"What?" tigress cried.
"yeah" po replied slowly, looking terrified.
Tigress was silent. No wonder she'd shouted at her. She thought she was going out with her boyfriend!
"oh viper" she whispered, watching as the little snake's chest moved up and down as she slept.
The others where awake now and leaving the tents. Viper opened her eyes noticed the others were looking at her and recoiled back so she was sitting against a great blossom tree sporting the most beautiful blossom she had ever seen.
Monkey gave a huge yawn. "I slept so much better in that hotel I can tell you!" he joked to the others amusement.
Everyone laughed, viper gave what looked like a pained grimace. Master Shifu appeared out of his Tent and joined the others.
"good morning masters! Last day of traveling today! we'll be at the village of pleasure by tonight!" he instructed.
"um master shifu, you didn't happen to bring any extra food, did you? Only we've ran out" po asked.
" I thought you bought plenty of food!" master shifu wondered.
"we bought the food it just didn't make it to everyone's tummies." crane squeaked as he glared at po who instantly turned away, whistling.
Master shifu sighed and turned back to his tent, only then did he notice viper huddled under the blossom tree.
"master viper? I hope you didn't sleep there last night?" he asked looking worried. The others all turned to look at viper.
"well" viper began. She didn't really know what too say. "umm I slept closer to the fire, so it was warm" she added to Shifu's horrified expression.
Crane felt guilty. He didn't want viper to sleep outside, she could get too cold easier than the others. He frowned. Tigress put her paw on his shoulder.
Viper barely contained the hiss escaping from her mouth. Shifu turned to look at crane and when he did viper slipped away behind the blossom tree and through the forest. That's it! I'm going home! She cried in her head. She knew she was near her old village; it had said so on the map.
Meanwhile, shifu turned back to the blossom tree, shocked to see viper wasn't there.
"where is she? Where's viper?" he called to the air should she come slithering back to him. Nothing. The others all looked dumbstruck. They called and called her name but viper was too far away to hear them.
At last she slunk behind a bush and when she came out the other side, she could see it. Her village. It was beautiful. Nestled among forests of Dark green and lakes of aqua blue it stood tall and proud. She began to slither down the hill towards it. As she arrived, she could begin to make out the shops and signs. Every one brought back a gorgeous memory of her playing there. She slithered through the village, citizens called and shouted to her, surprised and glad their hero was back. She took no notice of them however she simply slunk through right to the edge of the village where her father and mother's Palace stood.
It was a house of pure royal red. The roof was jade green like the jade Palace and an extremely long marble staircase wound up to it. In front of the house was a marble fountain with a beautiful statue of her father nestled among the sparkling waters pouring down. She climbed the steps and arrived outside the Great Oak doors, carved so that two snake heads peered down from them.
She took a deep breath. Raised her tail, and knocked on the door. She heard movement inside and then the door opened to reveal her mother. She was the spitting image of her. Light green with a dark green back, beautiful symbols etched across her body and two Lotus hair flowers resting on her head.
"viper! My dear!" she cried hugging her eldest daughter. "whatever are you doing home?"
Viper sighed. "hello mama. I'll tell you later, where's father?" viper spoke in a sad, defeatist voice.
Her mother noticed this and frowned. "he's in here" she began to lead her inside.
The saloon of the viper Palace was a gorgeous room. It had a marble floor, with an enormous carved marble staircase heading upwards in the middle of it. The walls were decorated with great paintings of viper's family, all surrounded by carved gold frames. Viper and her mother slithered through the hallway just as grand master viper began to descend the marble staircase.
He was a brown tree viper with a snow-white moustache in the same fashion as master Shifu's; two long, thin hairs swaying as he moved. Grand master Viper arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Two other snakes appeared at both his sides. Both were still, frozen with a guard of honour. Grand master viper didn't seem overly shocked to see viper, he simply nodded to the two snakes who left and turned to his daughter.
"my eldest daughter, you have returned to the house of your childhood, why?" he asked bowing to her as viper and her mother did the same.
"I need to speak too you both, it's important"
Grand master viper, lady viper and viper were sitting in the grand living room. A room of Royal red walls and furniture and gold curtains. A marble fireplace adorned with a crystal clock sat with a blazing golden fire roaring in it. There was also many wooden bookcases and a rather dusty marble piano, the lid covered with crystal figurines.
