The sun was setting in the Valley of Peace, everyone was already closing their windows and doors to prepare for a good night of rest. The fading glow of the sun cast a beautiful shadow over the valley. Shadow that was concealing a group that went in the valley.
In the stairs that lead to the Jade Palace, one panda was singing to himself. This panda was the well known Dragon Warrior, master Po.
“And he fought dozens of foes, nah, nah, nah!” He sang “And never went down, nah, nah, nah!” He made some short of dance as he climbed the steps and danced “He does never lose, nah, nah, nah! He always win the chow, nah, nah, NAAAH! He is the Dragon Warriooooor!” The panda finished with a very dramatic pose.
The week had indeed being very good to the panda. He got his favorite foods served for him every day until now, and had many fans doing him favors and giving him gifts (all of it food), and he had beaten around fifty-four bandits this week. More than ten over Monkey!
“Oh yeah, no one can beat the unbeatable Dragon Warrior!” Po said, punching the air as he stopped in a plateau in the middle of stairs “He is the strongest and smartest of all warriors of kung fu to ever appear!” he stroke some fighting stances.
“No one can beat his unbeatable strength!” he showed of his biceps, but only got his belly to go flat down, he quickly tried to hide, as if someone was watching “No one can match his unmatchable speed!” He made some fast movement poses and strikes in the air, and assumed a very dramatic pose, with his hands in his hips “And nothing, I say NOTHING, can escape his lynx-sharp senses!”
“Gotcha!” said a voice from behind Po as he was tanckled to the ground. He took a few moments to realize that someone had snuck behind he, and now was holding his arms behind his back.
Po looked over his shoulder to see one, no, two water buffalos pinning him to the ground as they used rope to tie his hands behind his back.
“Hey, get off me!” he said as he struggled, but the two muscular bovines held him down as they tied his hands. They give fifteen loops around his wrists and tied with a double sailor knot.
“I said, get off!” Po said as he was able to flip-jump, slamming both buffalos in the ground under his weight. Po slid from over them, and was getting back on his feet when a third buffalo tackled him from behind, pinning him to the ground again.
Soon another buffalos came out form their hiding spots, one had shackles in his hands, and other had more hope, one even had a piece of cloth. Soon Po was pinned down by at least three buffalos while the others circled him, including the two he had slammed, who had just got up.
They wasted no time in using the things they had in hands. One buffalo put the sackles in his ankles, restricting the movement of his feet, while two others started putting the rope around his torso, making several loops before tying it tight and pinning his arms in the sides of his body.
Po soon realized he was not going to get out of this alone “Help!” he called for whoever was hearing “Help! Master Shifu! Guys! He-MMMPH!” his pleas for help were suddenly cut out when one guard tied the piece of cloth behind his neck and over his mouth, gagging him.
“MMMMPH!” Po cried out muffled as he struggled, but was held down by the buffalos, but his bindings and the force and number of them make his efforts vain. Suddenly Po heard a strong stomp in front of him. He looked forward to see a big hoof, and looking up, he found the great form of Temutai, the warrior king of Qi-dan.
The huge buffalo looked down to the Dragon Warrior, in his faced a smile. Po felt his stomach dropping. He had already fought Temutai many times before, and won all the times, but he never had been in front of him this vulnerable before.
Temutai kept smilling at him “Good to see you again, Dragon Warrior.” He said mockering “Now, let’s get going, shall we?” is all he said, before suddenly kicking Po in the face, knocking the poor panda out cold.
As soon as the panda was knocked, Temutai said “Lets go now!” to his warriors, who now were carrying the panda, struggling a bit under his weight.
They carried the panda down the stairs, across the village, being very careful to not be seem, and to their carriage. They shoved the panda inside, making his head slam in the wood, and immediately started running away from the Valley of Peace as fast as they could.
They darted across the silent night, after almost two hours, Po finally started to wake up. He found himself in the carriage of the Qi-dan, tied and gagged. Firstly he thought it to be some of his strange dreams, so he tried to lay back and sleep again, but one hit form his head caused by a rock in the way of the carriage was enough for him to realize this was for real.
Po panicked as he struggled like mad in his bounds and cried out for help. But the hopes and shackles where strong, and due to the gag his cries were all muffled and barely inteligible. Po soon caught himself wondering what would be his destiny now, that Temutai had him in his clutches.
The carriage continued for over one more hour, before it finally stopped. Soon two buffalos came, and picked Po, carrying him roughly out of the carriage.
Po could not recognize the place he was in, but it was a cliff. They carried it to the point of it, where Temutai was looking forward. Po them noticed that they were at the sea. For how long he had blanked out?
