"The Not-So-Great Escape"
"I can explain Master Shifu!" Yu called out, desperately searching around as if an invisible reason would burst into existence. "I - I - well Po really knocked me and Alf - "
"Quiet."
Shifu's voice was completely serious, and nearly silent in volume. He gently kicked over the fallen wolf soldier, beckoning Yu over to the mast of the boat.
A chilled breeze ran through the two individuals' fur, rocking the boat gently as well. Afternoon sunlight was beginning to fade, as the musty smell of seawater ran through Yu's nose. She wasn't exactly sure why she was picking up all the sensory details around her - perhaps it was the stress of having Shifu prematurely appear, or perhaps -
No, it was the only reason.
Stress. Pure, raw fear.
"The Seeker and the fox have to deliver food to the Grandmasters' Council," Shifu mockingly remembered, leaning Oogway's staff against the mast of the boat. "Did it occur to any of you that of everyone in the Jade Palace - Po would be the worst liar?"
Yu sighed, agreeing with this completely. "Master Shifu, I can explain."
"I had a yearning suspicion that your excuse was based on a lie," Shifu continued, completely ignoring Yu's remarks. "The sudden leave. The Seeker not telling me anything. Po's - nervous faces..."
Yu gulped, almost face-palming.
"My suspicions grew when I realized that the Seeker hadn't packed anything," Shifu noted. "And after a carefully planned scroll to the Grandmasters' Council - which didn't even realize that the Jade Palace had caterers..."
Yu again facepalmed.
"I confirmed my intuition after the Grandmasters' Council, Zeng, the local villagers, and most curiously - Mrs. Chen from the gift shop - " Shifu finally returned, frowning. " - all pointed to Po's pathetic lie. Needless to say, I now understand what's happening."
Yu sighed, walking pointlessly across the edge of the boat. Shifu had been so blunt, so calculating, so precise in this accusations that Yu felt it unnecessary to even try to squirm out of it.
"Po kidnapped us," the fox let out gently. "Mantis and him did some weird pressure point - "
"You could have came back," Shifu firmly denied, whiskers twitching in anger. "You could have understood the repercussions of having a Seeker run around unsupervised - along with a fox who doesn't know kung fu..."
"We aren't like the Five, or even Po!" Yu desperately pushed. "We - we aren't your students, or your children! We're - "
"YOU BOTH ARE PART OF THE JADE PALACE!" Shifu roared suddenly, bringing the staff back to perch on top of it - meeting Yu at eye level. "THAT MAKES EVERY ACTION YOU BOTH TAKE - TIED TO US!"
Yu gritted her teeth, feeling an unusual sense of anger surge. Partially it was because of all the rage and frustration with the scroll, the wolf, the mission, being alone - but more was coming from Shifu's intoleration of the situation. Sure, they might have been able to return - but was that really such a massive situation to just let Alf and Yu hang out with the team for a bit? Was Alf that much of a security risk?
Of course he was, because he was tied to breaking Tai Lung out of Chor-Gom.
Or at least, that's what Shifu had shouted to the world.
"Who's us?" Yu queried, angered.
"Do not think for even a second that you and the Seeker - are like the rest of us," Shifu forced angrily. "Po and the Five are the sworn protectors of the Valley of Peace..."
"Which makes us?"
"You are a glorified food delivery girl," Shifu spat. "The Seeker is a temporary guest - and I use that term with great hesitation."
Yu merely kept silent, shocked.
"I haven't forgotten your - selfless actions two years ago," Shifu noted, obviously referencing Tai Lung. "But the generosity is now proving to be risky to the Jade Palace."
"Alf has never let himself seen in public," Yu urged, tears beginning to form. "For scroll's sake - he covers himself in a literal trashbag when he fights alongside Po! When helping the Five! All because he respects you enough to let people keep believing the lie..."
"He is a risk," Shifu bluntly asserted, teeth showing now. "This scenario - running away, or refusing to come back, or whatever - this proves that there'll be a point where I can't control him. Proves that he doesn't listen. If he was here, I'd shock him into next week..."
