(the image above is Tai-lung)
Jade huffed in exertion as she climbed up the rocky peak and through the fog, miles away from the Jade Palace.
"I get you're trying to be all mystical and kung-fu-y, but could you at least tell why it had to be this mountain specifically?", Jade whined fakely. She knew why it had to be the mountain they were climbing, but she just wanted to have a little fun and annoy Shifu by complaining.
She and Shifu had been walking for half a day to reach the mountain, and had spent the other half actually climbing the mountain. Jade was quite tired, especially since she had been charged with carrying all the supplies for the trip on her back. But Jade didn't falter. She kept her back straight and her head held high as she marched, not buckling under the weight of her burden. Shifu, who was leading her to their training spot, glanced back at her and smiled in respect.
"It has to be this mountain specifically because of what resides at the top.", Shifu responded. Jade rolled her eyes at his crypticness.
"You know, being all vague and shit like Oogway was doesn't suit you. You're way more suited for brutal honesty.", she advised. Shifu chuckled.
"Perhaps, but vagueness is more fun in this situation.", he responded, before taking a seat on a slightly elevated piece of stone and assuming a meditative position. Jade, extremely tired from their journey, didn't fully register where she was as she collapsed onto the ground beside a small pool of water. She tried to catch her breath, before eagerly scooping water from the pool into her hands and drinking it like there was no tomorrow. She repeated this process a few times, before Shifu spoke.
"Jade, we do not drink from the Pool of Sacred Tears.", Shifu told her. Jade snorted and continued to drink.
"If you couldn't stop me from eating the heavenly wisdom peaches off the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, then you sure as hell can't stop me from drinking sacred tear water from the magic miracle pool.", She said, and scooped up yet another drink from the sacred pool. Shifu sighed in resignation and cracked open his eyes.
"I suppose you're right.", he relented, before standing up and walking over to where Jade sat at the edge of the water.
"This is where Oogway unraveled the mysteries of harmony and focus. This is the birthplace of kung fu.", Shifu told Jade dramatically. Jade stopped drinking from the pool and truly looked out at the water for the first time, and then looked behind her. She saw that there was a large rock behind her and a large rock in the water.
'It really does look like a yin-yang symbol.', Jade thought in awe. Her earlier brazen attitude aside, she was in one of the most sacred places in all of the martial arts world. She was in the place where kung fu was born.
"This place is amazing.", she voiced. Shifu smiled at her and nodded.
"Indeed it is. Oogway first brought me here when he deemed me ready to become a master. He trained me for many days and nights, before he finally bestowed upon me the title of 'Master'.", Shifu told her, giving Jade more information than he had given Po. Shifu's smile widened.
"And I shall do the same with you.", he said, before jumping up and doing a backflip onto a large rock formation and doing several kung fu forms. Jade stared up at him in awe.
"Do you want to master kung fu?!", Shifu asked loudly, pointing a finger at Jade. Jade nodded furiously. Her childhood dream was coming true! She was starting to feel giddy.
"Yeah!", she responded breathlessly. She wasn't sure if Shifu even heard her, because she could barely hear herself. Her excitement was causing a ringing in her ears, and she could almost hear the epic background music. Shifu smirked.
"Then you ARE the Dragon Warrior! And I AM your master!", Shifu declared. Jade kept nodding.
"Yes!", she yelled back. Shifu was practically grinning.
"Then let's get started."
—--------------------------------------------------
Jade and Shifu were in the middle of a grassy field in the mountain pass, surrounded by large rock formations. Jade's hands were held behind her straight back. She looked as ready as possible. Shifu stood in front of her on top of a large rock
'Probably to look taller.', Jade thought with a snicker. Shifu gave her a tired look, but didn't comment on the sound. Instead, he looked at Jade with an analytical gaze and began assessing how he would need to train his latest student.
"Jade, when you focus on kung fu, when you concentrate... you're good. Great, even. But I recognise that you are not reaching your full potential under your current training regiment. You're copying what you see the Five doing, and while their techniques are excellent, they are not tailor-fitted to you as they are to them. You're trying to be better than them at what they do, but you aren't trying to be better than anyone at what only you can do.", Shifu told her. Jade frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?", she asked. Shifu smirked.
"Each of the Five developed their own styles of kung fu over years of intense training. Laofu has Tiger Style, Hou has Monkey Style, Baihe has Viper Style, Tianyu has Mantis Style, and Guan has Crane Style. To reach your full potential, you will have to do what they did; you will have to create your own style of kung fu.", Shifu elaborated. Jade gaped at him in disbelief.
"Create my own style of kung fu? In the span of a few days?! How the fresh hell am I supposed to do that?!", Jade yelled. Shifu's smirk widened.
