"Post-Storm"


For a time - everything seemed gone. Alf opened his eyes.

Dark moonlight began slowly wading into his vision. In the very top of his viewpoint, the crescent moon gently shone strong and bright - while a plethora of twinkling stars danced idly by the entire sky. A gentle breeze swished by Alf's ears, eliciting a mild shudder.

Shuddering gave way to shivering. After a moment of peaceful bliss, Alf felt a cold sensation begin to take root in his body - the clothing was stuck, and still wet from the Pool's water. He wasn't drifting in the Pool however - his back was making contact with hard grassland. His neck burned, forcing him to actively wince every few seconds or so.

Alf's fingers gently wedged itself in between the collar and his neck - feeling the burnt, twisted flesh underneath. Although he had no idea how it looked, it felt like running his hand over moldy, dried up dumplings - there was some sort of singed quality to his skin now, and Alf wondered if the feeling would be permanent or not.

"Po! He's awake!"

Alf completely forgot that Yu's face suddenly appeared in front of him.

The wide panda made his way to the Seeker's side immediately, gently bending him upward to rest Alf on a nearby boulder.

"Augh - easy big guy," Alf noted, smarting from the pain. "Wh - Where's Tai Lung?"

Po moved, massive frame blocking Alf's vision.

The boy saw a small crowd off in the distance, near the Sacred Pool of Tears. The Five had gathered around Shifu, who sat silently near a single, motionless snow leopard.

Alf couldn't recognize their expressions. "Is - is he - "

"Dead," Yu noted. "Gone."

Alf shook his head. "No no no - he can't be. I mean - if I'm not…"

Po shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno man. You and Tai Lung were in the Pool for a long time."

"You should have seen it," Yu remarked, ignoring the obvious irony of this statement. "Blue flashes everywhere. The whole Pool was sparkling. It felt like - like the entire Valley was having a fireworks show."

"Sure as hell felt like one," Alf agreed, clutching the swollen side of his face with another cringe. "So that's it? He just - died? And you guys somehow pulled me out alive?"

"Not exactly," Po emphasized, kneeling down to Alf's eye-level. "As soon as both of you stopped moving, Yu sorta - well - stuck her hand in to try and pull you out."

Yu smiled. "Gave me the worst damn feeling I've ever had in my life."

"And I grabbed her," Po denoted. "Turns out - you can sort of channel the shock - sort of. Or at least distribute it somehow."

"Tigress came in at the tail end," Yu finished. "Pulled us all out."

Alf sighed. "I still should have died."

"Dude, you didn't, and that's all that matters," Yu forced, grasping Alf's bruised face with kindness. "Just add it to the list of things you promised me to research about. Into your past and stuff… along with that cool, randomly powerful punch that sent Tai Lung flying..."

"You agree to look into yours?" Alf asked, wry smile forming.

Yu grinned, playfully shoving Alf's head away before standing up. She took a moment to stare at him, taking in the amount of bruises he had, the fatigue he was so obviously transparent about, and the world-weary sense of relief that he was sporting.

She enjoyed all of it.

"You did good, Alf," the fox whispered. "Real good."

Alf turned to Po. The panda smiled at him with the widest of grins.

"You were okay with dying?" he asked Alf, eyebrows raised.

Alf took a moment, trying to explain to Po exactly how much he meant to him.

"Not for the Valley," Alf stated simply. "For you? Hell yeah."

Po smiled. "There ain't nobody in the world - that can get beat up like you can!"

Alf chuckled lightly. "Story of my life I guess…"

The Five had ceased rounding about Shifu, after Yu had made her way over there. Most of the Five masters and caterer approached Alf and Po, carefully moving with very deliberate motions. Shifu and Tigress followed a few seconds afterwards, leaving Tai Lung's body on the ground.

Instantly, Alf felt out of place - the Five didn't have the same hateful, confused, or even apathetic looks towards him anymore.

