Started/Finished: 3rd July 2005
Uploaded: 30th July 2005

Summary: One-shot. Set after "Evil Within." Slight Wuya/Chase. Chase is offered a chance to rid himself of the need to take his youth potion, and permanently regain his human form. But will he take it?

Notes:
I wrote this before I saw season 3. It came about as a knee-jerk reaction to a discussion about Wuya I had with Scribbler. I put part of it up on the LJ community, but I think the full version may be different to what everyone was expecting.

A side-note about Chase – Chase is a plank of dead wood in this. So if you don't like it ... don't say I didn't warn you. Because I'd only seen up to the Deep Freeze ep when I wrote this, he doesn't have any kind of Heylin powers. (Apart from the turning-people-into-cats spell, but I didn't know how it worked or how he carried it out, so I improvised.) Frankly, I didn't know enough about him. All I could gather from Master Monk Guan and Evil Within was that he wanted Omi, so that's what he wants here. Also: I don't know how old Chase is, so for the purposes of this fic I'm assuming he's after Wuya and Dashi's time.

And finally – one-shot means one-shot means ONE-SHOT. I won't be doing any more chapters, nor will there be any sequels or prequels. Chase is too much of a hard character for me to write.

A whizzing blur of swift kicks, a bouncing leap, followed by a spinning high kick, several speedy punches. Each blow was blocked. But he kept trying, desperate to find a weak point or an opening where he could strike his enemy hard, where it hurt.

He couldn't give up. He couldn't join Chase … No matter how honourable or skilled he may have appeared to be, underneath all his cold charm and spectacular fighting abilities, Chase was evil.

He stumbled backward from a lightning-fast fist attack, shoulders drooped down as he gasped for breath. He was knocked back into the dark wall, but he immediately got back on his feet.

He couldn't give up. He would never see his friends again. His friends would become nothing but mere toys for Wuya's enjoyment. If she decided to keep them alive, that is.

He panted heavily. His friends were cheering him on, but he could not see a way out ...

"Ready to join me, Omi?"

No! He wouldn't give up. If he gave up, he would be admitting defeat. A Xiaolin warrior never gave up.

"Never," he uttered in a harsh growl.

"Never say never," said Chase.

The rogue dragon tore its way through the village, spewing searing flames at the frightened people. It screeched in pain as a carefully placed arrow found its way into the side of its black belly. It roared and turned wildly, its enraged eyes like that of a maddened bull, blocking subsequent arrows. It was wingless but on all fours; it stood up onto its hind legs and pulled out the arrow.

But the warrior was not just trained in archery. He lunged skilfully at the beast and struck straight and true with his steel blade, plunging it deep into the creature's heart. The black dragon screeched and fell onto its back, its eyes rolling backwards as it fell to the ground.

The villagers erupted with elated cheers, but the warrior hesitated, waiting to see if the dragon was truly dead. Experience with the Sabeeny spirit had taught him that appearances were very often deceiving. For all of five minutes he waited, before he moved to retrieve his sword from the belly of the beast.

Without warning, the dragon reached around with its long serpentine neck and bit the warrior's ankle, sinking its teeth straight into flesh.

The dragon curled its neck back and rasped out: "You ... may ... have ... killed me ... but ... the curse ... lives ... on ..." It let out one final pained gasp and collapsed in death.

"Ugh ..."

He felt woozy, and began to sweat. He bent down, putting a hand on the bite marks. The wounds were filled with green, liquid ooze.

Poison ...

His left leg failed him, and the villagers yelled out once more as his body rocked with violent spasms. His back curved and arced as he felt a prickling sensation all over his body. The villagers screamed; some ran away.

The odd feeling soon stopped, and he shook his head. Suddenly he felt much better, as if nothing had happened at all. He rose to his feet, and there were several shocked gasps from the remaining villagers.

He blinked in confusion. He couldn't understand why the people were staring at him with such horror and revulsion. But one elderly man pointed at him, and then at a nearby stream. He frowned, but then realised the man was, in his own way, telling him to look in the stream. He bent down on all fours, vaguely noticing that there was something different about his posture; the size of his surroundings seemed a little different. He looked down in the water, and jumped back as he saw a long, elongated crocodilian head. He edged forwards, and hopelessness crept in as he realised the odd reptile's head was making the exact same movements as his own head.

