-I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures.-
Chapter 3: The Ox's Strength
With the Zodiac, they were currently climbing up the stairs of a Mayan pyramid.
"Ah. So good to get a trip to my homeland," Mickey gave a relaxing sigh.
"I mussst sssay, Mickey. I find your home country quite pleasssing," Neha hissed, appreciating the heat of Mexico.
"Glad you guys are enjoying it," Jamyang groaned.
"Poor chap," Royal gave the yak a smile of pity. "It can't be easy for someone like you in this heat."
"Sorry, Jamyang," Scruffy said. "Just hang in there, buddy. Still, hard to believe. A Chinese statue of an ox in the tip of Mexico? Chan wasn't kidding about the whole 'four-corners-of-the-globe' thing."
"Aye. This ancient evil was thorough, I'll give it that much," Bob stated.
"No kidding. Mickey, we getting close?" Scruffy asked.
The rat pulled out an old parchment that showed the insides of the pyramid.
"It's just a straight trip to the bottom, where we will find the Ox Totem."
As the Zodiac made their way inside, down at the base of the pyramid hidden from sight, Finn was spying on them through some binoculars.
"They're in the pyramid," he said to all the others gathered. "Let's move."
"Uh, don't pyramids have mummies inside them, sir?" one of the grunts asked.
"Only in Egypt."
"Why don't we just let these freaks find the Totem? Just take it from them when they climb out?"
"Leston, new guy, we don't know what power the Ox of the Zodiac has. That yak might come busting out of there 50-ft tall with laser eyes." That got a look of panic from the grunt.
"I don't wanna fight a giant cow with laser eyes! Everyone after them! Now, now, now!"
With the Zodiac:
The Zodiac had lit some torches as the way down got darker. They eventually reached the room that was their destination. A giant stone ox head showing it.
"Guess this is the place," Lucky said.
"The Totem should be in that stone head," Mickey said, "but it will take two people to open it."
"I will lend you my assistance."
"Gracias, DaLong."
The two of them each got on one side of the stone ox head.
"On tres, we each shove a hand into a nostril of the ox," Mickey explained.
"Well, that's rather…unsanitary," Royal grimaced while Mordecai, Aryan, and Haiku chuckled at this.
"Uno, dos, tres."
When the two shoved in on three, the mouth of the ox head opened. Aryan went up to retrieve it, only to pause upon looking in.
"Uh, Mickey? You said it was supposed to be in this thing, betul?"
"Sí."
"Well, I'm not seeing it."
This got a reaction out of the others and Mickey went up to see that the rooster was right. Inside the stone ox's mouth was an empty square slot where the Totem should have been.
"Qué? Where is it?"
"Thanks for all the hard work, Zodiac," came Finn's voice. The Zodiac turned around to see the Enforcers and all their goons. "Now if you'd be so kind as to step aside."
"By all means," Scruffy said as he and the others made way for the Dark Hand.
Said goons were confused as they did. When they walked up, Finn looked inside to see it empty.
"Hey, where is it?" he asked.
"Wish we knew," Mordecai answered.
"Liar."
A pair of strong hands grabbed Mordecai from behind and shoved him against the wall.
"Mordy!" the Zodiac gasped as they saw Tohru pin their pig. Jamyang found that he himself was closest to them but found it hard to move in and do anything.
"Oh great. You again," groaned said pig.
"Where is the Totem?" asked the sumo.
"It's not here," Lucky said. "Someone else must have reached the goal to it first."
"I do not believe you."
The sumo brought his fist back, ready to punch the pig. Jamyang wanted to move but could not for some reason. Before Tohru could go through with it though, they all heard a moaning sound coming from the dark. Everyone there turned to see the floating mummified remains of a Mayan ruler coming from the darkness.
"MUMMY!" cried the new guy. Even the Zodiac did not like the looks of this.
-/-
"MUMMY! RUN!" all the Dark Hand thugs except for Tohru made a break for the exit. Said sumo took a quick look at his hostage, only to realize that the pig was gone, and Finn was there instead. And he looked to be in fear of getting a hard hit to the face.
Mordecai was now behind Tohru and looking at the mummy with the rest of the Zodiac. They were freaking out a bit until they got a better look. Someone had tied long sticks to the mummy's arms and was working them like a puppet from behind.
