AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have returned. Yes, it has been a while. My absence was in part because of my training day in and day out. One of you knows why, and I thank him for respecting my privacy in this matter. The other part no one knows about. I have had severe family troubles, the most notable of which being a family member suing another family member. If you ask for more details, I will tell you in private messages. But my business is my own and I do not want the entire world to know. That being said, in my absence I have also taken the time to reexamine my actions and the consequences of those actions. I may never truly trust anyone, but that is no excuse for becoming overly critical. Though some may have deserved it, I know of a few who did not. One in particular asked me if I was a Christian. And I said that it was none of his business. This was wrong on my part. Yes, I am a Christian/Buddhist; Christian faith with a Buddhist lifestyle. I will also add a few things about myself in part of this apology, for many that I have lashed out at simply wished to know more about me. I am twenty three years old. I live in Tennessee, but I was not born here and do not have a Southern drawl. I plan on leaving as soon as financially possible for California to study Filmmaking at New York Film Academy- Hollywood chapter. An obvious fact most should know is that I am a filmmaker, no matter how much fame I lack. The description of my Original Character, Koru Oken, is an accurate description of myself by height, body style, and personality. Even the situation with Yunwei before the group left the Fubuki Mountains was true to a point. And lastly I will reveal that I am a Kung Fu practitioner who studies Hung Kuen, also known as Hung Ga, Hung Gar, or Tiger Style Kung Fu and pray to find a Shifu to teach me in Hollywood. Finally to end this little rant, I will finish by saying that the final part of this apology is particularly for my readers, if any of you are still out there. I will be releasing an update for most of the stories I have this day. Please enjoy and review if you wish. But above all…show respect for the authors you read of, if they are worth their salt.

CH. 11: The Rock Upon Which I Lay

A beautifully shining day warmed the mountains and every inch of ground upon them. The flowers had long before opened up to enjoy the sun's rays after a cold and rejecting night, and each silent bug and singing bird created a lively scenery for the master who surveyed the day as a good time to take a stroll with his adoptive daughter. The red panda limped somehow gracefully without a shred of dignity leaving him with each step by hobbled step. He cast his half lidded eyes into laying rocks, lush green grasses, adorning flowers and proudly standing bamboo trees. A smile hid behind his stoic face from the demeanor of the cub behind him.

Little Tigress, who had turned eight years old just a few months ago, was walking a few feet behind her master and greatly enjoying the view of the mountains around them. She was just beginning to get used to living her life in the Jade Palace and Shifu had apparently decided to show her the rest of the land beyond the Pool of Sacred Tears. The move to the Palace was a harsh but welcome change from that horrible orphanage. She would get to eat three meals a day, she had a welcome bedroom that she was not confined to, and she actually got to run around the courtyard during her breaks! She even had a brother! Well, sort of. Crane was a nice person in Tigress' eyes, but he was a lot like Shifu. Always studying, always quiet. But he still took a little time out of his day to give Tigress a little advice, which was a lot more constructive than the scolding she was usually given by Master Shifu.

But Shifu was a good mentor to her, if not a good father. Which come to think of it Tigress really had no real father figure to compare the red panda to, aside from Grandmaster Oogway. But the old turtle hadn't really paid much attention to her, not so far at least.

Nevertheless, life at the Jade Palace was wonderful by comparison. Word from the wise staff was that as one of the protectors of China, she was basically royalty now. And with such a beautiful life came a heavy burden. At first, Tigress did not understand what they meant. Shifu said that he would teach her to use her strength to protect others, but protecting China? She was so small, and the land was so big. How could the cub possibly cover so much ground?

Then Master Shifu began to not only teach her in the ways of Kung Fu, but in life as well. The great balance of living things and how we all must adhere to political peace and polite mannerisms to get along together was a strict study these days; the beginning of her studies in the first few of the One Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu proved it. But then he taught her about death and chaos and the agents it spawned. The bandits, thieves, murderers, and warmongers were the specialties on the list.

