Thankfully, everyone managed to make it below deck, and into the large cockpit before they crashed into the water, but Jiang was still panicking on the inside as the water covered the floor, and began to rise. Tang burst up out of the water, drawing everyone's attention to him. "We're alive. We're alive!" He cried before letting out a fearful yelp as the airship groan and shook.

Jiang let out a sharp cry of fear as the glass that was above them cracked and broke, allowing even more water to come in, and the water level to rise a bit faster. "Yeah, we're alive right now, but for how long?!" She cried, unable to keep the fear out of her voice. "We finally get away from Macaque, and now we all get to drown!" Pigsy snapped.

Jiang hopped up onto the seat that was beside her in a desperate attempt to get away from the water, but it had risen so much that it was useless. "This drone, it's not water adventure friendly!" Sandy said as he lightly smacked himself in the head. "Monkey King, you gotta do something!" MK said.

"Huh? Why? A little water never hurt no" Wukong said as he splashed some of the water in himself before he came to a realization. "Oh, right. Mortality" he said. "Yeah, that, and some of us might be absolutely terrified of water!" Jiang called out, almost yelling at the end of her sentence as she frantically looked for a way out.

Even though she knew it was useless. "Wait, you have a fear of water?" MK asked. "Yes! Do I need to elaborate on anything?!" Jiang snapped at him, coming off a little harsher than she had meant it.

A red alarm began flashing, and the ship-turned-sub began to shake as something gigantic swam by. "What is that?" Mei asked. "Something big!" MK replied.

"Alright, everyone try to relax.  Pretty sure this is just an old friend of mine coming to help out" Wukong said as he sat up, somehow managed to float on the water while sitting cross legged. That theory was debunked as something with glowing purple eyes snapped it's jaws on the ship. "Hmm, actually, friend might be stretching it a bit" Wukong said.

Thankfully, the ocean beast didn't eat them. Instead, it spat the group out onto a dry marble floor. That surrounded a grand palace.

Looking around, Jiang noticed they were in a dome, surrounded by the ocean in every direction she looked. It didn't make her any more comfortable. "The Dragon Palace of the East Sea. We're in the Dragon Palace of the East Sea!" Mei cried, grabbing on to MK's shoulders.

"Yeah, this is my kinda sorta old buddie's house, where I got my staff" Wukong said. "Got?" Pigsy asked. "Or took? You took it, right?" MK said.

"Oh dear gods almighty" Jiang muttered as she facepalmed. "Oh, here they come!" Wukong said, pointing out the royal family as the doors to the palace opened up to reveal them. "Smiles everyone, smiles!" The monkey demon said before putting on his own bright smile.

"Heyyy, Al Guan! Long time no-" he said before he was cut off. "Sun! Wu! Kong!" Al Guan snapped, which silenced the ginger monkey demon. "You dare to return to my domain?! After humiliating me, tricking me?!" He said in a voice that seemed to rock the dome they were inside of.

A large and beautifully terrifying dragon emerged from his chest, and looked down at the group. Wukong stuttered a bit, trying to get a reply out. "Trick-what? The staff? Oh, now that's a total misunderstanding" he said.

"And now I learn that it has been lost?! You have given the evil Lady Bone Demon exactly what she needs to destroy the world! I should execute you where you stand!" Al Guan yelled. "I thought you said he was your friend?!" Mei whisper yelled to Wukong. "He knows about the Lady Bone Demon?!" MK and Jiang chorused.

"What're we gonna do?!" Tang yelped. "Relax, I've got this" Wukong whispered back before giving his full attention back to the royal member in front of him. "Maybe you forgot I am the great Sun Wuko-oof!" He said before Al Guan's summoned dragon rocketed into him, knocking the Monkey King backwards.

"Wukong!" Jiang cried, but she held herself back from running out to him. "Do not try to fool me a second time trickster! I can sense your weakness. Your power is all but consumed" Al Guan snapped. Suddenly, turtle warriors surrounded the group, and aimed their spears at them.

