A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry for not publishing for a while, I might have to push my schedule to a once a month release. Because I have a job now! A permanent one! While this is good for me, more money, a decent salary etc. It means I will be a bit too busy to write as often as I did. I will still be around though! But I have much less free time now, which is the downside. Thank you all for commenting and reading though, and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long!
Thank you to KingHomes for your very kind words, I'm glad you enjoy my story so much! It really means a lot to read your words and I hope I don't disappoint.
The Five, Po and Hunter all continued moving through the outskirts of the Black Forest. The traps had ended a while ago with the group all managing to avoid any further incidents along the way. "There is a strip of wetland we must pass through before we approach the boarding area to my village." Viper informed Po and Hunter as they all continued walking carefully, making sure there were no surprises on the last stretch of the journey.
Mantis groaned and hopped from Monkey's shoulder, landing on a nearby log floating in the water of the bog near where they were walking. "Man, I don't remember the trip taking this long..." he said in a tired tone of voice.
Tigress rolled her eyes at that. "This is the short way, remember?" she pointed out to her fellow Master.
He then pointed at her with a claw. "Exactly!" Mantis exclaimed in response. Everyone rolled their eyes at Mantis complaining since he wasn't even walking himself.
Before anyone could say anything to that effect in response, Hunter stopped and looked at Mantis for a second before glancing down and then backed up a step with a shocked expression on his face. "Mantis, wait, that's not-" Before Hunter could finish his warning, suddenly the 'log' Mantis was standing on began to move on its own before revealing itself to actually be a feral alligator resting in the waters...
As it began to move, Mantis also began to realise his possibly fatal mistake. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed as the Alligator jumped a little in place, sending Mantis flying up into the air.
While the alligator moved to likely swallow Mantis whole as everyone only just realised what was happening, Hunter quickly drew his sword and ran forwards before smacking the alligator hard on the tip of its snout with his pommel, making it growl out in pain and quickly retreat into the water as Hunter quickly snatched Mantis right out of the air and jumped backwards away from the water just in case there was a reprisal attack.
Everyone was watching in surprise then as Mantis leapt onto Hunter's shoulder and hugged his neck tightly. "Yeah I don't think I'll be jumping onto anything submerged in water ever again..." he said with a bit of a shudder, panting from the shock of it all.
Looking at Mantis, Hunter chuckled at that. "We all learn from our mistakes." he pointed out as the group continued to move on.
Po was impressed by Hunter's swift reaction. "That was super cool!" he exclaimed excitedly, to Mantis' obvious chagrin. "I mean, not the part about you being in danger, more the part where Hunter saved you from certain death!" Po pointed out slightly sheepishly.
The group were more vigilant from then on, travelling through the rest of the swamp with little to no trouble. When they finally exited out of the dense swampland, before them lay a seemingly barren pit with cracks dotted around it in the ground. "Okay, let's go!" Viper said and was about to rush across the pit in question. Just before she could make it fully into the pit, Hunter noticed something and quickly grabbed her tail, yanking her back towards the group as she yelped. And just in time. A geyser of boiling hot steam suddenly erupted from where Viper was about to go. Unfortunately, Hunter wasn't quite quick enough this time and she was still injured from the intense heat. "Ahhh!" she yelled out in pain.
Everyone seemed surprised by what had happened and glad for Hunter's quick reflexes. "Good job, Hunter." Tigress said in relief, knowing what might have happened had he not quickly acted. He nodded in response, barely acknowledging his actions. "But how can we cross now? Viper is the most capable for such a task..." she pointed out, looking to the slightly burned Master in question.
Although looking like she was about to volunteer despite the injury, she actually shook her head. "I'm in no condition to cross like this. Not today at least. As you said, I'm no use to my father dead." Viper hung her head in shame at that, cursing herself for being so reckless. Everyone started wondering how they could safely cross the pit, with Viper's injuries meaning she could not make her own way across anyway, and with Crane's still fresh injury there was no way he was flying for a good few weeks either...
Thoughtfully looking out at the pit as steam burst upwards at seemingly random intervals through the ground in the pit, Hunter mused to himself as the others also tried to puzzle out a solution, the most likely being that they take the long way. Hunter then turned and took off his blade and his pack. He turned and pressed both into Tigress' chest. "If you touch Cobra's Strike, I'll kill you with it." Hunter spoke in what sounded like a semi-joking tone.
