Inspired by Red Panda Obsessor's "Life or Death?" story. Enjoy!
Heart of Stone
Chapter One- Battle in the Mountains
No one ever said it was supposed to be easy. No one ever told Po that either. Hence the reason he kept getting knocked into a wall or repeatedly coming too close to falling off the mountain.
"Why again are we up here?" Po yelled as Crane saved him (again) from falling off the rock.
"To stop the Yangzi Clan!" Crane replied as he deflected a spear and sent its holder hurdling off the mountain. The evil warrior's screams were silenced with a crash into the sharp rocks below. The Yangzi Clan had been terrorizing the Valley of Peace for the past month, so Shifu, the Furious Five, and Po took it upon themselves to drive the warriors out or wipe them out altogether. Since the Yangzi Clan wasn't going quietly, the warriors had to resort to wiping them out. At least that way the group of snakes, crocs, and gorillas wouldn't cause anyone else trouble.
Po tried his best to dodge any weapon that was swung his direction and even fight back. But, seeing how he was being pummeled a lot, he took to a ledge and scrambled up. He looked out at the many warriors they had left to kill. It was a fairly large mountain, and there were at least a hundred or so warriors, minus the ones from the Jade Palace. But it was a bit cramped. Po saw Viper strangling a gorilla and Tigress snapping a croc's neck. Monkey was flipping this way and that, knocking the bandits off the mountain. Po shivered as most of them screamed as they fell. Crane swooped down to kick warriors attacking his friends from behind. Po noticed another gorilla being beat up by a seemingly invisible force.
Mantis, no doubt. His thoughts chuckled. Po grabbed a branch from a tree and joined the fight again, looking for Master Shifu.
Shifu couldn't be seen very well because he was on a small clearing higher up, facing the Yangzi Clan's leader, a large tiger named Yangzi (hence the name of his clan). Both leaders were covered in cuts, bruises, and Shifu had a bite mark on his left arm. Yangzi, in turn, had a nasty cut in his tail from Shifu stabbing a dagger thru it. Now, Yangzi had the dagger and Shifu was one backward step away from falling off the ledge and into the mess of warriors below him. Yangzi rushed in with the dagger, but Shifu managed to jump up and use the tiger's head for an extra jump. Shifu landed on all fours, doing a 180 to face the tiger that was rushing at him. Shifu waited at the last second and kicked the dagger out of Yangzi's hand and then spin kicked him to the edge of the cliff. Before the tiger could recover, Shifu launched a kick to his face, knocking him off the cliff. Shifu panted as he searched for the dagger. He saw it next to the ledge and grabbed it.
That's when a knife sliced thru the air, giving Shifu a nasty cut on his right arm. He cried out in pain as he dropped his dagger. Yangzi, who had been holding onto the rock face with his claws, suddenly swung up and kicked Shifu in the face. Shifu was slow to recover, and Yangzi managed to get a few hits in. But at the sight of Crane hurdling into the mountain wall near him, Shifu had a sudden adrenaline rush, kicking Yangzi to the ground. The tiger stayed on the ground, and Shifu rushed to Crane's side.
"I'm fine….." Crane wheezed. The avian had obviously gotten the wind knocked out of him. He quickly got up and rejoined the fight below. Shifu was about to follow when he suddenly felt like his bad leg was on fire. He fell to the cold stone ground, holding his now bleeding leg. Yangzi held the bloody knife in his hand and moved in for the kill. He would've killed Shifu then and there…
….had a certain female tiger not slammed into him.
Tigress, hearing her master's cries, had rushed up to him and now she and Yangzi fought hard like wild animals. Shifu looked away as Tigress snapped the evil tiger's neck, killing him instantly. As an added (though quite unneeded) bonus, Tigress stabbed him with his own dagger. Tigress turned to her master, but was surprised to see him gone. Looking over the edge, she saw him attacking the rest of the clan, completely oblivious to the pain. She rolled her eyes, but helped him and the other fight.
Po soon found himself standing next to his master. "We need to end this soon!"
"Right!" Shifu agreed as he kicked a warrior into another's spear. "Gather the Five and tell them to get to higher ground!" Shifu grabbed Po's tree branch from his hands and weaved his way thru the crowd. Po kept fighting, telling the Five Shifu's message as he went.
"When?" Tigress asked.
"Not sure!" Po replied. However, they soon heard rumbling, and everyone looked up to see a landside heading towards them. The Yangzi Clan warriors rushed around, but were crushed by falling rocks. The Furious Five and Po, with the help of Crane, managed to get to a ledge off to the side, safely away from the raining rocks. Once the rocks had settled, it was plain to see that the Yangzi Clan was no more.
But Master Shifu was nowhere in sight.
A/N: I needed a break and had to start something new. This story will be relatively short, but I needed to start fresh before going back to my old stories. Read and Review!
