The Dragon Warriors
Chapter 1 - A New Journey Begins! A Mysterious Warrior Appears!
Two Weeks after the events of Rage of the Ifrit
It was a peaceful time in the Valley of Peace, bandits had been told of the destructive and fierce battle that had taken place a few weeks earlier so they had been scared off from trying to invade or destroy it.
In truth Mantis, Monkey, Crane and Viper were slightly bored by the lack of any activity by their usual villains such as Taotie, Temutai or Feng Huang. Tigress and Po weren't though, they had recently found out that they were going to become parents in a few months and this was all the excitement that they needed.
It was exciting for the other masters too, they had never heard of a cross species of a panda and a tiger so it would be a first for both China as well as the Valley of Peace. The Furious Five were currently in the Training Hall being well...trained by Shifu, who had been Po's Kung Fu master for nearly five years now.
Po, the soon to be father and resident 'Dragon Warrior' was currently relaxing on the roof of his father's noodle shop 'Dragon Warrior Noodles & Tofu' which Mr Ping had named in honor of his son. The panda breathed in a lungful of fresh air and sighed peacefully. "This is the good life, no bandits or megalomaniacs, I've got the best girlfriend and lover ever, I've got a child on the way and best of all." "PO! I've made you some noodle!" came Mr Ping's voice from within the restaurant.
"I have noodles" Po thought happily. Times were indeed good for The Dragon Warrior. He hopped off of the roof and landed with a thud just inside of the entrance of the restaurant. Po grinned madly when he spotted Tigress through the flap that led to the kitchen. She was standing inside the restaurant discussing something with Mr Ping.
Po stopped for a second just to look at her, to Po she had never looked more beautiful and he had never been as madly in love with her as he had been upon hearing about the little one she now carried around inside her. Shifu had excused her from training ever since he had found out about their child, the old master has desperately tried to hide it but both Tigress and Po could see that he was excited at the thought of becoming a grandfather to the child.
Again, although he tried to hide it Po could see that he was also nervous about becoming another paternal figure to a child, when he had been a father to Tai Lung he had filled the snow leopard with such arrogance and anger that it eventually backfired and caused Tai Lung to wreak havoc on the Valley. The second time was when he adopted Tigress and showed her no love or pride for fear of her becoming just like his previous son, this caused Tigress to become distant and pushed her further into her Kung Fu training.
It wasn't until she had had met Po that she began to open up and accept him and her comrades in the Furious Five as friends...and eventually come to love the panda.
Although Po had protested desperately to the red panda he hadn't been excused from training, Shifu's reasoning was that he needed to be stronger so he could protect his soon to be family from threats in the future. Although for today Shifu had given Po the day off so he could spend it with both Tigress and his father...albeit after about an hour of begging and groveling.
Po carried on gazing for a second before shaking his head and snapping out of it, he smiled to himself, "Whoa, really got lost in the memories there. I mustn't take too long, Dad and Tigress are both waiting for me".
Po slowly made his way inside, upon entering the shop his father smiled at him and handed him a bowl of steaming noodles. Tigress beamed lovingly at the sight of Po, she also had a bowl of noodles in her hand.
Mr Ping had invited Po and Tigress to come and share a meal with him, the old goose was excited about the thought of becoming a surrogate grandfather and took every chance he could to spend time with his son and the mother of his child.
The panda, tiger and the goose all sat around a table that had been set up in the small kitchen specifically for these numerous recent visits.
"Thanks Dad" said Po gratefully, he gestured towards Mr Ping's part of the table, "Aren't you having anything?". Mr Ping shook his head, "No Po, I'm not hungry".
Po shrugged and then dived straight into his food, he started to greedily slurp and eat the noodles. Tigress smirked and shook her head in amusement, "Seriously Po, you've got to stop that so you don't pass your bad habits on to the baby".
Po stopped eating and looked at her guiltily, "Sorry" he said while wiping his mouth of the juice he had gotten on himself from the noodles. Mr Ping chuckled at Tigress scolding him like a small child.
