A/N: Hey everyone! It's been a little while since the last time I updated. I had this chapter sitting around ready to be uploaded for a while and I almost forgot about it. Sorry 'bout that.
Blueflower569: Yeah, this story has been floating around on the site for a while now, but I had never given up hope on it. Nice to hear you were around to read the older version (even if it wasn't that good). And yeah, I did some hard editing and removing chapters for the whole story, so this chapter will be very different from the third chapter I posted about 5 years ago.
Ding-dong!
Esmira's ears perked when she heard her doorbell ring while she was outside in the garden. She took off her gardening gloves and wiped her hands on her pants. "Deliah!" the woman called. She waited for a moment as she picked up a watering can and sprayed the soil of some flowers. Esmira looked up at the door and saw Deliah still hadn't shown up. Deliah didn't even respond. "Deliah!" Esmira waited for a couple of seconds to see if her niece would come to the backyard. Still, no answer.
The wizard cocked an eyebrow at this. "That's weird. Usually when I call she responds straight away," she noted and scratched her head.
Ding-dong! The doorbell rang again.
Esmira's thoughts on Deliah's whereabouts vanished as she went inside the house, set down her sunhat on the kitchen table and briskly made her way to the front door. When she opened it, no one was there. "Please tell me this is not a prank," the black woman frowned and looked around her porch. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "Hello?" Esmira repeated a little louder. The woman scowled. "What kind of people ring other people's houses as a joke?" She mumbled to herself and shook her head. The wizard opened her front door and stepped one foot inside when she felt her foot bump against something. She halted and looked down to see a black box sitting on the floor near the entrance.
"What is this?" the wizard bent down and picked up the box. Oddly enough the pack wasn't packaged or taped up, nor did it have an address on it. Esmira didn't even see her own address, which certainly was an eyebrow-raiser. "How am I supposed to know if this is even mine?" the woman asked herself and looked over the box again.
Suddenly, the package jumped in Esmira's hands as if it were responding to her rhetorical question. "Gyah!" she shrieked and dropped the box in her excitement. The sudden movement made Ezmi's heart jump in her chest and she scurried back on the front porch in alarm. The black package jumped again onto the porch trying to get closer to her.
Esmira froze in her tracks and nervously bit her lip unsure of what to do. On one hand, she was curious about this weird box and now wanted to know what was inside that made it move like that. On the other hand, whatever was inside made the woman want to toss it to the curb and leave it to be someone else's problem. "Ah, I can't do that," she reevaluated her decision and pursed her lips nervously. "If there was some kind of bad thing inside, I could put innocent people in danger."
Esmira took a tentative step towards the box and blinked. She was surprised that this time the black package didn't move. She took another step and still nothing. "This is weird," the wizard stated and gave it a sidelong glance. Since the box didn't look like it was going to move anymore, the woman gathered the courage to get close and pick it up. She inspected the package one more time and scratched her head. "How am I supposed to open this?"
The box then popped itself open. Thick white smoke fell from the insides and drifted to the floor. Esmira waved the smoke away with a hand, revealing a round cut clear diamond gemstone sitting perfectly on a pillow as if it were on display. The sunlight cast onto the clear-colored gemstone giving it a brilliant shine and glare that cast itself everywhere like a 70's disco ball. Esmira lightly gasped and covered her mouth in surprise. "This is beautiful!" she said in awe. This only raised more questions for the wizard as she dragged her finger along the sparkling jewel's surface. "But who gave me a diamond?" Then Esmira's eyes looked closely inside to see a banner under the diamond that was a little hard for the elder to read, so she brought it up to her face. "'Marrakech'," the wizard read.
"Deliah, somebody mailed a diamond to our door!" Esmira called out and turned her body, her eyes still fixed on the box. When she looked up, the woman stopped cold. "What just happened?"
Esmira straightened herself and looked to her surroundings with caution. Her hazel eyes widened in confusion and surprise as she looked down and found herself standing on a sidewalk next to a road. As Esmira lifted up her foot to cross, she stopped and frowned.
"Where are the cars?" she asked and put her foot back down. The wizard put her hands on her hips and looked left and right. "Is these anyone that lives around here? Am I in some deserted city?"
Esmira turned around and saw a winding alley with high walls that cast a shadow in the brick pathway. The wizard stared at the alleyway with a sullen look, then turned back around to face the streets. "This doesn't look anything like San Francisco," Esmira whispered and tapped her chin curiously. She took note of the silence in the area and how it made the setting's emptiness much louder. "This feels eerie," the woman noted aloud and shivered. As badly as the black woman wanted to leave, she also felt captivated by the certain alley, like it was trying to signal her something.
"I don't know what's going on here," Esmira rubbed her shoulder. "First I was safe at home, then I get a diamond in the mail-hey!" the woman stopped herself in the middle of recollecting her events. "Where is that diamond? Wasn't I just holding it?"
Suddenly, a flashy object came into the wizard's peripheral vision to her right. The light was so brilliant that she had to close her eyes and cover them tightly. "Wow, when did the sun get so bright? My eyes... " Esmira trailed off as she opened her fingers a little to see what was up in the sky. When she felt like it was safe to put her hands down, there was what looked like a white star in the sky. It was clear in the daylight and seemed to be emanating a light straight down somewhere. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that star in broad daylight answers my question," she said. "If only my eyes weren't so old and the buildings ahead of me weren't in the way so I could get a better look-see." The diamond's light in the sky began to hurt to look at, so the woman covered her eyes again so they could rest.
Esmira lightly rubbed her eyes for some few seconds to remove the sun's glare from her eyes and opened them. Now, she found herself standing in front of a large stone building with a cemented flight of stairs in front. The building had dark blue windows on the building's walls as well as the entrance doors. Esmira slowly did a 360 to take in everything before her. The weird alleyway was gone and replaced by an intersection and people crossing it. The quiet and emptiness of the previous setting was replaced with the bustling sounds of the city. Here, the woman felt warmer and her chills vanished.
"Hey, I think I recognize here," Esmira tapped her chin with a smirk. "This looks a lot like San Francisco! But I don't think I'm anywhere near my house."
The woman reached in her pants pocket and grabbed her weapon, a decorated drumstick, and took it out. Her face went funny as she felt something else in there. "What is that?" She reached in and pulled out the same diamond from before. Before she could get the chance to question this, Esmira's eyes caught onto the gemstone's reflections in her hand and couldn't help admiring it. The stone seemed so powerful because of how it reflected everything so clearly and so beautifully.
