The Past, The Future
Morning came as Po was very excited. "Everyone packed and ready?" Po asked checking on the Furious Five. "Let's get a move on!" He entered Tigress's room and threw several suitcases out into the hall, including Tigress. "Oops." Po peeks his out. "Sorry Tigress."
"Gr!" Tigress growled as she got up.
The rest of the Five grabbed her to her back from hitting Po.
"Easy, Tigress." Monkey said to her. "Po's just excited."
They all let her go.
"Let's go." Po grabs her. "We're going to be late for the levitation demo. You can beat me up later Tigress." The Dragon Warrior pats her head. "Make an appointment." He runs down the hall.
"Oh, it's going in the book." Tigress growled. She was really going to beat up him after when they get back. Tigress enters Leo's room and saw Leo's back facing her.
"Gr..." Leo growls and yawned at the same time, stretching his arms.
"Good morning, Leo." Tigress said to him.
Leo turns around and smiled at her. "Good morning, Tigress." Leo said to her. Tigress walks up to him. "I heard Po threw you out of your room a couple seconds ago."
"Yeah." She replied. "I'm going to beat him up after we get back."
"I'll join in too." Leo said. "Only because he threw you out of your room."
"Are you sure you don't want to come to the Levitation Kung Fu Demo with us?"
"I'm sure." Leo crossed his arms. "I asked Master Shifu last night to do more training for today to work on my forms. He said it's okay since you and the others will be out of town for today."
"Alright." Tigress replied. "Where will you be training?"
"The Bamboo Forest outside of town." Leo answered. "I'll be in the forest for the day."
"Good."
"And I was wondering if you and I could go out for dinner tonight." Leo said.
"I think that's a good idea." Tigress smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "We'll go out after we beat up Po when we get back."
"I'm looking forward to it." Leo smiled.
After leaving the Jade Palace, Leo made his way to the bamboo forest. He made it to a good clearing. Leo brought himself a small bag of food and his diamond sword. Now that the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior left town for the day, Leo can begin his training for today. He sets his bag down and drew his weapon. Leo got in his tiger stance and began to slash through the air several times with his weapon.
"Hmph!" Leo grunted as he jumps backwards to land on his hands and push off quickly to land on his feet to deliver back kick, followed by a spinning elbow palm strike. He began to block high, middle and low before jumping back and lunging forward. Leo tosses his sword high in the air. He jumps to roll in the air and caught his sword as he lands on his feet and brought the hilt halfway in front of him.
"Leo?"
Leo turns around to see Panther standing behind him.
"Panther." Leo breathed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just coming back from delivering supplies to a village a couple days ago." Panther answered. "What about you?"
"Doing some training right now." Leo replied.
"How's everyone doing?"
"They're doing fine." Leo replied. "The Furious Five and The Dragon Warrior visiting a kung fu for a levitation demo."
"Why aren't you with them?"
"I wanted to work on my forms."
"I see."
"How is everything in Gongmen City?" Leo asked.
"Everything is fine." Panther said. "They're finishing up the damage that was made by Shen and Sying. Master Ox and Croc are already making plans to restore the tower."
"Good." Leo said.
"Since I'm here with you, I want to join you in your training." Panther said.
"Are you sure? Don't you need to head back to the city?"
"I finished my mission early than I expected." Panther answered. "And besides, we haven't hung or train together the last time we met."
Leo nodded his head in agreement. He allowed Panther to take a few steps back so they can have room to spar. The two warriors spent half of the day to spar and exercise that will help Leo's forms. They had a couple breaks to have meals and that was it. After their second break, Leo and Panther spent the rest of their day meditating without any disturbance.
After they were done meditating, Leo and Panther were sitting next to each other.
"Not bad for today." Leo said as he stretches his arms behind.
"You've gotten better than last time." Panther said.
"Thanks." Leo replied. "Feels nice not to fix the mistakes Po made."
"Ah yes. I did hear the Dragon Warrior did make mistakes." Panther said. "But there is something else I did hear."
"What else did you hear?"
"That you encountered a Ning and massacred an assassin." Panther answered.
Leo turns his head to her. "How the hell did you know that?"
"I met Dr. Fai last month on my way back from a mission I was on." Panther replied. "He told me how you saved those children and killed Hai in cold blood. And when he was dead, you began tearing his flesh while you were on fire."
Leo turns his head away from her and stood up to walk a few steps ahead and stopped with his head lowered. He didn't say anything.
"Your nightmares didn't go away, did they?" Panther asked.
"They haven't." Leo responded. "Ever since..."
"Since the incident several years ago." Panther finished Leo's sentence. "And we both know it wasn't the first time you killed someone at that age."
"Sometimes I think if I really am a bloodthirsty monster and not human." Leo said.
"You're not a bloodthirsty monster, Leo." Panther stands up and walks up to him. "You're a human with special talents." She places her hand on his shoulder. "But I do wish you can talk about these nightmares you're having. Talking about it will make them go away in time."
"But they won't." Leo shakes his head. "The nightmares will never go away. I made a choice to face my nightmares no matter how bad and terrifying it is."
