Migong valley a few miles from the Valley of Peace
Ai Lieu village was once a village of diversity and trade and prosperity, but what does it looks like now? Burning. Its population dispersed, an army of Wolves, Coyotes, and other animals running around terrorizing, killing, and stealing from the Villagers; meanwhile a person stood on a hill overlooking the now burning Village.
A Wolf approached the person and bowed, as the person looked down to him, his bloody amber eyes glowing next to the fire, and his black robes flowing in the breeze.
"Lord Fang, we've killed most of the villagers and taken their supplies, but some still give us resistance." The Wolf said, as Lord Fang scowled at him, before getting an idea.
"Kill them; we will use their deaths as an example that all will fall. Bring at least one prisoner before me." Lord Fang says, as he turns to the Wolf.
"Can I trust you with this? Commander Li Shu." Lord Fang asks, as Commander Li Shu nodded.
"Yes, Lord Fang." Commander Li Shu said, before standing up and making his way back down the hill.
Lord fang took immense satisfaction in the destruction of the village, the screams of the villagers was music to his ears, so much so he decided to walk down the path of the hill into the village, about half way he was joined by two of his soldiers as they walked the rest of the way down.
When Lord Fang and his two soldiers entered the Village, the two wolf guards talked amongst themselves.
"This siege didn't take long to finish." One wolf said, as the other nodded in agreement.
"No, it didn't, they didn't even see us coming!" The second wolf said, as Lord Fang felt a sick smile creep up onto his lips at the Wolf's comment.
It is true that his army has been going from Village to Village quickly taking it over, maybe taking some prisoners and moving on quickly. Even the Emperor's army couldn't catch Lord Fang and his army.
He was truly enjoying the sights when he heard someone call his name.
"Lord Fang!" He heard someone yell, he looked to his left and he saw Commander Li Shu running up to him, as the smile on his face quickly went away replaced by a scowl.
"What is it Commander?" Lord Fang asks, as the wolf Commander stops in front of him, as he placed his hands on his knees panting.
*pant* *pant* "Lord Fang we stomped out the last of the resistance, and we took a prisoner as you ordered." Commander Li Shu said, as the sick smile returned to Lord Fang's face.
"Then we shouldn't keep them waiting." Lord Fang says, as Commander Li Shu caught his breath, and he stood up.
"Follow me, my Lord." Commander Li Shu says, as he led the way with Lord Fang and his guards following.
They came to an open area Lord Fang saw at least two prisoners one a Goose, one a Tiger like himself. Lord Fang walked through the wall of soldiers in front of him with his hands folded behind his back, as the two prisoners looked up at him and just as quickly looked down, as Lord Fang chuckled at the action as he put on his best friendly face.
"How are you two doing this fine night?" Lord Fang asked in a honeyed tone only to be met with silence, as a smile crept onto his face.
"I bet you two are wondering why you are alive?" He says, as the two stay silent.
"I need one of you two to deliver a message to the Valley of Peace." Lord Fang says, as they both look up at him with wide eyes, as the Goose suddenly found his voice.
"Y-You need one of us to deliver a message? But why do you need two of us?" The goose asks, as Lord Fang looks at him, and gives him a sadistic smile.
"I only need one of you, the other I'm just going to kill. I'll let you decide who lives and who dies." Lord Fang says, as the two looked at each other as the Goose tries to glare at him, but it does little to faze the cruel Tiger.
"T-The Dragon Warrior will stop you!" The goose says as the smile on Lord Fangs face disappears, and then a few seconds later returns, as he places his hands on his face and gives a look of fake shock.
"Oh no! Commander, do you hear that? The Dragon Warrior is going to stop us!" Lord Fang says in mock worry, as he looks at Commander Li Shu as the rest of his army broke out in laughter, as Lord Fang returns to his normal posture, as he grabs the Goose by the neck and lifts him in the air as he struggles to get himself free; while the Tigress moves back.
"You don't see the Dragon Warrior here now do you? He isn't coming to protect you." Lord Fang says, as he drops the goose to the ground as he takes in a big gulp of air.
"I don't know if you two have noticed, but the Dragon Warrior hasn't faced anyone like us." Lord Fang says gesturing to the army around him, as he backs up giving the two a smile.
"And I think I know who I'm going to kill." Lord Fang says as he reaches to his back and pulls out a sword, as he gave it a spin it gave of a green glow, as commander Li Shu and his men step back their eyes wide, the Goose and the Tigress seem to notice this.
"W-W-Why are they backing up?" The Tigress asked, as Lord Fang gave her a sadistic smile.
"Do you know what this sword is?" Lord Fang asked, as the Tigress and the Goose shake their heads.
