Chapter 26: The Cold Shoulder Of Fire
Po was completely still in his sleep. He would normally roll around a little when he was sleeping alone, but his body, without his knowledge, had become paralyzed. He was almost in a hyponotized state in his sleep, if that made any sense. Images of arriving at the Valley of Peace filled his mind as he ran past tents and wooden shacks that had replaced the stone buildings of the village. When he glanced at the spot where his dad's noodle shop should have been, he saw a pig and a goose playing Mahjong, they both looked very nervous. Po then came rushing up the stairs of the Jade Palace, running faster and faster. He thought it strange that he wasn't getting tired, but then again it was a dream. He kept running until he finally reached the top, the doors swinging open. Then there was nothing but a white light.
Seconds later, the light dispersed and he found himself training with a young Oogway in the freshly laid stone of the Jade Palace arena. They were sparring. As Po swung a blurry paw at Master Oogway, Oogway swirled around and allowed the paw to be deflected and slide along the turtle's shell. The turtle then finished his circle and gave Po a strike with the back of his fist, causing him to fall back with a groan. He rubbed his cheek where Oogway had struck him, and was surprised to feel whiskers on his face. Po looked down at his paw. It was tan, and large. But it was...sleeker? And his claws were gone, but he could still feel them.
Po looked up at Oogway, who was chuckling under his breath. He held out his claws to Po, who accepted them as he was helped up.
"Master, wh-", he stopped himself to reflect on the sound of his voice. It was no longer filled with a boyish sense of excitement. It was instead deeper and...for lack of a better term, silkier."Master, what is going on?"
"Po, you are currently in a memory that I have opened up for you. It is the day that I introduced you to Seikaku as Yogan. And I had hoped that perhaps with this one memory unlocked inside you, you would be able to figure out how to open the Scroll again. Do you remember what I told you before?"
"Yes, Master. You said that I would have to open the Dragon Scroll by remembering the first time I met Tigress when I was chosen as the Dragon Warrior. But I've had so much trouble, because when I first met her I was completely confused because of your decision. The confusion, the excitement, the shallow happiness of being given the most prestigous title ever. I don't know where one emotion ends and another begins! It's so frustrating!", Po yelled as he punched into the concrete below him.
"Now Po, I just had that tiling finished.", said Oogway with an almost teasing tone in his voice.
"Oh, sorry Master.", replied Po as he straightened up.
Oogway chuckled,"It is fine Po, it is only a memory. Now Po, Seikaku is about to come out of the Training Hall and meet me here so we may discuss matters of importance about the building of the town. Do not feel bad when you find her attractive, Po. For she is only Tigress in another form. But I need you to keep your mind at peace and allow your thoughts to flow through. If you do this, you will allow the memory to be played out just as it should be. And you will finally remember."
Po nodded and did his Inner Peace stance with a sigh, his left leg slid over the smooth stone with his calloused foot. He straightened up once more, then opened his eyes when he heard a deep yet feminine voice float infront of him. His cheeks turned red, thank the gods that his fur was tan to somewhat hide his blush.
"Oogway, I was just thinking, what should we do about the farmers that wished to start laying seeds in the east? It is good land, but it might be in constant danger as it is close to the musician's new habitat, and they will likely have many parties.", the dragon said. She was a blue scaled dragon with pearl white whiskers that were as long as Yogan. Her entire body length was large enough to almost imitate the stone dragon in the Dragon Grotto. Her underbelly scales were tan, but they sparkled like diamonds in the light of the sun. Her eyes were a deep scarlet, like the inside of a dormant volcano that could be ready to erupt at any moment. She had six legs, all of them sleek yet muscular. Her claws shined a brilliant jet black. She had soft, small white feathers like a goose that started from the back of her head to the end of her tail as it surrounded it into almost a fan shape. Her fangs were silvery white. And finally her head was adorned with sharpened yet polished antlers.
