Heylin Dragon
By: Aubrie1234
Senshi watched as Jack worked on robotic parts. It had been a few days since the boy genius had met him and not much had happened. Jack had tried giving Senshi Wakebot's bed (the robot refused to be dismantled and now roamed the house somewhere, to Jack's horror), but the digimon didn't quite feel comfortable with it. However, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and so he took the bed. That made him think for a second.
"Why do you do this?" Senshi asked.
"Do what?" asked Jack, focused on the robot in front of him.
"This." Senshi gestured to said robot, "You treat them like royalty. Why?" Jack glanced at the digimon.
"Well..." the teen frowned, "I don't really have any friends, even when I was a kid. I had to make my own." Slowly, Senshi nodded.
"I see. Is there a reason why?" Jack snorted.
"There are plenty of reasons." Jack listed them on his fingers, "I'm crazy rich, I'm albino, I'm a tech genius, I lack social skills..." He shook his head, "I was just kinda destined not to have any friends." Senshi tilted his head.
"I understood only three of those. What's 'albino?'" The teen stared at the digimon for a second and when Senshi kept staring back at him, Jack sighed.
"You really don't know, huh." He rolled up one of his sleeves, "You see how my skin's so pale? How I have red eyes? Albinism is a condition where you lack the color that everyone else has, leaving you with pale skin, pale hair, and red eyes."
"Oh. But why's your hair red, then?"
"I dyed it. I thought it would make people like me better. They just hated me more, but I decided to embrace it and added onto it." Jack gave a small chuckle, "It's why I look like a goth."
"Goth?"
"Oh boy..." Jack then had to explain to Senshi what a goth was, among a few other things. For a creature that could talk, he lacked a lot of knowledge about a few human things.
"...Humans are weird." Senshi summed up when Jack finished.
"You said it." The teen stood up to do something but then hissed as his legs were seized with pain and he nearly fell. Senshi took to the air as his flippers waved in a frenzy of panic, both in trying not to get crushed and worried for Jack. Thankfully, he landed back in the chair without a scratch, where he put his hands on his legs and tried to massage them.
"What's wrong?" asked the lizard digimon worriedly.
"Neuropathy." Jack hissed. He didn't say anything else until the pain eased and he sighed in relief. He saw the look on Senshi's face and went on, "It's a medical condition that keeps me from doing anything really strenuous like martial arts because I get cramps and muscle-weakness at any time. That was just a flare up." Senshi landed on the table and gave the human a sad stare.
"Is there anything you can do to get rid of it?" Jack shook his head.
"No. There are pain medications that help deal with it, but it'll never go away."
"I'm sorry, Jack." The teen looked surprised.
"Why? It's not your fault that this happened." Jack glanced away angrily, "That was because of my parents. But anyway," He waved it off, "could you hand me my tweezers?"
"The tiny pointy things you use to pick up other tiny things?"
"That's right." Senshi grabbed the item in his mouth and handed it to Jack. Senshi tried to watch the human work, but he was more focused on Jack's well-being at the moment. Even though Jack said there was nothing he could do, he wanted to help. Maybe there was another way to help that Jack didn't know of? He was interrupted as a Jackbot came in.
"Master Jack?"
"Yeah, JB-36?"
"The Xiaolin Warriors are approaching." Jack gave an irritated sigh.
"Not again."
"Who are they?" Senshi asked.
"I'll tell you later. JB-36, where are they right now?"
"Past the wall, sir. Quickly approaching this location."
"Don't engage them." Jack glanced at Senshi, "Enact plan 236b, acquisition: Senshi." The Jackbot saluted.
"Yes sir." The Jackbot picked up Senshi, causing the digimon to squeak.
"Jack!" he exclaimed.
"It's okay, just be quiet and do what JB-36 says." Senshi was ready to protest but found his mouth covered by the Jackbot's claws. JB-36 then took him into a nearby closet in the basement, the doors slit so that light could shine in, allowing them to see out. Senshi wiggled in the robot's grip, uncomfortable. JB-36 was unresponsive to his plight and so Senshi stopped, focusing on what was happening outside the closet. Jack had gone back to work but upstairs he could hear crashes and bangs, indicating something going on. Eventually the door at the top of the stairs banged open and in came more humans.
