Landing while you were still in healing...not the best sensation in the world. Shen legitimately had to summon most of his willpower to stave off the excruciating pain from a less than fabulous landing. Much less than fabulous, it was downright embarrassing and utterly painful. Shen also didn't know whether or not he should just take his chances and attempt to voice out the tiger's eyes. Of course she most likely won't be giving him the opportunity, and would smash him into the ground in an instant. His luck wasn't going very well today, he felt. Or more like, this entire week. This entire week, he just couldn't help but feel as if the whole universe have been entirely against him the moment the panda and his comrades entered the city. Ever since then, things have been going more and more downhill. And now instead of death, he has to suffer more humiliation.
...Death would have been much quicker, and much less humiliation. Why couldn't the panda have landed in his neck...?
"Okay...ow...I didn't land as well as I thought I would...dang..." Po groaned as he managed to roll onto his back and try to regain his bearings.
Tigress landed beside him a couple seconds later, immediately coming to his aid and helping him up. "Po! Are you okay?!"
"Just a rough landing, Ti. Nothin' to fret over."
Tigress narrowed her eyes in disapproval. "You can't make that claim, Po. You chose to go through with this even though you haven't finished recovering. As such, I can't let you too far out of my sight for the entirety of this mission. If something goes wrong with you, I need to know about it so I can do my best to rectify it to the best of my ability. I'll take the lead. If it becomes too much for you, I'm getting you out of here."
"Tigress, come on..."
"If you get seriously hurt on my watch, Mr. Ping will not be pleased with me. I won't be pleased with me. So please don't try anything exceedingly reckless, okay?"
Po sighed, fully standing up and rubbing his neck. "Alright. I don't want you getting in trouble with my Dad just because of me being too eager. He'd probably blame me for my eagerness either way. I just didn't want to ignore this problem, you know? Besides, you wanted to help too, didn't you?"
"I would have been perfectly content with you leaving this to the rest of us. But we are already here, so there's no turning back now. Only forward. So let us move forward."
With a strong nod, Tigress adjusted her scarf and lead the way through the lit path. Po followed a couple paces behind her. Shen groaned as he forced himself to stand, and followed the both of them simultaneously. He noticed that Tigress didn't even take notice of his own condition. He couldn't say he didn't expect it, but he definitely found it a bit annoying that he was being blatantly ignored. Of course Tigress couldn't care less what he thought of her. He was in little to no position to be given respect by anyone of his enemies. Except the panda, who keeps doing his best to great him nicely.
Foolishiness in its most potent form. So why does he continue? Even with slight answers from others, he won't be satisfied until he gets the full answer from the panda himself. Because the more he observed, the more it seemed that the panda was either too honest or too stupid to tell an incredibly convincing lie. So until then, he had his very deep doubts.
"Wonder where Zhou Dan is. I wanna kick his butt and be done with this. Don't want him and his goons hurting anyone else, especially since the city is still kind of in a recovery stage, just like me." Po said as he placed his arm behind his neck, lightly kicking at the ground.
"It's moronic that you care so much about others that you'd risk drastic harm to yourself. Me still breathing and you missing an arm. That's a very good way to get yourself killed." Shen huffed. Tigress whipped her head back at him to deliver a steeled glare that stopped any other words on the subject coming out of his beak. Snarling quietly, she returned her attention to the front of her, resisting the impulse to savagely beat Shen I to the ground.
"Well...I've been helping a lot of people out, and I'm still alive. So I'm sure I'm not doing anything wrong." Po blinked. "I'm pretty sure I'm doing a good job. And I don't really regret saving you back there, like I keep saying."
"You should regret saving my life."
"Yeah. I probably should...but I don't. Nothin' I can do about that right now." Po casually shrugged, as best as he could. "Wow. Shrugging feels weird when you only have one full arm. Now all of the weight goesninto one shrug, instead of a dual shrug. At least, I think that's how that works..."
