Cloudless Authors

Chapter e

Po effortlessly launched the Opposing Staff of Fear at the snow leopard who attempted to duck out of harm's way. Unfortunately, Po's timing was perfect and he slashed the front of his enemy's face, causing a scream of agony to echo throughout the training hall. The Dragon Warrior swung again and got the snow leopard's shoulder, arm, back, and side. Tai Lung cried out in pain and grew more and more helpless as Po kept up the barrage of attacks from the nasty weapon. Blood began to stain the snow leopard's fur as he sank to the floor in pain and was left to Po's mercy. Po finally struck him for the last time and dropped the weapon onto the floor. The snow leopard curled up into a ball trying to ignore the pain.

"Please," he was muttering. "Please leave me alone."

Tigress, who has been laying on the ground by the Jade Tortoise, finally got to her feet and walked over to Po. "Good job, Po," she told him, ignoring a sharp pain she was feeling in her shoulder.

Po frowned, his eyes still trained on Tai Ling. "I'm not done yet," he stated. He marched over and knelt down to grab Tai Lung's paw.

As he moved into the Wuxi Finger Hold, Tai Lung glanced up weakly with a complete look of fear evident in his eyes. "Please," he begged helplessly. "Po...I didn't...mean for this.... I only...wanted to talk.... Please...please don't hurt me."

"You've never hesitated for anyone else!" Po snapped. "Why should I hesitate for you?"

Tai Lung opened his mouth to beg again for mercy, but Po has already flexed his pinky to deal the final blow. A large eruption of light emerged and the room was engulfed in a golden wind that pushed everything light enough to move to the other side. Tigress has sucked down to avoid the gusting blast and barely managed to stay in place as the last of the Wuxi Finger faded away. When it was over, Tai Lung was gone and Po was simply left standing breathing a bit heavy. Though for Po, that was pretty normal.

"Po?" Tigress said as she got to her feet. "Po, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Po assured her. "I just...I don't understand how he came back. Why come for you? Doesn't he know when to give up?!"

"I don't know why he was stalking me," Tigress admitted. She put a paw on Po's shoulder and squeezed it. "But you've gotten stronger and wiser. He hasn't changed a bit. It could have been worse."

Po sighed. "I know," he told the master. "But I was still pretty scared! I mean, you remember what happened the first time, right?"

"Of course I do. I don't think any of us will ever forget what he did. Especially Shifu."

"Actually, speaking of Shifu, should we mention this at all? I mean, I know that Tai Lung's a big deal around here, but we also just Wuxi Fingered him...again.... So...."

Tigress frowned in thought for a moment. Finally she said, "I think if he asks, but if there's nothing that seems out of the ordinary to him, we should just let the matter slide. There's no need to risk causing hysteria when there's nothing wrong."

Po nodded in agreement. "I can roll with that." He let out a small yawn and added, "Well, I'm beat. Wanna' head back to bed?"

"Gladly. I was only up because that fiend decided to pay me a late night visit."

The two warriors walked to the front of the training hall, a large burden now off of Tigress' shoulders. As Po opened the door, she turned to him with a quizzical look and asked, "Po, why exactly are you up? You never train at night."

Po turned a dark shade of red. "Um...I couldn't sleep," he stammered. "And, you know, I here voices...so I thought I'd check it out. 'Cuz, you know, strange voices in the middle of the night is kind of suspicious."

Tigress frowned at him. "You're lying to me," she stated.

"Wha-no I'm not! I'm-!"

"Po you've lived here long enough to be a good friend of mine. I can tell when you're lying or hiding something from me."

By this point, the two had crossed the training grounds in front of the training hall and had just reached the heavy wooden doors at the other end. Po went to open the doors and start defending himself to Tigress, only for the door to suddenly open and clunk him upside the head.

"OWW!" Po cried.

"Oh, my apologies, Dragon Warrior," Shifu said as he stepped into the frame of the gates. "I didn't see you there."

"Uh huh," Po muttered to himself, internally rolling his eyes.

"What brings you out here so late, master?" Tigress asked.

"I was in the middle of my meditation when there was a sudden blast of golden light that filled every inch of these grounds," Shifu explained. "Naturally I was concerned, so I decided to make sure everything was okay."

Still rubbing his head, Po quickly told him, "Yeah, so apparently Tai Lung survived the Wuxi Finger and started following Tigress around, but I Wuxi Fingered him again, so everything's fine."

Shifu turned to look at Tigress. "He was stalking you?" he repeated.

"I didn't notice until just a short while earlier," Tigress explained. "I woke up to him standing at the foot of my bed!"

Master Shifu frowned in thought. "Hmm...that's certainly strange," he noted. He looked back up at Tigress. "How did he appear?" he asked. "Was he carrying any weapons?"

"No, he was just leaning against the wall at the foot of my bed."

Shifu thought about that for a second before looking back over at Po. "Well, thank you for taking care of him, Dragon Warrior," he said. "I don't know how he came back, but my mind is at ease knowing that you have everything under control."

He then turned and walked away, leaving Tigress and Po alone. Po finished rubbing his head and told Tigress, "Well, I guess we should get some sleep then."  He began to walk out of the training grounds only to be interrupted.

"What if he comes back?" Tigress wondered out loud, a trace of worry hidden in her voice. "We don't know how he survived the first time. What if he survives again?"

"Then we'll be ready for him," Po promised, giving her a confident smile. "If he thinks we're tough now, he'll be in for a surprise if ever he tries again."

Tigress chuckled lightly at the enthusiasm. "I suppose that's a little reassuring," she told Po. "Though maybe a good plan of action would also be effective?"

"Awesome! But maybe we can work on that in the morning. Dealing with night villains returning from the grave kinda' zapped all my energy."

Tigress rolled her eyes with an amused smirk and followed Po back to the barracks.

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九- Tai Lung survives

十- Tai Lung doesn't survive