9
"The Great Meeting"
A/N: Long time no see! XDXDXD.
Sorry y'all for the long time between updates, life kinda caught up to me and well - I got lost, lol. But I'm back and have oodles of free time now! So please, expect a better update schedule... I'll be going back to the once every other week policy. (every 2 weeks, basically). :)
This chapter is good, but it probably doesn't answer all the questions you've no doubt built up over the months reading this. However, I figured with a decent gap between updates, it'd be better to give you a sorta "re-introductory" chapter to the A Second Story-verse before jumping into the nitty-gritty details. So... next chapter will be more "questions get answered" type - feel me?
Anyway, enjoy lol. And again - updates'll come more regularly now on.
~TW
Fear.
Pure, unadulterated fear - that was the emotion that everyone was going through. Tigress was particularly afraid because the actual plan had been explained to her in a rather rushed demeanor.
Wang and Zhong were fairly certain that an AP fleet was already enroute to XS-211. Thus, they had to act fast - the smuggler that Zhong knew had specified the availability of one spacepod - which could barely support three people. To Han and Naja's great discontent, the initial plan was to simply escape via pod with Wang, Zhong, Tigress, and the smuggler - and even that was pushing it, considering that the pod was only fueled with enough oxygen for three people. Han and Naja's fates had been entirely left out of the conversation - in fact, Zhong had almost told them to "find another way" off-planet - which was essentially suicide, given that it had taken hours of careful arrangements to even find a smuggler capable of transporting anyone. Luckily, with some hard-fought yelling from Tigress, the five of them: herself, Wang, Zhong, Han, and Naja - were all now enroute to the smuggler's ship, positioned on the seedier locations of XS-211's vast metal suburbs. Tigress avoided thinking about the perhaps hundred thousand citizens on XS-211, all of which didn't even know the planet was about to be obliterated. Wang had promised her that he had sent out a few secretive emergency broadcasts, at least giving the people a chance to escape - but Tigress knew that for the vast majority of duty workers without any AP connections, their lives were about to meet a very violent end.
Also, Tigress was anxious throughout the whole journey to the pickup point for several reasons. The foremost reason was her bad knee - stealthy movement wasn't something Tigress had done in nearly fifty years, and she could sense the group's progress was significantly slowed down by her old age and trembling frame. Even Zhong - despite being a similar age - was at least able to walk without a cane. The second reason was the overall danger behind the maneuver - the smuggler had already warned Wang to signal him; the smuggler would then teleport his pod into the pickup point, waiting precisely four seconds before leaving. That was the response time of other APs and surveillance drones - they would no doubt detect the illegal teleport, and round up to destroy it. Finally, Tigress had no idea how they could possibly survive the trip to XX-0 - their oxygen rations would need to be effectively halved, which meant that there was a great chance that both herself and Zhong would perish on the journey there, aged bodies suffocating easily under oxygen deprivation. And even if they got to XX-0 - what would they do?
Join the Revolution?
Tigress scoffed. She would much rather die in space.
"Shh, AP patrol ahead," Wang suddenly noted.
Tigress broke out of her thoughts, noting her surroundings. They had managed to sneak into XS-211's metal suburbia, seeing dainty box-shaped homes all around them with a thin road intercut into the halves of the "neighborhood". Fortunately, it was close to dusk time - so most citizens would be off in the mines, drone presence was low, and yet the dark clouds above brought an almost ethereal lack of light in the atmosphere and ground, lowering visibility. Tigress promptly saw four APs patrolling the center of the street, golden armored exteriors painfully apparent. Herself, Naja, Han, Zhong, and Wang had taken the time to hide behind one of the homes.
"Shit," Wang swore under his breath. "SHIT! I thought I checked the patrol routes - no one's supposed to be here now…"
Zhong growled. "Just go talk to 'em Wang. I can call up my buddy once they're distracted…"
"What, and then suddenly teleport a pod right in front of them?" Naja asked harshly.
"Yeah we need to get rid of the APs," Han observed. "We've got four seconds to get inside the pod before our mutual friend teleports away for good. Remember - they even see that pod, even Wang won't be able to hold them off."
"Guys," Tigress interrupted, sighing. "I'll make a distraction. I'll move out, and when they're occupied with me, you four can - "
"We're not leaving you behind," Wang firmly protested. "No matter how self-pitiful you feel right now…"
"It's just - I can't run," Tigress groaned, massaging her knee. "I - woah!"
Wang had hoisted her up in his arms, letting her legs dangle over like ragdolls over his golden-armored forearms.
"Wow, you couldn't have done that like two hours ago?" Zhong asked, smiling. "You made her walk all this way!"
"I want her to start becoming what she used to be," Wang noted, ignoring Tigress' sigh. "Baby steps…"
Han dipped his nervous head onto the other side of the house wall, seeing the four APs remain in place - not necessarily patrolling, but talking and joking amongst themselves.
