"Welp...this place is depressing."
The primary group of six have been making their way up the mountain after splitting up from their friends. They noticed how quickly the atmosphere changes the moment they step into the area. To take from Monkey's current thoughts on the place, it was filled with doom and gloom.
This was surely a place that used to be inhabited by monks. The nearby houses looked ancient and a couple of places were surrounded by special incense that's well past worn out it's purpose. Nobody bothered to move them because no one is ever here. Battle was evident here, judging by the numerous craters and cracks in the ground, both aged and recent. There was no doubt that Fenghuang and Shifu have been through here, now they needed to know just what happened to them.
Unfortunately for Crane, there was also a lot of dust.
"ACHOO!"
"Hey! Can you not sneeze so hard? I'm not interested in falling off!" Mantis griped, regaining balance atop Crane's hat. The avian rubbed the top of his beak with an apologetic look.
"S-Sorry. Dust is a definite sneeze trigger for me...ACHOO!" The next sneeze almost knocked Mantis off again, much to his irritation. Crane smiled weakly as he rubbed his beak again. "Hehe...sorry..."
"At least Fenghuang doesn't know that about you, she'd call you Sneezy instead of Long Legs. Or maybe even Dusty." Monkey snickered.
"Dusty? How does that make any sense?"
"It doesn't have to make sense. It just has to be funny. And it works either way, so this time it isn't an issue."
"This place looks pretty old alright..." Song wondered aloud, her head occasionally turning sideways in both directions to get a good look of the area. Her tail sometimes bristled in anticipation. "Wonder if there's anything valuable in here...?"
"Nothing that does not need to be moved will be moved. That's your only warning." Tigress said sternly, not looking at her. "We are here for important missions, which are to assist Shifu and Fenghuang, as well as apprehend Jong and Master Ding. This isn't a place for you to satisfy your petty thief urges."
"PETTY?! Who are you calling petty?!"
Fung was rather surprised that she took more offense to the 'petty' part instead of the 'thief' part. It could possibly mean that she's long accepted being called that on a daily basis, and it ceased to bother her, if it ever did bother her in the first place. But being petty didn't seem like something she thought fit her description. He certainly didn't think of her as petty, but he wasn't going to say that aloud in front of her or Tigress.
Po and Viper seemed to be the ones the others are depending on to lighten up the rather harsh and dark atmosphere that they were surrounded in. Because the other seemed to be feeling rather tense about this castle, except for Tigress. She seemed entirely unaffected by it aside from her focus on finding their missing Masters.
"Wonder what other Kung Fu secrets could be held in here aside from Master Ding and those monks? Anyone else have any idea on what to think about this place?" Po asked.
"Well if you want MY opinion, this place needs some serious sprucing up!" Viper offered. "Seriously, this place is too gloomy, too depressing, and too dirty. We could use a couple new rows of fresh incense there...have a few candles and lights over here...clear up all the dust that's almost all over the place...yep. Serious sprucing up. Maybe then, it can be considered a habitable home."
"ACHOO!"
"Crane, I swear..." Mantis grumbled.
"I can't help it! If you don't like it, ride on someone's shoulder, or just walk on your own legs! Most of us have two, Viper has none. You have four legs that I'm pretty sure are absolutely not broken."
"Okay okay! Jeez you don't need to put it that way..." Mantis hopped from Crane's hat to Po's hat, balancing well to avoid falling. "So what, we find the ghost pig? Then what? And forgive me for not having the knowledge to fight ghosts."
"Okay, before we really get into the whole 'Ghost Pig' business...how do we know if he's really dead?" Fung asked.
"He was imprisoned on the mountain for life, Fung. Pretty certain that the dude must have croaked by now." Monkey shrugged. "And yet he still manages to get his hands on the Spirit Orbs again, even when they were locked in the Jade Palace."
Tigress nodded. "The Jade Palace was destroyed along with the rest of the Valley. The Spirit Orbs were no longer restricted and he still has a heavy influence on them. He surely had them return to his possession this way. It seems that his control over them has somehow improved since he's been so concentrated on having them back...though that's just a theory of mine."
"That's one pretty impressive theory, Tigress. So much that it might be true." Crane said. "Things could get ugly if it's true, though. What can we do? The Furious Five had such a hard time with him...what could we do?"
"That's something we'll just have to figure out. No backing out when we've come so far up already." She placed a paw on her chin. "Though with all his powers, he should have the ability to monitor our movements, even right now. I only just thought about that factor. This could be trickier than I thought it might be."
"What?! You mean he could be watching us right now?!" Mantis shouted, now looking around frantically. "That's not cool, man! Ghosts watching us and we're not even sure where or how. I hate that kind of feeling! It's scary..."
"If you're scared, I'm terrified." Crane stated, his legs beginning to shake violently out of his control. "At first I didn't really have any gripes about it. But now that I'm finally beginning to process it...we're fughting a ghost, guys." He gulped. "I don't think any of us have much experience in dealing with the supernatural..."
Fung sighed. "How are we gonna fight a ghost, guys? This seems like something in Fenghuang and Shifu's skills. But we-"
"Will you three stop being wimps?" Tigress said nonchalantly. "Fung, Crane, you two are the oldest of us, so I expected more confidence than this. Mantis...what you did is exactly what I expected of you." Mantis slumped a little at this. "But if you really don't like the prospect of battling a specter, you're more than welcome to stay behind."
"And have that ghost pig pick us off one at a time afterwards? No freaking way. We're staying together." Fung stated, his complaints gone for the moment.
