Everyone wasted no time as a multitude of questions were immediate and directed only towards the green python. Most of them revolving around 'where have you been' and 'why are you working with bandits' from the majority of them. In response, the jade version of their former comrade silently stared and gave the occasional twitch. All of the kung fu masters questions went unanswered, other than Viper who had not spoken a word since uttering the pythons name. She stood there in stunned silence unsure what to think or even say. She had thought him dead. She had mourned and accepted the hand of cruel fate that the universe had dealt her, only to find that he was now here in front of her alive and breathing! Or so it seemed.

The shiny jade appearance had not escaped her notice. Maybe he was in some sort of trance, or maybe it wasn't even Mike at all and just some twisted jade mockery of the snake? It was hard to tell. However, despite the horrific circumstances, the green tree snake slithered forward slightly ahead of the others, just enough for all eyes to focus on her, causing all questions to settle down. Maybe, just maybe she could speak to him, remind him of who he was about to fight against then there may have been a chance he would listen. After all, as a master of kung fu, wasn't it her duty to keep the peace through more than mere actions? Talking was just as effective a tactic as any other.

"Mike? Sweety, is that you?" She gently asked, daring herself to get closer. "If it is then, I don't know how you're here. I'm not sure why you're working with these strangers or... or even what's happened to you. But... one thing I do know is how good it is to see you again." She allowed her surprised expression to slowly shift to a happier, more comforting one. Her words seemed to be getting easier to use the more she talked. "I missed you, we all did. We thought you were dead. I know the last time we were together it wasn't during the easiest of moments, but I still loved you then and that hasn't changed now. Please, just talk to us and we can sort out whatever it is that's going on. Please dearest?"

The python showed no sign of reaction. Not a single twitch of expression or body language. Viper was about to continue until his mouth started to open, allowing a moment of hope to seize her. But instead of expected words, the singular most awful violent hiss she had heard spewed from him. And like the noise was some kind of command, all four jade beasts attacked. Mike jumped right at Viper, his closest target, mouth full of sharp teeth ready to rip and tear. The blue eyed snake however soon changed from concern to battle ready as her look became that much more serious. As emotionally challenging as this fight was going to be, her duty to her comrades and the villagers of the Valley of Peace came before her dead shining husk of a boyfriend. Before the possessed version of her love could take a chunk out of her, she ducked allowing the serpents head to shoot over her before delivering a strike to his midsection that launched him up into the air where he was suddenly grabbed by crane and thrown into an unfortunate abandoned cart, smashing it apart. But as if it felt no pain, the python got up from the broken remains and charged again at once, this time going for an easier more distracted target which happened to be monkey.

The primate didn't seem to notice the python coming from behind as he did his best to avoid getting skewered by a number of razor sharp quills being fired from the porcupine he was currently up against. By the time he did notice, he felt something sweep his legs and slam him into the ground causing some serious back pain. Before either of the two could finish him off, viper struck the python while Tigress performed a palm strike on the porcupine that would have easily knocked out a regular bandit. The spiked rodent however hardly seemed fazed and went after its new foe trying to deliver several blows with its bow, which was also made from the same green rock. Mike on the other hand seemed to struggle against the unrelenting snake as she hit him hard and fast with precise strikes and known pressure point spots. None of which caused any sort of effect. She was clearly determined to stop him more than the other jaded. Not that the python cared as he managed to soon push back however with several lashing attacks of his own, using his lower half like a whip and causing serious damage to anything it came into contact with. Luckily the slightly smaller snake was incredibly agile from her many years of training and was able to avoid every single attack. After a single trusting stab came her way, Viper used the opportunity to wrap her own tail around Mikes neck and slammed him into the stone tiles below before following up with a jab to the neck. But even that did little to halt his advance, and Vipers defensive tactics were pushing her back against the wall almost. Then, like the tip of a spear, Mikes tail shot forth at an incredible speed towards the second serpents head. Viper barely ducked in time as it embedded itself into the wall behind leaving a spiderweb of cracks. Before the jade snake could follow up with another attack, a small green blur with the speed and power of a cannonball smashed into his face hard enough to send him flying a good twelve feet away.

"Thanks Mantis." Viper nodded with a smile as the blur halted in front of her revealing it to be none other than the green insect himself.

"Anytime. Don't suppose that'll keep him down this time do you?"

As if on cue. The snake raised his head up off the ground and turned to face the pair with once again, no sign of any sort of damage or fatigue.

"Doesn't look like it." Viper hissed in annoyance.

"Ugh, great. And I thought he was stubborn when he was his normal colors." The bug groaned. "Wanna sit this one out? Can't exactly imagine fighting your undead possessed boyfriend would be a great morale booster."