"so, why did you leave the jade Palace?" asked grand master viper as he used his tail to pick up a tea cup of the marble coffee table.
"I left becau-" she stopped as an elderly snake and three baby viper's skidded into the room.
"mama, I thought you said the triplets were asleep still!" lady viper chuckled as the three tiny viper's raced over to viper to hug her.
"they were asleep darling, not still are" the elderly viper smiled. "why hello viper! Whatever are you doing away from the jade Palace?"
"hello grandmama!" viper smiled back as she hugged her. Great mistress Viper sat down as did viper's three little sisters. "I'm back home because I got into trouble while on a mission with the others"
"what sort of trouble?" squeaked Maya, the oldest of viper's sisters.
Viper blushed and then muttered. "boy trouble"
Viper's sisters all fell about laughing.
"Maya, Lucy and Veena that's not the right way to behave!" lady viper called but she was smiling too.
"I hope this trouble didn't get in the way of the mission" grand master viper wondered aloud.
"well actually" viper murmed. "he kind of cheated on me so I, maybe sort of shouted at him and then got to embarrassed to talk to him or anyone else so I escaped and came here" she finished, her eyes on the red and gold carpet not on her families faces.
"why that's just awful" lady viper Replied sadly, looking sorry for her eldest daughter.
"oh my dear," Great mistress viper sighed.
"who was it?" was great master viper's only input.
"master crane, father" viper replied, still not looking at her family. "and tigress"
"tigress? But I thought you and her were great friends?" lady viper speculated.
"we were" viper replied. She could feel tears brimming in her eyes as she said it. She still couldn't believe what her friend had done.
"go to bed viper. We will continue this discussion later, I'm sure you are tired." Instructed her father.
"yes father" viper responded and left the room, the triplets rushing after her.
"so did you kiss master crane?" asked Maya cheekily as viper began to ascend the Marble steps.
"did you cry after he cheated on you?" Lucy (the youngest of the three) demanded.
"What? Oh yeah we kissed" viper Murmed not really paying attention as they approached the final few steps.
Lucy and Maya both made vomiting noises as viper wondered down the hallway eventually reaching the end and bidding Good day to the triplets. She entered the room, shut the door behind her and slunk to her bed.
Her room was the second biggest bedroom in the house after mama's and papa's. It was all decorated in light blue with silver curtains and a grand White bed with White silk sheets and White armchairs in the corner. She lay on her bed, her head deep in the sheets trying to realise what she just did. She abandoned the jade palace, her friends and kung fu. She abandoned her post as master viper of the revered furious five and came home, what a disgustingly cowardly thing to do.
There was a quiet knock at the door. She pulled her head up, not surprised too see lipstick and mascara smears on her crisp white sheets.
"It's Veena" came a muffled voice from the door.
"oh come in Veens" viper called.
Veena slithered into her room and slunk up to viper's bed. "are you ok?"
"no. I just realised what I just did. I'll never be able to return to the furious five" viper grumbled.
Veena frowned. She wanted to help her sister but she didn't know how. "you could go and find them" she suggested.
"I couldn't. I couldn't show my face to them again. After I abandoned them and Tong Fo. I'll be defiantly blacklisted from every kung fu temple." At this she felt her head drop back into her sheets again.
Veena passed her a cloth to wipe the smeared make up off her face. "but what would you do here?"
"I don't know? Dance"
"do you want to spend your life dancing? never doing kung fu? being the furious five member to quit because of a broken heart?" Veena asked her.
Viper frowned at her. "that looks like the way I'm heading"
High up in the mountains, the rest of the warriors, master shifu and Po were all crossing a wooden bridge across a large verge. Looking down mantis saw the cluster of houses that was viper's village.
"wow, look at that place!" he yelled to the others.
"forget the village, look at that massive palace!" po cried pointing to the viper palace sitting at the top of the marble staircase. "I wonder who lives there?"
"probably some really wealthy old lady" monkey joked.
"or a kung fu master!" tigress added.
"who do you think lives their master?" asked po.
"I don't care who lives there and you shouldn't either, we haven't got time to ponder things like that, we have to find Tong Fo." Master Shifu replied curtly. He knew exactly who lived in the palace and he knew exactly who was there now.
