Ouch my thumb! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've sprained my thumb playing softball and it's a bit hard to type. Heh... my idiocy never fails. Hopefully this chapter will turn out alright with me typing with this stupid faulty thumb. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Ash and her non-cooperating thumb do not own Xiaolin Showdown in any way whatsoever.
Just Shadows
chapter 3: Recalling the Fear...
A single bead of sweat began to trickle down the forehead of a very concentrated redhead as he sat at his desk in his dimly lit basement lair. Everything in the room around him was quiet and unmoving except for the faint clanking sound coming from his screwdriver, which was currently being used to repair a broken robot.
Jack sat at his desk fixing the bot, keeping one foot against the desk's edge as he leant the chair a bit backwards. He felt content right now from having just recently beaten that little yellow cheese snack of a monk in that showdown. He paused from his work and wiped his brow, glancing over to his black trench coat hanging over another chair with the gaping hole in it from the showdown.
"Good thing mom can sew... Stupid crocodile." Jack scowled and returned to his robot in even more concentration than before. "Trying to eat my coat and mmph mmph..." he went into mumbling to himself while he used his foot on the desk to rock back and forth in his chair.
Jack continued with fixing the robot and mumbling something along the lines of 'stupid crocodile, stupid Xiaolin losers, stupid showdown...' His face became closer and closer to the trinket as he was almost finished working on it.
"Almost finished... aaaaaand-"
"Spicer!" a loud familiar voice yelled as the door swung open with a slam. Jack threw the robot into the air and shrieked as he kicked his foot that was against the desk forward, sending the chair and him flying backwards. A mess of papers that were on the desk flew around him and landed in a heap all over the floor.
"Chase? Chase Young? Uh, you came to see me?" Jack asked, still laying in the tipped over chair on the ground behind his desk. Chase rolled his eyes and sighed, annoyed. He walked by the desk and Jack's legs hanging in the air behind it while looking around the room.
"No Spicer, I have come in search of a Shen Gong Wu that I know you posses." Chase replied as he continued his search of the "evil lair". Jack tried to sit up but found he was stuck. He struggled for a moment to lift himself up, but then plopped back down in the chair and shrugged to himself.
"Hey wait a second, didn't I have guardbots outside?"
"Your mother answered the door. She also offered me some freshly baked sugar cookies." Chase said and smirked when his eyes fell upon what he was looking for.
"Ugghh... always with the sugar cookies... But what Wu do you need anyway?" Jack inquired.
Chase stepped up to the safe in which Jack stored all of his Shen Gong Wu. Jack knew that Chase needed to get into the safe to get any Wu out. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked to himself from his spot on the floor.
"You know, it needs a combination to open, which you don't..." Jack shut up when he heard the reel of the lock spinning around rapidly and then clicking to a stop, followed by the door slowly screeching open. Another thing to add onto his list of stupid's... Stupid crocodiles, stupid Xiaolin losers, stupid showdown... Stupid Heylin magic...
"Yeah, I guess that works to..." Jack said simply. Chase reached into the steel black box and shifted a few things around before finding what he'd come for. He took a hold of it and closed the safe with all the other stored Shen Gong Wu still inside. He tucked it under his arm and walked past the desk and Jacks hovering legs in the air, making his way up the stairs and out the door with another slam.
"... Glad I could be of assistance!"
...BACK AT CHASE'S PALACE...
The white stars hung over the deathly looking mountain, winking down occasionally at the demonic face of the entrance. Deep within the structure in the main room, two figures were up and about.
"I do not understand why you did not simply take all of his Shen Gong Wu!" Wuya exclaimed, clearly very annoyed with the Tai Chi warrior. Chase set the only Wu he had taken from Jack down on a table next to the All Seeing Eye that was rooted to the floor of the room and turned around to face her.
"And allow you to regain your full powers with them? Not likely." he said and she scowled. "Besides, I do not require any other Shen Gong Wu for my plan to succeed."
"You have still failed to mention just what your new evil plan is. Why do you only need the Shadow of Fear?" Wuya asked, glancing over at the Wu sitting on the table and then back into Chase's golden eyes for some answers.
