Long Live the King (Hehe)

Po sat down in the kitchen remembering a fun time in his past life.

"I think this is the first mission in a long time we've been alone together," White Blood pointed out. Wolf thought of it and figured that the tiger was right. It was difficult to remember when the others; Dead Shot and a few other people would usually be on the missions. This time it was just the white tiger and himself in the crowded bazaars of India. Well, not really in the bazaars. More like on top of them. They were hopping along trampoline type roofs as they neared their target. "But tell me again why we're doing this alone, though."

"I don't like being on missions where Tai-gee has to put on the mask. It's over if it comes off. Plus, Sarah's not too keen on letting him leave this week. Date nights I guess. That and I don't want to mess with Princess-"

"Alright I get it," White Blood interrupted as they stopped hopping on the blanketed roofs and stopped on the solid dirt ground, "What about Saber?"

"Nelon and Mei-Ling need him somewhere else," Wolf explained.

"Why? They're all part of the four Master Swordsmen. They should be able to handle themselves," White Blood questioned as he dodged a group of kids running past him.

"Something about fixing the past. Anyways, we shouldn't need them for this job. It should be a quick in and out and eliminate," Wolf said in a weirdly cheerful way.

"We're not assassins, Teach," White Blood laughed. "So, what's the mission?" The two stopped and looked at a large palace in the center of the rustic neighborhood. The palace towered almost all the way to the clouds. The details and characteristically curved domes shown bright blue as the rest was a bright white.

"The palace of Grand Ahriman, ruling tiger of this land, but not for long," Wolf explained.

"Why the sudden dethroning?" White Blood asked.

"I received news that he has a secret underground shop somewhere near the palace. We have to infiltrate, find the location, and destroy it because it seems to be related with Platon," Wolf explained. Blood's eyes widened. His face contorted in anger.

"What does the old lion want now?"

"I don't know, but we have to figure out fast," Wolf instructed. "Stay in the village for a moment and don't make a ruckus. I'll go around and find any places where we can sneak in tonight."

"So this is a 'Black Mane' kind of mission?" White Blood guessed as the dog nodded. "Awesome!" Wolf rolled his eyes as he disappeared into the crowd while Blood was left to entertain himself. He walked down to one of the shops in the bazaars, inspecting one of the foods.

Just as he was about to leave, a cloaked hooded figure came beside him. The vendor did his usual sales pitch to the person as the figure spoke softly.

"I have no money, but I assure you that I-"

"I'll pay for her," White Blood interrupted. He could tell it was a woman underneath the hood by the sound of her voice. The vendor didn't care and gladly accepted the tiger's money. "There you go," Blood smiled, giving the fruit to the woman. The woman removed her hood to show her decorated jeweled face. Red ruby earrings with added white strips on her face and a bright blue jeweled headband. When the vendor saw the female tiger, he immediately ducked into the shop. White Blood noticed this, but he was distracted by the tiger's voice.

"Thank you," She said looking up at him. He was much taller than her. "I'm Akila. I can't thank you enough for that."

"It's fine," White Blood gave a goofy smile, earning a giggle from the girl. "I guess you're royalty, considering the vendor fleeing for his life." Akila became sad.

"I'm not supposed to be outside of the palace," Akila whispered.

"Why not?"

"I'm one of the sultan's servants... children. I'm technically a princess, but I'm not allowed to be a sultan."

"I'm sorry for that," White Blood replied sadly. "Wait, so... Ahriman's your father?" The tiger's face twisted in obvious hatred.

"More like a demonic torturer. He restricts us from going outside the palace harem without his permission. I managed to get out, but if I'm found, they'll probably have me executed," Akila shivered in fear. White Blood's eyes widened as he remembered the vendor.

"We have to get you out of here," Grabbing her hand.

"What?"

"THERE SHE IS!" shouted the vendor down the line of shops with a line of rhino guards.

"Seize her!"

"Please help me," Akila cried out as she ran behind the white tiger.

"How do I get into these messes?" Blood sighed. The white tiger charged the line of rhinos, kicking the front one in the face as the rest tumbled down. One of them quickly got up and charged Blood with a spear. White Blood grabbed the spear and elbowed the rhino. White Blood had to quickly defeat the others, so he pounded their faces into the ground, knocking them out. One guard got passed him and charged towards Akila. He suddenly stopped when a strong hand punched him in the... well... you know. A high pitched squeal erupted from the rhino as he went to the ground. Wolf had come back and he didn't seem happy.

"What was the one thing I said to you?" He spoke to Blood.

"Don't make a ruckus," White Blood replied sadly.

"And what did you do?"

"Make a ruckus," White Blood said, bowing his head.

"It wasn't his fault. I wanted to be free for once and I dragged him into it. I'm so sorry for being a burden," Akila apologized with big sorrowful eyes.

"They would have executed her," Blood said. Wolf rolled his eyes as he sighed.

"By the Master's patience, how do you get into these messes," Wolf grunted while rubbing his eyes, "Can you sneak back into the palace without being detected?" Wolf asked the small tiger.

