Author's Note: This chapter took me some time to work out here. There were a few ideas I did like I put in this chapter. I did have other ideas I wanted to have in this chapter, but after thinking about it, I decided to save those other ideas for later on. I don't want to put all my ideas in a single chapter. It'd be way too long to do it.
So I just come up with whatever that comes up in my brain and work on it. I know that Leo's incident was mentioned in the previous chapters of this story into bits and believe this is perfect. It is the perfect opportunity. The Hunger Game episode did provide the perfect opportunity for me to add several new ideas in this chapter and give some characters a chance to appear in this chapter since they were only mentioned back in the previous chapters I wrote. Now, to talk about the rest of the episodes.
Like Season Two, a couple of the episodes are out of order when they were released in different countries of the world. I'll be sticking what I did in the previous chapters. I really don't understand why they were out of order in the first place when they were released. It's really fucking stupid. And as for some of the other episodes, this gives me more ideas for the future chapters of this story, depending on how long I want the chapter to be and the ideas I cook up with.
Now, without further ado, everyone, it's time to continue on with the story! So, enjoy the chapter, everyone!
The Hunger Game Of Control
One week later, the food in the Valley Of Peace was being stolen. They haven't eaten anything for one week. Shifu sent his students to investigate who is stealing food from the village. Po and The Furious Five went out in pairs to search different areas of the village as Leo went by himself. He approached Apple Cart Duck and Mrs. Yun at the Apple cart.
"Oh, hello Leo." The duck said to the human.
"Hello. The Dragon Warrior, The Furious Five and myself has been dispatched by Master Shifu to find who is stealing all the food from the village this week." Leo said to him.
"Thank you, Leo. Have you come by to check up on the cart?"
"You're on the top of my list to investigate." Leo replied. He stared investigating the cart from top to bottom. Leo carefully scanned the cart. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary yet. Then he notices some plum sauce on the cart and small footprints.
"What did you find?" Mrs. Yun asks him.
"Plum sauce and small footprints than anyone here in the valley." Leo replied. "And a seed of an apple on the wheel. Looks like food bandits are stealing the food."
"Oh my." Mrs. Yun gasps.
"And I believe the village have a rat problem." Leo stands up.
"What should we do?"
"For now, save any food that you have for now. It should at help every villager here." Leo responded before walking away.
A few hours later, Leo was heading to Mr. Ping's noodle restaurant after meeting up with the others. They came across similar footprints just like Leo and believes the same thing. Most of the villager's plates were stolen along with their food. Who else could leave a small footprint like that? The young man enters restaurant.
There wasn't much customers today and there was only at least four. He walks in the kitchen to see Mr. Ping and Po throwing out some empty bags from the cellar.
"I see the rats got to your food again, Mr. Ping." Leo said.
"I know." Mr. Ping put the empty bag in a small basket. "I had them all locked up in the cellar last night and those rats picked the lock and made off with the food. And I thought it was Po last night having a midnight snack."
"Dad." Po moaned.
"Hm." Leo runs his chin.
Leo and Po entered the Hall Of Heroes where The Furious Five and Shifu were waiting for them.
"It seems we have a rat problem." Shifu said after he heard the news.
"Agreed, Master." Leo nodded.
"If the villagers food gets stolen again, then I will come up with a short-term solution to our problems."
"Do you think wild rats came from the human world?" Monkey wondered, looking at Leo.
"Not possible. The rats in my world would run from danger." Leo shook his head.
"We'll just call food bandits for now until we know it's rats." Crane said.
"And what about the food we have?" Mantis pointed out.
"I think we should go hungry as well seeing how we only got one bag of rice left." Viper suggested.
The warriors agreed to go hungry as well with the villagers. Leo heard The Dragon Warrior's stomach growling loudly.
"Seven grains of rice?! Seven?!" Po complains. "That's worse than none."
"If the villagers go hungry, we will need to be hungry as well." Leo looks at him.
"When I agreed to that, I thought it meant hungry, not hungry!"
"I'm sorry, Po." Viper frowns at him. "But until we catch the food bandits and end this famine, seven grains is all the rice you get." She notices the panda was drooling. "You're seeing me as a giant noodle again, aren't you?"
"Sorry, Viper. I just need food!"
"We all need food, Po." Crane said to him.
"I don't know what you're complaining about, but I am stuffed." Mantis smiled, before tossing a grain of rice in his mouth. Everyone, but Leo, glares at him. "What, rice stuck in my teeth?"
Po growls and was about to lunge at Mantis until Leo grabs him by the shoulders.
"If you're that hungry, Po, I'll give you an extra grain from plate." Leo places grain on Po's plate. He pushes his plate to the center of the table. "The rest of you can have my grains of rice as well."
"Are you sure about that, Leo?" Viper looks at him. "You haven't eaten anything this week since the bandits started stealing the village's food."
"I'll be fine without the food." Leo assures the green snake. "You guys need it more than I do."
"If you say so." Monkey tone sounded unsure as they took a grain from Leo's plate.
"Everyone, come with me." Shifu said from the entrance of the kitchen.
As Leo was walking behind Po, he smelled something familiar and stops in the doorway. The young man knew it smells like blood. He turns around to look back at the kitchen. Was someone in here with them bleeding? Leo started looking around.
There was no blood in the kitchen. Or a blood stain. But he could still smell it. It has to be coming from somewhere. Leo believes it was someone in here using technology to make themself invisible. But when he turns around, the human saw a Monkey with a dislocated shoulder while blood was running down his arm from a gaping hole.
"Leo?"
Leo blinks for a second and saw Monkey was normal and he wasn't bleeding.
"Are you okay?"
"My apologies. I thought I heard something cracked in here."
"Don't worry about it. Come on, the others are waiting for you." Monkey said as he left the kitchen with Leo.
The two warriors caught up to them on the staircase right outside the student barracks.
"If this keeps up for any longer, the villagers won't last." Shifu tells them.
"Do you have any idea who's behind this, Master Shifu?" Tigress asks the small red panda.
"No, I don't." Shifu frowned. "But we have a short-term solution to the Valley's... problem." He notices Po was looking at him while sniffing and drooling. "You're seeing me as a giant rice ball again, aren't you?"
"Uh. A devilishly handsome giant rice ball." Po gulps.
"There is a newcomer named Madame Zhou. She is sending a shipment of rice to the village today. I'm sending all of you to protect that rice."
"By eating it." The Dragon Warrior started imagining eating all that rice. "So no one co-" Everyone started glaring at the giant panda. "I'm open to suggestions."
"Try not get eaten by Saber because we're all meat to her." Leo suggested to him. He remembered Tigress eating pork the first night they went out together. The human was surprised that the people in this world eat meat as well like the human race.
There were some people in his world that would eat something bizarre in specific locations around the world. Leo had been to several of those places before. The others listened to Leo's suggestion and left for Madame Zhou's place. Leo had also tell them he'll stay a few feet behind to watch the rear. They were walking in the bamboo forest and they had to stop for Po for every boulder that they passed.
"Come on, Po. If you keep licking at every rock we walk by, we'll never get to Madame Zhou." Monkey calls to him.
"It's the next best thing to eat." Po looks over his shoulder and looks back at the rock that was covered a little in grass.
Leo rolls his eyes as the panda licks the rock.
"Bleh!" Po made a disgusting face. "And it's not one of those rocks." The Dragon Warrior rejoins The Furious Five as Leo stayed behind a few feet away from them.
They arrived in a large wide open clearing. There was a large red palace located on a large hill.
"Check out that palace!" Po smiled. "Madame Zhou must be richer than lychee nut pudding in a brown sugar demiglace."
"We get it, Po, you're hungry." Crane said a little annoyed. Then he heard a stomach growled. "Po."
"That wasn't me, Crane." Po said.
The avian turns around to Leo.
"My apologies, Crane." Leo apologizes to him.
"Don't worry about it, Leo. It was nice that you gave up your rice for us, but you need food like the rest of us." Crane said.
The students walks up to the door and notices it was open. Leo moves past them and enters the palace. There were several carts full with bags of rice. He notices a brown and tan gazelle, who was wearing a gray robe with flowers walking to them.
"Oh, company." She smiled and approached the Furious Five. "Welcome, welcome, welcome. I am Madame Zhou. It's so nice to see new faces around here. I do get so lonely out here on my own." She bows to them and walks over to the Dragon Warrior. "You must be the mighty Dragon Warrior, the sole protector of the Valley Of Peace."
Leo watched her hugs the Dragon Warrior.
"Uh thanks." Po smiles sheepishly and moves her arms away. "But not really the sole protector. I have the Furious Five and Leo to help protect the Valley Of Peace from all kinds of dangers."
"The human?" Zhou notices the human standing in between the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five. "Oh my." The gazelle walks over and started to inspect the human. "Amazing. You don't have fur at all except your head up here." She started rubbing his head. "It's such an honor to be in your presence."
Leo smack her hoof away lightly.
"Would you like to see portraits of my grandchildren?" Zhou asks them.
"I'm afraid we can't stay, Madame Zhou. We came here to pick up your rice to deliver it to the village."
"Oh, but don't go." Madame Zhou grabs Po's arm and the two walks by his friends. "I went through all this trouble of making lunch for you all if you haven't eaten yet."
There was a table of dumplings, bean buns, bowls of noodles, some drinks, mooncakes, and egg rolls.
Po gasps in excitement. "I just realized my eyes are hungry too!" He rushes over to the table and Mantis hops on his right shoulder to stop him.
"Po, Honor demands that we shouldn't eat while the village starves." Mantis said to him.
"Honor demands that I not starve when my stomach eats."
"That..." Mantis facepalms. "...makes no sense at all."
"You're right. I must be delirious." Po said. "I just need to eat something so I can think straight." Mantis hops off of Po's shoulder and landed on the humans head to watch Po jump onto the table. But the food moved and Po hits the ground while knocking over the table.
"Rats." Tigress sneered.
"I know I was close, but-"
"No, Po. Rats!" Monkey ran up to the feline's side and pointed at rats who was wearing dark blue pants.
The rats stops and turns to them. One of them wagged a tail, causing the panda to shudder. An obese rat with dark and white brown fur with a blue robe that hung from his waist with blue pants walks to them with a dumpling and a mallet.
"The Warriors of The Jade Palace. How very whimsical." He places the dumpling on the ground and sits on it. "What's wrong, chunky panda? Are you hungry?"
"Look buddy, I've already began losing two pounds since this whole thing started." Po frowns at him.
"You're the thieves who's been stealing food from the village!" Tigress points at the rat.
"And you're the ones who going to try and stop me." The obese rat spins around on the dumpling. "Try and stop me!"
Po watched the rat smash the dumpling and the fillings landed on his face. He gasps in horror. "No one hurts food on my watch!"
As Po started to fight against the leader, Leo had fired several beams from his forehead to the rats. The explosion sent the rats against the wall. He lands in front of them and spreads his fiery wings to trap them with no way out.
"Take a look, rat boy. Your brothers has already given up." Po smirks at the rat.
"Well that's true. But it's a good thing I have sisters!" the rat leader started laughing.
Everyone looks up to the top of the walls to see more rats. Leo had to dodge some female rats, allowing the rat brothers escape. Tigress was sent flying into a cart of rice. Mantis grabbed a chopstick and whacks a rat as Po joins the fray. Viper uses her body to coil two rats. Three rats threw some plates at Monkey. The golden snub-nosed monkey caught the plates and threw them back. Crane caught the two rats and knocks them out.
Leo caught two rats that was about to go down his pants and threw the pair against the other rats. He flew several feet above the ground and fired several beams rapidly at the rats fleeing with the food through a hole in the wall.
"You-" the rat leader was saying but quickly flee into the hole from Leo's beam.
Leo lands near the hole and looks inside before firing one last beam inside. He could hear several rats crying out in pain from his last attack. "Fucking rats." Leo sneered. He walks back to the others.
