22. Out of the sky

The red of dawn hung beautifully over Gongmen City. The old goat had been awake for a long time and was already busy in the kitchen. But not because she was a morning person. She worried that something might have happened. There was still no message from Mendong City either, and she had doubts as to whether everything was okay. The only thing that reassured her was that the dragon warrior had come with them. She was sure that Po would take good care of both of them, but even a dragon warrior had weak points.

Sighing, she sipped her tea. Why did she have such a terrible feeling in her stomach?

Her brooding was interrupted when Sheng entered the kitchen with his little brother Zedong. Followed closely by Fantao, who rubbed his face tiredly.

"Well, you don't look too cheerful," the soothsayer said with a smile. "Is Xia still upstairs?"

"She's still combing her feathers," Shen replied, who didn't have a thing for girls' stuff.

The goat smiled and shook her head. Sheng went to the table with his brothers. The goat counted.

"Where's Jian?"

"In bed," Zedong answered.

"So? Then I'll have a look at him again."

"Where are the others?" Zedong wanted to know.

"The five?" The goat stroked her beard. "They have been awake for a long time. They always get up with the sun."

Fantao twisted his beak. "Do all Kung Fu warriors have to do it like that? I could forbear from doing that."

The goat smiled slightly. "Your father said the same sometimes when he was a very little boy."

Fantao twisted his beak. "But then he has not changed much if he has been sleeping longer in the morning than we have."

The goat's corner of her mouth sank again. "Well, I'll get your little brother down."

With that, she disappeared from the kitchen.

The goat went up a few floors, where the guest room for the boys was. Jian was actually still in the blankets, clutching his musical instrument tightly.

"But boy," the goat reprimanded him. "You can't take that to bed with you."

"Otherwise, they'll take it away from me," Jian grumbled.

The goat smiled. "You are stubborn like your father. Whenever he set his mind on something, he always clung to it."

The peacock cub turned on his back, moaning. "When is mom coming back?"

"Very soon."

She stroked the boy's head. "But now come on, the others are already on their feet."

Reluctantly, the boy left his musical instrument unnoticed for a moment and the goat brought him a robe. He would certainly have put the shirt on the wrong way if she hadn't pointed it out to him.

"Oh boy," the soothsayer giggled and straightened his cloth. "Did you secretly play music again at night?"

"It's just fun when the moon is in the sky," Jian explained. "I don't have to see any colors to be happy."

He winced when the goat plucked his head feathers. "You don't have to look at the moon to do that," she said. "Your mother struggled with it at first, too. But she learned to deal with it. Even without music."

The little peacock looked down. "It would be nice if she had been here."

The goat patted his shoulder. "Well, come on, I'm sure, the others are waiting for you."

At that moment, the door opened and Xia poked her head inside.

"Has Jiang overslept again?" she asked disapprovingly.

The goat waved her hand. "No, he just forgot the time." She pushed the boy to the door, but the boy wriggled out of her grips and got his musical instrument out of bed.

The goat rolled her eyes. "Like his father."

The sun was already hanging higher over the roofs. Sheng, Zedong, and Fantao were the first who finished breakfast. Then they went to the palace square where the Furious Five were doing a few exercises with the two great masters. Only when the three peacocks appeared, they stopped. Sheng didn't show anything and bowed respectfully.

"It's an honor for us to refine the art of Kung Fu with you," he said nobly.

His two little brothers giggled at the greeting.

The masters, on the other hand, did not hold it against him. Not even when Zedong dared to step into the position. "Hey, do you want to do some kung fu stuff with us?"

That question was addressed to the Five, and Monkey immediately agreed to do so.

"Well then, show what you can."

Little peacock and monkey bowed before Zedong immediately attacked Monkey. But all his attacks could not harm the defensive actions of the hairy master.

Master Ox and Master Croc withdrew from the fray. When they were out of earshot, the ox couldn't help but say anything.

"Sometimes I wonder if it is even a good thing that we allow them to practice."

Master Croc looked up at him in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Shen had also been trained hard. Until he went to the bad." His gaze fell on Sheng and Zedong, who always trained the most diligently. "Who guarantees that we won't make the same mistake again?"

"But you agreed."

"Because she said it."

The ox nodded at the old goat who was just coming across the square with Jian in her hoof, closely followed by Xia.

