"Fortuitous"
"We should be here."
"That's your guess?"
"Well - yeah."
"Check the map again, Allison."
"Oh for the lovea - fine!"
Alf perused the thick scroll, tracing his finger from their original point - the Wu Dan mountains - to the destination - the panda village. They had made all the characteristic "checkpoints" the map described: a dense patch of forests, a long desert, some snow cliffs - and now they were right on the panda village drawing. However, as Alf and Tigress had spent the last five minutes arguing about - there was nothing here except a wide span of grassland as far as the eye could see, followed by an impossibly large mountain that shot straight into the foggy sky - penetrating a fog so dense that any light (or lack thereof) wasn't visible to anyone on the ground. One exception did exist - a well at the very base of the mountain, which had a single rope attached to it.
"I don't understand," Tigress noted, pacing around in her golden robes. "The village should be right here."
"Yeah I heard you the first twenty times," Alf let out in dismay. "Maybe we should just - backtrack and - "
"ALF!? TIGRESS!? THE HECK?!"
The shrill voice - characteristically boisterous and engaged, with distinctive largeness that both Alf and Tigress knew could only come from one source - came from the well. Or more precisely, it had been coming out of the well - a large, flabby panda with green robes emerged out of the well holding the robe, climbing out with great surprise.
Po.
"DUDE!" Alf let out in surprise, overjoyed. "WHAT'S UP!"
"NOTHING MUCH!" Po screamed back, still standing at the well a distance away. "WHAT'RE YOU GUYS DOING HERE!?"
"TRYING TO FIND YOU!?" Alf shouted back. "WHAT YA DOING OVER THERE?!"
"OH!" Po retaliated. "JUST PACKING SOME WATER - I WAS ABOUT TO HEAD BACK TO THE VALLEY!"
"WHAT - WHY?!" Alf questioned, still shouting pointlessly as the panda stood far away. "THEY KICK YOU OUT OR SOMETHING!?"
"HAHA!" Po laughed uproariously, stupidly still standing far away. "NAH! THE PAST FEW DAYS HAS BEEN SO CRAZY!"
Alf snorted. "LIKE - CRAY CRAY!?"
"LIKE - CRAY CRAY CRAY CRAY!" Po roared back.
"WILL YOU TWO IDIOTS STOP SCREAMING AT EACH OTHER?!" Tigress bellowed out, annoyed. "PO! GET OVER HERE!"
Alf chuckled childishly. It was satisfying to note that perhaps - even after all the ordeals that had gone on - his relationship with the Dragon Warrior was just as playful and dumb as it had always been. Alf didn't even realize how much he missed the panda - Po had left a while ago, which had unintentionally deprived Alf of one of his best friends and confidantes.
It had to have been well over a month since they saw each other in the flesh. Alf watched Po run closer, large belly jiggling and mouth ecstatic.
Alf grinned as Tigress rolled her eyes.
Some things never change.
Po quickly got to Alf first, picking him with a massive squeeze. "DUDEEE! IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS!"
Po let Alf down, then promptly got to Tigress to extend a hug as well, before a death stare from her brought the panda back down to reality.
"The village is up there," Po noted, pointing at the peak of the mountain - hidden behind a layer of fog. "You guys gotta come meet everyone!"
Alf grinned enthusiastically, almost thankful to know that there was at least someone who was relatively normal.
"But… guys…" Po frowned, looking at both Alf and Tigress apologetically. "I - I got bad news."
Alf snorted. "Whatever it is - can't be as bad as what we gotta - "
"Not nowAdriana," Tigress cut him off, shoving a paw over Alf's mouth. "Po - what's wrong?"
The large panda sighed. "So - as it turns out - my dad might not - well - know chi."
Alf squinted in frustration, although Tigress merely sighed and shook her head.
"It was all just a ploy to get me to come here," Po emphasized, groaning. "I mean - I guess I never really believed it but… man, this sucks…"
Tigress cleared her throat. "Well - that news won't make what we have to say any better."
"What?" Po asked, curious. "Is that why Shifu sent you guys? Did Kai already reach the Valley?"
Tigress sighed, beginning to explain.
About everything.
About Kai.
About how he exploded.
On the figure they saw after.
The fear they had.
Omega.
His plan.
Wang.
And his idiot Yongshi.
What happened to the Valley.
The Soothsayer.
Earth.
The history of the Seekers.
And everything else.
Tigress left nothing out.