"My necklace... " Esmira said softly and lifted it up to see with her own eyes. It was a small beaded necklace with colored beads all around that she always had around her neck. In the front there were two purples, two yellows, and a single green glowing bead in the middle. The wizard coddled the green bead and understandingly nodded. "Ah, I get it! I'm in a dream! This isn't real."
She then turned back to the building in front of her and narrowed her eyes to read the sign above the main entrance door. "'Museum of Natural History'. Wait a minute... " Esmira raised a suspicious eyebrow. "This dream is much different than the nightmares I've had. Here, there's a pattern, and the diamond is a key piece that may contain some sorts of magic. This all must be an important omen of some sorts."
Esmira walked up the stairs and to the doorknob. Instantly, her surroundings distorted and put her inside the building somewhere. There she stood alone in the middle of a long hallway with artifacts and painting set around her on white pedestals and on the walls. The inside was large, spacey, and grandeur-ish in a way.
"Maybe I need to be somewhere in here?" Esmira questioned as she walked down the hallway. Compared to the noise outside the museum was dead quiet, much like the first place her dream phased her to. "This museum has anoth-"
"Bad day!"
The wizard stopped in her tracks and whipped her head to the right. Her eyes narrowed into suspicious slits and she sprinted over to where the voice came from. She ran past an opening to another hallway that had a dead end and came back. At the end of that hallway, there was a man in a blue sweater and khakis who was being backed into a corner. From where she was standing and the sound of his voice, Esmira knew the man was frightened. Blocking the man's path were two mysterious dark silhouettes that loomed over him as if they were his late-afternoon shadows. As soon as she found herself in the open, she scurried over to the side of the wall and poked her head out to eavesdrop.
"There's no one here except for you, your niece, and us, Chan. We've made sure of that," one figure said. Its' voice was distorted funnily as if someone lowered the original voice's pitch and gave it an intimidating echo.
Esmira moved her head back as if she were caught, then tilted her head around the corner again. No wonder why the museum is so quiet, she thought.
"What do you want? How did you find me?" Chan slightly quivered in his questions.
"It wasn't hard to track you down, Chan," the silhouette darkly laughed. "And I know you know why we are here."
"Then what does my niece have to do with anything?"
"We have Jade here to jog your memory," another dark and unclear figure added. "You tell us what we want to know and we release her safe and sound."
"Why can't you bullies just leave us alone?!" Jade yelled.
"You have come after my family and I enough already!" Chan snapped at the dark figures.
"Perhaps if you had heeded our warnings and stayed out of our way, neither you nor your loved ones would get hurt," another unclear dark figure stated.
"Well, I cannot just stand by and allow you to take the gemstones and harm innocent people!" Chan yelled.
"Is that your way of saying you're going to stop us? Because you don't have that kind of luxury now," the first figure mused as he got closer to Chan.
From where Esmira stood, it was hard to see what was going on. She tiptoed a few steps to the side, where the wizard could see the situation a lot better. The first figure was close to Chan and had the man's back against the wall's corner. The second figure held out an arm that was a black shadowy blade held up to Jade's neck, using the edge to get closer to the girl's jugular.
"Jade!" Jackie gasped and outstretched his hand towards his niece.
"If you don't watch your next words carefully, the floor will be painted with her blood," Figure #1 leaned in the Asian man's ear to say and pointed at Jade. "Now where. Are. The stones?"
Esmira lightly gasped and covered her mouth. She could hear her blood pacing in her body. A thick silence coated in the air and it haunted her. Esmira could feel her breath begin to grow shallow as she awaited for Chan to speak.
"Jackie won't do it! He'll never talk!" Jade shook her head.
"A foolish decision," Figure #1 said.
"Say goodbye child!" Figure #2 said as it slowly raised its' blade in the air.
"Wait!" Esmira cried out with an outstretched hand.
Her eyes flashed open and she shot up in her bed. Her hand was pinched around her earlobe; the reason why she woke up. She tenderly touched the sides of her face and took a grand look around her room. Cracks of moonlight crept in through the blinds of her window and shone on the wizard's bed and parts of her room. Her reflexes caused Esmira to shield her eyes with her arm to adjust to the light. For a second, the light reminded of the same light the jewel gave off in her recent dream. She turned to look at the rest of her bedroom; everything was exactly how she left it when she closed her eyes. She placed a hand on her chest and felt her fluttering heartbeat slowly return to normal. When she felt a sense of calmness come over her soul, Esmira closed her eyes, laid back down, and sighed.
"It was just a dream, Ezmi. It was just a dream."
"You want to do WHAT?!"
"No way!"
"Calm yourselves. Summoning a demon isn't that serious," Yuzhu reassured.
When Kamimura and Yuzhu created their arrangement, she told him she couldn't handle doing all the magic work by herself and would need help from time to time. So, the businessman assigned his workers Jun Shields and Leleiga "Lele" Mauga as Yuzhu's assistants, even if they weren't the best in chi magic.
In the daytime, Yuzhu approached Jun and Lele with a list with written ingredients and told them to retrieve the items for her, but didn't go into specifics. They wondered what their Master Jiang was referring to, but said nothing in that moment and did what they were told, going to multiple herbal shops in Tokyo to gather said ingredients. When Jun and Lele completed this task, they were escorted to the Sunrise Headquarters in the late afternoon and met Yuzhu there in Kamimura's office. It was there and then that Yuzhu revealed her intentions about summoning a demon that the assistants understood what they were getting themselves into. It made it worse that Yuzhu mentioned this assignment like she was talking about tomorrow's weather.
Jun and Lele exchanged worried glances and gave their boss equally perturbed looks. "'Summoning a demon isn't that serious'? Are you serious?!" Jun's eyes widened in his surprise. He was an Asian tall teenager wearing black bomber jacket, a plain white shirt, grey joggers, and dark blue sneakers. His jet black hair was tied up in a semi-messy bun, his usual hairstyle.
"Is this to retrieve those gemstones Kamimura wants? You're more than capable of collecting them yourself," Lele added. She was a short, brown-skinned woman. She had long black wavy hair that came down to the middle of her back. She wore an open green button-down blouse, jeans cut to her knees, and a pair of red sneakers. Lele had dual matching Polynesian tattoos on both of her wrists, her left's was hidden by a leather flower bracelet.
"I need more magical support and a force powerful in combat, if need be," Yuzhu answered.