Before she could question what he was doing and why he gave her his things, Hunter closed his eyes and stepped into the pit rather gracefully. He cocked his head and took a measured step forwards. "Hunter!" she exclaimed and was about to follow him before a geyser shot up where he was stood previously and Tigress quickly backed up, concern on her face as she watched him step into what was pretty much a minefield.
Hunter meanwhile knew that his sight was useless in this instance, and so removed it so he could fully focus using his other senses instead. His sense of touch, feeling the ground rumbling beneath him, his sense of hearing so he could hear the steam before it truly left the ground, giving him time to quickly move aside. Which he had to do at that moment, the smell of trace minerals in the earth intensifying with the steam. He quickly stepped aside as another burst erupted from the ground. The group all gathered near the edge of the pit to watch Hunter's journey across and wondered what his plan was to get them all over when he reached the other side.
Meanwhile, quickly moving left diagonally, Hunter avoided yet another jet of steam coming his way. He gracefully and expertly was making his way across the pit, silent and focused on the task at hand. Po was chewing his nails nervously at the scene before them. However, as Hunter moved close to the end of the pit and was almost home free, a jet erupted in front of him. As he went to move left, another jet burst out that way... and then right, and then behind. The Five and Po lost sight of Hunter. He was trapped in a wall of steam for now. As he was waiting it out, he felt the signs beneath his feet. The rumbling... the sound of building pressure... A jet was due to be coming from beneath him any second now. Hunter slightly began to panic now, the rumbling growing more intense, the boiling jets surrounding him not dissipating...
He tuned his hearing all around, listening for the slightest clue of safety as he felt his death about to burst through the ground beneath him... Finally, at his front, one of the geysers began to lower. When it was halfway down, Hunter took the chance and leapt forwards, the ground that was beneath him finally bursting with steam as he went over the front geyser and landed safely out of the pit. "Well. That wasn't frightening in any way." he said to himself with a shiver after opening his eyes again, his breaths still fast and panicked at what had just happened. Putting his previous plan into action and calming himself down from almost getting boiled alive, he walked into the bamboo trees.
"Hey, he's leaving!" Mantis exclaimed, pointing to where Hunter had gone, wondering what his plan was exactly.
Tigress disagreed with him. "No. He'll be back." she stated surely, surprisingly sure in her conviction with that statement.
Nodding in agreement with her, Po spoke. "Yeah! I mean he wouldn't just leave us here! Haha! ...Right?" he asked, looking to the Masters for reassurance on that.
Rolling her eyes at Mantis, Viper seemed to agree with Tigress and Po. "He won't leave us." Before the discussion could continue any further, they spotted Hunter coming back with several bamboo trunks under arm, settling the matter for them. He then took a running start toward the pit and shoved one of them into the ground within the pit.
As it bent, he then pushed off the ground with his foot, the momentum carrying him over the geysers and across to the other side with the rest of the group, safely out of reach of the scorching steam. He landed perfectly in front of them with a slightly smug look in his eyes. He then handed each Master who could handle one a pole, with Po getting a thicker one for obvious reasons. Viper wrapped herself around the top of Monkey's pole and Mantis clung onto Po's fur. Crane was well enough to handle a bamboo pole it seemed, although Monkey kept an eye on him just in case
The group all backed up and took a running start at the pit, preparing to vault over it together. They all launched themselves upwards and were soon sailing over the spurting geysers just fine, but as they reached the very crux of their vault, Tigress felt her pole sink a little bit and she heard a cracking sound...
Looking down at her bamboo trunk, she saw the midpoint of the bamboo snap a little before her added weight made it fully collapse and break from under her. Feeling herself sink downwards, she gasped for a second as she fell down to the geysers below, yelling out in shock.
However before she had a chance to fall very far down, a hand grabbed her by her tunic and threw her the rest of the way across the pit. She landed safely, sliding a little on all fours from the impact as the others all landed together, all safe and sound. Tigress turned to Hunter then, who had been her saviour. "Thank you." she nodded to him thankfully while panting a little.
He then approached her silently and she seemed a little confused as he walked over to her, holding his hand out towards her. "You think I was saving you? No, no, no. I was saving my sword." Hunter spoke to her, and Tigress could swear she could see he was smirking a little behind his mask, his tone clearly conveying he was joking with her.
