Hero to zero Chapter 6
Monkey walked through the dark corridors of the Jade Palace, his mood depressed and annoyed. It had been one week since Po and Tigress disappeared. Their bodies had never been found, instead of the two former hero's bodies only blood and drag marks were on the floor at the bottom of the ravine. The tracks away from the place where they apparently died led to a small lake just out of the pass, where there were remnants of a large fire too big for a conventional camp.
The footsteps leading away from the fire consisted of two felines: a leopard and another tiger that didn't match Tigress'. From all of the given evidence Po and Tigress had been deemed dead and cremated. All of their legends were to be destroyed. The scrolls containing their heroic deeds were to be destroyed all except for one copy, which should be locked away for archiving purposes. It was still considered wise to maintain the history of china even if those who featured were unfit to be given credit for previous deeds, when they dishonour themselves with betrayal.
The main problem was not the loss of their two friends but the latest villainy to strike the valley, an extremely large group of thugs most considered to be the remaining survivors of Shen's army that had avoided the law enforcement. In the past two days they had surrounded the valley, letting people in but nobody that entered left alive. People were given chance to return to the village or were sent back in body bags to deter others from leaving. The remaining masters of the Jade Palace had already tried on two attempts to leave and get help, however without Po or Tigress they were no match, sent back beaten and roughed up.
The crooks had also stated that next time they tried one of the group would die, so it was vital that the next time they got past the blockade. Monkey's wandering found him staring at the floor of the student barracks, more specifically the floor occupying the space directly in front of what used to be Po's room.
"How did I get here?" He questioned himself, not paying attention to where his feet had taken him until he had broken himself from his daydreaming to look up, finding himself staring at Po's door. Slowly he opened the door, as if something on the other side was poised for an attack, peering into the room.
"What you doing there, Monkey?" All of Monkey's fur nearly jumped of his skin as he spun around trying to identify the voice that had caught him of guard.
"Oh Mantis, it's you." Monkey gave a sigh of relief. "I thought it might be Shifu, he did say to stay away from here, thought it might distract us."
"Yeah, I still miss them. Never got a chance to say goodbye." Mantis stated as he jumped onto Monkey's shoulder, joining him in staring into Po's old room. The room was still a mess; neither Po's nor Tigress's room had been touched otherwise all of the stuff would be destroyed, they were dishonoured after all. The only way to keep the stuff intact was to put off cleaning the room until they had been proved innocent and that was impossible while the current threat was at large. Who knows, maybe by getting to the bottom of the current crisis the true culprit would be revealed.
"Me either and I had a great prank set up as well" Monkey said looking over all of the rooms occupying objects from the messy personal belongings to the used plates that had rotting pieces of food on them, "Someone should really sort this out." He thought to himself as he studied the room.
"Really what was it?"
"What was what?" Monkey replied to Mantis's question forgetting what they were talking about as he thought about Po before being pulled by to the realm of the present.
"The prank, what was the prank?" Mantis probed forgetting about his own sorrow briefly in the place of curiosity. Eager to see what funny thing Monkey had come up with that was funny at someone else's expense.
"Well you see the bed-"
"Yeah" Mantis Interrupted.
"It's booby-trapped. If you look closely you can see a thin piece of thread under the pillow." Monkey stated forgetting his depression as he took pride in showing of his latest pranking trap.
"I see it, it's connected up to that rope on the wooden support in the corner of the room, I missed that, it's tied to the bag up on the support beams. Clever so what does the bag drop on his head when he puts his head down?" Mantis asked eager for the answer forgetting that the trap will never be used.
"A mix of things" Monkey replied "Mainly fur-removal cream."
"Don't you think that's going too far?"
"After the last prank Po played on me" Monkey stated rubbing his rear-end unconsciously at the horrible memory.
"Ah was that why you were off training and Po was running up and down the stairs?" Mantis laughed, remembering Po's face at running up and down the stairs and Monkey's reaction when he was questioned why he was refusing to sit down at the kitchen table for two days straight.
