24. Thundery Atmosphere

The rain front had also reached Gongmen City. Completely out of breath, the old goat and her grandnephew Ling arrived at the house in town. They walked through the door, wet and dripping. The soothsayer shook out the umbrella that Dr. Wu had given on their way.

"Honestly," Ling began, "I don't understand you."

His great aunt looked at him questioningly. "Why, Ling?" and tucked the umbrella away in a corner.

"You never let him go alone," Ling objected. "The cleaning of the house could have waited."

The old goat sighed. "You know, Ling. I've made up my mind since last night."

Her grandnephew raised an eyebrow. "And what?"

The goat briefly turned her back on him. Then she gave the floor a hard tap with her cane before turning back to face him, staring straight into his eyes. "I've decided to stop fortune-telling forever."

Ling's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

The old lady nodded. "I'm serious. I had to realize again last night that all the fortune-telling had been a mistake. From the beginning!"

"Is it because of Shen?"

"Ling, I don't want to blame myself anymore in my life and risk that it happens again. I want to leave my old life behind and just focus on the family."

"Which family do you mean?"

"I just want to be there for him and his kids. I'm constantly plagued by the thought that I've contributed to the downfall of the peacock family. And it will probably be my new job to keep them together again."

Lin frowned. "But this is a very big task. Isn't that a bit too much? I mean, at your age, it's hard to make such extreme adjustments. You can't shift an old tree without it dying, as they always say…"

"Ling! I'm old, but I'm not rusty yet." She turned away. "Come on, help me to collect everything that has anything to do with divination. Then we load everything onto a cart and take it out of town."

"And then what do we do with it?" Ling wanted to know.

"You'll see," the old goat replied, waving her walking stick. "So help me."

Obediently, Ling followed her. First, they went to the attic, where the old goat was sure to find the most things. However, during her cleanup, Ling glanced out the window. "Uh, I hope the others found a place to shelter."

"Why Ling?" the old goat asked in surprise.

"Look at the clouds," Ling said, pointing to the black clouds on the horizon over the sea, even darker than the rain clouds already hanging over the city.

The old goat rubbed her goatee nervously. Gradually, she became seriously concerned about the travel group again.

Po scarcely dared to step over the threshold of the hut. The door had fallen off its hinges and now lay ratty next to the door frame. The panda looked at everything with big eyes. There were so many memories attached to this place. When he thought about how he had dragged Shen unconscious into this hovel to spare him the death penalty and because they had to flee from attackers, his stomach turned a little. He hated to think about what would have happened if the escalations between Shen and himself had gotten completely out of hand. Almost twice the white peacock had tried to kill him in this dilapidated building, which he surely would have succeeded in doing if he hadn't been so injured. Slowly, the panda walked over the creaking floorboards. It was a miracle that he didn't break into it. He stopped in front of the little room. It was still as they had left it. Even the old bed was still there, unchanged. Except now there was a thicker layer of dust covering it. Po looked down. Even the vines and sticks, which he had used to brace Shen's broken wing and leg, were still scattered on the ground. Sighing, the panda leaned against the door frame. It seemed to him that the walls were echoing all the voices and sounds of the past. And then it all seemed so unrealistic to him again. How had he survived all this? And now he asked himself how he should get through the current situation. How could he reconcile two brothers? He may have been the Dragon Warrior, but he didn't understand sibling quarrels any more than a fish breathes on land. He himself had never had siblings. How could he go about it? It annoyed him that the soothsayer hadn't come with him. He probably had to come up with something of his own. Pondering, Po pressed his forehead against the wall.

Outside, the rain had gotten a little heavier. Dao was still crouching under the big tree, staring into space. He only noticed when he saw a shadow coming towards him. He turned his head in that direction. Immediately, Po stopped and raised his open paws. "Don't worry, I come in peace," Po said quickly, smiling at him.

Dao didn't return the cheerful gesture and just looked away again.

Po didn't blame him and joined him. Then he reached into a cloth bag and pulled out a rice ball. "Hey, are you hungry?"

He held out the rice dish to the younger peacock, but Dao shook his head dismissively.

"You haven't eaten in a long time," Po pointed out.

