Hey guys and galls
Sorry this took so long to update. Finishing the school year, etc. as well as delving more into art.
Uh, I know there were quite a few mentions that Tigress was going a bit OOC. Rather than delaying the explanation even longer, I decided to bump it into this chapter.
Yea... Sorry again for the slowness.
Written entirely on a smartphone, btw.
Chapter 2
oh gods oh gods OH GODS
This didn't look good at all. The five of us, Po, Tigress, Crane, Mantis and I had all ran back up to the palace, upon the news that Mantis brought.
Blood marked the walls, as if a toddler had been given a bucket of red paint and set loose within the Palace walls. And had been given more when he'd spilled it on the floor. Bodies littered the floors about the Palace grounds. Wolves, foxes, cats, and other types of animals lay strewn about, many deformed from the numerous broken bones dealt by either of the masters' weapons.
Mantis stumbled out in front of the other four of us, equally stunned by the number of dead. "There... There were... so many of them..." he stammered. "All of them... that same blank face... Muttering that same cursed line..." he started shaking violently.
Crane snapped out of his glazed gaze. "What!?!"
Mantis jumped at the outburst. "They all had seemed brainwashed, all of them, muttering 'Come with us... Join us.' Their voices alone could drive a man insane."
"No..." Crane gasped. "That can't be!"
"It's true!" Mantis assured.
"No, not that! Its Tai Lung-"
Po gasped, "How?"
Crane sighed, "What Tai Lung said, rather. When he talked to me. He mentioned these beasts, muttering that exact phrase. He said they tried to take him as well, but that he out-ran them. I didn't believe him, I thought... I though he was just trying to scare me more."
"WHAT!?!" Tigress yelled, "Why didn't you tell anyone about this!"
"Sorry! I would have, but I thought he was lying!"
"Hmph!" Tigress grunted, overreacting quite a bit.
"Yahhh!" A voice shrieked. Out of instinct, I jumped in the air, turning to face in the direction the sound had come from. Each of the others turned as well, taking defensive positions.
One of the wolves stirred. His eyes shifted, and he blinked a few times. "Free?" he mumbled, before trying to get up. "Ahhh!" he quickly cried in pain, feeling the weight of his wounds.
"What?" the wolf gasped, before struggling to look down the rest of his body. His arms and legs were all broken in multiple places, and a cut sliced through his side, dumping blood across his once blue shirt and puddling on the ground beside him. He groaned, dropping his head back to the ground.
I approached cautiously, not knowing what was going on. He jumped, obviously surprised at seeing me, before shrieking in pain again.
I looked over her wounds. They were horrific, most-likely mortal. The wolf closed his eyes and started crying softly, lip quivering from the pain raking his body.
"So...Much...Pain... No wonder he released me..."
"Who?" I asked gently as Crane offered to go for medical help.
"Quelada. He... He let go of my body." He paused, staring blankly right through me. "He took my wife, my children. The whole damn town. Enslaved their bodies, tore their very souls from them. Turned them into monsters... And yet, he finally lets you go when you are of no use anymore. When you-" he choked, "die!" Now the poor wolf shook with his sobbing, not even noticing the pain that should have immobilized him. "My wife... I couldn't..."
"Shhh..." I tried to calm him. "Stop crying." I brushed a blue streak of hair out of his face. "You need to keep still if you have any chance at seeing them again." Tears filled my eyes. I was basically trying to convince myself what I told him.
"I'm not stupid," the poor wolf said darkly. "No one can survive these wounds. It'd take a miracle. I just wish I could see her one more time. Touch her; tell her I love her, one more time. Hear the gentle sound of her breath as she lay across my chest. Feel her heart beat against me. The taste of her lips- knowing that there was always someone there to talk to, confide in. And my kids... He probably slaughtered them. Not old enough to fight." My own tears spotted his shirt as he finished. "I'm worthless. I can't help them. Any of them..."
Tigress stepped up to his side. "You can help them by helping us. We're going to fight them."
I fell back some, glancing at Po- Mantis was off looking at the rest of the bodies, who were all deathly silent.
Po had tears in his eyes. He walked to me, and scooped of up in his arms. "It's not fair," I cried. "Each of them is innocent. How can we fight them?"
"We'll fight, knowing that we are saving thousands from the same fate. We'll fight remembering the thousands already dead at the hands of this. And we'll fight in the hopes that Master Shifu and Monkey can still be saved." Po is widely known for his jokes. I would never have believed that such wisdom could come out from such a simplistic person.