"This is the Hun Shou 'The Soul Taker' sword. Legend says anyone who is killed with it their soul becomes trapped inside it for eternity." Lord Fang says the sadistic smile never leaving his face, as he looks at the Goose.
"Commander, would you kindly move this dear Tigress?" Lord Fang asks, as Commander Li Shu nods as he grabs the Tigress and moves her back into the crowd of soldiers, as a couple more grab her arms as she watches in fear, as Lord Fang stood over the Goose, sword in hand as the Goose suddenly gains a look of defiance.
"I'm not afraid to die!" The goose says, as he spits in Lord Fangs face, as he just wipes it off and looks at the Goose with anger in his eyes, as he snarls.
"We shall see." He says as he rears the sword back as the gooses eyes widen, as Lord Fang slashes the sword along the gooses neck. When he pulled the sword out the Gooses soul flowed into the sword turning it a bright yellow, before returning to its usual green color, as the Gooses body crumples to the floor. His body looked like his life had been sucked out leaving nothing but a grey and frail shell, as the Tigress looked at Lord Fang in fear as he spun the sword once more, before returning it to its sheath, as his gaze turned to the Tigress. She flinched, she felt a desire to run from him, but his soldiers prevented her from escaping, as Lord Fang walked over.
"You are going to run to the Valley of Peace, and you are going to tell them that Lord Fang is coming for the people, their supplies, and that we are going to burn the Valley to the ground. Do you understand?" Lord Fang asked, as the Tigress rapidly nodded as Lord Fang stepped back.
"Let her go." He said as the soldiers released her, as she quickly ran along the path to the Valley of Peace, as Commander Li Shu stood next to Lord Fang.
"Lord Fang, what is our next move?" Commander Li Shu asked, as Lord Fang spared him a glance.
"The Tigress will deliver the message to the Valley of Peace, and I pray it will reach the warriors there, but until then we have one more Village to visit." Lord Fang said.
"What is so important about that Village?" Commander Li Shu asked, as Lord Fang gave him a smile.
"That Village holds the plans to Shen's cannons, we will need them when we attack the Valley of Peace." Lord Fang said with a sadistic smile.
"Should I give the order to move out, my Lord?" Commander Li Shu asks, as Lord Fang nods as the Commander moves to his troops to line them up, as Lord Fang and his army march out of the burning Village.
She was tired, so tired, but she needed to keep going; she needed to warn the Warriors of the Jade Palace, she needed to warn them about Lord Fang. The Tiger who slaughtered the people of her Village, as they burned it to the ground.
She ran, as fast and as hard as she could until she was out of the Bamboo forest, and over the hill. She could see the Jade Palace, she just ran her tiredness no longer affecting her when she saw the Palace.
She ran into the Village, she didn't care if people were looking at her with confusion or skepticism, as she ran up the thousand steps to the doors, as she pushed the doors open she could hear them training.
"Tigress more height!" She heard someone yell.
"Yes, Master Shifu!" She heard right after, as she felt eyes on her she said the only thing that came to her mind.
"Help!" She said, as she finally collapsed from exhaustion as she heard footsteps get closer to her.
"Get her to the infirmary!" She heard someone yell as she felt herself being picked up, and she felt safe from the terror she experienced today.
She eventually found herself being placed one what felt like a bed.
"Panda, go get some water for her. She's exhausted." A voice says.
"On it Shifu." The Panda said.
'Panda? Could that mean the Dragon Warrior?' She though, after a few seconds later she heard his heavy footsteps return.
"Here you are." He says, as she felt herself being lifted, as the Panda helped her drink the water. She slowly took sips, before she was able to take the cup herself, as she finished it she found she was able to open her eyes, and when she did her eyes met with green, and she jumped back as the Panda did too.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." The Panda said, as she just shook her head.
"It's fine." She said as she caught her breath from the small fright she had, as she looked around the room.
"Where am I?" She asked, as the Panda gave her a smile.
"You're in the Jade Palace; you're in the Infirmary." The Panda said, as she nodded.
"Everyone wants to see you in the kitchen, can you walk?" The Panda asked as she nodded, as she carefully stood up and stumbled only to have the Panda catch her.
"Whoa. Take it easy." He says as he put her arm around his neck, as he helped her out of the room and to the Kitchen.
When they got to the kitchen he carefully set her down in the chair, as he moved over to the pot; he said something about making dinner. She just kept her focus on the table.
"What is your name?" She heard someone ask, as she looked up at the person.
"I'm Bao Jin." Bao Jin said, as the others nod.
"I'm Viper, this is Mantis, Monkey, Crane, Tigress, master Shifu, and the one making dinner is Po." Viper said, as Bao Jin gave a small wave.