She actually smiled back at him then and handed him his things back. "In that case, you'll be glad to know I didn't touch or drop any of your things." Tigress said to him as the group all acknowledged that they were okay apart from any prior injuries they had.
When he grabbed his things, he subtly pulled her closer. "Even so, be careful next time. I'd hate to have to explain to Shifu why his best student is suddenly well-done instead of 'roar'." Hunter spoke, although his words were humorous, Tigress found his gaze to have a certain concern to it... She wasn't completely sure he meant to have that look or whether he was just joking however...
She looked back at him, considering his look and his tone for a second or two. She also groaned at the absolutely terrible joke, as did a few of the others. Although she noted his look. "I'll keep that in mind." Tigress said to him, letting go of his pack and sword.
Viper sighed then in relief with a small smile on her face at getting across the pit relatively safely. "Thank you, Hunter. You saved us a lot of time." she said to him. "Come on, it's not far at all now."
Shrugging, Hunter was nonchalant as he put his pack back on as well as his sword. "I just didn't want to hear Mantis bitching the rest of the way if we had to take a longer route." he said, definitely joking now as Mantis gave a 'hey!' in response.
They trekked the rest of the way through the relatively small bamboo forest, eventually coming out practically in front of Changxing itself. Viper seemed to have some trepidation about going any further, likely fearful of what she may find within. "Finally." Monkey grunted, stretching out a little at seeing some remnant of civilization and at having moved at quicker speeds for longer than usual due to Viper's haste.
Speaking of which, Viper slithered forwards slightly slower than usual as the others followed her inside. In the main square of the village was a statue of Grand Master Viper himself. "Woah! So cool!" Po exclaimed excitedly, clapping his paws together in awe at it, his eyes widening to dinner plates.
"Mom!" Exclaimed Viper. Looking over, Hunter saw that she had been pacing in the square in front of the statue. Understandable, since her husband had gone missing. Viper gave her mother a hug, which was the two of them slightly coiling their heads together. "Po, Hunter, this is Fangsu, my mother."
Fangsu chuckled in response. "Of many years." she added to what Viper had said jokingly, although it was rather half-hearted due to the circumstances as she hugged the rest of the Five at seeing them again. Tigress had her usual grimace at the hug, but like with Mr. Ping, just accepted it. Hunter and Po were the only two who did not receive one for obvious reasons.
Po was, predictably, excited at meeting her. "Wow! It's a pleasure Ms. Viper! I mean, not about, well you know... but meeting you is awesome!" he exclaimed to her, which brought a smile to her face despite the circumstances.
Meanwhile, further away from the others, Hunter was looking at the ground, seeing... Strange sets of prints in the dirt, alongside a large snake's tracks. Grand Master Viper and those he was pursuing, he surmised. Hunter crouched and tracked his gaze along the path they travelled down, a look of intent on his face. The others all turned to him then as he looked out. "Tracks, leading North, out of the village." he stated simply.
A look of concern passing on her face, Fangsu smiled a little at him. "You've all had quite the journey. You should rest first before going out to find my husband." she suggested to the group, but mostly Hunter. "You must be exhausted, and you're no use to him dead." Viper's mother pointed out, concern lacing into her tone of voice now as well.
However, Hunter disagreed with her assessment, still with that look on his face. He wasn't wasting any time resting when the situation could be dire. He dropped his pack by the statue, trusting Fangsu and any of the others who stayed to look after it while Hunter himself followed after Grand Master Viper's trail. "Prey waits." He replied to her and began following the tracks in question. The others all looked conflicted about what to do before deciding to follow, apart from Tigress, who bowed to Fangsu before taking off after Hunter without reservation or hesitation.
The two of them were ahead of the rest of the group by the time everyone else decided to join the two of them, following the tracks left by the strange creatures and the Viper Patriarch's own tracks. "You don't waste any time." she stated to Hunter.
Hunter didn't look at her as they continued moving at a brisk pace through the country. There were cliffs nearby, and he had a feeling the tracks would lead up there somewhere, most likely to a cave of some sort if he had to make a guess. "The tracks could be gone by tomorrow, and Grand Master Viper's situation might be dire. We can't afford to bide our time resting. I'll rest when I'm dead." Hunter said to her matter-of-factly. Although his tone or expression didn't show it, Tigress could tell that he really wanted to save Viper's father. He cared about the lives of others in his own way. Much like she herself did, even if they both had trouble showing it as much as the others.
