*When West Meets Alternate East 3: Tai Lung Returns*
NYC, CPZ, 1905 Hours (7:05 pm)
Marlene was relaxing in her habitat when she realized that Skipper and the others had not come out of HQ since early that morning and decided to investigate, only to be met by The King Of The Lemurs. "Hello Marlene, have you seen-?" began Julian
"I know what your thinking, 'have I seen the penguins today'?" said Marlene
"Actually I was thinking, have you seen my favorite kingly hairbrush?" replied Julian
"Oh, no. Anyway the penguins haven't been seen all day so care to help me find them? -(she received a bored look)- Because this is one type of business and since you're 'The King', everything is your business, right?" said Marlene
"Why yes! I'll help you find those silly penguins, with the help of Maurice and Mort." said Julian He then called for them loudly.
"You called for us your Majesty?" asked Maurice when they arrived.
"Yes! Now go search for the silly penguins in their habitat!" Julian ordered
"I like searching!" said Mort his eyes getting big. Maurice and Mort went down into the penguin's HQ.
A few minutes later: "Your Majesty, Marlene, you might wanna come down and see this!
"What is it Maurice?!" called The Ring Tail
"JUST COME DOWN HERE!" shouted Maurice
"Alright! Alright! But you don't have to yell!" said Julian rolling his eyes.
Marlene and Julian went down into HQ. They soon found the portal to Alternate China still open in Kowalskis lab, The Gizmo had not gone into standby mode for some reason.
"What is it?" asked Julian
"Its a portal to some of The Teams buddies." said Marlene Although she had yet to go there with the guys she of course knew all about it. "This is the machine you helped me fix. Remember when The Team came out of this portal?" Julian and Maurice nodded.
"I like portals!" said Mort jumping into the portal head first.
"Mort! No! You come back here this instant!" Maurice shouted He then jumped into the portal after the little guy.
"No! Be coming back Maurice!" Julian then jumped into the portal after him.
"I MUST save the lemurs from danger or save the other world from the danger of the lemurs!" said Marlene with an ironic grin. Marlene then jumped into the portal, but little did she know what they were getting The Team into.
The Team was having some noodles after a hard day of training at The Jade Palace when they heard a crash that came from the back of the shop.
"What was that?" Private asked
"I don't know, you don't think your way home just exploded do you?" asked Mr. Ping
The Team laughed as Kowalski made a face: "My inventions don't always blow up! Come on now!" He then crossed his wings at the guys. This didn't help him very much. "Lets go see!" he then grumbled. The four of them, plus Mr. Ping, then headed for the back of the shop. They jumped when they saw who was there: The three lemurs and Marlene were laying on the ground among the knocked over vegetables. They were groaning for some reason.
"I'm guessing these are friends of yours." Mr. Ping said
"More or less." said Skipper with a shrug.
"Whats wrong with them? Are they hurt?" asked Private
"That's odd." said Kowalski tilting his head and rubbing his chin area with his wing. The penguins went over to the four of them. Skipper gently tapped on Marlene to see if she was awake. She was, as were the others.
"How do you feel?" asked Skipper
"Like I was on the wrong end of a tazer!" said Marlene "I thought you told me it feels like swimming through soda?"
"That's how it feels to us. Maybe its because we have feathers?" said Skipper
"Or maybe the thing is going to be kaboom-ING." said Julian as Mr. Ping helped him up. Then he adjusted is crown while Kowalski made a face at him.
"Fine, I'll check The Gizmos little brother." Kowalski rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself as he walked over.
"Why are you here?" grunted Rico
Marlene then explained what happened back in HQ. Skipper put his face into his wing: "Should have known that it was only a matter of time." He then turned and looked at Mort. He gave him big doe eyes and held his tail. He patted Mort on the head to tell him he wasn't in trouble, seeing as they hadn't caused any real harm, at least not yet. Skipper couldn't stop himself from giving Julian a slightly nervous look as he turned to then look at Kowalski. "Hows it going over there?"
"Fine, there's nothing wrong with this thing. Unless there's something wrong with the main unit back in the lab there shouldn't have been any shocking unless you didn't use the portal." reported the tall penguin.
"But there's nothing wrong with the main unit." said Marlene
"Hmm . . ." said Kowalski in thought as he rested one wing on the other and rubbed his chin area again.
"Perhaps we should ask Master Shifu about this." suggested Private
"Master of what now?" said Julian looking a bit confused.
A much larger then average snow leopard was surrounded by darkness. He had been locked in place for a long time and only recently had started to get his ability to move back. He didn't know how long he had been suspended between worlds, where the only means of survival was being sustained by the energy of both. The last thing he remembered was that fat pandas arrogant face of triumph and his victory call of 'Skadoosh'! Then there was the flash of gold as The Wuxi Finger Hold was applied.
"That big fat panda!" Tai Lung thought to himself. He would have been growling if he could. He calmed himself as he tested his new range of motion. It had just gotten bigger recently. Every time it had he could briefly sense another presence near him ever since it had stared to happen, this time he sensed four in quick succession. Much quicker succession then when four had been felt at other times and for a much longer amount of time. This time it not only gave him an almost complete range of motion he could also sense from what world they started from and to what world they were headed. He found that they had the same destination. One more, that's all he had to wait for this time. Just one more.
"So where are we going now?" asked Marlene as they left the noodle shop.
"The Jade Palace." replied Skipper "Its where those friends of ours live."
"Are they going to be mad that we are here?" asked Maurice
"Not as long as Julian keeps his head low and his mouth shut." said Kowalski with a snort.
"You've been saving that one for just this occasion haven't you Kowalski?" asked Private grinning.
"Oh yeah!" said Kowalski also grinning.
"That has about the same chance of happening as Rico not hacking up some destructive goodie in front of Shifu." Skipper said
"Yeah I know, I just really wanted to say that." said Kowalski with his snort laugh. Skipper couldn't help but grin at him.
"Nu uh!" said Rico as they reached The Jade Palace staircase. The others turned and looked to see that Rico had tied him up with someones cloths line that had fallen to the ground. Rico then used his opera voice: "Ta DA!" Everyone laughed as Julian made a face.
"So how are we going to get up there?" asked Marlene
"With a couple of grappling guns." replied Skipper "Rico!" The scarred penguin then hacked up two of said item. He tossed one to Skipper. "Four of us on one and four on the other. Operation: Double Reverse Repel is a go!" The two fired and just in time got grabbed by the others. They made it to the top with out a problem.
"Whoa! Nice view from up here!" said Maurice after he caught his breathe from the ride up.
"Yup! Amazes me every time." said Private
"So why did you come here this time?" asked Marlene
"It was my idea, for better training. We figured training the, for us, old fashion way would do us some good. You know perfect our moves better!" answered Skipper as he made a few chops in the air.
"Really?" asked Marlene looking a touch skeptical.
"Well that and we hope to curb Kowalskis addiction to technology a bit." Skipper then whispered. Marlene grinned at him in a 'Why am I not surprised' sort of way, to which he grinned. Then the whole group headed in.
Right away two of the three lemurs started: "Oh sparkly!"