Yu's eyes were growing redder by the second, just now observing the button and device shoved away in Shifu's pockets - amazed and horrified that he had even brought it all the way. She wasn't sure why she was getting emotional - she wasn't even defending herself, she was only defending Alf.
"Why do you hate us?" Yu asked gently, sniffling.
"I don't hate you," Shifu noted. "You're a stupid, foolish little girl however..."
"Then why do you hate him?"
"Because the world does," Shifu finished simply. "Because as idealistic as your naive young mind can be - as many times as you can say unfair, discrimination, or wrong - we all have to acknowledge reality at some point."
Yu coughed, dust suddenly getting into her lungs. She blinked and turned her head away, wiping away any remnant tears still trickling across her face. In some aspects, she was grateful that Shifu hadn't yet discovered the scrolls, the Yongshi information, or the haphazard way the Jade Palace had entered Gongmen - but there was one pertinent question that she felt important to ask now, especially given that Shifu was here.
But she waited for a few seconds - a moderate pause to concsciously ignore Shifu's past few words - then re-energize.
"The Five and Po might need you," Yu noted, carefully leaving out Alf's name. "They haven't been back in hours. You're going to help them right?"
Shifu merely flashed her another death glare.
"Let them learn their lesson."
. . .
Alf was growing concerned at how long this pause was going.
Right after Tigress had sprung forward, knocked Shen ten feet back to the back wall of the Throne Room, had returned Po to a fighting stance - the peacock and the wolves kept a hard stare at Alf. The danger was mostly gone - Po was safe now, and willing to fight, the rest of the Five were active and ready for combat, and Tigress was confident they could demolish the twenty or so wolf soldiers standing in their way of capturing Shen.
Yet no combat could occur, since Shen and his forces kept a firmly shocked stare at Alf. The Throne Room was silent but packed - two forces of warriors staring at each other awkwardly while the Soothsayer leaned against a pillar, staring similarly at Alf.
"Uh guys we forfeit this staring contest," Mantis interrupted, perched on Po's shoulder as per usual. "Can we just get to the part where we kick your guys' asses?"
"Shut up Mantis," Viper urged, tail cocked and ready for striking beside Tigress' leg.
"I'd heard whispers," Shen started, stepping forward - significantly away from his wolf guard. "Stories. Old folk tales. Rumors..."
The pure fascination that Shen had with an unmasked Alf was driving the peacock forward, not realizing that he was well out of the protective range of his wolf soldiers.
"But we hear rumors all the time!" Shen let out excitedly. "Lies! Myths! Legends! But - I - I - I never would have thought they could be real..."
Shen's head swiveled convulsively, scanning every inch of Alf's features - almost as if he was studying a fine piece of art, or jewlery.
"But you are real - aren't you boy?" Shen insisted. "This can't be a dream..."
"Pretty awkward if you were dreaming about me," Alf fired back, to mild chuckles from Po and the Five. "So yeah - I'd say this is real."
Shen waved his wolf soldiers down. The wolves shot each other quizzical looks but obeyed, lowering their weapons while keeping an intrigued stare at Alf. A good percentage even seemed somewhat frightened, or even disgusted.
"How much?" Shen gently began.
The Five, Po and Alf grew more confused. Alf in particular, started seething with rage. "I told you, I'm not an es - "
"Not talking to you," Shen genuinely vocalized, ignoring Alf while beginning to address Tigress. "How much for his hands?"
Alf now truly grew confused. He stepped back a bit, keeping his fighting stance intact. Tigress narrowed her eyes at Shen.
"No no no - relics like this must be treated with care..." Shen spoke softly, again too - appreciative in tone. "I'll buy the whole thing."
"He's not for sale," Tigress rejected outright.
Shen fidgeted, as if he hadn't heard Tigress' answer. "Name your price."
"There is no price you creepy weirdo," Monkey uttered with disgust. "There might be a reward once we turn you, and your cannons into the Grandmasters' Council - but that'll go to us."
