Here's the next chapter guys! So much is happening right now! With the masters no longer in the valley or the comforts of home, they will face many dangers and be pushed to their limits in this trial. I'm also trying to have this go with the tone of the movies (also notice Po and Tigress aren't bickering like the series, LoA - which isn't canon in general nor is it here - so you won't see them act like that in this story). For anyone who thinks otherwise regarding the series, I have made a video that proves it as not canon. Anyway, the journey to the capitol is a long one - will they make it? Find out!
After more than a day and a half of travel, the two masters had now left the Valley of Peace, and were making their way towards the bridge – the infamous Thread of Hope – which was situated at the important strategic position at the opening to the valley. A gentle breeze cooled their fur, balancing out the heat from the intense rays of the sun shining above them.
As they walked, Po turned his attention from the enjoyable scenery, to the tiger in front of him, breaking the silence. "Hey, Ti?"
"What is it, Po?" she replied nonchalantly, looking up from the map she was reading to the panda. "You've been rather quiet back there." she added, noticing Po hadn't said much since they left.
"Yeah, I know..." he answered, chuckling casually. "Since this is going to be a long adventure, I was thinking that I'll try not to talk your head off." the panda said quietly, rubbing the back of his head.
Tigress smiled, "No, it's fine, Po. You can talk to me if you want." she replied calmly, but the tiger knew there was another reason why Po was being quiet. "It's nice to have someone to talk to but... I don't think that's what's on your mind."
Tigress could tell something was wrong by the tone of his voice; the panda sighed in defeat, knowing she was right. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about what you and my dad talked about before we left." he explained solemnly. "Will we even come back alive, Tigress? What even is the plan to find and rescue everyone? We don't even know who this hood guy is." Po spilling his anxious thoughts was something he did frequently with the tiger; she was a good listener, and didn't mind hearing whatever was troubling him. This was a trait that made her somewhat unique to Po, with perhaps the sole exception of Master Viper. Tigress, however, just always seemed to understand the panda more than the others in the Jade Palace.
The tiger listened intently to every word, and she understood what he was saying, but also the fact that they had to keep moving until they found at least some clues as to where their friends were. She then thought carefully for a moment for her response.
"Po..." she began as gently as she could manage. "I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, but we need to keep moving. Try not to think about that too much right now, ok?" Po nodded in understanding, knowing she had a point. "We need to find where the others were taken - or at least some clues. I promised your father I would keep you alive and safe... and I keep my promises, panda." she concluded, giving him a small smile.
"Ok... I'll try; I understand what you mean, Tigress - thanks." Po replied, doing his best to match her facial expression.
Tigress nodded, "No problem at all. This will be a long journey, but as long as there are still two of us, we will be fine; just... don't worry too much." she added and then opened up the map in her paw to read over it again for directions.
"Alright – I admire your optimism." Po said as they approached the bridge that led out of the valley.
"It's determination, not optimism." she answered, the tiger's characteristic confidence returning to her voice.
The two began to engage into their usual conversations about various things they enjoyed as they now began crossing the hanging bridge. However, as soon as Po stepped on the bridge, he began to walk slowly and uneasily as he looked below them in fear. Tigress noticed the panda's struggle behind her and looked back towards him.
"What's wrong, Po?"
"It's... a long way down - ah!" Po exclaimed nervously as he felt the bridge's wooden planks creak beneath his feet. A fall from this height would certainly mean an instantaneous death.
"What!?" Tigress scoffed, rolling her eyes slightly. "You've been on higher places than this, Po." she added with a hint of teasing in her voice, folding her arms as she casually stood on the bridge, showing off her superior feline balance.
Po then shrieked again when another board made a louder creak. "That was different, Tigress! That was a tower in Gongmen. This bridge is over a deep, endless abyss!"
Tigress just shook her head and chuckled before reaching into her backpack and pulling out a dumpling - holding it in front of the panda. "Maybe this will help." she said with a small smirk knowing he couldn't resist food.
