"Get up!" Tigress's panicked meow woke me, screeching from the hall inside the Jade Palace. Stumbling out of bed, I wondered what on earth was going on for her to have to make such a racket. Then, I remembered her fierce loyalty to my father and her strength of being. She would not be upset over anything if it were not extremely important.
"What?" Jet mumbled, echoing my thoughts, and yet, rolling over to put his head back beneath the covers. We shared a room though we had different beds.
"Get up. I think this is important," I insisted, prodding his back with a foot.
"Up!" the tiger yowled again, but her voice was filled with panic and anger.
"What's going on?" I growled, shooting out of the room impatiently to see the others already emerging from their bedrooms. Jet suddenly collided with me as he tripped out of our room, almost making me stumble.
"Shifu's gone!" she snapped. I flinched a little at her anger, but couldn't help feeling a little worried myself.
"The gong hasn't rung yet, you know," Crane pointedly started. Bong! He sighed at the irony, as it just happened to do so.
"I know! I woke up earlier though, and he's nowhere in the Jade Palace!" Tigress exclaimed before adding sheepishly, "I even asked Zeng to search for him in the village." I smiled a little, remembering talking to him as he visited us before bedtime. He was very friendly, but a little absent minded and uncoordinated. Father would sometimes be annoyed by that, and adding that to the nervous fowl, it simply made him more absent minded, more uncoordinated, and even gave him a little bit of a stutter when talking face to face with others. Poor little guy…
"So?" Po asked. "Maybe he had to do something in the village," he suggested.
"I don't think so…" Jet started and I glanced at him in surprise. Why did he sound so sure?
"Why not? It's not like he's very open and he might have been called away on a secret mission," the panda continued.
"You really take too many of our stories literally. The villagers always assume the weirdest things and make up or add to our adventures," Tigress sighed, rolling her eyes.
"He left behind something…or at least I think it's his," Jet tried to add in again.
Tigress quickly pushed past him and into our room, fallowed closely by the others. What was Jet talking about?
"Why would he leave his flute in their room?" Po curiously asked Tigress.
"That's mom's," I realized out loud, glancing around fearfully. They must know ht this meant.
"Really?" my brother asked, looking at me with an ear slightly cocked in confusion.
"Yes, she told us once, long ago. Don't you see what this means?" I glared at him. Sometimes my brother could be so dense.
"He's gone to rescue her by himself," he sighed.
"Why would he go alone though?" I wondered.
"He did the same thing with Tai Lung! He's so impatient..and stubborn…and insane!" Tigress burst out, her mew filled with disappointment, anger, and …worry.
"But you love him," I quietly protested. I hadn't known any of them very long, but I could tell from the start that Tigress and Po had an unusually close connection with Shifu.
"Like it or not, he did this because he cares. Still, we should go help him," Viper added.
"I know!" Tigress snapped.
"Can we have breakfast quickly?" Po asked sheepishly.
"No," Monkey growled with disgust and Crane simply snapped a wing across the top of the panda's head.
"Ow…sorry," he muttered.
Determined not to laugh, I focused on father. I could see his reasoning, but why did he have to leave us? Wed only just met him for crying out loud!
"How can we catch up with him anyway? He runs faster than anyone I've ever seen and he obviously went during the night. Although, he won't attack at night or on the day the wolves attack, I'm pretty sure," Jet logically reasoned.
"Do you even remember the way?" Mantis asked skeptically.
"I do," I interrupted. We had gotten here by my tracking skills. It was something strange I'd always been able to do. It wasn't by scent, but a feeling that we were going the right or the wrong way. Jet could get a feeling of other's thoughts and tell whenever anyone was telling the truth or lying as a sort of special ability from him. I knew from my mother that Shifu could see what no one else could see.
"Alright," Viper sounded relieved and I was surprised nobody questioned how I could remember such a long way. What would I tell them when they found out what a crooked path to our destination was? Should I tell them what we could do?
"We could also ask the cheetah runners for help," Crane calmly suggested.
