The King's Return


"You said that King was here," Tigress reminded Tai-Lung as they walked down the hall. "Where is he?"

"I think he's-" The snow leopard stopped short when he heard noise from the living room hall. They slid the door open to see King hold two swords in each hand staring evilly at his three brothers across the room while he stood in the doorway. His stare was so menacing. His teeth were showing as he lowly growled, his eyebrows furrowed into the angriest look ever made, and he was panting like a mad wild dog.

"Hey King," Zing greeted sheepishly.

"You're heads are going to be on the ends of these swords in about five seconds, but first I'm going to choke you to death," King promised. And that's what he started to do. He quickly leapt across the room and grabbed Ling's throat first and shook him around.

"We're sorry. We're sorry," Ling wheezed out. King was dead focused. Key word: dead.

"King, you can stop now," Tigress said smirking. King released his brother and looked at the tiger with the peacock and the snow leopard.

"I'm so so sorry that these BONEHEADS made you go through all these things," King apologized, "They really are good boys. They just need to be choke every now and again." Tigress shook her head.

"So why are you here?" Bing asked.

"The first reason was because of what you guys did! The second reason is what you said in the letter. What's the deal with the superintendent?" King asked. Ling quickly explained what they figured out while doing some undercover work while kidnapping Tigress. King scratched his head. "That leaves us in quite a bind. Now we have to conquer this place, not because of corrupted warriors but of corrupted supervisors."

"Do you think that Po and the others will come?" Tigress asked as the others sat down. King was silent for a while thinking.

"Probably. They've probably figured out that Superintendent Wu is up to something," He said, "What's important now is that we make the Valley of Peace our new base. Tai-Lung, make sure that the generals are all at this tower in the next four hours. Shen, look into the supplies and armory that we have. Bing, Ling, Zing, go with Tai-lung in rounding up the generals." Everyone went to there position as they readied for battle.

"What about me?" Tigress asked. King smirked.

"Well, there's a training hall just down this way. I know you've been meaning to pay me back for a while. Besides, I have a feeling that you're going to need to know more in able to fight this particular battle," King said motioning her to come with him. When they got to the training ground, it looked just like the Training Hall at the Jade Palace. "Tai-Lung did his best to replicate it. Come on, let's work on your weapon skills." King swung the swords around. On the ground were an array of sticks weapons and other things...and a wooden duck for some reason. "Are you ready?" King smirked.

Tigress grabbed the wooden duck. King chuckled. "I'm ready," She replied.

Moments later, King and Tigress were panting from a good workout. Surprisingly, the wooden duck did a great job of defense. King underestimated its density. Of course, Tigress had to break it in half in order to protect her from two swords. King tried to surprise her again. He jumped up and came down, foot out.

Tigress rolled away from its path and ditched the duck, quickly picking up two swords. "This shall be interesting," King said swinging his swords again. He rushed her slashing from the left, but Tigress blocked it. She flipped over him and tried attacking from the back. King made an X with the swords behind his back to protect him. He spun around and started attacking one sword after the other.

Tigress quickly stooped down and took out King's feet with her leg. Now on the ground, King looked up and saw that Tigress had the two swords at his head.

"How *pant* is that *pant* for a tiger?" Tigress panted with a smirk.

"Okay, okay. you've greatly improved within the fifteen minutes that we trained," King said trying to get up. Tigress left the swords down and helped him up. "Hey, Stripes-"

"It's Tigress," Tigress growled. King shrugged.

"There's a question that I've been wondering about you. If you like Po, why do you treat him the way you do?" he asked in all innocence. Tigress looked away. She was silent for a while. "Man, it takes a whole army to get you to crack, doesn't it?" King said almost giving up. "Why do you treat Po so badly sometimes?" Tigress still remained silent. "Argh! I don't know why Po likes you," King said about to go away.

"Wait, he likes me?" Tigress asked.

"Oh now you're talking?" King said. He was tired to Tigress's evasiveness. King sighed. "Back to the question. Why do you treat Po so bad sometimes?"

"I...I don't mean to," Tigress finally said hesitantly, "I...I just...have trust issues." King had a confused and frustrated look on his face.

