I have nothing to say for this intro, so let's just start.
Toka and his friends were running, or flying in Koji and Suya's case, at full speed back toward the village. The explosion they heard moments ago and the fire that was causing smoke was concerning them as it probably meant that something was wrong. It couldn't be a firework accident as nobody was supposed to touch them before nightfall.
Sure, Toka was mad at his village for treating him like crap all of his life, but that didn't meant he was going to let something happen to them.
"We're there!" Suya said from the air. Indeed, they arrived at the village to see that many villagers were running away in panic while screaming. Many guards, whose Toka recognized as the ones who chased after him, were laying on the floor, their body covered in bruises and scars.
"Hey!" Koji said as he rushed to one who was barely conscious. "Are you okay? What's going on?" He slightly shook the buffle guard by his shoulders in an attempt to make him talk, but he was too weak to even groan.
"He's in no stake to talk!" Toka said. "Let's go!" He didn't waited for the others to run toward the source of the chaos. When he arrived, he found himself face-to-face with something he absolutely wasn't expecting to see in the village and especially not in a time like this.
A gorilla who was twice his size, and probably length too, with black fur and grey skin. His most notable feature was that he was wearing a metal armour on which was reflecting the fire's light. He angrily threw an apple merchandise away. "WHERE IS THE MONEY! I WANT ALL THE MONEY IN THIS VILLAGE!" He screamed which echoed through all the valley.
Soon, he turned his yellow eyes that were revealing a burning rage and they landed upon the young snow leopard who felt his limbs trembling nervously. "What are you doing there watching me, you?" He asked with a tone that clearly said that he wasn't going to sit and talk.
Toka did had some fights against bandits in the past, but none of them were as imposant and dangerous as this one. He couldn't win: he had to get away before...
"We came here to teach you a lesson, big monkey!"
...Crap!
Koji arrived with Suya, Alena and Neyo, who was hiding behind the group. "Stop ruining the Spring Celebration, you big bandit!" Suya said without her usual friendly and soft voice.
The gorilla didn't seemed intimidated at all and even looked amused. "Oh yeah? Says who?"
"Says us!" Alena said with an angry tone and her position made it look as if she was ready to bounce on the huge ape.
"Oh, the little kitty wants to have fun, how cute." The bandit teased which only added oil to Alena's fire.
"Hey." Koji intervened. "Now that I think about about, I recognize you. Yeah, you are this huge monkey dude that almost defeated the legendary master Viper and then got his butt immediately kicked by his daughter with a dancing ribbon."
The fury giant gasped as if he has been given the worst insult of all time and his eyes turned red as steam started coming out of his ears (literally). "Nobody...is gonna...MOCK MEEEEEEE!"
As soon as he lifted his huge fist in the air, the five friends moved out of the way before it came crashing on the ground with a huge impact sound. "Seriously, you really had to make him even madder than he already is?!" Toka screamed at Koji.
"What? I was just making a point." Koji innocently replied. He then dodged another one of the gorilla's furious strikes just in time.
"We have to regroup!" Toka screamed as he was about to run away.
"No: we must stop him!" koji replied as he held his grounds.
"Are you crazy?!" Toka asked, annoyed by the beetle's recklessness. "He's too huge! We have no chance against him!"
However, Koji jumped up his chest and took a brave look. "This is something every Samoan warrior knows: physic size barely matters. It's what's inside that counts! And if we work together, we can win!"
Toka had never seen someone doing such a courageous thing. Being willing to fight against probably one of the toughest bandits in the region for a village he barely knew. "Mathematically, it's true that we might stand a chance if we unifie our skills against him." Neyo pointed out.
"And besides, if a reptile kid could defeat him with a ribbon, I think we can take him out too." Suya added with a nod and a smile.
"This guy putted me in an horrible mood. I want to kick his monkey butt!" Alena nodded with her arms folded.
His friends were right: they couldn't let this huge guy destroy and steal the village no matter what they did to him in the past. Somehow, believing in his friends gave Toka the will to fight. "Alright, we'll take care of him. What's your plan, Koji?"
He smiled. "My plan is that I will distract this dude with gorilla jokes while you guys come up with a plan." He said before flying off toward the huge monkey.
Toka looked in confusion. "What?"
The young beetle arrived beside the criminal and said "Hey, pal, what's a gorilla's favorite cookie? Chocolate chimp!" He broke down laughing and dodged a smash from his opponent. "Hey, what does a gorilla attorney studies?"