"That is for us to figure out. I already know that I cannot train you like I have trained the Five, but I believe I know how I can train you in your own, specialized way. I will train you using this.", Shifu said, and he pulled out the Sword of Heroes from behind his back. Jade blinked at the weapon she had thought she left at the Palace on accident. Now she knew why she couldn't find it.
"... You're going to attack me with my own sword after stealing it from my room?", she asked hesitantly. Shifu's eyes widened at her response.
"What? No! I'm going to help you develop a martial arts style that incorporates both your weapon of choice and your skills of karate!", Shifu told her. Jade's mouth made an 'o' in understanding.
"Oh.", she said. Shifu rolled his eyes, but soon regained his unshakeable composure as he held Jade's sword out to her, holding it out ceremoniously in both hands. The jade dragon on the blade glinted in the sunlight. Jade grinned at the sight, and Shifu smiled as well.
"Let us begin."
—-----------------------------------------------------
Laofu raced to the Thread of Hope, the rest of the Furious Five at his back. Laofu was running on all fours, channeling the spirit of the tiger he had based his kung fu around. Guan flew, and Hou ran on all fours like his orange haired comrade did. They were all silent. They hadn't spoken a word since they left the Jade Palace, their goal weighing too heavy on their shoulders to allow for conversation. They knew what they had to do, and they knew who they were doing it for. And that made them all the more determined.
All of their lungs burned, the lack of oxygen in the high altitude atmosphere affecting their bodies. They had all been running for nearly an entire day without rest. They couldn't afford breaks, not with Tai-lung.
Laofu came to a skidding stop in front of the bridge, with everyone else following suit, except for Guan, who landed since he had flown. They barely had time to catch their breaths before a menacing figure appeared at the other side of the bridge. Laofu felt like he was choking when he saw a pair of very familiar yellow eyes.
There, after five long years, stood his beloved brother a mere kilometer away.
Tai-lung looked like hell. He was shirtless, clad only in a pair of purple pants and an iron studded leather belt, pieces of the same outfit he had worn when he had been taken away. The shirt he had worn when he had been arrested had been taken off him in prison to put Oogway's chi blocking tortoise shell on him. The iron chains that had bound him to the floor of Chorh-Gom still hung from his wrists, their broken chains dangling and rattling. His skin was pale as snow, likely due to a mix of his naturally fair complexion and five years of never seeing the light of day. He was on all fours, his fang-like teeth bared in aggression.
Laofu felt tears well behind his eyes. He wanted to go to him and hug him after years a part, but Tai-lung let out a scream of rage and started running towards Laofu and the others with breakneck speed. Laofu didn't know what to do. He was freezing up, he didn't want to fight his brother, but he also didn't want to endanger Jade. So, in an act of what he would later call cowardice, Laofu opened his mouth and yelled.
"CUT IT!", he screamed, and Baihe and Hou immediately got to work. They pulled out throwing stars and a sword respectively, and used them to cut the bridge's two support ropes.
As the bridge collapsed, Tai-lung ran as fast as he could to reach the other end. He almost did, but when he tried to pounce onto the Five, Laofu realized that his brother was a threat and he had to do something. So he lept into the air and kicked Tai-lung so hard that the force made Laofu do a flip as he started falling. The others, seeing that Laofu wouldn't be able to get back to the safety of the ground, grabbed the cut support ropes and pulled them taut, managing to temporarily return the bridge to working condition.
Laofu landed on his feet, but Tai-lung had to use the rope railing to flip himself out from under the bridge and onto the top. Once he regained his footing, Tai-lung grinned. It was a cocky, infuriating grin. His eyes flashed with malicious glee, and Laofu braced himself. The two brothers were only meters apart.
"Hello, little brother. How long it's been since I've seen your face.", Tai-lung greeted darkly. The bridge shook underneath them. Neither moved, not wanting to lose the ground underneath them. Laofu steeled his expression and kept his battle stance firm. He didn't speak. Tai-lung quirked an eyebrow.
"Giving me the silent treatment, eh? Wouldn't be the first time you've done that, but I can play your little games.", Tai-lung said, before leaning casually against the bridge's rope railing as he turned the bridge on its side, using the other rope railing to balance his feet on. Laofu struggled to keep his footing on the now uneven terrain. Tai-lung's smile remained, but his eyes became even more malicious.
"Where's the Dragon Warrior?", he asked. Laofu's eyes widened and he stiffened. He couldn't tell him anything about Jade.
"How do you know you're not looking at him?", Laofu asked with a deep scowl on his face, hoping to the spirits Tai-lung didn't call his bluff. Tai-lung laughed, and Laofu realized his prayers had gone unanswered.
