Chapter Five: A Shift in Loyalties

Po was enjoying a feeling he hadn't known for nearly a month: he was full. Finally looking up from the empty bowls all around him, he noticed his half of the fight club had grown fairly desolate. Everyone was now over at the fighting ring screaming wildly at the current bout; whoever was dueling, they both must have been pretty tough, sounding like two mountains crashing together. When one of them was thrown against the wall, it felt like it would threaten to bring the whole place toppling down. Curiosity overtook him, and he navigated the maze of unconscious drunks and fighters on the floor towards the source of the commotion.

Lightly pushing a few enthusiastic bystanders aside, he looked into the pit below and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. It was none other than Tigress, fighting against without a doubt the largest person he'd ever seen. He was so massive in fact that Po was certain he couldn't even belly-gong him - and that was impressive to say the least. The two combatants were both panting heavily, having reached something of a break in the duel, and paced in a circle watching each other closely for an opening. The dust below the fighters shined with the countless copper and iron coins that had been thrown in for whoever came out on top; Po wondered just how long the fight had been going on. He cupped his paws to his mouth so Tigress could hear him over the crowd when he spoke.

"Hey Tigress, you do know the whole prizefighting thing was a joke, right? I was just messing around!"

The tiger's ear gave an annoyed twitch in the panda's direction. She was unwilling to take her eyes from Temutai for even a second, as she knew this was exactly the kind of distraction her opponent was waiting for. The fight had gone on much longer than either had expected, and they both knew they were close to being beaten; but given the stakes, there would be no giving up. Temutai had absorbed an array of marring hits from the determined feline master, but was still standing nonetheless. Unlike her adversary, Tigress hadn't taken any major blows, avoiding the water buffalo's massive fists with acrobatic ease. But that didn't change the fact that she was getting increasingly fatigued; tiger style was a sprint, not a marathon.

"This is not a prizefight." Tigress finally answered as another coin hit the back of her head.

The tiger was about to say something else to the panda, but that took second priority to the gaping hole she had just seen open up in the water buffalo's defense. Po watched as she leapt the width of the pit with a single bound, and unleashed a flurry of strikes at what she had found to be his weaker side. To the untrained eye, this would have looked like her going all-out on attacking, but Po could see she was holding back.

Tigress never holds back… what is she playing at?

After a few seconds of desperate blocks and redirections between the two, Po figured out that she was trying to lure him into a foolish attack; he only knew of one move where she waited so patiently in a fight, and it was brutal.

She's not really going to…

But at that moment, the beast struck out with a colossal punch at the tiger; the trap had been sprung.

The move was called Tiger and Dragon Go Into Hiding. As the massive fist of the behemoth came at her, Tigress spun to the side of it, grabbing his wrist with a grip of steel in her paw. She planted one paw pad in the dirt with her claws and extended the other leg into his knee with as much downward force as she could muster; at the same time, her free arm drove into the open target of his elbow with equal fury. The bloodthirsty crowd raved at the sickening sound of two of Temutai's limbs giving way simultaneously. His newly-crippled body dropped to the ground, defeated. Po was left speechless at the tiger master's devastatingly effective technique.

Between weighty breaths, Tigress flipped Temutai over with her leg and soaked in her victory; the crowd was still deafening. The King of the Qi-Dan Clan had certainly lived up to his legends in terms of his sheer strength and endurance, but she had proved that he wasn't invincible.

"The dagger." she panted, trying to catch her breath. "Where is it?"

He spat up blood in reply, indignant at his defeat.

"I would have thought the legendary Temutai was a man of his word." she said, readjusting parts of her fur and gold tunic that had become ruffled in the fight. Two Qi-Dan warriors dropped down and helped lift their king to his knees.

"Fine, you can have the stupid dagger. It was never going to be worth the money anyway." He tossed a piece of cloth at her with his remaining good arm, and she snatched it from the air and inspected it. It was sage green with a calligraphic insignia of gold imprinted in it, and Tigress recognized it immediately.

"This is the insignia of the Lord of Xiangyang. Is this some kind of joke? You do know I can break your other two limbs, right?"

"Stupid cat. Who else could possibly afford to own something so priceless?" He coughed up more blood, and his warriors started to move him away. Before he left he turned his head back to her.

"This isn't over! No one humiliates the Warrior-King of the Qi-Dan!"

The tiger only smirked in response, before looking back down at her prize. When she at last turned around, Tigress was met with the sight of Po in complete shock.

"That guy you fought, was that-" Po started to ask, pointing subtly in the direction of the retreating Qi-Dan.

"Yes." she answered forwardly, cutting him off.

"Even still, that move was total overkill." He was about to reprimand her like a master was supposed to do for once, but was distracted by the banner she held in her paw. "Wait, what's that?"

"It's what we came for." she said, as Po looked at the cloth with a confused raised brow. "Let's go find Crane."

