Chapter 31 : Monster

As he dragged their new hostage, Po and the others walked very fast through the crowd from the marketplace to the dock. All tigers there watched them in surprise. Some that were afraid, decided to hide themselves behind their shops and some were wide-awake. Hai shot them with a sharp glare, threating and suggesting them not to dare to stop them. Those villagers couldn't help but watch them take the prince, that was seemingly helpless away with them.

"What's wrong with them?" Po asked as he kept walking, confused.

"They're just afraid of us," Monkey replied. "No more soldiers and guards patrolling here and they know no one can stop us."

As they reached the dock, some another villagers immediately looked panick as they ran away, screaming and hiding to save themselves, leaving the incomplete jobs they were doing, thinking that those warriors had ill intentions.

"Hey, you!" Lee called out a fisher tiger who was hiding himself behind his boat. "Give us your boat. We need to cross this river to get home."

That fisher tiger just froze, looking at them in horror.

"Oh, my." Lee sighed as he pulled out a knife hanging on his belt from its place. He put that weapon and pressed it on Yuan Sheng's neck. "Give us your boat or I'll kill him," He said in threating tone.

"Lee?!" Po was surprised as he pulled Yuan Sheng close to him.

"Don't worry, Dragon Warrior," the mountain cat whispered. "I'm just bluffing."

Yuan Sheng cautiously watched over that knife press his neck. He didn't move at all. One careless move and he would find himself bleeding in the neck.

Trembling, the fisher tiger slowly came out from his hiding place. Lee glared at him, forcing him to leave soon. Instantly, that tiger with a fear on his face scampered leaving his boat.

The warriors then walked towards the boat. Crane examined it. "It's safe."

"Are we going to sail with this?" Mantis asked unsurely.

"We have no choice."

"But it'll take forever to get The Great Valley! We'll be too late! The army would have been destroying everything!"

"But this is the only thing we got," Crane explained as he patted his wing on the boat.

"Better late than never," Po said. "We got to reach The Great Valley and see whether we still have time to prevent them from destroying the village there."

Hai and Monkey pushed the boat into the river until it floated on it. Lee jumped and landed onto the floating boat. "Come on everyone. Get in."

One by one, they started jumping onto the boat.

"Come on, Junior. You go first." Po offered Yuan Sheng to get onto the boat first. Yuan Sheng just remained silent. "Hey, come on, it's completely safe," he said as he pushed him onto the boat. Thus make Yuan Sheng fall flat and hit the wooden floor on the face. He cringed in pain.

"Crane?" Po called again as he realized that avian hadn't gotten onto the boat. "You're not coming?"

Crane shook his head. "You all just go with this boat. I'm going to fly and reach The Great Valley earlier."

"Alright. Take care, buddy."

They nodded. Crane spreaded his wings, flapping them and flying up heading to The Great Valley with a very amazing speed.

Hai found two paddles. He gave one to Po and the another one to himself. Together, they both started paddling their boat difficulty, most likely caused by the number of loads. The boat moved very slowly on the tranquil river.

Monkey showed an expression of boredom, starting to rest his chin on his paws as the boat began to move. "This is gonna be a long day."

TLoTDaTT

In a flash, the village who was recently peaceful, safe and sound now had turned into damage after the coming of the armada of Darknest Land. Some mothers were hiding as they hugged their crying cubs in their arms, protecting their children.

The army destructed and destroyed everything. They burned the houses, demolished some buildings and injured those villagers who were trying to stop them. Everyone ran everywhere aimlessly, panicking, screaming, crying and hiding.

Tigress scrutinized her surroundings. Some houses were in fire. They deserved this.

The villagers could do nothing but cry and resigned to see those tigers savagely destroying their village.

Suddenly, she felt something hard and woody hitting her back from behind her. She growled in pain. Furiously, she turned around, only to get another hit in the face from an old goat. Tigress was getting angry. She grabbed the wood and broke it very easily, as if she just crush a toothpick.