"I suppose...we really can't turn back now. We're already deep into the castle anyway. And we also can't just waste the opportunity that Peng and the others created for us." Crane sighed, tilting his hat down slightly. He was doing his best to stay confident, and was well-aware that a person with his type of upbringing would not find that easy.
Po took another step, then stopped as he heard someone moaning in anguished pain. The next thing he noticed was a trail of blood leading into one of the rooms. Curious took over as he turned and walked through the door leading to said room. Everyone waited a couple of moments, a bit confused by his decision to stray away for a little bit. Moments later, he returned with a rather concerned look gracing his face.
"Guys...someone's bleeding out in here." The words sent chills down everyone's spine, except probably Tigress and Song. However, it didn't stop them from following the panda into the room to see what he was worked up about.
Monkey didn't know weather to be confused, questioning, worried, or angry. Probably all of the above, for this scenario. He sees Jong lying helpless in the corner, one of his legs wrapped with a ragged cloth to reduce the bleeding from his wound. By the looks of it, he's had this injury for a very long time. What stood out most about this picture was that his eyes didn't have that coldness in them, and the air of superiority was also absent. All he could see and sense were deep feelings of regret, sadness, guilt, and self-hatred.
He almost didn't notice that he had company. When he did, nothing about him changed. He just looked at the group before him, blankly. He didn't seem interested in them at all, like he was thinking about something else entirely.
"Who...are you people?" He asked. Even his voice sounds tired and nearly lifeless.
"Good grief...what the hell happened to you?" Fung asked, taking off his helmet and scratching the top of his head. "Wait...are you Jong Sung Jai...you know what, screw that. Are you Jong?"
"...What does it matter if I am?" He replied quietly. "My name...means nothing now. I'm absolutely ruined at this point. I should have never have come to thus accursed mountain...I've dug myself a deep hole that's impossible to escape from."
"...So...you ARE Jong?" Mantis tilted his head. "You look like you've seen some things, man. Bad things."
"What do you peasants want?" Jong replied, now getting a bit agitated.
Song lowered her eyes as she walked up to Jong and kneeled next to him. "Hmmm...that slash at your leg...it looks pretty bad." She raised her paw, her claws sticking out on her command...and she forcefully jabbed them into the bleeding spot. Jong hissed in intense agony, while Song kept a somewhat innocent face. "Oooh...that looks like it hurts a lot. So I would choose my sentences a bit more carefully if I were you. Hint: Don't call us peasants while you're the one on the ground bleeding."
Fung's eyes widened at the sight of this side of Song, while the others just had raised eyebrows. This attitude of hers...this was awfully new to them.
"Now...do be good takin and tell us what's happened here, hm?" Song asked gently, despite her claws sinking a bit deeper into the gash on his leg. The pain was becoming slightly unbearable, so he decided to talk after all.
"The thing is...I bought this castle for no charge at all. People around me kept telling me not to be fooled by how nice it looks on the inside, or how exotic it seems to be. They warned me that if I bought this castle from them, I'd receive nothing but intense bad luck. I chalked it up as mere superstitious nonsense, and bought this place anyway...I didn't know that I would be enslaved not even minutes after I made it official. Master Ding..."
Viper narrowed her eyes. "Wait...you bought a castle that was said to be haunted, and the haunter turned out to be Master Ding? Have you ever considered that may be the reason why they aere trying to drive you away from it.
"Dumbass." Monkey grumbled under his breath.
"I...I wasn't expecting anything to actually appear! The next thing I knew, he took my son away somewhere and unless I wanted him to die, I would do whatever the pig said."
"You brought a CHILD up here?!" Crane cawed in shock. "You must be very arrogant or incredibly stupid! Maybe both!"
"Well shoot. Now I can't torment you into near-death. You're a father. A terrible father, but a father." Song pouted as she removed her paws from his wound, not caring about the blood on them. "Master Ding has your son, huh. And I assume that's why you started doing things that make you out to be a bigger asshole than you usually are?" Jong lowered his head shamefully, causing Song to huff and stand up again. "Rich people...when they are always thinking they're untouchable because of their money...just one bad day will render it all useless."
Jong sighed bitterly as he looked towards the ceiling. "The Lin Kuei...he gave away all of my valuables to the Lin Kuei after they successively captured most of the Furious Five. I don't have anything left now..." He looked down a bit to look at Po, who was staring at him blankly. "You...you're the panda who was causing me trouble with that summer home, aren't you? What? Have you come to repay the favor of ordering the destruction of your village when you weren't there to defend it? Is that what you're here for? Revenge? As you can see, you'd only be battering a shell, my friend. I'm afraid the satisfaction of brutalizing me for my crimes will be very minimal."
Po folded his arms. "You're a weird dude. You say that Master Ding has your son...and yet you say you have nothing left? If your son is in trouble, we'll go get him for you."
"WHAT?!" Monkey shouted. "Po! This guy destroyed your home and caused a lot more grief than he's worth! Why would you even agree to helping him?!"
"Of course I'm still angry at him about all that. But who are we to justify that as a reason to leave his son, who hasn't done anything wrong, to remain in Master Ding's clutches?" Monkey paused in deep thought after this. "You can't punish the son for some stupid stuff that the father did."
Fung blinked. "Hey. Po almost quoted another thing."
"I did?"
"Nevermind..."
Monkey sighed deeply as he looked at Jong. Seeing how helpless he looked and how broken he seemed to be. He knew there was nothing he could do to punish this man, he's already lost all of his precious riches, and his son was all he had left now. And like Po kinda said, Jong may be a despicable man, but that's no reason to blame the child. His mom was gone and his brother was now a criminal because of him. But...he couldn't remain angry at him forever. That would have turned him into something he would despise to be.
