Chapter 28: Feline Frenzy
Tigress panted and stared at Song. She had felt an evil aura when she sat down to eat breakfast, so just as when she and Po reunited as Seikaku and Yogan she disappeared in a flash from her seat to come back up here, leaving everyone to stare at her chair in confusion. No doubt the others would come running so Tigress knelt down beside Song and examined her lips as she grabbed the leopardess' chin and turned her head about in different directions gently.
"Good, there's no seal.", sighed Tigress as she stood up. Song looked up at her again.
"S-seal?"
"Yes, Song, a seal. Wuji told Po that when the Demon kisses any spot on your body, then you become under her control as a spy. That's why Viper and I examined you that night. Don't you remember?", said Tigress as she sat down and rubbed her forehead. She felt weak from vomiting, not eating, and transporting herself up here. Not to mention all the stress building up in her head.
Song just looked at the floor and shook slightly,"Seal..."
Tigress continued to rub her head, but looked at Song as Po and Shiro came in. Shiro went to Song's side and knelt beside her.
"Song. Song, what's wrong? Are you okay?", he asked in a worried tone.
Song looked at Shiro. Her face was pale, yet you could hardly tell through her fur."Wrong..."
"What's wrong with her?", asked Po.
Tigress glanced at the door, sensing that no one had followed Po and Shiro. She stared at the floor as she rested her elbows on her knees and rubbed her temples."Song was kissed by a black female panther. And she said that she's 'one of them now'. At first I thought that she might have the seal on her lips, but it hasn't appeared."
"A panther? Well where is she?", snapped Shiro, who was getting increasingly jealous that someone kissed his Song.
"She knew black magic, Shiro. She turned into some kind of smoke and went out the window before I could stop her."
"But wait, isn't that what happens when the Demon herself kisses them? And Moeru is a red lion, how can she be a black panther too?", said Po.
"That's what worries me. I mean, look at Song. Look at how she's acting.", she said.
Song's whole body shook. Shiro hugged her close to his chest, but she still shook as if she was back in the Fubuki mountains. She did not blink unless she heard her name. And she would not speak unless someone spoke to her directly, even then she would only utter a single word from the sentence.
"Song. Song, look at me.", said Shiro as he rubbed her shoulder. She blinked a couple of times but would not move her head.
"Song..."
Po looked over at the leopards for a minute from where he stood next to Tigress, then he looked at his mate."Hun...search out her being. Can you sense her?"
Tigress immediately shook her head as she looked over at the two leopards as well,"No. I can't sense her at all. It's like she's hollow inside..."
Po balled his paws into fists,"They took her..."
Tigress stood up and looked at Po. She nodded to show she understood as well. Shiro looked over at the two with a glare.
"What do you mean they took her? She's sitting right here!", he said. For the first time in their lives, as Tai Lung or Shiro, Tigress and Po saw tears in the snow leopard's eyes.
"They have her soul, Shiro.", said Po softly."They have her soul and they'll try to control her from this point on."
Shiro stared at them for a minute, letting their words sink in. Then he looked at Song and picked her up, laid her down on their bed and kissed her lips softly in the hopes that by some fairytale she would wake from her trance. But she didn't.
Shiro straightened up and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?", asked Po.
Shiro stopped and shook his head."I...I don't know. But something inside me keeps telling me to look at that scroll you had before."
Po and Tigress exchanged a look of wariness.
"Well why don't you stay here with Song, we'll go get it for you. Do you want us to bring up any food? You hardly ate anything before we came up here.", said Po.
Shiro eyed the two."That's okay, I can get it.", he started to walk to the door again, but Po put his arm out to block him.
"That's a very special scroll Shiro, and it is mine. I will bring it to you when I am ready."
Shiro growled softly, but nodded and pulled a chair up beside the bed to sit down and watch over Song.
Tigress and Po left the room and went downstairs. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Tigress immediately started the conversation that both of them were aching to start the moment Shiro asked for the Scroll.
"I say we don't give it to him."
"Of course not. But since Master Oogway vouched for him we need to at least consider it. Maybe this was part of his plan.", he replied as they entered the dining room.
She sighed,"I still don't like it."
"Is everything alright up there?", asked Jiu-Ne.
"Not entirely, mom.", sighed Tigress."We will explain later.", she turned her head to look at the panda next to her."Po, are you going to speak with Master Oogway again?"
"Yes. We need his guidance if there ever was a time for it.", nodded Po.
"Can I come?", asked Monkey.
"Me too!", said Mantis.
"Guys, guys, it's not as simple as taking a trip down the Thousand Steps. Bringing someone to the 'Spirit' World is 'spiritually' exausting. And I only brought Tigress because she's my cute fuzzy soulmate of awesomness.", he said as he pointed a thumb to Tigress, who blushed and laughed softly.
The primate and bug rolled their eyes.
