Wow, I never got so many reviews for one chapter! You reviewers are wonderful! I'm sorry for the over-late update. I've been writing a lot of fics, but I didn't finish any of them. I hope you like this chapter. It's a bit short, and I think the next one is more interesting, but... I promise I'll try to update sooner.
Thank you very, very much for the reviews! Words can't express how happy I am!
Regrem Erutaerc – Of course, I never abandon my fics (well, almost never). Oh, and I'll be on Yahoo this weekend!
VampireNaomi – Ah, you got it, except for one thing. But I don't despise this story, only its beginning. That's one of the reasons why I'm rewriting it. Now, I wonder... If I write more about Alice, won't you find her an annoying OC?
Forgotten Love – Don't worry, we'll have some battles very, very soon. The Portuguese version has it. About that movie you mentioned... I'm not sure if it's the one I think it is. Do the characters jump and fly a lot and are there amazing fights? Anyway, thank you very much! I wish you were still writing JCA fics...
Zero-Nightmare – Thanks!
Queen Jade – If you like fights, I think you'll like the fight that is coming soon.
Hellblaze – Hehe, I suppose you got it right too. Oh, I should read and review your sequel now that I'm free.
kke – No, it's me who thanks you for reading and reviewing. n.n
Lindsay – No, I'm not a Martian (I'm not green). I've been to Vegeta-sei, though. It's been destroyed, but it was a cool place.
Nash the Blade – Uh... wrong? I don't intend to let this fic unfinished. I hate it when authors don't finish their fics.
Dragolover1 – Thank you for reviewing. I hope you finish reading this story soon. I'll read yours as well.
Chapter 24: The Dance
It was new moon night, the sky was relatively clear and the air almost cold. The only one who really appreciated those conditions was Hsi Wu, although he did not dare to comment about that. Tonight, they would have to get the ingredients that were missing so that they could get back to their normal age.
The group of children stopped in front of the school's entrance and Bai Tsa turned around to look at Valmont, Shendu, Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung.
"Please..." she started with a tone of who was actually giving an order. "... just don't ruin everything. Do exactly as planned," she said and Shendu snorted, crossing his arms.
"Bai Tsa, it's just a stupid party with a lot of stupid human children. What could go wrong?" he asked. The dragon was in a human form as well and, unlike most of the group, he had not come to get the proper ingredients. In fact, he even hoped that everything went wrong and the water demon got stuck in that child form forever.
Bai Tsa frowned angry. "One of those stupid human children happens to be a Chan. And according to my slave, perhaps that traitor is there too. We have to be very cautious," she replied.
Shendu looked at her as if she had said something absurd. "She is not a traitor!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Bai Tsa. Shendu," Tso Lan scolded and the two demons were quiet, but still exchanged dangerous glares before going ahead and joining the party.
Tso Lan leaded them, and carefully observed his surroundings. Everything was different from what he had seen in the ancient times, and although he did not show it, he was rather curious to learn something new about this age. And a place where there was not any chi wizard to threaten them was a positive factor.
He nodded to himself, pleased, and turned around to face the others.
"We don't need to be together. We shall meet later. And Bai Tsa..."
"Yes?"
"Your hair still is blue. Change it before someone sees it." The moon demon left with no more words and headed to inside the school. Bai Tsa changed her hair colour into black and at the following moment she was surprised by an almost hysterical voice.
"Wow! That's so cool!"
The group turned to the voice's owner, who was right beside them. It was a normal little girl with red hair tied in two irregular ponytails. It was not possible to recognise her eyes colour, since she was wearing glasses with pink lenses. The girl was looking amazed at Bai Tsa, as if she had just seen a magic trick.
"How did you do that?" she asked and Bai Tsa blinked in confusion before understanding. She then glanced at the rest of the group expecting someone to give a plausible answer. Valmont, seeing that no one would say anything, crossed his arms behind himself and took a step forward.
"That what?" he asked cynically.
"Eh? But I just saw her changing her hair colour!" the girl responded and turned to Bai Tsa again. "How did you do it? Is that some sort of special dye?" she asked, pulling the demon's hair.
Bai Tsa shoved her. "Do not touch me, mortal!" she demanded with her true voice and the girl stepped back a bit scared.
"Oh, she's on a bad mood today. But her hair colour didn't change, you know. It was just a... hmm... reflection," he explained. When the girl did not seem to believe, he added, "And your glasses probably confused you."
