So this was the last chapter of my writing blitz from a couple weeks ago... well not technically. I mean, I did already write up chapter 10 but between now and then, I haven't started anything XD No word on whether I'll get chapter 3 finished by next week or after that *shrug*
"That was your cousin?" everyone exclaimed as they followed Remy up the stairs to their apartment.
"Yeah, her name's Renita," he answered.
"But you said she wasn't going to be here for at least another day!" Mavis cried.
"Renita's practically unpredictable! But that's not what I'm concerned about. What I'm more worried about is how I'm going to convince her not to try and kill the three of you!" When they reached the door to the boys' apartment, they noticed it was left open. Cautiously, Remy pushed the door open and they stepped inside to see Renita in the kitchen. A teapot was resting on the stove, boiling, while she was looking through the cupboards.
"No rooibos," she sighed in annoyance. "I guess green will have to do." Ren reached up into the cupboard and pulled out a green tea bag as the kettle began whistling.
"How did you get in here, Ren?" Remy asked.
"Please, I learned how to pick locks when I was ten. I taught you, after all, remember?" she casually replied as she poured the boiling water into a cup and bobbed the tea bag in the cup.
"Right ok, well Ren, about what happened at the museum," Remy started but Ren silenced him when she held up her hand.
"Relax, I'm not gonna kill your friends," she said, blowing on her boiling drink.
"Y-you're not?" they all exclaimed in surprise.
"Not that I'm not satisfied with that answer, but why not?" Remy asked.
"Because they're not evil. Their auras' are as blue as they come."
"You can see our auras?" Mala asked, surprised.
"I thought humans couldn't do that! Only demons can!" Drago added.
"They can't. I'm just one of the exceptions," Ren replied.
"She was born with that unique sixth sense ability I mentioned earlier," Remy reminded. "Wait, if you could see auras all this time, then you knew not all demons are evil, right?" She nodded. "How come you never told me?" Remy shouted.
"Because you needed to figure that out for yourself! And think back, kid, with how stubborn you were, would you even have listened if it had been coming from me or anyone else for that matter?" she asked while Remy simply cast his eyes aside. "That's what I thought. Besides, you know me. I'm not exactly fond of telling people what to believe. I already run into enough skeptics as it is."
"Ok, well now that that's out of the way, what are you doing here? You weren't exactly thorough when you called me," Remy said.
"That dragon demon you were fighting, not you, the bigger one," Ren quickly added, glancing at Drago, "I've been tracking him for nearly a week. I had just finished an exorcism job when I sensed a powerful demon nearby. He was trying to steal something from a truck parked outside a museum. I did some research and the truck was transporting a museum collection to here, the very same exhibit you all were visiting earlier today.
"That other demon… He said his name was Dragen," Mala spoke.
"And he said he was my brother. But that's not possible! I'm an only child!" Drago protested.
"The only child of your mother and father, maybe, but demons aren't known for being monogamous, especially the male ones. They'll usually have several mates at a time, if not a whole row of concubines lined up. You can't deny that the two of you look similar: same skin tone, draconic appearance… Fire Demon Chi," she emphasized. "If he's your brother, then it's likely he's only your half-brother, paternal. He may not even be your only sibling, in fact, all of you might have half-siblings you don't know about," she said to the three teen demons.
Mala and Liam exchanged looks before she spoke up. "I think my mother would have told me if I had another sibling."
"Same," Liam added.
"Well, now that we've identified our mystery assailant, what does he want with a museum weapons exhibit?" Tim asked.
"I researched the items on display for the exhibit. For the most part, none of them appeared to be strange, just run of the mill, old ancient weapons. Except for one," she said, brandishing the large, broad green dagger from the display case earlier and placing it on the kitchen counter.
"Whoa, look at the size of that monster!" Mavis cried, leaning in over the counter to look at the blade. She reached out to grab it, but Ren quickly pulled her arm back to keep it out of the nosy Callahan girl's reach.
"Well then, what does a Fire Demon want with an old dagger like this?" Liam asked.
"Exactly what I was thinking. But then I saw this." Ren lifted the dagger and pulled the nearby cutting board over so she could set the blade on it's tip. "Look closely at the hilt."
As everyone else leaned in close to look, Drago didn't bother and instead spoke, "It's a trigram."
"Trigram? What's a trigram?" Mavis asked.
"Originally, the eight trigrams make up the bagua, which represent the fundamental principles of reality. Heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, earth and," Renita explained.
"Mountain," Drago cut in.
