//------------------------------//
// 17: Spike's Molt Down 
// Story: Kung Fu Panda: The Dragons Destiny 
// by dragonfan101 
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It's been a few weeks again since everyone switched bodies, they were all glad to back in they're bodies so they could get back to training. Spike was glad to be training back in his body again, while it was fun being in Viper's body, not having arms and legs did feel a little weird, but he was glad to be back to normal again. He was glad he and Viper bonded a bit more, and the others bonded with eachother when in they're bodies. It was nice that Shifu let them do handle it themselves, even if he got to relax the whole week they were in this problem. But while they were glad to be back to normal, Spike was getting worried on the situation Viper told him about, and is wondering just when this is gonna happen, and how well everyone was gonna take it, but that's a story for another time.

But as of now, they were glad to be back to normal and were getting back to training nicely. Spike had been feeling strange for the past few days though, his scales has started to feel itchy and he felt off, they just started around a few days ago and he's been feeling off.

Spike heard the morning gong once again and quickly opened his eyes, he always did this each day and it was a morning staple, hear the gong, quickly go out and greet the master.
"Good morning master!" Spike and the others said at once coming out of they're room. Shifu looked at all of his students and he saw they're all accounted for, even Po was used to waking up instantly by now. Shifu smelt something off and saw Spike coughing a little.

"Spike, are you feeling okay?" Shifu asked already seeing something was strange about him, Spike was itching his scales a little but looked okay for the most part.
"I'm fine.. just a little itchy this morning.." Spike answered feeling strange with the others looking concerned.
"You sure Spike? You were like this yesterday too." Viper asked coming up to him.
"I'm fine Viper, just feeling off right now.." Spike replied trying to ignore it.
"You have a cold or something dude?" Mantis asked curious of this. 
"I don't think so, i'm sure it'll go away in a bit." Spike assured trying to brush this off.
"Very well then, let's all begin training again." Shifu instructed as they all started heading to train again, but Spike's body was still feeling itchy.

Spike and the other's made it to the halls again, Spike's main thing was dodging on the Fiery field with Viper, as that suited them both, Spike could still feel off right now, but was pushing past it for now. Spike backflipped under a tail whip from Viper and was twirling his body around, he balanced himself on his hands to wind up a hard kick to her which sent her back a little, Spike then ran through more fire blasts and ran to her, they both charged at eachother again before delivering a strong strike to eachother which knocked them back a bit.
"Man.. i still can't believe i have reflexes like this.." Spike said to himself as he could feel his itch happening again. 
"Yeah, you've really shown something else in the past year Spike." Viper said recovering from the attack. 
"Ugh.." Spike said weirded out as he couldn't stop scratching himself.

"Are you okay Spike?" Viper asked worried for him as there was some red on his body right now.
"I'm fine just.. itchy.." Spike said scratching himself still which caught the other's attention.
"You shouldn't itch like that Spike, it could leave a bad mark on your body." Crane warned as  they could see some marks already.
"I'm fine guys i just.." Spike said before his stomach grumbled and he released a large violent fire blast which surprised  them all.
"Okay, something's clearly wrong with you Spike." Tigress declared as this wasn't normal at all.

"I think you may be sick or something Spike." Crane said walking up to him.
"How can i be sick? I don't even know what kind of sickness this is, i haven't had it since i joined you guys." Spike asked trying to figure this out. 
"Hmm.. maybe it happens during a certain point for dragons." Shifu suggested which may be true. 
"It could be, maybe we should take a look at the scrolls in the library, i'm sure Oogway had something on Equestrian dragons if he knows about that place." Crane suggested which was a good idea. 
"Good idea Crane, you take Spike with you to try and find something, Mantis, get your acupuncture needles." Shifu instructed which worried Spike a little.

"Why do i need the acupuncture treatment?" Spike asked a little scarred as he knows what that's like, and it does not feel good at all. 
"Because i'll probably have to find a nerve point that can stop that itching, if there even if. I'll go get them." Mantis said hopping off to do so.
"Come on Spike, i'm sure it's nothing too serious." Crane assured as they began leaving too.

Spike and Wu went to the large pool within the palace, it was filled with tons of scrolls for research, they had many different things like different techniques, history lessons , and stuff about other species.
"Alright, if Oogway knows about my kind, he's gotta have written down something to help us explain what's going on." Spike said as he tried searching for one.
Spike dug through whatever he could find, he found some scrolls that went into some medical skills that could be helpful, but that should be for later. Spike went through all the different species he could find until he finally found one that had the symbol of a dragon on it.
"This might be it.." Spike said as he flipped down to Crane.

