Kung Fu Wolf: Rising of the Moon
Chapter thirteen: Preparations
Tigress's P.O.V.
The fires were put out, the injured were being helped to hospitals, and Hiro was a little ways away speaking with the mayor of the port city. According to the locals, the city was attacked by a large group of well organized bandits; The Bandit Brigade. They came without warning, causing as much havoc as they could. The strangest thing was that nothing was reported stolen. Not really something you'd expect from a group of bandits.
Behind me, the Sapphire masters and the rest of the five were trying to keep Marcus calm, he wanted to search the city for his sister ever since arriving. Normally I would have let him search but I wanted to get some more information on what happened here; which is why we're waiting for Hiro to finish his talk with Shanghai's mayor.
"Marcus, please calm down!" Di Foon tried, along with Kira Ni and Shu Lan, to keep Marcus from breaking off from the group and running through the city.
"I can't! My sister's here! I gotta find her!" Marcus tried to get passed the Sapphire girls but was being blocked at every turn. I turned around and walked over to where Marcus was now trying to force his way through. Although I could understand where he was coming from, this was not the time for any rash actions.
I was about to smack some sense back into the giant panther when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to see Hiro… only this time I wasn't met with his usual quiet smile. Instead he looked… troubled, what had the mayor told him? He then turned his attention to the group and cleared his throat to get their attention.
Surprisingly it worked. Usually I'd have to yell or apply some kind of painful joint lock to get everyone to pay attention; and yet Hiro got it done with minimal effort. I must admit, I'm a little jealous of Hiro's growing authority. I wonder if it started when Hiro almost broke Chin's wrist.
"Alright everyone…" Hiro started looking absolutely serious. If Hiro is this focused, it can't mean anything good. "... Here's what I got from the mayor… No thefts; odd in its own right, plenty of property damage, and…" He got quiet, his gaze slowly shifted to Marcus. "...kidnappings."
Marcus finally broke through the wall of masters in front of him and walked right up to Hiro, his expression a mixture of anger and worry. "My sister?" He asked, in a no nonsense tone.
Hiro just shook his head. "I don't know friend, all I know is when the Bandit Brigade left, the went west. According to the Mayor, there is an old rock quarry there; apparently the bandits are using it to keep the refugees hostage." Marcus tensed up.
"Sounds like a trap to me." I said. Hiro nodded.
"It most likely is… in which case…" He put his finger and thumb to his chin and started to pace back and forth. I could have come up with a few plans (in fact, I already did) but I wanted to see what Hiro would come up with. After a couple of minutes of pacing he stopped and turned to us, I could see the wheels in his head turning, alright Dragon Warrior… what's the plan? "Hmm." My wolf companion mused. "Mantis…" The insect master stood at attention in front of Hiro like he was a high ranking general in the Imperial army.
I don't think Mantis has ever showed me that kind of respect before; fear definitely, but never respect on this level. Yep, I'm definitely getting jealous of Hiro here. "I have a job for you, my diminutive friend." Mantis nodded, apparently ready for whatever task Hiro had for him. "I want you to go to the quarry and scout it out; keep low and hidden, and do not engage any of the bandits… we want as much information as we can get."
Mantis nodded enthusiastically. "Don't you worry about a thing boss." Boss? Hiro is called Boss now? "You sure you don't want me to take a few of them out?" He asked.
Hiro answered quickly. "No, save it for when the real fighting begins." And with that Mantis scurried off to the direction of the quarry. After Mantis had left, Hiro turned to the rest of us and spoke. "As for the rest of you, I want you all to do whatever you need to prepare. We all meet back here when the sun starts to get low... after sunset… we're in for a fight."
Hiro's P.O.V.
After I had sent everyone off to prepare for the upcoming battle I went off to the pier to handle some preparations of my own. I didn't need much; I had my hanbo and my training, and you'd think that's all I'd really need right?
Sometimes, so do I.
As I may have mentioned before, to use my Kung Fu style to the fullest I need a calm mind… and right now my mind is anything but.
