Despite the fact that Jade, Paco and Jimmy didn't think Jackie would notice their disappearance, he knew exactly what they'd be doing. And even though the responsible adult thing to do was to go look for them, he knew there was no point even trying.

But even his adult worries grew a little more important once the teens hadn't returned for half an hour.

"I'm going to go look for them," Jackie decided, excusing himself from his group. He then headed off in the direction Jade, Paco and Jimmy had left off in and began to walk.

"JAC-CKIE!"

Jackie knew that voice much too well to ignore it. For the umpteenth time he wished Jade would just follow the rules and not go wandering off and getting herself stuck in situations that involved him somehow saving her.

Jackie ran toward the cry, but it had already faded away. Where did it come from, where did it come from...?

Another yell screamed for help. It was definitely below him, Jackie decided. He leaned forward on the rock wall to his left and found footprints in mud below, and a large gaping hole in the side of the hill. A cave. Most probably Jade, Paco and Jimmy were inside.

Jackie quickly cursed Jade for making things more difficult than they had to be, and jumped over the rock wall, sliding down to the ground with ease. He landed and quickly rolled to absorb most of the impact, and started to run toward the cave.

"Jade!" he yelled, running inside.

"Jackie!" Jade yelled back. She, Paco and Jimmy were pressed against the back wall, trying to get as far away from something as possible. In the senter of the room sat a podium with a red ruby on it.

"Chan!" snarled Drago, turning to face him.

"Oh, hello, Dra— WHAT!?"

Jackie couldn't believe it. What was Drago doing here? With the Ice Gang? And who was the new guy?

"Well, Chan," said Drago. "Long time no fight."

"He-he," laughed Jackie quite nervously, prepping himself for yet another long and hard and necessary-for-his-life-to-keep-living fight.

"I see you've got yourself a new accessory," continued the demon, referring to the Gauntlet on Jackie's arm. "Well, so have I!" He held up a fist and showed Jackie his black chi Gauntlet.

Jackie suddenly remembered something Uncle had told them back at the shop. "The Gauntlets will choose whomever they wish to wear them, whether they are good, or bad."

He internally groaned. "Lucky me," he muttered to himself.

That was when Uncle, El Toro, and Tohru appeared at the doorway. "Jackie!" Uncle yelled, not noticing the demons inside the cave just yet. "What is taking you so long— AIIEE-YAAAAHH!"

"Chi wizard," spat Drago.

"Hmm..." thought El Toro, not recognizing Drago right away. "I know him from somewhere."

"Yeah, maybe from when he tried to turn the freaking world inside out!" yelled Jade from the back of the room.

"Oh, I may have failed that time, Chans," hissed Drago. "But mark my words, this time I won't, and all of you will be dead!"

Strikemaster Ice took this as his cue and threw the first fireball.

(LINE BREAK)

"Get the children out of here!" yelled Jackie. He dodged Drago's next fatal blow and tried to match it with his own, but he had forgotten how tough the demon could be and was struck across the face instead.

El Toro grabbed Paco, Jade and Jimmy and practically threw them outside the cave before starting to fight MC Cobra. Jade landed on her back against a few newly sprung flowers, flattening them down.

"I think I will be sitting this one out," said Paco, sitting up and grabbing at his head.

"I won't!" yelled Jade. "Uncle, El Toro, Tohru and Jackie are only four! And Drago's got four henchmen, and with himself that's five! They need backup." She got to her feet and rolled up her imaginary sleeves, preparing herself for battle.

"I think this is a bad idea, Jade," said Jimmy, standing up and trying to tug his friend back.

A large flame shot out of the cave and incinerated any flowers that just happened to be there.

"I have to help!" yelled Jade, freeing herself. "And you can't stop me! I don't care if you two sit back out here and watch as those demons shoot fire from their mouths at our friends and uncles and whatever, but I care if I do or don't! So, you can go in there and fight, or stay out here like frightened little girls. I. Don't. Care. But you can't stop me from doing otherwise!" And with that, Jade stormed inside the cave.

"Pollo," thought Paco. "Chickening out doesn't sound such a bad idea right now."

So he and Jimmy decided to be frightened little girls and wait the battle out.

(LINE BREAK)

Jackie dodged yet another fiery blast that nearly burnt his head clean of hair.

"I'm sorry, Chan," Drago pretended to care, "but for your funeral ceremony, did you want a burial or cremation?"

With that last word, Drago shot out another blast of flames from his mouth. Jackie ran around the circular room all the way to Uncle, redirected one lime green bolt he had just been in the process of shooting from his lizard at the flames (which promptly evaporated into mist on the spot), and went back to battle Drgo.