Tigress has to contain herself while eating. While she had attained a high level of discipline throughout her years of kung fu training, her condition had rendered her prone to...cravings. Mr Ping's special homemade noodle was a recent favorite of the tiger master's. Po was only too glad to indulge in her wanting of certain foods as the panda loved eating just as much as Kung Fu or her.
Mr Ping beamed at the two of them happily eating, he had always loved watching people enjoying the food he made. "So", Mr Ping started. "Have you thought about any names recently?" The two soon to be parents suddenly stopped and looked at each other.
"No Mr Ping, we haven't really thought about it for a while. We thought a name might come to us after the birth" responded Tigress. In truth neither of them had really thought about it before now.
The old goose smiled, he knew how difficult it was coming up with a name for a child, having raised Po he knew how important it could be for a child. It could define so much of you.
Po put his noodle bowl down on the table carefully, "How about we brainstorm for names right now?". Tigress nodded with a small smile as did Mr Ping.
They all sat in silence for a moment, "How about Ling Wong?" suggested Po. Mr Ping shook his head, "Don't be silly Po, it sounds like a name you would give to a baker, you don't want to choose their jobs for them."
Tigress looked bemusedly at Po, this was much more complex then she had ever thought it was going to be.
"What about Peng?" suggested Tigress hesitantly. Again, Mr Ping shook his head, "You're just asking for trouble by naming him after Tai Lung's nephew, do you want him to take over the Valley!?".
Po frowned, "OK Dad jeez, we're new to this stuff. What would you suggest?". Mr Ping leaned forward on his chair dramatically, "Liánhuā?" he said with wings outstretched. Tigress looked at Po and smiled, "The Lotus Flower, it's a beautiful name" she said pleased with the suggestion.
Po nodded excitedly, "That's a good girl's name, but we need to come up with a boy's name just in case it is one".
Po and Tigress sighed. Parenting was turning out to be a lot more difficult then people would ever make out!
They were just about to continue their discussion when a small object crashed into the kitchen and landed on the table destroying it.
Po and Tigress jumped out of their chairs to combat their attacker but recoiled at the sight of him. He was a small white creature with a monkey tail, strange black fur on his head and he was wearing orange GI. It started to groan and rub it's head, when it noticed Po and Tigress's shocked faces he spoke in a cheerful manner, "My names Goku who're you?".
Meanwhile in a different galaxy altogether
Two Years after losing to Jackie Chun in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament...and about five minutes before crashing into the kitchen.
Goku was sleeping underneath a tree, his loud snores reverberated throughout the dense forest. Goku as instructed by his master the Turtle Hermit had been training by himself for the past two years. Goku was unusual for most boys as he was extremely powerful and had a long monkey tail growing out of his back. He had spiky black hair and he wore orange Gi with the Turtle insignia on the back of it to show the average person which school of martial arts that he belonged to.
Goku had been working very hard in order to exceed his limits and to finally become strong enough to defeat Jackie Chun, the thought of fighting the powerful old man again made the boy very excited.
The Flying Nimbus and the Power Pole were both laid next to Goku underneath the tree. The Flying Nimbus was a yellow flying cloud that could only be ridden by the purest of hearts, it had been granted to Goku by his master. The Power Pole was a keepsake given to the monkey tailed boy by his grandfather before his untimely death.
Goku finally stirred and woke up, he scratched his head and yawned. "Oh boy!" he said excitedly, "Another day of training".
He hastily got up, grabbed his Power Pole and jumped onto the Flying Nimbus. He was going to find the spot where he often trained, it was by a large waterfall with many rocks by it. The Flying Nimbus slowly ascended into the sky, when it reached a certain point it shot off quickly into the distance. Goku loved the feeling of going fast and the feeling of the wind against his face.
Suddenly Goku was struck from behind by an unknown assailant. He started to plummet towards the ground, he made himself upright in mid-air and called out to the Flying Nimbus to catch him, "NIMBUS!" he yelled in panic.
He heard a noise underneath him and saw some kind of portal open underneath him, Goku braced himself for some kind of heavy impact. He went through it and quickly saw three figures in a kitchen before crashing headfirst onto a table inside of it.
