Rage of the Ifrit
Chapter 12- The End?...Don't Count On It
Now it's time for one last bow, like all of his other stories. Will Po succeed or die?, going out in a blaze of glory.
Po and the others stared down Liu, it was tense. Neither party dared to make a move on the other until..."HA!" yelled Po, he leaped at Liu and tried to sweep his feet. Liu jumped to dodge it and launched a kick towards Po's shocked face. Monkey came to his defense by wrapping his tail around Liu's outstretched leg and pulling him towards the ground.
Liu slammed into the floor, he let out a grunt and pulled Monkey towards him. He threw a vicious punch towards him which connected and sent Monkey into one of the pillars outside the Hall of Heroes. Tigress and Crane attacked next, Tigress went low while Crane naturally went high.
Crane dive bombed Liu with his beak outstretched, Liu grabbed Crane's beak and threw him into Tigress. Both of them were winded by this, the landed next to Monkey who was groaning and rubbing his aching face.
Shifu watched the battle cautiously, "Hmmmm, Liu seems to have improved somewhat since their last encounter...or maybe his desperation and fear of defeat or pushing him on to fight harder. That's it students, keep wearing him down, wait for an opening.".
Mantis and Viper dived in when they saw an opening, Mantis grabbed hold of Viper's tail and threw her like a javelin towards Liu. The snake curled her tail up to strike whilst she was sailing through the air, upon hitting Liu she unfurled herself and struck him heavily across the face with her tail. Liu stumbled a bit but quickly recovered, he kicked a tile up off of the ground and kicked it towards Mantis who because he was still reacting to throwing Viper couldn't dodge so the large stone tile hit his small form hard.
Liu grabbed Viper who was still in mid air and started to crush her throat, she desperately tried to struggle out of it but he was just too strong for her.
At this point Po had recovered from his first attack, all in all the small fight had lasted about five to fifteen seconds. They seemed to be evenly matched with Liu, Po gasped when he saw what was currently happening to Viper.
Po suddenly pulled the knife his father had given him, he had taken it this morning and hid it on his person...he was lucky that he hadn't cut himself when he landed on the ground. "I don't need to kill him but, maybe I can immobilize him with this or something".
"Hey jerk over here!" Po yelled to get Liu's attention. The armor fell for it and threw Viper to the ground aggressively, Po threw the knife towards Liu and caught him straight in the shoulder, the blade embedded itself in the quickly cracking armor. Liu gasped and tried to pull it out, before his fingers could grasp the hilt Po quickly sweeped his legs successfully this time and kicked him into the wall of the Hall.
The wounded warriors gathered around Po ready to finish the battle once and for all, Liu struggled to his feet. He glared hatefully at the six of them, Tigress and Crane were breathing heavily because of their bruised chests, Mantis looked wobbly on his feet because of the hammer like impact he had taken, Viper was rubbing her swollen throat with her tail and Monkey was trying not to say anything for fear of Exacerbating the problem.
"Give up, you've lost" ordered Po. Liu sized them all up before attacking them yet again. The five and Po all leaped in the air to make more space between them and Liu, Liu specifically targeted the panda. He kicked Po in the face with a surprising amount of speed, he then launched himself off of Po using his face like a springboard and tackled Monkey in mid air.
The two grappled in mid-air battling for domination before Liu kicked Monkey into Viper and Mantis, the three sailed into the roof of the Hall of Heroes, when the dust had settled they were no longer moving, a few of the tiles slid off and crashed on the floor splintering upon impact. Tigress connected a palm strike to the back of Liu's 'head'. Crane grabbed Tigress's outstretched paw and gently lifted her down next to Po who was currently rubbing the stars out of his eyes.
"You okay Po", asked Crane. He nodded, "We just need to keep him occupied a little while longer, he can't have that much energy left especially after having used so much of it to repel us all", said Tigress. She tried to stay confident but it really wasn't looking good for the six of them, Tigress herself was already spent after that earlier blow to the ribs, she also worried for the potential life inside of her.