"...I'm gonna help you get your son back. No matter how much of an asshole you are, you actually care about him and love him. And I guess that has to count for something." Monkey mumbled.
Jong's eyes squinted as he took a closer look at Monkey. He was visibly surprised. "You...I remember you...why would you help me?"
"It's the right thing to do. But you wouldn't really know about that, would you?" Monkey's scolding glare only made Jong shrink more. He looked so pathetic and felt so small, and Monkey was content with that for now.
Boom...
Viper blinked. "Uh...did you guys hear that?"
BOOM...
Crane shook a bit. "I dunno...but it doesn't sound good."
BOOM...
Tigress's senses went on high alert as she crouched slightly, her ears and nose working on finding out the source. "Something is coming this way. Something large and strong!"
BAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!
Monkey scratched his head. "Wait a minute...that sounds like an elephant."
Song paled. "Wait a minute...he just said that the Lin Kuei captured the Furious Five one by one...and one of them was Master Elephant."
Fung's eyes widened. "Aaaaahh...crapbaskets."
CRASH!
Everyone was suddenly thrown back with intense force as the wall next to them suddenly exploded. Debris and dust filled the room as Jong was promptly knocked out by one of the larger pieces of debris. Everyone coughed and sputtered as they tried to recover from the unexpected and sudden destruction.
Tigress was the first to see them. First there was Master Elephant, who's fist was glowing with Chi, signifying that he was the one who caused the explosion. Master Snow Leopard Appeared next to him, a paw on her hip. Master Rooster fluttered up and was now sitting on Elephant's head, appearing to be the calmest. And the last one, pushing all the dust way with a powerful swipe of his paw, was none other than Master Shifu.
"Father?!" Tigress exclaimed. She got a look at all of their eyes, and she narrowed her own. She regained her calm in no time so she could assess the situation. "Wait...that strange blue glow in their eyes...their somewhat restrained posture..." She stood up and dusted off her scarf. "Master Ding must have placed them under his control. We have to remember that this is how he tore them apart."
Po was more worried that Fenghuang wasn't present with them. Though it means that she was able to resist Ding's control. Being a free bird in both body and spirit...he admired that part of her. She refuses to be controlled by everyone due to her immense free will, so it leaves the Pig's control count to four. Though it still didn't look like this would be any fun for them.
"Why hello there. It appears that I have new guests."
Po looked upward above them to see that the ghost pig has made himself visible to them at last. And he was levitating the Spirit Orbs that he heard so much about above his right hoof, while his other hoof was casually placed behind his back. Above his head was the Master he was very concerned about. Fenghuang was wrapped up in telekinetic coils AND a bubble, just for assurance. Her chi was inaccessible, so breaking out on her own was close to impossible. The ghost master chuckled darkly.
"Welcome, welcome to my castle, young ones. I've been expecting you. And you've been looking for me, haven't you? That's quite a convenience." He held his hoof forward, and the Furious Four made their way towards their targets. "I wanted to see if I'm still able to do this well."
"Fenghuang! I'm coming!" Po ignored the Furious Four for the most part, heading towards her with a giant leap, reaching his paw out towards her.
Master Ding warped right in front of him, casually holding his hoof out towards his chest. "So you're the panda Fenghuang has become so protective of. Interesting." Po was then thrown back into the wall behind him by an invisible force. He hits the wall hard, but managed to land on his feet, barely.
Po breathed heavily as he held his chest in pain. "Okay...so that was telekinesis, huh?" He panted heavily. "Man...mind powers...they bring pain to my being!"
"I think I might handle you myself..." Master Ding smirked, as the Furious Four attacked Po's friends, leaving him to deal with the deceased ghost pig alone...for now.
(Outside The Mountain)
Anying unsheathed his tantō so he could counter Heilang and his sword. "Anying...you're such a traitorous little pup, you know that?"
"I don't think you can call me a traitor. Because I was never really on your side in the first place." Anying growled as he pushed his uncle back and slashed at him diagonally, forcing the older male to block it with expert precision. "I never WANTED to join the Lin Kuei. But certain circumstances left me with no other choice."
"Bah, so your mother put you up to this scam?" Heilang growled. "She always knew how to piss me off with excellent proficiency, and now I see that you've inherited that annoyance trait of hers." He slashed to the side, which Anying managed to block, while also jumping away from him. Heilang's blade had a longer reach, so his nephew was predictably trying to make quick attacks while also backing away at the right time. "And here you are, hanging around with these wimps, some stupid Panda Pack!"
"WE'RE NOT CALLING OURSELVES THAT!" Somehow Fung heard that from the mountains, and he still seemed to be highly against it.
Cat Ling(avoiding confusion is necessary) jumped back as other wolves were tossing their chain hammers in her direction, and they would make slight craters in the ground. They looked heavy, and very damaging...so not getting hit by them would be a very good idea. She backflipped away from another hammer aimed at her head, didn't bother to use her staff this time, not wanting to heavilt rely on it. She gracefully avoided all of the chain hammers headed her way with well timed twirls, another backflip, and got close enough to do a legsweep to one of them. It threw off his aim terribly, and he hit one of his comrades by mistake. She grinned at the results.
"Swinging things that heavy tends to slow you down, hm?"
Lian was taking a bit more initiative in combating them. She was smaller, and she was also very nimble when she needs to be. She avoided much of the hammer strikes as easily as Mei Ling did, but with much more taunt in them. "You wouldn't be cruel enough to hit a defenseless maiden, would you?" She didn't wait for an answer, for she jumped between one pair of wolves when they smashed each other in the head with their own chain hammers. "Oh wait...this maiden isn't as defenseless as she looks." She huffed. "Not to be arrogant, but aren't you guys supposed to be tougher than this? From where I'm standing, you guys look pretty winded."
