Chapter Twelve- Captured!
"Not leaving?" Fenghuang repeated. "Have you lost your mind?"
"I know what I'm doing." Siren assured.
"I don't think you do." Fenghuang protested. "Jiao-long is going to use your powers for destruction!"
"I can hold back my powers to prevent any terrible damage." Siren said. "But Jiao-long and I have an agreement, and I'm true to my word."
"Even if it means China's downfall?" Junjie asked.
"Everything will be fine." Siren assured. "But I can't leave." She lay back on her bed. "You should go before Jiao-long finds you."
"We're not leaving without you." Shifu told her. "I promised Chao I'd bring you home."
Siren sat up, a glare in her eyes. "Why should I care?"
"He's your father." Shifu said.
"Yeah, right." Siren scoffed. "He's also the one who abandoned me."
"He would never-"
"He already has!" Siren shouted. "I went missing for over a year and he never came for me! After he promised he would!" She suddenly grabbed the poster of Chao from her pillow, crumpled it up, and threw it across the room.
"Siren Jin, be still!" Junjie commanded. He started towards her, but Siren shot her hand out. A powerful chi attack sent Junjie flying into the wall. He hit the ground with a thud. Fenghuang stood in a fighting stance, but Shifu raised his hand to stop her. The two of them looked around as the room started to change. The walls darkened in color. The lanterns that lit the room dimmed. The colors on the dresses and Siren's paintings faded.
"Siren." He said softly. "Chao sent me to find you. He hasn't given up."
"I don't believe you." Siren snarled. The room was getting colder. Shifu felt ice on his chest. He held the locket tightly.
"Siren, he told me to give this to you." Shifu removed the locket and held it out for the girl.
Siren stared at the necklace. "Where did you get that?" she whispered.
"Chao held onto it." Shifu said. "He told me to find you, return this to you, and bring you home." He placed the locket in Siren's hand. "Two down, one to go."
Siren stared at the necklace. She opened it and looked inside. She looked at her parents' wedding picture, and then at the one of her and her mother. Seeing her mother sparked a flame in Siren's chest. She smiled fondly, hugging the locket to her chest. Suddenly, the room brightened. The lanterns glowed brighter. The colors returned and increased tenfold. A warm breeze blew through the room. Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang stood in awe of the change.
"That's why you're not in a prison." Junjie realized. "Jiao-long knows that your mood affects your powers, so he put you in here to keep you happy."
Siren looked up at him. "It doesn't do that much good. I'm not interested in material items. Well, except for the locket, and maybe my favorite panda doll. But you're right; Jiao-long filled this room with luxurious things to keep my mood up."
"All the more reason we should leave." Fenghuang urged. "Jiao-long powers his giant metal contraption with your powers. If you're powers affect things based on your mood, his machine will get more powerful."
"I told you, I'm not leaving." Siren said firmly. "I can tone down my powers and make Jiao-long weaker. Then you can beat him. Or run. One of those two." Siren stood and placed her locket in Shifu's hand. "So you better keep this. I can't afford to have happy memories." She turned to Junjie and Fenghuang. "All of you need to leave. Jiao-long could've heard me shout."
"We won't leave without you." Shifu said. "Chao will never trust me again if I go back without you."
"Can't you understand how worried he is?" Junjie asked. "The only reason he isn't here is because we forced him to stay behind."
Siren snarled. "I don't believe that. I have no father."
The room didn't darken, but the cold breeze returned. Junjie sighed.
"Very well." He nodded. "We'll leave."
"What?" Shifu and Fenghuang asked.
"She won't come." Junjie said. "But she promised to tone her powers down. We have to get back to the army and plan our attack." He opened the door. "You coming?" Fenghuang looked at Siren one last time before walking after him. They disappeared out the door, but Shifu stayed behind. He looked back at Siren, who was on her bed once more. He walked over and picked up the crumpled poster of Chao and walked back to Siren, placing the ball of paper next to her.
"Just think about it a little longer." Shifu urged. "Chao loves you." He gave her hand a squeeze. Siren lunged forward and hugged him again. Shifu returned the hug, trying to think of how he was going to tell Chao the news that his daughter hated him. Siren let go, and Shifu continued to the door. He glanced at Siren one last time before leaving, slowly shutting the door behind him. Siren stared at the door for a moment before picking up the crumpled paper beside her. She opened it and stared at the picture. Siren hugged the poster to her chest, tears streaming down her face.
