The Countdown

My daughter, my father

Tigress sat in front of the Sacred Peach Tree, trying her best to meditate. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her and it wasn't settling well in her stomach. Her kung fu had improved over the course of two weeks and she was back into action with her kung fu skills. They may have been slightly rusty in an area or two, but nothing to cause much alarm. However, the nightmares of Gongmen City still plagued her every other day no matter how much she tried to avoid thinking about it and now, on top of it all, she was getting heavy eye and a dizzying head illness.

Something's wrong, she told herself again. But what is it?

She leaned back against the tree, trying to meditate and get herself back into balance again. The master took in a deep breath, allowing the scent of the blossoms to relax her as she sat amongst them. The sun began to slip down the longer that she sat there, casting a shadow around the peach tree. Tigress felt the shadow cast over her, her mind flickering back to the nightmarish vision of being helpless during Shen's attack.......

Lord Shen fired a cannon at the bridge as the people who were on it quickly evacuated for fear of being killed while on there. Tigress looked at the scene in horror, anger rising in her chest. She turned back towards Shen, screaming, "You coward!"

She could see Shen smirking in triumph and she struggled to break free of her chains, although she knew that she wouldn't be able to do so. I can't let Po die in vain! she thought in disbelief. She wasn't quite sure what to do, her attempts lessening as she thought about what else she could do to save the people they fought so hard to free. But the harbor was coming close into view and they were running out of time before their ultimate demise was upon them....

"Tigress?"

Startled, Tigress snapped out of the memory, breathing heavily as she tried to remind herself that the trials of that fight were far away. She turned her attention to Master Shifu, who was standing behind her with a concerned look on his face.

"Master Shifu!" she exclaimed in startledness. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long," Shifu assured her. "I just came by to invite you inside for dinner."

"Oh," Tigress said flatly. "Alright."

"Is everything okay?" the master asked her. "You look disturbed."

"I'm fine," Tigress lied, standing up. "I'm just trying to meditate."

As she began to walk away, Shifu called over to her, "You've had another vision of our fight with Shen, haven't you?"

Tigress froze, trying to keep another memory of the evil peacock out of her head.

"Tigress?"

"Yes, but I'm perfectly fine," Tigress told him.

She headed towards the kitchen quickly so as to focus on something else besides the bad memories. Master Shifu let out a small sigh and followed after her so as to grab some food. He had noticed lately that she hadn't been acting like herself and it mad him a little bit worried. During her training, she was normally very focused and let nothing get in the way of a victory unless of course Po happened to focus and dominated the round. For the past few weeks however, especially the last few days, she hadn't been completely with the group. She seemed very dazed, she still frequently had flashbacks and nightmares of the battle in Gongmen City, and she would try to keep things to herself every once in a while despite having become more open in the past few years.

As they walked into the kitchen and grabbed their food, Shifu thought about how much she had changed over time. He knew that none of that was thanks to him however. He hadn't done too much to help her develop good people skills. I am the worst parent, he couldn't help but think to himself. First, he overpraised a child which led to rebellion. Then, he under-praised a child which led to hard-core mental isolation. He took some slow bites of his soup, thinking about Tigress in the orphanage. Even though he was still raw from Tai Lung's rebellion, he didn't want to leave her alone in the orphanage. The day that the parents came to adopt a child, he had stayed back a little bit in order to make sure that she got a family. When the parents still didn't want her, he had decided to take her home with him instead. He could see that she was upset and he had wanted to give her a good home where he knew that she would be taken care of. Her first few days at the Jade Palace weren't all that bad. She was quick to adjust to the large grounds, took a strong liking to Oogway upon first greetings, and became immediately interested in kung fu the moment that she saw the training hall. Shifu had no problem helping her to adjust into the kung fu art, although he was a little bit shaken up from Tai Lung's recent betrayal. After a few days of adjusting into the Jade Palace and learning some beginning kung fu moves, Shifu grew afraid that Tigress would turn into another Tai Lung if he praised her as much as he had praised him. So, he therefore cut off all praise from their sessions in the hope that she wouldn't develop any self-destructive pride.