"I don't have time for this play!" Drago decided/yelled. "I. Need. That. CHI!" He easily knocked Jackie a few steps back with another blast of his dragon powers, and lunged for the red ruby, which sat untouched at the center of the room.

"No!" yelled Jackie, and kicked it away, sending the precious gem flying toward the other end of the room, where it bounced off the wall, just missing one of DJ Fist's punches directed at Tohru, and rolled neatly to Jackie's feet. He picked it up, and with a perfectly executed back-flip, shot out of the line of fire.

Drago breathed in heavily and shot out more fire at Jackie. He jumped out of the way, holding on to the gem firmly.

"If you would just release your chi, nice, pretty little ruby," he said to it. "I could just be on my way out of here, and—"

He was cut off with another one of Drago's fire-breath blows.

"If you hand me that gem, I may go easy on you when I kill you," Drago told him, holding out his arm for Jackie to place the ruby in his palm. "May."

Jackie gulped. "Eh... No thank you?"

Drago decided to stop relying on his failing demon powers and lunged at Jackie the old-fashioned way. Jackie had dodged about two blows when Drago knocked the gem out of his grasp and it went flying up into the air, falling toward the demon. Drago quickly jabbed two fingers on the side of Jackie's neck to stop him from intercepting the pass, and ran to grab the ruby when it fell.

"The first of eight, now mine!" yelled Drago, reaching up to grab it, Jackie powerless to stop it.

"Hiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaah!"

Jade Chan to the rescue! (Once again.) She leapt up onto the podium in the center of the room and soared through the air, grabbing the ruby before Drago caught it. She rolled on impact with the ground, running outside. Drago shot a mean glare at Jackie before running after her.

Well, Drago was a lot faster than Jade, and quickly shot in front of her. "Going somewhere?" he asked her.

She frowned and tucked the ruby into her jean pocket. "Only to kick your stupid demon butt," she retorted, and quickly snapped two kicks at the demon's head. She had grown taller the last two years, but was still considered short for her age. This proved to be a problem in this battle, as Drago easily grabbed her foot the second time and knocked her back against a nearby rock.

"Same old Jade," he said. Jade grabbed the ruby in her pocket and held it firmly.

"You want it, you go through me," she gritted, getting to her feet and adopting a karate stance. Paco and Jimmy, who had been waiting patiently for the battle to end nearby, saw their friend in need of help and went to fight by her side.

"Yeah!" agreed Jimmy, adopting the same pose, but more awkwardly.

Drago easily knocked the two boys down and picked Jade up, plucking the ruby right out of her grasp.

"Hey, let go of me!" Jade protested, thrashing and kicking. "I wasn't ready! I demand a rematch!"

Drago threw her down next to Jimmy and Paco, and she groaned, rubbing her head.

"You three are pathetic," he decided, and firmly grabbed the ruby with both hands—er, claws—, starting to absorb the good chi it contained. The ruby began to glow with intense power and energy.

"JAAAAAAACKIE!" Jade yelled for help, still sitting on the ground. "Uncle, Tohru— Anybody!"

But they were still in the cave, fighting their little hearts out with Drago's henchmen.

"JAAAAAAACKIE!" Jade yelled again, but no one came running out of the cave.

Jimmy then performed an act of either great courage or insane stupidity as tackled Drago. They both fell to the ground, and the absorption process was unsuccessful, having been interrupted. Jimmy groaned, lying on his face on a few flowers. Drago grunted and got to his feet, terribly upset. The ruby laid a few feet behind them, not shining so brilliantly anymore. The chi was no longer in there, and neither was it in the demon.

"I tolerated you before, kid," Drago told Jimmy, who rolled onto his side to face the demon. "But now, you've just turned you're self into an unwanted enemy of mine!" Drago aimed a fireball at the teen lying at his feet. Jimmy's eyes widened in fear and realization, as did Jade's and Paco's.

Drago didn't miss. The teen was completely enveloped in flames, not having escaped soon enough. A small cry escaped from Jade's throat. Nothing could have survived that.

When the flames disappeared, nothing remained of Jimmy, or any living specimen that just happened to be next to him at the time. Jade felt tears rush to her eyes.

"Jimmy?" she asked quietly, as if maybe somehow he had gotten away and by saying his name he'd come back.

Drago grinned. "It feels good to be able to kill again," he said, turning toward the other two teens, still suffering injuries on the flowers. "Now, it's your turn."

Jade winced and closed her eyes, preparing herself to feel a burning sensation. Instead, something shook from underneath them.

"Did you feel that?" Jade asked Paco, easing her eyes open.

