Chapter 6.
Closing In
Fifteen minutes after Crane left, the flames had reached the trench. A long wall of fire stretched the entire length of the valley. Master Shifu, Monkey, and Po were spread out along the the Trench in an attempt to stop the flames from crossing. Po rushed over to a tree whose leaves had got on fire from the shear heat the fire was giving off. With a swift kick, Po cracked the tree at the base. With a steady fist strike, the tree fell towards the other side of the trench. Po kicked the base of the tree with the heel of his foot sending it skidding across so it completely rested in the fire. A loud crack caught his attention as he looked around to find out where it came from. Another crack caught his attention and he noticed that the noise was coming from the other side of the trench.
"What is that noise?" Po asked himself as he kept scanning to figure out was was making the loud cracking noise. He noticed one of the trees beginning to tip dangerously over. Thats when Po released that the series of cracking noises were coming from the trees. "Aw man, this can't be good." Po said eyeing the trees.
SNAP!
Po had little to none time to react as a large tree came crashing down right where he was sitting. The tree was completely engulfed in flames and spewed up large sparks and ash. Po covered his face as some sprayed at him. Some sparks landed on his arm and sizzled his fire. Po didn't hesitate to pat down his arms to rid himself of the ash. Once he was sure he got rid of most he looked up and noticed that the area surrounding the tree was beginning to light on fire. "Oh no! No! No! No! No! No!" Po rushed over and kicked the tree back across the trench. Po kicked up as much dirt as he could in an attempt smother the fire. He sighed happily once the last flame was extinguished only to gulp in horror.
Since he was distracted, the fire has managed to proceed across the trench. There was no way he is going to be able to continue the fire here now. That was until a large gust of wind extinguished the flames. Po blinked in surprise to see Crane swope in over head. "Thanks Crane!" Po waved as he returned back to containing the fire. Crane tipped his hat towards Po and flew off towards Master Shifu.
Crane landed next to Master Shifu as he just finished pushing a tree back over the trench. "Crane! What's the situation like back at the valley?" Shifu said, his face blackened by the ash. "Not good master. It'll take another two hours until the valley is completely evacuated. The palace staff is trying their best to get as much items out, but Zeng says that'll they don't have enough time to get even half of the items from the hall of heroes." Shifus face fell at this news. The hall of heroes contained everything worth of value towards the history of kung fu. some of the greatest Kung Fu masters had their most memorable items stored there. Its loss would be a huge blow to the martial arts community. Not to mention the thousand scrolls of Kung Fu. Master Shifu nearly had a stroke imagining the loss of Master Oogway's scrolls. It took him nearly a year to write each scroll. "Crane. Head back to the Jade Palace and get as many of the scrolls out as you can."
Master Shifu looked at Crane pleadingly. This wasn't an order, but more of a personal request. Crane once again nodded his head and flew back to the Jade Palace. Shifu sighed once more and continued to do battle against the onslaught of flames.
It had been roughly an hour since the flames reached the trench and time was definitely not on the Kung Fu masters side. Monkey was the closest one to the mountains as he held his own against the flames. Monkey looked to his left at the mountain only to gape at the sight he saw before him. The entire mountain range was on fire. He had been so preoccupied with ensuring the trench didn't get overwhelmed with flames that he had forgotten to keep tab on the flames progress on the mountains. The flames bypassed the trench and have now circled behind them. If they didn't move now they would be circled in flames and burned alive. Monkey quickly hopped onto the nearest tree and hopped from tree to tree towards Master Shifu.