"Alright, let's see what this has." Crane said as they opened the scroll to read it, they went through the scroll to try and find anything that relates to what Spike's condition is, if it's a type of illness or something more important.
"Hold on, look at that one." Crane said pointing to a picture that had a young dragons scales a little red, and it looked a little sick, but this did look like Spike's condition.
"This could be it, it says it's.. a Molt Down." Spike translated which interested Crane.
"Molt Down?" Crane asked curiously as he hasn't heard of this before.
"It says that this is a step to a dragon growing up more, when this starts to happen, it's a sign that they'll grow out of they're current form, and emerge as something new." Spike explained which interested both of them.

"So.. this is just saying your going through.. you know.." Crane asked as they both figured it out by now.
"It looks like it, it says that the affects that come with it are, itchy scales, violent sneezing, a bad stench, and sudden voice cracks." Spike translated while Crane just smelt something bad.
"Oof, i think that explains the bad smell that's coming from you just now." Crane said which confused Spike.
"What? Ugh!" Spike said in disgust as he smelt himself and he smelt bad.
"I'd recommend going to the hot springs to bathe, that could help." Crane advised as he went over and handed him some cleaning supplies.
"Thanks, please tell the others what's going on." Spike asked which had Crane nod in agreement while Spike ran down to the hotsprings to clean up.

Spike spent the next hour or so near them, he made sure to clean himself up the best he can, it was starting to affect him more as this " Molt" That was happening to him was getting irritating, he never felt clean for a minute after all he did, he kept feeling a need to itch and sneezed fire violently when he felt it, it was just awful to put it simply. Spike sighed to himself as he just got done bathing for like the 5th time today, while the hot springs were a relaxing place for the palace that he and the 5 liked being at when they're done training most of the time, for him today it barely did anything.
"Why is this happening to me now? I know i'm like.. 14 or something, but why haven't i felt this sooner?" Spike asked himself as there were more red spots on his body which disgusted him a little. 

Spike went down to the bed chambers to Mantis's room, that's where they usually have him do Acupuncture on him or one of the 5 and Po if they're sick. It was a experience he didn't like, it was basically being stabbed in a certain part of your body to alleviate ones pain, or to help with types of conditions, be it mental, physical, or emotional. While Mantis was good at it to say, there were certain treatments he often did that was.. questionable, he remembers one time when Viper had a fever, and he literally had needles in all the sides of her body to make her stop moving until it passed, he felt bad for her when that happened. And he hasn't forgotten about what happened to Po when his face froze and Tigress almost slashed him, he wouldn't have been without a permanent scar if Mantis didn't stop her that day. 

Spike was still glad Mantis was a Doctor of sorts, he remembers being told that Mantis came to the palace to treat Shifu after he got sick from eating some of Ping's noodles, which confused Spike on how that could ever happen, maybe it was an accident when Po was working there. But he soon arrived at Mantis's room and went inside. He already saw Mantis with a few of them in his claw thingies, they all had no idea what to call them.
"Uh.. hey Mantis, you ready to.. do this?" Spike asked nervously walking into it, Mantis was looking at a diagram of Spike's body to look at where to put them in before he noticed him.
"Oh, hey Spike. Just give me a minute, i'm making sure i know where to put these." Mantis asked making sure there wasn't anything off.
"You sure you know what your doing with these? Last time i had a cold, you put one in my arm which made it flabby for like a week, even Tigress didn't walk the last time you had to do that on her.. after she slapped you across the room refusing to let you help her with a sore throat." Spike pointed out sitting down on a mat placed out for him.
"I know what i'm doing Spike, i've gotten  better over time. I don't think i can mess up that badly again, you just need to stay still, maybe i can find something that stops this.. smell that's coming from you." Mantis said hopping over to his shoulder.
"I don't think there's a nerve point to stop a smell buddy, maybe one to stop a sense of smell, but not having an actual smell." Spike said dismissively while he just shrugged his shoulders and held one out.
"Never hurts to try, maybe we can speed up this Molt thing your going through, brace yourself dude." Mantis warned as he went to his shoulder and readied himself, Spike closed his eyes as a sharp needle sound was heard piercing his scales.
"AHHHH!!!" Spike screamed in pain as it echoed through the whole palace which made some servants wonder where that came from as the needle did hit a certain spot..

