WHOO! Finally got a new chapter going! Ugh, being sick really takes it's toll on you. Oh well, here's the new chapter! I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter thirty five: Bounty Hunter's Attack

All day and all night, Bran'ika sat by Rose's bed side. He refused to leave her, for more then a few minutes, if any at all. He was still scared she would die, but Shawna and Shadow both reassured him, she wouldn't.

But that didn't mean he wasn't still scared for her life. Shawna would come by every hour to check on the unconscious tigress. She was still in bad shape, but was starting to get better. Slowly, but surely.

Bran'ika was relived by this, and kept hoping and praying she'd wake up soon. Shadow dropped by many times to check on her, and each time she could tell Rose was a little better. Bran'ika though, was still very worried.

"Don't give up on her just yet. She'll be awake before you know it." Shadow said, trying to encourage the white Tiger, who watched Rose worriedly.

Bran'ika nodded slowly. "I'd never give up on her. But it doesn't mean I'm not worried." he said quietly.

Shadow nodded in understanding. It was hard not to worry about someone you truly care about. Shadow pulled up a chair next to him and sat herself down. She was just as worried about Rose, as poor Bran'ika was.

After a while, Silver and Blaze drug Shadow away from her seat, to tuck them in for the night. Chris walked in, smirking at Shadow as she passed by and walked over to Bran'ika.

"If you wanna get some rest, I'll keep an eye on her for ya." he offered.

Bran'ika shook his head. "No. I'm not leaving her tonight. Not until she wakes up." he said stubbornly.

Chris rolled his eyes, but understood why Bran'ika was being so stubborn about it. "Alright dude. I'll be back later, to check on you two."

The white Tiger simply nodded, and the black Panther turned and left the room. Bran'ika found it hard to keep his eyes open, and soon fell sound asleep, his head resting on his arms, on the edge of Rose's bed, and one paw gripping one of hers tightly.

The night passed by slowly, and when Chris checked on them again, decided against waking Bran'ika and let him sleep. He knew it had been a long day for hem both, so he quietly left and headed for his own room.

*Early the next morning*

It was a good hour away from sun rise, and the morning wake up call, from the old gong, and everyone was still sleeping soundly. Bran'ika still slept, with his head on his arms, right next to Rose. He wasn't about to leave her.

After a little bit, Rose moaned quietly and shifted a little. Then she, ever so slowly, forced her eyes open and looked around.

She looked down and saw Bran'ika gripping her paw. She slowly pulled it away from him and gently rubbed his shoulder. After a minute, he yawned and sat up and stretched out.

He looked over at Rose and smiled wide, when he saw her staring back at him, with her deep blue eyes. He quickly moved his chair closer and couldn't stop smiling.

"Oh man, are you okay?! How do you feel?!" he asked quickly.

Rose sighed quietly and replied in a weak whisper, "I'm really tired and weak feeling."

He nodded and felt her forehead. She had a slight fever, but not to bad. He sighed quietly in relief and smiled at her.

"You really scared me, ya know." Bran'ika said, smiling.

Rose gave a weak smile. "Thanks. I kinda scared myself too." she replied quietly.

Bran'ika gently ran a paw across her face. "Why don't you get some more sleep, while I find Shawna. You really need your rest after that."

Rose sighed and nodded. "Okay..." she said, slightly defeated.

Bran'ika got up and walked out, while Rose let herself relax and drift off to sleep again. Bran'ika soon returned with the kind, Russian Fox, who quietly examined Rose and nodded.

"I'd say she's well on her road to recovery." Shawna said with a smile.

Bran'ika sighed and thanked Shawna, before he sat himself down again, and simply watched Rose. He watched the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest, as her breathing slowly evened out, and became much smoother, and returned to normal again.

After a while, Shifu slowly walked into the Med Center. Bran'ika did everything he could to keep from tearing the small Master to shreds.

The red Panda walked over and looked at Rose. "How is she?" he asked.

"Better." Bran'ika replied coldly.

Shifu sighed and clasped his paws behind his back. "I... I am sorry about what happened, Bran'ika. This was never my intention." he said.

"Then what was?!" Bran'ika snarled, as he spun around to face the Master before him.

"I thought... I was doing the right thing." the Panda replied.

Bran'ika growled. "I guess not." he huffed, before turning back to Rose.

