Chase: Hold still Ana.
Ana: Whad's de damage? ka-choo!
Chase: 103.2 F. You have a fever.
Rai: Which means you have to sit in bed eating soup and resting 'til you get better.
Ana: I'll be fide. A-choo! Don't worry. It's just a liddle cold.
Chase: Just go to sleep.
Ana: Duh-uh. Dot godda happen.
Chase/Rai: GO TO BED!
Ana: Hmph. As long as you're up, get be some tea. Gidseng would be good.
Rai: Ginseng and soup, got it.
Ana: As you cad tell, I have a subber cold. Don't wanna let you guys dowd, so here's de dext chap. KA-CHOO! KA-CHOO! KAAAA-CHOO!
Disclaimer: I own no aspects of Xiaolin Showdown, but Ahn-Li and all aspects surrounding her story belong to me.
Chapter 4: Getting the Hang of It
Another day, another chance. That's how it was for Ahn-Li. She had been at the Xiaolin Temle for about three weeks now, undergoing intense element training. While having great powers, the young girl's abilities weren't fully under control.
All the monks were on the temple training grounds. While Raimundo, Clay and Kimiko stood off to the side, Omi and Ahn-Li were standing across from each other. "C'mon, Omi!" Ahn-Li encouraged him, hopping up and down where she stood "Bring it on! I know I've got it right this time."
"Wudai Neptune: Water!" Omi sent a huge wave of water towards Ahn-Li.
"Super Nova Flare: Light!"
Ahn-Li put her hand out expecting her attack to come forth, but she only got a little yellow spark. "Uh-oh. Omi! Omi! Stop the-" The wave drenched her from head to toe, like it had for the past few days. "Water…"
Omi ran over to his now drenched new friend, "Wǒ hěn bàoqiàn, Nguyen Ahn-Li." He apologized; since she had come around, he had started using his Chinese more frequently. "I thought you had it under control this time."
"Yeah, that makes two of us." Ahn-Li said wringing out her wet hair, "I don't get it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. What's the pattern here?"
"Try to focus 'em." Clay advised her. "That helped us when we were first starting out."
"I did, but it didn't work. I starting to think I'm ever going to get these powers under control."
Kimiko had a finger to her chin, looking like she was thinking. "Did you think about looking in the Sacred Scrolls?" She piped up.
"Um… no." She admitted, scratching the back of her head. "I've never even heard of them…"
"The Scrolls probably have something about the Xiaolin Dragons." Raimundo implied, "Let's go."
Dojo crawled up onto Ahn-Li's shoulder and they all went to the chamber that held all of the Sacred Scrolls. As soon as the doors opened, Ahn-Li's mouth dropped at the large number of scrolls in the room. "Méi bànfǎ… There's gotta be a million of these!" she exclaimed.
"Then we best start lookin'." Clay said.
"Yeesh. I knew we should've categorized these things." Dojo whined.
Everybody grabbed some scrolls and started scanning them for information. Ahn-Li was now thankful for learning to read Chinese. They found out some pretty interesting things; including the real story behind the Trojan horse, Cleopatra's real life story, even about Attila the Hun's older sister. While interesting, it was all useless, as it had nothing to do with their current dilemma. The day flew by and soon it was time for dinner. "Did you guys find out anything?" Kimiko asked.
"I found out that the only reason Attila the Hun invaded was because he wanted to be better than his older sister, Cassidy the Conqueror." Dojo replied.
Raimundo slurped on his noodles, "She meant about the Dragon of Light, Dojo. I didn't find anything."
"Nothing whatsoever." Ahn-Li said, sadly chewing on a dumpling.
"Me neither." Clay followed.
"I am also one who came up empty-armed." Omi said.
"'Empty-handed' Omi." Kimiko corrected.
As soon as dinner was over and they did the dishes, the monks went to play soccer before it got dark. Well, everyone except Ahn-Li. She went back to the chamber of the Sacred Scrolls and began searching again. Raimundo popped his head in with his soccer ball under his arm. "Hey, Ahn-Li."
She looked up from the scroll. "Hey, Rai."
"We're about to play soccer." He grinned at her, "Wanna join in?"