Heilang wasn't about to admit it to them, but the teen was correct. While the wolves were indeed strong, they were only barely able to overcome the different members of the five through dirty tactics, overwhelming them with numbers, and dispatching them one at a time. Because he knew that fighting them all together would border on suicidal. It has left himself and his men exhausted, and they haven't yet recovered from the separate battles. His pride refuses to let him admit this out loud, but it was apparent that victory isn't something very possible for them.
That doesn't mean he couldn't make the attempt.
Anying threw him back with his tantō slicing slightly acrozs his cheek, making him whine slightly. He shook it off easily, as he and his nephew began circling one another. He began grinning slowly. "I see...that you and your friends are more capable than I thought." He turned his head slightly. "Especially that one..."
Needless to say that the one causing the most damage was Peng.
He was rightfully angry about the atrocities that the Lin Kuei had committed, and it contributed to his slight rampage. He jumped backwards when a chain hammer tried to strike him from behind. Another one tried to shoot at him from the sides, he sidestepped and grabbed it by the chain with his right paw with little to no effort. The third one that headed his way, he grabbed it with his left paw, and applied enough force to smash it into pieces. The wolf that threw it noticably paled when he saw this.
"An entire Valley of people...dead. From what I heard from Po and Aunt Tigress, they weren't the best people despite Oogway's intentions. But I don't believe that they deserved death. You wolves emptied that entire Valley of life, destroyed their homes, and desecrated and insulted it's name and purpose for existing...and you did it for mere profit." Peng snarled darkly. "I'm taking you wolves down...and I'm doing it now."
Peng grabbed the chain of the broken chain hammer and pulled the wolf that was holding it towards him, and punched him into the ground with brutal force, resulting in an instant knockout. He then pulled on the unbroken chain hammer which another wolf was hanging onto and began swinging him in a large arc, knocking down all of the other wolves that tried to get close, until he eventually let's go and allows him to crash into another one who was just recovering. He them jumped and kicked away another chain hammer headed his way, chaining his target to Heilang himself. The wolf growled as he jumped out of the way as it passed by him. He turned to face his enemy again, though Peng had already appeared right in front of him and thrusted a devastating punch to his ribs, causing him to cough just slight bits of blood.
Heilang wasn't one to give up easily, though. His own chain hammer he pulled with his other arm and he pulled it hard and threw it hard towards the teens head, the spiked side. The teen narrowed his eyes as he ducked, then sliced the chair with his claws, clutched on the broken chain firmly, and pulled it back towards the unsuspecting wolf. Heilang instantly regretted this decision as he felt the spiked side strike his chest, making him yelp in pain. He grabbed his chest as blood dripped from it, and he began panting.
Dammit...I'm much more winded than I thoguth I was, more than any of my men together. I got too cocky and too eager to kill Anying. Blast it, I didn't think I'd get captured here. But this kid doesn't look too keen on sparing me. Not very surprising. However... He grinned. Peng raised an eyebrow as he threw the weapons aside.
"What's funny? You and your men are beaten and exhausted. That doesn't seem like something to laugh at."
"True. What I'm laughing at...is that you all kicked our asses...and yet we're still going to walk away with the profit."
"And what makes you think we'll allow that?"
Heilang chuckled darkly. "You should really look out for the weakest of your pack. Wolves have the tendency to tear them apart first."
Peng looked quickly behind him. Two of the weakened wolves had their swords pressed against Bian Zao's neck. The teen warthog looked genuinely upset, because he was being used as a means of reassurance.
"It would be...unfortunate if one of them slips up and makes a gash on accident. Assassins tend to get a bit jumpy and sometimes act quicker than they think, out of instinct." Heilang continued. Peng, Mei Ling, Anying, and Lian all growled at this act of cowardice...but they stood down without a second thought. Heilang got up as he mockingly patted Peng on the head. "Good thing about being a wolf. We don't have to play fair. Now we're going to get all of our belongings while keeping this kid close. If any of you try anything before we're done...he's dinner." Peng clenched his teeth as Heilang passed by him, his men holding Bian Zao at swordpoint as they were heading back to where they packed their belongings.
Bian Zao sighed. I can't believe this...maybe I should have stuck with Dad back in the camp. This is so lame... He groaned quietly in the wolves grip, his hooves ganging limply on his sides...only to finally feel something poking at his hip. Without his captors noticing, he slightly reached for whatever was poking him and held it in his hoof. It was one of those things that the Lin Kuei wore to turn invisible. His father called it...a Shadow Crown. Yeah, that was it. He wondered why they didn't use those to fight the others, though he considers that the others didn't even give them to wear them. He wondered even more about how this was supposed to help him, as it could only work when it's on his head. The warthog needed a distraction.
Bian Zao would have slapped himself if he didn't have swords at his neck. Duh. Stereotypical teen attitudes. Take something simple and make it look like a crisis that annoys the crap out of adults.
"Guys? Hey, wolf dudes, I, um...gotta stretch out a bit. Need to straighten my back and all that junk."
"Stretch? Why the hell do you need to stretch?"
"Ugh...you just don't understand. All this action around me kinds puts me off, and I need to straighten myself out." He wiggled his snout. "Plus...I think I'm gonna sneeze. Ah...ahhh...aaaaahhh..."
The wolves stuck their tongues out in disgust and quickly stepped away from the teen...which left him grinning.
