Alright here is part 2 guys! I'm sorry for the delay, I was stuck with family stuff and Steven Universe, of course, distracted me. So let jump right in! Enjoy!
Chapter 22: Chaotic Festival of the Year part 2
The Winter festivals were the time of coming together and to be happy. There have been a few thieves that take an advance on people before the holiday, but it was nothing that Po and the Five can handle. But this was an unexpected event, this was a direct attack.
Po stared in awe and dismay as Gang laughed and his men laughed along with him. Every single crow was holding a weapon that looked eerily familiar to the panda. Po was about to speak out to the foe but Master Eagle beat him to it.
"Gang!" Master Eagle cried, "How dare you show your face here!"
The crow glanced down to the eagle, he didn't show a frown but only smirked, "Hello Eagle, didn't expect to see you here."
"I will only tell you this once, give yourself up right now or face the consequences!" the master threatened.
Gang rolled his eyes and held his weapon to aim directly at Master Eagle.
"I wouldn't be making demands if I was you unless you want your head blown off," the crow threatened back, showing no fear.
"That shall not happen," Shen step forward.
Shen furrowed his brows as he stared Gang and the weapon he was holding. There was no doubt in his mind that those are the same weapons he designed. It was just like he pictured, a long pole-like cannon that is small but can release a full power and it was portable. The only difference was the shape of the cannons, the metal was craved to crow like heads. And every bird was carrying a small bottle around them, probably filled with powder to cause a chemical reaction for the firearms. This was the dread feelings never left him. Shen was furious, he never imaged to see his deigned again and he wasn't going to let this continue.
Gang turned his head to the peacock and smiled.
"Well, it looks like you're not dead Lord Shen."
Shen ignored his comment.
"Where did you get those weapons?" he hissed.
"Do you like them?" asked Gang showing off, "Me and my men worked hard making these, and we couldn't have done it without your notes."
Master Eagle glared a specious look to Shen, "What is he talking about?"
Po quickly came to Shen's defense. "Mater Eagle it's not what you think…"
"Oh yes, it is," Gang interrupted, "You see the fallen lord was planning his revenge on all of you. These were his weapons but now they're mine!"
"I knew it!"
Everyone heard a booming voice and saw two shadowy figures on top of a roof. It was the two assistants, Zhenbao and Piqi.
"I knew the bird was still up to no good" cried the elephant, "Now we have proof to the-"
"Aw for God's sake, can you guys bug off! This is not the time!" Mantis cried who was getting annoyed.
Po was getting annoyed as well, "Okay look, Shen did plan for revenge but he put that all behind him."
Po stared up at the assistants who looked like they didn't believe him but Po didn't care. He looked at all the villagers who were mostly confused or specious about the situation. He turned to the Furious Five who nodded to let him know they will always be on his side. The panda stared up at the menacing crow.
"Gang, I'm not gonna let you put this on Shen. Now do what Master Eagle said!" Po cried.
"Even with your men armed will still stop you," said Tigress, ready herself to fight.
Still, Gang wasn't filching from any of these threats, he just smirks and radiance his confidence.
"It doesn't matter what you say or what you do, I have the advantage now. I have the power to wipe all of you out and once you're out of the way we will collect food to survive through winter!" Gang laughed turning his weapon on Shen now.
"Farewell, you fools!"
The leader of the crows used his golden talons to fire up the mini cannon, in seconds the mouth of the iron crow glowed and shot a fireball right in the center. Po saw it was coming right at the peacock and he only had seconds. As if everything was in slow-motion, Po grabbed Shen out of the way, they fall hard on the snowy ground. Everyone else jumped out of the way as the firework hit the ground, creating an explosive attack. It sends some of the citizens flying and landing on the payment road or in the snow.
"Everyone, head to safety!" Master Shifu yelled out the order.
Master Eagle and the Furious Five stayed behind to fight the crows while the other masters took of getting the villagers to safety. The families and kids screamed out of fear as they dodge every exposition, the air was filled with shrieks of fireballs. Some families made it to their homes while others hid behind mountains of snow. Mr. Ping hurriedly back to his restaurant, slamming the door behind him and hid under a big unused pot. Lang grabbed Ah-ma and flipped one of the tables to be used as a shield from the chaos.
