Cloudless Authors

Chapter c

Tai Lung could hear Shifu's yell of exasperation , but he had already walked out of the main gate and he didn't feel like turning around and walking all the way back to the training hall. Hoping Shifu wouldn't wake everyone up to go looking for him, Tai Lung quietly continued to make his way down the stairs. It was actually pretty quiet if you shut out the noise Shifu was making. Tai Lung took a deep and relaxing breath. It was still nice to be in a familiar setting, even if he wasn't really welcome there. It was still home to him, even if Shifu thought otherwise. He felt happy here. He had grown up here. His fondest memories, though tainted, were all here. If he wanted to stay though, he'd have to be careful. He knew that Shifu wasn't too thrilled to see him, but whether or not he'd be willing to listen was an entirely different story. 

The snow leopard reached the bottom of the steps and looked ahead at the empty valley. The silence reminded him of his early morning walks when he was a teenager, except it was a little darker than it was now. Tai Lung glanced back up the many steps, but seeing that no one was there, he simply walked straight ahead. There wasn't anyone out, so taking that way out would be both quick and quiet. Plus Tai Lung really wanted to look around. 

The snow leopard quietly made his way through the center of the valley and cast his head to each side. He could see that a lot of the shops were pretty much the same. There was definitely some new brickwork and pillars, though he assumed this was because of his rampage a few years earlier. 

Oh, this is new, Tai Lung noted as he caught sight of some narrow alleys winding along the outskirts. I don't even think this was here when I came back the first time. Wonder when Shifu had this made....?

Tai Lung eventually crossed the bridge in the center of the valley and made his way towards the exit. A few more minutes of walking would take him out of the Valley of Peace and into the woods beyond. Then he could hide out and come back later when Shifu was less aggravated. He wasn't sure how long that would take, but he was pretty patient so it didn't matter that much to him. Unfortunately, the snow leopard's plans were interrupted when he was drawn out of his thoughts by a loud cry of alarm. Startled, he turned to the side and saw a male rabbit standing in front of a window in one of the buildings. Considering the sticky heat outside, the snow leopard assumed he was opening the window to let some wind in. 

The two stared at each other for an uncomfortably long minute before Tai Lung gave the rabbit a small wave. "Hi," he said. 

The rabbit didn't say anything. He simply stared at Tai Lung with a terrified look on his face. 

"I'm just leaving," Tai Lung assured him, taking a step backwards. "So you don't have to worry about-oof!"

The snow leopard toppled forward as a villager from behind threw a large pot at the back of his head. He landed hard on the ground and looked behind him to see the culprit, but they had already vanished. Tai Lung stood up only for more windows to open and more things to be thrown at him. He tried to block all all of the open fire and tried to get out of the way, but the barrage of objects kept right on coming. At least until he tripped over something and crashed right on top of it. 

"Oh for goodness sake! Are you kidding me?!" came an unfamiliar voice right next to him. Tai Lung managed to catch hold of a ladder before saying to the mysterious voice, "Sorry. I didn't see you there."

"Oh I figured that," the voice said. It moved in front of Tai Lung, revealing the owner to be a pig with a bright blue and green kimono. He walked from the side street into the main road and yelled out, "I'm trying to sell my stuff! How about instead of throwing stuff at a random guy, how about you all go back to bed?!"

"Mr. Wei, haven't you heard of Tai Lung?!" someone shouted.

"Not interested," Mr. Wei answered. He then walked back over to the snow leopard and asked with a hint of a smirk, "I take it you're not very popular around here, huh?"

"I think that's a bit of an understatement," Tai Lung answered, getting off of the cart. He had definitely damaged it beyond repair. However, the items inside the cart didn't seem too bad. One or or two were a bit squished, but everything else had simply fallen through to the ground. "I take it you're new around here?"

"Yes, my family moved just a few months ago," Mr. Wei replied as he salvaged his items from the broken cart. "The neighborhood was getting a bit too small for us." 

"I see."

"What bring you here then? What, did you kicked out or something?"

Tai Lung frowned in thought. "Um...something like that," he answered. 

Mr. Wei chuckled. "What happened? Accidentally mess with someone's girlfriend?" he joked. 

"No," Tai Lung told him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I made several grievous errors with this valley's grandmaster. I'm just back to apologize and possibly mend the wrongs I've made."

Mr. Wei stopped chuckling and gave the snow leopard a shocked look. "As in the Master Shifu?!" he exclaimed. "Yikes! Must have been something really nasty then."

"Afraid so. I cab't fix all the mistakes I made, but I at least was hoping that- DUCK!"

The two fell to the ground just as a bright light went sailing over their heads. A large CRACK was heard just behind them and Tai Lung was soon horrified to hear and then see the crackling of flames erupting within Mr. Wei's house. 

"AMIA!" Mr. Wei shrieked, dashing into the smoke-filled house. 

"Aw great! Now look what you did!" came the voice of a citizen across the street. 

Tai Lung swung his head around to give the guy a stern look. "Look at what I did?!" he yelled. "What kind of idiot do you have to be to throw fire at someone's house?!"

The guy said nothing in response. He simply blinked, frowned, and ducked back inside. Tai Lung turned his attention back to the house and ran closer so that he could better hear what was going on inside. As he approached, there was the sound of wood falling and crashing to the ground, followed by various screams inside. Without hesitating, Tai Lung forced his way into the burning house  and begun to squint through the smoke to find Mr. Wei and his family. 

"Is everyone okay?!" he yelled out, making out what looked like collapsed stairs in the far corner. Just above them were several figures, five by the looks of it. 

"Oh thank goodness!" came Mr. Wei's voice. "The stairs are burned down and we can't jump! I can barely see where we're going!"

Tai Lung made his way over to them and once close enough, began to help them get down to the main floor. Everyone then proceeded to make a bee-line for the door in order to escape the house. (With some direction from Tai Lung as he could see the best through the smoke). As they reached the door though, the ceiling came crashing down on top of them. The Wei's managed to dive outside, but Tai Lung was knocked backwards and soon blocked from the outside by flaming wood. 

"Tai Lung?!" Mr. Wei cried out. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Tai Lung called back. "I'll find a back way!"

He then began to quickly dodge around the smoke and flames looking for another way out. If he could kick a small hole in the back of the house, he'd avoid damaging other people's property or accidentally hurting someone in the vicinity on his way to safety. As he made his way through though, the ceiling above him cracked ans began to fall towards him. Tai Lung quickly gathered up his strength and ran as fast as he could, hearing the cracking pop loudly in his ear as it came down on top of him. 

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五- Tai Lung escapes and is greeted by the Furious Five

六- Tai Lung escapes and is badly hurt