Turnabout
"It can't be... " Raimundo repeated, stepping away from the hideous chuckling vegetable lying before him. "How did you get here? Where is Mayun? Where is he keeping Kimiko's chi?"
"You foolish boy!" Bean howled. "There is no Mayun. There hasn't been a Mayun for over 700 years! It's only been me and the Chi Creature here since that traitor Chase Young had me locked in here, many ages ago. I took your darling Kimiko's chi away from her!" He rose to a standing position, and when he did so Raimundo could see the jewel-studded necklace around Bean's neck. There were only four gems on it; two were glowing bright and yellow while two were dim and gray. " also have your friend Omi's chi in here now."
Kimiko and Omi... Raimundo thought quickly to himself. Fire and Water... he has to be going for the complete set. And I just hand-delivered Wind to him! Raimundo realized with a start. I have to get out of here.
"I guess you're thinkin' you just pieced together the rest of my plan, huh!" Bean laughed.
"Yeah, suppose I did? What are you gonna do about it?" Rai replied, trying to sound tough.
"MOBY MORPHER!" Hannibal Roy Bean thundered. The legume grew to at least 10 times his size, with six rows of gnashing tentacles and bright yellow eyes that glowed with an inner, magical fire. He towered over Raimundo, then whipped out his tendrils to knock Rai off his feet. The Shoku warrior darted out of the way just in time, but he wasn't safe yet. Bean bounded after him, twelve tentacles slicing through the air at him. They seemed to come from everywhere at once, so it was only a matter of time before one of them caught him in the chest, knocking him over and allowing Bean to carry him up off his feet.
The monstrous vegetable dangled Raimundo upside down by his legs, his head just inches away from Bean's gaping maw. "I have much bigger plans than that," Bean said. "Plans that will bring everything you know crumbling into nothingness. That's what I'm preparing, and there's nothin' you can do about it."
"That's what you think!" Rai said suddenly. He swung his arms forward, reaching into his pocket to pull out one of the Yo-Yos. Hannibal Bean stared at him quizzically as he dangled it from his fingers.
"What're--," Bean began slowly.
"Yang Yo-Yo!" Rai yelled. The evil vegetable screamed and relinquished his grasp on Raimundo's legs, but even then he couldn't get away. A portal opened up as the Yo-Yo spun through the air and the instant that Bean's waving tendrils touched the swirling energy, he vanished in a brilliant flash of light.
Clay did not have to explain to the healers what had happened to Omi. One look at the small monk's increasingly pale face and heavy-lidded eyes told them everything that they needed to know.
"Take care of him, okay?" Clay said. "I'm gonna go see what I can do about that Spicer varmint."
The healers nodded and carried Omi up to his room. Everyone knew that there was nothing they could do for him until Raimundo returned from the Yin-Yang World, but Clay could still keep Jack busy until he did.
After the healers had snuck out of the vault, Clay turned to see what weapons he could arm himself with to stop Jack.
BWAAAAAAAAAMP!
"Oh, that's just great!" Clay muttered as the roof to the vault went flying off. The Transforming Bot stood above, with Jack Spicer sitting atop it. Even though Clay couldn't see his face, he knew that the evil boy genius was enjoying this.
"Give me the Crown!" Jack said for the hundredth time.
"For the hundredth time... NO!" Clay said.
"And," Jack continued. "All of the Shen Gong Wu too!"
Clay grabbed the closest Wu at hand. "Oh, I'll give 'em to you, alright. Thorn of Thunderbolt!"
The lightning blast caught the robot in one of its four arms, sending it spinning out of control for a few moments. But Clay didn't give it any time to recover. Another jolt hit it in yet another arm, and a third knocked off the armored plating covering its knee. The robot swayed back and forth, clearly more affected by electricity than any of the other attacks that he and Omi had used before.
"Thorn... " Clay started again, levelling the Wu for another strike.
"Silk Spitter!" Jack waved his own Shen Gong Wu around, sending a stream of sticky spiderwebs cascading down on top of him. The Thorn of Thunderbolt went spinning out of his hand and Clay was pinned to the ground, immobilized.
Aw, man. Clay thought gloomily.
"Is this it?" Jack said. He sounded on the verge of maniacal laughter. "Is this for real? Did I seriously just win? Oh, it looks like I did! This is so awesome!"
He descended down from on top of his giant robot using his heli-bot. He then walked over to Clay, carrying a large black box with a whole in the center. "This is my Ionic Interro-bot 3,000,000! It's designed to extract-- that means, 'pull out' -- the information that I want from your tiny cowboy brain." The evil boy genius explained. "It's supposed to be really painful; I don't know, I haven't tested it myself yet. I guess we'll just find out from you, now won't we?"
