Author Note :Oof, this chapter took a bit longer than I expected. Sorry for making not publishing it in the previous month April, stuff in life got a bit annoying and had to deal with them before I could continue with my writing.
Additionally, I would also like to thank you for making this story passing over 90K views. It is a very great milestone. I will continue to make more content for you enjoy.
I don't have much to say other than that the ending is gonna be interesting. Let's get started, shall we?
Chapter 55 : Eternal Spring
At the Palace Arena, the loud cheers and lively shouts from yesterday's audience has returned. It was around mid-morning and the the Quinquennial Tournament is in its last day today. Though we wished we could have spoke with Yip more, he was already out of his bedroom earlier than us. Shifu told us he's already at the Palace Arena, waiting to fight against us one by one when the Quinquennial Tournament resumes.
After Shifu gave out his speech about how Yip triumphed and became the winner, the southern martial artist's fight against us has started. His first opponent is Crane as the two walked up to the palace arena. They bowed to each other as they readied themselves before the gong was struck, igniting the match.
A short standoff occurred between the two 'tacticians', waiting out for who's gonna throw the first hit. Eventually, the avian dashed and started launching swift combos to the cheetah. All were deflected by the feline as he retaliated with his own attacks. Crane was seen struggling to keep up with Yip's attacks compared to when Crane was the one throwing attacks to the cheetah. One of the feline's attacks slipped itself past through the avian's defense, striking the bird with a jab to his head.
Crane stumbled back before quickly recovering. The avian advanced forward with various strikes with his wings. Crane made several different motions with his wings, trying to create the slightest opening. The avian managed to strike a blow on the Yip's torso with a straight wing strike, pushing the cheetah back. The feline recovered and slowly began moving up to the avian. Both warriors began staring at each other again, creating another standoff. Yip sent out a nearly instantaneous jab, striking the bird on his head as it stunned him. The cheetah dashed and sent a short rapid burst of punches followed up with a palm strike to Crane's chest.
The avian spread open his wings and stabilitized himself in the air. Crane flew and soared through the air briefly before he began diving toward the cheetah. Within range, Crane flung his leg in midair and missed the feline by inches as Yip quickly ducked down. However, right after he ducked, Crane landed on the ground and gave the cheetah a side kick to his back as it made the cheetah to stumble. The feline recovered and resumed as he began slowly stepping towards the avian.
Yip struck out first, quickly swatting Crane's wings away and sent a swift hook punch with his other paw to Crane. The avian blocked his hook punch with his other free wing. He launched a front kick and managed to hit Crane on his upper chest. Yip performed a roundhouse kick, hitting the avian on the side of his body. The feathered warrior staggered to the left before swiftly recovering his senses.
Crane advanced to the cheetah, throwing a combo of attacks to the feline. All attacks were reflected and Yip countered back with a straight punch, hitting Crane on his forehead. Before the avian could regain his senses, the cheetah spun and performed a swift low kick on the bird's knee, stunning the bird further before delivering another kick to his chest. Crane recovered and sent a fast straight punch to Yip. The cheetah caught the bird's wing and did a sweep kick on Crane's both ankles. The feathered warrior lost his balance and fell on his back.
Without even need to get up, the avian flapped his wings and flew upward in the air. Crane made several dive attacks to Yip and those attacks of his were dodged or blocked by the cheetah. During one of Crane's aerial attacks, Yip managed to grab the flying warrior by his ankle, pulling and throwing him with great force. Crane fell and tumbled on the arena square before rolling, falling out of the ring. The audience along with me and the rest of the guys were wowed seeing Yip defeating a member of the Furious Six.
"Incredible! It appears that the southern martial artist managed to defeat the graceful Master Crane." The announcer spoke. "After this, it seems our winner will get to fight the next member of the Furious Six... Master Monkey!" After Crane picked himself up and feebly flew back towards us, we all approached him.
"Dang, are you okay, Crane?" Po asked.
"Just my whole body aching right now, but I'll be fine soon." Crane replied.
"Seeing how he defeated you like that, I'm guessing he's not gonna be an easy opponent to fight with." Monkey spoke. The primate left the spectating platform and made his way to the arena square.
Both Monkey and Yip bowed to one another shortly after Monkey arrived at the arena square. The drum began to beat with its pace increasing each second before a loud metallic gong got struck. The two fighters switched to their battle-readied stance.
Monkey dashed and did a leaping roundhouse kick. Yip leaned his head as the kick missed him. The primate landed and dashed toward the cheetah, sending various sneaky attacks in an unpredictable rhythm. Yip was very perceptive and fast, blocking all of Monkey's sneaky attacks. The feline threw a jab, but Monkey was fast as well, narrowly dodging the cheetah's jab.
