Chapter 30: I Plan on Setting up a Rage
For those who like long chapters, this one's for you
John's POV
I was just about to enter the training hall and destroy everything in sight when Tigress stopped me.
"Wait, let me warn anybody inside."
She opened the door.
"To whoever is inside the training hall. I suggest you leave in the next ten seconds!" She hollered.
As she counted down, my rage was inching closer to the breaking point. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was tempted to push her out of the way and barge in. But somehow, I just managed to hold back.
"Time's up! Those that are still in there, take cover immediately."
She then looked at me.
"She's all yours John."
I walked in but stopped.
"Close the door behind me." I said.
"Sure thing." She said closing the doors.
I then turned to face the obstacle course and finally, my rage had reached its limits.
The Great Southern Trendkill by Pantera (base the intro scream with John's)
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" I let out a ten second scream before lunging at full force towards the course.
The only thing I had on my mind was "destroy everything" and by god that's what I did. Everything in sight, I made my mission to break. From the spiked blocks of wood in the gauntlet, the wooden hoops hanging from the ceiling, to even the wooden training dummies, I destroyed.
The mess I made was comparable to a bomb blowing up in the training hall. In other words, I went apeshit. Pieces of wood from the dummies were scattered throughout the hall. Weapons such as shurikens and daggers were sent into walls and even some of the pyro tubes were either dented or covered with debris. I left nothing untouched.
After roughly two minutes, I had more or less left everything in the training hall in pieces. All except for one item. I then turned my attention to the very first thing I had ever struck in the hall since I first showed up. The panda sized punching bag. However, instead of seeing that, my mind being full of rage saw Tai Lung instead.
"Oh hey Tai Lung. Didn't see you there. Allow me to introduce myself, YOUR WORST FUCKING NIGHTMARE!" I roared before pouncing onto the dummy.
As it fell over, I began punching it, kicking and even giving it the occasional slam to the ground for about 30 seconds. Then things quickly changed as my rage became much more feral. I began to claw, scratch and rip out the materials that the bag consisted of. Finally, as an act of pure anger, I bit down on the head region and literally ripped the head off the dummy before throwing it at the turtle bowl with such force that it blew up, sending sand and fabric flying.
All that was left of the dummy was a carcass. As I was about to "dispose" of it, I was then stopped by two arms wrapping around my midsection. I looked down and recognized them to be Tigress's arms.
"Tigress?"
"It's okay John, you can stop now. Everything's destroyed." She said.
"I don't get it, all the hard work put in for this scroll and it's fucking blank." I said, still agitated.
"Don't get yourself worked up on that matter John, you're still the Dragon Warrior regardless."
"That's not what I meant Tigress." I turned to face her.
"I'm not upset about it being blank for me. Hell, I couldn't give a crap if it's blank for me. I'm upset and down right pissed off because what if one of you guys would have been picked and have gotten the blank scroll. All of the hard work you guys put in, the countless hours of training, the blood sweat and tears you guys shed just to have it rewarded by a blank piece of paper. That's why I'm worked up."
A brief moment of silence followed as I calmed down.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"Courtyard entrance. They're waiting for us."
"Why?"
"We will be evacuating the villagers." She said.
"What about Tai Lung?"
"Shifu will be staying and fighting him."
"What?! He's gonna kill him!" I said.
"He said that he needs to do this. That it's his mess he needs to clean up."
'Over my dead body he is.' I thought.
After seeing what happened to the Five, I knew that Shifu had just signed his deathwish. That was something I wasn't going to let happen. I began formulating a little plan. I then realized that I have some equipment I can use for this plan.
"Alright. Before heading off, I need to get a few things. It will take about 10 minutes tops." I said.
"Ok, but if I were you, I would do it quickly. We don't have much time."
"How long?"
"A couple hours at most." She said.
"That's plenty of time."
