"Are you're sure he's fine with this?" Rey asks, re-adjusting the strap on their bag as they look up at the old dojo Chen and Jade had been using for months now.
"Of course! C'mon Rey, we already went over this." Chen sighs, wrapping an arm around Rey's shoulders to try and reassure them. "Plus I think Jade's actually been looking forward to this." That was a lie, since it was... kind of hard to figure out what Jade was thinking, especially when he puts on his "poker face", but Rey didn't need to know that.
But hearing those words seemed to do the trick, for Rey perked up a bit. "Alright- let's do it then."

"That's the spirit!" With that, Chen lead the nervous Rey inside, not noticing a smaller figure trailing behind them.

"Hey Jade! Ya here?" Chen calls out, letting go of Rey as he leads them inside. Rey trails behind quietly, looking around curiously as they clutch their satchel. The space was nice and tidy today, meaning Jade had actually taken Chen's advice and cleaned the place regularly.
The young demon walks into another room, leaving Rey to look around in the main room. As they walk around, they trip over a part of carpet sticking up. They yelp as they fall to the ground, their bag flying from their grasp and the contents inside spilling out. As Rey gets back to their feet they rub their head, opening their eyes to look around.
But everything was blurry. Their glasses had fallen off.
A bit panicked and embarrassed, Rey scrambles around to find their glasses.

They're surprised when someone taps their shoulder, whirling around to see a blurry figure holding something that vaguely resembled their glasses. "Oh- thank you-" Rey says, reaching out to grab them and put them on. Looking up they expected to see Chen. What they hadn't expected to see was a pair of bright red eyes looking down at them.

"Hello there. Uh... these must be yours?" Jade asks, holding out Rey's bag and the book that had been inside it moments before. Rey's cheeks turn pink from embarrassment, getting to their feet as they brush the dust off their clothes. "O-oh um- y-yeah, those are mine." They mumble, taking back their bag and the book from the snake demon. "You must be Jade?"
"Ah ha- yes, that's me. It's nice to officially meet you, Rey." He glances down at the bands on Rey's wrist before his eyes wandered to the book in their hands. "That looks intriguing... Mind if I ask what it's about?" He asks, gesturing to the book.
Rey's eyes light up excitedly. They figured it was just to start a conversation and make things less awkward, but they didn't mind. But by sage they'd never miss an opportunity to talk about one of their favourite stories.

"Oh! It's one of my favourite books, actually! It follows the story of a protagonist who had been raised in a cult, and upon realising that the cult is actually evil she goes on a journey of self discovery and adventure and-"
As Rey info dumped on their favourite subject, Jade listens intently,nodding along as he's drawn into the story. Neither notice Chen walking back into the room, having heard Rey talking to someone.

"-it's an amazing plot, ugh! I just can't get over it- oh sorry, was I talking too much?" Rey asks, suddenly going quiet upon realising they hadn'tstoppedtalking like they'd intended. Chen was even standing next to the doorway, looking quite smug with himself, which only made themmoreself conscious about their ranting. But Jade was just standing there, listening.
Jade shakes his head. "Oh no, it's alright! It's actually quite an intriguing story- you wouldn't mind if I borrowed it, would you?" He asks. This news made Rey grin from ear to ear. "Oh of course you can!"

As Rey and Jade chatted, Chen decides to go into the next room. He knew Jade and Rey would get along.

As he starts putting some mats and objects back where they belonged, something creaks shut behind him. His ears flick to attention, immediately looking around for the source of the noise. He could still hear Jade and Rey talking in the next room, so it definitely wasn't them.
Now I'm edge Chen's eyes narrow as he looks around. He does a double take when he notices a cupboard door he specifically remembers opening moments ago to put things away was now shut.
Without a moments hesitation Chen darts toward the cupboard and yanks it open, not giving anyone inside a chance to react. There's a small scream of surprise and fear from the child hidden inside, the bull demon taken aback by the sight before him. "Érzi?!"

