Volume Three: Deng Wa

Chapter XLIX

The Boy and the Beast

I. The Tree

December 19, 1210 (Three days before Winter Feast)

On a few nights before the arrival of Creed Masters, Kai had himself lay his belly forward on his goza mat, his thumb fiddling with his wife's amber necklace as the full moon rayed on him behind the window. His visiting hours were pleasant when he greeted Master Gidahn's villagers and his own of three: his sons, including his adoptive daughter. Not more likely to see the rest of the citizens witness their newest visitor, so might with long and pointy horns, they had not seen any bovine like him. With reasons not to startle Tanhuang by knowing who Kai was, Gidahn elaborated to his people that he was part of the warlord's descendants who fought with Grandmaster Oogway's side in the Great War. Commonly enough to determine his legacy, many citizens began to admire Kai, whose name belonged to his ancestor.

Himself.

Indeed, however, the best way to dodge those discovering his actual identity. Nevertheless, he was more than five hundred and fifty years old, lived from the Great War, and was banished to the Spirit Realm before he achieved his chance to return home. And again.

Distant laughs emerged from outside once Kai kept stroking his necklace, which Wugu moaned with comfort, letting his smile stretch more. "Tree. . . Help the tree, my husband."

Beside Gidahn's residence perched a dead tree, whose silvery scathe skin went fragmented and stayed on with roots. Whose roots remained fastened under the Earth, but a haunting reminiscence had Kai prevented himself from standing up. "Gidahn's peach tree has been dead, Wugu," the yak crooned. "I still cannot unleash my chi. . . not like how Oogway did with panda monks."

"You can do this, Kai. Let your memories flow with our son," she pulsed her light. "Follow him there."

"I can't remember his face. He is always there in my head."

"Try. . ." she supported him. "Think of your warlords. Think of your closest friend."

For a moment, tying his voluminous green cape "honor," Kai went down the stairs and passed through the back doorway, where he was there last time to see his teacher combating Gidahn's sons. Around twilight poured ice flakes on the yak and Tanhuang village as he continued on the crushing snow surface, leaving his trail behind him. In front, filling his breaths so timid that he sought this familiar scene like yesterday, stood Gidahn's tree, dead as it remained standing after a winter storm two years ago. Gidahn told him that this tree was blended with tangerine and lime, a gift from his father's grandfather as it grew over a century.

Like other trees of Oogway's peach and Chen Wing's blossom, Kai recalled one that grew by a hundred and fifty years, created a peach tree by a bear monk, Master Panda, from the ancient place of healing. This was when the yak and his brother fled from the battle after tragedy — the insurmountable memories of losses. After his recovery, the great General wished to speak with Master Panda and asked what his peach tree was for the Panda Village. The bear elaborated that his tree was not only blessed wounds by its foliages but honored one warrior who was a dear friend to his great-great-grandfather: Bo Shan's old friend, Master Dog. Bo Shan planted peach seeds where his companion was buried. Before his friend's passing, Master Dog wished to be healed underneath the grass, to silence his excruciating wounds rather than living with root remains on him. And Bo accepted his friend's wish.

Once watching a dry leaf ripping its flesh off and floating beside the yak, Kai lowered to his knees, his sense of remorse, regrets, and miseries flooding his reflection. A friend who no longer fought against him shared his tip for this intense emotion of guilt to ease himself from fighting back. Let it flow, Po said. As he allowed himself to close his eyes, the pool of remorse streamed well, letting him swim on where he was last time to see his brother unleash his chi with panda monks.

He was close to the tortoise, reminding his smile from the other world, closer as Kai floated near; Oogway's smile wrung his heart.

"I hope you can hear me, brother. Whatever you are in the Spirit Realm," Kai murmured in his low voice. "I wish there was hope for your blood-brother. After the war ended, I should have submitted my title with you and let it all go."

The yak's digits caressed rough snow, the intense cold surfacing his knees and fur, which he had used ignoring bits. "We were the right among with our own. Original Mightiest Warriors carried banners and made all the enemies wet their pants after they saw mine," Kai hummed. "Over a hundred battles, we survived. Our poor soldiers, and even mine, fought well in the end."

I do not want carnage! I want my father!