When they walked out of the fight club they found it was nearly dark. Crane was across the muddied street on the porch of a merchant building, his body coiled over in his natural sleeping position. Even with the sun setting, they could see a storm was coming.


Across town in his sprawling palace complex, the Lord of Xiangyang was conferring with a most unexpected guest.

"This proposal is, to say the least, unusual. To accept it would risk the wrath of the Emperor, should he discover my betrayal."

The female snow leopard before him remained stooped over in a patronizing bow as she spoke, her onyx-black Mongolian clothing draping to the ground.

"Yes, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, my lord. My Khan has assured me that with the weapon in our possession, victory is a certainty. Besides, betrayal is a strong word; let's just consider this... a shift in loyalties."

The Siberian ibex grinned inwardly when the leopardess had said that.

"And my city will be spared in the invasion as you have said?"

"It will become the most prosperous city in China, and your power in this land will be second only to the Khan himself."

The lord couldn't hold back a devilish grin at her tempting words. Nonetheless, he quickly steeled himself and answered the silk-tongued Mongol emissary.

"I am interested, but unfortunately I have already planned to sell the relic to bidders here in China for a very handsome price. The Qi-Dan Clan has currently made the highest offer."

"The Khan is willing to pay five times whatever you have been offered for the dagger." The leopardess knew all too well of the lord's greed, so she had preempted his extortion.

"Well then, in that case… we can make some arrangements." he said, trying his best to wrap his mind around how much money he had just been offered.

"We have an agreement then, my lord?"

The ibex had no passionate loyalties to the Emperor, so to him such a proposal would the easiest money he'd ever make, with the added bonus of immense power in the near future. He had no grand designs on world domination, only to sit back and get rich.

"An agreement we have indeed. The dagger will be provided to your envoy shortly, and I will eagerly await the rest of the… compensation."

"Of course." she said through a fanged smile.

At once, the meeting was interrupted by the palace messenger.

"My lord, you have visitors from the Valley of Peace, several Kung Fu masters. I would have turned them away, but they carried your ensign. They say they are here to purchase a certain relic from your estate."

The ibex and leopardess joined in a silent understanding gaze.

"By all means then, send them in at once!" he ordered, his eyes never leaving the Mongol's.

The servant bowed and left the two alone in the hall once more.

"It would seem the Qi-Dan have been outbid. These interlopers will be dealt with." he said confidently.

Crossing a few masters was going to be much easier than the entire Qi-Dan Clan.

The ibex summoned his military commander, a physically imposing gorilla, and whispered some indiscernible orders before turning back to his guest.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you." he said, finishing with a bow.

She responded with a smirk and a simple tip of the head before heading out of the hall herself.


The Kung Fu masters waited for the return of the messenger to grant them access to the hall of the lord. A flash of lightning in the distance revealed that the complex was dominated by two massive twin pagodas which flanked a shorter but wider palatial building. The scheme was a deep sage with bright gold accents on the linings of the roof tiers and columns; but in the dark, the place was nothing but a black silhouette, save for the courtyard that was illuminated by numerous torches.

When the messenger returned, he denoted that only two of them could enter to meet with the lord.

"This won't be long." Tigress said to the avian master beside her.

Crane nodded and stood by the doors, watching the clouds collecting ominously above in the night sky as Po and Tigress proceeded into the hall.

From the moment the great doors of the palace had closed behind the other two masters, who were now heading deep into the estate, Crane felt uneasy. He looked around and couldn't help but notice how the numerous well-armed soldiers in the courtyard were all staring at him. It was completely silent except for the occasional rumble of thunder, but the nonstop eye contact made every passing instant seem like a year of its own. He tried to alleviate the feeling by humming a nervous tune, but it was to no avail. When a gorilla appeared in their midst, some of the guards started to pace towards him, edging ever closer to the martial arts master. Still, not a single word had been said.

As awkward as it had been for several minutes, it did not feel surprising nor unusual that mere seconds later the courtyard had erupted into a furious melee; there was an unspoken understanding between warriors, and no need for explanation but only to fight each other. Everyone in the courtyard started to rush at Crane as the first drops of rain started to fall. The first few guards to reach the bird were dropped instantly by his precise redirection of their own attacks. He followed with a majestic upward flourish with his wings that knocked back several more, and reciprocated this action with his downward "Wings of Justice" move.

But the fact remained that there were just way too many of them, and he was finding that the aerial moves that gave him the advantage were difficult to pull off in such dark and wet conditions.

Crane knew the odds were impossible, but just like he had no idea why they were fighting, he was oblivious to any alternatives. The avian put up a surprising display of skill and endurance given the sheer number of enemies he faced, defeating many of them when the brutish force of their own strikes were sent towards their comrades.

The guards would intermittently lose track of the bird, only for the next lighting strike to reveal that he had dropped several more of their allies and again had the tactical advantage. At one point, two ibex guards pinned his right wing between the shafts of their spears, but he rolled his surprisingly muscular airfoil over on itself and shattered the wood completely. He raised his vision to locate the steel spear tips in midair; finding them, he held himself in a steady hover and kicked each with one of his legs. The blades traveled at immeasurable speed and felled two more soldiers.