"Trus- Tigress, this is Po we're talking about. Not the great and powerful Ke-pa. You know that all Po wants is to be your friend," King countered.

"I know it's just I want to make sure that he doesn't betray me. So I treat him badly sometimes to test him," Tigress said slowly. King just stood there for a while.

"Can you say baloney?" King asked making a fake smile. "Tigress what's the REAL reason you're treating Po bad?" Tigress was silent. "Tigress, I need you to be able to be open with, not me, but with yourself. If you can't do that and open yourself up, then you can't become a true warrior. You must realize that whatever the reason is, it's withholding you from being great friends with Po. And the time may come when Po doesn't forgive you anymore." Tigress's eyes widened. "Be honest, if not with me, then with Po." With that he left her to think in the training hall.

As he was going to the major living room with luxurious couch and yellow wall panels. Just then a goose servant came into the room.

"Master King, Master King," He yelled, "A report from the Eastern gate. A group of warriors from Jade Palace are coming. With a panda."

"They are? Hurry, make sure that we have a place prepared for them," King said excitedly as the servant rushed to make the beds. "I wonder how Po and the others got past the Blind Gorilla guard?"


"We've tried everything," Crane sighed slumping down on a tree. The team had just tried to fly over the gorilla guard. Somehow, he was able to find them and shoot them out of the sky with his spear. They tried to disguise themselves like merchants. Still the blind gorilla could stop them. They even tried force him away. Even Master Shifu's kung fu was of no use. The gorilla whipped him around like he was a rag doll. Now, he really needed that cane he had.

"What can we do?" Viper asked, "That big brute is the best warrior I've ever seen. And he can't even see!"

"We must figure out a way to get in there," Shifu said. They sat there thinking for a while. Then Po remembered what King had told him. He stood up and walked back to the blind gorilla. Curious as to what Po was up to, the other warriors went with him. "Po, what are you doing?"

"Whatever you do, trust me," Po whispered quietly. Po walked over to the towering blind guard.

"What is your business here?" He said for what seemed the hundredth time.

"We're here to get a friend back, potentially defeat or reach an agreement with the kings of the Kings Empire, and to see what is in the borders," Po said honestly. Monkey face palmed himself, Viper and Crane dropped their mouths, Shifu and Mantis groaned a sigh.

"Why did you-"

"Go right in," the gorilla said interrupting Shifu's whispering. The team was stunned as they slowly went into the borders of the empire.

"Thank you," Po said.

"May I ask where you are from?" the gorilla asked.

"The Jade Palace. Now, where could we find the kings of this empire?"

"You can find them in Gongmen City," The gorilla instructed as he went back to his duty. So the team went on their way.

"How did you know that would work?" Master Shifu questioned amazed.

"It's what King said when he was talking to me. 'Honesty is the key.'" Po explained. As they went on their trail, the gorilla guard called for his assistant.

"Give this report. Six warriors from the Jade Palace are coming to Gongmen City. With a panda," said the blind guard. The assistant noted it and flew away.


"Call everyone into this room," King told another servant. With in minutes, Tigress, Bing, and Ling were in the living room. The others were gathering the generals. "I have good news. Po and the others are coming," King announced. Bing and Ling were excited. King noticed that Tigress was silent. As he told Bing and Ling to continue what they were doing, he spoke to Tigress. "What's wrong?"

"I...like him," Tigress whispered.

"What?"

"I...treat him badly because...I like him," Tigress said quietly. King looked at her in confusion. "I know it doesn't make any sense, but I don't know how to...show or tell him that I like him and I get so frustrated that I can't tell him. And-"

"You take out your frustration out on him?" King guessed. Tigress nodded. King sighed. "Listen, I know you care about Po and he cares about you too. Don't let your fear get in the way. What are you afraid of?"

"Rejection," Tigress said quietly.

"Don't be," King smiled, "Come on, we need to get ready for the others to come." Just then Zing came in.

"King, we have a problem. Bandits are on the attack," Zing exclaimed.

"Where are they coming from?" King asked.

"The Jade Palace," Zing reported. King and Tigress were shocked.

to be continued.