Me PO!
AlienHeart1915: Hi guys! Soooo...listen, I know we had agreed I would finish 'Panda season' before starting this new story (For those who don't remember or don't know what I'm talking about, I made a vote in Panda season's chapter 9, ahh the memories), but uhh...well I'll have to break my word just this once. I HAVE REASONS OK?!
1: Panda season is turning out to be longer than I expected it to be and I'm starting to feel like I'm forcing the chapters to come out of my head, if I keep doing that I'll screw up sooner or later.
2: I don't know why, but the idea of this story has been poking my brain a lot lately, so if I don't start writing it, I'll go bonkers.
At any rate. Don't worry, 'Panda season' is still my priority and for those who have wondered, even in the slightest, no, I haven't forgotten about 'No place for regrets' it's just that...well, I shouldn't have posted that story yet; you see, I have a special plan for that fic, some things are supposed to happen and you would ask yourselves a couple of questions you better not start thinking about yet.
AlienHeart of darkness: Are we gonna do this or not?!
AlienHeart1915: (Sighs) Yeah yeah, calm down.
AlienHeart of darkness: It's just I'm excited, this story has a dark first chapter (Rubs his hands together in a malefic way with the same kind of grin in his face) And I'm impatient to begin.
AlienHeart1915: (Groans) Alright, just wait a second so I can explain this:
"Dialogues"
"Thoughts"
*Sounds*
Ok, now go ahead.
DISCLAIMER: Kung fu panda belongs to Dreamworks and Dreamworks only, we don't owe a thing!...except for the plot and a few OCs here and there.
Chapter I: Lost warrior
The sun was high into the sky as an adult giant panda with emerald green eyes observed the people in his village, a smile going across his face at the sight of all those children running around playing, the mothers watching over their cubs, the male pandas either working hard in their crops or spending time with their respective families; it was almost as if you could breathe the happiness and peace in the air.
Life couldn't be more perfect for them...for him. The village was prospering more and more each day, he was healthy, and he had a beautiful family "Look who woke up, honey" The smile in the black and white bear's double fanged maw widened when he heard that sweet feminine voice talk to him from behind and he turned around to face the jade eyed female panda that was approaching him with a one year old panda cub, with the same eye color as her, in her arms. She was wearing a yellow/greenish dress with a red and yellow striped band surrounding her belly and the hair on top of her head was made into a bun. It wasn't a very "fancy" attire by any means, but the loving look and sweet smile she gave him was always more than enough to melt his heart.
The male walked up to the female, obviously his wife, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before directing his attention to the baby. "Good morning kiddo, how did my big boy sleep?" He said, using that weird tone fathers tend to use with their kids, while ruffling the fur on top of his head, prompting the cub to giggle at his father's actions.
"Since he's been sleeping for the most part of the day, I believe that pretty well" The female stated with a soft chuckle "Why do you have to call him that?" She asked her husband in an upset tone.
"How?" The panda replied, clearly confused.
"Big boy, Zhuang, I don't like it when you call him that; I mean he's just one year and I swear you're gonna make him grow faster if you keep calling him that way" The wife stated as she nuzzled her baby's cheek. The male panda, whose name was Zhuang, chuckled kinda loudly, amused by his mate's words.
"Oh come on, Ai, time will not accelerate just because I call him big boy" Zhuang said as he wrapped his left arm around the female's, whose name was Ai, shoulders "Besides, look at him, it's not like I can call him 'little' one" he added and tickled his son's belly, getting a few more giggles from him.
"Look who's talking" Ai replied, playfully poking Zhuang's stomach.
"Hey, it's not my fault I have so much fur" The male replied, forming a pout to fake being upset. His wife laughed amusedly at his expression and rolled her eyes before planting another sweet kiss on his lips.
Zhuang immediately forgot about his little charade and returned Ai's affections with the same amount of that beautiful feeling they shared. Honestly, there were times when he really wondered what had he done to deserve the life he had. Why did the universe had decided to bless him with such a female as Ai? And now, to top it all, they both had been given the privilege to have a wonderful child; true, his cub was only a year old, but he just had this feeling that told him he wouldn't be an ordinary boy. "But probably all fathers feel that way at some point" he briefly thought. The two adults were forced to break their amorous display when the baby black and white bear started whining and they both looked down at him with raised eyebrows.