The old goat gulped as he saw the wrath on the tigress' face. He stepped backwards, afraid. Tigress chasing him. As he kept taking some back steps, he accidently stumbled onto a rock and fell backwards.

Tigress soon pulled out her swords from its scabbard and aimed it at the goat's face. For a second, their eyes met. For a second, her hand trembled in full of tension.

The goat was getting afraid and trembling. Unable to get up, he braced himself and closed his eyes.

"No!" a scream was heard. A wizened pig rushed towards the old goat and shielded him from Tigress. "Please don't kill my brother," he begged. "Kill me instead."

"Liu?" the goat askedworriedly to the pig. "What are you doing, brother?"

"I can't let you be killed."

"You stupid!" the goat snapped. "I can't watch you be killed either!"

…I can't watch you be killed either.

Those words somehow reminded Tigress of something, echoing in her mind. She felt really familiar with that. But what is that?

…I can't watch my friend be killed.

That's it.

Those words indeed were similar to what she once said to Po back when she was in Gongmen City. That time, she was afraid of losing her best panda friend. She asked him to stay out from the battle but that panda refused.

Slowly, Tigress lowered her sword from the goat's face. But not before she realized that an another tiger, General Luo, was watching her behind a tree.

Yuan Sheng once told her that General Luo was trying to snatch her position as the leader for the army. And nothing more that general wanted than proving everyone that she was capable of nothing. Only one small mistake and that general would use it as an excuse to get rid of her from Darknest Land. By showing mercy to the emperor's enemy, General Luo would soon show the emperor that Tigress once again refused to carry out her destiny and thus he would kick her out from the Khan Palace.

She could never let herself look weak and compassionate in front of someone she hated. She would never let that scheming general take over her position. She would show him that she was capable of anything.

Once again, she turned her glance to both the pig and the goat as she aimed the tip of her sword to their faces.

She closed her eyes, shouting loudly and unexpectedly, she raised her sword and lowered it as fast as lightning with a roar. Liu's eyes went widen as he watched that sword stab his brother in the stomach.

"No!" he cried at the top of his lungs.

Tigress pulled back her bloodstained sword, surprisingly staring at her victim in horror.

Did she just do that? Did she just kill someone?

"Dao! No!" Liu the pig shook his lifeless brother as he cried. He glanced at Tigress with his teary eyes. "You!" he yelled out loud. "Monster! You just killed my brother!"

Tigress just stayed silent and didn't say anything. Her grip loosened and the sword fell. She was hardly reassuring herself that she just did something right.

Or … did she?

As she snorted indignantly, Tigress inserted her sword back on the scabbard hanging on her belt.

Monster. That was her. She had been told so since she was so little. And although Shifu had taught her to control her strenght, but still, he could never change who she really is.

She ignored them and walked off leaving the pig and the lifeless goat, wiping tears running down her cheek. There was a small feeling in her heart. Was it a guilt? She continued walking through some burning houses and some crying people until she reached General Luo standing near a tree.

"General," she said firmly. "Claim this valley as ours. Tell these pathetic villagers that their village now belongs to us and that Emperor Tiger is now their only emperor they must obey to."

General Luo looked sharply at Tigress. He completely hated being under her control. He didn't like being ordered either. But at this moment, Tigress officially was his leader and he could not fight against it.

He was forced bowing to her. "Certainly, Your Majesty."

Tigress stared at the general before leaving. "Oh, and one more thing," she said. "Get the army prepared for another attack to the next valley. We're leaving today. That's an order from the Emperor."

"Today?" a sound of protest escaped from the general's lips. "But Your Majesty, we're just arriving here and we can't just—"

"Silent!" Tigress snapped at him. "Don't you ever dare to argue me, General! I am the leader. I'm in charge here. You must listen only to me. Understand?!"

At first, General Luo was almost losing his control to snap back at her. But he knew it was not the right time. "My apologise, Your Majesty."

Tigress squinted her eyes as she smiled before leaving. She was amused because she just successfully proved General Luo that however she was above him.

General Luo watched Tigress go. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fist and punching the tree beside him out of anger.

He vowed to himself he would find a way to get rid of Tigress forever from his life.

