Incompetent author does not know if "blueish" exists and if "blowfish" is the right word for that fish for Uncle's chi-spells. But anyway, she thanks for all the reviews!^^
*****
Chapter 9: Demons Release
"Jackie! Don't you think we should call the J-Team?", Jade asked while Jackie and the others were preparing the Section 13's jet.
"Jade, we don't have time for that. Shendu must already be in the South Pole now.", Jackie explained and Jade crossed her arms angry. She was about to enter in the jet, but was stopped by Jackie.
"Jade! You stay here!", he said and Jade looked angry at him.
"But Jackie! I am not a child anymore!", she defended and Uncle came with Tohru, carrying some suitcases.
"But someone has to take care of the shop. Uncle is going to need Tohru's help and Captain Black is very busy too.", Uncle said entering in the jet.
"I don't believe!", Jade shouted but was completely ignored.
"Ready, Uncle?", Jackie asked entering in the jet. Uncle was looking for something in one of the suitcases.
"I can't find the locator spell to find Shendu...", he said a bit worried.
"Maybe you have left in the laboratory, sensei...", Tohru said also looking for the locator spell.
"It must be somewhere in Section 13. Let's look for it.", Jackie said and everybody followed him to inside the building. Jade glanced around herself and noticed that she was alone with Jack, Vinicius and Alice.
"Don't you think they're facilitating too much?", she asked to the three children. Jack stepped back when understanding her intentions, but Jade grabbed his wrist.
"Aren't you coming with us?", Jade asked as she saw that Vinicius and Alice didn't move. The two siblings glanced at each other.
"I wish I could go, Jade. But you know how our parents are strict. If they find out that we've disobeyed him, we're gone.", Vinicius said and Alice nodded.
"I know... You're right... Your father is worse than Jackie...", Jade said thoughtful.
"Jade, could you do me a favor?", Vinicius asked sadly.
"Sure."
"I want you to take pictures of the demons."
"Sure, no problem.", she said smiling and then ran dragging Jack. When they entered in the jet, Jackie and the others returned.
"Did you find the locator spell?", Alice asked.
"Yes, we did.", Jackie answered and glanced around himself, frowning.
"Where are Jade and Jack?", he asked in suspicion.
"Ah, Jade was very angry because you didn't let her go with you. Then she went away with Jack.", Alice said smiling innocently and Vinicius stared at her. Jackie smiled pleased and everybody entered in the jet, except for Captain Black and his children. After the airplane had left, Black turned to go back to Section 13.
"Alice... you never lie! What happened?", Vinicius asked crossing his arms and smirking, making Alice a bit embarrassed.
"If you had answered the question, our father wouldn't have believed... I just wanted to help Jade...", she replied in a low voice.
"Damn! I wanted to go with them! I'm so jealous!", Vinicius complained and his sister just smiled.
"Ahh, it's very cold!!", Julia complained while she and Shendu tried to walk. She was wearing practically all her coats, and still she was freezing. She barely managed to walk.
"Blast! Why it had to be in such a cold place?!", she shouted.
"And do you think I am pleased with this?! I am the fire demon!", Shendu snapped. He was walking in front of her, in his human form. He was wearing a coat and gloves too. Although he was much more resistant for the simple fact of being a demon, he was still very cold. Julia watched him and snapped.
"I just can't stand to see you wearing those clothes. We are in Antarctica! The coldest place of the world, and there you are wearing clothes that someone would wear in England! I feel cold by just looking at you!"
"Then don't look at me!"
"How am I going to know where to go, then?", she asked and Shendu suddenly stopped, staring at the ground.
"What? Why did we stop?", she asked glancing around herself and at the ground, but don't seeing anything special.
"I'm feeling a strange energy coming from the ground.", he answered after a while, pointing down.
"Stand back.", he ordered stepping back and so did Julia. He then used the power of the dragon talisman to explode the ground and open a hole. They looked at inside of it and noticed that it seemed to be a cave. And it was obvious that it wasn't natural. Somebody had dug it a long time ago.
"Nobody told me that we were going to the South Pole. And now? What do I have to do to avoid freezing?", Finn asked.
"Yeah, we are not exactly prepared to go to the South Pole. We only have some coats and gloves...", Chow remarked.
"That won't take too long. The Chans will take care of Shendu while we rescue Julia. They fight and we go back. Simple.", Valmont said trying to look calm. Finn rubbed the back of his head.
"You look uneasy, Finn? What happened?", Ratso asked.
"It must be the cold.", Chow said.
