Chapter Six
She was fast. In a blur of royal blue and gold, her foot paw made contact with the snow leopard's chest. A crack like thunder was heard, as he lifted from atop the panda's frame and sailed across the street where he crumpled to a heap. Standing beside Po was the frame of another panda! She was dressed in blue cloth garb with gold trim and, though masked, there was no mistaking the creature beneath.
Po rubbed his eyes to be sure he was not still suffering from some other ailment of his mysterious fainting spell hours earlier. But no! There she was, as tall as him and perhaps a bit thinner. Her eyes are what drew in the Dragon Warrior. They were large and the color of hazelnuts. It was something behind them however; a sort of blazing wonder that, as he looked into them, Po felt the very nerves in his body light up and his heart skipped a beat or two. As he continued look at her in amazement, slowly he began attempting to regain his composure and he kicked up and held a paw awkwardly out to her.
"I'm… uh, Po," he sputtered, as he grasped at a basic introduction. "I've never even see… Where did you… WOW!" Not being able to contain himself any longer, Po jumped up and down on the spot and turned in small circles. "I can't believe this! I have never met another of my own kind, I mean thi…" Po turned back to face her but she had vanished. It was like she had never been there at all. But there was the body of the snow leopard, half sprawled out on the sidewalk. She must have been real! He didn't have any time to ponder further as, from around a nearby corner, Mantis and Monkey came running toward the dragon warrior, with two more leopards in tow. Narrowing his eyes, Po leapt high into the air in the direction of his friends. Tucking his knees, flipped end over end before extending his legs and bringing foot paws squarely in the chest of his foes. Kicking off of them, he back flipped to land next to his friends.
"You guys okay?" asked Po.
"Yeah, but they almost got the drop on us! They are great at hiding;" stated Monkey, "keep your eyes peeled!"
At that, Po chuckled and patted Monkey on the back. "Nice job of slipping in a banana joke, Monkey! Ha! Slipping… peeled… banana! That's so great!"
Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Monkey caught on to his own unintentional pun and began laughing right along with the giant panda, both of them giggling and grinning for ear to ear.
"Guys, pay attention," shouted Mantis! "We have to take these goons down and help as many people as we can to the Jade palace before it's too late! They have already begun their attack an
d are crawling all over the village! Plus, your
joke makes NO sense!"
The leopards charged; the first sweeping a low leg aimed at Mantis, the other with a high chop toward the neck of Monkey. Both Kung Fu masters were ready however and defused the attacks in stride; Mantis gripped the leg in his arms and tossed the leopard at a wall, Monkey raising an arm and twisting his opponent's to the extent that it spun the beast in mid-air and dropping him on his flank. Po swiftly dealt Monkey's attacker an incapacitating blow to the head and, after checking to make sure the other was still down, gathered the bunny children from the sidewalk, setting off back towards the palace, Monkey and Mantis right behind them.
Qui Yijing turned upwards towards the clouds. Bursting through the belly of a particularly, lumpy grey one, he chuckled merrily and called out to his companions who drifted a few dozen paces below.
"We are nearly there," he shouted, "though you may want to be wary!"
The wind at this altitude was near deafening, but Crane heard him and bellowed back. "Be wary of what?"
The fox smiled down at the pair and then glanced over to where the village sat. "Even now, the enemy is tracking us with arrows. They wait on the edges of the village, for us to get within range."
Both masters of the Jade Palace scanned the border to the village and traced its outer wall with their eyes carefully. Strain as they could however, they could not see their hidden enemy. Puzzled, it was Vipers turn to call out to Qui Yijing. "How can you be certain they are there, good monk? We can't see any beast except those headed to the palace."
"Yes, well just know that they are there, Master Viper. Fear not, however. You have been alerted and can now handle this danger with ease, yes?" The crimson monks face was that of pure hope and ease as he directed his question to them.
"Yeah," replied Crane, for the both of them. "I just still don't see them. Besides, how can YOU even be sure they are there, Qui Yijing, another monk thing?"
"Crane," Viper snapped, "Don't be so rude!"
"It's not that I was trying to be rude," defended Crane, "It's just, seeing the future is a little hard to believe. I mean, I'm sure even by now we would have spo..." Crane took a hard dive as, just like their ally had stated, an arrow thrummed at them and shot past his right wing, near the shoulder. Another arrow came towards them, but they were ready this time. Crane dipped left and Viper shot out her tail tip, neatly severing the shaft of the arrow as it sailed harmlessly past. "Okay," said Crane, "I guess I'm a believer!"
Shifu sat alone with Tigress in her quarters. She was still out cold but her face told the old red panda that she was slowly on the mend. With such a powerful blow dealt to her, the panda knew she was lucky; such a hit would have killed a lesser opponent. Holding her paw gently, he smiled warmly at her and held back a single tear. As the master of the Jade Palace, his first duty was to, through calm and peace, guide the five and Dragon Warrior in Kung Fu. Yet, with all his teachings, here lay his adopted daughter stretched out and broken. Shifu bit his lip in anger at the thought of these murderous leopards invading the village. Shaking his head quickly, the old master began the chant of inner peace. Not but a few seconds later however, Po burst into the room and stood before his master at the center of the room to make his report.
"Master, " Po began quickly, "The villagers are safe here in the palace, and the gates are locked. A small band of sheep and bunnies are being led Mantis and Monkey to keep a lookout at the wall. So far though, it looks like those leopards got scared of the Dragon Warriors totally awesome moves. I figure they'll be running scared out of the village any moment." Po adopted a noble stance and grinned down at Shifu, just as the red panda poked the Dragon Warrior in his side roughly.
"Pay attention, Po," said Shifu. "This isn't the time for your antics. We need that arm of yours bandaged if we are going to make any head way here. We have got to get a patrol out on the streets to find and quietly follow them to wherever they are hiding out. I will alert Monkey that he is to follo…"
Po felt weak again. This time was worse than before, as Po winced, his head exploding in pain. "Master… Shifu… What's going… on? Can't focus…" The giant pandas head slumped forward and at the exact moment his back stiffened. It appeared, with his large eyelids closed, he had fallen asleep standing up! Suddenly, the Dragon Warriors head snapped up and his face quickly turned to Shifu, however, not once did Po move his body from the neck, down. Then Po opened his eyes and mouth. As he did, a bright golden light beamed them and through a wide open and motionless mouth did the golden light speak, the voice coming almost is a low and dangerous growl.
"We made a deal, Shifu," the voice proclaimed loudly. "Should they find and read the scroll, both spirit and vessel will die, and I shall be ripped from this body, destroying it as well. Should this happen, the darkness shall come and all will be cloaked. Perhaps you made and error in summoning me?"
Shifu, stone-faced and unshaken, replied calmly to the strange voice possessing his student. "I made no mistake, Dragon of heavenly winds, but you must not flee your vessel! Just give my students more time to prepare. We can keep the Scroll of Heavens from harm, I assure you!"
The light began to fade from the Dragon Warriors eyes and mouth. As it did so, the spirit call back one last time before Po crumpled to the floor.
"I have learned much it the eons of my life, the first of which for mortals is the only assurance they offer is that they die…"
