AN: Here's the next chapter. Thank you all for reading and thanks to those that reviewed and followed. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Al sleepily woke up to a beeping noise. He was sprawled out on the floor as he extended his right arm, supposedly to turn off the alarm.
here"Al wake up!" he heard, but only mumbled in response.
"Turn off... the alarm first."
"No. You wake up first. Isn't that the idea of alarm clocks?" Haivas stubbornly refused.
"Hai, if this isn't important-" he mumbled.
"It's about the portal." she went straight to the point.
Al remained on the floor thinking on what Haivas had just said. His eyes shot open when he remembered that he wasn't at home but instead in China, he still needed to get home.
"Why didn't you say so from the beginning?" he asked as he stood up from the ground. He looked around and saw that instead of being nighttime, it was daytime.
"Haivas! Why didn't you wake me up!?" panic again audible in his voice.
"I just did."
Al sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I mean earlier. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"I tried, but you were out cold from lack of sleep." she answered.
Al just groaned and ran a paw through his fur.
"So I'm guessing we missed it?" he asked already knowing the answer.
"Actually...it never opened." she replied.
"What? You mean it never appeared?" he wasn't expecting that one.
"No." was her reply.
Al felt really tempted to unleash a stream of curses into the air, but instead, he took a moment to breathe and cool down. He realized that screaming a bunch of unpleasant words was not going to help at all.
Haivas decided to discuss the situation at hand.
"I suspect three reasons. One, a power outage back home, which is unlikely since you setup a failsafe for specifically that reason. Two, it's a bug in either the timing system or in the whole algorithm which prevented the portal from opening on time, which is also less likely since the diagnostics I ran beforehand showed no traces of a bug. The third and most likely reason is that the strange world we're in, has a different measure of time." she explained.
Al was completely lost. It showed on his face. Haivas' hologram took note of this and proceeded to explain.
"Time would work differently. For example, an hour here may equal a year back home. Or an hour back home may mean a year here. Understand?"
Al brought his paw to his chin then slowly nodded.
"Yeah, but I hope it's the latter case and I sure hope I don't have to stay here for a whole year." he replied.
"It's impossible to say how long you will be here before the portal opens. It could range from one day to a whole century or even more."
Al groaned like there was no tomorrow. He was hoping that she was right and that he wouldn't be stuck here forever.
"So what now?" Al asked.
"I'll monitor the area periodically to detect any abnormal anomalies that signal the portal's appearance." there was a beep not long after. "OK. Now you can go explore in the meantime." she said in a cheery voice.
Al scoffed. "Like I'm crazy enough to hang around a place that has walking and talking animals."
"The scientific word is anthropomorphic animals, and in case you haven't noticed, you're one too."
"Yeah but not by blood." he argued.
"Just try to get to know them. I highly doubt they'll try to eat you, they are a seemingly intelligent population with human behavior. Just be nice and try not to piss them off. OK?" she tried to persuade him. "And you might want to loose the Hood, it makes you look suspicious."
"Grrr...whatever." Al growled. He brought down the Hood, took of his jacket and reversed it, revealing the green side of it. If by any chance he ran back into that talking tiger, he wouldn't be recognised so easily...then again, he was the only one walking around like this.
He made up his mind that in case he did see her again, he would at least try to have a civilized conversation before running off.
Al looked to the floor then bent down to pick up his survival knife.
'Just in case it gets out of hand.' he thought as he strapped the blade across his chest.
"Don't you think that will be a little intimidating. This isn't Ancient Rome where everyone had their own sword on them." she decided to question his decision.
"You want me to socialize with them for the time being? Fine. But I'll do it my way." he said, not being altered from his decision.
Al made his way to his backpack that was thrown on the ground beside the tree he leaned on last night. Now that he thought about it, nobody seemed to have packs like these here either. 'Boy, I'm sure going to stand out.' was what passed through his mind. When he reached his pack he opened it to make sure to make sure he had brought the important essentials.
"Two granola bars, a bottle of water, an axe just in case, a p-"
"You brought an axe? Why?" Haivas asked, both surprised and curious.
"It's good that I brought it, seeing as I'm going to be here for who knows how long. Maybe I might need to cut some wood for a fire or something." he shrugged.
"Alright. If you say so."
"Ok, where was I...right! A pocket knife, ba-"
"What is it with you and sharp things? Huh?" Haivas interrupted...again.
"Can I at least finish taking inventory?" his head now hurting from all the questions. He should have dialed down her curiosity when working on her central core.