"What is it my little puff ball? What does my little Zixin need?" Ai asked the upset child, beginning to rock him in her arms slowly. The female's question was soon answered by her baby's stomach, which grumbled thunderously. "Aww, is the baby hungry?" She asked while rubbing his cute, white tummy; actually making the little creature calm down a bit as he focused his jade eyes on her own.
"Hehehe, you may call him 'little' all you want, my dear, but his appetite is as big as a dragon's" The male panda stated as he chuckled. His mate narrowed her eyes at him a little and lightly elbowed him in the stomach.
"I'm gonna go to the house and give Zixin something to eat, you better keep working on the fields" she said cuttingly, pulling out of his grip and beginning to walk away.
"Oh come on, Ai, I was kidding" Zhuang said with a smirk in his face as he watched the female leave "Can I get one more kiss at least? Just to get some strength back" the panda requested, looking at his wife with a puppy face. Ai smirked a bit as well as she stopped moving and looked at her husband over her shoulder. The panda smiled as he saw how the female he had married turned around and made her way towards him with a sort of devious smile on her maw, and once she was in front of him, Zhuang leaned forward to capture her lips for a third time, but she quickly evaded his move and kissed him on the cheek. Before the male could react, Ai turned around again and started speed walking in some direction "Hey! That's kinda mean, you know?!" The panda shouted, mildly annoyed. He heard Ai laugh at his statement, but that's all he got from her. "Oh, when I get my paws on her" he thought, his smirk returning to his face, and then directed his gaze to the panda village again. Yep, his life was pretty...well, he couldn't find the right word to describe it, but perfect wasn't enough.
If only he had known what was coming...
In a peaceful village called The valley of peace, far away from the place the pandas lived, resting on top of a majestic mountain was a beautiful building overlooking everything below it, like a mighty titan keeping guard of a valuable treasure. This building's name was The jade palace, home of three of the best kung fu masters in China: Grandmaster Oogway, an old and gentle tortoise who was actually the father of kung fu itself. Master Shifu, a not too old red panda; he was Oogway's student, an ex member of the furious five, and the adoptive father of the third master in the palace; A twenty year old clouded leopard by the name of Tai-Lung, the first one to ever master the thousand scrolls of kung fu.
Right now, Master Oogway could be found inside another building in the palace named the hall of heroes. He was perched on top of his wooden staff, head down, meditating in front of a small pool in the hall's far end, which was called The Sacred Moon Pool.
There was something odd today with him though. The grandmaster's face wasn't showing the calm and peaceful expression he always had when he meditated...or at any time for that matter. No, this time he was frowning. He didn't know what it was, but...something felt wrong; he felt like something terrible would happen at any moment, as if the universe was giving him a warning. "Hmm...but what can it be?" The old master thought, opening his eyes with a light sigh as he got down the staff. If he wanted to understand whatever message the universe was trying to give him, he needed a better place to meditate, somewhere he could concentrate more. "I must pay a visit the pool of sacred tears"
The sage turtle knew that place would work just fine to help him find the answer he wanted and began making his way towards the hall's door, but just as he reached the center of the room, someone pushed the doors open. "Master Oogway?" The grandmaster stopped moving when he saw his student and old friend entering the hall, followed closely by Tai-Lung. He waited for a minute or two 'till both mammals halted their steps a few feet away from him and then bowed in respect. "Master, can we have a word with you?" Master Shifu asked politely.
"It's happening sooner than I expected" Master Oogway thought and sighed a bit heavily when he heard the red panda's words, he knew what they wanted to talk about ever since they came through the door. Maybe they didn't realize, or didn't actually care about it, but he had noticed where Tai-Lung's eyes had focused as soon as he entered...in the dragon scroll. The old master had known about the spotted feline's desire to become the dragon warrior for a long time now; ever since Shifu told him about the title in his early years it had become the leopard's goal and biggest dream: to obtain the title and make his adoptive father proud as well as protecting others. As the years passed though, the more he trained, the more he studied, the more he pushed himself to get perfection and be worthy of the scroll, that innocent dream and noble goal had slowly turned into something else...something darker.
Oogway knew Tai-Lung wasn't exactly an evil person, his heart wasn't consumed by darkness...but he also knew it wouldn't be hard for the clouded leopard to lose himself, therefor he couldn't be the dragon warrior. "Master?" Oogway lifted his head to look at the other two creatures in front of him, who were giving him confused stares.
