A/N : I do not own Kung Fu Panda

Chapter 2 : A Hidden Secret

Training Hall

Tigress headed towards the Training hall, her paw gripping the dragon scroll tightly. She had decided to train to divert her attention from the issue of the scroll for a while.

What's wrong with this thing? She thought. Why would Master Oogway create a blank scroll?

As she pushed opened the door, she saw her four comrades training on their favorite equipments.

Tigress kicked the adversary with all her strength, alerting the four to her arrival.

"Look who's here." Monkey announced as he hung upside down on a talon ring with his tail. "It's our Dragon Warrior."

Tigress flopped onto the floor, looking totally crestfallen.

The four looked at each other, confused as to what would cause their dragon warrior to be depressed. They stopped their training and rushed over to her.

"So, how is it going?" asked Crane.

"How is what going?" Tigress replied sarcastically.

"The dragon scroll. Have you read it?"

Tigress snorted. "Stupid scroll, I can't read it."

"Why not?"

"There aren't any words at all. The scroll is blank."

She unrolled the scroll and showed it to her friends. "See?!"

"Argh!" They shrieked as they scrambled to cover their eyes. They had been told before that only the dragon warrior was allowed to read the scroll.

Tigress rolled her eyes. "Hey. It's okay. It's nothing."

"Oh my God! Tigress!" Monkey screamed, still covering his eyes. "What are you doing?! We're forbidden to look upon the scroll."

"I'm telling you, the scroll is blank."

Slowly, they uncovered their eyes.

"My my…" mumbled Mantis as he checked out the scroll. "Blank."

"It is."

"It's weird… I thought there would have been a spell or something written in here."

"I thought so too."

"Maybe there's a riddle that you have to solve?" Viper wondered aloud.

"I don't know. What I know is that there's something wrong with this."

"Mmhhh… I don't think so." said Crane. "Master Oogway will never create something useless. I'm sure there is something hidden within the scroll, a mystery that can only be solved by the dragon warrior itself."

"But Tigress is the dragon warrior." said Mantis. "Why can't she do it?"

Crane shrugged. "No idea."

"Maybe the problem isn't with the scroll, but with you?" Monkey suggested, looking at Tigress.

Tigress frowned at him. "What makes you think that way?"

"Well... We all know that whoever reads the scroll will gain the power of the dragon warrior right? But the fact is, you didn't gain anything when you read it."

"So, you mean that Tigress isn't the real dragon warrior?" asked Mantis.

Tigress was startled. "What?!"

"No No No. That's not what I mean," Monkey tried correcting what he said, worried that his friends would misunderstand him. "Master Oogway has chosen you. No one can deny that you are the chosen one. It's just, what I wanted to say is, maybe it's not the time for you to become the dragon warrior yet."

"If it's not the time, then why had Master Oogway chose me?"

"That's what you have to find out."

Tigress growled. "This isn't helping."

"Hey. I'm just trying."

"What about Master Shifu?" asked Viper, ignoring Monkey's protests. "What's his reaction?"

"Same as us. He doesn't know either, but he promised that he'll ask Master Oogway about it."

"Well. So, everything is settled right?" said Crane. "Master Shifu is going to tell you the secret of the scroll."

Tigress stared ahead blankly. "The dragon warrior should be the one finding out the secret, not any others."

The same day

"Po." Mr. Ping called out his son. "Can you come down now?"

Po was in his room, a blanket fluttering on his back like a cape that he had tied around his neck. He was practicing his lousy Kung Fu moves, pretending to be a Kung Fu Master.

"I'm Master Po." He told to his five action figures. "And you're gonna be my fellow masters."

The action figures' only response was to stare back blankly at him.

"Well, what are you gonna say?" asked Po. "My awesomeness will make all of you you bow in respect to me." He threw his fist up in the air. "Nothing can stop me."

"Po…" his dad called again.

Po sighed. He hated being interrupted while he was having fun with his 'friends'. Grudgingly, he untied the blanket and put it aside.

"Po… can you help me, Son?"

"Coming, Dad!" Po replied loudly. He turned back to his action figures. "I'll be right back guys, duty calls."

He paused for a moment before seemingly making a decision.

"Oh, what am I thinking?" Po muttered to himself. "I can't just leave you here." He continued before picking them up and shoving it into his pockets.

..

"There you are, Son." Mr. Ping said when he noticed Po walking down the stairs.

"What's going on, Dad?"

"I want you to deliver these noodles to Mr. Wang."

"Delivering noodles?"

His dad nodded. He placed five bowls onto silver tray and handed it to Po.

"Where does he stay?"

"Right at the end of the street, near the stairs to the Jade Palace. You'll see a red house there."

"Near the Jade Palace?!" Po asked, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice.

"Uh, yes. Why? Is something wrong with that?"

"Oh. No No No." Po hastened to reassure his father.

"Okay." His father looked at him for a moment. "Well, go on son, and be back soon."

"I will, Dad."

Po walked out of the shop, taking tentative steps as he got used to the weight from the tray on his arms.

After a few minutes, he reached the end of the street.

"Now, which house is it?" Po muttered to himself as he looked around, realizing that all the houses on this street were red.

He groaned.

As he pondered on the situation, a little bunny girl skipped pass him.

"Hey, you." Po called out to her.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where does Mr. Wang stay?"

"I do. He lives around here, in a red house."

"The houses here are all red. Which one?"

The girl pointed her little finger around his belly. "It's behind you."

Po turned around. It was a big red house, similar to the others. "You sure? How do you know?"

"I live in there. My father is Mr. Wang."

"Oh. Perfect." Po's face broke into a huge grin. "I brought your dad's order." He said, lowering the tray in front of her to show her the noodles. "Can you bring it to him?"

"Sure."

Po handed the tray to the girl. It was heavy, especially for a little girl. She staggered as she entered the house, balancing the tray on her head and floppy ears as she tried not to fall or topple.

"He… he… he… First task completed." He grinned, rubbing his paws. "Time to go home."

As he was about to walk off, a very long flight of stairs on his right piqued his interest.

Po took a second to stare at the stairs. At its top was a large building; The Jade Palace.

Something within him told him to climb up the stairs to meet his idols. He failed to meet them this morning. Furthermore, this was the only one chance he might get where his dad would not be able stop him.

He knew that his dad would be disappointed to find out that his son liked Kung Fu more than noodles, but he so badly wanted to see them right now. Maybe dad won't know if I'm home only a few minutes late?

Apprehensively, he lifted his feet, climbing the first step of the stairs. He exhaled strongly to calm his racing heart.

"Okay, Po. Just this time." He told himself. "Right after meeting them, you go home."

With that, he started sprinting eagerly up the steps.