"I'm sure something will help you in the future that can have you stop getting nightmares." Panther said.
"I wouldn't count on it." Leo said.
"When we all came back home, you distance yourself off away from me, our friends and the masters." Panther said. "You don't even hangout with us anymore. We miss hanging out with you."
"You shouldn't." Leo crossed his arms over his chest. "After that last kill, I woke up hearing people calling me a monster. Things became much more difficult for me."
"I know." Panther said. She begins to rubs his shoulder. "You stopped doing Kung Fu with us when we came home. But when we met back in Gongmen City and showed your skills, I was very surprised."
Leo turns her head and gives a small smirk to her.
"Even when you distanced yourself, you would chase those two all over the place." Panther said. "And I kind of figured you were blushing when you went after them."
"I was not blushing at that time!" Leo exclaims, turning his head away from her as his face turned red. "It was a fucking sunburn on my face!"
"Sunburns don't go away when you were embarrassed after that little prank." Panther smirked. "And you were smiling too."
"Ha ha." Leo said sarcastically. "I don't know why they pulled that prank off."
"Who knows." Panther shrugs her shoulders. "Even though they pulled that prank off, it was nice to see you hanging out with the rest of us from time to time."
"If you ask me, it was a good running exercise for me." Leo said. "I'm glad they were punished for that prank."
"Same." Panther said. "All of us were happy to see you happy. Do you remember when we first met as kids?"
"How could I forget that?" Leo asked, turning his head to her. "Master Lee wanted you two to give me a tour around The Monastery."
"The three of us grew very close." Panther said.
"After she passed away, I continued to train harder to become strong that I won't lose anyone."
"I know." Panther nodded. "You would train through the holidays alone every year. Even when we were teenagers."
"But a lot of stuff happened in our teenage years too." Leo said. "There were good times and bad times."
"Yeah." Panther said.
"I wonder how the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five is doing with their levitation." Leo wondered.
"I think they're doing good." Panther said. "Imagine human kung fu masters flying through the air."
"That would be interesting." Leo replied.
"I was reading a scroll the other day." Panther said to him. "A lot of kung fu masters can fly in this world after years of meditation. I'd be surprised if we had a human kung fu master fly in our world."
"No matter how hard a kung fu master can train, no human can fly." Leo said. "It can't be done."
"Who knows." Panther said. "But there's something you should know."
"About what?"
"You shouldn't dwell on the past of what you did." Panther said. "You should focus on the what the future will bring. And the nightmares will go away."
Leo said nothing.
"I have to get going, Leo." Panther said. "It was good to see you again.
"It was good to see you again as well, Panther." Leo said. "You should come and visit the Valley Of Peace when you're around here."
"I like that." Panther smiled. "Tell the others I said hi."
"I will." Leo nodded.
Panther removes her hand from his shoulder and walks away as Leo watched her.
Leo heads back to the village. He looks up to see Crane landing next to him.
"Hey Leo." Crane greeted him.
"Hi Crane. I take it that everyone had a good time with the levitation demo?" Leo asked.
"Yeah." Crane replied. "The rest of the Furious Five had a good time except me."
"I can see why you were least excited." Leo said as the two warriors began to walk. "But I bet Po had a great time."
"Actually, Po never came to the levitation demo." Crane replied.
"What?" Leo looks at the avian. "He never went to the levitation demo?"
"No." Crane answered. "I was wondering why so I'm headed to the noodle shop to ask him. Want to come?"
"No thanks, Crane." Leo said. "I have to get ready for dinner with Tigress tonight."
"That's nice." Crane said. "You two haven't been out to dinner together for a couple months now."
"So now is the perfect time." Leo said as they arrived at the noodle shop. "I'll see you and the rest of the others tonight."
Crane nodded his head and entered the noodle shop.
As Leo entered the Hall Of Heroes, he saw several pieces of metal all over the floor, and several holes that was leading away from the center of hall. "What the hell happened here?" Leo wondered. He turns around with his hand reaching for his weapon when he heard footsteps. But the young man stops to draw his sword when he saw Master Shifu. "Master Shifu? What happened in here?"
"Temutai attacked the Jade Palace and trapped me in a Qidan Bell trap." Shifu explained. "He went after the Helmet of the Invincible Thunder Kick. But Po defeated Temutai."
"I thought Po left for that demonstration demo." Leo said.
"I thought so too." Shifu said. "When Po returned back to the Jade Palace, he had help from Mr. Ping, Mrs. Gao and Mr. Yang."
"I don't think I met Mr. Yang and Mrs. Gao, Shifu." Leo said. "But after hearing that, I should meet those two when I get the chance."
"That would be a good idea." Shifu said. "Are you going to join the Furious Five with their levitation since you finished training today?"
"No I won't, Master Shifu." Leo said. "Tigress and I will be going out to dinner for tonight."
"Alright."
Leo heads back to the student barracks to prepare for tonight. But on his way back, he heard someone's footsteps. Leo turns his head around and sees no one there. Shaking his head, Leo continues walking to the barracks. And when he entered his room, Kaira spoke as she appeared from behind the gate.
