Yawn, this chapter wasn't a fun one to write and I'm pretty sure it's not fun to read either. I still don't own anything!

NI TANG

Chapter 21

Jackie sighed and leaned on the wall, he was in a very bad mood. He had returned from Japan to San Francisco as fast as possible to tell Uncle the bad news.

The old man was of course angry with him, how could he have let the demons free Po Kong? Now they had to deal with five demons, they knew only four of them and Jade was still a prisoner. On top of all that he had not got any information from Qian. They weren't in the square one anymore, they had fallenoff the board.

Uncle's bad mood affected Tohru who was even more quiet and gloomy than usual. He didn't talk anymore if he wasn't asked anything and he tried his bestat looking for helpful tips from Uncle's books.

Jackie didn't know where Hak Foo was, the warrior had left him in Japan telling he would continue hunting Shendu. Jackie believed he hadn't seen the last of the man yet. He couldn't say if he was happy about it or not, the mad had saved his life but he didn't believe that would change him. Hak Foo had done it to hurt Shendu, saving Jackie had been just a side effect.

They needed help, that was for sure. Captain Black and Section 13 had promised to do everything they could and there were many men patrolling in the streets of San Francisco, hunting the mysterious demon. Despite his friend's good try Jackie was gloomy, they needed magical help and soon.


Po Kong eyed the small shop from the other side of the street with a small smile. She had the perfect idea which would serve them and the only bad thingabout it was that she had to leave Bai Tsa to lead Shendu and Hsi Wu. Bai wasn't a leader and Po was a bit worried, but pushed the thought back. It was unlikely that she would manage to mess things up too badly before the next demon was free.

She touched her black bun to make sure it was fine and started to walk self-confidently towards the shop, not bothering to check if any cars were coming. She was above things like that, mortal dangers didn't matter to her.

At the door she stopped for a while to go through her plan before knocking on the door. Hsi Wu had told her there was a protective charm cast on the house so she had taken some counter symbols with her. No one came to open the door and Po frowned in annoyance. She knocked again and this time she got what she wanted.

The door opened and she found herself staring at the face ofa too familiar man. She needed all of her self-control to keep herself from spitting at him and she forced herself to smile.

"Good day," she said happily.

"We are closed, come again some other day," Jackie said, sounding tired. He believed even Uncle wouldn't be interested in making sales now even if there was a very wealthy collector on the door.

Po shook her head and pushed her way past Jackie

"Oh, I didn't come to buy anything," she said and looked around herself in the shop. "Even though the owner has a very good taste," she added to please Uncle, whose trust was what she wanted. Jackie lifted an eyebrow.

"Then what do you want?" he asked. Po glanced around like she had a huge secret to share and turned her attention to Uncle, who had put his book down to watch this scenario.

"I came to see the master and offer him my help," she said sounding as humble as she could, which was pretty well from the almost oldest of the demonic family. Uncle stood up looking like he suspected something and walked over the demon to search her.

Po didn't even flinch under his questioning stare, during her long life she had faced much more dangerous opponents. She kept her expression calm and reminded herself how much she could gain if this worked.

"What kind of help?" Uncle asked slowly. This was really weird, no one just stepped in like that to help strangers without asking for something in return.

"I have information about the demon bothering you and I know how to fight against him," Po answered, enjoying greatly the surprised and even shocked expressions she got.

"You know who he is?" Uncle asked slitting his eyes.

"Yes, I've got his name and everything you might need," the mountain demon answered.

"But how did you know to come here, where you got the knowledge and who are you?" Uncle wanted to know. This was very odd and he was not ready to believe this woman's story, whatever it might be.

"My name is Pomako Akikongu and I am part of the Japanese guild of Gani no Hama, which has hunted this demon for centuries. We have been waiting his return for so long, of course we know he is here so they sent me," she said.

"Who is he then?" Uncle asked on guard.

"Ni Tang, demon of the polar night, the youngest of the demon family banished in the Netherworld," Po Kong answered. She had considered this for very long, it was not wise to give the enemy any information of the youngest brother, but she didn't want to take any risks. This sly chi master might suspect something if she lied too much. Besides, he already knew about the other demons, why would Ni Tang be allowed to have a special position?

