Well, it's been a VERY long time since this was updated! (Try about 6 months!) But, I'm back, and I'm ready to finish what I started. So I hope you like the update, and I'd suggest going back and maybe re-reading some of the previous chapters, because I doubt any of you will remember where the story left off!

So, enjoy, and please, please, PLEASE leave a review! It's been so long I don't know how this chapter is going to turn out, so send me some feedback. Thank you. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Thanks everyone!
-wolfgangwalker

-TAKEN-

Chapter 9: Fire Rising

Before Po or anyone else knew what was going on, the army had already closed the distance between them to a few hundred feet. Po charged forward into the pandemonium as his fists began to collide with the bones of his enemies.

After the fighting had erupted, Xia, Shu, and about 50 of her finest men carefully writhed around the sanguinary melee being waged at the very fringe of town. Once in, the troops began to enkindle the surrounding homes, creating a massive blaze that quickly began to radiate through the village, jumping from building to building.

Tigress could hear the sounds of shouts and roars all around her now, but she kept quiet as she sat alone in Po's old room at his father's noodle shop. It was just how he had left it all those years ago before he had moved in with the rest of them at the barracks. Posters of the furious five and various kung fu masters were draped across the walls of the room.

She even noticed a Tigress action figure placed with great care upon his windowsill. She smirked, finding his diffuse admiration of her rather flattering. She then began to poke around, and found an old, tattered book under his bed. She opened it and discovered that it was his journal. Most of the pages were filled with soup recipes, grocery lists, and sketches of him fighting alongside some of his childhood heroes, who were all of course legendary warriors, but as she flipped through more she realized that he had written in the journal while he was first training to be the Dragon Warrior.

She flipped to a random page but then quickly slammed the book shut. She had seen her name on one of the entries, but there was no way she could look at it.

These are Po's personal thoughts. I shouldn't… But of course if we're all going to die anyway I might as well look. She thought, curiosity getting the better of her.

She opened the book to the same page again and began to read.

Today we did some more training on the obstacle course. The entire time, I could tell that everyone was watching me, judging me. Most of the five have been treating me nicer lately, but Tigress and Shifu still hate me.

I can understand Shifu's anger. He has to deal with me all day, and I'm pretty much an untrainable wreck. Tigress however I don't quite understand yet. She hasn't even given me a chance and she still doesn't like me. I just know that if she actually got to know me she wouldn't dislike me as much.

I wonder if it's because I took her place as the Dragon Warrior. Maybe I should quit and let her take my place. At least then she would stop giving me those disappointing stares and might stop hating me one day. And who am I kidding? How would a fat panda like me ever be able to defeat Tai Lung? I know that Tigress could defeat him, as she's one of the most amazing kung fu warriors in China!

I know she seems cold on the outside, but I know deep down that she just wants what she trained for all of those years.

I'll give it a week, but if things don't work out well I'll give up my title and walk away.

As she finished, a tear slowly slid onto her cheek. She felt horrible for treating him so bad those first few weeks. He had almost quit because of her childish jealousy. She then quickly flipped to the last page in the book, eager to learn how things had changed between them as time went on.

The last entry was written just after Shen's defeat in Gongmen, on the boat ride home.

Well, I defeated Lord Shen, who killed my parents and I'm glad I was able to avenge my family, but honestly I already have a father and a place that I call home. He thought that killing my family would break me, but really I already had an awesome family all along.

But anyway, I also found my 'inner peace' as Shifu calls it, and everything became a lot clearer to me.

I now understand my true feelings for my birth parents, for the five, Shifu, and especially for Tigress.

Along the way, I realized that me and Tigress had more in common than I thought. She does have a soft side, and I think I finally saw it on our journey. On the boat ride to Gongmen, she asked me about my father, and when I told her, she just seemed to understand it all. But when I finally realized she cared was at the Gongmen Jail, where she confronted me on my past. I told her how Shen had been there the last time I had ever seen my real parents alive, and I knew that she could relate. I heard how she never knew who her real parents were either.

