She had never seen so many people in her entire life. The crowded airport was bustling with people, coming and going to so many different places. Jade just stood there in awe, studying every face she saw. On the island where she had been raised the only faces she had ever seen were, her grandpa's, her own, and the many pictures of the blue women that her grandpa kept around the house. Here there were so many people of such diversity and she had never been so excited in her life. Of course she was too distracted to pay attention to the two faces that she was supposed to be looking for, that of her cousin John and his father, but amidst the many faces that has previously captured her full attention she noticed and elderly Asian man hunched over a cane. He was having trouble retrieving a hefty ancient looking trunk from the baggage claim, so much so that he looked as if he would fall over from exertion at any possible moment. While Jade did notice her green, patch covered duffle bag from the corner of her eye, she deemed helping the man as more important.
"Would you like me to help you with that?" She offered politely when she approached him.
"Oh thank you my dear," he replied with a slight French accent, "that would be very kind of you"
Jade gently hefted the suitcase to the floor, it was heavy but because it looked so ancient and valuable she was careful to not damage it. "Here you go sir, do you need any more help?"
"Oh no, thank you have helped me all I need." He replied cryptically as he placed a hand on her bag that had just come around the baggage wheel. "Now don't keep them waiting." He quickly turned and blended into the crowds.
"Wait sir-" she spared just a moment to glance down as she grabbed her luggage, but by the time she looked up he was gone. "How did he?" She muttered to herself, so many questions raced through her mind. Where did he go? How had he known someone was waiting for her? And why had he sounded so cryptic? Any more of her thoughts were interrupted by being nearly tackled to the ground with an unexpected hug.
"Jade!" Exclaimed John, his voice filled with absolute excitement. "I'm so happy you're finally here! I can't wait for school to actually start this year, and you to finally meet my friends." He finished with a devilish grin.
"Lemme guess, you want my help pranking all of them" she teased.
"Well duh, we need to put all that science know-how to some use." He replied poking her temple. "Now follow me, dad's waiting in the car." Together they exited the crowded airport, and the memory of the old man had been completely forgotten.
After a night of junk food and watching all of John's favorite movies (every single one starred Nicholas Cage), the dark haired duo decided to settle into bed. Jade let her eyes wander around the unfamiliar guest room, not used to seeing white walls uncovered by her plethora of colorful posters. It was still a very nice room with a decent sized bed covered in a green comforter, her favorite color, and a large window mostly shaded by a large tree for plenty of privacy. Besides that the room was rather plain, but she had been prepared for that. She unzipped her bag to reveal a stash of squiddles, unfortunately she hadn't been able to bring all of them but she had managed to squeeze in all of her favorites. Yet as she began placing the colorful toys around her, some tangled together and some not, her hand brushed something hard. As she retracted her hand she discovered an octagonal red and black box that she had never seen before.
"What the…" she muttered as she examined the small object in her hand. She traced the carved markings that were vaguely reminiscent of Chinese art. Finding nothing incredibly unusual about the outside of the box, she opened it.
A small explosion of bright pink light erupted from box, causing Jade to lose hold of it in her surprise. Yet as the box dropped to her be, the light remained suspended in the air in front of her. Even squinting, she could see that the light was moving. It was stretching and twisting into the shape of… something. As suddenly as it came, the light abruptly disappeared leaving in its place a small red creature.
"Hello Jade, my name is Tikki."