A boldness roar with grief echoed in Kai's head, leading his hoof against the dead root. "My son. He is with me, and I still cannot see him. I remembered that I let my boy and his army down," Kai shattered his low voice, drooping his head with remorse. "He rested in my arms, Oogway, and he. . . died on my watch."

Kai fastened his eyes closed, his whole head clenching wrinkles in dismay. "I should have let you both live, but those backstabbers cheated me. . . Those black arrows on ridges rained us all."

NO! OOGWAY!

He was buried underneath dead soldiers, the only way to shield himself from thousands of arrows storming down the battlefield. His brother was across, about a hundred yards, he could see the tortoise heaving his shield behind, but the halberd from a leopard soldier pierced through Oogway's ribcage.

"I should have blessed the rest of the pandas who aided us with hospitality. You were the one who gave credit to them, but — your brother was — I was not able to share words with them," the yak said, regretful. "My only thought during our recovery was to deliver messages at enemies: retribution."

Changes are ahead of us, Kai.

As Kai kept wringing his eyes closed, a brief cloud of the wooden house scorched to ruins, and the arrow plunged into one warrior's liver. The hissing fire and his son's coughing deaths itched his eyes, his warm streams escaping barriers. "That mad prince burned his sister — my beloved. And the black arrow poisoned my gifted — my son."

Easing his agony with his calming breaths, Kai stroked his wife's amber necklace. The sensation of fragments itching in his mind surfaced his tension, the wave sweeping its gliding ice as the yak maintained his meditation. His necklace, seemingly reverberating its slow rhythm pulses, droned with Wugu's vocal, rounding him from her comfort brace. He felt a sigh of relief, vanquishing mourning fragments.

"You said our changes are ahead of us. You accepted your resignation; I stayed what I was and became arrogant," Kai admitted, shaking his head with shame. "I am sorry, brother. . . I turned against you, and you had your right to banish me."

Once finishing his hoof stroking the snow, caressing intense fragments of ice that soothed his chest, Kai stood from his knees, letting out his sharp snout as he let go of his dark past. Pressuring his silky sigh, Kai shared his voice with the tree, imagining his tortoise friend ahead of him. "This badger, Deng Wa, he is behind everything who ruined all victims' lives. . . even mine," he grunted in soft composure. "He created me as the Spirit Warrior and wasted my whole life into crumbles."

Once finished sharing a horrible truth, his floppy ears registered rough, thin air gliding close on dead branch sticks. Swimming with flowing ice was fading throbs of rustling pink foliage, swarming into tranquil swirls. Not as he could see his old friend nearby, nature's answer commenced its leaves caressing with round glides on Kai's main limbs. Reminding him of his hooves, he sought panda monks and his brother, summoning their chi into a forwarding cast stance. The yak had been into his pose with reversal motion; the feeling of one's rich soul made him too greedy to devour energy, becoming stronger and deadlier. At this moment of realization, Kai brushed his hard hooves.

"You know what your brother must do, Oogway. I will not make the change for you," he said, palming his heart. "But I will change my son wanted me."

The yak commenced locking his palms, breathing in his muzzle and out from his long sigh. He repeated his puffs before Kai reflected the feline soldier sprinting in front of him, whose dark emerald hooded cape billowed. Impacting him further to the familiar sceneries, he witnessed his archer leader launching his fire arrow across the sky as the red banner undulated its blunt course to where the bolt soared. And finally, approaching another scene, crossing by war tents with allied flags were his own with a short braided mane, a scathe armor with yellow trim details, and a hoodless soldier, whose striped feline head was fully exposed behind.

"This is what his big brother wished."

He extended his hoof and reached out to the dead tree, whose branches stretched its fingers in the night's sky with innumerous white stars coruscating. Remaining motionless, neglecting swirls of lament, Kai felt his limb stroking out its dimming amber veins, reaching toward his fingertips. On his hoof, he felt the grip of his emerald razorblade pointing at the tortoise statue; his wistful voice was bold.

I loved Oogway like a brother, and he bet—

No. Oogway was my best friend.

Burying his antagonism, the yak broke free with his sharp mind when his limbs were warm. Flowing from the pain had his throbbings improve. Flowing from the grief strengthened his mentality. Flowing from the dismay —

The tree stretched its sticks wide as it hummed soft growls, roots outgrowing underneath; sounds of shimmering coming from Kai's hoof touched the heart of Gidahn's tree, and claw tubes in the trunk launched flickers of white and amber, surging gold light foliages.

