Fear like nothing she had ever felt before coursed through Ling's body as Kon Kon dangled her over the bottomless pit, ready to drop her in. She then found it harder and harder to breath as the monkey-like demon squeezed her throat even harder. Her vision began to darken, and with horror, she felt her body going slack. Desperately, Ling tried to grab and hit with both her hands at the Kon Kon's hairy arm holding her in order to free herself, but his grip remained like iron.
I...can't...fight him! the Chinese girl thought desperately. All...my friends are going to die, and can't fight him! She tried to hitting the hairy arm one more time, but it proved fruitless, and the darkness threatened to overcome her. Ling's eyes began to droop, and body grew more and more limp.
"Oh no, he's killing her!" yelled out Jeneta. She struggled against the vines pinning her and everyone else down, but it was as if they were made of steel themselves, growing more and more tighter around their limbs. With tears in her eyes, she made a desperate attempt to try and reach her friend. "Ling! Come on, you have to and get loose and fight! You can do it! We all believe in you!"
"She's right!" Angeni yelled out with her. "We've come too far now to lose you or be defeated by this...this...Monkey-face!"
Kon Kon turned his head at those words, and his face scowled fiercely. "Shut up! Big mouth stupid girls make Kon Kon angry! When finished with her, Kon Kon destroy you ALL! Oh HEE HEE!"
But with his head turned as he continued to yell at them, Kon Kon never realized that although muffled, the encouraging words of her friends was reaching through to Ling. Slowly, she opened back up her eyes, and saw her friends watching her anxiously. That's....right. My friends...they believe in me, like I believe in them. I...I can't...lose! Straining, Ling willed her legs to move in one last desperate attempt.
"Now, watch as Kon Kon sacrifice friend, then start with other big mouth girl!" Kon Kon smiled gleefully as he turned back to Ling and prepared to drop her. But instead of her being unconscious as he thought she was, she found her glaring at him with determined eyes.
"I don't think so, fur face!" With a grunt, Ling kicked out her right leg with a powerful swing, and slammed her foot right into Kon Kon's groin area. The tall creature screech and howled in pain, and immediately dropped Ling from his grasp and fell to the floor, his staff clattering next to him and his hands covering his already swelling area.
Instinctively Ling reached out her hand as she dropped and caught the edge of the cliff a second before she would have plunged into the darkness. Her body slammed against the cliff wall and small pieces of pebbles and rocks loosened and fell down....down into the abyss that seemed like it had no ending.
Coughing, Ling slowly climbed up, and when she reached the ground, she fell on her hands and knees and took in large gulps of air. "Ling!" Jeneta strained once more against the vines, but with Kon Kon's concentration now broken, the vines easily broke away, and immediately the four girls rushed over to Ling, tears in their eyes with relief.
"Oh God, Ling, are you okay?" said Heather, looking over her to see if she had any injuries. She then put Ling's arm around her own shoulders and helped her to stand.
"I...I'm fine" Ling said hoarsely. She gently massaged her raw throat with her free hand. "But I'm guessing his family jewels aren't!" she managed to chuckle out.
"This is NO time for jokes Ling!" admonished Heather, "We have to get out of here before....before..."
Whatever more she was going to say was forgotten as a shadow suddenly came up behind them. With eyes wide, they all turned around as one to see Kon Kon standing behind them, his eyes burning madly and his staff raised high above him. With a high-pitched screech, Kon Kon brought his staff down, meaning to take their heads off with it. But just in time the girls all ducked and rolled away with a frightened scream, and with a loud sounding thud, a deep hole was left right in the place where they were just standing a second ago.
"Whoa!" gasped out Jeneta, standing up quickly with the others. Hun Li, Djoser, and Tao ran up besides them, readying themselves to attack and protect the girls.
Kon Kon swung his immense staff above him and twirled it into a fight stance, all the while glaring at the group with madness and hate in his eyes. "Stupid girl caused Kon Kon a lot of pain...now Kon Kon really mad now! Kon Kon make sure you all die slow and painful death! Kon Kon make sure you never leave here alive!"
