Chapter One
The Arrival
"Go now!" Taliah yelled at her students as they all stood close to her not knowing what to do, looking around trying to contemplate the destruction that was happening around them.
"No Master Taliah!" Master Ming yelled at her master as she punched, kicked and paraded every onslaught that the gorrilla army brought to her, all of the master's refused to leave, they wouldn't leave their senior master's to fend of this attack on their own.
Ming, a monkey with brown fur and lighter patches around her eyes and mouth, growled at a gorilla as it went to attack her again, she wore a blue baggy t-shirt with golden pants so she could move easily about as she struck the gorillas.
"Kahn is almost here!" Yelled Master Tito, a beautiful red and black butterfly with large green eyes that looked dangerous and angry at this moments, she kicked a gorilla in the middle of his legs and flew up with her dazzling wings and kicked the gorilla straight out of their palace, it was strange to see this, a tiny butterfly so easily overcoming the strength of something that was many thousands of times the size of her own self.
"No! He can't!" Master Bei Li growled angrily, she roared loudly which caused the other's to flinch a little bit, Bei Li hated Kahn more than any of them because he was the reason she lived such a sheltered life and was never aloud beyond the valley walls.
All of a sudden, everybody froze.
An orange blur of fur caught Taliah by the throat and held her there against the stone pillar of the palace, snarling dangerously as he was about to tear her throat out.
"Mother!" Bei Li screamed, but before she could lunge forward another blur caught the three masters eyes, this time is was an amazing golden glow, the fur of Master Shiron so obvious in the light because of his striking heritage. Master Shiron ripped Kahn off Taliah and they began to fight viciously, punching, kicking, throwing each other into walls, Kahn used his claws to make Shiron bleed, but Shiron would never have stooped so low.
"No!" Bei Li screamed as Kahn threw her father to the side and lunged for her mother again. Bei Li bravely took his onslaught, as another man came and began to fight with Bei Li. She was been clawed at from both sides, two huge males on her as she was already weakened by the gorillas she knew she had no chance.
That's when Shiron leapt back in and threw both Kahn and Sierra off of his daughter, "You will not touch my daughter!" He snarled.
"Your wife will be mine! And so will your daughter!" Kahn roared in anger as he charged at Shiron.
"Go now! I'll hold him off!" Shiron growled to Taliah as the the gorillas began to close in on the weakened group again.
"No, father!" Bei Li yelled at her father, but it was too late, Taliah was running and dragging her daughter along and they had no time to waste. They bounded down the stairs of the Sapphire.
"Tito! Fly ahead! Go to the Jade palace and tell Master Shifu of our impending arrival!" Taliah yelled at her student. Tito saluted her Master in respect and then launched herself high into the sky with her impressive wings that made her seem like some kind of angel as she floated up into the sky, so peacefully and quietly.
Master Shifu sat in the garden of the Jade palace next to a pond that had constantly flowing water and a few fish in the bottom swimming about, practicing his meditation, mumbling over and over again, "Inner peace. Inner peace. Inner peace." But suddenly the flutter of wings caught his attention! He jumped up and swung his staff sideways to hit his attacker with great agility, but he heard a gasp and then the dazzling creature in front of him flew out of the way of his staff and landed on the end of it quickly.
"Master Shifu! I am Master Tito from the Sapphire palace, our home is under siege! Master Taliah would like to request sanctuary here, at the Jade palace until we can take over our home again." Tito said to the master as her state caught his eye, she was covered in cuts and bruises and clearly exhausted..
"You are one of Master Taliah's students? Part of the Ferocious Three?" Shifu asked with a little curiosity in his voice, it had been a long time since he had seen his old friend Taliah, a long time indeed! He hadn't seen her since her master Li Shang had passes away and that was over twenty five years ago!
