The doctors had taken Yinshen to the hospital by now. They informed me that her arm was broken. She was lucky. Lucky black cat.
As for Fennu and the airship, it crashed somewhere within the bamboo forest. The team sent to investigate has yet to return. But the chances of Fennu being alive were unpredictable. I never saw what happened to him when the bomb went off so who knew? But I refused to let my guard down. Just in case.
All the gorillas that were already in the town had been arrested. Over sixty of them had taken part in the assault.
The village itself was mostly still intact, only the southern side was attacked and mostly destroyed. Seventeen buildings were in need of major repair.
As for me, well what was there to do but wait? The lack of news and information was driving me up the wall. The only thing I could do was go back up to the Jade palace and find the scroll I used for fixing Po's tooth, and apply it to the remains of my own. Twenty minutes later, I had a full set of teeth again, but there was nothing I could do about the rest of my injuries.
Even without a scroll, snake teeth grew back but I didn't exactly feel like having a painful blood spilling maw for the next few days, or weeks. My injuries would fade eventually, luckily no permanent scarring would rise from them.
I did nothing but wait in my bedroom. Concerned for my friend. She may not have shown much emotion. But up there, on that airship, it was easy to tell how angry she was. And what's worse is that she'll most likely be furious or worse once she's recovered. She does well to hide it, but you'll always know it when you hear it.
A knock came at my door and instead of just telling whoever was on the other side to come in, I just made my way over slowly and opened the door. It was Tigress. One of the few who went to track down the ruined airship. I waited to hear the news. I knew that no matter what I was about to hear, it was going to be bad news all the same.
"Is he still alive"?
"... His chest was torn open by the explosion".
I sighed. In truth, despite everything that I had to deal with because of that gorilla, I... I just couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. I guess Yinshen finally did it. I just don't know if I'll be able to look at her the same way again.
"Very well. I'd better go down and see how she's doing".
I slithered past the tiger and was about to head outside.
"She thinks highly of you. You know that right"?
I stopped and turned to Tigress. She slowly walked up to me.
"You're the only one she considers an actual friend. So don't think she'll hold anything against you".
"...What makes you say that"?
"Call it a feline instinct".
I smiled a little.
"Thanks Tigress. I needed to hear that".
To my surprise, she smiled back.
"Good luck... Mike".
I left the barracks.
TEN MINUTES LATER
I made it through the front doors of the hospital and found the doctor. The same one who treated me when I had an arrow stuck in my side. I slithered up to him and asked about Yinshens condition.
"She's doing fine. She's just come around and will be back on her feet shortly. Would you like to see her, are you a friend of hers"?
The doctor must have thought she was just an innocent in the attack. That made things so much easier.
"Yeah, we've been through a lot together".
"Very well, if you'd like to follow me".
And I did just that. One hallway later, I was taken into the second door to the right and there she was. Sitting on the edge of the bed with her right arm in a sling. Her face had a small cloth like bandage attached just over most of her pink nose and stretched to around her right ear.
She had yet to notice me so I just moved over to her and just sat besides her. Her eye moved in my direction, showing that she now noticed me. I spoke up.
"Glad to see you're up".
I wasn't too sure what to say. Neither was she.
"I... don't know if it matters to you but... I don't hold anything against you. You know, up there on the airship".
It was true, I had no negative feelings after she had kicked and fought against me. God knows how I would have felt against someone after making my life a living hell for two years.
"I should have been more in control of my actions. You have every right not to forgive me after"-
"Yinshen, if you're sorry then that's all the evidence I need to forgive you".
A moment of silence passed.
"I guess you want to know what happened after you got hit"?
She nodded slowly. I put my tail around her carefully so that I did no damage to her shoulder.
"You did it. Fennu died in the explosion. You won. You finally won".
All that Yinshen did, all she could do, was lean into me and hugged me back with her good arm. I could have sworn I felt a small tear fall along my chest. I guess she did feel something after all. It made it that much easier to forgive her.
"WE. WE did it Mike. Both of us".
I looked down to her and saw a smile. It just made me hug tighter.
"Can I ask you something Yinshen"?
"What's on your mind".
"What do you plan to do now? I know the only reason you stayed here was to help us defeat Fennu. Now that he's gone..."?
Yinshen got off of me and stood up over me.
"I guess the only thing that I can do is finally head back home".
"To Gongmen"?
"Indeed. I still have some friends who think I'm dead. I think it's best that I head back and live my life again".
"I understand. You know, you are free to leave the hospital. The least you could let me do is walk you to the edge of the valley".
A small chuckle could be heard escaping from the panthers lips.
"You know, I'd like that. I'd like that a lot".
After talking to the doctor, Yinshen was released from the hospital and we slowly made our way through the valley. The villagers were busy sweeping away rubble and stone and whatever else had been blown to pieces. At least now, they won't have to deal with Fennu ever again.