"Jade?" Neha asked.
"Qué pasa, guys?" the girl whispered.
Realizing the trick, Tohru dropped Finn and used a hand chop to destroy the mummy.
"We've got no reason to be here," Scruffy called. "Time to haul tail!"
Neha quickly grabbed hold of Jade and they all made a run for it with Tohru going after them, smashing his way through the wall.
Back outside the pyramid, the Dark Hand thugs that retreated made out and were now catching their breaths when Tohru busted out through a wall. He saw the Zodiac and Jade retreating into the jungle.
"After them!"
The Dark Hand thugs got onto some motorcycles they had stashed and quickly gave chase.
"Why are you here, navayuvatee?" Neha asked Jade as they ran. "You should be at the hotel doing your homework!"
"Lucky for Mordecai I breezed through. Tohru was gonna bust him like a big pink piñata."
"Thanks for the save there, kid," Mordecai said. "But maybe you shouldn't finish early from now on. Neha would through one heck of a hissy fit if you did."
"And jussst what do you mean by that?" Neha asked, sounding irritated.
"Nothing important," the pig responded quickly.
As they were running, they ended up encountering a large group of tourists at a small canyon, getting ready for hang-gliding. Upon seeing the Zodiac though, they started screaming and ran away.
"Aw, come on. Really?" Haiku complained at the reaction.
"No time for whining. Everyone, grab a hang-glider!" Scruffy called out.
"Does anyone here even know how ta hang-glide?" Bob spoke up.
"Better than staying here."
Choosing not to argue, Jade jumped up onto Neha's back as each of them grabbed hold of a glider and jumped off the canyon ledge into the air, with the exception of DaLong of course as he could fly. Only just now seeing the canyon before them, the hoard of Dark Hand thugs ended up driving right off the ledge, plummeting down into the river that was fortunately there for them.
"Huh. Not bad for our first times," Sasha said as they glided off.
With the Enforcers, they could only watch from the river as the Zodiac went out of sight.
"Thin-Think there're sharks?" the new guy asked.
In a Mexican town a little way off:
The Zodiac had gotten themselves ponchos, sombreros, and hoods to conceal themselves while walking around town. Meanwhile, Jade was geeking out about the recent adventure.
"The ancient pyramids. The hang-gliders. The churros. Mexico is mondo Coolio, Mickey."
"Gracias, Jade. But this doesn't change the problem we have at hand right now."
"The rat's right," Lucky said. "The Ox Totem could be a million miles away for all we know."
"Alright, everyone. Let's split up and ask around. See what the locals know," Scruffy said.
The sound of music soon came up and grabbed Jade's attention.
"Ooh. Mariachis," she said.
"Alright but don't go anywhere," the dog stated.
"Uh huh," Jade responded in a way the clearly showed she was not listening, causing Scruffy to sigh before turning to the snake and horse.
"Neha, Royal, do you two think you could stay here on Jade watch?"
"It'sss what I've come to do," Neha responded.
"No worries, Scruffy. You can leave her to us," Royal added, also wanting to enjoy a piece of Mexican culture.
"Thanks, you two. Everyone else, teams of two."
Each Zodiac took a partner and spread out through the town to search for any information they could get on the Ox Totem. In one such pair, Sasha wanted to talk to Jamyang.
"Hey, big guy. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"I'm alright. Why?"
"Cause it seemed like you were having trouble back in that pyramid when Mordecai was in trouble." Jamyang flinched at the mention of that. "Yeah, I figured. So, what's up?"
"…I don't know. I just…couldn't bring myself to move for some reason."
Sasha raised an eyebrow at this but decided not to press any further. "If you say so. But just remember you can talk to any of us about it when you can, alright?"
Jamyang smiled at this. "I know. Thanks, Sasha."
Back with Jade and the two female Zodiacs, they were applauding the mariachis for their performance when a boy around Jade's age walked up to them. The boy had brown hair and eyes and wore a green sweater, yellow pants, and brown sandals.
"Hola. I am Paco," he said. "What might three charming señoritas such as yourselves be doing this evening?"
"Ew. Are you asking me on a date?" Jade grimaced, while Neha and Royal chuckled at this.
"Oh no, no, no. I am gathering an audience for El Toro Fuerte." Poco went to hand the girls a poster, which Jade took.
