KFP The Adventures of Liu Zhang - 01 (part 6)

Kung Fu Panda - The Adventures of Lui Zhang


01. Meeting an old friend (part 6)


[...]

I felt a revulsion when he told me that. Whether he was faster than me, I wouldn't let him escape, and follow him wherever I needed, only to make justice and to do my duty. So another lightning passed near us, I ran to try to prevent him from escaping, and again a strange thing happened, my body seemed very light and I hadn't noticed before. When I ran, I almost tripped and, almost without even realizing, had already passed by him. My distance until he was 8 meters, but before I knew or could stop, I hit my face in a tree in the forest. It all took a little over a second.

"Ouch! Damn...who placed this tree here?" I wondered wryly, then shook my head and looked at Hiroito Li again.

"Well...that changes things..." he said to himself, then used his super speed, passing me and going into the forest. I followed, now also using a similar speed. I climbed one of the trees and jumped from one tree to another with enough agility and speed, and in a few seconds I reached him.

"It's time to stop running, comrade! The prison is in the other way, but you have a fight to finish Here and Right Now!" I said as I followed him, then jumped over the trees and when I fell I kicked the gorilla's back.

He rolled a few meters to stop. When he stood up, I saw a scorched mark on the part where my foot had hit. The moment he turned, I ran up to him, jumped over him with a backflip, and when he turned again I hit him in the chest with the palm of my hand.

The blow instantly left him gasping for air, then he was thrown far away. I ran after him again to continue the fight. While he was rolling and doing somersaults backwards, I ran, passed by him, and while still rolling I hit a kick on his back, throwing him ten meters up. I crouched to pick up more momentum to jump, and amazingly I reached the point where the gorilla was, then I gave him a knee to the stomach still in the air, and throwed him a little higher.

When I would fall to the ground, I used the momentum to jump again, and this time when Hiroito Li was falling I gave the strongest punch I could on his face, throwing him towards my friends, who had to jump to avoid being crushed by a huge gorilla. Wasting no time, when I just fell on the ground I ran towards him to continue the fight.

"What...what is that?" said Monkey.

"How can she fight like this? It's hard even to see what is happening! How is it possible, Master Shifu?" Viper asked. The others stared at their master, wanting to know the answer, but he turned serious for a moment. Everyone got worried.

When I was approaching Hiroito Li, he tried to attack me with a left punch while going to get up. To dodge, I jumped on his forearm, hold myself with my hand on his arm and then used the momentum speed to kick him in the face. The blow lifted him off the ground, then I quickly stood up a front him, and using all my speed with this new technique of mine, I made a series of punches across all his body.

I managed to hit him with incredible speed, so that the others were almost cross-eyed trying to follow my movements, but it seemed to me, in a way, slowly. I struck him across his body, 15 punches in one second. Every time my fist struck the big gorilla, a burn mark was marked where I had hit.

He leaned forward breathlessly, then I did it a whirl in the air, and with my left foot I kicked in his right ear, darting him away from me. He rose slowly moaning in pain, but with a lot of anger in his eyes. With one swift movement, he ran toward me with his super speed, I haven't had time to react, so I just closed my eyes to prepare myself for the blow.

After a few seconds without having felt anything, I opened my eyes and I had a surprise. The gorilla tried to hit me a punch in the belly, he had indeed hit, but I hadn't felt it. He tried to do the next blow with even more strength to see if I would at least push a little backwards, but still without success.

"Wow! You mean that I'm not only stronger and faster, I also have a kind of extra protection while using this technique?! This is Awesome! What do you think about it, fool?" I said in surprise, then grimaced at the gorilla.

"AH, SHUT UP!" he shouted, then kicked in my left ear. Again, I didno't move and neither felt the blow. A laugh a lot with that.

But after Hiroito Li let out a big growl, I went into defensive position. He tried to hit me several punches, alternating between right and left, which I just dodged going to the opposite side of the blow. He was gradually increasing the speed of the blows, and also began using kicks. He was as fast as me to fight, so to not risk that my protection of fire fail and I get injured, I started using my hands, wrists and forearms to block the sequence of strokes.

