A few days later saw Kimiko lying flat on the ground, waiting for her muscles to stop being numb and for breathing to not hurt as much. The other three monks lay in various states of near-comatose exhaustion around her. Through her bangs she could see Omi, and even as sore as she was, she glared at him with as much grudge as she could muster.

Bagua. Eight gates. Tortoises! Of all the ridiculous ancient tactics Omi could have brought to Chase's attention, it was something that required multitasking concentration and physical defenses against an endless onslaught of … of everything. She still didn't understand what it had all been about, except that it had taken four hours and Chase had let his cats-turned-humans assist him in the process. There had been something about a multifaceted defense, about letting your enemies in only to cut them down when they tried to get back out, but she could barely remember anything at this point. Thinking hurt almost as much as breathing did.

By general consensus, they blamed Omi, but not too much. After all, he'd gone through the same rigmarole, and was on the ground as exhausted and boneless as the rest of them.

Chase was idly bandaging up one of his tiger's legs nearby. To their surprise - though less now than it would have been earlier - he didn't laugh at their failures during the training, and when Clay had hurled one of the warriors almost through a wall during one particularly vicious three-pronged strike, he hadn't gotten angry. He'd only called a pause to ensure there wasn't any serious damage, then pulled the man from the exercise to tend to his wounds.

Now that tiger was watching Clay carefully as Chase finished wrapping the bandages and sat back. Kimiko glared at both of them, then rolled her face back against the floor. The cool, smooth stone eased the sting of a few soon-to-be-bruises.

"So, uh … he gonna be okay?" asked Clay, who'd surprised himself with his own strength in the attack and wasn't entirely sure if Chase was going to keep taking this in stride.

"He'll be fine. They're more durable than any of you, and heal more quickly, as well." Chase rolled his shoulders and stood up. "Their purpose here was to help train you, after all. I would have been surprised and disappointed if they'd all walked away uninjured."

"Huh." Raimundo, sprawled almost completely flat at the edge of the ring, tried to prop himself up on his elbow and winced. "Isn't that kinda callous? Here I thought the two of you'd be looking for payback."

"These are some of the finest warriors in all of history. Their strength and capability is unmatched, except by me. If you have the strength to send one of them into solid stone hard enough to crack it, why would I take issue with that?" Chase glanced between Rai and Clay, eyebrows raised. "Taking on that kind of ability is part of the reason you're here, after all."

Kimiko grinned a little. It sank as she looked at the tiger in question, who had a particularly sharp gleam in his eye.

"I think he takes issue with it," said Raimundo, who'd noticed the same thing.

"Oh, I'm certain he does." There was a moment of an empty smile at the corner of Chase's mouth. "You'll get no retribution from me, but keep an eye out for him."

The tiger bared his teeth. Clay glowered right back at him, then rolled on his back to glower at the ceiling instead.

There was a shuffling noise, and Kimiko looked over to where Omi was struggling to sit up.

"So," he started, after finally managing to not fall over backwards, "were we successful in this endeavor?"

"Successful?" Chase mulled over the word for a moment. "Not really, no, but you did a far better job than I predicted you would."

Omi scowled.

"We are not dead, are we? We repelled your minions! They are the ones who suffered true injury, not us!"

"You're not still standing, and getting hurt wasn't the point of the exercise." Now Chase raised an eyebrow at him. "None of you truly comprehend the meaning behind this, and it's not a success until you do. Though I hardly expected you to understand it the first time around."

Omi looked like he wanted to say something else, but Chase waved him off.

"It isn't that important, in any case. The battle you face won't involve an army. Failing in this particular endeavor probably won't make that much of a difference in the long run, but I suggest you take the general idea of it to heart. The best tactics can be interpreted to suit any battle."

"But - "

"You're in no condition for another round." Already Chase's attention had moved on; the tigers were getting up and padding out of the room silently. "Take the opportunity to recover, and we'll see how you're feeling later."

And that was that. No amount of grumbling or questioning was going to get them back on the topic. Chase could cut a conversation short and vanish better than anybody any of them had ever met. He swept out of the room without another word, leaving them to try and stagger to their feet on their own, which they managed after a few failed attempts.

