What up peoplezez

Several applications and a hell of a lotta headaches later, I've finally managed to find a legitimate co-author partner in Smile- ImTheEndOfAllThatYouSee. Hopefully we'll be able to make up for the lost time that Serenity in Virginia's (I guess suspension would be the proper term here) had caused

Revised disclaimer: I don't own Kung-Fu Panda or any ideas that come from Smile- ImTheEndOfAllThatYouSee; I do own my characters and Nathan originally came from Serenity in Virginia

Enjoy

After a few minutes of being dragged down several random hallways away from Colin, Nathan had been unceremoniously thrown into what appeared to be an arena of sorts. The cultist let out a smirk and closed the door behind him. Locked in with no possible way to get out, the only thing Nathan could do was take a look at the surroundings.

The entire arena looked more like the inside of a cave than an arena. Large stone walls surrounded the place, yet there were no seats for anyone to sit on. There were a few stone dragons etched on the walls, but the way they were carved wasn't all that reassuring. The few candles that were lit gave the adherence that something was about to go very wrong very fast.

Ok, calm down, Nathan thought. Creepier things have happened to you since you've gotten here. This shouldn't be that hard to get through – why is it so cold here all of a sudden?

Looking back at his surroundings, Nathan saw that some sort of fog had begun to form in the arena. Immediately, the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand up as he tried to assess what was going on. He tried to find the source of where the fog was coming, but there were no vents back to the surface. Then, to his immense shock, voices began to echo throughout the arena.

"This isn't fair! You've completely made it so that you'd come out the winner!"

"Well, if you didn't like the rules so much, why did you agree to them in the first place?"

"No one reads the freaking rules, Nathan! Rules are always supposed to be made fair for the people involved in a bet, yet somehow you've managed to twist it to your advantage!"

Now officially horrified, Nathan could only watch as black smoke began pouring out of the dragons' mouths. They began to mold together in one particular spot in front of him until, moments later, what looked like another kid was standing in front of him. He looked to be about the same age as Colin. His shaggy brown hair hung low over his brown eyes. The clothes he was wearing consisted of a simple grey T-shirt and black jeans. The most disturbing part, however, was the scowl that was on his face as he glared at Nathan, who was now stumbling back from what he saw.

"E-Eric…"Nathan barely managed to sputter.

"This is your fault, Nathan," the specter said. "If you hadn't tried to screw me over, none of this would have ever happened. You accuse that new guy of being selfish, and yet all you've ever done was to go out of your way to cause trouble for everyone that has crossed your path. You did that when you screwed me over during the bet, and you're doing it now to that new guy."

"That- that's not true," Nathan feebly said.

"Spare it, you hack!" the shadow said, kicking Nathan square in the gut and sending him crashing into the wall. "You caused all of this, and now it's time for you to pay".

With that, the shadowy figure of the friend that believed Nathan had wronged him went on the attack and began pummeling him. He seemed to show the same ruthlessness that Colin showed when he was angry but it seemed to be a lot worse. At times, Nathan was able to get some blows in, but they just seemed to go right through the guy when they made contact with him. Barely even phased, the shadow continued on with the attack, striking him down with blows and slamming him into the walls. With no possible way to physically make contact with this thing, Nathan could only pray for nothing short of a miracle to get him out of this.

And out of all the times you could wish for something like that to happen, it actually happened for Nathan. Suddenly the door into the arena was knocked off its hinges by what appeared to be a flurry of peach blossoms. The two cultists that were apparently standing guards were thrown into the room and knocked unconscious. The blossoms then blew over and swarmed around the shadow, distorting it until it had blown away.

Nathan, banged up from the attack, sat with his back against the wall as an animal began to take form inside the peach blossoms. As it began to take shape, Nathan noticed that it looked like a rhino. He wore a white robe like Shen did, but his had a gold sash around the middle as opposed to the all-white design that Shen had. He was also wearing a grey jacket of some sort over the robe that had various details decorated all over. Nathan took a jump back in shock and smacked his head against the rock wall. He knew who this guy was and also knew that he was supposed to be dead.

"Are you all right, Nathan?" the ghost of Master Thundering Rhino asked.

