This...is..it! Guess who's gonna be in the finals? And I decided to go back and forth with this in between Shanghai Secluded Valley and the Jade Palace.

Chapter 11: Finalist List

The next day comes and as Musaki heads back to the Rai Song Stadium, he was definitely anxious about what's gonna happen next after finding out the announcement of the finalists for next week's competition. But he also knows that even if he's not in the finals, he can still be proud of himself for making it this far ahead anyway and whatever happens, he'll make his parents proud. That part he's okay with, but what about the Five, Shifu and Po? How will they react? That's the part that adds to his anxiety.

Soon enough, he heads to the audience where he sees Kato, Manny and Shao sitting and he sits in between them and Kato was ecstatic about Musaki's fighting skills and he said, "Dude, you kicked insane butt this week! I have a feeling that you're gonna be in the finals!"

Musaki chuckled softly at that and he said, "You think I have a chance?"

Shao scoffed at Musaki's anxiety and he said, "Dude, do you not have a chance? I think you have a big chance of making the finals!"

Manny agreed with what Shao told him and said, "Yeah, I've seen you fight these guys all week and not a single screw-up was shown."

Musaki felt like he's got some support from his Shanghai circle and then, he grew even more worried about what might happen and he asked, "Well, how will the kung-fu masters take it if I'm not in the finals? That would crush them."

Shao patted his shoulder for comfort and he said, "Aw, Xing-Fu...don't think these things. Besides, you said so yourself that it's just an honor to be here, even if you don't win or be in the finals. All that matters is how far you've come. And I'm sure your kung-fu family will be very proud of your for your accomplishments."

That lowered down Musaki's worrisome after some encourgaing words from Shao and he lets out a smile and said, "Yeah, you're right. What do I have to worry about anyway? Win or lose, I'll just say that I am proud of myself and that everything will be okay throughout the results."

Manny chuckled at this and he said, "Yeah, you gave me good advice on how to cope with dealing with the loss of my parents and I wanna do the same for this; just remember that it's not about fame or accolades. It's about making the journey more amazing and even if you don't win, you can still feel like you've already won."

Musaki smiled at all three of them and he said, "You guys are the reason why I would come to Shanghai Secluded Valley so I can surround myself with people like you."

"We're family." Kato added.

Minutes later, Oak Sung came out, wearing a green cape on his back while wearing a red vest on the front as he graced the crowd and brought in the list of the finalists to compete in the second leg of the competition. Musaki took a deep breath and calmly waited for the results to come out.

Oak Sung gave his attention to the audience as he clears his throat and speaks up, " I am very glad you are all here. As you know, we have listed down the finalists who will continue to compete for next week's competition. Of all the contestants I've seen this week that have shown potential and promise, I have to pick out six individuals that stood out from the rest."

Musaki rose his eyebrow for a second when his grandfather mentioned that there would be six finalists for the competition and that intrigued him to see this. He chuckled softly and said, "Six finalists? This is gonna be awesome."

With that, Oak Sung announced all the names coming in his list.

"The first one is...of course, my grandson, Xing-Fu Musaki Ko-Kanji Bushido-Akio Meng Cheng Xi-Wang!"

The crowd cheered in hysterics when Oak Sung announced Musaki's name calling out and even Musaki himself was shocked and surprised that he was called and with an excited reaction, he quickly got out of the audience and headed for the stadium to see his grandfather and he stood on his side, all the while his grandfather looks at Musaki and said, "Congrats, grandson."

Musaki bowed to him and hugged him in his honor and then, got his focus back for a while, but he was screaming joyfully on the inside knowing that he was the first one to be a finalist.

"Our second finalist...who's skills and determination stands out the most...is our newcomer, Liu Shang!" Oak Sung exclaimed.

Musaki was happy for Liu as he was one of the next finalists to compete for the next round and just then, Liu Shang comes out with a shocked, yet disbelieved expression as if he never expected something like this to happen and when he stood on Musaki's side, all Musaki could do is congratulate him for coming this far and that made Liu truly grateful...and modest too.

