[Disclaimer list: characters from Sailor Moon, Jackie Chan Adventures, and
Cardcaptors are not used by permission, but for fun and entertainment.
Believe me, as you read on, this combo WILL make sense. I must ask
Japanese-speaking fans to please not be offended by my use of American
names during the course of this story. I am more familiar with these names
than the Japanese ones, despite the fact that this story is a sideline of
Ranma ½: The Mandarin. Speaking of Ranma, characters from that which may
make cameo appearances are also not used by permission.
Song Zhu Shu, however, IS used by permission, as well as the encouragement of the author (I guess it's a perk of being his real-life fiancée). However, Curse of the Banshee is the prequel to an original anime-style series I am developing. So let me know what you think, and happy reading!
One more note - I spell magick with a k. This is not a misspelling, but a differentiation between, say, Clow cards and sleight-of-hand. Magick is real; magic is illusion.]
***Lan Tao, Southern Hong Kong***
Purple-orange light danced through the sky as a far-off storm roiled over the strait of Zhujiangkou, its clouds playing tag with the sunset. Lightning rippled through them as though waving the sun farewell for the evening, probably causing the people of Macau to dash for cover before the heavy storm hit.
The light, however, was not sufficient enough for the young girl on the beach to write by. She squinted in the dim light, trying to read the elegant characters she had drawn on the yellowed parchment.
"Dear Li," she read aloud. "It's good to be back in Hong Kong, but I miss Tokyo. Grandmother is doing well, slowly recovering, but getting better. Things have changed, though."
She trailed off, looking at an island to the south. Rising high in the distance, she could see the tall, silver towers that had appeared on the island during the semester she'd been away in Tokyo. Four months ago, that island had been green on sunny days, and shrouded in mist on darker ones. On those days, when she was younger, she used to pretend it was an enchanted island, with spirits that would whisk her away and beg her to marry their prince.
She was not that much older than those carefree days - ten years old, now, but a foot taller and almost a full deck of Clow cards later. Now, if those spirits tried to whisk her away, she would have to refuse their offer, because her heart belonged to another. She had followed Li Shaoron to Tokyo in her love, had even defended him against a powerful Clow card, a dangerous one - the Fight Card.
Li Meilin smiled at the memory of her endurance against this magickal enemy. Once, it had brought her only guilt, but she recalled the words of her friend Sakura: "You're part of the team, Meilin!"
And because she was part of a team, she had to let the team know there was danger from a new source.
The spirits of the misty island would never come to her, now. In their place were the towers, hard blades stabbing into the sky. In the twilight, bright lights shone over the island, warning airplanes of their presence, and to keep clear. Little of the green was left.
However, whenever she asked anyone in the village about the new structure, they would dodge her questions and turn the subject. Meilin was not accustomed to being denied things, so at first this irked her. As time passed, though, she began to realize people were SCARED of this place, and she began to wonder why. As more of her kinsmen refused to answer her questions, she grew more and more desperate to find out what they found so threatening.
Every evening, just after sunset, a helicopter flew into the island. It was not a normal helicopter, and Meilin couldn't tell where it came from, only that it did not come from her island home of Lan Tao. It had a strange design to it, almost as though it were some sort of insect. There was some sort of symbol on the side, but Meilin could not make it out, not even with binoculars. It would land, and, as she found out one very long night, stay until almost sunrise. Then, it would leave again, heading north, toward the mainland. None of this would have been very sinister to her had the others in her clan not been so intimidated by the island itself.
She looked down at her letter to Li, a dark cloud crossing over her face. She crumpled the parchment in frustration and rose, thankful she had tied her waist-length blue-black hair into full odangos and not the pigtailed ones she normally wore. The wind was picking up, whistling in her ears as she looked out from her perch to the distant island. It wasn't even part of Hong Kong, and she didn't know what country it belonged to. China, like the islands around her own? Portugal, like Macau? Or was it simply the property of those silver spikes?
"WHO ARE YOU?!!?" she cried out, her words carried away on the wind. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY FAMILY?!!?"
Hot tears appeared in her eyes as the helicopter flew in for its landing, coming from somewhere in the south. She narrowed her eyes, using the back of her sleeve to wipe the tears away, watching the helicopter's descent into the spires. When it was out of sight, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Force," she whispered, as she had heard Li do many times. "Hear my plight, release the light!"
Inside her mind, she envisioned this incantation flooding a warm, calming glow over her, nourishing her body and her soul with tranquility. It always worked when she was alone and upset. Unfortunately, she still couldn't use it to control her temper, no matter how hard she tried.
Worse yet, it only marginally worked now. She was calm, but rage still burned in the pit of her stomach as she took one last look at the island. She saved that rage, and fanned it within her, hoping that with it, she could say the right words to Li to make him come back to Lan Tao and help her rid their family of this threat. When she thought she had it close to right, she mailed it out.
***New Kowloon, Mainland Hong Kong***
"But Jackie, if you take me back to Mom and Dad's house, they'll want me to stay!"
Jackie Chan raised an eyebrow at his niece, Jade.
"Is that a bad thing?" he asked. "They're your parents!"
Jade looked down, kicking at the ground. As always, Jackie was right, and she hated when Jackie was right.
"I know," she said. "And I wouldn't have come here if I didn't miss them and worry about them." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "But I wanna stay with you."
Jackie Chan, global adventurer and famous martial artist, felt his knees weaken at the sight of his niece's puppy-dog look, and once again marveled at how much an eleven-year-old could change his whole life. Jade was a nuisance, a pest, always getting into trouble that HE had to save her from. In fact, she was only even in Hong Kong with him because she had stowed away on one of Section 13's helicopters - piloted, no less, by the infamous criminal Valmont and his gang of thugs during their escape from Section 13's headquarters - when they had come here to stop the demon Shendu from opening a rift into another dimension.
However, it was ALSO because of Jade that the demon had been stopped, even if she HAD managed to create similar rifts all over the world. That part of it wasn't really her fault - she hadn't known. She just aimed the Dragon talisman at the demon's statue form and shot it with the talisman's magickal fire beam. *[Episode 13, Jackie Chan Adventures]
More than that, Jade had worked her way into Jackie's heart in a way he never expected. She made him feel warm, proud, and scared, all at once. He worried about her when she got into trouble, even though she was almost as skilled as he was in the martial arts, if not as disciplined or experienced. She had nicknamed them the J-Team, a nickname he adored as much as he adored his spirited niece. All these feelings confused him, made him giddy and uneasy all at once. Many times, he wondered what they were.
And now, he wanted to tell her that life in San Francisco would not be the same without her, that there would be a gaping hole in his life if she wasn't there. He'd been in love with many women before, but his love for Jade was a new experience, and it took all of his strength not to wrap her up in his arms and tell her she could live with him forever.
As it was, he couldn't tell her the truth, that she HAD to go back.
"We'll see," he said. "Your parents may want you to stay, but if they approve, we'll see."
Even his most favorite girlfriend had been unable to get him to lie like this, even in such a small way. Why could this little girl?
Fortunately, there were stronger heads about.
"Jade learn nothing of family honor since coming to San Francisco?" asked the old man who had stepped out of the kiosk beside them. Munching on a rice ball, the wild haired skinny man added, "One must honor parents above all."
"Uncle is right, Jade," Jackie nodded in agreement. "You can come back and visit any time you like, but I'm afraid your parents would miss you if you didn't go home to them."
Jade burst out in tears, unable to fight the frustration any longer.
"I don't want to go back!" she cried out. "But I will - WHEN I'm good and ready - because I now know you don't want me!" She turned and ran off before Jackie could grab the hood of her ever-present red sweatshirt. However, the words he heard stopped him more than her speed. "Hmph - J- Team - to think I thought we were PARTNERS - "
As painful as the angry exclamation was the white-hot fire that suddenly burned his earlobe. Uncle, looking like Goliath despite his shorter height, was blazing holes into the back of Jackie's head with his eyes.
"Never, EVER let me see you lie to child again, Jackie," he said sternly, letting go of Jackie's ear.
"Lie?" Jackie asked, bewildered.
"Yes, lie, like Chinese rug," Uncle said, his mouth full of rice ball. As abruptly as his anger had surged, it was gone. He'd made his point; it was open for discussion, but more importantly, it was addressed. "If head says sky blue, but heart says sky wide, what you believe?"
"But, Uncle, both of those things are true," Jackie felt more and more like a little boy being lectured by his sensei. Uncle always seemed to have that effect on him, especially since the talismans and Section 13 had come into their lives.
"Ah, but head cannot soar like heart can," Uncle stuffed another mouthful of the rice ball in his mouth before walking away with a wink. He went into the direction Jade had gone.
"Uncle! Where are you going? Shouldn't we look for Jade?" Jackie asked, chasing after him.
"Of course," Uncle nodded. "But will be short hunt."
Jade had not gone very far before being distracted by what she took to be a comic shop. Indeed, it was the equivalent of one - manga from all over the Orient was prominently displayed, and Jade was completely engrossed in an issue of Dragonball Z. She had noticed neither Jackie nor Uncle.
"Yeah, you get 'em, Goku!" she said, reaching a particularly exciting frame.
Jackie smiled, thinking about Superman. As a young child, he'd enjoyed those comics as much as Jade enjoyed hers, whether her manga or her Troll Cop comics. For an Oriental girl from Hong Kong, she was almost more American than he - even the manga were in English.
Putting a finger to his lips, he motioned to the shopkeeper that he would pay for the manga. The shopkeeper winked at him as he made Jackie's change. Jackie pushed Uncle around the corner, and they waited for Jade to come out.
Jade sighed. She knew Jackie was right, and Uncle, too. But she had so much fun with Jackie, and she had to admit, she learned a lot, too. When Shendu had threatened all of Asia, she was faced with the very real consequences of losing her parents as failure. However, she had used all the strengths she had, and helped Jackie defeat the evil demon before he had a chance to harm anyone. She and Jackie had saved the world together - how could she leave him after doing something like that?
Over the forty-eight hours since they'd arrived in Hong Kong, the importance of that did not escape her. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it weighed on her. Would she ever get to save the world again? Would she do it alone, or with Jackie and Uncle? If she did it alone, would it be as much fun?
She placed the manga back on the shelf with a sniff, wishing she could take it with her. As she walked out of the shop, though, the shopkeeper said, "Miss? You forgot book!"
He came running at her with the exact manga she'd been reading, but Jade decided not to question it.
"Thank you," she said, smiling. "But I don't think - "
"Young man outside pay," the shopkeeper nodded, smiling and pointing outside.
Jade peeked out the shop door. Uncle and Jackie were leaning against a wall, trying so hard to mind their own business that it was obvious they were watching her. Her anger at Jackie forgotten, she smiled and approached him.
"I'm sorry, Jackie," she said, hugging him with tears in her eyes. "It's just. I'm gonna miss the J-Team."
Jackie embraced her, surprised at how quickly he was forgiven.
"Remember, head see, heart soar," Uncle whispered in his ear before striding down the street and back to their hotel.
Jackie reached up to clear the rice out of his ear before telling Jade, "I'm going to miss the J-Team, too, Jade."
"Really?" Jade looked at him, her eyes alight.
"Really," he said. He took her hand as they followed Uncle at a much slower pace. "It's hard for me to say goodbye to you. I'm going to miss you very much. So I'm sorry if I have been acting strange these past few days. It's sad for me, too."
"You know, Jackie," Jade stopped, gazing up at him in complete idolatry, bringing that warm giddy feeling that made Jackie so uncomfortable. "You're my hero."
He couldn't control the pleasant heat rising up in his face, and for a moment, he realized what Uncle had meant about the whole head-heart-sky thing.
"I am honored," he said, bowing his head respectfully, as though to aristocracy.