Tigress watch Madame Zhou jumps into Po's arms. "Oh, you saved me from that awful rat. Thank you, thank you!"
"You're really lonely out here, huh?" Po asked her.
"They took the rice!" Mantis calls to Po, Tigress and Madame Zhou. He was right. All the bags of rice was stolen by the rats.
Po sets her down. "This is so dreadful. I'm sorry you all came this way for nothing." The gazelle apologizes to them. "I'll have another province send more bags of rice."
"Many thanks, Madame Zhao." Tigress thanks her as the warriors bows their heads to them. "Come on. We need to tell Master Shifu about those rats."
Leo followed The Furious Five out the door as Po followed Crane.
It was already nighttime as the students made it back to the Jade Palace. Tigress explains what happened.
"Hm." Shifu sighs. "The rats you faced are called The Lao Shu."
The Furious Five gasps except Po. Leo folded his arms.
"The Lao Shu are a band of renegades that number in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands. Their leader is Ju-Long. He is as deadly as he is unbalanced. Money means nothing to him. He inflicts suffering and chaos just for the fun of it while he is usually successful at causing both." Shifu explains to them. "These villains are unlike any you have faced. All of you need to rest tonight. Tomorrow, we train."
"As you wish, Master Shifu." Leo bows his head. The Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five watched their master retires to his room before leaving the hall.
Viper notices Leo hasn't moved from his spot. The green snake tilted her head a bit and slithers up besides him. "Leo?" She saw he looks pale. Viper taps his arm and the human inhale sharply and looks at Viper. "Leo, you look pale. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Leo replied. "Come on."
The two warriors left the hall and walks back to the student barracks.
Leo was moving a little in his sleep. "N-no..." he mumbles in his sleep. The human felt like he was falling in a void of dark nothingness. His back hits the hard floor. Leo groans a little and sat up. Gunshots was being fired from somewhere and it sounded close. Leo got up from the floor and rushes into the hall. He saw several soldiers being killed by the fiery figure at the end of the hall in another room. An injured soldier was trying to crawl away from the fiery teenage boy. He took out his pistol, but it was knocked out of the soldier's hand, and he caught on fire screaming in pain and agony.
Those two damn songs have never changed. But the scene has changed to the outside underneath the dark sky of the night. Leo stood outside of the base on the landing platform. The young teenager held the soldier by the neck with one hand as the soldier's feet wasn't touching the ground.
"Ple-please...!" The soldier begged as he struggles to breathe.
Leo responded with a vicious and furious growl at the injured soldier. The platform began shaking. The base is self-destructing and started exploding. Leo felt the platform shaking violently underneath his feet. He nearly lost his footing and threw the injured soldier off the platform to his death. Leo spots Sying's helicopter in the air fleeing from the hidden mountain base. The base factory exploded.
"Ggrrrrr!" Leo roars in pain as he was sent flying in the cold air of the night. His body landed into the rushing snow. The teenager could feel the cold rushing snow all over his body. Even the weight was dragging him down deeper and deeper into ice cold snow. Leo kept on fighting against the snow.
Several hours later, the hidden base was completely destroyed. It was covered in a blanket of white snow. There were broken machine pieces on the surface of the snow and underneath. No signs of a human body can be seen anywhere. All of a sudden, the snow exploded.
"RRRROOAARR!" Leo roars furiously as he bursts out of the snow. He was covered in blood from head to toe as his clothes were ripped and torn apart. The fiery flames that covered him disappeared completely. Leo started walking slowly gripping his side. He walked about five feet as he couldn't take another step.
Leo collapsed sideway on the snow. There was the sound of a deep growl nearby. He could feel something breathing heavily on him. Whatever it was disappeared into the blizzard and he heard two dogs barking followed by a voice before he went unconscious.
The scene changed as Leo found himself standing in the room where Kaira was watching him from behind the gate. He sensed someone behind him and turns around to see his demonic side emitting a dark malicious crimson red aura around him. The fire around him was dim. He was wearing the exact same clothes as Leo. The only difference was the dark crimson red eyes.
"I'm surprised that you resisted the urge to kill the rats today." It spoke.
"Is this your doing, Kaira?" Leo looks over his shoulder.
"No, it's not me, little human." Kaira said, eyeing the demonic version of Leo.
Leo turns back at his demon self. "I know clearly that you are myself from five years ago."
"That didn't take you long. I am you, Leo. The Bloodthirsty Monster."
"Only because I have the same damn fucking nightmares in the past five years."
"That is because of that damned bastard prince murdered our parents so many years ago. I wanted him dead that night but he escaped from me. I killed his soldiers that night on the mountain. Tearing the flesh, blood being spilt all over the place and crushing their bones. Those soldiers deserved to die." It smiles to show off its sharp white teeth.
"I know." Leo replied.
"But I am still wondering how the fucking hell you ended up in here." It pointed a finger at Kaira.
"I told him I don't remember how I got inside his mind." Kaira sits up and glares at it.
"Have it your way then." It snarls at her before looking back at Leo. "You, however, won't control yourself if you satisfy your hunger. I do miss the sound of bones breaking. The geese or the pigs in the village would've made a decent meal."
"That's not going to happen." Leo glares at it.
It lets out a dark chuckle. "Oh really? You were feeling satisfied eating the assassin's corpse. Before those people calm you down by throwing water at you. You killed that damn bastard of prince after he told you he was going to rape your mother that night."
Leo started growling softly.
"But I'm just getting to the good part. You killed that woman five years ago when the whole world saw what you done that night. There was blood all over you. Blood was running down your chin as you ate her flesh and drank her blood like an uncontrollable monster while on two legs or four. So, can you try to control yourself while all this delicious food is walking? Or will you lose to control yourself and devour these people?" It smirks at him before disappearing.
Leo had said nothing. It did have a point how did Kaira ended up inside his mind. Along with a few others.
"Hm." Kaira sighs as she lowers her head to the floor.
Leo and Kaira looks briefly at each other for a moment before Leo left the room.
Earlier the next morning, Leo opens his eyes and looks at the time. It was five forty-five in the morning right now. There was only fifteen minutes left until the morning gong ring. He sits up and stretches his arms and legs. After the nightmare was over, Leo knew that demonic version of himself was not a dream or a vision. It was real just like Kaira.
Fifteen minutes later, Leo moved and open his door with the rest of the warriors.
"Good morning, Master." They greeted the senior panda with their arms and tail behind their backs.
"Good morning students." He greeted them. "Proceed to the Training Hall to begin today's training."
Everyone left the barracks and proceeded to the Training Hall. As they were training, Shifu sees Tigress and Monkey grunting weakly because their hunger.
"All of you must fight through the hunger." Shifu tells them as he walks in between the Five and watched. "More rice was stolen last night. The Lao-Shu doesn't care that you're hungry and neither should... you."
The senior panda became shocked. Po was focused punching and kicking the clubs that was coming his way. He turns around to see Tigress and Viper not training. Shifu follows their directions they were staring at and saw Leo was much more focused than the others. He was taking on the wooden warriors, but there was something a little strange about him. He was blocking the arms that was spinning around at him. Leo caught the spinning arm with both of his hands.
The senior panda watch Leo was about to bite the arm and the human stops halfway. He lets out a soft growl before punching the wooden head that knocks over the wooden warrior. Leo sets it back up before walking over to the Fiery Field Of Death. The human's face was a little pale and he shook his head a bit. "Justice, never vengeance." Shifu heard him say it.
Leo waited for the fire to subside and let the machine to cool off. He sat down in a lotus position. Shifu thought Leo was worry about something, but the master saw fear and regret in those eyes. He walks over to the human and places a hand on the human's arm. The human sharply turns his head as his body became tense of whoever or whatever touched him.
"I saw you were about to bite the arm of the wooden warrior, Leo. Is there something bothering you?" Shifu asked, gesturing one of his paws while raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing is bothering me, Master Shifu. I assure you."
"Are you sure? Your face is pale and...hungry." Shifu heard the human's stomach growling. "Viper tells me you have given your grains of rice yesterday to them during lunch. Why?"
"I wasn't hungry, Master Shifu. They need it more than I do. I won't eat until we stop those rats."
"But Leo, you need to eat like the rest of us."
"I'll be fine, Master Shifu. You don't have to worry about me."
Shifu nodded and walks back to the other warriors. He looks back at Leo and lets out a quiet sigh.
When training was over, Leo went to the library to resume his search for answers about the White Tail Tigress. He kept rereading the scrolls that he read. Leo believes that the answers are hidden in the scrolls and they're very well hidden. After spending a couple of hours in the library, he heads over to the Peach Tree Hill to meditate. The lunch gong rang an hour later and Leo ignored it. Leo went for a walk around the palace.
Later on that evening, Leo was training alone in the palace arena. He hasn't smell any blood. And Leo knew Monkey wasn't injured. So what was that about? Leo ignored his stomach growling and went to the student barracks to get some rest for tomorrow's training. But as always, the nightmares began.
For the next three days, Leo has skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner. He made sure to keep himself busy by doing training and meditating. But when they train, Leo sees Viper with a broken tail on day one, Crane with his feathers ripped and cover in blood on day two and day three was here he saw Po injured and placing his paws on the bloody hole in his chest. But it never happened as Leo believes it must've been his imagination. Leo knew he getting hungry and his stomach growled, but he ignored it.
The next day, they were all standing in the Hall Of Heroes. Shifu was standing in front of a map. "I have located the last rice storehouse in the Valley Of Peace. No doubt Ju Long..." he was saying but can hear Po scatting happily. "Panda!"
The Dragon Warrior stops scatting a beat and walks up besides Monkey.
"Stakeout the storehouse and catch the Lou Shu in the act. Meetup at seven o'clock tonight." Shifu said.
"I'll head over to the storehouse now in case those rats strike early." Leo folded his arms over his chest.
"Very well, Leo. But are you sure? You look pale today and this is the fourth time this week." Shifu looks at the human with concern.
"And you haven't eaten too in a week and a half, man." Mantis pointed out.
Leo shook his head a bit. "I told all of you already, I'm fine. I went a day without food when I trained with Master Ju Fen. I was prepared for something like this."
"Alright then." Shifu nodded.
Leo bows to his master and walks away with the Furious Five.
"Uh, seven?" Po asked nervously.
"Yes. Do you have somewhere to be at seven?" Shifu looks at him.
"No, of course not, I just wanna be prompt. Prompt Po that's-that's what they call me."
"No one calls you that." Tigress looks at him.
"It seems that you are getting better to deal with your hunger, panda."
"Uhh yeah, I took it to a you know brain level, it's-it's like I'm not even hungry anymore."
"I'm proud of you, panda. You have finally mastered your implosives instead of them letting master you. Well done." Shifu smiles at him.
"Th-thanks."
"Even Leo was prepared for something like this." Tigress approached them both. "But he did gave us odd looks during the middle of last week."
"Hm." Shifu frowns at this. "Keep an eye on him, Tigress."
Leo had found the rice storehouse. He began to patrol outside around the building and went inside. When he went inside, it was quiet. The young man waited inside for several hours until the Furious Five arrived. An hour later they waited as it got dark out.
"It's already eight o'clock right now and there's no sign of Ju-Long." Viper said to them.
"Or Prompt Po." Crane added.
"I can't believe he let the villagers down like this." Mantis said.
"I bet he's doing something important right now." Monkey suggested.
"Forget about Po and stay alert. We can't let Ju-Long get the drop on us." Tigress said.
"Oospy Daisy, too late." Ju-Long said from above them. He was looking down at them from the floor above. "But hey, at least we get to spend some quality time together! Ha ha!"
The Lou Shu starts running from the ceiling above as the Five brace themselves.
Leo lets out a growl and jumps to the floor above The Furious Five. Viper slithers after several rats could her body around them. Monkey used a rake to stop a few rats. Crane used an empty box to kick at the rats, but several of them dodge threw an empty wooden bucket at the avian's face. Mantis was helping out Tigress to protect the bags of rice from a lot of rats. Mantis dodges a kick from a rat and kicks the rat across the face and pushed the rat into a couple rats. Tigress had to swat away a wave of rats and another wave of rats. The Furious Five became overwhelmed.
