"Well, it looks like the witch is back with the lizard..."

Ying-Ying cawed from the darkness, its beak splattered with blood. Hannibal was perched on one of the stone spindles of his water basin, staring into the projection of Wuya searching Chase's castle.

"But of course she's going behind his back," he said with a chuckle. "That's my girl. Chase's a fool for trusting her with..."

He paused as the projection switched off.

"What in the-"

Don't be so sure of that, old friend, Chase's voce resounded from the water. Contrary to your beliefs, I'm very aware of more things than even you realize.

"That so?" Hannibal asked, his mind ticking with distractions. "Like how your nephew's freezing to death in Antarctica?"

There was a silence in the darkened room. Hannibal's vines swung about as he grinned, waiting to see if he'd answer.

"Chase? You there?"

He waited, but the water dulled to gray and stilled. His grin widened.

"Well, I guess we both know more than the other thinks," he said, laughing afterwards.

Victor's amulet shown ominously from his throne.

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

"Stryker!"

"Zephyr!"

"Stryker? Zephyr, where are you!"

"Stryker you can die in a hole! Zephyr! Push him in!"

"Hey!" Jack snapped, shoving Raimundo and glaring at him. "Why don't you shut up!"

"Why don't I what?" Rai growled, stepping into Jack's space.

Jack instantly lost his courage.

"Uh, well, uh-"

"Leave him alone!" Cinder commanded, pulling Jack away from Rai. "The only way we find Zephyr is to find Stryker. So unless you want them both to freeze, you'll stop with your attitude."

"He will," Kimiko said, stepping up to Raimundo and sneering at Cinder. "Soon as you stop bossing everyone around."

"Excuse me?"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Entropy cried, stepping between the girls when she saw the blaze in Cinder's eyes. "Look, I ain't really one for order, but in this case it'd be best if we just cool our jets and refocus here."

"That's what we're trying to do, straight jacket," Kimiko growled.

"Say what?"

"Why don't you get a leash for your anklebiter, Rai-Rai," Jack taunted.

"That's it!" Rai roared, launching himself at Jack.

Clay and Omi finally intervened as the two started wrestling around in the snow; the girls were too busy bickering to pay much attention, and after Clay hoisted Jack and Raimundo in the air, Omi went over to them.

"Girls! Girls!" Omi shouted over them.

"What?!" they shouted back.

"I know that you are all very cold and very tired!" he started. "But, we cannot turn on ourselves. Zephyr and young Stryker need our help desperately, and if we do not help them soon, they may die."

The girl's anger diminished quickly, taking in the little monk's words. Clay set Jack and Raimundo down as they two thought about this, sheepishly scratching their heads as they realized Omi was right.

"So...how about you girls all give me a hug, and we go look for them together!" Omi finished, a big grin on his face as he held out his arms.

Rai smacked his forehead as Jack looked up at the sky in disbelief. Clay shook his head an the girls glared at him collectively. Before he could move away Cinder punted him across the snow, then turned away with a huff.

"No good, pig-headed ping-pong ball," she growled under her breath as Kimiko and Entropy followed her in similar fashion.

Rai and Jack exchanged glances, then Jack crossed his arms and followed the girls and Raimundo went to Omi.

"Hey, Clay?" Rai started, pulling his frozen friend up by his ankle and shaking the snow off him. "You sure that girl ain't from Texas?"

"I'm startin' to wonder that myself," Clay admitted, staring straight at Cinder.

Rai shrugged, uninterested as he stuck Omi (shivering profusely) under his arm and reluctantly followed the others, glancing back only to be sure Clay was with them.

"Dojo!" Kimiko called up to the dragon. He'd been circling above in search of anything strange in the land mass. "Have you found anything?"

"I think so!" he called to her, honing in on a disturbance in the ice. "A couple yards away! Looks like something caved in!"

This news sent them all racing after him.

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

"...We...will never speak of this..."

"Agreed..." Zephyr sighed, awkwardly shifting his coat over Stryker.

Having the garment on him wasn't enough, and when he stopped moving Zephyr freaked and scooped him up. Now he had him pressed against his chest to keep him warm, his arms wrapped around him as an embarrassed blush formed on his face.

"Don't take this the wrong way," he started. "But...are you warm enough yet?"

"If I was, do you think I'd still be here?" Stryker hissed.

"...Would you?"

Stryker answered by sinking his fangs into Zephyr's hand. He shouted and almost dropped him, then grabbed him with the other hand and pulled his fingers free. He was about to yell at him when he heard something crack above them; they both froze.