Goku was winded for a second, he turned himself onto his back and groaned whilst rubbing his painful head. He looked up and saw a panda, tiger and a goose looking at him with shocked expressions.
Goku was silent for a second before greeting them in his usual cheerful manner. "Hi, my names Goku who're you?".
The panda moved his arm in front of the tiger.
"Who are you? How dare you try and attack us!" yelled Tigress. Goku stumbled to his feet and looked oddly at the pair of them, they looked just like animals but they were walking on two legs and they were talking to him.
The tiger was wearing what appeared to be a red training vest while the fat panda was just wearing shorts. Goku also noticed a small elderly goose trying to move out of the way of the tiger and the panda.
Po put his arm protectively in front of Tigress, he knew she could protect herself but it was more the baby's safety he was looking out for. "Who are you? How dare you try and attack us!" Tigress yelled. The creature got up and looked oddly at the two of them. He was quite small only barely coming up to Po's chest.
In truth Po was wary, he couldn't feel anything evil from it but he was prepared all the same for a fight. "Answer her" ordered Po.
"Like I said my names Goku" answered Goku. Po frowned. "Savior of life? That seems a bit arrogant" Tigress replied.
"What about Sun Wukong? That'd be a good name for a boy" said Mr Ping excitedly, Po glanced at his father. "Not now Dad", he looked back towards the boy with a cocky grin "I'm in a good mood because I'm with my family so if you leave now I won't have to fight you".
To Goku one word stuck out in that sentence, can you guess which one? "You want to fight?", Goku started to grin madly and get excited "Does that mean you're strong?.
Po laughed, "Ha, didn't any one tell you who I am?". He struck a pose, "I'm the Dragon Warrior buddy and I'm here t-".
"Power Pole EXTEND!", yelled Goku. "Wait wha-", the pole smacked Po in the face and sent him to the ground hard. Po groaned and clutched his face, that pole packed a wallop and Po could feel the onset of a bruise start to form on his face. Mr Ping ran over to check on his son, "Po are you okay?" he said worriedly. Po rubbed his face painfully, "Yeah I'm fine" he glared angrily, "But he won't be now".
Po looked at Tigress who looked ready to pounce at Goku, "Stay out of this Tigress, I don't want you two to get hurt, get the villagers out of the area, I have a feeling this is going to be rough", she nodded reluctantly and guided Mr Ping outside of the restaurant.
Po got into a stance as did Goku. "OK, now you've asked for it buddy". Po posed dramatically again, "Prepare to feel the thunder!", upon yelling his battle cry Po threw the separated table leg at Goku. The boy ducked and it embedded itself the wall behind him.
"POWER POLE EXTEND!" yelled Goku again, the orange staff quickly launched itself at Po again who caught it and pulled Goku towards him with it. He clothes lined Goku in mid air and threw him heavily against the ground.
"That's not going to work on me twice" Po said cockily. Goku quickly recovered and swept Po's legs out from under him, Po bit his tongue in surprise and fell on his back.
"Ow you jerk you'b mabe me bite mibe tongue!" he yelled in pain.
Tigress and Mr Ping were outside panting heavily, "I've really got to start training again" said Tigress who was out of breath for the first time in years. She heard the sounds of their fighting and grew concerned, Po hadn't trained seriously in a while so he might be slightly out of touch.
She turned to Mr Ping, "Mr Ping can you get yourself to safety? I'm going to check on Po". Mr Ping shook his head furiously, "No Tigress, I can't let you go and fight in the shape you're in". Tigress glared at the goose who held her faze and his ground, she eventually sighed and gave in.
They were about to leave when she suddenly got on all fours and quickly left Mr Ping on his own. "TIGRESS WAIT!" he yelled in panic, he frowned. "Stubborn tiger, I should go and get Shifu and the others". Mr Ping left as fast as he could to go to the Jade Palace and gather the rest of the Valley defenders The Furious Five!
Goku and Po were still fighting fiercely, neither one was giving an inch to the other. Goku swung Po around by his arm and threw him through the roof of the kitchen into his old room which had only recently been rebuilt due to another fight that he'd had there. Po's tongue had quickly healed from it's earlier punishment, though he hadn't spoken in case he still sounded ridiculous.