Temutai breathed deeply, and said “I love the sea, Dragon Warrior.” His tone was calm “I love to look to it, to swim in it, to dive in it.” He said the word dive with one certain tone that made Po worry.
The great water buffalo turned to him “Have you ever dived in the sea? No? It is fantastic!” he said to Po, for a moment, the panda even wondered if the bovine had lost his mind “You will have a dive in the sea tonight, just to see what it is like!” he said, and Po heard a metallic click, and looked over to see that a great iron ball was chained to the shackles as Temutai spoke “Too bad that your first dive, will also be your last.”
Po instantly realized what the big warrior had in mind. He started to struggle madly, but was held both by his bindings as for Temutai’s guards. Thye dragged him forward as he fight valiantly, until they wer at the edge of the cliff, the sea below them.
Po looked down, and swallowed the lump in his throat. Temutai looked him in the eyes and said “Well, I guess this is it. I could give you some last conforting words, like that it is going to be quick, that it will not hurt, or even that it was an honor to fight you and have you as my enemy. Buts lets be honest, I REALLY HATE YOU! DROP HIM!”
The guards wasted no time, they pushed the panda, who struggled with renewed vigor, and finally threw him forward, dropping him into the cliff and in direction of the water. Temutai laughed, and walked away, compliment his men for the job well done.
Po struggle uselessly as he fell in direction of the sea water bellow him. It just kept coming closer and closer, until…
TCHIBUM!
Po was underwater, the iron ball dragging him deeper. He saw the surface become farther away as he sank, until the ball hit the bottom of the shore.
Po looked under himself, to see the iron ball that was chained to the shackles in his feet, and up, to the light of the moon that came from the surface, where there was fresh air. Po could hold his breath for a while, but would it be long enough?
Po closed his eyes, and tried to calm down. He tried to say to himself that it was not big deal, that he had been in tight situations before, and always escaped. This was going to be no different.
Po opened his eyes, looking up, first he tried to get his arms loose. He pulled in the ropes in his wrists, trying to see if they could escape. But the ropes soon proved to be very tight and strong, making it impossible to make his wrist loose.
Po was starting to see the lack of air catching up with him. He tried to shake his feet to escape from the shackles, but found them to be hugging right in his ankles, and unable to slip off his ankles.
Po was feeling his chest heavy, and light dots were starting to dance in front of his eyes. Po now was panicking.
He then tried one desperate attempt: he tried to squirm his body up, as if to raise himself to the surface. It was impossible with the iron ball, but he could at least escape from the shackles with his efforts, or even make the iron ball let go of his shackles.
But this attempt, as the previous, proved to be fruitless. The chains were strong, and the shackles were tight. Po would top make the iron ball raise a few cenbtimeters form the sand, only for it to pull him back.
Po was feeling his lungs burning, his heart racing, his mind starting to go confuse due to the lack of air. His reflex were kicking in, and even the Dragon Warrior was not able to fight his own reflex, at least, not with the discipline Po had. He had no choice, but to breathe in.
Po’s eyes widened and his body spasmed as the salt water filled his lungs. Po now lose all his calm and rational thought, struggling randomly, and why not say pathetically, against his bonds.
“HE-MMPH! HE-MMPH!” the panda called from behind his gag, as if someone would miraculously hear him, and he just kept struggling. Wrists to ropes. Arms to ropes. Ankles to shackles. And mouth to gag.
Po fought bravely for a while, before his body started to slow down, the lack of air finally exhausting him. Po looked up, to the surface, as his last bubble escaped him and went up “He-mmph…”
His eyes rolled to the back of his head, as his body went limp and fell forward. He landed face first in the sand, and remained there, immobile, his heart beating weaker and weaker, until, with one last twitches of his bond body, it stopped.
His body laid there, face in the sand, immobile, lifeless. The tides would move the sand, and make it cover the body, ridding it from others, burying it…
In the morning, Temutai would attack the Jade Palace, and with the help of his guards, he would finally take over it, and the Valley of Peace.
He would chain the masters in the Hall of Heroes, and keep them there as his prisoners as he ruled the valley with iron fist. The Five and Shifu would not give up easily, tough, resisting bravely, and saying to Temutai that when Po got back he would kick him back to Qi-Dan.
Hearing this, Temutai would only give a knowing smile, and chuckle to himself, for he knew that they couldn’t be more wrong. He knew that the Dragon Warrior would never come back.
And he was right. The panda known as Dragon Warrior would never appear to kick him and save the valley. He would never come back. The Dragon Warrior was done and buried. Lost forever in his underwater grave.
