Chapter 33: valley of peace
I do not own kingdom hearts or the properties shown in this fanfic. They belong to the respective owners and the original story is based on the works of Darius Almighty. Kingdom hearts and trials of the keyblade is owned by square Enix, Disney, and Tetsuya Nomura. Please support the official release.
Right. Now another new planet on the block! Without no further introduction it's kung fu panda. As a person who likes the franchise and yes it's another world owned by DreamWorks like Shrek! And one more thing we're bringing a kh favorite in the mix and a new character who's related to sora.
With that out of the way, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Back on board the fully repaired Shera, the quest for the Keyblades continued. The ship was in perfect working order now, with no mechanical problems anticipated. With the treasure provided by Jim, they were able to buy their part from that tricky blue alien, Watto.
"Oh! Mucho dinero!" Watto had exclaimed upon receiving his gold. "Finally, some business around here! Now I can fix this dump up a little! Believe it or not, some people find me unsettling and don't want to shop here. I've never heard such nonsense! Now, since you're here, why not buy a nice pair of driving gloves? They're leather!" They literally had to drag Cid out of the shop before he did something rash.
In the Shera's lounge, the others, well...lounged. Jack lay on the couch, moaning in agony and loss. "All that treasure...gone. Forever. Stupid Jack! Stupid, stupid, stupid Jack!"
"Don't worry, uncle Jack!" Sitting beside him was Marlene, smiling cheerfully. "You still have us after all!"
Jack frowned bitterly. "Oh, yes. Forget a life-long dream of being ridiculously wealthy, I've got a ship full of kiddies to call my own! Maybe if I'm incredibly lucky they'll all turn to gold statues!" Marlene bowed her head dejectedly.
Mulan tuned the strings on her newly acquired instrument. On their way to Watto's shop she had spotted it in one of the shops. She was shocked to see a piece of her destroyed world on display at a merchant's shop. A liuqin. Her mother had taught her to play it in the hopes that she would grow up to be a fine lady. Boy, that worked out well. She immediately had to have it, as a reminder of her home and the hope that she would see it again one day.
As she tuned it between her fingers, Beast suddenly roared angrily. "You cheaters!" he growled at Sora and Mushu, who were trembling in fear. They, and Kairi had been playing Go-fish, with Sora using Mushu to peak over Beast's shoulder to see his cards. They didn't take into account Beast's temper when he found out.
"Calm down, Beast," Sora stammered. "It's just a game after all."
"A game that we were kicking butt in!" Mushu shouted. Beast growled and advanced upon them, but stopped when Mulan plucked a string on her liuqin. A slow steady melody came the instrument, Mulan plucking more strings with practiced skill. The foreign sound it produced reached the ears of the Beast and he felt all traces of anger leave him. He sat back down when Mulan was done before an astonished Sora and Mushu.
"Wow," Sora gasped. "Music really does calm the savage beast."
"Yeah," Mushu agreed. "Now play some Zeppelin!"
The large screen suddenly turned on and showed Cid's grinning face. "Good afternoon, heroes! This is your captain speaking. We are flying at an altitude of...really high and we are almost out of cheese puffs. May need to stop by a convenience later. Anyway, we're comin' up on the next world! This little gizmo you gave us really helps." He held the map of Captain Flint, tossing it up and down. "No more blind flying for us! The entire universe is in the palm of my hand..."
"Alright, let's go guys!" Sora shouted.
"Oh, and one more thing," Cid interrupted. "Since you boneheads have a nasty little habit of crashing all my Gummi shuttles, Watto talked me into buying this nifty teleporter!" He pointed off to the side where they saw for the first time an open chamber supporting a large light. "Just step into that thing and you'll be instantaneously beamed to the planet's surface. I got a bargain on it because it's untested!" The Keybladers glowered at him.
"We're gonna end up with our limbs switched around, aren't we?" Sora asked irritably.
"That's usually how these things work. Later!" Cid exclaimed before switching off. Everyone sighed and made for the teleporter in a small amount of haste. Stepping into the chamber, the light above them shot out to envelope them.