"Alright, that's it, this freak here is history!" said Jeneta, raising her hand to summon her sword. Heather nodded and prepared to do the same, but before they could finish, Ling held her arm out to the side to stop them.
"No, wait! This fight is mine." Ling turned to look meaningfully at her friends, then glared at Kon Kon.
"What? No, Ling, you can't, he'll..." Jeneta couldn't even bring herself to say what she feared in her heart of what this monster might do to her friend, but Ling shook her head, determined not to be dissuaded.
"Please, don't do this!" Tao said, coming up next to her. "We can help defeat him! We've already come so far, I can't...I..I mean, we can't lose you now!" Tao turned pleading eyes on the young girl, but Ling only smiled softly and nodded her head, saying more to him with her eyes than words could say.
At that, Angeni walked forward, looked into Ling's eyes for a moment, then at Kon Kon starting to move toward them, and nodded. She turned to the others. "She's right everyone. This is her fight, I can feel it, like she can. And she'll win."
Hun Li and Djoser smiled encouragingly at Ling at those words, but before they could say anything, Ling closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and balling her fists, turned to face her enemy alone. Her heart raced over a thousands miles a second, but she knew this had to be done, and she couldn't let her fear show.
"Good luck, Ling," whispered Prya, her hands clasped together in front of her as though in prayer.
Ling walked up to meet Kon Kon midway before he could reach the group of friends. When the two stood before one another, they glared at each other for a moment. Calmly Ling went into a fighting stance, more prepared now than ever to fight to protect her friends.
"Ahhh, so you come to be first to die, little cub?" Kon Kon taunted, twirling his staff around. then pointing it at her. "Kon Kon think this be too easy! Kon Kon going to have fun! Oh hee hee!"
"Oh really?" Ling narrowed her eyes at the advancing demon monkey. "Well, if you think this is going to be so easy, then bring it on!"
No more words were exchanged as Kon Kon let out a long and fierce screech that was reminiscent of a gorilla protecting his territory in the wilds of the jungle.
Ling ducked in time to avoid the black staff swinging over her head, missing her by mere inches. Still down in a crouch, she swung her leg around and knocked the creature's legs from underneath him. But her victory was short as Kon Kon jumped up immediately after, and with a cackle, backhanded Ling across the face as she stood in shock for a moment.
"Ling!" Prya cried out. But Djoser held her back as she was about to run forward to help her.
"No, we can't interfere now. We must wait..." Prya looked up at him in worry, then nodding her head, continued to watch the tensioned filled fight.
Ling fell heavily to the ground, but got back up a second later and started throwing fast and powerful punches and kicks. Each blow Ling gave landed with powerful force on Kon Kon, but it was almost as though they hurt no more than a mosquito bite on the tall creature, and every blow that he gave to her, it caused great pain.
Panting heavily, Ling back flipped several times away from Kon Kon as he tried to hit her with some fancy kicks, but on her last landing, she slipped and nearly fell. Kon Kon took advantage of that slip, and with a loud laugh, hit her across the back with his staff so hard she spun around with a scream and landed with a loud thud on the ground. Blood flowed from her mouth as she gasped painfully and struggled to get up. As Kon Kon walked up to her, she gingerly touched her parched and swollen lips and tried to wipe the blood away.
"Stop it, PLEASE! That's enough!" demanded Jeneta, her hand itching to summon her sword help her.
"OH Hee Hee! No, Kon Kon long way from finished with big mouth cub!" He grinned evilly as he twirled his staff up around him, and saliva dripped from his mouth. "Kon Kon has big plans for her! First, Kon Kon rip out heart, then feast on it. Then we skins her and wear her skin as trophy! Oh hee hee!" He brought his staff down to smash it against her head, but with a painful grunt, Ling rolled away just in time. The demon had hit the ground so hard, it caused fissures in the ground to crack in the spot where Ling just was.
