Chapter 16: Battle of the Panda Village
Leonardo and Po rushed towards the entrance to the panda village where Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo were waiting for them.
Far down below at the bottom of the mountain, Kai twirled his chain swords. He let out a snort upon seeing how tall the mountain was. With a mighty leap, Kai jumped high into the air, throwing his swords into the mountain wall, pulling himself up and running along the snow and ice until he came over edge and landed on the boardwalk.
"Whoooaaa…!" Po exclaimed from above as he and the Turtles stood above at the main entrance to the village. "That's what I call a dramatic entrance."
Kai's eyes glowed a jade green as he gazed up at Po, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, the four turtles ignoring the growing pain in their heads. "Haha! You must be the Dragon Warrior!" Kai said to Po before turning his attention to the Turtles. "And you four must be his guardians!"
"Heck yeah, we are!" Mikey said as he and his brothers drew their weapons.
"And you… must be Kai!" Po said. "Beast of Vengeance! Maker of Widows!"
"The Jade Slayer…" Leo added.
"Master of Pain…" Raph also added.
"Stealer of Chi…" Mikey said, though this title was probably made up.
"Supreme warlord of all China?" Donnie finished.
Kai instantly grinned. "Yes! Finally! Thank you!" He exclaimed happily. "Almost makes me wanna spare your lives."
"Oh, you wanna spare us?" Po mocked as the Turtles took combative stances. "How about you spare us the chit chat, alright? Let's do this."
"I'm going to take your chi," Kai began ominously, "then the chi of every panda in the-"
"Ugh, chit chat." Po groaned in annoyance.
"In the–" Kai tried again, taken aback.
"Chitty chitty chat chat…" Po interrupted with a little twirl, making Mikey giggle a little while Leo, Raph, and Donnie smirked.
"In–" Kai tried again.
"Chit chat!" Po grinned, getting a laugh from Mikey while Leo, Raph, and Donnie chuckled.
Kai growled in annoyance. "Oh, you pudgy little…" He grumbled to himself as he pulled all of the jade pendants he had off of his belt.
Slowly, Po and the Turtles backed away deeper into the village, knowing they were going to need more space for the coming battle.
"Round them all up." Kai whispered to the pendans.
He then swung his blades, smacking each of his pendants high into the air as they soared through the air and landed in the center of the village in front of Po, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey.
As the pendants landed, all of the pendants morphed into jombies of Master Storming Ox, Croc, Thundering Rhino, Bear, Chicken, Porcupine, the Bager Twins, Kintaro, Mei Ling, Usagi, Rahzar, Ho Chan, Tatsu, and Shredder.
But then, three more pendants landed and formed into a trio of jombies that Po nor the Turtles were expecting.
"Tai Lung?! Shen?!" Po exclaimed in shock.
"Jei?!" Leo also exclaimed as Raph, Donnie, and Mikey gasped in equal shock.
And indeed, right before them stood jombified versions of Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and even the mad wolf Jei, all of their bodies covered in jade.
Finally came the last of Kai's pendants which upon landing on the ground, morphed into jombified versions of Mantis, Monkey, Crane, Viper, Casey, April (who was now in her more humanoid form like Casey), and Shifu.
"Oh no! It's true… you guys have all been turned green!" Po gasped in horror while the Turtles all collectively grimaced at the sight of their jombified friends. "Except you, Mantis, you were already green."
Even in his jombified state, Mantis still gave Po a deadpanned look.
From inside their homes, the pandas watched everything from the shadows along with Tigress, Mr. Ping, and Li Shan.
Tigress couldn't help but gaze upon her jombified friends and father sadly while Li Shan placed a comforting paw on her shoulder.
"Now?" Sum whispered in anticipation.
"Wait for the signal." Li Shan told him.
Outside of the village, Kai roared as his eyes glowed bright green as he thrust his arms forward, signaling for his jombies to attack.
"Scatter!" Leo shouted as the jombies rushed towards them, forcing them to split up into different parts of the village.
"Alright, here we go!" Po exclaimed excitedly as the jombies went after each of them.
The jombie Crane swooped down, aiming for Po's legs, forcing the panda to jump over his jombified friend as the jombie Croc lunged at him with jaws open wide. Po quickly grabbed the jaws to keep them from biting him.
Glancing over his shoulder, Po noticed the jombie Crane about to swoop in again for another attack.
"Here we go. Dumpling squad!" Po called out.
At Po's signal, Dim and Sum rushed over to the hammocks, got on, and pulled themselves back.
"Ready?" Dim asked.
"Go time!" Sum smirked.
The two then launched themselves into the air with hammocks like sling-shots as they flew through the air and bashed into the jombie Crane, causing him to fall and land on the ground beak-first.
