Here's the second chapter. Hope you like it! Remember, Kung Fu Panda is property of DreamWorks. I only own Al and Haivas.
Ancient China, 450 B.C.
The sun had set from over the land and only a slight shine from the moon allowed some illumination to the forest. There was a strong breeze coming from the west. It passed through the thick branches producing a loud rustle in the air. The rouge wind continued its course until it unexpectedly stopped at a clearing. It appeared that several air currents were coming from other directions and also circled the clearance. The trees were swaying madly back and forth. Huge trees were putting a defense against the harsh winds, smaller trees were either missing branches or were completely un-rooted.
In the middle of the clearing a bright light, brighter than the moon, started to appear giving the whole forest a white color. The light expanded larger and larger until it was almost covering the whole clearing. The light stopped expanding, then all of a sudden it imploded and disappeared, leaving the whole forest in darkness, relying solely on moonlight.
There was a figure now standing in the exact same spot where the light was emanating from.
Al still had his eyes closed as he stood there slightly crouched. He slowly began to open one eye trying to identify where he currently was. After a few moments of regaining his bearings, he concluded that he was in a forest of some sorts...but where exactly was still unknown.
"Haivas." he called as he raised his right wrist where the watch was. "Haivas, you there?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm here." said Haivas' electronic voice. The watch produced a cerulean colored light.
"IT WORKED!" he was practically dancing in place. "OK. I need confirmation of my current loca-" he stopped when he saw that his hand was...different. To start off he had what looked like fur on his hand with claws and only four digits. He turned his hands and instead of seeing palms he saw paw pads.
"Um...Haivas? Am I hallucinating or does my hand look different?" he asked panic etching into his voice.
Haivas' hologram popped out from the watch and she began giving him a look over.
"Er...to be honest your whole face and body looks different." she said nervously.
"What do you mean?" now he was panicking. "What's different?"
"I think it's better if you see for yourself." she said.
Al dropped his bag on the ground and started looking through it with his now different hands, looking for something to see his reflection with. Al picked out a knife, it was his father's survival knife that he would use whenever he took him camping. Al looked at the flat part of the blade and was frozen at what he saw. Instead of his normal hazel-brown eyes, he saw a pair of clear sky blue irises looking at him. He saw that his nose and mouth now took shape of a muzzle and he had a pair of pointy ears. He opened his mouth and saw canine teeth and a large tongue.
"Yeah, I told you you looked different." Haivas slowly said. Al just stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. That is until...
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed. "WHAT THE HECK? HAIVAS TELL ME WHY I LOOK LIKE A HUSKY! WHERE IS MY HUMAN BODY? WHA- WHAT HAPPENED?" he hyperventilated.
"Calm down." Haivas said.
"Calm down? CALM DOWN? YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN? WELL I CAN'T CALM DOWN! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE I LOOK LIKE A DOG! A DOG! YEAH, YOU HEARD ME, D-O-G. HOW DO I EVEN GET MY HUMAN BODY BACK?" Al was now hysterical.
"For once, I have no clue. It probably has to be a flaw in the teleportation engine that may have affected the space-" She began but got interrupted.
"Wait are you trying to say that we jumped worlds?" he asked. "WE ARE ON PLANET EARTH! I MADE A TIME-TELEPORTATION MACHINE NOT A 'TAKE ME TO ANOTHER PLANET' MACHINE! EVEN IF I WAS ON ANOTHER PLANET, THAT DOES NOT EXPLAIN WHY I LOOK LIKE A SIBERIAN HUSKY!"
"I wasn't going to say that you traveled to another planet. I was going to say that you travelled to a parallel universe or dimension." Haivas said coolly. Al stared at her hologram that was coming from the watch with a confused expression. "Wow. Your a genius and you looked completely lost right now."
"Ok when I get back remind me to check your programming for malfunction. Aren't different dimensions only a speculation? It hasn't been proved." Al stated as a matter of fact. "How could that be possible?"
"Actually it just might be." she countered.
"What are you getting at?" Al asked while rubbing his head, he could feel a headache approaching.
