A/N: Hi everyone! I am back with yet another update! I really hope you like this chapter. :) I do leave off at some point, but we'll return to that point in the next chapter. :) Also, my new story When Legends were Young... I am particularly proud of that one, so I'd be grateful if you'd go check that out. :) There's also a rather special link on my profile, but... oh well, at least I hope that this chapter is enjoyable. I'll see you with the next update - thanks for the continued support! :D
"Jinshu, can I have a short word with you?" Junjie asked his grandson. Junjie had found the silver fox in the palace's training hall along with a few of the other Six.
"Of course," Jinshu said, trying to hide the nervousness he felt due to the fact that he already knew what his grandfather would ask him about. Junjie led Jinshu out of the training hall and out to the palace's courtyard.
"Will you please explain to me what happened earlier today?" Junjie asked, crossing his arms behind his back, starting to walk back and forth in front of Jinshu.
"I… I lost," Jinshu replied, stating the obvious and also playing a bit dumb.
"Don't talk to me as if I'm some fool," Junjie warned his grandson in a somewhat harsh tone of voice and stopped. Sending his grandson a very stern look, he said, "Of course I know you lost. But I could also tell that you lost of purpose."
"I don't know what you're…"
"I saw how you were talking to that… Tigress," Junjie growled. "I'm not certain what you spoke to her about… but your mouths were moving."
Jinshu said nothing at this. He just stood there, looking into his grandfather's somewhat cold eyes for a moment. Finally Junjie started walking back and forth in front of Jinshu once again.
"Jinshu, I don't hope this means that you're actually having any feelings for her somehow…" Junjie stopped for a moment and looked over at his grandson. "If you are, don't let yourself give in to them."
"But… I never said that I had," Jinshu said, trying to keep his face as straight and cold as possible. "Even if I had… do you really think I would ever be able to get close to her?"
"No, certainly not," Junjie said. "But to me it sounds like you do…"
"But what do you know about feelings?" Jinshu suddenly blurted out. He immediately regretted it when he saw just how startled his grandfather looked.
"Well… I may not know a lot, but I do know one thing," Junjie said coldly – Jinshu could almost feel the coldness as a cool breeze blew by. "If you want to stay on this team, you better start showing some more discipline."
"… I am sorry, Master," Jinshu said and bowed. "That was much uncalled for."
"Sorry won't fix my faith in you," Junjie said coldly. "I will see you later at the party, Jinshu."
Jinshu clenched his fist once his Master was gone. Reentering the training hall, Jinshu's fist was still clenched. He felt the anger rush through him. Why hadn't he just confronted his grandfather with this? Jinshu knew for a fact that Junjie could not expel him from the Selected Six.
The reason for this was that Junjie's team would either lose or be disqualified, depending on the rule set for the tournament. The team would either be disqualified for losing or expelling a member, or they would have to remove the points that the leaving members had given the team; that way, they would lose at least two points.
"If just I had…" Jinshu sighed to himself, still clenching his fist.
"Had what?" Lynx asked, leaning up against a wooden dummy right behind Jinshu. Just then, Jinshu let his anger flow through his arm and into his fist. The silver fox's fist smashed against the wooden dummy, ultimately destroying it – at least most of it.
"Eh… maybe we should call it a day for the training," Lynx said, having almost lost his balance when the dummy he had leant up against had broken into countless pieces.
"Yeah, let's," Jinshu said coldly, causing Lynx to take a few steps away from the agitated fox. Putting on a softer tone when he saw his teammate's somewhat intimidated look, Jinshu said, "We better go get some clean clothes on."
"Shifu, I meant to ask you something," Po started. Along with Shifu, Po and the Furious Five were on their way through the palace. The tournament had just ended. But it had ended with somewhat of a mood change – the tournament had started out all joyfully, but since that Yuan came along, it had completely killed the mood.
And since the final rounds would take place the next day, Po and his friends figured that there would be a party that night, which would completely outmatch any they had ever been at – at least that was what they imagined.
But it turned out that there wouldn't be a party tonight – Shifu had said that they would have to save their powers for the tournament rounds the next day; according to Shifu, the next day would be the hardest out of the entire tournament.
"Is it important?" Shifu asked. "If not, can it not wait till tomorrow?"