"Seriously?" Kai chuckled bemusedly as watched through the eyes of his jombies.
"Sorry, Crane." Po apologized sheepishly as he dove over the jombie Crane's legs as the other jombies continued to pursue him and the Turtles.
The jombie Rahzar lunged at Po, claws extended with a snarl, only to be intercepted by a flying kick from Mikey.
The jombie Ho Chan extended his arms as he made his hands magically bigger, attempting to reach out towards Po, only for Donnie to jump on jombie Ho Chan's head, disorienting the jombie.
As they continued to run, Leo and Raph chucked several smoke bombs behind them, creating a large cloud of purple smoke in front of the jombies and allowing them to gain some distance.
Po and the Turtles quickly leapt up to the rooftops as the jombies dissipated the smoke and continued their pursuit.
"Spring roll squad! Time for some takeout!" Po called out as he grabbed a nearby wok.
At Po's signal, three pandas curled up and rolled down the hill from above, slamming into the jombies of Viper, Casey, Kintaro, Mei Ling, Porcupine, Ho Chan, Rahzar, and Chicken, but leaving the rest to go after Po and the Turtles.
"Yoo-hoo! Over here, jombie-bois!" Mikey taunted as he, his brothers, and Po jumped off the roof and slid down the snowy hill below, Po on his wok and the Turtles on their shells.
As the jombies chased after them, Big Fun suddenly emerged from the snow as Po and the Turtles ran past him, grabbing the jombie Monkey and trapping him in a bear hug. "I don't know who you are either!" He laughed as the jombie Monkey struggled to get free.
"Noodle squad!" Po shouted.
Mei Mei emerged from her hiding place, using her ribbon to wrap around one of the Badger Twins' staffs and used it to bash the twins into each other.
"Get ready to dance… with danger!" Mei Mei said dramatically, pulling out the nunchucks that Mikey had given her before she charged at the badger twins, fighting them off while using her ribbon and nunchucks.
"Yeah, Mei Mei! Like a pro!" Mikey cheered as he, his brothers, and Po ran back into the center of the village.
As they headed down into the center of the village, Tigress leapt out from her hiding place and kicked away the jombie Croc. She then dodged a kick from the jombie Tai Lung before grabbing his arm and throwing him away.
However, she was caught off guard by the jombie Shredder kicking her in the side, sending her tumbling across the ground before she righted herself.
Tigress stared the jombie Shredder in the eye, the jombie staring right back at her. The two then lunged at each other, throwing punches and kicks, blocking and retaliating their blows as they seemed evenly matched.
Amid the chaos, Lei Lei waddled out from her hiding place over to Tigress as the feline continued to battle the jombified Shredder. "Stripey baby!" The little panda cub giggled, clinging to her leg.
Tigress looked startled at the sudden appearance of Lei Lei, putting herself on the defensive as the jombie Shredder slashed at her with his extended steel claws, all while Tigress had to keep herself and Lei Lei from being sliced into ribbons.
The jombie Shredder slashed at Tigress' head, forcing her to duck, but leaving her open as the jombie Shredder followed it up by grabbing her wrist and folding her arm painfully behind her back.
Tigress grunted in pain before she noticed Lei Lei standing on her free arm, giving her a look like a daughter asking her mother for permission. "Do it." Tigress grinned, granting that permission.
Lei Lei nodded with a smile before she glared at the jombie Shredder. "You mean!" She said as she slapped the jombie Shredder with Po's Tigress action figure and disorienting him long enough for Tigress to break his hold with a kick and punch him away before going on to fight the jombified Thundering Rhino.
The jombie Tai Lung snarled as he lunged at Leo, claws extended. Leo quickly leapt over the jombified snow leopard, drawing his katanas as he landed on the ground. Leo dashed towards the jombie Tai Lung, slashing him across the face before kicking him away.
Leo then spun around to block a slash from the jombified Usagi as the two engaged in a battle of blades, steel meeting jade as sparks went flying from each clash. The jombie Usagi managed to catch Leo off guard, however, when he slashed at Leo's arm. Thankfully, the osode shoulder pad he wore protected his arm as the jombie's blade bounced off the armor.
The jombified Usagi looked befuddled by the lack of injury while Leo nonchalantly shrugged with a grin before kicking the jombie Usagi away.
Donnie clashed his bo staff with the jombie Jei's spear. If this had been a battle before he and his brothers had learned kung fu, Donnie knew he probably wouldn't have stood a chance against the former mad wolf. But now he was smarter, faster, stronger as he smashed his kogake boot into the jombie Jei's chest before bashing his staff across the jombified wolf's face.
The smart turtle quickly spun around to block the jombified April's tanto with his staff. Donnie winced as it pained him to be fighting the girl he liked, but he knew neither of them had much of a choice. So reluctantly, Donnie pushed her away as they continued to fight.
