Goliath Against David


As Po went down, everyone started talking to him. "Make sure you give him what for," Tigress told him. Po walked past Nelon.

"Don't worry Po. You've got this. Make sure he's ended," Nelon grunted. Po walked past some of his students.

"You've got this coach," they replied. Po past Mei-Ling.

"Make. Him. Suffer," Mei-Ling growled out with tear stained eyes. Po finally made it to the sand pit.

"You two know the rules," said the ref. This time, Po noticed Josh dropping the ball, but he didn't say anything yet.

"You ready for more, pan-" Josh didn't finish because Po punched him clear across the ring. Somehow, Josh was still conscious, trying to get up, but he was kicked up onto his feet by Po's foot. "Whoa! What the heck are you doing?"

"Not holding back," Po said seriously. Josh came rushing at Po with a flurry of punches, but Po stopped all of it when he grabbed Josh and tossed him to the other side of the ring. "Let's get this over with," Po replied, grabbing the staff. Josh quickly grabbed his staff as Po rushed towards him.

"How can you get better in five minutes?" Josh exclaimed as Po swung left and right.

"I was holding back to have some fun. Now, I do it for a different reason," Po replied, slamming his stick down, nearly smashing Josh.

"What's that, to make sure that you get to your second lunch on time?" Josh mocked.

"No. Well, there is that. But I'm here to protect you," Po replied as Josh swung at the panda and Po duck and jumped back. Josh laughed.

"Protect me?! From what?" Josh started pushing Po back towards the ball in the sand pit.

"Oh no. Not again. I can't watch," Crane covered his eyes with his wings. Then it happened.

Once Po felt the ball under his heel, he rolled it to the front of his feet. Po bounced the ball up to hit Josh in the face. When it bounced off it Josh's face, Po grabbed the ball and smashed it into Josh's head, forcing him back. Po crushed the ball in his hand to rubble.

"GO PO!" Tigress shot up and shouted. The crowd roared in cheer.

"From them," Po finally replied, watching Josh look around the arena. "I'm guessing you've hurt a lot of people and some of them didn't appreciate you cheating. So much so that they wanted to nearly kill you." Po swung around his staff. Josh blocked his swing, but Po forced him back. Josh swung back, but Po caught his staff, pulled Josh forward, and punched him in the face to the ground and sat on him. "I win to save you," Po said finally.

"PO WINS!" the Ref shouted. The cheers and roars from the crowd were deafening.

"HE WON, HE WON, HE WON!" Tigress cheered excitedly. She looked to the others to see them staring at her with either confusion or a smirk. "I mean, he won," Tigress said calmly. Po fought his way through the cheering crowd.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Po kept saying. "Finally," Po sighed as he got to the royal wing. Tai-Lung nearly tackled his brother down.

"You DID IT!" Tai-Lung shouted as Monkey and Crane jumped on too.

"Alright, guys. Thanks, but I need a little space," Po wheezed out. The brothers released him to let Nelon slap him on the back in celebration.

"Haha, that's my son," Nelon laughed. Po was surprised that Nelon would be this open with him. "Come on, let's go back to the palace to celebrate." As they made their way to the car, Po noticed a group of women crowding around Josh. It didn't look friendly.

"Now ladies, I didn't cheat on all of you," Josh timidly said.

"What are they doing?" Po asked Nelon, pointing to Josh's direction.

"They... um... it's a tradition that the loser of the match is beaten up by the audience," Nelon said. Po knew he was lying at that time.

"Yeah right," Po replied. "Tai, Monkey, Crane, help me out with this." Without thinking, the brothers rushed to surround Josh. "Alright, ladies. He's suffered enough. Don't go down to his standard," Po said.

"But-"

"No buts. Whatever he's done isn't worth your time. You have to move on, that's the only way you'll get stronger," Crane wisely said. The ladies had to agree with the wisdom and they slowly left, giving Josh death glares.

"Are you okay?" Po asked, offering his hand. Josh swiped it away and marched off in anger. "I guess so."

"You did your best," Monkey sighed. "Now, let's get back to that party at the palace."


The palace was lively with guests and decorations. "Does this happen every time?" Po asked.

"Actually, no. You do realize what your fight with Josh represented to the people, right? It was the strongest against the weak. The rejected against the prime fighter. You've given people hope and stronger strength than the nation has ever had," Nelon smiled.

"I just fought," Po humbly said. Po walked around and finally went outside of the party room. He went back down the hall where his temporary room was. His room was right next to Tigress's room. Po heard a small crying when he passed her room. Po pressed his ear on the door, accidentally falling into Tigress's room. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Po exclaimed, covering his eyes.

