"Crane, what is it?" Monkey looked on with worry. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"There are about three dozen bandits armed to the teeth three or four miles from here. They're on land now, but they seem to be living on a ship that's anchored there. It has to be the biggest one I've seen in my life. They seemed to be preparing to leave, we need to get there soon or we'll miss them," Crane replied.

"Alright. Let's move up the coast and try to see what we're dealing with," Tigress concluded after the brief meeting. The tretook far longer than expected. Even though the target was close, the trail leading to it appeared unused for months. Monkey and Tigress spent hours cutting their way through the brush, while Crane flew overhead. He had hoped to find a clearer path, to no avail. The sun had set by the time the Masters of the Jade Palace reached the edge of the forest. They caught their first glimpses of the bandit's camp, as Crane flew silently into the trees to find the rest of his team.

"Damn," Monkey started when Crane found his way to them, "you weren't lying on either count. There have to be what, thirty, maybe forty here? And where in China did they find a ship that size?"

"Yes," Tigress answered quickly, earning a brief look from Crane, "that's no fishing boat. They must have found a builder that supplies these ships for overseas travel. Maybe even for the

Imperial Navy."

Crane managed to find a place to interject, "Hey, why don't we ask them where they got their ship after we stop them from taking off in the next few minutes?" That seemed to snap the other two back into focus. "How does this sound," Crane continued, "Tigress, see if you can sneak onto the ship while I fly in from above. The darkness should cover our movements."

"Where exactly do I fit into this plan?", Monkey whispered.

Crane was quick to respond, "You stay hidden here in case anything goes wrong. It's rarely wise to throw everything you have at the enemy at once." Monkey and Tigress nodded, and they set their simple plan in motion.

Moments later, Tigress found herself on the deck of the bandit ship, following a less than enjoyable swim to the side of the ship facing open water. The experience was made considerably worse due to her lack of skill in the water. She knew how to swim well enough to keep her head above the water, but beyond that she struggled. Between this and nearly drowning in Gongmen City, I should really consider learning how to do this. One day it might

just save me.

Meanwhile, Crane flew silently overhead. He would wait for Tigress to move in, in an effort to avoid their detection before it was necessary. He circled the ship a few times, hoping to catch a glimpse of her scaling the side on the planks nailed there. Finally, he watched Tigress emerging from the water and move alongside the main cabin after resting a moment.

Monkey did what he could to gain a view of the soon to be action on board the bandit's vessel. From his perch high in the trees, he could easily see the shore and the criminals currently occupying it. What he couldn't see was the deck, where the attack was set to start. If anything were to go wrong, he reasoned, they would go wrong there. He decided to move to a vantage point that would likely prove more helpful. It was a mistake.

Tigress moved to the outside wall of the captain's cabin, which concealed her from the two guards that she saw on the deck. She prepared to remove the threat, if it could be called that, when she heard two men conversing inside the cabin. The warrior opted to stay hidden and listen. Who knows, I might learn something worth knowing.

She leaned in tight against the wall, straining to hear.

"I realize that whatever you're planning to do needs funding, but there has to be a different way to go about getting it," she heard the first say. The second voice seemed to belong to

someone who held much more authority than the first.

"Oh, you realize that? Truly? Well then, weight off of my shoulders. This is the safest way to get what we need, unless you had something else in mind?" the second man challenged.

She noticed the first man growing nervous very, very quickly, "Well sir, most of us made our living taking from villagers. Is it really that high of a risk if we are always on the move?"

"It is safe to raid villages as a main source of income only if it is done flawlessly. I do not believe for a moment that this lot is capable of pillaging time and time again, without error. This is the best way to remain hidden and get what we need."

"Fine, forget that then. There have to be other ways than simply waiting!"

The second voice paused for a moment, then continued, "Huang, if you're still feeling brave enough to have this little debate with me in the morning, feel free to try. But before we get to that, I believe we have a guest that requires my immediate attention. Excuse me." It took Tigress a moment to register what had been said, and she quickly realized that they were rapidly losing control of the situation. She looked into the sky for Crane, and began waving to signal him down.

Crane was a bit beyond puzzled as to what Tigress was up to on that deck. In a period of no more than five seconds, she went from sneaking around the cabin, to looking around the sky with face that said something along the lines of 'I'm about to jump off the side of this ship', to flapping her arms so much it looked like she was trying to fly back to shore. He quickly realized that looked quite a lot like a panicked version of his signal to join her. He began to fly down just as someone was exiting the cabin and turning toward Tigress' hiding spot.

Monkey was on the move, and his plan to move was turning out to be a risky one. The brush was just as think here as it had been earlier, he had to move back into the thick of it to avoid detection. It would still be a few minutes before he was able to reach the spot he had in mind. By then he will have missed everything.

