Author Note : Somehow, I managed to type out this huge 10.57K words chapter at such a short time and I'm truly wowed of my speed this time. Last few days were annoying since exam week has started and I have several upcoming exams to prepare for. Once the exam week is over, my school is going to give us a whole week holiday. Finally, some quality time to cool of my head.
During those 'no-school' moments, I could use the time of that whole week holiday to relax and think of a new arc for my story after this one. I already have a few concepts for it, but I still need to plan the plot for it. The next arc is going to be a tiny bit darker and more interesting than the last three chapters I've uploaded. Anyway, let's get on with this.
Chapter 42 : Festival Of Love
Well, well, well, isn't it the day that most people who are definitely excited about and some were preparing themselves in the past days for this day. To be more precise, this day is the fourteenth day of February, which means it is Valentines Day. Speaking of today, Shifu was yet again kind enough to give all of us a free day to enjoy ourselves. Quiet surprising indeed, especially when today is Monday. Anyway, remember what I said two days ago about asking Viper what's up with her and Crane. Recently or just at yesterday, I noticed Crane wasn't acting like his calm and pragmatic self, the dude has been speaking far more nervously and slightly more jittery if I may add, but at yesterday when me and everyone had gathered at the kitchen after a relaxing Sunday. I saw Crane who was sitting next to Viper and both were having quite a long and enjoyable conversation, just like last year during at the Winter Festival. But this time, I saw a slight difference in their conversation, this time, Crane was the one who's acting more nervous and tensed when having eye contact with Viper. Hmm, perhaps I should ask Crane about he feels for Viper instead of asking my serpent friend about how she feels for the avian.
All the guys has been quite busy preparing themselves to take part of this annual one-day event, mostly those two dudes Monkey and Mantis. After I criticized Mantis about him lacking the skill in smooth talking with women, the praying mantis told me that he and Monkey had nearly stayed up all night as both of them were practicing some of their pickup lines. Mantis said he was never been this confident before from the previous Valentines Days from the previous attempts. The little green bug has been practicing with Monkey to improve his smooth talking towards women and his mannerism as well.
From yesterday's night when everyone was sleeping, I'm currently having a little of bit a problem sleeping as I couldn't stand Mantis's loud voice and especially when both of those guys tried suppressing their laughs and they've even burst out laughing. Their laughter has woke me up and the rest of the other what felt like it was around three o'clock in the morning. This does not effect Po since the big guy is so 'imaginative' at times in his dreams that he won't noticing what's going on in the real world.
Now moving with Tigress, since her both biological parents Mei and Mingzhu had left the Valley Of Peace from the exit gate at yesterday's morning as we all escort them to the exit gate. Both of her parents bid farewell while giving their daughter Tigress one last embrace before departing, but the good thing is they've said that they'll revisit the Valley next time when the time is right for them. With Monkey and Mantis are ready to try pick up some girls down at the Valley, I hope the smooth talking practice that Monkey has gave Mantis would worked, well since I couldn't tell, I'll just wait for the results at the end of the day.
When I ask Po at yesterday if me and him could do some planning for the next weekend activities of us two, to my surprise and even shock, Po said he got someone waiting for him today, like what the hell is even happening today? The panda described the person waiting for him is a really nice girl and is quite cute-looking while also a capable fighter, huh, sounds interesting indeed, guess I'll be seeing this person that Po has described of soon enough.
At the present moment during this morning, it was just both me and Crane in the Training Courtyard, doing some short sparring sessions alone.
"Oh come on Crane, I know you can do better than that little kick you just threw at me by now." I taunted slightly, taking few breath as it's been more than ten minute of constantly throwing attacks at each other, some of his hits me and some of mine hits him.
"Your not doing that well yourself either." Crane responded, exhaling out tired breaths.
"Wait, before we could resume, I have sometime to ask you." I requested. Crane tilted his head slightly before shrugging.
"Sure, after we're done with this!" He agreed, rapidly regaining his fighting energy back as well as I.
We both resumed as I went for the first strike and I threw a side punch. He blocked my side punch and counter with a swift jab, prompting me to leaned my head, avoiding his jab. I did a fast side low kick on his ankle of his thin bird leg. He managed to withstand my side low kick as it only made him flinched. Crane recovered fast, before sending a rising punch to my jawline, causing me fall and stumbled down on the ground. I quickly got back up, wipes the sore area of my jawline and prepared myself as I began taking slow steps towards the avian with a defensive stance to protect myself from any sudden surprise attacks of his. I lunged forwards at him, going full offensives as I began throwing punches. Crane was fast too, blocking and dodging my attacks and countered me back after each attack I threw at him.
Crap, he's more persistent than I thought...
While I'm still on the offensive side, I again lunged forwards and did a spinning punch as I twirled most my body. I extended my arm out as much as possible as the knuckles from my speeding fist managed to bash itself on his one of Crane's wing which he used it to block my attack.
As I made myself looked open, Crane 'took the bait' and tried doing a low punch on the right side of my rib cage. With immediate reaction, I twirled my body again, hitting Crane's face with another spinning knuckle-bash from my other hand. Crane was left stumbling a few on the ground, he got up slowly, breathing heavily from that unexpected blow he took.
"Damn, didn't see that coming." Crane spoke up, massaging the cheek of his feathery face with one of his wings.
"And I've got plenty of move I wanna show you, I strongly suggest you to take this sparring match a bit more serious, will you?" I grinned.
"Alright, you asked for it." Crane replied, recovering completely.
As we continued, the avian now is attacking me in a more rougher way. As I switched myself back to defense, Crane was already launching quite an amount of attacks on me. Starting with a double spinning punch, I barely blocked it with my forearms due to how fast he moves his wing-formed fist.
