Notes From The Underground

The Owl And The Panda Part 1

King Yama leaped into the air with his chui hammers, bringing one of them down as he landed, forcing everyone to scatter. The force of the hammer smashed into the floor, generating a shockwave of energy across the room.

Po got back up after the initial attack.

"Who are you anyways?" Po demanded.

"All will be answered in due time," Yama grinned. "But first…"

King Yama attacked Po again, swinging both hammers at him. Po dodged the attacks one after another.

"You want revenge," Po weaved around the hits. "But why on me? What did I ever do to you? Heck, you even told me yourself I made your job easier over the years!"

Behind King Yama, Tigress leaped at him. However, King Yama turned around and kicked her, knocking her back.

"Tigress!" Po roared in anger and moved forward, which Yama had counted on.

Yama turned back and struck Po with one of the hammers, sending him flying back.

As Po cleared his head, he saw Yama standing before him raising a hammer. Yama brought it down but Po rolled away from it. As Po got back up, Xiao threw her jade dagger at King Yama who quickly knocked it aside with a hammer. Fenghuang threw some razor feathers at the lord of the underworld who skillfully deflected them with his weapon as well.

"King Yama, why are you doing this?" demanded Fenghuang.

Yama's eyes glowed. Telekinetically, Fenghuang felt herself being psychically lifted off the ground. Helplessly, she flew towards Yama who grabbed her by the throat.

Suddenly, there was a change in Yama's voice.

"Daughters should only speak when spoken to," Yama told her in an eerie tone.

Fenghuang's eyes widened in fear. That was one of the things her father used to say to her when she was being physically disciplined.

Slowly, Yama began strangling Fenghuang who gasped for air.

"Fenghuang!" Po cried.

From the side, Tigress leaped up and kicked Yama in the face, forcing him to drop the owl.

"You okay?" Po asked Fenghuang who merely nodded.

"Something is clearly not right with King Yama," Fenghuang finally pointed out. "He was nothing like this the last time I visited this realm."

"What do you think happened?" asked Po.

"I don't know but we clearly have no choice but to fight him now," the owl replied.

"Alright guys," Po said as his companions gathered around Yama. "Let's hit him from all sides!"

Yama swung his hammer at Xiao who ducked it and wrapped her chains around Yama's arm, leaping over him and trying to pull him back. Before Yama could react to her, Po came in, punching him in the stomach in a hit-and-run. Tigress came in next, hitting the lord of the underworld with a powerful facepalm.

Angrily, Yama roared, pulling Xiao with all his might and sending her crashing into Tigress, sending both cats tumbling away.

Po grabbed Yama from behind but Yama quickly hoisted him overhead and slammed him into the ground.

"Ack!" Po cried, getting the breath knocked off of him.

Fenghuang came in next, smacking Yama across the face with her wing, making him angry. Yama swung at her with a hammer but the owl ducked and struck Yama in the stomach with a chi blast through both wings that send him flying back.

"Agh!" Yama cried.

"Your chi can hurt him!" Po said excitedly.

Fenghuang flew towards Yama who smacked her aside with one of his hammers, sending her crashing into a pillar.

"No!" Po cried, rushing at the elephant.

Tigress joined Po, attacking Yama with a flurry of combos, leaping over Po. Yama fended off the blows but Po came in next with a powerful blow to his stomach. Tigress took that as her cue, planting on hand on Po's head and swinging her body around to kick Yama across his massive head. As Yama stumbled back, Po struck him multiple times across the chest and head before falling back and allowing Tigress to hit him with a leaping kick to the forehead to knock Yama on his back.

"Their teamwork is impressive," Xiao admitted.

Yama's eyes glowed as he floated into the air and blasted Tigress aside with a beam of dark chi. Fenghuang came in next but Yama was prepared for her, hitting her in the stomach with a chui hammer, knocking the breath out of her. He struck her a few more times, sending her crashing to the ground.

Po leaped up at the floating Yama, bouncing off a pillar while cupping both hands together to bring them down on the lord of the underworld, knocking him to the floor. Po, Xiao, and Lu Kang charged Yama at once but Yama unleashed another powerful energy waved that knocked all three back.

Po was the first to get up from the attack.

"Now I have you where I want you," Yama appeared before Po.

