Chapter 3: Suffering isn't a Monopoly
Review Replies
Guest: Thank you for the update. Please update soon. I love this story.
Artorias78: oh yeah, there are going to be words between these two lol. Great chapter, I loved how you were able to show how great a trapper Bagheera is. I can't wait to read the next chapter whenever you can get that out.
Dragon Emperor0: Thanks.
ThermalsniperN7: What he said.
Ohma flame: "Taking on Tigress was suicide". Good news: He has common sense. Bad news: He has to go through with it. Theory: He gives Tigress to the sultan, and lets natural selection take it from there.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, he had common sense and it sucks that he has to go through with this. Whether or not Tigress ends up in the Sultan's hands is unknown at present.
Dragon Emperor0: Though knowing the pragmatic and proactive Bagheera, he's definitely the kind of guy who'd let something like that happen. Especially if the Valley of Peace would reward him handsomely for his assistance in removing an antagonistic force.
Danny: Interesante! Me gustó mucho, estoy a la espera del próximo capítulo.
Translation: Interesting! I really liked it, I'm waiting for the next chapter.
Dragon Emperor0: Here you go.
-Tai Sho Provence Road, China-
The bounty hunter known as Bagheera Kipling had faced and captured many a powerful warrior in his day. Even a few Kung Fu masters on occasion if the pay was decent enough.
However, his latest catch definitely took the cake if he was being honest. Not only because said warrior was skilled and difficult to take down.
But also because of him essentially kidnapping the great Master Tigress, leader of the Furious Five and Master of the Valley of Peace, basically painted a massive target on his back.
And all of this because some brat wanted the strongest wife in the world!
'I swear, it's like people don't know how to use their brain cells…' The Trapper sighed mentally as he trudged forward with his quarry.
Said quarry was tied up and wrapped in a tarp while slung over his shoulder. This setup was far from ideal, as it was a bit too conspicuous for his liking, but given that he had to leave the Valley of Peace in a hurry–he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.
Speaking of which, after another fifteen minutes, he finally reached his way out of the Valley's territory: The Thread of Fate bridge.
It was a rope bridge that stretched across a bottomless chasm that was dotted with pillars of stone which the bridge relied on.
"No turning back now." Bagheera mused as he started walking across the bridge.
As soon as he reached the end, the white Bengal tiger drew his machete and cut the bridge behind him, making sure no one could follow.
'And so the thread of fate falls.' The trapper thought as he continued on his way.
(Elsewhere)
-Jade Palace, Valley of Peace-
After Mantis had woken up and got everyone free of the group's traps, the gang was quick to return to the Jade Palace and get Master Shifu up to date on what had happened.
The red panda was actually shocked and angered that some trapper had kidnapped one of the Valley's greatest defenders.
"Why would a bounty hunter be after Tigress? Did either of you hear this hunter say anything during the struggle?" The Kung Fu master questioned.
"He did say that a bounty was put on her head, by the Sultan of India, from the sound of it." Crane replied.
"I don't get it, though. Why would the Sultan of India want Tigress?" Po wondered.
"An excellent question." Shifu nodded in agreement.
"I think it doesn't really matter why he took her at this point." Viper noted. "What we need to focus on is getting Tigress back. And at this point, they have a head start on us." She added.
"Yeah, and it's going to take a while to catch up since we had ato rush back here to let you know what happened." Monkey nodded, looking at Shifu on that last bit.
"What you should have done is send Crane to inform me since he's the best messenger out of all of you." The red panda lectured. "But that's irrelevant at the moment. All of you must catch up with the hunter that took Tigress and bring her back home." He told them.
"Yes, Master Shifu." The five nodded as they quickly left, leaving Shifu alone.
(Elsewhere)
Back with Bagheera and Tigress, the white tiger sighed as he set his restrained captive down in front of a tree, deciding to take a rest.
"It is such a chore, making the trek on foot." The trapper sighed as he gathered some materials to make a small campfire.
As night began to fall, Tigress finally started to wake up and as she did, she saw her captor cooking something over the flame of a campfire.
"So, the others couldn't stop you." She sighed, bringing her captor's attention to her.
"Oh good, you're awake." Bagheera commented as he watched the food cook. "Be glad that you're not the one doing the walking, given that it's a long way from China to the Sultan's palace." He told her.
"What does a Sultan want with me? I've never even left the Valley of Peace except a few times." The female Kung Fu master questioned.
"Sorry, but that information is under customer confidentiality." The bounty hunter stated, not looking up from the pot boiling on the spit.