He brought his hands up towards his face. They were curved, clawed, and scaly. He looked back sorrowfully at his own reflection. His eyes were yellow and cold, and he had sharp jagged spikes on his back. He was hideous! No wonder the people had fled. Full of shame and despair, he turned around and retreated into the forest.

He staggered around in a state of horrified disbelief. Surely this couldn't be – he'd been destined to be the greatest warrior since the great grandmaster Dragon, Dashi. After many long hours, he managed to return to the temple, and his master filled his heart with hope. He did not run away in fear, like the other people had, but immediately believed his tale and embraced him as if nothing had happened.

He told him: "Beauty is only skin deep. Your outer appearance may be vile and repulsive to those who don't know you, but your true strength lies deep within – your heart."

His old master continued to train him and he soon became accustomed to fighting in his new form. All seemed well, and his master was impressed with the dignified way he accepted his new appearance. However, his happiness was only an outer mask, for underneath his reptile skin, he was filled with the human weakness of emotions. He had never felt more alone in his life.

And one day ...

He left. He couldn't take it any more. Every time he saw his shadow, he shuddered. Every time he ate, he slept, he spoke, he was reminded of his hideous figure. He hated himself. He hated the curved spines protruding from his back. He hated his clawed hands and his long tail that trailed behind him ...

So he ran away. Ran away into the cold cruel mountains, ran away until he could run no further. He'd curled up into a pathetic ball in a miserable, cold cave, exhausted, frightened and all alone. He was weak, he knew, for running, but he could no longer endure the loneliness he felt every waking moment, nor could he go through the nightmarish recollections of the dragon delivering the curse that he experienced every night. He just wanted to die ...

And then the Demon Lord approached him. Offered a way to take away the pain. Offered a way to return his youthful looks. Offered him a way to live out his life the way he'd always dreamed.

All that he needed to give in return was his soul ...

Wuya threw her head back into the air, laughing triumphantly as she once again felt solid ground beneath her feet. She could feel her tremendous power surging through her, and she couldn't wait to unleash it again on the world.

"It's great to be back," she declared.

She turned to face the person who had revived her. "I suppose I should thank you for restoring me," she said in a low murmur, smiling in a slightly conspicuous effort to win him over with charm.

"You could," Chase said stiffly, pointedly ignoring Wuya's attempt to entice him, "if you thought it would accomplish anything …" He had his arms folded, shoulders rigid, his handsome face marred by a frigid frown.

"Leave now," he said coldly, and he pointed commandingly to the lands outside his palace. "Go wreak the destruction you so plainly desire."

Wuya twirled around, arms wide out in an impish dance. She sat down at the dining table, making herself quite comfortable in one of Chase's chairs.

"I can take over the world any time," she told him. "I'd much rather stay here with you."

Chase said nothing, merely regarding her with his icy reptilian eyes. Her over-confidence would yet again be her downfall. Not that he cared.

"I can give you anything, you know," she said gently, leaning forward onto the table teasingly.

This elicited a small sigh. "I have no need of your … charity."

"There must be something you want," she said, full of intrigue, her eyes sparkling with mischievous amusement. "Riches?" She snapped her fingers, and a wild selection of coins, rubies, and diamonds appeared at Chase's feet.

"No need," he said, not even giving it a second thought. He really did have no use for material wealth. He already owned a palace, after all.

Wuya snapped her fingers, and the shining gold and sparkling gems disappeared into thin air. "The world, perhaps? We could rule together, you and I."

"So you've said before," Chase said in a bored tone, knowing that that had been what she had said to coax him into using the Serpent's Tail in the first place. But he wasn't interested in world domination. Actually, there weren't many things that interested him. He collected warriors to turn into cats, of course, but that was just because he could; and also because if he could turn enough warriors to the dark side, it would enshroud the world in darkness. And that was what he wanted. Nothing else mattered to him.

Wuya noticed that Chase hadn't even paused to think about her offers. He had just woodenly refused, without any real passion or energy in his refusal. Appearances were deceiving. Chase was handsome, she had to admit, but there was nothing underneath the surface. He was like one of Jack's robots. Even worse, perhaps - at least Jack's robots had emotion chips.

Determined to get more of a reaction out of Chase, she smiled sweetly and suddenly.

