Sparrow One flew right, and his brother, Sparrow Two, flew left. They flew amidst the many training dummies, hitting them with their legs as they flew right into them as missiles, causing them to spin around before they resumed flying. All the while, they kept a level of synchronicity that would lead anyone to think that they had done it a thousand times already. They described perfect circles in the air as they flew among the dummies as if they were flying between an army of enemies, delivering strikes with their small legs and beaks with surprising force for animals their size.
Above them, two other animals were training on the bladed swinging rings. Scorpion was showing that he had some inclination towards acrobatics, as he jumped in between the rings while holding on to them with his pinchers and with his tail. Toad was with him, and he was much less flashy than the trapeze-like movements of the venomous invertebrate, as he simply jumped in between the rings while following Scorpion, all the while they traded tail and tongue blows, having an acrobatic battle while jumping in between the rings. However, in no moment did Scorpion actually tried to sting the amphibian, as he only ever tried to hit with the blunt end of his tail.
As they did this, Doe was on the Fiery Pit, and she was moving her legs from side to side, as she avoided each eruption of flame coming from below. Her ears flicked as she caught in the subtle sounds of the mechanism responsible for those fire burst clicking, allowing her to move her body out of harm's way. And it was not only stepping aside. She was doing complex movements like the kung fu stances and blows that she learned from her teacher, putting each one of them to use as she avoided the fire, as if she was actually performing those moves while avoiding blows coming from an actual adversary. She even got time to make some handstands and complex jumps as she stepped out of the fire's way, showing that she had a real nimble and gracious style.
Lastly, Gator was right at the beginning of the obstacle course, moving the best he could. He was not the most coordinate of guys when it came to being on land. Actually, he was a bit clumsy. He certainly found it hard to keep up with the moving parts under his feet, as his short legs could not give him a wide array of movement. Luckily, he made up for it with immediate reaction time. He was able to duck out of the way nearly immediately when a great weight was swinging his way with the spiked side. When the blunt side came, he could easily push it back with a swift swing of his tail. His tail whip was quite powerful, and their teacher often said that, with enough practice, he could it one of his signature moves, just like Master Croc did before him. All he needed was to keep training.
All of them just needed to keep training and they would become even better.
However, since they were only practicing for only one year, they were bond to make mistakes at some point.
This time, the mistake was on Scorpions part, as he made a desperate move to avoid Toad's tongue, which nearly hit him square on the face. This caused the invertebrate to react by instinct. His tail moved, the stinger ready to strike. However, on that split second, Scorpion realized what he was about to do and jumped back. This caused him to fall out of the swinging rings and down into the training dummies.
He landed right on Sparrow Two's back, causing them both to cry in surprise as they fell and got hit by the spinning tail of a dummy. Sparrow One saw what happened to his twin, and allowed it to distract him. This ended up with him also being hit and swung away by the arm of another dummy.
As a result Sparrow One was sent to one side of the training course, while Sparrow Two and Scorpion were sent to another. Sparrow Two and Scorpion hit Gator on the back of the head, causing him to look back asking "what" and causing him to be hit by one of the swinging weights (luckily, by a side without any spikes), and land back heavily, with the two smaller animals still on his head. Meanwhile, Sparrow One was sent to the middle of the Fiery Pit, and he was about to be blasted by one of the fire burst, when Doe, hearing the mechanism under him, quickly jumped and scooped him out of the way seconds before the pillar of fire burst upwards.
All the while, Toad watched from his spot into one of the swinging rings, with a calm, stony and indifferent expression, before letting out a single croak.
"Okay, that could have gone better." Doe said, as she walked to her friend with Sparrow One on her arms. Toad jumped down from the rings and landed on the ground, while Gator got up from it with Sparrow Two and Scorpion still on his head.
"Yeah, we did it worse before, I suppose." Sparrow Two said.
"Anyone knows who did what wrong this time?" Gator asked, and Scorpion looked down, seeming ashamed of himself.
"Master, what do you think?" Doe said, expecting an answer from the person who had been watching them train. However, she got none.
"Master?"
Soon, everyone was looking in direction to their teacher. Po was still standing there, with the staff on his hand and standing as if he was overseeing everything. However, he didn't seemed like he was watching pretty much anything, as he had his eyes on the ground and looked to be in deep thought.
