Echoes

by Starless echoes

It's... a collection of one-shots. What else is there to say?

3. Supper's Ready

Hello everyone,

I used to have a rather long description here that was mostly about me being tired from lack of sleep, but since that problem's been fixed, I can now happily delete it.

I love all of you guys. Thank you so much.

On with the show!

---

I. Lover's Leap

Walking across the sitting room, Tigress slowly sat down in her chair. She turned her head to the side and gazed upon the empty seat beside her. With a soft smile, she remembered the times when that chair wasn't empty. The times when a big, lovable panda sat in it and would always look back at her with a toothy grin.

Gone were those days, as all that was left for her to gaze upon was the worn padding that now took her husband's place. After staring at the empty chair for too long, Tigress looked back at the fire burning within the fireplace before her. She stretched out her aged paws to warm them up, welcoming the warmth as it washed over her tired bones. Her small pot of noodles was just beginning to warm over the fire. During their long marriage, Po had taught Tigress the art of noodle-making. It was a skill she would not soon forget.

Down below in the Valley, she knew they were celebrating the Winter Festival. Even her three children, her two sons begat by Po, and Lei Lei, who they had formally adopted following the death of her grandmother, was down there with them.

Of course, they had been most adamant about staying with her, and they had for most of the day. But Tigress felt bad that her children were missing out on the festivities on her account, so with the setting of the Sun, she had all but demanded that they go and enjoy themselves. She nearly had to throw something at them to get them to leave, but they eventually respected her wishes, albeit promising that they wouldn't stay out too late, and would be back before she went to bed.

"We raised good children, didn't we, Po?" she asked the empty seat out loud.

The seat didn't answer, but she could imagine Po nodding his head and smiling at her the way he always did, saying, "You're sure right about that, Ti."

It was her first Winter Festival without him. He had taken his place in the Spirit Realm much earlier in the year, and she had begun to get used to life without him, but she would be lying if she had said that not having him with her during the Festival wasn't painful. She now spent much time reminiscing on everything about him, even the little, tiny things that sometimes got on her nerves. Oh, he was perfect, and she didn't know how she could have ever taken him for granted. They may not have argued much, but she could still remember the times that they had, and she scolded her own stupidity. Had the subject of their argument been so important that they had called each other those names? What were they, children?

No, no, she thought. That was slandering the good name of children.

Po had been there for her through everything. He was the only one who had been there all the time, every time. Years ago, Shifu had ascended just as Oogway had, and Tigress had been blessed with the opportunity to see it with her own eyes and hear his words as the petals floated around him and he seemingly walked on air.

Then she had become the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace, and they had continued protecting the Valley just as they always had. Then came the day that Po finally proposed to her. Oh, she would never forget that day! He had planned so much and organized it with the Five, but one silly mistake sent the whole little act unraveling and left Po looking rather silly.

But Po swallowed his disappointment, and in the kitchen of the Jade Palace, covered in hot noodles, he got down on one knee and proposed. She would never forget the way she had brushed the noodles that dangled in front of his eyes like a length of hair and bent down to kiss him.

Then, they had moved into their own house. If getting married had been the best day of her life, then Po carrying her across the threshold of their new home was the second best. She didn't know how, but she clearly remembered the smell of the house as they walked in. A wonderful, wonderful scent, it had been.

And then came their children. She never thought she could love anybody as she loved Po, but one look at the tiny heads of her twin sons and she knew at that moment that it was indeed possible. She could remember every detail about every important day that they had. The day that they first walked. The day they said their first words.

Tigress now smiled as she retreated her now-warm paws and folded them across her lap. Po had never stopped teasing her that both their children's first words had been "Dada."

She remembered the first time they showed them the Jade Palace. Their eyes had grown wider than any melons as the shimmering of the floors of the Hall of Heroes took their breaths away. The day that they had stepped forward and timidly punched the training dummy had been one of the proudest of her life.

At the same time, Crane had been inspired by Po's leap of faith in asking Tigress for her paw in marriage and had asked Viper for her… well, not for her paw, but rather the tip of her tail.

Regardless of what he had asked for, she had gladly given it to him. Unlike Po and Tigress, they had been unable to have children of their own, but that didn't stop them from loving their adopted ones with equal passion.

And with a blink of her eye, her children and her sister's children were defending the Valley on their own, along with some others with who they had become good friends. Of course, there was an intermediate stage in which they had accompanied the Five in their missions. Never had Po, Tigress, Viper, or Crane ever been so stressed in their lives. They had fought side by side with each other for years, so it seemed natural for one to fight alongside the other. But having their children fighting alongside them? That was a different story altogether.