"No, actually..... Maybe she doesn't want to be rescued...", Finn murmured to himself.
"What?", Valmont asked and Finn shook his head.
"Uh... Nothing..."
"Jackie, better we wear some coats. It's very cold already.", Viper said looking at the window.
"Yes, you're right.", Jackie agreed standing up to open the trunk. He yelped as he saw Jade hugging a suitcase.
"Did we already get there? It's kinda tight here.", she said.
"Jade! Why are you... How did you... What are you- Ahh, why do I still ask?!", Jackie yelled placing his hands on his face.
"Relax, Jackie. Now I am older, then I can help you even more.", Jade said getting out of the trunk.
"How did you fit inside there?", Viper asked looking at the trunk.
"It's larger than it looks.", Jade answered smiling and Jackie sat down in his seat, trying to calm down.
"Mr. Chan, we arrived.", the pilot informed. The airplane landed and Jackie opened the door. Everybody came out, except for Jade and the pilot. Jackie found it strange.
"Uh... You don't want to come with us?", he asked in suspicion and Jade still didn't move.
"Uhn... Not yet... I still gotta... look for a coat.", she answered nervously and Jackie accepted that answer.
"Ok. Do you want us to wait for you?"
"No, no. I'll catch you up later.", she assured grinning and Jackie shrugged, closing the door. Jade glanced at the pilot's cockpit and when seeing that he was distracted reading a magazine, she quietly opened another trunk.
"Let's go, Jack!", she whispered and Jack sighed, getting out of the trunk with no enthusiasm.
"Ah, how good. Here is much warmer...", Julia commented smiling a bit and glancing curiously at the whole cave. There were some statues along a kind of corridor, and each one was different from the others. Shendu was walking while reading a spell book.
They arrived at the end of the cave that now was a much larger place. In the center, there was a circle with a strange symbol. Shendu spread some magic objects and took a bottle containing a blueish liquid. He covered the lines forming the circle and the symbol with it. Then, he placed the book in the ground in the center of the room, and raised his hands.
"Huo! Hui! Jin!", he said aloud and suddenly eight torches were lighted, one in each corner of the cave, and Julia noticed that it looked like a ritual room in form of an octagon. Shendu sighed in frustration.
"What's the problem?", Julia asked.
"This spell is going to cost me too much energy. And it is very difficult, I have only one chance.", he said.
"Calm down and concentrate. You can do it.", she encouraged and Shendu knelt down to read the book again.
"Uncle, where's Shendu?", Jackie asked as Uncle watched carefully the locator spell that he was holding. Suddenly, it began to shine more intensely. Uncle followed the way it was pointing until arriving at a big hole in the ground.
"Shendu is inside here!", Uncle said pointing at the hole and Jackie nimbly went down jumping by the walls until reaching the ground. When seeing that the hole wasn't very deep, he said to the others that they could jump too.
"Jade, I think that demon is inside there.", Jack remarked.
"Duh!", she said sarcastically. They have been watching Jackie and the others from behind a little mount of snow. They left this hiding place and approached of the hole.
"C'mon, Jack.", she said pulling his hand and jumping to inside the hole. What they didn't know was that another group observed them from a certain distance.
Suddenly, Shendu stopped reciting the spell and stood up, staring seriously at the entrance of the ritual room.
"What now?", Julia asked also turning to that direction and noticed that somebody was coming.
"They can't come much closer. The spell was already started and that activated a temporary barrier.", Shendu said calmly.
"Temporary? And how long is it going to last?", she wanted to know but Shendu didn't answer. They watched the entrance and saw Jackie, Viper, Uncle and Tohru. Shendu wasn't surprised, that always happened. However, all the others were very surprised.
"But who are those people?", Julia asked.
"Funny, I was going to ask the same thing about you.", Viper said and Tohru looked at the blond man beside the little girl.
"It's him! It's him who knocked me out and stole the books!", Tohru yelled pointing at the man.
"I don't understand... Didn't Shendu have only one ally? By the way, where's Shendu?", Jackie asked and Uncle whacked him in his head.
"Do you ever think?! That little girl is the ally and the blond man is Shendu in his human form!", Uncle snapped. Jackie stared at Shendu and really couldn't say if it was true, but he knew that those two were planning something, and he should do something to stop them. The fire demon ignored the group and turned again, knelling down to continue reading the book.
"Stop!", Jackie yelled running to the center of the room, but was repelled by an strange energy.
"It is a barrier...", Uncle said observing the whole room.