After blocking his attack, the avian grabbed me by the forearm with his wing and kicked the behind of my upper tibia, staggering me significantly as I wasn't expecting that. I yanked my forearm backward and broke free from Crane's grasp.
I took a few steps back, beginning to anticipate his next move. With a strategy has being planned, I realized that I've have made my attacks too offensive. This won't work on Crane since he too was analyzing what my next move would be and how to counter back again. I quickly discarded off that overly-offensive strategy of mine and try to think of another one again.
Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a strategy when Crane decided to lunged at me. He send me a forward kick, which made me to duck down to avoid it. Before I could recover, the avian recovered far faster than I have and sent another kick while it goes upwardly. His attack landed a clean hit on my face as the force from the rising high kick made my whole body flies almost two meters high. Pain erupted on the back side of my whole body when I fell on the ground of the Training Courtyard. I began groaning in pain before I collected myself up.
"Heh, your lucky I didn't go serious on you there, I could've won this little sparring match of ours if I did." I said, hissing a little bit from the pain on the right side of my chest. Crane approached me by my side and gave me a wing-up as he help me stood up from the ground.
"Quite talking like your the one who can go serious every time you want, I didn't go serious back there either." Crane said.
"Fine, whatever say you." I rolled my eyes with slight sarcasm in my voice. "Anyway, remember earlier that I want to ask you something after we've finished sparring?" I asked, Crane nodded.
"What is it do you want to ask me?"
"Well you see, this might be a little awkward for both of us." I made a small gesture with my both hand of how awkward this is gonna be.
"I can see that already by lookin at your hand gesture and your face." Crane noticed.
"Okay, you know what day today is?" I asked.
"Yeah it's Valentines Day, and what about it?" Crane shrugged his shoulders, sounding a like its no big deal for him.
"I was wondering, ever since I've noticed you've been acting more nervous and jittery than your usual self, I finally know after I've put quite thoughts about it." I said. Crane's eyes widened. "So, who your gonna ask to go out with?" I asked. Crane began scratching his head with his wing.
"I umm... I... I..." The avian stuttered heavily. I took a few step closer to him while folding my arms.
"Oh come on, don't wimp out on your buddy especially when the name of your buddy is Lukas." I playfully spoke, prodding his wing with my elbow. Crane sighed in defeat.
"Alright, guess I won't be getting out of this one from you that easily." He then took a deep breath before speaking. "But before I could tell you, just promise you won't be hectic about it and tell everyone else."
"Ha, why would I, you can trust me, I'm really good at keeping secrets." I assured. Crane hesitated, before continued reluctantly.
"T-The person that I'm gonna ask out for today is... dammit." He cussed out under his breath at the end of his sentence. I motioned my hand at him with a comforting gesture, assuring him to continue. "Okay, the person that I'm going to ask out for today is... Viper... and I'll try to confess my feelings for her at the perfect moment." Crane was able to press on and told me.
"It seems you have took a liking to her." I noted. "So, you have a crush on her, isn't that right?"
"Yeah." Crane replies nervously. "I've been having these feelings for her ever since living here with her with the others, she's been very kind and sweet with me from the start, even when we were not friends yet as we both considered each other a stranger to one another. After a while living in the Jade Palace, I've began to developed feelings for her, the romantic kinds if I'm being serious here."
"Damn, that long?" I said with sincere. "Guess the word 'crush' isn't enough, maybe the word 'big crush' might be suitable for your situation."
"No, it's than more than that." Crane uttered. I tilted my head slightly.
"You... love her?" I inquired. Crane nodded slowly, lowering his head. "What are you so worried about, it's pretty normal and understandable."
"Even if I'm a bird and she's a snake?"
"I guess love is love. Doesn't matter if you two are different species."
"Thank you, I'm really glad that you understand." Crane smiled. "Well, if that's so, would you do me a little favor." Crane said. Hmm, this is pretty weird and a little odd to me, since I've know Crane for more than a year, he's the type of guy who doesn't like to ask others for favors, unless if he's definitely needs to.
"Alright, ask me what you will." I replied.
"Will you... assist me after if Viper agreed to go out with me." Crane spoke nervously.
"Since I have nothing else to do today, I guess assisting you on your date shouldn't be at least a problem." I agreed.
"Okay, so wanna help me ask her out for me?" Crane requested. I then gave him a confused look on my face.
"You want me to ask her out for you? Sorry man, but your gonna be on your own when it comes down to asking her out." The avian covered his head with his both wings.
"Oh no, what should I do? What should I do?" He mumbled with a panicking tone.
"Crane, if you wanna ask her out, try and have some confident in yourself, but mostly importantly, be yourself and keep that head of yours cool as ever." I advised. Crane managed to give me a small smile in response.
"Okay, I think I can... yeah! Yeah! I think I can, thanks a million Lukas, I'll never forget this!" The avian uttered out loudly with an unexpected tone filled with confidence.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go get her!" I said. Crane nodded before both of us exit the Training Courtyard to see if Viper's anywhere inside any of the massive places or halls of the Jade Palace.
Around more than fifteen minutes of walking and searching around the big palace for our serpent friend or Crane's future girlfriend if I may add. We both eventually found her at the kitchen, the usual spot where we all hang out after a long day of training has gone by. With each step has being taken, I was able to see a familiar green serpent, busy enjoying a small meal. The serpent then noticed us both and gave me and Crane her usual smile filled with warmth.
"Good morning." She greeted us both while waving her tail lightly. I glanced at Crane and saw he is anxiously shaking. I leaned close to his feathery ear before whispering.
"Crane, what the hell just happen with all those confident talks about 'you can do this' and all?" I whispered, leaning my head back to its previous position.
"I... I don't know, it's just felt like all of my confidence and courage has been sapped away by some sort of 'unknown force'." Crane replied back with a whisper.