Yip went on to the offensive side as he took a step forward and began throwing a barrage of fast punches. Monkey was able to keep up with the cheetah's speed... for only about two seconds. The cheetah's barrage of punches managed to breach through Monkey's defense as a fist struck Monkey on the side of his face, sending the primate to stumble back. Monkey recuperated his senses and launched a spinning jump kick to the southern martial artist. Yip ducked down as a sly grin grew on the primate's face as Monkey landed on the ground and swiftly performed a fast sweep kick. The cheetah managed to dodged it by hopping over it, but got tripped to the ground as Monkey was able to whip out a second sweep kick after his first one.
The cheetah collected himself up from the ground. He moved forward as the two warriors began exchanging blows with one another. Yip was able to counter and retaliate against Monkey's attacks as he reflected a straight punch and gave the primate a hard jab to the center of his face. Monkey swiftly recovered and launched a low side kick aiming for the cheetah's knee. Yip blocked it with his paw and responded with a low kick towards his opponent's feet. The primate performed a high jump, evading Yip's low kick. Monkey performed an acrobatic, stationary butterfly kick in midair. The feline moved his paw to the side of his face, blocking the incoming kick from his adversary before striking Monkey with a jab in his face while he's still in midair.
The primate fell and rolled on the ground. When Monkey started getting up, Yip made a fast dash to Monkey with a fist raised and readied. The cheetah stopped and his fist was about two inches away from Monkey's face, causing him to become motionless. After a short moment of immobility displayed by the two warriors, Yip believed Monkey has yield and started lowering his guard. Noticing this, Monkey waited until the cheetah's guard was lowered enough.
When Yip calmed himself along with his guard, Monkey quickly lashed and gripped the feline's legs tightly with his hands. Yip quickly took notice of this and sent an elbow strike to Monkey's nape, causing the primate yell in pain while letting go of the legs of his opponent. The cheetah performed a strong leg push, hitting and pushing Monkey on his chest as he got flung back several meters, landing out of the square.
"As sneaky as Master Monkey can be, the unnamed cheetah was able to defeat Master Monkey by reading through his tricky attacks. On to our next fight, his next opponent will be the slippery Master Viper!" The primate got up and head back to us.
"Jeez, didn't knew he was THAT fast." Monkey spoke as he returned the spectating platform.
"Yeah, I could barely keep my eyes on how his paws moves." Viper added. An avian approached the serpent by the side. Crane stuttered inaudibly a bit before speaking.
"Hey, you-"
"You better be careful?" Viper finished his sentence. "Don't worry about about me, I believe I can handle this. Thanks for showing your concern over me, it's really sweet." The snake gave the avian a warm smile before resuming on slithering.
The cheetah waited at the spot he's standing as a green serpent slithered her way to the arena. The two bowed before setting up their stances. As the gong rang, the fight began. Viper lashed her tail straight out with blinding speed.
The serpent was surprised when the cheetah swatted her tail away with ease. Viper sharpened her expression and started sending various types of tail attacks to the feline. Despite Viper's lightning fast attacks, the expression of the cheetah face was unfazed as he blocked all those attacks with a casual look on his face. The cheetah counterattacks slipped through Viper's defense, striking her snake body. Viper was able to stabilize her body, preventing herself from falling and rolling on the ground.
Viper slithered quickly towards the cheetah and leaped forward as she swung her tail to the feline. Yip sidestepped and sent a low kick, hitting Viper by the midsection of her body as the green serpent flung back. Viper recuperated her balance and decided to play it safe as she gonna await for his attack.
Yip dashed and propelled a jab to the snake. Viper was able to match his speed, swatting his paw away with her tail. The cheetah retracted his paw back while dashing back to a distance. Yip has a slightly surprised look on his face while clenching his paw that was struck by Viper. The southern martial artist advanced forward and began his assault. The limbless reptile got her focus to at her peak, evading and dodging all of the cheetah's fast attacks. I looked at Crane and see that he's mentally shouting and rooting for Viper loudly.
A straight tail strike was able to land on the cheetah's forehead, pushing him back considerably. Yip shook his head slightly and regain his bearings. He started by taking slow steps to Viper before making a quick lunge, striking Viper with a cross punch. The serpent took the hit will and recovered almost instantaneously before blocking more of the cheetah's attack. Viper managed to performs a successful tail sweep on the the feline's feet, causing Yip to fall on his back. The cheetah rolled his body away to a safe distance when Viper did a piercing tail strike. Her needle-like tail strike missed and caused a hole and multiple cracks on the ground.
Viper bent her body down and sprung into the air. She performed a spinning midair tail strike in a vertical motion. The cheetah blocked it as his body staggered. As soon as Viper landed back on the ground, she delivered an upper tail attack to his midriff as he almost trip and fall. Yip recovered himself and can be seen breaking some sweat. The feline closed his eyes, taking in a long breath and slowly exhaling it out before putting his stance back on.
