Here he was again. In this empty space with nothing but a rock ground and infinite darkness all around. The only positive point was that, in this dream, he was no longer held down by his training bracelets. Yet, he somehow still had his normal clothes.
During the diner, Koji pretended that his training with Yang tired him too much and excused himself to go to sleep. In reality, he was too excited to go back in his dream and start his "Demon Training" with Cong wo. Sure, this still sounded alien to him, but curiosity have always been one of Koji's strong point. Master Yoshi always told him.
"Boo!"
Koji jumped and turned around to see the same old creepy bug he met the night before. "Damn, dude! Don't make me jump like that!"
"Sorry, but when you're trapped in here for so long, you gotta find a way to have some fun." Cong Wo said and chuckled. "So, if you came back here, I must consider that you're interested to learn how to use my demon power?"
Koji nodded. "Yeah, what you told me the other night was still in my head - literally. If you can really help me to become stronger, I want to follow your training, no matter how hard it is." He affirmed with determination.
This made the demon smile. "Exactly what I wanted to hear. So let's start this training without any further due."
"Alright. What do I have to do?"
"First, you're gonna need to learn how to fight with your sword."
Koji looked in confusion. "My sword? Which swor-" He interrupted himself when he realized that he was indeed holding a sword which came out of nowhere in his right hand. It was a katana whose handle was covered of green bandages with a golden collar and a pure white blade. It was pretty light and he could easily move it around with only one hand.
"Woah! Where did this come from?" Koji asked as he moved it around.
"It just formed in your hand: you probably didn't felt it." Cong Wo explained with a chuckle.
"Cool! But I've never seen a sword like this before. How is it called?"
Cong Wo chuckled again. "It's your sword: it's up to you to choose its name."
"Really?" Koji was surprised. He then started thinking about a good name for his sword, turning it in ever sides to help him think. Then, it clicked and he snapped his little white fingers. "I got it! I'm gonna call it Bairen Zhengyi (White Blade of Justice)."
"That's a nice name." Cong Wo nodded. "Now, we may begin the training." Koji nodded and took the hold of his new sword in both of his little hands. "I'm gonna attack you - easy at first, then harder - to help you master the way of fighting with a sword. You are used to fight with no weapons except your horn, so learning how to swing a blade is the first step. Then, your demon powers will slowly awake step-by-step. Okay?"
"Huh, just one thing." Koji interrupted him. "You sure I'll have time to learn a lot of things in a few hours? 'Cause I'll awake very soon as I went to sleep pretty late."
"Don't worry about that: time goes way faster in your dreams than in real life. To give you an idea, one hour in the real world, it's three hours here. So we have all of our time." He then got in a fighting stance. "Now, may the training begin..."
Back in the real world, Toka was sitting in a meditating position on the ice lake of the village (the spot where Po fought Kai). He focused to try and learn the Huo Yun technique from his scroll, but so far, it wasn't a big success. The reason was that it required him to insert chi in his mouth and spit a jet of smoke from there which was very difficult. He was used only to put chi in his paw to perform the Iron Fist. Putting chi in his mouth was something entirely different.
The irony? He has been training since dawn as he couldn't get to sleep. The snow leopard ignored why, but since last night, he felt like something wasn't right. He knew he had supernatural powers, but his instincts were trying to warn him, as if there was a danger looming over he and his friends. Not matter how much he tried to shove it aside, it kept bothering his mind. Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and came out to pratice his technique.
"You awoke soon."
Toka jumped a bit at the sudden intrusion and turned around. It was just Tigress who didn't seemed to be tired like he was. "Oh, hello, Tigress. Yeah, I couldn't get to sleep, so I came to train on my technique." He explained as his feline friend came to sit beside him.
"And did you progressed so far?" She asked him.
"No, but it will come. Neyo told us unlocking our chi abilities could take sometime." Toka replied with his eyes closed as he kept focusing.
"Speaking of Neyo, I met him after he came back from the mountain."
"Did he learned a lot of new stuff?"
Suddenly, Tigress looked at the ice below her. "I asked him the same thing, but he didn't wanted to talk about it."
This sentence caused the New Legend leader to open his eyes and look at his friend wuth a surprised look. What she just told him wasn't like the hedgehog he knew: whenever he learned something new, he would share it with his friends in the deepest details. It was definitely not his kind to just avoid the subject.
"There's something else." Tigress continued. "He was covered of bruises and a few cuts. He told him that it happened because he got distracted and fell from the cliff, but it recognized them: it was the kind of cuts you get not from sharp rocks, but from swords and knives."
Toka raised an eye brow at that statement. "What are you trying to say?"
"I don't know. I think Neyo is hiding something from us."
"What? Neyo?" Toka said with a small chuckle. "What are you talking about? Neyo's our friend: if he had trouble, he would tell us."
The female tiger remained silent for a couple of seconds before turning the conversation to another subject. "Toka, there's something I think you should know."
