Chapter 3: The discovery
(Crash site)
John had set his wrist watch to wake him up early as he knew he had a long trip ahead of him. Getting off the makeshift hammock, he stretched in order to loosen his muscles. John then took a deep breath before walking over to his gear which was resting against a crate, and began to put it on. Once all the gear was on he double checked to make sure he had everything.
Amour... check! Weapon and ammo check! Compass... check! MRE's and water... check!
Seeing he had every he needed he began to walk outside as the first rays of sunlight became visible. Letting out a sigh he turned around to examine the black diamond for one last time, as he highly doubted he would be coming back.
Most of the ship was intact, but the left wing had suffered structural damage as it now rested on an angle against the ground. The large engines that had once powered it, were now charred as they had likely burned from damage when it crashed or during the re-entry. The back-tail fin was also damaged as a piece of the rotor was missing which he believed fell off during the flight as it would explain why it was so difficult to land.
Closing his eyes for a moment John gave a silent farewell, before turning around and beginning to walk to the cliff ledge. Looking down he saw that the cliff was steep, but there were plenty of places to grab onto. Slowly John began to descend towards the ground. After about twenty minutes John finally reached the ground and assessed his surroundings as he tried to figure out which way to go. Taking out his compass he looked to his left and began to walk east.
John walked for a good hour as he made his way through the forest until he now noticed something. Stopping he listened to his surroundings but was met with silence, and that was what troubled John. Besides the sound of the wind there was nothing, no bird calls, insects, or any other animal making noise.
'That isn't normal.' He thought. Crouching down he examined the ground to see if he could see anything but again he was met with nothing.
No ants, beetles, spiders... nothing.
This didn't make sense to John as a forest as lush as this should be crawling with animals, but he couldn't find a trace of anything.
Letting out another sigh he decided to let it be and began walking once more to tell he finally reached a clearing. Checking his watch, he saw that it was now close to nine so he decided to stop for a moment and take a drink of water. Walking over to a rock he plumped himself down onto it before pulling out his water bottle and taking a few sips.
Looking up he saw that the sky was clear and the sun was slowly rising higher into the air.
'Well at least it will be a nice day.' He thought as he took another sip of water. He looked around to see what kinds of plants were here in order to see if he could finally figure out where he was and a patch of bamboo growing off to his right.
'Well at least I know I'm in Asia somewhere.' He concluded.
Taking another sip, he finally closed the bottle and put it away before looking up to see it was now getting bright. Reaching into his bag he pulled out his sun glasses and put them on before setting off towards, where he saw the smoke. John finally reached a cliff face and knew he had to go up it as it was the most direct way. Approaching the cliff face he tested the wall and found it to be sturdy, and began to ascend up the cliff face. After about ten minutes of non-stop climbing John reached the top and pulled himself away from the ledge as he took several labored breaths.
"I... hate... climbing." He murmured to himself as he wiped the sweat off of his face. Getting up he soon realized he was now on a path.
Knowing he was now getting close he got up and began walking down the path to where he thought the village or town was. He walked for several minutes until he reached a bridge made of rope with wooden planks placed along the bottom to the other side about forty feet away.
'Well that's not regulation.' He joked lightly as he approached the old bridge.
Taking a deep breath, he took a slow step onto the bridge as he tested to see if it was safe. Slowly he eased his way onto the bridge before he concluded it was safe. He then made his way across the bridge before reaching the other side and continued down the path. John continued down the path for another few moments before spotting something ahead of him.
Tracks.
He looked into the wet dirt as he examined them for a moment as he had yet to see a single animal. Examining the tracks, he saw that they were likely rabbit tracks as he had seen them before. But there was something that had him puzzled, and that was how they were spaced. They should have front legs followed by hind legs right behind, but he only saw the hind legs. Looking forward he saw that they also continued consistently meaning the rabbit hadn't just done some weird hop. He also noticed that the hind legs weren't together but were spaced out like that of a human.
'How is that possible?' he wondered.
What John was unaware of though as he was so distracted by the weird tracks that he didn't hear the sound of chatter coming towards him until a pig and rabbit came up the hill and into view.
