KFP The Adventures of Liu Zhang - 02 (part 9)

Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Liu Zhang


02. Let me see your true self (part 9) [FINAL]


[...]

My friends came running from the audience to hug me, then threw me into the air several times to celebrate my victory. I was a little dizzy when they put me on the floor, so I fell on my face on the dirt floor. Tuggsy helped me to my feet.

"You were amazing, Jade!" he exclaimed. I tried to answer, but I was too tired, so I just smiled and shook my head to thank.

"Good work, Liu. All that effort was worth it, right?" Master Shifu congratulated me. I also thanked shaking my head. Then the great samurai, Tamotso Utin, and Hina approached.

"Congratulations, little Liu. You not only won the fight, but also is the first to get through to the next stage of the event" said the big moose.

I had forgotten! My goal, at first, was to come to the event and face Tamotso Utin, but after what happened on the day I arrived at the event, my focus was to win the fight against Hina, his apprentice. I trained hard to improve my skills, and yet I believe I got lucky to win. I recovered my breath to speak.

"Thank you, Tamotso Utin. It's an honor to have come this far, but...Hina was too much for me. She fought very well and I admit that she is better than me in a sword fight. However great was my training, she...has a gifted hability, and I think she is already an awesome samurai. I was lucky to win this fight" my words left Hina a little embarrassed, but she gave a friendly smile and came close to me.

"Coming from a great Master like you, I am grateful for the words, Liu-san. You fight very well today too, and I hope we can fight again another day" she thanked me and then bowed. I bowed then.

"Oh, and if you want you can call me Jade" I said.

"But...just your friends call you Jade" she said, confused. I blinked an eye then, and she understood what I meant. She gave a big smile and both of us laughed.

"I understand if you do not want to fight today, little Liu. But know that I and Hina will still be in town for a few days, and when you feel better, you can fight me" Tamotso Utin said finally. We both bowed to the other. Then Leona approached.

"Er, Mr. Tamotso Utin. I was already in the event, and Hina looks very tired...I was wondering if there's any problem if I fight only against you?" she asked politely. The samurai looked at his apprentice.

"There is no problem. Get ready, you will be next fight" he answered and Leona bowed in response.

It'd be an exciting fight. Leona was very skilled with swords and other blades. My friends went to the audience, but before I went, I looked at my clothes. It was all scratched with brown ink that came from Hina's sword, the 9 cuts she hit me were staining my favorite clothes.

"What is it, Liu?" asked Tuggsy.

"Look at this!...Darn it, this is my favorite clothes. I hope this ink skirt easy with water.

As soon as I said that, Tuggsy took a bucket of cold water and threw it at me. I shivered with cold and shook myself to take some of the water. That fool!

"Hehehe! It seems that it is easy to wash with water, doesn't it, Jade?" he joked.

"Oh, you dummy!!! Come here!" I exclaimed, then started to run after him.

I ran after him around the whole arena, then he left the event and ran through the streets. Everyone was looking at us and it was embarrassing. He kept running, until a bird that was flying in Tuggsy's direction bumped into him and both fell to the ground. I came around to see who it was, and I felt a certain shiver down my spine: Zeng! Our best messenger, but he should be with Po and the others at the Jade Palace. What was he doing here?

"Zeng? W-what are you doing here?" I asked, somewhat scared.

He caught his breath, but didn't answer. Instead, he looked around, agitated, then handed me a little scroll. It said: 'Help! Taotie took Po and the others. He is in the Jade Palace, and said that if 'the brat' don't appear alone, he would make mincemeat of the hostages' . 'Note: I can not speak because my throat is hurting after Monkey made me eat a mud cookie that had a stone in it'.

That was bad! We left our friends unprotected in the Jade Palace, and now they were in trouble. What Taotie was planning? Well, now it was time to act, and there was no way I was going there alone. Surely it was a trap!

"We have to go! Tuggsy, you come with me. Zeng, er...Master Shifu and others are in Tamotso Utin's event in that arena, tell them all what happened! Me and Tuggsy are going ahead" I exclaimed.

