Chapter Two.
"So how do we locate these gemstones?" asked Jade excitedly. She was kneeled on a wooden chair, gazing curiously at Uncle's work as he tried to translate the runes on the golden chest with the help of Tohru and many, many research books.
"We are not going after these stones, Jade," Jackie told her. "It is much too dangerous."
"But you always say that!" Jade protested.
"But there is no need anyway," reasoned Jackie. "There is no one who will try to take them!" He started listing all the villains they've encountered on his fingers. "Valmont's currently living off of driving a bus, Daolon Wong is still trapped in the past without magic, Tarakudo is also still trapped inside a mask inside the Section 13 vault, and Shendu, Drago, and the rest of the demons are still serving their time in the Netherworld. Uncle's and Tohru's spells made sure of that." He turned toward the pair. "Right?" he asked them.
"But I bet that if you got one, I'll get one too," said Jade. "One of those gauntlet thingies, I mean. I bet I'll get red. Or green. I bet I'll get green. Green's a pretty wicked awesome mondo-coolio colour. I wonder if I'll have to wish on a star, or maybe I have to just be related to the first orb's chooser, or—"
"It doesn't work like that," said Jackie, slightly annoyed. He turned to two boys standing nearby. "And shouldn't Jimmy and Paco be getting home?"
Jade whirled around to find her two friends standing unsurely at the doorway, as if wondering whether or not they should be there. She had completely forgotten about them.
"Yeah, my mom asked me to be back before six," said Jimmy, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, so she doesn't want me staying over at any friend's tonight."
(Not really. He just wanted to leave before the family argument went to grounding.)
"I should be going back too," said Paco. "You know exchange parents; they freak out more if they lose an exchange student than their own kid." The two boys quickly grabbed their schoolbags and hurridly walked out the shop.
"Those magic talks sometimes scare me," Paco admitted to Jimmy. "And I've had lots of experience with that magic; I once saw a hundred Super Moose attack orange men."
"Nah, magic's fun," said Jimmy. "When I went into the future, I saw myself as a chi wizard, an apprentice to Tohru himself. Hey, what's that?"
Paco looked up to see what Jimmy was referring to. There were three circles in the sky—probably Frisbees—flying toward the shop. More specifically, at them.
Paco and Jimmy both had enough experience with magic to know that whatever it was, it wasn't about to play nice. They exchanged quick looks and ran back to the shop, where Jade was still arguing and protesting to Jackie.
"Come on, one nap-out," she was saying. "I'll sleep on the roof of the shop and see if it comes to me overnight. I bet it will!"
"Jade, you cannot sleep outside tonight," said Jackie. "It is…uh, supposed to rain tonight."
"Jackie, I'm a teenager now," Jade said with her hands on her hips. "I know a lie when I see one."
That was when Paco and Jimmy barged in, slamming the door behind them. Jade looked back at them, a small playful grin on her face.
"I thought you had a dentist appointment, Jimmy," she told them.
He didn't bother with some lip-biting comeback. "There were, like, three things coming at us!" he started. "And they were, like, flying!"
"Those are called Frisbees, Jimmy," said Jackie.
"No, it is true, Señor Chan," said Paco. "They were coming right at us and estaban todo para nosotros y estaban muy grandes y avían uno verde, uno rojo y—" He sighed, catching himself. "I was speaking in Spanish, wasn't I," he said solemnly, looking down at his feet sadly.
"But the point is, you guys are under attack with some sort of magicy thingy and you've gotta do something!" continued Jimmy. "Tohru! Do a protection spell or something!"
Someone knocked on the door.
"Customers!" exclaimed Uncle happily, walking to the door.
"No, wait!" yelled Jimmy, but Uncle had already opened the door.
"Uncle's Rare Finds. How may I—?"
The three 'enemies' burst in in forms of pure energy, shooting inside the shop so fast Uncle fell backwards into his apprentice, antiques were knocked over and shelves were sent flying. All anyone there could catch sight of was a blend of red, green and blue lights zoom toward the three teenagers, who just happened to be standing at the back of the shop.
"AIIEE-YAAAAHH!"yelled Uncle, more for fear of his precious antiques than the three minors.
