Greetings everyone

I give fare warning, this is gonna be a crazy and long as hell chapter. I'm having a lot of fun with this story and appreciate all the feedback I've been getting. So without further adu, I own nothing except my own characters and ideas, and let the craziness begin.

Gwen sat alone in the family kitchen, fiddling a pen between her fingers. The great goddess Euterpe had abandoned her in her hour of need. Her record label had been so impressed with her small book of lyrics, that they ordered her to create an amazing song for the cover. As anyone whose heart belongs to the arts can tell you, nothing is more torturous than being forced to create a masterpiece in a short amount of time, with no direction or limit. Her mind was beyond blank, with so much going on around her it was hard to choose an emotion. She was worried for Jade being in the medical word, annoyed at Lydia for not joining the team, angry at Hei'an for returning, and depressed for sitting alone in a kitchen with no one coming in to check on her. Sasha had turned in for the night in their room, Jackie was out on an unofficial date with Viper, and Uncle was virtually chained to Jade's bedside. Sitting alone brought back unhappy moments of her teen years, of sitting alone on a Friday night while all the other girls where out on the town. When she was younger, she did not have full control over her powers, which caused strange things to happen. Not to mention her strange hair and over protective father didn't make her too approachable. With a loud sigh of defeat, Gwen crashed her head onto the table. Her pens and pencils rolled off the table and scattered on the floor. Her attention was captured by a soft clicking sound. She peered her eyes over her arms to see a massive hand placing her writing instruments gently in front of her. She gazed higher to meet the gentle brown eyes of her giant friend. With a warm smile he turned away toward the stove, within a few silent moments he returned with a tray of mugs, cookies from earlier and a piping hot pot of tea. Gwen eagerly took a cookie as Tohru filled the two mugs with the hot brown drink. As Gwen went to grab the mug, her fingers gently touched her friend's, and for a moment both had caught each other's eyes and lost the ability to breath. The magical scene was broken by a cat howling in streets, Gwen tried to quickly drink the hot beverage in hope that the steam could excuse her red checks. Tohru gave a nervous laugh and tried to break the tension.

"I just uh figured you may have needed a break."

"Thant's very thoughtful, but I would have needed to start before needing a break."

"I thought you just wrote an entire book of lyrics, why are they making you write more?"

"Well there were like thirty songs in that book, but not all made it to the cd, some I'll save for another time. But apparently the company loved my song and my story for this cd, so they want me to write a masterpiece to be the headliner for the cd."

"So it's not enough that you made thirty amazing songs, they want you to outdo yourself and make a beyond amazing song?"

"In ten hours."

"Ten?"

"Well I had 48, but I couldn't think of anything worth writing."

"I've never had much talent for art, but I could only imagine all that's been going on hasn't made it any easier for you to concentrate."

"Tell me about it. Ugg I'm so tired."

"Mr. Sandman isn't giving you a break?"

"Mr. Sandman is being a dick."

Tohru was so caught off guard by her remark, he accidently spit his tea across the room. This caused Gwen to laugh so hard that she nearly choked on her tea. In no time the two adults were covered in their spit, tea and laughter. Gwen took a stray napkin and wiped a stray tear. Tohru was trying to clean himself and the table, picking up the sugar jar and cleaning the tea from its base. Like a lightning bolt, Gwen felt the strike flow threw her as she franticly searched for a pen and a piece of paper that wasn't soaked. The words poured from the tip of the pen as it was given life on the paper. Tohru saw the artist fever the take hold of her, he's seen the same look on his mentor when he was creating a new potion. Tohru gathered the remaining dishes and wet napkins, and made his way back to his room .He thought it best to give her a quiet room to finish her work. Perhaps he'd make her favorite dinner tomorrow, to celebrate her newest song. He thought of how she'd smile when he'd present her favorite foods, that smile that made him wake in the morning with the single hope of seeing it again. He was broken out of his thoughts as he felt his bed sink beneath him. He placed his giant hands on his stomach and felt the deep depression engulf his heart.

