Chapter 1 - First Mission - A week after the ordeal with the demon, Luke is back to normal and is in a relationship with Tigress. Luke is tasked by Shifu to go on his first mission but by himself. His mission is to help a nearby village deal with a group of bandits terrorizing them. One wrinkle is that these bandits are looking for the Tiger Warrior.
I just woke up very early in the morning, very early that the sun wasn't present and it was still dark out. I decided to go for a little walk and then head to the kitchen for breakfast. But before I did that, I had to leave a little note for my dear Tigress so that no one would have to be in a state of worry unlike when I dealt with that fucking demon a week ago. I put my vest on and grabbed my sword and then I slipped out quietly to go on the walk.
I always enjoyed going on these walks around the Palace grounds as it makes me so relaxed and peaceful. I always enjoyed being at the Peach Tree the most as I always felt as though Master Oogway was looking over me, plus having a peach as a little snack doesn't hurt.
"I never felt more at home." I said to myself as I closed my eyes for a little bit as I rested up on the tree. As I opened my eyes back up I saw that the sun is creeping up over the horizon so I decided to head to the kitchen and as I was about to enter the kitchen, the morning gong rang. I just smiled and then I walked in and sat at my usual seat which is next to Tigress's seat.
I heard the sound of chatter coming from the guys and then they all entered the kitchen and saw me sitting at the table.
"Morning." I said to everyone as they all sat at the table and Po began to cook breakfast, which is always bean buns and porridge.
"Morning, Luke. How was your walk?" Viper asked me as she sat opposite me and as Tigress sat next to me and grabbed my hand.
"It was relaxing. I snuck a peach for a little snack. And the breeze was just soothing." I answered her back.
"That sounds nice." Tigress said to me. I then looked at her and smiled.
"Yeah. You should try it if you have the opportunity." I told her.
"I will. And by the way, Master Shifu told us that you're to meet him in the Hall of Warriors after breakfast." Tigress said to me. I wonder why he'd want to meet with me.
"Alright." I replied. Po then just finished cooking and we all indulged ourselves into our breakfast and had our own little conversations. After the ordeal with the demon, Viper and Po helped me so much by feeding me more than usual so that I can be back to my normal body weight.
After the pleasant breakfast, the Five and Po went off to go training while I walked to the Hall of Warriors so that I could meet up with Shifu. When I entered the Hall, I saw him sitting in a lotus position facing me. I walked up to him and I saw that his eyes were closed.
"Good morning, Master. You wanted to see me?" I said to him as I bowed. He then opened his eyes.
"Yes. You see, I'm going to send you on your first mission." Shifu matter of factly said to me. I was a bit surprised to hear this.
"Really? Well, what is it, Master?" I asked him. He then got up and gestured to me to follow him as he was walking to the doors.
"There's a village that has requested our help. They're being harrassed by these bandits and they've been doing it for 2 days now. I want you and you alone to go there and help them. Do you think you can do that?" Shifu explained to me. It may not seem that huge for a first mission but I didn't complain as I finally got to be outside the Valley of Peace.
"I don't mind, I've been on missions by myself when I was at Chow Xu." I said to Shifu and he nodded.
"Alright. To get there, just stick on the main road when you exit the Valley and then you'll encounter a fork in the road. When you get there, head right." Shifu explained and then I nodded and bowed to him before I ran down the steps so that I could get to the village as quickly as I could.
I was walking through the bamboo forest which made me feel oddly on edge. I guess it's because with the bamboo, you can hide and wait for an ambush, but anyway, I finally reached the fork in the road and turned right which was a bit more open as on the left was shrub and bushes and there was a clearing so that the jade coloured sky could shine down.
After a good 5 minutes, I finally arrived at the village and immediately heard some commotion coming from the corner of the building I was next to so I ran around and saw 6 water buffaloes destroying food stands and raiding people's homes. They must be the bandits.
"Where is he?!" I heard one of them demand one villager who was a pig as he held a sword up their neck.
"We're not telling you where he is." The villager fired back. Who the hell are they looking for? The bandit got mad.
"If you don't tell me where the Tiger Warrior is one more time, I'll burn the whole village down!" The bandit roared. So they're looking for me, dumb idiots. I stepped out of the corner and stood in the middle of the street.
"Are you looking for me?!" I yelled out to the bandits and all their heads were directed at me. They then looked at each other then back to me as they put themselves into formation.
"You're the Tiger Warrior?" The bandit asked me.
"Yeah. What do you want with me?" I said to him and they all just laughed. I frowned and stayed on edge just in case they'll do a surprise attack.
"Well, you're new. We haven't seen someone like you before, so we thought that we should have you as our personal slave." Another bandit said while sniggering. I clenched my fists and growled at this revelation. If they thought they could easily have me as their slave, they're clearly dumber than a common street thug trying to rob a bank.
"You'll regret saying that, you fucking sacks of shit. Why not go for the Dragon Warrior, or even Tigress from the Furious Five?" I said to them as I was trying to see if they're enticed by rare beings in China, and wanting them to be their slaves.
"You know, we wouldn't mind them, a panda and a tiger as well, that would be perfect." The bandit replied. Now that is it. There is no way these guys deserve to even live.
"Yep, big mistake." I said quickly as I pulled my sword out and lunged at them. I took 2 of them down with ease by slicing their necks open with blood trickling out. One of them was trying to attack me from behind but I just smirked as I flipped over him and stabbed him right in the head.