I could easily defend myself, but as I was in a defensive position, nor realized that I was walking backwards, and was almost falling into the lake. When there were a few inches for me to fall, I jumped over Hiroito Li and used a backflip as the impetus to give a kick to his chin as he turned. The gorilla was thrown three meters up and went into the lake, but before that happens he somersaulted in the air to stand and did something amazing, he used his super speed and started running on water.

"Wow! You mean that with this super speed it's possible to walk on water ?! This is Awesome! Now it's my turn" I said excited, couldn't wait to also walk on water. I prepared to run, but at the time I was about to run, I tripped on my foot and fell into the lake.

"HaHa! Gone bad, brat!" Hiroito Li provoked me as he ran by the big lake. I climbed out of the water and on land again.

"Really? Then binds this, little guy!" I ran towards him, and this time I could run on water successfully. Hiroito Li was coming in my direction, and to attack him, I slipped on water, supporting me with my right hand on the water and stretching my left leg forward, making the big gorilla stumble and pass above me.

He whirled in the air after hitting him, but again he made a pirouette to stand and then kept running. I don't understand why he did it the second time, after all we both were able to walk on water. After I slid, I realized that my hand and foot began to sink slowly.

"LIU! Do not stop running! Is your super speed that is making you stay on water! If you stop running soon you are going to sink!" Master Shifu shouted from afar.

With a quick motion I obeyed my master, and ran again to catch Hiroito Li. He changed the direction he was running and came towards me to attack me. By far, gave a great leap, and after giving some pirouettes in the air, prepared to give an elbow on his head. He put his hand above his head to defend himself, and when he did it, I pulled his forearm up, opening his guard, and I kicked him in the spine.

He was paralyzed with pain for a while, I ran to the land and when I just skidded on the grass I saw him sinking in the lake. My friends and my mother celebrated from afar and said how that all was amazing, but I had a strange feeling that the battle wasn't over. My eyes were fixed on the lake, where Hiroito Li had sunk. The water seemed agitated at the bottom of the lake, then I remembered something that instantly made me very worried, Po.

He was hiding underwater since that moment that he was struck by the gorilla, trying to ambush or appear when someone was in trouble. But Po's plans ended very wrong. Po's body was thrown from the lake toward me at an enormous speed, I jumped to divert and saw that he was unconscious. The body of our friend went reeling until stop next to the others.

"PO!" they shouted and ran to verify if the Dragon Warrior was fine. Po was immobile, unreactive, and Master Shifu was see if he could hear his heart. I was looking at them from afar, I felt something like if that flame around me was growing, and a great desire to kill my enemy came over me. I gritted my teeth, furious.

The movements around me seemed very slow, I was able to clearly see the blinking of the eyes of concern of my friends, and without turning around,I heard Hiroito Li get out of the lake with a big jump. The water droplets that fell evaporated in me, and when I just heard that, I turned to face the huge gorilla that would punch me in the face.

Without great difficulty I held the right hand of Hiroito Li with my left hand, stopping the punch and making the bones of his fingers snap. I wanted to end that fight once and for all.

"This time you went too far! Now you're going to pay for all your crimes and all what you did with my friends!" I said with a menacing tone. Hiroito Li stared into my eyes and almost paralyzed in fear.

I pulled him by the wrist with my right hand, causing his arm to pass in front of my belly, then gave a powerful punch on his elbow with my left hand while still holding his wrist. The blow broke his elbow, making the arm turn to the opposite side. The gorilla groaned and let out a loud cry of pain.

After that he tried to give me, incredibly, a rotational kick with the left leg. I let him hit me in the chest, after all I wouldn't feel anything, and when he just hit me I grabbed his leg against my belly and gave a strong elbow on his knee. Another member was made useless, so now the right elbow and left knee were broken. Hiroito Li fell sitting on the floor, groaning and agonizing in pain.

Although he was no longer able to fight, to me that fight was far from over. All the pain, fear and destruction that he caused wouldn't be forgiven so easily. I walked slowly up to him, grabbed him firmly by the neck and dragged slowly forward so that he was on his knees and I could face him face to face.