"How could she ever fall for someone like me? She's a famous singer, she's had offers to be with movie stars, models or some other rich pretty boy. She's be better being off with someone like that, at least she could sleep at night without fearing that he'd squish her in the middle of the night. He rolled over to face his window, with the glow of the full moon pouring in. The combination of the white moon and the black sky brought his thoughts back to the one he loved, but thought he could never have. Finally with a heavy sigh and a single tear, sleep reluctantly took hold of him.

"What are we doing here again?"

"Because I have to see a doctor about my arm."

"Let me rephrase, what am I doing here?"

It was clear that Captain Black was uncomfortable in his new location. The street was crowded with bohemians and hippies, singing their revolutionary ideals and performing strange dances to music only they could hear. Various craftsmen tried to pedal their wares of strange creations, and somehow every building was lined with fresh flowers. Scarlett gave a sly grin, enjoying Black's pain of being outside his comfort zone.

"Look I need to see a doctor and in order for this to be an official Section 13 medical inspection I need a Section 13 officer, i.e. you, to over sea it."

"But why here? Section 13 has exceptional medical experts on staff."

"Tied it but when they tried to hook me up to some machine this strange red wave of energy seemed to zap 'em."

"You think it was our new Lord of all things evil and not so nice, trying to make sure you don't heal?"

"Nah, it was the same color as my talisman marking. I talked with Uncle and he thinks it's my old chi trying to fight off the modern machine. So he recommended looking into a more natural healing solution."

"Hints why we're on Hippie Hill?"

"Hints why we're on Hippie Hill."

Finally the two agents had reached their destination, Black needing a little more encouragement before entering. The room was filled with various healing plants in bloom, giving the place a calming and nurturing effect. There were people waiting to be called, some with obvious symptoms such as bandaged hands or slight burns. Some looked like the variety of 'artist' they had viewed on the street, others looked like soccer moms who were jumping on the natural healing band wagon. They made their way to the front counter where a woman was answering the phones. She had long dirty blond hair that was braided with various colors of beads. She wore a simple brown dress with various scarves wrapped around her waist, a talking collection of ever changing colors. The woman finished her call and brought her attention the two newcomers. Her face was kind, but with a dreamy air as if she was unaware of the true reality around her.

"Hello, my name is Rainbow. How may I help you?"

Black and Scarlett silently shared a glance of "I'm sure you are."

"Um yes I have an appointment to see Dr. Reyes at 10:30."

"Oh yes I see, Mrs. Black. And this must be your husband, the healing process always works better when loved ones add their positive energy into the patient."

Scarlett turned to her superior officer, whispering just loud enough for them to hear.

"Mrs. Black?"

"I am going to kill Kepler"

Black's face became a deep shade of crimson. He had balled his fist so tight that his knuckles were turning white. Rainbow's cherrie expression had faded to concern, picking up on the new tension between the couple, the severe damage to the woman's arm, the flash of red on the man's cheeks and the powerful fist.

"You know, we do offer counseling for our more 'passionate' couples. And um we can bring in officer if that would make you feel more comfortable in the 'present' company."

Black quickly lost the ability to form words as he franticly waved his hands and tried to form a believable excuse. Scarlett merely rolled her eyes before capturing his chin with her free hand, and placing a deep kiss to silence his ramblings. When she released him, she turned her attention to the shocked receptionist as Black tried to gather his thoughts.

"Oh my Teddy Black Bear would never hurt me. This is just what happens when I go horseback riding without my Blacky Bear to hold me tight."

"Oh I understand completely. Forgive me for putting such negative vibes into the situation. Please take a seat in our breathing room and Dr. Reyes will be with you shortly."

"Thank you, come on Blacky Bear."

"Uh yes.. gonna sit.. breathe.. room…uh wife..sit."

"Come on honey."

The breathing room was just a colorful as the entrance, with various people sitting quietly, performing breathing exercises or yoga positions. Scarlett and Black took a pair of seats near the corner of the room.

"Um that kiss ..it uh it"

"A good agent can turn any chaos into order. Spy training 101."