"Master Po?"
Once more, the panda didn't answered, and this caused the six present animals to become increasingly worried.
"Master?" Doe said, as she approached, and placed a hand on Po's shoulder. This caused the panda to jump back a little, startled.
"Master?" Doe said, as she saw Po's reaction. "Is everything alright?"
Po looked at her for a few moments, and then at the rest of his students, all of which looked back at him with worried expressions.
"I... Uhhh, yes... Yes!" Po said, recomposing himself and getting on his formal teacher pose. Which was a lot similar to his "dramatic hero pose". "Everything is alright with your technique, guys. You all are doing amazing on your training. It is clearly showing results."
"Thank you, Master." Gator said happily, as his long scaly tail wagged behind him, just as the one of a dog would. The rest of Po's students, however, continued to look at the panda with worry.
"Master Po?" Swallow Two asked him. "Is something wrong?" He was asking out of worry, and Po looked at him before saying that it was "everything fine, everything peachy, everything bodaciously awesome like usual for the great Dragon Warrior". However, he may have forced it too much, because his students clearly saw through him.
"Is this about the bandits who got away today?" Doe asked. As always, she was the smarter and most perceptive of all of six of Po's students. Po looked at her for a moment, and he thought of maybe denying it, but he was pretty sure that this would be a bit insulting to those animals who learned under him. By now they knew him for long enough to know when he was trying to diverge attention from a problem.
Po simply sighed and looked down. His silence spoke all they needed to know. Which was good, because the panda was pretty sure that talking would only make him make a fool of himself and make him feel even worse.
"Hey, don't worry about it, master." Scorpion said, looking up at the panda. "The Five are looking for the bandits like you told them to. I'm sure they will find them and bring them back with whatever they have taken."
"They wouldn't have to if I didn't had let them escape in the first place." Po said, more to himself than to his students. They shared looks among themselves, and they all knew that they needed to say something to their master.
Gator beat them all to it.
"Hey, it's okay to make mistakes, Master." The big scaly young man did. "I mean, we just made a pretty big one during training."
"Wait, you did?" Po said, looking at him in surprise. Man, he must have really been distracted if he didn't saw that.
"Yeah, and that's alright." Gator said, "Because you always tell us that making mistakes is how we learn and become even better."
"Yeah... I did said that." Po said, being able to smile a little bit, and so did the others.
However, that was when Gator continued to talk.
"And you prove it yourself by always making mistakes!" The reptile said, still smiling. "Like on that time last week when you slipped on the waxed floor and broke the Urn of Whispering Warriors for the fourth time since you moved into the Jade Palace. Or before that when you thought that the Bowl of Sacred Meditation was a new cooking pan and you cooked sticky rice balls on it. Or the time before that when you spilled tea on the lap of the nobleman who came from the Forbidden City to see how the Jade palace looked after being rebuilt..."
He continued, not noticing that Po's smile had disappeared at his talking.
"It is really inspirational for us. After all, if our teacher, the great Dragon Warrior, can make such dumb mistakes on a regular basis, then it is okay for us to make one or two while we are still learning, right?" He said, turning to his friends. "Right?"
He failed to notice how Sparrows were shaking their heads in unison, how Scorpion was covering his mouth with his pinchers, and how Doe had face-palmed while he continued to talk. Toad just croaked without showing any emotion.
As for Po... well, he looked pretty much as one would expect after this.
"Yeah... I guess..." Po said, and everyone looked his way.
"Master..." Doe said, but Po didn't gave her the chance to speak, for he then said:
"You know, I think that is enough training for now. You guys can do whatever you want until dinner. I'll just... go take a walk."
With this, Po left the training hall, leaving all of them looking at his departing form.
"Guys, I think Master Po is feeling down..." Gator said, and then all of the five others looked his way with varying expressions.
Po did went for a walk.
And he could not stop thinking of what happened today. Of how he lost his focus and allowed for a group of bandits to escape with the possessions of some of the residents of the valley.
"Some hero." Had said the sheep, who seemed pretty beamed for losing his stuff. Po thought of going to apologize to him and offer to buy him new stuff to replace the one lost, and maybe to give him some money for his savings. But he was talked out of it by his friends, who told him "not to talk to that jerk".