Immediately, Po's right arm was struck with a pressure point strike that seemed to take all the energy out of it.

"Aaaahhh!" Po cried in pain, feeling his arm go numb.

Again Yama struck him, in his other arm, in his chest, his stomach, and his neck. All at once it felt like his nerves were on fire and before long, Po stumbled back from the strikes. Feeling a burning sensation, Po looked down. All the pressure point strikes on his body formed a glowing green constellation circle around his stomach as Po felt his strength leaving him.

"W-What did you do to me?" Po struggled to still stand.

"Simple," answered King Yama. "I blocked all chi points in your body. Your Hero's Chi has been suppressed."

"But why?" demanded Po who finally fell down on his back.

"Because," Yama smiled. "The Hero's Chi was the only thing that could stop me. And with the knowledge I gleaned in the underworld, I discovered a way to neutralize it before its user can effectively wield it."

"Wait…" Po narrowed his eyes. "Just who are you?"

"Fenghuang's suspicions were correct," the elephant told them. "I am not King Yama. In fact, the lord of the underworld has been taking a long vacation for a while."

"How?" Fenghuang got back up. "There's not a chance any soul could defeat King Yama."

"I am no ordinary soul," the elephant chuckled. "I and I alone possess the means to deal with a lord of the underworld."

"You might as well show yourself," Tigress growled at him. "You've clearly gone through a lot to get Po down here. No point in hiding anymore!"

"I love a good reveal," the elephant's entire body began to glow.

The elephant that they thought was King Yama already had a massive body. However, a dark red glow surrounded his form, causing him to grow even bigger. Before long, his body became elongated into something long and serpentine.

Soon, before everyone, a giant red dragon floated in the air with a malevolent grin.

"Ke-Pa!" Po cried. "I should've known it was you!"

"Oh no, this isn't good," Tigress had a look of fear on her face, recollecting the last time everyone at the Jade Palace faced him and his demons.

"I remember the Constellations telling me about Jindiao who's a dragon," Xiao recollected. "Is this the same guy?"

"No," Po told her. "Jindiao was once the Dragon Master with the Hero's Chi and became corrupted over time. Ke-Pa is a demon dragon and ruled over an underworld of demons once. Sounds confusing but I guarantee they're about as different as night and day."

"Is everything clear now, Po?" asked Ke-Pa.

Tigress helped Po up.

"It all makes sense now," Po finally admitted. "This trap you've set up to lead me into the underworld was so well thought out that it could've only been you and no one else."

"There's just one thing I want to know," Fenghuang added. "I knew King Yama once. What did you do with him, demon?"

Ke-Pa smiled and glanced at Po.

"Do you remember my defeat at your hands?" the dragon asked.

"Y-Yes," Po answered.

oooo

Years ago…

"No, this can't happen," Ke-Pa cried. "You're a worm… an ant… a mortal!"

"You got that right," Po smiled. "And on behalf of all mortals, I say to you… SKADOOSH!"

Po unleashed his hero's chi straight into Ke-Pa's mouth, enveloping the sky with a bright golden light.

By the time it was over, Ke-Pa opened his eyes again. And from the looks of it, he was no longer in the Valley of Peace.

"W-What?," Ke-Pa said to himself in a disoriented state.

Again, Ke-Pa examined his surroundings. He was in some sort of royal palace. And moreover, his body felt lighter, almost as if he was ethereal. And a feeling like this could only mean one thing.

"I'm dead," Ke-Pa realized, murmuring to himself. "He did it… the Dragon Warrior actually killed me!"

"So he did," a guard suddenly appeared behind him. "Move it along, pal."

Ke-Pa looked behind him. It was a rhino guard but something was off. The rhino himself was not a corporeal, living being made of flesh. But something else was different.

The rhino grabbed Ke-Pa by the shoulder and pushed him forward.

"No," Ke-Pa realized in horror.

His dragon body had shrunken and he was no longer the giant that he was in the physical world.

"King Yama doesn't have all day, you know," the guard told him, gripping him and leading him towards a door.

"I… I…" Ke-Pa was in too much shock to process what was going on.

However, he did have one final trick up his sleeve. It was something he was not able to perform on the Dragon Warrior during their final battle because he hadn't counted on Po being able to summon so much reserve chi to be able to obliterate him.