"Please Po? I want to see Dieh again.", said Monkey.
Po sighed."FIne, but...do exactly what I tell you to do, okay?"
Monkey nodded and walked into the sitting room to wait for Po and to mentally prepare himself.
Po pulled Tigress into his arms and kissed her passionately. She kissed back after cupping his face in her paws. Everyone at the table either averted their eyes, rolled their eyes or tried to ignore them by focusing on their meal.
After a good five minutes of kissing, Po finally pulled back with a smile. Tigress smiled back, her cheeks were red."And what was that for?", she purred and leaned against him, her tail swaying happily.
"Monkey and I will probably be gone for a while and I wanted that kiss to last.", said Po.
"I see. Would you like a little...optimism to get you closer to the city?", she asked with a wink.
Po chuckled,"Actually that probably wouldn't be a bad idea."
Tigress purred and led him back upstairs.
Viper sighed and shook her head. Jiu-Ne smirked and raised a brow.
"Do they always act like that?", asked the older tiger.
"Prrrretty much.", said Mantis before biting into his biscuit.
Meanwhile, in the slums of the city stood a restaurant where a few people were enjoying their meals. It was a little dark inside. People usually kept to themselves and aimed to keep it that way, so no one sat close to each other. Infact all four corners of the dining area had at least one person occupying a table. But one group in particular was making everyone in the restaurant wish they had eaten somewhere else. There were three off duty guards, all being of the twelve that had stood guard over the main gate of the Exterior Walls of the Villas a couple days ago. They were laughing too loud, they were breaking their glasses, and they were even flirting a little too boldly with the waitresses. Their flirts got more and more bold with every drop of alcohol they consumed. A lone person sat in another corner watching the three. The person had been following the guards all day trying to find the perfect moment to strike. And as her time in the restaurant drew out, the feeling of the time to strike felt closer and closer.
Just then a rather annoyed yet pretty young lizard walked to the three rhinos and set their beers down on the table. She began to walk away, but one of the guards stopped her.
"Heheheh, hey baby you keep getting more and more attractive every time you come out here. You an angel or somethin?", he asked after grabbing her arm a little too hard.
The lizard winced and shook her head,"No sir. But I have other duties to see to, so if you don't mind letting go-"
"Oh? Then you must be a devil then. But don't worry I can handle a little heat.", he chuckled and grabbed her other arm. The lizard panicked now as she dropped her tray and tried to pull away from him as he stood up. The other guards did nothing but egg him on.
"Please sir let go of me!", she yelled. But it was too late. The drunkeness of the rhino had put him passed rational thought. He slammed her onto a table to make her lay down. He grabbed her throat with one hand to make sure she didn't struggle as his other hand crawled up her skirt. The waitress struggled, but he tightened his grip, causing her to stop resisting him. The rhino was just about to pull down her underwear when he felt something hit his eye. Hard. He groaned and let go of the lizard as he put a hand over his eye. He and his friends looked over at the figure now standing at the other end of the restaurant.
"Leave. Her. Alone.", hissed the figure..
"You little bitch, I'll kill you for that!", the rhino charged at her, but the woman jumped over him with ease and kicked him in the back of the head with a mere forward flip. This sent him flying into the wall as her kicked caused him to become too dizzy to see which end was up. The other two ran over to her as they took out their spears. As they reached her, she quickly kicked the spears away into another wall with her left leg, and while still in midair she slammed her right knee into the two's faces in a domino effect.
The female looked at the rhinos to make sure they stayed down, then she walked over to the chatty one and grabbed him by the collar.
"Where is the bird?", she asked through bared fangs.
"W-What bird?", the rhino replied.
"The crane that came to this city. He came with the Dragon Warrior and his crew! Tell me where he is!", she hissed.
"Oh th-the Dragon Warrior! Yes, he and his group are staying at the Dragon Palace in the Interior Walls of the city! They arrived only days ago!", he trembled.
"Good, now was that so hard?", she said before slapping him in the face for good measure and standing up straight. As she left, the lizard, who had just recovered from the assault, hid in the kitchen.
The female came out into the open as the bright sun revealed her form. She was a mountain cat with tan fur and brown spots who wore a black tunic and dark blue pants. She wore no shoes, but the gloves that covered her paws were black like her tunic. She also had a red sash around her waist. The feline walked down the street on her way to the Interior Wall doing her best to avoid the gazes of any guards hanging around. Once she made it to the wall, she looked around to make sure no one was watching. Ever the bold one she immediately clawed her way up the stone wall behind a tall tree, making holes imbetween the bricks with her sharp claws that had long ago made conspicuous openings in the fingertips of her gloves.
Once she found her way to the top she sighed softly and gazed at the Villas, wondering which was the Dragon Palace. Her ear twitched as she heard a wooshing sound. She dodged an arrow aimed for her head by merely leaning her head to the left. She looked at the one who shot the arrow. Another rhino. And he was at the top of a watch tower. she smirked and fell head first off of the wall. It didn't take her long to land on the palace below her as her feet made a light thump.