The words of the sheep still got to Po. As did the words whispered by the rest of the villagers who had witnessed his failure.
All because the leader of the bandits had brought up how he had... how he had...
"Did you guys hear?" Said voice, which caused Po to pause and listen.
"What, about how the Dragon Warrior let those bandits escape?"
"Yeah, that."
"I heard about it, man, can you believe it? You would think a guy who saved China a few times already would have been able to deal with a bunch of lizards."
"Man, that must be so embarrassing to him."
"I heard that some people lost some pretty expensive valuables because of his screw up."
"Think he is losing his touch? I mean, it has been a few years since he actually went on an adventure to save the world. Maybe he is slacking."
"I don't think the Dragon Warrior would slack."
"Well, maybe a decent Dragon Warrior would not slack."
The servants, who completely failed to notice Po's presence due to being using a different stone path than his, laughed at this. Unaware that the people they were talking about was hearing every word that they were saying.
"Well, we can only hope he will get back in shape soon. It would be really bad if he made some big screw up on something important."
"You mean, like destroying a whole village by accident while trying to save it? Think the universe would take back his Dragon Warrior status if he screwed up that bad?"
"I'm pretty sure it would. It would have been better if he had stayed just a cook if he was going to do something that dumb."
"Hey, guys, come on, give him a break." Said one of the servants. "Let's not forget that he already saved the Valley and China a lot of times since he became the Dragon Warrior. And that he got rid of Tai Lung for us!"
The other two agreed with him.
"Yeah, I'm glad that the Master Po murdered that criminal."
"Yeah, he certainly got his hands dirty to none of us needed to."
"Is it true that he laughed while he killed him?"
As the four of them left, Po remained where he was for a few moments. Then, he continued his way.
Now he had even more on his mind after hearing what they said.
If the servants of the Jade Palace are thinking that of me... Po wondered to himself. What is the rest of the Valley thinking?
Po had been particularly shake by the mentions of the universe taking back his Dragon Warrior title.
Was that even possible? Something like that could happen if the universe reconsidered and decided that he was not up to the challenge?
That thought filled Po with dread. The thought that the universe could take back what it gave to him, and that he would end up back at square zero...
Back when everyone looked at him and only saw a loser...
Po shook his head, groaning. Man, why did those things still happened? He was the Dragon Warrior! He proved it more than enough times! He defeated Kai and everything! Why did he sometimes still felt like the clumsy friendless panda he was before Oogway pointed at him when he landed right in the middle of the arena?
He should be way past this by now!
With a sigh, the panda knew what he was suppose to do.
He wondered if Shifu was done with his evening meditation...
Soon, the panda had made his way to the place where Shifu was meditating. It still baffled Po how many meditation places the Jade Palace had, most of it carved into caves hidden just alongside the mountain.
Po himself has lived there for nearly a decade and he still hadn't found all of them. And he still asked himself how there could be so many. Oogway must have been one busy turtle when he first built the Jade Palace.
Shifu was on his favored spot, with Oogway's staff on his tiny hands and in a meditating position as he stood before a great wall with a mighty dragon carved into it. Water fell from two small waterfalls from the sides of the wall, dripping in the stones and gently flowing around the stone where Shifu was standing. It helped with the atmosphere of peace and quiet of that cave, and helped anyone in there of find peace.
As Shifu clearly was.
And, as usual, Po was in there to put an end to his peace.
"Hello, Dragon Warrior." Po said, before the panda could even say a word to him. Po was amazed that Shifu could notice his presence when he did not made a sound. To be honest, Shifu knew that Po was in there because this was the most peaceful he had felt in several weeks, and that was usually when Po appeared to bother him with something.
"So, what is the reason for you to interrupt my meditation today?" the smaller master asked the panda, as he had pretty much grown used to Po's interruptions over the course of the years they had been a part of each other's lives.
Po was a bit awkward, what was not that unusual when the panda had something bothering him for real.
"Oh... Uhhh, yeah. The... reason..." Po said, looking at the small master. "The reason why I wanted to talk to you. Yeah... that. You see. The reason is... well, of course there is a reason. I mean, there would not be without a reason, there would? If course I have a reason. And the reason is that... well, I am the teacher now and everything, but you are still the master... I mean, technically speaking. You are still the guy in here to who we come to talk when something happens and... well, let's be honest, I kind of still need the help."
