A Chat with a Cat

By: CrystallicSky

Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown. Trust me on that. .

Warnings: I can't think of any, so it's probably okay.

Jack shifted awkwardly in the complete and total darkness of the cave, unable to see much but still put at unease by the glowing eyes watching him from the other side of the cavern.

It had been about an hour since the fateful avalanche that had trapped him in here with that bloodthirsty beast. At first, he'd been totally terrified that the animal would get hungry or bored and decided he looked particularly 'nom-able', but so far, it had simply lain there across from the goth, just…watching him with those glowing eyes.

It was kinda unsettling.

Jack sighed, slumping against the rock wall; the one day he didn't bring any gadgets that could get him out of this, he gets caught in a landslide with Chase's big, freaky jaguar that likes to stare eerily! That just figured…

Another glance at the feline assured the teen that yes, it was still looking and no, it hadn't blinked. He sighed again and started digging through his pockets for what had to have been the millionth time, desperately searching for something, anything to occupy him: a piece of string, a ball of lint, a paperclip, something so that he didn't have to keep acknowledging the incessant staring.

Coming up empty, the goth was just about to moan in despair when he felt a lump in one of the inner pockets of his jacket. Hopeful, he plucked the object out of his coat only to pause.

"The Tongue of Saiping?" he wondered aloud, noting the prick of the jaguar's ears from the corner of his eye. "How'd I get this?" Thinking back, however, he soon recalled the coming into of said object and chuckled quietly. "Ohhh, yeah…good times, good times…"

Other than the Shen Gong Wu, there was absolutely nothing else on his person with which to keep himself busy, and there was nothing to do with the Tongue of Saiping but talk to animals, one of which just so happened to be trapped with him.

But did he really want to talk to Creepy McStaresalot?

A moment of thought was all he needed: he was desperate.

With the enunciation of the Wu's name, it was activated, and the feline across from him seemed to be paying even more attention to him than it had previous (were that even possible).

After a brief pause, Jack slowly began, "So…come here often?"

The jaguar snorted. "What a stupid thing to say, even for a human…"

"I couldn't think of a good opener," the goth defended, feeling rather affronted, "so sue me."

"If I could, I would," the feline assured with what appeared to be a scowl. "I blame you entirely for this, you know."

"You're very snippy, Mr. Jaguar," Jack frowned at the animal.

"Don't call me that," it snarled, sitting up and puffing out its chest in offense. "I have a name!"

"And I knew that?" the goth inquired. "Its not like Chase ever formally introduced us!"

The beast frowned at his having of a point, and lay back down, grousing, "I am Diol. You shall address me as such."

"Fine, I can do that much. You know who I am, right?"

"How could I not?" Diol grinned sharply at him. "You have a particular penchant for announcing yourself, Jack Spicer."

"Yeah, yeah," the teen grumbled, "I'm just making sure we don't have to start from Square One."

The jaguar made a noise similar to a grunt, and for a while, they just stared at each other, neither able to think of something to say.

"Spicer," the feline eventually spoke.

"Yeah?"

"You have nothing that can get us out of here any quicker? Some sort of drill or laser beam?"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Jack sighed. "I was actually at a gala thing before this: it was all I could do to gel my hair and lose the tux before showing up, so I didn't have any time to grab my usual gizmos."

The big cat huffed. "Well, that is unfortunate."

"Mmhmm," the goth readily agreed.

"Then I suppose we shall simply have to wait for Master to come for us," Diol seemed to shrug.

Jack scoffed at that. "If he was coming for us, he would have gotten us out already."

"Unlikely," the jaguar assured. "The Wu being fought for in the Showdown that caused the avalanche is extremely important, and Master cannot afford to lose it to the monks. He shall win it and then he shall rescue us."

"You do realize that we only have about an hour and a half left of oxygen in here, don't you?"

"He shall come for us before then."

Jack frowned at the statement. "You mean come for 'you'. He'll come for you before then."

Diol raised an eyebrow at him. "And what do you mean by that, Spicer?"

"I mean," the goth explained, "that if he rescues me, it'll only be by transition of rescuing you; if it were just me in here, he wouldn't bother, not to mention that I'd have double the time and oxygen to figure out a way to escape on my own."

"You can't honestly believe that," the feline seemed to gape at him.

"Sure I do," Jack informed. "If you weren't in here, I'd get to breathe the air you've been breathing and I'd last way longer. Besides, I could probably manage to make something out of my helipack, but I haven't decided what would be useful that I can actually make out of it-"

"Not that, you idiot!" the jaguar growled. "You believe Master would just let you die here?"