"El Who-o What-te?" Jade asked.
"El Toro Fuerte. Mexico's mightiest wrestler."
The three of them looked at the poster which showed the man in question. El Toro Fuerte was a tall man. Although he was muscular in his arms and legs, he had a very stocky build. His wrestling outfit consisted of a black tank top, yellow leggings, black boots, red arm bands, and a red mask with yellow designs and a yellow ox head on his forehead. It could also be seen that he sported a small chin beard.
"He has never lost a match. I want to grow up to be just like him."
"Wrestling? Tsk Everyone knows that's all fake," Jade said.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Jade," Royal said. "American wrestling is one thing, but the wrestling of the lucha libre are another matter."
"She speaks the truth," Poco said. "El Toro Fuerte is no fake. El Toro Fuerte's undefeatable. Because El Toro Fuerte is the best."
"Oh really?" Jade asked before gesturing to the two Zodiacs. "See these two here? There's twelve of them, and just one of them is the best in the world."
"Uh, Jade," Neha tried to speak.
"These two?" Poco asked.
"We just so happen to have an ox of our own. And our guy can smack your boy down easily."
"Cannot." "Can to." "Cannot." "Can to." "Cannot." "Can to."
"Then these two best oxen should meat, don't you think? I will see you and your ox tonight, señorita…"
"Jade."
"Adiós, Jade." Poco went on his way with that, handing out more posters.
"Jade, what wasss that?" Neha asked.
"Come on, you guys. We have to go to the wresting match. How else can we prove Jamyang's better?"
"Jade, we don't fight for entertainment," said Royal. "We do it when we don't have a choice."
"Makes sense. When Jamyang gets in the ring and this El Toro guy starts whaling on him, he'll have no other choice."
"If I were you Jade, I wouldn't expect Jamyang of all people to get into a wressstling ring any time sssoon," Neha pointed out.
"You guys! You all have nothing better to do tonight."
"Ha. I do believe searching for the Ox Totem is rather important," Royal replied.
"But Lucky said so himself. It could be a million miles away."
After taking another look at the poster herself, Neha noticed in the bottom right corner a rusty red statue of an ox on a stand. Rather similar to the Dog Totem.
"Or sssomewhere right here in thisss town."
Later that night, at the lucha libre ring:
After reporting to each other, the Zodiac were at the front of the line to buy tickets to get in. Meanwhile, in the shadows, the Dark Hand Enforcers had their own Mexican outfits on as they spied on them.
"Hm. Guess the rabbit's a fan for all sports," Finn stated.
"What sport?" Ratso asked. "Wrestling's fake. Everybody knows that."
"You came all the way here and you're not gonna get in the ring?!" Jade asked, whining.
"But…I don't wanna fight," Jamyang said simply.
"Jamyang!"
"If you ask me, there's no need to even challenge," Mordecai boasted. "Our Jamyang could squish that human."
"Let's not go makin' a mon then, now," Bob spoke up.
"That's right. We're here for the Totem," Scruffy reminded everyone.
"No reason we can't enjoy ourselves, though," Lucky spoke, looking forward to this.
"Lucky," Sasha groaned.
"What? Who doesn't love a good match?"
"Buenas noches, Jade," came a new voice.
"Poco," Jade replied.
"I see you have brought a challenger for El Toro Fuerte."
"No. Just another spectator," Jamyang answered.
"Poco, listen. Can you tell us what this is?" Scruffy asked as he pointed to the Ox Totem on the poster.
"Of course. It is the ox statue of El Toro Fuerte's family. For they are strong like the ox! I would fear him to if I were you." Jade only gave an exhausted sigh at this. Poco then grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. "Come Jade! We have seats right in front!"
"Strong like the ox, huh?" Jamyang said aloud.
"Everyone, go with the kids. Try to enjoy the show," Scruffy told them. "Jamyang, Royal, come with me. Let's pay the champ a visit."
While everyone in the audience took their seats, the three Zodiacs snuck off to backstage. They walked up to a door that had a blue star on it and read "El Toro".
"Guess this is it," Scruffy said as Royal walked up and knocked on the door.
"Uh, Señor Fuerte?" she asked.
"Sí?"