"Alright let me explain my self. Are you familiar with the Bermuda Triangle, Devil's Sea, and Michigan Triangle?" she asked.
Al nodded although he was still unaware of where she was getting at.
"Ok, so what do these three places have in common?"
"Um, they're located over a body of water?" Al replied.
Haivas sighed.
"Apart from that."
"Each happen to have a case of mysterious disappearances?" he added.
"Precisely. Over the years a number disappearances have occurred in each location. Both aerial and naval crafts have gone missing when passing through these areas and no remains have been recovered." Al was absorbing every bit of information. He couldn't help but to start wondering. Haivas continued to speak. "The universe is full of strange things that we can't explain. For example, do you remember that time you hacked a top secret NASA database and found a photo taken by the rover that showed a mysterious triangular shape on the surface of Mars?"
Al nodded. He also remembered he got busted for doing that.
"Call me crazy, but I think those three places on Earth just might be original portals to another world, universe or dimension, weather those worlds share the physical laws of ours or not. You made an 'artificial' portal with your machine that combined time and space. The effects of such a combination and breaking such law in our universe probably resulted in this outcome; Transportation to a place where there is a reversal of the way we see things back home.
Al was silent for a few minutes, letting all the information sink in. He shook his head and came out of his thoughts soon after.
"Enough about quantum physics or whatever, I have a headache, I just hope I regain my human body when I get back home or else my mom is going to faint when she sees me." he said. "Maybe the portal will reverse the effects."
"I most likely will. Since you changed when we came here, the effects should reverse when traveling back into our time." she reassured.
"Since were here can you give me a confirmation of my current location wi-" he began but was interrupted.
"Did you forget we just traveled to Ancient China? You do realize I need a satellite in order to get a global location, right?
"Haivas." he tried getting her attention.
"I mean the first GPS-capable satellite was made in 1978 C.E and we're currently in 450 B.C. Do you know how many years it is until that time?
"Haivas!" he tried again.
"You're a genius, you do the math." she continued rambling. Al only sighed.
"2427 years." he answered.
"Exactly! And don't even get me started on the need of a high speed internet connection!" she stated.
"HAIVAS!" he yelled. That got her to stop. "I get your point. No satellite and no internet equals no live geographical location display. But I was not finished. I was going to say I had downloaded a 3-D map of China and backed it up to this era to get the same terrain." he explained. "Here's the data." he inserted a little chip into the side of his watch. A map of the whole of China appeared.
"Alright, send a sonar pulse to record the terrain within five miles of this location, then see if it matches any similar terrain from the map." he said.
There was a high pitch ping that sounded and echoed throughout the forest. After five more pulses, Haivas had the information gathered to start.
"Initiating search for similar terrain." she said. The locations that were searched were highlighted on the map as Haivas searched for similarities. After two minutes of searching she found a similarity.
"Found a one-hundred percent match." she said as a red dot appeared on the map. It flashed in the center part of the country.
"Good. That means we are in the right place." he said while grinning.
"Does the map show any nearby village or residence where we might find people?" he inquired as he looked around, trying to find any structure or other indication of civilization.
"As a matter of fact, there is, and its not far from here." Mai's electronic voice said.
"Great! How many minutes until the portal back home is created?" Al asked.
"You have exactly forty five minutes and thirty-nine seconds left." she answered.
"That should give us enough time to explore. How far away is it?"
"Its a ten minute walk from here to the border of the village." she affirmed.
"Let's get going then." he remounted his backpack, threw the hood over his head and put his hands, or rather paws, inside his pockets so he would not scare off any villagers with his 'appearance'.
Jade Palace, Moments before...
Shifu sat under the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom meditating. He was here remembering his Master and friend, Oogway. It's been two and a half years since his Master departed and a lot has happened since then. Tai Lung had been defeated, Shen's reign of terror had been terminated and they defeated a power hungry Ke-Pa and his demon minions. His mind then drifted to Po, his student and the Dragon Warrior.