"Are you feeling alright, Master Oogway? Did we come in a bad time?" Tai-Lung asked, talking for the first time since they entered the room. The old turtle couldn't stop another, almost inaudible, sigh from coming out of him when he directed his attention to the feline and noticed the look in his face. When his tone had been perfectly respectful and laced with some true concern, he could easily notice a glint of impatience flash in his yellow amberish eyes.
Another twinge of that feeling of wrongness in the air hit his soul and he remembered he had to meditate to figure out what it was; the issue with Shifu's student would have to wait. "I don't know yet, Tai-Lung, I don't know yet" Oogway responded and started walking past the other two animals. Shifu and Tai-Lung watched the grandmaster leave the room and a very low growl came out of the feline.
"Why do I get the feeling he already knew what we were gonna talk about?" Tai-Lung thought a little bitterly, almost as if a little voice in the back of his head was telling him he had already been refused the title.
"Well, Master Oogway is busy at the moment" Shifu said and then sighed "I'm sorry, Tai, but we'll have to wait" He added, knowing how important this was for his adoptive son. To tell the truth it was kinda important for him too; after all it was because of him that Tai-Lung wanted to become the dragon warrior "You've trained very hard today, not like it's unusual, so how about we go down to the valley and eat some noodles?" Shifu looked over at his adoptive son, hoping his suggestion would divert his mind from the issue; but apparently the clouded leopard did not hear his voice, his gaze simply remained fixed on the door the grandmaster had exited through. The red panda frowned a little at the serious expression the feline was wearing and cleared his throat loud enough to finally snap him back into attention. Tai-Lung shook his head lightly and directed his gaze to his father.
"Yes, master?" The clouded leopard inquired, clearly confused since he hadn't heard his previous statement. Master Shifu shook off the frown from his face and changed it for a smile.
"I suggested to go down to the valley and eat some noodles, if you want of course" Tai-Lung seemed to ponder the idea for a moment and showed a small smile.
"That sounds fine, master" the feline agreed, giving a simple nod of approval, then both animals made their way towards the hall's doors to exit the building. The master of the thousand scrolls briefly stopped in front of the exit to give one last look to the scroll held in the majestic, golden dragon statue above the sacred moon pool; a grin coming to his maw as he imagined the moment to finally receive the title...histitle.
"The time will come, maybe not today or tomorrow, maybe not in a week or a month, but it will come and when it does...it will be glorious" With that last thought, the clouded leopard finally exited the room and closed the mighty doors behind him.
Hours had already passed and the sun had begun it's descent a little while ago, but there still was more than enough light to be outside. Zhuang was working the fields along with the rest of the pandas as he had been doing ever since his conversation with Ai ended. He was starting to get pretty tired after all the physical work, the sweat running down his body was the proof of that "But one has to make a living" He thought with a light chuckle. For a few minutes, the emerald eyed panda kept plowing the soil with his rake without stopping for even a second with a smile in his features...until he felt something in the air, something...cold and dark. "What's going on?" Zhuang stopped working for the first time that afternoon and rose to look around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
Before the black and white bear could continue his scanning, a pair of black furred arms wrapped themselves around his torso and he jumped a bit out of surprise, although he relaxed pretty quickly at the sound of the feminine giggle that came out of the arms's owner. "Well someone's jumpy" Ai said with amusement. The sound of his wife's voice was all Zhuang needed to ease his mind and put his smile back on his face.
"At least I don't scream like I'm about to get murdered when someone walks up to me from behind" Zhuang joked.
"I only did that once, Zhuang" the female responded while separating from her husband with a frown in her face, of course she wasn't really mad.
"Since that one time you hit me in the head with a frying pan and literally made the whole village come to our house to see what was going on, I think it's worth to point your jumpiness out" Zhuang stated, chuckling a little as he dropped the farming tool and turned around to face his wife and wrap his arms around her. Ai rolled her eyes at her panda's comment before pulling him in for a kiss.
"I'll never get tired of those" Zhuang said, smiling down lovingly at his mate after they separated. The female panda chuckled at his stare and nuzzled his chest "You do know I have sweat all over me, right?" Zhuang said with some amusement at how his wife showed her affection regardless of his corporal state.
"Honey, we have a son, I don't think we can complain about sweat ever since our night" Zhuang couldn't help but blush at her comment to the point that his white cheeks became completely red, and his wife wouldn't let this opportunity pass "Aww, what's the matter? you getting hot, darling?" She stated, allowing a devious smirk to grace her maw.
"Uhh...I, ahh...um...so, where's Zixin?" Zhuang asked, his voice filled with nervousness; this earned him more of his mate's beautiful giggles.