Po admitted it pretty readily, and this caused the small master to raise an eyebrow at him.
"So, there reason I'm here today is...well, you see. Things happen and sometimes we need to talk to the big guy, and you are the big buy on the Jade Palace. So, when a thing happens and you need to talk to the big guy, you gotta talk to him. That's how it is. And this brings me to-"
"It's about how those bandits escaped after you dropped your guard, ain't it?" Shifu deadpanned, as he was starting to get tired of Po's rambling. The Dragon Warrior still talked way too much sometimes.
Po looked at the red panda for a while.
"Oh... so, you knew that?"
"I heard about it." Shifu said simply.
"From... the universe?"
"From a sheep who came in here to complain about how you let lizard bandits escape with his life savings and how he wanted the Jade Palace to reimburse him."
"Oh... right, of course." Po said, feeling like a goof for jumping right into the exoteric conclusions.
"If you already knew, why you asked why I came?"
"To see if you'd give me a direct answer or if you would try and make up some kind of excuse." Shifu said, "I have come to find your excuses to be quite amusing." The small master had a smirk on his lips as he said that to the panda. One that Po could almost chalk up as mean, but that he knew deep down that was not mean-spirited in any way. He and Shifu respected each other too much for that.
So, now that the cards were on the table, Po could open up to Shifu, like he already did before.
He opened up to him how it was frustrating to let himself be distracted by what the leader of the bandits did and lower his guard enough that they were able to blast him and escape with the possessions and money of some of the villagers.
"It shouldn't happen, you know?" Po said as he rambled. "I mean, I'm the Dragon Warrior! Come on! I defeated a whole army of boats armed with cannons! I defeated an army of jombies with my own army of fighting pandas! I defeated Tai Lung... I should not have been beaten down to a bunch of cheap criminals! How could this happen?"
Shifu looked at the panda for a few moments.
"Because you are Po." He said simply, and the panda looked at him.
"Huh?"
"You are Po." Shifu said to him, "You are a person who makes mistakes. Like everyone else."
Po looked at Shifu, waiting for him to add a "but" in there. However, Shifu was not adding the "but".
"But... but I'm the Dragon Warrior! I have been for almost ten years now! I should be above making mistakes like that!"
"But you are clearly not." Shifu said, as he turned his back on Po, calmly going back to his spot on the rock where he had been training.
"But how so!?" Po was growing a bit loud now, what prompted Shifu to tell him not to be so loud like that, as he was still trying to meditate.
" Master, I am the Dragon Warrior." Po said to the small master. "I should not make mistakes like that of today. Or like that sticky rice situation with the Sacred Meditation Bowl, or with breaking the urn again, or that thing with the clothes of the nobleman, which I had to clean myself after." Po added the last part a little under his breath, as he remembered how he had to spend a while rubbing those fine garments with his hands as delicately as he could to get the stains out without damaging the fine silk.
"How come I still make stupid things like that?" Po said to the small master, looking at him for answers. Shifu calmly made the final pose of his meditation session, before turning to look at Po and saying simply:
"Because you are not perfect, Po."
The panda looked at the small master for a few moments.
"But, shouldn't I be?"
"Oh, definitely not." Shifu said to the panda, who looked back at him.
"Master, sorry to say that, but you've been better at this offering support stuff." Po said, and then Shifu spoke to the panda:
"Po, being perfect is impossible." Shifu said to the panda. "People can spend their entire lives trying to be perfect, and come as close to it as possible, but no one can truly be perfect. We all have flaws and limitations. In your case, those flaws reflect as difficulty to pay attention and immaturity, in most cases. I can name a few others, but I don't want to make you feel bad."
Shifu was saying all of that very casually, while Po continued to look at him. The expression on the panda made it obvious that he was already feeling bad with what Shifu was telling him. This prompted the master to just tackle the big issue in there.
"Po." Shifu said, and then he pointed with his staff. "Look at this."
Po did, and he looked at the effigy of the dragon sculpted into the wall of the cave.
"It looks good, I guess." Po said, "Fearsome, awesome, all kinds of... 'somes'."
"And, what about this, over here?" Shifu asked, pointing specifically for something on the engraved image. To the yin-yang sphere that was set in between the clawed hands of the dragon.
