Chapter 29 : Palace in Trouble

The sun was already setting up in the sky. Tigress took a deep breath, deep in thought as she stared calmly at the Chojiang River that was taking the ships away.

She had exchanged her usual clothes for a silver armor with a matching helmet. A sword was hanging on the belt around her waist. Though it was so infrequent she was seen fighting without any weapon, but it didn't mean she didn't know how to use one.

This would be her very first experience.

She had never thought before about being a leader leading an armada to start an attack. Especially to ambush villages she would assault and conquer.

But this was her destiny. A destiny that she once tried to ignore now was being fulfilled by her.

She had to do this. This was for her family.

Dozens of warships were following her ship from behind.

She was on the same ship with the emperor and general Luo. But at this moment, those males were in the strategy room, discussing and watching on their map.

Tigress was not interested to join them, plus when general Lou, the one she disliked, was there too. To her, discussing was the most boring activity ever.

She used to be one of the legendary warriors respected by all of the people in China. But now, she would be going to be the most feared villain in the whole China once she and the armada reached and took over The Great Valley.

It was not a villainy. She was only trying to protect her people and avenge her adoptive mother.

But, was it just a revenge? Or, was it more than that? Did she really need to destroy a village or more only to create a utopia for her people?

Slowly, the memory when she and her comrades were fighting against Tai Lung in Thread of Hope and stopping Lord Shen and his armada in Gongmen City seemed to ring a bell somehow.

No.

She forcefully shut her eyes tightly and tried to push the thought from her mind.

They are not her friends anymore. Tacitly, they had betrayed her. Tigress was highly sure that she would be going to meet them again somehow.

Yes. Yes. Yes. That's right.

The four was absolutely on Po's side, and they had helped prisoners to kill the empress.

In other words, her friends officially had become her foes.

TLoTDaTT

Po and the four quietly entered the palace through an opened window without making any sound. As they got inside the palace, the first thing they saw was a throne placed on the end of the hall with a long red carpet stretched from the throne to the entrance of the hall.

"The throne room," Crane mumbled. "We're in the throne room."

"I know where we are," Mantis said, hopping onto Monkey's shoulder. "But what I don't know is where's everybody?"

The warriors scanned throughout the room.

The room was really big and seemed formal. But what confused them was that they didn't see the emperor nor the empress sitting on the throne. Even no maid was seen at all. Everything was awfully dead.

Viper slithered towards the door and pushed it gently using her tail. Carefully, she sticked her head out slightly through the crack so she could take a look another next room.

The next room was empty as well.

"This is weird," she hissed. "Nobody's around here."

"They could be in another room," Monkey surmised. He walked towards the throne and sat on it, stretching out his body and moaning tiredly before resting his back against the back rest, making himself relax.

"Should we check it?" the snake suggested without removing her gaze.

Mantis hopped onto Po's shoulder, asking Viper. "Where do you think Tigress could be?"

"In her room."

"Oh, and what exactly is she doing right now?" Mantis asked, somewhat mocking. "Taking a nap?"

Viper shot him a glare. "We will never find out if we keep staying here."

"Viper is right, Mantis. We should check another rooms," Po said.

Monkey moved from the throne and followed his friends walked towards the door. They craned out their heads slightly before creeping and exiting the room.

In the point of fact, the palace was seemingly completely quiet.

The warriors started to browse their surroundings.

The palace was really big and spacious with so many doors, rooms, columns and corridors. Some precious and expensive furnitures and stuffs, such as porcelains urns were placed neatly near the columns with some paintings hanged on the wall. A big red carpet covered almost the whole floor.

Click

A door opened. A maid came inside the room where Po and the four were in.

"Quick! Hide!" Po gave an instruction in whisper.

His friends quickly hid behind one of the columns so they would not be able to be seen by the maid. They watched her go past them until she disappear from their sights.

"Phew," Po sighed in relief as wiped his forehead. "That was so close."

"Don't worry. No more guards here," Mantis told him. "Everything's completely safe."