The green snake slithered with lightning speed in a zigzag manner. Viper thrusted herself forward and perform a midair tail whip. Yip reacted and grabbed her tail and did a palm strike on the snake's body, flinging her back. This is one of the few rare moments where Viper shown to be visibly frustrated. The serpent began focusing all her body and mental strength in one single moment. Briefly, she propelled herself to the cheetah with a type of speed that I bet no-one could follow with their eyes. The southern martial artist was caught off guard by her speed as Viper managed to wrap herself around his body. The feline struggled as moving and breathing is becoming very difficult for him. Looks like he's done for, there is no way he could-
Yip managed to sneakily slip his arm out from the Viper's grasp and delivered a a strong palm strike to her upper body, more specifically, her midriff areas. As the his palm made contact with the snake body, the air from her lungs flew out as her grip on the cheetah's body weakened significantly. Yip broke free and sent a spinning side kick, striking Viper by the head as she flew out of the ring.
"While Master Viper appeared to be having the advantage of speed, the cheetah managed to overcome his opponent with pure dexterity and adaption." The announcer said. "If Master Viper's speed is not enough, we shall see how well he'll fair against the quickest and fastest member of the Furious Six, Master Mantis!" Viper slowly regain her balance and slithered her way back to us.
"Viper, are you okay?" A small frown was formed on the avian's face as he rushed to the green snake by her side. Viper looked at Crane. "You got something on your face." The avian noted, handing a small mirror to the serpent.
"Oh this." Viper said, noticing her cheek has a small scrape. "Well, what do you expect? Having injuries like this are very common for a Kung Fu master." She assured.
"Still, that was quite a kick you took." The small worried look was still present on Crane's face.
"And I'm still fine and kicking." Viper assured before turning her attention to the green bug. "Good luck Mantis, you'll need it."
"Heh, this cheetah guy is just really lucky. I'll handle him like a little toddler." Confidence was present in the bug's voice. I don't think it's wise for him to fight Yip with that mindset. Well then, let's see what's gonna happen. The two approached one another and bowed to each other before the gong disk was struck.
In a blink of an eye, Mantis was nowhere to be seen and the cheetah was slightly surprised by that. The ears of the feline flicked itself as Yip quickly turned his body to the side and blocked a fast claw strike from Mantis. The green bug dashed back and disappeared from plain sight. This made the cheetah to be in a more alerted state. Yip continued to block more unseeable attacks from Mantis before landing a well timed strike on the praying mantis with a flick of his paw. The bug crashed on the ground before quickly regaining his focus.
Even with Yip keeping his eyes on Mantis, he lost sight of his opponent as the green bug turned himself into a green blur before vanishing from the spot he stood at. The cheetah felt a strong force striking him on his back before feeling another one on the side of his ribcage. Prior he could recover, Yip felt a strong grip grasped his paw as his whole body got lifted up, smashing itself on the back side. The cheetah let out a small groan in pain before slowly getting up with caution.
While getting up, the muscles in the body of Yip tensed up greatly as he moved his paw with immediate speed, blocking a sneak attack from the green arthropod. Mantis was quick enough as he smacked the cheetah's paw away and landed a clean kick to his face, causing the cheetah to recoil back and rolled on the ground. Yip recuperated and was quickly back on his feet. The southern martial artist made multiple swivels to look out for any surprise attacks.
Yip detected a speeding green blur was speeding toward him. Mantis propelled himself to the feline and land a sharp hit with his claws, causing the cheetah to groan in pain. Multiple fast hits has landed on the cheetah as it made him stumbled back. Yip appeared to be visibly annoyed. His teeth was bared out for a short moment before calming himself. The small green warrior moved in a blurring speed and snuck his way behind the cheetah. With the praying mantis leaping to the feline, he sent a flying side kick to the back of his head.
The southern martial artist's ears twitched as he leaned his head to the left. Mantis missed and landed on the ground. Yip dashed forward, trying the hit the green bug with his salvo of punches. As each punches were thrown, his attack speed is steadily increasing, causing Mantis to start having trouble. Eventually, one of the cheetah's punches struck Mantis on his frontal body, flinging the green warrior back.
Mantis recovered and started moving in a lightning fast speed. His speeding direction has switched from a straight line to a new confusing zigzag manner. This eventually create a spinning and blurry green object circling around the cheetah. The green arthropod spun out from the blurry circle, flying straight toward Yip. It looks like Mantis is about to launch a sneaky nerve strike to the unsuspecting cheetah since his claws are slightly glowing blue.
The ears of the feline made a sharp jerk. Yip made an instantaneous turn to the green blur. He sent a swat with his paw at the green warrior with immediate speed and immense precision. The praying mantis was struck and sent crashing and tumbling on the arena square. As Mantis tries to get up, he tripped and fell back to the ground, indicating that he's unable to continue the fight.
"Incredible... this is just incredible! Just who is this southern martial artist and how is he doing all of this!?" The announcer spoke loudly. "If speed is not an option, then let's see what will happen if we combine speed with power! Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you the strong and fearless warrior of the Furious Six... Master Tigress!" Mantis groaned before getting up. He slowly moved and hopped his way back to us.
