Chapter 16

Black Blood

Kuwon stood there by the wooden door dozing off, over and over again. Thailaan has already woken him up several times. It would seem he has had no sleep ever since he came, and just now his body was catching up to his mind. Thailaan sighed greatly, and walked over to her swords, picking them up.

"Mmm..." Kuwon hummed, as he soon woke up. He blinked from his blurred eyes, as he saw Thailaan picking up her hook swords. "What are you... doing?" He yawned, as his perfectly white fangs shown.

"I'm... practicing." She started her way into the cellar.

"Hey where do you think you're goin?" He stopped her with his muscular arm.

"I'm going to go train!" She turned and began to hiss.

"In the room Tai Lung and that red panda are being held captive in? I don't think so. Sky told us to keep guard until he reports back to us."

Thailaan shook her head, as she rolled her eyes. She took out her sword, and with a swipe of her wrist, hooked his arm and swung him far from where he once was. He went flying, as he hit the wall powerfully. She walked towards the door, and turned around to see the lynx spurred out on the floor. "Don't worry, I won't release them." She chuckled, as she moved into the room, finding Tai Lung and Shifu were both awake, and talking to each other. They were actually... talking to each other. Once Thailaan took a step inside the dark, cold room, both of their heads jerked up, to see who it was.

Thailaan grinned sarcastically, as she looked at the other snow leopard. "Hi."

Tai Lung growled, as he clenched his fists. "You... you..."

"Animal? I've heard that one a lot." She took out her hook swords, and started to swing them around casually, yet perfectly.

"I can't... talk..." Tai Lung brought back down his head.

"It's because of the Peach Tree... it umm... it died." Shifu struggled to speak.

"How could it die? It's a tree! An... important tree." Tai lung brought his head back down, as he coughed from the cold.

Thailaan stopped, as she turned to Tai Lung. "You just don't get it, do you?" She deposited her two swords back into their steep case, while she slowly walked over to the snow leopard. "It was cut down by my master, because he wanted to simply have the Dragon Scroll. He tried to take it just four years ago, but what did you do?" She touched his chin, and brought his head up. "You defeated him." She looked away and squinted. "And now, he's back, only with a little more back up. And now, you're the ones who are tied up. Who's defeated now?" She thought, then sighed. "The Peach Tree only affects those who fully understand what Kung Fu is. Mostly, those who handle swords know nothing compared to you."

"Wait, hold on. What is Kung Fu?"

Thailaan laughed. "I won't even bother explaining it to you, for you've already lost your mind, along with this animal." She turned to Master Shifu, who was breathing hard now. Thai looked down, and felt much pity for her two prisoners. "Look... I do want to free you, and I do want you to stop all this madness... but my master says I cannot, for serious reasons. I'm..." She turned away from them. "I'm sorry." She withdrew her two swords once again, and started swinging, while Tai Lung stood there, too confused to talk back.

Po gasped at the sight they both saw, as he soon slowly made his way over to it. There was a pool of blood just against the far wall, and floor. The body and sword were both gone, but there was dried blood all over the place. Po thought he was going to throw up, because he has never seen so much of this horrid dark red substance. It was Song's blood.

Song was outside sitting on her porch. Her face was buried in her claws, and she was sobbing terribly.

Po looked over to her, as he soon walked over to her. "Song..."

"I know... I know. Go on without me and change, I'll... I'll be in, in a minute." She went back to her crying, while the panda slowly made his way back into the house, still looking at her.

Changing his clothes, he noticed her house was very neatly decorated, and very beautiful. It's a shame to see a rich gal like her just be put down. And for no particular reason! Po sighed, as he finished changing. Turning around, he found Song slowly walking in, shielding her eyes from the blood spot.

Once Song found a good changing spot, she shook off her towel, and water from her fur went everywhere. Po blinked, and turned away, as he quickly felt a bit aroused. He leaned against a wall, while his friend changed behind him. There was a hole in the wall. The battle that she fought must've been brutal! She seemed like a great warrior, due to her sword collection that were mounted all over the walls.

"Okay, we need to get to the Jade Palace, and fast. Who knows what could've happened over there!" She walked past him, as her red fur brushed against Po.

He shook, as he swallowed. "Okay. Lets... go then." He looked down and squinted. He knew he was a traitor, and now he was going to back to the hell hole he first came from.

