Battered and Bruised


Shifu glared at me as if I had cursed him. I would too if Tigress was my adopted daughter. "Why would you say that?"

"In comparison, I mean. You saw what the children could do. Imagine if she had that strength now. And I don't think she knows she has it. Or-"

"She doesn't have it yet," Shifu finished. I sighed in dismay.

"The only thing making me think otherwise is that 'yet' though," I replied. Shifu was silent for a moment before saying,

"Tigress has managed to overcome obstacles before. I imagine she will now." I nodded in agreement. "Should we bring Pengyou or Wang back to help Tigress?"

"No, I'll learn everything I can from the rest and then go back," I said, standing up from my mat. "I'll be back. I need to take a walk." Shifu nodded as he rested onto his mat. I walked out the silkscreen door. The door led right into the dining hall. I went to the backyard of the house, which was the practice area for Wang. I looked up at the stars. How was I going to do this? I couldn't act as if Tigress's situation was okay, but I couldn't figure out how to make her stronger. "What am I going to do?"

"Po, are you okay?" A kind voice asked. I looked behind me and saw the short cute tiger who was our guide. I smiled at Pengyou.

"I'm fine, Pengyou. I'm just trying to figure out how to make one of my friends stronger," I replied cryptically.

"You mean Master Tigress?" Pengyou guessed. I stopped my entire self, looking at the tiger. "I overheard you and Master Shifu talking about it." I sighed, mentally cursing myself for being so open about it. "I still think that Master Tigress is strong."

"You've heard about her?"

"Who hasn't?" Pengyou exclaimed a bit, "The people here are just too far from the Jade Palace to hear about her. But I still think that she's strong."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Just because she doesn't train or have the full strength of a tiger doesn't mean she isn't a tiger. She finds other ways to overcome her enemies when she's faced with a hard situation. For me, she wasn't a symbol of strength, but determination. I've heard of her story and I thought anyone in that circumstance would give up. But she didn't." I stared at the tiger for a while then smiled. She was right. Tigress overcame any kind of obstacle before. This one would be just another one.

"Thank you, Pengyou," I replied, graciously. She bowed. She surprised me with a hug around my waist and then walked away. My bunny friend was right. She was a delight to have.

Soon our stay at the village of tigers came to an end. Pengyou showed us back to her village and then we traveled back to ours. "Ah, home sweet home," I sighed in relaxation. Then we hiked up the dreadful stairs of death.

"How can you defeat all these villains that come your way and still have a problem with stairs?" Shifu asked.

"I don't ask why you only like Oolong tea, now do I!?" I panted in excruciating pain. (A/N: I just learned that this tea actually exists) We finally got to the top of the mountain. We found the Furious Five and the replacement master (It was Master Chao) training in the courtyard with their practices. Except for one. I went into the Training Hall and saw Tigress mediating peacefully. "Tigress?" She turned around and saw me with widened eyes. She jumped to her feet and bowed.

"Master Po. You have returned from your travels," She stated formally. I walked up to her and smiled excitedly at her. From her look, I think my smile scared her.

"I have figured out how to train you," I said eagerly.

"Dragon Warrior, don't you want to rest for a moment?" Shifu asked. I forgot he was right next to me.

"Nope! This needs to be done now!" I said, almost forcefully. I did not want the ideas in my head to leave me. Within minutes, Tigress was doing weight training that was almost beyond her. There were two large weights that looked like massively huge bells that I rigged up for her to lift when she pulled on them. She strained to lift them both up when she extended her hands. "Come on, you have to do fifty of those.

"But-"

"Fifty!" I said both excitedly and forcefully. Her face was shocked. I've never been this way with anyone before. Then I started to be outright daring. "Or is the second-rate warrior giving up?" That ticked her off. She growled as she pulled on the massive coiled wire rope and slowly lifted the weights. "That's two." I left her and went to do something else. When I finished with that task, I heard a loud snap followed by a massive clang! I ran over to where Tigress was and saw the rope had snapped. Tigress was on the floor, panting. "I'll have to get better wires." I simply commented. "How much did you do?"

"25," She gasped, trying to catch her breath.

"Come on, you have some more work to do," I coldly said. She stumbled and followed me to the courtyard. The others were taking a break. She saw a brick wall, about ten feet tall and wide, that was reinforced by brick triangles at the back so it wouldn't fall backward. "I want you to knock this wall down."

"Yes, Master Po."

"But, I want you to push it down. I don't want to see a small hole the size of your fist or hand. I want you to push it down," I clarified. Her eyes widened at me. "Or do you not think you're strong enough for it?" I teased her. She glared at me and planted her hands on the wall and began to strain. I found bricks specially made to be harder than ironwood and the reinforced backside made it 10 times harder. "It will take some time. Keep trying," I said, walking to the Hall of Heroes to find Master Shifu. "Master Shifu, do we have any more wire rope? Stronger than the one for the large iron bells," I explained.

"Yes, I'll see to it. Po, are you sure what you're doing is going to work?"

"No," I honestly said, "But I'm sure that Tigress will overcome it," I smiled confidently.


I walked down the barracks to check on a patient in the medical aide. Tigress's muscles were very sore, so Mantis was tending to them. I thought I pushed her too hard too fast. I was blaming myself when I started overhearing a talk between Tigress and the others. "Urgh!" Tigress growled.

"Stay still, this will only hurt for a moment," Mantis counseled.

"Thank you Mantis," Tigress sighed.

"I don't know what Po learned over that trip, but he seems to be tormenting you all of a sudden," Viper mentioned. That was an exaggerated way of putting it, but I was starting to agree.

"Maybe we can talk to Master Shifu and ask Po to lighten up on you," Crane agreed, "That way he doesn't take out... whatever it is on you."

"Yeah, I don't know what that panda is thinking," Monkey remarked. I was about to go away, feeling more guilty about myself. But-

"I understand the concern you all have," She said with the sound of a smile, "But what Master Po is doing is actually working."

"What?" They all exclaimed.

"I can feel something different. I think Po knows that there's something more inside of me. I'm willing to believe that."

"But Tigress, what about your body?"

"To be honest, I haven't been sore in a while. It's nice to know that my hands can still somewhat feel," She smirked a bit, her silhouette from the silkscreen suggested she was looking at her hand. "You all know that Po wouldn't intentionally hurt me. I feel stronger after today. I know now there's something more. And if Po believes that I can move mountains, I'm willing to try." That helped renew my spirits. I tried my best to walk away and leave Tigress in peace.

The early next morning, I woke up and went to the courtyard. Before anyone else was up, Tigress was at the wall, trying hard to push it down. I could see something wrong with what she was doing. She was actually holding back. I walked up to her. "Tigress," I called, making her stop, "I know that you've been taught to control your rage and anger. But that doesn't mean you always have to hold your strength back." Tigress nodded, but she sighed afterward.

"Po," She said, dropping every ounce of confusion, frustration, and questioning into that word, "Do you really think I can do this?"

"You seemed very confident last night," I added, seeing her surprised and embarrassed face. "Why is this different?"

"You heard us?"

"For a moment I thought I pushed you too hard too fast," I clarified, rubbing the back of my neck. "But I know you can do it." I started walking back to the hall, "You've overcome obstacles before, why stop now?" Tigress's determined face radiated from her as she bowed and went back to pushing the wall. I needed to wait to see if there was any real progress.

In a month, however, things started to get interesting.

Continued...