Authors Note: Well, the only exams left to worry about are Maths and Biology. Other than that, the rest are going well, so I decided to use my free time to write this chapter. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own ADJL. No copyyright infringement intended
Chapter IV: The Departure
The JFK International Airport was teeming with a multitude of people, from businessmen in dapper suits to families in their vacation wear. In this chaotic mass of human beings (and the occasional pixie who went unnoticed), the Long family, Fu Dog, Trixie and Spud were trying to maneuver their way through.
The Longs had come to see Lao Shi off as he flew to Singapore. The cover story was that an old friend of his from the 1970s was dying, and out of respect, Lao Shi would be attending his funeral, before heading off to Hong Kong to join his family at the wedding of their Aunt Li. Of course, this was not really the case, and somewhere in the airport, Wai Lin was lurking about, waiting for the coast to be clear to rendezvous with Lao Shi.
"Daughter's husband, would you mind if me and Jake have a little personal chat?" asked Lao Shi.
Jonathan, who still had not gotten over Jake's "incident", was a little reluctant, but seeing as Lao Shi was with him, agreed.
Jake, happy to be free from the deathly glare of his father, went willingly with his grandfather to a small, secluded corner.
"Jake, you did not tell me about your little street brawl."
Jake, realizing that he had been caught, started to stutter out an explanation that came out as mostly gibberish, but Lao Shi put a finger to his mouth.
"Listen to me, grandson. Whatever you were thinking, that was the most irresponsible and embarrassing thing I have ever had the misfortune of finding out. Can I have your word that it will never happen again?"
Jake nodded, still ashamed of what he had done.
"Good, now onto more pressing matters. While I am gone, I want you to report to Sun for your training, which will be done concurrently with Haley."
"What? No way, Gramps! I'm never training with Haley!"
"Relax, young dragon. You will be doing separate sessions, since Haley is not yet prepared to handle your level. Now, secondly, take this."
Lao Shi immediately pressed a small seashell into Jake's hand. Jake only stared at it in confusion and apprehension.
"It's a magical communication device. Every night, I want you to report to me anything that you think may have been a little off. I will also keep you updated on the status of our mission."
Jake pocketed the seashell, grateful that he wouldn't have to rely on the extremely expensive overseas calls.
"That will be all, Jake. Now, let us quickly return to your family."
The duo soon found the rest of the Long family, along with Trixie and Spud, deciding where to eat. Finally, they decided on one rather posh Italian restaurant, before digging into what turned out to be a sumptuous meal of pasta and pizza.
Chang sat at Changi airport, eagerly awaiting the arrival of flight 368C from New York. The fools at Alcatraz prison never realized that she had quietly escaped, leaving behind only a very weak chi doppleganger, and had barely lost a tenth of her strength. Indeed, the art of deception had always been one of her strengths. After escaping, she had tracked down Pandarus, and got him to cast a spell that would block her from being seen by the Oracle Twins.
Now, sipping coffee at the nearby cafe, she awaited the arrival of Lao Shi to fulfill her master's final revenge.
Opposite her, the wizard Eli Pandarus was eating a muffin, fingering the Eternal Spyglass in his hand.
"You are absolutely sure this will work, Chang?"
"Of course. Do you doubt me, Pandarus? Who was it that fooled Tay Wai Lin and stole the spyglass to boot?"
Pandarus leaned in and whispered,"Why give it to me, though? I could just as easily run off with it, you know. Such a legendary object would procur a high price."
Chang smirked and said, "Consider this an employment interview. And a test of loyalty."
Pandarus chuckled darkly and said,"To you? What could an old woman like you do to a wizard like me."
At this point, a dark spectre appeared behind Chang, scaring the living daylights out of Pandarus. This time, it was Chang's turn to laugh.
"My dear Pandarus, whoever said I was your true employer?"
From within the shadows, a deep, raspy voice said,"Eli Pandarus. You will help me return to my physical body. If you do not, all you cherish, I shall destroy."
Pandarus was now visibly perturbed and said, in a voice that quavered with terror," Who the hell are you?"
The voice laughed maniacally and said,"Many names have I gone by, but you may call me the Dark Dragon."