She blinked and smiled again. "Do you want to play with me?" she asked eagerly and everyone stared at her. Shendu rolled his eyes, gathering patience. Bai Tsa turned to the wind demon and approached him.
"Xiao Fung, this girl won't leave us alone anymore... You have to distract her," she whispered through clenched teeth and he nodded, smiling friendly.
"Party!" he shouted raising his arms and – sort of accidentally – raising his sister's skirt as well. She screamed and managed to lower it before someone saw her while Xiao ran away along with the red-haired girl. Bai Tsa was literally red, both enraged and embarrassed. Valmont looked away to prove he had nothing to do with it but Shendu and Hsi Wu could not help chuckling.
Bai Tsa really felt like tearing Xiao Fung's throat, but since that would attract everyone's attention, she decided to control herself. She then turned to the other two demons.
"What are you laughing at? Get away already, don't be in my way!" she ordered her brothers, who began to move away still suppressing a fit of laughter.
"As you wish, sister dearest," Shendu said in a sarcastic tone and Bai ignored them. She looked at the human beside her; he was the only one who had not laughed at all. It seemed that he was used to control his feelings and keep a cool façade when it was necessary.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and took few steps forward.
"Well... Then I'm going too..." he said, but she grabbed him tightly by his wrist, which made him yelp.
"Oh, no, you don't. You belong to me and you cannot go anywhere without my permission or company," she stated and began to drag him through the crowd of children.
"How many times do I have to say I don't belong to anyone?" he muttered, trying hard to break free.
"Quiet!" she hissed, squeezing his wrist even more. "Now, let's see how fun the parties can be nowadays."
Shendu was glancing around every second, as if something were about to attack him at any moment. Hsi Wu frowned in concern.
"What is it, Shendu?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," the fire demon replied and Hsi raised a brow.
"What do you mean? Be clearer with your answers, can you?"
"I told you I don't know!" the dragon snapped. "It's just a strange feeling. It seems that someone is watching us."
Hsi Wu sighed. "Look, I know you are a bit nervous since that dark chi explosion in that fish cannery, but if nothing happened so far it is because nothing will happen."
Shendu did not reply, and now he seemed to be concentrated on a single point at his right side.
"We don't need to be together all the time either. Try to find out something by yourself for a change, I didn't even come here to help you," he said and began to walk towards the direction he was staring at. Hsi Wu took a deep breath and crossed his arms, glancing around in boredom. What could he do now? He was alone in a party for children... and not even Jade was here.
"I'm back," Jack said as he approached Alice and offered her some soda. They were in the party as well, and she had been seated in a bench waiting for him to say something.
"Thanks," she said, smiling nervously, and he sat beside her.
"It's good to have some fun after all those weird things that have been happening. My life even seems to be completely normal again," Jack commented and Alice nodded.
There was a long moment of silence. Both of them wanted to say something, but they barely could look at each other in the eyes. Jack would give anything if he could just stop being so stupid and say something, anything!
C'mon, Jack! You can do it! he thought to himself.
"Um... erh... hmm... The moon is so beautiful tonight, isn't it?" he commented and paled, his eyes twitching. Was that the best he could come up with? And it was new moon night, there was no moon!
Alice looked up at the sky to see the moon. She frowned for one second and looked at him.
"What-"
"I mean..." he interrupted, blushing furiously. "That the moon is beautiful... no matter where it is... j-just like y-you..."
He gulped, not daring to raise his glance from his feet.
"I think you're... c-cute... too..." she replied equally nervous and he glanced at her as quickly as possible. All he could see was that she was blushing as well, and she indeed looked cute with that sweet expression.
Jack and Alice had no idea that someone was watching them; Julia was hiding behind a corner, was trying to hear their conversation, but it was impossible since some boys were playing some heavy rock. She glared at them and looked around to find a quieter place.
"I didn't expect to find you here," a voice said behind her and she quickly turned around. It was a blond boy with green eyes who was a bit taller than her. Julia looked at him up and down and frowned.
"I think you're confusing me with someone else," she stated coldly and pushed past him.
"No, I am not, Julia," he replied and she turned to face him again, trying to hide her surprise. Someone in this school actually remembered her? "Aren't you recognising me?" he asked and she was about to say 'no', but she did not want to admit that she could not remember someone who remembered her.
She shrugged and forced a smile. "Yes, of course."
"What are you doing here?" he questioned and she thought for a while before answering.
"I have to... help someone... and get my home back," she said, carefully choosing the right words so that she would not reveal the whole truth. As she expected, he did not seem to have understood, but he did not ask anymore. "W-What about you? What are you doing here?"
