I quickly found myself being escorted out of the building I had been locked up in, not too far away from the Valley of Peace either, maybe a mile away judging from the distance of the small town. I had a rope around my neck like a dog and was dragged around by one of the black gorillas. All together there might have been twelve of the lumbering beasts around, including Fennu himself who was at the head of the convoy. Half the group carried torches to light the way. Yinshen was ordered to guard the building as punishment for "training" with me.

"You can't possibly think they'll turn Po over, even if you do try to kill me". I told the grey gorilla in front of me.

"Then you are foolish to think that". Fennu snarled back. "The jade palace is built on honor, if you can call it that. Fighting for those who should learn to fight for themselves". The gorilla nearly spat in disgust.

"Meaning"? I asked.

"That the warriors would go to nearly any length just to save the life of just one being. A stupid idea but one which will work in my favor".

"And after you get your arms on the dragon warrior, what then? You're going to kill him"?

"Not quite! I shall make sure he suffers greatly for everything he has put me through. His pain will last for a very long time before I am done! Afterwards, I may even skin him and place his hide on my wall to serve as a reminder to all who dare oppose me"!

This guy was sick to say the least. I didn't even speak back. All this for the sake of revenge?

...

VIPER POV

I could find no sign of Mike anywhere. It was as though he had run off a third time, though I doubt he would be stupid enough to try. But every second that passed made the idea seem more and more likely. Either that or something else had happened. I had given up after looking for half an hour and headed back up the stairs. Maybe he had already returned to the barrack and was sleeping in his room. I can only hope. I took another look at the village in an attempt to see if he may have been coming up the stairs. Nothing. What I did see in the distance, were several lighted torches, as though a small group was heading into town...

...

MIKE POV

The journey to the village had been far from pleasant for me. The rope round my neck was chaffing me every time the handler pulled on it, and the gorillas behind me kept arguing and grunting at each other. I took in mind that gorillas here weren't very disciplined. That could be something to use to my advantage if I ever get free.

"So, exactly what is the plan here"? I asked to the leader.

Fennu stopped, about ten meters from the village entrance, and turned round. Not to face me, but the horde of gorillas behind me.

"Extinguish the flames". He spoke in a low growl.

The soldiers obeyed and blew out the flames before throwing their torches on the ground.

"If you really must know, we sneak up to the Jade palace and find the master Shifu. Then we force him to lead us to the dragon warrior and trade him for you. If not, we kill you and his students while they sleep. With any luck, you be back home to live your miserable life while the dragon warrior's will be mine to rip apart". He spoke, narrowing his eyes as he did, almost as though he was imagining Po dying which was enough to make my stomach turn.

"You sicken me". I spoke, receiving some growls from the gorillas behind me who begun to advance until Fennu raised his hand to stop them.

"Easy on what you say worm! If I had no need of you, I would make you beg for your life"!

"Good thing you need me then".

"Hmpfh".

Looking back up to his men, Fennu growled some sort of order. The next thing I knew, I was gagged, most likely to keep me from yelling for help. Either that or Fennu was tired of me running my mouth off. The whole group had started moving again.

Within only a few minutes, we had already made it into the training hall. Fennu seemed to know his way around the Jade palace, I couldn't help but think that his wasn't his first time here. He had already sent five of the twelve warriors he had taken with him to the barracks, ready to slit their throats. However, I couldn't help but feel some guilt. I should have said something about Yinshen when I had the chance. And if I hadn't stormed off earlier tonight, leading to me being captured, none of this would have happened. If I get out of this, if everyone gets out of this, then perhaps I should tell them everything about what happened today. About Yinshen, about breaking up with Viper and... about what I actually am. Where I originally came from.

"Now then, let us pay your master a visit". Spoke Fennu quietly to me, not even bothering to look back. I was taken down the hall of heroes and taken to the right at the end of the hallway, up to Shifu's room. There, we entered his room, in which there were so many of Fennus soldiers packed into it there wasn't enough room to swing a cat, where I expected him to be sleeping, only he was nowhere in sight. I heard a couple of gorillas grunt in confusion. But it seemed that Shifu missing wasn't the only surprise because soon enough.

"LORD FENNU"! Yelled another Gorilla, only this one was sent to the barracks a few minutes ago and was racing up the stairs to the room.

"Be quiet fool!". Fennu snapped. "Why aren't you with the rest of your men"?

"The warriors of this palace are nowhere to be found Lord Fennu".

"What? They are all meant to be asleep at this time of night"! Fennu argued before he turned to me in pure rage as though I had somehow planned this.

"Where are they"? Fennu growled.

"Why the hell do you think I know? You locked me away for half the bloody night in some kind of dungeon"! I defended, only problem was that I managed to make him angrier. If this was a cartoon, I'd bet you could see steam shooting out of his small ears.

"That's it! I'm going to"-

"You're not going to do anything"! Came a voice I was all too familiar with. All the gorillas parted and at the entrance of the room was Shifu himself, along with Po and the furious five. Except for Mantis, where was he?

"WHAT? HOW"? The grey gorilla yelled in shock. For once I was with Fennu on this, how did they know that a group of gorillas had invaded the hall of heroes so quickly, especially when they are meant to be asleep by now?