Then the moment was over, and they were walking down the street again. For Jackie, however, he was King of the World! The entire Dark Hand could come after him right now, and he'd be invincible! He'd fight like a lion, because he was - (insert drum roll here) - JADE'S HERO!!!
His head was in the clouds as she started babbling about her new manga, and it remained there all the way back to the hotel. He couldn't help wishing he could admonish Uncle for being wrong about which part of the body could soar. The little girl holding his hand worshipped him, and the moon was not beyond reach. Nothing was.
Captain Black was waiting in the lobby when they entered the hotel. He had a grim look on his face as he consulted with Uncle. Abruptly, Jackie was brought back to New Kowloon, to the dire news that would surely accompany those gloomy expressions.
"I'm afraid we have to cut this vacation short, Jackie," the tall Section 13 agent said. He looked ready for an invasion, strapped as he was with guns and high-tech gadgetry beneath his black trench-coat.
"What's going on?" Jackie asked, more to Uncle than the captain.
"All heck's broken loose at headquarters since Valmont's escape," Black told him. "And there's another affair I have to tend to, as well."
There was something in his eyes, begging Jackie to ask him.
"Is there anything I can do?" His mouth had moved on automatic; he'd had enough adventure to last a while, and just wanted to go home to San Francisco and relax. Wistfully, he realized that if Valmont was free, it would be a long time before he could.
"Officially, you know I can't ask you that," Now Black was boring holes into him, letting him know that there was plenty for Jackie to do.
Jackie looked at Jade. "Heroes don't get any rest, do they!"
Jade nodded. "Looks like the J-Team's back in business!"
"No, no, no," Jackie shook his head. "Not this time. You're going home this time, and staying OUT of danger."
"But, Jackie, we're a team!" Jade cried.
"Jade," Jackie said warningly. "You HAVE to go home. You're too young to be running around Hong Kong, getting involved in - in - " He turned to Captain Black. "Just what ARE we getting involved in?"
"We'll discuss that - later," Captain Black made a subtle motion with his eyes toward Jade.
"Can you.?" Jackie raised an eyebrow at Captain Black.
"Well, despite the fact she's outwitted some of my best agents, I suppose I can," Captain Black smirked. "As a matter of national security."
Jade narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
The answer came in the form of big, strong arms around her waist, lifting her from the ground. One of Section 13's biggest agents had her slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She kicked and screeched and even bit, but to no avail. This guy was a rock!
Jackie dug through his wallet for a moment before handing the agent a business card.
"This is my brother's address," he said. "Please don't scare him. Tell him. tell him you work for me."
The agent looked at Black, raising an eyebrow. Black shrugged. The agent then nodded and walked out.
Black sighed. "Too bad she's so young. If she wasn't, I'd definitely want her at my back."
Before Jackie had a chance to reply, Jade burst back in, knocking a pair of bewildered American tourists flat on their behinds. The aging couple looked at one another in shock.
"How rude!" the woman said. "Is everyone in Hong Kong like this?"
"Let's hope not, schnookums," the man replied, rising.
As he reached his hand out to help her up, the door burst open again and the burly agent blasted in behind the little girl. The man went flying into the lady's lap, his camera and film flying everywhere.
"Well, I suppose you get what you pay for," he said with disgust.
"And 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' said that Tom Cruise stayed here," his wife snorted in agreement.
Ten yards away, Jade was shouting at Jackie, "You've got to let me come with you, Uncle Jackie, you've just GOT to!"
As the agent grabbed her again, Jackie said, "I'm sorry, Jade, but you can't come this time. You must go home. Please, trust me."
"NO!" Jade cried with angry tears welling up. "I won't go home! I'm going with you!"
Taking a deep breath, Jackie did something that he knew would tear both their hearts right out of their chests. The difference was that Jade's would be put back. Jackie's would get trampled by elephants for a while, first.
He turned around, and he walked toward the stairs. He ignored Jade's frantic protests, even successfully ignored the tears welling in his own eyes as he took each step one at a time. He could sense Uncle and Captain Black behind him, uncertain how to proceed. He hoped they would follow him up the stairs, but regardless, he continued. Each step was torture.
"No! No, Jackie, don't leave me! Jackie! I wanna go with you!" Jade cried. "Uncle! Captain Black! Tell him! We're a team! JACKIE!"
Uncle and Black must have followed him, because suddenly, Jade's voice grew hysterical, almost eerie.
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME BEHIND! WE'RE A TEAM!" And then, like a sword through the gut: "I HATE YOU, JACKIE!"
Jackie stopped, as though he really HAD been run through. Jade's voice was fading as the agent brought her back outside, but Jade had left a wound that could not heal easily.
"She hates me," he said, astounded, as Black and Uncle caught up to him. "She hates me."
"That good!" Uncle said brightly. Even Black had to glare at Uncle for this. "Remember, hate not opposite love. Is same."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Black snickered. "I LOVE Valmont, that's why I hate him so much."
"Ah," Uncle held up a finger. "Is Valmont you love, or catching him?"
"No, Jade really HATES me," Jackie repeated.
"I admit I love my work, but catching Valmont? I'll be happier when he's safely behind bars," Black protested.
"Are you sure?" Uncle raised an eyebrow and continued up the stairs.
Black chased after him, saying, "Yes, I AM sure! The world is safer with guys like that behind bars."
"Ah, but you hunter, Captain," Uncle replied as they reached the next floor. "If you capture Valmont, who prey?"
"She hates me."
"I hate him!" Jade was saying outside as the agent literally threw her in the back of his black Caprice Classic. She tried to scramble toward him, but he slammed the door before she could get out. The back had no handles, and he was in the car before she could jump into the front.
"Now you behave, little girl," he told her sternly. "I don't know what the big news in Lan Tao is, but it's no place for you."
Jade realized that she wasn't going to get out of it this way, so she sat back in her seat.
Having some time to cool off, she realized that the last words she had ever said to her uncle were "I hate you." Realizing how much she must have hurt his feelings, she suddenly felt very ashamed of herself. How could she have said such a thing? She had to make it right, somehow!
Not just that, but, no matter what he said, Jackie needed her. She was as responsible for him as he was for her, and there was no way she could let him go on an adventure and get into all kinds of danger alone without her to look after him. And if the big news was in Lan Tao, it was just as important to find her way there as it was to get back to Jackie.
"So what's this big news?" she asked.
"Classified," the agent responded stoically.
"Hey, I saved the world from Shendu," she said casually. "You DO know that, right?"
"Of course I know that," the agent retorted. "I was there. 'Only magick can defeat magick.'" *[again, Episode 13. Highly recommended]
Jade chuckled. "I see you met Uncle."
"That man's your uncle?" the agent raised an eyebrow. "Well now I see why they had to get an agent to get you home."
Jade smiled fetchingly. "I'm not all THAT bad."
"Sure," came the skeptical reply.
She took another approach.
"So you were there when we fought Shendu, huh?" she asked.
"For all the good we did, yeah," the agent snorted. "You and Jackie did most of the work."
"Yeah, we make a great team," she sighed wistfully.
"On a personal note, if I were fighting that splinter group in Lan Tao, I'd want you covering my butt," the agent complimented. "Even if you are a little girl."
"Why, thank you, agent!" she said, her grin genuine and fueled not by his compliment, but by his leak of information. She let it fade as she asked, "Can we stop at a gas station?"
"I can't stop until I get you home, miss," the agent shrugged. "Nothing personal. Just following orders."
"But I REALLY need to stop," she whined slightly, indicating that she had to stop for reasons of nature.
"You're gonna have to hold it," the agent replied.
"I don't think I can!"
The agent rolled his eyes.
"Fine. We'll stop. But you've got two minutes. Any longer and I'm coming in after you."
They stopped at a gas station, still in the heart of New Kowloon, and the agent let Jade out of the car. He escorted her to the bathroom, then held the door open as he waved her in. She abruptly turned to catch him following her.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"I'm supposed to keep an eye on you," the agent replied.
"Read the sign," Jade pointed. The agent looked at it for a moment.
"I can't," he said. "It's Chinese to me."
Jade looked up at the sign, then rolled her eyes.
"That's because it IS Chinese. But the little stick figure is wearing a skirt. That means this is the girls room."
The agent just looked at her, speechless. Egged on by this sudden control, she added, "That means no boys allowed!"
She headed towards the commodes, hearing the soft THUMP! as the door shut behind her. She turned to see if the agent was still watching her, but he had heeded her words. She grinned.
"Now, to get back to Jackie," she said to herself as she spotted a window.
It was an old window, and it opened easily enough. The drop to the ground was also very low, and within moments, Jade was blending in with the crowd two blocks over.
"That was my easiest escape yet!" she giggled to herself. "And he was even nice enough to tell me what's going on!"
A splinter group. of what? And why was Section 13 treating this like a threat to national security? If it was a threat, how much of one was it? What had Jackie gotten himself into this time?
She had no answers to any of these questions yet, but the answers were in Lan Tao. Getting there was easy enough.
As she made toward the shipping district, she said to herself, "I'm coming, Jackie! I've got your back!"
Behind her, a postal worker scurried to get this special delivery letter with the Li family seal onto the mail ship to Tokyo.
***Nerima District, Tokyo, Japan***
The dojo was animated and full of noise as lessons were in session on a bright afternoon. The students, five girls of fifteen, sat in a respectful semi-circle, eyes on the action at the center of the dojo. Off to the side, a pair of cats sat watching the display just as intently as the five girls, the crescent moons on their foreheads differentiating them from real cats as much as their scrutiny.
The two girls in the center were facing off in mid-battle, each holding a pair of fighting ribbons. Both were clad only in bikinis of very thin fabric, and neither was pulling a punch. The Chinese girl with the long hair and the huge jade-green eyes had a huge bruise in her right arm. The short-haired Japanese girl was standing on one foot, perfectly balanced, but favoring the leg that had the red mark on its calf. Their eyes were locked, their brows covered with sweat, wrinkled in concentration.
It seemed to last an eternity before the Japanese girl leaped in the air in an aerial twist, her ribbons bearing down on the Chinese girl like a tornado as she sailed above her. The Chinese girl responded by lashing the ribbon in her good hand out in a straight line. Like iron, it seemed to slice through the air and disrupted the whirling ribbons. The Japanese girl landed, wincing as her bad leg bore the full of her weight for a moment.
"Akane do better in sleep!" the Chinese girl taunted, but with real affection. Akane narrowed her eyes, her fighting instincts up, despite the fact her sparring partner was also a close friend. Both her ribbons were tangled into the Chinese girl's one, and the other was coming at her with just as much vehemence as the first. Holding her ribbons tightly, she rushed at the Chinese girl, then at the last second, tucked away from her. The Chinese girl's momentum was going forward and over Akane, so using her tangled ribbons to send the Chinese girl with it was a simple thing. The ribbon holding hers went limp, freeing them from its grasp.
The Chinese girl rolled with the punch and jumped up in a fighting stance.
"Zhu Shu take back," she nodded. "Akane impressive, if impulsive."
She ran forward, doing a series of leap-turns that looked more like a dance than martial arts. The ribbons made whirlwinds around her as she approached Akane, forming an impenetrable shield around her gazelle-like figure. Akane twirled her ribbons, trying to fend off the approach, unwilling to take even a single step back.
Zhu Shu took one final leap in Akane's direction, lifting one arm to drop a spiral over Akane's head. Akane jerked back, but too late. The ribbon had her held tightly, like the bandages of a mummy. Zhu Shu glided to the floor, lifting the other ribbon over her head and allowing the spiral to die down. With a flick of her wrist, she freed Akane's head of the other ribbon, revealing the astonished Japanese girl's face.
Zhu Shu turned to the other girls, holding out her bare arms and gesturing to them.