Finding himself at a height advantage, he spotted the gorilla that seemed to be their leader and dropped towards him, gaining speed rapidly. Curling his wings tightly around his own form, his velocity crescendoed into a death spiral heading right for his foe. The gorilla readied himself to intercept the attack but was shocked to find that this motion was a feign by the bird, who opened his wings at the last second to power a bone-crushing precision blow to the primate's chest. Crane had seized on the ape's surprise to the full, and was now pinning him down, claws at his neck. The guard commander looked up to see the avian raise the brim of his hat and reveal his penetrating bronze eyes, full of fury. The rain began to pour harder. He had thought taking down this nervous little bird would be easy, but now all he felt was fear when the master spoke with a tone that could devour his very soul.

"Call off this attack."

He was about to whimper for mercy, but the gorilla's defeat was interrupted by something neither of them had seen coming. A massive war-hammer impacted the bird's wing from behind with unbelievable force. His right appendage was utterly shattered as he crashed to the dirt, completely unable to fight. The gorilla looked up to see his savior was none other than the snow leopardess he had just seen in the lord's hall moments before. She had presumably picked up the hammer from a fallen warrior and finished what the palace guards could not. Crane was able to catch a glimpse of the Mongolian as his body buckled over from the impact, but the now pelting rain made it hard to see. What was impossible to miss, though, was the shape of a dagger that she gripped in her other paw. He was sure that he'd never seen a dagger shaped like this one; it was ominously snake-like. There was not a doubt in his mind that this was the weapon they had come to retrieve.

The pain was starting to catch up with him now, and for several seconds, Crane could only see white as his senses overloaded in agony. The fight had started so quickly he still hadn't the chance to even process what was happening around him, nor the fact his hat had been taken off by the force of the blow from behind. He was now sprawled unnaturally on the ground, his left wing trying feebly to shield its crippled counterpart; the shock of the hit was still coming at him in waves of merciless torment. When his vision came back, he found the leopardess straddling him from above, the sinuous blade pressed firmly against his neck. As she tossed the hammer to the gorilla who was finally getting to his feet, the feline looked down into his eyes, and Crane saw that they were an extraordinary royal purple. He started to shake with unease at the position he now found himself in, and she responded with a suggestive smile.

"Well now… aren't you a pretty little bird!"

She ran her free paw down his neck alluringly, slicking down his now-soaked feathers. He signaled his disapproval with an iced glare.

"Were you and your friends coming here for this?" she taunted, pushing the blade harder against his throat for emphasis. "It is the property of the Khan now, love."

Crane had begun to realize that the weapon was vibrating on its own accord, lightly shaking even when firmly in the cat's grip. He was finding it hard to breathe with the blade against his throat; the crippling pain in his wing, and the proximity of the feline seemingly taking all the air away from him didn't make matters any better. As drops of rain fell from her ears down around his head, he realized it was true that cats liked to toy with their prey after all.

"It would be such a shame to kill something as majestic as yourself…" The feline finally pulled the blade away, snickering. "Besides, dealing with you isn't my job." she said, nodding to the guard commander that had been watching the one-sided exchange with interest.

As the leopardess got off of him and started to head out of the courtyard, Crane raised his unprotected head to the gorilla who now wielded the same war-hammer that had felled him. His heart started to creep up into his throat. The beast raised the brutal weapon overhead, and for a moment all was still as the drops of rain slicked the shiny face of the hammer.

The only thing Crane could manage to voice was a weak "Why?" before dull, cold steel came down on him.

The blow had struck him in the head and robbed him of all consciousness; his last thought was of how it was a cruel mercy of sorts, as the pain was now gone along with all other sensation. The guards proceeded to drag Crane's limp body and their fallen compatriots out of sight, leaving behind several shredded feathers as the only evidence of the fight.


Author's Notes:

- I apologize for skimping somewhat on the Temutai fight, I was trying to hold off a little before writing my first full-length duel (haven't quite figured all that out yet)

- I had a lot more fun writing the fight that Crane was in, particularly the setting; I kind of wanted to present him as something of a "badass in disguise" as he really surprises the guards with his fighting skill (looks can be deceiving)

- The move that Crane uses to drop the gorilla boss in this scene was inspired by a similar one from the first time Crane is ever on screen (attacking Master Shifu with the rest of the Five); I was watching the first movie again the other day, and when I saw him do that I was like: "Damn! He should pull off that move more often!"

- Instead of taking my inspiration purely from Fujian White Crane, I mainly referenced what we actually see Crane do in the films: almost exclusively deflective/redirective moves that are executed with his wings

- You might have forgotten with all of the BS I've been writing, but this is, in fact, a story that involves Mongolia; I'm happy I could finally start to bring elements from this part of the story into the picture

- Let's just say that next chapter, things get... interesting (for better or worse...)