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Lightning flashed in the dark stormy night accompanied by booming thunder. The flashing light illuminated the dim room, making the already scary-looking tiger look even scarier.
Po and the furious five gulped, staring at a pissed-off Tigress, her glowing eyes making her look very intimidating. They had done a very stupid thing.
Since Master Shifu was away on some official business, they had decided to play a game. Tigress had been meditating and wanted nothing to do with whatever childish game they were playing. But they were being too loud for her to concentrate. When they didn’t seem to keep it down after being warned for the fifth time, Tigress snapped.
“I wish to join this game of yours.” She said, stepping forward with folded arms. Right then, lightning flashed through the windows making her look like a villain about to commit a crime. Po could swear he spotted a smug smirk on her.
Absolute silence followed her request. A minute later, Monkey had the guts to break it.
“S-sure Tigress. Vi-Viper, why don’t you explain how it is played.” Monkey gulped and pushed Viper forward. Viper shot him a glare before turning towards Tigress with a nervous smile.
“S-so we, uh, write down our names in these chits,” she said, showing Tigress the basket having the chits. “Then any one of us picks a chit. The one whose name is picked is the chaser. The chaser has to catch all the other players within the time limit.”
“Well, this should be easy.” Tigress rubbed her paws. She wrote down her name and put it in the basket.
Po shuffled them and picked one. He opened it and read the name on it.
Tigress.
As if the name on it wasn’t frightening enough, right then lightning flashed with crashing thunder, making Po cringe.
“Damn it. Why does the lightning have perfect timing.” Po shouted with frustration. He laughed nervously when his eyes fell on Tigress. “It’s you Tigress. Looks like you’re the chaser.”
Luck sure wasn’t on their side today. Being the chaser who knows what Tigress would do.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair.” Mantis chanted in a low whisper as he and the others positioned themselves a few feet away from the tiger.
Monkey started the timer. When everyone was ready, Tigress crouched down onto all fours and charged. The five of them split into different directions.
Crane looked back but regretted it - Tigress was right behind him! He opened his wings and took to the air. He flew to an unreachable height, almost close to the ceiling. Just when he thought he was safe, he looked back to see Tigress leaping into the air. She grabbed his long legs and roughly pulled him down.
“Ugh. How can I forget, she can jump that high.” Crane groaned under the pressure of her large paw on his body.
“Tigress. You can let go of me now.” Crane squeaked. Tigress squeezed him a little and then let go.
Mantis was her next target and easy to catch. He was agile but not more than her. With one large paw, she was able to almost flatten him.
“I think she is missing the idea that she has to just catch us, not flatten us,” Mantis said as he stretched his arms joining Crane who was fixing his ruffled feathers.
They watched as she grabbed Viper’s body, brought her up to eye level, and then dropped her.
Monkey was doing what he does best - prank and fool. He had managed to confuse Tigress twice by slapping her arm and quickly disappearing out of sight, giggling.
Tigress walked slowly, carefully scanning the hall for Monkey, including the tall pillars. When she didn’t spot anything she turned around. While turning, she spotted a yellow tail behind one of the pillars in her peripheral vision.
When she reached the particular pillar, he wasn’t there, just a fake tail similar to Monkey’s.
Monkey approached Tigress to slap her shoulder and trick her again. He raised his hand, but in the blink of an eye, she turned around and grabbed it, almost crushing it in her big paw.
“Never. Do that. Again.” She said with her eyes narrowed and teeth clenched.
Monkey laughed nervously and nodded, biting his lip at the pain coursing through his hand. She ignored him and looked around for the last one left - Po. Upon spotting him by the exit to the hall, she let go of Monkey’s hand and went after him.
Po exited the hall and ran. He entered the kitchen which was nearby.
He rounded to the other side of the dining table and turned around. Tigress was on the opposite side, the table separating them. Po ran towards the other side of the table to escape, but she followed and reduced his chances of escaping. He stood there watching closely for her next move. Her eyes glared daggers at him, while her tail swished from side to side.