"Master Taliah is always welcome here." Shifu said with great certainty in his voice, "Zang!" Shifu called to his messenger, "I want you to find Master Taliah and her two remaining students and bring them back here. Master Tito is clearly too exhausted and wounded to make the journey back herself. You will fly immediately and not stop until you have brought them back. Understand?" Shifu said to Zang with a great authority in his voice that reminded Tito of Master Shiron.
"Yes Master!" Zang saluted and then flapped his powerful wings and took off to go and bring the other Masters back to the Jade palace safely.
"Thank you, Master Shifu, but I could have made the journey myself. I am a lot more durable that I look. I may just be a butterfly, but I am a lot stronger than my size would have you believe." Tito half smiled at Shifu from the end of his staff.
"No matter, you are wounded and I am guessing the other Masters are not in much better shape. You will retire to the barracks immediately and I will get Master Viper to come and look at your wounds." Shifu watched as the butterfly flew into the sky again from his staff and then landed on the ground on her feet and began to walk to the palace which was a strange sight to see because Butterfly's rarely walked anywhere.
"Thank you, Master Shifu." She bowed respectfully and grimaced slightly at the pain in her side when she did so, one gorilla had managed to get a clear hit on her side with a mace, so she was pretty surprised she had no broken bones or anything that really caused any problems with her ability to walk or fly.
She began to walk to the barracks and she decided that she would go straight to bed, she was tired and exhausted, and Master Shifu was right, she couldn't have made another trip, not without pushing herself beyond her limit, even somebody as stubborn as her had to admit they were wrong sometimes.
Tito walked down the pathway and straight into the five and Po who were on their dinner break, she examined them at first because they didn't seem to notice her at first, but then the huge orange tiger spotted her.
"Who are you!?" Tigress snarled getting into a defensive position thinking that the butterfly might be a threat or maybe even an enemy.
"Oh Tigress, calm down! It's just a little, cute butterfly!" Monkey bellowed trying to be funny which the other's sniggered at except Mantis, and pissed off Tito.
"Hey! I'm not little!" Master Tito growled slightly and she stood in a defensive position too, which made the five and Po jump into these positions, they all knew better than to underestimate somebody's abilities with Kung Fu just because of their size.
"Guys, calm down! Why don't we ask her what she's doing here first?" Po said coolly as he looked at the butterfly, and then his mouth hung open in recognition, been a huge kung fu fan he had seen pictures of the Furious Three before, "NO WAY!"
"What, Po?" Tigress said annoyed at the Panda, he was just so inappropriate sometimes, but this time he seemed genuinely excited.
"It's Master Tito! One of the Ferocious Three!" Po chirped almost fangirling over the poor kung fu master who seemed a little bit flustered that one of the master's here recognised her, she was usually the one that was in the shadows, hidden behind Bei Li and Ming.
"Umm… yeh." Tito said awkwardly relaxing her defensive stand, she could see that the Panda and his friends were no threat to her… well.. maybe the tiger..
"What are you doing here?" Tigress asked bluntly not liking the presence of an unfamiliar face in the Jade palace, just like she hadn't when Po first arrived..
"My home, the Sapphire palace in the Valley Of Hope has been destroyed by an egomaniac to put it shortly, so Master Shifu had sent Zang to retrieve my fellow Master's and we will be staying here until we work out our next move." Tito rubbed her head as she felt a bad migraine coming on, damned mace had hit her hard!
"You're staying here?! With the rest of the Ferocious Three?! AND MASTERS TALIAH AND SHIRON?!" Po exclaimed with a huge grin on his face, "This is AWESOME!"
"No, not Master Shiron." Tito said a little pained, she didn't want to talk about her Master's probable death, she had grown up with Bei Li and Ming and Shiron and Taliah were like her second parents, so knowing one of them had died brought her a lot of pain.
"Hey, maybe we should just let the lady sleep. She looked pretty beaten up." Mantis said, "And I want food." He smirked
"Mantis!" Crane and Viper scolded at the same time, though Viper gave a quick flick of her tail for good measurement, she hated it when people were rude to guests.