Spike was weakly walking through the halls again to the kitchen as this right arm was flabby and had over 20 needles around it, Mantis still needed to practice his Acupuncture as this barely felt different. Spike groaned weakly as he went into the kitchen and saw Po was cooking some soup for him.
"Hey Po, how you doing?" Spike asked as he sat down on a chair while his arm hung around in the air with Po seeing him.
"Hey Spike, i'm doing good today, training was tiring as usual. I take it Mantis's medicine.. didn't help much?" Po asked looking at his arm.
"Yeah, it feels like it's in a coma, i just hope this " Molt' Condition passes soon." Spike prayed as Po got finished with the soup and slid a plate to him.

"Me too buddy, i gotta ask.. what's it like?" Po asked worried as he sat down and had a few bowls himself.
"It's not pleasant at all, i constantly feel like i need to bathe, i still have a bad stench, and i'm still itchy from all of it." Spike said annoyed as he tried not to scratch while eating. 
"Sorry to hear that Spike, but try to look on the bright side, maybe when this Molt thing is over you can get something awesome from it!" Po said excitedly trying to make things brighter.
"I don't know Po, i'm 14 years old at this point, i've spent almost 2 years here by now, and i find it hard if anything exciting will happen anymore, even with all these awesome kung fu skills we're learning." Spike replied slurping up some noodles. 
"Believe me Spike, i've been researching every awesome master and skill they know, there's a reason i knew every item in the Hall of Warriors." Po said casually finishing a bowl of noodles.

"I can see that, maybe it's something that will truly surprise all of us, maybe something to help me kick butt in the future.." Spike said looking at his red marks on himself. 
"I'm sure it will buddy, and hopefully that'll wake up your arm when it's over right?" Po asked with a smile.
"Yeah, there could be something cool can happen. Just hope my arm does wake up soon." Spike said looking at it.
"Hey at least it's asleep, hopefully you don't lose it completely in the future right?" Po asked jokingly.
" let's i just hope i don't.." Spike said before his stomach rumbled again and he burped up another stream of fire.. which burnt the bowl of noodles he was eating to ash.
"Celestia darn it.." Spike said annoyed shaking his head. 
"Don't worry buddy, there's a reason i have spares." Po said sliding another bowl to him which made Spike glad.
"Thanks Po." Spike said gratefully as he and Po had lunch again. 

Spike was walking through the courtyard to the training halls again, even if he was in a condition like this, some training never hurts, he was about to enter the halls until he heard some grunting nearby. This caught his attention and he went over to find where the sound was coming from, the grunting started to get louder as he heard a familiar voice. He peeked over another corner and saw none other then Tigress training outside the halls, she was punching the Ironwood trees that were nearby the place, Spike knew this was something she liked doing and it was a way to build up her durability.

"Uh.. hey Tigress, you doing alright?" Spike asked curiously as she delivered a hard punch to the tree and knocked away some wood, she heard his voice and turned to him.
"I'm fine Spike, just doing training again." Tigress simply said while continuing to punch them with Spike watching.  
"How long have you been doing that?" Spike asked curiously.
"Since you left to get info on this " Molt" That's happening with you." Tigress replied with surprised him which was 3 hours ago. 
"How do you keep punching something for that long?" Spike asked amazed standing near another tree. 
"Years of training like this can make it feel like something daily, which it is for me." Tigress explained turning to him.

"You never cease to amaze me on what you can do you know Tigress? I'm sure there's still plenty of moves you haven't shown me." Spike said crossing his arm since his other was still flabby. 
"Believe me, you haven't seen anything yet." Tigress said as she kicked the tree hard and made a lot of leaves fall out from it.
"So Tigress... you think you can help me try this thing out? I'm sure it's something i can get used to with enough time." Spike asked lightly putting his fist on the tough wood. 
"I'd be glad to, but are you sure you want too? You only have one arm working right now, and.. you don't smell that good." Tigress said smelling his stench. 
"Ugh, believe me, i bathed for an hour after i found out what this was, i'm sure if i just push through it, it'll all go away. And i'm sure building up some endurance now will be helpful. Maybe when Winter comes next month the trees will be tougher so i can have a tougher time." Spike replied lightly punching the thing and it did have him feel it.
"If you insist Spike, besides, some training with you never hurts, repeat after me." Tigress instructed as she used a certain punching position and started punching the tree again and made it shake, Spike followed closely on what she was doing and they proceeded to do this for some time.

Spike spent the next hour with her for that training exercise, it did feel nice to spend time with her after they didn't interact much when he joined. While they didn't talk about anything deep there, he was just glad to have spent some time with her as this could be the first step to understanding her more. But Spike's condition was feeling even worse now, his scales were constantly needing to be itched now and he had more red marks on his body, and his stench was getting even worse. Spike knew he couldn't decide this on his own and asked everyone to talk with him in the courtyard outside the training halls again.

