A/N: Extremo Luchadore launches into imagination with yet again another addition to "The Life Before the Party". "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented to you from Sony Television and Kids WB. Now let's move on, amigos!
Chapter VIII: Occurrence
"I am very sorry for what happened back there," humbled Jackie Chan to his friends as he was driving them to his apartment.
"Um…Jackie?" pondered Jade.
"Yes?"
"Explain to me again why we have a van?"
Indeed, the archaeologist, his niece, Kepler, El Toro Fuerte, Tohru, and Mama Tohru were all along for the ride in a large, black mini-van packed with leather interior (those poor cows, Jackie thought).
After 2 days of sheer insanity, talking to Jade had become a major relief to Jackie. At this rate, it was near salvation.
"Well," Jackie began, "Captain Black managed to secure a Section 13 vehicle to us, especially now that Section 13 has been stopped cold. It's good for carrying us all around, and it actually has something you will really enjoy."
"Cool!" said Jade. "Does it have missile launchers? Hyper-light speed? Cloaking device?!" she exclaimed in anticipation.
"No" smiled Jackie, as he pulled out a little door between him and Tohru. "A little freezer! Now you can enjoy your favorite treats without having to go home."
Jade frowned a big one. "Urr! That would be nice…if there were any treats inside!"
For purposes concerning his posture, Tohru was situated in the front passenger's seat, so that he could depart easily off the doorway once the destination was reached. He was sipping on more of the grape soda, occasionally peering his head out the window to enjoy the exhilarating breeze. As he said before, there was only so much he could do.
For the umpteenth time, Tohru peered his eyes quietly at his rear view mirror.
Jackie turned to the giant. "Is there something wrong, Tohru?"
"Hmmm…I don't know if you realize it, Chan, but there is a blue minivan right behind us."
"Ahh…I guess minivans are real popular nowadays."
"But this minivan's been following us since first glance."
Jackie laughed softly. "Don't worry, Tohru. I've been followed lots of times by drivers. It's all just coincidence. Let it go."
Tohru looked at him quietly, then stared back at the mirror.
"Perhaps you're right. It's gone. Sigh"
CRASH!
Had it not been for their safety belts, Tohru and Jackie would've been flung off their seats into doom. Jade and the others gasped as they turned to the windows, seeing nothing but the cloudy sky and the granite road.
"What was that?!" spoke Jade.
CRASH!
Another resounding collision this time shattered Jackie's driver seat window into grains of glass, and left behind a gaping crater on the car. Jackie yelled in pain as the door bent forward and entrapped his legs. Holding the steering wheel with one hand, Jackie slightly knelt down to strain one free hand on his legs.
"Ah! My leg…is stuck on the gas pedal! BWAH!" He yelled, as he sat back up, and put both his hands to steer the minivan from dashing onto an unfinished detour. Everybody else held onto their cushioned seats, hoping the cushion wouldn't rip off from their tight grips.
"I missed the apartment!" Jackie panicked.
"So?" said Jade in annoyance. "At least whoever's hitting us won't know where we live!"
"That's true…But who IS hitting us?"
El Toro nearly lost balance, and almost could've crushed Mama Tohru had he not reached a hand onto an interior wall. Upon regaining his balance, he brazenly removed his own seat belt and motioned his hands onto the steering wheel.
"Release your legs, Senor Jackie!" he proclaimed. "I'll handle this raging beast!"
Jackie nodded acquiescently, and pulled his legs with more might than he ever handled on even a ninja.
CRASH!
But before he could, the door smashed even further. Jackie screamed as he felt his left leg nearly being bruised to the bone. The metallic joints, however, couldn't take any more of the impact, and the wind tore the insulated door off onto the side of the road, saving Jackie from a broken leg. Tohru and the others turned to see several other vehicles behind them careen atrociously onto one another, leaving tons of metal lying in the intersection, just because a door was flying towards them.
Jade gasped, and turned to Jackie. "This may be very weird, but I think that minivan behind us HAS a cloaking device!"
"Wished we had the same!" said Jackie as his legs motioned comfortably back into control. El Toro waited for Jackie to grasp onto the wheel, and slowly backed down.
"No means we could afford such," replied Kepler, pushing fingers onto a calculator. "If we preferred to install a optical-reflecting veil, it would come at a rate that the National Science Board couldn't even-"
"KEPLER!" shouted every passenger on the minivan in heart-pounding frustration.
"Oh…", Kepler put his machine down. "Sorry. Apology acknowledged?"
CRASH!
Jackie this time felt irritation instead of fear. Not knowing where the minivan actually was, he deliberately pressed onto the gas pedal to outdistant it. But just as he was about to do so, an arm came out of nowhere and nabbed Jackie's shoulder. Jackie screamed as he was pulled into nothingness.
His passengers watched the sight in untold awe, before noticing that no was around to drive the minivan!
El Toro tried to regain control of the wheel, but at the most inopportune moment, the minivan hit a guard-rail and caused El Toro to fall. Mama Tohru screeched and ran to the other end of the minivan to avoid the luchadore's 400 mighty pounds. Unfortunately, the plummet vibrated the interior and flipped the back door open! Mama Tohru, her hand latched onto the rear door handle for balance, was almost sent flying out into the streets at merciless speeds.