On the floor above them, Leo was fighting against Ju-Long and several rats. He saw four rats flying towards him and leans to the side to dodge them and caught their tails with his teeth. The four rats were yelling in pain as Leo was biting their tails hard. Ju-Long laughed madly as his brothers and sisters started to overwhelm the human. But then blood was squirted all over him and there was painful screams.
The Furious Five stops fighting and looks up confused.
"What the hell?" Mantis wondered.
Seven rats were thrown in front of Ju-Long. They were bleeding badly and missing their missing tails landed besides them. He looks up to see the human extremely angry and hungry. "Retreat! We already got the rice!"
The Lao Shu started retreating. Leo kept biting off the tails to make several rats scream in pain. A few rats pushed him over and lands on the Furious Five with his back. He got off of Tigress and ran over to the Lao Shu escaping with the last of the rice through a hole in the wall. Leo growls softly and looks at his shoulder that was bleeding a bit. "Damn bastards."
The next morning, Shifu was tending to the Furious Five's injuries. The senior red panda was going to fix the human's injuries, but Leo insisted to take a look at the Furious Five first before him.
"Guys, what happened to you?" Po enters the kitchen.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Tigress asks him angrily.
"I think I got my storehouses mixed up and I-" Po was saying until he a grain of rice on his chest. He started to slurp it off his chest, leading Shifu and the Five disturbed. He brushes it off his chest. "Okay, I went to Madame Zhou's, but it's not what you think. She's all alone out there, and I went to keep her company."
"Out of the kindness of your heart?" Shifu asked him.
"Yes!"
"And not to stuff your face with food?"
"Did I eat? I'm not sure if food had actually touch my-"
"Palm sauce on your elbow." Shifu started inspecting the Dragon Warrior's body. "Bean paste on your chin and there is a dumping on your foot."
Leo watches Mantis jumps near Po's foot. There was dumpling on the panda's foot.
"Damn dude, seriously. You eat like a bear!" Mantis exclaims and hops back onto the table.
"So you ate while the village starved and your friends were attacked?" Shifu frowns at him.
Po looks down.
"Did you at least have the decency to bring back some food?" Tigress questions him.
"Sure I did." Po lifts his foot. "Anyone want a foot dumpling?"
"Dude!" Mantis exclaims angrily.
The Furious Five got up from the table and walks away angrily and grumbling on the way out.
"Guys!" Po calls out to them but he was ignored and looks down at Master Shifu started to walk away as well. "Master-"
Shifu whips around to him. "Everywhere you go missing, the Lao Shu raid our rice stores!" He scowls at him.
"But Master I-"
"Because of your selfishness, Ju-Long stole the last of the food. Hunger is the new master of the Valley Of Peace." Shifu tosses a dumpling into Po's mouth and the panda started chewing but scrunches his cheeks sheepishly. Shifu looks at disappointed. "You're still a prisoner of your impulses, Po!"
Leo watched the senior panda pokes the panda's belly twice with his stick.
"Until you know and accept your weaknesses, selfishness will remain your master." Shifu finished.
Po watched him walks away and looks down in ashamed and shallow. He looks over to see Leo glaring at him. The young man had some blood on his chin. Leo lets out a quiet moan as he brought a hand to his head. He shook his head bit.
"No..." Po heard him in a low voice. The panda can see the human's face became pale. Po approaches him. "Leo?" Po was about to place a hand on the human's shoulder, but the human looks at the panda and backs away from him, looking a little... afraid?
Leo quickly left the kitchen and went back to his room to grab the diamond sword. He left the Jade Palace after leaving a note and lands in the canyon. There was no one around here which was good. He thought he saw the senior panda and the warriors bleeding in front of him with bite marks, but thankfully it wasn't real.
But because of his hunger and those false images he saw in the past several days, the nightmares have been slowly increasing and getting worse. It made him toss and turn in his sleep. And seeing those false bloody images of the warriors of the Jade Palace was not very helpful. He couldn't let it out. It's the reason why he left the Tao Palace in the first place.
As Leo was thinking, he heard a strong roar and painful yelling. He ran over close to the edge of the cliff and looks down. There was nothing at the bottom. Leo climbs down all the way to the bottom. He heard the painful yelling and roars coming a few feet away. Leo saw the silhouette of a big shadow tiger on the wall. He hides behind a boulder and took a peek.
There was two bandits, a pig and a water buffalo, seriously injured. Saber stood tall over the two injured bandits. Leo watched Saber was about to devour the two bandits. He quickly hops over the boulder and fires a beam to her front paws, making her jump backwards and growls angrily when she saw him. "Hmph!" Leo got into a fighting stance.
"Groar!" Saber snarls at him before turning around and running off.
Leo runs over to the two injured bandits. He checks the pulses. Both of them were dead. The young man spreads his fiery wings and lowers them to burn the dead corpses before taking off to chase the clone. He saw the clone.
"Ha!" Leo fires his orange beam towards the clone. His attack missed her. "Damn you." Leo kept flying after her. The White Tiger clone kept running and runs into a giant cave. He lands near the entrance of the cave. His fiery wings disappears and he drew his diamond sword. Leo cautiously enters the giant cave. He didn't know how far the cave goes.
As he kept his guard up, the started shaking underneath his feet. Several large boulders fell from the top and blocked the entrance. He turns around to see the entrance blocked. "Shit." Leo cursed. He turns back around and spreads his fiery wings once again to get some light in the dark cave.
Leo turns around to a get a look at his surroundings. He can hear water dripping from somewhere in the cave echoing. The young man began walking to search for the clone. If there was no way out for the clone, Leo will kill her for good this time. He won't be surprised if the clone finds a way to escape from here just like the original Saber do every time.
Leo had been walking for what it seems like for several hours. He was following the big paw prints that was left from Saber. There were many different paths that he came across in the cave. Leo assumes those other paths would just go around or lead to a dead end. He stuck to the path that Saber left.
The path led him to a huge giant room with a strong scent. A strong scent that smells like blood but there was something else. Leo kept his guard up as he descended to the lowest floor of the cave. Once he got to the bottom, many torches began to lit up around the room. Leo turns around and he lowers his sword as he couldn't believe what he saw and his fiery wings disappeared once again.
In the center of the room was a giant pile of dead animal corpses from the human world. Many of them were eaten and half eaten. There were many bones as well, laying all over the ground.
"How the hell did the wild animals ended up here in this world?" Leo thought. "Shit. I got to take photos of these and show them Panther. Did they came here through a portal? Is this what Saber has been eating since our encounter on the day of the Warrior Ceremony? I need answers."
Leo took his phone out and started taking several pictures of the pile. Once he finished taking several photos, Leo puts his phone away. He turns around to see another a large tunnel leading away from the pile at the end of the room he was standing in. As he took a couple steps forward, Saber was sent flying out of the tunnel and Leo dodge sideways to the left as the white feline slams into the wall out cold.
"What the hell?" Leo looks back down at the tunnel. He can hear a pair of footsteps coming from the tunnel.
"Well, well, well. So you survived the fiery destruction of SHEILD. Should I also believe your other friends survived as well, I presume?" A voice asked from the darkness.
Leo froze when he heard the voice. The voice sounds familiar. When the person steps out of the mouth of the tunnel, it reveals to be a woman of twenty-five years old while wearing a brown ragged cloak around her. Her dark red hair was long, and her amber eyes was staring at the young man. She was a little taller than him and muscular. Leo instantly recognized her. "Abra."
"Hello, Leo." Abra smirks at him. "It has been five years since our very short meeting in the Legendary Celestial Room."
"How the hell do you know my name?"
"I've heard about you over the news since the night of the incident. The incident where everyone has seen. The incident that gave you your title: The Bloodthirsty Monster." Abra snickers at him.
"Don't ever call me that again." Leo sneers again.
"And why not? You can never escape knowing what you that night and the first night that you did on the mountain." Abra said, walking up to him. "Thankfully, you didn't do that on the ship. That would make things a little hard. And I'm glad that you and your pathetic friends flee from SHIELD because I have already got what I came for before SHIELD exploded."
"What are you planning?" Leo keeping an eye on her.
"You'll find out..." Abra slowly turns around with her back to him. "Much sooner than you think!"
Leo didn't get a chance to block a powerful hard punch to his solar complex that forces him to cough up blood. The human was sent flying into the pile of dead corpses and hit the stone wall.
"Gah!" Leo grunted and slides down on his knees. Coughing and growling, the young man quickly drew his blade out and lunges at Abra.
Abra leans to the side before grabbing both of Leo's wrists and slams him against the ground hard.
"Ha!" Leo did a windmill kick across her face and got back on his feet. He fires an orange beam at her.
"Tch." Abra felt a little graze. She takes off her ragged cloak. Abra was wearing a long regal cape of black and dark red. The rest of her outfit is comprised of skintight armor pieces in purple and black with thick, patterned fabric wrapped around her forearms and calves. Leo watched her undo her ponytail. She disappeared in front of him and appeared close to him with a strong punch at the ready.
"Hmph! Ha!" Leo dove to the side to avoid the punch. He drew his sword and started blocking purple energy balls of electricity. Leo sheathes his sword and dodges her quick electric palm strike and lands an uppercut to her jaw before doing a spinning round house to her head against the stone wall.
"Grr." Abra slightly growled.
"Ngh..." Leo groans a little. His stomach growled.
"Oho?" Abra heard his stomach growling. "Hungry, are you? Don't worry, once I take you away with me, I'll make sure you'll be well fed!"
Leo saw her disappeared and he felt himself flying a few feet in the air from that uppercut he received to the jaw just now from Abra. Then Abra appears above him and did a two electric stomp kicks on Leo's back. The young man hits the ground and receives a strong kick to the head. He stood up and staggers while trying to focus. Leo saw her fist winded up darkness in her fist and barely dodge the attack.
"Not bad. Let's see how well you do with this!" Abra smirks at him. She started floating above the cave floor. With a simple wave of her arm, the surrounding area became dark.
Leo quickly put his guard up. His breathing became slow and steady. Then fire began to spread around in the darkness, causing the darkness to disappear. Leo felt the warm air of summer. He lowers his arms and saw he was outside in a field at nighttime. The young man easily recognized where he is.
He looks up to see a few helicopters flying above him. Then Leo looks across from him and standing in front of him was a young woman in her early thirties. She was wearing black jeans and a black tank top. Her hair is long and black that reached to her shoulders as her brown eyes met his jade green eyes.
"Ellie Collins...!" Leo gasps. Then he growled furiously fierce as he remembers her words and the prince's words from five years ago.
"You think you can protect your master?! You are nothing but a pathetic failure! No one can defeat me! Not even your master or your friends will help you, you pathetic excuse of a failure/ worthless son!"
"Grrr!"Leo continues growling fiercely. Then his mind began to crumble, and the chains started to snap and break."Ggrrooaarrgh!" Both of his fists started to clench themselves and shook angrily. A single vein shows itself on his forehead and several veins showed on his legs and arms. A ring of fire erupted from the ground around the human and he was engulfed in the flames.
Leo's whole body was covered in fire. The fire did not damage to his body. It wasn't burning his body, and he didn't scream in pain. He was too focused on the woman because of his hate, anger, fury, vengeance and fear.
"Rrrooaarr!" Leo lunges at her to the ground and started tearing her flesh with his teeth. He could hear her screaming in pain, begging to stop. But he ignores her pleas and continues on what he is doing to her. There were many different voices crying out in the night. He ignored them. Nothing else matters.
Leo started to slow down. He licked his lips with his bloody tongue. Leo pulls his head back from Ellie's dead body. There were several holes to let her blood flow from her body. The young man was standing in a pool of blood. He was covered in blood.
