Jackie Chan Adventures
Chapter 4
Author Note: First of all, I think I owe you, my readers, an apology. Some time ago I stated that I would try to upload something every month; it has been considerably longer than a month since my last post. It has, in fact, been half a year since I last updated this story. So yes, an apology is owed. I have my reasons, of course: school, family events, working on original stories, all sorts of things, but I can definitely do better than this. I will do better than this. So, thank you for your patience. I hope to prove more worthy of it.
In the places between worlds, where great lumps of rock drifted beneath an orange sky that was not a sky, time tended to pass oddly, when it could be perceived at all. Without some way to keep track, entire centuries could pass in a heartbeat, unnoticed and unchanging. It was perhaps the only mercy of the Demon Realms, that the true scope of their eternal imprisonment could not be experienced, for there was little difference between a day and a century here, where neither sun nor sky existed.
Even so, the long ages spent in boredom could become wearying to even the mightiest of minds, without some way to endure it; Shendu had chosen to sleep through as much of it as he could, lounging about in the farthest, most remote reaches of the realm. But no matter how long he rested, some instincts could not be dulled, and the shift of magic in the miasma around him brought him awake between one breath and the next.
For a long moment he simply lay in his rough bed, carved from the rock by his own claws, and stretched out his mystical senses to taste the air around him; he found nothing of note, and so opened his glowing red eyes, glaring around at the endless expanse of his prison. Nothing had changed since he had fallen asleep, and he wondered what had woken him; the magical ties he shared with his siblings told him that they were nowhere near him, and there was nothing else living in this plane.
He contemplated the thought of magical scrying from another realm, then quickly decided it didn't matter; anyone powerful enough to spy on him from elsewhere would learn nothing from watching Shendu in his prison. Nevertheless, some caution would not hurt, and it would be a spiteful pleasure to deny his watcher the ability to observe him, so he reached inside himself for the nub of magic that was his by right and activated the snake talisman.
Ten seconds later, he was still staring at his perfectly visible claws, wondering why his magic had failed him.
Like many stores, Uncle's shop once had a little bell that would ring whenever someone opened the door. Then Captain Black had replaced the bell with a device that would ring whenever someone opened the door, and activate a silent alarm at the base if it happened outside of store hours; so far, the only result of the change had been several home invasions when Jackie had come home late from work. Then, a few weeks ago, Jade had somehow managed to get into the devices simple program, and instruct it to belt the theme song to her favorite cartoon at high volume when activated; ironically, this had only increased customer sales.
So when the tune of, 'I want to see the stars beneath me!' blasted into the room, the three temporary caretakers knew they had a new customer. "Welcome to Uncle's Rare Finds!" declared Ratso as he slid out of the backroom. "It's the one stop shop for all your antiquity needs, and…oh! It's Jade! Hi Jade, welcome back!"
"What, Jade?" said Chow as he stuck his head out of the doorway.
"Hey, little J! Good to have you back!" Finn trotted out after Ratso, wiping his hands clean. "You're early!"
"Yeah, we wasn't expecting you back til tomorrow," explained Ratso, kneeling down to bump fists with the tiny adventurer. "We were going to bake you a cake!"
"Hah, thanks guys." Jade smiled as she exchanged a complicated hand gesture with Finn, and matched Chow's thumbs up with her own. After the climatic fight with Drago and his cronies at the baseball stadium, the former enforcers had given up their criminal ways 'For good', electing to finish their parole, then reenter the world of lawful employment. Uncle had reluctantly allowed them to resume their positions as part-time shopkeepers and cleaners, and they had proven to be competent, if unimaginative, assistants.
They were also Jade's friends, and she could not hide her delight at being back with them. "Uncle couldn't find anything wrong with me, so Jackie had Captain Black drop me off early; technically I'm supposed to be getting ready for school tomorrow, but…"
"…Jade, you better not be thinking what I think you're thinking!" Chow said, blanching. "You know what Mr. Chan said the last time we went on an adventure with you!"
"Yeah," agreed Ratso with a shudder. "I dunno know about you guys, but I don't want to know what a Heavenly Crane Jump Kick feels like."
"Come on, that was one time, and Jackie totally over-reacted." The enforcers did not seem to agree. "Well, fine, go ahead and be sticks in the mud then. But what I was actually going to say was that I had the driver stop by the rental place, and picked up a copy of 'Zombie Apocalypse Six: The Deader the Better', and I was wondering if you felt like watching some good old corpse stomping."