"Yeh, Master Shifu pretty much commanded me to go to the barracks and rest, he said he would get a Miss Viper to come and look at me and heal my wounds." Tito said before sighing a little, she didn't really want a healer to come and see her, they were always bossy and strict.
"It's Master Viper, honey." Viper smiled at the butterfly and then stuck her tongue out as she tasted the air.
"You're Viper?" Tito smiled back at her and then grimaced at the wound on her side hurt again.
"Maybe I should take a look at those wounds now; you guys go on without me. I'll show our guest the way to the barracks and then look at her wounds. Don't you dare eat my dinner Po!" Viper told the rest of her fellow Masters, and Po especially. She didn't want to have to make her own dinner again, especially not after healing somebody.
"Wouldn't even think of it, Viper." Po mumbled sadly, he had really thought he might get to eat her food again, but that was just Po.
"Come on, Master Tito." Viper began to slide back from the way she had come, and Tito followed her down the doors and into the guest barracks, kind of wanting to sit on the snake's back but she knew that would be rude so she just lumbered along side her.
"So, what do you think of her then?" Crane said a little sceptically his eyes following them down the hall and round the corner.
"I didn't realise that somebody so small and fragile looking would be able to do kung fu." Monkey said giving a small side ways glance at Mantis, and then earned a snarl from Mantis. "I didn't mean you Mantis."
"But you looked at me!" He raged, and then he stomped into the kitchen followed by a sniggering Monkey and Tigress who was shaking her head at her friends antics.
"I think it's awesome the Ferocious Three are coming to stay here! They might even train with us!" Po's voice went an octave higher than usual at his estranged excitement, he was such a child at times, but that made his friends love him all the more.
"Panda, they're just like us, they don't want to be treat like celebrities, just treat them like you would us." Tigress said to Po with a frown, she had experience second hand what Po's 'fangirling' moments were like and as much as she didn't particularly like new people, she thogught they deserved to be able to have peace and quiet without been freaked out by Po.
"Tigress, he fangirled over us when he first met us!" Mantis exclaimed which made Crane face palm his self with his wing and Tigress smirk a little as he had basically read her thoughts.
"He has a point." Crane said, agreeing with Mantis for once nodding his head.
"Still, I think that little butterfly thinks she is tough because she actually threatened us." Tigress snorted a little arrogantly, she never had liked new people, especially people who challenged her or were defensive.
"Maybe you should give her a chance before you judge her." Mantis said as he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat the Secret ingredient soup. "This is delicious Po!"
Tigress snorted again and then picked up her chopsticks and began to eat in the same manner as Mantis. "Well i think she seems quite nice, you did get defensive first." Crane backed Master Tito up, a little scared at been chewed out by Tigress but he thought that she deserved his opinion.
"That's kinda true." Monkey agreed as he slurped his soup a little, but not as bad as Po usually did.
"Fine, I'll give her a chance." Tigress sighed a little defeated and she continued to pick at the bowl of soup, enjoying the amazing flavours that the Panda could miraculously cook up.
"I can't wait until the other's arrive!" Po grinned with glee as he picked up his bowl of soup, and drank the full thing.
"Thank you, Master Viper." Tito said as Viper finished attending to the last of her wounds, cutting off the end of the bandages with specially adapted scissors that Viper could use with her tail..
"Your wounds are quite severe, Master Tito, you will need to rest for a few days. I'll get Po to make you some dinner, his father's a chef so he's an AMAZING cook!" Viper complimented Po's cooking and tried to make Master Tito smile a little bit more than she was, or at least try and take her mind off the pain.
"That would be amazing, Master Viper, call me Tito by the way, friends don't call me master." Tito half smiled at Viper, she had just fixed up her wounds, so she was pretty sure she was safe to call Master Viper a friend.
