The Masters

I'll tell you something about those stairs. There are more than 10,000 of them! There have to be. As I dragged my wearied broken body up the dreaded mountain, I plopped down to the ground at the door. "Wow," Po panted, "You're exhausted too? I thought I was the only one that had problems with it." Po looked like he was thinking. "You know, considering all the things you did down there, you could probably fly up the mountain like a firework." I glared at myself.

"Oh sure, now he thinks about it," I grumbled. That didn't mean I would do it. I wasn't sure what Demi gave me. It was bewildering enough that I had the Lion Warrior powers from Life of Po. What else that I wrote could come true? "Oi," I muttered.

"Anyways, we're here," Po said, presenting the big gates of the Jade Palace. I slowly stood up. The air was thin up here, but I didn't really notice it. Probably another power that I got. I looked around for the book Demi gave me. It was in my pocket, but the thing seemed to magically come out of my pocket.

Anyways, Po opened the doors of the Jade Palace. The courtyard was pretty much empty, except for some training equipment. We went to the Training Hall. The big massive hall was a lot larger in life than the screens made them. "Pretty nice, huh," Po said proudly.

"Yeah," I said in a hushed tone. Then I saw the masters. Master Shifu suddenly clapped his hands and all the masters came to stand in front of me. Here are some things that you probably won't see in the movies and tv shows. Monkey, not on his tail, comes to about my stomach. Keep in mind that I'm 6'1". Mantis is a lot smaller than you think, but still big enough for me not to step on him. Crane is about my height, maybe a bit shorter. Viper, at her tallest, comes to my waist. Tigress is taller than me by a full inch. Here's a difference, however. Tigress is actually 3 quarters shorter than Po, but when I first saw them they seemed to be the same height. Po slumps a lot, making him seem shorter, and Tigress is erect and straight up all the time so she seems a lot taller. I only figured this out later when I got to know them. I nervously bowed in front of the masters.

"Po, who is this," Shifu said kindly, which was weird to me seeing him so at ease. With Po, he's usually uptight.

"This is Lion. He does some crazy stuff and can shoot out fire from his eyes," Po replied excitedly. I looked at him.

"What? No, I just shot fire from my hands," I corrected.

"Okay, so I exaggerated, but he's really awesome!" I played with my fingers nervously.

"Well, I wouldn't say-"

"He can even command water!" The Furious Five laughed, save Tigress who just pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "It's true!"

"Is this true," Shifu asked me, looking me straight in the eye. For a person that can only reach to my waist, he can make a guy feel two inches tall. I stuttered a bit.

"I...I honestly don't know what I'm doing here. I know that I did use something that defeated the Boar Bandits and Li-dong." Everyone gasped. "It's not that hard really. You just move the ground underneath him and away he goes." I tend to talk with my hands so my arms and hands were demonstrating everything. Shifu stroked his beard. I was nervous and excited all in the same basket. Then Shifu said,

"Okay, then why don't you show us your skills with the Training Hall."

"Oh dear," I murmured. I stood at the starting line of the Training Hall, with the rolling barrels and the swinging clubs. I breathed. I hoped that I didn't break my skull.

What happened next, I'm not sure about so I'll take the position of what Po and the others said I did. I jumped in the arena, stumbled around the barrels a bit. As the clubs came, I jumped and kicked the clubs clear out of the arena. I jumped up and swung through the hanging holes that Monkey usually plays around. Then I landed into the Jade balancing bowl. I tipped the bowl on its side and jumped on top, keeping it in balance. I jumped out and right into the forest of wooden soldiers. This I remember. The soldiers seemed to swing so slow, and I moved out of the way of each of them. I kicked and punched them back. They didn't hurt me really. I went over into the fire pit. I heard the fire from the ground. I dodged the first three, jumped and forced the fire out of the pit. I was flying in the air in a ball of fire. I came down on the other side and swept away all the fire. I looked at the others with their eyes wide and jaws down. "How did I do," I asked as I came to them using the sideway.

"Wow," Po said in hushed amazement. I rolled my eyes.

"A little more detail on how I did, please," I asked.

"That was completely and totally amazing! You were all like-"

"Never mind," I quickly stopped him, fearing a long description. Shifu approached me.

"Well, I will say this. You do have some power that is absolutely remarkable," He complimented. I chuckled.

"But I have no idea what I'm doing here," I replied, flailing my arms around.

"You make it sound like you came from another world and you were just dropped here from an unknown source," Master Viper said. I fell to my knees and spoke in a dramatic way, pointing at her.

