Title: Deleted Archive: Mongol Wars Part I: Autumn Air
Category: Movies » Kung Fu Panda
Author: The Grey Coincidence
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Adventure/Humor
Published: 05-30-15, Updated: 09-02-16
Chapters: 23, Words: 35,930
Chapter 1: Two Ways to Start
A/N: Ta-da, my latest fic. At first this was gonna be part of the Heist series. But I broke that down. This story takes place after all previously written fics. It involves a lot of characters and takes place in my AU. I have not decided whether or not to add Jin (from Beserker88) into this fic and until I have made up
my mind and asked permission from Beserker88 he will only be mentioned.
I have decided to add to this a description of all fics so far done and the way they connect, starting chronologically from the beginning.
The Heist of the Jit Kun Crystal: Bei, The Heist of the Jit Kun Crystal: Xue, The Five, Kung fu-A Birds-Eye-View, Mongol Wars Part I... More fics will be added to this chain later on.
Enjoy and Update soon.
The Autumn wind blew cold and hard against the wall's parapets. The Great Wall was an impressive sight. Extending for miles from east to west. Made from bricks, stone, sticky rice and according to legend the bones of fallen workers. Up until recently crossbows had been stationed on the wall, but now cannons were the preffered artilary of the Imperial Army. Further from the wall itself stood a heavily fortified tower, not just one but a whole chain of towers. Each extending further into Mongol teritory. The rules of the tower were simple, If you see a hundred Mongols lift a red flag, if you see a thousand lift a red sail, if you see ten thousand light a lantern and if you see a hundred thousand light a fire.
Most of the wall's veterans remembered the chaos seventeen years prior, when fifty Mongol raiders sneaked passed the wall and entered China. It was horrible they destroyed village after village and broke into jails, letting the criminals loose the gladdened jailbirds joining the Mongols and soon an army was made. But the army was just the arms of the invasion, the true backbone was a crystal acquired in their first raid. The crystal compromised of four parts. A pure white daimond, the crystal of heroism, Dei. A deep green emerald, the crystal of magic and wisdom, Bei. A burning red saphire, the crystal of power, Yei. And finally the icy blue topaz, the crystal of snow and evil, Xei (or Xue). The Mongols were once raided by Master Oogway who destroyed the crystal and separated the four parts. After that the Imperial army struck down the last of the raiders, only a few surviving and heading back to their country. Of the fifty that went only three returned.
China could not afford another massacre, that's why the wall was still defended.
On the furthest tower stood two wolves. One a darker brown than the other, who was a slight grey. Both were having a heated discussion on whether or not the wall was actually built from bone.
Neither of the wolves could see the three cloacked figures hidding behind a small pile of rock.
One figure was tall and a bit lanky, the other one was tall but was much broader, the last one was smaller then both, his hood giving away a long hooked beak.
"Is it time", whispered the tallest figure.
"No, the moon's still too high", answered the smallest figure."We'll be spotted before you can say 'run for your life like the cowards you really are deep down inside'".
"A new emperor could take over by the time you finished saying that", the figure muttered as he shuffled himself into a more comfortable position. The trio had been waiting since sunset, and were all itching to go, but the fear of failure stopped them each time. Soon, however, very soon.
Wan continued her sweeping duties. The leaves of the trees had fallen down heavily on Hubei volcano, most were caught on fire by the lava streams. The rest was giving the volcano the air of a brightly mountain. And If you were an assasin for hire, that was pretty much the worst 'secret' hideout you could find. Wan was still proccessing the news of Oogway's death. Sure apparently it had happened two years ago, but it still led to long term consequences. Were they going to have another stab at conquering China ? Most likely not after all even Shen and his weapon had failed there.
Her thoughts were interupted by Su calling her in for tea. When she entered she placed the rake she had been using back on the shelves and took her seat next to her sisters.
"So, what's new" ?
"Jin got another raise, as for us not a single new request",explained Wing sourly."If I didn't know him any better I'd say he's stealing our customers".
"You know Jin would never do something like that", Wan stared."At least not on purpose".
The small conversation was interrupted by a small black orb flying swiftly through the air. At first it seemed to be one of their falcons flying in with a message, but as the creature landed it could be recognised as a very familiar bat. Wearing a plain black robe, Shen-like metal talons, a few necklaces and a locket, finqlly on his wings he had two long curved strips of metal. The same big ears, snubby nose and charming face as..
"Aang"! Wing threw aside her porcelain teacup and marched towards the bat. Su and Wan did nothing, most likely knowing their sister could handle It.
"Ooh careful kitty you might break something", nevertheless he still backed away from her. It had been nine years since they had been tricked into helping him steal a very valuable jewel. In that time Aang had grown, and clearly taken lessons on how to push someone's buttons.
"What do you want"?
"I'd love to explain but I could say a cat's got my tongue, if you'll pardon the pun".
"Wing let him go, for now".
"As before I have come to inform you that I will need your assistance upon an urgent matter of great importance".
"You want to hire us. Why am I not surprised"?
The three figures slowly crawled to what was almost certainly a victory. At the moment a large cloud had covered the sky and now all three were moving onwards, looming slowly towards the first tower. The climb up the tower was difficult but eventually they managed. They waited on some of the turret holes and waited for the opportune moment.
"Bone is just as strong as iron, that leaves a perfect reason to put bones in a wall".
"Bone is not as strong as ir- do you smell that"?
"Smell what"?
"Give me the spare torch"
The wolf then proceeded forwards, to the edge of the tower, continously sniffing the air. He reached one corner and bent down. The next thing he saw was a hoof pull down his snout and let it make contact with the strong stone wall, he dropped the torch and clutched his snout dearly hoping it wasn't bleeding. Soon three figures leapt from seemingly nowhere and a mini-battle insued. The wolf with the broken nose drew his sword and parried a blow from the tallest figure. He then proceeded to lunge madly with his sword, his vision blurring from then noticed a smaller figure combating his comrade. He turned back to parry another blow as the figure lunged with its katana. He then found himself grabbed in a throttle hold from behind by an unknown assailant.
The situation was so tense he could have cut a knife through it. His comrade had a torch in one hand and was about to light the signal fire, somehow he had pinned the smallest figure to the ground with one of his feet. He himself had a sword against his throat. They would have likely made it if it wasn't for the third figure.
It leapt up from the wall and pulled out a crossbow, shooting the wolf with the torch in the chest, who then dropped the torch and lighted the fire. Before he could react the second wolf had a slit throat and was as dead as a doorknob.
"Any questions"?,the bat looking directly on the sisters with his wide light brown eyes.
Wing was about to start ranting about how they were cheated last time, but Su beat her to it.
"How do we know you won't cheat us like last time", she demanded.
Aang seemed to pause for a while,I thought I could hold a grudge.
"Last time was child's play, If you'll pardon the pun. But the world has gotten a whole lot bigger. And this time the prize is worth a thousand jewels".
"So you're just another wannabe world conqueror"?
"You could say it like that, so are you in or what"?
"I'll have to go with "or what".
"I'm in", cheered Wan.
"Su, that leaves you, with the deciding vote".
"I''ll take it", she said, crossing her fingers behind her.
"Yes"!
"No"!
"Woohoo"!
Back on the tower things were pretty much the same. All three Mongols were staring wide-eyed at the sight before them. The whole wall was lit up by the light of at least a hundred pyres. Two of the figures had removed their cloacks, seeing it pointless to continue incognito.
The smallest figure was replaced by a golden eagle, with a crooked beak and talons all over the his feet. His feathers seeming to shimmer slightly. His eyes glowing of pure white. Clearly wore dark blue pants and glistening iron armor. On his belt he had a horn and two swords. On his back he had a longbow and quiver of arrows.
The tallest figure was a completely black horse. He wore a light turquise pants, with chain mail seen ever so often. He had a glistening helmet and across his back he had a long Indian Halaldi or double bladed sword. On his legs and arms were strong guilded armour. On the sides of his body he had a lot of bladed weapons, and even an axe. His eyes shone a light blue and his frill was a dark brown.
The third figure was barely recognisable. The fur that was visible was light blue and spotted enough to make out a leopard shape. Through his hooded cloak you could see golden eyes. He held a repeating crossbow in his good paw, while the only thing extending from his other hand was a short, sharp dagger.
"So", began the eagle."What say you Tengtong"?
"Time for plan B, the horn Jingkong, if you please".
The blind eagle gave him the horn. He put it to his lips and blew. After that the best way to describe what happened was "all hell broke loose". Seemingly out of nowhere hundreds of soldiers were charging towards the wall, in an obviously planned attempt to breach it.
Inside the wall panic struck everyone one, the last words anyone could hear before everything blew up into a cacophany of screams was said by the general:
"Shànqdì bhāngzhù wômen". God help us all.
A/N: So what do you think of my latest fic. It's gonna get better as the chapters go on. In case you were wondering Jingkong means panic, whereas Tengtong means pain. Who is this third figure ? I'd like to see you guess.
Chapter 2: Confrontation
A/N: I should have put in an OC alert at the start. This story will have a lot. Not all of whom will be important but I will have a lot of them. Enjoy.
The next day Leutenant Detective Mimi, woke up. As he walked down the hall he ignored the usual comments on his name. He would have changed it long ago but had somehow never gotten around to it. He didn't know why he had been called into the army camp a few miles from the Great wall. He had spent a week there already. And still he wasn't being utilised. On that particular morning he was scheduled to meet with General Chuizi. Where he was hoping he'd get answers.
He had joined the Imperial Army at the age of ten. He was never an accomplished fighter and was certainly not going to be one for a long while. He did however possess a brain and tongue which could think extremely well, he was also blessed by having the uncanny ability of annoying every person he ever met. He strapped on his old light brown coat, knowing how absolutely cold the autumn was getting. As a vulture, his head was completely unprotected from the cold. That was why he also took his tiny little silk hat. Utterly useless but better then nothing. He had a funny feeling that he was going to need his spear, even if he couldn't hit anything with it. Finally he put on his helmet and moved on to report to the general.
General Shuizi stared at himself in the mirror. One of his hooves twirled slowly at his moustache. He was a golden takin, wearing a thick heavy armour under his bulky white coat. It wasn't winter yet... But Winter was coming. He heard a knock on his door and moved towards the sound. Pausing only once to grab his war opened the door and found a rather peculiar sight. Mimi with a weapon. The general was naturally quite large, and very well built, whereas the vulture shivering at his feet, barely reached his hips in terms of height.
"General the cart is ready for movement sir".
"Good. We move in ten", he manouvered to close the door, but found himself stopped.
"If you don't mind general i would like a word in private".The takin nodded wondering what on earth the vulture wanted to speak about.
"Why am I here" ?
"Forgive me I don't follow".
Mimi rolled his eyes, deeply wishing to start belittling the general, one glance at the hammer told him not to."We both know I am not exactly accomplished at fighting, why station me here"?
"You'll find out at the wall". Bam! The door shut in his face.
Brilliant no knew answers. He thought. Typiclal. Why were military men so persistently annoying.
Twenty minutes later the small group of soldiers arrived at the wall. An eery silence overtook them. Where was everybody ? From what they could see not a living thing budged for miles. Generally the wall was flourishing with life. Men marching up and down, talking ,watching, training, even eating. But now there was nothing... just nothing.
The group decided to split up. One half of the thirty or so men would search east for an hour. The other half would go west. If neither found nothing then they would meet back in camp the next hour. If anyone ran into any trouble all they had to do was blow their horn and the rest would come down charging.
Mimi looked on as his comrades went further away moving east. He then turned back to see Chuizi giving one ofvthe tower doors a good kicking, it refused to budge.
"OK men, I believe you all have a right to know what we are attempting to do. A week ago some people reported seeing a vast fire stretch across the wall, at first we thought it to be signal fires but we were proved wrong. The next day noone replied to our messages. I sent a few men three days ago, none came back".
Upon finishing his explanation the general gave the door one more good kick, letting it creak slowly open. "Search the place"! Ordered the general beginning to do so himself. Mimi took to searching alone. He didn't really fancy hearing ominous rumours about bad spirits He searched the wall for any sound of life. He found a string, which for some ominous reason he decided to pull.
Zip! A scroll rolled open in front of his eyes. A scroll written in horrible red ink... or at least he dearly hoped that what he was looking at was ink. Though the handwriting was blotched it was easy to read.
The scroll read:
Beware those who dare,
Look in the crate and you will meet a horrible fate,
Your life will be cut short if you so much as whisper,
For China is doomed,
Mongolia has rissen again.
A chill went down his spine as he read those words. He was about to report to the general when he heard a low growl behind him.
He turned around and found himself face to face with a hooded figure, whose only visible aspect were his glowing golden eyes. He realised to his horror that he had strayed behind his comrades and was alone against the figure.
Bam! He skidded across the floor as figure fist connected with vulture beak. He painfully found out that his horn was smashed by his fall. Now he was truly alone. At least he still had his spear. As the figure leapt up he lifted his weapon to protect himself from the beast, forcing it to twist sideways in order to avoid the blow. He leapt up and in a streak of glorious luck his spear miracoulously caught the figure on the side of his face. Right then he noticed another horn on a table to his he could just get his feathers on that horn then this thing wouldn't stand a chance. He swiftly turned back to face the figure only to get a blow to his face, sending him flying to the table. Grabbing the horn he blew as a fist slammed into his face. He flew to the side, now knowing that all he had to do was stay alive long enough for rescue to come to him. The creature stood snarling at the vulture below him. He raised a paw to finish off the bird when a battle cry alerted him of an incoming attack on his rear. He turned aroundto see a hammer moving towards his face. The figure grabbed the hammer leaping above the weapon and snatching the scroll on the wall. He continued running and finally escaped the confinement of the tower. Chuizi gave chase, but by the time he arrived the figure was gone. By now the rest of his men had arrived, a few dealing with the injured Mimi.
Chuizi voiced all tgeir opinions when he said :"What was that thing"?
A/N: I will not be able to make such regular updates often. Consider this a treat.
Chuizi: Hammer
Mimi: Secret
Chapter 3: The Letter
A/N: I am seriously struggling as to how to link these next few chapters together. Unless I get a brainstorm there will be very little 'Jade Palace action' and this story will mostly show the Mongols. So expect it to betwo Mongol Chapters and then one Jade Palace chapter. So enjoy and update soon.
The wind breezed slowly over the Valley of Peace.
The valley was peaceful, just as it had always been. Nevertheless this time a joyful buzz covered the place in an almost surreal atmosphere. It was only seven days before the Autumn Moon Festival, which meant only three more days of work before it was time to harvest for three days and finally celebrate all day on the seventh day. This also meant that the whole valley would be celebrating, and that meant that the whole valley would have to have moon-cakes, and that meant that every cook in the valley was beginning to make the festive treat. Mr. Ping was arguably the most renowned cook in the Valley of Peace. Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu was famous for a number of it's dishes, in particular Secret Ingredient Soup, and it could be argued that that was all because o him .The restaurant received a number of rather odd visitors each year, so the leopard and crane sitting at one of the tables didn't draw any surprises.
Both were feminine, but that was the only similarity between them.
One was a tall Mountain Cat with light brown fur and black stripes. She wore a fitting tunic, loose pants and leg wraps typical to a Kung fu student. She also wore ornate dark black gloves and a matching belt. Finally she wore a light, ornate Japanese cuira over her torso. She had deep yellow eyes.
Her companion was about eighty years old. Short and only a foot higher than Mr. Ping himself. She wore a traditional rice hat, a rather ragged dress and a heavy coat. She had deep yellowey-orange eyes and a short beak. Contrasting heavily to her black and white feathers.
The goose seemingly waltzed over and asked plain and simply what they would like to eat.
"Nothing today",answered the crane."We would just like to know if you have any available guestrooms".
"Regretfully no, but I do know this gorgoues place down the street. I'm sure they would be happy to have you".
"Thank you dear", and with that both strolled out the shop and down the road.
Mantis whipped around avoiding his comrades blows. If only he hadn't been so cocky. It had all started the day before, where he had questioned Tigress as to why she was the unnoficial leader of the Furious Five, somehow or other this had lead to a vote, with the final vote going to Mantis. This caused disasters when the Five and Po were sent to ambush a gang of robbers planning a heist on a small farming town up north. Sadly, Mantis wasn't exactly a natural born leader and so led the group into a direct ambush. They managed to defeat the robbers but came back limping. After Shifu had heard the whole story from everyone he had shouted himself mute and ordered that Mantis be made to spar with each of them in the training hall. Now Mantis was zooming around faster than a bluebottle avoiding each and every strike aimed at him.
It was a marvelous feat of endurance considering he had only been hit twice and the spar had gone on since after lunch. Po was struggling to even aim a swing. It was a lucky thing that at the exact moment Tigress's fist connected with Mantis, Shifu entered the room.
The Grandmaster's students hurried into line as he shut the door behind him, even Mantis limping slowly inbetween Crane and Monkey.
Oddly enough Shifu had a scowl on his face and clutched a letter tightly, so tightly it looked like he was about to snap it in half. He undid the scroll in silence. And read:
"Dear Grandmaster,
Due to the incoming Autumn Moon Festival I have decided to take part in the celebrations of the Valley of Peace.I have everything arrranged and will only ask for little to no assistance. This will mean that I will be temporarily staying at the Jade Palace. I apologise for any inconveniences this might make.
Your friend, Lord Aang
Shifu finished the letter and rolled it up. For a few minutes noone spoke. None of them had ever met Lord Aang before, but Shifu's body language pretty much gave away the fact that he hated him. After a while Po spoke up.
"Who's Lord Aang"?
At that moment Shifu exploded."The most charming Lord you will ever meet. And the last one. He is a crime lord. One of the best. Everyone knows it, but noone has any way of proving it. Numerous times I have tried to find the fault in his stars, but every single time he manages to weasle himself out of trouble",Shifu took a deep breath. "The real problem now is that the guestroom is unavailable because of someone",he glared at Monkey and Mantis."And the only other room with a bed in it is mine.
And that means that I will have to take one of your rooms, and training will not continue for...the rest of the week. Po you will be staying with your father, correct"?
The panda nodded.
"Good", he mouthed half-heartedly."The rest of you may do whatever you want for the next week, but do it in the village. Understood"?
"Yes Master Shifu", they replied.
"Good, you are dismissed",he paused apparently deep in thought," after I spar with Master Mantis".
"Oh, brother".
Chapter 4: A strong Sense of De Ja Vu
A/N: Hello I am finally back the Internet broke down into little snippets so I had to write a few words then save before it shut down. Anywho so I am going to finally tell you who made Aang. Sychronized Harmony. The only reason I didn't give credit before was because I thought she was dead or something. Enjoy.
Jin trugded through the mud. The little village he had chosen as his current holiday resort was turning out a disapointment. Rain, rain and even more rain. He had thought that due to its small size not many people in the village would recognise him as a bounty hunter turned assasin. He was wrong. Ever since he had arrived he had kept his hood up and had been tearing up wanted posters of himself. He was currently headed towards the hill further down the road to see if the rumours were true, that an imperial army battalion was on its way.
One muddy slide later he had his answer. Sure enough it was. But this only made matters worse. If the Imperial Army were here then there was a heightened chance of him getting caught. He turned to run and pack his bags but found himself knocked to the ground by a dark horse. He apologised and stepped up only to be thrown back down. Clearly this person was not friendly.
And all he wanted was a holiday.
"Remember not a word until I have discussed matters with the chief,we do not want to cause a panic".
Being an isolated village not many residents had ever seen an Imperial Army soldier let alone a battalion, so naturally quite a few people were villagers crowded around them trying to get a glimpse and occasionally letting out a hand to feel the tough armour. After what seemed like ages they arrived at a small hut. And standing at the front was an old goat so weather beaten it looked like he might drop dead in an instance.
"What brings you here,to our humble abode?"
"It is a minor issue, one which I would like to disscus in private".
"You heard him", the villagers dissparsed, and the rest of the battalion scattered around the place, as the two entered the hut. It felt warm and comfortable despite it's lack of furniture."Now what is it you would like to speak about"?
"A few days ago the Great Wall was attacked by an unknown figure, no survivors. We went back there and found a hostile figure in a hood. We also saw a message on the wall, something about Mongolia rising again. An army didn't cross, a few people did, which means they're making an army. I came to ask you are there any jails or criminals around here" ?
"What has that got to do with anything"?
"Just answer", Iit
" wasn't a statement it was an order.
"We do have to deal with some boars once in a while".
Chuizi stood up."We have to evacuate. NOW"! He stood up and was about to leave barking out orders when the chief's hoof grabbed his shoulder and gently pulled him down.
"You are tired, and probably delirious",he muttered the last part but Chuizi still caught a glimpse of it.
"What"?
"Nothing. But you need rest".
That was when the ear-piercing sound shook the village. "Incoming"!, a second later the impact crashed at the door and the room was surrounded by darkness.
