Rejoice! I actually updated within a week!. I usually take months...hehe. Um, most of this is explaining the whole Ceres thing because I'm pretty sure none of you have read that manga before.
Disclaimer: me don't own Xiaolin Showdown, me don't own Ceres, me don't own that Trigun song at the end of this, me don't own NADA….well, except the plot!
I woke up to the sound of birds twittering and a throbbing pain in my head. Hushed voices silenced themselves as soon as I tried to get up. I didn't even try to open my eyes, because my head throbbed even more when I tried. Even with my eyes closed, the sunlight was already doing its job of blinding everything in its path just fine.
"Whuuuuut" I tried to speak, but it felt like cotton was in my mouth. "Water…please…" I finally managed to choke out. I heard someone quickly run to the kitchen and I tried to finally open my eyes. "My heaaad…" I moaned and clutched it. Rubbing my eyes made everyone around me blurry for a moment. Then I saw relatively clearly. Four very confused faces greeted me. Omi came back into the room and handed me a small jug. "Thanks," I managed to say and then quickly chugged down all of the water inside.
Clay spoke first. "We took you straight home to the temple after you passed out."
Passed out? Voices…Chase…oh crap…my mind finally caught up with the present and everything came crashing down. I had a woman inside me with a bone to pick with Chase. What a lovely insight to ruin a perfectly good morning.
After eating breakfast my head finally stopped hurting. Master Fung walked in and we all put down our chopsticks to listen attentively.
"Dojo has informed me of your predicament," he said to me. I laughed nervously. "And we believe we know what is ailing you." He paused and then looked at each person in the room meaningfully, as if trying to figure out if we could handle this information.
"You have some form of a Ceres within you."
"I KNEW IT!" I yelled and banged my hand on the table, which sent my bowl of rice flying through the air toward Master Fung.
"Cra-" I started to say, "uh I mean, crud." Master Fung caught the bowl and held it. The others stared at me.
"You mean you knew why you were acting that way?" Omi asked with a humongous question mark over him.
"Well, not really," I began. "It's all part of a very sad tale." I took the pose of one who was about to tell a life story. "It involves a celestial maiden, a troubling man-"
"Uh, hate to interrupt," Dojo hesitantly said, " but is this gonna be long? I kinda need to go to the bathroom."
I sighed and then gave the short version. "A celestial maiden came down from Heaven hundreds of years ago, was forced to marry an earth man because he took her celestial robes and she needed those robes in order to go back to heaven, then after many years she finally lost it and killed him and later died."
More shocked faces greeted me. I was starting to get used to this. "Well," Kimiko began. "I guess that means…?"
"I'm a descendant of her."
"And you know this how?" Raimundo innocently asked.
"Well, some of my other friends have her powers within them. Technically, only a few of them have her attributes. Um…how to explain," I stopped and thought hard. "One girl has the power to summon ghostly demon dogs that can rip you to shreds, one can conjure up fire and self-combust anything or anyone as we later found out. One can fly, and many others have different random powers, just like the shen gong wu."
"But…" Raimundo said slowly, putting the pieces of what I just said together.
"But," I continued. "There are some who have more than merely powers. Some can change into a completely different person. A close friend is like that. Until she turns into her, for lack of a better word, 'Ceres form' she can't use her powers."
Master Fung looked intrigued. "I never knew it was true, or that even this many girls were involved. Here at the temple, Ceres was mentioned only once in the ancient scrolls and even then, it was thought to be only a legend. I believe you, and this brings up many new, unheard of ideas. This means that this original Ceres has hundreds of thousands of descendants. And there are different levels. One girl might have a closer tie to her than another, which explains why some can change and why others cannot. I assume those who can change are more 'valued' than others?"
"Valued highly?" Kimiko snorted. "You make them sound as if they're antiquities or some sort of…object to be owned."
"I hate to say it, but there are people out there who have found out about us. And they want to use us in an experiment. They 'value' those who can change because, generally, they have stronger powers." I shuddered as I thought of all the stories my friends had told me of trying to escape these people.
"But wait, you don't have any powers" Omi pointed out and made a face. "You failed most horribly on the obstacle course and could barely control the shen gong wu that we gave you. So how do you know if you're a descendant of Ceres and not just going insane?"
I gave Omi a dirty look and quickly wondered if I should hit him. However, seeing as how I had just heard voices, I didn't think I should freak them out even more. Last thing I needed was them thinking I was not only a basket case, but also a violent basket case. I merely nodded. "It's true. All of my other friends found out they were related to Ceres because of their powers came out. But!" I happily said, and then rushed on, "Even though none of them heard voices, the thing inside of me had a talk with another girl and even though I didn't hear the conversation, cuz I was conked out, which happens every time she tries to come out, but anyway, yeah, when I woke up my friend Rachel told me that she had nice long talk with the woman inside of me."
