Through the Looking Glass: Penance: Chapter 4-A
Miles woke up slowly, grabbing his head as he looked down at where Tai Lung lay in the sun that was just beginning to rise. The snow leopard was beginning to stir himself, and then he turned around and looked over to whee the kitsune sat.
"Good morning," said Tai Lung as he sat up.
"Morning," he said. "You're up a little early."
Tai Lung shrugged. "I get the feeling that something is gonna happen today," he said. "I wouldn't know."
"Why do you say that?" asked Miles, blue eyes glancing at him with curiosity written all over them.
The snow leopard shrugged. "I had a dream last night," he said, twiddling his fingers together. "I had a dream that I was using you... as a sort of... you know... hostage? I... I remember that the guy who freed me told me to do that if I ever needed to, but... I don't think I could do it..."
The kitsune simply looked up at the sky as the sun had begun to rise in the horizon. He mulled over this thought for a few minutes, Tai Lung growing increasingly uncomfortable in the silence. Finally, as the sun had showed most of itself, Miles turned to the snow leopard.
"If that happens..." he said morosely. "I probably deserve it."
Almost immediately, the cat tensed, ears flattening against his head as his pupils constricted in shock. Miles seemed not to notice this, as he had been gazin at the sky as the sun rose and a brilliant blue took over the sky.
"Anyway, we should probably get moving," said the kitsune as he stood up.
Tai Lung blinked, unsure of what to do as Miles' statement went unheard. Then seeing him walk away, the cat stood up quickly, following the fox with a great deal of apprehension in his gait as he lingered on what the kitsune had said about himself.
Tai Lung bounded across the Chinese landscape as he had been doing during the past few days, with Miles hanging on to his shoulders tightly. Fields of rice went by as Tai Lung and Miles continued on their journey.
The kitsune simply thought about what Tai Lung had said that morning. Something had been wrong with the way that the snow leopard had been acting earlier that morning. He had brushed it off after around noon or so, but there was still something about what Tai Lung had supposedly dreamed about. Miles was a little afraid of a hostage situation having to occur.
But then again, the kitsune knew that somewhere, he knew he deserved it for what he had done to Sonic all the years before.
He was suddenly jilted out of his thoughts when Tai Lung suddenly skidded straight to a halt on the landscape. Miles' eyes widened as he looked ahead, and then Tai Lung came to a halt quite a distance in front of a group of five, six individuals. In the distance, Miles was able to make out the forms of what looked to be a rather fat bear who looked quite different from Banjo, another predatory cat, a monkey, a bird, a snake, and what looked like a cricket sitting on top of the monkey's shoulder.
"Is that them?" asked Miles uncertainly.
"Yeah, it's them," replied Tai Lung tentatively. "The Dragon Warrior and his friends. The Dragon Warrior is the fat panda, by the way."
Despite the fear eminent in his voice, Tai Lung did not seem to be intimidated. Slowly, he stood up, the kitsune letting go of the snow leopard as they both looked at the Dragon Warrior.
"So, you came out to play, eh?" asked the male cat loudly.
"Buddy, you lost to me last year," said the panda as he and his entourage came forward. "And that was when I was alone. You really think you can win against myself and the Furious Five?"
Tai Lung's claws came out with a soft sound of metal being drawn, and Miles instinctually stiffened. "I've got my ways, panda," replied the leopard, any hint of fright having evaporated by this point. "Make no mistake about that."
"What, by using your 'friend' as bait?" called out the cricket from where he was perched on the monkey's shoulder. "I don't think so! We're taking him back to the Jade Palace with us!"
Miles immediately frowned upon hearing this, stepping out from behind Tai Lung as he bared his teeth. "And what makes you think I'll go with you willingly?" asked the kitsune, suprising Tai Lung just the slightest bit.
"Does the prospect of getting home sound nice to you?" asked the other predatory cat in the group behind the Dragon Warrior. "One of your friends came to the Jade Palace. Cream's waiting for you, Miles Prower!"
Upon hearing this, the kitsune went stock still, his fur standing on end as he looked at the cat. He took a step back, shaking his head as tears nearly came to his eyes right there. Taking another step back, he brought his arm up, and brought his hand out in a sweeping motion.
