10:43 AM PT, San Francisco, U.S.

After the pretentious women were escorted from the plane, the boarding process for the other passengers moved smoothly as scheduled as everyone managed to find their seats and get settled. Denise, the flight service manager who helped Darek out, made sure to apologize many times to him "on behalf of herself and the airline", which he didn't mind at all. She showed him all the perks of his business class and helped Darek become adjusted, then left to check other parts of the plane. Darek then stowed away the rest of his carry-on items above him, sat back down in his seat, and put on his seatbelt.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome aboard Japan Airlines flight 648 to Narita, Japan! This is your captain speaking, Cameron," the woman jollily announced to the passengers on the plane through the PA system. All talking and all other noises happening in the background were instantly lowered to a minimum so they could listen to the captain speak. "I have my co-pilot with me, Takiji, and he'll be translating for me because I understand we have many Japanese passengers on board."

"[Good morning, everyone! Welcome aboard Japan Airlines flight 348 to Narita, Japan! Cameron will be your flight captain today. My name is Takiji, I'm this flight's co-pilot and translator to help the Japanese passengers onboard understand the captain]," Takiji announced.

"In preparation for departure, be certain that your seat back is straight up and your tray table is stowed. Make sure that your carry-on items are placed completely under the seat in front of you. Portable telephones are not approved for use inflight, however, you may use certain other electronic devices when advised by your crew," Cameron stated.

As the co-pilot did his translations, many passengers hastened to stuff their belongings above them. The captain's announcements were like a cue to say that the flight would be ready to take off in the next few moments. Once many got seated, they were able to strap themselves with their seatbelts and turned off their devices applicable into airplane mode. At that point, a few passengers remained standing to get extra assistance from other flight attendants.

This was usually the part of the flight where Darek would zone out of listening to the PA's instructions and whatever else rules that passengers had to follow. It was the same old instructions he had heard a hundred times in a hundred different ways; nothing particularly new that was super important to pay attention to. As long as Darek was able to fly safely from Point A to Point B, it didn't matter much.

"As a reminder, smoking is not permitted in any area of the aircraft, including the lavatories. Tampering with, disabling, or destroying a lavatory smoke detector is prohibited. On behalf of the Captain and your entire crew, it is our pleasure to have you aboard. Enjoy your flight!" Cameron jollily finished. Some passengers took the opportunity to give the captain and co-pilot a round of applause acting as their sort of approval and a well-wishing for the flight to go smoothly.

"Finally we can go," Darek said in satisfaction and sat back in his seat.

1:49 PM PT, Moose World, San Francisco

"C'mon DJ! We know rollercoasters ain't yo kinda fun, but you gotta ride with us on this one!" Cobra pleaded to his friend.

DJ held up his hands and quickly shook his head.

"Whassa matter, DJ? You chicken?" the blond laughed as folded his arms at his sides to flap them about like a chicken would. This earned him a glare and a hard elbow in the ribs from DJ.

DJ crossed his arms, stuck his nose in the air, and confidently shook his head once again. Ice, Cobra, and DJ were in Moose World standing in front of The Coaster Supreme, the newest and most thrilling rollercoaster released in the amusement park. The ride was over 200 feet tall and ran at 100 miles per hour for three and a half minutes. The Coaster Supreme had many curves, loops, twists, and turns to race through. The ride was currently the fastest and tallest steel rollercoaster running in the park. It was advertised everywhere in San Francisco from billboards, radio stations, and TVs for months during its construction and had finally opened to the public two weeks ago.

From the moment the Ice Crew bought their tickets and stepped into Moose World, the Coaster Supreme was the main thing on Ice's and Cobra's minds to ride. From where they stood, they could see other people already queuing themselves in line, causing the line to grow longer. The early afternoons were usually the busiest times where the waiting periods got to be the longest. If Coaster Supreme was the only rollercoaster Ice and Cobra could manage to ride while they were here, that's all that mattered to them.

DJ, on the other hand, was far from interested in the Coaster Supreme. He saw the same advertisements and heard much talk from others like his friends about the new ride, but he didn't hold that same excitement for it. DJ frankly didn't hold that same kind of excitement for rollercoasters in general and had planned to stay off a majority of the rides for today.

