WARNING: World's Longest Chapter Alert. EternalFluffy is not responsible for your lost hour's time, or your bleary eyes from staring at the screen too long. Start reading at your own risk. (lol)

Yes…this is the last chapter. (sniffle). But it's certainly the longest! It's practically a fic in itself. There are still some issues Jack needs to deal with, along with Rai in the mix now, and some sweet Jack/Kim fluff near the end. I don't know if Jack can swim or not. I never saw him swimming in any of the episodes I've seen…Well, I'll just pretend. He's very OOC when he goes to extremes trying to impress Kimiko…but it's all for the sake of the Jack/Kim. And sorry for the sappy, disappointing ending. Wow, I'm bad with endings. The spoiler sign system is still in place, but I'll stop marking off all the references to things that happen in S2, because it is getting nitpicky. And sorry this chapter took so long. It is long.

(-)

Chapter 11: Fitting In

Days passed slowly and painfully at first, but once everyone had settled into the temple routine again, two weeks easily flew by. Over the course of these weeks, Rai and Jack eventually were able to look at each other again, and they had even started becoming friends. They shared the "chore-bots", as Kimiko had named them, until Master Fung found out and forbid them to use them anymore.

Often times, you could also see Jack and Rai playing video games together, zapping each other, getting angry at each other, and breaking into a wrestling match in front of the television (which Rai always won). In fact, on this very day, they were at it again, and Kimiko could hear them arguing amidst the video game sound affects and background music as she was cleaning up in the adjacent room.

"I was almost there, and then you shot me!" Rai cried. "Will you stop shooting me like that?"

"I can't help it…" Jack replied. "It's just so fun…and you leave yourself wide open!"

"I leave myself wide open because you're supposed to be able to trust your mission partner not to blast you when you turn your back!"

"Hey, don't talk to me about trust, chronic turncoat boy."

"The same goes for you, you…evil Dragon imposter!"

A dull, continuous thumping came from the room, and Kimiko smiled down at Omi, who was helping her today. "They're such good friends, aren't they?" she sarcastically commented.

"Oh, yes," Omi agreed. "At first I was worried about how they would react to one another, but it looks like they're getting along fine."

One final thump crashed from the room, and then they knew that Rai had pinned Jack again, and soon they'd get back to playing as if nothing had happened.

(-)

Later that day, it was once again time for training in the meeting room with Master Fung. Rai had easily slipped back into the martial arts training routine, basically because he was so strong and acrobatic already. He loved to show off his circus talents, much to the other's annoyance.

Jack was improving, though very slowly, and he was still performing basic attack and defense techniques. Several times he tripped on the chains dangling from the ends of his pants, which launched Master Fung into a "why Xiaolin Dragons need to wear uniforms" speech. Still, the elemental attacks all seemed to be on par, and now Jack could even perform the Silver Shield at his will.

(SPOILER)

"Tornado Strike, Water!" Omi called, jumping into place. "Judallet Flip, Fire!" Kimiko yelled, gracefully jumping into a handstand on top of his head. "Seismic Kick, Earth!" Clay added, posing on the right side. "Typhoon Boom, Wind!" Rai finished, posing on the opposite side. "Dragon X Cume Formation!" they all cried in unison.

(SPOILER)

"Metal!" Jack summoned, and jumped around, trying to find a place where he would fit in the X Cume formation. He was jumping up and down behind Omi and Kimiko, until Kimiko turned around to glare at him.

"Don't even think about it," she warned.

Jack trudged away, looking slightly confused and disappointed, (SPOILER) as Clay and Rai began to spin Omi and Kimiko around like a chopping blade.(SPOLIER) "But…where…?" he questioned, watching them with strange longing.

"You can't join the X Cume formation just yet," Master Fung told him. "You see, the others are all Xiaolin Apprentices, but your powers have only just awakened. It will take a while before you reach that level."

"Yeah," Omi agreed as the four original Dragons came back out of their attack positions. "You can't expect a novice like Jack to join us in such an advanced move!"

Jack was just about to give the little loudmouth a whack on the head, but suddenly, he didn't even feel like it. The cold fact was everything that they were telling him was entirely true. He was so far behind…

Then, it was time for the physical training. Omi, Kimiko, and Clay were engaging in a three-way practice battle, while Rai brushed up on his moves at the punching bag nearby. In a different section, Jack was practicing on stringing together some of the basic moves he'd learned, so he might actually use them in a fight. Of course, Master Fung was supervising, telling what he was dong wrong, and how to fix it.

"You're too tense, Jack," he called as the boy was trying out different combos, jumping back and forth to keep the beat. "Just relax; let your spirit guide your movements."

And at that precise moment, Jack tripped over his chains again and went flying, face first into the red carpet. After hearing the muffled crash of someone falling, the other Xiaolin Dragons all paused for a moment to look at him.

"Jack…" Master Fung spoke up, putting his hands on his hips. "What have I told you about those chain pants?"

"It wasn't the chains' fault!" Omi spoke up from behind him, grinning in a smart-aleck way. "He was only following your orders. He let his spirit guide his movements!"

Jack's face turned red, half from anger and half from embarrassment. While Kimiko looked a little worried, Clay looked indifferent as always, and Rai tried to stifle his laughter.

Jack sat up and glanced over at them. Why did that stupid cue ball have to say that? he thought. He made me look like such an idiot…in front of her. Not that I haven't looked like an idiot in front of her before, but… I thought maybe I could get her to like me now that I'm on her side…

Now, even Clay began to frown in the uncomfortable silence. Jack appeared to be angry…but, he wasn't yelling back at them or abusing Omi in any way.

"Aw, screw this," he finally spoke up as he forcefully got to his feet again and brushed himself off. "I'm going back to my lab."

The other Xiaolin Warriors watched, worriedly as he stormed out of the room and down the hall that lead to the basement chamber. Another uncomfortable silence swept over them. "Omi!" Kimiko finally cried, whapping him over the head in place of Jack. "You shouldn't make fun of him like that. He is just a beginner."

"Yes, but he makes fun of me all the time!" Omi replied, and no one could argue with that.

"Someone needs to go talk to him," Kimiko said, looking to the others for help, since she didn't want to have to do it herself.

"I'll go," Rai finally decided. "I think I know what's eating him."

(-)

Five hours later, however, the young circus star was regretting that decision. He stood just in front of the downstairs wooden door which now read "Jack Spicer's Non Evil Laboratory" on the outside and waited for an answer from its occupant. "Yo…Spicer dude!" he called, leaning against the door with one arm. "I need to have a talk with ya."

A distant scraping could be heard in the distance, and Rai stood up straight again just before Jack cracked the door open. He looked particularly annoyed and frustrated, with a scowl crossing his face, and tension nipping at his features. "What do you want?"

"Just what I said," Rai defiantly replied. "I need to have a talk with you."

"About what?" Jack continued, as if Rai could never really need to talk to him about anything. "You wanted to try to sneak by Master Fung with some chore-bots?"

"No, no," Rai insisted. "It's more important than that. I think I might be able to help you."

Now, a wry smile was creeping onto Jack's face, slightly amused with this whole situation. "So suddenly you want to become my assistant and put together some new chore-evasive tactics?"

"No!" Rai cried, fed up with his attitude. "Will you just listen to me already?"

"Okay, okay," Jack finally consented. "Come in and sit down. If you explode out there, you'll ruin my brand new sign."

He held the door open and Rai marched into the room, plopping down into an old black leather couch near the computer, huffily. Why was he always the one that had to come and perform difficult tasks like this?

"So what was the big, desperate emergency that you had to talk to me about it?" Jack said, sitting on a swiveling stool in front of his computer, and tapping out a short command on its pop-up screen. "…This wouldn't happen to be Wuya-related, would it?" he asked, swiveling around to glance over at his new visitor.

Rai took a deep breath to calm himself down and sighed. "No… Everyone was just concerned about the way you were acting this morning. I was watching, and it was similar to the time when I was angry and frustrated at the temple…and the whole world. I know what you're feeling, Jack…"

"How would you know?" Jack interrupted, cockily. "Are you hiding a Shen-Gong-Wu under that sweatshirt?"

"No," Rai said, for the fourth time since this conversation had started. "And I'm not exactly sure how you're feeling, but it looked to me like we had the same thoughts. I know what it's like to be behind everyone else, and feel like you're worthless just because you're not on the same skill level as the rest. Believe me, Omi teased me just as much when I hadn't become a Xiaolin Apprentice yet… That's part of the reason I ended up with Wuya for that time…"

"Well…that's part of the problem…" Jack admitted, shifting his gaze from Rai to the floor. "It's just that being behind everyone else makes me look like such a loser…and…and…"

Rai sat up straight and stared interestingly at Jack. This was the most emotional he'd ever seen the formerly evil inventor, and it made him fairly uncomfortable. "…And what?" he gently insisted. "Don't worry, I won't tell the others."

Jack gathered his courage and then looked up at him again. "…And I don't want to look like a loser…in front of Kimiko. …She'll never like me that way."

Rai blinked and let the information sink in. That was right…he began to remember, Jack liked Kimiko…and Kimiko didn't like Jack; she liked him…and he liked Leandra. It was a vicious triangle. "Well…" Rai finally spoke up, trying to give him some reassurance. "For your information, Kim was actually the one standing up for you after you left the training session."

"…Really?" Jack said, his red eyes lighting up again in hopefulness. It looked like Rai's strategy was working.

"Yeah," he continued. "So maybe you've got a chance after all. Besides, she knows I've got Leandra now and she can't have me." He had Jack's complete attention now, as he lifted from the broken-down old couch and stepped towards him. Rai gestured with what he hoped was a friendly smile. "And since she'd had a crush on me for the longest time, I know exactly what she goes for."

"Really?" Jack cried again, a big smile breaking out on his face. He was so excited, his voice squeaked a little, and he instantly forced himself into a serious, moody scowl again.

This time Rai was truly smiling, since he had to hold back laughter. "Well, first thing…you've really got to concentrate on your training, not only so you can get closer to the Xiaolin Apprentice rank, but because Kimiko only likes guys with tight bodies."

Jack stared down at the ground again, placing his chin in his hand, obviously deep in thought. "Really…" he said for the third time.

"Yup," Rai affirmed in satisfaction. And ditch the goggles; she can't stand those swirling, hypnotizing things… You might want to pick up a cool tan like mine, too. It sure helps."

"Thanks; you can go now," Jack quickly dismissed him, sensing a bragging speech coming on. "I've got work to do." He swiveled back around to face his computer, and began searching for information on the internet.

Rai happily rushed to the door, slipping back out into the normal world. Not only had he completed his task, but maybe he just might've talked Spicer into acting a bit more like a normal guy. He skipped, contentedly back off to his- mark that, his cubicle. But, as he suddenly realized on his trip back, he couldn't tell Kimiko about his success. Maybe after Jack did something about his appearance, he could brag and tell her it was his idea. That decided, he continued his grateful return to the dormitory hallway. Yes, things were looking up in Pedrosa World.

(-)

It had taken a while to sort things out, but now it was all in place, and Jack had begun his new strategy. It seemed like a complicated, technical process, but it was really quite simple. In fact, he was almost enjoying following this plan…Well, this part of it, anyway.

It was lunchtime. Yes, boring old, disgusting lunch…but today, it was more than just lunch- it was Operation: Nutrition!

Kimiko, Omi, and Clay had already finished their lunch, and were throwing shifty glanced over the low tabletop. Rai had just about finished too, but unlike his three teammates, he knew exactly what was up. Jack was still sitting on the opposite side, scarfing up his second plate.

"I thought you hated our "weird" food," Kimiko commented, laying her chin in her hands as she continued to glare at him.

"Oh…no," Jack replied between mouthfuls. "I decided to give up junk food! Yeah, Omi's right, that stuff's bad for me; I need this "normal" food to be strong!"

Kimiko and Clay stared at each other, not believing their eyes or their ears. Omi rubbed his yellow chin, thoughtfully. "This reminds me of a time long, long ago, when I too desperately wanted to grow big and strong through food…"

"Yeah," Rai said, smirking over at him. "If three months qualifies as long, long ago."

At last, Jack finished, and pulled a tall, aluminum can out of thin air. "Protein shake!" he cried, and then guzzled the whole thing.

Kimiko and Clay continued to stare, not sure whether to be amused, weirded out, or worried. The strange expressions on their faces seemed to be a mixture of all three.

Jack tossed the empty can onto his plate with the rest of the trash, and looked sick for a moment. "Ugh, that thing was disgusting… I-I mean that thing was delicious!"

"Uh…are you feelin' okay there, partner?" Clay spoke up.

"Of course!" Jack purposely lied, throwing a wink over at them. "Never felt better!"

"That's always a bad sign," Omi muttered.

"And why are you being so darn cheerful?" Kimiko added, suspiciously. "Aren't you going to complain? Sulk? Make faces? Something?"

"Nope!" Jack immediately cried, in a fake chirpy voice. "Along with junk food, I decided to give up complaining too! Yup, you won't hear another whine outta me about having to do chores, or anything else!"

Kimiko forcefully stood up on the other side of the table, slamming her palms down on it and staring Jack straight in the face. "Okay, that's it!" she cried. "Just who are you, and what have you done with Jack Spicer?"

