This chapter wraps up the final battle(s), but we're not quite done yet. There's still one more little epilogue chapter to go.

Chapter 16: Alone

Master Ox was on the offensive, but he was quickly finding out that even without Fleetfoot, Kai Hui was no slowpoke. The Alpha wolf was nimbly dodging or blocking everything he threw at him, his movements visible, but still difficult to track.

But Ox continued his assault and threw a punch that brushed Hui's whiskers as he sidestepped it. He growled and finally struck back with a kick to Ox's chin. The bovine flew off the sparring platform and landed on his hooves, charging up the stairs at Hui on all-fours. As he got close, the wolf jumped onto him, running across Ox's back and kicking off the other side with enough force that Ox tumbled over the other end of the platform.

"If this were an actual spar, you would have already lost twice over!" Hui taunted. He leapt after him and attacked Ox with a series of aerial kicks. Ox raised his hooves and blocked them, slowly edging backwards. He finally reached up and grabbed Hui's ankle, swinging him around and throwing him to the ground. Hui bounced off once, his armor cracking, then landed back on his feet, glaring at him.

Ox didn't taunt him back as he normally would. He simply returned Hui's glare and formed his stance again, waiting for his next move.

Hui answered his silent challenge and rushed him. Ox watched him closely, and a second before he would have been hit, he stepped forward and struck first. His fist nailed Hui in the gut, leaving a large hole in his damaged armor. Hui gasped and coughed up a bit of blood. Ox then tried a headbutt, but Hui caught him by the horns. He let out a loud growl as he jumped over Ox's head, yanking him down to the ground. He rolled out of the way of a stomp aimed for his face and got back up.

Ox shuddered a little as he saw his opponent. The longer this battle went on, the more unhinged Hui became. Already, he could see the murderous rage in his eyes and the uncontrollable shaking in his body. He didn't need advanced perceptive abilities to see that the Alpha wolf had seriously lost it.

This time he taunted. "What's wrong, Hui? Is the big, slow ox putting up more of a fight than you'd like?"

Of all the things he thought Hui might do next, clawing him across the face was at the very bottom of the list. "Shut up! You can't stop me! This city is mine!"

Hui threw a series of punches at Ox. He blocked the first few, but they just kept coming, getting faster and faster until his arms became blurs and started battering him senseless. As it turned out, the name "Fleetfoot" was a bit of a misnomer. Hui could achieve the same technique using any part of his body, as Ox was now finding out the hard way.

"What's wrong?!" Hui echoed, his voice filled with sadistic glee. "Don't you want to save the city?! I thought you had a score to settle! Well, come on then! I'm waiting!" Hui continued his combo until he was abruptly stopped when his arms would no longer move.

A severely bruised Ox clutched both of Hui's fists in his hooves and snarled. "Wait's over." He headbutted again, now with nothing stopping him as he slammed into the wolf's skull with his own. Hui howled in pain as Ox yanked him in and kneed him in the gut, shattering his armor further.

Ox released his hold on the wolf's arms and grabbed him by the throat, pulling back his other fist for another blow.

He didn't realize at the time that he was letting his rage blind him. Hui's taunt had reminded him of all the lives the wolf had ruined, both Gongmen and Lang Qun, and of the one life he had brutally ended in front of him. It wasn't in his virtue as a kung fu master to think this, but he wanted Hui to suffer.

And that was his downfall as Hui used that brief distraction to hook his leg behind Ox's and trip him to the ground again. Ox wasn't able to get up fast enough this time and he saw the wolf come down on his left arm with his knee. There was a loud snap and Ox screamed in pain as his arm broke.

Hui grinned like a demon, clearly taking great pleasure in seeing his enemy lying injured in front of him. "I guess that's it then. Pity." He placed a foot on the broken arm and pressed down, making him scream again. "Tempting as it is torture you for a while longer, I've learned from my mistakes. I'm not going to leave even a single piece of you behind."

Ox felt Hui's foot lift from his arm and saw the wolf walk out of his view. Quickly as he could, he used his other arm to push himself up to his knees, and then onto his hooves. He wondered why Hui hadn't simply finished him off while he was down. That answer became clear as soon as he caught sight of him again.

Hui was standing atop the Lang Qun cannon, and the weapon was pointed right in his direction.

Ox's eyes widened. He couldn't hope to dodge that thing in prime condition let alone now. He looked around desperately for anything that could save him. The only thing nearby was Master Rhino's cloud hammer embedded in the ground. With little other option, he rushed forward and yanked the hammer out. Hui saw the weapon in his hooves and laughed. "Ha! What do you think you're doing?! If Thundering Rhino couldn't stop this weapon, than you certainly can't!" He bent down and raked his claws hard against the top of the cannon, creating enough of a spark to light the fuse.

Ox looked down at the hammer in resignation. "You're right. This can't stop a cannon..."

He looked back up and glared at Hui. "...but it can stop you!" He reared back and threw the hammer with all his might.

The cannon fired. Ox took the full force of the blast and was blown backwards. At the same time, the cloud hammer struck Hui across the jaw. The wolf flew off the cannon and landed hard on the ground.

For a long time, both warriors just lied there, unmoving, Eventually, one them stirred.

Hui groaned softly and opened his eyes. He tried to get up and coughed some more blood onto the front of his armor, staining a good portion of his gray fur. Everything hurt, most of all his jaw. The bastard had nearly broken it. He managed to sit himself up on his paws and looked around wearily. Only now did he realize he was not alone.

