Hidden Talent

Chapter: 01

It was late and dark by the time a particular red-haired 'Evil' genius finally arrived back to his 'Evil' Lair from another unsuccessful attempt to retrieve the Shen-Gong-Wu, his clothing charred and ripped from the failed Showdown, caked in a thick layer of mud and soaked to the bone with rain water.

Entering his lab Jack limped over to his bedroom connected and only Wu: The Monkey Staff and The Changing Chopsticks, were thrown onto the stone floor as he sat down on his large silk bed and hid his head in his hands. He was depressed, no doubt about that and he had good reason to be, it wasn't that he didn't get the Wu, that was a normal everyday thing. The reason was because everyone had saw fit to make fun of his misfortune and calling him insulting name's, making fun of him and that his new invention had blown-up in his face sending him flying in to a puddle of mud. In front of Chase no less! If it wasn't terrible enough when they started calling him worthless, worm, freak, useless and others, Chase had even joined in!

It hadn't been as enthusiastic or mean spirited, but even his off-handed comment had been more painful than any of the monks spiteful torments. That was why the usually unshakable cheerful Goth was depressed, probably for the first time in his entire life. He'd been humiliated in front of Chase, his Idol, his crush, the man he respected above all else and then he got insulted by him too! And to add even more insult to injury, his new invention that had taken him 3 days straight, without sleep, to build had exploded!

Shacking off the pathetic feeling gathering in his chest, Jack stood from his bed before limping into his bedroom and walked over to the mirror and looked at his pasty reflection.

"Brat" the Dragon of the Earth muttered quietly.

"A worthless brat" the Brazilian said correcting his Texas friend.

Jack sniffed, pealing off his socked-wet coat from his small frame.

"Pathetic worm" the tall, long-haired Dragon-war-Lord snorted, crossing his arms.

The wet Goth clenched his fists, looking back into the mirror and saw his running eyeliner which was all smeared down his white cheeks, the hurtful words replaying in his mind.

"Freak" a Japanese girl with a dyed-blue Mohican said, putting her hands on her hips, sneering down at the boy covered in mud.

Jack clenched his teeth and hands, his blunt nails digging into his skin resulting in a thin train of blood to drip through his fists. 'Freak' was the one insult that still plagued him from his early childhood. The white freak. The Spicer's freaky child. Goth Freak. Freak, freak, freak, freak!

"I'm Not a Freak!" he screeched at his reflection in the mirror, which suddenly shattered at the boys angry cry; sending glass flying around the room, a small shard piece slamming Jack on the forehead. Jerking back in shock, Jack shakily lifted his hand to his face before pulling it away to see deep crimson blood running down his pale fingers. As Jack saw the red substance he couldn't hold it in anymore; falling to his knees Jack hid his face in hands and sobbing heavily. 'It Hurts... It Hurts. All those insults...like a Sharp stab...because It's All True'. The blood began to run down his face into his teary eyes and mouth 'I am useless. Pathetic! The Xiaolins Hate me. The Heylins Hate me. Chase Hates me. The World Hates me... I Hate Myself... hate, hate, hate. I.. I...I'm... unwanted'

Jack curled into himself, pulling his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms around them, sobbing into his knees. 'Why do I bother? Maybe I should give up. Why try and rule a world that doesn't care for you or that your alive?' he thought as he sat there on the cold floor, tear slowly falling down his face.

'Why do I try and be evil anyway? Why do I want people to fear me? Why do I try and get respect through fear when I'm a genius? I can do anything If I put my mind to it! After all, I built a plasma cannon, which should be impossible! And I was only 10 years old at the time! So why have I been wasting my time being with world domination?! The Tobacco company has already done that!' the red-head nodded as he finally come to the conclusion as he pulled himself up and began to clean himself-up, stopping his tears.

'And plus' he thought, perking up slightly as began to finally think over his life choices', putting a band-aide on his cut forehead 'I'd make a crap overlord, even my own robots give me lip' Jack thought with a quiet giggle, drying his wet hair with a towel.

"There, all clean" the albino said, looking into the broken-mirror, trying to reassure himself. 'Why'd it shatter any-way?' being to too tired to care at that point he gave a shrug before heading back to his room to get ready for bed. He'd get one of his Jack-Bots to clean up the glass later, but for now sleep was the only thing on the teens mind and tomorrow would be a very busy day for him.

But he had no-idea how much the shattering of his mirror meant and how that one incident was going to change his life forever.