Shen watched Alf with an immense sigh, seemingly disappointed by the masters' insistence that Alf was in fact, a real person and not an item or good for sale - the peacock hummed a few sorry tunes before pursing his mouth, staring at the Five, Po, and Alf of course with a demented stare.
"Funny, I would have let you all live if you had just played by the rules," Shen started. "Well if you can't buy something - you can always steal it."
And it all started.
THWANG.
THWIP.
CRACK.
BASH.
A flurry of noises. Arrows sizzled through the air. Metal swiped through the space in front of them.
It had begun.
The wolf soldiers quickly encircled the Five, Po and Alf - making escape an impossibility for the moment. They lunged forward with iron bats, clubs, and spears - a few carried blades and more armored weapons. Most notably, Po was having difficulty eluding these many at one time - these were Shen's personal guard, so the wolves were about a head taller than usual, heavily muscled, heavily armored, and extremely skilled. Still, the masterful training of the Jade Palace was enough.
To handle one.
But that wasn't the case.
The issue was the wolves' coordination more than anything else. Every time a soldier would lunge his spear forward, one of the Five could deflect it - but in the same second, another soldier swang his silver blade down in the same direction. It was like fighting a giant combatant who had four skillsets, four different move combinations, and four different bodies. The wolves didn't tire, and each time Po or the Five would smack them across the face - another would merely their his brethren's place, diving forward in feral accuracy.
Tigress leaped over two nearby wolves, frustrated with the stalemate. She acted a bit sacrificially, allowing one wolf to pierce her in the shoulder with a spear so she could grab the rest of him - oscillating and chucking him around against the other wolves. This cleared the crowd significantly, as the ten or so eager "front line" of wolves surrounding the Five and Alf were knocked backwards. She promptly threw him into the large black cannon, splintering it in two.
But Tigress' next moment came out of pure shock, as Po was nowhere to be found.
He was twenty feet away, staring at Shen alone against the back wall of the Throne Room. The Soothsayer lay on the floor nearby, blood oozing from her right ear.
"You - you - you know what happened to my parents," Po recalled, memories intrusively barging through his emotions again. "You - you did something..."
A night, dark as dark could be.
A female panda.
Crying.
A wolf.
Spear.
More crying.
The tattoo.
"Oh I didn't kill them," the peacock proclaimed. "The Seekers did."
"Bullshit," Po breathed, voice and mind slowly losing their grip on reality. "They - "
"Ask your friend," Shen smoothly delivered. "Ask who killed the pandas."
Po started hyperventilating. He wasn't exactly sure what he was experiencing - much of it seemed to be pure grief, a lot more seemed to be reactionary to the things that had been bothering him over the last month - feelings, instances, effervescent glimpses of reality that just tore his mind apart. Compounding the issue was the random tattoos painted all around him - it was driving him absolutely insane.
"You're - you're lying," Po let out slowly, unsure of himself in a completely illogical manner. "You're just trying to - "
"They sent flaming metal at them," Shen smiled, eyebrows furrowing. "I watched two big ones rip your parents apart - bone by bone."
Po gasped, shuddering.
Tigress yelled, trying to warn him.
But it was too late.
Shen brought out the trademark blade. It slashed forward.
A streak of blood came gushing from Po's neck.
"NOOOOOOO!"
WHAM.
Shen's blade - as well as the rest of him - surged behind Po as a fully enraged Alf - who had managed to escape the rest of the wolves - collided and dragged the peacock nearly thirty feet away, to the other far corner of the Throne Room. The Five kept a strong fight against the surrounding wolves, dodging swinging axes, hammers, and even an occasional bite. None of the twenty soldiers were tiring anytime soon.
"You really think Po would believe a scumbag like you?" Alf breathed out harshly, pressing his forearm against the peacock's neck. "You're coming with us. This ends now. You're no match for our kung fu."
"I agree," Shen fully slithered. "But this is."