"I felt something important is going to happen. I had the feeling that I was going to meet someone."
Julia blushed. "Meet someone? You mean me?"
He stared at her, pondering for a moment. "Perhaps..."
She blushed even more, smiling nervously. Now when she paid attention to his, this boy was kind of cute.
"So... you came here for me? I had no idea that someone would fall for me this early, especially an older boy..."
The boy stared at her as if she were insane. "What?! What are you talking about?"
"Come with me. Maybe you can even help me later," she said, gesturing at him to follow her. Still not understanding anything at all, he followed her a bit hesitantly.
Jade sighed and sat on a chair. In any other circumstance, she could have enjoyed this party, but she really did not feel like having fun right now. Especially in this child form; her dream had always been growing up, and when she was finally an adult, someone turned her into a child! Soon, Jackie would begin to boss around her as if she were seven years old again.
Another reason that spoiled the fun in this party was that she felt sick. That had been happening for quite a while and at first she thought she was just tired, but maybe she really was sick.
"Jade," Vinicius' voice woke her from her thoughts and she raised her gaze. "Come, I want to introduce you to my friends!" he said, pulling her by her hand and leading her to a group of children. "Hey, guys! This is Jade!"
The three children – one girl and two boys – looked at her up and down.
"She doesn't look so special to me," the girl commented quite arrogantly, which made Jade frown.
"Yeah, and you sure is very special," she remarked sarcastically. The girl just snorted and crossed her arms.
"Jade, these are my friends Carol, Jimmy and Gary," Vinicius gestured at the children as he said their names. The two boys seemed to be very interested in Jade.
"Is it true that you often fight the forced of darkness?" Jimmy asked eagerly and Jade looked surprised at him.
"Uh? Who told you that?"
"Vinicius did."
"So, is it true? Do you know karate?" Gary asked and Jade smiled self-confidently.
"Actually, I know Kunf Fu. And yes, I often fight against the forces of darkness."
The three boys were amazed, while the girl rolled her eyes. Jade never thought that a stranger would believe her about that. During all her childhood she wanted to be admired and respected by her classmates, but they never believed in those stories.
"Have you risked your life many times?" Jimmy inquired.
"Of course, countless times! But that's normal when you want to save the world."
"Aren't you afraid to die?"
"No, on the contrary. I prefer one thousand times to have a life full of excitement than living like an ordinary girl like some and others," Jade answered, discreetly nodding at the girl of the group. She, however, noticed that and narrowed her eyes.
"Wow!" "So cool!"
"Oh, come on!" Carol finally interrupted and everyone, except Jade, stared at her in surprise. "It's so obvious that she's lying! How can you be so naïve? Fight the forced of darkness... Hah! Nonsense. And what's with that Kung Fu, then? You're too young, you mustn't have learned even the basics of martial arts."
Jade felt her blood boiling. "I'll prove you it's true-" she snapped but stopped when she heard a scream and looked at her left to see that two children accidentally bumped into a man with a tray during their game and he lost his balance, accidentally throwing the tray. Everybody expected that the tray and the glasses on it would drop and break, but they were surprised when Jade nimbly leaped and grabbed four glasses in the air, and then hurried to put them on the nearest table. She then grabbed the tray, which had been almost reaching the ground, and used it to get the rest of the glasses.
Although the liquid in the glasses had spilled, her performance impressed everyone, even the adults. Jade felt like Jackie Chan himself after her feat and smirked at the girl who had just mocked her.
The crown applauded and Jade, pleased with herself, walked back to her group. Carol was open-mouthed and the boys were even more excited.
"Wow... Where did you learn to do that?" Carol asked in awe.
"You know, people like me just are born with that talent. I am Jade Chan, after all. What did you expect?" Jade said proudly.
The two boys turned to Captain Black's son. "Vinicius, you're so lucky, man!" "Yeah, your girlfriend is great!"
Jade's smile immediately faded and she widened her eyes. "Girlfriend? Hey, what do you mean?"
"I told you, didn't I?" Vinicius replied them, ignoring Jade's question and holding her hand. "Come on, Jade. Let's dance."
"But... Wait!"
And the duo headed to the dance floor inside the school. However, nobody noted a boy following them with a suspicious look. He had been watching Jade and heard the conversation she had been having with the group, and now he did not seemed to be very pleased.
"Girlfriend...?!" he hissed angry and his eyes glowed red.
