After Enzokhule got carried away by the medical team, Po left the fighting zone to go up the platform and join his friends. They gave him a warm welcome. "That was a great fight, Po!" Crane said.
"I knew you were going to win!" Viper added with patting his shoulder on the shoulder with her tail.
"I agree," Yukan said with a nod and a smile. "You totally assured back there."
"Oh, you know, I just had to give him some of my Panda Awesomeness and all that!" Po said with giving punches and kicks everywhere, making the others chuckle.
"But are you going to take him as your student?" Tigress asked.
"What?"
"This boy asked you to accept to take him as your student after your duel would be over. Now that it's done, are you planning on taking him?" Tigress repeated with crossing her arms.
"Oh... huh, well, I don't know," the panda replied with rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, he's strong and he's got a lot of potential, there's no doubt... but I never trained anyone before... so I don't know..."
"Just take the time to think about it, Po. After this, give him your answer when you have the time," Viper told him.
"Attention to all the participants!" Nunzio called. "We are now going to see who are the fighters for the second match!" He pointed his trump to the screen which started rolling all the names of the remaining participants. Once again, everyone (except Po) was eager to see who would get to fight next.
Master Siax vs Xan Pan
The black cat dressed in golden robes with lime dragon patterns immediately jumped from her spot and landed gracefully in the fighting zone. "Have fun, Siax!" Snow Kid called to her.
Her opponent was a male ox with metallic boxing gloves on his fists. "This should be interesting," Yukan remarked. "I can't wait to see what these folks can do."
"This match won't last long."
Yukan and Shining Eagle turned to look at Kivuli who looked more serious than usual. "What makes you say that?" Yukan asked her. "I have no doubt that this Siax girl must be strong, but Xan Pan looks good too."
"It's very simple," the martial eagle replied. "Master Siax is from the Magic Kung Fu School and this Xan Pan guy seems to be relying on nothing but brute strength like most other participants. This puts a huge difference between them in terms of experience."
Yukan rose a curious eyebrow at this statement. "The Magic Kung Fu School? What's that?"
"What?!" Shining Eagle suddenly exclaimed. "How can you not have heard about it? It's one of the - if not THE - most known Kung Fu Dojos in all of China! Some of the greatest Masters in history studied there."
"Hey, hey, wait!" the sun parrot said with rising his wings in defense. "I remind you that I'm from Japan. And besides, when I had to choose a Dojo here, I took one that wasn't too far from my previous home. That's why I took the Frog Dojo. But anyways, tell me more about this Magic Kung Fu School."
"The match is over!"
The Frog Dojo masters froze and turned to look at the fighting zone. To their surprise, Master Siax stood with her head high over a Xan Pan, whose face was bruised, like he received a rock in it. "Master Siax wins the second match and qualifies for the next phase!" Nunzio announced.
"WHAT?!" Yukan, Shining Eagle, and Po exclaimed all at once.
"What happened?! I didn't see anything!" Yukan said.
"T-That... was AWESOME!" Po beamed. "Xan Pan wanted to attack Siax when the match started, but she just gave him one punch in the face and it's over! It's almost like her arms are as strong as Tigress'!" He then gasped. "You think they are?"
"I don't know. But one thing's for sure; these masters of the Magic Kung Fu School are not to be taken lightly," Tigress answered as Siax jumped back to her previous spot on the platform and went to rest against the wall again, as if nothing had happened.
"Nice job, Siax. That guy did not stand a chance," Snow Kid praised her.
"Hm-hm. I'm expecting you to do the same," the black cat replied.
The yeti frowned. "Stop showing-off! You got lucky to get a weak opponent! I'll show you what I can do in the next fight!"
"Without any further ado," Nunzio said to get everyone's attention again, looking to the side as Xan Pan got carried away by the medical team and still surprised that the fight finished so quickly, "we are moving on to the third match of the second phase. Let us find out who will participate in it." As he said that, the screen started rolling with the remaining names again.
"Let it be me! Let it be me!" Snow Kid whined. "I wanna fight!"
"There are good chances it's gonna be one of us," Kivuli remarked. "Already two matches out of eight and none of us have fought yet. They say third time's a charm."
Kira Lee vs Master Viper
"... Or not."
"Awesome!" Po beamed. "It's your time to shine, Viper! Show them the strength of the Viper Style of Kung Fu!"
"Don't worry, Po. I will," the snake said and winked at him before slithering down in the fighting zone.
