Very often, back in the Jade Palace, she used to meditate at the outside.
It mostly served the purpose to avoid Cheng, their massager some times when she wasn't on the mood for anything important at all. She didn't like hiding from her duty but before she would loose to her temperament she went away. It was just fair since whenever Cheng arrived something happened where she needed to put her entire concentration on. Even if she was busy with training or meditating.
Right now she was happy having an excuse to not being on her position. Being outside of the Jade-Palace without any mission turned to a very very rare scenario.
The forest, which blew in the early summer time with close grown leafs on the trees and bushes and bugs made their sounds while a bit cold wind blew from the west.
On their way trough, Viper and Crane came back to Tigress, who searched on her own as well.
They told her they saw nothing unusual around the forest or inside. At least not on a rough search. Except for the fact of the lack of people passing this area. It was unusually silent and empty. She crossed her arms and thought unhappily for a second before she said: "That's abasing. Does anyone think it would be funny calling us here for a little joke?" She looked up when feeling a wet drop, the first announcer of rain, landing on her shoulder. "And, great, now it starts mizzle!"
"Be patient," Viper tried to cheer her up: "Just because we didn't see something yet, doesn't mean there is nothing. We don't even know… well… what we are actually looking for. We don't know yet… what is attacking and where. Maybe it's on the underground or something. Somewhere we haven't searched yet."
"Good point, Viper," Crane said while adjusting his hat. Viper suspiciously looked at him very shortly. If there would be anything underground he knew he would be the last one who needed to look there. He never ever found any cave of an underground animal so far so he most likely would enjoy being home before the rain starts.
"In that case I'd rather have Mantis here. He is better when it comes to locate threats from underneath. Oh, pardon, I meant the doooctor. You wouldn't squeal on me, would you, Crane?"
Suddenly Tigress stopped Viper and Crane's conversation with reaching out to them with her arms, signalled to be silent and eavesdropped to the distance.
"What is-" Viper started asking quietly but Crane hold her back while looking at Tigress.
"Shh," he whispered while very slowly breathing and looking around.
Tigress now looked in the way she assumed to hear the noise which was bothering her right now. She could swear to hear a wheel, like someone dragged a cart behind them.
She waved at her friends to follow her silently.
They both looked at each other but started to following Tigress without hesitation while in the far distance the first thunder clanged at the sky.
Viper slithered cautiously very close to the ground with her head while Crane tried his best to stealth. Being a bird and wearing a hat made it hard for him. He was called a flyer, an artist, a cleaner but the last thing he was, was a sneak.
However, with nobody visually being here it was hard to say if somebody seemed to realise them in any way.
But Tigress was sure, there was something, or someone rather, approaching this way, while she cautiously looked around, awaiting an ambush every second.
When she knelt down and hide in a bush, Crane also tried to hide but his hat still reached the outside. Viper put it away from his head and down to the ground quickly. "Hey..." he whispered but looked at Tigress very quickly again and decided to stay still.
She was listening again. She heard some steps coming, along with the sound of a cart. "Someone is going to pass this way," she whispered: "We better stay covered. We don't know if that is what we are looking for."
Both nodded and looked at the path.
An antelope came along the wet path and dragged a cart behind behind it.
"I know that guy..." Viper mumbled: "An outlaw, but… a very poor one, not even that evil. He robs just a few tiny shops here and there, some villagers on the street… Nothing too dangerous to call him a monster at least."
"Definitely not what we are looking for…" Crane said.
The antelope suddenly stopped and looked around.
Viper wiggled her tale around Crane's spout and formed the words: Shut your lip, Crane! with her mouth.
After a few moments of silence the antelope looked up at the increasing rain and decided to continue his path.
Viper and Tigress both looked at Crane for a moment and then nodded to each other. That was close.
The moment they looked away something attacked the antelope and pushed it out of the path. He screamed loudly and tried his best to resist.
"There!" Tigress said, left the bush and run straight for the antelope.
Once she arrived, a heavy fight already started but the antelope lost it's balance very quickly against the strong, quick and precise attack from the attacker and got pushed to the ground. Tigress didn't hesitate to isolate both fighters before doing anything else.
She dragged the antelope backwards where Viper and Crane were and pushed the foe away to the cart.
She grew surprised and at the same time shocked when she was looking with which kind of monster she had to deal with. "Wait… you?"
Though being shocked, the antelope didn't hesitate to get his things and run away. Nor Viper or Crane stopped him but it was fine anyway. He wasn't the reason why they were here. It seemed like they found what they were looking for.
Normally she hadn't call Shiren a monster but how he fought the antelope was quite equivalently. She barely ever saw someone getting on attacking someone that badly. The moment Tigress went in she saw Shiren smashing the antelope's body, even nearly broke one of his horns.
His look also seemed quite like a scary monster. His body was in bad shape, he had scars everywhere, the most obvious one on his chest, a deep cross.
His eyes looked like he didn't sleep for at least a month and his bag was hackily. Still useable but very tattered.
His face changed a lot since she lastly saw him. Anger conquered it. He looked at her very crankily.
"What did you do? He escaped!" he shouted at her.