The bright light subsided and they found themselves on the world's surface, all of them safe and sound, not a misplaced limb in the bunch. They were in the middle of a large green forest. The rays of the sunlight shone down from the tree tops and the chirping of birds could be heard all around them.
"More trees?" Jack sighed. "Now don't get me wrong, I like shrubs as much as the next guy. But when will we arrive somewhere with water? You know, the wet stuff we rarely see."
"Stop undermining the pretty forest with your whining," Mulan said, looking around. "It doesn't look like there's much here."
"Yeah," Sora agreed. "Maybe this world is uninhabited. There's a first time for everything."
As sonic looked about, he suddenly bristled. "Something's coming." Everyone looked at him questioningly.
"There!" sonic cried, turning into his ball form and hit the attacker. The force in his throw was able to slice through the tree branch where their attacker was hidden, revealing him as he fell to the ground.
"Ow! That hurt!" Their attacker it turned out was a panda, older than Sora or Kairi, rubbing his rump from the fall. His fur was black and white and brown, he had green eyes like sonic. He was wearing patched-up burlap shorts, with shaolin wraps around his ankles.
"I think I broke my butt bone!" he whined.
"It's just a stupid panda," Beast grumbled lowering his guard.
The panda opened his eyes at Beast's comment. "Hey! Who are you calling a panda!? Oh wait I am a panda. And for that matter, who are calling stupid!?"
"No way! They have talking animals here too?" Sora said curiously.
"From a mobian like me I'm surprised I've encountered another talking animal world," Inuyasha muttered.
"HEY!" the panda shouted loudly, gaining their attention. "Are you even listening to me!?"
"Stow it, panda," Jack scolded. "The people are talking. Important secret stuff that a little bamboo eater like you wouldn't understand."
"What?!"
"Why don't you go run back to mommy, panda?" sonic mocked with a sneer.
"Why you..."
"I think he's gonna cry," Beast laughed. He, Jack and sonic burst into harsh laughter.
"Guys..." Sora started, but the three just kept at it.
The panda, it seemed, had enough, and was growling in anger. "I'll show you!"
Po used kung fu-like attacks from his arms and punched and kicked like mad knocking down the kh team one by one.
The panda snickered. "Not so tough now, huh?" he said.
Sora gets up from the display. "What the heck? What just happened?!"
Mulan said getting up. "That panda… he used kung fu abilities!"
They both said. "Kung fu?!"
Jack sparrow said "gesundheit."
Sonic just smirked. "Whatever. The panda may take us down but it's time for round 2!"
"Wait you guys!" Sora pleaded. "There's no reason to fight! We just got off at the wrong foot!"
Kairi pointed out bluntly. "Uh I'm afraid we don't have a choice among any of this."
He raised his arm for the others to attack and the Keybladers readied themselves.
"CHARGE!"
"Po!"
po stopped before he could attack at the call of the young female voice. "Tigeress!" po cried. They both then and they see was another person standing in the clearing. a female tiger, wearing a traditional red Chinese vest with golden vine patterns and black trim, held together with small metal fasteners and a waist wrap. She also wears black silk pants and black sandals with soles designed to resemble paw pads.
"Po! There you are," she sighed with her hands on her hips. "I've been looking all over for you." She then noticed the group of people standing off to the side, mouths hanging agape. "Who are they? Friends of yours?"
"Get back, tigeress!" the panda, po, warned, running to her and standing in front of her protectively. "These guys are enemy kung fu masters! Evil, nasty brutes that want nothing more than to kill us!" Sora raised an eyebrow. Kung fu?
"He got all of that by yelling at us?" Kairi asked.
tigeress, meanwhile, eyed them warily. "Did they threaten you?" she asked po.
"Uh, well, no," po said slowly.
"Did they attack you?"
"Actually I kind of...attacked them."
"Did they do anything wrong to you at all?" tigeress asked, eye twitching.
po tugged on his fur. "No."
"Then How do you know they're enemy kung fu masters!?" tigeress shouted. The Keybladers winced in sympathy.