"I hardly believe this is the time to chat about such insignificant details such as shrugging. We should put all of our focus into finding Zhou Dan and those Komodo Dragons of his. He'll need to be dealt with in a severe and just manner."
"We can agree on that. We'll beat those komodo dragons into the ground! And then we'll get something good to eat!" Po grinned. "Seriously though. First thing's first, beat down the thugs and take doen the leader. Seems easy enough."
"Zhou Dan surely doesn't sound like a serious threat. Still, we ought to bring him down before he can increase his numbers. Better to be safe than sorry." Tigress reasoned. "Shen. Is there any more information that you can provide that will help us in our encounter?"
"He is very sure of himself. He'll talk big, and he'll try to act on it. He's inferior to you both on unbelievable margins. You should be able to crush them all easily." Shen closed his eyes. "Honestly, why the Kung Fu Council is having me attempt to deal with this issue is beyond me. You're both much more competent at this than I am. I shouldn't have to dirty myself with this labor."
"You dirtied yourself trying to make cannons. I think you can stand a little battle firsthand, you're still capable, even despite your injuries."
"Of course. Send me out to battle when I'm still very much injured, but the panda gets to take it easy." Shen rolled his eyes.
"Po needs rest much more than you do, yet he insisted on coming with you despite the fact that he's still recovering. I allowed him to go with great reluctance from Mr. Ping, on the grounds that I came with you both so I can look after him. Though I'm not against assisting you as well, if only to make sure that our enemy is brought down and Po is brought back to recover quickly. Nothing more and nothing less than that."
"So this is merely cooperation to achieve a goal."
"I trust Po's judgement, as strange as it is. But that doesn't mean I have to be friendly towards you. I can be civil and cooperative, but that's about it for is."
"Can you two not be mean to one another for a bit, please?" Po said with a tired sigh. We didn't even find the Komodo Dragons yet. Can we please find them first before you two try beating the heck out of one another?" Pause. "...Or Tigress beating the heck out of Shen?"
"What?! I'll have you know, I can soundly defeat her any time I-"
"No. I'm sorry dude...but no. You really can't." Po shook his head with a deadpan stare. Shen simply huffed, but the slumped shoulders indicated that he definitely felt a bit humiliated at being shot down like that. Po eventually pointed ahead with raised eyes. "Hey guys, check out what's ahead! An open room!"
Tigress was the first to step through the door and enter the room ahead of them. She looked up to see another grate on the ceiling, meaning they traveled a far enough distance to approach yet another opening in this underground passage. The others are bound to be able to find this entrance at some point and provide support. She didn't think it would be very necessary, but she's definitely not going to deny it if they needed it. She then looked forward expactantly, so find the Komodo Dragon they were looking for.
Shen his his wings in his sleeves and scoffed at the lizard in front of him. "So, Zhou Dan. You're trying to undermine the remains of my army, are you not?"
"Heh! It's not like you're usin' it, Shen! You've lost, and you lost HARD! It only makes sense that someone more competent were to take your place."
"Competent? Please! Whatever competence you had was rendered moot once the thought of betraying me being a good idea entered your head. This isn't competence, but foolishness. Not only that, you actually find yourself worthy enough to be sitting upon a throne. Forget foolishness. Now you're just being an idiot. But you're still smarter than this one." He gestured to Po, who was scratching the back of his head in confusion. Shen shook his head. "It certainly wasnt a pleasure knowing you, Zhou Dan. So make it easier for everyone and just dispose of yourself to right now."
The Komodo Dragon huffed, drawing his sword. Once he drew said sword, Komodo Dragons, as well as a couple gorrillas climbed out of different holes in the walls, as well as different entryways around him. "Dispose of myself. What sort of fool do you take me for?"
"He just called you an idiot, dude. Were you not listening?" Po said with a tilted head.
