He couldn't believe how easy it had been.
It was so easy!
Now that he had the Dragon Warrior's powers, everything was working in his favor. The Jade Palace was his along with everyone inside of it. He was going to make all of them pay for what they had done to him during his last visit to the Mortal Realm. He was never going back to the Spirit Realm again; the Jade Palace was his new home, and he would rule all of the Valley of Peace.
It was confirmed when he felt that the 'real' Dragon Warrior was finally gone. It was such a glorious feeling as he felt the panda's spirit fading away bit by bit as his body had grown weaker without his Chi.
Now the process was complete.
He was finally the true Dragon Warrior.
"Your precious Dragon Warrior is dead," Kai proclaimed as the Five and the pandas finished gathering around him. They gasped at his announcement, lowering their heads in dismay. They didn't want to have anything to do with the evil spirit warrior, but they had no choice. After days of being trapped with nowhere else to go, they had quickly learned that they absolutely had to listen...or else. Kai was disappointed to find that 'Tigress,' or Little Kitten, had not been trapped inside the palace with the others. But that didn't matter. Everything was going according to plan.
Master Shifu couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. Po couldn't be gone! He himself had been back to feeling dreadful the last few days, his headache slowly returning. But he knew that Kai was right when it had, once again, just disappeared. He stood in front of the pandas, his last remaining students by his side. Crane and Mantis were still healing, and with a heavy heart, he knew that chances of full recovery for them were extremely low if no one could use their Chi. While he had exempted his ban on their powers, Kai had made sure that Crane and Mantis were left as examples of what could happen if they didn't listen to their new master.
"Bow to your new Dragon Warrior," Kai ordered the group before him. The Five listened, Viper lowering her head and Monkey reluctantly settling down onto his knees. The pandas listened, terrified of what would happen if they didn't. Kai smiled, but his smile faded when only one out of the group stayed standing.
Master Shifu.
"Bow," Kai ordered the small red panda. Shifu kept still, his eyes steadily trained on the evil spirit warrior.
"Now. Bow," Kai growled.
"No matter how the wind howls, the mountain does not bow to it," Shifu stated simply, holding his ground. He wasn't going to let Kai get his instant gratification no matter what was going to happen next. The only ones he would ever bow and show his respect to were his students, Po's family and...Oogway if they ever got the chance to see each other again, and Shifu assumed that it would be soon if he kept this up. But he wasn't afraid.
Kai's golden eyes flashed and he snorted in annoyance, raising a hoof soon after. He stared directly into Shifu's eyes, searching for what he was looking for until he finally found and took hold of it, just like he had done to the bug and bird when he'd first arrived.
No matter how hard Shifu fought against the invasion of his mind, he couldn't control his actions. His paws were shaking as well as his legs. He closed his eyes, trying to ward off the spirit warrior's internal commands.
Inner peace, he tried desperately. Inner peace. He did his best to stay calm, building walls and blocking Kai from entering his mind even further. But just as soon as the walls were built, they crumbled. He eventually had no choice but to fall to his knees obediently at Kai's feet, leaving him breathless when the warrior released his mind at last, his eyes opening.
"Never forget your place," Kai said to the pandas around him. Viper and Monkey raced to their fallen master, but before they could reach Shifu and before Kai could fling them backwards, the building trembled as a great roaring, thunder-like sound interrupted.
The pandas jumped, frightened. Master Shifu panted from his spot on the floor, glancing up at the ceiling to see the building shake. From where he lay, he could see just a bit of the outside, where the golden shield still stood. The shield that he had tried with all of his might to break down whenever he had the chance, but had never managed to do so. But soon the shield simply vanished. Disappeared as a golden light was shot right into it, causing the shield to flash and fade away.
Kai growled again in a rage, running to the outside of the palace where all the commotion was taking place.
The pandas nervously followed suit, hardly believing their eyes as they saw that they were finally free.
But it wasn't over yet.
Crawling downwards from the palace roof until it stood before them was a very large, very angry golden dragon that Kai instantly recognized. It was the dragon that had led to his 'destruction' in the Spirit Realm, but in a more physical kind of form and not as translucent.
Shifu stared wide-eyed at the dragon as he finally made it to the palace entrance, his legs still wobbly from his struggle with Kai. Luckily, he still had his staff that was able to keep him balanced.
Where had the beast come from? Its eyes were a bright green and they stared back at him with a gentle expression that let the master know it was there to help. Those eyes...they were very familiar and he knew that he had seen them somewhere before, but he just couldn't place it.
The dragon turned its gaze away from Shifu and back to Kai, letting out a low and threatening growl.
Kai stared. He stared long and hard until he finally grinned and shook his head, chuckling at the newly created Spirit Warrior who had returned to claim what was rightfully 'his.'
"Big mistake, Oogway."