"Answers"
Po stood in the center of the village, nervous.
He was waiting for Li to bring out everyone. It had been just their luck that they arrived while the pandas were taking an afternoon nap - something Po was in the habit of doing - so Li promised to get everyone up and running as he sprinted off into different houses in the village.
Po admired the architecture, wishing Alf was here to see it. The space itself was quite small, with perhaps just five or ten actual homes - yet the buildings bore curved roofs and distinctive green and red shading, evidently mimicking the smooth grassland and river that cut through the village. Due to its mountainous location, Po even saw some of the larger homes occupy a rather tall strip of cliffs just behind the entire village - and the massive fog seemed to block the entire village off from outside observations. Thin trees and rocky but gentle cliffs completed the scenery, dotted around the village. Po had seen just a few tilled rows of soil, indicating that there was some level of farming occurring to keep this village alive. In sharp contrast, outside the village was practically nothing - just gigantic snow mountains that completely enveloped the oasis of life that was the panda village.
"Lotus!"
Po swiveled his ears at the new noise. Li was there, yet the noise hadn't come from him - rather, it had come from a bulbous and short panda - who was rapidly joined by other pandas who had come bursting out from their broad red homes, all around Po. He noted their uniform green robes, collectively swathing him in their gentle colors. The crowd that soon covered him had at least thirty male and female pandas of various sizes - most were around Po's frame, but considerable numbers were much larger and much smaller.
Even panda children were there.
Po didn't know what he was feeling.
He had never seen a panda child before.
"Meet the family, Po!" Li cried out happily.
An enormous panda - even larger than Po - picked up the Dragon Warrior with a grin. "I LOVE YOU!"
"Ergh - me too…" Po let out, unable to speak properly.
"That's your cousin, Dim," Li emphasized. "And that's your other cousin, Sum."
"Together we're Dim Sum!" two pandas squealed out, both larger than Po.
"Cool…" Po whispered, unable to breath properly. "Um… Dim… could you let go now…"
Dim affirmed this, letting Po drop to the ground.
Po shook off the confusion, seeing the rest of the crowd of pandas anxiously talk amongst themselves. He of course didn't recognize anyone, but it did feel tremendously odd to have several clones of himself talking about him.
"He's so handsome!"
"Just like his father!"
"Should we give him a snack-lace?"
"He's so tall!"
"No he's short!"
"I still don't know who he is!"
Po laughed, joyous voices just bringing a bit of happiness to an otherwise confusing trip. And for a whole few moments, he just let himself enjoy the scenery - not even thinking about chi or Li for a while.
"I'm Mei Mei," a female panda noted quietly, red gown making her stand out. "I'm ahem - single."
The words fell on Po's ears so weirdly that the panda backed up a bit, as Mei Mei approached closer and closer, devilish smile in her face.
"How does all this feel, son?" Li questioned.
Po smiled at Mei Mei's face. He observed the surroundings - the crowd of panda villagers, the beautiful meadow village, and the mysterious mountains way ahead. In a way, he had always dreamed about this place for the longest time - and even though Mr. Ping hadn't given him a lot of information on where he came, or what his story was - he had pieced it together over years. Shen had taught him a lot, but this felt different - no longer was he fantasizing about one day traveling to this "panda heaven" - now he was in it, getting groped by the eager villages, watching Li - his father - smile at him around.
And just then, Po started to let down his guard towards the aged panda, wondering if he had judged him a bit too harshly.
. . .
"Alf."
"Alf."
"Alf!"
"ALEXA!"
"YU!"
He awoke with a startle, but only just before his ribs threatened to burst open. Alf instantly winced, grasping his apparently - bandaged sides in pain. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the surrounding light, despite the fact that there wasn't much illumination. A few seconds later, and Alf observed his surroundings more closely: he was in a dark brown room, with clay walls and stone flooring. It was quite small, and he was laying on a straw cot - Alf winced as he felt his fingers dangling off the edge of the cot and into a warm pool.
A warm red pool.
Alf groaned, wondering how much blood he had lost. Not only were his sides bandaged, but his face was hurting and there were long gashes across his exposed chest - cool night air filtered through the entrance to the "hut", washing across his prolific wounds.
