Hei Nuwang could feel the blade of her special dagger tapping against her leg as she approached the gates to the city. Both gate towers had been reduced to cinders, and the gates had been resealed after Long Feng took over the city. For a mere mortal army, it would take a battering ram and an hour to break through the gates. Hei Nuwang was one woman, but no mere mortal. On her silent command, the crack between the doors filled with amethyst. She spread her fingers, and in response the amethyst expanded, steadily forcing the massive doors apart. The one foot thick wooden doors cracked and splintered. The left door broke away from its hinges and crashed to the ground. Hei Nuwang lowered her paw, and the purple translucent stone disintegrated. The whole process had taken less than thirty seconds, far faster than anything the dear departed Oogway's precious Hero's Chi could ever do. With the upstart tortoise on her mind, Hei Nuwang suddenly realised that she may not have remembered to tell her men to bring Master Shifu, Oogway's protégée and legacy, straight to her upon his capture. A long time ago Oogway had destroyed something precious from her, and returning the favour was the least she could do.

With a proud smile on her face, Hei Nuwang picked up the hem of her dress, stepped over the fallen door, and entered the city.

Her priorities were clear. The creature had to be stopped, now, before too many of their men were killed. She wanted it alive. She wanted to know what it was and what it had against her organisation. After that was the accursed Ember, and the score they had to settle. The invasion was a success in more ways than one. The disgusting traitor had taken the bait. And already Hei Nuwang had a plan.


Little bright lights were dancing in front of Po's eyes as he came to, ten seconds after dozens of crates had come crashing down on him, Xian, the masked panther and his invisible cohorts. He heard the sounds of men yelling somewhere else in the room. He felt a small hard object pressing lightly against his chest and sighed in relief. The Heart of China was still with him.

As he lifted a paw to touch the tender bump on his head, he realised that he was completely surrounded by crates. In a few seconds the once bare room had become a literal maze of crates and boxes piled up on each other to form walls three times his own height. Hopefully this one had an exit. Which it probably won't! Man, I hate mazes! I always get lost!

Though a mass of crates had blocked his path to Xian, they had fallen in a way that allowed him two paths from his current position. Po sucked in air through his nose and picked one. "When in doubt, head left!"

Two turns later he hit a dead end.

Po threw his head back and face palmed with both paws. "Every dang time!"


Mantis pulled his arm from the padlock as it fell to the floor, taking the chains with it. The royal family and Mr. Ping barely had time to rub their arms before the bug was ushering them out the library. "But what about my son?!" Mr. Ping was protesting.

"He'll be okay!" Mantis pushed at the goose's back. "There's a monster prowling about, and I have to get you out of here!"

Mr. Ping pushed back. "That's why I need to make sure Po is okay!"

"And he will! Please, Mr. Ping, Po wouldn't want you to get hurt!"

Mr. Ping kept pushing back. Mantis sighed deeply and lifted the goose over his head like a big ball of feathers. Ignoring Mr. Ping's cries of indignation, he carried him out the room.


Tigress had been buried alive, but not for long. The sound of Po's very audible groan of frustration revived her, and she forced herself out from between two flat crates, stepping free from the pile. Her arm was in pain from bending the wrong way but it didn't seem broken. Aside from that, a few bruises, aggravated ribs and a dented helmet she was okay. But what about Po and Xian?

Po, you idiot... why did you have to show up here of all places?

The large storeroom had become a labyrinth, and Tigress could hear Izumi cursing and screaming for anyone who could hear to find Po and Xian. The masked panther wasn't saying anything.

Tigress closed her eyes. Things had gone from bad to worse to hell in a matter of seconds, and now two of her allies were in real trouble. Po could handle himself if he hadn't been seriously hurt, but Xian had been chained to a chair when the crates fell. No matter what, Tigress had to get to him first. Once Xian was safe, she would come back for Po, who had just groaned again. Was he groaning because he was injured, or because of the constant dead ends?