Mantis was grinning broadly. Viper looked genuinely concerned. Crane gave a gentle, reassuring wink. Monkey instantly tapped Alf on the right shoulder (albeit an injured shoulder) - quickly apologizing before giving a smile back.

"Alfalfa," Viper broke in. "That's your name, right?"

Alf was so taken aback at hearing his name instead of Seeker, fleshling, or Scum of the Valley that he looked straight ahead - as if she was referring to someone else.

"Hmm? Oh - right - um, that's me," Alf whispered back stupidly. "Hey everyone…"

"Alfina?" Tigress broke in, making her way over to the rest of the Five. "Did I hear that right?"

Alf chuckled again. "Ha - no - I said Alfalfa. Sorry - voice a little sore…"

"Alfalfa? Like - the crop?" Tigress responded, eyebrows raised. "Hmm. I think I like Alfina more."

Alf chuckled again.

"You know, because Seekers don't have fur," Tigress emphasized. "People say it sort of makes you look somewhat - feminine."

Alf narrowed his eyes, trying to read Tigress' face. It was far from the most rude, hurtful, or even just ignorant Seeker joke she could have made, but the attitude behind it put Alf at east. It wasn't a hateful and condescending tone, or even an annoyed one - it felt organic and natural - even a tiny bit playful.

Playful, Alf thought. What the hell did I just call Master Tigress?

This suspicion was confirmed shortly thereafter. Tigress closed her eyes and put her gaze to the ground, full blown smile now emerging.

"Thanks for everything, Alf," Mantis spoke up, leaping atop Po's shoulders. "Seriously."

"And all this time - I had you pegged to like - gut us in our sleep or something," Crane let out with a sigh, smile still radiant. "Maybe poison our food."

"Don't need my help for that," Alf retorted. "Anybody taste Po's breakfasts?"

An ensuing circle of laughter. Yu grinned broadly at Alf, while Po took center stage to try and defend his breakfast quality as the Five looked on with smiles.

Something about this moment felt different to Alf. He didn't have the feeling of hiding, or running away from the public anymore - it felt as if something very special had finally been broken, as if a long-running gag in his life had finally ended. This was Alf's first time - perhaps in his entire life - that was spent sitting around with other people besides Po, with genuine interactions, with everyone relaxed and comfortable - grateful to have finally gotten over something thought to be unconquerable.

"Seeker."

The laughter stopped immediately. Alf, Po, the Five, and Yu turned their heads in unison to look at Shifu.

Alf noted the reluctance to use his name - and also noted that out of everyone present - Shifu was the only one who kept a stern gaze on him.

The same look he gave Alf when they first met.

"Thank you, for coming back," Shifu forced, words so reluctant and jagged that Alf felt uncomfortable hearing them. "I - I want to offer you something."

Alf's eyes went wide open. Po looked at Yu with a perplexed expression. The Five stared more intently at Shifu - confused.

"In return for your services here tonight, I'd like to offer you a reserved bed and food at the Jade Palace," Shifu started. "And if you wish, training in - kung fu."

Po was the first to react, crushing Alf to his broad chest like a lunatic once more.

"YEEEEESSS!" Po screamed in Alf's ear. "THE DRAGON WARRIOR AND THE SEEKER OF THE - UM - VALLEY! FIGHTING EVIL WITH THE - "

"Po, you're crushing Allison," Tigress sighed. "Her lungs can hardly breathe."

Po let go of Alf at once, watching him crash to the ground. Alf stood up uneasily, staring at Tigress with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought it was Alfina…" Alf questioned, coughing out dust. "This isn't going to be a thing, right? The whole - girl's names thing?"

"Oh, definitely not," Tigress smirked, eyes flashing maliciously orange. "Don't you worry about it."

Alf sighed. "You gonna apologize for what happened the past few weeks? Shocking me? Choking me? Thinking I killed Oogway?"

