Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang 02. Let me see your true self (part 4)
"What ?! But...but that's impossible..." he told himself.
"It Is possible! So that they destroyed a lot of stuff of the trade area, stole many things made of metal and left!...And even my own son destroyed my restaurant and scared my customers" continued Mr. Ping.
"I...I still can not believe it...well, we will take care of it, don't worry" Master Shifu calmed everyone and told them to withdraw. Then we followed path with Mr. Ping, helped him to clean the mess in the restaurant, putting everything in its proper place, and asked two large bowls of the Soup of the Secret Ingredient for lunch.
After eating the delicious soup, I felt much better and calm, almost all my pain had stopped, except the cut on my thigh. We had a little chat with Mr. Ping on all that had happened, and before we left I realized he was crestfallen and seemed very concerned.
Master Shifu still couldn't understand that situation, and wanted to go as soon as possible to the Jade Palace to meet with the other Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior, but I still wanted to know more about how it all happened.
"Master Shifu, before I go to the Jade Palace, can I go talk to Tuggsy? It's been a few days that I don't talk to him, and maybe he can explain better how it all happened. The other villagers only say that they came and destroyed stuff, and not How it happened"
"All right, Liu. You can go talk to your boyfriend, then go back to the Jade Palace" he said with a smile on his face, addressing to the stairs.
"Hey! Shifu, for the thousandth time: Tuggsy isn't my...Ah, forget it" I tried to explain, but he didn't turn to listen.
I walked to the trade area to search for the wooden stall where Tuggsy, a snow leopard of 16 years old, worked with his foster family. After going through several tents destroyed, with vendors taking their products on the floor, I found Tuggsy's stall. It was broken, several shelves were fallen on the floor and with several of his own produce, such as vases and wooden boxes scattered on the floor.
"I can't believe it! Look at all this mess...how Could they do that?!...*sigh* I just hope Liu isn't one of them now..." he said as he cleaned the mess. He had his back to me and haven't heard me approaching.
"One of them? What're you talking about, Tuggsy?" I asked.
"Oh...it's you! Well, I think...Oh My Goodness! Liu, what happened to you? Are you okay?" he exclaimed, suddenly changing his tone as he turned and saw how I was.
"...Wow, what a change of mood, huh! This? Well, let's say that today isn't my day, but this isn't important right now" I said.
"Not important? Are you nuts? Your whole body is cut and this cut on your leg seems to be deep. You should have taken care of it before coming here!" he said with concern.
"Thank you, Tuggsy. You get so cute when you are concerned, but seriously, I have a much more important thing to do now"
"It's about the Five, right?" he continued.
"Yes. Master Shifu and I are trying to solve this, but first I must know what really happened"
"What really happened...how so?"
"Well, Po and the others were acting very strange this morning, but it isn't a strange type that would lead them to destroy the Valley and steal things" I said.
"So...what kind of strange?" he asked.
"Most of them are always serious, they make jokes or do funny stuff now and then...but this morning they were too cheerful. But, Really cheerful! They began to act as if they were children, they were hugging, exchanging affection, it looked like a contest to see who was more gentle!"
"Well...I would like that those who attacked us were like this" he joked, but still with a serious look.
"You said just now that you hoped I wasn't one of them. What did you mean?" I asked.
"When they attacked us...they could look like Po and the others, but it just couldn't be them. I'm almost sure they wasn't them. The way they talked, the way they were acting...and that look in their eyes like burning flames..." he explained, remembering of the attack.
"Well, Tuggsy. Now I can tell you we have a problem. A big problem"
"Bigger than it's now...I mean, What?! Are you telling me they really weren't them?...I mean, Our them...no, uh..."
"Actually yes...part of them" I replied, leaving him even more confusing.
"Part of them?" he asked.
"The bad part of them. Let me explain better: Once, Master Shifu told me that Po had disobeyed him and looked at his reflection in a mirror called The Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang. This mirror separates the one who looks at it in two halves, the 'good' one, with only their good feelings and qualities, and the 'bad' one, which has all wickedness and other bad things within you. The bad half of Po nearly destroyed the Five and Master Shifu, and the two halves almost got separated forever...now that you told me this, I can see clearly. Last night, before they get weird, I heard some noises in the Jade Palace, and in the morning they were different, they were too good, too happy, without the slightest desire to do the least harm to anything. The other Furious Six and Po that are in the Jade Palace are the 'good halves', and the 'bad halves' were the ones that attacked the Valley!" I said.
