Well, here you go. Next chapter's ready! :) Leave a review!
Chapter Three: Shy Goose, Tactical Leopard
Zeng was a brave, loyal messenger goose of the mighty and feared members and Masters of the Jade Palace.
He was also absolutely terrified.
The massive, windowless stone castle that had finally reached his sight was carved into even more rugged stone, layered with snow in some places, sprayed with it in more secluded areas. Bulky rhinoceros guards patrolled the towers and rock restlessly. Shadows darkened the structure and the bleak clouds washed the mountain in sickly light.
Zeng swallowed hard and dove down against the wind, flapping hard to reach the frozen prison. Why did he have to be a messenger? Why couldn't he be a simple cleaning goose? He longed to scrub the Barracks clean, or dust every single artifact in the Jade Palace, or re-glue the Urn of Whispering Warriors; Zeng had learned early on that even though Master Panda was renowned for his skill in both the Tiger and Bear style of Kung Fu, he had an unintentional habit of being...clumsy, when no one was looking.
The avian shook his head at the memory of when the bear was seven years old and managed to knock it over while he was merely looking at it, so it seemed. That vase really did seem to have a grudge against both Zeng and Panda.
Too late did Zeng notice the strong downdraft of snow and whirling wind until it gusted him unfeelingly out of memory lane and onto the ledge in a heap of feathers. Out of fright, he gripped the scroll in his shaking webbed feet so hard it felt like he dented the metal casing. Two giant, intimidating shadows loomed over him, their rough, bumpy grey faces sneering at his pathetic yelp of terror.
The rhinos shoved their weapons-sturdy metal axes-into his face and snorted angry puffs of frost into the air, waiting for a single wrong move.
"Wait!" shrieked the black-feathered bird. "Wait! I have a message!"
The guards backed up and narrowed their eyes, grunting in surprise.
Zeng let out a gasp of cold air and finished, "From Master Shifu."
Chor-Ghom prison was even worse inside; dark and eerie, with torch light reflecting gruesome shadows on the monstrously huge cave walls. Or maybe it was just the yelling rhino.
"What!?"
Commander Vachir's golden horn-cap glistened with the faint shine of something well-cleaned. Funny, seeing how the rest of him wasn't quite as spotless. He boomed out the writing on the scroll in rising fury and Zeng had no choice but to follow him down the stone bridges crisscrossing hundreds of feet above the oppressively dark air.
"Double the guards! Extra precautions! Your prison may not be adequate!?" Vachir roared, and the sound echoed angrily off the inner mountain walls. Zeng tried to shrink down as the previous guards from before growled ominously behind him. He glanced longingly at the suddenly welcoming barren expanse outside and shivered out a nervous laugh.
"You doubt my prison's security?" The commander snapped the scroll shut and glared at the quaking messenger, his yellow teeth gritted in rage.
"A-Absolutely not, Commander," squeaked Zeng, rubbing his wings together. He tried to shrink even lower, but the rhino was so close he could count the wrinkles on his forehead. Impressive amount of them, actually. "Shifu does. I-I'm just the messenger." He smiled in a completely petrified way.
With a last hot, annoyed huff, Vachir turned around and directed the goose down a wide rock bridge. Zeng blinked, awed at the never-ending shadow below them, leading down to something so much more frightening than the prison. The grandness of it all quieted his whispered, "Whoa." And he peeked down, his neck craning to satisfy his mellow curiosity.
Chuckling, Vachir slapped Zeng heartily on the back and grinned at the screeching quack of shocked anxiety. "Impressive, isn't it?"
"Yes, very impressive, sir, VERY impressive," gasped the avian frantically, watching as one of his loosened feathers floated down the prison aimlessly.
"One way in," Vachir snorted, "One way out, one thousand guards, and one, mangy group of prisoners."
Zeng's trembling footsteps followed the Commander's heavy, arrogant ones to an elevator. "Yes, but those mangy prisoners work for a madman…"
"And we have the madman's general," Grunted Vachir haughtily. They stepped into an elevator and he commanded, "Take us down."
Zeng elicited a small shriek as the contraption wobbled to a start, and the rusty chains levered them downwards, towards the engulfing abyss.
Separated just by the floor of the elevator, a lone figure sneered in disgust at the panicked goose above her. She could practically smell the coward on him.
He had been essential, however. Clamped between her sharp, feline teeth was the key to her success, and the freedom of the prisoners. Feathers were truly magical.
Magical or not, they couldn't ease the spreading ache gripping her paws. She held on tight, hanging by her digging claws onto the wooden bottom of the elevator, and peered up at the feet of the messenger and commander, amber eyes slitted impatiently.
