Chapter 27

Tai Lung rolled his head side to side as if to warm up for a sparring session. "Fine. Be that way." With a roar, he leapt for him, but Jian moved out of the way, suddenly finding himself above Tai Lung with a spin, the sword slicing through the air. Tai Lung kicked out and knocked the weapon from Jian's rigid paws, before throwing a series of punches and kicks. As metal met marble with a clank, both Jian and Shifu jumped back, but upon the red panda moving, Tai Lung suddenly remembered what Azure told him at the campfire.

"You will also have Jian with you, unharmed... only then you will come to Gongmen Palace, and find me. Only then, will I bring you to Sying..."

He couldn't lose sight of the light- he wanted the scroll, he wanted his revenge... but he needed Jian alive. With a swipe of his large paws, Jian felt himself get pushed to the side, and soon Tai Lung had his eyes locked on Shifu. In that split second, Shifu ran into a jump, where he leapt from column to column, with Tai Lung hot on his trail. Jian tried to follow them, but by then he was watching the two of them crash through the roof, and disappear briefly.

"Jian!"

He spun around, breathless at the sight of Azure, running for him. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He demanded of her.

"To make sure you don't die. You're welcome." She replied sarcastically.

Jian shook his head hastily. "You need to get out of here-" Lightning flashed above them, interrupting the conversation between the siblings. Their heads simultaneously elevated to see Tai Lung and Shifu crashing back through the roof, with Tai Lung holding Shifu down. They kicked apart from one another, but Shifu crashed heavily into a pillar, before landing hard on the floor. When Tai Lung landed on all fours, he knocked over a lit lantern. Blue flames sprawled across the floor, stretching across the length of the room. "Look out!" Jian's dove to the side, pulling Azure along with him before the flames could lick their tails. They crash to the ground as Tai Lung lunges at Shifu, both his paws aflame.

Azure pulled herself up as Tai Lung reigned punch after punch on Master Shifu, not holding back his anger. Jian wasn't far behind her, groaning slightly. "All I ever did, I did to make you proud!" His voice carried out across the entire hall, and with every punch delivered, it was getting harder for Shifu to block, and Azure could see him reacting slower. "Tell me how proud you are, Shifu!" He could see Shifu's body starting to give way. "Tell me! TELL ME!"

THOOM!

A final fiery punch sent Shifu through the air, before he skidded across the floor, rolling hard against the steps of the reflection pool. He lay still for a moment before he weakly lifted his upper body. A sizzling sound crawled across his ears as the flames extinguished from Tai Lung's paws. He stalked forward slowly, ignoring Azure's pleas for him to stop. When she tried moving toward them, Jian held her back protectively.

"I... have always been proud of you." A weak voice got their attention. "From the first moment, I've been... proud of you." Tai Lung stopped moving, at least momentarily. Jian exhaled softly, as Azure could feel his hold on her shoulders loosen, so she seized the moment to run toward Shifu and her father. "And it was my pride... that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming. What I... was turning you into... I'm s..." Shifu was looking past Tai Lung... right at Jian. "I'm sorry."

Jian could feel his heart catch itself abruptly in his throat, a fist curled against his chest. Azure felt her body steady, and she almost felt a smile stretch across her muzzle. Twisting her gaze towards Tai Lung, she anticipated his next move; for the moment, he remained still, almost hesitant. By this time, Shifu was looking at Tai Lung again, eyes heavy. Jian observed him silently, feeling his heart hammer against his chest. Tai Lung felt a paw on his shoulder and found Azure suddenly in front of him, blocking his view from Shifu. "Don't leave things this way..." she whispered.

There was a long, dreadful silence... before his unreadable expression turned cold. Shoving Azure's touch away, he growled as she nearly fell over. "I don't want an apology... I want my scroll!" He fiercely motioned towards the mouth of the dragon that hung above them... to find its mouth empty when he finally checked. "What?" His pupils shrunk dangerously, and at that exact moment, Azure saw something inside him break. His venomous demeanour turned to her, inches away from her face. Azure started to back away from him, arms raised defensively. "WHERE IS IT?!" He roared.

