Defuse
Author's note: As always I don't own anything so don't sue, the response for the first story was great so I wrote this sequel to wrap up the main conflict.
Po doesn't sleep anymore, he just roams aimlessly on the halls of the Jade palace during the night. Sure he collapses out of sheer exhaustion from time to time, but manages to wake himself out before his dreams get too vivid.
It's not the nightmares that haunt him, the image of his friend terrified and burning in agony is something he sees whether he's asleep or awake. What truly drives him to the edge is when he dreams that everything is fine, that Fènghuáng was just a nightmare and he can go to the kitchen to see her having breakfast with the rest of the five, only to wake up and realize that the nightmare was reality all along.
So whenever he feels like her death is too horrible to be true he goes into her empty room and reminds himself that yes, reality can be that awful.
He's not even hungry anymore, he usually ate a lot (well more than usual) whenever he was upset, if that were the case here he should be so obese he wouldn't be able to fit through the doors. But instead he feels a knot in his stomach that won't let the food go down, so he rummages through the kitchen and finds the tofu she had left on the right counter at the top, it was her favorite meal and now it's the only thing that he eats even when he always hated its taste.
He vows to become the warrior she always wanted him to be: he discards his sense of humor, his laziness and his lack of focus. He devotes his life solely to kung-fu, he trains from dawn till dusk until his fists bleed and his hands go numb, after that he studies through the night until his dumb brain feels ready to explode in an epic migraine. The one thing he never does is meditate, because the last thing he wants is too look inside his own broken soul.
Chaos makes him forget of the time he rescued her from the Garden Palace, when she punched him hard in the shoulder and told him –"Don't you ever change"- and how through several fights and adventures they understood that their differences were what made them such a good team. So he changes as much as possible, burying who he was deep below the ground in the hopes of becoming someone worthy of her sacrifice, ignoring the fact that she had loved him for who he was even when she didn't always like his shenanigans.
The Master Dragon asks his students a lot less than he demands of himself, yet he works them harder than they could imagine. Still they never complain and follow him with a diligence that borders an unhealthy devotion. It's like the desire for vengeance and madness that possessed they Master has infected them as well while chaos urges them to follow their master to the bitter end, and because of it they have achieved the peak of their potential. He is revered as the best and most effective Master of all China. As he gains the respect of the most accomplished warriors in the country no one knows that Po would give his right arm for the chance of hearing Tigress' witty insults or comebacks, or to feel the all too familiar pawprint of her strong feet kicking his ass.
In the meantime his chi grows, not through wisdom but through rage, until the flames flowing from his hands ignite at the simplest gesture. When the fire sprouts so naturally from him that it almost seems to have a mind of its own, he knows he's ready for fighting Fènghuáng.
So it is time for their long awaited battle, no not a battle, a massacre. He will wipe out all those wolves from existence until even the memory of their deeds is pulverized out of history. They all walk through the bamboo forest to their destination, the mighty Dragon Warrior with the furious five…. No, they are the four assassins now, in an epic journey for justice that will forever be sealed by infernal flames. The world will burn, just because she's no longer in it. Unbeknownst to them the forces of chaos rejoice in glee laughing at the Masters fallen from grace.
Master Shifu watches from the stairs of the Jade Palace the departure of his former students, he can sense that their mission will trigger nothing but doom. The universe has tried to warn him of the Dragon's rage, but he didn't even try to stand on the panda's way for two reasons:
One: He isn't strong enough to stop him
Two: He doesn't want to stop him
He has fought for justice and to keep the balance of the universe all his life, and what has that given him? Two dead children, that's what.
The first one was such a failure in every way that he never expected to train another student ever again, the final aftermath of his mistake was a damaged village and the death of his son at the hands of his new student.
But after his first mistake the universe put a little tigress cub in his way and he felt he had no choice but to take her in. During her training he made sure not to make the same errors as he did with Thai Lung, he was careful not to hone her ego and to never let her take the title of Dragon Warrior for granted, even when in his bones he had felt she would be the one. So worried he was on not letting her become like his last student that it never occurred to him she was different all along, unlike his first son she always had a pure heart, no matter how much he trained her to hide it.
She died not knowing how proud he was of her, not hearing even once the word "I love you" from his lips, if it weren't for Po she wouldn't have ever experienced a single hug. Yet in spite of everything, she turned out fine.
The greatest failure a Master can ever have is the death of one of his students, which means he either didn't train them properly or failed to protect them in their time of need, it might be technically Po's failure this time but he feels the guilt on himself.
There's nothing noble about her death, it's just a failure, his failure. Tigress died defending the world and now he thinks that maybe the world is no longer worth fighting for. If this is the universe's plan then the universe has a twisted mind, he's tired of putting blind faith into something that causes this much pain.
Chaos has never been more alluring in his eyes, it seduces him whispering into his large ears that under its rule no more of his protégés will die, it promises that out of the destruction of this world a new better one will rise from its ashes.