"Ah yes of course. For the cover."

"That and I got a free kiss. Not bad….Blacky Bear."

Scarlett gave her ever blushing leader a friendly nudge before letting out a small gasp of fear. A very hairy man had just positioned himself into the Backward Bend yoga pose. He placed one hand dangerously close to Scarlett's ankle. Clearly this man had no concept of personal boundaries.

"Whoa man, awesome tattoo man."

"Uh thanks."

"I love chickens too man. Guess we have a lot in common man."

Black placed a protective arm around Scarlett's uncomfortable shoulders. The aged hippie instantly turned into a defense mode.

"Whoa man. No harm man. This is your little Chickie. I get it man."

The aged hippie then began to walk, on his upside down appendages, across the room.

Scarlett turned her attention to Black, who still had his strong arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"All for the cover."

"For the cover. So, do you think that guy knew how many levels of irony he just hit there."

"I doubt he even knows what level of reality he's on…..Chickie."

Scarlett gave another nudge before they were called into the Doctor's office.

It was the official first meeting of the Dragon Scouts, 264 Chapter. Frank had reported to their troupe leader, Mr. Ironside, that Jade was stuck in a coma from a fall that happened on one of her uncle's archeological travels. Anyone who knew Jade knew how she could never stand to sit still for long, so he accepted the story with little question. The Dragon Scouts were scheduled for a trip at the local History museum, to learn how to observe and document new findings, and to learn how to do a bit of problem solving. The task they were assigned was a simple search and identify the object from a given list.

"Alright guys, let's get to work."

"Yah, first prize: four sold out tickets to the Robo Gnome movie! Can you say Sah-weet!"

"Yah. Hey we can take Jade with the extra ticket!"

"Or we could go and rub it in her face that she didn't."

"Come on Charlie, she's in a coma. The least we could do is take her out when she wakes up. And besides, from what uncle Finn says, she's one of dem mastahs. I don't know about you bout I don't wanna tick off some chick with suppah powers."

"Not that she'd need'em to kick your butt."

Rocko and Frank shared a laugh at Charlie's expense and they gave him a few playful shoves. An hour had passed and the boys had made perfect time. They only had one item left to find before claiming their prize. The boys were distracted by high fiving and planning their trip to their movie premiere. The laughter was cut short by a flying body that crashed into a suit of armor a few feet away. The boys ran over to check on the poor man crumpled on the floor. As they turned him over they met a gruesome sight. The front of his neck was slashed and ripped, as if something had burst from the inside, the skin around was blacken and drained, as if the life within him was focused on the one point.

"Ah man!"

"We gotta get this guy some help."

"A little late for this guy."

"You mean he's?"

"Not gonna be coming back to check out next month's exhibit."

The boys went to see where the man had flown from, hearing the loud crashes in the room a few feet away. The boy crept around to corner, just enough out of sight to see but not been seen. There were shadow entities everywhere, they looked like faceless shadow men with strange blue metal pendants around their necks. In the middle of the room was a strange man radiating with blue energy. The shadows seemed to be bringing the innocent people in the museum. One woman was being held in front of him, her arms being held behind her back. The woman seemed to be seeing things the boys could not, trying to avoid something she thought was attacking her head.

"Please, PLEASE! I HAVE A HUSBAND AND A DAUGHTER! PLEASE SHE'S ONLY 3, SHE NEEDS HER MOMMY!"

The woman stopped crying as the man gripped her chin and gave her a sly smile. His voice was calm and silky as he spoke to the frighten woman.

"You lying bitch. If you had this perfect family, then why in all your deepest fears were they not present. But don't worry, I know how you can make it up to me."