Po gasped at the impact of hitting his room's ceiling and then hitting the floor. Goku leaped up to him but was quickly struck down by one of the makeshift staffs that the panda had made when he was younger.
Po swung the staff around his body, it wasn't part of the bear style but he'd had enough practice over the years that he was proficient enough with it. He pointed the end towards Goku who was getting up from Po's attack, "You're pretty good what was it...Goku? But you're not going to beat me, I've fought rogue Kung Fu Masters, megalomaniacs, suits of armor that have come to life and even an evil version of myself who had a cool scar across his right eye, what about you?".
Goku coughed at the dust now surrounding them, "I've fought in a tournament full of the greatest fighters on earth and I've fought the greatest martial arts fighter on the planet", after the two had finished comparing notes they started to circle each other around their admittedly small arena.
There was another lull before Po threw the amateurishly made weapon like a javelin towards his opponent, Goku jumped, caught it with his tail, passed it to his right hand and broke it in two just using his right hand. Po whined like a child, "Awww, come on that took me like four days to make that". Po slid towards Goku who leaped over the panda, Goku aimed a kick towards Po's face but Po blocked it by guarding his face with his forearms.
He pushed Goku upwards and launched himself up to deliver a hard kick to Goku's midsection. The boy gasped at the admittedly strong blow but it didn't stop him from recovering quickly and punching Po in the face. The two fell back in to the kitchen, "Oh boy, I've got to take this fight outside. Dad's not gonna be happy at having to rebuild his shop twice in only a couple of weeks".
"Hey Goku, whadda say about taking this fight outside, we've totaled this place and I'd rather not get yelled at by my Dad". Goku nodded, "Ok then", Po went to exit the shop calmly but Goku picked him up, "I meant we could just wal-" Goku threw him out into the street. Po crashed into an apple cart that had been abandoned by the villagers that Tigress and Mr Ping had warned off. Apples spilled everywhere across the street, it was at this point that Po heard his stomach rumble, whether in actual hunger or just in protest at the thought of getting injured more nobody knew.
Po got up, groaned painfully and patted his soft, round stomach. "Not now buddy" he thought affectionately.
Goku jumped out of the now almost completely wrecked shop, it looked much worse from the outside. "Wow mister, you're really strong, I haven't had to go all out in quite a while" Goku said proudly. "Well I'm not beaten yet" Po said while panting heavily.
The fight continued with the two exchanging and receiving many blows from each other until Goku moved so fast he disappeared, Po paused and gasped "W-wait, where did you go?" Po felt a change in the wind so he threw a punch towards where his gut told him to. he used all of his strength in one last desperate attack. Po could have cried with relief when he saw that Goku had suddenly appeared on the end of his fist. Spit flew out of Goku's mouth and he struggled to catch his breath because of the strength that had come from the flabby panda.
Po headbutted him and threw him down the street, Goku skidded along on his face before colliding with a stone wall. Po knelt down to catch his breath naive in thinking that he had won the intense battle. "That...that was tough, he's one of the most powerful people I've ever fought for someone so young and small".
A thick layer of dust fell about the street from the building Goku had just crashed into. "Uggh, no choice I have to do it" Goku thought desperately.
The dust finally settled and Po squinted to see where he had got to.
Po's jaw dropped, "How did he get up from that? I put everything I had into that punch." The panda looked at the boy's unfamiliar pose "What's he doing? That not like any pose I've ever seen before...but it does look cool".
"KA...ME". Po felt a huge rush of wind gathering around Goku, he looked up and saw the clouds turn dark. A blue ball of energy formed inside of Goku's palms, it didn't look threatening though. it looked serene and calm unlike Goku's expression which was now for the first time serious and focused.
"HA...ME", Goku gritted his teeth and tried to maintain the energy, because he was tired and injured this was a last ditch effort to win. "I've got a bad feeling about this" Po thought worriedly, he became determined to stand his ground. Po planted his feet down and held his arms in front of his face like he did earlier. "HAAAAAA", Goku yelled, he put his palms in front of him and a wave of energy exited them.