"That is a good point, Seikaku. We could probably put them in the north. There is plenty of room.", Oogway replied. Seikaku nodded, and was about to take flight when Oogway stopped her."Er, Seikaku, before you go I would like for you to meet Yogan here. He has finally found the truth as we have.", said Oogway as he put a clawed hand onto Yogan's back with a pat, causing the tiger to wobble forward infront of the Dragon nervously.
The Dragon eyed Yogan, surprised that she hadn't noticed him before. She was able to sense anything and everything around her. Why couldn't she sense him? This scared her a little and she narrowed her eyes at Yogan.
"Ah I see. So what is your art?", she asked. Her whiskers curled infront of her cheeks. This would normally be a sign of aggression to her kind, but she was simply trying to hide her now purple cheeks when she saw the tiger. He was taller than most tigers. He had large muscular arms and a toned torso. His red vest with gold inseam had no buttons or strings to keep it closed since it was so worn, so it hung open to allow his abdominals to show, which were flat and muscular as well. His long legs were covered with gray rag like slacks and he wore no sandles or shoes at all. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green, it was like looking into the forests which she had cared for as a youngling. His ears were triangular, but they had little white tufts on the tips. His tail was long and striped like the rest of his body, but the very end of his tail was black. The patterns that adorned his forehead were blocked by a rain hat filled with holes which his ears stuck out of, but when the tiger took a nervous bow, it fell off. The pattern was like little whisps of fog swirling over an unlit candle.
Yogan blushed more as his hat fell and he quickly attempted to pick it up, only to trip and fall flat on his face. He got up to his feet and did his best to avert her gaze. If she was anything like she is was when Po first met Tigress, he was about to be insulted.
"I-I'm studying metallurgy.", Yogan stuttered.
Seikaku scoffed."This is his art? Nothing like that belongs here. This is a place for warriors, not craftsmen."
Yogan winced,"That's...that's true. But I would be honored if you trained me. If...you would have me.", he bowed again, his hat staying on this time as his ears had flattened against his head and acted like latches.
Seikaku snorted through her large nostrils."Fine, but I will not be going easy on you, tiger!", she spat. She then turned to Oogway with an annoyed, yet calm look,"Oogway, is it fine with you if I go down to the encampment and direct the farmers now?"
Oogway nodded, and she flew towards the Palace doors.
"Big fan...", called out Yogan sheepishly. Seikaku stopped for a second after opening the doors, turned around and glared at the tiger for a minute. Then she whipped around again and went down the stairs.
Yogan sighed."Guess I messed up, huh?"
"No, Po, you did not. You see, that was exactly what happened word for word. Even though Tigress was a Dragon she was still a hostile and feirce woman. And you, though you were a tiger, were still clumsy and unrefined when you two met. Do you remember it now Po?"
Po was staring at the first step of the Thousand Steps, not looking at him.
"Po?", said Oogway, before a smile formed on his face after Po would not reply.
"Yogan?", he now said. Po perked his ears up and looked at Oogway.
"Huh? Wh-what?"
"You have started to remember. Good. Remember this feeling Po. Or should I say Yogan. And open the Dragon Scroll. With your memories returned, you and Tigress' abilities will be amplified from the wisdom of past experiences. And you will be a force to be reckoned with."
Po nodded and gave his decades away signature smirk before bowing."Thank you, Master."
Po then awoke to the sound of growling as he sat up, he felt rejuvinated yet invigorated at the same time, which was odd since he had just slept a few hours. He looked around the room as the feint moonlight came through the doorways to the veranda. He saw two tigers in the room and a snow leopardess in the corner with her arms crossed leaning against the wall. One tiger was pinning the other against the wall adjacent to the bed. The other was half naked and panting. Po blinked,"Whoa, what's going on?"
"We were in the backyard setting up traps and I had mother to set a trap under the window. I didn't realize it was our window until I noticed she was gone.", Tigress replied, never taking her eyes off of Jiu-Ne.
"What's the big deal, so she's in our room?", said Po.