"I'm from the museum. We understand your family has in its possession an old Ox Totem, yes?"
"This again? I already told you people. It's not for sale."
"It's not a matter of whether you're willing to sell it or not, Señor. It's…well, I think we need to have a-" she didn't get to finish when a yelp from Jamyang stopped her, gaining her and Scruffy's attention. They turned to see Tohru had Jamyang in a neck hold.
"Hello, Zodiac. The Totem?"
-/-
Scruffy and Royal were standing there, staring at their friend being held hostage until they finally moved.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid we'll have to finish this conversation another time," Royal quickly said to El Toro.
As she did, Scruffy moved in and pulled down Tohru's pants, showing his blue underwear with yellow smiling faces on them. Embarrassed by this, Tohru let Jamyang go to pull his pants back on. The Zodiac used this chance to retreat, but not before Royal gave Tohru a good kick to the rear, sending him to the ground. They quickly ran back to where the rest of the audience was and hid themselves in the crowd. The three of them soon found the rest of the Zodiac and took their seats next to them.
"So, I take it things didn't go well?" Haiku asked them.
"The sudden Tohru appearance kind of made things difficult," Scruffy answered. They couldn't talk any more than that when the referee and fighters entered the ring.
"Amigos! Welcome to Lucha Libre!" the referee called out into the microphone. "Tonight, two titans will clash here in this very ring! Fuego Del Diablo!" He gestured towards his left to a large, tanned man in a red fire-themed mask. "And the undefeated champion, El Toro Fuerte!" He gestured to his right to the masked man himself, now wearing a red cape and a golden championship belt. When he finished posing for the audience, he removed his cape before clapping his chest and then his face. Getting himself ready for the fight. "Tonight, one shall drink deep from the cup of victory, and the loser shall be unmasked!"
"That should be Jamyang up there…" Jade grumbled.
"But I don't wanna fight," Jamyang responded.
"But Jamyang…"
"Jade, bachcha, we've been over thisss," Neha spoke up. "You can't force sssomeone to fight if they have no desssire to."
With the ring of the bell, they turned back towards the ring as the fight started. The two fighters charged forward and slammed into each other upon meeting in the center. The two seemed evenly matched at first, until El Toro managed to pick up Fuego. He lifted the man over his head and threw him into corner post of the ring. The crowd cheered at this and even the Zodiac were impressed by this.
"Wow. He's good," Aryan commented.
Fuego shook himself awake before getting back up. He climbed to the top rope and jumped into the air, planning to deliver a flying body slam. Unfortunately for him, El Toro was able to catch him and, moving with the momentum, delivered a body slam of his own to the man, right into the floor.
"Oh! Did you guys see that?!" Lucky asked the others, getting caught up in the excitement with the rest of the crowd. During this, Tohru and the rest of the Enforcers had arrived.
Fuego had started to come around again, only to see that El Toro had backed up to the edge of the ring. He used himself to stretch back the ropes, using them to launch himself forward before jumping and landing a full body slam right on top his still downed opponent.
"Ooh. He's gonna feal that one in the morning," Mordecai winced.
The expression on Fuego's face showed that he was not getting up from that one. To make sure, El Toro put the man's leg in a hold while the referee started slamming the ground.
"Uno! Dos! Tres!" That was it. The crowd erupted into cheers as the referee held up El Toro's arm in the air. "The winner!" he proclaimed.
"Whoa! That's what I'm talking about!" Lucky cheered with the rest of the crowd.
"Sí. But now comes the painful part," Mickey mentioned, causing the others to look at him in confusion.
"He is right," Poco said. "Brace yourself, Jade. This is the part where Fuego must lose his mask, and regrettably, his dignity." The others watched as El Toro sat Fuego up and ripped off the man's mask, revealing his face for all to see.
"Wow. That was…Ouch," Sasha said, getting nods from the others. Even Poco.
Meanwhile, with the Enforcers.
"Uh, nice match but…shouldn't we be looking for the Zodiac?" Finn asked.
"No. They do not have the Totem," Tohru said, having seen El Toro's poster earlier, piecing things together.
Later that night:
After everyone had left, El Toro had changed into a black suit yet still had his mask on, meeting Poco out back.
"Another autograph, Poco?" he chuckled.
"One for your every victory, Señor Fuerte. Gracias."
