A/N: Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore was surprised at the reactions of those who viewed the sneak preview. Let's face it, amigos; when you are making this kind of story because you lost a bet, well, that is much more different than trying to win one. Anyways, the following presentation is still not suitable for immature audiences. Extremo Luchadore knows some of you are not yet 17, but is confident that you can understand what is to follow. "Jackie Chan Adventures" is still presented live thanks to Kids WB and Sony Entertainment Television.
Everything's so blurry
And everyone's so fake
And everybody's empty
And everyone is so messed up
Preoccupied without you
I can not live at all
My whole world surrounds you
I stumble, then I crawl
And you can be my someone
You can be my scene
Know that I will save you
From all of the obscene
I wonder what you'll do when
Imagine where you are
There's oceans in between us
But that's not very far…
The Shift groaned tiresomely at hearing a song streaming across the streets of San Francisco. This Puddle of Mudd song "Blurry" was nothing more than a hymn to love, which was just a perfect solution in dissolving time. It was a wonder that the commoners thriving in this city would want to listen to it time and time again. But such songs were small prices to pay, considering now that he had found the Another, he wouldn't have to fret about time within a short period of time. The Shift went into a quick stop market to purchase a pina colada bottle. Until he was granted immortality, he had to enjoy as much alcohol as his body could take.
Once on an earthly surface, Hsi Wu instantaneously became Seymour Jahoositz, the trident-haired boy that served as his guise in the mortal realm called Earth. Though no longer requiring assistance from the Shift, he remained close to him, for the Shift could also remember everything on San Francisco. And unless there occurred some catastrophe beyond the Shift's own abilities, the city as the Shift saw it was as he had bespoken. Hsi Wu hadn't set claw onto San Francisco in years, but if what the Shift said was true, the chi-sorcerer, the eccentric uncle of Jackie Chan, would not be aware that there was anything at all called the Sky Demon. Still, in case there was other trouble to be had, the Shift would know.
Seymour stood by the glass door of the market when the Shift stormed out, and gave the Sky Demon a bottle wrapped in a ruffled paper bag. He frowned in bafflement at what had been given to him: Cerveza. The name was completely alien to him, so the treat was equally so.
"No time for me to lose," spoke the Shift as he gulped down the pina colada bottle without taking pause. "And the same should go for you. I'm quite amused that you still follow my tracks. I was expecting you to depart upon our coming here."
"I am not following you," replied Seymour, as he raised the Cerveza in front of the Shift's face, beckoning the enigma to retrieve the bottle. "I just…need to know more about this place. I don't want Jade to think I'm clueless, or she'll never want to know me."
"Hmm…answer this one question first, before we move on to the cultural tours," the Shift began as he snatched the Cerveza rather swiftly for a half-drunk being. "Why don't you want this bottle? Wouldn't you see this as part of the culture Jade lives in?"
Seymour crossed his arms and rested his lanky self onto a brick wall in impatience. "Yes, I do. But the market sign on the door reads that I need a scroll or something to have this drink. And so far, I've only seen mature mortals possessing such a privelege. Besides that, I've still got my toy. Wouldn't want to lose it just for something wasteful."
"Very perceptive", the Shift replied as he focused his hands to steer the red cap off the top of the bottle. "Now that you've answered my question, let me introduce you to the most important rule in America."
The Shift thrust the open Cerveza bottle right into Seymour's face. Seymour, having not anticipated the maneuver, gargled as ounces of the foul, dizzying liquid slid through his open mouth and contorted the silken spikes that was his hair. The demon boy raised one hand to hurriedly wipe the alcohol off his face as it also stung him. He still kept another hand clutching the priceless camera. Despite being unable to wipe the alcohol off his clothes, Seymour fixed a stare at the Shift, with his familiar red-orb eyes and bared his rows of notorious canines.
"The first rule," laughed the Shift, quickly taking the remaining Cerveza in a rude gulp, "It's not deemed illegal so long as nobody sees it."