Then he realized Tigress was standing above him.
"Glad to see you back from the dead, Aubrey," Tigress smirked kindly.
Alf recoiled slightly. Tigress' golden robes were splintered and torn - peeking behind the tears were blood-stained bandages circling around Tigress' torso. Alf had guessed those to have from from the blade injuries, and was happy to note that aside from a mildly more stifled movement - Tigress seemed healthy.
"Where - where am I - agh!" Alf tried to lean up from his cot, but was gently pushed back down by Tigress.
She kneeled down, meeting his eye-level. "You were - in bad shape when we found you."
"How bad?" Alf coughed out.
"Put it this way - I didn't see you first," Tigress noted. "Only saw the blood pool. And - your hand, underneath a huge pile of debris."
Alf groaned, putting a hand to his head. "I - I coulda suffocated to death. Tigress - thank you."
Tigress seemed to ignore this, playful smirk suddenly gone as she stared back down at the ground.
"The Valley's gone," she whispered silently. "Shredded to pieces. All the buildings - the shops… even the Jade Palace…"
She stopped, voice cracking a bit. Alf was still in enough pain to the point where he didn't much care about the Valley - but that was, in some ways, bad news.
"What the hell was that thing?" Tigress asked in confusion, kneeling closer to Alf. "It - it couldn't have been a - a seeker, right?"
Alf's brain was so exhausted that he didn't even bother to analyze this - choosing to answer solely based on instinct.
"Looked like it," Alf confirmed. "Omega… looks like the seeker army thing Wang was talking about… is real… damn what the hell is happening…"
"After I hauled you out, we regrouped with the rest of the Yongshi and the Valley citizens," Tigress emphasized. "We're all in some scrolls-forsaken corner of the Wu Dan mountains now - just trying to figure this all out…"
Alf's ears were just starting to function again. They immediately picked up profound chattering noises outside of the small hut, voices with great anger, sadness, and anxiety. There were a few he recognized as trying to contain everyone else's - Shifu's, Wang's - but the rest of the Five didn't seem to be making appearances.
"Jinping and his rhino idiots didn't make it out," Tigress emphasized. "Blown to smithereens. Lotta Yongshi died too… and well, the Five are all okay aside from some minor injuries… Shifu's fine, that idiot Wang's fine…"
Alf winced, side starting to warm as red liquid started to pool outside of his exposed skin. Something felt like it had torn.
"Your stitches ripped again," Tigress observed with a frown. "Turn over."
"Nah I think I'll be fine," Alf countered. "Just gotta - agh!"
It was not enough to dissuade her though, from roughly turning Alf onto his right side. Tigress took a seat onto the small cot, pushing his reluctant arm away from the exposed left rib.
"Try to relax," Tigress offered, running her paw across Alf's bruised skin as he winced. "I'll try to be gentle."
Alf groaned as Tigress took out a needle and thread, starting to pinch together broken flesh and sew them roughly together.
"You - patched me up?" Alf asked, wincing again. "I'm touched."
Tigress retaliated by aggressively pressing against the twisted flesh, earning a hiss from Alf. "Actually - the Soothsayer did."
Alf's eyes suddenly shot up. "Wait what? Soothsayer? Like the Soothsayer back in Gongmen?"
Tigress sighed. "We can talk about all that stuff later - for now, we just have to get you walking again."
Alf recoiled again as Tigress pierced through more flesh with the needle. "You walking again… fat chance… wait…."
Sudden realization.
"Yu," Alf started, fear flooding through him. "Yu Yu Yu! Tigress!"
Despite the enormous pain, Alf shot up and faced a surprised Tigress. "Tigress! Where's Yu?"
She merely turned her gaze down, frowning. Alf was hoping with all her might that Tigress might snap back and say she was fine - yet the moment never came.
. . .
Po's first day in the village had been crazy, with the festivities lasting from the moment he had arrived till midnight.