Mimi wondered what it would look like to a giant, the fight that was taking place. After his warning shout the shockwave had pushed him back into a wall, the roof had then collapsed on him and he had been left a sitting duck, trapped under piles of rubble. He could see clearly the battle unfolding, yet was helpless at stopping anyone from falling to the ground. After the first explosion the enemies had revealed themselves as a group of boar. The small army charging directly towards them down the muddy hillside. A few slipped but not enough to disturb the effects of the battle. All around he could see fire and death, funny how often those two went together. He was lost in thoughts for a while till the smoke took him up and his eyes shut.
Jin could see the village being destroyed. He had killed people in his time, but even he wanted with all his might to just rush in there and do something. He wasn't heartless. But whoever was blocking his path right now was. He had left his crossbows at home and was in no position to go and get them. His adversary was armed, but the weapons remained undrawn. He knew he could do nothing with his fists the guy was armoured. And even then every time he got to his feet he was knocked to the ground like a doll. He looked to the left then to the right searching for a way out. All the time the horse's blue eyes followed him relentlessly. To his left was the muddy slope he had climbed, not an option. To his right was a slope so steep it might as well be called a cliff. The horse kept that same expression locked on him as if only the guy's stare was holding him down. He would have to risk it. Better have a quick death then a long agonizing one. He took one look at the horse and did the unexpected, he kicked first. The blow wasn't particularly hard but it was enough to give him time to roll to the right and fall of f the slope.
Chapter 5: Chinese Checkers
A/N:Hello people. I have given some thought into this story and decided that I will follow three arcs instead of two... maybe even four but I doubt it. So enjoy. And Synchronised Harmony it's not your name it was a typo I actually meant to write they, but I really do not know my way around a keyboard. Pang means fat. Shou means thin. Anyway enjoy.
Po had met a few lords in his time, but none of them really left an impression, except for Lord Shen of course, but he wasn't exactly a lord, more of a crazy psychopath who hated pandas and killed a whole village of them, and was therefore bound to leave an impression. If Shifu hadn't given him prior warning Po would have mistaken Aang for a simple villager, from where he was standing the bat just looked so ordinary. It was at that moment that he remembered that he was supposed to alert the other masters the minute he noticed Aang. It looked like it would take the bat and his entourage a while to get to the top of the stairs, so that gave Po a little while to go and warn the others.
He raced across the palace at what he would consider breakneck speed, but his fellow masters would call a light rushed into the students barracks as he headed straight towards the kitchen, before remembering that he was looking for his friends and not getting an emergency snack.
''Make your move''. The atmosphere in the kitchen was so tense, you could hear a pin drop for miles around. Tigress and Crane sat opposite each other, looking into their opponent, trying to get a grasp as to what they were planning. Monkey, Viper and Mantis were watching with rapt attention, this was it, the decider.
At last Viper could bear it no longer. ''Don't do it Tigress, he knows''!
"Viper shush don't give it away", whispered Mantis, loud enough to be heard across the room.
"Viper it's my only choice, I have to", explained Tigress before she slid the piece forward."Take this".
Much to her surprise Crane chuckled.
"What's so funny, or have you gotten to the point where you are just laughing at your own downfall"?
"Tigress, can you do me a favour"?, asked Crane putting on the most innocent face he could muster.
"And what might that be"?
Crane raised a talon, grabbed a piece and bounced it over three other ones."King me".
The next thing that happened was fast. A huge black and white panda slammed the doors open, crashed onto the table letting all the Chinese checker pieces fly all over the place and finally muttered one word before a bunch of more incomprehensible ones."Aang".
The five were on their feet and quickly set about making the kitchen aesthetically pleasing. Crane set about after the checker pieces, Monkey and Mantis made short work of the dishes, Tigress setting the table right and Viper helping Po up. It was all going fine until Tigress hit Monkey with a chair, before the primate dropped a plate onto Crane, who stood up and tried tucking the set into a cupboard only to bump into Mantis, and the two of them fell on Viper and Po, who all fell on the table side causing it to overbalance and crash onto the ground. The masters would have probably dealt with it just fine,and prepared the room for their guest, if it weren't for the fact that he stood at the doorway flanked by two guards and Shifu. As it was, only Tigress bowed to the laughter and loud clapping of wings.
After the somewhat embarrassing meeting, the masters were able to see a clearer picture of Aang, whom only Shifu knew personally. He wore a surprisingly plain black robe for someone as powerful as a lord. He wore a few necklaces, Po counted four, of different colours, laced with small jewels, bits of gold,and brightly coloured blocks of wood, which went in a pattern, green, yellow, red, blue and so on. He wore a closed locket which bore a black and white Yin, Yang symbol. Other than that the only other visible items he wore were a pair of Shen-like talons and a pair of metal tipped wing-blades. As all bats he had long ears and a small stubby was about half the height of Shifu.
Along with him he had two companions. One was broader and looked heavier,while the other was so skinny you could see his bones in some places. They had the same brown eyes and identical wore a darkish armour over their chests and a pair of dark pants. The heavy one had two wing-blades, while the thin one had two butterfly knives strapped across their back.
They had settled down to a dinner in the ornate basement room, generally used for the Winter Feast. Po had served several dishes from various provinces, while the others made polite conversation with each other. It was eventually revealed that the broad bat was called Pang, and the thin one was known as Shou. Eventually Zeng came in and gave them the stuttering message that the 'guest room' was ready. As the bats left the room a collective sigh of relief spread out through the room.
"You are all dismissed", muttered Shifu."I want the four of you",he indicated the five minus Tigress."Out of the Palace before the ". The four mumbled their good nights and left the room.
When she was certain they were all out of earshot Tigress began."They're planning something".
"That's a little harsh".
"Po how many Lords have visited the Valley".
"A few".
"And how many of them come dressed as peasants"?
"None".
"And how many of them have stayed in the Palace overnight"?
"My thoughts exactly", began Shifu."But we mustn't get carried away, both can easily be explained. First we need evidence, and that is why you two are still here. You have until the Harvest Festival to find out all you can about them and their plans. Goodnight". He stepped up and swiftly left the room.
This was not going to be easy.
Chapter 6: Remains
As Chuizi woke up he found out three things, firstly that the door had been completely smashed in and covered with rubble from the other side. Secondly the old goat was now a lifeless body long dead. And thirdly that he had broken his leg. It wouldn't heal for a while that was certain. Luckily that had been his only severe injury. Another problem was that he was thirsty, very thirsty, he could have drunk a rive by now. He had no idea what time of day it was as there was no light coming from outside. His men were dead, he was certain of it. He didn't know what it was that had attacked them, but he had this chilly feeling that this was not just any old bandit attack, but far worse. He shuffled painfully into a sitting position where he groped around for his hammer. It took him a little while before he had the cold wooden handle in one of his hooves. The pain in his legs were killing him, but he was a fighter, he was not going to give up because of one minor injury. With that thought in mind he started swinging the hammer at the wall, dearly hoping it wouldn't collapse on him.
Jin had been awake for a while. The first thing he had done when he woke up was make sure the village was clear before standing up and getting there. his first priority was to get his crossbows from the inn he had been staying at. The inn had been stripped bare, including his room, but he had hidden his crossbows under a loose floorboard under his bed, he pulled them out and strapped them to his belt. He smelt of a lot of things, mud and dried blood among them, and his hands were utterly filthy. He had started to search the town for survivors, but had so far been unsuccessful. Some houses remained but those were empty of everything, where houses had once been stood great big shapes of charred ground. It looked like a ghost town. Either the villagers had been killed or had fled somewhere else. There was nobody here. He'd had enough of a holiday, he was going back to Jinzhou. He was about to head up north when all of a sudden he heard a thumping echo. So he was not alone. If someone here was alive he was not going to sentence them to death. He headed in the direction of the sound, crossbows ready.
Mimi was awoken by the sound of a thump coming from his right. He was covered in rubble and could scarcely move, but he could hear it, and it was coming from right next to him. That was when he realised he had to get a move on, he was struggling to breathe and could see nothing other than from a small peep-hole in one of the bricks. It appeared to be a cloudy day, but not a particularly cold one. What he would give for a minute outside of this cage ? There was no time for wishful thinking, he had to get out before he suffocated. He started shifting around the cramped space, his whole body searching for a loose brick. He found one, near his right leg, he pushed with allhis might and he could feel it moving along. A large amount of light poured into the rubble and a larger amount of beautiful fresh air. He could now see himself and his surroundings easily, he could see sharp pieces of splinter wood he would have to avoid. One down 299 more to go...
The next few things that happened went all so fast that it was impossible for Jin to tell which happened first. Chuizi seemed to have smashed off part of the wall, which had landed on Mimi's already huge pile of rubble. The vulture had shrieked as the wall landed on him, covering him in darkness once more. Jin had been around the corner when it had happened and had fired two bolts from his crossbows, before he realised there was nobody there, somehow the bolts had crashed into an insecure part of the roof, forcing it to all collapse, revealing a golden takin dressed in armour and wielding a hammer in one had, while his other one supported his weight against the wall, he was shaking and clearly injured, the fox then noticed that one of his legs was bent into an impossible angle. Had he done that ? There was no time to think, he hastily fired an explosive bolt into the building, somehow the armoured takin managed to deflect it with his hammer, letting it blow up another building. Jin was about to reload when he remembered he had forgotten about is bolt sacks in his hurry to get to the thumping. Oh well, he could try bluffing...
"Get down on the ground before I shoot you",it had sounded corny and cheesy and if he had been in the guy's position, he wouldn't have listened to himself. Still he wasn't going to let that show on his face.
'Put that thing down you don't even know how to use it', if only Jin had said something like that. He then noticed that he seemed relieved. Almost elated.
"What you so happy for"?, First moment he got he would practice sounding menacing.
"You're Chinese, I'm Imperial Army. We're on the same side".
No they were not. Jin was a wanted assassin. If anything they were on opposite sides. Still might as well play along. The fox tried his hardest to look relieved.
Mimi had heard everything. and he was not going to let this chance go by without at least trying to grab at it. "If you don't mind I could use some help in getting freed from this rubble".
It was agonizing work but two hours later they were all free to walk and stretch their legs. It was a surprisingly happy feeling, being free, though not one that was often looked at. Eventually Mimi answered the question burning his mind."What now"?
"We can't stay here"? Added Jin.
"We could try the base further north", thought Chuizi.
"Base"?
"Imperial Army", Mimi answered with a wave of his wing."But for that we'd have to walk, and General Chuizi you are in no condition to walk".
"Don't expect me to carry you".
"We could hole up in a cave a little walk away from here. And then try and do something about your leg". Continued the avian, completely ignoring Jin's attempted humour.
"We could try and send a message up to that base of yours".
"Negative. If we stay here too long we'll die off, none of us really have winter-worthy clothing. I don't fancy dying of cold".
"Let's just get to the cave and argue there", ordered Chuizi.
So half an hour later they set off, Jin supporting Chuizi on his injured side.
Chapter 7: What a Nice Reunion
A/N: I have to tell you that after maybe a few more chapters I am going to go on an extended vacation from all digital devices, sadly that means no FF for the rest of the summer,come 22Nd of July that is. I have had a successful year and have written quite a bit of stories. Do not worry I will be back, fit to bursting with ideas, therefore enjoy the chapter and happy holidays.
Far far away some people were having a very different morning.
Aang had always been an early bird, well an early bat. That usually meant he was the first to wake up at night, and the last to go to sleep in the it was just the opposite. He was the sort of person who liked his sleep but at the same time hated wasting time. Maybe some people had stared death down more than he had, but he had had a few scrapes. He knew time was precious and at the same time short. That was why he was up at least an hour before the bell, he had been pacing which was how he thought best. You could have heard a pin drop from miles around, that was how silent the Jade Palace was. Or was it actually silent. Was this how it felt to live in the palace ? Wow he wished he had done this before. Still, he had to be careful, he knew why he was here and the celebration was just a cover, still for now he just had to find out about those two beastly doors.
After a while he heard creaking outside and strained whispers. Shifu's students must be , that would make things easier, now all he had to deal with was a panda, a tigress and Shifu. So he continued pacing and he continued thinking until the gong was sounded.
Now or never I guess,he thought as he pushed open the doors and sneaked off to find his two 'henchmen'. What ,he had to at least look like he was here for the festival?
The Furious Five minus Tigress gently and slowly moved past each step, gradually going downwards and in the direction of the were in no hurry, the village was still asleep,nothing was opened. Shifu had told them of Aang's arrival two days prior, and none of them had managed to make they reached the last step they sat down. The four had gone down in silence, now they sat down in silence. Silence was amazingly powerful, but now it was just awkward. It was probably a good thing that no silence ever lasts forever.
"Sooooo, what you guys up to this week", began Mantis to no one in particular.
"I guess we could help the villages with the decorations", murmured Viper.
"Someone has to patrol", mentioned Crane.
"Let's face it guys", sighed Monkey."It's gonna be a dull week".
The four sat in silence it would turn out that Monkey was wrong, this was going to be a week to remember.
The first proof of that was the number of tourists coming into the valley. Yes a lot of people were going to celebrate with friends and family, but this was certainly a lot more than last year. The answer was one word, one word currently up in the palace. Aang. But that still left a lot of questions unanswered. Why did all these people come after Aang ? Maybe the week wasn't going to be so dull. They all stood and silently headed off to get breakfast at Mr. Ping's.
The minute the bell rang Tigress was out of her room. She stood at her door and looked at the empty doorway. they should be up now, she thought. Then she remembered the previous night. The rest of the five were not here and Po was most likely fast asleep. Shifu was most likely meditating into waking, though nobody knew how that worked. That left Aang and his 'sidekicks'. They were most likely awake. Bats were nocturnal after all. But where were they sleeping. Aang was in Shifu's room,Po was in his room, she was in her's, Shifu was in Crane's which left Mantis and Viper's rooms. Wait they were still here last night. They were probably in one of the storage rooms. She tiptoed down the hall and in the direction of the storage rooms.
It was the last day of work [unless you counted harvesting as work], before the festival. That meant that Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu was crowded beyond compare. Not only with locals, but with foreigners from different villages. As it was they barely found a seat. But they did. They also found a beautifully decorated table already laid out with the plate and chopsticks, as if it were a five-star dining area. Still currently neither of them could have cared less if they were in the middle of a jungle hut. Now they were in the middle of sipping hot tea listening to the joyful buzzing of the Valley of Peace. Dragon Warrior Noodles and Tofu was certainly the best restaurant for miles. That was the thought on her mind when four figures walked in. One was a green Mantis who wore no clothes. Another was a Green Tree Viper wearing nothing but two lotus buds. The third was a Golden Snub Nosed Monkey, wearing braces on his hands, and a pair of light brown pants. The fourth and final figure was a Black-Necked Crane wearing a straw hat and blue pants, as well as a multitude of rings on his long skinny legs. He seemed familiar but she couldn't put her paw on it now. The four sat on a table nearby as the snow leopard mulled her brain over for this bird's identity. They were all sipping tea and sharing gossip but seemed tired. The Mantis had dropped a cup and it had shattered. Now he was mumbling apologies while sweeped off the broken chips. Completely ignoring the bug.
"No worries Master Mantis, you looked tired, there's this lovely place down the street".
It went off in her head. She knew the broom looked like it was laughing at her now. How could she have ever forgotten...
"Crane"!
The bird turned around with a stunned expression. He knew that voice. For a moment he forgot he had tea in his mouth.
"M-Mei Ling", boiling hot tea dripping onto your toes is not a very pleasant feeling. Then he noticed her companion."Mom". That was when he fainted.
A/N:Well hello and goodbye. Please review and don't forget The Grey Alien will be back one day. Until then enjoy your holidays and Yaawahi baby.
Chapter 8: Students, Secrets and Unease
A/N: A bit of everything in this chapter, my finally off hiatus fic, how long has it been again ? Anyways I hope you enjoy the first update in months.
Po knew well that Stealth Mode was one of his weaker modes, by a lot. So he figured that instead of lying and sneaking around, he would just hide in some perfectly sized bushes until the information revealed far the only thing he had learnt were that Shou and Pang were incompetent fools, incapable of much their than arguing, whenever it came to blows Shou usually won, Pang was depressed and then the whole process repeated. He did learn about their personalities. Pang was a bit like him, if not as open and a bit over sensitive, Shou was a bit like Shifu in that he was bossy and had a snappy temper, by noon, however their squeaky voices were finally getting to him. By the time Zeng ringed the lunch gong, Po was willing to walk up and reveal himself, but stopped when he saw Aang, for the first time since the morning. The bat himself was entering he Hall of Heroes in what could only be a suspicious way. He had a short mental battle, lunch or information, eventually information won,only because of Master Shifu's infamous eye twitch. He silently crawled across the field towards the Hall of Heroes, entering in as quietly as he could and throwing himself behind the stand that held the Sword of Heroes. He peaked over the stand and found himself staring into the light brown eyes of Lord Aang, who was tapping his left foot impatiently. He chuckled nervously, eyeing the bat's blades.
"Lord Aang what- a "-
"I'm not dumb, you were spying on me, or at least attempting to."
"You're not mad"?
"I'm a Lord, I've been sped on my whole life, by other lords, a few professional spies, mongols. Never a Kung Fu Master, however, let alone the Dragon Warrior".
"Well I'm not the est at Stealth Mode"-
"Panda, I know Shifu set you up for this, well you and the tiger".
Po was about to ask why but the miniature mammal waved the question away.
"I'm a bat and have you seen the size of these ears ? Hearing is my specialty, much like yours is eating".
"That's steryeotypical".
"So you don't like food"?
Po had lost now and crossed his arms unhappily.
"Shifu thinks I'm hiding something from him", he flapped off so that he was standing in front of the Thousand Scrolls. Po followed hesitantly.
"Everyone's got secrets panda, you and me both, forgive me if I don't trust you with some of mine".
"Okay, well it's lunchtime so I'll just gooo".
Po left now certain that he would get lunch first then go to Master Shifu, he wondered what the other's were doing, then thoughts of food filled his mind.
Crane and Mei Ling were standing on the mountain top,both were Kung Fu masters, and the birthplace of Kung Fu was something Mei Ling had wanted to see since her days in Lee Da, to Crane it was just the Pool of Sacred Tears, what he really wanted to know was what Mei Ling had done while he was gone, it had been a long time, a really long time.
"So how's the academy doing"?
"Oh it's great,and I'm finally teaching"!
"That's wonderfu"-
"Individual sessions", she spat, as if the words tasted sour.
"Okay".
"It's not that I hate my students it's just that most of them are spoiled princes and princesses with no talents just rich parents".
"So you hate your students"?
"Most of them yes, some of them are decent, like there's this cheetah, he's really good, but kind of a dickhead or the pangolin, he's actually one of the best at the whole school, but he's kind of quite. Mostly I just get interviews and short applications".
"So who comes"?
"All sorts, and that's the thing, there's this one mole who's just plain weird".
"Like me"? Crane offered.
"He talks a little, leaves for long periods of time and each time he comes back he's different as if something's chipping away at his head".
"Well maybe you don't know him that well".
"I've been teaching him on and off for eight years".
The avian whistled. "Is he always this inconsitent"?
"He was supposed to be here, but flunked the whole thing".
"So you came here to teach"?
"Well not really. Crane you might want to sit down".
He sat on the ground, thoroughly weirded out".
"I came because your mother is dying".Mei Ling was always direct. The blow came like a hammer to the heart.
Jin was seriously considering leaving altogether. He had come up with a few back up options if his first one failed. He could try killing Chuizi and Mimi in their sleep, but that was hard as he slept like a couch and the vulture watched him like a hawk. The fox generally avoided the avian as best he could, but one day he found himself cornered.
"What's your name"?
"Um- my name is Yin", he bit on his tongue as he nearly said assassin.
"Family"?
"Jing".
"Yin Jing, you're telling me your full name is penis"?
"No, it's eyes".
"That's Yan Jing, fix your vocabulary before you try lying to me".
Jin glared at him. "What do ya want ya crazy chicken".
Mimi glared back. "I want to know what Jin the Assassin is doing in the outskirts of China, at least a hundred li away from any other city or village.
Crap, his jig was up, looks like he was going out shooting after all."None of your business bird brain", he pulled out both crossbows and shot the vulture twice in the chest...with a dud.
"I thought you'd do that assassins are very predictable these days. I took the precaution of removing your bolts, and found the names of two of your fellows on the crossbows. 'Hei Zei' and 'Lang' led me to you".
Jin crossed his arms."Nerd".
"I'm an Imperial Army detective, being a nerd is my job".
"Whaddya want anyways"?
"General Chuizi's leg is broken. Winter is coming. We need to inform the Imperial Army of the current situation, before snow breaks, I estimate one or two weeks,maybe less, if we don't mongols over flood China and it's history repeating itself".
"Get to the flippin' point already".
"I need your help to get General Chuizi to the nearest base, preferably alive".
Jin smiled."What's in it for me"?
"Help me or I kill you".
Jin laughed at the vulture. "I've had death threats from people more intimidating than you pint sized".
"Fine then, if you help me, if Chuizi is grateful we could, he could arrange, perhaps"-
"Go on spill the beans".
"Arrange for an official pardon".
