The Finale

Part Three

Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Hawk, Cheetah, Jake, Surnam, Cobra, Viper, and their kids waited in the hallway outside the infirmary. Tokay was inside, checking on Xai. When he came out, the gecko had a solemn look.

"How is he?" Surnam asked.

"He has broken legs, internal bleeding, battered ribs…the list goes on." Tokay grumbled. "In other words, I don't think he'll make it thru the night."

Jake had been meditating when his eyes snapped open. "More bad news: Rik-Zi's going to be here in a couple hours." Jake turned to Cheetah. "We have to find Tigress and the others. They're at the Sapphire Palace; tell them about Xai."

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Cheetah said. With that, she sprinted off towards the ruins.

Poor Tigress. Viper thought. And she wanted to marry Xai.

Meanwhile, as Po, Panther, Bengal, Tigress, and Shifu/Gavial journeyed back to the palace, Bengal was the first to notice the yellow blur that was Cheetah sprinting towards them. The warriors prepared for battle, but relaxed when Shifu and Tigress explained who Cheetah was.

"Is something wrong?" Po asked.

"Good news and bad news." Cheetah said simply. "Good news: Xai defeated the Tengu Army. Bad news: Rik-Zi gave him the beating of a lifetime. He's in the infirmary at the Jade Palace, but Tokay doubts he'll last the night." The group was shocked, but they didn't notice Tigress' tears streaming down her face.

"We have to get back to the palace and stop Rik-Zi." Shifu ordered. "And we need to get there fast before…." He suddenly stopped. "Where's Tigress?" Everyone looked around, but the tiger was nowhere to be seen. Shifu did find her mother's necklace and grabbed it.

"Where could she have gone?" Panther wondered aloud.

"Well, let's worry about that later." Cheetah urged. "We have to get to the valley before Rik-Zi does." The others nodded and they rushed off.

As it turns out, Tigress was running as fast as she could to the Imperial Palace. She didn't stop until she was in the throne room, where Atlas was sitting on his throne of gold.

"Atlas….." Tigress panted. Then, she gained her breath and bowed. "Emperor….Atlas…."

"No need for formalities." Atlas chuckled.

"Atlas, Xai is hurt and probably dying." Tigress panted a little. "I need the healing potion you have. I know it's for this Son of Chaos, but you can't understand how-"

"Tigress, calm down." Atlas comforted the tiger. "You are destined to have the potion." Tigress stared at the moth. "You, my child, are the Daughter of Order, who must save the Son of Chaos."

"Xai…." Tigress realized.

"So that the two of you can have the Neutral Child." Atlas finished. He removed the potion bottle from the Phoenix's claw above his throne and handed it to Tigress. "Go; save the Son of Chaos and defeat Rik-Zi once and for all." Tigress bowed and thanked Atlas numerous times as she ran out the doors and back to the Jade Palace.

STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR

Everyone at the palace was ready for battle. Once Po, Bengal, Panther, and Shifu had gotten back to the palace and everyone there got over the shocking fact that the skeleton was the old master, they formed a plan. Po and Shifu would guard the scrolls in case Rik-Zi came after them, Viper volunteered to guard her children, and the rest of the group stood watch around the palace, waiting for the crazed salamander. Xai was still hurt and in the infirmary.

But they should've been with Po and Shifu, because Rik-Zi came after them first. Shifu came to fight the salamander off, but Rik-Zi used the Sword of Heroes, still in his possession, and sliced the old master's skeleton head off. Po, shocked by the swift move, was caught off guard, and defeated easily. Rik-Zi took the centerpiece and the scrolls and summoned all the creatures at once. Po could only watch as Rik-Zi defeated all the creatures with ease and absorbed their powers. What happened next was Rik-Zi's amazing yet terrifying transformation.

Having defeated all the creatures and gained their powers, Rik-Zi had a trait from each of them. Rik-Zi had the Leviathan's head, the Dragon's scales, the Behemoth's body and size, the Yeti's arms, the Phoenix's wings, the Chimera's horns, the Ki-Rin's mane and three Naga heads for a tail. He also transformed the Sword of Heroes into a giant black sword.

The group that was down by the arena heard the ruckus and rushed up, only to find Rik-Zi in his monster form.

"At last!" Rik-Zi laughed. "With my powers, I shall finally flood this valley and create my glorious empire! And nothing can stop me!"

"You're crazy!" Panther retorted.

"I know." Rik-Zi countered. He broke thru the doors and headed out towards the village. The others followed him, but Po tripped over Shifu's skeleton. He yelped when the skeleton stood up, grabbed its head, and replaced it on his body. Po stared at his master, his mouth agape.

"Close your mouth before you catch something unwanted." Shifu ordered. He and Po rushed off to help the others.

Cheetah managed to attract Rik-Zi's attention and lured the monster away from the village and into the forest. The rest of the warriors moved in to attack. Shifu and Po managed to catch up a few minutes later, Shifu ordering everyone to stand back.

"What are you going to do?" Po asked warily.

"I'm going to try and stop Rik-Zi with Tigress' necklace." Shifu said. But Rik-Zi spotted the old master and growled. He crushed Shifu's skeleton under his fist, grabbed the necklace and broke it against a large rock. The warriors of the Jade Palace were pretty shocked and didn't know what to do. Shifu's skeleton avatar had been crushed into a pile of lifeless, broken bones.

Suddenly, Po heard someone shout, "Move!" He looked up and saw a bunch of rocks crashing down, and he ushered everyone out of the way. Once they were out of danger, Po looked around and saw that the person who had saved their lives was Master Shifu's ghostly form.

"We have to stop him." Shifu urged.

"How?" Panther demanded. "We don't have the necklace."

