Viper woke up pretty late. She realised it when Tigress woke her up. That usually never happened since they were meant to wake up very early daily when they trained under Shifu.

Maybe a good old reprimands from him would have been just what she needed right now.

This place started to drive her insane even though it was a beautiful tiny world. But she still wasn't supposed to be here and she would never came even close to this place if it wasn't for.. well: Now with Shiren gone things should be more smoother from now on. Only the professor left to persuade to leave this place. And he wanted some historical notes about what happened here so the world could learn from it.

For one part she wondered why the dragon wouldn't just hand the information over but on the other hand she believed the dragon knew what she was doing and would give them information as they progress. Viper wouldn't dare contradict a dragon.

The first thing she noticed when she was starting to observe the surroundings was Crane telling a fairytale to Yong about the attack in Gongmen City.

She remembered. The one place where nothing worked as planned. The most failure in their career.

Their first attempt to sneak in failed, the attempt to catch Shen failed, the attempt to firing up the factory failed, the attempt to stop Shen's ships failed, even with the help from approximately everyone… until Po saved them.

Anyhow Crane's story sounded more optimistic. In fact it was way over the top but that did not stop him from engagingly narrating: "You know, there was this palace with countless fighters. Wolfs with wolfs next to wolfs and gorillas. Innocent people calling for help against their tyranny. The bird I am I tried to sneak in."

"You really tried to sneak in? Against wolfs?" Yong wondered and gave him her full attention.

"Of course it did not work out as I intended but that's where the story begins:

They saw me and were like: Muahaha. Look at him! It's just Crane! How is he going to stop us? He has nothing in his arms to stop this amour.

Like, yeah, me and the others were split up at this moment so I had to get creative. So what did I do?" he used his wings to picture his words better as he spoke: "I flew up into the sky, I knew they wouldn't be a get to get me there. Then I neeeauuuuuu flew back downwards with high speed, feeling the heavy wind on my feathers.

When I was close enough I opened my wings, channelled the wind and caused a big storm around the guards. All the furnitures in the area got fffiuuu blown away, chaos was spreading across the area and during that time I got in and defeated the bad guys. I called that technique the Crane's Orcan of Justice! A Kung Fu form I personally founded."

"And the civilians?" Yong asked calmly and curiously. She was listening to his story pretty sceptical but did not question it so far.

"Oh," Crane answered: "They were save after the wolves fled. I had not much time to stay since my friends needed me as well, so I let them free and flew away."

"And that really happened this way?" she asked respectively and raised an eyebrow.

Viper noticed Crane getting a bit unwell with her question. She knew that never happened and though she still wondered why he was chit chatting such things. She decided to not interfere yet but to look where this was going. She did not want the reputation of a furious five getting known for narrating fairytales but she wanted to charm in only when Crane was out of options. "I- I mean, yes. Look, it sounds incredible, but don't forget: I am one of the furious five, right? A Kung Fu Master and so on. Doing incredible actions is kinda our thing."

Now Viper charmed in to give her friend some backup since she expected Yong to still ask him about it "You can believe him, Yong. I heard about these civilians too. We came to bring peace to this place and so we did. Crane is a hero. The people in this city own him a lot. Like everyone else of us."

Now Yongs face revealed her being persuaded with this story:"Well, I wasn't aware of these capabilities of yours but… okay. Nicely done then. You truly are better than I ever thought you were."

Viper continued talking since Crane must have been a bit mentally overwhelmed right now. "A lot of people do this mistake actually, don't worry. Mostly enemies though."

Yong bowed politely and greeted: "It's an honour being in your presence. Crane, Viper. But if you excuse me, it seems like we are about to go today. I should prepare my belongings." Yong nodded at them and walked away.

Viper looked after Yong for a bit and made sure she was out of hearing range when she was asking Crane: "Why are you flexing?"

"And you're not?" he replied: "Can't hurt having a good name out there. I heard she visits taverns a lot."

"Well, in that case I am looking forward seeing this Orcan of Justice you mentioned earlier," she said while moving onwards again.

"Hehehe, yeah about that…" Crane tried to explain but did not find the right words: "You know, I was busy the last few weeks… writing, you know… might be a bit rusty…"

Viper stopped and turned around to him again and asked without going deeper into his uncomfortable topic: "Speaking of: Crane, what are you writing there actually? I've seen you making notes from time to time since we came here."

Crane grew more comfortable, came closer, slowly took a look around while he answered: "Oh, I'm just making notes from what I see here. Sadly I am not the best at painting so I need to remember from my writings."

Viper got intrigued and dug a bit further: "And why are you writing it down? Anything specific you're liking?"

