Before Setting Sail
Dragonfall Part 1
"I'm going to take that sword from you and sell it on the black market!" Temutai promised, punching at Luthera.
Luthera dodged the punch and swung her sword at him, only for Temutai to block the hit with one of his horns.
"What?!" Luther cried.
Temutai smiled, striking her with a backfist that knocked her across the table and made her drop her sword. As Luthera got up, she saw the raging bull charging at her. Quickly, she got up and grabbed a goblet of wine, pouring it into Temutai's eyes before he could make contact with her.
"Aaaahhh!" Temutai cried.
Luthera drove her fist into Temutai's stomach, drawing a gasp of pain. She swung at Temutai again and again, punching him savagely and with grace at the same time. Finally, she jumped off the table and grabbed the table cloth underneath the water buffalo's feet, yanking it up and causing Temutai to fall off the table and hit his head.
"As Po taught me, anything can be a weapon," Wandering Blade smiled.
On the other side of the room, Klaus was having his hands full with Tong Fo. The loris ran and dodged from side to side avoiding Klaus's direct wind attacks that he fired from his palms.
"Hold still!" Klaus told him.
"What's the matter?" Tong Fo said mockingly. "Am I too fast for you?!"
Tong Fo dodged another wind funnel and sent Klaus tumbling to the floor with a kick.
"Face it, pal," Tong Fo told him. "I've stood toe to toe with the Dragon Warrior! What chance do you have against me?"
Klaus fired another wind blast but Tong Fo punched him across the face after reading the path of his palm and avoiding the wind.
"And you telegraph all your moves!" Tong Fo taunted.
Tong Fo struck Klaus a few more times before knocking him to the floor with a spin kick.
Then it struck Klaus that he was indeed telegraphing his wind attacks too much through direct blasts. And a smaller, nimbler opponent like Tong Fo could read him like an open book. He realized another approach was needed.
"Thanks for the advice," Klaus finally smiled.
"Say what?" Tong Fo looked confused.
Klaus swirled his hands around in a wave like movement.
"Too late to learn kung fu on the fly," Tong Fo got into a fighting stance. "Because when I'm done with you—"
Suddenly, Tong Fo noticed a whirlwind under his feet.
"What?!"
At once, Tong Fo was enveloped in a miniature whirlwind that spun him around and around.
"Aaaaahhh!" Tong Fo cried.
Klaus came in, kicking Tong Fo and sending him skidding across the floor. As Tong Fo got up, Klaus struck him with a powerful blast of wind that sent him crashing into the wall, knocking the breath out of the loris.
In terms of having his hands full, Colin was also at an impasse with Hundun.
"The way you use your horns is nothing short of brilliant," Hundun complimented him, avoiding a swing of his antler blades. "But you don't have my brilliant mind whose radiance and brilliance far outshine you in utter brilliant magnificence!"
Hundun punched Colin in the face, sending him stumbling back.
Colin growled and charged again. This time, Hundun rolled out of the way and took cover behind a pillar.
As Colin went to find him, Hundun emerged from the pillar with his trick horn off. Hundun fired a shot at Colin through his horn.
"Whoa!" Colin narrowly dodged the shot that destroyed a statue behind him.
Hundun took advantage of the distraction and charged, tackling Colin and slamming him back-first into a wall. Hundun began unleashing punch after punch on Colin who took some of the blows but then raised his arms to block the others.
"You're crafty, I'll give you that," Colin conceded.
Colin then dodged, causing Hundun to punch the wall behind Colin, hurting his hand in the process.
"Agh!" cried Hundun.
Colin kicked Hundun away and revealed his crossbow.
"Oh no you don't!" Hundun raised his own horn and opened fire with a second shot.
Colin rolled out of the way as Hundun's shot destroyed the wall behind him and returned fire. The capture net erupted from Colin's weapon and struck Hundun, knocking him down and enveloping his entire body to immobilize him.
"With your creativity you could've used your talents for something greater," Colin glared at Hundun. "But you chose the life of an outlaw."
"Hold still, old lady!" Fung cried as he attacked Rukhmini with a spear.
"Not a chance!" Rukhmini dodged him nimbly.
"I got her!" Gah-ri thrust his spear at her head.
Rukhmini avoided the thrust and grabbed a plate, throwing it at Fung's head, hitting him.
"Darn it!" Fung cried out in pain.
Turning her attention back to Gah-ri, Rukhmini whacked him across the face with her staff, sending him stumbling back.
"She certainly does not play fair!" Gah-ri shook his head.
"You're a pair of goons!" Rukhmini told them. "Why should I go easy on you again?"
