Ship In A Bottle (A Monkie Kid Reader Insert)

Chapter 14: Unseen City Files

"Okay okay okay! I think I'm getting the hang of this!" your voice echoed from outside of some kind of ancient entrance, hidden from the outside world and blending into nature.

Weapons of all kinds stick up from the ground, covered by the vines of wild strawberries, wild saffron, and visiting butterflies.

Moss kissed the stone walls and hovering door, including with the palm scanner that sat untouched for thousands of years...

Well, that is, until you came along.

"So you're telling me there's more places like this back in your home country?" Tang asked from outside, pressing his hand on the scanner.

"Eeey-yep." You popped the P from inside, balancing on Mei's old hoverboard while she scrolled through her phone. "I even mapped them out, if you wanna see. It's in my pack."

"Hmm..." Tang went back inside, passing by the both of you before kneeling down to open your backpack. He fished out your leather journal, only for his direction to turn back to you when he heard an 'oof'.

"Bell, are you okay?"

"Yep, yeah. I just-" You stood up from the concrete ground, dusting yourself off before flipping the hoverboard right-side up. "I'm not used to anti-gravity anything. The arcade was enough to give me a doozy, so it might take me longer to adjust."

"You have water powers, right?" Mei chimed in, lying down a platform where blue vines snaked and small red flowers sprouted from the concrete's cracks. "Can't you try surfing as practice?"

"Touché. You know what else would be a good idea?" You got on the hoverboard, stepping on the on button before going back to your balancing practice. "You actually teaching me like you promised."

"Come to think of it..." Tang piped in, turning to Mei as he sat beside her. He moved the bubble tea cups you all bought earlier, taking the passionfruit one before placing your journal on his lap. "How come you don't have water powers? Don't dragons typically have them?"

"Oh yeah..." You commented, keeping both arms out to balance yourself in the air. "Isn't your great-great-something grandpa the Great Dragon of the West Sea?"

Mei blew a nonchalant raspberry, Tang flipping a page beside her. "Yeah, but every time I try to use my water powers, it always ends up coming out as smoke."

The scholar raised a brow. "Smoke? Why smoke?"

"Dunno." The dragon girl lied on the concrete, holding her phone above her face while scrolling through the screen. "But I'm not that worried. Turns out, my dad and other direct ancestors had the same thing before having kids." She turned to her side as she kept scrolling. "They ended up getting their water powers eventually."

"So what, you'll get your water powers if you passed your smoke thing to your kids?" You joked, tilting the hoverboard ever so slightly.

"Ugh, I hope not..." Mei groaned, sitting back up before sipping on her taro bubble tea. "I don't wanna have kids."

"Yeah, I probably won't have any either." You added, before landing back on the ground to sit beside her. Placing the hoverboard beside you, you took your matcha tea before stabbing it with your straw.

"Wow, Bell. I'm impressed." Tang flipped through more pages, looking at each entry and sketch. "How many abandoned places have you been at?"

You shrugged. "I pretty much lost count. But if you're talking about the ones like this one, I've only been to three. This is my fourth one." You sipped on your bubble tea, purposely avoiding the pearls. "I didn't even know there's one here in China."