Twin Dragons
Fury Of The White Lotus
The demonic Pai Mei stood before everyone, demanding their immediate submission.
"You think we'll bow to you?" Tigress glared at him. "Never."
"Villains like you have tried and failed," Shifu told him. "You will not get the submission you desire."
"Oh no?" Pai Mei grinned.
The old, evil master sent a small spark of light flying across the room. It landed on Shifu and exploded, knocking Shifu back.
"Aaaahhh!" Shifu cried.
"Master!" Tigress cried.
Tai Lung and everybody else attacked Pai Mei at once but the demonic monkey clapped both hands together, creating a powerful shockwave via thunderclap that knocked everybody to the floor.
The snow leopard was the first to get back up but before he could even attack, Pai Mei grabbed him by the throat and began squeezing the life out of him.
"Since I know this leopard is your adoptive son, Shifu," Pai Mei told the red panda. "I will make you watch as I slowly snuff the life out of Tai Lung's eyes."
Tai Lung punched at Pai Mei but the demonic monkey shrugged off all of his hits. Little by little, Tai Lung felt the life flow out of his body.
"Tai Lung!" Shifu shouted.
"Stay just where you are," Pai Mei told him, unleashing a powerful energy blast from his mouth that made both Tigress and Shifu scatter.
"So," Pai Mei held Tai Lung near his fast. "As I was saying…"
Tai Lung was nearly unconscious at this point.
Suddenly, Pai Mei was struck from behind with Po's stomach attack. The demonic monkey was sent flying into a pillar.
"You alright?" Po knelt down before Tai Lung.
The snow leopard finally caught his breath.
"I... I'm counting on you now, Po," Tai Lung told his former rival. "You have Oogway's staff. You have the means to defeat Pai Mei. Do what must be done."
"I promise," Po vowed.
Po then looked at both his fathers.
"Alright dads," Po winked at the two, letting them know that it was time for them to do their thing.
As Po got up, Pai Mei dusted himself off before facing his enemy again.
"You've already thrown everything at me," Pai Mei told the panda. "And none of it has succeeded. Why keep deluding yourself that you have a chance?"
"Because I gotta believe in myself," Po twirled his staff around. "And not only that, my friends and family also believe in me."
"We shall see," Pai Mei charged.
The demon monkey punched Po in the stomach, drawing a grunt of pain. In return, Po punched Pai Mei right in the face before clenching his hand in pain.
"Aaaaahhh!" Po cried. "What are you even made of now?"
"Something a little stronger than solid steel, I promise you that," Pai Mei smiled.
The demonic monkey began throwing hands at Po as fast as he could. Po dodged and deflected the hits that he could before launching himself over Pai Mei. Po spinned around and kicked Pai Mei, only for the monkey to catch his foot.
Pai Mei spun Po around, throwing him to the ground. The demon-possessed primate slammed his foot down at Po's head, forcing the panda to dodge. As Po did so, Pai Mei's foot cracked the floor, creating a powerful imprint on it.
Po got up, swinging his staff and hitting Pai Mei across the face with it, this time drawing out a surprised yelp.
"That staff of yours actually hurt," Pai Mei said to Po. "I'll happily pry that out of your hands and make it one of my prized artifacts."
"Pai Mei buddy, if you think I'm going to hand it over nice and gentle, you've making a big mistake," Po told him.
Pai Mei then backflipped across the air, swinging his tail and striking Po just below the jaw, knocking the panda back.
"Aaagh!" Po cried. "Even his tail is a weapon!"
At once, Pai Mei was on him, grabbing Po's staff that formerly belonged to Oogway.
"Give me the staff!" Pai Mei warned.
"No can do," Po told him. "You may not know it but this staff means a lot of different things for different people."
The two continued to tug at it back and forth.
"For starters," Po told Pai Mei as his staff began to glow.
Suddenly, Pai Mei felt the staff growing hotter and hotter in his hands. It was almost as if Oogway's former staff was reacting negatively to his demonic energy.
"Agh!" Pai Mei let go of the staff. "What is this?!"
"It represents everything that Oogway once stood for," Po said without blinking an eye.
At once, Po swung the staff, striking Pai Mei across the face, sending him reeling back.
"It represents me and all of my friends at the Jade Palace," Po told him.
