Author's note: Sup guys. Sorry this chapter took so long. I've just been reading a lot lately. And I mean A LOT. I've also discovered a new online MMO that launches tomorrow and have signed up exclusively. It's call Age of Wushu. It's free to play and recommend you guys give it a go. My name is Zayn. Yup just Zayn. Look me up. :) Also, more chapters will be posted over the next week so stay updated.
I don't own Kung Fu Panda.
Chapter Two - To Those It May Concern
The glider carrying the four felines began to float slowly into a massive chasm cloaked in a blanket of trees. The entire trip had lasted about twenty minutes, but they managed to cover ten miles worth of distance before it began to loose speed and slowly descend to the earth. It had been too noisy from the wind to speak, so they were silent for the duration of the flight. Once the cheetah had maneuvered the glider about thirty feet above ground, he turned to his comrades and began to yell over the still loud atmosphere.
"Drop in five seconds!" Everyone gave a quick nod of the head and began to countdown in their minds. They all managed to reach five at the same time and unhooked themselves from the soaring glider, which flew out of sight.
They all fell through the top layer of trees, which was mostly just leaves and small branches, and covered their faces to protect from any facial scratches or cuts. They all managed to do a perfect barrel roll to protect themselves from the fall, even Ny-Li. They all stood up and promptly dusted off the dirt from their clothing before the leopardess began to address a still growing thought lingering around her mind.
"Bad Company?" she said questionably. "Who are you guys and what was that I saw back there? Why did you save me-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa easy. One question at a time please," the cheetah answered as he raised his paws up to indicate her to stop.
"I just want to know who my saviors are," she said, beginning to form a smile on her dark feline lips. "I'm sorry, I never thanked you all for saving me from that pitiful excuse for a councilman."
"Please, think nothing of it, my lady" the panther answered charmingly as he bowed in respect. Meanwhile, the white tiger was busy observing the area they had landed in.
"Now, I hope you all don't mind me asking who you are?...Individually," she corrected herself at the last second. The cheetah was the first to introduce himself as he stepped forward.
"Yonggan, at your service" he stated extending his paw. Ny-Li took his paw and politically shook with grace. She then turned to the panther who now knelt down respectively.
"Chengshi, but most just refer to me as Cheng."
"Well Cheng, you certainly know your manners," she replied, smiling with impression. "I like that." Chengshi rose back up with a smile of his own. Ny-Li had now noticed the tiger, picking at the ground and expecting it carefully. He appeared to be tracking, but she couldn't be too sure. "And you would be?"
The tiger shot is head up and looked over his shoulder. He had actually forgotten that she was speaking, but he put his face back to the dirt and continued inspect it as he spoke.
"Zayn." His voice was quiet, yet firm. She found herself asking more.
"Well, it's truly great to meet you all, but I do have to know who you work for. If you don't mind me asking." Zayn continued to inspect the dirt, as if he had completely ignored what she said. Yonggan decided to answer for him as he saw Ny-Li's expression turn irritated.
"We are, um under the command of the Baohu, and authorized by the Chinese Counsel. Basically, we're a special force."
"Wait, so you guys are like Sacred Shaolin Order?"
"Yeah, sort of, if the Sacred Shaolin Order was a crazy as us."
"I'm afraid I don't follow."
"What we do is to protect China and its allies, just as the Shaolin does," Zayn now said speaking up. "The only difference is that we specialize in the brutal, impossible, and the absolute ridiculous. We step in when no one else wants to."
Ny-Li processed his words in her mind for a moment, pondering what he meant by the absolute ridiculous. She gave herself some time before speaking again.
"And Bad Company is...?"
"A codename," Cheng answered. "All of our squads have one. As a matter of fact, we're supposed to meet another squad called 'Easy' company out here." Ny-Li processed the info before she suddenly remembered about her village. What was happening? She began to worry.
"Wait, wait, what about my people?! Who will protect him from the other guards?!"
"No worries," Cheng replied calmly. "We are just the extraction team. The Baohu have sent out other companies to clean up the mess. Everyone will be fine." His reassuring words eliminated her stress, and she quickly settled down...until she saw their environment surround them.
