Ch.2: A Vision

Sorry about the mediocre descriptions in the last chapter. This fanfiction is mainly for practice with pacing and dialogue spacing with the adventure genre. I'm not very good at grand descriptions like that. What I am good at is horror description and suspenseful narrating. That's why you might see some of the darker spots to be more intense with their wording. Anyway, this chapter is a little longer than the previous one. Again, still practicing with certain things like that. I hope you enjoy it!

The sun peeked over the eastern horizon signaling a new day. Villagers of the valley went about their lives of work. Buying, selling, outfitting, cooking, weaving, sewing, and every other job title that was deemed worthy of being alive. The farmers to the east and south cared for their crops. Wheatfields became goldfields in the morning sun, and the eldest of the valley basked in the newly found warmth. No stepping stone out of place. No pathway was unused. No face displaying a frown. The Valley of Peace was happy that day. The morning was calm and easy despite the bustling streets. Contentment was not coveted among anyone.

Mr. Ping and his son were enjoying the breakfast customer's company and patronage. It felt far too long since the previous father-son moments were shared and cherished. The two figures danced around the pots of noodles effortlessly, never skipping a beat. Chopped onions, carrots, and various powdered spices fell into the mixed cauldron of taste bud heaven. Orders were being taken and delivered to tables. Po loved Kung Fu and being beaten up by his comrades with every fiber of his being, but he did, in some ways, miss living the simple life of a waiter for a family restaurant. He didn't know why, but there was always some charm in it. Plus, he got to serve food directly on the tables of his fans.

"Po!" Mr. Ping called out from the kitchen, "The morning gong is going to sound soon. Don't be late getting to the Jade Palace!"

"Okay, Dad! Love you!" the lovable panda called back.

"Love you too, son!"

And just as the morning came as quickly from the next day, Po made haste to the Thousand Steps to train with the others.

A few of the geese servants gathered together to sound the gong. They were never able to do this task on their own as they were only a few pounds. Lining up on either side, the servants rushed forward and shot the mallet forward. Gong. "Oh, shoot. I'm only halfway up the stairs! Agh! Ugh! C'mon!" Po was breathing deeply and very clearly out of breath. The panda village had spoiled him with the technology of an elevator and the philosophical wonder of rolling downhill. Master Shifu wouldn't allow one bit of laziness like that, much less would the terrain of the Jade Palace. "Almost...there." Po was at the last stretch of the stairs. Gasping for breath, Po rolled over onto the ledge overlooking the villagers below. He pumped his fists in the air in celebration of his accomplishment of climbing the stairs once again. It reminded him of the very first time he ever trekked up the Thousand Steps, the day he was chosen. He caught up to his breath and regained control of his legs. The hard part was over.

Po made his way to the students' barracks. The pathway was always so tranquil to him. All of the flowers and plants along the side of the stairs imbued serenity. But something wasn't right. Po didn't know what it was, only that something just...was. He picked up his pace. His eyes were darting back and forth between the steps he laid his feet upon and the rooms of the Kung Fu Masters. Images of his friends were flying in front of him. Was Monkey in trouble? Did he fall from a tree while playing a prank? Was Mantis finally stepped on? Oh, no. Did Crane sprain his wing? Viper! She must've caught a bad fever! Tai Lung is back! Shifu kicked the bucket! What is happening up there? Every bad situation Po could think of worsened his rising anxiety.

He finally reached the antechamber where the rooms' main hallway sprouted off from. Shifu was waiting there for him to go through how the morning routine would work as the new teacher, but his focus was shattered when he saw Po frantically out of breath.

"Panda! Calm down! What's going on!" The red panda tried to get Po to breathe.

"I don't know, Master Shifu! I just got this really bad feeling that something bad is happening!" Po replied.

"That is no excuse, to come here disturbing the peace!"

