CHAPTER THREE:
WAKING UP THE DRAGON
NOW BACK INSIDE her room, Y/n found herself sitting at the dinner table with her father, mother and grandmother, all of them eating and drinking their tea in silence. Y/n held a teapot in her hand as she poured everyone's cups with tea.
A frown held her face as she thought of the fight her and Milan had earlier that evening. And also about the fact that he and her father were going off to fight the Huns. The clap of thunder and the small patter of rain could occasionally be heard from the outside as a storm had came to them during the night.
Placing the teapot down, Y/n glanced between her family members, meeting her grandmother's eyes for a split second before she looked away, continuing to drink her tea. Glancing over to her parents, both didn't even look at her as they ate their food.
She wanted to say something.
She needed to say something.
So she did.
Y/n slams her teacup on the table as she stands up. "You shouldn't have to go!"
"Y/n..." Her mother scolds.
"There are plenty of young men to fight for China." Y/n continues.
"It is an honor to protect my country and my family." Her father replies.
"So, you'll die for honor." Y/n states.
Her father stands up. "I will die doing what's right."
"But if you--" Y/n begins.
"I know my place!" Her father exclaims, cutting her off. "It is time you learned yours."
Instead of responding, the girl runs off, opening the doors outside as she hugs a pillar next to her, sobbing to herself quietly while the storm began to roll in.
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Still outside, Y/n hugged her knees close to her chest as she sat on the statue of a dragon, feeling the rain rush down on her and everywhere else while the clap of thunder occasionally came after every minute.
Looking up from where she was, Y/n watches her parents shadows from inside their home, watching her mother look down but her father brings her gaze back up by grabbing her chin gently. However, the woman walks away from her husband before he blows out the last candle, their shadows going away.
With a determined look, Y/n hops off the statue, running towards the temple of her ancestors, bowing as she puts her hands together, seeming to pray before running off and back inside her house. She quietly walks into her parents room, seeing them asleep in their bed.
She grabs the scroll from her father's bedside, replacing it with her comb before quietly jogging out, walking into the room her father had been training earlier in. Opening up the cupboard, she kneels on the floor as she unsheathes her father's sword, holding some of her hair out.
With that, she uses the sharp blade to cut her long h/c hair, then placing it in a bun to look like a man. Looking in the cupboard, Y/n grabs her father's armor, replacing her dress with them, making sure her body looked more masculine than her own.
Walking outside in the pouring rain, the girl opens up the barn, revealing her horse standing there. The animal seems to panic, not recognizing it's owner before Y/n was able to calm him down. Holding the strap that was tied around her horse, Y/n walks outside, taking one last glance at her home.
Mounting her horse, the animal kicks the gates open before they ride off, leaving the girl's family behind so they were safe. Meanwhile, the girl's grandmother gasps awake as she sits up. Quickly, she rises to her feet, running to Y/n's room, only to see the girl wasn't there. After that, she runs to the parents room.
"Y/n is gone!" Her grandmother exclaims, waking up the couple.
"What?" Her father murmurs, then noticing the comb on his bedside. "It can't be."
Grabbing his cane, he quickly walks out of the room, making his way to the room where his armor and sword was, opening up the cupboard, only to see they were both missing from where they usually were. Not wasting anytime, the man tries to be as quick as he could as he walks out of the house, his wife behind him.
"Y/n!" Her father calls out.
As he runs forward, the man slips, falling face first on the ground with a grunt. The girl's mother jogs to her husband's side as he watches the gate doors slowly begin to close, clearly being from Y/n when her horse kicked the doors open.
"No." Her father mumbles.
"You must go after her. She could be killed." Her mother states, starting to stand up.
The man stops his wife. "If I reveal her, she will be."
The woman covers her mouth as tears fill her eyes at the thought of her daughter in the war against the Huns. A couple feet away from them, Y/n's grandmother stops outside the porch, a frown on her face.
"Ancestors, hear our prayer. Watch over Y/n." Her grandmother prays.
Meanwhile, inside the ancestors temple, one of Y/n's ancestors leaves his grave, his ghost sitting in mid-air while he grabs his staff beside him.
The ancestor glances upwards at the small dragon statue. "Mushu, awaken."
He watches as the statue turns into a real, small and red dragon, falling the floor with a clang noise echoing throughout the temple. The dragon, Mushu, stands straight up, revealing himself from the cloud of dust around him.
"I live!" Mushu exclaims. "So tell me what mortal needs my protection, great ancestor. You just say the word and I'm there."
"Mushu..."
"And let me say something. Anybody who's foolish enough to threaten our family, vengeance will be mine!" Mushu yells out, growling as he tries to act scary.
"Mushu!" The ancestor calls, catching his attention. "These are the family guardians. They..."
"Protect the family." Mushu finishes with an eyeroll.
"And you, O demoted one?" The ancestor asks.
"I ring the gong." Mushu replies.
"That's right. Now, wake up the ancestors." The ancestor orders.
Mushu sighs, picking up the gong. "One family reunion coming right up." He starts ringing the gong, waking up the ancestors. "Okay, people, people, look alive. Let's go. Come on. Get up. Let's move it. Rise and shine. Y'all way past the beauty sleep thing, trust me."
