"Mantis, are you alright?"
"DO I BLOODY LOOK ALRIGHT?!"
Mantis was looking thoroughly miserable as he clung to dear life on Crane's back, with nothing but a piece of string connecting his torso to one of Crane's legs keeping him from being blown away.
Crane, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. He couldn't remember the last time he had flown in weather like this. The wind ruffled his feathers in rippling patterns, pushed his flight feathers to the very limits of their durability. It blew from behind the avian, giving him that little extra speed and Mantis that little extra terror. It was a thrilling sensation, and despite the situation he was loving every moment of it.
Almost every moment. He was still missing his hat, and even though there was no snow he was having trouble seeing. Night had fallen, and the wind was so fierce there was no point in trying to light a lamp. There was also a small bag of extra supplies weighing him down slightly.
He flapped several times, actually feeling the heavier pressure below his wings and the lighter pressure above allowing him to lift higher into the air as his eyes scanned the land below for signs of his comrades.
"Mantis, quit writing your will and start looking!" Crane shouted. He heard Mantis muttering and felt his appendages on his shoulders as the bug adjusted himself so he could peek over Crane's head. "The storm's going to start any minute!"
"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!"
"And quit shouting in my ear!"
When Mantis didn't reply, Crane turned his attention back to the mountainside. He angled his wings so they pushed down the air, allowing him to glide rather than tire himself with continued flapping.
"We're coming up to the cave entrance!" Crane said. Indeed, on a sloped rocky face a hundred feet ahead he could see a small black hole. "According to Shifu they may be around here somewhere!"
"HEY, THERE THEY ARE!" Mantis suddenly hollered.
"What!?" Where?"
"Right below us, look!"
Crane looked down. Sure enough, he saw a lean orange figure and a round black and white figure far below.
But no small snake-like green figure. Crane's heart sank.
"Hold on!" He said, and made his way down to the pair.
"Guys!" He yelled as he touched down. "Guys!"
"Crane?!" Po's jaw dropped at the unexpected sight of his friends. "What the heck are you guys doing here?"
"Guys, where's Viper!"
"We don't know." Tigress replied with a downcast expression.
"What do you mean you don't know?!"
"She means that we got separated when me and Tigress fell down a crevasse. We found a way out in a completely different area and now we can't find her!"
"Brilliant!" Mantis groaned. "Now we've got to find Viper as well?"
"Shut up, Mantis!" Crane retorted.
"Crane, why are you here?" Tigress demanded.
"No time to explain, you guys are in big trouble!" Crane said quickly as Mantis rubbed his legs in an attempt to warm them up. "There's a big blizzard about to hit any second and if you don't find a cave or something right now, you're going to die!"
"And you came to tell us about this now?!" Tigress yelled.
"Listen, there's a cave about north east from here, about a hundred feet away!" Crane said. He pointed in the cave's direction.
"How do you know about it?" Tigress asked. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Probably not!" Crane said. Even down on the ground he had to shout over the wind. "It's actually the back entrance to the lost city of Shambhala. Oh, and it's probably the Yeti's secret lair."
"The Yeti's WHAT?!" Po yelled.
"What do you mean it's the back entrance to the lost city of Shambhala?" Tigress questioned, looking almost as stunned.
"Again, no time to explain!" Crane said. "You've got to get to the cave!"
"But what if it is the Yeti's-"
Po stopped talking when he felt a snowflake strike his nose.
"Huh?" He looked up. He saw snow beginning to blow down from the sky along with the wind. "Hey, I think the storm's about to start!"
"Here it comes!" Crane yelled as snow blew in their faces and nearly blinded them. "Get to the cave, now!"
"But-"
"Come on, Po!" Tigress yelled, grabbing his arm and dragging him in the direction Crane had pointed to.
"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Mantis yelled. "Let me just untie myself…"
"You guys go on ahead!" Crane yelled after them. "I'm going to find Viper!"
He began to flap his wings.