"I don't want to know it!" The gorilla said angrily as he kept trying to knock Koji away to no avail as he was faster than him.
"The law of the jungle! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He laughed before dodging even more attacks.
The four others could only look in awe as their bug friends was joking around a ferocious ape who was trying to kill him as if it was a game. However, Toka quickly snapped out of it and looked at Neyo. "Okay, Neyo, you're the smart one, what should we do?"
He tapped a finger against his chin as he though about it. "Well, I'd say we should start by moving out of the way." Toka and the girls didn't understood what he meant at first, but did after he pointed behind them with a scary look.
The huge gorilla stopped paying attention to Koji and was making his way toward them. "I ran out of gorilla jokes." He admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"MOVE!" Toka screamed as he quickly moved out of the way along with Suya and Alena. However, Neyo was too scared to move and his legs were trembling as he saw the bully's fist rising in the air, ready to crush him. "NEYO! MOVE!" Toka screamed as he saw that the young hedgehog wasn't moving.
I'm dead!
He crouched down and putted both of his arms over his head, ready for death to take. However, it didn't go as he though. He sure felt a really strong pressure on his back for a moment, but that quickly went away and a huge scream of pain was heard. What just happened?
Upon getting back up and reopening his eyes, Neyo realized that the gorilla's right hand was covered of needles - HIS needles - and was bleeding, which was the reason he was screaming in pain. "I-I hurt a strong bandit with my needles?!" Neyo amazed himself. This made him smile as he then took another needle from his back. "Take that one too!" He said with throwing his needle directly into the primate's forehead, causing him to scream harder. Finally, all the time he spent playing darts with his friends back at the village wasn't for nothing.
Toka's yellow eyes widened as he realized that they now had an opening to take down the giant and save the village. "GUYS! LET'S LAUNCH AN ALL-OUT ATTACK ON HIM!" He screamed.
"With pleasure!" Alena said. She ran on her four paws at full speed to strike the suffering gorilla's right leg with both of her fists, sending a jolt of pain into it that caused him to drop on his knee. The black panther then jumped in the air and caught Suya by the talons before spinning around to catch some speed. Once they were spinning fast enough, Alena released Suya who was sent flying at full speed toward and give a powerful wing smash straight into the gorilla's face which caused his nose to bleed.
He was forced to cover it with his left hand as his right one was still hurting too much from the needles. What a shame! He was getting his butt kicked by a bunch of kids. No. He won't lose again just like he did against that snake girl, years ago. No matter if they were kids or not, he was going to crush them.
Suddenly, he felt his legs leaving the ground, but his hands were not touching it either. He was getting... lifted? How? Who could do that? He bent his head forward and looked underneath him to see something he was absolutely not expecting to see.
It was Koji who was lifting him on his back with both of his arms. His face was getting red and the sweat on his (yes, beetles can sweat) clearly meant that he was forcing really hard into this exploit. "Fell... the... beetle's... FORCE!" Somehow and despite the gorilla's heavy weight, Koji managed to push him in the air. Not too high, but still.
"Now's our chance!" Toka though. He started running as fast as his limbs allowed him to toward the primate in the air. He then putted as much strength in his legs as he could to jump toward him. "You destroy my village, you scare innocents, you ruin Spring Celebrations, and you try to hurt my friends... You won't get away with it!" Toka though. As he was flying at full speed toward the giant, he putted all his force into his right fist before smashing his face as hard as he could. He was sent flying back a bit and landed on the ground with a loud crashing noise while the leopard cub landed on his limbs.
At first, he felt pain in his right hand from striking something so big with so much force that he had to hold it in his left one. Then, he looked at the giant now laying unconsciously on the ground and realized what just happened. "W-We defeated him..." A group of kids defeated a giant gorilla and undoubtedly one of the most dangerous criminals in Kanto. How possible?
"TOKA!" He turned around to see his four friends who were all tired - well, safe for Koji - walking toward him. "You, you just knocked the chilli out of this big primate!" Koji excitedly said. "How?"
Toka's looks slowly drifted toward his still hurting hand that was slightly trembling - not of fear, but of excitation. "I-I don't know. I'm myself surprised by my own force." He admitted.
"Guys! We won! We saved the village!" Suya happily said as she happily flew off in the air while Koji hugged his guy friends. Alena didn't reacted much due to never truly achieving anything like this before.
"Neyo, the way you hurt that guy with your needles without even trying to, that was amazing!" Koji said after releasing him and Toka from the hug.
"Not as much as when you pushed him high into the air!" Neyo enthusiastically complimented him back, though he was still happy to have been implied in the fight.
