This came to my head randomly. I hope that you enjoy!
Disclaimer- I own nothing. Duh...
Dedication- To my imagination. It's fun!
Tigress was meditating beside the river one day, breathing out her frustrations and tense shoulders by a quietly babbling river. She was almost completely relaxed and was about to enter the mental state, when she heard Po behind her. She stifled a groan. Not again! She was glad that he had become the Dragon Warrior and saved Peace Valley, but he could be so annoying! Always telling her he was her biggest fan, trying out made-up kung fu moves on her, following her like an over-grown puppy! She sighed, she had to get away. She couldn't let him bug her this time!
She silently got up and made her way to the river's edge. Should she just jump over? No, Po would be expecting that, and then he'd be so amazed that he'd have to try it himself and then he'd fall in and she'd end up rescuing him! No...she'd have to swim. She shivered at the thought. She hated water. She didn't mind non-moving lakes and such, but rivers...she shivered again. There was no help for it.
She slipped silently into the water, and started the journey across. She wanted to stay underwater, in order to go across silently. She submerged herself into the watery world. As she swam through the blues and greens, she concentrated on holding her breath. She was about a third of the way across when she felt a presence in the river. And it wasn't Po.
A flash of brown and she was attacked in the water! A barrage of blows to her stomach, chest and back! She tried to fight her mysterious attacker, but was unable to move with the grace that she normally controlled. The water made her movements sluggish and surreal. She was running out of air. She needed to get back to the surface. She felt the bottom of the river with her front paws, she grasped the rocky floor and blasted upwards. She exploded out of the water, only to crash back down moments later.
As she kept her head above the water, spitting and hacking, a brown head popped up right in front of her. Blazing green eyes stared at her. Suddenly she was air-borne again. She landed with a gasp on firm soil. She whirled back to the river, paws at the ready, eyes blazing with fury. Where was that brown head? Who dared attack her? Sinuous ripples started moving in mid-river, heading straight for her. A brown form shot from the water and hit her in the stomach. It then tried a series of punches and jabs, but now they were on Tigress's turf.
In a few seconds, her adversary sat down hard on the ground, massaging it's head. It was a young otter lass, wearing a light vest of purple embroidered with Chinese symbols of speed and water. She growled at Tigress.
"Save it." said Tigress. "What are you doing here?"
"Um, training?" the otter replied as if it were totally obvious, glaring at Tigress.
"Training what?"
"My attack in the water. I think I kicked your butt pretty darn well, cat!"
"Why you-!"
"Hey, hey, hey! What's goin' on?" shouted Po, crashing out of the jungle, a rice-cake in his right paw.
"Must you always be eating?" asked Tigress testily. Po nodded, rice bits falling off his lips. Tigress groaned then turned back to the Otter girl on the ground. But she was gone.
"Who on Earth was that?" asked Tigress, looking over the calm expanse of crystal clear water with cherry blossoms fallen from their trees. Not a ripple remained of the Otter lass.
Otter, for that was her name, cut through the water like a pike on a hunt. She was down-river in a matter of minutes. She slid from the water at her entry point, checking her surroundings to make sure that the tigress and panda hadn't followed her. She didn't smell them or feel their vibrations in the earth. She sighed with relief.
She suddenly did a back-flip twist, avoiding the staff that suddenly appeared from the bushes to her right. Her rudder-like tail parried the staff thrusts while she was in the air. She landed, doing a fast back-handed snatch that caught the staff between her wet paws. She twisted to the right, bringing the staff along with her. She stopped, to see if it had worked. Her opponent, however, continued the manuver, twisting to the right. Otter was thrown, landing hard and rolling until her back was flat against a cherry trunk.
She sighed in defeat as the staff landed, point down, next to her paw.
"I submit, Master." she said, eyes averted. The staff was removed and a paw just like hers was in front of her eyes. She grasped it and her Master, a hard old otter-tall, strong- helped her to her feet.
"That was a clever move, twisting like that." he said, leaning on his staff, his whiskers as white as snow, his eyes hard as flint yet sparkling with pride. "Too bad that you did not continue it, as I did."
"I have learned from my mistakes, Master. I hope not to disappoint you again." she said, bowing respectfully.
"I am not disappointed, my young apprentice. Merely wondering where you learned that move."
"A tigress performed it on me when we sparred." she replied, still in the bowed position.
"You sparred with a tigress? Where in Heaven's name was a tigress?"
"In the middle of the river, farther up-river." There was silence from her Master. "Sir?"