The tracks continued as Hunter predicted, up the cliffs and winding, eventually leading to the entrance of a cave. Hunter was right in his assumption. "They must be inside." Tigress noted as the others caught up with the two of them by this point.
Drawing his sword in preparation, Hunter looked to the others. "Get ready for a fight. If Grand Master Viper hasn't emerged yet, we must assume he did not clear out whatever may lay within." he pointed out to the Five and Po.
Tigress nodded in agreement with Hunter on that. "Hunter is right. We must be ready to encounter resistance inside. Crane, Viper, are you able to fight?" she asked the two Masters.
"I might not be as... nimble as usual." Viper admitted to her, looking to Crane as well.
He seemed to be in agreement with Viper. "I'm not sure we'll be much help in there... An injured wing is one thing, but a skewered wing? And the confined space? I'm not too sure..." he said, rubbing one of his legs with the other.
Hunter seemed to have an idea. "How about you two wait out here for now? Any that try to escape, you can deal with, or if anyone tries to enter you can stop them. You're our rear guard." he suggested to the two of them as well as Po and Tigress. "If we're gone for more than an hour, you can get more help."
Both of them seemed in favour of the idea. Viper seemed unsure about being left behind when her father's life may be on the line, but she knew she would likely only slow the group down if she went in with them in her current state. "Just... Please, make sure he's okay." Viper pleaded with the ones who were going in.
Po, Tigress, Monkey, Mantis and Hunter all then walked into the mouth of the cave in question. "Hold on, I'll get the torches." Monkey said, fumbling in his pack as they walked onwards slowly, awaiting the light. It was dark. Very dark. However, the fact that the group all lived in similar darkness every night meant that their sight quickly adjusted to the level of dark shadow that surrounded and engulfed them.
As they walked forwards, Hunter stopped suddenly and his breathing suddenly became barely noticeable. "I see something." he said just above a whisper so the group could hear. "Movement."
Before anyone else could reply, Hunter quickly spun to face the left, blocking with his own what sounded like a blade hidden in the dark, along with it's wielder. Everyone jumped a little as Monkey hurriedly attempted to light one of the torches he had brought with him. "Hēi'àn... Hēi'àn jiāng tūnshì yīqiè..." came an unnatural, raspy and almost incorporeal voice. It spoke of darkness engulfing all. It echoed all around them, not just from where their presumed enemy was, a voice echoing from everywhere.
When Monkey finally lit a torch to illuminate the situation and the area, they finally saw that Hunter was crossing blades with nothing except thin air. "Impossible..." Tigress gasped as Hunter confusedly lowered his sword from its position and glanced around. Tigress had definitely heard the sound of metal on metal, two swords clashing in the darkness right in front of her. She swore she could even smell the rusted metal of his opponent's blade. It was a strange smell, rust and decay in equal measures...
"Am... Am I going crazy?" Hunter asked the rest of the group, who all looked just as shocked and confused about what just occurred.
Monkey shook his head to Hunter. "We heard it too. You hit... something. And it wasn't a rock." he said, letting Hunter know that he hadn't imagined it himself.
Even Mantis was absent with his usual joking remarks. "Man this just seems wrong... Viper's dad must have some serious balls to come here alone." he pointed out to the others as everyone suddenly had a feeling of dread about the situation ahead.
For his part, Po shivered at the situation, feeling less inclined to continue moving inward. "Maybe I'll go wait outside with Viper and Crane." he smiled nervously, attempting to backtrack out of the cave, before turning around and seemingly coming face to face with a mirror image of himself, but completely faceless, just standing there unmoving like a statue. Yelling out in terror while stumbling backwards and tripping, Po fell back. When he regained his bearings, the stretch of cavern behind the group was completely empty... Nothing was there any longer. Po quickly huddled back with the group, none of whom apparently saw what he had. "Nevermind, I'll stick with you guys." he quickly decided.
Hunter took a deep breath and placed a hand on the cavern wall. "Keep a sharp eye. There is great evil here." he said, closing his eyes and trying to become in tune with the energy of the cave to better assess their possible foe. However, when he focused, even with his eyes closed, he saw a disembodied, rotting Monkey head rush towards him gnashing its teeth. He quickly opened his eyes and removed his hand from the cave wall. "Don't listen for too long, I don't think whatever this is likes it too much." Hunter warned the others, his hand hovering near the wall before it dropped to his side.