John looked up and froze as he was simply too shocked to do anything else. Because there standing in front of him was a pig and rabbit standing on their hind legs like human beings and wearing clothes.
The pig and rabbit were also clearly shocked and even looked somewhat scared by John as he still knelt and just stared back at them through his sunglasses.
About ten seconds passed as neither said a word till John decided to say something.
"Uuuhhh... hi." He said as he waved his hand slightly.
Instead of a response though all he got was a scream out of the tow as then turned around and began running away all the while screaming monster.
'Monster?' John thought confused as he was still too shocked to move.
(Musician village)
The village was busy as most of the villagers were hard at work rebuilding and fixing the damage from yesterday's raid. After the raid, a few of the other villages sent a few guards in order to ensure the bandits didn't come back. Everyone turned though when they could hear screaming coming from one of the paths, as the pig and rabbit came running into the village while looking like they saw a spirit. A few of the guards ran up to them in order to find out what happened.
"What happened?" the captain asked as he stared down at them while they talked so fast and over each other it was impossible to understand them.
"Enough!" shouted the guard as he got them to shut up for a moment.
"Now what happened?" he asked again.
"M-M-MONSTER!" they shouted in unison, as everyone gathered around to hear them.
"IT WAS HUGE!" the pig said.
"WITH BLACK EYES!" the rabbits shouted
"COMPLETELY PALE!" added the pig.
"IT ATTACKED US!" then told the Rabbit.
"WE BARELY MADE IT OUT OF THERE WITH OUR LIVES!" finished the pig as many of the villagers began talking to one another as some held onto their children to ensure they didn't go anywhere.
The captain looked over to a group of four Rhinos who looked at him ready for the order.
"Check it out." He ordered as the guards immediately started down the path to find this monster.
"Zeng!" then shouted as a goose hesitantly came forward, who had come to check and make sure things were on their way to being back to normal for master Shifu.
"Yes?" Zeng asked.
"We may need the dragon warrior and the furious five." The captain stated.
"Right way." Replied the goose who immediately took off towards the jade palace.
(With John)
John had finally gotten over his shock, though after slapping himself a few times to ensure this wasn't just some twisted dream. He decided to see if where the rabbit and pig hand ran was to the village or town and possibly see if they could help him. He only walked for about a minute though as he then saw four rhinos running towards him, with two holding spears, one a bow and the other a mace.
"There it is, get it." One of them shouted as the one with the bow trained his weapon on John.
"Oh, you gotta be freaking kidding me." John cursed as immediately ducked behind a tree.
"Hold your fire! I just want to talk!" he shouted but had to pull his head back as another arrow was sent his way.
Seeing that they saw him as a threat John knew he needed to leave in order to avoid this from becoming a blood shed he bolted into the forest as he tried to flee.
"It's trying to get away, get it!" one of the guards shouted as they started to chase John through the forest.
John continued to run as he knew if they didn't stop soon he was going to have to retaliate, and he didn't want to spill unnecessary blood.
(The Jade palace)
The jade palace stood as the light shone over it giving it a feel of warmth and power as it stood at the top of the mountain overlooking the valley below.
However, it was not quiet however as the sound of people fighting could be heard inside. Those people being the furious five and the dragon warrior as they trained while their master watched, and picked things out that they needed to work on.
Tigress and Viper were on the jade turtle shell practicing some moves while working on their balance. Monkey and Mantis were running through the gauntlet as they blocked the incoming arms and worked on their reflexes. Crane was doing the same but in the back training as fire shot up and he dodged and weaved through the deadly flames. Then there was Po who was training on the serpent logs as clubs suspended by chains swung back and forth.
He stepped from one log to the next as hit or dodged the clubs as they swung towards him. That was until one came and after he hit it came back again so he hit it repeatedly distracting him, as another swung towards him. Looking towards the club he saw it just in time to shout in panic as it collided with his face sending him off to the side and off the long.
"Po." Said Shifu as to gain his attention while the panda got up holding his head.
"Yes master." He said as he rubbed his sore head.
"You need to remember not to strictly focus on one opponent, and keep your senses sharp for any others who may try and strike." Shifu then stated as Po touched where the club hit and hissed at the stinging sensation.
