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A second after Shifu's sudden rant, the tense atmosphere was tripled. Tigress stood up from her chair, her posture suddenly aggressive. Po's grip slackened on the dumpling he was holding. Xian's mouth opened slightly.
Inexplicably, Tujiu chuckled.
"Excellent work, detective Shifu." He said. "You finally figured it out. I was just about to confront him myself."
"Silence, you!" Shifu shot him a look. "You're not off the hook yet!"
"Monkey, is this true?" Tigress snarled. "Are you keeping something from us?"
Monkey didn't answer her as Tujiu continued to speak.
"Really, Shifu, you should learn to stop holding my past mistakes against me." Tujiu sighed. "Because I'm not the one hiding something. All I know I learned from observing the famous Master Monkey."
All faces turned to the primate.
"Monkey, if you know something then you had better tell us." Xian said coldly. "Or I will have you locked away for a long time if we get out of this alive."
"Hang on a sec, there's no law against keeping secrets!" Mantis exclaimed quickly.
"He is withholding information from the emperor." Colonel Sao said. "Technically that's treason."
The bug fell silent.
"I do not know what you are talking about." Monkey said. He did not move away from the wall. When Shifu took a step towards him he moved away from the wall and towards a small table carrying an urn. "I don't know anything."
Po remembered that night when he had witnessed Shifu questioning Monkey outside his room. He remembered their conversation in the kitchen the day before they left the Valley. His throat throbbed from the bruises. His chest and face began to feel hot.
"Monkey, if you know what that thing is, then you need to tell us!" Viper spoke up angrily.
"I don't know anything!" Monkey repeated.
"You may not know anything, but I do." Tujiu said with the smallest of smirks. "For example, did you know that one of the greatest dangers in the Himalayas are hidden crevasses? One wrong step and you fall to your death."
"And that is relevant how?" Tigress asked testily.
"Also, did you know that the thin air is all that keeps us from reaching the very top of this fortress? Even for birds like me?" Tujiu went on, ignoring Tigress in a way that annoyed the panda.
"You will hold your tongue if you know what's good for you!" Xian said.
"Hold on, your highness. I have one more fact." Tujiu said. "Did you know that a certain commander Shan and his entire unit was massacred in these very mountains fifteen years ago? Killer or killers still unknown."
Monkey turned on the general.
"Leave my father out of this!" He yelled.
A second later, Monkey's legs were swept out from under him, and Shifu's staff was pinning him to the floor by the chest.
"Tell us what you know!" Shifu ordered.
"I'm not telling you anything!"
"MONKEY!"
Shocked silence filled the room at the sudden shout, a shout full of rage, frustration, and fear.
It hadn't come from Monkey. It hadn't come from Shifu. It hadn't even come from Xian.
"Monkey…" Po repeated softly. His sore throat burned. He looked down at Monkey with a pleading expression.
Monkey stared at his friend, and he wasn't the only one. Never in all their years of knowing the panda had they ever heard him roar like that. Even Shifu had been shocked into silence.
"Monkey… please… stop lying to us." Po said. "We aren't going to judge you if you tell us the truth. I'm your friend, Monkey. I'm your brother. But people are dying. Dozens of soldiers are dead. We have been attacked three times in the three days we've been here. Su was almost burned alive today. If you don't start telling us what you know then I'm gonna have to make you."
Monkey's expression was unreadable. Shifu kept his staff pressed against the primate's chest.
"Are you going to tell us the truth now?" Shifu asked.
Monkey sighed with thinly sadly sadness.
"Could you let me up, first?" He asked.
Shifu hesitated before complying.
It remembered now.
As it ascended the slope, taking the safe path devoid of crevasses hidden beneath thick blankets of snow, it remembered the young primate that had eluded its grasp fifteen years ago. As it neared its hiding place, it wondered if this changed things. An enemy only doing their job was one thing. An enemy with a personal grudge was something else.
By the time it reached the lair, it decided that in terms of its mission, this changed nothing.
Monkey didn't bother getting up from the floor.
Instead he sat on the cold stone, fully aware of everyone's eyes trained on him, waiting for him to start talking. But it was so hard… so hard to get his tongue to start working. He had never told the full story of what had happened that night fifteen years ago, not even to Master Oogway. Not even to Mantis. He momentarily locked eyes with the patiently waiting Po, and remembered the panda's speech barely a minute ago. He found his voice.