"AAAAAAAAH-suckers." He taunted as he placed the Shadow Crown on his head, and he disappeared from view immediately. "You all got tricked by a lazy teen! You're CHUMPS!" They heard a bit of rustling of leaves, and they knew he had now left the area. They were about to chase him down, but Heilang held his paw out.
"Leave him. He'll just run back to his friends. We won't last through another encounter." He grunted as he held a bag of Jong's treasure over his shoulder. "Come, men. Our business is done here. Jong and Ding...they're on their own." The other wolves nodded as they grabbed backs as well, albeit firefly, and disappeared into the shadows.
Peng and the others just stayed where they were, concerned that they would cause more risk to Bian Zao if they followed after him. However, they heard a bit of rustling, and were surprised when Bian Zao appeared out of nowhere, tossing the Shadow Crown up and catching it.
"Dad must have known that I would get into a bind like this, and placed it in my clothes." He smiled. "He may be lame, but he plans ahead a heck of a lot better than I can."
This revelation was greeted by Lian hugging him from the side with intense relief, much to his surprise. "Ah what a relief! I thought that you were gonna get seriously hurt, bestie!"
Bian Zao sweatdropped. "She...was serious about that...?"
"I told Ya." Peng chuckled. Then he turned towards Ding's mountain, his eyes narrowed. "I hope everything's going fine over there. I felt an intense vibration from the large castle." He sighed. "And I'm guessing that it's the reason why our other Mei Ling is currently missing."
"What?!" Anying looked around a bit frantically as he noticed that the teen was correct. She must have left them behind so she could go after Shifu. "Jeez..."
(Back on the Mountain)
The others were beginning to acknowledge why the Furious Five were one of the most elite Kung Fu fighters in China.
Monkey, Viper, Song, Crane, and Mantis were utterly exhausted. There was multiple bruises and scratches along their bodies, and their breathing was already sounding forced. Taking any more significant amount of damage wouod surely result in them passing out.
Po, Tigress, and Fung were doing a bit better than them, but not by a large margin. Especially Po, who was under direct telepathic attack from Master Ding himself. Being attacked by mind powers from a distance with little to no way to counter them was taking it's toll on the panda. What impressed Master Ding most, however, was that he refused to stay down for long periods of time. Some way or another, he always got back up.
"Well, you've been gifted with quite a lot of endurance, haven't you?"
Po grunted as he was forcefully thrown against the ground again. But he managed to prop himself up in a couple moments. "Ha...hehe..I learned quite a lot about that from Fenghuang." He grinned. "You not only have to be able to dish damage out...improving your endurance is just as important, because that allows you to take the damage as well as dishing it out." He shook himself and stared Ding down.
"Good point...I'll just make it harder for you then." One of the orbs shot at Po at high speed, which he was barely able to duck and dodge. Po turned to see that it had punctured a hole in the wall. That...was far too close.
Tigress skidded backwards, but stopped defiantly. Master Shifu sent her flying with a Chi-enhanced punch, and she was just barely able to reduce the blow. Though her arms didn't feel pain, it managed to reach the rest of her body, making her feel wobbly as a result. This clearly wasn't working. Any time she tried to get a decisive blow on one of the others, Shifu would appear in a blur and counter it perfectly. Master Ding was clever in assigning Shifu to fight her. No, Tigress had no qualms with fighting Shifu. She wasn't about to take the emotional bait that Ding blatantly set for her. What did make this fight difficult was that he knew her every move. Understandable, since he was the one who taught her. Unless she got Shifu out of her way, no one would make any progress.
"Fung!"
Fung blocked a mighty swing of Elephant's trunk with his tail, resulting in a loud shockwave that forced them both back in different directions. "Kinda busy right now, Tigress! What do you want?!"
"I may have a way to defeat them, but I need to get Shifu off of our backs. As long as his nimble movement is used against us, we don't have a chance." Shifu jumped up towards her and landed another chi-punch, which she attempted to block again, though her attempt was ruined when Rooster kicked her in her side, ruining her defensed and sending her sprawling along the floor, stopping short against the wall. "They still know how to work together well...which is why I need for this to work!" Shifu took a stance, and charged at Tigress again, his left foot glowing white with chi. He was ready to knock her through the wall with a roundhouse kick. She gasped as she had no time to evade or counter.
He swung his leg at her-
"Shifu. I'm gonna need for you to relax for a moment.
His kick instantly stopped the moment he saw who was in front of him.
"It's interesting, really. The moment we ran into one another in the forest, you've stopped attacking me. And now, even under mind control...you just can't bring yourself to harm me, can you?" Mei Ling the fox had her arms folded, not even noticing that his kick was seconds from making contact with her cheek. His blue glowing eyes narrowed in both agitation and shock that he stopped his own attack, and something forced him to stand down and back away from her. Mei Ling turned to Tigress. "Do what you need to do, sweetie. He's not going to get past me."
Tigress blinked, but she nodded in gratitude as she stood up and addressed her comrades. "Monkey! Mantis! You two will deal with Master Elephant. You're both the quickest, and he puts a lot of weight behind his attacks. Use that against him. Viper! Crane! You'll take care of Master Rooster! While he does have superior flight skills, Viper will help counter any aerial attacks, which will give Crane an opening. Fung and Song! You can overpower her with Fung's brute force and Song's sneaky trickster skills will leave her confused! And like Mei Ling said, she's distracting Shifu. As for me and Po...we'll take on of Master Ding." Tigress clenched her fist. "This is our setup, guys! Make it count!"
