Chapter 8~ Tokyo
"Attention Passengers, we will begin our descent into Tokyo Japan now. Local time is 2:51 am, and we should be arriving at the gate shortly after 3:00."
Jackie glanced up from an article on recent findings in India in "National Geographic" to nudge his niece who was fast asleep on his seat rest.
"Jade," he whispered, pushing her over a bit. She moaned slightly and yawned, opening her eyes.
"What happened?" she mumbled sleepily.
"We're almost to Tokyo."
Jade looked out the window, but the sky was still completely dark, with the glimmer of many bright lights in the distance. "'S all dark still."
Jackie nodded. "It's only 3:00 here. In the morning. But it's nearly 10am back home."
"Oh," said Jade, stretching and waking herself up a bit. "You called the J- Team, right?"
Jackie nodded, and pulled out several folded papers from a small tan backpack, information that had to be e-mailed to Jade's older laptop due to the fact that uncle had smashed the fax machine.
"They're meeting us in the airport," he explained to Jade. "This has their flight information. It's a longer flight for them, so it may take awhile, but Uncle's map shows that your other half hasn't reached Tokyo yet. I checked while you were sleeping."
Jade looked around for her uncle and her friend Tohru, but Jackie motioned towards the front of the plane. Uncle had thrown such a fit about the conditions in coach that the distressed flight attendant moved the two of them to available seats in first class.
About 10 minutes later, the dark blur below them became a long landing strip. The plane landed roughly, bumping against the ground, and then sped into the Tokyo International Airport. They came to a stop, but there seemed to be trouble with the gate, so there was another half-hour of waiting before they were finally allowed to depart.
Jackie opened the overhead bin and grabbed his and Jade's suitcases, then began to walk along the slow moving congregation of people trying to exit the plane, wheeling the suitcases behind him and wearing one strap of the backpack over his shoulder. Jade followed behind him silently, choosing to behave as a shadow instead of her normally exuberant self.
They met Uncle and Tohru inside the waiting area for their gate. Tohru was carrying Uncle's enormous duffel bags holding his spell ingredients and the necessary four or five tomes. In his other hand was a small bag carrying his and Uncle's clothes and other possessions. Uncle, on the other hand, was holding several of his other massive books, apparently a bit of in- flight reading. He handed these too to Tohru and turned on Jackie.
"Jackie! What kind of lousy seats did you buy for your uncle? There was no room to sleep or research, and flight attendants don't even hand out peanuts!"
"I'm sorry, Uncle," said Jackie defensively, "There aren't many better seats available than first class. . ."
Jade, meanwhile, was helping Tohru unload some of his burden by taking the lighter of Uncle's duffel bags and some of his books.
"So you've finally arrived," said a voice behind them. Jackie turned around to see a smiling, dark haired woman a few years younger than him, dressed in a pale pink sweater and black trouser pants.
"Viper," Jade grinned happily, and Jackie smiled despite himself. Viper had always been Jade's hero, and she seemed to be a hero even to this strange form of Jade. But although Jackie had to admit to being slightly jealous, he didn't mind so much now that he found himself inclined to liking Viper as well.
"How long can you have been waiting for us?" Jackie wondered aloud. "After all, New York is a good three hours from San Fransisco, at the very least."
Viper grinned "A few hours. I wasn't in New York when you E-mailed me, I was on vacation in Hawaii." Viper proceeded to drop her bags down with Tohru, give Jade a hug, although looking very perplexed as to how unusually friendly Jade was being, and kiss Jackie on the cheek, the his niece's glee and his embarrassment.
"I took the liberty of checking us in at the hotel. Nice place," she grinned, in that mysterious way of grinning she had. "We should stop in, since it'll probably be a bit before the rest get in, and it'll take up a good deal of time. The airports pretty far away from the actual city."
Jackie agreed, and so Viper, Tohru, and the Chans took a cab to the actual city. Although it was early, there was already terrible traffic, and Viper hadn't been kidding about the Airport being a long ways off from downtown Tokyo, where the hotel was. Jackie wasn't exactly enjoying the cramped quarters.