Tigress turned to us, having gotten everything she wanted from the canine. Surprise flickered across her face quickly, seeing Po and I sharing a tender moment. However, her seriousness came back quickly. "We need to leave by nightfall he we are to have any chance of rescuing them. I need to talk with the village head about security here. Po, you need to pack food that'll feed up a week. Viper, help pack other necessities. I'll be back before long." Tigress ran off before any questions could be asked.
Po sniffed a bit. "I guess we should go get ready." He let me back to the ground before heading to the kitchen.
I slid back over to the wolf. He had ceased crying, and merely sat looking at the sky.
"Just to see her, one more time..."
"What was she like?" I asked, trying to calm him a bit more, and take him off of the saddening 'one last time' sequence.
"Well, she had the most amazing laugh ever," he started, "and could melt the strongest of iron with just a word from her precious lips. Heh, every day could'a been heaven with her. Hell, it was heaven. She managed to make even the cheapest of clothing look beautiful. No one needed a sun while she was around, the day just somehow got brighter. I can't remember a day where there wasn't another make trying to who her from me, even after we married." He gently laughed. "She lived up to her married name, sounding like thunder whenever someone had the guts to try and break us apart. Thunder... Hmm, she sure did shake the walls. Now, of course we had our own share of fights, but what couple doesn't? I.... I wish..."
"Shhh," I begged. "Enough of that. You'll see her again one day. Maybe not on Earth, but you will."
Crane showed up just them, followed by a calico cat, our doctor.
"Oh my!" She gasped, seeing the wolf. She gave him a quick glance, as well as the crimson puddle beside him. Her shoulders drooped as she looked upon the hopeless case. "I'm not sure there's much I can do."
"Undestood, miss," he sighed. "Don't get yourself worked up over me."
"Just, do what you can." I begged her. She immediately began closing up his side.
"Crane," I asked, "Would you mind packing for me?"
"Not a problem," he said, heading off.
I sighed, and wiped my drying eyes with my tail, before scratching the wolf behind his ear a bit. "I don't believe you said your name, nor much about you, wolf."
"Ah, yes. They called me K.Z. and I used to be a merchant in the little town of Lufeing out in western China, out in the mountains. I was an orphan, or at least I don't remember having any family. My wife was an orphan too. We actually met in the orphanage growing up. We used to joke about the possibility of being brother and sister. She and I were different colors though, so we just kinda didn't think about it too much. I was this boring shade of gray. Her fur was beautiful, though. Soft and warm too." He sighed and fell silent, and his eyes filled again.
"There, there," I said. "Everything will be okay. We will find a way to stop this madness."
"If you do, could ya tell my wife I loved her?"
Wow... even as he lay here, beaten and torn, his thoughts weren't about him. "Sure can." What I would do for a husband like that-
"Would you like some pain-killers?" the doctor asked him.
"Nah, don't waste 'em on me. I'm sure someone else could make better use of them."
"Oh stop acting as though you're already dead!"
The doctor looked at me as I finished saying that.
"Is it really that bad?" K.Z. cautiously asked again.
"Well," the feline said. "Let's just say that not many people have survived wounds this severe..."
"Hmm.... Well, we'll see if I can. Don't get your hopes up. Master Viper, was it?"
"Yes?"
"Wow, I never thought I'd meet any of the Furious Five, let alone talk with them. Thank you for the talk."
"Any time."
"Don't you have some packing to do?" He practically whispered.
"Well, yea, but-"
"But-nothing. Don't worry 'bout me. Besides, you gotta go save me wife!"
"I guess that would be true," I replied. "I hope to get the pleasure of talking to you again."
He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't bet on it."
"We shall see."
.........................
"Po, we can't pack the whole kitchen," Tigress yelled at the panda. "We need to move quickly!" We were all standing at the Palace gate, waiting as Po half carried, half dragged his monstrous backpack out.
"What? I'm a big eater!" the over-sized mammal pleaded.
"No, not this time through. Plus, Mantis and Viper can't carry their own gear, so we have to carry it for them. Unpack some of that food." She failed to note however that neither Mantis nor I had any real necessities to pack. All I normally brought was the first aid kit, while Mantis occasionally brought his acupuncture set. On the panda's behalf, though, Mantis had decided against bringing it.
Po sighed, "Yes ma'am," before ripping the pack open and pulling some food out.
"You and I, and everyone else all know that you won't be able to carry that much without slowing everybody down," she continued
"Tigress, quit it, he's working on it," I defended him, deciding that Tigress had tormented him enough already.
"Don't you DARE tell me what to do."
Crane got that 'uh-oh' look on his face.
