Now and Then
I'm actually much more of an introspective writer in general, but this is going to be pretty action-packed from here on out…
I own no cartoons. Christy Hui owns one, though.
Chapter 3
"It's actually a little more to the left," the breeze whispered in Jack Spicer's ear. Dashi, having taken the form of his element, was accompanying the evil boy genius in the Tunnel Armadillo to try to retrieve the Hadoku Mouse again. Dashi's senses were much sharper and more specific than Jack's detector watch when it came to locating lost Shen Gong Wu. The red-haired boy had affixed all kinds of lights both inside and outside the digging Wu, and the rapidly growing tunnel around them was almost as bright as the afternoon sun. Dashi merely remarked that that was a good idea. He hadn't commented on Jack's night light back in his room, but he could recognize fear and relief just as easily as he recognized Shen Gong Wu.
"I've gotta get this Wu," Jack muttered, looking determined.
"Looks like you're not the only one." As they broke through into the bottom of a deep gorge in the cave, they were greeted by the sight of the monks, a very large Hannibal Roy Bean with Wuya by his side, and Chase Young, who was baring pointed teeth in a snarl.
"Ohh," moaned Omi. "Jack Spicer! Why must you always run into the festival!"
"Crash the party?" Clay suggested after a moment of confusion.
"That sounds most painful," muttered the dragon of water.
"Whatever, baldy," Jack said, waving Omi away with a dismissive gesture. "Where's the Wu?" He opened the Tunnel Armadillo's hatch and jumped out, feeling Dashi's breeze go with him, and grabbed the burrowing Wu as it shrank down. This dislodged some rocks above Jack's tunnel, revealing a small gleaming object. Chase leapt for it instantly, but Raimundo managed to knock him back, and by then everyone was diving for it. When the dust cleared, all four monks, Chase, Hannibal, Wuya, and Jack all had a hand (or a tentacle) on the glowing mouse.
"Looks like we're gonna challenge just about the whole Heylin side to one big Xiaolin free-for-all," Clay said grimly.
"Not quite," Chase Young interrupted. "I fight independently this time."
"Yeah! Me too," added Jack. Chase gave him, or rather the air directly to the left of his head, a vicious look. Jack cringed slightly.
"Well then, what about you two forming a team," Hannibal drawled with a grin. "Seeing as y'all have so much in common."
"Okay!" Jack agreed eagerly, turning to Chase for his approval. The dragon lord seemed about to disagree as he fiercely stared at the space next to Spicer's ear, but then he nodded curtly.
"Very well. This once."
"Yippee!" Jack gave a joyful leap. In his ears was almost imperceptible, but not unkind, laughter.
Chase Young rolled his eyes and Clay cleared his throat.
"Anyway… the game's High-Wind Hustle. First to reach the Hadoku Mouse wins. We'll wager our Shroud of Shadows, Longi Kite, Eye of Dashi, and Jet Butsu against your-"
"I will fight without Shen Gong Wu," said Chase coldly. "And frankly, I'm a bit disappointed that at your advanced status, you still feel the need to rely on your toys for everyday battles."
"That ain't-" Clay began.
"Chase Young!" shouted Omi, jumping in front of the startled cowboy. "We accept your challenge to fight without Shen Gong Wu!" Everyone else stared at him, aghast. A few groaned. "We have our Wudai weapons, of course. We will be fine!" He flashed his friends a smile, then grinned a little nastily at Wuya, Hannibal, and Jack.
"That's not fair!" Wuya protested. "Chase took away my powers when he restored my physical form!" She glared accusingly at the ancient warlord, who merely shrugged, looking composed once again.
"Oh come on, that was so long ago," Kimiko said with a smirk. "You've had plenty of time to learn some new tricks. What do you do, spend all day staring in a mirror, wishing you'd found that eternal-youth soup before Chase?" Wuya glared murderously. Chase grinned predatorily, because that was not far from the truth.
"Hey, if you don't like the rules, you can leave any time," said Raimundo. Hannibal pulled Wuya in for a quick, whispered conference. Chase glanced at Jack.
"I do hope you're up for a… wind showdown. Spicer," he said, watching his follower like a hawk.
"Wind! Sure!" Jack said quickly. "Got my helipack, got my Bubblebot Dispenser… I think I'm good!"
Chase sniffed and frowned. "I'm sure…"
"Very well, we accept the terms of your little game," said Hannibal Bean. Wuya still looked rather miffed.
"Let's go, then!" Raimundo shouted. The small cavern grew massive, with stalactites and stalagmites, patches of shadow and light, small geysers, side tunnels, and numerous paths of questionable footing. The Wu shone high on a pinnacle of stone.
"This 'Evil Lair' enough for you?" Jack whispered through clenched teeth. A small gust of wind gave an answering laugh for his ears alone.
"Gong Yi Tempai!" they all shouted, and took off. Jack immediately activated his helipack, and Raimundo called up the wind to fly on. Omi, Wuya, Hannibal, and Chase leapt into the air as well. A tornadic gust of wind blew them all back into a tangled heap. Meanwhile, Clay and Kimiko had teamed up to work their way along the ground. At each step, Clay made the rock floor grab his boots so he could remain standing. Kimiko held on and stayed behind him, using him as a shield from most of the wind.
"Bubble bots, attack!" called Jack, pointing at the two Xiaolin dragons as he squirmed his way out from under Hannibal. His robots swarmed out of an attachment on his wrist and grew to their normal size, only managing a few shots before the wind kicked up again. This time he and the others ducked down or behind various rock formations for protection. However, the shots distracted the earth dragon enough that the wind hurled him and the smaller dragon of fire into the wall. The bubble bots crashed into the rubble nearby.
