Rise of the Zealots

League of the Red Dragons

Chapter 21: returning home

Hello ladies and gentlemen, we are back with chapter 21.

The battle was over and the rogue faction of ninjas had been defeated and was currently helped captive until the military arrived to lock them away. Without their leaders, they were unable to continue the battle and were forced to give up. They were outnumbered and outmatched.

Blu, Yoshi and Amanda were taken away for medical treatment before their injuries could get any worse. Despite her crimes, Yoshi insisted that they help her, but that did not mean he was going to let her go free. Once her injuries were attended to, she was to be escorted back to the prison where they hoped she would not escape again.

Without a home, the Red Dragon clan was going to have to move and locate a new suitable place where they could set up home. Until Yoshi recovered, one of his students was put in charge of the clan. At first, he offered it to Blu, but the blue macaw told him that it was time for them to part ways for now as Blu had a family to protect to which Yoshi understood.

Meanwhile, Joel was running alone from the jungle while he held his wing against his injury where he had been shot by an arrow. He was alone now and did not have any of his people to protect him. No matter, all he needed to do was escape and recruit his fellow ninjas again to launch another attack now that the Red Dragon Temple was destroyed.

"Fools." Joel sighed as he continued running away. He would fly if it weren't for his injury affecting one of his wings that limited his movements. "I'll take my vengeance, but first I need to get this arrow out of me."

Joel continued running through the jungle, but his path was blocked when members of the Red Dragon clan blocked his way. In his weakened condition, he was unable to face them and attempted to turn around and escape from the direction he came from, but instead, he found himself blocked by the military macaws too. He was trapped and there was nothing he could do to escape.

"Oh geez." Joel sighed when he realized he was cornered. "This day could not get any worse."

"Actually, it could." one of the Red Dragon clan members spoke up, catching Joel's attention. "Amanda knows the truth of what you have done to her. When she recovers, she isn't going to be very happy to see you. You will be locked away in prison, trapped with Amanda for months."

Joel gulped in fear as military macaws surrounded him and proceeded to take him away to be locked away. He could not be in any more fear than he was now, knowing that Amanda was going to kill him one day. He may be locked away, but there was going to be a moment where the guards would be unable to protect him and no doubt she would exact her revenge.

Amanda was beaten and was injured beyond recovery for a long while. After she was defeated by a single blue macaw who used his knowledge and her injuries against her, Amanda was taken by the prison where she received medical attention. Her injuries were serious and would take time to recover, but the only good news to this is if she attempted to escape, she would be unable to. Not that she had a reason anymore to escape of course now that she knew the truth.

She had been informed of that Yoshi was okay, much to her relief. It was hard to believe that she had tried to kill him, but now she knew the truth, the whole truth. After she recovered and maybe one day be allowed to leave this prison, she was turning over a new leaf. No more martial-arts, no more danger, no more battles. After witnessing what she was capable of, she could not continue further as she feared she would hurt others.

Since the area of her old cell was blocked off during her escape, Amanda was confined to the area where they kept the most dangerous prisoners. Due to her injuries, she was resting on a bed with bandages around her body and wings. She was going to be limited to this bed for a while, but she didn't care anymore. It's not like she was going anywhere anytime soon. She had been here for a day now.

Amanda sighed as she tried to make herself comfortable and get some rest for a while. However, her peace was interrupted when a guard knocked onto her cell. She leaned up to see him.

"You've got a visitor." the guard announced as he opened the cell door. As a precaution, he had other guards accompanying him, preparing themselves in case she tried anything.

Amanda raised her eyebrow in confusion. Who would have come to see her and more importantly, why?

Her wonders where answered when a familiar small macaw walked into her cell. Amanda could not believe that her visitor was no other than Yoshi, her former master. After all she did, why on Earth would he have come back here to see her? She expected that the Red Dragon clan wanted nothing more than to hurt her for her crimes.

"Master Yoshi?" Amanda gasped slightly, surprised he was here.

"Hello Amanda." Yoshi calmly greeted with a small smile. He walked to the side of her bed, using his staff as a walking stick due to his previous injuries. If it weren't for his robe, Amanda would be able to see he was covered in bandages of his own.

Amanda could not bear to look at her former master, her former father. She felt too shameful even looking at him, knowing that seeing him would forever remind her of her crimes. "Why are you here? You should go."

