Twin Dragons
First Flight
"Po!" Bao cried.
Powering up, Bao charged at the pangolin who stood over Po. At once, Sanzu saw Bao coming at him and punched Bao's tortoise chi, shattering the energy construct which surrounded Bao and sent the young panda flying back.
"There's nothing I can't smash through," Sanzu sneered.
Fortunately for Bao, Tai Lung was there to catch him. After the snow leopard set Bao down, he marched towards Sanzu.
"Alright, you've had your fun and what's more, you struck my student," Tai Lung told him. "Now it's just going to be you and me."
"Wait," Shenqi got in front of Tai Lung.
"Get out of my way!" Tai Lung growled.
"The challenge sent out was only towards Po," Shengqi reminded the snow leopard. "By technicality, Bao attacking Sanzu in the aftermath could be considered an unprovoked attack."
"That's right," Sanzu crossed both arms over his chest. "Your pupil attacked me first. What rotten manners. Like master, like student… I'd say."
Tai Lung growled but Shengqi winked at him.
"What happened was only an open martial arts and not a declaration of war," Shengqi reminded Tai Lung. "Trust me. We will find another way."
Finally, the snow leopard seemed to settle down.
"Very well then," Tai Lung said skeptically.
"I think I'll be on my way," Sanzu walked out of the rubble. "The only thing I have to report is that there doesn't seem to be any serious competition for my master here."
Po's two dads, meanwhile, were checking up on Po and helping their unconscious child up.
"We will meet again," Sanzu told the group and walked off.
"Well, it would appear now that we will have to speed up our joint military efforts in the next few days," Duke Zhihui told Shengqi, who nodded in agreement.
"You okay, Po?" asked Li Shan.
The Dragon Master shook his head after finally becoming conscious again.
"I don't think I've ever been hit so hard," Po moaned.
Then Po looked down on the floor at the two broken pieces of Oogway's staff.
"Oh no," Po looked on with a sad expression.
oooo
At the Jade Palace, Shifu, Zhen, and the rest of the Furious Five stood in front of Madam Zhou and her partner, Ju-Long.
"Thank you for responding to my summons," Shifu told her.
"It was the least I could do," Zhou told them. "You were ever so generous in letting me set up shop here."
The rat looked around the palace and saw a giant gorilla armor in the room. Mantis frowned as he noted the devious look in Ju-Long's eyes.
"So what may I help you with?" asked Zhou.
"Well, you see, there were a string of thefts in this town committed in the dead of night," Shifu told her.
"Oh, how terrible!" Madam Zhou gasped.
"Indeed," Shifu told her. "So far, the culprits have not been caught."
"You're not suspecting me and my partner are you?" asked Ju-Long.
"We're not saying you're guilty," Shifu told her. "But in some of those thefts, witnesses have said they saw some rats running away from the scene."
"So now you're accusing me?" demanded Ju-Long.
"Did you do it?" Zhen raised an eyebrow.
"I never said that I did!" Ju-Long protested.
"Okay, so you're innocent until proven guilty?" Zhen frowned. "I mean, I did fight a hulking suit of rhino armor and it could've been a ghost. I mean, there's no way a little rat like you could fit in that armor and knock the stuffing out of me, right?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Ju-Long saw his brothers and sisters enter into the Jade Palace behind Zhen, Shifu, and the Five. Quickly, the rats entered into the armor of Master Gorilla, causing Ju-Long to smile.
"You're certainly right that an individual rat like me could never control the armor of a larger animal," Ju-Long told them. "But when my brothers and sisters work together, there's no animal too big or small that we can't handle together."
Zhen was the first to notice a massive shadow being cast over them.
"Scatter!" Tigress shouted, taking notice as well.
The giant gorilla armor smashed its fists down on the Five who all avoided the blow. All the rats inside the armor were working in tandem to pilot it as if Master Gorilla himself were inside.
"So that's how you did it," Zhen snarled at Ju-Long. "Working together, your gang can occupy and pilot the armor of larger animals."
"You're smarter than you look," Madam Zhou took out her iron whip. "But you figured it out too little, too late."
The Furious Five at once began fighting the armor of Master Gorilla as Ju-Long leaped inside the armor to join all of his brothers and sisters. Shifu looked at Zhen who looked prepared to fight Zhou.