Zeng understood and would fly to call the others, but suddenly a rope was thrown and caught his foot. We looked to see who did it, and ended looking up. It was him, Taotie! He was in a balloon, and began flying toward the Valley of Peace, as he pulled Zeng with him.

Tuggsy and I ran after them, trying to hold Zeng's hands, but they were going too fast to reach them. We ran for a while, until we arrived at the bamboo forest, and all of a sudden Taotie cut the rope and Zeng fell flat on his face.

"Zeng! Go! You must call the others" Tuggsy shouted. The servant of the Jade Palace was terrified, but obeyed and flew. But before he could go anywhere, someone threw a rope with stones at the ends, that by hitting Zeng, curled around his body and made him fall flat on his face again.

"I'm fine!...Yay, I can speak again!" he exclaimed.

"You are not going anywhere!" a creepy voice spoke behind us. Viper!

I turned around and she hit me a powerful blow in the face, throwing me away. Monkey then appeared and punched Tuggsy's belly, making him breathless, then grabbed him by the arm and threw the snow leopard in a large stone that was near. I looked terrified at my friend lying on the ground, who was moaning in pain, and the worst...a large patch of blood ran in the stone. Tuggsy had hit his head, and it was a very serious injury!

Evil laughs sounded around us and soon the other 'bad parts' appeared behind the bamboos. Po, Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Mantis and Crane stared at us with contempt and started laughing again, making fun of us.

"You fools, did you really believe you could face us alone?" Crane scoffed.

"That's it. We were going to finish you all of one by one, so that the torture would be more fun, but since you wanted to suffer together, let it be!" Po continued.

Cowards! I knew there was a trap planned, but I didn't expect it'd be like this. They attacked us by surprise and in greater numbers, and now my best friend, Tuggsy, was on the floor with a serious injury, and I had no strength to fight them alone. The event and chase the balloon left me completely exhausted. But that wouldn't stand! I got up slowly and saw that Tuggsy was trying to get up, then I said.

"You...bastards! That was the last straw! Even if it means hurting the ones I love, I won't let you hurt any other innocent folks, neither my friends!" I exclaimed, with hatred. Then I took out of my pocket my secret weapon: the Gong Lu Medallion.

"Liu...no! It's too dangerous! The dark power within it will consume you! You said you'd only use the medallion in emergencies" Tuggsy shouted after getting up, still groaning with pain.

"What do you want to happen to this become an emergency, Tuggsy?! I won't wait until you or someone die for me to use this thing! And as for you, monsters, why don't you fight against another monster?!" I exclaimed in response, then placed the medallion around my neck.

"JADE!" Tuggsy shouted.

What was that? My eyes burned like fire. My fists were shaking and my teeth gnashed of anxiety. I looked ahead and there they were, neither my friends nor my family, but my enemies! And they wanted to kill me. Who would be the next victim after today if I didn't do something? How long it'd take for those infernal creatures stop laughing? Voices that made fun of all my hard work. Who were they to think that they had that right?

Obviously what I was feeling could only be one thing: the desire for revenge...and of destroying those suckers who thought were superior to me! I walked straight and stopped in the middle of them, then I stared at them with a cold look in my eyes. They stared at me too and I could feel by far the hot breath of their mouths, with growls of hatred in their throats. Certainly, they were feeling and wishing the same as me. Dying is something natural, so why not postpone this fact to those who deserve? My mission would be over, here and right now.

"So...you're going to start or you'll wait I dig your graves first?" I challenged them. They laughed again, which made my blood boil.

"There will be no graves! After we're done with you, there will not be even something to bury! Hahahahahaha!" the bag of feather provoked me, approaching me by my left side with his ridiculous thin legs.

He tried to hit a blow on my neck using his wing, but before he hit me, I raised my elbow and put in the way. When the wing hit me, it twisted in the shape of my elbow and made a weird sound of metal. The idiot looked at me dumbfounded, apparently surprised, but no sign of pain. But now he'd surely feel pain! I grabbed the tip of his beak, then pulled as much breath as I could, closed my fist and hit a powerful punch in his thin neck, leaving him breathless.