So now they strolled in a bitter sweet hour; late morning by Tigress' account after the three hour morning ritual of waking up at six o' clock and training until nine. The master and pupil eventually found themselves passing the small forests and miniature fields to come around the bend of the mountain they traversed; more so a large boulder that looked like the top of the mountain blocking their view of the path ahead. Though the path ahead, Tigress took mental note of, was more civilized than the paths beforehand. The length of level yet steadily rising ground that wrapped itself around the wall of the mountain seemed to have been carved into stairs. Even more peculiar, the top of each step was covered in grass while the front was completely bare and brown. It was almost as if some magical mountain spirit had blessed the ground to recently pull up from the rest of it's collective mass.

Now Tigress was trying to keep herself from passing her master since currently the red panda had to climb each step incredibly slow with his short stature and chronically pained leg; his tiny iron flute that he used as a cane barely helped at all. Now the little feline was getting anxious. Just around this bend was apparently their destination. Each lesson Shifu taught her about Kung Fu history, she soaked it up like water to a sponge. Even if she did not enjoy it, which by now she was learning to love the concept that is Kung Fu, she had to learn as much as she could. Tigress would never ever disobey or dishonor her master for what he did for her by adopting Tigress and taking the cub away from the abusive place.

Shifu could sense the growing tension Tigress was holding, and almost smiled at just how excited she was. But with only a few miniscule years separating him from the destructive night that was Tai Lung's fall into madness and hatred, Shifu kept his emotions in check; he would not fail Tigress in the way he failed Tai Lung.

By the time they reached the tenth step, Tigress was having a panic attack. She could see the pinnacle just a few hundred feet in the distance; the top of the mountain that held the building Shifu told her about. And now she was stretching on the very tips of her toes after every step and leaning to her left as much as possible to see over the red panda and look around the wall of the large boulder they were passing.

"Master Shifu, could-! Does anyone still live up here? I really wanna meet them!" exclaimed the cub.

"Only the Spirit of the Jade Palace, Tigress; the rest of his kind have moved on from this life and are now in the land of the dead. Or as they called it…Valhalla." said Shifu. He finally made it to the top and an excited tiger quickly went to his side, smiling under her almost frown at the stone gray building carved out of the side of the mountain top on the other side of a long stone bridge "And it is pronounced 'want to'."

"Yes, Master Shifu." recited Tigress in a slightly more deadpanned voice as they continued on. All four feet slowly walked towards the stone bridge. Shifu appeared calm and collected as if they were about to walk into a shop. Tigress however allowed fear and uncertainty to cloud her already still budding courageous heart. The castle itself was not what she feared, but this bridge; it was only a few feet wide and held no railings whatsoever. What's worse, the view down was not exactly a small hop to the ground. Peering over the edge with almost shaking legs, Tigress could not distinguish between the brown homes of one of the mountain villages below or the green trees surrounding it.

"Come now Tigress, this is no time to be fearful. We still have to finish up your lesson and get back to the Jade Palace before lunch is served." said the harsh Shifu who continued on without Tigress and without looking back. Tigress, who had previously been standing rigid on the edge looking down, quickly turned her head towards her master and tried her best to summon as much courage as she could; the little cub ran as fast as possible, even passing the red panda in the process, and leapt to the other side of the bridge where the stone double doors stood open to show nothing but a wall of darkness inside.

The panting Tigress stared at the darkness with her feline vision, and tried to allow her eyes to adjust. But she could only see the vague outlines of stairs and wall formations, and…a body hanging from the ceiling!

Just as Tigress gasped in a lungful of air to scream, Shifu lifted his paw in passing her to shut her jaw and walked into the darkness without so much as a word.

Tigress leered her ears back as far as they could go and followed to keep her vision on Shifu so that she would not lose sight of him.

"You okay?" asked a voice.

"Huh?" Tigress snapped out of her daze and looked to her right to see the yew from before on the edge of Tigress' tent with the tent flaps open. She was lying on her stomach and drawing while Tigress walked alongside the carriage, but now she was staring at Tigress and seemed concerned.

"Are you okay? You had this weird depressed look on your face." said the small sheep as she put down her blue coloring utensil and picked up a yellow one without looking away from Tigress.

"I am fine, Nagi. But thank you." said Tigress with no voice louder than a whisper to keep her throat stitches from opening up again.

