"OOF!" cried Po, having just been kicked square (or should that be round?) in the stomach by his slightly-too-competent sparring partner, Tigress. He clutched it. "There goes my spleen," he wheezed, clutching broad stomach.
"Po, would you like me to punch the wind out of you too? I'm rather good at aiming for diaphragms." Tigress was merciless, and yet she was smiling.
"Oh, yeah, nah, I'm good," groaned the panda. "But uh, we have the, you know, Christmas gig coming up for the emperor, and, uh, I think-" he stopped to pant. "I think I won't be able to make it tomorrow." He flopped down by the side of the training hall. "You guys... go ahead," he said, gesturing to the equipment.
The Furious Five, who had stopped training now out of concern for their friend, stood in disbelief. This was the Dragon Warrior, saviour of China, and not only was he cringing in pain from a practice match, but as the most important performer he would not be showing up for the emperor.
"Po... I didn't kick you that hard."
Po turned over to face them. He groaned loudly from the movement. "I dunno. Maybe ask Shifu if you accidentally did some special super powerful move or something."
"Doing a special move by accident?" Crane was sceptical. "You do know the chance of that, right?"
"Maybe that's why it's the first time it's happened," reasoned Mantis.
"Hm. But I think we should still go to Master Shifu," said Viper. "Po? What do you think?"
The black and white mass on the floor grunted in consent.
"S'ok buddy, we'll see what's going on," comforted Monkey. "Unless you're faking it. We'll figure that out too."
Po managed a smile as the Five left the room. But as Tigress was about to walk through the door, she turned back to the panda in pain, his suffering her own fault.
She sighed, then called to the others, "Guys, I'll stay with Po to see if my kick's maybe done anything irregular or dangerous. I mean, I am the one who hurt him..." She trailed off.
Mantis called back, "Don't worry Tigress, accidents happen. For Po they happen so often his whole life is a mistake. Well, it kind of is- he wouldn't be Dragon Warrior if hadn't been for an accident- so maybe this mistake will turn out as good as the last one.
Tigress walked back into the training hall, knelt by the panda and placed a paw on his shoulder. "Po, I'm really sorry."
The panda just twitched once and lay there.
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter- I appreciate any reviews! I'll do my best to update regularly, so favourite this if you liked it! That way you won't miss any new chapters. Also, check out my other Kung Fu Panda fanfiction, Behind the Scenes.