"Nothing up sleeves - no sleeves. No tricks, just ribbon," she said to them in halting Japanese. "Anything can be weapon. Best weapon imagination."
Two of the girls were listening intently, with a look of almost worship in their eyes. The smaller of the two closed her eyes and meditated on this a moment, her face serious and her hands clasped in a focusing mantra. The other, the tallest, was not meditating, but the way she chewed her lip made it very clear that she paid it just as much heed.
"Rei, Lita, take floor," Zhu Shu said.
"Are we going to use the ribbons?" Lita, the taller one, asked, hope in her eyes.
"No need ribbons," Zhu Shu scolded.
"Right," Lita muttered. "Imagination."
She and Rei took fighting stances and waited for Zhu Shu to call the fight. Before anything could happen, however, a loud beeping sound arose from the pile of school books on one side of the dojo.
"My computer!" One of the other girls jumped up and ran to the pile. Everything stopped, and Zhu Shu watched intently as the girl dug through her bag to procure a small blue pocket computer with a symbol on it: a heart, with a cross hanging from it and topped with a crescent, the symbol of Mercury.
As if to emphasize that this wasn't a normal scene, one of the cats, the white one, spoke with a soft male voice: "What's going on, Ami?"
There were two girls left sitting, both with blonde hair. The one with the long blonde hair tied in a red ribbon rose expectantly. The other, bearing odangos and pigtails, moaned and buried her head in her arms.
"Not the Negaverse again!" she whined.
"Don't worry, Serena," Rei said, joining them from the floor with Lita. "If it IS the Negaverse, you can always whine like that at them. They'll run away screaming!"
"They will not, and I don't whine!" Serena whined.
"Give it up, you do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do you two EVER stop fighting?" Akane asked, drying herself off with a towel and slipping into her gi.
"Nope," Lita said. "They never do."
"Well, be quiet and let Ami talk!" the black cat scolded.
"It's another power spike," Ami told them, intent on the computer screen. "Not as strong as the one two days ago, but it's from Hong Kong again." She looked up. "Data neither confirms nor denies a relationship to the other spike, but they're both very negative energy."
The black cat frowned. "Why would the Negaverse be in Hong Kong?"
"Negaverse negative energy, yes-no?" Zhu Shu asked the cat. When the cat nodded, Zhu Shu added, "Maybe not Negaverse. Maybe some other type."
Rei nodded in agreement, addressing the black cat. "In my training as a Shinto priestess, we learn about all kinds of evil spirits, Luna."
"You mean there's other stuff besides the Negaverse out there?" the pig- tailed blonde, Serena, asked, her face full of alarm. "I mean, up till now, the only other enemies we've faced have been." Suddenly she blushed. "I mean. uh."
"You," Lita, slightly bolder, finished for her.
Zhu Shu looked around at all of the girls, who were looking expectantly at her. Feeling like she had to answer them, she licked her lips and took a deep breath.
"If need, Zhu Shu will check out," she said. "No Scouts. Not ready."
"Zhu Shu, we're leaving for China TOMORROW!" Akane exclaimed with a nervous squeal. "Remember, betrothal ceremony, Amazon village, me and Shampoo?"
"Zhu Shu not forget," the Chinese girl smiled at her dear friend. "Have much business in China. Hong Kong not out of way."
"No way, Zhu Shu," Lita shook her head. "If it is the Negaverse, we can't ask you to get involved."
"M-hmm," Ami agreed, joining the others, computer in hand. "It's dangerous enough being Sailor Scouts." She trailed off, horror on her face. The other girls turned various shades of red as well, and an uncomfortable silence pervaded. ".and you're not a Scout," she finished.
"Well, I agree with Ami," Akane said. "I've got a future husband AND a future wife, and my husband has almost as many enemies as you do." She bowed to Zhu Shu, then to the girls. "If you will excuse me, our time is up, I have a ton of homework, and that sounds like really good advice."
She smiled as she left, waving goodbye to the five girls who were secretly famous as the Sailor Scouts. Ami, with the computer, was Sailor Mercury, whose shabon and ice attacks had broken the ice with more than one foe. The long-haired blonde with the red ribbon was Sailor Venus, whose Crescent Beam had saved them in battle with Zoicite and Malachite, two of Queen Beryl's top generals. Rei was Sailor Mars, Shinto priestess and champion of Fire, and more than one Nega-villian had been burned by her in a fight. Lita was Sailor Jupiter, wielder of lightning and electricity, as shocking in power as in her Amazon height.
Ironically, their leader was Serena, the whiny pig-tail girl. Despite her cowardly demeanor, complete lack of motivation, and utter disregard for responsibility, Serena, secretly Sailor Moon, was one of the city's most famous heroes. Sailor Moon sightings were cropping up like Bigfoot in America; if the masses knew their hero was a fifteen-year-old girl with more interest in boys and manga than saving the world, would it make them wonder?
But Sailor Moon and her Scouts had not come by their reputation lightly. Serena had matured quite a bit since becoming aware of her true identity as the Moon Princess, and had willingly chosen, upon awakening the life power of the Doom Tree, to retain their memories of the entire adventure so they could be ready when danger struck again. The Negaverse had been quiet since then, but the girls kept regular patrols whenever any type of strange energy surfaced. It was on one such expedition that they came in contact with Zhu Shu. *[see Ranma ½: The Mandarin for details]
Zhu Shu took them under her wing, being an expert martial artist and a master with many weapons. She was the sole heir of the Song School of Sword Dance, and the lessons she had so far passed on to the Scouts were valuable. Even Serena was leaving each session with a new grace and wisdom. They had almost lost her not four days ago - indeed, had lost her, and rejoiced at her return.
Zhu Shu watched Akane's back as she exited the dojo, then turned her full attention to the Scouts.
"What this?" she asked.
"Well, we've been talking," Sailor Venus said. "And even though you have a pen, we don't want to see you in danger, especially OUR kind of danger."
Serena nodded. "Mina's right. We couldn't bear it if we lost you again, especially to the Negaverse."
"If not Negaverse, is Zhu Shu's responsibility," their sensei told them. "Then, who not ask who for help?"
"You'd BETTER ask us for help," Rei said, and Zhu Shu could see her aura flare with the fire that made her Mars. She was flattered by her friends' passion. "Six can do better what one could do well."
Zhu Shu laughed. "Rei-chan sensei, now? Rei-chan teach Zhu Shu?"
Rei flushed, falling to her knees in submission.
"I meant no disrespect, honored sensei," she said, looking horribly miserable at her slight.
"Rei-chan misunderstand," Zhu Shu offered a hand to help Rei up. Their relationship was closer than any of the other Scouts; indeed, Zhu Shu considered Rei second only to her blood-sisters, Akane and Shampoo. Twice Rei had nursed her back to health after serious traumas, but Rei's immense pride - or lack of it when it came to Zhu Shu - betrayed her true respect and love for her Chinese friend, a fact which Zhu Shu accepted with honor.
"Rei-chan's advice wise," Zhu Shu added, causing the priestess to blush furiously. "Even if Zhu Shu no take."
"But our job is to fight evil," Ami protested. "Right, Luna?"
Before Luna had a chance to answer the question, Serena broke in.
"Guys," she said, yawning. "Can we talk about this over ice cream sodas? I'm starved!"
Even Rei had to admit it was a good idea. "We need to get Akane and Shampoo a betrothal present anyway," she said.
"Zhu Shu, maybe you could help us, since you know them better than we do," Ami added.
"Zhu Shu honored," the Chinese girl's huge green eyes sparkled with delight. "We go on - how you say - 'shopping spree'?"
"THAT," said Mina, her beautiful face glowing with delight, "sounds like fun!"
Unbeknownst Zhu Shu or the Scouts, there was another pair of eyes observing the dojo.
Kodachi was too far away to hear what was being said, but she had observed the lesson with interest. Watching the beautiful goddess that was both her greatest love AND the rival for her greatest love, she had sighed with pleasure. However, when the Chinese girl had taken to fighting her with the ribbons, her whole demeanor changed.
Just days ago, Akane had beaten her in the martial rhythmic gymnastics match between Fuurikan High School and her own St. Bacchus School for Girls. She had beaten Kodachi with ribbons, just like the ones she was fighting the Chinese girl with. For this, Kodachi loved her.
Kodachi Kuno was not used to losing. Whenever she faced even the slightest chance of failure, she found some way to undermine it. Like that brat her sophomore year. The girl was the best rhythmic gymnast at St. Bacchus. But a few well-placed rumors later, and the girl was kicked out of St. Bacchus and branded "karate maniac," a title which Kodachi had ensured she would carry to the next school she went to.
Akane, thus, had been the first person to ever beat her. And this Chinese BITCH had beaten Akane!
For Kodachi, that was a slap in the face. To find someone better than her was deserving of worship. But someone better than THAT just boggled her mind. She was not sure whether to sweep the Chinese demoness off her feet or just kill her.
When two of the other girls rose and took the floor, Kodachi nearly fell off her perch.
"No," she whispered to herself, amused. "It can't be. This is too delicious!"
She didn't even mind when her goddess left the dojo. She kept her eyes on the rest of the group, wondering what they had to do with the wonderful, perfect Akane. Surely they were not worthy of her, especially if they chose to consort with. with HER.
"I cannot beat the Chinese wench in battle," she told herself. "But, there's more than one way to bring someone into the bowels of hell, as your friend knows. And I, the Black Rose, know them all!"
She couldn't stop her amused giggles as she trailed the Chinese hag and her five peons all the way to Juuban Mall.
An hour, a hundred stores, and a dozen shopping bags later, they were sitting in a booth in the mall, gobbling ice cream sundaes and trying to decide what to do about Hong Kong.
"The computer is set to filter out localized energy," Ami was explaining. "There's a certain amount of normal energy that will be there, just from arguments, rivalries, bad feelings, and things like that. The next level is also localized, but wider. That's what happens when groups with minor powers use energy for specific means, like when Rei does one of her Shinto rituals."
"Minor powers?!!?" Rei interrupted.
"As opposed to global powers, yours are minor," Ami replied, smiling. "And what turned up from Hong Kong three days ago was a global-scale power. So was the spike we got today. Do you remember the spike we tracked the night we met Zhu Shu?" As the other girls nodded, and Zhu Shu listened intently, Ami continued, "This is bigger, and also from Hong Kong. I can't believe it's a coincidence they both come from the same place."
"That's all the more reason Zhu Shu shouldn't try to take it on alone," Lita said, turning to the Chinese girl. "You NEED us, Zhu Shu."
Zhu Shu nodded. "Maybe, but if no fight, no need Scouts. How know there will be fight?"
Mina nodded. "You're right. But promise us, Zhu Shu, that if there IS a fight, if there IS something to worry about, you'll contact us."
Zhu Shu raised an eyebrow at the five Scouts. "And you promise Zhu Shu you no go Hong Kong unless Zhu Shu say."
All the Scouts looked to Serena and nodded. Realizing she was their spokesperson, Serena said, "We promise."
Zhu Shu sat back in her seat, satisfied on two counts as the subject turned to boys and romance. First, she had persuaded the Scouts to stay out of danger. Second, she had avoided promising that she would do the same.
Having spent the night on a damp, dank, cargo ship, the yellowed parchment was none the worse for wear. The wax was still stiff, the symbol emblazoned on it never fading. And as the postal worker carrying it made his way toward the home of its addressee, he was inadvertently followed by two ten-year-old girls with a lot on their minds.
***Tomoeda Ward, Tokyo***
The walk from Juuban Ward was slow, but neither Madison nor Sakura cared. They had other things on their minds.
As the two ten-year-old girls walked down the street, Sakura was saying, "Now I'm even more worried about Meilin. Is that strange?"
