Fire.
An ancient and primal force of nature. There has always been something hauntingly beautiful about fire.
From a small candle to a roaring bonfire the eye is always drawn to the flames mesmerizing dance.
But beneath it's beauty lies death.
The flames become a ravenous beast, devouring anything in its path until it is stopped or there is nothing left to consume.
And a certain panda ran through those flames.
Hours before, the Dragon Warrior Po Ping and his comrades the Furious Five were sent to investigate a black powder smuggling ring. After a few questions were answered, with the help of Tigress's bad temper, they all found their way to a massive mill alongside a canyon that had once been a raging river. The plan was to go in beat up the bad guys, take them to Chor Ghom prison, and go home to the Valley of Peace.
But nothing usually goes as planned.
The smugglers were warned in advance of the master's arrival, and thus, the element of surprise was lost. The battle that ensued was relatively short, but as Po and the others closed in on the leader of the smugglers things took a turn for the worst.
Sensing his defeat was near the smuggler vowed he would see the masters in Hell, and threw a lit oil lamp into the crates of black powder.
The explosion was almost instant, everything in close proximity was pushed away with extreme force and the fire had already begun to spread.
At Tigress's command the six warriors had gathered up the remaining smugglers and brought them out to safety. They all looked back at the burning building and let out a sigh of relief. But it was short lived as Po noticed they were one master short.
"Where's Tigress?" The panda asked. They looked around but could find no trace of her.
"She must still be inside!" Viper nearly screamed.
One of his closest friends was in mortal danger so Po did what he does best...
He ran head first to save her without regarding the dangers involved.
"TIGRESS!"
The smoke made it difficult to see and the heat threatened to make the Dragon Warrior faint, but he would never let his friend down. Its just the way he is.
He heard a coughing far to his left, and a choking cry. "Po! Over here!"
He ran over to find the feline master pinned down by a pair of burning wooden beams that had fallen on her. She lay there, struggling to get free when she heard Po's voice.
"Are you alright?" Po asked already working to remove the huge pieces of wood from his friend. Tigress glared at him for a moment and said to him in a voice that said she had little patience for his shenanigans.
"I'm in a burning building with a pair of heavy wooden beams on me, and I think a couple of my ribs might be broken. Yeah Po, I'm peachy."
Po threw the first beam off Tigress and began lifting the second one. "Right, sorry." He said as he lifted the beam enough for Tigress to crawl out from underneath. Once she was free he took her arm and placed it over his shoulder and helped her to her feet. Normally we would never allow herself to be carried out like this, but she knew now wasn't the time for this.
Po and Tigress ran as fast as they could to the exit coughing as they went. Be it chance or divine intervention, they made it out as the old mill came collapsing down. They collapsed to the ground (Tigress hissed in pain) and breathed in fresh air by the lungfull.
Mantis came over and after a quick look over he concluded that Tigress indeed had three broken ribs and needed treatment immediately.
Viper and other others volunteered to take the remaining smugglers to prison, which left Po to take Tigress back to the Jade Palace.
Po offered Tigress a ride on his back, but she stubbornly refused. After five minutes of insisting, she finally gave in and crawled on the pandas large, fluffy and surprisingly comfortable back.
They made their way to the palace in silence, Po thought she had been through enough without talking her ear off, so out of respect for his friend he remained silent.
Once the Valley was within view, Tigress asked a question that had been weighing on her mind since their escape from death.
"Weren't you scared?"
Po turned his head to face her, or at least tried to. Its not a very easy thing to do when they are on your back.
"Hmm? What's that?"
"Were you, or were you not scared?" She asked again.
Po thought about it for a second and answered.
"A little, but honestly I was more worried about you."
She gave herself a small smile and rested her head on the back of Po's.
"Oh... if you had to do it again, would you?"
Po stopped in his tracks and tried to look back at her, but gave up trying after a while, and answered.
"Of course I would. If you ever need me, I'll always be there to save you."
A/N. Well, that's my entry for the one shot contest. Hope y'all enjoyed it. Take it easy.