Chapter 12
A/N: *drops chapter and runs*
[Scene: Dark night in the forest outside the city, as snow drifts down. From a bird's-eye view looking down we see moving steadily along a mountain path several indistinct but leafy shapes, as if large rectangular bushes were floating along of their own accord.]
[Shot shifts to the front gates of Zhong's mountain complex; a cloaked figure at the front of the group of leafy rectangles approaches as the shapes come to a stop and gives a signal to someone on the other side of the door; the heavy iron gates to the complex swing silently open, and the caravans are brought inside, revealing themselves in the torchlight to be carts of weapons covered in pine branches.]
COMMANDER: (As the gates close the commander tiger removes the hood of his cloak and bows to Zhong, who is approaching from the inside of the household.) General.
ZHONG: Commander. Your report?
COMMANDER: (As the din of his men unloading the carts starts up) A complete success, General. We got the cannons, as you requested, and something else. (Zhong raises his eyebrows, interested.) See for yourself. (He pulls the pine branches off a nearby cart to reveal several Huolongchushui, or "Fire-Dragon-Issuing-from-Water," rockets—hollow bamboo tubes with carved dragons-heads, stuffed full of gunpowder and fuses.)
ZHONG: (Intrigued, picking one up and studying it.) I'd heard Lord Shen was working on these before his death; trust the imperial guard to finally get it right. (The Commander snorts. Zhong pretend-aims it, and then hands it back to one of the working soldiers.) Lightweight, too, very impressive.
COMMANDER: Yes sir. Will this be enough to start replacing what we lost at the Den of Claws, sir?
ZHONG: I'm afraid our losses at the Den were too great to recoup so easily, Commander; nevertheless, these rockets will certainly go a long way in impressing the generals. (The Commander nods.) But we have more than just weaponry to discuss. Come with me. (The Commander gives a short order to his men and then follows his general into Zhong's office. As they enter, one of the two teenage tiger girls we saw before is cleaning Zhong's office and preparing his inkwell. As the General and Commander enter she rises and gives a bow.)
COMMANDER: Ah, Huan; come give your father a kiss! (The girl dutifully approaches and kisses his cheek.) Do you know what your father did today? (Pointing at her.) He raided the best-defended garrison in the city! Aren't you proud?
TIGER GIRL: (Meekly) Very impressive, Father.
ZHONG: (Impatient) You may go, Huan. (The girl bows and leaves as the two men sit down at the desk.)
COMMANDER: So! (In a very good mood, he actually dares to relax in his general's presence, slumping and leaning back a little in his seat.) How did it go?
ZHONG: (Shrugging, less lax than the Commander but clearly tired from the day's turmoil:) Some losses, some gains. Overall I'd say it was a success. We couldn't touch the Emperor, but I did manage to have a little conversation with the grandmaster before I killed him.
COMMANDER: He knew where the Empress is?
ZHONG: Unfortunately not.
COMMANDER: (Sympathetic) Mm. Bad luck, General.
ZHONG: Far from it. (Pulling out a sheet of paper and his writing brush.) Apparently they let her leave because they wanted to keep her true identity quiet, but with us spreading word in the city they'll have no choice but seek her out—especially now that the grandmaster is dead. She is the Jade Palace's second-in-command, after all.
COMMANDER: (Frowning a little as he sits up straighter.) General—forgive me, but I don't understand why you insist on doing all this yourself. (Zhong ignores him as he continues to write.) This assassination attempt, interrogating the Grandmaster—my men could have handled all of it. There was no need for you to risk entering the city.
ZHONG: (Looks up at him. The Commander seems to realize that he's made a mistake and falls silent. Zhong, quietly:) Don't question how I do things, Commander. I spent thirty years pursuing the Empress. You didn't.
COMMANDER: ...Yes, General.
[Their conversation is cut off as there's a rapid knocking at the door.]
LOI'S VOICE: Um, General? My lord?
ZHONG: (Sighing) Yes, Loi?
LOI: (Opening the door and hastily blowing.) I'm sorry to interrupt you, my lord, but we just got word from Caixia–
ZHONG: And her report can't wait until I've finished my discussion with the Commander?
LOI: I'm sorry, sir, but this is urgent. Apparently the grandmaster is badly injured, but still alive.
ZHONG: (Snapping alert) What?
LOI: (Gulping) Yes, my lord. Forgive me, my lord. It seems the Dragon Warrior got to him in time.
ZHONG: (Another sigh, this more frustrated) Of course he did. (To himself as much as the Commander) That ridiculous panda is starting to get on my nerves.
LOI: Th-that's not all, my lord. (Zhong frowns.) Our other spies have told us that the Dragon Warrior and the other masters have left the palace. It looked as if they were going towards Captain Láng's place, sir.
ZHONG: Captain Láng? Well, that at least is good news. (Loi looks confused, but Zhong doesn't bother to explain to him.) You're dismissed, Loi.
LOI: Um– yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord. (Bows and leaves, closing the door behind him.)
ZHONG: (To Commander, with a relaxation that almost borders on relief:) And so it begins.
COMMANDER: You think Láng is going to tell them?
ZHONG: I can't see a reason why he wouldn't. I imagine the masters will be leaving in search of their leader within the day. (Stands and rolls his shoulders, all tiredness slipping away from him.) No rest for the loyal, it seems.
COMMANDER: Should I have my men form a party to tail them, General?
ZHONG: No; I need you here in the city, rebuilding our stockpile. I will follow the masters with my own team. (He sees the Commander open his mouth, and then bite his tongue, clearly hesitant after the lecture he's just received.) I understand your reservations, Commander, but I am under orders here myself. (The Commander raises his eyebrows.) Her father long ago told me to bring her home, and that is what I intend to do. I must leave the city in your capable hands.
COMMANDER: (Inclining his head.) Yes, General.
[Scene: The back-alleys of the Capitol, late at night; snow is drifting down over the dirty cobblestones as Po and the Four hurry along, trying to make as little noise as possible.]
MONKEY: (Swings himself up onto a roof, looks around, and swings back down.) This way. (He waves them around a corner into a side-alley and then brings them up to the main street.) This is where I met him; I think his uncle's bar must be around here somewhere.
PO: Hold on. My restaurant senses are tingling…(Viper and Crane share dubious looks as the panda closes his eyes and sniffs the air.) Hm. Wontons, no…vegetable stew…aha! Plum-boiled peanuts, that's bar food! (His eyes snap open.) This way!
(He hurries off down the main street, occasionally stopping to sniff the air, before he pulls them down a side-alley and stops in front of The Busted Snout.)
MANTIS: (Reading the sign) Yeah, this looks like the right place.
THE KID: (Voice from inside) –You heard my uncle, we're closed! Go home! (The door abruptly opens as the teenager shoves out two drunken wolves, laughing and leaning on each other; they stumble past Po and the Four, and the teenager looks annoyed before spotting the masters.) Oh. Uh–
MONKEY: Hi. (Steps forward from the others, apologetic.)
THE KID: (Looking down the street, suddenly frazzled) What are you doing here? If anyone saw you–
MONKEY: We know. We're sorry, but Po—the Dragon Warrior—he needs to talk to your uncle.
THE KID: (Looking up at Po with a frown) The panda? Why?
MONKEY: Uh– he actually won't tell us? (He glances up at Po, confused, but the panda shakes his head.)
PO: Please, it's really important!
THE KID: (Looks down the street again and then sighs) Well don't just stand there out in the open. Hurry up, we're closing for the night. (He waves them through, irritated, and then shuts the door quickly behind them. The others take the moment to look around.)
(The Busted Snout is empty this late at night, but just as dingy and rickety as ever; BOSS WOLF is wiping down a table.)
BOSS WOLF: (Not looking up) Sorry, we're cl–
PO: (Loudly and abruptly) You! (WOLF looks up; Po, to THE KID) He's your uncle? You're his uncle?!
BOSS WOLF: Great. (To THE KID) Why'd you let them in?
THE KID: What was I supposed to do, leave them out there for anyone to see? (Looking up at Po) Do you guys– know each other, or something?
