Author's note: Here it is. Hope it's worth the wait. Not much to say about this chapter except, I hope you're ready.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KUNG FU PANDA

Enjoy... If you can.


A Horrible Truth

Crunching leaves accompany the hopeless thuds of the warriors' feet, venturing off towards a mountain far off in the distance. In spite of its massive size, they only noticed it now, their attention previously preoccupied with capturing Nuba. No trees stand in their way of getting to the mountain, only the lifeless grass and broken up leaves littering the ground. Another crackle of thunder booms through the skies, another ethereal warning. Frozen winds pierce through the fur of each warrior, resulting in involuntary trembles from all but Tigress. Their pillar cannot fall, her strength has to stand against nature itself in spite of the dread eating away at her subconscious. Dread that she can understand given their current situation, but its intensity is what truly eludes her. They drag themselves along the clearing regardless of their urgency, the anticipation of what awaits them making their hearts sink faster than an anchor plunged into the deepest sea.

Within almost an hour's worth of walking, they arrive at the foot of the mountain and circle around its right side. Tigress motions her paw over to Po, who hands her the scroll almost instantaneously. She unfurls it as they continue their way around the mountain, carefully scanning its contents in case of any mistake that they might've made. At seeing nothing of the sort, she rolls it back up as they all stop.

They see the mouth of the cave right before them. Its jagged, rocky teeth sharper than a blade. All signs of vegetation gone. Nothing but darkness lies within the bowels of the cavern. Though Tigress would have little trouble in that area due to her feline eyes, the others will surely suffer. She kneels towards the ground and quickly salvages a thick branch of wood lying in the siphoned grass. She then approaches the side of the mountain, pushing the branch further towards that side and unsheathing her claws. With several sharp strikes of her claw against that rough surface, the sparks rain down upon the branch only lighting it up on her final attempt. Though the fire will certainly burn out her makeshift torch in a relatively short time, it should be enough. Amber orbs stare at the other five warriors, the embers of the fire amplifying her serious glare. "Be prepared for anything." She coldly commands, her voice effortlessly masking her anxiousness. They all sharply nod, before cautiously plunging themselves into the cave's unrelenting blackness.

They traverse through endless mounds of stone and rock, some having to duck their heads at stalactites every so often. Their only source of light being the spot of fire from their torch. Needing to keep track of their direction with the scroll, Tigress hands the torch over to Po with a warning look. Though he has improved so much in his mastery of Kung Fu, his clumsiness has been something that none of the warriors could ever be capable of fixing. He simply responds with a nod of his head as they all continue their path along the claustrophobic cave. A silent journey, save for the occasional drip of water within the cave or the fading patter of rain that had begun falling outside.

Deeper into the cave they go, with amber orbs focused solely on the scroll whilst sky blue eyes dart around the place in a fearful trance. Granted she has experienced worse than going into a dark cave in her past missions, but the ominous air around her certainly had Viper spooked. Crane, Monkey and Mantis keep a close eye around their teammates, anticipating an ambush from each side they have on lockdown. Yellow eyes swimming in paranoia, blue eyes touched by anger and hazel eyes finely tuned in concentration. Po, however, looks over Tigress' shoulder in curiosity. "Does it say anything about the warriors? As in, like, who they were and stuff?" He finally breaks the tense silence built amongst themselves, though he does it quietly.

With her eyes still focused on the scroll, she shakes her head, "No. But Fuhuo does make it clear that he knows something about them. Then again, his knowledge might be limited as well." She explains which results in Po's curious expression deflating into a pout of childish disappointment, "As far as I can tell, this scroll is meant to be a map for specific spots within Xiwang Valley. Most likely meant to get subjects for his experiments."

"Wait, he's a necromancer, right?" The panda master asks, resulting in a curt nod from the orange feline, her eyes narrowing on a specific detail within the scroll's directions, "I thought they only do stuff to dead people? Why would he want to know about other locations in Xiwang Valley?"

Tigress still focuses on that particular detail while answering the baffled dragon warrior, "I can't say for certain. Only that this is a map with detailed routes of entering the warrior village. Nothing else." She looks up from the scroll and switches her attention to the rock wall on her right, gliding her paw across it in search of something.