The jomified Shen swung his jagged sword at Raph, forcing the red clad turtle to block it with his sais. Behind him, Raph could see out of the corner of his eye a jombified Casey coming towards him with his taser out.
Knowing he had to act fast, Raph locked his sais on Shen's sword and flipped over his head, causing Casey's taser to hit the jombie Shen. With Shen down, Raph quickly moved onto Casey as he punched his jombified best friend away.
Mikey yelped as he was tackled by the jombified Master Chicken. "Off of me, Chicken!" Mikey cried, kicking the jombie off of him and flipping to his feet just in time to avoid a swing from the jombie Mei Ling.
The jombie Mei Ling swung and kicked at the orange clad turtle, forcing Mikey to leap and dodge her strikes before he jumped on her chest and leapt off, throwing his kusarigama chain around her and pinning her arms to her sides. "Aw yeah, wrecking ball!" Mikey cheered as he whipped Mei Ling around, slamming her into several jombies that came his way.
Po stumbled back to avoid a swing from the jombified Master Bear as he fell onto his back. Bear raised one of axes, about to bring it down on Po when he was suddenly hit in the head by a firecracker that exploded in his face.
"Fire! Fire in the hole!" Bao cheered as he, Nu Hai, Fan Tong, and Jing threw down more firecrackers at the jombies.
All around the village, the pandas attacked the jombies, catching them off guard while Leo, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey continued to fight the jombies.
Po ran through the village, observing all the other pandas in awe as he kicked the jombie Master Chicken away. "Wow!" He gasped before he smiled. "Alright, guys! You got it!"
Just then, Po's ears twitched as amid the loud sounds of grunting and clashing of steel, he heard a soft pair of footsteps land behind him. Slowly, he turned around to see the jombified Shifu chasing after him.
"Oh no, Master Shifu!" Po exclaimed, cornering himself on the porch of a hut. "I can't hit Shifu!"
The jombie Shifu lunged at Po, only for a frying pan to appear seemingly out of nowhere and smash into his face.
"I can." Mr. Ping smirked, popping out from the doorway of the hut with a wok on his head as he held up the pan.
Li Shan then stepped outside his well, he and Mr. Ping wearing armor made out of kitchen supplies in a similar fashion to Flying Rhino's armor, with Mr. Ping attached to a sash tied around Li Shan waist.
"And so can I." Li Shan grinned.
"Double Dad Defense!" Both Li Shan and Mr. Ping exclaimed before they charged into the fray, blocking and dodging the jombified Shifu's strikes while hitting him with their pans.
"We've got this, son!" Li Shan yelled as he and Mr. Ping fought off Shifu.
"Go, dads! Yeah!" Po cheered as he climbed to the top of the hut, spotting Kai down below by the entrance to the village. "We got 'em now!"
"Stop Stop! Enough!" Kai yelled in frustration, furious that his jombies now seemed to be losing against the pandas. How could this be happening?! He winced as he felt his jombies taking more and more hits.
"Let's finish this." Po smirked.
With a mighty leap, Po then jumped off the roof and down into the snowy mountain.
"That's our boy!" Mr. Ping and Li Shan said proudly, spotting Po as he went down before going back to fighting the jombified Shifu.
Po landed in the snow, rolling himself up into a ball as snow began to gather all over his body, going faster and faster towards Kai while he was distracted.
Kai shook his head to regain his bearings as he now noticed the giant snowball rolling towards him. And before he could do anything, the snowball crashed into him, breaking apart and revealing Po… holding the Wuxi Finger Hold on Kai.
There was a long silence as Kai looked stunned by the panda's presence.
"Sorry, buddy. Gotta send you back to the Spirit Realm." Po said confidently. "Skadoosh!" With that, he flexed his pinky…
… only for nothing to happen.
Po blinked in surprise, his smirk immediately fading.
"Okay, that didn't work. Let me try one more time." Po said as he flexed his pinky again. "Skadoosh."
But still nothing happened.
"Skadoosh, skadoosh, skadoosh!" Po said as he flexed his pinky again and again, but still nothing happened. "What the…?" He said, utterly baffled.
Suddenly Kai's eyes widened. "Hold on, wait. I think it's working! No. No!" He exclaimed as he dramatically choked, held his throat and gagged before he chuckled sinisterly. "No it's not." He said with a grin.
"Did Oogway teach you that trick? Too bad. It only works on mortals." Kai then grabbed Po's wrist and twisted it as his expression darkened. "And I… am a spirit warrior."
Po paled in horror as Kai then turned his head towards the village. "Come!" He yelled.
Instantly, all of the jombies disappeared from the village mid-battle into small clouds of jade fog, much to the confusion of Leo, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Mr. Ping, Li Shan, and the other pandas in the village.