Po and Shen got up and saw all of the destruction. They saw the Five jumping, kicking and throwing their punches to the birds. They saw some homes already burning into flames. They saw one of the masters got hit by the fireball, it wasn't enough to kill him but his arm appeared to be broken. Shen watched in horror as if he was back in one of his vivid nightmares. He stared down at the snow when a sudden thought came to him. All of this was happening because of him. If he got rid of that damn scroll properly this wouldn't be happening.
"This is my fault," his thought echoed in his mind.
Shen stared at the ground for another moment until Po brought him back to reality, calling out his name.
"Shen, Shen!"
Po shook the peacock till he blinked and finally looked up to his panicked friend.
"C'mon, they need our help!"
The two rushed into battle and watched as a few crows dived down right to the masters.
Tigress roared as she jumped one wall to another, dodging every fireball aimed at her. Two crows were on her tail. She bounced off from a nearby wall and arched herself back, the crows halt to stop themselves from ramming to the wall. They looked up only to see the female tiger was above them and she threw a double punch which sends them straight down to the ground. While falling in mid-air more crows came after her, one tried to use the mini cannon on her but she quickly pulled it out of his claws and used it to whack him out. Tigress used her elbows to knock out three more crows out from the sky. As she did her heroic landing, she smashed the metal cannon with incredible strength.
One crow came at her with a loud caw but was soon kicked out of the way by a small monkey. The assistants looked up at her with a triumphant grin.
"Your welcome," said Piqi as she went off to help Zhenbao who was using his trunk to swat at the birds.
Crane and Mantis joined with Master Eagle, flying in the air. Master Eagle divided down, he opened his claws and swift at the crow's wings, causing them to cry out in pain and crash. Mantis hopped off Crane's hat and front kick one bird right in the beak. Crane flew quickly to snatched the fallen weapons with his foot. He took the wooden polls and snapped them in half, throwing the pieces away.
"We need to put that fire out" cried Master Eagle.
"Leave it to me" exclaimed Crane, "Mantis, take care of those four I'll put out the fire!"
"You got it!" Mantis said hopping to one crow to the next, knocking them out.
Crane fired up his wings make some strong wind, flew to a mountain of snow and use the winds to knock it down. The fire quickly dimmed out as mush of heavy snow fell on top of the homes.
As for Po, he was having some difficulties, he was fast but the crows are quicker than him. No matter how much he ran or jump in the air to throw a punch he can't seem to hit any of the birds. His tactic was to grab anything he can to throw at them, from pots to bowls. It worked for a moment until they started to dodge the bowls and pots. Po jumped out of the way when a fireball fired in his direction.
"I can't keep up with these guys!" said Po next to Monkey.
" Viper and I will distract them," said Monkey, "You take their weapons!"
Po gave the thumb ups and watch his two friends putting their plan into action. Monkey shouted to the crows, throwing snowballs at them.
"Hey look over here you dumb birds!" he laughed, pissing them off.
The crows flew at full speed at Monkey, not noticing another master slithering her way to them. Viper slithered up to a poll and jumped high up. Using her body, she wrapped herself on six crows holding them in a tight embrace. She squeezed them enough to lose grip on their bottles and their mini cannons. She landed on the ground and threw them at the wall with her tail.
"Heads up Po!" cried Viper as she caught the fallen weapons and threw them to the panda.
Po caught them and smashed them, "Nice work guys!"
Back at the restaurant, Lang was still protecting Ah-ma from the madness, keeping her close while making sure the table was still holding up. He glanced out with his good eye and spotted Shen, who was helping the masters fighting the crows.
"Go and help Shen," said Ah-ma, getting Lang to whip his head back to her.
He started at her like she was crazy.
"What, no! I can't leave you here defenseless!"
"I'll be fine," she said, "I hide in the restaurant with Mr. Ping, right now Shen needs you."
Lang really didn't want to Ah-ma alone but judging from her expression he could tell she meant it, she'll be fine.
"Alright, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone" Lang warned watching her go inside the building.
