And this is where the masters get their volunteer work at the MMA gym with Okinawa and his friends.
Chapter 14: Volunteer Guests
Only 30 minutes later and all of the kids and preteens waited for Okinawa and the rest of the teachers to come in and it wasn't long until they came in and he said, "Good morning, guys."
"Morning, Okinawa." the kids replied.
And Okinawa's friends arrived to see them and they all said good morning to them too and Okinawa said, "All righty...before we start today's training, I have a surprise for you all."
The kids faces started to light up the minute the word 'surprise' dropped into Okinawa's mouth and he said, "We're gonna have some volunteers to train with us and I think you all know these masters from our posters everyday. And I thought what would be a better way to let you guys meet them in person?"
With that, the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior walked towards the front of the kids and already, the kids were excited and amazed that they're all here and from the looks in their faces, the masters were surprised that there was a large amount of cheering going on.
"I think you may know these guys. Master Tigress, Master Crane, Master Mantis, Master Viper and Master Monkey...better known as the Furious Five! And we can't forget...the Dragon Warrior!" Okinawa exclaimed.
Everyone completely cheered to see them for the first time and the masters couldn't help but feel very welcomed and the kids recited a japanese-chinese greeting to welcome them to the class and the masters responded with a bow to them and Tigress said, "Thank you for your little welcome."
"We're all honored to see you all here today and we'd like to thank Okinawa and our friend Musaki to bringing us here to see you guys." Po said.
Okinawa then went on to say, "Now...before we start, does anyone have any questions you'd like to ask them?"
Almost immediately, the kids raised their hands to ask them any questions and the masters were interested and intrigued by every question they asked and some of them were easier to answer and most were kinda complicated to answer and soon after that, it was time for some training.
With that, Okinawa chose Po to work with his set of 10 students while the others chose the master of their choice to help out and right from the bat, Po taught them a little bit of Panda Style and in a surprising twist, the kids showed Po a couple of MMA tricks. So each of the kids get to learn a lot from Po and he gets to learn some MMA moves. Okinawa demonstrates to Po on how important it is to use MMA as a way to let out a lot of steam and some nboxing to go along with it.
Meanwhile, Monkey helps out with the red fox and the white tiger with the other set of 10 students to punch the dummy version of Tai Lung and for Musaki, it completely helps with the fact that they made a Tai Lung dummy so he can punch the crap out of it to showcase the kids his skills and have it combined with a little MMA mixed in.
Viper assisted with the giant panda and the leopard to use sneaky moves to distract the opponent when they're not looking and also to learn that self-defense is key, only if they really need it and Viper had no problems demonstrating the kids an example of how she keeps her consistency by whacking the opponent in the head.
Mantis assisted with Sora and the grey wolf on seeing if the kids can attack each other without someone getting hurt and see if they got the form right and as soon as the kids practiced on each other, Mantis could see that it's one of those extreme kung-fu sports and when they saw how they've got it down pat, he was deeply impressed.
"Well...I'm surprised. I didn't know you guys would be this good." Mantis said.
"We practice every day." one kid bunny said.
Mantis nodded his head and said, "I like it so far. Great work."
Crane worked with the young jackal on the next set of 10 students teaching them about balance because it's key to keep your body in balanced shape and once Crane showed them an example on how to keep themselves balanced, most of them were a little nervous because they don't have wings like Crane does. The jackal encouraged them to try it out to see if their balance is straight and most of them did try it and it was with some success, despite having a few stumbles and falls.
Crane blinks his eyes at this and he was very patient with the kids and he said to them, "Very good, you guys. You've got some good balances in you. Just try not to think about anything else."
And then, Tigress assisted with the lynx on how they learn MMA and it seems as though most of the kids were aware that Tigress is uncomfortable with the kids, so they're doing their best to help her ease into it, which she reluctantly agrees and she ends up teaching them a few things and it was new to them, but they're willing to try their best at it and as they did, they were a little slow in their progress and it almost got on Tigress' nerves and started to question their abilities.
The kids tried it again, but they ended up falling on their back or stomach and after about the 12th try, Tigress was starting to lose patience with those kids and she said, "You're all hopeless. Why are you even in this class anyway?"
"We're here for MMA. It's all we know." one kid responded.
"You're a disappointment to this place." Tigress said, with her elbows crossed.
The lynx was a little shocked and somewhat embarassed for those kids that they had to hear this and he tried to smooth it out and said, "Hey...don't be so down on yourselves. How many times have you did your best at MMA?"
"A lot." another kid replied.
"And even though you guys sutmble, you just keep going no matter what." the lynx added.
That seemed to make all of the kids feel better and Tigress' reaction was a little bit confusing that he's taking all of the criticism Tigress put in and replaced them with encouragement and he said, "Just keep practicing, guys."
Tigress couldn't believe what just happened and she turned to the lynx with a half-angry/half-confused glare that reads 'really?' and he told her, "There are some rules when it comes to this gym. The number-one rule around here is no harsh and/or brutal criticism. Oak's friends can't tolerate it here."
"I didn't get the rule book." Tigress added.
"Look, they're only kids. Just because it's their first time doing this and they mess it up doesn't mean that they're not good enough. It takes patience, selflessness and above all...giving them encouragement to try again if they don't get it the first time." the lynx explained.
"I don't see why they're not taking the form I did perfectly and you treat it like it's nothing." Tigress said.
"Because it's new to them. It's not like they're gonna get it right overnight. If it's their first time doing this, why should it matter if they got it right or not?" asked the lynx.
Tigress never thought it that way and she thought she was teaching them, but not knowing that she's criticizing them and the gym as well because that's what she was used to; criticism. She wasn't used to being around kids more and she said, "There are things that make me angry easily."
"That's the purpose for the MMA gym to put that anger into something good, like you do with kung-fu. We do not believe in using it for our selfish purposes nor fighting big villains. We do it because we can make a difference and everything that we teach the kids will give them the confidence they need to be the best they can be. And even if it's not MMA, it's cool though because it'll at least help them gain some confidence with themselves." the lynx added.
"I see." Tigress added.
"We don't do it because we have to. We do it because we want to and we love it." the lynx added.
Tigress lets out a deep sigh as she looked at the lynx and realized that everything he said was on the spot and that they are kids and that they do make mistakes and it really shouldn't matter if it's perfect or not and she said, "I guess I was wrong for criticizing them huh?"
"Yep. Most of us don't really believe what skeptics say because we love doing what we do. We don't just teach, but we have fun too." the lynx stated.
Soon after their conversation, the kids got the hang of mixing Tiger Style with MMA and it was impressive for Tigress and the lynx to see and the lynx clapped for them and said, "Excellent work! Man, you guys must've practiced for a short amount of time."
Tigress clears her throat and faced the kids and said, "About what I said, I deeply apologize for criticizing you and this gym. I'm just not used to kids."
"It's okay. We're trying to get used to you." another kid said.
The lynx chuckled softly at this and he said, "So...should we keep going?"
Didn't expect that to happen, huh? Stick around to see Okinawa see the real Tigress.