Jian ran to Shifu's side as he struggled to get up again. "The Dragon Warrior has taken... scroll halfway across China by... now." He coughed before Jian knelt down to help him up. "You will never see that scroll, Tai Lung." He turned back to face the old Master, paws balled up into tight fists. "Never!" Jian had a paw on his back, and a paw open to offer him support, which he took by placing his paw onto his exposed palm, heavily.

Seeing this kindled a snarl from Tai Lung's throat as he unleashed his claws. "I will get my scroll, one way or another. I will track down you're precious Dragon Warrior, and I will slice him to ribbons."

"Good luck with that," Jian laughed bravely. "You'll never catch him."

Tai Lung narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. "You're a lost cause. Believing nonsense. Don't you see, no one else deserves the title more than me. In time, it would be passed on to you. You could bask in its glory."

Jian pulled a sarcastic 'doubt it' look, but Tai Lung ignored him. Turning to Azure, she stood tall. "Tell Sying I will find her when I get my scroll." He turned to walk away.

"That's another thing- I doubt she'll leave her husband for you." Tai Lung stopped in his tracks. Azure's paws clasped over her mouth, watching her brother speak in horror.

"What are you doing?!" Shifu hissed at him, but he was ignored.

...

"What?" That was all that came out.

As he turned to face them again, Jian pretended to think about it, long and hard, before cutting in. "Did you not know?" He was smirking now, revelling in his silence. "I could be lying... but if I am, then why isn't she here? Why wasn't she in the valley, waiting for you for all this time? She ran off, and we were left here, at thirteen years old? She pawned us off, and for what? A job opportunity, sure. But she found someone and never asked us back. You're five years too late." He raised his chin. "She left me too..." His supposed gloating was cut short. Something stirred behind Tai Lung, and he knew it. He sensed it long before anyone could say anything.

Tai Lung timed his attack perfectly- he spun around and etched his claws across their flank. The force alone was strong enough to throw them to the side. Jian and Shifu watched in horror as they crashed into a nearby pillar, landing on their side with a dead weight.

Jian felt his body freeze.

Tigress.

"Tut, tut, tut." Tai Lung's scold was eerily calm, adding as he watched her grit her teeth in pain, cradling her side as she started to rise. A paw latched around her throat, and he hoisted her up high enough that she was a few inches off the ground. Her claws dug deep in the flesh of his arm like she was preparing herself for what was to come. "I let you away once." He slammed her against the textured column, tightening his grip. "This time I won't be as nice."

Strangely, she didn't make a sound; yet her eyes burned brightly with anger, and she snarled at him. A paw rushed toward his face, but he didn't flinch. "ENOUGH!" Azure grasped Tai Lung's free wrist. "Stop-"

"Jian look out!" Shifu pushed him back. Tai Lung backhanded Azure with such force, that she flew backwards, diving into the reflection pool with a hard splash, smashing her head against the wall of the well.

"AZURE!" Jian cried as Shifu crawled toward the pool, grunting with pain. Not realising what he had done, (that or he no longer cared) Tai Lung moved his attention back towards Tigress. Shifu knew that look; it was the same one that imprinted on Jian's face when he was angry. But this is where he could differentiate father from son; only Tai Lung's intentions would result in murder.

While his paws grappled in the water to grab Azure's limp form, something ignited a wave of deep anger within Jian that he never experienced before. A fire erupted within the muscles in his legs, and he sprang to his feet. Abandoning Shifu, he ran for the pair with a fist at the ready.

Tai Lung felt a fist colliding with the side of his face. With the shock, he let go of Tigress and hit the ground, letting her find her feet, if only briefly. Gasping for air, she stumbled back, but steadied herself, quickly twisting her body into her battle stance. Tai Lung growled harshly, but Jian stood before her, claws at the ready. "Go help Shifu." Tigress didn't fight him on it, so she ran to their Master's aid. Jian set his body, ready to fight. "Touch my mom again, and you will die a painful death."

That set Tai Lung off. "She is nothing!" Both males jumped at one another and pursued in a battle of claws.

As Tigress closed in on the reflection pool, Shifu had gotten hold of Azure's paws, which were floating above her head high enough for him to reach; she took over and pulled her out as easily as it is to pull out the dead weight. Laying her out flat, Tigress checked for signs of life; her heart was still beating, with a deep cut across the side of her head.

