Face your fears
I do not own Kung Fu Panda
I should mention I'm not going to be doing any actual chapters with Max and Xaioshin until a little later...until then you'll have to wait.
Also thanks to jweaks2016 for helping with Dai's new/old personality.
Dai looked at the figure who'd jumped down in front of them; he lowered his hood revealing another version of himself. From his cloths, Dai guessed he was his bad side, but he asked anyway.
"Who are you?" Dai asked, stepping towards the replica of himself.
"I'm assassin Dai." The tiger explained. "I kill those who need to be killed. Going back to the matter at hand, though, Tigress represents you're fear of losing everything you care about."
Dai looked back and forth at his good and bad sides. They looked almost identical.
"Aren't you two supposed to look different then each other?" Dai asked. "You're practically twins. Like, one of you has a white robe on and the other has horns?"
"You're good and bad sides are so similar that we basically are twins." Assassin Dai stated.
"That doesn't sound quite nice. How do I get back?" Dai asked. "Is there a door or something?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Heroic Dai replied.
"It never is." Dai sighed. "Am I dead?"
The scene shifted to a cave, and Dai saw himself lying on the floor, heavily bandaged with Tigress sitting near him.
"You're not dead." Assassin Dai said. "At least not yet…"
"You're not helping." Heroic Dai cut in, then turned back to the Dragon Warrior. "If you went back in your current state you'd die."
"So I'm stuck here?" Dai asked.
"Yes until you've healed enough in the real world." Assassin Dai said.
"Great, so I'm stuck here talking to myself for the time being." Dai mumbled, and then looked around the cave, seeing Arizona and another white tiger. "Who's that?"
"Kiro Takimuro." Heroic Dai replied. "He's the one that found you."
"That name sounds familiar. Did he sell me rice once?" The Dragon Warrior said to himself, witnessing the scene shift back to the Hall of Warriors.
"I don't get it." Dai complained. "If all I have to do is wait, why did Max attack me the way he did?"
"You're fear is the other thing keeping you here." Heroic Dai responded. "You're afraid of what will happen if you fail to protect Max, or what will happen if you lose everything you have."
"Until you conquer you fear you're not going anywhere." Assassin Dai said.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Dai asked, sitting on the floor. "My greatest fear right now is having to spend more time around the two of you."
"Charming. It's up to you." Heroic Dai replied.
"Are you going to help me?" Dai asked.
"No." Assassin Dai hissed suddenly. "We can't interfere, but I think you can handle it."
"Gee thanks. The usual 'you have to do this by yourself because you're the big hero' kind of situation." Dai stated, unconvinced.
A few moments passed, and then Dai asked something. "How exactly am I supposed to do this?"
"You'll face each of you fears. For example, Max is your fear of failure." Heroic Dai said.
"Tigress is your fear of loss, like I said." Assassin Dai added.
"How many of these are there?" Dai asked.
"Well, what else are you afraid of?" Assassin Dai countered.
"Don't you know already since you're me?" Dai asked.
"Nope." The assassin replied.
"Being left alone when I was a cub." Dai stated after awhile.
"Okay what else?" Heroic Dai pushed.
"Not the dark itself but what hides in it." Dai continued.
"Good one." Assassin Dai pointed.
"Losing my friends." Dai listed.
"I think that's Tigress." Heroic Dai cut in.
"Wolves." Dai finished.
"But your friend is a wolf." Dai's heroic side stated.
"I know." The Dragon Warrior sighed. "But I've never really felt that comfortable around Arizona because of what happened to me when I was a cub."
"Really?" Heroic Dai asked.
"What happened?" Assassin Dai pressured.
"Don't you already know?" Dai asked.
"Again, nope." The assassin replied.
"I don't want to talk about it." Dai said, shooting down the conversation. "I guess I'll face Max first."
"Alright then." Heroic Dai said, and the scene changed once again to the dark hallway Dai had started in.
Max
Dai slowly walked down the hallway, drawing one of his staff's and sparking it to light the way.
"Max?" He called cautiously. "Where are you, buddy?"
A moment later, Max appeared at the end of the hallway. He turned and looked at Dai, his eyes glowing orange.
"Okay, that's disturbing." Dai muttered. "That's fine. I was running low on nightmare fuel anyway."
Max let out a demonic yell and charged at Dai. Dai charged back at Max and dropped to the floor, sliding under him as he jumped. Dai didn't want to hurt Max, but the Bengal Tiger spun around and slashed at Dai with his dagger. Dai caught Max's arm and twisted it making him yell and drop the blade. The Dragon Warrior let go and Max dropped to his knees, holding his arm.
Dai had to remind himself this was not the Max he knew; it was only his fear taking the form of Max. Max suddenly jumped and flip kicked Dai under the chin, knocking him over backwards. Dai landed on his back and rolled as Max brought the dagger down and it hit the floor.
Dai got to his feet and sparked his other staff. "Please, don't make me do this Max. It'll be all messy and nasty and just unpleasant to clean up later!"
"You left me to die!" Max shouted, hate and rage seeping from his voice.
"No I didn't. Do you have amnesia?" Dai called back. "I would never abandon you like that!"
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Max spat, attacking Dai again.
He raised his staffs and hit Max with them, making the Bengal Tiger yell and fall to the floor with burn marks on his chest.
"I'm so sorry Max." Dai whispered.
A second later Max's body disintegrated leaving a small pile of ash.
"And it was aaalll a dream." Dai whispered waving his fingers in the air.
A scream in the distance startled Dai and he whipped around.
He recognized that tone.
"Tigress!" He yelled, and ran towards the sound of the scream.