"Yeah...where exactly is 'here'?!" she exclaimed, now realizing that they were completely lost as far as she knew. They all looked to the tiger who promptly stood up and dusted his gloves off before he turned to the rest of them.
"Shixuang Jungle. We need to head nine miles South and meet up with Easy. Sound good?"
"Yes, sir," Cheng and Yonggan responded. The three soldiers ripped off their long, draped robes.
Zayn wore his casual blue sleeveless vest, but it was decorated with silver vines wrapping around. His pants were matching in cobalt color and the sashes he wore around his ankles and waist were silver to match his decals. Yonggan's outfit consisted of a the common yellow and gold Shaolin robes, except they were shorter and cut on the sides for easier mobility. On the front of his chest, there was a dragon embroidered in black designs. Chengshi revealed a black vest that remained open and decorated in white slash marks. His pants were also black, to match his fur tone, and a long flowing, gold belt remained wrapped around his waist.
Zayn then noticed that Ny-Li was still in her wedding dress. It was so long and it dragged across the filthy ground. It would undoubtedly slow them down in the jungle, filled with branches and vines that would certainly catch the dress.
The leopardess noticed the tiger eyeballing her, and began to feel offended by what he was doing.
"See anything you like?" she asked with sarcasm flowing like a river. Zayn became a bit annoyed by her quick judgment, and responded with his own clever remark.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm gonna love that dress dragging on the ground constantly, becoming clingy to every surface we come across, and causing us to slow down. Yes, I would love it if that dress delayed our mission." His sarcasm stung more than hers, and the cheetah and the panther could feel it. The leopardess glanced down at her dress with sudden realization that he was right. Her dress was already scraping the ground constantly and it was already filthy.
"Well, first off it's a ceremonial robe," she said. "Second, what else am I supposed to wear? Want me to go in nothing but my undergarments? 'Cause that'd be a show for you, huh?"
Zayn stared at her robe for a moment. She couldn't proceed somewhat naked through a jungle with a rough terrain. Plus, their robes were almost as draggy as her robe. He took a minute before an idea popped into his head. He felt inside his vest for a long metal blade. He touched the weapon's cold steel as he slowly removed it from within his top.
"Well, there is one thing we could do..." he said as he glanced at the knife and back to the bottom of her sage green dress. She slowly began to get the idea that wrapped around her mind. She knew what he was thinking, and she hated the idea. But there wasn't really another option...
A large glider flies just over the heads of a trio of wolves, to which they watched pass by. Their fur was dark, and the armor they wore shined a bright steel color. They watched the artificial bird hit the ground about a hundred yards away, smashing to bits due to the speed of its travel. One of the canines, who was taller than the rest, opened his one good eye as his left remained completely shut, revealing a crimson red spectacle. He turned to his friends, who gave him a look of self-knowing. The wolf that was of median height was missing his arm as far up to below the elbow which was replaced by a sickle hook, and scars ran across the top of his head. His fur was darker than the rest, but his menacing looking tribal tattoos still showed visible, but his eyes revealed a gentle hazel brown. The shortest wolf was lacking any serious scar, and he appeared to be younger than the rest; probably no older than twenty. His eyes were a soul-piercing yellow, and his dual sided halberd whirler that he was wielding proved him to be just as menacing as the others.
The one-eyed wolf looks over to the other canines and gives them a confirming nod.
"Yep, that's Bad Company's glider alright," he confirmed. "Whcih means their only a few miles away from where it came."
"I'm gonna check it out, just to be sure" the one-armed wolf said as he trotted over to the wreckage. After looking at it for a moment, it was confirmed that the glider did belong to felines. "You're right, Zhong. This was their glider."
"I'm always right," Zhong joked. "Let's get a move on."
There they were, the four felines trekking through the dense jungle, searching for the other team. At the bottom of the leopardess' robe, it was frayed out, indicating that it was cut. The sage green robe now was at knee-length, making it easier for her to travel, but she still wore a face of pout.
However, Ny-Li managed to take the time to appreciate the marvelous scenery. The trees were not common bamboo or oak, but tall and lengthy willows that were only found in places like this. There were ponds every fifty feet or so and they were clear as the sky was blue. Vines cast themselves from the tree tops and fell all the way down to the filthy ground. Although climbing the fallen logs from older trees was a constant difficulty, they managed to tell a series of stories. The number of rings in on its insides told that it was two hundred and twelve years old, the engravings of peoples names with hearts between them told of all the young love that occurred there, and the deep holes in its mast showed signs of past insect life.