Fortunately, the children were fast learners, so they quickly became ready to defend the Valley by themselves. It was such a strange feeling, the day that Tigress realized that she was no longer needed to defend the Valley. If she wanted to, she could simply take the day off and it would, miraculously, be okay. Of course, all that she and the Five had done for the Valley hadn't gone unnoticed, and a celebration had been thrown in their honor. No one said it out loud, but she couldn't help but feel as if it was a retirement party. At first, she fought against it, believing that the people still needed her, but when the next generation of protectors successfully repulsed a bandit attack on their own, she finally felt a great weight lift itself off of her shoulders.

Part of her was sad that her day in the Sun was beginning to wane, but with the help of Po, she began to understand that the evening was the best part of the day. She could sit down and rest a moment, reflecting on her day's hard work. She had done good.

She had done really good. There was nothing to regret.

Well, she had a few regrets. They came to her on some nights. That night when she had told Po he was a disgrace, back on the very first day she had met him, that was forever burned in her memory.

As Tigress shifted in her chair, she tried to push those memories out of her head. Po had forgiven her for her vicious words long ago, hadn't he? There was no reason to think about it anymore.

After her "retirement" of sorts, the rest of the Five had moved away down the paths of their own lives. Both Mantis and Monkey had found the loves of their lives years ago and went with them to pursue their own happiness. She could still remember Po waving to Mantis as he began to walk down the Thousand Steps so that he may leave the Valley, shouting out to him-

"Could you ask her not to eat your head? I kinda like it on your shoulders!"

Mantis had thrown his thingy in the air, and Tigress would never be sure whether he was waving goodbye or if he was giving Po a different gesture altogether. It was hard to tell since he didn't have fingers.

Then came the day that she walked back into her house and realized for the first time that Po was the only one who was truly left for her. Her children were with her, of course, but no one would ever understand her as Po did. She thought that would have been a sad day, but instead, it was a happy one. The next time she had seen Po, she kissed him in a way she had not done so in quite some time. He was surprised at first, but he soon got in the swing of things, placing his paw on the back of her head and kissing her back.

Of course, she could never forget the day that Lei Lei had come to her, shy and unsure of what to say. Upon pressure from her worried mother, she had finally uttered the words-

"Well, Mom, you see… umm… there's this guy…"

She couldn't ever seem to remember the words that followed those, as she had been in far too much of a shock to remember the rest of them. But, she quickly recovered, and soon found this "guy" dining with them in her own home. Before she knew it, this "guy" was standing at the end of the aisle as Po led Lei Lei down the length of it. And soon, two fathers led their own daughters, where her very own baby boys were waiting at the end of the aisle.

All of a sudden, it was much quieter around the house. She never realized how much sound her children had made. It was only her and Po once more. On that day, Po had seen her dismayed look, and he had taken her aged face in his paws, and he had said-

"You're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Then, Tigress had the privilege to do the one thing she had always wanted to do with Po.

She grew old with him. Not a morning passed when she would wake up first in bed, and she would roll over and see Po laying next to her, peacefully asleep. She would lay there and stare at the love of her life until his eyes would finally flutter open and he would sleepily smile at her.

Finally, the fateful day had come when Po's time was up; his mission accomplished.

She could remember looking around the house but not finding him. She called out his name, but there was no response. After she was satisfied that he could not be in the house, she had stepped outside, calling out his name. Still no response. After thinking about the possible places he could be, she finally knew where he was. She climbed the old path that led to the Jade Palace that didn't involve the Ten Thousand Steps, accessible to them thanks to the close position of their home to the palace.

She climbed up it and soon found herself in a place she hadn't visited in quite some time. The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. She found Po sitting there, against the tree, with a half-eaten peach still clutched in his paw. He was gazing at the lights of the Valley below. She had stepped up by his side when he looked up at her. He had said-

"Tigress, can you promise me something?"

Not having the slightest idea of what he was about to ask of her, she had nodded.

"You know, you're the strongest person I've ever known," he had said. "Do you think you could still be that strong without me?"

She remembered how her eyes had widened at those words.

"What do you mean?" she had asked, fearing the answer. He had turned his head back upon the Valley, and, with the help of Oogway's staff that he had been given, he stood back up and turned around to face Tigress. He began to back up, not seeming to fear the approaching edge.