From the time Oogway named him Dragon Warrior until now, Po's skill has improved dramatically. He even had acquired Inner Peace...at such a young age. Shifu always had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that one of his pupils had mastered the lesson in only a few days. 'You chose the true Dragon Warrior Master.' Shifu thought to himself.
Just as he finished that thought he felt a strong wind that pushed him a few feet. "What in the world?" Shifu said to no one specifically. A small speck of light that was beyond the border of the village caught his attention. He squinted his eyes to get a focused view at the source of light.
Shifu watched as the speck of light grew bigger and bigger until it receded into nothing.
"What. Was. That." Shifu said wide eyed. He stood there for a couple of seconds. When he regained his senses he dashed down the steps towards the kitchen where Po and the Five must be.
Po set five bowls on the table, One for each of the warriors that were seated around the table. He grabbed his bowl and took a seat.
"Well, a hard day of training deserves a delicious meal afterwards." Po said before raising the chopsticks to take a bite.
"Agreed." Monkey joined in.
"Besides. My figure requires constant attention." Po added. The group minus Po laughed out loud at his statement.
"Po, I think you could survive without food for a whole month." Mantis said as he tried to control his laughter.
"But then where would I get the energy to be bodacious and awesome?" he asked.
"Trust me Po, you would have plenty to spare." Crane stated.
Just then Shifu appeared at the entrance of the kitchen with an urgent expression.
"Po. You and the five need to go to the outskirts of the village to investigate a strange happening." Master Shifu ordered.
"But the soup will get cold." Po complained. The Five just shook their heads at Po.
"What kind of happening Master?" Tigress asked.
"There was some sort of strange light that appeared, expanded and disappeared about a mile out of the village." Shifu explained while walking out the barracks into the open, the Five and Po following.
"That is strange." Viper said. "Did you see the cause of it Master?" she asked. Shifu only shook his head.
"No. That's why you need to investigate." he replied.
"Well the sooner we go, the sooner we can come back." Po stated. With that the six of them were sprinting out the palace gates and down the thousand steps.
"Time?" Al asked Haivas.
"Thirty seven minutes and eight seconds" She responded.
"How far from the village are we?"
"Another five minutes. You should start to see some kind of illumination or something." she said.
Al was surprised to be able to see slightly better in the darkness. The moon was well hidden behind a few clouds that were slowly passing by, which made the forest really dark. He could also hear the smallest noises from afar. He heard the sound of rushing water.
"Hey is there a stream or current of water around?" he asked as he kept walking.
"Let me check." he heard Haivas' voice from his watch. "Yes. There is a stream about five hundred yards to your left." she informed him.
"Wow!" he exclaimed. "Not bad." he said, admiring his enhanced senses.
"It's said that a dog of your breed can hear as far as one mile." Haivas said.
"You say it like if I was a real dog." he chuckled.
"You are...temporarily." she countered.
Al's mind started to wonder how, or more specifically, why his appearance had changed when he arrived here. For the life of him, he could not come to a understandable explanation of how this happened.
While in his thoughts, his ears twitched on its own. Al raised his head while slowing his pace to get a better sense of where the sound was coming from.
After a some time he was able to identify the sound as footsteps, but he also heard a a sound that was easily identified as wing flaps.
"It's probably some random bird migrating or something" he thought aloud. But the footsteps he was hearing were getting closer and fast. 'and that must be a random villager. Maybe I can ask him or her about this place.' as he finished that thought, he heard a high pitch sound coming from his watch.
"What are you doing Haivas?" he curiously asked.
"I'm sending occasional sonar pulses so I can continue getting a better layout of the land." she answered casually. "I'm picking up a rapid movement coming from the direction of the village, about one-hundred yards out." she added helpfully.
"I know, I hear it. It's probably a villager." he said.
"Well that villager sure is in a hurry."
"Why do you say that?" he asked, a little confused.
"Because it's moving at the speed of a tiger." she stated, seriously.
"Really? Well I'll be. Just traveled to Ancient China and already I'm about to meet the fastest human ever!" he laughed.
