Chapter Six- Going For Help
Viper cried, staring at her master with horror. He looked terrible. The chains constricting his torso, the trickle of blood on his neck, and the sword pinning his body to the post. She heard something moving, and Viper turned to the bookshelf. Lin's fist punched thru the wood, and the black dragon and Mantis climbed out. Mantis stared at Shifu with shock. Lin screamed and rushed to her father.
"Baba!" She cried as she stood on the bed, shaking Shifu's shoulder. "Baba!" Lin took her sharp talons and cut away the black chains that tied Shifu. But the sword was still there, stabbed in Shifu's chest and pinning him to the post. Try as she might, Lin couldn't remove the sword. Viper and Mantis moved forward and helped. The sword flew out because of their combined strengths, and it clattered to the ground. Shifu fell with a thud to the floor. Lin leaped to his side and rolled him onto his back. Shifu lay there, still and silent. Lin lay on her baba's chest, crying. Viper and Mantis stood on the other side of Shifu's corpse, not really knowing what to do.
Kivu walked up to them. Lin jumped up and hissed menacingly.
"Don't touch him!" she screeched.
"Hush, child." Kivu cooed. "I know how to help." Lin calmed down a bit.
"He's dead." She said. "How can you help him?"
"He's not dead." Kivu said. Lin stared at Shifu and noticed the smallest rise and fall of his chest. "But he is dying."
"Help him." Lin ordered. "Please." Kivu nodded and moved next to Shifu. He went to his knees and inspected the red panda.
"Lin, I need your help." Kivu said. Lin nodded, not realizing that Kivu knew her name without asking what it was. "In my bag are some bottles. I need you to grab the one with a fiery red liquid in it and the one with a sky blue liquid in it." Lin walked to Kivu's side and found a bag around his neck, though she could've sworn it wasn't there before. Lin grabbed the bottles and returned to Shifu's side. She was a bit scared because Shifu seemed to have gone still again.
"What now?" Lin asked.
"Take the blue bottle and pour it, one drop at a time, over Shifu's wounds until they close." Kivu said. Lin nodded and obeyed. Slowly, but surely, Shifu's cut on his throat and chest closed. But his eyes remained shut, as though he were dead.
"The blue liquid is for outer wounds, such as cuts or bruises." Kivu explained. "The red liquid is for sicknesses, broken bones, or other internal wounds." Lin picked up the red liquid, putting the blue liquid back in Kivu's bag. "All you have to do," Kivu said. "Is put a single drop of the liquid into Shifu's mouth." Lin obeyed and put the bottle away. "Very good." Kivu rose to his feet. "I must go. He'll wake up in a minute." Kivu walked off.
"Kivu!" Lin snapped. Kivu stopped at the doorway. "Thank you." Kivu smiled, nodded, and walked off. Lin, Viper, and Mantis turned their attention to Shifu again. For a terrifying moment, it seemed that Shifu was dead.
Then, Shifu inhaled slightly.
The three warriors looked at him hopefully.
Shifu coughed hard and opened his eyes slowly.
"Baba!" Lin cried, jumping onto him. Shifu sat up and hugged the dragon.
"What happened?" Shifu asked.
"Kivu healed you before you died." Viper said.
"Man, that guy's good." Mantis said.
"The terrible host." Shifu said. "'One shall face the terrible host.' That line came true, too."
"I'm starting to get sick of this stupid prophecy." Mantis growled.
"What do we have left?" Viper asked. Lin recited the parts of the prophecy that hadn't come true.
"One will be confronted by his sins.
To defeat the evil that will show
The heroes must be aided by their foe.
One shall perish to save his friends
Should the ghosts be released, it will all end.
Sadness and grief will follow the end to danger
But joy will come from a powerful stranger."
"A powerful stranger." Shifu said. "That could be the zebra, Kivu."
"Could the last two lines have come true?" Viper asked.
"No." Lin said. "Because it said that the sadness and grief would follow the end to danger, and I don't think we're done with the danger." Shifu got up.