Liu Shang chuckled softly and asked, "Is this really happening?"

Musaki nodded his head and replied, "It is."

Oak Sung clears his throat and continued announcing the finalists and he said, "Third finalist...in which wolves can be anything they want to be...Taji!"

Just then, Taji coomes to the stage and heads over with both Liu Shang and Musaki and he was very surprised and also very happy that he's a finalist there and that his kung-fu skills are gonna be showcased yet again. Taji chuckled softly and asked, "Can you guys believe this?"

Liu Shang and Musaki nodded their heads and it made Taji completely awestruck that he's a finalist and there was nothing to screw up this day.

"Our fourth finalist...Mojag!"

There were several cheers and several boos when Mojag showed up in the audience, exposing his muscular six-pack abs to the entire crowd and even attracting some girls there. He gives them a wink and a smile, making most of the girls swoon over him while some were disgusted by his cocky prescence and as he made his way with Taji, Liu Shang and Musaki, Mojag's focus was on Musaki and he said, "Dude, you're going down and I'm taking your ass to last place!"

Musaki rolled his eyes and totally ignored that bold statement that Mojag spat out to him and Mojag went to the side, snorting at Musaki and he said, "Man, why is this panda not intimidated by my awesomeness?"

Taji looked up to see if there is any in Mojag and he responded, "Maybe because you don't have any."

Mojag snorted him and said, "Watch it, wolfie-boy!"

"Our fifth finalist is...Kang-Dae!"

All four of them groaned in disgust when Kang-Dae became the fifth finalist to take part in this competition and as he made his appearance, he came out with his swords, showing everyone that this is one jackal that no one wants to mess with. And as he made his way to the other finalists, he got his eyes on Musaki and he growls at him and said, "I'm back for revenge! I'm taking you down, panda! And you will regret making me lose!"

Mojag groans in disgust and said, "Man, and I thought all dogs went to heaven."

Kang-Dae glares at Mojag and he asked, "You said something?"

Mojag kept his mouth shut and had his eye on Musaki the entire time and Kang-Dae brought out his sword and puts it close to Musaki and said, "You think you can come here just because your dad's the bloodline of this competition? You've got another thing coming because your damn ass will be buried by me!"

Musaki once again ignored that threat and just stayed calmly silent as if he heard nothing from Kang-Dae and Liu Shang whispered in his ear, "You want me to take him down for ya?"

Musaki looked at him and said, "Nah. We'll let him have his moment."

"And finally, for our last finalist...Jaa Mick!"

Jaa Mick started walking in the stage and with his serious face, he was ready for a throwdown and when he got to the finalists, he lets out a very low growl and said, "Stay out of my way and we won't have any problems. And one more thing...I will not lose...especially not to that panda!"

Musaki figured that he was talking about him and he just shook it off like it was nothing and all he could do is focus on the competition and how much fierce the competition will be, but he can handle it very well.

Oak Sung then walks towards all six of them and he said, "And there you have it...our six finalists for next week's competition!And dare I say, make the entire Valley proud!"

All of them cheered for the finalists and most of them cheered for Musaki and they basked in the glory of how it will go down. And they cannot wait until next week when it all happens.

After that, Musaki hung with Cody, Samurai, Shao and Phoenix as they were going to his grandfather's place and kept rooting for Musaki for being the first finalist of this year's competition and were excited about him winning the whole thing.

Cody reenacts Musaki's moves and he said, "This is gonna be fierce, man! You're definitely gonna kick some tushy next week!"

Samurai also reenacted some of Musaki's moves and he said, "Our cousin's gonna give these finalists hell, man!"

Musaki chuckled at this and he said, "Thanks, guys. I appreciate your support, but let's not get overboard. I am happy that I made the finals, but it's still an honor to even be here."

Phoenix chuckled for a while and he said, "You know, you just might be the luckiest guy I know. You got taken in by the most awesome kung-fu masters in China, we reunited with you, the entire valley knows our uncle and most importantly, you've grown into a great person that my aunt and uncle hoped you'd be."