"Well, then. Call me Viper!" Viper laughed a little and she held out her tail for Tito to shake like it was her hand, Tito reached out and shook her tail with a smile.
"If you think my wounds are bad, wait until you see Bei Li's, she went head to head with Kahn and almost lost because she was too foolish to realise he is too powerful for any of us to fight." Tito snorted a little as she thought of Bei Li's stubborn nature, she wasn't necessarily arrogant, and she knew she wasn't the best Kung Fu warrior, but she was convinced she could beat the strongest if she put her mind to it.
"Well, what ever condition they arrive in, I'll look after them, you're going to be the talk of the palace for a good few days, especially with Po. He's sweet really, a little naive sometimes, but sweet." Viper smiled a little and then she patted the bed with her tail, "Anyway, we have all day tomorrow to talk about the other Master's so for now it's time for you to sleep."
"Bye, Viper." Tito smiled as Viper began to leave the room.
"Bye, Tito." Viper smiled before shutting the door behind herself and making her way to the dining hall for her food.
"Aww come on Tigress! They're awesome!" Po said as he talked to Tigress about the other members of Taliah's Ferocious Three.
"I have only once heard of the Ferocious Three Po, and that was probably nothing more than a silly story made up by kung Fu maniacs." Tigress rolled her eyes, she didn't believe the story about the three warriors beating a spirit army of almost ten thousand.
"It's not just a story! It's real! They fought the army of Christian all by themselves! Ten thousand spirits against three kung fu masters!" Po walked along with Tigress down the hall to the training centre as Tigress shook her head in disbelief.
"You know, I actually thought that cannon had knocked some sense into you, Panda." Tigress pursed her lips slightly avoiding a smile as she turned to look at Po, the memory of Po getting shot with the cannon hurt more than she would like to let on, seeing Po been killed, or what she thought was him been killed… it had been almost too much for her to handle.
"It did Tigress, but that doesn't mean that I can't still think kung Fu is completely and utterly bodaciously awesome!" Po kicked the air with his foot and then chuckled at himself as he began to walk along the hallway punching the air and doing various moves as they walked along the corridoor.
"I still don't understand how you achieved inner peace after what Shen put you through, though." Tigress said as she looked at Po a little sadly and also with confusion on her face.
"I decided that my past didn't matter, Tigress." Po smiled at they entered the training area to spar together.
"But the past is what makes you who you are!" Tigress exclaimed a little shocked.
"But it doesn't have to define you. I mean look at the beginning of my life… I was a fat Panda working in a noodle shop, now I'm a bodacious Kung Fu Warrior!" Po jingled his fat around a little bit as he said the words 'fat Panda.'
Tigress rolled her eyes, "I just don't get how you can let go of the past like that."
"Sometimes what matters isn't the past, it's what's here and now that's important. I realised that when I saw you lying there on that shard of boat… that my life was perfect just the way it was, that what makes my life so amazing is my dad, Shifu, Monkey, Crane, Viper, Mantis, and you Tigress. You all make my life perfect, and when I saw you on that piece of boat, I just snapped…" Po's face tensed a little at the memory.
"You pushed me away from you, why?" Tigress asked, her voice lowering as she asked the question, she had wondered why he had done that, she remembered that he had took her paw in his own and looked into her eyes… the passion and anger she had seen flash in his eyes at that moment had made her see Po in a new light.
"You mean why did I push you away when you were on the boat shard? Because I didn't want you to get hurt anymore than you already were Tigress. When I saw you on that piece of boat… it made me realise that I didn't want to lose anybody I loved because I've already lost enough people I love." Po half smiled and then Tigress felt her heart beat pick up, LOVE?! As in FRIEND love or… well… Tigress didn't really want to think about that.
"Well thank you for that. You saved my life. All of our lives." Tigress looked at Po, straight into his Jade green eyes, and for a second their eyes locked, but she pulled her gaze away immediately, "Let's train then!" She said quickly trying to get the awkward atmosphere out of the air.