The room had gone dark and cold.
Shifu rubbed his temples. This was going to be hard to explain to Chao. Shifu shook his head and started down the stairs. A muffled cry made him look up, and he was shocked to see Junjie and Fenghuang, restrained and gagged by a bunch of gorillas. Junjie was trying to warn him, but it was too late. Someone grabbed Shifu's arm and twisted it behind his back. He grunted in pain, but silenced when he felt the cold steel of a blade on his throat.
"If you utter a single noise," Jiao-long hissed in his ear. "I'll kill you."
Shifu glared, shifted his weight, and slammed his heel onto Jiao-long's foot. The Komodo dragon shouted, and Shifu managed to twist around and shove Jiao-long aside. He ran up the stairs to Siren's room, but Jiao-long jumped up and landed on Shifu's back. The red panda's head collided with the steps. Dazed, he fought to stay conscious as Jiao-long pulled his arms back and bound his wrists.
"Shifu?" someone called. Shifu shook his head and tried to shout, but Jiao-long covered his mouth. Siren came bounding down the stairs. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening.
"What's going on?" Siren demanded.
"Intruders." Jiao-long said casually, forcing Shifu to his feet. "We're taking them to be punished."
"No!" Siren said quickly. "I don't want you to harm them."
"But they are trespassing." Jiao-long protested. "On my territory."
"Then imprison them." Siren said. "Keep them in your dungeon for the rest of their miserable lives. But I want them alive and unharmed."
Jiao-long and Siren stared into each other's eyes defiantly. Then, Jiao-long nodded. "Very well. They will be imprisoned for life. No harm will come to them." Siren nodded and gave Shifu a quick glance before going back to her room. Jiao-long roughly shoved Shifu down the stairs behind the guards. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs and out the door, Jiao-long pushed Shifu into another guard.
"Take them to Death Row." Jiao-long ordered. "I'll personally execute them at sunrise tomorrow."
"You promised Siren we wouldn't be harmed!" Shifu snapped, struggling against his restraints.
"I 'promised' that girl many things." Jiao-long mocked. "Unlike you, Grandmaster, I am not honor-bound to my promises. Foolish old man." He waved his hand and walked off. "Take them away."
Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang were dragged down to the dungeon and thrown into a cell on Death Row. Shackles chained to the wall were clamped on tight. The guards slammed the door shut and walked off. Fenghuang, in anger, lunged for the doors. But the shackles around her ankle stopped her flight short. Shifu also had a shackle on his ankle, which made it all the more difficult to sit up, adding on with his bound wrists.
Junjie gave a futile tug at his wrist shackle. "Well this is a fine mess we've gotten into."
"We aren't giving up." Shifu declared. He tried to pull his hands free, to no avail. Fenghuang walked over to him and sliced the ropes away. Shifu rubbed his sore wrists.
"What can we do?" Junjie demanded. "We didn't think ahead. Siren won't leave this place. Jiao-long will crush the army." He sighed. "It's hopeless."
"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Fenghuang snapped. "We have until sunrise to figure a way out of here. Moreover, we're supposed to be this great trio of warriors. And you think it's hopeless?"
"I'm starting to."
The three of them spun around to the cell next to them. A cage was on the floor, and a familiar green bug could be seen.
"Mantis?" Shifu asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Chao sent me to follow you." Mantis explained. "He didn't want anything to happen to you. But I had to find another way in, and I ended up captured." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Master."
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Shifu assured. "We'll get out of here somehow."
"And how exactly will we do that, Grandmaster?" Junjie mocked.
"What's with the formalities?" Fenghuang asked.
"Well, he's the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace." Junjie continued with his mocking tone. "Obviously he'll come up with some genius plan."
"What does me being Grandmaster have to do with anything right now?" Shifu demanded.
"You ought to know." Junjie turned to walk away, but Shifu looped his chain around the fox's ankle and pulled. Junjie ended up on his stomach.
"What is your problem?" Shifu growled. "You haven't acted like this since we were children. One minute, you're perfectly normal, and then you're mad at me for no reason!"
"I'm never mad at you without a reason." Junjie protested.