"They're still there," Han noted. "Guys - we need a plan - fast. Our friend told us to signal him soon."
Naja smiled. "Follow my lead."
Wang, Tigress, and Han looked carefully ahead, seeing the human female pounce out suddenly. Before they could protest, the four APs caught wind of her - they almost immediately rounded about, shoving plasma rifle ends into Naja's ribs in anger.
"Miners are unauthorized from leaving mines during work hours," an AP bluntly noted.
The conversation between Naja and the four APs continued, as they shoved her around and shouted expletives at her. Suddenly, Tigress gasped as Naja began actively screaming in loud, aggressive tones.
"GO! NOW!"
The APs were moderately confused, and even more confused as Wang - still hoisting Tigress' frail frame in his grip - burst out of hiding and brought out a hidden laser pistol stowed away in his armoring. With a few shots, the APs roared in pain as they fell down - and in the same moment, a dark black pod landed in seconds near the APs. Han and Zhong ran out of cover now.
"I'm officially a galactic criminal," Wang smiled, rushing into the metallic pod after Naja. "Hope this was worth it, Ti…"
Tigress groaned as she squeezed inside, Wang still holding her in his arms. Han and Zhong both managed to just dive inside the cramped chamber, seeing a glass panel close shut behind him as the APs - not dead but disabled - sounded for help on their telecommunications devices. The black pod blasted off into the atmosphere.
. . .
Shushed voices.
"Shh, she's getting up…"
"Guys leave now…"
"But we wanna - "
"Hatrix, Jazz, others - now."
A flurry of anxious stomping noises, then the resounding clang of a metal door being firmly pressed down.
Tigress opened her eyes. It was usually at this moment that she'd be blinded by a strong light, or the unnatural exposure of her irises to awkward luminescence - but instead, she got a very easy, natural understanding of her surroundings.
Her home was gone, the metal walls were gone, and the characteristic vapor of XS-211 was long gone. Instead, she found herself housed in a tiny metal shack, walls painstakingly reinforced with organic minerals in a half-hearted fashion. Aside from the metal door approximately ten feet away, Tigress couldn't see much else - she was lying on an oddly soft cot, one that gave way slightly to her frame… so it couldn't be an AP holding cell, but it couldn't be a resident planet because the beds sold there weren't so comfortable.
"Tigress…"
She swiveled her head, not even realizing there was someone in front of her.
Tigress perused over the figure, starting from the toes. Large, and armored - clearly reinforced with double-stitched carbon composites, a truly unusual material. However, there was a bit of bulk to the figure, suspiciously around the middle - while atop the broad chest and silver-colored frame were wide shoulders, metal exterior overlaid with white arrows… yet it wasn't in the same design of the white arrows she remembered on that fantastically handsome man.
Then Tigress saw the face.
White. Black. Furry. Middle-aged. Single scar over the eyebrow.
Rotund.
Green eyes.
And an expression.
An expression nearly forgotten, lost to ancient memory and suppressed feeling.
But undeniably a panda.
"It's been so long, Tigress," the panda noted, smiling. "Too long…"
Tigress kept staring at those features.
The roundness of the face.
The smooth greens in the eyes.
It couldn't be him.
Tigress got up, surprised to see her aged frame rise quickly - almost effortlessly.
She had to say it.
She had to know.
"Po?"
It was so quiet. Almost inaudible.
The panda smiled again, blinking twice.
He nodded his head.
Tigress rose at once, walking away. It didn't make any sense - one minute she was busy planning to get off XS-211 - and now she woke up here?
Being watched by…
No - it couldn't be him.
The panda grew concerned, standing up alongside her as she paced alongside the small room.
"Tigress, you've been through a lot of shock," Po noted, waving his arms gently. "Just - lie back down and relax - we managed to wormhole in and save you and your friends before XS-211 got blown to bits…"
"I need to think," Tigress breathed, steadying herself.
Too many thoughts were rushing to her head. Memories almost forgotten. Memories she swore to stow away and never visit again.
His eyes.
His last expression.
Seeing him disappear in the ship.
Gongmen disappearing.
Everything disappearing.
Tigress put her paws to her head, shaking. This greatly concerned Po, who immediately ran to her side to gently wrap his arms around her. To his great surprise, she shoved them off - angered greatly.
"After all this time…" Tigress let out, voice eerily quiet. "All this time… fifty-eight years… I can't… not anymore…"
"Tigress…" Po started.
"I - I couldn't even imagine to think about you, or the Five, or even my own father," Tigress spat, wondering at the amount of rage she would need to ignore the suddenly absent pain in her bad knee. "All this time - I couldn't even imagine reading that you had all been killed, or enslaved, or mutilated…"
Po gulped, head bowing down.