"I'm sorry, Master Shifu." Po stopped himself and took a breather. He was visibly wary. Po hadn't a bit of focus. The Furious Five's shadows were rustling about their rooms. They had already awoken at the bell. They were just waiting for Master Shifu and the Dragon Warrior to summon them, and this was the last thing they expected in the morning.

Normally the pupils were not allowed to speak until they greeted their master at their doors, but today would be an exception. Mantis was the first to ask. "Dude, what happened?" Shifu darted a glare to the shadow on the rice paper wall but didn't bother to reprimand him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know. Maybe...maybe I'm playing this out to be too much guys. Let's just...I don't know...get the greetings over with and we'll do our morning workout. Okay?"

Silence greeted his offer, but the calming of the shadows' movements was plenty of an answer for Po. "Alright, Dragon Warrior. The gong is what wakes the students, but, as you know, you must call them out of their rooms. You will simply announce 'Students!' and they will come out."

"Okay. Uh...guys?"

"Panda," Shifu stated aptly, unamused at the Dragon Warrior.

"Right! Right. Students!"

The warriors darted to their entrances and replied in unison, "Good morning, Master." Something was wrong, though. They were missing a greeting from the higher register. It only became clear to everyone when they saw Tigress' doors still closed. Po took a sharp inhale.

The panda was nervous. He knew something was wrong. "Ti...Tigress?" he managed to croak. Oh no. Po dashed over to the door of the tiger's room. There was no silhouette, no creaks on the floor, no 'Go away!', only silence. Po reached his shaky hand towards the door. The rest of the five were still standing at their doors but were focused on the panda. Po pushed on the door and peered inside. What he saw shook him to his core. "Tigress!" Po yelled out. He shoved the rice paper doors out of his way and rushed to the side of Tigress. She was lying motionless on the floor next to her shelf of scrolls. Master Shifu and the others made haste to the room.

"Daughter!" Shifu cried. What has happened to her?

Po shook Tigress to wake her up. In vain his action, however. Her body was static and unmoving. Po became dejected, as did everyone else. But he wasn't handling this situation the same. This was the only true friend that he ever made. One that could understand him on a different level, although at times boring easily at the ranting of personal feelings. He wasn't just going to let this happen. No one could ever take Tigress away from him. He took charge of the situation like a true master. "Crane! Go down to the valley and find a doctor! Take Viper with you. Mantis, Monkey, go to the kitchen and make her some herbal soup! Master Shifu, let's get her onto the cot."

Shifu usually didn't see this side of Po. The goofy side of him had always taken the forefront of his character. He was truly astonished at how serious of a leader he could be when under pressure. Tigress now lay on her cot with her paws across her torso. The panda was crouching down on his knees next to the feline. "Now what?" Shifu asked. Am I seriously the one asking Po of all people that question?

"We wait for Crane and Viper to come back with the doctor," Po replied without taking his eyes off of her form. They heard a faint flapping of wings outside of the building. "That must be Crane!"

The avian and the serpent finally returned, but they were empty-handed. From the hallway, Viper slithered into Tigress' room, followed by Crane, to deliver some unfortunate news. "The doctor isn't in the Valley of Peace right now. She apparently had to travel to someone's need elsewhere."

"The soup is ready!" the insect called out from the kitchen.

The news that was given to Po didn't help him feel better. What could he do? Mantis and Monkey came into the room with a bowl of steaming soup. It filled the room with the smell of a potent cocktail of herbs. Monkey started to look confused. "Where's the doctor?" he asked.

"She isn't in the valley," answered Viper.

Shifu hadn't looked so distraught the whole time that Po had known him. It felt kind of unnatural to him. Both to Po and Shifu. "Wait!" Po announced, "I think I have an idea. Remember when Oogway got hurt from the ambush in that scroll?" Nods in the room followed the question. "The pandas in the village used Chi to wake him up! Maybe we can do the same with Tigress!"

"That's a great idea!" Viper exclaimed.

