As the day progressed, Jack felt his anger decrease to a dull throb in the back of his mind. Chase led him through the dark corridors of his home to a room lit only by soft, thick candles. Lining the walls were scrolls, old and tattered and withering into dust.
"Chase, why are we here? You said I could never come to this room. Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked, gazing amongst the nameless rolls of scripture.
"You. . . . you needed to be here." Chase answered, pinching the bridge of his nose. Jack noted the stress lines forming on his forehead. It suddenly occurred to him Chase had been at what Jack called his 'touchiest' all day. There were no words exchanged as Jack came closer to the heylin prince and stroked his cheek.
Chase snapped to attention, and Jack visibly shrunk back from him.
". . . Jack. . ."
"Hmm?" said Jack, looking directly into Chase's reptilian eyes. Somehow, Jack could see the beast writhing inside of him, desperately wanting to break free from his prison of flesh.
"Don't. . . .don't touch me. Ever. Again."
"Why? Have I committed some great crime from touching you, Chase? I think I'm entitled to do so."
Chase looked abruptly shocked his audacity, and then let his rage swallow him as he picked Jack up by his collar and flung him against the wall, managing to knock down a shelf of scrolls in the process.
"Oof!" grunted Jack, as he fell forward from the impact.
Chase, with a speed faster than light, approached the red-headed genius and snarled, "The likes of you will never have what is entitled to me. Learn that lesson well, Jack, before it gets you killed."
"And what makes you think you'll kill me so easily?" said Jack, and there was something in his voice that suggested that Jack was not Jack at all, but something much darker and psychotic, something that could only be heard amongst the screams of the damned.
"Damnit, has it happened already?" muttered Chase.
"Oh yes," a now threatening Jack answered, "it happened long before you were born."
His eyes were darker, Chase noticed absently as he went into his fighting stance. His eyes were not the mischievous, playful kind of ruby red he was so used to seeing, they were threatening. Jack was baiting him.
And the thing inside of him meant to send Chase to an early grave.
"Ah, no, none of that fancy Kung-fu bullshit. Just you, me, and a bit of heylin magic, eh?" said possessed Jack, wagging his finger at Chase like a naughty child.
A sudden burst of black light erupted from Jack's hand and flew towards Chase, who blocked it instantly and shot out with a wave of fire gathered from the lit candles. Jack, reeling from the onslaught of flames, waved them away and growled, stomping towards Chase, blocking every attack the warlord threw at him. He then grabbed Chase by his collar, spun him around and watched as his body flew out the room.
Chase landed on the other side of the hall, breaking through it almost, in pain and unable to move. That spirit had done something to his body, something he could not place in the haze of his mind.
He could hear voices down the hall, faintly shouting, ". . . . . Alright guys, let's move. . . . .get the wu and lets go. . . . fire?. . . ." and a sudden shout of 'Orb of Tornami'! And the hall was suddenly flooded with cold water. Chase actually moaned at the turn of these unfortunate events, but it was not over yet.
Chase heard the click of Jack's boots down the flooded hallway. The foolish Xiaolin monks had attracted his attention. There was no getting away now. For him, at least.
Chase took hold of Jack's ankle and pulled, causing Jack to trip and fall on his face. No matter what happened, Jack was still the same bumbling genius he'd always been.
"Oi. . . . .it seems my new skin does not fit me yet. Shall I take yours?" evil-Jack teased, getting up and giving Chase a swift kick to the stomach before dusting himself off, seeming completely dry.
Chase, feeling himself grow weaker and weaker by the minute, moaned, "Release him."
"No, Chase," said the thing inside of Jack, "He needs this. He's needed me for a long time now."
Chase's eyes shot wide open. Was he saying that Jack was. . . .meant for this? The poor fool could barely fight! It was only his genius that saved him—wait. Something so powerful should belong to himself. But was there something Jack did not want him to know? Something he'd been hiding? Maybe Chase had been underestimating him all along. How could he have been so foolish! So blatantly stupid?
Jack was Chosen. The spirit had told him this and he didn't listen. Jack did need this. But he couldn't let go, not now. It was safe to say Chase felt something for his apprentice, a sort of fatherly feeling which mellowed into something deeper. Still, he was an insect. An annoying, whining insect. But his, nonetheless. And Chase would never have what was his taken away from him.
"Let go, Chase," the spirit said, "You haven't been taking care of him. None of these mortals have taken care of him. Jack was unprepared for my entrance. And now you all will pay the price in blood."
And Chase faded deeply into oblivion, the smell of coppery blood trancing through his nostrils as the Xioalin monks screamed, sending him into a pit of nightmares.