Chapter 02: Alliance

"Chase? C.Y.? Mr. Young, sir?"

Jack Spicer stood before the cave wall isolating Chase Young's keep from the rest of the world. The mountainous wall remained indifferent to Jack's growing begging for admission. On the verge of tears, Jack collapsed into his routine breakdown in a desperate attempt to weaken the wall with his tears of despair. His feeble crying was interrupted shortly by a witch's cough and the voice of an evil millenniums-old.

"My boy, what are you doing?" inquired Hannibal Roy Bean.

Somehow through his sniffles of self-pity, Jack managed out the words, "I'm trying to talk to Chase about an evil alliance."

"Funny," replied the bean, eyeing Spicer with a look of curiosity, "we came by for just the same reason. Why don't you join us?"

"You can't be serious?" piped in Wuya, on whom Bean and Ying-Ying were perched. "What use do we have for a whiner like him?"

"I'm not a whiner!" Jack shrieked.

"We'll just see won't we? Now, we need to have a nice chat with Chase…"

Pressing his sprout-hands against the stone entrance, Bean trigger the door to open, revealing the marble paradise concealed in the volcano. In the center gazebo of the main chamber stood Chase Young, stroking the head of one of his jungle cats. He turned to his visitors with a look of amusement masking his inner rage at the sight of his former mentor.

"Hannibal. Wuya. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he called to them as the clique of villains approached

"I'm here too, Chase." Jack stated in a voice barely audible, even in the echoing silence. Those who heard him chose to ignore him.

"Chase, my boy, you know well why we've assembled here." Hannibal said. "The time has come for the Four Masters to resume our reign over the world."

"But aren't we forgetting something?" Wuya interrupted, "Ark Wing is dead. Unless you can pull a fourth Heylin warrior out of thin air, I don't-"

Her head rotated to Jack before she spoke once more, this time in a stupefied voice, "Oh, you can't be serious?"

"Indeed, I am."

"What's going on?" Jack asked the group in large.

"Jack Spicer, how would you like to be granted the powers of the Heylin side? Conquer this world with the three of us? Even keep the Western corner all to yourself?"

"Well…I would like the evil power, but I want to rule the whole world…But with the three of you here, that's impossible…"

"Aren't we forgetting something else, Hannibal?" Chase intervened, his voice no longer covering his annoyance, "Ark Wing isn't dead. Sabeeny's desperate attempt to retrieve the 'Monarch Wings' proved that."

"What's that got to do with me becoming one of the 'Four Masters' or whatever?" asked Jack.

"Oh, if it will stop your questioning…" said Chase, "Sabeeny, the parasite sealed in the 'Mosaic Scales' was the right-hand man of Ark Wing, King of Beasts and Heylin Master of the Western region. During the first Xiaolin War, Ark Wing was destroyed by Dashi and the Guardians. His body vanished, but his powers were sealed in the 'Monarch Wings', hence where the Wu received its name.

"Sabeeny was also trapped within a Shen Gong Wu, but even if released, he would become active only when the 'Monarch Wings' activated, which was his only hope of reviving his fallen master. Combined with the 'Scales', the 'Monarch Wings' were supposed to use Sabeeny as a flesh sacrifice to reborn Ark Wing.

"Body for a body, soul for a soul – the power and namesake of the 'Mosaic Scales'.

"However, Kimiko intervened and sealed the 'Scales' shut. What bothers me is the fact that even if the 'Scales' was sealed, a revived Ark Wing should have been more than powerful enough to break free. The fact he is not among our little group now means that the ritual failed and that Ark must have been reincarnated over the last fifteen centuries…"

"True," spoke Bean, "Ark may have come back without us knowing due to his lack of power. But until his incarnate is revealed, I think we should substitute Jack in his place so we can seize the opportunity. The 'Four-Point Star' activates only once and we need it retrieve it before the monks can."

"I don't need trinkets to deal with them." Chase retorted, only to be countered by Wuya's "Yes, you seem to be just as easily defeated by the martial arts skills…"

"Settle down, Chase." Hannibal reprimanded Young's reptilian form. "You may be against the use of Shen Gong Wu, but the 'Star' will also prevent the monks from using them. And when Ark returns and no Wu to fall back on…"

"The Xiaolin monks will be left as frail and pathetic as Jack." Wuya finished.

Jack cried "Hey!" but silenced when Bean spoke once more.

"What do you say, Chase? Join us and retake control of the Northern chunk of the globe! Regain your title as Heylin Master!"

There was a pause before Chase said, "Very well, Hannibal. The world will be easier to plunge into the darkness once the four of us reunite."

"Anyone want to fill me in?" Jack asked.

"In due time, my boy." Bean roared between laughs, "But now it's like you've always said: WORLD DOMINATION, BABY!"