"WHAT?" everyone but Yishu and Chikasha asked confused. What had he just said? Was he supposed to be the Millennium Warrior? What about Hai? Was it because Hai had given up on being the Millennium Warrior, and then this guy had seen it as an opportunity to take his place?
"Didn't you hear him?" Yishu asked somewhat surprised and annoyed. "He's the Millennium Warrior!"
"But…! Shifu, say something!" Po pleaded after some awkward silence where no one said anything. I was really happy that Po asked Master Shifu to say something, since Yishu and Chikasha would have to know about Hai.
"Eh… well, Master Yishu," Master Shifu started. "As much as all of us respect you and Chikasha…" The Storm Clan tried their best to keep from commenting on this. "… I'm sorry to inform you, but there is already a Millennium Warrior."
Now it was Master Yishu and Chikasha's turn to look confused. The two looked like they had just seen someone fall from the moon; their faces were literally expressionless.
"But that is nonsense," Chikasha whimpered like another child. "I am the Millennium Warrior – no one surpasses my skills! I guess that is what you get for being late!"
"Being late? What are you babbling about now, you weirdo?" Feng asked confused. "Late for what?"
"I was supposed to be here two years before now," Chikasha explained. "I was supposed to free China from a great threat. I was supposed to be the greatest warrior of all times! I got out of course, but the problem seemed to go away."
"…" None of us knew what to say about this. Two years ago? That was around the time when Hai appeared for the first time! If Chikasha had appeared… would we even have met Hai; would Chikasha really have become the Millennium Warrior if he had gotten to us; and most important of all: would he really have been able to defeat Zhu? I actually didn't want to hear the answers to all these questions, but my subconscious couldn't help but ask them.
"The problems didn't go away," Monkey finally informed Chikasha. "We defeated it!"
"You defeated it?" Chikasha asked doubtfully. "Like you could do that without the Millennium Warrior!"
I looked at the others. Was it a good idea to tell him about Hai? How would he react? Already knowing that he was a spoiled dragon, I was sure that he would most likely start raging and complaining like another child who didn't get things the way he wanted. But wasn't it the right thing to tell him?
I quickly looked at Master Shifu with a face that asked whether or not we should tell Chikasha about Hai, but the old Master shook his head, not wanting to tell the dragon that the real Millennium Warrior was a pirate. I sighed and turned to Chikasha: "You're right… there was no Millennium Warrior before and the threat did disappear indeed… very mysterious."
The others seemed ready to freak out, but when they saw Master Shifu's stern face, they kept their quiet, though not looking very happy. I didn't like lying, and I didn't quite understand why Shifu wanted me to… maybe because he was afraid that Chikasha and Master Yishu wouldn't take it well. Lying actually reminded me of Hai and doing something he was good at, only made me feel guiltier as it also reminded me of why he was gone.
"See?" Chikasha asked Monkey in a very cocky and arrogant tone of voice. "It must have been that same threat, Siwang Hu that appeared back then!"
The others looked at me with very unhappy faces, since my comment had only made Chikasha cockier than he already was – if that was even possible. I actually regretted lying and wished that I had just let Master Shifu explain what there was to explain.
"So, how do you suggest we handle the situation?" Master Yishu asked Master Shifu and got back on track. Right, we had to find a way to destroy Siwang Hu and keep them from letting criminals team up.
"It'd be best to gather all the Masters once a-…" Master Shifu coughed to cover up the fact that he was about to say 'again'. "Sorry, I meant to say once all the Masters are ready."
"Are we really doing that again?" I heard Feng mutter, not amused by the thought of going through another great war – I'd heard that he nearly broke his wing during the Millennium War. At his comment, Fengbao stomped on his foot to make him shut up, which worked just fine.
"I have already received a few letters from the Extreme Eight and the Kung Fu Council," Master Shifu explained. "They're saying that they're gathering the nearest Masters in their areas."
"I suppose that we would have to meet up with them all," Chikasha said, sounding more strategic now – still arrogant though. "Then I would lead everyone into a battle with the minions and I would take on their great leader."
"Hey, what are we, old noodles?" Monkey asked annoyed. Yes, of course Chikasha would want to take on their leader all alone. We were all expecting a very arrogant answer as usual, but his answer truly surprised me.
"Do you not get it?" he asked somewhat annoyed – and very arrogant. "That is how it is meant to be… My name… is Chikasha…" Chikasha pointed towards the ceiling and pink cherry petals suddenly started raining down on us. "Tiandao… Governor of the Path of Heaven."
That was exactly what his name meant; Governor of the Path of Heaven. So his name was exactly what he was – from the Heavens. He might have been the biggest snob and stuck-up warrior I had ever met, but he was still from the Heavens… and apparently he wasn't sent here by mistake.