Footnote: So ta da. Yan Jing does mean eyes and Yin Jing does mean penis, so I had a lot of fun with this chapter.
Chapter 9: Where to Next ?
Jingkong was blind. That was a fact every member of the Mongol horde known as the Cavalry of Death knew. He had been born that way and had shamed his family that way, a weak baby being an omen of bad luck after all, but the priest, on his Name Day had spared him, after that he had proven his worth. Loudmouth and quick of tongue though he was, he had earned his place. He had a mind for strategy and was an excellent bowman, he had been a chick the first time the Mongols had gone over the wall, and now, the second time they had gone over, he was in joint charge. This was his first time in China, and yet he couldn't see any of it. Now, it had taken the full force of the Cavalry of Death to get them across the wall, but only four had crossed it into China.
In joint charge with him were two others.
One, Tengtong was his friend, a veteran of the first crossing and once his training officer, he was tough, rugged, and good with any melee weapon, though he favored the kind that could slice someone with ease, he had experience, but he was reckless, especially when it came to commanding troops, of the opinion that every Mongol man counted as ten Chinese.
The last he shared charge with was the Figure. Jingkong prized himself on his ability to gain knowledge, but only Lord Temujin himself knew what the Figure was, he wore a great long robe which covered every inch of his body and a hood that his his head. He could be anything,all anyone knew was that he was the strongest warrior of them all, and that he had a grudge against China, Jingkong didn't like nor trust him, but he was according to Lord Temujin a 'necessary evil'.
The last living Mongol who had gone over the wall was the one Jingkong trusted the most, even if he wasn't exactly Mongol. Babirasu had been his for want of a better word squire, ever since the babirusa had been brought to him. They were close friends and even though the flamethrower had mixed loyalties, Jingkong had no reason not to trust him.
But now a massive disagreementt had swept in amongst the Mongols. Each of them believed that to hold China, they had to take something now. What exactly they should take was a matter of debate.
"We have enough strength to take the Imperial City now, the Autumn feast is within a week and by the time we get there everyone will be having a well earned break, or enjoying the calm of autumn, or preparing for winter. The one thing they won't be prepared for is a full scale Mongol invasion right into their undefended capital".
The first city the Mongols had destroyed had been taken by a group of bandits Tengtong had recruited, several of these bandits now applauded him. Jingkong knew that despite their lack of loyalty, the bandits would always side with Tengtong.
"We would be able to take the Imperial City", the eagle mused. "But we do not have the strength needed to hold it".
"We could send for reinforcements and fly our banners across the land, calling the people to arms".
"By the time these reinforcements arrive the only banner they'll see will be our heads rotting on pikes. Meanwhile if we take Gongmen, an epicenter of trade", Tengtong rolled his eyes,"we'll have China by the throat and will be able to expand down the unprotected coast. We could make terms with Japan, we all know they hate China as much as us and our numbers will grow each day, until we will be strong enough to march right into the Imperial City and kick some ass".
At this point the figure intervened. "That plan has already been tried and has already failed. Lord Shen had Gongmen, but was stopped by the Master's of the Jade Palace, Temujin had the Imperial City last time, but Grand Master Oogway stopped him. Do you not see how repetitive this is getting ? The Master's of the Jade Palace have intervened and prevented every major invasion that has ever happened, they are the beacon of light that gives China courage and hope. Remove them, you destroy all the hopes of China, and what is an Army without moral, nothing but a man in a suit of armor, who wants to go home. If we can destroy the Jade Palace we have won, if we can't we can beat back into Mongolia the same way we got here and the Imperial Army will be none the wiser".
This is why Jingkong didn't trust the figure, he was too clever by far and the eagle wanted to know what his game was, of course, he wasn't exactly going to take his hood off here and now for no reason.
"Very well, we take the Valley of Peace, and they take our element of surprise, this is on your head".
Tengtong and Jingkong strolled away..
"He's an idiot, a bloody idiot", Tengtong would have growled, but horses failed to make that sound.
"Just don't let him hear you say that".
"I'm not an archer Jingkong, I do not fear a man too scared to show his face.
"Well, I am and you should be, scared of him that is. Fear is not cowardice, I see it as wisdom".
Tengtong made no reply to that, and began on another subject.
"But imagine if we could take the Imperial City, we'd have crowns on our heads".
"A crown on a severed head, what a waste of jewelry".
"Why must you always be a pessimist"?
The eagle made no answer, merely yawned. Jingkong flapped off to his own tent, one he had built away from the camp, and deep into the mountain. He liked being away from all of it, sometimes he wished he could run away, but he knew he was too deeply involved to back down now. The Valley of Peace it was then, to get their asses kicked by a bunch of Kung Fu masters. Hmm, maybe he was a bit too pessimistic.
Chapter 10: The Mountain Tribes
A/N: Well, this chapter concludes the first arc of the story,which looks like a two or three arc one. Not much to say herein other than Enjoy.
The mountains were cold and harsh, though the way Mimi was going on about it they had all better be grateful that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The vulture gave long and detailed accounts of how snow had caused the deaths of over a hundred climbers on these particular mountains. Jin knew he was bluffing, probably because all three of them were lost in the mountains and none of them knew what these were called. The fox was slightly taken aback by how the vulture, someone who would probably piss himself in the midst of battle, could describe such a bloody atmosphere. Chuizi limped along with the two, saying little, most of his body weight was now placed on the fox's shoulder, and that was indeed a lot of body weight. Mimi was flapping ahead, carrying a small bag of supplies, food mostly, but there was also two rolls of bandages and a few maps of the area.
The maps themselves were an area of frequent argument. There were several mountains across the fields, but none of them knew which was the right one.
The food was another argument in itself. They were running out, and Chuizi had been made general for his strength and valor in battle, not for his army leading, or marching capabilities. Mimi was the same, but his excuse was that he was just a detective. Jin himself wasn't much better suited to the task, but his time in the Thieve's Guild was more than either of them had when it came to rationing food, though he had never had to ration food there.
Jin the Assassin was also pretty sure that way too much pressure was being placed upon him. For example, he had watches more frequently than either and Mimi never had to lumber around with Chuizi's hoof on his shoulder.
A cry rung out through the mountains, an echo went through the caves and trees, cracking the prestene environment.
"What was that"?! Jin went for his crossbow, only to remember that it was full of duds and couldn't kill a fly, let alone hurt it.
"Hmmmm, a lot of things. It could be some messenger or an army passing by. There are Mountain Tribes all over China, I've heard. Half feral people who would rip you apart just to fiill their bellies".
"I doubt that cannibals would gives us all a fair warnin'".
"Well, it's only fun for them if we run".
"I like runnin'".
"Good, you wouldn't last half a minute, the slopes are treacherous, and if it were to snow"-
Jin tuned him out, their were more boring talks of snow and what snow did to someone. He couldn't care less about how someone could freeze to death, he wondered if he could set fire to Mimi would the vulture start screaming about how much that burnt.
Chuizi all of a sudden stopped and stood stock still. His grip tightened around Jin's shoulder and his face seemed to pale."Mimi, repeat that sentence".
"Well, the Stone boars are rather less brutal, they'd sooner ransom you than kill you, but the Iron Lizards would slice you up for the fun of it".
"Before that".
"The Calm before the Storm ? Well, it's punctuated by a loud shriek through an otherwise silent territory, followed by a war horn, or if their close enough a knife to the throat".
Jin went for his crossbow and Chuizi let go of him, supporting himself instead with his long war hammer. This time the 'Calm before the Storm' was punctuated by a short and pointed applause. The group were now faced with a komodo, dressed in bits and pieces of armour. From a helmet punctuated by the bright red scales of the Imperial Army to rusty brown graves that went up to her knee.
For a minute Jin panicked and let loose a bolt. The dud stuck onto the armour, but did nothing else.
"You must be an idiot to let fly a dud against a guy in armour".
"And ya must be an idiot for pickin' a fight with Jin the Assassin", in some cities this would inspire a fearful look, in hear it just made him look stupid.
"Never heard of you."
Jin glared. Chuizi held his hammer, but looked too frightened to speak. Mimi spoke for the group.
"What do you desire, furen"?
"Hmmmm, how about a meal"?
"We barely have enough food for us".
"Good, I'll take it so you don't fight over it".
"Can you count, there are three of us and one of you"?
The komodo placed two fingers in her mouth and whistled. They were surrounded, spears pointed at their throats."Now, birdie, let's see you count a bit, how many mouths do I have to feed".
The vulture gulped.
Chuizi had seen a hundred battles. At first he had gone with his friends and brothers to fight off the Mongols, a small rag tag crew of burly fighters. And yet he had never lost. Yet, all his battles took their toll on him. His brothers dying in one, his friend in the other, victory after victory he won, forging widespread fame for him and his weapon of choice. Soon he was rising through ranks at every season's turn,getting separated from all his still living friends and relatives. He made new friends, true, but half of them died before he moved even further, leaving all the survivors well and truly behind. He had once told Mimi that every man cracked at least once, but some returned others did not. He had said that it was only a matter of time before any man cracked.
"So, hand over your supplies, and your cloaks and you'll be allowed to go".
Chuizi cracked.
With a roar that was half feral the General brought his hammer down on the nearest komodo, before swinging it sideways and sending five lizards sprawling. Five others leapt onto his back, spears and knives going into his cloak and coming out red, but he doubled back smashing his back against the wall, crushing the reptiles behind him. He pulled his hammer up again and smashed it against one man's privates, before that lizard was sent to the ground with five duds stuck to his head.
"RUN"! Chuizi commanded and Mimi was quick on the uptake taking to he air in half a heartbeat, Jin was one heartbeat slower, but still hurried faster than any reptile could. One komodo leapt at Chuizi with a knife but he was sent spiraling ff of the edge with a mere flick of the hoof. Two more reptiles leapt up to replace him, but Chuizi enveloped them in a hug that could shatter bone, and probably did from the looks on them when he let go. One dragon was getting up, but Chuizi brought his hammer down on his stomach, the wind left him in a milisecond. The golden takin smashed his hammer right into the lead komodo's hand, she shrieked and pulled back the way she came, but a hammer to the leg caught her running and she tripped over, the hammer was brought down on her back.
Two reptiles came at him, one wrapped him in a choke hold the other slid into his feet. The bovine leapt over him and landed on him, before throwing off the one choking him. To his surprise the leader had found her feet again, sadly he found his as well.
The adrenaline that had been coursing through him had temporarily stopped the pain from taking him, but now he collapsed onto his knee, a small trickle of blood was coming from his nose, and his once white cloak was dyed crimson with blood.
"End him"!
The komodos got up, and as the adrenaline receeded completely Chuizi was powerless, fifteen spears went into his back, then he collapsed on his face and breathed his last. To his dignity he looked more than ready for it.
The leader looked up the mountain to where the dim figures of the fox and vulture stood, gaping.
"You're next!" She shouted. "You'll meet a grimmer end than him, I assure you ! HAHAHAHAHA"!
Her laugh echoed through the mountain, ringing on even after she had gone.
Well, thought Mimi, this is why I'm not brave. Bravery is stupid.
"Looks like it's just the two of us then".
"Yes it does". Despite his companion Mimi had never felt lonelier.
Footnote: Well, Chuizi is dead, I seem to be on some sort of OC killing spree these days. Originally I had Chi in this chapter, but I remember that I killed him off in The Feral Islands, well looks like Jin and Mimi are On Their Own ( a story I highly recommend you read) and The Cry of the Wolf ( well komodo) (another story I reccomend you read), sings through the mountains.
Update soon.
Chapter 11: Back So Soon
A/N: I figured that the Wu sisters don't come into this story much. Neither does Saras, so I guess that after every arc ends I could add some sort of comic relief chapter at the start of every new arc. The Wu sisters fill this need for enjoy.
The Bat Cave was certainly luxurious, this was probably to make up for all of it's occupants. The Wu sisters were accustomed to living on their own in a huge lava fortress. The Bat Caves were an intricate building with minute cave systems growing from larger ones. There was a massive sleeping hall, with several hundred hexagonal rooms where the bats slept, upside down Wan suspected. Naturally though, the secret organization was made up of more than just bats, rats, mice, ferrets, weasels, a good deal of small animals all worked here. Of the larger animals there were fewer, but for that the Wu sisters were glad. They had their own chambers and meal hall, as well as a separate training area. Several times Wing had tried searching out the doors to the vault, but they had tried and failed to find any sort of cave system even remotely similar. She had found a library, but had never really been interested in reading. The Wus spent most of their days in the Training Hall, which was unbelievably easy. Wan found herself pitying whoever had to repair all the dummies they had destroyed.
"Are they even fighting back"? Wing wondered aloud one day, as usual they were the only ones there, the other sellswords and mercenaries too scared to enter. Su was glad that their names still had sufficient reputation behind them to be able to do this, she had been worried as of late that they had lost their reputation, apparently not.
"Well, they're bats, what do you expect of them. I mean how are they supposed to make something challenging for us, when they struggle with things like this every day". Su replied calmly.
"Still, must be more powerful than he gives off if he hopes to contain us. And what if he"-
"Rips us off" ? Wing at that moment ripped a dummy's head clear off it's shoulders. "I'll rip him".
"I'd like to see you try".
"You"?!
"Me".
Su and Wan wisely decided to stay out of it, giving each other a quick look.
Wing was on the verge of exploding. The dummy's hand which had been in her paw, smashed and splintered.
Standing in front of them, taller and thinner than ever before was the shapeshifter from their first outing with Aang. He still didn't reach any higher than a third of their heights,but had clearly grown. His fur was the same ,scruffy with a certain neatness to it. He wore the same old yellow jumper he had years ago,or a different one, his cloak was the same green as before, and his pants the same blue. In place of footwear he wore his metallic Talon Claws, across his back was slung a light quiver, holding only one or two arrows, and a bow of heartswood. Across his belt he had four daggers, two short and rather blunt, made for parrying blows, and two longer ones, sharper and serrated with spikes of jade. Across his back and held on by a thin little rope was a rice hat that seemed to glow, one which they knew to hold a secret pop stash of pop-up blades. He had somehow aged both a lot and very little.
The fox broke the silence.
"I brought tea", he held out a tea pot, short and stout. Wing strode two paces and slammed it out of his paw. The clay smashed against the floor and the tea spilt across the wooden floorboards that decorated the Training Hall.
Wan noted Wing's look of glee at ruining his tea, as well as the fox's look that read rather plainly as 'seriously I was gonna drink that'. She also noted Su's look of pure shock at the thought of wasted tea, something all three of them had always been partial to. All in all it was rather hard to suppress her giggle.
"Well, clearly you're not thirsty".
"What are you doing here"?! Wing had always been headstrong, but had enough self control to realize that Aang wouldn't really be happy if the shapeshifter was found dead upon his return.
"Well, for one I live here. secondly, I heard you saying you don't like what the bats make. Not challenging enough ? Well, they made me".
Su's face was a mask. Wan turned her head to the side, puzzled. And Wing crossed her arms."You're a fox, two bats don't make a fox".
"No, but a colony",he gestured around them."Raised one", he pointed at himself.
Su decided to change the subject before they went too far down memory lane.
"I remember saying that I'd rip out your guts and feed it to the fishes if I ever saw you again."
"I remember you saying you'd kill me, but not exactly how".
Su changed the subject.
"You were saying".
"You want a challenge ? I volunteer".
"No". Wing snarled at once.
"Yipee". Wan cried out at the same time.
"What do you mean"?
"Well, if you are to work with us you will undoubtedly be faced with many weird and wonderful things. I am a weird thing. I say you start by facing me".
"I'll do it", Wan said.
Su merely nodded, full to the brim with apprehension as to what could be going on.
"If it means we get to kick your but", Wing finally said,while cracking her knuckles, albeit grudgingly.
"I assure you, you'll find me harder to beat than you think".
"You're still, what, fifteen" ?
"Twenty two, and I assure you I've seen worse than you".
The Wus spread out. "Keep assuring yourself".
"I'll never stop".
"Good luck"! Wan cried.
And the battle begun.
Footnote: Not much in the way of comic relief, but a bit of something, more or less, lighthearted helps dark stories stay alive.
So, life is grand and I bid all of you a good day.
Update soon.
Chapter 12: Salt in the Plan
The Valley of Peace seemed to live up to it's name, or at least for now. That was probably, Tengtong noted, because the villagers had just brought in a rather too bountiful harvest. He was wondering whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing. Babirasu had scouted the Valley at dawn,while the villagers had been sleeping. While the Valley itself was no serious tactical advantage, the Jade Palace was a different matter. The walls weren't too high or hard to scale, but it had long history for great warriors, and from the reputation of the Dragon Warrior, a warrior like no other, it seemed more than well protected. It was vital that the villagers not reach the Jade Palace, it was said that any army wearing armor would collapse upon climbing the, was it ten or twenty thousand steps ? Jingkong had suggested shooting the village from above, not everyone could fly after all, but the figure had said that the Valley would find a way, and anyways anyone with a fragment of a brain would aim for cover at the command of 'fire!'.
Tengtong's idea of storming the village at night was the current best, but the figure had put it on hold for a while. It was a good thing too, for Babirasu had reported a massive festival was on it's way to the Valley, he described the amounts of people as best he could, and had explained that there were a few outlying villages. The squire had even had the audacity to put forward a plan o his own, to attack one of the villages to draw the warriors of the Jade Palace out, while their main force lay waste to the Valley of Peace. That really set Tengtong on edge, probably because he hadn't thought of it. The figure had explained that that had never worked for the benefit of any conqueror and that there was no way the current Grandmaster would send out his whole force just for the sake of one village.
"Since when were Kung Fu Masters tactically brilliant".
"What do you know of Master Shifu"? The figure had snarled. The horse had half a mind to behead him right there and then, his hoof had been on his weapon's handle, but Jingkong had given him a look. Somehow the blind young bird had seen through his milky white eyes.
"I know enough", Tengtong had replied, really he didn't know two yuan worth of information.
So his plan had stayed, but had been postponed to the night of the festival, now all he had to do was add the salt to the soup.
"Babirasu"!
Babirasu was a babirusa. He was a youth of four and twenty years. His skin was a dazzling pink, if that was even believable. He had two short little tusks popping out from his jaw, and two horns from the top of his head, along with a larger pair growing from his snout's center. Across his hooves he wore black bandages, and a pair of bright red pants, held on by a belt of golden lace. Three more strings of golden lace held a wooden plank (of sorts) to his back. Said plank was also equipped with miniature spines. On his belt he also wore two hooks made of a metal as black as night. He was rather short and stout, reaching up to about his hips. Then again that wasn't really saying much, Tengong had a good half meter over most animals. A better comparison would be saying he was half the height of most animals, such as leopards or wolves. What he lacked in reach, he made up ten times over is muscles, while not truly well defined he had strength all over his body. Tengtong had started a rumor that he was on some sort of steroid, but Babirasu had silenced that quickly enough.
Aside from all of that Babirasu was loyal, if a little too kind for his own good. But loyalty was what he needed now.
"Yes, General". Tengtong liked that, noone adressed him as general since they had left Mongolia, it felt nice to be reminded who he was. Very refreshing.
"Well, I have need of you. As you know, WE ATTACK AT DUSK!"
"Not so loudly General".
Tengtong had often been described as a lunatic,he liked to think that he was just clever in his own special way."Certainly. Well, we need a signal keeper. I would like to give you the honour of this task".
"Ok".
Too quick, Tengtong thought."Wait, you're okay with this" ?
"Technically Jingkong already gave me this honour. Forgive me but I don't think it's very honourable to attack a town of unsuspecting villagers, celebrating a festival no less".
Tengtong blinked.
"You may think you're clever in your own way, but leave slyness to the sly people".
Tengtong's hoof went for his haldi. This pig, deer, thing was going to loose a head at this rate.
"Thank you for your honour. General Tengtong. But I don't need honour from you".
He turned. "You'll regret that one day".
"I hope I do".
Tengtong was seething inside. Jingkong put too much faith in that squire. That upjumped fool was asking for trouble. Why, Tengtong had been raping and sacking, killing and tormenting while that babirusa was still sucking his hoof. He had been a child when Tengtong had gone across the wall.
I should have killed him, the horse thought bitterly. I should have killed him the minute he begged for mercy.
Jingkong had not been there. It had been him and Temujin, Brothers in Arms, who had sacked that village of freaks and monsters. If only he had ended him. Instead he had been sent back to Mongolia,all alone, with only the stars to guide him. They had laughed, expecting him to die on the long and difficult journey. Instead, when they had returned, their host smashed to pieces, their fifty raiders reduced to five, they had found him, playing at 'it' with Jingkong, who really should have known better. But they had both been young, with only three years between them, and the two had formed a friendship, one that always made Tengtong regret.
I should have killed him, he thought once again. I should have killed him one day in all these long years.
Who knew though, maybe one day he would kill him. If the tides of battle blow us together, perhaps one of my knives may well cut him. Jingkong wouldn't like that though. Still I'd like to see the eagle try do something to me. With that thought on his mind he brought out his haldi and began sharpening it.