"Crane, hang on! I haven't untied myself yet, wait a minAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…"
The storm had come.
The Yeti grunted in mild annoyance as he shoved the sack of powder kegs into a crack in between two massive boulders. There were nearly a dozen of these holes within a three mile radius of his cave, and over the years he had found them very useful for hiding things he would rather not risk keeping in the lair.
The snow blowing at his back stuck to his fur like dust particles, yet the cold did not penetrate. However, he knew he would have to return to the cave. Not just to escape the storm, but to check up on the foundry. The two molds and their contents must surely have cooled by now, and he had to check on them as quickly as possible. Then he would wait out the storm until it passed and he could move on to the next stage of his plan.
The Yeti pushed the sack further into the crack until he was sure that it was completely hidden. Then he shoved some snow onto the crack for good measure. Then he turned and faced the snow and the wind and the darkness of the night.
The sprinting-speed pace he was most comfortable with would be unwise. In this weather, it was difficult to see several feet in front of him. He would have to move a little slower, still running but slow enough so that he could better look at his surroundings, the stony landscape he knew like the back of his hand.
The Yeti brushed the snow off his face and started moving.
Half-blinded by the blizzard. Tigress shoved Po up over the edge of the rocky ledge, quickly pulling herself up after him.
"Tigress, look!" Po pointed across the ledge, which appeared to be ten foot across, towards what might just be the mouth of a cave. "I think this is it, come on!"
They both practically threw themselves through the cave entrance, and at once felt relief that they could no longer feel the biting cold wind assaulting their skin, fur and clothes.
"Dang, that's one heck of a storm!" Po exclaimed as he looked towards the mouth, where the wind and snow was still blowing violently outside. He blew on his paws and stamped his feet. "It's a good thing Crane warned us about that storm when he did!"
"Po, where's that lantern? It's a little dark in here." Tigress said.
"I've got it right here… hang on…" Suddenly there was a soft golden glow in the darkness that turned out to be Po's finger glowing with hero's chi. Po gave her a reassuring grin and stuck the finger into the lantern. At once it began to glow on its own.
"Okay, we're here." Po said as his finger stopped glowing. "What do we do now?"
"We wait for Crane." Tigress replied.
"Do you think he, Mantis and Viper will be okay?" Po asked worriedly.
"Yes." Tigress replied. "Crane has flown through weather like this before, and he and Mantis know the path we've been taking. They'll know to follow that path to look for Viper."
"But what if they can't make it back here?"
"Po, the area where we got separated from Viper is full of caves. I'm sure they'll find a place to wait out the storm. And Viper has your pack of supplies, remember?"
Po nodded, but he still looked concerned.
"Po." Tigress stepped towards Po. She put a paw on his shoulder. "They're going to be okay."
Po didn't smile.
"Tigress… I…" Po noticed something over Tigress's shoulder.
"Look, I know you're worried. We both are. But right now we can't afford to be distracted." Tigress said firmly. "We can't stay here."
"What?! Why not?"
"Po, this is very likely the Yeti's lair." Tigress's eyes narrowed. "And with a storm like this, it won't be long before it decides to return to base."
Po turned pale.
"So what? We risk going back out there and freezing to death?"
"I didn't say that. Do you remember what Crane said?"
"You'll have to be more specific."
Tigress scowled.
"He said that this cave is likely a back door to a lost city." She said. "I have no idea where he got that from, but if it's true we have to find it."
"Why?"
"Because an abandoned city makes a far better hiding place than a cave. If we can find this back entrance and enter the city without the Yeti realizing we're here, we might be able to hide in one of the buildings until the storm passes." Tigress explained. "Don't give me that look, it's the only plan we've got!"
"Alright, alright… wait, how do you know it's abandoned?"
"Because if the city was full of people, there would be a hell of a lot more than just one Yeti guarding it."
"Point taken. Let's start looking."
