Chapter Two: Teaming Up

The two tigers stood staring each other down, ready to pounce. Each held a quarterstaff. They were both waiting for a single word...

"Start!"

Each dashed toward his or her opponent.

Jin attempted a jump strike on Tigress, who held her staff up and successfully blocked. She then threw him off, charging as he landed on his feet and slid back. She swung at him, but he bent over backward to avoid the blow. He then swung at her feet. She jumped over the attack. The tigers continued to exchange attacks, blocking or dodging each other. Occasionally, an attack would land, but the one on the receiving end wouldn't even flinch.

Tigress blocked an attack with her staff that sent her sliding backwards. She ran at Jin and pole vaulted over him and his attack, landing a particularly painful blow on the back of his head. However, he recovered in time to strike her legs with a sweeping blow, knocking her over. Before she could land flat on her back, she twisted and landed on her hand, flipping back up, ready to fight.

Jin began to spin his staff, keeping Tigress from landing any blows. She struck out at the spinning barrier, trying to disrupt the cycle. She tried stabbing at the barrier and striking to make the other staff reverse its course. Neither worked. Then she scaled her own staff and leapt over the barrier. Jin struck at the opposing staff, but as he hit it, the other end came at him and struck him in the face. Tigress landed behind him and struck him across the back.

Then Tigress found Jin's staff had come up between her and her own staff. She felt herself get pulled forward. She prepared to roll to her feet once she would land, but Jin moved his staff along hers, sharply hitting Tigress's hand. Taken by surprise, she lost her grip and landed awkwardly on her back. Before she could think about getting up, Jin's staff came down on her chest, firmly pinning her to the ground.

"Pin," Shifu said.

The other Masters looked like they'd been holding their breaths and erupted in chatter.

"That was so close!" Viper said. "You almost had him!"

"I thought for sure you'd beat him!" Po told Tigress.

Jin helped Tigress up.

"Maybe next time," Jin told her. "How you climbed your staff... you copied that from Shifu, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Tigress said. "Who's next?"

The others immediately fell quiet.

"No need to jump up all at once."

Everyone turned to the entrance of the Training Hall. There was a tiger leaning against the doorway with a smirk on her face.

"Xinli!" Jin cried, his arms wide to receive her.

Xinli walked cheerfully to her boyfriend and kissed him.

"Miss me, babe?" she asked.

"'Course," Jin told her. "Life's lonely up here, away from home."

"Lonely? Around here?" Vixey started, and then whispered to Crane, "I blame Tigress."

Tigress shot her a look that made her cringe.

"We were wondering when you would stop by, Xinli," Shifu said. "It's been a while since your last visit."

"It's been a busy time since Jin came up here," Xinli said. "Now that I'm here to help, we can do two matches at once. Or we can do two on two? If there aren't any volunteers, I'm going to pick someone."

Jin snickered as he saw the others' eyes widened with slight fear.

"We show no fear in the face of the most frightening enemies," he began, "but at the possibility of getting hit over the head with a stick, you all freeze up? That's hilarious."

"Hardly," Tigress answered, the ghost of a smile on her face. "Why don't we make things a little interesting? You and Xinli against me and someone else and we don't have to use quarterstaff techniques."

"That's a good idea," Xinli added. "It might liven them up a little."

"Choose your ally," Jin said.

Tigress looked at the other Masters.

"Viper? Vixey?" she started, passing them over due to signs of reluctance. "Or how about... Po?"

The panda jumped a little.

"Uh... sure," he said hesitantly.

"Take your places," Shifu told them.

The four warriors complied.

"If you make us lose," Tigress whispered to Po, "you'll be the next one fighting Jin."

The thought made him laugh weakly.

"You ready, Jin-Jin?" Xinli asked.

"Always, my love," Jin answered.

"Begin!"

Everyone but Tigress ran forward immediately. She started a second afterward and ran up Po's back without the panda stopping at all. She leapt off his shoulders and made ready to land behind the opposing tigers. Jin froze in his tracks and spun around to face her.

"You think you could catch me off-guard like that?" he asked her, striking out.