Érzi looks up at Chen with wide eyes, face pale at the realisation he'd been caught. "Uh- hi, Chen. Funny meeting you here?" He laughs sheepishly, giving a guilty smile as he stands up.
Chen was still a little taken aback, wondering how on earth Érzi had managed to sneak in here without anyone noticing. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Jade's voice blurt out from behind him. "Uh- who is that?"

The bull demon turns to see Jade and Rey standing in the doorway, watching as Érzi climbs out of the cupboard. Chen clears his throat. "This is Érzi- we've been babysitting him at the shop, where he'ssupposedto be right now." He explains, giving Érzi a stern look. Érzi looks away sheepishly, scratching his neck. "Sorry, I was bored-"

"What? No no no no- that's akid! Do you realise how NON secretive kids are?!" Jade says, starting to pace the room. Chen watches on as Jade starts to mumble to himself, certainly not expecting this paranoid behaviour.
"Woah woah, chill- it's gonna be fine Jade." Chen tries to reassure, but Jade shakes his head. "It won't be "fine"! You have no idea what's at stake here Chen! Especially since he's-"

"Oh for sage's sake Jade! He's twelve, not five! If we justexplainyour situation he'll understand!" Chen snapped, getting fed up with the snake demons behaviour. The snake demon stops his pacing and as he turned to Chen he swore he saw a hint of... anger? But it was gone before the bull demon had time to process it. Jade inhales slowly, his tail twitching slightly as he thinks for a moment. "Alright, alright- you're right. He's not..." he glances down at Érzi, who was staring at Jade in stunned silence, looking like he'd been caught red-handed. "Sorry, I just... don't do little kids." he says, clearing his throat and looking away.

"Yeah, we can tell."

Chen mutters, kneeling down in front of Érzi with a reassuring smile. "Sorry about that. He does get a little uh... weird, at times." The bull demon explains, glancing at Jade out of the corner of his eye. The snake demon had gone into the next room, Rey glancing between Chen and Jade with a "what just happened" expression.
"Uh...okay... who's that? And what's his deal?" Érzi asks, snapping out of his shock and was now staring at the doorway in absolute bewilderment and unease. Chen couldn't exactly blame him. "That's Jade, he's my friend and my mentor."
"I thought Monkey King was your mentor?"

Chen chuckles, standing back up. "Oh he is, he is. It's just... he wasn't teaching me things I wanted to learn, so I kinda started taking lessons from Jade over here behind his back." He reveals, which causes Érzi to gasp dramatically. "You've been doing it behind his back?! Why didn't you tell him?!"
"That's the thing- Jade's kinda "on the run" from Monkey King because of a stupid thing years ago. Nobody other than Rey and I know he's here, and now you do to. So you have to promise not to tell anyone about Jade, okay?" Chen asks seriously. Érzi squints suspiciously, glancing to the doorway Jade had disappeared through a few minutes prior. "Okay..." he says slowly, fiddling with his shirt as he was deep in thought. Chen grins, patting Érzi on the shoulder. "Atta boy! I think Jade's had enough for today- do you wanna head back to the Noodle shop?"
"Very much." Érzi says with a hint of relief. The bull demon nods, turning to Rey. "You coming too?" Rey nods, taking still holding their book in hand. "Yeah sure- can you just gimme a sec?"
"Sure thing. Hey Jade! We're going home now!" Chen calls out. The trio waited in silence for a reply but there was none, which didn't really surprise Chen. Especially after the outburst he just had.

He's a threat, Jade Warrior.

Jade shook his head, as if to try and get rid of the voices. "I know I know- but he's just a kid. He's harmless."

Undoubtedly, but you know that'snotwho we're concerned about. Do you really want our Lady's hard work to go to waste? If he gets a whiff that our Lady is back, he'll be gone before you and I can say "for sage's sake". Our Lady already has the Spider Queen wrapped around her finger. Don't mess this up for her, Jade Warrior. You and I know what happens to those who disappoint our Lady.

Jade sighs, his shoulders slumping at the realisation that he'll definitely need to work harder from now on. "I understand, Chief. I'll keep close tabs on him too."

Good. It better stay like that, Jade Warrior.

"Hey, Jade?"