The tree stood brightly among Tanhuang, and its current blessing of warm light bathed Kai on him and his front mane. To him, it was the most comforting to be blessed by his chi, he feared, and Kai dominated his fear. How could this happen? For hundreds of years in the Spirit Realm, he could never summon his gift from the panda monks they offered him and his brother, but he went too close to the sun to withdraw one's chi so ravenously.

"You did it, Kai."

Once feeling not alone, Kai turned as his feline teacher in a winter plums coat broadened his silver eyes into a strange shock. "Gidahn's Tree — you brought his tree back to life!" Chen Xing praised his student, cheering with countless chuckles. "What was your first thought before restoring your chi?"

Kai inspected his hooves. "I thought of someone close to me."

The tiger stretched his simper. "Grandmaster Oogway?" Xing guessed, and another. "Wugu?"

The yak's eye pupils read Xing's figure and head, full of resonance. "Closest than him and my beloved."

The yak took his stride into Gidahn's cottage once Tai, Mel, and Mika raced out of the balcony from the side, prevailing their stunning faces. Spreading his lips with wisdom, Chen Xing told his companions that his student revived their father's lifeless tree, restored to eternity by Kai's chi, which was fulfilled by allowing the change the yak could do with Oogway's memory.

Gidahn's children credited them both.

II. Leader and General

December 22, 1210 (Dongzhi Festival)

Blessed by the feast for Winter Solstice, the Nine of Prosper Valley gave more credits to each bovine of Nana's companions. However, this night, they could have gotten their opportunity to celebrate with Jade Palace Masters, which Xing and Ming craved celebrating with Tigress, their family member. For that, the Nine would be honored to commemorate with Masters of Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace and spend more time with these honorable teachers of Oogway's students. Another year should be proper for the Nine, as Xing tolerated his panda colleague's invitation.

A bovine family delivered their wishful blessings to the Gods; the Nine praised Gidahn's prayer with steams of pasta, bread, chilies, and teas on the dinner table wafted through their muzzles. This year was the best opportunity to celebrate with Gidahn and his children, as Ming strongly wished to reconnect with this nostalgic feeling of family and friendship reunion.

Beside the door, Kai gorged large rice dumplings in his mouth, enough to crush bits of chili powder and chopped radishes. Finishing his bowl before he placed it on the counter beside him, Kai surveyed Gidahn and his children gorging pasta noodles and sweet potatoes with guests, the Nine, and visitors of Tanhuang coming over with their empty plates to sit along.

Chen Xing sought Kai departing through the door while chuckling and devouring his food with Tai and Mel. On his top left corner, Ming gestured her head, presenting her muzzle to allow her grandson to lead a simple way to stick with his student. Be mindful of someone needing some air, but they desire one that matters to make their attention than being lonely. Excusing his companions before wearing his midnight coat with rough winter tufts, the tiger began to reach for the wood door, and behind him, Wolf Boss and his daughter Lotus chirped, their paws holding large mugs. "You have been combing your spikey fur, Zhong?" Xing spread his lips.

Wolf Boss strengthened his rough grunt in delight. "I'm way more badass than your Manchu of roses, boy."

"Ha! Your mohawk is like a mountain of poops."

Lotus spat her drink, giggling. Her father twitching his ears down in defeat, broadened his smile, mostly bobbing his head ahead of Xing. "You're somewhat useful at firing back and making people cry their laughs," Wolf Boss quivered his chuckles. "You have my respect, son."

The tiger beamed. "Enjoy your feast, you two," Xing opened the door.

"You are going out?" Lotus asked once a nippy thin air barged in beside her brother.

"Yeah, I rather have my bean buns go freezing than sweating here."

"HA!" Wolf Boss laughed. The wolf began to approach and pat Xing's head. "Alright, Xing. Go enjoy walking out there with the snow. Be back here soon."

"Will do, Zhong."

Xing closed the wooden door and sauntered, fixing his eyes on his student, who strolled toward the snowy bank of the ice river. Its layer was solid and thick enough for this year's winter that you may carefully step on the surface for as long as it is hard enough. For a moment, the ball sprung beside Xing; yaks, Bao Gorilla, and Fanshe were thrilled to participate in the Cuju game by kicking the ball into the hole. While the food in his stomach devoured digestion, instead of him playing with his brothers, the tiger kicked the ball to his cobra companion. Springing his lengthy belly, Fanshe slashed his tail, and Bao spun his palm.

