As with the other stories, Karasu started with a narration. "Many years ago, Shen's family took a trip to the Imperial City for negotiations on trade with Gongmen and the Imperial City. As Shen was just a boy back then, he had to sit and wait for his parents to be done. That is, until…"

Shen sighed as he sat outside the meeting hall of the Imperial Palace. Being only 8, the young peacock was not allowed to sit in on the adults' conversation. Shen looked… well, considering that at this point he's only a bit older than Zan, Shen is really adorable at this point. His train was oversized for his body, which didn't help him with moving around at all.

You see, while his parents loved him very much, Shen was born with a condition that made his body what the doctors called 'sickly.' He would grow out of with intensive training in Kung Fu, but for now being at such a young age the peacock would have to be careful due to his weaker immune system and body.

"Ugh, this is so stupid!" Shen groaned. "If I'm going to be the Prince of Gongmen, I should be allowed to hear the meeting!"

"Shen, you will learn in time that being the ruler is not all it cracks up to be," Soothsayer said. She was in charge of taking care of the peacock while his parents were in the meeting. If anything, she was the boy's surrogate mother.

"But I want to rule now," Shen whined.

"You will have your time someday, young prince," Soothsayer said.

Shen groaned and laid his head in the goat's lap, only to pop his head back up in a smile. "Can you do the magic thing, Nana?"

Soothsayer smiled. "Only for you, Shen." Plucking a feather from the prince's head, the goat pulled out her scrying bowl and dropped the feather in. "A peacock of white…" she began. "…will find himself on a most elegant chair."

Shen frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"Not every prediction is straightforward, Shen," Soothsayer replied.

The peacock sat there, but then his eyes lit up in realization. "I know what it means!" and with that exclamation, Shen ran off into the palace, with the Soothsayer barely following behind him. He ran all the way into the throne room, where the peacock climbed up on the throne and refused to move from.

"Hey, no one is allowed to sit on the throne but the Emperor himself!" said one of the guards.

"Hmph, then that makes me the Emperor now," Shen said in a childish way.

[***]

"…and that is how Shen became Emperor of China," Karasu said.

The kids didn't say anything, only giving the raven blank looks.

"That was lame," one of the kids said.

"Oh, so you want to hear a different story, then?" Karasu asked rhetorically. "Well then, how about I tell you about a more recent adventure Shen had?" The raven pulled out another scroll. "This story ties into the last one I told, if only in the sense that both happen in the Imperial City. Now then, Shen had just gotten to the Imperial City when he learned some startling news…"

[***]

At the Imperial Palace, Shen ran inside the courtyard to find the kids training with Masters Chao and Junjie.

"I heard the news," Shen said. "What happened to Zan?"

No one said anything, but simply moved out of the way to show Shen what had happened. Zan was back in his teenage form.

"I just woke up like this Uncle Shen, and now I can't turn back," Zan said.

Shen breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad it's not something worse. Now then." The peacock readied his wings. "I wish Karasu was here to help, but I have seen him perform some magic. I will see if I can do anything to counteract this curse."

Shen did a few movements with his wings at Zan, and soon a glow surrounded the both of them. The results, however, where anything but satisfactory.

"Ugh, why do I feel so weak?" Shen asked, only to gasp at how high pitched his voice sounded. Looking over himself, the peacock found that he had somehow reversed his age back to when he was a kid. "Oh no, I think the spell backfired on me."

"Uh, it wasn't just on you, Uncle Shen," said Zan. Shen looked up to see that Zan was now even older, somewhere in his mid 30's.

"It seems that the two of you swapped ages somehow," Junjie said.

"And it was all because of me!" shouted a voice. In another flash of smoke, everyone else but Zan and Shen was tied up in magical bindings. A Siamese cat jumped into the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by what looked to be ghost wolves.

"Pang Bing!" Lu Kang shouted.

"Yes, foolish ox, I have returned from that harem that the wretched snake put me in," Pang Bing said. "Now, however, I have come back with more magic and an army of the undead! I have captured all of you and rendered the Celestial Phoenix completely helpless!" She laughed, then snapped her fingers. "Wolves, tear that overgrown child apart!"