"And that 'unknown force' that your speaking of is your nervousness and anxiety, both of those feelings are clouding your focus and levelheadedness, just try to relax about this and things will start to go smoothly." I assured with a whispered voice. The avian nodded, turning his gaze back to the serpent.
"Viper, since the event of t-today is going to be quite big and nearly everyone is quite aware of it already, I-I would like to ask y-you, that c-could..." Crane trailed off. Viper looked at the avian with confusion expression formed on her before glancing at me.
"Is he trying to say something?" Viper asked me.
"Yeah, just give him some time." I replied, placing my hand on the avian's shoulder to give him some comfort. "For God's sake Crane, just say it already." I uttered loudly rather while nudging his wing several times with my elbow. Crane then managed to calm down, inhaling some air and exhaling out the anxieties from the nostrils of his beak.
"Viper, would you like to... spent the day with me at the festivals?" Crane said with a surprisingly calm and collected tone this time. I then noticed Viper's face was reddened a little, until I could also saw Crane's face was too reddening itself up.
Heh, so much for acting all calm and collected...
"Ummm... sure, why not, it would be nice and fun." She agreed. "Guess I'll head down to the Valley with you then." She then smiled with a bit of awkwardness attached on it, which I noticed it as I decided to not make this any more awkward by grabbing Crane's wing and dragged him out of the kitchen until we've both reached the Hall Of Warriors.
"See, what did I tell you, just be calm and keep your cool, and everything is gonna go smoothly." I said. Within half a minute, Crane suddenly began huffing and puffing in a rapid-like manner, almost like he's having a hyperventilation.
"Oh my God!" The avian managed to speak through his 'semi-hyperventilation'. "I... I-I did it." He uttered, with the way of he's acting now, it looks like he was about to do some sort of a victory dance.
"You sure did." I spoke. "Now with that's been done, I think I'll take my go and head on to Mr. Ping's restaurants and grab something to eat." I turned my direction to the large exit gate of the Hall Of Warriors and began walking towards it, until Crane said something.
"Lukas! W-Wait!" Crane called. I ceased my walking and turned my head around.
"What is it, Crane?" I sighed.
"Can I ask you one more thing?" I nodded for him to continue. "Where do you think is the best place for me having dinner with Viper after spending some time at the festivals today?"
"How should I know?" I said. "The only thing I'm gonna say to you is that your gonna go find the perfect spot yourself for you and Viper to have dinner tonight."
"But there's so many restaurants in the Valley, it's hard for me to decide which one suits us both the best."
"Look Crane, sometimes, I don't have all the answers for something. Your gonna solve this one on yourself, but fear not, knowing you, I know you'll always find some sort of a solution to overcome this situation on your own." My words didn't worked as Crane lowered his head. I then signed before walking up close to the avian. "Listen, don't be afraid, I'll always be there for you, don't you ever forget that." I spoke with a comforting tone along with a smile.
"Alright..." Crane said, before placing his serious face and began thinking. "Let's see... okay, me and Viper are gonna leave the Jade Palace in about around two o' clock." I motioned for him to go on with his plan. "When we reached the Valley, me and Viper are gonna walk through the street path and you'll be able to see us walking through the pathway and you'll be tailing for us at the festivals. Just make sure Viper does not see you. When sun begins to set, go to a place where I heard of called the 'Dazzling Bistro' that is not far in the Valley before me and Viper does. I heard that the place is somewhere around the center of the Valley Of Peace. Once we enter the restaurant, I will be sitting near next to the seat where a large vase with an incredibly wide bush. If things are getting difficult for me, I will signal you by scratching the back of my neck in a circular motion and you'll come here and aid me while hiding behind the wide bush without letting Viper knows." Crane explained.
"Okay, seems like a pretty great plan." I gave him a thumbs up before I proceed towards the large exit gate of the Hall Of Warrior.
Managing to make it down to the thousand steps staircase after some time, I made my way to Mr. Ping's restaurant. It was as busy as usual, lots of customers in line making their orders and other are seen chatting with one another on the seats. I waited as for around less than ten minutes until the long line of customers has finished their orders and head back to their seats. I then approached the counter and was greeted by the familiar goose.
"Good morning, Mr. Ping." I greeted the red-robed goose that is inside the kitchen whose placing thin logs inside the stove with a large pot on of top of it.
"Good morning to you as well, Lukas." He greeted me with his usual cheerful tone. "So, what should I get for you today?" Mr. Ping inquired. I scratched my chin before making my order.
"I would like the Breakfast Noodle Soup, just want to eat some healthy and light food rather than some heavy stuff at the moment." I said.
"That's a fine choice you've made, Lukas." Mr. Ping spoke before turning his body around and walked to the stove with the large pot on it. "Okay, one Breakfast Noodle Soup coming right up!" The goose walked towards a tall chair and climb on top of it to reach the correct height as he began stirring the boiling content inside the large pot with a wooden spoon. I stood on the counter, waiting for the goose to finish cooking my the Breakfast Noodle Soup which I've ordered. Around less than a two minutes as Mr. Ping is adding some fresh delicious vegetables in large pot. I then proceed to light up a short conversation with the chef of a certain topic.
"So Mr. Ping..." I began, feeling a little bit awkward holding a conversation like this, but another side of me is very curious about it as well. "...today's Valentines Day, correct?" The goose responded with a single nod.
"Yes, it certainly is Valentines Day, the day of many opportunities for my businesses- uhh- no wait!" He stopped himself. "I meant the Day Of Love!" Mr. Ping chuckled nervously after correcting himself, which also made me chortled.
"So, who's going to be your Valentine today?" I asked sheepishly. The goose merely laughed briefly as he continued stirring the boiling content inside the large pot.