"This is serious, something is off. A person, even the most skilled person, would not be able to run that fast." her voice serious.
"Well what do you suppose it is?" he asked taunting.
"You tell me. It's fifteen feet in front of you."
Al raised his head from looking at the watch to looking straight forward. When he did his whole body halted abruptly and he stood there frozen at what he saw.
Tigress was running in the lead with Po, Monkey, Mantis and Viper a few feet behind her. Crane was in the sky, providing a farther view from up there. Although he could see very little because of the thick foliage below, he did see an open field a little ways away. He nodded to his comrades down below to let them know they were heading in the right direction.
Tigress acknowledged Crane's signal. She continued running on al fours ahead of the group.
"Tigress...wait...up!" Po panted as he ran out of breath.
Tigress heard Po's plea and visibly slowed down so they could catch up. "We have to hurry and investigate. What ever caused that light could be a danger to the Valley and we need to make sure it-" she stopped talking and looked around when she heard a noise.
"What is it Tigress?" Viper asked, noticing her sudden interruption.
"You didn't hear that?" she asked the snake.
Viper and the others shook their heads.
"What did you hear?" Monkey asked.
"It was like a high ping sound." Tigress answered. "Come on guys we need to figure out what that was and who caused it and fast! I suggest we split up from here so we can cover a wider area." She ran faster ahead of them, leaving them behind.
"Some of us aren't fast on all our feet you know." Mantis grumbled.
Tigress continued running in her direction for a minute before she heard someone talking to someone else.
"-you suppose it is?" she heard someone ask. She moved from behind the trees -still on all fours, just in case- to see a figure clad in a hood of a clear blue color and a strange type of pants and footwear. She immediately deemed this person suspicious.
"You tell me. It's fifteen feet in front of you." she heard a different voice but saw no one else. Just then the figure looked up to see her and she could see the person tense.
'Very suspicious.' Tigress thought to herself. 'Why would anybody become nervous around a Kung Fu Master? Unless they have something to hide!' she concluded in her thoughts. She wondered where her comrades were.
Al was scared silly. A tiger was fifteen feet in front of him and it was staring him down, looking like it was ready to pounce.
"Haivas, what should I do?" he asked in barely a whisper, afraid that if he was to loud it would mean his death. He slowly started walking backwards.
"First of all don't panic. Animals can sense fear." she counseled.
"Easy for you to say. You're not a walking meat buffet for a two hundred pound tiger." he said quietly. 'The Tiger' was only watching him intently.
"Ok. Tigers are territorial and-" she started but got cut off.
"I know that already. Now isn't the best time for a zoology lesson. Just give me a quick route to the village, maybe I can loose it there or the villagers might know what to do." Al ordered. He was so scared he failed to notice that the 'tiger' had clothes on. Anybody would be frightened if they came from a world where tigers are dangerous predators.
"Route calculated. Now...run!" Haivas called out.
Before he even heard the last word, Al was speeding off in the opposite direction as fast as he could.
Tigress was sort of confused as she heard the figure that was ahead talking to air and some other voice was answering despite being the only other person out here besides the individual. She wasn't surprised though when the person suddenly bolted in the opposite direction. She knew he would run the second he started backing away.
'Oh no you don't. I got questions for you.' she thought and she was off to chase the hooded figure.
"Take a sharp left." Haivas directed.
Al did just as she said and continued running, now heading for the village. He decided to take a risk to look over his shoulder. When he did, he let out a rather unmanly scream. The tiger was gaining on him and he still had a few more hundred yards to make it to the village.
"Oh my" came Haivas' voice. "that did not sound right." she teased.
"SHUT UP!" he screamed at her. "Be useful and tell me where to go now!" he asked as he neared a fork in the path.
"Left. No, right!" she said.
"Which one dammit." he yelled and unknowingly let out a growl.
"Watch that language. Take the right path."
He ignored the scolding and headed towards the right. He began to see the houses of the village and was partly relieved, somewhat, besides he still had to get there in one piece.