"You think I'm a fool? Truly Laofu, I thought you knew better than to lie to me. You could never keep a secret. I know you're not the Dragon Warrior, none of you are! I heard how she fell out of the sky with a divine scream. That she's a warrior, unlike anything the world has ever seen. I know her death will be spectacular.", Tai-lung purred, slowly walking forward as he recited the rumors he had heard about his most desired opponent. Baihe, upon hearing Tai-lung's intentions for Jade, couldn't help but gasp in worry.
"Oh no, Jade... ", he gasped as quietly as he could, but Tai-lung still heard him. The white haired man's grin turned into a small smile, and a wistful look entered his eyes.
"So that is her name. Jade.", he said, before taking a deep breath in, as if to inhale the girl's name. Then his grin returned, even more psychotic looking than before.
"Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!", Tai-lung declared, throwing a fist in the air to punctuate his point. That was what made Laofu snap.
"You won't touch her!", he said with a snarl, and with a roar-like battle cry, he pounced on his brother.
A few blows were exchanged between them, but Tai-lung blocked every single one of them. Then Laofu decided he needed to get creative. He got on the railing and used it as leverage to wrap his legs around Tai-lung's neck and send him flying off the bridge.
Tai-lung grabbed the railing and used it to sling himself into the air. The spinning of the bridge made Laofu have to hang onto the bottom, and so he was left a sitting duck as Tai-lung fell down towards him. Laofu thought quickly and twisted the bridge so he was on the bottom. Tai-lung broke the wooden boards on impact and fell halfway through the bridge. He attacked with punches, while Laofu kicked, using his arms to cling to the bridge. For the next few moments, the bridge flipped back and forth, taking Laofu and Tai-lung with it. They exchanged blows, but Laofu was starting to falter. The rest of the five saw his distress, and Hou got an idea.
"We've got this, help him!", Hou yelled, taking the other bridge support from Baihe and Gaun. He and Tianyu held onto both supports together, greatly struggling to keep them taut. Guan nodded and flew off, while Baihe stuck to the ground and ran off into the fray
Laofu, meanwhile, had gone from struggling to getting pummeled. Tai-lung had managed to kick him through the boards of the bridge, and had sent him flying back through many more wooden planks. Laofu groaned and gasped in pain, before coming to a stop on the end of the bridge opposite from where he and the rest of the Five had arrived.
Tai-lung then grabbed the two ropes underneath him and leveraged his body to twist them, causing the ropes to close around Laofu's neck and effectively begin to asphyxiate him. That was when Baihe managed to get underneath the bridge, spinning himself around by holding onto one of the ropes and kicking Tai-lung in the face. Tai-lung was sent flying back onto some of the boards, and Laofu was released from the bridge's death grip. He started falling towards the cloud covered ground below, but Guan swooped down towards him, and Laofu managed to grab onto his flying friend's leg, saving him from a violent death by falling.
As Laofu was carried up into the sky, Baihe started landing his own hits on Tai-lung. He pulled out a red dancing ribbon, made out of extremely strong material, and wrapped it around Tai-lung's arm and neck. Baihe then moved it in such a way, that Tai-lung's arm was jerked about like a puppet on a string, and Baihe forced him to punch himself several times. Eventually, the jerking caused Tai-lung to trip, and he was only saved from falling into the abyss when his ankle got caught in between two boards. As he fell, Tai-lung was able to slip out of the ribbon and grab Baihe by his neck, dragging him down with him. The light green haired young man choked and felt the oxygen leave his lungs.
"Hou!", Baihe gasped, asking for help. Tianyu snapped his head over to Hou, his expression frantic and anxious.
"Go!", he ordered his friend, and Hou complied, handing him his rope. Tianyu grabbed hold of it and felt himself get dragged forward by the weight of it. He gasped as he struggled to hold onto the cut ropes.
"GAH WHAT WAS I THINKING?!", Tianyu exclaimed hysterically, but he knew it was too late to question his decision now. He was the only thing standing between his team and them falling to their deaths.
Hou ran down the remaining boards on the bridge, jumping upwards to kick Tai-lung in the face, freeing Baihe and sending the white haired man flying backwards. Baihe scrambled to stand up, rubbing his sore and likely bruised neck. Tai-lung landed on the other end of the bridge, and got on all fours to run towards his opponents. When he ran out of boards to run on, he used the ropes, moving from one to the other as he ran to keep his balance. Laofu, who was in the process of being carried back to the safety of the rocky ledge by Gaun, noticed this. He quickly turned to look down at Tianyu.
"Tianyu!", Laofu cried. Tianyu took that as his que to do something, and lifted the ropes up, before quickly whipping them down. This caused Tai-lung to be thrown up in the air, and he was barely able to land on one of the ropes, wobbling back and forth on his two feet. The Five saw this moment of weakness and got ready to act.
