The Dragon's Breath
"Blackmail? Of your family?" Shifu echoed. The snake slowly nodded. After retelling her situation, Shifu stroked his beard, staring pensively at the floorboards.
"And he's blackmailing you so you can marry him?" Tai Lung grunted with crossed arms.
"Yes. I... I wasn't supposed to tell you guys but... it's hard not to tell Po the truth."
"Yeah that makes sense," Mantis muttered. The panda glared hard at the bug on Monkey's shoulder. "What! It's true! You're very hard to say no to. And you get very annoying about it-"
"I get it, Mantis," Po said harshly. The insect shrank at the panda's rough tone.
Tigress scanned the room. Tai Lung's pensive stare mirrored Shifu's. Crane worriedly stared at Viper, nervously wondering if he should say anything. Monkey walked up to Viper and gently rubbed her back with a sad smile.
But Po's face was new. He glared at the ground and crossed his arms as he sat in a Lotus position. The team strategically stood away from him as if there was some unbearable heat around him.
"So, it's the trusted General of the Emperor against a Kung Fu Master," Tigress sighed, "Viper...could you... tell us what he's blackmailing you with?"
Viper shut her eyes. She slithered to the window and stared out its glassy surface. The rising sun on a cloudy day barely rose over the green-covered mountains behind the palace in the distance. She sighed, "There... might be a possibility that my father isn't my father."
"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed
"But how would Pantu know? And why would he threaten you with that?" Tai Lung asked.
"Pantu was my family's personal guard. He said he overheard a conversation with my mom and my aunt. My aunt mentioned how fortunate my fangs grew in as I got older like my father's brother, but my mother kept silent about the topic. When Pantu asked my mother directly if my fangs' delayed growth was hereditary, she refused to say and swore Pantu to secrecy."
"That's... vague," Crane said. The room looked at him. "I mean, that could mean a lot of things. It doesn't mean that your uncle is your real father."
"It doesn't matter. If people knew that I might not be the daughter of Great Master Viper, my family would be in shame, and I can't do that to them," Viper sighed.
"But why marriage?" Tai Lung asked.
"I don't know. I figured that Pantu had a crush on me when I saw him, but I never thought he would do something like this."
A silence hung in the room. The masters looked at each other, wordlessly trying to figure out what to do next.
"We have to talk to the Emperor," Po spoke. The room snapped to him. The scowl eating up his face still lingered. "We'll talk to the Emperor and tell him what happened."
"Po, this is a 'he said she said' situation. He can't do anything off of little evidence," Shifu explained. The panda glared hard at his master. Shifu's posture stiffened. Whether unconscious of his stare or not, Po didn't seem like he would change his mind. The red panda sighed, "But either way, we have to do the right thing."
"What is the right thing here?" Tai Lung asked the red panda.
"Telling the truth."
"And when that doesn't work?"
Shifu sighed, "I don't know." Po looked over to Viper's miserable tear-streaked face. She lifted her head slightly, silently pleading with Po. The large panda stood up and quietly left the room. "Po? Where are you going?"
The panda didn't answer. The others followed him out of their quarters and into the royal chambers where two rhinos blocked his way. "Halt! Who goes there!"
The panda stared hard at them. His furrowed eyebrows netted together as his flaming jade eyes pierced right through the guards' souls. "I am the Dragon Warrior here to see the Emperor on an important meeting," He spoke slowly as if he were trying to control his body from snapping the two guards' necks.
Their protocol told them not to let him in, but as the panda's glare burned into them, the shivering guards let him through the large doors. The team passed through, walking down tall corridors. Opening the chamber doors, the team saw the young gazelle on his throne talking with Pantu who stood by his side. Emperor Heping saw the panda's friends, greeting them with a smile. There was also a goat court recorder busily writing away in the corner. "Ah! Dragon Warrior, warriors of the Jade Palace. General Pantu was just talking about the wedding proposal. Today is a wonderful day."
"Your general is lying," Po said bluntly and clearly. The gazelle's head jerked back as he looked at the crocodile beside him. Pantu gritted his sharp teeth, glaring at the snake. "General Pantu blackmailed Viper to marry her. Whether or not it's true, I don't care, but no one hurts my friends like this."
"Do you have proof of this?"
"You don't find it weird that the proposal is so quick?" Po asked, crossing his arms. The Emperor glanced between the shivering snake below from his throne and the growling crocodile beside him. Heping sighed, putting a hoof to his head.