"I like the sparkly!" said Mort as he rushed forward. He didn't get far as Maurice gently stepped on his tail. He didn't want Mort to accidentally break anything in his excitement. Mort then became fascinated by his own reflection in the marble floor. "Oh! Even the floor is a sparkly!"
"What is this place?" the black lemur then asked.
"The Hall Of Warriors, its full of Kung Fu artifacts." answered Kowalski "One of my favorite places in the whole of The Jade Palace. Every time we come I get new Intel on things."
"Just what you need more trivia!" said Marlene
Kowalski grinned at her.
Suddenly Shifu walked in looking a tad flustered: "There you are. Where did you go?"
"Just to the village, Private didn't you tell him?" Skipper asked
"Oops! I forgot, Mantis distracted me with a sneak attack." Private answered
"Happens to everyone sometimes. So who are your friends? And why is Rico holding part of a shredded cloths line?" replied Shifu tilting his head.
"Shredded?!" said the group at the same time turning to look. Julian had chewed himself free and was now loose in the hall looking a everything. Some things he just quickly looked at and leaped away from loosing interest, other things he climbed all over to get a good look at it.
Shifu would jump every time he licked something. Those items were always shiny: "Why does he do that?"
"That's just what he does it sometimes. If the object in question is new he bites it." said Kowalski "I'm not sure if its a lemur thing or a Julian thing." They then had some introductions.
Julian ignored those and went to investigate The Urn Of Whispering Warriors. When he jumped up onto the pedestal he found that it was very wobbly. He tried to regain his balance, but it didn't work. The pedestal fell, the urn smashed and the lemur did a flip to avoid injury. Julian then stiffened up as the spirits who were in the urn floated in a green cloud just behind him. His ears went down in fear as he turned around and saw said cloud.
"I didn't mean to!" Julian shouted He then ran and hid behind Skipper. "Angry spirits!" He said pointing over Skippers head at them.
"Uh Shifu?" asked Skipper
"Don't worry, they wont hurt us." he answered
"Finally someone other the me knocked that thing over!" Po laughed from the door suddenly. Private snorted.
"Well at least I is now knowing that it was already being cracked." Julian said as he peeked out from behind Skipper.
The spirits of the urn were taken care of, then Shifu posed a question: "So why are your friends here? You didn't mention anyone else was coming."
"We weren't planning on anyone else coming." replied Skipper
Kowalski then explained what happened to Shifu. "And you say the portal never hurt anyone before?" asked Shifu just to make sure he heard correctly. By then four members of The Five had come home from missions.
"That's right." replied Kowalski
"And we know that doesn't happen!" said Monkey
Team Penguin looked over at Team Mammal and saw they were swaying on their feet, like they were suddenly about to pass out. "Are you guys feeling OK?!" asked Skipper
"Really tired!" said Mort
"Some kind of energy imbalance?" said Shifu "That can't be good. Take your friends to the sleeping quarters. They should lay down before they fall down."
They nodded at him: Private carried Mort and Kowalski supported Julian, Rico helped Maurice and Skipper supported Marlene. They took them to the same room that the penguins were sharing. Po followed them once he got a bunch of pillows, one from each of the other rooms and one nicely sized blanket. He gave these to the penguins while their friends took their bed and promptly fell asleep. They made what kind of resembled a big nest without even realizing it until they were done.
Skipper snorted: "Well we are birds so I guess it makes sense!" The others grinned. Then they all jumped in to see if they did a good job on it.
"Comfy!" said Kowalski
"I like it." said Private
"Yup!" grunted Rico
"We done good! So dinner?" asked Skipper
The other three nodded. Then they got up and followed Po to the kitchen.
"So what do lemurs and otters eat? So we'll know when they wake up." said Po
"Our lemurs eat fruit and otters eat fish, though clams are the reigning favorite." Kowalski answered
"Good to know." said Po grinning. "Though I don't think we can get her any clams."
"Then she'll just have to settle for sushi, no biggie." said Skipper with a shrug.
They got to the kitchen and the penguins had a small dinner on account of they had forgotten about having noodles before. Kowalski seemed to be deep in thought the whole time and didn't talk much. The others spent the time talking about fight techniques or exchanging mission stories. Finely the tall team member grunted out of annoyance and hit the table with his wing. The others jumped and looked at him: "Oh sorry guys!"
"Kowalski, are you OK?" asked Private
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to figure out what happened to the others. Why did the portal drain them like that? I mean I always knew it drained a little energy from the one going through it, but it was never that much!" Kowalski answered He then sensed a smart comment was coming on and he blurted: "And the next person who makes an exploding invention crack is going to get slapped! With the exception of Master Shifu." Then he crossed his wings.
"No exception for Skipper?" asked Tigress
Skipper laughed: "I've been getting him with those burns a lot lately! I would deserve a swat actually." The rest of his team snorted and nodded in agreement. "Thanks boys!" Skipper playfully added. They laughed harder.
"Well I suggest that we all go to sleep. You might get your answer with a clear and rested mind." said Viper
"Good idea! Lets go boys its getting close to lights out anyway." said Skipper as he jumped to the floor. The others nodded to Shifu and his students and followed.
The next morning Team Penguin was woken up by the sound of Julian cracking his back. For a split second they thought that they were back home and Julian had been hit with one of their bases traps. Then they remembered what happened and where they were.
Kowalski suddenly sat bolt upright in the 'nest' making the others jump: "I got it! We go through the portal slowly, as in one at a time. Also we swim so we get through quickly. So there's less energy available for a shorter amount of time. They went through quickly, as in they jumped in one at a time quickly and were all in at the same time, but they didn't propel themselves through. They drifted, letting the wormhole carry them. So there was a large amount of energy available for a longer amount of time!"
"So the portal acted like a sponge?" asked Private
"Pretty much!" said Kowalski leaning back onto the 'nest' grinning.
"But where did their energy go? I mean it had to go somewhere right?"
"Uh-" began Kowalski then someone came in. "Oh! Cranes here!" All four of them then jumped out of their 'nest' and did his stance at him. While the others just stared.
Crane gave them an amused head shake: "Greetings to you too guys." Team Penguin grinned at him. Suddenly he jumped as he was passed by a stream of pink petals: "Master Oogway?!" The turtle in question then appeared floating near the ceiling.
"A ghost!" Julian shouted Him and the other two lemurs screamed then turned tail and jumped into the penguins 'nest' as if it would protect them if Oogway was planning on doing anything.
Marlene however, stood her ground: "Hey, is that the turtle you told me about?"
"Yup! Marlene this is Master Oogway!" said Private
"Ah Marlene, Young Privates told me all about you." said Oogway grinning. She smiled at him.
"When?" asked Skipper
"During those Dream Training sessions I told you about." Private answered
"Your actually made friends with a ghost?" asked Maurice
"I try to make friends with everyone." Private turned back to Oogway and told him who was who as they climbed out of the 'nest'. He nodded at each of them as he got the names. They only waved at him, still not wanting to get to close.
"Nice crown by the way." said Oogway pointing at Julian who grinned. Oogway then turned back to the penguins. "There has been a very strange energy imbalance that I must inform Shifu of, but then I heard you from down the hall. Do you know anything of it?"'