"Not a chance. We're going to stop these things and find a way to get him back to normal, Mantis."

The steely glare Viper handed down left no room for argument. Not that the miniature warrior needed convincing.

"Darn right we are!"

The three figures wasted no more time, closed the distance and began to throw attack after attack at each other, sometimes having to avoid cheap shots from their respective opposite sides. Despite the python originally having much less fighting experience, he held his own well against two different opponents. Soon enough though, one hit was lucky enough to swat mantis out of the air, giving Mike the chance to focus on Viper once again. Only this time going all out and not allowing a single counter attack to be used against him. He was suddenly much faster than he originally was moments ago, intent on finishing off this one target before the other could recover. Not that he had much time as Mantis shot at him again, ready to strike with another hard kick.

Only this time the python twisted his head around at the very last second and his teeth snapped down on both of the bugs left legs. Not enough to break anything, but being bitten by a creature made of green rock tended to hurt quite a lot.

"OW! Let go you jade freak!"

And he did. By flinging Mantis upwards and onto the roof above before wasting no time chasing him ready to finish the job.

"Hang on Mantis, I'm coming!" Viper assured her friend before having to quickly avoid being hit by a bo staff belonging to one of the badgers. "In a minute or two."

A few strikes to the legs was enough to bring down the badger momentarily, giving Viper enough time to follow Mike before he could crush Mantis for good. However in her escape, the badger recovered fast enough to pursue her, who in turn was followed by the other Jade creatures. Upon reaching the very top of the building she had seen Mike go up, she found him trying to shut his mouth. With Mantis inside trying to keep the prying jaws from closing all the way.

"Seriously?! What is it with guys bigger than me trying to eat me?!" He shouted in frustration as his strength started to wane.

"Mantis!" Viper cried out in concern. But before she could do anything, a loud crash sounded off from right behind her and she turned to find that the rest of the jade creatures had followed. "Uh oh..."

All three raised their weapons and brought them down right on top of Viper. The snake dodged and retaliated by wrapping herself around one of the badgers and performed her 'puppet of death' move. Using her coils and muscles that were wrapped around the attackers torso and arms she was able to duel against the remaining enemies for a short amount of time, dodging and deflecting blows but it was a short and temporary strategy. Especially since this jaded creature was much tougher than the usual flesh and blooded beings she used it on meaning its resistance was a heck of a lot harder to get control of. Thankfully she didn't need to use it for much longer.

"Viper, tail spin!" Came a voice from one of her team mates behind her. Having trained with them for so many years it had become second nature to trust them when they called for you to perform a specific move, so without a seconds delay she removed herself from the badger, jumped in front of its head and spun whilst coiled in the shape of a small wheel before suddenly extending her body and bringing her tail down on the very top of the very same badger. While the move didn't do much itself it WAS however the perfect distraction for a certain felines foot to collide with the side of its face at enough momentum to fling it into its two allies, knocking them all off of their feet. Tigress and the rest of the five were quick to re-engage. Almost forgetting her fellow kung fu master in distress, Viper turned back to help Mantis only to find that Shifu had forced his staff directly into Mikes mouth and was using it to pry the serpents jaws open enough for Mantis to escape. It must have been rather uncomfortable as the jade being itself looked surprised at the 'attack'. Then as though things couldn't get any stranger, a late and certain black and white newcomer joined the fray, jumping high into the air ready to strike.

"Enemies of justice! Prepare for wa... are you kidding me?"

Po had arrived, making quite the entrance as he crashed into the roof, momentarily distracted by the oddness of this new foe. An act that caught every single combatant off-guard causing them to stop momentarily before resuming just as suddenly. The Panda quickly recovered.

"Whoa! What's the deal with the green guys?" He sounded more impressed than battle focused, climbing back onto his feet as Tigress landed her first punch on one of her foes. A small sting of pain radiated from the point of impact in her knuckles. An unusual feat given how she could rarely feel any pain in her paws at all. Just another example of how tough these jade things really were.

"Some kind of Jade zombies." She commented, not wasting a second and followed up with an even harder kick.

"Jade Zombies...?" The panda pondered until... "Jombies!" Both he and Monkey called out at the exact same time. And almost instantly after that... "Jinx!" Which in turn earned Monkey a whack on the head by a green rock staff.

Mike having been handed a small break from Shifu after one of the other now dubbed 'jombies' tried its luck with the grandmaster, noted the larger newcomer and dived right at him expecting an easier target. However the panda caught him by the neck inches away from his face with little effort. His other hand grabbed the tail of the python and stretched him out as the jade snake struggled to remove himself from Pos grasp.