"Jack Spicer!" exclaimed the smallest, "You are not tricking us this time!"
"You said that last time, but you still took the fake Monkey Staff." said Jack.
"Can we help it if you made a really good replica?" said the girl.
"And can I help it if I wanna have at least one Shen Gong Wu to myself? Nope, since you guys wanna have all the Shen Gong Wu to yourselves!"
"We're trying to protect the Shen Gong Wu!" the skinny boy said.
"It's not like I'm using the staff, though, is it? Can't you just let me keep it if I don't even use it?"
"Sorry, Jack, no can do." The largest shook his head. Jack groaned and sat back in his chair.
"Just try finding it, then. Please don't trash my lab." They ignored the second half of his statement and proceeded to create a mess looking for the 'Shen Gong Wu,' whatever it was. Senshi narrowed his eyes as his ear-fins twitched angrily. He already disliked these people. And when they seemed to be unable to find what they wanted, they left, vowing to return soon enough. When they were gone, Jack gave a sigh as other Jackbots came forward and began to clean up the lab. JB-36 came out of the closet and let go of Senshi, who floated to Jack.
"What was that about?" he demanded, "Why did they do this?"
"Technically, they're the 'good guys' in this scenario, but you wouldn't see that from their actions." Jack began, "A long time ago, there were these mystical artifacts, called Shen Gong Wu. They were created as a force of good, but after the defeat of a certain witch, they were scattered across the world and hidden. Those four were the Xiaolin Warriors, who use the Wu for good and protect them. I'm on the 'bad guy' side, called the Heylin, and we try to use the Wu to take over the world. I haven't really been doing it recently, though."
"But you still have one?"
"Yeah, the Monkey Staff. Apparently it's one of the few the Warriors don't have and they want it back to 'protect' it." Jack made quotations in the air as he said the word.
"Then why don't you give it to them?"
"Because I'm not using the Wu for evil at all. It's the only one I've gotten to keep so far, so why shouldn't I get to keep it? All I use it for anymore is having a good time if I get a little depressed." Senshi gave a slow nod.
"I can understand that." He looked around, "For all the good they're supposed to be, the Warriors don't like to be good."
"You said it." Jack went back to work on his project. Senshi waited for a moment, not wanting to interrupt him again, but there was one more question the digimon had.
"And what was that plan you used? What was it for?" Jack paused.
"Actually, that plan wasn't made with you in mind. It was for someone else. It's supposed to tell my Jackbots to protect and hide someone until the threat is over. If the Warriors knew about you, that's just one more thing they'd wanna take from me." Jack stretched out a hand to rub Senshi's head, "You're new to this world and I don't want anything bad happening to you. Sure, I might not teach you good things, but it's better than having a traumatic experience."
"Thanks, Jack." Senshi then proceeded to help Jack with his project as much as he could.
That night, Senshi went up to Jack's room with him. In his time in this world, he'd learned a lot thanks to Jack and didn't want to impose more upon him, but he didn't like sleeping in Wakebot's bed. Every time he did, he felt like the small robot was waiting to pounce. As Jack got ready for bed, Senshi shifted in the air uncomfortably, wanting to ask something of him but not sure if he should. The teenage genius eventually took notice of this.
"Something wrong?"
"Not really." There was a pause.
"Then why aren't you getting ready for bed? Is something bothering you?"
"A little." Senshi admitted, "Wakebot scares me."
"Wakebot scares everyone."
"Well, I always think it's out to get me while I'm sleeping in its bed." Jack gave a slow nod.
"I understand. You can sleep in my bed with me if you want. I mean, I've got the space." Jack gestured to his large bed.
"That'd be nice, thank you." Senshi flew over and curled up on one of the sets of pillows. Jack took the other side of the bed, "And Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't think much of this, but digimon don't always get along with humans. At least, not from what I know. But you're a nice human, no matter what anyone says. Thank you for taking care of me."