Tigress swiped an arm over the table to grab him but Po backed away at the last second. Po glanced sideways and noticed a glass of water next to the sink, behind him.
Po didn’t think it through. Tigress was already coming towards him. There was no way he could outrun her. So when Tigress was an arm’s length away, he took the glass and threw the water on her.
After throwing the water he took his chance and ran.
“PANDAAA!” Po froze upon hearing her roar, not just “panda” but she literally roared. Po turned around to see a drenched Tigress.
Water was dripping from her face, her mouth pulled back in a snarl revealing her sharp fangs. Her chest was heaving with her paws clenched into fists.
Po gulped. He didn’t know why he thought it a good idea to throw water on Tigress! But that wasn’t his top concern right now. He was more frightened of his inability to move as he saw her grab a pot filled with water.
“Oh, you have done it,” Tigress growled lowly as she neared the frozen panda and drenched him in a pot full of cold water.
One moment Po was drenched in cold water and the next he saw Tigress lunging at him.
Tigress sat straddled on the shivering panda’s back.
“P-P-Please d-don’t k-kill me,” Po said through chattering teeth. Tigress scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“How long did I take?” Tigress asked the others who had followed them into the kitchen. Monkey checked the timer - one minute thirty seconds.
“Wow, that's a new record. One minute, thirty seconds.” Monkey said, displaying the timer for everyone to see. Though she was rough with them, they were very impressed and complimented her.
“C-c-cooool. N-now please get off me so I can s-sit in a hot tub for 2 hours.” Po said. Tigress got off him with a smug smile.
~A few hours later~
“How are you feeling?” Tigress whispered to Po who was pouring the soup in the bowls. The others were seated at the table.
“Huh?” Did he hear that right? “What?”
“I said how are you feeling? You don’t feel feverish or anything, do you?”
Po couldn’t tell whether she was guilty of her actions or concerned. Po smirked looking at her.
“Don’t give me that look panda or I will pour another pot of water on you.” She hissed. Po snickered. He learned his lesson, it’s best not to provoke her.
“Nope. I am fine. Don’t worry.” He whispered back with a smile.
“Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Mantis whispered, jumping on Po’s shoulder. Both Po and Tigress jumped back, startled.
“Just so you know, we can hear you.” Monkey piped in from the table.
“Yeah, no fair. You hurt us just as much, you know.” Crane added.
“You better forget that or your ears won’t be functional anymore,” Tigress growled.
A collective shiver ran through each of them.
“Don’t remind me what you can do with your roar.” Viper shivered.
“What can her roar do?” Po asked cluelessly as he set the bowls on the table.
“You mean you don’t know? Even after today?” Viper asked, surprised.
“Uh. Am I the only one who doesn’t know?” Po asked. The five continued to look at him with shock on their faces.
“A tiger’s roar can temporarily immobilize anyone and at a particular volume can impair your hearing.” Tigress explained nonchalantly sipping her soup.
Po’s mouth turned into an ‘O’ as the realization hit him.
“That is super cool.” Po squeaked, with his paws on his cheek and a huge grin on his face.
Tigress scoffed with a light smile on her lips. Before Po arrived at the palace, Tigress was foreign to the idea of being praised. She was still getting used to being praised, as frequently as Po did, and deep inside she valued it.
Everyone continued eating in silence when Tigress broke it.
“We should play that game again sometime,” Tigress said nonchalantly. “It was silly but fun.”
A clang interrupted the silence that followed. Everyone looked towards Monkey who had dropped his spoon.
“Sure.” Viper broke the silence. “We’d love to.”
“But no hurting anyone.” Crane quickly added.
Everyone burst out laughing including Tigress.
“I won’t hurt anyone.” Tigress assured with amusement in her voice. Her childhood was pretty much eat, little sleep, and lots of kung fu. She didn’t have the luxury nor did she have kids her age to play with. Never had she thought she would be playing at this age or have the nerve to admit it was fun. A lot has changed since Po came.