The wolf paused before going into the battle, he needed something to protect himself. He wished he had his hammer with him, but it was taken by the council. He stared at the table and with his strength pulled one of the legs off. It was good enough to be a club but he knows he needs more than this. Without thinking, Lang made quickly dashed to the opening of the restaurant, grabbing anything he can. He made a quick glance to Ah-ma and Mr. Ping who was peaking out under the pot.
"Uh, sorry I'll bring them back!"
"Wait! Those are my utensils!" the goose cried.
Lang tugged the utensils under his belt and held up his new club, ready to fight back.
Shen was dealing with a group, dodging the fire blast from their weapons. A fireball came in his direction, Shen dodged it but a few sparks flew on his wing and it burned him a little. He winced but kept going. One crow used his bottle to refill his weapon. He was about to change at Shen but a heavy club hit right his face and crashed on the ground. Hearing the commotion behind him, the peacock turned to see the wolf behind him.
"Lang?"
"A few more are coming!" cried Lang as he went to attack another incoming crow.
Shen was surprised but smiled, "Then let take them down!"
The group circled around them, forcing the peacock and the wolf in tight space. Their eyes alerted and watching them, prepared for any attack. Lang used his club to define himself as two crows charged at him, he held it high and used his strength to pushed them back. He pulled the weapons out from their claws and swung it around like his old hammer, bashing them. Shen mostly kicked and swift around. Whenever the crow drew close, Shen would use his fan to trick them and the moment they pause by the patterns of his features he attacked and taken the mini cannons.
One crow got too close and hit Shen on the head with the cannon weapon. It hurt but Shen stood his ground and he watched the same crow coming back. In a quick motion, he grabbed hold of the weapon and flung the bird at the wall. The crow got up and try to swipe at the peacock but mange to tear threw Shen's new robe.
"Do you have any idea how much I paid for this robe!?" said a very pissed off Shen.
He threw a kick but missed. The crow attacked again but was hit by a throwing object. Shen saw Lang throwing cooking utensils like they were ninja stars. After taking down every crow surrounding them.
Lang turned back to Shen. "There were the only things around, and took this as well."
Lang pulled another utensil from his belt very carefully. When Shen saw it, he took a step back, in the wolf's paw was a knife.
"I didn't want to suggest this but we may have to take these birds down," said Lang.
The peacock shook his head.
"N-no…"
"What do you mean no, they won't stop till everything is burned to the ground!" cried the wolf.
"I'm not going down this path again Lang!"
"You didn't have a problem killing most of the crows last time."
"That was different, I…" Shen tried not to think about what happened last time, "There has to be another way."
"Heads up!"
Shen and Lang heard the voice of the panda and turned to see him running from a fireball. All three of them moved out of the way watching the blast destroyed a nearby cart filled with small fireworks, they fizzed and sparked wildly and the light died out. When Shen saw this an idea came to him, he now knew what he had to do.
"Po, Lang, I know how we can stop this," he said, "We have to use the fireworks on them."
Po's ears twitched, "That a great idea, we can take them out a lot quicker including the ones we can't reach."
"Are you sure about this?" Lang questioned, he didn't think this plan will go well.
Po frowned, "What we got to lose, there too many of them and if we don't stop them now…"
They all turned back to chaos, the birds who lost their weapons were now directly attacking the Five and the other masters, trying to try them out. Some crows have already refilled their mini cannons and are firing at the village once more. Po and Shen know what they have to do, but they turned to Lang to see if he will follow. The wolf stared back at them and sighed, he didn't know if it will work but he had to at least give Shen a chance. He put the knife back under his belt.
"Let's go and give them a taste of their own medicine," he said and the three of them took off.
Meanwhile, Master Eagle and Gang have been fighting in the air. Master Eagle had tried to take the weapon away but Gang was too fast. Sometimes he would tease the eagle, only to move out of the way before he can take the weapon. Gang uses his bottle of powder to refill and use his talons to lite up the weapon. He dodged Master Eagle's attack and using this distraction he aims the weapon at him and fired.
