And they finally made it home!

Chapter 22: Made it Back

The dragons flew through the skies making their way back to the Valley of Peace and everyone felt the wind blowing through their fur, like they're imagining themselves flying in thin air and over on one of the dragons, Musaki definitely felt like he's in his happier state again after everything that had happened in the past 2 weeks and that he's gonna take some things he's learned and take it back to the Jade Palace.

He turns around to see how Max and Arizona are doing and he asked, "You guys like this?"

Arizona looks over at Musaki and he said, "Yeah, pretty much. Considering how high up we are."

Musaki chuckled at his and he asked, "You took one by yourself when you came to surprise me, didn't ya?"

Arizona didn't want to admit that he flew solo-wise, but of course...Musaki's glare says it all. He chuckled softly and said, "That look means ya pretty much did."

"I still can't believe your uncle would fly a dragon for traveling." Arizona added.

"I couldn't believe it either." Max spoke out.

Arizona looks at Max for a second and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"At first...it was kinda scary because I thought that dragons would be mean and vicious, but after my dad told me to pet one on my first ride, they were really nice. And I was scared that I would fall off, but my dad held onto me and assured me that everything's gonna be okay. So, I'm kinda used to it now." Max explained.

Musaki looks up at Max after hearing this story and he asked, "Why didn't you tell me that story? I thought you were already used to them."

"Not at first." Max added.

"Guess Arizona would take that advice from a seven and a half year old cub." Musaki said, laughing.

"I'll be eight in 2 weeks."

Not long after, Mako comes up and he looks at Musaki and asked, "How excited are you that you're coming back home?"

Musaki lets out a very exicted smile and replied, "Very freakin' excited!"

And with that, it was full speed ahead for the three dragons as they continued to fly off on their way to the Valley of Peace, where the masters are anxiously awaiting for Musaki's homecoming. As they were flying, Musaki suddenly feels a little nervous about how the masters will react when he landed in second place and how they'll take it. Arizona could sense that Musaki was nervous about something and he puts his paw on his shoulder and as Musaki looks at him, Arizona lets out a little smile assuring that everything's gonna be okay.

"Don't worry. The masters will totally understand that you're the runner-up. What matters is that you've come a long way from this and regardless of what happens, you've got a friend in me." Arizona said.

Musaki smiled at that and he said, "Thanks, Zona. You're a good friend."

Minutes later, they finally arrived at the Valley of Peace and as they looked up, they could see the Jade Palace right behind them and they knew that they were finally home at last. Mako looks behind and he said, "Jade Palace, last stop! I'm gonna circle around the place while you guys land on the roof."

Musaki and Arizona looked at each other confusedly at that and asked, "On the roof?"

Without question, the dragon landed all the way down until they reached the tip of the roof of the palace and when they landed, Musaki chuckled softly at that and he said, "Man, I do not know how the masters will react when they see this."

"Maybe they won't notice." Arizona said.

"Maybe when someone opens the door, they can see the dragon's face and breathe fire out of it!" Max exclaimed.

Musaki chuckled softly at that and said, "Full of surprises, aren't ya, Max?"

The other two dragons kept circling around the palace while one dragon walked slowly towards the roof and he stuck his tail down until it reaches the ground, near the front doors. With that, Max went in first and he slid down until he sets foot in there and when he knocked on the door, he quickly hides behind the tail, hoping not to be seen.

But when the door opens, out comes Tigress who looks over to see who was there, but what she didn't know is that she saw a dragon's tail right in front of her and she was at a loss for words as to how and why it came here. Just then, Arizona jumps down towards the ground and faces Tigress and said, "I'm guessing you noticed the dragon's tail."

And lastly, Musaki came down from there as well and after that, Max pops out, waving 'hi' to Tigress and he quickly said, "I knocked."

Tigress didn't even notice the little tiger cub was the one knocking on the door and didn't see him there and she went down to his level and asked, "Why didn't you stay put?"

