Chapter Seven- Journey to the Underworld

"So, let me get this straight: you and Kivu are going down into the Underworld aka the "Land-full-of-dead-people"." Po said

"Yep." Shifu said.

"To rescue Lin and Shinjitsu."

"You bet."

"And find out why they were kidnapped."

"That sums it about up."

"I do have one question." Po added. "Are you nuts?"

"Po, I can't just sit back and do nothing." Shifu told the panda. "Lin was my responsibility from the moment she hatched to the second she left."

"And Shinjitsu's my wife." Kivu added. "I'm not leaving her."

"Don't you realize how dangerous this is?" Tigress asked. "At least let one of us join you."

"Absolutely not." Shifu barked.

"Shifu's right." Kivu agreed. "I've been to the Underworld before, and it isn't pretty."

"I can't imagine how a land full of ghosts can be pretty at all." Po remarked. Tigress hit the panda upside the head, giving him the painful hint that told him, "Shut up!"

As Po rubbed his sore cranium, Kivu continued, "We won't be gone too long. We'll go to Hades and ask him to help us. If Shinjitsu and Lin are in his domain, he'll be able to find them in the blink of an eye."

"We'll be back before you know it." Shifu assured.

"What if you die?" Po asked. Tigress hit him again. "Ow!"

"If we're not back in a month, we're dead." Kivu joked. He and Shifu left, with nothing except Kivu's medicine bag and Shifu's flute.

STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR

"So, how are we getting in?" Shifu asked.

"There's a gate around here somewhere." Kivu told him. "I used it once."

"Care to tell me why you were in the Underworld?" Shifu asked.

"Don't ask." Kivu said. "I was running an errand and it went wrong. I'd like to not talk about it." They continued their journey in silence. Both of them worried greatly for the girls, and Shifu was starting to gain a habit of fingering his flute with anxiety. Soon, Kivu stopped.

"Here we are." He said.

Shifu gave him a weird look. "We're standing in front of a bunch of rocks." And so they were.

"It's not a bunch of rocks." Kivu retorted. "It's the Gate of Orpheus. Years ago, a great musician named Orpheus lost his wife, Eurydice. He charmed Hades and Persephone into letting him take her back. He wasn't allowed to look at Eurydice until they were both out of the Underworld. But, alas, Orpheus looked back at the last second, and Eurydice was gone forever. These gates are the exact same that he used. To open them, we need music."

"Is that why you told me to bring my flute?" Shifu asked.

"Well, you also said it made a good walking staff." Kivu countered.

Shifu sighed. "What do I play?"

"Something good." Kivu ordered. "The best piece you know. We need the best in order for the gates to open."

"Why?" Shifu asked.

"Orpheus was the greatest musician in the world." Kivu smiled. "If his music was like kung fu, he'd match you in strength."

"That good, huh?"

"Yep."

Shifu chuckled. He thought about a song he knew. It had to be quick, though. He played a short, but bright and happy melody. But, once the song was done, nothing had happened.

"That was really the best you had?" Kivu remarked.

"I thought that if I played something happy, it'd work." Shifu said.

"But was it your best?" Kivu asked.

Shifu sighed. "No." He thought hard. Then, he remembered something. "I do know one song. But…..it's a bit sad."

"Orpheus was sad when he lost his wife forever." Kivu reminded. "Surely, this will work."

Shifu sighed and nodded. He played his flute again. This time, the melody was soft and willowy. But it sounded just the smallest bit sad. However, it worked. A boulder rolled away, revealing a large opening into darkness. Shifu stopped playing and sighed.

"It worked." He muttered.

"What song was that?" Kivu asked.

"A song I wrote for Yuki." Shifu said. "The day I first met her."

"Oh." Kivu said. He cleared his throat. "Well, we'd best be off." Shifu only nodded and the two of them descended into the Underworld. The door closed behind them. But they were only in pitch blackness for a split second before torches along the walls lit up, leading a pathway downwards.

"Ready?" Kivu asked.

"As I'll ever be." Shifu asked.

They walked down. The torches did a pretty fine job of giving some light, but it still gave Shifu shivers up his spine. He hadn't been in the Underworld a full five minutes, and he already was freaked out. Kivu and Shifu traveled along for about ten minutes before arriving at a river. There was a small boat and a boatman there, but nothing much else. The waters were eerie green, the sand was black, and the boatman was dressed in gray robes and had a pole with him. Kivu and Shifu walked up to him, and he turned their way. The boatman was a human skeleton, its skull dull and gray.

"Can I help you?" the boatman asked.

"We need information." Kivu said. "I know you can give it to us, Charon."

"I'm a boatman." Charon said. "Not a soothsayer."

"My wife is gone." Kivu said.

"So, you thought you could be like Orpheus?" Charon sneered. "Get out of here, ya piece of living fresh meat."

"I guess he doesn't know." Shifu said. "Your wife was Shinjitsu."

Charon's face, though that of a skeleton's, paled. "The d-d-daughter of N-Nemesis?" Kivu nodded. "Alright. I'll take you to Madame Tera. No charge. Climb aboard." Shifu and Kivu obeyed, and Charon pushed off, muttering to himself with fear.

"Who is Madame Tera?" Shifu asked.

"The wisest person in the entire Underworld." Charon said. "She knows all, sees all. She can tell you where anyone is at any point in time."

"Good to know." Shifu said. He turned to Kivu. "You really think she can help us find Shinjitsu and Lin?"

"If she can't, I don't know a soul who can." Kivu admitted. Shifu gulped a little. He stared into the waters of the river, which Kivu had told him during the wedding party was called the River Styx. The water looked like lime juice. Shifu noticed little trinkets here and there.

"What's in the river?" Shifu asked.

"Lost dreams, broken hearts, and the usual despairs of many." Kivu said. "Sometimes, when life goes wrong, people just throw away their lives, and it all ends up here."

Shifu noticed one trinket in particular and cautiously picked it out of the water. It was a golden crown studded with many jewels. Shifu looked at the writing on the inside. "This is my brother's. He wanted to become Emperor of China, but never got there. There was a tournament, and he earned as high as the Emperor's right hand man. It wasn't good enough for him. Jumped out of a high tower window."

"Put it back." Kivu warned. "Before his ghost appears." Shifu obeyed, carefully setting the crown adrift. Soon, there was the familiar hiss of wood against sand. Shifu and Kivu looked up and saw a hut on a beach of black sand.

"Welcome to the home of Madame Tera." Charon said.

A/N: In case you're wondering, I'm using the whole STAR thing because I can't use the symbol for some reason. The whole Gate of Orpheus thing was referenced from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian. I own nothing; not the movie, not the Gate of Orpheus, not even Kivu. Just the other characters I made up.