"And at what point did you decided to act excessively kind to him only when no one else was around, huh?" I rattled back, before realizing what I said.
Crane snapped his gaze toward Tigress, and Mantis offered a muffled, "Huh?" I only threw my tail over my mouth.
"Damnit that wasn't about him!" She shrieked. "It was a last-ditch effort at the scroll!"
Her eyes widened as she too realized that her tongue had slipped its guard.
Crane and Po both stood open-mouthed, stunned. "No!" Tigress yelled. She turned, clutching the sack at her back. "And I thought you'd been flying. You WERE watching me. You are all traitors." The tiger started to walk away, concluding, "You would have seen the monstrosity going on up here, had you really been flying. You, of all people, a liar. Backstabber!" She spit the last word out like a poison, before bounding off.
All I could do was stare at her dust trail. Mantis was confused as ever, staring as Tigress leapt from the edge of the Palace, taking her normal route down to the Valley below. Crane was reflecting on his part in the sudden unfortunate turn of events, no doubt telling himself how to fix this division.
Po shared his thoughts rather bluntly, "Where do you think she's going?"
Crane replied, "Well, she's probably heading off in the direction of wherever Quelada is. Running straight in, without any plan. And she'll get caught off guard by something, and end up in Monkey and Master Shifu's position. Unless we match her speed and drive, which is unheard of. And, what's worse is that if she doesn't get into trouble by the time we get there, she'll try and disable us so that she can be the lone hero, thus out-doing the Dragon Warrior. But we can't wait too long because we need to catch them before stuff happens."
Silence broke the small group, virtually harboring each of us in our own minds. My thoughts shifted to Tigress. Wasn't she more honorable than to use Po, just to obtain a scroll, when she already knew what it contained? Or was it just a lust for recognition, just like Tai Lung had fallen into?
"Okay, am I the only one here that has no idea what just happened?" Mantis asked blindly.
"Yes."
...............
"What do you mean, she just up and left!?!" the village head, a rhino, shouted, refusing to believe the news. The furiocity of his voice frightened both of his assistants. Crane and I had gone down to alert him of the dangers, while Mantis helped Po unpack some food.
"I mean exactly what I'm saying!" Crane returned. "She's already gone ahead of us and run off. We need your army to take place watching the valley (he used the term 'army' loosely). I'd also recommend sending a runner ahead with us, should we fail. Although it's fairly apparent that we have quite a job cut out for us." The look on his face revealed his dark idea of our future.
"At least we have the Dragon Warrior with us," I added, trying to keep hopes up a little.
"I'm not sure we could spare any man given the scale of danger you've told of," he replied without thinking.
"Yes but you would do better to be lying in wait for the enemy when it comes, and the easiest way to do that is with a runner," Crane responded.
He sighed, "I suppose you're right." Then he paused. "When do you leave?"
"Before nightfall," Crane said, "We're actually ready to leave as soon as a runner is chosen and supplied."
"Right," the rhino concluded, already seemingly deep in thought. He charged his two assistants, "Assemble the messengers and runners. They should be under the military papers."
"Those haven't been updated in ages," one of them pointed out.
"Fine then, scour the village for any person who meets the requirements. Built for speed and endurance, ready in a wing's beat. Go!"
Both scurried off in opposite directions.
"I'm sure you've already figured, but it may take a little time to find someone suitable. It may be faster he you were to help... You know your speed a bit better than we do. That and you can spread out." He paused. "I'm sorry we didn't keep our registry up to date... There really isn't any one person who comes to my mind..."
"It's alright," Crane assured. "We'll be off now, thank you. I'm sure you have plenty to get ready."
- *...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...
The Valley of Peace is not famous for its athletes. It IS after all, a merchant town. It was mainly populated with pigs and geese, not very fast runners.
The four of us were standing by a line of candidates, interviewing and examining each one. They were mainly exotic, traveling merchants, only considered because they were in shape. There were also the hired guards that accompanied these merchants. And a handful of exotic dancers or prostitutes were considered due to their physique, until their occupation came up. Nothing personal against them, we just didn't think having a sex-crazed animal staying with us was a good idea.
Eventually we got down to two candidates, one female cheetah and a male wolf. She was a beautiful trader who carried expensive goods from region to region, often buying local specials to sell elsewhere. He, ironically, was her highest paid guard. They knew each other well and could describe numerous occasions where they'd fought off bands of thieves, often alone. They also showed evidence of their outstanding endurance, having records from purchases in towns 50 miles apart on the same day.
