Chapter 28. Jack's First Robot

When Raimundo and Clay ran down one hall with Evil Seek, Omi and Kimiko ran down another with Good Seek.

"We could look forever!" Omi exclaimed, peeking behind a door. The three had been running around the ship for quite sometime, and so far they hadn't run into anyone.

"All the Jack Bots are probably down on earth," said Kimiko. "Maybe there's a way to get into the ship's computer and search for Meg?" she went on, taking out her Omni PDA as they walked along.

Good Seek tapped her fingertips together and rolled up on her toes.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure about that," she said softly.

"Why not?" Omi asked.

"If Kimiko taps into the computer system, Jack is bound to notice. In fact, it would probably set off some kind of alarm."

Kimiko frowned and scratched her chin.

"Hmm. I think you're right."

Just then, they saw a shadow move down a perpendicular hallway.

"It's either Jack or Meg," Kimiko warned as she and Omi went into fighting stances. Good Seek held out her hand thoughtfully.

"It's metal," she said, herself surprised.

Around the corner came quite possibly the oldest JackBot they had ever seen. It was about Kimiko's height, and it moved about by rolling around on an office-chair base. Its movement was a little eccentric, as though it either had difficulty controlling itself or its guidance system was just crap. The design was basically the same as the other JackBots, but it was smaller, a little rusted, held together with duct tape in a few places, and clearly toted none of its newer model's weapons.

"Ah! Oh no! Not you!" it exclaimed in the usual monotone JackBot voice when it saw them. "Please don't hurt me!" The bot actually held its arms up and cowered.

Omi and Kimiko weren't sure what to do.

"This is weird," Kim muttered. "What on earth kind of JackBot is that?"

The bot, sensing no immediate danger, lowered its arms and rolled a little closer. It seemed to be squinting, as though it had poor vision.

"I'm JackBot AA001. But, everyone just calls me Chester. I was Master Jack's very first JackBot."

"Jack's very first JackBot?" Omi repeated. "How are you still intact?"

"How are you not made out of Legos?" Kim asked with a grin.

"Because the one value I have is sentimental value," the bot said, its shoulders slouching. "And, apparently, I don't even have much of that."

The monks were just plain confused.

"The other JackBots make fun of me," Chester went on. "And I never have anyone to talk to. Jack used to hang out with me and play video games with me, but now all he wants to do is take over the world. Actually, he's already done that, hasn't he?" For a robot, Chester actually looked and sounded depressed. "For a while, all he did was hang out with that crazy Meg Kake girl, but now he ignores her, too. I am so depressed."

"Well," Omi began, taking a step forward as he formulated a plan, "the problem is clearly Jack's obsession with the rest of the world. If he were not so busy with the world, he would have more time to dangle out with you."

"Hang, Omi. Hang out," Kim whispered quickly.

Chester considered the concept for a moment.

"But, world domination means everything to Jack. He would hate me if…"

"You need not take part, my friend," Omi assured him. "Let Jack put the blame on us! All we need to do is find Meg Kake. Soon, Jack will be back in his basement playing video games again!"

Chester perked up considerably.

"Sounds good to me!" he said, giving the thumbs up. "Follow me."

Chester rolled on his four little wheels down the hall, which was fortunately all smooth and polished. He led them down a few halls and into an elevator.

"Meg lives on the top, top floor," Chester explained as the others crowded in. "Jack likes her up there, too: out of the way."

As the elevator zipped up, Kimiko checked her wild hair in the mirror walls and Good Seek inspected the damage to Chester's body.

"Maybe this will help," Good Seek suggested, holding her hands over the robot. With her Metal powers, she mended all his cracks, renewed his spare parts, cleaned up the rust, and tightened some bolts.

"Oh, wow," Chester exclaimed, looking down at himself. "I feel like a whole new bot! Wait until Jack sees this!"

The elevator door slid open then and the four of them stepped into Meg Kake's Fun Zone.

"My Fun Zone isn't very fun today!" they heard her scream from the far end of the room. Basically, picture a gigantic, foam-padded and rope-laced playscape, skirted by DDR games, vending machines, big TVs, and buckets and buckets of bouncy balls. Techno music was playing somewhere, and the tiles of the floor clearly lit up, but it wasn't exactly a dance party.

"What's the point in having all this wild stuff without at least one other person to play with?" she went on, clearly in the middle of a rant. "Stupid Jack! He doesn't need to oversee the world anymore: his robots and minions can do that for him! He just stuck me up here to get rid of me! Stupid butt head! Why won't he play with me?" she finished with a stressed scream.

Chester, the monks, and Good Seek couldn't see Meg, but she seemed to be somewhere up high. Then, she noticed them.

"The elevator works from the other end?" she exclaimed. Meg dropped down from nowhere and landed right in front of the group. "What are you freaks doing here?" she demanded.

"We're here to take the world back from Jack," Kimiko said flatly.

Meg rolled her eyes.

"Oh, good," she said sarcastically. "Then Jack will really be pissed off. Well, good luck. You don't stand a chance against Jack now. Even if you can get by the SMART bots, he's still got all the Shen Gong Wu."

"Not quite," Omi said with a grin. He and Kimiko held up the Honest Argot and the Hero Glass.

"What the heck are those?" Meg asked, putting her weight on one hip.

"Tell me, Meg," Kimiko said with a grin. "If you could put an end to Jack's world domination business, would you?"

Just as Meg was about to reply, Kimiko cut in.

"Honest Argot!"

"Jack's been really mean to me lately and all he cares about it taking over and controlling the world. He's not a very good friend, at least not any more. I know he's twenty something now and I'm only thirteen, but that doesn't mean he can't still party with me! I think that if he wasn't running the world, he'd have more time to chill…with me."

Meg stopped and stared. She couldn't believe it. She just poured out everything she had been thinking all along and admitted that she wanted Jack to quit with the world.

She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Well," she said slowly. "It doesn't matter. There's no way to beat Jack."

"Actually," Omi said with a grin. He explained how the Dragon Deity formation was the key to defeating all the Shen Gong Wu.

"Except I don't know how to do the Dragon Deity formation," Meg snapped back. "I don't even know how I learned to move in bullet time, so there's no way I could learn the rest of it."

"We have a way," Kimiko said. "But, you have to promise that you'll help us stop Jack. No double crossing or evil-doing."

"Yeah right," Meg scoffed. She walked away and started up a DDR game. Chester looked on with curiosity, fascinated by the dance platform. "Besides," she said as she bounced away on the lights, "I can't turn on Jack! Even if he does deserve it."

"I don't know Meg," Kimiko said slyly, inspecting her nails. "You always complain about how much older than you Jack is. I think you'll be interested in this. Hey, Chester? Hero Glass!"

Kimiko held out the Hero Glass and used it on the old JackBot. In a swirl of light and little sparkly things, Chester was transformed. In his place stood the finest, top of the line, brand new, and fully equipped JackBot. He was much bigger, armed with razor sharp claws, a wide selection of weapons and tracking devices, and thick, sleek armor. And, now he moved around via jet pack.

"Oh, wow," Chester exclaimed, looking down at himself again. "This is just my day, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it only lasts twenty-four hours," Kimiko admitted, explaining the other details of the Wu.

Meg stared, mouth ajar and lost for words.

"I gotta get me some a' that," she mumbled.

"Oh, but you do not want to rebel against Jack, remember?" Omi said, lowering his eyes wisely for a moment.

"I want Jack to see what I'm made of! He'll be so sorry he locked me up here! He's gonna pee his evil pants when he sees Nutmeg Kake, Empress of Raves And Revenge in her prime!"