"Kimiko, it's me!" he objected. "Come on, I'm not lying to you; don't you believe me?" Just from the face the frustrated Japanese girl made next, he knew the answer to that question. "No one ever believes me…" he said, lowering his head and staring at the floor. Then, an instant later, it popped up again, a big false grin plastered over it. "…but I'm not sulking about it!"

Kimiko at last relaxed and turned to walk away from the dining room. "Well, if you're really Jack Spicer, then I think you need medication."

Well, this doesn't seem to be working… Jack realized. That's good. Being so cheerful was beginning to hurt…Well, I have to check up on the other part of this experiment… "Man, I need a soda," he grumbled as he lifted himself from the low table and tried to bend his knees again.

"What was that?" Omi, who was sitting just within earshot asked.

"Uh…" Jack quickly looked at his skin, pretending to be disgusted with it. "…I said, man I need a suntan! I'm going outside for a little while; catch you guys later." Then, he quickly dashed off before they could ask any more questions.

Instead of taking a right towards the outside balcony, he veered to the left, and trampled down the wooden stairs into his "non-evil laboratory." "Phew," Jack panted to himself. "I guess this is worse than I thought…"

He began searching through a giant pile of scrap metal on the side of his workbench, the different pieces clanging against each other as he flung them aside. He'd only just made this thing yesterday night; why was it so buried in this other junk? Then, he remembered pulling out different parts he could use if worse came to worse… These heavy iron tubes might actually have a purpose. At last, he spied the device he'd been searching for and yanked it from the grip of the other junk. It was a simple, flat, rectangular thing, but the digital displays on the top revealed that it was really a scale of some sort.

Jack set it down just in front of the computer, removed his boots, and stepped onto it. The digital numbers flickered past, and at last came to a stop. This particular scale was advanced enough to have three readouts- weight, muscle, and body fat. Jack stared down at his numbers, disappointed and aggravated. "I don't believe this!" he cried to himself. "I didn't gain a single ounce! Not even body fat!"

He rolled his eyes, stepped off again, and put his boots back on. "Well, that one's out…at least I don't have to eat any more disgusting health food…"

His computer desk was swamped with all kinds of charts, graphs, manuals, advertisements, and doodles, so it took a while to find the operation list, which was actually scrawled on a piece of toilet paper. It took even longer to find a pen. Jack muttered to himself as he searched. "…I finally sorted out all this junk, and now I have to sort out all this junk…oh, there it is!"

At last, he spied his black, shiny pen, with "JHS" inscribed on the cap. He'd actually stolen this pen from Jones High School, but those were his initials, so he'd claimed it as his.

He tacked the toilet paper up on the wall, and crossed "Operation: Nutrition" off the top. Next up was "Operation: Education". Oh, boy… Jack though, staring apprehensively at the words, and the task before him. This is going to be…fun.

(-)

At last, the three shaken Xiaolin Warriors figured that everything had settled down again. They were practicing with Master Fung once again the next day. So far it had been a productive session. Rai sporadically fumbled during a few positions, but the others made up for his minor mistakes. A few times, it looked like he had been distracted, craning to look over the others, into the distance. It wasn't until the rundown of positions was finished that Kimiko, Omi, and Clay realized what he had been looking at.

In his little separate corner, Jack was furiously throwing different types of punches and kicks at the hard sandbag in front of him. His face was scrunched into a determined, angry look, drops of sweat running down his cheeks, and he'd actually taken Master Fung's advice for once, and not worn the cumbersome chain pants.

"Wow…" Omi said, staring in awe. "Jack Spicer is really focusing on his martial arts training! We should get a picture graph of this rare occurrence!"

"You mean a photograph?" Kimiko corrected him. "Well, my PDA takes pictures…" she pulled the miniature computer device out of her sash.

"Hey…" Rai commented, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know you had that stashed in there!"

"Shh," she warned him. She began to fiddle with its functions, and all of a sudden, everything just shut down, and the miniature screen went black again. "Oh, no. No, not this again!" Kimiko yelled at the gadget. "It's been acting up on me lately. The stupid thing's probably broken again…this is the third time this has happened!" She placed the PDA on a shelf to the side of the training area and returned to the crowd, since Master Fung, Dojo, and Jack were now headed in their direction.

"…It's surprising how much you've improved in the last…day," Master Fung was telling Jack as they neared the other Xiaolin Warriors.

Jack wiped his face, and panted into his sweatshirt, but smiled at the temple master. "Thank you, master. I'm going to try a little harder from now on." He laid eyes on the Xiaolin Warriors, and gratefully noted their shocked, delighted expressions, except of course, for Raimundo, who knew something was up.

"Thank you, my Dragons, for another excellent training lesson," Master Fung addressed them. "Now, if you would prepare for your meditation session…"

The five of them sat in a line, with Omi and Rai on the ends, Kimiko on one side, Clay on the other, and Jack in the middle. They crossed their legs, mostly the normal way, although Omi was in a perfect lotus position.

While Master Fung rambled on and on about preparations they must make in case another enemy appeared, Clay was falling asleep, and Rai secretly pulled on a pair of headphones. Jack was reading out of a large, hardcover book, which was propped up against his legs, while drinking another one of those protein shakes and cringing at the horrible flavor.

Finally, Dojo noticed their distractions, and scuttled down the steps to take care of them. "Clay-wake up!" he yelled, popping up under the cowboy's head.

"…Huh?" he slowly replied, shaking his head. "What happened?"

"Rai- take those headphones off!" Dojo yelled, popping up in front of the Brazilian next.

"What?" Rai yelled, even though the dragon was right in front of him. "I can't hear ya, Dojo!"

"I said take those off!" the pint-sized dragon yelled, yanking the headphones off of his head. Rai gave him death glares, but Dojo had already moved on to bother someone else.

He slithered up in front of Jack, just about to grab his book, but stopped for a moment to read the title. "Uh…what language is that?" he asked, pointing to the unrecognizable words on the cover.

Jack looked down at the title, shaking nervously. "Er…to tell you the truth, I'm not sure, but it's a great book!"

Dojo crossed his scaly claws. Even he couldn't be fooled by this pathetic cover-up. He clamped down against the hard brown cover of the giant book and yanked it out of his lap.

Caught off guard, Jack struggled for a way to defend himself. "Ah! Oh! Hey! What'd you do that for?"

Everyone glanced over, and saw it glaring out at them what he had really been reading. They blinked, incredulously at the black, bold title splayed across the front. Kimiko, of course, was the first one to notice, and read it out loud to everyone else. "…Kung-Fu For Dummies?" she said, choking back laughter.

"H-Hey, it's been really helpful," Jack tried to save himself. But, soon, the rest of the crew had noticed, and even Dojo and Rai were chuckling under their breath.

"Now, everyone," Master Fung announced, demanding their attention once again. "Could we possibly get to the meditating session?"

As Kimiko, Rai, Omi, and Clay all closed their eyes to concentrate on their internal feelings, Jack stowed "Kung-Fu For Dummies" in a pocket on his shirt and glared, angrily over at them. Great. This isn't working either. I still ended up looking like an idiot in front of Kimiko… If only that stupid dragon hadn't uncovered the book! He growled to himself, but closed his eyes when he noticed Master Fung giving him the evil temple master's eye. It looked like Operation: Education was yet another failure.

Late that night, Jack returned to his lab to cross out his second idea. Things were getting down to the wire now. There was only one resort left before…more drastic measures. "Okay!" Jack exclaimed, making a fist and trying to get motivated for the next step of his grand plan. "Now it's time for…Operation: Imitation!"

(-)

It was dark and silent in this section of the Xiaolin Temple. Rai, Clay, Omi, and Kimiko were gathering in the dining room for supper. In this abandoned stillness, no one would notice…

A dark shadow slinked its way down the dormitory hallway, and when it came to the middle section, shot into the second cubicle from the wall. At last, Jack uncovered his head, and pulled his long, black coat down over his shoulders. This is kind of fun, he thought, I haven't slunk anywhere in a long time… Slinking used to be one of my favorite activities…

At last, he snapped back into what he was trying to do, and searched through the shirts and pants in the nearest suitcase. Now, I've just got to find an outfit…Well, at least a shirt. I think I've got an old pair of pants I could wear. I don't really want to wear someone else's pants… He pulled out a few shirts, and shuddered at the thought of wearing such bright colors.

I guess this one will do… he decided, grabbing a green, long-sleeved, jersey type shirt. It's not as ugly as the rest…that guy sure does have some ugly clothes. So, with that, Jack clutched the shirt under his coat, raised the coat above his head, and happily slunk back downstairs.

(-)

Early the next morning, Kimiko, Omi, and Clay had congregated around the breakfast table, setting out the necessary materials. Today was waffle day, and everyone was eagerly anticipating the event. Clay had even fished out the syrup, butter, and strawberries, while Omi was struggling with the batter container. Kimiko was searching for the waffle iron, and the moment she found it and struggled to plop it down in the center of the table, he knew it was the perfect moment.

Jack checked himself in the small, pocket mirror he'd discovered shoved way in the back of his closet. Yes…now was the perfect time, especially since Raimundo wasn't even up yet.

He took a deep breath and strode out into the room. He quickly reached the counter, turned away from his teammates, and pretended to be pouring himself some juice. This was the strategy he'd devised last night. Since he didn't feel like dying his hair and putting on makeup and contacts, they'd have to only see him from the back for now. Hopefully, this little scheme would work out.

Kimiko was now looking around, trying to find the plug for the waffle iron. She couldn't read the buttons on the dial, and after she'd found the plug, she wasn't sure what to set the controls on. This iron was a bit more advanced, and she didn't want to screw up the waffles on waffle day. "Hey…" she finally spoke up, turning around to look at the figure at the counter behind them. "Rai, could you help us with the waffle iron?" And that was all he needed to hear.

Jack couldn't keep the grin from twitching onto his face, and he quickly swiveled around at the sweet sound. "Sure!" he cried, putting his hands on his hips, and the others looked so startled, they nearly hit the floor.

"Jack?" Kimiko cried, finally getting her bearings again. "Why are you wearing Rai's shirt?"

"Er…he let me borrow it!" Jack quickly thought up the lie. "We wear the same size." Actually, the shirt didn't fit perfectly, because Jack was a little bit skinnier than Rai, but it was still very close. "Ha! So it worked!" he cried in victory, and pointed at them. "You really thought I was Rai, didn't you?"

"Yeah, from the back…" Omi pointed out. "Why would you want to look like Raimundo?"

"Who wouldn't want to look like me?" Rai arrogantly stated as he appeared in the doorway. All the racket of preparing for waffle day had finally woken him up. "And Jack…couldn't you have at least told me first before stealing my shirt?"

Jack shrugged. "I wanted to surprise everyone. …What are you staring at?" Kimiko, Omi, and Clay still looked stricken, staring at the transformation with wide eyes.

"You look weird!" Kimiko at last cried.

"Weird as in "much different and handsome", or weird as in "much different and even worse?" Jack asked, fearful, but hopeful.

"It's…just…normal!" Kimiko struggled to explain. "You look normal! That's weird! It's weird because you're normal, and you're not normally normal and it's weirding me out!"

"I'm confused," Jack replied, bringing his hand up to his chin. "Does it look better or not? Do you still think I'm freaky?"

"It is freaky!" Kimiko tried again. "Because you're so normal! It's freaking me out! Where are your goggles?"

"Oh, I left them in the lab," Jack replied, trying to sound casual. "I need them when I'm working, but there's really no reason for me to keep them on all the time…" The three of them only looked even more freaked out.

"And…and…" Kimiko tried to continue. "…Where's the black? You're not wearing any black!"

"It's the end of the world!" Omi added. "Jack Spicer's not wearing anything black!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's not like I always have to wear black… I never did as a kid…"

"Are you feelin' okay, partner?" Clay asked, for the second time since the operations began.

"Yeah, you've really been acting weird lately. I mean…weirder than what is normal for you… No! Here we go again!"

"What Kimiko means," Omi summed up. "Is that you're acting weirdly normal instead of your normal weirdness…"

"That's an oxymoron!" Kimiko yelled at him, frustrated and confused.

"Oh, forget it," Jack finally decided, turning to escape from the room.

Rai smirked at him as he went past. "So, how's the improving coming along?" he asked.

"Not very well, as you can see," Jack told him. "I just keep freaking her out…no matter what I do…" He hung his head and continued on past the doorway. "I'll return your shirt in a few minutes," he called back to his model.

Jack trudged back down to his laboratory to de-Raimundo himself. Even though this operation was another failure, he couldn't help but be relieved as he slipped his skull sweatshirt back on, and fitted his goggles back around his head. The only problem with this failure was this was the last one on the list…before the "more drastic measures".

Jack faced his scrap of toilet paper and gulped at the next operation on the list…Operation: Body Transformation. As he stared at the black, pointed letters, he heard voices in his head of what they had said earlier.

Kimiko's wave of thought… "Maybe if he worked out once in a while, he wouldn't look like such a scrawny old lady."

Rai's statement earlier that week… "Kimiko only likes guys with tight bodies."

