Chapter 8

Deceit

Genji followed the male Lion in front of him who was accompanied by the two Lioness'. As they approached the end, he began to see a bit of natural light coming from the entrance of the cave. They kept on going until they reached the entrance to the cavern which exposed Genji to the bright sun which shewn bright in his eyes, forcing him to hold up his arm to avoid being blinded.

Once his eyes were shielded, Genji looked around to see that they had emerged out of the cave into what looked like a large arena setting. It was in the shape of a circle and it spanned nearly 300 feet in diameter with walls on every side that rose 20 feet above the ground. There were four gates of entry to this massive arena including the one he had just come from, but this wasn't what interested him. It was rather the fact that there were seemingly dozens of other animals all dressed in combat armour who were in the middle of training against one another. There were all kinds of warriors, though they were almost all made up of larger mammal species such as other felines, bears, and even wolverines.

"Hmmm…" Genji hummed as he stroked his chin while examining the warriors who each fought against a training partner.

Jian looked over at the Tiger who appeared to be studying what was left of his once great army. He formed a small grin and remarked, "My, aren't we interested?" By this he was referring to the Tiger's sudden fascination.

Genji turned to face the Lion for a moment, but then immediately shift his focus back to what captivated him. His attention focused on the large group of animals training in the art of combat, he began to also form a small smile, though it seemed satisfied, it hid his devious thoughts.

~"They will serve you well, of course that is when you overthrow their leader. However, you will need a larger army to invade China…"~

'So what do you think?' Another voice said as Genji pondered the thought by his inner voice.

Genji had drifted off into thought so much that he had completely forgotten for a moment that someone was now addressing him, "-I said what do you think?"

The young Tiger shook his head around to get himself out of his trance, but answered, "I think that there is great potential…"

At this, the Lion raised a brow and asked, "By the way, I wish to know, you said earlier that you had a former master…"

The Tiger nodded and replied, "Yes, my Master taught me in the art of Kung Fu for nearly my whole life, though he only taught me so much, as he always focused more on teaching my worthless sister…" After finishing his sentence, Genji began to twitch slightly with anger over thinking about his sister who had always irritated him.

"Curious… I would like to see just how good of a fighter you are, young Tiger." The Lion said.

Genji's eyes looked over at the Lion who had his arms folded with a neutral expression. "What do you have in mind?" The Tiger asked.

"Well, how's about I put your skills to the test, you may fight my strongest warriors in one on one combat." The Lion replied while forming a small smile.

With that, Jian whispered something into the ear of one of his guards, and immediately the Lioness left towards a nearby latter which lead to a higher point in the arena where Genji now noticed a small balcony or viewing platform. He then heard a loud sound which had to have come from some sort of horn. This got the attention of everyone in the arena.

After the loud sound, almost all the warriors were now looking in the direction of Genji. Jian walked forward and loudly announced, "Now that I have your attention, I would like all of you to meet our latest recruit." He paused for a moment to point to his side at the large male Tiger who was now the center of attention, but then resumed, "This is Akuma, and I would like to test his combat prowess. Does anyone wish to challenge our new warrior!?"

There was a silence which followed Jian's statement, but before long, a contender stepped forward. A massive brown bear nearly a foot taller than Jian, though only a few inches taller than Genji. He merely wore a pair of pants and had what looked like battle scars scattered across his body.

"Ah, Brawn, I had a feeling you might be the first to volunteer." The Lion said whilst now looking over to the massive brute of a bear.

And within seconds, the warriors who were previously scattered across the grounds formed an organized circle, leaving Brawn in the center. Genji looked towards the Lion beside him who simply said, "After you." And with that, Genji walked into the circle and faced his opponent. As he stepped into the circle, Genji prepared himself by assuming his defensive stance, and then he patiently waited for the fight to begin.

'This will be a good warm up, I haven't had a decent fight in a few days…' He thought as he examined his opponent, studying the bear for any noticeable weakness. From the looks of it, his opponent was quite strong physically, and also quite bulky.

But before anything else, Genji heard the sound of the horn again, signifying the start of the match. Upon hearing the sound, the Bear immediately charged after him on all fours with great speed and power, but Genji wasn't intimidated. He held his ground until the Bear was just about to hit him, and just before Brawn rammed into him, he quickly jumped over top and allowed the momentum of the Bear to miss him completely. He landed behind the confused opponent and folded his arms, almost mocking Brawn.

"You'll have to do better than that." He said confidently, while resuming his defensive stance. This definitely rattled his opponent, and the Bear responded by standing on his hind legs and regaining his height advantage over the Tiger. He then charged at the Tiger again, sending punches flying so fast that they made shock waves with every swing. But none of the Bear's attempts worked, as Genji weaved and dodged each blow with absolute ease. This frustrated Brawn further, and he now threw out more punches at the confident Tiger.