We then made our way to the barracks. I entered my room and began changing into a new set of clothes. I then reached for my two duffle bags, the ones I had gotten from the day of the shootdown. A few additions had been made which included a set of smoke grenades and some body armor I had purchased a couple years back. Have to admit, it was a rather expensive purchase but they will now be coming in real handy. This was all for the plan I had made, which was for me to stay behind and set up an ambush for Tai Lung.
I was about to put on the body armor when I forgot that I needed somebody to attach the clips from the back.
"Tigress, could you lend me a hand real quick?" I asked.
She walked in, as I was getting the last of the equipment I needed. When I was about to put on the vest, I noticed that she was staring at me. I then remembered I hadn't put on a shirt.
"Like what you see?" I joked.
She then looked away embarrassed for a brief second before gaining her composure.
"So...what did you need help with?" She asked shyly.
"I need you to clip these two clips in the back." I said putting on the vest.
As she proceeded to do so, I could tell she was curious about what was going on.
"Why do you need this for evacuating the village?" She asked whilst I was putting on my shirt.
"In reality, I'm not. I'm staying here."
She then faced me.
"What do you mean 'you're staying here'?"
"I'm fighting Tai Lung."
"No you're not." She said.
"Yes I am Tigress. Don't try telling me otherwise. You tried and nearly got killed. Seeing the damage he did to all of you and knowing what he will do to Shifu, I'm planning ahead so I can have the home advantage."
"Then I'm staying with you." She said.
"No."
"Yes I am-" I cut her off by grabbing her shoulders and sitting her on my bed.
"LISTEN TO ME! You are not staying with me. Didn't you hear what I said about what he did to you. You almost died out there."
"What makes you say you won't have the same outcome John. I'm offering you my help against him. That way us two along with...with my father, we can finally stop Tai Lung together. We can stop his reign of terror once and for all. So please, let me stay and fight him with you." She pleaded.
"As much as I would love for you to stay with me Tigress. I need to do this on my own." I said.
I then realized something. How was I going to get the message out about Tai Lung's demise. I remembered about my smoke grenades.
"However, I will still need some help, but not by fighting him."
"Anything you need."
I then took out my notebook, ripped out a piece of paper and wrote a message down on it before giving it to Tigress.
"Take this. Read it out loud." I said handing over the note.
"'Green Smoke equals 'Tai Lung Eliminated'?" She then realized what I meant.
"You plan on killing him? Why not send him back to jail?" She asked
"Because he's a much bigger threat than I anticipated. So, if I simply beat him and bring him back to jail, the chances of him breaking out are even bigger. Think of how bad the massacre was 20 years ago when he was first sent to jail. Now think how much worse it could be if he goes back. That's why I need to kill him, as much as I don't want to, so that way the Valley of Peace as a whole can finally feel safe knowing his threat will be eradicated permanently."
She nodded in understanding, yet she still had a small look of confusion.
"Ok, that explains the why aspect, but what about the how. How is this 'green smoke' going to be beneficial in me helping you?" She asked.
I then took one of the grenades and showed her.
"This smoke grenade, once activated by pulling this pin, will release thick and dense green smoke visible for miles even in bad visibility. So when I kill Tai Lung, I will be throwing six of these grenades down the mountain. That way, the chances of you seeing the smoke from where you will be located are insanely high. However if you don't see it, use these binoculars." I handed over her a spare pair I had.
"So apart from that, is there anything else you need?"
I then grabbed the two duffle bags.
"Nope, that's everything."
"Good, let's go meet up with the others." She said.
Timeskip
After making our way down the stairs from the palace, we made it to the courtyard entrance where the others were waiting.
"There he is." Crane said.
"Was wondering when you would show up." Monkey.
"Hey guys. Just a quick heads up, don't expect to use the training hall for the next foreseeable future." I said.
Tigress snorted as the others were left confused by what I said.
"What's with the get up John?" Mantis asked.
"Glad you asked Mantis, I was just about to get to that." I said putting the bags down.
"So, Tigress is already aware of my plans, but as for all of you this may come as a shock. But this is where I leave the five of you and stay behind."
