Tigress had taken to the treetops at the first sign of patrols, but it was early enough in the morning that very few wolves were out. She was able to avoid them pretty easily.
The docks had been expanded quite a bit since Bai Liang took the throne. Originally, most boats would come in further north. However, the wolves had cleared trees and built a whole camp in the clearing. A large building, what she assumed to be barracks, stood at the far side of the clearing. Closest to her was a warehouse whose purpose was unknown, and she could only assume that the large building with the stone foundation was the dock house and prison. The set up was frustrating, because she was on the opposite side of a whole building of wolves she could take out.
She watched the docks. Something caught her eye, but she couldn't pick out what. It was like there was something important right in front of her she couldn't see.
A guard patrolling the docks walked by, and he skirted around a large barrel…That was it. That was what she needed.
She maneuvered down the tree just low enough to peek in the windows of the small building next to her, and her breath hitched in her throat. It had been what she expected.
And she had a really bad idea.
OoOoOoO
"You have to get out of here."
It had been the last thing Zheng had said through the grate. Po frowned, at the window across the way, and at the cell door, but nothing was clicking. The cell doors were much thicker than the ones in Gongmen, and the walls were much to thick to try and break through. The sky had lightened a little bit more.
He heard it then-shouting. Something was happening in the courtyard.
"Fire! Put it out!"
He heard them yelling to each other, but he couldn't see anything from the window. Something rumbled in his gut, but what exactly was it? He stepped near the wall, and it stopped. What-?
Suddenly, there was an explosion. The ceiling above the hallway outside his cell seemed to crumble, falling inward and taking two wolves down into the cells with it.
Blinking in the dust, Po managed to get to his now-collapsed cell door. He quickly opened the gate next to his own.
"Go, Zheng! I'm right behind you!"
The goose shot up through the hole. Po made sure the two guards were dealt with, and then jumped up through the hole as well.
In the courtyard, there was chaos. Through a large hole in the outer wall, all he could see were columns of smoke. In fact, if it hadn't been for the hole, he probably would be dead from inhaling all of it. He staggered out of the side of the building, coughing and sputtering and blinking through the haze.
Wolves ran amok, calling for water, calling for help. He sprinted out of the hole, and made it halfway across the clearing before anyone even noticed he was there. By the time he reached the tree line, ten wolves were on his tail, biting and nipping at his heels.
He sprinted as fast as he could, still unable to see much beyond the blur. He could hear them, though, and that was enough to keep him going.
But as he will, he missed a root, and tripped. Trying to quickly get to his feet, he was surprised to see an orange blur behind him, assumingly taking care of the wolves that had been on his trail.
"Po!" It was Tigress. She was here. He could breathe again. "Po, I need you to focus!"
He blinked hard a few times, and things seemed to come back into focus just enough to get his bearings.
"Where did you-"
"Po, we have to go! They're attacking Shang Zhi!" She helped him to his feet as his heart sank in his chest. "Can you run?"
"I can certainly try."
OoOoOoO
This was bad. Very bad.
The sun had risen just over the horizon and brought with it an army. Fanned out in a semicircle, the Furious Five (minus Tigress) protected the entrance to the palace. They fought, kicked, punched, but for every wolf they took down, five more took its place.
"We have to pull back!" Monkey cried, grabbing a wolf by the tail and slinging him across the courtyard. "We'll be overrun!"
"We can't!" Crane dropped from the sky and knocked a few back with his wings. "Not yet. Wait for the signal!" And he took to the skies again.
Viper felt the ache in every bone, and she knew the others could feel it, too. They hadn't slept at all. The entire night had been spent strategizing and making sure others were cared for. As she whipped her tail into the face of a canine, she felt the last of her batteries draining.
"Just a little while longer!" Mei Ling had joined them on the front lines, insistent on it. She had seen how exhausted they all were.
As if by a miracle, a low wailing horn sounded from the path above. Viper chucked her last wolf, and Mantis landed his last nerve pinch, and the Furious Five evacuated up to the palace.
Behind the gates, rows of fighters stood poised with weapons, both homemade and armory made. It would have seemed impressive on a normal day, but they were inexperienced or out of practice. They had all been banking on the Furious Five holding them off longer.
As the warriors collapsed behind the front lines in exhaustion, the first line took their stances, all from Kung Fu schools.
Kai watched them from the palace doors, paw angrily clenched on his sword. It was more for show, just like Yu's knives she had found. Shifu and the others had made it perfectly clear they were not to get involved. She was too young, and he was the future emperor.
"Master Kai!" A young Leopard came running up to him. "We have a problem."
"What?" Kai's jaw clenched in irritation.
"It seems there's a pack that circled around. They've found another path up the mountain."
"Kai!" Crane touched down but, spent, he wobbled. "They brought cannons. Two of them."