At the palace, Shifu sat down to read the scroll that the Valley's messenger had delivered moments before. By now it was after sunset, and the students remaining at the Jade Palace were in their barracks. Doing what, he didn't know. He did hear Mantis mentioning another attempt at acupuncture, though gods knew why. Every time Po finds himself on the business end of those needles, he tends to leave in more pain than before he began. He unrolled the scroll carefully, hoping for good news, but always dreading the worst.

Masters of the Jade Palace,

Let me begin by thanking you for sending three of your students to assist us with our...security problem. I am writing simply to tell you that they have arrived safely and are at work finding and eliminating the threat to our way of life.

Regards, Ming

Shifu breathed a sigh of relief, and walked to his quarters with a weight off his shoulders, knowing that his students were safe.

Meanwhile, Mantis was hard at work trying to...repair Po after a particularly daring run through the obstacles in the training hall. "Po, I'm going to end up making this worse if you don't stop moving. Why did you even try going through the Field of Fiery Death? Has that ever ended well?"

"You know I train harder when I'm upset ever since I got here," Po replied, sounding slightly hurt.

Viper cut in before Mantis could strike another nerve that he hadn't been aiming for, "Po, they're going to be fine. If Shifu thought that there was any great danger, he would have sent all of us to deal with it. They'll be back here in a few days, you'll see."

"I'm sure you're right Viper," Po answered quietly, "but I just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong."

Tigress gave up on the idea of hiding and prepared herself for a confrontation as soon as she heard the cabin's door open. She only hoped that Crane had seen her frantic signal to come down and help her. She found out rather quickly that she couldn't have prepared enough for what turned the corner.

"You?" He asked with a look of legitimate surprise.

Tigress' eyes were likely near the size of a peach as she echoed him with little more than a whisper, "You? Y-you're alive?"

Tai Lung recovered much more quickly than the tiger standing in front of him, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he patted himself down in mock confusion. "As far as I can tell, yes," he smirked, "Now what in the name of the gods are you doing on my ship?"

That was the moment that Crane decided to drop in and join the pair of felines, experiencing a very similar sort of shock, "You're alive...how..."

The spotted cat simply laughed this time, "Do all members of the Jade Palace have such impeccable skills in observation? Should I be expecting the other five to drop in and say that exact same thing?"

Tigress hoped to buy Monkey some time to make his way here, assuming he had half a clue what was happening. "No," she answered, "just us today. It's all we'll need." Crane caught her look and nodded carefully.

Tai Lung seemed to find that humorous as well, chuckling to himself. "Points for confidence Masters, but perhaps a bit too confident considering your record against me. With the rest of the Five, I might add."

Crane seemed beyond content to let Tigress do the talking, and she was happy to oblige. "We have trained since then. We are stronger than ever, and we won't need the Dragon Warrior to stop you this time."

That Dragon Warrior remark earned a quiet growl from the snow leopard. Careful Tai, you remember how things ended the last three times you fought angry. He chose instead to focus on another part of that little jape. "Stop me? From doing what exactly? Based on your reaction to seeing me here, you weren't expecting me. Is there really any stopping to be done?" He asked with a knowing smile.

"Considering the trail of destroyed villages leading to here, we're stopping you from burning another to the ground." Monkey, where the hell are you?

Tai Lung went back to his look of actual confusion, "We had nothing to do with that. Actually, we're just passing through. I don't suppose we could solve this civilly? The two of you go back home, and we sail on our merry way?"

"We all know the answer to that Tai Lung."

"No then? Alright, if you insist." He launched himself into the air and came down on top of Crane, managing to land a quick punch before Crane freed himself and flew up a few feet. Contented, Tai Lung turned his attention to the tiger. More specifically, the tiger's foot coming dangerously close to his jaw. He managed to catch her ankle, but failed to hold on after receiving a kick from the other. He growled, and spun back around to Crane, who was attempting to sneak off to alert Monkey, whatever he was doing. He quickly found himself dragged back to the wood of the deck, and back in the fight. He didn't last terribly long during the second round, as the snow leopard applied a messy nerve strike that would slow his opponent, while preventing flight.

With Crane down, Tigress found herself the sole object of Tai Lung's attention. Some of the bandit's had gathered around the brawling felines, but their leader ordered them to stand aside. He leapt on top of his cabin, putting him near the wheel. Tigress ran up the set of stairs to the left, and launched herself at the larger cat. He worked on the defensive far more than he attacked, biding his time until an opportunity presented itself. Where. The Devil. Are you. Monkey!

Tigress continued her assault, hoping to find a crack in Tai Lung's defense. She found little, only managing to land quick jabs at his midsection and kicks at his legs. As she began to wear down, Tai Lung managed to catch a punch directed to his temple, twisting the arm around behind Tigress' back. She flipped over him, freeing herself, but he turned and kicked high, catching her in the jaw. Tigress hit the ground hard. She saw the snow leopard returning to Crane as her world faded to black.