The van was advertised to hold six people, but the advertisers hadn't been counting on someone Tohru's size. Jackie was stuck between the sumo on his left, and Viper on his right. The latter he didn't mind so much. It was kind of funny, since he had expected Jade to want to sit next to him as she'd been doing to entire trip, but when they were loading into the car she gave a quick glance over at Jackie and Viper, then proceeded to situate herself in the back, next to Uncle.
Under ordinary circumstances Jackie would've been hurt, but this Jade was completely unselfish. She must've been trying to make sure nobody had to sit next to Uncle, Jackie grinned. Uncle hadn't stopped complaining about the traffic, the cramped car, the cabbies driving style, and anything else he could find since he got there. Jackie knew his Uncle liked complaining, but travel seemed to bring out the worst in the elderly Chi Wizard.
Finally, they arrived at their Hotel, the Radisson Miyako situated downtown. Jackie had been to Tokyo before, but he didn't remember traffic being as bad as this. It was 4:30am, after all. Jackie realized that they would have to drop off their stuff and get on the road again if there was any hope of getting back to NRT in time for El Torro's 6:00 arrival. So it was straight back into the vans.
This time the seating had been configured a little differently by Jade, who insisted on sitting next to Tohru since she was smallest, and having Uncle on her other side, since he got carsick in the back. Now Jackie and Viper were put in the back together, and Jackie began to get the suspicion that this wasn't a coincidence. At least there was more room without the luggage, so Jackie was no longer being pressed up against Viper for the entire ride. That had been rather awkward.
The traffic was worse this time, so The Chans, Viper, and Tohru didn't get back to the airport until 6:20. El Torro was already waiting in an airport café, along with Paco who was drinking Hot Chocolate. He smiled and waved when he saw Jade, and to his surprise, she actually looked pleased to see him in return. Seeing as they were all tired, they decided to sit down in the café for a bit and order drinks.
For once, Jade didn't complain about Jackie's rather strict no caffeine policy, and Jackie decided that in this case Jade should be allowed a little bit to keep her awake. Uncle, on the other hand, did complain- his original coffee was too strong, so the woman at the counter put cream. Then, it was too creamy, so he insisted on another one being made. That was too watery, and yet another coffee had to be made for him.
When the now frazzled woman handed him the current coffee, Uncle had proclaimed it too hot, and finally decided that it was the entire café that was low quality. Now he sat, taking occasional sips and then glaring at the cup. Travel really did bring out the worst in Uncle, sighed Jackie to himself.
Finally, El Torro leaned over his cup of coffee and said to Jackie "You know I am always glad to help, amigo, but what did you call us down here to do?"
Viper grinned over her double latte. "I was wondering that one myself. Usually your summons involve some sort of crazy demon, clone, or paper folding man."
Jackie allowed a half grin to cross his face. "This time the culprit is far more dangerous- they stole all twelve talismans from the vault- excepting the power of the Tiger. We have half of that one."
"They stole the talismans?" said Viper, shocked, thinking about how hard it would be to track someone that was invisible.
"All of them?" added El Torro, thinking about how hard it would be to fight someone who had ox strength. "Who did this!" he demanded.
"Jade," said Jackie simply, watching the looks of confusion he received from across the table.
"But Jade's right here," Viper said, voicing the thoughts of the others that hadn't been present in Uncle's shop the previous night.
Jade shook her head. "Not me, the other half! See, the Tiger Talisman divides people into their good half and bad half. I'm the good half, and my bad half is going to try to steal the Limited Edition version of HHG tomorrow!" Jade said ferverently, wanting to make her innocence known.
Paco gasped. "That's my favorite game!"
Jade grinned. "Mine too!"
Viper and El Torro still looked a bit lost.
"Wait," said Viper, "So. . .there's another Jade running around, and both Jade's are only halves? And this is Jade's good half?"
