Dozens. There were dozens of them. Rhinos in heavy armor, armed with spears, spiked maces, and what looked like Chinese double-edged swords.
My human side went cold. This was the end. They would simply crush me with numbers.
But Tai Lung… The Tai Lung within me roared with delight.
For twenty years, this body had been bound, and now it craved movement! It craved a worthy fight.
The very first second I landed on the platform, a mace swing from one of the guards was already flying toward me. While I was still trying to figure out what to do, my mind screamed desperately, "Dodge!", but my body was already moving.
And disregarding my wishes, I didn't dodge away; I stepped into it.
It took only a slight tilt of my head for the spiked ball to woosh past, millimeters from my ear. I waved my hand. My palm settled on the rhino's wrist; I yanked him toward me, using his own mass against him, pivoted on my heel, and threw him over my shoulder.
The attacker grunted in surprise, flew past his comrades, and, screaming, plummeted down into the bottomless abyss of the prison.
One down.
I didn't have time to savor the moment. A glint of steel to my right. A spear thrust aimed at my chest.
A flip jump. The body did everything on its own again. I pushed off the floor, and the world inverted. The spear passed beneath me, barely grazing my back, and I landed on my feet as softly as if I had been... well, yes, a leopard all my life.
A spin the moment I landed, and my leg, infused with Chi, shot out in a backflip kick, smashing into the face of a second guard.
Crunch.
He collapsed like a sack.
"He... he... KILL HIM!" someone roared.
And then, all hell broke loose.
It wasn't a fight; it was a massacre. My consciousness simply shut down, giving way to pure, primal instinct honed by thousands of hours of training and combat.
To the left—the whistle of another double-edged sword. I duck, letting it pass over my head, and immediately grab the hilt, wrenching the weapon free and sending the rhino into the abyss with an elbow strike. Two.
To the right—a mace swing. I ignore it, simply punching with a Chi-infused fist, shattering the mace into splinters. The rhino stared dumbfounded at the handle in his hand, but my elbow was already burying itself in his solar plexus. Three.
A spear from the side. I caught the shaft, ripped it from the owner's hands, spun it, and swept his legs with the blunt end. Four.
A sword strike from behind. Without turning, I kicked backward with my heel, hitting the attacker square in the jaw and sending him to the realm of dreams... or the realm of the dead. Five.
Dodging attacks from all sides, destroying my enemies, and breaking through closer to the exit, I entered the flow.
My mind was crystal clear. A brain accustomed to battle analyzed what was happening, and the body reacted on its own, obediently executing what the mind deemed the best move. My eyes saw everything—every swing, every lunge, the trajectory of strikes, and even the actions of all the guards together, not just individually.
The rhinos were clearly trying to overwhelm me with numbers, to block the path with their bodies, to force me to lose my rhythm, but they were too slow, their attacks too clumsy. Over the decades of my imprisonment, these worthless guards had forgotten who I was. Now, their minds were a muddled mix of rage toward a criminal and animalistic fear of a legend that had regained its freedom.
Ignoring the screams and the blood of the big-nosed bastards flashing here and there, I tore through them toward the exit, barely noticing the resistance.
Every strike I landed caused their weapons to explode into pieces; every hit crumpled armor, sending the victims into the precipice or crashing into their still-standing comrades. A palm strike—the crack of armor. A kick—a rhino flies five meters and knocks down two others. I broke their spears, took their swords, and used their own comrades as battering rams.
It was... fun. The part of me that was Tai Lung reveled in it. Every movement was perfect. Every hit was precise. All of this was merely proof of my power, my mastery!
One last dash, and I broke through the final line of defense. Before me lay the stairs leading up to the exit.
I didn't run up them; I practically flew, skipping ten steps at a time. I burst onto the upper platform and froze.
Freedom!
I could feel it!
I just had to get rid of the remaining guards led by Vakhir—the prison warden who had tortured me every single day—and kick down that damn door, and then I would finally be truly free!
But a bridge led to the exit. A long stone bridge that looked very sturdy, except vague images in my head—memories of the cartoon—reminded me that this very bridge would be destroyed by stalactites the prison guards would drop, condemning all the other jailers to death.
At the far end, right by the exit, stood Vakhir. Beside him were two dozen rhinos with crossbows, and in his massive paw, he held the trembling messenger goose by the throat.
"We're dead meat!" the goose managed to choke out, no longer even resisting. "Now we're definitely dead meat..."
"Ah-ha-ha-ha!" The executioner bastard laughed. His grin was as disgusting as ever. "Not yet! DO IT!"