Jack looked into the full-length mirror hanging from the outside of the long closet in the corner. Slowly, he rolled his right sleeve up and flexed his arm to see his muscle. He'd never bothered with such things before, more interested in improving his mind and building machines, but now it looked like it would be necessary. He frowned at the pitiful slight bump that formed.

She's right…he admitted to himself. I guess I am a "scrawny old lady" …I really have no muscles… Well, the new plan will take care of this…

He walked over, and pulled several papers out of the messy pile covering the computer desk. These were the advertisements he'd printed out, and each one had different exercise machines from various online offers and infomercials. Jack took a few minutes to study some of them, and began to sift through his pile of scrap metal, searching for just the right pieces…

(-)

As the other Xiaolin Dragons all realized, this weird normality would continue down, even into the month of June. Rai was cleverly avoiding Omi, Clay, and Kimiko's discussion over the dinner table, and was ducking behind the corner, pretending to be scrubbing a plate.

"It's weird. First he tried to bulk up on food and shakes, acted all happy, and then tried to get ahead of training, and finally, he even tried to look like Rai…"

"Well, it's quite obvious what is going on," Omi told them. "Jack Spicer is trying to be like Raimundo!"

"But why?" Clay asked.

"Maybe he looks up to him," Omi suggested.

"Nah," Kimiko immediately said. "Jack doesn't look up to anyone…except Chase Young."

"Well, they're kinda like best friends," Clay stated. "You know how sometimes you want to look and act like your best friend." Again, Kimiko shook her head, black pigtails bouncing.

Rai, from his secret space around the corner, snickered at them. He couldn't believe how utterly clueless the three of them were. It should be obvious that Jack was trying to impress Kimiko.

The only thing he realized was that it was getting pretty late. It was almost suppertime…but Jack hadn't even shown his freckled face in the dining hall today. He had taken some food from the pantry, but…to miss entire meals with the rest of them… Slowly, Rai was beginning to worry about this plan of Jack's. What kind of crazy thing was he pulling now?

"Hey…" Rai finally, hesitantly entered into the discussion. "Where is Jack anyway?"

Omi looked over at the empty seat opposite them. "He has been missing for quite a while, hasn't he?" They remained in confusion and suspense for another half an hour.

Rai ducked back out of the discussion, afraid that they would ask him something, so he returned to scrubbing the pan. Even later, when Master Fung came to deliver their meals, Jack still hadn't shown up.

"He's missing supper again," Clay commented. "The meal's gonna get as cold and slippery as worms after a rainstorm."

"Ewww," Kimiko complained. "I think I lost my appetite."

"Ooo! Ooo!" Dojo cried, rushing up to the side of the table. "I'll eat it! If Spicer doesn't show up in two minutes, that plate's mine!"

Kimiko slammed her fork down in her plate. "No, you're not," she insisted. "Because I'm taking that to Jack to right now."

"But…you can't just go into his non-evil laboratory," Omi objected.

"Oh, yes I can," Kimiko argued, seizing the plate and storming off down the hallway. The others watched her with awe. Rai was probably the most shocked of all. Perhaps…maybe…Kimiko really did care for him…

(-)

The concerned Japanese girl quickly tapped her way past the Xiaolin Temple's dormitory hallway and turned down the well that led to Jack's lab. The heat of the plate was scalding her palms, so she had to switch it from right to left whenever it got too hot in one hand. Finally, she shifted the plate to her left hand to use her right for knocking on the door.

For the first time, she really got a look at the "Jack Spicer's Non Evil Laboratory" sign and it almost made her laugh. It was just like him to use the same equipment and just tweak it to be good.

Still, there was no official answer from within, though whirring kept droning in her eardrums from some device. "Jack!" Kimiko yelled, rapping against the signboard again. "It's Kimiko! I need to talk to you."

Whirrrrrr

"I'm sorry!" She yelled again. "I don't speak motor!" She frowned and sulked a little. Jack couldn't hear her. Well, that was no surprise, those motors were loud enough.

She pushed a hand against the door, but immediately pulled it back, remembering what had happened last time she had tried to barge in. Now what should she do? She thought of slipping the plate under the door, but the space wasn't big enough. Kimiko sighed and was just about to turn away, when a different noise interrupted her.

There came a terrible, painful thumping, followed by a cry of pain…which sounded very much like Jack's voice. That was it. This called for drastic measures.

Kimiko burst through the painted door and rushed in, setting the plate down on a side table near the entrance. "Jack?" she called. Something terrible could have happened to him, and from the sound of it, it must have really hurt! Kimiko was rushing so madly around the lab that she didn't really notice her surroundings.

At last, she discovered Jack lying sprawled out on the dingy floor when she nearly tripped over him. "Jack! Ohmigosh, are you okay?" she exclaimed, kneeling down to his level.

"D-Don't come any closer!" Jack sputtered forth, trying to drag himself out of her sight.

"What happened?" Kimiko insisted. "Did you fall down?"

"I'm fine," Jack replied, though it was clearly a lie.

Kimiko got a good look at him before he pulled himself behind a desk leg. Jack looked strangely tired and pained… Still, a few minutes later, he stepped back out, a towel draped around his neck, and panting like he'd just run a marathon.

"I'm sorry…" he gasped. "I didn't…know…you'd be…stopping by…"

Then, Kimiko finally noticed the sleeveless Frankenstein shirt that he was once again wearing, and the various complex exercise machines that filled the room. "Uh…have you been exercising?" she asked in amazement.

"Well, yeah," Jack answered, finally catching his wind. "I'm working out. I've got to be strong to make it up to your level." He reached out and grabbed another protein shake sitting on a nearby desk.

At first, Kimiko was shocked and impressed, but the more she stared at Jack, the more she noticed that something had to be wrong. There were bruises on his arms, legs, and face, as if he'd already fallen down a few times before, and his entire arm was trembling as he struggled to tip the shake into his mouth. "Well, why don't you take a little break?" Kimiko suggested. "I brought you supper."

Jack slowly shook his head, and shakily lowered his arm. "I can't…I have a schedule." He splashed some water on his pale face and it slowly turned flush red, like a color-changing water toy.

"Well, you need some rest," Kimiko insisted. "Besides, the food will help you grow stronger and give you energy."

"Well, alright," Jack finally agreed. "It might help." He picked up the plate and made a little face at it, but stabbed a piece of chicken and shoved it in his mouth.

Kimiko watched him eat for a moment, before at last asking what she'd been wondering ever since she'd first seen the exercise equipment in his room. "Where'd you get all this stuff, anyway? It must have cost a fortune for all this advanced gym equipment…"

"Nope," Jack answered, grinning up at her. "I made 'em all myself. I just printed out the advertisements and used them as a reference." He turned his attention back to the plate of meat and rice, while Kimiko marveled at the devices surrounding her.

Those were some pretty high-tech treadmills, elastic and iron body sculpting centers, and even some giant, hulking structures of metal that she couldn't identify. Well, he wasn't the Dragon of Metal for nothing. Suddenly, it had become "Jack Spicer's Non-Evil Gymnasium".

Very soon after, Jack had finished his delivered supper and washed it down with yet another protein shake. "Yeah. Thank you, Kimiko. It feels a little better now." Finally, it was beginning to sink into Jack's thick, one-track mind… Kimiko was here right now! And she wasn't repulsed by him! She'd even come here on her own, at least to his knowledge. She hadn't said anything about Omi or Master Fung making her deliver supper. "Yeah!" Jack cried, the spark of motivation running through his body again. "I feel stronger already! Well…I have to get back to the schedule! And…thanks so much!"

Kimiko smiled and waved as he jumped back onto one of the machines and began to press his arms together, repeatedly. As she exited back out into the hallway, she began to think strange, shocking thoughts, and at first she couldn't believe that she was thinking them. But she couldn't stop them, as much as she herself denied them. Jack was actually kind of…cute when he was like that. He'd actually been quite nice to her, and it suddenly made her happy to see him light up with sudden inspiration. He really was trying to improve, wasn't he?

But that was other strange, distressing thought. Jack was working very hard…perhaps too hard. She'd seen the state he was in when she entered. That thudding and his pale, bruised body… What had suddenly possessed him to start his exercising routine, anyway? Well, she decided, it could be worse, right? Unfortunately, she was exactly correct. It could be worse…and it would be worse.

(-)

Late that night, Jack struggled onto his rectangular body measurement scale. Today had been yet another productive day of Operation: Body Transformation. This had been going on for two days now…he should see some difference. However, when he stepped on the all-encompassing scale, he saw that, to his disappointment, he hadn't gained anything. He'd actually lost a little body fat, but any loss of body fat should be a gain, right?

However, when he tried to step back off, his legs just refused to work anymore and he desperately grabbed the worktable to prevent a painful fall. Somehow, Jack at last managed to drag himself on top of the table, and clicked off the 70-watt bendable light. This felt familiar…

Yeah… Jack realized. This feels exactly like the work I had to do in the future. It took a long time, and was really painful. But, eventually it made me stronger. At least, I think I remember that it did… His memories of that time were fuzzy, since he'd eventually trained himself to block everything out. Still, if he followed the schedule close enough, and all of his calculations were correct, he should start seeing results tomorrow.

Comforted with this thought, he closed his eyes, and again blocked out the throbbing throughout his body. And that night, his hopes turned into a strange dream in which he'd suddenly switched bodies with Raimundo…and Kimiko was kissing him.

(-)

"What the…?" It was a miracle that there was enough breath left in Jack's body to yell in frustration at the glaring little lights below him. He kicked the metallic, square device. "…Darn thing's probably broken…"

He shuffled up in front of the mirror on the closet and studied his reflection once again. …Nothing. Jack's head thudded against the smooth, cool mirror, exhausted and frustrated. So much for drastic measures. If only there were Shen-Gong-Wu to give you strength… Hmm…

Even though he was extremely tired and couldn't think straight, he suddenly remembered that newest Shen-Gong-Wu. The Rag of Resurrection…it could heal anyone. But, what if it were used on a person who was already healthy? Would it make him healthier, and give him some muscles? Another part of his mind argued that that would be cheating. Like Shen-Gong-Wu steroids. Yet, if it could do the trick, then there was no use killing himself every day like this.

The sore teenage boy lifted himself from his platform in determination. He slowly and gingerly made his way out the sliding door, and straight into the cylindrical building that housed the Xiaolin Temple's magical items. Wow, they really did leave it open for anyone to get in, didn't they? Jack eagerly tapped down the spiraling staircase of the vault, although he resented that each step he took down was another one he'd have to climb back up on the way out.

It took a long time to search through all the various stone draws. He came across tons of other Shen-Gong-Wu, even the ones that had belonged to him, and finally, he began to reach the bottom of the pit. At last, in one of the two last slots, the silvery sheet of fabric sat on its blue cushion padding.

As Jack removed it from its perch, he happened to look to the side and noticed two locked bins resting against the back wall. The one closest to him was short and square, while the other was long and rectangular. There were all sorts of locks, bolts, and force fields surrounding them.

"Those must be the dangerous Shen-Gong-Wu," Jack said to himself. "The Sapphire Dragon and my Soul Scepter." It felt weird, saying it like that- his Soul Scepter. Well, it was his; none of the other Xiaolin Dragons could use it.

Finally, he pulled away from the suspicious containers and focused his attention back on the Shen-Gong-Wu clutched in his hand.

Meanwhile, little did Jack know, but it was actually the "checkup" day, and at this very moment, Dojo was entering the room, preparing for his weekly magic test. On one random day a week, Dojo would come down into the Vault to check the magic levels of all the Shen-Gong-Wu and make sure the two forbidden ones were properly protected. While the miniaturized dragon slipped down the stone steps, Jack struggled with the rag, wondering where he should place it.

Finally, he just slapped it over his right upper arm, and called aloud, "Rag of Resurrection!" A bright aura of piercing white light erupted from under the fabric. Jack looked down to his arm, as the Shen-Gong-Wu reacted, and hopefully, improved his condition. The light was very hot, and it felt as if it were searing his skin, but that, he hoped, was only the pain of muscle growing in a short amount of time. However, this almost felt like needles stabbing into his arm, and he wondered if it were really growing.

Thankfully, at that moment, Dojo was halfway down the stairs, and had caught the call and noticed the bright flash of light. He scuttled faster down the steps, frantically to see who was in their vault. The old dragon wasn't surprised to see Jack Spicer standing there…but the boy was cringing in pain as the lit Rag of Resurrection clung to his arm. Just then, a trickle of blood ran down Jack's arm, and then Dojo knew what he had really done.

The dragon literally flew up to his arm, tearing the rag away from it, in a panic. "What did you think you were doing?" he barked at the suspicious teenager. "You shouldn't use the Rag of Resurrection on yourself if you're not even injured!"

The sound of the snapping voice broke Jack out of his concentrating, pain-resisting mode, and finally, he glanced back down at his arm, and saw what the rag had really been doing. The skin over where the Shen-Gong-Wu had just been was choppy and torn up. It had even begun to bleed. It was like the object had been burning him. "What…?" he slowly asked. "I thought that thing couldn't possibly hurt anyone!"

"Yes, normally it never does," Dojo explained, while scolding him at the same time. "But if you try to use it on something, or someone that's perfectly fine, the effect backfires. …Why were you down here anyway? And why would you want to…?"