Jackie nodded. "I know. Jade has a good half," he chuckled. "I was surprised myself. But the Asakusa Gaming Company won't have the first version of the game finished until today around noon, so we have a few hours to rest at the hotel."
Since the traffic showed no signs of relenting, and their were few cabs that had enough room for all seven of them including the heavyset Tohru and El Torro plus luggage for Paco and El Torro, they decided to take the metro. Comparatively, the Tokyo metro is nice, although rather crowded already. Still, they were able to find a spot where Uncle could sit down, and even he stopped complaining for the time being.
Again, Jade left Jackie and Viper together, although this time it was because she was talking to Paco. Since the Tokyo Metro was incredibly confusing, Jackie assumed they'd be there awhile and watched the two of them, avoiding eye contact with Viper standing next to him.
"Don't worry, Yade," Paco said confidently. "We will stop your evil other half from stealing advance copies of HHG. It isn't fair that she get them first when we do not!"
Jade nodded and smiled politely. "Well, it's also because we're afraid she might hurt people when she steals."
Paco considered the validity of this statement. "Of course! But we will not let her hurt people, either."
Jade nodded. "I know! That's why I had Jackie invite the J-Team. That way, we can win, even if she does have talismans."
Paco agreed quickly, a sort of sly look on his face. "Of course they J-Team will win. Especially El Torro."
Jade smiled brightly at the boy. "Of course! After all, I've seen El Torro wrestler before! He's pretty good!"
"El Torro is the greatest!" Paco said passionately.
"I'll bet he is," concurred Jade.
Paco began to look frustrated, as though Jade was missing something vital. "But. . .El Torro is even greater than your mouse man, Jackie."
Jade shrugged. "They both have their strong points."
Paco looked really upset now. "No! El Torro is much greater than Jackie!"
"Okay," said Jade. "If you say so."
"You aren't supposed to say that!"
"What should I say?" asked Jade innocently.
"You- I- " Paco looked stumped, so he got up and walked over to sit with his mentor. Jade watched as he left, then shrugged and looked out the window at the stations whizzing by.
Author's Note~ Raise hands if you thought this chapter evil! I certainly did. Basically, I could've said "The J-Team arrived in Tokyo. Jackie explained about Jade" and then actually included some of the plot. But instead I need to use this chapter to set up my favorite ship as display my *coughlackofcough* knowledge of Tokyo. And I kinda wanted to write the Jade and Paco scene at the end.
LG- No, I will not have Rowan. Rowan is used enough in other fics under his other name *grin* As for Rosalin, yes, she a character in the game, back she doesn't have a live appearance. Fen will probably be there, though, as well as Failaing.
ShadowElfBard- Why would you think I'd know how to spell O'nee? *lol* I am the typo quen, in case you haven't noticed. I don't think you realize how much I would love to see the Q of the S brought back. Been hoping to see that since the start of the season. But wasn't muscular Jade scary? I had no idea the Ox could function as a steroid.
You (You@yoursite.com)- Wow! Thanks! Since you're on the early chapters you probably won't read this note, but hey!
VampireNaomi- I feel your pain. Are you seriously still on the magisters? Ah, well, there's only about 5 episodes to Scruffy's debut. Then you'll have some inkling of what's going on! I won't discuss Tarekudo anymore, except to tell you that I have never seen anything less like a frog.
Danny- Is that so? I wasn't aware that Japanese demons were more punny than the rest. *shrug* Sorry, but give me Shendu and his siblings any day. Ah, yes, Jackie could combine the two halves. . .just one problem. Tiger Jade has the other half, and she won't be too keen on rejoining her lighter half. No, I wouldn't want to be at a Jade showdown, but I don't have many doubts about who would win. Evil Jade has all twelve talismans in her arsenal.
I'm in a good mood because I finally figured out where this fic is going. I like it, too. It's long, it's now looking to be about. . .9 chapters more than I expected it to end up, making about 23 chapters in all. And that's assuming that the conclusion will take one chapter. O_o. . .well, there goes any hope of free time for the next few months.
