"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."
Henry Ford
Crossing the Rubicon
Episode IV: Reunion
8. Chapter: Gal
"You…!" the tigress growls almost. "Me.", the canine replies with an amused voice. "What are you doing here?" the tigress enquires, becoming more curious than surprised…somehow she feels also uneasy, although she doesn't know why. The canine stands there at the entrance of the Barracks, wearing his fawn cloak, which reminds more on a scrap of clothes than on clothes someone would wear, who is not a beggar, and being supported by his sword, which he uses like a walking cane, hilt at his hand and sheath at the ground.
"He is our wounded guest." the behind him appearing Viper replies, while wriggling forward, accompanied by the jumping Mantis. "Yeah, he wanted to have some fresh air, before he would talk with us…" this one explains, while jumping beside Viper. "You are the wounded canine…?" Tigress repeats, before remembering what he told her: "Why it will not work…and my name is Tigress not gal."
"I know…", the canine chuckles, while stepping outside of the barracks with the help of his sword and coming closer to the feline, "Isn't it obvious, why it will not work, gal?"
"No, somehow not." Tigress replies becoming angry. The canine stops in front of the two, feline and panda, looking at Po. "You are the Dragon Warrior, I heard about or not?" he asks first. "Yes that's Me.", Po replies joyfully. The canine looks back to Tigress. "There you have your answer." he says only.
Everyone looks at him. "What…?" Tigress asks unsure, before the canine sighs. That makes her angrier and she wants to respond something already, when he begins to explain: "He is the Dragon Warrior…the legendary prodigy in Kung Fu, whose identity was a mystery for thousand years. A person who is known for being able to learn Kung Fu faster than everyone else…you really think he can help you somewhere, although I bet he doesn't even know himself for real how he learns everything so fast?"
"Hey…" Po protests, but is ignored. Tigress looks into the cold eyes of the canine, before she answers with an angry voice: "We will never know till we try." she replies, before looking back to Po, "Come Po; we will train this technique." That said she leaves the others without another glance, while Po tries to follow her. The Canine looks behind them with an annoyed face.
"You are not the best to make friends, do you old geezer?" Mantis asks from the side. The canine looks to the green insect with an arrogant face. "Who you call old geezer, bug?" he asks, showing his anger in this way. Mantis' face darkens instantly, but before he can reply something, Viper stops him by wriggling between the two. "We still don't know your name." she explains, "We told you ours, how is yours?"
The canine glares at the smiling reptile first, before he sighs. Always the name he thinks, before he answers: "Call me Lang, when you want to use a name."
Tigress and Po reach the Dragon Grotto. It is a large cavern found at a top of a set of falls near the Jade Palace. In the middle is found a giant stone dragon and around him is a pool, interrupted from time to time by stones. From the roof many drops of water fall down.
"Here Master Shifu showed you this technique or not?" Tigress reminds Po, who has created a distance between her and him, considering some things. "Po?" she asks again, noticing that Po is caught inside his mind. "What…oh Tigress…yes…", the panda wakes up finally, before looking to the Stone Dragon, "We are back here…", he adds.
"Yes and now show me this technique again." Tigress demands, freeing some space for the panda. This one doesn't move. "Po?" she asks again, unsure. "Maybe he is right…" Po admits finally, looking at the feline, "I don't think this technique will help you obtaining Inner Peace or gaining your memory back. And I don't believe I am able to teach you this." Tigress looks at him dumbfounded. "But…" the panda starts again, feeling more unsure now, "Maybe we can find another way."
"And what way, Po? We have not the time for experiments." Tigress replies angrily, looking away from Po. "What do you mean?" Po asks unsure and curious. She looks back at him. "Don't you get it? Chui Mie is back. Now he is not a danger for us, but neither Master Shifu nor I believe that will keep this way. And I bet that the Jade Palace will be one of his targets…once again."
Po gawks at her, revealing obviously that he didn't know about that. "But…when this is so dangerous…why don't we do something against him?"
"We do something: We prepare. That is everything we can do currently because of the imperial troops. The Empire and Master Oogway…as well Master Shifu were not friends of each other, you know? They will not allow us to interfere in their operations." Tigress explains, "And that means that I need to use this time to get rid of this problem."
"Problem?" Po asks, beginning to realize something, "…are you seeing this memory return only as a problem?" Tigress looks at him. "I…." she starts "…get rid of her. I'll never want to see her again." Tigress trips. "Tigress?" Po asks concerned, while running to her. She stops him with a palm. "It is nothing…Po." she replies still trying to control herself. "Don't lie to me Tigress. I can see that you are hurt: You are crying." Po replies worried. "What?" the feline asks while she notices the tear sliding down her cheek.
"Get rid of her? ….that will increase the price." the second voice….
"Doesn't matter. I pay everything so that it happens." the first voice…he has the face of a tiger…
"What can I bring to you?", Mr. Ping asks the two new customers. "Tea.", the smaller one, wearing a black cloak and a bamboo hat, says. "Wine.", the bigger one, wearing the same clothes, answers. "No, Wine Ce.", the smaller one corrects, before looking to Mr. Ping again, "For him tea as well." Mr. Ping nods, before leaving these two creepy figures. Hopefully they leave fast he thinks, while entering his kitchen.
"Why no wine? Do you think, I get drunk?" the big one called Ce, chuckles. "To be on the safe side, Ce. We can't allow another failure." the smaller one replies. "You mean, you can't allow yourself another failure, Kanshou." Ce corrects the smaller one, "You have sent amateurs instead of Order Members."
