A/N: Hi everybody! Thank you so much for your patience, your reviews and your favourites and follows. Finally, I have found time to write and I have got the next chapter of my story for you. I hope it was worth the wait.
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Chapter 8:
Da-Xia couldn't sleep. She lay on the mattress that her Auntie Lin had laid out for her, but while her siblings slept soundly around her, the teenage tigress just couldn't relax. It was strange: She should be tired. She had travelled a long way from the only home she had ever known to come here, the famous Jade Palace. The Place where her aunt grew up.
And she wanted to rest up, as Auntie Lin had promised they could have a go in the training hall tomorrow.
The training hall…
Da-Xia sat up. She had only seen the hall during the brief match between Yue-Yan and Master Bunny earlier that day. It had been unlike anything she had ever seen, and she couldn't wait to test her skills on the same equipment both her aunt and her father had used in the past.
Listening intently, Da-Xia could hear only silence from the other rooms.
Surely it wouldn't hurt just for her to have a look in the training hall again? She wasn't going to use anything, she told herself as she crept towards the door. She just wanted to see the equipment properly, without the crowds blocking her view.
Auntie Lin had told her that she would sometimes go to the training hall when she couldn't sleep…
As Da-Xia silently made her way out of the barracks and down the path towards the training hall, the old saying of 'curiosity killed the cat' played at the back of her mind, but she paid it no heed.
She was at the Jade Palace, surrounded by Masters, she reasoned. What could go badly here?
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Master Bunny crept through the spare rooms the refugees had been settled in, waking up her own five students to give them an update on what has occurred.
"Why didn't anyone wake us up earlier?" Ching the rat demanded, drawing himself up to his full height proudly. "We were called in to help. Surely we should have been alerted as soon as Master Tigress and the Dragon Warrior arrived?"
"My apologies," Master Bunny bowed, "but the circumstances were rather urgent, and we couldn't wait. So, while the others are going down to the archives, I'm waking you all."
"What do you need us to do, Master Bunny?" Chen-Jun the antelope asked quietly, folding her arms, ready for instructions.
"Long is currently just outside the village boundaries," Master Bunny informed her students, "but by morning, he will be invading the Valley."
"So, you need us to wake the village up and evacuate?" Zhou the lizard put forward, his tail swishing slightly along the ground.
Master Bunny nodded. "The refugees won't like having to move again, but we must ensure that everyone is as far away as possible when Long attacks, for with his power over the elements, he can level a village in moments."
"Then it will be done, Master Bunny," Sai the heron bowed gracefully before stretching out her wings and taking flight.
As her students moved away, one remained behind, eyeing her master nervously.
"What is it, Mei-Ling?" Master Bunny asked.
The leopard bowed respectfully to her master, keeping her eyes low.
"I'm worried for this village, Master Bunny," Mei-Ling admitted. "If Long is as powerful as the stories say, will evacuating really help?"
Master Bunny paused for a moment.
"Long is indeed very powerful," she granted. "But if the villagers remain here, they will perish for certain, when he attacks. They could also act as hostages for him, to prevent us being able to attack full force." Master Bunny met her student's eyes seriously. "At least if we evacuate the Valley, the villagers will have a chance to live, and won't be taken hostage to use against us."
The leopard nodded in understanding before bowing and taking her leave to join her friends in evacuating the valley.
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Tigress searched frantically through the thousands of scrolls in the Jade Palace archives, her friends, her master and the other leaders searching alongside her.
"How are we going to find the scroll we need amongst all of these?" Crane wondered aloud, casting his eyes along the rows and rows of scrolls placed in the great underground room, detailing the history of the Valley of Peace and Kung Fu.
"The original Legend occurred when Master Oogway had just created Kung fu," Shifu explained for the second time, "which is why we are searching the section devoted to the early years of the Valley's history."
"It's still like looking for a needle in a haystack," Mantis muttered as he searched.
