Prolouge
They were coming. She knew it, and it made her so scared, so afraid, so vulnerable. She ran, faster than ever before.
They couldn't find her. They musn't find her.
She knew she was cut out for this, she was a kung-fu warrior... But she couldn't bring herself to it, she couldn't kill her own friends. It seemed so dead, so heartless. And, what's more, she didn't even know why.
They're nearly here.
Run! Go, run! It was nearly too late for her.
And, suddenly, it all froze.
The world span.
And then someone screamed.
Chapter 1
It was an ordinary day when it all began. If days were people, and they all lined up, you wouldn't have noticed it from the others. The only thing that made it stand out was the terrified, yet confused look on it's face. All the days before would be quite content... all the days after stood in fear.
"Po, you will spar with Tigress. Crane, you will spar with Viper. Monkey, you will spar with Mantis. Clear?" The sharp tone of Shifu's voice rang out around the training hall. A voice not to be reckoned with, a force of nature.
"Yes, Master Shifu," they all bowed respectfully. That is how they lived, after all. Before the world flipped upside-down. As they calmly began to train, all seemed to be at peace. Well, at peace until...
"MASTER SHIFU!" A bird came flying - literally - through the doors of the training hall, looking more flustered than normal (quite an achievement for the normally flustered Zeng) "It is a message from the Emperor of China himself!" The peaceful atmosphere ruined, Shifu sighed, before retrieving the majestic-looking scroll from the bird (who, admittedly, needed a rest, considering the amount of stress he put himself under). Slowly, as if a dragon may leap straight off the paper and into his face, Grandmaster Shifu of the Jade Palace began to unravel the scroll and silently read. After a few looks over the first sentences, he rolled it back up again, turned to his students and spoke, in his powerful not-to-be-messed-with voice
"I am to read this in private. You are to not disturb me. You shall continue training. And, if any of you dare even think about reading this, I shall rip out your stomach and force you to eat it. Is that completely clear, panda?" The force in the last sentence would've made even the most scary, terrible creature run to it's mother.
"Yes, Grandmaster," there was no objection in any of their voices. As jokester as some of them could be, they weren't idiots (usually). However inquisitive Po might've been, he was going to have to wait. Life would've been so much better for them if they never truly found out the horrible details of the fateful letter, after all. Zeng, not wanting to know what would happen next, quickly left for the village. That would probably be the last time he would go down those stairs without fear.
Master Shifu briskly left his students and made his quick way to his room. The most private area of the palace. No-one would catch him here. Carefully, he re-opened the scroll, as his eyes scanned over the first few sentences:
Grandmater Shifu of the Jade Palace,
This is a letter sent directly from the Emperor of China. I advise you not to take it lightly, at all. Your students, the Masters Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Tigress, Viper and the Dragon Warrior, Po Ping, must not see this letter. It is of the most high confidentiality. Only three people know of it's existence: You, the Emperor himself, and another highly important individual who wishes not to be named yet.
Now, the highest courts of China are asking you to comply with below. You must do this, on the Emperor's orders, and you cannot ask why...