As soon as I did that, I heard the talking noodle jumped towards me. She hit me a blow on the back that hurt like a whip, then tried to hit another on my face, but I grabbed her by the tail tip, shook her in the air and hit her head on the floor twice. Then I crouched to dodge a flying kick from Monkey, wrapped Viper on Crane's neck and threw them toward the filthy primate, making them fall on the floor. I looked around for the next to face me, but no one was around. But I hadn't seen the runt approaching and he managed to hit me a sequence of punches in the stomach and he jumped on my right shoulder.

He hit a pressure point that paralyzed my arm, then gave me a kick in the ear, which made me walk away from him. He came running towards me again, and as he jumped, I caught with my good arm a piece of bamboo from the floor and used as a bat to knock the insect and threw him away, inside the bamboo forest. I laughed at the stupidity of my opponent to have been defeated this way.

But my enjoyment was short-lived, until I heard someone falling upon me. Tigress! She took a spin in the air and kicked me on the cheek, causing me to fall to the ground and blow the other side of my face on the ground in a violent way. I felt like I had my jaw broken, I could barely move myself after that blow. Then I felt a bastard kicking me in the ribs and making me stand on my back with pain. It was that fat panda! He laughed at me and then stepped on my stomach, crushing me against the floor. Then he came on top me with both feet, one on my belly and another in the neck. I groaned with pain, and as he rolled off me, Tigress slammed on my left knee. I started to agonize in pain, and the more I screamed, more the anger was consumming me for failing to get up and give a lesson in those assholes.

Soon the others appeared and started beating me too. Po lifted me from the ground and gave me a punch in the face, throwing me toward Monkey, who gave me a powerful knee on my spine. He pushed me in the direction of Viper, who curled herself on me and made me hit several punches in my own face. Then she threw me in the direction of Mantis, who hit me countless blows all over my body. Tigress then gave me a knee to the stomach, which seemed to explode my from inside and left me breathless, then hit an elbow in my neck that knocked me belly on the floor.

"Hey! You fools, what about my turn?!" exclaimed Crane, indignantly.

"Shut up" Tigress answered quickly with a cold tone.

Damn it! I couldn't get up. My body kept me from doing anything. I had to think of something to do quickly, or those imbeciles would finish me off. It was more than time to do them taste their own medicine. Then a problem occurred.

"Stop!" Tuggsy shouted from afar. Blood trickled the left side of his face as he struggled to stand next to the stone.

"Well well. It seems that the loser haven't died...yet" scoffed Viper, with her terrifying voice.

"Yeah. So, Crane, how about you be kind enough to finish the job of a certain useless trash?" Tigress suggested, looking for Monkey, who 'haven't finished the job'.

"You don't boss on me!!! Hehe, but I will do it with pleasure" Crane said, already heading toward Tuggsy. "I hope you don't know how to fly, buddy."

I could do nothing, the damn pain was too strong to allow me even crawl. Tuggsy tried to hit a slow punch on Crane, but he ducked and grabbed him by the tail, then took off. He went as high as the clouds, then let Tuggsy. The snow leopard seemed to be so weak that he could barely scream during the fall. I looked at it intently, if that idiot fell and die, all the effort that I did so far would be in vain. I joined forces from places I never imagined being able to have energy and ran toward where he was going to fall, climbed a high bamboo and jumped to grab him, then turned on my back to protect him from falling. I managed to save him. I pushed him off me and lift myself, then I saw that my shoulder was covered with his blood.

"*gasp*...*gasp*...Thank you, Jade!" Tuggsy thanked me. I closed my fists in anger.

"Idiot! What do you think you're doing? If I have to fight, I can't be taking care of you" I thundered, making him paralyzed with astonishment "Really, buddy! You can't fight. You're weak, bleeding and aren't a match for them!"

