I don't own Kung Fu Panda.

Warning: This chapter contains blood and violence.

Surrender

Tigress looked completely shocked, but one part of her had seen this coming. Of course, at first, it was merely a feeling. She wasn't entirely sure of the possibility that the snow leopardess would be one of those bandits that were after her for no apparent reason. Suddenly, a flicker of realization sprung to life in the back of her mind as she gazed at the state of her clothes, the way she wore them, her composure, the profoundness of her golden eyes, the bow and quiver of arrows she slung about her shoulders...

Those were the very things she noticed the assassin she fought at the village three days before the Mid-Autumn Celebration possessed.

"That was you— the one Wu was with that day. Isn't it?" Tigress sneered accusingly.

Jia snorted softly. "Took you this long to figure it out."

"I should have known." Tigress clenched her fists, remembering the time where Jia had pretended that they had only seen each other twice, when they had actually met before, and had faced in combat. "And there you were, acting as if we only have just encountered each other. No wonder you looked so scared." She spat. "Though, have you always been such a great actress? You certainly succeeded in making a fool out of me."

"You are only one of those many, Master Tigress." Jia replied. Despite the seemingly threatening tone she used, there was a trace of regret somewhere there. She began to pace to her left, eyes fixed upon the tiger.

"Why are you doing this?" Tigress demanded. "What do you want from me?"

"You are precious to someone, and therefore killing you will cause that person—among the others as well—unimaginable grief and despair."

The leader of the Furious Five glowered at the snow leopard. "So...you will kill me? For that sick reason?"

Jia narrowed her eyes. "You will die; but not in my paws."

With a vicious cry of rage, Tigress lunged at Jia. She launched multiple kicks and punches at the snow leopard, but Jia successfully dodged each and every one of them. The spotted feline suddenly leaped in the air and shot three arrows in succession towards the south china tiger.

Tigress quickly brought her arms in front to masterfully deflect the arrows. Just as Jia's feet returned to the ground, she vaulted towards the snow leopard catching her by surprise. They crashed through a wooden wall, out of the burning building before the whole structure came down.

The two rolled across the ground, and stopped when they hit a wheel barrow. By this time, Tigress had pinned Jia to the ground, snarling at her menacingly. But, as the south china tiger shifted her gaze to that before her, all her rage seemed to fade away as she beheld the atrocious sight.

Bìnàn suǒ had reduced to nothing but charred wood and ashes. A few of those houses that were not destroyed were still in flames, though not as great as it had been an hour ago. Soot flew in the air like snow, ash covered the ground in a fine layer of gray gunk, and she noticed the many lumps on the ground, which Tigress knew were not debris at all. It was as if a shard of ice had been pierced through her heart that which made it go numb, to see a ghastly picture of dozens of villagers lay sprawled on the ground—unconscious, stiff, dead— in pool of their own blood, some of them burnt, the others were killed purposely by the raiders.

Jia took Tigress' shocked state as an opportunity to free herself. She kicked the tiger with both her legs that sent the kung fu warrior careening eastwards.

A mist of ash engulfed the south china tiger, making her cough and her eyes water. When her sight had cleared, she looked again at that horrendous tapestry of unmerciful death. Those villagers were innocent; they had done nothing against those bandits for them to deserve this kind of punishment. They did not deserve to die.

Tigress made a sudden intake of breath...

"I saw her there...she was staring at me, bathed in blood of I didn't know whom. Of her own? Of the villagers? I didn't know.

It was true. The vision was true. She was the cause of all these deaths, of all the blood that'd been shed. It was all her fault. It was because of her that all these precious lives had been wasted, lost.

But I didn't... Tigress violently shook her head, cradling it against her paws as she heard Shifu's voice resonating against her skull one more time.

And all she said to me was...I didn't.

The sounds of approaching footsteps became audible but she did not react to it. She simply glowered towards the ash-cloaked soil.

"Not everyone is dead," Jia said. Her fellow assassins that had invaded Bìnàn suǒ stood behind her, some of them keeping hold of a survivor, who were either struggling and whimpering against their grasp, or keeping still afraid of receiving the same fate as their co-citizens of the village. "You can either choose to fight us and risk losing these that survived...or you can spare their lives by surrendering yourself to us. Your choice, Master Tigress."

She didn't need to think it through. She already knew which choice to make.

Yuè swung her twin yanyue dao's at Shifu in unmatched fury. The Grand Master used his staff as a way to deflect her attacks, exerting just the right amount of force so as not to break the piece of peace wood. She sliced about at different angles towards the red panda, every blow done in blinding speed, like a flash of lightning across the sky.

Shifu felt the solid thud of a jade beam, then ducked as the snow leopard lashed both blades at him inwards and instead managed to cut the stone. He slid in between her feet and with a swipe of his staff beneath her feet, successfully knocked her off balance.

Yuè sprung up and threw her blades towards the red panda at the same time. Shifu managed to evade the attack but didn't see as Yuè suddenly aimed a kick at him immediately after that stunt.