Song took hold of a large weapon her friend, Thailaan gave her. Thailaan was transported to India from North America, and got this massive sword. She traveled from India to China, as she met her four other friends. She says they're great friends, but she was beginning to think that they were turning bad, considering they were wanting to take over the Jade Palace. Hopefully Sky wasn't Thailaan's friend, nor any of the army of Thoros. And hopefully... she wasn't apart of Sky's plot.

"Song?" Po asked, as the fox twitched back into his direction. She was staring at the engravings in her sword that said, 'Always remember to never forget.' She didn't know quite what it meant, but it looked cool.

"Sorry, I'm coming." She put her six-feet high sword onto her back, as she slowly walked over to him, looking around her house once more, before she would have to desert it.

Sky threw the door open with a massive SLAM.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" He took his fist and punched a massive hole through the wall. Withdrawing it, he saw blood was dripping from it. "Where is that bloody scroll?!"

Miraji perked up. "Master, I do say, you should settle down. It's just a scroll-"

"Just a scroll? Just a scroll?? Mirror." He growled, as he circled around his friend. "If you know what the scroll holds, you would know how important it is to me." He withdrew his sword, as he used it like a cane, to circle Mirror.

"I'm starting to disagree with helping you with this evil plot, master. You have killed nearly all of the townsfolk, and have found nothing. You should not go on a rampage just because you haven't found what you have always wanted."

"Stop talking, Mirror. You don't know how much I need this."

"You? What about us? I thought we would get something special off of this." Sorus growled.

"I know! You will get something special! But for now, we have to find the scroll first, in order to even think about it!"

"Skyler, I wish to not be apart of your rampage anymore. I've seen many deaths in my time, but this... this is just brutal." Mirror breathed.

Sky clenched his fists harder on his Katana. "Oh... you think that's brutal?" He took up his sword and stabbed right through the turtles shell, and through his body. Blood seeped along the sword of Sky's.

Thailaan walked out of the room, as she gasped, along with all the others. The turtle fell to the ground, eyes wide open.

"Master!" Thai screamed, as she went rushing over to her now dying friend. She knelt down and tried to bring Mirror back to life.

Sky kicked her away from the turtle. "Let him die! He was a traitor from the very first day we met him." He glared at Thai, who was now just starting to get up with a whimper. Sky stood tall, as he looked at his mates. "Who's next? Are any of you willing to quit on me?" Silence filled the room, as Kuwon breathed hard at the death of his other close friend. He didn't say a word, along with all the others. "Good. Now, we need to find whoever might be holding the scroll..." A thought popped up in Sky's thick head. "Tai Lung." He slowly walked over, pushed Kuwon to the side, and walked into the room.

"Don't kill him." Thailaan barked back, as she exchanged glances with the other two.

"Don't worry, I will, once I get the information I need." Sky smiled, as he turned back to Tai Lung, and Shifu.

Song rushed out along the snow that was just now starting to turn black. The canyons around her were filled with snow, everywhere. Po ran with her. They have been running at a high pace for about 20 minutes now, in complete silence. They were gaining much ground, and they were already starting to get close to the Jade Palace. Po was terrified of what might happen, and what might have happened to Shifu and Tai Lung. He already knew Tai Lung was dead, due to him not rescuing Tai Lung himself just a while ago. Sky probably found him, and killed him, just like what he did to the furious five. The black clouds up in the sky were beginning to fade, as the fox and panda made their way across the long canyon.

Minutes passed, as Po began to see the Valley of Peace in the distance.

Song panted, along with Po. "What is that?" Song screamed, as she saw black smoke rising in the distance. No, it wasn't in the distance, but it was the Valley of Peace. The homes were on fire! This place didn't feel very peaceful after all.

"Oh no..." Po looked around frantically, as they both walked through the town in terror. There were no dead bodies everywhere... there was no one screaming or yelling... what could have possibly happened?

Song looked up at the Jade Palace. "It's Skyler. He's responsible for all of this! That.. that..."

"Meany!" Po cut in, canceling out her cursing.

Song looked at him. "Okay. We need to get to him, only we need to use the element of disguise and surprise. Isn't that what you've learned in one of the thousand scrolls, Po?" Song turned to him. He was gone. Oh no. "Po?"

"Boo."

Song gasped, as she looked to her right, where Po was now standing. "Gosh, Po!"

"Oh yeah, I know the element of disguise and surprise." He smiled and winked. He remembered master Shifu teaching him it just a couple days ago. He thought about his master, as he soon sighed. He couldn't believe he just deserted him like that. Shifu's probably dead now! How stupid Po could be...