But Ke-Pa could not stay deep in thought forever. The guard behind him grew impatient.

"Oh, so you think you're a big shot, do you?" the rhino told him. "Tell you what. If you want to have an attitude about it, you won't even get the dignity of appearing before his majesty in your dragon form."

Immediately the guard hit Ke-Pa from behind with his a mystical blast. When Ke-Pa opened his eyes again, he realized his body had shrunken even further. He was now back to being the old, dark colored pig that he took as a mortal form.

"How dare you!" Ke-Pa growled.

Before Ke-Pa could do anything, however, the door to a throne room opened up.

"Time for judgment," the guard pushed Ke-Pa inside.

The door closed behind Ke-Pa as he now stood before King Yama, a large elephant and the lord of the underworld.

"Ke-Pa," King Yama frowned.

"King Yama, your grace," Ke-Pa replied sarcastically, without any genuine form of respect.

"You remember me," Yama nodded. "Good. That saves us time."

"I admit, I was not expecting to face you on this day," Ke-Pa admitted.

"Everyone's time comes sooner or later," Yama told him. "And you, Ke-Pa, have lived a very evil life. Your destruction at the hands of the Dragon Warrior was long overdue."

"Yes, it was a shame it ended that way," Ke-Pa lamented. "I was not able to show him what I could truly do. And now I have to settle for some stuffy, overworked underworld bureaucrat."

"Was that a challenge?" King Yama grew to an even larger size as his eyes glowed in anger.

Ke-Pa suddenly felt a small twinge of fear, seeing the angry underworld king's massive display of power. However, he had come this far and there was no going back. The trump card he never got to use on Po would have to be served in some other way.

"I wouldn't dream of it, your majesty," Ke-Pa admitted. "I don't believe I could defeat you in battle even at the height of my powers."

"Then I suggest you make peace with the evil life you've led, Demon King Ke-Pa," King Yama warned. "Because I will now render judgment."

"I wasn't finished," Ke-Pa told him. "I said I couldn't defeat you in battle and that is true. But that doesn't mean I don't have other means of dealing with you."

"What?" Yama blinked

Ke-Pa, even in the weakened state that he was in, lifted his hands. In his palm mystical energy glowed and soon, a mystical urn appeared.

"Is… is that a Spirit Urn?" King Yama looked shocked. "Impossible! There is only one and Bunnidharma was its creator!"

"False," Ke-Pa told Yama. "Eons ago before Oogway's time, Master Longtooth created one of her own to contain the most powerful of spiritual beings. You have no knowledge of this item because during her time, I believe the underworld's bureaucracy hadn't fully developed and didn't keep detailed records of that epoch."

King Yama was now the one who looked scared. He sensed just what the Spirit Urn Ke-Pa held was capable of. And it was the reaction Ke-Pa had been waiting for.

"My, King Yama," Ke-Pa grinned. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ke-Pa opened up the jar.

"Allow me to make you one!" the red dragon cried.

"No!" Yama screamed.

The Spirit Urn glowed with mystical power, immediately sucking all the energy out of Yama. The large elephant shrunk back down until his body was dragged inside the Spirit Urn in a whirlwind of energy. After that, Ke-Pa closed the jar.

"What a blissful scream," Ke-Pa said warmly, holding the jar.

Power from the jar flowed into Ke-Pa who smiled as he felt Yama's power surging into his body.

"Ah, that's more like it," Ke-Pa grinned. "Now to find a way to strike back at the Dragon Warrior from the afterlife…"

Ke-Pa heard a knock on the door. Quickly, he transformed his body, taking on the elephant form of King Yama whom he had previously imprisoned.

"Enter," Ke-Pa called out with Yama's voice.

"Sir, have you decided on the fate of Ke-Pa," asked a guard.

"I have," Ke-Pa replied. "Imprisonment inside this Spirit Urn is his punishment for all eternity."

Ke-pa then put the Spirit Urn on top of a shelf behind King Yama's desk.

"Ah, an excellent choice if I do say myself," the guard nodded. "Spirit Urns make excellent cages to trap powerful dragons. In any case, your majesty, there are more people in line to receive judgment from you."