Shifu sighed as he figured that they had done enough training for one day.
"Students." He then shouted as the rest quickly came over and bowed as Po did the same.
"I believe that we have trained enough for today. You ar..." Shifu said but was cut off as Zeng flew and landed right in front of him.
"Zeng?" he then said, as he thought Zeng would be at the musician village for almost the whole day.
"Master Shifu!" shouted as Zeng as he jumped up and towards the grand master. "A monster was spotted just outside the musician village!" he then stated as Po and the others stared at him in disbelief. "It tried to attack a couple of the villagers!" Zeng then added.
"Students!" Shifu then shouted as they turned to look at him. "Go and stop this monster!" he then said as he pointed Oogway's staff towards the doors.
"Yes master!" they all responded before bolting out and down the thousand steps as they hurried towards the musician village.
(With John)
John had been weaving in and out from behind the trees as he dodged arrow after arrow. His already bad luck had gotten worse as three more Rhinos had appeared with bows and were now also shooting arrows at him.
"Cease your fire or I will retaliate." Shouted but was only to be met with arrows once again.
'Don't make me do this!' he thought as he ducked behind another tree and he knew he was running out of options at this point.
He switched the safety off on his gun as he saw a clearing just ahead of him and decided to make a run for it. The sound of his gun could be heard all the way back to the village as what they would only describe as thunder roared towards them, but not before the ground in front of two of the rhinos kicked causing them to stop momentarily.
John ran through the tall grass as he looked over his shoulder to see it had worked and slowed them down slightly. He had just reached the tree line at the other side when he felt his left leg fill with pain causing him to fall to the ground. Looking back, he saw one of the arrows had hit him but he could tell it wasn't deep and that it wasn't critical. Seeing he needed to scare these guys he decided to injure one of them. Rolling onto his back he saw the rhinos were now in the field and he raised his weapon and aimed down sight. Seeing the one with the mace he aimed for the arm holding the weapon and pulled the trigger.
Once again, the air filled with the sound of gunfire as the guard immediately dropped to the ground holding his arm.
John decided to not let up and emptied the clip as he continued to hit the ground in front of the guards causing them to stop and jump slightly as they had no idea what was happening.
Seeing his opportunity John pulled out a smoke grenade and threw it forward as the area filled with a thick gray smoke as he got back to his feet and ran as best he could. He soon stopped though as he found himself at another cliff edge.
'Crap!' he thought as then turned and could hear the guards coming as they shout if they could see him.
John looked back over the ledge and saw about ten feet below was a small cave that could hide him, and quickly climbed down and threw himself in the cave as he could hear the guards just above.
"Can you see it!?" one asked.
"NO!" another responded.
"Ah! It got away!" another shouted as John closed his eyes and held his breath.
"We need to see if Qiáng is alright." The first responded as John could then hear them leave.
John then let out a sigh of relief after about ten more seconds as he relaxed and tried to understand what just happened.
(With Po and the Five)
Po and the Five had quickly made their way towards the musician village once again, and were now on the path that leads straight towards it.
"So, what do you think this thing is and looks like?" asked Monkey.
"No idea but we better hurry before it hurts someone." Responded Viper as she slithered along the ground.
Everyone stopped though as hey all of a sudden heard what sounded like thunder.
"What was that?" asked Crane as he and everyone else looked up and couldn't even see a cloud so how was there thunder.
They then heard it again but this time multiple times as they overlapped one another.
"Whatever it is, it came from this way." Stated Tigress as she pointed to the forest.
Quickly they made their way through the forest and saw a group of guards with one of them on the ground. The six of them quickly ran over and saw the down guard holding his arm which was bleeding.
"What happened?" asked Tigress while Viper and Mantis checked the wound, while the guards took a step back.
"We were chasing the monster when unleashed some sort of magic that sounded like thunder and he just collapsed. But we never saw anything hit him." One responded.
Viper looked closely at the wound and saw it looked very similar to that of an arrow wound. But what caused it. She then looked closer and saw something shiny in the wound.
"Mantis, do you see that?" she asked as he looked closer and saw it as well.
