The Finale
Part One
Cobra hissed and fought hard, beating up Komodo with ease.
"You stupid lizard!" Cobra cried. "You are no match for me!"
"We shall see about that!" Komodo yelled. He lunged, but Cobra hit him away.
"You are safe now, Viper." Cobra promised.
"My hero!" Viper cried.
"Hawk!"
Hawk jumped and covered his Komodo, Cobra, and Viper action figures with his wing. "Yes?"
"Are you playing with your toys again?" Cobra demanded.
"Maybe…" Hawk said innocently.
Cobra chuckled. "I swear, you act like more of a kid than Po does."
"Whatever!" Hawk sneers playfully. "How's Viper doing, anyway?"
"Great." Cobra said excitedly. "It's been eight months since we were married."
"I hear someone's going to be a dad soon." Hawk said slyly. At Cobra's look, he added, "Like I said: I see all, know all."
Cobra suddenly remembered. "I should get home. See ya!" He quickly slithered out and back to his house. Slithering inside, he saw Viper, asleep and curled around four eggs. Cobra slithers over, and Viper quickly shoots up. She relaxed and smiled slyly when she saw her husband.
"What's with the reflexes?" Cobra inquired.
"You never know." Viper shrugged.
Tokay came in, checking the eggs. He made a pretty good doctor, but he never told anyone where he learned. "Everything seems to be fine." He said. "They should hatch in three days, and you'll be having two boys and two girls."
Cobra and Viper were excited as they thanked Tokay, who left for the Jade Palace.
"What should we name them?" Viper wondered aloud. The two snakes thought about it for a couple hours before they finally decided the boys would be named Gaboon and Vishnu and the girls would be named Vibora and Paravatti. Then, they went to sleep.
The next day, Xai and Po were playing cards, but Xai seemed distracted.
"Something bothering you?" Po wondered.
"Sort of." Xai confessed. "I mean, the Ruby Palace found me on their doorstep when I was a baby. I was just wondering who my father was."
"Sorry, can't help you much there." Po shrugged. "But, according to text, your dad was one of the three kung fu warriors that defeated the Obsidian Empire. Oogway was one, too."
"Tokay told you that, didn't he?"
"Yeah." Po said.
Xai sighed. "I wish I had gotten to know him. I mean, my master was a pretty great dad, not only to me but to the other students there. But he didn't know who my parents were either."
Tigress came in, smiling broadly. "Hey, boys. You know, Panther and Bengal are getting married in a week. Xai, Panther wants you to be his best man."
"Sure." Xai shrugged. "I'd love to." Xai laid down his cards. "Read em' and weep!"
Po grumbled something about the game being rigged, and then walked off.
Tigress turned to Xai, her hand on her neck. "You know, when you went missing, I gave you my mother's necklace?"
Xai thought about it for a while. "Uh….yeah, I do."
"What did you do with it?" Tigress asked.
Xai thought for a long time. "I can't remember." Then, it hit him. "Oh yeah! I think I left it at the Sapphire Palace."
"You what?" Tigress exclaimed. "That belonged to my mother!"
"I was hit on the head! With a large rock! By Saimang the stupid gibbon!" Xai protested.
Tokay overheard them as he passed by. "Tigress, did that necklace have any runes on it?"
Tigress thought about it. "Yeah, it did. I could read them, but I never understood what they meant."
"Can you write them down?" Tokay asked. Tigress nodded and wrote down the runes from her mother's necklace. Then, Tokay left so the two cats could talk. As Tokay wandered off to his room, he studied the runes. He realized that they were for removing the powers from someone that got them from a spirit creature. Tokay hid the paper away in his desk.
That night, Panther and Bengal sat under the peach tree.
Bengal sighed. "Remember when we were young, and you used to be so shy when you were around me?"
Panther chuckled. "Well, you used to beat me in every sparring match we ever had." The two of them kept talking for a while until Po, Mantis, Monkey, Crane, and Tokay came up.
"Hey guys." Tokay said. "Viper and Cobra's eggs are supposed to hatch in three days."
"Well, good for them." Bengal said.
"Good to know that our future kids will have playmates." Panther added. Po seemed troubled. "Something wrong?"
"Not really." Po said. "I was just wondering…remember those spirit creatures that helped us with the Leviathan?" Everyone nodded simultaneously. "Remember how Komodo, Rik-Zi, Tai Lung, and Taipan fought them?" Again, simultaneous nodding. "Well, you ever wonder what happened to them; you know, Rik-Zi, Komodo, Tai Lung, and Taipan?"
STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR
Turns out, those four villains were at the Sapphire Palace ruins. Having gained the powers of the spirit creatures they defeated, they even gained some of the creature's physical traits. Tai Lung had horns, and his snow leopard tail was replaced with a serpent tail like a Chimera. Komodo had wings and breathed fire. Rik-Zi had feathery wings and pyrokinetic powers like a Phoenix. Taipan had three heads like a Naga.
The four of them dug thru the rubble a bit before Rik-Zi found the Tengu Scroll in the hand of a skeleton.
"We don't even have the eight scrolls." Taipan's first head hissed.
"How are supposed to activate the scroll?" his second head demanded.
"Are you really so stupid?" his third head teased.
"Yeah!" all three heads agreed.
Rik-Zi growled. "Oh shut up you three! We don't need the other scrolls. My powers allow me to activate the scroll myself." Rik-Zi focused on his powers. Soon, the Tengu Scroll started glowing and shaking. Rik-Zi tossed the scroll up into the air, and in a flash of light, the great Tengu Army stood before the four villains. The warriors were humanoids with crow's heads, feet, and claws. Their weapons consisted of katanas, Naginatas, and Yumi bows and arrows. They wore samurai armor.
"Perfect." Rik-Zi laughed. "Come! Let us go and attack the Jade Palace!" The four villains and the army left.
They didn't see the skeleton finger move.
STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR
The next day, at the Jade Palace, Cobra volunteered to watch the eggs, so Viper went to visit Tigress. The two friends, having not heard from each other for a while, had a lengthy conversation.
After a while, Tigress sighed. "You know, I think I'd like to marry Xai someday."
Po suddenly poked his head into Viper's room, where the girls were talking. "I think Xai would most likely marry you."
"Why are you eavesdropping?" Tigress demanded.
"Relax!" Po whined. But he yelped when Tigress suddenly chucked a scroll at his head.
Po ducked, and the scroll hit Crane, who had been walking by. He gave off a bird-like squawk and came into the room rubbing his head.
"Ow…." Crane muttered. "You know, Xai's not the most responsible. I don't think he'd be ready for marriage." Tigress growled her disagreement and stalked out of the room.
"I think you might've touched a nerve there." Po mumbled.
Crane rolled his eyes and changed the subject. "So Viper, how's Cobra doing?"
"Great!" Viper said happily. "He's very excited about being a father. He even got all the infant supplies."
"Didn't he get that stuff like seven months ago?" Crane asked. The three of them laughed.
Then, Po's face went solemn.
"What's wrong?" Crane asked.
"Nothing…I just…." Po sighed. "I wish Shifu could be here. You know, to see the next generation of warriors."
The three warriors went silent. Viper smiled softly and wrapped her tail around Po's paw. "Hey, it's okay. We all miss him." Po nodded, his eyes wet. Then, he turned and walked off.
A couple hours later, Xai took a trip to Mr. Ping's and was surprised to find Po working there.
"You work here?" Xai asked.
"I live here." Po rephrased. "Mr. Ping's my dad." Po came out and the two of them sat down at a nearby table. "Yeah, so Mr. Ping is my adoptive dad, and he owns this restaurant. Our house is right upstairs."
"Nice." Xai commented. "So, listen, I once met this panda named Kappa who told me he once worked with my father in the war. I think he, my father, and Oogway were the three warriors that defeated the Obsidian Empire. Have you ever heard of Kappa?"
"Uh, no, I've never heard of him." Po admitted.
Mr. Ping overheard them as he passed. "Kappa? Po, that was your father."
"Excuse me?" Po was pretty shocked.
"He gave you to me so you'd be safe." Mr. Ping said.
"Why would he do that?" Po wondered aloud.
"The war was still going on, and you were motherless." Mr. Ping admitted in a pained voice. "He just wanted you to have a normal life until the war was over." Mr. Ping walked off.
"Wow." Po breathed. "That's so cool!" Then, he frowned. "But the war's been over for at least three decades. You'd think he'd come for me by now. Where do you think he is?"
Xai's eyes were filled with grief. "Rik-Zi killed him ten years ago. For all I know, he's buried under five feet of rubble."
Po's fists clenched, and he got up, sulking to his room and muttering, "Rik-Zi's going to pay."