Chapter 10: Darkness Rising

Tai Lung's eyes were narrowed in a concentrated glare. Using his tail, he placed the feather from Zeng into the lock of the acupuncture tortoise shell. With a few flicks, his ears twitched at the clicking sound of the lock being picked.

Slowly the acupuncture needles in the armor removed themselves from his back.

He let out a breath, relishing the feeling returning to his arms. He unsheathed his claws as he rolled his wrists, enjoying the feeling of hearing his bones pop.

One by one, the acupuncture needles shot out of the shell like miniature rockets as the shell came apart before Tail Kung arched his back. Straightening his back, he burst out of the armor as he struggled against the chains on his wrists.

Up above, Commander Vachir ran over to the ledge as he peered over the bridge to see what was happening. "Oh no!" He cried.

"What's happening?!" Zeng asked worriedly before looking down and a horrified expression crossed his face when he saw what was happening at the bottom of the pit.

"To your battle stations!" Vachir yelled to the guards below who were already rushing to get into position.

Tail Lung growled and snarled as he struggled against his shackles, his strength still returning to him as the boulders tied to his restraints still held his arms down.

"Fire crossbows!" Vachir ordered.

The guards below manned the giant crossbows, aiming them at the snow leopard before firing the giant spears at the snow leopard.

Shifting his feet as far as he could, Tai Lung maneuvered his body out of the way of three of the oncoming spears. He growled as the guards fired one last arrow at him.

But he was ready this time.

With a slight tug of his arm, Tai Lung moved his wrist into the trajectory of the incoming spears.

The spear hit the shackle around Tai Lung's wrist, practically shattering it much to the guards horror.

Now with his paw free, Tai Lung quickly ripped off his other shackle, freeing his other arm.

"Tai Lung is free!" Zeng shrieked. "I must warn Shifu!"

He was about to head for the exit when Vachir grabbed him by the neck, preventing him from doing so.

"You're not going anywhere and neither is he!" Vachir said stubbornly.

"Let go of me!" Zeng cried, but was promptly ignored.

"Bring it up!" Vachir ordered the guards below.

Quickly, the guards manning the elevator quickly brought up the lift, essentially attempting to cut off Tai Lung's only escape route.

However, that also meant leaving the guards down below to suffer the snow leopard's wrath.

"Wait! Bring it back!" One of the guards cried, trying to get onto the lift but failing.

His ear twitching, Tai Lung could sense that one of the guards was about to fire another spear at him.

Turning around just in time to see the spear headed straight for him, Tai Lung thrusted out his palm, deflecting the giant spear with his bare paw and with a kick he redirected it right back at the crossbow.

The two guards firing were forced to duck out of the way as the spear sailed past them, destroying the crossbow and implanting itself into the wall.

Gazing at the spears all around him, Tai Lung heaved four of them up into the air, saving one for last, before he kicked them back up into the walls, creating a sort of makeshift stair-case.

Cracking his neck, he flipped back onto the spear that was still on his level, using it as a spring to catapult himself up to the spears embedded into the wall.

"He's coming this way!" Zeng cried as Tai Lung got closer and closer to the rising elevator.

"He won't get far." Vachir said. "Archers!"

At his command, over a dozen guards armed with hand-held crossbows fired down at the snow leopard, creating a storm of arrows that seemed impossible for any normal person to slip through.

But Tai Lung was not a normal person.

Leaping across the spears, Tai Lung gripped the final spear like a trapeze artist before launching himself towards the lift, grabbing ahold of it and using the bottom as cover against the arrows.

Up above, one of the guards manning the lift raised his axe and cut the chain, sending the lift crashing down into the pit down below.

The two guards chuckled in their supposed victory, clinking their axes together before Tai Lung swung up from the bottom of the elevator house and delivered a perfect split kick to the guards faces.

Landing on the balls of his feet, Tai Lung grabbed the chain and leapt over the edge and used the chain as a rope to swing himself up to the higher levels, using his momentum to get up to the bridge above.

Many guards were already waiting for him on the bridge, not that it mattered anyway as Tai Lung was easily able to conquer them with his sheer skill in kung fu.