"I really need to stop thinking this can't get any worse," Raimundo muttered, leaning on Clay for a few seconds to try and get his feet to stay under him.

"You should. You're probably jinxing it." Kimiko rubbed at a particularly deep ache in one arm, where bruises were bound to show up in a day or two. "Making Omi point out that kind of thing … jeeze."

Omi sniffed, annoyed, but didn't say anything. They slowly started to make their way down the halls back to their rooms, getting a little more strength back with every step.

"Hey, this was totally not my fault in any way, jinx or not."

"Dunno. Suppose we can blame you anyway. You're the leader, ain't ya?" Clay gave Rai a nudge with his shoulder, almost knocking him over. "You should be keepin' an eye on him. Makin' sure this doesn't happen."

"Oh, sure, so most of the time I'm totally normal but as soon as you can blame me for something, I'm the leader again? No dice, dudes." Rai tried to shove Clay back and failed, ending up leaning on him instead. "This is all on Omi."

Omi tensed a little more, but nobody noticed.

"Makes me wish we didn't have someone here who knows all about that kind of thing. Or two of them, I guess." Kimiko sighed a little theatrically; her face still felt like something had slammed it into a wall, which, in fact, something had. Several times.

"Does anybody even get what that was about? I mean, other than you, Omi." Rai pulled himself up again and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"It was not important. Like he said." Omi's words were a little short.

"So why'd he take that long to beat it into us? I thought at this point he wasn't all mean-and-green ugly scaled sadism machine," Rai lamented. "Why'd you have to go and make that a thing again, dude?"

"I don't know!" It was sharp, loud, almost a yell. "I didn't realize he would turn an observation into training! This is not my fault!"

Everyone froze. Even Omi was startled into stillness by the force of his own words. The empty hall rang with the silence that followed until Rai spoke again, much more subdued.

"Hey - I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't realize I was getting to you."

"Yeah," added Kimiko, her hand pausing halfway as she considered reaching out to rest it on his shoulder. "We're just a little tired because of that. It was Chase's fault, not yours."

Omi didn't move for a second. Then his shoulders sagged as he sighed, shaking his head.

"Do not apologize, my friends. I should be the one to do so. You are right, after all - this was ultimately my doing."

"Nah, it was his fault," Clay tried to object. "He's the one puttin' us through all this."

"That may be true, but I still brought it to his attention." He turned partway, his expression downcast. "I am sorry for what I said just now. I'm not truly angry with any of you."

"Hey, I get it." Rai shrugged and winced at the pain in his shoulders that resulted. "This whole thing's been tiring and obnoxious, and putting up with Chase is just the icing on the cake. Everyone's limits are frayed. It's no big."

"Still … " Omi struggled to find his words, hands curling into loose fists and then uncurling again. "I should not have lashed out at you. I just … haven't been feeling well these last few days."

"You think you're getting sick?" Suddenly Kimiko was at his side, trying to feel for a fever. "That wouldn't surprise me, with all the stress and training we've been going through. Honestly I'm surprised none of us has wound up bedridden yet."

"For more'n a night, you mean."

"Obviously."

"I don't think so," Omi said, brushing Kimiko away. "This does not feel like a physical illness. More like … "

How did he put it into words - the strange, uneasy feeling in his stomach, the prickling along his bones? He knew what it felt like to catch the flu, and this wasn't the same. It was a feeling of inherent wrongness, not just illness, and he couldn't place why, and that was making him feel even worse.

" … like a sickness in my spirit," he finished, still not sure that was the right way to put it.

"Sickness in your spirit?" And now everyone was next to him, Rai leaning in to look him in the eyes more intently than was entirely comfortable. "Like as in a Heylin warlord sneaking his evil into your chi kind of sickness in the spirit?"

"Nnnno, I wouldn't say that," Omi said, leaning back a little. "I believe that would be a bit more obvious."

"He never said he wasn't gonna try that, though," Clay cut in, already looking back down the hall with a hard glare. "If he's startin' to try and turn you evil again … "

"He isn't." Omi tried to make his voice as firm as he could. "This is something different. I am certain of it." He frowned. "I just don't know what."