"Well I think we know something-" began Kowalski Then he went through the previous nights events for Oogway.
"Actually right before Crane came in I had wondered where the energy went!" said Private when the taller penguin was finished. Oogway had a very thoughtful though distressed look on his face.
"Hey, you alright?" asked Skipper
"I need to see The Dragon Warrior and Shifu excuse me!" he then took off with a flurry of pink.
"He dose know how to make the exits!" said Julian The other two lemurs nodded.
"That is the most forward conversation we've ever had with him outside training and that makes me nervous." said Private
"I think somethings going on that hes not telling us, even in his trademark vague-anise!" said Skipper blinking.
Crane then cleared his throat to get their attention as they had clearly forgotten about him in their beginning to think of the possible goings on. Everyone looked up at him. "I picked this guy up as I was going passed the noodle shop late last night. Mr. Ping said he heard a crash behind the shop and found him already sleeping." Everyone tilted their heads at him. Crane turned so they could see what was on his back. It was none other then Privates uncle still asleep.
"Nigel?!" said everyone but Private who put uncle in front of it.
He woke up at their voices: "Oh hello!" He then let off a huge yawn and swept-ed the feathers on his head back. After that he jumped to the floor.
Private ran over and hugged him: "What are you doing here?"
"Well I was on my way back to England after helping Tasha and Aurora on a mission in California. I actually helped very little. They are coming into their own quite nicely, those two. Anyway, after my flight got diverted to NYCs JFK Airport I decided to pay my favorite nephew a visit." he answered "I used the tunnel behind the big fish to get in and I found that HQ was deserted. Not realizing how late it was I thought that perhaps you were all in Kowalskis lab seeing a new gadget so I went in there. Then I kind of tripped and accidentally fell into the portal." Nigel then shrugged.
At the sound of the word 'accidentally' Shifu, Oogway and Po leaned into the room. Po and Oogway were grinning while Shifu was working an amused quirked eyebrow.
"Don't say it! We know!" said Skipper pointing a wing at them grinning. They grinned back at them. Then Master Shifu noticed Nigel.
"I didn't know you all knew each other." said Shifu suddenly.
"What the what?!" said Skipper in surprise.
"You know my uncle?" asked Private
"He was here once before. He showed up later the same day that Po defeated Tai Lung." replied Shifu
"A big gold flash of light and I was here. I played it safe and only spoke to Shifu. Didn't want to blow anything you know." said Nigel
"So how did you get back?" asked Marlene
"Well the way I remember it -(he rubbed his chin area with his wing)- is Shifu and I were sitting by the famous peach tree having green tea when a stream of pink started coming at us. 'What is it?' I asked. Then Shifu was like 'I'm not entirely sure, but I believe its your way home.' I just looked at him." Nigel began "Suddenly the pink stream hit me and I felt this soda like sensation all over and the next thing I know I'm outside my cottage." He ended with a shrug.
"The pink stream was obviously Oogway." said Crane perking up. He turned to Oogway. "But if you could have taken Private home why didn't you?"
"He needed the training I gave him and the extra mission experience." Oogway replied
"That makes sense." said Skipper "So why didn't you tell us about this?"
"Well, it is a bit hard to swallow." Nigel replied grinning.
"Not so much." said Rico with a funny little laugh.
"Hey Kowalski, you haven't said anything for a while." said Marlene She and the others looked over at him. He was writing away on his clipboard. He stopped very suddenly with a peculiar look on his face.
"Kowalski? What are you doing?" asked Julian walking over and looking at the clipboard over his shoulder. Not that he understood it, not like any of them could but Kowalski.
"I have a question." said Kowalski as he finely looked up from his trademark accessory.
"Go on." said Shifu
"After Pos last move was Tai Lung ever seen again?"
"No." Po tilted his head.
"And he never showed up in our world because of what Po told Private then he told us, we would have definitely known if he had. Then Nigel ended up here." Kowalski had started writing quickly again and had been mostly talking to himself. He suddenly stopped, stabbing the clipboard sharply. "I know where all that energy went!" Kowalski then said looking up with a stunned expression on his face.
"That's kind of sudden." said Po tilting his head.
"Is something bad going to happen?" said Mort as his ears went down and his eyes got big.
Everyone looked from him to Kowalski for the answer: "At the risk of sounding cliché, -(he got a grin from Skipper)- Tai Lung will return."
Tai Lung looked around. He was very confused as to where he was. "This small gray room is definitely not The Jade Palace. I think I went the wrong way." He looked around Kowalskis lab for another few seconds before deciding that there were no pandas here and turned around about to jump back through the portal, which had stretched because the part that actually held the portal in place was a hoop of scavenged mesh, when he heard a voice from the next room.
"Hey penguins! Long time no see!" said Kitka She had just been in the neighborhood and thought that she would pay her black and white friends a visit. "Great, they must be out fighting some evil. Either that or Kowalski finely blew them all up with one of his gadgets." With that amusing, but hopefully not overheard, remark she decided to check the lab for the boys. She jumped when she walked in and saw who the occupant of the lab was: "Your not Skipper!"
Tai Lung then made a split decision and grabbed the lady falcon before jumping back through the portal: "I think that you'll come in handy later my dear."
"No I don't think I will!" shouted Kitka a second before the two were in the portal. The two emerged from The Gizmos little brother in the same place the others did, Tai Lung fitting through the same way as before, only this time they were seen on arrival.
"Not you! I thought Po-" began Mr. Ping just before he was cut off by the fact that the snow leopard kicked a full basket of vegetables at him. It made him hit the wall of the shop and he fell to the ground with the wind knocked out of him.
"Tell The Dragon Warrior that I'll be waiting for him with my little friend here." said Tai Lung in a menacing voice. "What was your name?"
"Kitka." she replied quickly.
"Good day." he said with fake politeness. Then he leaped away at high speed. As he left he was thinking how the last battle he had with Po was more goofy and comprised of running and falling then he would have liked. It was definitely not the legendary battle he had been hoping for. This time not only was he going to have that legendary bout, but he was also going to be the victor of it!
"I'm both confused and nervous." said Po blinking at Kowalski.
"Well, from what I have figured out when you did The Wuxi Finger Hold on Tai Lung you released all of his energy at once." said Kowalski
"Yes, that's what that move dose." said Shifu
"But for some reason when that happen it almost switched Nigel with Tai Lung. Nigel made it, but Tai Lung didn't. He ended up stuck in between the two worlds ever since because he had used so much energy during the battle." Kowalski finished
"Actually battles, he fought Shifu before he fought me." said Po
"Oh, didn't know that."
"So that's where the energy that was lost on every trip back and forth was going? To him?" asked Crane
Kowalski nodded: "The lemurs and Marlene got shocked because he was almost back to being fully charged."
"Oh, now I understand." said Po
"You don't think that the energy he may have unknowingly got from me let him make it to the portal do you?" asked Nigel with a half guilty look on his face.
"If what Kowalski said is true we will find out soon enough." said Shifu
"Yeah." said Kowalski in an odd possibly hiding something type voice. Team Penguin caught it because they knew him so well. Shifu caught it because of those super strong ears of his.
