Identical
The two children pulled the hands of the teens to their halls and rooms where they could see the wondrous artifacts of Jade Palace. "And here is the Sword of Heroes. It's said to be so sharp that just looking at it will give you a cut."
"Really?" Beast Boy asked, about to touch the sharp object. "OWW!" Beast Boy cried out, sucking on his index finger. Raven rolled her eyes as Lueduo and Lei-Lei giggled. "Ah, well, that happened."
"Anyways," Raven said, "What is your life like here in the Jade Palace?"
"It's great! You get all the food you could ever want!" Lei-Lei grinned genuinely.
"The only hard thing is the training," Lueduo sighed, rolling her arm a bit at the soreness. "It's a lot but you get used to it."
"Has your father gotten used to it?" Raven smirked the question, knowing the panda's tendency to be lazy.
"Weeeellll, kind of," Lueduo mumbled. Raven covered her mouth with her hand a bit, covering a chuckle. "but he's been more serious since the emperor has gone bad."
"Maybe you could you tell us something about that," Beast Boy said, squatting to their level, "What's going on with the emperor?"
"We don't know," the young panda girl replied, "Our parents don't say anything to us."
"Hmmm, what about the villagers? Do you two go into the village a bit?" Garfield asked.
"We do but not without our parents or one of the masters. We do have some friends there," Lei-Lei piped up. Garfield smiled, tussling the panda's head fur and causing her to laugh.
"I bet you do," Garfield smiled. He noticed a little small box on a pedestal. "What's in there?" He asked.
"Oh, those are the Shift Stones. They allow people to be in disguise and look like someone else. But one of them was stolen and we don't know who took it." Lei-Lei explained as Tigress came into the room.
"Well, we have to go, you two. It was great to meet you two." Garfield smiled.
"Very much so," Raven smiled, bowing to the two. The two white and black children bowed and left the two with the tiger. "They're beautiful, Master Tigress."
"They are. I hope to see yours shortly," Tigress said with a sly smile. Garfield nervously scratched the back of his head while Raven hid her face by looking at some object on the wall. "Anyways, we'll get things ready by nightfall. That way we'll be able to find the emperor and figure out more about the situation."
"Let's not do anything rash, though," Garfield replied. Raven and Tigress eyed him with raised eyebrows. "What? I don't want to have some good guy convicted of doing something wrong."
"Why do you have that feeling now?" Raven asked more suspiciously, narrowing her eyebrows at her green teen wizard. Garfield shrugged. Raven pondered.
"What are you thinking?"
"Sometimes an omen may happen or may occur. A bad feeling or cautious one. The fact that Beast Boy has it is a bit concerning. It may mean-"
"There's more to the story than just meets the eye?" Tigress asked. Raven nodded her head. Tigress looking at the ground, rubbing her chin. "Let's scope the area and see what we can gather. For right now, you two get some sleep. Raven will sleep with me while you sleep with Po, Beast Boy." Raven thought about that and winced a bit. "What?" Tigress asked, seeing her face.
"Are you sure you want that?" Raven asked. "Po used to snore a lot when we were going on that journey and Beast Boy isn't any better."
"Hey!" Garfield shot back. Tigress smiled.
"I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle," the tiger assured.
The whole palace was covering their ears in their beds. Po and Beast Boy's snoring combined made a noise so loud it was unbearable. Separately, the two's snoring was okay, peaceful even, but together, they were on different keys and notes in their snoring. And it was in constant discord. Tigress grumbled under her breath. "You were saying?" Raven muttered.
"Shut up," Tigress growled in retaliation as she smothered herself with the pillow and rolled to her side. Suddenly, the snoring stopped. The soft murmuring of words followed. "I guess both of them talk in their sleep." Tigress chuckled as she went to sleep. The next day, both the panda and green teen woke from their mats, stretching their limbs.
"Great, you're up," Raven smirked, throwing Garfield his green cloak.
"Ack!" Garfield pouted, putting the cloak on.
"We're ready to go," Tigress announced to Po, who stood up and hugged her tightly.
"Be safe, okay?"
"I will, same to you," Tigress said sternly. Po goofily smiled, making the tiger reciprocate. Garfield stood up, ate something that Raven offered him on a tray, and dusted himself off.
"Alright, let's go," Garfield said seriously.
"The Emperor's palace is due North, about two days' journey," Tigress replied, grasping the shoulder of Garfield.
"About 40-50 miles," Raven clarified, holding his shoulder as well. Garfield closed his eyes, seeing the landscape flash through his vision and spotting the huge structure.
"Got it!" His eyes popped as he formed a portal in front of him.
"We'll be back soon, Po," Tigress told him.
"I'll be waiting," The panda smiled as the three stepped through the portal. The team appeared just outside of the emperor's palace. The palace occupied a lot of empty space. The massive courts were about two kilometers squared. The huge red walls stood about five meters high. The center of the court stood the tall palace with its traditional red walls and roof and the bright jade pillars. Its roof had golden dragon decorations on the top, reflecting the sun's blinding ray.
"We better hide," Tigress mentioned, hearing the synchronized marching of soldiers. The three hid in the trees as the soldiers passed on. "Let's get going to the palace. Do you think you could teleport us there, Garfield?"