"Well, you yourself said they felt sort of like Clow Cards to you," Madison threw back a lock of her long lavender hair, holding up her video camera. "That's why I taped them."
"I still wish I knew why they gave me such a strange feeling," Sakura looked down at her feet; despite the warm day, she was sorry she'd worn sandals. Her feet were so sore she was afraid she would not be able to skate for a while. "Who did you say they were?"
"I only recognized a few of them," Madison wrinkled her brow. "I know you recognized Mina Aino, star of all the Sailor V movies. And the tall one was Lita Kino, the gymnast. But I don't know who any of the others were."
"The Chinese girl was beautiful," Sakura said wistfully, her hand self- consciously rising to her short light-brown hair. "If I looked like that, Julian would notice me for sure."
"She was really pretty," Madison said brightly. "But I thought you said you got the weirdest feeling from her."
"Especially when they were talking about Hong Kong," Sakura said nervously, suddenly looking around. To Madison, she added, "Do you get the feeling we're being followed?"
Madison looked around, both naked-eyed and with her camera.
"I don't see anybody," she replied. "But around you, anything's possible."
They continued on, but Sakura kept looking around uneasily. She could feel a dark presence nearby, and not one she thought she could deal with today.
"It's just, ever since that nightmare I had about Meilin the other night, I've been worried about her," she confided to Madison. "And when those girls mentioned Hong Kong - THERE!"
She suddenly and excitedly pointed to a nearby tree.
"Someone's following us, Madison!" she cried. "They're in that tree!"
Madison put her lens to her eye and zoomed in on the tree. All she could see were leaves and branches.
"Still nothing," she shrugged. "Just act natural and stay on guard." As they continued walking, she coaxed her friend, "Go on. What about Hong Kong?"
"Well, it made me wonder if maybe my dream wasn't true," she admitted. "I mean, I've had so many other ones come true before - Li, Miss Mizuni - and if Meilin is in danger, I need to be there to help her!"
"I agree, but what can we do about it?"
"I don't know," Sakura said, looking at the ground miserably. "But we have to do something. I just hope we hear from her soon."
"Me too - woooah!"
Suddenly and abruptly, they were yanked off balance by the backs of their shirts. They twisted behind them to see a tall and rather menacing teenager glaring down at them, her violet eyes blazing. She wore her long hair in a ponytail that trailed down to one side, and her shapely, muscular body was clad in a black leotard with a black velvet rose emblazoned on it. She also wore a loose wrap, which she was shedding and wrapping around one clenched fist.
"Give me that videotape you just took," she hissed at Madison.
Madison wrinkled her brow in defiance. "No way!" she shouted, running. "Come on, Sakura!"
Both girls bolted as fast as they could, Sakura fingering the key that rested on a small gold chain around her neck. However, the girl in black suddenly appeared before them, her lips wrapped in a sultry manner around the cut end of a black rose.
"You obviously don't know who I am, or you would not defy me," the girl said. "I am the Black Rose, and I demand that tape now!"
"What makes you think we TOOK a tape?" Sakura demanded, wondering with horror how this girl had gotten a hold of the Leap card.
"Because I've been following those girls for several hours now, and I watched you take it," the Black Rose replied tritely. "So give it to me!"
"Why should we?" Madison challenged. However, she cowered slightly when the teenager advanced upon them. She and Sakura huddled together, and Madison was hoping Sakura would pull a Clow card soon.
"Because those girls are dangerous," the Black Rose hissed. "And because I said so!"
"Wait, those girls are dangerous? How?" Sakura asked, real alarm on her face.
"They are all crazy," the Black Rose said slowly. "Especially the Chinese girl. I need that tape. I need to know what they were talking about."
Sakura looked at Madison for a moment, then back at the Black Rose.
"We could make you a copy, if that would be okay," she ventured. "We think they're dangerous, too, and we think one of our friends is in danger from them. Perhaps we could help each other?"
"YOU, help ME?!!?" Kodachi nearly wet her panties in laughter. "Please. You're children."
Sakura looked at Madison, holding up the key. Madison's eyes were pleading, so the silent communication was affirmative. She took a deep breath, summoned all her strength, and.
"Alright, suit yourself," she said to the teenager.
Holding up the key, she added, "Oh Key of Clow, power of magick, power of Light! Surrender the Wand, the force ignite! Release!"
Kodachi was momentarily blinded as a golden circle of light formed around the two girls. Covering her eyes, she fell back, landing hard on her butt. She looked up to see that the pendant the little runt with the short hair had been wearing was now a wand the size of a walking stick, golden mist emanating from it.
Suddenly, she realized these babies could be useful after all.
"Wait!" she cried out amidst the loud din of energy. "Maybe you CAN help me!"
Sakura looked at Madison with a big grin.
"You know, it's amazing how nice people get when you throw magick into the mix," she said.
"Yeah, but do we really need HER help?" Madison motioned a thumb at Kodachi.
"I have money," Kodachi said, sitting up and facing them eye-to-eye. "Lots of money."
"My mom makes lots of money, too," Madison retorted. "From what I see, you're just a big bully with a bad attitude."
"Well, you were just saying you may need to get to Hong Kong," Kodachi leaned her elbows on her knees and steepled her fingers. Her family had not come by its fortune just sitting around, and Kodachi was no exception. She knew how to make a deal, and persuading these girls to help get her to the Chinese cow would be too simple. especially if the cow was going to Hong Kong, too.
"And," she said. "I'm a big bully with a private jet."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I don't know if we can trust you," she said. "You DID try to attack us."
Thinking quickly, Kodachi replied, "I thought you were in league with them." Standing, she said, "Listen. You've got nothing to lose. You make me a copy of your tape, and I will leave you my card. Should you decide it is necessary to go to Hong Kong, I will give you use of my jet."
"How about you give us your card," Madison said. "And we'll call you if we decide to accept your offer. If we do, we'll have a copy of the tape ready for you."
Kodachi narrowed her eyes. How in the world could she ensure that they decided to come? These little twerps and their magick could easy weaken the Chinese Akuma, and then Kodachi would have the pleasure of finishing her off. After that, who cared? All she had to do was convince them the Chinese girl was trouble.
"Just heed my warning," she said. "That Chinese girl is an Oni. She's very dangerous. If you're really concerned for your friend, you need my help defeating her. I know a lot about her."
"We'll THINK about it," Sakura emphasized.
Something dropped from the hand of the Black Rose before she disappeared as abruptly as she'd manifested herself. Madison bent down to pick up the small rectangular card. Suddenly her eyes went wide.
"Of course, I can't believe I didn't recognize the name sooner!" she cried. "Kodachi Kuno, from St. Bacchus's! She's the martial rhythmic gymnastics goddess in this town! She may even be on the Olympic team!"
"Wow," Sakura said, looking over Madison's shoulder after dispelling the wand back down to a key. "I wonder why someone so famous wants to fight Oni."
"Well, she's supposedly a real inspiration to the St. Bacchus's team," Madison informed her. "And she's involved in a lot of charities, because she's so rich."
Sakura snorted as they continued walking toward her house.
"It's hard to tell from the way she treated us," she said.
Madison shrugged. "All I know is what I've seen on television," she said.
"So, do you think we should accept her deal?"
Madison shook her head. "I would have made her a copy for free, if she'd just been nicer about it. But if that girl is some kind of demon, the Black Rose NEEDS that information to fight her."
"Madison, do you think the Chinese girl is a Clow card?" Sakura asked, finally giving voice to her nagging apprehension.
"Well, you said she felt like one," Madison said. "But I still think we should show Kero the tape."
A few more blocks brought them home. A boy their age was sitting on Sakura's front porch, wringing a yellowed piece of parchment in his hand. His serious brown eyes were filled with fear, and his dark hair and clothes were a rumpled mess. He'd obviously run all the way here.
"Li!" Sakura exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
They both ran up to him as he held up the letter.
"It's from Meilin," he said. "I need to go back to Hong Kong. There's trouble at home."
"I knew it!" Sakura exclaimed. "My dreams are never wrong!"
Li shot her a long, measuring look. "What are you talking about?"
She explained to him all she had told Madison as they entered the house. They made straight for Sakura's bedroom, not even bothering to see if anyone was home; Sakura's father and brother were both at work.
Sakura's room was that of a typical ten-year-old girl: posters of pop idols were just starting to appear on the wall, but there were still traces of toys, collections of dolls and stuffed animals all over. There was only one difference: one of them was playing a video game. And winning, from the sound of it.
The small golden winged bear at the computer console was about the size of a rat, and totally adorable. However, in his full form, Keroberos was actually the Guardian of the Book of Clow, a role he now lived, ever since Sakura opened the book and freed the cards. He was supposedly a mighty power, and had grown to be a close friend of Sakura and the other Card Captors over time.
Kero didn't even turn around when Sakura entered the room.
"Hi, Sakura," he said. "Did you bring me any pudding?"
"We've got problems, Kero,"
He paused his game and gave her his full attention, noticing Li and Madison for the first time.
"Woah, this IS serious, kid," he said to Li. "Usually, when you see me, you've got a smart remark. What's going on?"
Sakura related to him her dream, the Chinese girl at the mall, and their encounter with Kodachi Kuno, wrapping up with finding Li on the doorstep. Kero took in each bit of information, only pausing to inquire about the teenaged gymnast. When Sakura was finished, Kero turned to Li.
"So what did Meilin have to say?" he asked.
"There's an island by our ancestral home," Li explained. "She says there are a lot of strange things going on there. She says our clansmen are afraid of it."
Kero nodded. "This IS serious, then," he said. "They may not ALL be descendants of Clow Reed, but they're his kin, too. And if they're afraid of whatever's on this island, then you can bet there's a Clow card there."
Li shook his head. "This isn't any of your business, though," he said. "This is family business. These are my people being threatened. I have to get back to Hong Kong immediately."
Sakura and Madison exchanged a glance as Kero said, "If it was none of our business, then why did you come here? Why not just leave?"
Li glared at him for a moment, then looked down at the floor, grumbling, "I need your help getting there."
"Well," Sakura said. "I think we have just the help you're looking for. That Kodachi girl offered us use of her private jet in exchange for the video."
"Let's take a look at this video," Kero said, brow wrinkled in thought.
Madison jumped up and hooked the camera to Sakura's television. She replayed the entire conversation between the Chinese girl and her friends. Kero listened intently, watching the tape all the way through. Then, he had Madison rewind it, and took a look at each of the girls in turn.
"Well, they're talking about magick," Kero said. "And that short-haired girl has a computer that can sense it. She'd be a valuable ally for finding the rest of the Clow cards. But I wonder why they're looking for this one."
"That other girl is a Shinto priestess," Li observed. "She uses a lot of magick. You can tell by her moves." He narrowed his eyes. "Zhu Shu. That name sounds familiar."
"Kid, you took the words right out of my mouth," Kero admitted. "It's right at the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember it."
"So what would a movie star, an athlete, a Shinto priestess, and a genius with a magickal computer want in Hong Kong?" Sakura wondered aloud.
"I don't know, Sakura," Kero said, looking very serious. "But I think you should call your new friend and get us to Hong Kong right away. If Zhu Shu is a Clow card, we need to stop her from getting to whatever Clow card is terrorizing the Li clan."
Li looked down at the Li clan seal, fighting the tears that threatened to well up. When he had come to Japan to hunt the Clow cards, he had thought they would stay in Japan. Now, they were in HIS house, and he was mad.
Madison picked up the phone and dialed the number on the Black Rose's business card. The others observed as she waited a moment.
"Hello, Miss Kuno? Yes, we met earlier. I have some video footage you wanted.? Well, when does our flight leave? We'll give it to you when we get on the plane."
