Kung Fu Panda's Master Tigress in:
Chronicles of the Dragon Prince I:
One Dragon's Pain
(I do not own Kung Fu Panda, Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Sins of a Solar Empire, the Elder Scrolls, or any other franchises I may not have mentioned due to poor memory.)
Prologue
Pain. Everyone feels it at some point in their lives. For some, it's easy to shrug it off, keep moving forward. For others, it drives them insane. Everyone copes with it in different ways. If one is fortunate, they don't feel a lot of pain in their lifetime. If one is not, they are in pain for as long as they can remember. As was said before, some merely shrug it off and keep moving. Such individuals never see how deep the pain of others less fortunate goes. However, there are those rare individuals who, while tormented daily by their pain and suffering, somehow find the strength to keep going. A blind drive forward they neither understand nor question.
This is a story set around one such individual.
I shan't tell you this person's name – that, dear reader, is a discovery I leave to you. I will tell you, however, that in the times after the defeat of Lord Shen, the master of the Jade Palace, Shifu, decided it prudent, for one reason or another, to adopt new talent for the Jade Palace. The reasoning behind it was not clear, but it was told to the Furious Fighters that, in what could only be described as a paranormal incident shared by Shifu and Po, the late Master Oogway told of a new warrior that would come to them from a far-away land. He would be a strange, possessing a great intelligence, skills never before seen, powers beyond imagination, and a dark secret he would hide with all his might. If the Furious Fighters – Tigress, especially, though it was not clear why – were willing to nurture him, care for him, he would become an invaluable member of the group.
So the master and his students sat vigilant, looking for this warrior, who Oogway would only describe as a man, dressed in tattered robes, claiming himself to be but a mere wanderer. For months, they watched. In this time, Tigress began to develop feelings for Po – only to have them shattered when he gave his heart to Song, formerly of the Ladies of the Shade, now walking the path of redemption. The warrior they all watched for then took on an all-new meaning to Tigress, as she hoped he would bring her peace. Then, on one fateful afternoon, as Tigress headed for a meal at Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop...
… Their hopes were answered.
Tigress descended into the Valley of Peace with an empty stomach. Po wanted to be alone with Song, and at this point, while Tigress was still heartbroken, she didn't care. Po had repeatedly stated they were still friends, but it felt like an empty consolation. But, if what Shifu had said was accurate, she would find peace in the Wanderer. She had high hopes for that. But she wasn't expecting it to be easy.
She reached the base of the steps and headed into the village proper, the townsfolk generally staying out of her way. It was a familiar voice that stopped Tigress.
"Having lunch alone, again?"
"Not much choice, Mei Ling," Tigress answered. "Po wanted to be alone with Song, and at this point, I could care less either way."
"He's still your friend," Mei Ling commented. "Least you could do is be his."
"It still feels like an empty consolation," Tigress sighed. "Which is why the Wanderer is so important to me now."
"Speaking of the wanderer, you never told me what he was supposed to look like," interjected Mei Ling.
"Primarily because I don't have much to go on – just that he'd be a foreigner dressed in tattered robes," Tigress explained. "Someone like that-"
"Would stick out like a sore thumb – in fact, I noticed someone like that heading for Ping's noodle shop," Mei Ling finished.
Tigress' head snapped around to look Mei Ling in the eye. "You did?! When?!" she demanded.
"Whoa, Tigress! Calm down! I only noticed him five minutes ago! I doubt he's gone anywhere that soon!" Mei Ling said defensively.
"I have to see him!" Tigress exclaimed, starting for Ping's. She was quickly stopped by Mei Ling grabbing her arm.
"I know you have been eager than the rest to meet the Wanderer, but you shouldn't rush it; take it slow. I'll go with you," Mei Ling said. Tigress sighed, then nodded, and she and Mei Ling started for Ping's restaurant. They entered, but stopped just past the entrance; sitting alone at a table was a strange creature; nearly furless, with no tail, but tan skin, a somewhat trimmed goatee, and dressed in tattered robes that gave him a ghostly appearance, like that of a deathly wraith. Attached to his belt was a strange item, shaped like a cross, but ornate and metallic.
"Is that the Wanderer you were looking out for?" Mei Ling asked.
"Only one way to find out," Tigress responded.
Before Tigress or Mei Ling could move to speak to the man, a band of thugs consisting of two felines, a lupine, and a rodent approached the man. "Well, well – looks like we got a new visitor in the Valley," the Rodent commented.