"Nah. I kind of wanna keep looking for what I need." She answered and smiled, "Maybe tomorrow."
His grin expanded and he nodded."Alright. See ya later."
"Bye." She said, waving to him.
Raimundo disappeared around the corner. She groaned and got back to looking for the scroll she needed.
She had successfully spent four full hours looking and was beginning to think she wouldn't ever find out what she needed to know. It was nearly midnight now. "Ugh… This is so whack it's not even funny! I've looked at about a hundred of these things and haven't found anything! AUGH!" she banged the wall with her hand, "Ow! Son of a…"
"Is something troubling you, young monk?" Master Fung asked, walking into the room.
"It's nothing Master Fung, nothing at all." She said, giving him a thumbs up with her good hand. Master Fung raised an eyebrow and her smile faded, "Well, I'm pretty stressed out right now, truth be told."
"Oh? And why are you so upset?" he asked, sitting down beside her.
She rested her chin on her knuckles. "It's these dumb powers. Don't get me wrong, I know these powers are a gift, but they're too random. It's just that, one minute I can use them, the next I can't. There's no… rhythm to it." Being a dancer, rhythm was a largely important part of her life. She picked up a new scroll, looking down at it. "I was thinking one of the scrolls could tell me something. I haven't found out anything from them. Yet."
"We really should organize these scrolls." Master Fung said, looking around at the room and stroking his chin.
"Tell me about it…" Ahn-Li muttered under her breath, her eyes scanning the scroll in front of her.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "It is getting late. You should get some rest Ahn-Li."
"I wanna keep looking." She grinned at him, "Besides, I'm not tired."
"Very well. Good night Ahn-Li."
"Good night."
Twenty minutes later, Ahn-Li's eyes began to droop ever so slightly. Damn, I'm tired… I'll close my eyes, just for a minute.
Three hours passed before anyone else noticed her there. Kimiko was getting a glass of water when she saw her friend lying amongst a bunch of scrolls, fast asleep, using some of them as pillows. Poor Ahn-Li, Kimiko thought, She must've worn herself out looking through all these scrolls all evening.
She walked over to Ahn-Li. "Hey, Ahn-Li." Kimiko whispered, nudging her lightly, "Wake up."
Ahn-Li opened her eyes and looked up, "Kimiko?" she yawned, rubbing her eyes, "What time is it?"
"3:17 am."
"Really? Wow, that was a pretty long minute."
The Japanese girl's head tilted to the side. "What?"
"Nothing." Ahn-Li said cracking her neck. "Where are you headed?"
Kimiko shrugged her shoulders. "Just to get a little water."
"I'll come too. I'm kind of thirsty anyway."
The two girls walked into the kitchen and Kimiko poured them a couple of glasses of water. They both took a seat at the dining table. "So, did you find anything at all?" Kimiko asked.
Ahn-Li shook her head. "Nothing."
She would've explained herself further but she was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Both girls immediately went into their pockets and they fished out their phones. Ahn-Li's was the source of the noise, though. "Who'd call me this late at night? Hello, Ahn-Li's on the line."
"Yo, wuzzup cous! How's it goin' in China?"said a voice familiar to Ahn-Li.
"Jake?"
"Who'd you think it was, Grandpa?"
"It is you! How have you been, Jake?"
"A little schoolwork here, a little dragon stuff there. Pretty much the same as always. What about you? You sound kinda tired."
"Well, it's about 3:30 here." Ahn-Li pointed out.
"Then, you should get back to sleep. See y-"
"Before you go, how old's Haley now?"
"Unfortunately, she turned ten last week." Jake answered in an annoyed tone.
"Well, give her and Yeh-Yeh a hug, and Trix and Spud a shout out for me, kay? Bye."
"See ya Li-Li!" Jake laughed.
"Hey!" Jake hung up before Ahn-Li got to yell at him, "I hate it when he calls me that."
"Who was that?" Kimiko asked her.
A smile instantly overtook the Ahn-Li's face, replacing the anger. "That was my cousin, Jake. He lives in New York City. We talk to each other all the time."
Kimiko smiled, by the way she was talking, she loved her cousin very much. "Does he know about the whole Xiaolin Dragon thing?"
