Cloudless Authors

Chapter f

Tai Lung quickly rolled out of the way of Po's attack using all the strength he had left. The Opposing Staff of Fear bounced off the Jade Tortoise where his head had been and immediately smacked Po in the face. Po screamed in pain and dropped the staff to the ground as he clutched the wound. Tai Lung couldn't tell how bad he was hurt, but he did know that he couldn't let the powerful panda get in another hit. He quickly reached over to grab the staff, only for Tigress, still laying by the Jade Tortoise, to grab it as well. Tai Lung tightened his grip on the end of the sharp staff and tried his best to ignore the piercing pain in his paw.

"Nice try!" Tigress threatened. She winced and yanked on the staff so as to pull it out of Tai Lung's paws, but the snow leopard held on firm.

"I take it you've never been hit with this thing," Tai Lung guessed. "Meaning you don't know how painful a deliberate hit can be!"

The snow leopard was suddenly knocked past the Jade Tortoise by a painful and yet also plush force. His arm, still connected to the staff, rammed into the side of the bowl and bent the wrong way. Tai Lung let out an anguished cry and immediately dropped the staff. He skidded underneath the talon rings hanging from the ceiling and came to a stop on his back. He went to sit up, immediately clutching his injured wrist but opting out when the pain got worse. He looked past the Jade Tortoise Bowl to see Po and Tigress coming towards him in an aggressive manner. The staff he had dropped was now in Tigress' possession and she was more than eager to wield it as she approached him. Tai Lung scooter backwards and glanced around in an effort to find a way out of his predicament. He had just wanted to make sure Tigress was okay from their encounter, not engage in a showdown between her and the still-fat-but-threatening Dragon Warrior.

Tai Lung's options were pretty limited. Talking was officially out of the question given how quickly things had spiraled downhill. He was out a hand which limited how long he could fight, who he could fight, and how he could fight. And every person within the Jade Palace was his enemy. The only thing that he could really do was defend himself with a weapon, but he wasn't really sure how long he would last being in the same room as the Dragon Warrior.

"You take the right side and I'll take the left!" Po commanded.

He and Tigress crossed over and began to launch an attack on the snow leopard as Po instructed. Tai Lung shielded his injured wrist behind his back and kept a close eye on the masters before rolling forward to get out of the way. Tigress shammed the Opposing Staff of Fear just inches away from him while Po's foot accidentally collided with the other sharp end.

"OWWW!!!" he yelped, clutching his foot.

Tai Lung quickly scrambled to his feet and began to make a run for it, hoping to get to the training hall doors before Po did. Tigress, however, wasted no time darting after him, still wielding the sharp staff in an overly-threatening manner. Taking advantage of Tai Lung's slow start, the master farted ahead of him and skidded in front of the door. Tai Lung stopped short and began to run towards the side so that he could climb out of the building through its open roof. Tigress expertly threw the Opposing Staff of Fear at him, knocking it into his legs and causing him to trip. Tai Lung then fell through the rotating spirals underneath the swinging clubs and crashed hard on the ground. A piercing pain erupted in his shoulder, causing him to let out an agonized cry. Upon hearing him, Tigress darted forward, snatched the sharp staff, and proceeded to move into attack formation.

Tai Lung, meanwhile, has just barely sat up when he saw he master leap at him with the staff. Startled, he quickly pushed himself forward with his good arm and just barely avoided getting hit. Tigress struck at him again from above the spirals, but this time the snow leopard not only dodged the blow, but he also kicked the staff away. Thrown off balance, Tigress nearly fell onto the floor but caught herself in time on the spiral training equipment. Tai Lung watched as the staff came loose in her paws and then immediately pushed himself forward with his good arm to grab it. As he tightened his grip, Tigress got herself refocused and began to yank the staff away. However Tai Lung was still stronger and he tugged right back and pulled the master straight onto the floor.

Tigress fell hard and let go of the Opposing Staff of Fear. Tai Lung was quick to snatch it up and scoot back as fast as his legs could go to avoid the master's eminent wrath. Tigress quickly recovered and longed forward into a somersault kick. Not in the mood to get pummeled, the snow leopard quickly shifted the staff from his good paw to his feet and swung it expertly in the master's direction. Tigress' sandals slammed into the spiked edge of the staff, causing her to cry out in pain and surprise, (mostly surprise), and go flying back a few feet under the spirals. Tai Lung kicked the staff high onto the wooden bars above them to keep the fierce weapon out of reach. He then leaned on his good arm and used his feet to block the incoming attacks from Tigress, who had now recovered from her ricochet and was coming back for round twelve.

While Tai Lung held the master off and simultaneously tried to stay off his bad arm, the Opposing Staff of Fear had successfully hit the wooden beam and held its place, just as Tai Lung had hoped. Unfortunately, the sharp blade had also expertly sliced through some of the chains that were attached to the same beam, causing several of the swinging clubs to come flying down to the spiral beams.

"Tigress look out!!!!" Po cried, having finally adjusted from his second injury to the staff.

His warning came too late, sadly. Before Tigress, or even Tai Lung, could react, the clubs had crashed into the rotating spirals, ripping them loose from the wall and forming a heavy pile almost directly in the center. Tai Lung, who had been trying to get out from the beams to avoid more injuries, just barely managed to escape the rubble, relying on a painful dive to just squeeze by most of the mess. As he managed to get out of the rubble, Po's frantic running immediately told him that Tigress hadn't been so lucky.

Po reached the mess panting, but starting pulling off  on of the fallen clubs without hesitation. Tai Lung got to his feet, taking a second to keep from wobbling about, and then hurried over to help lift off the rest of the rubble. There was some difficulty in doing so as Tai Lung's wrist was still injured (though to what severity he did not know) and some of the spirals and clubs were so heavy he and Po had to work together to hold them up in order to keep them from squishing Tigress. The two eventually found her and got her free from the equipment, albeit unconscious. Tai Lung knelt down next to the Dragon Warrior who was busy laying his head on Tigress' chest.

"Is she alright?" Tai Lung asked.

Po lifted up his head, a small look of relief washing over his face. "Well she's not dead, so that's a good thing. Definitely gonna' have-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the training hall doors slammed open, prompting Tai Lung to jump to his feet in fear and surprise. In the doorway stood Master Shifu with the rest of the Furious Five  behind him. The grandmaster's mouth was wide open, clearly ready to yell, but the instant he saw the current state of the training hall and those inside, his eyes narrowed at Tai Lung.

"You," he said angrily through gritted teeth. "How does it figure that when I come here to see what the commotion is about, you're here?!"

 "I didn't come here to cause trouble! Honest!" Tai Lung told him quickly. 

Shifu ignored him, however, and quickly made his way over to Tigress to check on her well-being. The others followed suit with Crane swooping over the rubble to survey the damage. Tai Lung watched them nervously for a tense moment before Shifu finally turned to look at him. His expression was less than happy. 

"Get out," he demanded icily. 

Tai Lung did a double take. "What?" he asked in surprise. 

"Get out. Every time you come here, you cause nothing but damage, destruction and misery. I dob't know how you survived, but you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of!"

"This wasn't intentional!"

"Get out of my sight!"

Choose what happens next. Skip to chapter:

十一- Tai Lung refuses to leave

十二- Tai Lung leaves