Disclaimer: As you know, I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures.

Chapter 4

Jade Chan could do a lot of things. She could do confident. She could do terrified. She could do brilliant and she could do dumb. In the face of great adversity (or just the threat of extra chores) she could do defiant. In the face of great danger she could do distress or control, depending on what kind of danger it was. In fact, she was doing a bit of all of that all at once right now. But if there's one thing she can't do, it's give up. And she wasn't about to start now, no matter how scared she was.

But first, a mild moment of panic:

"Omigod… they're trapped!" she spoke quickly, pulling at the sides of her hair as she grew more and more animated, "oh man, this is bad. This is so, so bad!"

"What are we going to do?" Paco said, not much better off himself. In fact, the only he wasn't full scale pulling his hair out was because Jade had beaten him to it. "There is no way in now! We must think of something!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jade sighed, calming down as she thought the situation over. "Ok… we there's got to be another way in – these old creepy temples always have some kind of service entrance." She left the entrance and started looking around the walls for some kind of clue.

Paco, meanwhile, inspected the door. "Perhaps this door is not as strong as it looks… I'll bet it would crumble at the fist of the great El Toro. Perhaps I can try - it is worth a shot." He took a few steps backward, then launched himself fist first at the door with a mighty war cry, striking the door with all the force he could muster. For a few seconds, nothing happened at all, and then… "I was wrong…"

Jade continued to search around the back of the temple, oblivious to Paco in the front running around clutching his hand and shouting in pain. As she looked around at the designs running across the temple, she noticed that the faces they saw leering at her uncle had returned to normal: all peaceful, pensive, and creepy enough exactly the same: it was enough to give her the willies.

Not letting that psyche her out, she stared at the rows of identical faces looking for something out of place… and then she saw it: on the far side of the wall, near ground level, a there was a face unlike the others. While the rest of them were closed and expressionless, this one had eyes and mouth wide open, as though it was shouting. She had gone on enough adventures to know a secret when she saw it. Without hesitation she ran over and felt around for some kind of switch or lever – not that she needed to: the moment she touched it the face glowed and slid aside, revealing a small but enterable tunnel.

"Paco!" she yelled at her companion, who took a break from a creative string of Spanish curses to listen, "I think I found a side entrance! Come on!" Within moments the boy was turning the corner suspiciously red faced and grinning sheepishly.

"Wonderful!" he said a little too cheerfully, "Now we can help El Toro and Jackie! I'll just go in first…"

As he quickly passed Jade noticed he was hiding one of his fists behind his back, "Dude, what happened to your hand?" she asked, seeing that the fist was very red.

"Nothing!" he said quickly, blushing even more. "Don't ask, let's just go!" He practically dove into the tunnel without looking back. "Are you coming?" Jade smirked and resisted the urge to laugh, making a mental note to bring it up later as she followed him into the unknown.

"Senor Jackie," El Toro asked shortly as the other two adventurers made their way through a dimly lit corridor, "why are we not trying to find a way out the way we came? The children may need our help!"

"Sorry, El Toro, but something tells me it wouldn't be worth the effort. That door is far too big for us to move, and there was no other way out where we were. No, I don't like it but the best way to get back to Jade and Paco is to continue on through the temple."

El Toro grunted, accepting the truth but still not happy about the situation, and the surroundings didn't help: as the two followed the ethereal glow through the wide, foreboding passageways in silence there was little to distract them from the danger they were all in: just like the outside, everything on the inside of the temple was blank and uniform, even the designs on the walls. Obviously, whoever built this temple was not going for extravagance.

Oddly enough, the lack of anything at all to distract him made Jackie even more nervous, and more than a little paranoid. He was on the verge of starting a conversation about something, anything, just to cut the tension when suddenly he tripped over a bundle on the ground and toppled onto the floor.

