Prepare to have your minds blown!

Chapter 14: Big Showdown

As the sun begins to rise, Musaki got himself ready for the first day of the final round and he was stoked up to throw down who's gonna be the opponent of the day. He got on his japanese ninja headband to make him look like he's a professional ninja master at the age of 17 and he took a few deep breaths to calm his anxiety down level and just focus on the competition. As he walked out of his room, he walks past the living room where his grandmother was coming in with a crate full of berries and random fruits coming in.

"Hello, my grandson...the finalist." his grandmother said, happily.

Musaki chuckled softly at that and said, "Hey, grandma."

Then, she makes a mixture of strawberries, grapes, blueberries and kiwis in a little cup, mashes them together and gives them to Musaki and when he looked at it, he asked, "What's this?"

She lets out a little chuckle and said, "It's a little fruit juice. Said it helps you get healthy and make you ready for anything to keep ya up."

As Musaki takes a sip of it, his eyes were bursting through excitement as his taste buds hit the fruits and he said, "This is delicious!"

"I figured you would like it, Xing-Fu. There are kiwis in there too." his grandmother said.

Musaki chuckled softly as he figured his grandmother read her grandson's mind about his favorite fruits and transported it into a fruit juice and he said, "How'd ya know?"

"I know my Xing-Fu."

Musaki smiled a little bit and he said, "Thank you, grandma."

Just then, Oak Sung comes in the kitchen and seeks Musaki in the kitchen and he said, "Morning, grandson. Enjoying your grandmother's fruit juice, I see."

Musaki was surprised to hear that coming from his grandfather and he asked, "You know about these?"

Oak Sung chuckled softly as he kissed his wife on the cheek and said, "We've been married for 50 years and there's a lot of things I know about your grandmother and her fruit smoothie is definitely delish. Plus, it keeps me very active and builds stronger muscles among other healthy things so that I can keep up with the youngsters."

"And you still have the muscle of a youngster." his grandmother said while laughing.

They both start laughing and it was really great for Musaki to see and he said, "That's great. Looks like I'm gonna have all the fuel I need for the battle today."

"Not yet, Xing-Fu. You might consider getting some breakfast before you fuel yourself." Oak Sung added.

After a lenghtly breakfast, Musaki headed to the Rai Song Stadium, energized and focused as he entered there and saw the action taking place. He was more than ready to take down his first opponent of the day and determined to do so all the while still being honored to being in the competition.

"Morning, Musaki!"

Musaki turned around for a sec and saw Shao coming in behind him and he said, "What up, Shao?"

Both of them did their fist bump greeting while pulling their knuckles back, making an explosion sound and Shao said, "Are you ready for this?"

Musaki chuckled and said, "As long as I'm ready for this!"

"Dude, the finalist rounds are the hugest thing in this competition. So many endurances will be tested throughout, but many of them pass through with flying colors." Shao explained.

"Where does that leave me?" asked Musaki.

Shao stared at him for a while and replied, "Taking it like cool breeze."

"Okay..."

Shao patted Musaki on the shoulder and he said, "You'll do just fine, man. I believe you can smoke this competition from the ground-up."

That made Musaki perk up with a lot of excitement after he heard what Shao said to him and he asked, "Ya think so?"

"Dude, with your Japanese bandana, I know so."

Musaki chuckled softly at that and he felt the huge support from Shao and he said, "Thanks, man. I appreciate that."

Minutes later, the finalist round is about to begin and as the crowd began to cheer, they could tell that this is gonna be a freakin' awesome competition and as Oak Sung walked towards the center, he waved at the audience and garnered their attention. He clears his throat and said, "Welcome to the finalist round! We've had a great battle last week with random contestants here and we started with about 400 contestants and it has all come down to this; the top-six finalists will go all out for the win of Shanghai Secluded Valley's most valuable kung-fu master of the future!"

All of the crowd cheered like crazy to hear this and this is definitely the moment they've been waiting for a long time. Oak Sung then continued on to say, "I am proud to present your six finalists!"

Just then, the crowd cheering began to intensify as the finalists came one-by-one into the stadium; Taji, Kang-Dae, Liu Shang, Mojag, Jaa and Musaki. The latter name brought the attention of many audiences as their cheers intensified even more and one even threw a rose in front of Musaki and he picks to up and waves at the person who threw it. As they set the stage, three of the six went on one side while the last three remained on the other, each facing each other for this competition.