"They look weird!" po whimpered.
tigeress looked at them all again. "Well, I can't argue with that." The Keybladers all glared at her. "But still, just because someone looks like a freak doesn't mean they're your enemy. You should know that."
"This is just a wild guess, but I think they're talking about you," Jack whispered to Beast. The prince reminded Jack he was still holding his Keyblade and Jack zipped his lips.
"But that's not all!" po shouted, pointing a finger at them. "Not only do they look like freaks, but I saw them appear out of nowhere!" The Keybladers all panicked. He had seen them teleport here! "They all just showed up in this bright light that came from the sky! You know what I think?"
"Nothing," tigeress sighed.
"No! They're aliens! They must have beamed down from their mother ship!" Despite the fact that every word was true, as the boy spouted it to the girl the Keybladers had trouble believing it themselves. tigeress apparently didn't believe it either.
"What are you two doing?" Everyone turned at the new voice. Four members appear out of nowhere as the female tiger did.
The first one was a green viper snake with two pink lotus flowers near her blue eyes, with Chinese writing on her body.
Another was a blue and white crane who spoke up first, wearing a popular conical Asian hat known as a rice hat, loose blue pants with a purple sash wrapped around his waist in the style of a Shaolin wrap, rings around his ankles and toes: Five ankle rings on each of his legs, and a single toe ring on each of his toes.
Another one was a green mantis, who's action figure seemed to be the same size as an actual one.
And finally, the last one was a monkey wearing studded leather wristbands, loose brown sweatpants with the waist and ankles wrapped in the style of a Shaolin leg wrap, and his waist sash was colored gold.
"Are you causing another incident, po?" the viper spoke up.
"What? No!" po declared. "And Besides, these guys really are aliens! And they really did appear out of nowhere!"
"Do they even know we can hear them more?" Beast said, wondering aloud.
"Give us a break, loser." Said the mantis annoyed.
"But I keep telling you these guys are aliens! Real live aliens! I saw them beam down with my own two eyes!" po exclaimed.
The monkey apparently, looked to the Keybladers momentarily before shrugging. "po, these are nothing more than simple travelers. Circus folk by the looks of it." The Keybladers glared at him too.
"Nice work, po," the mantis said sarcastically.
"But I-"
"Leave the nice circus folk alone, po," tigeress said, turning her back. "Now let's get back to the valley of peace." The Keybladers all picked up that last part, looking at each other for confirmation.
"Uh...valley of peace?" Sora asked before they could walk away.
The crane turned his head to them. "Oh, yes. The valley of peace. It's one of the large peaceful villages where we're from." The Keybladers shared more glances.
"Mind if you show us where it is?" Kairi asked.
tigeress glared at them all. "Why?"
"Well, tiger lass," Jack said stepping up. "Being the humble travelers that we are, we'd need a place to humbly travel to, savvy?" tigeress glared coldly at the pirate.
"Please? We just need a place to stay," Sora pleaded.
The crane stared at them for awhile, his thoughts unknown by any. He seemed reluctant for some reason. "I don't see why not," he finally answered. "Your just entertainers after all. Come on. It's this way." He turned around again and set out into the forest, his students coming behind. The four followed obediently, tigeress glared at them and followed and po made a gesture that he would be watching them.
With the furious five and the panda leading the way, the Keybladers were once again on their path to adventure. They trudged through the large forest, conspiring out of earshot of the others.
"Kung fu masters?" Sora said suddenly. "That's a new one."
"They had kung fu masters in the Imperial army," Mulan recalled. "They specialized in hand-to-hand combat, stealth, and infiltration. They were only used for special assignments from the Emperor and were very good at what they did." She looked at the back of po who was strolling down their path with his hands behind his head.
"We should be careful," Beast grumbled. "That panda almost found us out. We don't know what else these guys are capable of, or if their even if they have good intentions."
Sora wisely nodded and approaches the panda.
"Hey, do you work for these five?" he asked the fat panda.