The Chinese couple that emerged from the plane were surprisingly strong, the man being able to carry a suitcase thrice his height from the conveyor belt.
As they exited and got into a cab, Wai Lin said, in Mandarin," Take us to our destination."
Seeing Lao Shi confused, she explained, "This is my personal driver, Ming."
Relieved, Lao Shi settled back, and for twenty minutes, he enjoyed the scenery outside as the cab passed by Singapore City.
Finally, they had arrived at a warehouse, about twice the size of Jake's school. When Lao Shi entered,however, he immediately saw the trap. Instead of being greeted by The Eternal Spyglass, Chang and Eli Pandarus stood, battle ready.
Lao Shi immediately transformed, before turning to Wai Lin and said,"You! How dare you betray me!"
Chang, however, cackled with venemous glee, and said,"You fool! Did you not see the deception?"
Immediately, Wai Lin exploded in a flash of white light, and was replaced with another Chang! She had made a doppleganger who shapeshifted into Tay Wai Lin!
Chang immediately reabsorbed the doppleganger and sprung.
Lao Shi tried his best to fight back, but unfortunately, was outnumbered. With a blast from his wand, Pandarus brought down the mighty Chinese dragon, and trapped him in Sphinx Hair net. An unconscious Lao Shi reverted back to human form, and Chang stepped over the body, grinning in triumph.
"Take him to the Prison. I'll speak to him later," said Chang.
Meanwhile, Jake and his friends were on their skateboards, making their way home, when suddenly, Jake remembered about his training with Sun.
"Sorry guys, I gotta go!" With that, he took off in the opposite direction.
After an extremely eventful ten-minute ride that consisted of knocking into old ladies, nearly getting run over by a truck and almost crashing into Sun's convertible, Jake finally arrived at her house, a small, comfortable apartment.
"Ah, Jake, thank you for arriving, even if you are thirty minutes late," said Sun, who barely seemed hassled by his latecoming.
"If you would follow me into my convertible, we shall go to where I wish to train you today."
Jake was curious, and asked,"Where are we going? And what exactly are we doing today?"
Sun gave an enigmatic smile and said,"Well, we'll be doing a rather special form of training today."
Quickly, Jake stepped into Sun's convertible, and was whisked away. While driving, Sun passed him a blindfold. Seeing his confused face, Sun said,"Put it on. Where we are going is a rather special place."
Finally, the car stopped moving, and Jake was led by Sun into what felt like an elevator. Jake guessed they were in a tall building, as the elevator trip took quite some time. Finally, Jake and Sun exited and Sun left Jake standing in the middle of what he pictured as a big hall, as their voices brought an echo, and told him to take off the blindfold only when he was told to do so.
After a five-minite wait, Jake heard Sun's voice over a speaker,"Jake, take off the blondfold."
When Jake opened his eyes, however, shock gripped him in its unyielding hold, as across the hall, Jake saw the one face he was missing.
Rose. In Huntsgirl garb.
"Hey, Rose," said Jian, a tall, shy boy from Rose's new school in Hong Kong.
Rose was concentrating on her Biology book, when her head snapped up. Realizing it was just Jian, she sighed and said,"Oh, hey Jian. What's up?"
Jian seemed more awkward than ever, and when he spoke, he stumbled quite often.
"Well, I... Its just, you know... Err..."
Rose smiled. He was quite cute.
"Are you going to ask me to the Equinox Ball?" The ball was like a Hong Kong version of prom.
"Well, yeah," he said with a sheepish grin.
Rose was quite unsure how to respond. Jian was a nice guy, and was one of her first friends in Hong Kong, but a part of her brain, a small part that she never managed to control, was keeping her from takong anything "to the next level."
This time was no different. And it wasn't just because of that.
"Sorry, Jian. But I'm not going to prom. I'm attending a wedding with my family. My dad's office mate and his long time girlfriend are getting married."
A small sign of hurt flitted across Jian's face, but it was quickly masked.
"Its ok, Rose. Hope you enjoy yourself at the wedding!"
