A/N: Hi Guys! This chapter was originally supposed to be shorter, but then I decided to change it to a chapter with two matches! ^_^ Enjoy! :D
Also, if you want something different, check out my old account - Timbit the Lynx-Angel. :3
"Master!" Junjie stopped and turned around to see Lynx as he was just about to exit the barracks of the palace.
"Yes?" Junjie asked as the feline came closer to him. But just then, Lynx seemed to change his mind somehow.
"… Nothing, never mind," Lynx said and turned around and was about to leave. But before he could, Junjie suddenly grabbed him by the hand – more specifically by his index finger.
Lynx immediately froze as he recognized the hold – the Wuxi Finger Hold. "H-hold on, is this really necessary?"
"Well, you were about to tell me something," Junjie said with a straight face. "I won't let go till you do."
"But it's not important!" Lynx cried, but Junjie didn't let go.
"I'm still waiting," Junjie said. Lynx flinched as Junjie slightly moved his pinkie to torment the feline.
"I… Wait, I heard that the Wuxi Finger Hold doesn't even work," Lynx said, suddenly trying to sound confident.
Junjie just moved his pinkie a little more and raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"
"Alright, fine, I'll tell you," Lynx cried after a few seconds. "I just wanted to say that I would do my best in the finals."
"Is that all?" Junjie asked. Lynx nodded and eventually Junjie let go of his finger. Junjie then asked, "How come you wanted to tell me? I mean, it was already an expectation I had to all my students."
"Sure point… but… I just wanted to say it," Lynx said with a shrug. "I mean, you, like saved me and all."
Junjie did remember it. Thirteen years ago, Lynx had been but a poor orphan that lived off the streets of Gongmen City. That was until Junjie found him. The feline displayed quite remarkable agility and craftiness as he managed to steal some food from a marketplace that Junjie was visiting.
The youngster managed to fend off and knock out some of the city guards that eventually pursued him and managed to escape from the rest.
Impressed, Junjie offered the ruling peacock family to get rid of the lynx, which they eventually agreed on. But instead of defeating him and bringing him to the palace's dungeon, Junjie told the lynx to wait for him on the other side of the city's walls.
After receiving the reward he had been promised, Junjie rejoined the young feline and the two left together. Before long Junjie had started training the young feline, but Lynx hadn't always been with Junjie – eventually Junjie had even sent him off to train with other Masters once the fox had found the time right.
But now Lynx was a part of Junjie's team for the Rising Phoenix Tournament.
"I didn't exactly save you," Junjie said somewhat sternly. "If I hadn't met you, I'm certain you would have been able to take care of yourself… But I'm glad you will – you are one of the better students I have had over the years."
"Mantis of the Furious Five and Lynx of the Selected Six!" Master Chao announced and Lynx quickly got up. The feline was ready – pumped – for the competition! He surely would do his best.
Making his way into the arena, Lynx mentally prepared himself – he surely wouldn't lose this one; he was up against Mantis! Once he was finally inside the circle of the arena, Lynx was ready, doing a little bit of stretching with his arms.
Mantis soon landed in front of Lynx and the two Masters quickly bowed for one another and the sound of the gong was heard; the battle had begun.
Lynx and Mantis both took on a battle stance, waiting for the opponent to make the first move. Growing impatient since Mantis didn't Lynx decided to be the first to attack.
Lynx jumped forwards with a punch, which Mantis blocked with his claws. Grabbing Lynx's hand in a hold, Mantis eventually threw him into the air, trying to knock down the feline.
Knowing that he would eventually hit the ground with his head, Lynx quickly managed to turn himself around in the air, so that he landed on his feet. Quickly getting his hand out of Mantis' hold, he bowed down to deliver some punches to the insect.
Realizing that Mantis was able to block all of his attacks, Lynx decided to play a more unpredictable play and, suddenly turned around in a circle, his leg barely touching the ground. But he did manage to hit Mantis, knocking the latter sideways.
Getting back up and doing a battle position, Lynx just barely dodged as Mantis jumped towards him with a kick. The insect was incredibly fast and combined with his size, he would have been impossible to dodge.
But soon Mantis repeated the technique from various directions, hitting Lynx several times with powerful kicks. Lynx saw no other option than to blind Mantis in order to dodge.
In order to do this, Lynx swept his leg in a circle across the ground around him. This created a somewhat small cloud of dust, but it was still enough to make Mantis miss. Still being able to see Mantis when he landed, Lynx threw a punch towards the insect.
Mantis still managed to dodge and grabbed a hold of Lynx's hand once more, but Lynx was prepared for that.
On purpose Lynx dropped onto the ground, hitting it hard enough to cause a minor cloud of dust to erupt. Just before he landed, Lynx quickly stretched out the arm that Mantis held onto as far as he could.
For a moment, the crowd turned completely silent, not saying a word. As soon as the dust cloud vanished, it could be witnessed that Lynx had tricked Mantis. Sure Lynx was lying flat on his back, but Mantis' current position was what determined the match; Mantis was holding on to Lynx's arm, but he was standing outside the ring!
Lynx's arm wasn't touching the ground, thus meaning that Mantis had lost.
"And the winner is Master Lynx of the Selected Six!" The crowd started cheering, kind of surprising Lynx as his team usually didn't get this much support from the crowd. But this day it seemed like it had been turned around!
Chuckling happily to himself Lynx made his way over to the bench again and so did Mantis. Following this, Junjie sent Shifu a teasing smile of victory, but the red panda chose to ignore it.
