The Retest
Po struck his fists at the spinning head of the wooden soldiers, expertly dodging and kicking the dummy. With one final punch, Po broke the dummy in pieces. "I thought I was the only one that did that often," Mused Tigress as she walked beside Po. The panda was still in a bad mood.
"What is it, Tigress?"
"Why are you upset about being here?"
"I don't want to be stuck in the past... literally!" Po exclaimed, flailing his arms. Tigress crossed her arms and eyed the panda suspiciously. "What?"
"I would think reliving your 'most exciting moment' would be something you feel happy about," Tigress stated. Po sighed, looking away from the tiger. "So... what actually is wrong?" Po paused as he walked a bit, thinking of words to say.
"I don't want to learn the same lesson." Tigress stayed quiet. "I don't want to go through the pain of learning who I am again. That's been my entire time of being Dragon Warrior, learning who I am! I'm tired of learning the same lesson!" Po exclaimed. He looked at Tigress and noticed her silence. "I know, pathetic."
"Actually, I was going to say it sounded like something I do very often." Po's face perked up in confusion. "When you first did the Training Hall, were you any good at it?"
"No," Po sighed, chuckling a bit at the memory. "I... invented a level... zero."
"Which consisted of-"
"Me bouncing around the Training Hall like a ball let loose in a machine," Po sighed. Tigress gave a small smile. "But the... the hardest thing was to have you guys... hate me."
"When you defeated Tai-Lung and did the Training Hall again, were you still at level zero?" Tigress asked. Po was definitely confused.
"No."
"So you took the same lesson, but you went through it much faster, right?" Tigress asked.
"What are you getting at, Tigress?"
"Because it's the same lesson, you should be able to get through it much faster," Tigress explained plainly. Po's priceless open-mouthed face of realization caused Tigress to smile wider. "Don't focus on the trial. You've already done this before. You know who you are, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then retaking a lesson on self-discovery shouldn't be hard since you already know the lesson," Tigress explained.
"Huh," Was all that Po could say.
"Not bad for someone who doesn't know the future, hm?" Tigress smirked.
"I didn't mean that. I wasn't trying to say you don't know anything! I mean... What I meant to say was-"
"Po, Po, stop! Your brain will overload if you talk too much," Tai-Lung laughed as he and Shifu walked in. Po silently sulked as Tigress only smiled. "So... Emo will be coming for three things, Scrolls concerning time travel, the Emerald of Gah-fam-lime, and some water from the Reflecting Pool. He'll be his old self when he comes, though. He'll probably be at the old dottering retirement house he was in before he turned into this pain in the-"
"How will we learn what he looks like?" Shifu interrupted
"Trust me, he'll look just as ugly as he did before," Po answered Shifu. Tigress gently grabbed Oogway's staff from Shifu, going unnoticed by Po and Tai-Lung. "We could've had more time to prepare if someone didn't stop for lunch."
"Oh please, you are the very VERY last person to talk about food stops!" Tai-Lung argued.
"You should have been here right along with Zeng!"
"I was busy fighting some bandits! I might as well keep doing what I do best! Fight!"
"Enough!" Tigress shouted, smacking the two on the head with Oogway's staff.
"OW!" Po/Tai-Lung cried out.
"It's time you two work on your fighting, and if I know anything about pandas and Tai-Lung, I should be able to use the same motivation for both of you," She said, presenting a delicious looking rice cake. The two boys' mouth started watering. "The first one to defeat the other gets it. Ready?"
"Wait, what kind of-"
"GO!" Po on instinct tackled Tai-lung to the ground and ran for the bowl. The snow leopard growled, getting up, flipping forward, and blocking Po from the food. The two glared at each other. Tigress stood on the sideline. "Hmm, I think I'll enjoy teaching these two."
"I must admit, Master Tigress. You've learned how to adapt to this situation most... easily," Shifu noted as Po jumped up and tried to land a kick on Tai-Lung. The snow leopard back-flipped to the Jade Sparring bowl as Po followed.
"I guess I realized that my destiny is different than what I thought. I always thought I would be the next Dragon Warrior, but that wouldn't be for me," Tigress sighed, looking at the two take turns 'defeating' each other.
"They are actually very good fighters. Especially, Po," Shifu noticed, "When do you think they'll learn that you've eaten the whole thing."
"WHAT!" Po and Tai-Lung shouted. Po whined miserably.
"It looked so good," Po sighed in an exaggerated tone in a corner. Tai-Lung rolled his eyes. Tigress chuckled a bit as she didn't actually eat the food.
"Well, you could use some more training, but I think a good break is in order," Tigress smirked as she produced two bowls of food. They had been sparring for four hours, although it didn't seem like it. Po and Tai-Lung dashed for it, but then Tai-Lung paused.
"Wait, who made this?"
"I did?" Tigress said, confused why he asked. Tai stopped Po from eating it.
"What! I haven't eaten regularly since you've gotten here," Po exclaimed.
"Do you remember Tigress's cooking BEFORE you came?" Tai-Lung pointed out. Po looked back at his bowl, took a small sip, and then frowned.
"I'm not hungry." Po suddenly said. Tigress glared at the two, "It's not that your cooking is bad... but... umm... what's exactly wrong with it, Tai-Lung?" He asked, pointing the snow leopard on the spot.
"Umm well... it's... wait, why am I explaining myself?! You're the one who tasted it."
"You're the one that pointed it out that her cooking is atrocious in the past... er present," Po recovered. The two saw the tiger's death glare, "Not that it's a bad thing... it's just... um..."
"Don't get angry, Tigress," Shifu actually "Bludded" out, "Taste it for yourself." Shifu gave Tigress some of her own soup. She twisted her face in disgust and spat out the food. "Well, now we know exactly what training you need now, Master Tigress."
"What's that?"
"Cooking!" Tai-Lung, Po, and Shifu said in unison. It was quiet for a moment, but then Po started laughing, making Tai-Lung laugh followed by Tigress and Shifu. Tai-Lung sighed as he calmed down.
"Ah, I miss this," Tai-Lung sighed. Tigress noticed this.
"Why? Are we not together in the future?" Tigress asked.
"Well, yes, but not with Master Shifu. It has to do with... Zeng," Po grunted a bit in anger.
"You two seem very protective of Zeng, why?" Shifu asked curiously. The brothers looked at each other, Po sighed.
"You see-"
Continued...