"I left him in the house, taking another nap" Ai answered, stressing out the word 'another'.
"Well, we should go there then just in case he wakes up, we don't want him wandering around the village by himself, now do we?"
"He's just a cub, how far would he be able to go? Besides, nothing bad would happen to him while we're here in the village, right?" Ai stated, completely disregarding the matter. Zhuang was about to agree with the female and chuckle at his own silliness when some more of that cold, dark sensation filled his body.
"Seriously, what's happening?" The male panda didn't notice his soft expression had turned into a deep serious frown 'till Ai tapped his shoulder and asked in a confused tone.
"Is something wrong?"
Zhuang shook off the strange feeling inside of him and looked over at his wife, whose face was beginning to fill up with worry, and gave her the best comforting smile he could muster. "It's probably nothing, I'm just tired" He said, kissing her forehead to assure everything was ok "Let's get home before the baby wakes up" Ai watched with an uncertain look in her eyes as her husband bent over to pick up the rake he had dropped to the ground. She knew him too well to not notice that there was something bothering him and he was just trying to keep her calm; she'd question him about the matter as soon as they got home. "Ok, come on hun" Zhuang said, smiling at her and motioning in some direction with his head, now also carrying a box of radishes on his shoulder, and both of them started walking home.
As they walked, waving at their panda neighbors from time to time and dodging the kids that ran by them, Zhuang felt how the unnerving sensation started gaining strength each second that passed by, but he did his best to keep it at bay and not let his smiling expression crumble down. Ai on her part couldn't say she was very at ease knowing her mate was hiding something, but she also wanted to wait for the right moment to bring it up. Their house came to view a few minutes later, still a bit far away though, and they saw a certain jade eyed panda cub clumsily crawling down the steps with a little panda doll in his left paw. "Well, it seems you were right, Zhuang" Ai said, looking at her curious son who was looking back at her with a smiling face. Zhuang chuckled a bit when he saw the baby fall onto the ground on his tummy when he got down the last step. Seeing his child's smiling face as he started walking on his four legs to make his way towards them actually worked pretty well to diminish the bad feeling inside of him; but just as he thought it was going to disappear it came back tenfold. The male panda could almost feel how his insides froze in an instant and he shuddered quite noticeably.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Alright Zhuang, what's going on? Something's bothering you and I want to know what is is" Ai demanded, a scowl across her features.
"AAAAAIIIEEE!"
The powerful female scream that filled the air stopped the male panda from answering his wife's demand and they both turned their gazes towards the source of the sound as everyone else in the surroundings did. To their horror, there was a panda on the floor...dead, thanks to the arrow embedded in his chest. "What?!" That's all Zhuang could think before another arrow fell from the sky and hit another panda right in the neck, making the large mammal fall to the ground lifelessly. The arrows kept falling like lethal drops of water in the rain, each second in a bigger amount than before, wounding and killing any panda that stood in their deadly way not mattering age or gender. Soon, everything was a chaos and everyone was running, screaming, picking up their children, and/or crying. Zhuang kept watching in horror how his people was massacred for no reason until he saw a bunch flaming arrows fall into the village, making a lot of houses catch in fire, and he managed to snap out of it. "Ai! Go get Zixin and escape! I'll help the villagers!" He ordered his wife, letting go of the radish box he was carrying on his shoulder making it crash onto the ground. Unfortunately, Ai did not hear his words since she still was in a deep, horrified state shock. Zhuang quickly positioned himself in front of the female and began shaking her "Come on, Ai! We have to move!" He said desperately. Ai shook her head as she snapped out of her shock and screamed at the top of her lungs, then fell to her knees with her paws on her face, starting to cry. "AI! I need you to pull yourself together, honey! The baby!" The female took her paws off her face and looked up at her husband with tearful eyes. Before she could utter a single word, a wolf jumped seemingly out of nowhere and jumped on Zhuang's back.
"Zhuang!" Ai screamed with fear for her mate. The male panda roared in pain when he felt the canine clawing his back and let himself fall onto the floor backwards, crushing the attacker under his weight. Zhuang quickly sat up straight, wincing in pain for the fresh cuts on his back, and got to his feet as fast as he could "Are you okay?!" Ai asked hysterically. Zhuang did not bother in answering her question and looked around the village once again, which made his eyes widen in shock since now there were some wolves entering the village, attacking the terrorized pandas and lighting up the houses on fire. "Zhuang, what's happening?! Why are they attacking us?!"
