Author's note: I was supposed to be at school today, but it just happened that both my teachers were absent on the same day. Big coincidence, isn't it? Thanks to this, I got a full day to work on this chapter and I'm very grateful to the gods for it :)

When Nunzio asked him if he was sure about his decision, Yukan replied with a mere "yes...". He did not pay attention to Daito Shun screaming at him. He did not listen to the protestations of the audience or his friends. He simply turned around and started walking for the arena's exit instead of going back to the participants' stands. He wanted to get away from this arena, away from the pain and shame to forget that this fight ever happened. Pushing the doors open, he started walking through the arena's corridor, heading for the exit - he would have run, but the intensity of his match drained too much out of his body.

"I haven't learned anything..."


"Yukan! Wait, come back!" Kodok shouted. "Don't just go like this!"

As soon as Yukan crossed the exit door of the arena, Nunzio cleared his throat and spoke: "Participant Yukan Tori has forfeited the match! Therefore, the winner of the first encounter is Daito Shun!"

Following this announcement, the audience started chatting amongst themselves. The match had been very entertaining for them and they didn't expect any of the fighters to just drop out of nowhere like this. "Why did Yukan give up? He still had the force to fight, right?" one of the Frog Dojo's students asked.

"We can't really blame him," another one sitting beside him answered. "Did you sense the power of Daito? I would've been freaked out too at his place. He did the right thing by throwing the match before getting his butt kicked."

"You don't understand at all!" Shining Eagle suddenly said almost in a scolding tone. "It wasn't Daito's strength that made him give up!"

"What do you mean, Shining?" Kodok asked.

"Don't you remember, Kodok? Back when we were in Evergreen Village and fought against the Qidan Clan, he went head to head with Temutai, the Qidan King. You know how strong he was; much more than him. And yet, Yukan didn't turn back. He fought Temutai and won." She looked down. "I don't understand why he gave up. But I'm gonna go ask him and find out the truth."

"I'm coming with you," Kodok said as he and his avian friend stood up from their seats.

"Me too." They turned to see Master Shujinko pulling his teacup down and standing up. "I don't know what is troubling Yukan, but he needs as much support as we can give him. Let's go before he gets out of the arena."


"W-What just happened?" Po asked, completely confused and lost.

"What happened, Po, is that Master Sunbird got scared by his opponent's strength and decided to give up," Tigress explained her panda friend. She then let out a little scoff. "He has the guts to criticize us and all the Kung Fu community when he doesn't have the courage to face adversity. What a hypocrite."

"Don't say that!" Kivuli told the feline with a glare. "Yukan is not a coward. I don't know why he decided to throw the match, but it had nothing to do with Daito's power level."

"SUNBIRD! YOU BASTARD!" Everybody turned to see a visibly pissed off Daito coming back in the stands. "HOW DARE YOU GIVE UP LIKE THIS?! I WANTED A FIGHT TO THE FINISH! YOU... You..." He angrily kicked into a seat before sitting down. "Once this tournament is over, I'll find and have a serious discussion with him!"

"Why? You won your match; you should be happy," Hong Ze commented.

"I didn't want to win like this!"

The elk rolled his eyes. "What an idiot..."

"You know this means you're the last representative of the Frog Dojo, right?" Master Siax asked Kivuli.

The martial eagle looked down. It was true. With Kodok, Yukan, and Shining Eagle out, she was the only member of her Dojo remaining in the Legendary Tournament. She gulped at the pressure that now pushed down on her shoulders. But she wouldn't give up and would give her best to go as far as possible - even to win! She would bring honor to the Frog Dojo!

"Attention, everyone!" Nunzio called through speakers to make everyone hear his voice. "With the first match being over, we will not proceed to the second one! And for this, I call participants Hong Ze and Master Kivuli to join me in the fighting zone!"

All the eyes turned toward Hong Ze whose face became so pale you could have mistaken him for a ghost. Kivuli, in contrast, displayed one of her rare happy smiles and looked very bright. The gods were generous today: they gave her the chance to avenge her friend.

"This is gonna be fun to watch," Master Siax mumbled toward Kira, who nodded with a little smile.

On one side of the fighting zone, Hong Ze adjusted his robes, secretly preparing his hidden scimitars, and rubbing his sweat off. On the other side, Kivuli cracked her neck and wings in anticipation.

