I disclaim Xiaolin Showdown and all its characters, I in no way profit by writing this fanfiction.
(though, If I DID own XS, Chack would totally be canon and there would be a LOT more seasons, lol)
hope you enjoy the story!
Chapter 35
Jack walked down the hall, Naral at his heels. They had more or less had to put Chase to bed after he'd ended up vomiting up most of the contents of his stomach.
"Chase sure does overdo it at times, huh, buddy?" He asked, patting the jungle cats head as he made his way back to his room, leaving Chase to recover from his overindulgence.
The jungle cat nodded in agreement as he padded alongside the young man. JB-13 greeted his master at the door with a bow
"Welcome back, Master. Did you enjoy yourself with Master Chase?"
"Yeah, it was great, Chase made them dance, it was hilarious" The Goth smirked. For now, he wasn't going to mention his little encounter with a certain demonic Bean...No good could come of that.
"You always did enjoy forcing others to do your bidding, master" the mechanical man said, giving his master a knowing smirk.
"Yeah, well, I'm evil, kinda goes with the territory..." Jack shrugged with casual smile "Speaking of bidding, how is the construction crew coming along?"
"It is almost Master...Just one more Jackbot, and we'll be ready to begin construction."
THAT made the evil boy genius all but purr in delight "SWEET!" He grinned "Then let's get this puppy finished, and we'll be back in business!" he said, grabbing wires, microchips, metal, everything in his reach. Naral made a chuckle like noise in his throat, and padded out of the room, to leave the mortal to his business as he decided to go spend some time with a certain mountain lion.
Jacks hands moved in a blur of activity, connecting chips, soldering pieces of metal together, connecting tiny motorized joints (some of which with the changing chopsticks) JB-13 assisted his master by bringing him tools or handing him bits of wire, but for the most part, he stood back, and watched his master work. Jack always preferred to do these things by himself, after all...
A low rumble in the floor underneath him made Jack raise the goggles he'd lowered over his eyes, raising an eyebrow "Huh...that's weird...Hey, JB-13, think you could go see what THAT was all about?" he asked, snipping a few wires he needed to splice together.
"Of course, master..."he nodded, bowing before marching out of the room. Jack turned back to his work, putting his goggles back down over his eyes, humming to himself.
"Aperture science...We do what we must, because we can...For the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead..."
Chase frowned, looking QUITE agitated as he was forced to leave the comfort of his bed after one of his jungle cats alerted him to an emergency that needed to be dealt with.
One of the seals he used to keep the volcano dormant had, apparently, been damaged, and the magical and natural forces of the fire mountain were beginning to break free.
He needed to fix it, before his lair became flooded with magma, or worse, destroyed in an eruption.
This was NOT his day...
Another rumble made the palace floor tremble, and Chase growled as he made his way towards the depths. The sound of approaching footsteps made him glance in the direction of the approaching JB-13, annoyed.
"Hmph…Spicers mechanical minion… What do you want?" he asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Master Jack asked me to investigate the source of the trembles. He's working, and doesn't wish to be disturbed."
"I see…"He snorted "Well, perhaps you might be of some use..." He muttered, putting his hands behind his back as he continued walking "Follow me…As it so happens, I already know what's causing the tremors…"
"What's that?" JB-13 asked, speeding up to match the dragons pace.
"One of the magic seals that keep my lair dormant has been compromised...In other words, the volcano is 'waking up'…" He said, waving his hand in front of a heavy looking stone door which slid open, some dust drifting down, revealing a massive chamber above the volcanoes cauldron, the magma below, normally smooth, lightly bubbling and controlled...was now roiling, and angry looking, like a depraved parody of a pot of boiling water.
"...This is...a significant safety hazard, Master Chase." JB-13 frowned.
"Indeed..."the dragon agreed with a frown of his own. "I'll have to replace the damaged seal..."
He looked around at the "ceiling" of the room. "There..." he muttered, pointing up at a large chunk of metal ore, harvested from the volcano itself, which was secured near the barrier where the floor of his palace was built. The seal was covered in several ancient looking inscriptions, several of which seemed to have been partially corroded away, compromising the integrity of the spell inscribed upon it, though it was too shrouded by the smoke of the magma below to make out clearly,
"Tch... What a pain..."Chase snorted, shaking his head. "...Robot, you can fly, can you not?" Chase asked, glancing over at the automaton.