"But Sheng isn't one of those people and he's grown up already," the crocodile said. "He is careful and conscientious. He would never do anything like his father did at his age."

The ox snorted. "It's bad enough that he's still alone with his daughter."

Master Croc swallowed. "Do you really think that her father's malice could rub off on her? I cannot imagine that. She's a too good girl."

"Wasn't he a good boy first, too?" Master Ox growled gloomily. "He was born sick, and his brain is just as sick."

The crocodile shook his head disapprovingly. As much as he resented Shen for his past actions, it was difficult for him to speak ill of him in the face of his children. Master Ox, on the other hand, did not seem to have any inhibitions.

His gaze wandered back to the practice area, where it was Fantao's turn. However, his opponent was not Monkey, but Tigress.

Tigress and peacock looked at each other. Tigress raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Why do you look so horrified?"

Fantao hastily shook his head. "I like your stripes."

There was a giggle in the background. Tigress tried to ignore the laughter of her friends and stroked her arms with a forced smile. "Thanks."

Fantao raised the corners of his beak. "I could also paint a picture of you ..."

He raised his brush, but in the next moment it was taken off by his older sister Xia.

"You shouldn't paint," she chided him. "But practice."

Pouting, the peacock twisted his beak and had to watch Xia hide his favorite object in her coat.

Reluctantly, Fantao swallowed his anger and got into position. Then the start came and both animals attacked each other. Fantao dodged more Tigress 'blows than he attacked. Instead, he jumped around her until he failed to notice a quick blow and fell to the ground. He slid over the tiles, rolled over briefly and finally lay there.

"Oh!" The boy was shocked to find that a colorful tail feather had fallen out.

Tigress hurried to him quickly and picked up the lost feather. "Oh, I'm sorry."

She held it out to him. But Fantao waved it off. "You can keep it. Maybe you can give it Po." Another giggle rose from behind her back. The tigress clutched the feather with a firm grip, but she controlled herself in time. She mumbled a quick thank you, put the feather in her shirt and walked past her friends with brisk steps and kept in the background. The four friends looked at her in amazement. They wondered why she didn't show upset. Or was it because of the children?

Fantao, on the other hand, had enough of training for now and passed it on to Jian. The boy stepped onto the square with great uncertainty. The five wanted to make it easier for him and sent Mantis into the ring.

Although the green insect looked so harmless, the peacock cub knew how skilled this little master was and fearfully clutched his instrument.

"Come on, you don't need that for training," Xia said and took the pipa out of his wings.

"Hey!" Jian tried to reach for it again, but his older sister wouldn't budge and pushed her brother forward again.

Viper meanwhile had joined Tigress and looked at her carefully. "You are so quiet today. What's up?"

Tigress crossed her arms. "It's nothing."

The snake hissed. "Oh, come on. I know you. Is it because of Po?"

Tigress avoided her gaze and Viper thought it was best to be silent after all. Was there really any reason to worry about her best friend?

Their brooding was interrupted when Jian was pushed too hard by Mantis once and fell to his knee. Zedong shook his head disapprovingly.

"How could you miss his attack?" he chided his brother. "He was right in front of you."

Jian had to admit that he was totally unable to concentrate, but that didn't help him against his bruised knee. The soothsayer quickly rushed to him and helped him up.

The boy wasn't crying, but you could see that it hurt him.

"It doesn't matter," she reassured him. "We can fix that again."

With the boy, she went to the stairs. Mantis trembled with his antennas, then he turned to face his friends.

"What? I didn't even hit him hard."

"Then go up against me," Zedong challenged him.

Viper and Monkey exchanged surprised looks.

"He's got a lot of fighting spirit," the snake said.

The goat, not far from them, only listened with half an ear.

"Like his father," she muttered, cleaning Jian's knees in the meantime.

"I can also apply an ointment to you if you want," she finally offered.

The boy looked up at her. "Couldn't you be our nanny?"

The goat looked at him in embarrassment. "Uh, well, I…"

Monkey refrained from laughing and was wondering whether Shen would even like it.

Nobody paid any attention to Fantao anymore. The peacock had retreated to the wall of the palace again and was again painting the stone wall with his brush. Little by little, an image emerged that was more and more similar to Tigress. The little peacock took a few steps back and looked proudly at his work.

Suddenly, something grabbed his shirt and pulled him up. Fantao gave a startled cry, so that the others raised their heads in surprise. But before the little peacock could really scream for help, he looked a few meters above the floor on the wall into the grinning face of a gecko.