"Attention Passengers, we will begin our descent into Tokyo Japan now. Local time is 2:51 am, and we should be arriving at the gate shortly after 3:00."
Jackie glanced up from an article on recent findings in India in "National Geographic" to nudge his niece who was fast asleep on his seat rest.
"Jade," he whispered, pushing her over a bit. She moaned slightly and yawned, opening her eyes.
"What happened?" she mumbled sleepily.
"We're almost to Tokyo."
Jade looked out the window, but the sky was still completely dark, with the glimmer of many bright lights in the distance. "'S all dark still."
Jackie nodded. "It's only 3:00 here. In the morning. But it's nearly 10am back home."
"Oh," said Jade, stretching and waking herself up a bit. "You called the J- Team, right?"
Jackie nodded, and pulled out several folded papers from a small tan backpack, information that had to be e-mailed to Jade's older laptop due to the fact that uncle had smashed the fax machine.
"They're meeting us in the airport," he explained to Jade. "This has their flight information. It's a longer flight for them, so it may take awhile, but Uncle's map shows that your other half hasn't reached Tokyo yet. I checked while you were sleeping."
Jade looked around for her uncle and her friend Tohru, but Jackie motioned towards the front of the plane. Uncle had thrown such a fit about the conditions in coach that the distressed flight attendant moved the two of them to available seats in first class.
About 10 minutes later, the dark blur below them became a long landing strip. The plane landed roughly, bumping against the ground, and then sped into the Tokyo International Airport. They came to a stop, but there seemed to be trouble with the gate, so there was another half-hour of waiting before they were finally allowed to depart.
Jackie opened the overhead bin and grabbed his and Jade's suitcases, then began to walk along the slow moving congregation of people trying to exit the plane, wheeling the suitcases behind him and wearing one strap of the backpack over his shoulder. Jade followed behind him silently, choosing to behave as a shadow instead of her normally exuberant self.
They met Uncle and Tohru inside the waiting area for their gate. Tohru was carrying Uncle's enormous duffel bags holding his spell ingredients and the necessary four or five tomes. In his other hand was a small bag carrying his and Uncle's clothes and other possessions. Uncle, on the other hand, was holding several of his other massive books, apparently a bit of in- flight reading. He handed these too to Tohru and turned on Jackie.
"Jackie! What kind of lousy seats did you buy for your uncle? There was no room to sleep or research, and flight attendants don't even hand out peanuts!"
"I'm sorry, Uncle," said Jackie defensively, "There aren't many better seats available than first class. . ."
Jade, meanwhile, was helping Tohru unload some of his burden by taking the lighter of Uncle's duffel bags and some of his books.
"So you've finally arrived," said a voice behind them. Jackie turned around to see a smiling, dark haired woman a few years younger than him, dressed in a pale pink sweater and black trouser pants.
"Viper," Jade grinned happily, and Jackie smiled despite himself. Viper had always been Jade's hero, and she seemed to be a hero even to this strange form of Jade. But although Jackie had to admit to being slightly jealous, he didn't mind so much now that he found himself inclined to liking Viper as well.
"How long can you have been waiting for us?" Jackie wondered aloud. "After all, New York is a good three hours from San Fransisco, at the very least."
Viper grinned "A few hours. I wasn't in New York when you E-mailed me, I was on vacation in Hawaii." Viper proceeded to drop her bags down with Tohru, give Jade a hug, although looking very perplexed as to how unusually friendly Jade was being, and kiss Jackie on the cheek, the his niece's glee and his embarrassment.
"I took the liberty of checking us in at the hotel. Nice place," she grinned, in that mysterious way of grinning she had. "We should stop in, since it'll probably be a bit before the rest get in, and it'll take up a good deal of time. The airports pretty far away from the actual city."
Jackie agreed, and so Viper, Tohru, and the Chans took a cab to the actual city. Although it was early, there was already terrible traffic, and Viper hadn't been kidding about the Airport being a long ways off from downtown Tokyo, where the hotel was. Jackie wasn't exactly enjoying the cramped quarters.
