*Later that day, evening*
After the group had settled in for the night, Crane and Mei Ling went off and started talking about the old days and what each of them had been through. The others gathered around a fire to keep warm.
"They sure do talk a lot…" Viper muttered.
"Viper's jealous! I wouldn't think that you of all people would be like this." Monkey joked.
"Yeah! She's GREEN with envy!" Mantis chimed in.
The two howled in laughter as Viper glared at them.
Kiro reached over and lightly shocked the two with his staffs, and the bug and chimp stopped.
"How ya doing, buddy?" Po asked, looking at Kiro.
"I'm fine! Nice and warm fire, back with my friends, life is good right now!" He answered, dodging Po's actual question.
"That's not what I meant." He replied.
The tiger sighed. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. Much better after I talked with some old friends."
After a little while, Crane and Mei Ling came back over to the group.
"Crane filled me in on all of you guys. Very interesting and quite amazing stories about you all. Especially you, Dragon Warrior." Mei Ling said. "However, he couldn't tell me much about you. What was your name again?" She asked, looking at Kiro.
"Kiro Takimuro." He said stalely.
Everyone but Mei Ling knew that he didn't like to talk about himself.
"Cool name. So, what kind of adventures have you had?"
Kiro glanced up at her. "Well, I've fought Sage with these guys and we've trained together for around four years now. I really don't have that interesting of a past."
"I don't buy that. You must get lonely." Mei Ling pushed.
"How so?" He said, disinterested.
"Well, seeing that the only two girls in the group are taken, you must feel alone sometimes. Don't you have a girlfriend?" Mei Ling asked.
The Five and Po sucked in some air and held their breath.
"No, I don't. She's moved on…" He replied.
"Sorry to hear that. Well, if ya need a friend, I'm here!" She said cheerfully, oblivious to Kiro's darkened mood.
The white tiger nodded. "Thanks. I need to get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."
He stood up and walked inside his tent for the night.
"What did I say wrong? I shouldn't have asked him about companionship, huh?" She asked.
"Well, Kiro's girlfriend…She was killed by Feng a few days ago…" Tigress filled her in.
"Oh. Oh no, I didn't mean to pry that far. I-I didn't mean to go—" Mei Ling sputtered.
"It's fine. I'm okay. I just needed to take a moment." Kiro cut in, standing in the shadows.
"I didn't know, though! You seemed fine when we were in the dungeon. I—"
Kiro raised his hand, signaling for her to stop. "I mask my pain sometimes by joking. There was no way that you could've known. However, if you want my forgiveness, I forgive you."
The mountain cat nodded in reply.
"Now, who wants to tell ghost stories?" Kiro said happily, lifting the somber mood.
It was amazing how fast Kiro could change his personality.
*The next day, with Kiro*
Everyone had fallen asleep by the now dead fire.
Tigress was curled up next to Po, Mantis had fallen asleep on Monkey's stomach, Viper had passed out in Crane's hat, which hung beside the avian, and Kiro and Mei Ling's heads were the only thing keeping them from falling to the ground as the slept sitting up.
Kiro opened his eyes and looked at his friends.
Still asleep. That's cool.
He turned to his right and his face became buried in Mei Ling's cheek.
"WHOAH!" He yelled, startled and embarrassed as he fell off the log, hitting the ground with the mountain cat starting to fall also.
Kiro stuck out his hand and caught the cat before she could slam into the ground.
Everyone woke up and looked around and saw Kiro lying on the ground with his hand supporting the drowsy and confused Mei Ling.
"What happened?" She mumbled.
"Don't worry about it. It's fine. Just got startled is all." Kiro replied.
"Startled?" Tigress yawned. "Startled by what?"
"Bad dream." The white tiger replied quickly.
Tigress raised an eyebrow, not believing him, but decided not to question further.
Once everyone had gotten ready, they gathered around to discuss their plan.
"I have an idea." Kiro stated. "I'll sneak back into that gauntlet of criminals down there and steal their potion book. I'll use that to my advantage, creating something that will make the criminals work for us! My first test subject will be that slime ball of an emperor."
*Later that day*
Kiro was able to find a way in to the dragon's lair through a small crevice in the Emperor's bedroom.
How ironic.
He snuck past the guards and made his way down into the dungeon.
Let's see what we have here…
He flipped through the pages, searching for any potion that he could use.
Here we go…
He tore out a page for the Ja-Kin potion, which would bend people to do whatever you told them to.
He quickly mixed together the ingredients and waited in the Emperor's chambers for his soon to be captive.
*A few hours later*
The Emperor slithered into his chambers to get some rest when he was suddenly grabbed by his neck.
"Happy to see me again?" Kiro whispered.
"Kiro… please… be rational…" The snake choked.
"Oh, believe me, I am."
Kiro popped the cork off of the vile of Ja-Kin and forced the drink down the snake's throat.
The Emperor coughed and sputtered after downing the drink.
"You will turn yourself in and confess what you have done. You'll collect all of the evidence against you and present it before the people of this country. You will also sneak out tonight without getting caught and never return here. You will not speak a word of this to anyone." Kiro commanded.
The snake, who was already under the potion's effects, slowly nodded his head.
The white tiger smiled and quietly exited the cavern.
"It's done." He replied when he got back to their camp. "He won't be interfering with us anymore."
"Good. Now all we have to do is wait until nightfall for all of us to sneak in. That's when we make our final move." Tigress stated.
GAH! THE LACK OF ACTION! IT BURNS! I know that this chapter wasn't as exciting as some others, but again, it was necessary for a later part. Anyway, hope that you guys enjoyed! Leave a review if you did! Always appreciated more than you know! More to come…