A/N (AG): It's me, AnimationGirl... Yeah, it is still not me who has written all this amazing story... To my defense, I can say that I came up with one scene! But he wrote it... Still, I will soon write something to this! Promise! Until then, enjoy this wonderful writing!
Episode 2: Cutting the Kitten's Claws II: "Tigress. Master Tigress. Hardcore Tigress. That was how people knew her. But now, after an accident involving her head, the so-called hardcore part of her is gone, and suddenly the Jade Palace has to deal with a Tigress who doesn't want to fight."
"Tigress, get up!" Viper called to her feline friend. Tigress looked up as the crocodile came towards her, but she didn't do anything. All she did was holding her paw against the place where the crocodile had hit her. For the first time her five friends saw her express something they had never seen before: fear.
The crocodile lifted his club again to give Tigress the final blow, but suddenly the club was hit by something, almost causing the crocodile to fall over. Next thing he knew, Mantis delivered a few powerful kicks to his face, then finally kicking him away from Tigress.
"Tigress!" Mantis called, even though she was right beside him. It was as if she was afraid to do anything at the moment. "Get yourself together!"
But she didn't. Tigress simply just sat there on the ground – all she could physically do was to rub her cheek. Finally she got to her feet, but instead of joining, she ran away.
"What the-… where's she going?" Mantis asked surprised.
"Mantis, we'll have to find her later – let's deal with these guys first," Crane suggested, just as he swept the feet of a crocodile away with a swing of his wing. As another crocodile came to attack him, Crane kicked him in the chest, managing to reach him a few feet away with his long legs.
Viper bounced high into the air and made her long body stiff and attacked the crocodiles in a very spear-like manner, striking one of them, knocking him out. She then jumped forwards, using her tail as a whip on a few other crocodiles, gracefully avoiding their weapons and managing to hit them both in the face.
Monkey jumped forwards with a front flip and spread his legs into a split midair to keep two crocodiles from attacking him. He then landed on his long and powerful tail and took on a battle stance. The next crocodiles were quick to attack. Monkey jumped towards one of them, swept his feet away with his tail, then placed a foot on his chest midair and smashed him downwards. The next crocodile tried to punch Monkey, but he easily blocked due to the crocodile's lack of technique. Monkey then placed a solid punch to the crocodile's chest and then kicked him in the face, knocking him out.
Fung punched towards Po, but the panda blocked with his own hand, then hit Fung's shoulder with the other, shortly paralyzing Fung's arm. The reptile stumbled backwards, but soon he was at it again. But having more knowledge of Kung Fu, Po easily blocked and also easily managed to make counter attacks. Po finally hit Fung in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Give up, Fung," Po told the reptile. "You're all alone."
"Alone? No, I-…" Just then, Fung realized that most of his teammates had been knocked out, and those that hadn't were running away. "Gr… don't think you're so awesome – I'll be back, Panda!"
And with those final words, Fung ran off, not even caring about those other crocodiles that had been knocked out.
"Tigress?" Po called, carefully knocking the door to her room. No response. "Tigress, I'm sorry about this, but I'm coming in now."
Po carefully opened the door and peaked inside. Tigress sat there on her bed, staring down at the floor. As Po walked closer he noticed something on her cheeks. Are those tearstains? Po thought, feeling extremely surprised. "T-Tigress, are you okay?"
"No," she said, not even looking up. Po could see the wound on Tigress' cheek. It just made him even more worried. Suddenly she buried her face in her hands. Po was stunned, not knowing what to do, since he had never seen Tigress like this before.
Po sat down beside her and she moved a little, so that there was room enough for him. Po carefully put a hand on her shoulder and patted it a few times. "Tigress, it's okay…"
"No, it's not okay," Tigress said through her tears. "I was scared… no, terrified!"
"Tigress…" Po put a hand under her chin and lifted her head up. "It's okay – we all get scared sometimes."
"Then tell me," Tigress started and looked down again. "When… when have you ever been scared? You're always so confident and… so reckless."
Po sighed. Obviously the tiger had forgotten a few things, maybe because of her injuries from the previous day. "I was scared when I had to fight Tai Lung… I was scared when I found out what Shen had done to my family… I may not have shown it, but there are plenty of battles where I was scared on the inside – that's why I act like I do most of the time."
