A/n this chapter is abouthunterseeing his siblings Shang-chi and Xialing. And their aunt, Ying Nan.also it's my birthday on December 5th anyway enjoy the chapter.
The defenders sanctum
In the sanctum,hunter,eda,marcy, and kotoha we preparing to go to ta lo. They went to Shanghai,they drove in bumblebee,he had driven them to a forest that supposedly guards the entrance to Ta Lo, where hunters brother shung-chi lives they stop. They're now just waiting for kakashi to give them a signal that it's time to start heading into the forest.
So why are we going to see your brother eda asked.
Because my brother needs to help to him with something very important he'll let me know what it is when we get there,hunter said.
Bumblebee starts driving into the forest, down a path in between bamboo trees. Everyone inside is cautiously looking outside. The trees are creaking in an ominous way, and the forest itself looks intimidating.
Right then, a crackling draws everyone else's attention. Looking behind them, they see the path behind starting to close up, coming closer and closer to them.
Bumblebee focuses on driving and floors it, accelerating quickly as the forest seems to start pursuing them down the path.
"Kotoha says 'Hard right on three'," Trevor informs them.
"What?" Eda asks.
"Two…three!" Hunter counts. Bumblebee turns right, right as a path opens in that direction.
Kotoha suddenly says, "Left now." Bumblebee turns hard left, right as the pathway opens up in that direction.
"It's all about staying in the pocket," Hunter says.
"What pocket?" Marcy demands he be more specific.
"We're in it now," hunter responds vaguely.
"And what happens if we don't?" Eda demands loudly.
"The forest eats us," kotoha responds.
"Eats us? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Eda demands, a bit agitated.
Hunter shrugs and says simply, "He says it eats us. Go left." Bumblebee turns left, just managing to make the turn.
At this point, everyone is clutching anything around them they can for dear life, the amount of stress they're feeling climbing by the second.
Marcy looks behind the car to keep an eye on the forest closing up behind them. "Watch your back!" Hunter cautions.
"Stay in the pocket," kotoha says simply.
"How close is it?" Eda asks urgently.
"Five meters!" Hunter shouts back, clearly under stress.
"Stay in the pocket," kotoha says again.
"What is that in feet?" Marcy demands, not knowing metric conversions.
"Stay in the pocket," kotoha says again.
"Will you stop just saying 'stay in the pocket'?" Eda yells at kotoha.
Bumblebee is still on course through the trees for about ten more seconds before hunter says, "One last right and then straight on to the end."
Bumblebee makes a hard right turn as the path opens up to the right. As they pull into the path, they can see a clearing at the end.
all around them, the forest is showing signs of trying to close up around them. Marcy,was a bit nervous now, says, "You might wanna hurry up."
"What do you think I'm doing?" Bumblebee beeps in annoyance.
All around them, the bamboo trees are starting to close in. "We're not gonna make it," king says inside eda hair,in a bit of despair.
Bumblebee holds his gas pedal down as hard as he can as the trees continue to close in. One of his rear view mirrors hits a bamboo tree and breaks off. Right as they're reaching the end, the bamboo closes up over the end of the path. However, bumblebee on course, and crashes right through the bamboo, emerging into the clearing and landing in a small pond.
Everyone sits there in shock for a moment, still a bit overwhelmed by what they just experienced. Then, eda trills a bit, she then says 'Great job, everyone'." Everyone just looks at eda like she's crazy.
"Now, all we have to do is go through that waterfall and we're pretty much there," kotoha says.
Everyone is quiet for a moment. Then, bumblebee drives slowly towards the waterfall. As they drive through the waterfall, the water cascading over the car seems to change, halting in mid air in large drops. Then, they sem to find themselves in a black void, with water frozen in time all around them. As they watch, the water seems to lengthen out, looking much like the hyperspace effect from Star Wars. Then, only a few seconds later, they merge out of portal of water into another cave.
As they exits the cave, the group suddenly finds themselves in a lush paradise. Beautiful vegetation is growing all around them, including some plants they don't really recognize. As they are looking around, several orange-red birds fly past the car, trailing embers behind them.
"Whoa. Phoenixes are real," Marcy says in a bit of awe.
As bumblebee continues driving along a wide path, they notice more and more wildlife around them. They see, on both sides of the path, a number of white foxes. But, these foxes are bigger than wolves, and they each have nine tails. A baby one with just three tails draws marcy's attention, which smiles a bit dreamily at the cuteness of it.
Then, they pass another group of creatures, and realize it's the same kind of creature as Marcy. As they are all paying attention to these creatures, king sees something out of the corner of her eye, and brakes just in time to avoid running into another creature. Everyone looks out the window at the creature, which almost looks like a horse of some kind, but with green scales, what looks like a handlebar mustache, and antlers like a deer.
"That's a weird looking horse. What's it looking at me for?" Marcy wonders aloud. The creature looks at them for a moment longer then turns and keeps walking, more of its kind following it.
"Incredible. All the creatures of Chinese mythology…they exist. Wow, if the world knew about this…they'd go nuts," Marcy mutters in awe.
