Chapter Two
A low, ominous chuckle came from the scaled creature as it pulled itself completely out of the hole and up onto solid ground. Soon after it emerged— tail and all— the ground started to rumble more violently again as the lights brightened, then dimmed, and disappeared completely as the hole closed up; leaving only a strange looking crack in the ground as evidence it was ever there. The green scaled, dragon-like creature glanced back as his exit and freedom ride from down below closed up, signaling that he was truly, finally free and up in the human world again. A wide, scary grin cracked across his face as he closed his no longer glowing eyes and took in a long whiff of air. It came out as a loud sigh, and he cast his gaze around as he finally spoke.
"Oh does it feel good to be back~" he stated as he looked up and toward the rest of the city. "Being cramped up down there with everyone else was not my idea for a permanent place of residence." The male creature turned his attention to the area back around him—the junkyard, and a rather displeased, annoyed growl slipped out. "I can't believe I came back out in this dump of all places..." He looked around, his eyes narrowing as he jumped up onto a pile to get better coverage of the whole area. Everything is far more cluttered, there is more simple junk in here than just cars now like back when he was here with Ice and the rest of the crew...How many years has it been since he was up here and actually saw this place? A snort escaped him and he shook his head, looking all around at where he was unpleasantly going to have to live again for a while. "This place really is just a whole heaping crap chute now. Once I get my feet rooted down again I am definitely moving out of here..."
The dragon creature stayed atop his podium of junk to continue surveying everything around him. So far everything looked pretty much the same; buildings were a bit bigger, taller and fancier from what he saw already in the heart of the city, and he is guessing the more rural areas aren't so rural anymore unless they haven't been touched by booming human agriculture. Sure things are different, but most of it is little changes that don't actually do much. At least in his mind.
Ironically enough he has changed as well— for one he is not a giant hulking monster of a demon dragon anymore. All the Chi was slowly and rather painfully removed by his father after a time of constant quarreling between the two. True Shendu had told Uncle that it was not possible to remove all eight Chi once they were together in one place...But it is not very far-fetched to imagine that the large dragon had simply lied. Now Drago has been reduced to his mainly normal, former self from when he had first appeared...Though even that look now is a bit different.
Compared to then, he is a bit bigger and taller than he once was, but most of that extra mass is the fact that he has grown a bit more muscle on his already muscular, draconic body and bones...And, he has his fire power back with him as well. Getting it was a bit of a pain considering the circumstances, but it was worth it. He is a dragon, so of course he deserves his fire. On top of all of that he has a few rather dull but thick spines that have started to grow on his back; the line starts at the bottom of his neck and rides down his back all the way down his tail to the tip, where they get smaller in size before disappearing.
As the young dragon looked around it occurred to him that despite him not knowing the exact number...It has in fact been quite a few years since he was here; constantly at war against the Chans and Section 13 for the Immortal Relics that held the Demon Chi he so badly wanted back then. If it were possible, he would still be after them now to achieve that all powerful form from before, but he knows they are gone. He saw the Chi disappear once it was ripped free of his body, and despite his best efforts down there he could not locate any of them except his fire power, which more or less gravitated back toward him on its own. Thinking of those times brought a sudden, violent surge of anger up through his chest, and he could feel his inner fire burning. It rose up through his throat to his mouth, but he breathed in again, dismissing it with a sigh; sparks of fire as well as small plumes of smoke shot out, wafting from his nostrils, and a deep rumbling growl escaped him as he glared off into the city around him that was lit up with the normal bustle of nighttime. His personal little vendetta against Jackie and that annoying little brat came raging back into his conscience, but instead of allowing himself to burn up this junkyard to settle his anger, he simply lifted his head and puffed up his chest, another horrible grin spreading wide across his scaly face.
"It may have been years, and you all may have forgotten me...But if that's the case, I will make you all remember." His tail violently slashed from left to right, breaking and bending unlucky pieces of hard metal and scrap that was loose under him or behind him. "I can promise that I am not done with you, Chan. I'm not done with ANY of you!" His grin was wide and dangerous, fueled by many things: Hate, anger and annoyance. Happiness and triumph of his future fantasy showcasing their utter defeat...The pure joy-the grand amusement he will have while he torments them-tears them and this entire city apart. His excitement and rage died down a bit as he calmed himself enough to think, his eyes narrowing but his huge twisted grin still remaining. "I don't even care about my father at this point— he is not the one that drove me crazy when I was gathering all that Chi!" A snarl erupted from his throat and he violently shook his head and balled up his fists. True all that time in the underworld with his father definitely helped fuel his rather harsh anger problem, but his personal vendetta against the Chans was still locked away in his mind. The rage was coming back now, but he was holding it in. There is a time and place for that, and it is not right now. "I won't repeat mistakes this time...And I sure as hell won't just give myself up to you. Nah, I'm done being that forward."
