Wushu Were Here (5 page)

I
found Anna and Fred, and we quickly set off from Hui-k'o's. I had to admit, I was going to miss the weird, old guy.

After hiking down the mountain for hours, Anna, Fred, and I found ourselves in a bamboo forest.

“How are we supposed to find this battle, anyway?” I asked. “Does
The Book
say where it takes place?”

WHOOSH!
Out of nowhere, an arrow whizzed past my face, nearly taking off my nose. We were
definitely
on the right track.

Anna, Fred, and I looked off in the distance. We saw what looked like a group of ants moving quickly down a hillside.

“The ground is moving,” Anna said.

I took a closer look. “That's not the ground,” I said. “That's Wang's army.” They were marching toward Li Shimin's troops on the mountain across from them. The battle was about to begin—and Anna, Fred, and I were right in the middle.

The rumbling grew louder as the soldiers got closer.

“This is it,” Fred said. “Let's go.”

“Wait,” Anna cried. “What are we suppose to do? We're just kids.”

“Don't you get it,” Fred said. “We've been with the wise kung fu dude. We probably know all kinds of kung fu tricks, we just don't know it yet. Let's go!”

“
WASSSSAAAAAAA!
” Fred let out a kung fu battle cry and launched himself into a roundhouse kick. As he came in for a landing,
his feet slipped on a pile of wet leaves and shot out from under him.
WHUMP!
Fred landed with a thud. He was out cold once again.

“Leave it to Fred to miss the fight scene,” I said.

“Quick,” Anna said. “Let's hide him behind that rock.”

We dragged Fred out of the way and tried to make a plan.

“What's going on out there? Open
The Book
,” Sam said.

Anna opened
The Book
, and set it on the rock to give Sam a view of the action. But the battle was
scary
.

“Uh, okay. I've seen enough,” Sam said a millisecond later. “You can close
The Book
now!”

I peered over the rock. The soldiers had almost reached us.

“We need something to defend ourselves,” I said. Just then, I saw a staff lying on the ground between us and the soldiers.

“I'm going to try to get that staff,” I said.

I raced out into the clearing and bent over to grab the staff.

“Joe! Watch out!” Sam cried. “Behind you!”

I spun around, knocking over one of Wang's goons with the end of the staff. One down, a couple thousand more to go.

“Joe, what do I do?” Anna screamed.

She was under attack.

In a flash, Hui-k'o's words rang in my head.

“Just stay out of the way,” I said.

Soldiers charged at Anna full force. As they dove toward her, Anna quickly jumped side-to-side, dodging them left and right. Wang's goons were wearing so much armor, they toppled right over.

“How do you like that wushu?” Anna said.

Anna had finally learned how to stay out of the way. And not a minute too soon.

“Look left, Joe! Left!” Sam shouted from
The Book
.

I spun to my left. The staff swung wildly, taking out two more soldiers. Whatever we were doing—or not doing—seemed to be working. Somehow Anna and I were still alive.

From behind us, a voice bellowed. “Drop your sword, Li Shimin.”

It was Wang. He was aiming an arrow straight for Li Shimin, who had arrived with his troops.

“Never,” Li Shimin said. “If I must die to save this country—so be it!”

“I see,” Wang said. “But are you willing to let an innocent little girl perish as well?”

Suddenly Wang turned the bow and arrow toward Anna. Li Shimin looked at Anna and back at Wang, and then let his sword drop to the ground.

“Ha ha ha,” Wang cackled. “I thought you were just weak, Li Shimin. I was wrong. You are gullible as well.”

Wang released the arrow. It whizzed through the air—straight for Anna.

“Joe!” Anna screamed.

“Anna!” I screamed.

I had to save my sister. In an instant, everything went blank. I heard Hui-k'o's voice:
Time is in the mind. Control your mind, and you can do anything.

SLOW
…, I thought. My mind focused only on the arrow floating through time and space. The arrow glowed a faint green. It slowed down and hovered in front of Anna's face. I reached out my hand and plucked it from the air.

Suddenly everything sped up again.

“How'd you do that?” Anna asked.

“I don't know,” I said.

Wang must have been as freaked out as I was. He dropped the bow and scurried off into the forest.