"Keep warming up, brothers!" Xing cheered them and strode on the long path before he sought Kai turning to the next way beside the cottage.

Near the ice river, standing by the snow bank once the silver glint of moonlight cast on his gray fur, Kai thought of the Panda Village's lake where he fought Po. Unable to neglect himself reign his former army of Jade Warriors plunging in against pandas — it was all the plague that put hatred in his mind, blinded in control by his imaginary friend Deng Wa. The yak, skeptical about seeing his opponent defeat him, insulted Po. All of the pandas faced their final moments, including a feline warrior who watched her friend in last defense in despair.

You are just a stupid mortal. Kai put his sour taste against his foe before.

He reminded himself that Po had his conception to bring him in mind about Oogway's 'tacky little trick.'

He was not a stupid mortal. That panda did the right thing to put us in the Spirit Realm.

Silver flakes wafted toward the south. Each bit of feather drops mirrored its gray moon. Kai loved the whining grinds underneath the ice, which kept him remembering how pleasant the winter was during his war days. Peaceful at first, the thin air stroked on his mane, his breaths puffing white from his muzzle. With feet crushing the meadow's snow behind him, Kai felt his friendly company nearby, whose low chuffs crawled close.

"Not intending yourself to freeze to death, are you?" Kai noticed his teacher standing beside him. Chen Xing revealed his neutral smile, clasping his paws on his belly.

"Why would I do such a foolish thing?" Kai asked when straightening his lime winter plums coat, perplexed.

"Because if you step on thin ice and let the current pull you under, I will drag you out and make sure your life matters than drown yourself," Chen Xing said, catching a speck of glinting white snow on his palm. "Last month, while you mentioned nothing is ahead of you in China, your story persists. And someone you know more than the Nine gives you a second chance."

The beast huffed his muzzle, tugging the front cut of his coat. "How could I possibly have my destiny to change my course and live like the rest of—"

Kai quickly inspected his teacher's sharp eye casting upward at him, an utter silence pulling his tension back. Now it's not the time to prattle with the beans.

The yak cleared his harsh throat. "My apologies. Never mind my arrogance. I am not part of the villagers being close like you and your people. My space is too thin for them."

"I know one who says the rest of his customers. 'There's always room for one more at Mr. Ping's,'" Xing simpered.

"Spare me. I do not fit into any of your friends' enclosures," Kai retorted in slight doubt.

"More like hanging out with family and friends, that's what I mean."

Oh?

The yak pictured the Nine eating dinner at Shui Palace, as he could see his teachers and their friends dressed up in their cosplays. Most were in different outfits of battle armor. One thing that he tried not to ignore the rest was Lotus's father only robed his loincloth and battle helmet on. Not so much of mockery but inspiration, Kai regarded him in admiration.

Kai brushed his hooves for warmth. "What brings you here, Kitten?"

The yak watched as Xing lowered his view toward the ice river. "I'm in the same boat as you are, not entirely the public person who fits into anyone's room," the tiger said nonchalantly. "Besides, I go whatever I feel comfortable."

The yak strengthened his low hum in understanding. "When you said I am leading myself to step on the ice and let the current drag me under, why did you mean that?"

Xing showed his posture to realization, disappearing his grin. "That happened to me once. When I walked down toward a thick ice lake going to be thin during daylight, maybe nine winters ago," he started, straightening his back. "I was nine when meeting Mrs. Yan's mother. She was a wonderful lady and farmer, knowing I was the first to steal her flowers accidentally, and — By the Gods — she had her heart by her iron hoof slap my butt many times. That, I remembered her well. Yan's mom adores many children; like her own, she would adopt those like me, Lotus, and Lao. We came over to her place every week by then after training."

Kai kept his look on his teacher without a word. "By the time I was fourteen, by the end of December, Mrs. Yan's mother rested well within her last day. Fever took her without letting us three say goodbye to her," Xing steadied his slow sigh, his grief sensation impacting him further. "I was not strong enough to bear these streams of mine that I wanted her back."

"I am sorry, Kitten," Kai conveyed his sympathetic tone.