"Right. Sorry." she apologized.
"A pack of bandages and first aid supplements and a pack of bubblegum."
When Al finished checking his inventory, he zipped up the pack and slung it on his back. Al began walking to the village, he then looked down to see Haivas' hologram giving him a 'seriously' look.
"What?"
"You packed bubble gum?" she asked incredulously.
Al shrugged as a he replied.
"It's my favorite candy. I chew it when I'm nervous."
As if to prove it, he took out a strip, unwrapped it and plopped it in his mouth. Ever so often he would blow a bubble from the tip of his muzzle.
Al heard a giggle, then it increased into full laughter. Haivas was cracking up for some odd reason he didn't know. He decided to ask her.
"What's so funny?" He waited until her laughter died down and she responded.
"It's just...very comical seeing a dog chew bubblegum. Your tongue is flying all over the place."
Al chuckled as he imagined a dog chewing gum.
Master Shifu, Po, and the Furious Five were in the kitchen ready for breakfast. Po was by the fire stirring the pot full of noodles and the rest were waiting for it to be served. Shifu took this moment to ask about last night.
"Were you able to find out anything about the light?"
The Five shook their heads 'no'. Crane though spoke up.
"But we did encounter a strange individual near the area you told us the light appeared. I was following from the air. Tigress was the one chasing him."
Shifu turned his attention to Tigress who was nodding her head getting ready to speak.
"Right, I was giving chase to the mysterious individual all the way from the forest until I lost him when he entered the valley and hid in the alleys. There was a point when I thought I saw him in an alley that had a dead end and a few stacked crates. A few crates were knocked over giving the impression that someone was hiding behind them, but when I went to check, there was nothing there...except a square crack on the wall. I heard a few muffled voices on the inside of the house, then there was screaming coming from inside."
Everyone was listening intently. Even Po had stopped pouring the soup into the bowls, but still had the spoon in his hands. Tigress continued.
"When I headed out of the alley to go around the house, he passed right there and I tackled him to the ground. When I had him held down he exclaimed something about he wasn't going to let me eat him and he struggled even more. But it's when I went to remove his Hood that a loud ear piercing sound came out of nowhere and stunned me. I couldn't hear anything except that sound, and when I looked over at him he looked as he was under the same effects as I was. After the sound died down and I regained my hearing, I reopened my eyes and he wasn't there. We decided to take one more look around the valley to see if we could find him again. But we found nothing."
Shifu and the others were intrigued about the events, more specifically the hooded individual. Shifu then started speaking.
"Hmmm. Seems that this stranger is somehow tied to the Light that appeared not long before." He stroked his beard as he stayed pondering. "Were you able to identify anything else about him?"
Tigress nodded her head and answered.
"Aside from the fact that he's male, I saw clear blue irises from the hood, he's slightly shorter than myself, his voice revealed that he's younger than any of us and his clothes were one i've never seen before."
Shifu nodded. "This is most intriguing. Students, after breakfast, you will train your regular schedule, then you may have the rest of the day to yourself. In any case, i want you all to keep your eyes open at all times for this individual. Am I understood?"
They all bowed and replied in perfect sync.
"Yes Master."
Al kept walking for another ten minutes before he saw a stone path. That signaled that he was close to the village where he was in last night. A few yards ahead of him there was a wagon with with a goose standing beside it. Al stopped in his tracks. "What should I do?" he thought out loud.
"What would you do if you were back home?" asked Haivas.
Al pondered on that question before he answered.
"I would greet the person."
"There you go. Now, try it."
Al nodded and after tanking a lungful of air, he began walking towards the goose.
"Agh, for the love of noodles. Just what I needed." Al heard the goose say. Irritation clear in his voice. He was starting to doubt if this was such a good idea, but there was no turning back now. As Al approached, the goose turned to look at him. No fear, no worry, no aggressiveness on his face. The exact same opposite of how it would be back home.
Al swallowed and spoke.
"G'day goos- I mean sir." he gave a small bow with his head.
"Oh, hello young man. How are you this lovely day?"
Al was surprised at the kindness in the goose's voice.
"I-I'm fine, th-thank you." Al nervously stuttered. He cleared his throat and tried to act normal. "How about yourself?"
"Wish I could say the same." The goose glanced sadly at his wooden wagon.
Al began to relax, starting to find the conversation entertaining. He saw the goose take a glance at his wagon.
"Seems you're having some trouble with your wagon. Mind if I help?" he asked.
