Po was winded by the time they got to the top.
"I know how you feel." Monkey said, slightly winded himself. "You get used to it after a while."
They were able to find the kitchen.
"Everyone, I got the cake!" Monkey said. "I also have a guest."
Po wanted to say something, but he just waved on the count of the words being stuck in his throat.
"Hi, you must be Po." Viper said.
"Y-You know me?"
"You're the only panda in the Valley." Crane said.
"Oh yeah, keeping forgetting..." Po laughed nervously.
"Come inside." Mantis said. "We're having a little birthday feast."
The minute the word feast was said, Po shut the door of the kitchen with an excited smile and sat at an available seat.
"You would sit down for food." Tigress said.
Po and Tigress raspberries at each other playfully.
"I see you two are very close as they've been saying." Shifu said, chuckling.
Po had just noticed that Shifu was there and was immediately nervous again. Shifu frowned at seeing Po shrink back at seeing him.
"It is okay, Po." Shifu said. "There's no need for fear. You can be open with us-"
"I wore underwear on my head when I was three." Po said subconsciously.
They all just stared at Po.
"…not that open." Shifu said.
"Sorry…"
Po decided to grab his own food and started eating very quickly.
"You might want to slow down there, Po." Crane said. "You might start choking."
"I will?"
Po spits some food out on the table.
"Oh no!" Po started to eat more as he apologized.
This worried the others, but Tai Lung knew he needed to calm down.
"Po! PO!" Tai Lung grabbed Po's face. "Relax…"
Po stopped.
"Now…eat these mint leaves." Tai Lung had four in his hand. "They'll calm you down. That and there's a lot of food here that makes anyone's breath smell like dead animal."
Po grabbed the leaves and stuck them in his mouth to chew.
"Good. Now Po, no one here is going to bite you." Tai Lung said, letting go of Po. "Just speak to them how you'd speak to us."
Po gulped.
"Okay, I'm calm."
"So Po," Crane started, not wanting to bring back what just happened. "Your dad owns the noodle shop Tai Lung works at?"
"Y-Yeah. He's always try to talk me into taking over the Shop, but I'm more interested in Kung Fu than noodle making. It was because Tai Lung did it sometime when he worked, and I would sometimes followed him when he trained in private."
"And when you started getting trained by him, he didn't brake anything, did he?" Mantis asked. "If he did, we apologize."
"No! Nothing like that!" Po said. "Trust me. If he did, my dad would have fired Tai Lung a long time ago."
"I wouldn't do that to my little buddy anyway?" Tai Lung said, ruffling the fur on Po's head.
"I told you, I'm not little." Po said, laughing.
"Definitely not little." Monkey said, referring to his stomach. "No offense."
"None taken. I make fun of myself sometimes."
After that, they were all just talking to each other with ease, making Po a little more comfortable with them. There were a few jokes about Tai Lung, Po ate a good majority of the food, and it all lasted for the entire day.
As it was starting to get dark, everyone was helping to clean everything. Shifu looked at Po, who was eating some leftovers, with a hand under his chin in a thinking manner.
"Po?"
Po looked at Shifu, hoping he wasn't upset for whatever reason.
"May I speak with you in another room?"
Shifu and Po went to the in the hall. Tai Lung watched as they left.
"I'm going to use the restroom." He said before leaving.
Tai Lung walked and overheard Shifu and Po walking in one of the vacant rooms.
"How well does Tai Lung train you?"
"He trains me greatly, Master."
"Then, you would be well enough to participate in the choosing tomorrow?"
Tai Lung froze in his place.
"Choosing?" Po asked. "As in the Dragon Warrior Choosing? It's tomorrow?!"
"Oh yes."
"That is so awesome! Wait...why did we come in here to say that?"
"Well, I didn't want to talk about it in front of...Tai Lung."
"Oh..."
Tai Lung wanted to burst in and yell at Shifu for this, but he decided to continue to listen.
"And you wanted me to...join in?"
"If you're as good as we've heard. I want to see you in our training hall to see if you're well enough to be in the Choosing. And if you're not, you still can have a spot to train at the Jade Palace. What do you say, Po?"
'Say no!' A voice in Tai Lung's head said, as if he was actually yelling it at Po.
"It's an offer I can't refuse, master!"
"Very good! Now follow me to the training hall."
Tai Lung growled at this and stormed off to the restroom, then the Hall of Heroes.
