When Tigress woke up, she was once again greeted by the sound of falling rain. When she looked towards the window, she saw that the sky was just barely beginning to lighten. She hadn't gotten up this early since before Po came to the palace.
She sat up in her bed and stretched her arms. This morning she was feeling much better. She didn't feel as hot and bothered. Maybe Po would be more agreeable with leaving the cemetery now that she no longer had a fever.
Speaking of the giant panda, she wondered if he had learned his lesson yet.
At that moment she heard Po calling from the other room. His voice was muffled and distant.
"Tigress, is it morning yet?"
"I told you that I don't want to talk to you until after breakfast." Tigress replied.
Po fell silent. Tigress wondered if he was feeling bad for the gross-dumpling-in-the-face-incident. Most likely he was, which was the only reason that Tigress did not give him the traditional hiding..
She reached for the apples on the beside table and munched on a couple. They were rose red and sweet to the taste buds, but Tigress did not feel satisfied. She would never feel satisfied until they were finally out of the cursed cemetery and succeeding in their mission. Too much time had been wasted, and with Superintendent Wu's deadline drawing near, they could no longer afford to let the rain and Po's injury keep them trapped.
She finished her apples and swung her legs off the bed. Time to relieve Po of his punishment and get the heck out of here. She stood up.
Sploosh!
Tigress gasped a little as her legs suddenly felt wet. She looked down, and her heart sank. She was knee deep in water that flooded the entire room, as well as undoubtedly the rest of the house. Dark stains crept up the hem of her nightgown from where it met the water.
"No." She spoke. "Nonono..."
She rushed to the window.
"Oh hell no!"
The flooding in the house was nothing compared to outside. Everything she looked there was no earth in sight. The tallest gravestones barely peeked out of the collected rainwater. Thank heavens the house was on a foundation, so the flood inside was shallower. Even so, Tigress cursed. She should have realized that this would happen. All that water falling from the sky for several days straight, and it had to go somewhere...
"We should have left when we had the chance." Tigress snarled to herself. She forced herself through the knee deep water and out the room. She reached the room with the coffins, and made a beeline for the sealed coffin lying right next to the right hand wall.
She pulled open the lid. Lying inside, perfectly pitted like a jigsaw piece, was a very ashamed looking panda, tied up with thick green curtains.
"I'm sorry." He said bashfully the moment Tigress had opened the coffin.
"Never mind that, we've got bigger problems!" She retorted as she untied him. Po climbed out the coffin, taking care with his ankle, and yelled in shock at the coldness of the water.
"Woah! What the heck?!"
"The whole house is flooded." Tigress said simply. "Outside is even worse."
"By worse you mean..."
"I mean as in neck deep."
Po looked down at his bandaged ankle.
"So we're really stuck here this time."
"Yes." Tigress replied. Suddenly she exploded. "This whole mess is your fault!"
"Me? Me what did I do?"
"If you hadn't forced me to stay because of my fever, we could have located that cargo by now!"
"H-hey, I'm sorry!" Po held up his hands, trying to ward off any attacks.
"You're sorry you've officially trapped us here! You're sorry you threw a vile dumpling in my face! You're sorry the Jade Palace is going to be shut down! You're sorry, you're sorry, you're always sorry!"
Po winced at each use of the s-word. He wrung his paws, utterly ashamed. As much as it hurt, Tigress was right. He was the reason they had ever entered this house in the first place.
He looked away, not noticing Tigress's anger fade as she turned toward the window. She had gone too far that time, and she knew it. She mentally slapped herself. What was she doing, taking her anger out on Po when she could be thinking of a solution to get out of this wretched building? She gazed out the window, at the horrendous flood and the rain. The flood looked deep enough to swim in.
Maybe they could...
"Um, if I tell you an idea, will you not stay mad at me?" Po asked sheepishly.
"What is it?"
"You know how no-one lives in this house anymore? I don't think anyone would mind us making a raft out of all this stuff. A door or two, and something to help it float better... we could just float out of here."
Tigress gave him the greatest death glare she had ever made. She had been about to suggest that they swim for it and now felt mortified that Po of all people had suggested the smartest and most obvious of plans.
Po shrank under her deathly gaze.
"Tigress?" He asked, voice soft with terror.
"That... is a very good plan." She spoke through clenched teeth. Po brightened up instantaneously. "It'll probably take a few hours to find the right objects and construct a raft that can easily hold the two of us. Start taking down doors and I'll go change back into my old clothes."
Po's mouth fell open in dismay.
"Aw man! Do you have to?"
"Yes, I do, or do you want me to spend another full day in a nightie that reveals more than it should do?"
Po looked away, bright red.
"You don't want me to answer that." He mumbled as Tigress waded through the water and back towards the bedroom. Her red vest should be on the back of a chair in the corner where she left it. At least until Po knocked it to the floor while she was chasing him around the house.
At that last thought Po went white as a sheet, just as he heard a loud groan of fury.
Without a word he climbed back into the coffin, pulled the lid closed, and prayed for mercy on his soul.
"You should have brought more men, that's what you should have done, General. You underestimate the enemy, you overestimate your comrades, and this is what you get. What you need to do is reconnoiter, see if there's anything that could be used against these creatures, and take the fight to them..."