Fung and Gah-ri thrust at her with their spears multiple times. Skillfully, Rukhmini dodged the thrusts and even countered some of it with her own staff. At once, the two stabbed at her feet but the old monkey lady leaped up and then stomped down on both spears, trapping them and preventing Fung and Gah-ri from being able to lift their weapons.
"Could you, like, get off?" asked Fung.
"Pretty please?" asked Gah-ri.
"Hmm, let me think," Rukhmini considered. "Okay!"
Rukhmini leaped up and kicked Fung across the face as her tail whipped Gah-ri across the jaw, knocking down both crocs.
"Ha!" Rukhmini laughed.
"Hey!" a loud roar alerted the old monkey.
Rukhmini turned around and saw Li-Dong charging at her.
"Ack!" Rukhmini dodged Li-Dong's massive tail swinging at her. "Nobody told me there was another one!"
Akna, meanwhile, dodged the multiple metal tentacles Taotie threw in her direction.
"It's nothing personal," Taotie told her. "You seem nice and I really don't want to do this."
"Well, then why don't you stop?" Akna asked.
The colorful bird dodged a metal tentacle that destroyed a portion of the wall behind her.
"Well, I'm working for Junjie now," Taotie told her. "Plus you're allied to Po, my sworn enemy and all."
"So can't you unswear him as an enemy?" asked Akna, trying to reason with him.
"He and the Jade Palace humiliated me too many times," Taotie informed her. "It's pretty personal at this point, you know?"
"No, I really don't," Akna revealed the metal hand in her backpack and flew towards Taotie, hoping to get a clear shot.
Akna dodged two arms but a third one struck her and slammed her into a pillar.
"Agh!" Akna cried.
"Well, you know, I could convince Junjie to maybe give Po a cushy cell," Taotie told her. "But there's an offer I want you to think about."
Akna tried to use her metal glove to free herself from Taotie's metal tentacle but his alloy was difficult to dislodge.
"And what's that?" asked Akna, hoping to stall for some time.
Taotie walked closer to her. One of his free metal arms reached in his pocket and handed her a photo.
"Who's that?" asked Akna, looking at the picture and seeing a younger warthog.
"It's my son, Bian Zhao," Taotie told her. "You see, I haven't seen him in a while and I was hoping to set him up with a nice girl and you seem like you'd make a nice wife for him."
"Wait, me and your son?" Akna looked at the photo in disgust.
"So what do you say?" Taotie offered.
"Alright, I've tried to be nice and talk things out with you," Akna replied with some anger in her voice. "But this is a bridge too far!"
Taking advantage of the fact that Taotie was much closer to her, Akna reached inside her clothes and took out a pouch with her wing. Quickly, she undid the pouch and threw its contents right into Taotie's face. Taotie cried in surprise as some hypoallergenic dust was thrown into his face.
"Ack!" Taotie cried.
The warthog fell back, coughing and wheezing, as his metal tentacle let go of Akna.
Akna took out the metal gauntlet in her backpack once more and unloaded a powerful uppercut that struck Taotie in the jaw, knocking him out cold.
"Oh yeah," Akna told him. "And the answer is no. Sorry, your son seems nice but I don't think we'd work out."
"You can't avoid me forever, Junjie!" Po declared as he got closer to the steps.
"He can if I have dibs on you first, my friend!" Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow declared.
The takin attacked Po with his sword but Po avoided it and grabbed Jong, hurling him right onto Dosu, who got squashed by the attack.
Scorpion and Fu-xi attacked next. Both venomous animals struck at Po who avoided both a stinger directed towards his head and a tail whip from the cobra.
Fu-xi came in first, slithering up Po's arm. Using a similar move that Viper once did, Fu-xi wrapped himself tight around Po's arm and forced Po to punch himself a few times.
"Ow!" Po cried. "Ow!"
Scorpion struck at Po with her tail again but Po grabbed a goblet and blocked the hit as Fu-xi continued to force Po to punch himself.
Briefly, Po turned his attention back to Fu-xi and stuffed the goblet right onto his head, enveloping the cobra's entire head, hood and all.
"I can't see!" Fu-xi cried, getting off of Po's arm.
As Scorpion charged Po, Po knocked her back with a sidekick to the underbelly and grabbed Fu-xi by the tail, swinging him around a few times before throwing him into the wall, sending him crashing head-first with the goblet still on his head to render him unconscious.
"Face it Junjie!" Po told him. "You can't keep throwing guys at me forever!"
Mugan was the next to attack, ambushing Po with a strike across the face before leaping into another bowl of water.
"Ow, forgot how hard she could hit," Po muttered.
Fortunately for Po, he wasn't the young, cocky rookie he once was back in the day when Mugan still had his number in a fight.