“Quickly, Tanzong,” Li Shimin called. “We must catch Wang before he can regroup.”

Li Shimin and Tanzong raced off after Wang. There was hope for China after all. Maybe they'd even finish building that wall.

As for us, Anna and I were still alive, Sam was still in
The Book
, and—

“What'd I miss?” a voice said.

It was Fred. He was back in the land of the living. Perfect timing, as usual.

“Oh, nothing,” I said. “Just your typical ancient Chinese kung fu battle.”

“Man,” Fred said. “I was gonna try out my—”

But suddenly we heard a noise. It sounded
like someone clapping. A figure emerged from the forest covered in a cloak.

“Hui-k'o!” I said. Everything suddenly made total sense. I knew I couldn't have stopped the arrow myself—Hui-k'o must have helped me.

“Nice guess, Einstein. But unfortunately—wrong.” The figure threw off the cloak and let out an evil laugh.

Anna, Fred, and I gasped. This was
definitely
not Hui-k'o.

A
nna, Fred, and I must have been going for a warp record. On this adventure we'd faced certain doom at the hands of a crazed madman not once, not twice, not three times…You get the picture. The point is, we were now gazing at another crazed madman who looked equally bloodthirsty and unstable. But, there was something sort of familiar about this one….

“That was an impressive trick, Joseph—slowing down time,” the madman said. “My, my, my. You are becoming quite the little warp whiz.”

“How'd you know my name?” I asked.

“Hey,” Fred whispered. “It's that guy. You know…Whatshisname…Crazy Charlie…Loopy Louie…”

“Jack is the name,” the madman said.

“Mad Jack! That's it,” Fred said. We'd run into Mad Jack before in our warps. He wanted to be the ruler of all space and time. But to be the ruler of all space and time he needed…
The Book
.

Mad Jack looked at Fred, a little annoyed. “I prefer Stultifyingly Fiendish Jack, or Malevolently Marvelous Jack, or…”

“What do you want?” I interrupted. It had been a long day, and my patience for madmen was growing thin.

“That's the spirit,” Mad Jack said. “Waste no time. Ah, sweet time, my favorite theme.
Time
is what I want. And, lucky me, it's what you have. Hand over
The Book
, dear nephew.”

Nephew?
Anna and I looked at each other. Were we actually related to this nutcase?

“I knew you looked familiar,” Fred said.

“What's happening?” Sam piped in. “I can't see anything in here.”

Mad Jack held out his walking stick with a huge hourglass on top, and pointed it directly at
The Book
. Suddenly the stick glowed green and started to buzz. I held
The Book
tighter.

Mad Jack must have known I wouldn't give up easily. He aimed the walking stick at a nearby rock and zapped it into oblivion. Then he pointed the stick at me again.

“How would you like your molecules?” he asked. “Scrambled? Or fried?”

The guy knew how to make a point. I quickly handed over
The Book
.

Mad Jack giggled fiendishly as he stroked the cover.

“What about Sam?” Fred said. “Can you at least let him out of there?”

“And how are we supposed to get home?” Anna added.

“Oh, but you
are
home,” Mad Jack said. “Your new home.
Ha ha ha ha!
”

“You don't care about anything but yourself, you big bully,” Anna said.

“Au contraire,” Mad Jack cackled. “I care
very much
about my precious, precious book!” Mad Jack pulled
The Book
to his face to give it a big fat kiss, but then…

WHAM!
The cover flew open, nailing him right in the kisser. Mad Jack grabbed his face—dropping
The Book
and his walking stick to the ground.

“For crying out loud,” Sam said, “would someone please tell me what's going on out here?”

Sam! We watched as he pulled his top half out of
The Book
like he was coming out of a pool. His bottom half followed. Finally, Sam was free.

“Hey! I'm out,” Sam said.

Sam spied Mad Jack and gulped. “Oh, no. I'm out!”

I raced over and grabbed
The Book
before Mad Jack could get his slimy fingers back on it.
I opened it up quickly, and green mist poured out.

Mad Jack scrambled for his walking stick and aimed it in our direction. “Give it back,” he hissed. “I command you.”

We braced ourselves. There was a blast of green light.

“Nooooooooo!” Mad Jack's scream faded in the background.

We were warping home.