Jade looks up at the doorway where Rey stood. The snake demon sat cross-legged on his mat, seemingly meditating. The dragon steps inside as Jade gets to his feet. "Hey, kiddo. Sorry about earlier- I was just, um-" Jade pauses, trying to come up with an explanation. But Rey shakes their head, not needing one. "No no, it's, uh fine. I mean with your history it's kind of understandable? Anyway I was just here to give you the book to borrow- you can just drop it off or wait till my next visit when you're finished reading it." Rey explains with a smile. "Chen, Érzi and I are gonna go back to Pigsy's for the day."

"Oh, uh- thanks. I appreciate that." Jade replies awkwardly, taking the book. He looks down at the cover as Rey leaves. Even after that little outburst they were still gonna come back?

...

Man he doesn't understand these kids.

After dropping Rey off at the library and back at Pigsy's Noodles, Érzi rushes inside to see if MK and Mei were still around, Chen following along behind. Upon entering, the bull demon notices that the only ones present were Tang, Pigsy and Sandy. No sign of MK and Mei, meaning they must've gone to the arcade.

"Hey Mr. Pigsy and Mr. Tangy!" Érzi greets as he sits down on a stool. Chen goes to the kitchen to make the boy a bowl of noodles, leaving the boy with the adults.
"Good evening, Érzi! I was wondering where you ran off to."
"It's good to see you back Érzi. I thought you went with MK and Mei?" Pigsy asks, to which the boy shook his head and explained that he had spent the day with Chen and Rey. What they did, he didn't elaborate. As Érzi waits for Mk and Mei to return Sandy, the gentle blue giant he is, turns to greet the small boy.
"Hello there young one! You must be Érzi! Pigsy and Tangy here told me all about you!" Sandy greets with a bright smile, putting his cup of tea down to shake the young boys hand. "The name's Sandy!"

Érzi swivels his chair to face Sandy curiously, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you sir!" Sandy chuckles at the boys politeness as Chen comes back in with Érzi's meal. "Like wise!"
Chen places the bowl down in front of Érzi, sitting on the other side of him as Sandy, Pigsy and Tang start to chat again (mostly chat, Pigsy and Tang were bickering like an old married couple). "So did you want to do anything else today? Maybe go to the arcade and see if MK and Mei are there?" Chen asks. While stuffing his face with noodles Érzi nods eagerly, getting excited at the thought of going to the arcade. If he had a tail, Chen could've sworn it'd be wagging right now.
"Alright then, finish your noodles and we'll get going." he says. It was probably better than making the boy stay here all day.
When Érzi finishes his noodles in surprisingly record time, the duo leave the noodle shop and decide to walk to the arcade. Érzi rushes ahead, not seeming to care about the dangers as he was too excited to get to the arcade to see MK and Mei. Chen rolls his eyes, trying to quicken his pace. "Slow down buddy, you're gonna fall over or something-"

A car speeds pass Chen, freaking the bull demon out as it whizzes by over the speed limit. He whips his head toward Érzi's direction, realising that the car was swerving towards the boy running on the sidewalk.

"ÉRZI!"
His heart stops as Érzi freezes in place, everything moving in slow motion as he sees the car coming right at him. Chen didn't even think as he lunges forward, using his powers to boost his speed. He grabs Érzi and pulls him close to protect him as he shields him from harm, intending to take the brunt of the impact.
Everything went black for a moment before they hit the pavement, a few feet away from where the car almost hit Érzi.

Chen's heart was pounding as he sat up, still clinging onto Érzi as he looks around in a daze. How did they...?