"I was never ready to take my life out of misery for a while after four weeks of seeing Mrs. Yan looking after her farm without her mother," Chen Xing continued, his words rippling with brief nonchalance. "When grief kept me on, I went on my own for two days, easily got lost in the bamboo forest until somewhere ahead of me was singing light cracks. All I remembered was a fall with a thousand spikes, leaving a lake with solid white ice. Precisely like that river's surface down there, Kai."

The two checked the ice layer as Xing remembered every inch of his memory, the sound of whining cracks you bend and rock against, and the surface breathing out a little breeze of white dust. "I do not know why I wanted to silence my misery back then. All I thought about was giving my life up to see Mrs. Yan's mother," Xing closed his gaze, the loss of his words trekking him in the last of his thought. "I caught a large rock and went for the ice lake. When I nearly attempted to crack the hole open —"

Chen Xing, a troubled tiger with red tears, heaves a large stone — the size of a basket he finds, the only substantial weight he can carry with his good arms. That large enough can crush your feet if dropped accidentally. But that was not what he could do to split his skull. With enough strength to carry, the poor tiger, whose face was drenched with burnt tears, trudges on the ice lake, the ruptures singing underneath as his weight threatened.

Heaving the stone in the air has had Xing burst his growl in suffering. Stirring close to his end, he hears a whip aggressing on his belly, and the rope drags him away; the rock plunges the fragmented ice once the boy laments, begging to crawl back, but a strong limb surrounding his body heaves him, pulling back on the bank. Xing's rescuer is a giant yak with cinnamon eyes, light brown fur, and with strings of silky gray mane.

"Gidahn has this perception of my struggles. For a while, he watched me every day of January by the time depression had hurt me inside. Suicide is death's door, inviting you in without saying goodbye to most you adored," Xing added, reminiscing about the yak traveler who had thoughts of him, aiding the tiger with care. "Gidahn was always there at the Shui Palace and had brought his sons, including his daughter. After my recovery for a few months, they invited us to Tanhuang, let us meet Ms. Ling, Tok, and all the folk there. These citizens of Tanhuang are good people here, Kai. They prevent those who will give in their lives."

Kai tugged his lips in understanding. "I am glad you are alive and well, Little Kitten. The world lives on, and we mortals do not."

"Because we fly until each of us with different ages lands toward death. The age is like a curse, and everywhere else comes to neverending dangerous places," the tiger looked onward. "But as long as we breathe well in a prosperous life, you'll live quite a long time."

Once comprehending with his teacher on the same level of wisdom, the yak rippled his throat.

"What do you think of your teacher before me? Chen Wing?"

With a clear sight of a fading figure in voluminous emerald hanfu, adopting him in his youth, Kai had his silky curl mane not flowing. After a few attempts to flee from his dear feline, he tried out his gray loincloth once his mother had found a leftover cloth in her chamber; she was a tailor sewing elegant garments. The yak needed help remembering what started him to like his loincloth, which used to grow with a few pairs of those, including patched shorts. He only heard pulsing water from his mother's voice in his meditation, mentioning the honor of her dear friend.

"More than I knew of her as close as my beloved. And aside from her legacy, she was a true mother," Kai answered.

The tiger arched his brows upward. "I fear I may see my mom on a memoir painting as a stranger ever since Huoju killed my parents. My grandmother knew her son well, and her daughter-in-law, my real mother," Xing throbbed his tone, looking down to his feet. "With my peacock brother by his side, I am blessed to have someone who has her deep fond of courage more than being a Ladyship."

Kai glanced slightly at his teacher, whose eyes glittered into snows and lips pressed from quivering. "Lao's mother is like my real mom to me. Her voice has a gift for making you smile when she titters," Xing chuckled. "By the Gods, her laugh brings my tears joyfully, wanting more of her perpetual specialties by breaking your difficult times to sunny days."

"Why have you meant you say that your mother in the painting picture will be a stranger?"

This query had Xing's brows slowly arched upward. "To tell you a horrible truth, Kai. I could hardly remember memories of my mom and dad's faces. Memoirs help, but they do not mean I know them too well," he admitted. "Let me be honest with you in my heart. I do not know what it feels like to be their loving son."

I do not want carnage. I want my father!