Alf turned around, seeing another batallion of twenty wolves make their way up the stairs leading to the Throne Room. The Five - already encumbered by guarding a rapidly bleeding Po - felt doubly anxious as now each master had to duel with eight potential soldiers. The amount of chaos was near impossible to avoid harmlessly - Viper and Mantis had already been stabbed twice, and Crane and Monkey had been bludgeoned numerous times, the avian sporting a brusied head. Tigress fared the worst of all - deliberately separating herself from the rest of the Five so that she attracted more soldiers - fighting almost sixteen on her own.
She was already bleeding from multiple places.
"The Jade Palace is strong," Shen noted. "But not that strong."
Alf gulped, wondering whether he should continue pinning Shen or move to help the rest of the Five and Po.
"Also," Shen interrupted again, breaking Alf's grip on him. "I have this."
Alf saw something that almost made him do a double take.
A button.
In Shen's grasp.
Not red.
But green.
The peacock pressed.
"AUGH!" Alf roared.
He bit down hard, nearly crushing his own mouth.
This wasn't a shock.
It was fire.
Vicious.
Relentless.
Heat.
Alf's body twitched convulsively on the marble flooring. Below him, he could hear several bursts go off - almost like cannons firing, or exploding, or something - a few floors below him. The sensation wasn't just far more painful than the shocks he had grown accustomed to - it was mind-numbing. The pain was arresting, and the scent of burned flesh began to go through the room. Alf felt red, moist liquid drip down his neck and onto his desperately grasping fingers - he knew only a few more seconds would instantly kill him.
"I knew there was a reason this thing was outside the Seeker ship!" Shen admired the button, watching Alf seize on the floor amidst the chaos of wolves, the Five, and Po fighting a bit away. "Side effects may include any cannons in proximity going off - but the upside? Seekers with collars get disciplined."
Alf had no idea what any of this meant, except for somehow understanding that the cannons were being activated by the button.
The pain took a few more seconds to completely destroy him.
He blacked out.
Tigress was smashed back by four large wolves, collapsing into a nearby weapon rack. The sustained cuts and bruises severely stifled her movement, forcing her to lean on one knee and bash a few wolves back. One eye half closed from the swelling, she took a look behind her.
Shen - aided by a few wolves - hoisted Alf over the wolves' collective shoulders, as the small team departed rapidly from the rest of the group. They made their way down the staircase leading out of the Throne Room.
Tigress growled, forcing herself forward.
"TIGRESS!" Mantis screamed, being nearly crushed by four soldiers' feets. "WE HAVE TO GO!"
"THEY'RE TAKING ALF!" Tigress yelled back. "WE NEED TO - "
"NO TIME!" Viper roared back, being thrown into the high ceiling before collapsing back to the hard ground. "UGH! TIGRESS PLEASE!"
Tigress looked around, watching the true chaos unfold. The rest of the Five were barely holding on - having taken out a sizable number of wolves - but there was still twenty five or so left, apparently tireless from the battle. Po, bleeding even more now and nearly unconscious, was thankfully still kept safe by the rest of the masters - but axes and bludgeons started to make their mark against the Five. Moreover, the entire Tower felt like it was shifting - Tigress had heard some explosion earlier, which she guessed to have come from the cannon room...
...everything was going nowhere.
"WE HAVE TO RUN!" Monkey yelled, running to pull Tigress away. "WE HAVE TO GO!"
Tigress was too injured to properly resist. The golden monkey pulled her slightly aways from the rest of the battling wolf soldiers. The rest of the Five - uniforms injured, bleeding, and rapidly fading under stress - barely carried Po along, and hurried down the rapidly collapsing staircase. The cannon explosions were bringing the whole place down.
"We have to get him," Tigress moaned, leaning heavily on Monkey's shoulder as he struggled to drag them both down the staircase fast enough to avoid the pursuing wolves. "We have to - we have to - "
"Tigress we gotta make it out of here alive first!" Mantis yelled, his small size allowing him to dart a bit faster than the others, leading the path down.