"...You let this guy defeat you, Shen? You're even more pathetic than I thought you were. You were far too weak to try and conquer China. I don't have that weakness. Soon I'll-"
Tigress suddenly raised her paw to silence everyone around her. They looked at one another in confusion, then towards her. She took a deep enough breath, then released a powerful roar that echoed throughout the Undercity and effectively terrified the soldiers surrounding her. The sound soon echoed and traveled through the grate leading above ground. Po and Shen were mostly unruffled by the roar, the former casually adjusting his hst and scarf. Tigress soon stopped her roaring, regaining her composure and lightly rubbing her throat.
"...Why...?" Zhou Dan asked in confusion.
"Sorry. I just felt a need to let that out. Also, I have no care for your boasting." Tigress said simply. Soon enough, the grate has been busted through ad it falls to the ground, startling the Komodo Dragons and Gorillas around them. Crane soon swooped in, then flapped his wings powerfully, creating a gust of wind that slowed the fall of his companions following behind them, allowing them to fall without any harm done to them. "Also, it was a bit of a signal to disclose our location."
"So that was the idea. Good thinking, Tigress." Mei Ling nodded with a smile, slowly gripping her staff.
"You're so smart, Tigress!" Viper said cheerfully as she slithered around Tigress and nuzzled her cheek. The feline didn't react too much of it, but Viper could feel that the gesture was appreciated. Though she soon pulled back and glared at the army around her.
"So we just gotta take these guys down and the army will fall apart completely? Works for us!" Monkey said energetically, Mantis hopping on his shoulder.
"Yeah! After that chaos we endured with Shen, these guys are nothing!"
"Oh, cool entrance guys! Wish I could have been a part of it, though..." Po pouted. "Well, whatever. Now that we have backup, things will be a lot easier!"
"I could have taken care if it..." Shen lowered his head.
"You see why none of us believe that, right?" Crane said with a questioning gaze.
"Mind your tongue!"
"Whatever."
The lack of respect here was not lost on Shen. It was quite aggravating. Even more aggravating when they repeatedly made it clear that they don't care about his status. Especially not Po, and he was the only one trying to actively befriend him. Somehow that was worse than trying to antagonize him.
Baffling. They respect this simpleton more than they respect a lord? What could he have possibly done to gain so much of it?
"Stop treating us as if we aren't here!" Zhou Dan shouted.
Po was still adjusting his hat a bit. Then he turned and blinked towards the Komodo Dragon in question. "...Huh? You say something?"
"That's it! Kill the panda first!"
"Aw man! What'd I do?!"
Tigress slowly cracked her knuckles. They were recovering from a war, they had little to no time for this nonsense. So when the first Gorilla pounded his chest and made a large leap towards Po, Tigress and Monkey jumped simultaneously and kicked him in the center of his chest, sending him flying back into a wall, cratering it. They both landed gracefully as the others readied themselves to deal with the rest. Zhou Dan became understandably nervous at the casual display of strength, specifically from Tigress.
The others attacked soon after.
Mantis and Viper were far too quick for them to catch. Viper would slither between the legs of Komodo Dragons before wrapped the end of her tail around one if there legs and swinging them against others, knocking them into the ground. Gorillas assumed that Mantis may have been small, but his physical strength is greatly lacking. They were proven horribly wrong as he zipped across the room, bouncing off the walls, until he chose a target and kicks one in the cheek, which sends them flying into another and knocking them both out.
Crane and Mei Ling swiftly moved forward, Crane flapping his wings and picking up another gust of wind to accelerate Mei Ling's leap. Mei Ling thrusted her staff forward and hits a Komodo Dragon right in his chest, slamming him roughly into the ground. Crane soon twisted his body as multiple Komodo Dragons shot a plethora of arrows towards him. All of them were deflected and sliced apart by his wings. While he does this, Mei Ling continually moves forth and slams her staff into them and knocks them aside, effectively dodging most of the strikes and rapidly delivering counters that knocked them into the ground.