"He was old and drunken, looked like a beggar…who would have thought that he would be able to beat some paid assassins?" Kanshou tries to explain himself. "Never judge a person by his look." Ce laughs, before stopping to talk: the tea is there. Mr. Ping puts the tea down, before leaving rapidly again. Kanshou takes his tea cup with his white wing and takes a swig, while Ce stares only at the tiny cup in front of his hoof. "I never understand why you like to drink tea instead of wine." he says, before grabbing the cup carefully. "It is calming…an advantage the Lady likes to use as well." Kanshou explains, before the cup breaks in the hoof and the hot tea splashes to every side. Kanshou sighs.
"Doesn't matter…we should better talk about the plan." Kanshou adds, putting the tea down again. "What plan? We storm in, we get it and we storm out. Problem solved." Ce replies, a little bit angry cause of the mess, while he tries to clean himself with the cloak. "When this would be so easy, I wouldn't have needed you.", Kanshou counters, "This is after all the Jade Palace we are talking about…a place full with Kung Fu Masters and many servants…and even when the Lady told me, that the costs doesn't matter, I bet with you, that she will dislike it, when the Jade Palace gets damaged or the people inside will get hurt…at least seriously. That should be our last straw only, if possible."
"Yeah, yeah…" the big one replies, while starting to lick the remaining tea from his hoof. "I have made a plan: You will start a ruckus down here, while I will sneak into the Palace to find what we search for. The Masters of Jade Palace will not be able to ignore you, when you destroy some shops or stalls and harass some of the villagers."
"That sounds like a job for a lackey, not for me.", Ce growls a little bit. "We have no lackeys and I am better in sneaking in, thanks to my flying skills, or not?" Kanshou replies, before Ce growls. "Fine…but it is up to me, how I will create this ruckus."
"Fine by me as long as you don't hurt someone seriously." Kanshou agrees, before the other grins. One moment later he has exposed his cloak and shows the people in the restaurant his appearance: a big black bull, wearing dark green pants and something like a vest. In the vest are found four knifes, while his face seems to be scarred. He begins to grab the table in front of himself, while Kanshou is still able to take his tea away.
"The tea is bad!" he yells, before throwing the table inside the kitchen of Mr. Ping.
"And you really don't want to tell us, your real name?" Viper asks the sixth time already. "No.", the canine replies in the exact way like the six prior times. They have brought a table outside and are talking with a tea in front of them – a demand the canine had. Oddly enough the canine has not drunk a bit of it. "And you don't want to tell us who attacked you?" the Mantis, the more frustrated one, asks the third time. "I said already: I have seen nothing. They appeared like ghosts, attacked me and oddly enough disappeared later on." the canine lies again. Not that the two would not notice it. I don't care, the canine thinks, knowing exactly that his story is bad, really bad. Even a child could think of something better, but the canine doesn't care simply…he is still furious cause of Tigress reaction to his helping hand…
Viper sighs, before a new idea crosses her mind: "And why have you come to the Valley of Peace?" The canine, who has supported his face with his elbow on the table, starts sitting straight again, before replying: "Accident. I am a wanderer. I go where the wind leads me." Hmmm…what is that… he notices something. He grabs the necklace, which he wears around his neck now. His hand itches below the necklace.
"What is that?" Viper asks. The canine doesn't answer, before putting it away again. "A memory." he replies and this time even telling the truth, although it doesn't help the two green animals. Suddenly they hear a familiar voice: "Guys!" The two stand up instantly, recognizing the voice of Po and also that it sounded afraid, while the Canine turns around to see the panda coming up the stairs with one arm of the unconscious Tigress around his neck. The two members of the Furious Five rush rapidly to the panda, while Viper enquires afraid: "What happened?"
"I don't know…she simply collapsed." the panda replies truthfully. The canine on the other hand notices it again: the spot where the necklace is found begins to get warmer. He ignores it long enough only to see how the feline gets carried back to the Barracks.
"Host, don't you want to go inside as well?" the flea Shiba asks jumping on his host's snout. This one ignores that and grabs now the cooler becoming necklace. "So that's it…" he mutters, remembering some certain words "It will…show you…" The canine stares at the already cooled down necklace, while he hears windy movement behind him. "Guys, we have trouble!" Crane yells, while landing beside the canine, who starts to look at him curiously. It doesn't last very long, before Po appears at the entrance. "What is it?" he asks, being jazzed. "Someone attacked your father's Noodle Shop.", the crane replies fast. "Dad…?" Po asks now double-worried, right before someone comes rushing behind Crane: Master Shifu and Neng.
"Panda, we heard about Tigress condition. You and the other Five need to go. We two will handle Tigress." Master Shifu tells, before someone can ask. Po nods and begins running outside of the Palace, followed by the listening remaining Five. They are gone almost as fast as Master Shifu and Neng, who enter the Barracks.
"It seems you became air for them, Host." Shiba states, "Maybe we can use this for…"
"For what?" the canine replies a little bit amused, "We are there where we need to be…" and then he enters the Barracks as well.
And the next chapter of Crossing the Rubicon :D So Mr. Ping is in trouble and Tigress starts to remember more about this special conversation ;-) Can promise there will come more in the next chapter :D
Hope I have not lost readers because of the last break :-) and possible that another is coming ;-) this time more or less, because I am thinking about reviving Space Panda II and am thinking that's why about a new pace of updating :-) but I have still not decided ;-)
Want to thank for your reviews 4gnez, akajust1 and Fallen Angel ;-) Hope you and everyone else likes this chapter :-) Tell me your opinion about it ;-)
Like always: Kung Fu Panda and its characters belong to Dreamworks. This story is mine. :-)
