G'day,

I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter too, I struggled with it because I didn't really know how to make Monkey and Susan flirt without sounding like I was just flinging them together, I think it turned out alright though.

Enjoy,

Susan lay still and silent in her bed, in her deep red lace nightie, her body relaxed and her eyes closed.

She had always been a light sleeper but tonight she'd insisted on trying to fall asleep quickly, she didn't want to appear half awake when fighting with the others tomorrow.

She turned over to face the plain wall of her room and snuggled further under her covers. It was perfectly quiet outside, she couldn't hear a single thing, not the birds in the trees, nor the possums that climbed and clattered along the roofs.

Suddenly, she found that quite odd. Why couldn't she hear anything? She was probably just being paranoid she told herself, but all the same.

She was about to give her head a little shake to clear her ears when she heard a high-pitched whizzing sound then all of a sudden, her window was smashed apart and the entire front side of her room was destroyed.

She gasped and shrieked, running to the back of her room as the floor swayed.

Infront of her was nothing but the open mountains, her entire north facing wall had been destroyed and she could see clearly out into the open.

Shrieking, and certainly not stopping to throw a coat over her red nightie, she dashed down the stairs from her half an attic room, yelling.

"They're attacking! The palace is under attack!"

The doors to her left and right banged open and the others all poked their heads out wearing their night things.

"What's going on, what do you mean they're attacking?" Viper shrieked in a panic.

"I mean my entire room was nearly blown apart and me along with it!" Susan yelled, clutching her side as a stitch burned through it.

"Everyone calm down! Where's spirit Yin?" Tigress, wearing her old grey nightie, called over the ruckus, taking charge. She turned to face Susan. "What do you mean your room was just destroyed?" she asked in the calmest voice she could manage.

"I mean," began Su, fiddling furiously with the ribbon on her nightie as she tried to tie it up and talk so she wouldn't trip. "They must have a cannon; they just sent a cannonball through my window."

"Oh My God, ok everyone calm down let's find Master Shifu."

"They must have been planning before us, if only we'd attacked yesterday!" Mantis groaned.

Suddenly there was another whistling sound and then a crashing sound as the entire hallway just behind where Susan was standing, crumbled into debris.

"Why am I getting Déjà vu?" Po joked, attempting to ease the situation but everyone just glared at him.

"Oh thank goodness you guys are here," The spirit wearing a black coat over her nightie appeared beside them holding a lantern out in front of her. "We need to get to the basement and grab our weapons."

Nodding, the other followed her.

Down they climbed each set of stairs and across each hallway, as fast as they possibly could.

The walls around them were collapsing like dominoes and the roofs above them were barely holding up.

Still they continued to run until at last they arrived at the door to the basement.

The basement was an earthy room, smelling like soil and drains. It was square and completely empty, black rats and mice hunted the floor beside them.

Gasping for breath, the warriors bolted the door and collapsed against the walls of the room.

Susan glanced up at the ceiling of the basement and watched as a few cracks appeared in the white plaster. It wouldn't hold for long. She felt a sob erupt from her throat and buried her head in her knees. She could've died, just moments ago, just lying in bed.

Viper looked close to tears too but instead of breaking down she simply cleared her throat and turned to the Spirit. "What's plan B then?"

"We'll wait until dawn and then take them by surprise by going round the back of their army." She replied sincerely, as if she'd been planning this all along.

"Ok that could work, but how will we get round to the back of their army?" Crane demanded, scratching his head with his claw absentmindingly.

"We go under the ground of course." Viper replied. "We tunnel our way until we're behind where they are waiting and then take them by surprise."

"One other thing," Crane continued. "There's got to be hundreds of underworld creatures, right? There's two hundred and Eight of us."

"I once overtook an entire army remember?" Po responded not in an ignorant manner, more in just a simple factual manner.

"Actually where are the soldiers?" Tigress responded, looking around.

"They'll be in their barracks; I didn't want to call on them until tomorrow." Yin replied quietly.

"Ok, that leaves Eight of us." Crane sighed.

Everyone fell silent after his words, they all knew things weren't looking up, not in the slightest.

"At least we have a plan B." Monkey commented quietly. "That's a start It means we have the right mindset and that's half the journey."

Everyone nodded a this while Susan twisted around and locked eyes with Monkey who gave her wet, azure, eyes, a reassuring smile.

"Go to sleep now students, we have a long day ahead of us." Master Shifu ordered although there wasn't a need as everyone was already silent.

Susan slid down so she was lying on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest.

In the basement, although they were safe from the canons, they could still hear every single one land, crashing and smashing, destroying the Yin and Yang palace, destroying their one shield against the force of evil that prodded and poked at them as every new crack appeared in the basement ceiling.

Oh My God, three chapters in one day, or rather night, that's a record.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, were you surprised when the canons started falling? I hope so! That was the intended response!

See you tomorrow,

xx