This is something that will put Arizona's way of living a new life to the test; trust and trying to move on. Also, expect a special guest coming in; dedicated to my good friend, Tan-Tan Tanuki.

Chapter 10: Knowing Who You Are

The next morning rolls along and at the Sacred Peach Tree, Musaki and Arizona are doing their yoga and Arizona seems to be getting the hang of it, despite falling down on his butt a few times, which seemed to sorta make Arizona feel a little embarassed, but Musaki understands it anyway. Both of them did some warrior poses, tree poses and also stretching their arms and legs.

Musaki looked at Arizona and sees him stretching his entire body on the left side and he asked, "How you doing?"

Arizona strains a little and tries to catch his breath and he replied, "I hope I don't lose the feeling on my legs."

When they did their stretching, they incorporated some of the yoga moves and turned it into a kung-fu version of it, which made it easier for Arizona. Within minutes, Arizona got his yoga skills down to a science and he achieved it really well, which impressed Musaki.

Then, as the sun starts to rise up, they both sat down, crossed their legs, closed their eyes, took deep breaths and began to think happy thoughts. The wind blowing in their fur seemed to relax them and Arizona felt no sense of fear or anxiety when he's with Musaki.

They both opened their eyes and Arizona turned to Musaki and asked, "How'd I do?"

Musaki looked at Arizona and he could not stop smiling on how much improvement that he made on doing yoga for the first time and he told him, "You did awesome. You are now clearly the yoga master."

Arizona felt like he could stand up and cheer after accomplishing the much difficult task for him to do and he just chuckled softly and said, "I have an awesome teacher...who's also my best friend."

That touched Musaki deeply when Arizona told him that he considered him a teacher and a best friend. He just bowed to him and said, "You make an awesome apprentice yourself."

They both walked out of the peach tree, both feeling relaxed and accomplished at the same time. As they were walking down, Arizona asked him, "How many times I landed on my butt today?"

Musaki rolled his eyes at that weird random question Arizona asked and looking back on it, he turned to him and replied, "As of today...I'd say around 21 times you landed on your butt."

Arizona groans in embarassment about this and he said, "Don't tell anyone about this."

Musaki pats his shoulder and told him, with a smile, "Your secret's safe with me, buddy."

Later that morning, Shifu sees Arizona walking on his way to the training hall and he walks over to him and told him, "I would like a word with you, Arizona."

Arizona didn't expect this to happen and he grew really nervous about what the talk was about and he asked, "Am I in trouble or something?"

Shifu chuckled softly and he said, "You're not in any trouble whatsoever. I'm just taking you and Po somewhere where you can regain your confidence within yourself."

Then it hit Arizona-did he already found out about his hidden struggle or did someone just guess? He knew that he's been hiding this from him for so long that he didn't expect it to come out of Shifu's mouth. Suddenly, Po came around and sees both of them standing there and he said, "Hey, guys. What's up?"

Arizona asked Po, "Did you tell Shifu about the conversation we had yesterday?"

Po looked confused about that question and he answered, "No. I didn't tell anyone."

Shifu looked at Arizona in the eye and said, "We're going over to the Wu Dan Mountains. From there, you will see the birthplace of Kung Fu and we will train for a couple of hours there."

Arizona didn't know what to make of that announcement, but he was looking forward to it anyway. He reluctantly said, "Sure thing."

Minutes later, they got there and Arizona was completely surprised at the spectacular view of the entire place like he's never seen it before in his life. His jaw dropped open when he saw the Pool of Sacred tears and the entire mountain. Shifu could tell by his surprised expression that he was riveted by it. He chuckled and asked, "Too much?"

Arizona was speechless and he only let out a small squeak from his mouth as his general reaction. With that, Shifu said, "Let us begin."

Shifu partnered Arizona up with Po to see if they can spar together and how teamwork should go. When it came time to spar, Po was ready for it. He got onto him, pummeled him down, but Arizona flipped out of his grip and landed on his feet, thus landing a graceful combative move. Po ran over to him and landed punches, but Arizona blocked those as he went along and he jumped on top of him and he landed on his back, which made Po grunt out in pain.

He then did a backflip and pounced on Po and kicked him in the face and Po was ready to knock him out, but Arizona was too quick for him. He got behind him and gave him a big kick in the butt, causing him to fall down on his butt. He got into his face and said, "Wolf, five. Panda, three."

Po pants heavily, looks at him in the face and said, in a straining voice, "You can't count that."

Arizona chuckled and said, with a cocky smirk, "Sure I can."

Po grabbed his ankle and flipped him over multiple times, but Arizona stopped midway when he grabbed a tree branch and swung himself around and kicked Po in the face with his feet, causing him to land on the ground and land on Shifu.

Arizona got down on the tree and suddenly regained a massive amount of confidence within himself. He chuckled softly and said, "I did it! I beat the Dragon Warrior at his own game!"

Po whined and pouted a little and said, "That's not fair!"

Then, he hears a muffled voice coming under him and it spoke, "Panda, get your big butt off of me."