But after a while of taunting and playing with his opponent, Genji decided he would en this fight. So he skillfully caught the wrist of the Bear as he tried to send a powerful punch at his face, and he then brought Brawn's left arm behind his back in a painful arm lock. Genji could feel the Bear struggling to get out of the lock, but he stopped this by pinning the brute to the ground while still keeping Brawn's left arm locked behind his back.

"ARGH! Let go you imbecile!" The Bear shouted as he unsuccessfully tried to get Genji off with his other arm, but couldn't quite reach because of the awkward situation. This prompted Genji to grin mischievously and he responded by deviously saying, "If you say so…"

And then, he proceeded to twist the Bear's arm until he heard a "POP!" A loud roar of pain followed this sound as the Bear's shoulder had been dislocated from the pressure Genji used. The Tiger then released Brawn's arm and stepped back, allowing the Bear to get up, which he did, but with some difficulty due to his left arm having been dislocated.

"You… You'll pay for that!" Brawn angrily yelled at him, having gotten back to his feet. And then he came charging at the Tiger, readying himself to use his right arm to punch his opponent as hard as he could. But just before the punch hit its mark, Genji himself sent a hard punch directly at the Bear's fist. When the punches collided, a loud "Crack" sound was heard, and one of the warriors dropped down to the ground.

Once the warrior landed on the ground in a kneeling position, after a delayed painful reaction, they roared in agony from the fact that each of their knuckles had just been shattered. Genji looked down at his fallen opponent and gave a discontent scowl at the lackluster fighter who he had easily defeated. While Brawn shouted out in agony, he looked around at the rest of the warriors and asked in a menacing tone, "Anyone else?"

Meanwhile, at the Bottom of Chorh Gom Prison

"Let me guess, you wanted to check up on me after all these years. Is that it?" The Komodo Dragon asked, while grinning deviously.

Po immediately dismissed this though and cut straight to the chase, "You can quit the act, devil! I know what you did." He said, his anger growing with every second.

"Oh do you? And just what exactly could I have possibly done to earn the attention of the 'almighty Dragon Warrior'?" The Lizard asked before grunting in discomfort again as he yielded to the pain of his scales peeling off of his skin.

Po cared nothing for the pain in which the reptilian was feeling at the moment, and it didn't help that Akuma was not giving the answers he wanted. "Enough with your lies! You know very well what you have done, Akuma!" He yelled as he got even closer to the Komodo Dragon with his anger to the point where he was beginning to shake with rage.

"I have done a lot of things, Dragon Warrior. But tell me, what reason do I have to lie to you?" The Lizard asked, now sounding a bit irritated and still in deep discomfort from shedding his scales.

Po had nearly had enough of the Lizard's deceit, and he proceeded to walk up and grab the reptilian by the neck and hoist him up off the stone ground. His Chi began to leak and radiate around him, with golden rays of energy emitting from his body like sweat on a hot day. As he lifted the Komodo Dragon into the air, he began to growl angrily and he then he shouted through a fit of rage, "Do not pretend to be ignorant with me! I see through your deceit! You have taken MY son from me! Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't take YOUR life!"

The Lizard couldn't put up any resistance to the Panda's hold on him, albeit because his arms were cuffed to the stone floor, but even if he could, he doubted he could overpower the strong bear. As his throat was tightly held, he began to struggle to breath, and through his gasps he weakly replied, "I… 'GAK' Don't… Know what your talking about..."

Po growled at the Lizard's continuous ignorance, but then realized that he was applying too much pressure to the reptilian's throat and causing Akuma to suffocate. So he let go, and allowed the Komodo Dragon to drop to the ground and catch his breath which he desperately needed. The Lizard panted for nearly a minute before looking up at Po who had his arms crossed as he waited for the reptilian to recover.

Once he sensed that Akuma was beginning to catch his breath again, he spoke in his original cold tone, "I know it was you, Akuma. That much is clear to me. Though your reasoning is a mystery to me. Why? Why my son!?" He ended with a bit more agitation.

The Komodo Dragon raised his head to look at the Panda in the eyes with a smile that reeked of trickery and he said, "As much as I would love to cause such grief to my former rival, what makes you think that I am responsible for this?"

"You have corrupted my son with your neurotoxin which you attempted to use on me 20 years ago, somehow the toxin on your knives remained potent for all this time. And it just so happened that my son stumbled across this Kunai which I kept as a memento." With this, Po pulled out the bloodied throwing knife which he had brought along in his travel pack and showed it to his former enemy.

The reptilian seemed to examine the knife with a bit of interest before shrugging and replying, "This still means nothing Dragon Warrior, I have been locked up in this prison in complete isolation, unable to manipulate anyone, to even speak with anyone for 20 years. How could I have possibly done what you accuse me of?"

Po scowled, but was beginning to see how fruitless this was, the Demon was clearly not going to give him the answers he wanted. So he put the bloody knife back in his pack and began to leave, but not before he said, "Whatever you're planning, it won't work for you in the end. Evil never prevails over the light."