Again and again, Po struck Pai Mei before kicking him into a wall.
"I will not stand for this!" Pai Mei charged angrily.
Po step-sided him and struck him in the back to send Pai Mei stumbling.
"This staff also represents those who were once my enemies but have now become friends," Po said, referencing Tai Lung.
Po spun the staff around a few times before cracking Pai Mei's jaw with it.
"Agh!" Pai Mei cried, falling back.
"And it also represents those like Bao and Zhen… who represent the future of kung fu," Po told Pai Mei, blasting the monkey with a chi blast that sent him flying through a column, destroying it.
At once, Pai Mei got up, unleashing a demonic shriek.
Po covered his ears, not expecting Pai Mei to have a sound-based trick up his sleeve.
"Agh!" Po cried.
Immediately, Pai Mei was onto him, punching Po across the face and sending him falling back.
"That staff of yours took me off guard," Pai Mei wiped away from blood from his mouth. "But I will not make the same mistake again. I don't care about all the things Oogway's staff represents. I'm going to kill Oogway's memory and his legacy, leaving nothing behind but your corpses."
Po smiled.
"What's so funny?" demanded Pai Mei.
"And while you were so focused on the staff, you took your eyes off the one thing that mattered the most?" Po told him.
"What are you blathering about?!" demanded Pai Mei.
Pai Mei looked around the room. Instantly, his eyes locked in on his throne where Li Shan and Mr. Ping were pulling at the Heart of Xi'an.
"Gotta give it the old heave ho!" Li cried as the two continued to pull.
"What?!" Pai Mei growled.
At once, Pai leaped up and body-slammed Pai Mei from above. As he did, Li Shan and Mr. Ping finally pulled the demonic artifact out of the chair.
"Great works, dads!" Po cried.
At once, everyone else realized what Po and his dads planned and piled on top of Pai Mei.
"I don't think we can hold him for long!" Tai Lung soon realized that none of them could pin down the demon-possessed monkey for much longer.
He was proven right. Pai Mei unleashed a huge burst of strength and knocked everyone off. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Ping and Li Shan had vanished somewhere in the room and with them, the Heart of Xi'an.
"How dare you interlopers besmirch the Heart of Xi'an with your filthy paws!" Pai Mei screamed, running around the room frantically. "I will rip out your hearts and feast on them before your very son!"
Tai Lung and Tigress both kicked Pai Mei from behind, sending him stumbling forward. Instantly, Pai Mei turned around and backhanded them away.
"I just need a little time," Po whispered to Shifu and Bao. "Can you help me?"
"We'll do everything we can," Shifu promised along with Bao.
Po nodded and got into a Tai Chi stance. The panda then began swirling his arms in a fluid motion as the Mongolian Fireball appeared in one hand while Thundering Wind Hammer energy appeared in the other.
Shifu and Bao attacked together, with Bao launching himself in his tortoise chi armor towards Pai Mei. Pai Mei stood still and allowed Bao to bounce off his chest. At once, the demonic monkey kicked Bao away and as Shifu closed the distance, Pai Mei fired a finger blast at Shifu who swerved to duck it and leaped up, kicking Pai Mei across the face.
Pai Mei then fired again, this time catching Shifu on the side with a chi energy blast from his finger.
"Agh!" Shifu cried.
As Shifu and Bao fell, Pai Mei looked around for Li Shan and Ping. Po would have to wait until he found the Heart of Xi'an.
"Where are you thieving cowards?!" Pai Mei ran across the room.
He looked everywhere but the two were nowhere to be found. In the meantime, Po gathered more energy from within himself as he continued his slow moving but fluid form.
Finally, the demon possessed monkey saw a chubby figure hiding behind a suit of armor. At once, Pai Mei knocked aside the armor to reveal Li Shan.
"Uh, hi?" Li waved.
At once, Pai Mei punched him with enough force to launch Li across the room, knocking him close to where Po was practicing his form. Inwardly, Po seethed that Pai Mei had assaulted his biological father but he still had to concentrate on his move.
"Tell me where the Heart of Xi'an is, you thieving pandas!" Pai Mei screamed.
"Yoohoo!"
Pai Mei looked up. At the top of the ceiling was Mr. Ping on a chandelier holding the demonic artifact in his hands.