This gave the genius pause, and he slowly answered, "Yeah…it'd save him the trouble of getting his hands dirty with getting rid of me."

"Getting rid of…where would you have gotten the idea that he wants to get rid of you?!" Diol demanded.

"Yeesh, where wouldn't I have gotten that idea from?" Jack's voice couldn't help but take on a tone of dejection. "The guy constantly gives the impression that he wouldn't even touch me with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole..."

Diol blinked at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Such a lucky human to catch Master's eye, and yet so utterly oblivious of it!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the goth stopped, "'catch his eye'? Please to be making sense, cat."

Said cat snorted at that. "Humans today are so foolish; you think that simply because he does not croon words of affection to you over a candlelit dinner that he has no interest in you?"

"Uh, no; I think he has no interest in me because he calls me names and tries to hurt me!"

"He does it for your safety, Spicer," Diol informed. "You are no warrior; these Showdowns are much too dangerous for you, and yet you continue to show up to them. Master is annoyed at you because you will not take his hints and simply stay out of the entire conflict until he is ready to come for you!"

Quietly, the teen wondered, "C…come for me?"

"Yes," the feline nodded. "Master often talks of when he will have won, when the world will truly be his to rule with no opposition. In all of his mentions of it, there is only one other he would have rule beside him, and I assure you it is not the yellow one: it is you."

"So…so I have a…chance?" His red eyes were wide and hopeful with this new information, and his hopes were confirmed with a nod from the jaguar.

"Provided you play your cards right," he assured. "Try to do as he says more often; reduce the frequency of your appearance at Showdowns and at his home. Gradually, of course: make it seem like it was your own idea, lest I be punished for telling you too much. Likely, Master will be better pleased with you if you do that."

The goth nodded, absorbing the information for future use.

"Diol?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes, Spicer?" the feline answered.

"Thanks," the goth smiled sincerely.

"You are welcome," the jaguar assured before grinning toothily. "Lord knows you wouldn't have figured it out on your own."

Just as Jack was about to retort to that statement, a crack sounded from the closed off entrance of the cave.

Wisely, the teen deactivated the Tongue of Saiping and stashed it in the inner pocket of his jacket once more just as a fierce kick shattered the massive boulders that had held him and the feline warrior captive.

Naturally, who should be at the mouth of the cavern but Chase Young perched on an impossibly thin ledge, dark mane blowing in the high-altitude breeze?

"Diol," the warlord immediately addressed, "are you well?"

The black jaguar, for his part, showed his current state by yawning easily, stretching his largely unused muscles and standing before his master.

"Good," Chase nodded at the assurance, stroking a hand over the cat's head.

Then his eyes flickered over to Jack.

"Spicer," the man acknowledged, "I see my warrior hasn't eaten you: how unfortunate."

The goth only vaguely heard the disdainful words, instead focused on the visual cues he was getting from the dragon. Chase's eyes were searching his form, particularly the rise and fall of his chest as if to make sure he was breathing normally, and his nostrils flared ever so slightly, likely scenting the air for any blood that could've resulted from a serious injury.

Chase Young was making sure he was okay.

The warlord frowned at him as no reply was provided to his insult and he snapped, "Spicer!"

Startled, Jack flinched as he returned to reality, immediately answering, "What?"

Chase looked him up and down once more with a frown. "See to it that if you get yourself trapped like this again that you do not drag one of my warriors with you," he informed coldly. "Should it happen again, I assure you they shall have explicit orders to utilize you as a snack."

And with that he placed a hand on the jaguar's forehead, unaware of the sly wink the feline shot to his erstwhile companion, the two of them gone in the space of an instant.

Jack stared at the space they had disappeared from for a long moment, expression completely blank.

His words were harsh, but the subtlest of his actions said he cared. Had it always been that way and he'd simply not noticed it?

A smile suddenly broke out on the goth's face, wide enough to stretch from ear to ear, and he ran to the ledge outside of the cave and leaped off, activating his helipack just as gravity began to kick in.

Ecstatic, Jack performed a barrel roll in midair, crowing in realization, "He does care!"

A/N: Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays to those who celebrate other winter holidays)!

So, its a few hours away from being Christmas Eve as I type this, and I had been hoping to have a fic I'm working on (Emotions of Chack) finished by now. Unfortunately, I wasn't close enough to being done with it to try and wrap it up by tonight or tomorrow morning.

So! I decided to run with a random plot idea I got when I realized I wouldn't finish and here it is! :D

Its not as seasonally-centered as Happy Holidays was, but hey, I at least managed to slip in a line from the song in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"! ;P

So anyway, I hope you liked it, and no, I COULD NOT resist the title. XD