Bai Tsa suddenly stopped and glanced around. She could not find Chan's son anywhere. If she did not find him any soon, she could be stuck in this child form forever. She took a deep breath and looked impatiently at Valmont.
"Listen, be useful for a change and bring me something to drink," she ordered and noted hoe he clenched his fists.
"I don't-"
"Go!" she interrupted making her eyes glow red dangerously. "Now! And if you try to run away, you'll be doomed!" she threatened. He swallowed hard and headed to one of tables with food and drinks. "Well done," she said pleased and watched a band of boys a bit older than most of the children in this party.
They were playing some strange instruments, but she could not understand how they managed to make the sound louder than it was supposed to be. She focused on two of the instruments; one of them was multicoloured and had strings in one of the sides, the other was a sort of black board on a fine table. They both looked familiar and yet, somehow, completely different from anything she had seen.
"Here it is," a sharp voice called her attention and Bai turned to see Valmont offering her a plastic cup – obviously against his will. She took the cup without saying anything and sipped the liquid in it. She grimaced as if she had drunk something really horrible and glared at Valmont.
"What are you trying to do, poison me? What's this?!" she asked pointing at the brownish liquid in the cup and Valmont shrank a bit.
"Soda," he answered shortly and she squeezed the cup.
"Soda?! I want a real drink! Don't you have sake or wine?"
He shrugged. "This is a party for children. There's no alcoholic drink here."
She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she threw the cup away and tried to see what was on the table.
"Then... bring me one of those sandwiches that are right over there. And one for yourself as well," she ordered and he sighed heavily, closing his eyes to keep his patience, before obeying her. She turned to watch the band again. She could not believe that the humans nowadays dared to call that music. In the ancient times, music was calm, beautiful, relaxing. Now, that was just a meaningless, bizarre and annoying noise.
She followed the origin of the sounds and was surprised to see that they were not coming from the instruments themselves, but from huge black boxes. The young men who were playing did not even noticed when she approached and examined the boxes.
"What's that...?" she wondered as she noted some buttons in the boxes. One of them looked like a round doorknob. She curiously turned it a bit, but it did not make any difference. She turned it all at once, then. There was an unpleasant whistle that filled the whole room and the noise turned into a deafening rumble. That was the last thing she remembered before the huge black boxes literally exploded.
Everyone was lying on the floor. Most of the people had got scared by the sudden explosion and had tried to protect themselves. Bai Tsa, who had been right in front of the box at the moment of the explosion, was almost black, her eyes widened and her hair standing on end. The boys of the band were not any different.
"What... What have you done...?!" Valmont asked slowing approaching her, while observing in horror the destruction scenery of the stage. Bai shrugged.
"At least they stopped that annoying noise."
Tso Lan was walking in his true form completely unworried in the desert corridors of the school. It would not take long until they started their plan, but he still could find something interesting to do. In his opinion, that was reading. He was curious to see how much the human mind had supposedly evolved. When he had been freed by Shendu seven years ago, he could see that the magic was replaced by the technology.
With the help of the technology, humans could go to the moon. That really bothered him, but at the same time he was impressed with the human beings' capacity. He was not as blindly proud as his siblings to insist that the human race was completely stupid and useless. Perhaps he could even learn a way to help them take the world by reading some books.
Besides, there was another matter that bothered him even more. Tchang Zu and Po Kong had realised it as well. They could not forget about that mysterious explosion of dark chi. Even Shendu had been behaving strangely; he was quieter and more cautious. Tso Lan knew the reason. After all, the Hsi Sheng Ritual was very dangerous, humans should never dare to even think of doing it.
Fools.
He finally found the library. He chose some books and sat down to read them. The first book had the title 'The History of Technology'. While reading it, he heard a man singing out of tune and coming to the library. Tso Lan raised a brow.
The middle-aged man opened the door. Apparently, he could not keep his balance for longer than three seconds without leaning on a wall. His face was all red and he was holding a bottle of beer in one hand and a key in the other.
"Oh, there you are, Mrs Heartman!" He sobbed. "You forgot the keys!" He threw the key – Tso Lan assumed he was supposed to get it, but the keys ended up on the other side of the library. "And don't forget your make-up!" the man shouted before stumbling out the library and laughing aloud. Tso Lan ignored him and kept reading the book.
"What's that? A boy in the girl's restroom?" a girl whispered to her friend while they stared at Valmont. Bai Tsa was beside him, washing her hair that was a mess thanks to the explosion of the overloaded loudspeakers.
