Two hours had passed before the warriors decided to check up on Tigress. Crane had painted a lotus flower at the edge of the town and was letting it dry in the bedroom inn. Viper had gone on a little shopping-spree and came back with purple and red colored dance ribbons. Monkey and Mantis decided to play a few pranks on the villagers which they didn't take well. Po went around the village looking for any food he could try.
When they returned to the room, Tigress was started to wake up. The masters approached her as she tried to sit up. "How are you feeling?" Viper asked her.
"Better than before, at the least." Tigress replied. "Anything happen while I was here?"
"Nothing much really." Crane admitted. "We just hung out in the village and Master Shifu is meditating. Again."
"We'll hit the road in the morning." Monkey said, informing Tigress of their plans. Tigress nodded, with not that much expression on her face.
"So...What happened then?" Mantis finally said.
"What?" Tigress snapped out of her thoughts.
"You know. What happened when you were back at that castle place? The place where you knocked-out for like the fourth time in a row?"
"Oh...That..." Tigress sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I just heard some sort of roar. And before I passed-out, again, I saw a shadow flying at me."
"Maybe Master Shifu will understand what happened." Po suggested.
"Yeah, he should be back soon. I'll go get him." Crane agreed.
"No, stop." Tigress said before Crane could leave. He looked at her questioningly. Tigress sighed again. "I don't want to worry him like I seemed to have before. He was already worried that I'd turn my back on him. This will just be adding more fire. Besides, I'm sure this is nothing." The others looked at her unconvinced, but decided to forget it.
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Nighttime came once again. Everybody was asleep and the village was quiet. The masters had bought an extra bedroom so that there was more space for them to sleep in. In one room was Tigress, Po, Viper and Mantis. The other was being occupied by Master Shifu, Monkey and Crane. Everyone was peaceful...at least, almost everyone.
Tigress was tossing and turning in her bed as she tried to find a comfortable spot to sleep in. Something about her own presence felt...off. She eventually gave up on sleeping and sat up on her bed, looking out the open window. The moon gave a dim light, along with the stars which made everything look mysterious and dark. The sun wouldn't be up until much later.
Tigress sighed softly as she started to feel dizzy. Tigress tired to back down to rest her head, but the nausea she felt was starting to turn into slight pain. So then, Tigress quickly closed her eyes inn effort to make the pain stop. It didn't work.
The master groaned in agony as the pain got even worse. This made her temporary roommates wake up. They glanced at Tigress who was holding her head painfully. They rushed over to her in panic. "Viper, get the others!" Po told her. Viper then slithered into the other room hurriedly. Mantis got an ice-pack for Tigress' head as Po tried whatever he could to help. There was really not much that could be done.
Tigress groaned even more, but she forced herself to sit up. The pain in her head made her nauseous and her sight was getting darker. As hard as she tried, her vision blacked-out. She didn't feel like she was asleep though.
She felt as if someone pulled a blindfold over her eyes and took control of her own body. She didn't know what happened next. She just remembered people's voices as she felt herself jumping, running and fighting. She couldn't see, or remember seeing, a single thing. She sighed as she finally stopped resisting.
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Tigress' eyes opened slightly as she finally had control over her own body, for what seemed to be forever. She prevented a gasp as she realized that she was tied to a chair with metal chains. Her arms were tied as well as her legs, but there was also a piece of tape over her mouth, stopping her from speaking.
She had been placed under a single light coming from a high roof, making her surroundings impossible to see. She sighed as she helplessly tried to break free. 'What in the name of kung fu is going on?!' She thought to herself.
Suddenly, there was another light pointing in Tigress direction, making her squint and close her eyes. Then there was Master Shifu and the other masters. Tigress' eyes grew wide as she saw her friends. Shifu approached her and pulled the tape off her mouth. "What's going on?! She asked immediately.
"You are in this place for reasons I am sure you know of." Master Shifu sighed sadly. "We're in Chorh Gom, Tigress-"
"What am I doing here? Why am I being tied up like a criminal?!" No one answered her so she started getting angry. "Why am I here?! What happened?!"
"You seriously don't remember?" Po asked her.
"Remember what exactly?" Tigress asked, obviously confused. This made the others confused as well.
"So, burning the inn down, stealing stuff from the village and attacking us? You don't remember ANY of that?" Crane asked Tigress in pure confusion.
Tigress frowned and shook her head. "I-I did that?" She asked, frightened of even herself now.
Everyone nodded. Tigress now realized all the injuries they had on themselves. Cuts and gashes, to black eyes and injured limbs. Shifu looked at her like he was debating on what to think of her now.
"Mantis managed to knock you out on the pressure point before you set fire to another building. It's been a day since then. The villagers weren't happy at all. I was... I really thought you were turning...evil. The way you were acting...I've never even seen bandits act like that before. I...I didn't want to believe it, but you made it seem so real. Now..I'm not so sure what to think anymore."
With that, everyone just stayed there, silence filling the atmosphere. Tigress hung her head frustration. She thought to herself, 'What's happening to me?' She looked up a little to see her friends and master. Though it was vague, Tigress managed to make out a look of fear on their faces, minus her master of course.
She also noticed that they had shifted back a little bit, further away from her. Tigress then growled and managed to force the chains off of her wrists. She broke the chains on her ankles and stood up.
Everyone's eyes grew wide, as those chains were the strongest in the whole of China, and for such a young kung fu master to break them for the first time in history, everyone quietly backed away. Tigress' face fell as she noticed, though her master stayed glued to the spot with his neutral face. She stared at them upset that her own friends were afraid of her.
Without warning, the tiger pounced at the jail door and tried to make her way out. Though, when she was only a meter away from the door, someone's paw landed on her shoulder making her stop. It was Po. Tigress growled at him.
"What are you doing?!" She hissed at him. Po made her stand up and face him.
"Tigress, you can't just leave. Whatever happened before...Well, we don't know. But what we DO know, is that we want to you stay with us." Tigress just faced him and looked at him like he was crazy.
"Po..." She started. "How can you say that you still want me to stay?! I tried to kill you! I set an entire building on fire! I-"
" I know that wasn't you!" Po told her. "We all do! The Tigress we all know would never act that way. Even if your life depended on it! We're going to fix whatever's going on. Right guys?" Po turned to his master and his friends.
Reluctantly but surely, they all nodded. Master Shifu approached Tigress and said, "Come. Let us go home. This case shall slide and become a memory in the past, as I very much hope for." With that, the grand master made his way out of the jail. His students following behind closely. Tigress, who was exhausted, was accompanied by Po who was helping her walk.
"Po? Can I ask you a question?" Tigress asked quietly.
"Yeah sure. What is it?" Po replied.
Tigress paused before saying, "Why do you think Master Shifu let this case slide? I..I did so many horrible things recently- not that it was actually me. But... Master Shifu never lets evil slip away this easily."
Po thought about it before answering, "I'm thinking that it's probably because he wants to give you a second chance. A chance to not become another Tai Lung."
Tigress flinched at the mention of Tai Lung, her dear old brother. She still hadn't decided whether to still love him or to hate him. Well, he was gone now, so there was no point in it anymore.
She sighed as Po continued, "Besides, you and Shifu sort of just got into a proper father-daughter relationship. I don't think he'll give all that away for one measly incident." Tigress nodded slowly, though still a little unconvinced.
Back upfront, Master Shifu was thinking, 'If Tigress becomes another Tai Lung, I swear I won't adopt another child!' Shifu sighed inwardly. Why was Tigress acting so...bad, so...evil? Something was up.