The moment was ended though when the sound of footsteps came in. The two turned to see the Enforcers.
"El Toro, meet Tohru," Finn said, introducing the sumo. "Tohru, Toro. Toro, Tohru. Tohru-" Finn stopped talking when Tohru placed his large hand on his face and pushed the smaller man behind him.
"The Totem," he demanded. Referring to the metal box El Toro had next to him resting at his feet.
"It's not for sale."
"I did not intend to purchase it."
As he reached down to try to take the case by force, it was too late to notice something flying over El Toro from behind and kicked Tohru right in the face. The force of the surprise kick sent Tohru flying, landing on his back, and lying motionless in the street with a horseshoe print on his face. The Enforcers looked back to see Royal now standing there between them and El Toro, still wearing her poncho and hood.
"That's it. New guy quits," said the grunt as he ran away. The other three looked at the cloaked horse in fear before running away as well.
"Impressive," El Toro commented.
"Thank you."
"The Dark Hand will send more though," Scruffy said as the others came up. "We should probably take this conversation somewhere else."
"More?! This is too exciting!" Poco said.
"This isn't a game kid," Sasha brought up.
"And there is nothing more to discuss," El Toro added, putting his guard up as he reached down and grabbed ahold of the case. "The totem is not for sale."
"Hold on," Scruffy said, getting everyone's attention. Surprising the others, he took off his sombrero to reveal his canine face, surprising El Toro and Poco at the reveal. The others soon followed the example and removed their hats and hoods as well.
"Who…What…?" the wrestler tried to say as he looked in disbelief.
"El Toro, we need to talk," Scruffy said.
Later, they all found themselves in the town square at the fountain. There, Scruffy and El Toro sat as he explained everything to the man.
"That is…quite the story," the wrestler said.
"Sí. Could hardly believe it myself when it happened," Mickey said.
"And yet, here we are," Mordecai added.
"El Toro. Do you underssstand now why we requessst the Totem?" Neha asked.
El Toro looked down at the case at his side. He brought it up and opened it to reveal the Ox Totem.
"My Grand Uncle found this during one of his excavations. I had always thought it a sign of my family's strength. It is…rather disheartening to know that it comes from such evil origins."
"I am truly sorry that you had to learn of this," DaLong said.
"No. Don't be. Better to become wiser than remain a foul."
As they were talking, Jade soon noticed fast moving shadows starting to appear around them.
"So, we can take the Totem, hai?" Haiku asked. "Cause, you know, you're gonna be in danger as long as you have that thing."
"Oh, guys," Jade spoke up. "They're here."
The Zodiac and El Toro looked around and saw they were surrounded by familiar dark attackers.
"See? What I just say?"
"Wrestlers?" Poco asked.
"Shadowkhan," Jade corrected.
"El Toro, the Totem. Neha, the kids," Scruffy said. The snake and wrestler nodded and got ready to move.
Some of the Shadowkhan pulled out weapons this time around. Everyone got into fighting stances in response to this. Even El Toro, who took off his suit coat.
The fighting started as the inhuman ninjas leapt forward. Once it did, Neha grabbed the kids and slithered away to where it was safe. When she felt it so, she placed them down.
"Ssstay here," was all she said before turning back to join the fighting, leaving two disappointed kids.
One of the ninjas swung wooden sticks at Scruffy, who managed to dodge them and toss the ninja to the ground. Another jumped at him from behind, but had their attack interrupted by Sasha, who kicked the ninja away. El Toro only had one hand available since the other was holding on to the Totem, but that was enough as he lifted one khan up and threw it into a fruit stand. A glimpse to his left allowed him to see Jamyang charge forward and use his horns to plow down even more ninja, following it up with a clothesline to another. The wrestler was impressed and happy to see such strength from the Zodiac's ox.
The rest of the Zodiac was having similar ease in dealing with the enemy. Bob lunged forward and headbutted one right to the face, following with a punch into another. Lucky jumped up high in the air and came down stomping on the heads of two more. Close by, DaLong used his tail to deflect one's sword swing. He then kicked a second away before catching a second sword swing, kicking the caught ninja in the stomach to flip it.
"Told ya these guys rock," Jade said to Poco as they watched the show.
"Indeed. But El Toro is better."
