I apologize for the long wait, but I was away from my computer for nearly a month. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Flames on Water

Something was rocking. There was the sound of water sloshing nearby. As the Masters regained consciousness, they saw that they were chained to a pillar in an inner cabin on a boat. Six-point acupressure cuffs were holding their hands, if they had them, and no one could move more than an inch or two.

Someone stepped toward them. Tigress looked up at Ning Da.

"So you finally caught us," she growled somewhat groggily.

The bear narrowed his eyes at her and smacked her across the face. The other Masters cringed. Had she been any weaker, they were sure her neck would have snapped. Tigress merely looked back at him as if nothing had happened.

"You don't deserve to live," Ning Da growled. "You are all treasonous murderers who couldn't care less to revile against your Emperor."

"We all know that invitation was a fake," Tigress said.

Ning Da came closer to her face.

"Was it?" he asked.

He then stepped back.

"Keep an eye on them," he told the guards. "If even one escapes, kill them or be killed."

He turned and left the cabin. The guards eyed them before leaving and taking their posts just outside the door.

The Masters sat in condemned silence before realizing something was wrong. They heard heavy breathing and looked to see who it belonged to. Vixey sat there, not moving, and seemed to be having trouble breathing.

"Vixey!" Tigress asked. "What's wrong?"

The fox took a short while before speaking.

"I... I think I'm... sick," she said quietly, her voice shaking.

"Did they poison you?" Crane asked.

"N-no," Vixey answered. "When... when they kn-knocked me out... they st-stabbed me with... with a tipped d-dagger."

She paused to catch her breath.

"I d-don't think they... took measures to... st-stop the bleeding..."

Tigress felt her heart drop. How long had she been bleeding?

"Are you still bleeding?" Viper asked.

"No," Vixey replied again. "I pr-probably stopped... after a wh-while..."

"Is there anything we can do?" Mantis asked.

"There's s-something in... in my bag," Vixey said. "But we can't... reach it..."

"What do we do?" Po asked. "We can't just sit here!"

"We have no other choice," Tigress said. "We can only wait."

They sat in a tense silence, listening to Vixey's breathing. Over time, she didn't get better, but she didn't get worse either.

Everyone's thoughts were interrupted when Po broke the silence.

"What's that smell?" he asked.

The others except Vixey smelled the air.

"It smells like... plums," Viper said. "It sort of reminds me of-"

"Plum tea," Tigress finished. "I was right."

Everyone looked at her.

"What do you mean you were right?" Mantis asked.

"When we were last in town," Tigress began, "I saw someone selling two bottles of plum tea. It was pricey and the person selling it was a little shifty. I bought them anyway, just in case something like this happened. The guards must have looked in my bag and found them."

The rest of the Furious Five and Jin all brightened up. Po only looked confused.

"What is plum tea?" he asked.

"It's a powerful drink that's actually illegal to make and sell," Tigress answered. "It actually isn't tea, but the name caught on. It's so strong that one cup of it would make you fall asleep and never wake up."

Po's jaw dropped.

"So we aren't gonna die?" he asked.

"Not tonight," Tigress replied. "Viper, how's the cage coming?"

Everyone turned to look at Viper, who was in the act of picking Mantis's lock.

"Almost... got it... there!" she announced.

Mantis burst out of the door. He broke Viper's cuff and headed for Tigress. As soon as she was free, she freed Vixey. She carried the nearly limp fox to the bags that had been previously out of reach and searched Vixey's bag.

"What does it look like?" she asked.

"Vial... length of... my middle finger to palm..." Vixey answered. "Clear w-with very... very dark red... stuff in the bottom..."

Tigress checked each vial until she found the one Vixey had described.

"Sh-shake it... f-first," the fox told her.

Tigress did as she was told. The liquid inside turned from clear to bright red very quickly. She unstopped it and handed it to Vixey.

"Th-this'll... prob'ly m-make m-me... pass out," the fox said.

"It doesn't matter," Tigress told her. "Just drink it. We'll handle it from here."

Vixey did a tired nod and downed the liquid in one gulp. She looked like she was about to vomit.

"T-tastes... awf..." she started.

Then she promptly lost consciousness. The vial fell from her hand and shattered on the floor.

The other Masters were freed and ran to pick up their bags. When everyone was ready to leave, they all crept to the door. Viper checked if the coast was clear.

"Good to go," she whispered.

They left the room and headed for a nearby staircase. Before they got there, they stopped right before the doorway to another room with an open door. Tigress looked inside.

Guards were everywhere, sleeping in chairs or passed out on the floor. Both bottles were lying on their sides, one on the table and one on the floor, rolling a little with the rocking of the boat. The one on the table left a lavender-ish liquid near its mouth.

The other Masters looked inside.

"You'd think the third one would notice," Monkey said.

"They're all out," Jin told them. "So's the big guy himself."

Ning Da lay sprawled on the floor, a cup still in his partially closed hand. It still had some liquid in it.

"Let's get going," Tigress said. "There's a chance that some of them didn't have enough to stay asleep."

"Come on," Viper added.

They all got to the top of the stairs. They saw two doors: one that led outside and another that led to a room with crates of explosives.

"How badly did they want us dead?" Crane asked.

"Very badly, apparently," Jin answered.

They left the cabin and walked onto the deck. There was a dingy near the edge of the boat.

"This would probably be what they'd put us on with all the explosives," Mantis said. "We'd probably have an easier time escaping on that thing right before they'd try to blow us up."

"They coulda knocked us out before then," Po told him.

"Oh," Mantis said. "Good point."

"Let's lower it," Tigress said. "Jin, take Vixey. I need to do something."

"Do what?" Po asked.

Tigress turned toward the cabin.

"I need to make sure they won't follow us," she answered simply. "Get far away from the boat. I'll make sure I'll have enough time to escape."

When the other seven Masters began rowing away, Tigress ran for the cabin. She dumped the crates of explosives and put them all in a big pile. Then she found a long string to use as a fuse. She tied the fuses of several sticks of dynamite together with the string and estimated how long it would have to be to give her enough time. She measured it out and cut the string. Double-checking the arrangement, she lit the fuse.

She turned to escape and was hit in the face by an unknown force. She fell backward, but jumped right back up, throwing punches at her sudden attacker.

On the dingy, the other Masters were getting nervous.

"What's taking her so long?" Mantis asked.

When the fighting stopped, Tigress saw five limp guards sprawled across the floor. She turned to look at the fuse and immediately ran for the deck.

Po craned his neck to see what was going on.

"There she is!" Crane cried.

Po barely caught sight of her before the ship detonated.

"Tigress!" he cried.

"I just saw her!" Viper shouted. "She just landed in the water! Look for her!"

Everyone who was able looked on their sides of the dingy. Po nearly shrieked when a striped hand shot out of the water and almost took hold of his face. He grabbed the hand and pulled before it could disappear below the water again.

Tigress climbed into the dingy, coughing up water. The others waited until she'd almost stopped coughing before asking questions.

"What happened?" Viper asked.

"We thought you had enough time to get away," Monkey said.

"Not all of the guards were drunk," Tigress answered. "Some were playing dead. But they're gone now."

Everyone looked back at the flaming boat.

"Let's get out of here," Jin said. "Someone will see the flames."

"Let's go," Tigress agreed.

They began paddling for the shore.