LOYY- Chapter 6

Master Ox watched his young apprentice, now a Kung Fu Master such as himself, walk proudly in the tall, green grass. It would take less than an hour for them to reach Gongmen. Proud for the fighter he had raised, as well as himself, Master Ox followed him slowly. Suddenly, the air around them changed; a smell of burning wood and rain appeared.

"Master...you have to take a look at this," the young Master Rhino called. The ox climbed the same hill now with much more speed and stared at the burning city below. The sky was dark and stormy, but only as far as Gongmen's boundaries went. The city itself was surrounded by enemy camps, with small fires to mark their position. The port was filled with enormous ships made of black wood and though they weren't many in number their mere presence brought death and demise to mind. But what worried the Masters more was the sky. This was not a storm, not even a cloud. Even though outside the city the sky was perfectly clean, inside there was only darkness. The darkness of death.

Then Master Ox noticed a noticeably large group of people heading straight for Gongmen tower. The two Masters watched as the army -for an army it was- climbed over the protective wall with such easy and grace it reminded them of a horse jumping obstacles. Luckily the tower guards had already gathered in the courtyard. But Master Ox knew they wouldn't be enough.

"Come on, son," he said and ran down the hill, followed by Master Rhino.

As soon as the guards led her out the dungeon, Fei's nostrils filled with the smell of smoke and her ears were deafened by the moaning of the dying and the shrieks of the fighting. In the middle of the palace's courtyard was formed a battlefield. The two sides were mixed and struggling so she found it pretty hard to distinguish the two. There were the wolves and goats led by Master Croc, and a mixture of felines, mostly white tigers and panthers slaughtering those mindless enough to defend Gongmen. The peahen stood stunned by the sight and tried to convince herself it what she witnessed was actually the truth. All of sudden the guards next to her fell to the ground. Splashes of blood spilled her delicate robe as she turned around and came face to face with the strange creature; it was a bird. It looked like a peacock, only not, and had a bright red color that turned orange towards the end of its tail. The peafowl Princess blinked, its tail was twice the size of any she had seen before, not to mention its fiery eyes.

"Who...who are you?" she trembled. The bird neared her, wrapping her around its fiery aura. And then it burst into a hysteric laughter, a male voice, loud and deep that reminded her of her fathers.

"You don't know? You ACTUALLY DARE NOT KNOW?"

She blinked in shock and backed away. The bird only laughed more.

"Foolish mortal...Are you in charge of this city?"

She merely nodded and continue to step backwards, her heart pounding louder than ever.

"Good. Will you surrender or die?" His question was so straightforward, Fei doubted he understood the meaning of it. She doubted this creature could tell any difference between life and death. Fei wanted to answer so badly, but her tongue was stuck and her throat dry. She reminded herself of some basic defense moves her father had shown her. She was never fond of martial arts, let alone a hopeless fighter. She browsed around with the corner of her eye. Vortex and death. Fight or die. Fury was good enough a motivator to have her throw herself at him.

Meanwhile, inside his icky cell, Shen was waiting for the door to close. Surprisingly it hung open. He quickly opened his wooden box and started throwing the family drawings out, until he reached the bottom. There he slid the first bottom, which was a fake one -constructed to hide things between this and the real one. Inside were a dagger and a pair of iron claws. Shen thanked himself for being so farsighted as to have stored them there beforehand. He then carefully put the iron claws on and hid the dagger in his sleeve. Unnoticed he ran out of his cell and to the empty prison hallways.

Once out of the dungeon, Shen stumbled on two dead wolves. He recognized them as the Princess' guards but ignored them as he scanned the battlefield for an escape route. Except for the gates, which were closed, there would be no other way out of the courtyard. However, the enemy had knocked down the eastern wall and therefore created a path to the woods. Shen decided to avoid the center of the yard, for that was were the battle was more intense. He bent over the two dead wolves and took the knife blades out of their belts, then used them to clear his path to freedom.