The enslaved masters then returned to Kai, forming into jade pendants again on his belt as he flung Po across the icy water of a frozen lake.
Po yelped as he struggled to keep himself from slipping on the ice as Kai charged at him, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks on the panda that Po was barely able to block and dodge.
Eventually, Kai caught him off guard as he grabbed Po by the waistline of his pants and chucked him into the air.
Kai then leapt up into the air and landed a powerful kick on Po's belly, knocking the wind out of the panda and sending him crashing through the gates of the village.
Po tumbled on the ground before landing on his face, bruised and battered as the sun had now vanished under the horizon and night had fallen.
"Son!" Li Shan exclaimed as he and Mr. Ping ditched their armor and rushed over to Po.
"Po!" Tigress, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all cried as they ran over to their fallen comrade, the other panda villagers right behind them.
"I was wrong. I'm sorry." Po wheezed as he struggled to get up. "Run. Run!"
Before Leo, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Mr. Ping, Li Shan, or anyone else could protest, Kai's jade swords struck the ground behind Po as the yak came down onto the ground.
The pandas all gasped in fear as Kai chuckled maliciously, holding the Oogway pendant that was around his neck. "This is the one destined to stop me?" He asked the pendant. "He lies here, beaten, broken before me. And his guardians tremble in fear at my presence." He then shifted his gaze towards the pandas. "I will have their chi and then all of the pandas!" Kai then threw one of his blades as it circled around Po, Leo, Tigress, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, Mr. Ping, Li Shan, and all of the panda villagers, keeping them in place.
Scowling determinedly, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all charged forward with their weapons drawn, refusing to give up as they rushed to Po's defense.
Kai didn't even look fazed as he twirled his jade swords, blocking and deflecting all of the Turtles' attacks as they circled around them. First, he bashed Mikey away with his blades before turning to smack Donnie away with his swords. He then spun around and slammed his foot into Raph's gut, knocking the wind out of him, before Kai slashed Leo and knocked him down to the ground.
"And you," Kai spoke directly to Po with a chuckle, "you really thought you could send me back to the Spirit Realm?" He laughed. "You are just a stupid mortal."
Po eyes widened slightly in realization. "It only works on mortals." He murmured, remembering Kai's words about the Wuxi Finger Hold. He then shifted himself onto his back as he sat up.
He had an idea. A really crazy idea.
"You're right." Po admitted, finding the strength to stand back up. "I can't send you there… but I can take you there." Quickly he then looked to the Turtles as they got up. "Guys! Hold him down!"
"On it!" Leo shouted as he and his brothers lunged at Kai.
Before the yak could even react, Donnie and Mikey grabbed Kai's arms and held them down while Leo and Raph both grabbed Kai by the waist, pushing him back as hard as they could, even though the bull didn't budge.
While Kai was distracted, Po then jumped on top of the bull, wrapping his arms around his neck and while holding his own right paw in the Wuxi Finger Hold.
"Po!" Tigress gasped, her eyes widening in horror as she realized what he was about to do.
"Son!" Both Mr. Ping and Li Shan exclaimed.
Po gave them all a soft look while Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey quickly noticed what he was doing as well.
"Po, what are you-?!" Donnie was about to say in astonishment.
"Skadoosh!" Po exclaimed, flexing his pinky on himself.
In an instant, a golden shockwave of chi released from him, spanning across the entire village.
"Son!" Mr. Ping and Li Shan cried.
"Po, no!" Tigress screamed as she, Mr. Ping, and Li Shan attempted to aid Po and the Turtles.
But another shockwave of chi blew them back as Po, the Turtles, and Kai were engulfed in a bubble of pure chi energy, waves of cherry blossoms surrounded them and swirled around them in the bubble.
"NO!" Kai yelled as another wave of chi blew the crowd back in an explosion of pure energy that sent a golden shockwave across the land…
… and then, they were gone.
Tigress, Mr. Ping, and Li Shan uncovered their eyes as the brightness dimmed.
And as light faded, all that was left of Po, Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Kai was a yin-yang symbol made of the cherry blossom petals that sat gently in the grass.
Tigress fell to her knees as her eyes began to water. She had just lost Po again! And his guardians were gone with him! She gritted her teeth, trying desperately to keep the tears from falling. Why couldn't she have been strong enough? How could they all do something so stupid?! Why?!
"Wha… what happened? Where'd they go?" Li Shan said in concern.
"They took Kai away." Tigress said solemnly, her voice soft but full of sadness as she wiped her unshed tears away with the back of her paw. "They saved us."
"No…" Li Shan murmured.
"They saved us. But who's going to save them?" Mr. Ping asked worriedly.