"What the," he whispered, checking the pile with hope that it wouldn't explode or something. It appeared to be some sort of uniform – a work suit, trousers, shoes, etc, and a few feet away he spotted a small hammer, a chisel, and some assorted trinkets. As he looked around he saw even more sets of uniforms and tools were strewn around, everything either frayed, charred, chipped or torn. On the suit in his hands Jackie noticed a small nameplate: "Doctor Allen Burns… I have heard that name before! He was the man in charge of Mr. Bao's dig team!" He added to himself, "Jade was right…"

El Toro paled. "These are… the remains of your Senor Bao's crew?"

"They were not worthy…" Jackie replied grimly. With respect, he laid the uniform on the ground, nodded his head, and motioned for them to continue on.

Somehow, the confirmation of what might happen to him and his friends should they fail increased his determination as much as it scared him.

"Is there any sign of what happened to them?" El Toro questioned.

"No… that's what worries me."

"Well, we should- LOOK OUT!" El Toro suddenly shouted, turning around in shock, though Jackie did not notice.

"Well, yes. We should definitely- BWAH?" El Toro forcefully turned him around and he saw the source of his friend's panic. Shooting out from holes in the walls were ropes, netting themselves across the corridor and coming towards them. "RUN!"

El Toro didn't need to be told twice. They took off as fast as their legs could take them, desperately trying to keep the net behind them – Jackie looked back and saw the ropes twisting and turning around the discarded clothes they left behind. This was not reassuring. Baddaybaddaybadday-ouch! Jackie yelped as a rope right behind him made a particularly close call on his backside – but there was no time to react. He had to keep running, or he'd get worse than rope burns on his behind.

"Keep at it, amigo!" El Toro yelled from a couple paces in front of him – he must have heard him get hit. "This hall must end eventually!"

At least there was a silver lining. A trap hopefully meant they were on the right path. "Yes, but it is what is behind us that I am worried about…"

"Do not worry!" El Toro replied, "I see something ahead! It must…. be… no…" He suddenly slowed to a stop.

"El Toro? What…?" Jackie sidestepped so he would hit him, but then he looked ahead and realized what caused his friend to freeze in fear. Another set of ropes, shooting out the walls, advancing towards them from the hall in front. There was no way out.

"NO!" His eyes darted back and forth trying to find some way of escape, but it was no use – in seconds he and El Toro were caught by dozens of creeping binds. "Let go of me!" he cried, thrashing violently as the ropes wrapped around his arms and legs and pulled him back, but the more they fought the more shot out of the walls, threatening to tie them up completely. Before long there he was almost too tied to even move. With difficulty he turned his head and grimaced, seeing El Toro wasn't doing much better – things were looking very bad.

It was at this point that most people would give up – but Jackie wasn't most people: he thought about Jade, Paco, and all the people who would suffer if he didn't succeed, and with all of their safety on the line he wasn't about to let himself be turned into a human cocoon. He caught his second wind, so to speak and, almost as if his dedication gave him the strength he needed, the ropes started to feel a bit less strong. It was still one of the hardest things he ever had to do, but it all of a sudden felt a bit easier.

They gave a tiny bit, and Jackie took that opportunity to push as hard as he could. More, more, a bit more… he couldn't give up. He wouldn't give up. Suddenly, one rope snapped, then another, and another, and before long he was almost walking along, breaking rope after rope even as others tried to replace them.

El Toro saw his friend's success and grinned, and using every ounce of strength he had he pushed to join him. Soon, the two were making their way through the rope trap at a slow but steady pace.

Jackie chuckled, "well, nobody can ever say we let ourselves get 'tied up' in our work!" El Toro laughed with him, even though they were still in danger: they were making their way through, but it was still difficult and there was no end in sight. Then, suddenly, Jackie slipped and was jerked back into the air. "GAH! HELP!"

Without thinking, El Toro leaped to grab him, snagging a few of the ropes still trying to bind him in the process, and helped him get his bearings, but the damage was done: the trap had an even stronger grip on them both. It took all they could muster not to slip backwards again.

Now thinks looked at their worst. They were making almost no headway. The two tried to keep going anyways, but the ropes seemed twice as strong and things were looking extra grim. It looked like it was almost over…

"No! We can't be stuck here like this," Jackie yelled to El Toro, who nodded, "At the count of three we have to push as hard as we can! Or else…" He trailed off – he didn't want to think about the "or elses" right now.