"I think you really ought to go back. I don't believe my sister would ever quit anything." Veena complimented as she passed viper another tissue to wipe her face. "your master Viper, the daughter of grand master viper and one of the revered furious five. You're the only reptile in the furious five and you're the one and only true master of the viper kung fu technique. If you leave then you won't be any of those well except the daughter of father. Do you really want that?"
"of course not" viper hissed.
"well then go back to them!" Veena cried. "go right up to Tong Fo and crane and tigress and all of them and shout; my name is master viper and my courage is greater than my pain"
"my courage is greater than my pain? That doesn't mean anything!" viper replied.
"it does. It means your courage is greater than the pain you suffered from crane and your embarrassment!" Veena was adamant. "you have too go" she added sadly. "you can't quit!"
Viper smiled at her sister. "I will go. Thank you Veena." viper replied and adjusted the lotus flowers on her head and re applied her make up. She hugged her sister and left the room. in the hallway she ran into her mother.
"are you going?" lady viper asked.
"yes, I have too"
Lady viper smiled and hugged her daughter. "well done love"
The warriors had arrived at the village of pleasure. It was a collection of small houses and pebble streets all encased in a tall stone wall. The only way inside was through the wrought iron gates at the front dotted with rhino guards.
"now once we're inside everyone head to the centre of the village where Tong Fo lives now." Master Shifu ordered.
"who used to rule the village?" tigress asked.
" grand-master horse" Master shifu replied. "and he used to train at the jade palace when he was young so he is an expert kung fu master!"
"what happened to him?" mantis demanded.
"Tong Fo used the vase of properties on him so he became the opposite of himself. A strong, intelligent warrior into a dumb, weak simpleton. He and his family were driven into jail and being weak and un-intelligent master horse was unable to think of an escape" Shifu answered calmly as he read the map clutched in his hand.
"if he wasn't able to beat Tong Fo we probably won't" monkey added sadly.
"of course we will! I'm the bodacious dragon warrior don't forget!" po cried obnoxiously.
"we hadn't" tigress grumbled.
"now go!" Master Shifu instructed. "and remember you can't let the vase smash. If it does everything that it has changed will stay changed forever!"
Viper was slithering through the village as fast as she could. Ducking and weaving she managed to make it out of the village. She then stopped. The safest route would be to head back up to where the others camped and go from there but that could take hours. She would have to go straight up the mountain in front of her and over the other side. She breathed in and began the treacherous trek up the rocky hillside.
The warriors were finally fighting the guards after sneaking up on them for half an hour. Everyone kept to their traditional fighting techniques of course. Monkey swung from branches and used his tail as an extra arm to punch. Mantis hopped from guard to guard tapping their pressure points. Tigress punched and kicked, throwing her opponents around as she did so. Crane summoned a mighty wind and knocked the guards flying everywhere while master shifu used ougway's staff to knock out the guards.
They had nearly made it too the gates. "this is too easy!" po remarked as he used his big tummy to bump guards away from him.
"nothing is ever too easy" master shifu added curtly.
Viper was at the top of the mountain. If she looked down one way she could see her village and her parents house and if she looked the other way she could see fields and a village surrounded by a wall and guards lying knocked out everywhere. She smiled. Their already here. She started towards it as fast as she could. She crossed the same bridge the others had crossed and arrived outside the wrought iron gates.
The warriors were breathing heavily. That was a lot of guards. But they had did it, they were inside the walls of the village. The village was a catastrophic. More guards were posted everywhere and citizens were cowering inside their homes, too afraid too fight. There were no stalls outside and the only food was spread out on a table and even that looked like it could've been polished off quite easily. It reminded everyone of Gongmen city.
In the centre of the village stood an enormous stone house surrounded by more guards. Flickering gold light sprayed out of the small windows. The seven warriors approached the house just as a voice behind them sounded.
"why hello furious five and the dragon warrior. I see you got past my guards ok then. Well here are some more!" Tong Fo hissed as he called over a hundred more guards towards them. He was clutching the vase of properties in his right hand triumphantly.
Viper cautiously began to move through the village. It reminded her of Gongmen city too but there was something missing. There were no alive guards (only dead ones lying crumpled on the ground) and no warriors.