In truth, it had only been one festival with chaotic light shows and bright drawings and dances - yet the panda villagers never let him go with their long talks and excited speeches. Li himself had spent the bulk of the day interrogating Po on everything in his past - how life with Mr. Ping was, how he became the Dragon Warrior, and all of Po's adventures since. Li listened sympathetically as Po described Tai Lung's terror upon the Valley, and how he had executed Mr. Ping - and how learning his true history, the history of the pandas - was delivered by Shen. In return, Po had asked a few questions of his own - mostly around his biological mother. Although Li gave a predictable response - his mother had been killed by the wolves - he did note that she was funny, incredibly astute, and by far better looking than Li. The old panda even surmised that Po had gotten most of his sense of humor from her, with the "stupidity" coming from Li - as Po grinned at hearing this.
The panda villagers were much more interested in the superficial aspects. The villager children seemed to want Po to demonstrate any art of kung fu he knew - and even after Po demonstrated how to do a side-kick for perhaps the millionth time, they still implored him to do more. The older villagers asked him more about how life was outside the village - Po had guessed that the genocidal ordeal they had been through, made them resistant to traveling beyond the safe confines of the village - and also to Po's surprise, hearing about the Jade Palace and how different the Valley was (factories, courts - basically a megacity now) compared to what they imagined.
And as usual, when Alf's name came up - absolutely no one besides Li believed him. And Po thought that if Li hadn't seen him in person, his father might not have believed him either - after all, who could sincerely believe that the Seekers weren't all dead, and also that there was a young male Seeker that actually fought alongside the Jade Palace?
So the brunt of this day ended at midnight, when all the villagers tore down the decorations and stopped dancing - deciding to retire for the night and head back into their comfortable little homes. Li had taken the opportunity to escort Po to his own home, situated on rather rocky cliff apart from the other homes.
The house was splendid, albeit small. A fireplace was at the center of the triple-roomed home, complete with wood floorings and an assortment of drawings - mostly of Po's mother, but also some ones of Po himself as a child, with Li and his mother happily around him.
"I never forgot about you," Li mentioned sadly, looking at a drawing in his paws. "I want you to know that. It's just - when the village was attacked…"
"You didn't want to think about what happened," Po agreed sadly, sighing as he sat on the floor next to his father near the roaring flames of the fireplace. "I - I understand."
Li huffed. "But I never gave up hope. I - I never for once thought that you actually died. The night I found your mother's body… I saw that the radish cart was gone. Pushed down a cliffside…"
"That's why I get those dreams about the radishes," Po recognized, feeling amazed. "It happened all those years ago…"
Li smiled, putting a paw on Po's shoulders. "It's good to have you back, son."
Po grinned. "Yeah - yeah I just wish we could have met earlier… and definitely without all this freakin' pressure…"
Li turned his eyebrows up. "Pressure? What pressure?"
"Chi training," Po let out. "Remember? Kai's coming to the Valley - if he hasn't come already… I need to learn it to defeat him."
"Ah," Li affirmed, nervousness shooting through him. "Yes… chi…"
"You know how to do it, right?" Po questioned, suspicious again. "I mean - what'd we come all this way for if not for - "
"I just thought you'd wanna first, I dunno - take in the place first," Li fired back, feeling a bit hurt. "Enjoy meeting others of your kind… hearing everyone's stories… how's Mei-Mei? I heard she has a thing fo - "
"I get all that - dad, I really do," Po replied, feeling a sense of nervous but forced happiness emerge. "It's just - I'm still the Dragon Warrior, yanno? And I feel like - the sooner we get this Kai guy out of the way… the sooner I can relax and just learn to - be a panda again."
Li nodded sadly. "Right… right…"
"So when should we start our training?" Po questioned immediately.
"Uh - tomorrow morning," Li anxiously responded. "Key to a good chi is having a good night's rest, eh?"
Li tapped the panda's shoulder with a grin, choosing to lie back on the ground. He noted that despite his best efforts - his only son still bore a level of disbelief, perhaps even suspicion - towards him.
. . .
For those who were around when it happened, it was not a good sight to see.
Even for those who were far away - perhaps in their group, refugee-esque tents - they could still hear the brunt of the noise.