"I hate to say this, but are you insane?" Viper yelped back.
"Why?" I simply asked.
"They are the five running sisters and five brothers of the Zou family. They all kept the family name. The sisters are Zou Meng, Zou Feng, Zou Shui, Zou Shi, and Zou Nu. The brothers are Zou Ri, Zou Huo, Zou Xin, Zou Zai, and Zou Hei," Tigress answered,
"As nephews of the emperor, they will possibly allow us to ride them. Shifu has done the emperor and them many great favors before."
"Ride them?" Jet echoed.
"They are warriors, perhaps not quite as skilled as us, but feared nonetheless. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. Though Shifu has helped them many times, we still don't agree with their demands to always get in a fight," Viper glared venomously at the female tiger.
"So their names are running dream, running wind, running water, running arrow, running passion, running sun, running fire, running heart, running calamity, and running black?" I checked with Tigress, feeling a little confused. These were okay names and all considering they were cheetahs, but for a family of ten?
"Very traditional family," Monkey shrugged, almost toppling Mantis from his shoulder.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Po asked, shuffling excitedly, "Let's go!"
"Yeah, they're not the friendliest, but that's no reason not to go ask them," Mantis added.
"You just don't like asking for help?" Crane teased Tigress and I wasn't surprised. Seeing the feisty feline's temper and strong will, I doubted she was comfortable with asking for help. Well, she'd have to deal with it. We had to help father before he in trouble or even hurt!
"I'm fine!" Tigress hissed indignantly. Lashing her tail a couple times, she realized she couldn't back down from this and sighed, "Let's get going. The sooner we fetch that daft fur ball home, the sooner we can all stop worrying."
As we packed small backpacks with money, food, and clothes, I wondered how both my mother and father were.
"You're worried about them aren't you?" Jet asked, and I bristled a little. I hated it when he sensed my thoughts like that!
"No, I'm just worried about the weather. That's all. It will be extremely cold with all this snow, and I think if it starts to blizzard, we are as good as dead if we're out in the mountains alone," I insisted. Though this was true, I still couldn't help worrying.
"Don't lie to me," he warned, and before I could protest, he added, "I know your telling me the truth, but not all of it. It's okay to be worried, but I'll always be with you and to protect you."
"I don't need protecting," I hissed. I could fight as well as he could, and he better not get in my way!
"I didn't say you did, but I'm your brother and I'll be there for you," he answered and I stared into his heather brown eyes with confusion. What did he think was going to happen? I knew him well enough to figure out that there was something troubling him, but I also knew he would tell me if he thought I needed to know.
"Come on, I think the others are waiting for us," I broke the uncertain silence and we headed out into the snow. I hadn't been out in the freezing cold yet and I marveled at the many snowflakes drifting through the air. To my relief though, it didn't look as if it were going to snow anymore, and the air was not so rigid cold.
We ran swiftly and even Po managed t keep up with us as we trekked to the cheetah family's village. They curiously began to emerge from their houses as we arrived, but said
nothing and shrank back into the shadows as we knocked on the door of the Zou family's house.
Suddenly, the door cracked open swiftly and a small voice hissed, "Go away!" I could barely glimpse a pair of gleaming amber eyes in the shadows of the door.
"We're not interested!" another continued, its voice belonging to a pair of emerald green eyes. With quicker seed than I could believe, Tigress jammed a soft paw into the crack of the door as the cheetahs quickly tried to close it.
"We are not selling anything! We've come to request your services in battle!" Tigress growled impatiently.
"Who are you?" emerald eyed cat meowed curiously, thrusting the door open for her. To my surprise, all ten cats were hidden behind the door, ears perked with curiosity, but eyes wary nonetheless.
"My name is Tigress, this is Monkey, Crane, Viper, Mantis, Lucy, and Jet. We train at the Jade Palace under Master Shifu," she answered, formally introducing us.
"Where is he?" a male cheetah with warm brown eyes meowed hopefully, "We have not seen him for a long time. He is a good friend and has helped us on numerous occasions." The cheetah narrowed his eyes as we exchanged glances; surprised he had known them that well.
