Jack murmured a word that no one in his age group should ever be able to utter, and Hiei felt a superior smirk grace his lips, his dragon was larger, and cooler looking.
The dragon took perch on the uneven ground of the forest, leaves fluttering serenely away from its massive form.
Four juveniles leaped off its hindmost end, a strange group by most means, One of them was tall with a muscular build (though shorter than Kuwabara, he was taller than Yusuke), his blond hair brushing over his eyes, sparkling beneath his cowboy hat. Another member of this mysterious group was darkly tanned, his silky ginger hair ruffled messily, framing his round face, emerald eyes sparking with irritation, he was a little shorter than Kurama. The third member was small, really small, he couldn't have been older than nine, and he could barely reach Hiei's knees, his fierce raven eyes glowed with undeserved pride, the lemony-gold color of his skin seeming to make his shaved chrome emit a blinding, slightly disturbing light. The last one was clearly a female, her inky, and slightly oily, hair put up in pigtails, her sable eyes filled with malice, she was a bit taller than Jack. All of them were donned in scarlet robes.
Jack scowled darkly at the other adolescents, his ruby eyes glistening with unmasked hatred.
"So you Xiaolin losers finally showed up, huh?" a false smirk lit his lips, an attempt to hide his anxiety at their presence.
"Oh, look, it's Jack, come back to lose again?" the petite girl haughtily taunted.
Yusuke twitched with irritation, who was this bimbo to treat the kid that way?
Jack let loose a soft growl, "Yeah, right, losers!" he burst, and then shrieked "Jack-o-Bots, attack!"
He took to the air, the propellers on his backpack whirring tirelessly to lift him up. He flew into the air again in his search for the unknown item, as the other assortment made quick work of the robots.
Something caught his eye, and he rushed towards it, the troop of detectives followed his flight with their eyes, seeing that he was headed toward some strange artifact hanging from a tree branch, but just as his fingers brushed it, so did the hand of the yellow one.
"Xiaolin Showdown!" they screamed in unison, " Gong Yi Tampai!"
The ground shifted beneath their feet, rumbling dangerously. "I wager my Tangle web Comb for your monkey staff!" the tiny child chimed.
Jack shouted "You're on!" in return, a vaguely insecure grin on his face.
Ground fell from underneath them, into a dark abyss.
Hiei's eyes were opened wider than usual, an amount of shock he would not usually show, Kurama's jaw hung loosely down, and Kuwabara and Yusuke seemed at the verge of cussing at the top of their lungs in shock.
New, sandy ground pushed at their feet, and rocks rose at their side, forming an arena wall.
A stand came, and lifted them so that they had a clear view of the fighting area, but couldn't really intervene.
"We fight until one of us surrenders!" the shiny-headed imp yelled.
A loud gong-ish noise echoed in the arena, signaling the beginning of the challenge.
Jack burst "Monkey staff!" his body undergoing a transformation, into some sort of mutated, human-monkey half-breed.
The smaller one hurled himself at Jack, bringing a fist up to hit at the red head.
Jack dodged out of the way, then turned, and delivered a kick, so soft that it was obvious he was holding back a lot, to the smaller ones rear end.
He skidded a minute, before jumping at Jack, punching him in the stomach a few times, then back flipping out of attack range.
Jack fumbled for a moment, but then regained his composure, and brought himself into a defensive fighting position.
"Tangle web Comb!" the bald one shouted, holding up some strange, hairclip like thing. Vines shot from his hand, extending to wrap around the staff that Jacks tail had hold of, ripping it away from the older one.
Jacks body returned to his normal form, his features twisting into a pained scowl, as he morphed to his past body.
The smaller one held up his prize, waving it cruelly at Jack "Ha, I have retrieved your weapon, do you give up now?" he taunted.
Jack growled between clenched teeth, "As if, loser!" and threw a weak punch, in a way that, again, showed he didn't mean to harm the small one.
The jaundiced one dodged the fist, and kicked out, ramming his tiny foot into the side of Jacks face.
He was sent flying, his body dragging on the ground, until his head hit a jagged rock sprouting up from the ground.
He screeched in pain, holding onto his wounded head with both hands.
The smaller one didn't seem to notice Jacks pain, smirking, "Do you give up now?" he said.
"Never!" the one on the ground shouted, and grabbed a rock, throwing it at the child, but it was not aimed to hit, it landed 2 feet away from the yellow kid.
However, the one standing seemed to sincerely think Jack had missed on accident, and gave a condescending smirk.
Jack pushed himself up unsteadily, one hand still gripping the top of his head as blood ran down past his eyes.
He stumbled up, only to be punched in the chest, and knocked down again.
It was a sad sight to behold, and the detectives felt fury bubble up from their souls.
Yusuke was confused, how had this all happened? And why would any one beat up Jack that bad, and then continue to do so after he was thoroughly beaten?
Worst of all, to him, was that on the opposite stand, where the other group was located, the tan one, and the girl were cheering on this kind of behavior! It was messed up, had they even realized what they were doing to Jack, how bad they were hurting him? He should be in a hospital right now, not in a one sided beat down!
On the battlefield, the small child was getting mad at Jacks refusal to give up, and he began kicking Jack on the ground, asking between kicks "do you give up?" Jack coughed 'no' every time the question was asked.
To Yusuke and Kuwabara, this was too far! And they began pounding on the invisible barrier, yet they went unnoticed by the combatants. Hiei's eyes narrowed darkly at the happenings below, he didn't care that Jack was getting hurt, but he didn't approve of a superior beating a lesser to this point, even if the weaker one was holding back because of age or gender. Kuramas face was scarily calm; showing the imminent danger the yellow kid was in.