"And that's got you on edge?"

"Yes." He sighed again. "But that is no excuse for how I acted. Please accept my apologies."

"You know we always will, Omi." Rai nudged Clay down the hall again, turning his attention away from possible Heylin intentions. "We've all got off days. Just try not to bring up history around him again, cool?" He rubbed at a sore spot on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go get some rest in before he comes back and says we're ready for round 2 whether we actually are or not."

.-.-

Master Monk Guan and Dojo didn't show up that week.

It wasn't cause for alarm, at least not initially - there had been times before when they were late by a day or two, or sometimes three. But when they didn't show up the second week, even Chase started to wonder what the issue could be, and they caught him sending out a few of his warriors to find out what was happening.

"It's not like him to miss an opportunity to judge me," he said as the warriors morphed into crows and took off, vanishing through various tiny openings in the mountainside. "At least, not without making sure I knew he was avoiding it."

"He deliberately doesn't judge you sometimes?" asked Raimundo as they tried to figure out that particular conundrum.

"If he knows it will annoy me? Absolutely."

For a few more days there was nothing but silence. Omi got more and more tense as time went on, his attention distracted and his free time spent meditating or staring into pools of water. When they asked him about it, he said he was trying to clear his thoughts and focus on the task at hand, but it was clear he wasn't being very successful.

It didn't help that the crows all returned without any good news. The hidden enclaves - that Chase knew about, apparently - were as empty as the temples that had once housed everyone. Omi immediately wanted to go out and start looking for the other monks, but Chase wouldn't let him, saying that they had more important tasks to focus on.

That went over about as well as could be expected, and Omi was all but ready to storm out of the lair on his own until Raimundo reminded him of the time he himself had tried that very move and just how badly it had ended. That kept Omi from going, but only just.

"I know how you feel, Omi, but we gotta keep the bigger picture in mind." Rai offered him a slight smile, trying to be comforting. "They probably just moved to shake Hannibal off the trail. Right?" He glanced at Chase, who shrugged.

"It's the most likely possibility. Normally I'd condemn that kind of paranoia, but considering the circumstances, it's warranted." He grimaced. "As much as I hate to admit they've moved someplace I'm not aware of, they're undoubtedly more protected that way."

"There. See?" Clay clapped a hand on Omi's shoulder. "They're just stayin' safe, and it's for the best if we don't know where they went. Can't make us talk that way."

"Yes, but … " Omi grimaced down at the floor. "That doesn't explain why Master Monk Guan hasn't returned. He would have been able to do so if everyone had only moved."

"If they moved out of a fear of being found, then he's almost certainly making sure nobody catches their trail," Chase said. "And in his usual overly-cautious way, he's taking his time in doing so."

It made sense. Or at least, it was sensible, and seemed like something Guan would do. But Omi wasn't convinced, and it showed in the skeptical look he gave Chase.

"You don't think he'd at least have sent word about that, or something?" Kimiko asked.

"Not really, no. When he gets fixated on doing good, he tends to think everything else is a secondary concern at best."

There wasn't a lot more to be said about that. The fact that Chase seemed fairly certain of that being the case wasn't exactly a comfort, but it did make it seem more likely, and set some of their worries at ease. Still, Omi kept his eyes and ears out for every flap of wings - Chase had agreed to keep his minions searching for any trace of the other monks, though Clay pointed out that it was in his own interests to know where all the Xiaolin hiding places were - and was a little more disappointed and ill at ease every time he continued to hear nothing new.

He didn't feel any better, either. There was still a weight in his bones he couldn't dismiss, and it was getting in the way of his training no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. He couldn't be happy with any progress they were making because it was hard to focus on anything other than the possible fate of Master Fung and Dojo and all the temple monks.

But they were making progress, at least. Even Chase had outright admitted it once or twice, after the fight with Wuya at the temple. His friends' pride in that kept him from getting too depressed, and sometimes even distracted him enough to let him get in a little decent sleep.

