Oh, at last I am free from finals! Yay! Rejoice! Anyway, I'm headed off for vacation soon, so I'll be writing and drawing on and off.
I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures, only Mala, Pearl, Lang Yan and other OCs.
"Miss Reid." Mala looked up and saw a familiar face before her.
"Captain Black," she replied, taking a sip of her coffee.
"You're not an easy girl to find," he commented, taking the seat opposite to her in the busy café.
"That's the point. I figured walking out and about in my demon form would help narrow your search. It's not like I have a social or private life to protect anymore," Mala added with narrowed eyes.
"All you had to do was cooperate, Miss Reid. So why leave yourself out in the open? Have you come to your senses and decided to turn yourself in?"
"Don't be absurd," she laughed. "I'm only interested in talking."
"Then we can do that back at Section 13," Black interrupted.
"No. We're staying here. I believe I'm entitled to some comfort, a luxury you denied me the last time we spoke. Should I assume you've brought reinforcements and your big sound gun in case?"
"I never leave the base unprepared."
"I hate to disappoint you, but your contraption won't work this time."
"And why not?" Black asked, cocking his eyebrow in confusion.
"I've gotten stronger, so have my crystals. Your machine was effective because I was weaker then and you caught me off guard. I'm stronger now and only magic can defeat magic," she said confidently.
"Ugh, you sound like someone I know," Black groaned. "Then what was the point of all this? You obviously wanted our attention."
"I want to know why Drago was your prisoner," she answered.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"The night Drago and I first met again, he told me he was being imprisoned by you and your organization. Why?"
"He didn't tell you himself?"
"He told me it was because of who his father is, but I figure there's more to the story."
Black remained silent for a moment before speaking. "He was trying to free his father Shen Du from his stone prison through the use of magical dragon's teeth. They would have destroyed the whole city, and worse. We stopped him and put him where he belongs."
"Because he is a demon?" she asked, for clarification.
"Because he was trying to do something evil that would have hurt a lot of people. Look kid, I'm not saying all demons are evil, but certainly the ones I've tangled with are. You seem like a nice kid, maybe a little misguided, but not evil. Here, this is the footage we have from various security cameras that night." Black took out a digital notepad and handed it to her.
"I'll know if this footage is altered, Captain Black. The eyes of a demon can see through to the truth that lies beneath." She examined the footage and sure enough recognized Drago fighting the Chans. She could spot the circle of dragon's teeth he was protecting and, in the next video, the statue of Shen Du coming alive in Section 13's lockup.
"Do your eyes see that truth? Drago is a criminal and he still is one. We can't let him get his hands on the Demon Chi because of what he'll do once he has all that power."
"He'll destroy everything," she added.
"Correct."
Mala sighed before sitting up from her seat. "Thank you, Captain Black. This meeting was informative."
"Not so fast, Miss Reid. I'm afraid I still need to take you in," Black interrupted, grabbing a hold of her arm to stop her from leaving.
"There's just one problem with that, Captain Black."
"What?" he asked.
"I'm not really here," she grinned. Black glanced down to where his hand was clasped around her arm and saw her clothes turn into light blue crystal. The transformation spread across her entire body before she shattered into pieces.
Mala's eyes burst open as she remembered where she was: back in the admin building she was living in. She breathed heavily before reaching a calm speed and whispered, "it worked," with a surprised smile. After all the experimenting with her crystal constructs, she found a way to create a dummy of herself. It wouldn't move or act on it's own like Pearl or the crows and wolves, but it looked just like her. That is, until someone got too close or touched it, at which point the dummy would shatter. But Mala found that if she meditated, she could control the dummy and move and act through it. Today had been her first field test after days of practice in the last few weeks, and she couldn't argue with the results. If she had gone in person to meet Captain Black, he surely would have found some way to contain her in Section 13 again. She couldn't take that risk, but she needed to know for sure.
She turned to Pearl, tears forming in her eyes and said, "I didn't want to believe it, but it's true… isn't it?" Pearl blinked twice and lightly placed her paw on Mala's thigh. "There's only one thing to do, right?" Mala stood up from her bed and exited her room into the disgusting junkyard.
"Drago!" she shouted. Seconds later, the dragon appeared in front of her.
"What?" he asked, annoyed.