"Has something happened?" his sister cut him off quickly, "Something bad?"
"Yes," Tigress answered more cautiously now.
"I see you have quite a story to tell. Come in and we will listen," the cheetah invited us with a welcoming flick of her tail. Slowly filing in, we sat down on a couple comfy chairs to explain everything to them. My mind wandered as Tigress began her story, with additional help from the others.
"We will come," one of the larger males with eyes close to black, told us, dipping his head. "It may take us a few minutes to get ready," he warned.
"Of course," Tigress answered, but I could tell from the sharp flicking of the tip of her tail that she was impatient to e getting on our way again. I had to agree with her on this one. I understood we couldn't just expect the cheetahs to have been ready, but every moment here was lost in our time to get to the wolves' castle.
They got ready and each came to us.
"I am Zou Shi and I will take Tigress," the emerald-eyed female meowed politely and they each began to introduce themselves, along with announcing who they'd carry.
"I am Zou Meng and I will take Lucy," a blue-eyed female told me."
"I am Zou Hei and I will take Crane," the brown-eyed male purred.
"I am Zou Zai and I will take Monkey," the amber-eyed male growled.
"I am Zou Huo and I will take Mantis," a purple-eyed male added, and his glowing eyes looked slightly hypnotic.
"I am Zou Ri and I will take Viper," a red-eyed male addressed us His eyes and long-toothed grin began to freak me out..
"I am Zou Nu and I will take Jet," a pretty female with light grey eyes purred.
"And Zou Shui, Zou Xin, and I, Zou Feng will take Po," a black-eyed female introduced her tow brothers, Zou Shui having scary eyes, close to white, and Zou Xin, being an albino cheetah with white fur and glowing pink eyes.
They each let us get on and they began to race in unison. It was a sensation I loved, with the cold air whistling past us and the freedom of skimming through the air, as if we were across water. They each wore thick boots strapped almost to their knees and elbows, lined with soft down and sheep wool. The snow must get cold on their paws, I guessed, and they might be going so fast that they would need to make sure not to trip of anything of cut their paw pads.
"Do you know how the way there?" Zou Shi asked Tigress, and while she was speaking, I noticed that the cheetahs formed a pair of lines with five cheetahs. This seemed to be their formation, and I was amazed by their sense of coordination, each one slowing down or speeding up to match the others' pace, in a continuously moving pattern.
"No, but Lucy does," Tigress answered, her voice unsure. Now, every cat turned curiously to me, even the Furious Five and Po. Only Jet knew what I could really do. It wasn't tracking kills, but a sort of connection.
"She's just a child," Zou Huo growled, "surely you know the way too. Haven't the Furious Five traveled all of China?" His voice was scoffing, but Tigress beat me to a stern reply.
"No, she knows the way and she will lead," her scathing vice quieted even him, and with a quick nod, he dropped into the second line, and Zou Meng ran up front.
Closing my eyes, I silently summoned up all thoughts and traces of my father, the location where we were, and where I wanted to go to find him. A strong pull came from the southwest, but we were heading to far south.
"We have to go more towards the west," I explained in her ear, and she quickly told the others, before as one, they swerved that way.
"But that only leads to an old abandoned forest," Zou Huo protested. Was he constantly going to get in our fur the whole trip?
"You're just afraid of crossing the mountains. You've never seen any forest, only heard of it," Jet accused, and everyone turned to hi now.
"Erm…we passed that way as we escaped and there are no forests, much less an abandoned one that would hide anything dangerous," he grumbled. I narrowed my eyes slightly. He didn't know where the fortress was, but simply that Zou Huo was lying.
"The mountains have a safe passage way that we ca go through quickly and easily. Then, we head around the left side of a village and continue southwest again," I told them. My assurance seemed to distract them and everyone went back talking amongst each other.
"It will take nearly eight hours I presume to reach the Palace of the Emperor. We've never gone farther than that, but we can get supplies there and you all may go on alone," Zou Meng decided.
