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"Where did it come from?"
"I don't know, Chiaotzu. It looks empty though."
The boy cast an incredulous look at the triclops beside him. "Tien, you can't be thinking what I think you're thinking."
"No it's fine. Look, we're two of the strongest people on the planet, right?"
Chiaotzu shrugged. Tien was, maybe, but Chiaotzu was not even in the top ten at this point. Tien ignored him.
"And it's just an abandoned house that showed up behind our real house sometime in the middle of the night despite neither of us hearing or seeing anything, right?"
"Right…"
"So what could go wrong?"
"We could die. Again. Remember how much that sucked last time?"
"Nah, we'll be fine!"
Chiaotzu watched as Tien strode confidently towards the dilapidated house that sat innocently on top of the thick snow of the Northern Wastes. Wait, on top of the snow?
"Tien, I don't think –"
"Can't hear you! Going into the house!"
"But, Tien, I –"
"What!? Can't hear you! I'm in the house already!"
This was a lie; Tien was standing at the doorway of the house, peering in, but Chiaotzu got the message. He sighed and followed, swearing to Kami that if he ended up dying Tien would never hear the end of it.
The house was definitely abandoned, the air stale, a thick coat of dust coating everything. It didn't make any sense.
Tien walked into the house, his head high and his three eyes peering curiously in all directions, Chiaotzu remaining in the doorway. There was a crash and Tien let out a girlish scream as a collection of shapes flew at him from the ceiling. Chiaotzu flung his hands out, trying to protect his brother, freezing the attacking forces in place.
Tien straightened with an embarrassed cough at the same moment that Chiaotzu realised the foes he had frozen were a collection of sheets crudely painted with the faces of their previous enemies.
"I…I don't get it…"
"I do," Tien said darkly. "This is revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Yeah; this is the best Shen can do since we're so strong." Tien raised his voice, "Isn't that right!?"
Their ex-master descended from the ceiling, his wrinkled face set in a furious snarl.
"This is stupid," Chiaotzu said.
"You're stupid!" Shen spat, darting past him and out of the door with an evil cackle. Tien and Chiaotzu looked at each other and shrugged.