"And while I spent all this time, just wishing to forget about all of you…" Tigress bit. "Now you come back - and after all these years - you need a Revolution to find me."
Po sighed, realizing how illogical she was being. Wang - who had woken up at least two hours before Tigress - had already warned Po that her mental state was particularly fragile right now, and seeing the panda again could bring Tigress to the brink of collapse. It was several factors all going on at once - the Revolution, seeing Shifu, seeing Wang, seeing Zhong, seeing the rest of the Five - even the terrorist played a role. Still, Po had obligated himself to talk to her alone - he wanted to be the person giving the news this time, and Po desperately wanted to see her again.
It had been too long.
"Tigress - I - AGH!"
Crunch.
Po flew back, slamming into the nearest metal wall. Tigress' fist was extended, mouth curved into a snarl. After the anger had passed, Tigress felt a bit surprised - her fist was jettisoned out instantly, and the knee pain hadn't prevented her from rotating her hips and executing a perfect punch.
"Argh, okay maybe I deserved that…" Po noted, struggling to get onto his feet. "At least now we know the crystal essence works…"
Tigress raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Po smiled, shaking his head. "Don'tcha need your cane?"
Tigress looked down, suddenly realizing that in her enthusiasm to punish the panda - she had gotten up, and walked - and punched - with her cane nowhere in sight.
She started moving back, confused. "I - what did you do to - "
"Check the mirror behind you," Po merely smiled again.
Tigress turned around, seeing a tall, reflective glass piece portray a female tiger.
Her fur was thick, dense, and healthy. What used to be faded, dull hues of orange and almost greying black was now fiery red and white, and she was dressed in dark purple robes that extended down to her ankles. Tigress saw her eyes sparkle ferociously orange, emitting a youthfulness that she hadn't seen in many, many years.
She gasped, moving around her arms and legs in random motions. There was none of the aged, weary bone-throttling slowness they used to have, and her bad knee - was no longer - in pain? Tigress balanced on one leg, trying desperately to see if the pain would come back - but it never did. She tensed every muscle in her body - relishing the taste of full, strong flesh coiling and flexing in superb youthfulness. Even her inner bones and joints didn't feel on the verge of collapse anymore - it felt robust and stable, almost new.
Tigress couldn't even recognize her reflection.
Well - actually she could - but the tiger staring back at her felt so long ago, so distant that it felt amazing to see her again.
She whipped around, torn between the need to rip Po apart and the urge to grin broadly. "What. The Hell. Did - "
Tigress stopped, taking the time to stare at her forearm fur. It was luscious and smooth, with none of the injuries and scars she had acclimatized herself to over the years.
"Crystal essence," Po stated, walking towards her. "It can't give us all supercool powers like Zero has but… we still manage to get back to our prime…"
Tigress strode forward, almost losing balance. She hadn't been used to moving this quickly for about thirty years.
As fast as she used to move.
A long used to.
"How is this real…" Tigress breathed, shocked at how fresh and powerful her body felt.
"Crystal essence is a weird thing - I definitely understand why the Alliance is so crazy about it," Po mentioned, nodding. "It's not just energy or power or radiation Tigress - hell, it's not even chi."
The word brought back memories to Tigress again.
"It's somethin' else," Po noted, smiling at her as she clasped and stretched in front of him, shaking her head in broad motions. "Anyway - so now you know how the humans live for thousands of years... while animals die under eighty."
"This crystal essence…" Tigress started, lost in the sensation of movement again. "It - it makes me feel like what I used to be."
And gradually, the bulk of the suppressed history started coming back to her.
Techniques.
Punches.
Meditation.
Kung Fu.
What a strange concept now.
"You are who you used to be," Po returned, grasping her shoulders. "That's the first thing I told them to do after they pulled you from the wreckage - infuse your body with some of the essence - heh, now you can see why Wang and I looked so good all the time, eh?"
The joke didn't land on Tigress, whose overjoying expressions fell way as she realized the anger she had with Po - but Tigress had acknowledged it was illogical now, a simply emotional overreaction to the last few months of constant revelations, physical distress, and never-ending surprises. Thus, Po chose a different approach - one that he was particularly inept at - the serious voice.
"Tigress, I'm sorry I didn't come for you sooner - with E.O.N and APs and everything…" Po started, trailing off as he detected Tigress' coldness. "It doesn't matter. What matters now is…"
Po leaned in, pressing his head forward.
"I never stopped lovin - AGH!"
Crack.
The panda's head had swung to the side, force from Tigress' punch resonating in his exposed jaw.
"What the hell?!" Po let out, annoyed.
"Just what are you doing, Po?" Tigress spat, voice clear and loud.
