Chapter Five- The Attack and the Mistake

Ling stared out at the walls, where guards were patrolling. Lily was right next to her.

"The place is too heavily guarded." Ling said. "We need a distraction for us to sneak past." Lily looked around for a bit. She picked up a rock at her feet. She held it for a moment before throwing it with all her strength. The stone flew through the air and hit a guard's head. He fell off the wall and hit the ground. Guards around him started shouting.

"Let's move!" Lily ordered. She and Ling darted forward with Shifu, Chao, and Song right behind them. The three cats and lizard master used their claws to scale the wall. Shifu rode on Ling's back. They made it over the wall without being seen and concealed themselves in the darkness. Using the shadows to their advantage, they managed to get inside the castle and avoid the guards.

"Nice thinking." Song said. "We're in. Now what?"

"Ling, Lily, wait about fifteen minutes before you let the army in." Shifu replied. "Song, come with me and Chao. We're going to find Jiao-long." The twins nodded. Shifu ran off down the hallway, Chao and Song right behind him.

"Where would Jiao-long be, anyhow?" Song asked. They stopped for a moment and Chao pulled out a map.

"Lily and Ling told us he would most likely be in the throne room or in his study." Chao said, circling said areas on the map. "If he's not there, then we have to search every room until we get lucky."

"Some plan." Song muttered.

"Just be prepared to fight." Shifu said. They kept going, following the map. They reached the throne room first, but not a soul could be found. So they kept going to the study. They were halfway there when Song stopped short.

"We must keep moving." Chao urged. "What's wrong?"

"Don't either of you feel it?" Song asked. "Like this is too easy? Shouldn't there be guards wandering around? Ling and Lily haven't let the army in yet."

"You have a point, Song." Shifu agreed. "This is all the more reason why we should hurry!" Song muttered something about a trap, but followed the elder masters.

Meanwhile, Lily and Ling waited inside the doors, counting down the minutes until they would move to phase two.

"This is too easy." Lily said. "Either Jiao-long is terrible at organizing his guards, or he knows we're here."

"Maybe we should release the army early." Ling suggested.

"No." Lily shook her head. "We need the element of surprise on our side." Ling nodded, but something caught her eye. She craned her neck to see out a nearby window and saw a tall tower with a single window. A light was shining through; if Ling listened hard enough, she could hear singing.

"You hear that?" Ling asked her twin.

"I'm glad it's not just me." Lily said. They stared out the window.

"That must be the Siren's Gem!" Ling exclaimed. "Sirens are known for their singing! Maybe the Gem plays music to lure people in!"

"I hope Shifu, Chao, and Song are doing alright." Lily said. "We've got a few minutes to spare before we let in the army."

Chao got to the door of the study first, motioning for Shifu and Song to be silent as they approached. They waited outside the door, listening. But there were no sounds coming from the other side of the wood.

"You think it's soundproof?" Song whispered.

"Highly doubt it." Chao whispered back. He pushed open the door with ease. "I don't see anyone."

"Let's get inside." Shifu pushed past him. "Let's see the extent of Jiao-long's plans." Song and Chao followed Shifu, closing the door behind them. Song searched around the room for any signs of Jiao-long hiding somewhere while Chao and Shifu searched the desk.

"There really isn't anyone in here." Song concluded, a confused look in her eyes.

"Nothing of importance in the desk." Shifu said. "Except another copy of the translated prophecy." He stared at said paper with an eyebrow raised. "But it still doesn't make any sense."

"Something's wrong." Chao murmured. He glanced around the room. "You're sure there's no one in here?"

"I've searched every nook and cranny." Song said. "I didn't see anything."

Shifu looked around as well. His eyes caught sight of a painting over the fireplace. It showed Jiao-long with a sword, thrusting it through Chao's chest. The inaccurate picture made Chao look utterly pitiful. In anger, Shifu took a dagger left on the desk and threw it at the painting. The blade imbedded itself into Jiao-long's face, sticking out like a unicorn's horn.

"Nice shot." Chao mused. Shifu didn't answer; his eyes traveled down the mantle. On a stand on the mantle was a beautiful sword. The double-edged blade was pure silver and glittered in the light. The hilt was golden and bejeweled. Chao noticed it too, and his eyes narrowed. "That's Jiao-long's sword."