"No problem." Jack rubbed the digimon's head again, "Goodnight." He turned over and the room plunged into darkness. Senshi laid on the pillow, trying not to fall asleep as his ear-flaps twitched, listening. Eventually Jack began to snore and so he took to the air again, sneaking out of the room and down to the lab. He avoided the Jackbots as best he could before sneaking into the lab. Unlike the rest of the house, it was empty and so Senshi could set to work. He floated to sit in one of Jack's chairs and swiveled over to a computer. He touched it with his nose and the computer lit up, spasming a little from the digital contact before a search engine popped up. Senshi strengthened his fins, stiffening them enough so that they could punch in keys, and types in the name of a digimon. After pressing 'Search,' the computer went blank for a moment before changing. It looked like it had opened a new video chat.
"What is it?" came a grumble.
"Hey, it's me, Senshi." He looked around cautiously, "I can't talk long, but I need you to send me a program."
"Of what? And where in the Digital World are you?"
"Not important." Senshi waved off the question, "Can you make a program that fixes neuropathy?"
"Maybe, if you could tell me what it was." Senshi rolled his eyes.
"I told you, I don't have a lot of time, so can you look it up and help me?"
"For the right price, sure."
"Datamon..."
"Fine, fine, but you owe me one."
"Thanks." Senshi smiled, "Just send something soon." And with that, he bid goodbye to his friend and touched the screen with his nose again, returning it to normal.
The next morning, Jack wasn't surprised to wake up from Wakebot and finding himself mostly alone in his house once again. It was not unusual for him to wake and only have his robots. Glancing over, he smiled when he saw Senshi still curled up and waking from Wakebot's ruckus. The robot hissed before slithering out of the room and Jack was not going after it, no way.
"What was that?" Senshi yawned.
"An angry Wakebot."
"Oh." He blinked sleepily, "Is it breakfast yet?"
"Yeah, Senshi. C'mon." Jack picked up the digimon and they went downstairs. But as they went down the stairs, Jack felt a tingle that he knew he was about to be seized by pain again and quickly thought of what to do.
"Jackbots!" He reached out to grab the banister but it was too late. Arms and legs were attacked by the sudden pain and he was falling forward until he wasn't. Something was blocking him from falling down the stairs, appearing out of nowhere. He didn't really focus on it until the pain finally subsided, finding himself sitting on the steps, Jackbots hovering worriedly as he leaned against a creature. His hands were empty and he remembered how Senshi had changed form before, so was this the digimon?
"You okay?" asked the creature. It was a stocky little dragon, probably the same height as Omi, and had orange fur, green eyes, black and purple samurai-like armor, and a red-haired ponytail.
"Yeah." Jack gave a slow nod, "Senshi?"
"Yep." The digimon smiled, "You save me, I save you." Jack blinked, then looked past him. It would've been a long fall if Senshi hadn't gotten in the way.
"Thanks." Putting his hands on the digimon's armored back, he got to his feet. Dismissing his Jackbots, Senshi walked beside him as they made their way down the stairs. When they got into the kitchen, once Jack was sitting down, Senshi jumped onto the table in one leap and sat down, facing Jack. They were quiet, even as Jackbots served them food.
"You could've just let me fall, let the Jackbots catch me." Jack said, "Why didn't you?"
"Like I said, you save me, I save you. I know not all humans are nice, but that's what you've been to me. You're my friend and I'm not letting you get hurt if I can help it." Jack smiled.
"Thanks, Senshi. You're the best." Jack rubbed the digimon's head, on the crown of the helmet, and realized that, it this form, Senshi could probably help him fight for the Shen Gong Wu. But should he use this newfound friendship like that? Well, that's how Wuya used his friendship, but he wasn't the same as her. He actually had a heart. But that didn't mean he couldn't ask Senshi for help every now and then.
So, the idea of Jack's neuropathy comes from a fic on this site, called Scale of Hong by Crystallic Sky. Hopefully I can write more for this story, now that I have a good idea of where it's gonna go. So, please read & review!