"Aw, that sucks." Po mutters under his breath, his childish mannerisms still managing a snort from Mantis and a smirk from Viper. Suddenly, Tigress raises her left paw up, motioning for the whole group to stop. As the five watch the tiger feeling the jagged wall, a look of anticipation invades their faces, fully aware of what she is trying to find. She begins to knock on the wall, attempting to listen out for something. Dissatisfied, she walks along the wall whilst continuously knocking until her ears pick up a change in the sound. She leans closer into the wall, making sure she had heard correctly as she knocks on it again. Amber orbs look to the other five warriors whose faces filter into a mix of shock and surprise. A hollow rock wall. No doubt a secret entrance. Tigress carefully places her paws upon it and with a grunt, pushes it forward into a new corridor. She pushes it to the left side, a clear empty space large enough to store it. Now done with the fake wall, she turns to see just where her discovery has led them to.

Several sets of hand-made cobblestone stairs leading up stands before her, the ceiling of the cave being just enough to prevent her from seeing where it leads. The tiger master looks to the walls, seeing the already lit torches lining them and going up with the stairs. That insidious feeling creeps into her head again, this time screaming at her to turn back… And part of her wants to listen. She quickly shakes her head at that notion, somewhat disgusted at herself for even thinking that. Before she can ponder on what is going on in her head, she hears her friends walk into the corridor. "Woah, that's so cool." Po comments, his fanboyish tendencies coming back despite knowing of their horrid situation, "Well, looks like we won't be needing this." He motions to the torch he is still carrying.

"Wait." Crane stops him, though he can't disagree with the panda's conclusion considering how well lit the staircase is, "We're probably gonna need that for when we leave." He explains, thankful that Po didn't try to do anything rash with their torch.

Jade orbs widen slightly, somewhat embarrassed by his quickly drawn conclusion, "Right, right. Good thinking." The panda master lightly laughs, putting out the light of his handheld torch and keeping the branch in one of his robe pockets. With that out of the way, the five warriors look to their feline leader who silently nods and begins walking up the stairs. With no other signal needed, they follow her up the stairs, still wary of whatever could be roaming around within the corridors regardless of the increased light.

Though these flights of stairs are microscopic in comparison to the thousand steps, it certainly is more than the six warriors have expected, with them unable to see their destination at even the halfway point. Their climb is silent as it had been before, yet this time it is not only in caution of whatever the enemy has in store for them. No. As the warriors draw nearer to the top, an eerie sensation phases into each of them, sending shivers through their very souls. None of them can explain this strange fear. Especially not the orange feline, whose feeling of dread clouds her mind and makes her heart beat faster than before. Before any of them can properly comprehend what could possibly be making them feel this way, they arrive at the top of the staircase with looks of horror bleeding onto their faces at the sight before them with Tigress struggling to keep her cold mask preserved.

A gigantic, sprawling cavern is what they are greeted to with a multitude of buildings and huts inhabiting its space. Lit torches circle around the perimeter of the isolated village, leaving the buildings drowned in a shadowy mist. This darkness not being helped by the sky being blocked by the village's mountainous ceiling. The few huts and houses they can see face the peak of their degradation; their skeletal structures laid bare for the entire cavern to see. Some having their roofs and walls tilted at a dangerous angle. However, these are not the things that captured the warriors' attention. These are not the things that shook the hearts of the bravest warriors in all of China. No.

In the midst of the village houses and streets lie row upon row of decrepit skeletons. Skulls cracked. Ribs shattered into miniscule fragments. Jaws hanging open, silently screaming for help. For the Jade Palace warriors, these remains seem almost infinite, for even within the darkened haze of the village centre they can make out the silhouettes of more deceased people. Some layered in a blanket of dust, time decaying them even further. Some so disfigured and deformed that they can no longer be distinguished as an actual person, their limbs jutting out in whatever direction possible. Some… Smaller than others… Younger. Viper's lip quivers at the idea that children could've been involved in whatever had happened here.

"So, this is what happened to the warriors." Po whispers, memories of Lord Shen's panda massacre flooding his mind and burying his heart in a wave of despair that he had hoped to never feel again. "They're all… Dead." His voice cracks slightly at the last word. Though he had seen the panda village with his own eyes, he hadn't seen the bodies of the ones Shen had killed. Not like this. So many innocent souls. All lost. All snuffed out with one final dying scream.