"You're not fighting with us?" Tigress mewed with surprise.
"No, we like a good battle, but we never go past the emperor's palace. It's simply not done from us. He rules part of that area and we don't mess with his city and blank area around it," Zou Shi explained.
"But the wolves are attacking innocents. You can fight them," I insisted.
"The emperor takes care of his own city and would not appreciate our help, no matter how wise or tactful it may seem," she stubbornly replied.
"We could just ask him this once. Besides, maybe he'll want to help," Zou Meng meowed.
Maybe," she replied thoughtfully. "When we get there, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask," she said.
"Good," Tigress finished, cutting off the topic.
The eight-hour run was extremely long, and we stopped once in a while for bathroom breaks, and once for a lunch and a nap at a nearby village. Crossing the Thread o Hop was okay, and the geese ad ducks strung it back up after the Furious Five and their battle with Tai Lung months ago.
By the time we reached the palace, we were all tired. I still couldn't help feeling excited to see mom and dad soon though. Right now, we needed to talk to the emperor though… The cheetahs already had daggers, and the Furious Five, Po, Jet, and I had weapons too. Tigress wore Oogway's Fists of Iron, Mantis had spikes on the ends of his leg/arm things (never can figure out what to call them), Po had mom's shield, Monkey had an iron staff, Crane had a bow and arrow(he was an excellent shooter), Viper had blade at the end of her tail, Jet had two almost poles with hooks at the end, more in defense, and I had two smaller sabers. I'm not sure dad would appreciate us taking this stuff from the Sacred Hall of Warriors and the storage room, but he couldn't really object, since we were coming to help him after all.
As we neared the gates to the palace, nearly a dozen armored and armed tigers stepped in front of us.
"We are the Zou sisters, nephews to the emperor himself. Let us pass," Zou Meng meowed bravely, but the guards only exchanged nervous glances before speaking.
"The emperor is busy t the moment. We will inform him of your visit, but I think its best that you move on," one of them courteously replied, but his voice was set in stone.
Tigress looked furious but Zou Meng continued, "Please, it's urgent. Is he still in this village?"
Instead of pacifying them, this question seemed too inquisitive for them.
"He is busy and we thank you for expressing your worries," the other one growled.
The cheetahs exchanged glances also, and I guessed neither side had ever had a conversation such as this one.
"Listen you-" Tigress started to snarl, before Zou Shi clamped her tail around her jaws.
"We'll just be going then," she meowed with fake cheer, but their gazes tracked our every move with hostility until we were out of their sight.
"What was that for?" Tigress growled, "Those thick headed males wouldn't have put up much of a fight-"
"So far, we have done nothing wrong ad there is all the chance that the emperor might come with us. If you give him reason to think you're an enemy, no matter how skilled you are, he will make sure there is no place you can hide and nowhere to fight. Ever since his father's untimely death, he has ruled with a cold claw. We thought he might learn from his father's mistakes, but he grows more paranoid by the minute. He doesn't even completely trust us, for goodness sakes," she growled back in a flurry of upset words.
"If he's afraid of danger, how does he stay emperor?" Jet asked confusedly.
"He is not afraid of danger, far from it. One of the bravest fighters I've ever seen, but the worst at judgment. His answer to many things is to fight, and if he joins us, we will
have a powerful ally. However, if he thinks this is all a plot, he doesn't take kindly to betrayal. Do not underestimate the fact that he is emperor. With his soldiers, he's mighty," she shivered. "If we find him, do not let him insist on fighting, no matter what. At least we have a sense of justice. He is sly and bloodthirsty."
Twitching my ears, I heard a rustle of paw steps.
"We're not alone," I murmured. Maybe the guards had brought the emperor to us, changing their minds…
Everyone immediately paused and I scented the air. I had no idea who these newcomers were. I hadn't scented them anywhere in the palace either. Questioningly, I glanced sideways at Jet, but he shrugged. He had no idea either. The cheetahs were bracing their hind legs to fight, and the others seemed slightly nervous too.