"Then what's the reason now?" Shifu asked.
Junjie glared hard. There was a tense silence. Fenghuang stepped between the two of them.
"Look, I think we're all just overtired." She said. "I say we get some sleep. We'll make sure to wake up before sunrise and attack the guards when they come to get us. Then we'll make a break for it."
No one said anything. Shifu and Junjie walked to separate corners. Fenghuang perched herself near the door and shut her eyes for a nap. Mantis curled up to sleep as well. Shifu stayed awake, glancing at Junjie from time to time. The fox's back was to him, making it hard to tell if he was awake or not. After who knows how long, Shifu decided to lie down to sleep. Before he could, Junjie spoke.
"Why you?" he whispered.
Shifu sat up and looked towards Junjie. The fox was leaning against the wall, a tired look in his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Shifu asked.
"Why were you chosen?" Junjie repeated. "Why did Oogway choose you over me?"
"Not sure." Shifu shrugged. "I can only guess Oogway's reasoning for his judgment, and I'm sure I'd get it wrong the first few times."
Junjie shook his head. "You don't understand."
"Then let me ask you this: why did you want to be the Grandmaster?"
"It's not that I just wanted to be the Grandmaster." Junjie said. "I wanted to be Grandmaster with you." He sighed. "Remember when we were kids? How much fun we used to have? I never had a family, Shifu. You, Oogway, and even Chao were my family. Chao was meant to be Hierarch of the Sacred Onyx Council. But I wanted us to be the Grandmasters of the Jade Palace. You were always there when I need you, and I wanted to return the favor. We used to talk about what we would do once we were the masters.
"But all that changed. Oogway said you would be the only Grandmaster. I couldn't stand being at the palace anymore, so I left for the Sacred Onyx Council with Chao. The entire time, I was thinking what I could've done differently. Maybe I wasn't strong enough. Maybe we weren't at the same level of kung fu; you must've been better than I was. No matter what happened, you did something Oogway liked. Or I did something he didn't like." Junjie looked away. "I'm a failure."
Shifu's ears dipped. He thought back to all the times he and Junjie got in and out of trouble. How Junjie always looked to Shifu as a brother. Now that he thought about it, why did Oogway only choose him? What could Junjie be destined for that required him to leave? Surely Junjie was resentful until that day Oogway chose the next Grandmaster. Shifu tried to think about what to say. He was never good at talking like this.
"You're not a failure." Shifu started. He racked his brain for something else to say. Then, something popped in his head. "Didn't Jien tell you about another prophecy?"
Junjie nodded and pulled out a piece of paper. He showed its contents to Shifu, who read it aloud.
"'A great battle draws near. The Tri-Dragon of Death must rise again. When Siren Jin has finished her battle, the Tri-Dragon of Death must take her place to destroy the threat. And in China's greatest time of need, only one side will rise victorious.'" Shifu looked up at Junjie. "This is why you went for the book."
"Yes." Junjie nodded. "I didn't understand why Jien gave me the prophecy until I found the book with us in it."
"Then that's why." Shifu said. "You don't need to be Grandmaster; you're a Dragon of Death. If Po were here, he'd be geeking out."
Junjie cracked a smile. "He's pretty good at that."
Shifu chuckled. "Being Grandmaster isn't that fun, anyhow. You have no idea how many people try and kill you for your position. Like Fenghuang."
"I heard that." Fenghuang called.
Junjie laughed. "Well, I guess that is a perk." Junjie chuckled to himself.
"What?" Shifu asked.
"Nothing." Junjie shook his head. "But for some reason I'm thinking about when Chao first saw Ren."
"You mean how you kept singing, 'Chao has a girlfriend' over and over again?" Shifu clarified. "And Chao kept chasing you around the palace?"
They laughed like old friends. Junjie yawned. "Alright, I'm going to sleep. We've gotta bust out of here tomorrow."
Shifu rolled his eyes. But his smile disappeared. "What do we tell Chao?" Too late. Junjie was snoring. Shifu shook his head and lay down to sleep.
Hours later, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Groaning, he sat up to see who had rudely waked him up. Jiao-long was in their cell, moving on to kick Junjie and Fenghuang awake.
"For the sake of the gods!" Fenghuang hissed. "What's wrong with you?"