Suddenly, with a teasing guffaw, the rhino shook the mechanism's chain. Zeng shuddered and yelped, while and underneath them the figure tightened her straining grip, her ears pressed flat on her skull in irritation, tail swaying back and forth in motion with the elevator. Vachir would regret showing off, she reminded herself, delicately shifting her head to the side to see how much farther until they reached their destination.
Time had passed quickly; the slim figure twisted off from her perch in a graceful flip and landed lightly into the shadows behind , watching with keen, concentrated smugness as the odd pair clambered down to the last floor, the clang of the elevator's descent ringing through the cavern.
Yes. They would all regret it very much.
Creaking bars and metal doors slid open, revealing a small,circular stone island in the middle lightless shadow. Zeng stepped back in fear as a drawbridge groaned down from where he stood and was lowered to the other end. The chains clanked straight and taut at his sides, suspending the bridge in place.
"Oh my," he whimpered.
"Behold," Vachir bellowed satirically. "The Wolf-Warriors mighty leader; Lingdao."
"I'll, um," Zeng coughed, "I'm just going to...to wait right here." He grinned pleadingly.
Vachir pushed him forward, sure and proud and not intimidated in the least. "It's completely safe. There's nothing to worry about."
"Oof!" squawked Zeng, stumbling from the shove.
"Crossbows!" The authoritative rhino barked, "At the ready!"
"Crossbows!?" Zeng stared at the soldiers loading said weapons obediently, surrounding them and the lone prisoner.
The two approached the still, lifeless and dark-furred creature locked into a shell of green, burdening armor that resembled a tortoise. Vachir swaggered forward and flashed a full-toothed, mocking smirk.
"Hey there, tough guy," he sneered, "Did you hear? That panda you wanted to kill so badly has become the Dragon Warrior. You've failed, puppy dog. I'm sure your Master will be pleased beyond measure."
"What are you doing?!" Zeng screeched hysterically, his voice low and whiny. "Don't make him mad!"
"I can do whatever I want," scoffed Vachir, "I've got him completely immobilized." And to prove it, he stomped on the canine's ragged, fluffy tail. Zeng winced at the crunch.
The rhino laughed throatily, leaning down to Lingdao's eye level. "Aww, did the big mean whino step on your wittle bitty tail?" His tone went from light jeering to a nasty scowl, "Whaddya ya gonna do about it, one-eye?"
Zeng cringed, half expecting the red-eyed wolf to leap out and end Commander Vachir then and there. Instead, his half-lidded gaze was unnervingly cold and unmoving.
"I'm good," gulped Zeng, nodding rapidly once again. "I've seen enough. I-I'll tell Shifu he's got nothing to worry about," he wrung his wings nervously and started to waddle away quickly, Vachir flanking his side.
"No, he doesn't. The commander reassured.
"Okay, I'll tell him that. Can we please go now?" Zeng whimpered.
He hurried after the bulky rhino and into the elevator, so grateful to be out of this dreary place that he could already feel himself sweeping up the shattered pieces of the Urn of Whispering Warriors.
"Lingdao," She whispered, her back pinned against the rock wall surrounding the island. She pressed herself even further back, claws scraping silently into the stone, the feather still clasped in between her teeth.
She looked like she was scaling the wall backwards, and her knees were getting shaky from her uncomfortable position; from far away, it might of looked like she was defying gravity.
Definitely much more painful.
The guards who had loaded the crossbows weren't paying attention, so with her claws still embedded in rock; she managed to twist around, face the main prisoner and lean forward to whisper just a hint louder. Her muscles tightened and protested, but she decided to wisely ignore the agony.
"Lingdao!" Hissing quietly, the figure slunk back, her back hitting the wall hard, and her barbed claws nearly tearing themselves out of place from the impact. One of the guards had moved, but it had been a false alarm. She crouched back into her spider-like position and grasped the bare wall desperately for any nick to hold.
The wolf, meanwhile, was not responding.
The feline rolled her crimson-amber eyes in agitation, feeling herself scratch white lines into the rough stone surface behind her as she slipped down another inch. Just a few more minutes, just some time for him to notice her….
She grit her teeth, frustrated and anxious, and growled in a low tone she knew only felines and certain canines could hear. "Shushu, please,"
Lingdao looked up briefly, his eyes widened in surprise, and he breathed back in the same hurting, hopeful tone.
"Tigress…?"
"Dragon Warrior! Dragon Warrior!"
Tai Lung tried to hide himself in the measly palanquin at the undeserved chanting echoing through the marble and stone of the courtyards. Sure, that tortoise was wise and all, but everybody made mistakes.