"There is no polar demon, at least in that family. Only eight of them," Uncle said shaking his head. This woman was lying to him and he didn't like it!

"His existance is a highly protected secret because he was never banished in the Netherworld. The Immortal heroes of the ancient China turned him into a statue made of jade and he stayed like that forall these years. Now he has somehow woken up and is surely going to free his brothers and sisters," Po explained quickly.

When Uncle still seemed like he didn't believe she took her most charming smile and shrugged.

"Why would I lie? I was sent here by my guild because I'm the best chi sorceress of us and I came to offer my help in the fight when I heard master Chan lives here," she said and Uncle's expression brightened.

"Uncle is known in Japan?" he asked disbelieving. Was it possible that...

"Of course! We keep a book of all the powerful wizards and you are one of the most famous ones," Po lied easily and wanted to laugh. She should have guessed flattering would work.

Uncle nodded pleased.

"Tohru, bring our guest tea! We have a lot of talking to do," he said saying his last sentence to Po, who nodded.

"Absolutely, master," she agreed. Everything had gone just like she had hoped. Now she had the chance to ruin all of Chans' plans if needed. When she won the trust of others too she would learn to know all of their plans and warn the others in time.

She was also excited, this was the first time she was being a spy.


Tohru poured water into the tea pot, frowning. There was something in that woman and it made him walk on his toes. He couldn't sayif it was good or bad, but something.

He'd never say his suspicions aloud if there was no need, sensei was much more experienced and knew what to do. And they really needed help and this chi sorceress was like a gift from Heaven.

Should he choose mint or jasmine? Tohru considered for a while before taking jasmine, it was his favourite and there just couldn't be anyone who didn't like it.

And that woman... Well, he could just wait and see what happened. Maybe he was just a bit edgy and saw monsters everywhere? Besides, Pomako was a very beautiful name.


Bai Tsa still hadn't returned and no one was waiting her back in a while. They were not going to free the next demon, Tso Lan, in a while because they wanted to see if Ni discovered any of his powers first. He would not learn to take a human form in time, but Hsi Wu wanted to wake his other powers before. He really wanted his little brother to join them on Tso's portal and he was going to work for it.

"Your powers must have woken in this time. If you were a young demon they might still sleep, but you've just forgotten how to use them," Hsi tried to explain to Ni, who sat listening carefully.

"But how can I remember?" he askedin uncertainty and Hsi frowned. He himself had no special powers and all he had needed to learn had been flying and it had been pretty easy. He found himself hoping Tso Lan would be here guiding him, but then he bit his lip in determination. He was strong enough to do this alone!

"Maybe you have no special powers. You are very fast and agile, maybe there's nothing else," he suggested. Ni nodded remembering suddenly what had happened on his first day in this world.

"You know Hsi, something strange happened when I arrived here," he said. Before he wouldn't have dared to talk back to his brother, but after spending some time alone he had got more self-confidence and wasn't that sure if he wanted to take everything the other siblings threw at him.

The sky demon tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked in interest. He would never admit it to anyone, but he had missed his little brother and was happy because he was all right. Ni considered for a moment before talking.

"I didn't know the city at all and had no idea what to do or where to go. I made a mistake and stepped in the street in daylight with humans and my appearance attracted the attention of few men. Fighting would have told everyone I was something special so I decided it was the best to run back to shadows. Unfortunately the way I chose led to a dead end and I thought I would be forced to kill them. But then... I don't know how to describe it, but somehow I turned invisiblebefore the men's eyes," he said.

Hsi Wu tapped the box he was sitting on.

"Strange," he said but a snort from Shendu made him turn to face the fire demon. Unlike Hsi Shendu was still in his human form, he didn't want to deepen his wound by switching forms all the time. The fire demon laid on his stomach and Hsi had thought he was sleeping.

"Strange, you say. You couldn't be more wrong," Shendu said and the younger brothers looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Hsi Wu asked. Did Shendu know something he didn't?

"Ni Tang is one of the demons who get their powers from the darkness of nature. Unlike humans think, it has nothing to do with the ultimate evil. I don't think Ni has any offensive powers, but like the others of his kind he can hide in the shadows if he feels like it. It seems to me that his powers were activated for a while when he was scared," the fire demon answered.

