Welcome to Chapter 2, I have nothing more to say, except to throw some KFP2 elements into this, and this is where the "chill" takes it up a level. Now we get into all the Action!
THE JADE PALACE
Shifu had just received the scroll from Zeng. Who knew what could be inside it?
"No, no no no no... This can't be true!" Shifu shouted. "Zeng! Send the rest of the Five and Po here!"
"Yes, sir!" Zeng gasped out.
Zeng bent down and picked them up, while Shifu quickly crossed the palace grounds and burst into the training hall.
Tigress kicked and punched, here, there, crosswise… well, everywhere. The tigress caught sight of Shifu.
"Oh, Shifu, back so soon?" Tigress joked.
"Yes, it's urgent," he answered.
Tigress smile instantly disapeared as she stopped her training and approached her master. "What? What's happened?"
"It's Emperor Huang. A village was just destroyed. It was blown up with the Emperor's gunpowder."
"He blew up an entire village?" she asked, in shock. Tigress had seen the power of gunpowder firsthand, but nothing on that scale. To destroy a building was one thing, but a whole village?
"It was…a village full of tigers," Shifu added.
"Wait, what?" gasped Tigress, her eyes wide open.
"I'm sorry, Tigress," Shifu sadly replied, lowering his gaze.
Just then, the rest of the Five and Po came running up to the Training Hall and entered. Tigress just stood there, still completely shocked by what she had just heard. It didn't take very long for everyone to pick up on the air of shock between Tigress and Shifu.
"Tigress, are you alright?" asked Po.
"I, I thought…" her words faded and she became silent. Needing some time to think, she turned away and headed for the door.
"Tigress?" Po asked once more, but Shifu cleared his throat, stopping him from going after her.
"Let her go. I have grave news."
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"Therefore, I want you all to go to Nam Binh, and set the emperor straight!" Master Shifu said.
"Yes, Master," they say before taking their leave.
Before they went out the door, Shifu called out -
"Leave tomorrow when the sun starts to rise. It's a long way there, and you'll need sleep for your journey tomorrow!"
"Yes Master!" they shouted back.
THE BARRACKS, NIGHTTIME
Everyone was sleeping soundly, except Tigress. She kept trying to sleep, but her dreams were invaded by flashbacks. She could see bits and fragments of explosions, armies, weapons, and more.
Tigress mumbled to herself during her restless slumber.
"No. No! Stop!"
She shot up in bed, her head hurting. She then went outside to get some fresh air.
"Aaahhhh…" she sighed. She stood outside for a few minutes before going back inside.
Tigress headed back to her room, where she sat on the side of the bed, then lied down, and stared up at the ceiling.
Her thoughts continued to race in her mind, until she heard Po, talking in his sleep from his room.
"Typical Po", she whispered to herself. Tigress grinned a little at this and soon fell asleep.
MORNING
Tigress woke up in terror, letting out a small scream muffled by her paw clamped over her mouth. She had just had a horrible nightmare about the tiger village and all the violence. She sat up on the side of the bed, panting, in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. They were going to get up very soon, and she was the first to wake up.
"Well, better early than late," she said to herself, and began to get ready.
Meanwhile, Po was deep in his dreams, daydreaming about all the fans cheering for him if he defeated Huang. The morning gong sounded and Po woke up hastily, falling off the bed in the process.
He quickly made his way out of the door, where everyone else was already waiting for Master Shifu.
"Good morning, everyone," the red panda said.
"Good morning, master," his students reply.
"Well, we don't have time to waste, pack your food and leave as soon as possible." Shifu ordered before turning away.
They began to gather their things, hurried out of the barracks and bid farewell to Shifu. They quickly made their way down the Ten Thousand Stairs, and in the middle of the Valley, they were stopped by a small stranger.
"Dad?" Po asked.
"Yes my son, where are you going?" he asked him.
"We're going out on a mission to Nam Binh," Po answered.
"Nam Binh? NAM BINH?! The city of that… that horrible Emperor?" Mr. Ping asked.
"Yes, unfortunately," he says. He turned to the Five and gestured that he would catch up. As they left, Po turned back to his dad.
"Dad, don't worry, I'll be fine. I have food and everything I need."
"Oh. Okay then, son. But you be careful, okay?" the old goose replied gloomily and hugged Po, wishing him luck.
Mr. Ping then set off back into the store.
Within the next few days, The Furious Five and Po headed towards Nam Binh, over mountains, across meadows, through forests, and when they came to a river, they begin to build a raft. It was almost night so if they made the raft fast enough, they could use the current to continue to Nam Binh while they slept.
