Now and Then

It'll get a little angsty from here on out. Beware! Also, expect a new chapter at some point every day now, because I'm leaving town for the summer at the end of the week and don't have time to spread them out more. I'll post them as soon as I can get them typed up!

Disclaimers are annoying. See previous chapters.

Chapter 4

"Chase!" Jack Spicer squeaked, trembling. "Wh-what a nice surprise!"

"Hello there, Chase" Dashi said in a friendly tone, though his even-present smile was gone. "It's been quite a while."

"You stay out of this," Chase snarled. "And you!" He lashed his tail angrily, baring his teeth at Spicer. The redhead screamed as deadly-sharp claws ripped the whole right leg of his pants off, shredding the cloth until they clutched the Hadoku Mouse. Jack, who had been trying desperately to hold onto his modesty, found his hand pulled to the Wu as well. The great lizard growled in frustration as the Mouse glowed.

"Very well Spicer, have it your way. I challenge you to a showdown."

"But we just had one! I won! You were on my team!"

"I want that Wu, Spicer. Name your game. I only demand that you fight for yourself. No outside assistance. And I will know." He flashed Dashi a hateful look. The Grand Master nodded his acceptance. Jack whimpered under his breath.

"You've got strengths. Play to them," whispered the breeze in his ear.

"Enough pep talks," Chase snapped.

Jack gulped and tried to steel himself to the task at hand. "Okay… then… Whoever builds the tallest tower in ten minutes wins the Hadoku Mouse." He smiled hopefully.

"Typical," the warrior muttered. Jack's face fell slightly, but Dashi gave him a nod of approval. The boy genius continued, rather flustered.

"My Monkey Staff against your-"

"I will fight alone," the reptile cut in.

"But- I was gonna say your Serpent's Tail, it'd be really useful for this," Jack tried. Chase hissed dangerously.

"I put up with quite a lot, Spicer, but pity is one thing I will not tolerate, particularly from you.

"O-okay! Just my Monkey Staff, then. Okay?"

"Fine. Get on with it," Chase growled, softly menacing.

"Right! Xiaolin Showdown!" Jack yelled, faltering a little at the end when Chase didn't join in. The plain stretched out around them, and a massive heap of building materials, boulders, rubble, and tools crashed down between them. Dashi watched from a distance as a large timer began ticking off the seconds above the pile, and the two set to work.

Jack activated the Monkey Staff, switched it to his tail, and screeched with newfound determination as he swung up and grabbed a welder's mask and blowtorch. He used a steel beam to lever some massive boulders into a pile, then he grabbed some beams and began welding them together.

Chase, meanwhile, was building faster and thinner. He reasoned that it only had to stand for ten minutes, so there was little reason to build a structure to last ten years. However, soon a tremor in the earth knocked his tower back down to the ground. He glared at Dashi, who just shrugged and smiled. The lizard growled and began again, glancing over at Jack's tower once or twice to keep track of his progress. Not to mention, Jack had more experience building things out of metal…

Jack hooted with laughter as Chase's tower fell near the three-minute mark. He was so far ahead, he was having a great time, and he was surpassing his hero for once in his life. And without help. It was amazing. Everything was funny. His tower was the single greatest piece of architecture ever to exist, and he wanted to make it even more incredible. He swung down to find some embellishments as he slowed his upward building, so he didn't notice Chase gaining on him. When a supernatural gust of wind attacked the towers, a few unimportant bits blew off Jack's tower. Nothing blew off of Chase's.

At seven minutes, Jack looked over to find that Chase's tower had somehow grown both sturdier and just a bit taller than his own. And it was still growing. The monkey screeched his outrage and swung down to grab more materials again. He doubled his speed, not pausing for decorations this time. The two worked steadily for the next three minutes. Both towers barely trembled at the next earthquake. Jack almost lost his footing when another blast of wind rocked the towers, but his foot grabbed the Monkey Staff so his longer tail could swing out and wrap around a pole. The two towers were growing neck and neck as the last few seconds ticked away, and Jack quickly welded the tallest metal piece he had on hand to the top-

Lightning broke across the sky, and the timer flashed "WINNER" with an arrow pointing to Jack's tower. The evil monkey genius screeched his triumph to the world as the plains contracted again, and the towers rumbled back to the ground before vanishing.

"Oh yeah! I am the greatest evil genius who ever lived!" shouted Jack as the Hadoku Mouse dropped into his hands once more.

Chase growled resentfully, making the boy drop the Monkey Staff and return to human form.

"Ah… do you… want it, Chase?" he stammered, offering his idol the Hadoku Mouse.

