Sorry for the wait but I hope this chapter makes up for it! Next chapter will be up soon.

Chapter 8

Up in Flames

Po smiled as Tigress held him in a tight hug. "Come on dreamer boy. Lets get out of here." Tigress said breaking the hug and helping Po up to his feet. Tigress grabbed Po's hand and the duo jumped through the flames from where Tigress jumped from. The couple landed safely and looked back to see the flames presiding towards them. "Tigress! What are you doing here!" Upon hearing that voice the pair turned and saw Master Shifu and Monkey running towards them. "Womans intuition master. Po was in deep trouble." Tigress said still gripping Pos paw firmly. Master Shifu turned to face Po, seeing if he backed up the story. "The flames were too much Master. I got swarmed and couldn't get out. If it wasn't for Tigress I wouldn't have made it out." Po looked down at his feet and twiddled his thumbs. His signature look when he was embarrassed or ashamed.

Shifu looked towards his prized student. "Good work Tigress." He smiled briefly at her before returning back to the grim task at hand. "How is the evacuation going?"

"Very well Master, except a group of villagers have refused to evacuate and are planning to join us in stopping the fire. Your fathers with them Po." Tigress said the last lightly towards Po as she looked over at him to see his reaction. Po had a knowing smirk on his face. "Thought he wouldn't leave so easily. If he can't take the noodle cart he ain't goin." He chuckled softly at his own joke. The mountain pass would be too narrow to navigate the cart, hence the reason for it having to be left behind. The group smiled at this, Mr. Ping was always one for noodles, no matter how bad the situation could be. The crackling of the fire drew them out of their thoughts as their eyes went back towards the fire. It seems no matter how far they got, the fire was always behind them. Scorching their heels.

"Lets go get back to the village." Master Shifu stated as he turned and ran off towards the village, his students close behind him.

Viper was searching every corridor. "Where is she? I just saw her and now she's gone!" Viper had just finished ushering another group towards the mountain pass and was now looking for her feline companion. A black dot in the sky grabbed her attention as she noticed it circling above her. In one swift move the dot dove down on her. Viper registered that it was a black bird with long legs and long beak. Preparing for an attack she coiled up defensively. Once the bird landed in front of her she wiped her tail out and struck his legs making the avian fall flat on his back. Without wasting a moment viper slithered up the birds body and prepared to knock him out. "Woah! Woah! Woah! Viper its me, Crane!" The bird yelled holding up his wings defensively. The snake stopped and stared at the black bird. She wiped her tail along his face and was shocked to see her tail turn black. She stared at the avians face and saw white feathers. It was infact crane.

"Crane! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" Viper said quickly examining him to check for any bruises she might have caused. "I'm good viper." Crane said standing up and shaking his shoulders. "Just a few ruffled feathers."

"Were you able to see Tigress from up there?" Viper said deciding to get to the important parts of their conversation, though she did enjoy simply talking to Crane. "I saw her head out to the jungle awhile ago. She didn't tell you?" Viper shook her head no.

"We've barely exchanged a sentence today."

Crane nodded his head and looked towards the jungle. The fire was much closer than ever before and the smoke was now making it hard to fly and his wings felt heavy and weighed down.

The ash was really taking a toll on Crane, but he wouldn't complain. Others were dealing with worse conditions. A lone piece of ash landed on his beak. Eyeing it crane wiped it off before more and more began to rain down on the village. In just a few short seconds the entire valley was covered in a thin layer of ash. The wind kicked up bringing the flames all the more closer and faster to the valley.

Tigress ran on all fours towards the village with Po, Shifu, and Monkey right beside here. The came to a halt when the reached a small trench that divided the outskirts of the village from the jungle. Only a handful of houses where outside of the trench due to the fact they were too far out to be protected with the main village. Po looked around the busy villagers that were still digging. Noticing his dad he ran up to him. "Po my boy!" The aged goose wrapped his wings around the ash covered bear. "Hey dad. Need a hand?" The goose smiled and nodded his head as they resumed digging. Master Shifu looked around at the makeshift digging crew. They had stopped digging and looked at their Grandmaster with worried eyes. Whether they were worried that he would disapprove or that they were worried they were too slow in building the trench he could not tell. With an approving nod of his head, he picked up a shovel and began to dig. The villagers stared for a few seconds before they too began to dig.

Twenty minutes passed and the flames were now a few yards away. Crane had arrived when he noticed the activity in this part of the village. He was now instructed to keep an eye on the progress the fire was making, though the thick ash still hindered his ability to see and fly he did not argue. "Master, the flames are progressing up the Jade mountain rather quickly. The wind is really pushing it towards the Jade Palace Master. The flames should be there within the hour!" Crane looked worriedly towards his master. "Ensure the palace is evacuated. No one is to go up to the Jade Palace without explicit permission from me." Crane nodded his head and fly off to ensure that the palace was to be evacuated. He stopped abruptly before take off. "But master, what of the artifacts at the palace?" Shifu sighed sadly.

"If its not already on its way out, its lost." Crane blinked in shocked. Over a thousand years of Kung Fu history was stored at the Jade Palace. Kung Fu master entire legacies and stories were documented inside the Jade library. Theres no way the palace servants even got a quarter of the artifacts out of the palace. "Bu-Bu-...master! You can't be serious! We could-"

"I'm very serious master Crane. No life is worth saving the Jade Palace. Its what Master Oogway would have done..." Shifu stared determinedly at his student. He wouldn't change his mind, the palace was to be abandon. No ifs ands or buts. Crane looked sadly at the ground and flew off towards the palace for the final time. The group stared at Master Shifu. Was fighting really this useless? It couldn't be. There had to be some way to save the jade palace. Po looked at his master. He was infact right. Fighting a fire in that terrien would be impossible. The only thing they could possibly accomplish would delay the fire by a few mere minutes.

Crane soared high into the air. Scouting out the fire once again to judge the progress it was making. It wasn't good. The fire was already half way up the mountain and in another 20 it would reach the edge of the palace. Cranes heart froze as he noticed what would be the first thing to burn. The sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom. The symbol of the Jade Palace and the place Oogway left this world. With a heavy heart, Crane delivered the news to Zheng.

Mantis had found the bunny girls parents and was making his last round through the village when he noticed viper slithering fast towards the outskirts of the village. With a few quick hops Mantis was next to the snake and running beside her. "Viper! Where you going?" The snake looked over towards the bug and then back towards her destination. "Crane informed me that the Palace is being evacuated while Master Shifu and the others are going to try to stop the flames at the outskirts of the village." Mantis stopped for a moment, absorbing what she had just said.

"Wait what!? Why we abandoning the palace? Can't we fight for it?" Viper stopped and turned to face the him. "The fires moving really fast towards the palace. If we fight the fire their we will simply get killed. The best chance we have is to fight their fire down here. On the flat land." Viper the continued to move on towards the others. Mantis sighed sadly. She was in fact right. The others had issues fighting the fire already. Adding terrain to the mixture would only get someone killed. With a very heavy heart Mantis continued with the the snake towards the others.

Hope you enjoyed it!