As he pushed himself to stand up, he lets out a fierce roar and the fiery flames around him disappeared. He can taste her blood in his mouth. Then he heard running footsteps coming from behind and turns around to Abra jumping off from the ground and was ready to attack him.
"Roar!" Saber roared and caught the woman with her teeth and flings her into the stone wall.
"Gah!" She grunted as she lands on her feet. Saber growls at her.
Leo turns around to see a dead white rabbit on top of the corpse of a doe. "What the... fucking hell...?" Leo slowly breathes. Did he just killed that rabbit? And when did that get here?
Before Leo could have more time to think, he whipped around to see Saber lunging at Abra, but the woman performed a backward kick to the jaw and a strong uppercut to the jaw. The white feline shouted in pain and fell on her left side.
"Now then, both of you are coming with me." Abra smiles evilly as she started walking towards Leo.
"I don't think so, Abra!" Scarlet yells from above.
Leo saw Scarlet, his partner, Azel and Kaito landed in front of the woman.
"Wh-what?" Leo stuttered. He didn't have enough energy to speak and he passed out, leaving Azel and Kaito to catch him.
"Well, well, this is a surprise. I had no idea you would come here, Twilight Titans." Abra folds her arms.
"Did you honestly think you were going to take him away?"
"I was thinking no one was going to be here." Abra replied. "But I'll retreat for now. And here's a little going away present... for all of you!" An explosion can be heard from above their heads, causing the room to shake and Abra escape into the darkness.
"We need to escape!" Azel shouted.
"We can't summon a portal to escape." Kaito said to Scarlet's partner.
"It makes things a little difficult to get out of here. The only thing we can all do is escape before we are trapped in this cave."
"Then what's the plan then, Isa?" Scarlet looks at his hooded friend.
Isa pointed behind Scarlet, causing him to turn around and see Saber looking down at them. "That tiger will help us escape for now. It knows these tunnels better than we do."
"It's our only chance then." Azel nodded.
The white feline lower herself to her enemy and the Titans to climb onto her back. With the humans on her back, Saber lets out powerful roar and starts running down the tunnel. Several boulders were falling above their heads. Scarlet drew his impressive sword and leaps into the air and slice a boulder in half as if it was butter. Haito quickly jumps to the smaller boulders to knock them out of the way. The white feline dodges a boulder that narrowly got her. Azel caught the unconscious Leo before he can be flung off. As the white feline kept running, she skids to a halt very close to the edge. There was no bridge to cross and the other side was blocked caved in.
"Oh dear." Isa looks down at the bottom.
"Looks like we're trapped." Scarlet said. "We're going to jump down there?"
"Gr." Saber growls in response and nodded her head.
"Better than getting crushed by these boulders." Isa looks over his shoulder. "Hang on tight, everyone!"
Saber turns around and runs away from the ledge and began running back towards the ledge and jumps into the dark abyss.
Shifu was meditating in the cave of the Dragon Grotto. He finished working on The Furious Five's injuries after his talk with Po. The only student left was Leo. The young human hasn't been seen since this morning. He was covered in paw prints by some of the rats from the Lao Shu and there was some blood on his chin.
From what he was told by Tigress, Leo jumped up to the floor above to fight Ju-Long. They all heard some painful screams coming from above them. Whatever Leo did, Ju-Long and the Lao Shu already stolen the rice and retreated. Leo didn't look a little too well. His face was a little pale when he entered the kitchen.
After scolding Po, Shifu went to the barracks to finish up fixing their injuries. Once they were done, Shifu went to Leo's room and discovered the human wasn't in his room. There was a note that was left on his bed.
I'll be out for a while. Be back later on this afternoon.
It's what the human's note said when Shifu read it. Shifu wished Leo didn't left the Jade Palace. The human hasn't eaten anything in twelve days. He gave up his plate of rice to Shifu and the others, saying they need it more than he does. Leo did mention he went through this before when Ju Fen was training him. But for how long?
Leo never does talk about the training he had received from Ju Fen while Master Lee was teaching his adoptive son tiger style. Only in some situations like this. Not to mention the lightning technique he kept as a secret from them. After Leo and Panther explains about the ability and Leo was done with it, Shifu has started wondering if Leo was trying to perform the technique without their knowledge whenever training was over in the past several months before Ke-Pa regained his strength.
The senior red panda was glad Leo was done with the ability. But after their mission was done in Gongmen City, Shifu, Po, and The Furious Five noticed Leo has been training much longer and alone while spending time in the library since he got back from his first mission that came from the Emperor.
Shifu believes it's time to know why Leo is spending so much time in the library. He'll ask him when he returns to the Jade Palace. While he was meditating, a voice spoke.
"Master Shifu, I presume?" A new voice asked from behind.
The Grand Master opens his eyes and stands before turning around to see a male human standing in the entrance of the cave. He was wearing a black cloak as well. His emerald green hair was mid fade and his hazel eyes stares at the red panda.
"Who are you?" Shifu asks him.
"I am Wang Hathaway, a member of Twilight Titans." Wang introduces himself.
"I see. And what brings you here?" Shifu asks him.
"To tell you that your student, Leo, is safe from danger now as we speak."
"What?" Shifu gasps. "What do you mean by that?"
"Several of my friends had been dispatched to get to Leo before Abra can take him away. I hope they made it in time to stop her."
"Abra? Leo mentioned the name once several months ago. But what does-"
"I must leave now and help them."
"Then I'll -" Shifu was saying, but his stomach growls loudly.
"Don't trouble yourself, Shifu. You and your students are in no condition to help Leo as of this moment right now since you clearly have not eaten anything yet. I assure you that my friends will not allow Abra to steal Leo." Wang assures him.
Shifu thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "Very well."
"Good." Wang snaps his fingers and a black portal appears behind him. The young man turns around and enters the portal before it disappeared.
Shifu tightened his face a bit, looking out to the entrance of the cave. He hopes Leo will be safe. The small master looks up and saw Crane flying towards him. The avian master lands in front of Shifu.
"Master Shifu, the village has food now and so does the Jade Palace. Po went back to Madame Zhou's place and discovered they were working together the entire time. So Madame Zhou and Ju-Long are being to sent prison right now. Monkey has already got to cooking some rice and dumplings right now." Crane explains.
"Excellent." Shifu said as they left the cave.
Both of them arrived in the kitchen to see Monkey and Viper putting food on the plates and bowls. The orange feline was pouring everyone's drinks into the cups and sets them on the table. Shifu went over to help Monkey and Viper to bring the food over to the table and Crane helped Mantis with chopsticks.
Now that everyone had place the food on the table, they began eating. Shifu was sitting down next to Viper as Tigress and Crane was sitting across from them. Monkey sat at the head of the table as Mantis was on the other side of the table across from the golden monkey. The Dragon Warrior enters the kitchen sadly.
"Hey guys."
Shifu and The Furious Five looks at him and said before resuming to eat their dinner. They were still angry at him.
"Look, I know I messed up. I let you and the villagers down over some stuffed figs and dumplings. Which in my defense were delicious." Po said and lets out a nervous chuckle.
The Grand Master and The Furious Five looks up and glares at him.
"Not that it matters right now anyway. I'm sorry. I should get back to my room." Po said and turns around sadly to exit the kitchen.
"Panda." Shifu said sternly, causing the panda to stop. "Would you like to join all of us for dinner?" He asked kindly to him.
"Really?" Po turns around with a smile on his face. "Awesome!" He heads over to the table and took a seat as Tigress hands him over a bowl of dumplings. He took a sniff. "Ah! Foot Dumplings?!"
"Made by yours truly!" Monkey laughs wiggling his feet.
Shifu, Mantis, Viper and Crane laughed at the joke as Tigress chuckled. But they became a little disgusted as Po started eating the foot dumplings Monkey made.
"Man, that's delicious." Po said after swallowed a dumpling. "This is better than having seven grains of rice."
"Well at least this whole food famish is done and over with." Crane said smiles as he swallowed his rice.
"But someone is missing." Po said looking around the table. He noticed Leo wasn't in the kitchen with them. "Where's Leo? Last time I saw him he was looking a little afraid and his face was pale."
"Leo left sometime ago after I was fixing The Furious Five's injuries. When I was meditating, Wang Hathaway, a member of the Twilight Titans, informs me that his friends have been dispatched to get to Leo before Abra can take him away." Shifu spoke up. All eyes turned on the small red panda.
"What?" Monkey looks at him.
"Abra. Leo mentioned that name once." Po brought a hand to his chin.
"Yes. I was going to summon all of you so we can help Leo, but Wang pointed out that we're in no condition to help Leo. I've been assured that several members of the Titans are helping Leo right now and he is safe for all I know." Shifu explains.
"I'd say we help him now." Tigress stands up determined.
"Tigress, we can't help Leo right now. All of us tried to train and focused these past few days. He gave us some of his grains to help us feel a little satisfied. I don't think all of us would be much help to Leo in this situation." Viper looks at her.
"You are correct, Viper." Shifu nodded. "We must only hope that the Titans bring Leo back to the palace."
"Do you think we can trust the Twilight Titans, Master Shifu?" Crane asked him.
"After thinking about the Twilight Titans, I believe we can trust them completely after this. Leo hasn't eaten anything right now. Leo is safe under their care right now." Shifu decided, placing his cup down on the table.
When dinner was over, Po started washing the dishes as their master left the kitchen. Viper was helping him dry the dishes as Tigress and Crane was putting away the food while Monkey and Mantis was having almond cookies for dessert.
As their friends were busy, Po decided to speak to Viper. "Did you get the chance to ask Leo about who Kaira is?" Po asks her.
"Yes." Viper places the clean white bowl on the dry rack. "When I mentioned if he knew a friend called Kaira back in his world, Leo broke eye contact with me and says he doesn't know someone who goes by that name. I nodded and left before he went back to his room for some clean clothes to get in before heading to the bathhouse. So I slithered up above his room and I saw him taking out the scroll and heard him saying "You've helped me out before, Kaira". He placed the scroll back on the shelf that we found."
"Hm."
"We should tell the others about this right now. Leo showed Tigress, Mantis and myself the scroll months ago."
"I agree." Po said as he hands over the last dish for Viper to dry.
After Viper finish drying off the last bowl, the green snake slithers up to the head of the table as Po sat down next to Monkey.
"Everyone, there's something important we have to talk about." Viper announced.
"About what?" Mantis tilts his head.
"About the scroll that Leo showed you, Tigress and myself several months ago. Do you remember the scroll?" Viper asked her two friends.
"Yes, I remember the scroll he showed us." Tigress nodded.
"That's the one that he was working on. It was called "Secrets To Life Itself" right?" Mantis remembers.
"A scroll?" Monkey tilts his head a little confused.
"What are you talking about?" Crane looks confused as well with Monkey. "And when did this happen?"
"Several months ago, the three of us found a scroll in Leo's room. He showed all three of us he just started working on that. We just thought he was doing secret training and wasn't cheating on Tigress." Viper started to explain.
"I just thought he was doing a secret prank." Mantis replied.
"I don't think Leo would work on a secret prank. None of us has seen him pull a prank before." Monkey shakes his head.
"True. Monkey and I pull pranks on each other all the time." Po nodded in agreement.
"But several days ago, Po and I found the scroll Leo started working on."
"Hang on, what were you two doing in Leo's room?" Tigress looks at The Dragon Warrior and the green snake.
"I was slithering back to my room after I set Leo's dinner on the table. Then I saw Po going in Leo's room and I went in and asked him what he was doing in Leo's room. He told me he was going to the window to get some air for him, but I pointed out his window was open all day and I closed it before I took my bath. The reason why he was in there because Leo asked Po to the sword back in his room before his dinner and bath."
"And that's when Viper found the scroll on the floor." Po said.
"The scroll was open a little bit and the title was different. It wasn't called "Secrets To Life Itself"."
"So what is it called?" Monkey asked.
"Secrets and Connections About Kaira. I saw him taking the scroll out and opening a bit. He also said "You've helped me out before, Kaira"."