"What you're... suggesting is a serious claim."
"Because it's a serious issue," Po grunted.
"Your Highness, the Masters are mistaken," Pantu said.
"H-H-He's lying, your Majesty," Viper finally found her voice. "He used this blackmail against my family's honor to make me marry him."
"What is the blackmail?" Heping asked. The snake stopped. She shut her eyes and sighed. Heping looked at the court recorder and shooed him away. "Presently, nothing about this gets recorded. Now. What is it?"
"I... may not be... the daughter of the Great Master Viper," The snake slowly said. Heping's eyes widened. His head rested on his hoof as he side-glanced Pantu's growing anger-ridden face. The Emperor looked at Po. The panda's gaze was hard set on Pantu, though it didn't seem like the croc registered it.
Heping took a great breath, "And since Pantu was formerly your family's guard, he would have that information?"
"Yes your Highness."
"Your Majesty, you can't believe her. I wanted to marry her out of love, not force," Pantu said with a slight smile. Heping gave the Croc a side glance. His almost disinterested stare unsettled the team. The gazelle shifted his weight on his throne.
"The better question is this. Why do you want to marry her?" Heping asked. Everyone grew quiet. That was a question no one had asked.
Pantu became incredulous, "What greater honor is there than to marry the beautiful Viper?"
Tigress didn't make a move, but her body tensed at the words falling from the crocodile's deceptive teeth. She glanced at Tai Lung's gritted teeth then back to the gazelle. The Emperor looked indecisive for a moment, tapping his hoof on his chin.
But the gazelle took one last look at Po and sighed, "Because I don't have all the evidence AND most of this testimony is hearsay, there is nothing I can do."
"But your Majesty if you don't do anything he'll continue to blackmail Master Viper."
"I'm sorry, Master Shifu. There's nothing I can do."
Viper bowed her head, struggling not to cry. No, no tears. She couldn't give Pantu the satisfaction of being under his control. Tigress knelt to her side and gently held her. "It's okay," She whispered to her serpentine friend, "You don't have to hide your pain." The snake began to cry.
"Master Shifu?" Po spoke up in a deeper voice than all of them were used to. "You said we should do the right thing. No matter the cost?"
Shifu's eyes grew wide. The panda didn't turn back to face him. He didn't need to. Shifu took a long sigh, "Yes."
"Good." Po walked up to the throne, slowly taking each step. Pantu moved for his sword, but the Emperor halted him with his hoof. The panda stood a foot away from the two, slightly towering over them. His raging eyes still glared though not as much on the gazelle. "Emperor Heping? I understand your judgment and reasoning. But you have to understand something about these 'masters of the Jade Palace'." He pointed to the team. "They are my family. They might be crazy-"
"Hey," Tai Lung grumbled.
"But they're my family. You can't get to them unless you get through me. So," Po grabbed Pantu by his body armor, "you fuck with them, you fuck with me!" He punched the crocodile straight through the side of the wall of the chambers, through two rooms, and out into the open courtyard. The crocodile lay in a crater of rock and rubble. "And now I broke my promise to Dad that I wouldn't curse," Po muttered. The Furious Five, Shifu, and Tai Lung couldn't pick their jaws up. Po slowly stepped through the new holes and walked over to the groaning crocodile. The team quickly followed the panda outside.
"G-G-Guards!" Suddenly a sea of guards circled from the top of the wall and surrounded the two. Po didn't move his stare from Pantu.
"Stop!" Shouted one of the guards. "I order you to-" Po snapped his glaring eyes to the guards.
Tigress saw some kind of barely visible force, wave, or aura shot out of the panda and spread around the guards. It almost looked like heat vapors that darted across in shadows on a hot day.
Whatever it was, half the guards fell to the ground, whimpering in fear while the other half ran for their lives. The aura washed over everyone. The men on the walls panicked and darted away while others fell to the floor, shivering. Po grabbed Pantu's frightened trembling body and brought it to his growling face. "Now, what to do about you?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I blackmail her! I admit I did it! I just wanted her for the honor and prestige!" Pantu wailed.
"Are you willing to die for that now?" The panda glared.
"Po! Stop!"
"You can't stop me, Tigress! Not until I figure out what to do about this guy," Po snarled, making the croc whimper.