"No!" he cried. "I'm not going to go back there! I don't want to look at... at them, damn it! They're all just gonna give me hell about what happened!"
"Kid, she's worried sick about you," replied the panda as the group came towards Tai Lung and Miles. "She--"
"She didn't tell you anything!" cried the kitsune loudly. "Her word's as good as trash! You'll have to take my dead body back to her!"
This exclamation shocked everybody in the opposing party to the point that even the female cat seemed to express this surprise. A silence hung uncomfortably in the air, and then the predatory cat that was by the panda crossed her arms.
"And how do you know you're not brainwashed?" she asked, dauntingly.
"Lady, I don't have the ability or the patience to do something like that," replied Tai Lung before Miles could ever open his mouth. "He told me a few things this 'Cream' person probably didn't." The snow leopard then got into a fighting stance, arms splayed out wide as a snarl was heard from him.
"You really don't want to give up, do you?" asked the bird warrior.
"They took everything from me!" cried Tai Lung. "I won't give up, even if it means my death! And you are not getting your hands on Miles, either!"
The panda shook his head, and then the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five worked their way into a fighting stance as Miles backed away from the fight instinctually. "Well, we've got no choice, then," he said. "You're going down. Again."
"After you, Po," replied the leopard, spitting out the name of the Dragon Warrior in pure disgust.
After saying this, Tai Lung leapt forward, claws out in their full glory as the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five all leapt in at around the same time.
Tai Lung was the first one to land a blow, hitting the fat panda straight in the belly with a dual palm strike. Knowing the ricochet that would come from Po's improvised style, Tai Lung then jumped onto his back to dodge the hands. Raising his feet, the panda instinctually grabbed a hold of them. Smirking at this, the leopard then rolled up so he stood on his feet, causing the panda to fall on his back just behind Tai Lung.
Freeing his feet quickly from Po's hold, the snow leopard then blocked a punch that was headed straight to his face from Tigress. As soon as he did this, he jumped up onto the panda's belly, and then he kicked at the leader of the Furious Five. She was undaunted, and catching the kick she threw Tai Lung off of the panda. The snow leopard landed on his feet after doing a full backflip, and landed in a semi-crouch, eyes glowing in fury.
Tai Lung then noticed the monkey racing towards him out of the corner of his eye. Jumping up quickly, he kicked the primate in the face before landing and jumping over to where he had noticed the snake trying to sneak up on him. Stepping on the back of the serpent's body, he then jumped up again and proceeded to kick in the direction of the bird that had come his way.
When he landed here, it then became a mess of blocking and dodging fists and feet while trying to land blows on Po and his entourage. Tai Lung found this to be getting progressively harder as every time he managed to successfully punch away one of the Five, they always seemed to come back quickly. The leopard continued fighting on the defensive despite this, however; he knew that trying to use the infamous nerve touch on Po would not work, but if he could manage to perform a few of the nerve touches on the Five it would even the playing field a little.
And indeed, when the bird had flown too far up, Tai Lung saw his chance. Blocking a quick blow from Po and performing a back flip, Tai Lung launched himself off the ground, and then his hand came out at a very high speed just below the bird's collarbone. A blue light was let out from the contact, and then Crane fell to the floor, paralyzed temporarily as Tai Lung touched down on the ground.
The cricket came at him next, but the leopard was ready, and then the cricket joined the bird in the brief paralysis on the ground. When Viper, Tigress, and Monkey all came flying at Tai Lung, his hand then darted out at all three of them, touching their nerve points with extreme precision as they all fell past him, completely incapacitated.
Po simply looked on at this, his body betraying shock but his face scrunched into a frown.
"Well, that evens the playing field a little," said Tai Lung as he stepped away from the five. "I think a one on one match will be more fair, yes?"
"Well, yeah, but really?" asked Po, pointing to his friends. "You want me to wake them up?"
"It's not too hard," replied Tai Lung as he slowly made his way to the panda. "Just rub them for a few seconds."
"Riiight..." replied Po uncertainly as he got into a fighting stance. "Whatever. I'm gonna kick your butt just like the last time!"