Amber orbs cannot help but stare at the devastation before her. At each glance of one of the bodies, her blood burns more intensely. Her paws clenched so tightly that they furiously shake. Though her rage is undeniable, Tigress notices something odd. Her heart aching. An unrelenting stinging in the back of her head. And for a brief second, she could swear that she heard faint voices around her. Concerned as she may be, she continues to wear her steel disguise albeit with much more effort than before.

"Alright." Mantis sombrely states. Despite being shaken by the horrid sight, he knows that they are her for one reason. Nuba. "We're gonna need to be careful. She could be anywhere in here, so keep your eyes peeled." He commands, slightly puzzled by Tigress' lack of orders but doesn't question it. At the darkness ahead of them, Po pulls out the branch from his white robes with Tigress wordlessly unsheathing her claws and lighting the torch the same way she had done last time. They set out towards the village centre, silently deciding not to split up in case one of them is picked off by the invisible predator.

Once again, they remain unaware of the stalking tiger, standing cloaked within the wreckage of a house. Her piercing amethyst eyes focus particularly on the silent orange feline taking the lead. Regardless of her attempts to hide it, Nuba can easily see her pained heart through her amber eyes. Yet she can also see a sense of confusion in them. Sadistic anticipation flows through her body as she resists the urge to smile. Her feet carefully tread upon the broken wooden floorboards of the house, her footsteps completely muted as she follows her prey with an unflinching surveillance of the tiger master.

Piercing its way through the cloud of shadows, the orange hue of the light morphs what used to be the village square into a hellish nightmare. With this newfound light, Po and the five are able to identify ripped kung fu vests and torn hanfus on some of skeletal figures. Some even wear armour rusted by time yet scarred with horrid burn marks. One similarity they share however, are the revolting stains of blackened blood left behind by their wearers. Sky blue eyes attempt to look away, unable to take the sheer brutality of the warriors' tragic circumstance only to look at another shattered skeleton, its porcelain bones strewn around like the aftermath of an explosion.

Mantis surveys the ravaged village, attempting to keep lookout for their assailant but is unable to pry his eyes away from the bodies. The image of the little girl flashes through his head, leading its way to one more image cruelly conjured up by his mind. A village completely run down and looted, its civilians lying dead in the shops and streets. All of them punctured with arrow bolts. Mantis quickly banishes this thought however, his heart thankful of how many lives he had saved that day as his hazel orbs continue to take in the lives that had been lost here however long ago.

Master Crane walks with his comrades, the village being too dark to get an aerial view, with Monkey trailing behind him. As they look around, an overwhelming shame weighs down the masters' hearts as the countless amounts of broken remains fill their eyes, a solemn reminder of the hostages they had failed to protect from Nuba's demented game. As the langur mentally curses himself, yellow orbs focus on one haunting sight. Two charred skeletons huddled together. One clearly older than the other, futilely shielding the smaller one. At seeing this Crane stops for a mere moment as memories of his mother's protective embrace flood his mind. He clamps his beak shut and exhales loudly, a tear only just escaping his eye before he wipes it away with his wing. He follows along, clearing his throat in an attempt to hide his empathetic sorrow.

Jade orbs begrudgingly scout the phantom village, the sordid smell of death plaguing the dragon warrior's nostrils and infecting his heart with a vacuum of an unspeakable dread. In spite of his feelings however, he can't shake a certain question spinning through his head. Why does she want us here? Maybe it was a way to hide their death from the world if she defeats them… No. That would never work. Someone would get suspicious eventually. A way to break their minds. Most likely. He is ripped out of these thoughts however, as his ears pick up the distinct crunch of a piece of paper. Po picks it up, seeing a crude drawing with colours faded by time's indifference. He looks to his left, towards the building closest to him. Yet another broken-down husk, greyed out by thick layers of dust. However, his jade orbs pick up on the desks strewn around the place. The dried-out paint brushes littering the floor. The numerous small skeletons either remaining in their desks or hidden under some of the tables. His eyes widen in realisation of what this place used to be.

A school.