"Great, now he's talking to himself." Crane muttered.
"Just keep watching our backs." Monkey replied, keeping the torch held above his head.
Just as Monkey, Mantis and Crane had hoped, the skinless demons kept their distance as they made their way through the cavern, taking great care to stay within the torch light. Tsin continued to mutter to himself as he walked, to the point where it got annoying and Mantis covered his ears.
"Ask him if we're almost there." Crane said.
"Okay..." Monkey said. "General?"
"Soldier?"
"How much further?"
"Not much. In fact, we're here."
At that moment the torch illuminated a dead end right in front of them. The back of the cave, where Tsin had hidden the stolen cargo. Yet...
"Where's the gold?" Mantis asked.
Aside from stalactites protruding from the ceiling, stalagmites poking from the floor and little demons creeping in the darkness beyond the torch light, the back of the cave was bare. The three warriors rounded on Tsin.
"Tsin?" Monkey snapped.
Tsin shrugged and walked to the cave wall.
"I had to say something to get you to assist me." He said.
"Wait a sec, you lied to us?!" Crane looked livid. "I've lost half of my tail feathers to those things because of you!"
'And why did you lure us here in the first place?" Monkey demanded.
Tsin found a small hole in the wall and stuck his arm into it.
"Hey, you owe us an explanation!"
The three warriors leapt forward just as Tsin pulled something from the hole. Unarmed and outnumbered, Tsin was pinned to the floor in seconds, the object he had been holding falling to the floor with a clinking sound.
"Mantis, see what that is!" Monkey ordered as he and Crane held the yak down. Monkey kept his tail wrapped around the torch, and the numerous demons watched the scene with amused interest. They had seen things in the Chinese Underworld that would make a mortal's skin crawl, they had seen things in the mortal world that had them raising skinless eyebrows, but seeing a monkey, a bird and a bug pile up on a yak... that took the cake.
Mantis hopped over to the object.
"No! Don't touch that!" Tsin yelled.
Mantis picked it up. It was a gold locket, studded with a single large ruby.
"This is what we all got bitten on our sweet patooties for?!" The bug was indignant. "Where's the rest of the cargo?!"
"Yeah!" Crane said. "Start talking, Tsin! Now!"
"Yes, I confess I hid the cargo somewhere else!" Tsin seemed frantic, eyes fixed on the locket Mantis was holding. "Put that down, soldier!"
"Where's the rest of the cargo?" Monkey demanded. "Answer us!"
"I'll tell you. Just let me go and give me that locket..."
"What's so important about this locket anyway?" Mantis wondered. He found the groove of the locket and dug his arm in.
"No, stop!" With the strength of a veteran Tsin pushed upward and Monkey and Crane went flying. He launched himself at Mantis, who gave a yell of surprise, dropped the locket and stunned the yak with a swift kick. Tsin crashed to the cave floor, at the same time the locket struck the floor in front of him and opened.
A fine blood red powder flew up from within the locket and straight into Tsin's face.
At once the three warriors knew that the situation had just changed for the worst. Tsin blinked as he unknowingly inhaled the powder. His eyes went redder with each blink, and he started to twitch. He twitched and twitched as he got to his feet, picking up the locket and shutting it as he did so. The crazed stare he gave to each and every one of them indicated that he no longer recognized them.
"Uh, Tsin?" Crane asked nervously.
"Guh- get away..." The yak was staggering backwards, away from the others.
"Tsin!" Monkey said.
"What was that stuff?" Mantis asked, turning Tsin's attention to the insect. The yak's eyes bulged.
"Oh my word... you're swelling like a blueberry." He muttered. Mantis blinked.
"Some kind of hallucinogenic drug is my best guess." Monkey said.
"Well at least he's calling me big and not the other way around." Mantis replied dully.
"Tsin?" Monkey said calmly, taking a step towards the deranged yak. "Tsin's it's alright."
"Stay away!" Tsin yelled. "Stay away!"
"Tsin, calm down!"
"STAY AWAY!" Tsin started retreating faster.
"Stop him!" Monkey, Crane and Mantis all leapt forward. Monkey reached him first, but Tsin grabbed his tail and wrenched the torch from him. In seconds the three warriors had to leap back to avoid the fire as the yak swung it wildly.
"The cave's melting... the cave's freaking melting!" Tsin cried out in pure terror, turned tail and sprinted back up the cave.
"After him!" Monkey yelled, but before they could even move the torchlight was too far away and the skinless demons attacked.
This time the battle went differently. The three warriors now knew their enemy and the creatures no longer had the element of surprise. Instead of panicking they struck out with their fists, knocking down a couple each but completely missing the rest. They progressed slowly through the cave, punching any demon that came to close. Any that they missed, and by any they meant many, gave them a swift and painful bite.
"Tsin was right!" Crane said. "We can't fight them effectively with kung fu!"
"I can see the cave mouth!" Monkey yelled suddenly. "Run!"
Suddenly a demon ducked his fist, flew down low, and Monkey screamed. The primate doubled over and collapsed. Instead of wasting time asking him what had happened, Mantis lifted Monkey with his powerful bug-like muscles and he and Crane rushed for the exit.