"I… think so," Nathan managed to say.

"Good," Rhino said. "You have to hurry. If Shen and Tai-Lung aren't stopped now, they will destroy everything that stands in their way".

"I…I can't," Nathan said. "That shadow was right. All I've ever done since the accident was cause trouble for everyone I've come into contact with. Even if I do try to help the others, I'll only succeed in making things worse".

"Nathan, you can't give up now," Rhino said. "You're friends are all counting on you to help them save China".

"There's no point," Nathan cried. "I'm a horrible friend who drags everyone down".

"Nathan, if you give up now, you'll only make what that shadow said true," Rhino said.

"What… what do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan, I've watched you ever since you and Colin came to this world," Rhino said. "You've made friends with some of the greatest Kung-Fu masters in all of China as well as a damaged sociopath and have more than once agreed to what they have to say. But relying on others to guide you through everything isn't enough. You have let the incident with your friend cloud you're judgment and make you lose faith in yourself. You have to stand on your own two feet and help others when they need to rely on you."

"And what about Colin?" Nathan scoffed. "I don't think he'll be pretty keen about me giving him orders".

"Don't be so sure," Rhino said. "Colin may put himself before anything else in most situations, but he trusts you anyway. Although he may not want to admit it, you are the first friend he's ever had in his life. He has counted on you to have his back when it mattered and is likely counting on you to help him see this through to the end".

Nathan stared down at his knees, trying to take in what was going on. Colin, the one guy who believed in his ego more than anything else, legitimately valued him as a friend? Thinking hard, Nathan tried to recount any possible ways that made Colin consider him a friend. After a while, several instances of events that had led up to this moment surfaced in his mind.

Out of all the people he could have shown the Multiverse remote to, Nathan was the only one Colin went to with that information. Despite the harsh things they had said to each other since they got here, Colin still brought himself to stay behind for him when he fixed the remote. And even though he had his own problems to deal with, Colin was able to sympathize with him and try and cheer him up when their pasts had been revealed. Nathan thought about all this and realized he had stood by his side since the whole mess started and was likely counting on him to step up to the plate.

"You're right," Nathan said. "I've been so focused on making everyone else happy that I've forgotten about my needs in the process. What I think is just as important as what everyone else thinks."

"That's right, Nathan," Rhino said. "You just have to keep believing in yourself".

Rhino extended a hoof to help Nathan up which he readily accepted. After shaking off the dust from when he was being smacked around, Nathan made his way past the unconscious cultist through the door, intent on helping Colin end this nonsense once and for all.

After being dragged away from Nathan for who knows how long, Colin was shoved into some unknown room by the cultist that had been dragging him. Not one to take this lying down, Colin made a move to attack the cultist, but the cultist had already closed the door long before he got there. Colin pulled on the locked door for a few moments but was unable to get it open. Groaning about the series of unfortunate events that led up to him being in this situation, he decided to just look around and try to figure a way out.

On closer inspection, the entire arena looked like the Dragon Grotto Shifu had taken him to when he tried to help him get over his past. However, this did not have the same the same feel as last time. The stones lining the walls were a lot darker than the ones back at the Valley of Peace. Furthermore, the stone dragons that decorated the walls had a much more evil appearance than the other ones. The candles that were lit gave off an adherence that whatever was going to happen was not going to end very well.

This is just great, Colin bitterly thought. This is what I get for trusting other people! But if those cultists think I'm just going to stay – and here we go with the freaking cold again!

A thick fog had begun to form inside the room out of nowhere. This immediately struck Colin as odd because there was no way fog could just appear in a closed space for some reason. Already on edge, he stepped back into a defensive stance, waiting for some sort of attack to come at him. Then, to his horror, the same echoing voices that he'd heard back at the Dragon Grotto began echoing around him.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stay in line?"

"I'm not going to tell you again, you little brat! Clean out the garage!"

"Those people aren't to be trusted. They have no sense of common decency at all!"

At once, black smoke began pouring out of the dragons' mouths. They formed into two clumps before they hit the ground in front of Colin and materialized the shadows of his parents. Colin just stood there, horrified about what he was seeing.

