Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda
Once again this story was written by Empressimperia. It's close to the ending of the story or it is the ending, I have to talk to Empress about what this chapter is. Thank you for your support.
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Po and Tigress charged head on; Po struck the sheep's wooly chest with the back of his arm as Tigress's roundhouse kick slammed into his back. Most fights ended with this one attack. This decorated sheep, however, was an exception.
"I confess…" The sheep brushed off the dust form his fur. "Once there was a time that I was feebler than you." With one thrust of his hooves he shoved the two warriors to opposite sides of the room. "But now I may be considered a god." Tigress's training kicked in as she flew towards the floor. She hit the floor feet first and rolled into a stance. Po's recovery was far less graceful, his entire body rolling into the wall and leaving a massive dent before he got back up. They advanced again, joined by Ian and Tem as the four of them closed in.
This time they never got the chance to make contact. One nanosecond they were preparing to strike as one, the next they were floating in the air. With his hooves raised, the sheep slowly turned on the spot to face each of his helpless opponents, stopping when his hateful eyes laid on Tem. "Didn't I tell you?" He slammed his hooves together.
All four warriors slammed into each other with the force of clashing boulders before unceremoniously hitting the ground.
Po was the first to land, before Tigress bounced off his stomach and rolled to her feet again. Ian appeared to have landed badly on his shoulder, for he was having trouble pushing himself up. With one flick of his wrist, the sheep slammed Tigress into the wall and pinned her there. Po went to run over to her, but found himself frozen in place. He could feel whatever dark force the sheep possessed holding him in place.
"That's a big gut you've got there." The sheep had a very creepy look on his face. "Let's see just how heavy you really are."
Before Po knew it he was flying across the room like a cannonball, heading face-first for Tigress. In the split second he had he couldn't think of anything else to do other than throw his paws out. They cracked the wall on either side of Tigress's head. Po's elbows bent from the momentum. He closed his eyes as he braced for impact. He felt his stomach press into Tigress's hardened abdomen before relenting as momentum was lost. He felt her whiskers gently tickling his cheeks. He felt something soft and warm touching his lips.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Tigress's widened amber eyes staring back. Both pairs looked down to their interlocking lips.
Hearts pounding from the shocking outcome of the telekinetic assault, they forced their faces apart and turned to stare at the animal responsible. Hooves frozen in front of him, the sheep looked as stunned as they were.
Tem forced his shoulder back into his socket and smirked. "Did you actually intend to do that?"
There was a long pause from the sheep. "No."
Tem rotated his shoulder, rolled his eyes, and charged.
Tem knocked the sheep back with both fists, and Po and Tigress dropped to the floor as the telekinetic grip was broken. Ian gripped his shoulder and began murmuring unintelligible words.
The next few seconds were brutal. Both opponents blocked and traded lightning fast blows that aimed to kill, until the sheep slipped under a punch and jabbed his knuckles into Tem's chest. Tem would have rolled his eyes if he had the time. Instead he slammed his elbow down onto the sheep's skull. The sheep staggered back, clutching his skull.
Tem scowled. "What the hell are you smiling at?"
"Look down, you fool."
Tem risked a glance down. His veins turned to ice when he saw a black symbol etched into his chest. "What did you do to me?"
"The same as what I did to your people." The sheep flexed his fingers.
Ian had been about to attack at that moment, but he'd stopped when he'd felt his hourglass tattoo begin to grow cold. "Oh dear." He muttered.
The sheep chuckled cruelly. "You can't see it in the mortal realm, but that symbol is an invitation to commence the 'exchange.' If you ever return to the mortal realm, you will leave your mind behind, and in it's place, a useless mass of madness. But you can't stay here forever, can you?"
"You monster!" Tigress yelled and launched herself at the sheep. He threw a hoof out but she strafed to the side, feeling something invisible but solid rush past her. What he had just done to Tem went way beyond standard villainy. Her next attack would humiliate him. She would make sure of it. Her open paw slammed into the sheep's chest. She vaulted over his body and struck his shoulder. She managed to land a third blow on his chest again before an invisible hand knocked her to the ground.