Ice reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and held out two twenty-dollar bills to DJ. "Bro, I'll give you 40 bucks if you get on wit' us," the blond said.

Cobra grabbed his wallet also and pulled out two twenty-dollar bills to hold out to DJ. "I double-dog dare you," he said with a sneaky smile.

DJ looked down at the combined 80 dollars in his friend's hands with an interested eye. 80 dollars was a lot of money to offer for a double-dog dare. The quiet man tilted his head side to side, showing that he was beginning to find interest in the deal, but he wasn't 100% sold.

"DJ, please yo! Just one!" Ice called out and held up a finger in desperation. DJ gave him a skeptical look and Ice let out a frustrated cry. "Damn man! What can we do fo' you to say yes?!"

Cobra remained quiet with a hand on his chin. His eyes looked to the ground as his mind was more focused on something his friend liked. Then, the quiet man's face lit up and he snapped his fingers. "Aye DJ, you know that Asian place, Golden Blossom Buffet?"

DJ's eyes shot open at the question and he wasted no time nodding his head yes to that question. Cobra didn't even have to ask that—he knew Golden Blossom Buffet was DJ's favorite Pan-Asian restaurant in all of San Francisco. The restaurant had a full-service bar and a full menu of fresh delicious dishes from Asian countries like India, Thailand, China, Korea, and Japan. The courses were divided up into breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day. Each meal of entrees, appetizers, side items, and desserts had dishes hard not to love and appreciate. Golden Blossom Buffett was one of San Francisco's most popular restaurants mostly because of its scrumptious food, the specials, and even better, the cheap prices.

"Get on The Coaster Supreme wit' us an' we'll cover ya the next time we go," came Cobra's offer as he pointed to himself and Ice. "Separately."

"Say what?" Ice asked with a raised eyebrow.

DJ pointed to both Cobra and Ice with a doubtful expression and Cobra nodded. "You heard. That's two free all-you-can-eat tickets fully paid from me an' Ice," the adolescent's smirk grew as he watched the interest develop on DJ's face. "You in?"

Ice jerked his head to Cobra with a quick shake of his head. "Wait hol' on. I ain't agree ta this!"

DJ eagerly snatched the 40 dollars each from Ice's and Cobra's hands and stuffed it into his pocket. The big man grinned from ear to ear and gave a confident nod to his friends.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Cobra happily fist pumped and was the first to dash off to join the line.

"Yo, that's some bullshit!" Ice yelled after Cobra, but Cobra was far out of earshot to hear. The blond then frowned and crossed his arms with a stubborn pout as he begrudgingly followed after his companion. A part of Ice was happy that his friend agreed to ride The Coaster Supreme with him and Cobra, but he wasn't happy at Cobra's last-minute deal with DJ. The quiet man had a near bottomless stomach that could put away almost anything, meaning Ice's wallet would take a huge hit.

DJ softly rubbed his stomach as he walked beside Ice to join the line. He could already taste the fresh smell of sashimi, pad thai, sesame chicken, and wonton steaming hot and ready in their trays, ready to be picked and eaten. To DJ, the smells and tastes of the foods were prominent in his mouth just thinking about it now. Food tastes better when you're not the one paying for it. Knowing this got a small chuckle out of DJ.

Ice heard DJ's small laugh and looked up to see the dreamy expression on his face. "Whatchu laughin' at?" the blond moped.

1:19 PM JT/Japan Time, Narita, Japan

Darek groggily awakened to the PA talking overhead and the sounds of movements and rustling from other passengers around him. He narrowed his eyes in his confusion as he lightly sat up in bed and looked around his seat. The lights above him was blindsiding, making it hard for him to fully open his eyes without feeling pain.

"[... fe to stand. Please use caution when opening the overhead compartments and removing items, since articles may have shifted during the flight. We will be using stairs for deplaning today. Please watch your step. Thank you]," the PA announced in Japanese.

"When'd I fall asleep?" Darek murmured and looked down at his watch which read 9:10 PM. He turned to his window to see the day looking bright with the sunlight poking in and out of the clouds. Darek then looked to his watch again. "Ah yeah, this is Pacific Standard. Should've synced my watch before the flight," he grumbled and let out a stretch.

