Chapter 9: Consort?!
At the Jade Palace, Shifu's POV:
The night sky was stormy as I stood there, waiting for Tai Lung to confront me. The thunder and lightning rumbled. There he was, standing right before me. I glared at him while he smirked.
"I have come home, master." Tai Lung said.
"This is no longer your home, and I am no longer your master," I said firmly.
"Oh, yes. You have some new favorites. So where is this Po and Lana?" Tai Lung demanded. Tai Lung chuckled. "Did I scare them off?"
"This battle is between you and me," I said.
"So that is how it's going to be." Tai Lung said. There was some disappointment in his voice. Tai Lung turned his back to me.
"That is how it must be," I said firmly again. I got into my battle stance. In a quick move, Tai Lung leaped up and attacked me. Lightning flashed in the sky. The ground broke when Tai Lung slammed his foot down on the ground. He punched a rock towards me.
Reacting quickly, I broke it to prevent it from smashing on my head. Tai Lung attacked me again and punched me hard in the face, making me fall back. I flipped over to make a safe landing on the ground. I held my arms out, preparing to fight him again. Tai Lung kept walking towards me.
"I rotted in jail for 20 years because of your weakness!" Tai Lung roared. He was furious.
"Obeying your master and protecting my daughter is not weakness!" I yelled.
"You favorite Lana over me!" Tai Lung yelled.
"I loved you guys both the same!" I yelled back.
"You knew I was the Dragon Warrior. You always knew. But when Oogway said otherwise, what did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO? NOTHING!" Tai Lung roared angrily.
"You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior! That was not my fault!" I shouted. Tai Lung got closer to me.
"Not your fault! Who filled my head with dreams?" Tai Lung yelled. Tai Lung broke one of the walls with his foot in anger. "Who drove me to train until my bones cracked?"
I nearly dodged an object that he threw at me. "Who denied me my destiny?"
Tai Lung threw multiple sharp knives at me. I blocked them as they were coming towards me at a fast speed. Tai Lung's rage knew no bounds. Tai Lung kicked another weapon at me, but I was able to block it, slamming it on the ground.
"It was never my decision to make!" I cried. Tai Lung roared at me before going to Oogway's painting and his staff surrounded by the candles. My eyes widened with horror when he picked up Oogway's staff, holding it out to me.
"It is now." Tai Lung said. I lunged at him to attack him. He punched me a few times. I jumped out of the way of his punches and kicks. Tai Lung grabbed me in a chokehold with the staff and pinned me down. I tried to get out of his grip but he was very strong.
"Give me the scroll!" Tai Lung said.
"I would rather die!" I choked out. His grip only tightened at my denial. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I tried to get out of his strong grip. The staff couldn't contain his strength, so it snapped in half. My expression was saddened when I looked at my friend's broken staff lying on the floor. Some petals brushed over the remains of the staff.
Tai Lung charged at me, slamming me against the wall, making a crack with the force of the landing. I landed on the ground. Tai Lung chased me around the palace. Tai Lung sent me flying into the air, making me break the palace's roof. He punched and kicked at me a few more times.
I held him down for a minute but that backfired, and he held me down. We fell into the palace, making a hard landing on the roof. Tai Lung did another powerful kick at me. I slammed into the wall and fell again. Tai Lung's paws turned into a fiery blue. I was scared now. How had he gotten so powerful? Tai Lung roared and attacked me with the blue flames.
"All I ever did, I did was to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are, Shifu!" Tai Lung yelled. Tai Lung kept attacking me with the flames. "Tell me! Tell me!"
I fell back at his attacks, landing near the pool in the middle of the palace. I gasped to catch my breath. Tai Lung deactivated the flames from his paws. I did my best to speak in my weak state.
"I have... I have always been proud of you. From the first moment, I have been. Proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming. What I was turning you into. I'm... I'm sorry." I said.
Tai Lung's expression softened for a minute before slamming me on the ground again, grabbing me in a chokehold with his paw. He leaned into me.
"I don't want your apology." Tai Lung growled. Tai Lung lifted me up in the air. "I want my scroll."
I struggled to get out of his grip. Tai Lung looked at the dragon up above only to realize that the scroll was missing. This made Tai Lung angrier.
"What? Where is it?!" Tai Lung yelled, slamming me on the ground again.
"Dragon Warriors has taken the scroll halfway across China by now. You will never see the scroll, Tai Lung. Never. Never." I said. Tai Lung sharpened his claws. Tai Lung was about to attack me again when I heard a familiar voice I knew all too well.
Po was there, standing in front of the doors. I saw that Lana was with him too. What was she doing here?
Whatever the reason Lana was here, I knew this was not going to end well.
Lana's POV:
With the new power I had from the scroll, I had the strength to fight Tai Lung, and so did Po. As I was headed for the Jade Palace, Tigress stopped me when I passed her.
"Lana! Where are you going?!" Tigress shouted.
"There is something I need to do! Go on without me!" I shouted back. I followed Po up the stairs to the Jade Palace. It took us a while because Po doesn't do well with stairs. When we reached the front doors of the Jade Palace, I saw something horrible.
Shifu was being held down by my brother, Tai Lung.
"Hey!" Po shouted. Po took a moment to catch his breath. "Stairs."