"What do you mean?" Tigress asked through her tears.
"I mean that it's natural to be afraid, Tigress." Po was still not used to seeing his friend like this, and he strongly hoped that Shifu wouldn't come in and see her like this – he didn't want to imagine the red panda's reaction…
Suddenly Tigress caught Po in a hug and he felt her tears on his fur. This was another of those few times Tigress had ever hugged her, but Po knew she wasn't herself – the injuries done to her head really had been worse than they all thought.
There's got to be a way to cure this, Po thought as he patted Tigress on the back.
"Tigress, I... I'm going to eat dinner with the others now… do you want to come?" Po asked. Tigress shook her head. "Would you like me to bring some food for you?" She shook her head again. "Alright then… I guess I'll see you later… Just call if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay, guys," Po started in a dramatic voice. He was in the kitchen, standing in front of his friends, who had just finished their dinner. "As you know there's something wrong with Tigress, right?" Everyone nodded. "So, I say we should help her get back to normal."
"But how?" Viper asked. "It's not like we can take her head apart and…"
"Maybe we should just bash her on the head," Mantis suggested.
"I think there's got to be a more logical way," Crane said. "Besides, if we did that, we'd be taking a risk."
"What risk?"
"We could end up making her situation worse," Crane replied.
"Tsk, worse than she is now?" Monkey asked skeptically.
"Boys, we need to be serious here," Viper said.
"Thanks, Viper," Po said. He then cleared his throat "Any other ideas?"
"… Maybe acupuncture?" Viper suggested.
"How's that supposed to help her brain?" Monkey asked.
"Maybe if we treat some of her nerves, which lead to the brain, we could possibly get a shock through to her brain," Mantis suggested, realizing what Viper was getting at.
"A shock?" Monkey asked. "Do you want to fry her brain?"
"No, we reset it," Viper said. "Like it was before."
"And the odds that will work are…?" Po asked.
"We don't know," Viper replied after looking at Mantis. "But we'd better try, right?"
Everyone agreed. Come on, how hard could it be? It was just acupuncture, right? Po thought. It turned out to be harder than you'd think. Just the mere sight of the pointy needles was enough to scare Tigress to unveil her claws and flee into a corner. Po and the others learned that the next day.
"Come on, Tigress," Po pleaded. "You're not making it any easier for us…"
"I don't care – get those needles away from me!" Tigress squealed in the most girly way possible. She actually pointed her claws towards her friends, but did not attempt to seem scary – Soft Tigress possibly couldn't pull that off.
"But it doesn't even hurt," Viper said, trying to persuade Tigress.
"I don't like sharp objects!" Tigress mewed. This surprised everyone. Was this just a belief she had gotten after she turned soft, or was this something she had always kept hidden from everyone? The latter was hard to believe.
"Tigress, it'll help you," Mantis said, almost sounding like someone trying to sell something at a market. "Just let us help you."
"No, I don't need to be helped," Tigress cried. No one wanted to say anything – they all knew that Tigress needed help with her mental state, but they didn't want to tell her that she was insane.
"Tigress, please," Viper said. "It'll make you feel better."
"But I'm fine!"
"It'll make you feel even better!" Po said, signaling his point with wide arm movements, almost hitting Viper in the head. "It'll feel like you're floating on a cloud."
"I do like clouds," Tigress said in an innocent voice and made the biggest kitten eyes Po and the others had ever seen.
"So will you let us do it?" Mantis asked in the sweetest voice he could manage.
"Alright, fine," Tigress said, still sounding a little uncertain. The three got her onto her bed and just as Mantis was about to apply the first needle, he sighed.
"Tigress, if you're tense, it'll just hurt," Mantis said. The feline was grimacing and clenching her fists, as if her life was on the line. "Try and relax."
"Sorry," Tigress said. "I'm just not very… fond of… sharp objects."
Mantis just sighed again and managed to apply the first needle into Tigress' skin, through her fur.
"Is it there?" Tigress asked, not even daring, to open her eyes.
"Yes, don't worry," Po said in a comforting voice. "It'll be okay…"
"Okay, if you say so…" Tigress said, still not sounding very sure about the situation. As they went along, they got to get more needles into both her face and also on her shoulders.
Suddenly, shortly after Mantis applied another needle, Tigress' entire body stiffened as if she had been petrified.