"Hold up, how come there are two for water? What about the moon trigram?" Mavis asked.
"While two the trigrams technically do stand for lake and water, the trigram for water is used to represent Tso Lan while the lake trigram is used to represent Bai Tza. In a way, it makes sense. The moon's gravitational pull affects the tides," Ren reasoned.
"Hm… ok that does make sense," Mavis conceded.
"The trigrams are also used to represent the Demon Sorcerers that were defeated and banished by the Eight Immortals: my father and his siblings. That trigram is the symbol of my aunt, Po Kong, the Mountain Demon Sorceress," Drago explained.
"Then do you know what this is?" Ren asked.
"No, I've never seen anything like that before in my life. Why does it have my aunt's trigram on it?"
"Because it was made from her power."
"What are you talking about? Made from her power?" Drago asked in confusion.
Ren cocked her eyebrow in confusion. "You don't know the legend… do you?"
"What legend?" Drago asked, growing impatient with her.
"About the Demon King."
"Demon King?" they all asked.
"I remember him," Liam spoke, "at least, I've heard stories. He's the most powerful demon in existence and he used to be the one who ruled this world before humans pushed demons back with Chi Wizardry. But one day he just disappeared mysteriously."
"It wasn't so mysteriously. He was imprisoned," Ren explained. She pulled out a laptop from her bag and opened a file as the others gathered around her.
"What's this?" Tim asked.
"I completely digitized the entire Ryder collection on demons and magic. It's a lot easier than carrying around an enormous pile of books, especially if you're on the move a lot like I am. Here is it," she said, scrolling down on one file. "You all know in ancient times how Demon Sorcerers used to rule our world, right? And how each Sorcerer had their own army of commanders, scouts and minions? Well, there was one rank above Sorcerer and that was the Demon King. All of demon kind answered to him. Even when humans discovered Chi Wizardry as a way to fight back against demons, it wasn't enough to defeat the king. So, they came up with an alternative: with the help of the Eight Immortals, each of them was able to syphon off a portion of one of the King's children's power and formed a key."
"But their powers were already syphoned off into the symbols of the Eight Immortals!" Drago added. He frowned at the memory of his involvement with those items and what he had almost done with their power.
"That's right, but that was an unintended side effect of the process that made the keys and banished the Sorcerers. Since the Demon King had all the same powers as his children, they believed that by stealing a portion of each of these powers, they would be able to devise a Chi spell that would allow them to suppress that power in the Demon King. And it worked. Each of the eight keys held a portion of one Demon Sorcerer's power. It not only allowed the wielder to use that power, but it also allowed them to cancel out anyone with the same powers."
"What happened next?" Mavis asked.
"With these eight keys, the Chi Wizards were finally able to confront the Demon King. They weren't able to banish him though. They had already exhausted most of their resources in banishing the other Sorcerers so they did the next best thing."
"Which was?" Remy asked.
"They imprisoned him. The eight keys served to seal his prison before they were scattered across the globe," Ren finished explaining.
"You mean to tell me that we've had the most powerful demon in existence imprisoned somewhere on our planet?" Mavis exclaimed loudly.
"Don't worry, so long as the keys remain apart from each other, the Demon King can't get out," she assured them.
"So this is what you think my brother is up to?" Drago asked.
"Yes, and I don't think he's working alone either."
"What makes you say that?" Mala asked.
"Think about it: why now? Dragen would have had plenty of opportunities before any of us were even born to start looking for the keys. Either he's stupid and only just came up with the idea now - which is the least likely option in my opinion - or he's working for someone else."
"But who?" Liam asked.
"Not important. What is important is stopping him from getting the keys. We cannot allow an evil like Mo Wang to be released!" Ren declared. Mavis suddenly began snickering, desperately trying to keep herself quiet, but she drew Ren's attention anyway. "What?"
"Mo Wang? That's his name? Seriously? That's just what we need here, more wang! HA!" Mavis howled with laughter.
"I don't get it," Ren said emotionlessly.
"She's making a penis joke," Tim explained.
"Oh… Now is not the time for humor! There is a crisis at hand!" Ren shouted.
"Sister, relax!" Mavis assured her. "You are talking with experts in dealing with crisises."
"It's crises," Tim corrected.
"Shut up!" Mavis quickly retorted.
"Yeah, just this summer we beat the Shadow Legion and prevent them from taking over the world," Liam boasted.
"That is why you called in the first place, right? You didn't come here just to tell us a story. You want our help," Remy concluded.
