Cloudless Authors

Chapter q

Tai Lung made quick work of getting down the slope and was soon walking across the bridge. It wasn't nearly as long as the Thread of Hope, but it would still take him a good ten minutes to get all the way across. 

I wonder if they ever fixed that part of the bridge, Tai Lung thought to himself as the old board swayed and creaked under his feet. Of course, I think that thing's been up for hundreds of years and it took just as long to put all that rope up....Maybe it's still down. He softly chuckled to himself as he looked down at the minuscule trees kilometers beneath his feet. At least they can't blame that on me. I'm not the one who cut it to shreds. 

Tai Lung took in a small breath from the cool night air and continued walking across the bridge. As he continued to sway in the air, he suddenly noticed an increase of creaking behind him. The snow leopard paused on the bridge. The creaking slowly came to a halt. Silence began to refill the night air  as Tai Lung listened for a noise that shouldn't be there. A minute passed by before he heard what sounded like the muffled sound of blades ringing far behind him. Tai Lung felt his heart race a bit as he began to turn around to see who was there. As he did so, a shrill sound cut through the air, getting increasingly louder with every millisecond. Tai Lung ducked just as the blade passed over his head, nearly slicing off the tips of his ears. He heard it land violently behind him, becoming lodged in one of the wooden planks a few feet away. Far in front of him stood a dark cloaked figure wielding two blades from his long sleeves. 

"You're a sneaky thing," it spoke up. "I leave you alone for two milliseconds and you and the red panda are gone."  He chuckled to himself. "I'm surprised you're not carrying him about like a travel sack." 

Tai Lung narrowed his eyes. "So it was you who tried to kill Shifu!" he snapped. 

The dark cloaked figure burst into a wheezy cough. "Oh, you're so simpleton!" he mocked. "Although I suppose that's to be expected."

"I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you." 

"I not underestimate you?!" the cloaked figure exclaimed. "You stand before me over trees on a shoddy bridge. It is I that you must fear!" 

Tai Lung moved into a fighting stance and kept his eyes focused on the figure with an intense fury. "Why don't you come on over here and test that idea for yourself," he challenged. 

"With pleasure!" came the reply, followed immediately by the two blades sent flying expertly at the snow leopard's body.

Tai Lung managed to twist his body sideways, just narrowly avoiding his sides getting completely sliced. One blade flew through the air into the forest below while another sliced through the top rope holding the bridge up. The planks began to teeter dangerously to one side, forcing the snow leopard to move towards the still-intact side to avoid falling off. The figure, however, seemed to have no issues and simply ran across the teetering bridge with yet another set of blades ready to throw into Tai Lung's face. Tai Lung leaped over the side and swung about in order to kick the figure hard in the back, only to be intercepted by a metallic foot that dug into his arm. Before he could even have time to be surprised, the figure tossed him downwards towards the forest below. Gritting his teeth, Tai Lung swung his tail around to catch hold of the rope that hadn't been sliced free, and with an agonizing pain running through all the nerves in his body, he swing himself under the bridge just as a blade whizzed by his head. He was quick to grab onto the underbelly of the boards as the figure mumbled something angrily to himself. 

What is this guy's problem? the snow leopard wondered. He kicked upwards at the boards, launching the figure onto his back with an angry yell of surprise. The snow leopard then swung himself over to kick the boards again, though this time his attacks were narrowly avoided. The dark cloaked figure threw a blade at his chest, but Tai Lung swung out of the way, nearly teetering the bridge vertically, before swinging back up to deliver a nasty kick to the figure's face. However they rolled out of the way and leaped high into the air to avoid him, seeming to float if that was even possible. Tai Lung fell through the boards, but grabbed onto a plank to keep himself from falling down to the ground below. (The trees down there were not very sturdy and housed nasty rocks and rapids, so falling with expertise was not an advised escape idea). 

The snow leopard went to launch himself back into the air, but a sharp stabbing pain in the arm nearly caused him to let go of the bridge. He managed to pull himself back up with his non-injured arm and avoid another blade that came for his legs. Tai Lung watched in pain as the figure landed back on the bridge, their metallic claws (or whatever they were) keeping a firm hold on the planks. They drew two more blades and came at the snow leopard again, forcing him to simply dodge the attacks. He wasn't sure where this seemingly endless supply of blades was coming from, but he didn't like it. The figure whipped around and Tai Lung felt himself being knocked back across the bridge by a sudden gust of wind. His injured arm rammed against the boards which pressed on the blade still lodged through his bone. Tai Lung cried out in pain and carefully cradled his injury. He then quickly leaned against leaned to one side to avoid falling off the bridge. 

"Too predictable," the dark cloaked figure chided. He chuckled and added, "And too easy." 

"Nothing's over yet," Tai Lung mumbled weakly. "You tried to kill Shifu. That's worthy of death. Or at least I'll die trying." 

"You've tried to kill him from what I heard, you cave-dwelling heathen."

"I already served my punishment and learned from my mistakes. Someone needs to do the same to you." 

"With pleasure." 

Before Tai Lung could even react to the new arrival, a dark shadow flew over his head and knocked into the dark cloaked figure. Taken aback, the figure dropped his blades across the bridge. Tigress gave him a lightning quick succession of punches and kicks before knocking him back over to Tai Lung. As she dashed back over, the dark cloaked figure began to reach into his cloak to pull out more weapons to throw at her. Tai Lung gritted his teeth to brace for the pain and then leaned on his bad arm to deliver a powerful kick to to the figure's rib-cage. It wasn't as strong since his bad arm created enough pain to restrict his movements, but the force was enough to cause the figure to trip against the rope bridge with a yell of surprise. Seeing him unbalanced, Tigress reached the figure and struck him in the jaw, sending him over the edge to the jagged world below. Tai Lung breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the bridge. 

"Are you okay?" Tigress asked, bending down with a look of worry on her face. Her eyes trailed over to the blade going through Tai Lung's arm.

Tai Lung winced. "As long as I don't move too much," was his reply. He gritted his teeth and managed to look up at the master. "What are you doing here so late?" he puzzled.

"We heard an explosion and went to see what happened. We found Shifu in bed with burn marks, so I offered to scope around to see who the culprit was."

"Ah. Well, I'm sorry...."  Tai Lung clutched his arm and inhaled in pain for a second before steadying his breath and continuing on. "I'm sorry we keep meeting back up under back circumstances. All I wanted to do was talk, not deal with some explosive-happy assassin."

"It's not your fault," Tigress assured, squeezing his shoulder. "I pride myself on being clear-headed and I let myself be spooked yesterday. That bad meet-up was all on me."   She sighed and then smiled at him.  "Thanks for helping Shifu."  She grabbed his good arm. "Now I'm going to help you."

Tai Lung winced as he was sat up and leaned against her. "Won't the others think this is weird?" he asked her. 

"I'll take care of it." 

Tai Lung smiled at her and the two simply walked on in silence back to the Jade Palace, where everything would soon be on the mend. 

THE END 

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