One of those said ears turned in his direction before his head did as he looked at Po, then Nigel when they spoke: "And?"
Kowalski cleared his throat, but didn't say anything. The two of them had a bit of a stare down. Kowalski looking a bit nervous, Master Shifu with an ever intensifying stare. It had almost turned into a glare when Kowalski took a nervous step back and said "It may have also had the side effect of making him stronger."
Shifu blinked as the others jaws dropped: "I'm impressed, for one that you figured this out so fast, -(he got a small grin)- and for two no one has ever lasted that long under that look before. -(the grin got a bit bigger)- You stood your ground well."
Kowalski also got an approving look from Skipper, who then said "So, you guys know this guy better then us, what do we do?"
"Well-" began Master Shifu
But he was interrupted by Private suddenly: "Wait! Something just hit me! What if Tai Lung ended up in our world instead of this one?" He looked a bit panicked.
"How did we not think that could happen?!" blurted Crane
Skipper gasped as he had a quick flash of the snow leopard ripping through his city. "Boys we need to head home so we can secure it!" Skipper then announced.
Shifu nodded: "Po, Crane take them down to the village. So they will get home faster." The two nodded, then they noticed that one of their number was missing.
"Hey, when did Master Oogway leave?" asked Crane
"Wow, he is being the quick!" said Julian as everyone looked around the room briefly.
So they started the trip back to the noodle shop so the two teams could go home. Shifu let them have a bit of food to take with them as they were going. When they got to the top of the staircase Crane, who had the lemurs and Marlene on his back, posed a question: "I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but how do we know that this whole thing isn't just a far fetched theory?"
"Something that I have learned from years of living with Kowalski, never doubt the clipboard." said Skipper grinning from his place next to him on Pos shoulder. Private and Nigel were on his other shoulder and Rico was on his head. The others, including Team Mammal grinned to.
"Hey, smart remarks are my thing." said Crane grinning.
"Then come up with some." Skipper replied his grin getting bigger.
"He got you twice now." said Po with a snort.
"We all have off days." said Crane "I'll wait for you at the shop." He then spread his wings and flew towards the village.
Po arrived with The Team Plus One not long after Crane got there and was surprise to see his father panicking. "Whoa Dad whats wrong?!" Po asked running the rest of the way over.
"Not long ago! In the back of the shop! You won't believe who I saw!" he replied seemingly trying not to yell.
"A crazy big crazy snow leopard, that goes by the name Tai Lung?" asked Skipper in a causal type voice.
"Yes, but how did you know?" asked Mr. Ping
Kowalski grinned at Crane: "Never . . . Doubt . . . The clipboard. Boo-ya!" Then he threw his wings into the air.
Crane put his head into his wing and said: "Lesson learned, just don't get all gloat-y about it." Everyone grinned again.
"But that's not the only one who came out of that thing of Kowalskis!" Mr. Ping suddenly blurted.
"What?!" Skipper shouted loud enough to make Po jump.
"He had a bird with him, she was about Kowalskis height, said her name was Kitka!" Mr. Ping quickly answered.
"What?!" repeated Skipper along with the others. "He must have gone the wrong way on accident then grabbed her as she wondered in looking to visit us!" Skipper then said clearly angrier then the others.
"So shes a friend of yours." said Crane
"That and Skippers ex-girlfriend." said Private
"Right, change of plans!" Skipper spoke up suddenly having shifted into commando mode. "Marlene in this emergency situation, your in charge until we get back. You four are headed for home."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" said Marlene as she jumped off Cranes back.
"What, shes in charge?! I am The King! Besides I am the liking it here." said Julian sitting himself down stubbornly after jumping to the ground.
Skipper put his face into his wing: "Crane would you?" Crane then picked up the ring tail with his foot and stuffed him into the portal. "That's better!" Skipper then grinned with his wings on his hips.
Then to everyone amazement Julian clawed his way back out and hung onto the stretched out mesh: "Also what is being a snow leopard anyway?"
"Think of it at a really big angry foosa with gray fur and black spots!" said Maurice
"I do not like big foosa!" said Mort looking a bit scared.
"Your telling me, lets go!" Maurice then grabbed Mort by the base of his tail and jumped into the portal over Julians head.
"Now when it is putting that way, last one home is a silly penguin!" Julian then let go of the mesh and was swept away by the portal.
"Happy butt kicking guys! See you later!" shouted Marlene as she jumped through the portal.
Skipper then looked at his Lieutenant and pointed at The Gizmos little brother. Kowalski then jumped down from Pos shoulder and put the unit into standby mode. The residents of the area thought that he shut the thing down and were not corrected on that. "Hey whoa! Why did you do that?!" asked Po with a slight jump of surprise.
"Your bad guy has one of our friends, so we are now a part of this mission too!" said Skipper
"But what about Shifu?" asked Crane
"Don't mean any disrespect, hes just going to have to put up with us." Skipper answered
Tai Lung arrived at a cave that was not to far away from Camel Back Mountain and had a good over view of The Valley Of Peace: "This will do nicely." He went to walk into it when he slipped on a moss covered rock. He kept his balance, but he lost his grip on Kitka. She tried to fly away so he kicked the rock at her. It hit her in the back and then she hit the ground at an odd angle.
"Ah! Not going to be able to fly off this one!" she said as she wrapped one wing around the other.
"Sorry about that. I guess I don't know my own strength." he said as he walked over and looked down at her. He was being only half sarcastic. "Just a bit of advice, don't try that again."
"Yeah, I won't." said Kitka Tai Lung then picked her up. While he didn't really hurt her he wasn't gentle either. He carried her with him as he gathered fire wood then they went into the cave. There he plopped her down and built a fire. "Question, your not going to eat me are you?"
"No, for one you wouldn't make much of a meal and for two I'm not hungry right now." Tai Lung answered
"Good to know." she paused "So why did you grab me anyway?"
"For one I didn't want you to send the owners of the place after me when they came back and for two I'm going to try and play with Pos head when we get to face off." Tai Lung answered
"Well, the guys weren't home that's true, but how do you know that they aren't already here?" asked Kitka
"Didn't think of that believe it or not." said Tai Lung tilting his head.
"Split decisions are funny that way." said Kitka with a half shrug. "So do you have some kind of plan here or are you just going to wing it?"
Tai Lung grinned: "I can sense something powerful nearby. Its powerful energy is resonating with mine. I feel that whatever it is will be useful to me."
"So you are winging it." said Kitka
"I'm more of a big picture guy, not a detail guy."
"That explains a lot." said Kitka with a slight grin. The shadowiness of the cave kept it hidden. "But you do have a little bit of a plan."
"Well of course. Now lets go see what that energy is." Tai Lung then picked her up and they left the cave. They walked until they arrived at the base of the cliff off Camel Back Mountain. There was a pile of stones there that looked like the result of a miniature rock slide. The strong energy the snow leopard was picking up on was coming from inside the pile. After using a vine that was hanging off a small rather sad looking tree nearby to restrain Kitka Tai Lung began to dig.