"Someone to love?" she suggested, opening her arms out wide and magically drawing him closer into a playful hug. She said this jokingly, but there was a small part of her hoping he'd take it seriously.

Not so.

"Let – go – of – me," he spat at her. She released him and stood up from the table, looking undetered, but a little angry nonetheless.

"Just checking to see you're still alive, Chase. Any normal person would at least contemplate over being offered their heart's innermost desire." Her tone grew softer, becoming a mocking purr. "But then, you're not exactly normal, are you?"

Chase's slightly raised eyebrow said: "And you are?"

"You have the Xi Yi curse. Perhaps you'd like me to remove it?"

The slits of his eyes widened slightly. She'd finally struck a chord in his scaly heart.

"You can remove it?" he said, a mixture of incredulity and awe in his shocked eyes. He was looking at Wuya with such enthused awareness that she almost thought he was a different person.

"But of course!" She smiled eagerly at Chase's new-found fervour. At last, she'd found something he wanted. She'd have him wrapped around her little finger in no time at all. "A simple task for someone with my abilities." She closed the space between them, putting her right hand on his forehead. "Hold still," she said. "You may feel some discomfort…"

Wuya closed her eyes and held up her right hand, a green aura of flames surrounding her. Chase blinked his eyes back, and then turned away sharply, pulling away from Wuya's hand. She opened her eyes in confusion, but Chase spoke first.

"Don't bother," he said, appearing to be distracted again, as if he wasn't giving Wuya his full attention. The small flicker of vitality he had shown towards her had completely vanished: he was the robot again.

Wuya gave him a disinterested look of her own, then. She folded her arms in disappointed annoyance at his inability to show any real interest in anything. The only thing she knew he wanted for sure was Omi. "Fine. I won't. Now if you'll excuse me," she said shortly, slowly flying upwards, "I have a world to rule."

"Do as you will. I merely wish to watch the Xiaolin warriors. To see if they have prepared themselves."

"The Xiaolin warriors are no match for us," Wuya said carelessly, arms still folded.

"You underestimate them. They have been training long and hard for months, ever since our first encounter, in fact. They are not the same warriors they once were."

He wasn't fooling anybody. She knew he really wanted to fight Omi, not the others. "And you overestimate Omi. They won't win against me, Chase. Not this time."

For the first time that day, Chase showed signs of irritation; though it was only because he made his lips mechanically twitch into a deeper frown that Wuya knew he was annoyed.

"Who said I was expecting them to win? I gave you your body back because I want to see their skills pushed to the ultimate limit. They cannot do that against a weak opponent like Jack." He stopped for a brief moment, seeming to slowly consider something. "In fact, you can bring them here. I'll test their worthiness instead."

"It'll be my pleasure," she said, grinning lazily. "Consider it done." On the word 'done', she vanished.

The palace shook, and Chase knew that she was summoning her monsters from the ground outside. Why was she so willing to please him? She'd been that way when she'd first approached him as a ghost, expressing her fury towards Spicer for another job badly done. It had been a tiny bit irritating when she had decided to stay permanently, as she was forever talking about Shen Gong Wu, which he had no use for. However, he'd kept her around because she was a good way of keeping an eye on the Xiaolin warriors without drawing too much attention to himself.

He thought back: the day he'd given away his soul, he'd felt such a release. He'd regained his youth, he'd cast aside his weakness, his emotions, and removed the chains and burdens he'd carried within his heart, and suddenly he longer cared what anyone else thought. He would have to continue to take the potion regularly to maintain his human appearance, but that didn't matter. And when the Demon Lord had told him that he would need a dragon to complete the potion each time, he'd laughed at the irony. A dragon had laid the curse on him – and so it was only fitting that a dragon should pay for its remedy.

He didn't know it, but the long years of living without any cares or feelings had taken their toll. He was only interested in one thing: bringing a spell of everlasting darkness, and he soon became obsessed with that goal. He wanted the world to be as empty as he felt inside, and he could achieve this, the Demon Lord had told him, by converting enough warriors to the side of darkness. Chase waited for many years, collecting the best warriors of each generation and transforming them into his servants, each warrior bringing the spell a step closer to completion. And now he only required one more warrior. The one he had chosen, the greatest warrior of this generation.