A couple more sounds of paws crunching in the snow, and branches of dead trees snapping resounded from the alley, before they immerged. All of them looked completely amazed at the approaches, but I recognized none still.
"I heard you have need of me. I am Emperor Shan Hu," a powerful male tiger growled down at us. His gaze was fierce, and I noticed white scar lines tracing his muzzle and ears, though he looked quite young.
"Xiongmeng," the rhino introduced himself, but he must have been separated from his army, as there were none of the other rhinos that Tigress said worked with him in fighting evil.
"Tai Lung," a male snow leopard purred, and I was amazed. This was the one who betrayed my father, the evil who once threatened to consume the Valley of Peace with his hatred? Somehow, I had expected him to look less like this. His glowing purple eyes were as hypnotic as Zou Huo's, but had a gleam of wicked amber. Rosettes of dark grey over lined his silver and white fur, which bushed out at his tail tip, shoulders, and muzzle. A dark stripe of hair ran down his back, and his claws looked ready to tear though metal. His lower jaw protruded outwards, showing his lower fangs, and gave him a slightly ridiculous look, though I knew he could cause serious damage if he wanted to. He didn't look so bad…
"How did you survive?" Tigress hissed at a higher note than I've ever heard, and her claws shot out, fur bristled, and I could tell she was only a whisker away from attacking him. The depth of her hatred scared me, and I couldn't help agreeing with her anger after he had betrayed the Valley of Peace and nearly killed my father either.
Suddenly, she lunged at him with an angry screech, streaking furiously for his face.
"Listen to me, will you?" Tai Lung growled, parrying her swift harsh blows away with defense that was clearly not meant to hurt her.
"Why should I?" she snapped back, but she paused long enough in her furious attack to stand still, but continued to wear the expression of one who wanted to tear his throat out.
"Because I can help you! I want to t ell Shifu I'm sorry. My anger has always been at myself, but unlike you, I take it out on others physically," he insisted.
"And you're just happening to change your mind after a twenty year grudge," she challenged, but something about the both dismayed and earnest look in his eyes had already convinced me.
"Master Oogway sent me into a coma-like trance the day I truly lost my temper. I could only wake if something powerful enough from a memory came back to me. Zeng gave
me that chance. When his feather fell to me, I could scent my master. My anger was still with me though, and I didn't have enough time to reflect on what I should have done. I changed my mind when I almost killed Shifu. His innocence reminded me that he had always been a good father, and that would never change. He always thought of me first. I thought I'd never get a chance to make up for it, but I don ow, and you can't stop me!" he growled. Po had told me about the previous past with Tai Lung and Shifu. And I thought it was all very complicated. His stubbornness reminded me of Shifu, and I felt slightly jealous he had been like a son to him.
"Believe him Tigress," Po sighed, "He's telling the truth."
"How do you know?" she hissed, "In fact, why is he still alive?"
"He is telling the truth," Jet piped in, his gaze serious, and Tigress looked furious.
"How would you know either?" she argued.
"I can just tell," he muttered without meeting her gaze.
"I figured out the secret of the Wuxi Hold, that it only distracts while you do something. When I did that, I didn't know it. Tai Lung made fire somehow, and I suppose you could say it was contained in air. The pressure made the many bubbles of it burst, creating a strange effect. He protected both of us from it and told me all this. Then, he left," the panda sighed at his admission. Mom once told us that anyone with strong chi could control an element that they were born to be strong with. Tai Lung must have been fire, and Po air. I'd never really heard of it happening, but apparently many of s must be able to do it. I wasn't sure if mom, dad, Jet, of I could do it, but it sounded like Po and Tai Lung could. From the gaze of Xiongmeng, I guessed he might. The emperor, Tigress, Crane, Monkey, Viper, and Mantis seemed dubious so I assumed they couldn't.
"And I promise I will harm none of you," Tai Lung added.
"What good is the word of a traitor?" Tigress rasped, but I saw her hackles slowly lower and her tight muscles relax.
