Chapter 9: Having a Chat
Tigress sat in her chair in the kitchen of the student barracks. Normally, whenever she was feeling… unusual, she would always go to the Training Hall and workout as a way of taking her mind off of things. But now… that didn't feel appropriate.
As she sat, she gazed at the flower that Po had given her, which was still in her paw.
Po…
She felt her heart fill with a warmth that was almost foreign to her, but in a strange way… she liked it. She felt a warm smile worm its way onto her face as she clenched the flower close to herself.
Kind, sweet, Po who had been one of her closest friends was now so far away in a village full of pandas like him.
Tigress felt her smile fade and her heart clench with worry and even some sadness.
Yes, Leonardo and Michelangelo were there with him, but would that really be enough? Especially with the threat of Kai.
"Tigress?"
Sitting up in her seat, Tigress turned to see April and Viper standing at the doorway to the kitchen.
"Oh, hello, Viper, April." Tigress greeted them politely.
"Mind if we come in?" April asked.
"Of course." Tigress replied.
April and Viper walked into the kitchen, sitting down in the chairs beside Tigress. Upon sitting down, the two quickly noticed the flower in Tigress' paw, along with the now barely noticeable concerned look on her face.
"Tigress… are you feeling alright?" Viper asked worriedly.
Tigress blinked, snapping out of her thoughts as she gazed at her serpentine sister. "I'm fine." She said.
April let out a hum of skepticism. "Hmm, I don't need my super special psychic powers to tell that that's a lie." She said, earning a sigh from Tigress. "You're worried about Po, aren't you?"
Tigress gave a light snort, "Are you sure you're not reading my mind?" She asked humorously.
April and Viper couldn't help but giggle at that response.
"But, in truth, yes. I am a little worried." Tigress answered.
"Why's that?" Viper asked before a sly smile came to her lips. "Is it because you miss him?"
Tigress, despite herself, chuckled a little. "Maybe."
"Well, hey, we miss Po too, along with Leo and Mikey." April said. "And I'm sure Raph and Donnie especially miss them."
"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tigress asked curiously.
"They're out in the courtyard." Viper answered. "Said that they felt like doing some sparring."
"Good." Tigress said. "They'll need to be well prepared for when Kai comes." She then looked down. "Hopefully, Po, Leo, and Mikey will have mastered chi by then."
April then noticed a certain look in Tigress' eyes, one that looked quite familiar.
"There's more to you being worried about Po, isn't there?" April said.
Tigress gave the red-haired lioness a confused look. "What do you mean?" She asked.
April smiled. "You like Po, don't you?"
Tigress stared blankly at April. "Yes, I do." She said. "He's like a brother to me like Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and Casey are as well."
Viper laughed while April covered her mouth to hold down her giggles. "No, silly," Viper giggled, "she means that you 'like' like him, don't you?"
Tigress' lips pursed tightly shut, her eyes wide, her muscles tensing as her cheeks were on fire. "That-that-that's not the case at all." She stammered, her voice unusually shaky as she tried desperately to maintain her composure. "Po is a respectable warrior and master and not to mention, the Dragon Warrior. And I'm a member of the Furious Five, sworn to protect those in need, and shouldn't be allowed to be distracted by-"
"Tigress, stop." Viper gently interrupted, putting her tail on Tigress' paw. "You're not some sort of stone statue. You're a real, living, breathing person with emotions like everyone else. It's okay to feel things like happiness, anger, sorrow, passion… love."
Passion… Love… Those two words echoed through Tigress head like a whisper in her mind. Is that what these feelings were? A want for a romantic relationship with Po? She had never cared for romance before, so why now?
But then again, she had never felt like this around anyone else besides Po.
Po made her feel like no one else had before. He made her feel safe. He made her feel cherished. He made her feel wanted. He made her feel needed.
And she needed him too.
"It's true." Tigress softly admitted. "I do like Po… more than a brother."
Viper gave a squeal of uncontained joy as her body shook with excitement while April smiled so brightly that it was like a miniature sun.
"So… when did you start feeling like this?" April asked once she and Viper finally settled down.
"Since Gongmen." Tigress replied with a slightly wistful smile. "I always thought what I felt for Po was platonic, but after what happened in Gongmen City… I guess it made me realize how much I care about him." She then frowned sadly. "But… I'm not sure he feels the same."
April smiled softly at Tigress. "I'm sure he does." She said reassuringly.