"No. I plan on telling him the next time I see him. But I can't say he'll be surprised."
"How come?" Kimiko asked, her blue eyes reflecting her confusion.
"Oh. No reason." She stood up and stretched, "Let's catch go to bed. I'm still tired and we have to get up two hours from now."
Kimiko and Ahn-Li went back to their respective rooms and went to sleep.
The next day, after breakfast, the monks and Dojo went back to the room of the Sacred Scrolls to look for what Ahn-Li needed. After looking through another large amount of scrolls, Ahn-Li let out a huge frustrated sigh and emerged from under a mountain of scrolls, surprising everyone. They had wondered where she had disappeared. "This is impossible!" she yelled out to her friends, "We're never gonna find what we need!"
She punched the shelf next to her, shaking the whole thing. Something on the top, the very top, fell down and hit her on the head. "Ow!" she yepled as she rubbed her head in pain before stringing into some angry Chinese.
Ahn-Li looked down at the thing that hit her and picked it up. Her large lilac eyes sparkled in wonder. It was a scroll, only this one was encased in cherry wood with little dragons carved into it and it had dragon-shaped handles. "Watcha got there Ahn-Li?" Clay asked when he saw Ahn-Li staring at the scroll.
"I'm… not so sure, really." She admitted.
Everyone crowded around Ahn-Li and the scroll, all wondering what it was. "It kind of resembles the Shen Gong Wu Scroll." Omi observed.
"Except for the little dragons in the wood." Kimiko pointed out.
They all looked at it for another minute or so and decided to check with Dojo. "Hey Dojo, do you know what scroll this is?" Raimundo asked, pointing to it.
Dojo slithered up Ahn-Li's shoulder and she handed him the scroll. He carefully examined it and suddenly his eyes lit up. "Of course!" he said, slapping himself on the forehead, "Why didn't I think of it before?" They all raised eyebrows at him, clearly confused. This, boys and girls, is the Scroll of the Dragons."
"The what of the who-now?" Ahn-Li questioned him.
"The Scroll of the Dragons. This tells all about the Xiaolin Dragon. What gender they usually are, expected abilities, and super-special techniques."
"So, we've been looking through scrolls for two days," Clay began with a raised eyebrow, "When you knew all about this one?"
Dojo chuckled nervously when he saw the look on Ahn-Li's face. Her eyes were practically glowing with anger, "Kinda bad time to remember isn't it? Please don't hurt me!" he begged her.
"Give me that!" she snapped, snatching up the scroll.
Ahn-Li opened it up and they all peered over her shoulder to look at it, noting how the words were accompanied by a few pictures. They all scanned it for information about the Dragon of Light. "Ah! Here we go. The Dragon of Light." Ahn-Li said triumphantly. She began reading, "'The Dragon of Light is the rarest to appear of the Xiaolin Dragons. Like the others, his or her powers are made known during adolescence. This dragon is strongest during the day and under the light of a full moon. He or she can use the light around him or her and can generate shocking bursts of light from their body as an elemental attack. The attacks at first may come and go, but this is only because the dragon's powers are maturing. After fives weeks of training, the attacks should come on demand…'" She frowned. "Five weeks? That's too long. There's gotta be a faster way."
"Keep reading. Maybe you'll find out how to speed it up a bit."
"Mm-hmm. '…the attacks should come on demand, but if fiercely determined and focused, he or she could gain control over his or her powers sooner.' Now that's more like it! It also says, 'The Dragons as a group can perform a joint attack…Blah-blah-blah. I know what I need to, and more so I'm good." Ahn-Li said disregarding everything else on the scroll about the Dragon of Light.
"Joint attack?" Kimiko inquired.
"My guess is that it's a combination attack." Raimundo determined.
"Well, what is it?" Clay asked.
"You look, Rai," Ahn-Li said, thrusting the scroll into his palm and rubbing her eyes. She could easily write in Chinese, but strongly disliked reading it. "So many characters…"
Raimundo opened up the scroll. He looked for anything that had to do with joint attacks. "Let's see… His eyes were suddenly fixated on one spot of the scroll. "Elemental Unity?" Everyone pricked up their ears at that. "Dojo, what's Elemental Unity?"