"I…I was trying to install the new Shen-Gong-Wu ordering system I told you guys about!" Jack quickly lied. "Yeah! But, then I got side-tracked looking at all the Shen-Gong-Wu, and then I wondered what would happen if I…did that." He gripped his arm to slow the bleeding, and tried to look innocent, making puppy eyes at Dojo. "…I didn't know…owwwww, it hurts so much!"

"Yeah, yeah," Dojo replied, waving him off. "I won't interrogate you anymore. Go get a bandage before you contaminate our vault."

"Okay!" Jack readily complied, not even minding the difficult, painful climb back to the top of the vault.

As soon as he disappeared around the central cylinder, Dojo stared down at the Rag of Resurrection and shook his head. "I still don't get it," he thought aloud. "What would ever possess that kid to try this thing on himself when he wasn't injured?" He snaked back down towards the end, and placed the fabric back into its stone slot. "…He's got to have some kind of mental illness. I mean, Dragons of Metal are usually kind of weird, but…" Dojo turned and put the incident out of his mind, as he focused on the many barriers surrounding the Sapphire Dragon, the Soul Scepter…and Wuya. Yes, they were plenty strong. But so were other things…

(-)

Kimiko lied, daintily in her reclining beach chair, sunning herself and waiting for her nails to dry as she watched the boys playing in the lake. Omi and Rai were taking turns whooshing by on the suspended rope. It was a calm summer's day, and the Xiaolin Warriors were taking a break, playing in the cool refreshment of the temple's pond. Clay was swimming laps around the coast to build his strength, and after Rai fell in, he decided to join him. They all seemed to be having fun…all but one of them.

"Hey…" Omi asked, looking around the area. "Where's Jack Spicer?"

Hearing this, Rai stood up to give his input. "Aw, Spicer's probably scared of the water or something; you know what a big baby he is."

"Maybe he doesn't know how to swim," Clay suggested.

"I bet he's just afraid to get a tan!" Rai joked.

Though she chuckled a little along with them, Kimiko thought she knew where Jack really was. He was probably on his homemade exercise machines right now, working like crazy. She'd already been worried about this before, but lately, he'd seemed…even more determined than before.

If that wasn't enough, the last time she'd seen him, he'd even had a bandage wrapped around his arm, like he'd seriously injured himself. When asked about it, he'd instantly replied, "Oh, I was playing around with my blowtorch and kind of set my arm on fire." The problem was, the way he'd said it…made it sound like he'd written it down and been practicing it.

So while she should be enjoying herself, this was brewing around in her mind, and she hadn't even been in the water at all yet. She looked down at her drying rainbow fingernails as Omi did a cannonball in the distance.

Suddenly, a cold, wet spatter splashed over Kimiko's legs and she let out a shriek in alarm. "Rai!" she cried, looking over at the guilty Brazilian standing at the edge of the lake near her.

"What's the matter?" he teased, grinning suspiciously. "You afraid to get wet?" Then, he swiftly dumped an entire bucket of lake water over her head.

"Augh!" Kimiko yelled again, now drenched in water. "I just did my hair, too! And…noooo! Now my rainbows are running!" She forcefully jumped up from her lawn chair and gave Rai the evil pointed eyes. "That's it, Rai! I've had it up to here with you! You're really going to get it now!" Then, she pounced, and shoved him into the lake. The two of them splashed down right beside Clay, and caught him in the crossfire of their splash war.

Omi was only one to remain unaffected, sitting on the side of the lake, meditating in peace. He heard the squealing and crying of his teammates, concentrating on the waves of energy around him. This was a new magical technique that Master Fung had been perfecting with him, and now he could perform it by himself. There were the playful energies around him…but then he sensed another energy faltering in the distance. His beady eyes popped back open, and he looked, frantically down at Rai, Kimiko, and Clay in the water.

At last, Clay looked up and noticed him sitting up all alert like that. "What's the matter there, Omi, partner? Ya look you've just been bit by a rattlesnake."

"Something's not right…" Omi began to say, gravely into the distance.

At the sound of his hardened voice, Kimiko at last cooled off and turned from Raimundo. "Yeah…" she hesitantly agreed. "…Maybe something happened to Jack!"

Omi nodded. "I believe that must be what I'm feeling."

Kimiko worriedly jumped back out of the lake, and Rai and Clay followed her in concern. The guys pulled on some tee-shirts, and Kimiko tied a towel around her waist. They all jumped into sandals, and sprinted across the light green grass of the temple's yard. "So why would you think it was Jack?" Clay asked as he came running up beside Kimko.

"Well…you know the way he's been acting…and he keeps exercising like mad and hurting himself."

"That sounds completely normal- except for the exercising part," Omi reasoned. "But still, this energy must mean something, and I can tell for sure that it is emanating from inside!"

"It could be another Shen-Gong-Wu," Rai tried to persuade them.

"Nah, Omi can't sense Shen-Gong-Wu yet. He'd not that powerful," Kimiko was quick to add. Yes, she normally never said bad things about him nowadays, but sometimes he needed to be taken down a peg.

The little monk by her side hung his head a little, but completely forgot about her comment when they reached the side sliding door of the Xiaolin Temple. The four original Dragons slid into the hallway again, and quickly tiptoed to the stairwell leading to Jack's haunt, trying not to trail water on the floor.

Kimiko was the first to the door, and at least this time she didn't have to worry about knocking. The painted concrete wall was left ajar, and she could see bits of the interior. Some of the machines were indeed running, but then she wondered how he could be on two exercise machines at once.

Rai's eyes widened when he peered into the room. He knew he was the one responsible for Jack's sudden fitness craze, but he didn't really think he'd go as far as to build himself a personal gym.

Kimiko stepped forward and creaked the door the rest of the way open.

"You're just going to conga right in?" Omi cried, gripping the sides of the head in anxiety.

"No, but we might waltz right in," Rai teased.

"Well, he left the door open," Kimiko tried to reason. "That's just inviting the whole world to come in. And this is an emergency!"

"I suppose you're right," Omi at last agreed. "But…what if…?"

Kimiko finally grabbed his sleeve and pulled her little questioning partner through the iron-plated doorway.

The four of them looked around. There were different machines whirring in different corners, lines of equipment resembling metal sculptures, and all kinds of tables, charts, and pictures stuck to the walls with odd-shaped tacks. These really looked interesting, and Kimiko almost wandered over to go read one, before realizing what they were really here for. "Jack!" she yelled into the sea of iron. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Yo, Spicer dude!" Rai added to her call, searching around in another portion of the non-evil gym.

"Ollie ollie oxen free!" Clay echoed, placing his hands on the sides of his mouth for effect.

"Uh…Clay, sorry, but I don't think that's going to work," Kimiko told him, raising her eyebrows.

At last, Omi, since he was the closest to the ground, gave out a shout and ran to the others. "He's here! I found him!" he cried, herding them over to a different corner. Indeed, Jack was lying on the floor again, as if he'd fallen off something. He was pressed hard against the concrete, his limbs trembling, though the rest of his body remained stationary. Omi kneeled next to him and gently tried to get his attention. "Jack Spicer…" There was no response.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Kimiko knelt next to him in concern. Clay joined them, while Raimundo hung back. He had no idea how much his little speech had affected his new partner. Maybe he had gone a little too far…

Kimiko gently lifted Jack's head from the gray floor, disregarding the hot, moist flesh she felt on his face. He'd obviously been exercising again…but he was awake. In fact, his ruby red eyes were flickering back up at her in her hand, though he didn't acknowledge her presence. His face was completely white once again. "Jack?" Kimiko attempted communication. "…Why are you wearing that face paint again? I thought you'd decided not to wear it anymore."

At last, Jack's white lips parted and he was actually speaking between his panting. "I'm…not wearing…face…paint…" And then, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell motionless, onto her lap.

"Oh my God!" Kimiko cried, cradling Jack's head in her arms. "Is he okay?"

Clay stepped in at that point, and fortunately, he found the unconscious goth's pulse and breathing. "He probably fainted," the Texan surmised.

"Oh my gosh…" Kimiko repeated, still worried. "Should we take him to a hospital?"

"He should wake up in a few minutes," Clay said, gathering Jack's long body into his thick, strong arms.

"Need any help there?" Rai spoke up, stepping forward. He at least wanted to do something for him, because he felt terribly responsible for this whole event.

"No, I'm fine," Clay replied. "Actually, he's pretty light." The worried Xiaolin Warriors followed him out of the door and back up the stairs. Clay at last stopped further into the temple at a cushioned platform, normally used as a bench, and laid the limp body gently on the soft top.

The others all pitched in at that point, rushing around to find things to help. Omi fluffed up a pillow and slid it under Jack's head, and Rai produced a mini towel to mop up his sweaty face. Kimiko gently tucked a blanket over him. "Please, wake up, Jack…" she hoped aloud, and then, just as if she had commanded it, his eyes began to flutter open.

"Huh?" was the first word he spoke. "What happened? Where am I?"

"You fainted," Kimiko informed him. "Do you feel okay? You were really pale earlier…"

"I'm fine," Jack insisted, crossing his arms. "I could've handled it myself."

"No, you couldn't have!" Kimiko argued. "You were overworked. You whole body was too exhausted. You could've had a heart attack!"

"But I'm only fourteen," Jack tried to argue.

"It doesn't matter!" Kimiko yelled. "Whatever age you are, you can still get a heart attack from going crazy like you were doing."

"Yeah," Rai affirmed, stepping up beside her, hoping that his words would be more meaningful. "That's what they call "overtraining". You could seriously hurt yourself working out like that. In fact, you're only making yourself weaker."

"Well, that could explain why I've lost a pound…" Jack finally began to agree. "But, I've still got to be strong!" He moved to the end of the couch and attempted to stand up.

"No!" Kimiko cried, pushing him back down. "Don't get up! You need to rest! You're too worn out!"

Jack sighed and settled back into the plush bench. "Well, could you at least bring me a protein shake? I'm starving; I didn't eat lunch today."

"You shouldn't just have a shake," Kimiko insisted. "I'll go get you something to eat too." As she rushed off down the hall towards the temple pantry, Omi, Rai, and Clay had a staring contest with Jack.

At last, Rai attempted to get his point across explicitly. "I…was looking at those things on your walls…" he began to say, but realized that that probably wasn't a good starting sentence. Jack's face was turning redder and redder by the minute, and he was suddenly reminding him of Kimiko. "…Because I was concerned," he quickly added. "And…all those different plans and calculations…they were completely wrong."

Jack's face was now a lovely shade of bruised plum, and Rai nervously tried to figure out a way not to upset him any further. "Well…you see…" he desperately tried to choke back his laughter. He couldn't believe how clueless this guy was, but he had to keep his laughter in. "You're supposed to follow one of those exercise plans, on one piece of equipment…usually the one it came with… You're not supposed to be on all the different plans at once!"

"But that doesn't make sense." Jack tried to argue. "Then how would you improve in all areas?"

That was partly true, Rai admitted, because many of the new equipment today were just for abs, or just for arm and leg exercises. Still, there were plans and machines that worked all different parts of the body, and he knew Jack had to have some of them in his non-evil gymnasium. "Just…promise me you won't do that again. Kimiko's right, you could hurt yourself doing all that in a short amount of time. You can't grow muscles in three days. It happens gradually, over time."

The former evil genius only turned away from him, looking frustrated, and Rai knew he shouldn't press the issue any more.

At last, Kimiko came running back into the room, holding the protein shake he'd asked for, and surprisingly enough, a hamburger, resting on a blue plate.

Jack stared in fascination as she ran up to the side of the bench and handed the items to him. "Uh…where? What?" he managed to sputter out as he grabbed the plate and set the shake aside.

"Well, I know you said you liked hamburgers, so I found some buns in the refrigerator, and cut up the meat to fit…I know it's not the best, but…" Kimiko had been all worried about her hamburger making not being good enough, but was relieved when Jack's face lit up and he took a big bite out of it.

Omi looked a little nervous as he looked up at Kimiko. "To think we could actually make burgers out of the things we have…"

"It's just for this once," Kimiko assured him. "I wanted to give him something he liked, so I'd be sure he'd eat it. Just…don't let Master Fung know." The others nodded.

"Well, it looks like he's going to be fine now," Clay commented, turning to gather up his things back at the lake. The others slowly followed him.

Jack, in the midst of his burger bliss, didn't even realize that they had gone. He kept repeating, over and over in his head, She brought me a burger…she made me a burger… Kimiko made me a burger!

(-)

That evening, the Xiaolin Dragons were lined up on the red carpet, as Dojo slinked in front of them, checking their presences off. But, as soon as he looked at the shortened line in front of him, he knew that one of them was missing. "Hey…" the little dragon asked, glancing around with his fake glasses. "Where's Jack?"

"He had a little problem," Omi tried to tell them.

"Uh…he's just not feeling well," Rai clarified.

"He's resting on a cot in the extra room," Kimiko added.

"Well…that's unusual," Master Fung suspiciously commented, stepping down the stone stairs to meet them.

"Actually, he has been acting odd…" Dojo stated. "Like yesterday, he almost burnt his arm off with the Rag of Resurrection."

"The Rag of Resurrection?" Omi questioned. "But I thought you said that Shen-Gong-Wu was harmless."

