Chapter 23 Swan Castle
Months have passed, but Qiao was unable to recruit humans that were willing to fight for Big Green. It was not because they did not want to join Big Green; it was because they lacked the skills of a warrior. Qiao felt discouraged since none of the humans at the castles she has visited were able to join Big Green.
Qiao sat in her room staring at her mirror. She already missed Sima Cao.
"If he was still here, he'd be able to tell me what to do." She sighed, "Oh, Sima."
She had heard news that the new prince was born. Niang named him Xiahou Ren; the surname Xiahou was named after his father. Qiao was glad that Sima Cao was finally in flesh.
The alarm blazed again, second time today. She raced out of her room and ran towards the briefing room, where all her comrades were at. Apetrully was held prisoner at Swan Castle, and the heroes rode on the turtle tanks to that castle.
Qiao continued to sigh, "Maybe this time I'll find someone."
The heroes arrived at a massive lake and there was a fairy tale castle built in the center of it. A wide bridge connected the castle to the land. From a distance, First Squad was able to see some of the white swans dancing back and forth on the castle walls like dancing post guards.
They slowly walked up to the castle gate, and the swans up on the walls started yelling at them as if they were trying to command them to do something.
"They said if we want to come inside the castle, we have to dance for them." Jumpy translated.
"Dance?" Mighty Ray guffawed.
"I'm a great dancer! I'll do it." Mystique Sonia trotted up towards the castle door. She began to spin around with Yaksha and swing dance with him. However, the Swans laughed at her; obviously, it did not impress them.
"I guess I'll do it then." Mighty Ray said cockily. He strutted up to the gate and started doing the cabbage patch. Before he could continue, one of the swans threw a rock at his head which made his eye balls fall off.
The swans honked angrily and said that their eyes were starting to bleed. Everyone in First Squad then faced Qiao, knowing she was the only one in the squad with any kind of elegant dancing skills.
"I only know kal choom." She spoke up.
"It's better than nothing." Jumpy shrugged.
She took a deep breath and walked up to the castle gate. She pulled out her blades and began spinning and twisting them towards and from her body, gently and carefully spinning around in a rhythmic fashion. Both the swans and First Squad were in awe of how she could spin her swords without cutting herself, but in the end, the swans said that they only allow a specific kind of dance as admittance to the castle. They would let them in, but their king would not be happy about it.
First Squad sighed in defeat and had no choice but to make their way towards where the humans of Swan Castle reside. They hoped that the humans there could teach them the kind of dance the swans were obsessed with.
Upon arriving, First Squad split up to ask each individual citizen about the dance. None of whom they asked knew the dance but have seen it before. All who were questions continuously mentioned the "Zhang Twins".
"Those two are they only ones that know how to dance like the swans." A farmer's wife explained to Mystique Sonia.
"They dance beautifully!" another farmer answered to Lin Chung.
"They live in a small hut just down this path." A young village boy pointed the way.
First Squad followed the path and they discovered the hut not too far from the rest of the village. When they knocked on the door, no one answered.
"I guess they aren't home." Mighty Ray sighed.
"Who are you all looking for?" asked a low voice.
The heroes turned to see two women walk up to them. Both were wearing a large thick purple robe that covered their entire body. Seeing that their faces were similar, First Squad assumed they were sisters.
One had a beautiful sweet face with pink lips and bright brown eyes. Her hair was lifted into two long pony tails which made her seem like the innocent one. The other, however, had a vixen-like face, but strangely masculine. Her cosmetics made her seem like a woman, but the way her face was shaped made it seem otherwise. Her hair was completely pulled back into one long pony tail.
"Are you the Zhang Twins?" Jumpy asked.
The two looked at one another. "Is it them?" the sweeter one asked. "Of course! They match the description!" the vixen one answered with glee, "Hurry, just like how we practiced!"
The two dramatically removed their large purple cloaks which startled First Squad. The twins twirled their arms in front and landed into a pose: one arm in the air, the other pointing to the back, and their legs crossed. They spun on one leg and then calmly reached for each other's hands. They then bowed and calmly said, "We are the Zhang Twins." The vixen twin spoke, "My name is Zhang Lu." The sweeter twin added, "I'm Zhang Yan."
First Squad members clapped for them. "It's them, alright." Mighty Ray grinned.
"You must be First Squad. We heard that whenever your commander is in trouble, you always come and save him." The twins giggled at each other, "We want to help, too, and maybe join Big Green."
Qiao brightened immensely, "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she held both their hands and continuously thanked them, "It's wonderful that you two are going to join Big Green. The more help, the merrier."
"AH!" Lu squealed and held Qiao's face, "What a beautiful face! I'm so jealous!" She gazed into her eyes, "Such beautiful eyes! I want them!"
