Alright, new chapter! WHOO! So happy to have a new one going. Alright, I'll hush up and let ya'll read!
Chapter twenty six: Followers
Tigress and Leon stared at each other. Both were horribly shaken with the fact that Shadow was gone.
They were about to run off to tell the others, when Azure's father, Shujaa, ran in frantically. He had a look of pure fear on his face, the same one that Leon had.
"Azure's GONE!" he cried out fearfully.
Tigress stared at him, then at Leon. "She must have gone after Shadow!" she said.
Then the twin Tiger cubs came dashing in, followed by Lance, Kira and Shakira, who had returned with them and agreed to stay at the Jade Palace.
"Daddy, where's Chris?" Silver asked.
"Yeah! We went to wake him up and see if he would show us some boxing moves, and he wasn't there!" Blaze added in.
Leon looked at his cubs fearfully. "They've both gone after Shadow..." he whispered to himself.
Tigress walked up to her brother and laid a paw on his shoulder. He jumped at her touch and spun around to face her. She could tell he was on the verge of a nervous brake down. She gently grasped his arm and led him away from the group.
"I need to talk with Leon, outside." Tigress said, leading her brother out the door.
She walked him over to the Peach Tree and sat him down on a rock. She could see him shaking and he was breathing quickly.
She laid a paw on his shoulder, he flinched and looked up at her. Tigress knew how scared her little brother must be, she feared very much for Shadow as well. Then Leon jumped to his feet and began to pace in circles.
"Leon, what are you doing?" Tigress asked.
Leon wouldn't answer her, he just continued to pace. Tigress shook her head. She knew that Leon wouldn't listen to anyone, not even Shadow, when he got like this.
It was like he closed himself off, from the world and had hid himself away in his own mind. And Tigress knew only two ways to get her brother to snap out of it, and she was not going to do, Shadow's way.
She shook her head, sauntered up to her brother and stood in front of him, so that he would stop. He looked down away from her, and wouldn't meet her eyes.
She growled in annoyance. She hated doing this to Leon, but when he dropped off the deep end, it had to be done.
She braced herself for the worse, then kneed Leon in the stomach, causing him to double over, groaning in pain. Then when he looked up at Tigress, she swung a tight fist at his face. He tumbled backwards, and came to a halt, holding his jaw. He growled and ran to attack her, but she ducked and missed his kick and followed up with a swift round house kick to his head, sending him sliding across the dirt, until he came to a stop, lying on his stomach, unmoving.
Tigress shook her head and walked over to her brother. She knelt down and gently rolled him on his side. She knew he was in bad shape from his scare with Shadow and she wished she hadn't had to do that, but Leon was stubborn at times, like her.
She gently shook her brothers shoulder, trying to wake him up. After a moment, his red-orange eyes flickered open and he sat up, holding his stomach. He looked at his big sister, confused.
"I did it again, didn't I?" Leon asked, sheepishly.
Tigress nodded. "Yeah. You know I hate doing that to you." she said, staring softly at her brother.
Leon hung his head and nodded slowly. "I know. I just... I-I'm so worried about Shadow! And now Azure and Chris too." he confessed.
Tigress nodded in understanding. She knew how worried he was. Chris was a very good friend of hers, though she hadn't told many people about that. But that's another story, for another day.*
"Leon, I know you're worried and you want to help her. But panicking and closing out the world is not the way to do it." Tigress gently said.
Leon sighed and nodded. He knew his big sister was right about that, he was just so scared about his wife and now their friends as well! Leon slowly got up, and looked Tigress in the eye.
"Let's go find the others and tell them what's going on." he said.
Tigress nodded and they hurried off. They both quickly gathered the others into the Meeting Room. Everyone was asking questions and Silver and Blaze whimpered quietly, when they saw their father was upset.
Leon walked to the front of the room and held his paws up to silence them. They all looked to Leon and then everyone stole a glace around the room, and they all saw that Azure and Chris were missing. They didn't think about Shadow not being there, since she was sick.
"Everyone, something very horrible has happened." Leon announced.
Everyone began to murmur among themselves, until Leon silenced them again. They all watched him curiously and worriedly.
Then Tigress leaned towards her brother and softly whispered, "Are you going to tell them, or am I?"
Leon shook his head and replied, "I will."
Tigress nodded and stepped back. She knew this would hurt them, as much as it did her and Leon.
Leon sighed and slowly continued. "Everyone. Shadow has left the Jade Palace. As well as Azure and Chris." he explained.
Everyone broke out into an uproar. They all asked questions, such as, "what do we do?", "where could they have gone?" and "we have to bring them back!"
Leon shook his head, he knew this would happen. He just didn't know of another way to brake it to them. They continued to talk among one another, until Leon stepped forward and brought his fist down on the table, causing them all to quite down.
"Look. I know you're all upset and worried. I know that I am. But right now, I need your attention. I know that Shadow has taken off after that sword, because she left me a note. She doesn't want to put us into danger. But she also is bound to know, we're going to come after her. So we don't have time to plan, we just have to go, now!" Leon said.