"It is, when used properly. He was trying to use it on himself when he was perfectly healthy."

"That liar," Kimiko said, half to herself. "He told me it was one of his blowtorches." She wandered over to a shelf on the side wall.

Rai stared into the distance after her, still feeling guilty. Jack could have even burnt his arm off, and all because he'd told him that he needed to be macho in order for Kimiko to fall for him. Still, he reminded himself, he'd just been giving advice. It wasn't like he'd physically made Jack do all that crazy stuff.

Suddenly, Kimiko let out a shriek, and everyone turned to look at her. "It's gone!" she yelled. "I left my PDA right here a few days ago. I don't believe I ever came back to get it…it just disappeared!" She was freaking out, not only because it was an expensive piece of equipment, but because she also used it as a personal mini-diary. Whoever had found it would have complete access to all her secret thoughts.

"What are you so upset about?" Rai told her, calmly. "That thing didn't work anymore anyway. You couldn't even get it to load up."

"Well…that's true," Kimiko realized, finally beginning to calm down. "No one would even be able to get in to read my, uh…personal stuff."

"Now…" Dojo spoke up, getting the four Dragons' attention. "Could we get on with the training here?"

"Yes," Master Fung piped up. "You know the routine for today, don't you?"

The four of them nodded their heads like a group of bobble-head dolls. They'd known the routine for several days by now.

"Good," Master Fung continued. "Dojo, could you supervise them? I'm going to have a little talk with Jack."

"Uh…okay…" Dojo answered, glancing questioningly up at his partner.

"Dojo? Supervise?" Rai spoke up, a grin breaking out on his face. "Ha ha ha ha!"

The little dragon crossed his blue-green arms. "Look, don't give me any trouble. I was up all night checking the Shen-Gong-Wu, and then Master Fung made me come with him to the altar and the scour the ancient writings…"

"Why?" Omi asked, putting a little finger up to his mouth. "Is there something you can't remember?"

Dojo shrugged. "I don't know everything, you know." The Xiaolin Dragons looked at each other in nervousness. "There may be something out there…something so powerful, that without your complete powers, you will never defeat it…"

The four of them, terrified of this unnamed force, rushed into position and began to practice by themselves.

Dojo smiled, sneakily and curled up to take a nap. It wasn't like he'd been lying to them. There was something approaching, but even he wouldn't know what it was until much later.

(-)

Thankfully, when Master Fung entered the extra downstairs room, Jack was still awake, although he looked like he would fall asleep any minute with those covers clutched to his chest. Finally, the bald, bearded temple master stepped up next to the bench, and Jack's red eyes immediately shot up at him. "Young Jack…" the grave man began, his frown drooping a little more.

"I…I'll come back to the training session!" Jack frantically replied. "I-I'm okay," he continued to insist, painfully sitting up on the bench.

"No, no," Master Fung quickly calmed him, cupping his hands over his shoulders. "Don't worry; I wasn't angry with you for not showing up today. The others all told me that you weren't feeling well…"

Jack blinked at him, but lied back down at his command. "So, uh…what did you come here for?"

"I need to explain a few things to you," Master Fung seriously told him. "And you need to please heed this information and keep it in mind."

Jack's eyes widened in interest as he stared up at Master Fung, almost afraid. "Okay…"

"Well, I just thought I should inform you… Historically, Dragons of Metal have always been weak-bodied creatures. It serves as an amplifier for your other, more powerful powers." Jack looked a little confused, but kind of understood about his lineage. "And…you probably don't want to hear this, but…up until now, all of the Dragons of Metal have been female."

Of course, Jack frowned at this. Yeah, yeah, his inner mind criticized, now even the temple master is telling me that I'm a weakling.

"What I mean to tell you is that which I also need to inform the other young Dragons… You need protection. They need to protect you. But you need to protect yourself as well."

Jack cocked his head a little. This guy never made sense, and his sappy clichés were beginning to annoy him.

"What I mean is you need to take better care of yourself. It's important to us; it's important to the entire cause."

At last, Jack just nodded at him, trying to get him to go away. "You're right. I'll get better really fast. You'll see."

Master Fung frowned again and began to walk away. "I hope you're serious about this."

"Of course I am!" Jack replied, trying to hide his smile. "You know I'd do anything to help. I am a Xiaolin Dragon after all."

Master Fung raised his eyebrows, but finally exited the room. At least if Jack was healthy enough to scheme, then maybe he'd stop the pointless speed-exercising he'd been doing lately.

Just as the old man's blue robe disappeared behind a stone doorway, Jack sat up and let his grin spread onto his face. Yup, he thought, pulling out a certain piece of toilet paper. He'll see. They'll all see. Soon, they'll all know how really strong I can be. Hey, that rhymes… Glancing down at the Operations list scrawled in black marker, Jack felt confident. This had been a last resort, but he knew this last piece of the plan would be the one to do the trick. Operation: Construction. Perhaps brains really did beat brawn…

(-)

The very next day, the Xiaolin Warriors were once again attempting to spend the hot June day playing at the lake. The problem was, now they had extra baggage.

When Master Fung dismissed them, and Rai insisted that they pick up where they left off at the lake, Kimiko defiantly stopped him from just rushing off. "Wait a minute. If you just run off like that, the same thing might happen all over again. We have to force Jack to come with us so he won't be doing anything stupid while we're away," she had said.

"It depends on what you define as 'stupid," Rai had teased back, but grudgingly agreed to her reasoning.

"Besides," Omi had added. "If we're going to have a Xiaolin Dragon pool party, we have to have all the Xiaolin Dragons!"

However, at this moment, even Kimiko was beginning to regret her decision. She was walking along in her blue bikini, with Omi in a tube at her side. Rai and Clay walked confidently in front of them, in swimming trunks and with towels slung around their necks. Finally, at the back of the crowd, Jack was waddling after them, holding about three towels and a pile of inflatable junk. His swirling goggles had been replaced by clear scuba goggles, and only his head and his sandaled feet were visible poking out of the inflatable wall.

"Er…Jack?" Kimiko asked, glancing back at the odd sight. "Do you really need all that equipment?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "But I, uh, haven't gone swimming in a long time, so I thought I'd bring all of it!"

"We were right the first time," Omi commented, walking along, proudly. "He really is afraid of the water!"

At last, Jack separated from his ballooning shield for a moment to whack Omi over the head with an inflatable alligator. "I am not afraid of the water! He protested. "I just…haven't been swimming in a long time."

"Like forever," Omi muttered, and this time earned a bop over the head by a turtle inner tube.

Kimiko smiled a bit and turned back to follow Clay and Rai. They were almost at the lake by now. It looked like things were getting back to normal. "The last one to the rope swing will turn into a foul-smelling egg!" Omi called when he saw the lake just ahead of them.

"Last one to swing is a rotten egg!" Kimiko corrected, and broke into a sprint. Clay and Rai picked up the message, and ran with them, and they all raced each other to the rope, with Jack hobbling after. At last, Rai jumped and grabbed the rope first, splashing down into the middle of the lake. Kimiko jumped past Clay and reached it second, with the cowboy following right behind. Omi stopped at the edge of the lake and looked down at the three of them, waiting for someone to toss the rope back over. A few minutes later, Jack came up behind him, struggling to carry all of the inflatables and still keep the towels around him.

"Ha!" Rai cried from down below. "Jack's the rotten egg!"

"Well, it wasn't fair," Jack tried to excuse himself. "You didn't have anything to carry, so you could run faster."

"Well, you didn't have to carry all that stuff either," Omi argued. He finally got a hold of the rope and swung into the lake along with the others. He flung it over to their balloon-bogged partner.

Jack waved it away and turned to occupy the beach chair Kimko had been sitting in yesterday. He slowly peeled away his shell of objects, placing them on the side of the chair, and draping the towels over its white, plastic back. He then settled down and pulled a bottle out of the knapsack on the side.

When Rai and Kimiko shifted closer to the shore in their splashing battle, they noticed him sitting there without any body armor. It was strange and almost disturbing to see him in just swim trunks and sandals. And as Kimko stared up at his body, she had to admit that his flat torso and spindly arms and legs were highly unattractive.

"Hey, Spicer!" Rai called up to him. "Why don't you come in? You're not afraid, are you?"

"Of course not," Jack bragged back as he squirted gobs of suntan lotion on himself. "But…well, something could happen. You know, metal rusts in water…"

"You can't use that as an excuse," Kimiko spoke up, standing up beside Rai with her hands on her hips. "Because I'm fire, and I have no problem with water…"

"I just don't want to right now," Jack replied, trying to rub the excess piles of suntan lotion onto his skin and remove the white streaks. "…I'm working on my tan."

"Aw, c'mon, Jack. You know, swimming is really good exercise," Rai coaxed.

"Maybe later," he finally told them, and they were satisfied.

Rai and Kimiko got Clay and Omi involved in the splash war, and they were screaming and laughing like the kids they were, just having fun being together. Clay took a beach ball from Jack's pile of inflatables, and they played water volleyball for an hour.

Once, Rai served the ball so hard that it flew out of the lake and straight into Jack. Thankfully, he just threw it back at them. He had been trying to hit Rai back with it, but missed by a few yards.

Finally, the Dragons were worn out, and Rai, Kimiko, and Omi were standing just at the shore, resting and drying off. Clay remained in the lake for a little bit afterwards, swimming laps, as he always did.

Rai looked over and noticed to his astonishment, that Jack was actually standing up next to the table on which all his equipment was stacked. He was sifting through the plastic animals, trying to find that bottle he'd just had an hour ago. Rai got to his feet and walked over towards the table to confront him. After yesterday's incident and what Master Fung had told him about Jack needing protection, he thought he should try to be a little nicer and friendlier to his impressionable goth friend. "Hey, Jack…" he started, approaching the other side of the plastic and looking over at him.

Jack looked up, but when he saw who was speaking, turned back to his pile and muttered, "What do you want?"

"Well, I just wanted to say that when I was talking to you that time… I didn't mean for you to go all crazy and hurt yourself."

"I don't have anything against you," Jack replied, glaring back over at him. "You were only telling the truth."

"…Then why are you giving me that evil eye?" Rai hesitantly questioned.

"Maybe because you've got what I want," Jack coldly stated.

"Why wouldn't you come swim with us, anyway?" Rai asked, deliberately trying to change the subject. He didn't like that hateful look Jack was giving him; it was almost like he had suddenly gone back to being evil.

That was when Jack looked away from the brown-skinned Brazilian in front of him, and noticed Omi and Kimiko in the distance. They were both staring at them. They probably were only wondering what they were talking about, or just surprised that they were talking at all, but to Jack, they were staring at how worse he looked compared to Rai, even though they were the same size.

Out of nowhere, Jack rushed forward and pushed his companion sideways, straight into the water. Startled, Rai popped back out of the surface, his hair wet again. "Hey!" he cried, shaking a fist at his unpredictable partner. "What was that for?"

"You were in my way!" Jack cried in frustration, standing at the edge of the lake, and glaring down at his role model. He looked exceptionally angry this time, but that might have had to do with the fact that his whole body had turned red. From his spot just below the ledge, Rai wondered why he hadn't noticed what a sunburn Jack had when he'd been standing right next to him.

Finally obeying his urge for revenge, Rai reached up, grabbed Jack around the ankles, and tossed him into the lake beside him. By now, Omi, Kimiko, and even Clay had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the two boys with their mouths hanging open. Sure, Rai and Jack fought a lot, but it was usually over video games or chores, and it was never usually this bad.

A second later, Jack's head popped out of the water. He was gasping for air and splashing his arms around, helplessly.

"What's he doing?" Kimiko asked in alarm. "Can he even swim?"

"Maybe he's just playing a trick on us," Omi suggested. But the way Jack was floundering didn't look like just a hoax.

"Oh my gosh!" Kimiko cried, as Jack's head bobbed below the water again. "He's really drowning! Someone's got to go get him!" She stepped towards the water, but her assistance wasn't necessary.

Rai and Clay had already grabbed Jack's arms and were pulling him towards the shore. A few relieving second later, they dragged him back on shore, and he coughed and spluttered a bit, clearing his lungs of water.

"Gee, it's a good thing you noticed in time," Omi said. "None of us know RCP."

"We don't know CPR either," Kimiko corrected him.

"Hey, you okay, dude?" Rai asked, kneeling on the grassy shoreline, one of his arms still around the coughing Jack. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you…"

At that point, Jack finally, forcefully stood up, flinging Rai's arm from his neck. "I didn't need you help," he replied, his voice hard. "You just go away and leave me alone! I hate you and your stupid temple anyway! All of you! You don't need me either; you only care about me now because I've got powers that you can use to your own advantage!"

"Jack, that's not it…" Kimiko tried to say, but the raging goth cut her off.

"And don't you even try to deny it! You all hate me, so I hate all you. Well, that's fine. If nothing changes tomorrow, then I'm leaving. It's settled." He stormed away before the others could try to calm him down, grabbing his pile of rubber toys and towels as he went.

"Gee…" Kimiko slowly asked, after Jack had disappeared from view. "What was that all about?"

"I think Jack's got some low self-esteem issues…" Rai reluctantly spoke up, a worried expression passing over his tanned face.