Master Eagle heard a loud sound behind, he didn't have time to fly away and was hit. He let out a yelp as he crashed on a roof. He tried to get up but he cried out in pain, the burning on his back was too much for him. He heard Gang laughing behind him.
"Look at you, already on your knees" taunted Gang, "And all it took was one blast."
"Stop this Gang," Master Eagle painted, "You made have a powerful weapon but it will never be enough to gain you victory."
Gang rolled his eyes not impressed by the master's heroic dialogue.
"Oh spare me your words Eagle, admit you lose!"
He pointed down to the destruction.
"I have done this damage myself and with the help of my men. This new power will definitely give me victory, and none of you will have nothing as soon as we're done."
Master Eagle tried to stand up but the pain was too much for him, "You still won't get away with this."
"Oh please," said Gang, "Like who is left to stop me?"
Just then there was a loud noise behind him and saw one of his crows fall to the ground. He heard it again, the sound was coming from all around him. It was fireworks, they were going out in the sky and hitting all of his men.
"Wha-what's going on?" Gang panicked.
"Take aim!"
Gang heard a cry and found the source, he could see Shen, Po, and Lang on top of a tall building setting up the fireworks. The three of them had all of the fireworks pointing at him.
"Take this bird brain!" Lang shouted lighting up the big fireworks.
It sparked and flew in the sky aiming to Gang. But Gang was quick and moved out of the way, the firework only ended up hitting another crow. No matter what the leader did, every time he moved more of his men are fired down. Gang ordered his men to fire back but while the crows tried to refill their mini cannon, the fireworks were quicker. The sky was filled with color and fallen birds. The villagers saw they were no longer being attack and looked up, they started to cheer for their heroes.
Lang and Po took no break as they took more fireworks out. Shen lights up a few more to the sky and watched all of the crows fall from the sky and dropped their weapons. His plan was actually working.
"All right Shen, we're winning!" cried Po.
"We're not done yet," said Shen, "Lang, light up the last ones."
"You got it!" Lang grinned as he lights up more fireworks, watching them hit more crows.
As everyone below the tower cheered and enjoying the show, Tigress makes an order to the assassins.
"You two grab all of them!"
Zhenbao and Piqi nodded and took rope and nets out from their robes. The elephant and the small monkey threw their nets to capture most of the crows and tied them together with rope. While doing so they handed more nets for the masters to use. Everyone captured all of the crows and collected all of the fallen weapons, they broke every single one in half.
Tigress sighed with so much relief, "That's all of them."
She smiled at Master Shifu. The old master heard a moan and looked to see Master Eagle was still on the roof. He jumped up to join the fallen bird and gently helped him up.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, did you get them?" the eagle painted.
"Yes," Master Shifu smiled.
Back at the tower, Po and Lang stared down to see that battle was over and everyone was okay. They both sat on the ground, relief that on the chaos was done and weapons were destroyed completely.
"Now that, was the best fireworks show ever" Po sighed and turned to the peacock, "You did good Shen, we stopped Gang."
But Shen wasn't listening, he was staring at something from afar. Lang noticed this and was about to ask what was wrong, but he paused. He saw Gang who was fleeting with the last weapon in his claws.
"That guy is getting away," said Lang.
"Not for long…" Shen said to himself as he grabs the knife from Lang's belt, hopped off the tower and opened his wings and fan. He was gliding straight to the crow, trying to keep up with him.
"Shen wait!" Po cried.
He got back on his feet and ran downstairs, leaving the wolf behind. When he got to the bottom he glanced up only to see he lost sight of the peacock. He doesn't see them around the village so the only direction they could have gone was into the forest. The panda ran to a nearby wall which had a giant hole, he hopped over and rush in the forest. While running he kept glancing up to see any spot of white in the air.
Meanwhile, in the air, Shen flew close enough to Gang, in a swift motion he threw the knife right at Gang's feet causing the bird to drop the weapon. Gang cried in pain and looked up to see he was being followed. He speeds up his flying but Shen was faster, he extended his foot to kick the crow to the ground. Both the knife and the weapon landed on the snowy cliffside.
Gang got back up shaking off the snow all over him, he made sure his bottle wasn't cracked and turned to glare at Shen. The peacock landed a few feet away from the bird glaring back. Shen wasn't going to let Gang get away that easily.
