The Girl with the Dragon Tongue, Chapter Two

[lonewolfprincess]

Dojo landed in the temple courtyard, and thankfully Master Fung was already waiting for them.

“Welcome back, my warriors,” he greeted calmly. “I take it you have found the Crescent Fang?”

The twitches in his face… he probably knew by now from their own expressions that they… hadn’t exactly. But of course he needed to hear it from them.

“I…” Raimundo took a deep breath. He needed to take responsibility. “We have the Fang, but uh…”

Dojo sprang forward through the air like a party popper and grabbed Master Fung’s vest.

“It’s the Sun and Moon Dragons! We found them, and the Moon Dragon’s bonded to the Fang!”

Master Fung’s eyes widened, but the Xiaolin Dragons… their jaws dropped and their eyes bugged out.

“WHAAAAAAT?!” The four screamed in unison, loud enough for the mountain range to echo.

“Tori and Mia are Dragons?!”

“Dragon Dragons?!”

“With Elements a-and a world-savin’ destiny and everything?!”

“But-but I thought we were the only Chosen Ones! Why did we not learn of this sooner?!”

The four ran over to Dojo and yelled as one, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US IN THE PARK?!”

Dojo slid behind Master Fung to hide! “We were kind of in the middle of something! I-I thought we’d have time afterwards!”

The monks… sighed, yeah, okay, he had a point.

“But why not before?” Omi asked. “Why did they not come to the Temple when we first began our quest?”

Master Fung sighed. “It is… complicated. And involves a prophecy I may not share in full yet—”

“What?!” Raimundo protested. “Why not?”

“Yes, I would like to know this prophecy as well!”

Master Fung hit them all with a glare, and the rowdy monks froze in place. A deep breath…

“As I said, I cannot share all the details yet… But I promise, you will all learn in time.” He gave them a small but solemn bow. “I ask you to trust me, my students.”

The Dragons looked at each other. Yeah, it was a shock, and kind of stung a little that Master Fung would sit on this much important information, but… they remembered all the ways he led them before, how he always did his best to steer them in the right direction, or to let them make mistakes until they could find it themselves. Raimundo especially remembered the one time he didn’t trust the old monk’s wisdom, too scared to lose him.

The four of them bowed back.

“Yes, Master…”

Master Fung relaxed. Hopefully his Dragons wouldn’t need to wait for long. But for now…

“I can tell you this much at least: the Dragons of the Sun and the Moon would not have revealed themselves without your presence. Instead of direct control over the celestial bodies, their powers primarily lie in the manipulation of Yang and Yin, and the augmentation of the powers of those they consider allies: the Sun through amplification, the Moon through focus.”

Dojo nodded eagerly. “Yeah, they already unlocked the Dragon Y Shengqi Formation by accident! And the Sun has the Sight of Hou Yi, and Moon has the Dragon’s Tongue!”

Master Fung raised a brow. “Really? Hm… the scrolls did say they would be more adept with the mystic arts.”

“So… we found them because we were destined to find them?” Omi asked hesitantly, hopefully.

The old monk smiled gently at his monks. “Precisely.”

Raimundo, Omi, and Kimiko looked at each other, relaxing ever so slightly.

“That’s a relief…” Kimiko sighed, “that we didn’t drag them into danger for no reason.”

Clay, on the other hand, pulled his hat further down over his face.

“I don’t know how much destiny’s gonna help, Master Fung… Bonding with the Crescent Fang scared the daylights out of Mia, and… they both kinda hate us now...”

Mia hates me now…

Master Fung laid a hand on the Earth Dragon’s shoulder. It wasn’t often that the steady, humble warrior needed his guidance, not unless the whole group did, but he could surely use it now.

“‘Not even the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger.’ It is possible that they regret their words as well. Patience and wisdom have always been your greatest strengths, Clay; hold fast to them.”

A spark of hope lit in Clay’s chest, but… he was scared to breathe on it, turn it into a flame that could burn him easily if he was wrong.

He sighed. “I don’t feel very wise right now… Didn’t exactly display that wisdom back there, neither, when they needed it most. I feel like a right idiot…”




“I am such an idiot!”

Mia screamed at the sky as she and Tori walked the city streets, flashlights in hand. She’d spent most of the afternoon and evening listless in bed, but now that the rain had stopped and the clouds had parted enough to reveal scraps of the summer dusk sky and glimpses of the waxing gibbous moon, she felt angry, restless, needing to burn away the adrenaline. Portland wasn’t exactly perfectly safe to wander at night, but Tori especially wasn’t going to let her go off on her own after a day like that.

“Sure! Great! I meet the first people outside of our family who’ve ever accepted the animal speech thing and made me feel good about myself- including a cute guy and a real dragon- and what do I do? I screw up their getting the dagger, turn into a werewolf, and tell them to get lost!” She gripped her head and growled. “What is wrong with me?!”

“Well…” Tori started slowly, taking a sip of her thermos of chai tea, “touching a magic dagger that turns you into a werewolf for life isn’t exactly a normal Friday. I would have freaked out too. Heck, I was freaked out at first.”

“You still handled it better than I did. Would have, if it was the other way around.” Mia growled to the ground, furious at her own temper ruining things… again.

“Mm… I dunno, I could’ve done better too.” She’d let her own temperament and protectiveness get the better of her, after all… “And if it was me, I probably would’ve cried a lot more. And you probably would’ve still done most of the yelling.”

Tori immediately regretted that as Mia’s face fell again.

“N-not in a bad way! You’d be protecting me!” Her voice softened as she squeezed her sister’s shoulder. “And… I think you were protecting yourself back there too. Having people love you unconditionally was kind of a non-concept for the first decade of your life.” Her smile turned soft, lending Mia comfort to weather through the remembrance that darkened her face. “And that’s still kind of scary, isn’t it, letting other people in? Especially when it’s for something as big as ‘oh hey, guess I’m a werewolf now’!”