Chapter 13: The Harvest Festival I
The day of the Autumn Festival came quickly. And it was on this day that Aang caught Po, once again spying on him.
"You really should give up espionage, it's not exactly your strong point".
Po crossed his arms and pouted. The bat smiled. "You could be a bouncer really. But you're so very childlike sometimes. In some ways you remind me of a lot of people, my brother for one. You're both naive, you're both easy to manipulate and you are just so predictable".
"I am"-!
"Not"?
Po shut his mouth. Aang continued. "And both of you never take the easy way out. If you wanted to know so badly what it was I was up to, you could have just asked".
"Asked"? No, he's up to something, Shifu said so.
"Politely".
Po thought for a moment, spying hadn't gotten him anywhere. "Please, please, please can I know what you're up to"?
"You see you're predictable".
What was that supposed to mean ?
"Pang, Shou, wheel her in". The thin and plump bat came in puffing and panting as they tugged at something which really looked like an evil super weapon.
"A giant firework"?
"Actually, I call it a Multiwork. It's several fireworks inside a big one, with several in those ones and several in those ones as well. Do you understand me Dragon Warrior"?
"Not exactly". Technically a firework could still be counted as a weapon of mass destruction. Aang stared at the panda, deadpanned.
"One firework explodes, boom, three more whizz out from that one, zzeeeeeeeeeee, then those explode, boom, boom, boom, and from each of those three more appear. Now do you see my purpose"?
"Uh, kinda, but what's the point".
"I don't understand you"?
"What's the point of a giant firework".
"Think how pretty the Valley will look".
Po wasn't sure whether that was supposed to be some sort of sly insult. He needed to keep asking questions, eventually the Bat Lord would slip up.
"But, what's in it for you"?
"And here I thought the mighty Dragon Warrior was the Master of Compassion. Why must there always be an ulterior motive, why can't people do things purely out of the goodness of their hearts anymore" ?
Po raised an eyebrow, he wasn't convinced. On the outside the panda looked like he was calm, on the inside he was exploding. Was he lying ? Did lords lie ? Why was he here ? Why did Shifu mistrust him so much ? Why was he the one spying on Aang ? Why not Mantis, that guy was small enough to not get noticed, right ?
"Okay, fine I want to be, hm, famous I guess. Popular. Loved by the people ? All of those really".
"Famous", Po blurted lout. "But you're a Lord, isn't fame kinda like part of the package"?
"How many Lords do you know and love for being good lords ? Do you even know anything about politics"?
"Well", Po twiddled his thumbs and trailed off.
"No"! Aang was in his face,staring straight into Po's bright green eyes with his own dark brown ones. "There that is one of my ulterior motives. Panda stop thinking, it doesn't suit you".
"I'm not thinking".
"Good". Aang pulled away. "And stop looking at me like I'm going to destroy the world. I'm just a bat, with a title and a few other... things. Anyways it's nearly lunchtime and I like your company. Dine with me "?
Normally Po would never have declined food. But he didn't trust the Lord. He needed the homeground. He grinned. "I know the perfect spot. Have you ever tried Secret Ingredient Soup"?
"I've heard it's to die for".
What did he mean by that ? Was he going to kill someone ? Was he in danger ? Was the firework going to kill him ? Why were they so many questions ?
Po followed reluctantly. Espionage really wasn't his strong point.
The week, Crane mused had been a good one. It hadn't rained and though the sun wasn't exactly shining, the weather was perfect. He noted sadly that Mei Ling and his mother were leaving in three days. He turned the necklace in his wing. It was truly, a beautiful thing. A silver chain with an amethyst the size of a stone attached to it. His grandmother had given it to him when he had been very young, and he really hadn't understood what she had been talking about. She had told him to give it to someone he really cared about. Naturally he had given it to his mother, but she had returned it saying that she was not 'the one', whatever that meant anyways He mulled it over in his head. Was Mei Ling the one ? I mean, if he asked her out now then what was the point she was leaving in a few days, and he would have to deal with Monkey and Mantis for years. But he had this nasty feeling that if he didn't do it now he would miss the golden opportunity. He had waited for a long time, he had been on the verge of asking her before he left Lee Da, but had never found the courage, besides he'd have had to deal with De Lu for the rest of his life. Besides in all the stories he read long distance relationships didn't really seem to work out.
It was Viper in the end who had given him the courage to do it.
He had asked her after dinner one night. "Um, Viper, if a g-guy were to ask someone, a girl"-
"Are you asking me out"?
He had gone redder than a rose, and had thanked the heavens Monkey and Mantis weren't in the vicinity."N-no. But there's someone that I"-
"Like"? Crane nodded."Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you. Is it Mei Ling"?
"W-what ? N-Well, yes, yes it is Mei Ling".
"Aaaaaw, that's so sweet. Sooooo, what does she like" ?
"Like" ? Was the room hot ?
"Well, clearly this is your first time. When you ask someone out, for guaranteed success you give them something they like, that way they know you love them".
Love was a strong word. He nodded, his face redder than any tomato.
"Breathe Crane, really, you're going to suffocate".
The avian took a deep breath.
"Better"?
"Very".
"Aaaaw, I'm sure Mei Ling will say yes. To be honest she's probably been expecting it a long time by now. Anyways, just get her something pretty, do it somewhere pretty, preferably away from Monkey or Mantis and watch her say yes".
Crane nodded solemnly. He put the necklace in a scarf pocket. It was an odd scarf, one which was red and blue and full of tiny pockets for keeping small things. Mei Ling had given it to him after he had passed into Lee Da, and he had never grown out of it. he would ask her tonight, away from the crowd, with a nice view. She loved the view. Crane took another deep breath and walked out the room. Only to find Mei Ling.
"Oh, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. Come on, the festival's already started".
Crane nodded. Was the room hot all of a sudden ?
"Breathe Crane, really, before you get a concussion or something".
Crane nodded, and hobbled along after Mei Ling.
"Give up, you stand no chance"!
"I can do this all day"!
The two stared at each other. They had been at it since morning. Staring at each other. Then the competition ended.
slammed a wok in between them, their chopsticks fell from their appendages and clattered onto the table.
"Hey ! I was winning"! Mantis complained.
"No, you were about to loose"! Monkey retorted.
"You're both taking up table space. Either order something or get out"!
"Yeesh, tough crowd".
"Out"!
"How did Po live with that guy ? I mean really, he's worse than Shifu".
"Agreed".
"Okay, so we can either go and check out what the pandas are doing, or we can head off in the opposite direction".
The pandas had been camping around the valley since the whole Kai incident, and had now come over to help with the festival. True their sparklers were rather attractive, but Monkey and Mantis had seen most of it before. Down in the opposite direction where well, nobody knew exactly what.
They both nodded and headed south away from the pandas. The southern side of the valley was mostly occupied by stalls. Viper had described it as a 'river of commerce' really it was closer to an ocean. Said stands were bedecked with every object under the sun. The air was clouded with the scents of spices and herbs, some they knew, most they did not. Pots bubbled over fires that crackled cheerfully and jewels of every shape and value glittered against the simple wood of the stalls. The merchants themselves had dressed in their most valuable attire. There was cotton laced with silver, wool tailored with pearls and emeralds and even though a cold wind was in the autumn air, silk was seen at least once on every person. The exotic scene was dazzling, but the scenery was nothing compared to what the people were doing. They saw a dog of sorts sleeping on a bed of nails, with another swallowing swords right next to him. There was an old frog passing around everyone, crying out about death and doom, while offering to read anyone's future, for three yuan and a drop of their blood. Both of them decided that their blood was too important to them.
The single most amazing thing they saw was a boar of sorts, juggling bottles. The only unique thing about these bottles were that they were ablaze, and from the heat coming off them it wasn't any old party trick. The performer was hidden under a shawl of red, orange and yellow lace, that shimmered in such a way that it seemed almost as if he himself were on fire. The finale was of him sliding the bottles into his shawl and erupting flame from out of the sleeves.
Monkey and Mantis stood dazed, wide eyed and gaping.
"What would Po say at this point"? Monkey asked.
"That was AWESOME"! Mantis answered.
"That was nothing". The performer added."If you want a real show come back tonight, I assure you it's to die for".
Monkey and Mantis both agreed to come back later on that night, for the 'real show'.
The Autumn Festival had always been special to Viper, it had been on that festival that she had taken down the gorilla, earning her father's approval and happiness. The thought still made her smile.
But she had a queer feeling that something was going to go wrong. Ever since the start of the week there had been little to no criminal activity. The Valley of Peace was not normally this peaceful, and that struck her as highly unusual. Maybe the looters and robbers had decided to take a break. But why now ? Even before the Winter Feast there had still been those boar bandits, why were there no bandits now ?
She slithered across the fresh grass, it still had some dew to it, but she didn't mind. For a few months this would be the last grass she would she was not alone. A lone figure, in a cloak as black as ebony landed besides her from a tree where he'd been hanging. He grabbed her mouth shut.
She wrapped her tail around his throat.
"Please, I don't want to hurt you. I bring a message for Grandmaster Shifu. Tell him that they come tonight. They have men within and without. Tell him to be prepared for what he has to face. Remind him that he can't run from his past".
He let her go and she turned to try and see through his hood. It was just black.
"Who are you"? She asked. He sounded familiar, but from where she knew him she could not recall.
"No one". He threw a smoke dissapeared as the smoke enveloped him.
Just when the Valley had finally been peaceful. Viper made her way back to the Jade Palace. Who came ? And why ? And how was Shifu involved ?
Footnote: Well this is one of my few and rare 'longer' chapters. So, all these questions, and I'm pretty sure I gave away most of the answers. There's not much to say here. Only that the action either starts this chapter or the one after this.
Enjoy and Update soon.
Chapter 14: The Harvest Festival II
Po had once read a story about how a wolf detective had tricked the evil criminal mastermind Hao ,into revealing all his evil plans, by giving him a hell of a lot of rice wine. Regrettably Dragon Warrior's Noodles and Tofu refused to serve any alcoholic beverages. Instead the two of them had chugged down pint after pint of tea, discussing things both important and rather...less so.
By now he had a small note of information on Aang. The Bat Lord had a little brother, who was supposed to be like Po, he wondered what Shifu would have to say about that. Aang had also been lorded at the age of fifteen, when most people would still be studying something, this however, Shifu had already told him. Aang was talking a lot about his organization, and how it worked. It seemed to Po that the Bat Cave was a freelance group of spies and informers, which sold information to whoever bid the highest. Not exactly illegal, but Po could see why it was described as 'less-than legal'. He could also understand why Shifu was so untrustworthy of Aang, after all, the bat would probably sell and information he had gleaned during his stay.
"Because secrets are worth more than gold. Everyone has secrets Dragon Warrior, and some people would pay a lot for secrets".
"Like the Imperial Army"?
"Yes, they seem, rather...fascinated by my little band of cohorts. But what about you panda, how much would you pay for a few secrets"?
"Depends, I'm paying for lunch you realize"?
"I suggested it", the little Lord was too clever by far, and Po wasn't exactly on the bright side of the spectrum. Po was more or less certain he had been tricked for paying for the food, but he wasn't entirely sure how.
"What's the secret"? Who knew, maybe it was something important.
"Do you know much about Shou and Pang"?
"Er, well not really".
"Good, I like it that way. Anyways, would you like to know about them" ?
"Yes", he would have added 'of course' but that made it sound like he was desperate. This guy is going to trick me. His smiles are fake, his life is probably a lie and the Bat Cave are most likely a league of assassins.
Yet Aang was charming him. Little by little he was earning the panda's trust. So much so that he had even recited his life story, to a small gathering of children and the Dragon Warrior.
He had been orphaned when the Mongols had gone across the wall. He and his brother had been one of a few survivors, perhaps, but surrounded by rubble it was only the two of them. They had found a wooden shield and had carried it off to a river, before collapsing and letting the current carry them across the first few days of their orphanism. They had been found, skinny and close to starving by the then-lord of the Bat Cave, a Lord Shan who sounded more or less like a harsher version of . They had been taken in, fed and clothed, with a roof above their heads. They had been granted an education, and Lord Shan had come to love Aang so much that against his better judgement and the advice of his council, he gave his Lordship to the younger bat. And just like that Aang had become Lord Aang.
From the way he described his organization the little lord hadn't done too badly. It seemed prosperous enough and was now more or less the only informer type of organization left on the market, having swallowed up smaller and less powerful corporations.
By the time he was done, Po looked up, the sky was as black as ebony, but somewhere something huge was giving off a tremendous amount of light.
All of a sudden the air seemed to explode and time seemed to freeze.
"Shifu"! Viper called through the halls of the Jade Palace. "Master Shifu ! Where are you"?!
The snake was getting desperate now. She had checked the kitchens, the grounds, the bathing house, the Pool of Sacred Tears, the arena ground, the training hall, everywhere. And still there had been no sign of Shifu, it seemed more or less that the red panda had dissapeared, he wasn't even at the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.
She had bumped into Tigress, and had explained rather hastily to the feline what was going on, not caring for the fact that both Aang's little guards were standing, staring wide eyed with horror.
"Maybe the guy lied"? Offered the thin one, twiddling his wings.
"Yeah, a lie, some...some prank", if the thin one was panicking the plump one was on the verge of exploding. Viper wondered briefly how either of them were supposed to protect their lord if they were too scared of a cryptic message.
"Nobody lies about serious things like this, not unless they want a beating", Tigress growled, clearly the smaller mammals were annoying her.
"That's why he wore a cloak".
Ignoring them both Tigress continued. "I haven't seen Master Shifu all day, search for him, it seems like he would know what to do. I'll warn the others and tell them to stay alert".
"What about us"?
"It's just a joke. Nothing to be scared of". The fat one heaved a huge sigh of relief, but the thin one's eyes betrayed mistrust.
Still it was growing dark and there was no sign of Shifu, or Tigress for that matter. She had told the feline that she had seen Monkey and Mantis in the trader's district and the tiger had bounded down the steps on all fours, five at a time.
She was slithering up to The Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom when she heard voices, a small laugh followed by an awkward chuckle.
"It's beautiful Crane, the view, you can see the whole valley from up here".
Oh yeah, somewhere away from Monkey and Mantis. Give her something pretty, do it somewhere pretty. All advice she had given him and he had followed to the wouldn't want me watching, it would be embarrassing for him. She diverted her gaze to a massive ball of fire above the trader's district. The ball of flame exploded and the shockwave burst through the Valley.
The air seemed to explode and time seemed to stop.
"It's beautiful Crane, the view, you can see the whole valley from up here".
"You always liked the view. I remember when we were still in Lee Da, you used to climb the roofs, just to see how far you could see".
"Those were the days. Before the Jade Palace, before any students came prancing at my door, when it was just you and me and De Lu learning Kung Fu and giving each other so many bruises we all turned purple".
"I remember that". The week of purple training it had been, when De Lu had first suggested playing blow to blow. They had not been able to move their appendages for a whole week, swollen and purple as they were.
Do it, Crane thought to himself. Do it now, you have to do it one day, might as well get it done with already.
But was it the right time ?
The right time was years ago, do it before she moves too far away. He began fumbling with the scarf, searching out the amethyst necklace within.
"Remember the day you left, how it rained fireworks for most of the night".
"I can't forget it, even if I wanted to". He found it, clasped his wing around the necklace and held it took a deep breath.
"Mei Ling, there's something that I have to tell you. Something I should have said a long time ago".
She gasped and clasped a paw to her mouth. That's not good. "Crane, what is that"?
She pointed a paw at a massive ball of flame.
"I-I I don't know". The flames exploded into a thousand particles and the shockwave flew across the valley on wings wrought of air.
All of a sudden the air seemed to explode and time seemed to stop.
The performance really is to die for, Babirasu thought. Soon all these people will be dead, by my hand or another's. At some point in time this would have disgusted him, horrified him. But this was war and he was a weapon of war.
All he had to do was light a fire, Jingkong had said. But he knew what that meant. He would bring down a signal, one that would make all men come closer and closer, only to die, by flame or sword.
Still, he started his performance with a smile.
"Good day ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, the Mysteries of the Flame".
He saw in the audience, ordinary people of ordinary birth, with ordinary lives and ordinary goals. He also saw the Masters Monkey and Mantis of the Jade Palace. They would be difficult, but Babirasu like challenges.
"They say that the Yellow Emperor created all things. And this is true. One of his sons was known as the Flame, for his bright skin and great warmth", he ignited a hoof." The Flame's sons were known as heat, smoke, and of course food. Grandfather said that I must be related to Flame, but Grandfather also said that the Yellow Emperor was called such because of his teeth".
This drew a laugh and he smiled. Let them die with smiles on their faces, with the ghost of their last laugh still living on in their features.
"I'm not a descendant of Flame, but fire is in me. I guess it's all the fire peppers".
Again another laugh. "Now let the show begin". To an accompaniment of drums he suddenly threw three balls of fire, they smashed against the stage and set it alight. The audience gasped.
"When I was a baby my cradle caught on fire. They say it's because I was too hot", another laugh,then a gasp as all of a sudden his cloak was ablaze. His pants were too, but he had oiled them, so that they did not burn off and leave him naked. He snorted, that had happened once in his life, and he never really wanted another similar incident. He waited until his cloak was nothing but cinder.
"Once I burnt myself naked when I asked out this pretty girl from my village. She said no, but I think it was the fire's fault, not my... ah there are children here, this tale is not for them".
A roar of laughter. " But enough about me, you came to see what fire can do, well I'm selfish, I'll show you what I can do with it."
He channeled for a minute, letting his chi flow. Then the magic happened, rather literally. The flames began enveloping his arms, circling it like bracelets. He suddenly turned them to the sky, and released all the flame into the air. He was sweating, he knew, whether from heat or strain he did not know. The fires circled, forming phoenixes, dragons, even the Nian he had seen a lifetime ago when he had still been a child playing at fire. Well he was no longer a child. He was a weapon.
"I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen. The show is over, but your smiles will be appreciated".
He was about to turn the ball of flame into the audience, when something connected hard into his side. The massive ball of flame erupted mid air.
All of a sudden the air seemed to explode and time seemed to stop.
Yet somehow he was still staring at fire. Amber eyes that seemed ablaze stood above him, growling in the moonlight.
This was a fun chapter to write. All the Point of Views kinda take place at the same time. Action next time I promise.
Update soon.
Chapter 15: The Autumn Festival I
Ahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The horn echoed through the still air of the valley.
Ahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The noise seemed to vibrate in the blackness, bouncing off everything it came into contact with.
Ahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
It was louder this time. As the echoes faded away there was one moment of calm and quiet, the calm before the storm. Then the sound of arrows whistled through the air, and Tigress came back to her senses. She smashed a cart with her footpad, before throwing the broken planks at the flying shafts. The wood took most of the hits, but some arrows buried themselves, in arms and legs, one went through a hoof, but at first glance it seemed the first wave had been a wasted one.
A war cry rang out from further onward. Tigress took a deep breath. What would Shifu do ? He'd keep the villagers safe.
"Head for the Jade Palace, there's no time ! Run ! HEAD FOR THE JADE PALACE"!
"Wisely spoken. Though cowardly. There is no honor in retreat". The flamethrower had two curved metal hooks of a black metal in his hooves, Tigress had never even noticed him get up.
"What are you" ? She growled, entering her stance.
"Me"? His body caught flame from nowhere. It spread across his hooks and made him shine in the night. "I'm a weapon".
Before she could give the cretin the pounding he deserved two figures barreled into her side, knocking her onto her back and away from the javelin which connected with the ground she had been standing on moments before. A small van of boars led by a horse charged through the valley, chasing after the fleeing villagers.
Tigress realized with horror that they were going to catch up with the fleeing smallfolk, she raced as fast as she could after the boars. Then the sound of whistling came, and she thought all was lost. Until she realized. That was not the whistle of arrows, it was the joyful sound of a firework, but why was it so close. The answer came in one word.
"SHAKABOOEY"! The cart-propelled-by-firework slammed into the van of boars, sending them sprawling. As they stood up, the panda let go of the firework."Skadoosh". He said simply. The firework exploded mid air, only for three more to come out of nowhere and crash into the chests of three unlucky boars, sending them crashing straight through the walls of buldings.
Tengtong stood up shaking, the cart had taken him in the neck, he had been galloping on all fours. Now he was furious. He drew his haldi, the two blades gleaming sinisterly in the moonlight.
"And who are you supposed to be"!?
"The Dragon Warrior". Tigress answered for him, using her signature double palm strike on his back, it sent him reeling forwards, right into Po's fist. Monkey came at him from the side, landing three kicks to the ribs and one punch into his face. Mantis did the same to his face on he other side, before knocking hard into the Mongol's back, sending the horse to the ground, his haldi landing several feet away.