"I'm just not hungry," Dao rebuked him.

Po grimaced. "Are you going to diet until Shen is on his knees in front of you? With that, your parents won't come alive either."

"I know!" Dao snapped at him. "But he has no right to expect any concessions from me."

Po sighed. "Do you actually know that your brother was very worried about you?"

Dao let out a snort. "It doesn't make what he did to me any better."

"Listen," Po tried again. "He didn't even know that you existed. If he had known, he might have... uh... well... he might have..." Po searched for a solution out of the mental impasse. What else could Shen have done after being banished?

But Dao didn't agree with him. "And then what prompted him to commit such an act?" he replied bitterly. "He should have thought this through before he raided your village."

Po bit his lower lip. Of course, what happened back then couldn't be undone. But what should he do instead? Po had learned early enough that he shouldn't live in the past, but for Dao his childhood still seemed to be too present, which he immediately addressed.

"He took my mother from me," the peacock hissed. "I already lost her before she died."

Po lowered his ears. But then he raised his head. "Follow me."

Dao looked at him skeptically. "Where to?"

"Just come with me," Po insisted, waving him over to signal him that he should follow him.

"Sit down," Po offered, pointing to the old bed.

They stood in the only bedroom of the hut where Po had once lodged Shen. Dao didn't contradict him, but obediently sat down on the dusty blanket while Po leaned his back against the wall.

They were silent for a moment. Then the panda cleared his throat and pointed to the ceiling. "Look up."

Dao did, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Your brother once hung himself from this beam," Po continued. "I forced open the door. And then he hung there. I got him down just in time." He waited for a reaction.

But when Dao looked away from the ceiling again, he just looked at the panda indifferently. "And? What are you trying to tell me? Do you now expect me to pity him for that?"

Po had actually hoped for this, but this plan had failed. "Well, I mean..." Feverishly, Po searched for an argument. "Well, what I want to say is that... that... I mean, don't you agree that he... that he hasn't been punished enough already?" He said the last words a little sheepishly. He felt so awkward. He was already admiring Shifu. He always seemed to know the right sentence for every situation, but unfortunately, he wasn't here.

Dao lifted his beak disparagingly. "You don't believe that yourself..."

"What I... what I'm saying is," Po quickly interrupted. "You and him are totally alike. You both have the same thoughts, and the same feelings…I guess."

Dao got up. "Listen, I know what you want to tell me!" he instructed the panda sharply. "We're both from the same family, we're both siblings. But how can you expect me to forgive him?"

"Well, I've done it already," Po said firmly. "Even though he wiped out my family."

Dao turned his back on him and folded his wings. "You can't forgive something like that."

Po swallowed. "Admittedly, you can't, but he ended up regretting it."

"How do you know?"

"Because... well, because..." Po thought about it. Shen had never said it outright. "Well, he made that clear to me. Namely… by stopping trying to kill me. Basically, he just wanted to eliminate a warrior who would fight him, and that ended up being me. If he had known from the start, he would have killed only me back then. And the rest of my family might have been spared. But we cleared things up. He leaves me alone and I let him... Okay, maybe not completely alone, sometimes we come across from time to time, and I run after him as well. Just like I had to persuade him to let me accompany him to Japan. And that had been very difficult…" Po paused as Dao lifted his wing.

"Tell me what exactly happened in Japan."

Po raised his ears hopefully. "Okay." Then he lowered himself to the ground, sat cross-legged and began to talk. "Actually, it all started during a kung fu competition. Ever heard of it? Not only I took part, but also Sheng..."

"Who is Sheng?" Dao immediately interrupted him.

"Oh, oh." Embarrassed, Po rubbed his head. "That's the name of Shen's son. Well, his older one... Anyway, that's where the whole thing started..." Po told what had just occurred to him since the day of the kung fu championship. He left nothing out in his report. Nor how he had to travel the rest of the way in a barrel and how they had encountered a venomous python. He told in detail how they had traveled through Japan and what had happened to the ninjas in Dao's mental absence.

Dao just listened most of the time, raising his eyebrows once when Po mentioned that Shen used his katana sword.

After Po finished, he looked expectantly at the peacock. "Well, what are you saying now?"