He turned his attention to Viper again shortly and explained, partly with his wings, waving towards the surroundings and looking up during the speech: "I will maybe write about this place here. You know, maybe fictional but I want to use this as an inspiration. It looks pretty and I'm sure it will make people reading my writings and put it in very fancy libraries. I see one already being in Gongmen City. I shall call it: "The mighty place" or, "The god's residence"… no, it will just… well… I might just struggle with these descriptions… and titles as well. Hard to find the perfect word."

Viper gave him a gently smile and cheered: "So you want to write a new poem? That's nice!"

Crane turned at her again and said: "It is supposed to be the greatest so far. I can't let this opinion go to waste, you know?"

Viper nodded understandingly and rooted for him: "I understand. A very nice idea from you. I'm sure the people will love your next work. After all I have seen your former writings."

Crane replied the smile and nodded a few times: "You will be the first one ever going to read it, Viper. I promise."

"Oh, thank you, that's nice of you. I look forward for it."

He hemmed and looked around: "Well, first we gonna make the professor happy to go home without having a bad foreboding. So," he marched onward: "Let's follow Yong's example."

Looking after him Viper chuckled when she saw Tigress talking with the professor or rather the professor talking to Tigress, like the often times he did it at this point. And she saw how annoying it got for her.

Yes, he had her attention but Viper saw her eyes being very bored like when she had to listen to one of Po's ideas he failed to explain right from the beginning. But whatsoever it was clear she tried to stay with a conversation politely.

The professor was talking to her very excited:, had his hands speaking with him during the conversation: "…and can we talk about yesterday we saw a picture of the first snake ever been? Must have been the proudest soul; Leader of the snakes that were following. Witnessing an entire culture raised by the dragons. It's very impressive. I wish we would see more of this in the future."

"You mean the story continues somewhere?" Tigress asked and sighed very very slightly.

He nodded and continued: "Somewhere within here it has to. Once we have the full story we can complete the snake's history."

Yong interfered on her way past them: "I don't know, professor. I think the snakes are quite happy with the myth they are."

He turned around and answered politely and calmly: "Nonsense. Understanding them would make them less threatening. More open to the public. A higher part in our community."

"This is not what we came here to do or am I crazy now?" Yong asked in Tigress' place.

"But it still doesn't say it may not be connected to one another. History is important. If we don't know the past, how can we learn from it?"

"Viper," Tigress looked at her and asked: "what do you say about this? You are a snake after all. What do you think about this topic? Are snakes happy with their reputation or do you think knowing a bit more about their origin might be reasonable?"

As Yong marched onward the professor turned to Viper as well and argued: "This is a unique opportunity here. One we cannot put to waste."

Viper took a few moments to think about it. Having both of their attentions, and Cranes one, who decided to stay next to them, on her made her a bit uncomfortable but regardless she answered:"Well, that's a hard question to be sure. Understanding our past is viable but if it doesn't connect with the reason we are here for, finding out why this land should be avoided, we should not try to search for it. After all, there is still a dragon watching over us. It does not want us here and we should not overstay our welcome."

The professor stood calm and answered:

"I don't understand this dragon but I value your opinion. Let's hope these topics are in fact as connected to one another as I hope. Though it wouldn't surprise me."

"Only one way to find it out," Tigress decided while following Yong into the next huge structure.

Two dragon statues were guarding it, one of them carrying a ball. Nothing she haven't seen before. Such architecture was common for places like palaces, maybe different shapes and not that much vegetation but the rough concept reminded her of an entrance to a Chinese palace. Even if the palace looked everything but like a palace.

The structure's architecture follow the same stile like the ones she already saw in here but this time it really was lacking in windows. The only real window was a crack on a wall, likely due to an eruption. Nobody before Shen used gunpowder as a weapon so it may have been a catapult or something.

It still had a bit of his majestic elegance it used to have. It had a very flat wall for the first few meters, followed by formerly graceful arts, put into the stone, half broken dragons if not even more, signs that were not identifiable due to the vegetation which spread across the entire wall.

It truly was a sad view for Viper, seeing such a promising place in ruins.

She wasn't denying it sounded nice being in a place for snakes and dragons. To see how her ancestors used to live, maybe getting some good ideas from this place.

The problem with this kind of structure was, it clearly was meant for dragons and snakes only.

The corridors were large enough for dragons to fit in, the most important buildings had wide and open doors but the private houses and rooms were just put on top of each other and the way to the inside were very tiny and clearly made of snakes only.

The web like bars around the houses were very adorable in their design. It was easy for a snake to climb on them and get from A to B without a problem but other species would have had big problems moving around there if they weren't named Mantis or something.