"What an embarrassment," the shadow of his father said. "We try so hard to keep you from falling into the pit of social decay, and you stand head deep in it. You are a disgrace."

"That's not entirely true," the shadow of his mom said. "He at least doesn't trust anyone he meets".

"True, true," the shadow of his dad said. "At least he managed to gleam one good thing from us."

Colin couldn't take the words anymore. He covered his ears with his hands, but the shadows of his demonic parents still made their voices heard. Tears threaten to pour down his increasingly pale face.

"Still," his shadow mother sighed, "It's obvious he was a waste of our time. We were the only ones who wanted him. No one else did."

His shadow father looked down on him with eyes that could be straight from the devil himself. Colin tried his best to back away from them but they kept getting closer, seemingly getting more evil in the process.

"You see what you've done?" the shadow father asked. "If you have just listened to us, you wouldn't be moving from foster home to foster home, being cared for by people who could've cared less about you! Now you're stuck here with enemies who want you dead and friends who wish you were gone, you brat! We gave you a roof over your head and food to eat, but you called the cops and had us arrested, you ungrateful, selfish piece of crud!"

"No… no… NO!" Colin yelled.

If his hands can't drown out the voices, maybe his voice can. His shadow parents maniacally laughed at him, throwing insults at him. Colin squeezed his eyes shut, making his eyelids a dam to block the tears.

"You don't even have the guts to face us!" his shadow dad taunted.

"SHUT UP!" Colin screamed.

Finally having enough of what was going on, Colin stood up and took a swing, but as soon as his fist made contact with his shadow father, he vanished along with his shadow mother. Then Colin felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around, ready to attack. He saw it was another shadow but a shadow of an old tortoise rather than a middle aged human, woman or man. While the shadows of his parents were creepy and malicious, the shadow of the tortoise was friendly and comforting.

Colin relaxed and put up the barriers around his heart, protecting him from people like his parents or anyone at all. He didn't know who this tortoise was, but just by the feel of his aura, he knew that the tortoise was a friend not foe. He smiled and acted like his old confident, somewhat arrogant self.

"Young man, are you alright?" spoke the old tortoise.

Deep down, Colin was far from fine. He hadn't been fine since he first learned that he was longer going to live with his parents, and that whole experience really took its toll on him, but Colin knew he could never admit he was anything less.

"Yeah, nothing not even bizarre shadows that come out of nowhere, can touch me," he said.

"Hmmm, I see," the tortoise said skeptically.

"Anyway, who the hell are you?" Colin asked.

"I am Grand Master Oogway."

I've heard that name before, but where? Colin thought. Then it hit him, and Colin became horrified. He got into a defensive stance.

"Wait a minute, you're dead!" he gawked. "Wait! My parents never really here so then…Holy crud! You're a ghost!"

Unfazed by Colin's outburst, Oogway replied, "In a way, yes, but I can assure you that I will not harm you. Now we must meet up with Nathan. The fate of the world depends on you two".

"Ha! As if Nathan or even this world ever needed me," Colin retorted. "If it weren't for Nathan, we wouldn't be stuck in this mess".

"You've let your personal demons convince you of a lie," Oogway said. "Nathan needs you and not just to save the world. He needs you as a friend."

"He doesn't trust me," Colin snapped. "Actually, he doesn't even want me around anymore. And given the track record of everything that has happened since I got here, that's fine by me. I don't need him or anybody else. The world could go to hell if it wants. See if I care".

Colin turned his back to the old tortoise, not bothering to hear what he had to say. He had learned early on that the only person you could trust is yourself, and everyone else will only hurt you. It's the only true lesson his parents and all of his foster parents had have taught him.

"Obviously, you were unsuccessful in conquering your demons at the Dragon Grotto," Oogway remarked.

Whatever Colin was expecting Oogway to say, it certainly wasn't this. He took a step back as he turned around to face the old tortoise once again.

"How did you know I was there?" he asked.

"I'm the first person to successfully conquer my demons in that place," Oogway said.

Colin just stood there, not really getting what he had said. He couldn't understand what he had meant. Then Colin remembered something Shifu once said: In the past, countless kung-fu masters have come here to battle their inner demons to finally obtain inner peace, many failed, only three have succeeded, Po and I being two of them.