Shifu sighed again and slowly walked away. "I am truly sorry Bran'ika. I hope you'll believe that some day." he said, before walking out.

Bran'ika felt bad for being mad, but Rose had almost died because of what Shifu had made her do. It was going to take him a while to get over that, even if he did forgive him.

*Deep in the bamboo jungle. Tanis' hideout*

Shaunty growled, as she walked up to the door that was Scorch's room. She still couldn't believe she had hired this... she wasn't really sure what he was.

She knocked on the door, then didn't bother to wait for an answer and strode into his room. Scorch had his feet kicked up on a desk, and a bottle in his paw. Shaunty stared at him, disgustedly.

"We do have rules here, you know." she snarled, trying to keep her temper in check.

"And that would be what, sweet heart?" Scorch asked, adding to Shaunty's furry.

Shaunty tried to keep from snapping her jaws in Scorch's face, as she slowly spouted off the rules. "One, no feet on the furniture. Two, no drinking on the job. Three-"
"One, I don't care. Two, I'm not on the job, I'm waiting for the job to start. Three? Eh, didn't catch that last one, heh heh." he said, as he leaned farther back in his chair and took another drink.

Shaunty growled, very annoyed. Scorch couldn't care less about her rules, and he didn't care if he got horribly drunk before his mission either.

"If you mess this up..." Shaunty warned.

"You worry to much!" Scorch said, as he flashed her a smirk.

Shaunty bared her fangs and snarled. "I'll give you one chance if you mess up. But, I suggest that you don't." she said, before storming off, leaving Scorch to his drinks.

*The Jade Palace. Med Center*

All day long, Bran'ika refused to leave Rose's side, and finally when night time came, Chris came in and dragged him to his room.

"Chris, I wanna stay with her!" Bran'ika protested, as he tried to break out of the head lock, Chris had him in.

"Nope, you said you wanted to stay with her, until she woke up." Chris said stubbornly.

"I said "at least until she wakes up", that does not mean you can drag me to bed!" Bran'ika grumbled.

Chris finally got him to his room and pushed him in. "Stay. If anything, do it for Rose. She would want you to rest."

Bran'ika sighed and nodded. "Only if you'll check on her for me." he bargained.

"Deal." Chris said.

Then he closed Bran'ika's door and waited until it was quite quiet in his room, to make sure he didn't sneak out, then he opened the door, just to be sure, and saw Bran'ika was sound asleep in his bed. Chris smirked and headed off towards the Med Center.

*Med Center*

Rose slept soundly, a slight smile on her lips. Everything was quiet and still. Then one looming shadow slowly crept across the floor.

Scorch slowly and quietly crept towards Rose, but found it slightly hard. He shook his head, when his vision blurred again, and continued on. He was ready to get this done, so he could go home and get some sleep.

He snuck towards the sleeping feline, with a dagger in one paw, and a bola swung over his shoulder. He snuck towards her and was ready to stab her, right in the chest, when the wood underneath his paws creaked loudly, waking the tigress from her slumber.

Rose's eyes slowly fluttered open and she let out a frightened screech, when she saw the strange Tiger, who stood over her.

Scorch brought his dagger down, but Rose rolled out of the way, and it only stabbed the mattress beneath her. She jumped to her feet and took off running as fast as she could, but Scorch pulled the bola from his shoulder, and swung it around, and threw it at her.

It flew at her quick and swift, until it tangled itself around her lags, causing her to fall fast and hard to the floor, with a loud 'thud'.

Scorch ran towards her as quickly as he could, and covered her mouth, when she tried to scream. He dug around in his bag for something Shaunty had given him.

Rose tried to kick him, but couldn't with her legs bound so tightly. So instead she used her claws and scratched at his legs.

He yelped in pain and used his free paw to hold her arms down, until he could put his feet on her paws and held her down that way.

Rose growled and kept fighting. Scorch was getting tired of this, and grabbed a long rag and tied it tightly around her mouth, then tied her paws behind her back.

She was completely immobile now, and much madder because of it. She glared daggers at him, as he dug through his bag, until he found what he was looking for; a long needle and syringe.

Rose's eyes grew wide with fear and her chest heaved with her quick and hard panting. Scorch smiled, Shaunty had told him he could use it if he wanted to and said it would give her a hard, painful death.