Shifu nodded and picked up a paperweight shaped like a pagoda. He weighed it in his hand for a moment before chucking it at one of the two statues that flanked the fireplace. Before it could collide, the statue it was aimed at shot up a hand, catching the mini pagoda. Song, Chao, and Shifu stood ready and Jiao-long stepped down from where he stood, dropping the pagoda and taking up his sword.

"Very clever." Jiao-long mused. "I underestimated your wisdom, Grandmaster." He bowed mockingly.

"Stand down." Shifu ordered. "And we'll spare your life."

Jiao-long laughed out loud. "Oh, you're cute." When he saw the three warriors' determined faces, he frowned. "You idiots! I anticipated your attack! I knew you would come and I am ready! You can't possibly win!" Suddenly, there were shouts from outside. Jiao-long rushed to the window and looked out. He saw an unusual group of warriors: water buffalos, rhinos, clouded leopards with parasols, crocodiles, a panda, monkey, tiger, snake, crane, and a blue creature with an oversized fist. All were fighting his soldiers in the courtyard.

"I see you've met our army." Song mocked.

Jiao-long hissed and jumped towards them, sword held ready. Song swung her parasol around and knocked him aside, but he was back on his feet in seconds. Jiao-long swung his sword around at Chao and kicked Song into a wall. Chao leaned back to avoid the blade and Shifu jumped up to kick Jiao-long in the face. The Komodo dragon hissed again, a fire in his eyes. He stabbed his sword forward, but Chao easily knocked it aside.

Down in the courtyard, Po found himself back-to-back with Fung. "How ya doin'?" Po asked as he punched back a gorilla.

"Are you kidding?" Fung exclaimed, whipping his tail across another ape's face. "I could keep this up forever!"

"Good!" Po smiled. "Shifu and Chao are probably wiping the floor with Jiao-long's face!"

Now, that was only half true. Jiao-long was a strong fighter. He wasn't one to give up so easily. Even so, Shifu was able to knock his sword from his hands and Chao sent it skidding across the floor. Song shot miniature parasol darts from her own parasol to pin Jiao-long to an easy chair by his robes.

"So this is the Jiao-long we're supposed to be afraid of?" Song laughed. "Pathetic."

"Let's get outside and help the others." Shifu said, heading for the door. "We'll come back for him later." Chao and Song followed Shifu, but the three of them stopped when they reached the door. What had stopped them was Jiao-long's low laugh.

"You really think you've won?" he asked in a low voice. He wrenched an arm forward, then the other, pulling loose the parasol darts. He jerked himself free and brushed himself off. Then, without warning, Jiao-long shot his palms forward, sending a blast of red chi in the group's direction. They were blown backwards, clean through the door, and a ways down the hallway. The blast was like fire, singeing their clothes and fur. Chao was the first to recover from the blast. He blinked a couple times, staring at Shifu and Song, who were struggling to stand. His vision was slightly hazy, and he was hardly aware of a clawed hand grabbing his neck and pinning him to the wall. When his vision cleared, Chao found himself glaring hard into Jiao-long's face.

The Komodo dragon smirked, holding his recovered sword ready. "This is just the beginning."

Shifu's foot collided with Jiao-long's shoulder, driving them both farther down the hall. Shifu's ears lay flat on his head and the fur on his neck bristled in fury. He pronounced each word in his next sentence venomously. "Don't…..touch….him….or anyone, for that matter."

Jiao-long laughed again. "You're pathetic to no end. I am the one with the plan, and I will emerge from here successful. Everyone who has fought with you today will die in vain."

Song snarled menacingly. "Your voice….is like a knife….to my brain….you stupid bag of scales!" She and Chao stood, poised ready to fight. Jiao-long stood as well, unmoving except for his tail swishing back and forth. He went down on all fours and darted forward…rushing past the warriors and leaping out the window. The three warriors ran to the window and stared. Jiao-long fell down and did a flip, landing on top of something big and wooden. Jiao-long entered the machine and it started moving.

"We have to get to the courtyard!" Shifu shouted as he ran down the hall. Chao and Song sprinted after him. They reached the courtyard with ease (checking the map only twice) and burst through the doors. The army was still fighting with Jiao-long's men. But now, Jiao-long had come out with his machine. It was just like Taotie's machine, but with a lot more dangerous weaponry. With Jiao-long at the controls, ringed blades were shot, flames shot out, large rocks thrown, and so much more. Jiao-long's men scattered and so did Shifu and Chao's army, desperately trying to avoid the brutal attacks.

