Kung Fu Panda Retold
Chapter 4
That night, after all the training—and bruising—he'd done, Po was sore, really sore. Mantis was trying to relieve the panda's pain with acupuncture.
"…Eeee…" Po said, grimacing as Mantis inserted another needle through his skin. "I thought you said acupuncture would make me feel better, Mantis."
"Sorry," Mantis said, holding up a handful of needles. "It's just not easy finding nerve points under all your-"
"Fat?" Po finished for him.
"Fur," Mantis stated. "I was going to say fur. Honest."
"Sure you were." Po said skeptically.
"Who am I to judge a warrior based on his size?" Mantis went on. "I mean, look at me!"
Po tried to glance over his shoulder to look for the Praying Mantis, but he was on another shoulder. "I'm over here." He said, and stabbed another needle on his other-side shoulder, caused Po screamed.
"AA-HOOO!" he cried in pain.
"Maybe you should take a look at this, again." Viper said, left up a little higher the picture of the, well, that picture.
"Ohhh, okay." Mantis replied and went back to his work.
As Po's merely ticklish screaming and crying, had distracted Monkey's meditation and Crane's occupied calligraphy.
"Hey, how's it going? I could hear your crying and screaming down the hallway." Kiba greeted as he walked in.
"How are you feeling?" asked Viper.
"Much better now," answered Kiba. "How about you Po?"
"Great, except my back still a bit sore." Po grumbled.
Kiba took a peek behind Po's back and gasped, "Dang, your back is full of-" before he blurted out, Mantis covered his mouth.
"What? What's wrong with my back?" Po nervously asked.
"Nothing." Mantis quickly snapped, hid his fear.
Kiba then thought about this afternoon training, all about the cruel and harsh words against Po. "So what is Maser Shifu's problem?" he asked.
As Mantis inserted another acupuncture needle, Po cut in, "I know he's trying to inspire me at all, but if I didn't know him any better, I'd say he's trying to get rid of me." He chuckled, and Mantis exchanged a look with Viper and Kiba.
"I know he can seem kind of heartless." Mantis said, inserted another needle that made Po cried.
"But he's not always like that." He added.
"According to the legend," Viper chimed in, "there once was a time when Shifu actually used to smile."
"No." Po and Kiba shook their head simultaneously. They couldn't believe or picture that at all.
"Yes." Viper replied, "But there was before…" her words trailed off.
"Before what?" Po asked curiously.
Tigress had been listening from outside the door. "Before Tai Lung," she said, stepping into the room.
"Um, hey." Crane cleared his throat. "We're not really supposed to talk about that." He reminded her.
"Well, if he or Kiba are going to stay here," Tigress shot back, "they should know."
"What's to know?" Kiba asked.
"Guys, guys," Po stopped the situation. "I know about Tai Lung, he was a student, the first one who mastered thousands scrolls of kung fu," at first he went well, but when tigress got closer to him, he became talk in whimper, "and he turned bad, and now he's in jail. What's to know?" he repeated.
Tigress leaned in toward Po, making him nervous. "He wasn't just a student. Shifu found him as a cub, and raised him as his son. And when the boy showed the talent in kung fu, he trained him."
Po and Kiba listened carefully as Tigress went on. "He believed in him, he told him he was destined for greatness. But it was never enough for Tai Lung."
"What do you mean?" Kiba asked.
"He wanted the Dragon Scroll." She explained. "He wanted to know the secret to limitless power. But it wasn't meant to be as Oogway saw darkness in his heart. Outrage, Tai lung was driven mad by desire. He tried to take the scroll by force, not caring what, or whom, he destroyed. Shifu knew he had to stop and destroy what he created. But how could he?" Tigress added the last words softly.
She closed her eyes, remembering the story of how Shifu had tried to deliver a kick to Tai Lung, to prevent him from stealing the scroll. "When Shifu saw the wounded look on Tai Lung's face," she went on, "he couldn't help himself. He stopped short. That was a mistake, Tai Lung instantly countered with a devastating strike and broke Shifu's leg."
"Unbelievable." Kiba commented.
"It was," Tigress replied. "Luckily, Oogway was there, too. When Tai Lung reached for the Dragon Scroll again, Oogway stopped with strikes at his pressure points. Shifu loved Tai Lung like he'd never loved anyone before," Tigress commented. "Or since." She added, thinking about how often Shifu had corrected her when she was younger. In his eyes, she would never match the talent shown by Tai Lung.
A silence fell over the room.
