Hello everyone and here is a VERY big chapter. I took some time not writing because I needed to think about what to write before they reach the first scroll. And something else , after they get half way over to the second scroll things start getting hectic , REAL fast. SEE YOU ON THE BOTTOM! (A/N had some ISP issues for the past WEEK , so yeah I hope you were patient.)

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

Chapter 10 : The Forest of Death!

They have all eaten and packed their backpacks ready to go. They still had half a day left but that was enough.

"Alright if everyone is ready then let's go!" – Raizo shouted. They all ventured out of the woods and continued their path to the forest of death. Po , Tigress , Crane and Viper were up front. Po and Tigress were holding paws. Crane had his wing wrapped around Viper. Raizo , Mantis and Monkey all watched the two couples smiling. They walked like that for at least a couple hours without noticing that they were a couple hundred meters away from their destination. At that very instant Raizo sensed something. It was vaguely familiar , but he couldn't wrap his head around what it was. He looked forward and saw a small bit of the forest.

"Well looks like we are here." – said Raizo pointing at the black forest. Everyone looked where he was pointing and their eyes widened at the (somewhat creepy) sight and followed up behind Raizo.

"I guess now would be a good time to split up. But I have something else in mind. Po , you will go with Tigress. Viper with Crane and Monkey with Mantis. " – Everyone nodded. As they were getting deeper into the forest the sky seemed to darken around them.

"Is it night already?" – Po asked surprised.

"No , not at all. The area around the forest is naturally dark so you can´t really tell if it´s night or not."

"Oh , well then let´s split up." – Po stated ready to fight the next thing that comes in his way. Each "pair" disappeared in every possible direction , while Raizo just stood still for a moment before dashing to the search himself.

"What are you going to do this time , brother?" – he thought to himself as he ran around the forest looking for the scroll.

-With Po and Tigress-

They had gone to search in the north-eastern part of the forest. They decided that everyone would circle around the forest and meet up in the center , if the scroll wasn't anywhere where they were searching. It was almost certain that the scroll was in the center , however they had to make sure.

"So , are you sure we will make it? I mean if we will really be able to beat both of 'them'. I imagine they are a lot more powerful than we think they are." – Po asked Tigress.

"Aw come on , be a little bit optimistic Po. You only need the will to fight to succeed at this point. And by the way , since when are you so down. Usually when there is danger around you seem to be in the 'mood'." – Tigress said adding emphasis to the final word.

"Yeah , well this time it´s a bit different. Now I have come to realize that… with all this power…" – He said looking down at his paws with a saddened expression – "…what good can come of it all?"

"I know how you feel Po , but now , just for now , we can use that power to bring down the ones that brought all the evil to this world , and also the ones that were forcing people to do mean things without their conscience." – Tigress said as she put her paw on his shoulder. She was remembering what Raizo had said to her a few days back regarding Tai Lung. He said that Kar-Len had manipulated Tai Lung using the corruption to fog his mind to destroy the valley as a start , but he still had his conscience despite being controlled by the corruption that said he still needed the dragon scroll as well.

Unfortunately he was stopped by master Oogway in his attempt to take the scroll by force , after which he was sent to Chor-Ghom prison.(A/N I believe that´s how you spell it , if I´m wrong please correct me) And I assume you know what happened to him afterwards. But because of what Po did he was forced to fall back and form another plan. Then he decided , what better way to destroy China from the inside out than to consume the heir to the throne , lord Shen himself. But as if on cue , the panda did it again.

He was growing tired of him and his acts of heroism so he decided to take Po out indirectly. Using Shin , Raizo´s brother as a vessel , he tried to infiltrate the palace and kill Po , but as soon as he saw Raizo in front , he was again forced to let go of Shin , and allow him his consciousness back. He didn´t want to be noticed just yet. But Shin spilled the beans too early. He had explained to Raizo and the rest about Kar-Len´s rise and his plan to take the world. And that led to today.