His grin sharpened as he jumped to another taller pile, and his gaze was focused on the lively city. He sat down finally and simply stared off into the lights and sounds in the distance, the end of his tail fidgeting while he thought— and voiced those thoughts. He snorted out some smoke again and chuckled, his eyes narrowing a little bit as well.
"I need to be prepared— on steadier ground before I go after them...Power will help with that too, but honestly...I don't care how I get that. I'm already stronger than they know. Heheh, a few years stuck with my old man and the rest of those demons will do that to ya." He paused briefly to sigh and close his eyes, but he was still grinning. "Yeah...I'll just keep out of your radar for a little while and have some fun. I didn't get to do that much last time..."
The dragon stood back up, dusting himself off and staring at the city after he spoke, an odd smile replacing his grin. There was still an ominous air surrounding him as he smiled however, his tail starting to lightly sway back and forth as he allowed himself to simply relax for now. He breathed in, thinking for a moment, and then sighed outwardly, cracking his neck before relaxing his shoulders.
"I'll just toy with you idiots and stay right under your noses so you can't find me...Maybe grab some old friends, too..." He paused, breathing out as he smiled out at the city he was soon going to turn to ruins. "One way or another, I'll make sure that everyone knows Drago is back."
The upcoming morning greeted the J-Team with rather dark, cloudy skies instead of bright morning sunshine. Tohru and Uncle especially found the unexpected weather to be surprising and worrying, and though Jackie was also a bit confused about it he had other things to worry about, such as a call he had gotten from Captain Black from Section 13. Jade did not care much of course, she was more focused on the call Jackie got than anything else. Of course Jackie did not let her go with him, as she had school today, and after sending her off and saying a brief goodbye to the other two he quickly made his way over to the building where Black was waiting.
"There was a sudden amount of seismic activity last night around the south area of the city. Thankfully it was mainly focused around old buildings and the old junkyard so nothing was damaged and there were no injuries," Captain Black spoke as he briefed Jackie on the matter. He peered at the picture graphs and radar that was detected as Black kept talking, though there were no actual photographs of the area. "But it still wound up in our attentions because of how unordinary the whole thing was."
"As I've heard it was centered in one place and barely lasted even a minute, so I can see why. But are you sure this is really worth your attention? It could likely just be a small earthquake from tectonic plates shifting," Jackie questioned, his hands on his hips as he leaned slightly forward to eye the graphs more thoroughly.
"Well even if it was an abnormally short earthquake, tell me Jackie: Do lights seemingly shining up from the ground somewhere also accompany earthquakes?"
"...Not really."
Captain Black nodded his head and turned back toward the graphs. "Exactly. It may very well be a false alarm, but in any case, we are keeping an extra eye on things. What your Uncle came up with does not exactly help us with our suspicions either." The man placed a hand on Jackie's shoulder as he looked to him. "We don't want our suspicions to be true Jackie— no one does. I am honestly hoping this is just a false alarm, or some odd tectonic anomaly, but there is no reason not to be at least a little cautious. I do agree with Uncle in saying that it is better to be prepared, just in case."
Jackie nodded his head, and Black nodded back. This may be coincidence, but Jackie does know better. Hopefully nothing else happens so he can be right and everyone can stop worrying.
"Of course. If that is all I'll be heading back now— I have a few other things to do and I'll have to pick up Jade from school in a few hours," Jackie said as Black switched to a different graph. "If anything else happens to raise your suspicions call us and I will bring Uncle and Tohru over with me."
"Will do," Captain replied, then slightly waved his hand. "I won't hold you here any longer. I will contact you if anything does come up. Have a good day." Jackie waved back at Black as he left to head back to Uncle's Shop, and Black kept up with his investigations.