The man lowered his finger from her chin to the middle of her neck. A small beam of light blue energy form at the tip of his finger as the woman let out the most painful scream of her life. Her veins pulsated and began to turn black as a large lump formed where his finger pointed. The lump grew and grew along with her screams. The lump then tore through her flesh, spilling blood and bits of flesh all over the floor. From the lump was a small orb of light. The man then took the orb and eagerly feasted on it. The evil creature then licked his lips, before carelessly kicking the lifeless woman from his presence. The woman flew across the room into a small pile of previous victims. The boys looked on in horror, questioning if what they had just seen could have possibly happened. Rocko was shaking as he slowly backed away. Before he could help it, the disgusting sight forced the young boy to vomit all over a priceless medieval tapestry. The other boys were about to join him, when a shadowy form appeared from around the corner. The young boys tried to run, when two more shadows appeared. One grabbed hold of Frank. With all his might he tried to kick himself free, but each blow merely phased threw the strange entity. The shadow increased his grip as he led him to the room were the boys had witnessed a woman being murdered. Full panic took hold of Frank. He was realizing that for the first time, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't talk or fight his way out, his uncle wasn't coming in to save him because he didn't even know where he was. There were no heroes who were going to fly in, he was truly helpless. As he rounded the corner, he caught sight of the monster and knew what was about to happen. In the moment of true fear, Frank did what any child would do. He screamed as loud as his young lungs would allow. The scream echoed down the varies museum halls, echoing further and further across the city until it met the set of special ears.

Uncle sat at the bedside of his young niece. In the last two days nothing had changed, Jade had not even responded when a stray fly landed on her face. Uncle had tried to project himself in her mind, but a powerful barrier replied him out. Clearly very strong and ancient powers were at work. Her familiar animal, Scruffy, was cradled at her feet, only leaving her side to drink and take a walk outside. Since her awakening, Scruffy had become extremely protective over his Master, giving a dangerous look to anyone who came to close. Uncle felt a strange presence and turned his attention to the doorway. He then saw someone he was truly not expecting. There in the doorway, with his long tail swaying, stood Drago. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the door frame. His attention was on his former adversary resting before him.

"Nearly thirteen combined years I've been fighting her. If I wanted I could take her out here and now."

"You could except for two things. One, Jade is Master of the Dog, Master of immortality. She can not die."

"No but I could give her a few bruises or take off a few limbs."

"But two, and more importantly, you can not harm her because of your bond. You know that by harming her would make you Master unhappy. And possibly a third thing, you respect her too much as an adversary to hurt her in such a weaken state."

"Respect, a twelve year old?"

"She'll be thirteen in about a week."

"Oh that makes a difference."

Drago walked into the room, still focused on the small girl before him. Scruffy noticed his presence, giving the Dragon teen a threatening growl.

"Easy dog, I'm not here to make waves."

Scruffy gave an unsatisfied gruff, laying his head down protectively over Jade's feet. Drago walked next to Jade's side, still focused on her defenseless form.

"So how much longer you think she's gonna be out."

"Uncle is not sure. Uncle does not even know why Jade is in an unconscious state. Perhaps an overload of chi. All of the other Masters have been adults, perhaps Jade's young form is more worn out from the transformation."

"You think maybe she's having a vision of the other Masters?"

"You mean does she see anything about the Dragon?"

"Guess I just wanna know who I'm sappost to look for. Got a few questions for her."

"Uncle may not be a Master, but he has been around for a long time and has seen many things. Perhaps he has the answers you need."

"And why should I trust you, old man. You don't know anything about me or what I'm looking for."

"Uncle knows that even you do not know what you are looking for. He knows that you were born form the Blood of Shendu, that you were abandoned for many years, that in your time of despair the only ones who came to your aid where the misguided followers of your father. Uncle knows that most of all, you are not an evil demon like your father."

Drago turned in disbelief, trying to understand how on earth this old man had come across such information.

"But how did you"

"Like Uncle said, Uncle knows many things."

"So what makes you think I'm not evil like my old man. I mean look at everything I've done."

"What you've done is act as your life has set you for. You have stride to make your father happy, as even I have done and even Gwen has done. Then once you realized your father's true demands, you acted against his wishes, again even Gwen has done."

"Oh so the perfect moral singer has a disobedient side."

"Let's just say there is a reason why Uncle no longer has a car."