"Oh Lukas, don't be puerile." Mr. Ping respond. "But since you've asked, the answer to your question is a no, I have no one to be my valentine and I also don't plan on having one either." Mr. Ping answered. Well, guess he's not into these sort of things. "The reason was back then at the previous Lunar Festivals, my son Po tried to get me a 'girlfriend' as he noticed that I was a bit lonely. Ahh... that was very kind of him. After I got a girlfriend myself and things were going great, but a day or two, things weren't going so well for me and it ended up with me breaking up with her. Ever since that event, I gave up on trying to find one."
"What, really?" I was surprised. "What happened?"
"The reason I broke up with her is because she was using me to make mooncakes for the Valley so that she could put 'harmful things' in it and poisoned everyone who took their first bite of their mooncake." My eye widened.
"Is everyone alright though?" I asked, concerned.
"Oh everyone is fine, all of them merely fainted and lost their conscious for a short amount of time, until Po who found out about her evil scheme and managed to stop her on time before she can further poison the whole Valley and may even other bigger places in China."
"Well speaking of Po, he told me at yesterday that there's someone waiting for him at the festivals, is it true?" I asked.
"Yes, after meeting and her, Po has been constantly speaking about her, but after I've met her in person during last year, she seems to be very friendly, polite and has a very kindhearted personality. She's almost like my son Po." Mr. Ping then finished my ordered breakfast by grabbing a nears small bowl and pour some noodle soup with vegetables inside it before carefully climb down the chair and placed the filled small bowl on the counter. "Your Breakfast Noodle Soup has arrived, enjoy." He then place a pair of small two chopsticks on the edges of the bowl.
"Of course I will." I said, placing the correct amount of yuan coins on the counter and sat on the nearest available seat.
After I'm done eating my breakfast as I ate all the noodles before finishing the rest by drinking the delicious soup as the was all left of it. I stood from my seat and walked to the counter, placing the empty bowl with the pair of chopsticks on the bowl as I left the small restaurant while saying goodbye. Walking on the street path of the Valley, I eventually found myself inside the place were the big part of today's festivals is going to start once the sun sets down.
Out of the blue, I ceased my walking and saw a significant amount of people forming a group and start cheering, I got curious and go check. Because most of the height of everyone in the Valley is short, I could just stand here and see what are they're cheering about. With my eyes set, there were three young snow leopardess who's in heir young twenties, two of them wore short sleeved vest and brown pants while it was tied with a sash and has wraps on their ankles as well and both of them them literally looked identical, as it they were twins. The other leopardess wore the same clothing as the other two leopardess who looks the same, but her shorts sleeved vest has the color red on it and a singular looking pattern on it while the other differences is that her facial appearances is very soft looking and I have to admit, she looks pretty cute as well, but I wouldn't ask her out since I don't even have a clue of who she is.
All of them were dancing, gaining the crowd attention as the people in the crowd kept cheering for the three dancers. Unexpectedly, the leopardess with the red short sleeve vest laid her eyes on me, as soon as her sight was on me, all of them performed a high leap that consisted of them jumping at least around several feet in the air as they've left the crowd area and land at front of me. I raised an eyebrow of mine in slight confusion as they began analyzing me. I then gulped in awkwardness.
"Uhh, hi there." I mumbled awkwardly. "If you gals don't mind, could you please stop staring at me like that." I let out an awkward inward laugh.
"Oh sorry, we three just got really curious since we've never see anyone like you before. Please allow us to dance for you as an act of apology for our rude staring towards you." The leopardess with the red vest spoke.
"No no no, please don't trouble yourself, it's fine." I was a bit late, all three of them did a swift back handspring as they've moved back to more open area and began dancing.
As they've dance, each one of them performs different forms of various acrobatic moves and techniques, and if I pay close attention to how their utilizing their skills, they're agility and acrobatics would rivals against Tigress's agility and acrobatics and even Monkey's if possible. They all finished with two the leopardess who looks identical to each other caught the leaping leopardess with the red vest from their air as she landed on their shoulders. The two identical leopardesses didn't even flinch from the weight on their shoulder. I was in awe, there acrobatic techniques were incredibly graceful and elegant, which they've managed to amazed the hell out of me. I told them that it wasn't necessary to dance for me as an act of apology, since they've done it anyway, all I can do for them now is to clap my hands for their great and astonishing performances.
"Absolutely amazing! No wonder you gals could attract a whole crowd's attention with your spectacular dances." I complimented, they all gave me a genuine smile of theirs. The red-vested leopardess took a step forward.
"Thanks you, we're glad we can make it up to you before-" Her sentence was cut off as I heard a familiar voice not that far, the familiar voice was loud enough and it sounded the caller is shouting out out the word 'Song'. The red-vested leopardess's ears perked up, before turned at the direction of where the voice is coming from.
"I'm here, Po!" The red-vested leopard responded to the familiar voice.
Briefly, a six feet and two inches tall figure emerged out to our sight, jogging its way towards us. Once the figure has figure has reached near our vicinity as it revealed to be Po who was the caller who kept shouting out the word 'Song' as it like he was calling someone's names.
"Sorry for taking for a while to get these," the panda apologizes, holding two popsicles a blue colored popsicle and a pink colored popsicle. Holy shit, I've haven't tried these frozen desserts for quite a while, my taste buds has almost forgotten the cold and relaxing sweet taste of it. "I've kinda lost my way there from the large crowds." Po spoke with slightly sheepishly tone. He then extended his arm over to the red-vested leopardess. "So, which one would you like, Song? The panda asked.
"Hmm, to make this looks funnier, I'll go with the cool blue one and you'll go with the pink girly one." The leopardess who's name was Song, had smirked as she teased the panda, causing him to flustered up a little.
