The Storm

The Storm

I don’t own Kung Fu Panda.

“Do you have feelings for my daughter?” Master Shifu asked bluntly

"Well, I like her, I think she's a great fighter, but..."

There was a long pause before Dai spoke again.

"Yes, I do," He said

"Listen, I would have been all too happy to stay in that bar, drinking Sake. But I decided to come back, not because I'm the Dragon Warrior, or because it's my destiny, I came back, for Tigress. I don’t want to see her get hurt, because I screwed up,” Tigress heard Dai say to Master Shifu.

Tigress’s breath caught in her chest.

“I see,” Master Shifu said. “I want to two of you to go down to the Village and keep an eye out for Tai Lung. If you see him do not engage him.”

“Yes, Master,” Dai said.

A short while later, he and Tigress headed to the Village and scouted around for Tai Lung.

“This place is creepy when it’s empty,” Dai said as they roamed the empty streets.

“At least it’s not foggy,” Tigress stated.

A laugh echoed off the buildings making Dai’s blood freeze.

He and Tigress turned around in place looking for the source of the laugh.

“We need to tell Shifu,” Tigress said.

“It’s too late, Tai-Lung is already here,” Dai said pausing as lightning flashed, and the Snow Leopard appeared at the base of the Palace Stairs. He was bigger than Dai thought he’d be standing almost a full head taller than Dai even.

“You’re never going to get that scroll, Tai Lung!” Tigress said.

“And who’s going to stop me? You two? You’re just a couple teenagers,” Tai Lung said.

“Either way you’ll have to go through us, first if you want that scroll,” Dai said.

“Bad choice of words, Dai,” Tigress said backing up slightly. “Shifu warned us not to fight him,”

“”Just the cowardice I’d expect from Shifu’s pet students. Fine, have it your way,” The Snow Leopard said. “RAH!!” Tai-Lun yelled, attacking the two.

Tai Lung moved faster than Dai expected, he didn’t even have a chance to draw his sword before Tai Lung was on them, Dai and Tigress blocked every strike Tai Lung delivered.

Dai could tell already that the snow leopard relied heavily on sheer strength, like Tigress. All he needed to do was figure out how to use it against him. When sparring with Tigress, he’d cheat and use his Kunai or claws to defeat her.

Dai’s thought process was interrupted when Tai-Lung back-handed Tigress viciously, knocking her into a wall where she collapsed to the ground unmoving. Dai looked from Tigress, back to Tai-Lung.

“I’m gonna kill you for that,” He said drawing and holding his sword with two hands. “I killed your apprentice, I’ll kill you too.”

“Is that what happened to Kiro?” Tai-Lung said. “I’ll have to find a better apprentice next time.”

Dai yelled charging at Tai-Lung with his sword. Above them, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, storm clouds had gathered, threatening to open up at any moment.

Dai saw Tai-Lung flex his arm and shift his stance to strike his right, so he dodged to the left, slicing Tai Lung on the side.

Tai Lung roared and spin kicked Dai in the head, Dai flew back into a wall, dropping his Sword, falling to the floor. Tai Lung grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.

“Where’s my scroll?” He demanded

“You’ll…never…get that…scroll,” Dai gasped grabbing at  Tai-Lung’s arm as he squeezed his neck.

“Where is it!” Tai-Lung roared.

“I don’t…have it…,” Dai gasped smirking. “Better luck…next…time…”

“You fool!” Tai Lung yelled slamming Dai into the wall, cracking it.

Dai pulled the claws out on his foot and clawed Tai-Lung’s leg, making him yell and drop the Tiger to the ground.

“You little…”

“I’m just full of surprises,” Dai said hoarsely.

Tai Lung growled and attacked Dai again, this time, Dai used his agility and dodged to the right, avoiding the strike and kicked Tai Lung in the lower back as he went past.

Dai looked around frantically for his swords, he wouldn’t last long against Tai-Lung without them, and they both knew it. Tigress was unconscious on the ground nearby so she couldn’t help him, he was on his own.

Dai saw a glint of metal and dashed towards it, he got within arms reach of his sword, when Tai-Lung brought him to the ground, Dai rolled over and clawed the Snow Leopard’s face, blinding his left eye.

Tai-Lung roared in pain and punched Dai in the head, his vision blurred as Tai-Lung drew his fist back and punched Dai again, breaking his nose.