A venomous anger burns within Po, him gritting his teeth at whatever heinous monster would do something so cruel, so merciless. Before long however, he extinguishes this fire with several calming breaths. "Guys." He calls out sombrely, knowing how badly his friends will react to the school now turned mausoleum. "I might've found something…"

Four members of the five follow Po's voice, leaving only Tigress left in the village centre. She looks to the decayed corpses littering the streets, her anger only rising further. The aching pain in her heart and head persists, only getting worse the longer she looks upon the devastation that had befell this warrior village. Her ears twitch at the sound of a whisper and turns herself to the source of it, only to hear another whisper from a completely different direction. Her breathing becomes more intense as she attempts to decipher what is going on. Although she tries to ignore these strange occurrences by

looking towards the buildings in particular, she is instead plagued by something else. A strange sense of familiarity. Like she recognises these buildings… but how? How could she recognise any of this? These thoughts are halted however, as her amber orbs focus on one dismantled hut in particular in the far end of the village square. For some unexplainable reason she cannot help but stare at it. She walks towards it as if its beckoning her to come forth.

Po and the remaining five look through the ghostly remains of the school, mortified by the sheer number of bodies piled within. Viper looks in closer to see the words, 'Help us, please!' Painted on the walls, its ink crusted and aged. She solemnly closes her eyes at those useless pleas, wanting to desperately wash her soul clean of this dreadful place. Mantis hops onto Po's shoulder and looks upon the piece of crumpled paper in the panda's hands, "What's that?" He asks quietly, the disturbing nature of the scene in front of him subconsciously causing his voice to cower away.

As the orange feline gets closer to the hut, the pain in her heart and mind only grows, causing the tiger master to cringe slightly at how unbearable it has become. Regardless of this pain, she keeps going towards the shrivelled remains of the hut, inexplicably drawn to it by some unknown force. Once she finally reaches its front porch, she looks upon the wooden building with an intense stare. Matted with holes and scars, the poor excuse of a home looks as if it would fall at any moment. Through one of these holes, she is able to see a rusted wok and a few broken plates, yet another sign of the lives that the warriors within were torn away from. She tears her amber orbs away from the sight, baffled by how hard it is to not gaze at the wrecked home. Strangely enough, a sense of nostalgia tingles through her body, once again causing her head to spin in confusion. Before she can think on that for long, the disembodied voices and whispers reach her ears again, only louder. Her head darts to several of the possible locations of where these sounds could come from to find… Nothing. As she gives up on finding these phantom voices, her amber orbs catch something lying on the ground in front of her.

Po shows the insect master the amateur artwork. Two large stick figures and one small one, all of them holding hands. Obviously, a kid's drawing of their parents however, the child who drew this clearly added some colours to the mix. Colours that have now lost their soul, their brightness. Jade orbs look at the picture again with a melancholy glint until they notice something about how the kid used these colours. Black stripes combined with a bright yet faded colour. "You… You see those stripes, right?" Maybe he is jumping towards a conclusion, but something about those stripes bugs him. Something tells him that they're important, but he can't understand why or what is telling him this. Said insect master inspects the crumpled thing as the other 3 masters look to the two with morbid interest.

"Yeah… Hm…" Mantis responds, looking more closely at the picture with the hopes of distracting himself from the sickening scene in front of him. He points out the faded tails protruding from the figures with his pincer, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it… looks like… A drawing of a family of cats or something."

Po gives a brief nod, his jade orbs focusing even more on the picture, "Yeah, kinda does…" He trails off, something in his heart telling him that this picture means more than it seems, but he simply doesn't understand what it's trying to tell him. He looks back up to the remains of the school, his heart swelling in pity for those children that had to suffer a fate so cruel.

Tigress stares down at yet another skeleton, laid down on the front porch of the hut. This one however, has kept most of its bones and structure intact. She notes its razor-sharp claws. Its long tail. Its lethal fangs. No doubt that this villager at least was a feline. Her stomach Violently churns as she continues looking at this corpse, a deep disgust burrowing inside her. However, a warm nostalgia attempts to embellish this feeling. She looks down to her abdomen in concern. What is goi- Her thought is cut off as her eyes catch something seemingly insignificant lying next to the skeleton. Something so small, so soft… The pain in her heart and head increases as she walks towards the tiny object, her stomach joining in with her body's painful symphony. She fully identifies the object as she kneels down and picks it up, slightly cradling it in her paw. A plush toy of a tiger that is only just as big as her paw. The nostalgic warmth begins to overpower her stomach-churning disgust as she gazes at the little toy. Her amber orbs shift their focus over to the skeleton in bewilderment, trying to find some sort of explanation to her emotions running so wildly.