"That's fine, panda," Tai Lung shouted, "But whatever you're doing, it's affecting us too!" Looking back, Po saw Crane, Monkey, and Mantis all huddling and shaking while Viper and Shifu were tending to their condition.
"Whoops! Sorry!" Po's rage and whatever aura Tigress saw all disappeared. The Emperor stepped out with his hooves behind his back, sighing.
"I never thought I'd live to see the Dragon Breath."
"The what?" Master Shifu asked. "What is that?"
"When my Grandfather was Emperor many years ago, he angered Master Oogway with some grave misdeed. Master Oogway was so enraged that a kind of aura flashed out of his form and took out half the guards around him. It only happens whenever someone like the Dragon Warrior is deeply angered."
Master Shifu thoughtfully looked at the Emperor. "I never thought Master Oogway would react like that."
"Trust me, no one thought so."
Po brought the crocodile over to the Emperor and tossed him to the ground. Monkey, Mantis, and Crane finally came out of their shivering daze. "I see my little plan worked," Heping muttered.
"Plan?" Po asked.
The gazelle smiled, "I knew Pantu was lying. Trust me, it's very rare for a woman just to agree to a marriage on the spot without some prior knowledge or feeling. And normally, there's not a 'hostile' environment when it comes to love."
Po tilted his head. "So... you just said that because you knew I would hit him?"
"And wring the truth out of him? Yes, I did," Heping smiled but sighed when he looked back at the palace. "I just didn't think I would need a... builder for that punch."
"Sorry," Po shyly smiled. The Emperor clapped his hooves and summoned guards that weren't knocked out by Po's Dragon Breath. The guards picked up and cuffed Pantu, bringing him up to the Emperor.
The gazelle sighed, "You let status and greed blind you. Just like so many in this region. I'd say you should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt you have that capability anymore. Take him away."
The guards did just that. The Emperor sighed again and sat down on the ground, facing Viper. "I am... so sorry about this whole ordeal, Master Viper. If there is anything you need from me, I will do it."
The snake stared at the gazelle's saddened sincere face. She smiled for the first time in a whole day. "Thank you, Your Highness, but I think I'd like to go home. I have a lot to talk about with my family."
"I understand."
"I think we all need to go home. I'm sorry about the... mess, we've made," Monkey said.
Heping softly laughed, "Trust me, I'd take this over dealing with flattering politicians any day. But thank you for visiting. Hopefully next time it will be on much... better terms."
"We hope so too, Your Majesty," Master Shifu bowed as did the rest. The Emperor waved to them as he saw them off.
Much later, Po sighed, munching absentmindedly on some dumplings. Mr. Ping's noodle shop was relatively empty around this time, just after the lunch rush. Normally, this was the time Mr. Ping would teach Lei Lei and Tigress, but the goose had to make a new batch of noodles with Li Shan; the panda was getting rusty. Lei Lei stared across one of Mr. Ping's tables and tilted her head. "What's wrong, Mr. Po?"
"Hm? Nothing. Just worried about Viper. She went to visit her family and she hasn't been back in a while."
"I'm sure Snakey Wakey's okay. She's tough," Lei Lei flexed her arms like she was lifting something. Po smiled and rubbed her head.
Tai Lung and Tigress glanced from their seats at the counter. "It's been three days and he's still worried about her."
"You aren't?" Tigress asked.
"I... you're right. I guess I was just hoping the panda would be optimistic sooner than me," Tai Lung sighed.
Mr. Ping whistled as he worked with Li Shan on the next batch of noodles. "So, are you two going to finally tell me why everyone's all mopey?"
"Viper got hurt," Tai Lung replied.
"Oh I'm so sorry."
"And... we realized something about Po," Tigress said slowly. She looked at the white goose's questioning glance as he skillfully cut the vegetables. Li Shan happily slurped some of the noodles before closing the pot and turning to get some stuff in the back. "Um... Mr. Ping, when you were raising Po... has he ever been... extremely angry when someone close to him got hurt?"
Mr. Ping's knife made a sickening slink and Li Shan slammed one of the back doors with a powerful thud. Goose and panda turned to the two felines and glared at them as intensely as Po had at General Pantu. "What happened?" They both asked.
"Ah, it's genetic," Tai Lung shakily whispered to Tigress. The tiger quickly retold the story.
Mr. Ping's scowl didn't change, save for a lift in his eyebrow. He simply pulled his knife out of the wood and inspected its razor-sharp edge. "And you didn't let Po kill him?"