"Well, I don't know if it is important or anything," Po started, somewhat unsure of whether he should ask or not. But eventually he asked, "Those guys from earlier today… who were they?"
The seven walked for a while without talking. Shifu didn't look like it was anything that the red panda wanted to talk about… or anything that he wanted Po and his friends to know about for that matter. For a moment Po actually expected Shifu to not answer and was about to ignore the fact that he ever asked, but suddenly Shifu replied.
"They were from… the Rising Phoenix Council," Shifu said, not sounding like it was a topic that was worth talking about.
"The Rising Phoenix Council?" Crane asked. "But… the council at the Palace of the Rising Phoenix is the Onyx Council."
At this Shifu didn't reply right away once again. The old Master stopped and so did the six students.
"Master?" Tigress asked, not quite understanding why her Master didn't reply to Crane's statement. To her it seemed weird – everything also what Master Chao had said. It had been like Master Chao hadn't even wanted Po, the Five and the Six to get near this… Yuan, for some reason. Po didn't quite understand why. How dangerous could he be, Po thought.
"I wish I could tell you more, but I made a promise to Master Chao…" Shifu started walking again. "I am truly sorry, but I cannot."
"What do we do, Master?" Viper asked. But before any of the six students could ask anymore, they came to the barracks of the palace.
"Now, don't talk to anyone about it; just act like it never happened. Are we clear?" Shifu asked.
"Yes, Master," all six students said in unison before their Master left – he apparently had to go talk to the council members… Po's guess was that it was most likely about what had happened earlier that day.
"It was weird," Monkey said. "What happened today… and no one even tells us a word about it."
"I guess it's because we shouldn't trouble our minds with it," Tigress said. She stopped for a second. "After all, Master Chao and the rest of the council seemed upset."
"Right," Monkey agreed. "Besides, we have a bust day tomorrow – maybe we should just keep a low profile till tomorrow."
"Agreed," Viper said. "Now we just need to find something to do until dinner is ready."
First off, Po suggested that they would go take a look around the city. Everyone agreed and the six went towards the gates of the palace.
"So what do you want to do in Beijing?" Mantis asked Po.
"Uh! What about we go buy some useless souvenirs?" Monkey suggested.
"Useless souvenirs?" Po asked, somewhat confused, trying to imagine whatever that could be.
"Yeah! I like souvenirs," Monkey said with a grin. "Especially the useless ones!"
"Why?" Crane asked, somewhat confused.
"They're pointless!" Monkey said, as if it was logical. "You just buy them to have them!"
As they continued the somewhat strange conversation, the six warriors came to the exit of the palace. There were two of the boar palace guards, standing on each side of the door. This was new. All the other nights there hadn't been guards there.
"Halt," one of the guards said, stepping in front of the door, preventing the six from exiting. "We cannot let you go out."
"Why not?" Po asked confused. Was this all because of what happened earlier that day?
"Under orders of Master Chao, no one is allowed to neither enter nor exit the palace," the other guard said. "We're very sorry, Dragon Warrior, but we cannot go against our orders."
"Ugh, alright, we'll just find something else to do," Po told his friends. "I'm sure there's something to do at the palace…"
"Aww, not allowed to go out?" Po and his friends looked up to see Jinshu, Lynx, Eagle, Gorilla, Stag and Cobra. The Selected Six had grins on their faces as if they were all allowed to do something that Po and his friends weren't. But Po knew for a fact that the Selected Six weren't allowed to go out either – the guard had said that no one was allowed to go either way.
"No… are you?" Mantis asked skeptically.
"In just a second," Jinshu said. "Cobra?"
The black and white reptile made his way towards the two palace guards. As soon as both guards looked at him, Cobra expanded his frills, revealing two eye-like patterns.
Cobra hissed lowly and Po noticed how the two guards suddenly seemed dizzy. Was Cobra really hypnotizing them? How so?
But it did seem to work… somehow. The guards seemed dizzy as if they could fall over any second – just the lightest touch would seemingly be enough.
"So? Shall we go?" Jinshu chuckled once he saw Po and the Five's surprised, somewhat impressed expressions.
"I'm not going," Tigress said. Her friends had somewhat expected this, since this would all mean breaking rules. "I'll stay here."
