A panda and a lion battling together! Now this is gonna be cool! You can think up a song list to describe this battle while reading this too.

Chapter 8: Battling Liu Shang

Musaki didn't expect someone like Liu Shang to take him down because he never thought of him as an opponent, but then again he hasn't sparred with him yet because he says that he is a skilled fighter and he was gonna test it out, just to make sure that he some of the moves he said that he's good at is the real thing.

Liu Shang stared at Musaki in the eye and he said, "Guess we're gonna spar with each other, huh?"

Musaki got himself pumped up for this moment and he said, "Yep. Looks like I'll see these moves of yours on my own."

Before the fight, both of them shook their hands to make sure that after this, they'll continue to be supportive of each other and respect their skills and bowed to each other too and after this, the fight began.

Liu Shang was quick to take him down by shoving, pushing and kicking him hard, but Musaki stood his ground and charged at him by kicking him in the face and in the legs and then he flipped him down and slammed him to the floor. Liu grabbed his hand and flipped him down as well and then he leaped out of the sky and pinned him down to the ground.

Liu held onto his shoulders, panting heavily and whispered, "Guess you thought a lion wouldn't take down a panda, huh?"

"Impressive moves, but..." Musaki started, then paused for a sec as he legs swung on Liu's back legs and landed on the ground, causing him to jump back up, revealing his mischevious side.

"...not as impressive as my own."

Liu chuckled softly at this and he lets out a chuckle as he gritted his teeth and said, "We'll see about that."

Liu quickly roars at him and then, leans down in all fours and does a backflip and lands behind Musaki and pushed him down to the ground and then, he comes forward but not until he didn't see him anywhere, but then he got poked on the shoulder and just as Liu turns around, Musaki comes behind him and shoves him in the shin, causing him to fall down.

The young lion did not expect that to happen and he never thought of Musaki as a sneaky person, but in a ways, it was the most surprising move he made, which shockingly impressed him.

Liu gets himself up and they both stared at each other for a minute, both showing their serious game faces to each other and Musaki looks at him in the eyes and asked, "Impressed, aren't ya?"

"How can ya tell?" Liu Shang asked.

Musaki lets out a little smirk and only replied, "Just by looking in your eyes."

Liu shook it off and then, he decided to use his secret weapon; he quickly ran up to him, climbed up to the stadium near the audience and then, he leaps down to where Musaki would be and bodyslammed him down and he spins around and gives Musaki a jump-punch and kick and then he went around and twisted his body around and pins him again.

Musaki panted heavily, but he had another trick up his sleeve. He kicked Liu in the stomach and then he spins around until there was an array of gold and black surrounding him and as he rose up in the air, he quickly falls back down and lands on Liu Shang and then after the smoke clears, they gave each other one more kick, shove, push and more kung-fu moves they brought in and in the end, both of them were unstoppable forces.

Soon enough, the audiences were astounded by how this went and while they were praising Musaki's moves, they were double amazed by Liu Shang's fighting skills and how he sparred. Even the announcers couldn't tell which one's got the better skills because both of them were amazing.

With that, one announcer said, "We are giving this round between Liu Shang and Musaki...a tie!"

The audience were surprised that it came down to a tie, knowing that both of them were clear winners in their own rights, but both of them shook it off and Musaki said, "Great battle, man."

Liu Shang chuckled slightly as he scratched the back of his head and said, "Yours too. I guess this is the first time I ever got close to get my butt taken down by a panda."

"And I never thought a lion could kick some serious tail." Musaki added.

Both of them shook their hands and asked in unison, "No hard feelings?"

An hour later, the competition ended while the sun was setting and Musaki headed towards the mountains to look mover Shanghai Secluded Valley to sort of gather his thoughts around after the entire battle that day. Though taking down Liu Shang was unexpected for him, it was actually pretty cool that he can spar with him but more astounding is how he held his own.

He chuckled softly and thought to himself, 'Who would've thought that one of my new friends has fighting skills? Man, Liu Shang is definitely the most coolest fighter...not as better as me, but I totally respect his craft.'

Just then, Liu Shang found Musaki sitting by the boulders, just taking a look on the view on the sunset and he walked up to him and Musaki noticed him coming by and sitting next to him. He chuckled and asked, "Some day, huh?"

"Yeah, I'll say. It was insane pretty much." Musaki replied.

Liu sighed heavily and he turns to Musaki and he said, "Listen, the reason why I wanted to spar with you is that I really wanted to you experience my skills and how much of a skilled fighter I really am."

"How so?" asked Musaki.

Liu looked at him for a second and he replied, "Just to prove the people that I came from that a lion like me can do awesome things and that I can come out as a winner...just so I can be taken seriously."

That thought intrigued him he was eager to hear what's on Liu Shang's mind and Musaki responded, "I'm listening."

Even after the battle, they're still good friends outside the battle! We get to see Liu Shang's backstory coming up!