Cloudless Authors

Chapter p

Tai Lung felt a wave of confusion wash over him. "Kill me?" he exclaimed. "I literally just got back not even a week ago! No one knows I'm here except for Tigress and Shifu!" 

"People have their ways of knowing," the dark cloaked assassin told him. He then proceeded to pull out two blades from his sleeves. "Now I need to finish where I left off." 

"Why? So you can miss and hit some poor unsuspecting civilian? You have a pretty bad aim for an assassin-for-hire."

"If you're referring to the grandmaster, he was perhaps an unfortunate tragedy among this mess. But on the bright side, he has a rather lovely tomb right in the center. Such a shame you disturbed it."

Tai Lung felt a wave of boiling anger rush through him and he lunged at the assassin with claws drawn. He narrowly avoided the two blades thrown at his head and swiped at the area where the head was. He wound up just grabbing the cloak and accidentally yanking the assassin towards him. Seizing the opportunity, the cloaked figure quickly grabbed another blade and sliced forward. Tai Lung tried to maneuver himself out of the way, but the blade still managed to leave an impressionable gash on his side. The snow leopard gritted his teeth in pain, but held himself together long enough to kick his assailant a good few feet away. He then clutched his side, slowly feeling it to determine how bad of shape he was in. The wound was bleeding profusely which meant the situation was pretty bad. However, he didn't feel any intestines or too much muscle, which meant he wasn't in danger just yet. 

I need to take this guy out quickly if I want to get myself bandaged up, he thought to himself as the figure stood up and groaned. If I keep bleeding like this for too long, I'll be in trouble. 

The snow leopard looked around the vicinity to see if he could hide out and think of a quick plan. The assassin, however, had other ideas. Before Tai Lung could even spot a place to retreat to, he had whipped out a glass ball tethered to rope and filled with a black powder. He had then tossed the object over in Tai Lung's direction. The snow leopard didn't know what it was, but he figured anything this guy had was bad news. He started to sprint over to a safer spot, (about as fast as you can imagine for a guy with a gash), but the object landed just a foot or so behind him and created a massive explosion. Tai Lung was knocked to the ground forcefully and and felt the heat of the blast singe his back. He laid sprawled across the ground and tried to quickly catch his breath. He did not feel like getting killed again! Not that he actually died during the whole ordeal of the Wuxi Finger, but the pain and agony were probably close enough to what it felt like. 

The snow leopard tried to ignore the fiery pain in his lungs and back, and gritted his teeth once again when a searing pain went through his side. He caught the assassin darting towards him at an alarmingly fast speed and just barely managed to roll out of the way of danger. He did his best to ignore the pain and got to his feet and started to run out of the way. He heard a loud ringing sound behind him as the sword just missed his shoulder blades. Not even a second later, another ring went by him, but it was stopped short when the blade ripped through the bottom half of his back. Tai Lung let out a cry of pain that sounded close to that of a scream and dropped to the ground. Searing pain ran through his entire body, leaving him unable to get back up. He could hear the ringing of the blades behind him and his entire body throbbed. He felt a few tears roll out from his eyes and anticipated the final blow. 

Suddenly there was a loud thump and then the ringing turned into a whoosh which was quickly cut short. Some scuffle, noises of protest, and then silence followed. Tai Lung didn't have the strength to lift up his head, so he didn't know what was happening. A few moments of tense silence followed, complete with throbbing pain and a side of light-headedness. Then the grass moved beside him and he felt scales gently massage his back. 

"He's really hurt," came an all-too-familiar voice. "We should get him some medical attention."

"Are you insane?!" Tigress exclaimed. "They were probably working together and then got in each other's way!" 

A moment of silence. Then, "No, that's not possible." 

"Excuse me?" 

"Tai Lung's main goal has always been the Dragon Scroll, which means fighting Po. Why on earth would he think to take out Shifu?" 

Silence.

"She does have a point," came a new voice. 

"Crane!" Tigress snapped.

"She does! I mean, Tai Lung did try to kill Shifu before, but that was only because he didn't realize Po had the Dragon Scroll already." 

More silence. Tigress growled irritably, but said nothing further. 

"So, what should we do with these two?" Po interjected after a while. 

Tai Lung was still in pain, but he made an effort to lift up his head to see just how many masters were in the area. However, he only caught a glimpse of forest, meaning they were all behind him. Exhausted, he simply put his head back down.

"Tai Lung looks too injured to move," Crane noted, to the snow leopard's relief. "So I can take Shen and drop him off at Chorh Gom for the guards to handle. You guys can get Mantis and bring him back here to help Tai lung."

"He needs to be thrown in prison!" Tigress protested. 

"We don't know why he's here," Viper told her. "So let's hold off on that for a second." 

"Thanks," Tai Lung managed to mumble. 

He must have startled everyone because it got quiet for another few moments. Crane finally spoke back up and said, "I'd better get going. Chorh Gom is a long way off." 

There was the sound of Viper giving him a kiss, possibly on the cheek, before she wished him luck and to take care. As he flew off, Po and Tigress began to walk back to the Jade Palace to get Mantis. 

"This doesn't feel right," Tigress was grumbling.  

"Don't worry," Po assured her. "We'll sort all this out later. Besides, even with Mantis fixing him up, he looks too battered to do much." 

Tai Lung looked up again, catching a glimpse of Po wrapping his arm around Tigress' shoulder before they vanished again. He groaned and laid back down. The pain was still there from this Shen's swords, but the sting from the burn was starting to fade. 

Who even was this Shen? And why were they trying to kill Shifu if they were really aiming for him?

Shifu...I'm sorry! I shouldn't have left you alone!

Seeing him wince, Viper gently squeezed an uninjured part of Tai Lung's arm. "Easy there," she said. "They'll be back in a second." 

"Shifu...." Tai Lung managed to articulate. "Is...he...."

"He's alright," Viper promised him, sensing his distress. "He'll need at least two weeks or so of bedrest, but he's okay." 

Tai Lung closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. Viper gave him another gentle squeeze, relaxing him a bit as he pondered over the fact that, despite what had just happened, he was getting another chance to explain himself. 

That was all he wanted.

THE END

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