Drago gave a small laugh, imagining different scenarios that could have occurred. His focus was brought back to the small frame in front of him. Memories of battles past came flooding back. How one so small had shown courage that outweighed creatures far older and more powerful than she. She had fought demon, wizards and more manner of dark creatures and at times with no aid or magical enhancements. In truth he did have respect and a bit of envy for her. He could only have imagined how different he could have turned out if he had half the courage she had when he was that young. He extended a sharp claw and slowly moved to her face. He then slowly draped a few strands of silver hair from her gentle face, part of him feeling that he had somehow done such an act before.

Just as Drago was lost in thought, Jade's golden brown orbs shot open. Just as he eyes bolted, Jade shot up in attention. Scruffy leapt to her side trying to lick her face to show his joy for her being awake. Uncle's eyes were starting to tear but before he could utter a word Jade threw off her covers, leapt from her be to the door and began to run down the Section 13 hallways. Uncle and Drago exchanged looks before chasing after the young girl.

Jade heard it. She heard the screams of her friends, she heard the screams and knew the pain and the danger they were in. And with every thought, she was getting angrier. How dare Hei'an return, how dare his warriors reawaken, how dare they resume their attacks on the innocents, and how dare they attack her friends. As her anger grew so did her body. Her fangs and claws extended to sharpen daggers, her ears morphed from human to canine, a long tail extended and frizzed in her fury. Slowly her body began to grow and silver fur started to form over her body.

Uncle and Drago ran after Jade, taking note of her transformation. As they were catching up, a large white creature caught them off guard. Royal Medicine, the noble horse, had broken free from her restraints and was desperately looking for a way out. Jade aha reached a dead end, but with a single kick forced the wall to crumble. At this point Jade was running on all fours, her size still increasing wear she was now bigger than Sasha. As she jumped through the now hole in the wall, Jade climbed up a building and began to leap from roof top to roof top. Royal Medicine had taken advantage of the hole in the wall and took off in an opposite direction. Drago and an out of breath Uncle stood at the wall's entrance, each watching a different target taking off a top speed. Uncle placed a hand on Drago's shoulder as he tried to steady himself.

"What just happened old man?"

"Uncle does not know, something must be very wrong to make Jade take off like that. With the noble horse running like that, the Horse Master must have just been awaken."

"Great so what do we do know, who knows where that horse took off."

Uncle felt a slight nudge at his leg. As he looked down he saw Scruffy, desperately trying to lead him the way the horse had taken off.

"Uncle will follow Noble Dog to find Noble Horse, in case there is trouble. You follow Jade, you can keep up better. "

Drago gave a surprisingly compliant nod before climbing the same building as Jade did and followed her over the roof tops. Uncle watched until Drago was out of sight. He then reached into his pocket, pulling out his favored dried lizard. He then gave a nod to Scruffy before taking off down the busy San Francisco streets.

Frank continued to scream as the shadow minion brought him closer to his master. The monster looked down at the trio of boys, as a wicked smile crept over his face.

"Well well, three little lambs that lost their way. Well they do say the younger the prey, the sweeter the spoils."

The strange man took a cold finger, draping a few stray strands of hair before slowly traveling down to the middle of his neck. A light blue light began to form at the tip of his finger, Frank squeezed his eyes tight, desperately wishing for a miracle. A loud crash was heard as the roof of the room caved in. As the dust cleared, a giant wolf beast stood on top of the rubble. The creature was over ten feet tall, its large claws digging into the rubble and crushing anything it touched. Its fangs were bare and its fur was on end, tempting anyone to give it a reason to attack. The man stood in fear, taking a few steps back and breaking his connection long enough for his shadows to drop the three boys. The trio made a run for the door, before the man regain his attention. He silently ordered his shadows to recapture the boys, the creature saw the shadows nearing the boys and with one leap landed on all three shadows. The boys stop to witness the creature that had come to their rescue. Two of the shadows had disintegrated under the weight of the beast. it then reared its head down to rip off the head of the remaining shadow. It's body immediately disintegrated, the beast giving a final chop on its head, allowing a thick shadowy 'blood' to drip from its powerful fangs. The man who commanded the shadows looked on in terror as he watched three of his minions fade. The great beast softened its features and turned towards the young boys. It gave a quick sniff over the trio, making sure the wicked man had not harmed them. At first the boys were afraid, thinking that this creature was a new evil. Frank was about to scream when he caught sight of the creature's eyes. There was something familiar and comforting about these strange golden brown orbs.