"Holy shit, that guy is unnatural!" Mantis tiredly exclaimed with his claws raised. He made one last hop and landed on Monkey's shoulder. "It feels like he can read your moves before you could even put them in motion."
"I would say the same, he would just read you like a book and counters all your attacks with ease." Monkey spoke.
Right before I could have a chance to talk to Tigress, she was already out of the spectating platform and is already on the arena square. The gong disk was struck and a loud echoing metallic sound was produced.
Tigress dashed towards Yip and sent a cross punch to him. He swatted it away and retaliated with a jab. Her reaction was quick, evading the jab by leaning her head to the side and threw a low side kick. Her kick hit the cheetah on the side of his calf as he stumbled back. The cheetah regained his bearing and stood with a defensive stance. The orange warrior began firing a barrage of attacks to the southern martial artist. He made several sidesteps and avoided her attacks. Tigress continued and started increasing her attack speed, giving Yip a harder time to defend himself against her attacks.
As the cheetah kept defending himself from the tiger's attacks, he managed to nail Tigress with a surprise jab on her face, causing her to stumble a few steps back. The orange feline shook her head and recovered her senses. She took a quick and long step before spinning her body and sent a fast knifehand strike aiming for the side of his ribcage. Yip caught her paw with his both paws. His body staggered significantly after absorbing the force of her attack. Tigress used her other free paw and sent a punch to him. The cheetah reacted quick enough and planted a front kick on her abdomen, pushing the tiger back.
She shrugged off the pain and charged forward. Tigress sent several fast attacks at him, some of them were evaded and blocked. However, her last attack managed to struck him on his chest, flinging him to the ground. Yip got up and has a surprised look formed on his face when he felt her powerful immense strength. The two felines resume their fight by exchanging rapid blows and strikes to one another. Tigress spun her body in a horizontal motion, performing a double butterfly kick. Yip blocked the first kick, but the second kick went over his head and struck him on his upper back. Her sharp kick made the cheetah fell down on his frontal body.
He swiftly arose from the ground. The tiger continued the fight as she lashed at him. She leaped and performed a double side kick in midair. Yip blocked them, but the two side kicks broke through his defense, allowing Tigress to shoot a spinning back kick to his sternum. The cheetah leaned his body to the side as her kick missed. He caught her lifted leg before immediately sweeping her other leg as the tiger fell on her back.
A growl slipped out from the striped warrior as she collected herself up. Tigress dashed and sent a her signature palm strike. Yip struck her precisely on her wrist, cancelling her palm strike. The striped feline bent down and did a quick sweep kick to the feet of her opponent. Yip countered her sweep kick with a low kick followed up by another low kick. Tigress almost fell on her back before stabilizing herself. She bent down on all four and lunged at him. She swung her arms heavily, becoming impatient and is trying her best land a hit on him.
Tigress managed to caught his both wrists. A small grin formed on her face. Yip remained with his serious unfazed face and launched an outward crescent kick. Tigress responded with a high kick, countering his kick. The orange warrior began sending a series of fast kicks while keeping her grip on his wrists tight, disabling him of the use of his paws. Yip was impressive as he was able to keep up with Tigress's speed and power. Yip turned his body and sent a rapid turning side kick, striking Tigress on the side of her waist. She grunted, loosening her grip as the cheetah escaped her grasp.
The striped feline moved forward and sent a series of punches towards her opponent. The southern martial artist did something incredibly risky. Instead of swatting her punches away, he blocked her strong punches with his elbows.
Jesus Christ... shouldn't the bones of his elbows be grounded to dust from blocking Tigress's attacks...?
A short moment of Yip blocking Tigress's punches with his elbows, she retracted back while clenching her paws. I could see she was holding back a great deal of pain from getting her fists blocked by his elbows.
Yip moved towards her and took on the offense route. He started firing his distinctive rapid salvo of punches. As he kept firing his punches, he started moving around the tigers, hitting her from the forearms to her side and to her back. The cheetah sent a push kick on the back of her knee, causing Tigress to drop down on one knee. Another kick from the cheetah was sent flying towards the fallen tiger. She saw it coming and countered with a ground back kick, striking Yip on his feet as he stumbled back.
Tigress got up and let out a frustrated huff. She charged towards him and jumped, performing a flying kick. Yip made an instantaneous sidestep and grabbed her by the back of her calf and her upper back. He quickly used the momentum of her flying kick and quickly slammed her frontal body on the ground. Before Tigress could do anything, Yip crouched beside her and placed his leg on her both legs. The orange warrior raised her back and tried to get up. Yip quickly planted his other foot on her back before putting his paw on her head and pushed it down to the ground. The southern martial artist performed several feint punches as each punches almost hit her in the face.
"Do you wield?" Yip spoke. I was able hear him since the audience remained silent.