"I'm used to working alone; it's what I'm accustomed to. But being a true hunter is knowing when you alone are insufficient. So yes, I am here to ask for your help. Something of this magnitude… it's not something I can do alone."
"Great, now that that's settled, there's just one more thing we need to discuss!" Tim chimed in.
"What's that?" Remy asked.
"How are we going to find these keys?"
"Conventional methods won't work. I've already tried every spell I can think of to locate them but so far nothing," Ren explained.
"Maybe they've been hidden for so long that any energy signature they could produce has just gone dormant?" Mala suggested.
"My thoughts exactly. That or the Chi Wizards who hid them in the first place enacted counterspells to prevent the keys from being found. Either way, they won't be as easy to find as this one was."
"Mala, can't you find them?" Mavis asked.
"It's hard enough to try and see into the future! Each one of these keys gives off a unique energy signature and I can't pinpoint it if I don't know what the energy signature is," argued Mala. "It'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack, except instead of a haystack, it's the entire globe!"
"Well we need to find some way to find these keys. We can't allow Dragen to even be one step ahead of us!" Ren cried.
"Wait! I might have an idea!" Mala exclaimed. "Drago, do you remember when we were tracking down the Immortal objects with your family's Chi?"
"I try not to," he groaned.
"My point is, when you meditated, you were able to find the location of each of the Immortal objects. Maybe you can do it again with these!"
"I, uh, I don't know Mala. It might not work," Drago muttered, resistant.
"We have to at least try! You might have a connection to the keys like you did with the immortal objects before!" she reasoned.
"No! I can't do it!" he barked, suddenly growing angry.
"But-" Before Mala could utter another word, Drago stormed out of the apartment and slammed the door behind him.
"Whoa… what's his problem?" Ren asked, sipping from her tea casually.
"It's a long story. Drago and I hadn't met any of you yet but I guess he still doesn't like to think about it."
"Last time it came up, you only talked about it for a bit," Liam mentioned.
"Yeah, you only gave us the TLDR version and how it was the reason you ditched him and came here," Mavis added.
"You have to understand. Drago's past is fairly… complicated. After his mother died, Shen Du took him in and his life just went downhill from there. It wasn't like with me or Liam where I had my dad and Liam had his mother to get him through the hard times. All Drago had was Shen Du, who barely paid any attention to him. And because he went neglected for so long, he did the only thing he could think of to get his father's attention."
"Emulate the behavior that Shen Du viewed as acceptable," Ren interrupted.
"Yes, how did you know?"
"It's obvious. It's the same reason why so many kids these days act out and have temper tantrums; it's the only way to get mommy and daddy's attention."
"Well, it worked for Drago. Shen Du was finally paying attention to him. The last time I saw Drago before last year was some time before his mother died. So when I saw him again after so long, I was surprised by how much he had changed. He became cruel, conniving, short tempered and violent. He was so close to destroying San Francisco before he got himself banished by the Chan family."
"The who now?" Mavis asked.
"Another long story. Think of them as Shen Du's arch rivals," Mala quickly explained. "Drago's come a long way from the person he used to be and I guess being reminded of that part of his life doesn't make it easy for him."
"I can only imagine. Think of the biggest, stupidest mistake you've ever made in your life and imagine being constantly reminded of it," Liam said.
"Yeah, you see I don't have that problem. All those F tests I got last year? That's all the shredded up paper in Phineas' tank!" Mavis exclaimed proudly.
"But being a villain and nearly destroying a city isn't something you can just rip up into pieces of paper and have your pet lizard poop on," Tim pointed out.
"Hey, you have your solutions and coping mechanisms. I have mine."
"Past misdeeds or none, he has a responsibility. If he can track these keys like you think he can, then he needs to get over it!" Renita cried.
"I'll talk to him. He doesn't exactly respond well to threats or orders, especially from new people," Mala said, shooting Ren a mildly serious glare that barely phased the slayer. Before leaving the apartment to follow after her boyfriend.
Ren took another sip of her tea before noticing her cousin and his three friends staring at her. "What?"
"You know what, Ren! You always do this! You're so detached from people that you've become insensitive to their feelings!" Remy scolded.
"I seem to recall you sporting a similar outlook, Remy," she argued back in a monotone.
"Yes, but my outlook has changed. I made friends."