Kai felt the wrench in his heart, hearing the warrior's agony and rage. Not compared to one who wanted a family, he knew the feeling of someone's attention that was impossible to forget one's eyes: his feline mother. He had the unmistakable voice of sadness, wishing to feel loved by his parents, his kind. There was none, but deep down, his adoptive mother was always there with him.

"What bothers me more, even I always have Lao's mother. . ." Xing moaned, wiping his red tear after sniffing. Stabling his long sigh, he continued. "I see people who have a loving parent. One reflects on his daughter during his struggles to fight for survivability in the darkness. The other lost his son in the Thriving Village for many years until Li Shan reunited Po in the Valley of Peace. Zhong left turmoils, including many who followed their pack's leader; he vowed to be a bond of one of his own to have a second chance. Every time I look at Lotus hugging her dad, I wish I had one to embrace my own. The way Mel, Tai, and Mika gathered around Master Gidahn, I wanted to feel what they felt. And the way my panda colleague's fathers hugged their son, Kai, I wanted that feeling from Po's, the way you could see their eyes staring at you, never letting their embrace go."

Poor Kitten. I know how you feel. Someone wanted me, and I had failed him.

"One-eyed puppy admires you with his little girl," Kai expressed to the tiger. "He often sees you as part of his wolf pack for looking after your sister. I know what their supremacies are and their family tenderness."

"But Zhong always looks after his girl more, Kai," Xing wiped his tear off, sniffing. "It's a father thing Lotus has, and I never will."

"Your Nana and your peahen mother are with you, which, of course, thrives mother feeling," Kai said. "The other, as you should know, is the one who will never stop blessing you. Zhong owes you a thousand favors for raising his daughter, your sister. You may wish him to call you a son, but loving back Lotus's father will heal both hearts, his and yours."

I could try. Zhong loves her, and he should do the same thing to me.

Accepting his student's advice with a few nods, Chen Xing exhaled his warm breath on his paws, brushing. "Better start cozy in Gidahn's house. My tenders are freezing."

"That is because you do not have a passion."

At last, the tiger could not believe what his student spoke with this enthusiasm. Once they looked at each other awkwardly, Xing and Kai puffed their loud chuckles, and after about five to six nonstop guffaw bursts, the tiger thundered his laughs, making his back crash against the house structure. He took time breathing.

"Yeah, that's a great start to find one and get warm during this cold night, alright!" Xing laughed more.

The yak deepened his chortles once passing by his teacher, who rustled his sigh from giggles. "Kai, is that part of your joke?"

"Maybe a good one," Kai answered.

The two warriors started their walk on the long path as Gidahn's Tree behind his sons' cottage burned its sunlight more brightly than rainbow lanterns. The atmosphere that stroked light gray and cobalt was slightly hued to dark basil as Xing regarded the sky he had not seen before. Much heavenly pleasant as this night passed, he thought of the Spirit Warriors celebrating their day in their world. "Would you like to meditate with me after this Feast?" Xing asked Kai. "I think it's the most reasonable way to see long-lost families."

"Certainly," he worded without a doubt.

Strolling down further, they observed yak villagers attempting to execute sudden leaps as if the ball lurched from flying next to the hoop, and both Bao and Fanshe cried their triumphs. The mighty had his mind sparked to something he wished to share with his teacher.

"Would you like to hear this coincidental idea that I have been thinking about what you hardly see your family's faces?"

"Yeah?"

"I also struggled to see the warrior's look, as he was my blood," the yak said. "Wugu begged me to remember that soldier, whom I tried to remember. But his voice — his haunting voice was daring, almost exactly like, like —"

They stopped and had themselves glanced at each other. "Like what?" Xing wondered.

Kai seemed perplexed while eying the tiger's stunning gaze before a sound of ice ripped each piece of snow in half and rushed into the soil near Kai's left foot. The next whirred behind Xing's tail at five feet away. There had drawn iron bolts, with ropes stretching from a far distance. Xing detected a group of small figures on a small ridge swinging down.

"Bandits," Xing glistened his silver eyes. "They just don't know when to quit, do they?"

One line swung with emerged adaptive groups of five (one midnight boar, two wolves, and two bucks). The cloud ripped its silk webs, casting the moon's light where they revealed their jade stone bodies.

A/N:

— Don't go anywhere! This battle has started! Each chapter will arrive around the schedule's releases tomorrow! Prepare yourselves!

12/20/2022