Tai Lung simply growled at this, however, and then he charged at the panda.
However, before Po could pull off the maneuver that had sent Tai Lung careening into the sky during their first encounter, Tai Lung surprised Po by jumping to the side just before the panda could let his belly out. This meant that Po's body weight threw him forward, and then Tai Lung was able to take advantage of this.
The panda, not to be outdone by Tai Lung, turned around and grabbed the leopard's wrist quickly. Jumping up, the panda then made a half circle, slamming Tai Lung into the ground powerfully enough to send him back up again. Despite this injury, Tai Lung was able to land on his feet when Po tried to slam him down again. Freeing his wrist from the hold of the Dragon Warrior, he then delivered a palm strike to the panda's face. This sent the panda stepping back a little bit, rubbing his nose.
He had then jumped to the side as Tai Lung jumped at him, legs forming into a kick as the foot missed the panda's body. Swirling around quickly, the panda suddenly seemed to notice how close to the tree-- and by connection, Miles-- he really was. A plan quickly formed in his mind as Tai Lung skidded along the earth.
As the snow leopard rushed back at him, the panda prepared his hand. This then caught the leopard off guard as his wrist was captured again. Spinning around rapidly, the panda then tossed Tai Lung farther away from the tree.
And Tai Lung realized too late that Po had easy access to Miles. This seemed to dishearten Tai Lung such that his eyes widened. However, right as his legs kicked into gear, Po had jumped over the tree nimbly, and suddenly he came forward, holding Miles up from the ground by the wrist, the kitsune's pack slung around his shoulder as he was hoisted up.
The snow leopard skidded to a halt, eventually stopping right in front of Po as the kitsune looked up defiantly at the panda.
"Yeah," he pointed out, pointing to Miles. "So, I'll be taking this guy home with me. But first, I've got a bit of business to take care of."
Tai Lung growled, shaking his head.
"I'm not falling for the Wuxi Finger Hold again," replied the leopard angrily. "What is this, using my friend against me?"
"Look, I didn't want to have to do this either," replied Po, sweeping his hand out in front of him. "But he's got friends that are concerned about him, and I'm not gonna let you get away with that. I'll tell you what. You leave me alone now, and I promise on good fortune that I'll have a good match with you to determine who is better once and for all later. I'd think you'd go for that, yes?"
Before Tai Lung could show any kind of expression towards this proposition, however, Miles' hand darted in his pack. "I'll tell you what!" he exclaimed. "You're going to let me go and let us go free, or I'll kill myself!"
And in a gesture that left both Po and Tai Lung speechless, the kitsune grabbed the carving knife from his pack and held it up to his own throat without even breaking a sweat. Miles did not let up his defiant stare either, which unnerved Po and frightened Tai Lung.
"M... Miles...?" asked Tai Lung, voice shaking. "W... what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Put me down!" cried the kitsune, pressing the blade against his own neck. "I'd rather die then have to face... them! Put me down, or you're gonna regret this!"
Po's expression was saddened as he slowly let the kitsune down. Even more reluctantly, the panda unhanded the fox.
And just before either party could react, a cloud of dirt suddenly shot up from where Miles was. Po shielded his eyes as the dirt settled, and when it had cleared he was shocked to find that Miles and Tai Lung had both disappeared from view.
Po was left standing there for a good few minutes, incredibly confused over what had just transpired as a whole series of thoughts began to swirl around his head.
Shaking his head in defeat, the panda simply walked over to where the paralyzed bodies of the Furious Five were and began to shake them awake.
Tigress was among the first ones to be rubbed awake; she jumped up, getting into a fighting stance instinctively.
"Bah, it's no use," replied Po as he rubbed Mantis and Viper awake at exactly the same time. "He already got away."
As Po slowly rubbed Monkey and crane awake, the leader of the Furious Five glared at Po. "What?" she cried, angrily. "You let him--?"
"I don't know how it happened either!" Po exclaimed, waving his arms around in the air wildly. "I had found an opening to save this 'Tails' kid, or whatever. I do that, and the next thing I knew the kid was threatening to kill himself if I didn't take my hands offa him! And when I unhanded him, he and Tai Lung just... disappeared!" The panda finished this with a gesture as the Furious Five looked at him incredulously.
