The untold story of the fifth dragon begins in the town of Labadie, Missouri.
A young teenage girl, the age of sixteen, was relaxing in her room. Her bright blue eyes scanned through a page of her book. She tucked a lock of her shoulder length, brunette hair behind her ear. As she continued reading, the young girl smiled to herself.
"For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo," she read softly as she closed her book, letting out a content sigh. "So romantic."
The sound of her door being kicked open caused the teenager to jolt. She groaned when she found her older brother standing in the doorway. "Landon, I told you to stop coming into my room like that! I could be naked or something!"
"But you're not," Landon replied cheekily. He smirked as he leaned against the frame of her door, crossing his arms. "Reading another one of your lame fantasy books, Renai?"
"It's Romeo and Juliet, and it's not lame," Renai replied with a pout. "It's very romantic."
"Again?! You've read that, like, a million times!"
"What do you want?" She said, quickly losing patience with her brother.
Landon pulled an envelope out of his back pocket and held it up in front of his sister. As she reached for the envelope, Landon hid it behind his back. "This came in the mail for you, but you gotta be nice and say 'please' if you wanna see what it is."
"Landon, just give it to me! It's my mail!"
"Can I hear a please first?"
"Please, may I have my mail?"
Landon smirked as he dropped the envelope into her lap. "That's more like it. Now, that came all the way from China. Something good has to be in there. Maybe someone sent you plane tickets to China so I won't have to see your face anymore."
"Gee, you're too kind," Renai replied sarcastically.
As Renai opened the envelope, she found that there were no tickets. Instead, there was a folded piece of paper. She was expecting to find Chinese lettering of some sort when unfolding the paper. However, much to her relief, every word on the paper was in English. It was written in legible, cursive writing.
"What's it say, Ren?" Landon inquired as he sat beside her.
Greetings, Renai
You have been chosen to come to the Xiaolin Temple to learn the ways of Tai Chi, and to train with fellow Xiaolin monks. We hope to see your arrival.
Sincerely,
Master Fung
"What's Tai Chi?" Landon asked.
"I think it's an ancient form of fighting. Y'know, like Kung Fu."
"You gonna go?"
Renai scrunched her nose. "What kind of question is that? Of course not. It's probably a scam, anyway."
Landon scanned the letter and envelope. "No logos for any businesses, and the letter is handwritten. Doesn't look like a scam to me. Seems like someone out there agrees with me on the fact that you need some toughening up."
"I do not!" Renai exclaimed.
"Yeah, you do." Landon gently patted her back. "I can't always be there to protect you, Ren. Sitting in your room all day isn't gonna help you learn to defend yourself."
"I don't need to. What would I need Tai Chi for, anyway? I don't plan on fighting with anyone."
"Not even those prissy girls in school who knock over your books and call you names?"
Renai frowned, rolling her eyes. "Not even them." Her frown deepened as she hugged her knees against her chest. "It's not like I don't have any friends. I have Amberlee and Giselle."
"True, but that's only two friends."
"Why do you care so much, Landon? You always tease me."
"Because it's my job to," Landon chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Both to care, and to tease."
The brunette turned away from her older brother. "I sure don't feel like you care sometimes."
Landon heaved a sigh, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "So sensitive." He scooted closer to her. "Look, I'm just trying to help you out. I wanna see you ...be happy for a change, I guess."
"I am happy," Renai replied. "I have a couple of friends who care about me like I care about them. I have a family that I love very much..."
"That you never get to see. Mom's always at work, and we barely get to visit Dad anymore. Plus, I'm always out with my friends," Landon pointed out. "There's nothing here for you, Ren, and you know it. Just go to Master Chung or whatever his name is."
"Why, so you don't have to see my face anymore?"
"That was just a joke, sis. I just think this'll be a good experience for you," he replied with a shrug. "It wouldn't hurt to try."
"I-I'll think about it, okay?" Renai bit her lip. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
"Take all the time you need," Landon said as he lightly patted her shoulder. "It's not like they want you there tomorrow." He blinked. "Wait, did it say when they want you there?"
Renai shook her head. "No."
"Well, I'll leave you to think about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get up to level 50 in Goo Zombies," Landon said before ruffling her hair.
As her brother left the room, Renai sighed as she fixed her hair. She looked down at the letter that still sat in her lap. It had to be a scam. But, what if it wasn't? Even then, why choose her of all people? She didn't know a thing about fighting. She didn't need violence to defend herself. Renai could just continue to ignore her bullies.
"No, I'm not going," she said as she pulled open her drawer. "My life is fine as it is. I don't need to go to China. I wanna stay here with my family, and continue with high school. Then, I'll go to college and become an author." She narrowed her eyes as she laid the letter in her drawer. "Whoever these nut jobs are that think I should be a monk must be out of their minds."
With that said, Renai pushed her drawer shut. The letter was left to sit inside with drafts of short stories Renai had written, and graded school essays.