Omi …

"Xiaolin warriors, for you!" Wuya called, in a 'Hi, honey, I'm home!' voice. Five golem monsters strode in as if they owned the place, startling Chase's many cats, who all growled and went running in all different directions. From atop his staircase, Chase looked down. Four humans and one dragon were captured within the golems' stomachs. The Japanese girl, Kimiko, was yelling to be released; the cowboy, Clay, was scowling deeply, looking as if someone had eaten the last steak on Earth and not left him any; and the other boy, Raimundo, was lamenting on how it felt to be on the inside of the golems for once.

Wuya looked up at Chase expectantly as he walked down the long staircase, waiting to see if he would show any kind of gratitude for her successful capture. Dojo, she was sure, would be subject to Chase's undivided attention once another craving for potion set in. But, as she suspected, Chase had his eyes fixed on Omi for the moment.

"Greetings, little one," he said calmly, coming to a stop beside Omi's golem.

"Chase Young," Omi growled.

"Well," said Chase, speaking to Wuya, "they're yours to keep."

Wuya started, extremely confused. "You what?"

"You may do what you want with them," Chase said simply.

Wuya's frown grew further. What was he up to now?

"But," Chase continued, now speaking to Omi, "first you will fight me, Omi."

"Let us go and he'll think about it," Raimundo snapped rudely, before Omi could reply.

"Fight me, Omi," Chase said, looking at him pointedly in the eye, "or your friends will meet an unpleasant end at the hands of my delightful associate."

Wuya took her cue. The walls of the golems' stomachs began to close in on all except Omi.

"Wait," Omi said reluctantly, "do not hurt them!" He tore away from Chase's unwavering stare. "I will … fight you."

Omi's golem spat him out, and he landed head-first on the floor. He quickly rose to his feet.

"If you win," said Chase, snapping his fingers to summon a panther, "I will give you this to use on Wuya." The black panther handed him a wooden box, which he carelessly threw up into the air a couple of times.

"What?" Wuya hissed, clearly furious at this revelation.

Chase deliberately ignored her. "If you lose ... you will agree to join me."

Omi glanced at his friends and then back at Chase. He tried to see past the cold emptiness in Chase, tried to see if there was any remnant of the good warrior that Chase had once been. But he could see nothing. Now he knew what Master Guan had meant when he said that he had seen Chase for who he really was. Beneath the pale exterior of Chase's fair features, darkness radiated from deep within, a darkness that threatened to consume all who dared to enter.

He resolved himself to one of the hardest battles he would ever have to fight.

"I … accept your challenge."

He panted heavily. His friends were cheering him on, but he could not see a way out ...

"Ready to join me, Omi?"

"Never," he growled.

"Never say never," said Chase, the tiniest of smiles forming. He knocked Omi over with a low kick, and placed his foot on Omi's stomach, pressing down hard until the little monk screamed.

"You are the one," Chase said, "the warrior I have chosen!"

From her position, Wuya smirked; Chase was moments away from victory. She saw how Chase forced Omi to admit defeat, and enjoyed watching him Omi turn into a cat. At last, Chase revealed his plan to her, as his spell had been completed; Omi's energy was used to cover the world in a dark spell for 10,000 years!

But while the world was covered in darkness, Chase didn't even celebrate with her, he just retreated into his palace with Dojo, dull and emotionless as ever. Wuya had tried once more to remove the curse, but this time the Demon Lord had intervened. He explained how Chase had, once upon a time, been destined to become the greatest warrior of all time, even greater and more powerful than Dashi. Chase was the one who could potentially cast evil aside forever. He went on to describe to Wuya his plan to stop Chase from accomplishing this.

By sending the Dark dragon to infect Chase with the Xi Yi curse, he had ensured that Chase would spiral into darkness. Now Chase was nothing but a shadow, a soulless being doomed by his weak pride to be what he was until the end of time. There was nothing she could do for him now, short of returning his soul, which would have returned him back to the ways of good ... and she certainly didn't want that.

What a waste, she thought.

There was truth in the old saying, she decided, relaxing into her new throne and ordering one of her Xiaolin pets to get her a glass of sherry. Beauty really was only skin deep.

The End

This was written in one day, in a crazy rush of inspiration. But when I uploaded it, I realised I forgot to put Jack in the fic. My bad.

Xi yi means lizard.