At this time, the passengers in the business class in his column already had their belongings in hand and were leaving the plane in a single file line by their assigned rows. Damn, need to get my things, Darek thought as he threw his cover aside and got up from his seat to grab his bags from the overhead shelf. He managed to sleep so well that his whole body felt groggy, sluggish, and a bit off-balance. Still, Darek managed to fight off the sleepy feeling as he got in line with his luggage and left the plane.

As soon as Darek reached the top of the stairs, he was abruptly greeted by the bright lights of the connecting corridor. He put on his hoodie and pulled the drawstrings together so his hood would cover his eyes. He walked through the long jetway to the open arrival lobby of the Narita International Airport, NRT in brief. To Darek, SFO looked bigger than Narita's terminal, but it was hard for him to be able to tell the size difference with his eye alone. The atmosphere was calm and tidy; there was hardly a piece of trash or dirt on the floor. The terminal was full of busy people moving to and from their destinations with their luggage in grasp. Some were by the baggage reclaim area to Darek's right where passengers waited for their belongings to pass by on a conveyor belt. Since his final connecting flight and destination was Hong Kong, Darek didn't have to reclaim his luggage there.

Darek turned right into one of the main hallways and found there were many shops, boutiques, lounges, and restaurants set up for people to eat, shop, and/or rest. There were ramen restaurants, Chinese restaurants, fast food areas, cafes, Italian, and even some bars. The aroma of the food lightly tickled his nose and made his stomach lightly rumble. The only thing Darek had eaten was airplane snacks like pretzels and honey-roasted peanuts, and that was hours ago. The shops sold all kinds of products from toys, books, electrical products, and more. He even noticed some shops had decorated their exterior with red lit-up lanterns and Japanese writing on banners that he guessed something along the lines of 'Happy Lunar New Year'. Darek let out a tired sigh because seeing the shops reminded him that he still had to buy and bring some gifts for his family. It was one of the traditions he made sure to remember or his aunts and uncles would've been upset with him.

"Sey'll help me," Darek said as he pulled out his cell phone, quickly dialed his uncle's number, and held his phone to his ear.

The line rang five times, then Seymour finally answered. "Yeah?"

"You're not in Hong Kong now, are you?"

"I'm in Narita. I was here for over 16 hours because of an overnight layover," Seymour replied. "My last flight's in two hours."

Darek blinked in surprise hearing his uncle's earlier response. "You said Narita, like the airport?"

"No, like the album," Seymour cynically answered. "Yeah, the airport. What about it?"

Darek cautiously took some steps forward and looked left, right, and behind himself for any sign of his uncle. He stopped with a frown, as he then realized it was a futile effort. There were too many passersby around for him to get a solid eye on where to look. "My plane just landed here a few minutes ago."

"Really? Here?" Seymour asked in his disbelief. He instinctively looked around where he sat just in case his nephew was somehow around him. "Okay well, where are you?"

Darek looked around where he walked with an uneasy look and shook his head. "Er, I really dunno."

"Just look around and tell me what you see!"

"That's what I'm doing!" Darek snapped back and turned his head to look for some distinct markers to call out. "I'm in the arrival lobby and I had passed a baggage area back there. From where I'm walking, I see a McDonald's on my right and Starbucks on my left. There's an ATM attached to the wall on the right side of the McDonald's."

As Darek spoke, Seymour couldn't help leaning forward to poke his neck out to see the corridor. At the same time, he leaned back in his seat so he could get a good look at what was behind him as well, doing his best to keep watch for the passersby. "Yeah, I think I know where you are."

"You see me?"

"No, not yet. Just keep walking down that hall and I'll keep a lookout for you. I'm sitting on a blue bench between a ramen restaurant that says Nagase Ramen and a convenience store with a big white Hello Kitty in front."

"Alright, I'm coming," Darek said and hung up. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and started walking faster.

Darek couldn't help finding it a bit strange to be in the same terminal at the same time with his uncle. It almost seemed a little too deliberate to be just a coincidence. However, in the long run, this wasn't a real big deal. At least it's not Uncle Zuo or Chang, Darek thought with an awkward wince. As the oldest members of his family, Darek felt his connections to them were out of touch. This was opposite to Uncle Seymour, whom Darek felt comfortable as he was able to be himself with him.