"More like looking for a tree in a forest," Yue-Yan spoke up, scanning a possible scroll. Thankfully, as a herbalist, she'd had many an experience searching for specific trees and herbs in the forest.
"We're going to find it," Tigress growled.
"Of course we will," Po assured his friend, picking up scrolls at random. "And with Master Bunny's students evacuating the village, all of us can be here, searching for the scroll. More people looking means we'll find it faster."
Tigress shoved a scroll back onto the shelf angrily, causing Shifu to look up from his work. His student was breathing hard, her muscles were tense and she gripped the next scroll so tightly, the parchment nearly tore.
"Tigress," Shifu put forward gently, "perhaps you should go into the training hall for a while."
Taking a deep breath, the Master of the Tiger style placed her scroll back more carefully.
"No."
"I understand your worry, Tigress," Shifu told her, "but you are so tense at the moment you're not thinking straight. You need to calm down, only then will you be able to help your brother."
Tigress felt another growl building at the back of her throat.
"He's right Tigress," Po put forward, seeing how tense his friend was. "Go and vent some frustration. There're plenty of us down here to search for the scroll."
"I promise," Shifu swore, "that we will come tell you the moment we find the Legend."
Tigress didn't want to leave. She wanted to be doing something to save her brother.
But she had to admit…she much rather felt like punching something than searching through scrolls.
"The moment you find it?" She clarified.
"The moment we find it," Shifu promised.
"Very well," Tigress bowed before making her way out of the Hall of Archives. "I'll be in the training hall."
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Cautiously, Da-Xia opened the door to the training hall and crept inside.
"Wow," she whispered as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.
The Jade tortoise glimmered slightly in the faint moonlight as it filtered through the high windows and cautiously, Da-Xia crept over to where the wooden soldiers were.
Lin had told her that the wooden soldiers were made from ironwood trees and some were balanced so precisely that they moved easily when touched to encourage agility and fast reactions and some were built to be attacked with great power in order to move them to increase your focus and precision.
Reaching out, Da-Xia gently touched the smooth wood of the 'soldier' closest to her, worn from the many times it had been struck during training sessions over the years.
However it began to move, and she quickly retracted her hand as she didn't want to be found out.
Hearing a door open, Da-Xia quickly hid behind a large training dummy that looked a bit like a panda, and as she crouched out of sight, she wondered whether someone made it to represent Master Po, or whether it was a coincidence.
She didn't have much time to ponder it as she spotted Master Tigress enter the hall in a towering temper, stalking her way across the room towards the wooden soldiers.
'Woah,' Da-Xia felt her eyes widen as Tigress began to move through the wooden soldiers delivering powerful punches and kicks so ferocious that the wood could be heard to splinter under her fiery anger.
"Master Shifu," Tigress spat as she sent a section of wood flying backwards from one punch. "You don't want to be my father? Fine. I won't see you that way anymore. I have my family." Tigress delivered a kick that broke a soldier in half, splinters flying everywhere.
"And now you don't want me to fight for them?" Tigress continues to vent, flipping in the air to kick two soldiers at once, separating their torsos from their lower halves. "Li is my brother, and now that I've finally found him, you expect me to just accept the fact that he can't be saved? I don't think so!"
Da-Xia frowned with worry. Something had happened to her father?
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Down in the archives, Shifu and the others continued their frantic search.
Po was starting to feel like joining Tigress in the training hall. An evil dragon was about to invade the valley with an army of tiger soldiers under mind control, not to mention powerful magic, and he was surrounded by scrolls!
Pulling out what felt like scroll number one thousand, Po unraveled it to see faded writing, and at the scrolls head: 'The defeat of the Dragon Long.'
Po let out a cheer as he held up the scroll triumphantly. "I found it! The original!" Realising that he was, in fact, holding the very first recording of Master Oogway's arrival in the Valley, and indeed of his Kung Fu, almost brought the panda to tears.
