Ch. 84 - The Dragon's Keep (2)
After hearing Elsa's reason that she overheard them talking about an Ogre, she couldn't help but want to come along as she was curious about the outside world. In other words, she's just a growing teenager who is having her first 'spending the night with friends' thing where she goes against her parents and comes with her friends.
"There's another reason, isn't it?" Tigress asked while squinting her eyes at Elsa, she could smell and tell that Elsa was hiding something and she wants to know what it is.
"I...." Elsa tried to look away as she suddenly got nervous from Tigress's question and her stare.
'I can't just tell her that I have a crush on her husband and want to use this chance to get close to him. It's bad to steal someone's husband!' Elsa blushes slightly when she imagines Jin and her having a secret relationship behind his wife's back.
Seeing the look on Elsa's face, Tigress suddenly came to a realization and quickly slapped her forehead as she muttered to herself.
'Oh Jin, what have you done? Stop seducing Princesses left and right. And this time, we're on our way to rescue another Princess? No way, Elsa is acceptable but I can't let Jin make every Princess he interacts with to fall in love with him.' Tigress scolded her husband inside her mind for being too charming while at the same time, unconsciously accepting Elsa while rejecting the princess that they would rescue in the tower.
'I overheard earlier that Shrek needs a companion. Maybe he could go and rescue the princess while I keep Jin by my side. I'm afraid that if he went on to rescue the locked princess, there's no hesitation that she would fall for Jin.' Tigress resolutely made a decision inside her mind.
"If you don't want to tell it to me now, it's fine by me. You can tell me if you're ready." Seeing that Elsa was hesitant about her feelings, Tigress wanted Elsa to acknowledge and accept her feelings for Jin before she could help her.
'Why does it feel like I am helping Jin form a group of women that is in love with him. I should probably be jealous about it but can someone like Jin really be satisfied with me?' Tigress wondered to herself as Elsa was thankful that Tigress was understanding that she doesn't want to talk about her feelings anytime soon.
'Maybe...it will go away someday.' Elsa said to herself, not knowing that one of the hardest emotions to control is Love. And to someone like her who is new to love, especially since Jin is her first crush, it would be nigh-impossible for her to dissipate the feelings that she has for him.
"Let's go to Jin, he has many questions about you following us." Tigress said and helped Elsa get down from her horse's back. She could tell that the horse was very tired and exhausted.
'She must've followed us here without thinking of bringing rations for her horse.' Tigress said to herself. Luckily, there are some spare horse rations back in the carriage, she can use that to feed Elsa's horse.
***
After walking back to Jin, Elsa was embarrassingly looking away, as if a child caught by her parents.
"Well, it's nice to see you. I'm not gonna ask why you're here but since you're already here, then you can join us." Jin said after seeing that their stalker turns out to be Elsa. Though this is a good thing as fighting a flame breathing dragon is a good practice for her.
'She and Tigress are probably enough to defeat the Dragon while Shrek and Donkey will go and save Fiona.' Jin planned and said to himself. He never planned to save Fiona in the first place, so Tigress's plan earlier was for naught.
"Really! Ehem, I mean, sure since you said." Elsa got excited at being part of the adventure before realizing her sudden outburst, so she cleared her throat slightly before she calmly changed her tone and answered.
"Oh great, another woman." Shrek rolled his eyes and commented, getting a frown from Elsa.
"Who's the big ogre?" Although she felt like she was insulted, Elsa isn't the type to get back for just a simple thing.
"He's Shrek. Ignore what he said, after all he's here to rescue his future lover." Jin waved his hand and said.
"Wait what? No! She's not my future lover?! I was just here because Donkey forced me and besides, what kind of King even locks his daughter in a tower guarded by a Dragon!?"
"He's right, you know." Rapunzel added in, she also wonders why the Princess's parents weren't doing anything to rescue her from the dragon. Is it really that hard to take down a Dragon?
"Not yet! Shrek, you need a woman in your life or do you really want to grow old without having the taste of paradise?" Donkey stared directly at Shrek's face and said before continuing after seeing that he got Shrek's attention on him.
"Imagine the Princess and you living all alone in your swamp without anyone bothering your peace. While the princess was making your breakfast, you were telling stories to your children, how peaceful is that, right?" Donkey's voice was like a hypnotization, as Shrek fell in his imagination. Imagining his lonely life being colorful as the princess stepped in his world.