"So I can never win a physical fight," Ni stated a bit disappointed. He had not been expecting much, he just didn't look like a demon who was created for action.

"How do you know so much about Ni's powers? You are part of those whose powers are from the forces of nature," Hsi said. Shendu had never liked studying and he couldn't imagine the fire demon reading a book.

"Ji Moa was the demon of twilight and Ni's powers are pretty much like his. I learned much from him," Shendu answered sharply. Ni frowned, he had never heard about a demon called Ji.

"Who is Ji Moa?" he asked from Hsi, who rubbed his cheek. They didn't really talk about Ji Moa, not because they cared, but because basically no one remembered him anymore.

"The youngest son of some small and weak demon. He was abused by his older brothers and he and Shendu spent most of their time together when they were little. He was a black lizard with two tails and despite his flaws, pretty nice. Or that is what I've heard, he had already died when I was born," the sky demon told.

He had never known Ji and could say only what Tso Lan had said. He was not that interested in Shendu's childhood friends anyway, that wasn't something he could remember so it didn't matter to him.

"Despite his flaws? If I were you I'd watch my tongue Hsi, he was much stronger than you," Shendu hissed angrily and Jade raised her head in surprise. She had listened tothis conversation in interest and especially now when they were talking about something else than just powers she wanted to hear everything. She thought Shendu acted strangely, she'd never expected him to defend a weak demon. It sounded as if...

"How did he die?" Ni dared to ask before Hsi would tell Shendu something which would anger the fire demon even more. The sky demon turned to face the polar demon.

"He decided to annoy some humans and they slaughtered him," he answered. "Actually all he did was to show his face. People recognised him as the demon of twilight and thought he was part of the greater evil which would take over the world. So they killed him and since he was so weak he couldn't defend himself at all. You should watch where you go Ni, many demons of the darkness of the nature have been killed for no reason," Shendu said lowly and didn't warn Ni because he cared, but because he just wanted to show the others how stupid humans could be.

"I find it rather weird that you defend a demon who died because of weakness. He wasn't even part of our family," Hsi commented sharply.

"He was my companion. You were born too late to know him so I'd advice you to keep you mouth shut," the fire demon answered and Hsi decided to let the subject die. He wasn't even interested in what Shendu thought about some dirty lizard. Better to concentrate in Ni again.

"So now we known what you can do, you just have to learn to control it again. I'm pretty sure it works if you practise enough," he said and Ni nodded hopefully. Tonight he and Hsi could go out and leave Shendu to take care of the slave.

"But how do I learn to take a human form?" he wanted to know and Hsi Wu thought he could teach that better. He had experience with that and he remembered pretty well what Tso Lan had done with him.

"Transforming is not easy, but once you know how to do it you can take any form you like. However, the first form you take is what reflects your inner self and usually most demons prefer that even later on," he explained.

"I myself like the child form, I don't know why, but it feels just the right. Bai Tsa is actually the only difference in our family, she changes her form all the time to suit her desires," he continued.

Ni Tang nodded considering this and thinking about what he would look like if he was a human. He didn't really know his face even now, the mask took care of that. He regretted not learning to know his features when he had the chance, now he couldn't do it without hurting Hsi Wu.

But didn't he have the right to do whatever he wanted? Couldn't he decide did he want to use the mask or not, a thing like that was no one else's business. As a human he wouldn't have to use the mask, it attracted attention so he'd get rid of it for a while.

"Now in the beginning it's the best to start with trying to find your inner self. Of course you've taken that from before, but since you can't remember we have tostart from the beginning," Hsi advised. It depended totallyon Ni how long this would take.

Ni tried to do as Hsi told but at the same moment he felt growing anger. Hsi treated him like a baby who had to be explained everything and he didn't like it. He was an adult demon, he could understand things. He shook his head, he didn't have the right to think anything like this, especially now when they had to stick together to win.

Maybe he would do it better when he got out at night to try his powers. Then Hsi too would have something else to think about and the nightly city would calm them both down.

At least that was what Ni Tang wished for.

To be continued...