"You bastard! I'm gonna get you!" One of the remaining bandits yelled at me and I narrowly dodged him as he charged at me and I took the opportunity to slice him in the stomach which made him stop dead in his tracks. Only 2 left to deal with.
"Come on! Is that all you got?! You're pathetic." I mocked the remaining bandits and this made them lose focus and charge at me with anger. I ran so that they could chase me and here I did a backflip over them and stab one of them and when I landed, I stabbed the last one in the leg.
"Please. Don't kill me." The last bandit begged me. I just stood back up and walked up to him as I held my sword up to his face.
"Why shouldn't I?" I asked him darkly. He whimpered at the tone of my voice.
"I won't try to have you as my slave. Or the panda or the tiger." He said to me trying to make me give him a chance. He won't get one.
"No. You'll just keep coming to try and get me. And I won't let you lay one finger on my friend or my love." I growled at him before I decapitated him. His head was rolling on the ground towards the rest of the dead bandits and his corpse fell backwards. I wiped my sword clean and all the villagers stepped out of their homes and saw that I killed all the bandits.
"Don't worry folks, they're dealt with." I said in a loud manner so that they could all hear me and they cheered at my effort. One of them stepped up in front of me, a male goose with black feathers.
"Thank you so much, Tiger Warrior. We are in your debt." The goose told me. I bowed to him after I put my sword back into the scabbard.
"No problem. I'll help you dispose of the bodies." I said to him.
It took roughly 1 hour to dispose of the corpses, which we did by burying them in a patch by the bamboo forest. I said my goodbyes and walked all the way back to the Jade Palace. I was thinking about my actions and thought about whether or not I should've killed them, but I believed I did the right thing as I've met people like them before. This will be interesting to explain to Shifu and the guys.
After the long walk, I made it to the Valley of Peace and everyone greeted me by saying 'hello' or by bowing if I walked by them. I just waved at them. As I reached the steps that lead to the Jade Palace, I heard loud footsteps from behind me so I turned around rather quickly to see a water buffalo walk up to me. He was bigger than the others that I encountered earlier and I wasn't phased by his size. I just simply pulled my sword out and got into a tiger stance.
"What do you want?" I asked him and he looked angry.
"You killed some of my best men, you'll pay dearly for that!" He yelled at me before he threw a punch at me. I jumped up to dodge his attack and then I kicked him really hard in the face which made him fumble back a bit as he put his hoofs on his face to control his nose bleed.
"Luke, what the hell's going on?" I heard Tigress ask me as she, the rest of the Five and Po came down from the steps and got into their stances by my side.
"This fella wants to take me down as I killed some of his men earlier." I explained to her and she looked at me with a surprised look on her, same for everyone else. Then the water buffalo got into a stance after a little bit.
"Seriously? Who does this guy think he is?" Po said.
"I will have you taken down, you little boy." The water buffalo said to me. I just laughed, how stupid are water buffaloes in this world.
"Are you kidding me? 7 against 1. Just give up." I mocked at him.
"No one has beaten me, Temutai, Warrior King of the Qidan!" Temutai proclaimed.
"There's always a first for everything, ready guys?" I said. They all nodded. I smirked.
"Let's do this!" I roared and we all attacked him at once. The fight was exhilarating in every way, I was constantly moving to avoid his attacks and we all went through trial and error in how to take him down but we managed to defeat him by having him ram into some hard rocks which made him eventually lose consciousness and pass out.
"Let's take him to the local authorities so that he can be dealt with." I ordered everyone in deep breaths from the constant running and jumping. They all nodded and grabbed in different areas. I didn't however as I had to go up and inform Shifu about what happened.
I made it up to the Jade Palace and found Shifu meditating at the Peach Tree.
"Master Shifu, I've just finished my mission." I said to him as I bowed. He then stood up and faced me.
"I see, can you explain what happened?" Shifu asked me.
"The village was harassed by those bandits because they were looking for me." I bluntly told him.
"Why were they looking for you?" He asked me.
"Because they wanted to make me their personal slave." I answered and he looked pretty dour about that.
"I was trying to figure them out so I enticed them by suggesting to find Po and even Tigress and they were into it as they'd have a panda and a tiger since they're aren't common. I knew what type of people they were so I killed them." I further added. He had his paw over his face when I told him I killed them.
"But why? They could've been able to turn over a new-" Shifu was trying to make me second guess my actions but I interrupted him.
"No, Master, they wouldn't. I've encountered people like them before and they don't change their ways, they would still keep going. There would be no second chance no matter what." I said in a matter of fact way. He acknowledged what I told him and nodded.
"I understand. And what about that water buffalo that just came here?" He said to me.
"Well, he turned out to be their boss, Temutai. We managed to beat him and the others are handing him over to the authorities." I explained. He again, nodded.
"Understood. Well done, Master Luke, you've done well for your first mission as the Tiger Warrior, you can take the day off." Shifu concluded the conversation. I bowed and I left for the kitchen to get a quick bite.
As I sat down, Tigress came in and sat next to me.
"What did you mean when you killed Temutai's men?" She asked me.
"They were trying to find me so that they could make me their slave. They even showed interest in having you and Po as slaves as well." I told her and she and the others who just came in gasped at this.
"Did it warrant you to kill them?" Crane asked.
"Yes, there would be no changing their ways. I know." I firmly stated. Everyone was silent but I decided to change the conversation.
"Well, enough about my day, how was yours?" I asked everybody as Po was cooking dinner.
A bit dark I know but I had to establish Luke as someone to not get on his bad side when it doesn't have to deal with the main villains of his stories.