"What do you mean by that John?" Viper asked.
"What I mean Viper, is that I am staying here to fight Tai Lung, alone. Now before anyone tries convincing me otherwise, don't. Tigress tried and failed to do so.
However, she will be aiding me. As you can see she is holding a pair of my binoculars. She is tasked to keep an eye on the mountain for green smoke that I will have activated when I kill Tai Lung."
They all gasped except for Tigress.
"Have you lost it John?!" Viper said.
"I can confirm to you Viper, I have not.
Truth be told I have no choice. The threat he poses to not only the village but to all of the Valley is too high for me to simply beat him and take him back to jail. If I do so, he will be even more willing to break out and do even more damage than what he did 20 years ago. Which is why I need to kill him. I'm not pleased about doing so, but it's either him, or me and Shifu.
I hope you all can understand my decision to stay behind. I need to do this not only for the protection of Shifu, protection of the Valley, but I also need to prove to myself that being picked to be the Dragon Warrior was no fluke. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity of spending the time I did with you guys and I hope that when this is all over, we can continue on not only as a team, but as a group of friends 'till the end.
May you all have the best of luck getting those villagers evacuated, and most of all, godspeed. Now get moving, you have a job to do." I said.
The guys came over and either shook my hand or gave me a pat on the back.
"Good luck John." Crane said.
"You can do it dude, we have faith in you." Monkey said.
"Be safe brother." Viper said.
"Kick his ass for us will you?" Mantis said
I nodded and gave a quick salute before tending to my things.
"John." Tigress said.
I turned to look at her when she came and hugged me. As I hugged her back, I felt those butterflies in my stomach. I didn't know if I was to ever see her again or even have the chance to tell her my feelings for her.
"Promise me two things. Keep Shifu alive and…" She then whispered in my ear.
"...when Tai Lung goes down, he's in two fucking pieces." She then kissed my cheek.
'Holy shit!' I mentally screamed.
I didn't know what to say after that. Tell you the truth, the tent was a little pitched. However I regained my composure as she broke the hug giving me a smirk in the process.
"Yes Ma'am."
As she began to make her way, I decided to give her a little "boost of motivation" by giving her a butt slap. She gave out a little yelp and looked back at me with a little blush.
"Now go on. Get outta here." I said.
She then walked down the mountain leaving me alone.
A Liar's Funeral by Slipknot (setting the tone)
I gave a quick look out to the valley before prepping.
"Alright John. Time to go to work." I said to myself.
I then placed my two bags next to one of the trees beside the entrance. I climbed up said tree and prepped my flexible tripod on one branch before placing my camera on the tripod. I then paired it up with my phone so I can control the camera with it. This particular camera had a motion detector and a hyper zoom mic, which could pick up noise up to one mile away. I then sat down, made myself comfortable and played the waiting game.
Third person
Timeskip.
The Five were able to get all of the villagers evacuated in a period of 30 minutes. They were now all on a long walk to an unknown future.
A lot of the villagers began questioning what was to happen, would they be able to go back home, would they need to start completely anew? No one knew.
As for Tigress, feelings of regret began surfacing. Not telling John her feelings about him before leaving really played with her mind, but that was nothing compared to what she felt about her father doing what he was doing. She didn't know if she would ever see him again or even have that relationship she had dreamed of having since her time in the orphanage.
Her mind was the cut by overhearing a couple of villagers criticizing John's choice of staying behind.
"Some mighty hero he is, staying behind like that."
"I know right. Doesn't even have the guts to help us leave and admit he was picked by mistake."
She was about to give them a piece of her mind when Viper stopped her.
"Leave them Tigress. They're not worth it."
"I know. Besides, I think it's best for me to let John make them eat their words after he's done with Tai Lung."
"You think he's got a chance at doing what he set on doing?" Viper asked.
Tigress smiled.
"Believe me, I know he does." She said looking back at the mountain.