dl-sPirit: And the next chapter, as I promised! This one, I think has been the most fun to write so far. Mainly because of the first half.

Raimundo: Uh-huh...yeah...(looks down) Ok, maybe, but still...

dl-sPirit: Hey, remember it! Don't own XS - and, before I forget, I wanna thank xXDeath-N'-HellXx and Lone Warrior 2 for reviewing 8D

Jack woke up, feeling more exhausted than usual. He yawned and stretched, reluctant to get out of bed. "That was some weird dream," He muttered. It was a good thing Wuya had gone with Chase, or she'd be yelling at him for sleeping in until nine.

He sat up, looking at the clock. 9:36. Even though it was late summer, it was actually pretty late for him. He shrugged and got out of bed. So what if he overslept once? It wasn't like his robots would explode because of it – he made a few fine tune adjustments to them after Wuya left. She had liked it, like some alarm system for him. He changed into his normal Frankenstein shirt and pants – his trenchcoat wasn't in his closet. He assumed he left it downstairs. He'd just grab it before breakfast. Oh, and maybe tighten the bolts on a few Jack-bots. And maybe try to find better weapons. After all, ever since the Xiaolin Losers got that kid, Jack had yet to grab any more wu. It wasn't fair – five against one were terrible odds, even if the fifth couldn't fight. He still made some pretty convincing illusions. He had one wu left – the Monkey Staff.

He left his room and went down the stairs. By this time, Mom had probably left for work so he had the whole house-

"Hi Jack!"

He yelled and jumped a full three feet into the air. He recognized that voice. But it couldn't be…right? Since her last visit two years ago, she hadn't come back. He turned around and saw it was her.

Megan.

"What are you doing here!" He stamped his foot in frustration, clearly remembering her last visit. "How long have you been here?"

"Half an hour. Aunt Lily said to wake you up if you weren't up by the time she left."

"Sorry to ruin your fun, then, but I beat you to it." He walked to his workshop, but Megan followed.

"I couldn't find the ugly old hag."

"Yeah, she left."

"Why is your basement locked?"

"To keep people like you out. Now stop asking questions."

"Why?" Jack stopped and glared at Megan. Though she was now a year older, she was still just as annoying, and she refused to remain silent. He sighed. He had no other option. "If you're quiet, you can play with the Jack-bots." He knew how desperate it sounded. Megan, in reply, shrugged, which slightly worried the evil genius. He punched in the access code and the door opened. He flicked on the lightswitch.

There, leaning against the table and looking quite bored, was the robot – what was its name? Konjou? – from last night. Jack grinned – so, it hadn't been a dream, he had a new partner.

"What's that?" Megan leaned against the railing, her interest clear. He decided to take advantage of that.

"It-"

"He," The robot corrected. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Ok, fine, he's a robot." Jack shot a look at the robot. Now it – he looked offended. Jack wasn't sure how – nothing had changed on its face, it just seemed offended. "And you can play with him if you behave."

"Ok!" Megan hopped on the railing and slid down with a joyous squeal.

"Hey, my robot!" Jack ran after her. Megan reached the bottom first and ran over to Konjou.
"Hiya. Did Jack make you?" Konjou made a strange, echoing sound. It took them a few minutes to realize he was laughing.

"No. He merely…repaired my arm." He stopped laughing. "And I am… no…robot." He nodded, as if to assure himself he had used the right words.

"Then what are you?" He stood up a little straighter.

"Shza magna." Jack blinked at his words. They didn't sound like any tongue he ever heard, and that accent was foreign too. Where did this thing – shzamagna or whatever it was – come from? Megan giggled.

"Hmm?"

"You talk kinda funny." Konjou cleared a nonexistent throat.

"It's not…what I would say. I learn by… by…" Jack noted the western twang back in its voice.

"Copying?"

"Copying." Both Megan and Jack laughed, unable to control the urge. The tough-looking, spiked ro –shzamagna had, for just a second, sounded like the little girl. Jack tried to calm down.

"O-okay, that's enough." He let out one last snicker before noticing the shzamagna's glare. Crap, what was his name? "Hey, uh-"

"Konjou." He sounded like he was pissed off.

"Yeah, can you show us what you can do?" Though Konjou had no visible mouth, his violet eyes revealed his smirk.

