Cloudless Authors

Chapter 二十四

"Sooner than you think!" Tai Lung yelled after the fleeing peacock. He quickly leaped at one of the pillars, using some strenuous jumps to get himself onto the roof without the use of his hands. 

"Tai Lung, wait!" Shifu called out, but Tai Lung was already gone. 

Lord Shen had already glided off the roof and away from the Jade Palace. Tai Lung leaped onto the high wall behind the training hall and jumped as far as he could towards the grove of trees surrounding the back of the mountain. As the tree came closer into view, he reached out his handcuffed paws to catch hold of the tree top. He just barely got himself latched onto a branch and waited until the tree swayed very close to the next one. When he felt he was close enough, he let go and caught hold of the next tree. Using this method, he was very quickly able to catch up to the fleeing Lord Shen. And since the peacock couldn't actually fly, it didn't take him very long to slowly land in a nearby forest-scape. 

Tai Lung swung himself diagonally to follow him as best he could. Lord Shen quickly slipped from his sight, forcing him to jump down from the trees and try to follow on foot. And since Tai Lung's hands were still bound, he couldn't go as fast as he wanted. The snow leopard kept his eyes peeled for the vicious peacock when several blades came whizzing at his head. Tai Lung quickly dropped backwards onto the ground, only propelling himself upwards again when the blades landed behind him.

"You're truly nothing but a thorn in the side," came Lord Shen's voice, and more blades came flying out of the trees.

Tai Lung maneuvered himself between the trunks, listening to the blades ring through the air before suddenly coming to a halt behind him. The blades then stopped and suddenly landed in front, forcing Tai Lung to quickly stop and duck before one speared his head. He had run into a very small clearing that had scattered bushes hidden here and there, and in a split second, Lord Shen landed in front of him with a scowl. 

"Going somewhere, Tai Lung?" he asked. 

The peacock then reached behind his back and proceeded to pull out an extremely long and jagged silver sword. Tai Lung's eyes widened in terror, though he'd never admit to it. 

"I am going to have all of China under my wing," Shen threatened, moving towards his opponent. 

Tai Lung backed up, not in the mood to be at the other end of that sword. He then bumped into the tree behind him and quickly looked back to better gauge his surroundings. He suddenly noticed the bark on the trees and took a second look at where he was. 

"And if I have to slice you in half in order to achieve that dream," Lord Shen was saying. "Then so be it!" 

He then charged full speed at Tai Lung who quickly dived and rolled out of harm's way. As Shen's sword got stuck in the tough ironwood bark, Tai Lung ran over to the next closest tree and slammed his handcuffed wrists against it. He let out a cry of pain as the acu-pressure needles dug into him, but he noticed that they were now a bit loose. Shen got loose and came at him again, but Tai Lung ducked and ran as fast as he could to avoid getting stabbed or sliced. Shen hurled a final blade at his head, but it instead hit a tree behind him. Tai Lung quickly placed the handcuffs around them as best he could, and when Lord Shen charged and swung, he propelled himself over the landscape. 

Lord Shen seethed as he tried again to pull his sword free. Tai Lung ran through the iron wood trees and rammed the handcuffs against another trunk. He let out a little cry of pain from the needles, but then gritted his teeth and did it again. And again. Lord Shen got his sword loose and came back for him, forcing the snow leopard to try and put more distance between them. The acu-pressure cuffs were starting to crack, but the needles were really digging into his wrists. He hoped the bark would be tough enough to crack his chains or else he'd be in trouble. 

Lord Shen used the sword to launch himself high into the air and then quickly threw it in front of the snow leopard. Tai Lung stopped, glanced at the rapidly approaching Shen, and then jumped as high into the air as possible. He then kicked the fallen prince with both feet, sending him crashing into a nearby tree. As the two landed on solid ground, Shen quickly picked up a blade he had thrown earlier and let it loose in Tai Lung's direction. The snow leopard felt a massive stinging pain erupt as the blade flew over his shoulder and let out a cry of pain and surprise. Lord Shen took advantage of the brief distraction and grabbed the snow leopard's other shoulder with his talons, digging in deep before throwing him forward. He then moved in the same direction and grabbed his sword, preparing to swing it onto Tai Lung. But he quickly threw it in the other direction upon hearing a concerned Master Shifu call out to Tai Lung. 

"The panda is the other way, you uncivilized fool!" Shifu goaded, having just dodged the attack. 

Infuriated by the insult, Shen swept his feathers forward around the perimeter as he charged the res panda and collected a few blades nearby. Tai Lung watched the fight for a second as he tried to catch his breath and slowly move with the pain in his shoulders/ He slowly got back to his feet, gritted his teeth once more, and and rammed the acu-pressure cuffs into the trunk of the ironwood tree. He did his best to not scream as the needles tightened around his wrists and started to puncture the bone. Inhaling sharply, he wound back as far as he could go, and using a swing as momentum, slammed the cuffs back into the trunk. The metal cuffs finally shattered and broke apart, relieving the snow leopard of the agonizing pain he felt in his wrists. He took a huge sigh of relief as the pain went away and then quickly turned his attention to Shen who had just pinned Shifu to a tree with one of his blades. As the peacock went to throw another at the grandmaster's head, Tai Lung ran over and snatched the sword from his feathers. 

Startled, Lord Shen swung around and attempted to hit the snow leopard with the blade he held, but Tai Lung blocked him with the sword and then proceeded to kick him into the tree. Because the bark was so tough, Lord Shen was immediately knocked unconscious, leaving just Tai Lung and Shifu. 

Shifu carefully grabbed hold of the blade that had pinned his sleeve to the tree and pulled it out, freeing him to talk to Tai Lung. "Tai Lung, are you out of your mind?!" he cried. "You can't just run after someone with a deadly mindset like that! You could have wound up like Tigress! Or Po! Or worse! He almost stabbed you! What were you thinking?!" 

Tai Lung internally winced. He hadn't gotten yelled at like that since the time he ran after a bandit leader in the middle of an avalanche when he was thirteen. "I was thinking," he said slowly. "I'd catch the peacock trying to attack my sister before he escaped and did more damage!"

"Lord Shen is dangerous and psychotic! And besides, that's not your place to act!"

"It used to be!" 

The two stood there with a hard look on their faces before Shifu finally broke it with a sigh. He walked over to Tai Lung and immediately looked at the snow leopard's wrists and shoulders. They both then glanced over at the unconscious Shen before looking at each other again. Tai Lung immediately looked away with an embarrassed and guilty expression plaguing his face. Shifu sighed again, smiled, and leaned over to tightly hug him. Tai Lung's eyes watered and he immediately reciprocated the embrace. This wasn't exactly how he expected the night to turn out, but he was more than relieved that maybe, just maybe, things might turn out alright after all. 

THE END

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