Alf watched Po's face go through the sequence of emotions that everyone else had been going through for the past few weeks - but instead of having time to recover and slowly adapt with each new "bad news" - the panda was condemned to cycle between peaks of shock, amazement, intense fear, and incredible disbelief. Half of the conversation was just Po pausing Tigress, asking whether what she was saying was really true. The panda also looked at Alf at certain times - the Seeker was forced to sadly nod, confirming everything Tigress was saying. Alf saw the worst parts of it - he saw the horror and dread in Po's eyes as Tigress mentioned how the Valley was destroyed, and then fear and disbelief as she explained Omega's plan - and the impossibility of their "escape" from this world.
There was one moment of pause. Tigress turned to Alf while Po was shocked, almost expecting approval to say something.
Alf nodded, knowing Po - of all people - deserved to know.
Tigress finally finished, telling what happened to Yu. Alf tried his best to not think about what she was saying.
And after perhaps five minutes of one-sided conversation - with just Tigress sadly recounting events, plans, and attitudes to a half-shocked, half-afraid Po - finally, the panda had been caught up on everything.
"Oh, Alf…" Po groaned, tears in his eyes, hugging Alf tightly. "...I'm so sorry man, I'm so sorry… I know how much she meant to you…"
Alf smiled, a tear trickling out himself - but he pushed Po off lightly. "I - I'd rather not think about it, if that's alright."
Po sadly nodded, agreeing. "Totally… totally…"
Tigress sighed, waiting for the panda to turn to her again. "Well - see the situation we're in?"
Po shuddered, whispering things to himself. "This - this can't be real…"
Tigress grabbed the panda's shoulders, shaking roughly. "It is. Now - as much as I hate Wang, I have to agree - we only have two choices now."
"Live," Alf started. "Or die."
Po nodded, gulping.
"Don't worry about the chi thing too much now," Tigress sighed. "I doubt it'd help us anyway at this point. We have to get to Gongmen quickly."
"Yeah, Tigress thinks that's where the ship is," Alf remarked, nervous. "Remember when I was getting tortured by Shen?"
Po nodded. "Yeah - oh… you mean that ship? The ship that wasn't there when we came to rescue you?"
Alf nodded, unsure of himself. He recalled the memory vividly - although he had seen a giat, metallic ship there - he wasn't sure if that was one of Omega's delusions or the actual ship. The only thing helping the argument was knowing that Zhong and Shen had seen it too - and Alf remembered the peacock trying to gain access to it, pressing Alf's palm against it several times - only to be rejected because - Alf's name wasn't the right name?
"I know it's a long shot," Tigress stated. "But it's our only lead now. Po - we have to do this."
"What about the rest of the village?" Po motioned, pointing at the foggy mountain peak. "I can't just leave them all to die… and heck, explaining all this stuff to them… and talking to my dad!"
Po had completely forgotten about Li. Since speaking to his father frankly, he hadn't seen Li anywhere - Po worried that the panda had been avoiding him in regret or shame, perhaps over lying about his chi skills.
"We've gotta get a bird to Wang telling them to head for Gongmen," Alf forced. "And looks like we've gotta take the village with us too."
Tigress nodded firmly. "That's our best option."
The three sprinted off in the mountain's direction, wondering just which of them would have the task of explaining all of the crazy nonsense that had been happening to everyone.
. . .
Li collapsed inside the cave, coughing.
Get up.
The panda did as instructed.
Li had no idea how long he had been walking. It had to have been at least a few days non-stop - and the voice inside his head - introduced himself as Omega - was adamant about somehow controlling the panda. Li felt no tiredness or will to turn back, nor could he yell - everything seemed to be forced to abide to Omega's will. After walking past sleet, snow, jungles, and desert - the panda had arrived at the outskirts of Gongmen as the voice had promised. There, it had directed him to ignore the surrounding area - choosing to jump straight down a deep, dark hole that was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Li tumbled down the abyss, eventually rolling into a cave.
The cave didn't look like anything Li had seen. Firstly, it was huge and ginormous - the black, rocky walls were at least a thousand feet high, and the space was several thousand feet long and wide. Black stalactites and rocky spikes littered the curvature of the cave, which completely sucked out all light to make it seem like a deep, dark, moist cavern - but that wasn't even the most shocking thing.
As soon as Li had stood up - he saw it.
Walk to Epsilon-4.
Now.
Li's legs mindlessly followed.
The panda grew scared, looking at it.
The only it.
Right at the center of the enormous, rocky, dark cave - was a metal ship.
