Life's Full Of Surprises.
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Well, here it is, chapter 7! Which, if my calculations were correct, should put me over 10 000 words! :)) Thank you all for reading/reviewing and supporting me. And no, this is by no means a "climax" part of the story, more so a layout, not even the inciting force yet! (but I do have a plan for that.) So if you enjoy this, please come back, as I promise you, you haven't seen ANYTHING yet! :) Also, please tell me what you think of the story, because without your reviews or PM's, I have no idea if I'm putting out what you enjoy/want to read! THANK YOU ALL!
They stood opposite of one another in her room, speculating the odd situation in dead silence. Tigress found herself leaning against her dresser, as Po paced the floor; trying to find a way out of telling Shifu of their newborn relationship.
"You know you'll have to tell him eventually, don't you?" Tigress subtlely asked the uneasy panda, at last interrupting the strange absense of sound.
"Well, maybe I don't.." he said, as Tigress looked up with a smug grin; awaiting the dopey reasoning she'd anticipated Po would try to come up with. "..maybe we can just hide it.. y-you know, until it doesn't matter so much.. maybe once we're older? Like, thirty-or even forty?".
She laughed at his overly-childlike response to the situation. "Po," Tigress started, as Po stopped his pointless pacing, and looked up from his feet, meeting her eyes with an inexplicably fearful gaze; "I'm sure you know how ridiculous that sounds." she calmly replied with a smile, as she hoped and prepared for Po's eventual cave in.
"Not really.." Po stated, sounding more childlike than ever, "Well.. Maybe.. Uhm.. w-well, why don't you tell him?"
Tigress's eyes widened at the thought Po had conveyed; not expecting the situation to be turned upon her so bluntly, "W-what? M-me? Why me?" she asked with reluctance, as she mentally crossed her fingers in hope that Po would not bring forth a reasonable argument.
Po stood in silence as he refocused his eyes on his toes, initially thinking, as a result of her antsy tone, the suggestion he'd come up with was completely proposterous. When unexpectedly, he realized it wasn't. "Wait a minute," he begun as Tigress's eyes widened further, and she gritted her teeth slightly, "You should be the one to tell him." he finished as Tigress untensed her face, knowing her efforts had gone without purpose. "Y-yeah," Po continued, "He's your dad.. And really, you've known him longer.. and-" Po started listing reasons, as Tigress intervened.
"I know!" Tigress stated, as Po's look of sophistication developed into the same smug grin she'd portrayed earlier. "It should be me to tell him. It's ju-"
"Tigress! Po!" Shifu called from down the hall, causing Po to jump slightly.
"C-Coming Master!" Tigress said, as she continued, "It's just so hard to tell him of such things.." she paused momentarily to think, as Po looked on, trying to understand, "Shifu and I, we've hardly been father and daughter, our relationship has only truly been linked through Kung Fu.." Po kept watching as she continued, "But you two.." Po's eyes met with Tigress's as she stopped her statement, figuring she'd said and implied enough.
"Awh! Come on!" Po said defensively, as his grin jumped its way back to her face, "That's not fair!" he said guilessly, trying once again to talk his way out of a dead end; "Just because of my heart-warming personality, and-If I do say so myself-rugged good looks; I have to tell Shifu?" Po joked, as Tigress continued to search for a means to tell her father, without getting the both of them-particularly Po-killed. When suddenly, with the voice of Shifu, an idea shot through her mind;
"Tigress! Po! We're waiting!" Shifu hollered.
"What if we both tell him?" she asked, as Po studied the idea for a few seconds;
"Waddya mean?" he asked curiously, as Tigress's look of triumph faded to one of worriment.
"I mean, -ah.. I mean.. I don't know. But when the situation presents itself, I'm sure we'll know." she said with a smirk, knowing she'd been pushed to the point of developing excuses, and pushing off the task at hand.
Po laughed, taking pride in knowing she'd been brought down to his level, "Hah-alright. Let's just go with that for now then." he said with satisfaction, as Tigress couldn't help but join in his laughter, stopping to say, "We'll decide later-for real.".
Po nodded, as Shifu's voice pierced through the air and rang in their ears, "PO! TIGRESS!" Po covered his head, as Tigress continued to laugh, and they both replied simultaneously: "Coming Shifu!".
They next found themselves with an enraged Shifu in the dining room, yelling, "BOTH OF YOU-TO THE TRAINING HALL, AS I SAID TWENTY MINUTES AGO, NOW!". With this, Po and Tigress scampered without a word to the training hall to begin their training. Shifu smiled at the site of his students finally obeying him, and quickly put an ancient breathing technique to work, calming his irritated mind; Then peacefully walked his way to the training hall as well, at a genuinely slow pace.
"Alright guys," Po declared to the huddled group which stood around him; consisting of Mantis, who stood to his left on the shoulder of Monkey, who had his arm rested lightly upon Viper, who stood next to Tigress, who's arm rested on, and was rested upon by Crane's wing, who leant over Po. "As you all know, this is will be my first Kung Fu tournament, so, I would appreciate it if you could all try to keep up to my speed." he smiled at his ridiculous comment, as did the others, "Also, I would like to get as much training in as possible over the next couple of days, so that I can be at my fullest potential." the group nodded approvingly as he continued, "And, well, I was sorta wondering if you guys would mind giving me a hand.." with this request, the five masters spoke at once, all answering, without a doubt, positively.