Master Ding was expecting for them somewhat resist her commands, to try to do their own thing in a fit of pride. But he was genuinely surprised when they all turned towards Tigress and nodded in affirmation.
"GOT IT!"
Fenghuang's eyes scanned Tigress for a moment after she relayed the entire plan. The plan was a bit rusty, but it could actually work if pulled off effectively. Brains AND...Brawn, totally balanced...that's a rather rare combination...that mindset being in action is going to serve her very well...
"Of course she had to set us up with the big scary elephant guy that can possibly crush our bones into fine powder." Monkey groaned in agitation as he back flipped from a strong punch from the large elephant and hung onto a statue high above him.
"You're bones might be turned into fine powder, I might just be splattered across the floor." Mantis mumbled as he jumped up high to meet the simian. "How are we gonna do this? Neither of us has enough muscle to put a dent in him. And my nerve attacks won't work either, his skin is too thick."
Monkey rubbed his chin as Elephant ran rampant looking for them. He then smiled as he stared at Mantis. "Think about what Tigress said. Use his strength and raw power against him, using our speed and agility."
"Yeah, I got that part, but how?"
"We may not have enough muscle to injure him...but he does."
"Ooooohhh...I gotcha. Man, Lidong would be very helpful in this situation. But whatever, we'll make due with what we've got." Mantis and Monkey nodded to one another as they disappeared.
Elephant was looking vigilant for them, smashing walls that got in his way and knocking over large rocks. Then all of a sudden, Monkey was sitting on his shoulder. "Hey dude, how's it going?" Elephant growled as his fist glowed with chi and he threw his fist in Monkey's direction. Though he was too slow, the primate was gone the moment his fist caught up. He only ended up seriously injuring his own shoulder in the process. He groaned in pain as he got on one knee.
...which Mantis hopped on. "Master Elephant! How's life, man?" He jumped away when the controlled master tried to smash him, which only made him injure his leg, knocking him highly off-balance.
They continued this pattern for as long as they needed to. They appeared in multiple places on his body and allowing him to strike himself with multiple chi-attacks, and they could see him weakening bit by bit with each self-harming strike. They were taking advantage of the fact that Ding had complete mental control over their enemies...and that means that their instincts have mostly been blocked out. While Monkey and Mantis were on nothing but instinct right now, and it was helping them dodge at the right time or close to the right time, and it was good enough. After a while, despite Master Ding forcing him to try and continue, Master Elephant couldn't hold himself up anymore because he's reached his physical limit, and he fell to the ground, losing consciousness.
Mantis hopped on Monkey's shoulder, surveying the damage. "Wow...I can't believe we managed to win with a rather childish manuver."
"The classic 'Why are you hitting yourself?' trick. There are very few times that it fails." Monkey agreed. Mantis nods in agreement, and they share a tiny hfi-five, finger to foreleg.
The next one was Crane, Viper, and Master Rooster. Roosters were not supposed to be abpe to fly very high...he very much defies that rule. He was flying around the room with no troubles at all. Crane tried to match his flight pattern to try to find a hole in its but he stumbled. Rooster took advantage, and kicked him across the room. Crane hits the wall forcefully, picking up dust and a bit of blood dripped from his forehead. He took off his hat before it could bear the brunt of the impact.
"Whew...and ow...at the same time. Good thing my hat didn't take any unnecessary damage..." Crane groaned as he placed the hat back on his head, staring down Rooster. Viper slithered up to Crane while keeping her eyes on Rooster. Crane nodded to her. "Any ideas?"
"Rooster is fast and he's incredibly light. A heavy enough attack sbould be able to knock him out."
"Good. I can manage that, but I need for him to be still."
"Leave that to me."
Rooster flew towards the duo with blinding speed. Viper remembers her training from Fu-Xi, and timed her lash with careful precision. She was off by a couple inches, but manage to make it count. She quickly coiled around the smaller avian and strengthened her hold on him from the start. She was right to do so, as Rooster's struggles were stronger than any others who get caught in her coils, and it took a lot more effort to restrain him. Crane placed one talon on his chest and gripped tightly on his robe.
"This isn't anything personal, Master Rooster. But I have to give it my all in order to knock you out and break the control over you. Keep him wrapped up until the right time, Viper!"
"Right!"
Crane tightened his grip on Rooster just to be sure, jumped up high and began flying around the room in a large circle. He flapped his wings to pick up speed. Fenghuang watched closely from her telekinetic prison, her eyes trained on the long legged avian.
Wait a second...
Crane began flying faster in a perfect circle, fast enough to generate a small but noticeable wind tunnel that relates to a whirlwind. This is the other reason why he asked Viper to hold onto Rooster as tightly as she could, so she wouldn't go flying. The others took cover behind stone walls, while Ding generated his own telekinetic bubble to block out the wind. Crane became a blur, making the whirlwind grow stronger with time, until eventually he stopped and Viper swiftly slithered up his leg and around his waist, as he lets go of Rooster. He had no time to try and dissipate the whirlwind, because Viper's tight coils slowed his muscles movement from prolonged restraint.
"Gale Stomp Of Justice!"
Crane came down with his wings raised and both of his talons striking Rooster's midsection and smashing him into the ground, the impact shaking the castle. The moment he made contact, a wave of white chi thrusted out in a circle around him that was also the width of his whirlwind. He got off of Rooster and adjusted his hat, breathing heavily from the effort. Viper slthered a bit around his shoulders.
"Nice work." Viper patted his back with her tail, and he smiled at her.
"...adding 'Of Justice' at the end doesn't make it sound cooler." Monkey mumbled. Crane angrily cawed at him.