Li gasped. The ship itself took up half of the cave, spiked metal roofing touching the edge of the cave ceiling. The panda couldn't help but fear the ship's strange exterior - a shiny black coat, albeit one that was firmly rusted and clearly the ship hadn't moved anywhere in a long time. The shape of the ship was also very odd, with awkward angles and tilted curvature that he had never seen - unlike anything he had ever seen.
It didn't look from this world.
And finally - Li was close to it.
Ah, good news Zero - we're finally in singular teleportation distance.
"Uh - what?" Li let out, confused.
Not talking to you.
Your use is done, panda.
"WAIT!" Li begged. "WAI - "
A massive explosion.
But nothing actually went flying.
Rather, a bizarre and thick cloud of green energy burst from the center of where the panda had been standing - and now nothing remained. Another green burst of energy later, and a different figure stood in the exact same place the panda had been standing just a few seconds before.
This figure was clearly Seeker - or human, and male. The man cut a towering figure, tall, massive frame helped by his thick musculature. His skin had no fur and was olive-skinned, with a yellow tinge that contrasted powerfully with the dark cave. His body was covered in a black, dense metal armor that bore a specialized insignia - which sat underneath a square, thickly-bearded head. As the man opened his eyes, ferocious black pupils and a jagged scar emitted the intimidating nature of the man - and when he spoke, a deep, guttural growl came out like thundering elegance.
"I never get used to teleporting, Commander Omega," Zero proclaimed angrily. "Always leaves a itch in my sonar stabilizers…"
The voice came back, but it was coming from the side of Zero's head - and clearly consentingly, through a small earpiece fixated onto the armor.
Never mind that, Zero.
Can you confirm that Epsilon-4 is there?
Zero pressed a finger to a panel on his forearm. The metal retracted and emitted a bright light onto the surrounding portion of the metal ship.
"Yep, that's Epsilon-4," Zero argued. "Thermal scanners put it at thirteen stellar cycles of disuse."
Hmm.
Is there an Alliance number on it?
Zero repeated the light trick with his forearm panel. "Nope."
It's likely inoperable then.
"I guess," Zero noted, smiling. "Hold on - lemme try something…"
The man walked to the ship's large twin doors, pressing his palm to the edges of the metal. Within a few seconds, a robotic voice rang out.
ACCESS DENIED.
STATE DESIGNATION.
"Scout Zero," the man proclaimed confidently. "Planet Fifty-Seven, Galaxy Five."
A pause.
Then the metal voice rang out again.
ACCESS DENIED.
STATE DESIGNATION.
"Hmm," Zero speculated. "That's weird. I thought all Alliance Protectors had all-access clearance?"
You do.
This ship seems to be something else.
It seems our friend's "escape vessel" was never listed in the Alliance repositories.
"Ah," Zero noted. "Looks like his parents probably rebelled a bit, huh?"
Likely.
As I speak to you - we still have no information on the boy's past.
But I do know that unless we sabotage this escape vessel…
...there will always be a chance of unsuccessful colonization.
"How big of a chance?" Zero asked.
Right now - we can ensure colonization with 98.2% chance of success.
"Oh come on," Zero complained. "You really think that 1.8% is gonna bite us in the ass?"
Protocol is protocol, Scout Zero.
Nothing less than 100%.
We must break into the ship.
Sighing, Zero began to scour the outer surface of the gigantic metal ship, passing a variety of sensors and lasers - flashing lights and beacons - over the exterior surface.
"Yanno, I think you're giving these lifeforms too much credit," Zero emphasized. "They're barely a Level 2 civilization. They won't be able to escape this."
True.
But remember - one of our own is among their ranks.
Even if he is - significantly behind on human knowledge.
Human adaptability should never be underestimated.
"True," Zero reluctantly agreed, sighing before putting away all his sensors and devices. "Well boss - looks like the ship's got no Alliance number, no manual override, the armor's too thick for penetration…"
A dead end, so to speak.
Unfortunate.
"Like I said," Zero noted. "I can comfortably keep whatever resistance they have planned under control until the rest of you guys come in - like I said, they're only Level 2s."
Zero chuckled. "Oh - when are you guys gonna be within mass teleportation range, by the way?"
A few days away.
This planet really is in intergalactic backwaters.
I tried to message Alliance Central Command.
Saying we don't need this shithole.
"Yeah, I guess they didn't take too kindly to that…" Zero remarked, grinning. "So - what do I do until the primitives get here?"
Find a way into the ship, somehow.
And when they do arrive - eliminate all active resistances.
But leave some alive - to be reformatted as duty workers for the Alliance.
The usual routine.
But - leave the human Alf alive.
I'd like to punish the traitor in person - when we get here.
"You got it boss," Zero simply responded.