The boars stood up, one twirled around and smashed a mace in the general direction of Po's face, the panda caught it in his paws, it sent a jolt up his arm, but the worst thing about it, was how cold it was, the panda shivered , his furs standing on end. He barely dodged the next blow, or the one after that, and only managed to stay one step ahead of the weapon. Then his sandal landed on something very sharp, the horse grasped the haldi and pulled it, the blade slicing open the panda's footpaw, his left sandal now in tatters. The horse rose abruptly and slammed a hoof into the panda's teeth. The equine stood taller than the panda by a good foot and a half and from the way he was grinning you'd think it was some sort of festival, oh wait, it was a festival.
The boars weren't particularly powerful fighters. They didn't really have numbers, or at least the five and Po had faced worse odds. But if they were one thing they were unpredictable, and their weapons were more or less unknown to them since this day. The mace had been ordinary by comparison.
One, who was currently dueling Monkey, fought with a pair of shields, they were plated with metal in a queer resemblance of a tortoise shell, and around the circumference stood massive blades that curved in a circle around the blade, Monkey was unarmed.
Tigress was fighting had a pair of swords, the blades hooking at the end, these Tigress knew to be hook swords, but even though she had seen them she had never faced one. Another fought with chains with blades at the end, not dissimilar to the Yak Kai's, but used more like a whip than anything else. The third boar also had a sword. It was clunky, yet seemed sharp from when it had caught her off guard. Truly it was more of a hammer than a blade.
Mantis had taken on Po's old foe, the boar with the mace, who seemed to be made of stone, for no matter how many times the bug threw him to the ground and smashed him against the cold hard surface.
That was another thing, the boars kept on standing up, it seemed as if they felt nothing, and they were so cold. It was as if Winter had come down and frozen their blood.
"Monkey, look out"! The bug's cry came a second too late. A shaft buried itself into the simian's shoulder. Monkey leapt up in pain, blood immediately began flowing. The boar with the shields smashed the flat part of his shield into the ape's belly, winding him, before he tried a swing at Monkey's head, the curved blades cruelly whistling through the air. Then another whistle sounded and the arrows were in the air again. Bracing himself for the pain he knew he would face later Monkey turned around and grabbed the boar,using him to shield himself from the arrows. Ten shafts went in... and not a drop of blood fell out. Monkey gasped.
"What are you"! He grabbed a vat of oil from a nearby stand and threw it at the boar. It didn't even flinch but it gave Monkey a brilliant idea."Fire ! We need fire"!
Crane, Mei Ling and Viper had watched from the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom as the van charged in, only for Po to singlehandedly beat them back. They also watched as Monkey's shoulder was impaled with an arrow.
"They have archers".
"But where" ?
"Just try and see where the arrows are coming from".
"The arrows keep coming from different places".
"Then our enemy is moving".
The wise old voice of Grandmaster Shifu made them all jump.
"Master, where were you, I've been looking everywhere for you".
"Clearly not the library. But we can talk later. You three must go help your friends in the Valley. The archers I will deal with", and quick as that Master Shifu had gone.
"We should help them."
"Yeah, yeah we should go help out".
Viper felt sorry for Crane, he had worked so hard on this evening. He will get another chance, somehow Viper wasn't too sure about that.
Babirasu was not throwing fireballs down a certain panda's mouth for two reasons.
The first reason was Tengtong. Jingkong had told him to avoid the horse. Up until that evening at the tent they had been grudgingly polite, now less so, and Babirasu decided that it would be best if he stayed away from the horse and his massive twin blades, lest he find himself short a head.
The second reason was somewhat more important to him. Every Jit Kun had strong chi, that was why they were selected, and while other people may have had stronger chi, he felt something in his blood that made him run. He sensed a chi that was remarkably similar to his own, dented as it was by the Jit Kun Crystal which had made him ever so hot. I should be a jester. I could make jokes for the Emperor and his court. But that was just a dream. He was a weapon, not a joke.
He turned a corner and ran into a shop marked clearly as Dragon Warrior's Noodle's and Tofu. There was a single occupant sitting at a table all by himself, sipping at tea, with a platter of mooncakes more or less untouched sitting on the table. The little bat placed the tea down. There was something familiar about his eyes, but nothing rather outstanding about him. He ore plain black clothes, had a plain unmemorable face, really he was just plain.
"Welcome to Dragon Warrior's Noodles and Tofu, how may I be of service". The bat put down his tea and stood on the chair. Babirasu noticed silver gleaming in the moonlight, his wings were bladed. should have seen that coming.
"I was looking for..." for what, another weapon, another gem to collect, maybe he had just been running from Tengtong, had he been searching for a friend, someone like me. A memory stirred in his head of a fox kit with his head getting smashed by a leopard. He had been a child back then, now he was a weapon and it felt like a lifetime ago. He looked at the bat's eyes and immediately remembered where he had seen them before. The shapeshifter's eyes.
"Looking for what Mongol, looking for what"? The bat seemed to chide him, mock him.
A friend, someone who wouldn't slit his throat in his sleep and make him kill people after making them smile, that's what he had always been looking for. But no, he had grown. He was a weapon. And he was sharpened. "None of your bussiness, bat"! He spat.
"Temper, temper. I'm cool, calm right now, but I want you dead, you're attacking a peaceful village in the dead of night. And yet you're the angry one. Funny, our gifts are really made for us don't you think"?
"No, our gifts make us"!
Chapter 16: The Autumn Festival II
A/N: Not much to say here, I guess. Other than this one small thing. On my devianart account I have begun uploading the OCs of other authors, yes I have given them credit. I'll say it here and now, they may not be how you have written them, but they're simply what I think the character would look like. Anyways Enjoy.
Po ducked as the horse swung with the haldi, and hurriedly spun to his left to avoid the subsequent down cut from the weapon's opposite blade.
"What is that thing"! He shouted jumping over a swipe that had been intended for his feet.
The horse looked almost lazy as he twirled the blade back around in an attempt to slice open the panda's ribs. "Why, wouldn't you like to know ? I'm surprised you're still alive, you seem lighter on your feet than in your belly.
Po dived and lashed out with a punch to the rib cage. The horse merely brought a hoof down on the offending arm. It sent a jot of pain up Po's arm as he leapt backwards. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow".
"Now, show me the Dragon Warrior and I'll be on my way".
"You're looking at him". Despite what the voice had said the horse turned away from his would be victim, only to get punched in the face by three different appendages. He reeled backwards, and Po slammed his knee against the equine's spine. The horse turned around once again only to recieve an uppercut to the chin. The panda had the audacity to shout 'SHAKABOOEY', whatever that meant. Must be some Chinese insult, Tengtong thought.
Now Crane, Viper and Mei Ling had joined the fight, even with the near constant thrum of arrows it was far easier to take out boars when the numbers were in your favour.
The boar with the shields threw one of his shields, it arched and turned back towards him like a boomerang, it would have probably beheaded tigress, had the feline not taken a leaf out of Monkey's book and kick the boar she had been fighting right into it's flightpath. The blades buried into the boars back, and the poor creature fell on it's face... only to rise again as if nothing had happened, with the addition of a shield jutting out of it's back. He was ended by a torch.
Monkey's brilliance was only handicapped by a massive lack of fire in the nearby area. And yet the fires seemed to melt away the boars, as if they were nothing more than just snow and frozen water. Then the horn sounded again.
AHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
And all hell broke loose.
Babirasu flung three bright balls of flame in the bat's direction. Aang was more than impressed by the accuracy he showed, as well as foresight, moving to either side would have burnt the lord, but Aang had met his like before, all flashy, some brain power, relying mostly on the one thing they were good at, in this case it was fire, the Jit Kun's gift. Aang's own gift was one the lord liked to keep in reserve, for when he actually needed to use it, now was not the time.
With a well-timed flap of his wings the bat flapped above the wall of flame, before hurtling towards the pig, his wing-blades glistened and shone in the light casting shadows across the ground. The pig threw two more balls of flame in rapid succession, but Aang swerved past them, veering to the left, allowing the fire to sweep past the mammal and land on some table, which instantly rose in a blaze of red and orange flames. Aang sliced with his wing-blades, landing a cut on the pig's shoulder, only to receive a fireball full in the face.
Before the fire could do any lasting damage, Aang consumed his face in a cask of self-conjured ice, before peeling it off and throwing it upon the floor.
"You'll pay or that"!
The pig smiled insolently. "Who's going to make me"?
Aang charged at him, swinging left and right inbetween flaps. The lord had misjudged his opponent, he had believed fire to be the babirasu's only weapon. The hooks that Babirasu was using to block his wing-blades and parry their near endless slashes, the pig also managed to get in a few good lunges, but those Aang blocked mid air. The bat lord retreated a fair distance.
"You learned well, for some Mongol bred pig".
"I am not a pig"-
Aang sent forth a spray of icicles. With each one he chattered the word 'pig'."Piggy, piggy, pig, pig"!
Babirasu merely bit his lip and any retorts he might have thought of. He dodged nimbly away from the icicles, launching fireball after fireball at his opponent. The bat lord conjured up a wall of ice to block all of the offending items, which merely bounced off the wall and dissipated into thin air.
"My turn"! Aang yelled jubilantly, sending out two snowflakes of crystallized water, more or less in the shape of shuriken, Babirasu, blocked both with his hooks.
"Is this stuff coming from you"?! Babirasu shouted as he leapt two feet off the ground to avoid a chain of oncoming ice shards. Before sending out his own little volley of flame.
"I could ask you the same question". Aang retorted ducking and weaving past the fire.
One second it had been the Furious Five struggling with a few stragglers, the next it was the Furious Five, struggling against wave after wave of opponents. The first charge split them all up, dividing them so that their teamwork wasn't applied best, this, Mantis thought, was almost like a game of chess. At first it had been the pawns battling amongst themselves, then all too soon the rooks, and queens were upon them, the downside, he noted, was that they had no rooks or queens, only their first wave of pawns. He was in particular danger of being trodden on, or crushed, again due to his size. Monkey and Viper weren't faring too much better, one second Monkey was pushing people away with a barrage of punches, the next he was clutching his tail as the combined weight of two rhinos pressed against it. Viper was slithering up and down the waves, the only thing, Mantis bet, that was keeping her alive was the fact that she kept on using her Puppet of Death Technique, to reak havoc amongst the lines of soldiers. Crane was faring well, his wings were undoubtedly te cause of it, and Mei Ling seemed to have scaled a house. Tigress was punching the stuffing out of ten guys, when Mantis called out.
"Tigress, there's too many"!
"There's never too many"! She bit back determinedly.
"Tigress, we have to go"! Viper called out from somewhere in the crowd.
"It's not a retreat"! Crane soothed.
"Just a tactical pull out"! Monkey added, still clinging to his tail.
"Fall back"! Tigress ordered, leaping clear of the wave and somersaulting onto the roof of a building.
Po heard the cry to retreat, but was stopped from doing so when something hard hit the side of his head. The panda reeled and was promptly thrown straight into the ground. He spun onto his back, but before he could get up he fount a foot hoof pressed against his throat.
"You're coming with me Dragon Warrior", the horse grinned down at him with well-yellowed teeth.
"No, you're coming to face justice! Skadoosh ! Po brought his paw down against the horses' foothoof, and pulled it back shrieking.
"You are a funny fat fool panda, but no warrior, a warrior would have fought like a man. He would have"-
"Can you cut to the chase already, I'm kinda in a hurry"?
Tengtong casually added pressure to his foot hoof, until the panda started gurgling.
"Lights out you fat shit. Oh, and a happy holiday". The fist smashed down inbetween Po's eyes. The panda lost consciousness.
The first sign Shifu noticed was well too late. He leapt to the side as an arrow whistled past, smashing into a bamboo and shaking the whole stem. He had noticed the cracked branch too late. He was now being circled and shot out by an unseen and unknown opponent.
"Come out, come out wherever you are". The voice echoed through the woods, it reminded Shifu eerily of some horror story he had read as a cub. It had been about a witch who dragged her victims to sleep by singing them a lullaby in the heart of a forest... before ripping their hearts out and eating them. The voice sounded like a young male, which ruled out the possibility of a witch, of this Shifu was glad. Another arrow whistled past, Shifu leapt clear over it, grabbing hold of a tree branch and sliding onto it. Shifu did not want to speak, his voice would give away his location. Then again he already knows where I am.
"Who are you"? He dodged an arrow. "What do you want with the Valley"? He ducked under another.
"They call me Jingkong. And what I want is the valley". Two more arrows flew past in rapid succession, Shifu sidestepped both.
"I'm afraid I can't give you that". All of a sudden Shifu leapt upwards, using another branch to throw himself forward. His feet connected with chainmail, and together they soared, well fell. Shifu landed a few punches at his opponent, an eagle with feathers coloured a light blue and milky white eyes. He's blind, Shifu realized. Well that didn't matter. Shifu slammed the bird against yet another branch, before pressing his staff harshly against his throat. The red panda allowed himself a smile. "You have good aim".
"How did you notice me"?
"I've trained birds before, I could tell that the arrows were coming from somewhere different each time, but the angles of some of them were very similar. I guessed you were circling around me and those two arrows of yours gave you away."
"Well, you bested me, old man, but you haven't won the war."
"What war"? This is worse than I thought.
Jingkong chuckled dryly. "Why, the Mongol War".
Shifu turned sharply as a sword barely missed his head. What he saw made his heart stop.
"Y-y-you"- was all he managed to say, before he was kicked off the tree. He landed on his feet, he was shaking, his grip on the staff tightened and then a dart hit him. He had enough time to see the jeering face of the eagle, clutching a blowpipe and the figure, then all was black.
By now both Babirasu and Aang were exhausted. They had used up most of their supply of chi. Both were now panting, grabbing hold of the walls to stay standing.
"S-so, you learned well, for a mongol", Aang allowed, inbetween pants.
"You're, not too, bad, yourself, for a bat", Babirasu added, clutching at a stitch in his side. "I've, never, understood it, how come, our chi ,can do stuff, like this, while others, can't, do stuff with theirs".
"Well, we have, the, gem's power added, to, our own. So really, we're just"- He would have said 'normal', but at that point Babirasu went back on the offensive, launching a long twisting chain of flames at the Bat Lord, who ducked just in time. Standing up Aang glared. "That, was, under-handed."
"Big, deal". The babirusa dived under an icicle, before picking up a pair of chopsticks and launching them to blaze at his opponent. The flaming utensils never got the chance. Aang kicked over a table and slid behind it just as the flaming weapons pierced the soft wood, setting his 'shield' alight.
won't be giving me any favours. Aang thought as he leapt behind the counter. He grabbed hold of a few dishes to keep Babirasu at bay, throwing them one after another like frisbees. Babirasu smashed his fists against them, the china cracking mid air against his clenched hooves.
During this time Aang managed to pick up a large wok pan, 's personal favourite, and fill it with water. He rose once again from the counter, Babirasu had once again coated himself in flames.
"Shower time"! The water flew straight at the babirusa, dousing the flames. Before he could so much as blink Aang had opened up his wings.
The water dripping from the Babirusa instantly froze, encaging him in a thick layer of ice.
"You should wear that more often, you look really cool", chuckling at his own joke Aang gracelessly pushed the ice onto a noodle cart and began flapping it in the general direction of the Jade Palace.
Footnote: Massive action chapter over, time for more politics and plot twists, my favourite. Enjoy.
Chapter 17: Rations Running Low
Po had been in worse, arguably anyways. He was chained to a pole, and sat slumped, dreaming sweet dreams of food that didn't look like it had come from the last dynasty. He was surrounded by several guards, who all stood frozen in place like little pale statues. Po had tried giving them orders of his own, but had only been punched in the gut for all his efforts. From over his captor's shoulder he could see the small form of Grandmaster Shifu, standing as still as any of the soldiers, gazing sullenly at the surrounding treeline.
Po finished the remains of his meager dinner, discarding his bowl in a small pile the guards routinely took to clearing up. He had used the plates as a measure of counting time. Despite not being Sun Tzu when it came numbers, he could estimate that roughly two or three days had passed since the whole fiasco at the Autumn Festival.
"Ya know some people say I need to shower, but seriously don't you guys sleep".
The guards ignored him.
"Or eat for that matter ? What about breathing, that's something you might want to try some day".
"Their the perfect soldiers aren't they, Dragon Warrior"? Po gazed up at the figure who had spoken. Something about his voice seemed familiar, but he never put his hood down, so Po couldn't tell where he had heard him before.
"Do I know you"?
"We've met".
"Who are you"?
"No one".
"Who are you"?
"My given name is Babirasu. My friends call me Babi."
"Well, I'm not your friend". Aang replied coldly. All his efforts for bringing in the flamethrower had been unimportant to the foolish fanatics who went around busting out dated Kung Fu moves. They seemed more worried about their precious pandas, and had immediately suggested a prisoner exchange, clever, but stupid. The Mongols had two prisoners, they had one. They had a Palace, the Mongols had none. And yet they insisted that the fight should be brought to the enemy.
"I pity anyone who is".
"You won't be laughing forever".
"Everyone dies, bat, so don't make blind threats. I know I'm too witty to die young, besides you're not going to be the one who kills me".
"Who is ? I must invite them here immediately".
"If I knew who's destiny it was to end me they'd have died by now. Regrettably I don't so, sorry, can't tell you anything".
"What are the Mongols planning"?
"You already know the answer to that question, so next"!
"This is not a comedy sketch! And you don't give the orders".
"What's life without a few jokes ? It's like Ying and Yang, their inseparable".
Aang bit his tongue so hard it hurt."You are really stupid".
"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Now if you don't mind me asking, how long will you be keeping me here ? I mean, I've got places to be".
"How unimportant ? Are you after it"?
"After the gem... hmmm, how about no. I do sense it, yes, but do I care, no. I know a guy who does care, but he's gone so there's not much I can do".
"A guy who cares and then dissapeared ? Treasure hunters are fickle don't you think".
"Oh no, when I say gone, I mean gone, in a puff of green". Babirasu gave him his widest grin yet. With a sinking feeling in his heart Aang realized who the pig was talking about.
"I'm thinking, the Ghost". Saras said, his eyes glinting with visions of glory.
Su, Wing and Wan had not exactly come to like the shapeshifter, with him it was more of a grudging admiration, not that they admired him. But he was impressive none the less, if a little bit inexperienced in some things.
"That's bland, I can name fifty people who parade around with that name". Wing diminished his hopes rather quickly.
"The Green Ghost then"?
This time Wan spoke. "The rainbow ghost would suit you better, yellow, red, blue, green, a few more colours and we'd be searching your brush for a pot of gold".
"Very funny", he looked deadpanned.
"No name is probably for the best", Su pointed out. "You're harder to track that way, no one will know who to ask".
"Yeah, but even more people do that. I want to be, different, from the market".
"Shapeshifting just isn't enough these days is it"? Wing said, sarcastically.
Su took a moment to muse on how pointless the discussion was. What name would suit the fox best, in the criminal world ? The Imperial Army would give him their own name anyways, so any work they did here was more than likely to be wiped away rapidly. He was odd for one reason. He was on one paw wise beyond his years, having seen and done things grown men would find hard, on the other paw, however, he was still a kind of child. Su guessed that if it weren't for his shapeshifting, or the Bat Cave's authority, the fox would have been hanged several years earlier.
"The Half-Child"? Su suggested.
"Are you mocking me"? He looked genuinely confused.
"This is all the food left"? Tigress asked, surveying the meager sacks of grain and rice, with an even more meager sack of vegetables.
"Yes, the Jade Palace is built over hot springs, so we have more than enough water, but the palace isn't exactly a farm, Tigress". Viper replied.
"Then I guess we should be grateful that the panda's not with us", Mei Ling joked, trying to make light of the moment.
Tigress rounded on her. "This isn't funny, Po is held captive by we don't even know who, and we're running out of food, and the Valley is already on rations".
"Hey, calm down, I was just having a laugh".
"Do you hear anyone laughing"?
"Guys, there's no point arguing right now, it won't solve any of our problems".Viper said.
"She's right", the two felines both agreed.
"So, what do we do"? Tigress demanded, her paws clenching and unclenching by her side.
"Well, from what's happening we need more supplies, a few people got burnt and a few more were injured from arrow fire, they seem to have lost hope and their seems to be no way out of the Valley to get the treatment they need. We can't withstand a siege, and we're being starved out. Our only hope is to get help from outside, a band of mercenaries would do, but the Imperial Army would be better". Mei Ling summed up.
"How do we get out of the Valley"? Viper asked.
"I was kinda hoping you guys had some bright ideas".
Monkey flipped through yet another dusty scroll in the vast reservoir of knowledge that was the Jade Palace's Library. Glowering from failure he threw down a scroll he had just picked up. " One thousand years of knowledge, updated weekly, and yet we can't find anything on those boars. Not one little sentence. Not even a word"!
"Well, complaining about it won't help you find anything, now will it"? Crane tried in vain to soothe the simian.
"Crane, face it, if Oogway knew about those guys we'd have found it by now".
"But Oogway, he seemed like the type of guy who'd know everything".
"Crane, Oogway didn't know Po was supposed to be Dragon Warrior, he was pointing at Tigress when Po fell, remember"? Monkey explained, leaning precariously on a shelf of books.