"Daddy!" I shouted with worry when I saw Shifu almost lifeless.
"Ah, Lana." Tai Lung said, looking at me. Tai Lung then took one look at Po. "Who are you?"
"Buddy, I am the Dragon Warrior," Po said.
"So am I," I said.
"You?" Tai Lung said, throwing Shifu on the floor who was passed out. "Him? He's a panda. You're a panda. What are you gonna do, big guy? Sit on me?"
"Don't tempt me," Po said. Po got into his fighting stance. "No, I'm gonna use this."
Po held out the Dragon Scroll, showing it off. Tai Lung's rage grew. "The Dragon Scroll." Tai Lung said.
"That's right," Po said.
"Hand it over, Panda." Tai Lung said.
"You'll never get it! Not while I'm around!" Po shouted.
"Oh, really? Well, how about some motivation." Tai Lung said with a smirk on his face. Motivation? What does that mean? My question was answered when Tai Lung charged towards me. Po jumped out of the way when Tai Lung grabbed a knife that was lying on the floor. Tai Lung wrapped his arm around me in a strong grip, holding me in a chokehold. Tai Lung held the knife to my neck.
"Dad!" I cried.
"Lana! Let her go!" Po shouted. I grabbed Tai Lung's arm and tried to get out of his grip, but he held me tighter.
"If you want your precious daughter back, Dragon Warrior then you will have to give the Dragon Scroll to me." Tai Lung said.
"Over my dead body. Now let her go." Po said angrily. I gasped for breath. I was running out of air.
"Tai Lung, please..." I whispered. Tai Lung ignored me, his attention was focused on Po.
"Very well, then. I guess we will have to do this the hard way." Tai Lung said. My eyes widened with fear. What did he mean by that? Was he going to kill me? Tai Lung put his paw over my mouth. Po tried to run towards me, but Tai Lung kicked him back.
"Stay down, or else." Tai Lung said as he pointed the sharp knife to my neck again. I felt my vision fading. Within a few minutes, I was losing consciousness.
The last thing I heard before blacking out completely was Po yelling my name.
I had a pounding headache when I regained consciousness. My vision was blurred. What happened to me? When I fully awoke, I saw that I was chained tightly to the wall, standing against my will. My hands were chained tightly above my head, with my feet were chained together tightly.
I was trying to remember what happened. Before I was knocked out, I remember Tai Lung holding me in front of Po, trying to force him to give up the Dragon Scroll. Fear took over me when I realized what had happened.
Tai Lung has kidnapped me! I began to panic.
"Dad!" I cried frantically. Just then, the door to my cell opened and Tai Lung walked inside.
"Scream all you want, sister. No one is coming to save you." Tai Lung said.
"T-Tai Lung-... Let me go. Please!" I cried, with tears streaming down my face. Tai Lung walked over to me and gripped my chin tightly.
"I don't think so. You are going to stay with me for a while. You see, I have spent my whole life thinking that I would be the Dragon Warrior. Father has filled my head with hopes and dreams until you came along, and you ruined it!" Tai Lung yelled.
"I didn't ruin anything!" I shouted. Tai Lung roughly let go of my chin which made me hit my head against the wall.
"Yes, you did! If you hadn't come along then I would have been the Dragon Warrior. Father favored you over me. Now you will pay for it. I will have my revenge." Tai Lung said angrily.
"And how will you get your revenge?" I asked with a bit of curiosity. Tai Lung smirked at me.
"You are going to marry me." Tai Lung said. My eyes widened in fear. My whole body froze.
"W-What?" Was all that came out of my mouth. He didn't mean what he said, right? I hoped I had heard him wrong.
"Y-You must be joking... Surely I heard you wrong." I said nervously.
"You heard me correctly! I want you to be my wife." Tai Lung said.
"But I am your sister, Tai Lung! I can't do this!" I shouted. I tried to convince him to understand the situation, but he ignored my words.
"I have spoken, Lana. You will either be my wife, or you die, and I will kill both of your dads too." Tai Lung said. I looked up at him and he had this dangerous glint in his eyes. I could tell he was being serious about his threat. Tai Lung grew impatient with my silence.
"This is your choice, Lana. You have two options here. I suggest you pick wisely. You have five minutes." Tai Lung said. Tai Lung sat in the corner of the cell and started a timer.
I had five minutes. I needed to think carefully. I didn't want to marry Tai Lung because he was a psychopath. But on the other hand, he had threatened to kill me and my family. I didn't want to die, and I didn't want him to kill the people I love.
When the timer had finished, Tai Lung walked up to me. "Well, what did you decide?" He asked me.
"I- I..." I started before taking a deep breath to continue. "I will marry you."
I immediately regretted the words that had come out of my mouth. Tai Lung's smile grew.
"A wise decision, Lana. Wasn't that hard, right?" Tai Lung said. Tai Lung gripped my chin again and rubbed my cheek with my thumb, making me uncomfortable.
"Be ready. The wedding will be in a month. I will keep you in this cell for a while until I can trust you. Don't even think about running away." Tai Lung instructed before heading out, closing the door behind him. I started to sob as soon as he left the cell.
"What am I going to do? What will my dads and the Five think of this?" I asked myself. I sobbed again, thinking about the situation I was in. It is tormenting me so much.
Dad, please help me.
END OF CHAPTER 9.