"Did you pay the toll?" the feline asked. "Anyone entering the valley for the first time pays the toll."
"I was unaware of any toll required by a band of two-bit bandits too weak to get a job," the wanderer responded. "Piss off, and I'll forget I spoke to you."
"You got a lot of nerve, talking to us like that," the lupine growled. He brandished a knife and held it at the Wanderer's throat, eliciting gasps and murmurs from the crowd. As much as Tigress wanted to intercede, she found it more fascinating to watch as the situation unfolds. "Hand over the toll," the lupine threatened, "Or I'll cut your throat."
"If you really were as murderous as your little show implies, you'd have slit my throat as an example to others thinking of defying you," the wanderer said calmly, unintimidated by the blade at his throat. "This is not the first time I've had a knife to my throat. I am not intimidated by your posturing – so piss off, find a job, and stop trolling the people who come and go."
The lupine pressed the blade just beneath the wanderer's jaw, where his carotid artery was. "You've got three seconds to hand over the toll before I paint the table red!" he growled.
"Go ahead," the wanderer taunted the lupine. "Watch what happens." The lupine's face contorted, and he...
But something happened. The wanderer moved with blazing speed, disarming the lupine, then throwing a right hook, then a left, spinning and then bringing his right foot across the lupine's face. The lupine recoiled and hit the ground, dazed, and his friends stared in awe as the wanderer seemingly stood in what Tigress assumed was a fighting stance, but soon stood upright. "Now that is just a tiny taste of what I am capable of," the wanderer stated. "If any of you have any gray matter left, you'll take your injured comrade and get the fuck out of my face before you provoke a response far beyond your capacity to understand, let alone combat."
"Looks like we got ourselves a tough guy, boys," the lupine chuckled. "We do this the old-fashioned way!"
"You sure that's a good idea, Chang?" Tigress asked the lupine. "He disarmed you and knocked you off your feet in a couple of seconds. You really think your gang has a better chance?"
Chang didn't seem to hear Tigress as he and his friends rushed the wanderer. The wanderer did not hesitate, as he went for the metallic cross on his belt, raised it, and it made an electric crackling noise as a fiery-looking violet blade and cross guard flared from the cross. It was then that Tigress realized that it was a weapon, one that neither Tigress nor Mei Ling, much less anyone in the valley, had ever seen before. The wanderer held his weapon at the ready as the thugs charged him, and in a blur of violet light, he downed all but Chang. He put a slice on his right shoulder, then his left leg, made what appeared to be a grabbing gesture, and telekinetically lifted him off his feet – evidently by his throat, Tigress surmised, given how Chang was coughing and choking. Upon looking around, she realized Chang's friends weren't dead, merely suffering injuries that would heal, given time.
"I could have killed them all," the wanderer told Chang, "I could have killed you. Fortunately for you and your friends, I can be merciful, if blunt. This will be the last time I tell you – take your friends and fuck off! Even twitch in this general direction ever again, and you will learn in the worst of ways that I can be merciless, as well."
"Who... what the hell are you?" Chang gurgled out.
The wanderer brought Chang's face within inches of his before saying, "I'm the last person in the world you want to fuck with." With that, he telekinetically hurled Chang against the wall, who collided with it and dropped to the ground. He and his friends eventually got up and limped out of the restaurant while the wanderer went back to the meal so rudely interrupted by Chang and his bandits. Tigress, however, mentally went over what had just transpired, trying to make sense of it. This had to be him. It had to be – only the wanderer described to her by Po and Shifu could do what this man had done.
As much as Tigress wanted to greet the man, she was almost afraid to – between the strange sword, his ghostly appearance, and how he just downed a four-man gang in seconds, she almost wanted to let him be, let him cool off before approaching him. Almost. But not quite, she found, as she started to walk over beside the man. She struggled with what to say to the man, and was still working it out in her head when he said without looking at her, "You can sit down if you want; I don't bite." Tigress and Mei Ling sat down next to the man as he ate.
"I have to say," Mei Ling commented in an effort to break the ice, "I've never seen a weapon like yours – where'd you get it?"
"Made it," the Wanderer replied. "It was the first weapon I ever made. An old – even ancient – design, but undeniably effective."
"What is it called, if I may ask?" Tigress asked.
"Where I'm from... it's called a Lightsaber," the Wanderer responded. "And the one you saw me use, specifically, is a rare lightsaber called a Crossguard Lightsaber."
