A/N: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and are now following this.
XxxxxX
"For the tenth time, Spicer, you're supposed to turn, jump, and then kick!" Chase scolded him.
Jack sighed and took a moment to catch his breath. For the past three days Chase had been making him work physically harder than he ever had before in his life. They had developed a pattern: wake up, eat breakfast, stretch, one hour of various exercises, one hour of Tai Chi, two hours of Kung Fu, eat lunch, one hour of meditating, two more hours of Kung Fu, another hour of Tai Chi, another hour of meditating, eat dinner, four hours of Chase helping him develop his "evil technique" and mannerisms, an hour to do whatever he wanted, and then sleep.
At the moment, they were almost done with their second round of Kung Fu. Jack had actually been doing well at memorizing all the moves Chase showed him, but after awhile they all just started to run together and he forgot what to do. The fact that he was physically and mentally exhausted didn't help much.
Chase sighed and rubbed his temples. "I suppose that's enough fighting for today. There's only so much that someone like you can handle at a time. We'll take a five minute break before we start on the Tai Chi."
That cheered Jack up a bit. He found that the smooth moves helped relax him and made it easier to think. It was also one of the few times a day that Chase didn't seem annoyed with him. Besides, anything that translated to "supreme ultimate fist" was cool in his book.
After the five minutes were up, Chase gestured for the boy to come to his side. Jack was still a bit reluctant to be so close to his new master, but he didn't dare to let it show. He quickly made his way over to the man's side and waited for instruction.
"Now, Jack, remember what I showed you," Chase said. "Feel your energy flow through you. Your moves should be smooth and fluid. Let your mind and body relax."
They went through the moves in a comfortable silence. Jack secretly glanced at his teacher and inwardly smiled. Chase had his eyes closed and there was even a small smile on his face. The evil genius supposed that a Tai Chi master's favorite pastime would indeed be Tai Chi. He was happy that Chase was relaxed, mostly because that meant there was less of a chance that he would be hit. Before he knew it, the hour was up.
"You did adequate today, Spicer," Chase informed him. "About as much as I can expect. Go wash up and do your meditation. I want you to focus on being calm and finding your inner strength. Someone will come and get you for dinner."
Jack bowed slightly and replied "Yes, Master". He still didn't like subjecting himself like this, but he knew there would be consequences if he didn't. He called Chase by his name a few times already, and those earned him either a sharp glare or a slap on the back of the head.
As he walked away, he could practically feel the immortal's smirk.
XxxxxxX
Even though Chase did have certain electrical appliances installed in his home, there were still some things he preferred to do the old-fashioned way. For instance, he was currently lighting a torch so he could carry it down to the dungeon(torches seemed so much more evil than flashlights).
As he walked down the long, winding staircase, he thought over his apprentice's progress. Jack was learning surprisingly fast. The boy still hadn't completely learned his place, but he was getting there. Spicer was by no means a warrior, but Chase felt that he could teach him enough to at least defend himself. He also seemed to have no common sense, but that could be overcome with time. If Spicer continued to progress like this, he may be able to get his second apprentice sooner than he anticipated.
As he approached his destination, he could hear angry and frustrated yelling. He smiled as he heard his name being followed by a series of curses. When he reached the cell, he felt the torch close to his face so that his prisoner could see him clearly.
"Chase!" the witch yelled. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Wuya," he greeted "I take it these are these accommodations not to your liking?"
"Of course not, you fool!" she snapped. "One moment, I'm sitting there minding my own business, and the next, you're warriors are dragging me down here! What on earth did I do?"
"Oh, please, what haven't you done?" he retorted. "But right now, I'm working on a little project that I don't want you to interfere with. I had half a mind to send you to the Ying Yang world, but who knows what trouble you might concoct there."
"Project?" she echoed incredulously. "What project? Does it have something to do with Shen Gong Wu? Is that why I can't be involved?"
"You know full well that I care nothing for those trinkets," he replied, sounding offended. "And don't worry, you'll be a part of it in due time. I just came down here to make sure you were...comfortable."
"More like making sure I haven't found a way to escape," she scoffed. Her wrists and ankles had been chained to the wall, making any real movement impossible.