"wow...well, that explains a lot, but if the halves are only separated, why do they speak in different shades of voice? And why the heck they stole just our metal? Even being 'bad', it doesn't fit as something they would do as bad guys! I mean, they are kung fu masters, and steal metal..." he continued, opening a new issue.
"That's the only thing I can't understand" I admitted.
After a few moments of silence thinking about the answers to these problems,Tuggsy and I couldn't reach a conclusion. Before going to the Jade Palace, I wanted to help my old friend to clean up all that mess, but as soon as I tried to bend over to pick up a clay jar, the cut on my leg started to itch hardly and I felt a lot of pain. I let out a little moan of pain, fell sitting on the floor and put my hand on the cut to relieve pain.
"Liu, it's very kind of you to want to help me, but for now I'm going to refuse. First I'll take you to the Valley's hospital and we will take care of your injuries" he said in a friendly tone.
"No, Tuggsy. Seriously, I'm fine! It only hurts a little bit, I...it isn't big deal..." I tried to convince him that I didn't need help, but in vain.
"Not big deal...just hurts a little bit...Liu, you never knew how to lie" he said, letting out a small giggle.
"I'm serious! I'll be fine..." I tried to convince him again.
"You'll be fine After I take you to the hospital!" he said, reaching out to help me up.
"But..."
"That wasn't a question, Miss Jade! Let Me help you this time" he said smiling, then he put my arm around his neck to help me walk. I couldn't do much, but to smile in gratitude for the generous act of my friend.
"Thanks, Tuggsy" I thanked.
He took me to the small hospital of the Valley, there, they began to take care of my wounds. After some herbs and remedies, I began to feel my strength back, and I could move myself much better. Instead of the strip of my shirt wrapped around my leg, they wrapped a white cloth with a medicinal leaf underneath. When I lifted myself again, I could take several steps alone without limping. I thanked everyone who took care of me and then Tuggsy accompanied me to the palace staircase, which was closer there than his stall.
"Liu, you must return to the Jade Palace now, Master Shifu must already be wondering why you haven't returned" he said in a friendly tone.
"Are you sure? Now that I'm better, I can help you arrange things in your stall" I asked.
"Thank you, but you are dealing with something much more important now. You better go, you may find something before the 'bad' Furious Six appear again" he said calmly.
"Okay...Thank you, Tuggsy!" I thanked, giving my old friend a friendly hug. I turned and started up the stairs.
"Do you want me to help you get up there?" he joked.
"No, thanks. I have to make sure that this leg will recover, so I can come back to train. In a week I'll go back to that event and fight again" I explained as I climbed the stairs.
"What?! You mean you can come back that way again?!" he shouted from afar.
"Yep! And that's why I'm going to train very hard!" I replied, smiling. I looked at him behind the shoulder as I went up and saw that Tuggsy haven't liked what I answered. He mumbled something but I was too far away to hear.
When I arrived at the Jade Palace, my legs were shaking because of the strength I used to get up there, but I recovered while I headed to the Hall of Heroes. The big doors were open, and there was nobody there. Until suddenly Zeng, the Jade Palace's best servant, appeared from behind a pillar. He was cleaning the floor with a mop while imitating the sound of a drum, shaking his butt in the rhythm of the music.
He seemed very focused and I didn't want to scare him this time. Usually, I play to scare him, but as I just wanted to look for Master Shifu and tell him what I'd found out, I passed silently through the Hall of Heroes to confirm that Master Shifu really wasn't there. After seeing that he really wasn't there, I went outside the Hall of Heroes, but looked frightened back before leaving.
The noise of Zeng falling to the ground and knocking the bucket of water along with the mop scared me. Then I saw that he had slipped into a soap, and the bucket was in his head, leaving him soaked. I didn't know if I should laugh.
"But my! Not again...Oh! Hello Master Jade" he greeted me and bowed by seeing that I was there.
"Wow...I didn't even had to scare you this...I mean, Hello, Zeng!..." I said, then also bowed. I had a strange feeling, even if it had already a good time that I'd lived in the Jade Palace and had become the newest member of the current Furious Six, I still found it strange when someone called me Master.
"You must be looking for Master Shifu, I suppose" he continued.
"Yes, I'm. Do you know where is he?"
