Ch. 26 - The Great Pretender is more then just a Pretender

"AAHHH!!!....." Flying up in the sky, Leo howled in surprise, while the same goes to Po.

'This is for Kung Fu! This is for Kung Fu....' Po silently prayed in his mind, trying his best to ignore his fear of heights, not expecting Leo to also be in the same situation as him.

***

"I can feel the Dragon Warrior among us." Finishing the Furious Five's showcase of their mastery over Kung Fu, Master Oogway closed his eyes and inhaled.

Opening a small gap on his eyelid, Master Oogway saw the flying cart in the distance up, which prompted him to start walking towards the lined up Furious Five, who all were excited and have hopeful but nervous expressions.

Master Shifu has long forgotten about Leo and only prayed that one of his students will be picked as the Dragon Warrior.

Unbeknownst to everyone, a flying cart full of extinguished fireworks were finally descending towards the middle of the training grounds.

***

'God, if you're hearing this. Please forgive me for my sins, take care of all my loved ones and friends, I may leave this world for real right now but I wish I could at least fu-.' With his eyes closed, Leo seemed to have given up and was already stating his last words in the form of a prayer seemingly forgetting about his recently acquired passive skill, Stone Skin.

*Boom!*

Leo didn't manage to finish his last words when the cart of fireworks finally descended successfully thanks to gravity.

Seeing the smashed cart and the unconscious and conscious Po and Leo on the ground, the Furious Five were stunned to see them, especially Master Shifu who was the first one to notice that two of Master Oogway's fingers were pointing at both Leo and Po on the ground.

What does this mean?

Could it be that Master Oogway had a sudden stroke and couldn't put down one of his fingers?

That seems to be the only plausible reason right now.

"Leo? What are you doing and who is this panda?" Monkey asks as he points his finger at Po, who was groggy and tries to get up only to fail in lifting his own weight.

'Holy shit! I just survived that with no scratch! Stone Skin for the win!' Leo scanned his body and saw no injuries on him, not even a scratch. When he was high up in the sky, he was already expecting a few broken bones upon impact on the ground.

Leo then looked at Po and noticed that the fat panda only sustained a small scratch but no injury.

'As expected of this world's destined protagonist.' Leo grumbles silently in jealousy, he wonders what it feels like to be favoured by an entire universe, while he himself was probably just picked out of luck.

Unknown to Leo, his destiny was not based on luck, but far more than that. Unfortunately, his journey is still far from the real path that he would tread.

Helping himself, once he's back on his two feet, only then he helped Po.

Thanks to Leo's strength, it wasn't that hard to lift Po anymore.

Not only that, these past few days have been a hard day for Leo, who is in constant torture from Master Shifu's training.

However, Leo not only endured them but also reap the best benefits as he also finished a few Sub-Quests from it.

[• Sub-Quest #24: Defeat the wooden dummy (Completed)

Reward: 0.010% of Black Panther Template.(Claim)]]

[• Sub-Quest #25: Annoy Master Shifu (Completed)

Reward: 0.1% of Black Panther Template.(Claim)]]

[• Sub-Quest #26: Help Po reach the event just at the same time as the canon event (Completed)

Reward: 1% of Black Panther Template.(Claim)]

Of course, the Sub-Quest#26 is what surprised him the most. Looks like the Genesis doesn't want to change the events that much either, however another pop-up screen suddenly greeted him.

[• Quest Title: Rise of the 2nd Dragon Warrior.

Main Quest: Become the 2nd Dragon Warrior beside Po.

Rewards: Title of the Dragon Warrior, increase in Prestige and Reputation across China, 10% increase in Black Panther Template.]

'What the fuck!?' Reading the Quest, Leo turned to look at Master Oogway, whose two fingers were pointing at him and Po.

'This old turtle is doing this on purpose!' Leo cursed in his mind, glaring at Master Oogway who seemed oblivious to his glare and loudly announced.

"The universe has given us TWO Dragon Warriors!"

"What!!" Master Shifu's jaw was dropped open, along with the Furious Five.

"WHAT!?"

The most shocked among the Furious Five was no doubt Tigress, who has been training and shedding blood for tens of years waiting for this moment.

Only for a panda and a newbie who fell from the sky to steal her lifetime goal!

Should she also do the same and fall in front of Master Oogway in an embarrassing manner just to be chosen?

At this point, Tigress might as well turn into the second Tai Lung.

She has every reason to become one.

