EXT. XIAN'S FORTRESS - NIGHT
Zhen moves like a ghost through the shadows of the massive, black iron fortress. She leaps down from a ledge, landing silently behind a large pillar. Peering out, she sees a chilling sight in the main courtyard below: Xian stands with his back to her, talking to the captive Master Yang, who is held between two massive gorilla guards.
The focus shifts to their conversation. Master Yang is weakened but his spirit is unbroken.
XIAN: "Look at you, Guardian. The Master of the Jade Palace is dead, and your precious successor is buried beneath the ruins. It is all over."
MASTER YANG: (Looking up, his voice weak but firm) "You have won nothing, Xian. Po is more than you can ever comprehend."
The scene shifts back to Zhen. She hears the gruff voices of two gorilla soldiers walking down the path towards her position.
Panicked, she turns and runs quickly and silently back the way she came, looking over her shoulder. She rounds a corner and runs headfirst into a large, soft figure, letting out a muffled gasp.
Po is standing there, his hand raised to quiet her.
PO: (In a low, urgent whisper) "Calm down! It's just me."
Zhen takes a deep, shaky breath, her eyes wide with relief and confusion.
ZHEN: "Po! But... how did you change your mind? When I left, I thought you'd given up."
PO: (His expression grim and determined) "I almost did. But my dads... they reminded me what I'm fighting for." He looks past her towards the fortress, a sly, mischievous grin spreading across his face. "Besides... Xian thinks I'm buried under a pile of rocks."
He cracks his knuckles.
PO: "Time to give ol' 'Xiany' a big surprise."
CUT TO:
EXT. FORTRESS - FRONT GATE
Two gorilla soldiers stand guard at the massive front gate.
GORILLA GUARD 1: "Did you hear something?"
GORILLA GUARD 2: "Probably just a rock."
Suddenly, from the darkness above them, Po plummets down. In mid-air, he stretches his legs out into a perfect, impossible split and hits both gorillas on the top of their heads at the exact same time. They collapse into unconscious heaps without making a sound.
INT. XIAN'S FORTRESS COURTYARD - NIGHT
Xian stands before the cages holding his prisoners. The Furious Five, Zhen, and all the captured masters watch in silence, their chi locked by the Obsidian Iron. Xian's attention is focused on the cage holding Master Yang.
XIAN: (A cruel, mocking tone in his voice) "It's a shame your successor couldn't be here to witness this, Yang. Buried under the legacy he was meant to protect. A fitting, pathetic end for a panda who was given a power he never deserved."
Master Yang looks up, his spirit unbroken despite his capture.
MASTER YANG: "You have never understood, Xian. Po's strength is not something that can be buried by rock and stone."
XIAN: (Laughing) "We shall see. With him gone, there is no one left to challenge me."
BOOOOM... GRRRRIIIIIND...
A deep, groaning sound echoes from the front of the fortress, cutting Xian's laughter short. All heads—guards, prisoners, and Xian himself—turn towards the massive main gates.
Slowly, powerfully, the colossal iron gates are being forced open from the outside.
A single figure stands silhouetted against the stormy night sky. It is Po. He ignores the army, his eyes locked on Xian, burning with a cold, pure rage. His voice echoes across the courtyard, a direct and defiant challenge.
PO: "XIAN! YOU WANT ME? COME AND GET ME!"
The prisoners stare in stunned, hopeful disbelief. Xian's face twists from shock into absolute fury.
XIAN: "The panda...? ALIVE?! Impossible!"
His shock instantly turns to pure rage. He points a massive finger at Po.
XIAN: "DESTROY HIM!"
The entire gorilla army lets out a single, deafening roar and swarms towards the bridge.
Po, a cold, burning rage on his face, charges forward to meet the first wave head-on. A gorilla swings a massive iron club, and Po slides low under the attack, coming up in the center of a small group. In a single, fluid motion, his hands become a blur, delivering five devastating palm-heel strikes to five different soldiers—one to the chest, another to a knee, a third to the throat—each strike precise, each soldier collapsing before the next is even hit.
He continues his rampage, his hands and feet a torrent of strikes too fast for the eye to follow. He shatters a soldier's iron axe with a single block and uses the broken handle to disarm two others. He is unstoppable.
As the sounds of this one-sided battle echo through the fortress, Zhen slips through the shadows to the prison block. She reaches the cage where the Furious Five are held and immediately starts working on the lock.
Inside, Tigress hears her.
TIGRESS: (Her voice a low whisper) "Zhen... Is Master Shifu with Po?"
Zhen freezes, her hands trembling. Her back is to them as she speaks, her voice cracking.
ZHEN: "When Xian attacked... Shifu gave his life to save Po."
A devastating silence falls over the cage. Viper lets out a soft, horrified gasp. Mantis's tiny body trembles with rage. Monkey slams a fist uselessly against the chi-locking bars. Tigress closes her eyes, a single tear escaping down her cheek. After a moment, she opens them again, her grief forged into a cold, terrifying fire. Her voice is low, broken by pain but sharp as a razor's edge.
TIGRESS: "Get us out..." She takes a shaky breath, steadying her resolve. "...out of this cage. Now."
Zhen, wiping away her own tears, gives a sharp, determined nod.
CUT TO:
EXT. FORTRESS BRIDGE - NIGHT
Po delivers a single, devastating punch to the chest of a huge gorilla. The impact is so immense it sends the soldier flying backward, crashing into two more and sending all three smashing into the fortress wall, leaving a crater of cracked stone. More soldiers keep swarming towards him.
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON BLOCK - NIGHT
Zhen works with frantic precision. The CLICK of the first shackle opening is deafening in the tense silence. Viper's hands are free. Then Crane's. She moves from one to the next.
CUT TO:
EXT. FORTRESS BRIDGE - NIGHT
A massive gorilla lunges at him. Po doesn't even break stride, using the beast's own momentum to throw it over the side of the bridge into the courtyard far below.
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON BLOCK - NIGHT
Monkey's chains fall. Then Mantis's. Finally, Tigress's. Zhen moves to the main cage door, her fingers flying across the complex lock mechanism. With a final CLICK, the heavy cage door swings open.
CUT TO:
EXT. FORTRESS BRIDGE - NIGHT
Po, focused on the horde directly in front of him, fails to notice a hulking brute that has climbed up the side of the bridge. The gorilla smashes him from his flank with a huge, spiked club, sending Po stumbling to one knee, a pained grunt escaping his lips for the first time.
The gorilla raises its club high, ready to deliver a finishing blow.
But just as the club swings down, a streak of orange and black lightning intercepts it with a deafening crash of metal on metal.
It is Tigress.
She lands in front of Po, holding back the club.In the next instant, Monkey, Viper, Crane, and Mantis land around them, forminga protective circle. The Furious Five are back in the fight.