Jun threw his hands in the air in disbelief. "What about me? I'm powerful in combat."
Lele cocked her head suspiciously at her master's choice of words. ""If need be"? What else are you leaving out?"
"The gemstones Kamimura is interested in are in different locations around the globe. These particular stones contain a powerful magic that could pique anyone's else's interest to collect and maybe even to heckle us," Yuzhu explained. "Having a demon with us will scare the other competitors away."
"And your idea for that is to bring a demon here?" Jun repeated in a higher more concerned pitch and pointed in the office. "What if he's too big? What if he won't listen to us and goes AWOL? There are so many things you're not considering with your bright idea."
"The demon doesn't need to be super large. I just need one who will listen and obey, no questions asked."
"Then we mind control him. The last thing we want or need is a demon turning on us," Lele said.
Jun crossed his arms and tapped his chin in thought. "Well, it would be much better if we convinced this demon to work with us instead of by force. We could make it some kind of deal and in return, it would accompany us to get these magic stones. If we mind-control it and the demon happens to breaks free of that magic hold, we'll be in big trouble."
"Exactly," Yuzhu responded with a wide grin to her helpers. "Are you both on board?"
"Yes Master," Lele nodded with a bow.
Jun barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "S'not like we have much of a choice."
Yuzhu patted the boy's back and stiffly chuckled. "That is good enough. If it makes you feel better, you are both relieved for the day."
The young man shrugged his shoulders, but nevertheless bowed to respect his teacher. "Thanks Master."
Drago kicked his legs up on a nearby rock and put his arms behind his head as a cushion. He breathed soot into the atmosphere through his nostrils and didn't bother opening his eyes to see it elevate and disappear. The son of Shen Du had been laid back in this relaxed state for he-didn't-know-how-long. It was the youthful dragon's downtime, his space. All the demons had their own space when they weren't dealing with each other. Drago observed what the other demons did in their downtime and found that they were the same demons he had known since he was young. Sometimes he would talk to them—well, when they were amenable. Now that the whole family was here, Drago could see why and how the demons hadn't gone absolutely mad yet:
—
Tso Lan was the quietest of the demons. He spent a lot of his time meditating or trying to conjure up a spell powerful enough to help at least one demon escape, let alone all nine. Tso Lan would seldom call a meeting and announce that he needed a test subject for the said spell. The demons would volunteer each other and Tso Lan would use his authority as the eldest to make a random pick. The first time the Moon Demon did this, Drago stepped up to the plate willingly, which surprised his family. When the test run failed, the dragon was fried with immense power and mocked for his naivety by the others. This made the then-angry dragon wonder why the others had such faith and trust in the Moon Demon:
"In his prime, brother Tso was one of the most intelligent demons on the planet. When we were being pursued by the Immortals, he devised some sort of magic loophole to fool the Pan'ku box and was going to use it, but he was involved with the Lady Immortal wench and was banished," Bai Tza bitterly spat out, her lips curling in disgust at the thought of He Xiangu.
"Since then, Tso Lan worked to undo his error by trying to create a spell to release all of us," Xiao Fēng said to Drago. "If his magic nearly worked long ago, I say our brother stands a chance."
Hearing this helped Drago feel a little better about the Moon Demon. However, he learned an important lesson on volunteering himself for any of Uncle Tso Lan's experiments.
—
Po Kong was asleep half the time and snored loudly. It would irritate the others and they had to constantly remind the sorceress to close her mouth. When the Mountain Demon wasn't sleeping, her stomach would occasionally give a loud rumble and she would go on and on about all the kinds of food she used to eat when she had her empire, human and non-human alike. This didn't help Drago because it would get him thinking about the kinds of food he ate on Earth too (not that eating really mattered to him. Demons ate food as a weird form of pleasure rather than need). Other than her annoying constant mentions of her appetite, Drago had always noted that Aunt Po Kong was the "nicest" to him out of his brethren. Well, when he thought she wasn't giving him a hungry-eyed glance every once in a while.
—
Tchang Zu liked perfecting his aim with his thunderbolts by using the floating rocks around as targets. The Thunder Demon had a militaristic mindset. The few times Drago had accompanied his father to visit his uncle's empire way long ago, the young dragon witnessed how Tchang Zu ordered mature and strong human boys from their homes to serve in his army, train, and fight battles to conquer land in his name. Since Tchang Zu had been banished, he had greatly missed his prominent conquering days. This explained why from time to time, the Thunder Demon made Drago, Dai Gui, and Hsi Wu as the youngest ones of the family train until they tired themselves out. The other demons hardly protested; only when it got too loud:
"As the weaker links, you must atone by training harder in order to match the strengths of the rest of us! NOW CONTINUE YOUR TRAINING!" Tchang Zu thundered at Hsi Wu and Drago in the middle of their endurance training.
Hsi Wu and Drago didn't like having Tchang Zu bark orders at them at the top of his lungs and putting them through tough training. Dai Gui didn't mind too much.
—
Bai Tza liked to explore the Netherworld and would be gone for long periods of time. She did this so often that the other demons didn't really notice when Bai Tza would be around or gone:
"Ever since she was a little demon, Bai Tza has a wandering spirit. She could never manage to stay in one place for too long," Po Kong once said. "Back when she ruled Atlantis, she was gone for years at a time ruling her kingdom and doing her own thing."
When Drago did get a chance to observe what the Water Demon did in her off-times, Bai Tza did a lot of self-grooming like cleaning herself, playing with her hair, cleaning her nails, and picking at the algae on her body to eat:
"Please don't tell me you're gonna eat that," Drago's face turned up in revulsion as he watched his aunt stroke a tentacle full of algae with her thumb and open her mouth.
The Water Demon ticked her head at her nephew and chucked a rush of water at him that made the dragon tumble and slide on his back. "Then I will not tell you," she said and chuckled at the drenched sight of Drago.
—
Shen Du—Drago stayed away from him. The last thing the junior demon wanted to see was that traitor, especially after the revelation that his own father temporarily teamed up with Chan's uncle to stop him from ruling the world. After Drago left the first meeting, the demons voted to remove Shen Du's talismans as part of his punishment for leaving without their knowledge. Tso Lan locked the magical objects inside a box and kept them away "until further notice". Then they waited until Shen Du was asleep to try out the powers and enjoyed themselves for a couple of minutes before getting bored. Drago had to admit that a part of him was happy to see his father get the karma that was coming to him, but another part felt... something. He couldn't really place what the emotion was or where it came from. All Drago knew was if he and his father even exchanged looks for too long, that was enough to spark a fight.
