After the Dark Hand manages to steal the Sheep Talisman, Shendu uses it to take over Jade's dormant body and gets to meet Valerie for the first time. A retelling of "Project A, for Astral".
- Accidental Hand-Hold: While Shendu's working in the kitchen with Jade's body, Valerie accidentally touches his hand and causes him to feel a surge of power before she pulls her hand away, mistaking it for an electric shock.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Shendu hears Jade making her canon incorrect deduction that he must be working for the Dark Hand, he holds back laughter and thinks that he'd find such an idea to be insulting if it weren't ludicrous.
- Adaptational Wimp: When Shendu was exorcised by Uncle from Jade's body in canon, his spirit ended up being trapped in his petrified body until the Season 1 finale. Though he's forced out of Jade here as well, he remains able to wander in his astral form, allowing him to spy on Valerie for the rest of Season 1's storyline (though as the next chapter reveals, Uncle's spells prevent him from going anywhere near the Chans or their shop).
- Big "SHUT UP!": When Shendu returns to Valmont's office empty-handed, he wipes off Valmont's smugness by roaring "ENOUGH!".
- Big "WHAT?!": Valerie exclaims this while trying to follow Jackie and Uncle's realization that Jade's body is being possessed.
- Broomstick Quarterstaff: Valerie's act of fighting with a broom in the previous chapter is lampshaded with dark humor; when the Enforcers are sent to find out if the Sheep Talisman is at Uncle's Rare Finds, Shendu tells them to watch out for brooms this time, for Valerie might have killed them had she been armed with a mop.
- By the Hair: Shendu grabs Valerie's hair as he attempts to restrain her in the rollercoaster carriage.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: When Shendu takes over Jade's body, he's tempted to snap the sleeping Jackie's neck immediately, but leaves it undone for the sake of finding Section 13.
- Facepalm: Valerie does this as Jackie's poor efforts to prove to Captain Black that Jade is not herself end up with him screaming that "she" is evil.
- Family Eye Resemblance: Shendu is astonished to see that Valerie's crystal blue eyes look exactly like those of Lo Mei despite them having next to nothing common in appearance otherwise. This makes him wonder if Val is descended from Mei, or at the very least, the latter's father Lo Pei.
- Foreshadowing:
- The future revelation of the exact nature of Shendu and Valerie's connection is first hinted on when they're working in the kitchen and he notices to his own surprise how well they're working in synchrony.
- Valerie notes for the first of many times that Uncle's books lacking a clear categorization makes doing research time-consuming.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Valerie tells Jade that in contrast to her peers, she prefers reading and studying to hanging outside. Though she tries to hide it, she feels bitter about it.
- Mr. Exposition: At the end of the chapter, Valmont provides Shendu and the readers with a summary of Valerie's background and her parents, including the revelation that her father's been dead for a year.
- Picky Eater: Uncle refuses to have his tea made in other way than the old Chinese way. The one time Valerie tried to give him a tea prepared with a tea bag, he noticed and practically threw a fit.
- Shared Family Quirks: Shendu quickly notices that Valerie's personality has similarities with that of her possible ancestor Lo Pei.…he was starting to see more of Pei in her, not so much Mei. At a glance, she resembled Mei, but that woman had been a flower who only knew womanly attributes of her time. But her father had been inquisitive, righteous and educated, and Valerie was more leaning towards him in personality.
- Shout-Out:
- With everything she's been told of Jackie's adventures, Valerie considers it to feel like a mix of a Dungeons & Dragons website forum and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cosplay.
- While chatting with Shendu who's pretending to be Jade, Valerie cites Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Persuasion and a supposed William Shakespeare quote.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Shendu, almost convinced Valerie is descended from his imprisoner Lo Pei, anticipates using her to exact his revenge.
- Unkempt Beauty: Shendu thinks that while Valerie is hardly feminine, her tussled hair makes her charming in an untamed way.
- We Will Meet Again: After Shendu's banished from Jade's body, he gets close to Valerie's head to brush her mind with his and whispers to her that they will soon meet again. She actually flinches as if she had heard him before shrugging it off.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Shendu recalls that just like with Valerie, Lo Mei had blue eyes that sparkled like clear water.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Shendu discovers that for an unknown reason at this point, he feels a surge of power whenever he and Valerie are in physical contact with each other.