BOOM.
"AUGH!"
"DAMN!"
"MY WING!"
Tigress stopped - or was rather thrown off Monkey's shoulder - as the path leading down the stairs became blocked by an immense, flaming block of the Tower. She jumped forwards, noting Crane's hobbled over position and clutching a broken wing. She also noticed Mantis and Viper, the only ones still standing admist the rapidly falling debris around them. Po was nearly unmoving, leaning against a deteriorating pillar while Monkey and Crane tried to keep him close. Fire was enveloping them at all sides, they were at the middle of the stairs - and now the wolves (suicidal apparently) forced them closer to the edges of the flaming inferno.
"We have to jump," Tigress weakly wheezed, eye swelling more now.
"We don't know how high up we are!" Mantis breathed, shifting his stare from the wolves, the blocked stairway, and the fire enveloping them.
"We might break our damn necks!" Monkey squealed.
Tigress shook her head, bleeding enough to drench her vest a bit. "No - no choice..."
As usual, she had to lead.
Tigress sideswiped to the right, knocking back an overzealous wolf as she dove out the nearest window.
Several sensations hit her at once.
Musty cool darkness. Bright moonlight. Gongmen City - miraculously still shining off in the distance, away from the Palace. Chilled air.
Several more shattering noises, as the rest of the Five followed suit - practically dragging Po's half-conscious body alongside them.
Then she looked down.
At least a hundred feet of nothing. Then rocky ground.
This would hurt. The descent started.
She calmed herself, readying for the pain - training already kicking in. She had to land on her arms - sacrificing those limbs would be much better for running than sacrificing her legs. Tigress make a split-second choice, deciding to sacrifice the left arm - already bleeding and practically broken already - in order to save the rest. She rotated appropriately, sticking out the sacrificial limb in an awkward, jutted out position. This actually would arrest most of the descending force - in exchanging for delivering the most hellish pain imaginable.
She took just a second to observe the rest of the Five balance Po above them - sparing him - but sticking out their sacrificial limbs.
Tigress looked down again. Just twenty feet of air.
She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth.
A few more seconds.
CRACK.
CRICK.
THUNK.
DRICK.
RIP.
Tigress roared more powerfully than she ever had before. She was face down into the ground, clutching what remained of her left arm in agony - bleeding severely, broken and contorted past recognition, and overall ready to just lay there forever.
She shoved herself to her feet, training again forcing her forwards. She witnessed the rest of the Five do the same - clutching what remained of their limbs in fear and pain. Viper was howling loudly, while Mantis could not avoid trying to keep her silent by covering her mouth. Blood pools - especially from Po's head - were beginning to form.
Tigress looked back, ignoring the musty dark moonlight - watching the rest of the Tower collapse in view behind her. Even now, ten or so wolves had managed to make it to the Courtyard - already in hot pursuit of the Five and Po.
She shivered, thinking where Alf may be.
"We - we need to get him," Tigress repeated thoughtlessly, still struck by the image of Shen and some wolves carrying Alf away. "We - we need to find him..."
"We can outrun them," Monkey gasped, dragging his broken tail behind him with a blood spit. "We have to. Tigress! There's no time!"
Tigress took a last second to scan the environment - ignoring the wolves, the moonlight, Po's unconscious body dragged along by the Five, the rapidly collapsing Tower, the Courtyard - just some sign where Alf was. Where Shen was.
Neither the peacock nor the Seeker appeared within vision.
Tigress cleared her throat, electing to do the one thing she knew was certain - her training.
She sprinted away.
. . .
The actual chaos died down pretty rapidly.
Predictably, the Tower of "Insert Adjective" Flame was destroyed. Debris and bits of dust littered the grand Courtyard, staining the massive floors and furiously closed gates bordering the former Palace. The entire space had displaced so much dust and smoke that a thick blanket of the stuff created a mini-atmosphere surrounding the entire area. Cracked stone floors lay ominously below a large stretch of broken metal, wood, and cinder - all melded into a gigantic pile of garbage that the former Palace had been reduced to.