'So much for getting an idea of why I'm in this situation.' Tigress thought dryly.
A while passed between them, Bagheera stirring the pot every few seconds, before either of them spoke. Tigress not moving a muscle, not because she was restrained, but because she was stiff, rigid. Hell she hadn't blinked for a good three minutes either.
The bounty hunter knew this stature well. It was the way of a person who had closed herself off. Who was distant, hard.
"... You seem stiff." He noted, dropping in a bundle of hand pulled noodles into the pot as the broth continued to simmer.
"I have nothing to talk to you about." Tigress replied neutrally.
"I know that stiffness." Bagheera stated as he prepared two bowls of what looked to be noodle soup. "You probably don't trust people that well, do you? Prefer to be alone. Throw yourself into your work to get approval?" He listed as he got her out of the blanket but didn't have to worry about being attacked because she had shackles on her arms.
"How are you so familiar with that?" The Chinese Kung Fu master questioned.
"You see and learn about quite a bit in my line of work." Bagheera replied as he gave Tigress a blanket. "Though that does make me wonder. Why in such a rush to be loved? Didn't have many friends growing up? Or did you just not have any idea what affection was from day one?"
This remark made Tigress tighten her grip on her wooden bowl, causing her claws to file off corkscrew shavings.
"Oh, touched a nerve there, didn't I?" He questioned getting a growl in response as she ate her noodle soup.
"So what if that's the case with me?!" She growled before sighing.
"I can tell you one thing, suffering isn't a monopoly. Everyone experiences it. Sometime, somehow." The bounty hunter shrugged as he continued eating his soup, causing Tigress to slowly look at him as his attention was elsewhere.
'Why… does he sound so knowledgeable when he says that?' She wondered.
Just what kind of pain has Bagheera Kipling seen and endured?
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile back with Po and friends, they were trying to get around the thread of fate, but they were having trouble doing so.
"Argh, why does the only way forward have to be over a bottomless chasm?!" Po complained with a groan.
"It was meant to protect the Valley, Po." Viper told him. "That said, I highly doubt that the builders of the bridge meant for this to be done." She added.
"That bounty hunter must've done this to keep us from following him." Monkey noted. "Crane, do you think you can grab the other side of the bridge and fly it back up so we can cross?" He asked, looking at his longtime friend.
"It's possible, but re-tying it will take too long." The bird replied.
"How about we jump across?" Mantis questioned, causing everyone to look at him. "What? It's not like we haven't done something like that before." He defended.
"Yeah, but never across this distance." The panda pointed out.
"... Holster that thought, I may have an idea." Monkey hummed as he knelt down to Mantis and whispered to him.
"You simian maniac… Alright, let's do it." The insect nodded, ringing his pointy dealies with a dark chuckle.
"Uh, should I be concerned?" Po asked warily. Hearing Mantis chuckle like that usually meant that something crazy was about to happen.
"Crane, get ready. I'm about to try something crazy." Mantis stated, spitting on his pincers as he rubbed them together. "Viper, get on Po's shoulders. And Monkey? Get ready to jump." He added.
"Jump? Whaddya mean—WHOAHO!" Po questioned before Mantis picked up the panda and hurled him across the ravine, Crane meeting him halfway and throwing him across by the seam of his pants. "Ohhhh… that hurt…" The rotund wonder groaned as he got up.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Mantis said apologetically after Crane flew to the other side and flew him across the ravine.
"Come on, let's just go." The Dragon Warrior groaned as the group began trudging on, trying to catch up with Tigress and Bagheera.
(Elsewhere)
"What do you know about how I feel? What I've been through?" Tigress questioned, her empty bowl sitting beside her as the fire settled down.
Bagheera didn't seem all that threatened by her tone as he put away his travel pot and such. He just remained quiet until he finished his task, sat down, took a breath and then spoke plainly.
"How about this? I try guessing how your life was, and you'll guess mine." He stated, again, in plain simple words.
"Hmph. Alright, fine." Tigress scoffed, agreeing to the challenge. "Your life was full of luxury, but you weren't content with what you had." She guessed.
"Well, the first part is correct." The Bengal replied as he set a tea kettle to boil. "The second part couldn't be further from the truth. Though, that does beg the question of what tipped you off." He continued, stoking the fire and adding more wood.
"You look like you used to be a prince, or some other form of nobility. You carry yourself as such, too." The kung fu master replied. "I mean, despite your occupation, you're well groomed, well spoken, clearly well educated, and you seem to know politics. Hence why you sound so reluctant to go through with this bounty despite the payday. You know what it'll bring."
