What began as a sunny and peaceful afternoon out sailing for a small crew of humans soon turned disastrous. They were working on their ship, tying knots in ropes to secure things and hoisting the masts when a gust of wind blew. The captain, a small red-faced man with a long black mustache, stepped out on the highest deck at the stern. His smile soon faded and his eyes squinted upon noticing something in the distance off the port bow deep into the horizon, seemingly getting bigger by the moment.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Captain! We appear to be heading towards an unknown island." A crewmate shouted.
"Impossible! There shouldn't be any landmasses out in this part of the ocean. It's not even on any of the maps." The captain replied.
Suddenly, a booming roar of thunder overhead was heard by the entire crew. Flashes of lightning lit up the sky and blinded the crew for a brief moment. They looked up and saw dark storm clouds thickening together. The forecast had not predicted a storm at all for today. All had been quiet up until now. A few more blasts of lightning struck down from the sky and crashed into the ocean below.
The waves had been calm for the past several hours, but now the sea was churning and rocking the boat from all sides. Just as the ship was ready to tip over, a giant wave from behind them formed threatening their lives. The humans on the ship decided the best course of action was to put on their air bubble helmets and abandon ship.
Before leaving, the captain wrote a distress call on a dampened sheet of paper. Handing it to the turtle next to him, he told the little green shelled animal, "Take this to Big Green. May the currents guide you safely."
The turtle grabbed the paper in its mouth, jumped off the side and swam off. It fought the rising waves and unnatural currents and motions in the waters along the way. Even a natural born swimmer like it almost drowned when the giant wave finally crashed down on the ship, breaking it apart in one fell swoop.
As the humans popped up to the surface of the sea a minute later, they could barely keep their heads above water. Fortunately, they had their air bubbles to keep them breathing. However, the stormy waves were wild and rough, as if they were purposely trying to kill them. The captain then spotted the mysterious island in the distance was getting closer.
But they were not the ones moving closer to it. This was a moving island floating atop the sea.
Dangerous at it seemed, the captain decided their best chance of survival was to make it to this island before it floated away out of their reach. "Quickly, men! Swim to shore while it's still near!" he shouted to his crew.
They all started swimming towards the sandy shoreline. At one point, they realized they had to link arms to ensure they didn't get separated and pulled further out to sea. It did hinder their abilities to swim properly, though. As luck would have it, each crew member made it to the island with only minimal injuries.
Once they made back to land, some crew members began kissing the sands of the shoreline, thankful and relieved to have made it out of that storm alive. But the captain knew this wasn't over yet. For he noticed that even though the storm still raged on beyond the shores of this island, it seemed to be a storm ringed around the island itself. It was as if the storm was meant to protect the island from something or someone. His assumptions were proven correct when several mysterious assailants jumped out from the edge of the jungle at the end of the shoreline.
They were just dark silhouettes at this point, but they looked fierce, menacing, and intent on seeing to it that these humans did not get any further onto their territory. Most of which have the forms of animals. Some were furry, others feathery, and a few even popped out from the ocean behind them. But they were certainly not like any creatures the crewmates have seen before. Among these dark figures was one of that of a human woman standing at the forefront. Without saying a word, she pointed a finger towards the ship crew, ordering the animals to move in closer to the wide-eyed and trembling humans.
Becoming surrounded by new ferocious enemies led by a mysterious commander, the humans' screams echoed at a bird's eye view of the island.
It had been several months since Twin Masters' defeat. Big Green's base of operations was still undergoing repairs, but both the humans and animals dedicated to its cause were doing their part, and they remained in high spirits for the future.
In the meantime, during their breaktimes in between the process of rebuilding, First Squad trained like never before. Whether it was Mystique Sonia's tongue strength, Jumpy Ghostface's jump-roping abilities, or Mighty Ray's eyeball lightning, each member wanted to become stronger.
As a matter of fact, their training sessions had been taking place outside in the field of combat since Big Green's indoor training course was still out of commission. Right now, they were out in an open meadow surrounded by forest trees, far enough away from any human or animal settlements lest innocent bystanders got caught in the crossfire.
Mr. No Hands supervised while flying overhead, and he commanded the others to go faster, push harder, and do better.
"Come one! Keep at it! Just because Twin Masters are gone doesn't mean the fight is over. There's no telling when a new evil threat will arise, and that calls for no slacking off! First Squad needs to set a good example as heroes at Big Green."
And that was just what they did up until Commander Ape Truly along with several animal kings—Elephant, Giraffe, Panda, and Octopus, to be exact—emerged from the tree line.
"First Squad, I'm afraid I have some troubling news," the Commander began to announce as the members of the squad gather around, "Big Green has just received word that a human ship crew has gone missing somewhere in the southern seas almost one week ago. The last thing they left behind was this distress call," the monkey in disguise held up the crummy paper now doused in seawater that the captain had entrusted to the little turtle, "And it entails that just before the ship was destroyed, the crew found a mysterious uncharted island."
"Humans…Stranded?" Jumpy asked.
"It is quite so, Jumpy. That's why I want First Squad to rescue them."
The members of First Squad looked at each other with puzzled faces.
"And you're absolutely certain about this, Commander Ape Truly?" Mr. No Hands asked as he walks up to the center, "I've studied quite a few maps of Hidden Kingdom back in my days and never have I ever encountered any island in the southern seas."
"That's true. What if this is some kind of trap?" Mystique Sonia inquired as doubt crept into their hearts as to whether it was a good idea to save the ship crew.
