~CHAPTER 20~

FOUR

Thump... A distant noise; something within the earth.

"No," Shifu fearfully whispers, "It can't be..."

Thump... The noise again, closer this time.

"Is that-?" Tigress begins to ask, but is cut off when the ground below her explodes. Literally. She and her fellow warriors are sent flying in all directions as a large, ropelike creature erupts from below them. At least seventy feet of it rises up from the ground before it coils around to face the warriors. Eyes glowing a hateful red, it lets out a tremendous, echoing screech. Where most would have been afraid of what this creature was, Shifu and his students looked upon it in horror at who it was: Viper.

"The Dark Chi Beatles! They've bitten her!" Shifu cries as he scrambles to his feet. "Keep your guard up! There's no telling what she'll do!"

As if on cue, Viper shoots towards Po and opens her jaw wide, giving the panda an exquisite view of her newly acquired serrated fangs. A high-pitched, girly scream escapes Po right as he jumps to the side, narrowly avoiding the literal jaws of death. Viper smashes violently into the ground, seemingly unphased by the sudden collision. Just as quickly as she had struck, she winds back around and goes for another strike against Po. This time, he dodges with a swift backflip, again resulting in Viper smashing into the earth.

"Viper, stop!" He yells at his once fangless friend. "We're your friends! Can't you remember?!"

Po's words fall to deaf… whatever snakes use to hear as Viper readies herself for yet another attack. Just before she strikes, however, Tigress leaps up from behind Po and swiftly kicks her in lower jaw, making the beast recoil with a loud hiss before burrowing back into the ground.

"We can't reason with her!" Tigress shouts to the rest of the Five. "Avoid the fangs and try to tire her out! Saitama, stay out of this!"

Saitama blinks in surprise. Tigress wanted him to... stay away?

"What? Why?!" He asks aloud, but receives no answer.

"Here she comes!" Yells Monkey from across the battlefield, leaping away just in time to avoid Viper shooting from the ground once more. With a small sigh, Saitama reluctantly moves to a less active area of the battlefield to watch his comrades clash with the serpentine titan.

A slightly nervous Tigress and a fully terrified Po go toe-to-toe with the beast, trading kicks and punches with bites and tail whips, while Monkey and Mantis, too small to do any real damage, try their best to avoid being crushed by Viper's unpredictable thrashings. Crane circles high above the battle, trying to spot some sort of weak point on Viper. Then, he sees it: her eyes. It would be a risky move, but possibly the only effective one. With a deep breath, Crane tucks in and aims a dive bomb attack straight for the serpent's glowing crimson pupils. All seems well, that is, until Viper spots Crane in corner of her vision. In an instant, she snaps her head up to face him, and again lunges out, jaws wide open. Crane yelps and rolls left, missing Viper's jaws by half an inch.

"This is getting nowhere!" Monkey yells from the ground. "She's too fast!"

"We gotta have a more direct approach!" Mantis adds, clinging for dear life to Monkey's shoulder.

'Direct approach…' Mantis' words gave Tigress an idea. With a small growl, she charges towards Viper and leaps upward. She reels back and aims another kick for the serpent's head. This time, however, Viper saw it coming. The snake suddenly whips her head towards Tigress and opens her jaw wide. Tigress gasps as a single thought crosses her mind; something she hadn't thought in a long time.

'I'm gonna die.'

It must have been the adrenaline rush or maybe the desire to, well, not die, that kept Tigress alive, but somehow, she soon finds herself not in the belly of the beast, but instead standing the mouth. Not really much of a step up. Her feet are planted on Viper's lower jaw, while her paws grip the top. All that stood in the way of Viper snapping her jaw shut was Tigress, struggling to keep the open. Everyone immediately saw what Tigress was doing, much to their horror. Saitama especially seemed concerned.

'What the heck is she doing? She's gonna get herself killed!' He thinks.

Tigress begins to hear the shouts of her friends and comrades to "get out of there" or "pull back". Heck, even Tigress' consciousness was screaming at her to retreat. It was all pointless, however. There was no turning back. Tigress had royally screwed up, and she was going to pay the price. Her hands begin to burn as she struggles to keep Viper's jaw open, but even someone as strong as her has their limits. Viper's jaw slowly started to close on Tigress, prompting the tiger to scream in pain as her body begins to be slowly crushed by her own best friend. Watching from the sidelines, Saitama twitches. He couldn't take this anymore.

P O W

A deafening crack and flash of light in Tigress' vision is followed by the crushing pain in her body suddenly vanishing, and the tiger finding herself plummeting to the ground. Her legs heavily damaged and with no real way to land, she shuts her eyes and braces for the impact.

'At least it's a quicker way to die…'

But the impact never came.

Instead, Tigress feels herself caught in a sudden embrace, before gently being lowered on the ground. Confused, she cracks open her eyes to find her comrades standing over her, their fur, feathers, and skin splattered with blood, and their faces a mix of concern, panic, and distress. Viper, however, is nowhere to be seen. Tigress sits up suddenly,

"Where's Viper?!" She asks almost immediately.

Saitama bites his lip and slowly points behind Tigress. She turns her head to see large chunks of flesh scattered across the ground, pieces of scales, way too much blood, and two giant, cracked fangs stuck into the earth. Tigress's heart skips a beat.

"Viper…" She whispers in a quivering voice.

"It was the only way, Tigress." Saitama says solemnly. "I'm really really so-" A slap to the cheek cuts him off.

He takes a step back in shock, and holds a hand up to his cheek. Saitama didn't feel a thing, of course. At least, not any physical pain.

"How could you?!" Tigress shouts, having done a complete 180 from sadness to anger, every fiber of her being wanting to rip Saitama apart.

"I told you, it was the only way I could-"

"NO IT WASN'T!" Tigress roars back. "You're fast, aren't you?! You could've just leapt up and grabbed me out of Viper's jaws, or- or just HELD THEM OPEN FOR ME!" Everyone besides Saitama uncomfortably shifts away from Tigress. They had seen her fits of rage before, but they were never this intense. Usually the one to step forward and try to calm Tigress would but Viper, but...

"But Tigress she had-" Saitama starts.

"SHUT UP! Ever since I met you, heck ever since the day I HEARD YOUR NAME, you've done nothing but TAKE from me! My job, my honor, my home, and now my friend!" Tigress yells back, not even realizing her claws unsheathing, or tears starting to form in her eyes. Po, nor the remaining members of the Five - now Four, dared to speak. Even Shifu knew this wasn't the best time to lecture Tigress on her temper.

Saitama wanted to say a million different things to Tigress, but he knew it would all fall flat. He knew he had to choose his next words carefully.

"You're right."

"You- What?" Tigress was confused. Saitama agreed with her?

"You're right. I "took" your time to tell you that there' more to life then just fighting, I "took" you to Bao Gu Orphanage to show you that you're not a monster, I "took" Viper's life to save yours, and I "took" a slap from you to explain all of this." He pauses, his eyes locked onto Tigress'. Tigress opens her mouth to speak, but only silence follows. "Again, I'm sorry, Tigress... sorry for trying to be your friend."

Only until she feels her claws lightly prick her flesh does Tigress realize how hard she's clenching her fists. She again tries to speak, but to no avail. Her breaths deepen and become ragged as her body, coming down from the adrenaline rush, starts to weaken. Just as Tigress steps forward to unleash another slap, her legs finally give out sending her falling to the ground, and plunging her vision into darkness.