Kung Fu Panda Story (ORIGINAL)

Trapped

The tiger and the panda locked eyes for a brief second, an invisible, gold electrical current ran between the two masters' eyes, before they looking away. A fuzzy sensation erupted with a golden light around Tigress' heart. The tiger ignored it though, as she was more focused on getting Po's attention. Though, anyone would do at this point.

"PO!" Tigress yelled, nearly begging. "Po, please! I'm here! Just look back! Please!" Though despite her efforts to get noticed, and if possible, rescued, Tigress' actions were in vain. The distant trio started to spread out and their figures soon faded away as the snow got heavier.

Tigress, almost losing hope, sank to the ground and sighed. A painful lump rose up to her throat as she tried to not cry.

Wait.... She FELT like crying.... The master's eyes widened as she tried to process how in the world she could feel like crying, especially in the state she was in. Then it hit her! That... glow... when Po and her locked eyes... Did it.. heal her somehow?

She had to push that thought aside first as she started to get a massive headache. Tigress lay on her back, trying to ignore the sudden pain. It was like there was a crack in her skull. The tiger master groaned in agony as her entire head felt like it was on fire. Passing out wasn't really an option either as the pain was too unbearable to rest.

Then suddenly, a blinding light erupted. Not knowing where its source was, the tiger immediately covered her eyes. Great, first a headache that could almost kill her, and now a light that could also possibly make her blind.

Though, one thing good thing came out of this pain. Bit by bit, the unbearable claustrophobic feeling began to fade away...

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'Tigress....' Po thought to himself as he and Viper and Crane ran out of the Chorh Gom and into the wilderness. He could've sworn he saw a pair of glowing amber eyes looking straight into his up in the cold mountains. They looked sort of... familiar...

Po decided to push that thought aside as he needed to focus on finding Tigress. She could be anywhere now.

"Any s-sign of her?!" Po called out to his teammates as a bit of a blizzard came to welcome them. They were freezing like ice. Chorh Gom Prison had been left behind for more than an hour as the three warriors split up to cover more ground, but then regrouped.

"N-No! N-Nothing yet!" Crane called back. The snow was becoming heavier, making harder to hear one another. All three masters shivered.

Po sighed to himself. This was going to take a looong time. "I-I t-think w-we b-better h-head-d back-k to t-the v-valley-y!" Po yelled, his teeth chattering.

"W-What did-d you s-s-say?!" Viper shouted, she and Crane turning around.

Po took a deep breath then yelled again, "I T-THINK-K WE S-S-SHOULD R-RET-TURN TO T-THE V-VA- WHOAA!!!"

The winds suddenly became stronger. So strong that it even knocked the Dragon Warrior off his feet. The masters could barely see now. The wind was blowing snow into their eyes. Try as they might, they couldn't stand back up. Both from the freezing cold temperature, and from the ferocious winds the weighed them down like a huge boulder.

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"Why don't you open your eyes, masters? You don't want to miss the big finale do you?!" A loud booming voice echoed around some sort of large arena.

Master Shi Fu's eyes snapped open. The sound of that familiar voice sending a shiver down his spine. He looked around. It seemed like he was in... a cage?

It wasn't a really large prison, but the bars were thick, letting only slithers of light pass through. The cage took a pear-like form, from the top being smaller than the bottom. Shi Fu realized that he was alone in this cage, Monkey and Mantis weren't with him.

The grand-master was stuck in this cone-like room, his students most likely in different cages. Though, he was confused. If the old tiger wanted them here, why did he first transport them to the other room. Feeling confused and angry, he then lost his cool and yelled, "Spirit! What will this do?! Putting us in cages like criminals won't serve you anything!"

"Why, it will keep you in place of course." The elderly tiger said. His voice sounded somewhat out of the prison. "Now that my spirit is free and my granddaughter is starting to follow her destined path of evil- all thanks to ME of course, I can finally perform the ritual." He then laughed as an opening in Shi Fu's cage began to make way.

The master saw this as a chance to escape and jumped up to where the opening was, which was just above him. Though, he was knocked back by a purple-like force-field, which hurt like a whip if anyone touched it. Shi Fu gasped as he caught a glimpse of the tiger.

He looked like an elderly male version of Tigress, with a white goatee and a circle-shaped patch of brown fur on his forehead, instead of a spade, like Tigress'. His garments were those of royalty. A dark-green silk shirt with silver sleeves. He had on grey silk pants with loose golden lining at the rims. He was kind of translucent, prior to him actually being a ghost.

"HA! You really thought it was that simple?! My, my. I'm certainly not that old, right? This window is for you to SEE what's going on outside. Same goes for your students." The tiger ghost gestured to all the other cages around him, forming a circle of metal prisons.

To Master Shi Fu's horror, he saw almost every single one of his students' faces through the similar openings as his (not including Tigress of course). The four masters looked to their teacher in desperation. He gave them a defeated look... Wait... where was the fifth master?...

"Now, the ritual is almost ready. Just one more thing." The spirit lifted his right paw into the air sending out waves of gold to the atmosphere. He sat down in midair and looked like he was waiting. The golden waves were like messages being sent out. "All we have to do is wait for the star of the show. Won't be long now."

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Ten minutes had passed and Tigress had still not arrived. "UGH, what is taking her so long!" The tiger yelled out in frustration. With help from his powers(Chi), he was sure that his granddaughter would have arrived in less than five minutes.

"Tell me something first." Shi Fu commanded to the spirit being.

"What is it?!" The tiger ghost demanded.

"Why did you send us to that other room before transporting us here? You just wasted your time." Master Shi Fu pointed out.

The old tiger raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you pay attention to detail? Don't you remember seeing pictures on the walls of that isolated room?"

Shi Fu racked his brain and then a memory popped up. When he had been crawling towards the door, he passed several different paintings. The one closest to the door held four different tigers in it. According to his memory, the two tallest tigers looked like a married couple, with a young male tiger beside them. In the mother's arms was a cub. A cub who had a spade marking on her forehead. The rest of the portraits were scattered around the room, everyone of them with at least one different tiger in it. Although, all the pictures always held the same baby girl...

"Tigress." Master Shi Fu said to himself.

"Yes, red panda. That room was Tigress' old bed room when she was a cub. Ugh, but my son and his family took everything out once they sent Tigress away..." The old tiger said bitterly. "Anyway, it wasn't too much hassle dragging the three of you here. Tigress' bedroom was in the old castle, now we're just in the legendary battle arena! Ah, the memories- of how I died... Well, come on now. The ritual shall begin soon!"

Master Shi Fu's eyes widened. "Wait, the battle arena... So you're saying that we're in Tiger's Cove right now!?"

"Why, yes. Though, your other three students were so far away! It took some time to bring them here." The tiger said. Everyone sat still in silence for another ten minutes. "Where IS she?! Tigress should have arrived fifteen minutes ago!" Though, before he could send out another signal, someone landed on top of one of the master's cage with a loud thud!

"Looking for me?"