"Yeah he went and…"
"Monkey, Mantis, what are you two doing here?" a voice cut them out of their conversation and caused them to spin towards the entrance to the barracks.
"Crane don't do that." Monkey stated, holding on to his chest as if something important was about to try and jump out.
"Yeah we thought you were Shifu." Mantis added
"Well lucky for you I'm not, however he does want everyone in the Hall of Heroes now. He said it was important."
"Ah Monkey, Mantis so nice of you to join us" Master Shifu announced as they followed Crane into the Hall of Heroes, taking their place next to Viper in front of the pool that Shifu was stood in front of facing them with a sad expression on his face.
"What has happened now Master?" Viper questioned now confident she could ask without being told to wait for the other like she had five minutes prior.
"We have to try again." Shifu spoke solemnly. He knew what this meant, they all did. He wanted them to try and fight past the blockade again.
"But Master…" Viper tried to protest before being shot down by Shifu
"Viper I am well aware of the consequences but we have to get help the villagers are getting anxious and with Bo still on the loose we can't handle this by ourselves." Shifu argued
Bo short for bad Po was what the five turned four had nicknamed the unknown terroriser that had stolen Po's image and had been further driving it into the dirt. He had led three more attacks on villagers killing a further five and injuring countless more with seemingly endless brutality.
"Anyway this time we are doing things a little differently." He said, gesturing to the goose-Zeng-that had been hidden behind him
"Right, everyone understand the plan?" Crane questioned as they made their way to the blockade, Zeng following behind uneasy and not liking being this close to a fight
Crane was answered by an unenthusiastic "yes" from the rest of the furious four and a silent nod when he turned behind him to look at Zeng.
The plan was simple. Viper, Mantis and Monkey would charge head-on into the barricade and start a fight that looked as if they were trying to get through. Crane would then fly above and tackle the archers and any flying bandits, all the while Zeng would get as high as possible and attempt to fly over all the commotion heading to get help for the valley.
"CHARGE!" Monkey screamed as he flung himself at the group of wolves that were lounging about in front of the crude wooden wall, hitting them before they could even draw their swords. Viper and Mantis followed seconds behind him. As they quickly took care of the surprised guards, the horn went off behind the wall. Experience told them that the more experienced, seasoned fighters were now on their way. This was Crane's signal as he flew out as the wall to tackle the archers that were now perched on the wall readying drawn bows.
"Here they come." Crane shouted as he deflected the first set of arrows fired at him. Guards started swarming in from the other side of the barricade swinging a variety of weapons at the three on the floor.
"Get ready." Mantis shouted preparing himself for the attack about to be unleashed upon them as the wolves mixed with a few other species ran at them.
They quickly split up, Viper going to the right, Mantis to the left while Monkey held his ground attempting to stop the enemy from flanking them as they sprinted at the three Masters.
Screams of pain rang through the air as endless waves crashed upon the masters while redirected arrows were thrown into the fray by Crane. Bandit after bandit fell but more took their place and the Masters were starting to tire. Crane stopped for a split second to look to the sky to see something that placed a brief smile on his beak, they had done it Zeng was clear and know heading off far past the barricade.
He turned back to the wall just in time to swipe another bout of arrows towards the increasing swarm coming through the barricade that was being thrown back by his friends.
"Retreat" he screamed as he turned towards his friends. He flew down in front of them pausing only to deliver a brutal kick to a nearby wolf and redirect another set of arrows thrown at the four.
"Not so fast" a familiar voice they thought they would never hear again rung out booming over the sounds of fighting causing everyone to stop and look towards the barricade.
Climbing over the wall, a heavy giant sword slung over his shoulders, was Po or at least the bad imposter of him. He was a perfect imitation of everything except the facial features, as Po wore a goofy smile or simple emotions while Bo looked beyond evil. His face was a mask of brutality, his smile caused shivers to run down the master's spines and his eyes showed no mercy like Po's whose were always a mix of care and determination.