The former combatants had long since gone - Shen's wolf soldiers had since realized they had no hope of catching the injured but speedier masters. The peacock himself had shown up at the end of the chaos and fighting, announcing to a newly engaged wolf army to scatter across Gongmen - to hunt down the remaining Jade Palace masters. The peacock then departed with a private wolf escort - taking the unconscious Seeker along with him.
Zhong had heard all of this.
While having his leg crushed underneath a massive pillar.
"Ergh - by the Scrolls - AHHH!"
Zhong yelped in pain, only allowing the heavy pillar to descend more on his right knee. He was certain the joint was crushed, and to make matters worse the rest of him was pinned down underneath even more debris. A small slit of light about five inches above his eyeline was the only solace - but he had been screaming for help for about five minutes now.
No one had come.
"Come on, come on, come on…" Zhong tried, desperately trying to free at least one of his limbs.
He was mostly angry with himself. As soon as Tigress had obviously knocked him out - then apparently thrown him and two dumb soldiers out of the Palace - Zhong completely blacked out.
And now when he came to - the Palace was suddenly destroyed, Shen and the wolves, the Five and the panda were gone - and now he had just overheard Shen five minutes ago talking about a captured Seeker?
What the hell had gone on since he blacked out?
"HELP!" Zhong roared again.
"For such a stoic soldier," came a smooth, old voice. "You're strangely kind when facing death."
Zhong growled, recognizing the tone instantly. "Soothsayer…"
The old goat - horns chipped and face bleeding from the aged cheekbones - popped into the small slit of light.
"He - help me," Zhong muttered. "Please…"
The old goat merely flashed a smile back. "Of course, death brings out everyone's kindest impulses…"
Zhong growled, expecting another time-wasting metaphor - but this Soothsayer was not like Oogway. The goat merely flashed another grin before lifting the heavy rubble off of Zhong's pinned arm. This helped the process considerably - Zhong used the free arm to bash and break the boulder pinning down the left arm, while the Soothsayer lifted a large cannon piece shoved against Zhong's uninjured leg. As this was being done, bigger and more voluminous streaks of sunlight started flying past Zhong's vision - Gongmen's sky seemed to be drenched in putrid brown smoke.
He really had missed out on a lot.
"This last part is gonna hurt," Zhong groaned, moving both paws sadly to the large debris resting on the broken knee. "You ready? One - two - AUGH!"
The Soothsayer had already kicked the debris roughly, allowing it to casually scrape off Zhong's shattered knee.
The Boss Wolf pulled himself out of the massive pile, feeling warm sunlight bathe his fur - as well as the smell of dust as the ruins of the Palace surrounded him. He immediately somersaulted forward, eyeing the Soothsayer dangerously.
"What was that for?!" Zhong bit, annoyed while putting all his weight on his good knee. "You nearly - "
"The path won't get easier, the more you wait," the old goat smiled, stopping her bleeding with a ragged cloth.
Zhong sighed, watching around him. There were absolutely none of his wolves, Shen, the alleged "Seeker", the Five or the panda - nor really anything else. He still had little idea what happened - but from educated guesses, it seemed like a massive brawl had brought the tower and the cannons down. Zhong knew of two places where Shen might be now - the Seeker ship, or by the largest factory outside of Gongmen still producing cannons and resourcing metal.
He growled, applying a makeshift bandage around the injured knee before hobbling towards the nearly destroyed gates about five hundred feet away in the distance.
"So that's the path you're choosing," the Soothsayer called out behind Zhong. "Complacency."
"I ain't smart enough to understand that dumb shit," Zhong spat, cracking his neck while continuing the march forward.
"Rejoin your childhood friend and resume the killing, the stealing, and the lying," the old goat sarcastically quipped, trying to follow the wolf. "That is - if he takes you back… considering you failed to kill a simple, baby panda."