"In Po's very first battle, I trusted him to handle himself against Tai Lung without me holding his hand," Shifu told Zhen. "Now I'm going to give you that same courtesy, Zhen. Take her down."
"You got it," Zhen nodded and attacked the gazelle.
Shifu nodded approvingly and joined the Furious Five in fighting the Lao Shu.
Zhen leaped past the iron whip that flew past her skull and kicked Madam Zhou outside of the temple.
"You gonna fight me yourself or let your rat gang do all your work for you?" demanded Zhen.
Zhou smiled, getting up. At once, she struck Zhen in the stomach, with her iron whip wrapped around her knuckles, knocking the air out of the fox and sending Zhen tumbling back.
"Ouch," Zhen had to admit. "So you can fight."
"Even Pai Mei's scouts have the ability to defend themselves," Zhou reminded Zhen.
"Then let's see what you're made of," Zhen charged.
oooo
That afternoon, the group walked together as Zhihui and Shengqi continued their conversation. The only person who wasn't with them was Po, who had gone off on his own with Oogway's broken staff.
"No sign of Po anywhere," Mr. Ping groaned.
"Maybe he just needs some space," Li Shan told Po's adoptive father. "That staff meant a lot to him."
"If Po could not defeat Pai Mei's strongest warriors, then I'm afraid we'll have to launch that invasion soon," Zhihui told Shengqi.
"I… must reluctantly agree," Shengqi conceded. "Sanzu's current power was far greater than anything I had ever anticipated. We will need to do everything possible to stop Northern Wudang."
Finally, the group entered the garden.
"Hey, is that Po?" Bao pointed out.
The group stopped and looked up.
In the gardens was Po and on the stone floor was Oogway's broken staff. Po had a somber look on his face as he practiced a slower Tai Chi form deliberately and quietly.
"What's he doing?" Mr. Ping looked on curiously.
Suddenly, one of Po's paws glowed with what looked like the Thundering Wind Hammer. After that, his other paw became engulfed in fire, as Po activated the Mongolian Fireball.
"Did he just summon both moves at once?" Tai Lung's eyes widened.
"Son?" Li Shan called out.
"Oh hey," Po turned around.
The Thundering Wind Hammer in one hand disappeared but the Mongolian Fireball did not. Due to Po losing focus, the fire in his palm spun out of control and enveloped his hand.
"Oh no!" Po cried.
Po ran around comically, blowing at the fire in his hands before running to the pool and dipping his hand inside to put out the flames.
"Ah, much better," Po smiled in relief.
"What were you just doing?" asked Tai Lung.
"Well, as you already know, I was feeling really down about what happened to Oogway's staff," Po informed them. "But then I realized that there had to be another way. I was just here trying to put together that 'other way' before you guys found me."
"It's been decided," Duke Zhihui told Po. "In a few days time, the combined forces of the Emperor's army and Southern Wudang will attack Pai Mei's clan."
"But what if your forces don't succeed?" asked Po. "Then what?"
"I… don't have plans for that possible eventuality," Zhihui sighed, admitting he wasn't sure of victory.
"Well, there's gotta be something we can do before we start fighting," Po reminded him. "There has to be some way we could gather intelligence."
"There are rumors going on that Pai Mei sold his soul to a demon," Shengqi rubbed his beard. "I always did want to find out if there was any truth to that."
"Well, maybe that's where Li and I come in!" Mr. Ping told the group.
"Really?" Zhihui stared dumbfounded at the two. "You two?"
"So I was thinking," Mr. Ping told everyone. "Li and I could disguise ourselves as a pair of traveling cooks. That way, we could infiltrate Pai Mei's stronghold and gather intel to bring back."
"Well," Li smiled. "Ping and I do have a way of going the distance and getting the job done when it comes to non-fighting missions."
"Hmm, that's right," Po realized. "My dads are the best when it comes to recon and scouting. I mean, look how far they traveled just to find me and Zhen!"
"Could this plan really work?" Zhihui looked skeptical.
"We'll never know unless we try, right?" Po asked. "Besides, Sanzu already beat me… the Dragon Master and former Dragon Warrior. I don't think it could hurt for us to look for other solutions and right now, infiltration might be what we need."
"I say it's worth a try," Shengqi told Zhihui.
"Very well," Duke Zhihui sighed. "We will give your plan a try. But we'll still have our combined Wudang and Imperial army positioned near Pai Mei's stronghold just-in-case."
