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.

"Tigress!" he exclaimed. "You're back a little early. Is everything okay?"

"Tai Lung's back!" Tigress replied promptly.

Shifu froze, an ear twitching rapidly as his eyes were immediately filled with shock. "Tai Lung?" he repeated slowly after a few seconds. "Back? As in...ALIVE?!"

"Yes. I found him while out on patrol and then he caught up with me during a bandit raid."

"Bandits too?! Where are they now?!"

"I...don't know. I...got ambushed. And Tai Lung put me in some strange abandoned building while I was unconscious."

"And where is Tai Lung now?"

"I'm assuming he's still in the same building, but I can't be sure."

Shifu took a second to think about the information that he was given before letting out a sigh. "Let's get Po and Monkey and then go figure out what he's up to."

"Yes, sir."

Shifu stood up and he and Tigress proceeded to walk out of the Sacred Hall of Warriors. They then went through the Jade Palace and eventually arrived at the barracks where they walked in to see Po taking a tray out of Viper's room.

"Oh, hey, Master Shifu!" Po exclaimed in surprise. "Tigress.... What's going on? Are Mantis and Crane back too?"

"No, just Tigress," Shifu began to explain. "She found Tai Lung while on patrol and I need you and Monkey to come with me so that we can track him down and immobilize him."

"But...what about Viper?" Monkey asked from inside of Viper's room.

Shifu stepped up a bit in order to better see inside. "Viper can take care of herself," he told the master. "I need as much backup as possible to keep Tai Lung cornered."

"But-"

"I'll be fine, Monkey," Viper sniffled. She weakly leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I need my rest anyway."

Monkey sighed. "Okay," he said. He covered Viper up with her blanket, told her goodnight, and walked out of the room to join Po, Tigress and Shifu.

"Let's head to the front gate," Shifu told everyone. "I'll explain everything in more detail before we head out."

The masters all nodded and followed him out of the barracks and across the Jade Palace grounds. They then reached the front gate and paused to gather around Shifu. The grandmaster then proceeded to launch into a speech: "Tigress informed me that Tai Lung hid her in an abandoned location just a short while ago right after discovering he was alive. Now, I don't know what kind of damage Tai Lung plans to do, but if we can find him fast, we can prevent any disasters from occurring. Tigress will lead us to the spot where he was last seen, and if he's not there, we'll start tracking him from that location. Understood?"

"Yes, master," the three warriors agreed simultaneously.

"I mean, that sounds like a great plan," came a familiar voice suddenly. "Except I don't feel like sitting here waiting for hours for you to come back."

Everyone glanced up at the top of the gate and saw Tai Lung casually perched on top.

"And how long have you been there?!" Tigress demanded.

"Not long," came the reply. "I told you I was on my way over here. What, did you think helping you would change my mind?"

Tigress growled at him but said nothing else.

"What do you want, Tai Lung?" Shifu asked.

"I wanted to talk to you," came the snow leopard's reply. "I figured, if you're not still angry with me, perhaps we could hold a civil discussion in the Sacred Hall of Warriors."

Shifu thought the idea over for a moment. Then he said, "Very well. But I'll be taking the Dragon Warrior and some of the Five along with me in case you try something."

"As you wish."

The snow leopard hopped down from the gate and walked with Shifu towards the Sacred Hall of Warriors with Monkey following closely behind them. Po stayed behind for a brief moment to tend to a now frankly annoyed Tigress.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her.

Tigress resisted the urge to growl as Shifu was still pretty close by despite being halfway up the stairs. "I just don't understand why we're taking the time to talk to him. Look at what he's done!" she argued.

"I remember, Tigress, but people can change, you know. Even if they have a seriously long rap sheet."

"On the drop of a jiao?"

"It's been a few years. Not a few days. That's a long time." The dragon warrior squeezed her shoulder gently. "It'll be okay," he promised her. "Besides, you and I are an awesome kung fu warrior team. If anything goes wrong, Shifu's in good paws."

Tigress smiled at him, a small blush creeping across her cheeks. However, she said nothing else further as she and Po walked together up the steps to the Sacred Hall of Warriors to catch up with their master.

THE END

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