He shoves the thought aside as he grabs Érzi's shoulders at pushes him back to look at him and make sure he wasn't hurt. "Érzi? Are you okay buddy?" he asks, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice as he checks the boy over. Érzi was quiet, staring off into space for a minute. His face was pale, and it looked like the boy was about to cry. "W-we almost died-"

"OH MY SAGE ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?!" A voice yells.. Chen looks up to see a young man get out of the car that almost hit them, panicky himself. "I'm so sorry! I was in a rush and i got distracted when I got a text- oh sage-"

Chen scowls, ears flattening in anger as he lets Érzi go and gets to his feet, marching angrily over to the man. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING CRAB BRAIN! YOU ALMOST KILLED US!" He screams, adrenaline high as he grabs the man and shoves him back. He didn't care that passerby's were staring, having stopped whatever they were doing to see what all the commotion was. The man was still trying to apologise but Chen was having none of it. "What are you?! Some brainless chicken?! There's a reason there are laws! What do you think would've happened if I hadn't reacted fast enough?! You selfish, fish-brained piece of-"

"Ow! Hey let go of me man!" The man yelled, trying to get Chen to let go. The bull demon was about to hold onto his jacket tighter, not wanting him to get away when he noticed something. The jacket in his hands hadsmokecoming off of it. He quickly let go and the man scrambled back, his jacket singed and burned. And Chen's hands were glowing a bright neon green.
He and the crowd that had formed were stunned, the bull demon looking down at his hands in shock.What was happening to his hands?

"Ch-Chen?"

Chen looks back to Érzi, seeing the boy was still sitting in a ball on the ground, shaking like a leaf. "I-I think I want to go back to the Noodle shop now..." He says quietly. Chen's rage immediately turns to guilt and concern for the boy. Shooting a scowl at the driver he turns back to Érzi, his hands going back to normal within seconds as his rage disappears. He helps the boy to his feet, leading him through the crowd back to Pigsy's Noodles. To try and calm the boy down until they got there, he drapes his red jacket over Érzi.

It didn't take them long to get back, and as soon as they stepped through the door Pigsy was the first to notice. "You're back early- are you kids okay?" he asks, looking over the two boys. Chen nods, leading the silent Érzi to one of the tables. "Yeah, we're okay. But we almost got hit by a car." he explains briefly, turning back to the boy to ask if he wanted some noodles, but Érzi merely shook his head.
Pigsy, however, immediately flew into a rage at this news. "WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE ALMOST HIT BY A CAR?! WHAT WAS THAT BIRD BRAIN DRIVER DOING?!' he screamed. Érzi quickly covers his ears, and upon seeing this Tang puts a hand on Pigsy's shoulder. "Calm down, Pigsy. You're scaring the boy."

Pigsy scowls but listens, grumbling curses under his breath. Chen puts on an episode of Monkey King: The Animated Series before going into the kitchen to talk to Pigsy. Sandy, who was still seated at the counter drinking his tea, gets up and walks over to Érzi, setting a new hot cup of tea in front of the boy as he sits down to keep him company. "Here you go little guy- it'll help calm your nerves." he says with a gentle smile.
Érzi shakes his head, pulling Chen's jacket up to cover his head. "N-no thank you. I don't like tea..." he says quietly. Sandy smiles. "Oh that's alright! How about I make you a cup of hot cocoa instead?"
At this the boy pauses, staring at the phone screen for a moment before slowly nodding. "Okay..."

"Alright! Be right back little buddy!" Sandy says light heartedly, leaving Érzi alone to watch his animated series.
Érzi could hear Pigsy, Tang and Chen talking in the kitchen, the fathers concerned about Chen's safety and scolding him for his careless actions. But he could tell that they were relieved that the both of them were okay.

Érzi wraps the jacket tighter around himself, shaking even more at the realisation he really could've died. But Chen had risked his life to save him. Of course, the bull demon probably hadn't seen the portal that appeared underneath them right as the car was about to hit them, but he still threw his life away for him.
The boy was grateful he was still alive.

"Here you go, little buddy! A nice cup of hot cocoa to make you feel better!" Sandy says, putting the cup down in front of Érzi. The boy takes it, trying to steady his shaky hands as he takes a sip of the hot drink. "Thank you..."
"Any time!" Sandy says cheerily. Mo, who'd been sleeping on Sandy's shoulder, hops down and curls up next to Érzi to keep him company.

A/N: A short boring chapter this time oof god DAMN why is everything I'm writing sounding robotic?
Also fun fact the second part wasn't scripted and that was more fun to write, so... just giving that boy a little trauma and a fear of death!