"Yes, I know a way back in, but what about the guards?"

"We'll take care of them," Wolf replied with a smile.

"Thank you, so much. What is your name," Akila asked.

"Wolf and this is White Blood." Though that wasn't their real names, "Don't worry about Ahriman bothering you. It will be taken care of." Akila nodded, ran up to kiss the white tiger on the cheek, and disappeared. Wolf smirked at blushing tiger. "She's nice."

"Shut up," White Blood muttered. That night they went inside the palace, but it didn't go as planned.

"We're going to have to separate. Those two windows up there lead into different rooms."

"So?"

"There's a wall separating the two rooms. They're adjacent to each other, but the hallway outside of the rooms are two different hallways. So we'll need to find a different way in," Wolf explained.

"Why can't we get through the same room?" White Blood asked.

"Because I don't want both of us getting caught at the same time. If one of us gets caught, the guards' change in patrolling should be noticeable. Just do it and we'll meet up in the main hall just down the hallways," Wolf instructed. Blood nodded as they both climbed the mountainous terrain, climbed inside of the windows, and stealthily walked around. Wolf snuck into the armory and found the specs in a locked box. "There we go. The specs of this place," Wolf said to himself. This way he could accurately predict where White Blood would pop up. "There's the armor room, there's the throne room, and there's the head office. If there are secret layout plans for the shop, it's there. Now to find White Blood." He looked around and found the room, but the specs didn't say what the room was. "That's odd. The one room that's not titled here. Why?"

"Okay, I'm in," The white tiger whispered to himself, starting to sing a cool spy song to himself. He knew no one was here since his eyes were well adapted to night time. But then his nose started to tickle. There was a funny smell in the room. It was sweet, like ripe mangoes. "Where am I?" Just then, the door opened up and White Blood took to the ceiling. Clinging by his claws, the tiger saw who it was coming into the room as lamps came in. "Crud." White Blood muttered to himself as beautiful feline women started filing into the room. They were followed by a guard, who shut the door by the room full of women. Greet, genius, get the room that turns out to be the harem! Po thought to himself. Then he heard them talking.

"Riya, do you smell something... like noodles?" asked one of the older tigresses.

"Cruuuuuuudddd," Blood thought to himself. He just had to live in a noodle shop. White Blood opened one eye and saw all the women looked straight at him. "Hi," White Blood nervously chuckled with a cheesy smile. Suddenly, his claws lost their grip, and he fell to the ground. The women screamed as they hit him with pillows. "OW! Watch it! Those are hard! OUCH!"

"WAIT! Stop! I know him!" Said a small female tiger. "He's the one that saved me from the guards." The women calmed down as the oldest, most brave one spoke up.

"We thank you dearly for saving Akila. I am Alisha, the eldest of the concubines in this harem," The tiger replied dignified. White Blood bowed out of respect.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. I'm sorry to scare you. I'm White Blood and I'm here to end the reign of Ahriman," White Blood replied. All of a sudden, there was a loud banging on the door from the guard.

"What's going on in there?!"

"Hide me!" White Blood whispered as the girls started covering him with pillows. "Wait, is this really necessary-"

"Shut up!" Akila quickly hushed. The guard opened the door to see all of the women onto of a big pile of pillows.

"What was the screaming about?" The guard asked.

"What? Have you never heard of gossiping?" Alisha replied in a sassy tone. White Blood moved a bit, causing one of his hands to touch one of the feline's tail.

"Yipe!" said the feline. The guard eyed her suspiciously. "Excuse me," She replied, pretending to sneeze. The guard snorted and shut the door. Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much for that," White Blood replied, getting up from the cover of pillows.

"Now, what are you looking for White Blood?" Alisha asked.

"There's a supposed underground shop that Ahriman has that is intended for evil. I'm trying to find out where it is."

"It's on the backside of the palace, overhanging on the cliff," Alisha answered. Blood looked astonished. "Eunuchs don't keep their mouths shut. Plus, there's been a middle-age lion by the name of Platon that has made frequent visits to the place. He seems...odd."

"How so?" White Blood asked, slowly getting angry at the mention of Platon's name.

"Well, all the men that I've seen with Ahriman are as evil and as cunning as him. This one... doesn't act like a normal villain. He actually treats a lot of the concubines better than any man ever has."

"Well, don't worry about that. He is evil. Looks are deceiving," White Blood warned. "But thank you for the information. I'm am indebted you." He was about to walk out, but a line of women blocked him.

"That's truer than you realize," Akila giggled. White Blood turned around to see cheeky and mischievous grins on all the women.

"Uh... What's going on?" Blood asked nervously.

"Well, I would say that you still need to learn your lesson on sneaking into a woman's private corners," Alisha replied as the women closed in on him.

"Now, ladies, you know I didn't mean... help," He squeaked.

Wolf had just taken care of the guard outside of the room White Blood was in when the white tiger himself came out with lipstick kisses all over his face and white makeup powder all over his face.

"Ah," Wolf said about to question the mess out of the tiger.

