CHAPTER 8: A BIG WAR IN ALL OF CHINA, PART 1

Po and Tai Lung aimed their feet directly at Xun who got himself in defense.

WHAM!

Po and Tai Lung had kicked the lion on the head, giving him a concussion. Xun fell to his knees in pain, rubbing his head. Po and Tai Lung got back on their feet, with their kung fu pose shown.

"How's that for a big cat?" Tai Lung hissed.

Xun remained still for a moment, looked up rapidly with golden glowing eyes, and growled evilly. As the lion roared, he ran fast to make a strengthening punch until then Po rapidly picked up Xun's finger, much to the lion's abrupt shock.

Xun gasped at that sight.

"Is that—"

"You tell me," Tai Lung replied with a snarl,

"It's over, Xun. Po has everything figured out as taught by Shifu. He told me everything too."

With an angry grin, Po revealed his pinky, and Xun whispered his words out in panic,

"Oh, no. Not the Wuxi Finger Hold!"

"Oh, really," Po sneered,

"You know this hold?"

Xun gulped as he remained silent in confusion. Po continued on while ready to flex his pinky,

"Sorry 'bout that, but this is for what you had been doing to Lia all these times."

Then, Po flexed his pinky and said,

"Skadoosh!"

But then, nothing happened.

"Um..." Xun says in confusion while looking at Po.

Tai Lung facepalmed himself. As Po did many tries, it wasn't working. The lion grabbed his paw and looked at it,

"Oh, no, it's working!"

Then, he pretended that he made actions like he was in pain, but then, soon after, Xun laughed.

"Oh, no, it isn't working," the lion says,

"What a pathetic fool you really are, Dragon Warrior."

Tai Lung, losing it, roared angrily to defend Po and clawed Xun on the face.

The lion, feeling the slash on his face, snarled angrily at the snow leopard— with his eyes glowing golden and demonically— and punched him on the chest. Tai Lung yelped in pain as he fell to the ground, almost very slow to react. Po gasped in shock and helped Tai Lung up as he looked at Xun.

"You should know, that I am the most powerful being in the world. Without Lia, I will be VERY strong. Without everyone, I will WIN over China!" the lion evilly sneers and turns to the village, calling out,

"Come!"

Suddenly, the golden monsters disappeared from Tigress, her friends, and the pandas who were fighting them, turned into pendants, and floated towards Xun who finally closed his eyes with pride as he chained them onto his belt jacket.

Then, opening his golden glowing eyes, Xun kicked Po on the gut. Po groaned in pain as he fell over. Tai Lung stared in shock, and then growled at the lion. The snow leopard roared angrily and lunged onto Xun.

The lion roared out as he attacked Tai Lung with a forceful strength. The snow leopard, however, managed to block Xun's critical hits as Po got up and gripped his golden staff while glaring at Xun. Tai Lung pinned Xun to the ground with claws gripping on the lion as he called out,

"Po, I've got him!"

Po nodded and told Xun,

"You've grown stronger, huh?!"

The panda drew a Chinese symbol using the golden staff and knocked it straightaway. The symbol was dashed straight and Tai Lung got out of the way and...

WHACK!

Xun groaned in pain as he fell over, managing to stand up, but Lia, on the other hand, saw Po and Tai Lung fighting Xun and she frowned, going downwards the hill.

The lion snarled deeply, faced up with glowing eyes and let out a loud, enraged roar. He kicked Tai Lung on the gut, so hard that the snow leopard was hit on the rocky wall by the head, knocked unconscious.

"Tai Lung!" Po cried out in panic.

As he tried to stop the lion, Xun, with an enraged roar from his breath, smacked Po on the face with powerful force, which caused Po to have a sort of nosebleed and his staff dropped from his paws.

The lion then used his golden glowing paw to trap the panda in the circle. He picked then up the unconscious snow leopard and held him by the throat as he summoned a magically golden, invisible chained dagger close to Tai Lung's neck.