"Why is that?" Tigress asked.
"Tigress, the way Po looks at you, the way he talks to you, the way he talks about you, I'd say that's enough to show that he likes you too." April said. "I should know, Donnie was like that with me all the time."
Both Tigress and Viper looked at April in surprise. "Really?" Viper asked.
April laughed slightly. "Yeah, when we first met, he was head-over-heels for me. Whenever I was around, he would always try to impress me, acting like an adorable love-sick puppy." She then giggled as placed a hand on her cheek. "He even did this whole flowchart thing where he mapped out every possible thing he could say to me." She sighed as she remembered the other good times with the purple clad turtle. "But, despite how goofy and eccentric he could be, I could tell that Donnie genuinely cared about me. And… it was only when he was finally ready to let me go that I realized how much I cared about him, because he was always there for me, even when I didn't want him to be."
She then let out a happy sigh as she looked at Tigress again. "So, next time you see Po, you should talk to him, maybe even tell him how you really feel. Because if you don't, you may never get another chance." April said.
Tigress smiled slightly at April. "I'll try." She said. "Thank you, April." She then turned to Viper. "And you too, Viper. It felt nice talking about this."
Viper giggled. "Yeah, we should do girl talks more often."
The three of them shared a laugh together as they sat in the kitchen for a little while longer.
Raphael and Donatello circled each other in the Jade Palace courtyard, weapons drawn and readily poised as their gazes locked while the sun began to lower in the evening sky.
Out of the two, Raphael, of course, was far more eager than his younger brother to get started as he spun his sais atop his hands in a flashy manner. "Don't worry, Donnie. I'm in a good mood right now. I'll go easy on you." Raph said with a wicked grin.
Donnie huffed. "Don't do me any favors, Raph." He then pursed his lips as he tried to come up with a proper comeback. "Um, in fact, maybeeee you'll be the one… who gets gone easy on… by me. So… yeah." He declared clumsily. He then twirled his staff, feeling a little more confident in himself despite the awful comeback.
Raph scoffed. "Was that supposed to sound tough or stupid?" He asked sarcastically. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart guy. How is it you keep coming up with some of the worst smack-talk?"
Donnie scowled, both at Raph insulting his confidence and already knowing what Raph was doing, manipulating his emotions to make him more predictable.
Spinning his sais readily, Raph charged at Donnie. Twirling his staff in one hand, Donnie leapt at Raph, swinging his staff at his head. Raph ducked under the staff and into a roll, appearing behind Donnie and striking out with his sai, which Donnie quickly parried before spinning on his heel, his staff held sideways behind his head to block a downward swipe from Raph's sais.
Grinning with satisfaction, Donnie slid behind Raph, jabbing him in the carapace with the end of his staff, throwing the red clad turtle off balance long enough for Donnie to go for his weak spot: his knees.
Donnie slapped his staff against both of Raph's knees, earning a pained grunt from his older brother as he fought to keep his balance. Spinning his staff, Donnie swung it behind Raph's legs, sending him flying off his feet with a surprised cry as he hit the ground.
"Ha!" Donnie laughed. "You realize that by being the smart guy, I'm already smarter than you."
Raph scowled as his temper spiked. In an instant, Raph spun on the ground, hooking his foot behind Donnie's ankle and knocking Donnie off of his feet, his bo staff slipping from his grip and rolling out of reach.
Before Donnie could get up, Raph was already on him, holding Donnie's arms behind his back and pinning him down.
"Yeah, well, just 'cause you're smarter than me, doesn't mean you're tougher." Raph smirked.
Donnie sighed as he tried to break his brother's grip, but couldn't. "Alright, Raph. White flag. I surrender." He said.
Though he was tempted to hold Donnie down longer to get more of a reaction out of him, Raph decided to be nice and relented, allowing Donnie to get up.
"Not too bad, Donnie." Raph complimented him. "Thought you actually had me there for a second."
Donnie rolled his shoulders as he went over to retrieve his staff, picking it up and putting it back in his sheath. "Thanks. Though I'm glad Mikey and April weren't here to see that, or else you probably would have had me do the whole 'Donnie-Puppet' shtick."
Raph chuckled. "You know Mikey loves it." He said while Donnie rolled his eyes with a small smile. Raph then frowned slightly. "Speaking of Mikey, how do you think he, Leo, and Po are doing?"