"What I´m trying to say is , we can make things right once again , because we have the power to do so , with or without the scrolls." – Tigress finished.

"Well I guess you´re right." – Po said taking a hold of her arm on his shoulder.

"And in the meantime…" – Tigress then leaned closer and kissed him on the cheek , a light blush forming on Po´s face. "…just cheer up. I don´t like seeing you like this. Now come on , we need to keep looking."

"Right." – Po said as both of them continued to inspect the various half-dead bushes all around.

-With Crane and Viper-

Both of them were searching hard for the scroll. They all assumed that it would be somewhere near the center but they had to be sure it wasn´t anywhere around it first. Crane , being the avian , took flight in the skies to search , as he thought he would get a better view of the place up high and that he would be the first one to spot the scroll because he would be looking from up above. Viper had decided to check from ground level just in case. After a while Crane spotted Po and Tigress on the other side of the forest , but decided not to interfere. He flew down , landing right next to Viper as she closed in on him.

"Any luck up there?" – Viper asked him.

"Nope , I did see Po and Tigress on the other side though. How about you?"

"I couldn´t find anything either. It´s definitely gotta be in the center of the forest." – Viper said.

"That might be true , but we still don´t know for sure. Besides , if Mantis and Monkey don´t find it there would be a high chance that it´s in the center , but yeah I think so too."

"Where did you see Po and Tigress? As in how far in were they?" – Viper asked him.

"I think they were a little bit behind actually." – he said grinning.

"Oh good so we can still win this thing!" – Viper 'somewhat' yelled in excitement.

"Oh so you think it´s a competition? Well I say let´s go and take the gold!" – Crane was catching on to the joke , but he knew they all took it seriously.

"Were you able to spot Monkey and Mantis?" – Viper asked him again.

"Actually , I wasn´t. And I´m not surprised either. Monkey is too fast when he moves on the tree branches and this forest must be a heaven of branches to him , as for Mantis… well let´s just say he´s too tiny to spot anyway." – Crane said as both of them laughed.

"Yeah , but still we cannot let them win this. Not when we are so close." – Viper added.

"Okay then…" – Crane said as he kissed her. She blushed a bit. "…see you in the center!" – he yelled as he flew back up to the skies.

"Yeah , see you." – Viper said with a tone of love in her voice. "He is so great. I love him so much." – she thought as she too sped off into the forest to search again.

-With Mantis and Monkey-

"Wooohoooo! I love this!" – Monkey was screaming as he swung from tree to tree. It didn´t have any leaves or anything , just the branches , which Monkey found to be a great advantage for both him and the battlefield. But he was too preoccupied with having fun so he didn´t care.

"Come on , Monkey!" – Mantis yelled at him from the ground. "We are supposed to look for the scroll , not to have fun!"

"What , what did you say?! I can´t hear you over all this fun!" – Monkey teased.

"Okay that is it." – Mantis had enough. He looked where Monkey would jump to next , and he split the tree in half right where Monkey was about to swing.

"Oh yeeee- UH OH!" – Monkey noticed the tree was about to collapse. "HOLY SH-OWWW!" He stumbled down and hit his head on the bark of the tree. "What the heck , dude?" – Monkey said holding his head.

"We did not come here to have fun. Now come on , we need to keep looking." – Mantis was losing patience.

"Oh come on , Mantis! If the others haven´t found it yet , and they are almost at the end , then it has to be in the center."- Monkey was trying to get out of the argument alive. Mantis , yeah he was small , but that´s what makes him all the more deadly. Especially with his acupuncture skills , and Monkey knew that.

"And plus , I don´t want to lose the competition!"

"What competition?" – Mantis was curious.

"Well you see, back when we were just outside the forest , me and Viper agreed to do a competition. The first one to reach the center of the forest wins 300 almond cookies."

"Ohhh is that it?" – Mantis was intrigued by this. "Okay then what are we waiting for , let´s go!" He shouted as he sped off deeper into the forest.