It seemed like everything was at least going to maintain, after another week and a half. There had still been no word from Guan, but Chase's confidence in his assumption kept worse worries at bay. He put them through more and more rigorous training, including the unwanted bagua tactics again, and seemed to actually approve of their improvements instead of being casually dismissive (though he was still as disdainful as ever, but that wasn't exactly a surprise anymore).

And then, one day, right before they were about to launch another attack on his tigers, he held up a hand. Everyone paused.

"Something wrong?" asked Rai, not shifting out of his ready position. The tigers were giving him a particularly hungry look.

"In a sense." Chase sniffed the air and grimaced. "Your stance is off. We've discussed this. Style is no excuse for improper balance. Correct it."

"What? Oh, come on, you agreed with me - if it helps me not fall on my face three moves into the fight, a little leniency on that kind of thing is okay!"

"There's a difference between being lenient and being wrong." He started to pace around them but, they noticed, also away from them. His eyes were moving from them to the edges of the room, lingering along one edge in particular. "I didn't agree with you completely. Remember that what I'm teaching you is at least partly based on the intention of not getting every bone in your body broken."

"Yeah, I know. You keep saying that." Rai gave Chase a suspicious look. "Is this some kind of weird mind game where you try to distract us with pointless nitpicking while your cats get in a few potshots?"

"No, but that's an interesting idea."

Everyone groaned. Kimiko gave Rai a dark look.

"Great job," she hissed.

"Oh, come on - "

Chase's hand shot out - but toward the wall. It hit something that let out muffled squeak. Omi stared as he gripped thin air, then looked down to a shadow hovering where nothing was present to cast it. Or, he realized, not quite a shadow. It looked more like the lower half of a pair of dark boots.

Strangely familiar boots.

"Jack Spicer?" he said out loud.

There was a weird digital flickering in the air around Chase's hand, and suddenly there was Jack, shrouded head-to-almost-toe in a black coat and mask, scrabbling at the hand cutting off most of his air supply. With a very deliberate reluctance, Chase shifted his grip down to the collar of the jacket, leaving Jack to pull off the mask and gasp for air, leaving his hair even more of a mess than usual.

"What in blazes are you doin' here?" Clay asked, the tigers forgotten.

"Eavesdropping?" Jack tried to sound condescending but didn't quite manage it on the heels of almost being asphyxiated. "You know, villain stuff. What else did you expect?"

"Can't say I really know."

"I'm curious to know how you got in here without alerting my sentries," Chase said testily, his grip on the jacket tightening. "And don't even try to say it was your natural villainous skill."

"But what if it was?" Jack looked between them all, and his face fell. "Okay, fine. It was only partly that. The rest was this baby, right here." He patted the jacket fondly and started undoing the zipper. "It's a prototype invisibility fabric I 'borrowed' from the military and improved on. Cuts out any and all visible light signatures, including thermal ones, and your shadow." Underneath he was wearing his usual outfit, including his usual jacket, which was now crushed into a wrinkled mess. "They were calling it Quantum Stealth, which is pretty cool, but it lacks a really evil feel. I was thinking - "

"I don't care." Chase lifted him off the ground a few inches. "Your spiritual presence alone should have set off every last alarm I had."

"I've got shields!"

"That doesn't even begin to explain it."

"How'd you see me, anyway?" Jack squirmed and managed to get his toes back on the floor again. "This thing was perfect!"

"I didn't. I smelled you. It's a very … unique smell."

"And your shoes," Omi pointed out. "They were not properly disguised."

"What? Are you kidding me? I thought I made this long enough!"

"Guess not." Kimiko gave him an evaluating once-over, her disapproval of his style choices very clear. "You steal military-grade technology and you can't even use it to completely hide yourself?"

"Hey! Do you know how hard it is to integrate delicate material like this into everyday wear to camouflage shoes?" He glared at her scowl. "I didn't think so!"

"Enough." Chase lifted Jack back off the ground. "What are you actually doing here, Spicer?"

"I told you, villain stuff!"

The force of five glares fried him where he dangled.

" … well, uh, and I was just, you know, dropping by? To see how you were doing?"

"Spyin' for Hannibal, you mean," said Clay, cracking his knuckles.