Zan instinctively picked up Shen, putting the peacock on his back and picking up his Guan Dao.

"Zan, I can still use my Chi, but in this body, you'll have to fend off these ghosts while I charge up," Shen said.

"I'll do my best," Zan replied.

The goose found the Guan Dao oddly comfortable in his wings, similar to his sword from before. Zan used his training that the Onyx Council had given him to fend off the wolves, surprised to find that the weapon actually hurt the ghosts.

"What? How is that possible!" Pang Bing shouted.

"My weapon is enchanted by the Royal Soothsayer of Gongmen to ward off creatures of the night," Shen said. He then scowled, which looked really adorable on his child face. "You should be ashamed of using ghosts of the fallen. These wolves should be allowed to pass on, and you denied them that."

"Who cares? They're dead," the Siamese cat retorted.

Zan continued to use his skills to take out the ghosts, with Shen giving him pointers on how to use his weapon. When most of the ghosts were gone, Shen had gathered enough energy to use his Chi. Activating his Celestial Phoenix mode, the peacock was returned to his adult self, the power counteracting the magic placed on him.

"Time for you to stand down, Pang Bing," Shen said proudly, taking up his weapon from Zan.

"Hmph, I'm not afraid of you, when I can do THIS!" With a shout, the cat opened a portal, which sucked herself and Shen in. "Welcome to the mirror dimension, foolish warrior, where magic reigns supreme!"

As she said that, Pang Bing did a few hand motions, making war fans appear in her hands. With a few more motions, the world started to shift and twist, making the ground the sky and buildings turn inside out.

"This is insane," the peacock said, using his metal talons to hold his ground as the world around him turned and defied all known laws of physics.

Shen decided that he had to defeat Pang Bing as soon as possible, so he put his new Celestial Phoenix form to the test. Using his wings, Shen jumped up as high as possible, then coated his body in fire to stay airborne. Finding the cat, the peacock rocketed forward with his Dao at the ready, launching into his Rising Phoenix attack to knock her out. To his surprise, while it did work, he saw something fly out of Pang Bing's body.

"Hah ha! You cannot hurt me now! In my astral form, I am invincible!" the cat shouted in triumph.

"But it does make you vulnerable to one of my new abilities thanks to my form," Shen said. "SPIRIT SEAL!"

In a burst of power, Shen's Guan Dao shined and drew Pang Bing into it, leaving her spirit trapped in the lance. Grabbing her body, Shen then ripped open a portal to the real world, landing in the Imperial Courtyard, his form dissipating.

"So, how did it go?" Master Chao asked, having freed the others of their bindings.

"I have captured Bing's spirit in my blade, and now I think she deserves a bit of irony," Shen said with a smirk. Grabbing a mirror, he tapped his blade to it, transferring the cat's spirit to the object.

"What? You can't keep me in here!" Pang Bing shouted.

"Actually, we can," Junjie said, taking the mirror. "Since you're in here, you'll have to do what we ask you to, as a good servant should."

[***]

"… With Pang Bing defeated, Zan was able to return to his proper age, though with the added benefit of being able to return to his teenage form once per day," Karasu narrated.

"That was cool!" said one of the kids.

Soon, every one of the kids was imitating Shen, from trying to do his attacks to pretending that they were in the mirror world and doing crazy magic attacks.

"I would hope they enjoyed my story," Shen said, appearing behind Karasu.

"Oh Shen, you're here," the raven said.

"I actually came to stay and hear the rest of the stories," Shen said. "Though to do that I'll need some help from you."

The ninja smiled. "One age spell coming right up!"

In a flash of smoke, Shen was back to his child form, fitting in with the rest of the kids. Unfortunately, the other kids recognized him and swarmed him with questions. Karasu sighed. This could take a while.

Author's Note

Next time will be about Mei Ling and what she did after Season 2. Here's a hint: it involves Crane.

Also, yes, the Mirror Dimension is a reference to Dr. Strange (love that movie!)