"Ouch...ouch... (sigh of relief from pain*)...hehehe! And now, brat?" he said sarcastically, putting his hand on the ground for support. I kicked his wrist, breaking it, then grabbed his throat with my left hand to suffocate him again shortly after him screaming in pain.

"You have no right to mock me, you monster! You destroyed villages! Hurt innocent people for fun! Tried to destroy what I loved the most! Tried to kill my mother and my friends! I Can't Forgive You for Everything You did! And I WON'T!" I said firmly, staring into his eyes, then lifting his head above mine and stretching my right arm back. To end it once, I was going to hit a powerful direct blow on his heart, but before I do that he interrupted me.

"Go ahead! Kill me! Show me who you really are and what you can do...oh No! I forgot...you're a frightened kitten...you're weak! You would never be able to kill your enemy...even if it was to save the lives of those you love" he teased me. The flame that surrounded my fist was bigger than before and my hatred too.

"SHUT UP!!!" I yelled, ready to strike.

"LIU, NO!" My mother shouted from afar, but it was late, I had already done what I wanted.

I stopped the blow a few inches from his chest. Hiroito Li was shaking in fear, then slowly looked down to see that he was still alive.

"HA! Gotcha...and your nose too!" I joked, after squeezing his nose. My friends and my mother were relieved that I hadn't killed the enemy, and Hiroito Li fell sideways on the floor scared and almost fainting with the pain of broken bones.

"...Wretched brat..." he said breathing deeply as if gasping for air.

"You're right, Hiroito Li! I won't kill you, because I'm not like you! I'm not a murderer, and you don't need to die, you are going to pay for what you did in the Prison" I explained. Soon afterwards he could take no more pain and ended up fainting.

But then I remembered that our problems weren't over yet. Po was still lying on the floor, unconscious. My friends had very worrying eyes, Master Shifu was trying to make a heart massage on Po to revive him, but he didn't react. Po stood motionless and without any sign of life.

"Po..." I told myself as I walked toward them, starting to get worried.

"No!...Damn it! Come on, Master! Po can't die like this!" Viper said almost crying.

"I've pressed all the pressure points of his body, but his muscles still seem tense!" said Mantis, also very worried.

"Cardiac massage...pressure points pressed...the only thing missing is...try the mouth-to-mouth, isn't it?" Monkey said.

"I do it!" my mother said quickly, already stepping in front of Monkey and ducking to do mouth-to-mouth breathing.

She stopped after seeing our expressions, it happened so spontaneously that it was almost impossible to hold back laughter.

"If you insist, Tigress..." Viper said, looking at her with 'that' look, then tried to stifle her laughter.

"I-I...Well...I mean...Ok, let me handle this" she said with much shame, trying to recompose herself.

She slowly covered his nose with her fingertips and opened his mouth, then swallowed due to nervousness and closed her eyes to do the mouth-to-mouth breathing. All we stared intently at her, afterall the situation was serious, so we forget what happened previously.

My heart sank for a moment. My sweat of nervousness was slowly evaporating due to the fire around my body. My hands were shaking because I didn't know if Po was alive or not. But then a scene that made us almost burst to laugh flashed before our eyes. For some reason, none of us simply warned my mother, but we keep trying to contain his laughter.

But it was simply impossible not to laugh at what we saw, and stifle the laughter with our hands didn't help. My mother hadn't done the mouth-to-mouth breathing and stayed seated, staring at us in astonishment and not understanding why we were laughing.

"...Hahahaha! I don't believe it...hahahaha!" Monkey couldn't take it any longer stifling his laugh and said softly.

"Hey! This is serious! I'm trying to concentrate here! It is not easy, stop laughing!" she asked with shame, not understand why we were laughing.

But she finally understood when turned to Po again, and saw him doing a kiss with his mouth. It was all a plan only to kiss her.

My mother's face changed almost instantaneously from one of surprise to one of anger. None of us could take anymore hold the laugh and started laughing loudly. It was a ridiculous and pathetic plan with a simple goal and that almost worked.