"You're right, brother! She's so beautiful." Yan awed, touching Qiao's face.
"BROTHER?" First Squad gasped.
Lu huffed, "Beauty isn't just for women. A man can be beautiful, too!" He whipped his hair.
They decided to just drop the subject completely, because time was of the essence and their commander was in peril.
"The only way into the castle is if you two dance for them. Can you do it?" Lin Chung asked the twins.
"Of course! We were trained by the swans when they were still our friends." Yan answered.
"It would be such an honor to serve Big Green!" Lu bowed.
The newly formed group quickly raced back to Swan Castle. Upon arriving at the gate, the Zhang twins preformed a specific dance routine which made the Swans gasp. After watching them dance, the swans retreated back inside the castle to report to their king.
The Swan King knew the human language. "I don't care if they know the dance! No humans can come inside this castle!" He spat, "They think they know how to truly dance, but they don't! Swans are the true dancers!"
The two swans from the gate returned and told them the bad news.
"What?" Yan became offended, "NO ONE MOCKS MY DANCE!" She pulled out claws from her waist and started to break through the wooden door.
Lu blushed, "Yan is so proud of her dancing. She goes berserk whenever someone insults her dancing."
She broke through the castle gate, and the other members of First Squad just stared at each other frightened of Yan's rage. Lu quickly grabbed a hold of his sister before she started blindly attacking things.
"Yan! Rage is NOT beautiful!" Lu yelled out.
She stopped and took a deep breath, "Oh! I'm so embarrassed." She held her face.
First Squad stared at each other again, still frightened of Yan and her chaotic moods. The Swan King walked in with a couple of his guards accompanying him. All of his fellow swans were white and grey, but he was the only pink swan, and he had cosmetics on: sea green eye makeup, and red makeup on his beak.
"Ugh! What are these ugly, talentless things doing in my castle?" the king spat.
"UGLY?" Lu was about to unleash his rage on the king, but his sister talked him out of it. Now First Squad learned that Lu was critical about his beauty and Yan was critical about her dance.
"Give us back our commander!" Mystique Sonia yelled out at the king.
The king huffed, "He mocked my acceptance dance, and now he'll stay in my dungeon for the rest of his life." He then sighed, "But you all won't go away like obedient humans, so let's make a wager." As expected he said, "We'll have a dancing competition. I know you twins think you can dance like the big birds, but we'll see about that."
"Alright, if we win you have to release the commander." Yan replied toughly.
"And if you lose, you two must never dance again." Swan King smirked.
Lu and Yan looked at each other. Yan seemed worried that they will lose, but Lu gave her a confident look, assuring her that they WILL win.
The floor cleared. Swan King preformed first and introduced his dance by twirling and leaping across the stage. The twins introduced their routine by tip toeing towards the center and leaped-cross each other, landing in an arched back pose.
First Squad and the other swans watched in awe of such an elegant and graceful dance the competitors preformed. They were almost equal in skill, but more eyes were watching the twins than the king.
By the end of the dance, the king gave a nasty glare at his people, using his wrath to change their votes. The swans declared that their king was the victor, even though the twins were the ones that should have won.
Yan cried onto Lu's chest, sobbing about not being allowed to dance ever again. The king just laughed and mocked the twins.
Mighty Ray would not let the king insult the twins any longer and said, "I want a rematch! This time I'll dance!"
"Mighty Ray, no!" Qiao yelped out.
Mighty Ray did the cabbage patch again, and then shifted to the pelvic thrust. The king, the other swans, and the twins' eyes watered and then they held their eyes in pain as they screamed as if children were being slaughtered in front of them.
"UGH! STOP STOP STOP!" the king yelled out, "STOP IT!"
The man in red hustled and then did "the chicken". Yaksha had to pounce on Mighty Ray and bind him with his arms to make him stop.
"Oh my heavens! You poor, talentless creatures!" the king almost sobbed, "This young human has changed my heart. You need my help and guidance!" he caressed Mighty Ray's head, "I shall join Big Green and teach all of you to dance!"
It was not exactly what they hoped for in the end, but First Squad was just as grateful that they finally have the vain Swan King to join them. The swans brought Apetrully from the dungeons to reunite him with the other members of Big Green.
"Oh joy!" Apetrully clapped, "Big Green always has room for more members!"
"Quickly!" The Swan King yelled out, "I have a lot of classes to teach!"
Once they returned to Big Green, Apetrully visited Qiao in her room. He was very proud of her since she managed to find more humans to join their ranks.
"Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan are quite the warriors for dancers." Apetrully chuckled, "You have a good eye, my princess."
Qiao laughed, "Just two more members, and I will have my own squad."