Dao twisted his beak. "What shall I say?"

Po frowned in disgust. "Well, maybe a "thank you", because I haven't heard that from you until now."

Dao let out a sigh. "Okay, thanks. – Nevertheless, I would have preferred that I never had to see him."

In the meantime, the weather had calmed down a bit and had turned into a drizzle. Shen had left his place under a tree and was wandering among the trees, deep in thought. This place brought back so many memories for him. He lifted his wing. He could still feel the broken bones and torn finger feathers.

How long ago was all this? Shenmi was 6 years old now, then the year before that with Yin-Yu after the wedding... He had been here for the last time more than 7 years ago. He shook his head inwardly. Now that he was here, it felt like yesterday and he wondered if it wasn't all over here in Gongmen City.

Where would Yin Yu be now? And the little kids… they never would have existed… Shen had a bad feeling in his stomach at the thought of never holding Shenmi in his wings. He would either be lying on the seabed now, a rotting corpse, or underground, a convict tortured to death. His claws dug into the rain-soaked forest floor. Guaranteed, these thoughts would haunt him until the day of his death.

He raised his head. He was now standing near the hut again. He heard voices from one of the leaky windows. He walked towards it slowly. He remembered well how he had always looked out of this window when he still had to be in bed.

When he got close enough, he could hear clear words between the panda and his brother.

"...Nevertheless, I would have preferred that I never had to see him," he heard Dao say.

Shen stood on tiptoe and peered into the room. Luckily, Dao didn't see him, but his fierce gaze was only directed resolutely at the panda. And the next sentence from him sent a shiver under his feathers.

"I swore to myself that if I ever see him, I would tell him that he isn't my brother anymore."

Po looked at Dao with wide eyes. "Would you have preferred it if he had died?" he asked, dismayed.

Dao avoided Po's gaze. The panda tilted his head. He guessed he didn't want to answer. Dao didn't like Shen, but he was still his brother.

The panda cleared his throat and thought it best to change the subject. "Wasn't there anything nice that you experienced with your parents?"

Dao looked down slightly. "My father at most. He rarely left me alone."

Po could see a slight smile lift the angles of the bird's beak. "I was even allowed to sit next to his throne while he conducted his duties."

Po sighed. "If your father loved you so much, didn't you ever think about going home?"

Dao shrugged. "Maybe."

Po was not satisfied with this answer. "What happened? Did you just run away and go straight to Japan? Haven't you ever been homesick? I mean, as a kid, I used to get homesick quite a lot after we went camping with the school class for a few days."

Dao hunched his shoulders tensely. "Maybe I wanted, but... but it didn't work!"

Po raised his eyebrows. "What happened then? Were you held?"

Dao let out a snort. "What I've seen and experienced is my business, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, sure." Po didn't want to upset Dao unnecessarily and tried his luck again. "Won't you at least try to get along with him?"

He felt Dao's wings begin to spasm again. "Even if I wanted," Dao choked out, "I'll probably never have the time to do it."

Po raised his eyebrows. "But why not?"

Quickly, Dao turned away and pressed his wing against the wall. "They will look for me and bring me back."

The panda winced. He had almost forgotten that the ninjas would be after them. "Oh, they don't even know where you are at the moment," Po said to him.

But Dao just shook his head violently. "You don't know how many times I've tried to run away. And they caught me again and again." He turned to the panda. There was bitter anger in his face. "And it was unwise of you, because now you've got yourselves involved! Now you are not safe from them either."

Po swallowed hard. He could safely do without a second encounter with Ravan. "But there you were still fighting on their side," Po finally objected. "More or less. Now after you have your own mind again, it won't be that difficult to compete against them. After all," he raised his fists in triumph, "I'm the kung fu champion now!"

Dao narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Could be."

But then, he suddenly raised his peacock feathers. He thought, he had heard a cracking noise at the window. Quickly, he jumped to the window and looked outside.

Po, whose hearing wasn't as extremely good as that of a peacock, looked at him in surprise. "Anything wrong?"

Dao narrowed his eyes. "Maybe not." He turned away and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Po wanted to know.

"I need some fresh air," Dao replied. "It's a bit stuffy here."