A crowd consisting of a thousand citizens - shopkeepers, business people, legal workers, Yongshi soldiers, kung fu masters, and so many more - all gathered under the starry moonlight shining down on a rather tiny, grassy portion of the Wu Dan mountains. In this particular nook, which had been set up with makeshift tents to house the hundreds of displaced former Valley of Peace citizens - were all predicated around a single Seeker in the center, who held a deceased fox's body in his arms.
He cradled it. He tenderly stroked the fox's fur.
A few onlookers tried to soothe the boy's crying by putting their paws on his shoulder.
Yet nothing would console him. The seeker merely wept harder and harder, cradling the fox's corpse in his arms with a tender affection that the surrounding citizens had no idea how to imagine.
All the memories.
The moments.
The rock.
Alf couldn't stop crying.
He just didn't want to do anything other than stay with her.
Significantly farther from the crowd surrounding Alf, Shifu and the Five had managed to drag Wang inside a separate tent - roughly pushing the lion in with a grandiose gesture. Tigress quickly closed the tent flap behind her.
"Agh - easy!" Wang let out, sporting a bandage of his own beneath his black armor. "Take it easy…"
Wang observed the simple white, cloth walls with a sole cot in the center. This was technically Shifu and the Five's tent - but the urgency of their questions started to leak through now. Likewise, the Five and Shifu had their own bandages - yet none were quite as severe as Wang's. This did not discourage them, of course - from being extra harsh with him.
"Talk," Shifu grimaced.
"You have a lot to answer for," Viper spat, unusually angry. "It's chaos out there! Citizens displaced! The Valley destroyed!"
"There's a Seeker named Omega coming to colonize this world?!" Monkey retaliated. "Wait how about - SEEKERS EXIST NOW?!"
"Calm down, all of you!" Wang tried his best. "Let me explain…"
"Your lack of communication and ineptness hurt more than just the Valley," Tigress breathed out dangerously, feral snarl coming back. "It - it hurt one of us."
She couldn't get the image out of her head - that original image she had seen when she had come back to pull out Alf from under the broken rubble of the Valley.
Yu's body.
How mangled it was.
By the explosion. By the debris.
How her paw was still outstretched towards Alf.
She had covered it with a spare cloth and urged everyone to bury the body right then and there.
Tigress knew it would be cruel to haul it all the way back to the mountains.
Because Alf would find her.
He would ask about her.
The most hurtful thing was that Tigress saw exactly the moment that occurred when Alf saw that silky white cloth, wrapped gently around Yu's body. She had saw Alf's face just fracture into a million pieces when he had peeled back the outermost layer. Tigress saw the sequence of emotions in Alf - horror, shock, denial, depression, anger - and then back to depression. She had never truly seen him like that - look so broken, so defeated - and he was still outside, cradling her body close to himself. It didn't matter that around him were likewise the corpses of deceased Yongshi soldiers - the point was that his life had been torn away.
"You have hidden much from us," Shifu began, voice stuffed with anxiety. "We lost our home - and our people have lost theirs."
Wang walked right into the center of the angry group, addressing the Five and Shifu with a typically strong, deep tone.
"I think she'll explain it all better," Wang noted.
The Five and Shifu turned around, seeing a distinctive, green-robed goat - one with horns and a thin beard overlapping her face - walk into the tent and close the flaps behind her.
"What is the meaning of this, Soothsayer?" Shifu addressed immediately. "And - where did you come from?"
Unlike Wang, the old goat silenced everyone with a small smile and an understanding look. "I'm Wang's mentor."
The Five and Shifu gasped.
"Okay now I'm really confused…" Crane let out, disturbed.
"Yeah am I secretly Master Oogway's pet goldfish or something?" Monkey noted.
"Or is Po actually Tai Lung's father or some stupid sh - " Tigress began.
"Enough," the goat begged, tired. "Enough… perhaps it is time that all of you knew the truth… starting from the beginning…"
The goat paced into the center of the group, nudging aside Wang roughly with a push. The Five and Shifu watched her move around in exhaustion - yet they had little sympathy for her. The past few weeks had been nothing but broken, disjointed, and random things happening all at once - suddenly Po had a father?
And the father knew chi?