"Time for your execution." Jiao-long said.
"You said sunrise." Junjie grunted. "It's the middle of the night."
"Just get up!" Jiao-long snarled. A guard came in and unlocked Shifu's shackle. Before he could slap on more chains, Shifu shot his fist out and into the guard's throat. The guard gagged, and Shifu jumped up to kick him back out the door. Shifu jumped towards Jiao-long. The lizard swiped his hand across Shifu's face, sending him to the floor. Before he could rise, Jiao-long slammed the hilt of his sword into his head, knocking him out cold.
STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR
Siren woke up in the middle of the night, panting and sweating from her nightmare. She breathed deeply and sighed.
"I have to see them." She stood and quickly dressed in a simple red cheongsam before running down the stairs. She passed by a guard along the way.
"Where are the dungeons?" she asked.
The guard gave her directions. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm going to visit the prisoners." She said simply before running off. She arrived at the door that said "Dungeons" and stopped. Would they forgive her for what she's done? How could they? She was really stupid for what she did. Why didn't she tell Jiao-long to immediately set them free? Siren sighed and walked in. She walked into the main cell door. "Shifu? Junjie? I'm here to apologize. I was mad and wasn't thinking straight. I want to tell you the real reason I'm not leaving." Silence. "Junjie? Shifu?" Siren ran up one row of cells, then the other, but there was no sign of the masters. "Where are they?"
When Shifu woke up, his hands were chained above his head and the chain was attached to a post. Junjie was a couple feet away from him, his hands chained the same way. Fenghuang was on the other side of Junjie hanging upside-down with her feet chained to the post. As an extra precaution, her wings were tied to her sides. In front of them, standing next to a ledge, was Jiao-long. He was looking out at the land, staring down at his castle. It was then that Shifu realized they were on the mountain. The sky was getting lighter.
"The sun will be rising soon." Jiao-long said gleefully. "I always thought moments like this were meant to be savored. Therefore, I have decided the three of you will die one at a time." Jiao-long turned to them. A wicked sharp dagger was in his hand. The three masters glared at him. "So, who would like to die first, hmm? You'll have a few minutes to think. The sun doesn't rise for a little longer, and I always like to be punctual."
"Why don't you just jump off a cliff?" Fenghuang hissed. Jiao-long's smile disappeared. He walked up to the owl and knelt down to see her face better. Jiao-long examined her for a moment.
"You're a tough one." He mused. "I'd kill you first, but I also have a desire to test how strong you are." Jiao-long moved on to Junjie. "You're pretty strong as well. But I can see something. Yes, you were scarred a long time ago; perhaps by your family. You obviously look to someone as your family." Jiao-long looked over at Shifu and smiled. "Perfect." He stood up straight and walked over to Shifu, placing the tip of his dagger under the master's chin. "Let's see how strong you two really are." Jiao-long flipped the dagger around and thrust it forward.
Siren's eyes widened in realization and she ran into the Death Row chambers. She ran up one side and the other, but the masters were gone. But another prisoner was there.
"Please!" she asked the praying mantis in the cage. "Where are Masters Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang?"
"Jiao-long took them to the mountain to kill them!" the bug said. "At sunrise, they're going to- hey where are you going?"
Jiao-long grunted with pain as Junjie's foot collided with his stomach. The Komodo dragon bounced back and dug his claws into the rock to avoid falling off the edge. Junjie pressed something into Shifu's hand.
"Can you pick the lock?" he asked.
Shifu looked up at the hairpin in his hand. "Yes, but-" Junjie was already gone, attacking Jiao-long as the lizard rose. Shifu looked over at where Junjie had been chained and saw the shackles unlocked Shifu desperately tried to pick the lock on his own shackles. Junjie punched and kicked, dodging Jiao-long's dagger before it could cut him. Jiao-long's anger rose as he attacked, snarling whenever he missed.
Then, Junjie slipped on a patch of mud. He almost slid off the edge of the cliff, but caught onto a rock. Jiao-long started towards him, but turned and saw Shifu trying to pick the lock on his chain. Furious, Jiao-long lunged with his dagger ready to strike.
Shifu desperately tried to hurry, but it did him no good. He braced himself for the cold steel.
There was the sound of steel puncturing flesh, and someone grunted in shock and pain.
The sun was rising.