Cloudless Authors

Chapter 二十三

Tai Lung had the sudden urge to go after Shen and knock him into next week. However, he ignored the bubbling anger within him and turned his attention to the injured Po. 

"Are you okay, Dragon Warrior?" he asked.

Po breathed sharply and looked at his fingers. They were fortunately still in tact, but the blade had sliced deep enough to do damage to his bones. Po was in too much pain to speak about his fingers possibly being broken as well as the fact that he could feel them going tingly and he was scared he wouldn't be able to use them again. But he didn't really need to say anything since his expression spoke volumes. 

The other masters were quick to reach him and look over at his injuries. Tai Lung walked over to Mantis and Tigress and helped the latter to her feet the best he could. He could tell her arm was still in pain, but she gave him a smile and a thanks and went to check on Po. Mantis walked over after readjusting from nearly getting squished to check on both his injured friends. They both looked pretty bad, though Po soon felt Tigress probably got the brunt of the attack.

"I'm...trying not to complain," he winced weakly. "I could have lost my fingers. And...I'm pretty sure Tigress got stabbed. But this really hurts."

"It looks like he sliced through some of the bone," Mantis confirmed. "Not all of it obviously, but that doesn't mean it's not painful. 

Tigress nodded. "It hurts less if you don't mo-ahhh!" 

Mantis gritted his teeth. "Sorry," he apologized. "I have to look at it." 

He tried to take Tigress' arm more gently this time and checked the damage. The wound was deep and had a massive fracture split in the middle. It would probably take about as long as Po's finger to heal if not a bit longer. Shifu had walked over to hold the master's paw during the examination and afterward determined that her and Po needed to rest.

"I'll go down to the village and grab the doctor," he added. "Mantis, if you could-" 

Loud crashing and screaming interrupted him and the masters all made their way out of the training hall. Crane flew ahead to see what on earth was going on. By the time the masters made it out of the training area, down the sloping path, and to the main gates of the palace, Crane had returned with grim news.

"Shen has cannons lined up all over the valley," he quickly explained, hovering in mid-air. "I don't know where he is, but houses are getting blasted left and right and I'm worried someone will get hurt!" 

He quickly flew back down to help the villagers while Shifu quickly tried to delegate tasks to his students. 

"Tigress, you stay here and rest your injuries. Po too. We'll try to evacuate as many people as we can and-"

"Po and I are helping," Tigress interrupted.

Shifu gave her a blank stare. "I beg your pardon?" he said.

"You'll need every paw you can. It's not like we've never worked injured before."

"Yes, but we know that Shen is incredibly dangerous. The last thing I want is for you to get killed!" 

"And Po?"

Yes yes. And Po. You need to stay up here where you'll be safer." 

Tigress bent down to her master's level and gently squeezed his arm. "We'll be careful. I promise," she assured him.

"We'll stay out of sight and try to keep to the edge of the valley," Po added with a little wince. "That way Shen doesn't block the way out." 

Shifu sighed. "Alright, that's fine," he conceded.