—
Xiao Fēng was the second most civil behind Tso Lan of the eight, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy playing a good prank or two. The Wind Demon loved entertainment. Sometimes, he and Hsi Wu would play jokes on the other demons for good laughs. Once, Drago got drenched by a large freezing body of water and thought Bai Tza was the culprit. After some time passed of Drago and Bai Tza arguing, the Wind and Sky Demons were found in the far distance laughing their heads off:
"You getting me cold and wet is not fucking funny! Now dry me off so I can get my fire back!" Drago yelled at his uncles as his soaked body shivered on his rock island.
"Come now, nephew. It was out of harmless fun. There is no need to be hostile," Xiao Fēng said in a half-laugh half-reassuring tone.
"At least you are bathed and your scales are shined clean," Hsi Wu perched himself on a rock to snicker.
Drago tried to prank the Wind Demon back numerous times, but nothing has worked so far. The Wind Demon was just too clever.
—
Dai Gui loved to dig, simple. He also loved smashing things, much like his older brother Tchang Zu, and they would compete together to see who was the strongest demon:
"When Dai Gui was younger, he loved pestering us with his digging," Hsi Wu once complained as he narrowly escaped being crushed after Earth Demon's digging sessions.
"He was extremely bratty and childish whenever Father called us to train," Tchang Zu added. "Those habits more-or-less changed as Brother Dai got older and is stuck in this void with us."
Out of the demons, Drago found Dai Gui to be the most dramatic because there were times where even Tchang Zu had enough and snapped at the Earth Demon:
"Rargh! You cheat!" Dai Gui roared.
"I played fairly this time, brother," Xiao Fēng chuckled, gesturing to the farthest rocks on the rocky field. "See how my rocks flew farther than yours?"
Drago, Hsi Wu, and Po Kong sat on their own floating platforms above watching this game between the Earth and Wind Demons. "My, my," Po Kong jeered.
"What a shame, Dai," Hsi Wu mocked.
"Aren't you supposed to be the Earth Demon?" Drago called. With that, the three demons burst into a loud fit of laughs.
Dai Gui glared up at the laughing and focused his sight on Drago. "I will show you!" he growled as he picked up one of his nearest rocks and chucked it at his nephew.
"Oh shit!" Drago cursed and scrambled off the terrace onto Po Kong's just as the rock slammed into it.
It had just so happened that Tchang Zu was in the area passing by when his peripheral caught the rocks soaring towards him. He quickly turned to blast his lightning at it, breaking it down into dust and rubble just before it could crush him. The Thunder Demon then looked to the playing field below in anger, more so at the culprit Dai Gui. "You dare throws rocks at me, brother?!" he roared.
"No. Apologies, Tchang," Dai Gui mumbled and lowered his head.
"Something amusing?" Tchang Zu glared to the rest of his laughing brethren, who immediately quieted their laughter and muttered quiet apologies to him.
—
Hsi Wu was the definition of a sneaky little devil. He loved to tease Drago on his height and how he was now the family's youngest. It made the Sky Demon feel much better knowing he was less likely to be picked on now that Drago was around. When Hsi Wu wasn't trying to get on Drago's last nerves, he collected things. Whether they were his family's or not didn't matter. If it intrigued him for even a second, the Sky Demon would take it and keep it on his secret rock of stolen things. Once, Hsi Wu distracted Drago in a game he made up long enough to steal his jacket and red sash to taunt him:
"I am Drago, son of the disgraced Shen Du! I have no respect for my elders and I'm always moody!" The Sky Demon playfully flexed his arms while flying in mid-air and laughed.
"I swear I'm gonna kill you, you piece of bat shit!" Drago shouted and breathed a stream of fire at the Sky Demon as he struggled to hold up his pants.
In the distance, Tso Lan was doing his daily meditation on his rock when he got distracted by the growing ruckus of Drago and Hsi Wu's bickering. The Moon Demon was quick to be irritated if any demon interrupted his meditation time. "Return Drago's garments at once, Hsi Wu, or so help me, I will make you my next test subject!" Tso Lan opened an eye to boom from the island he levitated on.
"You are no fun," a startled Hsi Wu pouted and lowered himself so the young fire demon could snatch his garment back.
Drago made sure to watch his back whenever Hsi Wu came around.
—
Of course Drago's observations of his brethren weren't real entertainment, but it was interesting to see how each of the demon's different quirks and attitudes meshed with one another.
"Nephew! Neeephew!"
Drago opened an eye and half-turned his head behind him. When he saw who it was, he scoffed and closed his eye. "What?" he called.
When Hsi Wu spotted Drago, he flew in and perched himself on his nephew's rock. "What are you doing?"
Drago shrugged. "Minding my business."
Hsi Wu sharply tsked and gave the young dragon a pointed scowl. "Mind your tongue, whelp. You are to refer to me as 'Uncle'."
"Tell me why you're bothering me or beat it, Uncle Man-Bat."
Hsi Wu glared at the back of his nephew's head and lowly growled. Shen Du's son really did need a lesson on respect. For a brief moment, the Sky Demon thought about wanting to do something about it, but he composed himself. For now. "Your uncle Tso has requested a family meeting."
Drago scratched his scaly brow, his eyes still closed. "Is this about another spell he wants to test?"
"I am not sure. He says it is urgent."
"Damn it," Drago cursed and rolled his eyes. He sat himself up and took to his feet and wiped the dirt from his clothes. "This is stupid."
"You have nothing better to do, nephew," Hsi Wu retorted. With that, Hsi Wu and Drago went off to join the others for the meeting.
30 minutes to midnight in Tokyo...
The man known as Kamimura was able to finish up his work for the day at seven p.m. On a typical workday, the man would've went home, taken the time to relax from his hard work, then go to sleep. Instead, the businessman was to be escorted by three of his personal bodyguards from his regular office building to the Sunrise HQ in Tokyo, where Yuzhu would be waiting for him. Part of him already felt the fatigue of staying up late to see what Yuzhu was planning, but another part was interested in her "demon summoning" idea. When he first met her through some connections, the man quickly became aware of Jiang's strength and her capabilities as a dark chi wizard, a quality Kamimura wanted in a business partner, so the businessman couldn't complain much here. He was just grateful he found someone he could see eye-to-eye with and help him to achieve his goals.