"No, not at all. Thank you." the goose lightened up instantly.
Al nodded and turned his focus on the wagon. It was leaning back. Something was broken or missing, that much he deduced. Al wanted to look under the cart so he went prone. He got a clear sight of the bottom of the cart and could see that the wooden axle that held the two rear wheels was broken at the center. Al got up and turned to the goose.
"Hold on sir I'll be right back."
The goose nodded and Al went looking for something to replace the broken part. Once he was out of earshot Haivas spoke up.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it."
Al chuckled. His sky blue eyes sweeping the floor for anything that could be used as a replacement.
"Yeah, he was pretty nice. Glad he didn't honk at me." he tried a joke.
"Um, are you trying to be funny?"
Al's smile faltered realizing she didn't get it.
"I guess not. Note to self: Gotta work on my jokes." he mumbled to himself as he continued looking.
After another five minutes he found the perfect replacement.
"That should work." he stated as he looked up to a branch that was still attached to the tree.
Haivas' hologram popped out and followed his gaze and she immediately decided against it.
"Al forget about it. It's too high. What if you drop? Thats a twenty-five foot drop, you could really hurt yourself."
Al just rolled his eyes at her worry.
"Relax. I won't drop down, I can assure you. Besides that goose is still waiting for me to fix the wagon and I'm not gonna keep him waiting any longer."
Haivas audibly sighed and shook her finger at him.
"If you fall and break something don't say I didn't warn you." Then her hologram disappeared.
Al chuckled.
"Yes mom." he teased.
After taking his axe that he nicknamed 'Tatom' from his backpack, he began to scale the tree. About halfway up the tree he heard Haivas' voice.
"I still don't get why you named your axe 'Tatom'."
Al grunted as he advanced another foot or so up the tree.
"Because *grunt* it's a *grunt* tactical tomahawk. So 'Tatom' for short." he explained as he made his way to the top.
"Where did you get one of those? You're only sixteen." Haivas asked.
Al waited until he made it to the tree branch to answer her question.
"Correction, I'm seventeen As to where i got it. I had found it some time ago in the basement in some old boxes." He was sweating because of the climb, and it did not help to have a jacket on.
"Phew. Tree climbing is for cats, not dogs."
Once he found a little space between two main branches to wedge himself in, he removed his tomahawk that was strapped to his waist. Al held onto the tree with his left arm, while his right would be doing the swinging.
"Here we go." he stated before bringing the axe over his head.
With one fast and firm swing he made a deep enough cut. He was pleased with the depth that the axe made in one strike.
"Guess I won't be here all day." Al stated happily.
He swung the axe again, then again and on the fourth strike the tree limb was severed and began falling.
"TIMMBBEERR!" Al yelled until the branch crashed on the ground below. A grin plastered on his face. Haivas knew what he was going to say so she said it first.
"Let me guess, you've always wanted to say that, right?"
Al's grin grew wider.
"Yes, yes I have." he confirmed. He was still smiling and Haivas took note of it.
"What's so amusing?" she asked.
"Told you the axe would come in handy." Al answered, smugness all over his voice.
"Good Boy. Now give yourself a pat on the head, you'll really like that." she cooed.
Al began trekking back down the tree, while being 'guided' by Haivas.
"That's it, one paw behind another."
Al was not finding it useful at all, irritating yes.
"I'm not a baby you know."
To prove it, he slid down the rest of the way while using his claws to keep a hold on the tree.
"See?"
Al walked over to his backpack and picked it up. Then he went for the felled branch, he picked it up, hefted it over his shoulder and began walking back to the goose sir.
"Al, can I ask you a question?" Haivas spoke.
"Is it related to the one you just asked?"
Haivas chuckled. "Why did you volunteer to help the goose with his wagon?"
"It seemed like the normal thing to do. You said to imagine what I would do back home, so that's what I would have done."
Haivas understood. She then decided to ask another question.
"How are you getti-"
She was interrupted when Al halted his stride.
"What's wrong?" she whispered.
"Shh."
Al's ears were focusing on something, but she didn't know what. Ten more seconds passed by before he talked.
"Haivas, can you quietly tell me how many people are ahead?"
There was no response for a couple of seconds. Al waited patiently for an answer while still rotating his ears to capture any sound.
"Ok, I scanned one small life form which is probably the goose from earlier, but there are two significantly bigger readings surrounding the goose." she reported.
