Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown nor any of its characters.

Warning: Nothing really bad here, actually. Eventual chack, but not until later.

Chase groaned loudly, trying to move his body, but to no avail.

The dragon couldn't believe he had been brought to such a vulnerable state. How had these pathetic mortals even managed to capture him? Oh, when he found Hannibal…but now was not the time to plot his revenge. At the moment, he needed a plan to escape.

Chase tugged at the chains that bound him firmly to the floor of his cage, giving him barely any wiggle room. He sighed, laying his head down on the ground.

"What do I do now?" the Heylin prince thought miserably to himself. Then, he solemnly answered, "Wait for a miracle." He sighed again and protested, "But who could possibly want to help me?"

"Jack!" the Heylin ghost screeched in the evil genius' ear. "How can you waste your time at these pathetic, boring, little fairs?"

"Chill, Wuya," Jack said nonchalantly. "I always come to the annual Dark World's Fair. Besides, I'm amazed that you don't like it here. It has all that weird, black magic that you like."

"Did it ever occur to your miniscule brain that being here is actually very difficult for me?" Wuya hissed. "I can't practice any of this magic now that I'm a ghost again."

"Oh," the goth realized, blinking his eyes in realization. "Sorry, Wuya. I didn't know."

"Of course, you didn't know, you foolish boy," Wuya grumbled moodily as she floated beside him, secretly touched that Jack had actually apologized for his ignorance for once.

They approached a rather large stand that looked as though an auction was taking place. Standing at the edge was a portly man, with a festive-looking top hat, loudly calling out for bids.

"Come one, come all," the auctioneer shouted loudly. "Come see a genuine dragon! I don't mean a little chameleon; I don't mean a slippery, little snake. I mean a huge, even larger than your average human-sized dragon!"

Wuya and Jack exchanged a similar amused glance. Jack pushed past the large crowd, trying to see the creature. He immediately assumed that whoever started this auction was probably just trying to swindle people out of their money. He knew that dragons existed, of course, but didn't know many "normal" people that owned one and was curious to see just how much effort they'd put into this hoax.

Not that he would stop it, of course, but it'd be fun to criticize if it was truly an embarrassment to scams everywhere.

When he reached the front and saw the creature trapped in the cage, he let out a gasp.

Bound by thick chains was a real dragon. However, that's not entirely why Jack was gasping. He personally knew this dragon. Not normally in this form, though.

"How much do I hear for this dragon? $1,000? $1,500?" the auctioneer was now shouting.

"$5,000!" Jack yelled.

Many heads turned to the young man, shocked that he would have any sort of money.

"My name is Jack Spicer," the goth explained, looking annoyed at their looks of surprise and revulsion that he was receiving. "I am the son of Charlotte and Phillip Spicer. I'm sure you all know of our wealth. I have identification if anybody doesn't believe me."

Wuya herself was staring at Jack, shocked by the actual authority he was showing. The auctioneer took Jack's bid and eventually the bid reached $50,000.

Jack grinned smugly at his final bid, waiting for anybody to challenge him. No one dared to.

"Sold for $50,000 to Jack Spicer!" the auctioneer declared.

The cage slowly moved off the stage, already being replaced with a new, strange creature. Jack ran over to the cage once he'd paid and asked one of the men if they could open the cage and let the dragon out.

"You crazy?" the man asked him. "This lizard tried to kill us!"

"At least open the door and let me talk to him," Jack requested calmly.

The man looked at him skeptically for a moment, but shrugged and did as he was told. Jack cautiously entered the cage, trying to approach the reptilian beast in a non-threatening manner.

"Chase?" the red-head croaked out, feeling a little skittish.

The monster slowly lifted his head and looked up at Jack, groaning softly. Jack could almost swear that he was trying to say something, but it was coming out garbled. Suddenly being struck by inspiration, Jack reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the Tongue of Saiping, internally thanking God that he had managed to win it at the last showdown.

"Tongue of Saiping," he whispered. "Chase, can you hear me?"

A few eerily quiet moments passed before Chase murmured, "Yes, Spicer."

"Oh, man. Chase, what the hell happened?" Jack asked, his eyes wide.