"Four warriors are needed to defeat me…" He snarled, a black sword materializing in his hoof. "How can it be done if only three remain?"
"Tigress!" Po rushed to stop him. The sheep aimed a hoof, only for the panda to reach him without resistance and punch him right in the face. The sheep snarled and aimed his hoof again.
Po remained in his stance, standing between him and Tigress. Ian smiled as seconds passed and nothing happened. The sheep began to lose his evil grin as he stared at his hoof. His gaze travelled up to the bared pink patch on his shoulder. His hoof clutched at the bare patches on his chest as he glared at Tigress. "What have you done?"
Still on the ground, Tigress looked down at the three clumps of wool in her paw. Each clump had a symbol painted on.
"That's what I thought." Ian spoke. "Beneath that wretched dark magic, you're still just a sheep."
The sheep's face contorted as he summoned another sword. "Is that so?!" He lunged at the wildebeest with both blades, only for Ian to block the blows with both arms as he resumed his strange muttering. "Your defensive incantations will not help you for long!"
"It's called chanting, you ignoramus." Ian grabbed at a symbol on his forearm and kicked the sheep into the wall, the clump of wool ripping from his skin as he flew back. "It's good for maintaining focus."
The sheep growled and aimed his hoof at Ian. He held it out for a while. Ian looked down at the painted clump he was holding and smirked. "Like I said. Without these symbols you're just a sheep."
The sheep snarled and slammed his fist into the wall, cracking it like pottery. "So you've taken my magic, so what? I still have the strength to beat you to death. Every last one of you."
He charged at Ian, sending a flurry of blows so vicious there was nothing Ian could do but block.
"Po, Double Death Strike!" Tigress yelled.
"Ok, and do you think maybe after this we should talk about what happened with-"
"Not now!"
Po barely got a chance to react before she grabbed his arm and swung him at the sheep like a meteor hammer. The sheep was brutally slammed into the floor. Po planted his feet on the floor and swung Tigress next. Before the sheep could react she'd grabbed another symbol, which was ripped from his body as the panda pulled her back. She swung Po, who claimed another symbol off the sheep's arm. "Cut it out!" The sheep yelled as Tigress was yanked forward and snatched an eighth symbol.
Tem rushed over to Ian. "He said four warriors were needed to defeat him. What did he mean?"
"There's a reason it was four creature we fought." Before Ian could finish, the sheep charged and hit them both with his fists. They rolled across the floor, nearly hitting the wall again. Ian rubbed his jaw and scowled. "I'll explain after we defeat him."
Tem nodded. "Let me guess. We have to rip off all the symbols."
"All twenty of them, and we have twelve more to get." Ian touched his hourglass tattoo. "We'd better pick up the pace."
Tem eyed the five pink patches the sheep now bore. "Oh man… this is gonna be good…"
He and the sheep charged at each other, colliding in the middle of the room. They ducked and dodged each other, one aiming to kill, and one aiming for the symbols.
"You never should have touched my sister!" The sheep snarled.
"If you really cared about her…" Tem ducked a punch and ripped another symbol from his enemy's chest. "You wouldn't have disgraced her with this vile magic trick!"
"Magic trick?!" The sheep socked him hard. "You don't know how many pockets I had to line to find this place! The tongues I had to loosen to know how to get inside. The sick things I had to do to get those beasts under my control!"
"Don't you consider trying to wipe out an entire species sick?" Po asked.
"He defiled my sister and disgraced our family! That is sick!"
"Enough of this!" Tigress yelled. "Everyone, take him down!"
Po and Tigress charged at the same time Tem resumed his fight with the sheep. He ducked a blow. Blocked another. Suffered a third to the face, knocking him to the floor. In a nanosecond the sheep was on top of him, fist reared back to spread the wolf's brains all over the place. Po grabbed the fist before the sheep could bring it down. Before the sheep could retaliate Tigress grabbed the other. Together the warriors forced the sheep to the floor and pinned him there.
"Tem! Ian! Get the symbols!" Tigress said.
They didn't need telling twice. One by one they ripped the symbols from the sheep's body, their captive screaming vile curses and threats all the while. They took the six symbols that still remained on the sheep's chest. Two from his left am and shoulder and two from his right.
