The Empire

I don't own KFP

"OW! That hurts!" Po cried as Mantis tried to practically stabbed an acme puncture needle, "Really guys, I'm fine. I'm just a little shaken up. Nothing a bowl of soup won't cure."

"Are you sure Po? You did take a very big hit from Tigress," Viper asked concerned and also looking accusingly at Tigress.

"What? I said sorry," Tigress said defensively. Po smiled.

"Really, I don't see why you guys are going through all this trouble to heal me. I've been through worse," Po argued.

"Still, we have to make sure that you're okay," Crane said. Then Master Shifu strolled in, leaning on his cane.

"Ah, I see that you're recovering from your spar with Master Tigress, Po," Shifu said looking accusingly at Tigress.

"I said I was sorry!" Tigress repeated.

"Anyways, what's wrong Master Shifu. You seem very distraught," Po commented. Shifu was quiet for a moment.

"We've recovered some information from the eastern side of China. A rising empire is coming to west side. No one knows about this "Kings Empire" because it seems that anyone who goes into the boundaries of the empire never comes out. Several villages have gone missing. Many warriors have gone missing too. When they enter, they don't come out. It's said that the guardians of the empire are able to protect them from anyone that tries to get in," Shifu explained.

"What do you want us to do?" Crane asked.

"Nothing yet. We can't blindly go into something that seems to eat up warriors. We'll have to watch what happens. The weirdest thing is the superintendent's is the one most worried. He was very scared and worried when I went there to get our permit," Shifu said wondering.

"One thing's for sure," Po said as he stood up from his acme puncture torture, "Something's going."

The towering building stood over the aquatic city. Gongmen city in all its splendor. One person stood on top this massive tower. Many would think it was the ghost of Shen, but that wasn't the case. It was some other shadow, overlooking his work. All his troops were in place and everything was going more smoothly than he expected. This is where the Kings Empire had stretched its borders, approximately five days from the Valley of Peace. King, that was the person's name. He was the king and his name was King. It was very interesting.

"King, come on, we need to talk," Shouted a voice from inside. The young wolf was called by his younger brother, Zing. King was the eldest of the four brothers.

"Coming," King replied as he climbed into the window of the Gongmen Tower. Long gone were the rulers that were placed here to rule the city. King made sure to put them to good use. King smiled a little at the thought.

"KING! Get your kingly butt in here!" Said his brother Zing. The wolf rolled his eyes. King raced to the room with all his three brothers and several generals differing in animal kinds. King was also the tallest, and his brother Zing was also tall like him, though he was the youngest. Their other brothers were different in contrast. Ling was a lighter shade of grey and Bing was the darkest shade of the whole group. Yet they were blood brothers, born of the same father and mother who were long dead.

"So what's wrong?" King asked. One of the general, a ram, laid big map of China. King could immediately see that the big red area was the Kings Empire.

"We're here. Now, that we are, in speaking terms, 'in the resting stage' of your-"

"Our," King corrected.

"Our empire, we need to look to another land. To see if we can conquer it or not," The general finished. Everyone looked at King.

"What you're basically saying is that you want me to do my spy routine to see what types of things we could use to our advantage?" King guessed. Everyone nodded, "Fine. What's our target?"

"The Valley of Peace."

"You mean the Valley of Peace with the Legendary Dragon Warrior?" The generals nodded, "Okay, I'll think about it. Everyone except my brothers may leave." Once everyone was gone, King jumped up into the air.

"I guess you're excited to test the Dragon Warrior?" Bing smiled.

"Uh Duh! I mean everywhere we've gone, we've seen warriors that people say are good. But in reality, they are torturing the people. It will be so great to see what kind of warrior this person is. And, to make it a plus, he's chosen from the universe! What more could a guy ask for?" King said excitedly.

"He may be just like everyone else. Only there to get glory and honor. You do remember that Tai-Lung came from there, right? You remember what he was like." Ling said.

"Pessimist, and we've met some people who are true warriors, and Tai-Lung's case doesn't count," King countered.

"I'll get your beggar costume," Bing said.

"Thank you, Bing. You guys know what to do. See you brothers," King said going out the door.

"Try not to get killed again!" shouted Zing.

"Will do!" King shouted from the door.

Po was outside by the Sacred Peach Tree Sapling. He was eating a bowl of dumplings. He heard a sigh behind him. "What's wrong?" The person said. Po turned to see Tigress behind him.

"What? What do you mean what's wrong?" Po said wiping his mouth. Tigress rolled her eyes. She pointed to the bowl of dumplings. "Oh, right."

"What's wrong panda?" Tigress repeated. Po stayed silent for a moment. Should he even say? What would she say? She probably wouldn't care, but he didn't know that.

"Um...I don't want to talk about it right now," Po said. This surprised Tigress. Po was always willing to tell people what was wrong with him. Po would never keep something so troubling to himself. So Tigress left it alone.

"Okay, but Po you know you can talk to us any time you want," Tigress said as she went down the mountain. Po sighed as she left. She wouldn't have been able to answer the question anyways. Lately, Po had been asking himself if he even deserved the privilege of being Dragon Warrior. All his friends would have probably said yes just to make him feel better. So he couldn't ask them. Po shook his head. There were more pressing matters at hand. The advancement of the Kings Empire. Who was this merciless king that struck terror into everyone? And what was Po going to do about it?

"Ha! Nothing I can't handle," Po said trying to be confident. But he still didn't feel as confident as he usually was. Maybe something will come.

to be continued