"More people?" Ke-Pa raised an eyebrow, happy that the guard was buying his explanation but apprehensive of what was going to happen next.

The guard fully opened the door to reveal a long line of deceased animals in their spirit forms, all of them dead and all of them in need of final closure in the afterlife.

Ke-Pa's smile turned into a dour frown. His revenge against Po was really going to take a while now that he had taken on Yama's form and by extension… his job.

oooo

"It took me many years by the standards of the physical world," Ke-Pa explained. "But I eventually was able to put together my plan to lure you down here after having taken on King Yama's duties for so long."

"Just out of curiosity, did you send everyone to get tortured in fire and brimstone in all this time?" asked Fenghuang.

"Ha!" Ke-Pa laughed. "That would have been amusing. But no, I judged as fairly as I could. After all, I couldn't have people in the spirit world realizing that King Yama was acting out of character. Some people got their happy endings while others got less than sterling ends for all the evil they've done."

"It was a pretty good ruse," Po had to admit.

"Originally, I'd only planned on using Lu Kang to lure you here," Ke-Pa told Po. "But that incident with Yueyang the Dark gave me even more ammo to use against you in the form of the lynxes! I really must thank that great ape for his gracious gift."

"You put a lot of effort into this," Tigress admitted. "But so did all of Po's other enemies into their plans. You think any of them succeeded in defeating the Dragon Warrior?"

"That's what I'm saying," Po got up, having regained some of his physical well-being back despite having his chi blocked. "Take him down!"

Po was the first to charge. Immediately, Ke-Pa knocked him back into a pillar with a powerful burst of lightning from his eyes.

Tigress and Xiao came in next but the massive dragon swung his tail, knocking both of them back.

"Agh!" Tigress and Xiao got knocked to the floor.

Fenghuang flew above Ke-Pa, hurling multiple razor feathers at his head which bounced off ineffectually. Ke-Pa telekinetically grabbed her and hurled her into a wall, knocking the wind out of her.

On the ground, only Kang Zi and Lu Kang were left standing. Ke-Pa smiled at them and unleashed a huge blast of fire from his throat. The stream of fire came at them like a demonic maelstrom.

"Run, Xiao's dad!" Lu Kang grabbed Kang Zi as both hid behind a pillar, narrowly avoiding the intense flames.

"Hahahahaha!" Ke-Pa laughed. "The forces of Diyu are mine to command and by now, I've fully taken over this realm!"

Ke-Pa raised a massive hand as the earth beneath them shook. The entire castle shook and fell apart. The only part of the palace that remained was the portion of the room with King Yama's office, along with the Spirit Urn.

Po and the others got up, realizing that all of them were in a hellish landscape now as lightning cracked across the sky. They were now surrounded by some kind of barren wasteland with rivers of lava flowing about. The sky above was red, punctuated by black clouds with occasional lightning.

Multiple skeletal soldiers of different undead animals rose from the ground, all chattering through their teeth and all of them crawling towards the group slowly.

"I never thought I'd say this," Lu Kang looked around. "But there's a good chance statistically that WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"The change of scenery isn't even the best part," Ke-Pa said as Tigress helped Po up.

"Oh great, there's more?" Fenghuang straightened her back after the hard hit she took.

Ke-Pa's entire body glowed with malevolent power. Strangely enough, his body seemed to shrink more and more until he had taken on an odd biped form.

"Did he just shrink down to our size?" Xiao looked on in surprise.

Soon, the elongated serpentine dragon was no more. Before them a red and black knight stood with armor reminiscent of a warrior's armor worn during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Two yellow eagle's feathers punctuated the top of his helmet. Ke-Pa's long dragon's snout was no more but the face in the helmet was still draconic in appearance, with Ke-Pa's red and yellow colors along with a blue nose.

"How much stronger did this guy get in the underworld?" Po swallowed.

Fenghuang had an even more frightened expression on her face, as her ability to sense chi hadn't been blocked.

"Trust me panda, you don't want to know," the owl told him.

The armored warrior took out a sword, swinging it around a few times before a huge surge of energy surrounded him, enveloping him in a demonic power that forced everyone to step back.

"You may have been the Dragon Warrior," Ke-Pa told Po. "But I have become something else entirely. I am now the Dragon Knight."

To be continued.