“I’m gonna kill you,” he said lifting Dai’s head off the ground.

Dai closed his eyes, waiting for the final strike, but it never came, he heard Tai-Lung gasp and opened his eyes to see the point of his sword sticking out of Tai-Lung’s chest, Tigress standing behind him, holding the sword.

She pulled the sword out, letting Tai-Lung fall to the ground and rushed to Dai’s side.

“Great…timing…Ti,” Dai said weakly, closing his eyes.

“Dai! Dai wake up!” Tigress yelled, alarmed shaking the tiger.

“You can’t leave, not now, we need you!” He heard Tigress yell as his vision faded out.

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Dai cracked his eye’s open, his whole body hurt, he could feel the bandages wrapped all around him.

“So, I’m not dead, that’s great!” He thought. “Tigress must have brought me back to the Palace.”

Looking around he saw he was in the Palace infirmary, this time, he was alone. Tigress was nowhere to be seen.

“Tigress?” He called out, worried.

A moment later Tigress appeared, looking fine.

“You’re awake!” She exclaimed and rushed over to him, wrapping him in a hug, but quickly letting go.

“And I’m, happy about that,” She said letting go of Dai quickly, seeing Master Shifu standing in the doorway

“Ah, Dai I see you’ve finally awoken,” Master Shifu said narrowing his gaze at the two tigers but left with any other word.

“An army is approaching the Valley…”

“Are you kidding me!?” Dai shouted, interrupting Master Shifu. “I just got back on my feet from fighting Tai-Lung, I nearly died, Tigress nearly died! And you want us to go back out there and fight an Army?!”

“Yes,” Master Shifu said.

“This is unbelievable,” Dai said in disbelief

It seemed that once again the deck was being stacked against him and Tigress.

“Fine,” He said. “But I want some armor this time.”

With some effort, Dai changed into some basic leather armor and strapped on his swords, then left the infirmary to find Tigress, He found her in her room struggling with her armor.

“Here, let me help,” He said walking up behind her. Unlike Dai’s Tigress’s armor was much nicer and seemed to be sized for her and was made out of metal.

“Why do you get the fancy armor?” Dai asked tightening the straps on the chest plate, making Tigress gasp in surprise.

“Not too tight, I can’t breathe,” She said.

“You’ll thank me later,” Dai said turning Tigress around so she faced him so he could work on the gauntlets.

“I’ve never worn this stuff before,” Tigress commented. “It was a gift from a blacksmith after we saved his shop from wolves.”

“Alright, you’re all set,” Dai said patting her on the shoulder.

“Where’s your helmet?”

Tigress pointed to the bed and Dai put it on her head tightening the chin strap so it wouldn’t come off by accident.

 

 

Dai and Tigress then left the Palace and went down in the valley, to wait…and wait, and wait.

“This is always the worst part,” Dai commented after a few hours of waiting. “Waiting for the battle to start.”

“You’ve…done this before?” Tigress asked to pass the time.

“Twice,” Dai said. “The waiting was always the worst part, the tension before battle.”

“When was your first battle?” Tigress asked in an attempt to ease the tension.

“When I was Liu’s age, about thirteen or fourteen,” Dai said. “A large group of Marauders laid siege to a small town, my friends and I from the Academy had to hold them off until the Imperial Army showed up.”

“Sounds difficult,” Tigress said.

“Impossible is more like it, but we did it,” Dai said, “We held them off for three days until reinforcements arrived.”

Tigress tried to picture the scene in her head, thirteen-year-old Dai cutting down enemies with his sword.

“It was after the battle, was when I was awarded the title of Weapons Master,” Dai added.

“Weapons Master at Thirteen?!” Tigress thought, she couldn’t believe it, she could barely handle a sword at that age, much less use it in a battle for an extended period.

Tigress shook her head in disbelief

“Hey, guys!”

Dai and Tigress both turned to see Liu run up to them dressed in a battle suit.

“Liu, what are you doing here?” Dai asked, wondering why the young Panther wasn’t at the Orphanage.

“I wanted to help,” Liu said. “I can fight!”

Dai looked at Liu and saw a flashback of his Thirteen-year-old self, saying almost the exact same thing.

“Alright,” He said.