Which happened to be the only thing that could defeat Kai? Where was Po now?
What was Wang doing?
Kai suddenly exploded and died?
What the hell was that Omega talking about?
And now suddenly the old Soothsayer - the one that they had met all the way back in Gongmen - was revealed to be one of the Yongshi?
Tigress had grown frustrated with it all. There was clearly massive amounts of information that nobody was sharing, and too many questions raised. Everything had to be answered right now.
"We have to start at the beginning," the old goat started with a sigh. "This - this world is not our - original home."
"Okay you're drunk or something," Monkey started out in anger. "I've - we've all lived here our entire lives!"
"Plus there are no other worlds with life!" Viper mentioned confidently.
The Soothsayer smiled sadly. "I wish that were true. But no - we may have lived all of our lives here, in fact - all of us on this world have grown up here… but our ancestors - our ancestral species… are not from this world. They migrated to this planet."
"Wait wait - slow down," Shifu intruded suddenly. "Ancestral species? You mean - "
"Our evolutionary predecessors - think of the fathers and mothers of our father and mothers - multiplied thousands of times," the old goat clarified with a wink. "Ancient tigers, ancient lions, ancient pandas, ancient everything… they came here from a very far off place."
The Soothsayer paced again, choosing to sit down on the cot this time. Shifu and the Five shot Wang an angry look - amazed how he had elected to hide this information from them. The lion merely shrugged his shoulders.
"How far off?" Crane queried.
"A distant world called - Earth," the Soothsayer mentioned. "And on this - ancient world…"
"Earth…." Tigress interrupted, recognizing the name. "That's - that's the place that freak Omega was talking about."
"The first and true birthplace of the Seeker race…" the old goat continued, smirking.
"Okay but what does this have to do with what's happening now?" Shifu asked, confused. "If - "
"Do you know why we call them Seekers?" the Soothsayer suddenly posed.
"That doesn't have anything to do with - "
"Seekers of knowledge," the goat finished with a knowing gaze, voice low and serious. "On that planet - Earth - Seekers, or mankind, as they call themselves - lived at peace with our ancestors, albeit an unsteady peace."
The mere influx of new information that was coming in now was greatly intriguing everyone.
"Unsteady how?" Mantis posed.
"Our ancestors were primitive, savage beings," the old goat recalled. "With no rationality. No conscience. We used to walk on four legs and hunt other creatures smaller than us… to eat."
This information greatly disgusted everyone except for Wang, who had obviously heard this before. Tigress in particular recoiled in fear.
"You're kidding," Tigress let out, shocked. "We were that… feral?"
The old goat smiled. "It may seem ludicrous to us… given our current - evolutionary capabilities… but yes, we were once savages… albeit, we lived at harmony with the life cycle of the time."
The Soothsayer paused, voice turning to depressive tones now. "Mankind on the other hand - did not."
"How?" Viper asked. "Did they try to kill our ancestors?"
"Not directly," the old goat countered, lost in thought. "But mankind - or the Seekers of knowledge - were blessed with incredible capabilities for technological innovation. They - adapted to environments and built things. Made things. Performed things that for everyone else on Earth, including our ancestors… were just not capable of. They - they grew so powerful that they eventually subjugated our ancestors to their will."
The Soothsayer paused again, letting the words sink in before continuing. "But mankind was also cursed with greed - a flaw that only grew as their technology and civilizations grew more powerful and advanced. Nothing was enough for them… factors usurped forests, smoke started to fill the sky, and inch by inch - they stained and poisoned Earth beyond all hope of recovery."
Tigress found this oddly believable. She had even instantly compared it to what had happened in the Valley as soon as Shen had been defeated and the cannon technology was revealed - all of China, perhaps even continents beyond Eurasia - had all suddenly become factory-dependent, with forests razed down to build new cities, and green nature dying at the hands of just one single technological achievement.
"Mankind poisoned and polluted the Earth so badly that life as our ancestors knew it was coming to a close," the Soothsayer finished. "But - but our ancestors - despite having nowhere the level of power or sophistication as the Seekers did… did manage to eventually evolve some complexity of their own. It took millions of years - but we could start to talk, walk on two legs, and organize each other."