He shouted to his men, and one of them fired a flaming arrow at the ceiling. I followed their gaze. High above, under the cave's ceiling, on giant stalactites hanging directly over the bridge, were attached... bundles of dynamite.
Damn it!
I rushed forward, mentally scolding myself for not charging the enemy immediately and trusting Tai Lung's instincts instead, but it was too late.
BOOM!
The first explosion thundered right above my head. A huge stalactite broke off and crashed down, taking the central part of the bridge with it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions followed one after another. The cave shuddered; stones, ice, and debris from the bridge rained down into the abyss. I barely managed to jump back to the platform. The bridge was destroyed.
Vakhir laughed on the other side.
"Well then, failed 'Dragon Warrior'?! Where to now?!" And again, that vile grin! It infuriates me!
I jumped onto a falling fragment of the bridge and immediately pushed off it, leaping onto one of the stalactites tumbling down. Lucky they didn't explode all at once, but one by one.
"FIRE!" commanded the head rhino, and there was fear in his voice again! Yes, bastard, fear me!
Twang!
A dozen crossbow bolts slammed into the stone where I had stood a second ago.
Jumping higher and higher along the falling debris, I tried to reach the ledge with the rhinos, but the problem was the dozens of arrows and bolts flying at me—one idiot even threw his mace. There was no opening; I was getting closer, but too slowly.
Damn, is it really not going to work? This is an impregnable prison; it's no surprise that I, not being the real Tai Lung, can't get out. Even he wouldn't have made it without luck... Escaping is impossible...
"But for the Dragon Warrior, nothing is impossible, right?"
THEN WHY THE HELL AM I WHINING HERE WHEN I SHOULD BE ACTING?!
BOOM!
A delayed explosion made me grin. A stalactite was falling from the ceiling. Another one.
"Let's risk it..."
I infused my legs with Chi, and my figure was enveloped in a cold blue light—the color of my Chi. Putting everything into one movement, I pushed off the stalactite plummeting into the abyss at high speed and launched myself toward the stalactite that had just begun its descent.
It worked!
Now, pushing off from it, I reached the ceiling, literally digging my claws into the last stalactite, to which a bundle of explosive powder—gunpowder, essentially—was tied.
Zing!
An arrow flew past my temple.
I jumped again, trying to get to the bombs quickly while dodging bolts and arrows in mid-air.
Twang! Twang!
"Finish him!" my executioner screamed. The crossbowmen began to reload, but I just smirked.
"Oh, did you spend all your ammo on me? How kind of you!"
I grabbed the hissing bundle, ripping it from the stalactite, then spun around while hanging by one arm and hurled the dynamite...
But not at them!
I threw it behind them. Right at the huge, iron-reinforced door leading to freedom.
"Get down!" someone shouted belatedly.
B-B-B-A-A-A-D-A-A-A-B-O-O-O-M!!!
The explosion was deafening. The shockwave nearly knocked me off the stalactite. The massive door popped out like a cork from a bottle. The rhinos, Vakhir included, were scattered like toy soldiers—some to the bottom of my dungeon, some out into the street.
I pulled myself up, jumped over the remaining gap, and landed on the edge of the platform, then walked through the smoking opening to the outside...
Snow.
Cold, clean, white snow. I fell to my knees, burying my fingers in a drift. For the first time in twenty years, I inhaled the frosty mountain air.
Wounded jailers lay on the snow, groaning or unconscious.
But the goose was lucky—he was alive and well, albeit shell-shocked. The messenger was trying to stand up, shaking off the snow.
I walked up to him...
The guy froze when he saw my shadow. Slowly raised his head. There was primal terror in his eyes. He knew he was about to die.
My clawed paw landed on his shoulder. The messenger flinched.
I looked at him for a second, and then... I laughed. It wasn't a vicious growl like before. It was genuine, slightly hysterical, but laughter nonetheless. The laughter of a man who had just risked everything and won!
"Thank you," I said.
The goose blinked, dumbfounded.
"W-w-what?"
"For the lift," I smiled. "You helped me a lot." Saying this, I removed my hand and helped the young guy—about 20-22 years old by the looks of it, though it's hard to guess ages here—to his feet. He was still looking at me with disbelief. Geese aren't usually tall. "Fly," I said, becoming serious. "Fly to Shifu. Tell him... tell him that the True Dragon Warrior is coming home soon."
The goose, unable to believe his luck, nodding, stumbling, and flapping his wings, soared into the grey sky and disappeared.
And now I'm alone...
I surveyed the carnage, noticing the rhinos starting to stir. Kill them? The Tai Lung in me demanded blood, but... Is that fair? Two decades in hell against a quick and easy death.