Mugan leaped out of her bowl and attacked him again but this time, Po grabbed a metal tong from the table and clamped her with both sides of the tong before she could reach him.
"Unhand me!" Mugan demanded.
Po looked out the window and saw a moat filled with water below.
"It's a long way down," Po told her.
"Stop!" Mugan protested. "Do you have any idea how unsanitary that moat water is?!"
"Skadoosh," Po held her out with his tong and let go, dropping her far down into the water below.
"Nooooo!" Mugan cried.
"So Junjie, we gonna do this?" demanded Po.
Both of Pai Mei's hands glowed as he activated his Five Finger Blast Punch. As Po got into a fighting stance, Luthera joined him by his side.
"Need some help?" Wandering Blade offered.
Out of the corner of his eye, Po saw the others wrestling down Li-Dong.
"Won't be a walk in the park but we can take these two," Po told her. "Just watch out for that monkey kung fu master's touch."
"What can he do?" asked Luthera.
"He has a move called the Five Finger Blast Punch," Po told her. "One touch and he can fill your body with his energy and make you explode."
"Sounds dangerous," Luthera remarked. "How did you manage to beat him again?"
"I didn't," Po admitted. "My master was the one who took him down. Pai Mei flattened me in a fight."
"Well, as long as he's not as strong as Zuma or my brother, he should be manageable," Luthera raised her sword.
"Just be careful," Po told her. "Keep him at a distance. Just hit him and move."
Junjie took out a broadsword and attacked Po with it, thrusting the blade at Po's stomach who dodged frantically. In the meantime, Pai Mei launched a kick at Luthera who avoided it and pointed her blade at him.
"Surrender and I'll see to it you'll be treated fairly," Luthera warned.
"Surrender?" Pai Mei snarled. "You've got some nerve making demands of a master! And it's time I made you know your place!"
Luthera swung her sword at Pai Mei multiple times but the monkey was far too fast for her.
"Pathetic," Pai Mei told her.
Wandering Blade brought her sword down at Pai Mei's head but the monkey kung fu master caught her sword between both palms, surprising Luthera.
"What?!" Luthera cried.
In the instant, Luthera's sword went flying. What happened next was so fast that she could barely follow because Pai Mei struck her a dozen times across her body, knocking her to the floor.
"Aaagh!" Blade cried.
Po dodged and weaved as Junjie thrust his sword at him.
"Give it up Junjie!" Po told him. "You can't win this!"
"And what makes you so sure?" Junjie demanded.
The fox kicked Po across the face, sending him stumbling back. Po grabbed a sword of his own from a suit of armor in the hall and blocked Junjie's blade.
"We've done this song and dance before," Po reminded him. "And you never win."
Po flipped Junjie's sword out of his hands. In turn, Junjie struck Po in the stomach with a chi-filled palm strike, knocking Po down and disarming him of his weapon as well.
"You're finished!" Junjie leaped up, coming down at Po with another powerful nerve strike.
Po responded by planting both feet under Junjie before the fox could strike and pushed Junjie into the air. Immediately, Po got up and leaped into the air, striking Junjie with a bicycle kick that knocked the fox into his throne.
As Junjie cleared his head, Po grabbed him and slammed him against the throne again.
"Better give up now, Junjie!" Po told him.
"And why would I do that?" Junjie smiled. "You act as if you have the upper hand!"
Junjie motioned his head to the right. Po turned around.
By this point, Pai Mei had completely outclassed Wandering Blade in a fight and knocked her down with a dropkick to the back and sent her face-first to the floor. Before Blade could get up, Pai Mei leaped onto her chest and raised his hand, activating the Five Finger Blast Punch.
"I'd suggest you stand down now, Po," Junjie told him.
Pai Mei smiled as he saw the look of fear on Luthera's face who realized that the tamarin was far more formidable than she had ever anticipated. While she didn't believe Pai Mei was as powerful as Zuma or her corrupted brother, Luthera was still reeling from just how overwhelming the evil old master really was.
"I…" Po glared at Junjie angrily.
Finally, Po put him down.
"Stay your hand, Master Pai Mei," Junjie told the monkey. "Po made the wise decision."
"How disappointing," Pai Mei turned off his power, glaring at Luthera.
"Oh and did I forget to mention there would be one more guest joining us today?" Junjie looked at Po gleefully.
"Huh?" Po raised an eyebrow.
A powerful fist smashed through the wall behind Junjie's throne, punching Po and sending him crashing to the floor.
Po looked up again. Before him stood yet another formidable figure he had a run-in with in the past. And it was a battle he had narrowly survived and won, in no small part due to some serious luck on his part.
"You!" Po cried.
To be continued.
