Striking Back

I will command respect.

I will be feared.

I will no longer be their laughingstock.

I.

Am.

The.

Tiger.

Tigress willed herself to go harder, stronger, and quicker. One more jab, one more punch, until the words melt away, until she truly felt nothing.

Weak.

Runt.

Skinny.

No good.

Worthless.

Terrible.

These were just a few words used to describe her by those she called her friends a few months ago: the other members of the “Furious Five,” an elite Kung Fu group.

But she would overcome them all. She would be the Dragon Warrior. She would beat not just them, but all of China, if needed, to become truly powerful. A master, like Shifu or Oogway. A true master of body and mind.

She didn’t care who got in her way. She would destroy them, just like they did to her pride, her respect, her reputation. She’d been loved, respected by Shifu, even though he’d been a strict father and teacher. But after Monkey began to tease her …

Everything went south.

She reverted back to her personality at Bao Gu, before Shifu had taken her under his metaphorical wing. She was angry, fierce, untamable. Shifu had banished her to here, this Ironwood tree forest away from the home of the Furious Five, when she nearly killed Monkey.

But she’d go back.

She would take revenge on the living, not mourn the dead.
“One … more … punch …” Tigress panted, punching the tree as many times as she could until her shoulders blazed with wildfire. She sat against the tree, looking out for any unsuspecting prey, and found a few bunnies.

They’re innocent townspeople! Tigress first thought, but her hunger caved her in, and she chased down and caught the two slowest bunnies, eating them, as she watched the other three flee the scene.

I am a monster.

I don’t care.

Tigress ran after the other three, catching them and eating them alive. She was fast. She was strong.

She was a true Dragon Warrior.

She’d beat Viper’s agility, Crane’s height, Mantis’s speed, and Monkey’s … comedy.

What was he there for?

Why was he, of all people, able to get to her? Why could he manipulate her feelings like no one else could? Why did his rejection matter?

She didn’t like him, that’s for sure.

“Now what …” Tigress whispered, and turned to a tree, and began to punch it, again and again and again. She wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t give in. Her weakness wouldn’t exist anymore. She would be strong. She would be mighty.

She would be the raging tiger.

Tigress stopped, and turned, and began to run through the forest, willing herself to go faster, imagining Viper next to her, her slim body gliding through the grass. She must beat the Viper.
She soon collapsed, and began to sleep, dreaming of the tower that they lived in, no, not just the tower, all of China, falling to her, as she stood triumphant. She smiled in her dream. It would be very soon that it came true. It would be very soon that it was a nonfiction story, a legend of a mighty tiger showing no mercy to opposition, who brought China heart-first into every battle.

She would not be moved. She would be a rock, like the Ironwood trees she slept among.

She would prevail at any cost.

“Shifu! Shifu!” Monkey yelled, storming into his study room. Shifu looked back at Monkey, his eyes ablaze with anger and rage.

“WHAT?!” Shifu yelled, and Monkey looked even more frightened.

“It’s her … it’s Tigress … she found us …” Monkey said, and Shifu, as if on cue, heard her mighty roar, and Monkey’s eyes widened.

“HOW DID SHE FIND US?!” Shifu yelled, even louder, before going downstairs. He was greeted with Viper, nearly dead, and Crane in Tigress’s paw. Tigress looked at Shifu, and her normally amber eyes turned red and black, evil and fiery.

“TIGRESS! What are you doing?” Shifu said, when suddenly, Tigress threw Crane aside, and Shifu heard bones crack, and looked over to see Crane’s neck broken. Shifu suddenly felt himself being lifted, and looked to see Tigress, anger that Shifu was feeling being reflected in her eyes.

“I. Am. The. Tiger,” Tigress said, and threw Shifu aside, and he felt himself hit a piece of wood in the wall, and fell with a thud.

“I am untamable. I am passionate. I am unstoppable. Soon, all of China will be mine,” Tigress said, her red eyes almost seeming to have bright orange flames within them, they were so intense and burning with anger.

“YOU ALL DOUBTED ME. THIS IS YOUR REVENGE!” Tigress yelled, and kicked Shifu into the next room. He felt his strength waning, and soon, he felt death upon him.

“I will not be moved. I will not be shaken. I will not be scared anymore,” Tigress said, and grabbed Monkey by the tail.

“If you’d wanted me to stop, I would have if you’d have said something, I-I swear!” Monkey said, but Tigress didn’t believe him, and tossed him aside. She went to the Jade Palace, and climbed the wall, grabbing the Dragon Scroll, and fell into the Pool of Sacred Tears. She brushed herself off, and opened the scroll.

It was blank.

Her whole life, all she had trained for … was for a blank, empty, reflective scroll, when she realized what it meant.

The power was within her.

Her mind went back to Shifu training her as a child, to how she was regarded as terrifying, regarded as a monster.

Not anymore.

She was regarded as a killer.

She killed them.

She dropped the scroll, and backed away, fearing herself, her newfound power, her emotionless state as she had just murdered not only the Furious Five, but Shifu. Her trainer, her adoptive father. The one who had taught her everything.

She wasn’t supposed to care about this.

She ran away, far from the Jade Palace, never to be seen again.