Kamimura and his bodyguards made their way up to the top story of the building, where the Sunrise HQ was located. They went into the man's office and found the room to be illuminated by a dark light. In the middle of the room was Yuzhu talking to herself and dropping some strange ingredients one by one inside a bubbling cauldron full of an even stranger fluid.
"[What is that?]" one man asked with an eyebrow turned up in his shock.
"[Remain calm]," Kamimura ordered. His face of confidence helped calm his bodyguards some, but not entirely.
Yuzhu stopped briefly to look up and acknowledge the new visitors with a bow. "Ah, Kamimura! I hadn't heard you come in."
"I did not mean to scare you," the man and his guards bowed in return. From the dark wizard's focused and content expression, everything seemed to be going accordingly, so the businessman didn't feel the need to worry. "[Nikki, guard the outside door. Kota and Tsuyoshi, remain with me.]"
"[Yes boss!]" the guards announced and assumed their positions.
Kamimura moved closer to where Yuzhu was standing to get a better look at the bubbling cauldron. "How long have you been working at this?" the man asked and looked down at the wizard.
Yuzhu glanced up to look at the time for a quick moment, then turned her head back down to the cauldron. "I honestly don't remember."
"Do making these spells take a long time?"
"To make a good spell, a wizard shouldn't rush. Otherwise, the spell would be a half-assed disaster."
"Could you then explain to me how this will work?"
Yuzhu grabbed a vial of a yellow powder from the office table, opened it, and poured the contents inside the pot. "I want to say releasing a demon is like creating a door for a house, but it's more complicated because the spell requires precision. When this potion is finished, I will paint it over that mirror over there to create an opening," Yuzhu pointed with her free hand to a large oval-shaped mirror to the left side of the room.
Kamimura turned his head hearing this and did a double-take at the mirror. "Was that here before I got here?"
"Once the mirror is completely painted, the spell will then use the glass to go to a destination I choose and find a strong energy source to create an opening from that side," Yuzhu continued to talk, ignoring the Japanese man's frivolous question. "The source will find a demon suitable enough to fit through and suck the devil into our world."
The businessman cupped his chin as he was following the dark wizard's words. "Meaning it will come from a dimension of other sealed demons, yes?"
"I cannot control where this demon will come from, but yes."
Kamimura hummed and nodded his head. "If I am not mistaken, the largest dimension in magically-recorded history is the Netherworld, an abyss created by the wizards of old to seal away the demons that terrorized their lands," he said carefully. His gaze turned to the window and looked out to see how alive Tokyo was at night. "The legends from Ancient Japan say Po Kong of the Eight Demon Sorcerers once ruled this land and was banished by Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals of Chinese legend."
"Your knowledge of history is impressive," Yuzhu complimented and saluted a nod to her partner. She grabbed a small bottle of white powder and poured it inside the potion. The liquid began to spark and fizz. The potion was a dark bluish color and transitioned into a lighter blue, making the wizard hum and curiously stroke her chin in thought.
Kamimura noticed the change in his partner's expression and arched a curious brow. "Something wrong?"
"Seems like I didn't add enough powdered bull horn," Yuzhu mentioned in a low tone.
"You could use substitutes," came Kamimura's suggestion.
Yuzhu steadily drummed her fingers against the desk as she contemplated for a moment. "I'm not too keen on using substitutes in spells, for the risk of the spell being ineffective can be high. But there isn't much of a choice, is there?" the wizard rhetorically asked. Her eyes darted around the room from the cauldron to Kamimura, then to his two guards, who were silently standing by. Then Yuzhu looked back to the businessman. "You wouldn't happen to have some salt around, would you?"
"Salt? I should have one in a drawer somewhere," the businessman briskly walked over to his desk to pull out a drawer and rummaged through it. In the back of the drawer was a small white pack of salt. He then closed the drawer and handed it to the dark wizard. "This is iodized salt, if it makes any difference."
"It'll be just fine," Yuzhu said and ripped the packet in half to dump the salt contents inside the kettle. This incited a bright reaction that lit up the room in a dark blue energy. She darkly chuckled and slightly pushed her sleeves up her arm. "Now things are getting interesting."
When Hsi Wu and Drago have arrived with the other awaiting family members, they had arranged themselves in a circle with two empty floating rocks reserved for the Sky Demon and the son of Shen Du.
"Our dearest nephew Drago has arrived," Hsi Wu announced and gestured to his nephew as Drago made a grand jump onto a large terrace.
"Somethin' about Uncle Tso calling a meeting?" Drago grunted.
"I assume this meeting is to give me my talismans back?" Shen Du spoke up with a hopeful look to his siblings. Tchang Zu outstretched both hands forward at his dragon brother igniting the lightning in hand to strike Shen Du. "AAAAAGGHH!" the senior Fire Demon screamed out in agony.
"Does that answer your question?" the Thunder Demon asked with a cruel smirk.
"Has Brother Tso discovered some food? A delicacy would sound nice about now," Po Kong said and rubbed her belly.
"Ugh, you are always hungry," Dai Gui complained.
"Use your head and not your stomach to think of something other than your gluttony!" Tchang Zu demanded and pointed at the Mountain Demon's belly.
Po Kong frowned at her brothers and moaned. "But I cannot help it! I have starved in this pit for too long. A fine demon like myself needs to have a fitting meal sometime."
"We all have hungered in this wasteland sister," Shen Du spoke up. This earned him a forceful blast of water at his chest which knocked him off his feet and onto his back. "Sister!" he cried in surprise at Bai Tza.
"Correction Shen Du. WE have hungered here in this hell while you were out enjoying yourself," the Water Demon obnoxiously hissed.
"Are the lot of you done with your squabbling?" Tso Lan raised his voice to sternly ask. The others demons quieted down and turned their attention to the eldest demon to mutter their small apologies. Then Tso Lan pulled out a rolled-up scroll from the inside of his robes with his primary set of arms. When he unraveled it to show to his younger siblings, the ancient writing on the inside began to glow a bright blue and emanated a low whooshing noise.
"What is that?" Bai Tza asked.
"I was expecting the rest of you to tell me. I was deep in my meditation a while ago when I felt this, this energy hit my being. When I reached inside my garments, I had found the writing one of my scrolls had begun to radiate dark magic," Tso Lan explained. "I have tried to find the meaning of this, but I am not even sure where to start."
"Do not blame me, Brother Tso! I would never dream of touching your things!" Hsi Wu hurried to clear his own name.