Once again, everyone turned to Master Chao as he chose the next fighters. "The next contestant of the Furious Five is… Po, the Dragon Warrior."
At this the crowd went incredibly wild as most of them had hoped to see the Dragon Warrior fight – especially a certain goose.
"Yes! It's time to bring the awesome!" Po said happily and got up. He had certainly been looking forwards to taking part in the finals – his nervousness had still been there, but now it was completely gone.
"And of the Selected Six we have…" Master Chao stopped to draw the next name. Suddenly a surprised expression came across the reptilian's face. "Oh… Of Master Junjie's team, we have Master Cobra!"
"You're not very good at sneaking, anyone ever told you that?" Junjie asked and stopped. Cobra found himself surprised due to the old Master being able to hear him this easily. This was the first time Cobra had ever been heard while sneaking, so it came as a surprise for him.
"You managed to hear me?" Cobra asked surprised. He moved out from behind the tree had been hiding behind, revealing himself. Just as he did so, the red fox he had been following suddenly clapped his hands.
The last thing Cobra saw was a golden light. But that was about it. "What was that?"
Junjie found himself surprised, then muttered to himself, "Reptilians, of course – heat vision."
"Why did you follow me?" Junjie demanded to know. The sixty years old Master was ready in case the reptilian had intended to attack him and would still try.
"You're Master Junjie, right?" Cobra asked. Junjie slowly nodded, quickly repositioning his glasses. "Well, I came looking for you."
"What for?" Junjie asked suspiciously.
"I wanted to ask if I could become your student," Cobra said. "Not necessarily full time, but just for some time. Your grandson told me about you."
"My grandson?" Junjie raised an eyebrow. "You know Jinshu?"
Cobra nodded. "He studies at the same academy as I."
Junjie thought about it all for a moment. In a sense it did seem illogical. "And yet you were hoping that I would teach you?"
"The academy is a waste of time," Cobra said. "If you're not as good as Junjie, you're not good at all – according to the teachers."
"Then let me see what I can make of you," Junjie said, instructing the reptilian to follow him.
Cobra stretched out his long snake body. He hadn't taken part in anything until this point, but finally it was happening. In a few quick striking motions, Cobra made his way into the arena, joining Po in the circle.
The two contestants quickly bowed to each other and soon the gong rang and the two started circling one another.
Maybe it was just Po's imagination, but for a moment he was certain he heard his father say, "Do your best son – you can do it!"
The strange thing was, however, that through the noise of the roaring crowd, it was as if Mr. Ping was standing right next to Po. This just brought Po extra strength and the panda felt like he could overcome anyone even Cobra (Wasn't hypnosis against the rules of the tournament?).
"Don't go easy, big guy," Cobra said and did a few fake strikes to intimidate Po. Po did react to them by reflex, but he didn't let himself be too intimidated.
"Never intended to," Po said daring and confidently, sending the reptilian a confident smile. Po was the first one to strike, throwing a punch towards Cobra.
Cobra swiftly dodged by forming a big loop with his long body, then as Po's fist hit the space, Cobra quickly twirled around his arm, making his across it. Cobra then launched himself off of Po's shoulder.
Jumping into the air, Cobra made himself spin around like a wheel, eventually whipping Po with his tail. The impact hit Po's chest, knocking him backwards and knocking all the air out of his lungs as well.
The sound of the impact was also powerful – a loud smack was heard throughout the arena and the entire crowd flinched – even the council.
Po almost lost balance, but as a similar attack approached, he jumped past Cobra, doing a roll on the ground. Getting up again, Po blocked several strikes from Cobra's tail.
Suddenly Cobra managed to flip Po into the air. Feeling deja vu, Po remembered when he had first arrived to the Jade Palace – one of his first training sessions back when Shifu still tried to get rid of him. Viper had performed a similar technique, so Po guessed that it was a Viper Style Attack.
Po remembered the experience somewhat hazily, but he remembered what was important – he remembered where Viper would hit. In a fraction of a moment, Po remembered this and managed to block the incoming attack while midair, thus evading the move that was to follow.
Po knew that the move would involve him being slammed to the ground again by Viper, so he was glad that he managed to avoid that. Landing back on his feet, Po watched as Cobra jumped into the air, intending to do a whip-attack again.
This time Po countered by jumping into the air and kicking Cobra somewhere in the middle of his long body. Due to almost being horizontal in the air with his head falling towards the ground, Po quickly used his hand to land, then made sure that he hit the ground securely with both of his feet.
Next Po quickly utilized the Feet of Fury technique before Cobra could refocus. Hitting the reptilian with several quick kicks, Po eventually landed one final, solid kick, sending the reptilian flying. The reptilian tried to change course midair, but when he landed, he found himself at least ten centimeter out of the arena circle.
The crowd immediately went wild, cheering for Po – the loudest they had cheered all day. Po smiled as he realized that he had just won his match. At first he had honestly been afraid that he'd lose to Cobra's quick whip techniques.
"Nice going," Po told Cobra as the two bowed to each other one final time.
"Thanks, you weren't bad either, Dragon Warrior," Cobra told Po and the two walked down to sit by their benches.
As he did, Po looked to the sidelines and saw Mr. Ping. Sending him a wide smile, Po waved at the old goose, who seemed overjoyed with his son's recent win. Po knew this tournament would be easy to win with all the extra strength and happily joined his friends on the bench.