***Will Meilin find out on her own what has invaded the misty island? Will Jackie ever get over Jade hating him? Will the Scouts honor their promise to Zhu Shu? Will Kodachi get to her first? Will Uncle ever make sense? Sign on for the next chapter of.
CURSE OF THE BANSHEE
And just what is this curse, anyway???
Song Zhu Shu, however, IS used by permission, as well as the encouragement of the author (I guess it's a perk of being his real-life fiancée). However, Curse of the Banshee is the prequel to an original anime-style series I am developing. So let me know what you think, and happy reading!
One more note - I spell magick with a k. This is not a misspelling, but a differentiation between, say, Clow cards and sleight-of-hand. Magick is real; magic is illusion.]
***Lan Tao, Southern Hong Kong***
Purple-orange light danced through the sky as a far-off storm roiled over the strait of Zhujiangkou, its clouds playing tag with the sunset. Lightning rippled through them as though waving the sun farewell for the evening, probably causing the people of Macau to dash for cover before the heavy storm hit.
The light, however, was not sufficient enough for the young girl on the beach to write by. She squinted in the dim light, trying to read the elegant characters she had drawn on the yellowed parchment.
"Dear Li," she read aloud. "It's good to be back in Hong Kong, but I miss Tokyo. Grandmother is doing well, slowly recovering, but getting better. Things have changed, though."
She trailed off, looking at an island to the south. Rising high in the distance, she could see the tall, silver towers that had appeared on the island during the semester she'd been away in Tokyo. Four months ago, that island had been green on sunny days, and shrouded in mist on darker ones. On those days, when she was younger, she used to pretend it was an enchanted island, with spirits that would whisk her away and beg her to marry their prince.
She was not that much older than those carefree days - ten years old, now, but a foot taller and almost a full deck of Clow cards later. Now, if those spirits tried to whisk her away, she would have to refuse their offer, because her heart belonged to another. She had followed Li Shaoron to Tokyo in her love, had even defended him against a powerful Clow card, a dangerous one - the Fight Card.
Li Meilin smiled at the memory of her endurance against this magickal enemy. Once, it had brought her only guilt, but she recalled the words of her friend Sakura: "You're part of the team, Meilin!"
And because she was part of a team, she had to let the team know there was danger from a new source.
The spirits of the misty island would never come to her, now. In their place were the towers, hard blades stabbing into the sky. In the twilight, bright lights shone over the island, warning airplanes of their presence, and to keep clear. Little of the green was left.
However, whenever she asked anyone in the village about the new structure, they would dodge her questions and turn the subject. Meilin was not accustomed to being denied things, so at first this irked her. As time passed, though, she began to realize people were SCARED of this place, and she began to wonder why. As more of her kinsmen refused to answer her questions, she grew more and more desperate to find out what they found so threatening.
Every evening, just after sunset, a helicopter flew into the island. It was not a normal helicopter, and Meilin couldn't tell where it came from, only that it did not come from her island home of Lan Tao. It had a strange design to it, almost as though it were some sort of insect. There was some sort of symbol on the side, but Meilin could not make it out, not even with binoculars. It would land, and, as she found out one very long night, stay until almost sunrise. Then, it would leave again, heading north, toward the mainland. None of this would have been very sinister to her had the others in her clan not been so intimidated by the island itself.
She looked down at her letter to Li, a dark cloud crossing over her face. She crumpled the parchment in frustration and rose, thankful she had tied her waist-length blue-black hair into full odangos and not the pigtailed ones she normally wore. The wind was picking up, whistling in her ears as she looked out from her perch to the distant island. It wasn't even part of Hong Kong, and she didn't know what country it belonged to. China, like the islands around her own? Portugal, like Macau? Or was it simply the property of those silver spikes?
"WHO ARE YOU?!!?" she cried out, her words carried away on the wind. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY FAMILY?!!?"
Hot tears appeared in her eyes as the helicopter flew in for its landing, coming from somewhere in the south. She narrowed her eyes, using the back of her sleeve to wipe the tears away, watching the helicopter's descent into the spires. When it was out of sight, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Force," she whispered, as she had heard Li do many times. "Hear my plight, release the light!"
Inside her mind, she envisioned this incantation flooding a warm, calming glow over her, nourishing her body and her soul with tranquility. It always worked when she was alone and upset. Unfortunately, she still couldn't use it to control her temper, no matter how hard she tried.
Worse yet, it only marginally worked now. She was calm, but rage still burned in the pit of her stomach as she took one last look at the island. She saved that rage, and fanned it within her, hoping that with it, she could say the right words to Li to make him come back to Lan Tao and help her rid their family of this threat. When she thought she had it close to right, she mailed it out.
***New Kowloon, Mainland Hong Kong***
"But Jackie, if you take me back to Mom and Dad's house, they'll want me to stay!"
Jackie Chan raised an eyebrow at his niece, Jade.
"Is that a bad thing?" he asked. "They're your parents!"
Jade looked down, kicking at the ground. As always, Jackie was right, and she hated when Jackie was right.
"I know," she said. "And I wouldn't have come here if I didn't miss them and worry about them." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "But I wanna stay with you."
Jackie Chan, global adventurer and famous martial artist, felt his knees weaken at the sight of his niece's puppy-dog look, and once again marveled at how much an eleven-year-old could change his whole life. Jade was a nuisance, a pest, always getting into trouble that HE had to save her from. In fact, she was only even in Hong Kong with him because she had stowed away on one of Section 13's helicopters - piloted, no less, by the infamous criminal Valmont and his gang of thugs during their escape from Section 13's headquarters - when they had come here to stop the demon Shendu from opening a rift into another dimension.
However, it was ALSO because of Jade that the demon had been stopped, even if she HAD managed to create similar rifts all over the world. That part of it wasn't really her fault - she hadn't known. She just aimed the Dragon talisman at the demon's statue form and shot it with the talisman's magickal fire beam. *[Episode 13, Jackie Chan Adventures]
More than that, Jade had worked her way into Jackie's heart in a way he never expected. She made him feel warm, proud, and scared, all at once. He worried about her when she got into trouble, even though she was almost as skilled as he was in the martial arts, if not as disciplined or experienced. She had nicknamed them the J-Team, a nickname he adored as much as he adored his spirited niece. All these feelings confused him, made him giddy and uneasy all at once. Many times, he wondered what they were.
And now, he wanted to tell her that life in San Francisco would not be the same without her, that there would be a gaping hole in his life if she wasn't there. He'd been in love with many women before, but his love for Jade was a new experience, and it took all of his strength not to wrap her up in his arms and tell her she could live with him forever.
As it was, he couldn't tell her the truth, that she HAD to go back.
"We'll see," he said. "Your parents may want you to stay, but if they approve, we'll see."
Even his most favorite girlfriend had been unable to get him to lie like this, even in such a small way. Why could this little girl?
Fortunately, there were stronger heads about.
"Jade learn nothing of family honor since coming to San Francisco?" asked the old man who had stepped out of the kiosk beside them. Munching on a rice ball, the wild haired skinny man added, "One must honor parents above all."
"Uncle is right, Jade," Jackie nodded in agreement. "You can come back and visit any time you like, but I'm afraid your parents would miss you if you didn't go home to them."
Jade burst out in tears, unable to fight the frustration any longer.
"I don't want to go back!" she cried out. "But I will - WHEN I'm good and ready - because I now know you don't want me!" She turned and ran off before Jackie could grab the hood of her ever-present red sweatshirt. However, the words he heard stopped him more than her speed. "Hmph - J- Team - to think I thought we were PARTNERS - "
As painful as the angry exclamation was the white-hot fire that suddenly burned his earlobe. Uncle, looking like Goliath despite his shorter height, was blazing holes into the back of Jackie's head with his eyes.
"Never, EVER let me see you lie to child again, Jackie," he said sternly, letting go of Jackie's ear.
"Lie?" Jackie asked, bewildered.
"Yes, lie, like Chinese rug," Uncle said, his mouth full of rice ball. As abruptly as his anger had surged, it was gone. He'd made his point; it was open for discussion, but more importantly, it was addressed. "If head says sky blue, but heart says sky wide, what you believe?"
"But, Uncle, both of those things are true," Jackie felt more and more like a little boy being lectured by his sensei. Uncle always seemed to have that effect on him, especially since the talismans and Section 13 had come into their lives.
"Ah, but head cannot soar like heart can," Uncle stuffed another mouthful of the rice ball in his mouth before walking away with a wink. He went into the direction Jade had gone.
"Uncle! Where are you going? Shouldn't we look for Jade?" Jackie asked, chasing after him.
"Of course," Uncle nodded. "But will be short hunt."
Jade had not gone very far before being distracted by what she took to be a comic shop. Indeed, it was the equivalent of one - manga from all over the Orient was prominently displayed, and Jade was completely engrossed in an issue of Dragonball Z. She had noticed neither Jackie nor Uncle.
"Yeah, you get 'em, Goku!" she said, reaching a particularly exciting frame.
Jackie smiled, thinking about Superman. As a young child, he'd enjoyed those comics as much as Jade enjoyed hers, whether her manga or her Troll Cop comics. For an Oriental girl from Hong Kong, she was almost more American than he - even the manga were in English.
Putting a finger to his lips, he motioned to the shopkeeper that he would pay for the manga. The shopkeeper winked at him as he made Jackie's change. Jackie pushed Uncle around the corner, and they waited for Jade to come out.
Jade sighed. She knew Jackie was right, and Uncle, too. But she had so much fun with Jackie, and she had to admit, she learned a lot, too. When Shendu had threatened all of Asia, she was faced with the very real consequences of losing her parents as failure. However, she had used all the strengths she had, and helped Jackie defeat the evil demon before he had a chance to harm anyone. She and Jackie had saved the world together - how could she leave him after doing something like that?
Over the forty-eight hours since they'd arrived in Hong Kong, the importance of that did not escape her. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it weighed on her. Would she ever get to save the world again? Would she do it alone, or with Jackie and Uncle? If she did it alone, would it be as much fun?
She placed the manga back on the shelf with a sniff, wishing she could take it with her. As she walked out of the shop, though, the shopkeeper said, "Miss? You forgot book!"
He came running at her with the exact manga she'd been reading, but Jade decided not to question it.
"Thank you," she said, smiling. "But I don't think - "
"Young man outside pay," the shopkeeper nodded, smiling and pointing outside.
Jade peeked out the shop door. Uncle and Jackie were leaning against a wall, trying so hard to mind their own business that it was obvious they were watching her. Her anger at Jackie forgotten, she smiled and approached him.
"I'm sorry, Jackie," she said, hugging him with tears in her eyes. "It's just. I'm gonna miss the J-Team."
Jackie embraced her, surprised at how quickly he was forgiven.
"Remember, head see, heart soar," Uncle whispered in his ear before striding down the street and back to their hotel.
Jackie reached up to clear the rice out of his ear before telling Jade, "I'm going to miss the J-Team, too, Jade."
"Really?" Jade looked at him, her eyes alight.
"Really," he said. He took her hand as they followed Uncle at a much slower pace. "It's hard for me to say goodbye to you. I'm going to miss you very much. So I'm sorry if I have been acting strange these past few days. It's sad for me, too."
"You know, Jackie," Jade stopped, gazing up at him in complete idolatry, bringing that warm giddy feeling that made Jackie so uncomfortable. "You're my hero."
He couldn't control the pleasant heat rising up in his face, and for a moment, he realized what Uncle had meant about the whole head-heart-sky thing.
"I am honored," he said, bowing his head respectfully, as though to aristocracy.
Then the moment was over, and they were walking down the street again. For Jackie, however, he was King of the World! The entire Dark Hand could come after him right now, and he'd be invincible! He'd fight like a lion, because he was - (insert drum roll here) - JADE'S HERO!!!
