Monkey didn't like being left behind, but Crane and Mantis had insisted that there was no way he could climb the eastern mountain with his rather embarrassing injury. So there he was, sitting in the corner on a little stool watching as the festival continued, feeling both sore and utterly miserable.
Viper slithered up to him, carrying a steaming teacup on a tiny tray on her head.
"Thanks." Monkey muttered as he took the cup.
"Well, Master Shifu and Su have just left." Viper said.
"Where are they going?"
"To get more ingredients for the soup Shifu ruined. The market won't be open in this weather, so they're going to the southern farms."
"Oh. Oh great, great..."
"Monkey, what's on your mind?"
"Po and Tigress."
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be alright." Viper said sweetly. "Tigress won't let anything happen to Po. Po won't let anything happen to her, either."
"I didn't mean that. What if the rumors are true?"
"Then Po and Tigress falling in love would be wonderful, what's the problem?"
"You know how Shifu feels about her." Monkey said. "He's technically her father, and though he tries to hide it, but he does care. Remember how much of a jerk he was when Tigress became Master Mugan's student and left the palace?"
Viper remembered.
"If he cares about her that much, then chances are he'll accept it for her sake." She said. Monkey relaxed and sipped his tea.
"You're right." He said. "Besides, Shifu's too busy with the Superidiot and other things to go looking for them."
"Oh, Shifu told me he's going to go look for them once he's dropped Su off back here."
"My god, I have to find them!" Dropping his tea, Monkey leapt off the stool and rushed towards the exit.
"What?! Why?" Viper called after him.
"Why do you think?!" Monkey yelled over his shoulder. "There's a guy and a girl alone on a rainy night with the girl's overprotective dad on the prowl! We might as well head to the nearest cemetery and reserve a spot and a coffin the size of a crater!"
"Wait for me!" Viper quickly retrieved her umbrella from next to the stool and slithered to catch up with him.
"No, you're not coming with me!"
"Yes, I am!"
"No, you're not!"
They kept bickering as they rushed out the building and into the rain.
"Monkey, you're being ridiculous!" Viper said in vain as they clambered into small boat they had hired by the swollen river. Viper held the umbrella above them both as Monkey grabbed the oar and started the boat down the river.
"I am not!" Monkey retorted. "What if Shifu finds them in the middle of doing something they shouldn't and doesn't take it well! Po is my friend, I can't let that happen!"
"You don't even know where they are!"
"All we have to do is follow the route they would have taken to get to the village and check out any places along the way where they could have gone. Viper, you're going to have to bail!"
Viper looked down and saw the rapidly growing puddle of rainwater at the bottom of the boat. With a sigh she grabbed a bucket and started bailing.
General Tsin's secret hideout was a two-storey square stone building half the size of the fort he once called home and stood at the top of the steepest side of the mountain, overlooking the forest below. The walls were pale grey and plain, and the only detail was a wide balcony that jutted out over the massive steep slope. Crane, with Mantis on his back, barely tolerated the wind and rain as he flew just above the treetops towards their destination.
"Hey, Mantis?" Crane spoke.
"Yeah?" Mantis asked.
"What is the maximum penalty in Valley of Peace for breaking a yak's neck?"
"Probably the same for every other animal."
"Oh. Okay. So what's the plan?"
"According to Master Iron Branch, very few people know about this place, so Tsin will be alone."
"So we just storm in and beat the cargo's location out of him?"
"Only if he refuses to co-operate."
"Okay. Should we go in through the balcony?"
"Let's see if there are any other ways in, first." Crane replied.
When they reached the building and started circling, they saw no sign of General Tsin. They wondered whereabouts in the building he was. The only other entrance was a pair of heavy looking doors on the side of the building opposite the balcony.
"Tsin could be watching either of them." Crane said. "We'll have to pick one and risk it."
"Or we could just use a window." Mantis replied.
"Smarty pants."
They picked an open window twenty feet away from the doors.
"He might still be under the influence of that powder, so be careful." Crane said.
He tucked in his wings to make himself smaller as he flew through the window, ending up in a stone corridor devoid of decoration. Mantis leapt off his back as he touched down.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Crane silently gestured to the right, in the direction of the entrance doors. They would check there to see if Tsin was watching the doors, then they would scour every room until they reached the balcony.
"Watch our back." Crane whispered. Mantis did as he was told as they crept down the corridor towards a door at the very end.
They opened the door a crack, seeing only a large empty room. They stepped inside and saw the double doors. It must be the entrance hall.
"Look." Mantis spoke softly. There were damp spots on the floor leading from the entrance doors to a wide open door on the opposite side of the room from where they were standing. Tsin was definitely here.
"Let's follow the trail." Crane muttered. "Mantis, you go first."
Mantis nodded. Instead of hopping he simply walked forward so his wings wouldn't make their chirping sound. He went through the open door.
The door swung forward and slammed shut, and in its place was a dripping wet and heavily armored General Tsin.
"Hoi!" Mantis yelled from the other side.