"Say nighty-night to your friend!" the lion laughed evilly as Po, in pain, was using his fists and even his staff as he struggled to get out of the golden circle as summoned by Xun.

"NO!" the panda shouted.

As Xun was about to slit Tai Lung by the throat, a white and pale red blur kicked the lion on the chest, freeing Tai Lung from his grasp. The lion looked up in disbelief, and there stood Lia!

"Lia!" Po says in relief as he huddled to Tai Lung,

"You came back!"

Tai Lung weakly reacted after a painful headache and caught a sight of the female leopard.

"L— Lia?"

Lia turned to Po and Tai Lung and nodded. The two men all smiled in amazement as they knew that Lia was now standing up for herself and even her new friends.

Xun chuckled evilly as he stood up slowly.

"Well, well, well," the lion says,

"You know, Lia. If I remember correctly, you have lost a guardian who will take care of you. So don't think that THIS changes anything."

"You're right," Lia says, with bravery inside her voice,

"I know you don't need me anymore, but Po, Tai Lung, and his friends need me more than you do."

Tigress, Crane, Viper, Xiao, and Aneesa came over, standing beside Po and Tai Lung behind Lia, as if they agree with her.

Xun snarled at Crane and Viper,

"How did you get back to life?!"

"You tell us," Crane replied with anger,

"The power of chi as received by my daughter— like all masters— will have the capability to stop the evil and bring good things to the living."

Aneesa nodded furiously at Xun as she felt Crane putting his wing on her. Xiao nodded as well as he and Aneesa high-fived each other.

"I know what you did to Monkey, Mantis, and Shifu," Viper hissed.

"Now, with that," Tigress snarled at Xun,

"YOU will never hurt our friends again."

Xun snarled,

"So what are you pathetic fools gonna do about it? What makes you think you'll win?"

"You have to know, a spirit warrior like you, and Kai, who get sent to the Spirit Realm, can be stopped by a true master of chi, and a master of chi can master theirs power by knowing who they really are," Po says as he gripped the golden staff while looking directly at Xun.

The lion evilly sneered,

"We shall see about that!"

Then, he revealed the golden flames from his paws by magic as his eyes glowed golden nonstop.

"Prepare to feel my wrath, Dragon Warrior!" Xun cackled.

"Except for the Dragon Warrior's species!" Tai Lung— who had regained consciousness soon after— chimed in.

The lion glared wickedly but gaped as he saw the pandas walking beside Po and his team. They were all glaring at him, as if Xun will now face the consequences.

Po and his friends had Xun with them to the village and had the pandas hold him down.

"Let GO of me, you fat bears!" the lion shouted.

"Lia, get the masters' chi free!" Po says to Lia.

"How?" Lia panicked with worry a little bit,

"What if Xun was going to kill me?"

"Xun may not need you, but we do!" Tai Lung says with reassurance,

"You got this, Lia! You are a master of chi, like all of us. I know it. We ALL know it."

Lia looked at the male snow leopard who gave her a small reassuring smile. She nodded back and closed her eyes by focusing and concentrating on using her chi to free the masters and dragons as possible.

Lia performed her tai chi movements as the pendants suddenly clipped off from Xun's belt as they all floated into the sky with the chi magic surrounding them.

Po and his friends, including the pandas, were all amazed at what Lia was doing.

"Wow, Lia is mastering chi, too!" Tai Lung says in amazement.

"That was AWESOME!" Po laughed.

Tigress and the others were all amazed at that sight.

As Lia opened her eyes, she kept her focus as the pendants began to break.

"No, NO! You DARE!" Xun bellowed as he squirmed to get out of the pandas' grasps.

Then, suddenly, the pendants floated in the air and flew to the sky— as if they are gonna shoot up in the air like fireworks. The pendants then crackled and...

CRACK!