Most unusually for a cave that was supposed to be a monster's lair, the place was mostly bare. It wasn't a traditional cave, the kind that was basically a massive single tunnel. It had been split up by naturally formed walls into a single large cavern and two smaller caverns on both sides, almost like a tiny house. The only point of interest was a pair of holes, a larger hold above the smaller hole, in the wall opposite the entrance that bore more than a passing resemblance to shelves. In fact there were two bloodstained imperial army helmets, a single scroll and a small bronze statue of a meditating tiger sitting inside them.
"You know, for a monster's lair it doesn't smell very bad." Po pointed out. Tigress chose to ignore him. "Bang goes my childhood."
"Excuse me?"
"In every monster story I've been told when I was a kid, the monster's lair always smells like something died in it!" Po was actually sulking. "Sucks to know that I've been lied to all those years!"
Tigress stared at Po, then took a deep breath.
"I like you, Po, but forgive me when I say that it's going to be a long time before I can master the art of talking to you."
"You're forgiven."
"Can we get back to searching?" Tigress said. "If we haven't found the back door by now, then there may be a switch somewhere."
"Like in the water chamber in the Temple of Heroes?"
"Yeah, like that."
"Hey, you remember in the water chamber, where there was a flooded room with a hole in the ceiling you could only see through its reflection in a giant mirror?" Po asked.
"Yeah. Are you saying there may be an invisible door somewhere?"
"No, but maybe we shouldn't be focusing on the walls so much."
"Good idea. You take the floor and I'll take the ceiling." Tigress said, slightly annoyed that she hadn't thought of that herself.
Po got down on his paws and knees while Tigress leapt up and dug her claws into the stone ceiling.
After an indeterminate time searching, Po called out.
"Hey, check this out!"
Tigress leapt down and joined Po in the center of the main cave, getting down on her paws and knees beside him. The panda was focused on the stone floor, wiping away the dust and dirt that covered it. In minutes he had uncovered a large circular swirling pattern on the cold flat surface.
"That doesn't look natural, does it?" Po asked.
"No. Good work, Po." Tigress said.
Their shoulders bumped against each other as they worked together to clear the floor, a pleasant warm contact compared to the snow still matting their fur.
A few moments later they leant back on their knees, rubbing their blackened paws. The circular engraving was now the size of the Jade Palace Moon Pool.
"Awesome!" Po said. "Hey, what's that tiny hole in the middle?"
The pair leant forward. Indeed, there was a small hole in the center of the engraving.
"Looks like you need to put something in there." Po said. "Tigress, it looks like your claws might fit. Give it a try."
Tigress wordlessly unsheathed a claw and inserted it into the hole.
Suddenly the floor collapsed.
The pair of them was too surprised to scream or make any other noise before they plummeted into the darkness. At first, all they felt was the cold air rushing past them, then pain as they struck an angled stone surface and began tumbling over and over down a steep slope, then more pain as they reached the bottom and skidded to a stop across the rough surface.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Tigress groaned and got to her feet.
"Po?" She asked after checking herself and finding only a torn sleeve on her coat. "Po, are you okay?"
Po moaned loudly and rolled over onto his stomach.
"Owww…" He muttered. "What the heck was that?"
"Obviously a trap to catch the unwary." Tigress looked up at the hole they had just fallen through. A stone door hung down the side of the tube like a trapdoor. "The circular pattern had made us expect a staircase or something."
"And it worked." Po groaned and stood up. "You alright?"
"Yes." Tigress and Po turned to face the single stone corridor that lay ahead of them. "After you."
Side by side, they cautiously crept through the stone tunnel. As they walked, the tunnel walls gradually became less rough and ragged and more smooth and evidently man-made. Carvings of magnificent cities could be made out despite their being faded with age. Soon enough a faint light could been seen at the end, pale white like the moon.
They reached the end of the corridor. They took in the sight before them.
"Wow…" Po whispered. Tigress merely stared. "This… is… AWESOME!"