"No no no! He hasn't sent me up here to spy on you at all!" Jack waved his hands frantically. "I don't think he wants me coming anywhere near here! He just wants me to do his chores and stuff!"

"Really." Chase leaned in and sniffed again, sneering with razorlike teeth as he did so. "That wouldn't be a surprise, but I have some serious doubts about it anyway." He leaned back. "You've been at the Xiaolin Temple."

"What!" Omi stormed forward and glared up at Jack. "What sort of villainy have you been up to while we were gone, Jack Spicer? Tell us now!"

"Or what?" He paused, remembering who was holding him three inches off the ground with one hand. "He's got me trying to break into the temple vault, but I haven't done it yet. I'm getting close, though," he added, as though that would help matters.

"Oh yeah? You want us to believe that?" Kimiko's hands gleamed with potential fire, only cooling when Chase gave her a disapproving glance.

"Do you think I'd be here if I had all the Wu?" Jack's expression was one of disdain and unhappy acceptance of the fact that he hadn't succeeded where he was certain he should have. "That's not even what he's looking for. He just said to get in there and get back to him with whatever I found, but I overheard him talking about something else that was apparently hidden in there."

"I knew it," Rai breathed. "He's looking for an artifact, isn't he."

"Maybe? He was pretty vague about it." Carefully, Jack tried to slip out of his overcoat and get to the floor, but Chase only hefted him higher. "Look, that's seriously all I know."

"And I still haven't heard a good reason for why you're here." Chase narrowed his eyes at Jack. "Spying, whether for yourself or for Hannibal, is hardly something I would expect you to risk your life for, especially considering how little you were probably privy to."

"Well … " Jack glanced casually at the ceiling. "I may have run across something at the Temple recently that might be of interest to some of you."

"At the temple?" Omi made a jump to try and grab Jack by the lapels and glare him in the eye, but Chase moved him out of reach, so he had to be satisfied giving Jack's ribcage a stern glower from below. "If you do not tell us what you found - "

"Hey, hey, I'm not gonna not tell you. I've got it with me." He squirmed again to no avail. "But I don't really think a good evildoer would just hand it over. Maybe if you make a little trade with me … "

They all stared at him. Then Chase reached into his undercoat and felt around for a moment, eventually producing a torn-up scroll tied with coarse string. He gave it a studying look before handing it to Omi, who ripped off the string and unrolled it. Rai, Kimiko, and Clay all crowded around him to read it, and Omi felt hope rising in his heart when he saw the handwriting was Master Fung's.

It smashed into a thousand pieces when he got to the second line.

Young monks,

We have been attacked.

Hannibal Roy Bean has struck out at our hidden enclaves without warning. He has used ancient artifacts to empower himself and break through our defenses. There have been casualties. We are scattered to the winds.

But out of this, we have made gains. We now know where he is hiding, and we can predict where he intends to perform his ritual. Though this has been a grievous setback, we will still persevere.

When the time is right, Master Monk Guan will bring you all that we know, and I know that you will use it to stop Hannibal before he can unleash this terrible evil.

Remember that the world depends on you, and that our hope is with you always.

Master Fung

"Casualties?" said Kimiko weakly.

"Wait, what?" Jack stared at them.

"It's from Master Fung." Very carefully, Raimundo stepped back and looked away. "He said Hannibal attacked them. That's why we haven't heard from anyone for so long."

Silently, Chase dropped Jack and took the scroll from Omi's unprotesting hands. He looked over the paper critically, ran a hand across the fine, spidery handwriting, and his expression hardened just slightly.

"D'you think it's a fake?" Clay tentatively reached down to steady Omi, who hadn't moved. "He was tryin' to fool us before this all started with an act like that."

"No." Chase handed the scroll over to Rai. "If it was his work, it would stink like the pits he crawled from, and I can find none of that." He glanced at Jack, who was standing up and brushing himself off. "No more than I did already, anyway."

"We have to go." said Omi suddenly.

There was silence for a moment as they all looked at him in various shades of surprise.

"Go where?" asked Rai, though his mind was already racing ahead with the answers, with the realization of what was going to happen next.