"Then we've got ourselves a plan," Po grinned.
oooo
The fight between both Zhen and Madam Zhou was growing fiercer as fox and gazelle punched and kicked at each other, blocking each other's move simultaneously.
Zhou wrapped her iron chain around her knuckles, punching at Zhen who leaped out of the way as Zhou took off a part of the wall.
"From one thief to another," Zhen told her. "You've got no style and no pizzaz."
"You take that back!" Zhou attacked again, punching and kicking at Zhen who avoided all the blows.
"Back in my day, I completed all my missions solo," Zhen reminded her, angering the gazelle on purpose. "You need a gang of rats to do your dirty work."
"Shut up!" Zhou punched Zhen back.
Zhen got up, realizing that her plan was working. Zhou charged at her again but Zhen grabbed her and tossed her to the floor.
Zhou got up, unwrapping her chain from her hand and deciding to use it as a long distance weapon again. The gazelle swung her chain at Zhen who was forced to leap out of the way. A second blow destroyed an outside table as Zhen rolled away to avoid the hit. Suddenly, Madam Zhou stopped her chain attack and hit Zhen with a leaping kick that sent Zhen crashing into a temple column.
"Ow," Zhen rubbed her back.
Out of the corner of her eye, Zhen saw Madam Zhou swing the chain at her sideways. Quickly, Zhen leaped up as the chain wrapped itself around the column. Taking advantage of the fact that the chain weapon was temporarily trapped, Zhen leaped on top of the chain and ran towards Madam Zhou who was now panicking that she couldn't undo her weapon quickly enough.
"Ska-blam!"
Zhen struck Madam Zhou with a powerful knee to the face, knocking the gazelle martial artist unconscious in a single blow.
"Gotta help the others," Zhen planted her feet to pin down Madam Zhou. "But first, I gotta secure the prisoner."
Zhen took Madam Zhou's iron whip and began to tie her opponent up with it.
Inside the Jade Palace, an equally fierce battle was raging on.
"Omph!"
The powerful gorilla armor knocked back Monkey and Crane as the rest of the Five and Shifu regrouped from the furious assault.
"Maybe everything I heard about the Jade Palace was just hearsay," Ju-Long told them. "Because all my brothers and sisters in this armor agree that you guys are not up to snuff."
"I got an idea," Mantis told the group. "Since the armor is being controlled from the inside by other small animals, I can get in there and keep them busy. The rest of you hit 'em hard and fast from the outside."
"Agreed," Shifu nodded.
Mantis went into action first, leaping inside the gorilla gauntlet where an opening presented itself.
Inside, Mantis saw multiple rats controlling the suit.
"Get him!" one of the rats shouted.
Without a word, Mantis kicked and struck all the rats aside, fighting his way through multiple rodents until he got into the center.
"Mantis is doing it!" Tigress noted.
At once, the left arm of the gorilla armor seemed to be inoperable.
Inside the armor, Ju-Long decided that he needed to confront Mantis before he could completely disable the operation of the Lao Shu.
As Mantis got to the center of the armor, Ju-Long tackled him.
"Smart," Ju-Long grappled against Mantis. "But the Lao Shu won't be hampered for long!"
Seeing an opening, Ju-Long shoved both himself and Mantis out of the armor so that the rest of his rats could get back in control.
"I'll take care of the bug!" Ju-Long shouted as he and Mantis began to exchange blows. "The rest of you take care of them!"
"Thanks Mantis," Shifu smiled.
Shifu and the rest of the Five attacked as the gorilla armor began to swing at them. All of them avoided the hit as Monkey kicked the armor, sending it stumbling back. Viper came in next, tying up both the armor's boots with her armor as Tigress knocked it back with an even more powerful kick. The armor tried to fight back but the interruption Mantis had brought did its trick.
Crane flew in, grabbing the armor and hurling it outside right under a gigantic bell. At once, Crane dove in again, using his wing to slice open the rope holding the bell and causing the bell to fall down on the gorilla armor being piloted by the rats.
"Now's our chance to disorient them!" Shifu shouted.
Both Tigress and Monkey grabbed the traditional drumsticks used to bang on the gongs and bells of the Jade Palace and began striking at the bell which enveloped the gorilla armor full of hostile Lao Shu combatants.
