The war is finally here! And we brought in a special guest with us. Joe 'Po' Navark, this is for you.
Chapter 28: Ready to Fight
The next morning, Zeke stood on the front of the bunkhouse, just looking forward to day that he must confront the fears that he has been living in for so long--his abusive foster dad. He's endured his abuse since he was a year and a half and had nightmares about it, which was the cause of not trusting anybody. Now, overhearing that he's coming back for him, it seems as though he's not gonna live in fear anymore and that he must fight for himself and for his family with the help of Musaki.
He stands there, looks at the sky and looked incredibly serious for a while, waiting on the others to endure on this journey. He picks up his green and red bandana, wraps it around his head and feels the wind blowing through his fur, like a real warrior.
The door opens and out comes Musaki, wearing his blue and green bandana as well. He looks at Zeke and sees him wearing the bandana. He chuckled and said, "I think our bandanas are mismatched."
Zeke chuckled and said, "Does that consider a fashion arrest?"
"Well no. It does fit your style, though."
Zeke smiled a little and stared at Musaki for a few seconds and Musaki sighed heavily and asked, "Are you sure you're up for this?"
"Of course. You know I had to endure this kind of abuse when I was younger and now that I've grown older, I have to let go of my fears and face them, head-on. So, I'm not worried about it. I can handle myself with you guys' help."
"Well, if that's your decision, I will stand by it."
Zeke definitely feels happy with it, that he's on the same page and he can tell that Musaki definitely had some things he's been through in his life. Zeke asked, "Have you ever had those moments where you had to confront your fears and fight them?"
"Actually, I have. Just last year, I kicked Tai Lung's butt."
Zeke's eyes widened and asked, "Really?"
"Yep."
"Wow. What'd you do?"
"Well, I used my kung fu skills towards him and unleashed this awesone new power over me. It helped me fight him more and I guess, it showed me that I wasn't afraid of him anymore now that I fought him. That's what he deserved for killing my parents, so I'm thinking that he'll never see the light of day in Chor-Gom prison."
"You put all your fears away and destroyed him?"
"Oh yeah."
"You seem fearless."
"Don't let this fool you."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Zeke stuck out his paw and Musaki looks at it as if it needs another to hold a strong bond and he grabs it and they both held a strong grip with each other, as a bond that will never be broken. The door opens Mantis was the only one of the Five coming out of the door. Zeke and Musaki both said, "Good morning, Mantis."
"Morning, guys." Mantis said.
"So, are you up for this battle?"
"Hey, we're gonna kick this dude to shreds!"
Zeke chuckled and said, "I'll be looking forward to that."
"I hoped you would."
"I gotta ask you--how did you like Musaki when he came here?"
"Well, how should I put this? I liked having him here. When I see you, he reminds me of Musaki when he first came here. As the months go by, he seems cool to be around and I would see him come to me for almost anything. On training, he seems ready for battle and he shows off his amazing moves and they're really super-amazing. I've never seen anyone fight like Musaki before." Mantis explained.
"In actuality, Mantis and I have a little friendship bond and we're like friends rather than family, as you can tell." Musaki said.
"Same here. I'm looking forward to see you fight your foster dad for the first time."
"So are we."
Mantis, Musaki and Zeke turned around and saw Po, Shifu, Monkey, Viper, Crane and Tigress standing there. And then, they turned to the front and saw Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian and Seth coming in, looking like they're ready for the fight of their lives. Joey said, "You got room for nine of us?"
"For you, there's always room." Shifu said.
"We're here to join Zeke's fight." Mookie said.
"And we're not the only ones."
Then, they brought in Ichi, Fu, Ren and Kaguya with them as well. Musaki was surprised at how many of them were here to confront Zeke's abusive foster dad. He said, "Wow, that's a lot of you guys."
"All 23 of us are gonna fight." Zeke said.
"Well, add one more."