"Elemental Unity? Elemental Unity…" Dojo thought out loud, "Oh, I remember that. It's an attack Dragons use when they combine their energy into one powerful attack. You need to have at least two dragons for it to work."
"This is all so interesting!" Omi said excitedly.
"How long do we have to wait to learn it?" Kimiko asked eagerly.
"Well, until Li-Li here can learn to control her powers." Dojo answered.
Suddenly Ahn-Li exploded. "Don't call me Li-Li, you stupid little salamander!" She yelled, pinning Dojo to the ground, "Who told you about that name? It was Jake wasn't it?"
"Ah… It just seemed to fit…" He rasped, "Can't breathe…"
By the time they had finished searching, they realized that they had taken up the entire day and a majority of the evening. After eating a light dinner, they all went to sleep.
The next morning, Ahn-Li was the first one up. After eating a bowl of rice, she went out to the training grounds to attempt to get the desired control over her powers. Like the scroll said 'if fiercely determined and focused, he or she could gain control over his or her powers sooner' and she wasn't going to give up until she got it right.
The sun was barely up now and Ahn-Li was still busy practicing and practicing and practicing. Two hours had passed since her awakening, and she was still working. "Super Nova Flare: Light!"
She aimed her hand towards the target, but nothing happened. She shook her hand, Ugh! Come on!"
Ahn-Li decided to try again. "Super Nova Flare: Light!"
She aimed her hand towards the target and her hand began to glow lightly. I can do this. She said to herself, And I will do this. I am a Xiaolin Dragon, dammit!
Then it happened. Ahn-Li felt a tingly feeling moving through her arm and to her fingertips and her hand started to glow. A yellow bolt shot out of her palm and hit the target. She stared down at her hand with glee, but she was still in denial about the fact she had just done that. To test herself, she did it a few more times, getting the same result. She ran inside to get her friends. She found them in the dining hall eating breakfast and she excitably ran up to them. "Guys, I did it! I really did it!"
"What are you talking about, Nguyen Ahn-Li?" Omi asked confusedly.
"My powers. I figured them out. I think I have them under control now!" she said excitedly, "Come on, I'll show you."
Everyone went out to the training grounds and once again, Ahn-Li was facing the target. "Watch and be amazed." Ahn-Li pointed her hand at the target. The fuzzy feeling returned and so did the glowing, "Super Nova Flare: Light!" Three yellow bolts shot out of Ahn-Li's hand and they all hit the bulls-eye. She grinned over at the other Dragons. "And what?"
"Great job, Ahn-Li!" Kimiko cheered, clapping.
"Thank you, thank you. No autographs, please." Ahn-Li said taking numerous bows for her friends.
"Careful, Kimiko. You might give Ahn-Li a big head." Raimundo warned.
"Don't worry. Omi's got that covered." Clay joked.
"My head is not that big!" Omi defended, throwing his hands over his head.
"Relax, Omi. They're just playing with you." Ahn-Li assured him, patting his head and laughing playfully.
Dojo suddenly slithered out to the training grounds. He was holding the Shen Gong Wu Scroll, with little red bumps all over him. "Heads up, boys and girls! We've got a new Wu on the market and as you can see it's giving me Shen Gong Wu blisters."
"Eww!" everyone turned away.
Dojo turned into a full-size dragon and one of his blisters popped off. "Okay, that's beyond gross." Ahn-Li said, covering her mouth in an attempt to hold back vomit.
Everyone except Ahn-Li boarded the dragon. "Nguyen Ahn-Li, are you still afraid of heights?" Omi asked sympathetically.
"Yes." Ahn-Li answered honestly, smirking. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let y'all have all the fun. Let's go!"
She got on behind Raimundo and Dojo took off to… wherever the new Wu was going to be.
Ana: I'm still kinda sick so I'll be brief. In the next chapter, you'll meet Ahn-Li's cousin, although, if you watch 'American Dragon: Jake Long' you know him already.
Chase/Rai: (drag her away from the computer) You're supposed to be resting.
Ana: Please review! And what Ahn-Li said upon seeing the Sacred Scroll room was "no way."