"But...Jade...you are weak and sore too...and you can't win...not alone" he said in a low tone. I felt a strange feeling inside me when he said it.

"Shut up! I trained for this day. It is my duty to win! And I'm not kidding, they'll kill you! You have no conditions of helping me, then don't interfere. When the others arrive, this will be over and we'll take care of you...so in the meantime: don't try to be a hero, because you are not one!" after saying it, I turned and walked slowly towards my enemies, who were staring at me as if they had seen something strange.

"Liu! Take off this...OUCH!!!" Tuggsy had risen, then he came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, but cried out in pain and turned away quickly.

I looked back, confused. He was blowing the hand, which was leaving smoke, as if it had been burned. Then I realized: my body was on fire! A small red flame covered my whole body. I had a strange feeling, as if I was no longer in pain, and I had a lot of energy running through my veins. I looked at my clothes and saw that the blood on it was evaporating. I knew what it was, and knew exactly how to use to my advantage.

"This damn thing again? It can't be..." exclaimed Viper, with a hostile tone.

"That's right! The Flaming Heart of the Hero. It was about time this thing appears, and that's exactly what I'll use to stop you! Prepare yourselves, because this time You are going down" I stated, already coming into fighting position.

"Hahaha! Don't be silly, you will not defeat us just because you are on fire" scoffed Mantis, then he came running towards me.

When he jumped to attack me, I hit him a rotating kick and he flew towards the others, hitting the flabby panda's belly and leaving him breathless. The others snarled and ran towards me to start the fight. I ran toward them at a much higher speed than I'm used to, then aimed a punch on Monkey's face, who was in front of me and threw him away. Crane and Viper tried to attack me by both my sides, so I used my hands, forearms and elbows to defend myself from the blows sequences. Then I managed to open both of their guard and jumped to open a split and kick both away from me. So Tigress ran up to me and hit me a punch in the stomach and another on my chin, and when I was going to fall back, I took the momentum of it and used as impulse to blow a shot that prang on her muzzle. She fell to the ground and I jumped on her to get three punches on her face, but Po suddenly appeared and grabbed me by the neck with one hand, then began to punch me in the stomach.

I raised my knee as he went for a last punch, making him hit it and groan in pain, then I kicked him in the face and joined hands to knock on his forearm to make him free me. So I grabbed him by the arm and threw him on the Tigress.

I turned away from them and noticed something interesting: everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion. I could clearly see even the movements of their eyes blinking and the movement of the wind passing by the bamboo forest. I did a few pirouettes and stood right in the middle of the dirt road that passed through the forest, hoping that they'd attack me at once. It was somewhat risky, but with that higher speed, endurance, strength and being able to see things more slowly, I trusted that could easily defend myself from them. So surely they'd fall into my trap and I'd defeat them with a single attack.

The Thundering Wind Hammer! One of the legendary kung fu's impossible moves, which I learned thanks to Po, certainly would make a good damage on these suckers. They thought they were great, but never tasted so much power at once. They surrounded me and then ran toward me to give a blow in group, but I jumped in the air and they hit each other. Then in the air, I spin on a super speed, causing the wind that blew in the forest run around me and I focused in on the palms, forming a small red energy sphere.

I threw it at them. It exploded and the blast caught them all. Losers! It was over. I pulled back the great cloud of dust and stared at it for a moment.

"No! Why did you do that?!" Taodie exclaimed, stopping beside me, staring at me as if I'd done something wrong.

"So you decided to join the party?" I asked ironically, then I kicked him in the nuts. He groaned in pain and fell to his knees.

"Wretch!" he muttered "What was that for?"

"Are you stupid or are only making a fool of yourself?! You're an asshole! You kidnapped part of the souls of my friends and made them destroy villages, steal stuff, and I bet that the next step was to make them murderers!" I thundered, wanting to hit him again.

"Do not be silly! Why would I do they become such things? This was never my goal!" after he said that, I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground, he groaned in pain because of the heat of the flame that was around me.