Noticing the biggest seriousness in her voice, Toka entirely let go of his training and turned to look at her. "What is it?"
"...it's...hum... the reason why-"
"INCOMING!"
They both jumped and moved out of the way as something - or rather SOMEONE fell from the sky and crashed between them. They immediately recognized him.
"Zeng?!" Tigress said and helped the clearly tired goose back up. "What happened? And what are you doing here?"
He panted a lot, but still managed to answer. "Master...Shifu...says...you must...come back...to the palace...something...important...to say..."
Both felines widened their eyes in surprise. "Master Shifu wants us to come back?" Toka exclaimed to which Zeng nodded. If their master sent them Zeng to call them back right in the middle of their week off, it probably meant that it was an emergency...or that he changed his mind and decided to make them train harder. Anyways, they had to get back at the Valley fast.
"Are you sure you want to leave so soon, son?" Li Shan asked Po for at least the fifteenth time.
Immediately following Zeng's arrival, Toka and Tigress went to inform their friends about Shifu's message and everyone immediately packed up their things as fast as they could to leave the Panda Village. Of course, some like Mantis and Monkey complained as they really tought they would be able to rest for a full week. Unfortunately, this dream got broken too fast.
They were currently gathered at the entrance of the village, ready to leave. Po was making his goodbyes with his biological family.
"Yes, Dad. I'm sorry: I promised we would spend a whole week together, but my duty as the Dragon Warrior is calling me. It's part of my job." Po said which made his dad look down in disapointment. "But hey, I'll come back very soon and we'll do all kinds of panda stuff together, alright?"
"Thanks again for your hospitality, Mr. Shan." Tigress said and bowed. "We should be going now, if we want to reach the Valley before nightfall."
The group agreed to that and thanked the pandas one last time before getting on their way.
The travel back to the Valley was pretty long and tiring - specially considering the fact that they left right after waking up, this morning. At least, they arrived back in their homeland faster than their first travel to the Panda Village. It was mainly because, this time, they didn't had to stop and save a village from some demon hidden in a cave.
Neyo's comrades couldn't help but notice that he remained silent throughout the whole journey. Seriously, even Alena who was the less talking of the group talked more than him. It seriously wasn't his kind to miss on an opportunity to bring up many facts and contradict the others like Po, when he said something completely stupid. However, they could ask him altter: for now, Master Shifu wanted to see them, so they had to go directly at the Jade Palace.
"Woah!" Kasaiori exclaimed as they walked through the main street of the village. "This place is awesome!"
"I agree." Mizufusen nodded. "We heard about this famous Valley a lot, but seeing it in real makes us understand that no words could really describe it." She then noticed that most of the villagers were looking at them with wide eyes. "And the villagers seem surprised to see newcomers here as I see."
"Actually..." Viper whispered to her. "...I think it's because you and Tanchi are half-naked. You see, girls here are usually dressed in appropriate clothes." She remarked.
"Oh..." Mizu couldn't help but blush a bit behind her scarf.
"So? Where is your dojo? Is it nearby?" Yang asked with excitation in his voice.
"Well, it's not really far, but we still have to get up there." Po said with pointing at the thousands of steps standing before them which were leading to the top of the mountain where the Jade Palace was standing. Needless to say that the five newcomers looked with shocked looks upon seeing them.
"I know; we had the same look, when we first saw this too." Koji nodded.
"Y-Your palace is located all the way up there?" Kasaiori asked. "Why building it so far?"
Koji shrugged. "No idea: I never had the chance to ask Master Oogway about it. But don't worry; once we get there, I can prepare sandwiches for you all."
This earned him confused look from the recruits. "What are sandwiches?" Tongo asked.
"Seriously?! Am I really the only one in this country who knows what a sandwich is?"
After many efforts, our heroes reached up the end of the thousand steps. The Five were not tired at all, being used to walk them up; Po was completely tired as usual, and if Toka and his four friends had not drained too much energy as they slightly used to it, the Elemental Five was completely down.
"Damn..." Tanchi panted. "You mean...that you must... get up and down...all those stairs...everytime you want to...enter or leave it?"
They all nodded a yes. This just earned them more respect from the Elemental Five.
"Those who search to learn Kung Fu must before all prove their determination to learn it."
They all jumped as a little red panda walked out of the two huge doors of the palace. "Master Shifu!" The students all said and bowed to him. The newcomers bowed a little after them as they didn't realized that he was a master at first.
"We came here as fast as we could after receiving your message sent by Zeng." Master Tigress said as the said goose got back in the palace, knowing they didn't needed him anymore. "What was the emergency you wanted to talk about?"
The red panda rubbed his little beard as he noticed the five newcomers. "Well, are you not going to introduce me to your new friends before?"
"Yes," Po said. "They are called the Elemental Five. This is Kasaiori, Mizufusen, Tanchi, Yang, and Tongo Tonga."
Our heroes explained to their old master how they met and worked with them to defeat Plokho and save their village. They also mentionned their wish to train with them to learn Kung Fu.