"Tigress, I think you'll have to care for our kids without me," he had said. She remembered stepping forward and reaching her paws out, trying to draw him away from the edge. He had taken her paws in his own and put them up around his own face. With a smile, he continued to back up towards the edge, and Tigress felt a strong gust of wind swirl around her as the petals of the peach tree began to break away from the tree and begin the swirl around Po.

More than anything, she hadn't wanted him to leave her, but she understood that it was his time, so she leaned forward and kissed him just one more time. It was, perhaps, the greatest of all the kisses they had ever shared. And then, Po had simply vanished from her arms. She had opened her eyes from the kiss, only to see the mass of swirling petals gently lift themselves up into the air, a few feet away from the edge. Then, the wind seemingly stopped blowing, and the petals dispersed, but Po was no longer in their midst. The petals fell down back to earth, and Tigress had sunk to her knees as tears ran down her face.

Now, she looked back up from the fireplace and gazed once again upon Po's empty seat, finally finished going through her memories. She leaned over and put her paw on the armrest of the chair, remembering the times when that gesture was met with Po's own paw finding its way on top of hers.

"Po," she spoke aloud. "Thank you for being the best partner I could have ever asked for. Thank you."

All of a sudden, the fire flickered out.

Tigress rolled her amber eyes, as she expected that she had so foolishly allowed the firewood to run out on her. The temperature seemed to immediately drop. That was strange, she thought. Surely it couldn't be so cold outside that the lack of her fire was noticed that soon. Yet it was. Tigress stood back up again, shuffling over to the stack of firewood they kept in the corner. She lifted up a small bundle of dried wood and shuffled back to the fireplace, crouching down.

Yet interestingly, there was still firewood within the hearth. Tigress knitted her brow. So how had the fire burned out?

When she turned her head, she saw a warm yellow light flooding through her windows. That was impossible, she thought. It was still nighttime.

Placing the wood in the hearth, Tigress stood up and rolled her eyes. She walked to the door, clapping her paws.

"Okay, very funny!"

She assumed that her children must have returned from the festival and had decided to pull some kind of prank on her. As she stepped closer to the door, she saw the golden light seep its way around the edges of the doorframe.

But when she opened the door, she gasped.

Her children were not playing a prank on her. Something even stranger was going on. And only one thing was for certain: she was not in the Valley of Peace anymore.

She took one step outside of her house, leaving her supper overcooking in the fireplace. It had just become ready to eat.

---

II. The Fountain of Salmacis

"I must be dreaming," Tigress thought to herself as she looked around. She raised her arm and pinched it with her other paw, but despite the pain, she did not wake up. She put her paw on her stomach.

"I don't know what I ate, but it must not have been cooked long enough."

As she continued to gaze around, she finally came to the conclusion that if she was going to hallucinate, she might as well explore her surroundings before she awakened.

Her feet were currently on soft, warm, wet grass, much unlike the dried, dead grass that had been growing outside her house in the dead of winter. The trees that had once surrounded their house were now gone. Not as in, chopped down, but rather they were gone. As if they had never existed at all. All around her, the world was basked in a light golden hue, and everything almost seemed to glow and shimmer from the corner of her eyes, but the effect seemingly disappeared the second her eyes focused on one particular object.

In front of her, the grassy path, laced with a shiny dew, stretched on for some distance. It was narrow and was surrounded by bodies of water on either side. Tigress looked to her left, and then she looked to her right. The water seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. The only land in sight was the patch that she and her house currently stood on, as well as the path in front of her.

But when Tigress turned her head back around, she was met with a most alarming sight.

Her house was gone.

She frantically searched for it, as if somehow it had moved. Well, it had moved, in a way. It had moved very far away from her, out of her view. She was now standing on a small patch of the soft grass.

However, easily the most interesting thing about Tigress' new surroundings was the sky. It was made of water. The "ceiling" above her was several meters in the air, and it was made up of perfectly still water, reflecting the images below it. Given that the water that surrounded the land was also perfectly still and clean, the two combined to produce multiple mirror images of the other. Tigress looked directly above her and she could see herself, seemingly standing upside down with her feet stuck to the ceiling, staring back at her with shock.

The image and its reflections were giving her a major headache, so she decided to tilt her head back down and look directly forward, reducing the mind-bending effect. Off in the distance, at the end of the only path available to her, there seemed to be some object, rising above its surroundings.

"Well, it seems that's the only place I can go," she thought to herself. Certainly, standing there wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Setting her mind on getting to that object in the hope that it might provide some answers, Tigress embarked on her newfound journey, slowly shuffling her aged feet across the warm, dewy grass. As she traveled down the straight path, she turned her head to each side. From all directions, the water seemed to have no end. And the watery "ceiling" also seemingly had no end.

