Chapter 3
by: WhiteGloves
It's really fun to write this fic especially with the fun characters! So I really hope you guys are also enjoying it! Thank you for the reviews and comments! and really sorry for the mistakes! Weak point, that one!
For the continuation...!
The moon outside illuminated the whole valley. An owl hooted somewhere.
Master Shifu lit a candle inside a darkened room.
"It is as I feared," he muttered as he turned to face everyone. "Another threat to the valley."
The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior all stood around him inside the Jade Palace.
"Master, he was really strong," Viper started as she curled on the floor, her recent injuries having been mended by the master. "And he didn't even use his left paw."
"He had a technique I've never seen before." Mantis said with a frown, "but it is still Kungfu."
"It is Kungfu like we have never seen before." Monkey nodded at the others.
Master Shifu looked graved.
"Sometimes… it is not Kungfu alone that makes you strong…" he told them quietly, "but the content of your heart. How you use your Kungfu is the same as telling the world your whole identity. That is how connected you are to your Kungfu. Just the same, if the content of your heart is dark, then your Kungfu, as well, will be dark…and the dark make others strong in a way unimaginable."
Silence greeted his words.
"So this is like Tai Lung over again, huh?" Po asked as he stared at the master.
Shifu looked at him with thoughtful eyes, and then shook his head.
"I do not know… Tai Lung's heart is filled by his anger to me and his desire to achieve the dragon scroll. He does possess a dark heart, and his Kungfu reflected it well, but this creature you told me about seemed to be much worse."
"How did you know, Master?" Crane asked in wonder.
Shifu eyed them then answered shortly, "It's because I know."
Po stepped out from the line of the group.
"So why are we so worried about this new guy in town? I mean- new kids should to learn from old kids, right?" he said with confidence no one was expecting to see at that moment, "We can defeat him if we put together the awesomeness of the five and me!"
Nobody reacted to his statement except some blinks, so the panda sighed in exasperation.
"Come on, guys! Don't be so depressed!" he insisted as he looked at his friends, "He's only one and there are six of us! Well- seven if Master Shifu joined in- but the point is we're stronger! Right? Don't give up-!"
"Uh, Po?" Crane started as the panda got a little bit carried away-
"We're together in this! We're Shifu's students-!"
"Po?"
"I can't believe you guys are losing your nerves! Master Shifu would not want us to be weak-!"
Crane and the others looked helplessly at each other. Tigress shifted her eyes on one side while Master Shifu's eyes dropped into their usual exasperated stare. And Po went on rambling about whatever he has to say.
"If you guys are giving up then don't expect me to pity you! Hardcore warriors never tolerate cowardice and- ow!"
Shifu had hit his cane on Po's backside.
"Quiet!" he hissed as he motioned for him to return on the line with the others. "Nobody's losing their nerves here, Po, now listen carefully. If this threat remains to be around this area then all of you must be alert!"
"And what do we do when he comes?" inquired Monkey.
Master Shifu looked at the warriors as if the answer was clear from the start.
"We'll deal with him." Tigress said from a corner where she had been standing silently, "He is just another enemy."
"Well said!" Po exclaimed as he pointed at the tiger in agreement, "Look at Tigress everyone! Still cool and hardcore till the end!"
Tigress looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Then go and take your rest," Master Shifu advised them quietly, "You all have to find your strength for tomorrow."
"Yes, Master." The Five and Po bowed at the master and headed toward the door.
Master Shifu watched them go, and then his eyes fell on Tigress who did not move a muscle.
"Master," she started with a troubled look, "There is something I must tell you."
Shifu studied his student quietly.
"Hmmm."
*.*.*.*
"I don't understand why menacing creatures keep on appearing in our valley." Po said from his room in the sleeping quarters. Everyone could hear him through the shoji screens. "I mean- yeah we are here to protect it and it would be quite boring if there aren't any enemies to fight to- but seriously to keep appearing every other day? It's like Tai Lung was here the other day, and then Shen was here yesterday, and then now we deal with some nutcracker that seemed to have just been free from a cave! What's the deal?"
"Uh," Crane called from his room, "We're supposed to be sleeping, Po?"
"How can you sleep like this?" the panda insisted as he slid open his door room.
"I dunno," Mantis called from his room, "You close your eyes and then snore?"
"Guys- be serious!" Po scowled at the doorway of the warriors, "Maybe there's some kind of a curse in this land that attracts enemies in!"
"Or maybe there's a white and black creature that cursed the place because his friends buried him on the ground?" Monkey suggested that brought some laughter.
Po rolled his eyes and sighed. He walked on the creaky floorboards and then stopped in front of Tigress' room.
"Hey, Tigress, what do you think?" he asked to the door, "Wanna bet there's a curse here?"
Silence answered him. Po looked at the door in wonder."Tigress?"
"She's not there," Viper said as she slid her room door open, "I saw her talking to Master Shifu just after the meeting."
"Really?" Po looked at the snake inquiringly, "Why?"
Viper shook her head.
"Maybe she's already patrolling by now." she answered.
*.*.*.*
Tigress inhaled some fresh air from the cool breeze of the night. She was standing on the rooftop of the Jade Palace with her eyes closed and seemed to be in deep thoughts. It was a good place to stand while thinking deeply because everything was silent, until-
Po's head appeared out of nowhere as he looked up at her from below.
"Tigress!" he called loudly that could wake up all the souls around.
Tigress did not flinch but remained standing immobilize at the edge of the roof top.
Po peered at her from her left side.
"Uh…" he hesitated a little, "Am I disturbing you or what?"
"You don't even know the meaning of those words." Tigress said as she opened her eyes and gave him a look of amusement, "Why are you here?"
"Why are you here?" the panda asked in turn as he watched his friend, "doing the patrol on your own?"
