The Lion and the Peacock

The Plan

Tigress lowered herself to the floor of the falling tower. The hackles on the back of her neck rose as another volley of fireballs crashed into the building. She rushed to help Monkey, who had been crushed by Po in their hasty descent to the bottom of the tower,

"Come on, everybody!" She called. The front entrance was wide open! Master Leo Lung, though he was terribly injured from one of Shen's knives, led the way. The lion leapt through the door right as large wooden and metal beams came down across the entry way. Tigress gasped in horror, not knowing if he had been crushed or made it out on the other side.

"We're trapped in here!" Po cried out, his eyes wide and panicked.

But the groaning of the building alerted her that there was no time to lose. With their leader now either dead or alive but gone, Tigress took command. She turned to the team, "Follow me! We need to get out of here!"

Tigress ran up the first flight of stairs and kicked at the wall, easily knocking back the wall and being greeted by the rush of the night air. She felt a twinge of happiness as they made it outside to a balcony. The building began groaning and swaying dangerously. Tigress's eyes widened as she spotted a line of archers on the palace walls. But, looking past the walls, Tigress saw the city. An idea formulated in her head.

Flawlessly catching an arrow aimed right between her eyes, Tigress regrouped with her team, "The only way out is up!" When she was met with nothing but confused glances, she grabbed Po's upper arm and pulled him outside. Using her mighty biceps and triceps, the tiger swung Po upwards. The momentum caused her to fly up with him to the next level of the building.

Monkey, Viper, Crane, and Mantis quickly caught on and began climbing the building with them. The building shook violently and began to topple over. Tigress and Po used each other as momentum to keep throwing themselves upwards story after story. As the building began to fall, the steep angle became more level. Scaling the massive building became easier, "We can run! Run to the top!" Tigress yowled.

As all of the animals neared the top, Tigress growled out an order, "Prepare to jump!" Cannonballs and arrows, both lit with red hot fire, whizzed past her; she could feel the heat. The angle of the building was less than 45 degrees now, and they reached the top of the tower. Tigress bunched her muscles and leapt with all her might.

All six animals, even Po, cleared the outer wall. Arrows flew past them. A rooftop came into view and Tigress placed her paws before her. She landed neatly on the roof and leapt to the next roof over, then down into the street and out of sight.

Mantis, then Crane, then Monkey, then Viper, and lastly Po joined her in the streets. Without waiting for their comment, Tigress began running on all four limbs back towards Gongmen Jail. She thought to herself while running, {If Master Leo is alive, he likely would have met back at the jail to find us.} She shook her head. She had to focus! She motioned for her team to follow her: "This way!"

A loud howl resonated throughout the city. Tigress skidded to a halt just before the jail. She hid behind a corner and listened carefully. The wolves guarding the jail would leave to join the pack rally. Sure enough, the two wolves stationed outside the jail perked their ears up as they heard the loud howl echo off of every wall. After a second, Tigress heard the two canines leap upwards and out of the alley. She smiled and charged into the jail.

The team followed and they regrouped with Croc and Ox- who had not moved from their cells. Master Ox saw them and grabbed the jail bars, "You lot! What did you do? It's chaos up there! What happened to stopping Shen?!" He bellowed.

"Has Master Leo Lung returned?" Tigress asked them calmly. Their silence was their answer. There were no other animals in the jail besides them. Tigress huffed, "He could be any where in the city by now."