"I see, so Hannibal has some mysterious plot unfolding, with you at the center of it." Master Fung asked, looking at Chase.
Chase looked away.
"How can we stop Hannibal Bean without even knowing what he's doing that we must stop?" Omi asked.
"All will be revealed in due time, but you must be ready. A hard choice lies ahead for one of you, and you must be ready to make it." Master Fung replied cryptically. Chase noticed the old man glancing at him as he said this.
"In the mean time, you are welcome here Chase Young, so long as you agree to work with us, and not against us."
"I don't plan to stay long." Chase muttered.
"It is late though, and we all need rest. We will discuss things further in the morning."
Everyone agreed, and headed for their rooms, except for Chase. He watched them go with an unreadable expression.
'They actually trust me enough to let me stay here? How dumb are these monks?...'
He shook his head, and headed for one of the larger buildings.
xoxoxo
Omi yawned as he left the building with the bathroom in it.
"I must not drink so much water before I goto bed..." he muttered.
He glanced at one of the buildings, and noticed a figure ontop of it.
He hopped up to the roof.
"Chase Young?" he called.
"Up a little late aren't we, little monk?" Chase asked.
"I should be requesting the same answer. What're you doing up here?"
"Meditating, what does it look like?"
"Should you not be resting?"
"This is how I rest, and it works better if things are quiet, like they were before you showed up."
"Master Fung says it is better to meditate in the morning, for the sun can give you much energy."
"The time of day doesn't matter, as long as my energy gets restored."
"I have been wondering about your fight with Hannibal Bean. He seemed to outmatch you in strength, although if you had used the Serphant's Tail, you might've won. Why do you refuse to use Shen Gong Wu when they can help you in a showdown?"
"Because they are nothing more than tools. I rely on my martial arts skills alone."
"Even the strongest warrior needs help at times."
"Are you here to talk or tell me how to I should fight?"
"Sorry, I did not mean any offense."
"You should return to bed, we'll need all the strength we can get when we fight Hannibal."
"What about you? Don't you require sleep?"
"If I can meditate in peace, I'll get all the rest I require. Besides, I doubt you have any spare bedrooms."
"Actually, we have one room you can use if you are interested-"
"Omi, please leave."
Omi was about to talk, but Chase looked over his shoulder at him. His eyes glew threateningly.
"I will leave now." Omi stammered.
He hopped down to the ground, and returned to his room.
Chase sighed and closed his eyes.
'Oh Chase...' a voice chuckled in his head.
"Can't I get through one session of meditation without you interrupting?" Chase grumbled.
'Now where would the fun be if I didn't mess with ya every chance I got? 'Sides, I wanted to discuss a little 'deal' with ya'
"...What're you talking about?"
'I see you're startin' to get fond of the little monks.'
"Don't be stupid, those idiots mean nothing to me."
'That's not what I'm findin' in this little head of yours.'
"Just get out of my head and stay out."
'I haven't even told you my offer yet.'
"I don't want to hear it, now leave me alone."
'I don't like being interrupted, and I suggest you listen-'
"I won't tell you again, get out of my head. I'm not interested in any deals with you whatsoever."
'Fine, you'll just have to make your choice later.'
"Whatever, just get out of here."
A few minutes of silence told Chase Hannibal had left.
'Make my choice? I wonder he's planning...'
xoxoxo
The next morning, the 4 monks were training in the courtyard.
"So, what do you think Hannibal's really up too?" Rai asked as he swung a wooden stick at a training dummy.
"Who knows?" Kimiko replied.
"I am wondering what Chase Young's role in his plan is." Omi put in.
"I reckon we'll find out soon enough." Clay replied.
Chase walked up to the group.
"So, what're you doing exactly?" he asked.
"Just a little practice, in case we have to fight Hannibal again." Rai replied.
"Most likely we will."
"Care to try and beat me?"
Chase smirked.
"Do you really want to take that challenge?"
"Bring it on, dude, I'm a lot stronger than the last time-"
Before Rai could finish, Chase grabbed the wooden stick he was holding, yanked it from his grasp, tripped him with it, and pointed it at Raimundo's face.
"You were saying?" Chase asked with a smirk.
"I was saying I was stronger, but I'm saving my strength for later."
"Of course that's what you meant."
"Mornin' kiddos, and Chase Young." Dojo crawled over to them. Everyone noticed he was scratching at his back vigorously.
"What's wrong?" Kimi asked.
"I got a Shen Gong Wu alert, but it's not a new one. I think our friend the bean is calling us out again, cuz it's the Moby Morpher."
"So, what do we do? We can't just let him keep it."
"Yeah, but it's bound to be a trap." Raimundo pointed out.
"Perhaps we should let him have this one for now." Chase muttered.
