NOTES;; Before I forget, thank you SgtAngel32, Master Crane, and The Loving Hawk for your reviews! They're greatly appreciated and I'm glad that you're all enjoying my story.
TUNNEL CHASE
He fidgeted slightly flapping his wings gently to rid of the nervous feeling that washed over him. The rest of the Furious Five including Po were by his side, aligned and occasionally giving him a worried, or strange glance that seemed to make Crane's fidgeting worse. It was finally, when he almost lost balanced and squawked, that Shifu snapped out of his questioning mind and faced his students. He gave Po a quick glance, being at the other end of the line and averted his eyes to Crane who was clumsily trying to center the sedge hat. Shifu sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Crane."
"Y-yes, Master Shifu." The avian straightened forward, and bowed. A wing twitched, but Crane managed to keep his balance. The others stared, particularly Po who couldn't seem to avert his eyes off the other master. Crane sighed and stepped back, trying to keep a straight figure. He gave the other masters a quick glance and then turned to Shifu, "I know, it's messed up, but I can explain."
"Explain?" The red panda blurted and everyone seemed to take a step back at the sudden outburst, everyone except Crane. Shifu paced, his face contorted in a look of confusion with a hint of worry. The messenger was about to speak up when Shifu finally paused in his thoughts and sighed, "All these years, and you didn't tell me that you were a prince? Why?"
Crane glanced at the floor, then at Shifu, "I couldn't." Pathetic answer, "Just to clarify I-I'm not... royalty, or an heir to anything. I was adopted, by the emperor."
"What?" A feminine voice broke the conversation; her voice was soft, deep yet curious, "How did you end up at the Lee Da Kung Fu Academy?" Tigress asked.
"I ran away." Everyone asked in union, "You ran away?"
The avian nodded, shrugging with a slight chuckle that he knew wouldn't get him out of the situation, "Is this really necessary?" He gave the young geese messenger a quick glance, his faced contorted into a somewhat of a 'help me', gesture. Sensing the avian master's uncomfortable situation, the young geese stepped forward and softly cleared his throat, louder when Shifu started talking again. "Sir, I don't mean to interrupt but emperor Sheng wishes to see his son immediately. It is quite rude to take your student away as it is New Year's Eve, the emperor knows, but the palace medics cannot predict how much longer the king can survive before he... w-well." The small bird trailed off, he didn't want to finish, but unfortunately everybody knew of exactly the reason why; Emperor Sheng was dying. And Crane was beginning to regret his past actions. He glanced at Viper, who returned the gesture but looked away sadly.
It hadn't taken long for Crane and Mei Ling to take down a few dozen guards, only because most of them were untrained. The bigger warriors, such as the crocodiles that had maces were a bit of a challenge against the shinais that the mountain cat had provided, but eventually the two masters won over the soldiers. Yes, Mei Ling took the occupation of a school teacher. That, and a double agent against Wuquing. Crane couldn't help but think about how he led himself to trouble, it was true that his adoptive father had been dying, but he never expected such a harsh welcome from his brother, Wuquing. He was lost in his thoughts.
The atmosphere was silent, the air quiet but comforting in its likely manner. They had to be stealthy challenged with a hasty escape. Crane and Mei Ling were still in Tai Peng borders, and they very well knew that they weren't safe just yet. They managed to slip past a few guards along the palace walls, and some came too quickly to noticing them. "I have a small boat under the bridge that should take us to the tunnels," Mei Ling said, "Once we're in we can finally talk amongst ourselves until we reach the Valley of Peace, otherwise I suggest we hurry up because it seems that your brother knows that you've escaped."
At the mountain cat's warning Crane snapped out of his thoughts and followed the feline's eyes towards a line of crocodiles marching out of the palace entrance, weapons in hand. Crane and Mei Ling quickly ducked under a supported roof and watched the soldiers exit out into the village. Then their hasty escape had been made into an even more challenging act when a few crane soldiers flew out, one turning their way and flying up and past them. Crane and Mei Ling quickly ducked, luckily going unseen by the avian soldier. The two masters slowly raised their heads from their hiding spot, Mei Ling's ears twitching as she turned to another door and out came the prince; Wuquing. Crane and Mei Ling ducked again and watched as Wuquing seemed to examine his surroundings, and took a quick glance at their hiding spot. They disappeared in a moment, going unnoticed and entered a dark tunnel where they kept a close eye at the bird prince.