"What is this doing here and how did it get broken?" said Tai Lung He then picked up the remaining half of The Sacred War Hammer Of Lei Lang. He remembered it being on display at The Jade Palace when he lived there. It had been last seen when Tong Foe had it, then he, Po, Tigress and Monkey had fought over it. The weapon was last held by Po as he had taken it out of Shifus grip and started swinging it for his own amusement. It had slipped out of his grip and hit a boulder, which exploded. They had thought that it was completely destroyed, as they saw a few chunks of it strewn around, so they didn't bother to look for it. What had actually happened to it, is when it hit the boulder half of the hammer exploded with it. While the other half was thrown over the cliff and landed in just the right way as to not be damaged any further. The rocks from the explosion then fell on it. "Well this would make the perfect thing to finish that panda off with."
"What you mean your going to use that on someone?!" asked Kitka shocked.
"Only as the finishing blow. Let him got out with a bang, just like he tried to do to me." Tai Lung smirked "Trust me its very fitting. Now all we need is a venue!"
Po, Crane and The Team Plus One headed back and inform Shifu of the fact that Tai Lung had taken a captive. He was shocked and decided that he had to be found as fast as possible. He split the group in half, the penguins and Po were one team and The Five and himself were the other. After the two teams had searched the village, paying special attention to abandoned buildings, they started to search the surrounding land.
It was sunset when The Dragon Warrior Squad, as Po liked to called them, made camp. Once finished Rico started to divide up the rations they got back in the village. Skipper and Nigel were making a map of the surrounding area with Pos help.
"Wow! The Valley Of Peace is a lot bigger then I thought." Skipper said tilting his head. "Good thing Team Shifu has the other half."
Nigel nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything.
Po grinned at them: "Yeah and its just full of hiding places too!"
"Well that's an encouraging thought." said Kowalski rolling his eyes.
"Yeah sorry." said Po with an awkward laugh. "If Shifu was here he'd probably say we should divide the immediate area into a grid and search section by section."
"That's right." said Nigel grinning. "Forgive me, but you seem a bit nervous to me."
"Uh, what makes you think that?" Po asked rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, that odd laugh for one." Nigel answered
"And that you haven't touched your food. They are your favorite dumplings." said Private "And you watched Rico put them there."
"Wow, you two are good!" Po grinned "Well, this might sound a little weird, but I've never been on this kind of mission before."
"Ah, first kidnapping huh?" said Skipper
"Well sort of, see the closest to this mission was the time when these croc bandits had kidnapped this little kid and Tigress and I stumbled on them as the little guy sort of got away from them." said Po "We took the kid with us after beating the bandits, but they kept coming after him. Tigress kept the little guy safe though and he was returned to his parents."
"Now we get what your saying." said Kowalski nodding.
"Also, shes one of your friends so that's added pressure. Plus Tai Lung is not the most predictable bad guy in the world or worlds in this case." The penguins gave him reassuring looks.
"I thought that when you get upset you eat. So start scarfing down some dumplings." said Private grinning.
Po laughed: "I'm nervous, not upset. Though I see your point." He picked up his bowl and ate a few dumplings while Skipper and Nigel started to grid out their search territory. He only ate about half of them as his stomach was bothering him, a combination of nerves and all the walking they did. It was more to please Private then anything else.
Rico then asked a question, though it was so fast Po didn't catch it as it came out all garbled. He figured out what the question was by Kowalskis answer: "If this was familiar ground for us it would be a good idea to split up in the morning, but we don't want to get lost. We should stick with Po to prevent that from happening."
"Yeah, but I promise if I ever visit you guys and there's a mission you guys can lead me around." said Po grinning.
"I'm going to hold you to that!" said Skipper grinning back.
Po laughed and now that he was a bit more relaxed he downed two or three more dumplings. Once they had the way they were going to search settled they finished up on food, though much to their surprise Po still didn't eat much, and took an early night. All of them have nervous nights, but Po had the worst. He kept having dreams that Tai Lung was doing terrible things to Kitka or that he failed the mission so bad that the snow leopard got the penguins too. The dreams kept jolting him awake.
"Man! What is wrong with me?" Po said finely getting annoyed. Good thing the sun was coming up because Po didn't really feel like trying to go to sleep again.
Po was cheered up a bit when Kowalski suddenly jerked awake nearly shouting: "Bathroom!" Then dashing into the woods.
"When you got to go!" said Po with a snort.
He came back mumbling: "Close one." Them Kowalski looked at Po and knew that he was tired. "Bad dreams?"
"Yeah, but its not like I haven't had them before." said Po with a shrug.
"Alright as long as your OK." The tall penguin then started to get breakfast ready before the others woke up.
It had been two and half days since his escape and Tai Lung now had the perfect place for defeating the panda built on a not all that high cliff over the river. It was not to far away from the cave he and Kitka were holding up in. It was a small battle paddock that was made out of big stones that were from the surrounding area. It was built by a local group of croc bandits that were looking forward to seeing the panda get what was coming to him. Which is also where they got their food. They didn't mind sharing as they got to take orders from The Mighty Tai Lung. Kitka didn't know if the crocs were all there or if they were just bad at being bandits. Either way she found it kind of funny.
During that time Kitka had taken to riding around on Tai Lungs shoulder. Seeing as she couldn't get away it was just easier and a more comfortable place to be then on the tough rocks with a tether on her ankle. Her wing was somewhat crudely wrapped in a vine as a means to set it. The funny thing about it was she did it so often that the crocs thought the two were friends.
Also while the battle area was being built Tai Lung had been setting some traps around the area as a means to distract anyone who might be with the panda. He assumed that someone who could figure out how to do The Wuxi Finger Hold on his own wouldn't be dumb enough to trip any of them. They were basic pit traps and ankle snares made with thorny plants. Tai Lung wondered it the ladder was worth the trouble because of all the bad scratches he got on his paws. He'd have to make sure he punched with his paws shut.
Now that the area was prepared it was time to get more spectators that wanted to see Po get what was coming to him and of course the guest of honor himself. The croc bandits said that they had that covered. Same as the pregame psychological warfare for when they found him. Which is what Kitka was for, weather she liked it or not. Tai Lung knew that he and the others were looking for him, plus he had a hunch that Kitkas friends were helping. He wasn't to worried about them though. Sure they had to be at least Kitkas height, but they couldn't be all that strong. Judging by what their home looked like. They were probably just starting their Kung Fu training that's why they kept coming to this world: come learn a variety of moves, leave to master them, then come back to learn some more. Quite a slow way to do it, but with some the only way.
The Dragon Warrior Squad was having lunch at the edge of the forest just before entering the mountains. The penguins were worried about Po. He hadn't slept well during the whole of the search for Kitka, not that they had restful nights either, but he was the most worse off and he still wasn't eating much.
"Relax guys, I'm fine!" said Po as they voiced their concern finally while Nigel was out scouting the area. "What do you think all this is for?" He then grabbed is belly and shook it a bit, jiggling followed. The penguins snorted. "Hey if your panda isn't nice and big its time to get a new panda."
"OK you have a point when it comes to the food thing." said Skipper still giggling. "But what about the sleeping thing?"