And with that, he left towards the pulley lift which had been dropped down. He stepped on to the lift and tugged at the line in the center, indicating that he was ready to be lifted up.

"Oh we shall see about that… 'Dragon Warrior'…" The one eyed Komodo Dragon quietly muttered to himself as he brought his head down to stare at the stone floor again.

As Po was brought up to the top levels of the massive chasm, he thought to himself, 'I know he is plotting something, and whatever it is has to do with Genji… We will all need to prepare ourselves for what is to come…'

Upon reaching the top level where the exit was, he was greeted again by the Rhino captain from earlier, "So, was he compliant?" The Rhino asked while accompanying Po toward the exit.

"No, however, I really recommend that you keep a close eye on him from now on. If you notice anything strange or unnatural about him, I want to hear about it." Po answered as he and the guard arrived at the large doors to the exit of the prison.

"Understood, we will do as you wish Dragon Warrior." The guard replied while opening the doors to to reveal the cold setting in the Himalayan mountains.

Po nodded, and before he left, he said, "I fear that there is a rising evil, one which we will need to prepare for. We must all be ready for what will come…" And with this, he bowed to the captain in respect, to which the captain returned the gesture and watched as the Panda vanished after performing the Wuxi finger hold technique.

Back at the Student Barracks Dinning Hall

"So what you're saying is that this Akuma guy was one of the villains that Daddy fought all those years ago? And now he thinks that this guy is the reason why Genji went berserk?" Mariko asked her brother while taking a sip of her cup of jasmine tea.

"That's about the sum short." Her older brother explained while also preparing his own peppermint tea which he preferred with milk.

Mariko looked deep in thought, after hearing a long explanation from her brother about why their father had left. "I wonder why father never told Genji or myself about this, surely it wouldn't have done any harm…"

Hao shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't know why he never told you and your brother, but he must have had a good reason. After all, it was a very traumatic experience for all of us."

"Oh, I guess that's right, and didn't you say that you were really young when it happened?" Mariko asked, looking up from her thoughts.

"Yes, I was only 5 at the time, and I had never been more scared in my life. But even so, I feel that had it not been for the incident at the orphanage, Mother would never had adopted me in the first place. It seems almost like it was destined to happen, or at least, that's probably what Father would say." Hao replied while looking down at the table and thinking about the events that had happened nearly 20 years ago. Though several decades had past ever since, he still remembered it as if it were only yesterday, he remembered when those bandits raided the orphanage and when that creepy Komodo Dragon used him as a hostage. He remembered when Po returned after months of being captured, and was under the influence of Akuma's mind controlling toxin.

"-Brother? Hao! Are you alright?" He heard, and he immediately snapped out of his daze which he hadn't even known he was in. "Sorry Mari, I was just lost there for a moment." He replied to try to reassure his younger sister.

"Gosh, you had me worried there for a second, don't do that to me okay?" Mariko scolded him while starting to settle down. To which Hao nodded in understanding. Then she continued, "So, what do you think happened to Genji? Do you think he actually did what Father told him to?"

Hao frowned slightly, but replied anyway, "Well, from what the Five told me, Genji left the valley of peace straight away, and apparently he was seen traveling north towards Mongolia. But that's about all I know, though if it's your brother we're talking about, he will definitely never forget this…"

"What do you mean?" She asked, not understanding his last statement.

"Mariko, have you never wondered why your brother acted so cold towards you?" Hao asked, before Mariko quickly replied, "Well, father said something when I was younger about him being really competitive or something-"

"It was because of his jealousy of you Mari. Ever since you two began to speak, Genji was always jealous of you. Now I may not have been around home a lot since I spent so much time working with Grandfather Ping in the noodle shop, but even I noticed how blatantly obvious it was." Hao said, interrupting Mariko for a moment.

He continued, "The reason I say he'll never forget about this, is because every time you would get more attention than him from Mom and Dad, every time Dad took you on adventures instead of him, and every time you would beat him in sparring matches, he would remember…"

Mariko looked as though she felt guilty after hearing her brother's response, she had known of how competitive Genji could be, but even so, she still felt responsible for Genji having turned out so envious of her.

"Don't feel bad Sis, there's nothing you could have done." Hao told her as he placed a paw on her shoulder in reassurance.

"Thanks big brother." She replied, giving him a short hug which he returned before they released each other.

"Now come on, let's head over to the courtyard, we need to begin our training again. Plus it'll give me a chance to see what you've learned while I've been away." Hao said with an optimistic smile.

"Alright big brother, but I'm warning you, I won't go easy!" She replied with a steady amount of confidence.

And with that, they each shared a laugh as they headed over to the training courtyard.

A/N: Chapter 8 at last, only a few more before things really start to get interesting… All spoilers aside, I'd like to thank everyone who's been so loyal and sticking with me even though my updates aren't as fast as they used to be. (I'm trying to post 1 chapter a week, but college is just too much for that)

Anyway, as always, please favorite and follow this story if you're enjoying it so far. And also, please

Review!