"General Tujiu is right." He said. "My father and his men were killed… no… murdered fifteen years ago… they were on a mission to wipe out the remains of a defeated warlord's army. General's orders." Xian frowned, but no-one noticed.
Monkey fell silent again. After a few seconds, Shifu began to lose patience.
"Monkey, we're waiting!"
"I'm sorry…" Monkey sighed again. "I… I just don't know where to start…"
"Why don't we start with the massacre?" Tujiu said. "I'm sure everyone would love to hear the details."
"Shut it, bird brain!" Po snapped angrily. "Monkey, why don't you just tell us what you know about the massacre? It might give us some clues."
Monkey didn't look at him.
"I'll try…" He said. "But I'm not sure I…"
"You were there, weren't you?" Tigress said. "I can see it in your face."
Monkey nodded.
"You're right. I wasn't there when it actually happened… but I saw the aftermath…"
He remembered the bodies… the blood… the stalagmite protruding from his father's chest…
"No wonder you didn't want to tell anyone." Po's sorrowful words distracted Monkey from his gruesome thoughts.
"I'm sorry." Monkey said. "Is it okay if I start from the beginning?"
Shifu and Po nodded.
"As I said before, my father and his unit had gone out into the Himalayas on a mission. Me and my family were staying in a village at the base of the mountains because it was closer to our relative's place. For a few days, everything was fine. But then a message came stating that the army camp was under attack. I hid in a cart while another unit went up to investigate. When we got there…" He stopped, deciding it would be easier if he left out the details at this point in the story.
"I won't traumatize you with the details. A massacre. No survivors. You get the idea."
"Were there any similarities between the massacre and the deaths occurring here?" Shifu asked. All of his anger had ben spent. "After all, it may not be the same killer."
"Dismembered limbs, broken bones. One of my father's metal swords was missing. Obviously the work of a super strong creature with a penchant for trinkets."
"Hang on, I thought you have both swords in our room?" Mantis asked.
"It was recovered from the mountains a few months ago. I don't know the rest." Monkey replied. "And there's more… I saw it."
"Saw what?"
"I saw the monster. Big. Domed head. Dark fur. Looks like a cross between a gorilla and a big cat. Definitely the same killer."
"Woah." Crane muttered.
"Yeah, I only just got away."
"If you encountered the creature, then what became of the soldiers who you travelled there with?" Tigress asked.
"Most of them survived. You see, a small group went into the caves near the camp to search for survivors. Only one of them survived, and was written off as crazy when he claimed it was a demon that had attacked them."
"What you tell them?" Tigress asked.
"I told them that it was a monster. Believe or not, they found that more believable. Not even Tai Lung could have butchered like that."
Po gulped.
"After that, I was taken back to the village, and my family was told what had happened. We pretty much fell apart after that. My mother never fully recovered, and my brother… well, you all know what he turned into."
Po nodded silently, and Monkey knew he was remembering that night when he had met Wu Kong for the first time. In fact, all his friends were remembering. Viper looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Monkey, I'm sorry about your father, but can you please tell us what this creature is now?" Xian asked.
Monkey decided to finally get up from the floor at that moment. He grabbed an empty chair and sat down.
"I'm getting there, your highness…" He said calmly. Somehow, seeing all his friends' expressions, ranging from sorrowful, to sympathetic, to compassionate, was having a soothing effect on him. At that moment, he felt foolish, moronically foolish for lying to them for so long. He owed them better than that. "After my father's death, my family decided to return to China. The day before our departure, I was walking through the marketplace, when I overheard two old men talking about the massacre. At first, I tried to ignore them, but then I heard one of them mention Bun Machi."
"Bun Machi?" Shifu tilted his head.
"I didn't know what it was either, but I knew it was Nepali for 'jungle man'. I hadn't heard anyone else mention it when talking about the massacre, so I asked the two men what they were talking about."
Everyone leaned forward slightly.
"They said it was a creature that lived deep in the Himalayas. It possessed the strength of five gorillas. Its skull was shaped like a dome. Very few men had seen it and lived to tell about it."