The van was advertised to hold six people, but the advertisers hadn't been counting on someone Tohru's size. Jackie was stuck between the sumo on his left, and Viper on his right. The latter he didn't mind so much. It was kind of funny, since he had expected Jade to want to sit next to him as she'd been doing to entire trip, but when they were loading into the car she gave a quick glance over at Jackie and Viper, then proceeded to situate herself in the back, next to Uncle.
Under ordinary circumstances Jackie would've been hurt, but this Jade was completely unselfish. She must've been trying to make sure nobody had to sit next to Uncle, Jackie grinned. Uncle hadn't stopped complaining about the traffic, the cramped car, the cabbies driving style, and anything else he could find since he got there. Jackie knew his Uncle liked complaining, but travel seemed to bring out the worst in the elderly Chi Wizard.
Finally, they arrived at their Hotel, the Radisson Miyako situated downtown. Jackie had been to Tokyo before, but he didn't remember traffic being as bad as this. It was 4:30am, after all. Jackie realized that they would have to drop off their stuff and get on the road again if there was any hope of getting back to NRT in time for El Torro's 6:00 arrival. So it was straight back into the vans.
This time the seating had been configured a little differently by Jade, who insisted on sitting next to Tohru since she was smallest, and having Uncle on her other side, since he got carsick in the back. Now Jackie and Viper were put in the back together, and Jackie began to get the suspicion that this wasn't a coincidence. At least there was more room without the luggage, so Jackie was no longer being pressed up against Viper for the entire ride. That had been rather awkward.
The traffic was worse this time, so The Chans, Viper, and Tohru didn't get back to the airport until 6:20. El Torro was already waiting in an airport café, along with Paco who was drinking Hot Chocolate. He smiled and waved when he saw Jade, and to his surprise, she actually looked pleased to see him in return. Seeing as they were all tired, they decided to sit down in the café for a bit and order drinks.
For once, Jade didn't complain about Jackie's rather strict no caffeine policy, and Jackie decided that in this case Jade should be allowed a little bit to keep her awake. Uncle, on the other hand, did complain- his original coffee was too strong, so the woman at the counter put cream. Then, it was too creamy, so he insisted on another one being made. That was too watery, and yet another coffee had to be made for him.
When the now frazzled woman handed him the current coffee, Uncle had proclaimed it too hot, and finally decided that it was the entire café that was low quality. Now he sat, taking occasional sips and then glaring at the cup. Travel really did bring out the worst in Uncle, sighed Jackie to himself.
Finally, El Torro leaned over his cup of coffee and said to Jackie "You know I am always glad to help, amigo, but what did you call us down here to do?"
Viper grinned over her double latte. "I was wondering that one myself. Usually your summons involve some sort of crazy demon, clone, or paper folding man."
Jackie allowed a half grin to cross his face. "This time the culprit is far more dangerous- they stole all twelve talismans from the vault- excepting the power of the Tiger. We have half of that one."
"They stole the talismans?" said Viper, shocked, thinking about how hard it would be to track someone that was invisible.
"All of them?" added El Torro, thinking about how hard it would be to fight someone who had ox strength. "Who did this!" he demanded.
"Jade," said Jackie simply, watching the looks of confusion he received from across the table.
"But Jade's right here," Viper said, voicing the thoughts of the others that hadn't been present in Uncle's shop the previous night.
Jade shook her head. "Not me, the other half! See, the Tiger Talisman divides people into their good half and bad half. I'm the good half, and my bad half is going to try to steal the Limited Edition version of HHG tomorrow!" Jade said ferverently, wanting to make her innocence known.
Paco gasped. "That's my favorite game!"
Jade grinned. "Mine too!"
Viper and El Torro still looked a bit lost.
"Wait," said Viper, "So. . .there's another Jade running around, and both Jade's are only halves? And this is Jade's good half?"