"What?!" Pai Mei cried.
At that point, Po was ready to pull off his big move.
"Ready now, dad!" Po cried.
"Here you go!" Ping smiled and dropped the Heart of Xi'an.
Immediately, Pai Mei caught the Heart of Xi'an in his hands. And with that peace of mind, he turned his attention back to Po.
"And now for you," Pai Mei promised.
At that moment, Po was ready. He swirled both hands together, combining both the Mongolian Fireball and the Thundering Wind Hammer into one attack, creating a ball of both fire and green wind energy in his hands.
"What in the blazes?" Pai Mei looked confused.
"Can't think of a fancy name for this move," Po told him. "So let's just say you're about to get served a fresh hot combo platter! SKADOOSH!"
At once, Po unleashed the move, hitting Pai Mei with a powerful blast of combined fire and wind energy.
"Aaaaahhh!" Pai Mei screamed as the move struck him.
All at once, it felt like the blast was tearing him apart. And as Pai Mei looked down, he realized in horror that Po's new move was slowly destroying and tearing apart the Heart of Xi'an.
"No!" Pai Mei cried.
At once, Po increased the intensity of the blast, completely consuming Pai Mei in a vortex of both fire and wind energy.
"Incredible," Shifu looked up.
"I knew Po was powerful but I didn't think he'd get THIS powerful," Tigress said in amazement.
Soon, the powerful wind and fire vortex completely destroyed the Heart of Xi'an, shattering it and causing a demonic shriek to be unleashed into the air, as Xi'an's dark spirit finally broke free of the destroyed artifact and disappeared into the night.
"Aaaahhh!" Pai Mei screamed as the combined flames and wind energy consumed him.
Finally, Po stopped his attack. On the floor was a defeated Pai Mei whose charred body was twitching in agony. He was back in his normal form and no longer possessed the demonic and ape-like body he had before.
"I knew you could do it son," Li Shan got up.
"That's our boy!" Ping flew down and hugged Po.
"This… this is impossible," Scorpion gasped.
While she had enough skill in her own right, Scorpion's main feeling of invincibility stemmed from her association with powerful fighters like Sanzu, Lei Dian, and Pai Mei. Now, however, with all of those fighters defeated, that feeling of invincibility and protection she formerly had was now completely gone.
Soon, the door opened up to reveal multiple Northern Wudang students, including an injured Temutai who was still stiff and holding his arm from Tai Lung's prior attack.
"What happened here?" Lidong asked.
"Pai… Pai Mei has been defeated," Scorpion told the group in a stammered voice.
"What?!" Temutai cried.
All of Northern Wudang looked towards the scene and sure enough, the unconscious Pai Mei lay there in a heap.
"Ready to surrender now?" asked Po.
Scorpion turned to Po.
"You have indeed defeated the master," Scorpion told him. "And I think I speak for everyone here when I say… RUN!"
At once, Scorpion fled and Temutai and Lidong didn't need to be told twice to run away from Po and his friends who had defeated Pai Mei. Before long, the steps of fleeing soldiers faded away.
"I'm certain Duke Zhihui will call in reinforcements to arrest the stragglers," Shifu smiled. "Good work, Po."
"We won!" Bao cried. "We won!"
"How did you come up with that move?" asked Tai Lung.
"Well, Fenghuang challenged Pai Mei and didn't win but still escaped from him," Po explained. "I realized the key to defeating Pai Mei lay in following her example but using some of her moves in a way that she never thought of using before."
"By combining her moves together," Tigress realized. "Clever."
"Do you have a name for this new move combining the Thundering Wind Hammer and Mongolian Fireball?" asked Shifu.
"Hmm, nothing's coming to mind," Po admitted. "It's a work in progress but I do like to think of it as a meal combo platter."
"We're going to have to work on your naming conventions," Tai Lung shook his head.
"Well everybody, what do you say we head back?" Po smiled.
oooo
"You've defeated Pai Mei and his elite," Shengqi said in amazement. "All of us at Southern Wudang owe you a debt of gratitude. And with the collapse of Pai Mei's order, perhaps we will one day simply be known as Wudang again."
Po and the others were back in the Taoist monastery of Shengqi. And at that point, everybody there bowed before the Dragon Master, the White Lotus Society, and the two Jade Palace members.