"Can you tell us why you came here, Bao Jin?" Master Shifu asked, as she looks at him with heavy sadness.
"My village was attacked." Bao Jin said, as the masters looked at her with sympathy.
"Was it Bandits?" Monkey asked, as Bao shook her head.
"No, it was a Tiger by the name of Lord Fang." Bao says as Po set a bowl of noodles in front of her, as she picked up the chopsticks and slowly ate.
"Did the people have time to escape?" Mantis asked, as Bao Jin shook her head again.
"No, Lord Fang and his army came so quickly we didn't have time to escape they… they slaughtered all of my Villages people; Young, Old. Men, Women, Children; they took our supplies." Bao Jin says, as looks of anger crossed each of the masters faces and eyes.
"They captured me and another villager, one I knew since I was a cub. They presented us to Lord Fang." Bao Jin says.
"What did he say?" Po asked, as the others shot him glares.
"He asked us if we knew why we were still alive, but we didn't answer. He said he needed one of us to deliver a message here, he gave us the option to decide who he would kill. That is until my friend spoke up saying that the Dragon Warrior would stop him.
But lord Fang just laughed and mocked us, before he grabbed my friend by the throat and lifted him up, as I flinched away. He said that the Dragon Warrior wasn't coming to save us, and that you haven't faced anyone like him before; then he dropped my friend and he gave us a smile before turning to my friend, and he said he knew who he wanted to kill, and that's when he pulled out his sword." Bao Jin says, as she tried hard not to cry; her noodles long since abandoned.
"What sword was it?" Master Shifu asked, as Bao Jin looked him in the eye.
"He called it the Hun Shou 'The Soul Taker' Sword. He said it was a Legendary weapon." Bao Jin said as Shifu's eyes widened, before he darted away from the table as everyone looked at his retreating form in confusion.
"Do you know what that was about?" Bao Jin asked, as the others shrugged.
Eventually master Shifu returned with a scroll in hand, as he returned to his seat. He unrolled it showing a drawing of the sword.
"Is this the sword he used?" Master Shifu asked, as Bao Jin nodded.
"Yes, even his own soldiers feared it." Bao Jin said, as Po looked at the scroll.
"Why is it a Legendary Sword?" Po asked, as the others shot Po a look of agitation.
"it's Legendary Panda, because whoever is killed with it their soul becomes trapped in the sword for all eternity." Master Shifu says, as Po's look deflates, then Shifu shifts his attention back to Bao Jin.
"Did he use the sword?" Shifu asked, as Bao nodded.
"Yes, he sliced my friends throat with it, and his soul was drawn into the sword; leaving behind a husk that was his body!" Bao Jin said as she openly cried, as Po quickly took her into a hug as the others dawned looks of disgust and hatred.
"Bao Jin, did he tell you to give us a message?" Master Shifu asked, as Bao Jin collected herself enough to answer.
"Yes, he told me to tell you who he was, he told me to tell you he's coming for the people, your supplies, and to burn the Valley to the ground." Bao Jin said, as she leaned into Po's side wanting to not talk about it anymore.
"How long until he gets here master?" Tigress asked as Shifu glanced at her, as he rolled up the scroll.
"A day, two at most; there is one more place he may strike, the Emerald Valley. The only real reason I could think of as to why Lord Fang would go there is for the plans to Shen's cannons." Master Shifu said, as Po decided to speak up.
"I thought we destroyed those plans." Po said, as master Shifu shook his head.
"They were entrusted to master Tai Jing." Shifu said.
"Master, what do we do? Do we go and aid master Tai Jing?" Viper asks, as Shifu shook his head again.
"No, you are needed here. Zheng!" Master Shifu yells as a Goose runs in.
"Yes, master Shifu." Zheng says.
"Zheng, I need you to fly to the Emerald Valley and warn master Tai Jing about Lord Fangs attack, and that he wants Shens' cannon plans, and that he has the Soul Taker Sword." Master Shifu says, as Zheng nods and fly's off.
Traveling at the speed he was he'd be there in an hour.
Zheng finally arrived in the Emerald Valley as he flew up to the Temple, as he flew in he saw master Jing practicing his form, as he landed he saw the Wolf masters ear twitch as he stopped and turned to face the messenger with a smile.
"How can I help you my friend?" Master Tai Jing asks.
"Master Shifu sent me to give you a message." Zheng said, as Tai Jing nodded.
"He told me to tell you that Lord Fang is heading here to attack, he wants the cannon plans of Shen, and that he carries the Soul Taker Sword." Zheng says, as master Tai Jing frowns.
"This is most troublesome. I will gather soldiers for his attack, you return to Shifu and tell him to do the same." Master Tai Jing says as Zheng nodded and flew off, as master Jing went to prepare the soldiers.