Author's Notes:
I do not own Xiaolin Showdown, but I do love both of the series. I do own Gloria, who is Jack's daughter in fanfiction; she will be a recurring character throughout the story and I hope you will all like her.
This is a slightly shorter chapter than the first four, but I still think it turned out pretty well all things considered.
There will be yaoi somewhere in this fanfiction. Therefore, if you don't like yaoi then you might not want to read this fanfiction.
Chapter Five:
Meanwhile, somewhere a fair distance away from Chase's lair in The Land of Nowhere, Jack awoke with a groan. Though he hadn't remembered passing out, it was obvious that he had done so; and honestly he was almost glad he had, as now he felt well rested for the first time in ages.
Now that he was awake, however, Jack wanted to know where he was and slowly sat up in an attempt to get a better look at his surroundings; only to feel instant pain as he did so.
"Son of… I completely forgot that Shadow cracked my ribs." Jack said a pained groan, clutching his chest area, which he realized was bare, but trying to stay sitting despite the pain.
"I'm not surprised that you forgot Partner, I reckon you have other things on your mind." Clay's voice said suddenly, causing Jack to look over in the corner and see that the blonde haired Texan had been there the whole time.
"Yeah, I sure do Clay. Though I guess one thing on my mind just got answered." Jack said out loud with a sigh as he realized that he had to be in the Monk's temple.
"We thought bringing you to the temple would be a good idea while you were out, Master Fung didn't even question us when he saw the state you're in." Clay said, staring at Jack in a sad sort of way.
"Yeah well, being fed the minimum and being treated like a lab rat for two years would make even you look like something like this . I don't suppose you know where the shirt I had on is, do you Clay?" Jack said in a somewhat self-deprecating tone at first, though quickly feeling uncomfortable by Clay's gaze and wishing he had a shirt.
"Sadly no, that's one of many things that Raimundo is in hot water for." Clay said with a clearly irritated sigh, though he gently tossed Jack a blanket from the corner of the room.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked in a confused way, carefully wrapping the blanket around himself.
"As we were flying back here on Dojo, Raimundo tried to insist that Kimiko be the one to watch over you once we arrived, saying that she had helped you enter the challenge in the first place and thus you were her responsibility." Clay started to explain, though putting up a finger to silence Jack as he was about to comment.
"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that this didn't go over well with Kimiko. By the time we got back Master Fung actually had to almost yell at them both to separate before they listened. I was then asked to bring you to a spare room so that you could rest and took your shirt off so that Master Fung could examine you. It mysteriously went missing by the time he and I got back in here." Clay said with a heavy sigh before once again continuing.
"There wasn't much Master Fung could do about your weight loss problem, but he figured that the Healing Hands could help you with the track marks all over your arms from whatever you've been drugged with, your cracked ribs, and your broken leg." Clay explained, clearly wanting to say more but stopping and clenching his fist in irritation.
"I take it that Raimundo has the Healing Hands Sheng Gong Wu?" Jack asked knowingly, not knowing much about the Wu because it was new to him, but feeling like Raimundo was the type to want to delay using anything healing on him.
"Indeed he did, Mister Spicer. However, I have since convinced him to give it to me." Master Fung's voice said suddenly, before the slightly older looking Xiaolin Master came into the room.
Jack couldn't help but watch curiously as Master Fung laid what appeared to be a pair of gloves made of translucent black glass with a hollow center down close to him. The Xiaolin Master then carefully sat down next to him before speaking.
"With your permission, I would like to heal your ribs first." Master Fung said to Jack in a very polite way.
"What's wrong, afraid that I'll run off if you heal my leg first?" Jack asked somewhat sarcastically, grateful that Master Fung was going to heal his ribs but really wanting his leg healed so that he could head off and plan a rescue mission to get his daughter back from Shadow.
"Jack, I was told about your daughter, how she was brought into the challenge, and how Shadow took her from you once again by Kimiko. Thus, I understand your desire to retrieve her. However, going to Chase Young's lair with broken ribs is inadvisable." Master Fung said in a logical way, not fully answering Jack's sarcastic question but also explaining why he had wanted to heal Jack's ribs first.
"I suppose you have a point. For the record, I'm not as naive as I used to be and I wasn't going to go charging into Chase's lair without a plan." Jack said with a slightly frustrated sigh.
"I can see that you are not the same, Jack. However I would ask that you prove it to me further by promising me that you will wait to leave, even after you have been healed, and have a discussion with me." Master Fung said in a surprisingly patient way.
"Fine, we can have a…" Jack started to say in a very nonchalant tone, but stopped mid sentence in surprise as Master Fung reached a hand out to him.
"Jack, promise me that you will not run off after I heal you fully. Even Chase Young has enough honor to keep promises he's made." Master Fung said in a much more serious tone.
"Not to speak out of turn, Master Fung. But I hardly think that's fair to…" Clay started to chime in, sounding both shocked and slightly frustrated, but getting interrupted.
"I promise you, Mister Fung. I'll stay for at least a little while after you heal me." Jack said in a serious tone, earning a surprised look from Clay.
These words were met with a pleased smile from Master Fung, the Xiaolin Master then placed his hands into the hollow part of the translucent black gloves. Upon being activated the gloves shrunk to fit Master Fung's hands and also started to shine gold, the Xiaolin Master then carefully began hovering his hands over Jack, causing the nineteen year old to feel a strange, albeit pleasant, tingling sensation as his injuries started to heal.
"There Jack, you are completely healed. Clay, would you mind finding going to tell Raimundo that I expect him to return Jack's shirt." Master Fung said first to Jack after deactivating the Healing Hands, but then looking over at Clay.
"Of course Sir, I can do that." Clay said with a polite nod as he got up from where he had been sitting and quickly left the room.
"Such a good young man, Raimudo is good too… just stubborn and overcautious." Master said mostly to himself, sighing as he said this last part.
"Can't say I completely blame Raimundo, I haven't been exactly trustworthy in the past." Jack said with a shrug, feeling better than he had in ages; though still somewhat tired.
"And yet here you still are, just as I told Raimundo you would be." Master Fung said, turning to face Jack with a pleased smirk.
"If Chase Young can keep his promises then so can I." Jack said in a serious tone.
"Well, I thank you very much for doing so. Now then, let's talk."
"Yeah, let's." Jack said with a slight sigh, not knowing for sure what the Xiaolin Master wanted to say, but forcing himself to sit back and relax as he prepared for whatever discussion was coming.