"Man, talk about fiesty!" Po noted, having to hold the serpent at arms length as it still attempted of bite his head off. "Or maybe you're just hangry? I know I get that way sometimes when I skip second breakfast."

In his short moment of distraction, Mikes tail was able to wrap around Pos wrist and twist it, causing the black and white bear to release his grip. The python was able to flip the panda over onto his back as he kept hold of Mikes head before wrapping around his torso and trying to crush the panda. It was only then that Po seemed to at last realise who he was up against.

"Wait. Mike? Is that you? You're alive?! AND you're a jombie?!" The snake gave no response at his shocked former comrades questions." That's ... AWESOME! Do you feel all rocky? Can you see in green? Can- URK!"

The python tightened its grip more, starting to cut off air supply.

"Not one to catch... up...? Guess that's not... changed much..." Po wheezed. Before Mike could cause any serious harm the panda jumped into the air with what power he had and landed on his back. Even as a jade monster, having 300 pounds of panda crush you underneath brick tiles of a house was an uncomfortable experience. Enough to force Mike to let go, allowing Po to get up and out of his coils.

"Hang on I know what'll cheer you up! Be back in a second!" He cheerfully told the python who was still in his crushed position. After managing to get up and recover, the panda had already returned bringing with him... a pig villager with a sketch board? "Can you get a sketch of us real quick?"

Po engaged the python once more, fighting off his attacks while posing for the sketch that the villager was drawing, albeit terrified, confused and probably concerned for his safety but managed to draw all the same. At one point the large bear pulled Mike in for a panda hug. A big mistake given how close he had just brought the python to his face which allowed the slithering jombie to bite Po right on the nose, causing a lot of pain for the fluffy mammal, given how much he jumped around and was trying to pulled Mike off. Luckily he managed to pry him off quickly and tossed the snake away getting an undignified hiss in the process.

"Did you get it?" Po headed back over to the villager, rubbing his stinging muzzle. The sketch showed the exact moment where Mike had snapped his jaws on Pos snout which showed the panda understandably freaking out as he attempted to pull the angry looking snake off. However the pandas biggest concern seemed to be...

"Aw man, my face looks weird in this one!" Po complained in disappointment. "Think we can try again?"

Before the villager could respond, Po found himself tackled off of the roof. This time, the jade porcupine wanted to take a go at him as they fell together. Not long after that the focus of the entire battle took place on solid ground once again and, rather unfortunately for a certain noodle-loving goose, in the middle of Mr. Pings restaurant. However given how much damage these jombies had caused already, the kung fu masters needed to bring this fight to an end, now. And Po had one idea on how to do so. After filling his mouth with many many dumplings left out from fleeing villagers, and thanks to the help of Viper and Tigress, the panda had managed to turn himself into some sort of multi firing cannon and was pelting the four jade beasts with dumpling after dumpling. The defenders were able to get in close and with one final blow, knock them all down on their backs, keeping them pinned under their strength bringing the battle to a close. But before any of the kung fu masters could demand their surrender...

Laughter. The jombies were laughing, all of them. At the exact same time.

"I see you." They spoke all at once. A mocking tone hidden in their echoing voices. "Your chi will soon be mine."

"Is he talking to me?" Po turned to the others unsure.

"Which one? They're all talking."

"Whoa! You're right. That's so scary. We should try that too! Maybe it would be scary back at them!"

"Okay, but we gotta plan what we're gonna say first, otherwise it won't be scary. It'll just be stupid."

"It's not them talking, you idiots! It's me talking through them! Kai!"

...

...

...

"Who?" Came everyone's reply at once.

"Okay, okay. Enough."

In the blink of an eye the pinned jombies seemed to dissolve into small green trinkets, floating in front of the warriors for a brief moment before shooting themselves over the top of the noodle restaurant and out of sight, allowing Po and the five the chance to let their guard down at last. It was over. For now at least. But at that moment, all thoughts were centred round this 'Kai' and what he was after. Almost all thoughts.

Viper was understandably more focused on the short and by no means easy battle they had just had. Or more specifically the fight she had just had with Mike. One part of her felt happy. After so many months of thinking the python had been buried alive under a mountain, here he was! Alive! Which in turn made the other part of her feel afraid, saddened and angry. Whatever he had come back as clearly had no memory of her or his friends. And that voice she had just heard from him? That was not the mengyan. A fact that both relieved and worried her. But whatever the case, the group were all in need of answers. With luck, the Jade Palace archives would have the answers to all their questions.

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A quick note. Thank you for your positive reviews and messages over the last few days everyone! I'm surprised how many people actually missed this story! All the more reason to finish it. I'll be back soon enough with the next chapter soon enough. Cheerio!