A few hours pass without much issue for the J-Team. Jackie at least didn't get a call from the school today—that was considered a bonus. With age Jade has changed slightly with her self-control habits, but calls from the school are still a bit too often if he has anything to say about it. By now Jade has already been picked up again from school but is out with her friends; hopefully she is not causing too much trouble.
Uncle himself is simply in his Antique Shop running things, though he is often found off to the side researching now with Tohru. The full moon and star alignments have definitely gotten the old man on edge, though he does not like to say that. In his words he is simply "staying prepared" for whatever could, and apparently will happen.
Things may have passed calmly for the Chans, but for Drago the day has been a bit more...Active. Even now as the sky starts to darken and most people return home from their day jobs, the young dragon is out and about with his own little agenda.
He has been silently sneaking about through the city to scope things out and see just what has changed, and what hasn't. He has also noted specific spots he would like to visit...Though most of those places are active traffic spots where people almost constantly go in and out of. Those to note are the nearby Zoo, a Mall or two, what seemed like an Arcade place, and some rather high-traffic stores. Most of these "prize" spots are either his way of knowing where to get chow, or where he knows he will get some fine entertainment...At the expense of the humans.
Now that it was darker Drago has a better time sneaking along without much fear of getting spotted...Not that he is actually afraid. The police and their little puny pea-shooters don't scare him even slightly. He just doesn't want to be bothered by anyone right now—avoiding the extra "baggage" of pursuers is smarter for now, at least until he has his henchmen back...That is one thing he is also looking for. He knows who he wants, but he just has to find them first. He also does recognize that it has been a few years so they are bound to be older, but considering that The Inforcers were all pretty much old men in his eyes, he expects the guys he wants to still be perfectly capable...Though he will be setting some definite ground rules for them when they meet again...
"I do admit that despite everything, you were the best henchmen I could get...But I am still sticking to my cause...You three won't have any room to cross me this time..." The dragon flicked his tail and smiled ominously at the image of three rather young boys he conjured in a bit of fire; all three rode on skateboards.
He dismissed the fire and allowed it to dissipate as he looked around from the alleyway he was hiding himself in for the moment. Though he was still not worried about people seeing him too much, he was at least pleased to see that tonight there weren't that many cars or people actually walking around. There were a few, but he knew he could get by them with no problem. He breathed in and smiled when he caught the scent of some fresh food nearby— probably one of the little shops, or those weird travelling food carts he's seen sometimes.
"I'll go find you three tomorrow, there's no rush," the dragon growled, his smile sharpening slightly as he snuck around the corner and peeked out. Ah, a little hotdog stand. "Today is just about reacquainting with this place...And I am feeling quite starving after all that work~"
Drago grinned from ear-to-ear as he saw the customer at that stand walk off with a hotdog. When he felt the cost was clear enough he emerged and quickly sauntered his way toward the piping hot, fresh-off-the-grill dogs sitting patiently on the stand, already in buns and wrappers. The poor stand keeper had no idea who or what hit him.
While the Chans and the dragon were going about their own business, some street and outer house cameras caught in their feed something rather strange and unexpected. At first, it simply looked like a sudden flash of brief light took up a bit of the sky closer to the horizon, as if it was a stroke of lighting from an incoming storm. The problem was that the sky was clear and starting to be full of stars— and that is not all that occurred. Very shortly after the flash, something; some kind of dark, small silhouette seemed to streak low across the sky...And down toward the ground into a small forest nearby.
Though most who were still out and about at this hour only noticed the flash, Drago managed to spot both oddities. The young dragon was starting to head back "home" for the time being as he ate the hotdogs he had grabbed from the stand. He had already finished the first one and was just finishing the second one when the flash of light distracted him.
"I never thought I would actually wind up eating any of this weird human waste food," he commented to himself as he hummed in delight and licked his claws clean. "But I gotta admit that it tastes pretty ok— Huh?"
Drago looked up as the flash suddenly lit up the sky, his eyes a bit wide, but one of his "brows" were raised. He soon saw...Something, either very far away, or simply somewhat far away and small fall across the sky and into a patch of forest a few miles away. His eyes narrowed onto the forest and he stare for a few moments, confused by what he saw. Something in the back of his mind told him to go find whatever that was, but he decided to save that for later—maybe later tomorrow when he had his "backup" again. He doesn't have a clue what that just was, but maybe it could help him in some way...It's not everyday something seems to just materialize and fall out of the sky.