The Asian looked down at his ticket at the time of his departure: 12:10 AM in Pacific Standard Time. "In this time zone, that's 4:10 PM," Darek said, giving himself a moment to calculate the time differences. In the three hours between now and his departure to Hong Kong, Darek didn't have much to do. He would've preferred to wait to see his uncle in Hong Kong, but a few hours before then couldn't hurt.

Darek's eyes narrowed when he saw a familiar dark head of hair in the distance. He couldn't see the person's face because their back person's back was facing him, but he could tell by the person's size and distinctive spiky hair that it was uncle Seymour. "Bingo," Darek said as he picked up his walk to get behind his uncle. "Looking for you was like tryna find a needle in a haystack, Sey," Darek said jokingly and flicked him in the ear.

"Ow!" a child's voice yelped and whipped his head around to face Darek.

Darek's smirk crashed upon seeing the face to the head of dark hair did not belong to Uncle Seymour, but instead, a small Japanese child who looked no older than 10 years old. "Shit!" he sharply cursed with shock in his eyes. Pleasedon'tcry pleasedon'tcry pleasedon'tcry, Darek silently prayed as he and the kid locked eyes.

It was a slow-motioned bit as the child's lips morphed into a deep frown, then he opened his mouth to let out a soft wail. When he put his hand to hold his pained ear, his cries got louder. Darek could feel himself begin to panic as the wailing bystanders around began turning to look at the source of the noise in their curiosity.

The boy's mother was sitting beside her son, but her back had been turned to him because she was talking on the phone. When she first heard crying, she put her phone away and fully turned her body to face him. Her brows furrowed in confusion when she saw the tears pooling in his eyes and his nose slightly dripping. "[What's wrong?]" she asked, then looked at the alarmed Darek.

"[Uh, sorry, sorry!]" Darek profusely apologized and bowed to the mother and son.

"[The weird man flicked my ear!]" the kid loudly blubbered and buried his face in his mom's arm.

"I thought he was someone else!" Darek sputtered in English.

"[How rude!]" the mom got up out of her seat to wag her finger at him. "[Just who do you think you are, hunh?!]"

"I said [sorry], damn!" Darek repeated the word in Japanese with his hands held up. With the bawling kid, angry mother, and no common language for any of them to properly communicate in, the overall conversation was quickly becoming a pain in Darek's ass.

"[You shou-]" the woman exclaimed with a raise of her hand. Before she could bring it down, she held someone grab her arm. "[Eh?]" the lady called out.

"[I am so so sorry miss!]" Seymour earnestly explained as his right hand held steadily on the woman's wrist. He quickly slid in between her and his nephew and deeply bowed to her. "[My young nephew has a bad habit of pulling dumb American pranks,]" the man said with a dismissive wave towards his nephew. Seymour then pulled out a box of gummies from his pockets and held it out towards the crying kid with both hands. "[Please accept my apology on his behalf.]"

"[Candy!]" the boy excitedly called out. His tears were quickly forgotten as he snatched the box from Seymour and began eating them.

The kid's mother was caught in her next words as she looked at her son, whose face was content because of the delicious candy. She could feel herself becoming calm knowing her son was okay. It helped that the apologetic Seymour could converse in her language. To her, yelling at Darek to get him to apologize to her son was the same as talking to a wall. The mom glared up at Darek and he indifferently rolled his eyes and looked away from her. She then looked to Seymour and took a moment to look him up and down. He wore a casual, turquoise, short-sleeved button-down, khaki pants, and dark red sneakers. He had dark hair and pale skin. His hair had three spikes in the front and a grown-out undercut around the sides of his head. It was a style similar to her son's so she now could see how the nephew got confused. Seymour had bushy thick eyebrows and a short goatee under his lip and chin. The man had deep brown eyes and low cheekbones that stood out as he gave her an alluring smile.

"[I, um... ]" the woman couldn't help smiling back at Seymour and moved a strand of her hair from her face.

Darek crossed his arms and rolled his eyes with a bored and heavy sigh. "Here we go... " He could tell just by observing the eye contact between Seymour and the woman that his uncle was subtly flirting with her as a way to deescalate the situation. The beaming look on the lady's lips said the plan was working.