"Yep, something shiny." He replied as he carefully reached into the wound and pulled it out, while the rhino cried out in pain momentarily.
"What is it?" asked Monkey.
"Don't know... but it's made of some sort of metal." Stated Mantis as he continued to examine the strange shaped object.
"Where did you last see the monster?" asked Tigress as she turned back towards the guard she had asked before.
"We lost it at the cliff." He stated as Tigress nodded.
"Monkey, Po, Crane, Viper, with me. Mantis, stay here and make sure he's alright then head to the village to make sure it doesn't attack the villagers."
Everyone nodded as Po, Tigress, Monkey, Viper and Crane went to try and catch this thing while the guards helped the wounded one to his feet and went back to the village along with Mantis.
Quickly they made their way over to the cliff ledge where this thing had disappeared and Tigress smelled the air to see if she could pick anything up. She was a tiger after all. One of the deadliest hunters in China, so picking up a scent shouldn't be too hard. She quickly found it and followed it to the ledge where she looked down below. The scent was very strange and she had never smelt anything like it before. But what puzzled her was that the scent was very close.
John had decided to wait a bit before leaving as he knew that the area was likely swarming with guards or whatever looking for him. He tensed though when he heard a voice come from above.
"What is it Tigress?" a female voice asked.
"I don't know Viper... all I know is it's close." Another responded, likely this 'Tigress'
Up Above Tigress continued to survey the ledge to see if she could see anything; she then saw a small gap in the rocks.
'There!' she thought as she immediately crouched and turned to the others.
She turned to Crane to silently get his attention before turning to point to the cave. Crane nodded before turning to viper as he tilted his head towards the cave to which Viper nodded back getting what he was getting at.
John silently listened for anything but couldn't hear a thing, besides the sound of the wind hitting the edge of the small cave. Then faster than he could react something flew in front of the cave entrance, while something else lunged from it and grabbed his leg, before yanking him out.
The others were shocked when Viper was pulled out by Crane and was holding something that was over six feet tall, and covered in some material that looked like the ground.
Viper quickly dropped the creature near the ledge as it landed with a groan before immediately jumping to its feet as it pulled something from over its shoulder and pointed it at them.
John had no idea what happened as he found himself back up above and was face to face with a panda, tiger, monkey, snake, and some kind of bird. Feeling his military instincts kick in he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the panda before shifting to some of the others.
"What is that thing?" asked the Monkey he saw them take different types of fighting stances.
"No idea?" responded the bird.
"Surrender monster, you can't win." Ordered the tiger to which John fixed his weapon on as he stared down sight.
He knew his weapon was out, and hadn't reloaded yet, but that didn't mean they didn't know that. but he knew it would only be a matter of time before they called his bluff and attacked. John took a step back before looking behind himself to see he was right at the edge. Looking down he saw that at the bottom was a river, and an idea formed as he knew it was crazy. Turning to look back at his attackers he kept his weapon raised with his trigger hand before using his free hand to reach into his belt.
Tigress watched as the creature reached for something on it, and immediately knew it may be trying to grab a weapon.
Letting out a roar she lunged forward in an attempt to get to it before it could. But as she closed in it swung what it was holding, forcing her to block before taking a step back as it brought out what it was reaching for.
John brought the only flashbang he had as he forced the tiger to take a step back. What shocked him though was how fast the tiger moved, as he was barely able to stop her by swinging his gun slightly.
'Okay... do not mess with these guys.' He thought as he readied himself to do what would perhaps be the stupidest idea of his life.
But either way he would be dead. Either they killed him or the fall after he jumped. But at least from the fall it would be instantaneous, where with them he would likely be beaten to death.
Reading himself as he popped the pin and threw the flashbang forward.
Tigress saw him do something to the object in its hand then threw it forward which landed right in front of them. But she was not ready for what happened next, as it suddenly blinded her as it emitted a bright light and a bang which hurt her ears slightly.
When she finally could see again she saw that the others were just like her and were completely dazed from the object. Looking forward she saw the creature just in time as it jumped from the ledge.
She immediately bolted forward and saw from the ledge, as it landed in the river below.