The panda shook his head and said. "No I'm a student in training. I work for the furious five. Masters Tigress, Viper, Crane, Mantis, and Monkey. Masters of kung fu." explained Po, almost ominously.
"Really?! Cool!" exclaimed Sora.
"I know! All trained under by Master Shifu, who was trained under a wise old turtle named Grand Master Oogway. they reside, in the Jade Palace." explained Po.
"he's mostly just to show off," the crane explained, nonchalantly. They approached the large gate, raising some eyebrows among the guards until it was apparent that the Keybladers were with the furious five. "Welcome," the crane said as they walked through. "To the valley of peace."
they arrived at a chinese-like setting which makes the land of dragons to be put out of its misery. They see a bunch of geeses, bunnies, pigs and any kind of animal that makes the people of mobius look shameless.
"whoa" said sora who gaze in amazement.
"This place…it reminds me of home." Said Mulan surprised.
"Me too. It reminds me of home also." Said sonic impressed.
"Wow," Sora gasped.
"Yup," po said proudly.
"The valley of peace," the tigeress sighed proudly. "Every time I walk through those gates I'm still amazed by it. I love my home."
"Well, let's not stand around flapping our gums," the crane quipped.
Walking with their guides, the Keybladers were greeted by the stares of many people, villager and animal alike. And why shouldn't they be curious? They were strange looking strangers. Though Sora thought that some of them looked strange, too. He could pick out a few.
"This place is huge!" Kairi exclaimed. "And crowded! And ...and fabulous!"
"The greatest village around!" po shouted happily.
sonic glared at the villagers watching them. "Why don't they take a picture? It'll last longer." No sooner had he said it, when the flash of a camera went off in the crowd.
Sora turned to their guides. "Who's in charge of this village? We need to speak to someone who runs things."
"Oh you want to talk to master shifu right?" said po.
"Then take us to him." Said sora.
KHKHKHKH
"I'm master shifu." Said the small master. He was a red panda, in a reddish-burgundy robe with a brown-colored sash, the robe having golden wave designs on the silver cuffs, as well as oval patterns on the back of the sleeves, s black pants, closed-toed sandals, traditional Shaolin leg wraps around his ankles and lower legs, and a ring-like item that holds together his small goatee
After asking for the leader, tigeress had dismissed her team to help the Keybladers. tigeress stood at his side and took in all that was said.
he continued. "I am the leader and trainer of the furious five. On behalf of us all, I would like to welcome you to the valley of peace."
"Thank you...uh, sir." Sora stammered, managing a grin. the other Keybladers looked away embarrassed.
"Think nothing of it," he said smiling. While his voice was kind, it also had an air of power and authority that suggested a nation leader. "The gates of the valley of peace are always open to visitors. No matter how...strange they may be."
"It's the fur, isn't it?" Beast said, miserably.
"Why, yes. Yes it is." Beast groaned and hung his head. "Anyway, tigeress tells me you wish to talk to me about something. What's so urgent that you had to disturb a grand kung fu master in the middle of very important work?"
Sora scratched his forehead. "Well, a lot of things actually. This may sound strange, but have you seen anyone in town carrying a sword that might look like a key?" tigeress and shifu both raised eyebrows.
"Or some black shadowy-like monsters with yellow eyes?" Kairi asked.
"Or red eyes," Mulan put in.
"Or a giant fat cat and big whale?" Beast grumbled.
Tigeress and shifu stared at them like they had grown an extra nose before they exchanged looks and tigeress swirled a finger by the side of her head. shifu cleared his throat. "Well, those things are rather...explicit to say the least. I think someone would have noticed those. I'm sorry but I can't help you." The Keybladers sighed in unison.
"Alright," Sora said. "Thanks anyway. We won't take up any more of your time. I guess we'll just be going now."
"Hold on a minute," tigeress suddenly said. "There's no reason for you to leave right away. Stay in the village for a while, take in the sights. You're welcome to stay for as long as you wish. It's the least we could do after what po did." shifu looked at tigeress questioningly and tigeress gave him a 'I'll tell you later' kind of look.
