:2 Months Earlier:
On a rainy cliff overlooking the entrance to the village residing in the shadow of The Jade Palace, Hunter was standing with someone who was sheltering under a dainty looking parasol. They seemed to be deep in conversation already judging by their demeanour. Upon closer inspection, the one under the parasol was a female Leopard. Hunter shook his head in response to whatever the aforementioned female Leopard had said to him. "I'm not an idiot, Su." he seemed to reply to her, his voice as deadpan as usual with a mild hint of annoyance to it.
The Leopard, whose name was apparently Su, shook her head in response to his statement. "Of course not. I would never imply such a thing, my dear Hunter." She purred his name to him and fluttered her eyelids. "I am simply... presenting an opportunity for you to take on my behalf, in exchange for monetary payment of course." She spoke nonchalantly to him as if it were a simple thing she were asking of him. "With the fat Panda and two of the Five sent away, the Palace will be easy for someone with your... Unique skillset to infiltrate. I simply want the Sword of Heroes for my... collection." Su said in an overly innocent voice, despite the fact they were currently discussing whether or not Hunter was going to commit a crime for her.
Hunter scoffed at what Su had proposed, clearly unconvinced by what she was saying. "Stealing from my previous employer is not a smart move, Su. Stealing from The Jade Palace? Even less so." he pointed out to her with slight disdain creeping into his tone. "Especially if I get caught. I'm never getting another job from them again for a start, let alone where I'll end up if they catch me." Hunter said to her and threw down the scroll at Su's feet which apparently contained the job offer in question, shaking his head at her as he was about to walk away from the situation.
Su chuckled at his attitude towards her and the job, quickly walking over and standing in front of him. "That's why I like you, Hunter. You think ahead. It's why I trust you with this job... and no one else." she said to him, walking forwards towards him while sashaying her hips and smiling in a way one could describe as seductive. She was trying to butter him up and he knew it, judging from how his expression went from 'mild annoyance' to 'Are you seriously trying this bullshit on me?' "After all, I only just esca- Was released from prison, and I need something to help feed myself in these desperate times..." Su spoke in a whiny voice to Hunter, who rolled his eyes at her 'helpless little kitty' act, knowing that she was talking complete shit.
He sighed then as he looked thoughtful before seemingly coming to a final decision on the matter. "Fine, I'll do this for you. But this is you cashing in that debt I owe you and the other Ladies." Hunter stated to her seriously. Su seemed like she was about to argue otherwise, but Hunter cast a scathing look her way that made her shut her mouth and simply nod to him in agreement instead as he realised that this was likely the only way she'd get him to agree to do the job. "Very well." Su agreed to his terms.
At that confirmation, Hunter took a deep breath at what he was about to do, turned, and leapt from the cliff they had been standing on. Catching a vine in mid fall, he swung on it and flipped onto the branch of one of the trees that dotted the entrance to the Valley of Peace village that was below the Jade Palace. Dropping to the grassy floor silently, he quickly and again silently entered the Valley as he usually did and followed the same path to the Palace he always took via using the back alleys and shadows, albeit this time for more nefarious purposes... 'As long as I'm finally out of debt to those damn cats...' he thought to himself with no small amount of disdain. They were Leopards of course, but he meant the word 'cats' as an insult in this case.
However, what he saw when he was finally in view of The Jade Palace gave him pause and made him reconsider the job altogether.
It was unlike Hunter to stay out in the open, but he stopped dead in the middle of the market street and looked up towards the mountain on which sat the Palace, his eyes widening in shock at the... Spectacle before him. Some kind of huge angry spirit warrior thing was attacking the Palace, even going so far as to throw the statue of Master Oogway through the Palace itself, the force sending it crashing down the 1000 steps leading up to the place. It was certainly a fight to behold, and not one that Hunter wanted to involve himself in. Not because he couldn't handle himself, quite the opposite, but he had no intention of making enemies of huge angry spirit warriors. He had enough enemies as it was in the physical world, he didn't need spirits trying to make his life harder.
Hunter then heard something to his right and whipped his head towards it. It was then that Hunter spotted one of the Furious Five, Master Tigress, running like a bat out of hell away from the Palace and the village itself, a look of determination and even fear in her eyes as she made all haste away. For a second his eyes lingered, as if with some kind of longing and he silently wished her luck in whatever her plan was, hoping she doesn't get caught by the large angry spirit. At that point, Hunter got to thinking that maybe he should come back at a better time... When things weren't so... Chaotic. Although he could also use the chaos to slip into the Palace undetected, or at least they wouldn't pay attention to what he was doing while it was under attack from something else... But then, he could get dragged into the fight and he had to wonder if that was a risk he was willing to take...
Before he could decide on what to do, the giant apparition had apparently spotted him lingering out in the open. Hunter realised his mistake too late as the spirit swooped down towards him at breakneck speed. Hunter felt his heart almost stop in fear as he realised what was coming, but he didn't move. There was no point. He was toast. Hunter shut his eyes tight and flinched away, waiting for whatever fate was to come. But nothing happened... Hunter then slowly opened his eyes and looked around, noticing he was surrounded by... People... But not people ... They were green, and glowing... And there were quite a few of them. He took a more defensive stance at being surrounded by these odd creatures. Wait, was that... Master Shifu? It was Master Shifu but green, and... glowing. He looked like he'd been turned into some kind of statue. Hunter then looked up, seeing the spirit thing lingering above him with a curious expression. "Hmm... No Chi? None at all? How interesting..." the spirit thing said as it floated around him freely. "You're lucky I currently have more pressing matters to deal with, mortal." The thing said to him and suddenly, all the stone statue people things dissolved into green balls and followed their master as they rushed in the direction Tigress had run in...
