A Wu revealed itself.
The crescent fall, which magnified the user's consciousness. Chase remembered that one. Dashi had been so proud of his useless creation, that the memory made him smirk. If pressed (which he would never be, of course) he would say that he felt nostalgic about it.
But then, he also hoped to see Jack there. After Wuya's childish prank with his parents, Chase worried that it had sent Spicer over the edge. A little prodding had revealed a spark that flared up fast. But too much pushing, and Spicer might just crumble and fall apart. He wasn't nearly as driven as Omi, and had shown time and again that just a little failure was enough to sent him running away with his little monkey tail between his legs. A good teacher, as Chase knew he was, would bid his time.
But Wuya had gone and caused a mess. And now, after Spicer had missed two Showdowns, Chase felt that the little hope he had placed on him after their last battle had been too much.
The monks arrived first.
"There it is. On that tree," said Wuya, pointing at something shining on a treetop.
Chase grunted in response, and started running towards it, with Wuya close at his heels.
Then he heard a familiar sound of metal blades spinning, and he looked up to see Spicer with his helipad, flying straight towards the Shen Gon Wu at surprising speed, holding the monkey staff in one hand. Chase smirked. Not crushed yet. His ability to bounce back up after falling still remained his only quality.
Chase jumped among the trees, catching up to the monks fast. Spicer used rockets on his boots to make up for his helipad's lack of speed, and was quickly catching up to the monks, ahead of Chase.
And explosion shook the ground, sending forth pillars of fire.
Chase moved away from the blast, jumping sideways while Wuya and the monks took the full blow of it. As soon as he recovered his footing, he lifted his arm to block a blow from the monkey staff.
"And here I thought we wouldn't finish our little spat," said Chase, but Jack said nothing.
He lifted the monkey staff, trying to hit Chase, but not actually using the magic of the staff. Something was off. Very off about him.
"What? Are you still angry?" he heard Wuya say, off to the side, and chase back flipped away from Spicer to get a moment to look towards her. She was fighting another Spicer. A robot copy? Impossible. Chase could feel his life energy, and he knew he was fighting the real Spicer. The other one had to be the copy.
He dodged another blow, and punched Spicer in the face, feeling the hardness of some kind of metal that wouldn't bend under his strength. A robotic clone. But how? How could it trick Chase's supernatural senses?
Chase roared, turning into his lizard form, just as another explosion blasted him away from the Spicer clone. Off to the side, on a nearby hill, he noticed a small dark figure that was shooting the missiles around them. That had to be the real Spicer. Hiding like a coward as he always did.
The image of Spicer's determined red eyes as he approached him, telling him 'No' came back to him. No, I won't fight like a man. No. I will fight like me. Was this what he had meant back then?
Chase tried to run towards him, but the other Jack intercepted him, fighting him with the monkey staff, while six other robotic clones held the monks and Wuya at bay.
The figure on the hill shot three more missiles at them. Chase saw them crossing the air towards them, and he decided he had enough of Spicer's nonsense. With a roar, he opened his mouth, and crushed the robot with his great jaws, feeling the metal tearing under his fangs, circuits crashing, and something coming out of it. Black things like fleas crawling out of the insides of the robot into his face, over his skin. Hundreds of them. Thousands. Crawling all over him.
He threw the robot away, and recovered his human form, swatting the things away, crushing them with his hands. But there were so many. A swarm of them.
A light of recognition sparked in Chase's mind, and he remembered the tiny robots that Spicer had used during their last battle. The bastard was trying to blow him up again.
Chase extended his arms, calling down lightning on himself. Spicer's robots were sensitive to electricity, and he decided a little shock was better than catching another explosion like the last one. Clouds gathered, and in less than a second, Chase felt the lightning fall in front of him. Close enough to overcharge all of Spicer's silly toys. He felt them heating over his skin, prickling him like tiny needles.
He gritted his teeth. Why weren't they falling off him? Why? It was so annoying, it drove him crazy. He opened his eyes after the lightning stuck, and found them still stuck on him.
Hot.
Too hot.
They gathered, forming a strange web over him, absorbing the lightning energy and glowing.
Chase realized what was happening just half a second too late, and the nanobots released the lightning energy straight back at Chase.
The impact dazed Chase for a moment, and he dropped to his knees, coughing. Even his armor was smoking. And those damned robots were still all over him.