"And Alena, when you smashed that guy and made him kneel down, that was freakin' awesome!" Koji added.
"Huh, thanks... I guess." Alena said, feeling uneasy as she wasn't used to receive such compliments.
"But we wouldn't have done it without Toka." Suya said as she flew down and putted a wing on the snow leopard cub's shoulder, which caused him to blush.
"Yeah, you did a great job back there, pal!" Koji said with putting one arm around his shoulder as Neyo nodded in agreement and Alena just gave him a shy smile. Okay, when he first met Koji, this caused him a warm feeling in his heart, but now, defeating a bad guy just made this feeling stronger. They could have easily ran away and go back to their village, and yet, they decided to face him at his side. So THAT was friendship...
"What happened?"
They all turned to the source of the noise to see the Cora villagers along with the ones from elsewhere arriving and looking at the destroyed buildings, probably thinking the huge gorilla was still around which he technically was, but knocked out. "KOJI!" The young beetle soon found himself being squeezed really thigh by another beetle. "I was so scared! I couldn't find you!"
"Dad... I love you too... but I need to breathe..." He mumbled, out of air.
"Suya!" Said a strong voice coming toward the snowy owl. It belonged to her adoptive father, Hayabuza. A tall golden eagle with brown and white feathers with some black spots and piercing yellow eyes that were going well with his yellow Karate like jacket which was open enough to reveal his strong torso. "My daughter, are you alright? You're not hurt?" He walked around her, looking for any injuries.
"Don't worry, father, I'm alright." She smiled at her father's protectiveness.
"Hey! Look!" One of the villagers pointed at Toka and Alena. "It's the monsters!"
Instantly, the mood became way much less happier. The villagers were looking at them with scary looks and hidden their kids behind them, as if they were the ones responsables for the destruction. But it wasn't them. They had no reason to despise them, specially after they just saved their village. Oh, yeah, because they were felines like the infamous Tai Lung, it meant that they didn't deserve any recognition, of course. Toka felt on the verge of screaming at them to unleash all the anger he held back during all those years.
"Monsters?!" They all turned to see Koji looking at the villager - a pig - in question with the must shocked look one could ever have. "Monsters?!" He repeated. "That's how you call two out of the five people who saved your village? Really?"
For the first time, Koji looked really pissed off. His father was the most surprised as his son never went any further than being annoyed by this or that, but right now, he was REALLY angry and with good reasons. He walked over to the pig who looked right and left nervously, realizing the mistake he did. "W-What do y-you mean, saving our village?"
"What I mean, is that those two guys (points at Toka and Alena) teamed up with me and them (points at Suya and Neyo) to stop this guy (points at the unconscious gorilla) from ruining your Spring Celebrations." Unknown to him, this caused Hayabuza to look at his daughter in surprise as she smiled shyly. "And yet, you still have the audaciousness to call them monsters. Y'know, I'm a really calm guy and it takes a lot to make me ill, but you, you're truly getting on my nerve!"
The pig humped, not liking being scolded by a bug kid. "You, a bunch of kids, defeating a giant? Ha! Ha! Ha! Don't make me laugh. And besides, you don't even know this kid. He's been nothing but trouble for years-" Koji interrupted him by grabbing his jacket and bringing him closer to his angry face.
"You're wrong, again, I know Toka much more than you think. And I know perfectly what he has done to you before. But I found it perfectly understandable: you and the villagers have been treating him like trash for the simple reason of being a snow leopard. It makes a lot of sense that he searches for attention. You're really just a bunch of heartless racist scums, and from MY point of view, YOU are the monsters. And for god sake, his name is Toka. TOKA! Not monster, it's T-O-K-A, TOKA!"
"Is he telling the truth, Suya?" Hayabuza asked his daughter.
"Yes, father, you gotta believe him."
"And beside," Neyo interfered. "I don't know if you know it, but this gorilla is the same one that has been taken down by the legendary Master Viper from the Valley of Peace, when she was a kid. Therefore, it is mathematically possible for us to take him down too. Proof: there is no mark of guards weapons on him and my needles are still on my face and hand; you can go check."
Toka was feeling on the verge of tears, not by sadness, but by pure joy. All of his friends were taking his defence against those who have been despising him for all his life.
The great Hayabuza putted on a smile. "If you say so, my daughter, then I believe you."
"Me too." Riki said. "When my son uses this ton, it's because he is more serious than ever."