Po waved everyone over to stand around the cot with himself to her left. The collective all inhaled and exhaled to calm themselves and to muster every bit of Chi they had. With the group lined up around Tigress, they readied their forms to give Chi. An impressive and mesmerizing line of circles were formed with the techniques. They all pushed their arms forward. Eyes were closed and focus was concurring with harmony. Po watched as the room filled with a golden aura radiating from each master. Passion and concern could just be felt. But Tigress was still not moving. "C'mon," uttered Po, "Please wake up. Please."

The feline's form lay motionless on her cot, but Tigress' paws began to glow. However, it didn't seem stable. The golden light from her paw flickered like it was dying out. The panda didn't know what to do. It didn't seem that anything was working. Po let his hands down dejectedly. He had this sense of regret over what he hadn't done, what he hadn't said. Anguish filled the room as the rest of the warriors let their hands down too. There was a deafening silence that screamed in their ears. Tears began to well up in Po's eyes. He wasn't ashamed of them either.

The panda shifted his weight downwards next to her cot. He took a hold of the tigress' paw. The feeling was familiar to him. Po remembered feeling like this when she was on that piece of driftwood in Gongmen Bay. She wasn't dead then. She's not dead now. The others stood by with anguish plastered on their faces. Shifu looked like he was forced to watch someone be tortured right in front of him without the ability to help. None of this mattered to Po. He had faith that this would work. There was no room for doubt in his mind. He didn't have enough time for doubt.

Po placed his left palm flatly onto hers. His palms lit up with golden Chi, and the panda's right paw began to flow up Tigress' arm. "Po! What are you doing?" the red panda questioned, but Po paid no thought. His paw finally reached the center of the tiger's forehead. The others looked confused but did not intervene. Her paws were glowing. They had stopped flickering. But sparks began to fly off from her right palm, and a ball of Chi began to form at her fingertips, growing bigger. "Panda! Stop!" Po still didn't listen. He was determined to wake her up.

In vain his efforts, the panda would soon understand. A Chi blast from the listless, cot-bounded form sent the panda and warriors flying backward, tearing up the room's interior rice-paper walls. She still hadn't moved. There was no reaction from her at all. No flinch, wince, or nuisance-induced scowl. They all were grimacing with pain feeling dejected. Hope felt lost without Tigress' brazen leadership.

"Po!" the red panda yelled, "What do you think you were doing!" He had now risen from the floor and was leaning against his staff, visibly in pain. A scowl painted his face with confused anger and frustration.

"I...I don't-"

"Were you trying to get us killed? She could've blown the building down the hillside!"

"I didn't think that-"

"You NEVER think, Po! My daughter is lying there unconscious and you think that it's a good idea to try something without even thinking about it?"

Po didn't respond. He was too trepid from the explosion, both from Tigress and from Shifu. The room was completely silent. The four were all standing close to one another holding their breath. Master Shifu let out a loud sigh and left the room wobbling morosely. The others stayed a while longer, still in shock from the vast turn of events that took place in the mere few minutes since they had readied themselves to be summoned. They eventually left for their rooms to leave Po sitting in the corner depressed. He started to well up with tears. What did I do? "Tigress...please...come back." He sat there a while longer. He knew he had to leave her room eventually, but he couldn't help himself to do so. He wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. So he did.

Droplets of tears fell from his face and into the fur on his arms. He restrained from sniffing too often. He didn't want the others to hear him. He had this heartbreaking feeling. All of his being wanted something, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Did he want...someone? Perhaps he just wanted.

Tigress was in the courtyard of the training hall. The sun's rays jumped happily off of any reflective surfaces they could find. Swords, shields, training equipment, all of which shimmered and made the area seem balmy. The high noon sun was going to make the day very hot, but for some reason, Tigress couldn't feel the heat. She was usually slightly immune to it anyway, but she couldn't feel a thing, whatsoever. Now that she was thinking about it, Tigress realized that she couldn't feel anything from any part of her body. Not even her tail that was now chaotically sweeping the ground. She didn't understand how she got there. Something else caught her attention. Am I...shorter? She looked around. Everything was a little taller to her. Am I losing my mind?