Everyone else nodded in understanding of that. Taking deep breaths, the group continued onwards. Coming to a slightly larger area, the group was aware of whispering in their ears. Tigress and Hunter both then quickly turned right and were in defensive positions at the ready for combat... "What?" Po asked, looking where they were and seeing nothing...
Blinking a few times and shaking his head, he looked to Tigress, who was just as confused as he was, her eyes scanning the area. "We saw something, in the dark... like a figure. But... It's gone now." Hunter said to the others. However, looking back at the group, he saw a pair of red eyes peering at them all from the darkness behind them. He quickly shoved past the rest of the group and held his blade defensively, but the eyes vanished as they slunk back into the darkness, as if they were never even there in the first place.
"This is way too creepy." Po mentioned, and everyone, even Tigress and Hunter agreed with his assessment of the situation.
Hunter took a slightly shaky breath. "I'll be honest, if Grand Master Viper's life wasn't on the line, I'd be halfway back to the Valley by now." he admitted to the others. "This place is just... wrong." Hunter stated to them, although everyone was a little surprised by his admission, they were in agreement. Even Tigress was thinking along similar lines.
Monkey then had an idea. "If no one else is trapped in here, could we, maybe, seal this place?" he suggested to them. "And then maybe also destroy the cliffs leading to it? And then the mountain that it's under?" His suggestions got a bit sillier each time.
Agreeing with this course of action, Tigress nodded to him. "Good idea about sealing this place up." She agreed with Monkey. "It is indeed dangerous."
As the group slowly made their way forward, Hunter spoke. "Good thing Viper isn't seeing this. I couldn't sleep knowing this place was even remotely close to my village." He said to the group as he went back to the front of them, mentally preparing for whatever this place had further in store.
Thankfully, not much from the looks of it. "Holy chopsticks..." Po gasped as the group reached the end of the wide open cavern. There, suspended in some kind of black webbing was their target. Grand Master Viper. "Is he...?"
Mantis leapt from Monkey's shoulder and close to the Grand Master, checking he was still living. "He's alive. Just unconscious." he informed them. The group were all pleased about that turn of events.
Nodding, Monkey looked to Tigress. "Okay, good. Now can we please leave?"
Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, Tigress spoke. "Let's cut him down. Hunter?" She looked at the man in question and his blade. Truthfully, she was just as eager as Monkey to leave this cursed place as soon as possible.
Hunter got to work, quickly and expertly slicing the webbing around the Grand Master with ease, speed and precision. When the final thread came loose, Tigress and Hunter made sure to catch him before he hit the ground. He seemed to slightly regain consciousness. "Hmm... Please. No... More... Darkness..." Grand Master Viper managed to say before falling back into unconsciousness.
Suddenly, echoing and taunting laughter reverberated throughout the cave all arounf them, the shadows around the group began to move of their own accord, shifting and changing despite the torchlight remaining the same. The group then all briefly looked at one another and beelined for the exit, with Monkey passing Po a torch and the flint to light it. Stopping for a second, he managed to do so, increasing the radius of light. Monkey lead the group while Po took the back, so that both ends had plenty of light.
Despite the laughter continuing to taunt them, and the shadows not ceasing their movement around them, the group managed to quickly get back outside, almost making a dive for the light of day outside. Viper and Crane jumped a little in shock at seeing their desperation to get out of there. Hunter then quickly reached into his robes and produced a small round object of sorts. He threw one of them at the entrance, and it exploded, sealing off the cave entrance. "I save those for special occasions. I think this qualifies." Hunter panted, not just from exertion, but slight fear.
Viper, seeing her father again, quickly hugged him. He may have been unconscious, but she was just happy to see him alive and well. "Dad! Thank the Ancestors!" she exclaimed in happiness.
Taking notice of how pale the group all looked, Crane took a curious step towards them. "Are you guys... Okay?" he asked them all.
Instead of answering, they collectively shook their heads in response, all looking extremely pale. Deciding to wait until later to press for details, Crane was quiet as Tigress and Hunter both lifted Grand Master Viper to get him back, heading back down the cliff towards the Village. Night was beginning to descend on China now, and the group made haste back to Changxing, if not only to not be caught out in the darkness, to avoid whatever may be lurking in wait within it...
However, unbeknownst to the Five, Po and Hunter, from atop the cliff beside the group, a black shadowy figure observed them from a distance...