"You know me so well," he mocked as he turned to leave. "Enjoy your night, Wuya."
After she was sure he was gone, she allowed a vicious smile to come across her face. Unbeknownst to anyone, the last time she teamed up with Hannibal, she had persuaded him to restore a small amount of her magic. It wasn't enough to attack anyone, but it was certainly enough to do a bit of spying. She knew all about what Chase and Jack were doing. Though why Chase had finally decided to train an idiot like Jack was beyond her understanding. But, hey, she was a master at manipulating people to do what she wanted.
It was time to get in contact with her old partner.
XxxxxxX
Jack stood apprehensively as Chase examined his robot. He honestly didn't think that the man had any knowledge of robotics, but his idol was looking at the machine with a serious glint in his eye.
After awhile, Chase turned back to him. "So, Spicer," he drawled "explain this thing's function to me."
"Oh, uh, yes, Master," he stammered. He had begun to space out, so Chase's question took him by surprise. "It's called the 'SGW Grabber Bot'. It's designed to break into the Xiaolin losers' temple and steal their wu."
"I really need to wean you of this dependence on Shen Gong Wu," Chase sighed. "But that's for another time. Now, I noticed that this is very similar in design to your other robots. What makes it different?"
"Well, it has a cloaking device, so the monks won't be able to see it," Jack answered with a hint of pride. "And it can fly faster than my Jackbots." He decided not to mention its evil laugh.
"Mmhmm," Chase hummed, sounding unimpressed. "And what if the monks do manage to apprehend this? You that that they'll tear it to pieces. And once the cloaking device is broken, they'll instantly recognize it as one of your robots by the design alone – although I'm fairly sure that they've never encountered anyone else who builds machines like this to steal their Wu."
"Well, you never know until you try..." Jack feebly defended.
"From what I've seen, you have tried this. Many times so," Chase retorted. "And each and every time, you end up failing. When are you going to realize that you need to change your strategy?"
"What else am I supposed to do?" the young genius finally snapped. "This is all I know how to do!"
Chase glared at him. "First of all, apprentice, do not snap at me," he snarled. "Secondly, I suggest that you find a way to make the machines better or make a different strategy altogether."
"L-like what?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.
"I noticed that this, and most of your creations, is made of soft metal," his idol replied. "Perhaps you can find something stronger?"
"I've thought of that, but the good stuff is expensive!" Jack protested. "My parents hardly leave me with any money as it is."
"Then why don't you use these super advanced robots to simply steal something better?" Chase replied as if it were obvious. "Since you can install them with cloaking devices, it should be a simple task."
"Oh yeah," Jack muttered while looking down. "I guess that would be easy." Chase made him look like such an idiot. Well, he was Chase Young, after all. Everyone looked like an idiot compared to him. But still, his ego was fragile enough as it was, and his evil hero wasn't improving it.
Chase sighed again. "Don't think too hard on it," he said. "For what I have planned, we won't even need to think about Shen Gong Wu."
Jack looked at his master with curious eyes, but decided not to ask anything. He doubted he would get an answer, anyway.
"I believe that's enough for the night," Chase stated. "You may go back to your room now. I bid you a goodnight."
Jack bowed and replied "Yes, Master," dutifully before leaving the room. It was scary how fast that was becoming a habit...
When he reached his room, he flopped down on his head and ran his hands through his hair. He still wasn't used to this new schedule. He could hardly even feel his limbs, but he doubted Chase was going to go easy on him anytime soon. He turned to look at his workbench that had recently been relocated across the room. It seemed that the dragon lord understood his students need to tinker with electronics and build things.
But so far, he hadn't been in the mood for that. He was simply too tired. He was instead taking the time to get some extra sleep. Yeah, sleep sounded good right about now-
"Jack?" came a familiar voice from somewhere near his head. "Jack, can you hear me?"
He looked around in surprise. "Wuya?"
XxxxxX
A/N: This came out better than I thought it would. I'm not sure if that translation for Tai Chi is correct. When I looked it up, I found a bunch of different definitions, so I just chose the one that I thought Jack would like the best. Sorry if it's wrong.
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