"Nope" he replied quickly, then got up, packed up the mess and continued to clean the floor while doing the drum sound with his mouth.
I didn't know if I should say something or whether to hit that goose, so I preferred to look for Master Shifu alone. As soon as I left the Hall of Heroes, I heard him fall again.
After some time, the only other places to look were the kitchen and in our rooms. To my surprise, I found everyone in the kitchen, they were having tea! They were talking with very soft voices, politely seated and with strangely cheerful smiles. Only Master Shifu was standing on top of a chair to prepare more hot water and put into a teapot. I opened my eyes in amazement. This was a scene that I would never have thought that could happen. No one noticed that I arrived.
"Ah...guys..." I was going to greet them, but Master Shifu came toward me like lightning and covered my mouth, then looked back to see if anyone had seen us and gestured with his head to say I should leave the kitchen to talk.
"*heavy sigh* Thanks Heavens you came back, Liu. I think I'd end up freaking out if I were alone with them for even one more minute" he said relieved, placing his hand on his head as if in pain.
"What's the matter?" I asked, worried.
"You're right, they are the 'good' part...they looked into the Mystic Mirror of the Yin and Yang!" he said, almost whispering, telling me indirectly that I should too.
"Yes, and...wait, I hadn't told you about this yet!" I said, now also quietly.
"This is what you were going to say now, right?"
"...Yes"
"Exactly! I'm just advancing the conversation. I bet that is the conclusion that you and your boyfriend..."
"Tuggsy isn't my boyfriend!" I exclaimed.
"Shhhh! Be quiet...they can hear us!" I was amazed at his concern.
"...well, but it seems you found something more, right?" I said.
"Yes...and it makes our situation even worse! I had locked the Jade Palace before we go to the event because I suspected, somehow, that it could have happened again. The mirror was used, I confirmed this while I was with...them..." he stopped explaining to look at our friends, who stopped having tea and began to massage each other's backs.
"Was the mirror taken away?" I asked quietly, to make him keep explaining.
"Yep. It was safe in the dungeons, but I couldn't find it anywhere...but now our biggest problem is that...why are you looking at me like that?" he stopped explaining by seeing my look of amazement.
"We have dungeons at the Jade Palace? Since when?"
"...It does not matter, Liu. Now I need your help, our main concern now is to find their 'bad' sides before sunset. Otherwise, the two sides will be separated forever!" he finished the explanation. I froze with fear when I heard that. We only had three hours until sunset and we didn't even know where to start looking.
"Forever...you mean that if we don't find them, my mother and the others will stay like that for the rest of their lives?!" I exclaimed, turning to look at my friends in the kitchen, who were still embracing.
"...Yes! We must not let that happen. If the attack to the Valley was recently, they may not be that far off. Find them and make sure they stay in only one place, then we will use the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang to join the two halves" he ordered. The only problem was that the plan seemed meaningless and many failures.
"B-but Master, the attack on the Valley happened hours ago. They can be anywhere, I dunno even where to start...and how you expect me to hold them somewhere? They are the 'bad' halves of the other Six and the Dragon Warrior, those that would hurt anyone without a second thought, who aren't afraid, have all the kung fu skills and...and we don't know where is the mirror! I-I'll never manage to do this, at least not alone!" I exclaimed quickly.
"We have no choice, Liu! Neither time to lose! If you fail, you know the consequences..." he said, making me be quiet and thoughtful. The responsibility was too great, and the consequence of failure would be losing my mother and my friends forever. I couldn't fail, and wouldn't give up.
"...Roger that! Now I..." I was going to say that I was on my way and would look for them, but choked when I saw six figures smiling while looking at me over the head of Master Shifu.
"They're behind me, aren't they?..." he asked, without turning around.
"And guess what time it is now..." said Monkey, with a playful tone.
"It's Hug Time!" they said together, happily.
"Liu, Run!" Master Shifu exclaimed to me.
I gave a bounce back before those distributors of cuteness managed to grab me with a big hug, which made them and Master Shifu fall on the floor. He squirmed beneath them trying to break free, getting short of breath because of all the weight on him. Po stared at me as he hugged our Master and the others.
"Hey, Liu! I haven't hugged you today! Come Here..." he opened his arms and came towards me.
"RUN, LIU! Do what has to be done! I'll be fine! Don't look back!" shouted Master Shifu, trying to break free from the hug of his apprentices.