And since she had given him trouble, that's what he was going to do!

He smiled at her, then straddled her and grabbed a paw full of fur on the scruff of her neck and jerked her head back, then jammed the needle deep into the side of her neck, and injected her with the liquid from the needle.

He smiled and put one paw under her chin and the other on the top of her head and jerked her neck sideways, just to add some hurt.

Rose's eyes were still wide, as pain coursed through her body, not only from what this Tiger was doing to her neck, but also from the stuff he'd injected her with.

Scorch smiled, satisfied with himself, and slowly stepped to the side, as she went into a massive seizure. She flailed about on the floor, and a foam like mixture was coming out of her mouth. Scorch figured she'd probably just choke to death, and he wouldn't have to do anymore, all he had to do was wait.

Then he jumped back, as a dagger went flying past his face and embedded itself into the wall. Scorch looked over and saw Chris standing there, growling furiously.

"Get AWAY from her!" he growled.

Scorch normally would have stayed and fought, but he was to drunk to care, and took off running out the back door. Chris was concerned with catching him, but more concerned with keeping Rose alive.

He ran over and dropped down beside her shaking form. He untied the gag from around her mouth and tried to clean the foam away, and clear her air way, so she could breathe. He had trouble holding her still, she was shaking so hard.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, which turned out to be mere seconds, Shawna came running around the corner, and hurried over, when she saw what was taking place.

"What happened?!" she asked, as she took over for Chris, and he moved down to cut the ropes, binding Rose's wrists and ankles together.

"I don't know! I just came to check on her, and found some Tiger standing over her, while she was seizing!" Chris replied.

Shawna nodded and tried to hold her still. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go get that Tiger!" Shawna said, slightly amused with herself.

Chris smirked and nodded, then took off running out the back door, after Scorch. He sped through the bushes and soon spotted the Tiger, stumbling along. He wasn't lucky enough to escape and hide from Chris' furry.

The Panther sped towards the Tiger, with claws extended and rage filled eyes. He soon caught up with Scorch and lunged for him, but was suddenly sent tumbling to the side.

He shook his head and looked up, to see a pure white Wolf, with electricity sparking from her paws. Chris growled in pain, realizing he had just taken a lightening strike to his side.

Thankfully, because of his powers, it didn't hurt him as badly, and he was able to make a run back for the palace, before this Wolf did worse to him.

"I warned you not to fail!" Shaunty screamed, when Scorch has explained what had happened.

The Tiger bent his head and quietly muttered, "Opps..."

Shaunty stuck her snout in his face and snarled, "You're going to have worse then a bad hangover tomorrow, when I get through with you."

Then she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him back to Tanis' hideout, planning what she could do, to make him understand how serious she was.

*The Jade Palace. Med Center*

Chris slowly walked back inside, holding his side, trying to keep his eyes open. He walked towards Rose's bed, and could see she was still jerking slightly, but not as badly now.

"Is she okay?" he asked.

Shawna nodded. "Yes, she's lucky you came along when you did. That Tiger would have let her die, and we both know it." she said.

Chris nodded, then he sat down in a chair, and rubbed his side.

"What happened?" Shawna asked quickly.

"J-just got hit with a lightening bolt." Chris said quietly.

Shawna shook her head and pointed over to one of the free beds. "Lie down. I'll go get something for it." she said.

Chris grumbled quietly, but walked over and laid down. He stared up at the ceiling, and waited for Shawna. She soon returned, and started tending to his side. After a bit, she was done and told him to get some sleep.

He looked over at Rose, who's body had finally come to a stop and she laid still, the only movement she made, was the slow rise and fall of her chest, as she took deep, painful breaths.

Chris sighed quietly and after a little bit, let his eyes close and he drifted out of consciousness and into a deep state of sleep...

Yay! Finally got a new chapter up! And... I have guinea pig crawling over me right now, making typing extremely hard. BROWNIE! COOL IT! Okay, now that she's still, I'll finish this. Oh wait, there she goes again... oh well! Hope you all liked the chapter, and just what will happen next? Looks like the Jade Palace isn't going to have much rest, eh? Just like me and my guinea pigs. Or all my animals for that matter, haha! But yes, hope you liked it, and please don't forget to review! I live off those things people! But yeah, until next time, LATER!