Heylin Dragon
By: Aubrie1234
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do Chase and Wuya scare you?"
"It's not obvious?" Senshi shook his head.
"I can understand Chase, with his lizard form and all, but why Wuya?"
"She's a scary witch! Why wouldn't I be?"
"She looks scary, but she's more of a bitch than anything else."
"You've got a point, but don't say it to her face. I'd like my only friend to stay alive, thank you."
"Only friend?" Senshi asked.
"Well, only living friend. The Jackbots are my living friends. Right Jackbots?"
"Yes sir!" The two guarding the lab saluted him before going back to their duties.
"So none of the Xiaolin or Heylin or anyone else are your friends?" Jack shook his head.
"Not really." Jack sounded sad as he spoke, working on his latest project, "A long time ago, the Warriors and I tried being friends, I even tried being a monk. It didn't really work out. I doubt they'd even wanna try being friends now, after all this."
"Don't know until you try, though."
"True." They both glanced over when they heard beeping coming from the jet. Knowing there was another Shen Gong Wu activating, Jack went to the hatch, grabbed the Monkey Staff, and they were on their way to find it.
"Any idea what we're after this time?"
"Nope." Jack shook his head, "The Xiaolin have this scroll all about the Shen Gong Wu, so they and Chase, Wuya, and Hannibal are the only ones who might know what we're going to get."
"How do Chase and Wuya know? And who's Hannibal?"
"All three are ancient beings. Chase was actually a Xiaolin monk before Hannibal turned him evil. As for Wuya, she fought with Grand Master Dashi to rule the world and knew of the Shen Gong Wu. As for Hannibal..." Jack shook his head, "Trust me when I say it's better that you don't know about him."
"And Grand Master Dashi? Was he like the leader of the Xiaolin long ago?"
"That's right. And we're here." They flew through the opening of a large cave and Senshi shivered.
"Isn't this a bit close? Too close?"
"I've done this before, Senshi. I know what I'm doing." And Jack did. He guided the jet with ease through the sudden turns and forks while Senshi covered his eyes, hoping they wouldn't crash. Eventually they came to a stop in a large clearing and landed. Jack took out his phone and synced it to the Shen Gong Wu Detector so he would know where to go after he left the jet. But before he could seal the cockpit behind him, Senshi leapt out.
"You're supposed-!"
"I know I'm supposed to stay in the ship but I don't feel safe with you going in the tunnels alone with just the Monkey Staff." Senshi said, "At least let me follow you. I won't let anyone see me, I promise." Jack rubbed his eyes.
"Okay, fine, you can come." He turned the flashlight on in his phone and walked away. Senshi padded after him.
"So, I'm your only friend?"
"Only living friend."
"It's still terrible, Jack."
"Yeah, I know. You don't have to remind me."
"Well, I'm glad you consider me a friend. You might not be a nice guy, but you're kind to me and I appreciate that."
"Yeah, about that..." Jack glanced at the dragon in the darkness, "Have you had experiences with humans before? You said before that you know not all humans were good or nice."
"I've never met any humans until you, but I know a few others who did. I even remember when It happened."
"When what happened?" Senshi shook his head.
"Humans came into the Digital World. A lot of digimon died. It wasn't a good time." Senshi padded ahead of him a little, as if trying to run from the conversation. Jack wasn't letting him go so easily.
"But if humans went into the Digital World before, why does no one know about it?"
"I don't know, ask them." Senshi growled, "No one that got killed was a friend of mine, but they still died and I couldn't do anything."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't allowed to." When Jack tried to pester another answer out of him, Senshi stayed silent. Jack eventually gave up and they kept walking together.
"Hey, I just thought about something. If you remember all that from the Digital World, why didn't you just stay in the form you were in when you came here?"
"I don't know. I don't even know how I came here. And I was lucky."
"Lucky?"
"When digimon turn into DigiEggs, like I was, they don't always keep their memory. We get reformatted when it happens and sometimes we lose our memories. It's like starting anew, but not for the ones that knew you."
"And nothing can bring it back?"
"I don't think so. Not from my knowledge."
"It sounds terrible, losing your memory. Why does it get lost in the reformatting?"
"No one knows. Some think it's because the memories are corrupted in some way, others think it's so we can make room for more power in our rebirth. It doesn't really matter to me, though. I'm afraid of losing my memories, sure, but I can stand to lose a few."
