Hey guys! I'm Trying to update now…. Aren't I sooooooooooo thoughtful? Giggle giggle giggle giggle giggle giggle! SNORT! Ahem So sorry….

Chapter 4:Explanations

We rode in silence for most of the ride, with the occasional whisper from one dragon to another. I was extremely tense even though I now knew that I was with friendly people, and the whispering didn't help. The wind blew my hair in and out of my face, and, not for the first time that day, I wished that I had a hair tie. Fortunately, the ride was brief, and we arrived within the same hour we had departed. Dojo made a quick decent, and Kimiko, Omi and Raimundo hopped off. Clay picked me up again, and then he jumped down as well.

"Well, here we are!" Cried Dojo as he shrank back to his small size, "Home sweet home!"

I looked around, and found myself gazing at one of the most gorgeous places I had ever been. There were old buildings with cement walls and roofs with blue shingles. It looked like something I had seen in a textbook once in my world history class. I think it was in fifth grade, and we were learning about China. That's probably where we are now, I thought, China. Aren't I deductive! Jesus Christ! I am so sick of those happy little annoying thoughts! Why can't I have normal, pessimistic thoughts, like other people? I gasped at that thought. Were the heck did that come from? Whose voice was that? It surely wasn't…. mine?

"I know, it's beautiful, isn't it?" sighed Kimiko. "I wish I had lived here all my life." At first, her statement confused me, but I then realized that she had taken my gasp as one of pleasant surprise instead of a horrific discovery. Yet, then again, it wasn't really horrific, was it?

"Yes," I said, trying to focus on the dragons and not my own twisted way of thinking. "This is the most beauteous place I've ever been to."

"Why, thank you." I turned quickly around and saw the new speaker was an aged man wearing a blue vest, a white shirt, and white pants. " Well, young monks were you successful in getting the Emerald of Restoration?"

The monks looked embarrassed. "Well," said Raimundo, "Actually, she has it."

All eyes turned to me once again. I looked at the emerald in my hand with curiosity. "So, what does this thing do?" I asked, turning it over in my hand.

"You mean, the young monks did not tell you?" asked the man. I shook my head. He looked at Raimundo, disappointed. "Riamundo, you brought her back here without telling her anything?"

Riamundo squirmed uncomfortably under the man's gaze. "She knows a little," he said quietly. "She knows who we are, and what a Shen Gong Wu is."

"Well, that's a start," said the man. He then turned back to me. "If you come with me, I will explain every thing."

"Um…. Okay…." I followed the man, and heard the monks follow me. He led me through more gardens, and then into one of the cement buildings to an office type room. He sat down behind a desk (that is not in the episodes, but it's there because I said so), and surveyed me with his blue eyes.

"So," he said, "Tell me how this all started."

I thought I was going to ask the questions, not this old man! I pushed the thought out of my head. "Well," I started, "I guess it all started earlier today, when I was in my calculus class. I had finished early, which is not uncommon for me, and was completely bored. So, I decided to meditate."

"You practice meditation?" The man asked conversationally.

I blushed. "Well, I'm not good at it, and I hardly ever do it…. Mostly when I'm bored, such as in this case." He nodded, indicating that he understood. "I was just kind of remembering things, analyzing at my feelings. I came across an odd one, one that I hardly ever felt. It was odd. I guess I just got caught up in it, so I didn't realize how long I had been sitting there.

"I was broken out of my trance by my teacher. She asked if I was okay, and I told her I was fine. So I headed outside to go home. Near the big oak tree near the school, I dropped my pencil, so I leaned over to get it. Then, my eye saw this emerald, lying in the grass. I picked it up to examine it.

"Then, Omi came up to me and asked me for it, telling me it was a mystical object. I was skeptical, and I thought that this girl in my school, Tristessa, had put them up to making me look like a fool. So I stood my ground and didn't give it up. Then, a boy named Jack Spicer showed up and started demanding the emerald. He had a ghost named Wuya with him; at least I think that was her name.

"Then, some guy named Chase appeared, like, out of nowhere. At this point, I was freaking out. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Then I kind of…. Spazzed out."

"You what?" the man asked, perplexed.

"She means that she went ballistic, and started yelling at us." Said Clay, somewhat amused.

"Oh," said the man. "Continue with the story,"

"I…." I started to fidget, not knowing if I should continue, for fear that I would be laughed at. I looked back at the monks behind me. Clay nodded, Riamundo gave me the thumbs up, Kimiko smiled encouragingly, and Omi looked off out the window, clearly more interested in something out there. Kimiko, who was next to him, nudged him in the head. He turned quickly and gave the thumbs up as well.

"Well, then something remarkable happened," I said, smiling and turning around. "I then started to float off of the ground, it started to rain harder than I had ever seen it rain, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. It was unbelievable. But, then I was overwhelmed with fatigue, possibly from the gash on my leg."

"When did you get it?" he asked.

"Just today, by the tree branch that was struck by lightning."

The man sat there, staring at his hands, obviously thinking about something. He drew in a breath, and then asked, "Has that ever happened before?"

"What, the floating? No, never."

He sat and thought for a while longer, and then asked me another question. "Could you excuse the young monks and I for a moment?"

I nodded, and he stood up and gestured for the children to follow him. Once they had exited, he spoke to them. "Is all of this true?" he asked.

They all answered at once, all supporting my story. "Do you think she could be a Dragon, Master Fung?" asked Kimiko.

"Yeah, like one that you missed or something?" added Riamundo.

"No," said the man, presumably Master Fung. "There is no element matching the description of the power she gave. However," he said to calm the moans of the monks, "I do believe that I have heard of a power that she could have."

"What is it, Master?" asked Omi.

"The Power of Manipulation. It means she can control tangible things." He clarified for the monks, who had all said, "Huh?" at the same time

"Ohh! That sounds very powerful!" exclaimed Omi.

"It is, but it could also be potentially dangerous…."

Did he say… Dangerous? Oh… I like the sound of that. Maybe I can give some well-deserved… revenge.

At that moment, the monks and Master Fung re-entered the room. Master Fung approached me somewhat cautiously.

"Forgive me," he said, "But, we don't know your name, or age."

"My name? Oh! Yes. My name is Adrienne Thanos, and I'm nineteen."

"Nineteen!" Cried Riamundo, "You don't look nineteen."

I smiled.

"Well, Adrienne, I think that you have a special talent. I think that you can manipulate objects at will. See that rock on my desk?" I nodded. "Try lifting up without touching it."

I nodded again, and focused as hard as I could on the small rock. I imagined it floating off of the desk. Be the rock, I said to my self, be the rock. It didn't work. And I got frustrated I was ready to just give up. But then, it wiggled. My heart leapt. So did the rock. I turned and beamed at Master Fung, who looked moderately impressed.

"I think that we should talk."

He told me that I should seriously consider training to control my power. I agreed. But I wanted the best training possible, and I told him that I would consider his offer to train me, but I would look at other options as well. He said I was wise to do that. I, yet again, agreed.

Little did I know that Jack Spicer had used the Manchurian Musca and was listening to the whole thing, and then he went and told Wuya. But they were being listened to by one of Chase Young's birds, which went and related the whole thing to him.

So the race to get me was on. For good.