I obeyed immediately and without question. I had an important mission, and if Po grabbed me, certainly I wouldn't manage to break free. I ran away from him before he caught me, but Po followed me. I had to outwit him before leaving the Jade Palace.
Po followed me persistently throughout most of the Jade Palace, and the more I tried to run, seemed more difficult to achieve. After a while, Viper and Crane also began to follow me, and tried to corner me to get a hug. Crane tried to fly behind me and gave several flybys, but I jumped to escape, making him hit his face on the walls and pillars of the Hall of Heroes. Viper and Po followed me relentlessly by floor, until the three ended up taking me to the Training Hall, trapping me. I was starting to get tired, and my leg would soon start to hurt. I had to think fast to escape before they grabbed me.
"Wow!...I don't believe it!" I exclaimed, staring at the ceiling of the Training Hall.
"What?!" exclaimed the three together, not understanding.
"Are you telling me that you haven't seen yet?" I said, still staring at the ceiling.
"See what?!" they insisted.
"Over There! Upstairs!" I pointed with my finger to the ceiling. In fact, there was nothing to show but knowing they were the half that had all the ingenuity of them, I decided to try fooling them.
"I don't see anything" muttered Crane.
"Neither do I" Viper agreed.
"You aren't looking at the right place!I'm talking about That!" I insisted, pointing again to the ceiling.
They passed by me, squinting to try to see what I was trying to show. None of them realized I left silently the Training Hall and headed to the Valley of Peace.
Once there, I was tired after running down the whole staircase, then I realized that my mission had begun. I still had no idea where to start looking, but for sure I couldn't do it alone. Then I remembered I had someone who could help me: Tuggsy! I ran to his stall to ask him for help. After I confirmed the story about the mirror, and that I needed his help, he agreed to help me.
"Where do we start?" he asked, already in a hurry to go.
"...To be honest, I haven't the slightest idea..." I replied sheepishly. Suddenly, I ended up looking around and saw an old goose who was packing boxes with fireworks.
"Excuse-me sir, I need your fireworks! It's an emergency!" I exclaimed, running up to him and already picking up two fireworks.
"Hey! Who are you to go taking my stuff like this?!" he complained.
"Oh, Hi! My name is Liu "The Jade" Zhang and..." I would introduce myself, but Tuggsy interrupted me.
"Liu! Come on!"
"I'm going! I have no time to explain, sir! Send the bill to the Jade Palace" I answered quickly, then ran back to Tuggsy.
"Jade Palace?!" I heard he ask himself before I left, as if he didn't believe that I lived there.
"Take that! It's almost certain that they are no longer in the Valley, but it's better to check. Look for the Valley and the bamboo forest, I'll look for them elsewhere" I explained.
"Right...and for what are the fireworks, exactly?" he asked.
"If one of us find them, just off fireworks that the other will know they were found" I explained.
"But what if they see that I'm there?! How do you want me to off fireworks near them?" he asked, concerned for his safety.
"Well,off it and then run to another hiding place..." I replied calmly, but also thoughtful about the possibility of them find me at the time I off the fireworks.
"...Simple as that?!" he asked ironically.
"It's that or run all the way until we find each other...If we find! Now let's go! We don't have much time" I said, already running away, to look for my friends, that wouldn't be so friendly to me when I find them.
I left the Valley and went through the bamboo forest, but there was no sign of them. The most likely places to find them were in the neighboring villages. One by one, I searched in alleys, inside the houses, I asked the citizens if they knew where my friends were, but nothing! They weren't anywhere. After nearly two hours running from one side to the other, I began to feel very tired and my injured leg started to hurt again.
They weren't around, but I needed to find them. But where would I find them? None of the nearby villages had even seen my friends for weeks. Then I remembered something important: the Valley of Peace! It was vulnerable to another attack. Tuggsy hadn't off his fireworks yet, what meant that my friends weren't there, but when I remembered of the Valley, I remembered something else that could help me in the search. Who used the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang in my friends? I was pretty sure it was one of the villains we knew. It had to be someone who had the ability to enter the Jade Palace and use the mirror without waking everyone.
"Who has enough skill to do it?...Tong Fo? No, he's in the jail...Junjie? No, he's also in the jail... Fung and the Croc Bandits...no, they are too stupid for that...Temutai? With that huge butt, yelling instead of talking and with those delicate feet, I doubt it was him..." I started thinking about which of our enemies could have done it, until I remembered a possible probability "Aff...really?!...*sigh* Well, it's been a while since he got out of jail, I should check out at least" I concluded.