"Hannibal," Chase answered, his voice weak. "He cast some sort of spell on me. It's…it's complicated."

"But you can't change back?"

"Not presently."

"Well, don't worry, Chase. I bought you in the auction—"

"You what?"

"Hey, I had to! Wouldn't you much rather have me than someone who has no clue what you really are with no way for them to understand you?"

Chase supposed that Jack had a good point, so he chose not to filibuster. He instead gave a quiet mumble of agreement. The evil genius smiled and deactivated the Wu as he walked out of the cage.

"Okay, you can release him now. Don't worry, it's safe," Jack added quickly, reassuring the man.

The man shrugged, but unlocked the cage door and released the chains hold on the beast. Chase lifted himself off the ground and crawled on all fours out of the cage. It was degrading, the dragonlord knew, but what choice did he have? He finally reached Jack, who laid his hand on top of Chase's head in what the dragon assumed was meant to be comforting.

"Welcome to your temporary home, Chase," Jack announced as he flung open the door to his mansion.

Chase crept into the house, applying his senses to take in the smell of the house. He growled softly, but didn't take any further action.

Meanwhile, Jack was talking a mile a minute about how coincidental it was that he had been at the fair that Chase was at and even more shocking that he had the Tongue of Saiping with him at the time. Chase followed him as the evil genius trotted through his lab until Jack plopped himself down in his desk chair. Chase sat down in front of him, resembling a dog in his posture.

"So, what exactly did Hannibal do, anyways?" Jack questioned.

Chase let out a sequence of growls and purrs. Jack just stared blankly at him.

"You can't understand him, you fool!" Wuya shrieked in her ghostly hiss as she flew into the room.

Shooting a glare at her, Jack pulled out the Tongue of Saiping and activated it. "How come you can't talk in this form? I've seen you do it a million times before."

"Apparently, Hannibal's curse has limited my forms of communication with others. I can control myself, but I have been given…limitations, I suppose, in my speech and in how I move."

"Yeah, I noticed how you've been walking on all fours and sitting like an animal," Jack commented.

"Yes, it appears that my inner—well, technically outer beast has partial control over my body."

"How did Hannibal even do this to you?"

"I'm afraid I don't really know," Chase admitted. "From what I've ascertained, he must have snuck up on me while I was asleep. How he invaded my home, I do not know. Neither do I have any idea how I ended up with those people you bought me from."

"Is there any way to change you back?"

"I would ask you to take me back home, but I can only assume that Hannibal has already taken over my citadel, so my soup is completely off-limits. Still, even if we found a way to steal it back, I can tell it wouldn't be enough. This limit that Hannibal placed over me is far too strong." Chase sighed heavily. "I suppose the best that I can hope for is the Magic Endifier."

"The what?"

"A Wu that can reverse any magical curse or spell."

"…huh. Kind of a lame name."

"Some of the monks back then weren't that creative, Spicer."

"Okay, okay, fair enough," Jack agreed, standing up and stretching. "So, what do we do? Just wait for it to activate?"

"It appears as though that is our only option."

Jack thought for a moment before turning to Wuya. "Do you think you can sense when it will activate?"

The ghost scoffed. "Why should I use my new ability to help you?"

"Isn't the reason you're like this because of Hannibal?" Jack reminded her.

Wuya floated in place for a few moments, evidently thinking it over. Finally, she let out a ghostly hiss, claiming, "I'll try, but only for revenge on that horrible bean!"

The Heylin witch closed her yellow eyes and focused her energy. After a few seconds, she let out a strangled gasp, her eyes shining like two beacons before exhaling out (even though she technically couldn't breathe). "I…I believe it will be in six months."

"Six months!" Jack and Chase shouted incredulously.

"Don't yell at me," Wuya growled as she floated out of the room moodily. "I just work here…"

Jack plopped back into his desk chair and exchanged a glance with Chase. "Guess we don't really have much of a choice, huh?"

Chase merely grunted in reply before flopping down on the ground.

A/N: I have had this in my journal since my junior year. I'm a graduate now...I know, it's pretty sad. I just never got the opportunity to type this up! Still, I'm glad I can finally show you guys this and I hope you all like it! I'll be posting the rest of these chapters basically as I finish submitting them.