"I came to see you, Amanda." Yoshi stated the obvious, but his answer did not seem to satisfy Amanda.

"Why...Why would you want to see me?" Amanda inquired as she turned her head back towards him. She closed her eyes to hold back tears. "Master...I tried to kill you. Everything you taught me didn't even matter in the end. You trusted me, cared for me, treated me as your own family and what did I do in return for your kindness? I tried to kill you, I destroyed your home, and I hurt your clan. I was a fool to fall for Joel's lies and I don't deserve to be seen by anyone. You should go."

Despite her words being true, Yoshi bidden her no ill and do not hold a grudge despite everything. When he was a student many years ago, he was taunt that revenge was not the answering to everything and that they should learn to forgive.

"Amanda." Yoshi sighed, about to give Amanda one of his many lectures. "Our clan teaches many things about are order and one of them is to never give up on anyone no matter what. Yes, you had done all of those crimes you had mentioned, but you were not truly lost. I know that you could be brought back to the light, that's why I refused to hurt you when we first fought many years ago. Regardless of how far someone has fallen, they can always be brought back."

Amanda took a few seconds to process Yoshi's words and did agree with the most of it, but she was confused nevertheless. "How could you know that I could be brought back?"

"If you truly wanted to kill me, the kick you delivered to me would have been fatal." Yoshi explained. "I should know since I was the one who taught it to you. You were always on the path of redemption, Amanda; I just had to open your eyes. Amanda, despite everything you have done. I forgive you and me one day hope to welcome you back into our order.

Amanda could not what she was hearing. After all that happened, after all she had done, Yoshi had forgiven her! She could not believe her own eyes when she heard these words. She now finally understood why Yoshi chose not to attack her many years ago and why he held back his attacks. Amanda highly doubted that she would be allowed back into the order, but she needed time to think about it. After all, not like she was going anywhere.

Without saying anything, Amanda nodded and for the first time in a long time, she expressed her gratitude and her love to Yoshi. "Thank you...Father. If I one day will be allowed back into the clan, I promise to help you and teach your students not to make the same mistakes I made."

"That's good." Yoshi agreed with a nod.

Amanda had one more thing to say before they could settle their meeting completely. "Father...That Blu guy...Take care of him. He's a good bird and is someone who defiantly has the honor of being in your clan."

"I will, Amanda." Yoshi reassured. "He has his own path to follow now, but one day, he will return and so will you. Until then, take care of yourself, Amanda."

"You too, Master Yoshi. You too." Amanda returned the same farewell to her adoptive father.

With their peace said, Yoshi and Amanda bowed their heads respectfully towards one another. Before long, Yoshi had to leave. After all, he had a temple to rebuild. The guard opened the cell door and Yoshi proceeded to leave, but not before taking one last look back at his daughter. It may be a long time, but one day, they would see each other again and everything was going to be put back into the way it should be.

Until then, they had work to do and an order to rebuild.

In another area of the prison, Joel who had been caught with ease by the military had been locked away in a cell, stripped of his ninja clothing. Too his fear, he was locked away in a prison with Amanda, but that was not the worst part. The worst part was is that they were in the same cellblock area together!

Joel was in fear. He was cowering in his cell, shaking as he kept his eyes focused on the cell door. Amanda knew the truth of his deception and now he was certain that she would break out of her cell to attack him. Little did he know however is that Amanda was not going to attack him. No, despite her knowledge of what Joel had done to her, Amanda decided not to exact revenge on him, especially after hearing Yoshi lecture her about revenge.

Amanda was not going to attack him, but Joel did not know that and this was all part of her plan. As long as Joel was convinced into thinking that Amanda was going to attack him any moments now, he would spent the remaining years of his life in this prison cowering in fear, not knowing that he had nothing to fear after all. It was the perfect method of taking revenge without physically taking revenge.

Meanwhile, Blu, whom had made a recovery from his previous injuries, began to make his way home. Fortunately, his injuries he had received during his battle with Amanda and now he felt as healthy as a bird should be. It had been quite some time since he saw his family and he could not wait to see them again, despite the danger ahead.

Blu located his home and descended down to the bottom of the tree where his family was currently hiding underground for their own safety. He called out to them in excitement. "Jewel! Kids! I'm back!"