"I can..." He confirmed with a nod "Master Jack programs all of his Jackbots with flight capacity."
"Good..." He said, a small smirk forming on his face "…Then this is what we're going to do..."
Jack continued pouring over his work, his hands moving quickly and deftly over the metal and wires. Finally, he turned the last screw, tightening it into place as he took a step back
"Yessss! Finally!" He grinned "I can FINALLY get my house rebuilt!" he said doing a rather silly happy/victory dance. The incident with the Bean all but forgotten as he activated the Jackbot.
"Hello, Master Jack. How may I serve you?" the robot asked as it began to hover in midair.
"Jackbot, I want you to report to the coordinates I installed and begin construction, using the blueprints i've installed..."He said, folding his arms behind his back "Goal construction time is 5 days..."
"Understood, Master Jack" The robot nodded, inclining his head with the minimal movement his neck joints allowed.
The floor began to quake beneath Jacks feet, more violently than before, nearly throwing him off balance as he wobbled on his feet "Whooaaaa...!" he yelped, grabbing onto his work table to steady himself
"Are you alright, Master?" the automaton asked, looking at the human with synthesized concern in his digitized voice.
"Yeah I'm fine...JB-13 was supposed to be back by now..." he frowned "I better go see what's taking him...You and the others just do as I said, and wait furthur instructions..."
"Yes, Master Jack..." the Robot bowed before hovering off to activate his 'brothers' and do as they were bid.
Jack rushed into the hall another as large shake making him wobble on his feet. Wuya came into sight, nearly tripping over herself as she spotted the Evil Boy Genius
"Jack! Are you doing something stupid?!" She asked, putting a hand against the wall to steady herself "Did you blow something up?" she scowled.
"No!" Jack said, crossing his arms"I don't know what that shaking is either!"
"Oh...I thought maybe you were working on something..." Wuya muttered, waving her hand dismissively "Well then, where is all this shaking coming from?" she scowled, putting her hands on her hips
"I have no Idea..."the albino muttered "I sent JB-13 to investigate, but he hasn't come back yet..."
"Oh, well, that's not foreboding at all..." Wuya said flatly as she pursed her lips "If this shaking isn't coming from YOU, then I guess we'll have to find Chase..." the witch muttered as she let go of the wall.
"Do you know where he is?" Jack asked as they began walking down the halls together
"No, but you have a tracker on your Jackbots, don't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow "I have a feeling that that tinman of yours is probably with him..."
"Oh! Uh, yeah, I do..." Jack said, looking at his watch as he pressed a few buttons, a little red dot flashing on the screen "Right...looks like...Downstairs..." he muttered.
"Let's go"
Chase frowned, standing atop JB-13's shoulders as he inspected the seal "This doesn't look..right..." he muttered "...These markings don't look like normal corrosion..."
JB-13 was staring down at the magma below. Even his heat resistant metals and his heat shielding was proving rather...tested... this close to the magma below them
"In what way?" he asked, closing his eyes and shaking his head as he focused on looking up at the one standing on his shoulders
"There's something about these markings...They almost look deliberate..." he frowned.
"Deliberate?" the robot frowned "What do you mean Deliberate?"
"What I MEAN is that it looks like someone was TRYING to weaken the seals on my home..." he scowled "It couldn't be Wuya, she's under the impression the volcano is dormant...I didn't want her to try to use it against me...You know how she gets..."
" Well, it can't be the monks, they don't normally play THAT dirty..." JB-13 said, throwing in his own 2 cents before glancing down at the magma again "...Can you fix it?"
"What do you think I'm TRYING to do?" the dragonlord snapped "Stop your jabbering...You're distracting me. I have to repair the seal before I can cast the inscriptions..."He frowned as he reached out to touch the chunk of metal, his fingers glowing a bright blue. The metal suddenly seemed to move away from his touch, sending shards of rock as it ripped away from the wall into the magma below, which began to boil harder, and faster as the chunk of metal pulled itself away the wall, and began battering itself against one of the other seals, which began to move as well.
This wasn't some natural degradation...This was SABOTAGE!
"...No" Chase growled, taking his dragon form with a snarl as he leapt onto the stone, roaring.
Jack froze as he heard the familiar roar of the dragonlord, the hair on the back of his neck standing up
"Chase...Somethings wrong..." he said, looking at his tracker as he began moving faster. Wuya stumbled as she chased after him as another shake, even worse than the ones before, nearly cause her to trip.