"To find them." Omi's voice was flat and emotionless, coming from somewhere empty in him. "They need our help."

"No, they don't," Chase said, unusually soft for him, but that didn't stop Omi from rounding on him in a sudden explosion of tension and fury.

"Yes, they do! Don't try to say otherwise! Hannibal attacked them! He is no longer biding his time in the shadows like you said he would! He has acted, and now it is our time to act as well!" One finger leveled itself at Chase's face, trembling slightly. "We are going to find them, and we are going to do it right now!"

"Omi - " But Kimiko's words never got further than that; her tone of voice, worried and hesitant, made Omi shake his head and interrupt her.

"I will go to find them, then! On my own if I must! I will not stay away while they might be attacked again!"

"You're not going anywhere." It was a dangerous hiss from Chase, and it did nothing to dissuade Omi; if anything, it made him angrier.

"Yes, I am! And you cannot stop me, Chase Young! I know you do not care for anyone, and think no-one else should, and I will not try to change your mind, because I know a tiger's stripes do not so easily change to spots! But I will go, and that is that!"

Jack, having made his way around the argument to where Clay, Raimundo, and Kimiko were watching, idly pulled off his jacket and folded it over one arm.

"He means 'a leopard can't change its spots', right?" he mused, to which Clay responded by reaching over to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Don't make me repeat myself." There was a gleam in Chase's eye that didn't bode well. "Your task is to train here, no matter what. If you run off to try and help them, and Hannibal attacks again, what good will you be? You haven't finished learning anything here, and if even those wizened old men can't fend him off, you will do nothing but doom the world with your impetuousness."

"I don't care!" Omi turned his back to Chase and started toward the archway on the other side of the ring, where a few slender feline shadows were already lining up to keep him in.

"Stop."

He didn't.

"Omi. Stop." Chase sighed. "I will let you leave on one condition."

This time, Omi stopped, trembling in anger. He glanced back over his shoulder at Chase, ready to leave regardless of whatever that condition was.

Chase pointed to the ground in front of him.

"Fight me." In contrast to Omi, he was perfectly still and, on the surface, completely calm. "If you can defeat me in single combat, I will consider your training complete and permit you to go find the rest of the monks."

There was silence.

And then there wasn't.

A rush of wind blew back everyone's hair as Omi flung himself across the room with a yell, one heel aimed directly at Chase's chest. Chase dodged it, ducked under Omi as he passed, and slid across the floor to avoid a second sharp blow that came within inches of his head.

The rest of them retreated to the edge of the ring, barely able to blink as they watched the two fight like demons.

"There's no way he can win," Kimiko said, wincing at a crash. "He's worn out and upset! This is just going to make things worse."

"He's sure tryin', though," Clay pointed out as Chase narrowly avoided another strike. "I just wish there was somethin' we could do."

"What can we do?" Rai curled his hands into fists. "I don't think he's going to listen to anyone, even us. And honestly, I don't blame him." He looked back at the scroll, clenched tight between his fingers. "Hannibal making a move like this … "

There was another crash and a shattering of stone. Omi pulled himself out of the wreckage of a pillar and lunged at Chase again.

"We can try to talk him out of it." Kimiko winced again at a third crash. "When this is over, I mean."

"If this ends." Rai unrolled the scroll again, but didn't read the words. "I don't know if he'll put up with sticking around. He might just keep trying to leave, and Chase is gonna have to put him through the wall again and again."

"So nothin' new, really?" Clay tried to smile, but it was weak and momentary.

"You know what I'm saying." It was painful watching Omi fight like he was, but none of them could think of doing anything else. "I've never seen him this mad. Not even when he was evil."

"And he never really gives up," added Kimiko. "This probably means more to him than anything else. Maybe we should back him up?"

"We can't." Rai's voice was flat and serious. "I know how he feels. I've done the dumb things he wants to do, guys, and even if it makes me a hypocrite to say it, we have to keep him from going. Making sure Master Fung and Dojo and all the rest of them are okay is more important to him than the end of the world, but … "

They fell silent again and watched Omi attack over and over, with Chase dodging every blow. A lot of them were close. Some even grazed him. One landed, hard, against his upper arm, and he momentarily bared his teeth in a snarl.