"You really think you can escape?" Shen hissed.
Gang angled himself and had his feet in front, ready to attack.
"So you defeated me, I have no worries," said Gang arrogantly, "I'll get my men back one way or another, I'll have the blacksmith make more weapons, and I'll come back with more muscle next time."
"You're really becoming cocky" Shen noted, "That's why I won't let you take another step forward."
Shen ready himself to fight, which didn't frighten Gang.
"You believe stopping me would make you a hero?" Gang taunted, "You think this would erase all of your mistakes?"
Shen's brows narrowed further, "I know that it won't, but I can't allow you to make more of those cannons."
"Because you feel guilty for making them in the first place."
Shen wasn't going to take more of Gang's taunts and he charged first. Gang quickly flew up and opened his claws, his golden talons shined. He swooped down and cut threw Shen's robe. Shen ignored the cuts and threw his punches and kicks to the crow, but he only landed blows to the face. It wasn't enough to bring Gang down and he was faster, his overconfidence was making him stronger. The crow zipped around the peacock, leaving more cuts.
Shen was wishing he had his dao with him so he could block those attacks. There was one tool that he uses to define himself. As he watched Gang coming at him again, Shen waited and the spun around and kicked the crow in the snow. He then rushed to where he saw the two weapons landed, he digs in the snow searching for them. At the corner of his eye, Shen saw something moved beside him. He didn't get a chance to glance up as something hard made contact with his head. He fell to the ground, feeling like his skull was going to crack.
Shen's vision was blurry for a moment. Slowly and carefully he got up to stand, he wobbled until the dizziness was gone. In his burly vision, he saw Gang was hovering in the air, holding something in his beak and he was refilling his mini cannon. Shen blinked and realized that the crow was holding both the knife and his weapon, he was at a disadvantage. It didn't help when he felt drops of blood spilling from his bruised head.
"You know, this weapon could have brought greatness to you, Lord Shen," said Gang as he aims his weapon at him, "If you stick to what you started, maybe you could have China back into your wings, and maybe I would have forgiven you. We would have been great partners. But once again you failed to be something you're not. Now it's time for me to blow you into pieces."
With a flick of his talon toe, Gang made a flaming spark to activate his cannon.
Shen stood there now knowing what his next move should be and he only had seconds to think. But then he thought back to his inner peace, he thought back the times he spent hours on perfecting it. He never did archive but it was the only thing that can save him.
"Just breathe and let it flow…" he whispered in his head.
Shen closed his eyes and breathed in and out. He let his body relaxed, his wings circled in motion and he swirled his foot in the snow. He was ready.
He heard the cannon go off, already sensing the fireball coming at him. Shen felt everything in slow motion as he moved his wings. Being in this state of mind made him felt unafraid and unwind, he wondered if these were the same feeling the panda felt when he was looking for his inner peace. As he felt the fireball coming closer Shen extended his arms.
In an instant time caught up and the ball of flames was right in his wings. Shen grunted and flinched, feeling the tips of his feathers burning. It hurt so much but he couldn't focus on the pain, he had to throw it back to Gang. Shen thought back on his memories, his mistakes, his anger, his regrets. The more he focusses on his feelings the more he was able to focus less on the pain.
Gang was shocked by what was happening, he didn't know what he should do as he watched this happened.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, Po was able to find them by hearing the commotion. He had to climb up to the cliffside as he was running out of breath. He about to call out for the peacock but stop as he saw him. Po's eyes were wide as he watched Shen holding the ball and let it spun in his wings. His jaw dropped but it slowly turned to a wide smile, his friend was achieving inner peace.
With all of his strength and screaming out, Shen threw the ball right back to Gang. It was if he was pushing all of his frustrations and his pain out from him and out in the open. As it flies in the air, the peacock fell on his knees, his wings burning and stinging in the snow. Shen let out a shaky breath and he felt a paw on his back, he turned to see Po looking at him with concern and pride.
"You did it…" Po said showing how proud he was, and Shen knew it, smiling back.
