CHAPTER 1:

Sunrise slowly washed over the citadel of one Chase Young. The soft glow of dawn painted the clean white marble in shades of pink and orange-red, the sky a blazing amber. While most of the other inhabitants were still sleeping, a young boy was awake.
He was a thin but muscular boy, with pale skin and rumpled blood-red hair that would have made him stand out in a crowd, not that his yellow eyes didn't already do the job. He was dressed in training armor, perching precariously on the edge of a roof top and gazing out at the sunrise. His freckled face was alive with anticipation. Today was Chaos's birthday, he had lived here for six years.

He couldn't contain himself any longer. The boy leapt with a practiced grace from the roof to the ground and set off at an alarmingly (for a boy his age) stealthy run across the dawn-dark grounds, heading for one room in particular. After only a few moments of quick navigation of the hallways, he leaned against the heavy wooden door, listening intently with slightly pointed ears. Chaos was reassured to only catch the sound of soft, slow breathing. He slowly turned the doorknob and crept in silence into the dark chamber.
The boy's yellow eyes glowed eerily in the dark in a cat-like manner as he approached a large bed, the occupant of which seemed to be none the wiser. Chaos inhaled, filling his lungs with air in preparation, and-!

"If you roar, I will rip your throat out." The voice was flat, acidic, and cold. A second pair of glowing yellow eyes opened and a dark form was just discernable moving in the blackness. The lights came on low, and Chaos reluctantly let the extra air out of his lungs. Oh well, there went that.
The man was already dressed. He got up and stood over Chaos, looking down at him with an unfathomable expression.
"What is it?" His voice was impatient this morning, and Chaos knew that wasn't a good thing.
"Hey Dad-"
"Master," corrected his father.

"Yeah, that. It's my birthday, Dad!" Despite the sour look on Chase Young's face, his son's eyes were bright and full of excitement. Chase himself was not a morning person, and was just happy for the moment to have stopped young Chaos from roaring in his ear. Chaos was known to do that, though he usually saved it for a special occasion. Chase growled quietly and rubbed his eyes.
"So how long has it been?"
"Six years!" Chaos crowed proudly, standing up a little straighter.
"In the future, Chaos, please wait until it is a decent hour of the day before telling me that. Leave my presence now." Chase Young, as you may have already guessed, was about as fatherly as an ice block.
Chaos sighed. "Yes Master." And with nothing more the young boy sulked out of the room.

Chaos Young was an accident, an abomination, an impossibility. He should never have even existed. Chase Young still did not quite know what had impaired his judgement on that one night with Wuya, but here lay the evidence. Six years? It seemed like forever. The Lord of the Citadel shook his head tiredly.

"Where are our Shen Gong Wu!"
"GAH!" Jack Spicer yelped as he was roughly shoved out of his bed and landed undignifiedly face-down on the floor. Ouch! What the heck!
"Hey! Whoah! I'm calling the cops!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet.
"We know you have 'em you slip'ry scoundrel, cough up!" There were four people standing around the small bedroom. All of them wore a very, very familiar red uniform. The words returned quickly to Jack. Xiaolin Dragons. That had been six years ago. What did they want now? Jack Spicer was no longer an evil boy genius, it was hard to claim to be a boy when you were really twenty. In fact, he didn't really get around to being very evil anymore. He was just a genius, an unemployed genius but the fact remained. What did they want with him? The fighting was long over, and they were too goodie goodie to come after the Monkey Staff...
"I didn't do anything!" Jack protested, hands raised defensively.
"Ah yes, but you have sung the same song many times before." Jack recognized the smaller man with the bald, round head despite the fact he had apparently gotten better at expressions. Omi. And the taller one with brown hair was Raimundo, and the cowboy was Clay, and the girl- Wait, where had Kimiko gone? He didn't have long to wonder, because she was returning to the room with a smirk on her face and the Monkey Staff in one slim hand. Jack had known that his hall closet wasn't exactly a good place to hide a Shen Gong Wu, but being that this was an apartment rather than the basement at his parents' house he hadn't had much choice.

"Hey! That's mine!" Jack protested immediately, lunging toward the door in a vain attempt to grab the Monkey Staff. He didn't make it far, Raimundo had a vice-like grip on his upper arm. Jack was pretty sure he was bruising already.
"Only the Monkey Staff in the closet, he must've hidden them all over the place," Kimiko reported.
"I didn't take your Shen Gong Wu already!" Jack snapped, starting to lose patience, "I don't even care anymore, I gave up on all that stuff when you guys won the last Showdown!" He scowled at them all.
"Prove it," snarled Rai, shoving him against a wall and effectively knocking the wind out of him.
"Perhaps Jack is telling the truth?" Omi wondered aloud, though his voice was filled with doubt. Jack nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, you guys know I never stand up to questioning!" The four dragons exchanged skeptical glances.
"Okay then, if you don' got 'em, who does?" asked Clay. Jack shrugged.
"Um, I dunno, Wuya? Chase? Somebody besides me?"
"And how do we know you're not just lying again?" asked Raimundo. Jack sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Okay, umm, yeah. Stuff happened! Whee!

R&R! Another chapter's on its way!