Despite how slow the pair of us were walking, we reached the edge of town a lot quicker than I would have liked to. We emerged through the east side along the river. One of the areas which took less damage I looked to the panther at my side.
"So... this is... goodbye"?
"...For now. Once I get things settled, I'll come back and visit".
"Promise you won't go anywhere near the Galadriel gates on your journey, will you"?
"Don't worry about them. Once they hear about their leader they'll scatter to the wind. Eventually it will belong to a new master, good or bad, who knows".
"I guess that's as good as it's going to get eh"? I laughed.
"Well, nothing ever goes the exact way you want it to".
Yinshen looked back to me and hugged me one last time.
"I'm going to miss you". I spoke, embracing her as well.
"Me too Mike. Me too".
We broke and she patted me on the head.
"And thank you. For everything".
I smiled back.
"You know, if Thundering Rhino was still alive, he'd be proud of you".
Yinshen looked at the locket still around her neck and lifted it up, smiling.
"I'm sure he is right now"...
She looked into the forest of bamboo and back to me.
"Well, until next time".
"Until next time".
That was the last thing we said to each other as Yinshen walked away along the side of the river. It was sad watching her go. But she had others to look out for after all. I watched as the panther became a small speck of black from a distance before disappearing all together. That was when I finally managed to turn away.
I headed back to the Jade palace, helping a few villagers as I did. Many of them greeting and thanking me for what I had done for the village. I smiled every time and said...
"Thank you, but I didn't do it alone. It was another who saved your lifes as well as my own".
By the time I had made it back up to the Jade palace, I found everyone waiting on me just in front of the large wooden doors. It was silent, no one was sure what to say until Mantis spoke up at last.
"Where's Yinshen"?
I just took a deep breath and told them.
"She's not coming back. She has her own path to follow".
Everyone was in shock to hear this, but none more than Mantis and Tigress. Mantis probably because he never got the chance to get with her, the dirty bastard, and Tigress, I wasn't entirely sure but if anything, it was probably to do with that talk she and Yinshen had just before the airship incident.
I didn't have to wait too long until Shifu chose to step forwards towards me. His face gave only a small smile which made it seem as though he was happy for me.
"I'm proud of you python. You've gone out of your way to help defend the valley of peace from a serious threat. I believe I speak for not only myself, but for Po, the five and the Valley of peace when I say, thank you".
I felt a great sense of pride hearing those words as I felt like a balloon was swelling up inside of me. It was a good feeling.
Everyone took turns to thank me, in which I couldn't help but thank back each and everyone of them. But despite all the praise and admiration I was receiving, I just wanted to be have a little time to myself, up at the peach tree. I soon excused myself and made my way over.
A few minutes later , I had reached the area and just looked over the village before speaking to the clouds above.
"I guess you were right all along Oogway. I had my doubts but I did it. I really brought happiness to myself as well as others haven't I? So I think it's only fair to say thank you. For everything".
I felt a few petals from the tree fall down and brush against the side of my face. I had a feeling that it meant "You're welcome". From the wise old tortoise himself.
I eventually headed back down the stone stairway, having said what I wanted to say. As I reached the last stair, I found one warrior waiting for me.
"You know, I should slap you for running away from me the last time we talked".
"You can try, but it won't dampen my spirit".
"So what are you going to do now"?
"Take a break and go back to my old room. I think I earned it".
"Go on then. But I'll be checking up on you".
"Thanks Vipes".
I slithered past the smiling Viper and headed back to the barracks and rested on my bed, in my room, without any worries. But that didn't mean to say that the danger had passed completely. After all, a warriors job is never done. Sooner or later, something will cross my path and will be as much a threat to me and my friends as Fennu was.
In other words, I believe I'm just getting started...
...END OF PART 1...
...
Well with Fennu dead, Yinshen leaving and Mike believing he's found true happiness like he always wanted, I suppose it would have been a good point to end the story. But wait...
End of part 1? Yep, that's what it says guys. I've had to do a lot of careful thinking about this. While I may have written a decent story, I feel as though there is so much more I could do with it. I far as I'm aware, I've only scratched the surface here and there is so much of the KFP universe that has gone unexplored plus a few unanswered questions I'm sure you may have noticed.
But while a part 2 is in the works, I'll be taking a break from this story for a few weeks, maybe longer. In the meantime, I thought I might just settle down and maybe write a few short stories like "Tigress vs a ball of string" I wrote not too long ago. I'm also currently thinking of writing a small side story explaining how Yinshen came to know Master Thundering Rhino. Right now the possibilities are endless.
So for this story, all I can say for now is thank you for sticking to this story to the very end and I'll see you in part 2. Cheerio!