Alright, new story! I felt bad about quitting the story with Azure that I was going to do, so I decided to start over, this one taking place in between ShadowBrook17's Beginnings and Endings, and her other story, Journey to China. SO READ THOSE IF YOU HAVEN'T! It's gonna be a bit complicated since BAE isn't finished yet, but I'm too impatient, so bear with me!

Azure could feel electricity coursing through her body as she started a lightning spell to send her home, to Africa. She had learned the spell quickly from one of the many scrolls in the Jade Palace. Not only that, but she had learned fire, water, and earth attacks.

She gripped her father's wrist tightly, to make sure she didn't accidentally leave him behind. She took one last look at Shadow before there was a large flash, forcing her to close her eyes. The electricity became stronger, and Azure winced slightly at the shock. The light then receded, and soon after, the electricity. Azure slowly opened her eyes, and immediately recognized where she was. They were in the marketplace of her town, and it was packed. Nobody had seemed to notice the flash, which puzzled Azure, but she decided not to dwell on it.

She suddenly saw her father staring off into the distance. She was about to ask why, but before she could speak, he said, "I'll be right back."

That was it. "Why-" Azure began, but he walked off before she could finish.

She inched her way through the crowd, looking around for a place to sit down. As she was looking around, though, her eyes locked with the golden eyes of a dark furred lioness, Uzuri.

Uzuri was the daughter of the town leader, and had as much brains as a gnat, in Azure's opinion. She had bullied Azure many times, mostly with taunts about her father, who had been severely depressed at the time, and taunts directed at Azure herself. Azure had put up with them until that one fateful day...

Azure quickly looked away, but Uzuri had already noticed her and was beginning to walk over. Azure knew she could easily overcome Uzuri, but she wasn't in the mood for useless conflict.

"Well, well, well. Guess you've decided to show your face here again." Uzuri said, her voice dripping with malice.

Azure still had no idea why Uzuri harassed her like this, because it had begun even before her mother's death. Honestly though, she thought, it's more annoying now, if anything.

"Hello? Are you deaf?" Uzuri asked, raising her voice.

"If I was, do you REALLY think that raising your voice would help?" Azure asked.

Uzuri scowled at her and said, "You must really think I'm stupid, don't you?"

"What? Do you have a problem with the truth?" Azure asked, trying to step past her.

Uzuri then growled and blocked her path. A few people were now looking at them, curious to see what would happen.

"I think you've forgotten who I am, Azure." Uzuri growled.

"I don't think you wanna mess with me." Azure threatened, her voice calm, but taking on a lower tone.

"Ha! You mean like this?" Uzuri said, then with strength that surprised Azure, punched her across the jaw

Azure stumbled back a bit, holding her paw where Uzuri had hit her. She growled as a metallic taste hit her tongue.

"I've been practicing that for a while now." Uzuri bragged with a smug smile on her face.

Azure growled in anger, then straightened up and said, "Oh yeah? I've been practicing things I'll bet you've never even heard of."

Azure then closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Well, what is it?" Uzuri snapped.

Azure's eyes snapped open, and a flame erupted in her paws. Uzuri shrieked as Azure spun it around in a blazing ribbon of flame, capturing the attention of everyone around them. All of them let out gasps of wonder. Then Azure proceeded to earth. She stomped the ground, causing a boulder to fly up off the ground. It hovered for a second, then Azure did a spinning kick, causing the boulder to seperate into four stones that flew at Uzuri. She launched them slowly enough to where Uzuri could easily dodge them, which she did with a shriek. Some of the people watching also let out some shrieks. Then, Azure proceeded to water. She saw someone with a jug nearby, and she controlled the water to where it flowed out in a glistening stream. She gracefully spun in a circle as if she were ribbon dancing, which she had seen back in China. She actually did so, too, using the water as her ribbon. Some began clapping a bit, and Azure smiled when she saw the look of defeat on Uzuri's face. Once she was done, Azure returned the water to the jug, and for laughs, bowed.

People started cheering a bit, and some told her that it was the 'best performance' they had ever seen. She also saw smiles directed at her, and she smiled back. She then looked over at Uzuri, who was scowling at her. Azure grinned at her, as if to say, 'I win'. Uzuri stormed off, and Azure knew that she wasn't going to be a problem anymore.

"Woah! Never seen Uzuri get owned like that before!"

Azure turned towards the speaker. He was a cheetah who was just a couple inches taller than her, which led Azure to guess that he was the same age she was. He had hazel eyes that went along with the fur that hung a bit over his eyes, and wore a brown, black trimmed vest and tan pants.

He smiled at her and said, "Hey, I'm Aji."

He held out his paw, and she shook it.

"Azure." she replied with a slight smile.

"Cool. Wish I had an awesome name like that. My name sucks." Aji said.

Azure laughed a bit at his comment, then suddenly wondered if he was being serious. But she saw the smile on his face, and she knew it was meant to come off as a joke.

"Seriously, that was awesome. I think I liked the earth one the most. The look on Uzuri's face was priceless!"

Azure opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Or more likely, someone. She looked closer and saw that it was a white lion, which made her even more curious. Never in her life had she seen a white lion, especially not in her town. Not an albino, just a white lion. His fur wasn't snowy white, but a light cream color. She suddenly noticed he was looking at her, and she saw his eyes were a pale shade of blue. She blinked, and he was gone.

Aji turned to where the mysterious lion had been only seconds before. He saw nothing, and turned back to face Azure.

"Thought I saw something..." Azure said before Aji could ask anything.

Aji simply nodded. Nothing was said for a minute. During this time, Azure was deep in her thoughts. Aji seemed very friendly, in her opinion. Probably the reason why he had approached her so quickly, too.

"This may be a strange question, but...are you new here?" Azure asked.

"Yeah, I moved here two weeks ago. Why?" Aji asked.

Azure realized that he was probably still trying to make friends if he was so new, so she decided to keep the conversation going. "I guess that was long enough to see what Uzuri is like."

"Too long, if you ask me." Aji said.

Azure smiled a bit. "I bet."

"Wait, so how come I haven't seen you before now? It's obvious you guys have been enemies for a while..."

"I was actually in China a couple weeks ago." Azure said, smiling as Aji's eyes widened.

"Really? That's awesome! I've always wanted to go there." Aji said.

Azure suddenly remembered that they were still standing in the marketplace, but honestly didn't care at the moment.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool..." Azure said, not hinting about her experience there.

Suddenly, she heard her father's voice. "Azure!"

She turned to the right to see her father running toward her.

"What's wrong?" Azure asked, suddenly worried.

"See for yourself." her father said, then beckoned her to follow him.

Azure glanced at Aji, then started to follow her father. As she walked along, she wondered what exactly had happened to cause her father to act like this. But she wasn't looking forward to finding out.

Well, that concludes chapter 1. Sorry that the ending was crappy, but I hope you liked the rest of the chapter! And again, sorry for my impatience. It took a while to get Aji right...BTW, name was a shortened thing for the name Ajihad (Eragon). I was thinking how cool a name like that would be for some epic OC, then I thought of Aji all of a sudden, and it fit this OC, in my opinion. :D Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW, but no flames! (critique wanted though)