"You're still mad at me for beating your friend?" the elk asked. "Look, baby bird, it wasn't my fault; I just followed the rules of the tournament. One winner."

"It's not the fact that you defeated Shining Eagle that makes me mad at you," the martial eagle replied, a glare in her purple eyes. "If I'm mad at you, it's because you insulted her about something she is not even responsible for! How can you talk her down like this when her self-confidence is already low?"

Hong Ze scoffed with a wave of his hoof. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"Are both fighters ready?" Nunzio asked. while Hong Ze replied with a confident "Yeah!", Kivuli just gave a mere nod, not looking away from her opponent. "Then may the second match of the first round... BEGIN!"

Hong Ze couldn't help but gulp. While he did show a lot of his skills during his match in the previous phase, he barely saw his opponent in action. He knew she could summon a sword, but that's pretty much it. Kivuli, meanwhile, memorized his attacks during his match with Shining Eagle and also the fact that he kept scimitars hidden within his robes. She would need to be careful.

The martial eagle decided to make the first move by opening her wings and flapping them to charge at her opponent. Though he did not expect a direct attack from such a patient bird, Hong Ze managed to avoid what would have been a devastating kick. Not wanting to give him time to plan a strategy, she pressed her attack on with strikes from her wings and kicks as well.

Soon, the elk managed to find an opening by ducking a roundhouse kick and then jumped to throw both of his feet forward. Kivuli managed to block it with her wing and went for a kick to the side which connected, making Hong Ze groaning in pain.

"Strange, she hasn't used her sword yet," Kira Lee remarked.

"I bet she's waiting for Hong Ze to use his scimitars before taking out her own weapon," Master Siax said with rubbing her chin.

Kivuli launched her wing forward. Hong Ze dodged it with a perfect cartwheel and then delivered a kick to her back to cause her to lose her balance. She attempted to reply with a swing of her wing, which the elk ducked and hit a palm strike to her chest that would have knocked her to the ground, had she not flapped her wings to regain her balance.

"That's it!" Kivuli exclaimed impatiently, which was unusual as she was known to keep her cool in even the most dangerous situations. She opened her wings, and took off into the air before diving toward her opponent.

Hong Ze smirked as this was exactly what he hoped she would. "She's making the same mistake as her other feathered friend!" he thought and prepared his scimitars. He waited... She came within his reach... He grabbed his two hidden weapons, ready to strike her wings-

"Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!"

Just as Hong Ze took out his scimitars to strike, a metallic CLANG! resonated as they got blocked by another, larger blade. To his surprise, the martial eagle was now holding the same purple-handled sword she used during her second phase match with its blade blocking his. "You really thought I was gonna make the same mistake as Shining, don't ya?" she asked with a grin.

Swearing under his breath, Hong Ze pushed himself back and started swinging his two scimitars at his opponent who easily blocked everything with her sword. Despite the elk's speed and agility, it was clear that the martial eagle was more experienced than him. The blades clashed over and over again, sending sparkles flying in the air.

"Let's go, Kivuli! you totally got this!" Po cheered.

"You're cheering for her too now?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, she's the friend of my friend. So that makes her my friend too. Right?" Tigress just rubbed her eyes at her friend's logic.

"Come on! Come on!" Hong Ze impatiently grumbled as he kept swinging his swords over and over again, trying to break through his opponent's defense with no success.

"Alright, playtime's over!" Kivuli suddenly swung Purple Rainmaker to knock the scimitars out of Hong Ze's hooves with surprising ease before knocking him down with a leg sweep and then pointed the tip of her sword dangerously close to his face. "Now listen closely to me. As much as I'd like to peel you up after what you did to my friend, I still have a little mercy in my heart. So I'm gonna give you a chance to surrender... unless you wanna be turned into a skinless elk."

Hong Ze gulped nervously at this. "I... I surrender!"

Nunzio felt a bit surprised as Hong Ze was possibly one of the last participants he expected to lose via forfeit. "Participant Hong Ze has forfeited the match! Therefore, the winner of the second counter is Master Kivuli!"

The martial eagle pulled her sword away into her seal. "At this rate, everyone will lose this tournament by forfeit," she mused to herself. She looked at the audience, hoping to see her friends smiling... only to see Shining Eagle, Kodok, and Master Shujinko all absent. "... Don't tell me they missed my match!"