"What?" Po uttered. "Oh come Song! Why does the Dragon Warrior has the go with the pink girly one!" He eventually release a slight groan before slowly handing over the blue one to her as both of them began licking their popsicle they're holding one of their paw. "Now that I've tasted the pink one, it sure does taste really sweet!" Po spoke in surprised as it made Song giggled at his reaction after tasting the pink popsicle. Eventually, the panda noticed me standing beside him, which made him nearly jumped in surprise and his popsicle slipped out from his paw. He prevented it from dropping to the dusty ground by skillfully catching the falling popsicle with his other paw.
"L-Lukas?" Po stuttered. "W-What are you doing here all of a sudden?" Po asked.
"I don't know, not much, just doing my usual walking session until I bumped into these kind and polite ladies here." I motioned my hand at the three leopardess. "And also, I would like to ask you the same as well, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I see you've met Song and the twins already." Po noticed. After a short period of time, I eventually came to realize that the person Po has told who was waiting for him was the leopardess named Song.
"Technically no, we all just met after the three of them got curious of my odd appearance and came up close to me and began staring at me. Afterwards, all of them danced for me as an act of apology, which I told them it was not necessary, either way, I'm glad we were able to sort things out." Po seemed to now understand my situation. I then glanced at the twins. "Well since that I know the other lady's name, then would you two kind ladies like to tell me both of your name?" I said.
"I'm Shi, a pleasure to meet you." She greeted with a slightly serious tone, but it wasn't that much.
"And I'm Shu, I am very delighted that you've enjoyed me, my big sis and Song's performance." The other twin leopardess greeted with smile as her voice sounded gleeful and cheerful.
"I'm Lukas Gilman, pleased to meet you two and Song as well, I really appreciated your performances you three did." I greeted them. I glanced at Po and Song, who's both are enjoying their fruit flavored popsicles, I then held a small unnoticeable grin before clearing my throat. "I could also see that my buddy Po managed to get himself a fine lady. And to be a little honest here, I'm starting to feel a bit jealous of him." I teased and joked at the end with a guffaw, causing both Po and Song's cheek to flared up a little. They both then looked away for a moment before setting their eyes on me. "Anyway, congratulation to you Po, just keep things slow and smoothly as I wished the best for your relationship."
"T-Thanks, I'm glad that your open-minded about our relationship." Song thanked, giving me a warm smile.
"So Song? Wanna stay at the Jade Palace for tonight?" Po asked. Song and the twins widened their eyes.
"What? Are you sure, because the last time when I visited you all by myself, everyone in the Jade Palace were been pretty... um... 'eyeful' at me for the whole time during my visit." Song spoke reluctantly.
"Oh come on Song, be more open, Su isn't controlling or neither is with you anymore. So why don't you just relax and enjoy yourself, we still have a lot of time left to spend in the festivals before letting you and the twins stay in for tonight at the Jade Palace." Po assured her with his comforting tone. The red-vested leopardess smiled before leaning up and placed a soft kiss on the right cheek of the panda. "I got one question, why did the twins came with you?" Po inquired. Shi and Shu stood closer to Song in between by her both sides.
"The reason why we both tag along with her is to protect her from any sort of dangers as she's the leader of the Ladies of the Shade and must be-" Shu's sentence was stopped as Shi smacked her lightly on the back of her head by with her gloved paw.
"You dimwit! There's another person who's right in front of us here and you've just exposed the name of our group to him!" Shi exasperated as all the three leopardess now had their eyes narrowed sharply and were cautiously locked on me.
"No, wait you three, he's with Furious Six, it's okay guys." Po immediately assured, preventing an unwanted argument, if not, it could have a possibility leading up to a fight. As the atmosphere cools down, everyone is now calm. The three leopardess again, looked at me with their apologetic gazes.
"I-I'm sorry, I don't know you were associated with Po." Song apologized, doing a bow.
"It's alright, it was just a small misunderstanding, that's all." I assured, waving my hands. "Now with that being aside, guess I'll see you all soon."
I turned around and walked towards the festivals and wait for Crane and Viper. I then stopped on my tracks and turned my head at them. "Oh and by the way, Po, have fun with your date." I remarked, causing both Po and Song's cheeks to flare up while the Shi and Shu just giggled. After that, I've resume my way to the festivals.
As I sat on this wooden bench for about several hours, waiting for the avian and the serpent, trying to see if their walking around somewhere in this area of the festivals. Moments later, I managed to spot a familiar conical hat with a red tip on top of it from another nearby area. I stood up from the bench as I start making my way close to them. With me getting close to a sufficient range were they can't see me, it looks like Crane and Viper are checking stuffs in a nearby outdoor market of the festivals. I decided to overheard their conversation.
"So which of these would you like, Viper?" The avian inquired as he lifted his wing and pointed at the items resting on the board, sounding a little nervous.
"Let me see, how about that one, at the left side of that board." Viper pointed her tail to a nearby board to the left.
"Oh, I see that you've taken a liking to this little guy here." Crane noted. "Is it this one?" He picked up a doll which it strongly resembles of a black-necked crane with the color white on its belly.
"Yeah, isn't he cute?" Viper commented, grabbing the doll from Crane's wing as she takes closer look at it, before realizing that the doll has a strange, yet very strong resembles to Crane as her face instantly reddened itself nearly completely red as she turn her face around facing another direction. "F-Forget what I said." She mumbled, flustered. "Crane nodded.
"Yeah, lets forget about that." Crane agreed, before leaning his neck to the owner to the outdoor market as he start whispering to the owner's ears while pointing his wing at the avian doll on the board. Afterwards, Crane paid for the bird doll with the correct amount of currency while hiding the avian doll in his pants pocket. As I'm watching from afar, a small grin spread across my face.
Huh... saving up a trump card when he's about to confess his feelings for her, clever bird... very clever indeed...
As the avian and serpent began dwelling deeper into the festivals as I continued to follow them while keeping my presence unnoticeable.