"Well, I'll admit that's a bit awkward." said Po with a thoughtful look.
"Don't worry I can take care of that!" Nigel said as he suddenly appeared on Pos shoulder. Po jumped a bit, but that's all he had time for as Nigel then nerve pinched him and he was out like a light. "Forced rest is still rest and he needs it."
"No worries, he looked like he was going to pass out anyway." said Private
"Where did you learn how to do that? And a follow up, can you teach me how to do that so I can use it on Alice?" said Skipper
"I learned that trick from Shifu and its darn handy. Helped me sneak inside some top secret places recently. And maybe later." Nigel answered He then jumped to the ground. He nearly fell over when he landed. That's when the others saw that his ankle was badly cut up, slashed even.
"Uncle Nigel, what happened?" asked Private
"Snare traps made with very long thorns. I suspect that we may be walking into some kind of trap." he answered "But I think the trap only applies to us not Po. I think Tai Lung wants us out of the picture so he can fight Po."
"What makes you think that?" asked Kowalski
"Well after I found the first one -(points at injury)- I looked around to see if there were anymore, I found that they were not laid out in the middle of the path, but the sides. Like the trapper wasn't aiming for the leader, but for those walking around him." Nigel replied
"Huh." said Skipper trying to think. Then they heard someone coming. "Quick! Hide him!" Rico then ran over to the largest close bush. He hacked up his favorite hack saw pulled off its cover and sawed it down. They ran over and quickly put it front of him. It hid him rather well, as they didn't know who was coming: friend or foe? With Po on forced bed rest they weren't taking any chances. It was one of the croc bandits. "Where is Miss Kitka?!" shouted Skipper as they assumed combat stances.
"You must be her friends! Wheres the panda?" the croc asked "I thought I heard his voice?"
"He went a different way." said Nigel convincingly standing behind Private to hide his hurt leg.
"Well you apprentices better go find him because that's the fastest way to get there from here -(points up trap covered path)- and Tai Lung it getting impatient." He then passed along a crude carving that was of the injured Kitka in a cage made of stone. Then he left.
"If Po doesn't get him I am for hurting her on top of trapping and taking her in the first place!" said Skipper anger flaring.
"Wait, I have a question. That croc called us apprentices, what dose that mean?" asked Private
Nigel perked up looking happy suddenly: "Tai Lung broke the most important rule, made a rookie mistake!" The others looked at him. "He underestimated his opponents!"
"Boys! We got us an advantage!" announced Skipper grinning in a way that told them that he had an idea. They then started to hash out said idea into a full blown plan while Po continued to get his forced rest.
Tai Lung paced the battle paddock in his impatience, especially since he now knew that the panda was nearby: "That's it! I'm going to find and drag him here if I have to!" Then he stomped to the edge of the woods and was shocked by what he saw: Po was walking towards him until he suddenly fell out of sight.
"Dang it! How many holes am I going to fall into today." Po shouted from inside the last pitfall trap.
Tai Lungs face went into his paw: "Perhaps I overestimated him?" Behind the snow leopard the croc bandits laughed.
Po quickly climbed out of the hole and glared at it: "Nice try for you and your buddies, but the panda wins three to nothing!" Three being the number of pit traps there were. He turned around to see Tai Lung blinking at him for his odd behavior.
"Where is she?!" he then said turning so serious that even he was surprised. He got the feeling that his bad dreams had prepared him for this.
"Shes safe for the moment." Tai Lung said motioning for him to follow. Which he did keeping his guard up. "So, where is your little team of apprentices?"
"I sent them back to The Jade Palace, didn't want you to nab them during the fight to mess with me or them to get hurt." Tai Lung chuckled at that. They arrived at the battle paddock a few moments later. Po looked over at the stone stands to see more croc bandits and: "Chung Sung Ji Ki Chow?! Whats he doing here?!" shouted Po "And sweet! I got his name right!"
"Hes will be recording the fight blow by blow, so Tib Yu Tie will know exactly how I defeated you. He lost the bout of rock-paper-scissors you see." said Tai Lung with another chuckle.
"OK then, so where is he?" asked Po Tai Lung didn't answer he just continued to chuckle. "I really hate that laugh!" thought Po
The red clad bull and two of his subjects paced in front of Kitkas stone prison. They were annoyed that they were missing the action. In some bushes not to far away Team Penguin was crouched waiting for the perfect time.
"Whoa, is he big!" said Kowalski
"Yeah, Po forgot to mention that when he told me about him!" said Private
"Oh come on! We can take him!" said Rico giving the two a look.
"Heck yeah we can! Lets go you Nancy Cats!" said Skipper Two shot him looks as he and Rico started to move closer, they of course followed. They carefully got behind a large rock that was about ten feet closer. Skipper then carefully peeked over the top. "Alright, lets commence Operation: Falcon Flight!"
"But Skipper, she can't fly so that operation name makes no sense." said Private
"Rico!" said Skipper The scared penguin then beak slapped Private. Then he signaled for their portable catapult, the small bucket with the bungee cords on it. Skipper held one cord and Kowalski held the other. Private and Rico then got a nicely sized rock and put it over the top of the bucket, took a moment to aim and when Tib Yu Tia wasn't looking fired. It hit one of his subjects in the head knocking him out. The Warrior King saw him hit the ground then turned in time to see the second shot take out his other minion. He stomped his way over to the penguins hiding spot. They felt him coming before they saw him. "Sure hes big, but he can't be fast!" Skipper then tried to use to jump kick him in the face.
He caught Skipper and tossed him into the bush they were original hiding in. Rico lost his temper and snapped thinking that Skipper was hurt. He immediately went at the bull with a corkscrew to the chest. He stumble back a bit, half out of surprise. The other two went after him as back up. Skipper came out of the bush recovering from having the wind knocked out of him. He then saw his team putting up a pretty good fight against Tib Yu Tia.
"Why did you hurt the lady falcon?" asked Po
"It couldn't be helped, she tried to get away. If she tries that with our bull friend I doubt he will be as gentle as I was." said Tai Lung looking cocky. Po glared at him.
"She better be safe or it won't be pretty!" said Po trying to sound as threatening as he could. He didn't think it worked because he was getting a bit nervous for Kitka again because Tib Yu Tia had one heck of a temper. To cover this up Po half shouted: "Are we going to do this or not?" Tia Lung grinned at him over his shoulder.
The snow leopard signaled for him to stay on the side of the paddock as they climbed up on it then walked to the other end. He turned around then assumed a combat stance: "Ready!"
Po glanced around, because of the set up he couldn't help feeling that he was in a fighting competition. A very stacked one. He then took a deep breath, then snapped into his own combat stance: "Ready to bring the thunder!"
"And fight!" Chung Sung Ji Ki Chow shouted suddenly.
Tai Lung got on all fours and closed the space between them quickly, Po had only taken three steps, and struck out at his face. The panda bobbed around to dodge though he got hit hard on the third strike. Po stumbled back with one paw one his face on reflex. Po got him with a round house to the chest. The force caused him to step back, but it didn't seem to hurt him.