Tigress hit the staff aside and struck at his chest.

"It was worth a try," she growled as the staff came back at her and swatted away her fist.

"Try harder," Jin answered.

He and his girlfriend fought back to back, warding off attacks and, in Xinli's case, occasionally landing a blow. Tigress aimed a kick at the staff, moving it aside. She hit Jin's right cheek before the staff came back, hitting his left as the staff went by again. This made him strike furiously, making her have to block time after time for a short while.

Xinli kept landing blow after blow on Po, making him need to block, but failing to half the time. But Xinli realized something too late. He was faking how badly he was getting hurt. The fat was cushioning most of the blows. She struck down on him and felt two of his fingers make contact with her right wrist. She gasped as she lost feeling in that wrist and the attack landed without very much strength.

"Trouble!" she told Jin.

Her boyfriend grabbed the top of her staff and pulled, sending her at Tigress as he slid under and shoved the end of his staff at Po's belly. Xinli swung down left-handedly at Tigress, the staff hitting her on the top of her head, stunning her for a very short moment. Po gasped for air after Jin's staff made contact. Then he cried out as he received a strike across his chest, knocking him over.

He fell flat on his back and Jin's staff pinned him to the ground.

"Pin," Shifu announced.

Jin turned away from the panda, who was crawling away breathlessly, and witnessed the scene just in time. Tigress was taking advantage of the fact that Xinli was not left-handed. Xinli was in clear distress. She struck out at Tigress, only to have her opponent grab the end of the staff that was closest to the ground and flip her. Xinli shrieked as she couldn't feel the ground anymore. She suddenly found herself flat on her back with Tigress putting enough pressure on the staff to keep her from rising.

"Pin," Shifu said again.

The two still standing rushed at each other. Jin struck at Tigress, but she slid under him, jumped up, and roundhouse kicked his head. Jin swung the staff backward, barely missing Tigress as he turned around. He began spinning his staff as he did in the previous fight. However, Tigress struck out at it, hitting it directly, and stopped the rotation completely.

Jin spun around and struck at the right and then the left, but Tigress blocked both times. Then she grabbed the very middle of the staff, spun it so he would be swept off his feet, slammed him onto the ground, and pressed down on the staff.

"Pin," Shifu announced again. "Tigress and Po win the match."

The other Masters cheered. Xinli rushed forward and helped Jin up.

"How were you able to stop that?" Jin asked. "The barrier... You couldn't stop it before."

"I didn't spend twenty years training with a quarterstaff," Tigress told him. "The staff, to me, is more like something extra. Something that's easily lost. I haven't learned to put more power into it yet."

"That explains a lot," Jin admitted.

"Xinli, wait," Tigress began.

Xinli was about to turn away, holding her useless right hand with her left. She flinched when she saw Tigress strike at her and felt a solid blow from two fingers on her right wrist.

"Eep!" she cried before regaining feeling in her hand. "Oh! Thank you!"

"No problem," Tigress answered.

"Does... does this mean I... still have to fight him?" Po asked wearily.

"No," Monkey told him. "You guys won."

"You can still fight him if you want to," Tigress said somewhat sarcastically.

Po sank to his knees in exhaustion.

"That will be enough for now," Shifu said, walking toward his students. "That was an impressive battle, all four of you."

The four fighters bowed to him, Po still on his knees.

"Thank you, Master," they all said.

"You're welcome to stay for dinner, Xinli," Shifu said.

"Sorry to fight and fly," Xinli answered, "but I need to go. I promise I'll stay for a little longer next time."

"You better keep that promise," Jin told her before kissing her.

"I will," Xinli said. "I couldn't stay away forever. Bye, everyone!"

"Bye, Xinli!" the others said.

Xinli left the Training Hall and disappeared toward the giant staircase.

Shifu immediately turned to his students.

"During the next quarterstaff lesson, I will not tolerate such reluctance," he snapped. "Either be ready to defeat or be defeated. You are all dismissed."

"Yes, Master," they all replied.

This may not be the greatest chapter, but it is only the second. Please stay tuned!