He held out his hand, "Actually, you already had a squad of your own, the moment Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan joined. Now you three can go off on your own and recruit more members to complete your squad."
Her face brightened but then dulled, "So, I won't be going on missions with First Squad?" she asked.
"Of course you can! You made quite an impact on First Squad. You will always be able to accompany them on missions; after all, they would be disheartened if you could not." Apetrully assured.
Her face brightened again, "Thank you, commander. I promise to work even harder from now on!"
"Well, let's get you acquainted to your new briefing room. Zhang Lu and Zhang Yan are already waiting for you." Apetrully smiled.
"Right. A close squad is a strong squad." She nodded and followed Apetrully to Third Squad's briefing room.
Lu and Yan were already ecstatic that they now were a part of such a benevolent organization.
"We did it, Yan! We're squad members now!" Lu giggled.
"We're now part of the cause, brother." Yan added and giggled too.
Apetrully walked into the room with Qiao and the twins stood up and saluted.
"At ease." Apetrully chuckled, "Your squad only consist of three members for now, but as time goes by you will be complete." He raised his arms, "I now declare you three as active members of Third Squad."
All three members squealed like young school girls, bouncing and giddying. They hugged and congratulated one another.
"Oh, it brings a tear to my eye to see comrades so happy." Apetrully sniffed, and then threw his arms around the three members of Third Squad. He sobbed, "Oh! I'm so happy for you three! OH HO HO!" he sobbed some more.
"Aw, commander." Qiao giggled, "Thank you so much for this."
"We'll be the best we can be!" Yan grinned.
"We won't let you down!" Lu smiled.
The commander wiped his tears, and took a deep breath, "You all are very welcome. Now, I shall leave you three alone, so you can get acquainted. Good bye."
Third Squad saluted and held their position till Apetrully closed the door behind him.
"Ooh! Where to start?" Yan pondered.
"How lucky! We get the most beautiful member of First Squad in our squad!" Lu held Qiao's face again, "What beautiful name goes with this beautiful face?"
She blushed, "My name is Liang Qiao."
"Aw! It suits you!" Yan giggled.
"Liang? Like the former emperor Liang?" Lu asked. Qiao nodded.
Yan gasped, "EEEEEE! Our captain is a princess!" she squealed, "This day can't get any better!"
Qiao laughed nervously, "Well, I don't think I'm made to be a captain."
"What are you talking about, princess?" Lu grinned, "We're the beautiful squad! Our captain has to be the most beautiful member of them all!"
Qiao laughed, "You guys are so funny."
They spent the rest of the day, talking and getting to know one another. The twins learned Qiao's history with High Roller, and Qiao learned that Lu was actually heterosexual.
"But I'll only marry a woman that is less beautiful than me. She has to be beautiful, but not more beautiful than me." Lu explained, "Like Yan."
"Hey!" Yan pouted, but Lu laughed, telling her that he was just kidding.
"Marriage." Qiao smiled and thought, "Maybe one day, I'll get married too." Then aloud she spoke, "Do you guys know of another person that will be a perfect member of our new squad?"
"Hmm, I have heard of a man that lives near the Black Mountains." Lu pondered.
"Oh! There's a legend that says that this man was the greatest and most powerful warrior that ever lived. I think his name is Pan Ah." Yan added.
"Right now, he and his son guard an ancient jewel that is said to give the possessor whatever they desire." Lu added, "Maybe we can convince Pan Ah or his son to join us."
Qiao smiled, "That's wonderful! We should tell the commander right away!"
Third Squad raced out of the briefing room to inform Apetrully, and a certain fly sitting on the wall of the briefing room scurried through the cracks in the wall and out of Big Green. It traveled back to the East Citadel and landed on the armrest of his emperor, High Roller.
"What is Qiao up to now, fly?" the trickster asked. The insect buzzed and gestured what he saw. "So, now there's a Third Squad." He pondered, "Well, that keeps her away from First Squad, but I have no idea what her new squad members are capable of." The fly buzzed some more. "She's still recruiting? She's attempting to recruit a man name Pan Ah?" The fly buzzed again, "A magical gem that gives the possessor whatever he desires?" He grinned, "With only three members in her squad she will be easy to crush and capture, and with the jewel, I will make Qiao my queen."
"But Master High Roller, you promised you wouldn't pursue her." One of the zebra twins spoke up.
"I'm not pursuing her." He explained, "I'm pursuing the jewel." He winked.
"Ooh." The twins nodded and laughed.
"Tomorrow morning, my chameleon tank army and I will set off to the Black Mountains to retrieve the jewel." He declared.
"Can we come too?" the zebras asked.
"No, you two screwed up enough already." He snapped. The twins whined.