So when she hugged me, I felt the connection between us. As she held me, I just couldn't help but feel like we belonged like that for the rest of our lives. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about her. And when Shen had seemingly won and Tigress was clinging to that piece of scrap debris in the water, I just got so angry. That's when I found inner peace, and was able to defeat Shen.

I still think about her now, even after we won. I think that I might like Tigress more than just a fellow warrior now.

I think I'm in love.

Tigress finished reading and closed the book. She then hugged the journal as if it was actually Po with her in the flesh. She smiled at the thought of him caring for her, long before they even started becoming romantic with each other.

He cared, and he knew that she had cared for him all along.

But her blissful moment was interrupted by an unusually warm feeling that she was getting. She couldn't place the source of the heat, that is, until she began to smell the smoke.

"What's burning?" She pondered aloud as she looked downstairs, only to be met with the horrific amber glow of the tongues of flame that were dancing about in the kitchen in a brilliant display of bedlam. She immediately grabbed a sack that contained a few of her belongings, Po's journal, and some of his other valuables and ran down the stairs and through the flames, which nipped at her as she dashed through them.

She nearly pitched the door off its hinges as she burst out of the burning complex and into the street, coughing and wheezing. She didn't have enough time to recover before two wolves ran over to her and briskly chained her up.

"Oh Xia will be very pleased to know that we found her." The one wolf mentioned to the other.

"Yes indeed, we must take her to the palace at once!"

And so they began to escort her to the top of the thousand steps that led to the palace. Just as they got to the top of the stairs, Tigress swung around and kicked one of the wolves' feet out from under him, sending him tumbling down the stairs. She then did a flip and landed behind the second wolf. She kicked him in the back and he crumpled to the ground. But just as he fell, a few more troops dashed out of the palace and restrained her again.

Then, Xia walked out and went straight up to Tigress.

"Hello dearest sister," She said sweetly. "So nice of you to drop by!" And she then punched Tigress in the face, rendering her unconscious. "Now all we have to do is wait..." She said darkly.

Back on the battlefront, Po was fighting as hard as he ever had. Both him and Monkey were fighting back to back, and they were making short work of their opponents. Po then glanced back at the village and noticed that it was completely ablaze.

"They got through! They're burning down the village!" He cried as he kicked another opponent back. "Monkey, I have to make sure Tigress is safe. Are you alright fighting these guys on your own?"

"Are you kidding?" He scoffed as he hit a pig straight in the jaw. "These guys are amateurs, now go save your lady!"

Po ran off into the streets but upon arrival to his father's shop he found it illuminated by flames, licking the insides of the shop his father had worked so hard to run. Within minutes, the shop would be nothing more than a pile of cinders and debris.

"Tigress!" He shouted, but no response came from the torrid abode.

He knew that she would never have stayed in there while the building burned around her so he found the nearest mercenary, who was currently torching the schoolhouse, and grabbed him by the collar.

"Hey, there was a tiger that came out of that building, what happened to her?" He said while pointing to the inferno that was his old house.

"Um- um they chained her up and took her to the Jade Palace I think. Now please, don't hurt me!"

"Oh I'm not gonna hurt you…" Po said calmly. "I'm just gonna make you FEEL THE THUNDER!" And he then proceeded to throw him across the street, where he smashed into a wall.

Po then started running up the stairs up to the palace, clueless as to what was awaiting for him.

He reached the top huffing and puffing, but quickly shrugged off his exhaustion and regained his stamina.

He kicked open the doors to the Jade Palace, to find Tigress in the middle of the corridor. She was kneeled over in the middle of the room, and her hands were bound behind her back. She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Po! Please, go! They're using me as the bait!" She screamed at him from across the room

Behind her stood Shu, who eyed the panda suspiciously as he entered.

Po could feel another presence behind him, and he spun around just in time to see Xia's foot collide with his face.