"Guard the palace," Wuquing ordered to one of his guards, "And find Fei." Then he turned to a small group of soldiers, four in counting and all cranes. "You four! Come with me." Flapping their wings, the birds took flight and headed towards the direction of the tunnels. Crane was first to act, silently pursuing them with Mei Ling right behind him.
The reached the bridge, surprisingly from the help of Wuquing and Crane and Mei Ling gave each other another glance before they quietly hopped onto a second raft and paddled after Wuquing. There was a lantern perched just behind Crane, and he thought it would be best to extinguish the small, yet clear light once they entered the dark tunnel. He and Mei Ling could always follow Wuquing's raft, they just had to be sneaky in order to do so. The gently paddling seemed to go on for hours, but they had only entered and was already gaining great distance after the other birds. There was a feeling of unease in the tunnels, and a silent audible moan under water caused Crane and Mei Ling to pause in their pursuit. The first raft ahead of them did so too, and then they both continued after a moment of patience.
"Master, are you certain that the key is hidden in these tunnels?" A voice, one of the soldiers. Feathers seemed to flap irritably and Wuquing snapped, silently, however, "I'm trying to listen."
"Something seems to be following us." Another soldier said, causing Crane and Mei Ling to pause. The same uncomfortable groan under water interrupted them again, and something splashed beside the raft. Wuquing and his soldiers, alerted got up to their feet if not already like the prince. Everything was silent for a moment, and a soldier's sedge hat suddenly slipped out from its owner's head and fell into the water with a silent drip. The bird groaned, raising a talon and dunking it into the water trying to seize his hat that slowly drifted off the huge canal. Then, he suddenly squawked and fell in nearly tipping the boat if it hadn't been for the others' balance. Crane and Mei Ling shot up to their feet, having been alerted already they nearly came to the young soldier's aid until the bird's head peeked out of the water.
"I-I fell in!" He coughed, splashing about and climbing onto a small brick sidewalk within the tunnel. The prince rolled his eyes and sighed, while the rest of the crane soldiers silently snickered to themselves. For a moment, there was laughter, and a suddenly scream filled everyone's ears as another of Wuquing's soldiers fell in and didn't surface.
"Qi, Qi!" Wuquing desperately called, trying to find his warrior in the dark waters. This was serious now, "Dammit! Get off the boat, all of you!" A bigger splash erupted, and a sudden roar sent everyone fluttering except for Mei Ling. There, emerging from the waters is a dragon. A water dragon. It puffed out a tiny feather from it's gigantic nose and growled at one of the crane soldiers. Then lunged.
"We have to help them!" Mei Ling cried, and pulled out her shinai from it's sheath strapped behind her back. Crane couldn't agree more, and they both charged with all the speed they could conquer. The mountain cat landed on the dragon's back, and the overgrown lizard writhed trying to shake her off. Mei Ling growled and sunk her claws onto it's scaly skin and hung on. Crane spun, using his wind to create a forceful wind that whipped away the dragon's tail from the safety of its water home. The strength of a water dragon comes from it's tail, and when in the water it can propel itself like a jet, a critical hit if anything were in the way. As long as Mei Ling kept the reptile distracted, everybody else should be safe, and apparently, Wuquing just took the chance. Of course he hadn't been expecting his brother to lunge and come to his rescue. He didn't need rescuing, and could escape most challenges.
Wuquing lunged at his brother, and Crane turned around to hit a blow to one of his wings. He was stunned, dumb founded at first and as the pain started to settle in he flapped his wings to try and rid of it. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" Wuquing slashed, and Crane spun to dodge the attack, "My business!"
"You and I both know that opening the Gate will unleash the Okami warriors!" The avian master tapped his hat to keep it center, and stood straight, "Wuquing, you can't open the Gate. Head my words, I spent my years in the Epang palace learning about the Gate."
Wuquing straightened as well, "Then perhaps you should tell me where is the Gate located."
"That, I don't know."
"You liar."
Crane shook his head, "I would never lie to you." His eyes suddenly widened, and Crane lunged at his brother, tackling Wuquing to a safe distance and away from the wriggling water dragon. Crane couldn't spot Mei Ling anymore, as he caught a quick glance of the beasts head, and he collided into a wall with the avian prince. A soldier came up to them quickly helping them up, it was the young bird that had fallen into the water from before, "Master Wuquing, we cannot hold the dragon much longer! We must find the key now!"
