Now and Then
Chapter 7
"Jack Spicer!" The cry rang out across the Evil Lair. "We have come for your Shen Gong Wu! Foot them over."
"…Hand them over, Omi. It's 'hand them over'," sighed Kimiko.
"Yes, and that as well!" Omi glared as the Evil Genius straightened up from his intricate mass of wires and popped his goggles back up to their customary place on his forehead.
"Not in the mood today, Cheese Puff," he said blandly. "Sorry. Maybe tomorrow."
The four Shoku warriors stared at him blankly.
"You heard me, get lost."
"Come on," Raimundo complained. He ducked over and started to open Jack's vault.
"I said no!" Jack shouted. "Jackbots! Defensity!"
Swarms of robots whirred to life. They knocked the Xiaolin warriors back and surrounded them in a semicircle, leaving an escape route while at the same time obviously protecting Jack and the vault. An incomplete Robo Jack walked over and swung the safe's dial, undoing the combination, and leaned against the door smugly.
"What gives, huh?" Raimundo asked when it became clear that the Jackbots were not going to attack. "You're always spoilin' for a fight!"
"I told you, I'm not in the mood," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Go away. Anyway, aren't you supposed to stand for peace and justice and all that crap? I didn't do anything to you, why're you harassing me at home?"
"We are most befuddled, Jack Spicer," Omi said, frowning suspiciously. "In our last showdown, your command of the wind was far superior to even Raimundo's. It seemed like the power of a Shen Gong Wu to me."
"Which would mean you cheated," Clay added.
"Oh yeah?" Jack retorted. "Well for your information, it wasn't any Wu. So get lost. Don't you have some training or something to get back to? I'm sure Master Fung has plenty of chores waiting for you."
"But why will you not have a showdown with us?" Omi protested.
Jack sighed. " 'Cause I wanna hang onto what Wu I've got! When I want a showdown, I'll come find you, don't worry. But not today!"
"I should say not," a familiar Southern drawl echoed through the lab. Something hopped down from a cable near the ceiling and onto Jack's head.
"Aah! Bug! Bean!" the evil genius screamed, frantically hitting and brushing off his head until he finally dislodged Hannibal.
"Moby Morpher!" the bean shouted on his way down. He grew to be a bit taller than Jack. "I do hope you don't mind me interrupting while you've got your little friends over, boy."
"Th-they're not my friends!" Jack stammered.
"Really," said Hannibal, sounding entirely unconvinced. "That why you're having a nice little chat rather than getting whupped as usual?"
"Hey! I do not get whupped! …usually," Jack complained.
"Of course not," Hannibal replied as he turned away from Jack, his condescending sarcasm more apparent than usual. "Now this's just perfect, because I was going to come find you all next. We can just cut out the middle man." Hannibal leapt at the nearest Shen Gong Wu. "Clay, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown. My Fist of Tebigong for your Yang Yo-Yo."
"I think you might just need a break from the action, partner," the dragon of earth said, scratching his head. "This here's the Third Arm Sash, not the Yang Yo-Yo."
"I am well aware of that." Hannibal smirked. "But what I desire is the Yang Yo-Yo."
"That sounds fishy," Raimundo said with a frown. "You wanna bring out your good side or something?"
"My dear boy, I was never burdened with a good side." He turned back to Clay. "Now, how about it?"
"I wouldn't if I were you," came a voice from Robo Jack's general vicinity. The robot blinked, looked around quickly, and then shrugged at his surprised creator.
"I reckon I can handle it," Clay said, cracking his knuckles. "Name your game."
"Just a simple staring contest, boy. First to blink or look away loses."
"All right then, I accept." Clay grinned at his friends and closed his eyes for a moment to center himself, not to mention moisten and relax his eyes as much as possible, before turning back to Bean. "Let's go!"
"Gong Yi Tempai!" A bowl-like arena rose around the two. Jack and the other three dragons were lifted onto opposite sides of a metal platform on the wall. Jack frowned slightly as a wind picked up and began to whirl slowly around the pair in the arena.
"You're paying for any damage in here!" he called to them. They ignored him, eyes locked and unblinking. The wind rose up to their waists. The Xiaolin dragons were cheering Clay on, and Jack had to restrain himself from joining in. Of everyone on the Heylin side, no matter how the others double-crossed him, Hannibal Bean really made him shiver.
And the wind rose again.
Specks of dirt and dust from every corner of the lab whirled furiously around the cowboy and the giant bean. Hannibal grinned and slammed the Fist of Tebigong into the floor. Jack flinched as the tiles cracked. One more punch sent shards of tile flying up at the earth dragon's face as the wind closed in on them. Clay quickly drew back as much as he dared, whipping out the Third Arm Sash to try to knock them away, but it was too slow.