Now skeptical faces greeted me. "Well seeing as how I can't even talk to her without falling unconscious minutes later, you think I've had the time to get buddy-buddy with her! Plus…"
"Plus?" Clay continued.
"I've been told that every generation or so, a girl who's a direct descendant from Ceres will become Ceres."
"WHAT!" they all yelled.
"This said girl will not merely have her looks changed, but actually harbor another life within her…and I've been told that's lucky me."
"How do you know?" Dojo asked, coiling and uncoiling his tail in deep curiosity.
"Well, none of the others had blackouts and heard voices. And lately I have been getting a bigger appetite…then again maybe that's just my weirdness" I absentmindedly said.
"Surely there must be an easier way to figure out if you have a Ceres within you" Omi wondered aloud.
"Yep," I replied. "There is a family in Japan that is the most closely related to Ceres. They have their….er…rituals to find out if a girl of their family has Ceres within her. Since it's most likely going to happen with a close descendant, they've kept the bloodline limited so that no one marries out, and everyone, even husband and wife, are almost like third cousins. "
"Ewwww…" Clay, Raimundo, Kimiko, and Omi exclaimed.
I continued. "On her 16th birthday, the girl will be shown the hand of the original Ceres. (Don't even ask me why they kept the hand.) If the girl has a dormant Ceres, her true powers will be shown in the form of a nice little explosion and such. This girl is now the most powerful being in the world."
"Oooh! A most amazing birthday gift!" Omi happily exclaimed. He jumped around a bit. " I imagine this girl most have the most rarest powers! Ah, so lucky…"
"I'm not finished," I quietly said.
"The girl who is found to have Ceres within her is always killed immediately afterwards."
Silence permeated the room. Kimiko gasped and a tear slid down her face. "But…why?" she whispered.
I took my time replying, trying to figure out how to explain it. "Because if she, Ceres, were to assume true form, she'd take the revenge that she promised ages ago. She was forced to marry a scumbag, forced to have his children, and she wasn't able to do jack about it. To set her free on the family would spell destruction for the entire clan, at least all the guys for sure. And since it is male-dominated, no one wants to lose their power or their life."
All of them went into deep thought over what I had just said. Suddenly a voice interrupted our reverie. The voice sang a whimsical song.
Total slaughter, total slaughter.
I won't leave a single man alive.
We walked out into the hallway, which was poorly lit. A lone figure stood at the end of it.
La dee da dee die, genocide.
La dee da dee dud, an ocean of blood.
Now let's start the killing time.
The figure had been slowly walking towards us, but now stopped. Then it suddenly squealed: "Raimuuuuuuuuuuundooooooooooooo!" and consequently jumped on him.
Meanwhile, a disgruntled Chase was trying to get information out of Wuya…and failing.
"How do you know what's going on?" he demanded. Wuya merely picked at her dress. " I just happen to know a few people like her. Been a while though, didn't think she'd show up. Besides, why are you asking me questions? She's from your past."
For once in his long existence, Chase stumbled on his words. "I-I…th-that has nothing…quit changing the subject!" Wuya rolled her eyes. "If you really want to know what's going on, just try and remember your past."
"My past?"
"Well, specifically, your past before you gave up your soul."
"HAHAHAHA!"
"I didn't find anything funny."
Something in Wuya's tone made Chase open his eyes and seriously contemplate this suggestion.
"The woman inside Melissa-"
"Who?"
Wuya paused so she wouldn't pound Chase on the head. The man could easily rip her to shreds, so she'd better not let her anger get the best of her. She exasperatingly continued, "the girl who tried to attack you. She has someone from your past in her. Try to remember who."
Chase didn't like the sound of it. Evil people who gave up their souls for power didn't "look deep inside" themselves for answers. They tortured people, turned homes upside down, maybe even take a potion to restore memory, but never this "look inside your heart" crap. He sighed and hoped that another option would make itself available soon. However, Chase didn't know that this new option was going to actually present itself quite soon. He shouldn't have hoped.
Hehe, yeah, that's all I got so far. Much thankies to Grace who gives me the motivation for writing this all down. Please review if you have time, it's nice to know someone in cyberspace is actually reading this. For all of you almost out for summer, yaaay! And for all of you still stuck in school, just think, 1 or 2 more weeks left!