"No kidding!" she scowled, righting herself.
Jack followed the signal to a heavy stone door, which was slightly ajar. Jack removed his helipack, setting it on the floor. "Stay here. I'm gonna check it out..." Jack said, glancing over at Wuya.
There were times being built like a scarecrow were useful, Jack thought to himself as he slipped though the crack, nearly recoiling as he popped out the other side, and the immense heat hit him like a wave, stinging his sensitive skin as he saw JB-13 hovering in the air, trying to do avoid being hit as Chase was using his martial arts to fight off what looked like giant black slabs of some sort of metal, which were pounding at him, trying to crush him as they slammed into each other. The dragon was bouncing off of the slabs, and occasionally the robot using precise kicks and punches to knock the seals away...but they were very large, and heavy, and fast, and it was clear that even HE was having trouble keeping up with the onslaught.
"Chase, look out!" Jack called as one of the slabs rose into the air, preparing to slam downwards.
The Dragons eyes snapped over the goth as he heard the voice cut through the air over the sounds of the now VERY angry volcano.
"SPICER!? WHAT ARE YOU-"
::CRRRRRAAACK!::
Chase let out a squeak like noise as the slab smashed down on him him from above, rendering him unconscious as he reverted to his human shape, and began dropping towards the lava below.
"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAASEEEEEEE!"Jack screamed.
JB-13 sprang forward, grabbing the dragonlord JUST before he hit the lava, a good length of the mans black-green hair being singed off as it hit the lava, shortening it considerably.
"I've got him!" he called, touching down on the ledge. Jack rushed forward, brushing the burned, melted hair off of him as he looked him over "Status report!"
"My sensors indicate his vitals are steady, but he has a concussion..." The robot said "He's going to be fine..."
"Alright..." Jack said, sighing "I don't know WHAT'S going on, but, 13, GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" Jack ordered sternly, trying to hide his panic as both of them rushed towards the door, the robot holding Chase in his arms as Jack waved his arm through the crack, which was far too narrow for chase to fit through.
The seals, meanwhile, continued to fly around. Slamming into each other, and the walls of the volcano, as well as the ceiling, causing the ground to shake as rubble began to fall around them.
"WUYA, HELP ME GET THE DOOR OPEN!" Jack yelled through the hole
Wuya peered through the opening, confused "Jack, what's-"
"JUST PULL!" Jack shouted, gripping the stone and pushing, hard his shoes scraping against the ground. "Chase is hurt, and we gotta get out of here!"
Wuya frowned, but didn't argue as she began shoving at the heavy tone block...Which did NOT want to move, as it was enchanted to work only with Chase's magic. However, Wuyas control over stone WAS helping to make it move...slowly...as she mustered what little magic she did posses, despite Chases seal on her. Jack was sweating, not only from the heat, but from strain as he tried to help shove the door open enough. What seemed like hours, though less than a few minutes had passed as the opening was forced JUST wide enough for the Robot to squeeze through with his load.
"13, get him out!" Jack said, jumping back so the robot could carry the dragonlord out "Hurry!"
JB-13 complied, holding Chase's body against him tightly as they squeezed through. The Dragon began to stir, shaking his head, dazed as they made it to the other side
"What...What's happening?!" he snarled, climbing to his feet, his head throbbing as he glared around "Where's Spicer?!"
No sooner had he said the words than, as he turned back towards the door, that Jack, who had been about to squeeze through, was knocked off balance by another, much more fierce tremor, causing him to stumble backwards, rolling towards onto the now partially crumbled platform, shrieking as heavy boulders of volcanic rock covered the interior of door. Flailing his arms, he caught himself on the ledge, his legs dangling over the fiery pit below. Digging his hands into the closest cracks he could manage, he pulled himself up, scrambling to his feet as the violently bouncing chunks of ore above seemed to fuse into one as they began to stick together, forming a huge, burning ball of heated metal, which began bashing itself harder against the walls, the rain of rocks and volcanic glass showering down around him even harder. Jack scrambled to his feet, trying to regain his balance and dodge the bolder run for the now partially buried door...When he felt his leg give out beneath him, causing him to stumble, the wind getting knocked out of his lungs.
000000ooooo000000
"Jack!" Wuya screamed
"You fool!" Chase snarled, rushing at the door, only to be blocked as even larger pieces of the walls began to crumble around them, huge chunks of marble and stone blocking their way.