"NOW!", Laofu screamed, letting go of Gaun legs and landing on one of the ropes. He ran across it on all fours, leading a group charge towards the disoriented Tai-lung, with Guan flying behind him, Hou swinging from rope to rope, and Baihe doing a care balancing act on two legs on the rope opposite to Laofu.
First Hou managed to land a flying kick on Tai-lung, then Baihe managed to whip him in the face with his ribbon, which left a cut on his face and sent the white haired man flying up into the air. Hou then managed to cut one of the ropes with his sword, throwing it up to Gaun, who managed to catch it in his mouth and wrap it around Tai-lung's body in midair after landing a kick on the man. Laofu jumped, and using Baihe and Guan's bodies as platforms, he met Tai-lung in midair and gave him a punch to the face. Laofu then landed on the only remaining rope and cut it as well with his claw-like nails, sending him and his comrades swinging back towards their side of the bridge, and Tai-lung went swinging back towards his own side, bound and unable to move. The rogue kung fu master screamed in rage as he was sent flying.
Tianyu used all his might to yank the rope his team members were hanging onto back to the safety of solid ground. They all jumped off the rope and landed feet first on the ground. The watched anxiously as Tai-lung's rope hit the other ledge, and the screaming stopped. They took deep breaths, looking back and forth at one another, silently wondering if it was really over.
But then Laofu spotted something. The rope Tai-lung was tied to began to wrap around the ledge it was dangling from. Laofu's eyes narrowed in anticipation. He could see that the fight was not over yet.
Eventually, the rope began to swing in the direction of the Five. Everyone watched it with bated breath. But then the rope loudly snapped before Tai-lung could rear his head above the clouds.everyone looked down, wondering if they had gotten lucky and Tai-lung had managed to seal his fate in his escape attempt. But a loud, windbreaker noise could be heard from above them. And not even seconds later, Tai-lung landed on his feet behind them. The Five all looked behind them and gasped. Tai-lung grinned arrogantly.
"Shifu taught you well. Especially you, little brother.", Tai-lung commended. Then he struck Hou in the chest with two fingers. Blue energy rippled throughout his body as he let out a short shriek, causing his limbs to twitch and his eyes to glow blue as he fell to the ground, completely imobile. His still standing comrades looked at this and gasped in horror, before looking at Tai-lung, who had his fingers positioned for another one of his strange attacks. His face was terrifyingly serious.
"But he didn't teach you everything.", he hissed. Then he made a sound that was just as feral and deep as the roar of a snow leopard, and he striked again.
Everything that happened next was a blur that ended with every member of the Furious Five laying incapacitated at his feet. Tai-lung smirked down at the suffering he had caused, before leaning down close to Gaun's face. The hat wearing man had purposefully been left with less damage than his comrades, since he was the only one amongst them that could fly. He had to be physically well enough to carry everyone back to the Jade Palace, and deliver Tai-lung's little... message.
"Take your friends back to your master. Tell him the only reason you still live, is because I want your Dragon Warrior to see what she's up against.", Tai-lung hissed malevolently in Gaun's ear. Guan gulped, but didn't otherwise react. Then Tai-lung stood up straight and walked leisurely over to Laofu, who was completely frozen with a look of horror on his face. Tai-lung leaned down again, and whispered barely loud enough for his brother to hear.
"'You won't touch her', huh? You really didn't think I would notice that slip up of yours, little brother?", Tai-lung said. The frozen Laofu's breathing became more frantic, and Tai-lung stood up straight again, an insufferable smirk on his face.
"I don't know why you're trying to protect the Dragon Warrior, but it doesn't matter. I will defeat her, I will take the Dragon Scroll, and then I will kill her. And there is nothing you can do about it.", Tai-lung said, and rage flashed in Laofu's eyes. Tai-lung saw this, and his smirk widened.
"Give our father my regards.", he said, and then he ran off in the direction of the Valley of Peace. Laofu's last thought as his brother disappeared from his sight was;
'I'm sorry Jade. Please be careful.'
And there you all go. Tai-lung has officially been introduced, and the plot has thickened even more. I tried my best to keep the fight as detailed as possible. I hope that it came across as epic as it does when you're watching the movie. Jade's training arc is probably going to be difficult to edit to suit her, because best girl loves food, but she don't love food that much. It won't be the most difficult thing about this movie arc, though. The most difficult part is going to be to figuring out a realistic way to keep Tai-lung out of prison. For those of you that are confused, the Thread of Hope is the canon name of the bridge that the Five fought Tai-lung on. It is a thousand mile long string of rope bridges, that was apparently built by a clan of cranes out of gratitude when Oogway helped them fight some enemies. The abyss below is called the Devil's Mouth, and the rocks that the bridge hangs from are called the Fangs of Hell. The more you know. Next time, training comes to an end!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.