"Kaira? I never heard that name before." Crane admitted.
"Same here." Mantis agreed, looking at Monkey.
"Well, he did cursed something about "Ka" at the Autumn Festival. Maybe Ka could be a nickname for a Kaira." Po suggested.
"But why the hell didn't Leo mention about Kaira in the first place?" Mantis wondered.
"Or why didn't he mention about Enya." Tigress folded her arms.
Everyone looks at her.
"Enya? Where did you hear that name?" Po tilts his head.
"I overheard it from Leo." The orange feline warrior said. "He's been wondering how she survived from their last encounter. And it sounds like he hates her for some reason."
"Has he mentioned Enya's name after that?" Crane looks at the leader of the Furious Five.
"No, but I'm planning to talk to him about it when he returns."
"That's good." Viper said.
"You know, there was something I've been wondering about for a while now." Po replied. "I remember when we were fighting inside Leo's mind when Master Ding took control of him, Leo said he already has a person he rather deal with."
"I remember hearing him say that. And right after the battle, he looked shocked when he saw us. Leo said he was thinking about a memory from his past." Tigress replied.
"Do you think it has something to do spending so much time in the library and training alone?" Monkey wondered.
"Probably." Po shrugs his shoulders. "It might have something to do with that incident that's been giving him hellish nightmares for the past five years."
"But what exactly caused the incident in the first place?" Mantis asked.
"Your guess is good as ours, Mantis." Crane replied.
"Well, I don't think the incident has something to do with Saber. Leo told us the original Saber died along with L five years ago. And he was surprised to find out that a clone of Saber is here. Not to mention it's safe to say the destruction of SHIELD happened before the incident." Tigress stated.
"You think Leo will explain happened that caused the incident? The hellish nightmares?" Po ponders.
"Let's hope so, Po. Let's hope so." Viper commented.
Tigress didn't say word and lowers her head. Deep down, she's worried about Leo.
"And what about Saber? What the actual hell has she been eating since she arrived here?" Mantis wondered.
Everyone in the room looks at each other. Mantis did bring up an important question. They knew it's a living and breathing creature and everyone needs food. What has Saber been eating since the clone arrived here? It's been hiding well not to cause an alarm to panic anyone in China.
After discussing about Leo, everyone got up and went to their bedrooms to retire for the night. The senior panda has decided there won't be any training for three days. This allowed them all to rest and regain their strength after barely eating anything but eight grains of rice thanks to Leo for giving up his grains of rice for them.
Rose was standing in the middle of the room. She drew her two twin blades out. Several ninjas in black suits had surrounded her. One of them came after her with a staff. She quickly stabs the ninja in the torso and slices the neck. The ninja bursts into green data cubes and the date cubes hit the floor.
Rose sidesteps to the left to dodge a thrust from a ninja. She threw both her twin blades high into the air against two ninjas that was in the air. Rose delivers several good jabs to the face and did a low sweep before getting back to deliver an elbow strike behind her to the ninja that was sneaking up from her. But she didn't end her attack there and the face with the back of her face and went to the crotch very hard. Rose pulls out a pistol and fires twice to the chest.
She jumps in the air and grabs her twin swords. The young woman did a spin on the way down and slices all the necks of the ninjas. Rose watches them turn into data cubes lying on the floor before disappearing.
Rick turns off the training simulation as his girlfriend walks up to her.
"That was great training you did out there." Sheila smiles at her.
"Not a bad idea to bring the pistol out to shoot at the chest." Rick added. "And wearing that suit during training sessions."
Rose was wearing a tight silver body suit that covers her entire torso except her arms and stomach, which resembles a bikini style while wearing a black sports bra, silver gauntlets, black boots, black skin-tight pants with armor on the thighs and spiked knee pads. She was wearing a Yin and Yang mask over her face. The young woman pulls the mask over her head.
"I've made some adjustments." Rose places the twin swords back in their scabbard that hung by her waist. She was sweaty. "I think I did enough training for today."
"True. You've been training in here for nearly five hours." Rick said. "If you keep this up, you might break Leo's record for seven hours."
"I bet he'll like that." Rose smirked.
"Well anyway, Misty should be done cooking dinner right now." Rick checks his watch.
"I just hope she didn't overcook the steak this time." Rose crosses her arms over her chest.
"Don't worry. Jill was helping her cook tonight." Sheila assures her.
"That's good to hear."
"Come on, let's not keep them waiting."
After Rose got out of her uniform, she enters the common room to see the rest of Crimson Dusks sitting at the table. The smell of steak enters her nostrils. She could see Misty was sitting across from Jill as Sheila was sitting next to her boyfriend where he was sitting at the head of the table. Rose took her seat across from Crow as John sat at the other end of the table.
"There you are." John smiled. "Was training going fine today?"
Rose answers with a nod and got some steak, mash potatoes, green bean and gravy for her plate and got a bottle of sparkling ice water to drink. Everyone had a good amount of food on their plates. They enjoyed their meal that Misty has cooked for tonight's dinner. After their meal was finished, Rick brought out some apple pie from the fridge.
"I hoped you all saved some room for dessert." Rick said, bringing the pie to the table.
"Your apple pie looks amazing as always." Sheila smiled.
"Thanks, Sheila." Rick smiled back at his girlfriend.
Once Rose took a bite of her slice and swallows it, she took a drink. "Not bad, Rick."
"How did it go with your training this afternoon, Rose?" John asks her.
"Better than my mother's training." She replied. "Those holograms were easy to defeat than yesterday's training."
"That was my fault. Sorry." Rick apologized.
"Don't worry about it."
"Is Rex and Cody still coming over tomorrow for the training session?"
"Yes."
"And the book is still in Jody's care right now?"
"Jodi and Kevin is on their way to Japan right now to have Leo and Panther's childhood friend to help find the missing pages. Jody thinks it may help give some answers about the White Tail Tigress."
"I hope they find the pages. If they do find the missing pages, it will help us to get where Leo and Panther are." Crow said.
"Can't you just open up a portal to reach them in the Kung Fu Panda world?" Rose asked her.
"I'm afraid I can't. I can open a portal to any destination in the world, but I can't open a portal to another dimension because I have my father trapped inside the crystal that's been formed out Leo's own blood." The empath places a hand over her shirt.
"I'm still surprised that he placed it there instead of your forehead." John turns his head away without looking where Leo placed the gem. "I did tell my sister that Leo was leaving after the party from what I heard from Harry. She rushed upstairs and walked in on Leo who was on top of-"
"We all know that it was an accident." Sheila interrupted. She could see that Crow remained silent and knew where John was going with this conversation.
"Oh yeah. And I really wished I haven't brought up about Leo leaving to my sister."
"Even if Harry didn't mention about Leo planning to leave after his conversation with him, where would Leo go? He left the Tao Palace after the incident, and he has no place to go. It was the right the thing for Sheila and I to convince Leo to stay after he convinced me to stay with Crimson Dusks."
"I remember that Jill, John, Zack and I didn't get along with him when John brought him over during the time Rick was visiting us." Misty stated.
"And the spirit inside Jill's sword nearly killed him." Rick added.
"That would be bad if Leo did die, but he somehow survived an avalanche somewhere in the mountains of China where the exiled prince was hiding." Rick folded his arms.
"How the hell did he survived that?" Rose asked.
"It must've been something Leo did in the mountains after we saw the incident five years ago. He was pretty wiped out when Panther and that old man found him in the snow." Rick said. "Bruce sent me to investigate the wreckage in private after we defeated Draco and there was a big pool of frozen blood along with the dead corpses and everything in ruins. I still can't believe what we saw."
"Has Leo gotten over those nightmares last time I saw all of you?" Rose asked.
"No." Sheila shook her head. "He's still having those nightmares for the past five years now."
"But there is something that I'm still wondering about." Crow said. "About the presence I keep sensing in his mind. It could be connected to the flames Leo was covered on the night of the incident. And whoever's presence that I'm sensing in Leo's mind, it's doing a good job to not be detected."
"Hm." Misty drink her soda and sets it on the table. "Let's hope that those three could find some answers to this."
After eating their dessert, Misty suggested watching a movie tonight and the movie was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition. The team agreed to watch all the extended films for the next six days after dinner. Crow didn't mind watching it. It could help drown out her father's voice. If Leo was here, he would shrug it off and train or have dinner without them. There are some movies that did caught Leo's eye over the years. But if it was just her and Leo, Crow would visit Leo to see him training sometimes, join him in sparring or meditate. The team knew that Leo and Crow have grew close to one another in the past five years. After watching the whole movie, Misty and Jill went to bed while Rick and Sheila was sleeping on the couch.
Crow had got off the couch and was looking at the picture on the wall. She remembered that she gotten sick. Leo had to stay behind and took care of her while the rest of the team went to the city to stop a bank robbery. It was nice of him to do that. He gave up his day of training and kept an eye on her. Even when she had a nightmare.
But when it comes to Leo having those hellish nightmares of his after his battle with Ellie Collins, he doesn't talk about it like Crow. His friends and masters want to help Leo to talk about his nightmares that would help him sleep better. He didn't need their help. Someone like Leo shouldn't suffer from his nightmares. Things would be fine if Leo would just talk about it.
"You miss them, don't you?" Rose's voice snaps the empath out of her thoughts.
Crow turns around to see Rose and Sheila standing behind the empath. "Yes." She responded.
"We miss them too, every day." The leader chuckled.
"It would be nice to see them again." Rose said.
"True." Sheila agreed.
"So, do you think you can try to see what they're doing right now in that other world?"
"No. My father makes it difficult to have a strong connection to contact Leo and Panther. I can open portals only in this universe, not in a realm where Leo and Panther is right now. I was able to get a sense of where Leo is after we heard from Serena at the hospital with James."
"Hm. Where did you say that you saw Leo?" Rose asked her.
"In some mountain. There were animals besides him. But I'm going to check again right now." Crow answered.
"Be careful." The leader said.
Crow nodded her head and walks to the center of the room and sat in a lotus position. She closed her eyes and began to float a couple feet above the floor. Her entire body began to glow purple. Sheila walks over to her sleeping boyfriend and wakes him up gently.
"Sh... Sheila..." Rick said, groggily rubbing his eye. "What's going on?"
"Crow is attempting to find Leo and Panther." Sheila replies softly to him.
The citizens of the Valley Of Peace was sleeping comfortably in their beds as it was nighttime. They were full after they got all the food in their pantries and cabinets. Po was finished eating the dumplings. Things were back to normal now. Or it should be.
Leo wasn't with them right now. Their human friend was with a few members of The Twilight Titans right now. They were dispatched to get to Leo before Abra can take him away according to Shifu from who he spoke to Wang Hathaway in the Dragon Grotto a few hours ago.
He and The Furious Five wanted to help their human friend, but they wouldn't be much help to him in this condition because of the food famish. The Dragon Warrior couldn't help but feel ashamed for stuffing his face with dumplings and letting his friends and the Valley starve. If only he could've help them out.
The Dragon Warrior arrives at the student barracks. He was the only one in the hallway right now. The panda walks towards Leo's room. Po could see the chest was still locked. He pulls the key out from the side of the scroll on the shelf and unlocks the chest. Leo's black uniform has not been discovered yet by Shifu and The Furious Five.
Leo has kept the uniform safe and hidden. But now that he's not here, it's up to him to protect Leo's secret until he gets back. Po knew he couldn't throw away the key because if the one of the Five or Shifu walks in here and could unlock the chest, Viper can just pick the lock with her tail like she did when they were cuffed and brought to Lord Shen and Prince Sying. That was going to be tough. But there's one thing the panda did wish for right now.
That wish was for Leo to tell them about his secret identity as the Black Spirit. Why couldn't Leo just tell them about this? Why keep the Black Spirit and this person a secret? He doesn't need to do this alone. Can't Leo see that?
