I don't own Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda is the property of DreamWorks Animation, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.
The emperors visit came shortly after Baihus arrival luckily Shifu regained his senses just in time to gather everyone except the white tiger who was simply too tired to wake up. Many crowds came to the Valley of Peace that day. Most of them were guards with spears and bows, each of them wearing an expensive set of armor others were some of the most important officials in China, but this was nothing compared to what happened when two elephants came to the town carrying large box made from black wood and gold. The guards immediately pushed every civilian from the town square.
The elephants slowly started climbing up the stairs. Po, the Furious Five, Shifu and Constable Hu were all lined up and ready for inspection.
Their faces had calm expressions on them and their hearts were filled with panic. They were practically petrified.
Elephants put the box down it opened and an elderly bull walked outside, he looked very nervous.
They all bowed reflexively, only Po stood still.
Shifu looked at him in horror.
"Po, bow down!" The red panda whispered angrily.
"I think he's passed out!" Tigress said.
"Mantis, knees! Viper, head!"
Immediately Mantis kicked him to the knees from behind making him kneel and Viper slammed his head into the ground with her tail.
The emperor then spoke quickly and silently, his voice just oozed panic.
"Masters of the Jade Palace, I apologize for the treatment you've received throughout the years and hereby declare, that you will never need to renew your kung fu permit ever again. Please accept this gift along with my apology."
Goat in a yellow dress brought a blue scroll and gave it to the emperor who then hastily handed it to Shifus awaiting hands.
"Now please, excuse my rude and quick departure, but throne waits for no one."
He turned, got inside the box and was quickly carried away.
They were all looking after him with wide eyes.
"Did that really happen?" Mantis asked when the elephants got out of the earshot.
"I'm actually not sure myself." Shifu admitted.
"So, what did we get?" Crane asked after standing up.
Shifu slowly unrolled the scroll and started reading from it.
"This is impossible, it's the Sapphire Forest! It has been lost for centuries!"
"What does it do?" Monkey joined in.
"It's the last piece of poetry written by Feng Lou, the legendary poet and kung fu artist from Chan dynasty..."
"WE ARE ALIVE!" Po shouted when he regained consciousness, scarring everyone in the process.
-Later that evening-
They were having dinner and chatting happily about what happened today, even Tigress seemed to be smiling.
That's when Baihu came to the kitchen. Everyone immediately went silent.
"It smells heavenly in here." He grabbed an empty bowl and poured himself some noodles from the pot.
When Baihu saw that there were no free chairs, he leaned on a nearby wall and began quietly slurping the soup.
"So…how did you do it?" Po asked.
The white tiger looked up from noodles.
"You just need to put your lips on the edge of the bowl and…"
"I mean, how did you get the emperor to come to the valley?"
"I can be persuasive…"
"Don't give us that!" Tigress said.
"Is this one of your questions? If I remember correctly, you only have two of those left." He whispered after leaning closer to her, creating an awkward silence.
Rest of them looked at Tigress confusedly.
She made her decision quickly.
"Tell us."
Baihu straightened.
"Okay then. I guess I should start from the beginning…"
-In front of the Imperial Palace, two days ago-
Come on, move!
This was getting annoying he stood in the waiting line for so long his healthy leg was beginning to ache like crazy. The worst part was that he didn't move from his place, since he arrived and more animals were just crowding behind him, either because they had their own business with the emperor or they never seen a white tiger before.
Baihu looked at the sun and couldn't believe his eyes, it's already been two hours?!
Okay he's had enough. He stepped from the line and went to the front.
It was even longer than he expected, at least four hundred meters.
Once he reached the main entrance four guards immediately surrounded him.
"The gate is closed for today. Move back to the line and wait for your turn." One of them said clearly annoyed.
"If you don't mind me asking, how long do you think it will take until I get my turn."
"Get back to the line!" Other one shouted before attempting to hit the white tiger with the blunt side of his spear.
Baihu just swept his legs with his makeshift walking cane.
"Let me ask again…" Was all Baihu managed to say before being attacked from all sides by running guards.
"CATCH THAT BEGGAR!"
Beggar?
Seriously?
Even limping he managed to dodge all of the attacks they threw at him and without harming them he managed to get inside the palace.
The guards realized far too late, what were his true intentions.
Firstly he forced everyone who guarded the entrance to get outside and right after that he slipped inside locking the large metal plated doors behind himself during the process.
The white tiger just smirked when he heard loud banging from the outside.
I have ten minutes before they get here. Maybe I'll get a souvenir. He thought as he silently snuck to the throne room.
There was a large party held here, animals from all corners of China were here from bears of northern mountains to snakes of southern deserts.
Baihu didn't care though, he quickly limped to the very centre shoving pigs, dogs and sheep from his way.
"Well, hello mister fancy pants." He loudly said with a smile on his face, when he stood right in front of the throne.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for the elite imperial guards to notice his presence.
The white tiger found himself surrounded once again.
All of them were wolves, twelve of them in total, each carrying twin swords and an expensive armors made from black steel. They stood in a circle around him, their weapons drawn, waiting for command to strike.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Emperor asked.
"You see, I…"
"STOP YOU IDIOTS DON'T GET ANY CLOSER TO HIM!" Called an incredibly familiar voice as an old one-armed wolf ran closer to the circle
"Fan Min, is that you!?" Baihu asked smiling.
"Everyone, lower your weapons! Master Baihu, what brings you here?" The grey wolf pushed through the guards.
"But master, this stranger just…"
"I SAID LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!"
Each of them holstered their swords and took a step back.
"I see you've got your own students now."
"Just a little job, I need to train these rookies for another three months."
"How's your wife?"
