Chapter 3: what the hell was that?
The tree that contains the Veil of Reveal suddenly shot up high into the sky, growing incredibly fast. Jack and Raimundo found themselves on top of the tree which by now was in the clouds and still slowly growing higher.
"Whoa…that's a long way down!" Jack yelped and held out his monkey staff "But with this wu I'll be in my element!"
"You don't have an element!" Raimundo cried only to see Jack had vanished from sight, as Raimundo looked around he felt a tugging sensation around his feet, Jack who had sneaked from beneath him yanked Raimundo's feet from under him and Raimundo went tumbling…
"Mantis Flip Coin!" Raimundo cried and with a flip landed on another branch and leapt up again. He flew towards Jack and served a high kick to Jack's chest, he went flying back and smacked into a branch head first and then flopped down onto a branch below it.
"Go Raimundo!" Kimiko cried "Kick his butt!"
"I thought it was my turn to kick his butt?" Clay mumbled crossing his arms across his chest and looking fed up.
"Oh if it makes you happy you can kick his butt after the showdown!" Omi said patting Clay on the shoulder.
Jack gave a little moan and slumped a bit, a trickle of blood slid down his neck from where he had bashed his head against the hard wood of the tree branch, the monkey staff rolled away from his hand. Raimundo leapt down to a branch just above Jack to find that he was unconscious.
"Dude…aww come on at least slip and fall!" Raimundo grumbled and walked over to him, and gently with his foot moved him to the edge of the branch, Jack eyes slowly opened and he looked at Raimundo with cold eyes.
"Jack?" Raimundo asked as he stepped away uncertain if Jack was going to attack or more likely fall down, Jack got up unsteadily like a puppet and glared at him.
The icy sensation in Jack's head had return and it billowed forth like a geyser, he held out his hand and the feeling rushed down it and out of his hand.
Suddenly Raimundo went flying back as if he had been smacked by a ten tonne truck; he quickly grabbed a branch and twisted round to look at Jack. Jack glared at the branch that Raimundo was on…
FWAPP! The branch suddenly got cut away from the tree and went toppling down, Raimundo leapt up but as soon as he landed on the next one it snapped away too as if an invisible sword was cutting away the branches.
"Hey quit it!" Raimundo cried to the invisible force; he glanced at Jack to see he was just standing there, his hair floating on a strange energy.
"How come he isn't getting cut down?" Raimundo demanded as he hung from a stump "Ooh! I bet that little nerd is cheating somehow!"
"Raimundo get him!" Dojo cried, Raimundo hopped from branch to branch and leapt to grab Jack but he glanced at him and Raimundo stopped in mid air!
"Huh?" Raimundo asked dumbfounded Jack held out his hand and then threw his hand down, as soon as he did Raimundo plummeted!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGRH!" he screamed as he smacked into branch after branch until…
THUD! He crashed into the ground making a cloud of leaves billow up off the floor.
"Crud!" he mumbled and he got up shaking.
With a flash everything returned to normal and Jack slumped to his knees grasping his head with his hands.
"Ugh! What hit me? I feel like someone shoved an iceberg in my head!" he groaned but stopped to look at the Xiaolin Dragons who were helping Raimundo stand.
"I can't believe you lost to Jack Spicer!" Omi cried with disgust, Jack looked at them with dumbfounded shock.
"I won?" Jack asked.
"Yeah but you so cheated!" Kimiko yelled "You used the Ruby of Rameses when you wager the monkey staff!" poking him painfully in the chest.
"But I didn't use the Ruby you guys have it!" he yelped and Kimiko looked confused.
"So how did you grab Raimundo without touching him?" Omi demanded "is it a new weapon?"
"I…I…I don't know!" Jack yelped and with that turned and fled.
"You know for someone who just won a showdown Jack looked more rattled than a rattle snake in a wagon wheel!" Kimiko looked at her watch and groaned.
"Aww man it's already four o' clock and we haven't even finished our chores!" she moaned.
"Not to mention we also have that accursed homework!" Omi grumbled.
"Hmm…tell you what if you do my chores and I'll do your homework!" Raimundo grinned.
"Buddy you got yourself a deal!" Clay cried and Omi nodded happily as Clay and Raimundo shook hands.
And while Jack's doing that I'll ask him what the hell he did to win the showdown
Raimundo thought to himself.