"That's a problem!" thought Po his eyes getting a bit big. He then went in with what would have been a flurry of speedy strong panda punches if more then a few hit. Tai Lung was faster then last time and kicked him in the stomach hard enough for him to jump back clutching it.
Tai Lung chuckled again: "Its going to take more then that Po!"
"Who said I was trying to a minute ago?" said Po with a cocky grin. "That was just a warm up! Get ready!" He then jumped back into his combat stance while making a weird cat like noise.
Tai Lung growled at him: "Oh really? Well, lets get serious then Panda!" He went to hit Po with a strong side kick, but he dodged by rolling then tripped him with a leg sweep.
"Kowalski and Rico double down!" Skipper shouted grinning. The two jumped to the ground on their stomachs one on top of the other. "Private, show me how well you got trained here!" Private nodded grinning, then went to perform Omega Boom.
This time Privates small size worked against him. Tib Yu Tia used an energy fueled kick to send him flying. Then he got distracted by an angry Skipper latching on to his tail, planning on climbing up to try and find a weak spot, to see that the little penguin slammed into Kitka cage, knocking it off the rock it had been sitting on. It smashed when it hit the ground.
"Private are you OK?!" Kitka asked Private was now out cold.
"Get off my tail you little pipsqueak!" Tib Yu Tia shouted as he manged to grab Skipper and pull him off.
He had just thrown him into Kowalski when he looked up at a shout: "For Queen, Country And The Glory Of Penguins Everywhere!" Nigel came swinging in on a vine, he then launched himself off at high speed and spin kicked Tib Yu Tia right between the eyes! The bull lost his balance and fell flat on his back clutching his face. Nigel then landed on his chest. "That was for my nephew!" he shouted pointing a wing at him. He suddenly turned: "Rico duck tape if you would!" Rico hacked it up right at him. He caught it one winged with out looking as he had quickly turned back around to address Tib Yu Tia: "And this -(there's a sharp taring sound as he pulled up duck tape)- is for disrespecting The Skipper!" About ten minutes later they had him fully cocooned in the silver tape and hanging upside down from a tree.
"You two are so British! I just love it!" said Kitka as she walked over with Private. Everyone snorted.
"Don't we all?" asked Skipper grinning.
"Are you OK?" Nigel asked Private.
"Well, I have a fair sized goose egg and I think Maurice is going to have to work on my back a bit, -(cracks back)- but I pretty good." said Private grinning. Nigel grinned at him looking relieved.
"So, Nigel where did you come from? I thought Po nerve pinched you?" asked Kowalski
Flashback: Po had just woken up after Nigel knocked him out and found them bickering on when they were going to go. Skipper wanted to leave before Po woke up and leave Nigel there to guard him in case someone else came along. Nigel thought that it was Skipper being over protective because of his hurt foot. Regardless the spy didn't want to be left behind and thought that Tai Lung should be handled by Po. The panda saw that Nigel was hurt and agreed with Skipper as far as him staying out of it was concerned. He quickly sat up, reached over the top of the bush and nerved pinched Nigel then caught him as he fell to the side.
"Nice soft paws! That's the trick." he said looking at his paw. He jumped as he saw Private glaring at him. Private had wanted him to go with them on the mission. "I'll make it up to the two of you later. OK?" He then put Nigel in the bush they had moved. "Right now we have have some justice to dish out! So what was the plan you guys came up with? It needs to be tweaked."
"Why did you do that?" asked Skipper
"One, I don't want him getting more hurt on my account and I've always wanted to do that, but mostly the first one."
The four of them snorted and then they filled him in. :End Flashback
"I'm awake now because those moves don't work on me as well as they should." said Nigel
"How come?" asked Kowalski
Nigel glanced at Private as he didn't want to be to graphic: "I have a lot of uh -(with air quotes)- "battle souvenirs" on my back. My nerves are protected as it were."
"I hate to see you during a molting cycle!" said Skipper
Nigel laughed: "Yeah its pretty ugly!"
"So how did do that on an injured foot?" asked Private
"Adrenalin works wonders boy." Nigel patted him on the head, he grinned.
"Come on, we should head out! Po may need some back up!" said Kitka turning in the direction of the battle paddock.
"But your wing, your in no condition to-" began Skipper Kitka spun around and gave him such a sharp look that Skipper actually jumped.
The two combatants knocked each other back and stood there panting. Tai Lung looked pretty much the same with the exception that his fur was standing up a bit. He was only panting half as hard as Po.
The panda had bruises coming through the white fur on his chest. Tai Lung had tried the pressure points on him again. He figured that since he was stronger now and Po was a bit skinner they'd do him some damage. They didn't paralyze him, for the same reason they didn't last time, but they hurt a lot and slowed him down instead of tickling him.
"Dang it! My endurance in down!" thought Po "I should have done what Skipper told me and forced food down! Good thing that I had that forced rest after all."
"You've gotten stronger, I approve." said Tai Lung
"So dose that mean we can stop and be friends?" asked Po getting into a fighting stance, still panting.
Tai Lung growled at him.
"Yeah, didn't think so." Po grinned
The two then jumped at each other and got into some very close, very fast close combat. Fur was literally flying and those watching couldn't keep up very well. It ended as suddenly as it started with them grappling.
"I am surprised that you haven't learned any new tricks though." said Tai Lung very suddenly.
"Who says I haven't? But if its not broke then don't fix it!" Po then belly bounced him clear across the paddock. "Yeah, that never gets old." He moved in as Tai Lung started to get up. He got up very quickly, using an odd spin and hit Po across his eyes with an energy covered tail. Po stumbled a bit, but didn't quite fall over. He couldn't see well now, though the effect would where off rather quickly.
"That's not my only new trick!" Tai Lung quickly said now up right. He then started to spin like a top. He stopped very fast and a blast of golden energy came flying out of his paw. Po realized what it was right before it hit him in the chest: The Thundering Wind Hammer. He was knocked to the ground not sent flying as that move needed a little work. He was temporally paralyzed though.
"So that's what it feels like!" Po grunted
"Well, that was effective enough!" Tai Lung said as he walked over to the splayed Po. "Now for the finisher! Hammer!" One of the medium sized crocs tossed him the remaining half of The Sacred War Hammer Of Lei Lang. Tai Lung caught it and nearly fumbled as the old wooden, slightly splintery, handle irritated the dozens of scratches on the inside of his paws. He had to take the time to adjust it in his grip to make it comfortable to hold. It gave Kitka and Nigel the window to get there in time to stop him from striking Po from the over head position he had just put it in.
Kitka slammed him in the side of his head just after Nigel, who was on her back surfer style, jumped to the ground. He flinched a bit when he landed, but caught the weapon just before it hit Po. While Tai Lung was knocked off the paddock to the ground with the wind knocked out of him.
"Has anyone ever told you that its bad form to hit someone when they are down never mind using a weapon on an unarmed opponent." Kitka said to him.
"Thanks for saving the uh tenders." Po blushed a bit.
"Its part of what I do?" said Nigel with a shrug.
Po grinned then sat up as the other penguins arrived.
"I thought that you couldn't fly!" blurted Tai Lung
"Its called strategy." said Kitka
Tai Lung hissed at her, then kicked himself up he tried to swing on her, but he slipped on a loose rock so he wasn't able to right away because he stumbled back. They could tell that he was still trying though.