"I don't need friends," she replied emotionlessly. "And why does this surprise you anyway? You've known me all your life, you know how I am and how I think. What I need is people that I can count on to get the job done and fight their absolute hardest so we can stop this Demon King from returning! Friendship doesn't factor into my needs. Your place seems crowded enough as it is between the three of you and a demon hound, so I'll find some place else to stay. Call me the second anything happens, and I do mean, the second," Ren emphasized before packing up her gear and walking out of the apartment.
"Drago! Drago will you slow down!" Mala yelled, running after her boyfriend. He kept walking ahead of her, completely ignoring her calls. When she finally caught up to him, she grabbed his elbow with her hand and forced him to stop and turn around to face her.
"I told you, I'm not doing it!" he repeated his earlier protest to her.
"Why not? You heard what Ren said. We can't just ignore what your brother is up to and if you can track the keys-"
"It's not that I don't think I can do it!" he shouted, interrupting her.
"What?" she asked in confusion.
Drago sighed and turned away from her. "It's not that I doubt myself or that I think I can't do it. I know I'm capable of finding them. I didn't say anything before but when we were at the museum, before I even spotted the key in the first place, I could feel it's power. I tried to ignore it, tell myself that I was just imagining things, but I wasn't."
"Then why are you so resistant?" she asked.
"I've felt their power, Mala, each one alone and all at once. You don't know what it's like; you've always been so innocent and pure. Me? Not so much." Mala was about to interrupt him, but Drago kept speaking instead. "I thought power was the only way to get what I wanted, to have a better life. Of those few Demon Chi that I actually manage to absorb, even if only for a short time, I felt stronger. I could feel their power flowing through me and it made me feel unstoppable, like everything I ever wanted was finally coming in to view. But when you take it all in at once, all that power… It does things to you, to your head. I literally went mad with power, Mala! It was like a drug that I just couldn't get enough of it! When your mother helped me get back here, I made a promise to myself that I would never let myself fall for that temptation again. And feeling Po Kong's power just from that key alone, it brings those old feelings up. The only way I can prevent myself from giving in is to just stay away from it."
"...You're scared," Mala realized.
"Of course I'm scared! What I did last year was the biggest mistake of my entire life! I don't want to end up putting myself in a position where it happens again. I-I can't bear the thought of you leaving me," he admitted, turning back to face her, but hanging his head low so she could barely see his eyes.
"Drago," Mala whispered, walking up to him. She took one of his hands in hers while placing her other hand on his cheek and lifting his face up. She nearly took a step back in surprise at seeing how… distraught Drago looked. She had never seen him like this! "I'm not going to leave you. And what happened before won't happen again unless you want it to."
"I don't! I don't want it to happen again!" he protested.
"Then it won't!" she insisted. "When you came back, I'll admit, I was skeptical over how quickly and suddenly you were able to change. When we were trying to find those coins, I half expected you to betray us and take the coins for yourself. But you didn't. You resisted the temptation of power then and when we were trying to find Arran's Signs and you'll resist it now!"
"But how do you know I won't-" he started, but Mala placed her finger on his lips to silence him.
"Because you'll have me right there beside you. You'll have all your friends right behind you! We all have faith in you Drago!"
Drago looked into her dark red eyes and pondered her words carefully. The last time he gave in to power and temptation, he was alone. Mala had left him because of his ambition and he never really considered the Ice Crew to be his friends. But now things were different. Now he had friends, real friends who liked him and cared about him despite what he was and what he did in his past. Maybe she was right… Maybe this time would be different! "Ok," he conceded, "I'll give it a try."
"Oh, thank you!" Mala smiled before leaping up to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss. Drago readily reciprocated the motion and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body closer against his. As they kissed, neither of them noticed the tall, broad figure hiding in the dark alley across the street. The figure's bright red eyes narrowed angrily before he turned away and dashed off, his thick tail knocking over a garbage can along the way.
I know Ren may feel like the stereotypical mean/serious girl archetype, but D-Sniper and I felt that that fit since none of the main characters really had those personality traits. Plus, we realized somewhere down the line of designing and concepting her that she is literally Osprey Fenix, my Storm Hawks character. If you're not into Storm Hawks or haven't read my short stories about our squadron group, Ren and Ossy are both basically strong-willed, serious and determined people who appear to lack compassion and empathy, but they fight for justice and blah blah. Plus, they both have bright orange hair XD Once we saw the resemblance, we couldn't unsee it. Perhaps Ossy was subconsciously on my mind?
Next chapter: The Strikers travel to China to find the second key, but Dragen proves to be a difficult obstacle as he displays his superior powers.