Clay gritted his teeth. He had to stop Jack from getting the right information out of his mind. Maybe if he thought up a convincing lie...
Jack tossed aside Clay's cowboy hat and shoved the machine down on top of his straight blond hair. Clay could feel the machine clamping down on top of his skull and he could hear the uncomfortable sound of electricity crackling right next to his ear. He began focusing on his lie. It's hidden up your behind, he thought as vigorously as he could. The Crown is hidden up your narrow behind, you no-good sneak.
"Interro-bot, Interro-bot, tell me this," Jack said as he punched in some kind of code into his wristwatch. "Where is my Crown?"
The Interro-bot continued to squeeze on his head, making Clay see funny colors in the back of his eyes. Unbidding, thoughts of the Crown that the Xiaolin warriors had captured earlier began to float into his mind. "Aaaaahaaaahaaaaa no no no aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" He tried to bring his lie to the front, but now he could barely remember what it was. Dunno where the Crown is... it's definitely not in the... ah... it's not uh I don't know what elephant fish squirrel banana bread yogurt clearing brush ranch straw fabric textiles cattle Daddy Bailey rabbit stew at town not the Crown what Crown I don't aaaaaaah.
"Don't bother resisting," Jack said smugly. "It's designed to get whatever I want no matter what you do."
The Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown the Crown aaaaaaaah don't know where it is stop asking stop asking STOP ASKING!
"I bet you're impressed, aren't you?" Jack said in a casual voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Clay could see him leaning against the wall next to him, filing his nails. "I really put a lot of thought into this plan. It's really important to me, and I couldn't afford not to pull out all the stops."
Bring bring bring me the Crown!
"Since you're being such a big help, I think I just might tell you what this Crown is for." Jack said.
Blablablablablablabla meah noah speaka yoah Engleesh go away thank you very much hello!
"It's basically the key to my new future. I'm tired of getting beat up by you geeks, and once I have it, I can make my dreams come true. I'll have the world on a string... " Jack winced then. "Note to self -- never say that phrase again."
The Crown is... the Crown is... the Crown is in...
"I'll be the undisputed Emperor of Darkness, the King of Kalamity, the President of Pain, the Sultan of Superevilcoolness, the Chief Justice--,"
THE CROWN IS... Clay's mouth opened involuntarily. "... is in the... "
"Jack Spicer!" boomed a voice that was strangely recognizable.
"What's that?" Jack murmured, getting to his feet. Clay could barely see the boy walking towards his robot.
The sound of an explosion rocked the vault and robot parts sprayed past Clay's head. He heard Jack screaming, then saw him run past him in the opposite direction as fast as he could.
A few moments later, Clay felt the machine suddenly stop clamping down on his head. As he slowly stumbled to his feet, he noticed three things. One was that the Transforming Bot had been completely ripped in half and was now lying in two pieces on the floor. The second was the portal from the Yin-Yang world that was sitting just outside the vault. And third was Hannibal Bean sitting directly in front of him, with Jack Spicer's interrogation robot in his tiny tentacles.
"How'd... you... get... back... here?" Clay said slowly, still too woozy to concentrate fully.
"I came to rescue you." Bean replied, sounding surprisingly warm.
"Rescue... ?"
"It's okay, Clay!" Raimundo said, stepping out of the portal. "I pushed him through the portal with just the Yang Yo-Yo. All of his evil chi is gone."
"Huh." Clay said. The idea of Hannibal Roy Bean as a creature of pure good was too hard to wrap his mind around right now. He decided to proceed directly to the most important matter. "Did you get Mayun to release Kimiko's chi? And Omi's too?"
"He has it." Raimundo said. Bean held up his necklace, with glowed with the presence of Fire and Water energy.
It took five minutes for them to siphon the chis of the two fallen Xiaolin warriors back into their bodies. Omi and Kimiko woke up together, surrounded by their fellow warriors and the other monks who lived at the monastery.
"Are you okay?" Raimundo asked.
"I'm fine... " Kimiko said.
"I am most appreciative of your swift rescue." Omi said.
"What happened?" Kimiko asked.
"Spicer tried to steal your chi. Er... chis." Clay explained. "We got them back though, apparently thanks to Hannibal Bean."
"What?" Kimiko and Omi exclaimed in unison.
"I know how you feel." Raimundo replied. "It's a slightly long story. Just sit tight and I'll explain how it happened."
Meanwhile, Jack Spicer was returning to his lair for the third time in so many hours. The voice in the water accosted him the moment he entered his lair.
Do you have it? The voice demanded. It sounded almost apprehensive.
Jack craned his neck towards it, glaring darkly. He reached into his pocket and held out the small, glittering object in his hand. It was the Crown. "Yeah." He said.
The voice paused.
Excellent.