"Help me!"

Tigress stands up at the ear-piercing scream and takes up her kung fu stance. Her paws shaking and her breathing intense, she darts around to see the source of that sound. Yet no one is there. She starts to lower her stance until…

"You maniac! You maniac!"

Another shout startles the tiger master once again as she hyperventilates and trembles uncontrollably in her attempts to take up her stance. She takes note of her rapidly beating heart and the sweat pouring down from her head. For some damned reason, those cries sounded so familiar, though she swears that she had never heard them before. Her head darts to every single corner of the cavern village, her face melded into an expression of pure fear. Suddenly, she stops. Her arms still shaking, her breathing still heavy, and her heart still racing. Tigress' countenance changes however, at a new sound.

A baby crying.

This sound forces her amber orbs to widen, the stinging in the back of her mind transforming into a sharp, stabbing pain. She clutches her head with her paw, unable to hide her intense torment through her countenance. As the stabbing within her head only becomes worse, she momentarily closes her eyes, silently begging for her torture to stop. Silently begging for the baby's cries to stop. Her mind doesn't listen however, the infant's wailing only seeming to become louder until it is the only thing she can hear.

"Don't worry, don't worry. You'll be safe. You'll be safe, I promise." A panicked female voice rings out through her skull, silencing the baby's cries. A voice that sounds so foreign to the tiger master, yet so familiar.

Amber orbs opened in complete terror, the incessant sting of youthful tears barraging her senses. She looked up, seeing the female orange tiger that carried her in her arms as she clutched her tiger plush tightly in her tiny paws. Sapphire eyes coated with an unprecedented amount of worry gazed upon her, a melancholic smile placed upon her face, "Don't cry, please…" her eyes darted around the rocky village, ignoring the multitude of tigers that ran to wherever they could in a manic frenzy. Ignoring the few who pursued whatever it was that had decided to attack them. The female tiger looked back towards Tigress, cooing to her, "Don't worry. Your father will be here soon."

Tigress' eyes flash open in complete shock. Could she be hallucinating? A manic projection of her mind? Or perhaps… It's a memory. One repressed for so long that there is simply no way she ever could've recovered it. Regardless of what it is, the tiger master has only one thought in her mind. One that shakes her very core. Mother?

Sapphire eyes locked onto a specific location out of Tigress' view and her face seemed to calm only slightly. "What do we do?" An unnerved male voice rang from the cub's side, though something in his tone suggested that he already knew the answer. The sapphire eyed tiger gave the cub to the male, the cub now seeing the amber eyed tiger fully. Her father. He looked down to her, an expression of love filling his face before dread took its place as his eyes shifted back up to the female tiger. Her mother. He shook his head, his lower lip quivering as he stumbled, "No… No, I'm… I… I can't leave yo-

"You have to." Tigress' mother interrupted him, her voice feigning a sense of calmness while her eyes betrayed her anxiety. "I can't let either of you die…" She explained, tears rolling down her eyes, "I can't." She paused for a brief moment and looked to her right side, to the source of several dying screams. Her gaze shifted back to the cub, her sapphire orbs welling with sadness that she would have to leave her daughter like this. She kissed the tiger cub on her forehead, causing the little one to innocently giggle. A sad smile consumed the faces of her parents as they looked at each other and shared one final kiss. Once they separated, the mother's countenance hardened. She turned around and settled into her fighting stance, sensing their attacker coming towards her.

Without needing any other indication, Tigress' father clutched the cub tightly and hurriedly headed to the exit of the stone village. Both parents ignored the tiger toy slipping out of the child's hands and her wailing response, her safety being of the upmost importance. As Tigress was taken away from the village, she looked over her father's shoulder to see her mother standing ready to fight and two glowing amethyst orbs piercing through the darkened cavern ahead of her.

As that buried memory finally finishes, Tigress slowly turns her head towards her broken-down hut. She looks towards the plush toy that she had dropped all those years ago. Her eyes focus on the skeletal remains of her mother, the bile rising in her stomach. As she takes this in, something in her mind clicks. All the bodies lying in the streets, the broken-down houses, and huts. This morbid epiphany causes the stabbing pain in her mind to completely vanish as her blood runs cold, her body becoming completely numb. For a brief moment her heart turns to stone and her mind becomes empty. She feels as if she cannot breathe, the weight of her discovery punching all the air out of her.