PO: Yeah, you could say that! (Stalking forward, shoving a finger in Boss Wolf's face) I knew it was you by the canal, I knew it! But I thought, "no way, he's dead, he's definitely super dead–"
VIPER: Po, I know you're upset, but maybe you should calm down–
PO: Calm down? He tried to kill my whole family!
THE KID: (To his uncle) You what?
WOLF: (Ignoring him) You killed a couple dozen of my pack by chucking cannonballs at them.
PO: What, you think that makes us even?! 'Cause we're not even! That's not what "even" means! (Boss Wolf looks both guilty and defensive as Po gestures to him angrily.) So what, y-you're a member of the Ten Thousand now?! That what you're doing with your life these days?!
BOSS WOLF: (Growling) No, I'm not.
CRANE: (Anxiously) Po, remember, we need his help…
WOLF: Help? (This diverts his defensiveness and he looks around at them, frowning.) Wait a minute. Where's Stripes?
PO: Don't play stupid with us. We know you know what happened to Tigress, and we want answers!
WOLF: (Drawling) Why? Is she your girlfriend or something?
MONKEY: Well–
PO: She's our friend and we want her back! Now tell us where she is!
WOLF: (Realizing) You mean she didn't go back to the palace? (Glancing away as it dawns on him:) She didn't want you to know.
VIPER: (Anxious) Know what?
WOLF: (Looks at them, somewhat at a loss.) Agh… Alright. Kid. (His nephew looks at him.) Go upstairs, this is a private conversation.
THE KID: But–
WOLF: Now. (Reluctantly, the teenager does so—or at least he pretends to. We see him stop at the top of the stairs, eavesdropping as below his uncle sighs and gestures to the tables.) Sit down. (Po looks ready to object, but the wolf pulls out a chair and sits down himself.) This is going to take a while.
[Smashcut to:]
THE FOUR: She's what?!
PO: (Curling his fist) I knew it!
WOLF: You can see why she booked it.
PO: This– this is big. Really big. (Gesturing erratically with his paws.) And she's out there all alone, with all these bad guys looking for her–
CRANE: She could be anywhere by now.
PO: (Realizing) No… no, she can't! (The others look confused.) Don't you see? Tigress could never run away from a mission!
VIPER: Po, I think it's fair to say the circumstances are a little different this time...
PO: (Resolutely) No way. Guys, we know Tigress, we know how she thinks! Wherever she went, she had a reason. (To Wolf) Did she tell you where she was going?
WOLF: Nope. Seemed like she was in a pretty big hurry, though. (Scratching his ear.) Did she grow up in an orphanage or something? She sure didn't like it when I mentioned it.
PO: Bao Gu! She has to have gone there!
MONKEY: But why would she just leave without telling us?
PO: She must have been looking for answers. I mean, of course she was, who wouldn't?
CRANE: (To Boss Wolf) Who else knows about this?
WOLF: (Shrugs) Hard to say. Most of the higher-ups in the Ten Thousand, for sure. And any tiger who'd've seen her back in the day, you know they never forget their own.
VIPER: (Chiming in) The Emperor does, too, and probably Master Shifu. (The others, sans Po, look at her in surprise, and she says:) Isn't it obvious? That's why they took her off leading the mission. They must have figured it out the night we went to the Den of Claws, but of course Master Shifu wasn't allowed to tell us why.
PO: (Dawning epiphany) And that's why she left without warning us. She thought they didn't trust her anymore. (He pauses a moment, staring down at the table, and as he does so his face turns angrier and angrier.)
CRANE: Uh– Po?
PO: Because they didn't trust her. (Stands up abruptly, pushing his chair back.)
MONKEY: What are you doing? (Po doesn't answer, turning and stalking towards the door.)
VIPER: Po, wait! (Slithers ahead of him to block the door, rising up:) Look, we've all had a long day, none of us have gotten any sleep yet–
MANTIS: And I'm pretty sure you have a concussion–
PO: (Exploding) Don't you guys get it?! They put her in danger! They put all of us in danger! (The other Four look guilty.) The Emperor just gave a whole speech about peace and harmony and how we're all supposed to get along—and they didn't even trust her, or us, with the truth!
VIPER: (Playing peacekeeper) I hear what you're saying, but these are powerful people; you can't just go in there and start shouting at them.
PO: (Savagely) Watch me. (He stalks out the front door of the bar and slams it behind him. Crane and Viper glance at each other and sigh, and then open it again and follow him out into the snow.)
BOSS WOLF: (Still looking at the door; sideways, to Monkey and Mantis:) So– she's not his girlfriend?
MONKEY: (Sagely) It's complicated.
[Cut to Po running up to the stairs of the Hall of Heavenly Purity as snow falls heavy over the compound, insistent despite the protests of several lower-ranking guards who quickly block his way]
PO: (Angrily) Where's Wu? I wanna talk with him!
DUCK GUARD: Dragon Warrior, you can't go in–
PO: Fine, then I'll talk to him out here! (Raising his voice as the Four run up behind him) Wu, I know you're in there! Come on!
CRANE: (Faintly moaning and hiding his face behind his hat) We're so gonna get executed…
PO: (To the duck guard) And don't tell me he's not on duty, there's no way he'd leave the Emperor's side after what happened today– yesterday– whenever–!
WU'S VOICE: (Sharply, simultaneous with the sharp creak of the door) What in the name of all the gods do you think you're doing?!
(Po looks up at the voice, which comes from the just-opened doorway.)
WU: (Stalking down the steps to them) How dare you disrupt the peace of this hall, especially after the terror his Majesty had to endure today! You might be the Dragon Warrior, but that doesn't give you permission to disturb the Son of Heaven's private quarters!
VIPER: (Speaking up) We're so sorry, Captain; of course we can come back tomorrow. Po, let's go.
PO: No way. (Pointing at Wu) You knew about Tigress; you all did, and you just let her go! You didn't even care how much danger you put her in!
WU: (Looks past Po to the Four, who look tense, and then back at the panda.)
NOISE: TSING. (In a blur of silver Wu's sword is at Po's neck.)
PO: (Jumping) Gah–!
WU: (Barking) Wo! Sin! Inside, and man the doors! (The two duck guards, apparently deciding not to question this turn of events, salute and vanish inside, shutting the door sharply as Wu growls at the panda:) The only reason you are still alive, Dragon Warrior, is because of your status, and that privilege is flimsy. I told you that you saw nothing! (Po tries to edge away from the blade, which follows him.) If you can't be trusted with his Majesty's secrets, give me one reason I shouldn't execute you here and now!
PO: I'd like to see you tr–
[There's a whir of silver as WU switches to a backhand grip and–]
NOISE: CLANG!
[–Snap to black.]
[There's a beat of silence, and then muffled noises in the darkness…]
MANTIS'S VOICE: Great. So now he has another concussion.
VIPER: (Anxious) Will he be okay?
PO'S VOICE: Ohh…
CRANE: Hold on, looks like he's waking up.
[The blackness blinks open blurrily, a reddish-gold ball of light flickering like a distant sun. Eventually the scene comes into focus, revealing the light is actually a lantern, visible from behind a series of bars. The Four are in a cell opposite his; the other cells are empty.]
MONKEY: (Wry) Good morning, sleepy-head.
PO: (Winces and tries to move, only to find that he can't.) What the… (he looks over and sees his body chained and immobilized by a tortoise-shell acupuncture restraint, in a similar manner to how Tai Lung was held in prison.) Where are we…?
MANTIS: (Matter-of-factly, inside a smaller cage) Jail.
PO: (Squinting) What?
CRANE: T-to be more accurate, the Forbidden City's dungeon. (Ruffles his folded wings anxiously.) Apparently it has one. Which is…a little disconcerting, since it's not on any of the maps we saw.
MANTIS: (Arguing) Of course it's not; would you put your secret dungeon on a map?
WU'S VOICE: It's not secret, it's new. (Po looks over to see the leopard sitting on a prison-guard's chair, polishing his sword.) One of the Tiger General's many building projects. We usually don't need to use it.
PO: Agh, my head… (he winces; at Wu, grumpily:) Aren't you supposed to be protecting the Emperor?
