The time had slowly changed from seven in the morning to eight in the evening. It had been a lazy day so far for most of us, not to mention the village itself seemed to be having no problems with bandits or thieves. I guess checking out that new bar will be exciting enough anyway. Speaking of which, Mantis seemed quite excited about going to said bar. I can only hope he doesn't decide to drink too much and make a fool out of himself. Again. I still broke out with a smile remembering how he tried insulting me and yelling something about clouds.

Five minutes later, I decided not to keep everybody else waiting and left. The only one still waiting for me was Tigress, surprisingly.

"Hey Tigress. Where's everyone else"?

"They're already down at the bar so I volunteered to wait around for you so you don't get lost".

"I didn't think you'd actually agree to going with us tonight. Why'd you"-

"Po wouldn't shut up about it until I came along". Tigress interrupted with somewhat of an annoyed look on her face.

"Ah, say no more".

So Tigress, generously, led the way down to the bar, which was the second building on the right of the Jade palace steps. I took a look at the pub name. The Silver yuan.

"You know, you don't have to come in if you don't want. No one's gonna force you". I explained, doubting that Tigress would have wanted any part in this.

"I appreciate the concern but I've already been persuaded to ... take the night off... so I'm not going back on my word". The way she spoke, you'd have thought she had something stuck in her throat.

"Okay, if you're sure".

That being said, I opened the door to the bar to see the place crowded. It looked like a lot of fun despite the lack of snooker tables, football results on T.V, newspapers, no. Just the alcohol and people were the only things around to enjoy. Then again, it's not like I was expecting this place to be boasting about new types of sports cars anytime soon but still, it felt so much different than what a normal British bar would have. I turned back to Tigress.

"Last chance to chicken out". I watched as her face tightened slightly.

"I don't chicken out". She said plainly before shoving me aside lightly and entering with the most unenthusiastic look I've seen anyone have when entering a bar. I followed and decided to get a drink first before finding everyone else. I signaled the barman, an old goat with one closed eye.

"Ey there sir. What would the both of yous like teh drink"? He spoke with a Scottish accent.

"I'll just take a normal beer mate". I asked as I wasn't much a fan of many whiskeys and spirits.

"Good choice. And you sir"? He asked Tigress.

I had to turn away from Tigress as I tried not to laugh at the fact that the barman had just mistaken her for a dude. I turned back just in time to lower her hand for her as it turned into a fist.

"Water". She ordered coldly. I waited until the barman was away to get the drinks before I released my grip. As I did, her fist smashed into the front side of the counter with enough strength to nearly knock several drinks over.

"Tell you what, How bout you find the others and I'll bring your water over for you"? I asked in an attempt to calm her down.

"Fine".

The barman waited until Tigress had left before returning over with a mug of beer and one of water.

"What his problem then"? He whispered.

"HE happens to be a SHE". I pointed out suppressing another chortle with my tail as I saw the barman's face drop with embarrassment.

"Oh, I see... Anyway, that'll be four yuan laddie".

I handed over the four yuan, thanking the barman and left the counter with both drinks held by my neck coiling round them. I found everybody off in the corner, they all seemed to be laughing while Viper patted an angry Tigress on the back. I guess that she had already told them the story. With all said, and hopefully forgotten, I sat down with them and dropped the mug of water in front of Tigress.

"Did we miss anything"?

"Just Tigress telling us how the barman mistook her for a guy". Po pointed out causing everyone to laugh again, apart from both girls Tigress and Viper.

"Yeah, what's that now, the sixth person to do that"? Mantis joked before breaking down laughing. And receiving a punch from a very pissed off tiger, sending him crashing into the wall. This shut everyone up. She then growled, daring anybody else to snigger or laugh in any way. Luckily none of us were that stupid enough to.

"Anyway, now that we've got the night to ourselves, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself Mike"?

"Me"?

"No, the other Mike. Of course you". Monkey mocked.

"Right, well... I grew up in England. I had always been somewhat of a loner and struggled through life. My father was a biology teacher and my mother, a nurse. They often had to work long hours so I never spent as much time as I would have liked to, so I had to make do with my younger sister. I swear, there was no one in my life who was so annoying in my life other than her". I took a second to chuckle. "Once I finished school at the age of sixteen, my first thought was to become an artist. Of course, I would have had to go to university for that so my family had to save up. It took over two years but we managed to gain four thousand pounds, that's currency in England in case you're wondering, and things seemed to be going well. But one day, me and my family came home to find that someone had broken in and stolen... well, pretty much everything we owned. My mother cried all night while my dad did what he could to cheer her up. I felt the same way and told my sister that I was going to take a walk around the block to clear my head. Ten minutes into said walk, I got jumped by some thieves and... ...well, I don't remember much after that".

"So what happened? If you don't mind me asking"? Crane spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Luckily, we managed to get a loan from our bank and paid for the damage done to the house. Unfortunately I didn't have enough to go to university so I decided to travel and, ended up here".

I checked to see that everyone seemed a little down from my story. Only Viper was able to look me in the eye. It was clear that she knew that everything but the last statement was true.

"Well that killed the drinking mood". Mantis pointed out.

"Mantis"! Viper snapped.

"Hey, it's alright Viper. I wasn't exactly known for telling the best stories in China". I joked.

The rest of the night was much more... fun I guess would be the right word. Everyone talked about their own past and how the ended up training at the Jade palace. Mantis got drunk, for the second time. Crane got sick after a few drinks and Tigress actually gave a smile for once. Overall it was a fun night.

In the end, I had to take Mantis back up to the barracks while Po did the same with Crane. Everybody else followed behind. Once reaching the barracks, I put Mantis to bed while he talked in his sleep about pink horses. I left him to dream and was about to head into my room until I found Viper waiting for me.

"...Hey Vipes".

"Hey".

"Is everything okay"?

"I think I should be the one asking you that".

"Don't worry about me. It's in the past now".

"But..."?

"I just can't stop thinking about how my parents had to deal with it. Losing me like that... I just wished I knew what they were thinking was all, whether they miss me".

"Of course they would. You know that better than anyone else".

"Yeah... I guess so. Goodnight".

"Goodnight".

I slid past Viper and into my room. Unaware of the unpleasant night that awaited.

...

Hey everyone, sorry it took so long but I've been working on that new story I've been talking about for a while and the first chapter of it is up. If you want, feel free to read it but remember, it has little to do with this story and was written for fun.

So now, we're beginning to reach a bit of a dark side to the story. It should only last for the next chapter unless I end up with something else to add in. Other than that, cheerio!