Opening Theme: Makka na Chikai by Yoshiki Fukuyama

CHAPTER 4
TIGRESS'S DREAMS

The morning gong sounded like it always did. What made it different was that Lin was able to make it out of his room to greet his master despite being half a second slower than Tigress. Shifu was more pleased at this than yesterday. Turning around, the three of them headed off to breakfast.

"Damn, slept at midnight." Lin said with a yawn.

Tigress eyed him with curiosity. "Have you been studying scrolls all night?"

"What? No I haven't. I was...looking something else up."

Tigress thought she had no business with whatever he was doing, so she dropped the topic. Lin on the other hand hadn't found what he had been searching for. His hope wasn't crushed yet; he hasn't completely searched the records meaning that there was still a chance. He'd already planned to return there again that night, and, if necessary, he'd return the next night and the next night and the next night...

He really would find what he's searching for even if it kills him.

Breakfast ended rather quickly. Tigress went back to the gauntlet causing Lin to think: "She's been favoring that lately; I wonder why." Shrugging, he started his training with Shifu who was carrying the same bamboo stick like yesterday.

"Same as yesterday Lin." the master said. Lin sighed, took his stance, and charged.

"Hey master, you mind if I ask you something?" Lin asked as he dodged Shifu's initial strike.

Shifu raised the stick to block Lin's punch. "About what?"

"Tigress. She doesn't seem like the friendly type to me. Was she always like this?"

Lin did a leg sweep; Shifu used the stick to vault himself over Lin and avoid the attack. Landing, he swung the stick , but Lin spun around and blocked it. "Somewhat." Shifu answered. "I've known her since she was a child. Even then, she had no one to call a friend."

"No friends huh?" Lin though as he continued his training. "She doesn't seem that bad."

Lin continued his training and Tigress went through the gauntlet several times before lunch. After finishing his meal, Lin got up and started heading back to the Training Hall, but Shifu stopped him.

"Lin, you have scrolls to read this afternoon."

"Really? The whole afternoon?" Lin asked. Shifu just nodded and led Lin through the Hall of Warriors and into a room with only a desk, a chair and two whole shelves filled with scrolls.

"Have fun." Shifu said walking away. Lin just looked at the huge amount of scrolls he had to read in disbelief. Sighing, he grabbed a scroll labeled "Basics", sat down and started reading.

The scroll was filled with paintings of different postures with captions underneath each one. Lin looked out the window and sighed; the afternoon had just begun, and Tigress was probably back on the gauntlet again. He turned back to the scroll and started studying.

It wasn't difficult for him to study; it was just that we would rather go back to the record room and continue searching. He was tempted to many times, but he resisted it. He could always just go back there that evening...and go to bed at midnight without finding what he was looking for...

"Study Lin. You're not going to get better by thinking of personal things." he thought to himself with a shake of his head. He turned back to the scroll and continued studying.

He did find the scrolls somewhat interesting. Every now and then, he'd stand up and try to imitate a stance or move he read about. Late in the afternoon, Tigress had come to check on him and found him practicing out a move.

"Oh Tigress, good thing you're here. You mind if you hold up this scroll?" Lin asked.

"I don't see why not." she replied. Lin handed up the scroll and she opened it up revealing a painting of a lynx performing a move.

"Alright, let's see now." Lin muttered taking a stance. "Countering a kick...countering a kick..." He imagined a kick being aimed right at him. Copying what was said in the scroll, he swung his left arm down knocking the imaginary kick downwards. His intention was to immediately spin and hit with the back of his right hand, but he spun around to fast and lost his balance causing him to stumble and fall down a bit.

"It's alright; I'm fine." he said getting up. Tigress watched him repeat the move with same results. She found his attempts quite amusing but kept that to herself. A few more failed attempts later Tigress started smiling slightly but held the scroll up to conceal her amusement. Lin tried the move again and ended up slamming his right heel into the leg.

He cried out in pain, and Tigress let out a single laugh but disguised it as a cough. It would've fooled anyone but not Lin. He tried and failed again causing Tigress to bite the inside of her cheek to avoid smiling. Finally, Lin tried one last time; he lost balance as usual and (he really wasn't intending this part) ended up crashing into the shelf causing every scroll on it to fall and bury him.

Tigress couldn't help it and started laughing out loud at Lin's predicament. She couldn't tell what was happening; first she's just finished her harsh training to defeat Lin, and now she's laughing at his failed attempt to make a simple move.

"Ugh, finally!" Lin said as he came out of the pile of scrolls. He stood up and dusted himself. "It's about time as well."

Tigress finally stopped laughing. "What are you talking about?"

Lin just smiled at her. "You laughed; I haven't seen you laugh since I got here Tigress. I almost thought you didn't have a sense of humor."

"No sense of humor? Just what did you think of me?" he was asked.

"Well er...You do take your training very seriously." Lin commented. "Very seriously; it seems like that's all you do."

Tigress realized that there was...some truth to that. "Yes well...I have been training almost my whole life, morning, afternoon and sometimes in the evening. It's all I've been doing for years."