She knew that boys were not supposed to enter here, but she did not want to let him outside. He could easily run away, and she wanted no risks. Not that he was really important, but the water demon never gave up her belongings.
"Come on... please..." Valmont muttered, embarrassed because of the giggling girls who whispered something to each other once in a while. Bai snorted.
"Quiet, I can take the while I want," she said and then they heard a new song playing. For Bai Tsa's relieve, it was no longer that heavy rock, but a very calm song coming from a different room this time.
That song was exactly the way she liked; calm and even romantic. That reminded her of old times, when people organised celebrations in Rome, with wine and dances. Unlike many demons, she did not hesitate to take part of human parties. She always had fun in her own way.
"Come on, I want to see how you dance nowadays."
Julia took Shendu to the terrace and ran to its edge to see something in the playground. The fire demon, who was still disguised as a boy, followed her and tried to guess what she was observing.
Although there were many children down there, he still could find out that she was watching Chan's son. He frowned and looked at Julia, who looked like she was trying to solve an enigma.
"Do you see that boy over there?" she asked, pointing at Jack. "Jack Chan. Do you know him?"
"Yes," Shendu responded in slight confusion.
"I'm trying to think of a way to make him call his relatives here. But..." she hesitated. "Someone told me I had to find a book that would help me, and that book is the antiques shop where he lives. She didn't explain how it would help me, though."
Shendu held his breath for a moment. She could not be talking about...
"I know I shouldn't trust her," Julia continued, immediately getting Shendu's attention. "But I'll do anything to reach my purpose. That's why I helped Shendu."
The fire demon stared. He did not understand what she meant, but it seemed that Julia had been hiding something from all of them. And why was she telling him all that, anyway? Didn't she know that he was Shendu himself?
She suddenly looked like she had remembered something and smiled a bit embarrassed. "Hehe, sorry. I bet you're wondering what I'm talking about."
"Indeed."
"Never mind," she said, shaking her head in amusement. "You wouldn't believe me, anyway."
A new, more romantic dance began to play and many children went in the school in pairs, including Jack and Alice. Shendu did not even notice it; he was too intrigued about Julia's unexpected words. He was about to ask something when she spoke first.
"I'm bored," she remarked, stretching her arms and then grabbing his right hand. "Oh, I know! Let's dance!" she said, dragging him to the stairs. Shendu tried to stop her, but she was surprisingly stronger than him. It was probably because of the jewel.
That cursed jewel... he thought, his eyes glowing red in rage.
"Seriously, Vinicius! I want to know why you've been telling everyone I'm your girlfriend! You told me this wasn't a romantic dance and that I'd come just so that you wouldn't be alone!" Jade said angry and they stopped dancing when the rock song was over;
"Well, you see, nowadays it's very common for children my age to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. I didn't want my friends to mock me, so I told them I had a girlfriend called Jade. It's nothing personal, I chose your name at random," Vinicius answered.
"What? And why did it have to be my name?!"
"Ah, it was the first I thought of." A romantic dance began to play and the lights of the room turned from yellow into red. "Now I have to prove that you're my girlfriend," he said, wrapping one of his hands around her waist and holding one of her hands with the other. Jade sighed heavily but decided to dance with him.
"Yeah, I just hope you still remember we're only friends and don't try to kiss me," she muttered.
"Of course I wouldn't do that. Unless we play some games like that one with the apple or-"
"Gosh, you're not even ten years old! How can you do those things?"
Vinicius laughed. "You'd be surprised with things that the boys of my classroom do at times."
"I think I don't want to know..."
Now I understand what Jackie meant when he said that these children are getting more and more precocious, she thought and rolled her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt nauseous again. She had no idea why this has been happening once in a while. At first, she had thought she was just tired, but it was getting worse each time. Perhaps she was ill?
"Ow... Vinicius... Let's stop for a second, okay? I'm not feeling very well..."
"Oh, again? Right... erh..." He looked around and pointed at the chairs next to the wall. "Sit down and rest. I'll bring you some water."
She nodded and he rushed through the dancing crowd. Jade slowly walked towards the chais, but someone grabbed her arm and made her turn around.
"Hello, Jade," a boy greeted with a sarcastic tone and before she could even see his face, he forced her to go back to the crowd and dance with him. "Did you miss me?"
She finally raised her look to see him and did not recognise him at first.
"Uh... Do I know you?"
"What? Are you so happy with your new boyfriend that already forgot me?"
The Chinese girl frowned and gasped when soon realised. His hair colour was different, but she knew that look very well.
"Hsi Wu!"
To be continued...