Within her grasp

Chapter 1: The new Master

Prologue

Master Oogway slowly inhaled and held his breath for a few seconds before exhaling again. Above him, the leaves of the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom rustled gently. Peace and harmony were all around him... except for the tiny zone of irritation and disappointment right behind him. "Shifu," the tortoise whispered his student's name and smiled to himself. He will learn... he will have to learn...

"You called me, Master?" Shifu asked politely, but Oogway could tell that the little red panda was once again close to throwing a fit. As usual.

"How is young Tigress's training going?"

Oogway chuckled softly when he heard Shifu cracking his knuckles. "Badly, Master."

"Badly?" he asked with feigned surprise. "How can this be? She is your only student, and she is young, energetic-"

"She has the potential to reach the level of a Master, but she is... lacking something. Also, her aerial combat skills are horribly sub-par, and I can barely get her to train them!" Shifu sighed dramatically. "I understand that children her age sometimes have phases in which they rebel against authority, but this is irrational! She wants to become a Master! And yet... yet..." Another sigh.

"And yet," Oogway picked up the sentence, "something is holding her back." He slowly got to his feet. "I know exactly what is to do," he announced suddenly and beamed as he turned around to face Shifu.

The red panda's eyes widened considerably. "Yes? Yes?"

"We are going to travel to the temples in the south tomorrow evening. Being away from the Jade Palace for a few weeks sounds perfect, doesn't it?"

Shifu blinked. "I... see..." He frowned lightly before smiling. "Actually, you are right! Tigress needs to get out of the temple for a while. Maybe, if she trains in a new environment-"

"Tigress will stay here," Oogway interrupted him and almost laughed when he saw the red panda twitch.

"B-but then why did you say that-"

"Shifu, Shifu..." The tortoise lightly waved his giant cane at the night sky. "What we need is a vacation. What she needs is a playmate."

"Playmate? Playmate? Master Oogway, with all due respect, I fail to see how-"

"Don't worry, Shifu... it will all work out, and you won't even have to lift a finger."

The messenger

New. Record. Time. Tigress moved swiftly through the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, unleashing a steady stream of punches and kicks at their movable arms. New. Record. Time. Her goal was to be a full second faster than her old best time. And all she had to do was to get through the last row within the next three seconds, followed by-

"AUGH!" One of her punches had been just a little bit too low, but the few inches in height made all the difference between hitting the smooth side of the top-most arm and smacking her fist straight into the spikes below it. "DAMMIT!" she cursed loudly, barely resisting the urge to sink her claws into the wooden punishment device. Okay, no new record. WHATEVER. Licking her bruised hand, Tigress stomped out of the obstacle course. "Stupid obstacle course. Stupid spikes. Stupid record times. Stupid bird." She froze. ...bird?

"Apologies," the bird she had just stomped past moved into her field of view again.

A crane, she noticed, glancing at his ridiculously thin legs and the white and dark blue feathers. Her eyes stopped at his oversized straw hat, and she raised an eyebrow at it before she remembered Master Shifu's lectures on how to treat visitors. "No, I should apologize! May I help you?" Okay, bad first impression, but nothing I can't fix... He doesn't seem to be too disturbed by my cursing and muttering.

The crane opened his long beak, but then closed it again and looked down. "You're bleeding."

"Hm? Oh, it's just a scratch. You have to get used to minor things like this when practicing Kung Fu." She tried not to sound too smug, but she raised her head a little bit, anyway. "I'll just get..." she muttered and took a small bandage out of a box, "...this, and in a few minutes, I'll be as good as new."

"I see!" The bird nodded eagerly. "So, if you're not mortally wounded after all, could you please tell me where to find Master Shifu or Grand Master Oogway? I have a message for them." He held up his right leg, which had a small scroll tied to it.

I've been boasting to some stupid, empty-headed bird who just takes messages and mindlessly delivers them? Ugh, what a waste of time! She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about that. Master Shifu will be with us once he realizes that I'm neglecting my training."

"Well, you should maybe continue, then! I wouldn't want you to get into trouble!"

"Nah, it's fine." Tigress leaned against the wall and smirked. "I don't really need that much training, actually. I'm close to becoming a Master, you know?" Does he actually know what that means?

"Well..." Something was on the bird's mind.

Tigress sighed. "Look, that was just one punch. I aimed too low, and-"

"No, you didn't," the bird interrupted her and cocked his head.

"...pardon me?" Don't tell me that a stupid messenger bird is going to lecture me!