Without warning, the wind blasted out from behind Clay's head, straight at Hannibal. The bean drew back too far, into the driving wind. Dust flew in his face, and the bits of flooring forced him to duck aside or lose an eye. The room flashed and there was cheering as the room returned to normal, floor undamaged. Jack let out a whoop of glee and slapped Robo Jack a high five as the Fist of Tebigong landed in Clay's hands.
"I will have my satisfaction," Hannibal roared, lunging towards the Xiaolin monks. "And my Yo-Yo!"
"I don't think so," a voice came from behind Jack. The evil genius whirled to find a familiar face floating a few feet away, grinning.
"Dashi!" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Grand Master Dashi!?" the Xiaolin dragons shouted.
"Dashi, put me down and let me go about my business," Hannibal Bean growled. "You are nothing but an insufferable busybody."
"Maybe so," Dashi agreed amiably. He turned to flash a smile at Jack – he'd actually missed that neurotic kid – before focusing on the monks. "I don't suppose one of you does have the Yin Yo-Yo or the Yang Yo-Yo on you?" They all shook their heads mutely. "Well then, we may have to take a little field trip. Hannibal Roy Bean here wants to go to the Yin-Yang World, and I think we should supply him with a one-way ticket, don't you?"
Realization dawned and the monks nodded, their grins positively evil.
"Well call Dojo, he's probably napping," Dashi said. "The three of us will follow you to the temple."
"Wait, three?" Kimiko looked rather disturbed. "You're not saying we should bring Jack Spicer, are you? Grand Master Dashi, he's on the Heylin side, he's not one of us!"
"Sure I'm including him. We're a team, he and I. As long as he wants to come." He looked at Jack with just a hint of apprehension.
"Heck yes!" Jack exclaimed quickly. Dashi smiled in satisfaction.
"We are greatly looking forward to hearing your wisdom, Grand Master Dashi," Omi said hopefully as the monks climbed back through the window where they had entered.
"Oh I've got a lot to tell you," Dashi replied. He turned back to Jack as the teenager pressed a button on the wall, opening some large doors that Hannibal Bean could fit through. He turned on his helipack and rose into the air next to Dashi. Hannibal could be heard thrashing and muttering behind them as they flew.
"Hey," the spirit said after a moment. "Sorry I left the other night. There was no reason for me to get so upset. I hope you don't mind me coming back."
"What? Oh, no!" Jack said quickly. "I-I just got carried away. I shouldn't've said all that. I didn't really mean it."
"So no hard feelings, then?" Dashi asked.
"Nah, I'm not mad," said Jack. "Where'd you go, anyway?"
"Just here and there. I went to see Chase and Wuya. That was nice. Hannibal was trying to get Chase to help him, and when Chase said no, he mentioned that he might try you next."
"So you did help Clay in that showdown?"
"Sure did! I couldn't let Hannibal get what he wanted."
"Ha, you're such a cheater," Jack said with a grin. "You're probably worse than me!"
"Hey, hey, I made the Wu, and the showdowns are pretty much mine since they involve Wu at every level. I don't think it's cheating for me to get a little more involved."
Jack just smirked, following the undulating dragon through the sky. "So much for not letting people know you're here, huh?
"Yeah, it was probably past time anyway," the ghost replied. Hannibal tried to jerk to the side and burst out of his airy captivity, but Dashi easily shoved back against his efforts. "And by the way, you were right about Chase just trying to make me feel bad before."
"Of course." Jack rolled his eyes. "He does that all the time."
"And here I thought it was just a lie to make me feel better!"
"Huh, not likely!" Jack flashed Dashi a teasing grin. "Evil Emperors of Darkness don't go in for those kinds of things."
"Oh, so you've upgraded from prince to emperor now?" Dashi snickered, then smiled fondly at the red-haired boy. "Ya know, I really missed you, kid. You're all right, for an evil genius."
Jack rolled his eyes while still managing to look like he'd never been so pleased in his life. "Yeah, well, I know. But I was a little worried you wouldn't have the sense to come back. I'd be pretty pissed off if I had to go looking for you."
"I'll keep that in mind. But you know, when Hannibal went off talking about getting you to do his dirty work, I couldn't let him get away with that. Even Chase agreed with me."
"Wow, really? I-" Jack had to swerve to avoid crashing into Dojo as the dragon suddenly reared up and went into a dive towards the Xiaolin Temple. "Hey, what's the deal?"
"I think they already have company," Dashi said, following Dojo down. Jack trailed behind, and Hannibal brought up the rear. As they neared the courtyard, Jack saw what had caused the dragon's sudden descent.
Master Fung stood in the doorway to the Shen Gong Wu vault. Chase Young stood in front of him, watching their approach quite calmly.