The earth rumbled again.

Jade felt a surge of hope flood through her. "Do you think...?" she started, but never finished.

BAM! A lump of earth appeared and slammed right underneath Drago, sending him flying backwards a few feet. Jimmy appeared at the other end, a fist raised above his head in a punch. Drago landed on some flowers with a loud OOF!

"Jimmy!" Jade yelled, forcing herself to not bound up and give her friend the biggest hug he'd ever recieve. "You're not dead!"

Jimmy grinned at her. "I never was!" he said.

Jackie, Uncle, El Toro and Tohru ran outside the cave, finally coming to heed Jade's cry of help. They arrived to find Drago sitting back on some flowers, Jimmy posing like superman, and Jade near hysterical tears.

Jimmy's blue Gauntlet shimmered once in the light, or possibly with the new chi he had. Jimmy grinned and looked down at his hands, then scooping them upward in unison. The ground shot up to form a protection wall against one of Drago's furious fireballs.

"I saw that move on Avatar," he told Jade, letting the wall drop. Jade got to her fee and ran over, as did Paco and Jackie.

"How do you feel, Jimmy?" Jackie asked the boy, kneeling next to him. Jimmy shrugged.

"It was tingly," he said simply.

Drago was clearly furious, but he didn't need to be a genius to realize that he had lost this round. "Ice gang! Tyke!" he yelled, and these four people ran out of the cave, all sporting injuries. Tyke had the least amount. "Let's get out of here!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Jimmy called out, and promptly trapped MC Cobra in an earth crater. Jade noticed how his arms suddenly bore slight biceps, and how he seemed to have grown a little bit taller. Must have been the new chi he bore. He shot a nearby boulder at DJ Fist, who dodged it with a nice back flip, but was still clipped on the shoulder. He doubled over, holding his injury.

Jimmy turned to Ice and made the earth beneath him turn into quicksand, sinking him up to his head. (Little did he know Daolon Wong used to use this trick, and that Jade had a bad history with it, which made her almost feel bad for Ice.) As for Tyke, he dodged all of Jimmy's rock missiles easily, but Jimmy kept shooting them and Tyke wasn't getting anywhere.

Drago gritted his teeth. His entire crew was being bested by some teen in short pants. He decided to try one last idea; grant Tyke demon powers.

"Tyke!" He then breathed a magical fire Tyke's way, which immediately engulfed him.

Tyke's transformation began the next instant. He started to glow and levitate a few inches off the ground. Everyone was mesmerized by this transformation, including Jimmy, who forgot to hurl rocks for a second. Tyke earned himself lizard scales, and turned green. He landed on his feet easily when the magic dropped him.

"Hmm," he thought, looking down at his hands. "I prefer red, but green'll do."

Then he shot three fireballs at the inattentive Jimmy. He yelled in surprise as he was hit, flying back several feet and landing on his back, moaning.

Using this as their distraction, Drago and Tyke were able to get away by climbing up the rocky cliff-face and out of sight. The Ice crew broke free of whatever their cage was or got over their injuries to follow them at a distance. The good guys were too busy making sure Jimmy was okay to follow them, instead choosing to let them get away.

Jimmy's eyes fluttered as everyone crowded around him. "...Demon...powers...not...fun...to be...hit..with..." he said, and fell into unconsciousness.

"Are you guys alright?" asked Jackie, checking over Jade for injuries for the second time in those few days.

Jade nodded in unison with Paco.

Uncle took out his chi-o-matic and turned it on, pointing it at Jimmy. The machine vibrated for a second, but nothing happened.

"It is not working," Uncle stated the obvious. He pulled out a lizard and tried extracting the chi back into the red ruby lying a few feet away, but that didn't work either.

"How are you going to get the chi out?" Jackie asked Uncle.

Uncle two-fingered slapped him.

"We must do reeea-search!" he yelled at his nephew. "We must head back to San Francisco and find neccesary Removal Spell."

(LINE BREAK)

The Chans, Tohru, Paco, Jimmy and El Toro were arriving at the airport when they met someone there they weren't expecting.

"Captain Black?" Jackie asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," he replied. "There was a flood at Section 13. Definitely not a natural one. I have a feeling we're dealing with some sort of magical warlock person, judging by the tapes outside of Section 13 just before the cameras died out."

"We just ran into Drago," Jade told him.

"Do you think they're working together?" Jackie asked.

"I hope we never have to find out," Black said.

"Yeah," said Jackie, holding his head. "Me too."

Little do they know, little do any of them know, that Omnis was up to something... sinister... what could it be?

Episode 2 End