He again decided to take a peek over his shoulder but mentally told himself not to scream like a girl again. He saw the tiger was much closer now and widened his eyes in fright. But then he realized something...he had been running for ten minutes now and he didn't feel tired in the slightest.
'Oh, right. I forgot I was a dog, and this particular breed has a lot of stamina, enough to run for hours.' he reflected in his mind.
"Hey! Since I have the traits of a dog, do you think I would be able to run like one?" he asked.
"I don't know. It's worth a shot." Haivas answered.
Al secured the strap of his backpack across his chest so it wouldn't fall of. Once he had that secure he looked back and saw the tiger still in pursuit. While still running he jumped forward and caught the ground with his forward paws, he brought his hind legs forwards and used them to give him impulse and he continued that until he got the hang of it.
Tigress was gaining on him and with a couple more seconds she would catch up to him, but she saw him go on all fours and was a little surprised and annoyed at the speed and stamina that he maintained. They were right at the entrance of the village and that's exactly what she wanted to avoid. She looked up to see Crane flying in pursuit from above. When she brought her gaze down she didn't see the mysterious figure in the streets.
"Crap." she mumbled as she skidded to a halt. "He must have taken the alleys." Although there was no one in the streets at this time, she didn't want the suspect to cause any structural damage or anything else.
Crane flew back to fetch Po and he others. In a little while the five of them met at the edge of the village.
"Crane told us that you were in pursuit of a hooded figure."
"Was. I've lost him. I think he is using the alleyways to remain hidden." Tigress informed them. "Split up. Each of you cover a section of the valley. Crane, let us know if you see him from up there."
Everyone nodded and went off to look for the guy.
"That was too close." Al whispered as he crouched in an alley behind some stacked crates.
"If it wasn't for the body you've adopted, I'm pretty sure you would be dead meat right now." Haivas concluded.
"You've got a point there." he chuckled quietly. Al looked up towards a house and started to think. "Ok, so based on the architecture of these houses it makes it more obvious that we are indeed in Ancient China."
Al's knees were getting sore from crouching for too long, so he decided to stand up and stretch a little. When he was fully up right he looked around to become acquainted with his surroundings. He looked down the alley only to see a dead end, meaning there was no other way out, except from where he came in. He turned his head to the opening of the alley to see it empty. Now that he thought about it, the whole street was empty. Not a single soul was out. 'It's nighttime, they are probably sleeping.' he thought. After all he did not have an accurate time of this place, he only had the time of when the portal would open. Speaking of which.
"Haivas. How much longer until the way home appears?" Al asked nervously. He sure hoped that with all the excitement, he hadn't missed it.
"Fifteen minutes." she answered.
"Will it appear at the same place we were at?"
"I really can't tell. If there was some sort of unbalance to the system it would make the portal openings random. That being said, it is most likely to reappear at the same location." she explained.
"You could have said that straight from the beginning." he said. "Guess I better start heading back then."
He made to walk to the entrance of the narrow alley that he was in, that is, until he saw a shadow nearing the entrance. He quickly backed up to the crates accidentally bumping into them and making one drop, making a loud crash echo trough the alley.
Al winced at the noise and hid behind the object, mentally cursing himself for making a ruckus.
As he sat there waiting for whoever it was to pass he heard a sonar pulse going off from his watch.
"Shh, what are you doing?" he asked in a panicked whisper.
"Looking for an escape route. Who ever was out there no doubt heard the crates and will come to investigate. Besides I sounded it at a higher frequency than normal and you heard it because...you know...you're a dog."
"But what if that tiger is still around? It would have been able to hear-"
"Something's coming down the alley." she cut him off. He heard a low grow, but it wasn't him.
"Just great." he deadpanned. "What of that escape route? Now would be a perfect time for that."
"The wall that your leaning on. It's thin enough to cut open a hole with your laser."
Al remembered that he has stuffed it in his pocket, instead of leaving it in his toolbox. It was dangerous to have that tool in your pockets because it could go of accidentally, but right now Al was grateful that he had it there.
