The Countdown

Beaten by the Bell

As dawn began to approach the Valley of Peace, Tigress started tossing and turning, waking up with a cry of pain when one of her broken ribs struck her chest. The master groaned and rubbed her eyes. On top of not being able to move from her bed, she hadn't been sleeping well. Two more weeks of this, she thought to herself, and I'll be so tired that one of the village kids can knock me over. She sat up straight, trying to not hurt herself even more than she already had, and glanced out the window. The gong wouldn't be going off for another hour or so, meaning that it would be even longer before one of the masters woke up. She decided to listen for Po since he had been getting up first for the past few days to help his dad. She didn't want to use the bell so early in the morning since everyone else was still asleep. Besides, she had every intention of using the bell mostly on Po since he was the only one out of all of them who had it sworn off as an enemy.

Serves him right for falling ontop of Shifu, she thought to herself. She decided that if she was truly to be bed-ridden for two weeks, she might as well make the most of it. A small grin curled up on her face as she thought about how much fun she was going to have with her new toy. The master almost laughed out loud as she pondered over how much Shifu would be regretting giving her the bell in the first place. I'll be lucky if he doesn't take it from me, she thought to herself. As she layed in bed waiting, she heard the familiar creak of the floorboard from Po getting up and about to go help Mr. Ping.

"Po," Tigress called over gently.

The creaking stopped for a moment and then the door opened wide to reveal the surprised panda.

"You're up early," he remarked. "Chest bothering you again?"

"When doesn't it?" Tigress muttered. "I haven't slept well since we left Gongmen City."

"Well, all of the long days ahead will be worth it when you're fully healed instead of partially healed," Po assured her with a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure it will," Tigress said. "I hate it, but it'll help." She stretched her arms, adding, "Since I was up and you were up and about, I was wondering if you might possibly bring me one of the crossbows from the training hall."

Po eyed her. "A crossbow?" he repeated sternly. "I thought Shifu said no kung fu."

"Well, he didn't say no crossbow practicing."

"Why do you want a crossbow? I hope you're not planning to shoot at anybody."

"It's for entertainment purposes," Tigress answered simply. "When one of them gets up, I expect more kung fu demonstrations otherwise I'll start using it."

Po did a double-take. "You're going to get our attention by shooting arrows at our heads?!" he exclaimed.

"I'll be aiming for the apple," Tigress assured him. "Not their head."

Po blinked, trying not to think about what would happen if she missed. "Um..." he said slowly. "Sure. I'll be ri-SHIFU!"

Monkey and Viper shushed him from inside his room as Crane called out,"I know! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Stop yelling and go to bed!" Mantis called over.

"Not necessary. I just yelled at them."

"Would you go back to bed?!"

"Would you two stop shouting?!" Monkey snapped back sleepily.

"You're not involved. Go to bed!" Crane told him.

"I can't if you're yelling half-way across the barracks!"

"Would you guys knock it off?" Viper asked.