"True." The trapper nodded. "But I didn't give up my life as a noble. Not willingly, at least." He continued, placing a tea strainer in the kettle as it boiled.
"Then what happened?" Tigress wondered.
"War with the Mongols happened. The fighting took my family, home and status away." Bagheera explained. "And because I'm albino, I was subjected to constant antagonization from everyone around me since albinos are seen as omens. Nobody lifted a single finger to help me." He added bitterly.
Tigress seemed to contemplate this nugget of information in silence as the Bengal poured them both some Lapsang Souchong tea, before he spoke again—this time about her.
"My turn." He stated, leaning forward as he sipped his black tea. "I would guess that your life has been nothing but these three things: Abandonment, isolation, and transactional affection." He began. "Abandoned as a child, isolated in your formative years, and then—until recently—you only got brief and fleeting moments of affection from an overly strict father figure who only did so if you lived up to his impossible expectations." He added.
"Most of that is correct..." Tigress conceded. "I spent a lot of my childhood in an orphanage. I can't even recall what my birth parents looked like. The other kids were scared of me, and so were the caretakers, which prompted them to put me in a cell away from the others." She sighed, recalling the cell in the orphanage she had been forced to stay in. "Then Shifu found me, and taught me how to control my strength, which I barely had any control over at the time. Then he adopted me, and I became his next student after Tai Lung." She finished.
"Ah yes, the snow leopard." The Bengal nodded, again sipping his tea.
"You've met Tai Lung?" The she-Tiger questioned.
"Yes. He's the one who took my eye, after all." He nodded, tapping his patched eye. "I tell most people that I lost it from a trap gone wrong, but no. Those are for my other scars." He continued. "I was just starting out when I was hired to take Tai Lung down when he laid waste to your Valley. In the ensuing battle. He ended up stabbing me in the eye with my own spear." He added, scratching his covered eye—as was his habit.
"I… never heard about your involvement during that night." Tigress admitted, looking surprised by this new information.
"Does that surprise you? That the exalted Jade Palace did not wish its people to know that they needed a bounty Hunter to do their work?" The trapper questioned, pouring more tea.
Tigress had no idea how to respond to or process this new information, She had figured that Shifu and Oogway had been the only present defenders at the time, but she hadn't considered any outside help being present for Tai Lung's rampage.
She didn't know what to think.
"I will say this." Bagheera said as he drank more tea. "Your master may not treat you like he did Tai Lung, but he clearly cares about you. As do your teammates." He continued. "Why else would he go out of his way to raise you when, presumably, he could have just left you in that orphanage to rot." He added, sipping his tea.
That was a good point. If Shifu didn't care about her, she'd still be in that orphanage in her cell. She wouldn't have met the others, either, and she would be a different person.
Shifu may have been strict as hell and they may not have had the same kind of relationship that he had with Tai Lung. But at least he still cared about her, at least the others cared about her.
It… Certainly made her reconsider a few things about herself.
(Timeskip)
In the morning, Po and the others were still rushing to catch up with them. When they reached their old campsite however, they were long gone.
"Aw man, we're too late!" The panda groaned.
"Don't worry Po, look." Monkey told him, pointing at the fire. "The fire's still smoldering, that means that they're not that far ahead." He added.
"Hey, check it out. Looks like they went northwest of here." Crane noted, drawing the group's attention to some tracks that still looked fresh.
"That means we can catch up to them! Come on guys!" Po yipped as he ran into the bamboo brush.
"Uh, Po?" Crane called, causing him to stop. "The tracks are going that way." He added, pointing in the opposite direction of where the panda was heading.
"... I knew that!" The Dragon Warrior replied quickly as he rushed in the direction of the tracks, quickly trying to cover up his comical blunder.
The others shook their heads as they followed, he may be the Dragon Warrior, but Po was still a goofball.
And, honestly? That was fine with them.
Dragon Emperor0: Well, at least Tigress and Bagheera didn't try to kill each other the moment Tigress woke up.
ThermalsniperN7: True that. And we learned about Bagheera's past a bit. He didn't seem like the type to be a former prince before. It would explain how he's good with politics… Shame about him being antagonized for being an albino.
Dragon Emperor0: It shows how much his life has hardened him. Hell, he even became smart enough to mislead others with the story of how he lost his eye, one that makes him seem stupid and causes people to underestimate him.
ThermalsniperN7: Smart on him. Meanwhile, Po and the others are racing to catch up with them. Will they actually manage it? Who knows.
Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. Anyway, guys. See you next time.