As Jian was walking away, Rose groaned in exasperation. A month in Hong Kong and nothing had changed, except for her taste. For some very odd reason, Rose found herself attracted to Shakespeare's work, specifically Romeo and Juliet. When Juliet was lamenting the fact that she and Romeo could never be together, Rose seemed to understand that feeli ng very well, which was odd considering she had never really fallen that deeply in love.
Or have I?
There were many time, at night, when Rose would wake up, shouting a name into the night as she surfaced from a nightmare.
Jake!
But she had never met anyone named Jake! At least, that was as far as she knew. It was very troubling because she feared she was descending into insanity.
Sighing, she returned to her Biology book, drowning her sorrows in diagrams of Human body parts.
As soon as the battle started, it was very clear to Jake that the Rose he faced was a fake. First, her fighting style was more rigid and stiff. Second, she did not engage in any flirtatious banter with Jake while fighting. And thirdly, her eyes were dead. There was no sparkle in them.
As a result, Jake did not hesitate. He merely went in for the kill. Using his strength, Jake brutally fought back, pretending that she was just another Huntsclan member. When the opening presented itself, Jake swept fake-Rose off her feet and incinerated her with fire.
Sun immediately appeared, entering the hall through a massive double door. She told Jake to transform and brought him several more floors up to the top of the building, and Jake realized where he was.
"Why did you bring me to the old Huntslair? And what was up with that fight, Sun?"
"It was your first test," said Sun, smiling nonchalantly at Jake.
"Test?! Making me slay a fake of my ex-girlfriend? What kind of sick test is that?" Jake yelled in anger.
"Jake, calm down. It was necessary. Haley told me about your brush in with the mirror of Erised."
Jake was furious. "So Haley ratted on me, huh? Figures."
"Your sister loves you, Jake, more than you know. When Lao Shi and I knew about this, we decided at once to give you some time recover, before testing you, to see if you could let go."
Jake was about to transform when Sun interjected.
"Jake, you have to understand. You are the first dragon in a millenia to have ever fallen in love with a slayer, and that deeply in love. Lao Shi and I were worried that your heartbreak would cloud your mind. By slaying the fake Rose so efficiently, you've proven us otherwise." The las part was said with a kind smile.
Infuriated, Jake yelled, "I never got over it! I knew it was a fake copy the moment I looked it in the eyes, so killing it was an easy task. And neither you nor Gramps know enough about what Rose and I had because if you did, you'd know you'd know how much harder it'd be to make me let go!"
Without a moment's waste, Jake transformed, broke through the glass windows and flew off, leaving Sun staring sadly in his wake.
Jake flew back home, transforming just outside the door, not even bothering to check if anyone had seen him. When he bursted into the house, his father blocked the stairs, and said,"Jakers, have you packed yet?"
Caught off guard, Jake said,"Huh?"
"We're leaving in two days for Hong Kong, young man, and I don't want to have to go through the old rush hour routine again."
Jake groaned. He had barely started packing for his ten day trip to Hong Kong. Well, at least Spud and Trixie would be tagging along, after getting explicit permission their parents.
Dragging his fatigued body up to his room, Jake saw Haley in the corridor. Immediately he snarled at her, a sound that was never heard before. Haley opened her mouth to speak, but Jake merely went into his room, slamming the door into his face.
Once he was in the solitude of his room, Jake rummaged through his belongings, before finding the seashell device.
Now you've done it, G.
Placing it on the floor, Jake used his dragon strength to crush the shell. Lets see how the old man can control me now, he thought.
It was a fatal mistake
In a dingy prison cell in Singapore, Lao Shi was trying desperately to contact Jake using the Communication device. Unfortunately, all he got was static.
After cursing in Chinese, Lao Shi turned to the real Wai Lin, alongside her three colleagues, Neo, Chen and Leong.
"Its no use, my grandson won't pick up."
Wai Lin groaned. It was going to be one hell of a day.
Meanwhile, Chang had entered the cell, and said,"Prisoners, we are heading to Hong Kong. And Lao Shi, if you value your family's survival, you will do exactly as I tell you."
With that, she cackled maniacally.
Done! Please review, so I know what improvements to make! And thank you to those who have done so, your words really encouraged me!