Musaki was tocuhed to hear something like that coming from Phoenix and he asked, "You really think so?"

"Dude, I know so."

Shao smiled at Musaki and he said, "You think you'll tell the Five, Shifu and Po about this?"

An idea suddenly popped into Musaki's head being that he's further away from them, he should write a little message to them and he looked at Shao for a minute and said, "That sounds like a good idea. They're gonna be thrilled that I made it to the finals."

Shao patted his head and said, "You're definitely an awesome fighter...and a good person. I just hope that one day that you'll be a great kung-fu master with a heart of gold, to lift people up when they're down and to just tell them to accomplish everything."

Musaki nodded his head in agreement with that and he said, "Hope so too."

"I think it's time for a group hug!" Phoenix exclaimed.

Everyone came over to Musaki and hugged him and Musaki definitely embraced it and the fact that he's surrounded by people he cares about, that's what he will be willing to fight for.

Later on, Musaki writes in a little message to send to the Jade Palace about everything that had occured in the previous week and how amazed and grateful he is to enter in the finals and how he will never take anything or his skills for granted and mentions them as the reason for being the person he is now and after he was done writing, he walks over to the messenger of Shanghai Secluded Valley and the messenger recognizes his as he heads his way.

"Hey, Musaki. Congratulations on being one of the finalists on that competition." the messenger said.

Musaki chuckled and said, "Thanks, Mac. You mind sending this message for me?"

Mac looks at the scroll and he sets them on a little message scroller container and asked, "Where to?"

Musaki smiled and replied, "The usual."

"Ah, yes. The Jade Palace. No probs, Musaki."

Mac flew his way to send Musaki's message to the Jade Palace about his news and he was already feeling the excitement about how they'll react to it and also being the finalist of the kung-fu competition and he looks up at the sky and whispered to himself, "Mom...dad...I am so glad I made it this far. I know I will make you guys proud of me."

The Jade Palace

Mac flew all the way to the Valley of Peace and when he landed at the Jade Palace, he walked his way over to the entrance and when he knocked on the door, he was patiently waiting for someone to answer and suddenly, when the door opens, there was Shifu standing there and Mac suddenly waved to him and said, "Hello again, Master Shifu."

Shifu recognized the messenger goose standing in front of him and said, "Hello, Macao."

Mac chuckles lightly and said, "Like I said before, just call me Mac. Anyways, you've got a message from Musaki."

Shifu completely felt surprised that he received a message coming from Musaki and he gave him the scroll and said, "I'll be sure my students will love to hear from Musaki."

"I'm sure they will. How are they, by the way?" asked Mac.

Shifu smiled and replied, "Doing just fine...well despite the fact that Tigress is currently suspended for training."

"What did she do this time?" asked Mac.

"Tigress lost out to Po during a sparring match a few days ago and because of it, she completely twisted his arms and it resulted into almost destroying half of the training hall."

Mac winces at that thought and said, "Ouch."

"Yeah, Po's doing fine now. His arm's back to normal, but Tigress' conduct came at a price...she lost some training privileges for a full week."

Mac chuckled at that and said, "Maybe she can learn from Musaki to take a loss very maturely."

Shifu clutches on the scroll and he said, "Well, thank you, Mac."

Mac nodded his head and said, "Anytime. And tell Zeng I said 'hi'."

As Mac flew back to Shanghai Secluded Valley, Shifu walked over to the barracks to see his students and also checking on Po for a while and as he entered the room, he asked, "How's your arm?"

Po looks over at Shifu and he said, "It's fine. The doctor said that I should ice it and it'll help make the swelling go down. So far, it's doing quite well."

Shifu nodded his head at that and said, "Again, I completely apologize for Tigress' conduct. Of all the times she kicked your butt before and that you've gotten better...although I'm still shocked to say that...what she did was uncalled for."

Po chuckled softly at that and replied, "Ah, it's no big deal. I'm not the type to hold grudges."

Shifu then clears his throat and said, "Meet me in the kitchen, Dragon Warrior."

Po's ears perked up when he heard to word 'kitchen' come out in Shifu's mouth and he said, "Absoultely."

