Strength In Unity

Chapter 3: Helping Paws

Morning came into the valley quietly and with little notice. Mostly because of the two wolves were slightly late on their journey with the dragon warrior to wake the village with the dawn bell.

"Urgh, Why...must there be that many stairs." Po groaned to himself as they raced down the staircase to the village. The two wolves he'd chosen today would find out how the village operated on a daily basis from morning till night. Getting up the tower stairs, the two wolves leaped up and climbed the tower, the panda looked up at them with a raised brow, "oh sure make me look like I'm taking forever." Once they'd reached the top and moved the beam into position, the bear and two wolves shoved it forward, letting it smack into the large bell, uttering a great sound.

"Good, good. Now everyone's up and ready to get going so lets get back and grab all the others." Po said, the two wolves nodding in agreement.

At the Jade Palace the furious five had begun their training in the hall, each using their unique skills to glide through each obstacle. Tigress and Viper had begun a sparing match in the thousand rings of fire, a test of their ability to communicate during time critical moments.

Viper shot into the air right as her tail felt the gentle shake of the gas fuses below her as Tigress flipped backwards before the fire erupted. In her landing, the serpent twisted quickly stiffening her entire body in a swing motion, catching Tigress in the chest, knocking her back. The feline replied with a a spin, momentarily distracting the vipress as she swooped low and scooped the snake into the air, turning to kick her back from the fire.

"So, do you think Po's gone mad?" Viper asked Tigress as they fought, the feline kept her focus on the snake's eyes, keeping her on track with every action.

"Because of his latest idea, no." Hopping several feet in the air, the tigress landed on three paws with one in the air, dodging the fire pit. Viper twirled in midair and came to land on Tigress's shoulder, "Hmm, it just doesn't sound that clear to bring enemies down to our own village in hope they take it sincerely." She said with uncertainty in her voice, Tigress jumped back from the pit and hopped onto the wood floor. "I don't know what his reasons for it are but I don't think he's looney, a little misguided yes but that's it." Viper joined her on the floor, feeling her tail crack as she landed."So you think the villagers are really safe this way?...Tigress?" Viper noticed the feline was currently distracted, Monkey, Crane and Mantis sensed something was off. Looking around the training hall, the tiger noticed a pair of red eyes watching them from behind a beam.

Before he could get more then two feet away, Tigress jumped in front of him and slammed the wolf against the beam.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" She demanded, the wolf had been the young one she'd seen from the previous morning, he cowered in front of the master who kept him pinned against the strong support beam.

"I...I just wanted to see-" Tigress smacked the dog upside the head, "See WHAT!" the wolf yelped and went silent, flinching as he saw her raise her paw again.

"Tigress STOP!" Crane and Viper came beside her. They directed their attention to the intruder, "why aren't you with the others? Where's Po?" The wolf didn't respond, keeping his head down.

"Answer me!" Tigress growled,

"What is going on here?" A voice caused them all to turn to the training room doors where Po and the wolf boss had entered from, approaching the group. Po looked at Tigress and then at the wolf who remained pinned to the beam not moving a muscle. "Tigress can you let him go?" The striped master growled in her throat before releasing the wolf from the wall, Po turned to him, "Now, what are you doing in this part of the palace, yesterday I made it clear only they and I are allowed in this room, why did you come here?" The panda questioned in a soft tone. The wolf raised his head up slightly and looked at his wolf commander and then to the Dragon Warrior. "I wanted to watch them train." He said meeting Po's eyes, the panda was slightly taken back by this, the wolf boss's eye stayed on the pack member and then turned to Po, "Sorry, hes always been a bit curious about every fighting method, go with you're brothers I'll tend to you later he said, patting the boy on the shoulder. The young wolf walked out of the room without another word, his tail drooping slightly. Tigress unclenched her muscles as she huffed a sigh and looked at Po, "We can't have them in here Po, you know that." The panda sighed and nodded, turning to the wolf boss, "It is true, one part of the agreement is we can't let you watch us train, you can understand why." Groaning the wolf boss flexed his eyebrow as a sign of acknowledgement. With that Po looked over to the Five, "We need to take them down to the village and Shifu wants me to have each of you with two, is that okay?" Viper and Crane tilted their heads at this request but then looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.