"Si, my friend," El Toro replied, determination written all over his face, "on your count…"

Ooh, this is going to hurt in the morning… "Alright. Three… two… one… GO!"

And at the same instant two things happened at once. First, the two rushed forward as much as they could – and miraculously managed to break several of the ropes, enough that they could move again. Second, the wall to the left of them suddenly cracked and opened, revealing a secret passageway. The two adventurers could hardly believe it: escape, was right in front of them! Granted, they had no idea where the passage led, but given the circumstances…

"This way!" Jackie yelled – wherever the corridor led couldn't be worse than there they were: they booked it as fast as they could go through the trap and to the side of the hall, untangling themselves from the trap and diving into the side-hallway.

The hidden door shut behind them leaving the rope trap hanging as it was, ominously netting the whole hallway from end to end.

Paco had no idea how long they had been crawling through this tunnel without any kind of light (it seemed like around 20 minutes, but who could tell?), but it was starting to get a little tedious. Particularly since he could practically hear Jade grinning her head off behind him at the idea of adventure. If she mumbled "whoa" or "awesome" one more time- oh that's it…

"Why must you always enjoy this sort of thing?" he asked wearily.

"Are you kidding? This is just like Indiana Jones: we're braving the depths of a mysterious ruin, trying to rescue the trapped explorers. It's way cool."

"Yes, and I'm sure when we find some dark artifact that melts our faces off, it'll be all that much cooler."

Jade snorted. "Oh, don't be so negative, mouseboy." Luckily, she couldn't see him scowl back at her, because if looks could kill…

"Can't you once focus on the danger we're in right now? Honestly," he rolled his eyes, "one would think you hadn't done this kind of thing a million times."

"Please. You know very well the only reason you're not excited right now is because you're even less patient than I am and this whole tunnel thing is starting to get old," she ignored his affronted hiss, "and just relax. You worry way to mu-UUUUUUUUUCH!" She screamed as the floor under her suddenly gave way, sending her falling into the darkness.

"Yade? YADE!" Paco yelled as he heard his friend fall behind him. He struggled to turn himself around and try to grab her before it was too late, but the tunnel was too narrow for that. He needn't have bothered, however, for a second later the ground under him fell away as well, dropping him spiraling down after her.

He still couldn't see a thing, but he knew they were falling some distance – first they were dropping, then suddenly they landed on a kind of slanted surface and slid the rest of the way. He supposed it was a good thing he couldn't see, because the trip down that slippery slope took twists and turns and at one point might have done a loop the loop, he wasn't certain, and the last thing he needed was to be completely nauseous as well as dizzy and disoriented (though if you asked him later, he would tell you he was not bothered at all, and in fact all those screams anyone might have heard were actually the temple trying in vain to scare them). Meanwhile, to his great irritation, Jade had gone past panicking and was clearly enjoying herself, if her "woo-hooing."

"Yade!" he yelled again, this time more angry than fearful, "I swear, if we die here – te prometo – I'm going to kill you!" Jade was, naturally, cheering too hard to hear him. He scowled, grunted and crossed him arms waiting for this wild ride to end.

And, suddenly, it did. The sliding just stopped, and with no warning whatsoever the two were dumped from a ceiling into an enormous room, falling fast enough to seriously hurt themselves on the sudden stop. Jade fell in first, and looking around quickly she spotted a large thread of ivy hanging on a wall close to the hole they fell through.

"Quick, grab the vines!" she shouted as Paco dropped after her and she quickly directed herself over to the ivy - grabbing on like her life depended on it - which, of course, it did. Paco, not wanting to knock her off, fell ahead of her and grabbed the vine a few seconds after - and one after the other they slid down the makeshift rope to the ground, landing ruffled but mostly unharmed in a big heap with a collective "oof!"

"Whew!" Jade said as she shook off her dizziness, looking around her with a mix of impressed relief and nervousness, "That was some ride, huh? Whoever built this place must've been a real nutcase."