With a plan in mind she headed towards the nearest path through the fallen crates. She stopped when another soldier staggered out from behind a big crate. His helmet was missing but he didn't appear to be injured. He saw Tigress and starting making his way over to her, stopping when they heard a scream from somewhere in the room. He was about to say something when he suddenly vanished from sight. "What the-"

A sudden explosion of black mist from where he had just been standing informed her that something had dragged the soldier into the ground through a silky black shadow, and it occurred to her that she might be next. Her heart skipped a beat and she cartwheeled to the side. Her wounded body screamed in response, but that wasn't nearly as important as the black tendril that had abruptly appeared in the spot where she had been standing, waving in the air as it searched for her. Soon it gave up and sank back into the shadow.

It's taking us out one by one. Tigress's blood ran cold. "I've got to find them. I've got to find them."

Tigress heard Po yell again, saw the nearest path and went for it.


Master Eagle Jr. was still in the tunnel, making his way underneath the palace's outer wall when he heard a faint, rhythmic pounding coming from somewhere above ground. It sounded like someone was striking something hard over and over. It couldn't be a battering ram. The palace had already been taken.

As he walked, the pounding got louder. What were they doing up there?

Fortunately it wasn't too difficult for Eagle Jr. to find out, for the tunnel had been built with secondary exits in the unlikely event of a cave in. They were so well hidden that you'd have to know they existed to have the slimmest chance of finding them. As the Emperor's closest friend and protector, Eagle Jr. was one of them, and he quickly found a small door in the wall, which hopefully would give him a good view of what was happening. He opened the door, finding himself in a dark, narrow alley. The pounding was coming from the far end. The sunset was nearing its end, so the shadows provided good cover as Eagle Jr. approached the end of the alley and looked around the corner.

A great crowd of people separated his hiding place from the palace gates, and towering over them stood an elephant steadily striking the gates over and over with a great hammer. He could see places where the thick wood was starting to splinter.

As Eagle Jr. watched, two guards standing above the gates aimed their bows down at the elephant and fired, striking him in the head. Both arrows burned and disintegrated upon touching him.

Now that's what I call a hothead. This must be the Dragon Empress's doing.

If Ember was here, things were worse than Eagle Jr. had thought. He had to find Xian before they broke through.

Before he could be spotted, Eagle Jr. rushed back into the passage, quietly shutting the door behind him. Back in the main passage, he picked up the pace, nearly walking right into the dozen big cats that blocked the last twenty meters to the entrance to the royal bedrooms. At least he thought they were cats until he saw that they were less flesh and blood and more terra cotta. More of the Children of Nuwa's alchemic madness, Eagle Jr. thought with a sigh. "Bloody hell." Every single clay warrior was armed. They slowly advanced on Eagle Jr., who pulled out his kitchen knife. "You're unlikely to have actual brains, but I'll say this anyway; don't come any closer."

They kept coming. Eagle Jr. sighed again and attacked. He'd warned them.


Po was running out of both paths and patience. No matter where he went, which path he took, it always ended with more boxes. He didn't like taking his anger out on people, but it felt so good to pummel every soldier he ran into in his search for the emperor. Almost every soldier, he reminded himself with a shiver. Some had been dragged into the ground or crates by shadows before they could try to attack him. The creature was still around here somewhere, and Po didn't want to stick around and be its next victim. Po was actually a little irritated by the creature. Pushing tons of crates on top of him was very uncool. Almost as uncool as the five soldiers he ran into around the next corner. "Aw, get out the way!"

They didn't. Po groaned and took them down one by one. This was sucking more and more with every second. It got even suckier when he continued on and finally found the toppled chair that Xian had been chained too... without Xian in it.

To his left a crate had broken apart, spilling a load of cushions. Po picked up a big puffy pink one and screamed right into it.

There were no other paths except the one he had just came in from. With a heavy heart Po turned back and endured more dead ends until he was right back where he started.