They all turned around and saw Jo Dakota Crevan coming in from behind the shadows. Po was surprised to see him come. He asked, "You're coming with us?"
"Yeah, of course." Jo explained.
"How'd you hear about this?" asked Tigress.
"Well, I snuck around the Jade Palace a couple of times and then, just yesterday, I overheard you guys talking about some fight between Zeke and his foster dad. That really hit home for me and if that was me, I would fight my real parents as well. So, I figured that I might join in, if that's all right with you."
"How'd you know about me?" asked Zeke.
"Like I said, I kinda snuck around the palace and heard that you were Musaki's brother. I would've met you in the first place, but I had to leave because someone would catch me sneaking in."
"Jo, you know you're always welcome." Shifu said.
"Do you know any kung-fu moves?" asked Miko.
"Just a few."
"A few? This little guy can do it all!" Po exclaimed.
"By the way, Jo, this is Zeke, my twin brother and my friends, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Brian, Mookie, Joey, Seth, Ichi, Fu, Ren and Kaguya. "
"Nice to meet ya, little guy." Ren said.
"You too."
"Well, I guess we're all heading out to fight this person that has tried to kill Zeke. Might as well take off." Shifu said.
Everyone dispersed out of the palace to go out to fight Zeke's abusive foster dad. Zeke can already tell that this is gonna be the fight of his life to confront his fear that he's been living in most of his life. A few minutes later, they head towards the mountains where they have to cross over to some place Commander Vachir said they were heading to. A place called 'Black Mongolia', a dangerous and somewhat crime-scenic place where there's danger in every turn.
As they were walking, Zeke definitely feels as if this adventure would be considered the first adventure he's endured in. Zeke asked Musaki, "How often do you guys head out?"
"Every so often, whenever there's some sort of, like, huge task or whatever, we would always go out for adventures and somehow, just take down villains or whatever. If they want a piece of us, we'll get a piece of them first." Musaki answered.
"You guys are rough."
"That's how we are."
"Okay, how many times have you been there?" asked Brian.
"About a few times."
"A few? Like how many?"
"I would say around maybe 2 or 3."
"Okay, you guys are basically risking your lives to take down villians in places like this?"
"Yep."
"That's supercool!" Joey exclaimed.
"It is?"
"Duh! You should get used to the experience."
"And why shouldn't I?"
"Cause you're shaking on your knees."
Jo was walking towards Po's side and Po suddenly turns to Jo and asked, "How long has it been since I last saw you, little buddy?"
"About Christmas time." Jo answered.
"How are you foster parents?"
"They're doing okay, I guess. I mean, my foster parents had gotten me involved in a poetry contest a few weeks ago and one of my poems totally blew them out of the water."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You were there for that, were you?"
"Now that I think of it, I was there. One of your poems made me cry a lot."
"Just like you do with my singing." Ichi said.
"Come on, I'm an emotional guy."
"He cries when you sing?" Jo asked.
"Big time."
"You guys both know that everything you do always make me emotional, because you're releasing your feelings out and you do it so good that it makes me cry."
"Figures."
As soon as they were walking towards the other side of the mountain, they hear a noise from miles away. All of them stopped and Jo asked, "What was that?"
"Shh!" Shifu said.
Everyone remained quiet for a while and then the sound comes back again. Shifu said, "Sounds like it's coming from one of the mountains."
"What do you think it is?" asked Tigress.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it sounds like they're coming for us."
"Do you think....it's something....bad?" asked Jo.
"Hope not, little buddy." Po said.
"Well, whatever it is, I think it's getting closer." Musaki said.
"How'd you know?" asked Zeke.
All of a sudden, they come across this huge gorilla bandit with silver armor and carries a mace around it. Musaki exclaimed, "Cause here it is!"
The gorilla roared ferociously and charged at all of them and everyone has dispersed out of the way and started fighting this bandit.
Let the fight commence! Joe 'Po' Navark, Jo is on this fic as promised. Thanks! Stay tuned for more!