Everyone nodded in agreement and after a moment, they all hurried off to pack. Leon saw Silver and Blaze standing in the corner, whispering to each other.
"What's up, kids?" Leon asked.
They both stopped and looked up at their father innocently.
"Oh, we're just talking about what to pack!" Silver said, while twitching his tail back and forth nervously.
Leon eyed him, since he was like Shadow, he had picked up her quirks and habits. And twitching her tail, when she was lying about something, was one of them.
"Are you sure that's all?" Leon asked, in a fatherly tone.
The twin cubs smiled and nodded. "Yes daddy, that's all!" Blaze said, as her ears twitched.
Leon shook his head. That was one of his habits. Blaze was so much like him and Tigress, and Silver was so much like Shadow.
He sighed and stared down at them. "Alright. If you say so. Now get a move on and pack up!" he said, while smiling at them.
They nodded, then hurried off towards their room, with sly grins on their faces. Leon shook his head. They were just like he and Shadow were as cubs.
He hurried to his room and quickly packed his things. After an hour had past, everyone had their things together and were ready to leave.
They all met outside the Hall of Heroes. All but Silver and Blaze. Leon tapped his foot impatiently, then after ten more minutes, went to find them.
He looked around and didn't see them anywhere. Then he slowly made his way to their room, with a growing sensation in the pit of his stomach, that said something was wrong. He slowly opened the door and saw their room was empty.
He looked around, with fear filled eyes. He knew what was wrong now. He turned and quickly ran to the others. He got outside and pulled to a halt, panting.
"Lance, Kira, have you seen Silver and Blaze, since they went to their room?" Leon asked quickly.
The two cubs looked at each other and shrugged. "Uh, no." Lance started.
"We haven't seen them." Kira said.
Leon felt his heart drop. Tigress looked at her brother and saw that new found fear, shone brightly in his eyes. Everyone else could see it as well. Viper slowly slithered over to him and looked up at the fearful Tiger.
"Leon, are you alright?" she gently asked.
The South Chinese Tiger tired to calm his breathing and slowly stood up straight. He looked at his friends and saw they were worried.
"I... I think Silver and Blaze have gone after the others, all on their own!" he said, fearfully.
They all gasped and Lance and Kira looked at each other in fear. They knew Silver and Blaze were hotheads, like their parents, but they never thought they would do this.
"Come, we must hurry! They can not have gotten far." Master Shifu said.
They all nodded and hurried off, to find their friends.
*Deep in the bamboo jungle*
Azure ran along, quickly and swiftly. She was light on her feet, as she ran. Then she pulled to a sudden stop, as a dagger sunk deep into the ground in front of her. She looked up and saw a black Panther jump down.
"What do you want, Chris? I need to find Shadow!" Azure said, when the Panther came into view.
Chris smirked and rolled his eyes. "What do you think I'm doing, sight seeing?" he asked sarcastically, as he pulled his dagger from the dirt, dusted it off and sheathed it.
Azure cocked her head to the side, then she realized that Chris was following Shadow as well. She smiled and nodded in understanding. Then they both took off running, until they heard a high pitched scream. They slid to a halt, then looked around.
"Looks like we weren't the only ones who are after Shadow!" Chris said.
He and Azure looked and saw two twin Tiger cubs. It was none other then Silver and Blaze. And they were surrounded by Croc bandits.
Silver was being held off the ground, by his vest. Blaze was being held tightly by her tail, as she tried to get to her brother. Silver tired to kick the leader, who happened to be Fung, but he was held out to far.
"Aw, look at the twin brats, how cute!" Fung mocked.
Silver growled angrily and tried to kick him again. Chris smiled from his and Azure's hiding spot among the bushes. Then he and Azure crept to either side and got ready to attack.
Then Azure jumped out and kicked the three Crocs that were around Blaze, while Chris sauntered up to Fung, who dropped Silver and backed away.
"You messed with the wrong cubs!" Chris growled in his face.
Then he balled up a fist and punched Fung under his snout and sent him flying up into the air and far off into the forest.
Then Chris looked up, when the three other Crocs went flying past. Chris turned around and saw Azure, Silver and Blaze smiling. He chuckled at the three cats.
"So, what are you two doing here?" Azure asked the cubs.
"We wanted to help our mama!" Blaze said, while Silver nodded in agreement.
"Well... alright, let's go!" Chris said.
The two cubs grinned, happy they got to help find their mama.
Then they all took off running to find Shadow and made sure she was brought home, safe and sound...
Okay, that's that. Looks like we found out who's followed Shadow, other then everyone else. I hope you all enjoyed it and please don't forget to leave your reviews!
Author note:
*If you would like to see what happened between Chris and Tigress, check out SiberianTiger45 and his stories. They tell about Chris and Tigress, as well as things that have happened AFTER this story, somewhat. Things I didn't mention, since it hasn't happened here. So yeah, if you want to know, check out his story about Chris' past! Or better yet, check out ALL his stories!