Sora thought it over for a minute. This village was pretty big. Maybe if they looked around a bit they may find a clue to the next Keyblader. At the very least they see some cool ninja stuff!
"Sure! Why not?" Sora excitedly. "What do you say, guys?"
"I would like to taste the food around here," sonic said, licking his lips.
"Sounds like a plan," Kairi answered.
"Then, it's settled," shifu concluded. "You can all stay as long as you wish. Just try not to cause any trouble. Then again, we have po to do that." The Keybladers nodded and set out for the door.
The only one's left in the office were then shifu and tigeress, both silent as statues. "Well?" tigeress asked suddenly.
"I'm not sure." Said shifu turning on a serious face. "The fact that they were all radiating with power, or the fact that boy acts a bit like po only the opposite."
"Those people aren't normal," she said seriously. "Well, in more ways than one. It's hard to explain."
"And those weren't exactly normal things they were looking for, either." he crossed his arms.
"But what about po?" asked the female tigeress. "I'm sure master oogway made a mistake to make him be the dragon warrior-"
"Exceptionally I agree. But I can't answer a single question to master oogway's actions. Let the panda do as he wishes. He's not ready to live up to the expectations of becoming a dragon warrior." Agreed the master. "Keep an eye on them. They may be spies for someone like tai lung." tigeress nodded and exits leaving the master to have a herbal tea.
"Hello!" Jack exclaimed.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" shifu screamed falling back. Jack caught the teapot in the air where he had accidently catapulted it. "Where the heck did you come from!?" he shouted angrily, picking himself back up. Not even his awesome kung fu senses had detected him!
"We can get into the details of that later," Jack slurred. "Is this herbal tea?"
"Yes but don't touch that! That's my last brand!" shifu snarled.
"Don't cry over spilt milk. Besides, herbal tea? Let me tell you something about herbal tea. Tastes like tar and does nothing for my razor-sharp mind! so What I'm saying is, ditch the kiddy drink, mate..." Jack thrust his ever trusty rum bottle in his face. "...and play with the pirates."
Shifu raised an eyebrow, staring at the strange brown liquid in the bottle before him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he reached out and grabbed the bottle.
KHKHKHKH
"Jack's gone again," sonic informed the group as they walked away from the mountain and down the bustling streets of valley of peace. The staring eyes of the villagers had eased somewhat but there were still some curious onlookers.
"Should we look for him?" Mulan asked.
"How much trouble can he get into in a village?" Kairi said. The Keybladers mulled it over for a bit before coming to the conclusion that Jack could get into trouble wherever he went.
"Another bowl of ramen please!" the group stopped when they heard the voice of the first person they met here. Following the source they came to what looked like a restaurant A small booth with stools and counter, behind which was a kitchen. Sitting on two of the furious five of the stools were po, and tigeress, bowls of cooked noodles set before them.
"Po, honey that's your third bowl!" said a goose in a red and gold peasant attire with what looked like a noodle hat on his head scolded. tigeress ate her food slowly, unlike po who was gobbling the stuff down. "Why can't you be more like the customers?"
"Hey, guys!" Kairi called to them. po and tigeress turned.
"Hey, aliens!" po shouted back, oblivious to the glare tigeress sent him. She still didn't believe they had appeared from nowhere like po claimed. All the better. "How was your meeting with the old master?" He slurped more noodles into his lips.
Sora shrugged. "He seemed nice. Not really what I expected in a grand kung fu master."
"Yeah, he's nuts alright," po snickered. tigeress sighed.
"Was she able to help you?" tigeress asked.
"No," Kairi sighed. "But she did say we could stay here a while. Maybe if we look around, something may turn up. Right guys?" When she turned around, she found that their traveling companions Beast, Mulan and sonic were gone.
"Say po how come you're with the furious five?" asked sora.
"Well hate to answer that it was by mistake." Answered po sheepishly.
"Mistake?" asked Kairi.
"You see I was picked by master oogway to become the dragon warrior." Said po and tigeress hide a smirk.