Ling wasted no time in thinking that she needed to get that staff away from him! Although her body was screaming with pain as she stood, Ling forced herself to crouch, then jump up and flip high over his head. While in the air, she kicked her leg out and smashed her foot against the side of the demon's head, like she had seen Hun Li do in her fight. Ling had always prided herself in being a quick learner. Most of the time she had only to see her uncle do martial arts moves and techniques once or twice, and within moments, she would repeat it expertly. Now she wished more than ever she had watched the woman in action, so as to impress her uncle if she ever got back home.
The monkey demon screamed in pain as he smashed to the ground, and his staff fell and rolled away from him. Rushing up quickly, Ling grabbed the large and somewhat heavy staff before Kon Kon could recover and get it. With a snarl, Ling raised the staff and hit it as hard as she could over Kon Kon's back as she yelled her frustrations. "So you want to rip out my heart? Well, I got just one thing to say to you! You are so.." She smashed across his back again.. "Ugly!" smash.."UGLY!" smash..."UGLY!!" smash...."UUUUGLY!!!!"
So enraged was she, Ling didn't at first see a shining glint at the top of Kon Kon's staff, until Hun Li's keen eye saw the tiny flash first. "Ling, stop! On the top of his staff, there's something there!"
Ling stopped in mid-strike as she was about to hit the demon again, hearing Hun Li's words. Blinking curiously, Ling brought it down slowly and looked to see for herself. Indeed, there hidden within the many other carvings of the staff was the same red jewel that was upon the other guardians that Heather and Jeneta fought.
"Oh my gosh, you're right! What...what do I do now?" Ling looked up in a panic at her friends for a moment. If this thing was the one that was controlling Kon Kon, then would it do the same to her, now that she held it in her hands?
"Smash it! Before its powers overcome you too!" yelled Heather. Kon Kon was beginning to stir and would grab for the staff any second.
Nodding, Ling raised the staff as high in the air as she could carry it, and then brought it smashing down on the ground with a loud crack that resounded through out the whole immense temple cave they were in.
"NOOOO!" screamed out Kon Kon, reaching out for the staff as though his life depended on it.
As Ling smashed the head of the staff against the ground, an intense white light exploded from it, throwing her and everyone else back a good couple of inches.
For what seemed like long moments, loud explosion filled the whole area, making everyone cover their ears in pain. Then, the noise died down and the white light swirled and slowly began to take form. The light dimmed a little, and when they were able to see again, everyone looked in awe at what the light was turning into. Slowly, the figure started to resemble a silvery outline form of a long-tailed dragon, then it began to solidify. Right then, a pale green color began to flow across the silvery figure. Golden scales ran along its back and its long, long tail, and four sets of feet with golden nails sprang into view. The head of the dragon took form with large, gentle green eyes, silvery-white hair and mustache, and white teeth that showed when it smiled.
For a few moments, everyone just stared at the beautiful majestic creature. Then it smiled again, and lowered itself to the ground before the on-looking group of friends. "Greetings. I am Chow Shen, and I thank you for freeing me from the prison of that jewel." His voice was mighty and deep, yet for some reason, Ling felt as though she had no reason to fear him, and softly smiled back.
"Years ago, the evil Kumraa imprisoned me within this staff, and placed my servant, Kon Kon, under his evil spell." With a sad look, he turned to where the demon lay unconscious and lowered his head.
"He was your servant?" Ling looked in surprised at the fallen Kon Kon. "What will happen to him now?"
The dragon lifted his head back up and was about to answer Ling, when suddenly, a soft light surrounded Kon Kon. His black fur began to lighten and turn a soft brown color, and his clothing a more soft yellow instead of harsh gold. When the light dimmed and faded away a moment later, it was as though a completely different creature lay before them. Gone was the evil aura and murderous scowl. Slowly he began to open his eyes and stood up.
"Look, the mind control spell has been broken!" said an amazed Heather.
When he turned and saw Chow Shen before him, Kon Kon rushed up to the dragon and fell to his knees. "Master! This one asks that you forgive this most disobedient servant!"