"I already know where the key is!" Wuquing snapped, his eyes averting towards the dragon's horns. He leaped, pulling out a blade from within his robe and slashing at the dragon's horn. The horn came free, but before Wuquing could retrieve a strong wind sent him spiraling towards his soldier. They collided and fell, and the crane looked up from his spot in the tunnel. "Fei!" He glared daggers at the Kung Fu master, Crane, who had snatched the dragon's prized horn in his talon and was flying off into another part of the canals, lantern in the other talon. A mountain cat followed him, along with another crane soldier, the two seemed to be fighting over who would get to the other crane first. They hadn't noticed that the dragon had slipped from everyone's grasp and was also after Crane.
"Follow him!" Wuquing screamed at his remaining soldiers, and he snatched another lantern from his raft, quickly in pursuit of his brother.
It was a wild goose chase, and Crane was winning. The dragon however, was gaining the smaller distance between them and it leaped out of the water and snapped at him, determined to not give up. Crane squawked as it managed to take one of his feathers and he turned into an intersection of the tunnel. Crane paused, out of breath he looked at his surroundings, there were three tunnels left to take and he didn't know which one. "Middle. It has to be the middle." He hesitated, and slowly, then quickly flew in the middle tunnel, dragon in pursuit.
Wuquing and his soldiers took the right as they turned the intersection, and Mei Ling and the female crane she had been dueling with took the left. What they didn't know that the tunnels all ended in the same lair; the water dragon's. Crane few higher in his new surroundings, careful to not pierce himself from the cave's stalagmites that hung from the ceiling. His hat kept tipping off center, and in the end he didn't bother fixing it. It did, however, fall into the water and out came the dragon. "Holy shi-" Crane's retort was overcome by the sound of the dragon's roar. Mei Ling made an entrance, and called to Crane. After catching the bird's attention she pointed at a small opening in the ceiling for her and the bird to escape through.
They turned, to the exit, when Mei Ling was tackled by the crane soldier she had been fighting with. They rolled across the rocky floor and Wuquing and the rest of his warriors poured in. The dragon was getting irritated. Wuquing sent a force of wind that sent Crane slamming against the rocky walls. The avian master coughed as a talon suddenly gripped his neck, taking the dragon horn from his talons, "You cost me a soldier, Fei." His brother growled, but Crane only glared daggers, "You cost yourself a soldier." He brought his talons up from under him, and grabbed Wuquing's that had the key. With force, Crane managed to throw his brother off and the dragon horn went sailing. "Mei Ling!" He called to the teacher, and the mountain cat gave a finishing blow to the female crane she had been wrestling with and quickly jumped into the water just as the dragon rose up from within it's abyss home. She used the beasts' structure to her advantaged and leaped at the very last moment, snatching the key that Wuquing had slashed from the overgrown reptile and caught Crane's talon as the Kung Fu master sent a great wind that sent the remaining cranes flying back into the tunnels.
Still determined, the dragon leaped again, snapping at the two who flew out of the exit and into the night. It roared, failing at its attempt and slowly, sunk into the water with a puff; its tail triggering a lock on the wall that sent a metal fencing closing down to the entrance of it's lair, just as Wuquing and his soldiers recovered from being thrown out of the cave. The bird roared, trying to pry open the entrance with it his talons, "Fei!" He screamed, angry, but also with a hit of worry, "You'll pay for this!" He stopped, giving up on trying to get in and turned to his soldiers, "Get a move on, find me Fei. Now!"
After hearing the angry commands from Wuquing, Crane and Mei Ling dropped to the grassy fields before them and they rolled on the ground; out of breath. After a few moments of rest, they were up on their feet again. "Crane, are you okay?" Mei Ling came to her friend's aid, and the bird politely waved her away, "Yes. Are you alright?"
The mountain cat nodded, giving the master a gentle smile, "Yeah." She breathed, pulling out the horn from her pocket, "I suppose we should get this to the Jade Palace."
Crane nodded, "I'm sure Master Shifu can hide it, somewhere." He shrugged, "I don't know." He flapped his wings, exhausted.
"There should be a village nearby, we can get a carriage or travel by boat." Mei Ling said, stuffing the key back inside her pocket, "Never knew that a dragon woke up during the night in those tunnels," She sighed, starting to walk. "Let's go." Crane nodded, and followed Mei Ling.
He might as well say it, "These coming weeks, are going to be labor."
D I C T I O N A R Y
Wúqíng; ruthless.
Shēng; ascend.
Bùnéng Fē; cannot fly.