Shen ran around the corner of the house. Just as he thought, he was out of sight, he angrily kicked a stone, kicking it far away. He just didn't know what to think of his brother. Should he despise him like he once did his parents, or consider that the ninjas could take him back?

Shen ran to the cart and lifted the tarpaulin where the two swords were stored underneath. Quickly, he grabbed his lance sword. He had to vent somehow. Not only did sword swinging help him release his pent-up tension, but it also helped him regain control of it through concentrated swinging of the weapon. He always felt as if he had to tame an inner turbulent sea. Although it was still raining, the peacock immediately began his exercises. But then he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around quickly. Dao was only a few meters away from him. Their eyes met. A shock went through Shen. For a moment, he saw a little white peacock chick standing in front of him. Shen shook his head and the image changed back to a 28-year-old man. Dao's face was twisted into a somber expression, but Shen wasn't exactly looking at him peacefully either. There was renewed tension between them.

"You were listening, weren't you?" Dao rebuked him.

"And you taunted behind my back again," Shen countered.

Dao lifted his beak into the rain-soaked air. "I'm only telling the truth." His gaze fell on Shen's lance sword. "And you used my katana, I heard."

Shen let out a derisive snort. "Did I need a permit for that? You weren't even responsive."

Dao let out a growl. Then he pushed his brother aside and took his katana. "Next time ask me when you take things from me," he admonished, stroking the long Japanese sword.

Shen eyed it with raised eyebrows. "Are you really that good at fighting when you're not under someone else's control?"

Dao gave him a withering look. "I might even be better than you." He pulled the katana slightly out of its sheath, the sharp metal gleaming. "I'd been good at fighting since I was a kid." He looked at him disdainfully. "In contrast to you."

Shen narrowed his eyes. Then he lashed out his lance sword, holding the point directly in front of Dao's beak. "I didn't need a lesson from a busybody!" he snapped. "I trained completely independently of him. - And I've gotten even better than he could have ever done."

Dao's eyes narrowed. "Father said, you'd never be as good as I was at my age..."

Shen lunged forward and brutally pinned Dao's back against the car. "I'm 10 times better than he was!" he yelled at him. "Father may have been a good fighter, but he never realized how well I actually fought in the end!"

Dao grabbed his brother's shirt with the claw of his foot, jerked him around, and now he pinned him against the wooden cart. "Yes, because he could never see it because of you!" he snapped. "I'm definitely better than you!"

Both brothers stared at each other.

Eventually, Shen said what his brother seems to be trying to find out all the time. "Want to bet that I'm better than you?" he hissed defiantly.

Dao narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to see that." He took the katana out of its sheath completely and held the sharp blade in front of his brother's face. Shen wasn't afraid, he just took this as confirmation.

"Let's find a suitable place for it," he said firmly. "Then it will show how well you can really fight."

Dao paused for a moment, then he nodded. "Agreed," and let go of Shen. "And where?"

Worried, Po looked up at the sky. "Oh, oh, something's gathering." The sky had continued to darken and there was even an eerie rumble in the distance. He looked around searchingly. "Where are they?"

Quickly, Po stepped onto the terrace. The bull and the hare had also just decided to go into the hut when they had seen the clouds. "Do you know where they are?" the Dragon Warrior asked.

The drivers shrugged.

"No," the bunny said. "If that's the case, they'd better come in."

Po nodded. "Then I guess, I'll have to pick them up." Now a strong wind came up.

"Great," Po mumbled sarcastically. "The day just keeps getting better. Shen? Dao? Where are you?!"

Po went over to the cart, but they weren't there either. Just when he noticed the cloth that had been pushed away and he saw the missing weapons and he threw his paws over his head. "Oh no! I should have sat on it!"

A little further away from the hut, Shen had found a piece of meadow. After carefully clearing the place of stumbling blocks, he and Dao got into position, facing each other. They held their weapons in front of them and began to walk in circles, keeping their eyes on each other.

At first, neither of them seemed to dare to attack first. But then Shen pulled himself together and lunged forward with the lance sword. Dao reacted immediately and fought him off.

A mocking smile swept over Shen's beak. "At least your reflexes weren't played."

