Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown. If I did, Chase would be groveling at Jack's feet.
Warning: Chase x Jack, Bad grammar since English is only my second language. If any mistakes are pointed out, I will make sure to correct them!
AN: Wuya in the Dashi time-frame hasn't become Heylin yet. Neither has Chase, so Hannibal is the only member of Heylin to exist. Dashi hasn't created the Shen gong Wu yet either and at this point he's not the Grand Master yet. That's all. Thanks for reading!
Summary: The real Jack Spicer wasn't what they expected.
Existential
IX
The Xiaolin Temple was a sacred place hidden on the tallest peak of the tallest mountain. To get there, one had to cross a harsh, rocky terrain that was prone to sudden landslides while avoiding all the pitfalls and traps that littered the road. Without a guide it can take up to a week or more to navigate through the twisting path and without training, if the exposure to the elements doesn't kill, then the dozens of wild, feral mountain animals who were always looking for a meal will. It was a dangerous road (there were even rumors spreading through the nearby villages about the trail being cursed). Superstitious or not, not many have tried to cross it.
That's why, when he sensed that someone was on Temple ground, Dashi lumbered to his feet and picked up his bamboo hat from the ground from where he had been napping.
It has been a long time since someone has made it this far into Xiaolin territory.
Dashi was naturally curious.
He found the intruders in the woods; a tall, pale faced, red-haired boy with rail thin long limbs and a spirit that resembled something between a floating ball and an octopus.
There was a stunned look shot his way from the spirit as it's jaw dropped. A moment later, the spirit managed to gather itself. The swirling emotions in its eyes (bitterness, fondness, respect, and annoyance) were leveled at Dashi. There was recognition in its expression as it glared.
It knew Dashi.
It was angry at him.
Searching his memory didn't bring up any past grudges, however.
Dashi leveled back an even stare.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
"My name is Jack Spicer," the boy answered. "This is my guardian-"
"Ashley," the floating spirit said (too hastily, clearly a lie, but Dashi doesn't confront them).
"Jack and Ashley," Dashi acknowledged. "What are you doing on Temple ground?"
There was a telling pause before Dashi got an answer.
"We're lost," Jack said.
Dashi noticed something lying on the ground by Jack's feet. Following the direction of his stare, the boy was quick to grab the metal pack that was bent and mangled.
"You're hurt," Dashi noticed. Jack shouldered the metal pack using only his left arm while his right hung limply. With the way he was dressed (outlandishly and with that garnish penciled mark under one eye-it was an obvious bid to garner attention-) Dashi expected Jack to be someone who was more animated.
That solemn expression doesn't suit the face that was wearing it.
His true personality seem to be more subdue than his appearance lead people to believe and that stark contrast (the difference between looks and action) made it difficult for Dashi to get a good read on Jack.
"Hurt?! You said you were okay!" the spirit accused.
"My right shoulder is dislocated," the boy admitted.
"Dislocated?!" The spirit bellowed. Dashi turned his attention to Ashley. Underneath the affronted attitude, there was concern there that was hidden under a wave of annoyance. Dashi was suddenly reminded of Wuya (the Wuya he knew before she left on her journey, obsessed with finding immortality and power).
'Don't you dream about it?' Wuya asked. There was a yearning on her face. The ambitious gleam in her eyes twisted her expression until he doesn't recognize the girl he grew up with, but a moment later it disappeared with a heavy sigh leaving him back with the friend he knew, back with the kind soul he knew she was deep down.
'Power is not everything,' he gently reminded her.
'Yeah, when you have it,' she snorted. It was a dig at the training he was receiving at the Xiaolin Temple. She laid back on the ground with her arms bent behind her head as her pillow. She stared wistfully up at the stars. 'One day, Dash, I will become more powerful than anyone else in the world. Then I'll have what I want and I'll be happy.'
'What would make you happy?' he asked.
Wuya looked deep in thought before replying.