Po's face instantly lit up, "Oooh! Gimme!" he begged, reaching a paw out to grab it.
Tigress simply moved her paw away, "Come get it then, panda." she said playfully as she turned around and began to advance forward.
"Hey! No fair!" he whined, but began to make his way forward towards her – having entirely forgotten about the steep cliff they stood over.
The two then began moving again across the bridge and Po held onto the ropes for dear life as he kept his eyes on the tiger and the dumpling in front of him. Once they were just over half way across Po began to lose his balance as he looked down again and before he could fall back - without thinking - he quickly reached forward and grabbed the closest thing to him: that, of course, being Tigress' long, striped tail.
Tigress's eyes widened in surprise and heat began to rush to her cheeks as she looked back at him with a serious expression. "Po... don't do that." she said sternly. "I'd rather you not yank my spine out."
Po laughed nervously and instantly let go of her tail. "Ah, sorry about that, Ti. Almost lost my balance for a second there - didn't mean to do that." he said, rubbing the back of his head.
Tigress's expression softened when seeing his innocence. "It's fine, Po. Let's keep moving... that is, if you still want this dumpling." she added, flashing him the sticky dumpling in her paw.
Po eyes widened like a little child's. "Yes!" he said enthusiastically as his stomach growled slightly.
Before too long, they had made it across the bridge, and Tigress at last gave the sticky dumpling to Po - who ate it effortlessly in a single bite. She too took out some tofu cubes and snacked on them as they continued walking and talking as usual.
About an hour or so later, the two masters arrived at a village sitting on the cliff side of a mountain - reminiscent of the musician's village they'd once rescued from Shen's wolves. The village was covered by a dense, hazy fog, and it was difficult to see at first until they drew closer. Upon their arrival they began to notice several buildings were destroyed and a few others were charred by fire. There were some houses that were still standing, but it was obvious whatever attacked this village had to be massive; it had to be some kind of army – surely the one that had done the same thing to the Valley of Peace.
Upon the realization of this apparent lead, they began to quickly make their way into the village as fast as their wounds would allow. Slowed by Tigress' limping, they still arrived at the entrance of the village quickly. As they began to walk through the streets, they noticed a few villagers hiding behind crates and broken houses in fear, all of their previous possessions smoldering in the streets. The ones that survived were terrified and seeing this, Po felt heartbroken - wanting to help every one of them in any way he could. Tigress couldn't help but feel concern herself seeing the state they were all in. As they ventured further into the muddy main street, some of the villagers recognized them and they were filled with elation.
"We're saved! It's the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress!" one of them shouted excitedly and the rest, hearing this, began to come out from the shadows and broken-down buildings.
Po smiled seeing them - happy to see there were survivors as they began to run forward and surround the two masters. Po greeted them warmly, and he started to ask the village elder if an army of some kind did this to them. Just then, a little female bunny, who was no more than five, ran towards Tigress and wrapped her arms around her legs as best she could in a tight embrace.
Tigress tried not to wince as she applied pressure to the wound on her leg. The tiger smiled at the child wrapped around her, and she affectionately placed a paw on her back to return the embrace.
"Hello, little one." she whispered sweetly to the bunny clinging to her legs. "Are you ok?" she asked gently rubbing her back.
The bunny lifted her head from Tigress's leg and nodded with an adorable smile and a twinkle in her blue eyes. "I am now. You can help us. Thank you for coming Master Tigwess!" she exclaimed, relieved.
Tigress' weak spot had always been children. She felt great sympathy for this child, knowing that just by coming, they had given them hope. Perhaps she related to children on a deeper level, for her own childhood had left much to be desired – she understood that no child deserved to feel pain as she had.
After breaking the tender embrace, the little bunny's facial expression changed to a desperate one.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" she asked softly, seeing her sad worried expression.