Tigress tried breaking away his grasp by moving her body spontaneously. Yet, the grip of the cheetah remained strong and unfazed. A defeated sigh came from the tiger.
"I yield." She said, causing several gasps from the audience. The cheetah let go of the tiger as the two felines exchanged a bow. Tigress then walked out of the arena.
"Good gracious! Not even the great Master Tigress could stand up towards this southern martial artist!" The announcer sounded like he's about to have his mind blown in any moment now. "And for the last member of the Furious Six, Master Lukas! Known for his adaptability and resourceful fighting style, will he be the one who will win against the current champion?" Tigress soon made it back to the spectating platform.
"I... I never thought you were going to be defeated by him." Monkey spoke.
"Yeah, I was expecting you're gonna be the one who's going to kick his ass for sure." Mantis added. Another sigh escaped from the tiger.
"It matters not anymore." Tigress responded. "He won against me fair and square, that is all that matters."
"Hey..." I was able to get a chance to talk to her. "... so... how was the match?" I asked.
"It was exhilarating... thrilling to be more exact." Tigress replied with a tired smile. "His speed and handwork were utmost impressive. While I could keep up with his speed a few times, but in the end, he defeated me with pure dexterity and handwork." I leaned closer to her.
"Well, I'm glad I was able to fix your injury, you could've miss out on such a great match." I lowered my voice.
"And I couldn't be more grateful for what you have done." She smiled. As I was about to head to the arena, she called me. "Lukas." I turned around. "Do your best." I shot a small smile to her.
"I will. Thanks for the encouragement."
"You should take that as a warning instead of an encouragement." She joked. I chuckled before heading to the arena.
As anxious as I am getting, I'm also getting excited to fight Yip and looking forward to see how this Wing Chun style is. Arriving at the arena square, the two of us bowed to one another before slowly shifting ourselves to our stance. When the gong instrument was struck by a mallet, our fight has begun.
Alright, let's not do anything rash here...
I slowly began taking slow steps towards the cheetah with my arms raised in case of an attack(s) is coming. Before I could feel my eyelids finish blinking, I felt a sharp pain to my cheek as I stumbled back. What the hell was that? I didn't even fully blink and he already nailed me with a fast strike to my face. I recovered and tried again. Focusing, I shot a quick jab to the cheetah. He swatted it away and struck me in the face with a jab of his own. My head rebounded, causing me to trip on my own foot and fell on my ass like a klutz. I can hear a couple giggles from the crowd as a small embarrassed blush grew within my cheeks.
Oh God, this is getting embarrassing...
I shook my head and stood up, readying myself. Inhaling and exhaling out a long breath, I slowly moved my way towards the feline. I carefully extended my hand out before throwing one of my fastest jab with my other hand. Yip blocked it and sent a straight punch at me. I was able to see it and blocked it with the forearm of my other arm. Blocking his attack has caught him off guard. I saw this and immediately went with a hook punch. Unfortunately, his recovery speed was unbelievably fast as he leaned his head back and placed a strong front kick on my chest. My body nearly lost its balance as I managed to stabilize myself from falling.
I bolted towards him and began rushing him with rapid combos of attacks. Regrettably, he evaded and blocked all my attacks and sent a short burst of fast punches on my chest before delivering a heavy punch on my abdomen. His punch caused a portion of air to hurtled itself out from my lungs. I stabilized my balance before coughing.
He swapped to offense as he began attacking me with a combination of various punches and kicks. The diversity of his attacks are becoming increasingly fast and difficult to read, resulting in him tearing through my defense and struck me with all of his attacks. I mentally fought through the pain and forged ahead. I managed to grab him by the arm and proceed to restrain him. I tried to hurled him out of the arena boundary, but wasn't enough. His body did not slam flat on the ground as he made a quick safety roll before standing up to his feet.
I made a mad dash to the feline and was able land a roundhouse kick to his face. Yip recoiled back and was about to sent a fast attack at me. I prevented his attack by launching a front kick, striking him on his chest. My kick was strong enough as he was now falling out of arena zone.
To my surprise, he made a quick flip and placed his paws on the ground. The cheetah was able to stop himself from falling out of the zone. With him in such a vulnerable position, I sent out a low kick, aiming for his hip. Right when my kick was about to reach his hip, he kicked away my kick and planted his other feet on my midsection. I stumbled back, hissing in pain.
He stood up and remained still in his position. I made a brief yell in frustration as I charged at him. Both we began exchanging furious blows with each other. Once again, I was able to get a hold of him and I'm about to throw him out of the zone.
Before I could lift him up, Yip sent a low uppercut to my stomach. Pain erupted in my abdominal area as it made me let go of him. A slight look of anger and frustration was present on my face.