"And?" Shifu continued the pressing question, everyone practically on the edge with the seriousness of the revelations.
"Our ancestors begged mankind to stop the wanton destruction," the old goat recalled. "Begged mankind to find better ways to build their civilization without destroying the planet."
"They didn't listen, did they?" Shifu interjected.
The old goat got up from the cot, looking away from Wang, the Five, and Shifu. "No. They did not."
A pause, as the old goat seemed to seem genuinely hurt.
"Then - what happened after that?" Monkey asked, although he was scared to hear the response.
The Soothsayer frowned. "Earth eventually began to collapse in on itself. Resources depleted, atmosphere poisonous, life on the planet began to die out like flies…"
"How did our ancestors escape?" Shifu asked again.
"We - we managed to steal one or two ships - spaceships - these things that can travel beyond the stars, beyond the sky…" the Soothsayer noted. "We - we packed the few survivors into those ships - and blasted off to a totally random destination."
"And Earth?"
The Soothsayer sniffled. "I - I watched it die. What was once a glorious, beautiful blue planet had sunken into a molten mass of red flames and crushed dust… it was - horrible seeing it."
Another pause, as everyone saw the old goat sniffle in silence - clearly lost in painful memories.
"Wait - how did you see it if this was millions of years ago?" Viper asked suddenly. "You would have died al - "
"The speed of time on Earth was much different than the speed of time on this world," the Soothsayer noted. "That - combined with the evolutionary advancements of our ancestors… we all lived a lot longer back then."
Shifu grimaced. "You - you're one of the original ancestors, then."
The Soothsayer smiled. "The last living one, sadly…"
"And what happened to the rest of our - ancestors?" Shifu continued.
"We wandered the cosmos aimless for ages," the old goat clarified. "So many of the survivors died on the ships during that long time. Finding a planet as hospitable to life as Earth was… was a true task."
"And then you found this world," Tigress concluded, predicting her next line already. "That's what happened, right?"
The Soothsayer smiled. "Yes. We found this world - and we resolved to never allow greed to destroy our homes, our civilizations, our future… we believed that we could do better than mankind - so, we set about to populate the planet. Finally - we had found a world that was untouched by mankind's selfish desires… a home our ancestors could call their own."
"And thousands of years later, everything shows up again," Monkey deduced. "The Valley, China, all of its people - all from just some random guys who ended up finding a sweet planet to dig into…"
The Soothsayer seemed to cheer up at this, lost in happy thoughts again. "We erased all the memories of those who knew about the past, who knew our previous lives on Earth - entrusting the new guardianship of our people to an organization - a newly created one called the Yongshi. Eventually, everyone forgot about the actual past and what actually happened - but everyone still had that fundamental distrust and hatred of Seekers… we started calling them fleshlings."
Wang smiled at this, as the Five and Shifu shockingly turned to the enormous lion with gusto.
The Yongshi were far older than what anyone had imagined.
Tigress also noted that this explained why everyone - although they had an instinctive dislike towards Alf - could not explain where it was coming from.
And boy was it well-earned.
"But mankind almost found this - haven," the old goat noted out loud, voice serious again. "Thirteen years ago, a vessel - a Seeker vessel - I remember seeing it crash down from the sky."
Wang seemed to recall this too, as he bit his lips in anger.
"Wang was just a boy back then, and I was the effective leader with a young pupil - a pupil named Oogway - you know him."
The Soothsayer's words seemed to strike a confirming bias in everyone's minds. Oogway had definitely been a part of all of this.
"We quickly investigated the Seeker vessel, expecting a fight," the old goat recalled with tension. "But instead we found three unarmed Seekers - a man and his wife, along with a young boy - just about five years of age."
The Soothsayer closed her eyes in frustration. "Perhaps it was fear, or fear that they might call the rest of mankind to this safe place - but we killed the man and his wife instantly."
Another pause.
Silence fell through the room.
The Soothsayer continued. "I - I implored Oogway to kill the boy as well, because I didn't have the heart of it… but I knew it had to be done, to ensure a future for my people… a future away from mankind's greed…"
And suddenly just then - a collective realization hit Tigress like a hammer.