"Oh, that?" Po asked, looking at it. "That's a yin-yang." He was said that the same way a child would say.
"And what do you understand by yin-yang, Dragon Warrior?" Shifu asked his student, and Po said:
"Well, it is two different things in the universe. Like, light and dark, good and evil, hot and cold, awesome and lame. You know, this kind of thing." Po said, showing that he was no ignorant on the matter. However, his understanding of it was superficial, and this meant that Shifu would have to be the one to fill him in.
"It also represents balance." Shifu said to the panda. "It represents how two opposite things complete and balance each other. How they create a harmony that is essential for everything in the universe to work. A harmony without which the world would suffer. As well as the people."
Po looked at Shifu as the small master explained this to him. "And this does not only refers to the great things in the universe, but the things inside each individual. Including me and you."
"Ohhhh." Po said, in amazement, and the small master continued:
"Yin represents the negative parts, like the darkness and the evil. Yang, on it's end, represents the positive parts, like light and good."
"Right, got it." Po said, "Yang is good, Yin is bad."
"Wrong." Shifu said immediately. "Yin and Yang are both good. And they are both bad."
Po blinked, looking at the small master.
"Okay, you lost me."
"It is all about balance, Po." Shifu said, "Yin and Yang are two parts of a whole. They are two parts that complete each other, and if one of them was absent, or even stronger than the other, then the balance is lost. Harmony is lost. And without harmony, well, there can only be problem."
"So, in order for balance to be maintained, it is important for the positive and negative forces to be balanced." Shifu continued, "There need to be equal amounts of light and darkness in the world. Equal amounts of good and evil. And equal amounts of positivity and negativity."
"Wait." Po said, trying to keep up with what Shifu was telling him. "So, are you telling me that too much good is a bad thing? How does that makes sense?"
Shifu could understand that Po was having trouble to keep up. Firstly, because it was not a simple concept. Second, because he was Po.
"Let me use an example." Shifu said, "Serenity is an important quality, as it means peace and non-aggression."
"That is good." Po said, and Shifu continued:
"But, imagine a person who is so serene, so calm and collected that they won't even react to evil acts occurring right before them." Shifu explained to Po. "That would be bad, wouldn't it?"
Po had to admit that it would be.
"So, even if a person has serenity, they would need... un-serenity so they would not just stand there and let bad things happen?" Po rationalized, and Shifu nodded at him.
"Yes, Po, that's correct." Shifu said to the panda. "Both serenity and its opposite need to be present in an individual for their chi to be balanced. For them to be in true internal harmony and be able to work properly as part of the universe. Those two things are essential, like all opposites. This is why Yin and Yang both have seeds of each other inside themselves." Shifu pointed at the dark and light spheres that the light and dark parts of the symbol had. "This means that they can never exist fully without the presence of the other. That with their absence, the harmony would be forever lost. Too much positivity will lead to unbalance and disharmony, just as much as too much negativity would."
Po could only looking at the small master.
"So... I should not be too good?" Po asked, "What, you mean I should try being a little bad and that would help me improve my game? Like, I should help Monkey with his pranks or maybe throw mud on a person on the street?"
"Po, what I'm trying to say is..." Shifu said to the panda, "You have flaws, just like you have qualities."
"Yes, you are immature and you don't focus. But you also have a kind heart and a honest nature. Those qualities balance your flaws, and they help you achieve harmony. This, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons why you are such an amazing warrior, and such a natural talent in kung fu." Shifu said to his student, and Po reflected on it.
"Everyone has flaws, negative aspects of their personality and of their hearts. Be it impatience, self-doubt, lack of attention, or, in Monkey's case, a penchant for juvenile pranks. They are important parts of who they are, just like their righteousness, bravery, generosity and integrity. Rejecting those negative parts, or trying to get rid of them, would eventually cause you to become unbalanced, and then bad things would happen."
"So, don't reject those bad parts of yourself." Shifu said to the panda. "Try and accepting them. See how they help make you the person you are. Conquer yourself by facing your doubts and fears and growing. Accept all parts of yourself, even the ones you are not entirely proud of. This is what makes a great kung fu master, like the one that you already are."
