Ok I need to get something off my chest. I've lost a little motivation for this story. Which is crazy because this is my only story that has a lot of views, favorites…..everything. I don't know why I feel this way. Not saying this is the best Kung Fu Panda Story ever made, but enough people seem to like it. You'd think that would be enough to motivate me to put a lot of work into this fanfic…..Well I managed to power through my lack of motivation and produce a chapter for you guys anyway. A few things before we get started. First off to those who don't know I added a new scene in chapter one. Nothing major it just shows how William transformed into a white tiger. Secondly, I'm proud to say that this story recently reached over 10,000 views. Also, I can't help but notice how close we're getting to 100 followers for this story. That's awesome. Alrighty then let's get into it.
Chapter 11: Information Gathering
He struck with such power. Roaring after shattering each stone dummy. His orange fur was sweaty and ruffled from training so hard. Jinn was in a large room sharpening his skills. He had been recovering for weeks after his battle with William. Though his physical wounds have healed Jinn couldn't help but feel resentment towards the white tiger. He hadn't been beaten so badly by a warrior is such a long time and it was getting to his head.
Jinn turned around and threw a punch, but he stopped just in time before landing one on Ying's face who had appeared out of nowhere. Ying didn't even flinch as his fist was inches away from her face.
"What do you want Ying?" Jinn questioned as he retracted his fist.
"You've been here all night. Don't you think it's time for a break?" Ying asked.
"No now go away." Jinn said as he distanced himself from her and started doing pushups at a rapid pace.
Ying shook her head. "Are you THAT mad you got your ass kicked?"
Jinn stopped doing pushups and glanced sideways at Ying with an angry look on his face. "What was that?"
"Ya know if you come at him with blind fury, he's just going to beat you down again. Even worse than last time." Ying said.
Jinn stood up. "If I recall he kicked your ass too."
"True, but at least I didn't get my leg clawed." Ying teased.
Jinn snarled.
"And my face beaten in." Ying teased again.
Jinn snarled louder.
"And least not forget how easily he broke your-
"SHUT UP!" Jinn had enough of Ying's mocking and came at her with punches. The lioness was having no problem dodging them though.
"Did…I…touch…a…nerve?" Ying said each word in between each dodge.
Jinn continued to miss strike after strike and with each miss his frustration grew.
"Missed me...whoop missed again." Ying teased as she kept avoiding each punch.
Ying sweep kicked Jinn and knocked him off his feet. Before jinn could get back up, she was already pinning him down and twisting his arm. The same arm William broke.
"See what I mean? Fighting with a head full of anger like that will get you nowhere." Ying said.
"Get off you-rrggh." Jinn didn't finish his sentence as Ying cranked on his arm some more.
"Go ahead finish what you were about to say. I want you to." Ying said.
Jinn only growled in response.
"Honestly Jinn I'm used to you being all calm and collected. I'm not even a better fighter than you, but all that rage made it easy for me to take you down." Ying said.
Jinn grunted but then he took a few breaths to calm down. "Alright I get it. Now let me up."
"I don't know I kinda like being on top of you like this." Ying said.
"Ying." Jinn said.
"Well I would prefer if you were on your back but still." Ying said.
"YING!" Jinn yelled.
"Alright alright!" Ying got off of him.
Jinn stood up and rubbed his arm. "You've made your point."
"I know I did." Ying said with a playful smile.
"Hmph since when were you the lecturing type anyway?" Jinn asked.
"What you think I didn't take what I learned from the Lee Da Academy?" Ying asked.
"Uh huh. The boss went to the Valley to deal with that blue-eyed bastard himself, right?" Jinn asked.
"Yup. Which is another reason why we shouldn't worry about him." Ying said.
"Don't you think it's odd that he just suddenly altered the plans just to go after him?" Jinn asked.
"As long as I get paid, I don't care what the plans are. Why do you ask? You've never been the one to care about an employer's motives." Ying said.
"I never question motives no, but that doesn't stop me from wondering." Jinn said.
"Maybe he's encountered pretty boy before and wants payback. Who knows?" Ying said shrugging his shoulders.
"…..We're going back to the valley." Jinn said.
"Uh we have orders to stay here." Ying said.
"Don't care. I want to get to the bottom of this." Jinn said as he began to walk out of the training room.
Ying rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if I get tired from the long walk, you're carrying me." Ying said.
"The hell I am." Jinn said.
Elsewhere
William POV
Me and Tigress were on a path walking towards the Imperial fortress. Crane was flying around the Valley to see if he can spot any hyenas like he did before. Everyone else is back at the village keeping an eye on things.
As me and Tigress walked, we engaged in a little small talk.
"Ironwood trees?" I asked.
"Yeah." Tigress simply answered.
"That's how your arms are basically steel plated?" I asked.
"Mmhmm." Tigress nodded.
"How long did it take for them to get like that?" I asked.
"Twenty years." Tigress said.
"Twenty years are you kidding me?!" What is she?
"Nope." Tigress said.
"And on top of that you don't feel pain?" I asked.
"Not in my limbs no." Tigress said.
"Hmmm." I gave her a quick but hard jab to her arm. She just looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Nothing?"
"No." She quickly punched me back.
"Ow!" I didn't even hit her that hard.
"You outta start working with ironwood trees yourself. It'll get you in better shape." Tigress suggested.
I tilted my head. "I beg your pardon." I lifted up my vest to reveal my abs. "I'm already in perfect shape. As you can clearly see."
Tigress rolled her eyes. "You're still soft compared to me."