Yip struck me with a fast jab, stunning me as he continued striking me with a burst of rapid punches before delivering a rising palm strike to my chin. As my head reeled backward from the force of his palm strike, the cheetah moved to my side, grabbing the back of my calf and flipped me. My body spun vertically in midair before landing on face-first on the ground. He began launching a series of speedy punches to the back of my head. I quickly rolled my body around and start blocking his punches. While lying down on the ground and helplessly defending myself from his attacks, I saw a brief opening and took it. I extended my both leg as high as I can, striking the cheetah by his face with two high ground kicks.
I collected myself up and threw a hook punch to him. Yip swiftly countered me with a spinning hook kick. My head spun to the side as my whole body stumbled back in a circular manner. My sight is slightly blurry as I could feel exhaustion is getting the better of me. It's even worse since I'm constantly taking hits from him. I cleared my thoughts and let out a battle cry as I launched an aggressive high whip kick towards him. As my feet is traveling fast to his head, he canceled my kick by shooting a quick front kick on my thigh. Yip dashed and struck me with a powerful palm strike on my sternum. I was launched and flew several meters back, landing out of the arena boundary. With that, both my physical and mental energy has officially ran dried.
"I don't believe what my eyes are seeing, but it's real, folks! The southern martial artist has succeeded in defeating each of the Furious Six on a one-on-one duel! Is there no stopping to this cheetah?!" The announcer shouted. "And now, for the final obstacle that our champion has to get though... is none other than the almighty Dragon Warrior!" Few coughs were released from my mouth before I gathered enough strength to stand up and made my way back to the guys. Back at the spectating platform, multiple pairs of eyes set themselves on me.
"You okay, buddy?" The black and white warrior asked.
"Yeah..." I trailed off. "... to be honest, my whole body aches and I could really use some Z's right now." A small yawn emanated from my mouth.
"Damn, he manhandled you like a little sissy." Mantis remarked teasingly.
"Says the guy who got too got manhandled by him like a little sissy as well." I retorted back. A couple chuckles was heard from the group. I turned to Po. "Good luck, man, go kick his butt for us."
The panda smiled before he began making his way to the arena.
As the black and white warrior approached the southern martial artist, the two fighters exchanged a bow towards each other. Both soon put on their stance. The match began as the golden gong disc was struck, the battle has started.
"You may have defeated my comrades, but you'll never defeat the Dragon Warrior!" Po exclaimed.
"It looks like the Dragon Warrior is ready to avenge his comrade's defeat! This is going to be one heck of a show!"
"Get ready to feel the thundah!" Po made a brief footwork before launching himself to the cheetah. "Hyah!"
The panda swung his large fists to cheetah. Yip read through his attacks and dodged them with ease. Po continued throwing punches for a short amount of time before performing a lightning fast, sweep kick. The sudden increase speed of the panda had caught the feline off guard, allowing Po's sweep kick to land a direct hit on his ankles, causing the cheetah to trip and fell on his back.
Yip got back to his feet and start firing attacks to Po. The panda was doing a pretty good job blocking his fast attacks and speed. The southern martial artist made a quick dash to Po's side and delivered a roundhouse kick to his ribcage. Po grunted in pain as he was pushed back from Yip's kick. Before the panda could finish stumbling, the cheetah grabbed the panda by his wrist, yanking him back. He sent another roundhouse kick to the same spot of the panda and one more roundhouse kick to his face before letting go of his wrist. This made Po stumbled back in dazed state.
The black and white warrior's senses shortly stabilized. He charged to the cheetah and made several quick attacks. As Po continued rushing Yip with numerous attacks, Yip threw a straight punch to Po. The panda quickly leaned his head, evading the punch and countered back with a strong punch, hitting the chest of his adversary. The feline stumbled back a couple feet before stabilizing his balance. Yip swiftly moved up to Po and start shooting the panda with a huge barrage of speedy punches.
Po lifted his arms and began blocking up Yip's rapid punches. The black clothed feline sent a strong low kick to Po's ankles as the panda quickly moved back. He held his feet up with his paws, hopping on one leg like those old cartoon characters you would see in tv after getting their foot stomped.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Po yelled. "Man, do you really have to hit that hard?"
"It is considered to be an insult if I were to hold back against the great Dragon Warrior." Yip replied.
After recovering from the pain of his ankle, the match resumed. Po leaped and did a flying side kick. Yip shuffled his body to the side and dodged the kick. The panda landed and made a quick maneuver towards the cheetah. The Dragon Warrior struck the cheetah with a quick hook punch to the side of his upper torso. Yip reeled back significantly from the power of Po's punch. The cheetah advanced towards Po and started by throwing several speeding jabs. Po blocked a few punches, but the rest slipped past his defense and struck him hard. The black and white warrior moved forward and start firing kicks at an unbelievable rapid succession.
"Feet Of Fury!" Po exclaimed.
