Chapter 13: Race to the Concert

(A/N: Welcome to the chapter where everything starts to fall into place.)

Ai's POV

It all happened so fast. The ritual was just going smoothly but then it all ended in an unexpected turn. My niece decided to keep the panda form and she left mid-ritual to go to the concert with my daughter.

"Get back here!" Ming called out to them but they were already out of the gates.

" No! " she cried out in disbelief that Mei was no longer willing to redo the ritual again.

I looked over to my husband in uncertainty was we approached Ming to comfort her along with Jin while Wu, Chen, Ping, Helen, and Lily could only bombard her critiques on not keeping Mei in line and letting her succumb to the beast, or so they called it.

"Deep breaths, Ming." "It's gonna be okay." "Calm down. Just relax." Chiang, Jin, and I tried to reassure her but it felt like she wasn't hearing us and only focusing on Wu, Chen, Ping, Helen, and Lily berating her.

From a short glance, I noticed Ming shifting her mood from sad to angry. Her amulet is also cracked, possibly due to Mei pushing her back a few moments ago.

"How could she?" Ming grunted, seething with rage as her amulet continued to break. "How could she do this... to her own... MOTHER?!"

That's when her amulet shattered, releasing her red panda spirit and bonding with her once again. We all fearfully took a step back.

"MEI-MEI!" Ming roared loudly, transforming into her panda, which had to be as tall as 5-story apartment building.

With that form, Ming began to stomp through the streets to where Mei and Xia were heading. Knowing what she's gonna do with Mei, we all hopped into our cars and drove to SkyDome to warn Mei and Xia of the rampaging Kaiju-sized red panda that is the former's mom and the latter's aunt.

Xia's POV

Mei and I were speeding through the streets of Toronto extremely quickly while chatting.

"Excuse us!" Mei exclaimed passing people on the streets.

"Coming through!" I called out to them.

"Xia, I was gonna say this earlier back when we were getting ready but I'm so so sorry!" she apologized, "I shouldn't have lost control back at Tyler's party like that and hurt you. I hope your face is okay now!"

"It's alright, Mei, but I'm sorry too!" I apologized as well, "I shouldn't have tried to split up you and Tyler and it was a really stupid idea because I should've known it would hurt me. But I'm fine now, thanks!"

"I forgive you!" Mei smiled as we continued running.

Unfortunately the sidewalk got too crowded so Mei ran onto the road. Many cars were beeping us and getting annoyed.

"I have an idea. Xia, I'll jump up onto the buildings and you'll have to hold my hand!" she instructed.

"Okay!" I nodded.

Determined, Mei ran up to the junction and leaped over a tram. She poofed back into her human form and I held her hand in the air. It was scary and felt like everything was happening in slow motion. But it felt so amazing at the same time. The red moon was shining above us and we felt like we were flying and on top of the world!

To stop us from falling, Mei poofed into her panda form, did a flip, then we both landed on a nearby rooftop. Her ritual robe fell off but we didn't need it for the concert so it was alright. Mei was once again in her human form and hand in hand, we ran across rooftop to rooftop (while Mei was poofing back and forth between each of her forms).

Eventually, we got to the SkyDome. Mei ran across the roof in her panda form with me on her back and then she jumped off the roof, doing a flip and turning into her human form again. Hand-in-hand, Mei and I fell together. I know you might be thinking that this would be scary and it would be a painful landing but this wasn't the case. We felt free and happier than we'd ever been in our entire 2 years of living together! Even though we were focusing on our happiness, we still had to find Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby.

"Where do you think they are?" I asked Mei.

We looked around for a bit but Mei found them.

"Over there!" she smiled, pointing to where they were.

Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby were in the crowd, ecstatic and excited for the concert to begin.

"Hold on, cous!" Mei grinned as she poofed into her panda form, did a flip, perfectly landed by them and turned back into her human form as the two of us smiled. At first, the four of them were coughing because of all of the pink smoke but then they turned and saw us.

"Mei!" Abby grinned.

"Xia!" Miriam smiled.

"You guys are here!" Abby smiled excitedly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kendra asked us.

"I couldn't do it," Mei admitted to them, "The panda's a part of me and you guys are, too."

"Mei, you hurt your cousin and threw us under the bus," Miriam argued, "Xia tried to defend us though."

"I know. What I did to Xia was just an accident and I'm sorry!" she apologized.

"Mei has been obsessed with Auntie Ming's approval her whole life," I explained.

"I just couldn't take losing it," Mei added, "But losing you guys feels even worse."

"Well, too bad because you did, Mei," Miriam told her, turning away.

I looked at Mei and I saw a tear roll down her cheek. Just as I was about to hug and comfort her, I heard beeping coming from Miriam's pocket and she groaned in annoyance.

"Robaire, Jr.?" I asked, recognizing the sound of Mei's Tamagotchi device.

"She's been taking care of him 24/7," Priya told us but then Miriam covered her mouth.

"And singing him lullabies every night!" Abby grinned, causing Miriam to cover her mouth as well.

"No, no, I haven't!" Miriam argued as the two struggled, "They're lying!"

But Robaire, Jr. continued beeping.

"Actually, they're telling the truth, Mir." Kendra said, "You still have Mei's device."