"Of course," said Chase irritably, returning to his own human form. "I wouldn't waste my time on something I didn't want."

"Well… you could've just asked me," muttered Jack, looking down. "You know I'd do anything you want."

Chase was instantly right in front of him. "Give me that Wu, Spicer. Now."

"No need to be rude now, Chase," Dashi commented as Jack flinched a bit.

"Very well, Spicer," he snarled, dripping acid sarcasm from every word. "Will you give me that Wu?"

"Of course," Jack said quickly, handing Chase Young the Hadoku Mouse. It quickly disappeared into the ancient warlord's armor. Dashi noticed his eyes flash with relief for an instant.

"If you knew what could be done with that, Spicer…"

"I know. Grand Master Dashi here says that the monks'd stop you from ever turning evil. And Hannibal would probably have something even worse up his sleeve."

"Indeed," Chase said, casting Dashi a dark look. "I would rather not trust you with it, particularly not with him haunting you for some ungodly reason."

"I wouldn't have let him use it against you," Jack protested loyally. Dashi was also shaking his head.

"Hey, I miss you more than you know, old friend," he said, looking rather miserable. "But I know that life's over for both of us."

"You know, Hannibal Bean mentioned an interesting theory when we were working together all those years ago," Chase spat out. "He suggested that you always knew I would be claimed by evil, and that you could have stopped it if you'd had even the faintest desire to do so."

"That's not entirely true," said Dashi, who wouldn't quite meet his former friend's eyes. "I knew the balance of Good and Evil was shifting, since Wuya had been locked away. I didn't know how, or who…"

"You must have known how likely it was to be one of us," Chase hissed. "You were never stupid, Dashi." Jack thought he almost saw a spark of betrayal in his hero's golden eyes.

"I… suspected," Dashi admitted, still looking down. "I chose duty to the balance over duty to my friends. I've often questioned my choices. If you think I was wrong, you now hold the means to fix it." He looked up with a slightly sick-looking smile.

Chase studied him carefully. "As you said, that life is over now," he said quietly. He watched the two for a short moment before turning and walking off towards the mountains in the distance.

Jack stood there awkwardly, mulling over what he'd heard.

"We'd better get back to your house, before your mom fixes dinner," Dashi said with clearly forced cheerfulness.

"Yeah…" Jack mumbled. He returned to the Tunnel Armadillo, found that the top would snap right back on, and changed it back to pocket-size before grabbing it and the Monkey Staff and letting his helipack lift him into the air. Dashi faded into the wind and followed in his wake.

"Hey, at least I won, huh," Jack said after a while, smiling hopefully. There was no answer. "Um, thanks for your help in that wind showdown… I guess. …I couldn't've done it without you!" Nothing. "You don't mind that I gave Chase the Hadoku Mouse, right? Er… 'cause it's too bad if you do!" Still nothing. "Are you even there?" the redhead asked hesitantly, looking behind him. "Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad," the wind sighed in his ear almost inaudibly.

"Oh." That was a relief. "Uh… You know, when he's in a better mood, maybe you can try talking to him again."

"I don't know about that."

"C'mon, he loves being evil. Even if it's your fault, you did him a favor!"

"He doesn't even completely believe that now."

"Aw, he was just trying to make you feel bad. Probably doesn't know what to say to you after all these years. That's just how he is," Jack said consolingly.

"Nice of you to try to make me feel better," Dashi said with a small laugh.

"I just hate being around depressed people," Jack said with a shrug. "I automatically get happier to balance them out, or something. I don't know. Anyway, I'm in too great a mood right now!"

"…'To balance them out'?" Dashi repeated. He gave a quiet but far more genuine laugh.

"What? Oh," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Back to that again? Sorry, I'm still Evil, whether I'm around goody-goodies or other evil people."

"Maybe so, maybe so," Dashi conceded with a slight smile in his tone. "…And thanks."

Jack blinked and then grinned slightly, giving the air behind him a thumbs-up.

"By the way, that showdown of yours really impressed me. Very skillful. Honorable as they come, too."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't think of anything underhanded with that time limit."

Dashi smiled to himself at the lie. "Of course. You can't expect to be heartless all the time."

"Damn right! …I hope there's cake for dessert," the evil boy genius mused to himself as he neared home.

Dashi grinned outright. The poor kid just didn't recognize what he was.

"So… you feel like telling me about you two in the past after dinner, maybe?" Jack asked cautiously, correctly interpreting Dashi's more upbeat mood.

"…Okay, sure," Dashi gave in after a moment. "In fact, I'll tell you about all four of us."