"So how are we supposed to act around them?" Kimiko asked as Dojo flew them over the flat land of Antarctica.

"I don't know," Rai admitted. "If they know what's going on there's not really a reason to hide it. But I don't think there's anyone to tell tem about it."

"Knowin' them they probably got it figured out," Clay said. "For all we know Chase done filled 'em in."

"I do not think Chase would tell them," Omi said. "Unless of course it benefitted him. Like when he tried to make me a part of his army! I would have been a very valuable asset if I had been weak enough to follow his will."

His friends stared at him for a moment.

"...Did you just manage to compliment yourself twice in the same breath?" Rai asked him.

"Whoa!" Dojo suddenly said. "Speak of the devils!"

"But we were not speaking of devils," Omi said, to which Dojo furrowed his brow in annoyance. "Why would you-"

"Look!" he shouted over him. "It's Jack and his friends!"

He landed near the other team and let the monks off, reverting to his normal size. Jack, Cinder, and Entropy turned and instantly readied themselves for battle.

"Great!" Jack snarled as the monks took their own fighting positions. "Just what we need! You losers!"

"I can think of many other things you need," Raimundo snapped.

"Hey, wait," Kimiko said, straightening and looking around. "Where's Stryker?"

Jack and the girls cringed as Rai's eyes widened and he searched as well.

"And my brother?" he cried. "Where is he?"

"...At...home?" Jack tried weakly.

He squeaked when the leader ripped him up by his collar and snarled at him.

"If you got him hurt Spicer I swear on everything I have-"

"Hey! Put him down!" Cinder shouted, trying to pull Jack away from him.

"We don't know where both of them are!" Entropy added, grabbing the other side of Jack and snarling at Rai herself. "So put him down so we can find them!"

Raimundo narrowed his eyes more at Jack, then dropped him without warning. Cinder and Entropy held him steady as Rai ran a hand through his hair and growled.

"Where did you last see them?" Kimiko asked, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Over there, where the beacon is," Jack said softly. "We were splitting up to find the Wu."

"They couldn't have gone too far," Clay said, shielding his eyes from the glare of the snow. "Not in this weather."

"Maybe Stryker fell down a hole and Zephyr's laughing at him?" Dojo guessed quietly, so only Clay heard him and smirked.

"We will help you in your search, Jack Spicer," Omi told him. "With our help, you will find your friends in no time at all."

"...Shoot me..." Jack growled.

******JP******

"So tell me why you don't like me."

"Do we really have to do this here?" Stryker snapped, pulling his knees farther up to his chest.

He and Zephyr were curled up on opposite sides of the cavern, shivering against the cold.

"Yeah, we do," Zephyr told him, his eyes serious. "We might as well since we don't have anything else to distract us."

"We could freeze to death," Stryker muttered, his words noticeably shaky.

"So just say it. You have some sort of problem with me."

"Yes, I do!" Stryker finally admitted. "Happy?"

"Kinda!" Zephyr snapped back. "Now suck it up and tell me why!"

Stryker just rolled his eyes and looked away. Zephyr pressed his lips together, then sighed.

"You think I'm trying to take your friends away, don't you?" he guessed. Stryker's eyes flashed over to him again. "Especially Jack. That's why you don't like me."

Stryker grimaced at his correct assumption, but didn't answer him.

"It's okay, I guess," Zephyr said, resting his chin on his knees. "I mean, if I were you I'd probably feel the same."

"Well, you're not," Stryker snapped, turning away again. His body was beginning to convulse, even as he tensed to keep it still. "I'm not worried about anything. You just annoy me. That's it."

Zephyr's brow rose, then he ran a hand through his dreads.

"He talks about you all time," he informed him; this news caused Stryker to give him a sideways glance. "At least, the whole time we talked you were in the most of it. You're, like, his best friend."

Stryker perked up and stared at him as Zephyr smirked.

"I kept trying to change the subject, but he wouldn't take a hint. Jack's nothing if not relentless."

Stryker stayed silent, then furrowed his brow at him.

"You were jealous, weren't you?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh yeah," Zephyr admitted with a laugh. "He talked you up the whole time we played Goo Zombies. No matter what I said, you'd said something funnier. It was like...like-"

"I get it," Stryker interrupted. This was more touchy-feely than he wanted to get into. "You don't have to keep going."

Zephyr shrugged, glancing up at him. It was cold in the cave, but he was a little concerned that Stryker was shaking so much. He looked a little like he'd swallowed a jackhammer.

"...I...was kinda jealous too..." Stryker forced himself to say.

Zephyr's brow raised again and Stryker dipped his head down.

"Kinda!" he repeated. "N-Not as much as you were, obviously, just-"

He stopped when he heard Zephyr chuckle lightly. He'd never expected Stryker to have a self-conscious streak in him, but he was glad for it. It was more welcoming than his tough guy routine. Stryker blew some of his hair out of his face and smiled a little bit. It disappeared quickly when another chill rocked his body and forced him to draw further into himself.

"Hey, are you okay?" Zephyr asked. "You look like you're freezing."

"J-Just a l-little c-cold," Stryker stammered, trying to pull his collar up farther.

"Uh, 'a little'? Dude, your lips are turning blue!"

Stryker shook again and cursed quietly. With his snake blood running through him it was surprising that he had lasted this long. Zephyr stood and took off his jacket; Stryker flinched when he threw it over his head.

"What're you doing?" he asked, pulling it off. "You'll freeze, you idiot!"

"I'll be fine," Zephyr assured him, looking up at the caved in part of the cavern. "I'm going to see if I can get that open again."

He turned into his Shadow Form and levitated to the caved in part, leaving Stryker to sigh and wrap the other coat around him. Everything in him was trembling, and yet, he felt pretty good. He'd never had a best friend before, so to hear that Jack considered him that...it made him feel great. The feeling didn't last long as his body tensed again and a familiar sensation washed over him.

"Oh, please not here," he groaned, putting a hand over both his mouth and his Mohawk as he glanced up at Zephyr. "Please, please not here..."

"Hey, Stryker?" Zephyr called down, plucking one of the ice chunks free and looking out the opening. "I think if I can shovel the snow away I can get us out of here."

He looked down and saw that his coat was empty. He zipped to it and looked around; it wasn't a big cave at all, and everything was out in the open, so it wasn't like he could have hid.

"Stryker?" he called again. "Hey, where'd you go?"

He could have sworn he a tiny "over here", but he dismissed it as him hearing things.

"Hey!" Zephyr called again. "Do you have a teleportation thing you never told me about?"

"I-Idiot!"

This time it was unmistakable, he'd heard something speak.

"Down here, smarty-pants!"

Zephyr furrowed his brow and knelt in front of his coat. There was a lump moving underneath it, and with great hesitation, he grabbed the collar and pulled it towards him.

"Ah!" he cried, falling on his backside as a small garter snake stared up at him.

"C-C-Can you g-g-give that b-back?" it hissed, it's body shaking with cold.

Zephyr continued to stare at him, then leaned forward.

"Stryker?" he asked.

Stryker rolled his eyes.

"Snake blood," he said. "I can't do cold very well. If I get too cold I'll die. Give me the coat!"

Zephyr jumped to his knees and wrapped his coat around the shivering reptile. He snuggled into it so that only his little head was visible, trembling vigorously.

"...So...I should have been told about this..." Zephyr said, sitting back down and running a hand through his dreads.

"Only Jack and Enny know," Stryker said, his chipmunk voice muffled against the coat. "I haven't told anyone else."

"Okay. Well, it would have been good to know just in case something like this happened."

Stryker looked up at the opening in dismay.

"...Yeah..."