"One thing you can count on…Shifu and I don't ever intentionally lie," the snow leopard smirked at knowing something Tigress didn't.
"This is true," Xiongmeng put in, and I guessed he would know after all, if he had been trained as a student under Oogway at the same time as dad. I wondered if Oogway, Originator of Kung Fu, would have liked me if he were still alive now…
Tigress stood silently, glaring at Tai Lung as they began to talk again.
"So what's the emperor doing here?" Po asked Tai Lung tentatively, probably knowing was going to be in real big trouble with Tigress later on for not telling her about him.
"Ahem, the emperor is coming to help Shifu. He saved me once when I was very little," Shan Hu said irritably.
"We're not going in to slaughter every wolf on sight," Tigress snared, taking her anger out on him instead.
"My enemies seem to have mad up a lot of rumors about me I think," he murmured half to himself and half to her accusingly.
"Well, we ask you permission to battle in you territory," Zou Meng quickly put in to distract them.
"Of course I am, I'm coming aren't I?" he grumbled.
"Fine. Let's get going," Tigress hissed, acknowledging his unspoken question and choosing to make them leave before we wasted more time on old grudges.
Po had to ride only Zou Xin, which was just as well, since he was the strongest. Emperor Shan Hu rode Zou Feng, Xiogmeng rode Zou Shiu, and Tai Lung rode Zou Nu. Jet came to ride by me and I watched curiously as everyone got ready.
A long hour passed as we headed along my spoken trail. Everyone seemed more silent now, except the cheetahs, who were having a hard time understanding this. I told Zou Meng about it, and she carefully listened to my story. Tai Lung rode next to us, and I couldn't help glancing at him a few times. He seemed anxious, and I wondered if he was wondering whether or not Shifu would ever forgive him. I hoped he would, as Tai Lung would make a strong addition to the Furious Five, along with Jet and I.
Jet glanced at me, looking rather irritated and I realized he had been saying something while I was staring at the large snow leopard, lost in my train of thought.
"I said are we nearly there yet?" Jet repeated his question with more emphasis.
"Yes, we're probably only half a mile or so away. We need to stop before we get there though, and plan out how to attack. This seems really complicated," I added.
"Might as well stop for the night too," Jet told me.
"But the wolves are planning to invade the red panda village tomorrow," I protested.
"Look, if he wants to do it during the night, we can, but if not, it wouldn't hut to get some sleep. We can always wake up rather early and keep watches at different times so that we know when sunrise happens," he yawned.
Eventually, we slowed down and everyone began to curl up on the ground. The cheetahs immediately went to sleep, but Tigress, Xiongmeng, and Tigress began to think of battle strategies. The rest f the Furious Five and Po began to converse, but Jet ad Tai Lung stayed a little farther away ad sounded like they were talking friendly with each other. I was tired though, and began to doze off.
The sun was still up and not quite sunset, and we were extremely close to the wolf empire, in the scarce trees, but mostly half behind the large mounds of rock. If Shifu came out, we would see him. If he didn't, we would hear any fighting noises.
"Do you know where he is Lucy?" Jet asked, looking troubled, "Surely he will fight soon. What if he's not here?"
I waited while Tai Lung seemed as if he were sleeping now, ad whispered, "Jet, if he were not here, you know my trail would not have led us to this crumbling castle. There are wolves all around, so it has to be the wolves' base. Shifu is here. I wish Shifu would come, but I'm not a mind reader," I warned him.
"I know," he yawned, ad I glanced at his sleepy eyes.
"Why don't we both get some sleep?" I suggested.
"Sounds good to me," he murmured, and within a few moments, I recognized the steady breathing of his sleep.
Tired, I lay down, but couldn't help feeling, as I closed my eyes, that something was terribly wrong, something we hadn't expected.
I dreamt as I slept, but it was a very strange dream. The sky was blood red and screeches of terror ripped though the air. Gradually, I noticed there was a lake, and it ran
with blood. Fur was caught in the bark of trees and along the trampled grass. Something wasn't right, and alone, a grief-filled wail rang above the stifling air.