Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda or any of it's characters.
Tigress appears to be fearless. Nothing scares her, but that's what's wrong. She does get scared. She forces herself to ignore them. She tries her best to stop herself from expressing the fear, to keep a straight face.
Master Shifu had told her that "fear is a weakness and a weakness is a call for attack." So ever since she was a cub she would suffer through the fears, trying to push them back enough to ignore them. It's been working through the years, but every now and then she can't take them. However, today was the worst reaction from a fear she ever had.
They were all sparring. Everything was going as normal. Tigress and Crane were partnered up, Viper and Po and Monkey and Mantis. They were all seperated from eachother and all began to fight for victory against their partner.
"Get ready for the pain kitty!" Crane shouted playfully.
Tigress was about to block his attack when a sudden flashback came to her. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched as the memory played in her head.
A group of children walked up to a young Tigress when she had escaped her cell. The group leader was a male goose. A female bunny and a male goat followed behind him. The goose laughed at Tigress and the other two followed shortly.
"You aren't a child like us! You shouldn't be in this orphanage, you should be in the wardrobe with all the other monsters" he remarked. The other two giggled and started chanting.
"Monster, monster, go back in to the wardrobe, monster, monster, you'll forever be alone" they continued to chant as the goose walked forward.
"Get ready for the pain kitty! Or should I say monster?"
A tap on her face brought her back to reality. Crane was stood in front of her with a concerned expression. Tigress had managed to stumble back and fall to the floor during her re-collection. She couldn't breathe, fear wrapped around her heart and spread across her body. The feeling of helplessness began to sink in.
"Tigress, what's wrong?" Crane asked. He took in her appearance and tried to calculate what was wrong. Suddenly it hit him. "Someone get Shifu, quick!" Po jumped in to action and ran to get Shifu. Viper slithered over to them, concern written on her face.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Tigress is having a panic attack" Crane expalined. He leaned down to Tigress and tried to calm her down. "Tigress, it's alright, just breathe, ready, with me, in..and out." Tigress did her best to follow Crane's instructions but failed miserably. Monkey, Mantis and Viper joined in with the breathing exercises, trying to help.
Shifu was meditating under the sacred peach tree. He was calm and relaxed. Suddenly a twinge hit his hard. He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. The twinge came again and his stomach felt like it had dropped. Shifu stood up, he had never felt this feeling before. He felt like something was wrong, but didn't know what. He turned when he heard footsteps running from behind him. There was Po.
"Shifu, Shifu, Shifu...come quick" Po turned and ran back the way he came. Without hesitation, Shifu ran after him.
"In and out, in and out" Crane continued to coach Tigress in breathing exercises. She still hadn't calmed down and was beginning to feel light headed. Po burst through the doors with Shifu close on his heels.
"What's going on?" He asked. Crane looked up and explained.
"She's having a panic attack and we can't calm her down."
"Tigress?" Shifu ran forward and stood beside his daughter, who was currently lying on the floor. "Calm down, you're alright, we're here" Shifu didn't know what to do, but he knew he needed to be calm. He spoke soothing words to his daughter. They meant absolutly nothing but it did the trick. Tigress' breathing gradually reduced to a normal pace. "What happened?" He asked her.
"Flashback of the orphanage..." Tigress didn't want to continue and Shifu could see that. He left it at that.
"Training is over for today" he stated. Tigress slowly sat up, trying to avoid a sudden dizzy spell. "Go to the barracks and get some rest, Tigress" Tigress nodded and slowly got to her feet. Shifu watched his retreating daughter and smiled sadly. Suddenly he realised something, the twinge was aftherly instincts. Master Oogway told him that one day he'd develop a connection with Tigress, a father and daughter bond. Shifu smiled and followed the others out.