"Someone was here." Kaira from behind the gate.
"Probably Zeng." Leo said.
"You wish it was fucking him." Kaira snarled. "Hm? Gr! Leo, there's someone at the Dragon Grotto!"
Leo found himself back in his room. He dashes out of his room very quickly as a question came in his mind. Who was at the Dragon Grotto right now? Leo made it the Dragon Grotto. No one was there but him.
"Is someone here?" Leo called out.
No answer. Only silence. He approached the edge and kneels down to see anything out of place at the entrance. But when he turns around, Leo felt a powerful punch to his face that sent him flying to the dragon statue's mouth and fell into the water. His vision was blurry as he could not see the person who punched him. He heard the sound of footsteps running. Leo quickly got out of the water and followed the footsteps.
The chase led on to the Sacred Pool Of Tears as nighttime came. Leo saw the person. The person was wearing a black armored suit. There were silver spikes at the elbow and the black gauntlets with a white sash horizontally from the left shoulder. The person was wearing a black armored dragon mask with two short horns on each side and two curve horns on the top.
"So we meet again, Leo." the person said. "I do hope you remember me, but if you don't, then that's disappointing."
"Why should I forget you, Enya?" Leo growled. "Last time we fought, you fell into that dark abyss. How the hell are you still alive?"
"You know the answer to that, Leo." Enya said. "I'm not going to tell you how I survived."
"Then I'll beat it out of you then!" Leo snarled, getting into his tiger stance.
"Can you now?" Enya asked.
Not wasting even a second, Leo charges at her with a flying sidekick. Enya quickly dodges the attack. She caught his fist before punching his arm to the ground.
"Gr!" Leo growled as he was forced to kneel down. He slams his head against the mask that stunned her for a moment. The two warriors engaged in hand-to hand close combat. Enya pushes one of his fist and dodge Leo's punches.
Leo threw in a few kicks, but his kicks missed his target. He threw a hook punch to her and she caught it. She delivered to two kicks to his stomach and a powerful elbow smash to the arm before throwing him into the stone pillar. Enya didn't waste time to draw her twin steel blades and dove to thrust the weapons in Leo. He quickly caught the blade with both hands as the blades cuts his palms.
"Gr!" Leo growled.
"Not bad, but not good." Enya said, giving him a knee strike to the stomach.
"Gah!" Leo grunted as he fell to his knees.
"You must've gotten a little bit sloppy." Enya said, taking two steps back. "Perhaps I should go after your new friends or Panther. I bet they'll give a tough challenge before I kill them."
"No!" Leo yelled, delivering a palm strike to her stomach. His palm strike sent her flying across a couple feet away. "I won't let you near any of them!"
"Can you now?" Enya asked as she slowly stood up. "I don't think you're in position to stop me."
"Gr!" Leo growled at her. "I'll stop you here and now!" He quickly ran towards her and tackled her to the ground.
But Enya kicks him back several feet and started to run. Leo chased after her in the bamboo forest. She dodges and ducks from Leo's attacks. "Is this all you can do?" Enya taunted him. "Because I think you're beginning to be a bit sloppy. Even if you did improve, you can't control yourself. Maybe that's why you have failed to save him from his sacrifice."
"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BITCH!" Leo roared. He quickly charges at her with a double palm strike to the stomach, catching her off guard. Leo didn't give her a chance to block, not even for a minute.
"Gah!" She grunted as his kick sent her flying several feet away.
Leo lunges at Enya and slams her into a tree trunk before giving her a headbutt, stunning her. He grabs her kick and spun her around once before throwing her.
Enya grunted as hits the ground, rolling several more feet away. Leo landed several feet away from her, snarling.
"Good form." Enya said, getting up looking at him. "But not excellent. We'll meet again, Leo." She turns around and walks around the tree.
Snarling and growling, Leo ran to the other side, only to see Enya disappeared. "Argh!" Leo yelled in frustration, punching the tree in anger. He turns around and heads back to the Pool Of Sacred Tears.
Arriving to the pool, Leo kneels down to look at his reflection on the water's surface. He had that same angry look when he and the prince fought one last time. His anger began to fade as each breath he took shaken. Blood ran down his palm and fingers. Leo slowly stands up and jumps onto stone pillar, crossing his arms over his chest and wondering how Enya survived her fall.
"How the hell did she survived?" Leo thought. "I shouldn't let Shifu, Po, The Five and Tigress know about this. Enya is strong and I'll need to train much harder. It's too late for me to think about this and I missed dinner with Tigress. I'll just grab something from the dining room."
Leo entered the dining room after washing his hands and covering them bandages. He made a small plate of tofu and a cup of tea. After dinner and taking a bath, Leo went to his room and laid down in bed. He knew that the Furious Five wouldn't be back for a few more days and that will give him plenty of time when they return and to figure out how did Enya returned. Leo will find a way to bring Enya down in the future.
This chapter was good to work on. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review because the next is going to get really interesting!