"Aw come on , what happened to…" – Monkey was about to tell him but he was far away already.
"I swear , Mantis , sometimes you are just impossible." – he said to himself as he continued to swing on the trees.

-With Raizo-

"It´s being awfully quiet here for some reason." – he said to himself as he was walking over to the center of the forest. He was on the opposite side of the forest to search the other half of it.

"And why do you think that is?" – he stopped as he heard a female voice talk to him. He didn´t recognize the voice at first , but when he did he faintly smiled and continued walking.

"Well I don´t know , probably because I´m anti-social or something." -he said.

"No , it´s because you don´t have anyone to talk to. No wait , you do , but you don´t seem to open up for some reason." – she said "And why don´t you talk to me anymore? I was starting to feel lonely in here. I have feelings too you know?!"

"I know!" – he said on the border of a yell. "I know that , but… it´s just…" – he was trying to think of what to say as he looked down seemingly saddened. "It´s just that I have a lot on my mind right now."

"Again , all the more reason to talk to someone!" – she said with a tone of agitation , and… worry?

"Well I… I…" – his eyes widened and he was cut off as an all too familiar sense caught his attention.

"Hey , do you sense that?" – he asked her.

"Hmm , sense wha-" – she was cut off as the same sense caught her attention too. "Oh my. Do you think-" – she was cut off by Raizo.

"Yeah , I know. I kind of expected this to be honest. The problem is the army and the ones consumed have the same sense so I don´t know who it will be. But in this case I sense several others so I believe it´s just the army. We will talk later , when I have at least some time to do it okay?"

"Oh okay fine , but don´t make me wait too long." – she said with a tone of slight happiness.

"Actually , you will need to help me out a bunch of times in this adventure. So be sure to stick around." – he said smiling.

"Oh come on , like I have anywhere else to go." – if she had a face right now , she would be smiling. And with that Raizo disappeared into the shadows towards the center.

Everyone was almost at the center , but only two pairs were racing for the prize. Viper and Crane as well as Monkey and Mantis seemed to be tied. Viper and Mantis reached the center in a couple minutes.

"Ha , I beat you again , Monkey!" – Viper said aloud.

"No way , I was here first!" – he objected.

"No , I was!" – and then both of them started arguing. Then out of nowhere a bunch of purple colored ghost-like creatures seemed to just jump out of the trees and the ground as they circled around something. All of them were carrying swords a little smaller than katanas that had a weird twist at the tip of the blade. They wore standard warrior clothing that was ripped in some places but what was most disturbing was that they had empty sockets where the eyes would be. Crane was the first to notice , also seeing what they were circling. It was in fact a rounded lake with a tiny island in the middle. He called the rest , who were in fact arguing about who was the winning team.

"Uh , guys?" – he called them.

"WHAT?!" – all three of them said in unison , which made Crane jump a bit. He then pointed behind him. Their eyes grew wide as they saw what was now hundreds of those purple ghosts that surrounded the lake.

"What the heck are those?" – Mantis was the first to break the silence.

"I have no idea." – Po answered as all four of them turned to Po and Tigress.

"Well it´s about time you showed up , eh?" – Crane said.

"Po said he was sensing something bad so we hurried to the center as fast as we could. I never thought it would be this." – Tigress said pointing at the now four feet high wall made of those ghosts.

"Well I don´t care what those are , I´m gonna get them all." – Po said stepping forward and into his battle stance. One of the ghosts appeared right in front of him , also getting into a battle stance with his sword. Po concentrated his chi into his right arm as it glowed a bright orange color. The ghost then swung his blade at Po diagonally. He dodged it with ease due to his increased speed , and punched the ghost in the chest(or rather where it would be) and sent it flying back a few feet. As soon as the ghost stood up Po noticed an orange mark on the spot where he punched it.