WU: I am. (Resheathes his sword and crosses one leg over the other, staring flatly at Po.) Right now, you're the biggest threat to him.
(He's cut off by the sound of a door opening down the corridor; Wu immediately stands to attention.)
EMPEROR'S VOICE:Wu, what happened, I was told that– (They turn as the rabbit appears in the lantern light, escorted by two duck attendants in gold robes, and stops with a gasp.) What is going on here!
CRANE: (Nervously) Uh–
WU: (Professionally, paws clasped behind his back): Information breach, your Majesty.
EMPEROR: (Turns to his attendants and dismisses them with a wave. As they vanish, he turns to the leopard:) Free the masters, immediately.
(The leopard glances at Po, sighs, and then goes to the Four's cell and unlocks it. He hands the key to Monkey, who unlocks Mantis's tiny cell. The bug hops over to Po, unlocks his door and and pulls out a key pin on the shell, causing the panda to collapse to the ground.)
NOISE: THUD. (The ground shakes a little as Po yelps.)
EMPEROR: (To Wu) You said there was an information breach? What information?
WU: (Growling) The Dragon Warrior told them about the General's daughter. He disobeyed orders and betrayed your trust!
CRANE: (Volunteering) T-technically, a bunch of wolves did?
MONKEY: Yah, P-Po just brought us there…
WU: (Sharply) That's not better!
EMPEROR: (Looks between Wu, Po and the Four, his face turning grave.) I see. So it's true then.
PO: (As he gets up, exasperated:) What?! (To Wu) You mean you took her off the mission without even finding out for sure?!
WU: His Majesty and the Grandmaster were the ones who made the decision, and as for myself, you will show the Captain of the Imperial Guard the proper respect!
PO: Oh, we're pulling rank now? Well I'm Oogway's heir, and you know what Master Oogway did best? Telling people the truth when they didn't wanna hear it! (Pointing down the corridor) Tigress is out there, in the gods know what kinda trouble, because you people didn't trust her after everything she's done for you!
WU: We were trying to protect her!
PO: Protect her from what, getting her feelings hurt?! I've seen her get punched in the face by a cannon,I think she can take it!
EMPEROR: (Redrawing their attention) Protect her from the politics of the situation! (Po falls silent, surprised; he clearly hasn't considered this.) If she is who we think she is, then she would become a rival to my throne, whether she wants it or not! If word of this spreads, it will not be only the Ten Thousand who are looking for her—my people will be, too! Her life would be in danger on all sides!
PO: (Rallying) B-But you could stop them! You're the Emperor!
EMPEROR: An emperor is nothing less and nothing more than the intermediary between Heaven and Earth. My will is not entirely my own, Dragon Warrior; I have to think of China first—as do you. I know you have faith in her, and I am inclined to agree with you, but faith… (glancing to Wu) faith is not everything. (Almost pleading) I had hoped that you would destroy the Ten Thousand without her ever discovering the truth, and you could all return to your lives as before, with no one but myself and your grandmaster the wiser.
PO: Well now Shifu is hurt and we don't have a leader. A-and it can't be me, okay, I'm no good at this kind of stuff! (Turning to Wu) I mean you saw what happened yesterday, I totally screwed everything up! Tigress is our leader, not me—so either you let us go find her and put her back in charge of the mission, or– (he turns back to the Emperor, gulping but holding his ground:) –or I quit.
(This shocking breach of respect leaves the room in silence for a moment; the other Four are looking back and forth between the rabbit and the panda, horrified—the Emperor speechless, Wu murderous, Po holding his breath.)
EMPEROR: (Sighs, his ears drooping) …You're right. (In the corner, Crane's mouth drops open.)
WU: Your Majesty, you do not need to accept correction from this fool! (Glaring at Po with a growl:) If anything, the Dragon Warrior should be pleading for your mercy on his knees for his disrespect!
EMPEROR: (Mildly) Wu, six hours ago you were in his position. (Chastised, the captain flushes through his golden fur and falls silent.) This has been an exceptionally terrible day, and tempers are running high. If an Emperor doesn't have the wisdom and humility to accept criticism—however foolishly it is delivered—how can his subjects learn to do any better? (To Po) I misjudged the situation, but I never meant to drive her from the palace. I give you my word.
(Po struggles, and then sighs, shoulders slumping, the wired energy he's had for the last few hours leeching out of him.)
PO: I'm sorry. I know, I was way out of line. (Guiltily) It's just– we need her back, okay? Planning missions and telling people what to do, that's her job. I just come in at the end with the magic– meditation– uh, thingy. (Waggles his fingers.) We can't do this without her. (More forcefully:) And Tigress would never, ever betray her duty.
EMPEROR: (Insistent) I don't doubt her character, but the fact of the matter is we don't know where she went, or why. (To the other Four:) I have been thinking on this now for many hours. You are her closest companions; if anyone can find her in the wide expanse of my empire, it would be the five of you. (Back to Po) Find her, Dragon Warrior. Bring her back. You are right; China needs her here—now more than ever.
[The five warriors glance at each other, and then Po bows, fist-in-paw, and the others follow, murmuring "Yes, your Majesty"s.]
PO: (Rising) You can trust her, your Majesty, I promise. She won't let you down.
EMPEROR: (Softly) I hope so, Dragon Warrior. I do.
PO: (Looks to Wu, eyebrows raised. The leopard glares at him, and then sighs and gives a short dismissing wave of his paw. The masters troop down the hall out of the pool of lantern-light, Monkey wiping his brow and Crane heaving an almighty sigh of relief as they close the doors behind them.)
WU: (Once they're alone) You were…remarkably generous with your patience, your Majesty.
EMPEROR: (Turning away and heading for the opposite exit as he says wearily:) Prudent, Wu, not patient.
WU: Your Majesty?
EMPEROR: Those warriors stand the best chance of finding her before the Ten Thousand do. With the Grandmaster's fate uncertain, we no longer have the luxury of hoping for a clean end to this insurrection—and while I sympathize with her plight, I can no longer afford to be impractical when the fate of my Empire hangs in the balance. (He paces another few steps, deep in thought, and then says:) If what you saw on that wall today is any indication, it confirms a theory I have had for some time—that it is not merely the rumors that an heir exists, but concrete knowledge of who she is that is giving the Ten Thousand hope. Without her, they have nothing.
WU: I see…and you believe she will come back willingly?
EMPEROR: (Guiltily, clearly not enjoying this political scheming:) The masters believe they are going to retrieve their friend and leader; so long as they believe it, she will not suspect she is to become a prisoner on her return. (Sighing) If she agrees to make a full capitulation, in public, to my sovereignty, then I will do my best to protect her from our people. But if she refuses, then we will still need her here when the time comes to put an end to this insurrection…one way, or another. (Wu looks surprised, but tries to hide it; the Emperor, mumbling forcefully and as much to himself as to his guard:) I won't let my Empire burn for another fifteen years—not for anyone.
WU: ...I know, your Majesty. (The rabbit continues to look down at his feet as he walks, heading towards the exit, and the leopard glances at the opposite doors with something like repressed guilt.)
[Scene: late golden morning, on the top of the hill outside the city from where the masters first saw the Capitol. As Po and the Four reach the top, they stop and glance back, looking out over the sea of houses to the palace in the distance, its red walls and square complex majestic even from a distance.]
MANTIS: (Hopping onto Po's shoulder, who has the map) So. Where to?
PO: (Unfurling the map, looking over their path, which has been marked in red ink) We'll stop in the panda village first; it's on our way, so she may have stopped there for supplies. After that we'll go to Bao Gu and the Valley of Peace. Someone's bound to have seen her there.
CRANE: But what if she didn't go to the orphanage.
PO: (With dogged certainty) She did. But even if she didn't, we'll search all of China if we have to. And if she's not in China, then we'll search the rest of the world too.
[Shot focuses in on a mountainous part of the map, just outside of ancient China…]
[Scene: the sketched mountain fades into a shot of a cold, gray temple morning in the western mountains. The shot passes in front of a stone pillar as a snowy courtyard comes into view, female shouts of "hah!" and "kyah!" echoing off the stones. It's the courtyard of the monastery, which has become a snowy, overgrown garden; Tigress, dressed not in her usual kung fu vest but instead in the green peasant's tunic and brown trousers she arrived in, is practicing a form.] is practicing a form.]