Donnie gazed off into the distance, where the hills met the sky. "Honestly, I don't know, Raph. But, hopefully they're doing alright."
There was a brief silence between them before Donnie finally spoke up.
"Speaking of which, why did we even decide to stay here? Why couldn't we go with Leo, Po, and Mikey to the panda village?" Donnie asked. "It's actually kinda boring around here when we're waiting for an imminent threat."
Raph shrugged. "Well, that's what we're training for, to be prepared in case Kai actually comes here."
"But didn't the scrolls say he could only be beaten by a true master of chi?" Donnie pointed out. "So shouldn't all of us be going to the panda village to master chi?"
"Well, somebody's gotta stay and take care of the Jade Palace while we're gone." Raph replied.
Donnie frowned slightly. "But what if-" He was about to say when he looked over Raph's shoulder and saw something that caused him to choke mid-sentence.
Standing right there in the shadows of the walls surrounding the Jade Palace courtyard stood the silhouette of a large yak with piercing glowing green eyes that stood out in the darkness.
Donnie didn't have to be a genius to realize who it was as his mahogany eyes widened and his breathing became labored.
"Donnie? What is it?" Raph asked in a rare case of concern.
Frantically, Donnie grabbed Raph's shoulder, turning him around. "It's-it's him! Look!" The smart turtle exclaimed fearfully. "It's Kai!"
Raph looked to where Donnie was pointing, his hands reaching for his sais…
… only to find that the yak was gone. As if he had never been there to begin with.
Raph shifted his gaze around, trying to find any signs of the chi-stealer but found nothing.
"Really, dude?" Raph said, giving Donnie an annoyed look. "This is not the time for a prank."
Donnie frowned. "It's not a prank! I swear, I saw him right there!" He gestured to the shadows by the wall.
Raph simply scoffed. "No, I think you're letting your nerves get to you." He said as he looked back over to the wall. "There's no-one… out there…"
He trailed off as his eyes shifted to the sky, where he swore he saw the cloud above them morph into a clean-cut image of Kai's face sneering at them, his glowing jade eyes gazing down at them from above before it suddenly faded back to a normal cloud.
Raph's harlequin eyes were wide as dinner plates before he scowled. "Dang it, Donnie! Now you've got me hallucinating!" He said, giving his smart younger brother a punch to the arm.
"No, Raph. That huge face of Kai in the clouds just now? I saw it too." Donnie said fearfully.
Raph looked down as he rubbed his head, the surge of pain from the visions ringing in the back of skull. "What is happening? First, those visions of Crane earlier this morning and now this! Why is this happening?" He said in frustration.
"I-I don't know. But for some reason, us, Leo, and Mikey are the only ones having these visions." Donnie replied.
"But what do they all mean?" Raph asked.
Donnie sighed. "Believe me, I wish I knew." He then looked over towards the Student Barracks. "Should we tell the others about this?"
"Maybe." Raph said. "Maybe April could help us figure out what's going on. Or maybe we really are just letting our nerves get us.
"I highly doubt that's the case, Raph." Donnie said. "But come on, let's go see April and we can-"
"Hey, guys!"
Raph and Donnie turned to see Monkey coming down the stairs towards them from the Hall of Heroes.
"Monkey?" Raph said in slight surprise.
"Do you know where the girls are?" Monkey asked.
"Uh, yeah. Last we saw them, they were going into the Student Barracks." Donnie replied.
"Well, we should go get them. Master Shifu wants to see us right away." Monkey said.
"Alright, we'll get them as soon as we can." Kai heard the purple turtle, Donatello speak, as he peered through his eyes.
It was then that Kai decided he had seen enough as he relaxed his power, letting the jade green glow fade from his hands.
He was so close now. He could see the Jade Palace just ahead of him high in the mountains.
Up until this point, he had testing to see how much influence he had over these young turtles minds. He could see things through their eyes, yes, as well as see their memories, but now he realized he could also make them see things, which gave him rather sinister ideas.
To make things better, those four turtles had split up, which would make it easier to pick them off. Two of them, the ones calling themselves Leonardo and Michelangelo were at the hidden panda village with the panda, while the ones calling themselves Raphael and Donatello had remained behind at the Jade Palace.
Though it was possible to take control, even Kai knew his limits as he had not yet fully regained his strength after having spent much of it returning to the mortal realm.
All he could do now was observe, and wait for the right moment to come.
And that moment was coming very very soon.