"So what was it, you maniac?"

Though all the hatred I was feeling, I didn't hit him. I let him as soon as I realized that the smoke had lowered, and saw something that surprised me. Po and the Furious Five...they were machines! Their bodies were made of a dark gray metal, full of screws and had holes for eyes, where I'd see a flame burning within them. And with small cracks in the metal, it was possible to see the fire within them, leaving them with a frightening appearance.

That explained why I always heard a strange sound of metal from them, and also their weird voices and the snap of fire. In this case, they undoubtedly weren't my friends! They lined up and went into fighting position. Then Taotie answer.

"Why are you so surprised? You know I only work with machines. Since the day I heard of such a mirror that could separate the 'good side' of the 'dark side', I tried to make a machine that could do something better: Copy both sides. That way, I could create machines that were equal to your friends! And ... "

"And let me guess...you created machines like them, but that first machine didn't work right and you just put the bad side of them inside. But even with the error, you still thought you could convince everyone that machines can do everything better than us, even be better at kung fu...yeah, it was a nice plan" I interrupted him, speaking rapidly and with a bored tone.

"Hey! I was going to say it all...but anyway, that's right! These guys are better at everything: they are stronger, faster, since they are made of metal they are much more resistant, and not to mention that they obey me like slaves! Ha-haha!" he laughed, with his annoying laugh.

"Not that we have much of a choice..." muttered Monkey.

"Er...you know that who are fighting are my friends and not your stupid machines, right? And that, therefore, your plan was a failure, because you actually should have made a machine that fought better than us and..." I tried to argue, but Taotie interrupted.

"Shut up! And you, take her down, Now!!!" he shouted. I gave another kick in his balls, then ran out to attack Po and the others.

In a strange way, I felt like I was being protected, or as if someone was guiding me during the fight. A voice very similar to mine spoke to me as I struggled, telling me: "Finish them off!" - "Behind you!" - "That's it" - "Attack, it's your chance" - "Don't have pity, they're your enemies!"

I fought fiercely against the legendary warriors of the Jade Palace, known as the heroes of China, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't overcome their speed and the fact that I was outnumbered. They began to surround me and hit me several blows. I couldn't hit just one of them, and when I could, another came to fight me back, giving time for the one that I was beating have time to recover. No matter how much they hated each other, they had a great group coordination.

I began to get angry and tried to hit more lethal blows on them, hitting in places or to hurt them a lot or to make them leave the combat. When I had the chance, hit a strong punch in the heart of Monkey, a knee to Crane's neck, made a knot with Viper's body, crushed Mantis with my palm and threw him away, and finally hit a sequence of hits and then a paralyzing blow on Tigress.

But before I could continue with the attacks, Po hit me a kick to the chin that lifted me off the ground, and when I fell, he jumped on top of me and sat. He laughed at me and stuck his tongue. That left me seething with anger, and the voice in my head said: "Get up, useless! Will you let him make fun of you like that?". I took Po off me and as he got up, I started to hit him intensely.

He managed to defend sometimes, but he couldn't keep up my pace any longer. After a powerful sequence of punches and kicks on his face, stomach and limbs, I realized he was almost fainting, no longer able to fight. How ridiculous. I thought the best thing to do now was to apply the final blow: a punch using the full strength of the Flaming Heart of the Hero, which surely was going to cross the chest of that metal fool.

"STOP! If you destroy the capsules with the 'bad parts' or destroy the machine, you will end up killing them!" shouted Taotie by far.

'Capsules'? That meant that, in a way, my friends were trapped inside those things, and if I destroy both...they would die! What was I doing? I had to stop it. And then I heard my own voice tell me again: "What are you thinking? It's your chance, Kill Him!!!". I closed my eyes and screamed to answer "NO!!!"

Suddenly, I found myself in a completely dark place and with no sign of life until I turned back, and there it was...a black panther, a lot like me, but with red eyes and big, pointy teeth! A red flane, just likw the one of the Flaming Heart of the Hero, surrounded her body.