Soon it started to glow and extend as orange ribbons coiled around the ghost , sealing it completely.
The now orange ghost was then reduced to an orb of light as it flew to the skies and disappeared.

"What happened just now?" – Po was surprised at what he did.

"You just cleansed that corrupted spirit." – Raizo answered as he appeared behind Po. Everyone´s gaze then shifted to him as he spoke.

"Cleansed? What do you mean?" – he was slightly confused.

"Well you see…" – Raizo started as he walked over closer to the wall of ghosts. "…each and every one of these creatures was once a normal spirit that was corrupted and used as a part of Kar-Len´s 'Army of the Corruption'. I created the element of light for the sole purpose of cleansing these spirits and freeing them of this darkness. Unfortunately he has made so many that I don´t think it is possible to even get rid of the corruption anymore."

"Yes we can." – The female voice said.

"Whoa , who was that? Did you guys hear that?" – Po was a bit startled.

"Oh , I don´t believe we are properly introduced. My name is Ophelia and I am lil´ Rai´s elemental being. (A/N I took the phrase from lil´ Shiro from bleach as Toshiro´s sister called him) Nice to meet you all." – she said as everyone else greeted her. Po was going to introduce them too but she stopped him.

"I already know who you are , Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five. The only reason I know of you is because of Raizo here , he told me everything about you."

"Wait a minute , how did you-" – Po was cut off as Raizo spoke again.

"Anyway , we will do the talking later. We have a more important task at hand." – he said as he turned to the huge wall of ghosts. It had increased in height while they were talking , now it was just above 20 feet high. And it seemed to stop at that. "As you can see we wasted enough time already."

"Whoa , it is huuuuge." – Mantis just stared in awe.

"Well let´s just think of this as a tree. It may be big at first , but…" – Raizo said as he unsheathed his sword. It soon started glowing a bright orange color. "…if you cut it down bit by bit you will eventually take it down." – he finished as he swung the sword horizontally. A split second later slashes upon slashes of wind were seen rocketing to the wall of ghosts.

"Po , be ready to use your feet of fury to take down the ones that come tumbling down! Don´t forget to enhance it with light!" – Raizo said as he watched the slashes cut through the wall like butter.

"You got it! Tigress?" –He said as he built up chi in both of his legs and they started glowing an orange color. Po held his hand out. She knew exactly what to do.

"Right , I´m coming!" – Tigress said as she ran by him , took his hand and flung him up. Right then the whole wall started to fall down , luckily , in Po´s direction.

"Okay then here goes nothing." - he thought.

"Feet of Fury!" – he yelled as he spun around so his legs were in front. As soon as he started kicking the ghosts were reduced to orbs and disappeared. As he made his way through the wall he wanted to try out a new move. He was now in the middle of the round wall and he started building up chi in his center. When he had enough he fiercely and quickly released the pent up chi as it literally exploded and hit every ghost that was in range. Surprisingly it took them all out. That was another move he tried before but didn´t work out well : the chi bomb. Everyone was impressed and surprised at how Po executed the attack on his own. Even Raizo couldn´t believe his eyes. As soon as Po landed all of the ghosts were cleansed and gone. Then he spotted it. The first scroll. It lay on the tiny island that was in the rounded lake.

"Impressive Dragon Warrior , and I assume you created that move too?" – Po only nodded. Then he saw Tigress run up to him and kiss him. "Now that , was pretty hardcore." – she told him as he blushed from the kiss. "Thanks , Ti." - he said.

"And there it is , the first scroll." – Raizo said looking at it. Everyone soon followed and located it.

"So what are we waiting for let´s get it!" – Po rushed over to grab it but was pulled back by Raizo.

"Now what do you think you´re doing? It´s not safe to get it yet."

"What do you mean , there´s nothing there." – Po protested.

"Oh really?" – Raizo said picking up a rock and tossing it into the lake. But as soon as the rock passed the lake´s outer border , it was pushed to the ground by super strong gravity at an unimaginable speed. Po´s eyes grew wide as he realized what would have happened if he went for the scroll then.