"He's not hittin' back," Clay pointed out. "He's lettin' Omi wear himself out. This ain't a real fight."

"Yeah," said Rai, "I know."

Omi had noticed it, too. He'd been granted strength and energy by his anger, but it wasn't going to last forever, and when he landed from a strike he wobbled visibly.

"This is not a fight, Chase Young!" he spat. "You are only avoiding me! Unsuccessfully! I demand you take this seriously!"

"I'm giving you a chance to reconsider." Chase's pupils thinned at the observation.

"I will not! I will never!" Omi was struggling to catch his breath, but there was nothing in his voice other than absolute determination. "If you will not fight me, then I will go! And even if you do, I will win! You cannot keep me from this! I won't let you. I won't - "

Chase was a blur when he moved, a streak of black and gold crossing the space between himself and Omi too fast for even their eyes to follow. His forearm practically appeared pressed into Omi's stomach, cutting off his words and knocking all the breath from his lungs. For a second they both stood there, frozen, as time caught up with light; then Omi sagged over Chase's arm, all the fight flooding out of him.

Clay and Kimiko made it to his side before Raimundo did, with Jack trailing behind. Chase handed him off to them and straightened up.

"You sure took your time with that," Kimiko grumbled, making sure Omi was both still conscious and still breathing, and had to be satisfied with only the latter. "Why do you have to make a show out of everything?"

"So he could see the folly of his actions. If I'd simply shut him down, physically or not, he'd be gone in a few hours, and everything would be jeopardized. At best, he would have ignored all future training." Chase rubbed the feeling back into his arm. "Now he knows he still can't beat me, and that, I think, will dissuade him from his course more than anything."

"And if it doesn't?" Clay gently picked Omi up, glaring at Chase.

"Then I will have to do it again." The tone of his voice said that he didn't exactly relish the opportunity. "As I doubt any of you would be willing to volunteer to be the ones to stand in his way."

"Maybe we would." Rai gave Chase a level look. "Maybe getting sense knocked into him by people he trusts would put him back on the right path."

Chase looked at him for a long moment without speaking. Then he inclined his head a little, not exactly smiling but definitely approving.

"A distinct possibility. If he tries that again, I'll leave it to you first and foremost." He held out his hand; they stared blankly. "The scroll. Though your masters claim to know where Hannibal is, I want to determine that for myself, and I can at least make contact with them through it. Plus I'm quite certain all of you want some direct confirmation of all this for yourselves."

Rai gave him the scroll. He looked it over for a moment, speaking as he did so.

"Fung isn't dead. This much makes it obvious. Neither is Guan, a fact I can guarantee; if he died, I would know in an instant." There was a flicker of something dark on Chase's face. "When Omi wakes, tell him that, and remind him of his duty as the potential Xiaolin Dragon of Water."

He turned away, and Rai watched as he disappeared down one of the halls for long enough that Kimiko tapped him on the arm.

"Hey. We need to get Omi back to his room and make sure he's okay."

"Oh, yeah. Right. You guys go on ahead." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he jerked a thumb in Jack's direction. "I wanna make sure quantum dumb over there doesn't get any bright ideas about sticking around."

Once they were a little ways away, he turned to Jack, who readied a sneer.

"Thanks."

The potential sneer dropped.

"You're … welcome? Wait, are you serious?"

"I mean it, dude. Thanks for bringing that all the way here." Sneaking out from under Hannibal's gaze, finding the scroll in the temple, not opening it, flying it all the way to Chase's isolated lair and almost getting his head ripped off by the man himself … Rai didn't believe for a second he'd done it just to gloat or try and make some sort of evil trade with them for it. "I guess Omi's got the right idea about you - you're really not as evil as you try to be."

"Oh, sure, rub it in," Jack grumbled, unfolding his overcoat and shaking the dust from the fight off of it. "I do one thing that Hannibal probably doesn't want me to do, and you just have to point it out."

"I was kinda surprised you hadn't read it."

"I was going to, but … " Jack's expression went grim. " … look, let's just say that I had my reasons."