"now," Tong Fo instructed as he walked up and down the path set in front of the cages the warriors were sat in. "today you will all witness something quite spectacular! You will witness me take over the world!" he gave a loud chortle. "how perfect" he added in a whisper.
The warriors were all sitting in an enormous cage under the stone house. It had barred doors and windows and only one entry in and out. Through The staircase hidden in Tong Fo's throne room.
A guard entered the room. "there…there's only seven sir" he whimpered, cowering under Tong Fo's glowering eyes.
"what?" he glared at the guard.
"there's only seven warriors in the cage sir"
"Look I know what you said! I was adding the what for dramatic emphasis!" Tong Fo yelled. He approached the cage and began to count the heads inside. "there's…One, two, three….Your right where's the snake?" he asked.
"not here" replied crane sulkily.
"well, where is she?" Tong Fo cried.
"we don't know" monkey replied honestly.
Tong Fo looked ready to explode. He pointed to two guards. "find the snake as fast as you can and bring her too me" he instructed and then added to the guard standing by the cage; "don't let her come in and free them! You understand? Good." And left the prison muttering to himself.
"why is it we always end up in situations like this?" mantis demanded.
"we're warriors. It's kind of in the job description to get nearly killed a couple of times" po replied.
"do you think viper will be ok?" crane asked the prison in general. He was frowning. He missed her a lot.
Everyone was silent. They hadn't spoken about viper since she left and even then, they barely shared eye contact with her as she was in such a sad mood.
"if she's intelligent she'll know what to do. And she is." Master shifu answered through the silence.
Viper was still searching for her friends in the village. Suddenly she turned a corner and saw Tong Fo and three guards marching towards her.
"ah! The last warrior! I'm glad we found you!" Tong Fo cried, his hand still clamped around the vase of properties. He advanced towards her.
Viper gasped and began backing away. Unfortunately two more guards were coming from the other way. She started hitting them, wrapping herself round their heads and arms and making them punch themselves. She flung through the air, hitting and kicking as many as she could. Reeling back, the guards collapsed on the floor, dripping blood.
Now only Tong Fo stood against her. She catapulted towards him, wrapping herself round his face and his abnormally big eyes. Struggling, Tong Fo grabbed her body, he heaved it off his eyes but viper was still attached to him. She wrung herself around his feet and he tripped. She wrapped her self around him like a rope and grabbed the vase out of his hand with her tail.
She clutched the vase too her chest. Recoiling back as fast as she could she held the vase above the ground. Tong Fo ran after her, she slithered back to the stone house as fast as she could, the vase bobbing up and down as she did so. It was then as she slunk past the house, she remembered what the vase could do. Holding it she could make something the opposite of itself. She clutched it tighter and it glowed a burning orange. She whispered into it. I want the guards on tong fo's side to find the other warriors. Again and again, eventually the vase stopped glowing.
"what are you doing?" Tong fo cried as he sprinted behind her.
Deep down in the house's prison, the guards from outside came down the staircase from the house and began opening the cage the warriors were in.
"what's going on?" mantis yelled.
"I think the guard's letting Us out!" po cried joyously.
Master shifu looked confused and then he smiled. Well done master viper he thought to himself.
Viper was still slithering at top speed. But as she got slower and slower Tong Fo sped up. He finally caught up and gripped the vase. Viper held the two handles tightly and the two struggled.
"give me the vase!" screamed Tong Fo beside himself with rage. Viper clung to it with her life. They had stopped running now just scrambling for the vase. Tong Fo used one hand to grab the vase and with the other he began slapping viper across the face. Spluttering, it took all her strength to cling to the vase.
The other warriors burst out of the house's doors Justin time too see Tong Fo punch viper in the mouth and grab the vase while she reeled back in pain. The other warriors and viper All took after Tong Fo who was sprinting along the pebbled paths. He had noticed the others all following him and suddenly had an idea.
He grabbed a knife from the window of a house where there was a kitchen and hurled it back at the warriors. He had trained under the best knife thrower in the land he had excellent aim.
The knife flew through the air as if in slow motion and straight towards crane's heart.
"noooooo!" viper cried and flung herself in front of him. The knife hit her squarely in the chest. In her last bating breaths she threw herself onto Tong Fo, wrestled the vase of him and chucked it backwards.
She didn't see if someone caught it.
She didn't see if crane was alright.
She had completely blacked out.