Al nodded in acknowledgement. He slowly began to creep up to the place he had left the goose waiting. As he got nearer he could see the goose standing in the middle of...two wolves? One was a grey wolf with a nick in his left ear and he had spiked spaulders. The other was a black wolf with leather vambraces and a ring in his left ear.
He could hear them perfectly.
"All we want is your money old man. Give us that and we'll leave you alone." said the grey wolf that was standing on the left.
"If not. We'll take you money by force and all your goods too." the black one on the right now spoke.
The grey wolf gave the black one a look. The black wolf noticed the glare and spoke.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"How are we going to take all his goods if the wagon's broken?" the grey wolf asked.
"Ohhhh right. Then we'll take half the goods only. Right? No?"
The grey wolf shook his head. He then returned his attention to the frightened goose. "Hurry up old man, we haven't got all day."
Al saw the goose furiously shake his head 'no' before he heard him speak.
"Never. I worked too hard for it and I'm not about to give it up to some ruffian." the goose declared.
The grey wolf growled and advanced on the defenseless goose.
"You gotta do something Al." Haivas said in a whisper.
Al looked at her incredulously.
"There are two of them. What should I do? Walk up to them and say: 'Please leave the sir alone' then get the crap knocked out of me?"
"No, but try to use anything around you to your advantage against them." she hinted.
Al looked around for anything that he could use to his advantage. His eyes settled on the tree branch he had cut off. His mind started storming with an idea. He quickly took off his backpack stuffing his jacket and his knife inside, leaving only a grey tank top to cover his torso. The backpack was set in a bush to conceal it. Once Al had everything else hidden, he lifted the long, thick branch over his shoulder. He sure was glad that it didn't weigh too much. Al breathed in and out then he began walking forward. His plan was now in effect.
"I'll give you to the count of five to give me your money." the grey wolf threatened.
"Usually its to the count of three..." the black wolf began saying. The other one gave him a 'if you don't shut up, you're next' glare. "...but five is ok too." then he remained quiet.
"One." the grey wolf began counting as he neared the goose.
"Two."
The goose backed away until he couldn't because of the wagon. "No!"
"Three." the wolf extended his left arm and caught the goose by the neck. He brought his right arm back with his fist clenched, ready to punch.
"Four." The goose wiggled wildly trying to escape the wolf's grasp.
"Fi-"
"Oh, oohh weee."
The two wolves and the goose turned their heads to the voice. There, standing a few feet was Al. He had a confused expression on his face as he stood on the stone path looking left then right. His gaze met with the wolf's. The gray adult wolf was about half a head taller than him, his companion was a little shorter.
"Ah! Stranger perhaps you could be of help!" Al exclaimed as he began walking toward them, his eyes met with the goose and a quick message was sent. The goose received it and was curious as to what he would do.
Once Al was close enough to the wolf he continued talking.
"I'm sort of lost, I need help finding some village around here, do you happen to know where it is? I have to deliver this piece of wood to a friend." Al gestured to the tree branch on his shoulder. The wolf loosened but still kept his grip on the goose.
"Yeah, it's that way, now beat it. We've got some personal business to attend to." the grey wolf replied harshly.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Just to be sure, you said that way right?" There was a loud *clonk* as Al did a rapid turn to face the opposite direction, purposely hitting the wolf on the side of the head with the thick wood.
"Argh." the wolf howled in pain as he fell to the floor from the force of the hit, he instinctively released the goose to rub his now aching temple.
As soon as the goose felt the clutches from the wolf disappear, he went to his wagon to hide behind it.
It took all of Al's fibers of his body not to laugh at the situation. He did let a smile cross his face since he had his back to the wolf. 'Separate the wolf from the goose. Check!' he mentally went over his accomplishments.
The wolf preceded to get up from the ground while releasing a growl.
"Watch it you twit."
Al faked an apologetic face before he turned to face the wolf.
"I'm so sorr-" *clonk* He again 'accidentally' hit the wolf on the other side of the face while turning around.
"OW!" yelled the slightly dazed grey wolf.
The wolf's companion was slightly amused and entertained at what he was seeing.
"Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark." the black wolf said.
"THAT'S IT! NO ONE MAKES A FOOL OUT OF ME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" The grey wolf got up and started to advance on Al.
Al released the branch and raised his paws in a defensive manner. There was a high pitched whine that came from the advancing wolf as the piece of wood fell on his hind paws.
"YEEEOOOOWWWWCCCCHHHH!" the wolf cried out, as he began holding his injured paw.