"Please help! My mother is trapped, and she can't get free!" she begged as tears threatened to escape her blue eyes.
Po heard this and came to Tigress's side with just as much concern. "Where is she, sweetie? Take me to her!" The bunny nodded in response and took off in the opposite direction at once.
The two masters followed the little white bunny to a house that had collapsed down over a small street. Once they arrived, they immediately saw a larger white bunny trapped under a large chunk of cement which pinned the lower half of her body, preventing her from escaping.
The two masters tried to lift the boulder of cement but found they couldn't due to their injuries. Refusing to give up, Po quickly thought up an idea.
"Step aside. I think I have an idea that may work." Po stated, and Tigress and the little bunny did so.
"What do you have in mind, Po?" Tigress asked curiously, now holding the child in her arms.
"Wait and see." he said confidently with a smile before putting his paws together.
Tigress gave him a weird look before her eyes widened in realization as she had a feeling of what he might do. Having acquired chi while in the Spirit Realm, he hadn't quite figured out how to heal with it, but he knew how to fight with it by manipulating objects.
The panda began to concentrate for a moment and rubbed his paws together, before separating them as his paws were now glowing bright yellow. He then placed the glowing paw on the slab of concrete and began to concentrate more intensely - focusing on the chi and the slab.
Tigress watched in awe seeing this, as she anticipated what he was doing. All of a sudden, a loud cracking was heard from the slab as many deep cracks began to form. Soon it began to crumble until it broke apart.
Boom!
The concrete slab had now crumbled and disintegrated, releasing the bunny's mother from her trapped state. Tigress was utterly speechless. She then set the child down, who ran over towards her mother and embraced her happily with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, mama - I thought you weren't gonna make it!" the little bunny cried as her mother returned her embrace.
"But I did, sweetheart - thanks to the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress." she said gratefully looking towards them with a smile.
The two masters then bowed politely in response before the little bunny then released her mother and timidly walked over to Tigress.
"M-master Tigress?" she asked shyly as her ears flattened.
The tiger smiled warmly as she knelt down eye level with the child. "What is it, little one?"
The bunny then picked up a small plank of broken wood – a remnant of her demolished house – and presented it to the tiger master.
"M-may I-I have your autograph?" she asked timidly.
Tigress just smiled and nodded, closing her eyes in contentment before taking the wood in her paw. "Of course. Do you have anything to write with?" she asked, but the child shook her head.
Unfazed, the tiger unsheathed her claws and aimed carefully, before slashing across the piece of wood leaving her claw marks embedded into the plank. Tigress, now satisfied, smiled and carved her name in Chinese at the top, along with a short inscription, before handing the plank of wood back to the now excited child.
The bunny gasped and squealed happily taking the wood into her arms, holding it close like a precious treasure. She read the carving of her name along with the inscription that read, "Always be true to yourself and others. Never forsake the little things - keep the ones you love close."
The child grinned widely after reading these words the tiger carved for her. Before Tigress knew it, the bunny wrapped herself around the tiger's legs once again in a tight embrace causing her to wince in pain from her wound, but she hid it with a smile.
"Thank you so much, Master Tigress! I'll keep it forever." she said gratefully with a small giggle.
"You're welcome, little one." she said kindly while stroking her head gently. "Remember that there is always hope."
"I will!" she beamed, breaking the embrace and joining her mother's side once again. "And by the way... my name is Wing Sing." the child said with a polite bow which the two returned.
"Pretty name. It's nice to meet you, Wing Sing." Tigress said softly in response.
Po at this point was nearly in tears, smiling ear to ear, after seeing such a sweet moment; noticing this, Tigress gave a subtle eye-roll. He sniffed and wiped his eyes briefly before composing himself. Wing Sing then handed the plank to Po - insisting he autograph it as well, which he did, before handing it back to her, who took it happily.
"Thank you both for saving us." the mother said gratefully, limping up next to her daughter. "We'll forever be in your debt."
