A Sense of Purpose

Chapter 5: Pyrrhic victory

Okay, Tigress thought, pausing briefly on the stairs to catch her breath, I take it all back. This isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped.

She shook her head, sending some sweat flying from her fur. How many apples did I get so far? A dozen? And boy, I'm exhausted! The Kung Fu Master started jogging slowly again, apple in her hand. I can sorta understand Po now. These stairs can be fairly annoying.

"Good afternoon!" a voice suddenly came from above her.

Tigress cursed under her breath. Crane. Wonderful.

"Nice day for a jog, isn't it?" the bird asked as he landed a few steps ahead of her. "And wow, you even brought a snack!"

Should've known this is more than just a courtesy visit! Tigress immediately hid the apple behind her back and gave Crane a fierce look. "Yeah, it's a nice apple," she replied carefully. "Too bad that I gotta go. Lots to do, you certainly understand."

"Oh, I do!" Crane looked slightly uncomfortable now. "Could you... could you maybe let me see it? Just for a moment!"

"Over my dead body," Tigress snarled quietly and assumed a fighting stance that placed the hand holding the apple behind her.

"Your dead- Tigress! We're talking about an apple, not the Dragon Scroll!" Crane adjusted his hat nervously before lowering his voice. "Please don't make this harder than it has to be. I'm not sure what your obsession with apples is right now, but I'm sure it's not worth getting into a-" He barely managed to block Tigress's punch and quickly jumped backwards. "-fight. Wow, you're actually serious, aren't you? Master Shifu told me to expect little cooperation, but I didn't expect you to be this drastic!"

"You don't understand what this apple means to me," Tigress whispered. Shifu! He didn't even tell Crane that I'm going to be thrown out of the temple if I can't get enough apples! She briefly considered telling him the entire story, but decided against it. I don't want or need his pity or sympathy! And it's not like Crane would give me any sort of special treatment, anyway. She snarled quietly. I guess he wouldn't mind seeing me thrown out. Isn't that right, Crane? You'd like to be the most highly regarded warrior in the temple for a change, right? She shuddered and almost slapped herself. Ugh, get a grip, Tigress! All this running and the bad dreams are making you paranoid! Crane is on your side. Nice guy, and you can trust him with your life! Sure, he wouldn't go easy on you even if you told him about the test, but that doesn't mean that he's hoping for you to fail!

Crane cocked his head. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "You kinda zoned out for a minute..."

"Yeah... yeah... I'm fine. And I'll be even better once I deliver this apple. So please let me go."

"I..." He sighed. "I can't. You know that."

Of course he can't. How could he disobey a direct order from Master Shifu? "I know, Crane," she whispered and let out a sigh of her own. And he'll stall me. Again and again. I might lose a few apples, but I will definitely lose precious time and strength. Considering how all this running will exhaust me more and more, I'm already barely on schedule. "And I'm sorry." I can't afford to fight Crane over and over again, and I can't convince him not to fight me. Which leaves me with only one option. "So very sorry..."

She dropped the apple.

"Hey, why'd you-" Crane started to ask before jumping backwards with a loud squawk as Tigress's foot missed his beak by mere inches. He quickly brought up his wings and gave her a mildly annoyed look. "So that's how it's going to be?"

"Yes," Tigress hissed and raised both fists. One lost apple is a small price to pay for the ability to fight without anything holding me back.

It was an uneven and probably unfair fight; Tigress was ready to admit that. While neither of them really wanted to fight the other, Tigress had the bigger motivation to win. The knowledge that losing would likely mean that she'd be thrown out of the Jade Palace in less than half a day made her fight harder than in any friendly sparring match. Within minutes, Crane was falling back further and further, and Tigress kept pushing until they were almost at the courtyard again.

He'll understand, she told herself. Once I pass the test, I'll tell him why I had to do this, and he'll assure me he would've done the same. She brought her fist against his wing at full strength again - and froze when she heard a horrible cracking noise.

Crane reacted immediately by leaping backwards and holding up his good wing - their usual signal to stop a sparring fight due to serious problems. Then, he clutched his broken wing and lowered his head. His hat was preventing her from seeing his pained expression, but the groaning was enough to clue her in. "Okay, fine," he finally muttered and chuckled drily. "I guess I'm out."

"Oh, Crane..." Tigress gestured vaguely, then just looked down at her paws, as if seeing them for the first time. What have I done?

"You know, I'm kinda mad, actually." His voice made her snap out of her reverie. She looked up at him, and his eyes met hers. Much to her surprise, he shot her a grin. "You let me win all these times, didn't you? Why'd I never catch on that you're this strong? I mean, I always knew that you're the strongest of our group, but-"

"Hey, Crane, what's taking you so long?" Viper's voice made them both look up at the top of the stairs. "Po's made a snack, and you said you'd come once you had-" The snake froze on her way down when she saw the two fighters. Then her eyes moved to Crane's obviously broken wing. "What the Hell..."

"I..." Tigress gestured helplessly. "I'm sorry," she finally whispered and lowered her head. "It was an accident."

"Accident? Accident? Are you insane?" Viper quickly jumped down the stairs until she reached them. "Tigress! You never broke anybody's limb before!"

"Viper, please," Tigress pleaded, but the snake's eyes narrowed.

"What's gotten into you?" she hissed, and her eyes briefly moved to the courtyard again. "MONKEY?" she finally shouted before focusing her attention back on Tigress. "MONKEY!"

"Just... just take care of him. Please! I swear I'll explain everything once-"

"Once what?" Viper asked sharply and moved between Tigress and Crane, as if expecting her to attack again. "Once you got your apples?" Before Tigress could even reply to this, the snake spat on the ground. "Apples! Can you believe it! You broke his wing because of apples!"

"Viper," Crane spoke quietly, "I think this is kinda important for her, so-"

"So what?" Viper was clearly getting worked up about this. "So we should ignore how she's become more and more unhinged ever since Po became the Dragon Warrior? We've done that for a month, and look where it got us! Just listen to her!"

Viper leapt up the stairs again, and it took Tigress a second to realize where she was heading. No! Not the apples! She started to run, but Viper had already reached the basket.

"Apples! She cares more about apples than about your well-being!" The snake hooked the tip of her tail under the basket's handle, and Tigress froze in shock. "You know, Tigress... if you like apples so much..."

"DON'T!" Tigress screamed and shook her head frantically. "Please listen to me! I need those apples to-"

Viper catapulted the basket down the stairs.

"NO!" The cat started to run. Just a few steps! Viper hadn't thrown the basket very far, but that only made things worse for Tigress. Once it hits the ground, all the apples are going to fall out! But I can still catch it! Just a few more-

Tigress tripped. Badly.

A yelp escaped her throat as she hit the stairs hard. Her left ankle hurt like Hell, and she was certain that it was sprained. But she forgot about that pain when she looked up again and saw the now empty basket rolling down the stairs. Apples were lying all around her.

Somewhere in the distance, Viper was shouting something. Crane scolded the snake, then spoke a few words of consolation to Tigress. Monkey arrived on the scene and exchanged a few words with his friends. But the cat wasn't listening to any of them. She just lay on the stairs, looking at the basket that had decided her fate.

Finally, she heard the other Masters leaving the scene.

Only then did she allow herself to cry.