Cloudless Authors

Chapter H

Tigress propped herself and winced when a sharp pain went through her head. "I'd like to head home," she said. "But I'll go alone."

Tai Lung gave her a strange look. "Alone?" he repeated. "With your injury?"

"I've walked away with worse pains. This is nothing."

"I'm sure you've had worse injuries, Master Tigress, but I think it's ill-advised for you to try and venture back out into a bandit-infested with those said injuries."

Tigress groaned and rolled her eyes, but she said nothing in response.

"Plus I have to go back that way anyway, so I could knock out two opponents with one kick and escort you there."

Tigress gave the snow leopard a look that could kill. "I don't need an escort to get back to the Jade Palace!" she snapped. "And I especially don't need that kind of help from you, you monster!"

Tai Lung gave her a look of fake surprise. "A monster?" he replied. "Now that's just a smidge hash, don't you think? I kind of preferred it when you called me a fiend. That at least acknowledges that I'm a good person deep down."

Tigress growled at him and slowly got to her feet. "Good? You?"she snarled. "You destroyed the valley, nearly killed many of the villagers, injured Shifu, tried to steal the Dragon Scroll when you were clearly told it wasn't for you, you killed most of the guards under the Anvil of Heaven, you injured my friends, almost killed Shifu, and tried to hurt Po! You are beyond the exact opposite of a good person!"

Tai Lung shook his head. "You're making those sound so much worse than they were," he commented. "I did not destroy the valley, I just ruined the property of the people who annoyed me. I wanted to claim something and prove Oogway wrong, and I wasn't trying to injure Shifu; he jumped at me and then didn't engage, so my attack was more potent than it would have been. The guards under the Anvil of Heaven tortured me, so they got what was coming to them, I didn't injure you, I paralyzed you...big difference...and I was not trying to kill Shifu. Just hit him really hard in the face. I don't intentionally murder people."

"Oh give me a break!" Tigress snarled. "I've never heard someone make up so many excuses in my life!"

As she slowly walked over to the door of the dark building, Tai Lung called out after her, "And I wasn't trying to hurt the Dragon Warrior! I was just trying to get to the scroll. If anyone got hurt it was me!"

"And rightfully so!" Tigress growled. She stepped out of the building and slammed the door behind her. She winced a bit as the noise drummed up more of her headache, but then she continued forward and made her way towards the Jade Palace. Though her headache did bother her a bit, the master felt well enough to push on through the forest. She did make sure to keep an ear out for anymore trouble, such as bandits. After walking for what felt like forever, Tigress finally reached the edge of the valley and picked up the pace a little bit. She made her way over to the stairs, stopped for a second to rest her head, and then slowly began the long trek up to the top of the Jade Palace.

Tigress stopped every couple of flights in order to rest her head. After she got halfway up though, the pain began to subside. And by the time she reached the top, she felt perfectly fine. The master walked inside and crossed to the second set of stairs that led to the Sacred Hall of Warriors. She hadn't really been sure about how to handle this menace, but she had been given ample time to process everything that had happened and now had a much better idea about what to do next. Tigress quickly made her way up to the grand building and knocked firmly on the large wooden door.

"Yes?" came Shifu's voice from inside.

Tigress opened the door and walked to the center of the room. Shifu was busy meditating by the moon pool, but turned around in surprise when he heard her walk in.