"SHUT UP!"
Fenghuang blinked in amazement from Crane's attack. It was...VERY similiar to her own stomp attack, which is one of the Impossible Moves. Something inside her giggled. Hahahaha...ooooooh boy...you skinny little dork. You're a faster learner than you think you are.
Fung looked over to Crane, awestruck by his incredible aerial prowess. How has he not shown that skill up until now? Probably because it wasn't highly necessary. He almost lost too much focus to notice that Master Snow Leopard jumped at him with a Chi enhanced claw slash. Fung gasped as he whipped his tail at her to bat her away. It did succeed in sending her flying, but she managed to scratch him anyway, placing his tail in quite a bit of pain.
"Stupid Chi...I can't do stuff like that...I really want to, though." He mumbled. Snow Leopard kept up her offense with numerous blows that Fung couldn't completely keep up with, but he was able to endire it due to the toughness of his scales. When he saw her pause when Song jumped in attempting to jab jer with a knife in her umbrella, he took the chance and spun quickly, eventually smashing his tail into the side of her head. She hit the floor, growling lowly while getting back up and walking towards them again.
"She's more durable than she looks!" Song narrowed her eyes.
"But not durable enough to handle a surprise." Fung said, running over to the pillar to hs right. Song immediately understood, and engaged Snow Leopard as best as she could. As they both expected, she wasn't much of a match for her, and was knocked down when she tried to block a kick with her parasol. Snow Leopard crept over to her, claws unsheathed. Fung saw his chance and used his tail to pull the already weakened pillar over, making it lose balance and fall with an incredibly loud thud...right on top of Snow Leopard. Song sighed at how close that was to smashing her instead. At least her enemy was pinned. Alive for sure, but pinned. Fung helped Song up. "That was a risky one...are you okay?"
Song nodded a little. "Yeah...that was pretty reckless of you to knock over a pillar in order ro make sure she stays down. Though my profession kinda requires recklessness, so I can't say that I know more than you."
"No you can't." He ssid bluntly. Song chuckled and stared into his eyes.
"Thanks a lot, Fung. You really saved my tail."
Fung came across the feeling again. His cheeks were becoming a red tint, and suddenly he couldn't look her in the eye anymore. He turned around quickly, scratching his cheek awkwardly with one claw. "Gosh...it was a team effort, you know. Ya don't have to butter me up like that..."
"HA! Even when the odds are against them, they're still managing to pull through!" Fenghuang chanted. "What do you think of that, Spector Swine?!"
Master Ding levitated in his spot, completely silent as his Spirir Orbs orbited around him while flowing blue. He stroked his beard with one hoof, and raised the other hoof towards the entire group. Strangely, he released his influence over Shifu and the rest of the Five. Since he was the only one still conscious, he was at least somewhat able to grasp what was going on. The pig floating above them clapped slowly.
"Very well. I have no choice but to admit it. You youngsters...you all are much more talented than you look...as well as being extremely dangerous." His eyes shifted to Po and Tigress below him. "Especially you two..."
"Ya might was well give up now, Ghost Pig! We got ya cornered!" Po shouted at him. "Give Jong his son back!"
Ding raised an eyebrow in genuine confusion. "What's this? You're actually going to save the child of the man who's caused you an intense amount of grief?"
"Don't try to mislead us. You're just as guilty as he is. We just believe that his child shouldn't have to suffer for something his father did." Tigress stated angrily. "And this isn't just about them, either. What about all those monks from a long time ago? They only wanted to help you, but your impatience was unrelenting, and they suffered your wrath for no reason other than greed!"
"They weren't helping me tap into my full potential, so I discarded them." He replied casually. "Just like how Shifu wasn't helping Tai Lung truly reach his full potential, and his bond with you was holding him down, so he discarded the both of you. That night still hasn't left your mind. You're left wondering if Tai Lung even cared about you at all, and just wanted the scroll. He might care. He might not. Who reallys knows?" Tigress bared her fangs and her fists clenched up in fury.
"Wow. What an asshole." Monkey said with surprise in his voice. "What a psychic, psychopathic, asshole."
"Enough about that. Now that you've somehow managed to beat three of the Five by workig in sync, I'm going to have to try something else. Because Shifu can't attack his ex, and Fenghuang's free will keeps me from controlling her. So...I'm going to test just how tough you all truly are." He clasped his paws over the orbs while grouping them together. They began to rotate and spin rapidly, as well as glow brighter with each passing second. "You can guess what might happen next. I have no physical body anymore, so this harming me by much...won't happen. You lot, on the other hand..." He shot the orbs at them, and the brightness increased by a blinding degree.
They didn't even get to see the telekinetic explosion that rocked the entire mountain.
(A couple moments later)
Master Ding opened his eyes to see that his castle has been utterly demolished from his telekinetic bomb that his Spirit Orbs created. He rubbed his neck and cackled evilly. "I might have overdone it, just a small bit. But that doesn't matter to me." He held his paw up to his face. "The Castle was my prison, but now it is no more! I am free at last!" He looked around to see his enemies in multiple places. Badly injured and not likely to be conscious. "But they're still alive, huh? How...surprising. It's of no matter. I can finish them off at my leisure." His eyes began turning towards Po. "Starting with...w...what the?!" His eyes widened.
Po was lying against a rock, bleeding from his head and arms as well as being unconscious. But that's not what startled Ding. It's the Chi around the panda. Now that the castle was gone, he was able to precisely see Chi without interference. And Po's Chi...was flowing right above him. It was huge, it was golden, and it was overwhelming. It was also deeply dormant, which means Po was not aware of this hidden power. Not yet.