"DAMNIT!" Wuya screeched, grabbing at the rubble as she began trying to dig through it, smashing at the rubble with her fists, to shatter the large rocks " Damnit! FUCK! This whole place is coming down...!"
000000ooooo000000
Jack rolled onto his back, gasping for air as he looked at the huge ball above him, slamming into the walls in all directions. He sat up, inhaling painfully as BURNING air filled his lungs, the sound of stones being smashed almost gone as he ears rang. He didn't even register the sound of the door behind him being smashed into rubble as the giant ball began flying in his direction
The world seemed to move in slow motion as he looked up at the huge..THING that was about to hit him. He raised his hands in the air, closing his eyes. The ringing in his ears was so loud, his own scream barely cutting through the noise as Chase, Wuya, and JB-13 smashed though the door and rubble JUST in time to see the giant lumpy ball come crashing down on Jack, slamming into the ground with such force, it made the robots pain sensors go off as it vibrated his mechanical body.
Chases eyes widened as he stood, frozen, and in shock, at the ground underneath it was slowly cracking as if the ball was trying to grind downwards, like someone crushing a bug under their shoe.
Wuya screamed like a banshee, though Chase barely registered the soul piercing noise it as he tried to process what he has just seen.
'...There was no way any mortal could survive an impact like that...' the voice in the back of his head whispered. '...Not even Spicer.'
He took a half step back, shaking his head. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he felt slightly dizzy. He shook it off, growling.
There was nothing they could do NOW...He needed to evacuate the citadel, before it erupted. He took another step back, turning towards the hole where the door had once been "Wuya, robot, get the jungle cats and get out.
"But Master Jack-" JB-13 started.
"There's nothing we can do!" Chase snapped "Just get moving! I'll grab the shen gong wu, just get-"
"Nnnnnggghhhhhhhh!"
000000ooooo000000
All three of their heads snapped around in unison towards the ball behind them. The noise sounded like it had come from the BALL.
And..it had sounded like...
"What was that...?" Wuya said, staring in disbelief as the huge chunk of metal...began to RISE.
Out of the crater of its impact, the pale, bruised, and more than a little burned evil boy genius was forcing himself to his feet, his hands in the air as a wave of silver colored energy radiated off of him. His hands and feet were coated in what looked like a silver, metal fluid as the huge metal ball hovered about a foot above his head. His teeth were clenched as he growled, his eyes glowing as blood seeped out of his ears. He let out a cry of anger and pain as he yelled, another wave of energy blasting from his hands, pushing the chunk of ore into the air with a mighty shove as it burst through the wall on the far side, the magma below rushing out of the new exit, calming the shaking the pressure was released from the chamber.
Chase, Wuya, and the robot stood there, speechless as Jack lowered his arms, his breathing hard as the glow faded from his eyes, the liquid metal melting away as he slowly turned towards the others, looking at them for a moment before his eyes rolled back, and he limply collapsed to the floor.
"Jack!" Wuya sprinted forward, rolling him onto his back and pressing her ear against his chest "...He's breathing..." she sighed, putting the now fully unconscious young mans head in her lap. JB-13 rushed forward as well, scanning his master "Broken bones...internal bleeding...severe burns..." he muttered
"What...in the HELLS WAS that...!?" Wuya asked, looking down at Jack in amazement, and up at Chase, who had slowly approached as JB-13 began cutting the burned clothes off of his masters body, so they could begin treating his wounds.
"...I don't believe it..." Chase frowned "...I haven't seen one in hundreds of years..."
"Seen what?" Wuya asked, frowning "What are you talking about?"
"...THINK Wuya..." Chase frowned, kneeling by Jacks head, brushing the bangs out of his face "...There are more than 4 elements, you know..."
Wuya frowned, then her eyes widened "What...? No. You can't seriously mean to tell me that JACK is a-" she scowled "He CAN'T be! He's Jack! He's a little know it all, wormy, squeamish wimp! He's not a-" she sputtered in shock as Chase put his fingers to the goths neck, checking his pulse, which was weak, but present as he rose back to his feet, looking down at the fragile human at his feet
"That's all true, Wuya...But you saw it, same as I" He said, looking down at Jacks slack features, almost looking like he was asleep.
"...Jack Spicer is the Dragon of Metal"
DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!
I hope this chapter was worth waiting for~!
I love you all~
~Xile90~