"Wow. That's pretty impressive Tigress." Lin said. "But I hope you don't mind if I ask you why?"

Tigress raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean why?"

"Well, I'm trying to get stronger so I can end Geng Wu's blood lust for good. So what about you?"

Tigress stared at him realizing that his dream was completely different from hers. She supposed that there was no harm in telling him what motivated her training. Wordlessly, she gestured him outside, and he followed.

She led him to the Hall of Warriors; stopping in front of the moon pool she pointed upwards. Lin looked up and gazed in awe at the high, green ceiling with swirly cloud designs. At the center of it was a magnificent statue of a golden dragon with a scroll in its mouth.

"What is that?" Lin asked not taking his eyes off the scroll.

Tigress gazed at it too. "My dream is to become the Dragon Warrior, a legendary Kung Fu master who will have access to the Dragon Scroll and obtain unimaginable power."

The lynx turned his gaze to Tigress. "You sure are a big dreamer."

Tigress sighed. Just right above their heads was the thing she'd wanted so much. All of her training, all of her hardships, all of her sacrifices was all to get this one scroll, to become the Dragon Warrior.

"I think you can do it." Surprised, Tigress looked at Lin who shrugged. "What? I think you'd make a great Dragon Warrior. I mean, you've got skills, determination...ferocity." He hesitated a little at that last word. "But anyway, I can tell you're almost there."

She was a little taken aback at his compliment. "What about you? What if you were chosen as the Dragon Warrior?" She couldn't believe she considered that possibility. Lin the Dragon Warrior?

He sighed and looked at the scroll again. "I'd decline." he said simply.

"What? You'd reject an offer as honorable as being the Dragon Warrior?" Tigress asked surprised.

When he looked back at her, she noticed something. He seemed to have changed suddenly; he looked serious, more serious that he had ever been since he arrived. "You've probably heard me being called a hero...But I didn't want any of that. I never wanted fame nor fortune. Think about it Tigress. When I'm called a hero, it means that I'm the only thing standing between an entire village and certain death. It means that if I make one mistake, one error, one wrong move, an entire village dies...I don't like that at all..."

His serious tone puzzled her, making her wonder what kind of past he held. Before she could say anything else, Shifu showed up. "Tigress, I told you to fetch Lin. What is taking you so long?"

With a jolt, Tigress remembered that that was what she was told to do and nothing else. Sure, a lecture about following requests properly was about to be handed out by her master. Ugh, how she hated those kinds of lectures. She started thinking up an excuse, but then Lin cut in.

"Sorry about that Master. It's my fault. I asked Tigress to help me out with something. I chatted a little with her after that and lost track of time."

Tigress was surprised by his cover up for her and slightly comforted by the fact that Shifu's lecture would be directed to him instead of her. The lecture however, didn't come. "Very well. I called because dinner is ready."

"Ah good, I'm starving. Who knew pouring through scrolls was so tiresome?" Lin said with a small chuckle. Tigress noticed the transition from his serious tone to his usual one. Together, the three of them left for dinner.

There was one thought in Tigress' mind that time. The fact that Lin didn't want to be the Dragon Warrior increased her chances of being chosen. Of course, she would have to beat him first to get there. He was just one obstacle blocking her from reaching her dream.

She was confident that she could beat him. All the time she'd been spending on the gauntlet made her strikes and blows faster, faster than Lin's reflexes she hoped. Yes, Lin was going down, and with that comforting thought, she went to bed and slept.

She dreamed about her future fight with Lin. He put up a fight and didn't want to give up like he would normally do, but she overpowered him in the end. Turning away from an unconscious Lin, Tigress found Shifu and Oogway praising her skills and just when they were about to announce her as the Dragon Warrior-

The dream changed. Confused, Tigress saw her surrounding melt and fade to black. Soon, the fire dream that she had seen for many night appeared. "Damn fire dream." she thought. She hoped that she would get back to her old one.

But then something different happened. The dream became clearer and Tigress saw it differently. This whole time, she thought she was in the middle of a dark abyss with flames all around her. Now, the dream cleared up; though it was still blurry, she could tell what was going on.

She was in the middle of a burning town she didn't recognize. Every building around her was burning violently; everyone in it would surely be burned to death. What a horrible way to die she thought. She looked around for water, for something, anything to stop the flames, but she remained where she was. She hated it, this feeling of uselessness, of not being able to help at all.

There were too shapes in front of her, but the dream was so blurry she couldn't tell what they were.

And then she heard shouting. Someone was yelling at her, but she couldn't understand what the shouter was saying. Again and again the shouts came, and she still couldn't understand it nor anything else in that dream for that matter. Panic seized her, and she woke up with a gasp.

Sweat covering her forehead, Tigress wiped the sweat from her brow and thought. She thought that dream was just harmless, but now...it's more serious than she thought.

What did these dreams mean? Why did she dream of a town where she had never been to before? What caused that much destruction in that town? And just who was that mysterious voice calling out to her in the middle of the chaos?