"Okay then, we have to stop them! Even though they've caused so much already..." She sighed, as she looked down. "We have to find Tai Lung. We need to!" She rushed up the steps to the Jade Palace.

Another numbing punch. "Uuuehhh..." Tai Lung's vision went blurry, as he gagged blood. "I already told you..." Tears fell from his red eyes, as Master Shifu next to him was squirming to get out, and kill Sky. "I... don't.. know!" Tai Lung spat, as he was nearly unconscious.

Sky brought back his fist once more. "Just tell me, you rat!" He punched Tai Lung again. "You toad!" He brought back his fist again.

"Sky!" An angered and stubborn voice came from behind him.

Skyler brought down his fist, as he slowly turned around. He saw another snow leopard, as she was about to pounce.

"I've decided, Sky." She squinted at him, as she got into stance.

The wolf looked behind Thai, as he saw the polar bear, and lynx were both laying on the ground. Dead? "Oh what, you're going to quit, too?" He stepped forward, as he took hold of his sword.

"You've been causing too much damage. These are innocent people that you're slaughtering! How can your heart stand something like this... The townsfolk... Tai Lung..."

"Tai Lung is guilty! Did you see what he did to me just four years ago? He rid me from the Jade Palace! And you come along and say he's innocent?"

Thai hissed, as she grabbed hold of her swords, also.

"No, Sky!" Another voice came.

Sky turned around, to see the red panda's head was up, and breathing hard.

"I, was the one who defeated you."

"So now he talks?" Sky began to turn his scarred body back to his half-dead prisoner.

Shifu showed his teeth, as he clenched his weak fists. "It is not me, who is the guilty one, but you! I was defending-"

"You were not defending anyone! Do you not remember the Kung Fu code, you seemed to go by? Every animal is alike, no matter how their personality changes! No matter how many other animals that that one animal has killed..."

"That was not included! You are guilty of your crimes, and now, your crimes are starting to catch up to you!" Shifu barked.

Thailaan slowly crept over to the alpha hound. She took hold of her sword tightly, squinting in disgust.

Sky walked ever so slowly over to Shifu, as he withdrew his sword. "Would you like to be next?" He breathed out something black, as he held up his Katana up to Shifu's trembling neck. "I've killed the furious five, now why shouldn't I kill their master, also?"

Shifu blinked at Thai, who was about to strike Skyler. She took the butt of her two swords, and...

BAM! Thailaan went flying back, and slid across the ground, and fell onto the deck of the Jade Palace. Sky hissed, as he rested his elbow. He ran over to her, as his white, tattered fur began to turn gray. Gray? With his sword out, he jumped on her, and in a split second, raised his sword up, and...

Slllit! Sky blinked, as he soon rocked back and forth. His mouth was wide open. Blood slowly dripped from it, and onto Thailaan. Disgusted, Thai backed away, as Sky fell to the ground.

Po withdrew the massive sword from Sky's chest. He backed away, as he started to lose himself. "I... I killed him..." He fell to the ground, as he dropped his sword. He could never kill someone! That's not him...

Song smiled greatly. "Yes... you, killed him!" She looked over at Thailaan, and helped her up.

Thai was holding her side. Soon noticing Song, she smiled greatly, as her eyes lit up. "Song!" The two animals hugged tightly, as Thai's eyes filled up with tears. "I thought you were... gone." She smiled, as she soon looked over to the panda. "Who... who are you?"

Po breathed hard, as white mist came from his mouth. He saw the wolf's fur was turning black, just as the snow did. He couldn't talk for he was too shocked from his killing.

"He's the Dragon Warrior." Song walked up to him, and smiled. "And he finally fulfilled his destiny. By protecting the Valley of Peace." She looked at the black wolf, who's eyes were still open. They started to turn red. "What's... What's happening...?" Song started to back away, while Thailaan did the same.

The wolf twitched, as he slowly got up. He breathed out black smoke still, as he staggered his body up. He stared at Po with tremendously furious eyes. Song and Thailaan gasped, as they took hold of their swords.

Sky smiled, as he turned his head to the side. "You cannot defeat me. I am a leader, a legend!" He chuckled in a trembly tone. He tensed his muscles every once in a while, as black blood came from his bleeding chest. It sapped the deck, as it seeped through the wooden cracks. "It's time." He cocked his head to the side, as it cracked.