I took a deep breath before rushing out. The only possible answer was also unlikely. I couldn't believe in the possibility that the 'bad parts' of my friends were taking orders. But if it were true, it would be a big problem.
After a few minutes running, I reached my destination,Taotie's house. It was very quiet inside. My mother, Tigress, told me several things about our enemies and the several battles against them, and what I remembered from Taotie was about how much he wanted to prove to everyone that his machines were better than kung fu, and destroy the Jade Palace with them. I climbed on one of the high walls of the terrain, that were taller than the house itself, then looked from one side to the other looking for traps.
Seeing that my way was clear, I mentally planned a route to the house. I had to be silent. "Stealthy mode" I thought to myself. I jumped on a big tree on my left and used its branches to go down to the plain ground. Crouching, I was going through bushes and hiding behind other trees and bamboos, until I got close Taotie's house. I went to the side with my back leaning against the wall, then looked up and saw a round window above me. If I could reach it, I could see everything on the inside and not letting they see me.
I crouched to pick up momentum, but wasn't sure if it would work, my thigh was still hurting. In that case, I used my good leg to give momentum. I jumped twice before I could reach it with my left hand, then I managed to hold with my right hand as well, and used my feet to climb, until half of my body was on the inside of the house.
When I raised my head to look if there was anyone inside, I almost fell after been scared. Monkey! He was hanging upside down by his tail, in a wood just over two meters from me. I put my hand on my mouth so he wouldn't hear my cry of fear. After the fear ended, Monkey got out of the wood, that ran from side to side of the roof, and fell down to the ground. Then I saw what I feared: the others were also there! Po, Viper, Crane, Monkey, Mantis and my mother, Tigress. A few moments later, I saw someone coming towards them, Taotie!
"I was right...it looks like the improbable has become probable. It was him who caused all this mess! I need to call Tuggsy to come here and...n-no! First I need to know what Taotie is planning. If I call Tuggsy now, I'll never know...and they probably gonna get me" I told myself. So I straightened in the window, using the forearms to support myself, to be more comfortable while waiting for my enemy tell his plans.
"Well, well! Look if it's not our boss...coming to bother us again" Monkey grumbled. As he spoke, I realized what Tuggsy had said when we where in the Valley. Monkey's voice was quite different, he was talking faster and his voice sounded a little hoarse. It was very weird.
"And I will continue bothering for a long time, mister Monkey! You know very well that I have a job I need you all to do to me" Taotie snapped.
"And watch your mouth, fool! I am not going to be electrocuted because of your foolish stuff, again!" complained Mantis, walking toward monkey. His voice was also different.
"Shut up, small one! No one asked your opinion!" Monkey replied, angry. Crane then decided to enter the discussion. He seemed to speak with clogged nostrils.
"Oh my gosh...don't you two have anything better to do? Remain silent would be nice...since you've discussed during the whole mission. C'mon? You two..." Viper interrupted this time. Her voice also different, as if her speech and the snake sound she made with the tongue echoed in her mouth, making her voice sound eerily creepy.
"And what about you, birdie?! Why don't you let us have some fun, just for a change? Every time something cool happens you end up with all the fun. This is a habit or have you studied for it?!"
"No. The only things I have studied were the scales of how a speaking noodle can be idiot!" he retorted angrily.
"Well, that explains everything..." she continued.
"Explains what?!"
"Explains how much I like potatoes..."
"...And what potatoes has to do with..."
"Aff! You are not just annoying, you're also silly!" she said, roughly, lowering her head and squinting with disappointment and anger at the same time. Crane was very angry after that.
"Hehehe, you will let her speak these things about you, bridge neck?" Po spoke this time. His voice was not very different from what I knew, despite the fact that he was talking in a low tone, but very hostile and threatening.
"That's none of your business, your flabby fat panda!" Crane replied angrily, walking up to Po and staring firmly.
"And what if I say that it is, loser?" he replied, still with the same tone.
Before the discussions continued, my adoptive mother, Tigress, approached them, grabbed Viper by the tip of the tail and used it as a whip, winding her on Crane's neck, then whirled and flung them against a wall. Then landed a powerful blow with the palm of her hand in the belly of the Dragon Warrior, throwing him towards Monkey and Mantis, who were crushed by the weight of the huge panda.