"Don't... ask," White Blood replied, taking a rag from the fallen guard and wiping his face. "I know where the shop is. It's on the south side of the palace and Platon is definitely cooking something up there with Ahriman."

"Well, let's get to it," Wolf said.

The shop was about the size of a small warehouse, precariously perched on the side of a cliff. "Well, there's the shop," Wolf whispered. He saw a big muscular brutal looking tiger with a slashed out eye. "And there's the big guy himself."

"Ahriman," Blood said.

"Yeah, that's who I was talking about," Wolf replied. White Blood rolled his eyes. "I'll stalk the guy closer. You figure out how to blow this place up."

"Got you. Figure out why Platon chose this place," Blood added. The black wolf nodded as he slipped by the guards underneath, stealthily sneaking to the small corner office in the big noisy warehouse. Teach perched himself on top of the office, pressing his ear next to the office roof as the big tiger started to talk with one of his right-hand men.

"Sir, I don't understand. Why did you make the deal with the lion? We don't know how to make the type of weapons he's asking for," questioned the smaller tiger.

"You idiot," Remarked the bigger tiger, "It doesn't matter if we don't know how to make the weapons. I've promised to simply 'make weapons that can't be beaten'. All weapons, no matter how well designed, can all be defeated."

"What about the large mechanical machines that he was asking for," The small tiger asked. Wolf could tell by his voice that Ahriman was annoyed by the questions.

"That much we're strong enough to do. We'll make the parts for them. Platon can figure out the mechanisms later. That's not our problem. Now, unless you have any more pressing questions, get out of my office," Ahriman ordered. The smaller tiger obeyed as he left the office. Outside, Wolf could hear the small tiger grumbling at Ahriman's attitude. Then he heard something more frightening from beneath him.

"Oh no," Wolf whimpered as the roof of the office gave way and the wolf came crashing through the roof, right onto the tiger's desk. "Hi," Wolf said with a cheesy smile.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" Ahriman shouted loud enough for everyone in the warehouse to hear.

"Well, looks like I'm cutting this short," Blood muttered, finishing up the explosive device as he immediately crawled up to the roof supports to see a fleeting wolf being chased by an angry tiger.

"STOP THAT PEASANT!" Ahriman ordered. Blood started noticing that Wolf was purposely alerting and dodging each and every guard, trying to distract them.

"Better get all of the explosives," White Blood said out loud as he dashed down to finish the placement of the bombs. Meanwhile, Wolf ran through the whole warehouse, ducking and sliding underneath crates, boxes, and factory lines. Ahriman was hot on his tail, grabbing several bows and shooting them.

"Miss me, miss me!" Wolf teased, sticking his tongue out. He stopped short when a guard caught him. "Well, now you caught me," Wolf muttered.

"Oh dear," White Blood muttered, finishing up the last bomb. He rushed up to the roof supports to spy on what would happen.

"HOW DARE YOU SPY ON AHRIMAN, RULER OF ALL INDIA!" Ahriman bellowed.

"Well, really only ruler of southern India, but we're not going into that," Wolf joked. Ahriman growled.

"You'll not see the light of day again," Ahriman replied, grabbing a sword. Wolf looked up to see Blood giving a thumbs up.

"Are you sure about that?" Wolf smirked.

"What are you talking about-" Ahriman stopped short when Blood jumped down and kicked him to the ground. Wolf shook out of the guards' grip and followed White Blood out of the warehouse as the bombs started going off. But then-

"We're almost out! Don't stop!"

"Hey, do you feel the ground moving?" Wolf asked. The two hit the ground when they realized something horrendous. "You put too many bombs! The cliff is giving way!"

"Less blaming, more running!"

"GET THEM!" Ahriman shouted, charging at them.

"How is he that angry?" White Blood asked.

"I don't know, you want to ask him?" Wolf rhetorically shouted back as the whole warehouse started to go vertical. The two were now dodging sliding objects towards them while Ahriman was furiously trying to catch them.

"Almost there! JUMP!" Wolf shouted as the two leaped out the door and clung to the edge of the cliff.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ahriman shouted as he went down with the warehouse into the sea. White Blood and Wolf climbed out of the rough collapsing terrain of the cliff.

"Long live the ruler," Blood panted as he sat down.

"You know, I think someone said that before," Wolf sighed. Blood shook his head.

"Well, what was he making?" White Blood asked.

"Parts for Platon's weapons. I don't know why Platon would bother. He knows that no one on this planet makes his mechanized monsters other than him. Unless-"

"Don't you dare say it," Blood interrupted.

"It is possible that he wanted us to attack this place to take down Ahriman. That does seem to be his style lately," Wolf replied. White Blood grumbled.

"A necessary deal to attract us and make sure that we do the dirty work of eliminating the competition for him," White Blood guessed. Wolf rolled his eyes.

"He may be the person we're fighting, but he still was my beloved teacher," Wolf replied.

"You're defending the enemy."

"I'm making sure you see that everything isn't as black and white as your stripes. When you think like that, your attacks against them may turn to attacks against you. Hatred is a two-way sword," Wolf warned. Blood growled. "Come on, let's get out of here."

To be Continued...