"Maybe." Tigress answered.
They stood side by side as they watched the dark surrounding. Silence enveloped the two as the breeze continued to whisper on their ears.
Po looked at Tigress from the corner of his eyes, and then looked away. He looked at her again, and then turned away for the second time. When he did this for the third time, Tigress sighed patiently.
"What is it?" she finally asked.
"Well, I was just thinking- actually- I kinda wanted to ask if, you know- like something's bothering you? I mean-" he added hastily as the tiger gave him a death stare, "Like what you've told me before- even you can still understand this feelings right?"
Tigress quietly looked away.
"And why do you say that?"
"Well, you being here, and then talking to Master Shifu… I just put things together and come up with some stuff…" Po's voice faltered as Tigress' eyes sharpened.
"It's not that important." she said quietly.
"Are you worried about that sabre-toothed that attacked the village?"
"Not really…he was just another enemy." Tigress answered.
"Oh…" Po nodded slowly, "That's good… because frankly you had me thinking that he was an old acquaintance of yours that turned bad and is now after revenge. What a story right? Ahaha…"
He laughed foolishly at the tiger who looked back at him as if she was caught red handed. Po's grin immediately turned to horror and his eyes went round.
"I was just kidding-! No- seriously?" he asked in disbelief.
Tigress did not answer him but merely turned back to the surrounding. The panda blinked at her with his mouth gaping open.
"But- but Tigress that can't be true, right?" he whispered frantically beside her, "That long-fanged thing can't be your friend from before?"
Tigress closed her eyes and gave a small nod.
Po's jaw dropped.
"20 years ago Shifu adopted me from an orphanage." Tigress started with her eyes in glaze, "he taught me a lot of things about Kungfu. As his student he taught me well, but he was cold, having been disappointed by how his first student ended up a failure.
"When I was on the orphanage everyone was afraid of me because of my violence. I never had any friend. Then 15 years ago I met a 10 years old sabre-toothed named Kuma as I was training by the Iron wood trees outside the Jade Palace. One day he appeared and approached me, telling me how interested he was to Kungfu and how good he thinks I was."
Tigress stopped for awhile as she stared at the darkness ahead. Po was listening very quietly beside her.
"We became friends. I think it was because he was not afraid of me like the others that I accepted him… or because I saw myself to him as we spar together outside Jade Palace. He told me a lot of things and especially his desire to be Master Shifu's student. He asked me to tell Shifu about him, how great he was and how he had so many potential… but I did not…"
Tigress lowered her eyes sadly as she continued,
"I did not tell Master Shifu anything about him. I suppose I was afraid that he would find him more worthy than me, so I did not… One day Kuma realized this and he confronted me about it. We had a fight. Master Shifu and Oogway saw us fighting and tried to stop us. I ceased my attack because my master said so, but Kuma continued to attack me and I defended myself. The result of it was I wounded his face seriously. He attempted another attack at me but Master Shifu stood between us and told him to go away… and that was the last time I saw him… until now."
The fresh breeze of air greeted the end of her sentence silently.
Even the panda was silent.
Tigress closed her eyes.
"And what does he want to happen now?" Po asked as he finally found his voice.
Tigress looked at him from the corner of her eyes, and then sighed deeply.
"I don't know…"
"You told Shifu about this?"
"Yes."
"And? What did he say about it?"
"It seemed that Master knew about his return."
Po blinked several times as Tigress finally decided to move away from her spot and jumped on the ground. The panda followed her tracks and jumped on the ground too.
"Hey- wait! What do you mean Shifu knew about his return?"
"It would seem that Master Shifu has now learned to see 'visions'."
"You mean like Oogway?"
"Yes."
"Wow…" Po stopped on his tracks for a moment to admire the master, but then remembered Tigress who was already walking away from him, "Hey-wait! Tigress!"
The panda followed the tiger persistently through the palace vicinity.
"So what do we do about him?" he asked as he tried to keep up his steps with the tiger.
"Deal with him, stop him." Tigress answered quietly as they ended on the path walk toward the sleeping quarters. "But for now… we sleep."
"Wow," Po looked admiringly at Tigress, "You really are being so cool about this, you know?"
Tigress gave him a smirk. The panda grinned at her.
"No really- if it was me I would be panicking and wouldn't be able to sleep!"
"That's you." The tiger answered.
"Awesome!" Po grinned fanatically at the tiger, "It must really help you a lot to be so hardcore when it comes to enemies and pain!"
Tigress merely stared ahead.
*.*.*.*
A few miles from them, down to the village, to the edge of the trees, torches with fire could be seen and the shadows of the wolves were apparent on the ground.
"We burn the village and then come back here?" the wolf leader asked Kuma as the other wolves that attacked the village awhile ago stood behind him. "And the purpose is to show her how serious you are?"
"Serious as I will ever be." Kuma muttered as he stared fixedly ahead on the Jade Palace that was on the view, "This is just a gift of gratitude."
"Are you coming with us?"
"Yes. A little killing spree would suffice for my night too."
"Heh." The wolf leader snickered. "Let's go!"
And the shadows on the ground moved swiftly as the pack of wolves run for the attack.
*.*.*.*
Po and Tigress were just about to enter the quarters when the familiar sound of emergency bell from the village below broke the silence of the night.
"What?" Tigress turned at the direction of the village with round eyes.
"The village is on fire!" Po shouted beside her in horror.
"Guys!" Crane appeared on the sky looking wide awake and ready, "Let's go!"
Po and the rest of the warriors hurried away to help the village but Tigress remained. There was an etch of anger on her face as she gritted her teeth in rage. She looked back at the Jade Palace where Master Shifu would be, and then turned and sped away after the Four and the Dragon Warrior with her claws digging deeply on the ground.
The fight was on.
-TBC-
Thanks for reading! :)