This chapter went far different than what I had originally intended. I just kinda sat down and started, then all of a sudden the story was practically writing itself. I love it when that happens, when the characters already know what they're doing and the words just flow from your hands. Enough babbling from me, read on and enjoy!

I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any associated characters. However, Traveller, Zarach and the Skaal are mine.

Knocking another Skaal down, Po managed another glimpse of the battlefield around him. Even with the supporting fire they now had from the villagers, each of the masters was hard-pressed to hold their own. Despite how many of their foes they had taken out, there were still so many of them, and they were not making it easy on his companions.

It was then that he noticed Zarach approaching Tigress. The Skaal king was moving slowly, watching the tiger master's fluid motions as she took on three Skaal simultaneously. Tigress was concentrating on the fight before her, and couldn't see Zarach approach from behind. Sudden dread welled up in the panda's heart.

"Tigress!" He called out, more than a little desperately, narrowly dodging a Skaal talon as he did so. He countered with a heavy punch that caused his assailant to stumble backwards, allowing the Dragon Warrior to see if his warning had done any good.

Apparently not. Tigress was still focussed on fighting the Skaal before her, and they were actually beginning to drive her backwards into Zarach's waiting arms. She was obviously beginning to tire, she was leaving more openings for her opponents and her movements were less fluid.

Po knew he had to do something. If Zarach attacked Tigress while she was unaware… he didn't even want to think about the result. Steeling himself, he feinted an attack at one of his own opponents, then charged, barreling through the Skaal towards Tigress. A few of them got in hits as he passed, shredding his left side and one talon digging so far into his shoulder as to scrape against bone, but Po barely felt it. All his attention was focussed on reaching Tigress before the Skaal king.

He slammed his way through the massing enemies, using his natural weight to propel himself forwards. As he approached his target however, Zarach was already raising his blade to strike Tigress's from behind.

Po had to make a split-second decision. He let loose a wild cry, hoping to throw Zarach off guard, then leapt through the air towards Tigress, praying he would knock her out of the way before that deadly blow landed.

Time seemed to slow as he stretched himself through the air, his paws reaching out towards the tiger master. They impacted with her side, and the sudden heavy weight immediately began to throw her to the ground. His senses suddenly seemed superhuman, he felt the wind rushing through his fur permeate his body, heard the screeching sounds of battle from all around-

And then the blade fell. Tigress was falling and Po had all but created a living shield for his companion, so instead of hitting Tigress, the blow fell upon him. The heavy blade cut deep into his back, passing through flesh and muscle as if it were naught more than paper. Even as the weapon sliced his spine in half, it barely paused in it's downwards motion.

Po let out a scream of pain, his legs suddenly flopping uselessly behind him. He seemed to be suspended in mid-air for a moment, then he crashed into the ground on his side, cradling Tigress close to him in a fetal position.

One moment, Tigress had been fighting for her life against three opponents, the next she was lying on her side on the ground, Po's arms wrapped loosely around her chest as he cried out in pain. Several wounds serrating her body screamed their disapproval of the sudden position change, but she ignored them, pushing the panda's limp arms aside and standing shakily.

The first thing she saw was Zarach, the Skaal chuckling darkly in apparent amusement as he rested his red-stained blade on his shoulder. The tiger master's eyes widened in horror as she processed the damage done to the panda in front of her.

He took the hit… for me.

More Skaal gathered around the motionless tiger, but Zarach barked something she didn't understand at them and they rushed away. It was only because of her years of training that she noticed any of this, she hadn't yet taken her eyes off the whimpering panda.

"Don't you see?" Zarach jeered, running a finger down the flat end of his weapon, the digit soaking up part of the panda's blood from where it stained the blade.

"The order of your death is of no consequence." The creature carried on, as Tigress's hands slowly curled into fists. "His heroics have changed nothing. This farce of a battle is over, tiger."

Tigress barely heard Zarach's gloating. Her vision was going red and hazy, and she felt something building up inside of her, welling up in her chest and pushing upwards threatening to burst out from her. And suddenly, she couldn't think of a single reason to hold it back.

A roar tore itself from her throat, a massive burst of sound that echoed throughout the valley and shook the very trees around them. It was a roar of pain and rage, a purity of emotion that had not been heard in this valley for centuries. She turned towards Zarach and leapt, only a single word reverberating in her mind.

Kill.

As she viciously attacked the Skaal leader, she gave no thought to her own defence. She cared not for the claws that shredded through fur and flesh, nor the blade that quickly added her own blood to stain it's surface. Not once did she attempt to evade or avoid these attacks, her entire being focussed solely on an all-out assault, battering Zarach with everything at her disposal.

And… it was working.

The blows on Tigress became less and less frequent, Zarach putting more effort into defending himself against the snarling, spitting feline that assaulted him. He was forced back, first one step, then a second, then a third.

But the Skaal king was not yet finished. He swung his blade directly at the tiger's head, taking advantage of the tiger's dispassion for her own defence. Had the blade impacted as he had desired to, the fight would have been over.