"That's okay, Tigress," Viper said. "I will go, though – someone with common sense has to go with the others, right?"
"Hey!" Mantis said, but was ultimately ignored.
"Okay, whatever," Eagle said and exited the door, following after Cobra, who soon started hypnotizing the guards on the other side.
"Jinshu, are you coming, or what?" Gorilla asked.
"Hmm… No, I think I will stay here," Jinshu said. "If my grandpa catches us or sees that we're gone, it'd be best if at least one of us stays here."
"Suit youself!" Lynx said. "Let's go!"
As soon as the remains of their two groups were gone, Jinshu looked at Tigress. She looked at him as well. But none of them spoke. The two eventually had to leave when the guards started 'waking up.'
The two continued down the hallway of the palace for a while, still not speaking at all. Suddenly Jinshu turned towards Tigress, just staring at her for a moment. "Tigress…"
Po and the others made their way down the streets of Beijing. The ten had all dressed themselves with cloaks (Except Viper, who had wrapped herself around Po's neck). It made them look like some kind of strange – like some kind of gang – but nonetheless, they weren't recognized and people didn't seem to even want to get near them either.
One of the first things they came across was a small market. It was similar to the marketplace they had been at the previous day, but there also seemed to be a lot of spice at this one – according to Gorilla, these salesmen came from some country called India.
"India is actually quite a fascinating place," Gorilla told Crane as the ten made their way through the marketplace. To Po and the remaining members of the Five, it was still somewhat strange to be near the remaining of the Six without fighting in the slightest. But nonetheless, it was actually nice to talk to them.
"Have you been there?" Crane asked somewhat surprised.
"No… but I do have my resources of research," Gorilla admitted.
"Really? What is your source?" Crane asked, immediately interested.
"The Palace's achieves," Gorilla asked, lifting his hood a little, sending Crane a sly smile. "I can show you how to get in there easily later."
"Aren't entering these forbidden by non-council members?" Crane asked surprised.
"Exactly," Cobra said, chuckling to himself under Gorilla's hood.
"See, they're not really that bad," Viper told Po under the panda's hood.
"I guess not," Po muttered. "At least Crane and Gorilla gets along… More than what you can about Mantis and Stag."
Mantis and Stag still argued over just about anything; whether it was the prices of the marketplace… whether it was… well, just about anything that came to mind.
"I don't know if I really want to break such a big rule in order to get information," Crane muttered, continuing his and Gorilla's conversation.
"Oh well, to each his own," Gorilla said. "I just happened to find some information, which I would like to share with you – all of you."
Having turned towards the entire group – minus Monkey, who had found a souvenir collection – Gorilla said, "But we need to find a less crowded place first."
"I know a place," Eagle said. She had shortly disappeared moments ago, but now she was carrying a bag with stuff she had seemingly bought. From the looks of it, it seemed to be food.
Eventually the group followed Eagle and they came to a restaurant. It didn't seem to be very popular as it was also somewhat deserted; there was barely anyone there. The group all sat down – in total, only four of them sat down, since Cobra and Viper were hiding under Gorilla and Po's hoods and Mantis and Stag sat on each of Monkey's shoulders.
The restaurant was only lit by a few small lanterns in the ceiling and the group decided that it was safe for them to take off the hoods of their cloaks. Viper and Cobra eventually slid off of their carriers necks as well and took place around the table.
"So what is it that you wanted to tell us?" Po asked curiously. Maybe it was some kind of deep, dark secret about the palace or the council members.
"It's… well, remember those weirdoes that entered the arena earlier today?" Gorilla asked. Po and his friends nodded in response. "Well, Cobra and I got into the Rising Phoenix Archives a few hours ago and I managed to find out who they were."
"So who are they?" Po asked. "And exactly what were they talking about?"
Gorilla had to wait a while before answering as a waiter came to their table. Eagle ordered some tea and bean buns for everyone and soon the waiter left again. Obviously the Selected Six had more money to spend than Po and the Five, given how much Eagle had already spent.
Gorilla cleared his throat. "Anyways, they were the Rising Phoenix Council."
"But that's the name of the palace," Po said, raising a very good point. "Why aren't they at the palace instead of the Onyx Council?"