"Po?" Tigress said. Po opened his eyes to see Tigress's red eyes.

"Tigress? What's wrong?" Po asked, getting up from the floor and going to her bed.

"Nothing," Tigress denied.

"Tigress," Po said. "Please, tell me. What's wrong? It's not like you to cry." Tigress stayed silent for a moment.

"Josh cheated on me... with Mei-Ling... and probably a bunch of other girls that I don't know considering the crowd of women you saved him from," Tigress explained. Po felt horrible.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Po replied. "I should have told you." Tigress's head shot up.

"You knew?!" Tigress exclaimed.

"I didn't know he cheated on you. I... I heard rumors that he was a cheater," Po explained.

"Where did you learn these rumors from?" Tigress asked. Po began to explain.


Po was finishing a day in the Zhanshi during his month stay in Qiangdu. "Well, that's it for the day," Po said, stretching his back.

"That's good, Master Po," Laohu started putting his black and white robe on for Po, "Now it's time to get going." As Po put his robe on, Laohu started growling when she saw something or someone.

"What's up, Laohu?" Po asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing Master Po," She smiled too innocently. Po smirked.

"First, you don't have to call me master. Second, what or who has you grumbling like that?" Po asked, looking over the railing into the ring. He saw a white tiger fighting a big gorilla. "Who is that?" Po asked.

"That is Josh," Laohu grumbled as they left to the car. Po quickly followed.

"Who's Josh?" Po asked as got into the car as Laohu started the car.

"Josh is one of the Zhanshi's top fighter. In fact, he's actually the best," Laohu growled out. Po stayed quiet until they got to the palace.

"Then why are you so mad?" Po finally asked. Laohu sighed as she parked the car, went outside of the car to go to the back where Po was and sit down.

"Josh is a cheater," Laohu replied. "He's cheated in a lot of fighting and stuff in order to be the top fighter." Laohu sighed again. "He's also a cheater when it comes to relationships and-"

"You were his girlfriend for a time and he cheated on you?" Po guessed.

"Yeah," Laohu said. Po was silent for a moment. Laohu suddenly felt Po's arms around her. "Po?"

"I'm sorry you went through that," Po quietly whispered. For the first time in a long time, Laohu felt comforted. Laohu hugged back.

"Tigress is lucky to have you there, Po," Laohu smiled back.


"Laohu had dated him about two years ago and you two had been dating for one year so I thought he had changed. I guess I was wrong," Po replied.

"I didn't realize our servant was his ex. Or one of them. Did she say why he does it?" Tigress asked.

"She says it's some warrior pride he has to conquer them all. They're like...trophies to him," Po carefully said.

"That little-"

"Isn't worth your time and energy," Po interrupted, stopping her hand from moving. "Look, I know that he hurt you a lot, but he shouldn't be the focus of your life. He'll suffer his own consequences. You just have to worry about fixing yourself," Po said standing up.

"Fixing myself?"

"Josh has betrayed your trust and has hurt you in a personal way. That takes a bit of time to heal and figure out who you are. I'm sorry that I didn't warn you earlier," Po sighed, ashamed. Tigress patted the place beside her to offer him a seat back. Po sat back down.

"You didn't know," Tigress simply said.

"And don't worry. I'll tell my brothers to back off of the wooing for a while," Po added. Tigress smiled.

"Thank you," Tigress replied. They were silent for a moment. "When you asked me about Josh, I thought you were just being nosy again. But when you asked about my... desire to be wanted, I... The reason why I desired to be wanted was that my dad never really showed any affection. He was always the strong silent type until you came around. He was always busy with something. I had friends, but I still didn't get the attention I wanted. I know it sounds selfish but-"

"The way you're explaining it, it is completely natural," Po assured.

"Then I met Josh who seemed like the slick type but actually started to listen to me for a while. Or what I thought was listening," Tigress grumbled. "Now I know I shouldn't worry about being wanted."

"Tigress, just because your dad wasn't vocal about it, he still loves you. I can't tell you how many times he showed me your kiddy pictures," Po smiled. Rather than embarrass Tigress, that shocked her.

"He... He kept them?"

"Of course. You're wanted by a host of people. By your friends, family, and me," Po smiled. Tigress surprised him by hugging.

"You know, Laohu was right. I am lucky to be at the Empire of Peace. I think I'll like my stay there," Tigress smiled.

"That's good," Po stuttered nervously. Tigress giggled a little. "Well, I'll leave you to your privacy," Po said as he left.

When they got back to Shizi, Po explained to his brothers the whole thing. They promise to lay off their wooing and give Tigress time to be comforted. However, that lasted about a month before things started to go crazy again.

Continued...