"That doesn't matter! You and Zixin have to get out of here, that's what matters right now!" Zhuang shouted. Both pandas felt their hearts stop when the male mentioned their child once again and they both directed their attention towards their house. The whole village was ablaze by now and the sky had turned almost pitch black thanks to the mixture of the sun's descent and all the smoke, but they still could see what was going on a good ways away. There, sitting in the middle of the flames around the ground and their burning house, was their little panda cub. The poor creature was just crying and looking around with fear as he hugged his doll very hard.
"GET THEM ALL!" Both parents looked in the order's direction and their eyes widened in terror when they saw a white peacock in a white robe pointing at their son after barking the order to a pair of wolves that were flanking his sides. Zhuang felt his mind go blank and his vision turned red once he saw the wolves pounce towards his boy and before he knew it, he was already positioned between the cub and the two hostile canines with a heavy scowl marking his features. He gripped the rake in his paws a lot tighter and delivered an upwards swing with enough power to send the two black furred animals flying back to their original spot, where the albino peacock was watching in shock how his two soldiers were batted away by the cub's father. Out of the corner of his eye, Zhuang saw his wife had caught up with him and now was standing behind him, close to their son.
"Take our son and run away, go!" The bear ordered in a stern tone that allowed no discussion. Ai didn't want to leave without her husband, but she knew her baby was more important so, with a heavy heart, she scooped up the little panda in her arms and dashed away. Zhuang let out a small sigh of relief when he heard his mate's steps slowly fading in the distance and he directed his full attention to the white bird in front of him, glaring daggers and growling as he saw the two wolves beginning to get back up.
"You're going to pay for this, tubby" One of the wolves growled, his voice filled with hatred and some pain as he pointed at his left eye...or the place where his eye used to be more exactly. Zhuang growled harder as he tensed up to get ready to fight the angry canine, even if he didn´t know much about self-defense; but the white bird stepped in front of the soldier just as he was going to rush at him.
"There is no time for this kind of non-sense, Zhong! Go after the ones that ran off, all of you! Find them! None of this black and white scum can stay alive!" The peacock stated in angry frustration. The panda felt his blood boil so bad after hearing the peacock talk that he almost thought there was lava inside his veins.
"I don't know who the hell you are, but you'll have to go through me if you want to go after my people!" Zhuang roared, getting into an improvised fighting stance with his rake.
"Is that all? Because that can be arranged quite easily, panda" The peacock said, wearing a cruel grin. After he finished his sentence, the black and white creature roared with fury and rushed towards the avian, determined to protect his family from this lunatic even if it killed him. The madman's evil grin widened at the sight of the infuriated creature and he lifted his wing to signal his wolves to not engage. Just when Zhuang lifted his weapon to bring it down on the enemy's head, the albino peacock trusted his guan-dao forward and successfully stabbed the large mammal in the center of his stomach, right under the ribs. Zhuang's eyes widened big time as his body went into shock thanks to the wound, dropping his rake consequently, and gasped when the avian removed the blade from his body. "There, all arranged" The avian began laughing evilly as he watched the panda's body hit the ground lifelessly, face first, shortly followed by the two wolves. "What are you two laughing about?! Go into the forest and finish them!" The peacock ordered harshly, shutting up his two soldiers instantly.
"Yes, my lord!" Both canines replied in unison and then dashed into the forest on all fours. The white bird was going to follow his men and give chase to all the pandas that managed to escape his onslaught when he noticed something peculiar...the panda was still breathing, the breaths were short and shallow, but he was still breathing.
"My my, you're certainly a strong one" The peacock sneered, walking over to the fallen creature "Too bad you weren't strong enough to save that pathetic little family I saw" Zhuang, even as weak as he was, managed to growl really lowly at the avian that was now standing in front of his head, although he soon lost the energy to continue doing so. The peacock slowly got his face close to the panda's ear with the same evil grin curving his beak and whispered somewhat amusedly "Just imagine...what an impressive adult that cub could have been" He snickered, getting back up to stand straight "I guess we'll never know"
With those last words uttered, the bird took off after his soldiers to finish what he had come here to do; leaving the fatally wounded giant panda by himself. Zhuang could feel his life slip out of his body with each second that passed. "Why did all this have to happen? What did I...or any of us do to deserve this?! My people...my wife...my son" The large black and white creature was on the verge of tearing up out of rage at the bitter thought, but his anger was completely overwhelmed by grief; the grief of losing his home, of failing to protect his kind and his family, but most of all...the grief of knowing his child wouldn't have the opportunity to grow up. "I-I'm sorry, Ai...Zixin...I failed you" A single tear escaped Zhuang's eye after those words and then he finally allowed his eyelids to fall, waiting for death to take him.
