Ash was walking on the road of Yunhai, a little village in the mountains. He is in this world for more than a week now and he was still trying to find his friends. After staying at Qinshui for three days where he manages to buy a black cloak to cover his body, a mask to hide his face and with some pieces of tissue he has been able to make a pair of glove. The goal is obviously to not attract attention on him because his a weird being here. But with wich money? Well, let's just say that some wolf bandits were plundering the village when he arrived and that their money was more useful for him that for them…at least for now.
At the moment he was walking around, patrolling…because yes, his world or not he remains faithful to his principles and those are: help and protect.
He was looking at the villagers through his mask hidden under his hood (double protection…who knows) when his stomach growls suddenly. 'well better go eat something and go sleep' he thought. And with that he start walking toward the only restaurant in the town.
«what do you have in there fatso?» Ash stop dead where he is when heard that and turn his head toward where the sound come from. He saw a group of children bullying a little pig that was a bit chubby in a backstreet.
«n-nothing,Liang.» answer the little pig clutching onto his bag
«yeah yeah, and you really think that i will believe you? you say that all the time and there is always something to eat in there. What? you think you're not fat enough, Din?» Liang asks harshly «give me that bag of yours…or i will take it myself»
«N-no it's my lunch and you already take it yesterday» Din shivers as the group step forward
«alright» Liang says and then go for a punch straight in Din's belly. The little pig close his eyes and prepare for the rain of punch and kick but nothing happens, worst he heard a scream of pain. When he opens his eyes, he could see that Liang was on the groung and that someone was holding his arm being his back.
Din's eyes were wide like big plate. There, was the child that was bullying him for years now and that nobody stops from harashing him was there lying on the ground like some big victime.
«now now young ones. Can someone explain to me what is happening here?» the stranger asks them, his tone not hostile, rather calm actually.
One of the bully directly answers him «no-nothing sir! We were just joking around with our buddy, Din. Right dude?» he ask to the young pig try to not get into trouble.
The man looks towards Din who was thinking about what to do. Must he told the stranger the reality and taking the risk of getting his ass kick for that later or follow what the other told the man. «Um, yeah. We were just walking around and have fun, yeah…that's wh-what we were doing» he says awkwardly
Liang was struggling in the hold of the stranger but manage to speak trough the pain «you see? just having fun hehe»
«oh yeah?» the man says «and for you all, calling someone fat and trying to punch him in the gut is a way to having fun? because from what i saw, this little guy was not having so much fun back then» he says, his voice raising a little. Ash could see that Din was somewhat relieve that he manages to figure that out/ see what happened «SO, what we are going to, you all are going to apologize to your «'buddy' here and then you will go back to mommy and if i hear about you all again, you will not like how this will end. AM. I. CLEAR?» he warned.
«yes, sir!» they all says. Ash let go of Liang and they all start running. Ash sighs and looks toward the little pig and step forward toward him and pick up him up and his bag
«you alright there, buddy?» he ask gently
«yes, thank you sir» Din answers him
The human pet the head of the pig and start walking on the street with him in his arms «where do you live?» he asks while looking around. Some villagers look at him strangely, others don't really care.
«just round the corner the first house to the left» Din replies
And with that the both of them arrives at din's house. After knocking o the door, Din's dad opens the door and Ash gives him back his son while explaining to him what happened to his son. He was offered to stay and eat with them but politely declined. He went back on his way to the restaurant where he ordered some bean buns and a cup of tea.
While he was eating peacefully his meal and couldn't help to hear the conversation between two goat at the table next to his «have you heard about the creatures in the Valley of Peace?» one says
«the group of weird hairless apes? i have heard but i don't know much about it» the other says
«yeah, them. When i heard about that, i was really scared that they were going to bring chaos around here but luckily the Furious Five neutralized them.» When Ash heard that his body stiffened and was not really liking what he was hearing…hairless apes was really a description of a human if you don't know what it is soi t could bet hem, it could be his friends.
«Neutralized? what? they killed them?»
«no one really know what happen to them. The only thing everyone know is that they were brought to the Jade Palace and that they were not seen since then» that di dit. With that Ash stood up and stand before them, his mask reveal nothing of his facial expression
«Where is this so called 'Valley of Peace' and this Jade palace?!» he asks a bit too harshly. Both goat shiver under his angry glare
In the dungeon of the Jade Palace
It's been almost three weeks since the group of humans were put in their cell. They were treat correctly: food, drink…the cell were not a five star hotel but alright. They were sometimes take off their cells and bring in the Hall of Heroes for questioning but let's just say that they were not really cooperative. Master Shifu didn't take that kindly and warned them that this wasn't going to help them to be free but they don't really much care at this point. The warriors were not kindly towards them too especially Tigress who always looks down at them with hostility as if they were some abomination
«Seriously guys, this all situation sucks…it's soooooo boring» Ed says
Sim yawns while saying a bit exasperated « yeah we know, ED. you said that 8000 times already»
«rrrraaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh» Ed groans « why don't we make a plan to break free?»
«because even if this is possible to break free from this place where are we going to go? plus, those guys will hunt us down and they will certainly not be as mercyful as they are…and i don't want to find out.» Al finally speaks
«pppppppffffffffff» Ed pouts
At the moment,Shifu and the warriors were training as usual in the training hall
Tigress was training in the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion while Viper were avoiding flames in the Field of Fiery Death. Po was sparing with Crane on the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom trying to keep his balance. On their side, Monkey and Mantis were training in the Seven-Talon Rings and the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors respectively. Their master, Shifu, keeping his eyes on them somewhat still thinking about what to do about the three in the dungeon.
In the Hall of Heroes, the goose servant, Zheng was starting his day with cleaning the floor of the room. Till then, everything was fine and peacefull as usual. But suddenly, he senses the atmosphere changing around him and at first he didn'treact at all but mentally he was scared to no end because he was feeling like someone was watching him. Worst, someone was just behind him. But he didn't hear anything at all and if it was one of the warriors or Master Shifu, he would have hear them, soi t only left one possiblity: someone sneaks up in the Jade Palace without no one noticing and this person was standing behind him. He has to alert the Masters and real quick. With that he drops his broom and starts running as fast as he could with as much hope as he can get but the only problem: he was running yes but why was he not moving?
The Stranger was holding him by his neck and turns hima round so that he looks directly at him. Facing him was a tall being with a black cloak wearing a mask. Zheng could only shake and gulp, fearing for his life.
At first the stranger was silent at looking at him and then he ask in the most hostile that Zheng has ever heard «WHERE. ARE. THEY?»