The Lang Qun stood in front of him, their numbers continuing to file in from outside. They must have been drawn by the sound of the cannon, Hui realized. He couldn't see their faces behind their masks, but they were all murmuring amongst themselves, probably surprised that Hui had been defeated. But that didn't matter now. With his army back at his side, this wasn't over for him yet. He could still win. He could still fulfill his dream.

Hui smiled warmly and reached a paw out to them. "My brethren...help me..."

He knew something was wrong when no one grabbed his paw. The wolves were still just looking between each other and murmuring in confusion. "What are you waiting for?! I said help me!" This time one of them moved, walking to the front of the group to stand right in front of him. But instead of helping him up, he reached up and pulled the mask from his face, dropping it to the ground. Behind that mask, he saw the angry green eyes of Lu. He spat out a single word, filled with hatred and bitterness.

"No."

He turned around and walked away, leaving the mask behind. Hui watched in horror as, one by one, the rest of the Lang Qun threw their masks to the ground and did the same. "W-What?! What are you doing?! Come back!"

Ignoring his shout, the Lang Qun continued to walk away. Hui whistled after them a few times, but this didn't even slow them down. Injured as he was, he started to crawl after them. "Hey! I said come back! I order you to come back!"

They still didn't slow, and he was quickly losing distance on them. But Hui kept crawling, his cries getting more and more desperate. "No! You can't do this! You can't treat me like this anymore! Please! I can't be alone again! I am the Alpha!"

Hui's strength ran out and he dropped to the ground, only able to watch as the Lang Qun disappeared from view.

"I AM THE ALPHA!"

There was no one around to hear him.

Master Croc slowly woke up, his eyes readjusting to the light.

He was still lying in a giant hole in the floor, right below the kung fu academy. He didn't know why he expected anything different. The entire city was pretty much deserted aside from them, the wolves, and Jin...

Jin!

Croc immediately looked over to where the assassin was when he passed out, only to find him missing. He searched around the room frantically. Jin was in even worse condition than he was. How did he wake up before him?

His eyes soon settled on a flash of white mixed in with the gray and black of the rubble. Not far from where Jin was supposed to be, he saw a small piece of parchment stabbed into the rubble with a knife. Curiously, he crawled over and ripped it off, not bothering to remove the knife first. Written on the parchment was a short message:

Sorry Master Croc, but Jinny is MINE! Better luck next time!

P.S. My sisters say hi.

And below that was a sketch of a feline face sticking a tongue out at him playfully.

Croc scratched his head, trying to make sense of the bizarre message. That face looked familiar to him somehow. And that mention of sisters...

He dropped the parchment in shock. It couldn't be.

"Hey! Anyone down there!"

Croc looked up as he heard the shout. It wasn't a voice he recognized, but he wasn't about to ignore it. "Yes! I'm right here!"

There was a sound of shuffling footsteps and then the face of an antelope looked down at him. "Master Croc! Thank the gods we found you!" He looked over him some more and his eyes widened at the sight of his numerous injuries. He shouted over his shoulder. "Hey! We need some help over here!"

Croc smiled in relief now that he was safely back in the care of the royal guard. He must have underestimated how serious his injuries really were, because as the guards started swarming in to help him, he passed out again.

Ox opened his eyes to a familiar location. Technically, it was the same place he was just in, but a lot nicer. The giant cannon was gone, and in its place was the Tower of Sacred Flame.

But even sighting that magnificent tower once more was nothing compared to seeing Master Rhino standing in front of him. His old master smiled at him. "Congratulations, Master Ox. You did it."

Ox smiled back. "You mean...Gongmen City is saved?"

"Indeed. And it's all thanks to you and Master Croc."

"Croc!" he gasped. "Is he okay? I left him alone with that psychotic fox."

"He's injured, but alright," Rhino assured him. "He won his fight too."

Ox sighed in relief. "That's good. I guess my sacrifice was worth it then."

Rhino quirked his head. "Sacrifice? What are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm dead aren't I? Isn't that why I'm here?"

"Of course you're not dead! You're just dreaming again."

"Wait, what?!" Ox's jaw dropped. "But...the cannon-"

"Oh, you're in pretty bad shape, don't get me wrong, but definitely alive. I think it's because you're kinda chubby like the Dragon Warrior." Ox frowned. Not exactly the most heroic reason to survive an epic battle. But he couldn't really complain, all things considered.

"Heh. Apparently, everyone can survive getting shot with a cannon except you."

"Don't rub it in." Rhino shook his head. "Just know that this doesn't mean you're done yet. The city still needs your help more than ever."

"But if neither of us are in good condition, how are we supposed to help anyone?"

"Don't worry," Rhino winked. "You'll have more help than you realize."

He woke up.

Ox found himself in Gongmen City's local hospital, lying on a cot. He was not at all surprised to see that he was covered in bandages and burn scars, particularly around his midsection. He also had a splint attached to his left arm that Hui had broken in their battle. Naturally, he was in a lot of pain, but it was better than being dead. Marginally.

"Wow, you look like crap."

Ox turned his head to the right and saw Croc on the cot next to him. Like him, the reptile had bandages all over his body. Strangely he was missing the spiked ball on his tail. "You too."

He chuckled. "I figured as much. I guess this means you defeated Hui?"

"Sure did. What about the rest of the Lang Qun?"

"From what I heard, they've all surrendered. The royal guard is in the middle of trying to round our citizens back into the city."

"So...we did it then?" Ox could hardly keep the excitement out of his voice.

Croc gave a big toothy grin. "Yep. We did it."

As much pain as they were in, they reached across their cots and gave each other a hi-five.