The warriors of varying sides all began a slow creep as low to the ground as possible. Jack was having a hard time. He wasn't incredibly strong, and he was light enough that if he raised his head at all, a blast of wind could send him toppling end over end into the rocks behind him. Hannibal was clearly wishing for his Moby Morpher, but at least he had the weight to keep him from being blown away. Everyone else had little trouble passing the boy genius, who moaned in frustration.
"This isn't so bad," the wind whistled consolingly in his ear. "Stay low, but lift your head and pick up some speed or you'll never beat them."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm having trouble just staying in one spot," Jack grated out through his teeth.
"Try," the voice in the wind murmured insistently. "You'll be okay this time." A breeze blew from behind him, ruffling his hair. Jack paused, then sighed in resignation.
"Okay, fine," he muttered, lifting his head and flinching in anticipation. But he wasn't thrown back. He could feel a different wind all around him as Dashi formed a small protective tunnel of wind. He grinned. "Can you manage if I'm crouched down low?"
"I suppose," said the wind.
"Great!" Jack got to his feet on a stalagmite, keeping the rest of his body as low as possible, and pressed a button on his boot. All-terrain wheels popped out of the soles and jets of smoke blasted out from the heels. "Ready?"
"Ready," responded the wind, sounding both amused and highly interested.
"Then let's go," Spicer said with an evil grin. Staying crouched down, he shot forward. He wavered as Dashi's wind adjusted to his speed, but then he easily wove around his creeping opponents. They gave him startled looks as they clung to the cave formations. Raimundo tried to follow him, with only minor success. The slope up to the Hadoku Mouse was steep and full of loose rocks, so Jack returned to a crawl. He vaguely heard shouting behind him, through the wind, but he ignored it. One more step and he could reach it…
"Ha! In your face," the boy genius crowed to the world in general as Dashi deflected a last blast of wind and Jack grabbed the Shen Gong Wu. The cave rumbled and shook as it shifted back to its original form.
"Congratulations Jack," Wuya purred, recovering quickly from her outrage. "I always knew you could do it. May I see that for just a minute?" Her long fingers grasped at the Hadoku Mouse.
"Huh? Hey!" Jack indignantly pulled it out of her reach, then clutched it to his chest as Hannibal Bean loomed up on the other side. "Back off, get your own Wu. I won this and you're not getting your greasy, ugly hands on it." The wind whipped up around him, flaring his coat around his legs. He barely noticed the Xiaolin monks frowning and whispering amongst themselves as they stared at him.
"Come now, boy," said Hannibal with an evil grin. "This is no time to grow a spine. Just give it to me, and we won't hurt you… much."
Jack cringed as the giant legume moved closer, then blinked as the massive green and black lizard shot at Hannibal, knocking him to the ground. Its tail lashed, hitting Wuya at full force, its tip stinging Jack through his coat. He screamed, took a quick look around – the Xiaolin dorks were just disappearing down another tunnel – and reached into his pocket.
"Tunnel Armadillo!" he shouted, throwing down the Wu. As soon as it expanded to its full size, the evil genius jumped in, closed the hatch behind him, and was speeding back up the tunnel the way he'd come.
"Whew." Jack allowed himself to sigh and slump down in the seat, wiping his sweaty forehead with an arm.
"Nice job!" Dashi said approvingly.
"Ah!" Jack jumped. "Don't do that!" He frowned, then grinned. "Heh, with my brilliance and your wind powers, I can't lose!"
"Hm, I'm not sure your partner appreciated that quite as much as you do."
"Chase? Sure, he's fine. He even attacked Hannibal Bean and Wuy when they were gonna jump me, you saw it."
"Oh he didn't want any of them to have it," Dashi agreed, the breeze brushing against Jack's ear. "But he didn't really want you to have it either. You're just… the lesser of all the evils."
"Hey!" Jack glared at the air next to him. "There's nothing lesser about me! And anyway, Chase isn't that interested in Shen Gong Wu. I've brought him loads before, he doesn't care."
"Maybe so, but think about it," Dashi urged. "Why would the Hadoku Mouse interest him?"
Jack stared blankly at the space the breeze was speaking from. "Uhh… wanna give me a hint? Chase Young isn't known for making mistakes he needs to fix."
"No," agreed Dashi patiently. "But what about from the others' point of view? Don't you think the Xiaolin monks see Chase's switch from Good to Evil as a mistake to be fixed? I know for a fact that Omi does. And I'd be willing to bet that Hannibal Bean could do some pretty nasty stuff with the Mouse."
Jack let out a mildly startled whimper at that thought.
"Exactly," said Dashi with the wind's equivalent of a nod. "So Chase doesn't want that in anyone's hands but his own."
Jack was silent for a while, then he looked around with a frown. "Hey, but he was your friend, like you were telling me. Why-" Jack gasped. "You want me to turn him good again!" he exclaimed. "Well too bad! I'm evil, and so is Chase, and that's the way we like it, and-"
Dashi had taken his ghostly form, and was shaking his head reluctantly. "As nice as that would be, no. The way he is now is the way he must be."
"I really don't get you, ya know?" Jack complained. "You say he was like your best friend, but you don't want him back. You say you want to turn me Good, or just about, but you help my Evil plans. You say you're good, you're supposed to be just about the greatest Good there is, but you hang around me, just about the worst failure at Evil possible without being good! …Wait, that didn't come out right." Jack frowned, utterly perplexed, as they returned to the surface. "You… just don't make any sense at all!"
Something landed heavily on the Tunnel Armadillo's roof with a jolt, and ripped the hatch open.
"He rarely does," growled the reptilian Chase Young, reaching in and grabbing the screaming, gibbering Evil Genius by his collar.