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
It was all too much. He knew it, and when he glanced at Yu, he could tell she felt it, too. They were going to be overrun. Even from Shang Zhi, the wolves could bring down the entire palace with two cannons. And even without using them, the wolves coming up the path could overtake the palace courtyard pretty easily.
"Should we retreat to the palace?" The leopard asked.
"No. If they have cannons, the palace is an easy target." He didn't know what to do. There. Shifu was across the courtyard, taking care of a wolf. "Master Shifu!" He would know what to do.
But the red panda turned at the wrong moment. Caught off guard by the shout of his name, he missed a punch.
The wolf sent him flying.
"SHIFU!"
Crane took off so quickly that he knocked Kai and Yu over. He dealt with the wolf, grabbed the red panda, and landed carefully back in the doorway.
In the valley below, there was an explosion.
"What the hell?" The leopard muttered, but the others didn't pay any mind.
Shifu was laid against the wall in the main hall, unconscious.
A second explosion caught their attention.
"What was that? The cannons?"
"I don't know."
OoOoOoO
A few minutes earlier.
'Just in time' seemed to be the new rebellion's motto.
Tigress and Po slid into Shang Zhi just behind the cannons. Most wolves had turned their attention to the steep path up to the palace, good idea. As they entered the city, they quickly dispatched the five guards in charge of the cannons. Tigress grabbed the torch they had been trying to light it with.
"They're about to be overrun!" Tigress called to him.
His hand clutched the staff tighter as he panted, winded and still dizzy. "I have a trick up my sleeve, but I need them closer to do it."
"You have a trick up your sleeve that I don't know about?" She raised an eyebrow, getting an idea and readjusting the cannon's aim.
"I have a lot of tricks you don't know about." He chuckled. Was he flirting with her? That was not what she needed to be thinking about.
"You'll have to show me." Before he could react to her flirty reply back, she lit the fuse and the cannon exploded….and missed. "Dammit."
But she had gotten the attention of the wolves headed towards the path. Some at the back began turning towards them.
"Hurry!" He took his staff in both hands and poised as the first rush came at them, preparing to protect her as she fired.
But she hesitated. A searing pain hit her stomach and radiated through her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make whatever this was go away.
"Something happened." Po came over to her, placing a hand on her lower back. "I feel it too but we need to move."
She nodded, hissing as she stood. Before it hit her again, she lit the fuse on the second cannon and it went off.
Perfect. The path was now on fire. Blazing trees kept the rest of the wolves off of the path, and sent them scurrying back down to the city to escape the flames. As they came closer, Po gripped his staff tighter.
"You know what you're doing, Dragon Warrior?" She asked him, and he nodded with a set determination.
"Cover your ears!"
"What?"
"Do it!"
And there was a flash of light.
OoOoOoO
"What the-" Viper breathed as the trees shook with the power of the shockwave.
"Across the courtyard! They're coming up the mountain!" Kai called, desperation filling his voice. Whatever that wave had been, there was still an immediate threat. Wolves had stopped coming up from the main path and now came in through the smaller trail.
Two of them came after Viper, who had retreated for a moment behind the army. She dodged and weaved through the much larger canines, but they took advantage of her smaller size and weary body.
One picked her up by the tail. She thrashed and hissed, trying to struggle her way out of his grip. And then suddenly, she was falling.
The wolf that had grabbed her tail was grabbed from behind and flipped, then slammed hard into the ground.
By Tigress.
She then used his limp body as a springboard to roundhouse kick the second wolf into the trunk of a rather large tree. She landed in a perfect crouch, breath heaving.
"Ti, you're okay! But how—"
"Crane." She stood, but wobbled. "We need to seal that second path. Any ideas?"
"Landslide!" Crane landed next to her. "Those paths are slick from the rain. Use boulders."
Tigress and Viper nodded to each other and turned without words. Easily dodging around wolves, they placed all of their combined bodyweight into upheaving a rather large boulder. By pushing it, the path before it slid down, building into a mass of mud that seemed to wash away the wolves as they scrambled up.
The two backed into the courtyard and retreated to the palace doors, caked in mud.
"Mother!"
"Tigress!"
Kai was first to reach the female tiger, and he wrapped her in a tight hug in relief. "You're okay."
"We were worried," Yu said timidly next to him, "after the Valley…"
"I'm fine." She insisted. "What happened?"
There was silence.
"Tigress, It's Shifu." Viper finally replied softly. "He's okay, just unconscious."
She nodded, blinking a few times. The ground swayed a bit.
"Where's Po?" Mantis looked over her shoulder as though expecting the panda to appear right behind her.
"Down in the city. He kind of passed out. I didn't think I could haul him up here myself." She shook her head. Despite her brief rush of adrenaline, she found herself leaning heavily on Kai. If she were being totally honest, Tigress felt like she was going to pass out…
"Woah."
She was leaned up against a wall and her legs buckled as the world went black.