"You are weak...other half" she told me.

"O-other half?" I exclaimed. Soon, I realized that I was also surrounded by a flame, but it was blue, like the first time I used the technique, but my flame wasn't as intense as hers.

"Yes...without me you're nothing!"

"What are you talking about? You are not me!"

"Yes I am! Or better...I am you, but the true one... and also the best! Hehe"

"No! Shut up! I don't know who you are...but...if you really are my 'bad part'...you're only here because of that medallion"

"You will not get it off! You know that, don't you?"

"Try to stop me"

"Hahahahahahahaha! Well ... go back and keep being the fake Liu Zhang! But just to let you know...I've managed to do enough for me to be in control forever!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You, the 'good Liu', won'tt last long! And soon I'll be back with full power!"

I got out of that strange place and saw that I was heading towards Po, which was a problem, as I was doing that blow that I was going to do before, and I hadn't realized it. It was something unconscious and I wouldn't manage to stop. And then something unexpected happened: Tigress stepped in front of Po, shielding him, and my blow crossed her metallic chest with ease.

"...n-no..." I said softly, my voice shaking and heart pounding.

"...Liu...sorry..." my mother said, with a feature who was apparently crying, but no tears came out of the machine.

A tear rolled down my face. The flame that used to shine inside her body had disappeared and she stopped moving, what meant that my mother, Tigress, was dead. I fell to my knees and cried. I stared at that lifeless body, unable to even take my arm off her chest. What had I done? She wasn't only my mother...she had saved me in a situation where I was desperate, not to mention that she performed my greatest dream, she was my hero!...Now it was over, and it was all my fault. The Flaming Heart of the Hero had gone, and I felt weaker and sadder than ever.

Then I saw Po coming towards me and he was seething with hatred, aiming a punch that was probably as strong as the one I used, and Crane was behind me, aiming a blow to the back of my neck. They were going to kill me! But then I heard Koshi and Leona run toward them. Leona jumped in the air and spun to hit a rotating kick in the panda's nose, while Koshi jumped toward Crane, grabbed him, knocked him to the ground, somersaulted still holding the bird and threw him with all his might toward Monkey, who was also approaching, knocking both to the ground.

Soon, someone grabbed me and pulled me from the body of my mother. Then I saw that Viper had tried to attack me, and when missed she again ran toward me to fight. She jumped toward my face and would sting me, but still in the air, a sword cut her vertically in half. The two parts fell to the ground, motionless, and the fire within Viper also went out. Who killed her?!

"Hello, Jade! Are you okay?" to my amazement, it was the girl who saved me days ago, wearing a similar outfit to mine, but white and wearing a mask with a lotus flower on it. I got up quickly and gave her a punch as hard as I could on her face.

"If I'm Okay?! You killed my friend! Why did you save me that day if you'd try to kill my friends later?! I'm gonna kill you!!!" I thundered, hitting another punch on her face.

"Liu, Stop!" Leona screamed from behind me, and I felt her sword cutting the cord of the Gong Lu Medallion, making it fall from my neck.

I had the strange feeling that I've gotten rid of a huge weight when the medallion fell out of my neck. My vision was blurred for a moment and I almost fell on the floor. My heart beat more slowly and I was feeling strangely calm. All this was to be the effect of wearing that thing, anger had dominated me and I was acting impulsively, but now it was over.

"Feeling calmer now, Jade?" asked the masked girl, somewhat indignantly.

"I ...I think so, but still! You killed her..." I replied, looking at the two parts of the metal body of Viper, but the girl interrupted me.

"I didn't run like crazy to tell your friends to come here and end up doing such a dumb thing! Do you think I'm stupid, Liu? I haven't killed her!" she said.

"It is true, Liu!" shouted Master Shifu as he appeared from nowhere, already heading towards the fighting and hitting a flying kick at Crane's nozzle.

"But...if the 'bad parts' die...the 'good parts' die as well" I muttered quietly.