"You're up against a master of the Jade Palace. Good luck, fella," Daito said to Kira Lee. The dark blue dog just gave a little nod before jumping down in the fighting zone as well. He landed precisely far enough from Viper and on his two feet like a cat. "Wonder what this shrimp can do."
"This should be a fun match: a limbless reptile and a kid who lost his way," Hong Ze said with a chuckle.
Despite wanting to honor the Jade Palace and her friends, Viper couldn't help but feel uneasy at the idea of fighting against a little kid. "Hum, are you okay with this fight, little one? I mean, you at least have fighting-"
"Don't go easy on me, Master Viper," Kira Lee immediately interrupted her, much to the snake's surprise. "I know that you may not take me seriously because of my size and appearance, but believe me, I'm stronger than I look. And I came looking for a challenge so that I can prove myself to someone. Well, MANY ones actually. So please, give me everything you've got."
Viper blinked her turquoise eyes. Guess that settled her uneasiness issue.
"Do the participants have anything to say before we start this match?" Nunzio asked the snake and blue dog. "Very well, then let this match... BEGIN!"
The snake moved like lightning, slithering her way to Kira Lee and coiling her body around his. She wanted to immobilize him first and then use her Puppet of Death technique to make him punch himself into unconsciousness. Little did she know, the young canine wouldn't let himself get taken down so easily. Pushing his little arms out, he managed to pull Viper's coils off his body with his raw strength. He then took advantage of Viper's surprised state to hit a palm strike to her jaw which knocked her back.
"Impossible!" Crane exclaimed. "Viper's coils are strong enough to hold even a gorilla down for a good amount of time! How can this little dog break out of it with so much ease?"
"Do you think it might be possible that Kira is stronger than a gorilla?" Po asked.
Kira Lee charged on the offensive, throwing punches and palm strikes mixed with a few kicks toward Viper. The snake managed to avoid all of them thanks to a combination of her slender body and her good reflexes. However, this left her with little to no chance of fighting back with attacks of her own. Seeing no other option, she waited for the right moment before wrapping her tail around Kira's wrist after a missed punch and started spinning before tossing him toward the arena's wall.
However, this was a bad idea. Rather than hurting himself on the wall as Viper hoped, the blue dog planted his little feet and used it to push himself toward the snake at incredible speed. She only had time to gasp before ducking in time, feeling Kira's fist merely missing her cheek. Landing on his feet, he gave a somewhat scary glare toward his opponent. "Third assassin rule, don't show any mercy to your opponent."
"Geez!" Hong Ze exclaimed with a frown. "For a master of the Jade Palace, that girl sure is getting her scaly butt handed to her."
"Something's bothering me," Yukan told his two eagle friends. "I don't know how much time has passed since the match began, but Master Viper hasn't tried to bite Kira Lee a single time. Strange. Usually, snakes and vipers try to take their opponent down by biting them and injecting venom to knock them out. Why isn't she doing it?"
"... You can't be THAT clueless, are you?" Kivuli asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you talking about, Kivuli?"
"Yukan, Master Viper has no fangs. Therefore, she cannot use her venom," Shining Eagle explained.
"Really?"
"Yes. Master Viper is the daughter of the legendary Great Master Viper of the Viper Clan. Their clan is descending from the dragons and their venom comes from the mystical beasts' fire. It's a blessing that they have used for generations. However... Master Viper was born with no fangs which prevented her from using this venom. Because of this, many saw her as the disgrace of her clan."
Yukan blinked his eyes. "But that's... horrible."
"Yup. She tried to compensate it by practicing ribbon dancing to the point of becoming the best dancer in the region. However, it's only when she found the courage to defend her village from a gorilla bandit that her father actually started smiling to her and her village accepted her. The rest is history and she became part of the Furious Five and master of the Snake Style of Kung Fu."
The sun parrot looked back at the fighting zone. "So Master Viper cannot use her venom, but she is good with a ribbon? You think she brought one for this fight?"
"Very unlikely," Kivuli replied.
"I can't lose like this!" Master Viper thought as she turned her eyes to look at her friends who were cheering for her on the platform. "They are counting on me!"
The snake charged on the attack again, ducking a palm strike from Kira and going for a leg sweep which the blue dog leapfrogged. Viper wrapped her tail around his tiny leg and slammed him face-first on the ground. She hoped it would have knocked him out, but it didn't. The canine turned around, hitting a headbutt right to Viper's nose, and then followed with a roundhouse kick to the side of her head. He then performed a moonsault to put some distance between his opponent and himself.