"This is very interesting, indeed." Shifu nodded and looked at the five younglings. "I already have five recent students to take care of, but I think it's possible to handle five more, especially if you are all disciplined." His smile suddenly dropped a bit. "Though I'd have to ask you to get dressed a bit more...appropriatly." He said with looking at Mizufusen and Tanchi.
The former nodded. "Your disciples already told us. We're sorry, but those are the only clothes we have."
"Oh..." Shifu simply said before turning back to the main subject. "Anyways, as Zeng told you, I asked you all to come back here for an important reason."
They all nodded, ready to listen to him.
"The day before, I received a visit at the Peach Tree from none other than Master Oogway himself." The mention of this name caused everyone to widen their eyes in surprise. "Or rather, it was a ghost of him. He warned me of an upcoming danger...A danger so great that even the Dragon Warrior won't be strong enough to stop it."
"WHAT?!" Everyone except the Elemental Five exclaimed at unison. "But Po did stop many threats before, right? Why wouldn't he be able to do it this time?" Koji asked.
Shifu looked down. "I don't know. Oogway didn't gave me more details about this threat out of the fact that it's growing in the Spirit Realm and that this person is gathering a lot of evil souls. He also mentionned that we're gonna need the "Phoenix Warrior"."
Everybody exchanged curious looks. "The Phoenix Warrior? What's that?" Monkey asked.
"Is it like the Dragon Warrior but with a phoenix instead." Koji innocently asked.
"I honestly don't know. Oogway left before I could interrogate him on that subject." The old master looked down before taking a more cheered tone. "I don't see any other options than to train and let the universe tell us who it is. Just like it did with the Dragon Warrior."
"Oh! Oh! Do you think it could be one of us?" Suya asked with a smile, referring to herself and the New Legend members.
"Yes, it is perfectly possible." Shifu nodded. "Also, there's another reason for which you all need to train. It happens that I received another visit, yesterday, from a messanger coming from another reality."
This earned him a lot of confused looks. "Another reality?" They asked at unison.
"Allow me to explain: this world in which we live is just one reality that exists among thousands of other ones. As crazy as it might sound, Master oogway himself managed to find a way to use chi in the purpose to open paths to these other realities. These ones can be similar to ours with a few slight differences while other can be entirely different. For example, we can find a reality where the Great War never happened."
"We can also find one where I was never born?" Po asked.
"And one where all the girls are boys and all the boys are girls?" Toka asked.
"And one where everyone but me knows what a sandwich is?" Koji asked.
"Yes, yes, and yes." Master Shifu answered them. "The possibilities are endless. However, there is one reality located in the middle of them all. In this one, a special martial arts tournament called the Power Struggle Tournament is organised every year and pits 16 of the best fighters from all realities in one-on-one matches. The messanger I mentionned came to announce me that the tournament will happen in two weeks. So, I hope that some of you are ready to participate."
"I don't understand." Toka interrupted and all heads turned to him. "You just said that a great threat was looming over China: why should we participate in a tournament taking place in another reality while the whole country is in danger?"
"Very perspicacious, Toka." Shifu said with a smile. "You see, because of the circumstances, only two of you all will participate while the others will stay to defend China. So you're all gonna train hard for the next two weeks and the two of you who will have made the most progress will get to participate in the tournament. It will be a perfect opportunity to test your level against the 14 other fighters and bond with them, if we come to need their help with the upcoming threat."
Everybody reacted differently to this news.
"So, if I get this correctly," Neyo said with scratching his chin. "you want us to work hard for a chance to participate in an alternate reality's tournament in hope of making us fight and possibly bond with 14 other of all those realities' fighters. That seems pretty hard to me."
"Did I mentionned there is a prize of 100,000,000 Yuan for the winner?" Master Shifu added.
Right after saying that, everybody felt a jet of motivation come and all rushed to the training hall. So started two weeks of long and hard training in hopes of being chosen for the Power Struggle Tournament.
The two weeks flew faster than our heroes expected, and the day of the Power Struggle Tournament came. Master Shifu had to pick up two of his students to participate while keeping all the others to protect China. Since they worked harder, he decided that Toka and Koji would be the ones which made the best friends super-happy. The others were a bit disapointed, but not too much.
After Master Shifu used his chi to open the path that would lead them to the PST's reality, Alena, Suya, and Neyo asked if they could go with their friends to encourage them. Shifu accepted and, as all members of the New Legend entered the path, he could only whisper: "Good Luck..." before it closed behind them.
Man! What a day! I just finished reading Berserker88's story Tournament Of Legends in only one day, and yet, I still found a way to finish this chapter! I'm super-motivated!
Other than that, I can safely say that this chapter marks the end of this story's first arc. The next chapters will change this story a lot.
If you want to know what will happen to Toka and Koji, go read my other story "Power Struggle Tournament" otherwise, you won't understand a lot of things for the next chapters.