Chapter Fifteen: Morale Support

They felt like they ran for hours. When they'd gotten a few miles away from the place they'd found Loris, the Masters stopped to take a break, resting for only a few minutes. Then they'd continued on their way.

"We... we can... stop... here," Vixey said breathlessly.

Twilight was just setting in as the Masters finally stopped. The only one not exhausted from the run was Shifu, but he was still in slight agony due to constant movement.

Jin braced himself against a tree, trying to regain his breath. Then he looked up at the trunk and noticed something. There seemed to be a marking on the tree: one upside-down triangle, with two smaller triangles on top. The larger triangle had four lines coming out of it, with two in each of its lower sides.

"Vixey," he started, "isn't this your mark?"

Vixey looked up as he stepped away from the tree. She got closer to it and just looked at it. Then she seemed to have all the energy in the world.

"It... It is!" she said. "That is my mark! Yes!"

Then she ran around to the complete opposite side of the tree and stepped back several feet. She seemed to be muttering something that sounded like directions.

"Twenty-nine, thirty," she said quietly. "It should be... here!"

She started digging right at her feet, shoveling dirt away with her paws. Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"Yes!" she shrieked, making everyone jump. "Yes, yes, yes! It's all right here!"

They saw her remove a wooden board and ran to her.

"What'd you find?" Monkey asked.

"This!" Vixey shouted, producing a fistful of dirty jewelry.

The excitement faded from everyone else and they gave her reproachful looks.

"Jewelry?" Tigress started sternly. "Why are you so happy about jewelry? You don't even wear any!"

Vixey rolled her eyes.

"In my detective years," she started, "I learned a trick for while I investigate. I have hidey-holes all around China with assorted jewelry. Because it's pointless to hide money. Money goes down in value all the time!"

"Your point?" Mantis asked.

"My point is," Vixey continued, "if I'm out of cash and I find these jewels, I can just sell them. After a while, these become antiques! Their value goes up while money's value goes down! I can go to town with these and come back with enough food to last us weeks."

Everyone now looked as overjoyed as she was. Vixey then pulled out a large ball of cloth.

"'Scuse me for a sec," she said.

She walked off a short distance and began shaking the ball of cloth, now seen as a female farmer's uniform, and Vixey seemed to disappear under a dust cloud. She came back hacking.

"This..." she started, still coughing a little, "is my disguise. There's always one in each of my caches."

"Excellent planning, Vixey," Shifu said. "But don't take too long. The longer we spend in any place increases the chance we'll be found."

"I understand, Master," Vixey said, putting the uniform on over her clothes. "The nearest town should be just a mile away. I'll be back before you know it."

Hours later, the Masters were still all waiting. Night had fallen some time ago. Most of them were laying on their backs, watching the stars. Everyone jumped when they heard someone stumbling through the bushes.

Vixey staggered to her friends, not appearing to notice they were ready to attack her if it wasn't her, and dropped a few bags and boxes at their feet.

"I couldn't get too much," she said, pulling off the uniform. "I'd have attracted too much attention. But I'm sure I've got enough."

The Masters stepped forward to sort through the goods. The mood lightened considerably as each stored away what they'd been given.

"Almond cookies?!" Monkey started, wide-eyed and holding the small bag in his hand.

"I got a little for the both of you," Vixey said, handing a similar bag to Po. "There was a sale on them, but I'm not getting you anymore, so don't eat them all at once."

She suddenly snatched a small box from Tigress.

"That's for something else!" she said hurriedly, stuffing it in her pocket. "By the way, in an hour or so, at midnight, something's going to happen after the gong sounds. We should all go see it."

Tigress looked dubious.

"Since when does someone sound a gong at midnight?" she asked, asking everyone's question for them.

Vixey shrugged.

"I heard it's a special case," she said simply. "Come on! I bet it'll be fun!"

The others reluctantly agreed and went with her.

Whether it was only minutes or many hours, the Masters looked like they were getting bored. Or, at least Tigress was getting bored. She looked and saw that the others looked excited for some reason. She felt she was missing something.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked Po.

Po gave the same look as if he were trying to hide the fact that he was hiding something.

"H-happy about what?" he asked.

Tigress caught the eyes of each Master, but each remained silent. Something was up. It was clear.

BONNNNNNG... BONNNNNNG...

Everyone looked toward the sound of the gong as it rang a few more times before falling silent.

"Okay, what was that all about?" Tigress asked as the others seemed to grow only more excited.

"Well," Vixey began, "almost three decades ago, a lovely little tiger couple was blessed with a beautiful baby girl."

Tigress looked quite surprised, looking incredulously at her friends.

"Happy birthday, Tigress," Vixey told her, handing her the small box.

Tigress looked down at the small box and opened it. There was a small candle inside and the faintest scent drifted to her.

"A Bajiao candle?" she started. "Thank you, Vixey."

Then she paused.

"Why would someone ring a gong this late at night for someone's birthday?" she asked.

"I paid the guy to do it," Vixey answered. "I always kept track of the days, but just in case, I asked around."

"But," Tigress started, "you do know I was born during the d-!"

"Psh! Details!" Vixey interrupted. "The point is it's your birthday! It's too bad, really, that we're in such a bad place right now."

Tigress smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said. "We're all alive, relatively well, and safe for the moment."

"We didn't really know what was going on until Vixey told us," Viper said.

"At least one of us remembered what day it was," Monkey added.

Tigress looked once more at her candle before boxing it up again and putting it away.

"I'll save it for another time," she said. "For now, let's all get some rest."

The others nodded.

"I'll take the first watch tonight," Jin said.

They all withdrew a distance from the town and made ready to sleep. Tigress looked up past the leaves overhead and watched the stars.

This was a pretty good night. And soon, she was sure, this whole battle would be over.