Kung Fu Panda: The Hunt For The Heir (OC x Tigress fanfic)

Chapter 12: Search For The Sword

A gong sounded out throughout the Jade Palace early the next morning and all of the Five darted out of their rooms to greet Shifu. "Good morning Master." They all spoke in union, their hands if they had them behind their backs. Po was a little slower, but he was heavier, so was forgiven for his relatively late wake up. "Mornin' Master..." he yawned, stretching out as he exited his room.

Shifu nodded to all of the warriors present. "As soon as you are able, you are to begin your journey to retrieve the Sword of Heroes with The Hunter." he told his students, all of whom nodded in agreement with that plan of action. "I advise first getting some training in first to limber up for the road ahead." Shifu said and led them all outside. He looked up to Peach Tree Hill, seeing the smoke from the burnt out firepit and the tent that was still there. The sword was gone from the ground and there was no sign of The Hunter...

Shifu began to worry he may have taken off during the night. However, this worry was abated when he pushed open the door to the training room and what he saw inside. All mouths dropped open as they witnessed pieces of destroyed metal and wood brushed to one side, and in one corner was Hunter, punching a piece of metal embedded in ironwood.

He slammed his fists into it again and again using various types of strikes from different types of martial arts, each strike landing with enough force to add another dent in the metal and ironwood. "Pain makes you STRONG, suffering builds CHARACTER. Suffering makes you feel ALIVE, but I don't want to feel ANYTHING. Pain is what you make it, and I make NOTHING of it." he spoke in a mantra to himself, his voice dark and turning to exclamation as he smashed his fists through the wood and metal. To everyone's apparent horror, they saw blood dripping from his hands from the repeated punishment he was seemingly giving himself, his knuckles in particular. Finally, he reared back and kicked out with his leg with a blood curdling yell, smashing the metal and wood to pieces as he had with so many others from the looks of it. Upon doing that, he took a breath and raised his hands apart from each other before bringing them down in a circle to rest in front of his waist, releasing his breath like he was meditating. Hunter then turned his head to see the Five, Po and Shifu all staring at him. Hunter slowly walked up to the group. "Pain makes you strong, suffering builds character. Suffering makes you feel alive, but I don't want to feel anything. Pain is what you make it, and I make nothing of it." He repeated once again in his blank voice. He took a cloth and wiped his bloodied knuckles, throwing the rag to Po, who got hit in the face with it as Hunter walked past, his hands still dripping blood, leaving a trail behind him. "I expected you up at dawn. We leave in two hours. Be at the entrance to the Palace by then, or I leave without you."

With that, Hunter walked out of the training room without another word, still leaving a trail of blood as he walked. Po removed the bloody rag from his face and turned to Shifu. "Does this count as bloodied knuckles?" Po asked him excitedly, holding the rag on one paw and pointing at it with the other.

Shifu, snapping out of it, rolled his eyes at Po's antics. "No. Now get your training in while you can, students. Take an hour to train, and then an hour for breakfast." he told the Five and Po, leaving them to train as he left them to their duties before they left. Pausing for a moment before going back into the Palace, Shifu walked over to the Peach Tree where Hunter was camped and saw Hunter wrapping his odd appendages up in fresh black handwraps, a layer of bandages beneath to absorb the blood. "Why did you do that?" Shifu asked.

Hunter turned his head to Shifu, his mask back up now. "You heard what I said. Pain and suffering make you strong and build character. I've suffered greatly, and I suffer every day still. I hope to one day feel nothing. Not pain, not suffering, not... Anything. To finally become the void of a man I appear to be. To forever remain a freak. The Hunter, The Man With No Name, The Partisan. The... The name Po was about to call me yesterday." he growled a little at that name once more, even without saying it. He had somehow avoided yet simultaneously answered the question at the same time.

Shifu decided not to press the matter for now. "Where did you get your nicknames from?" he asked Hunter, who chuckled a little at that as he adjusted some of his equipment for a journey ahead.