"What?" Kimiko skeptically replied.

"Yeah," Omi said from behind them. "Jack Spicer and low self esteem do not belong together in the same sentence. …Unless you were saying 'Jack Spicer's nasty comment gave me low self esteem' or something like that."

"No, I really think something's wrong, because Jack Spicer hasn't made any nasty comments in a long time, up until now." Rai hung his head, guiltily. "Actually, I have talked to him lately…and I kind of told him something…but, I didn't think he'd take it this seriously."

"What?" Kimiko insisted. "What did you tell him, Rai?"

Rai shuddered and looked over at her. "Well…I can't actually tell you. I promised I wouldn't tell…"

"Ooooh, they really are close friends, sharing secrets and everything!" Omi cried.

"Be quiet," Rai snapped. "But…I just couldn't tell you."

"What did you tell him?" Kimiko continued to demand. "You need to tell me, because it's getting really serious now and I need to know so I can help him. Please, Rai! I won't tell him that you told me."

Rai took a deep breath. "Well, alright, but you're not going to like it." Kimiko crossed her arms. "When I went to talk to him after that incident at the training session, he was actually more concerned about being viewed as an idiot in front of you than being behind everyone else. So, I told him that in order to win your heart…he should bulk up a bit…and get a tan, and stop wearing goggles…"

Kimiko stared at the ground and twisted strands of her black hair around in her fingers. "Wow…" she commented. "…I didn't know he liked me that much… So, all that time, he was trying to impress me?" She looked out to the blue-roofed temple in the distance, and thought of the upset, angry, disgruntled boy that had just stomped off. She was the reason he'd been so upset. "…It's my fault he's like this. I have to go talk to him!" She hurried forward, but Rai held out an arm to stop her.

"No," he told her. "Not right now. Give him a while to be alone and cool off. …Sheesh, it sounds like I'm talking about you."

Kimiko at last consented, and the four of them walked back off to the temple. "Besides, you can always talk to him tomorrow. I'm sure Jack won't do anything too drastic in just twelve hours." Kimiko felt relieved as she walked back with them, but what could Rai possibly know about what was going on inside of Jack Spicer's non-evil laboratory at this very moment.

(-)

Jack grumbled and slammed his water (and appearance) protection gear onto the workbench in frustration. That stupid Raimundo had to ruin everything again, and make him look like an even bigger idiot for not being able to swim. It never failed. Stupid Xiaolin Warriors and their stupid ideals, he quietly fumed. Stupid Master Fung and his "advice". Stupid temple and its horrible dress code.

Stupid goggles, he thought, ripping the rubber band from his head. Stupid skinny body.He pulled on a towel, waiting until he dried off before putting his clothes back on. He looked into the full-length mirror on the door of his cabinet. He pulled on a towel, waiting until he dried off before putting his clothes back on. He looked into the full-length mirror on the door of his cabinet. Stupid sunburn, he thought, noticing his redness for the first time. Why hadn't he remembered? He was one of those fair-skinned types that couldn't get a tan, but only burned when they were exposed to the sun.

He then looked out at the mirror and evaluated his full appearance- a scrawny, sunburned boy, shivering in a towel, with flat, damp red hair, and glaring brown freckles all over the place. "Stupid mirror!" he suddenly cried out loud, seizing the object off of his cabinet door and smashing it against the cold concrete floor.

Jack panted for a few minutes and looked around the lab. There were glass pieces all around him, poking dangerously at his sandals, but at the moment, he didn't care. His narrowing red eyes were scanning the scrap metal piles in the different corner of the basement room. Last night, he'd destroyed all the exercise machines, returning them to the scrap metal state from whence they came. He'd have to make the most of his resources, and perform Operation: Construction with only this to make it out of.

For a moment, he longed to be living back at his house, where he could trick his father into letting him buy a few laser beams. This time, he'd have to make his own lasers, and perform this experiment all without the aid of super-powerful computerized mechanics. However, as he stared at the different pieces in the piles around him, he thought he might be able to assemble the type of machine he had in mind.

But, Jack diverted himself from the calling metal for the moment. Before he could even attempt to create this machine, he'd have to first test its function and make a prototype. Jack hurried to his computer table, where he fished a little glass container out of a drawer on the side. He'd have to find a way to multiply its contents… Suddenly, in a brainstorm, Jack grabbed two metal pans, some lighting rods, and other electrical equipment, along with two squirrels that were playing on the branches of a tree just outside. The first test had begun.

(-)

Bang, bang, bang. Kimiko once again found herself standing worriedly on the other side of Jack's painted door, staring into the lumpy texture and wondering what was going on behind it. Unfortunately, she had let herself be side-tracked by Rai and the others. For the rest of the first day, she'd even forgotten that Jack lived here at all. It seemed that everyone was trying to block the whole incident out of their memories.

Kimiko had only remembered when they'd been outside practicing and she happened to look in the distance at the lake where it had occurred. Her mind had screamed at her for not caring, and she'd realized with horror that she hadn't even seen Jack for two days.

And here she was now, in the same position she'd been in twice before. Yet, this time, she had no idea what he could be doing now…or if he was even still alive. That thought crawled through her, and suddenly she didn't want to know. What if…? She'd never forgive herself.

At last, Kimiko grabbed the handle and forced her way in, with this terrible fear growing inside of her. Thankfully, on the other side, she found a very irritated-looking Jack Spicer, surprisingly in his trench coat again, glaring back at her.

"What do you want?" he forcefully asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"I…came to see you," Kimiko replied. "I'm so sorry…I was going to come earlier, and then the others just...made me forget. Jack…I need to have a talk with you."

Oddly enough, a little smile appeared across Jack's face when she said this. "Well, sure. We'll see what you have to say after this." He jabbed his thumb behind him, gesturing to a large, hulking machine sitting in the center of the room. It resembled a long passageway, with all kinds of knobs, lasers, and needles pointing out on the inside. A dial on the outside was pointing straight up, to the label "R2", while some strange reddish substance swished around in a tank right next to it.

"What is that thing?" Kimiko asked, staring at the red gunk, half disgusted and half suspicious.

Jack smiled at her again. "You're about to find out!" he cried, and then turned back to the machine.

Kimiko's bright blue eyes widened as Jack suddenly broke into a run towards the machine. He was going to run straight into it! What would this odd and disgusting contraption do to him? She had no idea what the thing was, but she could clearly see the interior, and it didn't look too promising. All those needles and lasers… Whatever that thing was, it didn't look the least bit safe. Maybe…he was trying to kill himself! "No!" the word burst from Kimiko's mouth. "Jack! Don't go in there!"

He didn't slow down a bit. There was only one option now. Kimiko zipped forward, and with all her might, sprang forward, crashing into Jack, and holding him against the ground inches away from the contraption's door. She was panting, more from her frantic adrenaline rush than from the exercise.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jack snapped at her, although he looked as shocked as she was, his red eyes enlarged and his thick eyebrows raised.

"Me?" Kimiko cried back, finally catching her breath. She forced herself to look straight into Jack's face. It was a little frightening, but she knew she had to do this. "What did you think you were doing? That machine looks dangerous; you could kill yourself in something like that! I won't let you commit suicide!"

At last, Jack smirked in response, which somehow made Kimiko feel a little less afraid. He chuckled a little and said, "Geez, calm down. I wasn't going to commit suicide!" He swiveled his head back around to look, proudly up at the machine looming above them. "This is my greatest invention- the Multiplier! Once I walk through this, my strength will be multiplied by twice Raimundo's, and it'll increase my muscle mass by 75! I'll finally have a firm, toned, sexy body, even better than Rai's! And it'll all happen in two minutes!"

Kimiko stared over at him, her mouth agape. Out of all the crazy, body-enhancing schemes he'd come up with, this was by far the craziest…and all because he wanted her to like him. "But…that's impossible!" she cried. "It takes months of training before you can…"

"Not anymore," Jack interrupted, the same maniacal grin spreading onto his face. "Because I have yet again found a way to achieve the impossible!"

"But…but…" Kimiko continued to stutter. "What if…it doesn't work like you expect it to? What if this is all nonsense, and it doesn't even work?"

"Of course it'll work," Jack answered, still beaming. "Don't you think I would've made sure of that beforehand? I tested a similar experiment on a bit of the local wildlife before I even considered doing it to myself…"

(-)

"AAAAAAUGH!" a little voice screamed in terror. Clay poked his blond head around the corner of his cubicle. "Omi?" he asked. "What's the matter, there pard'ner?"

"RUN!" Omi yelled, zooming straight past him and into the inner sanctums of the Xiaolin Temple. "Evil mutant wrestler squirrels!"

"What the…?" Clay wondered aloud. "Now that's just hogwash." But, to his disbelief, a second later, two overgrown, muscular squirrels burst through the wall, standing upright and wearing wrestler's belts. "Well, I'll be darned…" Clay said under his breath as he stared up at them.

(-)

"B-But…" Kimiko continued, the fear returning to her chest. "What if something goes wrong? You can never tell with machines. Some wire could go haywire and you could come out looking like a hulking mutant monster!"

"Well, it's better I be a hulking mutant monster, then," Jack replied, easily waving her off. "I'm unattractive enough as it is, so what difference does it make?"

Kimiko's body weakened, looking into his happy, determined mask, and of course this allowed him to slip out from under her. He really did have low self-esteem issues…and because of her. "No, Jack…" she started to say. "Don't do it. I don't want anything to happen to you. What if it hurts you?"

"Then you can just use the Rag of Resurrection on me, if you're that worried," he replied.

"No!" Kimiko repeated. "I don't want you to do this…" By now, frustrated, anxiety tears were appearing under her eyes. It was unusual, because normally with these feelings she'd be blowing up at the person she was arguing with. However, this time, she stopped herself from yelling, because she didn't want to hurt Jack any more than she already had. "Stop this. Please…"

"That I don't understand," Jack said. "But it doesn't matter." He smiled forcefully and stood back up in front of his ingenious invention. "In just a few minutes, everything will be better. Prepare to meet the new Jack Spicer!" At last, he took a hesitant step just above the moving belt. In a second, he'd be slowly moving down that dreaded corridor.

Kimiko gazed up at him through her glassed eyes. What happened to him? She wondered, longingly. What happened to that other Jack? The one that made me laugh on the first day…the one that saved my life…the one that was so happy when I brought him a burger? What happened to that Jack? What happened to that sweet…cute Jack? No…there was no way she was going to let him destroy himself like that. She had to perform her duties as a Xiaolin Dragon…and one of those was to protect their weak, precious Dragon of Metal at all costs. "Nooooooo!" Kimiko defiantly screamed, gripping tightly to Jack's legs, the tears streaming from her cheeks.

It seemed she was successful. Naturally, Jack lost his balance and went tumbling over backwards and away from the machine. He slammed, head first against the basement pavement, and immediately began to struggle upwards.

That was when Kimiko looked up and noticed that even he was shaking. He was afraid too. "W-Why did you do that?" he asked, his voice shaking along with his body. "Isn't this…what you want?"

"No!" Kimiko said, calming down a little, but still choking on her tears. "I never said that! Rai said that. He doesn't know everything about me…"

"B-But you hate me. You still hate me. You'll never like me…the way I am…" Now his voice was starting to waver a bit, with hers.

"I never said that either…" Kimiko replied, at last letting go of his legs and shifting her arms up, pulling herself into a sitting position, leaning towards him. "I only disliked you before because you were evil."

"I was only evil because it was easier," Jack tried to explain. "I should probably go back…I can't survive in a place like this. It's much easier wanting to be hated…and if you end up being loved instead, then it's okay. …But wanting to be loved, and being hated instead…" Now, Jack couldn't stop up his emotions any more, and a teardrop trail was streaming down his left cheek. "M-maybe I get tired of always looking so stupid…maybe sometimes I get tired of being laughed at… How can you like someone…like me?"

"Jack…" Kimiko gently whispered. She moved closer, and slowly, softly wrapped her arms around his body. It didn't matter what he'd done, or what he looked like. "You didn't have to do all this. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have a tan. You don't even need to have a strong body. I've seen you…how you really are. Not the evil one…not the fake ones…not the crazy one…I like you with none of those extra add-ons…nothing else…" She leaned, protectively against his chest. "…just you. Please…please, don't destroy that. I won't like the "new Jack Spicer."

Jack, who was crying along with her, reached out, and hugged her back. He leaned his face against her soft hair, and she could feel his moist cheek pressing to her head. "I…love you, Kimiko," he softly told her, in a strained whisper.

"I love you too…" she answered. "…When you're you." So, there they stayed, on the floor in the middle of the laboratory, embracing for several minutes.

Jack squeezed Kimiko tight. She felt like he would never let go of her…and she didn't mind. It was so comfortable there, against his warm body… And when she finally looked up, she saw Jack's face, smiling in that radiant, truly joyful way. And she suddenly felt that he was indeed attractive…more than Rai could ever be.

Kimiko smiled back up at him, and pressed her lips, softly against his left cheek, where the last of his tears were drying. "…There you are, Jack."

At last, after a few more minutes of silent hugging and nuzzling, Kimiko pulled a bit away, and asked, "So, you promise, no more crazy exercising and fooling with your body?"