"It's alright Kon Kon, it was not your fault. After our years together, I know you would not do this if you could help it." the wise dragon answered. The two bowed to each other, then Chow Shen turned towards Ling again.
"I have something for you, as a reward for your bravery and freeing us." he said softly. He lifted his head up slightly, and a low rumbling sound came from his throat, as though he were singing a song. The song became louder and louder, but instead of it becoming too loud, it was actually soothing, and Ling closed her eyes to let the calming sound wash over her. The dragon began to glow a pale, soft glow, and mist erupted from his mouth. The mist swirled around him for a second, then solidified into a long and graceful sword. At the hilt where the sword can be gripped was a design of a graceful dragon chiseled out from what looked like pure pearl, and had a long, sharp, shining blade. It flashed once, then fell softly into Ling's waiting hands.
"Wow, it's...it's beautiful!" Ling breathed out. She suddenly felt a tingling in her body, and before she knew it, a beautifully carved necklace, having a gold chain like Jeneta and Heather, hung around her neck. But the design was certainly unique unto itself. Carved out in gold like the other medallions, the design was of a fierce-looking fish intertwined in battle with a swirling and dangerous snake. In their eyes were pieces of emeralds, shining brightly in the dull light.
Chow Shen nodded in satisfaction and smiled. "I give unto you the very items that were hidden from the evil grasp of Kumraa....the third Sacred Medallion, and the sword Dragon's Pearl. You have proven yourself worthy of these gifts, and I know you will use them wisely." He looked up at the others girls deep in their eyes. "Your journey is far from over. Many obstacles still lay in your path. I tell you now what you already know in your hearts.....your friendship will be your greatest strength. When all seems lost, that is what you will have to rely on. Never forget that."
Amazed, Ling went down on one knee qas the sword absorbed into her body in a swirl of mist, and bowed her head before the majestic creature. "I think you, my friend. We all will make you proud, and bring this world back to the peace it once enjoyed." With that, Chow Shen bowed to her. Then throwing his head back, he gave a might roar that resounded through out the whole mountain as mist flew out of his mouth, and with a flash of pale light, disappeared along with Kon Kon.
For what seemed liked eternity, Ling looked in complete awe where the dragon once stood, feeling strength and new determination flow through her. But before she could reflect on it more, she heard the happy sounds of her friends rushing up to her.
"Ling, thank God you're okay!" said Prya, running up to her and throwing her arms around her neck.
"Awww come on, like it'll take a mad, rampaging monkey to stop me!" Ling chuckled, hugging her friend back.
"Nevertheless, he was right...there are still many obstacles in our way, and our journey is far from over." commented Hun Li, laying her hand on Ling shoulder. "And there is no time to lose. I feel Kumraa's power growing stronger every day that passes."
Angeni nodded in agreement, feeling the same way. "Right, there's no telling what he could have in store for us, now what we've only got two Sacred Medallions left."
With that, the group hurried back out of the cave temple the same way they got in, hope and determination once again filling their heart, but still apprehensive as to what would be coming next.
When they were almost out, Tao hung back a little and placed his hand on Ling shoulder, stopping her for a moment. "I...I just wanted to tell you that...I..well...we're all proud of you, and...you didn't do too bad...for a young girl like you.."
"Not bad for a young girl like me, huh? So what, is that a challenge?" Ling asked, putting a hand on her hip and fixing him with a defiant glare.
But instead of answering, Tao merely smiled back in mischief, and with a twinkle in his eye and a wink, stepped out and joined the others.
"OOH! That jerk! He's impossible!" Ling growled to herself. But yet, she couldn't help but smile just a tiny bit, knowing that somehow, he did care that she made it out alright, and that actually mattered to her. Then shaking her head from those thoughts, Ling rushed out with the others. There wasn't any time for such thoughts, and if they were going to make it through their journey alive, they couldn't afford to be distracted by anything...or anyone.
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To be continued...
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