"Ahhh, no! Mr. Ping!" Tigress exclaimed.
"I don't mean literally. Just roughing him up a bit," the goose said with unnerving calmness. "But it makes sense now. Po's always been worried about his friends."
"Po's never mentioned having friends in the village."
"That's because they either moved or got married and moved. He's always wanted to explore the world and make more permanent friends," Mr. Ping sighed, "I guess I caged him too much."
Tigress got up from her stool and walked into the kitchen, gently resting her hand on the goose's shoulder. "You did the best you could, Mr. Ping. Cooking doesn't involve a lot of travel."
"Yeah," The goose sighed but shook his head. "Anyway, why don't you help me with the noodles? It's almost ready."
"Of course," Tigress smiled.
Just then, someone stood at the entrance of the shop. Po, Tai Lung, and Tigress all turned their heads. "Viper!"
"Snakey Wakey!" Lei Lei exclaimed and ran over to her. She tightly hugged the smiling snake, giggling at the feeling of Viper's scaly skin.
"Oh, it's good to see you, little one."
"Mr. Po was worried about you," Lei Lei said, pointing to a nervously grinning panda. The snake smiled back.
"We all were," Tai Lung spoke up. "I hope your trip to your parents was...fruitful."
"Wow, you are Shifu's son," Mr. Ping commented. The snow leopard grumbled his response.
"It was. Mr. Ping, could I take Tigress from you? I need to talk with her, Tai Lung and Po."
"Sure, sure," The winged father gently shooed the tiger away from the furnace.
"Lei Lei, I'll play with you in a moment, I have to talk with my friends."
"But I'm your friend."
The snake smiled. "I know. But I want to talk with Mr. Po, Tai Tai, and Tigress alone."
"Please, don't call me that," Tai Lung grumbled.
"Okay," Lei Lei smiled and skipped back to the table.
"Something wrong, Viper?" Po asked.
"I just need to talk with you privately. Somewhere Lei Lei won't get scared," Viper said calmly.
Tigress and Tai Lung sighed and stared at Po. The panda slowly nodded. The three of them followed the serpent just outside the village where the surrounding forest started to grow. "Okay, so... what happened at your parents' house?" Po asked. "I know it must have been hard to hear the truth but-"
He didn't finish. Viper spun her head around with blue eyes glaring into Po's very soul. The tip of her tail pointed straight at his heart. "THE NEXT TIME SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS, WRING THE LYING JERK'S NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"
"I hear you! I hear you!" Po quickly said.
"Viper, what's wrong?" Tigress asked.
"I told my parents the whole thing. My mom told Pantu that it was genetic from the very beginning! The reason why she's so discreet about it is that she doesn't want people to gossip about the family bloodline. So yes, Delayed Fang growth happens on my father's side of the family! But I didn't know that! So that lying scheming reptile tried to make me marry him off of a LIE!"
"Well, at least you... figured out it was a... lie," Po nervously grinned. The snake's scowl only deepened. "You know what, I'm going to shut up. Tigress, don't you have something to say to her?" He quickly pushed the tiger in front of him.
Rolling her eyes and kneeling, Tigress faced her hissing friend. "The important thing is that this is over. You don't have to worry about that man again."
"We treated him like family, Tigress! Why would he do this?!"
"We don't know why people do the things they do, but we also don't need to know to heal," Tigress smiled.
Bowing her head, the snake sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry for shouting at you, Po."
"It's okay, I'd rather the shouting than Tigress's smack of truth or Tai Lung's growling," Po muttered.
"You're one to talk," Tai Lung said, "You and Viper have both shown a kind of anger I've never had. I destroyed public property and fought Master Shifu. You took down half the army of the Emperor's court with a look! And I never thought Viper could get angry."
"People have emotions, Tai Lung," Tigress said. "No matter our normal disposition, we can all feel the full range of emotions. It's what we do with them that's important. Come on, let's get back to the kitchen. I don't want Mr. Ping to finish the noodles before me."
"Why?" Po asked.
"Because I want to see what adding pepper and celery will-"
"UGH, not the spicy again!" Po groaned, "What is it with you and spices?!"
"Why do you have such a sensitive tongue?" The tiger smirked.
"Because I like it when my tongue isn't burning off."
"You're such a baby sometimes."
"Hey!"
"Those two never stop bickering like a married couple," Viper said to Tai Lung with a smile. The snow leopard just laughed.
Continued...