"We have to try." Po agreed. Everyone was a bit reluctant, but they all agreed that they'd rather go down fighting than let Rik-Zi win. So they rushed off to battle. But, as they did, Shifu caught sight of an orange and black blur rush by.

"Tigress?" Shifu breathed. He followed his top student as she rushed to the Jade Palace. The two of them journeyed to the infirmary, where both were shocked to see Xai's battered and bloody body.

"What happened to him?" Shifu asked.

Tigress whipped around and almost screamed. "Master?"

"Rik-Zi crushed Gavial's skeleton." Shifu explained. "Now, I'm just a ghost. Now what happened to Xai?"

"He faced and defeated the Tengu Army alone." Tigress said. "But Rik-Zi did this to him." Tigress pulled out the vile of the healing potion. She carefully poured the final drop of the liquid into Xai's mouth. Instantly, right before Tigress and Shifu's eyes, Xai's wounds closed up. In about thirty seconds, Xai was sitting up and rubbing his head a little.

"It worked." Tigress breathed.

Xai smiled when he saw her. "You know, I was thinking….I think that a good name for our kid would be Thylaceo."

Tigress chuckled. "I think it's perfect."

"Same here." Shifu agreed. It was then that Xai noticed the ghostly master, and he nearly jumped thru the roof.

"How in the-"

"Don't ask." Shifu pleaded. "Now's not the time."

"He's right." Tigress said. "Po and the others need help." The three of them ran off, but not before Tigress grabbed the sheet of paper that had the runes from her mother's necklace on it.

Shifu took one look and sighed. "You really are the Daughter of Order."

"You knew?" Tigress asked as they kept going.

"Atlas and I talked about it." Shifu admitted. "And I knew you were destined for something bigger and greater than being a famous kung fu warrior." The three of them made it outside and saw Rik-Zi standing at the top of the mountain.

"Finally!" Rik-Zi boasted. Po and the others were in the palace arena, wounded and unable to do anything. "Thus begins my empire!"

"Not today." Tigress growled. She took out the paper and read the runes from her mother's necklace. However, no one really knew what she was saying, and they knew it was an ancient language of the gods.

Rik-Zi saw what Tigress was doing and tried to stop her, but he couldn't. His entire form, bit by bit, started turning to stone. Soon, there was a full stone statue, which crumbled into dust. Rik-Zi's scream still rang in everyone's ears as the dust blew away into the wind.

Everyone gathered in the Sacred Hall of Warriors, mostly to congratulate Tigress for finally killing Rik-Zi once and for all. Then, Tigress noticed Shifu standing off to the side, staring at Oogway's shrine. Everyone noticed this as well.

"Uh…..Master Shifu?" Po asked. The ghost master turned to his students and their friends.

"Yes?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No." Shifu said. "My time on this earth is done. I'm going to meet Master Oogway in the afterlife."

"You can't stay?" Po asked hopefully.

"Of course not." Shifu retorted. "But I'm glad that Rik-Zi's finally gone. Well done to all of you. And, uh, Xai….." Shifu turned to the clouded leopard. "…you be sure to treat my daughter well."

No one knew who was more embarrassed, the tiger or the leopard.

"Well, I give you all the best." Shifu said. "And I bid thee a sad farewell." Shifu bowed to the warriors, who did the same to the master. Then, Shifu's form flickered and disappeared.

ONE YEAR LATER

Viper and Cobra watched as their toddlers played with the Adversary. Panther and Bengal, being married for over a year, had a boy and a girl wrestling with each other. Po walked over to Xai and Tigress. The two of them have been also married for quite a while, and they had a single child, the Neutral Child, named Thylaceo, as promised.

"He'll grow up to be a strong warrior." Po assured. "Especially with his parents' heritage."

"Indeed." Tigress said.

"Po, I'd like it if you would be Thylaceo's godfather." Xai said.

"Me?" Po questioned.

"If anything happens and we can't take care of him, I wouldn't trust anyone more than you to take care of him." Po smiled and nodded in acceptance. Soon, it got dark. Viper and Cobra gathered their four children and journeyed home. Upon arriving, they found Hawk messing with something on the table.

"What are you doing?" Cobra asked.

Hawk quickly covered his action figures. "Nothing!" He grabbed the little figures and flew off to his room.

"Uncle Hawk." Viper chuckled. "Still acts like a kid, as always." The two snakes put their kids to bed and soon went to sleep themselves.

Back at the Jade Palace, Bengal, Panther, Tigress, and Xai put their own kids to bed. Po was the last to go to bed, but stopped briefly and checked on little Thylaceo.

"Goodnight, my little warrior." Po whispered.

Elsewhere, in Tokay's room, the gecko was fast asleep, a writing quill in his hand. On his desk was a large book, labeled "A Warrior's Travels".

Suddenly, a gust of mysterious wind blew thru the window and opened the book, flipping thru the pages. Written upon the pages was Tokay's writing…and of all the adventures that happened. Komodo's attack on the Quartz Palace with Saber, Chameleon, and Gaur; Shifu's poisoning; learning the powers of the eight scrolls; the invasion of the Imperial Palace; Ganesha's summoning of the Behemoth; Shifu sacrificing himself to save everyone; the Leviathan's attack; Bengal and Panther reuniting; Komodo, Taipan, Tai Lung, and Rik-Zi gaining their powers; Rik-Zi gaining ultimate power; Shifu returning to their world…

Everything that led up to Rik-Zi's final defeat.

At the bottom of the final page were theses words:

"At last, there is peace in the valley."

Shifu and Oogway's ghostly form appeared next to the book. Shifu smiled as he closed the book.

"They've done well." Oogway said.

THE END

A/N: Done! At last! Now I can work on my other stories! And it'll be one story finished at a time, I assure you!