"Hurry." Said Viper as she slithered past Tigress and began descending to the river below at breakneck speed.
John felt himself barely hit the bottom as he landed in the water as he thanked his lucky stars that the river was deep enough, and immediately swam up to the surface. He then gasped for air before looking up to see that his new attackers were following him and were coming down fast.
'Why me!' he thought as he looked around for a place to hide. Finally, he spotted a tree resting at the edge of the bank where it was deep.
Once there he swam under it and came up in an area just large enough for his head to allow him to get his nose above the water. Realizing he was still visible though he reached into the mud and began spreading it over his face as he tried to camouflage himself, and finished just as his attackers reached the river.
Tigress and the others reached the river and looked for the creature or where it had fled. She and the others looked but saw nothing as they couldn't see it.
"Spread out and find it." She ordered as she immediately ran on all fours down the river bank to see if it had gone down stream.
Po and Monkey went to the other side to see if they could find anything but after scanning the bank they found nothing to indicate that the creature had been there.
Viper and crane searched up stream to see if it had gone up that way, but soon realized the current was stronger up that way so it couldn't have swam that far.
"Find anything?" asked Crane as he flew around for another past to see if he could see anything from above.
"No." said Viper as she shook her head before looking at the water.
"Do you think it's underwater?" she asked as Po and Monkey returned from down the stream slightly.
"Depends how long it could hold its breath." Said Monkey as he leapt onto the fallen tree to see if he could spot it at the bottom trying to hide. Put couldn't make anything out that indicated it was the creature.
"Nothing." Shouted Monkey before scanning the river banks to see if he could spot anything.
John saw the monkey scan the water for him before looking, shouting to the other, and then scanning the shore. John closed his eyes to try and conceal himself and held his breath as he waited for the monkey to either spot him or give up.
Monkey scanned the shore and looked up and down the shore line and looked back towards the tree to see if he could spot the creature. But all he could see was shore line and mud, which meant that the creature had likely run off.
"I see nothing." He shouted as he turned back around and began making his way back towards the shore line. "It probably ran off." He then stated as Po took a step towards the river bank which slid slightly under his weight.
"Easy Po!" said Viper from the other side of the river. "That ground looks soft so don't get too close." She then stated to which Po nodded.
What they were unaware of though was that Po was standing three feet from John whose head was now pressed against the tree due to Po, shifting the ground.
'No shit!' he thought sarcastically all he could do was deal with this uncomfortable situation.
Finally, after what seemed like forever for John they gave up and began making their way down stream to meet up with the tiger and would hopefully head back and leave John be.
Tigress had searched the banks multiple times but found nothing. Now she was making her way back towards the others and see if they had any better luck. She soon reached them and stopped running and began walking as they met up.
"Anything?" asked Viper.
"No... not even a trace." Was all Tigress replied with as it was clear to the others she didn't like the fact they had lost it.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Crane as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Head back I guess." Replied Monkey as they all turned and began making their way back towards the village to meet up with Mantis.
They all made their way up to the top before Tigress stopped as she spotted the thing the creature had thrown that created the flash.
She walked up to it before kneeling to examine it better, as she tried to figure out what the thing was made of and how it worked.
The others quickly gathered around it as they too were curious about the strange device.
"Woah!" Po said as he got on the ground to examine it better. "How do you guys think it works!?" he asked as he went to pick it up. But once he grabbed it he found it to be hot and immediately let it go and yelled in pain before stuffing his hand in his mouth to take away the burning sensation.
Tigress just rolled her eyes before reaching down and grabbing it, to which it was hot but not enough to cause her pain. She saw it had holes in it and that the heat was coming from whatever was inside. She could also smell chemicals she was not used to and had no idea what they were.
"We should know what Mantis thinks." Said as she tightened her grip before her and the other continued on their way back towards the village.
As they made their way back she continued to think about the strange creature.
What was it? Where did it come from? What were these things that it used and how did it work?
But there was one question that stood out in her mind as they started to reach the village.
How do we stop this thing?
She knew it was a threat and that it would attack another village another day, but she did know one thing.
When it showed up again, she would be ready and then she and the others would kill this thing.
To be continued....