Chapter 23:
Acceptance

The civilians decided to head back to the valley to find out the source of the shock-wave. “What about those dragons, mommy?” A young one questioned as the rabbit stared up at the four dragons in the sky.

“I’m sure they mean us no harm.” The mother answered back, and did not really trust her own words. Back at the blast zone the turtles were on a intercept course with the natives of the town.

“Skadoosh? Seriously?” The one in red questioned the youngest of them since that really didn’t seem like an intimidation phrase, so it was pointless on the battlefield.

“What? It’s better than Cowabunga.” The comic reader said to the aggressive one: trying to defend himself.

“Not by much.” The battle crazy brother said back in an honest tone. It was then the four heard mixed conversation beyond the dust cloud that they had made. Outside of the cloud the pigs, and rabbits of the town saw that the valley had been dealt a pretty good blow.

“Look.” The sarcastic pig of earlier said as he pointed at four glowing figures through the cloud. “The Dragon Warriors.” He finished, and by then the dust cleared to see that the four workers of the tea shop were glowing the same color as their bandanas.

‘I don’t think we need them anymore.’ Leonardo thought as he looked up at the dragons. With a silent agreement they powered down and the dragons faded away. After seeing that, and no sign of the destroyer the people around them cheered.

‘Let’s try to lift them.’ One of the pigs thought and four of them tried to lift all four heroes at once, but failed, so they settled for patting them on the shells.

“My sons.” A voice called out within the crowd causing the four to scan, but couldn’t find a source. ‘I better get to them.’ Splinter thought and used his skills to bypass the grouped crowd before him, and rush over to them.

“Father.” The four shouted as one before hugging him in four different directions.

‘Kids.’ He thought with a smile on his face. After the hug the field leader saw the Furious Five…and their tea cart standing before them. The nine took a few paces closer: each looking at the one that guided them out of the palace.

“Masters.” The fearsome tiger said to them before bowing.

“Masters.” The people around them, along with the other four said and bowed as well. After defeating this evil none of the turtles were expecting this, and in truth they were all honored to be called the ‘M’ word.

“Master?” The chucker said aloud as if trying to remember something, and in a flash he did. “Master Shifu.” Before anyone knew it the orange warrior ran back to the temple. His brothers realized that the last they saw of the red panda he didn’t look so hot.

“We better follow him.” The swords-turtle said before rushing after their speed factor. The ninjas of a concrete jungle got all the way to the top with little difficulty, walked through the doorway, and saw their latest teacher still lying by the pool.

“Shifu, Shifu are you okay?” The slacker said after rushing to the fallen warrior’s side. After turning the small teacher slightly they were relieved when he opened his eyes.

“Michelangelo. You and your brothers are alive.” The instructor said in a relieved voice before adding in his usual tone, “Or we’re all dead.” The ninjas smiled - happy to hear that the fight with his student didn’t change that tounge one bit.

“No, Master, We didn’t die. We defeated Tai Lung.” The one in blue as he and the other two walked up behind their comedic kin.

“You did?” Shifu questioned to them in surprise. Astounded that the combined might of four ninjas took down one Kung Fu expert. The teenagers each gave him a nod of confirmation. “Wow. It is as Oogway foretold. You four are the Dragon Warriors. You all have brought peace…to this valley…and…and to me. Thank you. Thank you, all. Thank you. Thank you.” The red panda said to them before closing his eyes.

‘Is this what Splinter felt like when he lost his father?’ Leonardo thought as he felt a sadness within him, but something didn’t feel right. ‘His fur doesn’t seem as damaged as when we last saw him.’ The observant one thought before hearing the child of the group.

“No! Master! No, no, no, don’t die, Shifu, please!” Michelangelo shouted in alarm and wondered why his brothers weren’t joining him.

“I’m not dying, you idiot!” Their teacher shouted out before realizing that this was a moment of peace. “Dragon Warrior…I am simply at peace. Finally.” He recovered with a calmer tone as he relaxed his back and rested beside the pool.

‘So, that’s it. While we were fighting Shifu must have gathered his chi to heal himself. Cool.’ The brainy one, who had the same thought as his brother about their teacher’s condition, and was impressed at such a technique.

“So…I should probably stop talking, right?” The one in orange said since he had a feeling that is what the kung fu teacher wanted right now.

“If you can.” The mammal said back with his eyes still closed. With nothing else to saw the four chose different spots to take a nap at: Leonardo and Raphael chose two different pillars sat down and closed their eyes, Donatello sat by the pool, slouched, and closed his eyes, and Michelangelo lied on his belly right by their master.

‘This is so boring.’ The energetic one thought as he looked around at the sleeping men, but he didn’t want to sleep he wanted to party or at least… “Want to get something to eat?” He questioned since he wanted to have a bowl of dumplings with a good friend.

“Yeah.” Shifu said with a nod. The other three heard the talk and decided to join them, but not without the Furious Five. As the two got some dumplings the others gathered their fellow freedom fighters. When the brothers got into the valley they rushed over to the five.

“Hey, Crane, before the fight with Tai Lung I wanted to show you the different color paints I developed.” The staff carrier said to the flyer who seemed interested in seeing this. “Cool let’s go.” He said before rushing over to the temple.

“Mantis, how about some meditation time at the peach tree. To give us a chance to reflect what had happened to us.” Leonardo suggested to the patience praying one who nodded in acceptance. With that they were about to leave when the blue one added, “I think Mikey wouldn’t mind if his two main friends came along.” Monkey and Viper nodded to this and rushed with them.

“What do you say, whiskers? Up for a rematch?” The one in red questioned and got claws and a hiss for an answer. “Not like that…at least not yet. Two words - arm wrestle.” He said since he did not want their kind of one on one brawl so soon after beating the leopard.

‘Arm wrestling…well whatever the event - I will beat him.’ The tiger thought before following after him back to the temple. Once they were there Don grabbed the paints, and a few empty scrolls and headed for the tree, and Raph grabbed a pretty level rock and also headed for the tree since they had a feeling that was where their brother and teacher were.

‘Those were good.’ The nunchuck user thought after eating his dumplings and then turned to his master.

‘What does he want?’ Shifu thought before seeing him click the tips of his chopsticks together. ‘Ah, I see.’ He thought before giving the growing turtle some of his dumplings. Behind them was: Viper and Monkey sleeping under the Peach Tree, Leonardo and Mantis meditating under the tree, Crane using the new paint his friend, Donatello made, and Raphael and Tigress were in a deadlock of their arm wrestling match. Unknown to them a new Peach Tree was starting to grow as a symbol of things to come.

Copy Rights:
TMNT, and the others, are owned by Eastman/Laird and Fox Box.
Kung Fu Panda, and the others, are owned by Dreamworks.