"She's still as beautiful as the day I met her."
"What about kids? You taught them anything yet?"
"They are fine, my oldest son is running a nice restaurant here, and his younger brother is studying to become a doctor, you would not believe how fast they grow up…"
"…while we remain the same." Baihu finished for him with a smile.
"So anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I just need to talk with…" Baihu started only to be interrupted by a goat in a yellow dress.
"HOW DARE YOU ACT IN SUCH MANNER WHEN IN PRESENCE OF THE EMERROR…" The white Tiger grabbed the goats mouth to make him shut up, before turning back to Fan Min.
"Would you mind if I take him out? He is starting to get on my nerves."
"Unless you mean taking him out on a date, don't, that's the minister of justice."
"Why do these high class animals have such awful manners?" Baihu said before letting him go.
"FAN MIN, GET THE TIGER OUT OF THE PALACE, SO HE CAN BE PERSECUTED."
The wolf and the tiger just looked at each other and started laughing.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"
"You see, minister Ru, master Baihu is the one who taught me kung fu in the first place, and I also believe that if he is as stubborn as he's always been, there is no possible chance of his removal, neither peaceful nor violent until he gets what he's come for." The one-armed wolf explained honestly.
"And what would that be? Do you want my riches or perhaps my throne?!" The emperor who was just watching the situation unfold spoke suddenly.
"No need for that I just want a bit of your time, to hear me out."
"Guards, take him away!" The emperor ordered and the circle around the two masters got tighter, but nobody dared to strike just yet.
Baihu slammed his cane into the floor making a loud sound.
"You see, I've just gained the ability of predicting the future, and it seems that if you take this path, you will end up as a living statue, while I will walk out of here with my freedom intact."
"You are bluffing your arm is broken and your leg is crippled…"
"Then do it, order them to attack! I haven't had a decent fight in over hundred years, so I welcome all challengers."
Silence filled the whole room.
The emperor appeared to be deep in his thoughts, trying to decide his next step.
"You might be strong, but also foolish, ATTACK!"
Why can't they just listen to him?
Baihu took a deep breath and closed his eyes and felt his senses sharpen, his muscles regained their old strength and when he opened them everything was moving ten times slower giving him more than enough time to plan his every move to the smallest detail.
He didn't like using this technique but it was the only way to protect himself without injuring anyone.
First attack came from the right, a stab, which was easily countered by knee to the stomach, two guards came charging from behind him, Baihu used his cane to leap in the air letting them crash to those who were in front of him half a second ago. While in the air he managed to tap three wolves' heads with his cane paralyzing them in the process. He caught another one with his thighs and did a quick flip which send the poor wolf flying to the ground head first. Before he could even hit the ground himself, the white tiger thrust kicked another guard straight into a pillar and with newly gained momentum dropkicked two guards using his knees before they could react. By the time he got back into the fighting stance only four of them remained and were still picking themselves from the ground. All it took were a few punches, stomps and elbows to take care of them.
The second he exhaled the world returned back to its former speed and all that was left to deal with was a horrified bull sitting on the throne.
Everyone, except for the white tiger, wolf and the emperor, fled immediately.
Baihu slowly limped his way to the throne, and the bull was practically frozen in his seat.
"FAN MIN, DO SOMETHING!"
"I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do to stop him, right now." The wolf informed and shrugged his shoulders.
Baihu climbed the last stair to the throne.
"Please…" Was all the emperor could say before Baihu pinched his neck immobilizing every part of his body except his eyes and his lungs.
"Pleading, really? The all-mighty emperor begging a lowlife he just met just to be spared? I must have misheard. Well, let me tell you something, that complete hopelessness, you are experiencing right now is exactly what you are forcing on your own people by limiting kung fu masters such as myself."
Emperors' eyes were franticly scanning the whole room, trying to find a way out of his predicament. There wasn't much he could do in his current state.
"You are actually lucky that I am not one of those guys who would hurt someone as helpless as yourself. I'll just leave you right here and return when you'll be able to speak, maybe you'll be more willing to spare a moment for me." Baihu said as he turned to leave.
The emperor made a few disapproving grunts.
"You want to talk now? Too bad your body is wooden, it will be difficult to understand you, so let me propose something crazy. I will speak and you will listen to what I have to say for once in your life. You will have someone issue me a permanent kung fu permit for me and everyone else, you will apologize for your stupidity to everyone who was forced to watch as the evil unfolded after you took their ability to help away from them. You will double the money you pay to your guards, because they clearly aren't getting paid enough to deal with this shit and lastly any legal or illegal action you take as revenge for this little misunderstanding against anyone involved will be met by revenge from me and believe me when I say this, what I did today is nothing compared to what I'll do the next time. If you accept this, I will give you back your ability to move now. So just blink twice if you agree."
Emperor did blink twice almost instantly and the white tiger smiled.
"Glad doing business with you." Baihu said before he pinched his neck again.
"You should regain control over your body in less than five minutes." He informed.
And just like that everything happened just as the tiger said. BAihu was about to leave after half an hour with two scrolls given to him by a minister whose name he couldn't remember. He gave bid his farewell to Yi Fen and started his long journey back to the palace.
-Back in the kitchen-
"You expect us to believe that?"
Everyone was just looking at him with disbelief on their faces, it didn't surprise him that they didn't.
"Well it's perfectly fine if you don't, but it's the truth whether you like it or not. I am still pretty tired and we have a training tomorrow."
"Next time you will tell us that you said he should give us his palace in return for sparing him, am I right?"
"No, I told him to give you something from written by Feng Lou as an apology, since I noticed Shifus collection in the library."
And like that he left the room as they once again stared at him with disbelief.