Another pair of hours has gone by, everything seemed to be fine and now I'm gonna enter the important part of assisting Crane in his date by helping him in any way possible without Viper knowing during their dinner at a restaurant that Crane said was around the center of the Valley. Once I arrived at the places called the 'Dazzling Bistro' before the avian and he serpent has, I began taking a seat which is close to the seat where the large vase with the incredible wide bush as what Crane described. As two minutes has passed, a waiter who's a light brown hare who wore a simple green robe with a brown-red sash around his waist. He held up his both paws which was holding a small scroll and a thin brush before asking for my order.
"Good evening, Master Lukas." He greeted, before focusing back. "Now what can I get you for tonight?" He inquired.
"Just a small bowl of fried rice and a glass of warm water." I ordered.
"And for your 'special partner'?" The hare asked. I raised a brow before replying.
"Sorry, but I'm all alone here." I replied. The hare made a slightly audible 'hissing' sound after hearing what I've said.
"I'm not trying to offend you Master Lukas, but hearing that you said your all alone here, it sounded... well, umm... depressing that you have no one to spent with at this particular annual day." The hare spoke reluctantly. His words caught me off guard, well at least I know he meant no offense for me there.
"Don't worry, no offense has been taken." I assured the light brown hare. I soon felt my subconscious did a small frown as I looked around. Every single tables in this restaurant were occupied with romantic couples, which everyone in here is having such a blast at the moment while I, who looks like this gloomy depressed guy who's sitting all alone by myself.
"Well still, I shouldn't have asked something like that, so please forgive me for my foolishness for asking such a personal and sensitive question, Master Lukas." The hare performed a bow. I soon motioned for him to stop as he raised his posture up.
"I believe that's enough, you'll make a scene here." The hare managed to calm down. "Just get me my order." I signed, pinching the brigde of my nose. The hare nodded, writing down my order and fast walked his way inside the kitchen.
Shit... this does feels depressing...
After I snapped myself out from that thought, I looked around and saw that both Crane and Viper has arrived, walking to a table which is very near to the large vase with that long wide bush. After waiting for about more than ten minutes, I took a glance at them again, and it would seem that it's going okay as Crane is doing well at controlling his nervousness and anxieties. Soon, an opportunity to hear how's Crane is doing has arrived as said she'll be using the restroom to wash her face for a moment. As the serpent slithered off from her seat to the restroom, I immediately move my head down, staying very silent and nearly as motionless as a sculpture on my seat. When the restroom's door from afar the far side of the restaurant has been heard closed, I got up from my seat and walked over to where Crane's sitting at.
"So Crane, how are things are going with Viper?" I spoke, nearly making the avian jumped off his seat.
"You wouldn't believe how freakin difficult it is for me to control my goddamn nervousness and anxiety." Crane exclaimed with a quiet voice. "Shit, I'm not sure if I can confess my feelings for her, maybe I'll just-" The avian's sentence was halted as I placed my hands on his shoulder.
"Listen, don't ever say that, you've come this far, just to throw away your only chance of being this brave and confident?" I said. Crane shook his head horizontally.
"No, I don't want to, and I think I wouldn't be this calm and confident for the next time." Crane replied, I smiled.
"Then quite been a wimp and confess to her at the right moment." I lets go hands from his shoulder as I stood with a thinking posture. "I do have some tips that'll increase your chance of success, but all of those tips are the very basic and kinda dull though."
"I don't care, as long that it can help me in a way, then I'll need you to tell me about those tips." Crane shot me with a look filled which was now filled with determination.
"Try engaging on interesting conversations with her such as her family, her hobbies, her interests, and things about yourself as well, also, try commenting on how 'beautiful' her eyes are while the rest is up to you." I advised.
"I believe those tips will help, thanks Lukas." Crane thanked.
"No problem, if there's anything troubling you, just scratch the back of your neck in a circular motion to signal me. I'll sneak my way behind that large bush over there and whispered some tips for you." I pointed my right index finger over to the large vase containing the long and wide bush that's next behind Crane's seat.
"Okay." The avian nodded. Soon, the sound of the restroom's door can be head opened. "Crap, get back to your seat!" Without hesitating, I rushed back to my seat and stay low before Viper could see me. I sat still, slowly peeking my head up to see and began to overhear their upcoming conversation.
"Sorry for taking so long, the makeup that I've used when I woke this morning is a bit rough to wash off, it was starting to irritate my scales and skin on my face." Viper spoke apologetically, sitting back on her seat.
"No worries." The avian assured. "Actually, I think you look better without your makeups on." Crane commented.
"Really, you think I look better without makeups?" Viper spoke up avidly, leaning her herself closer to Crane before moving herself back on her seat. The avian nodded his head in response. "Thanks you, that means a lot." The serpent now held a small blush. Shortly, a grayish wool sheep who wore a light yellow robe arrived at their seat.
"Good evening, Masters, what would you like to order for tonight?" The sheep greeted before lifting her both hooves, which were carrying a small sized scroll and a pen.
"I would like the best noodle soup in this house." Crane ordered before averting his gaze at the serpent. "And what would you like, Viper?"
"I'll go with the same order as you, I would like to try that as well." Viper ordered the same order as Crane. The sheep nodded and wrote down their orders before making her way tot he kitchen.
"That would be the Jade Noodle Soup, the best and the most favorited noodle soup that the house has, would you like to order that?" Both the avian and serpent nodded their heads. "Alright, two Jade Noodle Soup." The sheep turn as she wrote down the orders. "Now please wait, your orders should arrive in about ten minutes." After the sheep spoke, she made her way to the kitchen. As I kept on eyes on them, the two began their long conversation.