"That - the boy was Alf," Tigress let out, gasping.
More gasps followed from the rest of the Five and Shifu. Wang nodded his head sadly.
"Clearly Oogway had shown mercy on the boy, considering he's alive now…" the Soothsayer noted in sadness. "But - but at what cost? The - the beacon - that damn collar you idiots keep using to torture the boy…"
Shifu kept his head down to the ground, feeling the scolding painfully.
"... that is more than just a shock collar," the Soothsayer emphasized. "It's a homing beacon that travels through space… that travels far… to alert the Seekers of any potential planets where life may be found… and every time it's used, the signal becomes stronger, more precise."
"And Shifu's been using it on Alf every day, multiple times - for the last five years," Viper noted. "Oh man…"
"Ironic that the one time we showed mercy on a Seeker…" the goat continued, frustrated. "It comes back to haunt us…"
"And that's why that freak Omega is coming," Tigress confirmed. "Because… we led him here."
"After Earth's destruction, mankind became ravaging space nomads," the Soothsayer noted. "Constantly looking for a new place to colonize… and well… they found it."
A stern silence fell over the room. A lot of it was because of the amount of revelations that had been suddenly shoved into everyone's minds, which was taking time to process - but another part of it, sadly - was an acknowledgement that perhaps - a hatred for the Seekers was a good and natural part of life, an evolutionary adaptation to growing under millennia of repression under mankind's unjust rule.
"But Angelina is different," Tigress mentioned, attacking the issue on everyone's mind. "She's better. Purer. More righteous…"
"I dunno Tigress, is he?" Crane questioned.
"Wha - how dare you!" Tigress retorted angrily. "Look at all the things he's done for us! Tai Lung, Shen… all the fights he's helped with…"
"It's in his blood, Tigress," Shifu noted sadly. "The desire to control and fight… to build things that are so destructive like the Revolver…"
"None of that is on him - he did all of that for us!" Tigress fought against, feeling weird to be defending him for the umpteenth time. "He - "
"When I offered him to come to the Yongshi, I was trying to get a control over him Tigress," Wang noted. "For years I thought he was dead… and now, once I realized he was still alive… I had to invent some pretext to get him to - submit to the Yongshi."
"You were never planning to help him escape oppression," Tigress realized in horror. "You - you were looking for a way to tie up loose ends."
Wang kept silent sadly.
"None of that matters now," the Soothsayer emphasized. "All that matters is right now - we have a Seeker invasion coming soon and we need to act."
Everyone merely kept quiet again, seriousness of the situation too grave to say anything useful.
The Soothsayer seemed to get alarmed at some noises outside. "We will discuss later but right now I need to attend to the injured Yongshi…"
The old goat started to walk outside, pushing away the cloth flaps. "Don't believe in him too much Tigress. At the end of the day - he is, and always will be… a Seeker."
The Soothsayer disappeared.
Tigress turned her head down to the ground, sadness rushing through her.
"He's just Alf."
A/N
Yu's gone.
Yep - she's gone.
I can confirm it.
This kind of stuff will take time to resolve and explore.
Keep in touch.
But in other news...
FINALLY! THE BACKSTORY OF THE SEEKERS WAS FINALLY REVEALED!
Was it everything you hoped for?
Confused?
Glad?
Thought it sucked? (XD)
Regardless, I tried to keep this is as subtle as possible throughout the entire series - right from chapter 1 in KFP 1. Obviously Alf being not from this planet was a major hint… but also things like Omega referencing "another world" and other small hints like that I hope helped lead up to the grand reveal quite nicely.
Note however, that it's still not revealed why Alf's parents came to the new world in the first place. That's for later ;)
Other than that, someone should really tell Po that learning chi is useless now, given that Kai is well - dead… but then again, I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve…
Remember the one thing that Omega said the Seekers hadn't evolved - that the life on this planet had?
Hehe… keep your deductive skills sharp, because you're in for a ride…
Support is amazing.
~TW
P.S: Expect more frequent updates coming up - I just had an insane brainstorming session and am on a sort of writing high right now...