His head was in the clouds as she started babbling about her new manga, and it remained there all the way back to the hotel. He couldn't help wishing he could admonish Uncle for being wrong about which part of the body could soar. The little girl holding his hand worshipped him, and the moon was not beyond reach. Nothing was.
Captain Black was waiting in the lobby when they entered the hotel. He had a grim look on his face as he consulted with Uncle. Abruptly, Jackie was brought back to New Kowloon, to the dire news that would surely accompany those gloomy expressions.
"I'm afraid we have to cut this vacation short, Jackie," the tall Section 13 agent said. He looked ready for an invasion, strapped as he was with guns and high-tech gadgetry beneath his black trench-coat.
"What's going on?" Jackie asked, more to Uncle than the captain.
"All heck's broken loose at headquarters since Valmont's escape," Black told him. "And there's another affair I have to tend to, as well."
There was something in his eyes, begging Jackie to ask him.
"Is there anything I can do?" His mouth had moved on automatic; he'd had enough adventure to last a while, and just wanted to go home to San Francisco and relax. Wistfully, he realized that if Valmont was free, it would be a long time before he could.
"Officially, you know I can't ask you that," Now Black was boring holes into him, letting him know that there was plenty for Jackie to do.
Jackie looked at Jade. "Heroes don't get any rest, do they!"
Jade nodded. "Looks like the J-Team's back in business!"
"No, no, no," Jackie shook his head. "Not this time. You're going home this time, and staying OUT of danger."
"But, Jackie, we're a team!" Jade cried.
"Jade," Jackie said warningly. "You HAVE to go home. You're too young to be running around Hong Kong, getting involved in - in - " He turned to Captain Black. "Just what ARE we getting involved in?"
"We'll discuss that - later," Captain Black made a subtle motion with his eyes toward Jade.
"Can you.?" Jackie raised an eyebrow at Captain Black.
"Well, despite the fact she's outwitted some of my best agents, I suppose I can," Captain Black smirked. "As a matter of national security."
Jade narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
The answer came in the form of big, strong arms around her waist, lifting her from the ground. One of Section 13's biggest agents had her slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She kicked and screeched and even bit, but to no avail. This guy was a rock!
Jackie dug through his wallet for a moment before handing the agent a business card.
"This is my brother's address," he said. "Please don't scare him. Tell him. tell him you work for me."
The agent looked at Black, raising an eyebrow. Black shrugged. The agent then nodded and walked out.
Black sighed. "Too bad she's so young. If she wasn't, I'd definitely want her at my back."
Before Jackie had a chance to reply, Jade burst back in, knocking a pair of bewildered American tourists flat on their behinds. The aging couple looked at one another in shock.
"How rude!" the woman said. "Is everyone in Hong Kong like this?"
"Let's hope not, schnookums," the man replied, rising.
As he reached his hand out to help her up, the door burst open again and the burly agent blasted in behind the little girl. The man went flying into the lady's lap, his camera and film flying everywhere.
"Well, I suppose you get what you pay for," he said with disgust.
"And 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' said that Tom Cruise stayed here," his wife snorted in agreement.
Ten yards away, Jade was shouting at Jackie, "You've got to let me come with you, Uncle Jackie, you've just GOT to!"
As the agent grabbed her again, Jackie said, "I'm sorry, Jade, but you can't come this time. You must go home. Please, trust me."
"NO!" Jade cried with angry tears welling up. "I won't go home! I'm going with you!"
Taking a deep breath, Jackie did something that he knew would tear both their hearts right out of their chests. The difference was that Jade's would be put back. Jackie's would get trampled by elephants for a while, first.
He turned around, and he walked toward the stairs. He ignored Jade's frantic protests, even successfully ignored the tears welling in his own eyes as he took each step one at a time. He could sense Uncle and Captain Black behind him, uncertain how to proceed. He hoped they would follow him up the stairs, but regardless, he continued. Each step was torture.
"No! No, Jackie, don't leave me! Jackie! I wanna go with you!" Jade cried. "Uncle! Captain Black! Tell him! We're a team! JACKIE!"
Uncle and Black must have followed him, because suddenly, Jade's voice grew hysterical, almost eerie.
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME BEHIND! WE'RE A TEAM!" And then, like a sword through the gut: "I HATE YOU, JACKIE!"
Jackie stopped, as though he really HAD been run through. Jade's voice was fading as the agent brought her back outside, but Jade had left a wound that could not heal easily.
"She hates me," he said, astounded, as Black and Uncle caught up to him. "She hates me."
"That good!" Uncle said brightly. Even Black had to glare at Uncle for this. "Remember, hate not opposite love. Is same."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Black snickered. "I LOVE Valmont, that's why I hate him so much."
"Ah," Uncle held up a finger. "Is Valmont you love, or catching him?"
"No, Jade really HATES me," Jackie repeated.
"I admit I love my work, but catching Valmont? I'll be happier when he's safely behind bars," Black protested.
"Are you sure?" Uncle raised an eyebrow and continued up the stairs.
Black chased after him, saying, "Yes, I AM sure! The world is safer with guys like that behind bars."
"Ah, but you hunter, Captain," Uncle replied as they reached the next floor. "If you capture Valmont, who prey?"
"She hates me."
"I hate him!" Jade was saying outside as the agent literally threw her in the back of his black Caprice Classic. She tried to scramble toward him, but he slammed the door before she could get out. The back had no handles, and he was in the car before she could jump into the front.
"Now you behave, little girl," he told her sternly. "I don't know what the big news in Lan Tao is, but it's no place for you."
Jade realized that she wasn't going to get out of it this way, so she sat back in her seat.
Having some time to cool off, she realized that the last words she had ever said to her uncle were "I hate you." Realizing how much she must have hurt his feelings, she suddenly felt very ashamed of herself. How could she have said such a thing? She had to make it right, somehow!
Not just that, but, no matter what he said, Jackie needed her. She was as responsible for him as he was for her, and there was no way she could let him go on an adventure and get into all kinds of danger alone without her to look after him. And if the big news was in Lan Tao, it was just as important to find her way there as it was to get back to Jackie.
"So what's this big news?" she asked.
"Classified," the agent responded stoically.
"Hey, I saved the world from Shendu," she said casually. "You DO know that, right?"
"Of course I know that," the agent retorted. "I was there. 'Only magick can defeat magick.'" *[again, Episode 13. Highly recommended]
Jade chuckled. "I see you met Uncle."
"That man's your uncle?" the agent raised an eyebrow. "Well now I see why they had to get an agent to get you home."
Jade smiled fetchingly. "I'm not all THAT bad."
"Sure," came the skeptical reply.
She took another approach.
"So you were there when we fought Shendu, huh?" she asked.
"For all the good we did, yeah," the agent snorted. "You and Jackie did most of the work."
"Yeah, we make a great team," she sighed wistfully.
"On a personal note, if I were fighting that splinter group in Lan Tao, I'd want you covering my butt," the agent complimented. "Even if you are a little girl."
"Why, thank you, agent!" she said, her grin genuine and fueled not by his compliment, but by his leak of information. She let it fade as she asked, "Can we stop at a gas station?"
"I can't stop until I get you home, miss," the agent shrugged. "Nothing personal. Just following orders."
"But I REALLY need to stop," she whined slightly, indicating that she had to stop for reasons of nature.
"You're gonna have to hold it," the agent replied.
"I don't think I can!"
The agent rolled his eyes.
"Fine. We'll stop. But you've got two minutes. Any longer and I'm coming in after you."
They stopped at a gas station, still in the heart of New Kowloon, and the agent let Jade out of the car. He escorted her to the bathroom, then held the door open as he waved her in. She abruptly turned to catch him following her.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"I'm supposed to keep an eye on you," the agent replied.
"Read the sign," Jade pointed. The agent looked at it for a moment.
"I can't," he said. "It's Chinese to me."
Jade looked up at the sign, then rolled her eyes.
"That's because it IS Chinese. But the little stick figure is wearing a skirt. That means this is the girls room."
The agent just looked at her, speechless. Egged on by this sudden control, she added, "That means no boys allowed!"
She headed towards the commodes, hearing the soft THUMP! as the door shut behind her. She turned to see if the agent was still watching her, but he had heeded her words. She grinned.
"Now, to get back to Jackie," she said to herself as she spotted a window.
It was an old window, and it opened easily enough. The drop to the ground was also very low, and within moments, Jade was blending in with the crowd two blocks over.
"That was my easiest escape yet!" she giggled to herself. "And he was even nice enough to tell me what's going on!"
A splinter group. of what? And why was Section 13 treating this like a threat to national security? If it was a threat, how much of one was it? What had Jackie gotten himself into this time?
She had no answers to any of these questions yet, but the answers were in Lan Tao. Getting there was easy enough.
As she made toward the shipping district, she said to herself, "I'm coming, Jackie! I've got your back!"
Behind her, a postal worker scurried to get this special delivery letter with the Li family seal onto the mail ship to Tokyo.
***Nerima District, Tokyo, Japan***
The dojo was animated and full of noise as lessons were in session on a bright afternoon. The students, five girls of fifteen, sat in a respectful semi-circle, eyes on the action at the center of the dojo. Off to the side, a pair of cats sat watching the display just as intently as the five girls, the crescent moons on their foreheads differentiating them from real cats as much as their scrutiny.
The two girls in the center were facing off in mid-battle, each holding a pair of fighting ribbons. Both were clad only in bikinis of very thin fabric, and neither was pulling a punch. The Chinese girl with the long hair and the huge jade-green eyes had a huge bruise in her right arm. The short-haired Japanese girl was standing on one foot, perfectly balanced, but favoring the leg that had the red mark on its calf. Their eyes were locked, their brows covered with sweat, wrinkled in concentration.
It seemed to last an eternity before the Japanese girl leaped in the air in an aerial twist, her ribbons bearing down on the Chinese girl like a tornado as she sailed above her. The Chinese girl responded by lashing the ribbon in her good hand out in a straight line. Like iron, it seemed to slice through the air and disrupted the whirling ribbons. The Japanese girl landed, wincing as her bad leg bore the full of her weight for a moment.
"Akane do better in sleep!" the Chinese girl taunted, but with real affection. Akane narrowed her eyes, her fighting instincts up, despite the fact her sparring partner was also a close friend. Both her ribbons were tangled into the Chinese girl's one, and the other was coming at her with just as much vehemence as the first. Holding her ribbons tightly, she rushed at the Chinese girl, then at the last second, tucked away from her. The Chinese girl's momentum was going forward and over Akane, so using her tangled ribbons to send the Chinese girl with it was a simple thing. The ribbon holding hers went limp, freeing them from its grasp.
The Chinese girl rolled with the punch and jumped up in a fighting stance.
"Zhu Shu take back," she nodded. "Akane impressive, if impulsive."
She ran forward, doing a series of leap-turns that looked more like a dance than martial arts. The ribbons made whirlwinds around her as she approached Akane, forming an impenetrable shield around her gazelle-like figure. Akane twirled her ribbons, trying to fend off the approach, unwilling to take even a single step back.
Zhu Shu took one final leap in Akane's direction, lifting one arm to drop a spiral over Akane's head. Akane jerked back, but too late. The ribbon had her held tightly, like the bandages of a mummy. Zhu Shu glided to the floor, lifting the other ribbon over her head and allowing the spiral to die down. With a flick of her wrist, she freed Akane's head of the other ribbon, revealing the astonished Japanese girl's face.
Zhu Shu turned to the other girls, holding out her bare arms and gesturing to them.
"Nothing up sleeves - no sleeves. No tricks, just ribbon," she said to them in halting Japanese. "Anything can be weapon. Best weapon imagination."