The high pitched breaking noise occurred, and there freed the masters who lived— except those who had died many years ago— and all the spiritual dragons who roared out in relief. The only masters that remain free alongside the dragons who flew up high, dancing in the sky— Masters Croc, Ox, and Eagle. They are free. Also, Monkey, Mantis, and Shifu are free! Po gasped at the sight of the three other masters.

"Oh, Master Storming Ox, Master Croc, and Master Eagle!" he squealed with excitement.

His other friends spot the sight of the three who looked at themselves, not knowing where they were.

"What happened?!" Mantis asked.

"Bestie!" Monkey cheered,

"We're free!"

Shifu looked everywhere in confusion.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Master Shifu!" Po, Tigress, Crane, and Viper cried out in relief,

"Monkey! Mantis!"

They all hugged each other in relief. As the hug broke, Shifu spotted Tai Lung who was now feeling tears of joy.

"Shifu!" the snow leopard cried out as he and the red panda came for a hug,

"Oh, I missed you so much!"

"Tai Lung," Shifu says in relief,

"It's okay. It's all over."

Then, as the others turned to Lia, she blushed.

"Lia," Shifu says,

"You saved us all. Thank you."

The female leopard said nothing, but held back a sob with a smile. Tai Lung reassured her and told Shifu,

"Lia has gone through hard times. Xun had betrayed her, and she told me everything about her past."

Po and his friends nodded to Monkey, Mantis, and Shifu— who felt very upset.

"So, Shifu," Po says,

"What Tai Lung was gonna say, that it'll be fine if Lia can stay with us, please?"

His other friends nodded as they stood beside him, Tai Lung, and Lia. Shifu sadly thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Of course," he replied kindly.

Lia squealed with excitement and hugged Po and his friends. The pandas and Mr. Ping felt awed at that moments.

"I guess that makes it Auntie Lia!" Xiao says with a grin.

"Tell me about it!" Aneesa cheers.

Po, Tigress, Crane, and Viper felt awed at what their kids said about Lia, who felt the same, so did Tai Lung.

"So, what does this mean?" Lia asks.

"This means we will have the chance for Xun to fall or quit."

Xun, on the other hand, panted with grief, but growled lowly, faced up and roared angrily. He dashed straight towards Tai Lung and kicked him far. Tai Lung fell from the entrance of the panda village in pain.

"Tai Lung!" Lia shouted in fear.

Xun roared barbarically as he dashed towards Tai Lung who had gotten a big pain from him. Lia snarled at Xun as she went after him.

"Lia, don't!" Po cried out, but it was no use.

The lion got to his feet, summoned an invisible dagger with his golden glowing paws, and slowly walked towards Tai Lung who had wounded bruises all over his body. The snow leopard groaned in pain while trying to get up. He stopped towards the snow leopard and gripped his magical invisible dagger, as if he was ready to stab him for a kill.

"Let's kiss this cat goodnight!" Xun growled as Tai Lung gasped and turned away, closing his eyes.

On the other hand, Lia galloped fast as she cried out,

"LOOK OUT!"

The female leopard went in front of Tai Lung and braced herself as Xun aimed his dagger and...

STAB!

Hearing the fleshing pierce, Tai Lung opened his eyes and turned. His eyes became a total horror as he saw Lia in front of him. The golden, invisible dagger was dug through her back.

Lia had saved a closest friend of hers.

The male snow leopard stared at gape, felt tears forming slowly in the corners of his eyes, and moved shakily as his heartbeat can be heard beating very fast.

A/N: And... The battle has started for Po and his friends between Xun! Still got nothing to say about it, but I'm trying to make this whole story long, although my ideas are planned but mixed up in my head at the same time... So, let's see who will win?

Poor Lia! *sniffle* She had saved a one who had loved her— and it's of course Tai Lung— but we'll discover if she makes it or not! But it will be in the chapter after the next one— where Po and Tai Lung will continue their battle with Xun. Btw, I hope you also find out in the next chapter, in the next part of the battle! ;) :)