He turned and proceeded walking towards somewhere. He kept walking until stopped in front of the lifeless goat and the mourning pig. As he took a look at the goat very closely, he found out that the goat hadn't died yet. He was still alive. Tigress failed to kill him.

Fine. He would finish them by himself.

Dao the goat coughed, much to Liu's relief as he knew that his brother survived.

"Liu..." Dao tried to speak weakly.

Liu stopped his crying but still sobbing. "Brother?" he replied. "You're alive."

Dao coughed again and cringed in pain before answering. "I ... am." he pressed his bloody stomach with his hand, feeling the worst pain.

"Hold on, brother." Liu whispered. "Don't move. I'll find away to stop the bleeding."

"No need to. Liu ... we must save ... our people ... those tigers ... can't ... win."

At this moment, General Luo grinned evilly. He pulled out his sword calmly and without causing any sound, he put the sword on Liu's neck. Both the goat and the pig's eyes went widen as they realized it, speechless. They wanted to run away but they couldn't. What they could do now was only to give up and surrender.

TLoTDaTT

It had been two hours since they began sailing on the Chojiang River. Po and Hai were still paddling their boat so that it could move faster. The panda looked tired as he panted. His biceps were sore.

"My… awesomeness… is… draining," he groaned. "Can't hold on," he almost dropped the paddle into the river. Luckily Monkey moved fast and caught the paddle before it was drowning.

"Let me do it." Monkey offered his help. Po agreed and shifted from his place for Monkey to sit. The primate started paddling along with Hai.

Yuan Sheng was still silent and didn't say or do anything. He just froze like a statue, awfully quiet. He was not able to do anything while being surrounded by his enemies.

"Hey." Po patted his shoulder friendly, trying to make a chat with him. And though Yuan Sheng kept remaining silent, Po was still talking as if he was enjoying talking to himself. "How's your feeling? Sick or cozy? You know, this is my first time meeting someone like you ; rude, stubborn, confidence, not to mention that you're a very very supercilious prince. But you know what? I thought every princes must have been trained to fight to protect themselves from any danger. But you buddy, even haven't known yet how to punch correctly. Boy, you should've listened to me earlier to not fight back. Look at yourself now ; you're hurt. Must not be feeling well. By the way, this is your first time being kidnapped, right? Oh, don't worry. We're not like the other kidnappers. We're good, see?" Po smiled widely, as wide as he could do.

But Po didn't get any respond like he expected. Yuan Sheng never got interested to hear those trashy babbles of Po. He just hung his head down as he quietly tried to loosen up the handcuffs that were cuffing his arms behind his back. Useless. He could not get himself free without the key.

"You're not a very talkative person, aren't you?" Po continued, still talking. "Don't be like that, buddy. You will never get any awesome friends like I got if you never know how to begin a good introduction. But hey, I can teach you how. You just need to ask me. Well, now show me how you start a conversation to someone you just meet. Let's pretend that I am that someone."

Yuan Sheng growled, annoyed.

"A growl?" Po asked in disbelief tone. "Seriously? If I may say, that's not a good start, buddy. You'll just scare people with that, trust me. Oh, come on, stop being so annoying."

"Po," Mantis called him.

"Yes, buddy?"

"You are so annoying."

Po scowled.

Not long after that, they saw something with flapping wings flying towards them from the sky.

Po waved his hands up. "Crane! Over here!"

Crane swooped down and landed on the boat. His face looked panick.

"How's The Great Valley?" Lee quickly asked him.

Crane bowed his head, closing his eyes and shaking his head sadly. "It's bad."

"How bad?"

"You'd better see it by yourself," He replied in a serious tone.

Both Lee and Hai felt their hearts beating fast, faster than usual.

What happened with their village? Did the tigers destroy it? How are the villagers there?

And how are their brothers there?

"Seriously, Crane. What exactly happened?" Viper asked worriedly.

But Crane didn't reply. That made his friends, especially Hai and Lee, get more worried and anxious.

There was a silence moment. No one talked among them while their boat was moving quietly on the river.