Fortunately for Tigress, even as he swung his weapon she impacted her fist into his chest with rage-fuelled strength, the impact throwing Zarach off balance. So instead of decapitating the tiger, the very tip of the blade scraped across her forehead, causing a sudden torrent of blood, blinding the tiger in her left eye.

It was at this point some semblance of rationality rose above the all-consuming rage that frothed in Tigress's mind. She needed to get that weapon away from Zarach. She lashed out with one hand, then feinted as her opponent prepared to deflect it, grabbing the Skaal's forearm just below the hand and pressing her fingers against the pressure points in the beast's hand, causing the fingers to splay and the sword to fall from his grasp.

Zarach hissed in pain and rage, then twisted his arm, freeing it from the tiger's grip, then grabbed both of the master's hands with his own, curving his fingers so his talons locked into her flesh and pushed against her. Tigress snarled and pushed back, positioning her feet below her to steady herself.

But despite her strength, both natural and rage-given, Zarach was stronger. He began pushing her back, his claws sinking through flesh and into bone. While she felt no pain in her state of total rage, somewhere at the back of her mind she knew she was losing.

So she changed the game.

She pulled Zarach forward in a sharp, sudden movement, using the Skaal's own momentum against him. As he skidded closer to her, she craned her neck backwards, then slammed her head forwards, crashing into Zarach's forehead. The motion stunned him, only for a second, but it was enough.

As soon as she felt the grip loosen, she tore her hands away from Zarach's grasp, then punched him directly in his chest. Once. Twice. Before he could recover, she whipped out a roundhouse kick to his stomach, moving with blinding speed. This final attack sent him stumbling backward. In a single, fluid motion, Tigress leapt into the air, smashing into the creature and bearing him to the ground. The Skaal king hit the dirt with a heavy thud with Tigress kneeling on him, one knee pressing his chest into the ground and one hand pinning one of his arms to the ground while the other was raised in a fist above Zarach's head.

Zarach let out a hiss as his long neck shot towards Tigress, his mouth widening to reveal serrated fangs. Tigress smacked his head back to the ground, then snarled as she brought the fist down on his head with all the force she could muster.

Before she impacted on the Skaal's skull, there was a bright flash that momentarily blinded the tiger, and the sudden stench of sulphur. The body beneath her suddenly disappeared, and without it's support, she thudded into the dirt at the same time her fist impacted the ground where Zarach's head had been.

As she tried to blink away the sudden light, her anger replaced with sudden confusion, she heard a mounting, mournful wail coming from all around. As she looked around, trying to regain her bearings, she saw the remaining Skaal with their heads raised to the sky, their throats releasing the cry that now reverberated around them. Before she could get to her feet, they too began to disappear with same flashes, causing the stench of sulphur to rise momentarily to an insurmountable level, then fade as swiftly as it came. Within moments, the area was empty barring the wounded and confused masters, and the corpses of the fallen.

There was no cheering from the walls, or the other masters. A deathly silence had fallen around the battlefield. Tigress paid no heed to this, and turned back to where Po lay. With Zarach gone, her rage was ebbing, and her focus shifted again to the wounded panda. As she turned, the other masters saw the extent of her wounds, and were frozen in shock.

Her clothes had been ripped almost beyond recognition, what was left with her shirt stained with a darker red. There was no orange left on the tiger's body. Much of her fur had been torn off during the savage fight, revealing gashed and bloodied flesh. What fur remained was compleatly stained red, with splashes and splatters of black blood from the Skiyr. Her body was covered in lacerations, and half of her face was covered in blood from the cut on her forehead, the blood already hardening into a crust in the cool air.

She gave no sign of noticing any of this, and instead stumbled over to Po, falling to her knees beside the prone panda. While grief was a part of her gesture, much of it was due to the fact that she was already losing the strength to stand.

"Po…" she mourned quietly, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

At her voice and her touch, the panda opened eyes that had fallen shut in his effort to ignore the pain. He whispered to her,

"I can't feel my legs." The words escaped him almost in a whimper.

She didn't know what to say. Looking at the wound, it was quickly apparent that he would never be able to use his legs again. And if he couldn't use his legs…

She vaguely noticed the other masters gathering silently around her. She could not focus on anything beyond the fallen panda however, as keeping herself centered on even him was difficult. The pain wasn't as bad as it likely should have been, she mostly just felt… tired.

She paid no heed to the creaking sound of opening gates, and thus did not see Traveller appear through them, walking slowly with the help of a cane and flanked by two adult rabbits who attempted to support him as he treaded carefully through the battlefield. She only noticed his presence when he finally spoke.

"You did it." He breathed, wonder and some other emotion she could not identify in his voice.

"Traveller!" Shifu called out behind her. "What happened? The Skaal just... vanished."

There was silence for a moment, then Traveller said quietly,

"They are not of this world, and are not bound to the mortal coil such as you or I. When Zarach realized he was defeated, he released his mortal form. The rest of the Skaal draw their power from him, so when he faded, so did they."