Jackie nodded. "I know. Jade has a good half," he chuckled. "I was surprised myself. But the Asakusa Gaming Company won't have the first version of the game finished until today around noon, so we have a few hours to rest at the hotel."
Since the traffic showed no signs of relenting, and their were few cabs that had enough room for all seven of them including the heavyset Tohru and El Torro plus luggage for Paco and El Torro, they decided to take the metro. Comparatively, the Tokyo metro is nice, although rather crowded already. Still, they were able to find a spot where Uncle could sit down, and even he stopped complaining for the time being.
Again, Jade left Jackie and Viper together, although this time it was because she was talking to Paco. Since the Tokyo Metro was incredibly confusing, Jackie assumed they'd be there awhile and watched the two of them, avoiding eye contact with Viper standing next to him.
"Don't worry, Yade," Paco said confidently. "We will stop your evil other half from stealing advance copies of HHG. It isn't fair that she get them first when we do not!"
Jade nodded and smiled politely. "Well, it's also because we're afraid she might hurt people when she steals."
Paco considered the validity of this statement. "Of course! But we will not let her hurt people, either."
Jade nodded. "I know! That's why I had Jackie invite the J-Team. That way, we can win, even if she does have talismans."
Paco agreed quickly, a sort of sly look on his face. "Of course they J-Team will win. Especially El Torro."
Jade smiled brightly at the boy. "Of course! After all, I've seen El Torro wrestler before! He's pretty good!"
"El Torro is the greatest!" Paco said passionately.
"I'll bet he is," concurred Jade.
Paco began to look frustrated, as though Jade was missing something vital. "But. . .El Torro is even greater than your mouse man, Jackie."
Jade shrugged. "They both have their strong points."
Paco looked really upset now. "No! El Torro is much greater than Jackie!"
"Okay," said Jade. "If you say so."
"You aren't supposed to say that!"
"What should I say?" asked Jade innocently.
"You- I- " Paco looked stumped, so he got up and walked over to sit with his mentor. Jade watched as he left, then shrugged and looked out the window at the stations whizzing by.
Author's Note~ Raise hands if you thought this chapter evil! I certainly did. Basically, I could've said "The J-Team arrived in Tokyo. Jackie explained about Jade" and then actually included some of the plot. But instead I need to use this chapter to set up my favorite ship as display my *coughlackofcough* knowledge of Tokyo. And I kinda wanted to write the Jade and Paco scene at the end.
LG- No, I will not have Rowan. Rowan is used enough in other fics under his other name *grin* As for Rosalin, yes, she a character in the game, back she doesn't have a live appearance. Fen will probably be there, though, as well as Failaing.
ShadowElfBard- Why would you think I'd know how to spell O'nee? *lol* I am the typo quen, in case you haven't noticed. I don't think you realize how much I would love to see the Q of the S brought back. Been hoping to see that since the start of the season. But wasn't muscular Jade scary? I had no idea the Ox could function as a steroid.
You (You@yoursite.com)- Wow! Thanks! Since you're on the early chapters you probably won't read this note, but hey!
VampireNaomi- I feel your pain. Are you seriously still on the magisters? Ah, well, there's only about 5 episodes to Scruffy's debut. Then you'll have some inkling of what's going on! I won't discuss Tarekudo anymore, except to tell you that I have never seen anything less like a frog.
Danny- Is that so? I wasn't aware that Japanese demons were more punny than the rest. *shrug* Sorry, but give me Shendu and his siblings any day. Ah, yes, Jackie could combine the two halves. . .just one problem. Tiger Jade has the other half, and she won't be too keen on rejoining her lighter half. No, I wouldn't want to be at a Jade showdown, but I don't have many doubts about who would win. Evil Jade has all twelve talismans in her arsenal.
I'm in a good mood because I finally figured out where this fic is going. I like it, too. It's long, it's now looking to be about. . .9 chapters more than I expected it to end up, making about 23 chapters in all. And that's assuming that the conclusion will take one chapter. O_o. . .well, there goes any hope of free time for the next few months.