TIGRESS: Hyah! (Punches, and then holds the form in a "creating-distance" stance. She briefly sizes up an imaginary enemy, and then hits with an explosive open-palm strike.) KYAH!
[Flashback: two bowls of rice shattering on the training hall floor.]
NOISE: CRASH!
YOUNG TIGRESS: (About ten years old; she looks over at the sudden noise, her paw still snapped out in a palm-strike.) Zeng?
ZENG: (Is quaking, eyes wide; his gaze is locked on her bared claws, sharp and gleaming in the dim light.)
YOUNG TIGRESS: (Confused and breaking the stance to step towards him) Zeng, is everything–?
ZENG: (Gasps and steps back. Tigress stops, realization dawning across her face.)
SHIFU: (Sharply, from behind her) Tigress! Back in form!
TIGRESS: (Snapping to attention) Yes, Master Shifu! (Quickly resumes stance.)
SHIFU: Zeng. (The bird glances at him; firmly:) Why don't you take the afternoon off. I can make the rice.
ZENG: (Stammering) Y-Yes, Master Shifu. (He bows and hurries away.)
(As soon as he does so, Shifu sighs and looks at Tigress. Her gaze is still fixed forward and her stance is still near-perfect, but her eyes are narrowed.)
TIGRESS: (Low growl) He was afraid of me.
SHIFU: He was afraid of your claws, not of you.
TIGRESS: (Losing stance as she throws up her hands, furiously) But leopard-style asks for claws in this form! Master, I've done everything right! (Furiously counting off on her fingers.) I've learned control, mastered the first five forms of the style, I've even done kung fu demonstrations for the Valley! (A little desperately:) When, when are people going to stop being afraid of me?!
SHIFU: Zeng has had…bad experiences. That's part of the reason he's here at the Jade Palace, being with us makes him feel protected.
TIGRESS: You mean with Tai L–?
SHIFU: (Sharply) No. (Tigress shuts up, and he pinches the bridge of his nose.) Not…with him, with something else. (His student tilts her head, confused.) Tigress, what do you know of the war with the Ten Thousand?
TIGRESS: I know you and Master Oogway fought in it… (She trails off, watching as he goes to the Thousand Scrolls and removes one from the history section.)
SHIFU: Briefly. (He returns with a scroll and hands it to her.) You're old enough. I think it's time you understand. Read this, and bring it back to me when you are finished.
TIGRESS: (Bows) Yes, Master.
(Shot shifts to her bedroom in the barracks. The ten-year-old Tigress is sitting on her bed; she unfurls the scroll curiously and sees in the first part a watercolor painting of a battlefield; it is impossible not to notice that the army gathered under the red banner is composed of tigers, and the army under the yellow imperial banner is of oxen.)
TIGRESS: (Her eyes flit to the characters and narrow in concentration as she starts to read. As she scans the scroll, her eyes go wider and wider as she unfurls it an inch at a time, her breathing growing erratic, until eventually she shuts her eyes and snaps the scroll closed, breathing hard.)
(Shot cuts again to the training hall, later in the day. Zeng has returned, looking a little less shaken, and is setting out the evening tea. Shifu looks up as Tigress enters and bows.)
TIGRESS: (Holds out the scroll to him) Your scroll, Master. (Shifu takes it back, but then blinks in surprise as Tigress hands him a scrap of paper as well.)
SHIFU: (Taking it) What is this?
TIGRESS: (Still bowing, puts fist-in-paw) Revisions to Form Five of the Leopard Style, Master. Forgive me for my presumption, Master.
SHIFU: (Takes it and scans it. He looks up at her, eyebrows raised.)
TIGRESS: (Still in bow, eyes lowered) There is no need to use claws in the seventh move. (Zeng looks over at them; Tigress glances at him guilty and then swiftly back to the ground.) With sufficient force a palm-strike will work just fine. (Fiercely, glaring at the floorboards:) Besides, it's a cheap way to win a fight.
SHIFU: (Eyes her, and then tucks the piece of paper into his sleeve) Very well, Tigress. Use the revised form from now on. (She nods, eyes still on the ground.) Let us resume training. Can you demonstrate your revisions?
TIGRESS: Yes, Master Shifu! (She bows, and then enters the form, spin-kicking and punching. When she reaches the seventh movement, she throws out a palm-strike, without claws.) Kyah!
[Flash-present. Tigress is still standing in the courtyard of the monastery, looking at her paw, held out in an open-palm strike.]
TIGRESS: (As if on impulse, tenses her fingers. Immediately, five sharp claws flash out with a "tsing!" She stares at them for a moment, before–)
LAN'S VOICE: Are you finished?
TIGRESS: (Turns, clasping her hands behind her back and instinctively retracting her claws. Lan is standing in the doorway, holding an axe.) For now.
LAN: Good. We need firewood.
TIGRESS: (Calmly, approaching:) Of course. If I'm going to stay here, I should earn my keep.
LAN: (Holds out the axe, but as she reaches for it he retracts it slightly.) And how long do you intend to stay?
(Tigress studies him, her own face collected and unreadable. Then she takes the axe and steps past him, heading for the gate.)
TIGRESS:As long as necessary.
[Scene: snowy winter evening in the panda village; under the deep blue sky the red lanterns glow with ember-like warmth, and laughter and the smell of good food wafts up from the shops and houses along the main street.
Shot in to Po and the Four sitting around an outdoor table opposite Po's dad, who is frowning with a cup of tea in hand.]
LI SHAN: No, sorry, haven't seen her since you guys stopped through on your way north. (Concerned) She's not in trouble, is she?
PO: Uh… (Glances to the others uncomfortably.) We hope not.
LI SHAN: Hm. (Scratching his chin.) And you're sure she came south?
CRANE: Positive. That's the way the messenger saw her leave.
LI SHAN: (Shrugging) Sorry, can't help you. But we'll keep an eye out.
PO: (Sighing) Okay. Thanks dad.
LI SHAN: You can all stay as long as you like, but I'm guessing you're in a pretty big hurry. (The others nod.) I can cook up some more dinner for you guys if you want.
VIPER: That'd be great; thanks, Mr. Li.
LI SHAN: No problem. Help me in the kitchen, son?
(As the others slither/walk off, Po follows his dad into the gabled house, bowing to the picture of his mom as he passes and then following his dad into the kitchen.)
LI SHAN: Here y'go. (Handing Po a couple carrots.) Chop these up for me?
PO: Sure thing, dad. (He takes the carrots and sets them on the cutting board as Li starts puttering around the kitchen. He chops up one, looking deep in thought, and then another. He's just starting on the third carrot as a noise, which had been starting faintly in the background, abruptly grows louder, and he turns, startled.)
NOISE: Sizzzzzle… (Po stares as oil in the wok hisses and then lets out an abrupt bubbling SPLASH! as Li tosses in a handful of mushrooms.)
PO: Gah! (He stumbles back, rattling the cutting board. His dad looks up and says something, confused, but Po doesn't hear him, staring at the pan:)
FLAT-TOP'S VOICE:You don't belong here, Chusbster. (The sizzling of oil grows louder:) It's about time someone taught you your pl–
LI SHAN'S VOICE: Po!
PO: (Snaps out of it, jumping. His dad is looking at him, wide-eyed with concern.)
LI SHAN: ...Y'okay, son?
PO: I… (breathing hard, he looks down at the wok again. The oil is bubbling normally.) F-Fine. (A pause, then, abruptly:) I gotta go.
LI SHAN: Po–
PO: I just need some air, okay? (Without waiting for an answer he shoulders his way out of the kitchen, leaving his anxious father behind him.)
[Shot cuts ahead to Po sitting on the edge of the veranda, his legs hanging out over the side. He looks up as Li Shan sits down next to him, handing him a bowl of stir-fried vegetables and noodles.]
PO: Oh. Uh, thanks, Dad.