"Well, maybe we've been searching the wrong places", Mantis added."I checked the section on Monsters and Beasts from Legends. Everything from the Nian to the Qin Lin, and I still have nothing".
"Well, I checked on chi control, because those things, they just remind me of Kai's Jombies". Monkey crossed his arms, indicating he had found nothing.
"You don't think Kai's behind this, do you"? Crane piped up.
"Kai's in the Spirit Realm", Mantis assured.
"Maybe he has a fan". Said Monkey shrugging. "The point is we can't find anything here".
As if by fate the shelf Monkey had been leaning on collapsed, the simian leaping clear just in time as dusty volumes and back bending books crashed down upon the floor. "Not my fault"! The ape leapt to defend himself.
One scroll stood lonely atop the vast piles of papers. They all glanced at each other.
"Well, Oogway believed in fate". Crane stood staring.
"I think I do too". Mantis approached the scroll, passing it down to Monkey who opened it wide in one swift motion.
The first thing the group saw was a picture of a tiger, pale white, with veins popping blue and limbs stiff with frost, an icicle dangled from it's tail tip.
"I think we found it".
"What are these things"? Po pointed at the guards, standing stiff and uncaring in front of him, the figure crouching next to him.
"They are known Tsaagan, the white. They are beings long since dead brought forth through a dark ritual".
"Oh, so you're an occultist now"?
The figure smiled at him from behind the hood. "All I ever wanted to do was make someone, close to me, proud. Maybe I am a cultist, maybe I was, but now, now I'm just a figure. You know these men make wagers as to what I am behind this hood"?
"Care to tell me"?
"If only to see the look on your face, maybe. But you must promise not to tell anyone, in any way. Do I have the word of the Dragon Warrior"?
"You have my word as Dragon Warrior. Enough ? Or do you want me to pour some blood in a bowl to keep to my promise".
The figure removed his hood. Po's bright green eyes met the golden ones he had once seen before, the same ones belonging to the first person he had sent to the Spirit Realm. It took the panda one moment before his brain could really understand what had happened.
I'm looking at Tai Lung. And he's not trying to kill me. Or at least not yet. Well, damn, I thought all the weird stuff was behind us.
"Y-you're n-not dead", Po swallowed.
Tai Lung replaced the hood, looking around to see whether anyone else had noticed. "Well, Dragon Warrior, it's hard to stay dead when people keep calling you up. Death is sleep, and I've awoken, into your nightmare it seems". Grinning the feline strolled away.
Footnote: Yes, Tai Lung is back and better than ever, hopefully. More on Mongol Wars coming up, so stay tuned.
Enjoy.
Chapter 18: Life on the Edge
The winds bit into their more or less unprotected shelter, it howled like all the demons in hell had come to seek vengeance upon the living.
It was a cave, precariously positioned on the side of a mountain, offering the bare minimum of concealment. In fact the only reason this cave had anyone sleeping within it was it's great height was hard to reach. It had taken Jin hours to climb up the mountain's side, by the time he got there Mimi had a fire lit, his paws half frozen the fox was thankful for the added warmth of the cave. But eventually it became harder and harder to find firewood, Jin watched with horror as Mimi snapped up his spear, throwing the wooden parts into the flame. Mimi kept only the metal edge, little use though it may have had. Jin refused point blank to give up either of his crossbows. Or any of his bolts.
"They're not yours to burn", the fox protested.
"Then you can chuck them in, to me it makes little difference as long as I'm above freezing levels".
"We have to move on then, we can't stay here forever, we're running out of food and firewood is already scarce".
"Trust me, if it were to snow things would be far worse".
"Then let's leave before it snows".
"No, we can't do that because the minute we get out of this cave we're fish in a barrel. We have to wait for the snow to come, komodo's are just as cold blooded as any other reptile, they'll freeze trying to track us down".
"And we'll freeze trying to get away from them".
"It won't take too long to find the Imperial Army"-
"We were lost before, and now you've gone and burned the bloody map"!
"Well, clearly the map wasn't working, seeing that we're lost".
"Chuizi was an idiot. Why didn't he just give up his stuff"?
"General Chuizi was a better man than you"!
"Why, because he never killed noone ? Because he wasn't a criminal ? General Chuizi was just a lucky bastard, nothing more. He didn't have to make any tough choices in his life ?!"
"Joining the Imperial Army is a tough choice".
"What's so difficult ? Some guy tells you do this, do that and you just listen"?
"The hard part is listening! Sometimes in the army you have to make tough choices. Rush back to save your village from raiders, or continue marching in the opposite direction to save a whole city you know nothing about ? Follow someone you don't know, somewhere you don't know, to do something you don't like. being an assassin is a walk in the park by comparison. You can just say yes and no to any jobs you don't like. In the Imperial Army, often, there is no choice, and when there is a choice, it's always hard"!
Jin stood stunned into silence. "Well, sorry man, but"-
"Shhh, did you hear that"!?
"For a guy telling me to be quiet you sure are loud" Jin crept up to the edge. "There's nothing there". He slunk back into the cave. The fire had gone out, and all of a sudden the room was eerily cold and eerily quiet. "Mimi"?
A hoof smashed into his gut, winded Jin stood back up and stared right into the cold dead eyes of General Chuizi.
The General had seen better days. His back was covered in the weapons the komodo's had used to cut him down and his whole body was several tones paler. His mustachio's were more or less in tatters and his once golden fur looked as if someone had gone and dropped milk powder on it. His veins were popping up, visible in some places through the fur, the blood that flowed seemed to be of a particularly dark blue coour.
"You look,um, healthy". The 'golden' takin charged at him with his horns, twisting his head from side to side. Jin grabbed one his crossbows off the floor and brought it down upon the takin's skull. Chuizi didn't even flinch, his horns found Jin's torso and lifting the fox off the ground smashed him against a wall of the cave. "You know, some people say being called a 'lucky bastard' is a good thing"? Chuizi threw the fox bodily to the ground, before bringing a fist down to meet him. Rolling to one side Jin avoided the hoof, which would have punctured at least a few ribs. "Mimi ! Get your feathery tail over here now"!
Mimi's eyes creaked open to the sound of his name. "General Chuizi, you're alive"! The figure turned to him and Mimi felt any courage he had go away. The golden takin charged at him, pinning him like he had the fox, against the wall of the cave. "Fire, the only thing that can kill it is fire"!
Jin leapt upon the flints grabbing a pair and hastily smashing them together. Only sparks came out.
"HURRY UP"! Mimi's face was red, the vulture's breath was constricting, his general was choking him to death.
Jin struck the flint again, sparks flew this time, but upon connecting to the remains of the previous fire a small flame tittered. The fox blew on it with all his might, before tenderly picking it up and shoving it onto the takin's back. Chuizi seemed to freeze for a moment, then melted away in a pool of silver, shining in the light of flames.
"Are you okay"?
Mimi's eyes widened as the vulture pointed feebly at the cave's entrance. Jin turned around to see the smiling face of the Komodo Queen, surrounded by her pack of minions.
"Well, it appears that we have both killed the takin now ? You must be hungry, surely it is cold in this desolate place, come with us, and we will be merciful", she snapped her claws together and Jin was brought to his knees by two of her pack.
She's going to kill us, Jin thought. But she'll be merciful. So it'll be a quick death.
Chapter 19: Prisoner Exchange
A/N: Village Champion seems to be hogging the limelight too much these days, so I thought we'd take a healthy break and head back over to theis fic. A LOT of politics in this chapter, sorry, but it's needed, so that the action scenes are even more rivetting.
"We must press on now that we have an advantage"! Tengtong slammed a hoof on the table, sending the food up in the air and clattering back down. The figure and Jingkong sat, staring unconcerned by the horse's shenanegans.
"We have the advantage, but wouldn't it be prudent to just starve them out, who knows, some of them may even join our cause after this, and we'll have more men than monsters".
"The Tsaagan are not monsters", the figure interrupted. "They are merely puppets of our great lord Temujin's desires, and we must respect his desires".
"Not his puppets", Tengtong snorted. "Then again you might be one of them, for all we know, so for your sake I will not make fun of our pets".
The figure growled. Jingkong hastened to continue speaking. "We could put forwards a prisoner exchange, in order to make us more, shall we say, civilized, noone treats with monsters, but every man has his price, as does every woman and child."
"Oh, I see what you're doing here, you just want your precious little Squire back. Well, sorry to be so blunt Jingkong, but the Dragon Warrior is worth ten times more than Babirasu".
Jingkong glared at him, for all his stupidity, Tengtong had some degree of intelligence, he had seen right through Jingkong's thread of lies.
"I was not proposing on sending the Dragon Warrior, in fact I was suggesting the Grandmaster be exchanged, after we inform him of how dire the situation is. The Chinese are sentimental creatures, they would never risk more than they have to, it is my opinion that if their leader were to tell them to lay down their arms, they would".
"And how do you propose we get the Grandmaster to vouch for our side" ?
This time the figure spoke up. "Leave that to me".
"Good, Tengtong that concludes our meeting then,in the meantime I will draft a letter for our Prisoner Exchange. Let us hope this brings about a swift conclusion". Jingkong held an arrogant smirk on his beak, Tengtong would have gladly wiped it off, but held his temper.
The horse left the tent, who said he couldn't launch an attack on the Jade Palace, this Prisoner Exchange was in fact a great distraction. Some said it was dishonorable to strike an opponent's back, Tengtong thought that that was life.
Tai Lung could not remember ever feeling so nervous. He had always been so full of confidence, even when Oogway was about to 'make him Dragon Warrior' he had stood with a smile on his face, a straight back and a chest puffed up with pride. What he had done next he had severely regretted, even if he had never admitted it. Now, however, his heart was pumping in his chest like a bell. He was no longer a wannabee Dragon warror, he didn't even know what he was.
"Leave us", he commanded the Tsaagan guarding the Grandmaster, who stood their sitting calmly upon the ground. "Grandmaster Shifu, I have heard far and wide of your wisdom".
The red panda's eyes creaked open, fixing their gaze upon Tai Lung. It felt to the snow leopard as if the cloak he wore could not hide the truth from the man who had raised him. Tai Lung dropped his hood.
"Master, I have come home", he had said those words before, a lifetime ago, he had said them proudly, but now said it with a gulp, as if he was a child at school being told off. He had changed a lot.
Shifu looked surprised for a moment, but then reverted back to a glare. "Yes, at the head of an army that does not sleep or eat. Tell me how does it feel to lay siege on a town that was once your home"?
"You don't understand"! He growled, his arms wide as if he were ready to hit him, but stopped himself. "I was brought back from the Spirit Realm by Lord Temujin, I owe him a life, so I gave him mine, in service. But that does not mean that I will mindlessly do as he tells me to"-
"No, you will do so mindfully, and all with your own agenda", Shifu bit back.
"I do not mean to destroy the Valley of Peace, I mean to save it. Right now all you have to do is tell your students not to protest any longer. All we require is your words that the Jade Palace will not get involved with the coming war, and noone shall be harmed, we will be gone within a week and you won't have anything to worry about from us or anyone else".
"And you expect me to trust you"? Shifu's voice broke, but he bit back tears. "After all you've done all I'll have to know that my people will be safe is your word"!
"It's all I have left to give. Think about it Shifu, for both our sakes". Tai Lung replaced the hood and stalked off.
"How many must die before Temujin gets what he wants ? And what is it he wants anyways"?
"He wants China, and if all goes well, none need die".
"It's a trap", Aang warned severely. "Never trust a Mongol, no matter how nice they might act".
"And you are an expert on Mongols because"? Mantis put forward.
"You're not telling me you plan on going ? It's a Prisoner Exchange, there's always a fight in Prisoner Exchanges".
"Well, I'm not sure about you Aang, but I don't see many other options".
"Unless you've got a secret stash of fortune cookies", Monkey piped in.
"I don't and even if I did, you people would be too naive to know how to eat them".
"Naive, now that's an insult you haven't used before", Crane added.
"I'm serious"! The Bat Lord whined. "Anyone who treats with Mongols end up dead".
"Well, we're going, because we have friends out there Aang, friends we refuse to abandon". Viper said.
"Getting yourselves killed won't help anyone", Shou added helpfully.
"Yeah", Pang caught on. "I mean if you guys died who would lead the Valley ?"
"I wouldn't", Shou commented.
"I couldn't", Pang squeaked.
"Listen to my minions, please. They have actually spoken sense. This 'rescue' is only going to give them more prisoners".
"Your minions"? Mei Ling questioned.
"No the Mongols". Aang interjected.
"So we should listen to the Mongols"? The wild cat reasoned.
"No"! Aang complained, practically hopping on the table.
"He's right. We can't trust the Mongols", Tigress admitted.
"Thank you. At least someone speaks sense".
"But we can't abandon Po or Shifu either. So we're going. But not all of us."
Aang sensed that he had lost the argument, and crossed his wings dissapointedly, humphing from dislike.
"Crane, Monkey, Aang and your cronies, will all stay here to guard the people in case the Mongols try anything behind our backs".
"Me and Mantis will talk with the Mongols head on. I want Mei Ling and Viper hidden in the surrounding area, in case they try anything there".
"Spoken like a true politician. While I don't agree with any of your plans, I have to wish you luck. Shou, Pang with me"!
"Well, if it's not a trap then we may just stand a chance of coming out of this mess. If not we're screwed", Mantis gave voice to the thoughts on the mind of everyone in the room.
Chapter 20: Desperate Danger
The autumn air rustled through the leaves as Tigress stalked forwards carefully, Mantis perched for once, silently, on her shoulder. If this was a trap Mei Ling and Viper could cover for them while they made their getaway, if it wasn't then she hoped the Mongols didn't try anything behind their backs, otherwise Crane and Monkey would have their arms full.
"I'm wondering whether I should be grateful, or angry at you for letting me go",the prisoner exchange also meant that they had no choice but to bring Babirasu with them, swapping him for both Shifu and Po. "I mean, those may have been cells, but at least they were clean, you should see the crappy tents we have to sleep in. I should probably also be blushing, considering I'm apparently worth the Grandmaster and the Dragon Warrior"-
"If you say one more word we take you back to the Palace". Tigress growled.
"Too late to do that, we're already here", Mantis whispered into her ear.
Standing with torches in their hooves a pair of Tsaagan stood to either side of Jingkong, the blind Mongol eagle holding an old and yellowed parchment, behind him stood a figure draped in black, holding both Master Shifu and Po in chains.
"How nice of you to make it, I was worried you'd think it was a trap and refuse to come. I'm glad I was mistaken. Tea ? I hear the Chinese are very fond of it".
"Thanks, but no thanks", Mantis stated blankly.
"What are your terms"? Tigress cut to the chase.
"Uhum, of course." He opened the yellowed parchment and pretended to read from it. "The terms of Lord Temujin, Rightful Emperor of China by Laws of Conquest, First of his Name, Ruler of the Cavalry of Death, etc, etc. Are as follows. The complete surrender of the Valley of Peace, the revitilisation of the Mongol stores and the honorary refusal to participate in any way shape or form in the coming war, signed Jingkong, Head of Archery".
"And what exactly do we get in return"? Mantis was keen to know.
"Your homes, your lives, your hon"-
"Don't say honor ! Refusing to save innocents while you massacre them will never be honorable"!
"Do you refuse our terms"?
"I spit on them", Tigress growled.
"Your funeral", Jingkong clapped his wings together. The pair of Tsaagan charged at them, torches of flame visible in their hands, Viper leapt down from a tree, wrapping her coils around their arms the snake forced them into slamming the flames into their skulls. The Tsaagan melted away, Viper turned, hissing warningly at Jingkong. The eagle looked more or less unafraid. He placed two feathers in his beak and whistled. Instantly the entire area was surrounded by Tsaagan.
"Burn them all if you can, but I don't think you will. Now, because I'm the 'evil' villain I'll tell you some interesting knowledge, regarding my evil plan. To stop us, you need to destroy the Tsaagan, to destroy the Tsaagan you must find their source. And the source, is nowhere in this area. I'm sorry to have to tell you this way, but there really is no hope of survival this time. Tengtong !"There was no reaction. "Where is Tengtong"?
"I haven't seen him", Po shrugged.
"I wasn't talking to you"!
"No, you were talking to her".
Jingkong turned around only to see a tiger's fist coming his way. Then the world went black.
The Jade Palace had never been quieter, odd considering it had never been more crowded either."What do we do, if they don't come back"? Monkey whispered silently.
"We, finish what they started I guess. But that's rubbish, they always come back".
"You've never fought Mongols before, so don't act like it's just any other day for you guys". Aang sighed, flapping over to them.
"Well, it is",Monkey explained."We've been captured by Lord Shen, frozen by Tai Lung, Jombified by Kai."
"And that's just the stuff the people hear about. We've crushed gangs, armies, thieves, anyone who attacks the Valley runs back with their tail between their legs", Crane added.
"Don't you think that one day you'll meet your match"? Aang pressed on.
"Maybe, but not today", Monkey assured.
"How nice to hear your self-confidence, Warriors of the Jade Palace, let me introduce your match. The one and only Tengtong."
"Never heard of you". Monkey said, entering his stance.
"Chorh Gomh Prison soon will", Crane added, entering his own.
"Ha, two of you, against me ? Funny, who exactly is going to help the poor defenseless villagers ? The Tsaagan should be upon them soon."
Monkey and Crane shared a worried look."They will", Aang stepped forwards. "I'll get the honor of kicking your ass all the way back to Mongolia. You two, go help defend your impregnable Valley, I'll deal with the horse".
One more worried look later and both masters had gone. "So, the little bat's got guts, that makes gutting more fun".
"That was a dead pun, now tell me honestly, how many bat's before me have ridden you"?
Footnote: Little action and less plot, but this chapter was a pain in the ASSHOLe to write. Soon, we will see just how Jin and Mimi are connected, and the action may start. The story is nearly over, but technically this story is more of a set-up fic, for Dei and Mongol Wars Part 2, but when this is over I'll focus more on my House of Tamod sequels before moving back into this series. ENJOY!
Chapter 21: Liberation Part I
Mimi didn't know what was worse, the intense feeling of dread at whatever these komodos wanted with him and Jin or the cold. His predictions had finally come to pass, snow had come to the mountaintops, coating the landscape in a cape of white. He shivered in his prison, it was no more and no less than a bird cage, and reminded him just how weak he really was, any other member of the Imperial Army would have whooped their asses into the air, but not him, he stood by and watched Chuizi get massacred, and now he sat, shivering in a cage, underfed and freezing. Jin was being kept separately, probably so neither of them could hatch any sort of plan. This however, he deemed a blessing, as the fox was less than fine company.
Jin was also shivering, though his prison was more torture than anything. He was trapped in tent, tied down to a long pole stuck deep into the ground. That part wasn't torture, the real torture was that he was surrounded by weaponry, and placed in a pile of rusty bows and crossbows were his own beloved ones. He tried once more to slip out from between the ropes, but they held firm and prevented him from any form of escape.
"I hope you're enjoying the last few moments of your life"? The komodo strolled in, unarmed apparently, wearing a thick coat of wool, she got that luxury for certain.
Just because their commander was well and proper knocked out didn't mean the Tsaagan were any less organized. Tigress' punch gave them an excuse to charge. Babirasu unwisely decided to unleash a vortex of flame at Tigress's back at this point. It caught her badly, but it also prevented the Tsaagan from getting any closer. The babirusa then spun around, his flames engulfing the surrounding forest, splitting Tigress' party apart and leaving him alone with her and Mantis. His whole form ablaze Babirasu grinned.
"Ready for the heat"?
"I don't really know how to reply to that", Mantis retorted, leaping at the babrisua with strength unparralelled for one his size.
The blow hurt them both. Mantis recieved a burn on each and every one of his feet, while Babrasu was slammed into a tree, one that spontaneously exploded in flames.
"My feet"! Cried Mantis rubbing at his four legs to try and remove the aching feeling that came with contact with fire.
Before Babirasu could crush the bug like a well...bug, Tigress swung at him from the side, the blow caught him on the eye, temporarily blinding him from the side as Tigress replied with a fury of blows that should have hurt her more than him, what with the fire, but the ironwood trees had done their job, she didn't feel a thing as his flames leapt upon her fur.
She allowed him a temporary respite while putting out the fire that had engulfed her fur. This method of fighting truly was counter productive, she had to end it now.
"Do you yield"? She demanded.
"NO"! Properly pissed Babi parried her blows with a hook. It barely missed her throat, but he had swung too far, the blade cutting deeply into a tree, Tigress used this opportunity to land a powerful kick to his nose, the shorter mammal promptly landed sprawled onto his back, while Tigress nursed her heel.
"Tigress we can't hit him, we have to use"- Mantis' sentence was cut short by a branch that nearly crushed him, had the bug not dodged quickly to the side he would have been crushed. "Something else"!
Tigress would have asked what but the babirusa managed to land a kick of his own to the distracted feline, before turning and launching ball after ball of flame in Mantis' direction.
Training kicked in as he swerved side to side in the most erratic zig zag he had ever run around in. "Wow, who knew the Field of Fiery Death actually has a purpose."?