Tigress watches as an oncoming Gorilla tries to go after Po once again. She has none of it, catching it with her own paw without moving an inch. Monkey soon comes up and kicks him in the face. Tigress takes advantage of the stumble and managed a powerful strikes to his chest, sending him flying, with Monkey jumping up and kicking him down into the ground to make another crater.
Po smiled, his one paw behind his neck. "Heh. I guess I won't be needed for this. Guess Tigress was right about it being best for me to take it e-" He sidestepped to Dodge a sword slicing down on him, looking face to face with Zhou Dan. "Oh, hi."
"That's all ya have to say to me, fatso?!"
"I do wonder when people are gonna be more original than that..." Zhou Dan sliced his blade down on Po again, only for Shen to stop the attack with his sharp metal talons. The lizard was greatly surprised by this, while the panda blinked in astonishment. "Oh, hey Shen!"
"Fool! Why are you so carefree when your life is in danger!?" Shen shouted angrily at him while he pushed Zhou Dan back. He then moved forward and sweeped up a sword one of the soldiers dropped, and slashed at Zhou Dan. Both of them slashed at one another, causing sparks between their blades. "Blast it, I seriously have to defend this buffoon?!"
"Ya don't have to. I could probably-" Po began, only to duck under the fist of one of the other lizards. He pouted. "Why do you all keep interrupting me? That's rude."
"Anyone who eats with you will learn what rudeness will truly mean." Crane sighed as he flaps his wings again, blasting most of the Komodo Dragons with bursts of wind. Mei Ling jumped up when a couple of them were in the air, leaping up quickly and slams a couple of them back with multiple spin strikes, and Tigress jumped up and slammed one of them straight into the ground.
"What the heck, we're being beaten back?!" Zhou Dan said with disbelief, until he was kicked back by Shen, which also sliced due to his metal talons.
"You should pay attention to your executioner, Zhou Dan! He doesn't take betrayal easily!" Shen shouted in anger, once again slicing into him with the blade he now had in his wings. "I don't take kindly to traitors, especially those that try to undermine me entirely! They are to be cut down by my blade!"
"Technically it isn't yours, pale feathers!" Zhou Dan grinned as one of the other komodo dragons slashed at his back, causing him to screech in pain, and nearly fall over from the pain. Though he refused to fall, forcing himself to stay standing. But he was clearly annoyed by the situation at this point.
Blast the Kung Fu Council for making me go through with this when I'm still injured...
Po narrowed his eyes after this. That was not going to stand with him. With his fist clenched, he gathered chi in his paw and glared at the Komodo Dragon. Without uttering a word, he thruster his paw forward and pushed out a swift Wind Hammer. Zhou Dan turned around in confusion, but was too slow to dodge the blow. It struck him in his chest, resulting in a powerful burst of wind that sent him flying back. Tigress leapt up and grabbed his feet, and slammed him into the ground below her. The momentum forced an even deeper crater into the ground, nearly shattering it entirely.
The shock wave from the toss forced back all of his other men, effectively knocking them down. Some of them were choosing that it was wiser to just stay down. Others were genuinely knocked out. Tigress landed on the ground gracefully, adjusting her scarf once again and looking around her with indifference, only showing emotion for her comrades, making sure they were alright. Especially Po.
"Okay...I might see why everyone wanted me to just get some rest and not do much..." Po said as he lightly stared at his bandaged arm stump. It was beginning to bleed again. "That's probably not good..."
"Of course it's not! Seriously, how feeble is your mind?!" Shen shouted in outrage, though it was more because Po just saved him from being cut down during his moment of weakness.
"Stop shouting, Shen. Po needs to get back to the surface and get some serious medical attention, again!" Viper exclaimed worriedly, slithering up to the panda and wrapping her tail around his paw.
"Viper...I'm fine."
"No you're not, Po." Tigress said, shaking her head. "We've completed our objective like the Kung Fu Council asked of us. Now it's time for you to continue your recovery."
"Tigress..."
"Your arm is bleeding again! That has to be dealt with immediately! It takes more Ethan a couple days to take care of a wound like that, Po! You need much more time to rest."
