The Countdown

What will never be

Tigress stood in the hallway of the Jade Palace, the wind outside creaking the boards of the barracks. The master slowly walked down the hallway, trying to find her friends. Everyone's room was opened wide, showing nothing but empty space inside.

"Hello?" she called out. "Po? Viper? Mantis? Crane? Monkey? Shifu?"

There was no answer.

"Anyone?!"

She still heard nothing. Thinking that they might have been in the kitchen, the master headed outside, the morning sun blinding her briefly as she hadn't been out in a while. The tigress headed to the kitchen, hoping to see her friends and master sitting in there eating. However, she wasn't greeted by any pleasant aromas and the empty kitchen did nothing to help ease the hard knot in her stomach.

"Hello?" she called out. "Guys? Where a-"

The master was interrupted when a red ball of fire flew threw the kitchen, knocking her against the wall and destroying the entire kitchen. She groaned and opened her eyes, seeing nothing but red flames surrounding her and the Jade Palace which was now darkened with smoky black clouds and an inky black night sky. A chilling cackle from Lord Shen off in the distance was enough to cause her to look up and barely manage to roll out of the way of another incoming cannonball.

"So many colors from a beautiful weapon of destruction," she heard the peacock cackle as she struggled to get to her feet. "And you all shall soon join together in it's beauty."

Another blast went off, flying by the master and barely missing her head. Another went off and flew into her chest sending a wave of agonizing pain throughout her body. She crashed to the ground with a scream of pain. Tigress glanced up and saw her friends heading towards a looming shadow, Shen's, each one getting hit with a flaming cannon that fired from nowhere.
No! she thought in alarm. Stop! She tried to stand, but her ribcage cracked and sent more waves of pain through her, forcing her back onto the ground.

"Shen!" came a familiar voice.

Tigress froze in panic. PO! she thought.

Shen started to laugh maniacally, a spark igniting where his shadow was. "PO!" Tigress screamed. She tried to get up and help him, but she was unable to move.

"Po, get away from him!" she screamed again.

"I have to face him!" Po called back. "Its the only way to save you all!"

Tigress lifted up her head, barely catching a glimps of her friend as he stood bravely in front of Shen, ready to fight to the death. Shen cackled maliciously and the cannon fired. Tigress gasped as The Dragon Warrior was blasted back into an empty blackness, vanishing in a firey trail.

"PO!" she screamed.

Shen's shadow loomed closer to her, preparing to finish her off as the final victim. "Such a shame," Shen mocked. "I had so much fun trying to kill him. Now, though, I shall make you as beautiful as the fire I set to China."

"No!" Tigress cried, making an unsuccessful attempt to move. "No, leave me alone! Please!"

She felt an icy claw wrap around her throat, cutting off her supply of air. The master saw a spark within the shadow and saw a blackened fireball come flying at her.

"NOOOOO!!!!!"

"Tigress?" Shifu said, trying to wake the shaking master. "Tigress?"

The master woke with a start, breathing heavilly.

"Tigress?" the red panda asked worridly. "Are you okay?"

Tigress nodded and tried to calm down, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. "Are the others up?" she asked.

"Yes, I just sent them to the training hall. I wanted to talk to you for a second, although when I came in here, you seemed to not be having the best sleep."

"No?" Tigress asked.

"You were tossing and turning and we heard you muttering 'no' quite a few times in your sleep."

Tigress bit her lip, trying to push her nightmare out of her head.

"Was it about the fight in Gongmen City?" Shifu asked.

"Sort of," Tigress admitted. "Just..."

Tigress wasn't quite sure how to go about explaining her worries to Shifu. She wasn't much of an open person, having shoved all of her emotions under the surface minus her occasional frustration or anger in the past. This being the case, she wasn't one to willingly discuss her troubles, get upset, or even have nightmares. (And when she ever did get nightmares, she'd make sure that no one ever asked or brought it up). As of now, she wasn't quite sure how Shifu would react to her relating her nightmare, since it wasn't something she normally discussed.

"Just what?" Shifu asked, snapping the master out of her thoughts.

"W-well,"Tigress began. "W-we were fighting Shen, but...we were fighting him here, and not in Gongmen City." She swallowed nervously. "And...we...w-we..."

"Lost to him?" Shifu finished.

Startled, Tigress nodded.

Shifu thought about it for a second. "It seems to me you're afraid of something," he said after a second. He looked at her sternly. "What happened to you in the dream?" he asked.

"I...I got hit with the cannonball," the master answered shakily, her pulse starting to calm down. "And I got hit so hard that I couldn't do anything."

Shifu gently put a paw on her shaking hand so as to help her calm down from the dream. "It seems to me that you're afraid of letting us all down," he told her. "I can imagine it was from the battle with Shen."

Tigress sighed. "When we went to try and stop Shen in the factory," she told her master. "Po came in and faced off against him even though I told him to stay in Gongmen Jail so that he didn't get hurt. During their fight, Shen lit one of his cannons and fires it at Po. I-I-I tried to save him but..." She let out a pained sigh. "I was too slow," she finished.

"But Po lived."

"Fortunately. But what if he hadn't? I could have caused the end of China because of it!"

Shifu smiled at her. "Tigress," he said gently. "Listen to me carefully. It wasn't your fault that you were unable to get Po in time. Sometimes things occur that are beyond our control. The point is that you did what you could to help take down Lord Shen. And you saved him from major injuries when Shen attempted to kill him in the harbor."

"But what happens if I can't fight again? What if something happens and I can't save anyone because I was too slow or weak or unable to perform kung fu?!"

"That will never be the case," Shifu assured her. "In times of distress, there will always be someone to help save the day, whether that's you, Po, or one of the five."

Shifu squeezed her paw. "Just know this, Tigress," he added. "You are a very dedicated master and I know that you always do your best to protect China. You've never turned your back on anyone and have always upheld your honor, and I couldn't be prouder of you for it. Sometimes though, we all fall down or get a little weak from time to time. In cases like that, it's alright to rely on others for help. I know how you must have felt, seeing your own teammate being hurt and you were unable to stop it. But never give up hope. As we've seen with our fight against Shen, nothing is impossible. And I don't want you to forget that, okay?"

Tigress smiled and nodded. "I won't forget it, Master Shifu," she promised.

"Very good. Now why don't you come and join us in the training hall after breakfast? I know that you can't do kung fu, but perhaps you can help me critique today's sparring."

"I'd like that," the master replied and with that, she followed Shifu out where she could, at long last, walk around the Jade Palace.