When he woke up from being knocked out by the kick, Po looked around and noticed that he was tied up as well. Tigress was next to him, twisting around on the floor, trying to escape her rope bonds.

Xia stood above him menacingly, with a proud smirk across her face. At the sight of her, Po too began to fight against the ropes that held him, desperately hoping that fate would free him so he could tear Xia to pieces.

"Haha, give it up panda, it's over!" Xia chuckled. "The valley is burning as we speak, you and your girlfriend here are about to die, and I have taken control of the Jade Palace. You've lost!"

"No!" He said through gritted teeth. "It's not over until I'm dead!"

"Well then, let's finish this!" She said as she walked over to him and slashed his ropes with one swoop of her razor claws. "Go ahead, fight me, and die Dragon Warrior."

"Are you crazy?" Po said as he got to his feet. "I think I can take on one deranged, stupid,-"

But his words were cut short by a fist slamming right into his gut. He crumpled over in pain.

"Ok, that… hurt." He said as he struggled to regain his breath. But Xia didn't show any mercy as she hit the panda while he was still recovering. He sailed across the hall and into a wall. He got up shakily and brushed himself off.

How did she get so good?

Xia kept on attacking, but this time Po was ready. He dodged her attacks and reciprocated with some of his own attacks.

While the blistering battle raged on, Shu quietly knelt down and began untying Tigress' ropes.

"Shu?! What are you doing?" Tigress whispered in shock. "I thought you were working for Xia!"

"She raided my village a year ago. She burned down everything, killed my family. I had no money and nowhere to go so I went with her. I lost my family and my home, and I'm not gonna let her take yours too."

She finished untying the rope and Tigress was free.

"Thank you." Was all the striped feline said as she dashed into the fight and hit Xia in mid-air. "No one tries to kill my panda." She said fiercely.

"How did you escape?!" Xia hollered. She looked over at Shu and glared. "You let her go! You betrayed me! Now you too must face the wrath of my reign!" She said as she took a butterfly knife from her sleeve and hurled it at Shu.

It penetrated her right in the heart and she fell over. Xia now turned to face Po and Tigress. There was such a sinister, maniacal gleam in her eye that it made the hair on Tigress' neck stand up straight.

Tigress turned to Po, an unusual sadness tainted her expression.

"Po, leave. I must face her on my own."

"What? No, she'll kill you!" Po cried out. Tigress chuckled.

"Po, I think I can take her. Besides, I'm pretty much what led her here, so I should be the one to escort her out. Please go, they need you out there Po."

Po choked out,

"But what if… she's too much for you Ti?"

"Well in that case, I love you my panda." And she gave him a quick, soft kiss. "Now go, and take Shu with you!" She yelled sharply, forcing the panda to act.

Po didn't know what else he could say, but he understood how Tigress felt, so he left, despite his own doubts and the terrible feeling he was getting.

"I love you, Tigress."

He dashed off with Shu under his arm, to join the fight down below. Now Tigress was utterly alone with Xia.

"So, just me and the pretty little kitten then?" Xia said amusedly. "Perfect. This is how I wanted this to all end; with me slowly killing you."

Tigress barred her teeth letting loose a snarl that almost gave Xia doubts about fighting her.

"If you think I'm going to let you take my home, think again. There can only be one that comes out of this alive, and I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that I'm the one who is standing at the end of the day."

"As will I!" Xia shouted proudly as she rushed forward towards Tigress.

Storm clouds rolled in over the valley, basking everything in shadows. Darkness descended, and rain began to gently fall. But yet, the battle raged on, and by the time those clouds cleared, the valley would have been forever changed…

Alright, well thats it! This story will probably be wrapping up in a chapter or two, so I'll probably starting on another story soon. For all that information plus update information on chapter 10, head over to my profile. Thanks everyone and I hope you liked this chapter as much as you've liked previous ones. And don't forget to leave a review!

Thank you so much everyone!
-wolfgang