"I hid from behind the tail so you wouldn't see me. It's fun this way." Max replied, smiling.

Tigress felt completely perplexed at Max's answer and all Max could do is let out a small giggle and he looked at both Musaki and Arizona and they too were a little surprised for Max and Musaki said, "My cousin's full of surprises, isn't he?"

And then, the dragon pops his head out and looks at Tigress for a second and then looks at Max, Musaki and Arizona and gave them a thumbs-up while the dragon gives them a nod and suddenly, in comes Mako dropping in, sliding onto the dragon's head, looks at he others and said, "Welcome back home, Saki."

Max then runs up to his adopted dad and Mako grabbed onto his hand and got on his back and said, "Hold on tight, little Maxie."

"Thanks, unc!" Musaki exclaimed.

"Anytime, my nephew!" Mako said.

Then, the dragon sets out for flying, the rest of the dragons flew away while Musaki and Arizona waved at them and as they entered inside the palace, Tigress still stood there frozen and numb that she saw three dragons just enter the Jade Palace, dropping Musaki and Arizona off and flying out.

Musaki looks behind to see if Tigress is okay and he got in front of her and said, "Hello? Earth to Tigress. Can ya hear me?"

Musaki knew that this would be a risky proposition to punch her arm, but it was his one choice to get her back to reality, so he punched her in the arm and out of nowhere, she punched his arm back. Musaki rubbed his arm quickly and he said, "Definitely back to earth."

Tigress lets out a deep breath and said, "I've been distracted by those dragons. How could your uncle travel with them?"

"We have no idea. But they're cool anyways." Musaki replied.

Later on, as Musaki headed back to his room in the barracks, he began unpacking everything and when he looked at the second-place medal, he can tell that he's accomplished what he set out to accomplish and it was amazing on how things became amazing in the past 2 weeks and he couldn't wait to tell everyone else about it.

As he came out on the hallway however, he didn't notice Shifu standing in front of him, looking completely happy that Musaki's made it back home and after a few awkward silences, Shifu said to him, "Welcome back home, Musaki."

Musaki smiled at him for a second and said, "It's good to be back, Shifu."

Just then, Shifu came over to Musaki and hugged him tightly and Musaki didn't expect this to come, but he was glad that he hugged him anyway because it's been a long time since they saw each other for a while and Shifu quickly lets go of him and asked, "How did it go?"

"Pretty good. Definitely an honor to be there." Musaki replied.

Just then, Po made his way to the kitchen when he saw Musaki standing there and he quickly ran over to him, screaming, "LIL' SAKI-I-I-I-I-I-I!"

Then, he grabs him for a huge bear hug all the while saying, "You're back! We've missed you so much, little buddy! I could just hug you for days!"

Po was unaware that Musaki couldn't breathe and he tried to say, "Dude...losing...air...here."

Po quickly lets go of Musaki and chuckled embarassedly and said, "Sorry. Sometimes I can't help myself. I'm a hugger, can ya blame me?"

"I noticed. How's your arm?"

Po takes a look at it and replied, "Just healed a few days ago actually. No big deal, though."

Shifu looks up at Musaki and he said, "I'm guessing you noticed that it was all Tigress' work, huh? I don't think she'll be sparring with you for a little while now."

"Why? I thought her training privileges were suspended for a week." Musaki said.

Shifu chuckled at this and said, "I thought so too...until she went back to the training hall, knowing fully that it was half demolished thanks to her temper and half of everything's broken again. So it's expanded to two months."

Musaki whistled at that and said, "Wonder how she took it."

"I was on my way to tell her but then I saw you come by. So I thought I might say hello to you first." Shifu added.

"Thanks. I have so much to tell you about the competition." Musaki said, excitedly.

Po jumped around, giggling giddy-like and said, "Please tell me the story before I pee of excitement."

Shifu and Musaki glared at Po for a second and they said, "Please don't."

Next chapter, Musaki tells the masters everything about the competition...including coming in second. How will the masters react?