The dragon and the first ancestor watch as all the other ancestors wake up from their 'naps', surrounding the whole temple.
"I knew it. I knew it. That Y/n was a troublemaker from the start!" One ancestor exclaims.
"Especially with that boy, Milan." Another agrees, pointing her staff at a ghost beside her.
"Don't look at me. She get's it from your side of the family." The ancestor defends, pushing the staff away.
"She's just trying to help her father." One ancestor argues, defending the girl.
"But if she's discovered, F/n will be forever shamed. Dishonor will come to the family. Traditional values will disintegrate." Another states.
"Not to mention, they'll lose the farm." A farmer ancestor adds.
"My children never caused such trouble. They all became acupuncturists." A female ancestor informs.
"Well, we can't all be acupuncturists." The ghost beside her tells her.
"No! Your great-granddaughter had to be a cross-dresser!" An older ancestor shouts.
The temple is filled with many shouts from all the ancestors as Mushu and the first ancestor stay silent, watching it.
"Let a guardian bring her back." One ghost suggests.
"Yes, awaken the most cunning." Another agrees, grabbing Mushu.
Another ghosts grabs the dragon. "No. The swiftest."
Mushu is grabbed again. "No. Send the wisest."
"Silence!" The first ancestor intervenes. "We must send the most powerful of all."
The others watch as he gestures out the window to a large dragon statue, only for all of them to look at Mushu when he laughs loudly.
"Okay, okay, I get the drift. I'll go." Mushu reassures.
At his words, all the ghost let out loud laughs, thinking that a small dragon like him wouldn't be able to protect Y/n in a war against the Huns.
"Y'all don't think I can do it. Watch this here." Mushu calls, blowing out a small bit of fire. He laughs. "Jump back. I'm pretty hot, huh? Don't make me have to singe nobody to prove no point."
"You had your chance to protect the L/n family." The first ancestor reminds.
"Your misguidance led Deng L/n to disaster." An older ancestor adds.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." A headless ghost replies.
"And your point is?" Mushu questions.
The first ancestor get's in his face. "The point is we will be sending a real dragon to retrieve Y/n."
"What... What... I'm a real dragon!" Mushu argues, grabbing his beard.
"You are not worthy of this spot. Now, awaken the Great Stone Dragon." The first ancestor demands as he throws Mushu out of the temple.
However, Mushu looks back inside. "So you'll get back to me on the job thing?"
His response is one of the ghosts throwing the gong towards him, nailing him in the face. With an eyeroll, Mushu walks down the stairs, ranting to himself as he starts hitting the gong when he makes it to the large dragon statue.
"Yo, Rocky, wake up! Ya gotta go fetch Y/n!" Mushu tells the statue.
However, he doesn't get a response. The small dragon continues trying ways, acting as if the statue was a dog, then climbing up on the dragon statue and hitting the ear with the gong, only for the ear to break off.
Mushu's eyes widen as he puts the ear back, only for the whole body to break, only the head being stable as it laid all over the broken stones below it. The small, red dragon pushes the cloud of dust away, panic coursing through his body.
"Uh, Stony? Stony? Oh, man, they're gonna kill me." Mushu mumbles to himself.
"Great Stone Dragon, have you awakened?" The great ancestor calls from the temple.
Thinking fast, Mushu grabs the stone head, stumbling a bit as he stands up, acting as if he was the stone dragon.
"Uh, uh... Yes, I just woke up. I'm--- I'm the Great Stone Dragon. Good morning. I will go forth and fetch Y/n." Mushu rambles, making his voice deeper. "D-- Did I mention that I was the Great Stone Dragon?"
"Go! The fate of the L/n family rests in your claws." The great ancestor states.
"Don't even worry about it. I will not lose faith." Mushu assures.
Suddenly, losing balance, Mushu falls down a giant hill, landing on a rock as the stone dragon head lands on top of his small, skinny dragon body.
"My elbow! I know I twisted something." Mushu groans, then getting up, pushing the stone off him. "That's just great. Now what? I'm doomed, and all cause Miss Man decides to take her little drag show on the road."
As he rests his face in his hands, a chirp sound is heard, causing the dragon to look up, seeing Cri-Kee. The insect chirps as he gestures behind him.
"Go get her? What's the matter with you? After this Great Stone, Humpty Dumpty mess, I'd have to bring her home with a medal to get back in the temple." Mushu replies before gasping. "Wait a minute. That's it! I make Y/n a war hero, and they'll be begging me to come back to work. That's the master plan. Oh, you done it now, man."
And with that, the dragon runs off, sprinting towards the doors as Cri-Kee hops after him, chirping.
Mushu glances back at him. "What makes you think you're coming?" The dragon turns the corner just as Cri-Kee chirps, making him look back. "You're lucky? Do I look like a sucker to you?" Another chirp. "What you mean, a loser? How bout I pop one of your antenna's off, throw it across the yard? Then who's the loser, me or you?"
Mushu runs after Cri-Kee as it hops away from the dragon, both going after Y/n.