"…Does that mean no more protein shakes?" Jack said, grimacing over at her.

"Well…if you wanted to still have them…"

"Are you kidding me?" Jack said with a little laugh. "Those things are so disgusting! I'm never drinking another protein shake for as long as I live!" The two of them broke into relieved laughter, and Kimiko couldn't help but give him another hug for that. At last, they both got up and fixed everything that had been knocked askew.

Jack stepped over to a panel on the side of the wall. He reached to press a red button inside.

"Wait!" Kimiko cried, worriedly. "What does that do?"

Jack beckoned for her to stand next to him. "Just wait," he said again, the same smile suspiciously lighting up his face. "You're about to find out!"

Kimiko glanced back at him, but trusted that now he wouldn't do anything like that again. At last, Jack slammed his hand against the button…and with a deafening boom, the entire Multiplier exploded, neatly returning to scrap metal once again.

Kimkiko smiled and giggled in relief. She clapped her hands together, happily. "Yea! Those were some awesome fireworks, Jack!"

Jack grinned back. "Why, thank you. It's just a natural talent, I guess." And with that, Kimiko threw her arms around his neck once again.

(-)

The world seemed to have calmed down, and Kimiko felt as if none of those terrible, tense events had even occurred. She was hanging, comfortably on the back of Jack's high-backed office chair in contentment. She was having such a good time that she didn't even think about her surroundings or her company. Jack had been showing her all kinds of things on his computer, and once he even let her play a little included pinball game. The Jack-bots, now suddenly activated, were walking or floating around, waiting on them.

At this moment, Kimiko was leaning over Jack's shoulder as he sat in front of the screen. Beautiful, fluid 3-D animation was running across the thin substance, and the blissful Japanese girl was transfixed by the sight. It was hard to believe that this seemingly cold-hearted, egotistical boy had created such a thing.

Jack was also strangely comforted, and affirmed by her presence. He was suddenly sharing so much with her…personal things that he never would show anyone before. Yet he felt strangely safe displaying them in front of her. Kimiko had already made it very clear…she wouldn't just reject him like everyone else. At last, he thought he understood the real origins of Julie's Meltdown attack. Jack was Metal…and Kimiko was Fire. She was melting him.

As he clicked the video off, he accidentally clicked something at the bottom of the screen. Suddenly, a very familiar picture, at least to him, flashed onto the monitor. For the first time in an hour, embarrassment and fear flickered back into him. This picture he definitely never wanted anyone to see, even in this comforting time. He grabbed the mouse and tried to click it away before she could comment, but it was already too late.

"Who are they?" Kimiko's voice piped up, freezing Jack's arm exactly where it was. "Some relatives of yours?"

Jack sighed. There was no backing out now- she'd already noticed and now he'd have to explain. "That's me…and my father."

Kimiko blinked, interestedly. The tall man to the right was frowning dourly at the camera in a business suit. He had dark brown, slicked back hair and little reddish eyes. She had to admit, the more she looked at him, that he did resemble Jack, in facial features. They even had identical scowls. The scribbled label underneath him read "Henry Y. Spicer".

Finally, the little figure that Jack had identified as himself only remotely resembled him. In this digitized photograph, he was only a toddler, and it seemed the camera had done a good job of capturing his innocent youth. The tiny boy was hugging an oversized plush teddy bear, and laughing at some private joke. It still looked strange to see him so normal. This boy had normal skin, along with his light freckles, and the strangest sight was the scraggly, dark orange-colored hair that covered his round head. Yet, this was the truth, because beneath the toddler, a label read "John Henry Spicer".

"…John Henry?" Kimiko questioned. "That's your full name?"

"Yeah…" Jack admitted through gritted teeth. "If you thought I was egotistical…Dad wanted to name me after himself, but Mom wouldn't have it, so they eventually settled on Henry for my middle name. And I hate that 'John Henry'. It sounds like the name of some explorer…or a pilgrim."

Kimiko giggled a little, but then turned her attention to the screen. "…Awww, you were so adorable! I can't imagine how your mother was able to leave you like that."

Jack frowned at this comment. "Well…thanks? Actually, she was in this picture…" he tapped the smooth computer screen on the left side, where the picture seemed to abruptly stop. "…After she left, and Dad found out that she was one of the Xiaolin Warriors, he desperately tried to eliminate all memory of her, by destroying her pictures and throwing out all of her belongings. Sometimes, he even pretended that he had never even been married…and the sad thing is, he succeeded most of the time."

Kimiko's smile drooped and her feelings of comfort immediately disappeared. Why had she brought that up? Once again, she was only helping to upset Jack further. Thankfully, he simply clicked the picture off, but to her dismay, he left the computer and knelt beside the pile of scrap metal that over the course of the last half hour, he had been transforming into yet another Jack-bot.

Kimiko slowly lifted herself from the soft chair backing, and kneeled next to him. "…I'm sorry," she confronted him. "I shouldn't have said anything about…"

"Nah, it's okay," Jack reassured her, trying to flash a bolstering smile to accompany it. "I don't remember my mother anyway, so it doesn't upset me that much…"

When Kimiko didn't respond, and only stared gravely at the half-finished robot, Jack fell silent, and resumed his work. A minute or so later, he lit up when he noticed Kimiko's fascination with the work. "Oh! Yeah, that's right, I have something for you. Wait right there."

Kimiko sat back against the cold, concrete floor and gazed, suspiciously after him as he dashed off to a cabinet next to the computer. Moments later, Jack returned, clutching a thin rectangular device in his hand. He held it out, and Kimiko saw its little screen light up, the familiar pink panda backdrop flickering back at her.

"…My PDA!" she cried, in disbelief. She wrenched it from Jack's hand, worried at first, but when she glanced back up, she realized what had really happened. "…You fixed it?"

Jack nodded proudly, but then turned away, as if suddenly remembering some terrible bit of information.

Kimiko was silent for a long while. "You didn't…look through my diary, did you?" Jack remained stonily silent, which she took as a 'yes'. "I…I'm really sorry…" she started to excuse herself. "That was…from a long time ago…from before…" Kimiko felt horrible remembering all the things she'd written in her private diary… Once, she'd written about how she wanted to go out with Rai, and written her name as Kimiko Pedrosa…while in some other entries, she'd written a few very mean things about Jack, and some entries were even accompanied by simple caricatures. Kimiko suddenly felt embarrassed about all the things she knew Jack now knew about her. …But it was only natural. In an odd sort of way, they were only bonding…getting to know more about each other…even the secrets they both thought they'd never tell another living creature.

Kimiko squeezed her arms around Jack, for the umpteenth time, trying to comfort him and thank him at the same time. "But that's over now," she declared. "You're not like that anymore…and I'm not like that anymore."

"Yeah, I know," Jack replied, looking down at her. "Everything's so different…"

"So," Kimiko spoke up after a moment more of silent hugging. "Shall we make our way back out into the daylight? The others are probably wondering what happened to us."

"No." Jack got to his feet and walked over to a table, where his brown, battered suitcase was lying open with a few articles of clothing spilling out of it. "They're probably wondering what happened to you."

Kimiko stood up and gazed, confusedly over at the half-packed suitcase. "Jack, you don't mean that you…?"

"I said that I'd lay off all the crazy exercising stuff," he reasoned. "I never said that I wasn't still leaving."

"But why?" the concerned Japanese girl cried, rushing up to the table's side, her jet black pigtails bouncing when she stopped abruptly. "Didn't I make you feel better at all?"

"Of course," Jack replied. "But it's true. You don't need me here. Master Fung even said so himself- the Dragon of Metal is an extra, unnecessary power. And besides, I'm so far behind you guys. I'm holding back your training, since you have to wait for me to catch up before you learn any new techniques. The others don't really feel comfortable with me here; I can tell…"

Kimiko's smooth face contorted into an anxious, disappointed expression, thin eyebrows pinching together. She clutched her hands together as she pressed them against the tabletop. "…But where would you go? You don't want to go back there, do you?"

"Oh, I'll make due," Jack tried to assure her, smiling suspiciously. "After all, I am a boy genius. I should be able to survive on my own…" Kimiko frowned at that, because, having known Jack for this long, she knew better.

"I'll still write and everything. You can even come visit if you want…"

The disheartened girl once again tried to object, but there was no stopping him once he had really made up his mind about something.

Later that afternoon, she trudged back to her cubicle, confused and doubtful. It just didn't make any sense… She'd just been there with him…and he'd told her that he loved her…so why in the world was he leaving? She figured she should've made him feel more accepted at the temple. It didn't make sense…it never made sense, and that night, Kimiko could barely sleep because her head was in a whirl over this whole Jack incident.

(-)

"Nice of you to join us, recluse."

"Er…I never meant to…"

"Welcome back above ground!"

"Omi, geez, you make it sound like he came back from the dead!"

"…Well, perhaps he has!"

Now, it was Kimiko leaning, pensively against the low table as she watched her friends speculate over Jack's return to the realm of the living. The confused goth had decided to join them once more for breakfast before breaking the news. So, needless to say, Kimiko had been trying to eat as slowly as possible and drag the breakfast period out for as long as she could. In fact, she still had half a pancake with its strawberry topping sitting near the edge of her plate.

She glanced nervously over when she noticed that Jack had already finished and was now sifting through his luggage. In a few minutes… Of course, Kimiko hadn't told the other three about what had happened last night. They might not believe her, or look down on her for her sudden attitude change. Sure, it really shouldn't matter, because Jack was just another one of them, but it was still hard to shake that ages-old mindset that he was an enemy. Little did she know, Raimundo, Omi, and Clay would have been perfectly happy with her decision. Kimiko turned her head back down to the half-finished plate in front of her, and sighed.

"What's the matter, Kimiko?" Omi finally asked her, swiveling his little body in her direction. "You seem so up in the compost heaps."

"Oh. It's nothing," she simply replied, batting her pigtails around, mindlessly. Now even Clay and Rai were staring at her. Something definitely wasn't right.

At that essential moment, Jack snapped his suitcase back together, grabbed the handle, and stood up, importantly at the head of the table. Naturally, Rai, Omi, and Clay looked up at him, expecting some sort of speech, while Kimiko looked away, unable to bear the thought of it.

Then, to her relief, the instant Jack opened his mouth to make his grand farewell speech, two bulky wrestler squirrels crashed into the dining hall, growling threateningly. Omi screamed and hid under the table, pulling the tablecloth over himself.

Clay stood up to defend him, grabbing a lasso off his belt and twirling it around. "Dern thing 're back again," he said. "I chased 'em off last night, but they're as stubborn as bulls at matin' season."

Kimiko immediately sat up, on alert.

Before Clay could even try to tame the savage rodents, Jack pulled out a green device shaped like a laser gun. He shot a blue-colored beam at the wrestler squirrels, and they both returned to normal size and strength when it hit them. The befuddled rodents scurried off, harmlessly, sniffing for food as they went.

"What was that?" Kimiko finally spoke to Jack for the first time since yesterday, gesturing at the device in his hand.

"Oh…" he sheepishly admitted, shoving the gun back into an unseen pocket. "…Strength reducer. …In case anything went wrong."

Kimiko slapped her head in desperation. Last night, she clearly remembered Jack stating that he had no way to reverse the effects of the Multiplier.

"Omi, the big, scary squirrels are gone; you can come out from under that tablecloth now," Rai teased, bending down to his level. Omi slowly crawled out from under the table, glancing warily around him. He finally stood back up again, when he didn't see any hulking squirrels in the area.

"So you created them monsters?" Clay asked, turning around to face Jack.

Jack shook his head, listlessly. "Well, it's a long story…I'd rather not talk about it. Anyway, to get back to the matter at hand…"

Kimiko took a deep breath. She'd hoped that little intrusion would have been enough to make him forget about his desire to move away…but, unfortunately, it was going to happen anyway.

"…I'm leaving the temple," Jack at last finished, gesturing to his beat-up suitcase.

As expected, Rai, Clay, and Omi were dumbstruck. The three of them finally forced themselves to remember that incident at the lake… "If nothing changes tomorrow, then I'm leaving," he'd said. How could they have just forgotten about him after a statement like that?

"Jack…" Rai started to say, but felt so guilty that he couldn't finish.

"…we sincerely apologize…" Omi tried to sum up.

"Oh, no," Jack told them, in a slightly surprised tone. "It's not because of something you said or did."

"You're not going back to evil, are you?" Rai hesitantly questioned. "Because it would just be kind of…weird to fight against you again, after you've been here all this time…"

"Nah, I can't go back home, anyway. I told my father I was running away and never coming back," Jack answered. "But…I'll go somewhere. Maybe get a job working at a tech company or something…" A moment of awkward silence passed through the room.

"…But you can't leave!" Omi suddenly burst out. "You're the Dragon of Metal! We need you here!"

"You never really needed me," Jack argued back. "You were doing perfectly fine before I came along, weren't you? In fact, you were probably doing better, since now you have to slow down your training to wait for me to catch up. That's going to take years. Believe me, it'll be better for everyone if I just left now."

The dining hall fell uncomfortably silent once again. Jack did have a point…but, none of them really wanted him to leave just so that they could improve.