Zhong rapidly spun around, paw instinctually reaching for the crossbow magically still attached to his back. "Killing a lot of people let's you see through people's bullshit a lot easier. Stop trying to screw with my head."
"I'm trying to show you something different," the goat whispered back.
"What the hell is that?" Zhong irritatedly snapped back.
"A different path."
With that, the old goat merely walked away - leaving a highly annoyed Zhong in her wake.
. . .
...
Blood.
Raw blood.
The stench of rotting flesh.
Fear.
The dark, shadowy figure approached.
Pieces of sky came crashing down.
The world felt over.
Ending.
He dove to his right, but it caught him again.
Yet he didn't resist this time.
"I told you," the voice forced. "It was inevitable."
He remained silent.
He surrendered to the void.
"Inevitable," he repeated.
The voice crushed him into despair.
…
"WAKEY WAKEY!"
Alf shot up, feeling his limbs suddenly feel restricted. The hazy feelings and burning sensations around his neck were gone, but there was this inescapable sense of fear permeating his mind.
His black garment - the top - was gone. A cold breeze brushed past the open skin.
His arms and legs were tied down.
He oscillated his head forward, trying to gauge where he was.
A massive cave. An enormous metal container - or box - or perhaps ship - loomed in a quick distance away. He felt alone - submissive, powerless.
Exposed.
Alf struggled hard, feeling cold metal press and provide structure to his back. He was strapped to some kind of makeshift table.
A peacock came into view. No one else.
"So many questions," Shen smoothly declared. "So many experiments. So - much - time."
Shen brought out a silver blade, running it slowly across Alf's bare chest. The blade sliced through the skin effortlessly.
Alf screamed, but was silenced as the peacock's feathers came close to the button.
The green button.
Alf saw it.
He shut his mouth immediately.
Shen smiled. "Good… results of first experiment: Seekers respond to obedience training…"
Alf's eyes twinkled with moisture. He forced his mouth shut, watching the blade begin the slice once more.
A/N
Yes I posted late again... yes I know this means I have to post by this Friday as compensation... forgive me maybe :p Jk, srry guys I'll def. try to be more consistent in the future.
A few things:
0. I know I've said this before, but as this series goes on - the plot continually diverges and complicates. So - worthwhile to keep track of stuff (I have to, lol)
1. The Five, Po (and Alf, I guess) can't consistently keep plowing through all the baddies. These wolves are trained, but dumb - but still, the best of Shen's guard. And they outnumber them four to one, and then eight to one! I wanted to keep it realistic... and I wanted to show very concisely that they indeed - LOST this battle. Yes, the Jade Palace isn't perfect, Po's mistakes were understandable but ultimately cost them the victory (and Alf's capture), and yes - this'll affect the rest of KFP 2.
2. Zhong and the Soothsayer - well, all I'm saying is that they're worth caring about/paying attention to...;)
3. I had a random insight about fight scenes which I felt like sharing: feel free to read if you want, or just skip the next part. (HEAVY DISCRETION: THIS IS MY EXPERIENCE, NOT THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH OBVIOUSLY)
I, like many FF net writers perhaps, find it difficult to write fight scenes. They're dynamic, you want to describe what's going on accurately (but not word vomit), you want to make it feel different, etc. etc etc...
But what I found that is that instead of describing specifics like "the blade whooshed as he front kicked the enemy..." - try to write it like any other part of your story! Just try it! Like describe how enemies flooded the main gates, punches and kickes were thrown, etc etc etc. Try not to worry about active vs passive voice - when you're writing fiction, write to accomplish the effect you want to achieve - don't worry about structure, syntax, or etc so much...
Idk, and again - I don't know if my "descriptive" rather than "specific" writing style for fights is better - or even noticed by readers (lol) - but it personally relaxes a lot of the tension I have when writing fight scenes.
So basically - IDK. Use at your own discretion. I personally use a hybrid of both descriptive and specific.
Support - idk. The best.
~TW
P.S: Again, go see my fake review. It's hilarious. I think.