Bumblebee starts driving again, following a path through a small, completely stationary bamboo forest. It only takes them a minute to reach the either side of the forest. As they emerge from the forest, they find themselves entering a village. Crop fields and training fields extend on either side of them, with a number of people in traditional Chinese garb. Not only that, but among is a Chinese lion from myth.
However, their attention is quickly drawn to the villagers directly in front of the car, all assembled in battle formation and holding weapons. Bumblebee slows to a stop a respectable distance from them. As she parks, hunter and kotoha get out, with eda,king,marcy and bumblebee starting to follow.
As they approach the villagers slowly, Shang-chi says, speaking in Mandarin, "Hello. I am Shang-chi. This is my brother and sister,Shang-chi and Xu Xialing. We're Ying Li's children." He pauses, getting no reaction from the villagers, before gesturing to Marcy as she walks up behind them, and saying, "This is my friend,bumblebee,eda,king and Marcy."
The old man in the front finally speaks up, but says, "Get in your car and go home!"
"Please. You don't understand," Hunter tries to reason with them, taking a few steps forward. In response, the villagers snap their weapons and shields up, ready to fight them.
Everyone is quiet and unmoving for a few moments before a woman's voice calls out from behind the line. Then, a somewhat older woman walks out from the midst of the villagers. She says something to the old man and the villagers, who lower their weapons, then walks towards Shang-chi,Xialing and hunter. As she approaches them, she smiles and says warmly, "Hunter.Shang-chi. Xialing. I am your auntie, Ying Nan." She then embraces Xialing, saying, "I've waited so long to meet you." She pulls away from Xialing, then walks to Shang-chi and hunter. She looks at them for a moment before saying, "You two look like your mother." She then embraces them too.
After a few moments, she lets them go and turns to eda,king,marcy,bumblebee. Eda smiles a bit awkwardly and says, in English.
"Welcome to Ta Lo, your four," Ying Nan replies in fluent English, embracing Katy as well, who accepts it awkwardly.
"Follow me."Nan says she leads the group,through the buildings of the village down to the shore of the lake behind the village.
then motions for them to follow her. She leads them to a building that as a large mural carved in the wood on one wall. As they approach the mural, Nan begins to explain, "The realm of Ta Lo stretches far beyond the shores of our small village. We have cities that surpass any in your world. Rich with culture and history. Thousands of years ago, our people lived in peace and prosperity. Until the attack of the Dweller-in-darkness. He came with his army, devouring every soul in their path, and with each kill, they grew stronger. After decimating our largest cities, they were headed to your world to do the same. The leaders of Ta Lo sent their strongest warriors here to stop them from reaching the portal to your world, but our ancestors were no match for them. Until, the Great Protector joined the fight and turned the tide. Together, they pushed the Dweller and his army into the Dark Gate and locked it behind them. Our people have guarded that gate ever since, empowered by the magic of the great protector and the gifts that she gave us."
"What gifts was that?" Eda asks.
Nan smiles and again beckons them to follow her. She leads them to a hut where weapons are clearly being stored and forged. As they enter, they see all the weapons are coated in the same red material. As they watch, a man uses a staff coated in the material to cut a log in two.
"Dragon scales," Nan answers eda's question, "Makes very good armor and weapons."
Marcy, and bumblebee exchange a glance, all of them hardly believing that they actually are in a world where dragons exist.
Nan now finally addresses the heart of the issue. "Your father isn't the first one to come here to open the Dark gate. Many have tried and failed over the centuries, and they all had one thing in common. They were lured here by the voice of something on the other side. A voice that promised them their greatest desires."
"So you think that soul eaters are talking to our dad?" Shang-chi asks.
And they were the one who gave father his memory back of him being a witch Hunter,"Hunter said.
"He know the Ten Rings have the power to break them free," Nan responds.
But Shang-chi destroyed the dragon xialing said.
Yeah but that was just a pet to the real destroyer and someone wants to see you but"Come. Let's go see your mother first," Nan says.
marcy,bumblebee,kakashi,kotoha,and eda don't follow, thinking this is a moment Hunter,flapjack,Shang-chi and Xialing should just have with their aunt. The five of them step out of the armory, then all form a small huddle.
"So…this has been a very crazy day, and I think it's safe to say we're probably all shocked by everything we've seen and learned," king says.
"You think?" Eda asks sarcastically.
"The people of Ta Lo are letting us be here. That's a huge privilege we can't undervalue. And the Mandarin is coming, one way or another. The people are going to need all the help they can get to stop him. If he succeeds, who knows what kind of devastation this Dweller in Darkness could cause to this world or to ours. We can't leave our friends here, and they're not going to leave until this has all been resolved. Marcy says.
Hunter,flapjack,Shang-chi and Xialing were at seeing a statue of their mother Ying Li.
So what's important that's you need to tell us hunter asked.
I want to tell you what I know that nechros is gonna recruit Malefor to help him in his plans that's all I know nan said.
Thanks auntie for the information but it's still good to see my other family hunter said hugging his sibling and aunt.
Well let's get back to the base eda said.
The others nodded their heads agreeing they open a portal to pairs in back to base.
Unknown to hunter his auntie nan put a small box in his pocket.