Two of the girls were listening intently, with a look of almost worship in their eyes. The smaller of the two closed her eyes and meditated on this a moment, her face serious and her hands clasped in a focusing mantra. The other, the tallest, was not meditating, but the way she chewed her lip made it very clear that she paid it just as much heed.
"Rei, Lita, take floor," Zhu Shu said.
"Are we going to use the ribbons?" Lita, the taller one, asked, hope in her eyes.
"No need ribbons," Zhu Shu scolded.
"Right," Lita muttered. "Imagination."
She and Rei took fighting stances and waited for Zhu Shu to call the fight. Before anything could happen, however, a loud beeping sound arose from the pile of school books on one side of the dojo.
"My computer!" One of the other girls jumped up and ran to the pile. Everything stopped, and Zhu Shu watched intently as the girl dug through her bag to procure a small blue pocket computer with a symbol on it: a heart, with a cross hanging from it and topped with a crescent, the symbol of Mercury.
As if to emphasize that this wasn't a normal scene, one of the cats, the white one, spoke with a soft male voice: "What's going on, Ami?"
There were two girls left sitting, both with blonde hair. The one with the long blonde hair tied in a red ribbon rose expectantly. The other, bearing odangos and pigtails, moaned and buried her head in her arms.
"Not the Negaverse again!" she whined.
"Don't worry, Serena," Rei said, joining them from the floor with Lita. "If it IS the Negaverse, you can always whine like that at them. They'll run away screaming!"
"They will not, and I don't whine!" Serena whined.
"Give it up, you do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do you two EVER stop fighting?" Akane asked, drying herself off with a towel and slipping into her gi.
"Nope," Lita said. "They never do."
"Well, be quiet and let Ami talk!" the black cat scolded.
"It's another power spike," Ami told them, intent on the computer screen. "Not as strong as the one two days ago, but it's from Hong Kong again." She looked up. "Data neither confirms nor denies a relationship to the other spike, but they're both very negative energy."
The black cat frowned. "Why would the Negaverse be in Hong Kong?"
"Negaverse negative energy, yes-no?" Zhu Shu asked the cat. When the cat nodded, Zhu Shu added, "Maybe not Negaverse. Maybe some other type."
Rei nodded in agreement, addressing the black cat. "In my training as a Shinto priestess, we learn about all kinds of evil spirits, Luna."
"You mean there's other stuff besides the Negaverse out there?" the pig- tailed blonde, Serena, asked, her face full of alarm. "I mean, up till now, the only other enemies we've faced have been." Suddenly she blushed. "I mean. uh."
"You," Lita, slightly bolder, finished for her.
Zhu Shu looked around at all of the girls, who were looking expectantly at her. Feeling like she had to answer them, she licked her lips and took a deep breath.
"If need, Zhu Shu will check out," she said. "No Scouts. Not ready."
"Zhu Shu, we're leaving for China TOMORROW!" Akane exclaimed with a nervous squeal. "Remember, betrothal ceremony, Amazon village, me and Shampoo?"
"Zhu Shu not forget," the Chinese girl smiled at her dear friend. "Have much business in China. Hong Kong not out of way."
"No way, Zhu Shu," Lita shook her head. "If it is the Negaverse, we can't ask you to get involved."
"M-hmm," Ami agreed, joining the others, computer in hand. "It's dangerous enough being Sailor Scouts." She trailed off, horror on her face. The other girls turned various shades of red as well, and an uncomfortable silence pervaded. ".and you're not a Scout," she finished.
"Well, I agree with Ami," Akane said. "I've got a future husband AND a future wife, and my husband has almost as many enemies as you do." She bowed to Zhu Shu, then to the girls. "If you will excuse me, our time is up, I have a ton of homework, and that sounds like really good advice."
She smiled as she left, waving goodbye to the five girls who were secretly famous as the Sailor Scouts. Ami, with the computer, was Sailor Mercury, whose shabon and ice attacks had broken the ice with more than one foe. The long-haired blonde with the red ribbon was Sailor Venus, whose Crescent Beam had saved them in battle with Zoicite and Malachite, two of Queen Beryl's top generals. Rei was Sailor Mars, Shinto priestess and champion of Fire, and more than one Nega-villian had been burned by her in a fight. Lita was Sailor Jupiter, wielder of lightning and electricity, as shocking in power as in her Amazon height.
Ironically, their leader was Serena, the whiny pig-tail girl. Despite her cowardly demeanor, complete lack of motivation, and utter disregard for responsibility, Serena, secretly Sailor Moon, was one of the city's most famous heroes. Sailor Moon sightings were cropping up like Bigfoot in America; if the masses knew their hero was a fifteen-year-old girl with more interest in boys and manga than saving the world, would it make them wonder?
But Sailor Moon and her Scouts had not come by their reputation lightly. Serena had matured quite a bit since becoming aware of her true identity as the Moon Princess, and had willingly chosen, upon awakening the life power of the Doom Tree, to retain their memories of the entire adventure so they could be ready when danger struck again. The Negaverse had been quiet since then, but the girls kept regular patrols whenever any type of strange energy surfaced. It was on one such expedition that they came in contact with Zhu Shu. *[see Ranma ½: The Mandarin for details]
Zhu Shu took them under her wing, being an expert martial artist and a master with many weapons. She was the sole heir of the Song School of Sword Dance, and the lessons she had so far passed on to the Scouts were valuable. Even Serena was leaving each session with a new grace and wisdom. They had almost lost her not four days ago - indeed, had lost her, and rejoiced at her return.
Zhu Shu watched Akane's back as she exited the dojo, then turned her full attention to the Scouts.
"What this?" she asked.
"Well, we've been talking," Sailor Venus said. "And even though you have a pen, we don't want to see you in danger, especially OUR kind of danger."
Serena nodded. "Mina's right. We couldn't bear it if we lost you again, especially to the Negaverse."
"If not Negaverse, is Zhu Shu's responsibility," their sensei told them. "Then, who not ask who for help?"
"You'd BETTER ask us for help," Rei said, and Zhu Shu could see her aura flare with the fire that made her Mars. She was flattered by her friends' passion. "Six can do better what one could do well."
Zhu Shu laughed. "Rei-chan sensei, now? Rei-chan teach Zhu Shu?"
Rei flushed, falling to her knees in submission.
"I meant no disrespect, honored sensei," she said, looking horribly miserable at her slight.
"Rei-chan misunderstand," Zhu Shu offered a hand to help Rei up. Their relationship was closer than any of the other Scouts; indeed, Zhu Shu considered Rei second only to her blood-sisters, Akane and Shampoo. Twice Rei had nursed her back to health after serious traumas, but Rei's immense pride - or lack of it when it came to Zhu Shu - betrayed her true respect and love for her Chinese friend, a fact which Zhu Shu accepted with honor.
"Rei-chan's advice wise," Zhu Shu added, causing the priestess to blush furiously. "Even if Zhu Shu no take."
"But our job is to fight evil," Ami protested. "Right, Luna?"
Before Luna had a chance to answer the question, Serena broke in.
"Guys," she said, yawning. "Can we talk about this over ice cream sodas? I'm starved!"
Even Rei had to admit it was a good idea. "We need to get Akane and Shampoo a betrothal present anyway," she said.
"Zhu Shu, maybe you could help us, since you know them better than we do," Ami added.
"Zhu Shu honored," the Chinese girl's huge green eyes sparkled with delight. "We go on - how you say - 'shopping spree'?"
"THAT," said Mina, her beautiful face glowing with delight, "sounds like fun!"
Unbeknownst Zhu Shu or the Scouts, there was another pair of eyes observing the dojo.
Kodachi was too far away to hear what was being said, but she had observed the lesson with interest. Watching the beautiful goddess that was both her greatest love AND the rival for her greatest love, she had sighed with pleasure. However, when the Chinese girl had taken to fighting her with the ribbons, her whole demeanor changed.
Just days ago, Akane had beaten her in the martial rhythmic gymnastics match between Fuurikan High School and her own St. Bacchus School for Girls. She had beaten Kodachi with ribbons, just like the ones she was fighting the Chinese girl with. For this, Kodachi loved her.
Kodachi Kuno was not used to losing. Whenever she faced even the slightest chance of failure, she found some way to undermine it. Like that brat her sophomore year. The girl was the best rhythmic gymnast at St. Bacchus. But a few well-placed rumors later, and the girl was kicked out of St. Bacchus and branded "karate maniac," a title which Kodachi had ensured she would carry to the next school she went to.
Akane, thus, had been the first person to ever beat her. And this Chinese BITCH had beaten Akane!
For Kodachi, that was a slap in the face. To find someone better than her was deserving of worship. But someone better than THAT just boggled her mind. She was not sure whether to sweep the Chinese demoness off her feet or just kill her.
When two of the other girls rose and took the floor, Kodachi nearly fell off her perch.
"No," she whispered to herself, amused. "It can't be. This is too delicious!"
She didn't even mind when her goddess left the dojo. She kept her eyes on the rest of the group, wondering what they had to do with the wonderful, perfect Akane. Surely they were not worthy of her, especially if they chose to consort with. with HER.
"I cannot beat the Chinese wench in battle," she told herself. "But, there's more than one way to bring someone into the bowels of hell, as your friend knows. And I, the Black Rose, know them all!"
She couldn't stop her amused giggles as she trailed the Chinese hag and her five peons all the way to Juuban Mall.
An hour, a hundred stores, and a dozen shopping bags later, they were sitting in a booth in the mall, gobbling ice cream sundaes and trying to decide what to do about Hong Kong.
"The computer is set to filter out localized energy," Ami was explaining. "There's a certain amount of normal energy that will be there, just from arguments, rivalries, bad feelings, and things like that. The next level is also localized, but wider. That's what happens when groups with minor powers use energy for specific means, like when Rei does one of her Shinto rituals."
"Minor powers?!!?" Rei interrupted.
"As opposed to global powers, yours are minor," Ami replied, smiling. "And what turned up from Hong Kong three days ago was a global-scale power. So was the spike we got today. Do you remember the spike we tracked the night we met Zhu Shu?" As the other girls nodded, and Zhu Shu listened intently, Ami continued, "This is bigger, and also from Hong Kong. I can't believe it's a coincidence they both come from the same place."
"That's all the more reason Zhu Shu shouldn't try to take it on alone," Lita said, turning to the Chinese girl. "You NEED us, Zhu Shu."
Zhu Shu nodded. "Maybe, but if no fight, no need Scouts. How know there will be fight?"
Mina nodded. "You're right. But promise us, Zhu Shu, that if there IS a fight, if there IS something to worry about, you'll contact us."
Zhu Shu raised an eyebrow at the five Scouts. "And you promise Zhu Shu you no go Hong Kong unless Zhu Shu say."
All the Scouts looked to Serena and nodded. Realizing she was their spokesperson, Serena said, "We promise."
Zhu Shu sat back in her seat, satisfied on two counts as the subject turned to boys and romance. First, she had persuaded the Scouts to stay out of danger. Second, she had avoided promising that she would do the same.
Having spent the night on a damp, dank, cargo ship, the yellowed parchment was none the worse for wear. The wax was still stiff, the symbol emblazoned on it never fading. And as the postal worker carrying it made his way toward the home of its addressee, he was inadvertently followed by two ten-year-old girls with a lot on their minds.
***Tomoeda Ward, Tokyo***
The walk from Juuban Ward was slow, but neither Madison nor Sakura cared. They had other things on their minds.
As the two ten-year-old girls walked down the street, Sakura was saying, "Now I'm even more worried about Meilin. Is that strange?"
"Well, you yourself said they felt sort of like Clow Cards to you," Madison threw back a lock of her long lavender hair, holding up her video camera. "That's why I taped them."