Slowly she let go of him but didn't dare to look away."Shiren, is that you? What happened?" she asked shocked but also sad.
He stood up again and stared at her. She still saw the anger and hate in him like they were there for a long time at this point.
"… I was hunting an outlaw. Tell me when you have a problem with that. Don't you defend thieves and pirates recently?" he asked: "Are you even the person you show to be? Aren't you just another of those dirty spies?"
Tigress didn't know what to say. She was confused and surprised and had hundreds of questions. She remembered he wasn't on the festival when they celebrated the peace after the war but she thought he was injured and on his way home or something.
"Answer the question," Shiren strictly said.
Viper shook her head slowly and sighed. "We are Viper, Crane and Tigress, you're seeing it right! But what made you attacking a person like that? You were attacking like he was the most evil person on the world."
"I don't care how evil he was. They are all just rats! All the same! Everyone is threatening you the same way! They know no mercy! Why should they deserve better?" he asked very loudly and angry.
"Calm down," Viper said: "You're acting trough anger. That's not a good path to walk over."
Shiren laughed: "Who are you to tell me what's right and wrong? You are not like those, who had the privilege to meet the destiny itself! Those, who's screams of justice and revenge screaming at you as an argument to justify their actions!"
Tigress, Viper and Crane looked at each other, wondering and at the same time worried about what Shiren just said to them. Two things were sure: They found the monster they were looking for and he needed serious help. Tigress turned back to Shiren and wanted to speak again but in that moment Shiren quickly turned his head away and looked to the other side. "Do you hear that?" he asked: "They're coming again. The rats are gathering."
Firstly nobody knew how to react, or what Shiren meant by they. But Viper figured it out when she heard people approaching this area. And there were many footsteps coming.
"Shiren, keep calm. As masters of the Jade Palace it's our duty to protect this forest from any possible assault!" she said when she, Viper and Crane prepared for any possible threat before Shiren.
The expected people came trough the bushes, paths and even from the trees, towards this area. It was a big cluster of people, Viper recognized as outlaws. And many of them.
But she never saw them acting together like this. Outlaws normally never put themselves together to handle as organized as apparently now.
Something was odd and she hated it. It was so much more easier to judge a situation when you know everything about it and the numbers of foes you are going to engage.
One of them, apparently the leader, a big, strong looking water buffalo like Temutai, spoke up: "There you are. Step aside, Jade Palace masters. We are not here for your businesses this time. We are here to revenge all the assaults on us! Revenge on this snake there behind you!"
His angry voice already was filled with determination and confirmed no room for discussions. He and everyone on his side came here for a mission and won't surrender until it is done.
They were approximately everywhere. On the trees, on the path, in the bushes on the grass. They did a great job surrounding this area.
Viper wondered how she could ever had overseen such a big amount of people when she was looking around for them.
Her pure judgement told her no real thread on anyone of her enemies. They were poorly armed, barely had weapons and approximately stuck together by pure wishful thinking.
She knew Shiren was at least a relative decent fighter if he wanted to. But her experience wouldn't help her now. This felt like a completely different person.
"Oh boy…" Crane sighed: "We can't prevent any fight from happening, can we?"
Viper already knew it was pointless to try but as a sign for her good will she tried to persuade them: "Listen to us!" she said loudly: "We're here to help! We will take care of him and make sure this forest is as save as it used to be!" It was weird to speak like than with outlaws. They mostly deserve no mercy like this but sometimes even the local outlaws need the assistance of the Jade Palace. She knew Po was always willing to help other people, even people like these. Of course he was tricked often times but someone like Tigress always made things right again when she needed to. This time she could at least try to help them.
"Make me!" Shiren shouted and then turned to the outlaws: "I remember every single one of you! I've beaten you once and I will do it again until you will learn from your lesson, kneel before me and beg for your lifes!"
"Did you hear that?" the outlaw said: "This will end now!"
Shiren grinned: "It was just a matter of time but here you are. Do your worst!"
Saying that Shiren rushed forward into the fight.
Viper wished Mantis would be here. He would have stopped him quickly.
"Why are this things happening again?" Crane asked Tigress: "I don't like situations between outlaws and crazy warriors." He was visually excited. On the one hand he surely wanted to fight but on the other hand he was unsure and kind of waited for Tigress to say the word.
"I don't know," she answered: "But we won't find out when we don't interfere."
"But on which side?" Viper asked: "Shiren is incalculable right now but the outlaws in rage and… well, outlaws. I won't call any one these an ally."
Tigress decided: "Yes, but we can't join the outlaws. They came here to get Shiren themselves, not watching us defeating him. We need push them back and make sure Sjorem does as less harm as possible so keep a close eye on him. Even if it means we need to do it with violence. After that we take him to the Jade Palace and go from there. He has to comply with us when this is over. Eh… charge!"
Viper and Crane didn't move on her command like they normally would have.
"You have to learn from Po, Tigress," Crane said and Viper agreed.
"Yes. He would have said like… Chackabui! Or… Let's get them! My fist hungers! You know. Something motivational."
"Next time. I'll go right to him. Now if you don't mind… Tschakab..." she interrupted herself and groaned: "Just go!"
