Chapter 9

Awakening

Tigress looked down at the colorful writing her and Po both imagined. The multi-colored, Southern Chinese words soaked into the tree paper scroll, as the color from them slowly turned back to their original color: Black.

Viper sat by Tigress, as she looked around frantically, braced for another, soon to come-

BOOOM!! Viper flinched, as she closed her eyes. A wave of shock bolted through her body, as she quickly shivered. She absolutely hated loud noises, not noises of warriors screaming in battle; that she was use to, but things that cannot be predictable: thunder.

Viper thought and intredupted the long silence that carried out for minutes. "So... tell me again, exactly what happened with you and Po?" The snake now asked, as she looked up at the sitting tigress.

Tigress shook her head. "I already told you, it's not that big of a big deal..." Her legs were bent, and up to her chest, as she held both of her hands together around them. Her head rested softly in the middle of her knees. "We were just messing around, when I fell on him, from the shock of the thunder." She sighed, as she turned her head to Viper. "It was an accident... but once I fell on him, for some reason... I didn't want to get off." She slowly turned her head back to where it once was; adjusted towards the scroll, as she read it, over and over again.

"You're saying... you are a bit attracted to him? Po?" Viper blinked in confusion.

"I never said that, I'm just saying... It felt... right." Tigress slowly closed her eyes, as she drifted off to sleep. Soon opening her eyes, she breathed in quickly.

Viper didn't answer her, because if she judged negatively, she would only know that she would be putting down her own self. She was a bit in love with the talented bird; Crane, and she knew she couldn't deny it. It was a horrible match, yes, but that only compliments Tigress' and Po's possible relationship, due to both of them being somewhat alike, unlike Viper and Crane. At least Po had lips, the snake thought.

Viper softly sighed, as her drooping eyes slowly closed. Falling asleep, she totally forgot that she was still in Tigress' room. Tigress didn't bother to do anything about it though, for she was also very exhausted from the long walk; from the Jade Palace to a far off town Tai Lung was in, and back.

Deep in thought, Tigress quietly got up, and went to the scroll. Loudly turning it over, she took the writing utensil, and began to write something, like a soft poem, just to release all that was stored up in her head.

Relationships are more than just being friends with a certain animal,

Relationships are like a new type of life that you can live, and it's all a dream at first.

The dream that you're in tunes up, until something beautiful happens.

Love, though, is something different.

One cannot live life depending on great relationships, though, for they are nothing, compared to love.

Love is a great journey that soon turns into something marvelous.

Love is a story just begging to begin.

Once this, 'love' captures you, you will never want to let go.

But if love is forbidden, because of something that is holding it back,

You would just want to clench onto it even tighter.

Love is magnificent, and yes, it is something to think and over-react about.

Love captures you, and once it's gone, it can leave you standing outside of the beautiful snow globe that you were once in,

Thinking, 'Why did this have to happen? Couldn't there be another way to re-live this perfect dream?'

But there is no such thing, if that dream was just... a dream.

Po, you have been a great friend, and I do wish to be more than a friend,

But if our love can only be dreamed about, then it cannot be dreamed about at all.

If we can't dream, then we can't have love, because we wold be trying to hold onto something we would desperately want.

Though, we can have a relationship. Hopefully... we can...

Tigress thought, as she picked up the utensil from the scroll, and sighed. Shaking her head, she quickly withdrew her claws by the snap of her wrist, and started to scratch at the poem angrily and painfully. Grinding her teeth, she closed her eyes.

She knew, that this was a love that could never be.

Master Shifu slowly carried Tai Lung across the town, as the snow leopard slept without a sound.

Softly setting Tai Lung down on the grass, Shifu remembered Tai Lung's rough past. The adoption, the training, the banning, the prison, the return, the defeat, and now, this. Tai Lung could never have a single day of his life spent with a meaning of hope and passion in it. All his passions were swept away, about twenty years ago, when he was locked up in the high-security prison. In the prison, Tai Lung was probably tortured, and barely fed... or maybe not fed at all... And once Tai Lung broke out of the prison, he was only left to be defeated by a panda, soon knowing the scroll was nothing but a blank piece of golden tree paper, in a fancy case.

Shifu blinked, as he looked up at the rising moon confused eyes. "What if he would no longer want to earn the profession of the Dragon Warrior, because he will soon know that the scroll was blank...?"

The red panda looked down at Tai Lung, while his hands were rested securely behind his back. He thought deeply about how Tai Lung could be renewed again, but he just had to think. He just had to recall his past, and remember what his main mission was: to take back the Dragon Scroll. Sighing, Shifu turned, and started walking away from his student.

Shifu heard a yawn, as he froze.

Seconds passed, as he soon heard a gasp, and shuffling. "Master Shifu!"

Greatly stunned, Shifu quickly turned around, to find Tai Lung was gone. Wide-eyed, he slowly backed away. The pill! It needs to kick in, and fast, before-

BAM! Shifu went flying into a tree that stood strong and tall. Gasping, Shifu looked at the incoming tree while in mid-air. Taking his pointer and middle finger, he adjusted his stance, and sliced through the tree.

Landing, the red panda looked up, to where he once was standing. There, stood Tai Lung, growling, and slowly walking towards Shifu, with a limp in his step from his wounds.

Not good... not good...