"We need to talk," she said firmly.
"Not now, Mala, I'm busy," he said, brushing her off. He turned to walk away, but stopped when he couldn't move his legs. He looked down and saw his legs encased in crystal up to his knees. "Mala, what-"
"Yes, now," she added, narrowing her eyes at him as she moved around to face him. "From the moment you first crawled through my apartment window, you've been lying to me, haven't you?"
"What are you talking about, Mala?" he asked.
"Don't play dumb with me!" she shouted. "I know creating a world for half-demons was never part of your agenda! The only reason you wanted the Chi was so you could take over this world!"
"I do want to create a world for half-demons, Mala. I may not have been entirely honest with how I intended to do it," he admitted.
"So it's true then. That's all this was about? Conquest? Living up to your father's legacy?"
"His legacy? More like his failure! I will surpass him by doing what he never could: take over this world and rule it as a king!" he declared. "I was hoping to make you my queen, Mala. I thought this was what you wanted."
"This is what you wanted!" she accused.
"What we wanted!" Drago corrected.
"No! Not like this!" she shouted, pacing back and forth trying to fight back the tears. "I can't believe she was right…"
"Who?" Drago asked, just barely managing to catch her faint whisper.
"Lang Yan! My mother! She told me not to trust you and she was right! From day one, all you've done was lie to and deceive me, manipulated me into doing your dirty work like a… like a," she stopped, trying to find the right word.
"Like a what? Say it, Mala!" he shouted.
"Like a demon!" she shouted back.
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, Mala, I am a demon!" he roared. "And so are you."
"I may be a demon, but I am human too. Earth is my home and I won't let you destroy it."
"You can't stop me, Mala."
"I don't have to! You've done a perfectly good job at stopping yourself! Even if you managed to get all the Chi at once from Section 13, it still wouldn't work! Why do you think a Demon Sorcerer has never taken over Earth? You were my best friend… I-I loved you!" she wailed.
Drago looked at his friend as the tears she valiantly fought back escaped and slid down her cheeks. "Mala, I care about you; I want you in my life. We can still be together."
"No, we can't. You broke your promise," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.
"Promise?"
"Y-you don't remember? The promise we made when we were kids, Drago! Where we promised that we wouldn't turn into our demon parents! It may not have meant anything to you, but it meant something to me! After my dad died, I held my life to that promise! It was the only thing that kept me going! And you broke it," she whispered sadly. "You are Shen Du's son to the core. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"
"So, what now? You can't just leave, Mala!" Drago yelled, tightly grabbing her arm as she tried to walk away.
"Let go," she said firmly.
"You can't walk away from this," he said, gripping her arm tighter.
"Ow! You're hurting me!"
Drago was suddenly knocked back, his legs free from the crystal restraints as he landed roughly on ground. He picked himself up and rubbed his aching jaw, groaning in pain. He looked up and saw Pearl standing protectively in front of Mala with her arms outstretched in a fighting position.
"I warned you. You know what Pearl does when someone tries to hurt me."
"I'm gonna pretend that didn't happen. But like I said Mala, you're in too deep to walk away now."
"And what are you gonna do to stop me? Let's not forget which one of us still has our Chi!"
"But I am the one with Chi infused henchmen," Drago smirked as Ice, Cobra and Fist came up behind her.
"That makes two of us." Mala waved her hands and a herd of crystal wolves formed at her side. "One good thing did come of this Drago: I've never been more confident in myself and what I can do. I suppose I have you to thank for that. But from this moment, we are done. Goodbye, Drago. I hope that when this is all over, you have everything you deserve."
Mala sat in the bus station for what felt like hours. She had been debating with herself where to go now. She had to go somewhere, anywhere but here. There was no way she could stay in San Francisco after everything that just happened. She needed distance and as much of it as she could get. Sure, she could have flown somewhere, but she just wasn't in the mood for it. All she wanted to do was sit and let something just carry her away as she tried to put everything that happened behind her.
"Excuse me, miss." Mala nearly jumped up and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
'I must have fallen asleep,' she thought. She looked up and saw one of the bus station employees that she had spoken to earlier. "Yes, what is it?"
"The 3 o'clock for Los Angeles is nearly finished boarding. I thought I'd wake you so you don't miss your bus," he replied.