Oak Sung announced, "First off, I have to start my grandson off...by taking down Mojag. Then, Liu Shang takes on Jaa and Taji takes down Kang-Dae."

Hearing the last part made Taji a little bit freaked out knowing that he was gonna battle Kang-Dae yet again and when he faced Kang-Dae, all the jackal could do is growl at him angrily and said, "You're mine."

He then leaned over to Musaki and muttered, "Shouldn't we switch opponents?"

"Not part of the rules." Musaki muttered back.

Musaki was first up to face-off Mojag and the boar was ready to bring him down hard this time and he said, "Prepare to lose, panda! Because you will be thrown down like a rodeo!"

Musaki was confused by that part and he asked, "What up with the pickup line?"

"Part of the competition." Mojag sneered.

Seconds later, the gong rings and it was battle time and Mojag quickly charged at Musaki with one punch, but Musaki grabbed his fist before making the second punch and threw him across the stadium. Mojag gets himself back up and tries to go after him, but ends up dodging every spar the young boar makes, leaving Mojag frustrated that he couldn't make a punch yet. When Mojag did knock him out, Musaki blocked his move...with his butt. Musaki chuckled softly and just did a backflip and kicked him in the head.

Mojag groans in frustration while Musaki chuckled softly and said, "I may not have the Dragon Warrior's weight, but I've been taught a few things from him."

Then, Mojag gets himself back up and he snorts at Musaki and tries to attack him from behind using his tusks and as he threw Musaki off around, Musaki grabbed his boar and lifts himself through the air, does a 360-degree angle and lands on Mojag's back and knocks him out completely. He does a flip, shove and head-butt attack and both of them try to knock each other out, but Musaki knows how to end it...he crawls underneath Mojag's legs and then raises his head, aiming at Mojag's nuts.

While the young boar held onto his boarhood, Musaki crawled out of there while Mojag fell down to his knees, squeaking in pain and the crowd cheered for Musaki as he took a bow for them.

Later on, Liu Shang took on Jaa and while they looked at each other with some seriousness, Jaa decided to take shots at the young lion and said, "Dude, I'm 17 and you're 14. What's a young cub doing in a big competition like this?"

Liu Shang lets out a low growl, taking that comment as a personal offense to him and he couldn't wait for the gong to ring. When it did ring, Liu wasted no time lunging at Jaa, but before he could land a punch, Jaa threw him down to the ground hard and placed his foot on Liu's stomach as if to stop him. But what Jaa didn't know is that Liu can do whatever he wants because his paws are free as he grabbed Jaa's leg and threw him down to the ground.

Liu gets himself up and Jaa growls at him, waiting to take him down with his claws and when he lets out a loud roar, Jaa wasted no time frantically running to him and beating him down for the count with every punch, kick, shove, pin and flip he would use. Liu grunts heavily and he refuses to be taken down by a show-off as he gets himself up and while he's waiting for Jaa to take his next shot, he comes up with a trick to take a huge manuever. He hops up on the stands between the crowd and while Jaa wasn't looking, Liu quickly goes behind where Jaa is and when he leaps down, he lands on Jaa's back and rolls him around, pinning him down for the count.

"Who's the smart guy now?" Liu Shang asked, with a smirk.

Jaa kicked him in the chest and Liu was through with Jaa's games and just went out and tackled him and punched him out hard and with every move he would use, it comes stronger and more heavier than anything, which left the crowd mesmerized by Liu Shang's moves. After that, Liu pinned Jaa through the wall and he lets out a very furious exhale and said, "Get this straight, tiger...never question my abilities nor my skills! I may be the youngest, but I can kick your ass...hard."

Then, Liu frees Jaa's grip, but Jaa still wants to take him down by clawing him, but Liu reaches his paw and throws him through the air and Liu leaps up and kicks him down to the ground, thus proving his point.

The crowd cheers for Liu Shang, but the young teenage lion was so modest about it thinking that it's still for Musaki, but is flattered by the admiration anyway.

Jaa gets himself up and just growls at the lion, saying, "This isn't over!"