Tigress - confident smirk intact - moved closer to Alf, significantly taller than him. "Don't push your luck."

Alf grinned.

"Seeker - I need you to do something in return."

Shifu's voice had come back. Alf turned to him, nodded his head, and waited for the red panda to continue.

"The world right now has an understandably - conflicted view of Seekers," Shifu began, as the rest of the group nodded. "It would be - unwise to mention your involvement here."

"What?" Po let out at once. "But Master, he - "

"I understand," Alf cut across immediately. "I don't want a lot of public eye on me either."

"More than that," Shifu went on, words coming out slower and slower. "It may be wise to - perhaps - implicate your involvement in aiding Tai Lung's - release."

This brought a complete stop to the whole conversation.

The Five stared at Shifu with genuine discomfort. Po widened his ears as Yu almost managed to respond back with something, then chose to suppress it.

Alf shook his head in surprise. "You - you're gonna make it look like - I broke him out of Chorh-Gom?"

"You're already despised in the Valley, Seeker," Shifu noted, voice growing stronger. "Adding this minor twist to the story won't harm your reputation. And imagine how it would look if we told the world the truth - "

Shifu moved closer to Alf, pacing furiously. "- That the guards failed to keep Tai Lung under control, that the Jade Palace failed to defeat him, and that he managed to kill at least fifty villagers in the Valley before he was stopped!"

"It would look like the truth!" Mantis interrupted, confused.

"We can't do this to Alf, Master Shifu…"

"Master, we can't - "

"Isn't good kung fu also about being honest?"

"Master - "

"Master - "

The Five began arguing, while Po and Yu looked at each other nervously. Alf kept his stare hard at Shifu, completely thrown aback but in the same manner completely unsurprised.

Even when they had first met, the only Master with a truly negative, completely hateful reaction had been Shifu. Since Alf had moved into the Palace alongside Po, Shifu had tried to hurt or beat him every step of the way. If it weren't for Po and Yu - and occasionally, even Tigress - Shifu would have maimed, injured, or at least hurt Alf significantly.

He should have seen something like this coming a mile away. Alf wondered what about Seekers had predisposed Shifu to loathe them - others in the Valley merely regurgitated what their parents had said, but Alf had rarely met someone so confident in their brazen dislike for what Alf was.

A question for another day.

"ENOUGH! SILENCE!"

The Five stopped, staring at the device in Shifu's hands. Po and Yu took a few steps back.

Alf eyed the red button with disgust.

After all this time.

After all the blood.

Things had changed - but in another manner - some things never changed.

Alf didn't bother to put his fingers up to the collar. "Wow…"

"Master," Tigress broke in. "You cannot - "

A lethal stare from Shifu quieted her immediately.

Alf snorted. "I can't believe you - Master."

Shifu shook his head, trying to reorganize his words. "I - I'm sorry, I - I wasn't thinking straight."

The old master shoved the button inside his pocket once more, gently bowing to Alf in apology.

"I just want to preserve the peace, that's all," Shifu noted. "Keep China's politics stable."

"Keep the lie going," Alf denoted. "Seekers are scum. That won't be tough to sell at all…"

Shifu paused, looking at everyone's slightly uncomfortable expressions. "For the good of the Valley. For kung fu. For the world."

The Five looked down at the ground, afraid to react to Shifu. Po felt on the verge of screaming. Yu looked at Alf, eager to hear a response.

"Can you promise that you'll get this collar off?" Alf asked, ignoring Po's protest.

"I - I - we can discuss that later," Shifu emphasized. "Since the Grand Council discovered that there was a Seeker living in the Valley - they - they would like to keep a method of controlling such a - "

"He's not a freak!" Yu interrupted, voice enraged. "He's just a kid!"

"He's already going to tell the Valley his little lie," Alf finished. "And nothing anyone will say - can change that. Right, Master?"

The Five looked at Shifu, who nodded his head.