With a single punch, he shattered the shield of one of the guards, sending that guard flying into several other rhinos, knocking them over like bowling pins.

With the guards on his level dealt with, Tai Lung quickly began moving to the next bridge above him, entering the tower and heading up the stairs.

The two guards at the doors to the tower held the door shut in a futile attempt to keep the snow leopard trapped.

And it immediately failed as Tai Lung burst through the doors, knocking it off its hinges and crushing the two guards underneath it.

Two more guards rushed forward to tackle the snow leopard, but Tai Lung leapt into the air, grabbing the first guard with his hands and the other with feet, twisting himself in the air and spinning the two guards mid-air before releasing them.

Another guard tried to hit him with his mace, but Tai Lung quickly dodged and grabbed the handle of the mace before elbowing the guard in the cheek.

Using the mace that he had taken, Tai Lung used it to bash his way through the army of guards before jabbing the mace into the mouth of one of the guards and then kicking him into the air.

With the guards on that bridge dealt with, Tai Lung leapt onto the wall and flipped up to the final bridge.

Just in front of the exit to the prison was Commander Vachir with all that remained of his army.

Vachir snorted.

Tai Lung snarled.

Zeng yelped nervously.

The snow leopard squared his feet, ready to fight through the whole army if he had to (which he most likely would).

"We're dead." Zeng whimpered hopelessly. "So very very dead."

Vachir laughed, still feeling confident. "Not yet we're not! Now!"

At his order, one of the guards shot a flaming arrow up towards the cave ceiling, revealing several ropes tied with dynamite attached to the stalactites of the cave.

In an explosion of red, several of the stalactites began to fall from the ceiling, landing on the bridge and causing it to crumble.

Knowing he had to act fast, Tai Lung sprinted on all fours across the crumbling debris before using all his might to jump towards the other side, his arms outstretched as he snarled.

The guards gasped as it looked like he was going to make it to them.

However, the snow leopard just fell short, his claws scraping and sparking against the stone wall. Blast, all that time spent in that shell had made him a bit rusty.

Vachir laughed, waving his hand mockingly as Tai Lung plummeted down to his doom.

Knowing if he didn't do something soon he would be dead, Tai Lung looked around for anything he could use to his advantage.

Fortunately for him, he spotted there was a last clutch of explosives that had yet to blow on the ceiling.

Knowing he had to move fast, he leapt across the raining debris, heart pounding and his claws digging into the stone as he leapt from the falling rocks to collapsing stalactites.

With a mighty leap, Tai Lung just managed to grip the stalactite on the ceiling. Climbing up, he grabbed the rope holding the dynamite in place and ripped it off the stalactite.

He then leapt towards the army of guards below with the dynamite in his hands, rearing his arms back to throw the explosives.

"Can we run now?" Zeng asked frightfully.

Vachir for the first time whimpered, knowing that they were most likely done for. "Y-yes." He replied, sobbing in terror.

Tail Lung then flung the dynamite.


The door to Chorh Gom Prison bursted open with a large explosion of red flames and smoke as all of the guards were sent flying out into the cold, some even falling off the small cliff to their deaths.

Zeng landed roughly on his beak, his head spinning and his feathers slightly singed as he and Vachir had taken the brunt of the blast, the commander's false horn clattering next to the goose, implying his most likely death.

Before the poor goose could do anything to get away, Zeng felt a firm paw grip his throat and lift him from the ground.

Zing shivered in fear for his life as he found himself face to face with Tai Lung himself.

The snow leopard stared at him before releasing a heavy sigh.

"I'm glad Shifu sent you." Tai Lung said to the goose, smoothing the ruffled feathers on Zeng's head with a creepy tenderness. "I was beginning to think I had been forgotten." He then leaned in closely to the messenger goose, an eerie grin on his lips. "Fly back there and tell them… the real Dragon Warrior is coming home."

With a quivering nervous smile, Zeng nodded in terror.

Tai Lung then tossed the goose into the air, allowing him to flutter away back towards the Jade Palace.

The snow leopard rolled his shoulders, waiting until they cracked before setting down the mountain.

It was time to come home.