At the same tame Po and the Furious Five were entering Gongmen's port in a quite usual way. They swam around the enormous enemy ships, so that they wouldn't be sighted, then climbed on the wooden platforms surrounding the harbor and quietly made their way to the tower. Well, the Five did so but the same couldn't be said for Po, who once again managed to catch the attention of some wandering enemy guards. The two white tigers growled and followed the suspiciously looking panda into a shady alley. There they attacked. Po was taken aback by the sudden growling and the sharp claws but thanks for Tigress' sharpened senses he managed to escape, leaving the two dazzled tigers behind.

What was notable; they saw no other guard on their way to the tower. The city had merely been plundered and most of the citizens were safe, locked inside their homes. Knowing that danger lurks everywhere, though, the team proceeded with great cautiousness to Gongmen's palace, unaware of what awaited them there.

While Po and the Furious Five were making their way to the tower, Masters Ox and Rhino were pushing open the great gates and beginning to perform some great moves on the enemy panthers that outnumbered their fellow white tigers, as well as Gongmen's defense force. Master Ox threw a panther over the wall and out of the palace with his mighty horns, while Master Rhino pinned one against the wall with his horn.

"Who's your leader?" he asked in a threatening manner.

The panther growled and pointed to the eastern side of the courtyard at what seemed to be a bright red peacock, only not. Master Rhino left the panther unconscious with another blow, then prepared to charge at the leader, when an attacking wave of white tigers stopped him. Busy fighting the tigers he didn't notice Princess Fei who was using all the martial skill she ever had -not that even this could match up to the creature she fought- to fight back the enemy leader. However, all she managed to do was bring herself closer to the eastern wall, where her demise would follow.

Fei blocked an incoming blow, then performed a normal and relatively weak kick. Her rival, who was obviously enjoying it, barely felt her feet land on his chest. It was like a cat playing with a mouse before she kills it. However, what the strange bird had underestimated were the peahen's sharp clothes that left a deep scratch on his fiery neck. The creature caressed the wound with its winds, now obviously irritated. She tried another blow, this time with her wing, but the creature blocked it and grabbed her wing, then used it to throw her around, away from the wall. Placing himself opposite her, with his back facing the woods, the bird left a mocking chuckle.

"You really thought you could defeat me?" he laughed. "You really thought you could save this city from its ultimate demise?" the laughter became louder. Fei was shaking in fear and her wing was probably out of place for it hurt like hell. "A city ruled by a female!" This time the laughter was insulting and creepy at the same time. "Do not worry any further, Princess. I shall redeem you from your meaningless existence." A sharp sword appeared in his wing.

Fei started to crawl backwards, unable to stand up. The creature singed the blade in the air, producing a clinging sound. The peahen recognized it. It was the sound of death. She kept crawling, even though she knew in no way could she avoid what was coming. The creature lifted its wings which were now wrapped in flames. The sight of a bird being burnt alive, still remaining untouched, as if the fire was only natural to it, shocked her so much she stopped moving. Fei closed her eyes and waited, then heard the sword tearing the air in half and...

Shen had managed to make most of his way to the eastern wall unnoticed by Gongmen's army, since they were all busy fighting off the enemy. He was so close to his freedom and so determined to earn it that when he saw a tall figure appear in a distance, he immediately drew his dagger out. Without a warning, he tossed it with such power and grace it landed straight on his target. A male shriek was heard, then he saw the creature disappear in the forest. Now thinking whether or not he should follow, he merely noticed the collapsed Princess in front of him and didn't even realize he had just saved her life.

… Princess Fei waited and waited but nothing happened. Is this what death feels like? She wondered. But when her green eyes opened again she was in the same battlefield, collapsed on the same ground and watched the creature that had brought her so close to the end back away inside the trees. Fei blinked then hastily turned her head around to witness Shen, who was standing tall and staring at the distant enemy.

"What...what was this thing?" she managed to breathe out.

Now realizing her presence, Shen continued to stare in the distance.