It was not suitable for other people.

"We are entering the palace now. The residence of the dragons," she stated saying as they were entering the main entry.

"Good eyes, Viper," the professor commented while they now went inside: "We are on the right way. I feel it. If something would be archived anywhere, it would be in this direction. The dargons created the snakes. I expect them to made notes about their behaviour, evolution and society."

Viper turned to the professor and commented disgustedly: "How disgusting! That sounds like they would have been stalking their children,"

How the professor always was able to stay calm and demure in moments like that was something to wonder about: "Would you not make notes about your children's achievements, Viper?" he asked: "You maybe should see it that way. You may should see this society as a big family. Paintings, writings, first shed skins… A lot we could learn from them."

Yong raised her hand to sign them to stop moving and so they did within a second.

They now were in the inside: A huge hall, big enough to fit multiple elephants in. Or… dragons. This must have been the transition from the realm of the snakes to the realm of the dragons.

However a flat path leaded onwards like stairs but instead of stairs there were just some tiny pillars in intervals of half meters on the left as well as on the right side each.

But Yong was already looking up into the dark. There was light but it only covered the exit of this part of this structure. Or maybe there was just a crack but however it did not manage to light up the entire hall. The stairs went up but they also leaded into the dark.

"Pretty dark," Crane stated and nodded slowly.

"We need a light source before we move on," Yong insisted and turned around to the group: "Or otherwise I'm not able to find obstacles if they would occur."

"Like the stairs just giving up when we are on them," Tigress guesses and moved onwards to look at the dark properly.

Crane flew up and suggested: "Oh, I think I have a solution: Watch this:"

He started using his wings to make them glow yellow.

He used Chi which, in fact, made some light but Yong wasn't having it: "No offence, Master, but I prefer a torch over this dim light from your hands."

Crane came back to the ground again and asked: "Dim light? Excuse me, miss, but this dim light in reality is my life light! My energy that flats trough me!"

Yong took a torch the professor gave her as she said loosely: "Then I hope your life light is not as dim as this little glim you showed me, Master." She flamed on the torch and moved towards the stairs. Or whatever this path could have been told. A snake stair maybe.

"Outch," Tigress smiled at Crane and followed Yong towards the way up.

Crane went to Viper and whispered: "Is my Chi really that dim?"

Viper smiled at him and gently answered: "You want my honest opinion? I don't think it's your Chi, it's just Chi in general not that much light giving when you're channelling it. But you know what: I think it was a good idea to not get Po on this journey."

"Why? He would have been pretty helpful,"

"But honestly, we would still stick in the last structure if you understand. It's a long way up and I don't see an elevator near by. And it just getting higher."

Change chuckled now he understood her joke: "Oh yeah, his worst arch-enemy…"

Suddenly Tigress called for Viper: "Viper, come here real quick."

Viper looked at her staying at the start of the "stairs" and wondered while coming closer: "What's the matter?"

Tigress pointed at the stairs and asked: "Can you explain what this is? It's obviously a way up but why has it been designed that way? Can you get an idea?" Viper came to the way Yong was already slowly and carefully moving up. "Well," she took a look at it and tried going up herself. And it worked out. She was able to use the tiny pillars to lean into and pushing herself up towards the next pillar and so slithering upwards the way. Just like the web design they saw earlier it was like made for her.

"It's made for snakes, Tigress. What did you expect?" she asked as she was way faster than anyone else on this thing.

Tigress sighed and made her way up as well by climbing on the pillars: "Why are you just so weird?" she asked rhetorically.

It was a long and painful climb up. At one point Viper even took the lead because she had the best movability but just when she did, Yong pulled her back heavily when an arrow came out of the wall right where her head were.

She was shocked hearing that sound and curled up while Yong took a proper look at it. "Seems like they did not want someone coming here without permission. Luckily dragons are not as good in hiding traps like rats are." She turned back to Viper: "I suggest you stay behind me. Form this point we can assume more traps made for snakes. Prepared or not."

Viper nodded worringly: "Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have went- Ah… no matter."

Tigress made sure Viper was okay while the other went onward. Crane flew next to them but did not fly too far away from them. Probably because he was scared for some kind of trap as well. Or he just wanted to stay next to them to interfere if something should happen. The first checkpoint was the first source of light. A gate leaded outside onto a terrace. A big garden again, probably a place for dragons to meditate.

Yong decided make a short rest here while she and Crane went upwards until they would either have reached the end or the torch would have burned out.

The professor sat down next to the cliff and looked around the area. They really got much behind them and the view went very beautiful.

The land really was bigger than they firstly anticipated.