"One last thing." Koji, who still hasn't let go of the pig, said. "If you think we are just a bunch of kids who cannot fight, what do you say about picking up a little fight with me, right now? We'll see who's strong and who's the looser."
"ENOUGH!"
Everybody instantly stopped moving and turned toward where the scream came from. A mysterious person wearing a yellow tunic and hoodie that covered his face slowly walked forward, both of his hands crossed together into his big sleeves. "Who are you?" Koji asked curiously, finally letting go of the pig who quickly backed away.
The stranger then rose his hands to remove his hoodie and show his face. It was a bear with nut-colored fur and a black nose with some white spots. His eyes were turquoise and seemed to reflect a very gentle nature despite his species being usually agressive. Instantly, everyone except the five young kids, looked in surprise. "M-Master Yoshi?" One of the villagers said.
"Master Yoshi?" Toka asked confused, while looking at the calm bear who walked toward them with a calm smile.
"He's a master of what?" Suya asked curiously.
"Of Kung Fu, of course." The old bear answered.
This caused the five youngsters to widen their eyes in surprise. A REAL Kung Fu master? In the Cora village? How? And why?
As if the master could read in their mind, he said: "And I know you all very well: Alena, Neyo, Suya, Koji, and Toka."
"How do you know our names?" Toka asked in surprise.
"I've been watching you since the debut of the Spring Celebrations. Usually, I just come here to enjoy the food and watch the fireworks, but this year was special." He nodded. "Indeed, very special as I had the chance to see you five doing something that the others of your age can only dream to do."
He looked at Neyo. "You, Neyo, have shown a great intelligence that even people older than me never reached and you know perfectly how to use it." He turned to Suya. "Suya, you are very brave and have shown that it's possible to be strong and kind simultaneously." His attention turned to Alena. "Alena, you proved that you posses a great will of protecting those who deserve it and you keep it despite what everyone thinks of you." He then looked at Koji. "Koji, you are a good friend and you possess a determination strong enough to lift someone bigger than you." Finally, he looked at Toka. "And as for you, Toka, not only have you shown that you have a good leadership, but you also have a good heart. All those things are fundamental to become a great warrior. Therefore, as a Kung Fu master, I will ask you something that not a lot of people will be asked in their lives...
...would you like to learn Kung Fu?"
The five youngsters widened their eyes in surprise. A real Kung Fu master saw potential in them and offered to teach them the greatest martial art ever created. Koji was the first one to react by rushing over to his father with excitation. "Dad! Can I? I will become so awesome that you will be proud of me!"
Riki gave a simple smile and hugged his son. "I already am, Koji." Toka felt a slight jealousy at this sight, but not a big one. He was happy for his best friend.
Suya also flew over to her own father. "Father, please, allow me to become Master Yoshi's student. I won't deceive you."
Hayabuza smiled and placed a wing on his daughter's shoulder. "I know you won't, Suya. And I also know it's your dream to go discover the world. Go. Accomplish your purpose."
Neyo was trembling in joy. "I'm gonna become a super strong warrior. A true! I'm gonna show everyone that I'm more than just a geek thirsty for knowledges!"
Alena hasn't ever been a real fan of Kung Fu stuff, but the idea of finally having a purpose in life was definitely something she was eager for. "I would be more than happy to accept!" She said with a bow.
But none of them were more affected than Toka. Becoming a Kung Fu master. That would the perfect way to show everyone that he is not a monster. Of course, Tai Lung became a monster because of Kung Fu, but he wasn't like him. He WON'T be like him.
In fact, he decided to he would become the greatest Kung Fu master of all time...
"I accept... Master Yoshi!" He said with bowing too.
The old bear smiled. "Perfect. We'll be leaving in the afternoon. Be ready until then." He then turned to walk away.
Toka looked at his right hand that was still trembling from the smash he delivered to the gorilla. Simply the first before a very long list of villains he would stop. Suddenly, he felt someone gave him a friendly nudge. It was Koji who smiled at him.
"The Kung Fu path probably won't be easy, but let's give our best." He said with holding his fist toward his snow leopard friend who simply looked confused. "Just press your fist against mine: it's a mark of friendship." Toka didn't really understood, but did it so anyway. It was the start of the story of future legends...
...The start of the New Legend...
Sorry for taking so long, but I hope you're happy with the result.
Toka and his friends are now gonna learn Kung Fu and go through many adventures together. I know there has been a lot of OCs, but don't worry, the original KFP characters are gonna be there soon.
Also, who's your favorite out of Toka, Koji, Alena, Suya and Neyo, so far? Lemme know :)