"But if I wait for so long, I'm gonna be-"
"I'm sorry, Po. But this is no longer up for discussion. I'm worried about you, Mr. Ping is obviously worried about you, and so is everyone else. We're getting back to the surface, we'll income them that we've completed our objective, and you're going to take much more time to rest, until you're completely ready to travel with minimum risk. Am. I. Clear?" The authority of Tigress's tone jumped a couple levels, and the others lightly shivered from it.
Po realized that Tigress was not backing down. They would be in an eternal stalemate if this continues. Plus, he was getting hungrier by the moment. He sighed as he adjusted his hat.
"Okay, okay. I'll take it easy. I guess I can't just walk off having a dismembered limb in a couple days."
"Oh really? What made you think that?" Crane said in an incredibly sarcastic/concerned tone.
Tigress nodded as she lead the way out of the tunnel. "Monkey. Crane. Help Shen walk with us."
"Right." Monkey said as the called duo helped Shen stand.
"Unhand me! I don't need your help to walk!" The peacock resisted.
"Stop being stubborn about this, dude. You're not in much better shape than Po." Mantis said while hopping alongside the others. "Seriously. I'll press your pressure points and make you easier to move. Don't make me do that."
"Tch." Shen rolled his eyes and looked away from them. At the very least, this tedious task is done, and he didn't even have to do too much himself. Though he did get a deep cut across his back for his troubles. At the very least, his day couldn't get any more unbearable.
He was about to be proven wrong.
Tigress reached the surface first, gently helping Po upwards, and everyone else managed to follow suit. They were soon greeted by the rather solemn looking faces of the Kung Fu Council, as well as Shen, Fenghuang, Mei Ling the fox, Mr. Ping, and Taotie. It didn't take long for Po to sense that something is seriously wrong. Shen found out even faster, and glared at all of them.
"What's with those grim expressions? I've already done your moronic and tedious chore. Explain yourselves!"
Master Rhino found the strength to speak. "...Shen. We won't beat around the bush about this, it'll only make the news much worse."
"What happened...?" Po asked, taking his hst up in concern.
Mr. Ping had his her in his wings, staring down at the ground with a heavy heart. "Son...its the Soothsayer."
"What?! What about the Soothsayer?! Speak, goose!" Shen demanded.
Mr. Ping was undeterred by Shen's outburst, gently rubbing and hugging his hat. Until he sighed and looked up at Shen. "She's been killed, Shen. We found her in the room bleeding from a deep stab wound...by the looks of her position, she didn't bother trying to get help. She...she's gone."
The breeze that suddenly passed by everyone was the only thing that could be heard.
The goose didn't feel like he was lying, and he certainly didn't have the looks that said that he would lie about something so serious. So when he hers those words leave the goose's beak, as vehemently adlnd strongly as he wanted to, he had to accept that the words rang true. Besides, he had the other elders vouching for him, so he definitely couldn't discount it as a lie.
This confirms it. He discarded Zhong, killed off a majority of his own men, burned through most of his resources, only for the entire conquest to be for nothing. His army was gone,the allies he could at least tolerate abandoned him. And now, even Soothsayer was gone. And a majority of these travesties was because he refused to surrender when he had the chance.
"...I want to be alone for a while." Shen said quietly as he slowly moves away from everyone, his head lowered with closed eyes. Everyone watched him with concerned faces, and the saddened ones came mostly from Po and Mr. Ping. He's been dealt major defeat, his entire army has fallen apart, and now the only one he truly and genuinely cared for has been killed by some assassins. Most likely the Lin Kuei, whom Zhong broken off from a long time ago. This must have been in revenge. At this point, Shen has lost everything. And he couldn't fully blame everyone but himself.
What everyone saw walking by, was a man who's been broken by the consequences of his dark choices. Like he was thinking before, death would have been preferable over this.
...only Po, Tigress, and Mr. Ping followed him from a distance.