At first, there was silence filling the air, leaving Blu quite worried. He was prepared to panic, but his worries were eased when the secret hatch to his hideout opened and out game his beautiful mate along with his four children. He never felt happier to see them again.

"Blu! You're back!" Jewel exclaimed as she threw herself into her mate's wings.

The lovebirds shared an embrace before their kids joined in on the hug. They had never been happier to be reunited as a family. Now that Blu was back, he was prepared to face the dangers ahead. Of course it was going to be dangerous, but it was time to prepare for the battle ahead.

After a moment of reunion, Jewel leaned out from the hug with Blu placing his wings upon her shoulders.

"I'm glad to see you, Jewel. Kids. I've missed you all so much." Blu admitted with his loving, gentle smile.

"The feeling's mutual, Blu." Jewel replied with a smile, repeating somewhat familiar words to Blu. Before he could respond, she leaned forward and hugged him a second too. "You've been gone quite a while. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"That I did, Jewel." Blu smiled and wrapped his wings around Jewel, wanting to enjoy every moment of her in his embrace while he could, for when the battles arrived, it was going to be tough.

As the family of six hugged closely, Crystal had slipped away for a moment to fly up to their home since they had not been there for a while. However, something inside had picked up her curiosity: a note pinned against the wall. Curiously, she picked it up and proceeded to fly back down to her father.

"Hey Mom, Dad, I found this in the tree." Crystal announced as she passed the note to her father.

Blu accepted the note into his talon and began to read the contents. His eyes widened after reading the contents.

Congratulations, Blu, you have defeated the yellow macaw. Only two more villains to go.

"Oh." Blu gasped, slightly surprised.

Amanda was one of the villains he had to face and what was worse is that he had no idea. His plan was to just get his training and leave, but then Amanda broke free from prison. How in the world did this mysterious watcher know that Amanda was going to be a villain? Scratch that, how did he know that she could escape prison?

"What is it?" Jewel inquired when she noticed the look of worry across Blu's face. Clearly something had got him worked up.

"It's a long story." Blu admitted. He felt inclined to share it nevertheless, but not out here where they could be watched. "Let's get back into the hideout, I'll explain everything."

Jewel nodded and escorted the kids inside first before jumping inside herself. Blu took one final look around the area to make certain that he was not followed before he followed his family inside, closing the hatch behind him and remembering to lock it.

"Take a seat, Jewel." Blu offered as they sat down on the couch. "It's a long story."

Blu began to tell his tale of the time he was training with Master Yoshi. He told them about the training he had received, how much work there was, how the bond between he and Yoshi had established, but most importantly was telling them about Amanda. When he told them of her crimes, at first his family was shocked and worried when Blu mentioned they fought, but after reassurance from Blu that he was fine and that Amanda was redeemed, their worries were put to eases.

"-and as coincidence, Amanda turned out to be one of the four villains sent after me." Blu concluded his story while he looked between his family. His kids were sitting to his right while Jewel was sitting to his left. He extended both wings and placed them around his family. "Now I'm back and I'm ready for the danger ahead."

Jewel was glad to hear that Blu was ready, but at the same time, she did not want him to get hurt. She held his wing and reminded him that he was not alone. "You're ready, but you're not taking them alone. I'm with you no matter what. We're taking them down together."

Blu nodded in agreement and leaned over to peck the side of Jewel's beak. "Together."

"Now let's share what little time we have together." Jewel suggested as she leaned her head down against Blu's chest. If they were going to fight for their lives, then she was going to make every second with her family count.

Blu could not agree more. He held his family close as he shared what little time he had with them, knowing that this reunion was not going to last for long.

While the family of blue macaws was hiding underground, a mysterious dark figure wearing a cloak was perched on top of the branch, looking down in the direction towards Blu's hideout. He seemed to be completely aware that they were hiding under there, but rather than take action, he turned around and proceeded to fly away, knowing that this battle was not over yet.

Two more villains remained and as long as they were out there, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, this war was not going to be over by a long shot. No, this was only just beginning.

And that concludes the end of the League of the Red Dragons story line. Blu is reunited with his family and Amanda is imprisoned. Two villains remain along with the true mastermind. With part 2 over, it's now time to move onto part 3 of the story within the next chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapter, ladies and gentlemen.