Unknown to all of them someone had been watching and saw everything…
Later that night Jack was lying on the couch looking up at the ceiling, his head still throbbing but not so much as before. He slowly nodded off and curled up to sleep.
"Jack…" came a voice and Jack leapt up to see a little boy no more than ten years old standing there looking up at him.
"Look if you're one of Megan's friends she isn't here, she'll be round here next Tuesday though" Jack mumbled but the boy stood there staring at him with wide cold eyes.
"Look kid what do you want?"
"What was it like to touch your true self again?" he asked sweetly.
"Say what?"
"To feel powerful, to feel in control to feel like a god?" he exclaimed "Was that how it felt like?"
"Look you creepy kid get out of here before I make you…" he stepped forward to smack the kid around the ear but stopped when he heard the slosh of liquid around his feet and looked down at the floor. Around his ankles was pools of blood, strewn around the floor was disembowelled bodies and corpses. He looked around his eyes wide with shock and bile threatening to choke him. The boy just stood there as if nothing was amiss.
"What happened?" he gasped and the boy smiled.
"Jack" he said in Raimundo's voice.
"What?"
"JACK WAKE UP!"
Jack leapt up and rolled off the couch onto the floor to see Raimundo standing there, he looked up at him angrily.
"Dude you okay?" he asked "you were whimpering in your sleep"
"I'm fine just a bad dream!" he mumbled "What are you here for?"
"Homework deal" he smiled "And to ask a question"
"Which would be?"
"How the hell did you do the whole 'touch me without actually touching me" Raimundo asked as he gingerly prodding Jack on the chest as if pushing a button on him would make him do something. Jack slapped his hand away and then walked off.
"I don't know…" Jack muttered and then looked in Raimundo's bag to see the homework books. "Why have you got nine books this time?"
"Err…extra homework?" Raimundo mumbled and Jack glared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh huh?" Jack inquired "So it's not a scam of you doing Omi and Clay's homework while they do your chores?"
"Say wha?" Raimundo stuttered "how you know that?"
"Those books are covered in BBQ sauce and what I can tell steak left overs and that one has 'Omi is the greatest' and martial art attacks written in Chinese over them" Jack declared pointing at them. "Oh yeah I'm a genius!"
"And a regular Sherlock!" Raimundo muttered.
"Give me ten minutes and I'll join you up in my games room!" Jack said sitting down at his table "Oh and the fridge has got ginger beers in it help yourself!"
Raimundo walked off and Jack set to work, he had just finished Raimundo's and was wondering how to pick up Clay's without getting BBQ sauce all over his fingers when a shadow loomed over him.
"Look Raimundo I haven't finished yet…give me a minute and I'll be with you in a nanosecond" he declared waving his hand.
"Oh I'm not interested in homework Spicer" a voice declared and Jack squeaked and spun around to face Chase Young.
"Ch…Ch…Chase!" Jack stuttered "how nice to see you, how can I help you?" he asked nervously as he tried to hide the books from Chase, but Chase put his hand on one and pulled it closer to see.
"Why have you got school books with the Xiaolin Dragon's names on it?" he asked not even bothering to look at Jack who was now looking extremely nervous.
"I…I…errr…" Jack mumbled.
"You wouldn't have made a childish alliance with a certain Xiaolin Apprentice of the wind now would you?" Chase mused looking at him.
Jack gulped and looked away.
"Of course not Chase, those guys hate my guts…why would they want anything to do with me?" Jack said quickly as he secretly pressed a few buttons on his remote control watch. Chase leaned forward to glare directly into Jack's eyes.
"Well shall we see if he is here then?" Chase asked "Because I saw him come in here through your front door five minutes ago!"
"Why do you care if I have Raimundo here?"
"Well to be honest I came here because I saw the showdown today, how did you do that little trick then?" Chase demanded "I sensed no shen-gong-wu on you when you did it"
"I'll tell you what I told the monks, I. Don't. Know!" Jack exclaimed slowly, "It was just a spur of the moment kinda thing!"
Chase looked like he was just about to walk away and leave it at that when suddenly the very worse happened…
"Hey Jack you finished yet? You said ten minutes but…oh!" Raimundo stopped as he saw Chase Young look at him and Jack face palm himself.
"Oh crud!"