"AAAH! YOU FLABBY PANDA!" my mother shouted with him, but was interrupted.

"Oh, darn it! I almost got it! It was so close!" he sat down and wept by his plan, without even caring much about the anger of my mother.

"What?! So you admit it was all a plan?! Just to be able to ki...AH! You Pervert! Sucker! I don't believe..." she started to complain and shout with him.

"Ah, come on, Tigress! You started it!" Po said.

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed.

"Well...it was you who said it was a good idea to stay under water making sure nothing went wrong! And also you kissed me to help me breathe when I was almost drowning...so I decided to return the favor with another plan and..." he began to explain. My mother almost paralyzed with embarrassment.

"I DIDN'T KISSED YOU! AND THAT WAS NOT A PLAN, YOU GOOFBALL! You know the protocol, those who deviate from the group during a mission must hide to take care that nothing goes wrong! Stay in the water was Your idea! I just agreed it was a good idea...and you just ran out of breath by the time the gorilla appeared...and to not Jeopardize the mission I had to...di-divide a little of my breath with you but... the only way to do this..." she said, slowly turning her back to everyone, with shame.

"The only way to do this was kissing me" he said with a gallant voice.

"I DIDN'T KISSED YOU! AND SHARING MY BREATH WITH YOU IN MISSION IS NO EXCUSE FOR YOU TO TRY TO KISS ME!...AND ALSO DOES NOT MEAN THAT I LIKE YOU!" she said nervously, then punched him in the head.

"Ouch...hehehe! Hey! I did not know that! I haven't even mentioned that you like me" he laughed then still playing and making my mother turn red with embarrassment. Me and others just watched and laughed.

Everything seemed fine now. The villain was defeated and all was well. I no longer felt the need of fighting, then let out a small sigh in relief. I felt my heart beat faster for a moment, in a strange way I felt short of breath and started fast breathing through the mouth.

My strength seemed to be going away. My throat seemed to suddenly dry. My legs were wobbly, the lack of air made me lose my balance, and trying to keep the balance I walked back and almost fell into the lake. I fell to my knees and leaned into my hands by the lake while looking at my own reflection in the water.

"Liu!" my mother exclaimed when noticed that I wasn't fine, but when she tried to come toward me Master Shifu stopped her, holding her by the arm.

"No, Tigress. I'm sorry, but that's part of the technique that Liu is using...you can not do anything..." he said, leaving all concerned.

"W-what? Normal...which technique is this? What is happening to my daughter?" she asked worriedly.

"Well, I suppose you remember a legend that I used to tell when you were little, saying that the greatest warriors in the world were those who fought with honor, courage and heart, and that on the day of greatest need these warriors would be able to do anything to protect those who he/she love" he recalled.

"Yes...but all great warriors do it! So what does this have to do with Liu? Why...How she learned to do this is if we never taught her?" she still didn't understand.

"After fighting so much, getting really hurt...and after almost dying and see those who she loves stand on the brink of death...she ended up letting all her power and energy explode at once! And you know how Liu is when it comes to love stuff" he explained.

"So...this is the technique that legendary warriors ended up using to defeat armies with their own hands, to defend those who were important to them?! Awesome!" said Po.

"Yes, Po! This is the..."

"The Flaming Heart of the Hero!...And she learned to do and master this rare and powerful technique...to protect us...Liu" she said quietly, impressed.

"That's right! And after someone uses this technique..." he continued, but stopped when remembered the consequences of using such a powerful technique.

I didn't need to hear him to know what was going to happen to me, somehow I knew what it was. My heart beat strongly, looking like some of my arteries would burst. I put my hand on my chest to try to alleviate the pain, but it was no use. As I moaned in pain, I looked at my reflection in the lake, before the fire that passed through all my body now began to fade.

Once the flames have gone out, I realized that only my pupils were still different, long and thin, equal to a venomous snake. Then something amazing happened, I had the impression that everything around me was black, like a room without light, and I heard voices echoing throughout, scary voices mocking me.