"Sure thing, partner." He took a few steps forward and stretched out his wing-frames. There was a flash of light, a brief sizzle, and red electricity fields surged between the rods.

"Cool – ack!" Jack ducked as an electromagnetic bolt whizzed overhead, crashing into a shelf behind him. The shzamagna then dug his claws into his arm, tore off a sharp piece of armor, and threw it like a dart at Jack. "Aaaaaaaaah!" He ducked, expecting to hear a crash above. It never came. Looking up, Jack saw the metal shrapnel, suspended in midair and glowing blue. It floated back to its owner, and he put it back on his arm. It melted seamlessly into place. Konjou tapped a claw against the arm. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry! Seesh!"

"Can you fly?" Megan asked. Jack looked at Megan, then at Konjou. He was surprised to see him shake his head.

"Weigh too much." Jack frowned, thinking.

"I bet I could fix that. Just get back onto the table." Konjou shrugged and sat down on the lit table. Jack walked over to the table and grabbed the toolbox below it. Though he wasn't a machine, Jack was convinced that Konjou had enough robotic properties so he could work on him. "Erm…mind turning around?" Konjou growled quietly before obeying. The first thing Jack noticed was the fractured metal right between the wing bases, where part of an iron pipe popped out. "That's interesting." Konjou tensed.

"What is?"

"Don't move."

"Wha-?" Jack pushed the pipe back into the body with a loud thump. Konjou's body appeared to seize up and fell forward eye sockets black. Both Jack and Megan stared. Then, Megan said,

"I think you broke him."

(---)

"Raimundo! You have grown most slow since our last battle! Hyah!" Omi jump-kicked at his apparent enemy. Sparring time at the temple had always been Omi's favorite part of being the Dragon of Water. Though he couldn't always count on a good fight from, say, Jack, he could always count on one from his friends. So why was Raimundo faltering?

Sitting some distance away, under one of the old tree, Jericho and Raimundo watched Omi spar with thin air. The star on Jericho's chest glowed slightly as he furrowed his brow, concentrating on the illusion. Raimundo sighed.

"Jericho, you're a godsend." The younger boy didn't reply; he was too absorbed in his efforts.

"Raimundo!" Both boys jumped, and Omi's illusion vanished. Raimundo looked up at Kimiko and Clay.

"Hey….it's not what it looks like, I swear." The Shoku Warrior tried to avoid everyone else's glares. "Jericho, back me up here."

'He said he needed a short break,' Jericho signed. The Dragon of Fire groaned.

"Jericho, please don't do it again. We need to keep training with each other."

"Then how is he supposed to train?" Raimundo asked. Omi cleared his throat.

"Jericho may use the Tiger's Eye if we request it or when he is alone. That should be adequate," The Dragon of Water replied. Raimundo groaned.

"Fine." He got up, revealing the twisted black metal between him and the younger boy, and pointed at the metal. "Excuse me if I wanted to check that out some more."

"Anything new?" Clay asked. Omi looked slightly eager. He had to confess; since Raimundo brought it back three days ago, the metal intrigued him.

"Well…I did manage to dent it when I dropped the Two-Ton-Tunic on it." Clay picked it up and examined it.

"Where?" He asked.

'It repaired itself.' Jericho shrugged. 'Really. It's weird.'

"Yeah…" Raimundo looked around. "Hey, where's Dojo? I haven't tried dropping him on it." Jericho snickered. No one else seemed quite as amused. "Seesh, can't you guys take a joke?"

"Hey, everyone! We got another hot one!" Everyone looked up as Dojo approached, holding the Scroll of the Shen-gong-wu over his head. "It-" He sniffed. "Hey, what's that smell?"

"Might be this." Clay held the metal out to Dojo. He took one sniff and covered his nose.

"Boy, that's really strong. Smells familiar." Everyone else exchanged looks. The metal didn't smell like anything to them. "Anyways, let's get going." Dojo expanded to his full size, and the four warriors jumped on. Jericho, however, hung back.

'Can I come?' Unlike the rest, he had to ask for permission. They hesitated.

"Well, Jericho, it's not that we don't like you or anything, but you've been tagging along with us a lot lately. Maybe you can skip this one. Getting the wu should be easy." Jericho nodded and watched as Dojo took off.