Shifu then lets out an amused sigh and responded, "Not for snacking this time. We've got a letter from Musaki."

That made him all the more excited that he's gonna hear from Musaki and he immediately walked up to the kitchen while still holding the ice down and waited for everyone else to come. 2 minutes later, everyone showed up to the kitchen as Tigress sees Po cooling down his arm, which made her more guilty than anything and all Po could do is wave 'hi' at her, but Tigress felt like she didn't even deserve his kindness after what she did to him.

Shifu stood up on the table and said, "We've got a message from Musaki."

That made everyone completely excited to hear from Musaki, especially Arizona because he hasn't heard from Musaki in so long and as Shifu opens up the scroll, it reads,

Hey, everyone. How have you all been doing? I'm doing freakin' awesome! Sorry, Shifu...I know you still didn't understand the first part. Anyways, I've had a crazy-cool experience in the past week with the kung-fu competition. All of the training you guys have taught me really paid off and some original stuff I've done have got the crowd roaring up a storm. I've never been this much more excited than anything before in my life. The reason I'm writing you guys this message is because I've got some shocking, yet amazing news. And don't worry, it's a good news. I am now one of the finalists of next week's kung-fu competition! How severely cool is that? Even though it's a great pleasure to be in the finals, it still doesn't take away the fact that I am truly honored to be a part of something that it amazing. No matter what happens in the end, I'll always be a winner. And I have you guys to thank for making the past 4 years feel like it's something new to me. I am deeply humbled, thankful and appreciative of everything that had been going on for so long and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I hope I can do all that I can to make you guys proud of me and hopefully, you'll root for me. And I know that I'm proud of myself for going this far and even if I don't win, it doesn't change me. I'm still the same person that you guys have been used to since I was 13, just happy, loving life and being optimistic about everything, whether it's good or bad. And you guys...especially Po...have made me turn into the person I am today. If only my parents could see me now...Anyways, just wanted to let you know that I'm doing okay in Shanghai Secluded Valley and after this is over, I'm coming back home. Wish me nothing but luck...Musaki.

P.S.: Has Tigress been staying out of trouble? I know she misses me. She may not admit it, but I know she does. Hopefully, she won't be too much of a wimp to be that honest. Also, how's Arizona? Is he doing okay? Hope so. Well, see yinz later! Wish me the best.

Shifu sent the letter back in the case and gave it to Arizona and told him, "Maybe you can send a letter to him."

Arizona nodded his head in agreement and said, "Absoultely."

Tigress was a little irritated to hear that Musaki knew that she misses him, but doesn't want to admit it to others, but got really irate when he referred her as a wimp for not fessing up to it and Monkey stared at her for a minute and she asked, "You're gonna say that I'm a wimp for not admitting that I miss Musaki, aren't you?"

Monkey clears his throat and said, "Nope. Because I already know you do."

Tigress scoffed at that comment and said, "I do not."

The rest of them knew she's in denial about this and they all let out a collective, "Sure, ya don't."

She excused herself to head over to her room and as she sat down on the mat, she ponders on the fact that she really does miss Musaki a lot and she whispered, "Good luck, Musaki."

Meanwhile, back at the kitchen...

Po was genuinely happy that Musaki finally made the finals of the kung-fu competition and said, "Man, I knew Lil' Saki would make it! I know for a fact he's gonna win!"

Mantis hopped onto his shoulder and he said, "Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised if he came home in first place."

Viper looked over for a second and asked, "Is that all you can think about is winning?"

"Uh...maybe...?" Mantis asked.

"Whatever the result, he's still a winner to all of us. And we will always be proud of him." Viper added.

Crane totally agreed with that and he said, "He's right. Saki has our support."

At Shifu's room, he felt extremely proud of Musaki for accomplishing what he's gonna accomplish and that he'll come back to the Jade Palace victorious. He then looks up at a poster of him and Musaki together at the Wu-Dan Mountains and lets out a deep sigh and whispered, "I'm very proud of you...son."

Next up, an outpouring of support for Musaki!