And he isn't strong enough to fight it anymore, so he urges the Dragon Warrior deeper into the path of destruction with a cursed amulet hanging from his neck.
…..
Instead of reappearing in the Jade Palace Tigress materialized in the Mongolian Wastelands, right in front of Fènghuáng. She knows that if she wants to save her friend's soul she needs to intervene before Po commits his first act of true evil.
Warriors kill, it's impossible to go to battle every day and expect to never take another life, Po has in fact killed both Shen and Thai Lung already. But the death of your enemy is always a last resort not your goal, you must always offer a chance to him of surrender, that is the code of a noble warrior.
So she appears in front of the Mighty wolf in a ball of golden light, right in the middle of the warlord's barracks.
-"What kind of witchcraft is this?"- Fènghuáng says in outrage at the golden tigress that materialized in front of him. As she surveys the area she noticed that his army has quadrupled its size since she last saw him, he's probably preparing to conquer all China.
Standing proud in a fighting stance she warns him -"I am Master Tigress, I came back from the spirit realm to stop you"-
His hands flair with red fire and he shoots it right at her face, but this time she deflects the blow with ease. Time and time again he tries to use the Phoenix Strike on her but to no avail, while she is mortal now and should the flames make contact on her she would die again, the Master has conquered the ability to deflect all magic strikes using the force of her chi.
After several flawed attempts the vicious wolf gives up on the use of magic and chooses to fight her off without weapons, he lands several blows on her at first, he is soon pleased to see her bleed thus proving he's not fighting against an immortal enemy.
He grew confident as the fight progressed, his kung fu abilities had never met any match and soon this proud wench would be turned into a trophy for his throne room, her head would be the centerpiece of his collection. But instead of tiring she quickly picks up on his pace and manages not only to block his blows but to strike him so hard the aftershock of her kicks are felt throughout the landscape, he tail wraps around his waist pushing him down while her feet gracefully swipe his legs in the opposite direction knocking him off balance. As he falls he clings to her hand in an iron grip and lifts his finger.
-"You're gonna use the Wuxi finger hold?"- She chuckles lifting an eyebrow and crushing his grip with her superior strength, as he kneels in pain she stands tall -"This is my last warning, give up now and I'll show you mercy"-
His only response is to flare up his fire power once more, their skin is in contact she could not block the magic's advance, if she doesn't stop him now the fire will reach her body and she'll burn again. So with great speed she lifted her own index finger and pricked the right spot with her claw.
And to think that such an elusive maneuver was so easy to learn… when students try to master it everyone focuses on the movement on the fingers but the trick is on the delicate turn of the wrists.
Fènghuáng was gone in a puff of smoke, but she couldn't replicate the powerful shockwaves Po usually made when he used it, apparently she still wasn't as powerful as him even after all her upgrades.
You might expect the army to fold back once their leader was gone, in fact many soldiers did take the chance to run away since they were there only out of fear of the deranged wolf, most of them only became part of the army so that monster wouldn't destroy their homes or their family.
But the main generals and first commanders were as power hungry as their deceased chief, and figured that if they killed his murderer they would be the ones in charge. As they advanced on her a group of disgruntled soldiers went to her aid, they were grateful to the Master for setting them free of that maniac and wouldn't stand by as another equally evil wolf took his place, as it is expected in this situations the result was a completely disorienting mess.
Fights and kicks flew in every direction, with a few sharp weapons for good measure, all she could do is stand her ground as a group of dissident wolves and hyenas begun to slowly inch closer to her to provide whatever protection they could.
Tigress could swear there was a benign influence aiding her, she even got to see a few stray petals flying in the wind and navigating in the sea of blades and punches that the battlefield had become, closer and closer her new allies came while pushing her enemies out, until they formed a living shield around her battered form.
…..
At the edge of the bamboo forest a group of five vicious warriors stared at the wastelands and the improvised citadel that was built to accommodate the army, in the middle of it there's a melee of soldiers lost in the scuffle.
-"They seem to be fighting each other"- Monkey said suspicious
-"Look! Some of them are running away!"- Viper hissed –"Should we chase them?"-
-"They reached the forest already we'll waste too much time, first we take the guys up in here then well go after the ones that got away"- Po grumbled –"I need you on the four corners at the edge from the clearing, when the fire breaks out keep them behind the burning line, if they manage to pass over kill them"-
-"Yes master"- The four students said in unison with the exquisite coordination of a perfectly timed killing machine.
The Dragon Warrior simply strolled into the barracks, so lost were the soldiers into the battle nobody saw him coming, when he was close enough he swiped his left paw and set the edge of the entire clearing on fire. His plan is vicious, he will corner them first and then he would burn the soldiers one by one until only Fènghuáng remained, once they're eye to eye he'll imprison that evil wolf inside the crystal. It must have been so painful for his friend to be burned alive; he felt something akin to glee at the thought of her murderer feeling that pain for all eternity.
…..
