Author's Note:Thanks for more reviews, guys. With regards to the Tiamat Bone conspiracy...in this story, dragons can cough up their own skeletons from time to time. Most of them just dispose of it in the--well, I can't tell you that right now, because it's a plot point, but some of them just dispose of it while they regrow some more bones and others do strange things with them like make them into decorations and New Year's presents. Some of them even eat them. If you think that's weird, Google "placentophagy". It's a similar concept.
Anyway, thanks again for reviewing guys! I'm glad you enjoyed my story.
Chapter Five: The Imposter
Jack Spicer and his robotic doppelganger arrived on the Mountains of Everywhere safe and sound. For all Chase Young's talk of danger, Jack rather thought that the mountains were peaceful, especially in the twilight hour.
Robo-Jack found a cave for them to wait until they got the signal from Chase Young. He couldn't remember if Chase had mentioned when he would be in contact, but it had to be soon, right? He wasn't sure how much longer he could find amusement in using the Orb of Tornami's water jet to carve his name into the mouth of the cave.
The fireflies had come out; officially signaling that Chase Young was late.
"I want to go home." Robo-Jack whined. "My gears are getting rusty and I can feel my circuitry bloating."
Jack rolled his eyes. "You gotta have some discipline, man!" He said. "Chase Young let me be his apprentice because I was the only one--,"
"The only one willing to put up with his unbearable mixture of indifferent cruelty and casual rudeness?" Robo-Jack put forward sarcastically.
"No! He chose me because I had a certain aura of--,"
"Hard-headedness and stupidity?"
"No again! He said that I had a certain aura of je ne sais quoi. That's Spanish for 'never giving up…ness'." Jack explained. "Look, if you're going to make sarcastic comments then I might as well just take out that Obedience Chip that Chase gave me to use on you."
"No, no." Robo-Jack said. "You don't have to do that. I promise to obey your every command…master."
Jack crossed his arms and turned away from the android. "Well, that's more like it." He glanced at his watch.
Where could he be?
Tiamat and Nessie had been taken aside by the Elders while the other dragons gradually hunkered down for their 12-hour siestas. Dojo was tempted to sleep along with him. He missed being able to sleep for half a day; back at the temple, sleep was relegated to the precious few seconds that elapsed between the all-consuming tasks of training, chores, scroll-guarding, personal hygiene, looking after Master Fung, and searching out Shen Gong Wu.
But he couldn't really do that. He had to figure out a way to get the Terrarcanum before it revealed itself and got them all eaten by Chase Young. He had to get it away from the Elders, and the best way he could do that was to sneak along with Tiamat and Nessie when they were meeting with the Elders.
Dojo solved this problem the way he solved all of his problems – by picking his nose. "It's never failed me before!" He said as he rooted around in there. His nostrils, which were scorched free of the usual stuff that occupied noses due to his fire-breathing and smoke-snorting, ached as he reached deep inside, almost to where his brain was. "Gotcha!" He said. His talon closed around something and he found himself doubled over next to a big sleeping pink worm, coughing loudly and feebly.
He ended up coughing up something that would really save his bacon right about then. "Behold!" He cried, to no one in particular. He picked up the small Shen Gong Wu and waved it around triumphantly. "Manchurian Musca!"
A small, buzzing fly. The perfect way to spy on a bunch of dragons while plotting to steal the Terrarcanum.
The four dragons – the champions and the Elders – congregated behind the Green Rock. Dojo zoomed around the tip of the rock, trying to quell his overwhelming craving for sugar.
"Are the stars right?" Nessie was saying. She was oddly enormous from this perspective, all stretchy and bulgy and covered with dull gray scales.
"Of course." The talkative Elder said. "We have examined the evening sky and see that the stars signal that The Enemy approaches. We sent our best worm spies out and they said that they could see someone on the Mountain of Everywhere. It is most likely him, with an advance agent to help him catch more of our brethren to devour in his cannibal rituals."
The normally-silent Elder chimed in with, "We must act quickly. We have very little time before the time of the Dragoncircle is over. If he is not defeated now, then we may never have another chance."
Tiamat and Nessie nodded. The silent Elder fixed a pendant around Nessie's neck to increase her magic while the talkative one gave Tiamat an iron shield and dagger to wield. The iron shield had the Terrarcanum with in it, clearly visible even as Tiamat slipped it over his left forearm. "Fly quickly and strike true, noble champions!" The talking Elder said.
"We shall return…victorious!" Tiamat responded.
Tiamat and Nessie changed into the giant forms and took flight. Dojo watched them go, and then looked up at the heavens. The Elders had said that the stars were accurate, but they didn't look right to them. Something was off; he couldn't explain what was wrong or even how he knew that, but he could feel it just the same. "Oh, boy." He thought to himself. "Man, I wish I wasn't so responsible!"
And with that, the fly flew away after the two champions.
Robo-Jack was using its telescopic vision to scan the darkening sky for any sign of their accomplice.
"D'you see anything?" Jack asked for the hundredth time.
"No…" Robo-Jack began. Then his paused. "Wait, wait, whoa! I see something, but it's definitely not your favorite soup addict." He detached his eyes and handed them to Jack, who looked at them uncertainly before holding them up in front of his own.
"It's a huge black dragon," Jack Spicer said. "And a smaller gray one. They both look kind of like that gecko dude that follows the geek warriors around."
"Is it me…" Robo-Jack asked, craning his eyeless head towards his creator. "…or are the fireballs they're breathing getting a little too close--,"
He was cut off as a blast of fire rocketed out of the huge black dragon's mouth. The fireball knocked the robot backwards; his internal mechanisms were scorched and he started acting as if he had just gotten an extra-strength whiff of the Woozy Shooter.
"Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger…AAAAAAAH!" The android howled with maniacal laughter as he executed a graceful swan dive off of the cave's mouth. Jack saw months of electronics store robberies and years of work on a model vanish into the Chasm of Everywhere.
But his attention was quickly stolen by a sharp pain that was shooting through his chest as the dragons approached. The brooch that Chase had given him was now on fire, and seemed to be determined to actually sink into his skin.
"Oh brother!" Jack said as he tossed it aside.
"I have given you a grand opportunity." Chase Young echoed. "To wear my form!"
And it was true; by some demented magic, Chase had changed Jack's outward appearance into an exact duplicate of his own, down to the last details of his armor. Inside, he was still the same red-headed little boy, but he had the feeling that a red-headed little boy wasn't what the two dragons were seeing as they bore down him with their great winged, flapping bodies.
"The Enemy!" The black dragon roared, brandishing its dagger menacingly.
"Get away from me!" Jack said, squeezing his eyes shut and clawing at the air.
"This is a very cunning battle strategy." Nessie remarked. "But it won't work. We know all your Heylin tricks, Evil One!"
Nessie punctuated the last two words with a loud belch of fire. This fire jumped into the ground at the mouth of the cave, mixing in with it to create a small golem of made of baked mud.
Jack looked at the creature. "That's it?" He demanded, his voice starting to sound like Chase's as well. "I guess you won't mind to see my newest co-stars." He snapped his fingers. "Lily-bots – attack!"
The dragons paused, looking around for the Lily-bots.
Jack's eyes widened as he looked at the label he had pulled off of one of the Lily-bots. "'Only use in or near water'…" He said, a frown taking over his face. "Peachy."
"Shall we get him now?" Nessie asked.
"But of course." Tiamat said, showing his fangs.
Jack gulped. Suddenly, baby-sitting his cousin Megan didn't seem like such a chore!