"Oh not you don't!" shouted Rico He quickly grabbed the ye oldie hammer from Nigel and jumped down in front of Tai Lung. He had been aiming for his leg, but he also stumbled, so he hit the ground just in front of him. There was a small explosion that made both of them go skidding back quickly, it also destroyed what was left of the hammer as it was more damaged then Tai Lung thought. Rico hit the side of the battle paddock back first, Tai Lung however went over the nearby cliff over looking the river.
"Guys! Grab my legs!" shouted Po
"Oh yeah right- What the?!" Kitka was saying as Po suddenly ran forward. The penguins belly slid after him and did as they were told as the panda started to work his front half over the cliff.
"Grab on!" said Po as he began to reach for Tai Lung. "Guys hold me steady! I'm sliding to much!" He was being held by three penguins on one leg and two on the other. Kitka had grabbed the pant leg on the side with less penguins and was trying to fly backwards.
"Easy for you to say!" said Kowalski as the group slid towards the edge. They were surprised when the were suddenly stopped, though it was still taking a huge effort to hold him, but like Nigel said "Adrenalin works wonders."
Skipper looked down around his feet as they felt a bit tingly, they were glowing pink as the energy was acting like flypaper on steroids: "Why hasn't Po gone sideways?" He heard Nigel clear his throat, he was on Pos other leg. His energy, a rich royal purple, was doing the same thing. They grinned at each other.
"Almost there! Reach man!" said Po as he stretched to his limit. Tai Lung tilted his head before he reached up towards Po. He was about half way to him and could have grabbed him if he had stretched even a little, but he suddenly stopped almost like he was hesitating. "What are you doing?!" Tai Lung didn't get a chance to answer at his back leg slipped and the section of rock he was hanging onto collapsed. He fell into the river and was out of sight. Po sighed: "Guys, can you get me back up?"
"Lets hope so because we are going to need some help!" said Nigel "Those specters have started to come closer. I can tell that they aren't friendly!"
Rico hacked up the grappling gun. Kitka let go of Po and caught it by the trigger. She carefully fired it fell to the side of him. He grabbed onto it and she felt it. The still charged with energy Skipper and Nigel then let go of Po, who started sliding again. Kitka looped the grappling cable around a protruding place in the top of the cliff close by. Skipper and Nigel grabbed onto the cable in front of the flying backwards, like before, Kitka and did the sticky energy trick they did before, calling it up on purpose that time.
"On the count of three the guys will let go and you will start climbing!" shouted Skipper "One . . . Two . . . Three!" The penguins let go of Po and he climbed.
He got stuck on the ridge, but once he had a good grip on the rock and was about to pull himself of the ledge he looked up. The penguins were keeping the bandits and the rest distracted. Po finished getting himself up and ran forward. He was of course spotted immediately: "Team Penguin! Kitka! Retreat, behind me!" They got behind him with an amazing amount of speed, though they were being chased: "Quick! Close your eyes!" He did himself then unleashed The Golden Lotus Clap!
There were many shouts of things like: "AAAA! My eyes!" or "What the heck was that?!" and "I can't see!"
"What did you do?" asked Private
"Don't worry, it will wear off." said Po with a dismissive type hand gesture. "Lets head back."
"What happened to-?" began Kowalski
"Not sure, but if hes OK we'll know eventually, but I don't think big cats like that are good swimmers." said Po picking up the limping Nigel while Kitka landed on a tree nearby and waited for them to catch up.
"Actually tigers are excellent swimmers." said Kowalski
"But Tai Lung is a snow leopard." said Skipper
Kowalski shrugged at him.
They headed back meeting up with the others about half way. "Is Nigel alright?" Shifu asked immediately.
"I stepped into a thorn-ed ankle snare, but I'll be fine." he replied
Shifu snapped his fingers and Crane took Nigel and flew off. He was treated by the time the others were back at The Jade Palace. Once there they filled in everyone about what happened. The penguins stayed for a few more days while the spy healed. Sometimes hanging out with The Five or Po, even Shifu on occasion, but they mostly trained. With or without the others.
Nigel reminded Skipper of himself. At night right after Shifu and the others left The Training Hall, leaving only Team Penguin, he would take two runs through it to see how healed he was. He would wait because Shifu didn't like him doing that, as he didn't want him to hurt his leg more. Then he would evaluate how he did. He kept what he thought to himself. Once he was happy with his progress he told the other penguins. They then told the others that they were going to go home the next morning.
"Well, hopefully there will be a time where you won't have a mission to do the next time you come." said Mr. Ping as he gave them some egg rolls. "Sorry I can't stay longer the shops loaded!" He went back inside and they could hear that there were a lot of diners in there. Sadly The Five and Po had sudden mission so they couldn't see them off, so they gave them some food that they liked. Kowalski was getting The Gizmos little brother out of standby mode. It fired up quickly.
"Well, Nigel the surprise visit was great. When you get back home say 'hello' to Elizabeth for me." Shifu said with an odd little grin.
"Wait as in Queen Elizabeth?" asked Skipper
Nigel grinned at him.
"Yeah, I don't want to know." Skipper had a high five with Shifu and walked over to stand next to Kowalski.
"Oh yes Elizabeth! Her grandmother, Victoria, is very nice." said Oogway suddenly from above them.
"Wait-what?" said The Team looking shocked. "Now we really don't want to know!"
"With all respect that was creepy! Lets move out boys!" Skipper said quickly. Four out of the five penguins then jumped through the portal in quick succession.
Nigel and the two Masters laughed. "I wanted to see if that would work and it did! Nice!" said Shifu
"I told you it would." said Nigel grinning. "Its been a pleasure doing business with you!"
"But seriously tell her 'hi' from us when you see her, alright?" said Oogway
"Oh, yeah of course!" said Nigel with a wave before he jumped through the portal.
When he got back and shut down The Gizmo he saw that the other penguins were staring at the top of the door of the lab. Nigel looked and saw that it was Marlene tied in streamers.
"What in the name of festive paper products?!" said Nigel making the others jump. Marlene gave him a look. "What? They cant all be keepers."
"Better leave that to the professionals, as in me." said Skipper pointing at himself. The penguins laughed, Marlene rolled her eyes.
"Somehow the base got stuck on lock down and there has been a party going ever since. I made the mistake of falling asleep first last night." explained Marlene
For some reason The Team Plus One found that very funny. As they laughed they carefully got Marlene down.
*The End*
Authors Note: I hope you enjoyed this part three! Sweet Panda 12 requested it & gave me the opening to it. I had to do a bit of tweaking to make it fit, but I think it worked nicely. Also puppy-amine-lover gets a nice big shout out for helping me get over a bout of writers block. I left it a mystery as to weather Tai Lung survived in case they actually make something in which he comes back. I, like most, don't think they will its just 'a just in case' type thing. So have fun reviewing, but no being mean. And of course the disclaimer that I put down here because I can: I don't own The Penguins Of Madagascar or Kung Fu Panda. Dream Works/Nickelodeon dose.~
~Over & Out~