"Hey, watch where your pointing those things!" Jiang snapped as one poked her in the chest a bit while she was pushing her brother behind her. She quickly pulled out her knife, and held it in a tight grip front of her. Mei pulled out her dragon sword, and took up a defensive position with it.

"Hold!" Al Guan suddenly yelled, and the turtle warriors backed off. Looking over, Jiang noticed that he was staring at Mei with a strange emotion she could only compare to amazement in his eyes. He seemed to be more focused on her, but he also glanced at Jiang here and there.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, pointing at the dragon girl. More specifically, her sword. "Um, it's mine? My family's?" Mei told him, looking and sounding nervous as all eyes were trained on her.

"I know this blade. It belonged to my brother, the Dragon of the West. You mean to tell me your a descendant of Ou Gei?!" Al Guan said. Mei let out a huff, and then, MK butted in. "Uh, Mr. Dragon of the East? Sorry to interrupt this little family whatever it is, but..." He said. Jiang stepped forward.

"You know about the Lady Bone Demon. You know what's she's capable of" she said, getting straight to the point as she held up the map. "We can stop her. We just need-" MK began to say before Al Guan's dragon darted forward towards Jiang with it's mouth open wide. The girl put her hands up to protect herself, but the dragon simply went through her and returned to its master, dropping the map that it somehow managed to get into his waiting hand.

"You would tell me how to protect my people? When you had unleashed this blight back into the world?!" Al Guan snapped. "Wow. Okay. Fresh wound. Just gonna let that bounce off me" MK said, looking a little upset. Jiang glared at Al Guan, who simply turned around.

"Bring the girl. Both of them" he said. Then he looked over his shoulder. "Imprison the rest" he added before making his way into the temple.

"Hey, get your hands off me!" Jiang snapped as one of the guards grabbed her and began to forcefully lead her into the temple. Mei was given the same treatment, calling out gibberish as their friends cried out for them. Suddenly, Jiang felt, strange, to put it lightly.

Then, she did her best to hide her surprise when she heard Wukong's voice in her head. Nothing is more important than getting that map back. Understand?, he said. Jiang blinked, then sighed, nodding at him before letting the guard lead her into the temple with Mei, who had been brought over to her so that they could walk together.

No one said anything, but both girls were led to a room, where a female secretary dragon person began to pick out some fancy clothes for them. Well, for Mei, anyway. Jiang simply refused to wear anything that these people put in front of her.

However, Mei was looking good in the dress that had been custom made for her. "Damn Mei. Looking good" Jiang called from where she was leaning against the wall. "Oh I know" the dragon girl called out before looking at the assistant.

"What would you say if I asked you to be my personal stylist?" She asked. "I suppose you are starting to look like a proper part of the dragon clan" the woman said as she gathered up some scraps of fabric. "I'm just gonna take that as a no. Say, you wouldn't know where a super secret map would be kept at? Maybe you could give me a door? Just three... two fancy girls being all fancy?" Mei said.

As she spoke, she grabbed her sword and forced it through the fabric of the dress to create a makeshift holder. Jiang was lucky enough to receive a custom hand tailored leather sheath for her knife that could be tied to her belt. At the sound of fabric tearing, the assistant looked over.

And Jiang wondered if she had suffered a heart attack from the look that was now present on the woman's face. "It is unseemly to have a weapon while wearing a dress! Give it to me!" She cried. "Uh, no" Mei replied.

"If you don't comply I will be forced to take it from you" the assistant said, suddenly looking a little threatening.  Jiang rested a hand on the hilt of her knife, ready to whip it out at a moment's notice if she had to. However, Mei had another idea.

She grabbed Jiang's wrist and ran out of the room, quickly shutting the doors behind her. Jiang grabbed a ribbon and tied it around the handles, trapping the assistant inside. "Let me out of here! When the Great Dragon of the East heard about this-!" The woman cried before being cut off.