"You didn't fail anyone, Zhuang"
"What?" The giant panda somehow managed to reopen his eyes a tiny bit when he heard that deep, new, male's voice. His vision had already lost focus and it was very dark, but somehow he could still see quite easily the two feet of the person standing in front of him. The mysterious guy rolled the panda onto his back, getting a pained grunt from him, and carefully knelt down next to him. "Wh-Wh-Who are...you?" Zhuang asked in a barely audible voice. Instead of answering, the figure lifted one of his paws as he stared at the bear's wound and suddenly a lime yellow glow covered his hand.
"You and your son will be fine, don't worry" He said truthfully and placed his glowing paw on top of the bleeding injury. Zhuang felt some weird warmth fill up his body and he started feeling calm and relaxed almost immediately. Five minutes later, the male removed his hand from the panda's stomach, revealing the wound was totally gone, not even a scar remained in its place. The black and white bear didn't know what happened, but he felt much better...or at least he didn't feel like his soul was leaving his body anymore; he was still deadly tired though. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his eyelids closed a second later, his mind being consumed by darkness.
"Rest, Zhuang, you did your part" The figure muttered while standing up straight. His gaze shifted to the forest in the direction the white peacock and his wolves had left and a furious snarl came to his face "Now it's my turn"
"Shh Shh, it's ok, it's ok sweetie, please be quiet" Ai was trying to make her baby stop crying after she placed him inside a radish crate she found. She had managed to lose those horrible black furred demons that were chasing her, but if she had to guess it wouldn't be long before they caught up with her again. The mother took her cub's little paws in her own and gave him the best comforting smile she could muster in these terrible times. Her actions worked like a charm for soon the baby stopped crying and smiled back at her. "That's my boy" Ai had to use all her will strength to not burst into tears herself when she heard her cub say "ma" and carefully leaned down to kiss his forehead. She lovingly caressed the baby's chubby cheek and then, with an enormous ache in her heart, let go of his hands and backed away. The sound of the little panda beginning to cry again as she climbed up the hill was breaking her heart even more. She thought in going back to him and just hide somewhere 'till morning came. "No, no, I have to do this...it's for the best" Once she managed to reach the top, the female panda saw the wolves coming closer to the spot she was in. A lot of tears were rolling down her cheeks as she waved at the two canines so they would notice her.
"Hey, there she is!" A wolf shouted.
"Get her!" The one eyed wolf barked. Ai turned around and started running as fast as she could, leading the creatures away from her son. Unfortunately she didn't see the causer of all this misery, the peacock, had staid a few ways away from his two soldiers, so by the time he passed by the hill everything was much quieter, which allowed him to hear a faint cry in the wind. The white bird lifted an eyebrow as he stopped running and looked down the hill.
"Hmph...I doubt a mother would just leave her baby all alone in the middle of the night, even under this circumstances...but I can't take any risks, not a single panda can survive" The villain thought, walking towards the edge of the road he was on. He had little difficulty descending the hill and reached the bottom in a few seconds, his eyes becoming wide when he saw there was indeed a panda cub crying inside a radish crate. "So she thought she could hide the brat down here" The evil avian chuckled in dark amusement and started walking towards the defenseless, little creature with a wicked grin. The cub focused his jade orbs on the bird in front of him and actually stopped crying, probably because at least now there was someone with him. "So innocent...so naïve" The peacock chuckled a bit more and lifted his guan-dao over his head "Bye, bye, little panda" His wicked grin widened as he brought the weapon down, directed straightly to the cub's head.
"SHEN!"
The white avian stopped his blade two millimeters above its intended target and a shiver ran down his spine at the deep, booming voice behind him; he didn't know why though, he simply felt...scared by it. Shen turned around slowly to see who was there and was surprised to see...no one. "The hell?"
"Looking for me?" The peacock's eyes widened when he heard the voice behind him and whirled around once again, only to be received by a fist connecting with his face. The punch was strong enough to send the villain flying away from the cub, and he would have flown several meters farther had he not crashed with the small hill. "You will not harm this panda, peacock" Shen sprang to his feet and threw a bunch of feather-style throwing knives in the voice's direction, but the mystery male, that was now standing in front of the crate, produced a strange white glow from his right paw and, after it vanished, a short double edged sword appeared in his hand, which he used to deflect the projectiles with mastery, sending some of them to the sides and a few back to the albino avian. Shen's eyes widened when he saw his weapons coming towards him and jumped out of the way to avoid harm.