"I'll try to make sure we land out of sight," Beast Boy answered as he moved his hands in a circle, causing a portal to appear below them. The three jumped down into the portal and popped up on the beams of the ceiling, out of sight. "Okay, we're not in the ladies' bathroom, so that's a good sign."
"I'm pretty sure only one of us would be affected by that," Raven commented.
"Shhh," Tigress quieted the two as someone came in. It was the emperor, a tall muscular ox with a royal red robe. He was followed by a small duck scribe and a taller gazelle reporter.
"Sire, the Kung Fu masters of the Jade Palace have fended off another set of villager bandits. Please reconsider your idea of-"
"I shall not recant! Those lazy peasants do nothing but throw festivals and parties all year long! Now I ask them to work and they don't submit? Let them fight all they want. If the masters won't be enough, then I'll use my army to fight them!" The big ox grunted. The humble gazelle cowered and slipped to his rightful place, out of the Emperor's sight. Emperor Li-Dong grunted before shifting his eyes to the left and right. Pointed to his duck scribe, "Go away. I'm done for the day," He said harshly.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the duck quacked, quickly getting out of the room. Tigress and Raven sniffed the air.
"Something isn't right here," Tigress muttered. Raven nodded.
"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Beast Boy asked.
"His scent doesn't match," Raven explained. The green teen rose an eyebrow.
"Since when have you been able to 'sniff' out a person?" He asked. Raven rolled her eyes while Tigress simply smiled.
"You get used to it," The master answered, "But I don't understand why it doesn't match. He seems like the same person." A lightbulb went off in Garfield's head.
"Wait a minute," He muttered, waving his glowing hands around to cast a spell. A magical blue screen formed in front of their eyes. "There." A small round object was inside the ox's pocket.
"What is that?" Raven asked Tigress. She only shrugged.
"I know what it is. Come on, and stay quiet," Beast Boy said, casting an invisibility spell as Li-Dong moved into a private hall in the back of the throne. Tigress and Raven looked at each other.
"He's telling US to be quiet?" Tigress commented. Raven only smirked in agreement as they followed Garfield. They quietly snuck behind the ox's back, traveling down a long lonely hall. At the end of the hall hung a painting of what could only be Li-Dong's father. Emperor Li-Dong tipped the painting to the left. The action caused a stone wall mechanism to roll away part of the wall, revealing a secret dimly lit tunnel. Li-Dong walked down the hall with a torch in hand. The invisible three followed him down the tunnel. The tunnel slowly descended into a dungeon that wasn't very big. It only held one cell in its rocky cavern. In that lone cell sat a cold shivering ox that looked identical to Li-Dong. The battered ox looked up from his shackles and smirked almost heroically, like a valiant soldier facing death with a smile.
"Having problems with the people, little brother?" The ox in the cell quipped.
"Brother?" Raven whispered silently. Li-Dong took out the small rock that Garfield spotted earlier. In a blinding shower of light, the ox changed into a smaller, younger version of the ox in the cell, looking much different than him.
"That's just a minor hiccup in my plan, Li-Dong," the smaller ox grunted. Li-Dong shook his head. "The people will learn that I am their ruler, and I'm not a weakling like you."
"Like me?" repeated Li-Dong, "Roshu, you have always been weak in the head. Do you think that causing the people to fear you that you'll gain their respect? Respect is earned and you have not earned the respect of the people." Roshu spat in the cell of Li-Dong. "You'll pay for your tyranny."
"So will you," Roshu smirked, "Even I'm cut down, brother. You still look like me. I've tarnished your reputation. The people will give you the same disrespect as I've been given." He turned his back, magically changing back into the image of his brother. "Even if you somehow manage to escape, you will never have the respect of the people again." Roshu walked out of the tunnel, closing the entrance to it. Li-Dong sighed in the darkness.
"To think I would see all the good I've done wasted by my own blood. I pray the universe gives me some kind of chance to protect my people," Li-Dong lamented to himself in his scarcely lit dungeon.
"Your prayers are answered," Said a voice in the darkness. Suddenly, a green flame sparked without a mortal hand.
"Who's there?" Li-Dong asked, "Are you a sign of my mental state fading away from me?"
"No, dude," said Beast Boy as he made them visible again. "It's us." Li-Dong didn't recognize the two humans, but he recognized Tigress.
"Master Tigress!" he exclaimed as she quickly bent the bars of his cell and broke the shackles off of his hands and feet. Li-Dong slowly stood up, wobbling a bit. His feet regained their strength as he reminded himself how to stand. "It's so great to see you again," Li-Dong sighed. The ox was in tattered brown rags, a single garment of linen with a belt tied around his waist. Garfield tried his best to ignore the smell, but it was obvious he had not showered in a while. Tigress's nose wrinkled at the stench. Li-Dong noticed. "I apologize for my sorry state."
"No worries," Beast Boy said, performing a cleansing spell that freshened up the ox. He was still in his tattered rags, but now he didn't smell as bad.
"A Wizard? Who are you two?" Li-Dong asked.
"I'm Raven, also known as the Hybrid, and this is my... significant other, Beast Boy," Raven struggled for a bit, blushingly. Beast Boy's eyes widened, gazing at the female heroine.
"R...really?" Garfield asked in a sappy surprised expression.
"Garfield, Raven. Focus," Tigress curtly told them. "Li-Dong, what happened?"
Continued...