"You attacked Tigress in the middle of her weakness?" he asked, his voice deadly quiet.
"Tigress? Of the Fierce Five? No, just some tigress in the middle of the river!"
"Was this near the Jade Palace?" he asked as quickly as one of his staff thrusts.
"Well, yes. It was. How did-?"
"You reckless young fool!" shouted her Master, suddenly going into attack mode. "That was the Tigress of the Fierce Five and now you are lucky to be alive! She could have killed you!"
"But she didn't!" protested Otter, dodging his blows and blocking his thrusts.
"If you sparred on land, then she spared you! You are a reckless young fool, Otter!" She was suddenly on all fours, the staff not an inch from her left ear.
"You will go to the Jade Palace and apologize to Tigress and to the Fierce Five. You will not take the route you know, you will go up the stairs of the Jade Palace, on your right foot-paw with this shell of water on your head. If even one drop spills..." he let his voice trail off. He turned and walked away, the shell of water already on her head. She sat up carefully, all too conscious of the fragility of the shell and how over-full it was. She slowly lifted it from her head and started bringing it towards her mouth.
"No using that trick!" shouted her Master, a cherry pit plonking off her nose. She groaned softly, then replaced the shell. She turned towards the beaten path in the middle of the forest. She would go the hard way, by land.
"All the way on your right foot-paw!" She sighed. Master didn't miss a single thing.
"You want to what?" asked Tigress, staring at the strange sight before her. The otter lass was here, at the Jade Palace. Balancing on one foot-paw. With a shell of water of her head. She hadn't spilled a drop. Tigress had been watching her ever since she had stepped onto the footpath that led to the Jade Palace.
"I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. I have no excuse for it." said the otter lass, eyes lowered with respect, but not a drop spilled from the shell. A projectile came out of no-where, heading straight for Otter. She ducked and weaved and the missle cleared. She glared at Tigress.
"Master Shen Li told me not to spill a single drop of water. And I won't, even if you engage in such childish acts! I said I was sorry, what more do you want?!"
"I'd duck if I were you." said Tigress, looking behind Otter.
"Why?" demanded Otter, still glaring at Tigress.
"Because Master Shifu is training the Dragon Warrior. That projectile was as almond cookie."
"What-?"
"GANG-WAY!" shouted Po, barreling through with a series of jumps and leaps. He and Master Shifu were a blur of jabs, blocks, strikes and counter-strikes. Po kept trying to get the cookie, Master Shifu constantly keeping it from him.
"Don't you want the cookie?" shouted Master Shifu, as Tigress and Otter watched, Otter completely hypnotized.
"Yes, I do!" replied Po, as he finally snatched the cookie from Master Shifu. He instantly ate it. "Mmmhph...Monkey sure has good taste in almond cookies."
"He should, he loves almonds." replied Master Shifu, eating an almond cookie of his own. "Ah, Tigress. Who is your...ah...friend?" He was obviously surprised to see Otter there, mouth hanging open, shell half-way full now, both foot-paws on the ground.
"This is the girl who attacked me in the river today. Apparently, she came to apologize." said Tigress, bowing to her mentor. Otter bowed, still very much in awe. She didn't pay attention to her shell, until it slipped and fell to the ground, spilling the rest of the water.
"Oh, dear..." she said, looking at the water all over the ground. "And he told me not to spill a single drop..."
"Who did?" asked Shifu, looking at the shell with interest.
"My master, Shen Li. He has taught me everything I know about water Kung Fu."
"Ah, Master of the White Water. He still teaches?" inquired Shifu. Otter remained bowed.
"Yes. He may be an old geezer, but he's really great! He is still as strong as he was." said Otter, obviously proud of her mentor. "He is the Master of the White Water Way, and he is teaching me. I still have a long way to go, but he is a great teacher."
"Hmmm." said Master Shifu, looking thoughtfully at Otter and Tigress. "Tigress?"
"Yes, Master?"
"What would you say to a rematch with this young otter?"
"What?! Master, she is no match for me on land and I am no match for her in the water. A rematch will not work."
"What if she stays in the water and you stay on the land, Tigress?"
"Then we will remain at a impasse."
"It's no problem if you don't want to face me, Tigress. I could kick your butt, in or out of the water!"
"Want to wager that?"
"A year's worth of teaching. Either style. Whoever wins learns the others style." interrupted Shifu.
"May the better style win!" shouted Otter, tossing her shell in the air and catching it.
"I can't wait." said Tigress with a ominous grin.
Review and tell me if I should continue!