Lastly, Taji comes by to take down Kang-Dae and Kang was definitely ready to kick Taji's tail really hard and he got on all fours, just waiting for a huge victory for himself if he takes down Taji. Kang-Dae lets out a soft growl and said, "You're definitely gonna lose out to me this time."

Taji wasn't intimidated by Kang-Dae's warning and he said, "We'll see about that."

As the gong rings, Taji got on his fighting stance while Kang-Dae went for the attack and he runs over to Taji, but missed him because Taji dodged out of the way and blocked his moves with his paws. Kang-Dae growled furiously and leaps over to him, but Taji ducked down and punched him in the face and nose. That didn't take Kang-Dae well and he went out and knocked him down really hard, but Taji knew when to stay calm. He picked him up and threw through to the wall and even after Kang got out, Taji was the first to through a huge punch at him.

Kang-Dae growls in frustration after seeing Taji's moves and he was gonna do everything he can to defeat him and he punched, kicked, shoved, bit and threw him in every which way but loose, but the young blue and white wolf will not cry out defeat as he leaped over and backflipped him down hard. He then grabs Kang-Dae's fist and throws him to the other side of the round and kicks him in the tail heavily.

Kang-Dae groans heavily and when he turned around, he lets out a huge shout and panted furiously at Taji and said, "You cannot beat me!"

He then pins Taji down, thinking about clawing him but Taji kicked him out of his way and Kang-Dae landed on the ground again.

The crowd cheered for Taji as he took his bows and waved at the crowd like he was famous. Then, Kang-Dae looks up and sees that he lost to Taji yet again. He growls in frustration and cursed under his breath as he walks out of there.

Later that day, Musaki walks out of Rai Song Stadium after a long day of battling and Liu Shang comes from behind and said, "Good fight, Saki."

Musaki chuckled softly and said, "Thanks, Liu...but you're the better fighter."

Liu Shang sighed heavily and tried to hide the fact that Musaki was right and said, "Nah, not me. I'm only 14."

"But you have the mentality of a professional kung-fu master." Musaki added.

Liu Shang lets out a heavy exhale and said, "Look, when someone tells me that I'm too young to accomplish something big, that's usually the part that drives me freakin' crazy and I would do anything to prove them wrong, just so I can be taken seriously."

"Just ask yourself this...who are you really going for; others or yourself? If they have doubts about your skills, it's their problem...so why make it yours?" asked Musaki.

Liu Shang knew Musaki was right about this because he's been letting it get inside his mind for so long and he turned to Musaki and asked, "How'd you get to be so wise anyway?"

"Kinda runs in my family...well that and learning it from the kung-fu masters in the Jade Palace." Musaki answered.

"I really do it for myself and when I left my hometown, I felt like I had made my decision to go wherever my heart tells me to go. But how do I know if I made the right choice when I'm only the youngest one out there?" asked Liu Shang.

Musaki wasn't really sure how to answer that question for him, but he knew from personal experience that making a right choice isn't always that easy, but following your heart and knowing how to do the right thing isn't that hard either. He then asked, "Ask yourself this question; am I really following what's in my heart instead of what's in my head? And before you answer your question, just remember about how far you've come in a short amount of time. No one knows if you've made the right choice, but you just have to go with your gut instinct and face everything head-on instead of running away from it. Obstacles may be hard for you, but not impossible."

Musaki walks away for a while leaving Liu Shang a minute to think about what Musaki just said and some memories kept flooding back on going through on the competition for the first week and lead up to being one of the finalists and being able to gain a huge following of audience that really seeks the young lion's skills.

Liu blinks a few times and suddenly, Musaki's words made complete sense on doing what he had to do...and in a short amount of time, he had gone what he had set out to do, but it was far from over.

'Looks like I followed my heart...and I have made the right choice. Thanks for helping me realize that, Musaki.' Liu Shang thought.

Liu walks off, this time with a smile, knowing fully intact that he followed his gut instinct and will overcome any obstacle he'll face, not only on the competition, but in life as well...and he definitely learned that quickly at age 14.

Wow, who knew Musaki would be so wise? Let's see if that wisdom paid off for Liu Shang!

Also, today is my 5th anniversary of being registered to ! Been on this site for 5 years now! Is that cool or what?