"Pai Mei and his elite warriors have all been imprisoned and are being sent to the Emperor's remote royal prison a few miles from the capital," Duke Zhihui informed them. "Po, on behalf of the imperial throne, all of us owe you and your friends a debt of gratitude."
Tai Lung and Po looked at each other.
"So does this mean we're no longer fugitives?" Po asked eagerly.
"I will do my best to get you to that point," Zhihui promised. "Po, I can't make any full guarantees but I would like for you and Tai Lung to come with me to Luoyang. There, I will inform the Emperor and his court that you and the White Lotus Society were instrumental in stopping Pai Mei. From that point on, I believe the Emperor will be indebted enough to grant you two a full pardon."
"I don't see why not, right?" Po looked at Tai Lung.
"There's no harm in going," Tai Lung agreed. "The sooner we can get this done and get peace of mind, the better."
"So we'll be going to the imperial capital?" asked Bao.
"That's right bud," Po told him. "First we'll get that pardon and then hopefully our lives can get back to normal."
"We will be making a stop along the way," Zhihui continued. "I will be picking up a royal princess of a neighboring province who is to be the Emperor's betrothed. After that, we will go to Luoyang and I believe that with the addition of a wife and your recent victory over Northern Wudang, the Emperor will be in good enough spirits to issue that pardon."
"Tigress and I will head back to the Jade Palace," Shifu told Po and Tai Lung. "We'll tell Zhen and the rest of the Five of what happened and prepare a welcome home ceremony for all of you once the rest of the White Lotus Society settles the matter with the imperial court and returns home."
"Thank you Master Shifu," Tai Lung bowed before Shifu who did the same.
"See you around Po," Tigress told Po while hugging him.
"I'll see you soon, Tigress," Po told her. "I look forward to seeing you and Zhen again."
"She can hold her own," Tigress promised. "She has the best master anyone can hope for."
As Tigress and Shifu headed out, the rest of the White Lotus Society looked at each other.
"So when we do back to the Jade Palace, are we still going to be known as the White Lotus Society?" asked Bao. "Because Grandma told us the White Lotus formed as a rebel group and now that we're gonna get a pardon, we won't be rebels anymore."
"I think we can keep the name," Po replied. "Besides, every White Lotus group is different. We don't have to be officially affiliated with the government or any other group. What matters is that we fight for what's right. Besides, I kinda like being called the Dragon Master at this point."
"So, shall we get going?" asked Duke Zhihui.
"You just read our minds," Po smiled.
"All of Wudang thanks you, "Shengqi bowed to the group.
"Take care of yourselves," Tai Lung told Shengqi, nodding in approval.
Outside of the complex was a royal carriage.
"You first, gentlemen," Zhihui offered.
"Don't mind if I do," Mr. Ping went inside the occupied the most comfortable seat.
"I've never traveled in style like this before," Li looked around the royal carriage.
As soon as everyone sat down, they were off.
"As promised, I will do everything in my power to secure that royal pardon," Zhihui reiterated. "But first, we must make a stop to pick up a princess."
"We beat an evil kung fu master and then go pick up a princess," Mr. Ping noted. "Now there's a plot twist."
"Can this princess kick butt?" asked Po.
"Haha," Zhihui chuckled. "As a matter of fact, Princess Xiao can indeed fight. She's a rarity in that her father allowed her to be trained in the fighting arts unlike many other royal ladies."
"Xiao, huh?" Bao looked slightly interested.
"Sounds like we're going to have a long, interesting trip to the capital," Li Shan nodded.
The End. For Now.
Author's Note: This is the end of the Northern Wudang/Pai Mei story arc but the story itself is not over. There will be several more story arcs to come and let's not lie, the main selling point of my story is basically Tai Lung fighting LoA, PoD, and Dragon Knight villains. As for Pai Mei, for this arc, I channeled a little bit of Makoto Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin and Master Hades from Fairy Tail into him, giving him the Social Darwinist and revolutionary tendencies of the former and being an evil old master with tons of tricks up his sleeves like the latter. From this point on, LoA and PoD characters will appear liberally but international characters from The Dragon Knight will appear later on since there will be at least three more arcs to go before Po and friends go overseas.