Seymour growled at the enigmatic being as if it were his own siblings in front of him. His brothers and sisters had too reveled in punishing him without rhyme or reason. In the thousand years in the Netherworld, they would crush him like a fly, then pound him around just to get him back into shape. The pain rendered Hsi Wu to twist and turn in lasting agony, and then he would gladly release all sense of pain by becoming unmoving, and unconscious. The brethren would then admit the shifting boulders to collide into each other, sending Hsi Wu's body crashing and scraping endlessly across the rocks in a show of torturous voyeurism. Even when he helped rule the earth, Hsi Wu couldn't understand why he had to be a Sky Demon. He was granted no special powers, while the remaining brethren could control water, wind, fire, and so on. All that made him a demon was his impish, bony form and his vast leather wings.
But it was when he walked into Jade Chan's life that the true meaning of his demonic being finally was recognized. When he tried to retrieve his tail from the Chans, he capitalized on Jade's fascination with ninjas and magic so he could penetrate the shop's mystical defenses. Jade grew too fascinated with him. She asked him out on a school dance, and then gave him a necklace bearing two halves of a token, Ying and Yang, Yang and Ying. And when reality finally settled in, when Jackie and his uncle tried to trap the demon, Jade's upward feelings were dragged down and scarred. Her efforts in finding the perfect match had grown dimmer than before.
Hsi Wu didn't take awareness of his actions until after he was re-banished into the Netherworld by the Chans. As the demon kept to himself in listless repose, the vision of a neglected Jade kept wandering most in his mental recollection. Guilt crept out of some unknown crevices of the Netherworld and began telling him that he could've killed her, could've removed her from the misery before he was doomed to go back. And always his mind replied to the guilt that he couldn't just snuff her life away; she had more than enough misery given to her. That's when he realized he loved her, admired her for all the qualities she grew willing to share with Seymour, but…not Hsi Wu.
Nevertheless, time had been changed, and if being Seymour could work its charms in favor of his demonic self, so it must remain, unknown to Jade.
"Aye, you", a voice came up.
Seymour and the Shift turned to see a roadsweeper, its driver peering outside of the window. "Move out. Believe me, this isn't the best place to get cleaned", the driver added.
Back to the real world, thought Seymour. And back indeed, as the Cerveza liquor had seeped through his green flannel shirt, weighing him down somewhat. The Shift again was spouting half-hearted chuckles at how he just entertained himself. Seymour stared up at him, ready to send the Shift back where he rightfully belonged.
"What?" asked the Shift as if in denial of his actions. "If you really care for your shoddy garments, the restroom happens to be to your left. Better move fast. In the meantime, I'll be following on my own accord. So good bye, and quite frankly, good riddance." The Shift motioned away and raised a wave of the hand as he disappeared into the massive San Francisco public.
Seymour growled at the now unseen Shift, then sighed contemptuously as he hastened into the public restroom by an indistinguishable fast food bistro.
He leaned onto the squeaky-clean sink, pondering long at his Cerveza-spewn face, which still felt stingy to the touch. Cursing in Cantonese, the Sky Demon delicately put the camera at the edge of the sink, turned the faucet, and splashed as much tap upon himself as his mortal hands could. As his arms motioned to contain the water, he recalled the hell the Cerveza granted his body. Groaning from the throbs of discomfort, he pulled the flannel shirt over his shoulder and began to douse it along with the tap as well. If he ever knew the Shift's abilities, maybe then he could be the Time Demon, and finally show every misanthrope in his life what should've come for them many times over. Why was he still bearing the Shift in his mind, anyway? To do so was to acknowledge a sense of respect for that overbearing enigma. He came here to Earth solely to meet Her, greet Her, and love Her.
"Hey!" an agitated voice shouted from behind the cluttered boy that was Hsi Wu.
Seymour noticed the voice as it had dominated his dreams all these years. He turned around, and gasped, for his insight did not fail to stir him.
To humankind, it was a coddled tomboy. To Hsi Wu, it was his unspoken lust.
To Be Continued……..
A/N: If you want to add anything to this story, post suggestions with your reviews. Muchos gracias, amigos!