After some hours of silence later, they finally reached The Great Valley.

But they had been too late.

That valley didn't look great anymore. The tigers might had been leaving but they left much damages. All houses and buildings had been burned to the ground. Some broken wood and smokes were here and there. But nobody's around.

They browsed the village as they dragged Yuan Sheng, noticing what was left.

Nothing was left but destruction.

"Where's everyone?" Mantis asked, hopping onto Monkey's shoulder.

There was a cough. They saw a male bunny along with the others hiding behind a dilapidated building among a pile of wood. Those villagers looked sad and afraid.

"Everyone!" Lee exclaimed as he rushed towards them, followed by the others. "What happened?" he asked them though he had already known the answer.

"Lee?" one of those villagers, a goose asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes. It's me. Lee." Lee replied as he pointed at himself with a thumb, slightly smilling. "I and Hai are home."

"Oh, thanks Goodness." The goose and another villagers sighed in relief. "You're back— Oh, No!" he suddenly exclaimed when he saw a tiger next to Lee. "A tiger!"

"What? Where?" Lee quickly turned to beside him, only to see Yuan Sheng that was being cuffed there. "Oh, him? Don't worry. He's our hostage ; the prince, son of the Emperor Tiger himself. He's harmless and not going to hurt you."

Hai smiled. He knew it was not the time to do so but he just didn't know on what to do at the moment. These villagers definitely just experienced a very real nightmare. It was his fault because he and Po were too late to come to save them.

Viper looked to the right and to the left as she hissed. "Where are Dao and Liu?"

"Oh, yes. My brothers!" Hai exclaimed. He just realized he hadn't seen them. "Where… where are they?" he asked the goose, somewhat excited plus worried.

The expression of the goose turned into a very gloomy face.

"They… they're fine, aren't they?"

The goose opened his beak and answered with a very weak voice that was really hard to hear. "I'm sorry."

As if got struck by lightning, both Hai and Lee soon realized what had happened.

"I am really sorry." The goose repeated himself. "They killed them."

Po, the four and the mountain cats gasped.

It can't be. They can't be dead.

But this goose didn't lie. He said the truth.

Hai deeply took a breath. He wanted to cry but he just held it back.

Monkey put his hand on Hai's shoulder. "I'm sorry, buddy," he said with an emphaty tone.

Hai shook his head. "Not your fault." He spotted the only tiger next to Po, shooting him a glare. "It's the tigers' fault."

Yuan Sheng just smiled with satisfaction, despite he was not in a lucky situation. He was pleased enough seeing his kidnappers this way.

Lee turned to Po. "Dragon Warrior?"

The villagers widened their eyes with their raised eyebrows right away when they heard Lee mentioned Dragon Warrior.

"Yes, Lee?" Po asked.

"I think you and your friends have to continue your journey now … without us."

"But Lee. How about you and your people? You—"

"No, Dragon Warrior?" Lee cut off. "We'll be fine. Our valley has been destroyed and now it's been under Emperor Tiger's authority. If you stay longer here you'll just waste much time to complete your own mission."

Po bit his lips. "You sure you'll be okay?"

Lee set a fake smile. "We will be, as long as we have you as our dragon warrior."

Po smiled.

"Long had chosen you as our protector," Lee added. "We know he did make the right choice. Do not let us and him down, Dragon Warrior. Go after those tigers. Fulfill your destiny and save China."

"I promise, buddy," Po replied. "I'm The Dragon Warrior will save you and China with my own awesomeness way."

"We rely on you," Lee placed his fist into palm, smilling back and bowing to Po respectfully. "Dragon Warrior."

Shortly, all of those villagers got to their fist, putting their fists into palms, imitating what Lee was doing and bowing to Po respectfully and solemnly.

The warriors did the same, bowing in return to the villagers in unison.

"Do you know where those tigers are heading to?" Mantis asked.

A female pig answered. "We know."

"You do?"

"Yes. I heard their leader say a name of a valley to attack. They have left two hours ago."

"And the name?"

"The Valley of Peace."