Tigress felt it, an eerie calmness on the atmosphere that sparks electricity on the air, she sensed it as the warning sign of the arrival of chaos. She had run out of time, Po was here, and he wouldn't see her in the middle of the battlefield.
Then the fire broke out, not the isolated attacks Fènghuáng used to make, but a cataclysmic explosion that would not be replicated until centuries later with the use of nuclear power. Huts, trees and buildings were calcined and pulverized before they could hit the ground. She knew it was Po, only he could be powerful enough to cause all this. She could never match his raw power, the dragon is a creature of active energy that cannot be stopped when unleashed. But the tiger is cunning, while she could never block his force, she would be able to deflect it. All she could come up with under such short notice was to form a large portal of energy around her and the warriors that helped her so at least her improvised allies would survive.
In horror she saw a chasm sprout from the ground with lava boiling in its depth, the Dragon Warrior had created a literal ring of fire around them, she could tell Po had made his attacks with surgical precision.
He doesn't raise his voice, but he manages to echo it in the air so everyone can hear him-"I am the Dragon Warrior and I'm looking for Fènghuáng, deliver him to me now and your deaths will be fast, if not I can make you burn for hours"- To illustrate his point he chose the large abandoned temple in the center of the clearing were the army had set their HQ.
Po doesn't even have to cast the energy towards the enemy, he just has to focus on the intended target. The foundation burns first, the rest comes later after several horrible minutes. If he could do that to a whole building anyone could guess what he could do to a much frailer body.
Pushing her protectors away Tigress stumbled as she ran towards her friend, every single soldier had forgotten about her, all they could do is watch entranced as the temple burned. When she finally reached the edge of the fire ring she found him moving his hands on strange sweeping motions, the moment she saw him she flinched at the way his green eyes had turned red.
-"Po stop this, please"- She says as placatory as she can, as the forces of chaos lose the battle for control they cling to him.
When he hears her he doesn't answer, he's too overwhelmed and confused by the sight in front of him, so she very slowly walks towards him all too aware that he's an unstable bomb ready to explode. Gingerly she touches his face and sends her chi into him, hoping to alleviate some of the disaster his life force had become. It takes more coaxing than she expected but eventually his eyes turn green again. Shyly she opens up her arms welcoming him, and isn't prepared for the force that collided into her. Tigress had learned in the panda village that hugs could be used as an attack strategy, but only when Po squeezed the air out of her lungs did she understand how powerful they could be.
She hugs back almost with the same strength, how wrong it feels to touch muscle and bones instead of his usual fatty fluffiness.
And that is how the world is saved, by an almighty hug. The opposing forces of the kung fu warriors unite once more, the tiger has finally taken its rightful place by the dragon's side. Chaos has lost and is forced to recede to the darkness it came from.
-"You came back!"- He said finally smiling, a real genuine smile that lights up his face, as if on cue his chi turns golden again.
Now that Po seemed to come back to normal Tigress did what she came here to do, knock some sense into that dumb panda -"I had to! You were acting like a psycho; can't you see you almost killed a lot of people without considering the consequences? Some of the warriors in that battlefield were actually kind people stuck in a bad situation and you would have fried them in a blink of an eye."- She slapped him hard on the head and couldn't understand why the panda laughed at that, so to clarify her point she kicked his shin and only when he moaned in pain and jumped on one foot did her mood brightened.
He strong paws grabbed his face and forced him to look at her in the eye –"I know you weren't entirely responsible for all the destruction, you let chaos grab a hold of you, but if you ever try a stunt like this ever again I will break you. Is that clear?"-
-"Yes Tigress"- He said slouching with a sheepish expression on his face.
…..
Shifu ran through the bamboo forest, he wasn't a fan of doing it on all fours but he had to admit it was much faster and more effective. What had he done? His students had been suffering and instead of offering true guidance he led them even further into the dark path.
He doesn't know why did he fall so easily into chaos' hands, all he knows is that balance was somehow restored and now that he had regained his sanity he needed to know the rest of the kung fu Masters were alive and well, he feared they might have sacrificed themselves or done something that could never be taken back.
There is smoke on the distance and red lights flickering into the early sunrise, he prayed to whoever might want to listen that no more of his students had perished.
Then he sees all of them, bruised battered and covered in soot, extremely tired after freeing the people enslaved by Fènghuáng and sending the remaining of his army to prison. And he sees his daughter, clothes tattered and fur messed in tangles, she has a few small cuts that bleed but aside from that she's healthy and alive.
It's the first time he hugs her, which is kinda awkward because she's so much bigger than him, from the distance it looks like a tiger holding its baby instead of the other way around. Not that either of them minds at all. There are a lot of things unspoken between them but neither have a way with words when it comes to express their feelings. One day they will have to have an honest father- daughter conversation so these emotions don't bottle down and turn so negative anymore, but now is not the right time.
As they head back home and she explains how she managed to come back from the spirit world an uncomfortable fact settles on her brain. The balance and survival of the universe depends on two powerful warriors to remain together, remove one of the two and things will go downhill. Does that make them soul mates?