"Sorry! I can't hear you over the sound of me not complying. But thanks for the clothes!" Mei called as she shared a fistbump with Jiang. "Okay, bye!" The girl called before she and Mei took off. "Okay, so, we gotta find the map, find our friends, and get the hell out of here before anyone finds out we're missing" she said as they ran.

Suddenly, Mei stopped. "Oh, this could be a treasure room" she said, stopping at a pair of giant double doors. "Well, let's check it out" Jiang said.

The two girls slipped into the room, and began to look around. Well, Jiang was looking around while Mei was admiring the artifacts in the room. "Mei! Mei, I found it!" Jiang called as she spotted the map laying on a pedestal.

Both girls began to make their way over, but someone immediately appeared between them and the map. "It is never wise to come uninvited into the lair of a dragon" Al Guan said. "Uh, hi. We were just-" Mei said before the ocean dragon cut her off.

"Stealing from me? On orders from the Monkey King no doubt" he said. "Well, it is our map so, yeah. We're here to take it back" Jiang said in a short tone. "You are a member of the dragon clan! Your alligance is to your family!" Al Guan snapped at Mei.

"My alligance is to my family, but also to my friends! The fate of the world is at stake, and this is important! We need the map so we can find the weapon and stop the Lady Bone Demon" Mei retaliated. "There is no stopping her! She is beyond any of us" Al Guan told them. "Wukong said that with this-" Jiang said before being cut off.

"That monkey is not to be trusted!" The ocean dragon yelled. "Maybe, but we have to try!" Mei called before she siezed her sword. She jumped at Al Guan, who was rather surprised by the sudden action.

Jiang quickly got past him, and grabbed the map, tucking it away in the satchel that Mei tossed over. Al Guan grabbed the dragon girl's wrist, and they both suddenly paused. Shock made its way on both dragon's faces, and the older male let go.

"This, cannot be" he said, much to Jiang's confusion. Mei took off running, and Jiang moved to follow her, however, she suddenly was stopped as the dragon male caught her shoulder. Suddenly, Jiang's vision faded to black, and in the darkness, she saw something spark.

The spark turned into a yellow-orange flame that quickly grew in size, writhing and twisting in a almost hypnotic way as it formed something that Jiang only knew from myths and legends. A Phoenix. As quickly as it came, the vision went away, and Jiang found herself tugging out of the ocean dragon's grasp and running as fast as she could with her mind reeling from what she had seen.

She was too distracted to see where she was going, and ended up running into someone. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry! Mei?!" Jiang said before realizing who she had ran into. "Girl, I was looking for you!" The dragon girl said.

"Yeah, I kinda got held up for a second. But I've got the map. Now let's go find our friends" Jiang said. Then, she winced when she put weight on her hand to lift herself off the ground. She must've sprained her wrist even more when she hit the ground.

"You alright?" Mei asked. "I think I hurt my wrist even more" Jiang said as she unwrapped the bandage to examine it. Mei gently tugged her hand towards her to examine it herself.

"I think you've got a pretty bad sprain" the girl said before grabbing the bandage. She wrapped up Jiang's wrist a little tighter than it had been before, making Jiang hiss a bit from the pain. Mei apologized, and after she was done, she pulled Jiang to her feet, being mindful of the injury.

"Now let's go find our friends" Jiang said. And with that, both girls took off running. "Why is this place so damn big?!" Mei cried as they ran.

"Hey Mei, look!" Jiang called as she spotted someone familiar.  "Sandy!" Mei cried as she hugged the blue demon. Then the girls took notice of the vehicle he was standing in front of.

"Sandy, what the hell is that?" Jiang breathed as a smile took over her face. Then, she took notice of the guards that were now looking at them. After taking them down, the trio got into the van.

"You made this from the remains of the drone?!" Jiang cried as she examined the place. It was spacious, with multiple seat, a built in desk on both sides, and even built in bunk beds on one side. "Yeah. I was trying to rebuild it, but turns out, without the instructions, it's really hard" Sandy said.