The fireball was heading back at Gang, he tried to block it by using the poll of the weapon. But didn't do anything for him. It only pushed him further in the air. The fireball exploded causing the weapon to break in half and breaking the bottle filled with powder. With the powder all over him, the fire spread over him and Gang was screaming in pain and panic. His feathers and flesh were burning. Gang's last opinion before he fell from the sky was to use the knife. With all his might he threw the blade directly at the duo as he fell along with the last mini cannon.
Shen glanced in time to see the blade coming to the panda. It was flying to them quickly and he won't be able to grab it in time. Swiftly he pushed Po out of the way and his eyes went wide and his body stood stiff.
Po got up wiping the snow from his face, he paused for a long time as his eyes locked to why Shen pushed him. He slowly glanced up to locked eyes on the peacock's horrified expression, he watched as he stared down at the knife sticking out on his left side.
Shen could feel the blood oozing from the wound, standing his now ruined robe. His body was shaking so badly, his head hurt, he burned his wings and now he has a larger wound bleeding out. It was too much for him. Shen looked back to Po, breathing very harshly, he felt himself falling to the ground. Po moved quickly and caught him.
"Sh-Shen, Shen!" Po cried very nervously, "Shen hang in there, everything gonna be okay! I-I'll pull it out I'll-"
"D-don't!" Shen managed to cry out before the panda could do anything, "Don't p-pull it out…"
He knew if he did pull the blade out, he'll die faster. But this information didn't help Po to stay calm.
"No-no-no, I-I have to do something! I have to get help, I have to find someone!"
Po frantically looked around to find anything that can give him the answer. He then felt something grab hold of his arm, he stared down at Shen who looked taxed and very frail. His grip was even weak and ever so slightly shaking. He was scared. Po understood that Shen didn't want him to go anywhere. Carefully he laid the peacock in the snow on his other side, he took hold of his wing letting Shen squeezed his paw, as the cold winter sting his cuts. Shen winced from the touch making whimpering noises, the pity moans sounded nothing like the peacock and it startled Po. He stared at Shen as he rolled his head to the side, breathing heavily.
Po finally speaks up as the quietness got to him, "I should have been here sooner."
"No, this, was my choice…" Shen spoke weakly, "All of this, happened because me, now I have to pay the price…"
"No don't say that none of this was your fault!" Po said starting at Shen seriously.
Shen glanced up to the panda, unfazed by the serious face or his words. In his state mind, this whole chaotic event was his fault. He mildly rolled on to his back and groaned in pain, trying to make himself comfortable. Breathing so steady, he stared up to the sky.
"Isn't this tragic? I finally found my inner peace, but in the end, I still end up dying…" he said.
Po frowned with concern and tearful eyes.
"I have been avoiding death since my fortune was told, I guess, I can't avoid it any longer…"
"Stop it, Shen," Po said rubbing his eyes, "I thought I told you no more dying talk."
Shen took another shaky breath. "Po, it's already too late…"
"No, it not, someone will find us. You just gotta hold on" Po pleated.
He knew Shen was losing blood and he could see it in the red-stained snow. He just needed to keep the peacock talking and not let him fall to sleep as he noticed his eyelids were slowly closing. He held on to Shen's wing tightly.
Shen glanced back up to the young panda who was trying very hard not to cry. He knew he was trying to be strong for him, but Shen knew it was pointless. He pulled his burned wing from Po's paw and very shaky raised his arm, reaching to his face. Po wasn't sure what he was trying to do but then Shen softly patted his forehead, like he was trying to comfort him. Po looked down at Shen, seeing that he was smiling to him, a real smile.
He couldn't hold it anymore and allowed his tears to flow.
"W-why?" Po stuttered and his voiced cracked, "Wh-why d-did you take the knife for m-m-me?"
Shen lightly chuckled as his eyelid grew closer together, "Shouldn't it be obvious?"
Po looked at the peacock.
"It's because, because you're my friend…" said Shen.
The last thing Shen saw was complete darkness as Po called to him to stay awake.
If you see any mistakes let me know so that I can fix it. Once again I'm sorry for putting up another cliffhanger and a very sad one. Don't worry things will get better in the last chapter, I hope….