"That's good enough for me." he stated as he took out his handheld laser cutter and began cutting a square in the wall.
As soon as he finished, he pocketed the cutter and pushed the block with enough force to separate it from the rest of the wall. He heard the footsteps approaching and without thinking twice he went through the hole and pushed the piece of wall back in place.
He let out a relieved breath.
"Wow, that was intense." he said as he leaned on the inner wall of the house. "I felt like an actual spy doing that." he stated triumphantly.
His moment was short lived as he heard someone entering the room he was in. He instinctively tensed up and looked around for a quick hiding spot, but found none. He could only stand there. His gaze then turned to the door as it opened. His jaw slacked and dropped as he stared,eyes wide, at a pig that was dressed in a tunic and was standing on its two hind legs.
'What the fuc-' his thought was cut off when he heard a voice coming in the direction of the pig.
"Sir, what are you doing here? This is my house. How did you even get in?" the pig asked, weary of the hooded figure.
Al was now completely mind blown. Not only does this animal walk and act like a human, but it talks too. He was too shocked to answer, let alone move.
"Mister i asked you-"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAHHHHHH! AAAAAAHHHHH!" Al yelled in shock and fear.
They say fear is contagious. That must be true because the pig also started screaming like crazy. This continued for a few seconds until they both ran out of breath.
"Sorry to interrupt your screaming contest, but don't we have somewhere to be?" Haivas spoke up from the watch.
When Al came back into his senses, he realized he was still standing there like an idiot, screaming his lungs out. In less than a second he whizzed by the pig and headed out the room, looking for the front door of the house.
He opened three doors before he found the one that led out of the house. Once he was out side he took a three-sixty spin to gain his bearings. He made off in the direction of the forest running athis top speed, but he didn't get far as an orange blur tackled him from the side and pinned him down on the ground, bringing him to a screeching halt.
Al was flat on his stomach struggling to get free from whomever it was that was holding him down. He was roughly turned on his back and when he saw what it was that was holding him down, he struggled even more furiously.
"I'll be damned if I let you eat me!" he exclaimed to the tiger. "I have to get back home!"
"What are you going on about?" the tiger asked in a harsh tone. "Who are you? What are you doing here? Where are you from?" the tiger interrogated.
Al was still surprised to be hearing words come out of an animal's mouth. He saw the tiger extend a paw to remove his hoodie and he was considering talking to it, but then a sharp screeching sound entered his ears and he wailed in pain.
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH*
Before Tigress could removed the guy's hood her eyes widened at the noise and her paws instinctively went to her ears in an attempt to block out the piercing sound.
"GYYAAAAHHH!" she screamed as she fell on her knees. She pressed her paws harder on her ears and shut her eyes tightly as she tried enduring the immense pain the noise was causing in her head.
Tigress couldn't explain it, why was she in so much pain and where was that horrible sound coming from? What was happening? One moment she was restraining the mysterious man and the next she was screaming in pain as the sound made her ears and head throb. Was this the hooded figure's doing? Was he the one making that deafening sound?
Tigress cracked her eyes open in slits, only to see the hooded figure was still lying on the ground, tossing and turning with his paws on his head and his mouth open. She figured he was making some sort of noise, but the only thing she could hear was that agonizing screech flooding her ears. If the sound didn't stop soon, she was sure her head might explode from the pain.
The pain Al was feeling slowed his mental reasoning, so it took him a moment before he realized the noise was coming from his watch.
"HAIVAS! STOP...STOP IT!" he yelled, though he could not hear his own voice.
The sound died down but still left a ringing in his ears. He slowly lowered his hands from his head and opened his eyes, immediately seeing the tiger on the ground clutching her head in what looked like pain.
As the ringing in his ears died down, he could make out a muffled voice. He looked around and saw nobody except the tiger. The voice got clearer and he immediately recognised it as Haivas' voice.
"Al... Al now's your chance. Run!"
He did not need to be told twice. He shook his head, dizzily got on his feet, and clutched his head as a pain shot through his brain, then he began taking small strides in the direction of the forest that he came from.