And what about these two people called Kaira and Enya? Did this Kaira person helped Leo out before he ended up here? What did Enya survived of from her last encounter with Leo? Was Leo really looking at a memory when Tigress and himself were inside his mind when Master Ding tried to take control over his body? He wanted to tell Shifu and The Five, but he did promise Leo not to tell Shifu and The Furious Five about it. And Po remembers what he said to Leo.
"But Leo, if you can't figure this out, then I have to tell Shifu and The Furious Five about this because they deserve to know. But where's the honor for not telling them about you being as the Black Spirit and this mercenary?"
Po wondered if Leo found out how the mercenary survived right now. As he continues thinking, a huge flapping sound can be heard. Po opens the window to see a giant glowing purple crow flying high above in the sky. It descends low enough to soar above the barracks. The Dragon Warrior immediately rushed outside with The Furious Five.
Before the warriors could speak to her, the crow disappeared.
"Crow..." Tigress muttered.
"What do you think Crow was here for?" Monkey wondered.
Crow fell on the floor.
"Crow, are you alright?" Rick rushed to her side with Sheila and pulls Crow onto her feet.
"Other than my father yelling angrily, I'm alright." Crow places her hand in between her breasts.
"So what did you see?"
"I saw them coming out of the barracks and didn't see Leo with them." Crow replied.
"Hm." Sheila brought her hand to her chin. "I think we should talk to James about his last encounter with Leo when we all visit him at the hospital tomorrow."
"Good idea, Sheila. I heard from Serena that James's parents are coming to visit soon in a couple days and Crimson Dawn is coming tomorrow." Rick said.
"This is going to be one hell of a mess for everyone who's going to visit James. He did try to kill us for a few years. I'm not sure what's going to happen."
"It's going to be very awkward for everyone tomorrow." Rose took a seat on the couch. "I mean, if I were in your position, I'd listen to what he has to say about what he did."
"We will, but it's going to be very difficult to forgive him after what he's done these past few years." Rick turns to her. "At least we know that James is the Dragon Soldier."
"How the hell is he still alive?"
"My guess is good as yours." Rick answered. "We'll find out more tomorrow when we visit James. So, let's get to our rooms and gets some sleep."
"What time are we heading there tomorrow?" Rose asked him.
"Ten o'clock. That's when we'll be there, Rose."
"Good."
"See you in the morning, everyone." Rick said.
The four of them said goodnight to one another and retire to their rooms. Crow enters her room and started taking her clothes off. The empath was going to put on a black t-shirt, but she stopped when she glances herself in the mirror. At the center of her chest underneath the dark violet bra was the blood red crystal shard. She remember that Leo was going to hand it over to her until John's sister opens the door on him and he was pushed into her, causing him to be on top of her and the shard landed on her chest. Then Sheila and Rick were coming back to Leo's room with the medical kit and saw Allie standing in the doorway looking down at a half-naked Leo on top of a half-naked Crow.
Both teams heard that Leo was leaving and went to see him about it and saw what was going on. Sheila had to send everyone back to the common room. The young raven-haired teen got off her and looks away when he saw where the red shard was. Even though the shard was made out of his own blood, it even housed Draco which makes Crow the owner and the protector. When Crow saw the shard was in between her breasts, she even blushed too and understood why he was blushing and not looking directly at it.
She removes the shard and looks at it in her palm. It was nice and smooth. The empath felt she has a piece of Leo here while he and Panther are in the other world. He was there for her whenever she had a nightmare that was being caused by her father. Panther believes Leo should open up more. Crow believes it was a good idea. After staring at it for a while, the empath places it back on her chest and puts on her dark violet pajamas.
Crow walks over to her black dresser and picks up a picture. It was a picture of Leo, Panther and Crow when they were fifteen. He was sitting down on the grass, leaning against a tree while looking at the leaves. Panther was laying in the grass taking a nap next to him. Crow was sitting next to him reading a book. This picture was taken behind Tao Palace. The empath couldn't but smile a little. It would be nice to see Leo and Panther again back here in this world.
Crow sets the picture down and crosses the room to reach her bed. She lays down in her bed with the covers on.
At Tao Palace, Jack and Tori were taking a nice walk in the stone courtyard under the evening sky. They just got back from McDonald's after visiting Serena, Brock, Ava and James at the hospital. Ever since James was founded by the three warriors and brought to the hospital, the doctors had to give him a private room away from the patients. The Justice Elite two members, Tony Wally and Adam Owen, was sent to the hospital to act as a couple body guards before several government officials and state troopers arrive at the hospital. Xiu has stayed inside James room to keep an eye on him.
"How long you think James will remain in the hospital?" Tori asks her older brother.
"A couple weeks or another month." Jack replied.
"I can't believe James is alive after all these years. I mean, he's the freaking Dragon Soldier we were all fighting against." Tori forms a frown and looks down at the ground.
"This is going to be tough for all of us." Jack said as the two of them approached a bench to sit down. "I don't know if we should forgive him."
"But we should, Jack. You, Leo and Panther knew James since you were all eleven years old, and I was six years old."
"Look, he'll need to explain everything before we forgive him. I'm not saying that we shouldn't trust James yet, it's because we need to hear his side so we can get a better understanding." Jack exasperated.
"That's good to know." Tori said. "So, who else is coming tomorrow at the hospital besides us, Crimson Dusks and James's parents and his older sister?"
"Rex, Cody, Emily and Lynn are coming tomorrow. We know Jody and Kevin won't make it tomorrow since they're in Japan right now and would want Leo and Panther's childhood friend to help them."
"Good to know almost the whole team of Task Force 493 will be there tomorrow. Do you think she'll visit here in the United States of America and talk to Leo about what happened when they were six?"
Jack lets out hearty chuckle. "Maybe. It's been fourteen years since all three of them hung out when they were kids. We know that Panther and her patch things up, but things are still the same with Leo and her before we arrived three years later. And we met Ava, Serena, John at twelve years old and John's little sister Allie. It would be good for Leo and her to talk about the incident when they were kids."
"But those two haven't contacted each other for years while Panther and her remained in contact. Panther has visited Japan more times than Leo. I remember she was going to try and visit Leo after what happened with Ellie Collins five years ago, but Leo wasn't ready to receive any visits from anyone, especially from her. Grand Mistress Suzu, Panther and Xiu had to stay with him in the hospital."
"I wonder if we'll meet her someday. She was happy and cheerful when she was little, but after the incident, she chose not to speak to either of them until she and Panther started talking again at thirteen years old. I understand Panther is acting to protect Leo in her place while she is merely protecting Leo from Japan without sending a message directly to him, but she doesn't need to punish herself for that."
"Well, she's not the only one who's punishing herself. Leo is also punishing himself for what he did. He's letting those nightmares of his to torture and torment him these past five years. We all wanted to help him, even Master Lee. But Leo refused our help and pushed us away after we helped Crimson Dusks to defeat Crow's father. I think-"
"That Leo shouldn't take the mission in the first place?"
The siblings turn their heads under towards the archway to see an old woman standing in the middle between four people. Her hair is long and gray as her blue eyes looks at the two siblings. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress and a deep blue ocean brooch near her neck. The old woman had a firm grip on her blue cane with her hand.
"Grand Mistress Suzu." Jack quickly stood up with his sister and bows to the Grand Mistress.
"What are you, Zuko, Noel and Aria doing out here with the Grand Mistress, Cho?" Tori wondered.
Zuko was wearing a red shirt, red shorts and red sandals. He had two scars over his left brown eye. His hair is black and spiky as it resembles a dragon on either side of his head.
Noel was wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans. She tightens her ponytail blonde hair a bit as she has light blue eyes as the ocean.
Cho was wearing a black tank top and blue short jeans that revealed her muscular tan legs. She has dark red hair and blue eyes. Her body is strong and muscular. She wasn't wearing her usual clothing when she first met Leo.
"We were talking about Leo before the Grand Mistress joined in our conversation." The tan warrior answered.
"Oh."
"You two were talking about Leo's mission from five years ago as well?" Zuko asks them.
"Yes." Tori replies to the dark skin warrior. "Along with his childhood friend."
"I worry for those two. Don't you think they should talk about the incident when Leo and Panther come back from wherever they are right now?" Noel looks at her friends.
"Yes. I just hope those two talks about it one day." Aria smiles at the suggestion.
"Leo and Panther." Zuko said. "You really think that those two are in the Kung Fu Panda universe, according to Serena?"
"It may be difficult to believe that fact." Cho replied. "I, mean how can we trust James with that information?"
"I don't know. How can we know that he's not lying?"
"We'll just have to find out later tomorrow if he accepts the deal. Remember, all of us had some missions we had to help with The Justice Elite this past month except for Serena, Ava and Xiu. Even Crimson Dusks were busy too."
"I wonder if Leo forgave James when they saw each other."
"I don't know. Leo is not a forgiving type of person when it especially comes to villains. He used to be The Black Spirit to track down Enya. Leo wanted to take of Enya by himself after he discovered Enya was planning to kill the Grand Mistress with a weapon from SHIELD. Then he became The Black Spirit from the legend to know more about her plan. He infiltrated a secret old abandon laboratory that somehow survived the explosion from SHEILD that was twenty miles out into the Pacific Ocean. Leo founded the rare energy source before Enya appeared before him and knew The Black Spirit was Leo all along. That's when we were sent by Jody to destroy the abandon laboratory and Panther pulled the mask off that revealed it was Leo all along." Zuko narrows his eyes.
Jack nodded at his friend's statement. "I remember most of us yelled at him, but the ones who yelled more was between Panther, Lee and Jody once we got back to the tower. I thought Leo and Panther was going to have a fight and I don't think any of us wanted to see those two childhood friends to have a fucking fight."
"True. After that, Leo went out alone after getting a call from Enya. He lost the fight and became her apprentice for if he refused, Enya will annihilate us. She sent Leo at a abandon building where she laid a trap for us. We couldn't believe when we saw Leo. He defeated us before escaping with Panther who was knocked out cold." Tori said.
"Luckily, Xiu tracked him down at an old, abandoned warehouse. Enya ordered Leo to rape Panther in front of her parents on a livestream or she'll kill Panther when we arrived. He refused to obey her order and freed Panther before he engages in combat against Enya. Enya managed to escape from us."
"I remember that. We apologized to Leo after what he did and understood why he had to be the Black Spirit in the first place because he wanted to do it alone. And Leo apologized after what he did and hated Enya deeply after what she put him through. He reminded himself every day with that mantra "Justice, never vengeance" to keep himself in check. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. He really didn't like the idea of working with villains to save the world from destruction. Hell, even the Dragon Soldier joined the final battle with us against Hermonie."
"True. I won't forget that the planet was in danger two years ago from Hermonie's plan to use those demons to take control of the world."
"Yeah, the Justice Elite League had to send all members to try to destroy the generator that Hermonie was using to make clones of herself while the army had to fight her clone army in the city."
"It took everything Leo had to defeat Hermonie two years ago, and we became heroes who saved the world." Jack replied.
"And after the world was saved, everyone wasn't afraid of Leo anymore." Noel added.
"That was good to hear it from them. Xiu recorded everything with our final battle against Hermonie." Aria said.
"You guys think James's parents and his older sister will accept him after what's he done?" Jack wondered.
"I think they will. Leo did tried to save him eleven years ago." Cho said.
"And what about Leo's mission from five years go?" Zuko folded his arms.
The team looks at each other for a brief moment.
"If it wasn't for Leo bringing all you of here when he accepted his mission, none of this would've happen without him." The Grand Mistress finally spoke up. "It was fate that brought all of you together to become Crimson Dawn. The mission was unavoidable that Ellie Collins was coming to take the prize she tried to steal from the tournament and Lee was seriously injured. It was good and bad, unfortunately."
The team of Crimson Dawn nodded.
"It was good for Leo to bring you all here together after you helped him to search for several kung fu masters to help defeat Ellie. But it was bad after what we all saw that night, and it was unfortunate for Leo to leave the Tao Palace. Fortunately, he had met Crow and Crimson Dusks and both teams helped each other to defeat Crow's father. And if it wasn't for Leo for leaving the palace, our world would've been destroyed by the demon Draco or controlled by the Ex-WARRIOR Hermonie."
