At the top of the stairs outside the Hall of Warriors, Shifu looked upon the valley, as he awaited his fate. In the valley below, the lights from the evacuation made their way out of the valley. In a blink of Shifu's eyes, Tai Lung appeared before him.
"I have come home, Master." Tai Lung said.
"This is no longer your home." Shifu responded. "And I am no longer your master."
"Oh, yes. You have a new favorite. So where is this Po?" Tai Lung asked with a chuckle. "Did I scare him off?"
"This battle is between you and me." Shifu explained.
"So..." Tai Lung frowned as he turned his back toward Shifu. "...that is how it's going to be."
"That is how it must be." Shifu replied firmly, before he stood in his fighting stance.
Tai Lung looked back at him and then attacked. The two battled briefly until Tai Lung punched Shifu clean through the doors of the Jade Palace. Shifu recovered himself quickly and faced his former student. Tai Lung entered, as his face revealed a mask of pure fury.
"I rotted in jail for 20 years because of your weakness!" Tai Lung said.
"Obeying your master is not weakness!" Shifu replied.
"You knew I was the Dragon Warrior." Tai Lung recalled. "You always knew..."
Flashback
In the Hall of Warriors, Shifu presented Tai Lung to Master Oogway. Both a slightly younger Tai Lung and Shifu looked expectant. Oogway gave Shifu a look and Shifu was dismayed.
"But when Oogway said otherwise, what did you do?" Tai Lung asked. "What did you do?!"
Tai Lung looked to Shifu who averted his eyes.
Flashback Ends
"NOTHING!" Tai Lung sneered.
"You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior!" Shifu explained. "That was not my fault!"
"NOT YOUR FAULT?!" Tai Lung questioned as he pointed to Shifu.
Enraged, Tai Lung knocked over the kung fu artifacts and threw them at Shifu.
"WHO FILLED MY HEAD WITH DREAMS?!" Tai Lung yelled. "WHO DROVE ME TO TRAIN UNTIL MY BONES CRACKED?! WHO DENIED ME MY DESTINY?!"
Shifu dodged each attack. Tai Lung kicked a sword at him, and Shifu countered it and redirected it into the floor.
"It was never my decision to make!" Shifu said.
Tai Lung growled and leapt for the next artifact. He paused as recognized Oogway's staff. As he realized what that meant, he picked it up and faced Shifu.
"It is now." Tai Lung smiled, evilly.
Angered, Shifu finally went on the offensive. They fought, until Tai Lung pinned Shifu down with the staff by the throat.
"Give...me...the scroll!" Tai Lung demanded.
"I would rather die." Shifu denied.
They struggled for a beat until finally, the staff snapped in half. Shifu looked back at the pieces and a flutter of peach tree petals flew by. Caught off guard, Shifu got kicked by Tai Lung into the wall. Shifu leapt from column to column, pursued by Tai lung. Shifu eventually jumped to the rafters and Tai Lung followed and sent them both to crash through the roof. Lightning flashed. As he grappled in mid-air, Shifu briefly got the upper hand before Tai Lung got his paws around Shifu's throat as they crash back through the roof. They kicked apart. Shifu crashed into a column, fell to the floor and landed hard. Tai Lung bounced off the wall, as he knocked a lantern to the floor. Blue flames went everywhere. Tai Lung's arms were aflame as he charged at Shifu with a roar. Shifu struggled to block his punches.
"All I ever did, I did to make you proud!" Tai Lung ranted. "Tell me how proud you are, Shifu! Tell me! TELL ME!"
THOOM! A fiery punch sent Shifu to skid across the floor and crashed against the reflecting pool. The flames extinguished and Tai Lung stalked forward. Shifu weakly lifted himself slightly.
"I... have always been proud of you." Shifu said, weakly. "From the first moment, I've been... proud of you."
Tai Lung stopped in his tracks
"And it was my pride... that blinded me." Shifu continued. "I loved you too much to see what you were becoming. What I... was turning you into... I'm... I'm sorry."
Tai Lung hesitated as Shifu waited. After a long moment... Tai Lung's expression went cold and he grabbed Shifu by the throat.
"I don't want your apology...I want my scroll!" Tai Lung said.
He lifted Shifu up to the ceiling. Tai Lung looked up toward the scroll... and finally saw that it was missing.
"What?" Tai Lung questioned. "WHERE IS IT?!"
Tai Lung slammed Shifu to the floor with enough force to crack the stone.
"Dragon Warrior has taken the scroll
halfway across China by...now." Shifu coughed as he was strangled. "You will never see that scroll, Tai Lung."
Tai Lung unsheathed his claws.
"Never!" Shifu continued. "N-never..."
Shifu began to pass out. Tai Lung snarled, ready to strike Shifu. Suddenly...
"Hey!"
"Let him go!"
YOU ARE READING
The Panda and the Turtle (Book 1)
Fanfiction(No K-5 included) Venus De Milo, a 17 year old mutant turtle, lived in the Jade Palace for a year since the mysterious portal took her in the unknown dimension where she befriended Masters Oogway, Shifu, and the Furious Five. Po might just be the la...