LI SHAN: (Gently) Your friends are eating in the house. (Po doesn't answer, picking up his chopsticks and starting to eat the noodles half-heartedly. Li Shan puffs out his cheeks in a sigh, and then, looking out over the village, notices something.) Hey. (He nudges Po, who glances up.) Mei Mei's looking at you. (It's true; in the distance, from her own veranda, the young panda woman catches Po's eye and waves flirtatiously.)
PO: Oh. Uh… (He winces and gives Mei Mei a little wave back, who, looking thrilled and then coy, gives him a wink and disappears back inside her house. Po winces further.)
LI SHAN: (Noticing this) Guess she's really not your speed, huh?
PO: What? I-I mean, uh, no, she's great, she's… really something… (he trails off again, picking at his food.)
LI SHAN: (Gestures frustratedly to himself, wondering what he's doing wrong, and then looks over at his son, and then down at the bowl of stir fry. He opens his mouth as if to say something, clearly wanting to ask what's bothering his son, and then seems to think better of it. Instead he points to the half-eaten bowl.) You gonna finish that? (Po hands it to him, and as Li Shan starts to eat the offending meal he swallows and says in an intentionally upbeat tone:) So! Got your eyes on someone else?
PO: (Startled out of his reverie) What? (Li Shan waggles his eyebrows at him, and Po gives an awkward chuckle:) C'mon, Dad, I'm the Dragon Warrior! You know I don't have time to be thinking about stuff like that.
LI SHAN: Uhuh. And this girl you're crossing half of China for…?
PO: (Unconvincingly) Wh– Tigress?
LI SHAN: (Prompting) How do you feel about her?
PO: (Self-conscious) I mean, she's my best friend. We do everything together. Or, y'know, we did…
LI SHAN: Right, and when you're around her you feel…?
(There's a beat of silence. Li Shan waits expectantly while Po looks out over the mountain village, watching the mist swirl as the distant stars glimmer in the blue sky.)
PO: ...When I'm around her, it's like when I fought Tai Lung.
LI SHAN: (Stares at his son in disbelief for a moment, and then mutters) ...Well whatever you do, don't tell her that.
PO: No– look, you don't get it. That fight, it was the first time I ever did Kung Fu—like, for real. It wasn't just by myself or in training with Master Shifu; I had a real opponent. (Talking almost to himself:) Doing Kung Fu made me feel like… like things finally made sense. Like I finally had things figured out.
LI SHAN: (Catching on) And that's how being around this girl makes you feel?
PO: Yeah. (Frustrated) And now, it's like, nothing makes sense. (Now in a ramble, gesturing:) Tigress and I, we're a team, y'know? We balance each other out. The Dragon Warrior and Furious Five, together against the forces of evil! (He strikes a noble pose, probably subconsciously, and then drops it and continues:) That's how it's supposed to be, anyway. But with her gone—I-I don't know, dad. The Capitol's tearing itself apart, and now with Master Shifu hurt everyone's looking to me to be the leader, but I'm not. I don't know what to do, let alone what other people should do.
LI SHAN: Is this what's been bothering you? (Po hesitates, and then nods in a "sort-of?" way.) Look, son… you can't base your whole understanding of the world on someone else! Even someone you care about. (Sets a hand on his son's shoulder; seriously:) When I lost you and your mom…nothing made sense to me, either. But my people were relying on me. I had to figure out how to make sense of the world without you, to be who I needed to be for them.
PO: But I know who I am, dad. I just don't know what to think about—everyone else. (Suddenly insistent:) And that's why we've got to find her. Once she's back, I know we can figure this out together.
LI SHAN: (Opens his mouth as if to object, and then sighs and shrugs) Well, I guess you know your job best. But just…keep an open mind.
PO: (Doesn't answer, apparently lost in anxious thought as he looks up at the moon. Li Shan sighs through his nose and pats his back.)
[Scene: the moon brightens and fades into the sun as the sky lightens; there's the sound of light hammering, and the shot pans down to show Tigress replacing what appear to be timber shingles on the roof. There's a bucket of now-frozen pine pitch beside her.]
[Shot shifts ahead slightly to LAN meditating in front of a leafless dormant tree in the monastery's snowy garden.]
NOISE: Whumf! (A blur lands lightly behind him and then stands up.)
TIGRESS: (Matter-of-fact, still carrying the bucket and hammer.) The leak in the main prayer hall is fixed.
LAN: There's another over the kitchen. (Tigress nods and turns to go, and he looks back over his shoulder.) You're not used to this cold, you should take a break.
TIGRESS: (Dismissive) I will be fine.
LAN: Are you always this stubborn, Little One?
TIGRESS: (Pausing and half-turning back.) You keep calling me that. Why?
LAN: Everyone called you that. (Tigress furrows her brow.) It was a nickname; there wasn't time to give you a proper one before the war ended.
(They eye each other for a long moment, both aware that this is a perfect opening for her to ask questions.)
TIGRESS: (Turning back towards the door) I'm not a child. "Master Tigress" will do.
LAN: (Doesn't respond as she steps inside. After a moment, he turns back to the tree, lets out a quiet exhale through his nose and resumes his meditation.)
[Scene: the plucking sound of music fills the quiet air as Jingyi plays her guqin in the palace infirmary. She pauses, ears twitching, as she hears a stirring in the bed beside her; Master Shifu winces in his sleep but doesn't open his eyes, and then falls back into his unconscious daze. After a pause, Jingyi begins to play the melancholic tune again.]
[Scene: timeskip ahead; a drift of snow, highlighted silver and gold by a winter sunset, shudders on a branch, and then falls. The Four and Po are standing in front of the gates of Bao Gu orphanage on a winter evening, talking to the matron. She is the same sheep we saw running the orphanage in Tigress's portion of Secrets of the Furious Five, although now some twenty-odd years older.]
EWE MATRON: I'm sorry, Dragon Warrior, but she hasn't been here for several weeks.
[There's a general disappointed slump from the Four, but Po rallies.]
PO: (Insistent) But she came through here? (The matron nods.) I knew it! Did she tell you where she was going?!
EWE MATRON: N-No, but– she did ask about the people who left her here. I told her everything I could remember.
CRANE: And that was–?
EWE MATRON: W-Well it wasn't much… She was left here when she was about six months old by two snow leopards, a-a man and a woman I think, who came from and left by the western road. I'm afraid that's all I can recall, it was a very dark night…
MONKEY: Snow leopards?
VIPER: So they couldn't have been her parents…
EWE MATRON: (Trying to be helpful) She turned west when she left. The Valley of Peace is that way, perhaps she was heading there–?
PO: It's worth a shot. Thank you, ma'am, you've been really helpful.
MANTIS: (As they head away from the gate) Even if she went to the Palace, there's no way she's still there. She knows it's the first place we'd look for her.
PO: She'd been traveling for weeks by that point, she would have had to stop for money and supplies. Someone in the Valley has to know where she went next.
CRANE: If she is…who we think she is, then the people who left her at the orphanage were probably soldiers.
VIPER: But if they were working for the General, why would they have gone back they way they'd come after leaving her here? The war was long over by that point.
PO: I don't know. But I bet Tigress had the exact same questions. (He's walking at the head of the group with a no-nonsense determination. The others seem surprised and worried to see him like this, but he doesn't seem to notice:) The old lady said that the people who left her here went back the way they'd come. I bet you anything she's trying to track them down for answers.
MANTIS: (Darkly) Yeah? And what happens when she gets them?
PO: (Glances over his shoulder in surprise, and then looks forward again, frowning) I don't know. But whatever they are– (they come over the edge of a snowy hill; in the far, far distance, the Jade Palace can be seen rising above the rolling hills of the long mountain valley which eventually turns into the Valley of Peace.) –we'll be there for her.
[Scene: winter sunset in the monastery. Pinkish-purple light that seems somehow colder instead of warmer filters over the mountaintop, as an icy wind blows through an open doorway. The bristles of a broom scuff a small cloud of swirling dust out over the threshold and onto the snow.]
TIGRESS: (Pauses and looks out over the fading sunset. The lights are going on in the tiny mountain village, far down the slope. She watches them for a long moment, and then turns and heads back inside.)
[Shot moves ahead briefly to her entering the garden. Lan is sitting cross-legged in front of the leafless tree, his hands clasped in meditation. He doesn't seem to mind the cold.]