Po was beginning to consider just punching through the crates when Emperor Xian dropped down right in front of him. His robe was gone, leaving his pants and the sleeveless golden vest he wore underneath, but he looked unhurt. However, Po was still on the verge of exploding.

"Where were you?"

Xian blinked. "What?"

"You weren't in the chair."

"You have your friend to thank for that."

"I have for the last ten minutes been going around this makeshift maze looking for you!" Po snapped.

"A maze? I thought it was a bloody avalanche."

Po raised his fists above his head as he raged. "Ten minutes I spent facing soldiers and the threat of being dragged into the black shadow of death! And what do I find? An empty freakin' chair!"

Xian put his paws on his hips. "Po, you're forgetting that I was tied to that chair to be used as bait for a demon from hell. I'm quite happy to be out of it, to be honest."

Arms still raised, Po gestured to the pile of crates that had separated them. "Do you have any idea how many dead ends I ran into just to get around to the other side of this stupid pile?!"

Xian looked at the pile and then back at Po. "You're the Dragon Warrior. Why didn't you just climb over the crates to get to me?"

Po's jaw went slack. His eyes went wide and his arms fell limply to his sides.

The stunned silence was broken when Izumi came around a corner, livid and brandishing a dozen small knives. Her eyes bulged when she saw the panda. "You!"

Po back flipped to avoid the torrent of knives she hurled at him, but Xian merely stepped aside and reached into his belt. "Two can play at that game, missy!"

He sent half a dozen shuriken right back at the bobtail. Surprised by the expected attack, Izumi caught two in her arm. They would have gone right through her flesh if it weren't for the leather arm guards she had adorned herself with, but she still cursed and disappeared behind the corner. Xian grabbed Po by the shoulder. "Hurry, over the crates before she comes back!"

As they rushed to the pile of crates that stood between them and the exit and started climbing, Po had to ask. "Where did you get those shurikens?"

"Again, I have your friend to thank for that."


Five minutes earlier...

Just as she'd been counting on, Tigress found Xian first. The chair on fallen on the side with him still chained in it, but from the looks of it he hadn't been harmed by the falling crates. Xian struggled furiously as she approached, until she lowered her mouth cover so he could recognise her. "Master Tigress?"

"Hold still." Tigress knelt down, grabbed the chain with both paws, and pulled it apart.

"Thank you." Xian said as she helped him up. He proceeded to remove his torn robe. "What the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know. All I know is that it's causing a lot of trouble for Long Feng and it will kill us if it finds us. We have to find Po and get out of here." Tigress pulled out a handle of shuriken she'd kept hidden beneath her armour until now and handed them to him. "The exit is in that direction. It'll be easier if we go over the crates."

She respectfully ushered him towards the fallen crates until she heard a noise close behind her. She turned but saw nothing. All the same she wasn't taking any chances. "Go. If you find Po, tell him to meet me in the main library."

Xian frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Someone's coming. I'll hold them off while you get away. You're more important."

"But..."

"You're highness, please!"

Xian's frown deepened. "Get to the library. For Po's sake." He clambered up the crates and disappeared.

Tigress quietly made her way in the opposite direction, knowing deep down that separating from Xian may not have been a good idea. However, something was nagging at her. For reasons unknown, she needed to know what was around that corner.

Tigress reached the corner and went around it. She saw that a wide, flat crate had fallen on top of two taller ones, forming a kind of roof. Something dark and thin lay on the ground beneath it. Tigress went to it and bent down. It was the crystal dagger Izumi had been holding. She must have dropped it when the crates fell.

Tigress reached for the dagger. Izumi had theorised that its power would weaken creature. if that was true, then maybe staying behind had been a good decision after all. Tigress picked up the dagger, stood up, and examined the strange weapon.

Something black and inky dripped onto the dark blade. Tigress looked up, saw two glowing blue eyes glaring at her from a shadow on the underside of the flat crate.

It was all Tigress could do to not drop the blade as it came upon her, grabbing her in its claws and dragging her into the darkness above.