Dao didn't reply, just focused on Shen's movements.

"Who did teach that to you?" Shen wanted to know. "Master Thundering Rhino didn't know that."

Now Dao lunged forward with his katana, which Shen now blocked.

"It doesn't matter if I learned it from him or not," Dao growled. "I still can't understand how you were able to kill him?!"

Shen let out a snort as they continued to circle. "He had humiliated me." He lashed out with his lance sword. Dao parried again. "He deserved it."

Dao glared at him venomously. But before he could reply, there was a flash on the horizon. The younger peacock flinched and looked in the direction the storm was coming from.

Shen raised her eyebrows. "Are you scared?"

"Nonsense!" Dao defended and started to attack Shen with his katana. Their weapons banged together, making an ominous metallic sound. The raindrops swirled around them with every movement. They turned and performed a real swordsman's dance. But the lightning flashes now increasingly in shorter distances in the distance. Shen noticed that Dao wasn't as focused as before, but he didn't ask any more questions, just paying attention to his strengths. He didn't want to be a weakling at all costs.

"Shen! Dao!" Po shouted through the forest. In the meantime, the rain had intensified again, so that the raindrops really hurt on the skin. Po was glad that he was wearing a thick fur, but he felt the storm was getting closer. The sky was now as dark as in the evening. "Nice," Po cursed. "Now, of all times! Shen! Dao…" His voice trailed off as he noticed two white figures in an open space in the forest. "What a luck. - Hey! Guys! There's a thunderstorm coming! Haven't you noticed that yet…?!" At that moment, a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky.

Dao was just getting ready to jump. Shen was prepared for anything. Despite the aggressive rain that was pouring around them, he didn't let himself be distracted. His eyes only stayed on his brother. But just as Dao jumped up and the next bolt of lightning flashed, Shen froze momentarily in his stance. Dao transformed into another figure for a few seconds. It was that silhouette of a fox again with a katana in its paws. And beside him appeared an old wolf with a lance sword.

"You can't defeat me!" the silver fox sneered.

"Your kingdom is as good as mine!" the wolf snapped.

Shen narrowed his eyes. He let out a yell in the next rumble of thunder and rushed ahead.

Po couldn't believe what he was seeing. As soon as the bright flash died away, Shen cried out and slashed at Dao madly with his sword. But Dao seemed to have been completely distracted by the lightning and he fell backwards, but was able to protect himself in time with his katana.

Po formed his paws into a funnel and held them in front of his mouth. "SHEN!" he yelled against the wind. "Stop it no...!"

At that moment, a lightning struck a tree less than a meter from the peacocks. The wood splintered on the tree bark and tore off some branches that just flew around. Everyone was momentarily blinded and the ensuing loud crack of thunder momentarily deafened everyone. A large branch fell to the ground, narrowly missing Dao. Shocked, the white peacock huddled in the grass.

Quickly, Po recovered and ran toward the two. "Are you totally crazy?!" Po yelled at them. "Every child knows not to stand near trees during a thunderstorm!"

But Shen pushed him aside, annoyed. "What are you so upset about? It's just a thunderstorm!"

Po opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. "Just a thunderstorm?! So I don't intend to get struck by lightning!" The next flash lit up the sky. Po ran in a circle in a panic. "Get out of here before the whole tree falls over!"

But when he looked at Dao, he was still sitting on the ground, unchanged, with his wings folded over his head.

A shock went through Po. Had the branch hit him after all? Or something else?

"Dao! Are you okay?" he asked, worried.

In the next moment, a lot of hailstones rained down on them. "Ouch! Darn it! - Get out of here!" Po clawed at Dao. But he held on to the ground even more convulsively. "Now finally let go!" the panda demanded and he only managed to lift him up with great effort. As soon as he had Dao on his shoulders, the panda raced away. Shen wanted to follow him, but then he noticed that Dao had left his sword on the grass and picked it up.

Po sped over to the hut with Dao at record speed. Once inside, he threw Dao to the ground, lifted the door, and pushed it back into the door frame. Relieved, he leaned against it. "Phew, we made it."