"It's no problem at all – we're happy to help!" Po said kindly with his usual charming smile.
The two masters then made their way back into the streets to look for clues as to where their friends had been taken, as it was by now rather obvious that they were headed in the right direction. Upon arrival in the main street, Tigress noticed some freshly stirred up dirt and an object to her left. The tracks showed sign of a struggle and among the dirt, Tigress knelt down and picked up a white and blue feather and inspected it. She knew right away who the feather belonged to.
"It's Crane." Tigress stated to Po as he came to her side. "The scent, and these tracks, are fresh. They were here yesterday – we're gaining on them."
Po clapped, "Awesome! Look at you, being so smart!" he said playfully, lightly swatting up the underside of her arm.
Tigress smiled at the panda with a slight smirk at his odd complement before standing to her feet once again - with Po's help of course due to her leg wound. She thanked him with a nod before they began to make their way over towards their packs to resume their journey. But before the masters could pick them up again, Wing Sing and her mother approached them from a distant alley.
The two stopped what they were doing and looked towards them before little Wing Sing spoke up - still clutching the piece of wood Tigress had carved earlier.
"Will I ever see you two again?" she asked with a worried look in her now tear-glistened, blue eyes.
"Of course!" Po exclaimed with a grin.
"Absolutely. We will come back as soon as we can, Wing Sing. I promise." she smiled softly.
The little white bunny walked towards her - nodded and extended her pinkie towards the tiger. Tigress smiled before connecting her pinkie with the child's, wrapping around it briefly before releasing her and the bunny smiled, now satisfied.
Just then as they were about to pick up their packs and leave to follow the trail, heavy footsteps and shouting could be heard from the entrance of the village.
"Ugh. What now?" Tigress mumbled, annoyed, under her breath as a group of bandits began to pour into the village, no-doubt there to loot whatever valuables the army had left behind in its wake.
Po however jumped up and down, ready for the fight. "C'mon let's kick their butts and then we can go – alright, Ti?" Po said excitedly, looking over at her as he got into his stance.
Tigress sighed and nodded - her expression softened slightly at his enthusiasm and she too got into her stance. Nonetheless, she was concerned about fighting once more in their somewhat pathetically weakened state. As per usual, most of the lowlifes were wolves, but a fair number were foxes and leopards as well.
The bandits ran right towards them down the main street, armed with clubs, hammers, and medium-sized sabers. The first bandit who appeared to be the leader charged right for Tigress, swinging a large club. The bludgeon splintered into tiny bits when colliding with her ironwood-conditioned paw, much to the bandit's shock. The tiger then countered with a palm strike to his face knocking him out of the fight instantly. Po took out two bandits with his famous belly-butt and another with a straight side kick knocking him out as he flew into a nearby wall. Tigress was now handling three at once - and usually this would be easy - but due to her wounds, especially the ones on her shoulder blade and leg, blocking and striking became difficult and extremely painful to say the least. One of the bandits fighting her noticed that she was trying to mask her intense pain.
"You're wounded aren't you, tiger? It must be hard to fight with all those wounds." he taunted with a smug look on his face, drawing back his weapon for another strike.
Tigress groaned as he landed a hit in her stomach where one wound was and almost buckled when he kicked her thigh. She growled, trying to hide her discomfort and agony as she took out two of them.
"Shut up." she replied, gritting her teeth. "I'm not that easy to beat." She then blocked the bandit's attack and sent him flying back with a double palm strike.
Tigress now visibly groaned and buckled a little under the sharp jolt of pain from her shoulder blade – performing her signature move had cost her dearly. She shouldn't have let him get into her head.
Po finished off the two bandits in front of him with a split kick and he noticed Tigress bent over slightly and growling in pain.
"Tigress!" he shouted in a concerned tone seeing this. "Are you ok!?" He ran over towards her as quick as he could and took out the bandit that was coming for her next.