"Yes, that's all nice," Po replied after a short moment of silence as the cherry petals seemed to disappear. "But I still think we should fight alongside you – the more, the stronger the alliance."
Master Shifu nodded in agreement and turned to Master Yishu, telling him that that was how it should be. Soon we agreed that the Storm Clan would go into the nearby mountain villages, to see if there were any stray Masters, since they were clearly much faster than the rest of us combined.
"What about us, Master?" I asked as soon as the ninjas had disappeared in a flash. They seemed to be happy to get out of the same room that Chikasha was in, which I clearly understood.
"You and Chikasha can go meet up with Baozhai and her teammates," he told us. Great, Baozhai. Well, not that I have that much of a problem with her, but she really does do things very differently from the way that we do it… besides, I can rarely agree on something with her. "They're in the den where Master Biyu lives."
"Right, let's go everyone!" Po said excited and upbeat and we got to our feet and started towards the door. But as we were almost there, a powerful gust of wind almost blew us off the ground, making us stop. Right when we had stopped, Chikasha jumped over us and landed in front of us.
"I always go up front," he said more arrogant than ever and started walking as he made the doors open by themselves. Of course he was so kind that he also made them close as soon as he was outside.
"Is he going to shut up soon?" Viper asked me in a whisper with a very annoyed tone as we continued down the mountain path. Chikasha was walking up front, talking about himself, his ancestors and his talents and abilities. He was so arrogant-sounding and caught up in it that he didn't even notice, the fact that none of us really wanted to listen to it.
"Doesn't sound like it," I whispered back with an annoyed sigh. Viper isn't the type who usually gets annoyed by the way other people are, so this was really bad. "I can't believe we lost Hai for someone like him."
"Hah, me neither," Mantis said as he landed on my shoulder. "Hai wasn't even half that bad… not even close."
"… and then there was this time where I saved three villages in one day," Chikasha continued in his usual cocky tone of voice. We had started out by taking turns to tell stories, just to kill time, but Chikasha had easily turned the table, so that it was only him talking, and so that we had no choice but to listen to his bragging. "I was up against three-hundred warriors, but they were no match for me!"
Soon we came to a forest. I recognized the area as the place where Hai had found a scroll that had been containing information about the Kung Fu Master Shanqu. We had just started our journey and the way Hai had found it, was by tripping over it. I slowed a little down and looked down on the ground. There, it was right there he fell onto his back – I remembered it like it was yesterday. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could just barely imagine a silhouette of Hai's little body. I guess I was just missing him.
"Shanqu's village should be nearby," Viper told Chikasha. Chikasha didn't seem to know who Shanqu was, but he just nodded. I guessed that Yishu hadn't bothered teaching him that there were other great warriors in the world, thus enlarging Chikasha's ego further.
We entered the forest and soon we were surrounded by trees, casting their shadows upon us. As we walked, I couldn't help but feel surveyed somehow. It wouldn't surprise me if some Siwang Hu members would suddenly appear out of nowhere.
"Do you feel that?" Crane asked. "We're not alone."
"Of course not," Chikasha said in an ignorant and oblivious tone of voice. "The Millennium Warrior, the greatest warrior, is here; my greatness would only make it feel like there was several of me."
I just sighed, rolled my eyes and tried to ignore Chikasha as he started bragging again. But before I could even start ignoring him, something suddenly hit me, sweeping me off my feet.
My back was smashed against a tree with a massive sound and instinctively I punched away the attacker. A few feathers fell off of her body as I punched her backwards and took on a battle pose. I immediately recognized the dark gray feathers, the white ones around the face and the black, necklace-like pattern… and also the metallic wing-blades.
"Fenghuang," I growled as the others joined me by forming a circle around her. Something that surprised me was her new outfit. Instead of purple robes with a golden trim, she wore all-black robes with silver trims as well as 'Siwang Hu' in white on the right side of her chest. "What do you want?"
"I was sent here by the great leader to stop you," she said, sounding sneaky as ever. The great leader? Whoever it was, he or she must have been an evil mastermind if they wanted to gather just about any criminal and villain in China – like the many minions hadn't been enough. "Sorry Tigress, but I can't allow you and your friends to go any further."
I was about to attack her, but suddenly a lot – and I mean a lot as in at least fifty – minions appeared suddenly. They were all crocodiles, gorillas, wolves and wolverines, just like the ones we faced earlier. In an instant Fenghuang took off into the air and landed in a tree, just so she could watch as the many minions attacked us.