Hunter thought about following, about going to help her out. In fact, he felt his feet start off in a sprint in pursuit of the spirit warrior, but... He had no idea where they were going, so such an effort on his part would be relatively pointless. He'd just get lost trying to follow. He was an ace tracker, but not even a tracker of his calibre can follow spirits. He could possibly find Tigress' tracks, but by the time he got there, he would likely be too late anyway. A sting of regret hit him at realising there was nothing he could do to help for now.
For a second he called his own honour into question, but rationalised that there was really nothing he could do. "Good luck... Ancestors watch over you." Hunter said, tearing himself away from looking where the Spirit Warrior and Tigress had gone. Instead, he walked through the completely barren streets of the village below the Palace and up the 1000 steps leading to the Palace itself. When he reached the top he found that the doors were shattered and so were many of the walls, and the roof... This place was a complete wreck... That spirit guy certainly did some damage to the place.
Hunter found himself lamenting the damage that had been done to the Palace, as it was once an incredibly beautiful place. It still was in many ways. Not needing to be sneaky or stealthy any longer, Hunter simply entered the Hall of Warriors through the giant hole that used to be the doors and found the room equally as destroyed as the rest of the place. Hunter didn't know whether he felt better or worse about not meeting any resistance as he looked around for the object he was to take. At first he thought it may have been destroyed or even taken by one of the Five to fight the angry spirit...
However after a few more seconds of searching he saw a glint... investigating what said glint was, he moved a large pillar aside to look beneath it where he had seen the strange sparkle of light. He couldn't believe it... Beneath the pillar he'd lifted aside, laying on the ground was the particular Sword he had come for. Sighing in regret and part relief that it was somehow intact, he picked the Sword up and sheathed it in his currently empty sheath on his back. He really hated having to do this, but no matter what else Hunter was a man of his word and he said he'd get Su the Sword, and so he would do just that. He turned around and was about to make a hasty exit, but before he could, he heard something...
Something was calling out to him... Calling his name... Hunter shook his head and took a few more steps towards the exit, thinking he was hearing things that weren't there. But then, there it was again. Each step he took became harder and harder as the curiosity got to him. Once at the door he stopped and turned, deciding to investigate whatever wanted his attention so badly. Maybe someone needed his help? He couldn't not help if someone was in danger after all. Walking through the remains of The Jade Palace, he heard the voice again... It led him to look into the moonpool that was below the Dragon that had once held the Dragon Scroll in it's mouth... The pool was smashed and empty of water due to the attack. There was a hole in the floor now though which seemed to lead somewhere...
The voice called to him again, from down there below the pool... Hunter sat on the broken edge of the pool and lowered himself as far as he could down before letting go and dropping, bending his knees as he landed. Upon landing, the area lit up with candles, revealing some kind of vault as he stood straight. "Okay... Not creepy at all..." he said to himself. He heard his name called again, louder now. It was close. "Hello? Anyone here?" Hunter called out as he got closer to the source of the voice. Then he saw it. A Scroll. It was purple and gold in design, and seemed to be glowing... His name was called again, the sound coming from the Scroll itself from the looks of it. "What the..." He said to himself, approaching the sealed Scroll carefully. Upon touching the glass, he felt an urge, a great urge to take the Scroll with him... "No... Not what I'm here for." he shook his head as he began to move back. Su wouldn't be happy if he took more than what she asked for, as it could bring undue attention to the both of them... But he found he couldn't step away. His eyes were glued to the Scroll now... With shaking hands he took out his lockpicking kit and opened up the case... Just a touch, that's all. A touch. To satisfy the curiosity he felt...
He touched it. The want, the need to take it grew even stronger... "Fine... A trophy, to remind me of the time I robbed The Jade Palace. " Hunter finally gave in with a grumble and climbed back out of what seemed to be the Palace's vault, with the Sword sheathed on his back and the Scroll tucked away in his sailor bag. He left the Palace and made haste out of the Valley, this time not bothering with back alleys and side streets since everyone was either locked in their homes or turned into those... Things, from what he could tell.
Hunter met Su on the same cliff he'd left her on, climbing up said cliff to find her sitting demurely on a log under a rocky outcrop to keep dry and waiting patiently for his return. Upon noticing him, she leapt up in excitement. "Oh! You're back! Hmm. That was rather quick... Even for you." she mentioned a little bit suspiciously, although the look faded when he presented her the Sword. She sniffed it and licked it a tiny bit. "...But it is the genuine artefact. Thank you. You fulfilled your end of the deal, and you no longer owe myself or the Ladies anything." Su bowed a little, feeling rather giddy about getting her paws on the Sword. When she rose from her bow, Hunter had simply vanished from sight. "Now where to put you, my lovely thing~?"
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A/N: Comments and votes are highly appreciated! Next chapter will be next Saturday!