Po reflected on what Shifu just told him, and he couldn't help but reflect deeply on this. He never knew that the symbol of yin and yang had such a deep meaning. It was mind-boggling...
Po was about to ask Shifu another question, but he found out that Shifu was gone by the time he looked up. He looked to the sides and to everywhere else, but the small master was nowhere to be see.
Man, he's been doing that a lot lately. Po thought. I wonder if it is because he wants to avoid me because I always interrupt him...
As Shifu was gone, leaving Po with his latest lesson to reflect on and ponder, Po looked back at the effigy of the dragon. At the yin-yang symbol the dragon hand between its hands.
Spiritual balance. Everyone had flaws and qualities.
From what Shifu explained, Po understood that this meant that every good person in the world had at least one evil part inside of them. Right?
So, in that case, the evil people could also have a little bit of good inside of them. Right? That made sense...
And, in that case, this meant that Tai Lung...
As Po was busy making reflections, a figure was approaching him from the darkness of the cave. The figure was more silent than Po himself could ever hope to be. Silent enough that Shifu himself, with his gigantic ears and his decades of kung fu training, was not able to notice their presence at all.
So, it was no surprise that Po could not detect the presence of the figure either. They slowly approached the panda, their body tensing as they looked at the panda. How they wanted to just jump on him... but they couldn't. It was not part of the plan.
Instead, they were just going to...
"Hey, Po!"
The sudden voice made the figure retreat into the shadows reflexively at the same time it made Po turn around to see two familiar forms coming to him.
"Monkey!" Po said, "Crane!"
"Hey, Po." Monkey said as he and the avian both approached the panda. "We've been looking for you. Doe and the others said you ended the training session earlier because you were not feeling okay."
"Po..." Crane said, as he approached the panda. "Are you still upset about...?"
"So, you guys caught the bandits?" Po asked before the avian could finish the question. "Did you got back the things they stole?"
Monkey and Crane both shook their heads.
"They were too much ahead of us." Monkey said to the panda. "We followed their track for a while, but we lost it after they crossed the Valley's boundary and into the rocky fields that lead to the Wusuo Mountains."
"They could either have gone to the mountains, to the long fields on the West or to the nearest village up North. We had no way of knowing where they went." Crane said to the panda. "I even tried to fly high and see if I could find any trait of them, but it is as if they vanished. Sorry, Po."
The panda looked down, saying to his friends it was okay. However, the expression on his face made it seem that it was not okay. It made the two of his friends worried.
"Hey, don't worry, pal." Monkey said, comforting the panda. "If they ever come back, we will get them for sure. I mean, not that they would be crazy enough to come back, of course. No one would dare to try and go against us after they just escaped by pure dumb luck."
"Yeah." Crane said to the panda, placing a wing on his shoulder. "Say, what about we all go have dinner. You can make us something nice for tonight."
With this, the two of them were taking the panda away from the cave and back into the palace. All the while the figure continued to watch from the shadows of the cave as they departed, their golden eyes glowing in dark, as they decided to wait for another occasion in which the panda was alone to approach him...
"We will be celebrating tonight, my friends!" The leader of the reptiles said as the rest of his men followed him. "We ended up with less than expected, but we still got a lot!"
"Yeah, this statute in here is certainly worth some pretty yuan." One of them said, and the others agreed. They were still moving as fast as they could, as they wanted to get as far from the Valley of Peace and from the kung fu masters of that place as they could before they eventually found them.
They didn't wanted to test their luck after they managed to even escape after being nearly caught.
However, the fact that they managed to escape in the first place certainly did something for their self-stem.
"I still can't believe you did it, boss!" Said another one of the spiky lizards, "You actually managed to outsmart the Dragon Warrior himself! You are so cool!"
"Well, I don't want to brag." The leader of the lizards said, "I mean, he is a panda, after all. You guys know from the stories how easy to trick they are. But, I have to recognize that it was pretty clever of me to have the quickness of thinking to know what to say to throw him off balance."
The boss was certainly enjoying it very much, as all of his followers thought he was great after he had pulled that one out, even when he himself was not sure how he managed to. Can you blame a guy for milking the situation and enjoying the attention and admiration of his men while he could?
"This proves that those kung fu warriors are not all that they sell themselves to be." The lizard said as he climbed on a few rocks. "They can be outsmarted by great guys like myself!"