"Is not." "Is to." "Is not." "Is to." "Is not." "Is to."
El Toro was able to keep the Shadowkhan at bay, but with so many of them coming at him and one hand occupied, it was getting difficult. Evident by his shirt getting torn up and the loss of his tie. Fortunately, Jamyang chose to come to his aid and help keep them off him. As they were tossing ninjas away, they eventually just started doing it on muscle reflex. So, it was little wonder that when Scruffy got too close to them, El Toro accidently tossed him away towards a wall, hitting his head and falling to the ground unconscious.
"Scruffy!" Sasha cried with concern.
"Sorry," El Toro said, while off to the sidelines Jade winced while Poco laughed in childish triumph.
That's when things went bad. One of the Shadowkhan used a chain to lasso the Ox Totem and yank it out of El Toro's hand.
"The Totem!" Jamyang cried.
"El Toro Fuerte will never allow the power of the Ox to be used for evil!" The wrestler charged forward to take the Totem back, only to be tripped by a bolo to his legs.
"No!" Poco cried.
It was at this time that Tohru chose to walk up towards the ninja that grabbed Totem. Said ninja got down on one knee as he presented the ox statue to the sumo. As he did, Jamyang just stood there. Watching as the man simply took the offered statue and made his way back to the group of cars that had gathered.
"They are getting away with the Totem!" Poco exclaimed.
"We are somewhat occupied!" Mickey responded as he and the rest of the Zodiac were still being held off by ninjas.
"Scruffy!" Jade cried out. The others looked to see that in addition to nabbing the Ox Totem, Tohru had also slung the unconscious Scruffy over his shoulder and was taking him.
"No!" cried Sasha.
"Jamyang, what's wrong?!" Royal called out. "Do something!"
The yak knew he should but found himself unable to move as he looked at his opponents. He caught sight of Jade running up to Tohru and started pounding her fists against him.
"Put him down! Put him down! Put him down! Put him down! Put him down! P-" She was stopped when Tohru used a single finger to push her forehead and knock her over.
"Jade!" Jamyang cried as he ran up to the downed girl.
"A souvenir for Valmont," Tohru said as he placed Scruffy in the passenger seat of one of the cars. Once he also took his seat, the cars wasted no time in driving away. As they did, the Shadowkhan used this chance to take their leave, allowing the Zodiac to watch as their leader was taken away.
"Scruffy…" Sasha whispered.
"Yo, Jamyang! What was that?!" Aryan asked as he stormed up to the yak. "You just stood there like a statue while those merayap took both the Totem and Scruffy! What gives?!"
"…I…I…I didn't wanna hurt them," the yak finally managed to say, surprising everyone there.
-/-
"Didn't wanna hurt them?!" Mordecai repeated what the yak said. "Oh, that's rich!"
"How could you be hesitant about hurting those jerks?" Lucky asked. "You were turning those ninjas into pulp like you enjoyed it?"
"Hold on, guys," Sasha interrupted. "Think about it. The Shadowkhan are clearly something evil, but those thugs? Jamyang's too gentle a soul to hurt another person." The other Zodiac members started to think about it and realized Sasha was right. Jamyang was too nice a guy to hurt someone.
"So much for strong as an ox," Jamyang sighed. Not being able to take this, El Toro walked up to the saddened yak and took a knee.
"Jamyang, hear my story if you will," he said, getting Jamyang's attention. "When I was young, I was frail and had rather little muscle." This revelation brought a surprised look to Poco's face. "Back then, I had rather little self-esteem when I compared myself to my father, who did have muscle. I used to think those muscles of his were what made him strong. It wasn't until later that I learned otherwise. Bad men had come to our home and where threatening us, and they had even more muscle than my father. But he was able to defeat all of them and send them away. After which, I had found out he was able to be strong enough to fight them off not because of his muscles, but because he wanted to protect me and my mother." Jamyang's eyes widened at this. "I learned something invaluable that day. Being big and hitting hard is not what made my family strong like the ox. We are strong like the ox because we stood up for others." El Toro reached out and placed a hand on the yak's shoulder. "Jamyang, you are clearly a kind and gently soul, mi amigo. And that kindness can be used to make you very strong, but only if you have the wisdom to make it so."
"It seems you are wise as well as strong," said DaLong.