Tigress sighed and closed her eyes, keeping ahold of Jiu-Ne's shoulders,"Look under the covers, Po. Notice anything...different?"
Po lifted the covers and blushed. He was erect and his member, as well as his inner thighs, were quite wet. He quickly pulled up his shorts that were around his ankles and got out of bed, looking at Jiu-Ne angrily,"So you were...oh god, I didn't actually-"
"No, I came in before she finished. For the love of god, Po, how tired could you be?", she asked almost shouting.
"Master Oogway had me in a trance to help with our demon problem. I doubt if even Oogway knew that this was going to happen.."Po grimaced and sighed."Two things are gonna happen right now. I'm gonna go downstairs after I settle down, then you two are going to have a little chat. A real chat Tigress, don't just beat her ass."
Tigress snarled,"Fine.", she let go of Jiu-Ne as she dressed herself.
After she was dressed, Jiu-Ne kept her head bowed,"Sorry."
"It's not that easy, Jiu-Ne.", spat Tigress.
"I didn't think it would be. But-"
"What is wrong with you? This is my fiancee!", yelled Tigress with tears in her eyes."Do you have no shame? Why would you do this to me, your own daughter!"
Po, who had settled down some, hugged Tigress as she sobbed into his chest.
Po glared at Jiu-Ne and scowled,"You know, part of me wants to say 'why me'. I keep getting all these girls excited around me. But I'm not the real victim. Though it hurts me, it hurts Tigress the most. She has never opened her heart up to anyone aside from me. You hurt her when you left her at Bao Gu, Jiu-Ne, you hurt her real bad. And now you come in and have the audacity to pull something like this after we rescued you. Now after I leave, you and her are going to talk. She is going to ask you as many questions as she wants and you are going to answer them truthfully. But I can't let you hurt her anymore. So after this deal is made with the king, I want you out of here. You may come back after the baby is born to see just how much better a mother Tigress is than you."
Song let out a satisfied chuckle under her breath. It was like he had just mentally beaten the witch to a pulp.
Jiu-Ne just stared at the floor and nodded, a slight whimper escaping her lips. She slid down to the floor and gripped her knees as she sat in a slightly varied version of the Lotus Position.
Po kissed Tigress softly,"Are you alright, Mai Tai?"
Tigress nodded and sighed as she wiped her tears,"Yes. Now go and try to open the Dragon Scroll again.", Po hugged her again before walking out of the door, shutting it behind him.
Viper met Po outside the door as he stopped her from going inside,"Trust me, you don't want to get into the middle of that conversation."
"I know, but I had a question for you."
"Yeah, what's that?", blinked Po.
Viper sighed in annoyance at her question. It was so stupid. But she was too curious for her own good as she slithered down the hall beside Po."Is there such a thing as catnip cologne?"
Po laughed softly,"Yep."
Viper's eyes widened,"Seriously? You don't use it, do you?"
"No, of course not. Though I did try it once."
"When?", she asked as they stopped at the top of the stairs.
"Last year. My dad gave it to me as a joke after that whole Song fiasco. He said that any feline would fall for me if I used it. So I tried it."
"And you used it on Tigress?", she asked while eyeing him.
"Yeah. It worked like a charm. She was really tired one day after training, so I just decided to go up to her room and started rubbing her back. Catnip worked great, she didn't even complain. Except for some reason she asked if I had finished making cookies or something."
Viper blinked,"Coo...kies?", she then bursted out laughing uncontrollably as tears left her eyes.
"What?", Po looked at the snake as if she was about to jump up and bite him.
"P-Pohohoho! I remember that dayheheheeheehe! You were wearing vanilla extract! Your dad tricked youhoohoo!", she kept giggling as she covered her mouth with the end of her tail.
Po blushed and facepalmed,"Ugh. Dad...", he sighed,"Okay, okay, you've had your fun, just don't tell anyo-", he looked beside him to look at Viper, but she wasn't there. In the distance she heard laughing coming from downstairs."Oh, no...", he walked downstairs to face the group's laughter.
