Guys, I'm so sorry that this came late! It was supposed to be around the third week of September, but of course, homework got in the way. Because I need to focus on school the chapters will be a little shorter, ch3 is also a short chapter so I hope you guys don't mind this.
Also, I saw the new Chinese trailer for the third film and OH MY AWESOME GOD! I think I fell in love with Kai! He jumps like a boss, he has creepy-looking minions and we get to hear him talk, maybe not in English but it's close enough! If you guys saw the trailer tell me your thoughts and you're favorite part about it in the comments.
And now on with the story!
Chapter 3: A Rude Awakening
He has been in the darkness for quite some time. He wasn't sure if he was in hell or heaven. He wondered if this was all the afterlife has to offer, no one to greet him, no light to guide his way, there was just nothing but darkness around him. Shen had to be honest to himself he was a little disappointed.
What he did notice was he was regaining consciousness and his body was beginning to feel once more. The first thing he felt was pain. He felt pain everywhere including his wings. Shen couldn't help but softly moan from the pain.
"Shen…?"
The tips of his fingers twitched from the sound of a voice. Shen could feel another presence with him. But how can that be when he hadn't heard anything or anyone for a while? He is still alive?
"Shen…"
No. Shen knew that he died. He felt his bones crushed from cannon, there was no other way he could have survived that. He remembered he went underwater. He remembered drowning, the last he did saw before passing out was the darkness surrounded him. How could he still be breathing?
"Guys…he's awaking up….Shen…"
It's the voice again. It was clearer this time. The voice sounded really familiar and it sounded really annoying. He felt his eyelids twitched, wanting to open, he wanted to see who was the one calling him. Mustering the little strength he had he forced his eyes to open. His vision was blurry with blobs of bright colors dancing in front of him, blinking a few times until the blobs disappeared and the room was clearer. Before Shen could figure out where he was, something suddenly came right at his face. A pair of wide jade eyes were staring down at him.
"SHEN!"
"WAHH!"
Shen jumped, punching the thing right between the eyes with his foot. He pulled his foot back in pain, realizing he shouldn't have done that. Shen sat up on the bed and looked directly at the person he punched.
"Panda?!" he cried in confusion.
"Well, at least ya got strength back…" said Po holding his nose and was a little dazed from being hit.
"Po?"
The peacock and the panda turned to see five other people standing by the door.
"Hey, guys, Shen's awake….hooray…" the panda woozy said in a goofy tone. Just before he hit the ground, Tigress and Crane caught him in the nick of time. The panda snapped out from his dazed and stood back up.
Shen immediately recognized the Five.
"You! H-how…where am I? What is…" the peacock then looked down on himself, realizing he was wearing different clothes. It wasn't his silk grey robe, this one was a darker red.
"What is this?!" Shen spat out pulling on the sleeves, "Where is my robe!?"
Po and the Five just glace at each other, not understanding why a robe would be so important to the peacock.
"It was torn up and we threw it out..." Crane spoke up, saying his sentence carefully.
Shen slowly looked at the robe again. If his silk robe was ruined, then that means he had to be changed….
As soon as that thought came to his head, he gasped in disgust and embarrassment. What was worse was he didn't have knives with him. Shen growled, more frustrated with this situation he was in. He glared at his enemies and rudely started shouting at them.
"All of you, I demand you explain yourself and tell me exactly where am I and why I am here!"
Po flinched a little from the outburst; of course, he should have seen that coming from the warlord. The Five, however, stood their ground not showing any fear of the peacock. Tigress was standing completely still, showing no emotion what so ever.
"You're in the Valley of Peace," she said calmly, "And you are in the Jade Palace."
Shen narrowed his eyes to her, still glaring.
"And exactly, how I got here?" he asked impatiently.
"We brought you here," said Viper trying to be polite, "You were pretty injured from the battle."
"We were actually becoming concerned," said Monkey who was starching the back of his head, "I mean, you were out for…for like a whole year."
Shen wasn't sure if heard that right, but his eyes almost popped out.
"WHAT! A year?! How is that possible?" Shen exclaimed.
The green praying mantis on top of the monkey's head snickered, holding his sides as he calms down his snickering.
"Haha, we're kidding. You were out for two and half weeks" said Mantis, giving Monkey a hi-five as they continued to giggle.
The others gave them a look, especially Viper who hissed at the two pranksters.
"Seriously guys?"
"What? It was funny."
Shen wasn't so pleased with the joke but it wasn't the issue now. He thought back on the boat, trying to remember anything else that happened. Drowning, being crushed, the pain of death was all he could recall.
"I…I don't understand," Shen said to himself pitching his brow, "I was drowning…"
"It's kind of a long story. But to give you the short version, you were saved Shen" Crane explained.
Shen looked up to the other bird with more confusion, "By who?"
The five animals didn't say anything but only pointed to the panda, which he gazed at his friend and turned to the peacock. He pulled his paws to him, fumbling them as he nervously chuckled.
"Heh heh, yours truly…" Po said sheepishly.
Shen could only stare at the panda.
His worst enemy saved him?
But why?