"Here," Miriam sighed, passing it to Mei, "Found him at Tyler's."

Mei and I smiled happily as she pressed a button on there, causing the little robot pet to smile at her and have love hearts around it. We looked up at the three of them.

"4 Town forever?" we asked.

Miriam's frown turned into a smile.

"4 Town forever," she repeated, pulling us all into a hug.

"4 Town forever." Priya, Kendra, and Abby repeated.

"Tyler?!" Miriam suddenly exclaimed.

Standing near the six of us, covered in 4Town and Aaron Z merchandise, looking extremely excited for the concert, was someone who we were really not expecting to see.

"NO! Tyler?" he squealed before pitching his voice deeper, "Wh-who's Tyler? I don't know a Ty-"

"You are a 4 Townie?" "Like us?" Mei and I asked him as all of us were in shock.

But then we realized we had a new member of our friend group! The six of us ran over to him and embraced him into a massive hug while smiling and laughing.

"Whatever, dorks! Cut it out!" Tyler exclaimed, embarrassed that we all knew that he was also a fan.

But at least he wasn't our main bully anymore and we were now friends. He looked at me, blushing as well and smiling. I decided to speak to him to break the awkwardness.

"So, I didn't know you were a 4 Town fan," I smiled as he fixed his hair up a bit.

"Yeah, I've been a fan of them for ages," Tyler admitted, "I decided not to tell anyone because you know what people are like these days. I'd get picked on lots for 'liking girly stuff'. But I trust you guys now. I realized I was being a jerkwad to you guys so decided to cut it out and stop being like that."

"Well, that's good," I said, smiling. "At least you finally admitted that."

But then I remembered something: when the whole moment with Tyler and I happened a year ago, he mentioned that there was a huge secret he was keeping. And that's when realization hit me.

"I didn't know your biggest secret was that you like 4 Town!" I grinned excitedly.

"Yeah, it was," he confessed, "I didn't tell you because I was scared that you'd tell Mei and everyone. My favorite member is Aaron Z by the way."

"I wouldn't have told anyone!" I said, "Also, my favorite is Tae-Young!"

"By the way, what I was trying to say at the party was that I-" Tyler started, his cheeks going red but he was interrupted.

"Mei, your mum must've gone nuclear!" Miriam laughed.

"Who cares?" Mei smiled, rolling my eyes. "What's she gonna do? Ground me?"

Soon enough, everyone started chanting "4 Town! 4 Town! 4 Town!" and the seven of us were really excited! This was surely going to be the best moment of me and Mei's lives (even better than running across Toronto to the SkyDome)! Then, all of the lights went off and the only light were the glowing lights around the stage. Everyone was really ecstatic and squealing excitedly because we all knew that the show was about to start!

A countdown appeared on the backdrop of the stage.

"4, 3, 2, 1!" everyone chanted as the concert finally began.

"Are you ready?" we heard someone yell.

Smoke was around the stage and five cages rose up. The backdrop was all colorful and showed pictures of each of the members.

First, the end left cage opened and there was Aaron T and he was posing!

"Oh my gosh!" Miriam and Kendra yelled excitedly, seeing their favorite member.

Secondly, the end right cage opened and there was Aaron Z! He threw a basketball into the crowd!

"Aaron Z! I love you man!" Tyler shouted happily to see his favorite member.

Next, the other left cage opened and there was Tae-Young! I screamed extremely loudly in happiness since he was my favorite. He did a peace sign and winked at the crowd.

"Tae-Young!" me and Abby mumbled, practically in tears with happiness to see our favorite member.

Afterwards, the other right cage opened and there was Jesse! He blew a kiss to the crowd!

"Jesse!" Priya yelled out, seeing her favorite member.

And finally, the middle cage opened up revealing Robaire!

"Toronto! You know what's up!" he grinned at the crowd.

I turned to Mei who was intensely fangirling for her favorite. I'm surprised she didn't poof into her panda form from pure excitement but to be honest, she did have it under control at this point.

The seven of us were sobbing from happiness; this is what we'd been waiting and saving up for a month! And it was finally happening! They opened up with their song U Know What's Up.

"You want it?"

"I want it!" everyone, including us, squealed.

"You want it?"

"I want it!"

"You want it?"

"I want it!"

"Give me one, two, three, four!"

Then special effects gave them all angel wings and they started flying up to the roof of the SkyDome while singing.

You wanted it
You went for it
And baby, you got it
I wanted it, I went for it

As soon as they all smiled at the audience, everyone went wild. We were all squealing and screaming in pure excitement as we ran towards them.

And baby, I did it on my o-o-o-o-own

While the seven of us were running, I felt someone holding my hand. When I checked to see who it was, it was Tyler! He looked into my eyes and I looked into his and we both smiled at each other.

Did it on my o-o-o-o-own

Robaire came down to us, holding his arm out.

Me, Miriam, Priya, Kendra, Abby, and Tyler pushed Mei upwards and I grinned as she was face-to-face with her favorite member and celebrity crush. Mei moved her arm out more and more, almost touching Robaire's hand.

Did it on my own

Also, Tyler was moving closer and closer towards me until...

"MEI-MEI!"