He was bragging to his men while making a dramatic pose that would make Po himself proud. He completely failed to notice the figure moving above him, as the rocks he chose to stand on stayed right on the bottom of a small cliff.
"Yes, you can outsmart those good guys." He continued to brag to them. "All you need is wits, resolve of mind, and an unshakable and fearless temperament. Like mine!"
Just as he finished saying those words, the figure on top of the cliff jumped, landing on his feet right by the side of the lizard, who screamed like a little girl and scrambled to his men, who were startled as well, trying to figure out where the figure came from.
The Komodo, on his end, simply flicked his tongue as he stood there, with all of the smaller lizards looking his way, as well as at the peacock he was holding by the neck and that, for a terrifying moment, they thought was dead. However, they noticed the peacock was still breathing, and he only seemed to be limp on the scaly hand of his captor.
For a long moment, they all looked at the Komodo, who then said:
"I need to arrive at the Musuo Mountains. Would any of you gentlemen be kind enough to point the direction?"
The lizards looked at each other and then at the Komodo.
"Uhhh, is that way, sir." Said one of them, pointing at the direction.
"Wait, I think he is blind." Said another one of them, and that was when the rest of the lizards noticed the milky eyes of the bigger lizard. However, the Komodo simply thanked them for the information, and he started to walk on the direction the other lizard pointed.
"What's with the peacock?" One of them asked the Komodo, and the taller lizard said:
"None of your business. Now get out of my way, I have something of the most vital importance to do and I cannot waste my time on a bunch of worthless losers."
"Hey!" The boss of the lizards said, "Be careful with who you call losers! Just today we managed to defeat the Dragon Warrior!"
This caused the Komodo to stop dead on his tracks.
"Really?" The bigger lizard asked, without turning around. "You have defeated the Dragon Warrior?"
"Hell yeah we did!" The lizard said to the Komodo.
"Have you ended his life?" The Komodo said, sounding hopeful. After all, it would be much more convenient to him if the panda was dead. However, the leader admitted that they did not.
"But I blasted him with a mini cannon!" The leader said, "I managed to distract him with my words and blast him with it while he lost is focus! We managed to escape thanks to this, and we even got some loot to boot!"
All of the lizards agree with that, all of them saying how great their boss was. The Komodo now had turned to face the smaller lizard, with a smirk on his face.
"Well, that is still pretty impressive." The Komodo said, walked to the smaller lizard. "You know, I am doing a certain thing that might call the attention of the Dragon Warrior. I was planning on dealing with him if he came after me, but I just had another idea."
He stopped right before the smaller lizard.
"Perhaps you could deal with him for me." He said, "You could go back there and deal with him for me. I mean, you managed to outsmart him once, you surely can do it again, right? And this time, I want you to only stop after his heart has stopped beating."
The boss looked at him, and then he looked at the rest of his men, all of them suddenly weary of the Komodo.
"Yeahhhh, right..." He said, turning to look at the Komodo. "Look, is not as if I'm afraid of going back, or anything, but I kind of prefer not to push my luck." He was looking at the face of the blind Komodo, and so he didn't noticed how the hand of the bigger lizard started faintly glowing purple.
"So, I'm not going to risk having me and my men arrested by going back there. So, if you really want the panda dead so much, I guess you can hire- AHHH!" The voice of the boss was suddenly cut when the Komodo's hand shot forward and grabbed his neck. A burst of purple light came from his hand as it grasped on the smaller lizard, and it made all of the other criminals jump back as they watched the scene unfolding before them.
After a few seconds, the Komodo let go of the smaller lizard, letting him fall to the ground.
The smaller lizard screamed, gasped and writhed in the ground as the purple light continued to shine on his neck, and spread across the rest of his body. His eyes turned purple as he continued to scream and cry. Soon, however, those cries were turning into hisses and huffing, and even into growling and snarling.
The lizards all watched in horror as they saw what was happening to their boss. And they had even more horror on their faces as they saw that the Komodo now was focusing all of his attention on them, his hand once more glowing purple.
"You are losers. All of you." Jiao Din said to them, smirking cruelly as he did. "But, you can still be of some use to me."
More flashes of purple illuminated the night, followed by screams that were soon turning into bestial roars...