While he was distracted Tigress got to her feet and slammed her fist into Babirasu's gut knocking him back into a tree. The wood shook and Babi's flame ran out, just as a branch landed on Mantis' head, knocking him out. The fire still surrounded them, cutting them off from the rest of the world as the two entered their respective stances, ready for round two of their duel. Babirasu's form once again engulfed itself in flames.
Li Shan was more than relieved at the site of Crane and Monkey as they came swooping in to see what was causing all the troubles.
"Master Crane, Master Monkey"! He beckoned them over urgently.
"What is it"? They asked simultaneously.
"The things that attacked the village they're out there, trying to bust the door down. We're keeping it steady but we can't keep it much longer".
The Kung Fu Masters surveyed the exhausted forms of the pandas as they pushed at the door, trying to keep it shut and whoever was breaking it down, out.
"Why don't the Tsaagan just jump over, like Tengtong did"? Crane whispered urgently to his friend. Monkey paused for a moment.
"Maybe they're not smart enough"?
Suddenly two figures leapt onto the top of the door, before taking another leap and landing behind the pair of Kung Fu Masters.
"They seem smart enough".
"That's because we ain't Tsaagan hun, we're just regular beings, like yous and mes." The one that spoke was a horned owl, wearing a full set of Imperial Army Battle Armour, with wings that seemed to have as many knives as feathers and a pair of talons tipped in metal. Both Crane and Monkey knew her by reputation.
"Fenghuang". They entered their stances.
"Interesting, so you've heard of me"?
"Tin Zu's ex-second in command, Ox and Croc don't seem to like you", Crane explained, watching her warily.
"Who's your friend"? Asked Monkey watching the massive golden lion next to her. He wore a headband over one of his eyes, his light brown mane interrupted by afore mentioned headband. He wore an entire barrage of weaponry upon his form, an axe, some chained knives and a pair of swords were all visible.
"Huangse Kongju", she answered for him. "Serial killer, assassin and absolute monster".
Both gulped, as they all entered their stances.
"What is it that I do at this point"? Li Shan inquired.
"Hold the door", Crane and Monkey answered.
As the Tsaagan fought his students, Shifu watched in horror as Viper was sent flying by an ox, said ox continuing to charge at his student. Shifu leapt into the fray, slamming the ox away from his student with the brutal force only love could bring about.
"Master Shifu"! Viper hurriedly released him from his shackles. She promptly slammed her tail at a boar who was trying to sneak up on the red panda. "We came to rescue you and Po, we feared the worst, omigosh it's so good to see you", she brought her Master into a tight hug.
The brief hug was cut short when Shifu caught sight of Tai Lung, looking on in what seemed to be like horror.
For someone with Inner Peace Shifu's anger rose surprisingly quickly. But then again someone he had rasied as a son and had thought dead had just come back at the head of an army to destroy a home he was supposed to protect. Shifu's anger was perfectly normal.
Tai Lung never saw the first kick coming, it caught him on the side of the face, knocking him into a tree, he regained his composure just in time to block a pair of two more kicks.
"Master ! I will not fight you"!
'Well I'm fighting you", Shifu at that moment landed a sudden kick to Tai Lung's chest, the leopard was flung against another tree. Deciding that the only way to not hurt Shifu would be to avoid him, Ta Lung promptly scrambled up the bamboo stalk, Shifu however was hot on his tail.
Po was watching in horror as his master chased Tai Lung up the stalk. He needed to help Shifu!
Viper would have also been of more assistance, but was suddenly caught in a chokehold from behind. It was certainly the cold white touch of a Tsaagan. Spinning around suddenly she freed herself, turning to face her opponent she landed a tail strike upon their forehead, before realizing that she had just hit herself. Viper was staring at the cold, uncaring eyes of Tsaagan Viper. It was enough to make her gasp.
Tai Lung soon realized that there was no escape upon reaching the top of the bamboo stalk, Shifu was balanced opposite him, the bamboo swaying to the wind and of course their weights. Shifu was the first to attack. The red panda flung himself at the leopard, Tai Lun caught his fist in paw, but was winded when the Grandmaster's feet ploughed into his gut, suddenly Shifu spun landing a double kick to the side of his head, before slamming a palm right into his nose.
Po reached the bamboo stalk panting. Just gotta climb one more piece of bamboo, and then I can go home, and eat all the moon cakes I like. Envisioning an almond cookie atop the stalk Po scaled it with relative ease.
Viper was more annoyed than anything. She knows all my moves, how to avoid them and how I'd reply. She promptly landed a sudden tail-chop against the back of Tsaagan Viper's neck, freezing her up completely. "Tell the Mongols that I know my own weaknesses".
"Shifu, I didn't come here to fight ! It didn't have to be like this. We could have just taken what's ours"!
"You are mistaken. You never seem to learn. You had no right to the Dragon Scroll, and you have no right to the throne of China"!
"No, Lord Temujin does, his family once sat upon it, until they were overthrown, he seeks what is his right by birth. And Shifu", his voice changed now into a growl, one Shifu was all too familiar with. "If I had no right to the Dragon Scroll, why did you always say it was my destiny"! Tai Lung lashed out in a double punch, Shifu dodged to the left, but was suddenly caught with a kick to his side. Tai Lung's fury helped him continue his battle, landing another punch to Shifu's gut followed by an uppercut that sent the red panda into the air. Tai Lung landed one last kick to Shifu's chest, sending him flying through the forest.
"Goodbye Master", he growled.
Aang swerved to the right to avoid Tengtong's haldi as it sliced the air above his ears. The horse was relentless and spun his blade around again, it just missed him once again, the third time the blade came round Aang was ready for it, freezing the air in front of him he created a wall of solid ice, the blade sliced in, but the ice froze around it, keeping the blade in place as Tengtong tugged at it.
"I expected better from a Mongol", Aang spread out one wing wide, shards of sharp pieces of ice flying directly at the equine, who ducked under them as they cut the air above his head. Now Tengtong was forced into the defensive position as Aang smashed the ground in front of him,instantly long chains of long ice spikes closed the gap between him and the horse. Tengtong managed to avoid the worst of it, only to have Aang plow into his gut. The bat's wings froze in a thick covering of frozen water, his wings became no more and no less than daggers of pure ice, sharp to the touch and cold. So very cold. He sliced at Tengtong's throat, cutting a thin short line of blood upon the horse's form, before slamming a Talon Claw against his face. Tengtong crashed into the wall, Aang landed with all the grace of a peacock while Tengtong got up looking like an elephant in a latrine. "You're rather... disappointing I'm afraid. You see for someone who can murder an entire village of gifted individuals I expected a bit more...i suppose the word is, grace"?
"Why are ya doing this ?" Jin wondered aloud."I've done nothing to ya, maybe Chuizi did but I assure ya I never liked the guy. Nobody payed ya to kill me, so why waste so much time and resources"?
"Hmmm, I'm wondering whether I should even answer that. But I suppose, you're going to die anyways why not just straight up say why. Everyone deserves to know why he dies doesn't he"?
Mimi listened eagerly to the voices, and knew from training the words of every general, sergeant or commander. This was not a drill. He scanned the tent he was in. There was a table, on it sat a goblet, a dagger and a key. A bloody key. I didn't notice a bloody key.
"I was born, like any child in China, calling for my mother, sadly I never knew her. Or my father for that matter. I was kidnapped at birth by the savage beasts known as the Jit Kun Clan, they were all unique, they were all orphans, unwanted or kidnapped. We all shared something, a powerful energy inate within us. You have heard of chi I presume"?
Mimi swung forwards, the cage swung dutifully in that direction. Forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards. He could do this.
"Well we all had strong chi, and when we reached a certain time every twelve years, at the start of a new cycle there came a day. The Naming Day. On that day we were bestowed with the power of the Jit Kun Crystal, and everyone was given a gift of sorts. My gift was not given by the crystal. My true gift was forebearance. I could withstand the cold, the heat, pain, pleasure, anything really. But I was a child and every child wants to be loved. I was infuriated when I learnt that we were never born Jit Kun, we were given or stolen. But to me it made no difference."
Mimi reached out with a talon, the swinging cage bringing him ever closer to the key and the table. Forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards.
"The happiest day of my life was when the mongols swept in, and butchered the entire clan. Every man, woman and child. Some survived yes, but not enough. The Jit Kun Crystal was stolen by an old turtle, who split it up and hid it everywhere, so that the Mongols never weilded such power ever again. I was spared by the Mongols, who allowed me to set up my clan in the mountains, they gave me this gem", she indicated the white gem upon her chest. "And told me to guard it with my life. I have worn it ever since. This gem brings the Tsaagan to life. This is the source of the power of Mongolia".
Forwards, backwards, forwards, BACKWARDS, Mimi's talons closed successfully around the key. Slamming it into the keyhole he kicked it open and leapt out of his cage.
"But now fox, why I want you dead is, for no reason, I just like killing people", she raised a dagger into the air, suddenly Mimi barreled into her back, the dagger spun in the air, Jin caught it by the blade. The komodo spun around, her claws sliced open the vulture's cheek, she followed up with a swing at his beak that sent him sprawling face first into the snow.
The dagger was sharp and Jin was good with his paws, the blade slced through the rope that bound him, throwing himself forwards he grabbed his pair of crossbows and whistled. The komodo turned, he spun his weapons round."I don't like killing people. But I'll warn ya, it's the only thing I'm good at"!
Footnote:Fuck this, this chapter is long enough already. I can't handle this. This was supposed to be one mega action chapter, instead I decided their will be two mega action chapters in this finale. So no, this is not the penultimate chapter, this is the chapter before the penultimate chapter of this story.
SOOO Anyways, Enjoy.
Chapter 22: Liberation Part II
Babirasu was more or less untargetable. He was surrounded by fire, which of course burnt to the touch, and each and every one of his blows burnt. Oh and he was immune to the effects of fire which surrounded the pair of them.
Tigress glared at him, dodging blow after blow of the babirusa's flaming fist. While he wasn't hitting her it didn't look like he was truly trying to hit her too much. He was overconfident, Tigress had to somehow take advantage of that, but how ? If she couldn't hit him, then. Her train of thoughts were paused as she ducked under one of his swings and rolled away from him.
"Just give up ! This whole invasion was supposed to be peaceful, and then you guys just had to come and screw everything over"! He threw a fireball in her direction, she quickly sidestepped it, the ground next to her already ablaze.
"Well, I don't know about you but trying to burn the whole Valley, isn't particularly peaceful", she had a plan now. If she couldn't hit him, then she would have to use something else to hit him with !
The only thing to be found that was not on fire was an old piece of bamboo. Tigress ripped it from the ground, it was surprisingly heavy, not really a bo staff, in her paws it felt more like a club. A plan formed in her head.
She growled, wordlessy challenging him.
He took the bait, Babirasu charged, he never saw the bamboo coming as it slammed into the side of his face. He crashed against the forest canopy, his fire temporarily subsided before he spun around, Tigress brought down the bamboo to his face, Babirasu just caught it inbetween his hooves, which caught fire and grabbed ahold of the wood, setting it alight with relative ease, Tigress persisted, beating the flames off the bamboo she turned to see that Babirusa had drawn his pair of hooks, which were also ablaze. The pair charged each other, weapons raised.
Babirasu's chi control allowed him to set his whole form ablaze, he was strong, well trained and experienced, but Tigress was more experienced and had a better planning capicity, Babirasu had maybe ten years of experience, Tigress had roughly twenty. That was why she won that fight.
Babirasu's hooks sliced deeply into the bamboo, but Tigress had already let go of it, the feline then suddenly landed her signature double plam strike. It had an interesting effect on Babirusa. The attack knocked him back, into a tree, as he slipped from conciousness the fire across the area subsided, leaving the 'arena' scorched and charred, but thankfully not ablaze. At that moment Mantis groggily got to his feet.
"That the best you got"?
Monkey screeched and slid away as Fenghuang's knives sliced at the wooden walls that was the interior of the Jade Palace.
"Po's dad, I need a boost"!
"What"? Li Shan turned to see Monkey running right at him full speed, before the panda could respond the simian suddenly kicked off of his belly, leaping into the air he grabbed hold of Fenguang by her tail feathers. The bird screeched in pain as Monkey used his holding to do a back flip and land a double leg kick on his airborne target. Needless to say it looked awesome. Now airborne along with his opponent Monkey punched at her face, at this point Fenghuang lost control of her flight plan and they both went hurtling towards the ground. Monkey kicked off of her in the last second, allowing her to crash into the weapon's rack and for him to land nearby, already in his stance, a few years with Crane had tought him how to do that.
Fenghuang got groggily to her feet. "You will suffer for that, and you will pay with your"-
"Less talk, more fight". Before she could finish her sentence Monkey had already landed a blow to her gut, before leaping upwards and landing an uppercut with his foot against her chin. Fenghaung fell backwards, before throwing three knives at him, two missed him completely and the third he caught inbetween the palm of both his hands. Throwing the blade upon the ground he once again entered his stance allowing her to get up. This time she picked up a pair of spears and twirled them about her like a pair of bo staff. "You will suffer the most painful agony"-
While Fenghuang had been busy blabbering on about pain, the simian had creeped around her and landed a kick to her rib cage from the side. This time when she got to her feet she didn't open her beak. The effect was the same. Only this time Monkey simply landed a kick to her gut, while simultaneously removing her belt, and letting her pant's fall. Before promptly slapping the belt against the side of her face, and allowing her to collapse.
"I still got it", he mused to himself.
Crane was having a bit more of a struggle. Fenghuang wasn't particularly skilled at Kung Fu, but Huangse was an entirely different being. The avian defelcted the chain-knives, which merely sliced open the walls, before snaking back to Huangse, and tripping up Crane from behind, forcing him onto his back. Spinning the chains around him expertly, the lion threw them at Crane simultaneously, the avian deflected, before taking to the air.
But the Yellow Terror offered no respite, the feline merely pounced after him, snatching onto one of his feet, his claws cut into Crane's talons, the lion then swung his chain-knives again, in order to deflect Crane had to stop flapping for a moment. The two suddenly dropped down by a few feet, before the avian managed to regain his composure. Thinking quickly Crane began freefalling, the lion still in tow. The waterfowl dived downwards. The first thing to scrape against the ground were Huangse's footpads, the burning sensation spread throughout the lion's body, and unfortunately for him he was unable to stop the avian's flight path. He was forced onto his back with a swift kick to the gut, and the avian dragged him across the ground, before ploughing him head first against a wall.
Crane breathed a sigh of relief as he landed several hundred times more securely. "First rule of aerial combat, always stay in control".
Before he knew what was happening however a chain had wrapped itself around his neck, Huangse pulled him closer, and smashed his fist into the avian's beak. Dazed, Crane was unable to do anything as Huangse lifted himself up and slammed the avian against the wall, full force. The feline was royally pissed off from his crashed landing, and his face showed it clearly. With a look of pure hatred the lion extended his claws into Crane's neck, the feathers and flesh a rather weak armour. Crane struggled to breathe as the air was squuezed out of him.
"Get-away-from-my-son", Huangse recieved a light wack to his back as Crane's mother slammed her purse into his back to punctuate all of her words. The lion was more annoyed than anything, and with one swift movement of his wrist, three knives with chains attached to them sliced into her chest. Her end was swift and almost painless.
Crane wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, and more than ever he wanted to turn back the time. But time cannot tick backwards. A screech came from out of nowhere, as did Monkey, who's fury was relentless. The simian slammed punch after punch into Huangse's exposed side, the lion was forced to let go of Crane, who kicked him away forcibly.
"Thanks Monkey", Crane choked out.
The simian didn't know how to respond, after all how do you respond to someone who's mother had literally just died in front of his very eyes. "Anytime buddy".
The three had reached a standstill. Jin had two crossbows, each was loaded with one bolt, a real one for a change, the komodo held Mimi in a chokehold, all three were relatively helpless.
"Hmm, decisions, decisions. You could kill me, Jin the Assassin, but you would never get out of the mountain alive, and I'm afraid, neither would your friend here", she indicated Mimi. "Well then, I guess we should just wait for my clan to show up and butcher the pair of you, any ideas as to how to kill some time"?
"Hmm, how about killing people", Jin turned his crossbow away from the both of them and shot at the tent pole. The entire thing collapsed upon the three of them, throwing the bird, the reptile and the mammal into darkness and relative confusion. Before she knew what was going on Mimi's beak bit into her arm. A vulture's beak is a powerful thing indeed. With a yelp of pain she was forced to let go. Mimi was the first out of the tent, and found himself surrounded by other members of the komodo clan, he threw both wings into the air.
"I surrender"!
The komodo took one second to compose herself before she tapped into her gift. The tent went flying in all directions, leaving Jin and her in full view of the surrounding mountain side.
Directly behind him was an abyss, the edge of the mountain, and a fall of several hundred thousand feet. Her arms were now glowing grey, as were her eyes.
"This foxy, is my gift, one of my many talents, I have immense control over my chi, and you have a crossbow, who knew vulpine's really are funny"?
Jin studied his choices, on the one paw he was stuck on a mountain range, he had one shot. If he hit her she might not die, but he certainly would, as would Mimi. She was a Jit Kun who had made a deal with the devil. As long as she kept the jewel the mongols didn't kill her. But what if she had no jewel ? It was a risk. One that could end in his, Mimi's and her deaths.
"How so"? He moved to the right, the komodo instinctively followed by moving to the left. Good they were circling each other.
"Well, do you really think one bolt will stand a chance against me"? More to the right, more to the left.
Jin only answered when she was where he had been and he was where she had been. "No, but a fall would".
She laughed. "A fall would, hehe good one".
She never saw the bolt coming as it slammed into the pearly white gem. Snapping it in half, a shockwave of pure white essence exploding across the environment. She was in shock. "You, no, you killed them You killed them all"!
"It's not the only thing I killed". He charged at her, the komodo was too stunned to react as he slammed into her, the pair of them tumbling over into the abyss.
Mimi blinked stupidly before turning to the other komodos who were snarling at him and baring their weapons. He spotted another mountain in the distance, all he had to do was flap over the abyss. No more fear. It's time you grew up. Or die trying.
"Before I leave I would like you to remember something about a bird's anatomy. Birds can, generally their are exceptions, birds can normally, fly"! He spread out his wings and kicked off into the air. It would have looked more majestic if he was any other bird of prey. A hawk, or an eagle. But to him he felt as glorious as anything, that is until he nearly plummeted down the same abyss Jin had just gone down. He slipped and just managed to latch onto the icy walls of the opposite mountain. Pulling himself to his feet he couldn't help smiling. Jin may have been an assassin, but he had been a comrade. And Mimi would never forget him. In fact he could still hear the fox in his head. 'Ya know, just coz birds can fly doesn't meant they should'. A single tear dripped down Mimi's features, a mourn for his lost friend.
Po heaved forwards, climbing up the bamboo stalk as quickly as he dared. Before he knew what was going on properly, Tai Lung slipped down to his level.
"Before I leave, panda, I want to know one thing".
Po aimed a kick, but the leopard manouvered his body away from it. "Sure go ahead", Po groaned, keeping hold of the bamboo stak as best he could.
"How is it that someone like you beat someone like me ? You had less training, less experience, less strength, less skill. How did you beat me, what is it that you had that I didn't"?
"Maybe, I didn't betray my master, twice,"Po swung at him, precariously, Tai Lung caught the fist, only to recieve a belly flop, which knocked him lightly backwards."Maybe I wasn't so filled with a desire for revenge", the panda kicked again, but this time the snow leopard was out of range. "Maybe I wasn't so blinded by hate".
"What was in the Dragon Scroll ?" Tai Lung asked in a dangerously calm tone.
"You know what was inside it. I showed it to you"-
Tai Lung held Po by the throat. "You may lie all you want, one day I will find the real scroll and on that day you will suffer. Now panda, fly"!
Tai Lung slammed both his footpads into Po's face, knocking the panda back away from the bamboo stalk. Po fell through the air but his landing was remarkably soft. "Phew, something must have broken my fall".
He was sent into the air once again by a sharp kick from Shifu. "I did. And I take it Tai Lung got away"?
"Er, yeah kinda".
Shifu sighed in resignation. "Well, I suppose we should be helping Viper now".
Aang flapped away as Tengtong got up slowly to his feet. The horse was bruised purple all over, his mane was ragged and his armour was broken on several different locations. But, somehow, he was still standing. Aang sighed, he really had better things to spend his time doing.
"Okay, Tengtong, I'll admit it, you were like a brick wall. You stood a lot of my blows and you are still in one piece, so I guess you deserve a break. One break, that's all you get. Anyways, ta-ta".
Aang slammed both his wings into the ground, the ice suddenly kicked out of the earth and slammed like a giant fist upon the equine's body. Tengtong yelled in shock as he flew through the air, out and away from the Jade Palace.
Mei Ling slammed her bo staff into the Tsaagan's gut, before landing a drop kick to it's back, sending it sprawling face into the dirt in front of her. She leapt up in the air and kicked at another of the creatures, sending that one flying into a tree. From her position she twirled her staff in a wide circle, and knocked back several creatures as they charged her. She however was getting tired.