Crane leapt into his stance, furious at missing that one spot in the room, and observed the yak. His eyes were wide and unblinking. Every muscle in his body was tense. One eyelid was twitching. In one hoof he clutched the amulet.
"Tsin." Crane said. On the other side Mantis banged at the door, but it was six inches thick.
Tsin twitched visibly when Crane spoke.
"Tsin, we don't want any more trouble. Just come with-"
He lifted his wing and deflected the mallet Tsin flung at him. In the split second Crane was distracted Tsin rushed towards a door opposite the entrance.
"Hey!" Crane took off after him. Unable to fly indoors, Crane simply flapped his wings to lend him speed as he pursued Tsin into a corridor, through another door leading into a kitchen, into a square room with a staircase where Mantis was kicking at a door on the other side.
"Ga-a-ah!" Tsin yelled.
"Whoa, what the- hey!" Mantis yelled as Tsin ran for the stairs.
"Come on, we can't let him get away again!" Crane yelled.
They rushed up the stairs, down a corridor, and another, and another, and skidded to a halt as Tsin rushed into a bedroom and pulled out a chain hammer from under the bed.
Crane and Mantis ducked as the big spiked metal sphere flew over their heads.
"Get back, get back!" Tsin yelled.
"Be careful, I think he's still slightly drugged!" Crane said. "Tsin, you're cornered! Just put down the hammer, tell us where you hid the cargo, and we'll leave you alone!"
"No!" Tsin yelled, and the chain hammer came flying at them again.
Crane narrowed his eyes as he focused them on the hammer. With one wing he knocked the deadly ball aside and it embedded itself into a wall. The chain went taught as Tsin tried to pull it back to no avail.
"Get him!" Mantis yelled. They rushed into the room, ready to kick some crazy yak butt. Tsin staggered backwards, struggling to pull out a sword while clutching the chain at the same time.
"Hey, watch the window!" Mantis yelled
Too late. Tsin collided with the open window, lost his balance, and tumbled out.
"No!" Crane and Mantis rushed to the window and looked down.
"GAAAAAHHH!" Tsin was dangling ten feet above the balcony, hanging onto the chain for dear life.
"Tsin, hold on!" Crane said. "We'll pull you up!"
"No, I'm fine here!" Tsin cried. "You'll just kill me!"
"He's not wrong." Mantis muttered. Crane glared, silencing him.
"Help me pull him up."
They grabbed the chain and started pulling. Tsin's eyes bulged and he let go, pushing away from the wall.
"You idiot!" Crane hollered.
Tsin landed on the balcony rail and almost immediately lost his balance. Flailing wildly, he tilted towards the side of the rail overlooking the slope more than a hundred feet below.
"Nononononono!" Crane took off from the window, grabbing Tsin's shoulders just as he fell forward.
That was when he realized just how heavy the yak's armor was.
Both yak and bird screamed as they plummeted straight down. Seconds passed as they fell, and then Crane's wings caught the air. Rain assaulted them, rendering them nearly blind, and the window tore at their clothes and his feathers. Crane felt his hat disappear. They soared forward, barely skimming the treetops below, all the while their terrified minds wondered what awaited them when they landed.
From the windowsill, Mantis gaped as he watched them glide away. Even though visibility was still poor with the rain, he could hear Tsin screaming.
"I should have stayed with Anming." He muttered.
Mantis leapt down to the balcony, and started determining the best path to catch up with them.
"What the heck's going on out there?" Po wondered aloud when he and Tigress heard the faint sound of screaming amongst the rain's chatter. They strode to the window, but saw no-one in the flooded cemetery. They heard the screaming again and looked up towards the dark sky.
"What's that?' Po asked when they saw the dark shape far up in the sky.
"I think it's a bird." Tigress said. "But who in their right mind would be flying in this weather? And he seems to be carrying something."
"Man, that bird's crazy." Po said. "That bag looks like it's three times his size! No wonder he's screaming." His stomach grumbled. "Uh, you don't mind if we have some more apples, do you?"
"No, I could do with a snack, myself." Tigress said. The shape in the sky screamed again, bringing back their attention. "Wait, that's not a bag, that's a person!"
"You're kidding!" Po gaped as the dark shape steadily approached the treetops. "I didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to try carrying someone three times bigger than them!"
Tigress squinted her eyes as the bird and his screaming passenger reached the trees and disappeared from sight.
"If that's who I think it is... he's had a lot of practice."
Crane cried out in horror when he saw the flood below. He hoped desperately that the water wasn't too deep. His wings would be useless.
Tsin clung to Crane's legs so hard Crane was wincing. As they glided through the trees branched slapped at them, and leaves stuck to their bodies.
Then came the water.
Tsin hollered as his body skidded across the surface of the flood, letting freezing water into his armor and less desirable places and ripping the amulet from his grasp. He barely had time to register the loss before his lower half got caught on something beneath the water and Crane flew from his grasp. Crane yelled as he soared helplessly forward toward the piece of sopping wet muddy land poking out of the water.