"I know you know I'm not your precious Dragon Warrior." He said an evil smirk growing larger on his already foreign looking face. "But I can still beat you and I thought we said next time you came here one of you would die." He spoke before charging at Monkey.
None of the Masters were usually bothered by death threats, they were common and half the time laughable. But to say this one scared them was an understatement. The way it was said was bad enough, but to be spoken from a body of someone they had grown to love was even more debilitating.
Bo charged. The sword he was carrying was brought up in an impressive arc before coming down into the space Monkey had just sidestepped from. Viper tried to strike Bo in the face only for him to get a painful grip on her tail and swing her headfirst into an airborne Mantis who had attempted to land a kick on the Panda's face. Mantis was flung into a tree nearby were he crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Bo then laughed evilly as he swung Viper at the floor by her tail aggressively, smashing her head intr the rough dirt before throwing her away like a used piece of broken rope; she was also out of the fight.
Crane tried directing some arrows at the Panda who was making his way over to Monkey, who was once again distracted by the bandits. Due to the amount of arrows that were now being launched at Crane he had issues accurately sending them in the desired direction but he managed to land one on Bo's sword which captured his attention.
Bo scowled at the bird above him for almost hitting him with the arrow. Embedding his sword in the ground he picked up a nearby mace and flung it at the avian. Crane screamed as the mace hit his wing bending it painfully to the point where it broke as he crashed to the ground on his back.
Crane looked up just in time to redirect a punch from Bo with his good wing, as he brought his wing back for another block however Bo stood painfully on his good wing before landing a punch on the avian's head; Crane was now out of the fight and Monkey was the last one left fighting.
Monkey was pinned. He could hear his friends scream out in turn before being silenced but he had no time to check as when he deflected one weapon another would strike instantly. He wouldn't last long he was already taking a few hits and every one burned his already sore, tired body further to the brink of failure.
Monkey panicked. He wasn't going to last if he didn't do something soon. With as much energy as he could muster he jumped, spinning and kicking out as much as he could knocking out a few and gaining some much needed room. He felt a new bout of hope as he got some room and saw a chance to escape before he landed. Monkey landed badly on his right leg twisting it as he was forced to fall onto his back pain shot through his knee as he lay there.
He almost didn't hear Bo's shout of "STOP!" as he lay on the ground. He could feel the muscles stretched over the joint as he looked down at his leg arched from his position laid on the ground on his back, he could see the kneecap through his shorts it had slipped and was now resting ninety degrees around the outside of his leg. It hurt every time he tried to move it so he was forced to lay there and watch as Bo recovered his sword and sauntered over towards the injured primate.
"Well, well Monkey what have we here such a highly viewed Master and you've hurt yourself." He laughed gaining the laughter of the crowd that had surrounded the two.
"What do you want?"
"Me? Not much, just fulfilling the threat you were given last time and the rest of your comrades are unconscious so they would be no fun." Bo laughed staring into the primate's eyes and planting more fear into the already scared primate.
Monkey panicked, the panda standing over him was going to kill him and he couldn't even defend himself. H looked around for any chance, any escape but saw none only a wall of bandits smiling at him as if he was a nice meal and they were starving. He watched in horror as Bo raised the sword point facing down towards his chest.
He managed to catch the sword just before it hit him with the palms of his hands on either side as it inched closer towards his chest. He couldn't hold this forever especially as his knee took this as a good time to rack with pain, one thought crossed his mind.
He was going to die.
AN: sorry I have been gone for a while got back from holiday then my life got a bit hectic got a new dog, started college and had a dislocation to my right patella (not why that happened to Monkey was already planning that Ironic ay?) and Christmas on crutches with college work gave me no inspiration to write but will try and finish this story if I can got a rough idea hope it was a good chapter I might be out of practice so constructive criticism would be helpful (I'm not one to kill of characters but not saying anything.)