He made his way downstairs as everyone started giggling and snickering. Shiro, who had only needed an hour more of sleep since he had napped already, was sitting in one of the arm chairs with his legs dangling off of the side. He laughed and held his side as his mocking laughter echoed up the roaring fireplace.
Po scowled and sat on the couch where he had left his bag and pulled out the Dragon Scroll again. As he started to work on the scroll for another few minutes, he twisted it with all his might. To his surprise, it budged."Yes!", he quickly opened the cylinder and opened the scroll. It was blank again like before, but it began to glow feintly in the firelight as his face was infront of it. But it wasn't his face. Well it was his face, Yogan's face. Yogan smiled at him and gave him a nod before a green mist bursted through the golden paper and into Po's body as a red mist shot up the stairs.
Po panted as all of his memories came flooding back to him. He dropped the scroll and kneeled on the floor.
"Po, what happened, are you okay?", asked Monkey in a panicky voice after seeomg what had just happened to his friend.
"Yes, but stay away for a minute!", said...well they weren't sure who it was. Po's voice was there, but it was acommpanied by another voice, a voice that was deeper. Po straightened up and breathed in before sighing. He ran to the stairs in the blink of an eye, meeting Tigress in the hallway. They looked at each other and smiled.
"Seikaku.", said Po.
"Yogan.", said Tigress, her voice accompanied with Seikaku's.
The two hugged each other in a tight embrace.
"This is so strange...", Tigress said with a chuckle as she rubbed her furry cheek against Po's fluffy neck.
"Yes, it is...", smirked Po.
Tigress then hit him in the shoulder.
Po chuckled and rubbed his shoulder."I'm sure I deserved it, but what was that for?"
"For letting Moeru rape you, of course.", she said with a raised brow.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry.", he smiled apologetically. Just then everyone, even Koru and Yunwei came into the hallway from hearing the strange voices.
"What the hell just happened?", yelled Song."Jiu-Ne just told you about your dad and you just...disappeared!"
"Well, to make a long story short, Po and I are Yogan and Seikaku. Our souls laid dormant until Po opened the Dragon Scroll again and now our memories are back as well as our fighting experience and knowledge.", said Tigress, their strange voices fading slowly the more they spoke. But their voices formed altogether new ones, as if their past lives and current ones were truly merging. Tigress' voice was now soft, yet stern no matter how she tried to speak.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.", Shiro laughed, Song gave him a disapproving look.
"Would you like for me to prove it, young one?", asked Po, Po's voice had become silky and deep, but his enthusiam still rang in his tone.
"Sure thing, Yogan. If you can beat me in tiger style I'll believe you.", Shiro stated mockingly.
The snow leopard didn't have much of a chance to even turn around to escape his beating as Po appeared literally within a blink of Shiro's eye right infront of him instead of just down the hall from his and Song's room. Po put in a series of almost unwatchable palm strikes with his left paw alone into Shiro's chest and stomach. Before Shiro could even think about what was happening, he had been knocked back onto the bed in a daze.
Everyone watched Po with their jaws dropped. But Tigress grabbed Jiu-Ne's paw and took her back into her and Po's room and shutting the door behind them as everyone else was too busy admiring Po's new talents."Alright. So you and father had been attacked by a massive bandit army in our village. Father sacrificed himself to allow us to get away. What happened then?"
"I...I took you as far away as I could, Hei-wa. Near the third day when I was being persued, I spotted an orphanage. I had to gotten some distance between us and the army, so I left you there. I'm so sorry, Tigress, for everything!", Jiu-Ne finished her speech with tears in her eyes.
"I wish that I could believe you. But what you have done tonight...I don't know if I can ever forgive you, Jiu-Ne. But...perhaps...if my power has completely returned...", Tigress studied Jiu-Ne's eyes for a moment then she placed a paw on Jiu-Ne's forehead and breathed in slowly while closing her eyes. In an instant, Tigress could feel all of the older feline's hardships. How she travelled here to lead the rest of the army of bandits away from her daughter, how she had to do unseemly acts to get inside the city and survive, the countless rapings that occured and the merciless beatings she received when she would not cooperate to earn enough money to eat that night. And how she literally slept on the streets for most of Tigress' life alone in grief of her late husband's death.