Liu crashed into the ground beside Tigress, he slowly rose out of the dust. When he looked at Po, Crane and Tigress they gasped at how much punishment was starting to show on him, the mouth slot of his armor had come off so his inner energy could now be seen floating about ethereally within his own body.
He touched his own face and snarled at the damage done, his rage overtook him and a plan quickly formed. He concentrated his energy into the palm of his hand and let it trickle down to the floor. To keep the masters distracted he decided to converse with them.
"You haven't won yet fools, I've still got a few tricks left up my sleeve" he told them smugly. Po panted and smirked, "Really, 'cause from over here it looks like you're really falling to pieces over this".
Crane groaned at the terrible pun, "Hey Po could you try to be just a little bit serious, we're all spent and he doesn't get tired". Po nodded, "Yeah but I'm The Dragon Warrior and I've got the Furious Five backing me up, he's the one who should be worried".
Liu sighed internally, he needn't of worried about trying to stall for time, the panda loved to talk so much that Liu hardly needed to say a word.
He extended his arm towards the three worn out masters, "Dragon Warrior you really can't tell when someones stalling for time can you?". He launched a small see through blast towards Po, Tigress quickly reacted and pushed Po out of the way taking his place. The blast connected Tigress and Liu together and they both yelled in pain.
"Tigress NO!" yelled Po, he tried to get close but was held back by Crane. "Po stop! You don't know what could happen if you interfere, let's wait until the process stops then we can act". Po nodded sorrowfully.
When it stopped both Tigress and and Liu feel to their knees, their body's were smoking as if their very souls had been on fire. A wound had mysteriously appeared on Tigress's shoulder and she had some new cuts on her face and arms. Po knelt by Tigress who's face was creased up in pain, he looked over towards Liu and got up to start to walk menacingly over towards him. Shifu quickly took Po's place by Tigress and started to examine her to try and determine what was wrong with her.
Po rushed over to Liu and lifted him up, "What did you do to Tigress?" he yelled in his face.
Liu headbutted Po who released his grip and clutched his face, Liu quickly backed off and panted heavily, "No matter how many time I practiced that technique it still seems to cost me as much energy. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers." he thought coldly. Po moved his hands away from his face and made his way over to Liu again to resume his interrogation, "I've made a connection with Tigress" proclaimed Liu. Po raised an eyebrow "Connection? What connection?" he asked. Shifu was also listening in just in case any leaked information could help him restore Tigress back to her normal self.
"I can make sure that any injury you inflict on me while also affect Tigress". Po stopped dead in his tracks and glared hatefully at Liu, for the first time since meeting this Po Liu felt a wave of fear at the look Po was giving him. Shifu gasped and desperately wracked his brain to try and come up with a solution, "Come on! Useless old man, what's the point of me if I can't figure out a way to save my own foster daughter?". While Shifu was internally berating himself Liu started to rub his victory in Po's face.
"Also any injury I had previously Tigress now shares with me, I bet you regret ever hurting me now huh panda?". Liu loudly laughed to himself, Po's shoulders slumped in defeat at the impossibility of the no win situation that The Dragon Warrior had been presented with. Fighting future selves, insane power hungry Kung fu master and megalomaniac peacocks was one thing, but now he was being asked to hurt some he cared about just so he could secure victory.
Tigress tried to get up but fell back down, "No! Po can't give up just because of the thought that he might hurt me". Tigress took a deep breath and raised herself into a sitting position, Shifu tried to stop her but she simply shrugged him off.
"Po" yelled Tigress. "Just beat him! Don't worry about me", Po looked towards her desperately, "No, I don't need to do this. I don't want my future self's suffering, I don't want his future. I need you Tigress and I don't want to kill", Po was panicking. He honestly didn't have any ideas, but then... she smiled at him, Po then realized his personal feelings needed to pushed aside this one time so he could potentially save the one he loved. Po gulped and nodded with a new found sense of determination. The Dragon Warrior now knew how to hurt Liu enough without hurting his hardcore tiger.