Mia slowly nodded, unable to look her sister in the face. “Especially when it’s my fault.” Both hands ran up her face through her bangs. “I was so caught up playing hero and paying back a debt that I ruined everything for them. And for me. And you…” She finally looked Tori in the eye, face crestfallen. “You could’ve been hurt, when I transformed, or before… I—”

“Hey.” Tori stepped in front of her and placed both hands firmly on Mia’s shoulders. “We both rushed into this. I was so excited about that Fool card pull and meeting other magic people and one of them being a really, really hot girl- pun unintended- that I begged them to take me along. I would’ve gotten mixed up without you.” Her smile faltered a bit… “I’m surprised you don’t blame me more—Eek!”

Tori was cut off by Mia throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace.

“Of course I don’t.” She pulled back just enough to look Tori in the eye, face sincere, set in stone. “You’re my sister. Even if you’d gotten mixed up in this alone, I would’ve run after you.” A faint trace of a smile, the first in hours. “We protect each other.”

Tori’s smile bloomed too, even as her eyes watered, and she returned the hug with all her strength.

“Oh, Mia…”

The two of them held the hug for a few, good, long seconds...

“How touching.”

An oily voice rose up from the alley they were standing in front of. This wasn’t just some random creep on the street either… His eyes caught an amber glow as he stepped out into the light, clad in a tailored dark brown suit and black tie, and Mia’s newly enhanced vision caught a dozen cat-eye shines hiding in the dark… from eyes too large and pupils too round to belong to housecats. And there was something else in his voice that made the hairs on the back of Mia’s neck stand up even straighter than they already were. Like the echoes of dozens of pained, vengeful, corrupting ghosts clinging to his soul…

Mia’s grip on Tori tightened. “Tori, don’t look.” And she threw a growling glare at the interloper. “What are you?”

Despite herself, Tori blinked… and then opened her eyes in shock, face draining of color and fighting with all her strength not to hurl.

He merely smiled and chuckled calmly. “Well, that’s rather rude, isn’t it? Don’t you mean ‘who,’ young lady?”

Mia opened her mouth to unleash a fierce, draconic hiss. “No, I don’t! What the heck are you, you creep?!”

The “man” blinked back in surprise, or… maybe just fake surprise… and then let out a hearty laugh.

“I see! I wasn’t expecting to meet a speaker of the Dragon’s Tongue tonight.” He gave her a light, sardonic bow. “The rumors did not do you justice…”

Both of them shivered in disgust at the line, and Mia held out her flashlight- medium heft and very bright- like a club while Tori, still quaking, followed suit.

“The rumors are gonna include ‘clocked a creepazoid with a cursed voice in the head with a flashlight’ if you don’t back off!”

“Ah, the bravado of youth…” The “man” chuckled and gave them another light bend at the waist. “Very well, I will get to the point. I am Chase Young, a master of the martial arts. And I have an offer to grant the two of you.”

“Psh, yeah, no…” Mia fought to turn her rage- and fear, more than a good bit of fear- into dry, flat sarcasm. “Unless it’s getting to play keyboard for Metallica, not interested. Get lost, and take the pride of big cats with you.”

Tori, meanwhile, was busy trying to drag her sister away from this encounter as fast as possible.

“Come on, let’s go, let’s go!”

“Oh?” Chase smirked at the girls’ backs as they tried to retreat. “Not even freedom from the Crescent Fang?”

The two of them stopped in their tracks… How long had this creep been following them?

Tori looked to Mia in fear she might turn around, but the taller girl shook her head, forcing herself to not look back.

“No thanks, already got somebody working on it.” She waved a hand goodbye, prepared to turn it into a much ruder gesture…

“Ah, yes. The Xiaolin Warriors. I’m sure they’ll make it a priority after you told them… oh, what was it again…? That meeting them made your life worse, and that if you never see them again, it’ll be too soon?”

Mia froze solid. “H-how…?”

How did he know that? Her face and body stayed normal, but… if she still had the Fang, she knew she’d be fighting to keep her hands human.

Chase smirked as he casually ambled out in front of them.

“Not to mention their quest for the Shen Gong Wu takes up most of their time. After all, they took the Crescent Fang and left you here, didn’t they?”

Tori shook her head, shaking Mia’s shoulders rapidly. “Don’t listen to him, Mia! You were right, his soul’s really, really ugly and gross, and those cats in the alley are all humans! He's super evil!”

That statement actually surprised him. How did she… ah.

“The Sight of Hou Yi…” Chase glared. Curse his scout’s incomplete information. Still, this might not be wholly unsalvageable… He forced the calm, cool smile back onto his face. “I’m impressed. It’s a shame that none of the monks valued your talents. Their quest for trinkets does tend to make them care more for objects than people—”

“SHUT UP!” Mia screamed, only held back from lunging at him by Tori’s trembling hands. “Do you ever stop talking, you creepy windbag?! The Xiaolin Dragons are the bravest, most open-hearted people I’ve ever met aside from my sister, and they cared about us as people, not walking talents! I’m the idiot who pushed them away, and I’m going to have to live with that! And even if I was still angry at them, that doesn’t mean I’d hate them enough to take whatever twisted deal you have in mind! I may be insecure and hot-tempered, but I’d have to be a complete moron to sell my soul over a single bad day!”

Chase recoiled at those last words as if slapped… and growled, deep and low and venomous.

“Why you little…!”

Chase Young’s pupils constricted, and he let the rage consume him in scales and claws and fangs, roaring in their faces.