Po grinned. But because of his carelessness, he accidently nudged a table with a porcelain vase on it. It lost its balance, swaying and crashing to the floor into pieces before Po could catch it, causing a fractional noise.

The warriors gasped in shock. Sure enough the sound of the crashing vase was heard very clearly, echoing throughout the room.

Time to leave.

But it was too late.

When they turned to behind, they saw tens of guards with their weapons had been already standing and blocking their way. Those tigers were readying themselves to lunge those uninvited intruders.

Po and the four were surprised seeing those guards since they thought all guards had been gone with the armada. It was unknown when and where they came from as their presences were just like a ghost.

Po set a gawky smile. Not sure by what he did, the panda raised his arm up and waved. "Uh… Hi there."

Awkward silence moment.

"Get them!" the guard in the middle commanded.

Soon, with a shout, the guards rushed towards the warriors as they aimed their weapons forwards.

Po turned to his friends and asked them quickly. "Guys, remember what I've told you about not attracting any attention?"

The four nodded.

"Forget it. We must save our souls first."

They braced themselves, readying themselves to take on the attack.

"Kiyah!"

One of the guards swung his spear towards Po. But the panda rapidly dodged it as he gave a side kick to the guards. Another two came and were about to hit Po in the head with their hammers. But Po eschewed it and at the same time, he grabbed their hammers and hit his opponents in the face.

Another three guards whipped out their swords and brandished it towards Monkey. But with a great speed the primate jumped up and avoided himself from the attack. He landed behind them and gave a whip to their feet using his long tail. The three guards feel backwards to floor.

Another two guards surrounded Mantis, aiming their daggers and spears at the green tiny bug. They grinned evilly, thinking that this bug would be the easiest target.

"Oh, Man," Mantis sighed in boredome.

He hopped onto one of those guards' shoulder and paralyzed him with his nerve attack, hitting him with his pincers in some of acupoints in the nape. His opponent became languid and collapsed to the floor limply. Mantis quickly jumped onto another guard and hit him in some points in the shoulder so that the guard dropped his weapon and collapsed limply to the floor as well.

Crane grabbed one of the guards in the shoulder, taking him fly a few feet away from the floor before throwing him hardly to the wall.

Viper coiled herself around one of the guards' arm as she pulled it forward, making his opponent punch himself in the face with his own fist.

Two more another guards leapt towards Po as they aimed their weapons at the panda. Po was readying himself to face the sudden attack.

Suddenly, two certain mountain cats had been leaping towards the two tigers. Po was amazed by the action of those felines.

Lee jumped up and sent double kicks to one of the guards right in the chest. The tiger instantly dropped himself to the floor. Lee landed safety.

Hai attempted to attack another one but Lee moved faster and landed a might punch to the guard in the face. The two guards were now lying unconsciously.

Hai groaned in annoyance. "Lee. He was mine."

Lee smiled victoriously without turning to his brother. "Next time, try to be faster."

There was one more guard left. He rushed towards the two mountain cats, screaming and brandishing his dagger pathetically.

"Let me handle this," Hai said, stepping forwards and set his Kung Fu stance.

Lee rolled his eyes as the last guard was almost reaching them. Lazily, he did a spinning kick, sweeping the guard in the feet. The tiger slipped himself on the floor and got a bonus punch in the face from Lee and went unconscious.

Only within a few minutes, those tens of guards were successfully knocked out.

Po and the four stared at the two mountain cats in awe.

"Wow … that was awesome!" Po exclaimed in excitement, jumping slightly. "I didn't know you guys knew Kung Fu."

"We're not Kung Fu masters, Panda," Lee corrected. "But we know how to fight."

"Still it's awesome."

Lee smiled. "Thank you, Dragon Warrior."

Po was taken aback and so was the four.

They knew who Po really was.

"Don't be surprised like that," Hai said. "We have known who you are."

"Wha… what are you guys talking about?" Po asked, pretending he didn't understand. "Who's the Dragon Warrior?"

