Episode 4: The Long March
At Beach City, it was starting to get dark outside. The Monks had a training day and were getting used to Amethyst's new look. Raimundo was on the couch, thinking of something. Steven walks up to Raimundo. "Something on your mind, Raimundo?" Steven said. "Huh? Oh, uh yea. Ever since we found Peridot's escape pod, I was been meaning to wonder…where did they go? I mean, we know Jack's HQ so they would not likely use that. Because of that, we have no clue where they could go and hide out." Raimundo said. Steven softly nods. "Well, I hope we can find them soon. I got a jam session with Connie tomorrow." Steven said. Raimundo chuckles as he pats Steven's head. "You and Connie seems to be made for each other." Raimundo teased. Steven chuckles. Steven gets up and went to his bed as Raimundo lies down on the couch. He ponders something. 'where would they be heading if Jack's place isn't on the cards? Who would they try to get help from? Tubbi is unlikely and Katnappe isn't going to let them in anytime soon. So who would be their ally going forward?' Raimundo thought. Little do they know that Jack, Jackson, Wuya and Peridot has a plan.
Back at the Heylin, they arrived at a mysterious forest with a large set of stair in front of them. "You sure this will lead to him?" Jack said. "I'm one hundred percent certain, Jack." Wuya said. Peridot was still skeptical. "I doubt that this "Chase Young" guy will help us out." Peridot said. "Well, give it a chance, okay, Peridot." Jack said. "Here's the thing though…it's a little late to march up the stairs in the dark so, we camp out for one more day before we start the march." he added. "Sounds about right." Peridot said. So they began to set up camp in front of the steps. Jack was making beef stew for Wuya, Jackson and himself. Peridot was busy looking over her research and began wondering something. "What ever happened to the robonoids that I provided to you, Jack?" Peridot said. "Well, I managed to reverse engineer the robonoids to make Jacknoids…as in all of it." Jack said. Peridot was somewhat impressed that Jack reverse engineered the Robonoids and managed to create a new bot around it. "Impressive." Peridot said, taking a bit of notes.
Jack soon finished making the beef stew and hands three bowls to Jackson, Wuya and himself. He sat down next to Peridot. "So, uhh...Wuya. I need to address the elephant in the room." Jack said as he eats a bit of his beef stew. "What is it, Jack?" Wuya said. "Remember when I suggested that we have temporary truce." Jack said. Wuya realized what he was getting. "Wait, are you going to betray me?" Wuya said as her hands glow green, ready to attack. "No, no, not even that ballpark. I was more suggesting of a permanent truce…bury the hatchet as I would say." Jack said. Wuya sits back down and return her hands back to normal. "Good, because I would destroy you if you did that." Wuya mumbles to herself. "Alright, so what is the truce you wanting to do?" Jackson said. They began hashing out the truce throughout the night. They began to reach a compromise, Jackson and Wuya would have to sit out at least one Showdown in the future, try to get Peridot's first showdown in the future, and try to repair Jack and Wuya's partnership. "Why that last part?" Wuya asked. "Well, if you look at the Monks and Gems, they seemed so…so…tight together. They kicked our butts for a good while before Jasper and Peridot arrive on earth…and that one time with Mala Mala Jong…and that time I bested Kimiko in a Showdown… and bested Raimundo that one time to get Mala Mala Jong in the first place." Jack said. "We get it, you know." Jackson said.
"Look, what I'm trying to get at is that if their chemistry is too far ahead and we keep squabbling, we might never win another showdown ever again" Jack explains. Wuya thinks a bit and does understand where Jack is coming from. If Wuya wants to rule the world, she need some help and Jack may have been the right man for the job all along. "Alright, fine, you convinced me." Wuya said. "Never thought I would say that." Jack offers up a hand. Wuya looks at it and accepts it. They shook hands, the truce is finalized. "I'm willing to forgive, but I still won't forget." Jack reminded. "I know, Jack…I know." Wuya said. Jack began to wonder something. "Is Jasper and Lapis captured by the Monks and Gems?" Jack asked. "Who know, Jack…who know." Peridot said. "There's a chance they just escaped, they could be shattered, they could be captured, we just don't know." Jack nods and finishes his beef stew.
A bit later, Jack was lying in a sleep bag he brought as Peridot kept doing some note. Jack looks at Peridot and slowly get out of the sleep bag and walk over to Peridot. "So, you doing some research on the Cluster?" Jack asked. "Yes, I want to make sure the progress is on track." Peridot said. Jack nods but remained quiet. He knew that he can't tell Wuya that the Cluster is meant to destroy the world that they are fighting to rule over. However an idea pop into his head. "Hey, Peridot, if we were able to extract the Cluster and give it to the Diamonds, would you try to get us the permission to rule the world without issues?" Jack asked. Peridot just laughs. Jack gave Peridot a serious look. "Wait, you're serious? How is it possible to get the cluster out of the earth's core?" Peridot said. Jack pulls out the changing chopsticks. "Well, we can shrink it down, extract it, regrow it and give it to the diamonds." Jack said. Peridot thinks a bit. "It could be possible…But I need to do more research to see if it's doable." Peridot said. "We'll make it work." Jack said. Jack then puts the changing chopsticks back and went back to his sleep bag.
The next morning, Jack just finished his breakfast with Wuya and Jackson and they got prepared to march up the stairs. Jack takes a deep breath. "Alright, I think I'm ready to start the long march." Jack said. Wuya, Jackson, and Peridot nods as all four of them began to march up the stairs. We are shown a montage of them climbing up the stairs, seeing how high the steps are getting and seeing some of the amazing view they would get when they reach Chase Young. Peridot looks over one view and just couldn't help but smile a bit. She then shakes her head and continues the long march. As they march some more, Jack couldn't help but think that Chase could or could not support them. He began to grow a bit worried that Chase would scoff them off. Jack doesn't want to see that, not from his hero.