Down below, the child lost his temper, pointing the hairclip thing at Jack; he yelled, "Tangle web Comb!"
The vines circled around Jacks thin neck, squeezing harshly.
The yellow boy leaned in growling, "Do. You. Give. Up?" Jack didn't have the air to answer, and he gasped franticly for oxygen.
A few moments of this, and a look of horror passed over the younger ones face, as he suddenly realized what he was doing.
He stepped back, the vines receded as he did, and Jack began choking for much needed air.
Jack croaked, "I g-give...up," he stopped a moment to breath " I g-give up." the ground fell back to it's original place, shifting back into the forestry.
Tears formed, and began falling from Jacks eyes, mingling with his blood, as he tried to hide his face from the other combatant.
----
Omi's eyes brimmed with his shock and fear, he hadn't meant for Jack to get that hurt! His group surrounded him, Raimundo and Kimiko cheered his name, telling him how awesome he was, but Clay looked down at him disapprovingly, not hiding his dislike for Omi's actions.
Shame burned at Omi, he had beaten someone weaker than him to tears, and he felt like a monster. He was no better than any villain.
-=-=-
Kurama and the rest of his group jumped from the foliage, running hurriedly to Jack.
Kurama and Kuwabara kneeled at Jack's side, Yusuke and Hiei standing between their fallen comrade and the opposing group.
Kurama pulled a seedling for a healing plant from his hair, growing it quickly, and tending to his cousins wounds, Kuwabara helping when he could.
Yusuke bellowed "What the hell?!" a string of curses following.
"Do you get kicks out of abusing those weaker than you? Almost Killing them?!" The posse stared open mouthed in shock, and the girl yelled "He's a villain! We're supposed to hurt jerks like him!"
Kuwabara's head popped upward "Villain, Villain?! You call some kid, who just wants some one to pay attention to him, a villain?!"
His face twisted into a scowl of contempt, "Who's to say you guys aren't the villains here?"
The girl shrieked "We're not the villains here! He's the one who starts the fights!"
Yusuke saw red, rage, like hot coals, burned within him, but a cool look from Hiei was enough to get him to get his temper under control.
Hiei brought himself to his full height(though that wasn't really all that intimidating), and bared his fang-like teeth, then growled (this was for Kurama, not for Jack, he thought) "This will not occur again, Jack will no longer be harmed by you."
A shiver spontaneously passed through the group of adolescents.
The girl once again opened her mouth to argue, but the tan boy put his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head "They're a lost cause, they've already been tricked by Jack, into thinking that he needs help or something.", he shot a glare at the detectives.
Kurama felt cold fury build into his veins, and he hissed out "Tricked? You think we're tricked?" he stood, his blank face scarier than any of Hieis glares, "This is my cousin that you've brutally mistreated, my cousin you could have killed today" he made a vague gesture towards Jack, laid out, unconscious on the ground. Jacks pale face had streaks of a rusty red color, evidence of his blood, a nasty blue bruise taking up the entirety of his left cheek, his hair a tangled mess, strands stuck together in places from his own blood, his neck a canvas of blacks, purples, and blues, his clothes hid the rest of him, but from injuries past mentioned, it was easy to tell he was battered.
"My cousin who you do this to daily, my cousin who has to drag himself home, my cousin who has to bandage his own wounds." He scowled, "You believe that someone who has to do all this requires no help?"
Raimundo's face turned a red color, but he still said "Why would anyone help the villain?" Kuwabara growled "Idiot, stop making excuses for yourself." he paused "Nothing you say can make it okay to do this to someone."
With that, he lifted Jack off the ground, bridal style.
=--=--
'Ugh... my head hurts like a-'
He felt arms go beneath him, and lift him up, ' Ow! That was the bruise I got on my back yesterday... jerk...'
'wait, wait just a friggin minute, who the heck is picking me up?'
He opened his eyes in a snap, 'ow! ow! the sunlight! it burns!'
He screeched a cuss at the top of his lungs, and flailed his arms, only to choke in pain from his burning throat.
'What the- ? oh right, that Omi guy strangled me...'
He blinked a few times, to adjust his eyes to the light, and then said "Whu- what's goin' o-on?" he swallowed, trying to ease the pain in his throat.
He looked up at who was carrying him "Oh, h-hi Kuwa- what's u-up?"
He saw a relieved look pass over Kuwabaras face, and decided he wasn't going to get an answer, so he looked around a bit.
'Ah, crap!' he thought, as he caught sight of the Xiaolin monks, he was to tired to hide the fear that he felt when he saw them, and gave a little shriek, before burying his face in Kuwabaras shoulder, trying to mask his expression with it.
--=---=
A look of absolute shock passed on all of the childrens faces, they had only had a glance at Jacks expression, but that was enough.
The look of horror, so deeply run, was enough to make even Kimiko want to cry.
Kuwabara gave them a pointed look, "That's what I was talking about." he said as he tightened his hold on Jack in reassurance.
=-=-=-
A/N= well, wasn't that depressing...
My 2 bffs made me write this, and now we are all satisfied =) ,
and my wonderful big sis, MarzBunni, beta'd for me ^u^
I think that Clay is a little bit better than the other monks, so I write about him like I think about him, I hope no one minds, and also, please don't be offended by the Xiaolin bashing, I'm writing this from the Yu Yu Hakusho peoples' views...
jeez... poor Jack, I abuse him so... )=
I hope you like anyway, and thanks to all whom have reviewed!