The Countdown: In Between the Lines

"I'm here"

Mrs. Fan's arrival, though a pleasant one, had unfortunately brought back the unfortunate memory of the Lin Kuei, wolves who had attacked the Jade Palace and nearly defeated the masters and who possibly could have killed them if given the chance. Po had been careful and tried to kick them out of the Jade Palace, but unfortunately they had an invisible kung fu artifact on their side and had been nearly impossible to defeat. The close encounter eagerly tried to wake up a memory from the Battle of Gongmen City, but with Tigress not in the mood to remember any details from that encounter, she instead was presented with scenes from the battle with Kai long after everyone had retired to bed for the day. 

Kai hadn't had much trouble with getting Tigress down the mountain once he had knocked her unconscious with the powers from his pendant. In fact, the master proved to be rather easy to pick up and carry. (Tigress did not relish being in such position as it made her sick to her stomach, but she didn't have much of a choice since she couldn't move her body). They were soon down the mountain and Tigress was once again in the hold of a hostage, with Po forced to accompany them up to the Temple of Iron. Being held by Kai made Tigress extremely uncomfortable. She would have rather Po had helped her. But then Kai wouldn't have had an upper hand in getting Po to do his bidding. Such was his thirst for utter control and power that he had no problem with tossing Tigress to the side and setting his eyes on a much bigger target: the Dragon Warrior himself!

"Are you okay?!" Po asked once Kai had let Tigress crash to the floor of the temple. 

Tigress was still very weak, but managed to lift her head up to talk to him. "I'll be fine," she promised, trying to smile. "Really." 

Po scooped her up into a hug and tightly squeezed her. Tigress welcomed it. It made her feel happy, like everything was going to be okay. "I'm just glad you're in one piece!" Po said. "We'll be home soon, alright? Just hang in there!" 

Kai impatiently cleared his throat to get Po's attention. 

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten about you," the Dragon Warrior grumbled. He gently propped Tigress against the wall of the temple and stood into a fighting position against the kung-fu-stealing bull. The world outside had a strange ambience, but Tigress was too focused on Po to really care all that much about it. 

Po and Kai immediately began to engage in fighting, Po rolling out of the way of excessively powerful punches and dive kicks while simultaneously managing to get in a few punches and kicks. He took care to not disturb anyone who was laying on the floor of the temple, (though even if he did, it wasn't like they could grumble about it), and tried to grab the pendent that Kai had around his neck. Tigress watched the two in terror, wanting to get up and help and knowing full well she couldn't. Po somersaulted backwards when Kai attempted to land another attack and used a nearby pillar to launch himself over Kai's head and deliver a pounding kick to the bull's back. Kai flew across the floor and skidded into the wall with an angry cry of surprise. 

"There's more where that came from!" Po promised sharply. 

"Be careful, Po!" Tigress warned from the sidelines. 

Kai was soon up again and came charging back at the Dragon Warrior. Po ducked, but was soon reengaged in a series of kicks, punches, and ducking to avoid getting clobbered. Seeing that Po was starting to get the upper hand, Kai let out a blast from his pendent and blasted him back into the wall. Before Po could recover, Kai released more blasts at him, reducing him to a weak state on the floor. The bull laughed nastily and walked over to grab Po and steal his kung fu. However, Tigress quickly got to her feet and charged at him, knocking him to the floor. Kai was taken aback by the sudden burst of energy and couldn't do much for the moment. As he got up, Tigress kicked him across the floor and then ran over to Po to help him to his feet.  The panda was a little weak, but with some support from both Tigress and a nearby pillar, he was able to stand mostly upright. The help didn't last too long though as Kai, now recovered from his greeting with the floor, rose to his feet and snagged Tigress by her collar and tossed her into a pair of skeletons off alongside the wall of the temple. Tigress felt ill at the touch, especially when she saw a knife sticking out of one and realized who she was laying in between. Po had sunk to his knees a little with Tigress pulled away from him, but did his best to stand against the incoming Kai. However, Kai yanked him close and prepared to steal his kung fu once and for all, wanting to have his Dragon Warrior pawn in his plans to dominate China.