"Mkay…" said Nagi as she looked back at her drawings. She had drawn one picture of a big blue monster with brown horns all over his face. On another she drew a crude picture of the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior in cool poses. Right now she was working on the six warriors fighting the monster "You know…" Tigress glanced at the girl, but kept her eyes straight ahead to the path "Daddy is always really protective of me. Mommy is too, but not so much. I think if daddy wasn't like he is, then mommy wouldn't make me stay by her side all the time. I bet daddy is really worried about me right now. But he hasta learn that I'm safe cus I'm with Master Tigress."

Tigress actually smiled a little from this statement.

"While your parents know what is best for you, you are right. I will not let you down." said the low talking tiger. A few minutes flew by without a word between them, but it seemed like only a few seconds before Nagi spoke again.

"Does anybody live at the place we're going to?"

Tigress took a full second to look at the girl this time, but continued to stare ahead right afterwards.

"Not exactly, Nagi. But you will be safe there; rest assured."

"How long will we be there?" asked the yew.

"Almost a week." replied Tigress.

"Will the Dragon Warrior be there to help us?"

Just as Tigress opened her mouth, Monkey swung down between the two from the roof of the carriage while hanging from his tail.

"Okay, let's give Master Tigress the chance to rest her voice." he said ruffling the fur on top of Nagi's head. Nagi squinted her eyes and pouted.

"Alright…" said Nagi before focusing completely on her drawings.

Tigress smirked at the pouting child, but it faded when she continued to invade the catalyst of her most horrific memories.

"That is where it all began…"

"So- wait, you knew Shen's mother? Don't you think that'dve been a little fact to mention, I dunno, from the beginning!" yelled Po in not so silent frustration.

"The Master's Council were placed in the stewardship of Gongmen City for a reason, Po. Of course we knew Te. It was to repay her for what her family had done." stated Shifu while the two rested by walking through the paths taken by the villagers just hours ago. They would find evidence to suggest this by a footprint here, or a piece of trash there. So in their rest they erased the evidence to raise the chances of the wolves not finding them "It was long ago, before Shen had been born; even before I came to the Palace. Te's family were the stewards of the castle that we keep as the refuge for Kung Fu, even if the Palace has been compromised."

"But why would you even think the Palace could be compromised? And who were they housesitting for if they were just stewards?" asked Po as he tried to regain some composure by scrubbing out a footprint in the dirt between two trickling streams that echoed into one small waterfall later down the cliff.

"Because China's enemies have not always been of the same part of this world, Po; some were from the same area of the world as the Jade Spirit. And these enemies had no rules; no quarter, no survivors. Everything was murder, rape, pillage and destroy. They called themselves the Berserkers. And they came to China to murder the few of their kind that wished for peace." Shifu and Po continued their conversation, but at a hastier pace when they saw the smoke of torches mixing with the light of the morning sky; the wolves were getting close.

"Berserkers? What's that mean?"

"They are warriors that show no restraint. Victims are those not of their kind, and they see no difference between defending their land and killing every citizen in every other country aside from their own." stated Shifu.

"Don't tell me we'll be having to deal with those guys, too! I mean a Kung Fu war sounds awesome, but I don't know how much I can take!" said the seemingly exausted panda.

"No, Oogway and the Furious Five of that generation drove them out long ago to protect the peaceful Berserkers that were living in the castle. But it came at a price." said Shifu, his voice deadly serious.

"The Furious Five died?" asked Po "Oh! Or did the Jade Spirit make some kinda ink bomb thing that wiped out the whole village, taking out the Berserkers?" Shifu's eye twitched "Oh! Oh! Oh! I bet Master Oogway kicked their butts, but they killed him at the second of their defeat-oh wait, that doesn't make sense…"

"Focus, Po!" snapped the red panda that just ran out of patience. Shifu ran faster, making Po heave to catch up. When Shifu was satisfied that the panda had suffered enough, he slowed his own pace to relieve his student "Now when the peaceful Berserkers came here and built Ragnarok Cave, they did so in such secret, not even Oogway knew of it's location; though he had suspected as much when they traversed passed the Pool of Sacred Tears and did not return for days on end."