Tem locked eyes with the sheep as he gripped the final symbol on the tuft of wool atop his forehead. He saw rage, hate and despair. The wolf didn't say a word as he ripped off the symbol.
After the sudden rip, the chamber was silent. Even the sheep had stopped cursing. He just stared at the ceiling, stunned at his defeat.
"Nothing happened." Po said. "Was something supposed to happen? Nothing happened!"
"We just finished the hard part." Ian said. He jabbed some nerve points to paralyze the sheep so Po and Tigress could release him. "Do you know exactly what these symbols are?"
"Yeah, they're magic symbols." Po said.
"These are the manifestations of the spiritual energy of the four beings we defeated." Ian explained. "Spiritual energy manifests quite differently in this realm. In the mortal realm the energy would look a lot like chi. Our genocidal friend here must have used this energy to perform the ritual that caused the madness."
"So what? We use this energy to reverse the effects?" Tem asked.
"Exactly. Luckily for your people, there is another ritual that does just that. It's actually I came along. Not only am I the only one of us who knows this ritual, a minimum of four mammals is required to perform it without killing ourselves in the process."
Tem felt himself relax for the first time since entering this realm. "Okay. What do we need to do?"
"First, we collect all the symbols we extracted and divide them equally among the four of us." The other three warriors scattered, picking up all twenty clumps of wool before returning to the center. While they worked, Ian dragged the sheep to the very middle of the room.
Once they each had five clumps wool in hand, Ian informed them of the part they each played in the ritual. The formation of the ritual was based on the four holy animals of Taoist lore, and each animal must be represented for the ritual to work. Po, the 'Azure Dragon,' was positioned to the east of the sheep. Tigress, the 'White Tiger', stood to the west. Tem was chosen to stand to the south as the 'Vermillion Bird,' and Ian stood to the north as the 'Black Tortoise.'
"Okay, now what?" Tem asked anxiously.
"Place the symbols in a line from yourself to the… what is his name, Tem?"
"Don't know, don't care."
"To the sheep, then."
They did as they were told, Ian included. "Now what?" Tigress asked.
"All four of us are of mortal blood and chi. Our bodies and souls will act as conduits to draw the madness from the souls still in the mortal realm. The energy in the symbols will then direct the madness into the sheep in exchange for the victims' sanity."
"What?" Po looked down at the sheep with worry.
"As the perpetrator of the first ritual, the sheep must take back what he has wrought. It will not affect him immediately, I assure you. But if he ever returns to the mortal realm, his sanity will be forfeit. It is the only way."
"That's awful!"
Ian did not look nearly as sympathetic. "Most black magic comes with a price, Dragon Warrior. This is his."
Po grimaced, but nodded and didn't say another word.
"What do we do, now?" Tigress asked.
"Now you hold still." Ian lowered his head, clasped his hooves together, and began to chant.
It wasn't long until something began to happen. Tem felt his brain begin to feel fuzzy, as if it were being filled with hot chunky soup. Judging from the weird looks on Tigress and Po's faces, they were feeling the same sensation. Po must have found it particularly unpleasant, for Tem saw his paw lift up to touch Tigress' wrist. Tigress did not move her arm away. Looking barely fazed himself, Ian increased the pace of his chanting. The first symbol in front of Tem began to glow, as did the first symbols in front of the others. One by one the symbols lit up like stars, moving inwards towards the sheep. When all twenty symbols were lit, the strange sensation in Tem's head began to fade. Then the symbols directly in front of the four warriors turned dark again. Then the next symbols in line turned dark. One by one the symbols lost their light, in complete reversal of the first stage of the ritual. When all the symbols were dark, the sheep's patchy chest glowed. A symbol identical to the one he had inflicted on Tem formed on the pink skin. The glow faded, leaving the symbol as a dark mark on the sheep's chest.
Ian stopped chanting, his expression solemn. "It is done. If he ever attempts to return to the mortal realm, he will lose what little sanity he has left. This realm is his prison now."
"Good." Tem turned away from the paralyzed sheep. "So it's over? Are my people cured?"
Ian smiled. "Yes, Tem. Within a day every last one of them will be back to normal. They won't even remember what happened to them."