She saw the building they came from, the big place they slept this night, and the other two buildings they yet did not inspect, surrounded by the walls surrounding this land.

She couldn't help herself but to to look to the one structure with this big tree. It was connected to this one but the path was mostly collapsed and not really reachable as far as she was able to see from here.

If she remembered correctly then Shiren and Mantis were in there right now, exploring these ruins on their own. Firstly she was assuming to see them both back this morning again but other than she thought, Mantis either did not convince him or did not talk to him to come back. Even though Shiren was a trouble maker, she hoped he was okay as well as Mantis. Caring for other people was after all what made her coming here.

She walked around the area while Tigress started to do a bit of training for herself. It has been a long time since they left the Jade-Palace and with that their training hall. A near by growing three was supposed to be her victim this time.

Viper went a small corridor downstairs trough some well-arranged ruins and tiny floors, leading towards another garden area, even with a little stream of water which she gladly immediately used to wash her head and body.

It was relaxing, considering the stress she had the last few days. And speaking of, she did not even finish her bathing, she heard something approaching her. She knew the sound and came out of the water to greet the dragon again.

This time Viper wasn't terrified from her presence though. She stood calm and honourably bowed like she would greed Shifu or Oogway. "Dragon, you have returned."

The dragon, as graceful as last time, landed and looked down to her: "I see you and especially your companions are still preceding. As you might see, you are entering the residence of the dragons now. I wish you to not scratch anything, alright?"

"Yes of course. We knew we are guests in your realm," she answered and looked up to the dragon.

"How is your mission going?" the dragon asked.

Viper looked at her but then took a look aside: "It's eh… got complicated. One- Two of our people got lost somewhere."

"Viper," the dragon started to sigh.

"I know, I should have stopped him but I couldn't!" she complied. "I-I'm sorry but-"

The dragon interrupted her :"Viper. It's okay. Just make sure it won't happen again. They know the danger they are putting themselves on."

"Danger?" she wondered and looked up to the calm presence she was talking to. It was not showing any emotions.

"Of course. This place is everything but stable." she answered. And Viper nodded in understanding.

"Can I ask you something?" Viper started asking before the dragon was about to move out again.

"What is it?" she asked and stopped.

Viper took a few moments to think about her next words properly. "I need… I want to know what happened here. The snakes and dragons once lived here in peace as far as I was able to see. But… something fought here."

She looked up and waited for an answer. The blue dragon as well took her time to think about an answer.

But then she opened her mouth and responded: "I think you deserve an answer, my dear. Indeed, snakes and dragons used to live here in peace. The snakes were children of the dragons. And so they respected them and in return we protected them. We gave them space and a life." she looked down to the big place at the bottom like she was visiting some memories about old time where this used to be a healthy and happy place filled with people.

"I am not sure what exactly happened on that faithful day or what it caused it but before we were able to react the snakes rebelled. They started attacking us."

Viper asked confusedly: "Wait, what? The entire time I thought you fought against a greater enemy." Viper wondered and came next to her to have a look downwards as well.

"My dear, in that case we would not been caught off guard. We have one and just one big entry. No. the snakes backstabbed us. Their parents. Their creators."

"And you really never figured out why?"

The dragon sighed and shook her head: "How could we? They weren't very willing to talk during our tries to communicate and when we finally got the upper hand… they started to fall back and leave this place. So at the end we pushed them back but no side truly won on that day. Everyone had high casualties. It was not… a pretty look. Just nine snakes and their families escaped."

"I am sorry to hear that…" One of those survivors must have been Fuxi, Viper knew from what she heard and experienced. A snake helping and getting backstabbed by the people of China.

"After everything was over, the remaining dragons tried to rebuild this place, starting by getting rid of… everything the war left us here. But we never truly rebuilt the entire thing new. That's why there are places I do not want you to go. They are not meant to be visited by you. And the other dragons left this place by this point. I'm the only one left."

Viper felt with her but didn't dare touching her. Instead she gave her verbal comfort: "I understand. That's why you do not want us here… You know I am not responsible for anything that happened here all these years ago and I did not know my ancestors' motivation but… I hope I can apology for them and making things right. Of course, nothing can replace what's once gone, like trying to fixing a rag. It will never be the same. But maybe-"

The dragon looked at her gently: "Stop right there, Viper. I know you are not guilty or responsible in any way and there is nothing I want you to do but doing what you came for and leave then. And make sure there won't be other people following your examples please. I fully trust you on that."

"Of course. I just feel bad if I'm not doing anything to make things right but I understand I can't fix anything of this old scar. I appreciate your time, thank you for this conversation and go in peace."

Without a word the dragon flew away again in an angle nor the professor or Tigress were able to see her.