Oogway smiled as he meditated on his peach tree wood staff. He heard Tai Lung stomping.
"What could be the matter, Tai Lung?" Oogway said, slowly moving down his staff. "If it is the matter of your birthday, I deeply apologize for not attending the party."
Tai Lung took a deep breath to calm himself down and bowed respectfully.
"It's not that, Master Oogway." Tai Lung said. "It's just that...the student I was training with Tigress for thirteen years-"
"Oh! You mean Po?" Oogway asked walking to him. "I think I saw him coming up here."
"He did. Everyone took a liking to him quickly."
"And what it the matter with that?"
"Shifu took a liking to him! Enough to suggest that he should participate in the Dragon Warrior Choosing tomorrow!"
Tai Lung excepted Oogway to be angry at this, but the tortiose kept that smile on his face. Oogway simply walked to his a hundred lit candles and started to blow them out, one by one.
Tai Lung watched this disbelief as Oogway signaled for him to wait as he continued.
'Screw this!' Tai Lung said, blowing out the rest of the candles with his kung fu.
Oogway looked at Tai Lung, still smiling.
"Aren't you mad about this?!"
"Not really."
"And why not?"
"Because Shifu and I discuss it all ready. You got us truly curious of his abilities and wanted to see his potential for Dragon Warrior. I even meditated on the thought, and the universe gave me a sign to agree. We were waiting a long time for him to gain the courage to meet us."
Tai Lung was shocked at this.
"A-And you never brought it up to me?!"
Oogway's face was now more stern.
"Actually Tai Lung, I did bring it up to you many times. And each time, you tuned me out without trying to listen."
"What did you expect? After how I blew up in Shifu's face about not being the Dragon Warrior years ago, I barely wanted to go to the next Choosing. I almost didn't, but now Po could join and..."
Tai Lung sat crossed on the ground, unsure about what to do.
"So...Will he be..."
"If I was sure, he'd be Dragon Warrior by now. We are going to have to wait until tomorrow to see that."
Oogway walked away.
"You know Tai Lung," Oogway said stopping. "the greatest purpose can be given to the most unexpected person, especially if having been trained for that unexpected purpose."
"You know, I can go one day without your cryptic quotes, Master Oogway."
Oogway chuckled as he walked away.
Tai Lung sighed and stood to go you the training hall. He opened the door and sure enough, Po was going the training obstacles with Shifu and the Five watching. Tai Lung watched the whole section and the only problems Po had really was the fire pit and the jade turtle. He didn't do the hoops for obvious reasons.
Po came back to Shifu, covered in soot from the fire pit, and bowed in respect.
"So? How what that?" Po asked with a hopeful look.
Shifu looked with a blank look. Po frowned, thinking he was going to get rejected. It's kind of what Tai Lung was hoping to happen.
Shifu smiled.
"It is much like Tai Lung said. You show much potential." He said. "Very well, you will be able to participate with the Five."
Tai Lung watched Po jump up and down happily.
"Thank you, Master Shifu!" Po said, wanting to hug the elderly red panda. "I'm gonna go tell my dad that-..."
Shifu was confused about Po's abrupt pause until he looked back at Tai Lung, who they all just noticed was there.
"Tai Lung...We were-"
"No need to say anything, Master." Tai Lung said, walking to them with an unreadable smile. "I heard you. And even though I'm not too thrilled about not being Dragon Warrior, it would be great to see one of you be Dragon Warrior. Especially you, Po."
Po smiled.
"Wait a minute." Viper said. "You didn't look so thrilled when you found out about the Choosing a week ago."
"She has a point." Crane said. "What's different now?"
"What's different is that I'm in a better mood from that fact that I had a good time on my birthbay with some people I care about. And from the fact that Po finally came up here to meet every-"
Tai Lung stopped when Po gave him a bear hug.
"Thanks Tai!" Po said. "And thank you Master Shifu! I'm gonna go tell my dad!"
Tai Lung watched Po run away to go tell Mr. Ping about what happened.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Shifu asked.
"Of course I am." Tai Lung said walking to the bunkhouse.
Tai Lung wasn't okay in the slightest. Tomorrow was the day the dragon warrior choosing, meaning someone will have the destiny that he thought he didn't care about anymore. It was giving him a bad feeling. He only hoped this wouldn't effect his relationship with anyone, including Shifu, Tigress, and even Po.