Po smirked in satisfaction. His foe wasn't coming back anytime soon.
He lowered his crossbow, doused the flame, and quickly ran over to Di Tan and Xian.
"Are you guys okay?" He asked. "That creep didn't hurt you or anything, did he-"
His stomach lurched when he saw Xian's injuries.
"Oh my… what happened to him?" The panda demanded.
"Tujiu!" Di Tan replied angrily. He kept both wings pressed against Xian's arm, which was by far the most drenched part of his body.
"We're fine!" Di Tan said sharply. "Now would you kindly find a medic, please?"
Po grimaced, all satisfaction gone.
"I can't. Someone nerve attacked all the soldiers and I haven't learned how to undo it yet!"
"Well find someone who can!" Di Tan yelled. "Can't you see he's dying?!"
Indeed, Xian was practically limp, and his eyes were barely open.
Po paced around a little. He had absolutely no idea where Shifu was, or if he was still alive. What was he going to do?
And that was when the best thing possible happened. He heard a very shocked shout from across the throne room.
"PANDA?!"
"Master Shifu!"
Po spun around and then- SMACK!
Po yelled and clapped both paws over the angry thin red mark on his belly. Shifu twirled his staff and fixed Po with and equally angry glare.
"Where have you been, panda?!" He yelled. Several feet behind him were Su, Viper and Crane. Viper and Crane both looked pale, as if they had seen a ghost.
Po gulped, but inwardly wasn't that surprised. After all, he and Tigress should have been back days ago.
"Shifu, I'm sorr-"
"Darn right you're sorry! We were worried sick! This is the second time in two years that you've had me scared to death! Where is Tigress?!"
Tears still in his eyes, Po didn't answer right away, and naturally Shifu got the wrong idea.
"What's wrong?" He demanded, suddenly looking a lot less furious. "What aren't you telling me?"
Po stomach was stinging like crazy, and when he spoke it came out pained.
"She's okay… she's good…"
"Where is she, Po?" Viper asked. "Po?"
Po rubbed his eyes. Shifu looked like he was going to be sick. His legs seemed to weaken and he leaned on his staff for support.
"No… not Tigress…"
Po realized his mistake.
"Ah! No! No, I mean she's okay! As in alive! Not dead! Alive! Not dead!"
"Oh thank you god." Viper gasped, and an equally relieved Crane gently nudged her with a grin. Su was looking very happy.
When Po looked down at Shifu again the red panda had regained his composure, though Po could have sworn that he had just rubbed something from his eye.
"That's… good to hear." He said softly. "Where is she?"
"Oh, she's-"
"OH DON'T MIND US!" Di Tan suddenly shouted. "JUST LET XIAN DIE, WHY DON'T YOU?"
In two seconds they were all at Xian's side, cursing themselves for getting distracted. The emperor was barely breathing.
"Po, where is everyone?" Shifu demanded. "Where is Master Eagle Jr.?"
Once Po explained, a very shaken looking Shifu set off at once to begin the long process of paralyzing dozens of soldiers, taking Po with him. Before leaving he gave the following orders: Crane would go retrieve Sao from the underground passage and then search for Mantis, who according to Di Tan had left to find out what was taking the imperial army so long to arrive and hadn't returned. Meanwhile, Viper and Di Tan would remain in the throne room to keep Xian stable, and Su would stay with them.
Once Shifu, Po and Crane set out to do their respective tasks, Di Tan and Viper told Su to keep her distance from Xian so she wouldn't have too good a view of his injuries. Su did as she was told, and took an interest in the pieces of black armor scattered on the floor several feet away.
"What's all this?" She asked softly, casting a nervous glance at Xian.
"I'll explain later, don't look at him!" Viper called back.
"Sorry." Su turned away. She picked up a large piece of metal and held it up to her face. Despite the scorch marks she could see her reflection. A small scared white face with small black ears and blue eyes that stood out against her black eye markings. She gently touched her cheek, and the little girl staring back at her did the same. She saw no signs of tears. Someone must have rubbed her face clean while she was out. How did she end up in that weird room anyway? And what had been inside that scary big box with the big needles? Where had she seen that box before?
Oh yeah, I saw a schematic of it back in the temple-
Su blinked and her reflection blinked back.
Temple? Where the heck did that come from?
When Master Mantis had ran out of patience and went to find out what was taking Eagle Jr. so long, the last person he had expected to meet was the Yeti.
The most embarrassing thing was that their fight had last one second, if it could even be called a fight. The 'fight' had lasted only two hits: Mantis's opponent hitting him and Mantis hitting the floor. The sound of his body smacking against the cold surface was the last thing he remembered.
His last thought was that he hoped no-one had seen such a humiliating defeat.
What felt like mere seconds after the fight, Mantis felt someone prodding his chest.
"Mantis." A distant voice echoed. "Mantis, wake up."