"Yes! That is exactly what is happening here!" The masters looked at me strangely as I got back up. "One thing you'll learn about me is that I'm very...dramatic."

"So you're a drama queen," Monkey joked.

"No, no, no. I am drama KING! There are many drama queens, but I am king of them all," I declared proudly, making them laugh, again save Tigress, who just lightly smirked.

"Well, it's good to see you have a safe amount of humor," Crane said. "Where are you from?"

"Africa." It wasn't a total lie when you consider genetics.

"That's a long way," Tigress said, seeming surprised.

"I've been further," I replied. It seemed that she became interested in me, for then she asked.

"I have you ever been to Japan," She asked.

"I've never been there, but I know what it's like. I've studied many cultures," I replied. Her eyes grew though I could see a line of mistrust in them. That was weird because I usually don't pick up social cues and hidden meanings that well. Anyways, she continued to ask me questions.

"Where did you learn to do all of those things?" I nervously chuckled a bit.

"I really don't know. I guess I was given this type of power," I replied. I could see her disappointment. "But I think there are some things I can teach yo...other people." Her face seemed to brighten up. Then Po asked some questions.

"Oooh, so can you fly? Can you break the spine of a person just by looking at them? Can you control people with your mind? Do you change color? Do you-"

"I have no idea," I said stopping his rant. "I'm learning my powers each day." Starting now, I thought to myself. Then I became nervous again as I asked, "I was actually wondering if I could stay here for a while. I'm sure I can learn some things from the famous Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior." You could practically see Po's pride bubbling out. Shifu sighed at his student's cocky face.

"Of course, you can stay here. However, you'll have to help around with the palace," He conditioned.

"Okay," I replied. I had seen what they did for chores. It wasn't that hard, except for Po.

"Good, I'll lead you to your room," Shifu said as I followed him to the barracks, leaving the others there. "I'm intrigued to know as to why you've come here, Mr...Lion, was it?" I nodded, but what do I tell him. I didn't know what I was doing here. The book was the only clue I had, but I hadn't read it yet.

"I honestly don't know. Like I said, I was thrown into this world without any idea of whatsoever about what I should do," I replied.

"Well, while you figure that out, you are more than welcomed to stay here for as long as you like," Shifu said kindly. I bowed.

"Thank you," I said as we came to the room.

"You'll be staying here. If you need a blanket it's in the wardrobe to the right," Shifu explained. He then left me. The room was a standard size for one person, the bed wasn't too short like my other one, and like Shifu said there was a red and green painted wardrobe in the far left corner. I opened the silk panel window. I had a beautiful view of the adjacent mountain that I assumed went up to where Oogway learned Kung Fu. I closed the window and the door and plopped on the bed. I pinched myself to see if it was all just another dream, but the pain of sitting on my tail was proving me wrong. I moved to get more comfortable.

"What am I doing here," I asked myself. Then I remembered the book Demi gave me. I looked to the front page. The first lines were in English, but they were hard for me to swallow.

To Lion, I'm guessing

There are two ways to get back home. One is to fill this book entirely of your experience here. The other and the major reason I brought you here is to get Tigress and Po together like the many fanfic Kung Fu Panda fans want. You've been tasked with doing just that. Your stories will be brought to life to see if they'll actually bring the two together. Don't worry, you'll be able to communicate and read just like the others. It's like having your mythical Lion Warrior powers in real life. I hope you enjoy!

Sincerely,

Dimension Ripper, a.k.a Demi

P.S. You may be getting some help soon ;-)

Yes, there was a smiley winking face on the book. Just the type of annoying personality Demi has. I groaned loudly. How the heck was I going to get Tigress and Po just to kiss each other. I had seen first-hand what Po and Tigress were like. If you wanted an analogy, Tigress is a furry brick and Po an excitable marshmallow! They couldn't be more opposite. Yes, I and most everyone wanted Po to get Tigress, but when you experience for yourself how they are like, it diminishes greatly. Then there was the other option: writing the book. Comparatively, the book was about the size of a book from the Britannica collection. (I still don't know how it was able to fit in my pocket. Probably magic or Demi's doing.) And it had small lines too, so I couldn't write big and be done with it. It would probably take me two years to fill it to just a quarter of the book. I looked through the book. 1,000 pages. I sighed. It seems I'm stuck here for a while. So I sat down and started writing how I got here. I stopped to meeting the masters. How was I going to do this? On an irrelevant note, what did Demi mean by "Help"?

to be continued.