"What do we do?" Song asked.

"Retreat." Shifu said solemnly. He didn't look very happy about it. "We can't fight this thing now. But now that we know what we're up against, we can regroup and plan for our next attack."

"Master Shifu, with all due respect, I think we can handle this." Song protested.

"I'm not willing to risk it!" Shifu snapped. "Song, gather everyone together. Chao, get them all out. I'll distract Jiao-long."

"I'm coming with you." Chao said. Shifu opened his mouth to speak, but Chao cut him off. "Don't even think about protesting. Song, get everyone out the doors." The clouded leopard nodded and ran out into the chaos, spreading the order of retreat to all of the army members. Shifu and Chao headed towards Jiao-long's machine. The Komodo dragon spotted them and, as expected, immediately turned his aim towards the two masters. They acted fast, dodging whatever Jiao-long threw at them. Song, meanwhile, managed to herd everyone together and get them towards the main gate. When Jiao-long saw this, he snarled.

"Stop them!" he shouted. "Close the gate!" The doors to the gate slowly started to close.

"Not a chance!" Po shouted. "Hey Demon! Blast those doors open!" The Mongolian Fist Demon ran forward and, with a roar, smashed his flamed fist into the doors. The wooden doors burst into pieces. The army burst forward, running through the gate and into the woods.

"Archers!" Jiao-long yelled. Gorillas on top of the wall shot a volley of arrows down onto the retreating army. The Ladies of the Shade held up their parasols to block them. Shifu and Chao bolted to the door, but Jiao-long wouldn't hear of it. "Close the iron gate! Stop them! Kill them!" What was left of Jiao-long's army came forward to crush the masters. Chao dodged a hammer being swung by an elephant and leaped over him. Shifu flipped a gorilla over his head and threw him into two elephants coming his way. The two of them ran as fast as they could as the iron gates started to close. But Shifu knew that, no matter how fast they ran, only one of them would make it through that gate.

As they got closer, Shifu suddenly grabbed Chao's hand and stopped running. He used the momentum to hurl Chao at the gate with alarming speed. Chao bounced and rolled right under the spikes of the gate as it slammed shut. Shifu ran up and banged his shoulder against the gate. It wouldn't move.

"Chao, run." Shifu ordered. "You still have the map and you know our battle plans by heart. It's your turn to lead. Alone."

"I'm not leaving you here to be killed!" Chao said firmly.

"That wasn't a suggestion!" Shifu snapped. "That was an order! Now go!" His eyes darted towards the coming army before going back to Chao. "I'll be fine. I promise. Now run."

Chao stared at Shifu for a long time, not wanting to leave. But he reluctantly accepted the fact that, if he didn't run, the army would be left without a leader. So Chao turned and ran, dodging arrows from the archers.

Shifu stood ready to fight, but Jiao-long's army only surrounded him. Jiao-long walked through his men, looking amused.

"Well done." Jiao-long nodded. "Your sacrifice was very noble; surrendering yourself in exchange for Chao's escape."

"Whoever said I was surrendering?" Shifu demanded, standing ready. "I won't die here until I see you obliterated."

Jiao-long sighed. "I was afraid of this. However, I am a merciful master. So I will give you two choices. You can either surrender now, become my prisoner, and be executed in the most painless way I can think of, or you can stand your ground and be killed right now and die in excruciating pain. What will it be?" Shifu didn't move an inch. He glared hard at Jiao-long. "I see. Well, that's a pity. Oh well. It'll be a pleasure to hear you scream." Jiao-long stepped back and climbed into his machine once more for a better view of the slaughter. "Kill him." He ordered. A group of archers stood in front, arrows trained on Shifu. Still, the old master wouldn't move. If he died tonight, he died fighting.

The archers fired.

Shifu braced himself, but his vision was clouded with black. At first, he thought he was dead. But he realized that he could hear Jiao-long's men gasping with shock. He looked up and saw a pair of wings around him, shielding him from the arrows. Four of the feathers on each wing were sharp as swords.

Sharp feathers…..