"We'd love to, Little J," Finn said, "but Hak Foo is expecting us at the Angry Crow for the evening shift! We can't stay."
"Aw man," Jade moaned. "You really can't stay? I even brought popcorn!"
"Oh, oh, is it that 'I can't believe it's not Styrofoam' stuff you brought last time, because that stuff was great!"
Everybody looked at Ratso for a long moment. "No," she finally said, "I bought 'Bucket Gourmet'."
"Ooh," moaned Chow.
"Now that's the stuff! Bucket Gourmet is the best!"
"Eh, it's alright. I still like that Styrofoam stuff better."
The other three simply ignored him. "Maybe we should stay behind after all," said Chow slowly.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like it will be too bad if we miss a day of work, right? It's just one day, and-"
Whatever excuses Finn might have said were forgotten as the door chime rang out once more and the Enforcers turned to say as one, "Welcome to Uncle's Rare Finds, how may we-Hak Foo?!" The red-haired giant simply glared at them, readjusting the tiny spectacles that rested on his nose. Hak Foo had traded his purple battle-suit for a grey business suit, and spent most of his fury on berating his workers, but he was still a mighty creature, and where his guise fell men crumbled.
"Hey, Hak Foo," stammered Finn. "W-we were just on our way. Really. We know how much being on time means to you."
"Good. Do not keep me waiting." he said with a bored frown. He gave them all another glare, then stormed back out the front door with a cry of, "Proud Hawk returns to the nest!"
"Sorry, Little J. Looks like you'll be on your lonesome this time."
"Aww man!"
Shendu floated in the nightmare ether of his prison, frantic and frightened, desperately trying to figure out his predicament. He had tested his talismans, every one of them, and not a single one of them had worked; only his natural demonic abilities remained. It was horrifying to a creature like him who's survival depended on overwhelming force, for while he was far from helpless, he relied on his talismans far more than he would like to admit; in his current state, even Xiao Fung might prove a threat, and such a thing was intolerable.
Unfortunately, he simply had no idea what had happened, or why, and he had no idea how he could find out. He had no library here, in the depths, and his limited grasp of sorcery was far too clumsy to fetter out such secrets. That meant that his only option for investigation was asking one of his elder siblings for help, and the thought of revealing his weakness was almost as intolerable as his continuing powerlessness. Almost.
He focused on the mental signals that his brothers and sisters generated, then picked one and launched himself from his perch, flying off into the endless dusk. Tso Lan was wise in the matters of magic, had dragged a grand horde of knowledge with him when he was imprisoned, and could be counted on to be discreet, with appropriate compensation. It was time to pay the moon demon a visit.
Jade snapped the TV off with a muttered curse, throwing the remote down and hopping off the couch. The Section 13 agent, who had joined her after the former enforcers had left, moved to follow her, but she waved her hand at him and said, "I'm just going to bed, dude. No need to come with." The agent, a hefty man in a grey suit and overlarge sunglasses, settled back into his seat, returning his attention to the novel he had pulled out of his pocket twenty minutes into the movie.
Jade rolled her eyes at the agent before storming out of the room, fuming internally the whole way. The entire evening had been a gigantic bust; she had been looking forward to a night of bad film with her friends, but had been stuck with a humorless stick in the mud, watching a movie that wasn't nearly as much fun without buddies to share the joke with. She sighed as she walked up the stairs in the dark, too focused on her inner thoughts to pay attention to the real world…until she tripped on nothing and sprawled over the top of the staircase.
"Oh man," she groaned, rubbing at a sore shin. "This bites." She clambered to her feet, grumbling her complaints to the empty darkness as she walked to the bathroom, paying no attention to the room behind her.
Had she been in a less foul mood, she might have looked back to see the shadow of the staircase railing, where one of the pegs had been knocked out of alignment, as though someone had kicked it out of its place.
It's material twin, on the other hand, was as pristine as the day it had been carved.
Concluding Note: Well, that was short. Especially after so long. Still, I think it was more important to get it out than to make it big, and I hope the next parts make up for it. It also looks like things are beginning to heat up, eh? The effects of the portal are making themselves known, and things will only continue to change. Let's hope our heroine can keep up, eh?