"Thank heavens." Tem breathed, at the same time feeling the weight rise from his shoulders. If Ian said it was over, then it was over. "Let's leave this place. There is someone I must return to."
"I'm not going anywhere." Ian said.
They all turned to stare at him. "What?" Po asked.
"Those were not demons that we had fought, Dragon Warrior. They were the guardians of this realm. Until they are reborn, someone must guard this realm in their place."
Tigress pointed at the hourglass tattoo. "But you'll be trapped here forever."
Ian shook his head, still smiling. "No. You would be trapped here forever. I, however, have been well trained in the rituals and techniques needed to traverse realms. I can come and go as I please."
Po scratched his head, looking like he felt a bit better about this. "Soooo… how long will it take for those guardians to be reborn?"
"I'm not sure. A year, three years, a decade. But we all have our purpose in this whole affair, and this is mine." He glanced at the hourglass. "It is time for you to go."
"You bring great honor upon your people, Ian." Tigress saluted Ian as he began to chant.
"As do you, Master Tigress."
"I can come and visit, right?" Po asked quickly.
"I suppose, though I would recommend spending more time with your lady friend."
"Thank you for everything you have done." Tem said.
Ian aimed a hoof at the floor beneath them. "Take care of your loved ones, Tem."
Tem had just enough to salute him before the portal opened up beneath them.
Po was having the time of his life. He and Tigress had barely been back home in the Jade Palace for a week before the gifts started coming in.
After the wolves' sanity had been restored, it didn't take for word to get out as to who was responsible for their salvation. To show their gratitude they send baskets of produce numbering in the dozens, to the point where even the palace's substantial storage room couldn't hold them all. Po was all too happy to store some of the baskets in his own room.
Two days had passed since they returned home, and Po was down to his last two baskets. With training done for the day, he'd taken Crane's advice to catch up on his calligraphy. With a bowl of bean buns made from the baskets' contents, he absent-mindedly dabbed and drew with his brush, looking up when the door slid open.
Tigress looked at the two full baskets that sat at the front of the mountain of empty baskets behind the panda.
"Unbelievable."
"Shifu's making me fast for a week tomorrow. I need all the fuel I can get." Po replied.
"Right. How's your calligraphy going?" Tigress sat down beside him.
"Going great." Po felt more than a little hot under the collar at how close she was. Thoughts of a certain incident during their time in that other realm came to mind. "So… heck of a mission, huh?"
Tigress leaned back on her paws. "Tell me about it."
"Sooo… have you thought about what happened?"
He thought he saw the faintest blush on her cheeks. "Yes. Yes, I have. I see you've been thinking about it, too."
"What makes you think that?"
Tigress tapped the pile of papers beside them. "The picture of you and me with three little striped pandas kind of clued me in."
"Oh, okay. Tell you what. Give me a few minutes to die of embarrassment and we'll talk about dating."
"That reminds me. We just received an invitation for Tem's wedding two weeks from now. What do you say, Po?"
For a week and a half, Ian meditated.
It was rather quiet in the realm without his allies or the original four guardians, so there wasn't much to do except sit in the middle of the floor and clear his mind. More than anything he wanted to clear his mind of boredom.
The realm itself didn't provide much in terms of simulation. Soon after he'd sent his friends back to the mortal realm, the sadistic paintings of suffering wolves had disappeared, leaving the rooms bare until its rightful inhabitants returned. When they did, the realm's new décor was sure to be less disturbing. As monstrous as the four guardians had been in appearance, Ian knew for a fact that they weren't truly malicious. Otherwise they would be seeing supernatural plagues a lot more often.
It wasn't all mind-numbing silence and sitting on one's buttocks all day. Ian had been able to use fragments of rock from the cracked wall to burn the clumps of wool and release the guardians' energy from the symbols. Soon after the paralysis wore off on the decadent sheep, and by gods was he ticked. The second after he spotted the smoldering remains of his power source, he'd charged at the wildebeest head on. Ian had just thrown him back. Then he'd thrown him back again. And again. And again. After the twenty-first attempted attack Ian had began to wonder if he'd been wrong about the madness only taking hold if he ever returned to the mortal realm.