“Dai, she’s thirteen, she…” Tigress tried to argue, but Dai interrupted her.

“They’re gonna try to kill her regardless, we might as well let her fight,” He said looking at the horizon, seeing the torches in the distance.

“Remember the plan?” He asked Tigress.

“The Palace is our fall back if they’ve pushed us back that far, we retreat through the tunnel, and regroup in Gong-Men City,” Tigress said.

“Good, Liu did you get all that?” Dai asked, and the girl nodded.

“Good,”

Before long, the marching of soldiers could be heard in the distance.

“Here we go,” Dai said loosening his sword in its sheath.

Soon Dai could see the soldiers marching towards them, all different species.

“I hate wolves,” He muttered seeing the large Dire wolf out in front.

The wolf spotted them, “Charge!” He yelled pulling a curved sword from his belt, charging forward with a savage war cry.

Dai let loose his own war cry and sprinted forward along with Tigress and Liu. Like Tai Lung, the wolf stood a full head taller than Dai, Dai’s best chance to defeat him was to wear him out over time.

As he caught the wolves scimitar on his sword, it nearly knocked him down, and suddenly Dai’s plan to wear the beast out didn’t seem so viable anymore.

“Heh,” The Wolf said, twisting, kicking Dai powerfully in the chest, leaving a dent in the armor, knocking him backward. If Dai hadn’t been wearing the armor, his ribs would have been broken.

Dai’s breath wheezed out of him, he put a hand on his chest in pain, his ribs might not have been broken, but it still hurt…a lot.

Dai recovered in time to dodge a downward slice from the wolves scimitar, it cut some fur off his arm but didn’t cut the skin. Dai looked around quickly for Tigress or Liu, in the chaos of the battle, he’d lost both of them.

A better question was; Where was Master Shifu?

Dai growled in frustration at the Master’s absence and drew his attention back to the wolf, slicing him across the shoulder.

“Ha, gotcha!” He yelled victoriously, but the large wolf didn’t seem that affected by the wound even as blood ran down his arm.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Dai said.

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” The wolf growled spinning his sword in his hand advancing towards Dai.

“Tigress!” Dai shouted backing up.

If there was an advantage, it was only a certain number of soldiers would fit through the entrance to the valley at a time, but sheer numbers were overwhelming them, every time Dai cut down a soldier it seemed another two took his place.

Dai disengaged from fighting the wolf, knowing he couldn’t win, and focused on the regular soldiers streaming into the Village. He quickly cut down five of them and laughed before moving on to others. His joy was short-lived, however, as the wolf emerged once more.

“You think you can escape me so easily?” he asked.

“I was kinda hoping to, yeah,” Da answered.

As Dai fought the Dire wolf once more, it became clear he was outmatched, he was tired from fighting all the other soldiers. And still more were streaming into the Village.

“The Village is gone, Fall back to the Palace!” He yelled punching the wolf in the snout.

Tigress punched the soldier she was fighting to the ground and looked over at Dai who had already found Liu and was heading back to the Palace. Tigress turned and ran over to them dodging soldiers' weapons as she went.

The three of them sprinted up the Palace Stairs as fast as they could, Liu not being used to it fell behind quickly and fell to the stairs.

“Keep going!” Dai yelled to Tigress and went back for Liu.

The soldiers were almost upon the young panther when Dai kicked the first one back down the stairs making him crash into the others.

“Come on!” Dai said pulling Liu to her feet, pushing her ahead of him as the soldiers attempted to swarm him. Dai broke free of them and ran to Liu grabbing her hand pulling her behind him.

“Dai…I can’t…” Liu said on the verge of collapsing again.

Without thinking, Dai picked Liu up and carried her up the stairs and reached the Palace, setting her down one the were safely inside the walls, collapsing to the floor himself.

“How long do you that’ll hold them?” Liu asked.

“Not long,” Tigress said. “We should head into the Hall of Heroes.”

The three retreated into the Hall of Heroes where they were greeted by Master Shifu.

“What’s going on out there?” He demanded.

“The Village has been overrun,” Dai explained. “We had to fall back.”

Before Dai finished his explanation, the Doors to The Palace exploded inwards, throwing shrapnel everywhere, Dai covered Liu to protect her from the deadly debris, he felt a few pieces hit the back of his armor, it hurt but didn’t penetrate the armor.