The tiger shakily tried to stand up to her feet again, placing her paw over her back, and onto the wounded shoulder blade, which was now throbbing. "I-I'll be fine, Po - don't worry." she whispered as the panda now carefully helped her the rest of the way, kicking an oncoming brigand in the face.
"Ughh." she groaned again, still baring her teeth and eyes half-shutting.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
"My right shoulder blade." she stated.
"Oh." he said in understanding. "Wait here, I'll finish off the rest - you can't fight anymore." he said as worry began to lace his words.
"Yes, I can!" she insisted as Po took out a bandit behind them with a backfist and another with a hook kick. "I have to. You can't beat them all by yourself - you're injured too, Po!" she added seriously with concern for him as well.
"No, you can't, Tigress." He was now looking straight into her amber eyes. "I can at least try - I don't want yougetting any more hurt than you already are." he said firmly but sincerely as the two locked eyes.
Tigress wanted to say something in return - that she could indeed fight, as tough as she was, but she found that she just couldn't say anything with the look in Po's eyes. There was something there, an understanding that Po had. The tiger nodded slowly, conceding as Po took out a bandit with an elbow but never taking his eyes off hers.
The number of bandits had decreased drastically, and they had to come up with a way to beat them. But unfortunately, the brigands had a nasty idea to even things up and put the odds in their favor.
Just as Po turned to face them, one bandit, the leader, ran over and grabbed young Wing Sing, who was hiding behind a barrel, and wrapped an arm around her tightly so she couldn't escape. She screamed and tried to get away, but it was no use - she was their hostage.
Tigress gasped seeing this - feeling her heart sink but soon, a fire of rage burned deep in her eyes and a deep tiger-growl came up from her throat, when the bandit holding the terrified, squirming bunny, put a knife to her throat. Po was surprised hearing this, as he'd never heard her growl like that or see her this angry. But he too knew what she was feeling, for he was pretty angry himself seeing these bandits do this. He narrowed his eyes at them, the same way he'd once done at a peacock in Gongmen City, the same way he looks at anyone who seeks to harm the innocent.
"You put her down right now - YOU COWARDS!" Tigress demanded angrily while gritting her teeth - showing her sharp canines.
"Ha! We're bandits, remember? We don't have to play by the rules!" the bandit holding Wing Sing teased.
The child at this point was shaking in fear - trying not to cry at the hands of these lowlifes. The bandits began to laugh as they recognized their superior position to the masters.
"Now we're getting somewhere! All you have to do is just surrender... and the kid lives!" the leader suggested smugly.
"Noooo! Please don't hurt my baby girl - she's all I have left!" the mother cried as she fell to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes.
Meanwhile, Tigress hearing what he said - suggesting he would kill the child - growled ferociously again, but this time it was mixed in with a bit of a roar. This frightened some of the bandits, who jumped back in fear.
Po glared at them and wanted nothing more than to banish them to the Spirit Realm; should they hurt the child – spill even a single drop of her blood – this would happen for sure. But now, their only option at this point was clear.
Poor Wing Sing, as brave as she was trying to be for her heroes, couldn't stop shaking in fear as tears were welling up in her eyes. "P-please M-master Tigress! Po! Save me!" she whimpered and begged as the blade pressed up against her throat.
"We will, sweetie! Don't be afraid, ok?" Tigress said as her facial expression now softened towards her. She knew her words had sounded empty.
"Don't hurt her." Po spoke up calmly getting the bandits' attention. "We'll do what you want..."
Everyone looked towards the two masters in anticipation. This was their last option, but what choice did they have?
"We surrender."
Whooo! Some interesting stuff happening here! I hope you like it so far and I apologize for not updating more frequently like I said I would. Life happened and stuff like that ya know? Anyway, what will happen to the masters now? Will sweet little Wing Sing make it? Find out in Chapter 7! Be sure to favorite and follow the story to stay tuned and even drop a review to let me know your thoughts!
- Tipofan4life