TIGRES: (Without preamble) The main prayer hall has been swept.
LAN: (Glances over his shoulder with a nod and goes back to meditating) The eastern dormitory also needs sweeping. (Tigress nods once and turns to leave with her broom, but LAN adds right before she's about to depart:) And there's a tapestry in there that needs beating out.
TIGRESS: (Nods silently and leaves.)
[Shot shifts to her pushing on a pair of double-doors, a lantern in hand. The paint on them is long since faded, and when she opens them they creak loudly from disuse. Tigress steps inside, sets down the lantern and looks around. Her eyes widen slowly as she takes the room in.]
[What was clearly once a dormitory for the monks has been turned into the nursery for a wealthy child—or was, at any rate. A thick layer of dust covers everything in the room, from a carved and painted wooden cradle and a rotting silk blanket to the long-cold iron brazier sitting on the floor. On the wall behind the cradle, a sheet has been thrown over some sort of wall hanging—presumably the tapestry Lan indicated. It's clear that neither he nor anyone else has used this room in a long time.]
TIGRESS: (Looks over her shoulder into the hallway suspiciously—it's clear why Lan has sent her in here—and then steps further inside. Her foot brushes against something, and she looks down to see a wooden toy tiger. She bends down and picks it up, noting the scratch marks over the wood. Clearly this toy was not made to be easily broken.)
TIGRESS: (Sets the doll in the cradle and then goes to the wall-hanging hanging. As she lifts the corner of the sheet, she sees a dull glitter of gold tapestry thread underneath, and she stops, looking up with narrowed eyes, before abruptly pulling the sheet down with both hands. It falls to the ground with a rippling flutter, revealing the tapestry.)
(Even after so many years languishing in the dusty room, the threads still glitter in the lantern-light. Staring imperiously down at her is a family of six tigers; the centermost figure is the General, dressed identically to how he was depicted in Zhong's wall-hanging—clad in golden battle armor, with a sword in his left paw and the claws of his right paw bared—but with much more glorious detail. The gold armor is embossed with etchings of five-toed dragons, and silver thread glitters in the blade of his sword.
Seated beside him is a tiger woman in a sumptuous golden dress embroidered with phoenixes and wearing an empress's fenghuang headdress, glittering with gemstones and blue-kingfisher pendants. Flanking them on either side are young tiger men in armor and carrying weapons, ranging in age from their late teens to early twenties, and held on the woman's lap is…)
TIGRESS: (Eyes flare wide, and she steps back, mouth setting tightly. The tiny tiger cub stares back at her, head slightly tilted, as if curious. Its markings are identical to her own.)
NOISE: (The quiet creak of a door. Tigress abruptly turns. Lan is standing in the doorway.)
LAN: You came here looking for answers. How long do you intend to go on without asking for them?
TIGRESS: (Eyes him for a long moment. The two stare each other down in the silence of dust and memories. At last, coolly:) Fine. (Heads for the door, brushing past him.) Let's talk.
[Shot shifts to the monastery kitchen. Tigress and Lan are sitting on opposite sides of a wooden table with tea saucers in their hands, a pot between them.]
LAN: That is how my wife Xue and I heard the prophecy. I believe your Master Oogway told it to us as reassurance that we had done the right thing in bringing you to Bao Gu. We never spoke of it to anyone; how the rest of the Ten Thousand heard of it, I cannot guess.
TIGRESS: (Not looking at Lan, but instead down at the cup in her hands. Coolly:) So, then Master Oogway always knew.
LAN: Perhaps he did not want to burden you with the information until it was necessary. That would not be an easy weight for a child to carry.
TIGRESS: Hm. (Takes a sip from her tea and sets the saucer down.) Why didn't anyone at the palace realize that the prophecy could have another meaning?
LAN: (Drinks down his cooling tea and wipes his mouth) Because reading it the way the Ten Thousand do requires thinking a treasonous thought: that the Tiger Emperor might have had a real claim to the throne—might have really been the emperor.
TIGRESS: Do you think it's true?
LAN: You mean, do I think your father really was an emperor? (Tigress looks up and frowns at the use of the words "your father." Lan pours himself another cup of tea.) No, I don't. But I did once, and so did a lot of other people.
TIGRESS: (With a hint of a growl) You believed that power was its own justification—that being stronger gave you the right to dominate others.
LAN: You can't deny that history is written by the victors.
TIGRESS: What changed your mind?
LAN: (Takes another sip of his tea, meditative. Then he answers.) Your father's war brought chaos and suffering to China
[Flashback: bloody war. Paper-cutout versions of Lan and a snow-leopard woman, presumably Xue, stand in bloodied armor, looking around at the sea of violence around them.]
LAN: (Voiceover) Sooner or later, promises of a golden future can't make up for a nightmare present. Fifteen years is a long time to fight for a dream that never materializes; either your faith in the man leading you into battle becomes unshakable, or it withers away. (Flash to present; Lan is looking down into his cup.) After the war was over and peace returned to China, Xue and I saw how foolish we had been. We followed your Master Oogway's wisdom and returned here, to do penance for our crimes, but there was nothing left except this…empty monastery. Somehow, we just never left.
TIGRESS: I always thought the people who left me at Bao Gu were tigers.
LAN: I'm not surprised. You were only a child at the time; you must have assumed that Xue and I were your parents.
[Flashback: a fork of lightning flashes over a paper-cutout pair of hooded figures looking down at the infant Tigress; in the blast the scene is transformed from her paper-memory to his more realistic memory of a dark, windswept scene of driving rain. The two snow leopards share an uncertain glance and then back at the kitten with pity, before the noise of a window opening above them causes XUE to look up, and she and LAN quickly turn to leave. The swaddled infant mewls and squirms uncomfortably in the cold rain, and then begins to wail.]
[Flash-present. Tigress is frowning down at her saucer.]
TIGRESS: Why did you take me? From what I've heard, General Zhong was the one with the orders–
LAN: We didn't know anything about Zhong's orders. Xue and I saw that the battle was turning against us. So much suffering… too late, we realized that the future we'd been fighting for was nothing but a fantasy. But your father was determined we would all fight to the death. So we ran away from the battle…
[Flashback: Xue scooping the infant out of the cradle, and then looking over her shoulder at a sudden noise.
Zhong has appeared in the doorway, severely injured from the battle and clutching one hand over his bloody eye; he shouts something at them, but Lan shoves him aside and he and Xue run out of the room.]
LAN: (VOICEOVER) …And took you with us.
TIGRESS: (VR) So, you kidnapped an infant.
LAN: (VR) There had been enough bloodshed already. An innocent child didn't deserve to die for her father's crimes. But we were two traitors, on the run with no friends on either side.
[Flashback: XUE and LAN in a seedy establishment, XUE with Tigress in her arms. A sudden shouting goes up in the bar, and the infant begins to fuss.]
LAN: (VR) It was no life for a child. And it was too obvious that you weren't our own. So we chose to leave you at Bao Gu. It was for the best.
[Flashback: LAN and XUE set the swaddled kitten down on the doorstep.]
[Flashpresent.]
LAN: We never expected you to be found by Shifu, or to become a great warrior.
TIGRESS: Yes, well. We often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it. (Drinks her tea and then sets down the cup.) What happened to the general's wife? I know she died.
LAN: (Grunting) Passed from sickness on the road to here, a few months before the war ended. I never knew her that well myself.
TIGRESS: And Xue?
LAN: (Looking over his shoulder to the window, outside of which snow is falling over the tree where he'd been meditating.) She's buried here, in the garden. We had a good life together. (Turns back, looking down into his tea.) A better one than we deserved. (Tigress doesn't answer.) You said you would stay here "as long as necessary."
TIGRESS: Right now my identity is only a rumor to the Ten Thousand; if I go back to the Capitol, something will happen that will force me to confirm it. It would only be throwing fuel on the fire.
LAN: And what about General Zhong.
TIGRESS: My friends are capable warriors, they can handle Zhong without my help.
LAN: You could publicly renounce him.