Al walked over to the aching wolf and kicked out his other leg from under him, causing the wolf to collapse on his back. Al then put one knee on the wolf's chest and spoke with a serious voice.
"That's for trying to rob this poor citizen that works and sweats all day, only for you to come and take all that he has." Al face was glaring at the wolf.
But this wolf was stubborn. With a snap of his fingers he ordered the other wolf to tackle Al off of him.
Before Al could even react to the finger snap, he was tackled roughly to the ground by the black wolf that was standing by. Before he could push the wolf off him, Al found himself restrained from the back by the same wolf that tackled him.
The grey wolf stood from the ground and motioned to the other wolf to stand the dog up. "Pfft. Amateur. You think you intimidated me?" the wolf said while walking to stand in front of Al.
Al was surprised at the strength of the black wolf that was restraining him. The wolf wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but his strength sure compensated for his lack of intelligence. Al grinned before he answered the grey wolf in front of him.
"No, but I sure made you look like an idiot."
Al's grin was wiped of his face as the wolf delivered a swift punch to his maw.
"How dare you!" the wolf exclaimed.
Al was stunned. 'That hit hurt like hell!' he exclaimed inwardly. 'Either that wolf has metal paws or...' Al looked at the wolf's paw only to find out he had a metal cestus on. '...that.' he finished his thought.
"Hey boss," the black wolf began. "look at the jewelry this guy has." he motioned to Al's wrist that had his silver plated, advanced digital watch. Not that either of the wolves knew what that was. The gray wolf looked at it with a greedy eye.
"Well, well,well. That sure is a fine piece of treasure. I think I'll take it because of all the trouble you've caused us."
The wolf that was holding his arms took it off and tossed it to the leader wolf and he put it in a pouch that was strapped to his waist.
Al was beyond angry that they we're now looting from him.
"Why don't you get a job and buy your own things you worthless thief!" Al exclaimed only to have another punch directed at his face.
"Shut up!" the wolf exclaimed.
Being the fast thinker he was, Al suddenly got another idea. Al he had to do is infuriate the wolf further and take two more punches...more or less.
"Hey! How about you be a man, stop being a coward and take those cestus off." Al taunted. This of course got the wolf angrier. 'It's working.' was his thought right before the wolf landed two blows, one to his abdomen which knocked the air out of him and the second again to his face.
The goose was watching with reverence and worry as this young fellow that he just met stood up for him, and was taking a lot of brutal blows.
Al felt a sting then a warm liquid that tasted salty and metallic in his mouth. He at once knew it was blood. After accumulating some, he spat out the blood on the wolf's face.
"AGHK. WHY YOU LITTLE..." the wolf yelled while reading for the final blow.
Al now knew the wolf was furious to the limit and he would put all his strength into this last punch. 'Wait for it.' he told himself. He took a quick glace back at the black wolf that was holding him still. He watched as the wolf in front of him brought his arm back as far as it could go. Al maintained his focus on the paw with the metal fists. By the looks of it, the gray wolf would do a jab right for his face and that's what he was counting on.
Al had no idea if it was his imagination, because when the wolf launched his fist, time seemed to slow down a bit and he could see the fist travelling towards his face. He moved his head to the right just when the metal was going to make contact and he could feel the force of the cestus grazing by his fur as it passed by.
Al heard a loud cracking sound behind him and he figured that the grey wolf hit his mark, breaking the snout of the other wolf. His suspicions were confirmed when the grip the black wolf had on him loosened and disappeared. He did not wait another second to begin his assault on the gray wolf in front of him. If high school taught him anything it was how to defend himself from the jocks that always picked on him.
The wolf was temporarily surprised to have knocked out his comrade. Al took advantage of this. He threw his left arm behind the wolf's neck to hold his head in place as he began raining punches with his right fist on the wolf's face. Punch after punch after punch after punch. With each punch the wolf became more dazed. After about fifteen punches he finished the combo off with a powerful uppercut for extra measure, lifting the wolf a few inches before collapsing on his back.
Al had hardly broke a sweat during his onslaught, so he began walking towards the now downed wolf to retrieve his belongings. He took the pouch that he had seen the wolf put the watch in. When he opened it he saw not only his watch in there, but gold coins and a ring stuffed in there as well. Al strapped his watch on and walked back to where the goose came out from hiding, an expression of thanks on the goose's face.
"Oh, thank you. Those good for nothing thieves came a little while after you went off into the forest." the goose said.
That clicked something in Al's mind.
