Chapter 5: Run Animals Run!
Night came to Moon Lily Lake with the soothing sounds of crickets singing their ceaseless songs . The moon shined on the lake with an awestruck glow as fireflies danced over the lilies and plants that floated peacefully in the waters. Po and the Furious Five were drained and exhausted from their day off. What was suppose to be a relaxing day turned into a very active day of screaming and other shenanigans, but Yun wanted to make sure that his guests' weary souls be soothed before closing in.
"Hey guys, before we head in, want to see one last thing the lake can offer? I mean, you have to go tomorrow so its now or never." Yun asked, also trying to tempt Po and the Furious Five in.
"It better be worth it." Crane groaned as he set his hat aside in the tent Yun prepared. (Yun didn't have many tents so he brought one big tent for them to share. Po and the Five didn't complain as they slept under one roof before during their traveling to Gongman City.)
"Great! Get your swimming suits on if that's the case!" Yun replied happily as he runs off to the forest.
Po and the Five got dressed in their swimming suits, again, and found Yun waiting for them near several bushes in the forest.
'What is it this time?" Tigress asked, annoyed that its late and the fact that she's being watched by the boys again. The same drooling and awed looks she witnessed just like back at the lake.
"My feline friend, welcome, to Paradise." Yun moved the bushes away to reveal a hot spring that overlooks the lake. It was beautiful to watch as the moon hovered over the horizon, and the smell and feeling of steam emitting from the hot spring soothed the warriors' weary souls as promised by Yun.
"Watcha standing around for? Hop on in!" Yun said as he made his way in first into the hot spring. Po and the Five watched Yun teased up, then relaxed as he sagged his back against the wooden frame of the hot spring. "Oh…now…that's…nice…" Yun hummed as he relaxed in the hot spring. The gang joined Yun, and also felt their bodies go at ease as the steaming waters relaxed every muscle and bone in their body.
"Now this is the way to end a day." Po mumbled pleasantly.
"Amen to that dude." Mantis added.
Our warriors continued their stay in the hot spring for a few more hours as time finally reached midnight. The group shared a pleasant discussion while soaking in the spring's water to relax their weary muscles. Po and the Furious Five were glad that they spent their day off with Yun…or so they thought.
As Po and the gang relaxed in the hot spring, a low rumbling growl pierced the spring users' ears, the knot of dread and fear grasping their minds again.
"That was your stomach, right Po?" Monkey asked nervously.
"No Monkey. No it wasn't." Po responded bleakly.
Everyone glanced back and forth at each other before hearing another growl from the woods, louder and closer.
"Well, I for one had enough mind games for one day. Night guys!" Yun yelled and leaped out of the spring before heading back to the tent rather quickly.
"Wait for us!" Po, Monkey, and Mantis cried, also following Yun.
Tigress, Crane, and Viper stayed behind, finding it funny for the three boys to let their imagination take over their strong wills.
"Men…" Tigress smirked.
Crane coughed abruptly, trying to make himself aware of his presence to his female companions.
"You're different Crane." Viper added. Crane shrugged inwardly as he changed into a more comfortable position in the hot spring.
"I got to say girls, that was pretty clever of you Tigress. Scaring the boys off with your death growl, that's priceless." Crane laughed.
Tigress and Viper's good mood changed into confusion and terror as Crane made that statement.
"That wasn't me." Tigress answered.
"We both thought it was you who made that noise." Viper added.
Now Crane is terrified beyond belief. The three warriors heard the same growl again, much closer and terrifying.
"Wait for us!" Tigress, Viper, and Crane yelled after their distant companions as they scrambled out of the hot spring and back to camp.
Yun prepared the tent to have several 'rooms,' which were divided by curtains to act as walls. As Po and the Furious Five laid in bed and went for some much needed sleep, Yun stayed up with the knot of dread in his stomach tightening with every second.
"It was just your imagination. Just a story." Yun repeated in his mind. The wolf continued running the growl he heard back at the hot spring in his mind. He can only pray that his drunken mind is messing with him.
"Note to self, stop drinking before going to sleep." Yun finally thought before submitting to the desire of sleep.
Po, Yun, and the Furious Five slept for several hours as the night progress. Po, as usual, wakes up to silence his grumbling stomach. The curtains Yun set up didn't act as sound barriers, nor act as walls as Po pushed the curtain to his left in his room, and found the sleeping form of Yun. Po tip toed his way to his friend and poked his forehead in hopes of waking, and not angering his wolf buddy.
"Pssss! Yun!" Po whispered.
"ngg….what Po?" Yun moaned, not moving from his sleeping form.
"I'm hungry, where do you keep your food?" Po asked.
"No surprise…sigh…red bag next to the door…" Yun growled before going back to sleep.
Po quietly scurried his way to the entrance of the tent to fulfill his stomach's needs. The panda finds his goal and begins unpacking all kinds of snacks from the red bag Yun mentioned. Po went outside and sat on a log while snacking on his rice crackers, almond cookies, and meat buns. Po admired the nightly sky and mesmerizing glimmer from the lake. He was glad to have this day off with his best friend Yun, and his favorite group of admirers and friends, the Furious Five. The panda sat and ran the day off he had through his mind. He imagined that this could be possibly one of the best things he experienced in his life.
