Disclaimer : I do not own Kung Fu Panda

Chapter 14 : Decision

It's been two hours Shifu spent his time in his room, mumbling and arguing his own opinion.

"The dragon warrior, huh? How can I make that flabby panda a warrior, furthermore prepare him to defeat Tai Lung?!" he sighed. "I am doomed. First, I have to tell him that he's the real choosen one. Then I will have to face the possibility of anger from Tigress."

Thinking about that tiger already gave him the creeps. He had been considering various possibilities that would come next. Will she turn into a mosnter like Tai Lung? Going bersek and laying waste to the valley? And with no Oogway around, he would be the only one left to stop her while he did never want to hurt his own daughter.

This was his fault. If only he had followed Master Oogway earlier. But it seemed like everything was too late. His master had died and he was left alone to deal with this problem.

A small, malicious part of him wished to blame Master Oogway for naming Tigress The Dragon Warrior. But he knew that this was totally unjust. It was his fault because he had kept denying Oogway's advice so that the problem became this far. Oogways always wanted to fix this mistake but Shifu always refused it!

KLUMP! KLONK!THUNK!

Loud noises startled him. They were coming from inside the bunkhouse, in the kitchen to be precise.

And he knew who's the most likely having a dinner snack at this hour. Among his six students, there was only one person he had in mind.

For a few minutes, he returned struggling with his mind. But that clincking sound of pots and frying pans continued harrassing his hearing.

A wooden shelves being punched was heard. With a grunt, Shifu immediately left his room. Someone must stop that panda from destroying the kitchen. It surprised him that none of his students seemed to be bothered by that noise.

A sound of someone chewing and swallowing food was getting clearer as he was approaching the kitchen. The five's rooms was already dark as he walked past them.

"I wish you didn't create any mess in the kitchen at your first night here, Panda."

A second later, his mouth fell open.

A wooden cupboard where foodstuff were usually stored in now lost its doors. Some cabinets had holes caused by punches and kicks. All was totally trashed but what caught his attention was that the fact that this supposedly useless panda had just smashed these furnitures only with his bare arm. What a power for a beginner. Strangely, he wasn't aware of the strenght this panda possessed before. Or, not only him. This panda himself might not realize what he was capable of.

Po stopped mid-munch. "What?" he asked with mouth stuffed with huge quantities of food. "I eat when I'm upset, okay."

Shifu watched the panda. An idea suddenly forming in his mind.

Food. That's it! That must be the source of where this panda's power comes from. A motivation that awakes his talent hidden within his fat body. He wanted to see of his hunch about this panda was correct.

"Oh, no Panda," the master said eagerly. "There's no need to explain. I just thought you might be Monkey. He hides his almond cookies on the top shelf."

Then Shifu left the kitchen. Or so it seemed to Po. With a wide grin after the red panda was gone, he climbled up the high shelves and perched there with his legs spreading wide apart in a perfect-looking split a few feet above the floor. His hand reached for the top shelf and found a jar of cookies Shifu told him. Without having a second thought, he jammed those snacks into his mouth as fast as he could. For a while, he wondered if it was okay to steal Monkey's secret food stash. But as his taste sense tasted how delicious those food were, he discarded that worries in an instant.

He just accepted a challenge from Tigress and if he couldn't overpower her in kung fu within a week, he must admit defeat and leave the Jade Palace.

It was a fool decision. He already knew there was no way he could win and yet, he was willing to answer that challenge. He couldn't think straight. Food might help to ease his mind at this moment but it couldn't solve his concern.

As he was enjoying his stolen food, he realized that Shifu was watching him in the doorway. He gulped with a guilty expression.

"Don't tell Monkey."

Shifu was grinning widely. "Look at you!" he exclaimed, admiring what his new student was doing.

"Yeah, I know. I disgust you."

"No, no," Shifu replied. "I mean, how did you get up there?"

Po looked at the cookies and couldn't help but eat it. "I don't know. I guess – I don't know. I was getting a cookie."

"And yet, you are ten feet off the ground and have done a prefect split."

It was probably due to weight gain caused by amount of food he ate today, he felt his body was getting heavier to be supported with his legs in this position. WHOMP! He lost his footing and slammed to the floor. He picked himself up from the pile of pans. However, he couldn't conceal his anxiety from his master.

"Master, I –" he trailed off, still hesitated to talk, but he proceeded eventually. "Do you think I deserve to be here?"

"Master Oogway himself asked you to stay here," Shifu answered as he studied the panda's expression. "Is there a problem?"

Po shrugged, then he told him the deal he made with Tigress.

"If I win, I'll stay. If I lose, I ... I'll leave."

Shifu nodded. It was obvious that Tigress disliked this panda and she had been plotting a plan to get rid of Po from the Jade Palace. But he understood her. It's not her fault. He was the one responsible here that made Tigress hate Po.

Now he wished to make things right. Shifu was her teacher. He was in charge in the Jade Palace replacing Master Oogway and it meant, he had the right to make the decision related to his students. The thing was, he couldn't just openly show Tigress that he was on Po's side. What he had to do now was to help Po win said challenge. If it works, then not only Po will keep remaining here but also he will have qualified abilities to defeat Tai Lung. And next, he just needs to hand the dragon scroll to Po and arrages him to a fight with Tai Lung. Perfect!

"I will help you."

Po laughed. "Come on! That's impossible. We only have seven days."

"Not in a week. I can make you into dragon warr—er, I mean, strong enough to fight Tigress within three days."

"No way!" Po exclaimed.

"Nothing is impossible," Shifu gave him a meaningful smile. "If you want to learn kung fu, you have to trust me." He patted Po's shoulder. "Clean this up," he said gently. "and start to pack up. We're leaving first thing tomorrow."

"To ... where?"

"To the birth place of Kung Fu."

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And Shifu did not even remember that he had said the same thing to Tigress the day before.

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A/N : Just a sort of a warm up after taking a long hiatus from fanfiction.