"Nothing I've ever seen before."

At this exact moment Po and the Furious Five rushed inside the courtyard and took care of the army remains Most of the enemies abandoned the battlefield as soon as the strange creature leading them was off. A couple of wolves along with Master Rhino neared the fallen Princess.

"Are you alright?" The Master asked, ignoring Shen who was more grumpy-looking than usual.

The peahen nodded and the rhinoceros extended his hoof to help her up. However her wing hurt so much they had to carry her inside.

It took three hours and many janitors to clean up the courtyard. The enemy corpses were gathered in a big pile and burnt, while the ones who had sacrificed for Gongmen were given to their families to be taken care of and buried. Fifty janitors were given the task to wash the ground which was now stained with blood. Almost an hour after these events, the three Masters, the Dragon Warrior and the Five as well as Princess Fei and Master Shen -who for indefinite reasons had been allowed to enter the palace, were gathered in the throne room. Fei had her injured wing wrapped up in a bandage, while Master Rhino was taking care of some wounds on Master Ox's arm. What had brought them all together was their worry for the thick, black storm above their heads. Even though the enemy ships and the army had left the city -relatively undamaged- the cloud would remain and with every minute that went by would become even darker.

"Will anyone please explain what happened here?" Po asked upon his entrance. Master Croc was the first to speak.

"Earlier this afternoon this cloud we had been watching for days disappeared. Before we could track it, it was hanging right above the city. Then we saw those ships come. Some of us hurried to the harbor but none came back. We watched them disembark and head for the tower. They merely plundered Gongmen, so we prepared a force to stop them. We were ready to burst out but they got us." He took a breath when his story was over.

"He's speaking the truth," Master Ox added, "we watched them from the hills above."

"Doesn't any of you find it suspicious that they left no army inside the city?" Shen added, pompous as always. Master Ox, who hadn't noticed him until then, went pale as if he had just seen a ghost. Which, in his mind, he had. But it was incomparable to Po's expression when their eyes met.

"S..Shen?" The peacock cleared his throat, then stepped out of the shady corner he'd been standing in.

"Yes it's me and no I have not come back to haunt you...even though some of you deserve it," he eyed Po, a threat in his ruby orbs.

"But I...I saw you go off with those fireworks it..." Po managed to spit out.

"It was a matter of luck this cannon didn't collapse on me. You see, I was standing right in the middle, so when the deck broke I fell to the water unconscious."

"If this didn't kill you," the ox was heard, "I WILL!"

Master Ox charged at him with great speed. Shen nearly took the blow, but he managed to avoid at the last minute.

"Nobody kills no one." It was a voice cold as steel, coming from the stairway top, where the throne was. Princess Fei turned her glare to Master Ox who was ready to strike again but stopped.

"You...you were supposed to bring happiness to this city. I leave you with this promise and when I return I find everything worse than it was! What kind of a treacherous liar are you?" he yelled. The peahen ignored him, sending the implication of an insult.

"I went through a lot to save this city, which I did, if you come to think of what would have happened if these things had conquered Gongmen. And Master Shen is also a contributor, for it was him who drove their leader off. Therefore he has a right to be among us."

The ox was ready to talk back, but was prevented by Master Rhino -who was noticeably fond of the Princess. He placed a hoof over the ox's shoulder and made him hush. Even though his father's loss was a great burden for him, the young Master had no idea it was Shen who caused it.

"Whatever these things were, they had no interest in the city. They headed straight for the tower," Master Croc pointed out.

"The question is..." Princess Fei begun.

"What were they?"

Soothsayer appeared from behind the throne, holding the traditional wooden bowl in her hooves.

"Hey, look! It's the bearded lady," Po whispered loud enough for everyone -including the goat herself- to hear, even though it was intended for the Five. Viper produced a low "shh" while Tigress rolled her eyes.

"I believe you owe me some answers, Soothsayer. And I can't think of a better time," the peahen spoke.

"The chain is complete. It is time for answers, indeed."