This was my home… And now it's… Gone.

Suddenly an indescribable pain takes hold of her entire body, forcing her onto her knees. Her breathing increases in intensity as her heart beats rapidly. Her paws clench into fists, violently trembling as she does. Her lips quiver as her amber orbs stare at the ground in anguish. So many years of wondering who her parents were. So many years of wanting to find someone else like her. All those years of hoping and waiting, now ripped away. A miserable groan seeps out of her before she heaves in and out heavily. She looks to the cavern ceiling and releases a deafening roar. A roar that echoes all around the cavern walls. A roar releasing over 20 years of pent-up anger and torment. A roar of pure agony.

At this, the other five masters run out of the school and see their feline comrade in her state of perpetual anguish. They rush towards her hoping to find out what's going on. "Hey! Hey Tigress!" Po calls out as he kneels down to her level and gently clutches her arms. She continues roaring however, her heartache drowning out his attempts at reaching her. With worry embedded onto his face, the dragon warrior yells, "Tigress! C'mon, please! Look at me! Tigress!" Tears well up in his eyes as she doesn't respond to him again.

The rest of the five looks to their leader in complete shock, having never seen their stone-cold comrade in such a state. Viper looks towards the skeleton near her broken sister, noticing its feline appearance. Her sky-blue orbs widen however as she looks upon the tiger toy left on the ground. As her mind connects them together, her face melts in pity. "Po." She spits out, almost on the verge of tears as well.

Jade eyes look towards the serpent who motions her head towards the skeleton and toy. As Po looks towards them, his mind makes the connection almost instantly and his countenance shifts into a look of empathy. He shifts his gaze towards his tiger friend, who finally stops her tormented roaring due to a lack of air. Their eyes meet. Amber orbs filled with anguish and jade orbs filled with a morbid understanding. "I'm so sorry, Tigress." He whispers as tears begin to fall down the tiger master's face. Before more can come out, Tigress clutches Po tightly and buries her head into his chest. He returns her embrace, feeling her body tremble as she cries loudly into his fur. Po's heart breaks at her wails as he lovingly strokes her back in an attempt to alleviate her torment, "It's okay, Tigress. I'm here. I'm here. It's okay." He tenderly chants, his voice struggling against his love's unbearable cries.

Only one house away from the grieving tiger, Nuba drinks in the orange feline's agony with a wide, sadistic smile on her face. Though she is tempted to laugh at the poor Kung Fu master's torture, she saves it. Knowing that this is only the beginning of what she has in store for them. She silently makes her way out of the house and towards the masters.

Po feels his chest fur becoming more damp as Tigress' tearful howls do not cease. "It's okay. I'm here." He continues to chant, ignoring the strange feeling he had felt only yesterday returning now, screaming at him to turn around.

Sombre eyes look towards the cradled tiger leader, fully understanding the extent of their leader's trauma. Viper turns her head to take one more look at the city, the dead bodies littered around only boiling the serpent's blood further. "Who the hell would do something so… Heartless?" She implores with a disgusted tone, the venom clear in her voice.

"Admiring my work, are you?"

All four masters' eyes open wide as they hear a foreign voice behind them, they spring over to their two comrades and form a shield around them. Each warrior looks around with wild eyes, ready to attack whoever it is that may be here. "Who are you!? Show yourself!" Mantis screams out.

"If you insist." The smooth voice replies as a dark purple aura materialises a few feet away from the Jade Palace warriors. Po looks back, only able to just hear their enemy through Tigress' heartbroken wails. Thunder roars outside the Zhanshi clan village, the heavens horrified of the monster that lies within. "It's nice to finally meet you." Amethyst orbs gaze upon the warriors as Nuba steps forward ever so slightly, her form now fully revealed to them. "I would introduce myself. But I think you already know who I am." She gives a miniscule sneer as the sound of Tigress' tears echoes within her ears.


Poor Tigress. I actually feel kinda cruel with what I wrote. Btw I want to just confirm that this was planned from the beginning, the whole warriors = Tigress' clan thing. As for Nuba finally revealing herself, well... Things only get more crazy, intense and sad from here. So, I hope you've enjoyed it so far.