As Jade was the closest one to the entrance, she was the first to be hit. Momentum sent her spinning into Paco and Jimmy behind her, and all three of them flew back into the library, throwing all the books off the shelves. But they didn't stop there, as the force of three orbs pushed them against the wall, managing to break through the side of the shop, sending the teens tumbling onto the streets outside. All tangled up in themselves, they skidded across the road and came to a stop against the outside wall a Chinese restaurant. Groaning, Jade tried to get up, only to find that her legs were trapped underneath Paco and Jimmy.
"Get—off—get—off—get—off!" she wheezed, rolling them off of her enough so that she could squirm free. She caught sight of something attached to her right wrist.
"Sweet!" she yelped, jumping to her feet, and to go along with her sense of utter joy, she danced a jig, accidentally stepping on Jimmy's hand and Paco's head.
"Oh, sorry, guys," she told them. "But look!" She showed them her wrist, which was now the home of a green gauntlet. "I knew I would get green! I knew it! Oh, and you guys got them too! Isn't this just great?" She extended her arm as far away as she could from herself to see how it looked on her.
"This might be great for you, but not for me," said Jimmy, trying to get up, but failing (partially because he was upside-down). On his right hand was his own gauntlet with an attached glove mesh minus the fingers, just like Jackie's and Jade's—only blue. On Paco's right wrist was an identical red one.
Uncle, Jackie and Tohru came jogging outside the shop. "Are you okay?" asked Jackie, rushing to Jade's side, immediately checking for any injuries.
"Fine. Even better, actually," she said, showing him her gauntlet like she might show off her nails. "Isn't this great?"
"Yes," said Jackie monotonically. "What joy."
"How do you take these off?" asked Jimmy, pulling at his gauntlet. Uncle walked up to him and gave him a two-fingered strike on the head.
"We must do REEEA-SEARCH!"
(LINE BREAK)
Jade's eyes flew over the words in her book without actually reading them. She was too jittery, as if she had just eaten six pounds of pure sugar mixed in with a little caffeine. She wondered if she'd get magic powers along with her Gauntlet. Flying was a pretty cool option, as well as mind-reading and breathing underwater. Maybe it wouldn't be that far-stretched, so she'd be faster, or stronger, or wiser somehow. Or maybe—
Something neon caught the corner of her eye. She turned and found that the Detector Scroll was floating half an inch off the desk and glowing bright green. Jade threw her book shut.
"Somebody, take a picture!" she yelled, pointing at it. Everyone looked up from their research and caught sight of the magic levitating scroll. They all quickly set down their books and gathered around it.
On the scroll was a picture of an oddly shaped horn thing, something Paco obviously recognized by his gasp. A small section on the side was squared off with a red dot in the middle.
"A map," Jackie noticed.
"Of el México," added Paco.
Then the map blinked once and faded out, and the scroll fell back to the desk. Nobody made a grab for it.
"Where do you think the map was telling us to go?" asked Jimmy.
"No doubt the new Good Demon Chi from Uncle's legend," replied Tohru.
"Should we go after it?" asked Paco.
"Of course not," scoffed Jackie. "Besides, we don't know where the map leads us to exactly. It's not like any one of us took a picture—"
"I did," Jade announced, holding up her camera with the screen on the picture of the map.
Jackie face-palmed.
"We must seek this new chi before the forces of darkness do!" said Uncle. "Quickly, Jackie, we must pack!"
"Can I come?" asked Jade.
"No," said Uncle and Jackie in unison.
"But it's been such a long time since I've fought any bad guys!" she protested. "And I deserve to go— I have one of the Gauntlet thingies now! See?" She pointed it out to Jackie as if he didn't know where it was.
"Hmm," thought Uncle. "Perhaps… Paco, you'll come with us."
The screen suddenly split in half, one part showing Paco's expression of confusion and Jade's of desperation. "What?!" they demanded in unison.
"Paco knows Mex-I-co!It is where he comes from," Uncle explained.
"No fair!" protested Jade.
"I wanna go too!" added Jimmy. When Jade looked at him funny, he asked, "What?"
"It is—" started Jackie.
"—too dangerous?" finished Jade. "Oh, come on! How many times have you said that and then lived to regret it?"
Jackie glared at her, annoyed. "You are staying here with Tohru," he said. "And that is final. You too, Jimmy," he added.
"Aw…" said Jade and Jimmy in unison.
"Jade, I'm going to Section 13 to pack. You will stay here. Jimmy will go home," Jackie said.
When his back was turned, Jade rolled her eyes. She didn't like having to loophole her way into following Jackie, but sometimes, he left her no choice.