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

Chapter 6: Valley of Violence

:Early next morning:

Zhu had stopped on his journey before nightfall and spent the night at a family member's place that was situated, if slightly out of his way, on the path back to the Valley. He didn't fancy his chances travelling at night to the Valley due to the bandits that sometimes roamed China's countryside at night... However, he made sure to wake up early and eat a hearty breakfast before bidding his farewells and leaving the house to continue on his travels back to The Jade Palace. Due to being the winged variety of animal, he actually flew over The Thread of Hope rather than going over it by foot, making sure to stop on some of the platforms situated in between the bridges to catch his breath before continuing on, knocking quite a bit of time off the journey.

He reached The Jade Palace a few hours later by flying over many of the obstacles such as cliffs and steep hills that would otherwise hinder others who could not fly. Upon reaching the village at the foot of The Palace, he came in for a landing and took a deep breath, feeling a bit tired from his journey. On his way out, he'd flown above and away from the village, but now he decided to take a walk through it to catch his breath and relax a little before trekking up the 1000 steps or flying up to the Palace. However, he was shocked to find the place was not as lively as he'd seen it the last time... Sure it was still busy, but something was amiss among the citizens...

Continuing to make his way through the village, Zhu was shocked as he witnessed a Rabbit getting his cart overturned by a angry looking Jackal before being grabbed and pinned to a nearby wall threateningly. "Listen you cutesy little shit, pay up now, or else you lose your entire stock." he threatened as a nearby Wolf walked over and lit a torch, holding it over the Rabbit's cart, threatening to torch all of his goods.

The Rabbit held his hands up and shook his head, shaking like a leaf in the Jackal's grasp. "N-n-no one wants to buy from us... They're... They're too s-s-s-scared..." said Rabbit's teeth then started chattering from the amount of shaking.

The Jackal dropped the Rabbit to the ground and began laughing loudly. "Scared? Scared of what? Of us? We're not scary! ...Right?!" The Jackal asked, putting his face directly in front of the Rabbit's and baring his teeth in a grin.

The Rabbit shrieked at the Jackal's sudden intrusion into his personal space, but shook his head. "No, no no of course not... No..." he managed to say as the Jackal laughed even louder then. "Well... I guess we need to pay the other villages a visit then to make sure they're spending their money at the right places." the Jackal decided, and the Rabbit looked horrified at what that could mean for the other villages... "Come on." he gestured to the Wolf to follow him. The Wolf then doused the torch and followed the Jackal, giving a warning glare to the Rabbit as he passed by.

Zhu was horrified at what he saw was happening here... The Five and Po had only been occupied with repairing the Palace for 2 months, and bandits had already moved into the Valley to take advantage of their brief absence... Shifu must be told at once! Deciding to not take any chances, Zhu snuck through the Village, but the steps leading up to The Jade Palace were guarded at the bottom by two armed bandits, a Leopard and a Gorilla. No way he'd be able to sneak past... And one of them was watching the skies so they'd see him flying... "Hey, you seen that Goose that flew away from The Palace?" the Gorilla asked the Leopard as if on cue.

Said Leopard kept his eye on the sky but still shook his head at that. "Nah. Boss said to watch the skies for him though. We can't let him get back. He could snitch on us, and if the Jade Palace finds out we're here... It's all over." he pointed out to his Gorilla companion, who nodded at that, as the Leopard resumed his attention to fully watching the skies while the Gorilla watched the streets.

Zhu had an idea then, but he needed some help to put it in motion... He quickly ran over to Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop, which apparently still saw a significant amount of custom even with the bandits at large in the village. Making sure none were currently nearby, he approached the counter. "Mr. Ping?" he asked hurriedly.