They heard a screech, and looked up to see Ying Ying circling above them.
The bird flew down to them and landed in front of Chase.
A light blue beam shot from its eyes, and a hologram of Hannibal appeared.
"I'm sure your little snake friend has already sensed the Moby Morpher," he said.
"I'm not a snake!" Dojo exclaimed angrily.
"Since I know you well, you probablly won't come out after cuz you think it's a trap. But I'm offerin' a deal to YOU Chase. A deal I know you can't refuse,"
"What makes him think you won't refuse?" Kimiko asked.
"This does." a voice said behind them.
4 vines grabbed the monks from behind and lifted them off the ground. Chase whipped around to see Hannibal holding them.
"Let them go, Bean." he growled.
"Why should I?"
"Because this fight is between you and me alone."
"True, and we will continue it. I'll see ya there."
Chase lunged at him.
"Serphant's Tail!"
Chase passed through him, and Hannibal flew off, laughing.
"Sometimes I wonder why I didn't just kill him in the first place..." Chase muttered.
"Uh Chase? The hologram thing's talkin again." Dojo pointed at it.
"Now, I'm sure I've already flown off with the brats. Think of them as insurence. To insure you'll cooperate. Now listen up. I'll be waiting for ya. Ying Ying will take ya to the location, and we'll have an actual fight, since you should be well rested now. And don't bring the dragon. Don't keep me waitin' Chase, or your little friends'll take a nose dive into lava."
The hologram vanished, and Ying Ying looked up at Chase with glaring red eyes.
"This is crazy! The kids are dead! This is horrible! What're we gonna do!" Dojo exclaimed, sinking to the ground.
"It seems Hannibal Bean has given you a deadly choice." Master Fung said as he walked up to them.
"Where were you 5 minutes ago?" Chase muttered, "So what're you going to do?"
"I can do nothing. This is your decision to make. The monks lives are in your hands."
"They're dead." Dojo muttered.
"Why should I save them?" Chase asked.
"I think you are the one who can best answer that." Master Fung replied.
Chase looked at him, then at Dojo.
Ying Ying hopped up onto his shoulder, a pair of chopsticks in its mouth.
"The Changing Chopsticks? When did Hannibal get them?" Dojo asked.
"Fine, lead the way bird." Chase muttered.
xoxoxo
Ying Ying landed in the middle of a forest in front of a cave.
Chase jumped off its back.
"Changing Chopsticks!"
He returned to normal size, and faced the cave.
"Alright, now where?" he asked, looking at the bird.
Ying Ying took to the air and flew into the cave, Chase following it.
After a few minutes of dim light, an orange glow lit up the tunnel. He came into a large chamber full of molten lava and rocks.
Ying Ying flew over to a large platform of rock, and in a cage sat the 4 monks.
"Look at it like a steam shack, at least it'll help us relax." Kimiko muttered as she sat Indian style with her chin resting on her knuckles.
"Yeah, relaxing steam, and the molten lava dip will take layers of dead skin off." Rai remarked in a sarcastic tone.
Ying Ying landed on top of the cage, and the monks looked up to see Chase.
He was a little shocked to see they were happy too see him.
"It's about time you got here." Rai said in an annoyed tone, though he was smiling.
"I must agree. It took you a little longer to get here than I thought."
They all looked up to see Hannibal on another slab of rock a little higher up.
"Well I probablly would've gotten here sooner had you allowed me to ride the dragon here." Chase retorted.
"Well, I couldn't allow for someone to interrupt our little discussion, now could I?"
"By discussion, I assume you mean a Xiaolin showdown."
"No, no Xiaolin showdown. We're settling this with just a regular showdown. If you manage to win, the monks go free. If you lose, they get sealed in the Ying Yang world, and you swear loyalty to me."
"No Chase, don't listen to him! He's got something up his sleeve!" Rai yelled.
"Raimundo is right! Even though Hannibal Bean is not wearing a shirt!" Omi yelled.
Chase looked from them to Hannibal.
"I accept the terms..." he muttered.
"Good, then let's get started."
Hannibal jumped down, and landed in front of him. He started throwing punches, Chase blocked them, and things were a blur to those watching.
"So, why is Chase risking everything to help us?" Kimiko asked.
"Who knows, but right now, we want Chase to win." Rai answered.
Chase grabbed a fist in one hand, and threw a punch with the other. Hannibal caught it, and they were at somewhat of a stalemate.
"I'm a little surprised Chase. Who'd have thought you would risk your freedom for these brats. After all, you did say they meant nothing to you, weren't those your exact words?" Hannibal taunted.
"I'm only doing this to prove to you that I'm not easily defeated."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's it."