Tigress realized that she should be frightened, lest the sky of water come crashing down to earth, as water was prone to do. But somehow, she was not afraid. She would never be able to explain why, but it just felt right. She had just been in her house a few minutes ago, yet now she was in someplace completely different. Why couldn't the sky be made out of water? She was only dreaming or hallucinating, surely, so it mattered little. She only wanted to explore a little bit before her children came to wake her up.

Shuffling along the path, Tigress wished that she would have brought her staff. On the day that Po had ascended, his staff had been lying on the ground right by the edge, and she had taken it for herself, putting it to frequent use. But she had forgotten about it when the strange light had shown through her doorway, and going back for it didn't seem like an option anymore.

Slowly, but surely, the object in the distance came into view. As she approached it, she looked down and realized that the water that surrounded her path was very shallow, perhaps less than half a foot deep. She looked further, and it appeared that the water continued on at that depth for quite some distance.

Tigress could not determine where the golden, ethereal hue was coming from, as there appeared to be no source of light in the sky. Since the sky was a flat layer of water, there was no room for a Sun or Moon.

Finding herself enraptured by this strange, gravity-defying water world, she did not realize when she approached the object she had come for. She heard the sound of someone clearing her throat, and she tilted her head down to look.

The object she had been journeying towards was a fountain. Not the kind that was found in village squares or city plazas, but rather the exceedingly rare kind, as it seemed to be made up of a natural rock, covered with a layer of soft, green moss. The center of the fountain rose up, and, towards the middle, separated into two branching columns, leaving the space between them in a little bowl-shaped hole. The columns spread out before curving back inward again and meeting once more, yet there was a little dip in the structure where they met. This structure hovered directly over the hole, and the dew of the moss ran down the stone, dripping downwards and into the small natural bowl at the base of the fountain.

The fountain was raised in its own small patch of grassy land, surrounded by a few man-made steps. The sight of the fountain had captured Tigress' curiosity, and she was caught by surprise when the greenery on the steps seemed to move.

She flinched and focused her eyes on the steps. Suddenly, a pair of eyes opened up from the grassy steps. Something stood up and extended a pair of arms and legs from a center point. The eyes were then lifted away from the center and Tigress suddenly realized who she was looking at.

"Master Oogway!"

Yes, there he was, standing before her. His green shell had kept her hidden from her view, especially since she hadn't really been looking in the direction of the steps.

Master Oogway replied with his usual warm, wise, smile.

"Hello, my child," he softly replied.

Overcome by shock and surprise, Tigress took a few steps forward and embraced her old mentor and friend. The tortoise wrapped his claws around her as well and they silently stood there together for a few moments.

Tigress was thrilled to see Oogway again. He had always been kind and caring towards her, especially in her early days in the Jade Palace, a time when she had needed it most. He always seemed like what a grandfather should be like.

They finally separated, both smiling at the other. Tigress raised her paw to the sides and gestured to the place around her.

"So, does this mean I died?"

With an even bigger smile, Oogway shook his head.

"No. You are not dead. You were sleeping for a long time, but now, my child, now you truly are alive."

Yep, it was Oogway, she thought. Answering the question with a riddle. Some things never changed.

"So… is this the Spirit Realm?"

He slowly nodded.

Tigress narrowed her eyes as she searched around once more.

"But what is this place? And where is everyone?"

Oogway slowly turned around and walked up the steps, beckoning Tigress to join him with his claw. She climbed up a few steps and stood next to him at the base of the fountain.

Oogway peered down at the pool of water that had collected from the dripping dew, and then looked back at Tigress.

"Drink of the water, my child."

She was a little hesitant at first, as something seemed so pure about it that she didn't want to dirty it with her paws, but she saw the confidence in Oogway's eyes, so she bent down with a little difficulty, cupping her paws and dipping them into the water. She took just a single sip from it and then stood up straight again.

Her brow shot up in surprise. It was the best water she had ever tasted!

She could now feel it sliding down her throat, but when it hit her stomach, she felt a great change come over her. Her back did not feel so weak, and her balance suddenly came back to her. The feeling of tiredness that she had felt in her very bones for years suddenly vanished. Tigress now felt as if she could run, jump, flip, and do anything and everything she wanted.

"What happened?" she blurted out to Oogway, but she stopped as soon as she heard the sound of her own voice. It was not the rough sound that her voice had become, but it was soft and silky as it had not been in many a year.

Oogway now walked down the few steps and approached the water's edge. He pointed down to the water.

"Look there."