"Tigress! Focus!" her father called out to her. She spun her head around in the direction of the source. "What are you doing? That is not proper form!" She was unaware that there was any training going on, but she was instinctually going to make up for it. Like a muscle reflex, her mouth immediately moved to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Mas..."

"I'm sorry, Master!" Her ears perked up at that second apology. It sounded like she said it, but she didn't say it. Was it possible for her to cut herself off? "I don't know what got into me! I won't let it happen again."

"I wish I could believe that," Shifu muttered, "One hundred laps!"

Something about all of this seemed eerily familiar like she was having some major deja vu. Who is that...wait! She remembered this because she had lived it! The tiger that began to do laps around the courtyard was none other than herself as a teenager. Though the sudden realization was nice, it didn't stop her from being completely confused by all of this. This must be a vision, but why am I seeing it? She looked down at her paws for a moment. She noticed that her arms weren't bare. However, there wasn't a gold hanfu concealing them. Tigress was clothed in a brown robe. The same brown robe that clothed the jogging punished tiger. Am I a teenager? She walked over to a bare shield on the ground. There was a clean spot among the rest of the dirt covering it where Tigress could see her reflection. Her face was that of a teenager's: matured yet not fully grown. She mumbled quietly to herself, "I am…a teenager."

Tigress heard porcelain shatter next to the training hall. Her master had squished his teacup while talking with Oogway. If she remembered correctly, someone was supposed to come crashing through that door worried about something. "No, someone!" Tigress said to herself. "This is when I had to fight Boar!" Just like clockwork, the mongrel came rushing through the door to warn Shifu. The other Tigress stopped her laps and listened in on what he had to say. The dog was explaining everything just as she remembered it. He calls himself Boar, he is unstoppable, he is invincible, and Shifu has to stop him. She remembered feeling like she had a chance to prove herself. But of course, she wouldn't get her chance until later.

Master Shifu had set up his conveyor belt. Giant stones came sliding towards him to decimate with his hand. Tigress moved around it and saw herself. Standing in front of her younger self was almost like she was looking in a mirror through time. Tigress reached out to try and touch her, but Tigress' hand just phased through her body. Oogway was coming towards her, looking at Tigress. Not the one in the vision but the real one. Everything around her stopped. She was alive and moving around in a frozen plane. "I see that you're still confused," Master Oogway said with his signature smile.

"Master, what is going on?"

Master Oogway let out a small chuckle. "You don't have to ask that every time I come and see you. That's twice now!" Tigress didn't try to bother arguing or prying information. She had a feeling that Oogway would just deflect any question. He let out a content sigh with his smile never departing. "I brought you here so that you can realize something. What your destiny is and how it started."

"I thought I already knew my destiny."

"Hmm...and what would that be?"

Tigress halted for a moment. What is my destiny? She had to think of what it could be. "To be adopted by Shifu...at the Bao Gu Orphanage."

A comfortable smile welcomed itself to Oogway's face. "No. But you see, Tigress, to gain inner peace, you must first understand why you are where you are. Your destiny began here on this very day."

"Then...will I find inner peace after this?"

"Oh no!" Oogway chuckled. "But the path to finding it will be revealed to you."

Tigress contemplated for a moment on his words. "Okay, Master."

"And Tigress, don't be afraid to explore! Sometimes the small details are very important in understanding the bigger picture. Alright then. Let's get back to the vision!"

Everything started moving again. Like the talk with Oogway never happened, he was back to where he was behind the other Tigress. She remembered that, at the time, the next words of his would hurt her. Tigress had told Oogway that she wanted to be just like Shifu but never could. "No, you won't," he told her. Tigress understood what he meant by it now, but it still hurt enough to make her droop her ears a bit. Tigress shook her head. She didn't have time for those feelings. She had to stay focused.