The conversation between them both was going great, thanks to Crane newfound courage and confident which kept him from giving in to his nervousness and anxieties as he managed to stay very calm and collected throughout these two quiet hours. During the time when they were conversing to one another, Crane ignited a conversation over her hobbies and interest, which were cooking and sometimes knitting clothes during her free times and surprisingly, she was a ribbon dancer before she was part of the Furious Five and was also confidences about her skills till now as she said she believes that her ribbon dancing skills has not yet even rusted a bit. After that, Crane moved on talking about how Viper's family were, until I was surprised again by the fact that Viper is from a clan called the Viper Clan, one of the best known warrior clan consisted of serpents and are wel known for their poisonous fang techniques. The only problem here is that Crane wasn't able to confess his feelings for her. Damn, it must be very difficult, but I think he'll have a better chance of pulling it off for the next time as the experience he has gathered today will certainly be a big help for him next time.
After a significant period of time has gone by, I've finished my meal quietly and it was very enjoyable. I took glance at the two certain individuals, who had just finished their meal and paid for the bills already and were about to leave the place.
Crap, I'll lose them if I kept sitting here... !
I quickly raised my hands up, calling out the hare for him to give me the bills so I can pay it and leave. Soon, the light brown hare came to my table with the bills as I paid for them and bid him farewell. I exited the restaurant through the door where I came in, making a small swivel and eventually saw the avian and the serpent, who were both walking on towards the thousand steps staircase to the Jade Palace. Well, guess I don't need my 'covers' anymore from here this point. I then fast walked and approached the two from behind.
"Hey there." I greeted them with my casual tone with my hands raised.
"Lukas?" Crane nearly jumped. "What are you doing here, your were suppose to-" I quickly wrapped my arm around the avian's shoulder, shushing him before letting out a short chuckle.
"What are you talking about, buddy, maybe I forget to buy you that high quality paintbrush that you've requested, since you've accidentally broke that one you've got." I lied as what I've said was all made up to protect me and Crane's cover. Briefly, Crane then soon understand what I'm doing this for.
"Yeah, might have forgot to remind you to buy that paintbrush for me since I've had such a wonderful day by spending time with Viper." Crane followed. Viper then shift her gaze at me.
"I've been wondering for a few moments about this today, who did you spent with today at the festivals?" She asked.
"No one." I simply replied. Both of them were a bit shocked as Crane beak was dropped down a little while Viper gasped with her tail covering her mouth.
"No one at all?" Viper inquired again, causing me to shook my head vertically. "Then what have you been doing lately?"
"Oh you know, just the usual, spending the day all by myself at the festivals and at the restaurant, ordering a simple meal for myself... while in each every table, were all occupied by customers who considered one another a 'special partner'." I said as my voice has becomes quieter with every each word I've said. The two then frowned. Viper then spoke out.
"I'm sorry, it must have been difficult for you being the only one in there without a 'special partner'." Viper spoke with sincere.
"Yeah, I wish I could help you out in any ways as well." Crane spoke with the same tone as Viper's. I gave the serpent and the avian a small smile.
"Thanks, I appreciate both your empathy, it's very nice to see that there's friends who always cares." I soon felt better, before lighting up the mood with some jokes. "I believe that Monkey and Mantis are still trying to woo some girls out there, even till now their still trying to and won't stop until they both will get what they've deserve." I jested, earning two small chortles from the serpent and the avian.
"I don't know about those two, but I bet Mantis is going to get slapped again due to his 'rushing' nature." Crane scratched his chin.
"All right that's enough for now, let's get back to the Jade Palace." Viper suggested, both me and Crane nodded in response as we three began our way from the thousand steps staircase.
Reaching the last step of the thousand steps staircase, we're now at front of the main entrance of the Jade Palace that's only a few meters away. Surprisingly, during that long walk, I've barely sweat and my legs weren't that worked up after reaching from down there to up here, which indicates that my stamina and endurance has increased yet again thanks to the ingesteld daily training at the Training Hall.
Anyway, Crane walked up and opened the two tall doors before opening it, despite Crane's skinny physique, he's incredibly strong, capable of holding Po for about two minute, which's the exact same amount of time I could hold and endure the panda's mighty weight.
Since everyone must've had dinner already in the festivals, Viper said she'll be sleeping earlier today as she won't be making dinner for tonight, along with Crane as well since he needs practice a new writing style of a Chinese calligraphy that he's been hearing about. Before the two could separate and went to their room. The avian piped up.
"Viper, wait." He called her. The serpent stopped on her track and turned towards Crane.
"Yes?" She slithered towards Crane with an attentive gaze.
"Before you go, I got something for you." Crane said. Oh, now he's gonna bust out his trump card, let's see what's gonna happen.
Crane searched through his pants pocket and pulled out a small and familiar avian doll, Viper gasped as soon as she laid her eyes on the doll.
"I... I never thought you would buy this for me." She was taken by complete surprise.
"At the market, you seemed to take quite a liking to this little guy here. So yeah, I decide to buy this when you were busy looking at another direction, I bought this without you knowing... until now." Crane handed the doll to Viper's tail as she took it. "I hope you don't mind the surprise." Crane chuckled nervously.
"Crane, could you like come over here." Viper asked, gesturing with her tail for the avian to get closer to her, which he nervously complied.
"Uhh, is there anything you-" Unexpectedly, Crane's sentence was stopped as Viper lean her head close to him and gave his feathery cheek a gentle kiss, causing the avian to froze at the spot where he's standing at.
"Thank you, this is just incredibly sweet of you." The serpent gave the avian a warm smile before glancing at the avian doll she's holding. "I promise that I'll take good care of this little guy. Have a good night, Crane." Viper then resumed slithering her way to her room. As Crane kept standing there like a frozen statue, I placed my hand on his shoulder and laughed shortly.