You see, I'm still supposed to be the new guy, the rookie, the novice; sure I achieved the rank of Master, but I'm still not sure I've earned everything that comes with it. I've noticed that everyone seems to see me as some kind of leader, but where am I leading them? Can I get everyone through this? Can I save the people who have been taken captive? Can I bring everyone back home safely? Can I…
Oh, not this again! A mountain of questions, but not a single answer. I swear I'm getting tired of this. I mean, life was infinitely easier back when I was still traveling all over China. But I'm not… I'm here… sitting on the edge of the docks… trying to figure out how to make this work.
"You seem troubled."
I looked over my shoulder and saw my favorite feline behind me; arms crossed and a small smirk on her face. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." I replied, beckoning her over to sit with me. We sat in silence for about a minute or two before Tigress spoke.
"So… what's the plan gonna be?" She asked me. Honestly, I didn't have a plan, not yet anyway. The only thing we needed to worry about is getting ready for the upcoming fight with the bandit brigade.
"We need to wait until Mantis comes back and tells us what he had learned, until then we get ready any way we can and sit tight." I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye, I guess she has no problem with that idea.
"Well, in that case…" She got to her feet and offered me her hand. "... You wanna spar?"
I'll admit, that actually caught me off guard. I haven't really spared with Tigress since my second day at the Jade Palace. "Uhh… sure, I guess." Wait, was that really the best answer I could give?
"What? Nervous?" She teased.
"No." I said, a little indignant. Ok, maybe just a little. I mean, last time we spared Tigress held back a lot… this time I think she might go all out. And with her being known as one of the greatest Kung Fu masters in all of China, it's definitely something to be nervous about.
…
What's with the looks? I told you I'm not scared!
Anyway, we made our way from the docks to the beach that wasn't too far away. Once we got to a distance where we were sure we wouldn't be disturbed, Tigress turned and faced me. "Are you ready Dragon Warrior?" She asked, getting into her stance. I smirked a little and closed my eyes, letting the calm wash over me. I slowly got into my own stance, and brought up my Lunar Sphere.
"Are you… Master Tigress?"
A large grin slowly appeared on her face. "You know, I'm going to be honest here; I've been waiting for this for a while." My smile grew wider, for a master like Tigress to truly want to fight someone like me… It's a sign of acknowledgement. And for a new guy like me… that's one of the greatest honors I could receive right now.
Tigress made the first move; with almost blinding speed she closed the gap between us, trying to throw a punch at the center of my face. I knocked her hand away and countered with a palm strike to her abdomen, which she blocked using her knee. Using her free hand, Tigress threw a backhanded swing at my chin; I grabbed her by the wrist before she could make contact, twisted my body around and threw her over my shoulder.
Tigress landed on her feet a couple yards away, she turned back to me with the same smirk on her face… gotta admit, it's actually kinda cute. "You've definitely gotten stronger Hiro, I was trying to end it with the opening attack." Thought so; no holding back.
I chuckled a little. "Aww come on now Tigress, where would the fun be if you ended things so early?" I joked. Her smirk got a little wider
"Oh, don't worry Dragon Warrior, there is still plenty of fun to be had." And rushed me with the same incredible speed as before, only this time she swung her leg at me with enough force to shatter my ribs. I dove under her and let her fly over my head, momentarily losing the Lunar Sphere. Once I got back to my feet I brought the Sphere back up… and honestly not a moment too soon. Using the Lunar Sphere I… uh…. felt Tigress behind me, so I spun around and caught a punch she threw at the back of my head.
I saw an opportunity.
I used the momentum from my feline companion's attack to spin her around and twist her arm behind her back and wrapped my other arm around her neck, immobilizing her. "Ooh, not bad. I thought I had you there." Tigress said, panting a little.
That's a bit of an understatement. She almost had me. If it weren't for the sudden… awareness the Lunar Sphere gave me, I would have been knocked out cold.
"But…"
I felt a sharp pain in my ribs, Tigress used her free arm to bury her elbow in my side. The sudden action caused me to release her and she wasted no time in executing her next attack. Tigress reached behind herself, over her shoulders, and grabbed me by my shirt. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back with Tigress crouching over me, that rare and genuine smile gracing her features. "You hesitated. That's why you lost."
