A/N: Happy Lunar New Year JCA fans! 2021 is the Year of the Ox! The Ox talisman has the power of super-strength, a sign meaning we will power through 2021 strong as ever! This fanfic was inspired by a creative writing assignment I had last year where I made up a short story of a conflict getting resolved. In the original story, the Demon Sorcerers were eating dinner together and having all sorts of arguments. I forgot about the story until recently when I came across it looking through old computer files and wanted to expand on it a little in time for this special occasion.

Disclaimer: I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures. All show credit goes to John Rogers and Duane Capizzi, the showrunners of Jackie Chan Adventures.


"You better not fail me, Ice."

"For the last time, D-Man, ain't no thang! You ain't need to worry 'bout the boys and I messin' up business while you wit' yo' fam in Tokyo."

"Good 'cuz I won't hesitate to hang the three of you off the Golden Gate Bridge if I return to a mess."

Dwayne Miller comically scoffed at the threat from his boss and kicked his feet up on the desk in front of him. His alias was StrikeMaster Ice (Ice in short), a moniker the young man created for himself. He was second-in-command under his boss, Darek Long. Ice was a white guy with a blond crew haircut, an earring on his right ear, and some acne on his face. He was wearing an all-black bodyguard uniform with an insignia of a flame on the left side. Currently, Ice was in his boss' office while Darek was in his home packing his suitcases for his flight the next day. Ice's scoff didn't come from a place of disrespect or arrogance. He had worked under his boss and in his company long enough to know that Darek was an action-oriented boss who made sure to get things done. If he made a threat to someone, he was fully capable of making good to it. Nonetheless, Ice was confident that he wouldn't disappoint his chief. "Me and da crew'll be good, boss, trust an' believe dat! Anyway, who's all comin' to yo' l'il family reunion?"

"Everyone except my father. Seymour told me that my aunt told him that my father told her he has some business in the Netherlands and that he won't make it."

"Well if yo' pops ain't around, then your New Year's gonna be a breeze!"

Darek rolled his eyes at that comment as he stuffed one of his jackets into his suitcase. "I have seven aunts and uncles to worry about."

"Yeah, but they seem chill."

"Not even a little."

"Then why you celebrate with 'em every year? Can't you just tell 'em you busy or you don't feel like it?"

"Because it's "family tradition"," Darek air quoted with a hint of disgust in his tone. "Plus, if I ever need help from them in the future financially or legally, they won't help me out."

"So it's like a lose-lose for ya?"

"Exactly."

Ice let out a short whistle and clucked his tongue. "Damn, that's tough, dawg."

Darek placed his toothbrush inside his toothbrush case and stuffed it in his suitcase before finally closing it. "It's whatever, I can handle myself. You just worry about picking me up tomorrow and keeping things running smoothly while I'm gone."

"Yessir!"

Darek hung up first and tossed his cell phone on his bed. By the end of that conversation, he had finished packing his last suitcase before his non-stop 15-hour flight to Tokyo early tomorrow morning. Darek Long was a Chinese man with black hair styled in a rugged comb-over and an undercut around the sides and back of his head. He had a goatee under his lip and his chin. He had on a pair of grey pajama pants and a grey tank top; his usual pajama wear. The man plopped down on his bed and heaved a huge sigh into his hands. Chinese New Year was in three days and already, Darek could feel the pressure weighing in on him. It wasn't the holiday that made Darek tense, but all the family craziness he knew he would have to endure for two whole weeks. This wasn't to say that Darek hated his family or was scared of them. It was just best to handle family in small doses at a time from a distance. But staying with seven other family members for two weeks would be rather difficult to handle.

Darek picked his head from his hands and looked to his watch. It's getting late, he thought as he reached over to the lamp on his nightstand and switched off the light. He laid back on his bed and rolled himself over in his covers. As soon as his head hit his pillow, Darek could feel himself get tired fast and his body falling into a deep slumber. He didn't expect it, but since tomorrow was going to be a busy day, it was best to get as much sleep as he could. Just as Darek felt himself drifting off to sleep, he felt something vibrating a few inches from him: his cellphone. The man begrudgingly opened one eye and hesitatingly reached over to grab his phone and peeked at the caller ID before answering. "Sey, isn't it, like, midnight over there?" he mumbled into the phone as he laid his head back down.

"Yeah. I got an hour left before my flight," Seymour said. Seymour Wu was one of Darek's seven aunts and uncles and was the youngest amongst them. Because of how close he and Darek are age-wise, Seymour was the closest to his nephew, even though they both frequently got on each other's nerves. As Seymour was on the line, he was at the Boston Logan International Airport waiting for his 1:30 am flight to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Even at its current time, the airport was still busy and bustling with people arriving to or departing from their flight. "What time's your flight? And have you heard from Zuo or Do?" Seymour asked.

The airport commotion from his uncle's end made Darek scrunch up his face in annoyance and close his eyes tighter. "Er, 10:45 am. What is it?"

"We're not spending New Years' at Aunt Do's house."

Darek opened both eyes and looked at his phone in disbelief as he attempted to sit up in his bed. "You're fuckin' with me."

"I wish I was," Seymour said with a roll of his eyes. "Your aunt Do did some last-minute checking and said that her penthouse doesn't have enough space to keep all of us and suggested we stay at your uncle Zuo's mansion in Hong Kong."

Darek groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose, as he could already feel a headache coming on. "And when was this all decided?"

"About four hours ago."

"Four hours?!"

"Don't yell at me! I thought you knew already!"

"Argh, this is the last thing I need right now... " Darek facepalmed. Already, he was dealing with family BS playing out in his face before his flight. The man held up his wrist to peek at the time on his watch as he started doing some calculations to himself. "Let's see... I can sleep until five, leave by six, get to the airport before seven, and have three hours to spare to change my flight."

"You're welcome," Seymour smugly answered.

"Welcome for what? You waited until the last minute right as I was sleeping to tell me I had to change my flight."

"Better late than never."

"Anything else important you need to tell me before I hang up?" an annoyed Darek asked as he laid his back on his pillow again.

"You bringin' your little boo along?"

"My what?"

"Your girlfriend, genius," a sneaky grin tugged at the ends of Seymour's lips as he held back a devious chuckle. "Jade, was it?"

Darek's face and ears immediately turned red and his nostrils flared. Without a word, he ended the call. "Bastard," he muttered in spite as he put his phone on 'Do Not Disturb' before his uncle could try to call him back. The man near slammed his phone on his nightstand and turned over in his bed to finally sleep undisturbed.


A/N: This is an AU where the demons are humans with similar looking and sounding names since they're human. Here are the mentioned names in this chapter compared to the original. I'll introduce the others in the next chapter:

StrikeMaster Ice = Dwayne Miller (Ice)

Drago = Darek Long

Hsi Wu = Seymour Wu

Tso Lan = Zuo Lan

Po Kong = Midori 'Do' Kondo

To my Gemstone fans, don't fret! Chapter 5 is around the corner, I just need to finish wrapping up some scenes. Enjoy this fic in the meantime! Leave reviews if you desire. I even have polls on my profile page on here and on my DA page to vote on. I'll take them down in a month.