"Like meeting me?" Senshi gave him an astonished look.
"Losing the memories of you?! No way!" He shook his head quickly, "You're a great person, Jack, and I'd never wanna forget you."
"Then which memories would you wanna lose?" Senshi glanced away.
"I...used to have a friend in the Digital World. We had good times together, but then things happened. I don't wanna forget those good times, but I would like to get rid of the bad ones."
"Well, you might not."
"And why is that?"
"Even though not everything with your friend was good, the bad times still help build things." Senshi snorted.
"Not this time." And all became quiet again, at least for a short time. Eventually they could see a light at the end of the tunnel and raced toward it. They soon came into a huge cavern and, on top of a load of spikes and spires, was the glowing Shen Gong Wu.
"Stay here, I'll go get it." said Jack, activating his helipack and flying up to grab it. Senshi hung back until he saw the Warriors appear from a different entrance and they quickly began to make their way up, trying to beat Jack. They also seemed very pissed. Senshi glanced between Jack and the Warriors for a moment before deciding that his secrecy was less important than ensuring Jack's safety. He began climbing up himself, hopping from rock to rock quicker than the Xiaolin and catching up with Jack. The teen grew angry at his appearance but said nothing, trying to reach the Wu first. They soon arrived at the top and grabbed at the Wu, only to be met with Kimiko and Raimundo.
"It's you!" Kimiko exclaimed upon seeing Senshi.
"Nice to see you too, sweetheart." Senshi drawled.
"So you've got a dragon working for you now, Jack?" Rai asked.
"Are we gonna do the Showdown or what?" Jack snapped, then set the rules, "This is gonna be a climbing race, two on two. Whoever gets to the Wu first wins. I wager my Monkey Staff against your Tangle Web Comb."
"Seems fair." Kimiko said, glancing at Senshi, "But you can't use your helipack."
"Fine." Jack rolled his eyes, "Are we ready?"
"Prepare to get your ass handed to you!" said Rai.
"Then let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!" Senshi was almost thrown off-balance as the cave began to shift. The walls pulled away slightly and stones jutted out sharply, almost like spears. The spires around them spread out, changing height, and the Shen Gong Wu took off into the air, flying to the tallest. Over to the side, Senshi could see Clay and Omi, likely observing. Senshi quickly had to grab onto the spire as it thinned and came to a point, leaving no room to stand on it. The same was done for the other spires, some even looking so thin they would break if you touched them.
"Gong Yi Tanpai!" yelled the humans and were soon off. Rai and Kimiko worked together to use a comb-like Wu to grab one spire and swing to another while Jack used the Monkey Staff to transform into a part-man, part-monkey hybrid and jumped from spire to spire. His helipack was also missing.
"C'mon!" he called to Senshi, "We need to get it first or we lose!" Senshi gulped. He should've let Jack try for the Wu on his own, but now that the digimon was involved, he had no choice but to participate. Steeling himself, Senshi pushed off from the spire and focused on flying. Much to his astonishment, it worked. He was floating in the air between the spires, not moving, and he grinned. Turning direction, he raced through the spires as fast as he could, flying to the top to grab the Wu.
"What the-?!" said Clay.
"I should have known Jack Spicer would find a way to cheat!" said Omi.
"I said no flying!" Kimiko shouted.
"No, you said no helipack!" Senshi twirled in the air, "That, my dear, is a loophole." And with that, he grabbed the Wu and the Showdown ended. Jack hugged him.
"Way to go, buddy!"
"So, you're not mad at me anymore?"
"We'll talk about that later. What do you think of this, Xiaolin Losers?" Jack turned the last part of the Warriors, all of whom seemed madder than before.
"Okay, yeah, not the best Showdown, but let's get out of here before we decided to murder someone, huh?" Dojo said, curled up on Clay's hat, "I'd rather not get tangled with that dragon, thank you very much!"
"You can grow so much bigger than him, why are you scared?" said Raimundo.
"Because I am an everloving coward and don't do too well in small spaces."
"Jack, I kinda agree with Dojo." Senshi was gently tugging on the other's coat, "They look like they wanna kill us and I don't think I could hold off all of them."