Mantis didn't want to wake up. His body felt sore all over and he was just moments from slipping into a dream about his girlfriend, Anming. But then he was prodded again. And again. Then whoever was bothering him tried something else.
"Mantis, Po's using your bo-staff as a toothpick again."
Mantis's eyes shot open.
"I'LL KILL THAT BIG FURRY- Monkey?"
Mantis's jaw dropped. He was lying sprawled on the floor, staring right up at his friend of ten years, Monkey.
Monkey looked like he had seen better days. He had a black eye, his fur was in desperate need of a good combing over and was covered in dirt and half-melted snow.
"Monkey?" Mantis muttered again.
Monkey smirked at Mantis's dumbfounded expression.
"Yep. It's Monkey."
"Is this real, or am I still unconscious?"
"You can pinch yourself if you want."
Mantis shook his head. Shock became relief. Relief became anger. His eyes narrowed.
"No. I have a better idea."
He grabbed Monkey's ear, and before the primate could react proceeded to perform a reenactment of his first ever sparring match with Po, this time with a little more flair and more than a few profanities. When he was done he slammed Monkey flat on the floor, leapt onto his chest and got right in his face.
"Don't ever run off like that again!" He yelled.
Monkey nodded slowly, then grinned stupidly. He had been flung on his head several times and wasn't thinking straight.
"Wipe that grin off your face! If you ever run off and abandon us again, I'll hunt you down and stick my staff up your furry big behind!" Mantis froze and his eyes bulged. "Not a word, I heard it as soon as I said it."
"I think I'd prefer a beating, if that's okay with you." Monkey replied. By then his head had cleared and he didn't dare laugh.
Mantis got off and Monkey got up.
"Let me guess." Mantis spoke dryly. "You're here to kill the monster that's been making our lives hell."
Monkey tilted his eyes up to the ceiling, thinking for a moment.
"Nah. Not anymore."
Mantis glared at him skeptically. Monkey paced a little to the side.
"Let's just say that a brother of mine convinced me that it wasn't worth it. Besides, I managed to stick an arrow in him as he was leaving. It nearly went all the way through. I don't think he's ever going to forget it."
Monkey turned back round to face Mantis, and the bug saw that his eyes looked very shiny. And full of remorse.
"I'm sorry for putting you… putting everyone in danger."
Mantis sighed. He couldn't stay mad at his best friend any longer.
"Hey, he did kill your dad." He admitted. "That's pretty rough."
"Yeah, but it wasn't worth it. It never was. The worst thing about it is it took me nearly a week to see that."
Mantis leapt on Monkey's shoulder and playfully nudged his face.
"Hey, lighten up! We did it, didn't we? We beat that Yeti and we're still alive!"
"True…"
"Hey, what happened while I was out? What happened to the Yeti?"
"He ran off right after I shot him. I don't think he's in the fortress anymore."
Mantis and Monkey both decided they weren't going to go after the creature.
"Where are the others?"
"Po's alive. I don't know what happened to Tigress. Shifu, Crane and Viper are okay. Xian's alive, but he's seriously injured and I think Di Tan is with him. I think Su's okay. Tujiu's dead and Sao is in custody. Eagle Jr. and the army's been nerve attacked."
"Wait, what?" Mantis stared. "How can anyone aside from Tai Lung nerve attack a small army?"
Monkey shrugged. Mantis sighed and slumped against Monkey's head, still feeling sore.
"So now what?" He asked.
Monkey shrugged again.
"Would you like some time alone? I mean, you did just face your dad's killer."
"No, I've been alone for long enough."
"Okay."
The two guys leaned against a pillar.
"You said Shifu's okay, didn't you?" Mantis asked.
Monkey nodded.
"I think he'll be turning up any minute now."
They turned their heads to look at each other.
"Let's run away and hide forever." Said Monkey.
"Yeah, let's." Said Mantis.
Yet they were still there when Shifu and Po entered the entrance hall.
The next few minutes could only divided into three stages. Stage one: Shifu and Po were shocked and relieved to see Monkey again. Po gave Monkey a hug while Shifu merely stared. Stage two: Shifu shouted so loud dust fell from the ceiling, while Monkey cringed and Mantis and Po looked on in sympathy. Stage three: Shifu told Monkey that once they returned to the Valley of Peace he would be put up to spar against Po, Mantis, Viper, Crane, Tigress and Shifu, in that order.
And he would be the only one not allowed to use a weapon.
Then he sent Monkey to find Crane and let him know Mantis was alright, and he forbade him from fighting back should Crane decide to give him a hiding.
Shifu, Po and Mantis stepped through the blown apart entrance doors, and it took Po a little while to explain how he managed to destroy the wreckage blocking the doors and penetrated the Yeti's armor. As he explained, Shifu and Mantis set to work paralyzing all the soldiers, starting with the nearest medic who they quickly sent to do what he could to help Xian.