"I still wish I knew why they gave me such a strange feeling," Sakura looked down at her feet; despite the warm day, she was sorry she'd worn sandals. Her feet were so sore she was afraid she would not be able to skate for a while. "Who did you say they were?"
"I only recognized a few of them," Madison wrinkled her brow. "I know you recognized Mina Aino, star of all the Sailor V movies. And the tall one was Lita Kino, the gymnast. But I don't know who any of the others were."
"The Chinese girl was beautiful," Sakura said wistfully, her hand self- consciously rising to her short light-brown hair. "If I looked like that, Julian would notice me for sure."
"She was really pretty," Madison said brightly. "But I thought you said you got the weirdest feeling from her."
"Especially when they were talking about Hong Kong," Sakura said nervously, suddenly looking around. To Madison, she added, "Do you get the feeling we're being followed?"
Madison looked around, both naked-eyed and with her camera.
"I don't see anybody," she replied. "But around you, anything's possible."
They continued on, but Sakura kept looking around uneasily. She could feel a dark presence nearby, and not one she thought she could deal with today.
"It's just, ever since that nightmare I had about Meilin the other night, I've been worried about her," she confided to Madison. "And when those girls mentioned Hong Kong - THERE!"
She suddenly and excitedly pointed to a nearby tree.
"Someone's following us, Madison!" she cried. "They're in that tree!"
Madison put her lens to her eye and zoomed in on the tree. All she could see were leaves and branches.
"Still nothing," she shrugged. "Just act natural and stay on guard." As they continued walking, she coaxed her friend, "Go on. What about Hong Kong?"
"Well, it made me wonder if maybe my dream wasn't true," she admitted. "I mean, I've had so many other ones come true before - Li, Miss Mizuni - and if Meilin is in danger, I need to be there to help her!"
"I agree, but what can we do about it?"
"I don't know," Sakura said, looking at the ground miserably. "But we have to do something. I just hope we hear from her soon."
"Me too - woooah!"
Suddenly and abruptly, they were yanked off balance by the backs of their shirts. They twisted behind them to see a tall and rather menacing teenager glaring down at them, her violet eyes blazing. She wore her long hair in a ponytail that trailed down to one side, and her shapely, muscular body was clad in a black leotard with a black velvet rose emblazoned on it. She also wore a loose wrap, which she was shedding and wrapping around one clenched fist.
"Give me that videotape you just took," she hissed at Madison.
Madison wrinkled her brow in defiance. "No way!" she shouted, running. "Come on, Sakura!"
Both girls bolted as fast as they could, Sakura fingering the key that rested on a small gold chain around her neck. However, the girl in black suddenly appeared before them, her lips wrapped in a sultry manner around the cut end of a black rose.
"You obviously don't know who I am, or you would not defy me," the girl said. "I am the Black Rose, and I demand that tape now!"
"What makes you think we TOOK a tape?" Sakura demanded, wondering with horror how this girl had gotten a hold of the Leap card.
"Because I've been following those girls for several hours now, and I watched you take it," the Black Rose replied tritely. "So give it to me!"
"Why should we?" Madison challenged. However, she cowered slightly when the teenager advanced upon them. She and Sakura huddled together, and Madison was hoping Sakura would pull a Clow card soon.
"Because those girls are dangerous," the Black Rose hissed. "And because I said so!"
"Wait, those girls are dangerous? How?" Sakura asked, real alarm on her face.
"They are all crazy," the Black Rose said slowly. "Especially the Chinese girl. I need that tape. I need to know what they were talking about."
Sakura looked at Madison for a moment, then back at the Black Rose.
"We could make you a copy, if that would be okay," she ventured. "We think they're dangerous, too, and we think one of our friends is in danger from them. Perhaps we could help each other?"
"YOU, help ME?!!?" Kodachi nearly wet her panties in laughter. "Please. You're children."
Sakura looked at Madison, holding up the key. Madison's eyes were pleading, so the silent communication was affirmative. She took a deep breath, summoned all her strength, and.
"Alright, suit yourself," she said to the teenager.
Holding up the key, she added, "Oh Key of Clow, power of magick, power of Light! Surrender the Wand, the force ignite! Release!"
Kodachi was momentarily blinded as a golden circle of light formed around the two girls. Covering her eyes, she fell back, landing hard on her butt. She looked up to see that the pendant the little runt with the short hair had been wearing was now a wand the size of a walking stick, golden mist emanating from it.
Suddenly, she realized these babies could be useful after all.
"Wait!" she cried out amidst the loud din of energy. "Maybe you CAN help me!"
Sakura looked at Madison with a big grin.
"You know, it's amazing how nice people get when you throw magick into the mix," she said.
"Yeah, but do we really need HER help?" Madison motioned a thumb at Kodachi.
"I have money," Kodachi said, sitting up and facing them eye-to-eye. "Lots of money."
"My mom makes lots of money, too," Madison retorted. "From what I see, you're just a big bully with a bad attitude."
"Well, you were just saying you may need to get to Hong Kong," Kodachi leaned her elbows on her knees and steepled her fingers. Her family had not come by its fortune just sitting around, and Kodachi was no exception. She knew how to make a deal, and persuading these girls to help get her to the Chinese cow would be too simple. especially if the cow was going to Hong Kong, too.
"And," she said. "I'm a big bully with a private jet."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I don't know if we can trust you," she said. "You DID try to attack us."
Thinking quickly, Kodachi replied, "I thought you were in league with them." Standing, she said, "Listen. You've got nothing to lose. You make me a copy of your tape, and I will leave you my card. Should you decide it is necessary to go to Hong Kong, I will give you use of my jet."
"How about you give us your card," Madison said. "And we'll call you if we decide to accept your offer. If we do, we'll have a copy of the tape ready for you."
Kodachi narrowed her eyes. How in the world could she ensure that they decided to come? These little twerps and their magick could easy weaken the Chinese Akuma, and then Kodachi would have the pleasure of finishing her off. After that, who cared? All she had to do was convince them the Chinese girl was trouble.
"Just heed my warning," she said. "That Chinese girl is an Oni. She's very dangerous. If you're really concerned for your friend, you need my help defeating her. I know a lot about her."
"We'll THINK about it," Sakura emphasized.
Something dropped from the hand of the Black Rose before she disappeared as abruptly as she'd manifested herself. Madison bent down to pick up the small rectangular card. Suddenly her eyes went wide.
"Of course, I can't believe I didn't recognize the name sooner!" she cried. "Kodachi Kuno, from St. Bacchus's! She's the martial rhythmic gymnastics goddess in this town! She may even be on the Olympic team!"
"Wow," Sakura said, looking over Madison's shoulder after dispelling the wand back down to a key. "I wonder why someone so famous wants to fight Oni."
"Well, she's supposedly a real inspiration to the St. Bacchus's team," Madison informed her. "And she's involved in a lot of charities, because she's so rich."
Sakura snorted as they continued walking toward her house.
"It's hard to tell from the way she treated us," she said.
Madison shrugged. "All I know is what I've seen on television," she said.
"So, do you think we should accept her deal?"
Madison shook her head. "I would have made her a copy for free, if she'd just been nicer about it. But if that girl is some kind of demon, the Black Rose NEEDS that information to fight her."
"Madison, do you think the Chinese girl is a Clow card?" Sakura asked, finally giving voice to her nagging apprehension.
"Well, you said she felt like one," Madison said. "But I still think we should show Kero the tape."
A few more blocks brought them home. A boy their age was sitting on Sakura's front porch, wringing a yellowed piece of parchment in his hand. His serious brown eyes were filled with fear, and his dark hair and clothes were a rumpled mess. He'd obviously run all the way here.
"Li!" Sakura exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
They both ran up to him as he held up the letter.
"It's from Meilin," he said. "I need to go back to Hong Kong. There's trouble at home."
"I knew it!" Sakura exclaimed. "My dreams are never wrong!"
Li shot her a long, measuring look. "What are you talking about?"
She explained to him all she had told Madison as they entered the house. They made straight for Sakura's bedroom, not even bothering to see if anyone was home; Sakura's father and brother were both at work.
Sakura's room was that of a typical ten-year-old girl: posters of pop idols were just starting to appear on the wall, but there were still traces of toys, collections of dolls and stuffed animals all over. There was only one difference: one of them was playing a video game. And winning, from the sound of it.
The small golden winged bear at the computer console was about the size of a rat, and totally adorable. However, in his full form, Keroberos was actually the Guardian of the Book of Clow, a role he now lived, ever since Sakura opened the book and freed the cards. He was supposedly a mighty power, and had grown to be a close friend of Sakura and the other Card Captors over time.
Kero didn't even turn around when Sakura entered the room.
"Hi, Sakura," he said. "Did you bring me any pudding?"
"We've got problems, Kero,"
He paused his game and gave her his full attention, noticing Li and Madison for the first time.
"Woah, this IS serious, kid," he said to Li. "Usually, when you see me, you've got a smart remark. What's going on?"
Sakura related to him her dream, the Chinese girl at the mall, and their encounter with Kodachi Kuno, wrapping up with finding Li on the doorstep. Kero took in each bit of information, only pausing to inquire about the teenaged gymnast. When Sakura was finished, Kero turned to Li.
"So what did Meilin have to say?" he asked.
"There's an island by our ancestral home," Li explained. "She says there are a lot of strange things going on there. She says our clansmen are afraid of it."
Kero nodded. "This IS serious, then," he said. "They may not ALL be descendants of Clow Reed, but they're his kin, too. And if they're afraid of whatever's on this island, then you can bet there's a Clow card there."
Li shook his head. "This isn't any of your business, though," he said. "This is family business. These are my people being threatened. I have to get back to Hong Kong immediately."
Sakura and Madison exchanged a glance as Kero said, "If it was none of our business, then why did you come here? Why not just leave?"
Li glared at him for a moment, then looked down at the floor, grumbling, "I need your help getting there."
"Well," Sakura said. "I think we have just the help you're looking for. That Kodachi girl offered us use of her private jet in exchange for the video."
"Let's take a look at this video," Kero said, brow wrinkled in thought.
Madison jumped up and hooked the camera to Sakura's television. She replayed the entire conversation between the Chinese girl and her friends. Kero listened intently, watching the tape all the way through. Then, he had Madison rewind it, and took a look at each of the girls in turn.
"Well, they're talking about magick," Kero said. "And that short-haired girl has a computer that can sense it. She'd be a valuable ally for finding the rest of the Clow cards. But I wonder why they're looking for this one."
"That other girl is a Shinto priestess," Li observed. "She uses a lot of magick. You can tell by her moves." He narrowed his eyes. "Zhu Shu. That name sounds familiar."
"Kid, you took the words right out of my mouth," Kero admitted. "It's right at the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember it."
"So what would a movie star, an athlete, a Shinto priestess, and a genius with a magickal computer want in Hong Kong?" Sakura wondered aloud.
"I don't know, Sakura," Kero said, looking very serious. "But I think you should call your new friend and get us to Hong Kong right away. If Zhu Shu is a Clow card, we need to stop her from getting to whatever Clow card is terrorizing the Li clan."
Li looked down at the Li clan seal, fighting the tears that threatened to well up. When he had come to Japan to hunt the Clow cards, he had thought they would stay in Japan. Now, they were in HIS house, and he was mad.
Madison picked up the phone and dialed the number on the Black Rose's business card. The others observed as she waited a moment.
"Hello, Miss Kuno? Yes, we met earlier. I have some video footage you wanted.? Well, when does our flight leave? We'll give it to you when we get on the plane."
***Will Meilin find out on her own what has invaded the misty island? Will Jackie ever get over Jade hating him? Will the Scouts honor their promise to Zhu Shu? Will Kodachi get to her first? Will Uncle ever make sense? Sign on for the next chapter of.
CURSE OF THE BANSHEE
And just what is this curse, anyway???