"Good point." Jack activated his helipack, "See you later, losers!" They flew away, the Wu in their hands. They were moving much faster now that they knew where they were going, not to mention flying instead of walking. Jack spoke up, "I didn't know you could still fly."
"You don't know a lot of things about me. I don't know a lot about you. I think we're even."
"I guess." Jack hummed, "What Wu do you think that is? The Warriors didn't say." Senshi looked down at the cow-shaped Wu in his claws.
"Probably better not use it until we know for sure. Who knows what it could do."
"Good point." Once they were back in the jet Senshi had to endure Jack's cave flying skills once again before he could breathe a sigh of relief.
"What do you think happens now? The Warriors know my name and that I'm with you. Chase knows, Wuya knows. How bad could this get?" Senshi was staring out the window as he said it.
"That's why I wanted you to stay in the jet. I'm glad for the help, but we're in pretty bad shape now. At least no one knows what you really are."
"I'm sorry. I just didn't want you getting hurt. Did you see the looks on their faces? If I hadn't gotten you out of there, I think they would've killed you on the spot. They were in a bad mood and might've known that you were the one who stole the Wu. If that doesn't give them the idea for murder, I don't know what would."
"Now that I think about it, you have a point. Thanks." When they returned, Senshi stiffened, then sniffed the air. He growled and stepped in front of Jack. The albino took notice of this and readied the Tangle Web Comb.
"Impressive Showdown, Spicer, Senshi." It was Chase, sitting in the chair at Jack's computer, "I must say, I did not expect you to win it, but Senshi came through in the end."
"Why are you here? What do you want?" Jack lowered the Wu, realizing that Chase meant no harm. For all the time he spent with the everlord, he was able to read his body language and knew what Chase wasn't there for, at least. He put a hand on Senshi's back and tried to calm the dragon.
"I am going to put this bluntly: Senshi seems to listen to you and only you. I would like him to be on my side and work with me, so I am presenting you with the chance to become my apprentice." Jack internally squealed, glad at the chance, but he remembered all the times Chase had turned down his questions before. He was wary.
"So Senshi's the only one you want out of this deal?"
"Not so. As my apprentice, I will teach you in every evil way imaginable in exchange for asking for Senshi's help."
"Not gonna happen." said the dragon, "I'm not evil like you, like Jack is. I stay with him because he's kind to me. I'm not doing anything evil unless you give me a good reason."
"You helped steal from the Xiaolin." Chase pointed out.
"Only to balance good and evil." Senshi raised himself and stood tall, "Even if Jack becomes your apprentice, I'm not gonna listen to you."
"Very well." Chase glanced at Jack, then disappeared where he sat.
"Why did you do that? I had a chance with him for once!" Jack hissed.
"Maybe you did, but all he wanted was me. Would you rather have that and not get taught at all or actually have him focus his attention on you?" Jack was quiet, Senshi turned away, "I hope you get what I'm saying. He didn't want you, Jack. He just wanted me." Senshi then walked away to double-check that Chase was gone. Jack stared after him, not sure how he felt.
Senshi once again sat at the computer, talking with Datamon. Now that he had information on Jack's condition, Datamon was able to get started on an experimental cure for his 'program' right away.
"Do you really think this is gonna work?" asked the stronger digimon, "That a simple computer program is gonna fix what a human has?"
"Well, it's like trying to fix a program, isn't it? You fill in the missing pieces and fix the corrupt ones and BAM, everything's fine." said Senshi.
"You're too optimistic for your own good."
"As you keep telling me. I'll keep in touch."
"Wait." Senshi's nose hovered over the screen before he drew back.
"What?" he asked.
"You-Know-Who's been asking for you." Datamon looked somewhat frightened, "He's scary when he's angry."
"He won't hurt you, I promise. He just wants me back."
"And he's willing to do anything to make that come true, too." Datamon glanced over his shoulder, as if he was being watched, "Listen, why don't you just forget about all this and come home?" Senshi's face darkened.
"You know I can't do that. I'm not going back to him until he says I'm free. Now goodbye." Senshi cut the connection quickly and got a hurt nose for his trouble, but that was fine. He didn't want to answer any personal questions, especially something that personal.
The Shen Gong Wu that Jack and Senshi win in this chapter is an actual Wu, called the Genie Moo. It was supposed to be part of Xiaolin Showdown Season 4 before it was cancelled. Might as well have some recognition, right?