The Countdown

Night Horrors

Tigress sat down in her bed, relieved to be able to move about once again. She wasn't a fan of staying in bed and being given the royal treatment, so when she was finally able to move around today, she was bounding with joy. (Or she would have been had Shifu and the doctor not told her to take it easy). As she layed down, she heard Viper slither into the room and say, "You seem happy today. I'm assuming it's from getting your freedom back."

Tigress sat up to look at her. "Well, I can't do kung fu," she said, "But close enough." She let out a small laugh. "You know," she added. "I never knew how much I enjoyed walking until today."

Viper giggled. "I could tell you were happy to get out of the barracks," she acknowledged. "Four more weeks, and you can join us in the training hall."

"Then I'll really be enjoying myself."

"I'll bet."

The serpent master yawned. "Well, I'd better head off to bed," she announced. "Just came in to say thanks for the constant critiquing, but you do realize that we're just recovering from a fight, right?"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "You had a week of rest and you've been practicing for four days," the master answered. "You should be pushing yourself a little more."

"Well, we'll let Shifu dictate that one," Viper replied with a grin.

"Fair enough. Goodnight, Viper."

"Goodnight, Tigress."

The master layed down again, blowing out her lantern and going to bed, ecstatic to be able to come and go from her room whenever she pleased now.

Po came into his room about ten minutes later after talking to Master Shifu about focusing on his meditation. (Which was being hindered due to the battle with Lord Shen still lurking at the front of everyone's mind). He let out a yawn and layed down on his bed, squirming around a little bit in order to get into a comfortable position. After a minute, he started to fall asleep alongside his fellow masters.

The air was cold and the night loomed around him with an empty blackness. Echoing laughs filled the air, causing Mantis to shrink back, hitting his back against the steel bars of the iron cage he was in. Starting to panic, the bug tried to feel around for a lock so as to get out, but alas, he could find none. The mocking cackle from the darkness chilled him to the bone and he tried to find another way out. The cage began to rattle and bright streaks flew past him in all directions, startling him. The cannons came closer and closer and closer until one of them ripped through the cage, taking the poor bug along for the ride. Mantis let out a scream of terror as he went sailing through the air and towards a wall, hitting it and blacking out....

Mantis awoke with a cry of terror. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and tried to go back to sleep. Monkey, who had been woken up by his friend, called over, "Are you okay, Mantis?"

"I'm fine," Mantis answered back quietly, trying to not wake anyone else up. He then went back to sleep and hoped that he didn't dream about dying again.

Loud shrieks rang through the master's head as he tried to dodge all of the cannons being fired at him from unknown sources. He tried to fly clear out of the way, but it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't escape the danger. The mountains of safety that loomed beyond seemed unreachable as no matter how hard he flew, he was unable to get there. Pain shot up his wing as another cannon flew past and Crane was horrified to see that his wing was completely damaged. He began to fall down towards the ground, his surroundings blurring as he continued to plummet an an alarmingly fast speed. He tried to fly up but to no avail as his injured wing didn't allow him to catch any air. He then crahed onto the ground with a loud thud, blacking out as his head began to ring louder and louder and louder and louder....