"You would have been squashed like a bug from all this gravity if you did that." – Po nodded.

"How is that even possible?" – Tigress asked.

"Well you see Taren set up a gravity shield around the scroll should a thief arrive and try to steal it. Only he can undo the spell , and yes he used black magic for that."

"But then how is the scroll still there it should be squashed too." – Po was confused.

"And why do you think there is a ring of water around it?" – Raizo tried to make Po figure it out on his own.

"Well I don´t know…" – he thought briefly and then it hit him. "Maybe only the water is affected by the gravity." – At that Raizo started clapping.

"There you go I knew you were smart. So what to do now?" – Raizo was trying to think of a way to get to the scroll. Then it hit him like a sack of bricks. He looked at the sun which was about to set. That gave him the perfect opportunity to use his shadow dodge technique to get the scroll.

"I have an idea , Po you will have to go to the other side ad stand parallel to me." – Po nodded and walked over to the other side , aligning himself with Raizo. He looked over the shadow that Po was casting and saw that it overlapped the scroll. "Perfect." – he thought. "Okay now just stay there." – Po nodded again. Raizo walked over behind Tigress.

"Hey what are you-" she was cut off as he motioned down. She looked and saw that he was standing on her shadow. Then she remembered his special move.

"Oh right." She said as she turned around. Raizo then concentrated and disappeared. He reappeared on the small piece of land in the lake. He was able to stand on it just enough to grab the scroll and reappear back behind Tigress.

"Phew , that was close." – he said looking down at the scroll. It had the yin-yang symbol on it , and that meant it was the scroll of yin-yang.(A/N duh what else)

"One down , two to go." – he said as he put the scroll in his bag.

"And that wasn´t the easiest thing in the world , no." – Po said with a sarcastic tone.

"Well maybe he meant to do that. He wanted to send his 'peons' to defend the scroll first. He probably knew we would go for the nearest scroll so he sent his weakest here. That means the other two are occupied as well." – Raizo said pulling out the map.

"Let´s see now , the next scroll would be in…" – he paused a bit because he knew it would be a huge advantage for him. "…the frozen plains. And the trip just gets better and better." – he said.

"What do you mean by that?" – Po asked him.

"Well it´s obvious I would get a major advantage over whoever I fight next if I´m gonna go there , I am the frost wolf after all."

"And why shouldn´t we fight?" – Po chimed in.

"Because if you try to fight Taren now you will die. Your abilities are not yet perfected."

"What do you mean 'not yet perfected' they are-" – he was cut off by a very agitated Raizo.

"No they are not! You can´t merge with your elemental being yet , hell you can´t even communicate well with it can you?!"

"N-no I-I guess we c-can´t." – Po was beyond scared now.

"Sorry , I was overreacting a bit there." – he said as he relaxed.

"A BIT?!" – Ophelia yelled at him. "I almost died in here!"

"I said I was sorry , okay? It´s kind of hard to con-" – he stopped himself before he said anything else. Revealing something like that now would be disastrous.

"Let´s just… forget that never happened." – he looked at the sun as it was almost gone.
"I say we… camp here for the night. It should be dark soon." – everyone just nodded.
"Okay I will start by clearing out an area , and we should , move away from here." – he walked over to the southern part of the forest.

"What´s up with him?" – Tigress said.

"I don´t know , but we should definitely stay away from him when he is pissed off like that." – Po stated. Everyone just nodded and followed Raizo to their camp site. As soon as they saw him he was in the middle of a huge clearing. No doubt he destroyed the trees there because there were at least a dozen of them when Mantis and Monkey were going through it. He then created a white orb of ice in his paw and threw it into the air. As soon as it was a good two hundred feet in the air , he snapped his fingers , and it exploded into little specks of ice and snowflakes that forged an ice barrier a good two miles in diameter.