"As if any trap can stop me!" Mighty Ray said.
"Whatever the case may be, the fact is these humans need help, and they are counting on us. I'd like you all to report to the beach immediately and meet up with Samo Whale and the Sailor Brothers. Wait a minute," Commander Ape Truly paused and looked all around the area to find someone was missing, "Where is Lin Chung?"
"Eh, he said something about running out of bullets, so he went out to get some more." Mystique Sonia replies with a dissatisfied face and her hands on her hips.
"Again? That's like the third time this week! When is enough enough?" Mighty Ray asked.
"Don't blame Lin Chung, Mighty Ray," Mr. No Hands said, "Ever since we defeated Twin Masters, that warrior has been working harder than any of us. After all, it was his Harmonic powers that gave us the edge needed to save Hidden Kingdom from the chaos."
"Ha! You seriously call slacking off working hard? The guy barely shows up to train with us anymore! He's our leader, and he thinks he can just ditch us like that while we're working our butts off?! Woah!" Mighty Ray tried to say more, but he was cut off by Yaksha's long pink stretchy arms covering his mouth and pulling down to the ground.
"Don't talk about Lin Chung like that, Banana-Brain!" Mystique Sonia shouted at him, "You know just as well as any of us that the Harmonic energy takes a toll on his body, and how much he's fought to protect all of us and Hidden Kingdom!"
The two gave each other nasty death glares and looked about ready to wrestle each other, but they were interrupted by Jumpy literally jumping into their argument.
"Must…Save humans…On island! We…Get…Lin Chung!" the white rabbit says.
"Jumpy is right. This is not up for debate!" Mr. No Hands stated, "We'll inform Lin Chung about the mission on our way to the beach. He is a great warrior and a humble leader, and I'm sure whatever he does next will ensure us that hasn't changed."
Both Mystique Sonia and Mighty Ray bowed their heads in humility and agreement. While Commander Ape Truly and the other animal kings headed back to Big Green, the members of First Squad hopped onto their turtles and made their way towards the bamboo forest to get their leader.
Meanwhile, deep within the bamboo forest, Lin Chung was at his usual spot balancing on his staff with his eyes closed. He had been patiently waiting for the past few hours for the little bamboo shoots that he uses for his bullets to sprout up from the ground below him.
But he'd been having a bad feeling in the pit of his gut ever since he woke up that morning. A disturbance in the Harmonic energy was what rose him from his slumber earlier, similar to what he felt back just before Twin Masters came into their full power. It was why he dashed straight out of his room exactly at sunrise, out of Big Green headquarters, and into the bamboo forest, looking to find some relief and comfort from the nature surrounding him.
"Impossible," he told himself, "With Twin Masters gone, how can a new chaotic energy show itself so soon? What amount of threat will they pose to Hidden Kingdom? And with Big Green still rebuilding, will we even be ready?"
All these questions were swirling around violently in his mind, but for none of them he had an answer to. He tried to meditate in order to calm his nerves, but even that proved fruitless as the Harmonic energy inside his body was screaming that danger was approaching. And fast.
Suddenly, the ground rumbles as a tremendous amount of the little bamboo shoots sprouted upward. Lin Chung got surprised but not confused by the abnormality. He hadn't seen this many bamboo shoots since the time he'd asked them if they wanted to be eaten by the Air Defense Force. This certainly did not seem like a good sign. If there really was going to be another great battle to rival that of Twin Masters' fury, he decided it couldn't hurt to be prepared, just to be on the safe side.
Lin Chung started gathering the little shoots, cutting them out of the ground at the base and then loading as many as he possibly could into his purple staff. With that out of the way, he took a thin black wire and began to bead the bamboo shoots through to carry around his torso like last time. He did this again and again because he felt every bit counted until he'd uprooted every last bamboo shoot that had grown just now. By the end, he wound up with eight extra arsenals altogether.
That was when he heard the sound of several turtle-sized tank treads approaching him from behind him. His teammates rode atop their turtles and were honestly quite shocked at his current appearance.
"Lin Chung…Many…Bamboo shoots." Jumpy said.
"I agree. Doesn't that seem like a little too many bullets?" Mr. No Hands asked their leader.
"Well, uh, there seemed to be a lot more bamboo shoots than usual. I just did not want any of them to go to waste." Which was not a lie, not that he'd ever do that to his friends, but he still sounded nervous when he said it. Lin Chung didn't know how to explain that there may be a new big threat coming for them, given their predicament and not wanting to hurt their already unstable morale.
"I don't know. It kind of makes you look like you're ready to pick a fight, if you ask me." Mystique Sonia commented. She was also concerned for Lin Chung's wellbeing as she noticed the dark circles under his eyes looked darker than usual, but she didn't want to mention it.
"Who cares? That doesn't change the fact we've got a mission to get done!" Mighty Ray reminded them.
Lin Chung looked to Mr. No Hands who began to inform him, "Commander Apetrully has assigned First Squad with a search and rescue mission. Apparently, a human ship was lost at sea and they are stranded on an uncharted island even as we speak. The Commander has instructed us to meet with the Sailor Brothers and prepare for the journey."
"An uncharted island, you say?" Lin Chung didn't want to admit it, but just like a third strike, his fears had been affirmed. A worrying feeling washed over him as he thought to himself that this could be the new evil he was dreading all morning. He soon mounted his own turtle and simply said, "Very well. Let's go."
And just like that, the other members of First Squad followed Lin Chung out of the bamboo forest and towards the beach. If only they knew this was merely the beginning of the end of their world as they've known it…