"Some truths are better left - unsaid," Shifu delineated. "I - I realize this is an - unwanted outcome. But I haven't forgotten what you've done for us! I just - I'm giving you an actual home - just help me keep the peace, that's all."

Shifu paused, satisfied that no one was arguing yet. "Po - as Dragon Warrior - and the Five - they'll be much easier for the Valley to digest as their - heroes."

Some ensuing protests, but Shifu shut them down quickly.

" - Which is the truth!" Shifu noted. "Not the complete truth - but enough."

Alf smiled sadly, shaking his head. Slowly that hopeful feeling was going away, replaced by the same cynical realism that had gotten him this far in life.

"Enough of the truth," Alf repeated, huffing. "Guess I don't really have much of a choice then, hmm? Considering you're gonna say your story anyway - it's either get hated everyday, with no bed and food - or get hated everyday, but with bed and food."

Shifu just remained quiet at this.

Alf turned away, closing his eyes. "See ya later guys. I'm sure some guards are already on their way here."

Yu sniffled, watching Alf hobble away - into the darkness and down the stony path leading back to the Palace - on his one good leg. He turned around, flashing a last look at the group.

The Five didn't dare look at him, although it was obvious that they were sympathetic to what was happening. Po wrapped an arm around Yu, who was shaking with rage.

Alf stared hard at Shifu. "I'll accept."

Shifu breathed a huge sigh of relief. Alf shook his head however, wanting to continue.

"But," Alf iterated, voice growing dangerously low. "What happens the day that I say it's too much? That playing the bad guy is - getting old?"

Shifu merely shrugged his shoulders. "We will deal with that as it comes."

Alf snorted, making his way down the mountain.

Po and Yu watched the boy disappear into thick black fog. They seemed to want to exchange sympathetic glances at the Five, but they were busy looking at Shifu for any semblance of fairness - the same fairness that they had respected for so long in the old master.

Yet Shifu wasn't there, already back to Tai Lung's side - kneeling by the corpse.

"We never got a chance to thank you," Mantis noted. "Master Po."

"Oh man - Master Po… " Po let out, suddenly reminding himself of something.

"Dad," Po recalled. "I gotta find him!"

"Uh - Po," Tigress interrupted, pulling the panda back from moving away from the group. "We need to tell you something."

Po winked, bowing his head in false modesty. "Yeah yeah I'm the best of all time - it can wait Ti! I gotta find my dad!"

"Ti?" Tigress reiterated, shaking her head before remembering what she was trying to do. "Ugh - Po, it's - it's about your dad."

Po stopped moving. He looked at Tigress as she placed both paws on his shoulders.

"Tigress - I mean, I knew I was charming but - "

Tigress sighed, lowering her gaze. And Po - as much as he wanted to make another joke - suddenly felt an inclination to stay quiet.

. . .

In a land much farther away from the Valley, much farther away from the provinces of China, much farther away from the continent of Asia, laying well beyond the reaches of the world, the skies, the people, and anything that ever existed - there was a room.

This room was exactly where one would want it to be. It was crystalline and pure, completely opaque, colored with white walls and a single brown door. The floor was made out a splendid mahogany, floorboards perfectly spaced and tightly constructed.

A snow leopard tumbled in, gasping for air.

"YOU WILL NEVER - eh - what?" Tai Lung stopped, looking around.

Standing at the far edge of the room, a large figure stood alone. The figure was covered in a long black trench coat. There were no distinguishing features to separate the body from the trench coat - and atop - a small, featureless head stuck out with no nose, eyes, mouth, or any facial features.

"What - what is this? Where am I?" Tai Lung asked, watching the figure stare at him with zero responsiveness.

"The subject has woken up," came a monotonous, blank voice. "Signal transmission rate: 50%. Rough nebula and galaxy cluster pinpointed. Need further information on solar system and galaxy of origin."

"What?" Tai Lung iterated, completely off-balance.