. . .
It took a long time for Wang to wake up.
It took even longer for him to acclimate to his surroundings.
The enormous lion opened his eyes. A burst of light was hitting him - but it wasn't the red beams that he had been so scared of. In fact, there was yellow, normal sunlight just beginning to flutter into Wang's vision - which took a while for the lion to get used to. After Wang blinked past the bright sunlight, he made several key notes: that the forestry around him was still there, albeit several trees looked burned - and he was still resting on the rocky surface of the Wu Dan mountainside, which meant that he was both still alive and still in roughly the same place. There was however, a vague stench that permeated the air - one that Wang quickly became horrified by.
As the lion scanned his eyes around, he saw bodies - hundreds of bodies - of refugees strewn around him. They were mutilated in such a manner that Wang didn't dare look - heads and torsos were missing, limbs had been completely removed, and blood pools followed each body like bizarre, perverse art. The sheer quantity of the bodies was incredible - at least half of the former refugee crowd were nothing more than corpses now, although Wang was enormously grateful to see the survivors still somewhat mobile, albeit crying over their lost loved ones. The lion himself felt a vague, terrible pain run through his abdomen and shoulder - definitely burnt and missing flesh - but he still felt mobile, although injured.
And the greatest relief of all - if it could even be called that, considering how much carnage that had just occurred - was a cylindrical metal ball, propped up on four spiked legs - lay a distance away, collapsed and leaning against the tall mountainside with no movement. Wang's sword was still embedded in its red eye.
"Wang!" a voice came.
The lion turned down, seeing a depressed green snake with a bow slither towards him.
"We lost half of the group," Viper let out with a shudder. "Half of the refugees - all dead… oh my…"
"They'd have all died if we didn't do what we did," Wang forced, determinedly optimistic. "We need to keep moving."
Wang needed to stay determined. The death machine had taken out half of the group almost instantly - staying here for the scout was pure suicide. Moreover, they needed to still find the escape vessel's location...
Viper gesticulated to several figures sitting next to the machine. Wang noted that both Monkey and Shifu were laying on the ground, completely still - Mantis attended to both. They weren't quite corpses - as Wang saw their chests heave and sigh - yet they weren't conscious either. The lion grimly observed the pools of blood collecting below their bodies.
"We can't get Shifu or Monkey to wake up," Viper sighed, voice shaking. "They - Mantis says they - they're still alive but - but maybe in a coma…"
Wang remembered the machine's violent treatment of Shifu, and remembered one of its spiked legs drive straight through Monkey's ribs mercilessly. Wang found it to be miraculous that the master was even alive.
"Listen to me, Viper," Wang observed, ignoring the cries and sobbing of the refugees behind him. "We need to keep moving. Even if we have to carry both - "
"We - we got this message a few minutes after the machine was destroyed…" the snake emphasized, handing a scroll over. "It's - it's important…"
The lion grabbed the scroll, unfurling it to read the contents.
Figured out the ship's location.
Outskirts of Gongmen.
Alf knows where it is.
Hurry. Please.
-Tigress
Wang read the message multiple times over.
He was reluctant at first. It didn't make any sense - why would Tigress - of all people - know where the ship was?
But she had referenced Alf's name.
It had to be real.
Either way, they didn't have a choice.
"Tell the survivors to stop crying and march close together," Wang forced to Viper. "We're moving. Send birds out to Crane and Zeng and tell them to turn back and head for Gongmen."
A/N
Uh.. so I might have compressed the story timeline… so basically, there's just four chapters left in KFP 3.
So… we're close to the end! WOOOOOOOOT.
As it turns out, I liked to inject a little humor into the eventual meeting between Alf/Tigress and Po - just to show that even in a world of pure stress, at least there's some levity for the entire situation. That quickly goes away however, when Po realizes how serious the situation is.
Second, Li was indeed destroyed - or at least, what remains of him was. He'll still make a cameo in before KFP 3 ends - but it'll be kinda solo with Po, a sort of farewell to his complex but mixed relationship with his biological father. It'll feel satisfying though, so don't worry! Also, the Scout is here...
Finally, I just wanted to show the level of destruction that the death bot did to the refugees - most of Wang's Yongshi are dead, half of the Five are injured and comatose, half the refugees are dead, and everyone's scared - but Wang knows that there's only one way they're all getting out of this alive. Remember, Crane and Zeng are still busy delivering the messages to as many kingdoms as possible…
Everyone'll be reunited next chapter.
Just four chapters to go for KFP 3. On a writing high.
Damn.
Support is amazing.
~TW