Po grinned at Liu, "You want my life so bad?" Po spread his arms out dramatically. "THEN. COME. AND. GET IT!" he yelled with as much
"No" Liu hissed in disbelief, "You're so determined to win that you'd put her life in danger? How can you claim to love her if you're so willing to hurt her?". Po snarled "I'm doing this because I love her, it'll keep the Valley and her safe from you. That's all I care about". Po went into his Inner Peace stance to finally put an end to something he had helped create.
"Very well panda". Liu suddenly pulled the knife that Mr Ping had given to Po and leapt towards the panda.
Liu swung the knife down, "PO! NOOOOO" screamed Tigress. Po moved at the last second and pushed Liu arm down, the knife slipped into Liu's leg. He yelled in pain and fell to his knees. Tigress yelped at the sudden pain shooting through her leg. Shifu held her down to help ease the pain a bit, he knew the next couple of minutes would be rough so Po had to be as quick as he possibly could.
Po panted heavily, "Ok Liu, give up! This doesn't have to go any further". Liu shook his head "Never! You need to die".
Po sighed "Ok then, I've given you so many chances so don't say I didn't warn you", Po grabbed Liu's arm and thrust his palm at the elbow joint. Liu's armored arm completely shattered, the stone's essence poured out of it. Tigress screamed in agony at the bone in her arm breaking, Po's heart broke at her wailing but he focused on the task at hand.
Liu yelled in pain and clutched at the stump where his arm used to be, "I'm sorry Liu" said Po. Liu turned to him and yelled "Sorry for what? That you broke mine and Tigress's arms or sorry because you're just as bad as my Dragon Warrior?".
Po shook his head, "No, I'm sorry you have nothing better to do with your life then to dedicate it to hatred and destruction", with that Po plunged his fist into Liu's chest and put and end to the miserable creature, the wound didn't effect Tigress because Liu's concentration had been broken by the intense pain. The purple energy that sustained him flooded onto both Po's hand and the floor surrounding them. It had the appearance of blood, Po yanked his hand out and Liu's armor fell into pieces and shattered...it was over.
"Skadoosh" Po muttered sadly
Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a silent explosion. The force of it knocked Po off of his feet and sent him flying. It was the residual energy that inhabited Liu's form, because it had no form with which to contain itself it had to expel itself.
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Many many miles away
A small piglet was playing with her mother when they felt a small change in the winds.
"I hope The Dragon Warrior is okay" thought the small worried piglet. After a couple of seconds of sending prayers to her heroes she went back to playing with her mother.
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Po groaned, "Man, I'm going to feel this later on. I've really got to start not getting into explosions", he gasped when he remembered something important, someone important, she was the most vital thing to him. He quickly ran over to Tigress and knelt beside her, she was panting heavily from the deep pain she was in, but at least she was alive.
Po stroked her head, "I'm so sorry Tigress, I-I just didn't know what else to d-". She quickly put her good hand over his mouth, "Don't you dare apologies for winning panda".
Shifu quickly made his way over to the two of them, he stood beside Tigress and held his hands over her numerous wounds. A small yellow light began to form and wash over the tiger master.
Tigress's wounds began to heal rapidly, her stab wound closed up and the blood disappeared presumably back to it's source. When it was over she quickly rose to her feet and felt her strength return to her. Shifu smiled at her, but to honest it was hard to. What Shifu had actually done instead of healing her wounds was seal them up but he transferred all the pain of it to him, he knew how valuable she was to both himself and Po so he had attempted this dangerous process which surprisingly worked.
"I apologize for not doing that earlier Tigress, but I couldn't be sure if your connection to him ran both ways". Tigress nodded her head, "It's fine Master". Po and Tigress were suddenly tackled by the rest of the Furious Five. Crane had obviously gone to retrieve them in the quick respite that he had, no doubt thinking of Viper most of all.