Fortunately, her mindset is different from Tai Lung. If Tai Lung thinks that Master Oogway was just a senile old turtle who's out of his mind hence why he was not chosen. Tigress thinks that she didn't do enough and that she needed to be the best.

They're now in the same situation but a different reaction to the event.

One went on the dark path to achieve power while the other one pursued the right path but with a right mindset.

"M-Master, this must be a mistake! I can accept if you choose Leo as he has the potential but a big fat panda? Not to mention, two Dragon Warriors!?" Master Shifu wasted no time to express his complaint.

"There are no mistakes, Shifu. It is all written in the universe itself. You just have to read it." Master Oogway flashed his usual old man smile before walking away, followed by the dispersing of the crowd.

Although the events today shocked them as it was unexpected to them, that's it. The only thing that changed is that there are now two more protectors of the Valley, it doesn't matter who or how.

They only care for their own safety after all.

"What? What!?" Master Shifu turned to look at his students whose expressions were also confused just like him before shifting it to Leo and Po.

He could still accept Leo being chosen as the Dragon Warrior as he always felt that Master Oogway has a reason why he took him in, but the problem is that a panda is also chosen as one.

In the entire history there have never been two Dragon Warriors, only one.

"We'll talk about this later." Master Shifu said, although it looks like he was talking to everyone in the training hall, his eyes say otherwise as he's glaring at Po and Leo who are slowly being taken into a huge chariot carried by geese.

With their combined weight, even if there's no Leo, the chariot that looks very expensive has a hole in the middle.

*Crash!*

"S-sorry!" Po stood up out of embarrassment while fixing his shorts that are on the verge of falling down.

Meanwhile, Leo managed to balance himself just fine so he didn't fall on the ground like Po.

"Leo." Suddenly, Leo heard Tigress's voice.

Turning to look at the master, Leo gulped his saliva upon seeing the serious look that she's bearing on her face.

'Why does she look like she's going to bite my entire head off?'

"You might be chosen as the Dragon Warrior today but remember this, having that title doesn't mean you deserve it, you need to earn it. The same goes for you, panda." Tigress squinted her eyes and coldly said before turning around and left.

"Oh my gosh! Master Tigress talked to me! I'm dying of happiness now." Contrary to everyone's expectations who thought that Po would be pissing himself, the Furious Five were stunned to see that he was more excited than scared.

'Po is still Po, I guess.' Leo sighed at himself before continuing.

'But still, two Dragon Warriors? Is this even possible? Well, it is since Master Oogway just did it. Now I have no choice but to face those terrifying enemies.' Leo sighed, still though the rewards are quite worth it.

Especially since he'll get a hint for the Black Panther tribe in this world.

Knowing the first Bonus Quest that he got in this world is to build Wakanda and make it a real nation, Leo thought of this as a good first step in finishing that quest.

Maybe he could go on a journey to find the Black Panther tribe, leaving the responsibility of the Dragon Warrior to Po during that time.

But first, he must go back to his room and claim his quest rewards.

Only by getting 100% of Black Panther's template he would feel at ease in this world and in the upcoming worlds that he'll visit.

Since the chariot that was supposed to carry them to the Sacred Hall of the Jade Palace, the geese were left with nothing to do, so they simply started walking away from the Training Ground as if they were some kind of NPC.

"Uhm.....Leo, I'm not sure what's going on but are we chosen as the Dragon Warriors? The both of us?" Having passed through his fanboy phase to the Furious Five, the panda went back to his nervous demeanor, constantly sticking with Leo as he's the only one he knows around here.

"That seems to be the case Po. We are now burdened with such a glorious purpose." Leo silently smirked and replied.

"Glorious Purpose...." Po's eyes twinkled in excitement, remembering those dreams he had where he is a Kung Fu Master defeating strong foes. Now, those aren't dreams anymore.

But turning into reality!

"Leo! Teach me Kung Fu!" Po jumped excitedly.

"I'm not the one who's going to teach you." Leo shook his head and continued.

"The one who'll be teaching you is none other than the greatest Kung Fu teacher across China, Ma-." Before Leo could even finish his words, Po beat him up to it.

As the biggest fan of Kung Fu, he already knows who Leo is referring to.

"Master Shifu! The greatest Kung Fu Teacher in china! Teaching several students who have turned into masters such as Master Rhino, Master Croc and Master Ox!"

'Wow, Master Shifu is that great?' Leo's mouth twitched.

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 27 - The Great Pretender is as wise as Master Oogway?]

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