A/N: Hello... IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MORE THAN KUNG FU, GO AND READ THAT FIRST. IF YOU DON'T THIS WILL BE VERY CONFUSING TO READ. 'KAY? 'KAY.
So, I know this is confusing, but I'm Martial Master. For anybody who clicked on this because they thought it was a separate story from More Than Kung Fu, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not. I sortakindamaybejustalittlebitmighthave forgot the password to the Martial Master account. I'm sorry, okay?
So anyway, this is a continuation (if you want to call it that) of More Than Kung Fu, made on account of me liking that story and suddenly finding inspiration to write more. ENOUGH OF MY JIBBER JABBER. On to Chapter 3!
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"Is he seriously the Dragon Warrior?" Kenichi asked Tigress quietly.
Kensei Ma, Kenichi, Po and the Furious Five walked, panting, up to the huge double doors of the Jade Palace. It really had been a lot of stairs. Tigress had explained about Po, the Furious Five, and eventually, the whole economics and politics of martial arts and crime suppressing in modern-day China. In the shortest way possible, of course. Now Kenichi spoke to her in a low voice while Po was busy asking Kensei Ma all about other styles of martial arts.
"I thought the exact same thing," Tigress chuckled sadistically. "He's more skilled than you would expect, trust me."
"Sure," said Kenichi, uncertainty still coating his tone. "So you all only do kung fu? In, like, all of China?"
"That's right," the tiger confirmed, pushing ahead of Kenichi and to the doors of the Jade Palace. "Well, there might be some practitioners of other martial arts that I'm not aware of, but kung fu is widely recognised as the best and, to some extent, only martial art in China." She pushed the huge, intricately decorated double doors open, as the emitted a loud crrreeeaaakkkk. When they had swung all the way in, Kenichi and his teacher gazed at the fancy hall in amazement.
"I'm starting to realize just how tight on money Ryozanpaku is," breathed Kenichi to Kensei Ma. "Hey, do you think if I bring something valuable back then Miu will-?"
"Not a chance," Ma cut in dryly before Kenichi could finish that thought.
To the Five's confusion, and Po's relative disinterest, the snow leopard strolled over to one of the doors and pulled on it. The intricate door swung out on its hinges. Kenichi pushed it back, muttering, "It's so light."
Before anyone could respond to that, a small animal stepped into view from the opposite side of the huge entrance hall. "Who are these people?" He asked harshly.
"Master Shifu!" Tigress stuttered, and along with rest of the Five and Po, she bowed respectfully. "Master, we found these two men in an alley, unconscious. The fox is Master Kensei Ma and the snow leopard is his disciple Kenichi. They don't seem to know anything at all about modern-day China, but they're both accomplished martial artists. We offered for them to stay the night here, and, um…" Tigress trailed off, coming to a sudden loss for words as she realized how vague that sounded. It also made Master Kensei and his disciple seem a lot more suspicious than they had initially come off to be. It occurred to her that offering the two a place to stay might not have been the best idea. They could be con-men, for all she knew. But, if they were con-men, why would they be so good at martial arts? Foreign martial arts, at that.
"Er, could they maybe stay here?" she finished hopefully, inwardly wincing at how lame that sounded.
Shifu eyed the two visitors warily. Kensei Ma stared right back. Kenichi was looking at Shifu too, but instead of the suspicious look his sensei was wearing, the disciple wore a confused one.
Never one to keep questions to himself, Kenichi said dully, "Wait, he's your sensei?"
"Shhh," Viper hissed harshly, her tongue flicking a little. She stayed at attention, not glancing towards the confused disciple.
Mantis, ignoring Viper's scolding, retorted in a scratchy whisper, "Yeah, what of it?"
"Shifu means teacher in Chinese. That's… kinda redundant, isn't it?" Kenichi whispered back with a frown.
"What do you mean?" asked Mantis. "Shifu is his name."
"Huh." Kenichi stayed confused for a few seconds. Then something else came to his mind, "Come to think of it, all of your names are really redundant. I mean, seriously. Viper, Crane, Tigress, Monkey and Mantis? It's even more obvious than that racist thing they did with the Power Rangers."*
"I…" Mantis started to say something back, but instead asked, "What's a Tower Stranger?"
With a sigh, Kenichi simply responded, "Never-"
But before the teen-turned-snow-leopard could finish, Shifu jumped at Kensei Ma. The two conversing disciples leapt apart in surprise, and the rest of the Five (as well as Po) stiffened. Ever the bold one, the Dragon Warrior shouted desperately, "Master Shifu, what are you doing? These guys are our friends!"
Kensei Ma blocked Shifu's kick with crossed arms. The fox didn't look at all surprised by the sudden attack. Shifu jumped off, did a backflip and landed cleanly on the smooth floor a couple dozen feet from Kensei.
"We can't be sure of that," Shifu said coolly. "They could be assassins, specially trained to kill us. I would expect Po to make this slip-up," Po started to protest, but Shifu ignored him and continued, "But I thought you five were smarter than this." He turned to Tigress sternly. "Tigress, I am especially disappointed in you. Aren't you usually able to notice these things?"
The female tiger didn't bother to apologize; it would just make Shifu harsher. She did flinch, though, because she knew that meant fifteen more runs of the training course would be waiting for her the next morning. Tigress simply bowed her head. She glanced sideways at Po, who seemed oblivious as always. He did seem slightly guilty, though.
"Would you like to talk about this first?" asked Kensei Ma, who looked slightly annoyed. "I prefer to use violence only as a last resort."
Shifu paused. Maybe a talk wouldn't hurt. "Very well." He relaxed, and turned away. Over his shoulder, he called, "Follow me."
Kensei Ma, along with Po and Kenichi, made to walk after the red panda. But Shifu turned back around and ordered, "Not you, Po. If it's alright with you, Master Ma, I would like Po to spar with your disciple. His ego has inflated a little too much lately." Po's shoulders sagged a bit in disappointment. "I think he needs a challenge."
"Of course," Kensei agreed. "Kenichi should be happy. They weren't able to finish their spar earlier."
Shufi opened his mouth to ask about the previous spar, but decided against it. All that mattered at the moment was finding out more about these two travelers. They were hiding something, and Shifu was going to find out what.
Hello and welcome to the normal Author's Note. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Keep your eyes peeled for updates, because you never know when they might happen! Remember, the more you review, follow and favorite, the more guilty I feel for not updating. You are my motivation! Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story on the Martial Master account. You are the reason this is even here!