Cloudless Authors

Chapter i

Tai Lung moved into a defensive kung fu stance as Po walked around the perimeter of the training hall. 

"It must have been pretty humiliating to get your butt kicked by a big fat panda," Po goaded, keeping his eye on the former master. "You really want to relive that?"

"Not really," Tai Lung admitted. "But you're really tempting me with the idea of an exhilarating kung fu match. I just would like to live afterwards if that's alright." 

"You're making a lot of demands for a guy deserving of death."

"You forget that you've already Wuxi Fingered me, Dragon Warrior. And I haven't done anything besides scare your girlfriend over here." 

Tigress rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated growl. "We're not dating!" she snapped. 

Tai Lung glanced at her in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "You didn't rush to date him the second you found out he was the almighty Dragon Warrior?"

"Actually, she tried to beat me up the first few weeks I was here," Po informed him.

Tai Lung laughed. "I could see that," he admitted. He looked back at Tigress and added, "Sounds like you enjoy being the dominant one. I'm assuming I'm not your type then?" 

Tigress' response to that was to try and slap the snow leopard in the face. However, Tai Lung caught her wrist and smirked. "I'll take that as a 'no'," he said. 

"Let go of her, Tai Lung!" Po demanded. "This is between you and me!" 

Tai Lung shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said. He tightened his grip on Tigress and yanked her over to him, spinning around quickly in order to toss her over at Po. The Dragon Warrior let out a cry of surprise as his friend came sailing at him and knocked him back into the wall. 

"Stop him!" Crane ordered as he flew into a charge. 

"Wait!" Master Shifu ordered, but the remaining members of the Furious Five had already moved into an attack formation towards the snow leopard. 

Tai Lung quickly looked over at the incoming masters and then began to retreat back to trough the alligator limbs. He immediately began rapidly kick the limbs around, keeping a close eye on the masters coming right at him. After a few seconds, the limbs began to spin so violently that they started flying loose into the air. Tai Lung quickly swiped and kicked at each flying limb so that their flight pattern was redirected towards the masters just a few feet away. Crane, possessing the ability to fly, had zero problem with maneuvering his way around the chaos. Viper had a little more trouble getting through, but she soon joined Crane in going after Tai Lung. Mantis was able to get by some of the flying debris, but the size and rapid approach of each piece soon stopped him and had him focus more on not getting hit. 

Monkey had avoided the entire commotion by swinging on the rafters above, keeping him out of the way of most of the alligator limbs. When Tai Lung was in range, he jumped down from the beams and delivered a kick to the snow leopard's shoulder and then bounced backwards to get out of range. Tai Lung stumbled forward a bit, but regained his footing and braced himself for the next round of attacks. He saw a flash of green come towards his face and moved his paw out to catch it. Caught off guard, Viper found herself in a tight grip before being thrown violently upwards towards Crane. The two became wildly entangled before crashing to the ground in a painful heap. 

Tai Lung caught sight of Po and Tigress returning from the side of the training hall and proceeded to make his way over to the talon rings. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Master Shifu coming around the side of the training hall armed with a long staff with a golden band wrapped tightly around it. Tai Lung felt that he had seen it the staff somewhere before, but he didn't really have any time to think about it. He leaped as high as he could and grabbed onto the rings and began to swing himself around. As Crane approached him, he flipped into the air and kicked the avian mid-flight down to the floor of the training hall. Crane nearly crashed into Shifu, but the grandmaster was faster and managed to avoid getting caught in a dog pile. 

Po and Tigress watched as Tai Lung began to fall back down from his attack and quickly moved into a new offense position. Po skidded to a halt and cupped his paws together, allowing his friend to spring over him and fly at Tai Lung. Tigress whirled her body around and delivered an iron kick to the snow leopard's backside. Tai Lung let out a cry of surprise as he rocketed down in a different direction, but he was quick to land firmly on on his paws and slide himself upright. He then turned around to intercept the staff Shifu was wielding and then blocked a series of rapid kicks and more staff swings. He then heard footsteps approaching from behind and bent backwards, just narrowly avoiding Tigress' fist. Before Tigress could even comprehend what was happening, Tai Lung had propelled himself back back up and gave her a double nerve-strike: one strike to freeze her and the second to unfreeze her. As he delivered the second strike, he forced the master into the air, allowing him to flip mid-air and kick Po twice in the chin. He then slam-kicked the stunned Tigress into Shifu, sending them ramming into the wall. 

Tai Lung landed on his feet and turned back to attack Po who was quickly recovering from the double-footed uppercut. He kicked the Dragon Warrior hard in the stomach, causing him to double over for a second, but he recovered enough to catch Tai Lung's punch. Tai Lung was surprised, but had no time to react as Po belly bumped him over to the Jade Tortoise. The snow leopard quickly got to his feet and rushed forward to resume the fight. Po caught each blow and delivered a few nast ones himself. Knowing the capabilities of the Dragon Warrior though, Tai Lung finally landed a nasty hit on Po's face. Po let out a cry of agony as Tai Lung's claws left stinging marks on his cheek and the side of his head. Tai Lung clawed him again but along the bottom of his jaw. Po cried out in pain again and Tai Lung took advantage of the distraction and kicked him away. He then turned around to get out of the training hall only to hear a loud THUMP! nearby. Tai Lung whipped his head towards the noise only to be greeted by the spinning Jade Tortoise. The bowl rammed into him, dragging him across the floor and nearly squishing him flat. Tai Lung felt most of his air escape him before the bowl's weight was lifted off and he was greeted by the spinning alligator limbs. The snow leopard helplessly was tossed around the field in a vehement fashion, feeling nasty stings and searing pains forming on his body. He was finally spat back out of the field, tired, sore, and in excruciating pain. As he tried to regain his strength, he heard Shifu cry out, "LOOK OUT!"

Tai Lung, though feeling weak, managed to curl himself up into a ball as the other masters screamed fearfully and he felt the Jade Bowl whiz past him. Po let out a scream as well and sudden crunching and crashing could be heard. Then silence. Then: "PO!"

Tai Lung lifted up his head and managed to lift up his upper body. He was greeted by the very messy training hall, torn to shreds by the bowl which was nestled by the door. A large pile of rubble was in front of it, not far from the alligator limbs, which contained a very exhausted and battered Dragon Warrior. Just above his head was a swinging club which was attached to a broken beam, ready to fall down at the slightest breath. 

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十七- Tai Lung helps Po

十八- Po is killed