I put my vest down. "Well that's not really fair. Everyone is soft compared to you." I joked.
"I have no idea why you think you're funny." Tigress said.
"I'm hilarious. You just have zero sense of humor." I retorted.
"That's not true. I find it funny every time I punch you." Tigress countered back.
"See now that's concerning." I said. I then decided to change the conversation to a more serious subject. "You think Zihao will be able to tell us anything?"
"He should. Some of his men were at the prison when the Hyenas were broken out." Tigress said.
"Then at least one of them should be able to tell us something." I said.
"When we get there, you can ask around. I'll talk to the Captain." Tigress said.
"Roger that." I said agreeing.
A short walk later
Me and Tigress made it to the fort. The guards let us through the gates no problem. When I was here before this joint was run down and falling apart. Now it looks really nice and refined. Kinda surprised that the Imperials was able to do all this in a month.
"Alright I'm heading inside to find Zihao. You go see what any of his men can tell you." Tigress ordered.
"Got it." I said.
"And don't start any trouble." Tigress said.
"Relax Tigress see unlike you I'm actually a people's person." I joked.
"I will hurt you." Tigress simply said with a flat face.
"Ah ya know ya love me." I said as I walked off.
It's become a game on how much I can annoy her heh heh.
Tigress POV
"He's so annoying." I thought as I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
After sending William off I headed inside the fort to look for the Imperial captain. Finding out where he is shouldn't be a problem.
"I spotted a lone rhino guard and walked up to him. "Excuse me. Do you know where I can find Zihao?"
"Why of course Master Tigress. The captain's quarters are on the second floor. He just went up there a few minutes ago." He explained.
"Thank you." I said.
"Happy to help." He said.
3rd person
High up in one of the trees outside the fort, Wuya the crow had watched William and Tigress arrive at the fort.
"Hm today might be more entertaining than I thought." She said before flying away.
William POV
I was talking to the fort's blacksmith. He was an Ibex. Cool guy. One of the guards said he saw the masked warrior up close, so I thought I'd ask him a few questions. Poor dude was missing a horn though.
"So, I was just helping deliver some more weapons to the prison guards and all of the sudden this hooded guy wearing a mask just walks up to the gate. Without warning he just attacked." He explained.
"You couldn't tell what kind of species he was?" I asked.
"Don't know, but the bastard's definitely got claws. A lot of the guys got some nasty gashes that day. Luckily no one was killed." He explained.
"Guessing you didn't walk away unscathed either." I said eyeing his missing horn.
"What gave me away?" He asked sarcastically. "I only make weapons son. Doesn't mean I know how to use one. Still I couldn't just sit back and watch like some scared kid. I took a few swings at the guy and before I could even blink, he lopped off my horn. Everything feels off balanced."
"Sorry to hear that. Anything else you can tell me?" I asked.
"I was knocked out cold. If I knew where the freed prisoners ran off to, I would've told you." He said.
"Looks like ill have to keep asking around then. Hope Tigress got something out of Zihao." I thought. "Thanks for your help. See ya around."
"Hey hold on." He said before I could leave.
"What's up?" I asked.
"You're helpin us so how's about I help you?" He asked.
I raised an eyebrow and he opened a nearby chess and rummaged around in it. He then pulled out a pair of steel bracers. They looked brand new.
"I know you kung fu types don't wear too much heavy armor, but these won't slow you down one bit." He offered.
Never thought about getting gear for myself. I mean I can dodge attacks good enough, but a little extra protection won't hurt I suppose.
"These will help out a lot in my battles to come. Thanks." I said as I took the bracers from him.
"No problem." He said.
"I didn't get your name." I said.
"Tiejiang but you can just call me Tie for sort." Tie said.
"You got it Tie." I said.
Tigress POV
I found Zihao in his quarters and we were discussing the situation about the masked warrior and the hyenas.
"Sorry Master Tigress. We sent scouts to search far and wide. None of them managed to track down the hyenas" Zihao explained.
"What about the warrior wearing a mask? Any idea who he is?" I asked.
"I wish I knew. I've never heard of someone like him. Some of my guys call him the demon warrior." Zihao explained.
"The Demon Warrior?" I asked.
"The mask he wears resembles one." Zihao explained.
"Hm….and there's nothing else you can tell me?" I asked.
"Well we do have a few hyenas locked in the dungeon. The ones that weren't lucky enough to escape the prison were brought here for questioning. We couldn't get anything outta them but maybe you and William will have better luck." Zihao suggested.
"If they know anything, I'm sure we can make them tell us what we want to know." I said.
"I don't doubt it." Zihao said.
"I better go find William." I thought.
Elsewhere not far
The hyenas have gone underground. They found some old mining tunnels and set up shop there. There were about 20 of them in total. Some of them had scars on their bodies. Claw marks from a certain white tiger they had encountered before.
The one leading them causally walked through the crowd. They stepped aside as soon as they saw him. Too afraid to get in the masked warrior's way. Suddenly he stopped. He could hear flapping noises echoing in the cave. His servant Wuya had arrived and landed on his shoulder.
"Any interesting news to tell me?" He asked.
"Master Tigress and William are at the fort right now as we speak." Wuya said.
"Oh really?" He asked.
"Taking back the fort will prove to be difficult with them there." Wuya said.
"And more fun." He said in an ominous tone.
"Hehehe I knew you were going to say that." Wuya said.
And that's it for now. Thought I'd leave it on a cliffhanger. I know it's a short chapter, but I just wanted to set up an even bigger chapter for next time. As always Favorite, Follow, and Review. See ya later.