"I believe your stance was off a little bit. Your aim was correct, but it seemed to be in the wrong context."

"Wrong context?" she snapped and gave the crane one of her worst glares. "Listen, I have been studying Tiger Kung Fu for more than a decade under one of the most demanding Masters in all of China! How dare you imply that I got something this simple wrong?"

"Your Kung Fu is impressive and reflects your experience," he conceded, "but still, your stance had been off a bit. However, I'm sure it was just a minor slip and that you did it right all the other times." He gave her a light shrug.

Tigress crossed her arms and opened her mouth to reply.

"What is going on here?" Master Shifu suddenly snapped, forcing her to simply give the bird another glare before facing her teacher.

"You have a message, Master Shifu," she replied and bowed slightly. The red panda gave the bird a brief look, but then focused on her again. Dammit!

"And you interrupted your training... why?"

"Minor injury from the Gauntlet. Just before the last row, I aimed a punch too low. Nothing big, but I wanted to bandage it any-"

"What happened?" Master Shifu asked and gave her a look that made it clear that in his eyes, she had lost a fight with a wooden dummy. And to make matters worse, he didn't even seem to be surprised by it. Tigress quickly assumed the last position from her training session, her bandaged fist held at the wrong height, just the way it had been before. Her teacher sighed. "Your stance is off."

WHAT? Tigress blinked. No! It's not! Why does everybody think that- Her eyes wandered over to the bird. Did he actually see that-... no. That was just a blind guess! Nothing more! And Master Shifu's wrong, too! My aim was simply off!

"That's what she told me, too," the bird suddenly chimed in, making Tigress blink again.

"Oh, she actually noticed it?" Master Shifu was sounding pleasantly surprised.

"Indeed! She told me how her left foot should have been a bit further behind her. Then, her upper body would have been correctly aligned."

Wait. He's... he's right! Tigress edged her left foot backwards, and her right fist moved upwards automatically. Rookie mistake! I had kept my feet too close together!

"Hm. Well, if you realized it yourself, I guess we can leave it at that." Master Shifu shrugged lightly before looking up at the crane again. "Now... you have a message for me?"

"I do," the bird replied and held up the leg with the scroll.

Master Shifu quickly removed it. "Let's see," he whispered as he unrolled it. "To the Masters of the Jade Palace. With great regrets, we must inform you that-" His eyes widened as he read the rest of the message in silence. When he lowered the scroll again, Tigress could tell that it had contained extremely bad news. "The Floating Temple has been destroyed," the red panda finally whispered. "An avalanche completely buried it just a few days ago. Few survivors, and the temple has effectively been wiped off the map." Tigress's jaw dropped. The bird just nodded gravely. Master Shifu sighed deeply. "The remaining students have been sent to other Kung Fu temples in the area. The Masters who survived are being sent further away."

"Even further? Why?" Tigress frowned.

"There are many possible reasons for that, actually. Spreading out the people who mastered their techniques will naturally spread the popularity of the technique itself. It also allows the Masters to scout for new talents in a larger area, should the Floating Temple be rebuilt later on."

"So... if we got one of these messages..."

"Yes, Tigress. They offer to send one of their Masters over to the Jade Palace."

Tigress gritted her teeth. On the one hand, another Master would of course be a welcome addition to any Kung Fu temple. On the other hand, it would mean having three Masters for only a single student - her. Yet another guy to jerk me around and comment on how I'm lacking this or that before I can become a Master myself!

"I think," Master Shifu spoke after a minute of silence, "that this isn't actually a bad idea. The Masters at the Floating Temple know a wide range of techniques." He gave Tigress a look. "Including Tiger Kung Fu, from what I heard." Ignoring the way Tigress stiffened, he gave the bird a nod. "The Masters of the Jade Palace would feel honored by having a Master of the Floating Temple join us."

"Thank you kindly, Master Shifu!"

"How long would it take this new Master to arrive here?" Master Shifu suddenly asked and frowned. "You see, my Master and I will be going on a trip to some of the temples in the south tonight. It would be regrettable if we missed his or her arrival..."

They're going on a trip? Without me? Tigress frowned, but then relaxed. All right! That means a few days or weeks without anybody breathing down my neck!

"Oh, I apologize!" the bird exclaimed and shook his head. "What an embarrassing oversight, I forgot to introduce myself!" He bowed again and gave them the customary Kung Fu salute. "Crane, Master of the Fujian White Crane style, at your service."