"You…cannot defeat me." He stumbled forward after emerging from the crater. "You…Your just a big…fat…panda!" Tai Lung threw his fist forward in a last, desperate attempt at destroying the enemy who took away the scroll, the title, and the power of the Dragon Warrior from him.
But it wasn't enough to defeat the panda. Po had caught his fist.
"I'm not a big fat panda. I'm THE big fat panda." The panda lifted his pinky, a large smile crossing his face.
"The Wuxi Finger Hold!" Tai Lung's stomach dropped as deep as the hole from which he just came from.
"Oh, you know this hold" Not possible. Tai Lung couldn't convince Shifu to teach him that technique for years. Impossible the panda could do it in a day.
"You're bluffing! You're bluffing; Shifu didn't teach you that!" Tai Lung said desperately. Anything, even prison would be better than complete annihilation.
"Nope." Tai Lung smirked with relief.
"I figured it out."
His jaw didn't have time to drop before gold light invaded his mind and vision, obliterating everything he knew. Except, for a single memory.
The turtle shook his head. And Oogway walked off. No explanation. That wasn't like him. But he did it.
Shifu shook his head, baffled. Tai LUng merely stood, sullen and confused. Both the Masters of Kung Fu were speechless.
The silence was soon broken.
"What the hell was that?" Tai Lung exploded.
Shifu was speechless still, jaw hanging, eye twitching.
"What the hell was that!" Tai Lung repeated, with even more malice and demand then before.
"Calm down Tai Lung, calm down…He had reason…Master Oogway is never without reason...You must have done something wrong...There must be something we can...at least…" Shifu racked his mind for different explanations, but none came to him.
"There is no explanation! There's the fact that he just told me I'm NOT the Dragon Warrior! Shifu I AM the best! You told me I was the Dragon Warrior! You've trained me to become this!" He yelled out frantically, "Besides, you should decide! HE's just a crazy damn turtle after all!"
"You will not talk about our Master in that manner Tai Lung!" Shifu snapped.
"It's true! He's a million years old, and probably forgot what the Scroll even says! And he's not my Master! Not anymore!" Tai Lung said with hatred on his tongue.
"Tai Lung, he has reason! Oogway always has! There must be something…something we need to fix, to change…" Shifu trailed into thought again.
"No Shifu! There is nothing! All you have to do is give me the Scroll! That's it!" Tai Lung pleaded. "Please Master! You know what this means to me! This is my life, this is it! And you know the scroll is mine!"
"You know I cannot do that! It is Oogway's choice and right!"
"You're a better Master than him anyway Shifu! You know I'm the Dragon Warrior! So give me the Scroll" A hint of demand and fury tinted Tai Lung's voice as he took half a step towards his Master.
"No Tai Lung, you are not the Dragon Warrior! Now stop this foolish ranting!" Shifu said impulsively.
Tai Lung fell back into a stiff pose, shocked, broken. Everything he had trained for, everything he had lived for, had just been denied to him by his master, and his father. Sadness glazed over his eyes, and dark thoughts filled his broken heart.
"Tai Lung, I didn't mean that quite so-"
"I'm going to town." The leopard interrupted, walking away from the center of the Hall of Warriors.
Shifu was frozen in place as he watched his friend, student, and son walk away. "Tai Lung, there must be a way…Something else we can…I know you can be a hero, if we just-"
But the thoughts that entered the Master of a Thousand Scrolls had nothing to do with being a hero. Only that of a dishonored, disappointed, and broken warrior