While day dreaming, Po heard ruffled noises from nearby bushes next to him. Po slowly glanced at the bushes, and met two glowing red orbs emerging from the darkness of the bushes. Po started to tremble in fear as two blood stained tusks went ahead of the two orbs. Po finally realized that the orbs were eyes, belonging to a familiar creature.
"Um, nice Manbearpig. Wanna snack?" Po asked nervously to the growling creature emerging from the bushes.
Po threw all his snacks at the creature in an attempt to scare it, or please its hunger. But Po remembered that this thing loves to eat Pandas as the creature ignored his snack offering and finally lurked out of the bushes. The Manbearpig was three times his size, and much more terrifying than the costume he used to scare his friends. The creature unleashed a soul freezing shriek that sent Po running back to the tent in sheer terror.
Yun and the Furious Five heard a loud shriek and Po's screaming voice echoing the night. Yun was first to the doorway of the tent to silence the ruckus in order to continue his sleep.
"Po! What is going-" Yun shouted before Po stumbled inside the tent and crashed into his drowsy form.
"Guys! Thing! Scary! Wants to kill us!" Po trembled.
"Get off me !" Yun ordered as he lifted Po off of his body.
The Furious Five emerged from their rooms, half asleep and angry for their dragon warrior to wake them up in the middle of the night.
"Po…go to sleep and shut up." Tigress groaned as she rubbed her eyes.
"No! Big! Scary! Pink Thing! Outside!" Po stuttered.
"Argh…guys, watch over Po while I'll go outside…" Yun grumbled as he left the tent.
"Don't go! You're too young to be eaten!" Po screamed as he frantically ran after Yun. Tigress and Monkey held Po to sustain him from doing anything stupid.
"Geez Po, what's gotten in you?" Monkey asked, holding back Po with all his strength.
"I saw it! The Manbearpig!" Po screamed.
"Po, it was only a story." Viper said.
A second later, the group heard Yun screaming and back in tent. His whole body was shaking and almost pale from fear.
"Big! Scary! Pink! Outside!" Yun stuttered, before falling in a fetal position.
"Sigh…come on guys." Tigress instructed the Furious Five to follow her out to see this terror Po and Yun keep on whining about. The Furious Five went outside, and froze as still as statues as their eyes met with enormous Manbearpig. The creature unleashed its trademark shriek, and mortal terror seized the Furious Five's skin. Po and Yun quickly grabbed all the members of the Five and made a dash out of the lake.
"Yun! This is by far the best and worst day off I ever had!" Po screamed with frozen forms of Tigress, Viper, and Mantis in his arms.
"Your welcome!" Yun yelled back sarcastically with Crane and Monkey in his arms.
"We can walk you know!" Tigress yelled from Po's arms.
Po and Yun finally set the Furious Five down after they broke from their frozen states of fear, which made them both laugh at the thought that the mighty Furious Five were terrified to the point of freezing in fear.
"Care to explain why you two carried us like that?" Crane demanded.
"You all don't understand, the Manbearpig can't be stop and it never stops chasing its prey." Yun answered back.
Several trees from the forest fell over, and the vicious Manbearpig emerged from the forest, focused on its seven meals. Claws sharp and fangs ready for killing, the Manbearpig dashed savagely at the group with surprising speed.
"RUN!" Yun screamed.
And so the chase was on with the Manbearpig running after Po, Yun, and the Furious Five. The group showed no signs of slowing down, as the same goes for the Manbearpig.
"Why are we running away from this thing! We're Kung Fu Masters!" Tigress yelled while trying to keep her pace.
"If you want to be snacks for that thing, be my guests!" Yun retorted back as he continued sprinting for his life.
"Lets keep running. Its great cardio after all!"
The group continued running for several more minutes as the Manbearpig continued chasing them. The longer the creature gave chase, it seemed to get faster as its hunger grew. As the chase went on, Yun made a screeching stop, and stopped over the edge of a high cliff leading to nothing but darkness.
'Whew!" Yun signed in relief.
His comfort lasted for a few seconds as Monkey accidentally bumped into the wolf, and sent him plummeting down the cliff.
"Why man!" Yun yelled as he fell down the cliff.
The rest of the Furious Five caught up to Monkey, and witnessed his fatal mistake. The group looked down the cliff, and heard a faint splash.
"Nice one dude." Mantis stated bluntly.
Another second later, Po frantically caught up with the Five, but didn't notice the cliff as he crashed into his friends, sending them plummeting down the cliff after Yun. Crane was lucky enough to fly out of the group and watched in horror as his fellow comrades fell down the cliff, and several faint splashes echoed below.
"Good news I can fly. I hope they're ok." Crane thought. The avian master was about to fly down, until the he saw the Manbearpig lunged straight at him. The appearance alone made Crane faint in terror, and he to fell and met with his comrades down the cliff. The Manbearpig landed on a rock that stuck out of the cliff and watched its meal gone like that. The creature growled in frustration as it tried to find a way to get its prey.