"That reminds me, I found this branch that could temporarily replace the broken axle of your wagon, until you can find a better replacement of course." Al gestured to the branch that was lying on the ground. He started walking to where he had left his pack to retrieve it.
"That's great! Sorry for the extra effort you had to go through though." the goose said gratefully while taking note of Al's swelling face.
"Nah, its no problem. I'm glad to be of service Mr..." Al stopped as he did not know the goose's name.
"It's Ping." the goose finished.
Al nodded as he spoke. He picked up his belongings and kneeled in front of the wagon.
"Mr. Ping. I'm glad I could help." Al nodded as he spoke. He then brought the tree limb near the wagon to measure how much he had to cut off to replace the rear axle.
Once Al had the measurements he took his axe -which he continued to call 'Tatom'- from his backpack and chopped a little at each end until he had the exact size. He then slid out the damaged piece, unhooked the wooden wheels, slid the new piece of wood in and hooked up the wheels to each side.
After he he had fixed the wagon Mr. Ping thanked him for the third time today.
"Thank you so much. How can I repay you?"
Al shrugged and lightly chuckled.
"It's no problem really, don't worry about it." Al answered wholeheartedly. While rubbing his sore and bleeding jaw.
Mr. Ping noticed that Al winced when he touched his face which meant that it was severely bruised and needed attention.
"Well let let me at least take a look at the bruising on your face at the restaurant. Then you can have a warm bowl of my famous Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup, on the house. As a token of thanks."
Al remembered that he was in this place for over twelve hours and he hadn't eaten yet. He decided to take up the goose's offer and he nodded to the goose. Mr. Ping smiled widely.
"Good. Cause I was going to drag you there if you refused." Mr. Ping said happily.
Al chuckled then looked over to the two unconscious wolves.
"What should we do about them?" Al asked.
Mr. Ping followed Al's gaze and saw he was referring to the thieves.
"Just tie them up and when we get to the restaurant we can alert the Masters."
Al looked slightly confused but nodded, he looked around to find something to tie them with. Mr. Ping gave him a piece of rope that was in his wagon and after Al tied them to a tree they began walking towards the village.
Al offered to help Mr. Ping pull his wagon as they made their way to the restaurant. Mr. Ping conceded and sat atop the wagon while Al pulled it.
"Oh, by the way young man, I did not get your name."
"The name's Al." Al replied.
"Hmm, nice name. It has a nice sound to it." Ping complemented.
"Thanks."
Both Al and Mr. Ping talked for the remainder of the walk to the village. Al saw this as an opportunity to get more information on this place.
"I'm sorta...new to this place. Where are we?" Al asked.
"Well, this is the Valley of Peace."
Al gave a slight snicker at the irony of the name despite what just happened with those two thieves just now and the tiger last night.
"Do things like that happen often?" Al gestured with his head in the direction where they left the two wolves tied up.
Mr. Ping shook his head while he spoke.
"Not often. Every once in a while a bandit or thief tries to make life impossible, but the Kung Fu Masters take care of them." Ping explained.
Al's curiosity was peaked at this point.
"Kung Fu Masters? Are they the same 'Masters' you mentioned earlier?"
"Yes. They are the official protectors of the Valley. My son is one of them too. He's the Dragon Warrior!" Mr. Ping exclaimed with pride.
"Dragon Warrior? There are Dragons here? Your son is a Dragon?" Al blurted out.
Ping couldn't help but chuckle at Al's thinking.
"No and no. The Dragon Warrior is only a title given to the person. As for my son, he is not a Dragon...he is a Panda."
Al's eyes widened at the fact that a goose had a panda as a son.
"Um...i- is..."
"He's adopted. But I still love him as if he were mine." Mr. Ping added.
"Oh. That's nice. Whats his name?"
"His name is Po."
Al was about to say it was a good name, but he heard a urgent shout from Haivas.
"Al look out behind you!"
Al and Mr. Ping -even though he did not know where the female voice came from, both turned to see that the grey wolf from earlier was running towards them with a scowl on his face.
The wolf launched something at incredible speed towards Al, but Al did not realize what it was until he felt something sharp pierce his left thigh.
"AGH?!" He looked down and saw the handle of a knife sticking out. Before he could overcome the initial shock, the gray wolf was in front of him and threw a punch with his metal plated fist, hitting hitting him in the snout.