"AAAHHH!! Help me, thief!" she yelled.
"At least she recognizes my help," mused El Toro Fuerte as he gripped his bulging right arm onto her miniature hands, and heaved both Mama Tohru and the rear door back into the minivan.
Kepler had already jumped onto the driver's seat and began pushing the pedal. "I better decelerate, lest we will become highway stroganoff."
Jade's eyes went wide open at the announcement. "Hello, Kepler! Jackie's just been captured by the Invisibles! You can't slow down!"
"But I can not conceive of his whereabouts precisely!" yelled Kepler as he felt greater portions of wind rush through the open door, twisting his face and his scientist garb.
CRASH!
"Why is the vehicle still hitting us?" Tohru queried, as the vehicle this time hit his side of the minivan.
Suddenly to Tohru's astonishment, Jackie's bruised, upside-down face appeared in front of him. Jackie's face was being pushed out onto the street by a hand straining on his chin. A noise resembling a jab to the midsection was heard, and the hand lost its clutch on Chan. Jackie held out his arm, and Tohru opened the window to grab it, but Jackie was still too distant. Jackie groaned, quickly disappeared again, and he reappeared, this time swinging a fast food soda cup onto what was the front mirror of the cloaked vehicle! The soda revealed where the blue minivan was!
Tohru turned urgently to Kepler. "Kepler! Drive to the right now, steadily!" Kepler gave a quick glance, and turned the vehicle with his razor-sharp perception, keeping pace as much as his nervousness could handle.
Tohru refocused on Jackie and finally grabbed Jackie, and with the strength he would normally give to a hated adversary, hoisted Jackie out of the mysterious void and back into the Section 13 automobile.
"Uncle Jackie!" said Jade as she hugged Jackie, who let out a groan of pain when she did it.
"Careful", moaned Jackie, "They tried to split my nether region…Ohhhh…"
Jade turned to Kepler. "Kepler, you are one for words. What did he just say?"
"Some definition I'd rather not disclose to you", he simply responded as he straightened his eyes toward the road. Now the van was speeding into the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, but since it was afternoon, traffic was very minimal.
Tohru and Jackie sighed like they never sighed before, when the cock of a pistol pierced into their ears. Now the mysterious attacker was holding a gun, and there was no idea where he exactly was. "I didn't want to really end it like this, but now your friends are going to be road pizza as well."
Tohru suddenly felt his hand touch glass latched in the armrest of his wheelchair. He noticed what it was and threw it out the window. A half-used bottle of grape soda hit the upper frame of the invisible door, suddenly showering the attacker's face.
The attacker hollered and hurriedly wiped his face, but having taken both his hands of the steering wheel, the invisible minivan dashed in a straight bulls-eye toward a wall, scraping a few dull bits of concrete away. In seconds, it flung in a 455 degree-corkscrew manner onto the street, rendering the machine topsy turvy. The wheels continued rolling as if in desperation, but it stopped as if ultimately dead. Smoke trailed from the wreckage eerily, and faded just as it had began.
Kepler continued to drive the minivan until it was a good 500 feet from the destruction of the automobile. There was a small pit stop located at the exit of the bridge. When he stopped, he began wheezing rapidly. "This….is why…I don't…possess a driver's license…Whew!"
"That's the second simplest sentence you've ever said", ruminated Jackie as he ran toward the smoldering crash site. Regardless of the bruises he had suffered, he had to know what had become of those in the remains.
"Is he crazy?" said Jade as she leapt out of the Section 13 minivan, only to have her shoulders suspended by El Toro.
"If he is crazy, do not follow him," advised El Toro as he placed the nina back into the minivan, and went out instead to catch up with the Chan Man.
Jade growled. "Does everybody have to be crazy but me?"
Jackie and El Toro rushed to the site, and they simultaneously ripped off the door. El Toro was about to peer in when Jackie touched his shoulder.
"Careful", warned Jackie in a whisper. "Kenzo and the wendigo were inside the minivan. They could still be armed and dangerous.
El Toro looked at Jackie, and noiselessly put his ear to the wreckage. "I think not, Senor Jackie", he mused seriously. "One of them is barely breathing. The other…"
Jackie gasped, but El Toro took the risk (and the stomach) of looking inside. The luchadore turned right and left inside, and proclaimed, "Jackie, there is no one here but a little nina! Help me get her out."
Jackie and El Toro carefully threw off some shrapnel before pulling the girl out to safety. She was a little girl in a blue Chinese outfit, wearing a long, braided ponytail on each side of her petite head.
Jackie held a hand to his forehead in disbelief. "Xu Lin?!"
El Toro's eyes peered through the mask in equal reaction. "Senorita of Paco?!"
To be Continued…
A/N: Okay, so maybe I was wrong; Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore didn't want to leave you amigos hanging onto my story for a week. So for today, I have posted what is definitely my last update for the week! Extremo Luchadore knows the fans must get what they want, and so it shall be. See you around, and muchos gracias!