"Hahahaha! You're so weak..." - "Frightened kitten" - "Without your special technique you could never win this battle" - "Run! Go away! Save yourself and let them die!" - "How could you? I thought you loved them" - "... Oh! Poor little girl...lost and confused! No family and no love!" said some of the voices that seemed to be people I knew in the Valley of Peace.

"What! Who are you? What do you want from me?" I asked, starting to get worried.

"We just want to return the favor, of course" - "All your blood, sweat and tears!" - "Pain is inevitable! It is time to pay for your doom!" the voices said.

"Favor? Blood, sweat and tears? Doom? What are you talking about?" I asked, confused and afraid.

"Love..." - "...Hate..." - "...EVERYTHING you felt..." - "You ignored like dirt!" - "Now suffer with your choice!!!" - "The pain you felt throughout your entire life...you will feel it again!" - "At once! Hahahahaha!" the voices answered me. It didn't seem to be good.

Scared and confused, my senses seemed to have gotten a little sharper. I heard a small drop of water fall into the lake in front of me, and I looked at it as if I knew something would appear before me. To my amazement, the water suddenly gained a reddish appearance and sounds of shrieks and groans of pain seemed to pour out of it.

Great images of events of my life began to be designed in the lake, from my first days of life until today, randomly. I had a very strange feeling, like something was grabbing me and preventing me from moving. I suddenly saw that the images stopped passing randomly and saw a scene were I was training kung fu, and took several blows. In a strange way, I felt those blows exactly on the same places, with the same force inclusive. My ribs felt like they were going to break and my stomach hurt a lot.

Then I came across a scene where I fell from a tree and hit my head on the floor. Again I felt the same pain I felt that time. For countless minutes I was going through the same torture, not been able to react. Until I came across a problem. The images that started appearing were of when the Bao Gu Orphanage had been burned, and I was trapped in the fire. Obviously the pain that I feel would be of burns, wounds and among other things that occurred to me, but the problem is that I was very close to dying that day.

I was panting, bleeding, with several scratches all over the body, barely bear to stand and was completely out of strength to get rid of the invisible thing that was holding me and didn't let me move. If I didn't find somehow to get free and find a way of getting away from that place, I would surely die.

I mustered all the strength I could and started trying to open my arms and my legs away, intending to get free of the thing that was holding me back. But regardless of the strength that I use, that thing was much stronger than me. Gradually, I felt my wounds begin to burn, all my by was hot, I could even smell the smoke from the fire, which left me breathless and dizzy. My vision blurred and I fell to my knees.

"N-No...AAAAAAHH! D-Damn It...I don't believe that...I'll Die...And It's Only My... AAAH! FIRST...Mission...no...And I didn't even...said goodbye..." I lamented to myself, but I stopped when listened to a different voice from those who were threatening me.

"Head up, Sis! Your time has not come yet, you still have much to do in your life!"

"W-what ?! Shun...Is it really you?!" I asked. At that moment, the evil voices seemed to have been surprised and hidden deeper into that darkness.

"Not only him, Liu!" said my adoptive mother, Tigress.

"All us!" said Master Shifu and the other Furious Six in union.

"Don't give up, Liu! We know you can! Remember..." Shun continued.

"...You have never been alone, and your bad memories are not the ones that make your history..." my father and my mother said together.

"...But your achievements and dreams!" continued my siblings, Shun, Lin and Huan. I couldn't contain my tears after these words.

"Thank You, everyone" I thanked them. After that, I felt like my wounds, scrapes and burns didn't exist, although it wasn't true. I felt so...calm, happy and full of energy, that I realized that I was now able to do anything.

I breathed deeply and left my members hard, then started using all the strength I could, until I finally got free of the invisible thing holding me. I fell to my knees again and looked at my reflection in the lake, my eyes were back to normal. After that, the darkness of that place suddenly changed to a very strong white light,I closed my eyes and when opened them again I saw that I was in front of the lake. I got up and looked back, to get a hug from my adoptive mother, Tigress.

"You're live, Liu! Gosh, I was so worried!" she said, weeping with happiness. Then everybody hugged me together.

"What a fright you gave us, Liu!...Again..." said Mantis, joking.