"And now's a good time to put it into use," said Jade, "cause we've got a dog friend in need of some help."
Jamyang spent a short moment thinking before gaining a new determined look in his eyes and getting back up.
"Let's get our friend back," he said.
With the Enforcers:
The Enforcers of the Dark Hand had all gathered onto a plane. Tohru up front in the side seat of the cockpit and the Ox Totem in his lap. In the room back, Finn and Chow holding down a struggling Scruffy as they tied his arms in rope after having gaged his mouth with tape.
"Now his legs," Finn said as he held the dog down.
"Scruffy," came Jade's voice. They all looked towards the door and saw Jade's face through the door window.
"Ratso, go teach that kid some manners," Finn said.
"Leave it to me."
Ratso went to open the door, only to be greeted with an unwanted sight.
"Psych," Jade said, sitting on Jamyang's shoulders with Poco on El Toro's shoulders and the Zodiac behind them.
The wrestler grabbed the criminal by the shirt and yanked him out of the plane, quickly knocking him out. Finn and Chow ran up to see what the problem was. Scruffy used this chase to jump up and deliver a kick to each of their backs, knocking them out of the plane into unconsciousness as well.
"Hola, Scruffy," Jade said as Jamyang lifted him out and took the tape off his mouth.
"You all good, aibō?" Haiku asked.
"I'm fine, but they've got the Totem on board up in the cockpit. We can't let them take off with it."
The two kids immediately acted by getting off the oxen shoulders and running into the plane.
"Poco!/Jade!" El Toro and Neha cried out.
"Great, there's two of them," Sasha sighed as the she and the others all climbed on board. Before Scruffy could get on board though, the plane started moving and noticed he was still tied up.
"Uh, guys?"
Since the rope was tied to the inside of the plane, it had quickly reached the limit of its length and started dragging Scruffy along. He was able to strugglingly keep up with the moving aircraft until took off the ground, taking him up with it. Hearing the dog's screams, the pilot looked out the window and saw him.
"Situation," he said to Tohru.
The sumo placed the Ox Totem in his seat as he got up to deal with the problem. He opened the door to reveal El Toro and the Zodiac. Shadows began to surround them and the Shadowkhan reemerged. The Zodiac decided to deal with the ninjas while El Toro and Tohru glared each other down. The two wrestlers from east and west charged at each other grasped hands, trying to use their strength to push the other back and gain any advantage they could.
"A LITTLE HELP HERE!" came a voice.
Poco and Jade made their way over and looked out the still open door. Peering down, they caught sight of Scruffy dangling outside.
"Whoa," they said.
"ANYTIME, KIDS!" he called.
The children grabbed ahold of the rope and pulled as hard as they could but found themselves unable to.
"We can't!" Poco called.
"We're not strong enough!" Jade followed.
"I am."
The two turned to see Jamyang was able to get away from the ninjas and walked towards them. He took the rope in his hands and began pulling Scruffy upwards.
"Come on. This is our chance for the Totem," Jade whispered to Poco.
The young man nodded and the two of them clung to the inner wall of the plane to sneak past all the fighting happening and made their way into the cockpit. When they were in, Jade immediately made for the Ox Totem in the passenger seat. Though this earned her the attention of the Dark Hand thug still there.
"Wha? Hey!"
The pilot moved to grab her, but remembering the training she was able to get from the Zodiac in desperation, she instinctively delivered a kick to the man's gut. Catching the criminal off guard, she was able to knock him unconscious. Surprising both herself and Poco.
"Whoa," Poco said.
"Look at me! I'm part of the Zodiac!" Jade said in childish joy. Said joy quickly faded when they felt the plane start to turn downward. The two turned up and saw there was now no one at the steering wheel. "And you're the pilot."
As the plane went downward, it jostled all the Zodiac and even the Shadowkhan were knocked off their feet. Jamyang was shaken up as well but was able to hold steady enough to finish pulling Scruffy in.
"Thanks, Jamyang," he sighed, relieved that he was finally on the inside of the plane.
"You're welcome," the yak responded. "Scruffy, look…I'm sorry for-" He wasn't able to finish when something else caught their sight. Even El Toro and Tohru, who had managed to somehow continue their strength match despite the floor beneath them becoming unleveled, paused at the sight of the unconscious pilot sliding down towards them.