"Mantis!" Viper cried. "What did you do?"
"Sorry, I think I hit a wrong nerve," Mantis excused himself and removed the needle. Tigress' body returned to normal, but she didn't seem to have returned to normal when it came to his mental state, she looked just like before.
She was about to get up, but Viper used her tail to gently push her down. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. You just need to relax…"
"But…" Tigress looked like she was about to cry.
"Tigress, trust me, it's okay," Po said, sounding somewhat happy.
"… Alright, I trust you."
Mantis continued the acupuncture for a while, Tigress finally calming down. She actually seemed to be asleep. The entire acupuncture went very good, and Po was surprised at how quick Tigress had changed attitude – maybe she was normal again!
"How are you feeling, Tigress?" Po asked the feline as she opened her eyes again – she had actually managed to fall asleep during the acupuncture! She looked refreshed, but she still wore the same dress and make-up, so that hadn't changed
"Wonderful!" she giggled, at which everyone sighed – it had had no effect at all with the acupuncture! "Hey, why are you looking so sad?
"It's nothing," Mantis sighed. He assumed that they'd just have to get used to Tigress' new personality, and everyone else assumed the same. There was just nothing else left to do.
Suddenly the door opened. Crane and Monkey entered, having somewhat worried expressions on their faces. "How is she?" Crane asked.
"I think 'she' is fine," Tigress giggled happily. Monkey tried his best to hide that he was disappointed at the fact that Tigress still wasn't herself.
Monkey was carrying a clay bowl with water, assumingly for Tigress. He handed it to her, confirming this, and she drank the cold water. The others were meanwhile trying to figure out what to do about her.
Suddenly the group could hear the sound of flapping wings from outside the door. Suddenly someone knocked on the door to Tigress' room and Po quickly opened.
"Dragon Warrior, Furious Five… there are… problems," Zeng said in between deep breaths. The exhausted goose continued. "It's Fung, and…"
"Them again?" Monkey groaned. "When will they learn?"
"Never… so let's go teach them again!" Po said in an upbeat tone of voice.
"N-no," Tigress said, surprising everyone.
"Tigress…"
"No, I'm serious," Tigress mewed. "As you said – they never learn – so what is the point in fighting against them? Can't you just solve it by talk-…?"
Tigress was shut up when Mantis smashed the clay bowl against the top of her head with full force. The bowl exploded into a rain of small pieces. The feline fainted, falling onto her bed.
"Alright, that was all!" Zeng took no chances and fled before Tigress woke up – the Tigress he knew would be in a very bad mood when she woke up.
"Mantis, what are you doing?" Viper yelled at the insect.
"What? Maybe it works!" He looked over at Po. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about doing it!"
Po sighed in defeat. "True…"
Suddenly an orange-furred pawn grabbed Mantis' entire body, squeezing him tightly. "If you ever do that again, I will make sure you'll wish you were never born!" Tigress growled and threw Mantis against the floor – hard.
"Tigress, you're back!" Before Tigress could do anything, all her friends suddenly caught her in a group-hug – except Mantis of course.
"Guys – too close," Tigress said, lifting a paw, showing her friends her exposed claw. The others quickly let go of her.
"Alright – now that she's back to normal, let's go kick some croc!" Po said excited.
"But are you okay, Tigress?" Viper asked.
"I'm fine," Tigress said calmly. "Let's just go."
"But…" Crane started.
"I said, I'm fine," Tigress growled. "Just what do you think I am?"
Tigress was about to leave along with the other, but suddenly she noticed what she was wearing. She quickly looked down at herself, looking somewhat shocked. She then noticed the small puddle on the floor. "Is that…?" She touched her own face. She then looked angrily at the others and growled: "Did you do this to me when I was sleeping?"
"It's a long story," Po said, trying not to laugh.
"Po…!"
Now Po couldn't hold it in anymore and with a laugh, he quickly exited Tigress' room and said: "You won't believe it, but we'll tell you later!"
A/N (TLA): And there it is. :D The final part of Cutting the Kitten's Claws! And then we're done with this crazy, crazy story, and hopefully, we can get a new episode up soon. Who knows, maybe my girlfriend will write it! :D Seriously, it shouldn't just be about me... we need to talk... about this.
Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed and that you'll stay around for more! :D