After one final hard strike against the bell from Tigress, the gorilla armor collapsed as multiple rats poured out of the armor. And rather than try to continue fighting or even escape, all of the Lao Shu either fell down unconscious or threw up on the spot after having endured such a loud, banging assault which rattled their ears and heads.
"That takes care of all of them," Crane smiled.
Inside the palace, Zhen walked back in with the captured Madam Zhou in tow just as Mantis was finishing up his battle against Ju-Long.
"Stand still!" Ju-Long cried, punching at Mantis.
Mantis dodged a tail swing by Ju-Long and came in, grabbing both Ju-Long's hands with his claws. The rat soon realized he was trapped and couldn't move or escape from the powerful grip of Mantis.
"Nighty night!" Mantis slammed his head into Ju-Long.
At once, Ju-Long saw stars from the blow. As Mantis let go and he stumbled back, Ju-Long finally got a good look at what was in front of him. Mantis struck him with a powerful dropkick that sent Ju-Long flying into a table leg, knocking him unconscious.
"You've done a good job, Zhen," Shifu told the new Dragon Warrior.
"Hey, just glad I completed my first mission as the Dragon Warrior," Zhen smiled. "So I was thinking we'd make Madam Zhou here talk."
Zhen forcefully sat down the tied up Madam Zhou.
"Alright, now's your chance to spill everything," Tigress told her.
"Your attempts are futile," Madam Zhou smiled confidently. "Assuredly, Master Pai Mei will rescue us and soon, the entire country will be under the control of Northern Wudang!"
"Now that's confidence," Zhen had to admit. "Last time I thought a villain had my back, it turned out she didn't and considered me disposable."
Shifu sighed. "In recent days, there have been rumblings throughout the country. Just yesterday, Zeng reported back to me that Pai Mei had splintered from Wudang and is now considered the number one threat to the country."
"Who's Zeng again?" asked Zhen.
"He's the messenger goose," Viper told her. "You'll get to meet him soon enough."
"As for Pai Mei," Shifu frowned. "This news is not good. If he's gone rogue, then this could spell trouble for the peace and stability of China. And for him to send his minions down to the Valley of Peace as scouts can be taken as none other than an informal declaration of hostility, if not outright war."
"What would you have us do?" asked Tigress.
"Tigress, I want you to journey with me," Shifu told his pupil. "I am in good standing with some of the leaders of Southern Wudang. The two of us will journey there together to consult with them and hopefully get aid from them in dealing with the situation."
"And the rest of us?" asked Monkey.
"The rest of you will stay here with Zhen," Shifu told them. "She has not yet completed her training and I will rely on the rest of you to help her. In all likelihood, Tigress and I will have to confront Pai Mei on our journey and I won't risk the new Dragon Warrior's life against such a dangerous opponent."
"Understood master," Viper bowed.
"We'll continue training Zhen and most importantly, make sure she stays safe," Crane agreed.
"Good," Shifu smiled. "I'm relying on all of you to keep the Valley of Peace safe. And in the meantime, be sure to stay safe yourselves."
"I'll do everything I can to protect the Valley," Zhen promised.
Shifu nodded approvingly and turned to Tigress.
"Tigress, let's go."
oooo
"What do you think he's doing out there?" Li Shan looked out the window at Po who was practicing some kind of new move, creating a fireball in one hand and gathering wind energy in the other.
"Oh, it's probably something he'll use to skadoosh the bad guy with," Mr. Ping replied. "Say, let me get your opinion on the new look."
"New look?" Li Shan turned around.
At once, Li Shan saw a black goose standing before him.
"Ping?" Li looked shocked. "Is that you?"
"Of course!" Ping raised a brush filled with black bean sauce. "Now remember, for this mission, my name is Chang and your name is Huaxia."
Mr. Ping also presented a food cart he had for the mission that he and Li Shan were about to undergo.
"So how are we going to disguise a panda for this mission?" asked Li. "Considering they already know about Po and the Village, they'll probably be on the lookout for pandas."
"Simple," Mr. Ping revealed some brown food coloring he found in the Taoist sanctuary. "We're going to paint you up to look like a regular bear!"
"Oh," Li Shan realized. "Just like that, then?"
"Just like that!" Ping told him triumphantly.
"Well, might as well get started on this mission," Li agreed. "You ready, Ping?"
"Thought you'd never ask!" Mr. Ping stuck his brush inside the brown food coloring to begin painting and disguising Li Shan as a regular brown bear.
To be continued.