She paused for a moment before continuing on. "Leo always suspects this has something to with fate or destiny. He may accept it one day that we are guided by fate or destiny in the future. But not all of us should be alone. It is always better to work together than doing things by yourself. Cherish every moment you have on this good Earth with family and friends because you are born only once in this lifetime."
The team looks at each other. Leo was always studying and training alone here at the Tao Palace with them or at Crimson Dusks Tower. He never celebrated the holidays with them. But he did come to their birthdays because he and Crow have been getting close these past five years. The only thing that all of them wish was for Leo to talk about his nightmares.
They knew Leo never celebrated his own birthday. He didn't shed a tear when James died eleven years ago. Leo brought down an entire factory in the snowy mountains when he found the prince and was captured. If Leo doesn't talk about it, the others fear it'll get a lot worse. Harry and John suggested to Leo that he should go see a psychiatrist if things do go worse, which Leo declined to go see one.
Hopefully Leo will visit Dr. Delia, a psychiatrist and a Justice League Elite member that goes by the name of Dr. Marvel, if he and Panther does return one day. She is one of the best psychiatrist and a healer for the league. Dr. Delia had met Panther, Rex and Rick while searching for Will Clinton, her nephew, in Africa.
"I will see you all in the morning, everyone. Goodnight." The Grand Mistress smiles at them. She turns and walks away.
"Goodnight, Grand Mistress." Everyone bows to her before she turns around on the corner.
"Aria and I should turn in for the night. The two of us are going to pick up James's parents and his sister tomorrow morning at nine." Zuko takes a look at his watch.
"Alright then. Goodnight, you two." Tori said to them as they left to head to their rooms.
"I should get to bed too." Noel yawns and left the courtyard as well.
"Are you going to bed too, Cho?" Jack asked her.
The dark skin warrior shakes her head gently. "No. I'm going inside the Great Hall if you want to join."
"That sounds good to me." Tori answered as the three of them left courtyard. "So how is Riki doing, Cho?"
"Riki is doing fine." Cho said in a calm collective tone with a gentle smile. "She asked how things are going with everyone."
"Does the chief know about what we're dealing here with? The James/Dragon Soldier situation?"
"Yes. I called her on Messenger Video after I heard from Brock." She answered as the three of them enters the Great Hall from the door. Jack and Cho stopped in the middle of the room as Tori flips two switches to turn on the two chandeliers. "Riki is curious to know what happened to James that caused him to be the Dragon Soldier and how did he survived. I've been wondering about that myself. When I mentioned Leo was in the world of Kung Fu Panda, she became curious to that as well. Riki suggests listening to what happened before we decide to trust him and forgive him. So we should all listen to James's side of the story tomorrow when we visit him tomorrow. We don't want to make a mistake, leader."
"Hm." Jack rubs his chin. "Fine. Let's see what he has to say first."
"Hey, do you think Panther knows that James is alive and the Dragon Soldier too?" Tori looks at her brother.
Jack shrugs his shoulders. "Probably, but I don't know. James would probably know more about that than us and I don't know how much time he was spending in the other world."
"James has been well trained these past eleven years. And so is Leo and Panther after they started training at six years old." Cho reminded.
"Hopefully we'll find out more tomorrow when we get to the hospital and talk to James about it." Tori said.
Cho smiled and nodded. She turns around to look at the beautiful portrait of the hero and the heroine with the huge white Bengal tiger and the black dragon. The bodyguard turns her head to the left where there was another portrait. In the portrait was a mysterious figure. The mysterious figure was wearing a long black shirt underneath a black bodysuit, black pants and black boots. It wore a black hooded cloak that barely touched the ground with black silver bladed gauntlets. A black belt was worn around the waste with two small black pouches. It was carrying two swords by the hip. It wore a black demonic mask that felt ominous, fear and evil as it covers the whole face.
"The Black Spirit." She spoke. "No one knows where it came from."
"Or who it is underneath the mask." Jack looks at the portrait. "But it helped those four warriors and others to end the Great War. It disappeared mysteriously after The Great War ended as it appeared one night underneath the full moon when the first battle of the war began. The Black Spirit saved the two warriors from death and became an ally as it earns the right to be called The Black Spirit. It was a very powerful warrior mixed with tiger style and an unknown style that is not known from our world. They say it took on an entire army armed with its weapons, knowledge and skill before Shauna arrived with reinforcements. It had won many battles until the war ended and disappeared from the face of the earth, never to be seen or heard of."
"True. Some people wanted to be trained by The Black Spirit, but they couldn't find the warrior anywhere." Tori nodded.
"The Black Spirit was once an ally to my tribe." Cho approached the portrait of The Black Spirit. "Until the untimely death of the Scorpion Chief came to an end in an ancient ruin deep below the sands of the desert after The Black Spirit led her there after the Great War before it left her at the entrance of the ruins. Our tribe believed someone or something had killed her. They found her beautiful weapon and kept it on the throne in honor of her memory."
"Whatever killed your chief must've died out." Jack said. "Nothing lasts forever."
"True." Cho turns her head to him. "I am glad that Riki, Isis and myself have met Leo five years ago. It helped Riki to be a great chief. Isis was promoted to be Captain of The Guard and for me, I became a personal bodyguard to Riki and joined Leo to be a member of Crimson Dawn with you and the others."
"You know, I'm glad that all of us have met. Maybe we can visit your town one day in Egypt." Jack chuckled. "And see Zack or John dressed as a woman. Especially Leo."
"Riki still isn't fazed by the law that doesn't allow men in the Oasis and accepted Leo's skills and service five years ago Rex and Cody. Then she accepted your skills after the world is saved. Thankfully we didn't lose anyone in our tribe to the clones."
"There's no way in hell that bitch will return." Jack replied. "I know she used to be a war hero, but after what she found out..." He didn't want to say more.
"But you're happy that Leo killed Hermonie." Tori places her hand on his shoulder.
"There is one thing I'm most concerned about. What will happen if Leo will accept the death of his family by the exiled prince if he visits the place, he was born in." Cho said.
"You think Leo will do what Hermonie did?" Jack looks at her with concern.
"Probably. We all know that Leo never talks about it about after what happened with his last encounter with the exiled prince. And don't forget we never heard him say "Father" to Lee since Lee adopted Leo when he was six years old." Cho said.
"Thats true. Ever since Leo came here, he met different people over the years and we practically became more like a team and a family. We fought against super villains and always had each other's back no matter what." Jack replied.
"When it comes to losing people like Fang Hua, Leo doesn't cry or grieve. He keeps it all inside him and never lets it out. Leo chose to ignore the pain and the training Lee taught him helped him to do it while training under Ju Fen as well, but Ju Fen's training was much harder. No matter how much pain or suffering Leo went through, he endures it and is determined to keep fighting.
"To know if his parents and family are still alive." Tori nodded.
"But Cho does bring up an important point." a voice said.
Jack and Tori turns around to see a woman walking towards them. She was wearing a dark green, high quality cotton Shaolin Robe. The hair is short, spiky and blue as her blue eyes stared at the three members of Crimson Dawn.
"Mistress Aashi." Cho said as the woman walks up to them.
"If Leo does find out what really happened to his parents and family, he may wreak havoc, but I can't be positive on that. We've all seen how he brutally killed Ellie five years ago without hesitation or mercy and he did the same to Sying's soldiers. He didn't want to believe Sying's words and still think he's lying despite what Sying said to him about his parents and family." Aashi replies.
"It even affected the conflict and turmoil inside him too, right?" Tori asked.
"Yes it has. I don't know what will happen if they are never settle inside Leo. Leo may be cold and ruthless to his enemies, but he is a kind and generous person to those who cares about him very much."
"I appreciate that he came to most of our birthdays, but it would be even better if Leo celebrates his birthday as well. He never celebrates his birthday every year. I just hope Leo does celebrate his birthday like the rest of us." Tori said.
"I think I remember certain several people who have a crush on a certain someone." Jack chuckles slyly, looking at his sister.
"Why do you always think I have a crush on Leo, Jack?" Tori's face blushes a little. "I don't have a crush on him!"
"Whatever you say."
"But you know why Leo never celebrated his birthday before. Bay accidentally told Leo he was adopted after living with them for four years. I can only imagine it was hard for Leo to know he became an orphan." Aashi said.
"I hope he celebrates his birthday this year when he and Panther returns." Tori replied.
"Hm." Aashi nodded and looks up at portrait.
"We should get to bed now." Cho looks at her phone.
"Alright then. Goodnight, you three."
"Goodnight, Mistress Aashi." The three warriors said together in unison and left the Great Hall.
As Jack, Tori and Cho were walking in the courtyard to get back to their rooms, Tori notices the door to the Display Room was open a bit. She stops by the door to close it, but steps inside the room.
The room is fairly big. Several glass cases were lined up against the wall. The floors were covered with blue aqua tiles. This room housed different artifacts that existed for more than a thousand years. Inside the glass cases were antiques such as cups, plates or watches. Some had pictures of The Grand Master's Ancestor, Lady Allene, the former Queen and Grand Mistress of Tao Palace. It used to be Sir Riley, Lady Allene and the tiger's room where they slept.
But there was one particular glass case that Tori was looking at. The glass case was located at the far end of the room across from the door. Inside the glass case was a full armored black suit. There were two black gauntlets with two sharp long curve blades and a longer sharp curve blade in the middle. The hooded cape was all black that reach the waistline.
There were two twin blades that hung from the waist. A black utility belt was wrapped around the waist. The entire face was covered up by a black demonic mask as the same one in the portrait. It wore dark gray black boots and black pants. This glass case contains Leo's original Black Spirit armor and uniform. After everyone found out Leo was The Black Spirit and saved Panther from her fate, the uniform had been locked up in this case ever since by Master Brock and Mistress Aashi. The uniform remained to be clean without getting any dust from outside the glass case.
It was similar to the original uniform that The Black Spirit wore.
Tori looks at the mask. To her, it sent a chill down her spine whenever she looks at it and looks creepy when she saw it as a kid. Tori continued staring at it. After staring at it for a while, the young teenager shudders for a couple seconds and left the room. Once the wooden doors were closed, she turns halfway to see Jack and Cho walking towards her.
"I was wondering where you went, Tori."
"The door to the display room was open. So I was about to close it, but I went inside to look at Leo's uniform of The Black Spirit." She answered.
"Oh. Ok then. Come on, we need to get bed now and visit James tomorrow at the hospital." Jack said.
The three warriors started heading towards their rooms. Jack said goodnight to the two girls and entered his room. The Warrior's rooms was located in different parts of the palace. Leo's room was located in a single tower where he could see the mysterious floating mountain of Yin and Yang and the city itself as Panther's room was in another tower that has a perfect view of the battle stadium where Cho and Tori's rooms were located.
The two girls were walking in the halls to their rooms.
"You were looking at the mask again, weren't you?" Cho asked her.
"Yeah. It's very creepy looking." Tori answered. "I remember Jack and Kevin made a joke by placing a mask that was nearly identical to the portrait in my room several years ago."
"The mask isn't that creepy to me." Cho remarked.
"I almost forgot you and your tribe live in the dessert. All of them are warriors and some of them are sorceresses."
"Our tribe has been around before Tao Palace was founded. Some of us still practice magic while others are warriors. We are used to the ray of the sun's heat while training and we never get a sunburn." Cho replied.
"You think that Riki will change the law of not allowing men to enter the town?"
"That is up to the Chief to decide."
"It must've been tough for Riki to be the Chief of your tribe after her mother died of a mysterious illness. I wouldn't know what to do if I was placed in that position."
"I'm sure you would do fine as a chief, Tori." Cho chuckled.
"So what do you think is down there in the cave beneath the town?"