He sped his pace as the effects of the pain slowly wore out. As he ran he began reminiscing on what just happened, when he pieced his memories back, a scowl appeared on his face.
"Haivas! What the hell was that?" he asked beyond angry. "I could have gone deaf because of that!"
"What would you have done? I got you out of a sticky situation. If anything, you should be thanking me." she said in a smug voice.
"Right. Thank you for almost making me go deaf." he said sarcastically. "Next time I'm in a sticky situation, let me handle it. I'm not too fond of your methods of 'handling' them."
"You're welcome, you ungrateful-" she began but got rudely cut off.
"If you so much as finish that sentence, I'll have your programming removed faster than you can even process a set of computer codes. I dare you." he threatened as he continued running in the forest.
Silence.
He knew he won whenever she remained silent, but he guessed she did help him...a little. In truth, he felt a little bad for snapping at her. Even though Haivas is an adaptive A.I. he saw her as a sister, since he was an only child and he had no blood brothers or sisters. It also helped him cope with his fathers death to spend time building her. His father had half completed Haivas' mainframe before he passed away. So he just decided to go ahead and finish the job.
Al sighed and calmed himself.
"Thanks. You did good. Just, remember to give me a warning next time. K?" he said.
"Alright." came her voice.
"By the way, what was it you did back there?" he asked slightly intrigued.
"Oh, well I emitted a ultrasound of 40 kHz at 130.5 decibels, which if listened to for extended periods of time can cause severe hearing damage. Sorry about that." she said slightly ashamed.
Al's was surprised that he had just heard that kind of feedback and was still able to hear.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not deaf and, you did help me to get away."
After a few more minutes of running, he finally made it to the clearing he appeared in when he teleported here. He leaned forward, supporting his hands with his knees as he inhaled and exhaled air through his mouth.
"Made it!" he exclaimed.
"And with seven minutes to spare." she added in.
Al smiled and decided to rest by a nearby tree till the portal opened up. He walked over to it, sat on the grassy ground and leaned his back on the tree trunk. Now the exhaustion of all the nights that he stayed up working and the running he did fell on him like a ton of bricks, and he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open. He tried staying awake but his mind and body had other plans, his legs and arms failed to respond as sleep started to cover his mind. No matter how hard he tried to fight it, he was loosing to exhaustion.
"Wake... me up when...*yawn*...the portal openzzzzzzzzzzz." was the only thing he mumbled before he drifted off to sleep.
Tigress was furious. This was the second time the mysterious and highly suspicious person had managed to escape her and she cursed under her breath. Her hearing had gone back to normal after a long while and she could hear running feet coming from down the street. She saw that Po and the others were coming her way, so she stood up and waited for them to arrive to fill them in on what happened.
"Tigress are you okay?" Po asked as soon as he was within earshot. Tigress nodded in reply.
"We heard screaming coming from here and we came to check it out." Viper said, relieved that she was okay.
"Were you able to find him? Monkey inquired.
"Yes but..." she hesitated. "he got away. Again."
"What happened?" Mantis interrogated, curious as to how someone managed to get away from Tigress.
"I had tackled him to the ground when he was running away, and I had him subdued, that is until there was a loud deafening sound that temporarily stunned, not only me, but him also. But it seems he recovered faster than I did and took off before I had a chance to see where he went." she informed them.
"Things are getting weird around here." Mantis said after Tigress had finished explain.
"Ya think? First, a strange light appears out of nowhere. Then, a strange guy appears out of nowhere. Now, a strange sound appears out of nowhere. Before you know it, almond cookies will start appearing out of nowhere." Monkey said.
"That, I wouldn't mind!" Po said, referring to the cookies. Everyone just groaned at Po's ability to speak about food in any kind of situation.
"So what do we do now?" asked Crane.
"We take one more look around the village and if we come up with nothing, we report back to master Shifu about what we saw." Tigress answered, and they once again began to look for the stranger.
Thank you for reading. Next chapter will be up soon. Please leave a review. See ya'll later.
-Th3Ph4nt0miz3r™
