Tai Lung was having a rather pleasant dream in black and orange when the morning bell wrenched him from his sleep. By instinct, he hastily got dressed and stepped out into the corridor just as the Furious Five stepped out and simultaneously said,
"Good morning, master."
Shifu, who had been waiting at the end on the hall, nodded approvingly when he saw that Tai Lung was ready with the rest of the Five.
Moments later, Po came stumbling out of his room, still wiping sleep from his eyes.
"Mornin' master," he muttered groggily.
"Normally, I would lecture you about a lack of attentiveness," Shifu started, frowning slightly at Po's informal entrance, "but today I have some important news."
Everyone present straightened up a bit.
"This year, the Jade Palace will be hosting the annual San Xue Xiao martial arts tournament. We will begin preparations today…"
"The San Xue Xiao tournament!?" Po interrupted. "The one that only the three best martial arts schools in China get to compete in!?"
"Yes, that one!" Shifu said angrily. "Now if you'd kindly keep your big mouth shut, I might explain to you the details!"
Po shut his big mouth.
"Naturally, the Jade Palace will be competing. The two other schools are the Lee Da Kung-Fu Academy and…" Shifu paused here.
"What is the third school, master?" Viper asked curiously.
"This may come as rather unpleasant news to some of you," Shifu said. "The third competing school is the Tian Na Organization."
The Furious Five all stiffened at this.
Po and Tai Lung looked around, confused by the Five's reactions.
"Tian Na is a school of martial arts in the neighboring province," Shifu explained. "It is infamous for its brutal training methods, and more importantly, the Axiom."
"What the heck is the Axiom?" Po asked, baffled.
"Who are the Axiom," Shifu corrected. "The Axiom are a group of four cheetah warriors trained at Tian Na. They are all very fast, very strong, and fierce rivals of our own Furious Five."
Po doubted that anybody could be quite as good as the Furious Five.
Tai Lung's interest was piqued by the prospect of fighters as good as the Five.
"The Axiom are composed of Hu, Liu, Soo, and Yu," Shifu continued. "Each fighter is just as competent as the next, so I expect you all to train to your full potential in preparation for the upcoming event! You are dismissed."
The Furious Five, Po, and Tai Lung all bowed to Shifu, and started off towards the training hall.
"Hosting this tournament will be like a blessing and a curse at the same time," Crane said as the warriors walked through the courtyard.
"Personally, I don't trust them," Mantis said suspiciously. "The guest dormitories are only a floor above our rooms. Who knows what those Axiom blockheads will try to pull?"
"What in the world happened that made you guys hate the Axiom so much?" Po asked.
Tai Lung had just been wondering the same thing.
"Our feud started several years ago, while we were on a mission for the emperor." Tigress began, in her storytelling voice. Pictures started to form in everybody's minds as Tigress began to retell that fateful day.
The Furious Five had always been considered superior to the Axiom for as long as both groups had existed. So naturally, the assignment to protect the emperor's palace from an army of bandits fell upon the shoulders of the Furious Five. Master Shifu and Master Oowgay had gone away on a long training journey, so the Furious Five went on the mission alone. The Five fought the hundreds of bandits tooth and claw, (Monkey still had a scar from one of the bandits' knifes) until the last ten or so bandits had shot a rocket into the Royal City. As the Furious Five rushed to put the fires out, the Axiom had arrived and taken care of the few remaining bandits. The Axiom went with the Furious Five to report the success of the mission to the emperor, but instead of telling the true story, the Axiom took all the credit for defeating the bandits, and even accused the Five of shooting the rocket into the city as a call for assistance. What was worse, though, was that the Axiom's master, Zuihan, had shown up piss drunk (although he didn't look it), and agreed with everything his students said. The word of a master, who had every outward appearance of being sober, dwarfed the cries and complaints of outrage from the Furious Five. Humiliated and minimized, the Furious Five returned to the Jade Palace in shame.
"Dude, that is so not cool," Po said, already feeling aggrieved by the prospect of having the Axiom stay at the Jade Palace. "I hope Shifu gives them that room with all the spiders in it."
"I suppose it could have been worse," Tai Lung said, a bit quietly.
The Furious Five looked at him darkly.
"I only mean that it must have been vexing for the Axiom to constantly be in the shadow of the Furious Five," Tai Lung continued. "Isn't it only natural that they lashed out at you?" Tai Lung asked introspectively.
More dark looks.
Realizing that he was digging himself into a hole, Tai Lung decided to stay quiet until they had reached the training hall.
The Furious Five trained ferociously, spurred on by the idea that they would have a chance to prove themselves better than the Axiom in a few weeks' time.
Tai Lung, too, trained hard, excited by the anticipation of a new challange. As Tai Lung imagined fighting a never-ending slew of opponents, moving faster and faster, he began to feel something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He felt powerful.
The small part of Tigress's mind that wasn't busy training thought about what Tai Lung had said earlier. She knew that Tai Lung saw his own dark past in the actions of the Axiom. And she knew that he needed to be guided in the right direction now more than ever. The only thing I wish, Tigress thought as she neatly evaded a swinging club, is that I knew how to help him.