There was a screeching sound under all the explosions around. The missiles kept falling all around, one after the other. Chase could barely hear his own thought over the noise of the explosions and the stench of the smoke. All he could focus on was the scent of metal all over his skin.
"Spicer!" he roared, calling forth all his power, making the ground underneath tremble and crack under his feet.
And then he saw him. Gliding towards him using the same nanobots that were now all over Chase, and holding the long metal staff in one hand. And the Sphere of Yun in the other. He was even dressed differently than the other robots, with a
Chase jumped up, ready to pounce him, when he felt a weight press down on him. All over him. Every fiber of his body pressed down to the ground with such strength that he could barely stand up.
"Spicer, you pathetic insect," said Chase, trying to move.
Jack narrowed his eyes at him, and skated around him in a wide circle, just out of Chase's reach, even if he were to use all his strength to jump on him.
Jack lifted the Sphere as he circled around Chase. His eyes surveying him, but never looking straight at Chase's face. "Sphere of Yun!" he shouted.
Chase could barely roar as the sphere sealed around him. Jack circled around him once more, checking all the details about Chase, and then, with a twirl, he left.
Not a word. Not leer, or a cackle. Could it have been another robot? This level of impersonal attack left Chase feeling like something to be crossed off a list.
Chase gasped. He was something to be crossed off a list. Wuya was next.
Spicer had planned this from the start. The other robot fighting Wuya had to have been another trap. He tried to listen for Wuya's voice, but the bombs falling around were too loud. And the robots were still all over him. Stinging and hot, pinning him down like a ton of lead all over him. Chase felt like he was going insane with rage. How could Spicer have caught him like this?
He dropped to his knees, breathing deeply. Spicer had planned it all to the minimum detail. He expected Chase to tear the robot apart, to try to use lightning to destroy his nanobots. What else? That idiot Spicer couldn't possibly know him well enough to have planned for anything that Chase could do, right? Although Spicer was actually borderline obsessive in his infatuation with him. Didn't he claim to be his number one fan? Had he researched and studied and observed him enough to have gotten into his head? No. Impossible. Jack couldn't possibly account for anything that someone who had lived for as long as Chase could think of.
But then, what if Jack knew it. What if he was aware that he could never catch up to Chase?
The explosions ceased, and the smoke cleared. The silence came with a strange buzzing sound, until Chase realized the strange buzzing sound was coming from him. From the robots over him.
He looked around, trying to establish his position, until he saw a head of bright red hair.
Spicer was sealing a long black box that looked like a metal coffin. A black metal coffin of Wuya's exact size.
Off to the size, Raimundo was caught in an electrified net, Clay was held in midair by four different robojacks, and Kimiko was trapped in a transparent, fireproof box. Only Omi stood next to Spicer as he finished sealing the coffin. He pulled at Spicer's sleeve, but Jack pushed him away, yelling something at him.
"This…not you…!" shouted Omi, but Chase couldn't make out the words over the buzzing of the robots, and the distraction of their metallic scent. It seemed like Spicer wanted to keep him occupied and with his abilities blocked off, even while inside the Sphere of Yun.
"Shut Up!" yelled Spicer, pushing Omi away. He looked like a wild animal, trapped on the edge between rage and obsession. He turned away from Omi, and glided towards the Sphere while a couple of his robots took the coffin away.
He took something out of his pocket.
The Ying Yo-Yo and the Yang Yo-Yo.
He was going to trap Chase in the Yin Yang world.
Chase gritted his teeth. He wouldn't dare. He would have to gloat all about how he had finally beaten both him and Wuya. His arrogance would bring him down soon.
But when he glided next to the Sphere, Spicer said nothing. He just looked down at the computer in his watch, and lifted the Yo-Yos
Omi kicked him. Right in the stomach, crashing on top of him and rolling on the ground, battling for control of the Yo-Yos. Spicer shook the metal spear in his left hand, and an electrick shock tore Omi off his chest. The monk rolled for a moment on the ground, but jumped back on his feet, lifting the Sphere of Yun in his hands.
"No! Don't!" yelled Spicer, just as the Sphere released Chase.
Chase laughed. "Well, that was interesting," he said. "Your best effort is commendable, Spicer."
Spicer took a couple steps back, then pressed a command on the computer at his wrist, and Chase felt the nanobots over him getting hotter. Overheating.
"You coward!" he roared, a heartbeat before the robots exploded.