Soon, the answers turned to conversations, probably a result of the first rule-free day off they were gifted with just the day before; And Po was forced to butt in, hasty to begin his 'extreme' training. "Alright, alright, settle down." he said in a joking tone, that quickly swapped out for a serious one, "I think it's time we get this show on the road!" he exclaimed, as the five nodded once again, burst into action, and started to train at an accelerated pace. He took a couple seconds to grin at all the commotion he'd started, then commenced his basic warm-up.
He started with a few simple stretches, approaching the 'training dummy' and preparing to attack. Suddenly, he moved in, slamming it down with his forearm, spinning as he did so, and coming back around to have it rebound into his face; as it always did. Immediately after, he heard a feminine laugh trail its way to his ear, and turned to see an amused-looking Tigress, "Oh, uhm- did you-uh, did you see that?" he asked, trying to place tabs on whether or not his feeling of embarrassment was in vain.
Tigress ignored his painfully-obvious question, knowing how relevant the answer should have been, and simply stated, "You will not see any progress in your skills by training on a dummy." then eased into her signature fighting stance, positioned her eyes on Po, and said "I am ready.".
Po couldn't help but grin, as he too eased into his fighting stance, and prepared to spar. "So am I." he said with confidence, then roared "GET READY TO FEEL THE THUNDER!".
Suddenly, they both rushed toward one another, and met in the center of their imaginary ring, positioned in front of the training hall's doors. They traded blows repeatedly, both searching for flaws in one another's techniques, or even a small, potentially fatal mistake. Neither of them knowing the speed at which the round was about to end.
Tigress noticed the first error, as Po blocked her left knee with his right hand, leaving the entire right side of his torso open to her attacks. She moved quickly, and struck with her left hand; causing Po to kneel forward a little in pain, once again, allowing his guard to fall. With this, she paced her way back by a single step; and spun into the air with tremendous speed, purposely meeting Po's face with her left foot; And subsequently landing her perfectly-executed round house kick.
Po fell to the ground, as Tigress snapped out of her combatant-self, and returned to her regular persona. Following this, she peered down at him caringly; realizing the exemption seriousness seemed to have taken from the round. Next, Po sat up and rubbed his cheek, looking, all-in-all, not even fazed by the tremendous kick she'd just landed on him. "Wow," he said, "I thought you'd go easy on me, being your boyfr-" he almost let slip, as he spotted Shifu stroll into the training room from the corner of his eye, "I mean; jeez! That hurt!" he yelled as he made eye contact with Tigress, widening his eyes slightly, and clenching his teeth together. The others looked over attentively upon hearing him holler, trying to decipher the event that had transpired.
She could hardly withstand laughing, as she smiled and offered her hand to help him to his feet. He took her hand, and pulled himself up. As his height met hers, she prepared to speak, and give him the usual suggestions on how to improve, but wasn't given a chance.
"I know, I know, I just wasn't ready that time!" Po stated in denial, searching for excuses as he always did. "I still had to warm up!"
She grinned as a result of his determination, knowing that no matter how many times they fought, and how many times she won, he would never be satisfied. Actually, as she sifted through her memories, she couldn't recall a single time he'd managed to even come close to beating her. Abruptly, she caught herself sinking deeper into her thoughts, and dragged herself back to the moment.
"Alright then, show me in round two." she responded, then looked down to realize they were still holding hands, and peered to her side to see Shifu watching sceptically. Confused as to what she could possibly do to explain, and finding it impossible not to blush, she pulled herself forward, and walked past Po. "Shifu's watching us now. Try to pay attention!" she whispered into his ear, as she repositioned herself in the corner of their 'imaginary ring', and once again entered her signature fighting stance.
Po looked to his side to see the red panda gazing back at him distantly. Po forced a smile to come to his face, as Shifu's jerked back to life.
"Po, get into position, and face your competitor." Shifu said impassively. Po did as he said, and prepared himself. "I want you to focus Po. I don't want you to think of anything other than the fight at hand. Regulate your breathing, and be aware of your surroundings, but never remove yourself from the battle." said Shifu, trying to emphasize on where Po generally and usually made most of his mistakes. In the meantime, Po took in what Shifu said as best he could, and moved his hands into a fighting position, signifying his readiness.
"Ready.." called Shifu, as both Tigress and Po nodded slightly, and centered their attention on each other.
As per their usual practice, and upon both witnessing and feeling the upswing in intensity, the other fighters gathered around behind Po, forming a small audience; and silently routing for one of the two. Of course, with the doubtless knowledge that Tigress would win, no one bothered to question the unquestionable; or, more plainly, the outcome of the battle. Yet somehow, and for some reason, the intensity lingered and evolved nonetheless. Moreover, Po was never one to be predictable, and his ever-changing technique made it quite difficult to track his progress. A belief that uncontrollably stained the thoughts of the entire group, including those belonging to Shifu.
"Fight!" he called at last, as Tigress's eyes squinted on Po, and she charged in for an attack; briefly catching Po employ a new technique, doing nothing more than standing perfectly still, and shutting his eyes completely.
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