Hannibal grew two more arms, and grabbed Chase's arms, and twisted around and flung him across the rock, and he slid into a pillar of rock.
He slowly got to his feet. He quickly jumped out of the way as Hannibal crashed down where he'd been standing moments before.
Chase landed near the edge of the rock, where it sloped downward into the lava.
Hannibal jumped again and landed in front of him. He threw two punches at him, and Chase blocked them with his arms, shaking with strain to keep from being moved.
"You seem weaker than the last time we fought. Maybe I should just end you right now." Hannibal chuckled.
Chase felt himself sliding backward slowly, and he could feel the heat from the lava.
'Come on!' he growled in his head.
He could hear the rock beginning to break.
"Come on Chase!" Rai yelled.
"You can do it!" Omi cheered.
"Don't give up!" Kimiko piped in.
"Come on, partner!" Clay yelled.
As they kept shouting words of encouragement, Chase felt something strange.
It felt like new strength had formed in him.
His already slitted eyes narrowed further, and morphed into his beast form. He gave a savage roar.
"You need to consider breathmints." Hannibal muttered.
Chase, with his enhanced strength, shoved him backward, and leapt over to the cage, landing on the roof. He transformed back to his human form, and grabbed the edge of the metal roof, and peeled it of half way.
"Nice comeback." Kimiko remarked as he helped her out of the wrecked cage.
"Yeah dude, nice goin'." Rai put in.
After helping everyone out of the cage, Chase turned to face Hannibal.
"This isn't over yet, Chase. You're either leavin' this place with me, or you're not leavin' at all." the now angry bean stated.
"I've got another idea, I'm leaving with the monks, and if you try to stop us, I'll throw you into the lava." Chase retorted.
"Well, we're certainly full of ourselves for someone who lost so easily the last two fights we had."
"I guess we're not leaving without a fight, then."
Hannibal jumped into the air, and Chase and the monks jumped out of the way in time before he landed ontop of them.
He and Chase locked grips for a minute, before a loud cracking noise reached their ears. They looked at the ledge they were standing on, and saw large cracks spreading through it.
"Uh oh..." they both muttered.
The ledge gave way, and the two fell towards the lava. Chase grabbed onto the edge of the rock in time to keep from falling in. Small pebbles fell into the lava and steam rose.
"Chase, don't let go!" Rai yelled as he and the others ran toward him.
"Why on earth would I let go?" Chase retorted.
The rock he held onto started cracking, and it broke away from the ledge. Time seemed to slow down for a moment, before a hand closed around his wrist. He looked up to see Clay holding his wrist, while the others were holding onto Clay's other arm.
"We got ya, partner."
"Quick question, where's Hannibal?" Kimiko asked.
"Who cares, just pull me up!" Chase ordered in annoyance.
It took some work, but they managed to get Chase back onto safer rock.
"Alright, let's get out of here." Rai sighed.
Chase felt something wriggle in his hair, and ran his fingers through it trying to dislodge whatever it was.
"What's goin' with you?" Rai asked.
"There's something in my hair." Chase replied, annoyance evident.
He found something, and when he grabbed it, he felt teeth sink into one of his fingers. He let out a yelp as he threw whatever it was, and Hannibal bounced as he hit the ground.
"There's a reason you should keep your hair short." he snickered as Ying Ying flew over to him. He hopped on the bird's back, and they flew toward the hole in the top of the volcano.
"I'll be back, mark my words. And things'll end differantly."
Then they were gone.
"Ok, near death experiance, good guy nearly losing then making a comeback, cryptic threat, yep we're done here." Rai chuckled.
"Let's get out of here before anyone else nearly falls in." Kimiko suggested.
Everyone agreed, and they headed down the tunnel and exited the volcano.
They were met with a large green dragon.
"Dojo?" Omi asked in joyfull shock.
"The one and only." Dojo replied.
"Why did you follow me?" Chase asked.
"You don't think Hannibal Bean is gonna keep me from helping you guys out, do ya? Now hop on, I think this things about to blow."
"Trust Hannibal to pick a self destroying lair." Chase sighed.
As they climbed on the Dojo, the ground started rumbling, and smoke came from the top of the volcano.
"She's gonna blow!" Dojo yelled as he took to the air.
The volcano erupted, and lava spewed from the top.
"Good thing Dojo followed you, Chase, or else we'd be getting a lava bath." Kimiko said as they flew away from the small island.
"It is most fortunant that he decided not to listen for a change." Omi agreed.
"I've so got to take a shower when we get back, I sweated enough to fill a lake."
"And I've got to get the feeling of that bean in my hair out." Chase muttered in disgust.
Everyone else laughed.
"Let's go home, Dojo." Rai called to the dragon.
"Can do."
He lifted higher into the air, and headed for the dojo.
xoxoxo