Tigress looked around the landscape, seeing a cloud of dust dying away in the distance. Quickly calculating where they could go to get to the Jade Palace from there, she nodded.
"I think I know where we can intercept them," she said. "It'll take two days, but I think we'll be able to catch them again."
"Okay," said Po, shrugging as the five all stood up. "Lead the way, Tigress."
The leader of the Furious Five nodded, and then the rest followed closely by. Mantis, was the only one who seemed to notice the slightly distracted face of the panda. Noticing this, the insect jumped onto his shoulder, perching there as the panda moved along.
"Something's wrong," began the mantis almost immediately. "What happened?"
Po shook his head softly as they moved along.
"Tai Lung couldn't have rehearsed that," said the panda so only Mantis could hear. "When... 'Tails', or whatever, threatened to kill himself, Tai Lung was as shocked as I was... I'm not sure what to make of that."
The insect thought about this, looking ahead as Po forged on behind Tigress. "I dunno," he replied. "Double-acts are kind of crazy."
"But it wasn't fake shock, even!" insisted the panda. "Tails literally just took off; I don't think even Tai Lung could just disappear the way he did by himself..."
"Well, I dunno what to tell you," replied Mantis. "Other than, we'll see what happens..."
With this, the insect leapt off of Po's shoulder, and then the group simply continued on its way.
When Miles had finally skidded to a halt by a rather large steppe, he gently let Tai Lung down and rather quickly deposited the carving knife in his pack.
Almost instantly, Tai Lung had begun yelling.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" he cried, standing up as the shock was apparent in his eyes. "I could've gone after him and taken you back myself!"
"No." The kitsune's reply was short, biting even. It was enough to make Tai Lung wince. "That is only a 'maybe'. I wanted to make sure it was a 'definitely'."
"I understand that, but holding the knife to your own throat?" asked the snow leopard, showing rare signs of distress as he yelled at his companion. "I would've rather held one of my claws there than have to see you do that!"
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," replied the kitsune angrily. "I don't see what's so hard to grasp about this."
Tai Lung sighed angrily. "Miles," he said sternly. "You almost killed yourself today. How can you not see what is--?"
"I don't give a shit!" replied the kitsune, finally turning to face Tai Lung. "I probably should have anyway! That way... that way..."
And the kitsune simply broke down, muttering whatever he had on the tip of his tongue as he fell to the floor sobbing.
Closing his yellow eyes and kneeling down, Tai Lung patted Miles' shoulder comfortingly.
"I still think you shouldn't have," he said. "For whatever you did back in your real home a year ago, it's probably not as bad as what I did..."
Miles shook his head. "No," he insisted. "It's still worse..."
"Well, then why don't you tell me what happened?" asked Tai Lung softly.
"It's still... too painful..." the kitsune replied, shaking his head. "I still don't want to talk about it..."
The snow leopard shook his head in great distaste as he glared off to the side. "Okay, okay," he said, agreeing to this despite the voice in his head telling him not to. "But Miles, you must promise me something."
"What?" asked the kitsune softly as he looked up at his friend and dried a few tears from his fur.
"You must promise me never to threaten the Dragon Warrior with your own death," the cat said. "Ever again. I don't care how dire the circumstances are, or how many 'maybes' there are with the options I'm given. If you ever do that again, I'm going to nerve touch you as a last resort to protect you. All right?"
The kitsune nodded as he sat up finally getting the courage to look Tai Lung straight in the eye again. "All right," he said. "I'll do that."
"Good." With this, Tai Lung hoisted the depressed kitsune onto his shoulders. "By the way, I don't know what you did to be able to run so fast, but I am glad you did."
"You're welcome," replied the kitsune softly.
The leopard nodded, looking down to where he projected the Jade Palace would be. "Okay," he said. "Now let's move before the Five have a chance to catch up to us."
And without another word, Tai Lung rushed forward, Miles holding on as his companion darted forward very quickly, running off as quickly as he could in the daylight.