"So, is Zarach... still alive then?" Crane asked worriedly.

"In a sense. He still exists certainly. But it will be a long time before he can gather the strength to re-form himself. And he will not return here, of that I can assure you."

As they spoke, Tigress felt the brush of dry scales at her side, and one bloody paw reached down to cup Viper's head.

"Tigress…" The fear and worry in the snake's voice was evident. Tigress felt her turn under her paw.

"We need to do something! Tigress fought off Zarach by herself, can we not-"

Viper's voice suddenly fell away, and Tigress could feel the intensity of a gaze at her back. She instinctively knew the feeling came from Traveller.

"You… defeated Zarach on your own?" Disbelief filled his voice.

Tigress did not answer, instead removing her paw from Viper to press it into Po's fur. Small damp spots were beginning to appear in his fur. She realized that it had started to rain.

After a thoughtful silence, Traveller spoke again.

"To hell with the oath. It has been a long time since I have met anyone so worthy. If the others don't like it, they can fire me."

Soft footfalls sent reverberations through the quickly softening mud, and then Traveller was standing beside her. Tigress looked up, noting a grave look on what was visible of the man's still heavily-bandaged face. One arm was extended, and from that hand dangled a silver tear-shaped pendant on a long chain.

"Can you help him?" She asked Traveller, almost pleading. He hesitated for a moment, then said,

"Your wounds are much more severe, Tigress."

"Please."

He seemed to understand what she was trying to say, and after just a brief hesitation, he nodded and held the pendant closer to Po. Before Tigress could ask what he was doing, a soft, green light began to emanate from the pendant, enveloping the panda in a warm embrace. The tiger master heard a sharp gasp from beside her, probably from Viper. Her own eyes were wide and awestruck at this unexpected display of power.

As she watched, Po's wounds began to close, flesh, sinew and finally skin knitting back together to leave silver, slightly raised scars. The massive cut in his back took longer, and as the light illuminated it, she could see the severed bone re-attaching, soon to be covered again by unbroken flesh until the great wound was closed, and no more than another silvery scar.

As the light faded, Po groaned again, opening his eyes.

"... What was that?"

"A gift." Traveller replied simply, turning his attention to Tigress while Po looked down at his feet hesitantly, and wiggled his toes. The look of wonder on his face was truly a sight to behold.

But Tigress could focus no longer on him, for the green glow suddenly enveloped her. It covered her with a warm feeling, as if she was wearing a thick, fuzzy blanket. The pain she felt slowly faded, though her exhaustion did not ebb.

The glow lasted only a few moments, and after it dissipated, it left Tigress even more drained than before. She hesitantly raised a paw to her face, wiping away the blood that blocked her vision on the left side. Her fingers brushed against where the wound had been, but instead of wetness, there she found only hard, strangely cool scar tissue.

Despite onrush of weariness, Tigress attempted to rise, though she was forced to accept Crane's proffered wing to do so. As she stood upright, she heard Mantis's voice calling from behind.

"Hey! Come over here, Monkey's hurt!"

Traveller immediately began to hobble as fast as he could towards Mantis's voice, followed and supported by the other masters. Tigress remained behind for a moment, giving a paw to Po and helping him up. In her weakened state, she wasn't as much help as she would have liked, but between the two of them, Po was quickly standing again.

When the panda was on his feet, the two locked eyes for a brief moment, each finding the relief they felt mirrored in the other's eyes. But it only lasted for a moment, before worry creased Po's brow as he processed what Mantis had said. He was momentarily angry at himself for forgetting about his friend during the heat of battle.

"Come on, let's go." He urged.

Unfortunately, it turned out that neither of them had the strength to walk alone, so they finally settled on leaning on each other as they slowly made their way through the mud, and towards where the others had already gathered around Monkey.

As they closed in, they saw Monkey still slumped up against the wall of the palace, his fur now wet from the increasing rain. Traveller raised the pendant again, and the green light covered their friend's body, causing both Tigress and Po to breath a sigh of relief at the sight.

When the light faded however, Traveller's head lowered, then shook slowly from side to side. He then turned to the others.

"I am sorry." He said quietly, his voice tinged with weariness. "He is already gone."

"What?" Po cried out. "No, no he can't be! You've got the green… thing. Help him!"

"I cannot bring back the dead." Traveller replied softly. "If I could do so, I would. But there is nothing I can do."

Po let out a wail at this, falling to the his knees and unintentionally taking Tigress with him. She did not resist however, her own eyes filling with grief and the masters around her bowed their heads in sorrow for their fallen companion.

So, there you have it, the climax of the story. I'm very thankful to everyone who stayed with me this far on this little adventure of mine. There will still be an epiogue, and I will try to get it up on thursday, but this week is going to be... hectic for me in the very least, and to be perfectly honest, the epilogue needs a bit of work. So I will be making one more update to this story, but I'm not 100% certain of when it'll be. Thanks for understanding.