A good while of marching later, they arrive to the top of the massive hill and sees a large house and a long haired man standing, looking out into the forest. Jack grew jelly legs and was nervous to see his hero in person. However, he swallows and slowly pulls out the eye of dashi. Just then, the long haired person turn to reveal that he is indeed…Chase Young. "So… the wus are reactivating." Chase said as he sees all four of them. Jack softly nods as he reaches out the Eye of Dashi further. "I see Wuya is back… but who are you three?" Chase said. Jack clears his throat. "Name's Jack Spicer" Jack said. "The green gal is Peridot and the other guy is Jackson, dark half of Raimundo." Chase softly nods. "So, I assume the Monks are looking for the wus as well?" he said. "That is indeed correct but also the Gems as well." Wuya said. Chase was taken aback from the mention of the Gems. "Wait, you also have history with the Gems as well?" Jack said. Chase recompose himself. "I'll tell you four about later, but for now, come inside." Chase said, basically giving the green light. Jack just smiles and walks in with Peridot, Jackson, and Wuya. They were stun to see how Chase was fairing.
It looked like a modern home with a few add-on, having a tiger as a pet, a few swords, among other things. Chase began to make some tea for himself. Jack sits down on a table and looks at some of the swords. "I see you are fascinated by my sword collection." Chase said. Jack chuckles awkwardly and nods. "Well, if you like, you can be trained to be swordsmith like me." Chase offered. Jack was taken aback. "Wait, you can use a sword professionally? I didn't know that and you were my biggest inspiration." Jack said. "Well, I must have a well kept secret then." Chase said with a chuckle. Chase sits down at the table with Peridot, Wuya and Jackson in tow.
"So, what is the history between you and the Monks and Gems?" Chase said. "Well, The Monks was easy. When I got Wuya out of that box, it began activating Shen Gong Wus and it lead me to encounter the Xiaolin Monks, which consist of Omi, Raimindo, Kimiko and Clay. I previously recruited Katnappe and Tubbimura to help me out but they have since been let go." Jack explained. "To make things more complicated, When the Longi Kite activated, The Monks ran into the Gems and they quickly became fast friends. However, when I arrived and took the Wu, Garnet used my Jackbots like a metal ball and pegged me on my right leg, injuring me." "And I assume Rose was there too?" Chase said. Jack shakes his head. "No…Rose had to give up her form for a kid named Steven." Jack said. Chase was surprised to hear this but played it cool.
"Okay…so who is this Steven then?" Chase said. Jack pulls out a picture and shows what Steven looks like. "The kid with the pink shirt and a yellow star on it. That's him." Jack said. Chase takes the picture and ponders a bit. "So, I assume he has access to Rose's shield then?" Chase asked. "It's more hit or miss at this point." Wuya said. "He can access it but it's on rare occasion." "I see and if he could access it more, he might be an issue." Chase said. "Well, here's the thing. He can fuse with his gal pal Connie." Jack said. Chase scratches his head. "OH! This girl." Jack said, pointing at Connie in the picture. "Ah…okay." Chase said. "So back on track, After the injury, I've begun creating project Rebirth and project Morph. Both are in alpha stages but recently got the green light on development, albeit that Morph needs some tweaking a bit from suggestions." Jack said. "And as you can see, I managed to convinced Peridot to come to Earth to "have a chat" with the Gems and Monks. However, we crashlanded, we had to use the escape pod, which who knows what happened to it, and now…here we are, thanks to Wuya." "Not a problem, Jack." Wuya quips. "So… I see you only have 4 shen gong wus….what on earth happened?" Chase asked.
"That would be my bad." Wuya said. "I managed to get Mala Mala Jong up and running…only for it to be defeated by the Monks and the Golden Tiger Claws." "To add salt to the wound…Wuya backstabbed me to go all in for the Mala Mala Jong." Jack said. "Ah, Wuya…still having ambition even thought it would bite you in the rear still." Chase quips. Wuya just growls. "I see you still have that feisty passion and attitude." Chase remarked. Wuya just remained quiet. "So, yea, but we got most of the wus back when we took them on the ship but they got those back when we had to make an emergency escape. We only have the Eye of Dashi, Third-Arm Sash, Ring of Nine Dragons, and Changing Chopsticks. That's it… that's all of them." Jack said. "So, we have a mountain to climb up then. I am open for the challenge." Chase said with a smirk. Jack squeals like a girl. "Thank you, Chase. I won't let you down!" Jack said. "On one occasion…Jack, I want you to be my apprentice." Chase said.
Jack's jaw just hit the floor. Chase Young…his hero… just asked him to be his apprentice. He can't refuse it, he must not refuse it. "DEAL!" Jack said, shaking Chase's hand. "Excellent." Chase said. "We start right now… because we need to tap your potential." "Wait, how much potential are we talking about me?" Jack asked. "Surprisingly, you have the potential to change the game. We need to access the potential to make sure…" Chase said as he drifts off. "Make sure that we can beat the gems and rule the world?" Jack asked. Chase look at him and nods. Jack was getting pumped but did wonder something. "If you can read potential… what is Peridot's potential?" Jack asked. "Wha?!" Peridot said. Chase just shake his head. "My apologize but I asked you and you alone. Wuya already reached her potential, Jackson is unlikely reach his potential due to him and Raimundo basically being the same person and Peridot…I just don't see her having any potential." Chase said. Jack was a bit discouraged from hearing the last part but if it means working with Chase Young…what other choices could he make. "Alright…let's do it!" Jack said with a fist in the air.
End of Episode 4