Tongfu gave a brief applause for the vulture who had snatched the boy from the ground.

"Somehow I'm starting to have fun collecting peacocks," the gecko joked. "This could be a new hobby for me."

Fantao, on the other hand, didn't find it laughable. "Hey! Let me down!"

"Shut up," the gecko snapped and two of his people took out a large sack. "Go in with him."

Without further ado, the vulture threw the child in there and the sack was immediately tied up. In vain, Fantao tried to get out.

Tongfu no longer bothered about it and turned to seven of his geckos. "Now bring me the two remaining ones."

"Hey, put him down!" Xia yelled up at them. The others had rushed to the scene as well.

Tongfu smiled at the group with an indifferent shrug.

"Sorry for entering without a ticket, but the show ends quickly anyway. We only need the three colorful little chickens and then we're gone again."

Zedong angrily raised his peacock comb. "Then get us!"

The Furious Five weren't exactly enthusiastic about Zedong's cockiness, but Tongfu would have given the attack signal anyway.

In no time, the geckos were shooting towards the troop. Tigress and the others immediately went into defense and tried to fend off the attackers. But they jumped over them and played with them the purest cat-and-mouse game.

Sheng and Xia took the opportunity and took Zedong to safety across the square. The soothsayer and Jian were still standing on the stairs and could not explain what was going on.

Zedong, on the other hand, was very enthusiastic. "Wow, a real robbery. I can continue to train there right away."

But Sheng took him aside. "No, you are not experienced enough for that. This is not a game here. Hide yourself!"

One of the geckos had broken through the kung fu wall and was racing towards the group on the stairs. But then, Master Ox rushed out of nowhere and flung the gecko to the side.

But then two more vultures, which the geckos had flown to Gongmen City, pounce on the ox and he was distracted again for a moment. Sheng immediately rushed to his aid and fended off the flutter men. Xia grabbed a fighting stick and hit the gecko, who had recovered from the ox's collision, and they both fought. At first, Master Croc was quite confused. But when two more geckos made it onto the square, he took part in the fighting, too.

At that moment, Jian remembered his musical instrument. Searching, he looked across the square. The pipa lay alone on the cobblestones. Immediately, he ran towards it before the soothsayer could hold him.

"Jian!" She called after him. "Stay here!"

But the boy didn't listen to her. But no sooner had he picked up the pipa, the largest vulture reared up in front of him.

"Where are you going so fast, colorful chick?" the dark bird scoffed.

Jian was clutching his musical instrument when the vulture grabbed him and put it in a sack. The goat had to watch helplessly as the boy was carried away by the vulture in the claws. Now it was Zedong, who felt compelled to do something.

"Hey, let go of my brother!"

The peacock jumped on the sack, which was already several meters above the ground. He climbed up on it, and gave the vultures a couple of blows on the head.

"Ouch, what's that supposed to mean?" the big vulture complained angrily and tried at least to shake the boy off. But the peacock was agile enough. The vulture didn't know where to fly. He was so high up now that he was almost at eye level with the top floor of the palace.

Tongfu, who had so far kept out of the whole tussle, whistled the next vulture to him.

"Come on, up there!" he ordered the bird, which immediately carried him through the air.

Tigress noticed that first. With tremendous blows she hurled the next gecko away, raced across the palace square and climbed up the facade of the palace.

Zedong had meanwhile brought the big vulture so far that it whirled uncontrollably through the air and as a result the dark bird slammed against an edge of the roof of the second to the last upper floor.

The sack in which Jian was still trapped tumbled down one floor and just got stuck on the edge of the next roof.

Immediately, Zedong jumped down and pulled the bag onto the secure roof plate. But before he could free his brother, in the next moment it went black when Tongfu put a sack over his head.

"Ha, I have you!" Triumphantly, he held the wriggling cloth bag over his head.

But then he saw the angry tigress racing up the walls and he preferred to retreat. He grabbed the second sack and dived over the roof with them. At that moment, Tigress reached the floor. Tigress made a daring leap forward. But before she could reach the gecko, she was thrown aside by an approaching shadow. The big cat lost her balance and fell from the top roof.

The big vulture, who had slammed so hard against the roof earlier and had pushed her so brutally, laughed. "Kittens shouldn't stand that high up."

