Chapter 12

I lay as still as I could, my rigid body against the soft bed. With my eyes shut tight, I listened to footsteps grow louder as someone came closer to me.

The footsteps suddenly stopped and I knew that the person was right by my body. I felt warm air brush against my neck as they leaned in closer to me. My heart pounding faster, I felt their hand brush against my back.

Suddenly without warning, I flew off the bed and collided painfully with the wall. I rolled over and glared at the figure looming over me.

"Get up," Chase Young said calmly, "it's time for your training to begin."

I slowly got to my feet and straightened my self out, still glaring at him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Come. There is a lot to be accomplished today." He stalked out of the room and I hastily followed.

Chase led us down the hall and through a couple more doors. After a couple minutes walking, he finally pushed open a large door and shoved me inside.

Closing the door behind us, torches along the walls lit up revealing a large circular room. Tall columns edged the room with a torch positioned high up on each one.

Chase walked to the center of the room and motioned me to follow. I slowly walked after him, my footsteps echoing loudly as I crossed the stone floor.

"Okay," he said, his arms crossed and looking bored. "Attack me."

"What?" I said, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Attack me. It is time you were trained to increase your elemental powers."

"Why? If you defeated me that easily in the Showdown, why should I attack you just to be beaten again?"

"You are not attacking me to try to win against me, you are attacking me to train and increase your elemental powers. You have pledged your loyalty to me whether you like it or not and you will attack me now."

I sighed and hurled myself at him. I aimed an attack at him, ready to strike. His hands kept blocking mine with what looked like little effort.

"You are only using your martial art skills. I want you to use your elemental powers. Now attack me using your element."

I sighed again and prepared to attack Chase.

"Judollete Flip- Fire!" I yelled, and with my element, I aimed another attack at him. The force, which I had not felt since that night in the Vault suddenly returned to me.

Chase looked amused and dodged my attack. Without thinking, I suddenly released my element and what looked like a ball of fire went flying at him. Chase jumped out of the way of it as the ball hit a pillar behind him and extinguished with a shower of small flames.

As I prepared to release my element again, Chase came flying at me out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground. I let out a small groan as I collided with the stone floor.

Chase quickly rolled off me. Before I could get up, I felt my arms by my side being thrust against the floor by my head. Chase put his hands firmly over my wrists; he had me pinned.

"Good," he said, staring down at me while I struggled to free myself. "You are using your elemental powers. Soon I will train you to use them for evil."

I glared at him, but didn't look him in the eye. His eyes had this reptilian coldness to them, and if looked into the depth of his eyes, I felt like he had me under his control.

Chase seemed a little out of breath. I took this moment as my opportunity to free myself from his grasp. In one quick motion, I brought by knees up to my chest and kicked Chase off of me. He must have seen it coming though, for he was back on his feet in an instant.

"That's enough for now," Chase said. "We will continue your training later. Come, I expect you are hungry. You have not eaten in nearly two days."

He walked over to the door and opened it. I slowly got to my feet. My heart was pounding and I was almost out of breath. I had never trained this hard before with the other monks. In a creepy way, it kind of felt good. I pushed that thought to the back of my head.

Chase waited till I walked through the doorway and then followed me out. He quickly took the lead. Two cats appeared at his side, and some understanding must have passed between them, for the cats were suddenly behind me and growling because I wasn't walking fast enough. I quickened my pace.

We were soon in the large room that the Showdown had taken place in. Full daylight was streaming in from the stained glass windows and large stone fountains were gushing crystal clear water. A wooden table was standing in front of one of the windows. Two chairs were drawn up to it.

Chase walked over to the table and sat down at the head of it. He peered at the many dishes set in front of him, and then picked up a bowl of soup. I stood where I was, my hunger disappearing.

"Are you coming?" he asked, not bothering to look up. Chase had just picked up a magazine and was flipping through the pages.

I didn't respond, so Chase snapped his fingers. He pointed to the other chair, without moving his gaze from the magazine. The cats behind me pushed me forward towards the chair and I unwillingly walked to the table. I sat down after a menacing growl from one of the cats and crossed my arms.

"Well?" said Chase, his eyes still on the magazine. He was slowly sipping his soup and a disgusting smell wafted down the table. Somehow, it smelt like all the sorrow and death in the world; it smelt evil. "Are you going to eat anything?"

I looked at the cover page of the magazine. EVIL was written in large letters across the top; I couldn't make out any other words. I looked up to see something flying straight at me.

"Ow!" A muffin had just hit my forehead. I looked up to see Chase still sipping his soup and reading his magazine, his expression unchanged.

"Eat something."

I picked up the muffin and looked back at Chase.

"I think I'll eat it by the fountain."

He looked up at me, "you do that."

Avoiding glares from the cats, I headed to the fountain farthest away from him. Sitting on the edge, I slipped off my shoes and put my feet in the water.

Everything was so peaceful. I listened to the water trickling down stone and turned away from where Chase was sitting. My hunger overcame me and I ate the muffin, though I didn't trust it at all.

I yawned as a wave of tiredness swept over me. It wasn't the muffin, I was just tired from training. I lifted my feet out of the water and laid on the wide edge of the fountain, staring up at the stone ceiling.

A million thoughts swirled through my head, mostly about the conversation I had heard. My heart began to beat faster. I had totally forgotten about Chase's plan to take and split my essence with his.

Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, I told myself. I blinked slowly, watching the torches on the wall grow hazy with light.

I closed my eyes, unknowing that I would soon succumb to darkness.

Chase Young watched the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire lay by the fountain. He laughed, knowing that she would soon be feeling the effects of the early morning training that he had forced her to do. It was all part of his plan.

"Wuya," he said to the floating ghost who had appeared by his side. "Come. It will be easiest to take her essence now…"