"I am not talking to you, subject," the figure responded with perfect clarity. "Approximate position noted. Distance to travel - six local stellar cycles. Evolutionary status of local life: very low. Priority danger level: none. Probability of successful colonization: 99.9971%."

Tai Lung approached the figure, swinging forward.

His paw went straight through the form.

Tai Lung spun to his side, throwing a leg through the figure.

The leg made no contact.

"What - WHERE AM I?" Tai lung roared. "ANSWER ME!"

Sit down, boy.

Tai Lung's body was forced down, chair rising up from the floor to meet him.

"What - what the - LET ME GO!" Tai Lung screamed.

His arms would not move. Tai Lung's legs hung loosely around the chair legs. He tried to contort his body, trying to get a better glimpse of the figure.

"Do you understand me now, boy?" the figure stated, another chair rising up to meet it as well. The form took a seat next to Tai Lung.

Tai Lung shivered, feeling a cold upwelling surge in his chest. "I - I don't know what's happening…"

"Subject's mind appears to be unstable, consciousness integrity severely compromised," the figure noted privately. "Information must be extracted quickly."

Tai Lung turned his gaze to the ground. "I - I recognize the voice now. You - you're the spirit."

"I am not a spirit," the form continued. "I communicated with you via telepathic linking connection, repurposing your planet's local gamma ray infrastructure to convey deep thoughts - mimicking - speech."

Tai Lung whimpered, feeling coldness resurge. "I - I am tired of your games - spirit. Am - am I dead, or not?"

"Not yet," the form denoted. "But you will be. We managed to intercept your consciousness before it was returned to the quantum void."

Tai Lung growled. "I - I am done - playing along with - whatever this is, spirit! Or whatever you are!"

"Your consciousness is visualizing my present form," the figure corrected. "Your subconscious assumed my size and mysteriousness, hence my large frame and trench coat. Yet you lack auxiliary details - hearing just a manifestation of my voice - so on the contrary, this is not my true form."

"I don't care," Tai Lung spat. "Just - let me die in peace."

Tai Lung sniffled. After twenty years of searching, the Dragon Scroll had turned out to be useless. After twenty years, Shifu had turned out to betray him. After twenty years, Oogway had still found a way to manipulate them all.

After twenty years - he was still in the exact same situation as he had always been.

Unappreciated. Alone.

He was done.

"Not yet," the form noted, thrusting a large needle into Tai Lung's forearm.

The snow leopard yelped in pain. "AH! WHAT - "

"Describe the Seeker you encountered," the form noted. "Give physical details."

"AHHH!" Tai Lung screamed, pain flooding through him like never before. "YOUNG - HE WAS YOUNG! A BOY! SORT OF SMALL - I - ARGH!"

"Blood type?" the form questioned. "Mesomorphy level? Access to weapons? Political views? Myers-Briggs personality type?"

The cluster of phrases utterly sounded like nonsense to Tai Lung. "Myers-Briggs - what? LEAVE ME, PLEASE!"

"Subject level at critical failure," the form stated. "Adequate information processed. Termination started."

"AHHH!" Tai Lung screamed.

The form watched as a blue liquid flew through the gentle needle tip and into Tai Lung's veins. The snow leopard seized in rapid convulsions, shaking uncontrollably before bits of his flesh and face began evaporating.

The screaming got him nowhere. The flesh melted and evaporated, gently morphing into chunks, then pieces, then particles.

Within a few moments, the particles vanished.

The form stood up, walking to the brown door. It opened the lock gently.

"Subject terminated permanently. Proceeding with travel to location. We must succeed - no matter the costs."

The figure closed the door, leaving the room.


A/N

Yep, so all of that just happened…

I don't have much to say, again. The next chapter will be the last one in KFP 1 - after that, we're gonna start KFP 2! YAY!

Mike: Hey Bob, how's the level of support going?

Bob: Funny you should ask - it's been overwhelming!

~TW