"Enough talk, let's fight!" she growled.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I knew for sure that the 'bad' halves would behave very different from the 'good' halves, but I never imagined it would be such a big difference, up to the point of making my friends fighting each other for almost any reason. But what happened next was even more disturbing.
When they were all ready to fight, Taotie raised a hand holding a small wooden square, the size of a coin, with a red button. When he pressed the button, the 'bad' parts of my friends were electrocuted. A powerful electric current was visible passing around their whole body, and the sound of crackling static was frighteningly high. They groaned and agonized with pain. My heart clenched with worry, was Taotie going to kill them?
Luckily I was wrong. After a few agonizing seconds, he released the button and they stopped to take shock. The other Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior fell to their knees, out of breath or energy to continue on foot. Then Taotie spoke with a serious and threatening tone.
"Listen here, I do not care how much you hate one another, fighting like this is Forbidden from now on! I've hated you when you were friends, I am not going to piss myself Even More because of your hate! So stop Now with that childish...you are a team and..." Po interrupted.
"And who will force us to obey you, buddy?!"
"Well...err...I!..." he replied, a little embarrassed.
"Lame!" they all said at the same time.
"AH! Not you too! As if it is not already enough my lazy son saying it all the time!" he exclaimed.
"Hey, lame old guy! I heard that! Oh, and by the way: I don't keep saying 'lame' all the time! This is LAME!" his son, Bian Zao, replied by far.
"The kid's right. You suck. Why would we obey you?!" Viper growled, with her sinister voice.
"You really want me to answer?" he threatened, pointing the control toward her.
"NO!" everyone shouted, afraid that he pressed the button again.
"That is how I like it. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to tell our goals..." he would start, but was interrupted by the grumbling of dissatisfaction of my friends.
"Again?"
"Have you told it, this morning, before we go steal the Valley of Peace, remember?"
"Yes! Why tell all that boring stuff again?! "
"Because...because that's what I have to do now! Were is the fun on coming up with something so diabolical and don't remember several times? It gives an emphasis on the evil. It's one of the fun parts of being villain...and...a-and I told only what you had to do in the Valley and why I created you"
"Okay, okay! Be quick" he muttered, interrupting.
'Created'? What Taotie meant by that? This left me with a bad feeling. But before I do something, he began to explain everything.
"For a long time I wanted to prove that machines can be better than the pathetic kung fu, and finally I got a way to do this without even having to move. But I will not only show how the machines are better, I will show that they can also be better even in kung fu!" he walked to a wooden table that had a strange white and round machine, which had some blue colored cables, almost transparent, around it and a concave glass in the front. "I heard of a mirror called Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang, which separates the two halves of anyone. Based on my studies and after several failures, I finally managed to create a machine that does the same thing as it. I call it Soul Duplicator 2.0! I just need to aim for whom I want to copy, press the button and BUM, it's done! The copy is sent directly to this small glass tube" he said, opening the back of the machine and holding the small glass cylinder with a fingertip.
So that's what happened! After stealing the mirror, Taotie created that thing, sneaked in the Jade Palace and used the machine as me and the others were sleeping. I couldn't see the Mystical Mirror of Yin and Yang in the house, but one thing was certain, if I wanted to help my friends, I needed to get that machine. Taotie continued.
"Still needs some tweaking, not everything went as I expected, but for now everything is Perfect! HA-haha! I'll finally manage to destroy the Jade Palace! And it will be Shifu's students that will do it for me. But first...we need to collect some 'rents' from the Valley of Peace and do some 'loans' of the neighboring houses to be able to finish the secret weapon".
That was already more than enough for me. Taotie had created a machine with the same function as the Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang, stole the 'bad parts' of my friends, wanted to use them to destroy the Jade Palace and loot elsewhere, and still had an ace up his sleeve, a secret weapon. I had no idea what could be the secret weapon, but I had no more time to stay there and find out.
Soon, the sun would set. If that happened, my friends would never return to normal, so I needed to do something, and fast. But first, I needed a plan. There were four things I needed to do: call Tuggsy to help me, take Taotie's machine, take the control that gave shock to my friends, and make the 'bad' halves look in the Mystic Mirror of Yin and Yang, bringing my friends to normal.