"We knew you'd get it, Liu"

"You were amazing during the fight, Liu"

"Uhuu! That's what I'm talking about, little one!"

They said. We were all very happy that it was finally over. I could still feel the pain of the torture, I hadn't even a scratch on my body, but it seemed like the pain was internal.

"Congratulations, Liu! This was only your first mission and you learned a very rare and incredibly powerful technique" Master Shifu praised me.

"Thank you, Master...but I also got very impressed with myself, and wouldn't have done it without you guys, thank you! But Master, what was that vision that I had, and why I still feel the pain?" I thanked him and then asked.

"The Flaming Heart of the Hero is a very powerful technique, but it also requires a lot of energy, both physical, mental and spiritual, Liu. The most legendary warriors who managed to use it eventually died by not bearing the pain through which you passed, you should be grateful...Well, those who survived said that it was only possible to use the technique after going through a situation of extreme difficulty and where those he or she loved were in great danger, leading them to a very high point of stress and adrenaline, in which most emotions are virtually annulled" he explained.

"That explains the voices" I told myself.

"This level of stress mixed with the chi of a warrior ends up resulting in what happened to you: the gain of a colossal strength, super speed, unrivaled stamina and a kind of natural shield done with your chi" he continued.

"Yes, hehe! One of the best combat experiences I've ever had, if not the best!" I said excitedly.

"The only thing I found strange was that your protective barrier was in the form of fire...and you can do the Thundering Wind Hammer..."

"What does this have to do?" said Po.

"The elementary form of the protective barrier should be of the same affinity that your chi. You, Liu, Peng and Tigress can do it because your chi has affinity with the wind element...but the protective barrier of Liu was made of flames" he said thoughtfully.

"Hah?!...Well, what about those voices? What were they?" I asked, not understanding very well about my protective barrier of chi stuff.

"Voices?! What voices?" he asked, seeming to have no idea what I was talking about.

"Well...I dunno how to explain...right after the fire stopped passing through my body, I kinda started to lose my strength, everything went dark...some voices that seemed familiar began to threaten me...then said I would have to suffer and feel the pain I felt throughout my entire life...then I saw my life pass in pictures on the lake, and as they went by I was feeling the same pain that was going on...then I heard the voices of you guys and my family, who helped me to free myself from that invisible thing, and now I'm here..." I told them. Everyone looked at me in amazement.

"What?! So that's what really happens after you use the Flaming Heart of the Hero?! Awesome...I mean...never was known what really happened to the warriors, nor why they died" he said.

"You mean you went through All the pain of your life again? Wow...it's amazing that you've managed to survive this" Po said.

"Oh, Liu! It must have been so difficult and agonizing something this..." my mother told me then hugged me to comfort me. I hugged her too, almost crying to remember everything.

"Yes...but well, it all worked out in the end, and that's what matters, huh?" I said, recovering myself.

"Yep! And it's time to finish the mission and take this big guy for Chorh-Gom Prison" Po said. Then I looked at the big gorilla fainted on the floor, just wondering how we would take him through all the way.

"Yes, we just need to just use the wagon they had used to rob the Valley of Peace! Is there behind those trees!" said Crane. So we put the gorilla in the wagon and took him to the prison. Along the way, my mother and Po were pulling the wagon and were still arguing about their attitudes, which mainly left a certain tigress very shy.

"C'mon, Tigress? Are you still mad at all...that?!" Po asked.

"And you still ask?! The answer is more than obvious...and...I don't wanna talk about it...now" she said, changing her tone of anger to one of shame.

"Oh, give me a break! Are you saying you didn't liked it?!" he joked, with a coquettish tone.

"NO! Of course I DIDN'T liked, you Fool! Not to talk about the shame you made me pass through, in front of the others!"

"Seriously? Ah...well, listen..." Po was interrupted.

"No! Enough talk, you've embarrassed me too much today. At the Jade Palace we'll have a very serious talk about it, Understood?!" she said, then threatened.

"AH! Hah...okay..." he answered with fear, stopping to look at her and concentrating on the dirt road. Me and others couldn't do much besides trying to contain the laughter.



END