Kung Fu Panda fanfic6
Conspiracy
Masquerade sat alone in Master Kio's empty contemplation quarters, inside the ring of candles - seeing as he was away, and she was suppose to be ready for these so called intruders, she thought he wouldn't mind if she meditated while she waited for them to arrive. Cross-legged with her heals over her thighs, while her hands rested comfortably on her legs, she inhaled and exhaled near silently that even she couldn't hear herself breathe.
As the urethane candles' cent began to fill her nostrils, she felt herself enter a trance-like state, and she began to see through a sixth sense, a omniscient eye over their hideout of the mountains. She could see the entire fortress through this state, all of the gorillas marching in a guard patrol around the castle-like walls, mercenary wolves managing - unloading and preparing them from shipping - the cargo of modern weaponry, and the fog that kept the whole mountain invisible.
It was fantastic, glorious... this must have been the state of mind, as Kio had explained once, that Morgan Remnant must be in at all times if he could predict everything that's happening, and it must have been the reason that always kept Kio in such a good mood.
The plain truth, there was one overseer that was truthfully keeping a watch over everything, and the proof to its truth was granted by its correction of an army and rebellion rising. Along with with the intruders mentioned earlier.
Reluctantly, Masquerade sensed the intruders had arrived, in fact they were inside the mountain fortress - but more surprisingly, their infiltrated numbers were a lot shorter than she expected. There were only two intruders.
It made sense why they hadn't arrived and no one had even set off an alarm, the intruders weren't in a large enough number to be easily spotted, and the fact that she could witness them prowl through the castle fortress with ease, taking out a few guards in silence, and were now their way, from the looks of it, to the trophy hall, it was all the facts she needed to guess these were warriors - kung fu legionnaires.
She was puzzled by their arrival here, what did they want? Likely, since they were heading for the trophy hall, it became clear to her that they were here to rescue their friend, the stone warrior Zhan Fray. They had come for him, to save him from any torture or ordeals they thought he could possibly be in - they would soon realize the truth.
However, she was even more so as to if this was the upcoming future, or if this was all happening now. As the alarm went off - a lone bugle being blown and followed by others in a uproar of horns, she had her answer. They were here, and it was now.
Masquerade opened her eyes and recollected to her feet, gathering her equipment and donning her mask, she drew her sword and started for the trophy hall, where she would certainly meet and take a look at these warriors for herself. This would all be new; new warriors for her to challenge, a new fight for her to enjoy, new blood for her sword, and new trophies. Enough said.
With a well placed series of punches and kicks, Tigress lunged and sent the rogue rhinoceros flying - smashing through the heavy doors and crashing into a few gorillas and wolves. She and Po leaped through the broken doorway and stood right beside each other, battle stances against the three dozens of enemy sentinels blocking their path down the corridor.
Right in front of them was two gorilla warriors, of which they each took one. The feline easily knocked her adversary down, and was now taking on the rest following, while the fallen gorilla recollected and charged at her. Po had his foe right where he wanted him, he ducked and dodged his enormous fist and subsided him.
Tigress launched a hard punch straight to the first wolf's torso and subsided the second, kneeling him in the groin and tossing him over to the thrid and forth, tripping them in their path. She flipped and kicked the recollected gorilla - her heel swinging across his face - and threw him off balance, and took the liberty of landing her palms on the next assailant's shoulders, spun around, and swiped the wolf to the floor, making a loud thud! upon hitting surface.
Po absorbed the gorilla's quick attacks and ducked from his heavy blows, he raised his right arm in defense and threw his left fist straight for his ribcage, only to have it caught by the ape's free hand. Too late to make up for the mistake, the giant panda could do nothing but witness as the ape twisted his arm and kicked him back against the wall. He quickly recovered just in time to dodge the heavy fist aimed directly for his face, as it now dove into the stone wall.
Tigress stopped the large arm of the gorilla from crushing her and lifted her knee, jamming it up the ape's chin twice, which momentarily stunned him. She twisted him arm behind his back, leaped up, and slammed her elbow right between his shoulders, knocking him to the hard, unforgiving floor - the perfect knock out. She danced and dodged the swipes of fists and swings of bladed weapons, all the while countering, disarming, and subduing each and every assailant.