TIGRESS: (Looking up at him, dryly:) Something tells me Zhong isn't the kind of man to let people's personal feelings get in the way of what he views as destiny.
LAN: (Calmly) And that's your only reason for refusing to confront him? (Tigress's eyes narrow.) You said it yourself, your true heritage would almost certainly be confirmed if you returned to the Capitol. Even here, stories have reached us of Master Tigress and the Furious Five. That reputation must have taken you a long time to build.
TIGRESS: (Stands up abruptly, pushing the chair back) You saved my life and for that I am in your debt, but I will not sit here and have my honor questioned by a man who fought for a traitor and hid in a monastery for three decades instead of facing justice. (Turns and heads for the door.) If there are any more chores that need doing, inform me; otherwise I will retire for the night.
LAN: Of course—Little One.
TIGRESS: (Stops at the door, her back to him, and then stalks through, slamming it so hard behind her that the walls shake. Lan's saucer rattles on the table and spills some tea over the side; he looks down at it for a moment, and then up at the door.)
(Outside, the wind blows over the mountain, snow swirling around the peak as the stars glitter coldly overhead.)
[Scene: the shot fades from the stars over the mountain to the same stars over the Valley of Peace, specifically Mr. Ping's noodle shop. Inside the shop there are customers bundled up against the cold, laughing and chatting over bowls of noodles. The owner is looking up at his son and the other four in concern.]
MR. PING: Tigress? I'm sorry, son; she hasn't been here since you all left. (The group slumps.)
MANTIS: Well, that's that idea shot down.
MR. PING: (With his usual indomitable optimism) I'm sure you'll find her. Do you know why she ran off?
FOUR & PO: (Sharing uneasy glances) Uh…
PO: We've– got a theory. (Rallying) Thanks, Dad. We'll check the Palace next; come on, guys, let's g–
MR. PING: (Ruffling his feathers) Oh no you don't! I haven't seen my son in months, and now you just want to stop in, say hello, ask some cryptic questions and leave?
PO: Dad–
MR. PING: Not a chance, you're not leaving until you've all had something to eat! (Already bustling off to the kitchen.) Now sit down, rest! I'll get started on your usuals.
PO: (Smiling despite himself.) Thanks, Dad.
FOUR & PO: (Sit down at the tables as the goose disappears into the kitchen. Around them the usual customers are chatting, children are playing, and the wintry air is being warmed with the smell of Secret Ingredient Soup. Everything is cozy and familiar, after the months of tension and violence in the Capitol.)
VIPER: (Softly) It…really is peaceful here, isn't it.
MANTIS: (Snorting) Yeah, because of us. (The others look at him in surprise.) Well and Master Oogway and Shifu, and even Tai Lung for a while there.
CRANE: What're you saying?
MANTIS: (Bluntly) I'm saying the rest of the world isn't like the Valley of Peace. (Shrugs.) You guys are so eager to find Tigress, but frankly I don't blame her for booking it. Maybe we shouldn't be looking for her.
PO: What?!
VIPER: Mantis, how can you say that!
MANTIS: I'm just saying, I get why she left and maybe it wasn't the worst choice! –Oh come on, don't look at me like that! (The others are now giving him incredulous and angry expressions.) You don't know how it was back then; Po didn't know the war had even happened until a few months ago!
PO: My dad didn't tell me! And besides, it's not like people go around talking about it all the time–
MANTIS: (Blowing his top) Yeah, 'cause it's not exactly something we wanna remember! The whole world was falling apart; a lot of us lost everything! Would you wanna reminisce about that?!
(There's a beat of silence, with only the noise of the restaurant in the background. The others stare in shock. Mantis sighs and rubs the back of his neck with his claw.)
MANTIS: Listen. You guys are young; you don't remember the war. I do.
[Fade to paper-cutout flashback. We see a young Mantis, maybe ten or eleven years old, playing with many other little mantis children near a tiny house made of leaves and twigs. Young Mantis is laughing, before a girl mantis about his age suddenly rushes past him, "tagging" him. He shouts in annoyance and runs after her. As he does so, the camera pans to follow him, revealing a whole village set onto the tree branches around them.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: When I was a kid, there used to be a large forest in the Central Mountains. That's where my family lived.
[A mother mantis hops out of the nearest leaf-house and calls to her children. Mantis looks over and runs with the others to where the mother-mantis is setting out a dinner of leaf-rolls. As he hops over, Mantis "tags" his sister, who juts her mandibles out at him, like sticking her tongue out.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: It was a pretty good life. Lots of space, plenty of food. And we were out of the way, too. We knew there was a war going on out east, but we didn't think anyone would care about us. I mean, we were bugs. [The shot pulls back as golden sunset falls over the happy little tree-village of mother mantises and their children.] What did we have that anyone else would want?
[Shot cuts to the Ten Thousand's red banners waving in front of the forest line as the sunset turns scarlet, the shadows of the trees stretching long over the field. At the edge of the shadows stands a line of boots.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: Turned out we did.
[An order is shouted, and the boots march forward.]
[Axes chopping, felling trees. A cloud of birds takes to the skies; arrows fly. One sparrow wheels and flies into the forest. Time skips ahead to the sparrow landing, breathing hard on a branch, as the mantises gather around, listening in growing horror as he gestures back the way he came.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: They cut down massive parts of the forest to make siege engines. We were so isolated from everything we didn't even know that the war had reached us until they were literally on our doorstep; by that point it was too late to do anything but run.
[The mother mantises leave in exodus, gathering their children anxiously around them as night covers the skies. A local lightning bug is guiding the way.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: We thought we were safe. We were idiots. Sooner or later, nowhere was safe from the Ten Thousand.
[Shot of a young Mantis on a branch, carrying a stick-and-bundle over his exoskeleton and surrounded by his many brothers and sisters. He's looking over his shoulder at his forest home, unwilling to leave, before his mother shepherds him away. As they hop away from branch to branch, behind them, the trees start to fall.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: Well—almost nowhere.
[Paper-cutout image of Oogway and Shifu walking through the town in the Valley of Peace, with a fifteen-year-old Tai Lung at Shifu's side. A large adoring crowd has gathered around them. A young Mantis, standing on a small pile of boxes with his mom and siblings, looks on in curiosity.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: The Valley's quiet nowadays, but back then there were plenty of refugee families like us. [Mantis's mother puts a foreleg on his shoulder and starts to lead him away.] People poured in from everywhere, 'cause everyone knew that Master Oogway and his students would keep the Valley safe.
FLASHBACK NOISE: CLASH! [The village gong suddenly starts to ring.]
[There's a commotion in the crowd; Mantis pulls away and turns back, startled. The three masters look surprised, and then determined. Tai Lung crouches down with a grin, looking to Shifu for permission. As the gong crashes again, Shifu gives him a nod, and Tai Lung launches off down the street, with Shifu and Oogway following.]
YOUNG MANTIS: (Gasps in awe and hops after them; his mother turns to find him gone.)
MANTIS'S VOICE: (Voiceover) They were heroes.
[Scene of young Mantis standing on a rooftop at the edge of town, watching as Oogway, Shifu and Tai Lung fight off a horde of marauding soldiers in Ten Thousand clothing, the red banners flying.]
YOUNG MANTIS: (Voice echoing as he cheers; imitating Tai Lung's punches with his forelegs) Yeah! Get 'em!
MANTIS'S VOICE: When the war ended Mom and the others went back to the forest, or what was left of it, to try'n rebuild. But I wanted to set off on my own. So, I stayed in the Valley.
[Shot shifts to a teenage Mantis watching his mother and siblings head off down the road at sunset. He waves goodbye, and his mother waves back, before they vanish over the curve of a hill.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: (Matter-of-factly) I stuck around until Tai Lung's rampage, and then I left. I wasn't the only one, either. For a lot of us, seeing him like that after he'd protected us… [Brief flashback of Tai Lung's rampage.] It was a slap in the face. And when Master Shifu took in Tigress…
[Shot of a small tiger cub following the red panda hesitantly through the town towards the Thousand Steps. The townspeople share looks.]
MANTIS'S VOICE: Not gonna lie: a lot of us wondered what he was thinking. Anyway… I decided that, since clearly my heroes couldn't be counted on, I'd become a streetfighter and learn how to defend myself—decided that no one was ever going to step on me again.