'The world bowing at my feet.'
"Come with me," Dashi said. He interrupted the spirit's berating of Jack. He pushed aside the memory of Wuya. "I'll tend to your wounds."
"We're fine," Ashley snapped. Another glare was shot Dashi's way. "Come on, Jack. We're leaving."
The spirit arrogantly lift her chin and she turned without hesitation in the direction that would have led them out of the woods. The spirit obviously knew her way around Temple ground (it went against their earlier admission that they were lost). It was unsettling, but other then their eagerness to get as far away from Dashi as soon as possible, he doesn't get the sense that they meant any harm.
It doesn't mean that they're harmless however or that they weren't spies for Hannibal.
The pair barely took two steps before Guan and Chase arrived to block their way.
"Guests?" Guan asked beaming. "It's been a while since we had visitors."
Guan's smile and Chase's scowling face stopped the two in their tracks and Dashi noticed how the spirit got into a defensive posture.
"What are you?" Chase asked bluntly. He gave the floating spirit a strange look.
Ashley and Jack exchanged looks again and Dashi saw the barest head tilt of a nod when they reached a consensus.
Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, the boy pulled out a small round ball a little smaller than the palm of his hand.
He threw it to the ground.
The crack of an explosion was heard before heavy smoke began to billowed out. Soon, the woods was covered in a thick smog that robbed them of breath and sight. In surprise, Dashi, Guan, and Chase choked and coughed. Dashi has never tasted the acidic like ash that burned at the back of his throat before. Waving a hand, he tried to dispel some of the air.
By the time it cleared, the two were gone.
A feral grin crossed Chase's face and like his name, he took off after the two without a word to Dashi or Guan.
"Should we go after them?" Guan asked.
Another explosion coming from another part of the woods cuts off any reply Dashi would have made. By the time he and Guan arrived, Chase already had the struggling boy in hand and the spirit was cursing expletives at him.
"Let Jack go!" the spirit screeched. Ashley seemed anxious and furious. She hovered over the struggling pair. Her tentacles flapped in distress. Any punches she throws goes right through Chase who looked annoyed.
Dashi sighed a little.
He took the boy from Chase.
"Let's heal your injury and then we'll talk," he said firmly. With his hand on the collar of the boy's jacket, he led everyone back to the temple with Ashley threatening them the entire way.
In one of the training rooms, Guan got ready to reset Jack's arm. "This might hurt," Guan said as one hand braced against Jack's shoulder blade. He doesn't give any warning before he yanked. There was a quick loud crack when the bone popped back into place.
Jack's face turned pale.
"You're all set," Guan patted the boy on the shoulder gently. The kindest out of the three of them, Guan treated the pair like guests instead of intruders that were to be questioned.
Chase doesn't have such qualms. He grabbed the boy's pack, throws it, and began patting the boy down looking for weapons like the explosive tags that was thrown earlier. Other than his clothes and a pair of gauntlets that he wore on his arms, the boy has nothing else on him save for a heart shape object that had the boy scrabble for it in desperation.
"It belonged to my brother," Jack said. His voice was strained and his face stressed. It was the first real emotion he had seen come from the boy.
It looked like nothing more than an odd shaped piece of stone. Dashi saw no reason why Jack couldn't keep it. He nodded to Chase who toss the stone back to Jack without a care.
"Why did you run?" Dashi asked.
If Jack and Ashley were truly lost as they said, they had no reason to run from Dashi, Guan, or Chase.
"Maybe we thought we were going to be robbed." Ashley growled.
"We're Xiaolin Monks!" Chase snarled. "We're not common thieves!"
"You have the sly face of one!" Ashley sneered. "You can't blame us for running! Anyone seeing your face would run for the hills!"
"You little b-!"
Guan held up two hands and tried vainly to keep the peace.
While Ashley and Chase descend into childish bickering, Jack looked on as a silent spectator and Dashi continued to study Jack Spicer who held onto his stone tightly with white knuckles.