"Can you break it, Uncle?", Jackie wanted to know.
"I'll try...", Uncle answered looking for something in his bag. On that moment, they heard a voice behind them.
"Jackie!"
"Jade. JACK?!", he yelled in surprise when seeing his son with her.
"Jack, what are you doing here?", Viper asked in worry.
"It was Jade's fault! She forced me to come!", Jack defended.
"Julia, what are you doing with him? Come here now!", Jade yelled and Julia just ignored her.
"Then she is Julia...", Jackie murmured and found that she looked familiar. Uncle took a blowfish from his bag and began to cast a chi-spell in order to try to break the barrier.
"Shendu! They're going to break the barrier!", Julia warned in worry and Shendu seemed not to have heard, since he was very concentrated in the spell of the book. Almost everybody turned to see the entrance when they heard somebody coming, and they were surprised when seeing who was.
"Oh, boy...", Jade murmured tapping her forehead.
"The Dark Hand? What are they doing here?", Jackie asked confused and they ignored him. Then Hak Foo and Finn recognized the blond man in the center of the room.
"That's him!", Hak Foo announced and Valmont turned to face his enforcers.
"It's him, Big V! He's Shendu!", Finn said pointing at the man. Valmont looked again to the center if the room.
"Julia, get away from him! Come here right now!", he ordered.
"No, YOU come here!", she replied crossing her arms. Jackie raised a brow and thought for a short a while.
"What? I came all the way until the South Pole and you want to stay with him?", Valmont asked pointing at Shendu, who began to stand up holding the open book.
"Not my problem! Who said that I wanted you to come here?"
"Wait! So Julia is... Valmont's daughter?", Jackie asked confused and Jade raised a brow to him.
"You didn't know that?"
"No, Jack told me that she was a criminal's daughter, but he didn't say which criminal!", he answered.
"Hatcha!", Uncle yelled as the blowfish began to shine even more.
"Did you get to break the barrier, Uncle?"
"Not yet! But it's already very weak!", he said making a great effort to continue with the same rhythm, but it was too late. The torches began to produce a type of blue mixed with green fire, and the cave turned darker and gloomy. Now the barrier was a bit more visible.
"The barrier! That means that it is almost disappearing!", Tohru said and Jackie tried to go to the center of the room, but was repelled again.
"Julia, approach the Pan Ku box of the Meng Hsie pendant!", Shendu ordered handing over the pendant to her. Julia did as he said and a white light began to glow. When it was very close to the Pan Ku box, the light turned green. The box was separated in eight pieces, four of them dropped in the ground.
"Aiiyaaa!", Uncle yelled losing all his energy. Jackie and the others watched how four portals opened in random sides of the room, and each one had a trigram in the top. The four pieces of the box that were still active were attracted by the trigrams, until reaching them and opening the portals.
From the portals, Bai Tsa, Xiao Fung, Hsi Wu and Tso Lan stepped out. After that, the portals closed and the pieces of the Pan Ku box dropped in the ground. The torches returned to normal and the cave became clearer again. Shendu and Uncle fell exhausted and the barrier was broken.
*****
After 4 years studying English on my own, I was finally forced to study it at my school. I already mentioned in "Sky Shine" that this English class was very humiliating, because I could find out how poor my English is and that my English dictionary is one of my best friends! :P
Culture Time:
*ashamed author wants to repeat the false friends guide*
False friends are that words whose mission is to deceive, humiliate and make Brazilians think that English is very easy. I'd like to post some examples here too, although I've already done that in "Sky Shine". First, it's the English word, and then the word in Portuguese that just looks like the right translation. In parenthesis, it's the real meaning of the Portuguese words. Clear? Ok, there we go.
Actual – atual (current)
Assign – assinar (to sign)
Baton – batom (lipstick)
Beef – bife (steak)
Casual – casual (chance)
Cigar – cigarro (cigarette)
Collar – colar (necklace)
College – colégio (school)
Costume – costume (habit)
Data – data (date)
Deception – decepção (disappointment)
Dent – dente (tooth)
Exquisite – esquisito (strange)
Fabric – fábrica (factory)
Intend – entender (understand)
Intoxication – intoxicação (poisoning)
Library – livraria (bookstore)
Lunch – lanche (snack)
Parent – parente (relative)
Pretend – pretender (intend)
Push – puxar (pull)
Record – recordar (remember)
Sensible – sensível (sensitive)
Stranger – estrangeiro (foreigner)
Sympathetic – simpático (nice)