"I am not sure if Brother Hsi's claim is true, given his previous actions. However, I do not take other's things," Xiao Fēng followed.
"Neither would I," Shen Du said.
"Give it to me! I want to see!" Tchang Zu boomed.
"Let me see the scroll, brother," Bai Tza also requested. The Moon Demon used his gravity power to float the beaming scroll to his right over in the Water Demon's claws.
To Tso Lan's left, the Thunder Demon stomped his foot on his platform and growled. "I am older than her and I asked first! You should have passed it to me!"
"You did not ask politely," Tso Lan wagged his finger at Tchang Zu.
"Hmm," Bai Tza stared up and down at the glowing scroll. She skimmed her claw along the writings and murmured softly. "I recognize this scroll. This was one of the earlier scrolls you made after our initial banishment by the Immortals."
"May I take a look?" Xiao Fēng asked. Bai Tza overlooked the writing one last time before handing it to the Wind Demon for him to read. Suddenly, Xiao Fēng chuckled a bit and grinned. "Ah yes, I remember this one now, the eight-in-one portal attempt. When this one failed, it rendered Brother Dai mute for some time."
The Earth Demon gnarled and glared at his brother of wind. "Do not laugh! That was not amusing!"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say that scroll probably wasn't a dud after all," Drago apathetically added. "Maybe some magic is working it back up."
"And whose magic would that be?" Tso Lan inquired.
The junior dragon shrugged. "I didn't say I knew whose."
"Well, it certainly cannot be any of us. We are just as surprised as Tso Lan. Perhaps the dark magic stems from another demon here," Xiao Fēng suggested.
"This magical irregularity sounds like an opportunity," Shen Du delightfully hissed and faced Tso Lan. "The scroll was made from demon magic. All you must to do, brother, is use your magic to join to the scroll so it can be strong enough to channel an opening for one of us to go the human side."
"Ah-ah! Not so fast!" Hsi Wu butted in and wagged his claw at the Fire Demon. "I know you too well, Shen Du. Your plan is for Tso Lan to use this plan of yours and when it works, you volunteer yourself to leave whilst the rest of us rot here!"
"Hsi Wu is right, it should be someone else's turn. You have been given one too many chances and they all have brought us nothing but humiliation and ruin!" the Mountain Demon frowned.
"Like the Book of Ages," Bai Tza declared. "You were foolish to consider disrupting the time-space continuum to free us!"
"And we were just as foolish to trust him," Tchang Zu added.
"Wait, the Book of Ages fiasco was an actual thing?" Drago asked and first looked at Shen Du, then to Bai Tza.
"Yes!" the seven other demons replied unhappily in unison.
Drago's eyes widened and he blinked a couple of times in surprise and disbelief. Growing up on the human side, Drago had heard many stories and tales about his father and the things he did; some came from humans and others came from other demons, some from his own family. When he was told about what happened with the Book of Ages disaster, Drago refused to believe his father would do anything that crazy or stupid. "I thought you guys were just yanking my tail," the junior demon replied with a dumbstruck face.
"I wish we were, nephew," Tso Lan dryly replied.
"But it worked!" Shen Du rebutted. "We were free and we all had our domains back!"
"And yet each of us was banished back here! BECAUSE OF THAT DAMNED JACKIE CHAN!" bellowed an angry Dai Gui. In his anger, the Earth Demon smashed a rock that levitated in his way. The rubble flew everywhere onto his brethren and their surroundings and aggravated everyone.
Two pieces of rubble moved into Hsi Wu's way and he quickly maneuvered his way out with his wings and landed on his sister Po Kong's left shoulder. "Dai Gui, you must learn to keep your outbursts to yourself! We already have one demon's thunderous behavior to deal with."
Tso Lan used his powers to move the debris of rock from his face and placed it behind himself and turned to face the Earth Demon. "Tchang Zu is a poor influence on you, little brother."
"They do spend a lot of time together," Bai Tza quipped.
"And what is wrong with Dai Gui becoming more like me? You'd rather him become weak like Drago and Hsi Wu? A traitor like Shen Du? Or possibly even a fat glutton like Po Kong?" Tchang Zu argued and pointed to each of the demons he referred to.
"I am big, not fat!" Po Kong defended herself with a defiant shout and put her hands on her sides.
"I may have been caught up on Earth, but that does not deem me a traitor!" insisted Shen Du.
"Uncle Tchang should get his head outta his ass 'cause I'm not weak!" Drago joined in to yell and pointed a thumb at his chest.
Hsi Wu sneered at his Thunder Demon's comment and gave him a funny look. "You were defeated by the Royal Immortal Cao Guojiu, an old man with castanets, but I am the weak one."
The snarky comments from Drago and Hsi Wu earned the two large lighting bolts that flew in-between their rock platforms. The bolts were large but quick and narrowly passed their bodies. Both Drago and Hsi Wu cried out and did their best to dodge and/or duck out the way. When the coast was clear, both demons glared up at Tchang Zu.
"Sounds like the two of you struck a nerve," the Wind Demon snickered at their misfortune.
"Be fortunate I missed," the Thunder Demon snarled at Drago and Hsi Wu as Shen Du tossed him the scroll. He opened the paper up and peered inside at the writing with a fixed expression. "How exactly did this spell work?"
"I had written the spell out in magic ink and set it to dry for some time. When I brought it here, I held up the parchment in the middle of our circle and we all used our chi to hit the written surface. Our powers combined would force an opening that would lead to the other side and grow to be big enough for the eight of us to come through," the Moon Demon explained. He let out a monotone sigh at his failure. "My assumption for why it did not work was that the spell was too small to fit all of us and our powers did not combine at the exact same time."
Drago intently listened to his uncle and stared into space to reflect on his explanation. He was sitting down on his platform where the right leg was kicked up for the junior dragon to lean on and the left laid parallel to it. "That kinda sounds like what I did when I had all the demon powers."
Tchang Zu gave the rolled-up parchment to Tso Lan, who handed it to Hsi Wu to look at. "Is that so? Enlighten me," the Demon of the Moon goaded.
"After I had absorbed everyone's chi, I became this mega badass and was close to beating the Chans and their friends! Then, I chanted some super old spell I learned and clapped my hands together as hard as I could. The force of the clap created this huge rip in the Earth that opened up into the Demon Netherworld."