"You."

"What? Me?" Po laughed briefly. "Pff… you're funny. It's absolutely impossible that I am the Dragon Warrior. I'm just a big fat panda who always…uh yes, I am the dragon warrior."

"How could you figure it out?" Viper asked. "We never say something about Po being the dragon warrior."

"Not directly," Lee replied. "We heard what you were talking about this morning."

"Besides, only the dragon warrior who can speak with Long," Hai added.

Po raised his arm "Okay,so uh. That's not troubling you, right?"

"Of course not," Hai retorted. "Unless the part that you have a tiger friend."

"What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal?" Hai asked back anxiously. "You're asking what's the big deal? Tigers are our enemy, Dragon Warrior. And you're archenemy will be one of them."

"You mean Tigress?"

"Who's Tigress? A female tiger?"

"My comrade."

"Yes, you're comrade who is—whoa… whoa… whoa… wait. Is this Tigress the reincarnation of Khan? Your enemy?"

"Yes and no."

Lee groaned. "Oh, Man! Dragon Warrior, you cannot be friends with your own enemy. You must fight and kill her."

Viper slithered towards Lee. "Sorry, guys but we know Tigress very well. She will never change to fight against her own friends."

"She's right," Po agreed.

Lee looked agitated. "But… but… your destiny is—"

"Destiny may dictate my path," Po cut off. "But I'm free to choose to do otherwise."

Mantis gawked, amazed by Po's words. "Wow ... you sound like Master Oogway."

Po laughed. "No. Ha...ha...ha... Liu told me that."

Lee palmed his face. "He must haven't known yet who your friends is exactly."

"No, they haven't."

"Uhm… listen guys," Crane said to Hai and Lee. "I think you have no right to forbid us to rescue our friend."

"We're just trying to help you go to the right path," Hai argued.

"And yes, we really appreciate it. Thank you. But sorry we stick to our commitment to rescue Tigress and stop a war before everything's late."

"But you have been too late," someone spoke. It was not Hai but someone else.

Yuan Sheng and another four guards had been already standing a few meters away from the warriors.

Mantis snorted. "Oh, no. That annoying guy again."

Yuan Sheng laughed as he put his hands on hips.

"What?" asked Po, confused. "What is so funny?"

"You, Panda," Yuan Sheng answered. "You're still thinking about rescuing Tigress?" he shook his head. "Oh, what a pity!"

"Uh… I still cannot see something funny here."

"Oh, so you think I'm joking with you?"

"I guess," Po replied. "That's why you're laughing, right?"

"Ah, yes. You certainly haven't heard of this news, have you?"

Po frowed. "What's news?"

"Have you seen our warships leaving this land this morning?"

"That's the ships we saw a few hours ago!" Monkey exclaimed.

"Yes. And Tigress is already in there, leading the armada to start an attack to The Great Valley."

Hai and Lee were startled upon hearing that.

"See?" Yuan Sheng continued. "I told you that she had entirely changed. She's not part of you anymore."

"You lie!" Viper yelled.

"Do I? Now," Yuan Sheng said calmly. "Surrender, murderers. You cannot run anymore."

"Why would we run from you?" Po asked, standing firmly. "And who's the ones you call murderers?"

"Don't pretend you don't know, Panda!" The prince suddenly snarled. "You know what I'm meaning by calling you all murderers!"

The warriors stared at each other, getting more confused.

"Guards!" Yuan Sheng called his guards, giving an order. "Arrest them! They killed my mother."

Alerted, Po and the four set their Kung Fu stance again.

"Don't, Dragon Warrior," Lee stopped him, preventing Po from taking an action. "Let me handle them."

Those four guards quickly aimed their weapons and rushed to the warriors.

But Hai and Lee were quicker. They managed to knock them out only by giving two punches in the face and two kicks in the stomach.

Yuan Sheng gulped, watching his defeated guards in horror.

"Now." Po smirked at the prince. "We got you."