Tigress would have hit the ground hard, but Crane caught her just in time.

Meanwhile, Tongfu had taken the nearest vulture as an air taxi and flew away with the prey. Then he whistled loudly once.

The other geckos recognized his signal and withdrew in a flash. They swung on more vultures and flew away.

When it was finally quiet, the others thought about what had happened.

"Where are they?" Viper asked, completely agitated.

"There they fly!" Tigress pointed in a certain direction on the horizon.

"Oh, no!" Xia exclaimed in shock. "Where are they taking them?"

"I bet you anything that it has something to do with Shen", Master Ox growled.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. "How do you want to know?" Xia asked.

"They are flying straight north. Besides, this big vulture is not unknown to me."

Viper looked at him questioningly. "How come?"

"This is Laishi. A mad vulture. Always persuades others that he is the harbinger of the underworld. In the last few years, he has been on the border of the Huns."

Everyone looked at each other until Tigress spoke a word of power. "Crane, Mantis, Viper! Fly after them."

The three looked at her in amazement.

"What about you guys?" Viper asked.

"We'll follow you," Master Ox interfered.

That amazed the snake even more. "But you will need at least two days for this."

The ox crossed his arms. "We'll be there sooner than you think."

"You have to fly now," Tigress urged.

Immediately, Crane grabbed the tiny insect and snake and flew north.

Xia looked after them with concern. "How are we supposed to catch up so quickly?"

"Yes," Master Croc agreed. "How are we supposed to catch up so quickly?"

The ox waved it off. "I already have an idea. Come with me."

The remainder followed the ox into the palace. From there he ordered a flying pigeon to which he gave a message.

His colleague, Master Kroko, looked on in surprise. "Who are you sending a letter to now?"

"Master Dashing Eagle once owed me a favor," Master Ox explained to him.

"But hasn't he been dead a long time?" the reptile remarked, puzzled.

"His family are not kung fu fighters," the ox instructed him while he was sending the pigeon away. "But they could be useful to us in that case. They are strong enough to fly us all the way to Mendong City."

Xia's mouth stayed open. "Why didn't you suggest that immediately when my father had to go to Mendong City quickly? Then he would have arrived Mendong City faster."

Master Ox looked at her grimly. "Your father is and remains a ..."

Master Croc ducked his head. "Please don't say it ..."

"… a murderer!"

Master Croc hit his forehead. "He said it again."

Xia clenched her wings. "Do you want to stick it to him for the rest of his life?!"

Immediately, the crocodile came between them.

"He was, he just was," he tried to calm the angry minds, but Master Ox didn't think about correcting his sentence. Instead, he ended this assessment with a strong final sentence.

"It will remain unchanged."

Xia would have liked to scold him, but Sheng took her aside and the discussion ended prematurely.

The hours stretched through the day like years. The masters and the rest of the peacock family had retired to the palace square and waited longingly for the eagles to arrive.

Tigress had retired to a quiet corner. She had crossed her arms and pawed the ground here and there with her foot.

Monkey noticed her nervousness and joined her. "Don't worry. I'm sure Po is fine."

Tigress shot him a piercing look, which is why the monkey corrected himself quickly. "But I'm sure, the others are fine, too. I'm sure they are out of danger."

"Then why are you kidnapping my brothers?" Xia intervened. "First my mother, now them, too. What is that supposed to help?"

"I guess we'll find out," Monkey said.

At the next moment, there was a rush over their heads. In awe, they looked up to where six eagles circled overhead. They landed with a high vortex of air.

Master Ox immediately turned to the foremost eagle. They bowed to each other.

"Thank you for coming," the ox greeted.

The eagle nodded. "We'll be happy to do it. A good friend of Master Dashing Eagle is a friend to all of us."

"It's okay," the ox said. "We're in a hurry. Fly us to Mendong City immediately."

Xia's gaze fell on the soothsayer, who stayed politely in the background. "Don't you want to come with us?"

"She is afraid of flying", Master Croc explained to her.

The goat smiled at her. "Just fly. I hope the others are doing well."

Finally, they were ready to take off. With powerful wings, the eagles took off with their passengers either on their backs or with their claws.

The goat waved after them. She still had a bad feeling in her stomach, but she hoped everything was going well.

When they could no longer be seen, the old lady brooded again.

"Shen," she muttered. "Take care of your family."