I know that Tai Lung often dreamed not only of escaping but also of death... I, however, do not want to kill. Not so many people at once; it's... beneath me.
And I found a compromise.
For the next half hour, I methodically dragged the unconscious guards (some with a little "help" from me to stay that way) one by one to the edge of the precipice and threw them back into the prison. Alive. Let them suffer as I suffered—without food or water. They don't have Chi to survive, but no one will torture them either. We're even.
And when I finished, only I remained on the street... And Vakhir—the warden.
The bastard had long since regained consciousness and was trying to crawl away, clutching a wounded side pierced by some wooden splinter from the door.
He froze when I approached.
I just squatted down in front of him.
"Well, little rhino?" I asked quietly, repeating his words. "I see you're not in a cheerful mood today either?"
For the next half hour, I... killed him.
Slowly and methodically destroying his personality with pain, pouring in Chi so he wouldn't die, and using my knowledge of acupuncture to make the scum suffer. I stopped when a photograph fell from under the pauldron of what was no longer begging for death, but merely a moaning piece of meat.
Oh, not this damn trope with "revenge for the family," damn it!
Spitting, I picked up the blood-spattered photograph... Or rather, a drawing. It was a sketch of stick-figure rhino people. "Mom, Dad, me..."
When Tai Lung snapped twenty years ago, he caused massive riots in a nearby village, whose inhabitants included rhinos...
"You are scum," I said, putting the drawing back. "But I understand why you became this way." I continued, stepping on the throat of the wheezing man.
Crunch!
I could have kept breaking him, but... As I said, we're even. Let him reunite with his family in the spirit realm; he's got what was coming to him from me.
I stood on the mountain, inhaling the icy air. The feeling of freedom was intoxicating. The storm around me seemed only to intensify, but I felt no cold. I sank into thought again.
And what do I do next?
The damn turtle, as far as I know, will kick the bucket soon, and besides him, no one poses a threat to me...
But what do I do with that? I am considered a criminal; the Emperor personally signed the decree to build Chorh-Gom just for me, so... simply walking into the Valley of Peace won't work. I'll be attacked.
At that moment, something seemed to snap in my head. No, not snap. It roared.
"BECOME THE DRAGON WARRIOR! TAKE REVENGE!"
This thought was so bright, so searing, that I staggered.
Rage, resentment, and... a goal.
Ha, the snow leopard is trying to impose his desires on me... But... isn't that what I want? He's not just a "neighbor." He is the power that just pulled me out of a literal hell. Tai Lung literally saved my life.
I looked into the distance, at the snow-capped peaks, feeling the real storm approaching.
"Hey, Tai Lung, you can hear me, right?" I said aloud, addressing the consciousness inside me. "You want revenge. You want the Scroll. You want Shifu... you want father... to admit his mistake." I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. "I will become the Dragon Warrior. And I will take revenge for you, for us. However, I ask a price for this." Everything inside went still. "Your body belongs to me from now on." I spoke firmly. "Not just the body—your strength, your skills, your memory, your Chi. All of it will be mine. I will no longer fight you, but you will not fight me. Accept this, become part of me, and then I will fulfill your desires!"
Admittedly, I wasn't sure if this would work. I didn't even think the Kung Fu master's personality actually existed separately from mine; maybe it was just residual memory, an echo of emotions...
The answer was a sensation.
The Chi in my body, obedient until this moment, literally exploded. It surged, covering my body not just with a glow, but with thousands of icy needles piercing me from the inside. I screamed, falling to my knees in the snow.
Memories of both lives flooded in, mixing together. I saw the grey walls of the repair shop and the sun-drenched courtyard of the Jade Palace. I smelled engine oil and incense in the training hall. I remembered my mother's warm hands... and Shifu's cold, disappointed gaze that day.
"I..."
An illusory voice that sounded more like a roar echoed in my head.
"...Agree!"
And then... everything went quiet.
The glow retracted. The storm around me hadn't subsided, but the storm inside—yes. I breathed heavily, kneeling, and slowly raised my head.
The world became... sharper. Brighter. Louder.
I clearly realized for myself that this body was mine and no one else's. No. Not like that.
I realized that I am I.
There was no longer an "ordinary mechanic" and a "snow leopard." There was only me. Tai Lung. But... Not that one.
What an unusual feeling, however... A feeling of... integrity.
I need to find shelter. I felt fine, more than fine actually, but while the storm is raging, I should sort myself out a bit... Remember who I am now.
And... where the hell am I supposed to go? I don't have a map with me...