"Who are you?! Stay out of my way!" Shen yelled in anger, pointing at the figure with his guan-dao, but his words had no effect in the stranger whatsoever. "Fine, have it your way; if you want to die trying to protect that brat, I'll grant your wish!" The avian launched himself towards the male and tried to impale him with his weapon, but his attack was easily parried by his sword. The other guy punched his adversary in the gut pretty hard, making him stumble backwards a bit. Shen recovered as fast as he could and dashed at the creature again. He swung his blade multiple times attempting to cut the stranger to shreds with the weapon, but all his attacks were dodged with ease. The figure trusted his empty palm forward and planted a strike on the bird's chest, knocking the wind out of him, and then sent him flying towards the hill once again with a front kick to the face.
"You're a smart guy, Shen, but fighting never has been your thing" The stranger said kinda amused at the same time his short sword started glowing white, vanishing from his paw a second later. The white peacock slowly stood up and spitted out some blood onto the floor.
"You'll pay for this" Shen seethed, glaring daggers at the mysterious guy.
"You're lucky that's all I did to you, I could've killed you very easily" The male said, smirking while crossing his arms, making Shen scoff at his words.
"And why didn't you?"
"Believe me, I've wished to do it...but it's not my fate to put a stop to you" The figure responded seriously. All of the sudden, something made click inside the peacock's head as he looked how the other guy turned around briefly and picked up the radish crate with the panda cub inside.
"It's him, isn't he? That stupid brat is the warrior of black and white!" Shen yelled in fury. His scream was so loud it managed to scare the little jade eyed creature, making him start crying once again.
"As I said already, you are a smart guy" The male replied, holding up the crate with only one arm, and using his other paw to pet and rub the cub's head gently, successfully calming him down. The white peacock lost his mind at the news, if that baby survived all the trouble he took to destroy the panda village could end up being in vain, so, in a last desperate measure, he quickly aimed his guan-dao at the radish crate and threw it, along with his last throwing knife a second later. The mysterious male sighed frustratedly and threw the crate high up into the air, startling the cub again. When the first flying weapon got close enough, he sidestepped to evade it, then took a hold of the guan-dao's staff and whipped the weapon around to deflect the second projectile. After both threats were neutralized, the guy threw the weapon in his paws back at the peacock with such strength Shen didn't have time to dodge the blade , which pierced through the avian's left shoulder with perfect accuracy, making the vile creature scream in excruciating pain. The stranger finished his movements extending his arms to the front to catch the radish crate with the rattled baby panda inside. "Sorry little one" He apologized, looking at the trembling cub with a sheepish grin. The baby stared at him for a few moments and calmed down noticeably, apparently feeling pretty comfortable with the stranger.
"Y-You won't be able to...protect him forever!" Shen spat, clutching the weapon embedded on his bleeding shoulder. "It doesn't mat-matter where you...go...I'll find you and ki-kill that thing!"
"But you'll have to find him first and that's easier said than done" The male replied in a much calmer tone before turning around and beginning to walk away.
"Hey! Don't you dare give your back to me!" Shen exclaimed in outrage.
"My lord!" The peacock looked in the voice's direction and saw his recently one eyed general and some more of his wolf soldiers descending the hill to aid him.
"Don't mind me right now! Kill them!" Shen ordered and pointed in the stranger's direction.
How big was his surprise when he also turned his gaze to the spot he was pointing at and saw there was no one there.
Time later, several miles away from the area
The mysterious person was walking through the forest with such calmness it would be hard to tell he had just witnessed the horrible things that happened tonight. The panda cub in the radish crate had fallen asleep just a couple of minutes ago and now was sucking on his thumb with a peaceful look in his cute face.