He then recognized that it was Shifu's voice and he got up and let Shifu up and slapped the panda in the face and asked, "The last thing I need from you is your fat butt landing on my face."

Po chuckled in embarassment and said, "Sorry, Shifu."

He turned his attention to Arizona and he seemed really impressed by his kung-fu moves and he went up to him and said, "You have officially impressed me with your skills...at such a young age."

Arizona chuckled softly and he said, "I guess that's a good way to start off being 17, I guess."

"Excellent."

Later on, they came back to the Jade palace and Arizona begins meditating again and suddenly, some thoughts about his nightmare he had came back to him and the echoes of the name 'monster' still haunts him all over again and he began thinking about what Tigress said about doing the right thing by killing Dai Ling and worried about what everyone else will think of him.

To seek an answer, he walks over to the Dragon Grotto, where he sees Shifu just meditating away as usual. Shifu could hear him coming this way and he could tell that it might be something important. Shifu said to him, "What brings you here, young Arizona?"

Arizona took a deep breath and his stomach felt lke it was in knots for asking him a question that's been bugging him lately about his nightmares he had. But the one question continues to spark him that he's desperately looking for an answer coming from him. He clears his throat and he said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Absolutely."

"Um...it's about this nightmare I had last night and.."

Before he could say anything else, Shifu hopped out of Oogway's stick and faced him directly, which still shocked Arizona that he could actually do that. He continued on to say, "Well...you know I killed Dai Ling, right?"

"Yes you did." Shifu replied.

"And I killed Max's bio mom too. I was just thinking-do you think what I actually did was the right thing to do?"

Shifu could see where this was coming from and he let out a heavy sigh and answered, "There is no right way or wrong way at all. At times, it may seem like it's the only choice you have to keep your friends and family safe from harm."

"Yeah, but...do you see me like...as a monster?"

"Absolutely not. You just did what you had to do, even in the presence of a hard decision at a time when everything seems to turn out really horrific. I had the same feeling the first I killed someone that wanted to kill my master. Even then, I didn't know if I did the right thing or not, but it was either gonna be him or me that was gonna be killed, no matter who deserved it more. When you killed Dai Ling, how did you feel?"

Arizona didn't know how to respond to that question, but looking back on it, after all the crap that he's had to put up with, he felt like it was most deserving that he'll never harm another wolf or any other animal again. He looked at him and replied, "Like he deserved it. I just wanted to release all the pain I felt for years and especially when he hid the fact that he killed my father years ago without me knowing about it."

"So...you wanted him to feel the same way your father felt."

"Yeah, I did."

Shifu sighed heavily and then, he said, "That doesn't make you a monster. That makes you a protector. There is no right way or wrong way for it. You just did what you did because you wanted to keep the person you care about alive and that's all that matters."

Arizona thought about it and realized that all of that did was to keep everyone in Kong Wolf City and his friends safe from harm. Knowing that if it didn't happen, every innocent citizen could've died. He let out a heavy exhale and he said, "Yeah, you're right. The only thing that matters is their safety and that's why I had to do it."

"You should take cues from Shifu."

Arizona looked behind and he saw a black and white, blue eyed dog heading his way and Shifu recognized him coming by and he said, "Hello, Ichi."

Ichi looked at Shifu and he said, "Hey, Shifu. How ya doing?"

"Just fine."

Ichi looked at Arizona and he recognized him and asked, "How ya been, Zona?"

Arizona chuckled softly and said, "Great."

"Remember when I mentioned that I killed my parents when I was young? I asked myself the same question after that happened and I just felt like people would see me as a monster too. There were days that I wanted to kill myself, but as I grew older, I was surrounded by people who cared about me and would always be there for me no matter what. And I was always afraid that if something goes wrong, I might lose those memories forever and I don't want that to happen. What I can say to you-accept yourself for who you are and less of what everyone else thinks. You make you who you are." Ichi said.

Those words spoke to Arizona as if both of them are like their own person that they never knew about before. He chuckled softly and said, "I guess I found something much more meaningful."

"I had a little help from Shifu." Ichi added.

Shifu chuckled and he said, "I see you as my own children-both of you are like brothers."

Arizona never actually thought of Shifu as his own son, but he felt like he needed to hug him and tell him that he's grateful to call him his own son. Shifu could sense something's up with him and he asked, "Are you okay, Arizona?"

He lost his train of thought for a minute, then turned to Shifu and replied, "Yeah, I'm cool."

Shifu chuckled and said, "Good. You'll make an excellent kung-fu master."

"I can feel it too."

Tan-Tan Tanuki, I had to bring Ichi in because I want him to understand what Arizona feels about what it feels like to kill someone, even if it's the right thing to do to protect his friends and the people he cares about. Hopefully, it might touch you guys' heartstrings while you read this. For the next chapter...yes, there will be a battle scene later in the story that'll fall into the horror category, so expect some bloodshed coming in later. Until then, the next chapter is where Arizona's nightmare (prepare to drop your jaw in shock) on the ninth chapter will come true. (sinister laugh)