He was not the Dragon Warrior. He was a mistake. An accident. The biggest accident ever.
"Please, no," Tai pleaded at his escorts in vain, "Oogway was wrong, he was pointing at Master Pa-Whoa."
The Jade Palace doors had been opened.
And to a fanboy, it was the most beautiful thing ever laid eyes on.
Powerful weapons, priceless artifacts, secret scrolls and messages; legendary paintings laid against the beautiful, nearly luminescent walls of pearl, jade, and gold; pillars with shields and swords and racks of armor stacked against the etched dragon patterns.
And speaking of dragons, the fabled golden serpent reflected in the hexagonal pool rested in a fierce position on the ceiling, in his teeth a seemingly glowing red, green and gold scroll.
"The Dragon Scroll,"
Tai Lung was in love. With everything, absolutely everything.
He grinned, his excitement suppressed by his common sense. Tai wasn't stupid. He knew that he wasn't going to be the Dragon Warrior, at least for more than ten minutes. Master Shifu wouldn't stand for it, because he couldn't stand mistakes. Mistakes were not allowed in Kung Fu.
The big cat wanted to sulk, and whine, and cry and jump around like a giddy child, but instead he decided to act as scholarly as possible.
"Oh MY GOOOODS!" He screamed, and began running around like a hysterical madman.
Hah. No. Not really.
The feline hesitated, then trudged forward, his fanboying curiosity waiting to be desperately quenched. He wanted to memorize every detail of every object of every relic of every display.
He was going to suffocate because of his over-excited desire, but at least he'd die happy.
But if he died, he wouldn't be able to see his dad…
Tai Lung's train of thoughts cut to an abrupt end when something crashed, far too loudly for his sensitive ears. He spun around sloppily and came face-to-face with a slightly anxious, yet otherwise emotionless, black-and-white bear.
Standing next to an utterly ruined vase.
"Did you..just destroy...the Urn of Whispering Warriors?" The big cat whispered in shock, staring in horror at one of the famed heroes of the Valley of Peace.
After a stern pause of narrowed green eyes, the panda answered stoically, "...Yes."
"On purpose?!" whisper-screamed the spotted pantherine.
"...No." the response was long and drawn out, but not sarcastic.
Tai Lung was slightly miffed and stunned that one of the Jade Palace's most treasured valuables had just been destroyed by one of their own residents. Too respective to scold him, or even give him a disapproving frown, the cat moved forward and began sweeping up the shambles with his oversized paws. Though not surprised at the fact that the ghostly mist surrounding the destroyed vase wailed at his touch, he did back away involuntarily.
"It screams." Master Panda said matter-of-factly. "When you touch it."
Very helpful, Tai Lung wanted to scowl, but instead he nodded mutely and tried scooping the pieces up, ignoring the afflicted groans of the dead soldiers.
The bear raised an eyebrow at the villager cleaning up the mess he'd made. "You could wait for a servant to pick it up. They're used to it breaking, anyway."
That last part had slipped out unintentionally.
"So, you've broken it before?" Tai Lung blurted out, then covered his mouth with his hands in shame. "Forgive me, Master. No disrespect intended."
Panda harrumphed but didn't lash out to punish him or anything extreme. Tai Lung took that as the closest synonym to 'yes' in unfeeling bear language.
"Huh." The feline examined the dry glue on the vase, and his observation clarified his confusion. The relic had been destroyed many, many times before. No wonder it screamed in ghostly pain when you touched it.
Panda was still glaring at him. But it wasn't a look of hate; it was one of confusion, and mild distaste, and bitterness, and...yeah, maybe hate. Tai Lung was not a people person. He also tended to second-guess himself quite a lot.
"So...do you, umm..." The poor conversationalist began, his scrawny, unkempt frame suddenly something to be highly aware of. "...know, why Oogway choose m-"
"No."
"Oh, okay. Yeah, that's cool. Totally understandable. Umm.." Tai Lung decided to leave it at umm and let his embarrassed gaze trace the outlines of the carvings decorating the walls.
"Are you quite done sightseeing?"
The leopard jumped at the new, hoarse voice, his black ears pricked. He swiveled to face the stairs leading up the the dragon-reflecting pool and swallowed hard.
"Master," Panda bowed in respect, his eyes trained to the floor.
"M-master Shifu," repeated Tai Lung in a voice that seemed much squeakier than usual. He cleared his throat awkwardly and bowed, though his amber eyes kept flicking up to catch glimpses of the frowning, legendary red panda.
