Insecurities

Security

Zheng threw four kunais into the two courtyards. White smoke exploded and spread over the entire army and courtyard. The others rushed into the smoke cloud. "What do we do?" Zheng-Hau asked the panda.

Po saw Zhao fighting off Viper and Monkey in the smoke. "Get Zhao inside the temple. I'll deal some sense into him," said Po. The jackrabbit nodded and jumped into the fray.

Zhao ducked Monkey's punch and repelled Viper's tail whip attack with his kunai. The blow stunned the viper for a second as she quickly slithered away from Zhao's threatening grasp. "Oo AH!" Zhao spun his head at the primal sound. Monkey smashed both his feet into the tiger's breastplate armor. Zhao tumbled back a few feet but latched onto Monkey's feet. With a quick whirl around, he threw Monkey over the clashing swords and shields.

Viper roped around Zhao's legs, tightening her grip. Struggling to move, the tiger fell with a grunt. The sword in Zhao's hand swung near Viper's head, and she slithered out of the way but released Zhao. Zhao threw a kunai sunk its blade into the tip of Viper's tail. "Ahhh!" yelled the viper as it pinned her to the ground.

Zheng-Hau swung his swords threw the armor of two gorillas. The gorillas groaned in their fall. The hazy white smoke made it difficult to find anyone. To his left sound of pain and sword clashing, not knowing if they are his own or not. Zheng caught sight of Zhao on his feet with one of his dual swords in hand. Viper was still trying to get the kunai off her tail. "Tai-Lung!" Zheng called. The snow leopard backflipped over a rhino and punched it in a series of lightning hits, stunning the rhino. "Tai-Lung!" Tai's head perked up. "Help me get Zhao in the temple!" Tai-Lung and Zheng ran over to the tiger through the grunts and clanging swords. They dodged sneaky arrows aimed at their neck and jumped over falling bodies of soldiers.

"Next time, don't use a smoke kunai. I can't see a bloody thing!" shouted Tai-Lung.

"Shut up and keep moving!" Zheng shot back. As Zhao swung his sword down on Viper, Zheng jumped underneath the sword. The jackrabbit knocked the sword out of Zhao's hand and it flew off, sinking its blade in the ground. Zhao reached for his kunai, but Tai-Lung grabbed the tiger's moving hand and quickly flipped him onto his back.

"Dah!" shouted Zhao.

"Quick! Hold him!" Zheng ordered. Zhao rolled away from Tai-Lung's kick then rolled back to avoid Zheng's falling sword. Zhao jumped up to his feet with his back towards the temple. He saw two kunais fly from Zheng's hand and struck the ground right in front of them. The genera darted back as they exploded, flying a few feet away onto his back. The tiger opened his eyes and saw Zheng's sword at his throat and Tai-Lung in his fighting stance.

Zhao smirked, "Well, why don't you both kill me? You look like you want to finish me off."

"Shut up," Zheng-Hau muttered with a stoic face. It wasn't their job to kill him, but the fiery glare in Zheng's eyes burn into the grinning tiger's skull.

Zhao looked at Tai-Lung. "And why are you on their side, Tai-Lung? You have the most to gain out of this fight." Tai-Lung's eyebrow rose with his arms crossed. "Look at the chaos of the battle. It would be a shame if all of your teammates were involved in an accident," the tiger smirked. Zheng-Hau didn't say anything. He kept his eyes focused on Zhao. Zheng's long ears rose up though. The slightest movement from Tai-Lung and he would be ready. "If the Dragon Warrior were to be killed with the rest of them, I wonder who the position would go to." Tai-Lung's eyes darted towards Zheng-Hau. Zheng's eyes glanced to the snow leopard. Was he going to move?

Zhao swept the jackrabbit's feet and jumped up. He would have gotten away if Tigress hadn't struck Zhao in the face with her flying kick.

Tigress glared at the two men. She flashed her sharp teeth at the snow leopard with a growling warning. "Don't tell me you've changed, Tai-Lung," She said, moving her body into a stance.