The Golden Chi had taken the form of a dragon.
A...A dragon?! A dragon of gold, no less! But that can only mean...this...this fat childish panda...is the Dragon Warrior?! I thought Oogway was just telling talltales, but there's no way I can deny this! He doesn't even seem to be aware that he is the Dragon Warrior...why would Oogway not tell him? He narrowed his eyes. No...that doesn't matter to me. In fact, it only supports my decision.
He used his telekinesis to grab one of the pillars that still managed to be intact. He furthered his powers by having one end sharpen until it resembles a spear. It slowly turned around, and it was aimed at the panda's heart. "This is nothing personal, panda. But you...you're far too dangerous to be left alive. Whether you know it or not." He pushed his hand outward. "So do me a favor...die." The stone spear shot at Po, as Ding watches carefully...
He was shocked when Tigress intercepts it with a well-times, shattering it into multiple pieces and leaving Po unharmed more than he already was. "How...? How are you still standing up?!"
"You...damn...coward..." Tigress breathed heavily, glaring and growling at him. She was covered in dirt, her forehead was bleeding as well as her muzzle, and her clothes were slightly torn up. Her scarf somehow remained intact...because it was glowing with red chi. "Trying to kill him...when he can't defend himself...that's cowardice at one of it's lowest points..." Soon afterwards, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, and Viper recovered from the rubble, gathering around Tigress.
"What is this...?" Ding narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure you've seen it. His recklessness. His inexperience. His lack of fear. His naivety. You can't tell me that doesn't spell disaster for everything he comes across. A panda has no capability of being a leader, especially not this one. What do you possibly owe him to travel this far with him?" He's read their minds already. And yet no matter how many times he goes over it, he couldn't understand. From his perspective, Po was a total moron and and an outcast of his own Valley...he didn't expect for them to still stand up for him, despite how injured they are.
"Hah...of course you wouldn't understand. Then again, why would you? Ya don't have any friends." Monkey weakly chuckled. He was holding his left arm, he was bleeding from his chest, and he was pretty sure his tail was broken.
"You've betrayed quite a lot of people who trusted you...all for power." Crane panted, shifting his hat over his head. There was blood dripping from his beak, and a bit of it stained his feathers and hat. But he remained standing.
"Unlike you...Po actually has complete faith in us. He's reckless and inexperienced alright. But guess what? So are we." Mantis grunted. One of his antenna was broken and so was one of his legs. But it didn't matter, he had three more.
"Plus his idiocy...it kinda makes him that much cuter." Viper said, placing her lotus flowers back on her head. Due to blood, one of them looked like a red rose than a lotus flower.
"His faith and confidence in us no matter what we do...it brings us together, in a way. We may look like some group of unruly children compared to people of your age...but we couldn't care less what people like you think of us." Tigress said strongly. "We've accepted one another when a majority of society has not."
Ding kept glaring that them. He was not completely aware that they would not be moving out of his way for anything. He just didn't know why, despite them explaining it to him.
"Whether we be monsters..."
"Or street brawlers..."
"A sore loser..."
"A public menace..."
"Or a vicious serpent..."
"We were quite surprised that he would just accept us right off the bat despite the hard times we might have given him in the process. But truthfully...we're glad he was that determined." Tigress smiled. "We've finally found our place. Each of us are treasured by him in different ways, yet he still keeps it equal. It's so easy for us to stick together because we each have one thing in common...in our own ways...we are outcasts."
"And wouldn't you know it, us outcasts know how to stick together more than anyone!" Monkey grinned.
Ding glared a bit...then he was surprised yet again. Chi was gathering around each of them. A glowing white scarf with the image of a crane on it, appeared on Crane's neck. A glowing yellow scarf formed around Monkey's neck with the image of a gorilla on it. For Mantis, a tiny yet comfortable scarf formed around his neck, with the image of a mantis. And a blue scarf with the image of a serpent on it appeared around Viper's neck. None of them seemed to notice this at the moment, they were focused on Ding, who was looking more confused by the moment.
"Huaaaah...~" Po yawned as he stood back up slowly and rubbed his neck. "Wow...that hurt a lot. Pain was definitely felt." He looked up towards Ding, as his friends gathered around him. "Alright, Master Ding. Now that we've seen your little explody stunt, it won't work a second time!"
The ghost pig then noticed something red flying at them from afar. He was surprised to see that it was a red scarf surrounded in a golden glow. And then even more surprised that it now had the design of a golden dragon across it.
"What's going on here...do they even realize that-" Ding froze up as the idea finally clicked. Wait...this Chi is not like any I've sensed before. It feels a lot like the others...no...impossible! That panda is the Dragon Warrior. So this means that those five brats... His eyes widened.
"The New Furious Five...is right in front of me..."
Po tilted his had a bit, his eyes shadowed over. "Master Ding. Despite how much of a jerk he is, I'm gonna save his son. And as for those monks you imprisoned...I'm gonna free them too. And when we win, Mugu Mountain...everyone in general, really...will be free from your puppet mastery. For good."
Ding felt a familiar pang in his chest. He didn't think it was possible, because he was already deceased. But no...the panda was staring him down. He had no idea that his chi has taken the form of a dragon again, and it was overwhelming his senses.
Fear..? I, the Great Master Ding...am afraid of some overweight moronic panda, who's basically just a rookie?! That's...THAT'S NONSENSE!
Po lifted his hat, a confident grin on his face. It almost looked predatory. With Fenghuang as his teacher, one would suppose he would take a face like this sooner or later.
"Now that's outta the way...let's try this again, yeah?"