The panda felt hurt by this question. "Whaddya mean? I'm telling you how much - "
"It's been fifty-eight years!" Tigress flashed. "You know what I felt when I saw you get taken away on that ship? You know how many years it took to forget that pain?"
Po felt likewise angered now. "You're telling me you just forgot about everything we went through together… Tai Lung, Shen, Kai…"
Tigress laughed cruelly, eyes in outbursts. "That was a lifetime ago Po! Do you think any of that matters now?"
"It mattered to me!" Po spat, getting up in her face. "Thinking about our last times together! Thinking about all the - "
"It once did - to me too," Tigress breathed, snarling. "But after a while, you're forced to move on Po…"
"You could have looked for me!"
"HOW COULD I?!" Tigress shouted back, fangs out. "I don't know if anybody's told you - but I was slaving away on a production planet for ten years before I got to XS-211… I barely managed to smuggle food in… not all of us were plotting a little Revolution like you were!"
"Crane said he sent you a letter," Po noted. "Viper said she saw you on XS-211. Tigress… what was the real reason?"
"I WAS AFRAID!" Tigress forced back, trying her best to lower her voice. "I was - afraid what I would find out - if I searched your names on the galactic database…"
Po kept silent, shaking his head in anger.
"You remember the feelings you had when XN-44 was Reformed, Po," Tigress begged. "It wasn't like we lost against Kai, or Shen… it was like our lives, our identities had been ripped from us… I mean look!"
Tigress turned her cheek to the side - exhibiting the blue, long-faded insignia scarred into her fur and flesh.
"TF-17," Tigress rattled off. "That - then living on SD-77, getting married… losing An - "
"Wait," Po resisted, moving forward with shock. "You - you - you married?"
Tigress avoided the panda's glance. She preferred to stare at the metallic flooring underneath her, hating herself for letting that little tidbit of information slip. Everything up till then she felt able to worm her way out of - this was unavoidable.
"I wanted someone, Po," Tigress whispered. "Years of living as a slave… you know how long it took me, even back on XN-44 - to open up."
Po stayed quiet, clearing his throat.
"And then I lost him," Tigress began, shaking her head. "I'm - I'm not the same, Po. I - I can't feel the feelings I know you want me to feel."
She wanted nothing more than to run away. The next best option was the door, so Tigress began walking to the exiting metal panels as quickly as possible.
"You once said, that we could be together if the time was right," Po recalled. "Remember back at the Valley - when I was going to the panda village? You said if the situation was different - we might be together. You said you loved me."
Tigress sighed, stopping her walk. "That was too long ago, Po."
"Did you mean it?"
Tigress watched the serious panda, analyzing her expressions and body language with the finest of glances.
"Maybe back then," Tigress whispered, feeling hurt herself by these words. "But not now. Po - I…"
She trailed off, feeling as if something was choking her. Tigress shook it off.
Po gulped, struggling as a few tears trickled their way down his eyes. "Back at the Valley - even when you kept me guessing for five years… through Tai Lung, through Gongmen, through me meeting my father… I kept thinking - if I wait long enough, she'll come around."
Tigress breathed inward, hurt by seeing the panda like this.
"Even after all this time - you'd still say no to me?" Po breathed at last, last words coming out in whimpers.
Tigress wished she would feel the things Po was talking about. But the only thing that came into her heart was a heavy-handed regret, a kind of morose nostalgia for feelings she knew she simply didn't share anymore.
"You saved me from dying - and I'm thankful," Tigress stated. "But Po - you of all people should know who I am… and - who I've always been."
And she tried to rush out the door, unwilling to see the panda's face or hear his words. Yet his speech came steadily, albeit emotionally behind her.
"I know who you used to be."
She closed her eyes, walking out and offering no response. Tigress knew she wasn't on XS-211 - and she believed Po when he said it had been decimated - but she still had to find Naja, Wang, and Zhong, and…
There were too many things moving. Too much.
She needed to lie down.
So, whether from shock or recollection - Tigress sank back into the bed, letting her overwhelmed mind return to her.
A/N
So a fairly short chapter, but it does successfully advance the plot forward… TL;DR: turns out Po IS alive, and managed to save her and place her in a new planet. Not much more other than that, I thought I'd save the heavy stuff for next chapter - by then, hopefully everyone would have re-familiarized themselves with all the crazy nonsense going down, lol - I know it's been a while since the last chapter…
Take your time. The next chapter will answer pretty much a big swath of questions.
Yes I know people are still wondering about the terrorist. About Wang. About Po. About the Five. About Shifu. And more.
Everything's coming. Don't worry - I don't forget those things. :)
Forge on! And as always, support frakin' rocks!
Oh and by the way - we have about ten chapters to go. Yes.
Ten.
Freaking.
Chapters.
Till this long*** story ends.
Yeesh.
~TW