Spike was constantly itching himself as he felt awful right now.
"Spike, how long have you been scratching like that?" Shifu asked curious as Spike released another stream of fire.. which almost burnt his mustache leaving his face a bit burned which made Po chuckle a little, before Shifu gave him a glare which shut him up. 
"About.. 30 minutes at this point." Spike said worried as they could see smoke coming from his nostrils. 
"Did Mantis hit a wrong pressure point again? Maybe that's why." Monkey suggested which offended him.
"Why does everyone keep saying it in front of me?!" Mantis shouted annoyed which surprised them on his sudden shouting.
"I don't think so guys, maybe it's just a sign it's getting closer to passing." Viper suggested which interested them.
"We don't know how long this affect lasts, it could last for the next week for all we know." Tigress added which worried Spike anymore.
"That better not be the case, this is not something i'd like to look like if that's true!" Spike shouted annoyed as his body was itching even more which irritated him.

"Well what could we do? We've tried what we can to help, we tried medicine, bathing, helping him relax, nothings worked." Po pointed out which just worried them all.
"I don't know, let's just hope it doesn't get.. worse.." Spike said right before his body started glowing which started to freak him out.
"What is happening right now?!" Spike shouted with worry as he was moving around frantically now.
"Spike calm down! This won't help if you move around like this!" Viper said trying to stop him.
"I can't! It's like my body's not in control!" Spike shouted in fear as this was awful.

And just when they thought this couldn't get worse, his scales started to harden and freeze in place.
"Guys?!" Spike shouted in horror as this freaked all of them out now.
"We have to stop it! It could hurt him!" Tigress shouted with determination as she and the others went over to his body who was being covered up even more.
"Guys!!!" Spike screamed as his body was covered completely much to their horror. 
"Spike!!!" They all shouted with horror as his body was frozen in place.
"No! Spike! Can you hear us?! It's gonna be okay!!" Viper shouted as his body remained still completely.
"Everyone, we have to break it, on 3!" Shifu ordered getting in a fighting stance, they all did so and got ready themselves.
"1.. 2.. 3!!" Shifu counted down as they all charged at him with battle cries to try and save him.

But just when they almost striked him, his body started to crack showing glowing marks which surprised them. They watched as his body cracked up even more until it suddenly exploded which knocked them away.
"What?" Po asked shocked as they all recovered from the blast, to their surprise, they saw Spike was free from it, and what's different, he now had 2 strange things on his back, as his body looked normal once again.
"Ugh.. guys? What happened?" Spike asked weakly getting his bearings.
"Spike.. your back.." Viper said as they all had the same idea on what they were.
"My back? What's on.." Spike asked as he turned around and saw what they were seeing, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw what they were.. wings.

"Did i just grow wings? I just grew wings!!!" Spike shouted in amazement which amazed them too.
"Wait? Wings?! As in.. wings to help you fly?!" Crane asked amazed as they all came up to him, Spike tried to flap them and began floating off the ground already.
"I think it is!!" Spike shouted in amazement as he flew around the courtyard which amazed them at how fast he went.
"Our little dragon can fly now!" Mantis said in amazement as he landed back down to them.
"Spike, this is.. amazing!!" Viper said coming up to him looking ecstatic. 
"I know! Just imagine what i can do when fighting now, and what else i'll be able to do here!" Spike said looking at them still amazed.

"This is quite the event Spike, i entrust you to use them wisely, being reckless with them may result in you losing them, be wise with them." Shifu instructed trying to calm Spike down. 
"Right, sorry, it's just.. i never thought i'd grow wings like this! It feels incredible." Spike said flapping them around.
"It's amazing for all of us, this will be great help to all of us i'm sure." Viper said smiling at this, glad that the pain was over for him.
"And your arm is moving again, guess that Molt Down did help you with it." Tigress pointed out as they saw it was working again. 
"Yeah, thank goodness that's all over, i couldn't stand another minute with all that itching." Spike said in relief finally calming down. 
"I can only imagine, you wanna train for a bit more to get used to it?" Monkey asked pointing to the training halls.
"Ooh can we please do that! Imagine what moves you can develop with the ability to fly!" Po begged flapping his arms around like wings which made them all chuckle.
"Absolutely, let's go! I'm just so glad this is over!" Spike said in relief as they all went to the training room to help Spike get used to them, Spike has now finally grown his wings, and he's really excited to see what they can do to help kick butt and develop in the future..