"Dragon warrior?" asked sora repeatedly.
"Hence the title." Explained po. "The dragon warrior is a legendary prodigy who would know the secrets behind the dragon scroll. By reading it, it would grant limitless power after achieving the highest level of kung fu."
"Wow" amazed sora.
KHKHKHKH
Elsewhere a snow leopard human looking at the outskirts of the valley of peace with a certain fat cat and walking whale.
"so, wanna get busy?," the whale grumbled.
"Now what? We're busy henchmen ya know. We got a schedule to keep!" the cat said irritably.
"All in good time," tai lung chided. "The time to invade the valley of peace has began."
KHKHKHKH
"Masters of the keyblade order, heartless and allies of maleficent and xehanort, I serve notice to you all. Too long I have stayed my hand. No more. Today all of you leave me no choice. No more. No more."
A harsher war-torn and tired looking old man strolls around the dunes of an uncertain desert of a backwater world carrying a sack to somewhere else.
That old man's name was sora.
Or he used to be but he doesn't want to be called that anymore.
Or being a keyblade master or being the keyblade's chosen one.
The desert was hot beneath the worn-out boots and a tiny island shimmered on the horizon.
This world used to be called destiny islands. Or what's left of it.
Only the play island remain intact after the destruction of it.
It wasn't destroyed by the heartless or anything.
It was destroyed by the keyblade war. Or someone visit it and say by the aftermath of the second keyblade war.
And sora has to do something about that.
After all it's their fault he couldn't do nothing for the aftermath.
It's their fault that xehanort destroyed his life and grew up here.
He shouldn't have left. And it was time to end it all.
He goes to the secret place right where he left it. The drawings and the door was still there.
That stupid door was the reason behind all their troubles.
He muttered "it's still there… you're the reason behind all our troubles. No more. I fear no evil. Time to bring it out."
He puts down the sack and takes out a black box. The black box was stolen off from the forces of darkness. He takes out his keyblade and his hand begins to shake violently of summoning it.
"it's this stupid weapon…we've been cursed because of it. These dark and tragic images never leave our minds." He angrily whispered.
"I was wondering I would find you here." Said a familiar voice.
The old sora turns to a youthful face. A former member belonging to the organization that he and his friends so utterly despised. It was axel. Former organization 13's no. 8.
"Oh it's you." said the former keyblade master. "If the rest of you are still after me or my nobody or perhaps allow me to become a part of your so-called organization the least you can do is just get it over with."
"I'm not here to kill you apart from it." said axel. "Something far worse has happened to you. I sensed it. But we both know you don't need to do this…sora."
"Sora doesn't exist anymore." He said in a hoarse voice. "You can call me Roxas or Ventus but those two mean nothing to me. You don't need sora anymore. No one is this world or universe doesn't need a sora. The sora you came here for only exists in your imagination. I've been fighting in this endless war for a very long time. I've lost the right to be called a keyblade master."
"And this is what you come up with man?" exclaimed axel not taking likely of what he's been reduced to. "I know you're not that sweet kid who fought me before but…" he sighs. "Your past self's gonna know what's been going on right?"
"Yes." He replied. "If I know me better he can't help himself. He'll come running. He's gonna find out what's being going on. All those dreams don't belong to him. The dreams of Anakin Skywalker."
"This story's been a trap since he bumped into ellone? When he returned to radiant garden that he got a glimpse of the empire? When he got a message of the king right?" said axel.
"You must contact the doctor." He said desperately. "he'll know what to do. This story's been unfinished for too long for 10 years. the trial of the keyblade must come to an end."
He sighs. There was no point of trying to talk to him out of this. He made up his mind when he reported this to master yen sid. They're going to find out one way or another. Sora's soul must be saved from any of this or destroy him.
Axel couldn't help but to mutter angrily "why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?"
And that concludes another chapter. Be sure to write nice reviews, adapt the original story (Darius Almighty's work) on DeviantArt, turn it into a webcomic or post the story on TV tropes or follow and favorite it. And remember may your heart be your guiding key!