"You did it Po!" sobbed Viper. When she had blacked out she had feared both the lives of her friends and the life of the one she loved. Said Crane helped Tigress up to her feet and hugged her. Surprisingly she returned it, Crane beamed at her development and they all laughed and cheered at their victory.
In the heat of all the celebration Tigress whispered something into Po's ear, something that changed everything and made the coming years very exciting. Tigress had suspected it for a few days but now she was positive about what it was. Besides, now seemed as good a time as any to tell Po that she was pregnant.
The world slowed down for the panda, his entire world and perspective had just changed so quickly, so dramatically. Po had one reaction however.
Po leaped in the air, "YAHOO!" he yelled excitedly, when he landed he pulled Tigress into a massive hug and began to dance around with her in his arms. The others looked at him oddly while Shifu simply stared with a knowing smirk, he was as excited as Po but would not permit himself the luxury of showing it.
Before the others could ask what Tigress had just told Po Shifu spoke, "Well done students, you defeated Liu and saved the Valley once again. Now straight to business, two of you need to go and retrieve the villagers and bring them back here, another two need to sweep up the broken tiles and dust here to make it presentable again". Po laughed, "Straight back to business as usual Shifu".
Zeng suddenly appeared out of breath and looking very haggard, Shifu slowly walked over to him, "Zeng! What are you still doing here? I told you to leave and find your family". Zeng took some deep breaths, "With respect Master Shifu, you are all my family".
The old panda was taken aback for a second, "Thank you Zeng, now what was it you came here to tell us?".
He whispered it to Shifu who gasped in shock, he turned to the others when the message was finished. "Students listen up!". They all gathered around, "Okay students ignore everything I just said ba-". "Done" said Monkey cockily, Shifu scowled at him. Monkey paled before him and covered his mouth with his hand, he then pulled his hand away upon realizing that he was still injured.
Shifu continued on, "Bandits who tagged along with Liu to try to reap some rewards are in the Valley trying to rob it while it's empty. I don't know how we're going to stop them but we need t-".
Po knelt down to Shifu, "I've got it covered Shifu . Always". Shifu beamed at his pupil, he was becoming the warrior he was destined to be. Although he was slightly annoyed he had been interrupted again he was glad it had been for a more mature reason.
Po stood up and chuckled "It never ends". He ran off to meet the new challenge with a renewed childlike enthusiasm, the old Po was back!
"And the adventure continues" smiled Tigress, she and the rest of the five followed her love into the throes of a new adventure. No matter the challenger, no matter the enemy, no matter the cost. They would never be apart again.
That's it! The End. Now come on seeing how it's the last chapter and because it's Christmas, could everyone review this chapter and tell me what you thought of the story, it would mean the world.
I nearly cried with happiness upon hearing that Kari Whalgren, the voice of Tigress in Legends of Awesomeness, tweeted today that a Kung Fu Panda film, titled Secret of the Scrolls, was screened at Dreamworks. It will be traditionally animated...Sniff...I'm sorry it's so beautiful, the thought of a traditionally animated KFP short. This is the greatest Christmas present, I wanted peace on earth...fuck that...new KFP short go now!
Ok on a serious note before I sign off I just want to thank Pandafan91 for his constant help and input during all three stories in this trilogy. It was essential and without him I would never of started fanfiction in the first place, it feels like such a long time ago since I posted 'Comfort', all the friends I've made and the fans I've garnered. It's certainly been a wild ride hasn't it?
You've always been the one constant, helping me out or giving your opinion on anything I post. So thank you Pandafan, you will always have my gratitude for helping me to realize just how fun and fulfilling this site and these stories can truly be. I can say with no hesitation he is my friend.
Thank you.
Oh and one more thing. Don't think you've seen the last of Po, Tigress, Shifu and the Furious Five, they'll be back. Maybe they'll have some company next time too, maybe he'll be a boy and maybe he'll have a tail.