk challenged. He frowned. "We'll see about that."
Chase tossed him his trusty Spear of Guan, while grabbing his own weapon.
Never breaking eye contact, the two warriors raced off to their battle…but we all know how that ended.
Dashi, meanwhile, tended to Serena.
"What happened?" He tenderly asked her once more.
Her reply shocked the grandmaster, and he carefully led the girl inside.
Wuya was one thing. She was locked inside of the puzzlebox. But Hannibal Roy Bean was something entirely different. And now Chase was on the side of evil…There were ways that things could we worse, but Dashi did not stop to think of them.
The fight between Chase and Guan seemed to last for ages, and Guan finally returned with the verdict.
A solemn look of disappointment was etched in his face.
Dashi and Serena took this as news that he had lost.
"Chase has turned to the Heylin side…" He told them sadly. "And we have lost more than a good friend in this war."
Serena and Dashi exchanged worried glances.
Guan turned to the female member of the Xiaolin team.
"Dojo will take you to him." Was all that the master monk told the confused girl.
"What does that mean?" she asked him.
"It means what I said it means." He explained with a sigh. "We have lost more than a good friend in this war against the Heylin forces…We have lost two."