"Yes, yes, it was something else all right," Paco murmured from the floor, "now would you please get off of me?"

Jade gasped – half amused, half embarrassed – she had accidentally landed directly on top of him. "Oops! Sorry…" she jumped off him and helped him up, grinning apologetically as he dusted himself off. He groaned briefly but didn't comment on it. Or if he had wanted to he couldn't, because naturally that was when the rope burn kicked in. "Ow, ow, ow..." the two chorus for the next few minutes as they danced around wincing and waving their arms.

After the sting faded away they finally tried to get their bearings. "So, where are we, anyways?" Paco asked, looking up from his still red hands.

For the first the two looked around at their surroundings. They were in an enormously vast stone chamber. Here and there were blocky platforms circling the half of the room they were in – they rose in height as they approached the farthest point behind them, like a kind of stairs, but the lowest one was still much taller than they were, giving the impression from where they were standing that the chamber was wider on one end than on the other. They looked up from where they fell: the hole they had dropped through was obviously supposed to be some sort of trap, but what really interested them was the thread of ivy they had saved themselves with: they initially thought it came from the walls or a ceiling, but looking at it now they saw it came from another hole in the ceiling.

Filing that away for later, they looked back in front of them. As they walked leisurely out of the niche they had fallen in, Paco noticed right away some kind of pulley system sitting off to the side. It looped from a crank, over to a complex system of massive gears, which was connected to-

"Chido! A door!" Paco cheered and ran over to the exit at the side of the chamber: a massive door spanning from floor to ceiling, even bigger than the main entrance to the temple, though at least this time they had a way to open it, "Now we can find El Toro and Jackie and escape! Come on, Yade!" Jade didn't answer. "Yade?"

Jade stood at the wall directly opposite from where they landed, looking up at something adorning the wall. "Hey, Paco…" she said softly, "come check this out." Moving to where she was, Paco looked up and gasped.

"Madre de dios…" he said breathlessly. Engraved and painted on the wall were inscriptions and symbols so huge he was surprised he had not noticed them right away, as Jade did. Looping nearly from wall to wall to ceiling to floor was flowing ancient writing, which naturally neither of them could read, but the paintings spoke loudly enough. The wall was filled with pictures of people doing various things, melding into each other while keeping each amazing deed distinct. Standing in the center of the design was a truly enormous figure, reaching up above him, where six stars sparkled around his head just out of reach, or perhaps he had thrown them… the detail was so intricate they could almost see the stars twinkling. It was amazing.

They were so entranced by the image that they didn't notice something shadowy and dark going on behind them. As they stared the other way, ghostly shades began to seep from the walls, the corners, the ceiling… everywhere. Silent as the grave, they began to take shape, leering down at the two teens, who remained oblivious.

"This is… amazing! Who could have done this?" Paco gasped.

"I don't know… but it's awesome," Jade replied, looking around the edges, "but this is what I'm interested in, look over there!" She pointed to the star at the farthest right, which was twinkling the brightest. Next to it, in paint that seemed brighter and fresher than the rest, there was a smaller image of a person reaching for it, while surrounded by a chains and weights and, most unnerving of all, what looked like teeth. Lots of teeth. "What do you suppose it means?"

"I don't know," Paco replied anxiously, "but I do know we should leave here before – gasp!" Paco turned and backed against the wall, horror etched all across his face. "Y-yy-y…"

"What's up with you?" Jade raised one of her eyebrows – a skill she put a lot of pride and effort into learning. Paco shakily pointed behind her, and she nervously turned to follow his gaze. It took all she had not to scream right away: standing behind them on the platforms, the floor, pretty much every point on the other side of the chamber, were dozens upon dozens of ferocious, wolflike creatures with mad glowing eyes and small hazy feet, staring at the two with a decidedly unfriendly glare. Jade jumped back in shock. "What the heck are those?"

Paco's reply was as grim as he was terrified, "Cadejo…"

Author's Note: I was a bit concerned with the length of my chapters before, so now I'm trying a bit more wordy a style. Still getting into the groove of things.