I don't own Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda is the property of DreamWorks Animation, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.
"You really think that you can take me? Bring it on, you geezer!"
"Who are calling geezer, fatty!"
Mantis and Viper changed worried lookes as they watched both Masters, sitting at the table.
"It's hard to believe how competetive can Po get sometimes."
"Even Baihu looks insane right now."
Both Po and Baihu refused to let the other leave their sight, as if it mattered.
Mr Ping suddenly came next to their table.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, TONIGHT YOU WILL WITNESS THE BATTLE LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, ON THIS CHAIR WEIGHING THREE HUNDRED AND TWO POUNDS, THE REIGNING CHAMPION, THE DRAGON WARRIOR, PO!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the animals saw their hero.
"AND ON THIS CHAIR, WEIGHING TWO HUNDED AND TWENTY POUNDS, THE CHALLENGER, THE PHANTOM TIGER FROM THE WEST, BAIHU!"
A few cheers and a few boos escaped the crowd.
"GENTLEMAN, I WANT TO SEE A FAIR COMPETITION, NO DIRTY TRICKS AND ABSOLUTELY NO VOMITING, THE KIDS ARE WATCHING."
"You are going down, Baihu!"
"We'll see about that!"
Two large baskets of dumplings were set on the table.
"On your marks..." Mr Ping said as both contestants took chopsticks in their hands.
"...get set..."
"GO!"
Both the Po and Baihu started shoving dumplings into their mouths.
It didn't even take two minutes for each of them to empty their first basket.
Five more minutes later each of them had finished another basket.
Then another...
And another...
When they got to their fifth basket, it became clear that bothof them were at their limit.
Baihu was slowly gasping for air with his belly stretched so wide he looked as if he was pregnant and Po was loosing consciousness with each dumpling.
"...just give up..." Po muttered.
"N...(gasp)...never..." Baihu shakily retorted.
They continued eating, their stomachs expanding quicky, then there was a huge explosion and Tigress woke up covered in cold sweat.
She sat up on her bed.
What a weird dream.
Yesterday Shifu told her to take a day off after he saw the bruises covering her limbs. She wanted to ask the white tiger about what happened during that night, but it was the day he decided to take her friends into a nearby forest to do what Po described as "the hardest day of his life". When she asked the winded panda, about what happened he simply replied by collapsing from fatigue. In the end she discovered that they were carrying large tree trunks from one end of the forest to the other running away from what could only be described as white and black double-trunk-carrying devil. After that the white tiger disappeared without a trace.
The pain was almost gone now. Tigress did a few stretches and some of her joints cracked.
After a quick breakfast the group made their way to the Training Hall, but couldn't find Baihu anywhere.
That's when Mantis noticed a piece of paper nailed to the wall at the other end of the room.
"Guys there's something over there." He said and pointed at it.
Po snatched it of the wall, once they made their way to it.
"What does it say, Po?" Viper asked.
"It just says "Lights Out"."
Just when the words escaped his mouth the door to the hall closed covering the whole room in complete darkness.
"Your eyes won't help you this time, you will have to completely rely on your instincts. If anyone succeeds in this training you will all be given a chance to accompany me on my trip to Hong Kong." Came Baihus voice and it was impossible to tell where the white tiger was.
"Awesome! How do we win?" Asked Po while nervously looking around himself.
"Just one rule. Get into the light before I get you."
And just like that everything went silent.
"So we, just need to find the door right? Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right Monkey?" Po asked.
But there was no response.
"He's gone!" panicked Crane.
"Go for the door!" Mantis shouted.
"No, that's what he wants!"
Everyone except for Po ran ignoring Tigress' warning. After few seconds their steps once again faded into silence.
Po stood back to back with Tigress.
"Any other ideas? Because now it would be a great time." Said Po clearly shaking.
"Let me think..."
"Any ideas yet?" He asked literally after two seconds.
"For the love of god let me think, or I'll throw you..."
Then an idea hit her.
"Po, throw me, THROW ME UP!"
"How will that..."
"JUST DO IT, QUICKLY!" She urged.
The panda grabbed her hands, did a little spin and send her flying to the ceiling.
Tigress put all of her strenght into her legs and kicked a hole in the roof which allowed light to conquer a small part of the room.
She gracefully landed only to hear clapping, and it almost made Po jump out of his skin to realise that the clapping white tiger stood only two feet from him.
"You two pass the test with flying colors, the rest of you would probably die, very, very, Very, VERY quickly and painfully." He said as he turned to the five figures tied to the training dummies.
"How did you even..." Tigress began, but was interupted by Po.
"DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE ARE REALLY GOING TO HONG KONG?!"
"Yes, you have three days to pack up everything you need and we will set out for our journey." The white tiger said as he untied the five masters.
"I am not going." Said Tigress.
Everyone stopped smiling and looked at her.
"Come on Tigress, it will be fun!" Po argumented.
"No Po, I've decided, someone needs to protect the Jade Palace and I just took a day off. I need to get back to training."
"Already thought about protection, I talked to one of my students and since Kweng now runs the Kung Fu Express, he will be able to send a small army of his workers to stand guard. And as for the training it might help that you will have the chance see some of the most famous masters in the Rongyu temple, besides Shifu's coming too." Baihu finished.
"How did you even convince Master Shifu to leave the Palace? He normally leaves only to meet with other masters." Crane asked.
"Well I can be very persuasive, when I want to and I will also pay for everything during our stay, so there is no need to worry about expenses."
Everyone looked questioningly at Tigress.
"Fine, I'll come too."
They went through the standard training very quickly, and after the ending sparring session the group dispersed almost instantly leaving Tigress with some time to finally talk to Baihu.
He was standing with his back turned to her putting away various pieces of training equipment.
He suddenly turned to face her.
"So what do you want to talk about?" He asked rather innocently.
"I'm sorry" She muttered.
"What was that?"
"I am sorry for attacking you."
The white tiger looked at her wide eyed and then he started to laugh.
"Wh-what's so funny!?"
"You are sorry and yet I should thank you, it was literally one of the best fights I was ever part of."
"You mean that?"
"Yes! Your technique was flawless. You were fast as the wind, fluid as water and your punches burned more than fire. It was an honor to witness that." Baihu talked while gesticulating wildly.
"I am not sure about what happened though..."
"What happened was that you allowed all of your stored anger to just leave your soul. Let me ask you something. How did you feel after that fight?"
"I felt relieved, as if I was free of all worries."
"That's great, this means you reached your inner peace and at such young age, as your master I am very proud, you should be too."
This felt so weird for Tigress it was as if those words warmed her heart directly. So once in her life she didn't worry about being prideful, she just let herself to enjoy this moment.
"So is there a chance that I will ever break down and cry in front of everyone I care about?"
"I doubt it even though with someone as sensitive as you, who can tell." He said as he made the most exaggerated sad face he could muster.
Something unbelivable happened after that, the stone cold Master Tigress let out a playfull chuckle.
After talking about a few other things she left the Hall with a new strange feeling hidden deep within her heart.
From that day onwards the sun shone a little brighter and birds sang a little happier, just for her.
EXPLANATIONS:
First of all Kweng is the kung fu master who appeared in the episode "Shoot the Messenger".
I didn't write for such a long time because I am a lazy uninspired idiot who had his teachers go crazy, his computer break down and was infected by flu.
AFTERWORD:
PLEASE WRITE ME A REVIEW OR A MESSAGE JUST SO I KNOW THAT THIS FIC ISN'T DEAD YET.
BYE!