"I'm not sure. Only chiefs are allowed to go down there by the age of fourteen and Riki's mother passed away before she could tell what was in the cave to Riki. If you want to know what I think, maybe a long-forgotten relic since ancient times."
"A forgotten relic, huh? That would be interesting. I think it could be a gem like a ruby or sapphire that hasn't seen the day of light."
"Anything could be possible."
"So the Chief has to be the only person who knows what's in that cave and Riki's mother passed on. So Riki has to become of age with a partner or challenge someone that should ... pleasure her to have as a partner to know what's in the cave." Tori's left eye twitch a little.
"Yes. That is one of the oldest traditions in my tribe and it is required by law." Cho looks at her.
"Why the hell would they make that a tradition?"
"Our ancestors believed it would be appropriate for generations to come. It was better than the first idea they came up with before adding new laws and traditions for the town. I'm really glad that our tribe is a secret to the rest of the world."
"If you ask me, I think they weren't thinking straight when they created those traditions and laws. The sun's heat must've gotten to them."
Cho chuckled at her friend's joke. "Probably. I still think they did an excellent job to create those rules. But you think that Leo will find a girlfriend someday?"
"Maybe. Panther grew up with him and gotten close to him. After he left the Tao Palace, Leo and Crow had been meditating closely, sometimes she joins him on a patrol. And when he gotten sick, Crow stayed behind to nurse him back to health with the help of Panther."
"Not to mention there are several others who could be Leo's girlfriend and they're all good, friendly and nice. I think Iris had a crush on him three years ago when she and her friend were working for Enya."
"But Leo still didn't trust her and her friend when they arrived at the tower. He was suspicious about them. And after he found out that Iris and Link were working for Enya, they betrayed the team. They couldn't know who to trust and brought the whole cave down on them and Enya, but Crimson Dusks escaped. Crimson Dusks believes all three of them are dead. You saw how hard Leo was working to find a trace of Enya and there were no signs of her. That was the last time they saw Enya."
"Do you think Leo would lose control like he did five years ago if Panther was killed? His whole body on fire?"
"I think that's a possibility. He didn't lose his hair, no burnt flesh, no scars and breathing problems after the incident with Ellie. It was completely insane. If Panther did die in front of Leo, I don't think he'll just lose control. He'll do something a whole lot worse."
The two girls made it to Tori's room.
"I'll see you in the morning, Tori." Cho said to her.
"Night, Cho." Tori said and enters her room.
Her room was big. The queen size bed was up against the wall with a white lamp desk and a golden lamp with nice patterns. There was a brown dresser to her right with a forty-five inch flat screen tv above her dresser. She receives her white towel from the towel rack and got her green pajamas. Tori enters the bathroom and turns the light on. She places her pajamas on the counter and began to undress herself. The young teenager turns the water on and steps in.
After spending some time in the bathroom to take a shower and brushing her teeth, Tori steps out of the bathroom and tosses her dirty clothes in a white laundry basket. She threw her green covers up to get underneath. The teenager made sure her alarm was set on her iPhone. Before she can go to bed, Tori brought up some photos of herself and her other friends. She came across some photos where Crimson Dusks, Crimson Dawn and Task Force 493 were having a large picnic behind the Tao Palace in the fields.
Most of her friends was playing Frisbee or relaxing in the hot springs. Tori came across some photos of herself hanging out with them. She saw a picture of Leo eating his sandwich alone until Panther, Serena, Ava, Crow, Misty, Jill and Iris was approaching to join him. Leo was going to train and patrol the city that day until Panther and Crow convinced him to join everyone at the picnic that was organized by Sheila and the Grand Mistress. He sat alone away from them.
Tori went over to the small group and asked if she could take some pictures. Panther said yes to her, much to Tori's happiness and the young girl started taking a few pictures. Leo was sitting in the middle between Crow and Panther with his leg sticking out. Misty and Jill were kneeling behind all three of them as Ava rested her chin on top of Leo's head with her hands raised smiling. Serena had her head on Leo's leg as Iris laying down on the other side of his leg resting her head and looking at the camera. They all smiled and Tori started taking some pictures of them.
She remembers John, Jack and Kevin took some pictures too. John even joked that Leo is very lucky to be surrounded by these girls who cares very much about them and should ask one of them to go out on a date with them one of these days. Leo didn't comment on John's joke. Some of the others knew John was just joking around. After everyone was finish with their lunch, the teenagers played frisbee, racket ball and listened to great music. Tori and Panther were playing a game of tag with John, Zack, Allie, Cho and Jack. Crow didn't join them and was having small talk with Sheila. Rick and some of the guys were having a regular conversation.
Leo, however, didn't participate in their games or conversations. He just stayed on his black blanket and meditate after he watched a little bit of the teams playing together. Crow joined him an hour later. It was one of usual spots whenever she visits the palace. He was going to train, as usual, but instead he joins her to look at the clouds above them. Leo felt it was boring the first time, but he gotten used to it since it was relaxing.
Panther noticed that the two were in a light slumber and took a picture of them. She showed the picture to Leo and Crow. The empath appreciated Panther not showing the picture to anyone. Panther sent the picture to both of her friends in a text so they can look at it whenever they want. Leo thanked her for sending the picture.
After watching their friends kept playing with the frisbee, the three of them took a nice walk towards a nice large open field through the forest that was a little farther away from the others for an hour and the hot springs were a little further down from the open field. Panther did tell the Grand Mistress the three of them will take a walk.
Panther remembers Lee took her and Leo here when they were kids. It was a great experience for them. She did have an idea and suggested to bring their friends here at the hot springs to enjoy a nice swim. Crow told her that Sheila would like the idea to do that whenever they visit palace. The leader of Crimson Dusks was already planning for the beach in a couple of weeks for "Mandatory Fun" since it's summer. But if the weather gets too hot, they would stay inside the tower to watch movies, singing karaoke or gaming tournaments.
Sheila organizes the event as Rick made sure to invite Crimson Dawn over if they're available to hangout, along with his adoptive siblings; Leia, Kath, Seth and Evelyn. Leia and Kath would be happy to come over, Seth would be out fighting his own villains and Evelyn would either train or meditate, but she does make a effort join them since Evelyn is the biological daughter of Bruce and joined Crimson Dusks two days before Leo joined the team.
Tori lets out a yawn and notice it was getting a little late because she had to get up at eight tomorrow. She had one thing to check up on first before going to bed. Tapping on the Notes App brought up a note that says Leo's Possible Love Interest. On the list was Panther, Crow, Riki, Serena, Evelyn and Lucrecia. Iris was on the list before she died. And the list hasn't received any new names that could be a love interest to Leo, bringing the list down to six people instead of seven. Jack and John made up this list in their early teen years around twelve years old Lucrecia's name was added several years later. Everything on the list was fine.
Feeling satisfied by looking at the list, Tori sets her phone before turning off the lamp and went to sleep.
After Tori went inside her room, Cho resumes walking to her room. Her room was a little bit further down the hall and she took a left turn. The bedroom was a little closer to the battle stadium and the room was big. Her queen-sized bed was at the top left corner of the room that was across from a door that led to her bathroom. There was a brown bookshelf, a black desk and a door that leads to a small balcony to watch the battles below. She turns on her light. Her fifty five inch flat screen tv hung on the wall.
The tan warrior walks up to her drawers and takes out her pajamas and black panties. Cho walks to her bathroom and sets her clean pajamas on the counter. She started proceeding to remove her clothes until all that's left was her brown bra and panties. Cho looks at herself in the mirror. Her body is muscular and athletic. She remembers five years ago that Isis and herself were standing guard while Riki was bathing herself. The two guards were thirsty and left to get Aseer Asab. When Cho and Isis came back, they saw Leo stepping out of the doorway.
Both girls were yelling angrily and called him a pervert. Riki steps out of the bath area to see what the commotion was. She notices the two teenagers had their weapons out and pointed at Leo. Riki tells the two girls that she requested Leo to get her some fresh clothes to sleep in and saw she didn't bring any fresh clothes with her. The chief was still fully clothed when she saw Leo passing by. Leo accepted her request and was wondering where Cho and Isis went, making the young chief to wonder too. He tells the two girls he had no intention looking at the young chief naked and was on his way back to his room when Riki spotted him.
Cho and Isis became embarrassed and apologized to Leo for their behavior and calling him a pervert. Cho explains to Riki that they went to get a drink of Asser Asab and apologized for not telling her about it. Lady Riki and Leo accepted their apology and tells them don't worry about it. Once that was taken of care, Cho and Isis resumes their positions and Leo heads over back to his room.
After thinking about the past, she removes the rest of her clothing and steps in the bathtub to take her shower. She spent a few good minutes taking her shower. Cho steps out of the bathroom wearing her black shorts and a gray t-shirt while drying her hair. Tossing her clothes in the laundry basket, she turns the lamp on and picks up her phone to set the alarm. Cho started going through some pictures she took over the years and came across a picture of Leo and Evangeline that was taken two years ago after Hermonie's defeat. Evangeline left the group into unknown parts of the world. She hasn't been seen nor heard in two years. They wonder if the woman knows what's going on right now or that Leo and Panther are in a different world.
Maybe they'll cross paths with Evangeline one day. It would be nice to know what has she been up to these past two years. Not even Bruce can find her. Leo, Panther, Crow, Sheila and Rick were the last people who have spoken to her before she left after the party. Maybe she crossed paths with Leo and Panther's childhood friend somewhere in Japan.
That would be very interesting to know.
Cho got up from her bed and open a window while turning on her ceiling fan. Once she made it back to the bed, she shuts her lamp off and drifts off to sleep. Things are going to very interesting tomorrow from here on out. She wonder what she going to say him tomorrow. And if Leo and Panther do return from that world, there will be so many things to discuss if they return back here.
Author's Note: Now then, Kung Fu Panda 4 has been out for a couple of weeks now and I haven't even seen the movie yet, so I don't want to know what happens until I see the movie. I did heard Jack Black's version of Baby One More Time by Brittney Spears two weeks ago on their official YouTube Channel and it sounds so fucking amazing! People have already started making comparison videos. I do plan to see this movie soon and I will have to start thinking about it after I complete a few more stories of Kung Fu Panda. With that out of the way, let's get down to business, shall we?
Oh my goodness. I'm glad how this chapter turned out. And I can't believe I wrote a 21k chapter that's a little longer than twenty thousand words and it nearly halfway to twenty-two thousand words. I'd be surprised if I can reach to twenty-five thousand words. Were all of you surprised what Leo did?
I bet you were. This chapter gave me the opportunity to reveal what Leo had done. I know the nightmares were mentioned in bits for the previous past chapters of this story. I wanted to build that up and find the right opportunity to use it and here it is. But I didn't want to end the chapter with the original ending to the episode.
I had to think about Saber as well. The clone is a tiger and needs to eat meat. But not just Saber, Abra as well. The mysterious woman makes an appearance. This causes a few members of Twilight Titans to come save Leo because Shifu, Po and The Furious Five are in no condition to help Leo.
And while Leo is with the clone along with the few members of Twilight Titans, the Dragon Warrior and Viper told the rest of the Five about the scroll Leo has been working on. Tigress brings up Enya's name to them and she is planning to talk to Leo when he returns. Po and Tigress remembers hearing Leo's voice and another voice; leading Leo to be shocked when he saw them and answered he was thinking about a memory. Now they're wondering this is the reason why Leo has been spending time in the library or is it connected to the hellish nightmares.
Back in the human world, Crimson Dawn and Crimson Dusks is discussing about the Dragon Soldier, James, if they should trust him or not while discussing about the good times and bad with Leo and the mission he took five years go. I decided to add a few more characters while having the Grand Mistress Suzu to finally make an appearance. I couldn't find the right time to add her until now.
But don't you worry, everyone. All of Leo's secrets will be revealed in time. I just have to find the right opportunity or wait for one to present itself.
I hope you all enjoyed this great chapter, everyone! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, PM and leave a review! See you all in the next chapter of this story, everyone!