The stranger looked down at the sleeping baby and a frown came to his factions as he sighed sadly. He still couldn't believe all this had to happen, he knew why it had to happen, but he didn't like it one bit. "Fate is cruel sometimes" He thought, releasing another sigh. He kept walking for twenty more minutes 'till he spotted a tranquil but flowing river a few meters away. "There it is" The stranger approached the aquifer at a slightly faster pace and once he got close enough to the shore, he began scanning the waters intensely until he spotted what he was looking for...a rock very close to the shore where a small/medium bamboo raft was tied up. "Alright, let's do this" The mysterious male lowered the radish crate and placed it on the transport, then carefully picked up the sleeping baby. He stared at the small, innocent creature with remorse for a couple of seconds before shaking his head and proceed. The stranger closed his eyes and started muttering some weird stuff no one would be able to understand and suddenly his whole body was surrounded by a crimson red aura. He opened his eyes, revealing they now were completely the same color as the energy covering his person. "I'd like to say this will make everything easier for you, little one, but that would be a lie" He said, looking at the cub with a deep frown as he placed his right paw on his small chest.
In a matter of seconds, all the crimson energy emanating from his being concentrated itself in his hand and entered the baby's body shortly after. The guy's eyes returned to normal as he watched the panda continue glowing like an overgrown, red firefly.
As the seconds passed, the stranger observed how his little body started changing a bit: His little dull teeth became kinda sharp, especially his lower left canine which now actually protruded from his mouth; his barely noticeable white claws also sharpened up and curved inwards a little, sort of resembling a feline's; his short legs stretched until they had the normal length; and lastly most of the extra fat he had for being a panda completely vanished, leaving him with the body of a regular, still kinda chubby, cub.
"O-kay, I didn't expect this to happen" The mysterious male thought, blinking a couple of times out of surprise while the baby's form slowly stopped glowing. The stranger left the sleeping creature back inside the radish crate and sighed heavily for what he had to do next...he untied the raft. The male gently pushed the bamboo transport away from the shore and watched how it slowly started making its way downstream. "I'm sorry, kid, but it's for the best"
Oogway snapped his eyes open and gave out a light gasp when his vision ended, at least he hoped that's all it was. "What if it wasn't just a vision?" The grandmaster's expression became worried at the thought and he slowly rose to his feet, pondering everything he had seen during his meditation. He couldn't understand why the universe had shown him all that, but there had to be a reason, there are no accidents after all. Of course the wise turtle didn't take long figuring out the answer to his question "The cub" He couldn't understand the reason quite yet, but he was sure of his self-given response. That baby was important for the universe, that's why he had been shown those images, it was a message for him. "I must find him" The old master started descending the mountain at an incredible speed for an animal his age, not really impressive for a master of his caliber, and made his way back towards the jade palace. If everything he saw had already happened, then he had to leave and start his search immediately. "Although...I have to pick up something first"
The sage turtle arrived to the hall of heroes's doors in a fifth of the time anyone else would and entered. He guided his steps to the very bottom of the room until he was right in front of the sacred moon pool and his gaze moved upwards to focus in the scroll inside the golden dragon statue's mouth in the ceiling. In no time, the reptile performed a series of movements with his body and wooden staff that made some petals floating in the water go up into the air towards the ceiling. A single petal landed on one of the scroll's ends, causing a minimum but important misbalance, and the red container fell from its pedestal. Oogway caught it with his staff just before it could even touch the water and pulled it towards him. After that, he picked up the dragon scroll and held it in his right paw, looking at it thoughtfully. He felt like it would be the best if he took it with him for two reasons. 1) Even if Tai-Lung didn't represent a threat right now, he knew it wouldn't be wise to leave him the temptation of doing something rash while he was gone. 2) As odd as it was, he simply felt like he was going to need it.
The jade palace's grandmaster walked to his chambers and grabbed a small satchel to put the scroll in while traveling and some money too just in case. Next, he took out two pieces of paper from a drawer and wrote a pair of messages; one for Shifu and Tai-Lung to give a brief explanation for his sudden leaving and a second one only Master Shifu should read. After leaving the note for Shifu inside his room, Oogway exited the hall of heroes and used an acupuncture needle to nail the other note to the door.
When he was done, the father of kung fu left his home and began his quest.
AlienHeart of darkness: Such sad, shocked faces, but today is a moment only for joy. You're going to be part of something...TOTALLY BODACIOUS AND AWESOME FOR READING THIS FIC!
AlienHeart1915: So guys, what do you think about first chapter of 'Me PO!' I bet you didn't expect that mysterious male to show up, but well that's the point of a mystery character. You probably already know I LOVE that kind of OCs.
Anyways, baby Po is changed and lost in a river, Shen knows the warrior of black and white still lives, and Oogway left the jade palace taking the dragon scroll with him before Tai-Lung could ask for "his" title.
How do you guys think everything wil turn out?
AlienHeart1915 of darkness...OUT!...for now.