"You said 'where you are from'," Tigress said. "Where is that?"
The Wanderer paused, as though Tigress touched a sensitive subject. "Where I am from... is a subject I prefer not to talk about. Suffice to say, I hail from a place far from here. A place I can never go back to. And I'd prefer to leave it at that," he responded, his voice having an angry thrum that wasn't there before.
Mei Ling looked to Tigress, and though she didn't speak, Tigress got the message: "Don't push." Tigress' voice was even when she spoke again: "So what brings you to the Valley of Peace?"
"I'm just a wanderer, passing through on his way to parts unknown," he said, the angry thrum gone.
There it was, just as Oogway had told Shifu and Po. A man, claiming to be a mere wanderer, dressed in tattered robes, possessing powers and skills Tigress had never seen... it all fit. She was convinced: This was the man they all were looking for. He had to be.
"Have you ever... thought about settling somewhere?" Tigress asked.
"As much as I like the idea... I've yet to find a place that would openly accept me. My display earlier may have already caused the repercussions I have come to expect in new communities I travel to – they may already be hoping I leave them in peace," the wanderer replied.
"I beg to differ," came Mr. Ping's voice as the aging goose came out with a bowl of soup. "Those thugs have been a thorn in our side for a good long time. No matter how many times Po and his friends drive them off, they keep coming back."
"Mister Ping speaks true," Tigress agreed. "This was the eighth time they've accosted people here, and we've warned them before. Honestly, with as vicious as you were, I'm surprised you didn't kill them outright."
"There wasn't anything to be gained by killing them," the wanderer commented. "And I don't kill unless provoked." He then turned his head to look Tigress in the eyes, and she, for the first time, saw his – narrow, black slits surrounded by a pool of crimson that seemed to be changing color. "And you haven't seen me provoked in that way, nor should you desire to; few have ever witnessed the fury of a dovah; fewer still have survived it."
"Well, regardless, if you restrained yourself from killing those bandits, the people in this valley could use another hero like you," Ping stated, setting the bowl of soup before the wanderer.
"I agree," Tigress added. "We in the Jade Palace have been looking for new talent."
"No," the wanderer sighed, "You weren't. You were looking for me." Tigress' face portrayed a look of shock. How did he know...?
"How do you know that?" Mei Ling asked.
"I am not a moron," the wanderer growled. "Look around you; I can guarantee you, there are at least a half-dozen or more people who could be suitable candidates for 'new talent'. I have long heard of the warriors of the Jade Palace – never once did I hear they were looking for new talent. Yet, I come here, down a band of bandits without killing or even seriously injuring them, and you and Tigress and Mister Ping tell me I should stay, saying the master of the Jade Palace is looking for new talent. If you were, you could have easily found it in among the populace here. So, in conclusion, you were not looking for new talent, you were looking for me – and my instincts tell me that someone among you foresaw my arrival. Now, are you going to keep playing me for an idiot?"
There was the final piece. A great intelligence. There was no doubt in Tigress' mind. This was the man they had been watching for. She stayed Mei Ling from tearing into him before she spoke: "We mean not to insult your intelligence, wanderer. You are correct – we had been watching for you. Our master, Shifu, and the Dragon Warrior, Po, spoke with our late Master Oogway on this matter – it was he that told us you would come to us."
"Oogway..." the wanderer murmured, as though hearing the name of an old friend. His eyes went from the crimson red Tigress saw earlier to a sapphire-blue. "Aged turtle, walks with a staff with a crescent formation at the top, long nails?"
Tigress frowned slightly. "You know him?" she inquired.
The wanderer sighed, rubbing his temple. "As though he knew why I wandered, what I searched for... he was the one who sent me here," he answered. There was a long, uncomfortable pause, while all of this was taken in. Finally, the wanderer downed his soup and rose to his feet. "It seems my destiny – whatever it is – lies here... Master Tigress. So, if only to meet destiny head-on... even though I don't claim to be an ardent believer in such things... I have little choice but to stay here."
Tigress was elated. She rose to her feet as calmly as she could, struggling to contain herself. She felt new hope burning inside. "Well, if you're going to stay here... we'll need to know your name."
"My name... is not something I allow to be widely known. For now... call me Lokahviing," the wanderer requested. As much as Tigress wanted to know his real name, she knew better than to press too soon. She started for the exit, and began the long ascent to the Jade Palace, with Lokahviing walking behind her.