Shifu flew across the air before slamming into one of the jade beams that supported the roofs a few feet from the ground. The red panda slid down and hit the floor with a thud, the impact making him release his staff. With wobbling arms, Shifu pushed himself off the floor and reached for the staff using it as a support as he stood up, facing Yuè once more, who had repossessed her weapons by this moment.

The sun had sunk under the horizon by this time, casting dark shadows inside the Hall of Warriors. Yuè's icy blue eyes shone in the dim light, her shadow stretched far across the jade floor like an ominous figure reflecting the corruption in her soul. She chuckled as she marched towards the red panda. "What? Is this the best you can do?" She laughed. "And here I thought you were going the give me the challenge of my life. Tsk, tsk, shame."

Shifu narrowed his blue eyes towards the snow leopard. She was even stronger than before. Her sword-handling skills had greatly improved. If this kept up, their battle will last longer than he wanted to. The village is still under seige and his students were nowhere near the Valley. He needed to end this as quickly as possible so he can aid the helpless villagers.

Shifu brandished Oogway's staff before leaping towards the spotted feline. He swung the staff at her, but Yuè threw her head backwards ending up in a bending position. Just as quickly, she stabbed her blades into the floor, and while keeping a firm hold into their hilts, she spun in place and hit the Grand Master on the chest.

The red panda recovered quickly, but as he was about to attack, Yuè was already within striking range and she was poised to slash her yanyue daos at him. Shifu made a leap, springing off the snow leopards head, running along her spine before giving her a powerful kick to the back that made her lose equilibrium.

Not waiting for the feline to recover, Shifu dashed forward and deftly knocked away her weapons from her grasp with his staff. He then threw several more blows to the snow leopards which she had a hard time keeping up with. He successfully landed a punch into her chest which sent her back a few feet. Shifu twisted the staff to the side before drawing it behind him as he readied another battle stance.

Yuè smiled in genuine acknowledgement. "Huh, I stand corrected."

Shifu shot he a challenging look. Yuè responded with a smirk. She let out a seemingly relieved sigh, shaking her head as though she was sorry about something. "I wish we continue this fight to truly test your abilities, but I couldn't afford to lose any more time."

He looked at her questioningly without exiting his current posture. "What are you—"

He heard the slightest noise of beating wings which seemed to heading for them. Shifu's eyes widened in horror when he looked over Yuè 's shoulder and saw two giant eagles flew towards them, carrying his unconscious students. They were dropped unceremoniously on the floor between him and his combatant. Each one of them was as rigid as wooden statutes, but Shifu could still hear the faint rasping of their breath indicating that they are still alive.

The Grand Master sprung forward but the twin eagles landed in front of him, deliberately refusing him to come to his student's aid. He glowered menacingly at the two avians, but their expressions showed that they were unaffected.

He heard a deep rumble emanating from the feline's throat. "Wow...I never really thought you would actually fall for my trick."

Shifu's brows drew together in confusion. "I don't..."

"The letter you received?" She raised an eyebrow, and then began pacing to her right, paws placed behind her authoritatively. "All of it is true, of course. Your daughter is in the very village stated in the letter, but you failed to discover the source."

He understood, and felt his fingers go numb.

"I was informed by the very warrior whom I banished, that your daughter was staying in the same village as she. So this happened and that, then I made some planning, the attacks on the village were right on schedule everyday...until, it was time. I sent the letter...And when you took the bait and sent your students to retrieve their comrade, my followers were waiting to intercept them in the Thread of Hope.

"I must admit," Yuè said as she rounded the kung fu masters that were sprawled on the floor. "They put on quite a challenge to my warriors. Poor Ji had to go fly back and forth. " She leaned sideward, ears perking as the aforementioned bird whispered a message. She suddenly laughed, shaking her head. "Your students are very well-trained indeed. They almost completely defeated my warriors until Ji and Ying had to use nerve strikes on them. Thank goodness you never taught them how to repel such attack. Why so, my friend? Have you no trust on them?"

"Release them, now!" Shifu demanded.

She looked like she was having the time of her life. "No can do, Fu. It took a lot of effort on capturing them, and I'm not about to waste that effort by letting them go. But if you want them free, you'll have to beat me first." She leaned her weight on one side, gently stroking the green scarf around her neck. "But you're not worth it. I know for a fact that you can't defeat me no matter how hard you try. So just to be generous, here's my offer instead: You could surrender yourself and the Jade Palace to me, sparing you the energy to fight me. And if that's not tempting enough for you, I bet those villagers down there are still having the time of their lives!" She beamed.

Shifu bristled, eyes flashing.

Yuè tapped a finger against her chin as though she was thinking about something. "Hmm, do you think they managed to douse those flames I set?"

He clenched his fists, baring his teeth towards the leopardess.

"One word, Shifu, just one word...and you might be able to save those people down there and your students." She stretched her paw towards him, opening his palm as she silently ordered him to hand over Oogway's old staff.

As much as he hated it, there doesn't seem to be another choice. Shifu hung his head, gritting his teeth as he threw the staff into Yuè 's waiting paw, accepting defeat.

Yes, yes, I didn't go into detail of how Po and the Four were defeated because I didn't want the story to drag on too long, and I want to finish this story already before the end of March. Next chapter is coming soon.

R&R