Pacing over his words, she began to ask herself, "Why am I here? What is my destiny? Who am I? What is the path?" She let out a sigh of frustration. "Why is this vision important?" She said dejectedly. "How on earth am I supposed to figure out why I'm here?"

"Shifu," the old turtle declared," There is a more pressing matter on our hands."

The red panda looked confused. "What could be more important than training?"

Oogway let out a smile with a very innocent giggle, seemingly as if he was about to see Shifu do something incredibly stupid. "Food!" Oogway replied excitedly, holding up a menu flyer. "Let's order in."

The servants halted the conveyor belt and incoming stones graciously. Their little goose bodies looked like they might explode. Bones were rattling around which was more than concerning when taking into account how light they needed to be to fly. Tigress let out a quick snort of laughter but hastily chastised herself. She looked over towards the old Masters pointing at different parts of the menu, discussing the plan for lunch. Tigress herself didn't feel hungry. Perhaps it was just the lack of needing to be, considering the fact that it was just a vision. Tigress saw the other. She could sense that there was hunger in her. -Growl- "Was that...me?"The Tigress of the vision was holding her paw on her stomach. Tigress was a little stunned. She didn't remember being that hungry before. Her stomach hardly was the one that ever growled. It's always...Po. The whole thing reminded her of Po. She quite missed him. Tigress felt kind of alone which was odd to her, but the void was filled with memories of the panda's appetite. His belly seemed to never stop rolling with sea tides. Tigress giggled at the thought. "I hope he's doing fine without me."

They didn't do anything for that entire day. Perhaps it was in part to dejection. None of them felt like doing anything. Well, that's not true. Monkey and Mantis made an effort to cheer up their friend, but the panda wasn't in the mood for being cheered up. He didn't want to feel like this. He felt alone. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted Tigress to just get up and slap him, maybe punch him in the gut, and then kick him down the Thousand Steps. The daze he was in wasn't going away. Pe tried to fall asleep that night, but his body gravitated towards insomnia. The day felt like a bad dream that he couldn't wake up from.

It shifted to morning, but there was no sun. It must be before dawn, the panda thought. He needed to get his mind off of everything. Po got up from his cot and quietly opened his door. He squeaked down the ricepaper hallway and then to the outside. Quiet. No noise whatsoever. No wind. No birds chirping. No crickets. Nothing. It was very unsettling for him. Maybe it was a sign. "But what could it mean?" he whispered. He shook the thought. Po just needed to get away. His usual spot was appealing to him. He meandered over to the peach tree. The countless nights Po would spend here made it almost a staple of his personality. He didn't know it, but the others all saw a bit of Oogway in him. Emphasis on a bit though. He was still just Po, no matter what would happen to him.

-Drop- The panda jumped a bit. He looked up at the branches that reached away from the trunk on which Po leaned. Water, he thought. He moved up onto his feet. He readied himself in position. He could almost feel the water moving on the peachtree petal. He raised his paw to the sky and down came falling a water droplet. He let himself be free. The motions of inner peace turned into something more. As the droplet went on a ride around his arms, Chi lit up his paws and the droplet started to radiate light. Po moved his paws around it. The droplet began to expand and grow. The panda circled his arms around in the Chi form and the water followed him. He directed the water into a mist and it shot off of the cliff's edge.

Po opened his eyes. He had never done something like that before. It was different. He felt calm and peaceful. He sat down to ponder over what he did. He finally closed his eyes to meditate. Rest greeted him in open arms. Inner peace was all that he needed to get some rest. And apparently, it was all that Shifu needed as well. Po didn't know it, but Shifu had been sitting in front of the Hall of Warriors, desperately trying to calm himself. He looked on in awe at what the dragon warrior was doing. He had never seen something like that before, either. Shifu had not been participating, but it felt as though he had. Calmness had made its way to Shifu.

Um. Read and Review and whatnot. Or not. I don't care. Actually, do tell me if I misspelled something or if there is incorrect grammar anywhere. I know I hate for really good stories to just be ruined by bad revising and editing.