He didn't want to be saved he wanted to die. He wanted to end his suffering when he realized he couldn't change the prophecy. No matter what Shen did, he always ended up failing and it was all because of the creature before him. The panda, which he loathed so much.
Something inside Shen snapped like a burning fire had been reawoken. His breathing became hostile as he stared down Po with an unsettling glare. Without any warning, a loud and raging scream ranged the room and Shen goes to lunge at Po only held back by the kung fu warriors.
Po leaped back smacking against the wall, he was very startled and frightened by the sudden attack. He watched with nervous eyes as his friends tried to hold the peacock, but Shen refused to back down. He tried to grab or even laid a starch on the panda as he kept growling like a wild animal. Po was lucky that they took off Shen's talons but his claw-like feet were still sharp.
"You imprudent panda!" Shen hissed, "I never asked you to rescue me! I wanted to die! I should have killed you when I had a chance!"
"Shen, stop it!" Viper cried as she wrapped herself around his waist to hold him back.
Crane, Monkey, Tigress, and Mantis were pulling on his robe and wings, trying to him to sit back on the bed.
"Po, get out of here!" Tigress ordered.
"But I-"
"NOW!"
Po quickly got out of the room and Tigress followed him, slamming the sliding door behind them.
"That's it! He's not staying here" Tigress said glaring at Po.
"Tigress wait, just let me-"
"Go Po!" she snapped at him, "You had your chance, Shen is too dangerous. We're going to give a new decision to Shifu and that's the end of it."
Tigress was about to leave to find her father, only to be stopped when Po grabbed her arm.
"Please Tigress. I know you're doing this because you're trying to protect us but getting rid of Shen won't solve anything. Just let me calm him down."
"I'm not leaving you with that monster."
"Tigress! A little help here!" Monkey cried out. The two can hear the struggling outside of the room. They saw a shadow on the peacock's train knocking thing down to the ground. The door was slammed open revealing a very angry peacock.
"Oh geez!" Po yelped a little panic this time.
Shen was about to attack him again but the four masters jumped on top of him. The peacock landed on the floor struggling to get up, his body was starting to hurt but he didn't care.
"Enough!"
Everyone stopped what they were doing. They see Master Shifu walking to them down the hall. He had that familiar glare whenever he was upset. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked.
His students got off of Shen and stood up which gives Shen the opportunity to stand as well. Po walked up to his master, fumbling of what he was trying to say.
"Master Shifu wait, I-I can explain. Things just got out of hand and-"
The old master holds his hand up in front of the panda, he looked up showing he understood.
"I see Shen is already awake," he said.
Shen glowered at the red panda, his feathers were still flaring from aggression. He eyed on the old master, making himself look taller to show him he was still a threat.
"I don't appreciate you trying to harm my students," Shifu said looking at Shen's direction, "If you are going to stay here you'll have to follow the rules of the palace."
The lord raised a brow to this, glaring down at Shifu, "And why would I want to stay here?" he demanded.
"Because a decision has been made. Since you are now our responsibly, you'll be a student here," before Shen could asked Shifu went on, "Po convinced us to bring you here. He is willing to give you a second chance. You should be grateful to be alive."
Shen stared at the ground letting the information sink in. He was alive because the panda ignorantly believes he could change his ways. The whole thing sounded preposterous. Then the realization grasped to his mind, he was still alive. Which met to Shen that this could be another chance to finish what he started. He wasn't defeated by the panda, which means the prophecy didn't come true at all. Closing his eyes, the warlord smiled to himself thinking how he didn't really fail after all.
A low chuckle rose up from his throat, then turned into a short maniacal laugh.
Po tilted his head in confusion while the others just stared at the insane peacock and feeling somewhat disturbed by his laughing.
"Oh Panda," Shen said his voice in cunning matter, "You are much a bigger fool than I thought you'll be. Just because you saved my life this doesn't change anything, your act of kindness will not fool me. In fact, bringing me here is probably the worst mistake you made."
Po simply frowned, he didn't find the peacock's words threating but he was disappointed how Shen was taking this. The masters watched with glares as Shen continues to threaten them with such confidence.
"If I were all of you, I'd watch my back. Because once I'm completely healed, I will rebuild my army, my weapons and take back what is rightfully mine."
He walked to Po with a menacing stare, "And as for you Panda, before I reclaim Gongmen, I will burn your home like your other little village and I'll make you watch as your precious friends die from my-GAH! "
Shen felt his body became stiff, his face twisted and fell facedown to the floor. Po quickly stepped back, he blinked by this sudden action. Even the masters were dumbfounded on what just happened. They saw what caused peacock to faint, on Shen's back were about twenty red punchier needles and a green praying mantis.
"Mantis what did you do?" cried Po.
"Sorry, that was my bad" Mantis holds his pincers up in defense, "I was trying to find the nerve to shut his mouth."
The bug hopped off the warlord's back to get a closer of his face, "But I think I may have stopped his heart" he said poking Shen's face to get a twitch of response.
The young panda sighed in dismay.
Well, hope you all enjoyed chapter 3! If there any mistakes let me know and I'll jump right in and fix it. And don't worry, Shen is not dead….at least I don't think he is….