Yip was still fast as hell though, obstructing and blocking Po's fast kicks with his impressive handwork (paw-work?). The feline sent a lightning fast elbow, striking the panda by the side of his shin. He quickly moved closer to the panda and was about to do his signature barrage of fast punches. Po recovered swiftly and retaliated with a powerful strike with his bouncy belly, hitting most of Yip's frontal body. The cheetah was sent flying several meters, crashing and tumbling on the ground. Yip was a couple inches away from being thrown out of the arena zone. The audience released a "Woah..." after seeing what Po did. Yip slowly got up, coughing a bit.
"You see that, pal. This is what you get for messing with Dragon Warrior and his friends!" Po triumphantly said.
"That was rather... unforeseeable." Yip spoke. "Using ones large belly to perform such a powerful strike... it's both unpredictable and cunning." A small grin formed on the cheetah. "Interesting."
"Okay... should we be fighting or what?" Po scratched the back of his neck.
"Yes, please excuse me for causing such a delay." The two warriors placed back their stance, continuing the match.
They both clashed and began exchanging fierce blows to each other. Po spun and did a spinning back fist attack. Yip blocked it, but his body shook and staggered back from the sheer power and force of the panda's punch. The southern martial artist made a small footwork, stabilizing his balance.
Third Person POV
Yip leaned to the left and avoided a powerful right hook punch from Po. The panda leaped towards him with a 360 degree jump kick. The cheetah ducked down as the kick missed and dashed behind the panda. Before Po could recover, Yip grabbed and locked him in a strong armlock, placing his arm on his back. He also 'locked' Po's legs with his feet. Po struggled, but no progress was shown. Unexpectedly, the cheetah leaned his head to the panda's ears.
"I wish to not humiliate you and the rest of the others of the Jade Palace, so listen to me well." Yip whispered. Po was confused, but also felt slightly insulted, but he remained quiet and listen what the cheetah will say. "I will let you push me out of the boundary and lose, simple?" The panda nodded. "Good... on the count of three. One, two, thr-" His counting was cut short as the panda let out a battlecry.
Lukas's POV
Po let out a battlecry and broke free from Yip's armlock with sheer strength. The warrior of black and white managed to caught the southern martial artist with what seemed to be an immensely strong grip. While the audience was busy immersing themselves into this moment, me and the guys noticed the cheetah wasn't showing any signs of resistance against the panda.
Huh, that's strange...
Po made a dramatic yell and threw Yip out of the boundary. Shortly, the audience went wild with loud cheers as most of them shot up from their seat and some were seen jumping on their spot. The crowd began shouting the name of the Dragon Warrior.
"As expected from the almighty Dragon Warrior of the Valley Of Peace! If the Furious Six won't be enough for such a powerful adversary, the Dragon Warrior will always be there to save the day!" The announcer shared the same wildness and enthusiasm as the audience. Po walked towards the cheetah and give him a paw. Yip took it as Po helped him up. The crowd slowly revert back to being silent.
"It was a great honor fighting you, Dragon Warrior." Yip bowed. Po soon return a bow back to the southern martial artist. He ceased his bow and slowly walked his to the door and exited the Palace Arena. Po made his way back to us at the spectating platform. We all surround him.
"Great work, Po. You've kicked his ass." Mantis complimented before switching to a more serious tone. "Aside from that, the way how he showed no resistance against you, what happened down there?" Mantis asked. The Dragon Warrior scratched his nape before responding.
"He said he doesn't wanna humiliate us and let me win." Po said. "Man, that means he could've wiped the floor with me if he ever wanted to. You know, after fighting him, I'm starting to think that he might be as strong as Master Shifu-" A small semi-growl came from the striped feline.
"I strongly disagree, Dragon Warrior. If he were to be as strong as Master Shifu, he will need to defeat the grandmaster of the Jade Palace himself to prove that." Tigress rebuked.
"Well, it was his humbleness that saved Po and let him won the match." Viper spoke.
"And our reputation as well." Monkey added. We all chuckled.
"Well, with this Quinquennial Tournament is now over, I'm gonna go take a nice long nap for today." Mantis stretched his body.
It took about less than quarter of an hour for all the people to leave the Palace Arena. Shifu has granted us a whole day off for today and tomorrow as well after we all got our ass whooped by Yip. While everyone was busy having their own relaxation. Me and Tigress are at Training Courtyard doing a little sparring with one another. We just finished sparring and I have requested for her to have another round.
"Okay, this time, you're going down." I spoke with a competitive tone. She smirked.
"After nearly choking you unconscious from our recent match, you still wanna have another one?" A proud grin was plastered on her face. "Very well then." We both got up from the chairs and head to the center of courtyard.
Tigress put on her usual stance and is waiting for me to put up mine. My mind flashed back to Yip and his style. His techniques and handwork were just pure eyegasm for my eyes to witness. Eventually, I slowly formed up my stance.
"Huh, same stance from our previous match, are you trying to make this easy for me?" Tigress said with a raised brow.
I was able to caught her off guard a bit by slowly shifting my stance to a different one. This different stance of mine is a rough copy of Yip's stance. The orange warrior titled her head in slight confusion.
