A/N: Hi guys! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, sorry about that, and also sorry about this chapter being somewhat short. I just felt like making a cliffhanger, somewhat - I haven't done that for a while. But... yeah, I hope you'll like this chapter. :)

Gorilla slowly made his way through the archives, trying his best to not be seen. There weren't guards guarding the archives or anything, but the primate had heard a few council members enter and exit. And for all he knew, Gorilla wasn't allowed to read anything within the archives.

Listening closely, Gorilla heard the archive door shut once again as the last council member exited to head for the arena. Gorilla had patiently ben waiting for this and finally started walking more casually.

"I see you're still the same." Gorilla jumped in surprise and just barely managed to avoid turning over a big vase. To his relief it was just Junjie.

"Oh, Master," Gorilla sighed with relief. "It's just you."

"Indeed it is, Junjie said calmly. "But what if it weren't?"

"Then I would be dead."
"Exactly, my student," Junjie said, chuckling for some reason. He then turned to face another direction. "Your hunger for knowledge doesn't know a limit, does it?"

"I guess not," Gorilla admitted. True, Gorilla had always been intelligent, Junjie thought. But this intelligence had also been a weakness of his at one point.

About twenty-one years ago, Junjie had first met the young gorilla, who at that time was eighteen years old. The latter had been living in a fairly large village a bit from the Valley of Peace – somewhere in between that and Gongmen City. In said village, Gorilla had grown up. He had always been bullied by his peers for being different.

In what way had he been different? Well, unlike his peers, Gorilla had always found great interest and entertainment in reading – even when he was still very young.

One day – the day that Junjie traveled through the village – he came across Gorilla. He saw how he was being mocked by some other people, and at first Junjie paid little to no attention to it.

However, this had taken an unexpected turn of events. What had happened was that Gorilla had finally had enough of their bullying and had ended up beating them up rather badly.

In itself it had been quite a sight, but to Junjie, it hadn't been a horrible thing… No, to the red fox, it had been quite the impressive feat. Once the angered gorilla had realized what he had done, he ran off.

Having been as impressed as he had, Junjie had eventually found him.

"Go away," Gorilla had said. "I'll just end up hurting you."

As Junjie had walked closer, he had noticed how Gorilla seemed to be struggling with his movement – as if his rage was a completely different being that lived inside of him. "You cannot hurt me."

"But to be fairly honest," Junjie had said. "I was impressed with what you just did."

"Impressed?" Gorilla had asked. "I'm a monster."

"Monster? No, not quite," Junjie had told Gorilla. "You are not the monster, but I can teach you how to tame the monster."

And so Junjie had. From that day, he had started training Gorilla how to tame his anger – how to conceal it, even when annoyed. And eventually Gorilla progressed to where he was today – clearly the calmest member of the Selected Six.

"But that may also be your strong side," Junjie told Gorilla. "I expect just as much from you today as I have the others."

"Of course, Master," Gorilla said, bowing to his Master. "I will do my best."

"I'm certainly glad to hear that," Junjie said. "Now, go get dressed up – the finals will soon begin."

"Yes Master."

"And the next contestants will be Master Viper of the Furious Five and Master Gorilla of the Selected Six!" The crowd started cheering and Viper started mentally preparing herself. This was the first time she was taking part in the tournament and… Well, this being the finals probably wasn't a good thing.

Viper wasn't quite used to performing in front of a lot of people. When she was young she had performed with her ribbon dancing, but since she became a student at Jade Palace, she hadn't done so since. She had performed in front of a crowd the day she and her friends were at the Dragon Tournament at Jade Palace, but since then, she hadn't.

Viper was glad that she even got to take part in the tournament though; as mentioned, this was the first time she would fight.

As she got into the center of the arena and faced Gorilla, she couldn't help but feel how deja vu rushed through her. She remembered when she was younger and had beat up a gorilla brat that her father had failed to defeat… Even then, she was very young.

But Viper shook it off her mind as she and Gorilla bowed to each other.

"Contestants ready?" Master Chao stopped shortly. "Begin!"

Viper jumped into the air, ready to attack, but before she could get to it, Gorilla started out with a punch. Still in the air, Viper formed a wheel with her entire body, so that Gorilla's punch hit the space in between.

Viper then spun her body around and coiled herself around Gorilla's fist and tried to use his massive weight to toss him around. But as she tried this, Gorilla counter-used his own weight to land safely back on his feet. After shaking her off, Gorilla spun around in a circle and smashed a punch toward Viper.

Gracefully jumping into the air in a fashion similar to ribbon dancing, Viper managed to Dodge Gorilla's attack. Viper then rotated her body and smashed her tail towards Gorilla – her equivalent of a punch.

Gorilla blocked it, but before he could do anything else, Viper jumped towards him, grabbed a hold of his arm with her entire body, then threw him into the air. Viper followed shortly, then spinning around like a wheel, smashing the tip of her tail against Gorilla, knocking him to the ground.

Gorilla landed on his left hand, then pushed himself off the ground, and while airborne he delivered a kick with his right foot. The kick hit successfully, and if Viper hadn't pressed herself against the ground to brake, she would most likely already have lost by being sent out of the ring.

"That was close!" Po said, sounding impressed.

"Certainly," Crane agreed.

"How'll she do this?" Po gestured towards Gorilla. "That guy is enormous compared to her!"

"Don't you remember?" Shifu asked Po. At first Po didn't know what the old Master was taking about, but then Shifu said, "She's defeated equally large enemies before; she can do it again."

"Oh, right!" Po said, realizing this. "Of course she can win!"

"We'll see," Junjie and Jinshu chuckled in unison. Now it was clearer than ever how much Jinshu resembled his grandfather.

Meanwhile, Viper and Gorilla continued their battle. Letting the lower part of her body rest on the ground, Viper moved her upper body back and forth and from side to side in quick movements to dodge Gorilla's attacks.

Then when Viper finally got the chance, she launched herself forwards. She turned herself around midair, delivering a strike that resulted in a loud smacking sound.

Gorilla shortly stumbled backwards, but then Viper jumped forth and wrapped her body around his torso and attempted to literally throw him out of the ring. But Gorilla was fast; he quickly poked Viper two places with his powerful places, causing her muscles to go numb for a moment.

This caused Viper to lose her grip and before long, she was sent flying by a punch to her mid-section. However, Viper managed to turn herself around midair and as she spun around vigorously, she shot towards Gorilla like a living spear.