She had always had a hidden love for nature and its beauty, but her duties as a governor for her home region came first. She had to take the job, she was the only truly educated one in her village. If she had it her way, Ny-Li would have been an herbal healer, or perhaps an explorer, maybe even a miner! Just anything so she could be outside and with the world. But she was bound by a commitment, one she was bound to finish it.
The leopardess was snapped out of her trance when Zayn held his fist up in the air to indicate everyone to halt.
"Hold up," he ordered as everyone followed it and stopped in their tracks. "I heard something. Yong, check to see if its friendly."
The cheetah nodded obediently and began to yell into the open air a single word.
"Star!"
No answer.
"Star! Or we will attack!"
Ny-Li began to be afraid of what might happen next. She always wanted to avoid any violence at all costs, but she wasn't the leader of this troop. She had no authority over what they did. Yonggan yelled once more.
"Star!"
Suddenly, everyone sees a trio of wolves reveal their figures from behind a massive fallen tree that was in their path. The one in front was shouting back a code word of his own.
"Blade! Blade! Don't attack!" he replied as he and his other canines emerged. "It's us, Easy Company."
The felines all lowered their guard with relief and strolled towards their friends. They all bowed before one another respectively.
"It's about time you three found us," Yonggan complained playfully.
"Well I guess we could have done better," the one-armed wolf replied with a clever grin. "I think you got tired of waiting when a glider almost de-headed us."
Everyone managed to be talking among themselves, except for the whirler wielding canine and the leopardess, who stood there silently. They it was a few moments before the wolf took a gaze at her and squinted in observation. Why did she seem so familiar? Had he seen her before? She definitely hadn't seen him before, but he felt as if the female he was looking at was similar to one that may have encountered in his past. Her figure just seemed very recognizable to him, and it confused him beyond belief.
Ny-Li felt the wolf's sharp eyes scanning her and gave him a kind look of innocence.
"Hi, um why are you looking at me like that?" she asked kindly, much more kindly than she had the last person that had "checked her out". The wolf quickly snapped himself out of his trance and looked back at her face-to-face.
"Sorry...it's just that...do I know you or-" The wolf was cut off by the tiger raising his voice.
"Everybody, I would like you to meet the governor of Pan province." Zayn motioned to the only female around and the wolves began slowly introducing themselves as well. One-armed wolf went first.
"Szen, m' lady." He bowed in respect and she returned the favor.
"Zhong, at your service ma'am." He bowed as well. She bowed as well and turned her attention to the younger wolf that had been eyeballing her earlier.
"And Mr. Eyeballs over here would be?" she asked.
"Um, Jung-Dow, ma'am." The wolf bowed quickly, realizing how much of a fool he made himself look like. The leopardess smiled lightly at his nervousness and returned the gesture.
"I'm Ny-Li. Pleased to meet you all."
"We should get moving," Zhong stated as he looked up around the air.
"Yeah, but to where?" Cheng asked with a curious glance at the current path they were on.
"Well, closest rest stop is the Valley of Peace. We should go there," Szen answered as he waved his sickle hand waving towards the North.
Zayn had a sudden flashback of the last time he was in the Valley of Peace. He remembered all the friends he left behind to start his new life. He remembers all of their faces with smiles gleaming. But most of all, he remembers the Bengal tiger gorgeously waving goodbye as he flew off.
"Zayn, what's the call?"
The tiger snapped himself out of his daydream and saw that Zhong had been talking to him. He took into consideration and made the decision.
"I guess, since it's closest, that's where we are headed," he replied. The whole group gave a sufficient nod and began to trek down the trail once again.
However, when they were climbing over the massive tree that had been blocking their way, an engraving in the tree's bark caught Zayn's keen eye. He stopped and looked at for a moment.
Zayn + Lotus
The tiger exhaled heavily and sadly continued to glance at the tree skin. He noticed the others had already dropped down from the log. In a quick instinct, to which he didn't think much, ripped the part of the bark off and tucked it into his vest. He jumped down and they continued their journey.