"It's actually quite the story," Gorilla said. "Many years ago when Master Chao had just become member of the council, he and Jinshu's grandfather…"
"Jinshu's grandfather?" Viper asked.
"Junjie," Cobra replied. In a way, it surprised Po and his friends. The two shared nothing that Po would call a family bond – at least not from the looks of it. Po's relationship to Mr. Ping was much less shallow!
"Really – Jinshu is the grandson of Junjie?" Crane asked.
"I thought it was obvious," Stag said. "They're both foxes after all."
"Sure, but they don't look like each other at all; have you not seen how much taller Jinshu is?" Mantis stated, already stirring up another argument.
"That is not important," Gorilla said, feeling the need to stop the two insects before it got serious. "What is important is that the two eventually found out about the Rising Phoenix Council and their… methods of treating Kung Fu."
"According to them, everyone who didn't know Kung Fu was lower in society than they," Gorilla continued once the tea and bean buns had arrived. He picked up a cup and took a sip of it. It surprised Po to see, given that the cup was almost smaller than his fingers.
"Why?" Crane asked. "Kung Fu is something you learn, right? It's not like it's a special job or anything; it's just like any other art you can learn."
"Exactly," Gorilla agreed, snapping his finger. "But their leader Yuan, whom you also saw today, saw Kung Fu as a prestigious weapon of force. According to him, Kung Fu should only be used for ways of war."
"But that is the completely opposite of what Master Oogway thought," Po pointed out. Po knew that Master Oogway, the creator of Kung Fu had had a much more peaceful look on Kung Fu during his years of living.
Cobra nodded. "When I was at the academy I had to read all of the stuff about Oogway… But I did see that he had a point… Unlike me… I have a third view on Kung Fu."
"And what kind of view is that?" Monkey asked.
"I see Kung Fu as a prestigious art, which grants glory to its Masters," Cobra said. "I mainly agreed to fight for Junjie because of this."
"So you just wanted glory," Monkey asked.
Cobra nodded. "But that's not important. We need to focus here."
"Right," Gorilla said. "Anyways, the Onyx Council managed to exile the Rising Phoenix Council. The Onyx Council then took their place at the palace, but didn't change its name due to the little bit of respect they had for the other council."
"You know, that explains a lot," Po said, thinking it through again. Po had always wondered why the Onyx Council and the Rising Phoenix Palace didn't share the same name… Now this explained everything!
"Yeah, right?" Stag asked. "And this Yuan guy has kept a low profile for decades… but for some reason he has returned because of the tournament."
"Because of the tournament?" Viper asked.
"Yeah, of course," Stag said. "This tournament is one of, if not, the most prestigious Kung Fu tournament in China. It'd be the perfect opportunity to spread his view on Kung Fu."
"… Why are you even sharing all this information with us?" Monkey asked, somewhat suspiciously, but mainly sounding surprised of all things.
"Because it concerns all of us," Eagle said. "We are all Masters of Kung Fu… therefore we thought that…"
Due to Eagle not finishing the sentence, Gorilla finished it for her. "We thought that we could form an alliance outside the tournament."
Po looked at his friends. Maybe with the exception of Mantis, they all seemed to be up for it. Thinking it through, it did seem that it would be the best idea. "I think it sounds like a good idea."
"But we're still going to kick your butts in the tournament," Mantis said teasingly.
"Just bring it," Stag said, chuckling.
"So… we're all in?" Gorilla asked. Everyone nodded.
Eagle got to her feet. "It's all great, but now we just need to get out of here alive."
"What are you-?" Before Po could finish the sentence, Eagle did a short upwards-aimed punch. A second later, something hit the ceiling.
Looking up, Po saw a dagger stuck in the ceiling. He and the rest quickly got to their feet and took on battle stances.
"How did you foresee that attack?" Po asked amazed.
"I sensed them," Eagle simply said. "I always know when someone's watching me. You can come out… Rising Idiots."
"Well, I see you know about us," a familiar voice spoke. The group was suddenly surrounded by a gang of different people. They recognized some of them from those that had entered the arena earlier that day. Stepping into the light, Yuan said, "But I cannot allow you to interfere with our tournament activities."