"If that is the pilot…" Tohru started.
"Who's flying this thing?!" Mordecai panicked.
Aryan, being the closest one to the front, got up and ran for the cockpit with El Toro and Tohru behind him. Upon seeing Jade and Poco trying to pull the wheel back and the plane up, their panic grew tenfold.
"A little help here?" Jade asked.
"Step aside, you two," Aryan said as he pushed the children aside and got in the seat.
"Do you even know how to fly?!" El Toro asked.
"Do you?" the rooster responded as he pulled back on the wheel.
He was able to do a better job of it as the plane began to level out as it continued to descend. When it finally connected with the ground, they had returned to Poco and El Toro's town. As it slowly lost speed, it met the buildings which resulted in it losing its wings. It had finally reached a stop when it reached the town square. In the plane cockpit, Aryan was sitting in the driver seat while Jade and Poco stood there. All three of them just stayed there quietly before Aryan crowed in cheer.
"Hebat! Now that's how you crash a plane!" The joy quickly spread to Jade and Poco.
"Can we do that again?!"
"Por favor?!"
The sight they saw outside as the dust settled caught their attention.
"Maybe next time, kid," the rooster said as he got up and the three went back to join the others.
The settling dust revealed Tohru facing off against the Zodiac, getting ready for a fight.
"Everyone, stand back," Jamyang said to the others as he stepped forward alone.
"Jamyang?" Scruffy asked.
"Ha. You?" Tohru asked like it was a joke.
"You will not hurt my friends," Jamyang said as he readied himself.
As he did, the Zodiac sign of the Ox glowed blue in Jamyang's eyes.
Everyone stayed back, choosing to trust Jamyang. Tohru knelt in preparation while Jamyang braced himself. Tohru then rushed forward and swung his arm forward, only for Jamyang to easily catch the arm with one hand, surprising everyone. Tohru tried to pull himself away but found he couldn't pull himself free from the ox's grip. It was only when Jamyang intentionally let him go that he was freed, causing the sumo to stumble back and fall on his rear.
Jamyang took a moment to stare down at his hands before getting an idea. He walked over to the downed plane and, using only a single hand, gripped the wheel and lifted it over his head. Lifting the rest of the front of the plane as well and surprising everyone.
"Jamyang," El Toro gasped in disbelief.
"I'm strong?"
"Super strong," Jade corrected in amazement.
"Jamyang's power," said DaLong in realization. "The Zodiac Ox's power must be super strength."
"How fitting," Mickey commented.
Jamyang chose to place the plane back down and turned back towards Tohru who had gotten back up. Though the look on his face said that, after witnessing the ox's newfound power, he wished he hadn't. Jamyang hoofed the ground before charging forward. The headbutt he delivered to Tohru came with so much force, it had sent the 500-pound sumo flying back far enough and high enough to land on the top of a three-story tall building and crashed into it. Causing the whole thing to fall in on itself. Fortunately for the ox's conscious, dust settled to reveal a knocked-out Tohru, but not dead. Everyone stared in amazement and silence until Haiku jumped forward and held up Jamyang's arm before them.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Species of all kinds! Introducing the new toughest ox around, Jamyang!"
Everyone else had cheered with him as they congratulated Jamyang.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Jade cheered, holding up the Ox Totem in joy.
"Like I said, our ox is the best around," Mordecai stated.
"Nicely done, Jamyang," Scruffy said with a smile. "We got the Totem, and you got your power."
"It wasn't easy," Jamyang said before turning towards El Toro and holding out his hand. "I needed someone to teach me how to be strong." El Toro returned the smile and shook the ox's hand.
"El Toro," Poco said as he walked up to the wrestler, having an increased admiration for the man after this whole experience. "Will you teach me the way of the wrestler?"
El Toro smiled at the boy and knelt as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"With all the wisdom of my experience."
"You really are the greatest," the boy said.
"No," Jade interrupted, getting everyone's attention. "Jamyang's the greatest ox."
"No, El Toro," Poco responded.
"Jamyang." "El Toro." "Jamyang." "El Toro." "Jamyang." "El Toro." "Jamyang." "El Toro." "Jamyang." "El Toro."
The two children continued their youthful bickering as the two oxen in question each placed a hand behind their head in response to this.
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