All the demons except for Shen Du grandly gasped and their faces were stunned by their nephew's words. "You mean you tore a hole into here from Earth?" Hsi Wu asked and took his eyes off the scroll for a brief moment.
"How come we did not see this?" Po Kong sounded.
"Oh yeah. All sorts of lesser demons and spirits were coming out. My plan was to make the tear big enough so you all could come out, but one: it wasn't big enough, two: the Chans kept getting in my way, and three: Father's interference made it way worse and ultimately stopped me," Drago pointed a claw at his father and sneered, still salty about his father's back-stab.
"Do not think to blame-" Shen Du edged closer to his nephew but stopped cold when he saw the angry faces of his brothers and sisters.
"Your traitorous behavior has cost us yet AGAIN, Shen Du!" Tchang Zu dangerously rumbled and shook his fist at him.
"That totals to more time from getting back your precious talismans," Po Kong commanded.
"More time?" the Fire Demon repeated in shock. "You did not even attempt to hear my-"
"We tire of listening to your same old excuses Shen Du," Xiao Fēng grunted.
"I did recall there being a brief change in the atmosphere right before Drago and Shen Du arrived, but it went away," Hsi Wu admitted. "If what Drago says is true, then Brother Tso can use this scroll spell as a model to make another bigger spell."
"My sentiments exactly," the Moon Demon agreed.
Hsi Wu tossed the glowing script to his right to Drago. As soon as the son of Shen Du opened up the scroll, the dark magic all of a sudden flared in the Drago's claws and made a sharp exploding noise. The magic turned into a brighter blue whose light flashed and almost blinded the other Demon Sorcerer's as they were forced to cover their eyes.
"What happened?" Shen Du demanded. Drago attempted to answer and was quelled by the scroll jolting from his hands. It levitated in the air away from Drago until it got in the middle of the demon brethren's circle. Then, the scroll emitted dark chi energy that slightly jostled the demon's rocks.
Xiao Fēng nearly was knocked off and used his claws to press into the ground to give him a strong grip. He curiously looked to the magic source and turned to his older brother. "Brother Tso, your magic seems to have a mind of its own!"
"This spell is not my doing!" Tso Lan shook his head. He held out a glowing purple hand at the magic parchment, but it hardly budged. "And it is not responding to my magic!"
The scroll unraveled itself to show the ancient written words the Moon Demon wrote on the page, then broke apart from one another to become simple characters. It was as if the characters had come alive. They joined together and suddenly twisted around until it formed a dark blue circular opening in the middle of the rolled sheet. Drago, who was knocked on his back by the wave of energy, coughed and pumped his chest in a daze. He cracked his red eyes open to look up at the scroll and narrowed his eyes at it. The mystic gateway turned to Drago's direction and quickly unleashed a strong current directing inside of itself. Drago was again caught off-guard by the magic's swiftness trying to suck him in.
"What the—HEY!" he screamed. He sunk his claws into the rock to give him a good hold, but the dark magic was stronger.
Shen Du could feel himself grow in panic as he witnessed his son struggle against the magic spiral. He pointed a finger at the Wind Demon and directed, "Xiao Fēng, use your wind to grab Drago quick before-"
The vortex extended from where it was and advanced towards the junior dragon and swallowed him up. "AARRRGGH!" Drago screamed as he was hauled inside the portal. The portal then collapsed on itself and it turned itself back into its original rolled-up scroll form.
The eight demons stared at the parchment in utter shock. The ten seconds of Drago getting sucked up by the magic scroll felt like ten minutes for the others.
"... Drago?" the Fire Demon was the first to break the silence. His red eyes stared at the scroll in complete bewilderment.
Hsi Wu glided from his rock to where the scroll was in the middle of their meeting circle and peered carefully at the magic. He gently clasped it and opened it up. The words were no longer glowing and the rolled sheet wasn't acting on its own anymore. "He-He's gone. Just like that," the Sky Demon stammered and looked to his brethren as if he were hoping for them to explain what just happened to their nephew.
The Moon Demon drew his hand for Hsi Wu to hand him his scroll back. "Give it to me. Perhaps I can-"
Hsi Wu took off to give the magic item back to Tso Lan when it burst into flames into his claws. "Gah!" he cried. The fire spasmed his hand to release the rolled-up paper, then it burst into blue flames and quickly turned into ashes.
"What happened?! Where is my son?!" Shen Du yelled at Tso Lan.
"Do not place the blame on me, Shen Du! I am just as baffled as everyone else!" Tso Lan snapped back, the monotone in his voice beginning to waver in frustration.
"But this was done by your magic!" Bai Tza countered and she gestured to the floating ash. "The scroll moved on its own and swallowed our nephew up whole!"
"AND NOW DRAGO HAS BEEN REDUCED TO ASHES BECAUSE OF YOU!" the Fire Demon scathingly shouted and breathed a stream of fire at Tso Lan. The Moon Demon used his power to pick up a rock and shoved it in Shen Du's face to block the incoming fire.
"You dare attack ME, Shen Du?!" Tso Lan threatened.
"Tso Lan! Shen Du! Stop this madness!" the Wind Demon scolded both demons.
"Stop with this talk of Drago being dead! That runt has too much nerve to die!" Tchang Zu yelled at Moon and Fire Demons in his defense and flashed his lightning in the space between the siblings to calm them down. The last word of his sentence haltered some; even Tchang Zu wasn't sure if what he was saying was correct.
"Brother Tso said the spell had intended to be a portal that would form when the eight of us combined our powers at the same moment," Po Kong deduced aloud. "Maybe the scroll did not reduce Drago to ash. Maybe it transported him somewhere else."
"But we did not use our powers to create the opening," Dai Gui countered. "The scroll had acted on its own as if it were alive."
"True, but Drago had done something similar when he had all of our chi. Perhaps the spell recognized this. Brother Tso did mention that the scroll did not work for any of us because of its size. Drago must have been the only one small enough to fit," Po Kong replied.
As his younger siblings talked amongst each other, Tso Lan kept to himself so he could think. After some time, the Moon Demon extended his hand to the floating ash and used his power to gather it over to him. He pulled out a bottle from his garments, put the ashes inside, and sealed it. His actions gained everyone's attention and caused them to stop talking and turn to him.
"What are you going to do with that?" Tchang Zu pointed to the container.
"My spell malfunctioned. As the one who created it, it is my responsibility to find out why," Tso Lan responded.
"But is Drago alive?" Shen Du pressingly asked.
"I cannot answer that question until I-"
"Is. He. Alive?"