"...Hello?" Zephyr called.

His answer was something blue plunging into the ice, sawing down as two large hands grabbed both halves. Zephyr and Stryker met eyes, then with a groan from both Zephyr stuck Stryker back in his coat and zipped it all the way up.

"Hello?" he called again, squirming and holding his stomach as Stryker wiggled about.

"Zeph?" he heard someone respond as he turned into his Shadow Form.

"Rai?"

The ice parted and lifted away as he floated towards it, revealing Rai and his team, along with Jack, Cinder and Entropy. Rai grabbed Zephyr by the shoulders and pulled him out of the pit; both Zephyr and Stryker squeaked when he wrapped his arms his brother and squeezed him in a hug.

"Don't you ever do this to me again!" Rai commanded, not picking up on how much he was choking Zephyr (or how much he was squishing Stryker). "I know I'm not a very good older brother but if something would have happened to you-"

"Yeah, think I get the picture," Zephyr choked out, trying to wriggle out of Rai's grasp. "But hey! Totally fine! You can put us down now!"

"Us?" Rai repeated, releasing Zephyr from his hug but keeping his hands on his shoulders, giving him a quizzical look.

"Oh...uh...me. Just me..."

"Where's Stryker?" Cinder asked as she and Entropy skidded over to the edge of the drop off. Jack had noticed that Zephyr was clutching his stomach.

"He, uh, he climbed out already," Zephyr squeaked, twitching as he felt Stryker move more. "He said he was going to get help, but I told him to just go back to the jet cause he was pretty bad-"

"But that opening wasn't big enough for him to fit through," Kimiko said, furrowing her brow when Zephyr flinched again. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Zephyr cringed again and this time he and Jack locked eyes. Jack's widened when he realized what was going on.

"Are you sure?" Rai asked, grabbing the sides of Zephyr's head and examining his face. "You look kinda pale-"

He finally noticed something move under Zephyr's coat, then leapt back as a snake popped out of his collar and sighed. Everyone stared at the snake in shock as Jack cringed with panic.

"What the..." Rai stammered as Zephyr gulped and gave him an anxious smile. "How the...?"

"Uh...I, uh..." Zephyr stuttered. "...found it...in the cave..."

"I did not know that serpents could survive in such temperatures," Omi marveled. Zephyr caught Jack waving his arms around as Rai crept forward and started reaching for Stryker.

"Neither did I!" Zephyr said quickly, snatching Stryker up before Rai could. "But, hey, guess one does!"

"Yeah..." Rai muttered, peering at the creature. It looked familiar somehow.

"Hey look it's a dragon!" Entropy suddenly shouted, pointing behind everyone.

The monks whipped around and Zephyr took the opportunity to toss Stryker over his brother. Jack leaned forward and just barely caught him before he hit the snow, threw him into his pack and sighed with relief as the other turned back to Entropy.

"Uh, yeah," Clay said. "That's Dojo."

"Doi!" Entropy cried. "My gosh, Clay-for-brains, are you going to point out the obvious all the time?"

The cowboy steamed as Rai looked down at Zephyr's hands.

"Hey, where'd the snake go?" he asked.

"Oh," Zephyr said, pretending to notice it was gone. "I dunno. Must've left."

"Should we go after it or-" Omi started, genuinely concerned.

"Oh, wow! Look at that...sun!" Jack interrupted, looking up at the sky. The others looked and found that they could not see the sun at all. "Looks like it's time to go! Thanks for helping us Xiaolin losers let's not do it again bye!"

He grabbed Zephyr's arm and dragged him back to the jet as the girls dashed ahead, leaving the monks to stare after them with confusion.

"...Oh-kay," Kimiko said. "That was strange."

"Ye-ah, I'd say so," Rai said, still scratching his head.

"Do you think the snake will be okay, Clay?" Omi asked innocently.

"Somethin' tells me we ain't gotta worry 'bout that snake," Clay told him.

"Hey...where'd the Wu go?"

They turned to Dojo, who was staring at an empty hill in the ice.

"What Wu?" Raimundo asked.

"The Wu that was sitting here," Dojo said, moving closer to the hill. "That's what I came down to tell you. I saw it and-"

He paused and looked straight ahead, then glowered and looked at Raimundo.

"Your brother's a sneak thief," he told him.

It took a moment for Rai to process this, then he growled loudly and took off after his brother.

"Zephyr come back here right now!"

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

Among his other talents apparently Zephyr is a master pickpocket ^-^ poor Rai-Rai!