"And now he has a chance to make things right, to train the true Dragon Warrior," she added bitterly. "And he's stuck with you—a big, fat, dumb panda who treats the whole thing like a joke."
Just then, Po made a goofy face. "DOIIIIIIEEEEEEEE," he said.
Everyone was eye-widened in awestricken and sarcastically. Tigress had had enough of his silliness. "Oh, that's it!" she snapped. "Stop acting like a fool!"
Before she gave the panda a slap on his face,Kiba jumped in front of her grabbing her hand, then Mantis popped out from behind Po. "Wait, my fault!" he explained quickly. "I'm actually tweaked his facial nerve. He is not making the face on purpose."
At that moment, Po fell his face first to the floor, his back still filled with acupuncture needles.
"And maybe I have also stopped his heart." Mantis murmured, poking Po's forehead.
After a while they got Po back on his feet and told them that he would make dinner.
"So, where are you from?" asked Crane
"Huh?" Kiba was confused by Crane's question. "What do you mean?"
"You didn't live here at the beginning did you," said Tigress.
"Well I did travel a lot, but I was born here," answered Kiba.
"Alright, let's not talk when dinner's serve. Order up!" Po announced as he passed six bowls to his friends an saved one for himself. "Hope you'll like it." He added.
Mantis took a slurp of the soup, "This is really good." he announced.
Po smiled modestly. He sat with Kiba and the Furious Five at a table in the kitchen. He had just served them soup—the noodle soup that his father made at their restaurant. "If you love my Secret Ingredient Soup, then you'd really love my dad's," he told them. "Dad actually knows the secret."
Viper was surprised, "What are you talking about? This is amazing." She commented.
"Whoa, you're really a good cook." Crane commented.
"I wish my mouth was bigger." Mantis grumbled.
"This is delicious! I wish you could do this for us everyday." Kiba happily said, swallowing the soup.
"Tigress, you've got to try this." Monkey urged her.
She sat at the other end of the table, poking at a bowl of bland-looking white rice and tofu "It is said that the Dragon Warrior could survive for months at a time on nothing but the dew of a single gingko leaf and the energy of the universe." She commented, giving Po a meaningful look.
Po though about this, his stomach rumbling. "I guess my body doesn't know it's the Dragon Warrior yet. And I've got a lot more to do, and, ah, universe juice." He said.
"Po," Mantis began, "you're really good at something. Why aren't you doing that instead of trying something you're-"
"Terrible at?" Kiba finished for him.
"No," Mantis started to deny it. "I was going to say…" Then he nodded. "That's actually what I was going to say." He admitted.
"You really good at cooking," said Kiba.
Po picked up his soup and took a giant gulp. When he lowered the bowl, Monkey let out a snicker.
"What?" Po demanded.
"Oh nothing, Master Shifu." Mantis blurted out.
The others burst out laughing. A noodle hung from Po's face, making it look as if he had long whiskers like Shifu. Po laughed, too, and then started imitating the stern kung fu master. "You'll never be the Dragon Warrior, unless you lose five hundred pounds and brush your teeth!"
The Furious Five and Kiba snickered, egging Po on. "What is that noise you're making? Laughter? I've never heard of it!"
Po reached over and grabbed two empty bowls. He held them up like ears. "Work harder, panda! And maybe, someday, you'll have ears like mine." He joked.
Tigress just rolled her eyes at him.
Then, abruptly, the Furious Five all stopped laughing. "What?" Po joked. "My ears are not working for you? I thought these ears were pretty good." He went on. "In fact…"
Monkey cleared his throat. "It's Shifu." He whispered.
"Of course, it's Shifu!" Po replied. "Who else would I be imitating?"
A dead silence met his words, as the Five and Kiba moved their eyes only to a same direction. With a sinking feeling, Po turned around slowly. To his dismay, Shifu stood there, fuming.
"Ohhh! Master Shifu!" Po exclaimed. He quickly slurped up the noodle mustache clinging to his lip and put those two noodle bowls on his chest, made him looked like he had breasts. Then the whole group let out a laugh, except Shifu.
"You think this is funny?" Shifu snarled. "Tai Lung has escaped from prison, and you're acting like children!"
Po was stunned, "What?" he said.
Shifu then turned at Po, "He's looking for the Dragon Scroll, and you're the only one who can stop him!"