"Lukas, what are you doing?" She asked.
"Just trying something new." I replied.
"If you are inspired by Master Yip's techniques and style, then changing your stance to match his won't do you any good against me." She spoke with a deadpanned voice.
"You'll see, just try to land a hit on me."
"If that is what you want."
With my stance kept straight and forward along with my arm kept raised up and the other one extended out, roughly similar to Yip's stance, I am confident that I'll be able to deflect her incoming attacks. I made a small gesture with my extended hand for her to come at me.
In one split second, I saw her threw a palm strike towards me. I tried to stop her palm strike with my hand, but unfortunately, my hand missed, resulting in her palm making contact with my chest. My body flung and was sent several feet back before falling on my back. I groaned pain. She approached me and helped me up with a helping paw.
"See, I told you it won't do any good against me." Tigress crossed her arms.
"But... but the way how he deflected your attacks in tournament with this stance, shouldn't it work?" My brain began replaying scenes of where Yip was blocking Tigress's attacks with ease.
"Because you're not him. Just because switching your stance or trying 'something new' doesn't mean you aree going to succeed on your first try. Since you are not-" Her words were cut out as the door of the courtyard opened. A pig entered and it appeared to one of them servants of the Jade Palace.
"Pardon me for interrupting your conversation, but Master Shifu has requested your presence at once at the Hall Of Warriors." He spoke. "The other masters were also informed to meet up with the grandmaster as well." The pig soon left. We both dropped our conversation and started to make haste to the Hall Of Warriors.
Arriving at our destination, we saw Shifu and the others were waiting for us both. Heh, I could see Mantis had forgot to take off his sleeping mask after abruptly being woke up by the palace servants.
"Is there something the matter, Master Shifu?" Crane was the first to ask. The senior red panda cleared his throat.
"Forgive me for interrupting your day off, students." He turned to the avian. "Yes, there is something the matter, Master Crane, and it is quite important for me to share this with you all." Shifu responded. "I have received an urgent message from Captain Yun who received a request from the Imperial Army." The red panda slid out a small message scroll from his robe.
The Imperial Army? This could be serious...
"Several days ago, Imperial soldiers has been witnessing some strange movements at the Great Wall Of China in the Gansu province and has requested the aid from the Furious Six and the Dragon Warrior."
The Great Wall Of China? Sounds exciting...
"I suggest for you all to head down to Captain Yun's office as he will elaborate more of this task." We all nodded and were already on the move.
Entering the Valley's guard post and arriving at the front of the door of the captain's office, our leading figure Tigress knocked on the door. A "Come in." was heard from the room as we entered. We approached a familiar cheetah who is sitting on his desk with several long scrolls on his desk table.
"Good afternoon, Captain Yun." Tigress greeted.
"And good afternoon to all of you as well." Yun returned the greeting.
"Since Master Shifu said you have more information about these strange movements in Gansu, would you care to explain us what these movements are?" Tigress asked.
"Yes, Imperial soldiers has suspected these strange moments to be the movements of the Mongolian Insurgent, a dangerous militia group in Inner Mongolia. Though this is not the first time they have reported such movements. The first report from Imperial soldiers of this situation were dated back around the Ming dynasty. These movements would becoming more frequent throughout the years. The Emperor feared that this could be a sign of another Mongolian invasion back in the last days of the Song dynasty and had requested the aid of China's finest warriors to deal with this growing problem." Yun explained. Me and the team remained quiet, processing all these informations.
"Where do we start?" Tigress inquired. Yun got up from his seat and crouched down, rummaging in his desk drawers. He got up with a map and placed it on his desk table.
"You all should head north to reach Lanzhou at the Gansu province. Once you guys are there, head for the Main Barrack and meet up the commanding general there and he'll give you further instructions on your mission." We all nodded and began leaving the office. "Wait, I almost forgot." Yun called us. We stopped and turned back. "You guys should expect additional aid from someone on your mission." We all titled our head.
Huh? Receiving additional aid from someone? Who could that be... ?
The office door opened as a familiar figure entered. Our eyes widened in surprise to see that this certain 'someone' is none other than the southern martial artist.
"Master Yip?" The team and I exclaimed in unison.
Author Note :Well, seems like the master of Wing Chun Yip is going to stick around with gang for quite some time. I initially wanted him to win against the app at the last match, but decide to go against it and made it that he let Po defeat him. Just imagine how would the people at the Valley would feel seeing their Kung Fu masters getting whooped by a stranger. xD
Anyway, was the fight and action enjoyable? I hope so. I've spend some time watching martial art movies in the previous month April at weekends. I've managed to finish the Ip Man franchise and it was fucking amazing. I have also watched another martial art movie called Rise Of The Legends (2014). It was unexpectedly quite brutal and violent, but I loved it.
Aight, I guess that's enough talking. If you wish to support this story, please feel free to give it a Follow, Favorite, Review. I will see you all in the next time. :P