"So let me get this straight," Jade finally managed to say as she finished a mouthful of her dinner. "You think I'm this...chosen one?"
The spokesperson monk nodded with a wide smile. "Yes, Young One. You are the Chosen One, and the large Warrior is the Guardian destined to protect you as you make the journey to awaken to your past lives."
"And how do you know I'm the Chosen One?" Jade asked pointedly. "Why were you even looking for the Chosen One, anyway?"
"The stars and signs told us that the Chosen One had reincarnated, and that the energies of the past lives were about to begin catalyzing," he explained happily. "As such, we followed the signs and stars to this place at this time, certain we would find the One, as has been the case in many past iterations. We found Tohru and thought him the Chosen One, but were shown our error. We had discovered the Guardian...who led us to the Chosen One. For when we asked of him who could be the Chosen One, you revealed yourself."
"Sounds like a whole lot of coincidence to me," Jade grumbled as she continued her meal.
"Sounds to me like a large excess of protestation," Hsi offered teasingly with a wide smirk. "Much like whenever people call me your boyfriend-"
"You're not my boyfriend!" Jade snapped out almost automatically.
"Whatever you say, Mistress," Hsi teased back.
"And I'm not your mistress!"
"Aiyah..." Uncle groaned as he watched them. "This is the Chosen One? She barely has discipline to do her chores unless it is magic lessons!"
"You really should give more credence to this," Saint observed from Jade's shoulder. "It would explain my appearance."
"And here I thought it was to be as unlike me as possible," Queen countered acidly.
"Just wut is the Chosen One, anyway?" Apple Bloom asked curiously. "How'sit work? Whadda they do?"
"In terms of Good Chi magic, the Chosen One is the South Pole," Ysabelle explained. "In the same way Santa Claus is the North Pole. Santa is the focus of Elemental Good Magic, while the Chosen One is the focus of Living Good Magic. Their very existence keeps the world's Good magic in balance. There are similar entities for Dark Magic and Wild Magic, based around the Grand Meridian of the Magical Fields."
"And I'm supposed to be a paragon of Goodness?" Jade asked with a laugh. "Get real! What kind of 'Chosen One' destined to uphold Good and Truth and all that would be a mischievous hooligan living for the next thrill?"
"Jade, that's a rather belittling way of describing yourself," Jackie chided. "...however accurate."
"Her name was Emeraude, a couple millennia ago," Hsi offered helpfully. "The first female Chosen One. Don't know if there's been another since."
Jade turned to stare at Hsi in wide-eyed consternation. "And how do you know that?"
"I told you after the dance that I hadn't met a mortal girl as interesting as you in millennia," Hsi pointed out with a smirk. "Who did you think I was talking about?"
"Sky Lord Hsi Wu!" the monk gasped in shock as his companions bowed low. "So it is true? The Brotherhood has ceased its attempts at conquest, once more freeing you to adventure as you had before joining them after Emeraude's death?"
"Seriously?" Jade demanded in shock as Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Ruby all began cackling in laughter.
"Not quite free," Hsi told the monks teasingly. He smirked at Jade. "Not the first time I've been a familiar, either."
"Oh, come on!" Jade screamed out in disbelief.
"Destiny! Destiny!" Audrey III sang out. "No escaping Destiny!"
"You shut up!" Jade snapped at Audrey. She then turned back to the monks. "Okay, that's a lot of circumstantial evidence to be shrugged off as coincidence I'll admit...but that still doesn't say proof to me."
"Would the Chosen One's chi look like an onion?" Scootaloo asked the monks suddenly.
"I...beg your pardon?" the monk asked curiously.
"When we first met Jade, Sweetie Belle used her magic to see her chi," Scootaloo explained. "She had a lot of it. Like...tons! And all layered like an onion...or something like that."
"Indeed, that is how the Chosen One's chi would appear prior to beginning to catalyze," the monk confirmed with a wide smile. "With the chi of the present life the outermost layer, enclosing and containing the chi of each previous life in succession."
"And I take it the innermost layers starting to spark back and forth between each other and glittering like stars is the catalyzing you're talking about?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously, sunglasses covering her green-glowing eyes as she looked at Jade.
The monk frowned worriedly. "...how many stars?" he asked hesitantly.
"Umm...looks like about twelve distinct ones so far," Sweetie Belle observed. "The rest just looks like glitter."
"Then it hasn't progressed too far," the monk allowed with a sigh of relief. "We have time to journey to our monastery in Bhutan and perform the ritual to gentle the awakening, so your mortal mind is not overwhelmed with the memories of thousands of past lives bursting forth."
"Do...do I have to do this?" Jade asked, her tone starting to take on a bit of a wheedling note to it. "Isn't there any way to stop it? Make it wait till next life?"
"Ysabelle mentioned something about being a virgin-" Tohru began, only to get elbowed by all three of his girls. "What?"
"Rea~lly now?" Jade asked, her tone and smile turning mischievous. "Say, before we make any decisions like this...do you think you could excuse Hsi and I for..." She glanced at Hsi. "Thirty minutes?"
"Twenty," Hsi clarified.
"Really?" Jade asked in surprise. "That quick?" Her tone seemed...a trifle disappointed.
Smirking, Hsi held up his fingers as he made various forms of energy dance around them in his magic. "That good," he corrected, setting Jade's face to flaming as her eyes widened.
"NO!" every adult present barked out simultaneously.
"But if you can give Jackie a few pointers..." Viper began wickedly.
"Viper!" Jackie and Jade gasped out with matching mortified looks.
"It's mostly based in my magic," Hsi pointed out apologetically.
"Darn," Viper pouted, snapping her fingers. "Jade you got damn lucky."
"If you say so," Jade grunted irritably. "Still...it's a long flight to Bhutan-"
"If you were to try to stop the catalyzation at this point in that manner, your chi would become so volatile as a result you would explode and destroy the Chosen One permanently, completely destabilizing the fabric of magic across the world," Ysabelle pointed out.
"And how would you know?" Jade demanded crossly. "It's not like it happened before-"
"Hsi Wu doesn't remember, but it's why he created the Deja Vu Stone," Ysabelle pointed out. "To undo it. The only record of it being in his private journals of the time, left in our family's care when we were assigned the guardians of Labyrinthos' tomb."
"...oh..." Jade murmured, her eyes becoming downcast. Hsi comfortingly laid his arm around her shoulders.
"Looks like we're going to Bhutan," Sweetie Belle murmured, sharing a nod with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. They definitely weren't going to let Jade face this without them...whatever was going to happen.