"But…Jack Spicer…" Omi struggled to explain. "We…"

"Never mind," Jack curtly cut him off. He turned away from the table and yanked his suitcase with him. "Just, good-bye, and thanks for the stay."

The others, and especially Kimiko stared as he hurried off downstairs. Even through the dense silence, they could all read each other's thoughts, and they were all thinking the same thing. That was one word- Why?

(-)

It was around 11:30, and the sun was shining bright in the sky, nearing noon. It did seem like the perfect time, didn't it? Jack Spicer was standing outside the Xiaolin Temple again, making final adjustments on his hover car. Hopefully, the darned thing would be working properly again, and he wouldn't have any landing trouble this time. The large vehicle hovered near the sliding paper doors, with the floating container of computers and robots bobbing up and down behind it.

Strangely enough, aside from the face paint, Jack was once again in full evil genius attire, Helipack and all. Separate from the Xiaolin Temple, he could wear whatever he wanted. That was the one thing he was looking forward to.

He looked out over the serene, intricate temple community and sighed. Once again, it was time for a change. Changes always seemed to occur so quickly for him. Finally, he forced himself away from the unusually comforting sight, and placed one foot in the driver's doorway of the hover car.

"Jack…" the sound of a familiar voice from the distance piped up, freezing him in position. When he finally turned fully around, Omi, Kimiko, Rai, and Clay were standing right there, at the doorway, staring at him. "You never let us finish this morning," Kimiko spoke up first. "We were trying to explain a few things to you…"

Jack opened his mouth to make some sort of objection, but their reappearance had stunned him so much that he couldn't speak.

"I have no idea where you got the idea that we only like you now because you have powers that we can use. Don't you remember what happened before? The way we accepted you into the temple when we found out you were the Dragon of Metal…and the way we tried to get you on our side, even before any of us knew about your powers. Omi saved your life that time…and then you saved mine. I don't think people who hate each other would do that. I tried to help you that other time…but I guess I really didn't help you at all to understand…" The disheartened Japanese girl trailed off, and fixed her gaze on her clutched hands in anxiety.

Jack stared at her for a few minutes, in confusion and wonder. He loved her, and still wanted to stay with her…but, he couldn't. The others wouldn't accept him. Even if Omi had been kind to him a few times in the past, it didn't atone for the harsh manner in which he displayed his frustration with his inexperience. Somehow, though, as Jack stared at the little round-headed kid, all he could think about were those times when Omi had reached out to him.

Shifting his gaze to Clay only reminded him of the time when the burly cowboy had squash-hugged him, and when he had carried him to the bench when he'd fainted (which Kimiko had told him about later.)

It was even worse when Jack looked to Raimundo. He turned to the cocky Brazilian boy, hoping to find some resentment there…but Rai was probably the most concerned of them all. He most likely still felt like this departure was his fault. Then, visions began coming into Jack's head…when he and Rai had played video games together…when he came to give him advice…and when he saved him from drowning in the lake. He knew that guy probably didn't feel the same way…but it was almost like he'd been his best friend at the temple.

By this time, Jack was naturally beginning to reconsider his decision, but he had to clear up a few things first. "But…" he began. "…If you don't learn anything new, and have to waste time waiting for me, then you won't be able to properly protect the planet. I'm just holding you back. The Dragon of Metal isn't required. Why would you…?"

At last, that little yellow-skinned boy stepped forward, holding his head slightly down, respectfully, and cutting off Jack's sentence. When he at last had the attention of everyone in the area, he looked up, and straight into Jack's face…even through his ruby eyes. "Don't you realize, Jack Spicer? It might sound awkward and stupid when I say it, but…that doesn't matter to us. In fact, it's better that you stay and improve, even if we have to take a loss, because the power of five Dragons is much stronger then that of four Dragons. And most importantly…because we care about you. You've graced us all with your friendship for two months now, and we don't want that to end." Omi smiled up at Jack, and kept his hands tucked into his sleeves, Master Fung-style. "…You're a valuable friend to us now. We want to have you here with us."

And then, it was finally too much for him. Omi stood, solidly in place, smiling, as Jack snapped into an emotional outburst, and broke into a run towards him. The overcome Dragon of Metal swooped down into a kneeling position, and caught his little yellow friend in a hug. Omi still continued to smile, gratefully, pressing against Jack's shoulder. Jack was leaning against Omi's little round shoulder in return, smiling as a stream of tears flowed down his cheeks again.

Slowly, Kimiko approached them from the side. "I think I know what that means…" she started, joining in the hug from the right. Rai and Clay followed, kneeling to reach the same level as Omi and Jack. The five of them wrapped their arms around each other, in a rare moment of visible love.

"Hey, Jack, why are you crying? I didn't make you sad, did I?" Omi finally wondered, looking up at the over-emotional goth in front of him.

"No…"Jack finally made efforts at audible speech. "…I…I'm happy. I've never…felt like…this before. No one's ever…really…accepted me like that…" He struggled against the feeling, but still continued to let his teary smiling show. "…St-st-stop it!" he stuttered, laughing a little, as the other Xiaolin Warriors pressed against him. "You're turning me into a…a sappy crybaby!"

"Newsflash, Jack," Kimiko joyfully teased, "You were always a crybaby. But, it's okay. We love you for it!"

Clay grinned and broke away, twitching his fingers, suspiciously. "Ya know what I think? I think Jack deserves a good 'ol Xiaolin Temple punishment for trying to leave us!"

"…What?" Jack asked, glancing over at him, his smile drooping a little. "…Punishment?"

"Yeah!" Kimiko agreed, breaking away from him for a moment. "That sounds like a great idea!"

"All right!" Rai added, a new smile spreading over his face. "Let's make him suffer!"

Jack froze, and looked around at all of them, his smile now completely dissipated. "But…I thought…" he began to whimper.

"Charge!" Omi gave the signal, and jumped onto Jack, tickling him with his fast little fingers.

"Augh!" Jack exclaimed, falling over backwards from not anticipating the event. His joyous smile instantly returned, and he began laughing.

Kimiko grinned upon hearing his lighter, true laugh, and jumped in on the side, beginning to tickle him as well. Soon, Rai and Clay too had joined in on Jack's "torture". Their victim was rolling around on the floor, his sides aching from laughing too much, and when they finally let him up, he had tears in his eyes again.

"That should teach him," Clay decided, grinning satisfactorily over at the hysterical Jack.

"Yeah!" Kimiko added, playing tough. "Don't you ever try to leave us again!"

"I won't!" Jack cried between chuckles. "I won't!" At last, he struggled to his feet, along with the rest of the Xiaolin Dragons.

"Well, it's good to have ya still on the team, pard'ner," Clay commented, for a second time.

"Yeah…" Rai slowly began to say. "I just couldn't let you leave. You know I feel responsible, but…I know how you felt, to not be appreciated and accepted in the group. I couldn't see the same thing happen to you. And…well, we're friends. Without you, I'd have no one to play Lethal Combat Mission with!"

"Thanks, Rai," Jack hesitantly replied. "You were really…my first friend…" Then, instinctually, the two boys stepped forward, and wrapped each other in a hug.

"See, I told you they were best friends!" Omi called in victory.

"Aww…" Kimiko said, a little grin spreading onto her cheeks. "They really do look so cute together…"

As soon as the two of them heard this, they shoved away from each other at the same time, falling to the ground. Then, they promptly began an argument over who had hugged who first, and who the gay one really was. As they bickered, Master Fung and Dojo happened to stroll out of the paper doors, and stared at them with confusion.

"Master Fung! Master Fung!" Omi cried, rushing up to them. "I need your help!"

"And what am I?" Dojo complained, slithering from Master Fung's shoulders. "Chopped liver?"

"Um…no. You're a dragon," Omi stated, confusedly.

"No, no," Dojo explained. "It's an expression meaning 'And what about me'!"

"Er…well, I guess you can help too."

"What is all this about?" Master Fung asked, cocking an eyebrow at the scene before him. "I though Jack was leaving the temple. He even came to me with his resignation."

"Nope!" Kimiko cried, happily butting in. "He's decided to stay! …With a little convincing, of course."

"And now, we need you to take a new Xiaolin Dragon portrait of us!" Omi cried.

Kimiko looked, surprisingly over at him. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten all about that. "That's right! We haven't taken one with all five of us!"

Master Fung smiled as he received the news. "Well, everyone, line up over there," He pulled out a small camera and positioned it at the full group of them.

"Get in the picture, Jack!" Rai cried, dragging him up next to him.

"Huh?" Jack asked, glancing all around him. "What's going on?"

Click!

"Hey! Take another one! I wasn't ready!"

"Can we take a few more, with different poses?" Kimiko asked.

"Sure," the temple master replied, looking down at the device. "There are seven pictures left."

This time, Jack knew what was going on, and stood beside Kimiko, putting an arm around her. Then, just as Master Fung took the picture, she turned to the side, and unexpectedly kissed him on the cheek.

In the next pose they tried, Kimiko, Omi and Clay huddled together, while Rai and Jack made peace signs on the sidelines. And as they shifted around, smiling, and capturing their lovely togetherness, Jack slowly began to think.

I finally have what I always wanted…to be respected and accepted…and real friends. All this, and I didn't have to implant some stupid robot chip in me… And now, even Kimiko likes me…who would want to rule the world, when you have all this?

And then, Master Fung snapped the last of his pictures, and they broke into cheerful conversation.

Even to this day, down the paper halls of the Xiaolin Temple center, and through the red-carpeted meeting hall, you'll find one of these portraits hanging in a golden frame, right beside the altar. And underneath the happy picture, there is a label- "Official Xiaolin Dragons, 2005- Kimiko Toho (Fire), Clay Bailey (Earth), Raimundo Pedrosa (Wind), Omi (Water)…, and Jack Spicer (Metal). Together forever."

(-)

THE END

(-)

Post-authors notes!

Number of pages: 155 (that's not breaking my record of 182, but still…) (this chapter breaks my record for longest chapter!)

Time to complete: 3 months

Number of computers broken: 2

Soundtrack: "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney, "You Found Me" by Kelly Clarkson, various Evanescence and Hoobastank songs

Special Thanks: (in basic order of # of reviews)

Jadebell

DesiredStorm

Funkmaster

TamerTerra

DerryBabe

SpicerFreak

ChibiChaos Mage of Chaos

cdfe88

Cole the Demon Hunter

Gijinka Renaman

Nichrome

rubianca

The Kwiz

peaches and cream

Iron Brain

The Qing

music man

dbz422

Random useless background information:

Originally, this started out as a little "project" called Dragonian Destruction ("Dragonian isn't even a word!), which featured some of the same ideas (Jack being the Dragon of Metal, and his wearing makeup) as well as the Rag of Resurrection. In it, the original Xiaolin Warriors would chase Wuya and Katnappe around the world to try to get the R of R back from them to heal Jack, who had become suddenly, dangerously sick. This was before I had the whole awesome future world brainstorm.

This story's based on the nursery rhyme 'Jack and Jill' as you should know by now. Originally, Julie's name was Jill, but I had to change it when I saw that there were other characters here named Jill. Julienne sounds fancier than Jillian anyway.

A few deleted scenes:

(At the end, I originally intended for Jack to kill his future self)

Jack: No…I have…just…COMMITTED SUICIDE! (starts bawling)

(And when he first meets the guards in chapter 2…)

Jack: Ha! I'm not afraid of you. You're just a simulation; you don't exist! Ha ha ha!

Guard: (punches Jack in the face)

Jack: (dizzily) Wow…it feels so…real…(faints)

(there was another scene I deleted, somewhere after chapter 5, with the two of them in Jack's hover car, and Julie never started talking to him)

Jack: GET IN THE CAR! (motions to Julie)

Julie: ………………

Jack: Get in the car?

Julie: (smiles and climbs in)

Q: How do you write such long chapters?

A: 1. I'm an only child, 2. I just love to write, and 3. I have no life

Also, I often have chapters written beforehand when I post them. Such as, I already had this chapter done when I was posting chapter 9.

…Sequel, anybody?

I do have some sequel ideas, under the working title Xiaolin Showdown: Elemental Ages. It'll be sort of a series to follow up on this story. Though he'll still play an important role in the end, this will hopefully take the focus away from Jack a little.

Jack: Hey! Did I just hear you say "take the focus away from Jack"!

EF: Yes, but you'll still be really important in the end. See, I want to appeal to a larger spectrum of XS fans…like, the Rai fans, and the Clay fans, and the…

Jack: You can't do this to me! C'mon, look at all the ideas I gave you! I'll even forgive you for the song torture! YOU'RE MY FAN! (is dragged away by a mysterious figure with cornrows)

Anyway, here's a look at what I'm planning…

The five Xiaolin Warriors must find their corresponding Element Orbs to combat a mysterious new evil. With the addition of a prejudiced gangster, a motherly legendary figure, and a brand new Dragon of Ice, they'll surely have their work cut out for them. But what happens when Jack finds not one, but two Element Orbs, a few unexpected entities emerge, and the Warriors' newly enhanced powers are put to the ultimate test? Will they survive the second great Showdown War?

Don't expect it too soon, though. I do have the first couple of chapters, and have to proofread them, but I want to update my other fics before I start something new. A lot of the time, I kill myself with sequels…I can always think of them, but I hardly ever finish them.