The small Master regarded him with a fanged evil eye, before snapping his flute to the right, in the direction of a door. "Panda, I will discuss the matter of the ceremony at a later time. For now, you are dismissed to the Training Hall."
The bear bowed respectively, shot one last icy glare at Tai, and strode out. Tai Lung wasn't sure if he felt more secure that the panda was gone or less secure since he had been left utterly alone with a furious Shifu.
He went for less secure.
"So," the ginger-marked Master began, with a smile suggesting friendliness but electric blue eyes that suggested anything but. "You believe you are the Dragon Warrior?"
"Technically Oogway said prophesied-"
"No," snapped Shifu, his grin curling into a dour growl. "You are not the Dragon Warrior, nor will you ever be."
"I kno-"
"Not until you learn the secret of the Dragon Scroll. "
Tai Lung squinted up at the ceiling, blinking at the dazzling promise of awesomeness in the dragon's golden teeth. "Soo...do you unbalance the scroll somehow?" He wondered out loud. Already, the leopard had noticed one side of the scroll was dipping down to the pull of gravity on the right. At the slightest touch, it would slip out and fall.
Well, that was his hypothesis. "How would you do that? Throw something at it? Or do you just, y'know borrow a giraffe from somewhere...?"
Shifu chuckled, his nose crinkled in disgruntled irritation. "You think it's that easy? You think I'd just hand the most legendary secret over to you? One must first achieve the highest level of Kung Fu, and that is impossible with the likes of you."
"Wha-what?"
"Look at you," Shifu cut him off and marched up to poke at his skinny arms. "Those scarecrow-like limbs," He whacked the cat's white-furred stomach, and Tai Lung resisted the urge to mew in agony. "That soft kitten belly,"
"Well that soft kitten belly is pretty sensitive," began the noodle-cook nervously, feeling himself sink into a lower cloud. He'd already been feeling pretty bad about himself before, and how small he was compared to other predator-like creatures, but being offended by a miniature raccoon wasn't really helping.
"And complete disregard for personal hygiene."
"Hey, that was a little uncalled for..."
"Don't lean in so close, I can smell your breath." Scowled Shifu, waving his flute in front of his face. Tai Lung crossed his arms but stepped back to clench his teeth and look away. His spotted tail whipped back and forth angrily.
"Now wait, I get that all that in the arena was an accident, but isn't Oogway your superior? And didn't he say I was one of the prophesied war-"
Tai suddenly found his accusing pointer finger caught in the brown-digited grasp of Shifu. A grasp so dangerous and simple, a grasp that could send him washed into the afterlife in a wave of gold with just the flex of a pinky; the Wuxi Finger Hold.
Shifu was smiling deviously.
He cocked his head closer to the feline's, one eyebrow raised in full understanding. Tai Lung whimpered.
"The Wuxi Finger Hold," he breathed out, looking at his oversized paw and back at Shifu's narrowed, mocking eyes. That look seemed familiar, and Tai Lung realized he'd seen the same look on Master Panda's face earlier; cold as steel, power-wielding, disgusted as one could be.
He lowered his gaze to the floor in submission.
"Oh, so you know this hold?" Shifu was smirking now.
"Yes..I do," Tai mumbled. "Developed by Master Wuxi in the..Third Dynasty. Yeah."
"And you know what happens when I-"
"You wouldn't." The leopard said sensibly, though his forehead was beaded with anxious sweat. Using logic seemed like his only reasonable comeback. "You won't."
Shifu kept a calculative face, though his ears twitched irately. "I can." He reminded the big cat calmly, obviously sensing his discomfort, and enjoying it.
"And you know what the hardest part is?" Master Shifu pulled him forward and whispered, "Cleaning up afterwards."
Tai Lung swallowed hard and nodded. So this guy didn't like him. That seemed clear enough.
As if reading his thoughts, the small Master asked, "Are we clear?"
"V-very," stammered the leopard.
"I know Oogway chose you as the Dragon Warrior, but when I'm through with you, you're going to wish he hadn't."
Prophesied warrior, Tai Lung shut off the want to correct this fluffy, dangerous thing threatening him, and nodded in understanding. Funny thing was, a sudden desire to prove him wrong welled up in his chest, urging him with the flaming repetition of, you can do it. Oogway said you could. He chose you for a reason. You might be a scarecrow, but you're a prophesied soon-to-be warrior scarecrow. You can do it.
He would need much, much more encouragement in less time than I'd care to tell you.
Shifu drew back, trying to ignore the sudden determination pooling in his new student's amber eyes, and smirked.
"I can't wait to get started."
Shushu: Uncle. Just thought that might be important. :)