The cat swiftly ran acrossed the roof as she sniffed the air and dodged the arrows. Finally she caught the scent she hadn't smelled it years. A smile curved over her lips as she dashed for the Dragon Palace which was two Villas away.
Back at the palace, Po and Monkey had finally started meditating. A very happy tiger sat on a couch watching them as she continuously purred, grooming the fur on her face with her claws. The others sat around the primate and panda as well, but they were much quieter about it.
Jiu-Ne gasped a bit as Po's eyes glowed, and they all winced when Po and Monkey immediately started receiving cuts on their legs and arms, bruises on their faces and torsos, and Po's ear even started to bleed. But just as quickly as they had exited their minds they came back panting. Tigress instantly got up and walked over to Po as he stood, smiling at him, but still looked at him with concern.
"How long were you gone this time?", she asked rubbing his most likely empty stomach. He hugged her tightly and sighed heavily. It was then she noticed over Po's shoulder Monkey kissing the floor.
"Three years, babe.", he replied.
Tigress blinked and looked at him."How did that happen? When we travelled there we made it to the city in a few hours."
"Ask Monkey.", said Po in an annoyed tone. Everyone looked at him expectantly.
The primate shrugged nervously."I may or may not have drank a little bit of scotch before we left?"
"Sent us halfway to the other side of the world!", exclaimed Po.
"Hey I said I was sorry like a thousand times!"
"But you didn't help matters when you gave us away in that dungeon!"
"Hey if I hadn't said anything that chick would have totally raped us, and that's a sacrifice for me man cus you get laid all the time and I haven't had sex in months!"
Tigress' ear twitched and she cleared her throat. Po looked at her and sighed,"It's a long story, this ghoul that inhabited a castle told us she could show us a shortcut and she caught us by surprise." After Tigress nodded Po let out a yelp."Oh I almost forgot, Master Oogway told us something important.", he said as he ran to the door. Monkey just plopped down on the sofa and immediately fell asleep.
Po opened the door just as the mountain cat ran inside and hid behind Po, about two dozen guards at the door.
"Master Po, this woman assaulted three of my men and is now tresspassing, please hand her over to us.", growled the commander.
"Actually we were expecting her, thank you.", and with that Po closed the door on the furious rhinos.
"Mei Ling!", yelled Crane as he flew over to the cat and hugged her. She returned the hug and laughed.
"Crane, it's so good to see you.", she said.
"Good to see you too.", smiled Crane.
"Okay you two break it up for a second, we've got business to discuss and not a lot of time to discuss it. Mei Ling, are you hungry?" asked Po as he walked passed her and Crane.
Mei Ling blinked."Well maybe a little. How did you kn-"
"Master Oogway.", said Po as he walked to the kitchen followed by Tigress.
Mantis groaned as he hopped towards the dining room along with everyone else, excluding a sleeping Monkey."Why can't we stop moving back and forth? it's getting monotonous."
"Trust me buddy, you're gonna wanna hear this."Po called back with a laugh as he began to cook noodles for himself and Mei Ling, and some extra for Monkey when he woke up.
After they ate amongst the patiently waiting group, Mei Ling spoke up first.
"Okay first of all, Dragon Warrior, these are amazing. Second. I've been sent here by Master Oogway to help in this war."
"That's awesome!", said Crane a little more enthusiastically than he'd meant to sound.
Po chuckled,"And that's not the best part, not even close. Master Oogway has been training Mei Ling to perform a special talent of Spirit Worldly powers.", said Po with his signiture grin.
"What talent is that?", asked Viper.
"How to transfer Chi into plants.", smiled Mei Ling proudly.
"Thats so cool, now we can turn the Demon into a weed and stomp on her!", said Mantis.
"Not transform, transfer. I can make plants grow.", she said.
"Ohhhh.", Mantis said and blushed at his own stupidity.
"But now we also know when Moeru is going to strike!", said Po excitedly.
Everyone looked at him as Koru made an almost inaudible growl. He mumbled,"Not three months, is it?"
Po rolled his eyes."No, she's made her base at the Jade Palace! And won't be coming for another five months!", said Po.
"And how is that good news?", asked Crane being one of the few who still did not know of Po's vision.
"Well...let's just say somebody we thought would not be able to help us will indeed be in the fight.", Po said smirking. TIgress hugged Po tightly.
"This is so great, honey. i told you something would allow us to avoid this.", she purred and cried happy tears as she nuzzled his neck.
"And again that's not the best part.", said Po, who was grinning ear to ear.
Tigress, who could hardly contain her amusement, giggled,"Okay Po, I don't see how it could be better than what you just told us, but what is it?"
Po looked at everyone, then at Tigress with glee in his eyes."I found more pandas."