Scarlett sat onto of the examination table. Luckily she did not have to sit in a room with Captain Black with one of those backless gowns. Soon a young woman entered the room, dressed as informally as everyone else in the office. She had short dirty blond hair tied back in a bandana, with two framed beaded braids hanging on either side of her face, she had a midriff cut peasant shirt and a simple pair of denim capris. She was holding a clipboard and had an out of placed stethoscope around her neck, clearly this was the 'natural' healer they had come to see.

"Dr. Reyes?"

"Please, call me Naomi. And you must be the Blacks, how can I help you today."

Naomi made her way over to Scarlett and with gentle hands slowly began to gently touch her injured arm. Slowly she worked her way up her arm and over to her shoulder blade.

"Well you see my wife and I were uh horseback riding and she accidently fell."

"I see. Well tell you what, you tell me the truth in the next five seconds and I won't call the cops, deal."

Black exchanged a surprised look with Scarlett.

"How did you.."
"Simple. For one thing I've been riding since I was five and this is no riding break. Another thing, when you lie you send an impulse threw your body, when I touched you wife I felt that impulse when you told your story. Now what really happened, this looks more like a 'someone grabbed your arm and slammed it into your back' injury."

"Wow you are good."

"Don't let the tie-dye fool you sweetie, I've studied and graduated in over five different universities and rank number four of the top ten medical professionals in the world."

"Then why work on hippie hill, I mean this charming place."

"Well Mr. Black, I like working here on hippie hill, because I have studied medicine so much that I've seen all the hypocrisy behind it. I've seen the unnecessary pills that some push just to make money, and how people have suffered more from putting harmful chemicals in their body when there's a much safer alternative. Oh listen to me, there I go on my soap bock again, so dear how did you really get those injuries?"

"Well actually you hit the nail on the head."

"Old boyfriend."

"Hey!"

"Oh it's not like you to are really married."

"What they taught you that at medical school too."

"Uh no, the fact that neither of you are wearing wedding rings tipped me off."

Scarlett erupted into a fit of laughter as a shade of red spread across Black's face. During her fit she was able to extend her hand as Naomi responded with a high five. Black pinched his brow in disbelief, these two were actually becoming friends.

"Well here's the story. First off we're not married, we're secret agents."

"Scarlett!"

"I'm a pilot and Mr. Grumpy Ass over there is actually my Captain."

"Scarlett!"

"So we were on a mission when one of the perps grabbed me and broke my arm."

"I see, well now I can fix the problem. And Captain Grumpy, if you're worried that I'm going to go tell everyone, you do relies that I'm bound by patient confidentiality to not repeat anything that is said in this room."

Scarlett gave him a playful wink of reassurance, as Black gave a sigh of defeat.

"Well it's not too bad, nothing shattered at least. I'll give you a proper alignment and some Kava tea to help with the pain."

"Thanks. So how long till you think I'll be up and running."

"Oh in no time."

Naomi jotted down a few notes for Scarlett, as she gave Black another reassuring smile, silently telling him that the day was almost over. No one noticed the set of golden eyes watching them from threw the window, positioning itself for a destructive attack.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, truth be told i was gonna make it even longer, but when i noticed it was over 12 pages long and past 3 in the morning i decided to call it a night. Oh if anyone is wondering, since the Dragon Scout troupe leader was never given a name, or at least not one I heard, he was christened the name Michael Ironside. Michael Ironside is the name of the voice actor who played the troupe leader in this episode, plus the name just seems to fits.

So let me know what you think, please review.