I punched a wolf in the face and just barely avoided getting mashed by a gorilla's massive punch. It was still appearing weird to me that Fenghuang had joined Siwang Hu – she had tried to get Jade Palace all to herself, so I had never really thought that she was that much of a team-person. But who knew who else had joined if she had? I was sure that Fung had joined, since his minions were part of the group we fought against at the moment. The wolves and gorillas had belonged to Lord Shen's army, but he was dead, so maybe that was why they were a part of Siwang Hu. Hai had freed them from Chorh-Gom Prison when he had had to escape himself, so maybe they needed a job or something. The wolverines were the remains of Lord Zhu's army and they had caused us quite a bit of trouble since Hai defeated Zhu and the Millennium War was won by the Kung Fu Masters who fought for liberty. Lord Zhu was in prison, so maybe they had freed him at some point... who knew? During the war, even Fenghuang had joined Hai and fought alongside him… obviously she hadn't turned good in any way because of that.
I kicked a wolverine in front of me away, then smashed both elbows backwards, hitting a crocodile and a wolverine in the stomach area in the process. I then jumped into the air and hit them both in the face with a massive cyclone kick. Even united, these were only simple minions and they were only superior in number.
As a gorilla attacked me, I prepared my hands in a fan-like fashion, staying calm as the large primate charged me. Finally he jumped into the air, ready to smash me with his massive knuckles. But before I could even perform my technique, a pink dash of scales hit him, sending him flying through several trees, breaking them down.
"Thanks," I told Chikasha, rather annoyed. "But I can fight myself."
He simply ignored my last comment and went in to fight against more minions. While the others did as well, I ran towards the tree Fenghuang was watching from. I charged it at full speed, then jumped into the air and used my claws to quickly climb the tree, eventually landing on the same branch as Fenghuang.
"What is Siwang Hu?" I growled at her, pointing the claws on my hands towards her, ready to strike if she tried anything. "And why does it gather people like you?"
"People like us?" Fenghuang asked, sounding kind of offended. "Remember that Hai is no better than us – deep inside, you know it's true."
Hai? Why would she bring him up? Had he joined them? Why would he ever do that? No, Hai wouldn't do such a thing; if he joined an organization like Siwang Hu, he'd have to listen to authorities, which I knew he hated – he barely even listened to Master Shifu.
"Hai is different," I growled at her, mostly to convince myself. I didn't understand what she was talking about, but she had ignored my question completely. "Now answer me: What is Siwang Hu?"
An evil and sly chuckle escaped her throat. "Siwang Hu is everything. It's everywhere; Siwang Hu is nothing but destruction. No matter where you look, there's destruction."
Suddenly she pointed towards the trees that Chikasha had smashed the gorilla into. Yes, that was destruction, but what did that have to do with Siwang Hu? I turned my head again to look at her. "But destruction is…"
"… what makes the world go around," Fenghuang interrupted me. "Creation cannot come without destruction."
I said nothing at this. If Siwang Hu stood in for destruction, how come they had attacked us? Siwang Hu could only be evil; why else would it gather the members it had? Fenghuang almost made it sound like they were the good guys.
"Who is the leader of all of this?" I asked to bring the, I guess you could call it conversation, on to something else.
"Who knows?" Fenghuang asked me, truly surprising me. She didn't even know who she was working for? Who would want to join a group and not know one's leader? It made no sense whatsoever, but before I could say anything, Fenghuang suddenly spun around in a few circles, then launched a blue orb of Chi Energy at me. The Thundering Wind Hammer – one of the Impossible Moves. The wave of Chi sent me backwards and I crashed into the wooden log of the tree, just barely avoiding falling down. I looked up and saw Fenghuang charge me with her metallic wing-blades. They were moving towards my head, but just before I got impaled by them, I ducked, so that Fenghuang impaled the tree instead.
I then kicked her in the chest area, sending her backwards. I then jumped towards her and attacked her with a punch, which she blocked with her wing-blades. Luckily it had been the flat sides, so I took no injury from the attack. Soon we went into a real fight. I would attack her and she would block and the other way around too. When she would try to slash em with her wing-blades, I would simply punch them away, hitting the flat sides of them.
Suddenly Chikasha landed on the tree between Fenghuang and me. He attacked her with a series of fast and powerful punches and kicks. It seemed that Chikasha wasn't only bragging; Fenghuang did seem to have quite a bit of trouble fighting back.
"Who are you?" Fenghuang asked when she finally managed to kick Chikasha in the chest.
"Chikasha Tiandao, the Millennium Warrior." Right after that, he went back into fighting against Fenghuang. But suddenly he ruined everything; he made a powerful thrust with his arm, but instead of hitting her, he simply held a hand out towards her. In an instant, a powerful gust of wind blew Fenghuang backwards, off the branch. I could tell that she was supposed to hit another tree, but she simply turned herself around midair and spread out her wings. Before you, or I for that matter, could yell "What are you doing?" she was gone.