Al stumbled back a few feet and leaned on a tree. His whole left leg was throbbing. If he left the knife in place it could cause more damage as he moved, on the other hand, if he took it out he could bleed out if it was not attended immediately. He snapped out of his thoughts just in time to dodge another attack that was aimed for his head, causing the wolf to hit the tree instead.
"Stand still you imbecile!" The wolf bellowed in fury.
"And give you the pleasure of beating me up? I don't think so." Al shot back as he started his own attacks despite the pain in his leg.
The wolf threw a fist to strike Al in the face but Al crouched allowing the hit to fly over his head. While still crouched he threw three fast punches to the wolf's abdomen, causing the wolf to grunt and loose his breath. Al stood straight and elbowed the wolf in the face once, when he was going for a second hit the wolf blocked it and head butted Al dazing him greatly.
The wolf purposely kicked Al's injured leg, making the canine grunt in pain. He pinned the dazed Al against the tree and held him by the neck, tightly squeezing it.
Al tried to hit the adult wolf in the face but he couldn't reach. He could feel the wolf's grip getting tighter. He was loosing air and he couldn't take any in.
"This will teach you to mind your own business next time. Oh by the way, your knots are pathetic." the wolf spat as he punched Al in the face hard.
Al's vision was blurry and he soon would start to loose consciousness. The wolf ripped the knife out of his leg and held the bloody blade to his face.
"AAHH!" Al shouted, his head turned to look for something to defend himself with. He saw his backpack that had his axe and knives inside, but it was out of his reach.
Mr. Ping was watching in horror as the wolf held the knife so close to the young man's face. He had to do something or else this wolf would finish the kid off. Ping took a rock from the floor in his wing and with all his might, he threw the rock at the wolf. A second after there was a shout from the wolf.
"OW! DAMN IT!" The wolf clutched his head and turned to the goose. "YOU'RE DEAD!" he dropped Al and turned on the goose.
Al was on the verge of blacking out when he felt the wolf's paws release him. His vision too blurry to identify any shapes clearly. He inhaled profoundly to take in the much needed air, his vision slightly improving. The shape of the wolf became clearer, and he could see him advancing on Mr. Ping with the knife he pulled out of his leg. Al tried to get up as best he could despite his bleeding leg, his near unconscious state, a wicked headache and a blurry vision.
"Al are you ok?" Haivas asked.
Al stumbled down because of his injured leg. He could see the wolf now standing in front of the goose and he still had to get up.
"That can wait. Haivas, do wolves hear just as well as dogs do?" He asked.
"Yes. Why?"
"I need you to do what you did last night. When you see I have a hold of him, turn it off right away." Al ordered.
"But Al-"
"Just do it." He did not want to argue.
Al looked up and he saw that the grey wolf was about to strike the goose and without a second thought he yelled "Now!" Not a fraction of a second later the noise began.
*SCRREEEEEEECCCCHHHH*
"GHHAAAAAAHG!?" the wolf gabbed his head as he screamed in agony.
Mr. Ping was more than surprised. Here this wolf was going to attack him, then, out of the blue, said wolf was screaming like a child. When he looked at Al, he saw that he also had a deep pained expression, but he guessed it was the injuries he had received. He had no idea of the tormenting sound that was pouring into their ears.
Al struggled to get up. It took all his will power and strength to even stand, not only because of his leg, but also because of the irritating noise. He grunted once he was standing tall. Focusing his weight on his right leg, he began to limp towards the goose. Al's mind was telling him to get there as fast as he could, but his body told him to take it slow.
"Hey guys!" Po exclaimed to get the Five's attention. "Why do you say we go to my dad's Noodle shop for some lunch? He should be back by now." he asked.
The Dragon Warrior and Furious Five had just finished off morning training and they had the rest of the day to themselves. Po thought it would be a good idea to wind down for today.
Tigress on the other hand thought it was a good idea to stay alert for anymore weird events.
"I'm in." Mantis was the first to answer. Next followed Monkey, Crane then Viper. Everyone turned their heads to Tigress and waited for her answer.
"I-" she was going to take the offer but a familiar noise caught her highly sensitive ears. Tigress turned her head in the direction of the west edge of the Valley.
Viper noticed this and spoke up.
"What's wrong?"
Tigress maintained her eyes and ears focused on a specific spot in the forest while she gave her answer.
"I...I'm hearing the same sound that I heard last night when I saw the stranger. It's coming from the west side of the Valley forest. Po, Mantis, Monkey, Crane and Viper all looked at each other. Tigress made up her mind and decided to go find what's at the source of that sound. She made her way to the edge of the cliff and jumped off. Po was the only one surprised at her action, he ran to the edge and peered over. He saw a little orange speck landing on a roof.