"It's been a long time since we were on a boat," Tigress noted. "The last time was probably when we were going to Gongmen City."
"Yup, that was Gongmen," answered Viper.
Tigress brought lots of bamboo, which was used for the body of the raft. Mantis tied everything together with twine made from strips of the bamboo. Crane raised the mast. And Po… fixed the decorations.
"Um, Po?" Monkey asked, his voice between somewhere between irritated and amused. "Decorations aren't important, and this boat will be completely trashed after we have arrived."
"Well, it doesn't hurt to have decorations, right?" Po asked.
"No, of course not, but I mean, it's a huge waste of time. Help with the boat itself instead."
"Yeah, okay then," Po answered. He paused for a second and then said, "But trust me-"
" - Nope," Monkey interuppted.
"Okay, okay," Po admitted, accepting defeat.
A little while later, the boat was finally ready, and Po pushed it out into the water. They gathered on top of it and finally lay down to sleep as it gently floated down the river.
Po had a little trouble sleeping, as he wasn't used to sleeping on an open raft before. So he lay and moved a little from time to time.
Finally, he heard Tigress, who had just had a nightmare, groan to herself, sit up, and scoot over to the edge of the raft. Po heard this and decided to sit up and join her.
"What are you doing up, Po?" Tigress whispered to Po as he sat next to her, but Po could see the tears running down Tigress' face.
"I heard crying, and, since yesterday you haven't really been yourself," Po whispered back.
"Yes, I know," Tigress quitely sobbed.
"Tigress, I've never seen you like this before. If there is anyone you can open up to, it's me. You know that, right?"
"No, no, I don't want to think about it," she answered.
"Well, okay," he said, but he continued to sit by her and stare off into the night sky.
Po placed his paw on Tigress' right shoulder.
"Stop, Po," she told him, but, surprisingly, she didn't try to remove Po's paw from her shoulder.
Po then placed his other paw on her left shoulder.
"Come on, Tigress, you can tell me."
"Okay then," Tigress finally said, defeated by Po's warmth.
"I was there when it happened," she began.
"Where?"
"In the first village that Huang attacked,
As Tigress continued, she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Tigress," Po replied.
He tried to wipe away her tears, but was stopped by her paw.
"He's now attacked another tiger village. So there were more tigers, and I didn't even know. How was I moved to the Valley of Peace? How did I get there? Who are my parents? Are they still alive? Who is-"
Tigress was interrupted and shocked when Po scooted over to her and gave her a hug.
"I understand. I've been in the same situation as you. I know how it feels." With those last words, he let go of her.
Deciding to give Tigress some alone time, he scooted back over to his sleeping spot and laid back down.
Meanwhile, Tigress felt warm inside, but, at the same time, she was shocked.
She soon went back to her own spot and tried to sleep.
MORNING
"Po! Po, wake up! We've arrived!" Mantis voice shouted.
Po woke from his sleep just as they pulled up to the bank of the river. Abandoning the raft, they approached a nearby city wall and began to climb it. When they reached the top, they ducked for cover and could see a view of a large portion of the city.
"Wow, the emperor has really built an army," Po said, pointing at the soldiers that are just swarming within the city.
Crane looked up and saw a castle on a mountain.
That must be where the emperor lives," he said, pointing to the castle.
Monkey nodded and they began to come up with a plan.
"But how are we going to reach it?" Po asked.
"We are still figuring it out," Tigress answered.
2 MINUTES LATER
"We're ready with the plan," Monkey said.
"Alright! What do we do?" Po asked.
"Okay, we've come up with two plans," Mantis answered. "Plan A and Plan B. So Plan A is that we just simply walk through town, but Tigress will have a disguise."
"Excuse me?" Tigress asked, not seeming very happy with that proposition.
"Well, Plan B it is," Mantis joked.
"Okay, so here's the plan," Monkey continued. "Step one, we get there via the roofs of the buildings. Step two, we go into ambush, meaning that we go behind the castle, and get in there. Then, we'll decide the rest from there."
"Okay, and Po, don't do anything stupid like that dragon we had in Gongmen," Tigress added.
Po nervously laughed. "No, you don't have to worry about me," he joked.
Then, they began to make their way toward the castle.
CONTINUATION FOLLOWS IN CHAPTER 3
Author's Note; Chapter 3 will come soon! I am sorry for the amount of time it has taken to publish this one, both starless echoes and I,
are, let's say, busy. I myself have to deal with lots of tests and long school-days, it really gets on my nerve. Not to mention that I get lots of homework, that sums it up for me lol..
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this one! And once again, a special thanks to starless echoes for doing the translation from the Swedish version.