"Neither Tigress nor Viper are dead" the masked girl continued. I stared at her for a moment, not understanding, but already happy with the news "While you were fighting with all your might, we realized there is a small slit on Po's nape and also on the Five. It is a small compartment with the 'bad parts' of them, according to Taotie. If the machines are destroyed, the 'bad parts' won't suffer damage." As soon as she finished speaking, I faced the villain with a cold, penetrating gaze. It was his fault that I got scared as hell, thinking that if I had destroyed the machines I'd kill my friends too.

He gave a laugh that expressed his fear by situation, after he realized that I found out he lied. I kicked his low parts again, making him run out of air and roll on the ground with pain.

"...Thank goodness...that I've already had a son..." he groaned.

"Even if I'm bad or not, and with or without the medallion, you still deserve more than this!" I grumbled, but relieved to know that my friends were fine.

When I turned around to talk to the masked girl, I felt a strong dizziness and fell to the ground. I was exhausted and couldn't keep my balance. The medallion made me very strong at first but drained my energy when I took it off. She came close to me, bent down and told me to rest and that they'd take care of the rest. As she didn't give me time to answer, I just kept sitting and watching my friends finish the battle.

They had a strategy: Koshi, Leona and the masked girl fought against only one of the machines, and when they managed to immobilize them, Master Shifu opened the compartment in their heads and pulled the 'capsule' from within them, which was a small silver cylinder . Then Leona kept these capsules in a brown bag she was holding. One by one, the original Furious Five were defeated, and only the 'bad part' of Po was standing. Koshi and Leona tried to grab the big panda, but he was very angry and had a tremendous strength. Po struck several powerful blows on my friends, keeping them from immobilizing him.

The panda grabbed Master Shifu by the neck and slammed him into the ground, making him pass out. Then kicked the masked girl in the belly, throwing her away. Then set out to attack Koshi and Leona, who defended the quick attacks using their hands and elbows. It was then that I realized they'd need my help. I took a deep breath, got up, regained my balance and stopped to think, seeing that my throwing knives were strewn on the floor. Whoever has brought them from the event, I got three of them and threw two towards Po, who had his back to me. They clung to his metallic skin and he turned to face me, as if he wanted to stop his fight and come towards me.

And that's when he made his final mistake. Koshi and Leona pulled the knives from his back to attack him. Koshi crouched behind Po's legs while Leona walked around him and kicked him in the face, making him go backwards and stumble in the dark-skinned wolf. Then they dug their knives in the hands of Po, sticking him to the ground, and I jumped on top of him, pressing my blade against her neck. Quickly, Leona took the last capsule containing the 'bad parts' of our friends.

"It is finished. We won!" she said, pleased.

"Phew! What an awesome day! And what a fight, huh?" said Koshi, with a sportier tone.

I'd celebrate, but I had no energy to it. However, I was more than happy! The mission came to an end and my friends and my mother finally would come back to normal. The masked girl came walking toward me and was about to tell me something, but a white rope appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around her, holding her on a large rock that was near. Then came the annoying laughter of our enemy, Taotie.

"Haven't you ever heard that the battle only ends when it is finished? Rá-haha! You fools, have you thought you were going to beat me so easily?" he exclaimed.

To our astonishment, he was riding a machine that looked like a giant spider! It was made of the same metal as the 'bad parts', it was 3 meters tall, had long, strong legs, and fire burned in it's eyes. It looked so amazing, but at the same time it gave me a shiver down the spine. Taotie launched another rope in our direction. Leona pushed us away and the rope wrapped around her body, immobilizing and knocking her to the ground.

"Leona!" Koshi exclaimed.

Seething with anger, Koshi ran toward Taotie to hit a flying kick on him, but the spider jumped quickly to the side and with a surprising agility jumped on Koshi and held him to the ground, using it's front legs. Then Taotie stared at me and, still holding my friend, the spider opened it's mouth and started throwing shurikens at me. Quickly, I grabbed my throwing knife off the floor and hit the shurikens, defending myself, but increasingly shurikens approached and I wouldn't be able to defend myself from them all.