Chase led the interrogation. His usual brand of intimidation and good looks didn't seem to have the normal effect (people-half afraid or half in love or a combination of the two- were usually eager to answer anything Chase wanted to know.) It was probably the first time anyone has outright refuse to answer Chase. Dashi could see golden eyes narrow.
'Perhaps it would be a humbling experience for him,' Dashi thought. Though, looking at the angry sparks shooting between Chase and Ashley, Dashi doesn't think the surrounding area could handle such a blow to Chase's pride or Ashley's ego.
"Shut up, hag and answer the question!" Chase snarled. "What are you doing trespassing on temple ground?"
"Who are you calling a hag! You girly-haired brat!"
"We were lost trying to look for a friend." Jack said.
"Jack!" The spirit glared at the boy.
"What friend and where did you come from?" Chase asked. "Which village?"
"An old friend. His name is Clay." The boy said. "We came from Zanjo."
"Really?" Chase obviously doesn't believe anything Jack said. Dashi could see Chase's temper thinning as the interrogation wore on. Patience was never really a virtue for Chase. It showed in the way his face grew more pinched when he doesn't get any more answers to his questions.
To his credit, Jack never wavered from his story even with Chase looming over him with a darkening expression that would have sent anyone with any self-preservation running for the hills. There was no evidences or reason to believe that Jack and Ashley weren't who they said they were, lost travelers who inadvertently ended up on Xiaolin territory by accident while looking for their friend.
Raising two fingers slightly as a silent signal, Chase stopped on Dashi's orders, though his expression spoke of unhappiness and irritation.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Dashi asked Jack. If their story was to be believed, Zanjo was a remote village that was more than twenty miles away. The walk from there to the temple would have exhausted them. "If not, you're welcome to stay here."
His offer was met with silence from everyone.
"This temple will be glad to offer shelter to weary, lost travelers." he said. It was also going to get dark soon. At night, the mountain became even more dangerous. "Please consider it as an apology for the way you were treated."
Chase scowled and Guan looked happy at the prospect of having boarders.
Ashley gave him a suspicious look.
'Why are you letting us stay? What are you up to?' Her eyes silently questioned.
The weight of her stare surprised Dashi with the intensity.
"If it isn't too much trouble, could we spend the night?" Jack stared straight into Dashi's eyes.
Dashi, who has never seen that particular shade of crimson before, felt the air grow oppressive. If he had hair, Dashi was sure it would stand on end.
"Of course," Dashi nodded. "Should we send someone to look for your friend?" he tested.
Somehow, he wasn't surprise that Jack declined the offer.
"No. I'm sure he's back at the village." Jack replied.
Jack's red eyes slid to Ashley. The spirit looked resigned after a staring match. Dashi allowed them to gather their things and Guan cheerfully lead them out to a spare room that the temple had.
"They're hiding something," Chase said once they were gone. Golden eyes sharply looked at where the pair had left. "Spy?"
"Perhaps," Dashi replied.
The balance between good and evil have been teetering lately (rumor has it that Hannibal was looking for an apprentice). As unassuming and harmless as Jack Spicer and Ashley appeared to be, Dashi knew that Jack Spicer and Ashley's strange arrival at a time where the balance was unsteady was not coincidental. Chase felt it. Guan felt it. Even Dashi (who has a habit of ignoring everything in favor of fishing or lazing about) couldn't ignore the way the scales kept lurching wildly. The balance of the world was changing.
The real question is in which way the scales tip.
The dark tint he felt from Ashley was a hint, however.
"The weight of a single rock can cause a landslide," he told Chase. "One must be careful where one kicks."
"I hate it when you talk in riddles," Chase grumbled. "So are they the rock or are they the landslide?"
It was a good question, but Dashi doesn't have the answer.
Leaving Chase behind, he goes back to meditate and think.