"Okay , this is where we will stay."

"Uh huh , and I suppose I should go gather fire wood now?" – Po asked.

"You know what , no you don´t. It´s time I put the element of wood to use anyway." – he said with a hint of excitement.

"Y-you mean-" – Po started but was cut off.

"Yes , yes I do." – Raizo finished as he closed his eyes and focused. A bit later the ground started to shake and a whole , two story house appeared from below. Everyone was shocked at this as they observed the house. Raizo on the other hand was completely drained. That house ate at his chi worse than Po.(A/N I based this off of Yamato and his wood style jutsu , for those of you who watch Naruto)

"Well , what are you waiting for , come on in." – Raizo said exhausted. They were all inside in a split second. They were even more shocked when they saw a fireplace already set up. They were in the living room now. The house had a kitchen , a dining room , a living room , a balcony (on both floors since it was an elevated house) and a training hall , one that was twice as big as their own! And it also had all the stuff their old training hall did. It even had pre-set torches in the corners as a light source.

"So , how is it?" – Raizo asked them.

"This… is… AWESOME!" – Po screamed with excitement.

"And , oh yeah another thing." – he said as he pulled a peach out of his bag. "I believe I can also recreate the peach tree as well."

"Noooo…" – Po said amazed.

"Oh yesssssss…" – he said as he left the house to 'make' the peach tree.

"Oh yeah and you guys go ahead and make yourself at home , the rooms are upstairs."

"So , I´m gonna go and start work on dinner and , you guys can do whatever you want until it´s ready." – Po said. Everyone nodded and left to their rooms except for Tigress.

"Mind if I help out?" – she asked him. She lied. She only wanted to spend some more time with him.

"Um yeah sure , why not. You can start by chopping those turnips and radishes while I get everything ready." – he gave her some so she went to work right away.

Pretty soon dinner was ready and Tigress gave it a taste.

"Mmmm , it tastes great , this is your best soup you made yet , Po."

"No , I didn´t make it…" – he said as he kissed her. "…we did." – she blushed at that.

"Yes , yes we did." – she said returning the kiss.

"OKAY , GUYS , DINNER´S READY!" – Po called out. Pretty soon they were all in the dining room eating dinner , except for Raizo.

"You think we should invite him in too?" – Mantis asked.

"No , he´s probably just meditating. Besides , he said he could survive without food AND water for years , so one night is really nothing to him." – Po answered.

"Oh , well then , more for ME!" – Mantis then literally dug into his soup.

"Why do you have to be worse than all of us. Even Po was able to last an entire day without food , and you can´t." – Viper told him.

"Well I´m sorry." – he said sarcastically. "I´m so used to Po´s cooking that I can´t last an hour without eating anymore." – everyone started laughing at that statement. "And what´s so funny?"

"Oh nothing , now I have to make an entire barrel of soup just for you." – Po said jokingly.

"Actually that would be nice , yes." – Mantis added.

"Oh okay then maybe when we get back home. Now we should all go to sleep and rest." – Po said and everyone nodded. He cleaned up from dinner and everyone went for their rooms.

"Good night everyone." – Po said.
"Good night" – said Viper and Crane at the same time.
"Night." – said Mantis.
"See you in the morning." – said Monkey.

"Good night my dumpling." – said Tigress kissing him good night.

"Sweet dreams , Lotus Blossom." – said Po returning the kiss.

Everyone was asleep within minutes. Raizo was lying on the roof of the house staring at the stars.

"Where are you , brother?" – he thought to himself. He sighed and continued to stare at the night sky.

Somewhere , in a village far away , Shin was also looking at the stars.

"I hope we meet again soon , brother."

Okay so that marks the end of chapter 10! This was a big one , eh? I decided to put each of the searches in one chapter , not more. So in the next one , they go after the second scroll. Expect the next two to three chapters to be just as long or even longer than this one.

ANYWAY , PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! SEE YOU NEXT TIME!