Tigress pulled her paw away as tears found her now pity filled eyes,"I...I had no idea..."
Jiu-Ne's face softened even more as she whimpered again, she visibly shook and turned her head away and shut her eyes tight to avoid her daughter's gaze,"I-I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, I have no excuse for my behavior. I know that I've been a horrible mother and I do not deserve to know you. But...I am begging you now. Please...", Jiu-Ne trembled in her stance as her tears dropped onto the floor,"Please don't send me away...I promise you I'll behave...",
Tigress bit her lip as it quivered under her scrunched up face. Her mother had become a whore after all these years. And it was truly a terrible life she had led. But she had done it to keep her daughter safe and suffered through it all. And now that they had found each other, was Tigress really willing to send this woman away after what she had seen in her mother's mind?
Tigress felt her tears drop from the corners of her eyes to her cheeks, running down her fur until they reached her whiskers and splattered on the wood below.
"M-m-mama...", was all that Tigress managed to stutter. The older tiger raised her head to look at her daughter and held back a sob, wanting to be sure that she was truly being accepted by Tigress. She got her answer when Tigress hugged her and sobbed into her shoulder. Tigress was a little taller than Jiu-Ne, so it was slightly awkward, but Jiu-Ne still kept the embrace and cried happily from being called such a emotionally close term. She stroked the fur on the back of her daughter's head and let out little 'shhhs' imbetween her own sobs. She could not help it as a smile formed on her face.
"You've no idea...how much my heart has ached to see you again, Hei-Wa. Every day I prayed that I would one day find you. And here I go and mess it all up. Now your male has banished me from you. How poetic.", sniffled Jiu-Ne bitterly.
"I will talk to Po, mama.", replied Tigress as she tried to regain her composure to some extent."He will be upset, but after I explain perhaps he will forgive you. He has always had such a pure heart."
"You chose well, Hei-Wa.", Jiu-Ne sighed,"And again I am sorry. But men with power get me excited. I cannot help myself. Ever since Ko-Ri died, I...I felt an emptiness that I could never fulfill..."
Tigress' eyes narrowed."Ko-Ri? That was father's name?"
Jiu-Ne nodded."Yes. Our village was made up of mainly immigrants from another land, and in time our language adapted into Chinese. And it became traditional to have names such as ours. Ko-Ri was so named because of his cold looking exterior, ever since he was a boy he had a look about him that would send a chill up your spine."
"Mama...I am sorry to ask you this, but...did you ever become pregnant again? By another tiger?", asked Tigress. Her emotions had subsided into complete curiosity.
"Yes, once. That tore my soul apart when he took the child. I had heard that he decided to raise the child in the mountains away from cities like these.", Jiu-Ne let another sigh pass her lips as she shook her head."I never even got to see if it was a boy or a girl. Or what it even looked like...", she blushed softly as her stomach grumbled a bit.
Tigress smiled softly."I think that there are some left over noodles downstairs, mother. I suppose our emotional conquest has left us with full hearts but empty stomachs. Come on, lets go.", Tigress said before turning around and opening the door. She walked out and down the hall as Jiu-Ne followed her. Jiu-Ne walked down the steps as Tigress stopped and smiled at the group as they watched Po show off his new powers a little. But then her smile faded some when she looked at Koru. She studied him for a minute, then looked at the floor.
The female tiger decided to continue to follow her mother downstairs. If she was right, then their confrontation would have to wait. Tigress was too emotionally exausted to say anything right now. But all throughout the meal, and even as the others joined the two, Tigress could not help but ponder and ponder as she continually glanced back and forth across the table.
Jiu-Ne.
Koru.
Jiu-Ne.
Koru.
Jiu-Ne...
Ko-Ri...