Tai Lung had the sudden urge to go after Shen and knock him into next week. However, he ignored the bubbling anger within him and turned his attention to the injured Po. 

"Are you okay, Dragon Warrior?" he asked.

Po breathed sharply and looked at his fingers. They were fortunately still in tact, but the blade had sliced deep enough to do damage to his bones. Po was in too much pain to speak about his fingers possibly being broken as well as the fact that he could feel them going tingly and he was scared he wouldn't be able to use them again. But he didn't really need to say anything since his expression spoke volumes. 

The other masters were quick to reach him and look over at his injuries. Tai Lung walked over to Mantis and Tigress and helped the latter to her feet the best he could. He could tell her arm was still in pain, but she gave him a smile and a thanks and went to check on Po. Mantis walked over after readjusting from nearly getting squished to check on both his injured friends. They both looked pretty bad, though Po soon felt Tigress probably got the brunt of the attack.

"I'm...trying not to complain," he winced weakly. "I could have lost my fingers. And...I'm pretty sure Tigress got stabbed. But this really hurts."

"It looks like he sliced through some of the bone," Mantis confirmed. "Not all of it obviously, but that doesn't mean it's not painful. 

Tigress nodded. "It hurts less if you don't mo-ahhh!" 

Mantis gritted his teeth. "Sorry," he apologized. "I have to look at it." 

He tried to take Tigress' arm more gently this time and checked the damage. The wound was deep and had a massive fracture split in the middle. It would probably take about as long as Po's finger to heal if not a bit longer. Shifu had walked over to hold the master's paw during the examination and afterward determined that her and Po needed to rest.

"I'll go down to the village and grab the doctor," he added. "Mantis, if you could-" 

Loud crashing and screaming interrupted him and the masters all made their way out of the training hall. Crane flew ahead to see what on earth was going on. By the time the masters made it out of the training area, down the sloping path, and to the main gates of the palace, Crane had returned with grim news.

"Shen has cannons lined up all over the valley," he quickly explained, hovering in mid-air. "I don't know where he is, but houses are getting blasted left and right and I'm worried someone will get hurt!" 

He quickly flew back down to help the villagers while Shifu quickly tried to delegate tasks to his students. 

"Tigress, you stay here and rest your injuries. Po too. We'll try to evacuate as many people as we can and-"

"Po and I are helping," Tigress interrupted.

Shifu gave her a blank stare. "I beg your pardon?" he said.

"You'll need every paw you can. It's not like we've never worked injured before."

"Yes, but we know that Shen is incredibly dangerous. The last thing I want is for you to get killed!" 

"And Po?"

Yes yes. And Po. You need to stay up here where you'll be safer." 

Tigress bent down to her master's level and gently squeezed his arm. "We'll be careful. I promise," she assured him.

"We'll stay out of sight and try to keep to the edge of the valley," Po added with a little wince. "That way Shen doesn't block the way out." 

Shifu sighed. "Alright, that's fine," he conceded. 

"Tigress smiled ever-so-slightly and thanked him before standing back up and leading the charge out of the Jade Palace. As the students began to file out, Shifu glared at the still-handcuffed Tai Lung and added, "You can stay here. I don't trust you with even one breath of my life!" 

"What, my exceptional kung skills still aren't good enough?" Tai Lung asked with a frown. "I'd want a ton of paws for this guy." 

"If I see you in this valley at all, you'll wish you had never come back!" 

With that, Shifu walked out of the Jade Palace, slamming the gates behind him. Tai Lung frowned. Looked down at his handcuffs. Looked back at the door. Walked off to a place with no high walls around it.

Lord Shen's cannons had been an absolute menace when the masters were at Gongmen City. However, in a place surrounded by trees and really only one way out, that level of destruction was downright terrifying! Blasts went off everywhere. Houses toppled. People got trapped. Every sane person screamed in terror. And Shen enjoyed every second of it. He drank in the destruction like a fine wine which warmed his belly and gave him happy palpitations in his heart. Seeing kung fu masters reduced to nothing but scared children trying to not get hurt was an added bonus. He so wanted to take another shot at the panda, but he was nowhere to be seen. Oh well. He had the grand finale to move on to. He moved through the woods until he came to his grand masterpiece: a row of six cannons ready to fire at once and possibly destroy many poor unfortunate souls. Shen grinned maliciously at the thought of such a beautiful show. He lit the ignition and began to walk towards his perfect viewing spot, only to get tackled brutally by an annoyingly familiar face.

"Not you again!" Shen snapped. "Get out of the way, you fool!" 

"You're not escaping again!" Tai Lung told him. 

Shen quickly threw two blades at the snow leopard's face, but both were dodged and wound up sailing into the trees behind them. Tai Lung went to nerve-strike him, (a task one would think would be impossible since he was still handcuffed), but Shen dodged that as well and used his tail to blast Tai Lung backwards. He then launched a barrage of blades, but Tai Lung quickly darted behind a grove of trees to avoid getting hit. The snow leopard then climbed up the canopy and dived down to deliver a powerful strike, but Shen quickly moved out of the way. Tai Lung then narrowly avoided more blades,  only to feel a pair of sharp talons dig into his shoulders and start dragging him through the grass. Tai Lung gritted his teeth and used his leg to kick the peacock in the stomach, allowing him to get loose and quickly knock him into the trees behind the row of cannons. As Tai Lung tried to catch his breath, he noticed in horror that they were already lit. Before he could even react, he heard, "GET DOWN!" and was immediately knocked onto his back before the deafening sound rang out and the cannonballs sailed over his head. 

When everything had quieted down, he stated breathing easier and looked at who had just helped him. "Viper?" he asked.

Viper smiled. "Hi," she said. She slithered off his chest and helped him sit up. 

"I thought you were helping the villagers," Tai Lung said, looking back at the smoke rising from where the village was.  

"We did. Everyone's okay minus a few grieving the loss of their home," Viper assured him. She looked down at Tai Lung's wrists. "Let me get those off of you," she added. 

As she fumbled through the lock with her tail, Tai Lung eyed her and asked, "Not to be personal, but...are Tigress and Shifu-"

"Yes they are," Viper answered immediately. "No, we don't know how it happened or when. Trust me, you're safer not knowing and staying out of it."

"Oh, okay."

Viper fiddled with the lock again for a few more minutes before finally opening the handcuffs and letting Tai Lung free. 

Tai Lung rubbed his wrist. "Thanks," he said. 

Viper smiled at him. "It's no problem," she promised. She glanced over at the village entrance and turned back to him. "You'd better take those and go back before someone sees you," she forewarned. "I'll tell Shifu about Shen." 

"Alright." 

The snow leopard then retreated while Viper quickly made haste to find her friends and nab Shen before he became mobile again. 

THE END

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