"...That's impossible, she's human and I'm an....Ogre. A dumb and ugly ogre." Shrek said with a downcast expression.
"It's not about appearances, Shrek. It's about the personality and how much you will truly love her. It doesn't hurt to give it a try, right?" Donkey said, not wanting to hear any more excuses from Shrek, so he quickly bit his sleeve and started dragging him towards the Dragon's Keep.
"Even though he's an animal, he's quite experienced in love." Jin said after hearing how Donkey managed to convince Shrek into taking the leap of faith.
"He kind of reminds me of someone." Elsa places her finger under her chin as she wonders out loud.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, me too." Rapunzel also did the same stance as Elsa and started thinking too.
*Snap!* x2
After a few seconds, they both gasped in realization and snapped their fingers at the same time before looking at each other.
"Olaf!"
"Jinx!" As soon as they both mentioned the same name, Rapunzel, who was influenced by Anna at some point, quickly continued.
"Wait what?" Elsa confusedly said.
"Now, you're going to do as I say for the next 5 minutes!" Rapunzel proudly raised her non-existent chest in pride.
"....Being with you feels like being with Anna." Elsa covered her mouth and slightly chuckled.
"Yeah, Tigress said the same thing too. I am kinda similar to Anna." Rapunzel scratched the back of her head and replied.
"Stop playing you both, let's follow Shrek and his royal steed. You don't want them taking down the Dragon before you guys, right?" Jin said as he started walking towards the Dragon's Keep where he saw Shrek playing with Donkey on the fragile bridge.
"Wait, Dragon? What do you mean Dragon?" Vexed, Elsa raised a question upon her confusion.
"Oh, right we forgot to tell you. We're actually planning to fight a Dragon. We want to see if they're really as strong as they say." Rapunzel slammed her forehead for forgetting before explaining to her about their current plan.
"And Jin is fine with this?" Elsa whispered slightly while pointing at Jin.
"He's actually the one who planned all this. So, let's go. It's just a dragon anyway, you have your ice powers!" Rapunzel grabbed both Tigress's and Elsa's hands before dragging them as she ran towards Jin.
***
After crossing the long bridge, the group cautiously went inside while looking around, making sure that the Dragon wouldn't catch them by surprise.
"Roaaarr!" Just the same as in the canon, it was still Donkey who discovered the Dragon and quickly ran away from it. What's worse is that he's actually running towards them.
"Ugh, dumb donkey!" Shrek scolded as he was about to run away when Jin grabbed the hem of his shirt.
"Shrek, brace yourself." Jin said and without waiting for his response, Jin's muscles contracted slightly before assuming a throwing stance while Shrek felt his shirt tightening and his feet leaving the ground.
Much to everyone's shock, Jin casually lifted a hundred pounds of Shrek with just a single arm before throwing him towards the tallest tower around the vicinity.
"Aaarggghh!" Even though Shrek is supposed to be a fearless Ogre, he still has some fears on some things like this one. He's quite afraid of heights, not to mention when he's flying mid-air and falls on top of the ceiling of the tower.
"Hey! Why did you do that to Shrek!" Donkey yelled at Jin.
"You want him to meet her princess, right? I'm just doing him a favour." Jin said as he watched the dragon gathering flames inside her mouth before releasing it towards Jin and the gang.
"Alright, you both. Be careful. I'll keep watching in case something goes wrong." Jin grabbed Donkey and Rapunzel before jumping upwards, evading the sea of flames that are coming towards them.
"Right!" Tigress slammed her left fist on her right palm as she then pushed both of her arms forward with her claw-like palms facing the sea of flames. At first, it looked like Tigress was releasing a kamehameha wave like Goku, however when the sea of flames arrived, it surprisingly avoided her as if an invisible shield was placed in front of her.
Meanwhile, Elsa wrapped herself in a large cocoon of ice in just a matter of seconds.
"Good reaction time." Sitting on a nearby rooftop, Jin, Donkey and Rapunzel watched as both Elsa and Tigress released their defensive techniques before looking seriously at the Dragon's eyes.
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[Gimme Gimme Gimme powahh stones!]
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 85 - The Dragon's Keep (3)]
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