But then someone knocked on the wood from outside. Another shock went through Po. "Oops." He had completely forgotten that Shen was still outside. Quickly, he opened the door again and immediately he received a side blow from Shen. "Don't ever leave me out in the rain again!" Shen snapped at him.

"Sorry," Po hastened to say. "It wasn't on purpose."

Shen looked around. But there was no sign of Dao anymore.

Po looked around, too. "Uh, where did he go?"

Shen threw Dao's sodden katana into a corner and headed into the small bedroom. Dao crouched tightly against the wall with his head buried in his wings. The storm was still raging outside. He flinched with every bang.

Po was now peering into the room as well. "Uh, pretty hard," Po said as the next loud thunder rang out.

Dao snapped his head up and glared at them. "Mind your own business! Go away!"

Shen wanted to say something, but Po put his paw on his shoulder warningly. "Shen, let him."

Shen pushed Po aside and left the room. Po looked pityingly at Dao again, then he walked away, too.

The two drivers stood silently in the living room and Shen was leaning against the wall and staring grimly ahead. Po thought for a moment, then he resolutely walked up to Shen and gave him a reprimanding look. "So, no more fights, understood?" he said sternly.

Shen sat up and sliced the air with his blade over Po's head.

"AHH!" Po stiffened as he felt a cut. Completely startled, he stroked his head. He withdrew his paw. No, he wasn't bleeding, but his hair was completely chopped off. Stunned, Po stood there. "What have you done with me?!"

Hurriedly, Po found an old piece of porcelain that was lying around somewhere on the floor and stared in horror at the dull reflection. There was a small bald spot on his head. Po rubbed his new bald head with open mouth. "I can't let myself be seen at the festival with that!"

"Shut up!" Shen snapped, impaling the lance sword into the rotten ground. Then he withdrew and went to another part of the room.

Po, on the other hand, could only whine to himself. "Oh no, oh no, no!" Po examined his mishap again. "That can't be true, they'll all make fun of me..."

He paused. A ray of light had fallen on the improvised mirror. Po's eyes wandered to the window, where there was a patch of sun in the sky. "Hey, it's stopped raining! Great, then we can continue. That's great, isn't it?"

He looked around. But nobody jumped for joy. Dejected, Po felt his head. "Or we'll wait a few more weeks."

The thunderstorm had passed and the midday sun made the water drops in nature glitter like diamonds. Po didn't want to waste too much time, despite his now existing bald head. During the journey, he urgently had to come up with something before his friends saw him like that.

The cart was ready quick. However, it took a while until Dao dared to leave the hut again. He walked a bit dejected. Apparently, he was totally embarrassed about the whole thing earlier. At least Shen wasn't looking at him. He sat back on the coach box and didn't look at him.

After Dao finally reached the cart, Po whispered to him quietly: "Hey, that's no shame. Fear of thunderstorms is completely normal..."

He backed away startled when Dao glared at him angrily. "Be careful what you say!" he threatened. "Say it again and you really are the last panda."

Po looked at him with wide eyes. Dao had never acted so irritated towards him, but Po only nodded in understanding. "Okay, I got it."

After both of them had a seat, Po gave him something on his way. "Don't worry," he whispered to him. "We'll make sure they don't take you back."

Dao screwed up his beak skeptically. "I doubt it."

Grim-eyed, Ravan stared out at the sea of the Japanese bay. He stood on the top of the island's highest mountain and stared into the distance. The long wait annoyed him. He became all the more relaxed when he finally saw one of his black panthers return.

"We squeezed everything and everyone," he said.

Ravan looked at him inquiringly. "And?"

"They couldn't tell us much, but...", his buddy raised his paw. "We know one thing for sure now. This second peacock was once part of the peacock family originating from a major Chinese city in China. Also, someone claimed to have seen a panda wandering around the port city of Koyosho. Likewise, a ship stayed in the port and left the next morning on its way to China to a city called Gongmen City."

Ravan narrowed his eyes. "I see, we're going to indefinitely postpone our next planned heist."

His opponent looked at him questioningly, while Ravan turned away and walked past him. "We're going on a little trip," the ninja leader grumbled darkly.

"Where to?" His comrade-in-arms wanted to know.

"To China!"