"Luckily one of us was looking for Mike to begin with and just happened to see your glowing torches in the distance and warned the rest of us". Shifu filled us in. "Perhaps your clan name, the Shadow Clan doesn't live up to it's expectations".

"No matter". Fennu spoke. "We still have our hostage in play, so I would recommend you listen to my demands or else you'll be mopping his blood and guts off these floors"!

"Or I could do this". Shifu raised his right arm in the air and snapped with his skinny fingers. The next thing I knew, the gorilla which held the rope around my neck suddenly started freaking out and dropped it. What was the matter with him, I didn't know. That was until I saw a small green blur move at the speed of light across his chest. Within in the first few seconds of attacking, Mantis seemed to stop at the apes chest and struck it several times quickly. As he pressed his chest for the fifth time, the gorilla suddenly froze in an angry position. Everything remained quiet as the stiffened gorilla stood still for an extra two seconds before falling over backwards, remaining in the same frozen position.

Next thing I knew, all hell broke loose as everybody begun to attack each other and I was caught right in the middle of it. As I dodged the huge hairy fists of the gorillas, I managed to bite at the rope several times fast enough to cut through it, the air on my chaffed neck was soothing but I had no time to enjoy it as another fist came down, nearly hitting me. In which response I wrapped myself around the attacker's neck while my tail wrapped around one of his arms. There, I pulled its arm as hard as I could, making the beast punch itself repeatedly until it fell unconscious. Within minutes, the number of nine gorillas had been reduced to one. Fennu stood at the other end of the room. The only thing between us and him were the unconscious bodies of gorillas. As of now, the most sensible thing to have done would have been to give up. But Fennu pointed to me and spoke.

"You've made yourself a powerful enemy today python"!

Fennu tore the hammer from his back and where I was expecting him to attack, the leader instead slammed the weapon into the wall as hard as he could, causing said wall to crumble down leaving a hole big enough for him to jump out of. Everybody wasted no time and followed, I first through the hole. As Fennu made it to the edge of the pathway, on which the other side was a huge cliff that dropped down into the bamboo forest, he did not stop or slow down. Instead he jumped off the edge of the damn thing! I rushed to the edge to try and find him but it was too dark to see anything. Had he escaped or had he just killed himself? I don't know. I stood there for God knows how long until I felt something touch me, making me flinch. I looked to see Viper with her tail around me, offering a comforting smile which I somewhat returned. Only to look away as Mantis broke the silence.

"That was fun! Haven't had the chance to paralyze somebody in a long time"! He exclaimed happily, flexing his pointy dealies.

"Crane, alert the guards and have them take the knocked out gorillas to Chorgom prison. Mike, get some rest. You need it. Everybody else, I need you to keep an eye on the shadow warrior until Crane arrives with reinforcements. In the morning... I will need to have a chat with all of you about what we're up against". Shifu ordered, but after more rubble came down from the hole in the room, Shifu continued. "And Crane, if you can, see if you can find someone who can fix this wall on your way".

After hearing Shifu's command, I made no hesitation and made my way around the partly destroyed building and watched Crane take off into the night. From there I made my way down the stairs. However...

"Hey Mike, is everything okay"? Came Vipers voice. I turned for a second to see her moving down the stairs.

"Aren't you meant to be keeping an eye on the gorillas"? I asked curiously.

"There's still some gorillas tied up in Mantis's room so I need to make sure that they're still there". Viper explained. I suppose that explains what happened to the soldiers Fennu had sent down to the barracks.

"Fair enough". I replied, sounding uninterested.

"Listen, Mike. There's something I need to tell you. About after you... well... stormed off some time ago".

My face hardened as I remembered the reason behind it. "Okay"...

"Po told me how he made you buy the box of chocolate for me. I just made the assumption that you were wasting your money on me instead of asking about it. I... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions".

I had to admit, Viper had the courage to bring something like this up, especially after fighting with huge gorillas. I just gave in and sighed.

"I suppose it wasn't your fault. I suppose I did go overboard on the whole anger thing". I said sheepishly.

"So that's why I wanted to ask something. I know it's a little early but... do you want to get back together"?

I still remember my rant in the village I had, before I was kidnapped. How I said I was glad about breaking up with her because... I still see myself as my human self, and not a snake. I can't say that I'm going to be happy about delivering the answer I'm about to give, for both our sakes, but I believe it's the right call.

"I'm afraid... I can't Viper. I'm sorry". I could see her face immediatley turn from a kind smile to one of sadness and shock. "I'm sorry. It's not you that's the problem. It's me".

From there, we had reached the barracks and I made my way inside, passing a big pile of moaning gorillas with their limbs tied together. I reached my room and looked back again to see Viper enter and was giving me sad eyes. I did the only thing I could. I said goodnight and slithered into my room.

...

Finally, I finished this chapter. This one was tough to write but in the end, I'm proud of that I've written. So it seems that Fennu is still out there somewhere, most likely plotting his revenge and will return in due time to finish the job.

As for the Mike and Viper relationship, is it really the end of the two? I won't say but I have gotten it planned out so I guess the next chapter will reveal all soon enough. Cheerio!