Scorpion's Sting... Chain Reaction... Tigress Tale... Bride of Po... you might as well call them shiptease specials. I wonder what nickelodeon will come up with next? I'm mentioning this now because the day before I began this chapter, I saw Tigress Tale, and even I was surprised by the amount of shipteasing.

Anyway, on with the story!

"SHAGABOOEY!" Po hollered as he went for his trademark belly slam. Crane took a step backwards and Po's large belly came up short by inches. Crane retaliated with a front kick towards Po's groin, and Po blocked with his forearm. With his free arm, the panda swung to knock Crane's vulnerable leg out from under him, only for his opponent to lift a foot into the air with one flap of his wings, lifting his leg above Po's swinging arm. Po grinned in satisfaction that the distraction had worked, and with his blocking arm he twisted his wrist, and grabbed Crane's other leg. Crane realized what was about to happen just in time, and smacked Po's paw with the hard bony edge of his wing. Po didn't let go, so Crane attempted the front kick again, striking Po's knee and making him stagger backwards with a grunt.

The two warriors glared at each other.

"You ready to fold yet?" Crane asked coldly.

"You kidding?" Po replied with an icy smile, as he rubbed his knee. "I haven't had a decent fight since we got here!"

Crane ran at the panda and Po ran at the bird.

Po lunged first as they closed in on each other. Crane crossed his wings in front of his face, and both limbs took the full impact. His hollow bones vibrated from the impact, but didn't shatter.

For a couple of seconds, both panda and crane strained against each other, Po's fist struggling to break through Crane's wings, and Crane's wings struggling to maintain a strong barrier.

Then Po succeeded, Crane ducking just in time to avoid a black furry fist of fury. Po let out a quick grunt of frustration before attempting another punch. Crane reached out with one wing letting Po's fist strike it by the side. Just like with countless arrows, Po's fist slid along the feathery surface and away from its original target. Po scowled, moments before he struck Crane in the chest with the open palm of his other paw. Crane cried out, momentarily stunned, and Po lunged forward, taking his chance…

And then Crane had dodged, moving past Po, whose momentum kept him flying forward. With a grin Crane whirled round, facing Po's back, then gave him a kick in the rear. Po yelped, stumbled but kept his balance. He spun round to face Crane.

"You're gonna get it now!" he yelled.

"Bring it, ya big lug." Crane replied.

This time Crane attacked first. With his wings of justice technique, Crane flapped his wings and sent a powerful gust of wind at the panda. Po crossed his arms in front of him and positioned his feet for a defensive position. It worked, the gust of wind only sending him back half a foot.

"Crap." Crane muttered, and lunged with a kick aiming for Po's face. Po blocked again and struck the avian with a side swing of his heavily padded hip. The impact sent Crane flying into a bedside table with a crash.

"Ha ha!" Po cried out in triumph… a second before a heavy elephant figurine struck him square in the forehead.

Po staggered on the spot, stars dancing in front of his eyes, and then regained his focus just as Crane came flying at him with a leg raised to kick. Po ducked, reaching up with his arm at the same time, grabbed Crane's leg, and swung him onto one of the beds. Crane bounced off the bed's surface and collided with the ceiling. He fell back onto the bed and did not move.

"Ha! The Dragon Warrior has defeated you!" Po danced on the spot in victory. "Skadoosh! You are defeated! Crane?" he hesitated. Crane wasn't moving. "Crane?"

Po's ecstatic grin faded. Worried, he headed over to the bed where Crane was lying.

"Crane?"

He leaned over the motionless bird.

"Crane?"

WHAM!

A swift kick to the jaw sent Po flying into the other bed.

Crane sat up on the bed with an amused grin.

"Sneak attack!" He declared. "Never let your guard down during a battle!"

"Oh it's on, now." Po said to himself. He rubbed his jaw and got up from the bed. Crane did the same.

Again, the two warriors faced each other.

"I am gonna wipe the floor with ya, ya big feather duster!" Po said.

Crane merely laughed and lunged forward, just as Po did the same.

"Monkey, why did you have to bring your dad's swords?" Mantis sighed as he emerged from the bathroom to find his friend polished the two glimmering blades. "You know they're just going to bring you bad memories."

"I just figured my father would have wanted me to put them to good use." Monkey said without looking at him. His tone indicated that he wanted the topic dropped, so Mantis switched to something else.

"You know that secret passage me and the others found this afternoon?" He spoke up.

"You told me about it after Shifu grilled me over what happened at the tunnel entrance. Why?"

"While I was down in the treasure vault, I saw this awesome bug sized diamond necklace. I was thinking of sneaking it back to the valley and giving it to my girlfriend Anming at her next birthday."

"Huh. Cool." Monkey said, and returned to his polishing.

Mantis frowned. Normally Monkey would crack a joke.

"Monkey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Monkey's eyes told otherwise as he gazed down at the swords.

"I knew it." Mantis said. "Those swords are giving you bad memories!"

"Hey, these are my father's prized blades you're talking about!"

"Sorry, Monkey." Mantis quickly backed down. "At least wrap them back up and put them under the bed after you're done polishing. You'll probably feel better."

CRASH!

Monkey nearly sliced his hand open as both warriors jumped in shock.

"What the hell was that?!" Mantis gasped.

"It sounded like it came from Po and Crane's room." Monkey's expression was grim as he grabbed one of the swords and raced out the room. Mantis gulped as he followed.

In the corridor they were met by Viper and Tigress, who both looked equally startled.

"You guys heard it too?" Monkey asked.

Tigress and Viper nodded. They all turned towards Po and Crane's door.