"Afraid of karmic backlash?"

"Not even close, loser. Whoever left that scroll in the temple left a note for me, too, and it was too polite to not be a threat."

"So … karmic backlash," repeated Rai, who could easily imagine the kind of entirely unthreatening threatening note Master Fung would leave for someone like Jack.

"Whatever. I'm going. I've got work to do." He started to turn away, but Rai stopped him.

"Hey, Jack - "

"Huh?"

"Whatever you're doing for Hannibal, you should stop. Go home and try to stay out of this." He tried to put as much seriousness into his voice as he could, even though Jack didn't exactly inspire it. "It's getting dangerous. He's not going to give you any rewards for being on his side if he goes through with this."

Jack eyed him warily.

"Aren't you supposed to stop him?"

"That's the plan, but … look, he's already killed people. Pretty sure none of us wants to see you get the same treatment, even if you are a pain in the neck."

"Real nice." But Jack hesitated nonetheless, fiddling with the edges of the overcoat in thought. "Ditching him now probably isn't the best idea, but I'll see what I can do."

After he'd started the helipack and hovered away - just out of reach, to the tigers' chagrin - Rai put his hands in his pockets and headed for Omi's room.

"Best we can hope for, I guess."

.-.-

When Omi came to, there was a moment of surprise, and anger, and a half-made demand to get right back to the fight, but the massive to-be-bruise across his stomach winded him a second time and brought him back to reality, to everyone's relief.

"I must apologize, my friends." He stared down at his hands, pale against the dark bedspread. "You know I was raised at that temple. I do not know my real family. Master Fung, and Dojo, and everyone there - they are my family, and have been for as long as I can remember. And similarly, I have always thought they were … well, immortal. Monks of legend, who taught me the secrets that so few know."

It was rare that any of them saw the other temple monks doing much other than cleaning, or studying, or praying, so it was strange to try and imagine them the way Omi did, but for once nobody made a comment.

"When Wuya brought Mala Mala Jong back to life, and he attacked the temple, I realized this was not the case. It was the first time I truly understood that they were old men, who could be hurt and … die. And now … "

"Now Hannibal made all that real." Kimiko, sitting on the edge of the bed, curled her hands into fists against the covers. "Oh, Omi, I'm so sorry. That's why you got so angry."

"Yes. I couldn't help it. This illness I have felt - I know it was my instincts telling me that they were in danger. I knew it was going to happen! And I did nothing!"

"I don't doubt your instincts, Omi, but there's no way you coulda done anything to stop this. Not even if you'd heard it yelled loud and clear from across the room," said Clay, an immovable presence at the bedside just in case Omi tried to get up again. "Actin' on a gut feeling ain't always the best plan, either. I hate to agree with Chase, but if they couldn't fight him off, I don't think you would have done a whole lot, either."

Omi's shoulders drooped. They all knew Clay was right. None of them would have made a difference in that fight. Maybe all of them together, but not alone.

"If there'd been a way to stop him, Omi, you know we would have gone with you to do it, whether Chase said we could or not." Rai leaned on the end of the bed, arms folded across his chest. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"Yes, I can," said Omi, but he was smiling a little when he looked up. "But I suppose you will not let me do so too much."

"Darn right," Clay agreed. "We'll get back at Hannibal for this, you got our word for it."

Chase sent word, after a while - he'd gotten a response: another reassurance from Master Fung, and a handful of names, a few that Omi recognized with pain. They wondered how all this had happened. Hadn't Hannibal been weak and helpless? Had he used the Moby Morpher to some horrible effect? What kind of artifacts had he stolen and used against the enclaves? Not even Chase was fully certain, but they thought Guan might know, and hoped he would show up again sooner rather than later.

It hardened their resolve. It had been months since they thought this was just another end of the world scare. Now they knew, more than anything, that Hannibal had to be taken down for good.

The only questions left were: how much longer would they have to wait until it was time to fight?

And would they be able to do it?

.-.-

Blood on the earth. Death in the air. Smoke in the flames. Darkness in the water.

Hannibal laid out the last few runes and smiled, deep in the shadows.