"…And then the Yeti ran off, and I haven't seen him since." Po said. "A minute later you turned up."
"How badly did you wound it?" Shifu asked.
"Pretty bad. It's shoulder looked destroyed. I don't think it's enough to kill it though." Po sounded more than a little relieved; evidently he was still uncomfortable with the idea of killing. He waited for Shifu's reply, worried for how badly he would react.
"Wipe that frown off your face, panda." Shifu scolded as he freed another soldier and sent him to sit with the rest. "You did more than enough through defeating that monster alone. You've made me proud."
Po smiled in appreciation. Then he put his wok-hat back on his head.
"Okay, I'd probably better get going now."
Shifu stopped in the middle of paralyzing the second medic.
"You're leaving?! The hell you are!"
"Tigress." Po replied simply. Shifu fell silent at once. "She's still badly hurt, and I promised her I would come back once I've helped you guys out."
The pair of them didn't speak for a while. Several feet away, Mantis could sense that he shouldn't interfere, and continued tapping pressure points on soldier after soldier. Still, the atmosphere was very uncomfortable.
"Go ahead, then." Shifu spoke briskly.
"You're not coming?"
"I have to take care of things here. I'm sorry." He looked utterly remorseful. "I hope she will understand."
"She will, Shifu." Po grinned assuredly. "She always did."
Shifu glared up at the panda, as if outraged by his remark.
"Really? She really understands why I failed her again and again?! How dare you-"
Po held up a paw, silencing Shifu with his own gesture.
"You know, up in the mountains me and Tigress had a very long talk about you." Po said slyly. "I forget most of it, 'cause you know, you always say I have a short attention span, but anyway… she's understood you ever since Oogway told her about Tai Lung-"
"So that's how she found out…"
"Let me finish. Ever since I defeated Tai Lung and you stopped being such a big stick in a mud, Tigress has been seriously thinking about pursuing a closer relationship. But she's scared you won't wanna reciprocate."
To say Shifu looked thunderstruck was putting it lightly. Po, on the other hand, looked positively ecstatic.
"And judging from the totally awesome look on your face, I'd say you feel the same way!" Then his face fell and he twiddled his thumbs. "Which all sounds romantic but I didn't mean it that way. Anyway, I think I'm gonna go now and give Tigress the good news. See ya later!"
Back to his cheerful self, Po waved to Mantis and rushed to the hole in the wall. He was gone before Shifu could get over the shock and call him back.
A small smile was just beginning to form on his face when a recently unparalyzed and irate Master Eagle Jr. stormed up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, demanding to see Xian. Pushing thought of Tigress to the back of his mind for now, Shifu personally escorted Eagle Jr. to the throne room while Mantis continued to tend to the soldiers.
When they reached the throne room, Shifu's blood froze.
Su was sitting on the large throne, being a good girl as always and staying out of the way. Viper, Di Tan and the medic were hunched over Xian, all three muttering under panicked breaths. Xian was lying flat out on the ground, utterly limp. His eyes were shut and he didn't look like he was breathing.
"No…" Shifu whispered. "Nononono…"
"WHAT THE GODDAMN HELL HAPPENED?!" Eagle Jr. roared and rushed over.
"Not now!" The medic snapped. "Please, his highness can't afford to lose any more blood! Everyone in the room please place pressure on one of his injuries while I begin the surgery!"
They swiftly did as they were told, pressing their limbs down on the four worst areas of Xian's body. Shifu pushed his hands down on Xian's arm. His sleeve had been completely removed, and the gash on Xian's upper arm was clearly visible and still leaking blood. An artery had almost certainly been damaged. The wound was large enough that despite Shifu's efforts blood continued to trickle down Xian's arm. Though Shifu urged the medic to hurry up and get started, he felt sick inside. Xian would almost certainly die.
Once again, Shifu had failed one of his own students. He wanted nothing more than to run away, to completely cast aside his title so he wouldn't be able to let anyone down ever again, but the wound beneath his hands stopped him.
A pair of small black furry paws pressed down on the wound next to Shifu's so no blood was leaking at all. Shifu looked up and his eyes met Su's. She looked distressed at what she was doing, but at the same time determined, as if she was being made to eat a worm as a dare.
"What?" She asked as Shifu stared at her. "He said 'everyone'."
Shifu wanted to tell her to leave before the medic began his gruesome work, but deep down he knew that her assistance was probably what Xian needed. He groaned inwardly and tried to keep his voice steady.
"Look, Su. The good doctor here is about to do something very gross. I need you to close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to, got it?"
Su shut her eyes and nodded.
"Okay." She said. "It's kinda gross now."
The medic shook his head and lowered a small thin knife to Xian's chest.
His jaw dropped at what he saw.