Just then, those two noodle bowls had fallen down. Po started to laugh. "Here I am saying you have no sense of humor! I'm going to stop…"
Shifu stared at Po, deadly serious look on his face. Slowly it sank in. Po swallowed hard. "What? You serious? And I have to…" he shook his head vigorously from side to side. "Master Oogway will stop him!" he added desperately. "He did it before, he'll do it again!"
"Oogway cannot!" Shifu replied, "Not anymore." He sadly added.
Suddenly, they gasped and noticing that Shifu was holding Master Oogway's staff.
"Oh no." Viper murmured.
"He's…" Kiba whispered.
"Yes," Shifu went on. "Our only hope…is the Dragon Warrior." He spat out the name.
Just then, Tigress snapped. "The panda?" she said in a tone of disbelief.
"Yes, the panda!" Shifu answered.
Tigress looked pale "Master, please." She started. "Let us stop Tai Lung. This is what you've trained us for!"
"No!" Shifu shook his head. "It is not your destiny to defeat Tai Lung! It is his!" he turned to point at Po, but the panda was gone. Shifu's eyes were widened, blankly. "Where did he go?" he demanded, looked around the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Po had run outside in record time. Despite everything Shifu and Oogway had told him about destiny, there was no way he could defeat a warrior like Tai Lung. The snow leopard would destroy him in seconds.
BLAM!
With an amazing kung fu leap, Shifu landed in front of Po. Kiba watched from above.
"You cannot leave!" Shifu informed him. "A real warrior never quits!"
"Watch me!" Po retorted. He tried to maneuver around Shifu, but the kung fu master pushed him back.
"Come on!" Po said, groaning. "How am I supposed to beat Tai Lung? I can't even beat you to the stairs!"
"You will defeat him because you are the Dragon Warrior!" Shifu declared.
"You don't believe that," Po said. "You never believe that. From the first moment I got here, you've been trying to get rid of me."
When Po wanted to give another shot to maneuver Shifu, and the red panda swept the giant panda off his feet. "Yes, I was!" he admitted. "But now I want to trust in your master, as I trust in mine!" he said.
Po smacked off Shifu's staff. "You're not my master. And I'm not the Dragon Warrior." He claimed.
"Then why did you stay?" Shifu asked. "You now I've been trying to get rid of you, yet you stayed." He said, looking closely at Po. "You stayed because deep down inside you knew Oogway was right. You believed."
"No, I didn't." Po shot back.
Shifu looked up, surprised, and so as the trio.
"I stayed, I stayed because every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt," he explained. "Especially the bricks!" he went on, "But it could never hurt more than it hurt every day of my life just being me." Po looked down at the valley, "Down there I'm the fat, clumsy panda that everyone laughs at. I don't fit in my father's kitchen. I don't fit between the tables. I don't even fit in my pants!" he paused. "I used to imagine that, somehow, all these tings were for a reason. That there was some destiny for me being so...me."
He stole a look a Shifu. "This has been the closet thing I've ever come to finding out. I guess I've leaned that my fate is to be a fat, clumsy panda for the rest of my life."
"No!" Shifu declared. "I can train you. I can change you into the Dragon Warrior and I will."
"How?" Po demanded.
Sifu started to speak, and then stopped. "I don't know." He admitted.
"That's what I thought," Po said. "You can believe all you want, but you can't change me into something I'm not." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Shifu behind.
A few hours later, Tigress paced outside the palace, watching Shifu. He stood in the moonlight under the peach tree, staring off into the darkness. He'd been there for hours, without moving. Tigress could see that her master was deeply worried about Tai Lung's return. 'I can help.' She thought, making up her mind about something.
"You're going to face him?" asked Kiba from behind.
"Stay out of this!" Tigress demanded.
"I wish i could, but you can't take him on your own," said Kiba, "Let me come with you."
"What! You would get yourself killed," said Tigress. Kiba walked closer to her.
"Well I guess it's worth the risk then," said Kiba.
"Fine, but don't fall behind," Tigress surrendered.
They flew through the air, the landing on a rooftop in the village below. Then Tigess looked back at the palace, panting. "This is what you trained me for." She whispered. They took off, running.
Within minutes, the other four members of the Furious Five were right behind her.
"Tigress!" Viper called.
She kept on going, but they chased after her. "Don't try to stop us!" she yelled.
Then they raced through the village. Crane shouted, "We're not trying to stop you!"
"What?" she cried over her shoulder.
"We're coming with you!" Viper added.
Tigress stopped to wait. And she then saw Monkey gave her a thumb up, "Thank you," she murmured when her friends finally caught up. Together they ran off into the night, ready for battle.