After attack number thirty-four, Ian had just settled for paralyzing the punk again and tying him up with pieces of his own pants. Then the paralysis wore off, and the onslaught on insults and curses was so distracting that Ian had to tear off one more strip to use as a gag. Then he'd moved himself to the farthest room and resumed his meditation.
He decided that now would be a good time to see how his friends were faring. He closed his eyes once more and chanted for a few seconds before a vision came to the fore.
The first thing he saw was the Dragon Warrior at a noodle shop run by a middle-aged goose the panda had claimed to be his father. He was chopping radishes with Mr. Ping, talking ecstatically about the upcoming wedding he would soon be attending with Tigress. That drove Tem to his next vision; in the Hall of Warriors, Tigress was bickering with the red panda he knew to be Master Shifu. Tigress was doing her best to be respectful towards her master as she futilely protested having to wear a dress to the wedding. Ian chuckled to himself as he changed his vision to the soon to be newlyweds.
He saw Tem and his lover, the sister of the trussed up sheep in the other room, sitting on a hill overlooking their village. They were the only ones up there, and they in a close, mutual embrace. What did Tem say her name was? Lotus, Lei Lei…
Lelly. He'd said her name was Lelly.
Ian looked closer, and saw tears in Lelly's eyes. Tem lowered his muzzle and whispered how sorry he was. He must have told her about what her brother had done. Ian had little sympathy for her brother, but his heart ached for the sister. He had experienced many things, but the pain of a loved one's betrayal was not one of them.
After some time Lelly wiped her eyes and replied that her parents would likely disown him if he ever showed his face again. Tem told her that would be unlikely, but left out what would happen if he left the other realm. That would likely be more than his lover could take.
More time passed, before they turned the conversation back to the wedding. Ian waited until they mentioned the date, three days from now, before deciding to end it there and give them back their privacy.
From what he'd heard, the village was planning to make a wedding a blast. It was a shame he'd have to miss it.
He was most relieved when the first guardian materialized in front of him and asked for the animal responsible for their enslavement.
Tem had thought that the day he returned to the mortal realm to find his brethren restored to normal was the best of day his life. He should have realized sooner that it was merely the best day of his life so far.
The ceremony took place a fortnight after he returned to his village. Just as Ian had predicted, the villager remembered nothing of their madness; all they could recall was long, deep, cold sleep. However, they still expected an explanation for the injuries and damage they'd woken up to. Tem had made the choice to tell them the truth, explaining everything except who exactly was responsible. He would no chances of endangering Lelly by associating her family with that mess.
Speaking of which, Lelly had been right. As soon as her parents had gotten over the shock of learning that their own son had been responsible for the pandemic, they'd declared that he was no son of theirs. They had then given their blessing for the marriage in exchange for him taking the secret to his grave. Not that they'd disapproved beforehand, thank heavens. That had probably been a factor in Lelly's brother's break from sanity, however, knowing that even his parents had approved of the 'stain' on their honor.
Whatever, Tem thought, his thoughts turning to a small group of villagers he'd encountered on his back way to his home, where tradition dictated the ceremony would take place. They'd pointed at the house of his bride to be and snickered behind their hooves and paws.
Tem had wasted no time. He'd walked up to them, paused for effect, and then took a swing at them, stopping a inch from the face of the pig who'd laughed the loudest. After that he'd told them that the next time they laughed at Lelly would be the last time he'd hold back.
Then he'd excused himself and went to greet Po and Tigress outside the local inn. He'd been overjoyed when they'd accepted his invitation and arrived the day before, and now he was more than a little amused to see Tigress scowling in her emerald green gown. As for Po, he just blushed as he sneaked one glance after another.
Tem shook his head and chuckled when Po took another glance at her dress. That panda wouldn't be able to hide his feelings forever.
Almost certainly faking her ignorance of Po checking her out, Tigress lost her blush when she spotted something over Tem's shoulder. "You have to be kidding."
Tem turned round to see the last animal he expected striding through the village gates.
He grinned from ear to ear.
A year, five years, a decade, his arse.
"Glad you could make it, Ian."