"Congratulation Crane, for having your very first kiss that you've earned from your crush." I congratulated. Crane remained silent, which caused me to shake him on his shoulder. Once he managed to blink, with my hand were still on his shoulder, I felt his body went numb as I wrapped my arm around the his neck to prevent I'm from falling down on the marble floor. "Can't believe a kiss from your crush would nearly make you faint, get a grip on yourself." I chuckled. "But most of all, you didn't require much assistance from me. All you need is some extra confident and courage, you've did great today, I'm proud of you, buddy." After I unwrapped my arm from his neck, Crane stood up and is slowly regaining back his balance, but still shows some signs of wobbliness as his legs kept strafing slightly from side to side with each step he takes. "Need a hand?" I asked. He turned around.
"No worries, I believe I'll manage." He assured before continued wobbling his way back to his room.
I cracked my knuckles before letting out a satisfying sign as things went great for Crane today, I'm also curious about how did Po and those two particular dudes have been today. My curiosity has been sapped away as I heard multiple pair of footsteps arriving as the sounds kept increasing with each steps. I turned around as I saw Po and Song are walking close to each other side by side. I stood here and awaited for them to get near to my vicinity.
"Oh hey you two." I greeted both the panda and the snow leopardess. "How's tonight been for you two?"
"It was fantastic, me and Song had a lot of fun in our date." Po replied.
"I see, it appears you've admit it was a date after all." I said. "What did you guys do?"
"The normal things that average couple does, like seeing the stuff at the festival markets, played some festive games there and of course, a romantic date in a restaurant of us two." Song explained, hugging Po's arm.
"Oh, and where's the twin Shi and Shu? The twins said they'll stick with you as always, right?" I asked Song.
"Just wait and you'll see, in about... now." The snow leopardess pointed her paw at the tall gate of the Hall Of Warriors.
There, entered four individuals that consisted of a golden-snubbed nose monkey, a praying mantis and two other familiar snow leopardesses. As they've got closer, I can see that Monkey and Shu are walking side by side and Mantis is sitting on Shi's left shoulder, I then noticed something red on Mantis as I squinted my eyes for more focus, the red thing on Mantis'a cheek was rather big, if I keep focusing, the red thing on Mantis's cheek has the shape of a... lipstick?! And along with Monkey's cheek has the shape of a red lipstick as well.
"I never knew you two would chose these two idiots to date with." I joked, the two snow leopardesses merely chucked while the other two just rolled their eyes.
"Wow, how humorous of you, I'm laughing so hard right now." Monkey replied sarcastically.
"Oh look who's talking, at least 'idiots' like us were able to get ourselves on a date while your just spending the day all by yourself looking like a depressed, lonely guy." I was caught off guard by the praying mantis's comeback, I tried to retaliate back with a remark, until I realized he was... right about me spending the whole day all by myself. I then kept myself quite before saying anything else.
"Shut the hell up or I'll whoop that little green ass of yours." I muttered. Shi chuckled and glanced at Mantis who's standing on her shoulder.
"Oh, I think he's trying to provoke you, what are you gonna do about it, Mantis?" Shi asked mischievously. The praying mantis was about to say something back at me, until Monkey decided to break this up.
"Forget about it, Mantis." Monkey interjected. "Let's just go and get Shu and the other two ladies each room to stay for the night in the Jade Palace." He said, gesturing for Mantis and Shi to follow along while he held Shu by the paw as they've all walked off along with Po and Song followed them as well. Once they've left, I stood here and frowned a bit as I began to feel like I was being left out.
All I wanted now is going back to my room and lie down on my hard bamboo bed and just... sleep and forget about today. Damn, I bet maybe everyone in the Valley had a 'special partner', even Mantis has gotten one. I opened the door of my room, taking off my vest and kicking off my sandals while untying the ponytail of my hair.
Soon, my mind had shifted my thoughts away from the loneliness of today, by shifting my thoughts now towards at... Tigress?! Even though my head is lying itself on the hard and rigid pillow, I shook my head in surprise that my mind had tried to cheer me up by making me think of Tigress?! Actually, with me thinking about her, maybe I should've asked her to... spent the day with me at the festivals?
As I began imagining the thought of me and Tigress spending the day at the festivals, it somehow was able to... levitate the gloominess away from me and replaced it with... warmth. It's like my stomach is now feeling that same ticklish, yet good feeling during that night when she unexpectedly came to my room and punched me in my stomach, before hugging me by placing my head near at her... chest. That quick and very unexpected action of her had made all the pain go away in an instant due to how unbelievably soft, warm and comforting. I still remembered how squishy and soft it was when I playfully pressed my head further into her chest to feel them even more and-
A sudden, mental sharp pain has surged through my stomach as my subconscious had gave me a hard mental sucker-punch on my stomach for my thoughts. Okay, what the hell are these feelings I'm currently experiencing?! And most of these feelings keep acting up when I'm near Tigress or thinking of her. It's so confusing and I have literally no idea of how to deal with it.
"Screw this..." I mentally muttered, breathing out a long sigh. If I kept thinking of these thoughts, it'll just hinder me from getting the sleep that I've wanted.
Shortly after, I feel much better as those hindering thoughts has moved away. I finally closed off my eyes and began falling into a relaxing slumber.
Author Note : This chapter is focused on the development of Viper and Crane's relationship and sorry for not putting any developments between Tigress and Lukas if you guys were expecting moments of those two. While planning the storyline of this chapter, I felt like it is not the right time to include those yet and decided to fully focus on Viper X Crane, but I will be doing some Tigress X OC moments in future chapters. Also, I hope the first appearance I did for Song in this story was okay.
Like what I said in the first author note at the top, I wanna make the next arc is gonna be 'a tiny bit darker and more interesting' because I'm really eager and wanted to write something that will make the story more interesting. I kinda want to take my mind away from making fillers and dive straight for the main story. I will begin writing the first chapter of the next arc at the first days of March.
Anyway, if you are interested in my story, feel free to drop a Follow, Favorite or Review. Before we end this, to the people who are reading this at 14th February, Happy Valentine's Day!