One of them scraped my face, and another hit my thumb, making me drop the knife, and another 3 shurikens came towards me. I put my hand in front of my face to protect myself, but the unexpected happened: Hina appeared out of nowhere and came in front of me! Then she took her katana and hit the shurikens, saving me.

"Hina!" I exclaimed.

"It seems that I get at right time, right, Liu-san?" she said, smiling. I looked again at the great metalic spider and saw a red figure pass behind it.

"Hey! Who are you, little girl?!" exclaimed Taotie.

"Sorry, I think the right question is: who are you Two?" said Hina, with a cheerful tone.

As soon as she said it, the sound of a metal being cut sounded, and the legs of the metalic spider fell. The 'head and back part', where Taotie was, fell on Koshi. The boar looked at the smirk on the wolf's face and felt the goose bumps. Koshi, still under the machine, supported the machine on his feet and used all his strength to fling it into the air, and while Taotie was in the air, Leona jumped and kicked Taotie's face, throwing him in a bamboo. He fell headlong to the ground. Koshi then rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by the machine's massive weight.

I saw our enemy get up and then fall again because of dizziness, then I saw that the machines with the 'bad parts' of my friends were fallen and motionless. I took a great leap of happiness.

"YEAH! We won! Finally...this nightmare is over. Or rather...almost over!" I exclaimed, then I walked toward Taotie.

"No! Please, don't hurt me in my low regions again!" he said, putting his hands between his legs to defend himself.

"I won't hurt you...this time" I answered.

"No? Really?" he asked, opening one eye.

"No. You just have to bring my mother and my friends back to normal" I continued.

"Why would I do that? For them to hit me as well?!" he said, in an ironic way.

"No...it's because if you don't, there is going to be a whole queue to kick your low parts" I said, in a calm but threatening tone. I smiled and he froze when he saw that everyone was staring at him.

"Want me to start bringing your mother back to normal? Or maybe the Po...or everyone at once?! I just need my machine that copies the 'good and bad parts' back to reverse the process and voila! It's done! When can we go?" he answered quickly, making us all laugh.

Finally, it was over. Again, good defeated evil. When we brought our friends back to normal, we celebrated the victory and explained everything that had happened to them. Then Koshi and Leona led Taotie for Chorh-Gom prison, me and the others said goodbye to our new friends, Hina and Tamotso Utin, who would still be in China for a while; and me and the masked girl went to see how Tuggsy was.

He was in the hospital of the Valley of Peace, sleeping in a bed with several bands around his head, but he'd be fine. Tuggsy was seriously hurt, but he was strong, and in two weeks he could even return to his home. I felt guilty for all the bad things I did while wearing the Gong Lu Medallion, but I also had many questions to do, and they occupied my mind. Me and the masked girl left the hospital and she was leaving.

"Wait!...I had forgotten" I bowed myself and then continued "Thank you. You saved my life, and it was not just once."

"No need to thank me, Jade" she said with a cheerful tone.

"And...sorry, hehe! I wasn't myself while wearing that medallion and...hitting you in the face was not nice of my part" I continued, somewhat embarrassed.

"Yeah. A weird way of thanking a friend, I'd say. But I'm not mad at you. And besides, you'll see me again" she said, jumping to the hospital's roof.

"Hey! Wait" I exclaimed and she looked down "Who are you? I know you from somewhere, or am I wrong?" I continued.

"I'm Lotus Flower!" she said with a wink "And no...you must be mistaking me with someone else. But one thing is certain: you still owe me a fight" she said in a friendly tone, then left.

I didn't understand why exactly Lotus Flower said I owed her a fight, but it made me thoughtful. In that last flicker of eye she gave, I realized again that she was a clouded leopard. I was sure that I've met a clouded leopard long ago, but something seemed to prevent me from remembering. Well, it didn't matter much now, anyways, I had a fight to prepare myself, and other days to defeat the evil were ahead.



END