"I have been deeply meditating for long periods of time, enabling my mind to pass along great distances and enter the thoughts of one of the Xiaolin Warriors."
"Which one of their mind's have you been tapping into? And for what reason?" Wuya inquired. Chase turned back to the All Seeing Eye. An image appeared when he waved his hand over it, showing a girl sleeping peacefully wrapped up in a red blanket. Wuya looked down at the girl and then back up to Chase with questioning eyes.
"Kimiko? What does she have to do with the plan that is so important?" she asked. Chase closed his eyes and continued his explanation.
"The Dragon of Fire has many doors to her mind that have been locked. Many fears from her past and in the present that are hidden, and some forgotten." He walked away from her and the eye to stand in the center of the room. Chase put his hands together in front of his chest, forming a black spiraling glow. Wuya watched in interest as his hands came farther apart and the dark energy grew before he swung his hand in the direction of the Shadow of Fear.
"Heylin Memory Recall!"
Wuya quickly backed off as the dark energy shot into the Shadow of Fear, giving the golden statue a black aura around it. Chase walked forward and picked the Shen Gong Wu up to hold above the All Seeing Eye which still held Kimiko's image.
He looked down at her peaceful face and grinned evilly. This would be the start of her living nightmare.
"Shadow of Recollection!" he yelled and a dark, almost black purple smoke drifted from the tainted Wu into the All Seeing Eye. The eye showed the Dragon of Fire scrunching her face in discomfort for a moment before relaxing back into sleep again. Chase smiled darkly and placed the Shadow of Fear, which was now back to normal, on the table once again.
"I still do not fully understand." Chase looked at Wuya as she went on. "What will happen to her now that you have combined your Heylin Memory Recall with the Shadow of Fear?" she asked. Chase was getting a bit annoyed with her constant questioning, but now that she'd seen the first step of his plan commence, there was no point in keeping it secret from her.
He turned his gaze on a cherry blossom plant sitting in one side of the massive room. He'd decided to keep a few plants and flowers around this room because it was where he always came to meditate and perform his Tai Chi. The flowers, being an element of nature, supported in the chi flow and gave the room a more appropriate essence for meditation.
He flicked his fingers toward him and a cherry blossom floated their way and into his hand. It rested in the palm of his hand as Chase looked up to Wuya's curious expression.
"As you already know, my Heylin Memory Recall can show a person their past memories." Wuya nodded at this. "Well, combined with the Shadow of Fear, a new dark power is created. The Shadow of Recollection."
Chase raised the tiny pink flower in front of him in the center of his gloved hand. Wuya watched what he did and listened intently to what he was saying.
"Kimiko will see things that she always feared would happen. Childish fears from her past brought to life, and what she fears in the present. Everything around her will become an illusion of her deepest fears, tricking her mind into believing it is real." Chase closed his fingers tight on the cherry blossom in his hand.
"So what you are saying is, she will become cut off from reality?" Wuya suggested and kept her eyes on Chase's closed hand. Chase smirked and there was a gleam in his reptilian eyes.
"Precisely, except she will not only be cut off from reality." Chase opened his hand and the torn bits of cherry blossom petals scattered to the ground, each piece covered in a small black flame. "Kimiko's mind will crumble, completely overwhelmed by fright. She will be trapped in her own illusions of fear, and no one will be able to save her."
Chase and Wuya both looked into the pupil of the All Seeing Eye to see the Dragon of Fire soundly asleep, probably dreaming peacefully. They grinned evilly at the sight, both thinking 'this is going to be fun'.
"Quite an excellent idea Chase." Wuya said, knowing she was going to enjoy every minute of this evil scheme. Chase chuckled and looked back into the image of the formally at peace girl.
"Yes, good night Fire Dragon... Sweet dreams, for now..."
Yay I got through that without cutting my own thumb off from frustration! Oh, btw, I don't think crocodiles are stupid in the least! They are such awsome, b-e-a utiful animals!(hugs a croc) Anyway, enough of that. Now we all know what Chase is planning! But will it succeed? Oh and theres gonna be some RaiKim in the next chappie for any RaiKim lovers who were hoping for some in this chapter. So I hope you liked this one! Please R&R!
-Ash