"Oh so it was you who was the third successor," he said.

"That's right." Oogway nodded. "It seems that, although your parents are gone, they still have a strong hold on you. Your memories of them fuel your rage. You no longer trust others in fear that they will hurt you just like your parents have hurt you".

"Well, that's just how the world is. Self-preservation is the key, my man," Colin said.

"What about Nathan?" Oogway asked. "He's your friend".

"Was," Colin said. "That ship sailed as soon as he got us stuck here. And even if it didn't, he would have betrayed me or hurt me in some way sooner or later."

"Not quite," Oogway said. "Nathan was the first one to befriend you, and even though your selfishness has annoyed him beyond his patience, he still sticks by you no matter what. He'll never leave you. Nathan trusts you, and right now, he needs you. Are you going to abandon him, and thus bringing the end of the world?"

Colin, though taken aback by this, tried to think about why he would need him. He thought about the time he first met Nathan during a visit to some family friends in Saginaw when he was staying in his twelfth adoptive family. Colin sat alone in one of the rooms at the house, determinedly trying to avoid everyone as if they were poison. Only Nathan had the nerve to go up to the room and talk to him. Slowly but surely, they became fast friends, even keeping touch when Colin was shipped back to the old orphanage after his routine several month trial period had expired badly. He also remembered during that period of time when Nathan entrusted Colin with his secret crush on popular girl Linda. He remembered Nathan Skyping him during the early days whenever his foster dad was drunk. After moving from that family, he remembered ritual phone calls and e-mails, something that Colin looked forward to since he hated his life. Maybe Nathan did trust him. Maybe Nathan will never hurt him like his parents did.

But then he remembered Nathan saying that he hated him during that fight just after Shifu suggested separating them for their safety. Nathan never took it back when they got back together. Instead, he watched Nathan replace him with Master Ox, with Master Croc, with Lorelei… with Tigress. Nathan doesn't care about him anymore. And no one else trusts him. They see him as a liability more than anything. They always did. Everyone did. Colin's eyes turned from soft to angry.

"Yes," he muttered. "Nathan doesn't want me around, so why should I want him? He could die in this mess, and I won't care as long as I'm the one to kill Tai Lung, Shen, and the rest of Myrkor."

Colin expected some kind of retort on how he's being selfish and cruel from Oogway. Instead, Oogway only nodded his hand as if he understood Colin.

"Colin, you always bear everyone else's problems on your shoulders," he said. "It is an admirable quality considering everything that has happened to you. And while at times people may see you as their least favorite ally, it does not mean that you are their least favorite friend. You are strong, resourceful, and loyal to a fault. These are the merits of a great friend as well, but only when you realize that you don't have to do everything by yourself".

Colin was completely taken aback by what was going on. Is this guy right? he thought. Have I become so concerned about keeping myself from being harmed that I've blinded myself to what people have actually thought about me? Maybe this guy's right. Maybe it is time I start thinking about other people.

He was so distracted by his new found thoughts that Colin almost didn't notice Oogway glowing in a bright light. It was only when the odd chill returned to the room that he became aware of what was going on.

"Colin, follow the pink peach blossoms to Nathan and the others." he said as pieces of Oogway separated from his body, becoming peach blossoms. "Taking down your barriers will not only help you save the world but will ultimately save yourself. You're not lost Colin".

By this time, only Oogway's head was left. Colin just stood there, completely lost in the scene that he was in.

"And remember this,"Oogway said. "Your parents have said a lot of things to you. Things that no child should ever hear from their parents. You didn't deserve it, and none of them were true, but think of this. You're story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn't determine who you are. It is the rest of the journey that matters".

Oogway was now completely made of peach blossoms. Colin watched the peach blossoms float around him. Then in a swift motion, they floated to the now open exit, disappearing into the darkness.

Realizing what he had to do, Colin ran after them.

Well that's a wrap for this chapter

Again, sorry for the delay in getting this chapter in. I promise we'll get the rest of the chapters in as fast as we can

As usual, R&R plz

NITRO PSYCHO OUT!