"[You didn't have to do that, but thanks anyway,]" she said as she bowed to Seymour in return. She gently patted her son on his back to catch his attention. "[Koshiro, what do you say to the polite man?]"

"[Thank you, sir!]" a cheery Koshiro said and bowed his head with a smile to him.

"[Don't mention it,]" Seymour said with a wink. The mom giggled and gave him a shy wave as she took her son's free hand to get their things and walk away.

"Since when the fuck did you become fluent in Japanese?" Darek asked with a curious brow.

"I'm not fluent, just conversational. I picked up a lot from Do whenever I was in Japan," Seymour replied with a simple shrug.

"Well, what were you saying? Were you trying to hook up with her?"

"I apologized and told her to forgive you for being such a dumbass."

"{Dick,}" Darek grumbled and punched his uncle's shoulder. In the distance, Koshiro was walking with his mother when he turned around to look Darek in the eye. The child then pulled his eyelid down with his middle finger and stuck out his tongue at them. Darek shot a scowl back at him, startling Koshiro into burying his face in his mother's leg and holding onto her tightly. "Whiny little bastard," he growled.

Seymour threw back his head to laugh. "{Can't believe you flicked that poor kid thinking he was me! He looks nothing like me!}"

"Wait, {you saw me?}" Darek demanded and grabbed his uncle by his shirt. "And you just stood there?"

"I was sitting between Nagase Ramen and the convenience store like I told you!" Seymour argued and pointed to the restaurant that was a few yards away from where they stood.

Darek's eyes followed the direction of his uncle's finger with narrowed eyes to the flashing neon purple-colored sign that said Nagase Ramen. He then looked across the hallway to the convenience store on the right, where a large Hello Kitty figure sat outside the store's entrance. "Oh... " he quietly said. If only Darek had walked a little further, he would've reached where his uncle once sat.

"Maybe if you'd listened, you wouldn't have been in that situation," Seymour airily said and crossed his arms. "{You should be thanking me.}"

Darek's lips curled into a sneer. "You're lucky we're in public, otherwise I'd be kicking your ass right about now."

"{Whatever, dumbass,}" Seymour said and smacked Darek upside his head. The latter returned the favor by backhanding Seymour by his ear. "Hey!" he cried out as he stumbled to the side. He regained his balance and scowled at Darek, who gave him a wide and smug smirk. "{Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you can smack me around! I'm your elder, remember?}" Seymour scolded. He was 5'7 while his nephew stood tall at 6'0. The obvious height difference allowed Darek to be able to get rough with his elder, much to Seymour's dislike.

"My elder? Ha!" Darek chortled. "You're like, five or six years older than me, unc. Chill."

"Five years and eight months," Seymour pompously corrected with a finger. "{If I was Bao or Zuo, you wouldn't do that.}"

"Yeah, I wouldn't. But you're not them. And you're short."

"{Asshole.}"

"{Bitch.}"

"{Fuckhead.}"

"Whatever," Darek casually shrugged. He turned his attention to look at the restaurant where the light smells of the appetizing ramen graced his nose, causing Darek's stomach to unconsciously rumble.

Seymour heard the subtle stomach rumbles and raised a curious eyebrow towards his nephew. "{You hungry?}"

"Sorta. S'been hours since I've eaten a solid meal," Darek replied as he rubbed his belly.

Seymour pointed to Nagase Ramen. "{You wanna get some food? I got time.}"

Darek nodded. "{Ramen sounds good.}"

A/N: [Japanese], {Mandarin}

Surprise :D Seymour Wu's official introduction as the first of Darek's extended family! As you can see, Darek and Seymour have a very brother/brother vibe in their nephew/uncle relationship. They are close in age and have their arguments and fights, but they're able to get along too.

My plan for this chapter was to add a scene of Darek and Seymour eating together and talking, but I moved it to the next chapter because I'd be adding too much and I'd get tired out. But I can confidently say there will be some juicy bits between them in the next chapter. Stay tuned!

I also wanted to write that this summer marks 10 years since I rediscovered Jackie Chan Adventures and officially became a JCA fan! Time flies when you're obsessed with a TV show that ran for 5 years over a decade ago! I'm not ashamed of it c;