The room was now completely devoid of sound.
"It goes by different names, depending on the region. In Tibet, it's known as the Yeti, or Migoi. People having been searching for it for centuries."
"A big monster with a dome shaped head." Po said. "Looks like there's no doubt about it."
"I have heard tales of this monster myself." Shifu said. "But I had dismissed them as nonsense to the point I had completely forgotten until now."
"Monkey, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Tigress demanded.
"I think you know why." Monkey replied. "Before, when my family returned to China, I was content to let it go so long I was as far away from these mountains as possible… but when Shifu told us about our mission when we were back in the palace…"
SLAM!
Everyone jumped, but Shifu had merely rammed the bottom of the staff on the floor.
"No!" He snapped. "I forbid you to risk everyone's lives by foolishly pursuing this creature!"
Monkey glared at the red panda, suddenly furious.
"Master…"
"I am sorry about what happened to your father, but it does not change the fact that you lied to us and in the process put every single one of us in danger, including a little girl and the emperor himself! Until this Yeti is killed you are not to go anywhere on your own, is that clear?!"
"You can't-"
"Monkey!" Tigress snapped. "The more you obsess with revenge, the more you put us at risk!"
"Besides, if we're quick we can leave this place without any more bloodshed!" Po put in.
"What?" Shifu stared at the panda.
"Do you remember what I told you?" Po said. "The Yeti said that it was planning to kill me to send a message to the rest of you that it was giving you one last chance to leave the mountain before it kills you all. I think it's safe to say that if we leave now, we won't be leaving in pieces."
There was a heavy pause. It was obvious that everyone was considering this.
"I don't know." Xian said. "It could be a trick."
"Well if it isn't, we'd better decide quickly whether we leave or stay." Po said. "The Yeti made it very clear that this is our last chance."
"I think many of the soldiers will be glad to get out of here." Tujiu said. "I don't know about some of the others, though. They may wish to avenge their comrades. I personally don't want to run away like a coward."
"There's no dishonor in retreating if there is a good reason for it." Shifu said. "And I'd say that preventing any more unnecessary deaths is a very good reason indeed." He turned away from Monkey. "In any case, Emperor Xian, it's your call."
Xian rested his elbows on the table as a myriad of thoughts ran through his head. Eventually he looked up.
"I will need to think about this. We have time. This Yeti creature is smart, so if it is willing to allow us to leave safely, it must know that it will take time to make preparations for departure. Give me until tomorrow morning to make a decision."
"Very well." Shifu nodded respectfully. "We will wait for you." He turned back to Monkey. "Monkey, is there anything else you need to tell us?"
"Yeah, you haven't told us how we can stop the Yeti, yet." Po said.
Monkey lowered his gaze.
"I'm sorry. That I don't know." He said. "That monster is so shrouded in mystery, and there is no record of one being defeated. If that thing that a weakness, then you're going to have to find it yourselves."
"And you are going to help us!" Shifu replied. "Unless you want me to confine you to the fortress's prison, which is still in very good condition apparently, then you will push all thoughts of revenge to the back of your mind!"
Monkey scowled, but wisely kept quiet.
"Well then, I guess all there is left to do is return to our rooms." Xian said. "Whether we decide to leave or stay, we all will need rest."
"Of course." Shifu said. "I wish to check on Su, anyway. Tigress, are you sure your shoulder is alright?" He added when he saw her grip her injury with a wince.
"I'm fine, Master. But it won't stop bleeding."
"I believe Di Tan knows how to brew a tonic that will stop the bleeding." Xian said. "He should still be with the girl."
"Oh." Sao said suddenly. "I thought she was on her own."
Tigress and Po looked up sharply, causing Sao to step back in alarm.
The atmosphere was once again more than a little tense.
"Po, Tigress, is everything okay?" Viper asked.
"Nothing important." Tigress said. "We'll tell you later."
Shifu did not miss the glance she gave him, indicating that whatever got them both so agitated was something he needed to know.
"Tigress?" Po said. "I think the blood's starting to seep through the bandage."
"We'd better get going." Shifu said. Po blinked when he noted the worry in the red panda's tone.
Come to think of it, Shifu had occasionally been acting odd around Tigress since they had left the Valley of Peace.