Viper gave a sigh.
"Why does she keep doing that? There are stairs for a reason."
Po was in awe at the act. "You mean she's done it before?"
Monkey nodded and Mantis replied.
"Yeah, she jumed off from the roof of the barracks, the night we went after Tai Lung."
Po's eyes stayed on the roof where Tigress had landed while only uttering one word.
"Awesome!"
Monkey and Mantis looked at each other, both with grins plastered on their faces.
"Come on lover boy, we need to catch up in case she needs back up." Monkey called back as they made their way towards the thousand steps. Po turned red like a ripe tomato.
Po quickly changed the subject to avoid embarrassment.
"Ok guys, bear with me. You know I can't go down those stairs as fast as you guys can." He took another glance at the spot Tigress jumped off from. "Can't we do what Tigress just did? It'll be faster than going down the stairs!"
The four Masters turned around so fast, Po thought he saw dust fly off of them.
"NO!" they said all at once.
"Besides we did it once before in Gongmen, remember? The only one that was able to break your fall was Tigress, and since she's not around to do it again, it's better to take the stairs than to make a hole in someone's roof." Crane said.
Po pouted and headed towards the stairs.
"Besides you could use the exercise. Lately you've been eating more than usual." Mantis suggested.
"Yeah, and running down stairs isn't that hard. It's easy as one, two, three." Monkey added.
The four masters, except Crane, took off down the stairs at amazing speed, leaving Po to catch up.
"Alright, I can do this. I can do this. Easy as one two three." Po stretched out a little bit as he prepared to run down. Once he was ready he dashed down the steps while counting.
"One two three, one two three, one two th-AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Po screamed as he tripped over his own two feet and instead of running, he bounced his way down.
"Why-OW-does-OW-this-OW-always-OW-HAPPEN!?"
One thousand steps and one hundred-fifty bounces later, Po met the valley's streets flat on his face.
"Ugh!" he mumbled into the ground. "Tfat wos nut asfome."
The other four Masters that we're waiting came to Po's aid.
"What was that?" Viper asked. Monkey and Crane helped to rip Po's face from the ground. Po sat up and rubbed his forehead.
"I said, that was not awesome!" Po replied. "That's why I don't like stairs, that really hurt!"
"It looked like it did. You okay?" asked Monkey.
Po nodded and shook the stars out of his head.
"I think I'll manage."
"Good let's get going then. Tigress said she heard the noise coming from the west side of the valley." Viper relayed.
"That's where we're going then. Let's go!" Po jumped up from his sitting position and started walking.
"Uh, Po. West is the other way." Mantis corrected.
"Right." Po said, a little embarrassed. He corrected his course and the others joined him.
"Come on Al, you're almost there. Only a few more feet." Haivas said even though Al could not hear her.
Al finally feeling the strain his whole body was taking, started to slow down as he reached the wolf. One last effort he had to make. He reached out to grab the wolf and as soon as his paw made contact with the wolf's fur, the screeching noise halted. Al wrapped his arms around the dazed wolf's abdomen, and after summoning all his strength he lifted him of his feet into the air then threw himself backward, Al landing on his back, but the wolf landed on his head, effectively knocking him out for good.
Al quickly and clumsily got up, ignoring the pain and the ringing in his ears. He looked back to the wolf and after he was certain the wolf would not be getting up anytime soon he relaxed. Al limped to a nearby tree and dropped to rest against it.
Mr. Ping's eyes widened at Al's mistreated form. His face was swelling even more from the previous fight with the same wolf. He was bleeding from his snout and now he had a large wound on his left thigh and it was bleeding a lot, staining his pants a deep crimson. The poor kid looked like he was ready to black out any second.
Al noticed the goose's horrified face, and began trying to reassure the goose.
"I- I'll...be fine. I...just...need to...rest...a little bit." he spoke slowly.
Al did not know exactly why he felt really weak, sleepy and dizzy. 'Maybe it's because of the beating I took.' Al wondered. The thought of sleep seemed tempting and welcoming. 'I'll just sleep for a little while.' He he gave in as his eyes drooped. Al could hear Mr. Ping calling out his name, but he made up his mind and decided to let his body drift off into unconsciousness.
Thats this chapter. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought about it. Thanks and I'll see ya'll later!
-Th3Ph4nt0miz3r™