Yep, she's right about that. Analyzing my skills and abilities in the middle of a fight probably isn't the smartest thing to do. "Sorry, had something on my mind."
"The bandit army?" She asked.
"No, something about my style."
"You know, I've been meaning to ask, but have you done something about that flaw your style has with your lower body?"
I got to my feet. "Not yet, but I'm working on it."
She noded. "Well I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. In the meantime, we should start heading back; you don't want to be late for your own deadline do you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
I looked to the west and saw what she was talking about. The sun was already beginning to set. "Right then, let's get moving." I clapped my hands together and started walking to the rendezvous point, with Tigress by my side.
For a few minutes, we walked in silence until Tigress asked me…
"Sooo, what's the plan?"
I thought for a moment and replied.
"Well for now we need to wait 'till Mantis returns to think of the whole thing, but so far the plan is to… defeat the bandits… rescue the hostages, and head back to the Jade Palace for a party."
She giggled a little at the last part of the plan. "I'm not sure Master Shifu would approve of a party." Eh, probably not, but hey, it's worth a try.
After walking for a while longer we made it back to the spot where we were supposed to meet. Everyone had already arrived and were circled around Mantis (back earlier than I expected) who looked like he was… dancing on a open scroll.
Kira Ni looked over and called out to Tigress and myself. "Hey, what took you both so long, you're late!"
I smiled a little. "No we're not, you're all just early." I looked down at the insect master. "What's with the dance routine Mantis?" I asked, looking more closely I noticed he had ink on his feet, and was using the scroll to…
"Drawing a map."
I looked beneath Mantis and saw that a very highly detailed map of the quarry, complete with a count of the enemy forces (77 by the way) and the location of the hostages. "This is very nicely done, Mantis." I praised. "Good work." That seemed to inflate the bugs ego because as he 'danced' he began to hum a little tune.
"Hold on." Tigress said, getting everyone's attention. "If you can draw maps like this, why is it that you've never mentioned this before?" She asked. Huh, I figured everyone already knew…
Mantis finished the map, and began wiping his feet off in the dirt. "First of all," He said, slightly indignant. "No one ever asked me to draw up a map before." I snickered under my breath, 'you never asked'... classic. "Secondly, you never needed me to draw a map before." Tigress rolled her eyes at the last reason.
Ignoring what was going on around me, I knelt down and examined the map of the quarry. It was a somewhat large area, almost looked like a wide, but not deep, sinkhole. And in the sides of the sinkholes walls were three caves. According to the map, the bandits have the hostages divided into three groups. So we'll have to divide the group more than I thought.
"Ok!" I shouted getting everyone's attention. "Each area where the hostages are is guarded by no less than a dozen bandits, right Mantis?" He nodded. "So, three groups of two will work on taking the guards out and freeing the hostages; the plan is to wait until all three groups have freed the people before leaving the quarry in a single unit. Understand?" Everyone nodded silently.
I really hope I'm doing this right.
"Group one will be made up of… Viper and Kira Ni." Both girls nodded to each other.
"We won't let you down, Hiro." Viper said confidently. I have no doubt about that.
"The next group will have… Chin and Monkey."
Chin cracked his knuckles. "Alrighty then, consider it done." Monkey nodded in agreement, with a slightly sinister look on his face. My guess is he is planning something evil for the bandits.
"And the last group will consist of… Di Foon and Marcus." Both cats nodded… I just noticed everyone has been doing that a lot recently.
"The rest of us will focus on taking out The Bandit Brigade; no one must be allowed to escape." I finished.
"The way the bandits have the hostages divided, it almost entirely looks like a trap." Tigress said.
I nodded, oh great… now I'm doing it. "It most definitely is a trap." I said, agreeing with Tigress's assumptions.
The Tiger master shrugged her shoulders and asked. "So what do we do about the trap?"
A grin came to my face.
"We spring it."
A/N
Hey guys I'm back! I know last time I said I wouldn't take so long to update my story, but life has just been kicking my ass lately. The next chapter, hopefully, won't take so long.
Anyways, polls are closed and Hiro's new weapon has been decided. What is it? You'll find out soon enough.
Also, comment, review, like, follow… and let me know how you think I'm doing so far.
See ya next time.