Crane ultimately decided against turning either down and wished them both to come. The wolf declared he would go wherever Jess, the cheetah, sent him. To this, she returned, Morrick would accompany her on this journey, so long as she could store her goods in the Palace.
We immediately agreed. She immediately set off to settle her debts with her other guards while Morrick carried her goods up to the Palace.
"So," Po started a lighter conversation, "Have you and Jess had good business while staying in the Valley?"
"Pretty good," He puffed, "We've mainly been resting since hopping in from out west."
"Oh really?" Crane slid in. "Did you have many problems with bandits out there?"
"Not really, nah. The only thing dangerous out there is the rumor of a huge army coming in from the east."
"You think the rumors might be true?" Crane prodded.
...Oh yea, Tigress was the only one who knew where we were going... And K.Z. might no longer be with us...
"Nonsense. Ya hear alot of that while you're traveling. Especially when jealousy is brought in. You may not notice it, but the East is growing faster than the West, so them Westerners try to raise suspicion around the East to keep people from going there. Hahaha it's these types of people we can get the best prices from. They pay us to keep our mouths shut!"
The group of up laughed a bit, although not quite as much as he was expecting. "What?" he begged.
We got to the top of the stairs, and Po opened the doors.
"This is what that army can do," Crane noted, turning to see his reaction. "This is going to be our mission. Master Monkey does not accompany up because he has been taken, as well as our Master, Shifu. This is why we needed runners, to warn the Valley if we fail."
Morrick continued to stare at the wreckage. A few silent moments passed before he shook his head violently, shaking his thoughts back to the present. "Wow..."
"Follow me to where you'll leave your goods," Crane said blankly. Morrick acknowledged him by shuffling closer to the group. I slid a bit away as the group headed off toward the training room.
I wandered toward where K.Z. had been laying. He wasn't where he had been. She'd probably moved him to a bed, as well as any others she'd found alive. So, I headed toward the dormitory.
I skipped part the first few rooms. She probably wouldn't put people in our six rooms without first checking with us.
Opening the first door after our rooms, the doctor turned and greeted me.
"Oh Master Viper, I'm glad you came-"
"As am I," K.Z. brightly interjected, from the bed beside her. "I'm truly honored."
"Oh stop it," I laughed. "I told you I'd see you again."
"I honestly didn't think you would," he replied. "I swear, I've had better service here from your doctor than when I paid for a full service room on one of our vacations. She's wonderful."
"Oh please don't act like that," she immediately responded. "Its not like I have any other cases to look after."
"So everyone else is dead?" I asked cautiously.
"Yea, and I ain't got that much time to my name either honey."
"That's not the attitude to have, mister," the doctor scolded him. "Do you want all my hard work to go to waste?"
"You really think I have a chance at living?" He wagged his tail a bit.
"Oh certainly," She responded. "You stopped bleeding faster than I had dared to hope, and you're eating and drinking well. Sir, you're in the best medical care for leagues."
"Have I not asked you enough to call me K.Z.?"
"Hmmhmm, she does that with us too," I added.
"At least you deserve the respect, much unlike me," he stated.
I took this opportunity to look at how he was. K.Z. was splinted and tied down to a body board we had for Tigress, that way his tail wouldn't be bothered. Everything except his tail and his head was immobilized. He still wore his blue shirt, caked with dry blood and torn around his side so that it allowed access to the wound. A fresh pair of black pants covered his legs, but you could tell they were bandaged and splinted by the inhuman shape the clothing took. When my eyes hit his shirt again as I wondered why his shirt wasn't replaced, he said his wife made it for him.
His face was deeply bruised, and dried blood sat at the end of his nose. The doctor had tried her hand at cleaning his fur, but had either given up or been told to stop about half way down his head.
"You need grooming," I couldn't help saying.
"Sorry, Quelada didn't exactly keep us looking all that great."
"I offered-," the doctor started.
"Sorry Cat but the only woman who can lick me is my wife. Thank you though."
She flustered at the typical feline grooming action. "That's not what I meant when I said I'd clean you! We do have high-tec buckets and rags around here!"
I laughed. At least if K.Z.'s condition were to turn back around, he was enjoying himself.
However, after making sure that he was alright, I needed to find out what all he had told Tigress.
"I hate to cut the good cheer, but I need to know what all you told Tigress."
"Why? She forget already?"
I sighed. "Well, no... She, uh, left before we were ready."
Surprised, he said, "Well I'm not sure I can recall exactly what I said to her, but I'll try."
"Thank you."
And there's your explanation...Somewhere... up there ^.^
Hopefully I'll pick up speed (which totally isn't saying much) after I get home from hiking the next half-month...
