Cloudless Authors

Chapter 二十

Tigress frowned at the psychotic peacock. "That is by far the emptiest threat I have ever heard," she told him a with a flat voice and condescending look. 

"Oh I wouldn't call it empty," Lord Shen warned. "Mark my words. I know how to deal with that panda."

"Forgive me if I'm not that concerned." 

"You ought to be. Your precious panda won't last two seconds against me. Why not spare him that pain?"

"And hide you out instead? Over my dead body." 

Lord Shen frowned. "If that's how it's going to be then...." he grumbled. He walked over to the master and added condescendingly, "I admire that fighting spirit; truly I do. But you're nothing but a fool." 

Tigress snarled at him, but there wasn't really much she could do. The only thing for either her or Shen to do was wait for somebody to show up. A few minutes passed by. Then  half hour. Fifteen minutes afterwards, heavy wheezing could be heard coming up the stairs. 

"Finally," Lord Shen muttered.

He backed away from the door as the heavy footsteps drew closer and closer. Then Po could be seen walking through the door. He looked super serious, though his wheezing made it hard for Shen to take him seriously.

"A pleasure to see you again, panda," Lord Shen greeted with a smirk. 

"I wish I could say the same," Po wheezed with a frown. "You should have saved yourself the trouble and stayed in Gongmen City." 

"Laying practically dead underneath all that debris? I don't think so. I'd rather lay on a luxurious couch with all the finery there is to offer while your head hangs above my door." 

"You want my head, Shen, you'd better  come and get it," the Dragon Warrior said, getting into a fighting stance. 

"With pleasure," Shen replied with a malicious smirk. "I'll make sure to put you somewhere your bride can easily see you."

Po stopped and blinked in surprise. "Wait, what?!" he asked, but Shen had already started throwing blades at his head. Po quickly ran for his life, avoiding a jab to the back and quickly hiding among the rafters of the high ceiling. Shen laughed and followed. 

"You know," the peacock said, looking around for the panda. "When I first heard that you two were a blissfully wedded couple, I refused to believe it. There's no way it would work out. A vicious tiger and a flabby eccentric panda too kind and stupid when facing off against an opponent." 

"You're lucky I'm no loose or you'd be a dead man walking!" Tigress snapped. 

Lord Shen simply laughed. "You see?!" he cackled. "That's exactly my point! I never would have thought in a million years this would happen. And yet so it is." 

He turned towards one of the pillars with a triumphant smirk. "Isn't that right, panda?" he asked. He launched two blades forward where they sliced the pillar up, revealing Po to be behind it. 

The Dragon Warrior wasted no time evading more bladed maneuvers and threw his full weight at the blood-thirsty peacock. Shen was just as quick though, and slid away from a potential migraine and landed back down on the floor. Then, with his talons, he lit up a small fuse on the floor that connected to all the cannons he had managed to amass during his small window of time. Tigress tried to warn Po, but before she could even open her mouth, all the cannons went off and fired at the wall where Po stood. Shen started to cackle in triumph as the wall began to crumble and debris fell violently to the floor. However, he soon interrupted himself with a sudden gasp as Po emerged and tackled him to the ground. Shen attempted to stab him, but Po was too quick and soon had him pinned with acu-pressure cuffs. He then headed over to Tigress and quickly untied her. Once she was down, the two embraced and shared a kiss. 

"I'm surprised Shen bandaged you up," Po commented as he glanced at the master's injuries. 

"Well I suppose a kidnapping plot wouldn't work well if your victim was dead," Tigress pointed out with a little wince. "I;m just glad it doesn't as bad as it did." 

Po gently kissed her bandaged arm and then pulled her back into a hug. Tigress relaxed in his arms before sighing. "I take it the exploding training hall was your tip off?" she asked. 

"Yeah, it scared the life out of us. We looked around to make sure no one was in there...."  Po paused and took a calming breath. "We found Tai Lung." 

Some silence. "Is he dead?"

"Not yet, but he's in really bad shape. It could be fatal, but we have to wait a few days to see. He did tell us Shen took. It was just a matter of figuring out where you went." 

"Where are the others?"

"Looking in different areas, but they should probably head over here soon. 

"Indeed. And how sad they'll be to learn my secret weapon has worked." 

Tigress and Po looked behind them and saw Shen standing wearily but triumphantly by the wall. The ecstatic look on his face did not make them feel good. "Your true love brought you to this tower," Shen sneered. "And now she'll be your undoing." 

A sudden spark went off behind him and before the two masters could even move, a bright flash flew towards them at lightning speeds. Shen cackled gleefully as the two warriors vanished from view. Such a large weight was now off his chest. Now he could sleep easily and dream of a China ruled under his mighty wing. 

Shen breathed a happy sigh and started to walk out of the room when he heard heavy creaking coming from below. His heart nearly stopped and he ran over to the window expecting to see PO dangling out of one of the windows down below. But to his surprise, he saw absolutely nothing. 

"Must have just been from the leftover debris," he said to himself. He then breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the room, his head held high in triumph.

THE END

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