But that would be complicated. If I off fireworks to call Tuggsy, I'd be discovered. They were all very close to each other and it'd be impossible to catch Taotie's machine without being seen, let alone the control. And worst of all was that the mirror wasn't there, but I had an idea: if the machine worked just like the mirror, then I just had to do what Taotie said, point and push the button.
I was sure that my ideas weren't 100% perfect and had a great risk of going wrong. But I had to try. First I needed to call Tuggsy, and with it came an idea: when I off the fireworks, they would leave the house, so I could go in and get the machine.
"That's it! Do I still have those...yes! Thanks, Tuggsy" I looked in my pocket and found what wanted: three balls of paper, smoke bombs! Tuggsy learned to do them and gave me some, it'd be very useful now. "When I enter the house, I can pick up the machine and steal the remote control. And when they see me I use these smoke bombs...*sigh*...well, it's now or never" I concluded.
I put my plan into practice. I let the window I was holding and fell to the ground, then picked up a match that was in my pocket and lit the small rocket wick. I closed my eyes and pointed it up, but a problem occurred. I had held the cylinder upside down and I off the firework on the floor, which got almost buried in the ground.
"Seriously?!" I exclaimed, taking the rocket with my hand. Acting fast, I ran toward the wall and used it to take an impulse to run up, then spin in the air and threw the firework as loud as I could.
When it exploded, several meters above the house, beautiful red sparks spread through the air. Then I could hear a conversation inside the house.
"What was that?!" exclaimed Taotie.
"I do not know, but it seems that came from the yard!" Crane said.
"All of you, check the area and see if there is no intruder around. If there is...you know what to do!" Taotie ordered.
Before everyone got out the front door, I jumped in the window as before. Using the large wooden planks ranging from side to side of the roof, I went to the other side of the house silently, without my enemy see me. When I was right on top of him, I jumped on his back, knocking him to the ground.
"Ouch! What the heck is going on ?! HE..." he would shout for help, but before that happened I struck the back of his head with the palm of my hand, crushing his nose to the ground.
"Your plan won't work, villain! I heard everything and I won't let you use my friends to do your evil deeds. Now..." I was going to continue, but I realized that he wasn't listening. "Ah...he fainted. He isn't going to listen to you, Jade" I told myself.
I left off the unconscious body and continued with my plan. I took the weird machine and put under my right arm, it was pretty heavy compared to the size, almost the same size as a big bowl of noodles. "Okay! Now I just need to find the...Damn it!" I was looking for the control, but I ended up stepping on it by mistake. Luckily I didn't broke it.
I took the small control and put in my pocket, then tried to get out the way I came, but I was taken off guard when I tried.
"Where do you think you're going?" Monkey looked at me sternly. I almost fell back because the fright took me off balance.
They found me earlier than I've planned. I tried to run and walk out the front door, but when I approached, it was broken with a powerful shot that threw me away. The others came and stood in front of me, staring at me with menacing eyes. I noticed that the whites of their eyes had a flame similar to a burning fire, and paying close attention, you could hear fire crackling sparks coming from within their bodies, it was scary. Why the 'bad' parts of them was like that?
"*gasp*...Too late, bad parts of my friends! I took the machine, now you are going back to being just one, and my friends will go back to normal!" I said, then I got the machine and, while targeting them, pressed the button repeatedly.
Something very bad happened. Nothing! Nothing happened when I pressed the button. Not even the machine made a noise, and the 'bad' parts of my friends were still staring at me.
"So...was something supposed to happen..." Crane murmured.
"W-what?! No! It can't be broken! Not now!" I exclaimed, desperately pressing the button again several times.
"Well, it seems that the fun is about to begin" Po said, walking with the others slowly toward me.
"Well...hehe! I think it's time for me to go, I guess I heard the bell and it must be dinner time...so I'm Leavin Now, Folks!" I said, raising my hand to throw smoke bombs on the ground.
"NO! PLEASE!" Shouted Taotie, waking suddenly "My precious machine...don't do it" I looked at my hand raised. By mistake, I was holding the machine, not the smoke bombs.
"Oops! Hehe! My bad..." I put the machine under my arm again and grabbed the little balls, then I threw them on the floor with all my strength.
To my misfortune, they blew, but only a very small white cloud of smoke, that covered only my feet, emerged. Everyone stared at me with serious eyes, that made me ashamed.
"Err...hehe...can we pretend that there is a lot of smoke here?...And you let me go...because you don't know where I am..." I asked, with shyness and fear at the same time.
"No" they said together.