“Thanks,” Liu said as Dai let go and faced the doors to see soldiers charge into the courtyard.

“Fall back!” Dai yelled cutting down soldiers as he went.

“You three must escape through the tunnel,” Master Shifu said.

“But Master, what about you?” Tigress asked.

“I will hold them here as long as I can, to give you a chance to escape,” Master Shifu said.

“But you’ll be killed,” Dai said.

“You are more important,” Master Shifu said to Dai. “Take care of my Daughter.”

“Come on,” Dai said pulling Tigress’s arm, pulling her towards where the tunnel was located.

Dai found the hidden hatch and pried it open with his sword as the sound of fighting erupted outside the hall.

“You first,” Dai said lowering Lui into the tunnel.

“Tigress!” Dai said drawing the feline’s attention away from the large doors. “We gotta go, now!”

Tigress turned away from the doors and jumped down into the tunnel.

Dai followed her, dropping down just as the doors exploded inward.

“Go! Run!” He said to Tigress and Liu, “They breached the Palace!”

Tigress and Liu ran off down the tunnel, Dai waited for a second before following them, He’d closed the hatch but wasn’t sure if the soldiers had spotted him.

His question was soon answered as he heard soldiers behind him.

“Keep going!” He said to Tigress and Liu, stopping drawing his Sword.

Dai couldn’t have come up with a worse situation if he wanted, there was almost no room to maneuver down here. The plus side was, the soldiers could only attack him two or three at a time.

Dai yelled and attacked the group of soldiers.

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Down the tunnel, Tigress and Liu both heard Dai’s war cry and heard the sound of fighting, making Tigress pause, and look back. She couldn’t just leave him, with one last look at Liu, she sprinted back down the tunnel.

She saw Dai get thrown against the wall and collapse to the floor gasping for breath. The soldier turned their attention to Tigress, the leader said something, pointing at Tigress and the charged at her. Tigress backed up, blocking their attacks, there was so little room in this tunnel. She grabbed one and threw him into the wall and kicked another, then delivered an uppercut to his chin, knocking him to the floor.

“Dai!” She shouted seeing the white tiger moving again behind the line of soldiers.

Tigress delivered a right hook to another soldier’s un-helmeted head, knocking him out.

“Dai!” She shouted again as she realized she was slowly getting overwhelmed.

She heel kicked another soldier, but his metal armor protected him from the blow, he landed a cut to Tigress’s upper arm with his sword.

Dai slowly stood to his feet and saw Tigress fighting off the soldiers, but losing.

“Hey!” He shouted loudly enough to get their attention.

“Pick on…someone else,” He panted.

It sounded stupid in his head and even more so when he said it aloud, but it got their attention.

“You just won’t lay down and die will you,” The lead soldier said.

“Nope, I’m like a cockroach, you just can’t get rid of me,” Dai said smirking getting into a fighting stance.

The soldier roared in a fury and charged at Dai, Tigress saw a glint of metal and saw Dai holding his Kunai in his hand behind his back.

When the soldier got close enough, Dai rushed him, stabbing him in the neck, knocking him over onto the floor. Dai twisted the Kunai and pulled it out of the dying soldier and stood.

“Next…” He said.

What happened Next Tigress didn’t know, she'd closed her eyes by now and only heard the sounds of the soldiers being killed. When it was over, she opened them and saw Dai standing over the five dead bodies, blood dripping from his Kunai and claws, blood was splattered over his face and armor as well, he looked like a nightmare.

A moment later, his expression softened, the snarl on his face faded away, he was back to normal.

“Are you okay, Tigress?” He asked wiping his face off with his arm.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Tigress said. “We’d better get back to Liu.”

Dai and Tigress ran down to the end of the tunnel where they found Liu.

“Right, now all we have to do is sneak past an entire army,” Dai said reaching up, opening the hatch. “And we’ll be in the clear.”

“Alright, the coast is clear,” He whispered, climbing out.

Outside, the rain was torrential, and soaked them in seconds, on the plus side, though, it masked their escape.
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If anyone is wondering who Liu is, she’s Destiny3000’s Oc. I highly recommend you check out his story 01. Kung Fu Panda 3 - Super...Path of the Rising Sun, as well as SnakeTeeth12’s story snaketeeth12.deviantart…The Adventures of Liu Zhang.