"Nothing left to do but try and find the others." Shifu said. "I bet they're worried. But I'm also worried that they're in danger."
*****
Po, Tigress, Crane, and Monkey wandered aimlessly around the house before they ended up back in the kitchen.
"I hate this house." Monkey said. "It just leads us into circles."
"Well, maybe there's a back door in the kitchen." Tigress said. "We'll go outside and try to find the others." Suddenly, Po yelped. "What now?"
"I just saw a zebra!" Po cried.
"A zebra?" Tigress asked. "Don't kid around, Panda."
"I'm serious!" Po cried.
"No need to shout." A voice said. "You'll just alert everyone that you're here."
The four warriors whipped around and saw the zebra at the table. Tigress growled.
"What do you want?" she demanded. "Are you a ghost or a living person?"
"The one question that is never answered." The zebra said. "I am Kivu. The other questions don't matter now; I have a proposition for you, and not very long to say it."
Tigress glared. "We're listening."
*****
Meanwhile, Shifu, Lin, Viper, and Mantis were also wandering around, hoping that one, they didn't run into any more ghosts and two that they'd find the others.
"You were right, Baba." Lin said. "This house does seem bigger on the inside."
"Well, then the rumors were right." Mantis said. "The place is haunted."
"I realized that after a ghost almost murdered me." Shifu said crossly. Mantis hushed, but Shifu silently berated himself. Suddenly, Lin jumped.
"I just felt some icy wind on my fur." She said. The four warriors stood in a tight circle, facing out in case something showed up. For an anxious moment, nothing happened. Then, a whirlwind encircled the warriors, clouding their eyesight with strange white dust. Suddenly, their feet were off the ground, and they were flying thru whiteness. When the dust cleared, the four of them landed in a heap in the kitchen. Tigress, Crane, Monkey, and Po stared at them in shock. Kivu was as calm as ever.
"Now that I've brought them here, will you go with my plan?" Kivu asked. Tigress snarled.
"No." she said. "You're nothing but a warlock!"
"A what?" Po asked.
"It's a male witch." Monkey said.
Tigress lunged for Kivu. The zebra sighed, grabbed the pepper shaker, and promptly stuck it tight on Tigress' nose.
The effect of that was Tigress going into a sneezing fit, her eyes watering as she jumped every time she sneezed.
"Look, as I told these four earlier," Kivu told Shifu, pointing to the boys and Tigress. "I have a plan to defeat Dai."
"How?" Shifu asked. "And would somebody help Tigress so that she doesn't sneeze her lungs out?" The rest of the Five and Po went to help Tigress and Lin and Shifu approached Kivu.
"How can we stop Dai?" Lin asked.
"You will need the help of a warrior." Kivu said. "This warrior is a male, who destroyed an entire village to get what he believed he deserved. He came very close to murdering his father. But he didn't and later, he reconciled with his father. This man lives far from this place, in a hut near a peaceful village with his wife and daughter. They all own a black dragon." Kivu took out a dagger. "This dagger will take you there and back, but it'll only work one time for each. To use it, stab it in the air with the blade vertical, and give it a quarter turn to the right. A portal will open to show the warrior's house when you go there. When you come back, do the same thing, and you'll end up in the kitchen."
Shifu took the dagger. "Who is this warrior?"
"I believe you know." Kivu said. "You know him quite well." Shifu sighed and nodded. Kivu disappeared with a pop and a puff of smoke. The Five and Po joined Lin and Shifu. Tigress had stopped sneezing, but her nose was a bit red.
"So who's the warrior we need to find?" she asked. She sounded a bit like she had a cold.
"We know him." Shifu said. "And I met him a while back. We've been writing to each other in secret because I knew you'd all freak out if you found out."
"Who is it?" Lin asked.
"My son." Shifu said. "Tai Lung."
A/N: The pepper shaker thing was an idea from Kivu the author. Read and Review!