The Moon Demon remained silent. He didn't expect his brother to be so defensive of his son. Ever since Drago and Shen Du had arrived into the Netherworld, the most they did was ignore each other, argue, or gripe about the other behind their backs. But naturally, the Moon Demon could not truly blame Shen Du. "I will do my best to investigate what went wrong. I will keep you all up to date," he said and placed the small vial of ashes in his sleeve. With that, he turned from the group and floated away.
"But Brother! You did not answer his question!" Hsi Wu called out.
Tso Lan paused but didn't face his family. "I believe Drago may be alive... but I am not certain if he is in the Netherworld anymore. With the scroll's ashes, I will find some sort of leads to his whereabouts."
The dark magic had illuminated the dark room, a small side effect of salt being a substitute ingredient. Still, it worked enough for Yuzhu to place the cauldron's contents onto the mirror for the magic to work into a swirling clockwise portal that was moving fast to a point where it appeared almost hypnotizing.
Kamimura couldn't help marveling at the demonstrated magic with a slack jaw. He hadn't seen anything like this his entire life! The same could be said for Tsuyoshi and Kota, who instead had more terrified looks on their faces. The men were standing a good distance from the glass, totally at a loss for words on what to say or do.
Yuzhu was standing inches away from the glass to focus on its emitting magic. Her hands moved in small circles in a clockwise motion to match the potion's speed. Her eyes were closed and she was mumbling words that couldn't be heard. Then, Yuzhu's eyes flashed open and she turned her head to her partner. "I sense something!" she yelled.
Kamimura carefully moved closer to Yuzhu to peer closer at the mirror. "What can you sense?" he asked in admiration. The man felt drawn to the glass that he walked past the dark wizard to reach out to it.
Yuzhu quickly snatched her partner by the back of his suit and shoved him away. "Don't touch! You may fall in!" she sharply warned with a shake of her head. "Stay behind me! This demon's coming in fast!"
The Japanese man opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by the portal flashing once, then twice. It emitted a strange magical booming sound that resonated in the room, making everyone in the room step back in caution. Suddenly, a strong wind came rushing in from the mirror. Yuzhu was able to step to the right of the mirror to dodge the heavy gust in time. Kamimura and his guards didn't and were blown with their backs to the wall with heavy smack!'s and pinned them there. Even in the pain, Kamimura fought to keep his eyes open to continue watching the action unfold.
Yuzhu pointed to the mirror with a grin. "The spell is coming through!" she yelled over the noise of the sharp wind. On cue, a dark figure emerged from the mirror portal and plopped on floor with a dull thud. The portal then disappeared with a final flash. The mirror shattered into small pieces and fell to the floor.
Once the wind was gone and all calamity had disappeared, Kamimura and his men dropped to the floor from the wall. The businessman sat up with a sharp gasp, followed by his shallow breathing. There was a sore pain that hit the middle of his back that he could afford to ignore for now. "[Are you both alright?]" Kamimura turned to both his guards to ask.
Kota did his best to visibly swallow his state of shock and pointed ahead of him. "[There, boss, on the floor... ]" he wheezed.
The businessman turned his head in that direction to see a dark figure lying on the floor. He sharply gasped and his hand instinctively clutched his chest. Kamimura eyed the strange body as he steadily took to his feet. "Is that... ?"
Yuzhu slowly tip-toed to where the demon was laid face-first on the floor. She pulled a small handheld flashlight from her pocket and turned it on to scan the demon's back and tail. She used her foot to push the being on its back to get a better look. "It's a demon alright," the dark wizard plainly stated and placed two fingers on it's scaly neck. "It's alive, but out cold."
Kamimura readjusted his messy hair and dusted himself and his slightly wrinkled suit off. "Well, it certainly doesn't look human," the Japanese businessman cynically retorted and looked at the creature. He was tempted to come closer to get a solid look at the demon, but his feet felt glued to his spot.
Yuzhu grazed the scales on the creature's arms, claws, the sides of its face, and its tail. "From the physiology, the demon appears to be a sort of reptilian demon, I'd say dragon." She moved her light down to the flame insignia on the demon's shirt. "Perhaps one with a fire ability." Yuzhu moved the light to the demon's closed eyes and opened an eyelid with her thumb and middle finger. She flashed her light across it a few times, then let it close. "It also has red irises and white scleras, like a human's eyes."
Kamimura finally mustered enough courage to walk up to the unconscious demon and bent on a knee to hold it by its horned chin as Yuzhu gave him some light. He used his other hand to open the demon's mouth and saw the sharp teeth. It was a chilling sight for Kamimura to witness this with his own eyes, but marvelous to get the chance to nonetheless. "Would that make it half-demon?" the businessman asked as he cautiously tapped at the sharp edge of the canine.
"I can not yet confirm anything until it wakes up," Yuzhu put forward.
"And how long will that be?" Kamimura looked up to ask his partner.
"The portal w-"
The demon softly grunted in its unconsciousness and his tail slightly drifted to the side. The small movement caught everyone's attention as they gasped and jumped back. Their eyes were wide in terror watching and waiting on what would happen next. Upon hearing the demon's resting exhale, everyone let out a collective relieved sigh.
"The portal was strong to make an opening, but not strong enough to injure it. Give it time, it will wake eventually," Yuzhu detailed in a lower tone and took to her feet. "We will need to provide it a room to rest. Then I must get started on a mind-control spell."
"[Kota, Tsuyoshi, help Yuzhu-san escort the demon to a proper room]," Kamimura instructed and signaled from the demon to the door of the office.
"[Yes boss!]" both men bowed and moved to pick the creature up.
A/N: [Japanese]
And that's chapter 3! I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out, especially the demon's family meeting bit. That whole part wasn't even planned! I just started writing and couldn't help myself to stop. I was tempted to add it in to expand a bit on the demons since the show didn't.
Writing this chapter was surprisingly easy despite the fact that the old chapter was written completely different. Section 13 was in the process of being rebuilt and neither Drago nor his demon brethren were written in. There are more changes I made, but that's waaay too much to talk about. For short, I scrapped them because of better ideas. But if anyone is interested in could-have-beens, let me know!
One more thing! (insert Uncle voice) This will be the last chapter I post for my summer. As of the 19th, I'm back in school, meaning that my updates won't be as fast as I would like them to be. That being said, please be patient and bare with me if you don't hear or see any updates in a while. I'm trying my best to juggle school and home.
Til next time!