Po felt the huge wave hit him, it was the single most intense feeling he had ever had in a fight. The effort it took to block the attack was intense and took all of Po's willpower and strength just to stop himself being overtaken by it's majesty. Goku was quickly losing energy, "I hope this guy gives up soon, I can't keep this up much longer".
The Kamehameha engulfed the two of them and a bright light overtook the Valley.
Shifu and the others paused in the training hall, "Master, did you feel that?" asked Crane worriedly. Shifu nodded grimly, "I did indeed Master Crane, but what caused it I have no idea".
Shifu signaled the others to continue their training but Shifu grew worried at the thought of Po and Tigress being caught in the middle of it, he would keep an eye on the situation for now.
Tigress rounded the corner quickly to see how Po was faring against this mysterious opponent, she had felt that huge force from a couple of streets across and immediately knew where to find the two of them. Tigress saw Po's unconscious form and the boy who looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion.
Tigress gasped and leapt to Po's defense, "Enough!" she yelled angrily. She threw a quick jab at Goku who barely dodged it, "Wow, this one's strong and fast" Goku thought. He went to hit Tigress back but was suddenly stopped by a big paw. Po snarled at Goku, "Don't even think about hitting her, she's pregnant and if you think I'm gonna let you hurt my family kid then you don't know how wrong you are!".
Po threw him away but Goku landed gracefully on his feet. The monkey boy gasped and bowed to Po, his well known morality started to kick in. "I'm so sorry mister, I didn't know". Tigress put a paw on Po's shoulder to calm him down, it thrilled her to hear Po say that he considered her part of his family now. "Why did you do that Tigress?, I told you to stay out of the way" Po said sternly, he was grateful for the back up but he didn't want to see her get hurt.
Tigress frowned, "Well sorry but you were getting badly beaten, I had to help you out otherwise our child might of grown up without a father!" she yelled while jabbing a finger into his fluffy chest. Goku watched the two argue in surprise, "What are they doing?".
He suddenly realized the lack of energy.
Po pushed Tigress's hand away from him, "I'm fine, but you've got to stop taking risks for the next couple of months Tigress" Po bit his lip, "It's not just your life that matters to me now" he said softly. Tigress sighed and placed her paw on his soft, fluffy cheek.
"Po I'm okay" she said, Tigress turned to Goku. "So...Goku, why did you try to attack us?", Goku's eyes rolled up into his skull and he suddenly passed out from the fatigue of the battle catching up to him. Tigress gaped at him in shock, "He passed out, what she w-" she heard a thud come from behind her. She turned to Po and saw that he had also passed out from fatigue. "Po!", she yelled in concern, she rushed over to him and checked for a pulse... thankfully she found one.
"Just exhaustion, that battle was incredible! I could feel the energy and the force of it all from only a couple of streets away" Tigress looked over towards the unconscious Goku "That boy is so strong".
Tigress looked down at Po and started to beam with pride, "As is Po, when he is fighting for his loved ones". She heard the Five gather nearby, she smiled at Mr Ping's quick thinking. But frowned when she realized he was going to yell at her later for ditching him to go and help Po going completely against both of their wishes.
She couldn't help it, she had been a warrior for so long that she didn't know how to be anything else. "Whoa! What happened here?" asked Mantis, he looked at Goku, "And who's that?". Tigress stood up, "I'll answer your questions later, get Master Shifu down here and bring a healer with you".
Mantis nodded quickly, him and Monkey split up to get both parties, "He's going to want to see this" said Tigress referring to Goku.
Okay time to talk about timelines. In Goku's timeline this takes place in the three years that he trains by himself before the tournament in which he meets Tien for the first time, he knows the Kamehameha, owns the Flying Nimbus and the Power Pole but he's just weak enough that it can make sense that Po and his friends can keep up with him in terms of fighting skill.
In Po's timeline this takes place after my latest story Rage of the Ifrit, if any of the predominate Dragonball fans among you want to know more about this go to my profile and read in this order, A Better World, The Way Back, Fragments and finally Rage of the Ifrit. This should bring you up to speed on the KFP story elements and clear up any confusion.