"One…" Tigress counted, one paw on the handle. "Two…"

She thrust the door open, and all four warriors burst into the room… and stared at the panda and crane rolling about on the floor in between the two beds. At the far side where the closed doors to the balcony were located was an abandoned calligraphy set.

"Taste my fist!"

"Not before you taste my foot!"

"Pitooe! Get your tail feathers out of my mouth!"

"What the hell are you idiots doing?" Tigress demanded as she and Monkey stepped forward and wrenched the two fighters apart.

"Tigress!" Po gasped for breath as he freed himself from her grip and staggered to his feet. "I'm so sorry, did we wake you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Tigress replied. Viper nodded in annoyed agreement. "Again, what were you two doing?"

"Sorry, Tigress, we can't say!" Crane panted as Monkey held him firmly. "It's strictly guys' business!"

"Tigress, I wouldn't push it!" Mantis said quickly when Tigress opened her mouth. "If they say it's guys' stuff, then you girls don't wanna know!"

Tigress did not reply at first, seemingly considering Mantis's advice, and then sighed in annoyance.

"Monkey, let him go."

Monkey released Crane.

"If you guys are going to continue fighting, then keep it at a low volume!" Viper hissed. "Don't forget that there is a little girl and an emperor trying to sleep not too far from here!"

"Don't worry, there won't be any more fighting tonight!" Po said quickly. "We're really sorry."

"Yeah, we're sorry." Crane added.

"You are forgiven. Viper, let's head back to back."

Tigress gave them a brief "goodnight" then left the room with Viper.

"Goodnight, guys." Monkey said as he and Mantis also left.

Po and Crane fell back onto their respective beds, still struggling to regain their breath.

"Crane, this is ridiculous." Po said as he stared up at the ceiling. "I think I owe you an apology too."

"Vice versa." Crane replied. "You go first, since you started it."

"Technically you started it, but okay…" Po said. "Crane, I'm sorry that I said that the only reason you do calligraphy is because you're practicing for your love letter."

"Apology accepted." Crane replied. "Po, I'm sorry I kicked you in the bean buns and said 'now you and Tigress will never have kids'."

"That's okay." Po sat up. "It's getting late. Whaddya say we hit the sack?"

"Sure, that's a good idea." Crane yawned. "Just let me finish my calligraphy."

"Hey, just out of curiosity…" Po said. "Why do you practice calligraphy? I've never been able to get why people do it."

"It helps me to unwind after a hard day's training or a harrowing battle." Crane explained. "And since today was the second time I've almost been killed by a monster in the two days I've been here, I'm probably going to be doing this all night."

"Yeah right." Po smirked. "I'll find Di Tan and see if he's ready to turn in." the panda got up from the bed and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. With his absence, silence filled the room.

Crane continued to lie down on the bed for a moment longer before getting up and righting the bedside table that had been overturned in their battle. After half a minute of searching for the elephant figurine he had flung at Po's head, he found it in the corner, completely undamaged, and put it back on the table. The single candle that lit the room flickered, casting strange sharp shadows over the figurine. Its blank eyes peered at him with what looked unnervingly like pure hatred.

"Darn, you're creepy." Crane muttered, and turned away from the elephant. With a sigh and another yawn, he finished cleaning up and then slowly walked over to the calligraphy set that had been miraculously undisturbed during their fight. Crane carefully pushed the candle away for the sake of safety, picked up his brush, then scowled as he spotted the ink stain on the floor.

Darn. He'll have to get that cleaned up before someone notices. He quickly rushed into the bathroom, grabbed a bucket and cloth, and returned to the bedroom and wiped up the ink before it could dry.

"Phew." Crane set the bucket and blackened cloth aside and picked up his brush again.

Now… what symbol should I start with?

How about death? No, I've seen more than enough today.

Battle? Just had one.

Love? No, if the guys saw it, I'd never hear the end of it.

Confidence? Yeah, that will do.

With a small smile, he dipped the brush into the ink pot, then lowered it to the blank paper. He slowly drew a long line down the right hand side of the paper, with grew in thickness as the ink expanded.

Graceful… calm… just as Shifu taught you…

When Crane looked up for a moment to make sure the candle was still burning strongly, he saw the elephant figurine standing on the floor in front of him, staring right into his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Crane muttered. "Didn't I put you on the table?"

The figurine said nothing. All it did was stare.

"Whatever." Crane returned to his paper, but soon found the figurine hard to ignore.

Still he tried, dipping his brush into the pot and making the first horizontal line at the top of the paper.

Then an invisible something gripped the bone inside his leg and shifted it in the opposite direction.

Before Crane could register what had happened, his brush holding foot shifted again, this time in a violent motion sending a huge ink line spreading across the very bottom of the paper. The leg shifted violently to the right, nearly twisting itself and knocking over the ink pot. It shifted again with a mind of its, own, as Crane's other leg fought to keep him balanced. Then the brush holding leg switched to the other side of the page so viciously that a seam on the side of his pants ripped. But the leg didn't stop there. It moved again, this time taking most of Crane's body with it… again, again, again, again, again, again, Crane lost balance, but the leg moved again, dragging his body through the air before it could hit the floor, again, again, again, again, again, againagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagaga inagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainaga inagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainaga inagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainaga inagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainaga inagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagainagain and then just as quickly as it started it stopped, and Crane toppled backwards, the brush falling from his grip, his rear smacking against the floor.

For moment, all was still. Crane gasped in exhaustion, his mind reeling.

And then it appeared, standing straight and still as a corpse in a coffin opposite the page, staring down at him with eyes he couldn't see. Crane could do nothing except stare back. He couldn't even speak or get up from the floor.

Look.

The demon pointed with a black finger towards the paper. Crane looked down at what his leg had done. He stared at the paper for a long time.

When he lifted his head again, it was gone.