Po nodded to show that he was listening, but kept his eyes on the invisible road ahead in search of the refugees.

"But though they built the castle in secret, they could not hide the rumors of their travels from where villagers had seen them in such strange clothing; the Berserkers found them soon after the castle was finished.

They destroyed everything: men, women, children, crops, homes; in time they grew so destructive that Oogway almost went off by himself to destroy the army."

"Whoa! That woulda been so cool!" yelled Po.

"Yes, but it would only breed more destruction. Oogway had to take another action."

"What action?"

"Once word came from the messengers that the army would be upon us in only days, Oogway immediately evacuated the Valley. Regrettably, some of the villagers that knew Kung Fu decided to stay behind; it was a bloodbath." Shifu shook his head in sadness.

"Then…what happened?" panted Po, the panda with stitches for lungs.

"The army laid siege to the Palace, and they broke through. Thankfully they thought the Palace beautiful enough to keep it intact and steal everything after the betrayers were slaughtered. So they pressed on; searching high and low for anyone to kill. But they found no one…until they ascended up the hills."

"Oh man! I bet Oogway set up an awesome trap for them, didn't he!"

"Awesome…and terrible at the same time." sighed Shifu "Oogway found that, while he and the Five were powerful, they could not deplete the army by traditional means. There were thousands of them. And not even Oogway was so powerful as to defeat so many a man as this."

"What did he…do?" Po said, looking at Shifu completely now.

"One of the Furious Five of that generation, an ox named Chi Mei, was a notorious thief before he came to the Jade Palace. He left his life of crime when Oogway took him under his wing, but the man kept a few things he stole. One item in particular was-"

"Was what?"

"I will tell you later; we have finally caught up." said Shifu in a smile. The two began to slow down as villager after villager stopped when they passed. Cheers soon started from the entire crowd, and after a minute, they saw Tigress' travel tent.

"Tigress!" yelled Po.

The tiger, who had been oblivious from her own thoughts, was interrupted by a snake poking her shoulder. She looked up at Viper, who smiled and pointed down the path in the direction towards the Jade Palace. She turned. She saw. She smiled.

"Po!" she said in an almost normal volume level. Tigress ignored the urge to flinch in pain, and was soon met with a great, big, warm, fuzzy, comforting bear hug. And it took all of her self-control not to purr.

The two pulled each other into a soft, longing kiss that lasted for only seconds before they broke apart.

"I missed you so much!" the panda pulled away from her, but kept ahold of her shoulders to look her over "Are you okay? Did Fuhai hurt you again? I swear I'll rip that bastard in half!" the two looked at the top of the tent when they heard Viper clear her throat.

"Kids around, guys…" sang the snake that slithered across the cloth roof. Below were three sheep with the mother holding her hooves over Nagi's ears. The father was currently shooting daggers at the panda.

Po cringed, but soon looked back at Tigress when she gently smacked him in the head.

"Hey. The next time you decide to go off on a suicide mission? Do not even think about it." she turned to walk away, but turned around again and poked him in the chest "And then you apologize for even thinking about not thinking about it." the feline turned back around again to walk passed the carriage and twirling her finger at Monkey, who soon got the message.

"Alright people, move on! We've got a few miles left to go!" shouted the primate before everyone started the previous pace.

Po stood there in the spot where Tigress left him and rubbing the spot she poked him in, feeling a little confused and a lot worried. Shifu came to his side and patted him on the arm with a smile. Po looked down at him, but returned his head's previous position to watch Tigress walk away.

"She stays hurt easily, Po. But the time to be concerned is not when she lashes out; it is when she says nothing at all." stated the Grandmaster that continued on to find Mantis to rid himself of these infernal cuffs.

Po soon followed, but not without mumbling something about always being mad.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The epic battle awaits! Will anyone survive? What did Oogway have to accomplish in order to fend off the Berserkers? Does it have any relevance now? What connection did the Jade Spirit give to Po in regards to Tigress' safety? And finally, will the Ragnarok Cave really be able to save Kung Fu? Read the next chapter to find out!