"This is so cool," he whispered reverently.
"Good work, Panda," Shifu commented, making his way over.
"Finally!" Mantis cheered, perching on Po's shoulder to view the scroll. "Now we can find the way to beat this guy."
"What does it say?" Crane asked eagerly.
"Not yet," Po closed the scroll firmly. "We promised Tigress."
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Tigress splintered yet another soldier with a blow from her powerful fist, barely feeling anything. Except anger.
She imagined the next soldier before her as the Dragon sorcerer himself as she cracked the wood, her fiery anger fueling her muscles with pure power.
"Not so powerful now, are you?" She hissed at the broken dummy. However, the picture in her mind quickly changed from Long to Li lying crumpled on the floor and she roared as the storm of emotion raged within her.
Tigress lashed out at another dummy, breaking off a wooden arm.
'Think of your power like fire,' Li's voice echoed in her mind. 'It can be destructive if not controlled.'
Looking around at all the splintered wood, Tigress felt her brother had a point.
'When controlled, it can be more beneficial.'
Taking a deep breath, Tigress tried to get her anger under control, but while her limbs stilled, her muscles began to tense and she could feel a rush of emotion surging towards the surface, trying to find another outlet.
'Only by combining fire, and it's opposite element, water, are you able to create the perfect sword blade.' Li continued in her mind.
"Fire and water," Tigress mumbled. Closing her eyes, Tigress tried to breathe deeply as she began to practice Tai chi form. But just as when Li was teaching her, Tigress felt herself struggling to achieve the serenity and focus that Tai chi required, and her muscles continued to tense.
Roaring with frustration, Tigress kicked out at another soldier, sending a chunk of wood flying towards the open doors.
"Tigress! Ow!" Po appeared in the doorway at that moment and the wood hit him in the centre of his forehead with a force that would have knocked out or even killed a lesser person. But, Po being a panda, it just bounced off him and he had to rub his head for a moment.
"Way to use your head, Po," Mantis commented drily and Monkey snickered, but silenced himself after a look from Viper.
"You found it?" Tigress demanded as she hurried forward.
Po held out the scroll proudly. "The original document of the Legend of Long. Or, actually," he amended as Tigress eagerly unfurled the scroll, "it's actually called 'the defeat of the Dragon Long' as, of course, it wasn't a legend when it was written, as it had actually happened, so-."
"Enough, Panda," Shifu commented as he came forward. "Tigress, would you do the honour of reading the scroll? Perhaps we can then find a way to defeat Long before he reaches the Valley tomorrow."
"And save Li," Tigress added firmly, raising her eyes to match Shifu's gaze.
"If we can," Shifu nodded.
Frowning, Tigress turned her gaze to the parchment.
"The defeat of the Dragon, Long." Tigress read. "An account written by Fa, Zhou."
"The Valley has been rejoicing for many days, for the reign of the fierce and powerful Dragon sorcerer Long has finally come to an end. And it is only now, after speaking with the Great Master Oogway, the liberator of our village, that I am now able to record the events leading up to our current peace.
For many years, Long had been feared, for he had the power to control the five elements of Earth, Wood, Metal, Water and Fire, yet his most feared power was the ability to control the bodies of others. All in his command were afraid to even trust their friends and family, for fear that Long would be there, hidden behind their loved one's eyes, listening.
Yet the end of Long's tyrannical reign was first glimpsed when a tortoise by the name of Oogway arrived in the Valley.
Oogway had spent time in isolation, developing a new method of defense using the powers of harmony and focus to create a martial form, which no one, not even Long had ever seen before.
The day Oogway arrived in the Valley, a family was preparing for the market when their son, while playing, bumped into a passing soldier in Long's army.
The tiger's pure white eyes and sharp claws turned to physically punish the boy, and that moment, Oogway intervened and sent the tiger flying, barely seeming to touch him.