[Fade back to the real-world.]
VIPER: Mantis...
MANTIS: Look, you guys weren't there. You don't remember how it was. (The younger masters share uncomfortable looks.) But for those of us who were…when a certain kind of people walk all over you treat you like the little guy for long enough, it's hard to trust anyone who reminds you of them.
PO: But you trust Tigress–
MANTIS: Yeah, because I didn't see my whole family get killed by people following her old man. Not everyone was that lucky. (Po looks ready to argue, but Mantis interrupts him) Look, I'm not saying the way people would treat her if this got out is right. All I'm saying is, I get why she left. If I were her, I wouldn't want to be associated with any of that, either.
(Nobody seems to know what to say to this. Luckily they don't have to; as there's a commotion at the door:)
ZENG'S VOICE: Masters! (The Four and Po turn, surprised, to see the Palace messenger looking at them in relief.) Thank goodness, I was beginning to think– (He hurries up to them.) Is Master Tigress with you?
PO: You've seen her!
ZENG: She appeared at the Palace about a month ago, but she only stayed for one night and she was gone before morning. (Stopping at their table, anxious:) Masters– I think there was something wrong with her. She wasn't herself. (The Four and Po share a worried look.)
PO: What do you mean, "not herself?"
[Shot shifts ahead slightly; the Four, Po, Zeng and Mr. Ping have gone up to the Palace and are walking through the Hall of Heroes, looking anxiously up at the half-repaired building.]
ZENG: (Going around the edge of the pool to the library shelves behind) When she got here she looked like she'd been traveling for a long time, and she wasn't wearing her normal clothes. She asked me for help finding something in the Jade Palace's records. (He pulls a scroll out from one of the latter sections.)
MONKEY: (Swinging himself from one pillar to the next and then dropping down beside Zeng) I did not know the Palace even kept records.
MR. PING: (Affronted on Zeng's behalf) Well of course it does. Every business has to keep its receipts; how else would you submit for tax write-offs? You think all your weapons and training equipment are free? (To Zeng under his breath:) Warrior types, never thinking about the budget.
ZENG: (Gives him a "tell me about it" nod.) Master Oogway used to receive pilgrims who came seeking his wisdom. I kept a list of them in the palace logbooks. (He opens the scroll and rolls through it.) She wanted to know if I remembered two visitors who came here a couple decades ago.
VIPER: Some pilgrims? (Gasps; to the others:) That might be the people who left her at Bao Gu!
PO: (Urgently) What did the record say?
ZENG: This was thirty years ago, back when Tai Lung was still at the palace. But that's why I remember them so well, since they were both snow leopards, and dressed like soldiers. He was very interested in them.
MANTIS: Do you know what they asked Oogway about?
ZENG: (Affronted) I would never have eavesdropped on Master Oogway's private conversations! (He finds the place in the scroll and hands it to Po; the records show the arrival date for 岚 and 雪—"Lan" and "Xue.") But when they left they said they were going to the Sacred Mountain in the west; you can see I record it there. (Lowering his voice nervously:) I-I never want to accuse, but, well—Shifu did try awfully hard to keep Tai Lung from talking to them. I think they may have once been soldiers for the– (gulps) –the Ten Thousand.
MONKEY: The Sacred Mountain? (To the others:) But that–
CRANE: –That's where the Tiger General made his last stand, yeah.
PO: That's where she's gone. It has to be, it's the only thing that makes sense!
MR. PING: Po? (The panda turns; his father has come up beside Zeng, looking uneasy.) I don't understand; what is going on? All this talk about the Ten Thousand– has something happened in the Capitol? (The noodle maker and the messenger both peer up at the warrior—looking to him for answers.)
PO: (Looks over his shoulder at the other Four, who seem equally worried. They all seem to be realizing, if not for the first time then at least more fully than before, the full burden of not just fighting for the Valley, but being its designated protectors.)
MR. PING: Son?
PO: (Hesitates another moment, and then turns back and kneels down. He sets a hand on his dad's small shoulder:) We've got this, Dad, don't worry.
MR. PING: (Anxious at this non-answer:) Po–
PO: We're going to find Tigress, and then the six of us will put everything back the way it's supposed to be. (Looks back again at the other Four again and meets Mantis's eyes in particular. The bug hesitates, and then nods, and Po turns back to his dad. Firmly:) We promise.
[Scene: travel montage: Po and the Four traveling across southwestern China, the dotted line on the map overlaying their journey. We see them passing by the strange limestone pillars of Shilin; traveling through the busy city of old Kunming; studying the map in a wooden teahouse in Puer. They turn south to avoid the mountains and pass through villages along the border of the kingdom, where the snow has vanished and the architecture has distinctive southeast-asian characteristics, like the conical stupa pagodas and Pyatthat tiered roofs of Myanmar, and the "horned" roofs of Manipuri temples.]
[Eventually they turn north again, the snow returning as they head back into the Western Mountains, hiking over icy ridges as Viper shivers and Crane shakes frost off his wings. We see Po and the Four talking to the same suspicious antelope owner, who points them in the direction of the Sacred Mountain. At last we see them crossing the rickety wooden bridge to the snowfield in front of the red-roofed temple. They draw to a sudden halt as they come over the top of a drift and notice that there's someone ahead of them, likewise making the trek up the hill to the monastery's gates.]
[It's Tigress, dressed in the green peasant's tunic, cowl and heavy brown cloak. She's carrying a tied bundle of cut branches for firewood on her shoulder. Before any of them can say her name her ears flicker, and then she turns to look at them, her eyes widening in shock. Po stares back.
For a long moment, nobody moves—not Tigress, not the Four, not Po who is a step ahead of the others. Snow swirls in the breeze, and then settles. Viper glances anxiously between Po, whose expression is suddenly nervous, and Tigress in the distance, whose posture and expression have both snapped to a wide-eyed rigidity.
And then Po suddenly lets out a breath, and rushes forward across the snowfield.]
TIGRESS: (Drops the bundle of firewood just in time for Po's enveloping hug. She holds her composure a moment longer, startled, and then her emotionless facade cracks and she exhales heavily, hugging him back. Po squeezes his eyes shut and hugs her even tighter.)
THE FOUR: (Share glances and then approach tentatively, not wanting to intrude on a personal moment.)
TIGRESS: (Gives her friend a last tight grip before opening her eyes and stepping back slightly, still in the hug but now holding Po at a half-arm's length; he does the same. She, seriously:) What are you doing here? (To the others as well:) I told you not to follow me.
PO: We had to come. Tigress, you could've been dead, you could've been kidnapped–
VIPER: (Insistent) We were worried about you.
MONKEY: You sort of just… ran off.
TIGRESS: (Firmly) For good reasons.
PO: (Redrawing her attention) They don't seem very good to us! Look, Tigress, we're your best friends; you know we wouldn't care that you're– I mean–
TIGRESS: (Realizing; she steps back out of the hug, creating distance.) You know? (She looks around at the others; they shuffle their feet/scales/wings guiltily.) …I see. (Her expression turns stoic again.) Well, since you know, you should have known better than to come here.
VIPER: Tigress–
TIGRESS: But it's too late for that now. (Stepping away from Po, picking up the branches and taking the first few steps up the mountain, half-turning towards the monastery—and away from them.) It gets cold here once the sun goes down; you should come inside. I'm sure Lan's already boiling the water for the tea. (Dryly:) Welcome to the Sacred Mountain.
(She turns back around and heads up the slope. The others take a moment to look around the desolate snowfield, and then, sharing guilty looks, follow her up the hill.)
NOTES:
The Forbidden City does not have a dungeon (at least not as far as I could find) so this is artistic license.
Tigress not having had a "proper name" as a baby is due to traditional Chinese naming customs, which held off naming an infant for a month after birth until it seemed like it would survive back in the days of high infant mortality. The implication is that the naming celebration was put off even longer due to the complications of the tactical retreat to the monastery and the final days of the war.
The mountains where Mantis is implied to have lived are the Daba mountains, an extremely important ecological zone covered by massive forests in central China.