She started coughing violently, water spraying out of her mouth. "T..." her eyes opened weakly. The side of her head was warm. "Tigress... I'm sorry." Her body was collected in the striped cat's arms, with a gentle hushing sound crawling around her eyes.

"Don't speak," Shifu whispered softly. "Just rest..." He and Tigress turned their heads to see if Jian needed help; he was throwing every punch at him but didn't realise his timing was off; this gave Tai Lung the advantage to trip him up with his tail, and before he could hit the ground, he kicked the boy hard and far enough to hit the steps in such a way that his shoulder collided first. Jian felt a sickening crack, and acid rose from the pit of his stomach and gathered in his throat.

Before he could move, or react, Shifu crawled to his side, while Tai Lung loomed over him, a paw opened, equipped with claws. Out of the corner of his eye, Shifu had an arm raised defensively. "He's your son," Shifu sounded like he was pleading, but Jian couldn't read his face. The pain was rising across his chest, and everything was getting blurry. "Please don't do this."

Jian spat, hissing slightly with the pain. "The devil doesn't bargain." Tai Lung's paw shook vigorously. "Go on, kill me. I'm ten times the man you will ever be..."

...

A cry.

"Hey!" Followed by several exhausted puffs of air.

They all turned to look at the gaping hole in the door; the sun was starting to rise again, and there stood Po... well, he was crouched over, out of breath. "Stairs..." He held his belly as he tried to stand up straight. Tigress and Shifu just stared at him in disbelief, meanwhile, Jian smirked. Azure fluttered in and out of consciousness, her head lolling against Tigress' chest.

"Who are you?" Tai Lung demanded.

"Buddy... I... am the Dragon Warrior!" Po tried to sound all brave and mighty, but he exhaled hard, paws on the knees. "Huhhh..."

Tai Lung stared at him through a scowl, tail moving swiftly behind him as he studied the panda up and down. "You?! Him?!" His paw fell to his side, before looking at Shifu in amusement. "He's a panda," he quickly looked back towards Po. "You're a panda." Really? Who woulda thunk it, Jian rolled his eyes sarcastically, before pain overcame him. "What are you gonna do, big guy? Sit on me?" Tai Lung continued to taunt.

"Don't tempt me." Po joked. "But no..." Po reached behind his back. "I'm gonna use this!" The dragon scroll suddenly appeared in Po's paws. "You want it? Come and get it." He shook them scroll about as if it were a baby rattle.

BAM!

Tai Lung flew at him, fist out to catch him square in the face. Po disappeared out of sight. Jian gasped as the scroll was suddenly in Tai Lung's paws. "Finally-"

BOOM!

Po reappeared like a boomerang and dish out in what Jian could only describe as a belly gong- the scroll was back in Po's grasp, and Tai Lung found himself against a pillar, shaking off the dust, shocked. Po was genuinely surprised but proud that he was able to deliver an attack. Suddenly confident, Po's body naturally twisted into a fighting stance, beckoning Tai Lung to bring it on.

Enraged, Tai Lung chased him out of the Hall of Warriors, and their battle ensued out of sight.

Jian watched for a few moments, before hearing Azure coughing again. Suddenly remembering what had happened, he tried to move quickly, before roaring with pain. "DAMMIT!"

"Easy, easy..." Shifu helped him sit up; Jian blinked rapidly at the sudden brightness in the room, trying to focus on Azure. He called her name, but she didn't reply. Tigress hoisted her limp body higher into her arms, supporting her head better. The girl's eyes were closed, and there was a bloodied patch circulating around the side of her head, which was dripping onto Tigress' arm, and the trail seemed to begin in the pool, which was now tainted with a light shade of red. Her clothes and fur were thoroughly waterlogged.

A whimper was suddenly heard, which revealed to Shifu and Tigress that tears were rolling down Jian's face. "She wasn't supposed to be here. This is all my fault..." Shifu tried to calm him, and it seemed to work... a little too well. Jian could feel his body grow heavy, yet his head felt light at the same time. The pain in his body grew strong, and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. His bones ached. He was tired.

The next thing he knew, he was on his side.

So unbelievably tired.


What's this? Two chapters in the span of 24 hours? I have no idea where this motivation is coming from, but here's chapter 27!

Hope you like it! Don't forget to review!