Leaping to his feet, the tiger, instead of attacking Oogway, said that he was to be summoned to the palace to present himself to Long, who was intrigued with this new skill.
Oogway graciously demonstrated his skill for the sorcerer that day, explaining how the mind and body can work together to achieve excellence. Oogway had hoped that Long would wish to learn, and so change his ways through the values that Kung Fu taught.
Long was most eager to learn, but not for the reasons Oogway hoped. And after many years of training, Long believed that he had learnt all he needed from Oogway, and turned on him.
But Oogway, while hopeful, had not been foolish. For he had not taught Long everything.
Oogway was able to defeat Long using the combined power of Yin and Yang, before trapping him in an isolated prison built specifically to contain him which restrained both his body and his magic. Over the years Oogway had spent teaching Long, he had also studied his student to discover his weakness. As such, he had designed a prison of clay specifically to contain the Dragon, as Long's power, while great, was limited to controlling a pure element. And that power, Oogway said, was also his greatest weakness, for he could never achieve the balance required to truly achieve excellence of self.
Once Long had been defeated, the tiger soldiers appeared to wake as if from a spell, however, the villagers refused to believe their claims that they had been controlled by magic to do Long's bidding, and despite Oogways attempts to reconcile, were made outcasts. Oogway had said that free tigers with peaceful hearts would always be welcomed in the Valley, though the villagers continue to show such mistrust, I doubt any tiger will be welcomed for many years to come.
Finally, the Jade Palace itself has just been officially opened by Oogway as a school for those who wish to study his new craft, which he has named 'Kung Fu'. And while he leaves occasionally to visit other villages to find those with a natural talent to learn his craft, our Valley has never felt safer, under the protection of Oogway and his students.
As a tribute to the peaceful times that Oogway sees ahead, the Valley has been named 'The Valley of Peace' and Oogway planted a peach tree near the Jade Palace, to mark the occasion, so that all may be reminded of this time in history and the wisdom of Oogway's teachings."
Tigress frowned as she turned the parchment over, as if searching for more information.
"So that's it?" Po asked, rather underwhelmed. "The powers of Yin and Yang? What does that even mean?"
"I don't know," Tigress admitted slowly, "but Long's army is just outside the Valley and if we are going to free Li from Long's control and save the Valley from going back under his rule, we have to figure out what Oogway meant."
"Why does Oogway always have to be so cryptic?" Crane wondered.
"Well," Wen put forward, "this account was most likely written by one who didn't study Kung Fu, so wouldn't have understood the concept himself."
"Perhaps the key lies in Longs weakness?" Yue-Yan suggested. "He could only use a pure element."
"Yeah, what does that mean?" Mantis asked.
"Well," Shifu pondered aloud. "As Oogway built a clay prison, and clay being basically a mixture of earth and water, hardened by fire, I'd imagine it means that Long can only control an element it it's pure state, rather than when mixed with another."
"Which is why he can encase someone in rock, but not control clay?" Tigress' mind was racing.
"Okay guys," Po got everyone's attention. "Brainstorm time: what could Oogway have meant by 'the powers of Yin and Yang'?"
"Yin and Yang is about opposites," Tigress put forward. "Perhaps we use the opposite element against him? Fight fire with water, as it were."
"Tai chi?" Yue Yan suggested. "It incorporates the principles of Yin and Yang to allow our fighters to absorb and elect attacks, effectively allowing their opponent to essentially defeat themselves?"
"What if we dump clay over him?" Po suggested. "Would that strip him of power?
As they discussed ideas, no one noticed the teenage tiger slipping silently out of the training hall.
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A/N: Okay, so what do you think?
I know I didn't give you an answer right away, but I have put clues in there! You didn't think I was going to just make it easy did you?
Let the theorizing begin!
I hope I made the original 'Legend' sound authentic. I wanted key elements of it to be in the Legend we saw at the prologue, but also more detail that you would expect from an original.
Feed back is always welcome, please review!