By this point, both opponents were panting in exhaustion with Viper bleeding from the nose and Kira Lee having many bruises. "COME ON, VIPER! YOU TOTALLY GOT THIS!" Po kept cheering on.
"Who do you think's gonna win, Tigress?" Crane asked.
"Well, they seem to be pretty much on the same level, but unless Kira Lee has another trick up his sleeve, I'd say Viper has a good chance to win this," the feline replied without looking away from the match.
Kira Lee narrowed his red eyes at Viper. "Very well. I didn't think I would need to use it, but you don't really give me a choice. I have to win this match at any cost." As the snake gave him a confused look, Kira pulled his two black paws forward and started focusing. Suddenly, some sort of light blue energy started glowing around his paws.
Viper didn't know that technique, but something told her she should take her opponent down before he could finish whatever he was preparing. She slithered as fast as she could toward the little dog and leaped, ready to wrap her body around his limbs and pin him down for good. However, before she could, Kira's red eyes opened and a smirk formed on his lips. "You fell into my trap."
Before Viper could do anything, three little light blue orbs shot out of Kira's paw and collided right into her body, knocking the air out of her, and sending her crashing all the way into the arena's wall. That attack was violent and did hurt her a lot. She planned to get back on the offensive and dodge whatever attack the little dog had planned for her upon touching the arena floor... but she did not fall. As a matter a fact, she did not seem to be able to pull herself away from the wall.
"You should think twice before attacking head-on, Master Viper," Kira Lee said, a sinister smirk on his face. Viper gazed down at her body... and gasped.
The blue orbs somehow turned into glowing blue cuffs that pinned her against the wall. There was one pinned across her neck, one in the middle of her stomach, and one near the base of her tail. Her first reflex was to struggle and push against them in an attempt to get free, but they were too solid. Stronger than metal.
"W-What's that technique?!" Po asked with a look of shock.
"I-I don't know," Tigress replied, looking just as shocked as her friend.
"Impossible!" Daito suddenly exclaimed, causing Snow Kid and Siax who were standing near him to turn their heads in his direction. "This little guy possesses the power of aura? How is that possible?"
After her failed attempt to struggle free, Viper looked up to see Kira Lee running at her. Panicking, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on slipping her slender body out of her bonds before he could reach her. Unfortunately, she was too slow. Lee arrived in front of her and said: "It's over!" before delivering a violent punch into Viper's stomach, making her spit some saliva. He did not stop there and followed with a series of punches to the helpless snake's belly and jaw.
"Viper!" Tigress exclaimed in an unusual afraid tone for her sister.
"I can't look at this!" Crane said, pulling his two wings over his eyes.
"You can't get out of this, Master Viper!" Kira said after delivering a spin kick to Viper's jaw, making it feel numb and making blood coming out of her mouth. "This match is over! I suggest you surrender so that I won't have to hurt you!"
As much as she hated to admit it, Viper couldn't deny that her situation was hopeless. These cuffs were too solid for her to push them off and the blows Kira delivered to her body prevented her from focusing enough to slide out of them. And even if she somehow managed to break free, she sustained too much damage for any hope of beating her opponent. It took one final palm strike to her bruised stomach, which almost made her throw up to make up her mind.
"I... surrender..."
Kira Lee's attacks immediately ceased. "Master Viper has given up! therefore, the winner of this match via forfeit is Kira Lee!" Nunzio announced.
The blue dog made the cuffs disappear, allowing the badly bruised snake to fall flat on the arena floor. He stared at her. She did give her best, but he simply was the better man today. He gave a little look of compassion before turning around and walking back to the platform.
"Viper...," Po mumbled with a sad look as Tigress looked down in disappointment and Crane lowered his wings to see his snake friend getting carried away by the medical team.
"I feel bad for her," Shining Eagle said with a frown. "Kira Lee went really hard on her."
"She fought with honor. And she has nothing to be ashamed of," Yukan said with a bit of positivity.
Kivuli, meanwhile, couldn't help but stare at the blue dog who returned to his previous spot on the platform. "Looks like I underestimated this little guy. We're gonna have to keep a good eye on him."
Author's note: I might have been a bit hard on the end of this fight, haven't I? For those of you who thought that Kira Lee was going to be an unexperienced and sweet little guy, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but he won't be. He's VERY different from what you're thinking. So, Kira Lee is the third one to qualify for the next phase alongside Po and Siax.
I'm starting school again tomorrow and this makes me feel a mix of sadness because I HATE maths and joy because I was getting a bit tired of sitting at home doing almost nothing all the time. As always, may the gods watch over you all.