"Oh! Right, thank you!" Mala quickly grabbed her bags and raced outside to catch the bus as it nearly finished loading. She placed her suitcase and duffle bag in the bag storage and took her seat on the bus. She opened her backpack slightly and Pearl's head poked out. "Well, this is it, Pearl," she said with a small smile while Pearl's ears twitched in response. She felt the engine of the bus start and heard the doors shut. She stared out the window the entire time, vaguely paying attention to the passing scenery. Soon enough, the bus pulled up onto the Oakland Bay Bridge.
She was about to close her eyes and get some sleep when the bus suddenly came to a screeching halt. She sat up and saw from the window that people were exiting their cars and running back across the bridge, screaming in terror the entire way. "What the?" she whispered. She looked up and saw the sky completely blanketed in dark red, ominous clouds. "Oh no…"
"What's going on?" cried one of the passengers.
"I dunno! There's some commotion going on up ahead!" the driver shouted back. "WAAAHH!" A large red-eyed, serpentine monster suddenly appeared in front of the bus, causing the driver to scream in fright. The rest of the passengers caught a glimpse of it too and began panicking, fiddling with the windows, eager to get them open.
"Open the doors!" shouted another passenger.
"I can't! They're stuck!" the driver replied. The bus shook as the monster head butted the front of the bus, shattering the front windows.
Pearl leapt out of Mala's backpack and dashed towards the demon, shifting into her battle form as she did before colliding directly with its head. The force of the impact knocked the demon away from the bus as Pearl engaged the beast.
"We don't have a lot of time!" Mala shouted, standing up from her seat. In front of the bus passengers, she changed into her demon form and kicked open the front doors. "Everyone off the bus! Go, go, go," she shouted, as she ushered the passengers off the bus. They gave her wary and frightened looks as they exited the vehicle, but didn't bother spending another second on that bus than they had to. As soon as they were all out, Mala stepped out as Pearl landed next to her, the demon she was fighting defeated.
"There's only one person I know who would be capable of this," Mala said, "it doesn't look like we'll be leaving San Francisco just yet, Pearl." Mala was about to take off and head back into the city when she heard a slight commotion to her left. A woman was stuck in her car, which sat sandwiched right between two others, making it impossible for her to open the doors. Mala ran over to help, but the woman screamed and leaned as far away from her door as she could when she saw the approaching demons. Mala ignored the woman's reaction and dug her sharp fingers into the car that kept her trapped and dragged it to the side. She moved up to the driver's side door and ripped it open, causing the woman to scream in terror as she lifted her arms to shield herself. "You have to get off the bridge and find some place safe," Mala said.
"Y-you aren't gonna hurt me?" she asked timidly.
"No," Mala replied sincerely. The woman stepped out of her car cautiously before turning to the rear door.
"My baby! She's still in the backseat!" Mala moved to the rear door and carefully opened it. She reached in to unbuckle the baby from her seat and carefully lifted the infant in her hands. The baby cooed and giggled at Mala as she smiled back. She carefully stepped out of the car and handed the baby to her mother. She quickly wrapped the infant up in her arms and held her in a tight grip as if someone would try to snatch the infant from her arms at any moment.
Mala noticed the woman's eyes move up and widen in fear. She turned around and saw a flock of demonic serpents flying towards them. "Get down!" Mala shouted, raising her arms to generate a protective crystal wall. The wall easily held against the demons' assaults as Mala waved her arms, opening a hole in the middle of the wall through which she shot several crystal spikes, causing the demons to scatter and flee. "It's not safe here; you need to find somewhere to hide."
"O-ok! I will!" she said quickly. She turned to run, but stopped after a few steps and turned to face Mala. "Th-thank you!" she added quickly before dashing off.
Mala turned her gaze back to the city, where the blood red clouds swirled and gathered at a central point. "Come on, Pearl. I think Drago needs another talking to."
I know a lot of you were hoping for some more MalaxCobra. Sorry, but that just isn't going to happen. In my eyes, Mala's not meant to be with any of the Ice crew... or even Drago, at least for now and not the way he is now. But more on that later.
Next Chapter - A King Without a Queen: Mala battles a Chi infused Drago as San Francisco crumbles around them.
Cheers and happy holidays!