Po swiped his fist sideways and then in an uppercut across the big ape's face, and at the time the gorilla was beginning to wobble, almost ready to pass out from exhaustion. As the brute made one more attempt to strike him, the giant panda immediate leaped forward and bounced him with his belly, sending him crashing into the wall. As he pealed off the wall, Po cheered with his fists in the air, "Oh yeah! I got 'em, Tigress! Did'ja see..."
He stopped in mid-sentence, viewing the long hall of unconscious wolves and gorillas, and watched just as Tigress knocked out the last sentinel, and tossed him into the pile of guards. And he thought he was so proud of himself for taking out the one guy, yet he should give her a round of applause for clearing the whole corridor. Regardless, he decided just to keep quiet and follow her, he'd congraduate her later.
"Where do we go now?" He asked her, as they entered another corridor, one with many doors on each side.
Tigress closed her eyes and sighed, and then she answered, "That door," she pointed to the third door on their left and sprinted to it, "Let's go."
As the doors were thrown open, they both stopped dead in their tracks, they had entered an art gallery. It was filled with hundreds of stone statues, all appearing to have the same theme and expression - warriors taking their final stand right before they are cut down to face their fate.
It was all so strange, sure it all looked like it was suppose to look like an art museum, but yet it all felt like a graveyard to them. It was as if these statues were real warriors, and they had all been killed, slain, or perhaps, turned to stone. Tigress was the first to think that was crazy, but it all felt so real, so close to the truth.
She approached and studied the nearest stone warrior, scanning all of the scars and wounds of the legionnaire, they looked fresh and calculated - all too well to be sculpted so precisely and masterfully. But the claw-marks, they looked so familiar to her that she had seen some similar to them before, much like the scar Zhan bared on his right cheek...
Tigress fell silent at the thought, these were the exact scars of Rollo Kio, ones fresh before execution. But why they were featured in a statue such as this one led her to the conclusion that they're weren't just sculptures of art. They were Kio's victims.
She lifted her head from the revelation and scanned the gallery, looking for something specific among the "artworks" that was probably what she had been looking for on her voyage here. The feline looked all around until she finally found something that caught her eye, a specific statue of a lone, standing warrior - a cheetah.
She silently gasped, Po's eyes were wide as he stood by her side, the stone statue in front of them was Zhan Fray - he was one of Kio's victims, one of his trophies. While she stared at her lifeless friend in shock, the giant panda curiously reached and picked up the vial of green liquid, feeling slightly parched after the long hike but felt mostly parched of sympathy for Fray, he felt the need to preach.
"Oh dear friend, Zhan Fray," he began, unfastening the lid off the vial, "we apologize for the sealing of your fate in such a manner. Our intentions were save you, but there was nothing we could've done about it. We are already too late. So we pray you amen, good friend," he lifted it close to his lips, "and hope that when your life is recycled, you could... 'stiff' up a bit."
Po sipped the green substance, only to gag and spit it out all over the Fray statue. It tasted aweful! He didn't know why in the world someone would just leave a vial of green stuff by a stone statue - whereas it made him a hypocrite considering he drank from a vial of green stuff by a stone statue, so how could he judge anyone but himself?
If it weren't for the tranquilizing sympathy she was feeling, Tigress would've slugged the panda's face in - but that was only one reason, and not even the most effective. Her attention was lured to the green substance on the stone, which was now beginning to crawl all over Fray's statufied form. As the cheetah's entire body began to glow, bit by bit they could see some motion take active, and hear a few groans and gasps of breath.
In a matter of seconds, the stone statue had returned - revived - into the strong warrior and good friend, Zhan Fray. The cheetah drooped before tipping forward and losing his balance, he would have fallen to the hard marble floor if Tigress hadn't caught him first. As she looked over him, he groaned and opened an eye, spotting - what he thought was - his childhood friend.
"T-Tigress?" He murmured. She smiled, tears running down her cheeks as she pulled him into a tight, warm hug.
"It's alright Zhan, I'm here for you. We're getting you out of here," she said, as Po pulled him to his feet and began to escort him, but he wobbled and lost his footing, however the panda picked him back up and practically carried him out. "Come now, we're leaving."
To Black Raider: Oh don't worry, that's where the real shocking surprise comes in, Next chapter...