Shou and Pang shivered as the door was slammed at from the outside. One bang, two bang, on the third hit the door burst open and a single white boar walked in, swinging an axe that seemed to radiate cold. The bat brothers hugged and yelped into each other's ears as they expected the final blow to fall upon them.
Mei Ling gasped in shock as the horde of Tsaagan suddenly collapsed, melting into pools of snow. "Well...was it something I did"?
Shou and Pang got out of their death grips for a moment, only to find that the axe and it's owner was now nothing more than a puddle of water.
"What the"-
"Heck".
Huangse Kongju slammed his fist into the side of Monkey's skull, sending the simian to his knees. Crane was upon him, landing a flurry of kicks upon the leopards chest, Huangse grabbed at the avian's legs and used them to pull the waterfowl into his awaiting fist. Crane landed sprawled on his back, but Monkey was already slamming a foot into the back of his knee, the feline was forced onto his knees suddenly. Crane landed a kick to his face in one swift movement, knocking it back against the ground.
To get some breathing room, Huangse opened up his umbrella, the thing was enough of a distraction to allow him to land a powerful uppercut upon Crane's form, before kicking at Monkey.
"Okay, we need a plan for this guy".
"Any suggestions"?
"Er, let me think about that"?
"Take your time".
The Kung Fu masters got into their stances as the lion charged at them on all fours. Huangse Kongju suddenly leapt and twirled mid air, a kick aimed at each of the Kung Fu Masters heads, the only thing he connected with however was the wall. The lion landed confused, and angry.
Crane and Monkey stood in the same spot they had been moments before. The former now lacked his hat however. Huangse's confusion was painted over his face.
"Hiya toots", he turned to the sound of Lord Aang as the bat ploughed into his side, shards of ice trailing behind him.
The lion landed a stunning blow upon his features and threw the bat at breakneck speeds towards the wall.
"That was a bad plan. You two"! Crane and Monkey looked at him quizzically. "I want both of you to use your ultimates".
"Ultimates"?
"Are you for real"?
"Your best ability then, something that will send that kitty, into the air, capish"?
The two rolled their eyes. "Yeah we got it".
"Good". Aang then leapt into the air as Huangse's fist crashed into the spot he had been moments before.
Monkey landed a double kick to the feline's gut, before grabbing onto the belt that held up his pants and leaping away from him as he readied a counter stike.
"Wings of Justice"! The air slammed into the lion with the force of a brick wall, knocking him back into a well, wall. Unpantsed, pissed off, winded, pissed off and weakened Huangse Kongju got to his feet. Did I mention he was pissed off ?
Aang merely landed the finishing blow, a massive ball of ice that crashed into him and the wall at breakneck speeds. The ball crashed into him, and sent him flying along with it into only Heaven's knew where. All that was left of him was a distinct lion-shaped cut into the wall.
"In my opinion, that was a pretty resolute battle. No casualties"-
"There were casualties", Crane said bitterly.
"What"?
"You heard me ! My mom, is dead", he sighed heavily, a lump curling cruelly around Crane's heart. The avain limped off to mourn on in silence. Monkey was about to follow him, but Aang stopped him.
"No. He needs his space, how would you feel if your mother died ? You just need to let him know that you care, but for now, he needs to breathe".
"How do you know so much"?
"I'v always been an orphan, but I know what it feels like to loose a loved one. Trust me, it's something I wouldn't wish on", he paused."It's something I definetly wouldn't wish for you".
Jin felt two things, blood, curling around his paws, and pain, filling every single part of his body. The komodo was dead, she lay still, already half buried by snow and sleet, pretty soon she would never be seen again. And neither will I. China in general wouldn't miss him, maybe the Wu's would, but hey, that was a maybe. He closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate, if he was going to die, he would not die begging for mercy, like so many of those he had killed. Fate is a real bitch.
He heard a strange noise soon. One that sounded distinctly like sniffing. He heard soft footsteps, almost silent ones, the footfalls of a killer, or just a eally light animal. Then it spoke, in a voice that was young.
"Hmmm, for a fox, you're pretty tall".
Jin's eyes cracked open just a bit. Standing in front of him was another fox, shivering. This fox was smaller, the general height of their species. He wore a rice hat, plain and simple, a thin cloack of green, light blue pants and a woolly jumper that was old and yellow. On his feet he wore a special contraption. They were essentially the feet of a bird of prey, only made out of metal, sharp and cold, like four knife blades. "Nah, ya'll just a bit short".
The smaller fox shrugged. "Well, Jin the Assassin. I have to admit I'm kinda like a fan".
This all felt so surreal. The younger fox was standing in front of him, twiddling his claws, and he was a fan ?
"I came here to help you, and it looks like you kinda need it, but I'll only help if you're in. So tell me, Jin the Assassin, are you in or out"?
"First tell me ya name".
He held out a paw. "Saras Kanbujain Kanbu Shifty at your service".
The snow set upon the pair as they shook paws.
Footnote: While this does so feel like a perfect 'the end' I just have a few more loose ends to tie up. So stay tuned for the FINAL chapter of Mongol Wars Part I, wherein nothing major really happens.
So there goes Crane's mom, and the finale action chapter. Poor Crane, but don't worry this series isn't that tragic, okay fine it is, be warned. Here is my warning.
Mongol Wars Part I is the first installment of my Fanfiction Finale, that is to say it is the beginning of the end of my story arcs so far. It's gonna be EPIC, but it's not gonna come for a while. First I have to finish the like middle bit of my stories. Basically Mongol Wars is the end of the Stories of Saras, but of course that's gonna take a LONG while to write up XD.
Next up I have a fic called Village Champion to finish and after that I have to write Between Brothers and/or Danzaburo vs Saras. So yup, my schedule is full.
Enjoy the penultimate chapter.
Chapter 23: Moon Cakes
Mimi felt a tad bit guilty as he lounged almost lazily in a tent that was truly luxurious. Chuizi had been a war general far famed, and Jin had in his own right been a great warrior, yet somehow it had been the cowardly, imperial detective who had survived the cold, the snow, and the tribes, that felt somewhat surreal in itself. And now he sat there drinking a tea that was more or less at boiling point and smothered in twenty layers of woolen blankets. He wasn't the lazy kind, nor was he the kind that particularly liked tea, but this he had to admit was the life.
A head popped into the tent, one that was grim and scarred all over. It was a face he knew by Red Fire, ruthless and cunning, the fox was. Famed and despised by China's enemies. The fox was truly a sight to behold. With only a small piece of fluff left of his once bushy tail, and two blades that glimmered red and gold, this was truly one of China's most respected war leaders.
And yet, Mimi also knew from his trade that Red Fire was not a very respectable person. He had a passion for whores, a truly despicable passion indeed, and it had been rumored that he had fathered every fox in China, an interesting notion, but one Mimi doubted. Moreover the vulpine was almost as bad as the Mongols when it came to fair play, ruthless, selfish and conniving, Mimi doubted none of this, then again he didn't have many pleasant experiences with foxes, and most of the ones he knew were dead assassins.
"Detective De Mimi, an interesting find, what happened to you"? His voice was cold and raspy, harsh and commanding, not one to be trusted.
Mimi told him everything.
Temujin's fury was unstoppable. "You're telling me, that something I have spent a decade planning, falls apart because the Tsaagan all melted"? He looked to his generals, eyeing each and every one of them, noting that one of them was missing."And you lost Babirasu, who is their to blame for all of this"?
Temujin wasn't a particularly scary figure. One hand was torn to mere shreds with several fingers missing, and the other ones small and deformed. His cheek had a long curved scar and his horn was chipped in several places. He wore a thick vest of armour at all times, and under his cloth pants he wore thick plates of metal, just in case. Next to him on his throne stood a hammer and a six-bladed axe. He wasn't a scary figure but his fury instilled fear deep into his commander's knew that. He liked that. He looked them over one by one, awaiting a reply.
The newest commander was a fox, his fur shaded a deep crimson, he wore a light silken cloack of the same colour and pants of the same colour as well. Atop his head stood a metal helm with a single droplet of blood painted on as a form of decoration. He stood at average fox height and was slim. But he was also Chinese, and there was one thing Temujin had learnt never to trust. And that was anyone of Chinese decent.
That made Fenghuang a threat as well, she was the one next to him, an owl who frankly he despised, but he needed her. She had worked in China's criminal underworld, she knew how it worked, and she knew how they could be brought to his side.
He continued, Huangse Kongju was also Chinese, but the lion had in his short time working for him done more than half the men assembled there, he had no doubt in the feline's loyalty.
Tai Lung hated China for the same reason he did, besides compared to him the leopard was a mere child, he had no hope of betraying him.
Jingkong valued honor too much, and besides, his affection for Babirasu was indeed deep and true. But there was no way the eagle would betray either, he was too deep set.
Tengtong was his most loyal commander, they had played together as children and Temujin doubted strongly that the horse even could betray him, he lacked any form of cunning or slyness.
Babirasu was an option, but he would never have betrayed Jingkong's trust, so he too was ruled out.
So that left nobody. Temujin's anger subsided. His generals still feared to answer him, how typical. But they hadn't betrayed him. That was some small benefit.
Xueye ever the bold one, spoke. "Sire, I believe we like many others were foiled by the Jade Palace. If we are ever to take China they are the ones we must eliminate. Not with a giant army, but from within".
Temujin sighed. He closed his eyes. Why was he always surrounded by idiots. "And how Xueye are we supposed to do that"?
The fox gulped. The other generals looked to each other before quickly exiting the room.
"We er, could"-
"GET OUT"!
The vulpine didn't need a second saying as he fled faster then a bolt from a crossbow.
Aang delt with his commanders differently. The air was lighter in that room then in Mongolia. There seven people in the room. The Wu sisters, the recuperating Jin, Saras and of course Daitui.
They were his commanders and they were his men.
Aang began the meeting. "Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today to celebrate the beginning of the end. The end of my life's work. I have spent every waking moment tracking, searching and sending my little brother to the corners of the world to retrieve this." He threw down three gems onto the table. Jin and the Wus gasped. "Many have tried to hide it's very existence, and yet here they are. Bei, Xue and Yei, the Jit Kun Crystal. All I need is one more more tiny fragment. One last diamond. And I already know where it is".
He let that sink in."Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today because you've all in some way or another been involved in this journey. And I want you to all be involved until the last minute. Ladies and gentlemen our next target is the Jade Palace"!
Shifu watched as his students sat there, bored out of their wits. The whole Valley needed clearing up, and with all things said and done Shifu thought it was best he just let them have a day off. Crane had suffered a loss and was probably mourning at that very moment. Mei Ling had decided to stay for the sake of her friend. Po had tried and failed to cheer everyone up by making Moon Cakes which of course noone had eaten. Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Tigress were all lost for words. There was nothing any of them could do.
Shifu sighed, wondering what the future would bring. Aang had left earlier that day, and Shifu had been glad to be rid of him.A knot tied itself around Shifu's chest when he realized he had no idea what would happen to them all. At that moment he also remembered that Babirasu was locked up in the dungeons of the Jade Palace. What the future would bring ? He had no idea. And it was in times like this he really wished Oogway was still with him. Shifu sighed. Crane came limping behind him.
"Master, can I ask you a question"?
"Yes,of course you can".
"When Oogway died, what did you do"?
"My duty", Shifu sighed."I did my duty, I mourned and I did my duty".
"Shifu, why did Aang really come here"?
"Crane, there are some things I have yet to tell you, or anyone else".
"I know Master, but I was just wondering, why is their a staircase behind the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu"?
Shifu sighed. It was about time he taught his students a few things he still had to. "Ask me later please, right now I need to concentrate, and you should just relax right now".
"Relaxing makes it worse".Crane gulped.
"I know Crane, but sometimes you just have to deal with the things that come to us."
The avian sighed."Very well Master".
Shifu sighed once again. His students would survive. But how many ?
Footnote: The END. Finally, a bit of a sad ending here, but don't worry things will lighten up...a bit. XD
Anyways, next up on my roster I have two little fics, well little ish.
The first one is called One Form Too Many and is a fic about what happens when one shapeshifter meets another.
The second one, which I'm aiming for a Halloween release of is called Between Brothers, it's a sequel to The Five Tasks of the House of Tamod which follows Saras after the whole chaos over there.
Thirdly is a short story called The Set Up also aimed for a Halloween release, purely coz it's a bit scary. XD Anyways it kinda kickstarts a lot of things to do with my fics so it's also a necessity.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this fic, a rating out of ten (ten being the highest) would be swell.
Now I'm going to STORY HAS TAKEN ME OVER A YEAR TO COMPLETE AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOOOOOOOOOOOOOW GLAD I AM THAT IT'S FINALLY OVER!
Caps locks are off now XD.
Anyways I look forwards to starting on One Form Too Many soon, so Enjoy.
for Deleted Archive: Mongol Wars Part I: Autumn Air Berserker88 chapter 23 . Sep 2, 2016
Ohhh One Form Too Many is next, eh? Awesome! You know I'm certainly looking forward to that. :)
Anyway, nice ending. You're really setting up a lot of stuff here, as you should given that it's only part 1 and all. You worked on it for over a year and I think it was worth it. I'll give this one a 9/10, which is probably the highest you'll ever get from me. (I give almost nothing a ten, not even my own stuff.) So good job!
Mind Jack chapter 23 . Sep 2, 2016This was a great fic. I'm glad I got to read it. Looking forward to what's next.
Berserker88 chapter 22 . Sep 1, 2016Crane's Mom no! :(
And this IS the first meeting between Jin and Saras, isn't it? Never really thought about that. Interesting that you're building up to a sort of finale here. I'm doing something similar with the sequel to Tournament of Legends.
Berserker88 chapter 21 . Aug 30, 2016So this is the penultimate penultimate chapter. Cool! I for one am enjoying the mega action stuff regardless. Interesting backstory on the Jit Kun as well. These guys ain't as noble as I thought.
Mind Jack chapter 21 . Aug 28, 2016Yikes. I see I'm not the only one with some long chapters coming.
This was really good. Tai Lung vs. Shifu, Tigress vs. Babirasu, and Viper vs. Viper. Can't wait to see the rest.
Yeah, I can see why this is more setup than anything. Out of curiosity, what about this chapter made it an asshole to write?
Berserker88 chapter 19 . Jul 3, 2016Politics are necessary sometimes. It does make the conflict a bit more interesting than pure black vs. white, not that it was to begin with.
Berserker88 chapter 18 . Jun 26, 2016Well that was...freaky. So now there's some kind of necromancy stuff going on here? "Merciful" indeed...
Mind Jack chapter 17 . Jun 25, 2016So Tai Lung is back. Interesting...
Berserker88 chapter 17 . Jun 25, 2016Called it. :)
Now what are you going to DO with Tai Lung? That is the question, and I await eagerly for the answer.
Mind Jack chapter 16 . Jun 19, 2016Yikes. This didn't go well for the Furious Five.
Great action. I'll be sure to take a look at your deviantart. I'm curious now. XD
They're my favorite too. Well, minus the politics part. Anyway, cool stuff! I'm curious about who Shifu saw there at the end, and how badly the Valley is screwed at this point. I'd say very.
Berserker88 chapter 15 . Jun 10, 2016Well, this is going fairly bad for the Valley so far, not that that's particularly surprising. I just hope for a semi-good resolution to this...and for some cool stuff to happen between Aang and Babirasu.
Berserker88 chapter 14 . Jun 7, 2016All, nice buildup there. I loved Babirasu's little show at the end. Even if he's kinda a bad guy in this story, he's still pretty lovable.
Mind Jack chapter 14 . Jun 7, 2016Things are starting to intensify. Looking forward to the next chapter.
39 | « Prev Page 1 2 3 Next » Synchronized Harmony chapter 5 . Jul 7, 2015I love the scene with the checkers. Po is funny as always.
AND AANG! Hanging around being a cute 'lil guy! I'm so sorry I killed you off buddy! Why wouldn't you just cooperate with Shen, WHY? *sobs*
Hah, anyway good chapter. Can't wait to see what happens next!
Berserker88 chapter 5 . Jul 7, 2015Not to be nitpicky, but there are no "kings" in Chinese checkers. It was worth the joke though. Go Crane.
Synchronized Harmony chapter 4 . Jun 28, 2015Yay! I'm mentioned! Only one thing though... I'm male. I also should have picked a less feminine penname apparently. *mumble mumble thirdtimethishashappened mumble*
Also suspense! Action! Danger! This story is heating up. Also there were very few errors that I could see. I give this chapter a 7/10, a good rating concidering cow critical I am of OC chapters.
I eagerly await the next chapter.
Berserker88 chapter 4 . Jun 28, 2015Come on Jin, what are you doing leaving your crossbows at home, you silly? Interesting battle going on. It's not very clear what exactly is happening, but I assume that's the idea. Cool stuff.
Synchronized Harmony chapter 2 . Jun 27, 2015I love your OC's. They all have their own 'voice', so to speak. And the story gets even better.
There are a few mistakes, I can tell you were excited to get this out. One that I could see was
"Brilliant no knew answers." It should be "Brilliant, no new answers."
Synchronized Harmony chapter 1 . Jun 27, 2015Sounds interesting. Man, I can see the improvement you have made from chapter to chapter. This story has potential!
Berserker88 chapter 3 . Jun 6, 2015Ah, so that's how everything comes together. That's a cool way to do it. I'm actually planning something similar for a future story. I don't mind the focus on the Mongols more than the Jade Palace since it seems like they're a lot more involved at the moment. Once the heroes actually get to this festival, then you should give them more focus.
Unfortunately, it's really obvious this chapter was rushed. I'm trying not to be nitpicky about typos anymore, but some of the ones here are bad to the point of making it difficult to read (such as the one in the first sentence). Just give it a proofread and update and it should come out a lot better.
Sorry for being so critical, just trying to help.
Berserker88 chapter 2 . Jun 5, 2015Alright, this is pretty good so far. Just a few small typos here and there, but the story is interesting. I like some of your OC's already just from a design standpoint.
PM me about Jin. We can discuss that then.
Nicholas Wilde chapter 1 . Jun 4, 2015Great story. You mentioned putting one of Berserker88s OCs in and I thought it might be cool that for each chapter, you reference one aura dragon memeber OC. (Jin the assassin, the assassin of xion, Jia the peahen, etc.) you know, as a little treat for those who read your fic. Anyway, amazing writing and keep up the good work.
Berserker88 chapter 13 . Jun 4, 2016Woah. Cryptic. And soon action! Definitely looking forward to that.
My favorite part though was that bit with Po and Aang at the beginning. I don't fully trust the guy either, but Po's attempts to "interrogate" him were hilarious. XD
Mind Jack chapter 13 . Jun 4, 2016Hmmm...mysterious figure in a black hood...
Heh heh. This is getting more and more interesting. XD
Jingkong seems rather unstable. He reminds me a bit of Lord Shen crossed with Tai Lung.
Well done.
Yay, Babirasu is back! Also, internal conflict. That always makes things more interesting. Now I just worry for the actual heroes here.
Berserker88 chapter 11 . Jun 2, 2016This is true, though I kind of forgot the Wu Sisters were in this as well. Ha, well it HAS been a while. :P
Mind Jack chapter 11 . Jun 2, 2016I really wanted to say this again after a fan Death Battle. IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BAAAAATLLLLE!
Well done. Looking forward to the fight.
EXTRA EXTRA! OC'S BEWARE! GREY COINCIDENCE THE RIPPER CONTINUES REIGN OF TERROR!
Well done on the chapter my friend, and thank you for the shoutout to Cry of the Wolf. XD
Oh yeah, Jin is in this story. It's been so long I kind of forgot. XD
Damn, so many dead OC's. Another one bites the dust.
Mind Jack chapter 9 . May 28, 2016Yay! More Mongol Wars!
Berserker88 chapter 9 . May 28, 2016Oh, boy. It looks like these two forces are finally colliding. So I take it this is going to be your main focus now that House of Tamod is finished?
Berserker88 chapter 8 . Mar 5, 2016Oh wow, I admit I kinda forgot about this story. Had to backtrack a little to catch up. Still, I'm glad you're continuing with it. :)
Nicholas Wilde chapter 7 . Aug 13, 2015Well that was unexpected... Good chapter, I know you haven't heard from me in a while, and now I'm back with a new chapter to SOTF. My writers block has been killing me and I've been avoiding Fanfiction lately. Anyway keep up the good work
KingUnderTheHill123321 chapter 4 . Jul 24, 2015I really like the length of these chapters...
And to be honest, I thought Aang was somehow related to the Last Airbender tv show!
Other than that I like the way the story's going.
Aw, shame that you have go for a little while. I know what those long hiatus's are like. :(
Berserker88 chapter 6 . Jul 14, 2015Wow, that scene with the walls and roof collapsing was like a Rube Goldberg machine. XD
I've noticed that Jin is a lot less psychotic here than I've written him as of late. Of course, Jin the Assassin would've already shot half these people so that's probably a good thing.