He and Mei took the front seat while Jiang sat down in one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs. Then, they took off. "Now we just need to find where the others are being kept at" Jiang said.

"I think right there looks interesting enough" Mei said, pointing at a wall with a single window that had bars on it. Sandy floored the gas, and with everyone bracing themselves, broke through the wall. When the vehicle came to a stop, Jiang joined the two up front.

Wukong was draped over a broken pillar, MK was on the ground, Tang was upside down, and Pigsy was draped over some rubble. "Sandy! Mei! Jiang! You jailbreaked us! You, you broke the jail! We're freeee!" MK cried. Jiang chuckled.

"Good to see you guys too. Oh, and Wukong? We got the map back" she said. Everyone perked up at that. Then, they all piled into the front seat.

"You guys know there's more room in the back, right?" Mei asked, making everyone look into the back. Jiang waved at them from where she was sitting. "Oo, slay Mei. That dress looks firece!" Tang complimented.

The girl smiled. MK gave a small start when Jiang slipped something over his head. "Whoa, wha-?" He said before Jiang chuckled.

"It's a satchel. Be careful with it, it's got the scroll" she said. MK gushed over the thing while Pigsy coddled, a spoon? Anyway.

After he finally got in, Sandy hit the gas again, and they were off. "Okay, we're in a underwater city, in a van. Is anyone else seeing the problem here?!" Pigsy cried. Sandy chuckled.

"Oh, my sweet and sour Pigsy, I've got us covered" he said before pressing a button on the screen in the dashboard.  It showed off all the things that the van could transform into. "Consider me impressed. This thing has so many things it can transform into!" Jiang cried as she quickly looked through all of the modes.

"Welcome to the Total Environment Automobile. Or T. E. A. for short. Tea! It's called Tea you guys! Oh, is this what true love feels like? Oh, and one more thing. It's water adventure friendly!" Sandy called. Jiang giggled as she shook her head, throughly amused, but the moment didn't last long when Al Guan, his dragon, and the ocean beast all showed up in front of them. "Oh shit, brace yourselves guys!" Jiang warned as she tightened her grip on the two front seats.

Sandy turned the wheel to avoid hitting the ocean dragon male, and ended up doing a 180. The back door was forced open, and there stood Al Guan. Who looked more than ticked off.

"I will not allow you to leave with that map!" He snapped. "What are you not getting? Using the Samadhi Fire is the only way we're going to stop the Lady Bone Demon" Wukong said, and anyone could tell from his tone that his patience was beginning to wear thin. "The Samadhi Fire cannot be contained!" Al Guan told them.

"We're already aware of that!" Jiang snapped at him. "Your Dragoness please!" MK begged. "We don't have any other choice!" Mei cried.

Al Guan narrowed his eyes at that, and for some reason, he glanced at Jiang before moving his gaze to Wukong. Then, both immortals stiffened as their eyes glowed for a moment. "He's coming" Wukong said afterba moments hesitation.

It didn't take a genius to know who he was talking about. "Macaque? He's here?!" MK cried. "Um, we should leave. Now!" Tang called as he motioned to a dot on the radar that was steadily coming closer.

"If he captures us, the map..." Wukong said, exchanging a glance with Jiang and MK. "All hope truly will be lost" Al Guan said. He sighed, then hopped out of the van.

"I'll hold him off. Go!" He said. "Thank you, great great great a thousand times great uncle" Mei said to him. Al Guan put his hand on hers and gave a soft smile.

Then, the door was closed, and Sandy floored it. They got out of the dome, and drove through the water on the ocean floor. "Jiang?" MK asked as the girl made her way to the window.

And from there, she watched as there was an explosion. Then she looked away so that she wouldn't see the dome collapse.

I wanted to apologize for the unplanned hiatus. Unfortunately, my old phone was broken, and I won't be getting a new one until I graduate high school next year. So, I'm going to try to get this book finished as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.