She rushed over to the edge, not even taking the time to realize that she hadn't "rushed" anywhere in years. Tigress fell to her knees and stared down into the water below her.

She was young again. The wrinkles, the drooping ears, the dull fur, it was all gone. Her skin now radiated life, her fur the fiery orange it once was. The only thing that seemed the same was her eyes. They now burned their normal amber color, but they seemed to keep a certain wisdom that they had acquired over the years.

She stood back up, staring down at her raised paws in disbelief.

"How… how did…?"

"Anything is possible," he replied. He then turned around once again and walked over to the steps of the fountain, seating himself on them. He then patted his claw on the space next to him, and Tigress complied with his wish, walking over to the steps and taking a seat.

Looking off into the distance of the watery world, Oogway began. "My dear Tigress, would you say you've had a good life?"

Tigress was a little surprised by the question, but she soon had an answer for it.

"I've had an…" she smiled. "An awesome life," she finished.

Chuckling at her usage of Po's vocabulary, Oogway continued. "I see. But still, not everything in life was perfect?"

Perfect, Tigress wondered? Well, no, she thought.

"No, master," she answered. "But-"

"But they still bother you to this day, do they not?" he interrupted.

"Well, yes, but, my suffering does not mean I didn't enjoy my life. My family was always there for me."

Oogway smiled and gently placed his claw on her shoulder.

"You speak the truth, my child. Yet, your fears hold you back."

Tigress knitted her brow. She had a sinking feeling that Oogway was about to make a point she wouldn't like.

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Yes," he began, "you are in the Spirit Realm. And your husband is waiting for you."

At these words, Tigress' hopes soared, but they were soon dashed.

"-But I'm afraid that if you wish to be reunited with them, you must let go of the fears that have plagued you for all of your life."

She now knitted her brow even tighter. "Let go? How?"

Oogway stood up as if preparing to leave.

"There is a way. I wish you did not have to attempt it, but there are certain rules that the universe wrote long ago that not even I tamper with. It will not be easy. Yet, I have faith in you, my child. Farewell, my dear Tigress. I hope more than anything that you will be at the feast that Po has prepared for you."

Suddenly, a rumbling was felt in the ground, making the water in both the ground and the sky go blurry with ripples. Tigress searched around to find the source of the rumbling, but when she turned her head back to Oogway, he was gone.

She now stood up and tried to keep her balance as the whole world seemingly shook around her. Beginning to panic, she frantically searched around for the source of the tremors, but it seemed to come from all directions.

Finally, somewhere behind her, a great splashing noise was heard. She turned around and a terrifying sight lay before her.

There, in the "ceiling" of water that made up the sky, a creature was swimming towards her at a frightening speed. She could see only the top half of it as it stuck down and out of the water, seemingly swimming at her upside-down. How it was swimming in floating water was beyond her comprehension, but how the water was floating was also beyond her comprehension.

As it got closer, it stopped and raised its head, although, to her, it seemed as if it was dangling upside down. In front of her was a great sea serpent, covered in jade green scales. Its mouth ended like that of a snake, and its dark beady eyes didn't seem to carry any emotion within them.

The massive serpent cocked its head to the side, staring at Tigress, and Tigress, frozen in fear, stared back with an open mouth. Suddenly, the serpent let out a deafening shriek, which forced Tigress to cover her ears. She bent down, desperately trying to block out the hideous sound.

When it finally subsided, she looked back up again, but it was now gone from the watery ceiling. Now filled with dread, she frantically searched around, trying to find it once more. She backed up to the edge of the small patch of land she was on.

Suddenly, a great splash was heard just behind her, and she whipped around just in time to see the serpent bearing down on her from the watery sky, its great maw open, rows of knife-like teeth and forked tongue just a few feet away from her.

Her instincts kicked in, and she leaped out of the creature's path and landed into the shallow water. She turned her head back to see the serpent pull back into the water above, its long body following it in a wave-like pattern.

Knowing she had no chance against something like this, Tigress scrambled up and began sprinting away from the fountain, hoping to reach deeper water. As she ran, the water splashed at her feet, and she didn't even have time to realize what a pleasure it was to run again.

She ran for about thirty seconds before finally succumbing to the temptation of turning her head. There it was, traveling in its up-and-down wave motion, sliding across the bottom surface of the water above her. Tigress turned her head around again and put everything she had into her run. Now down on all fours, her lungs began to burn but her adrenaline kept her moving forward at top speed.

Tigress risked a quick glance behind her, only to see it getting closer now.

Turning her head back around again, she finally began to realize that running was getting harder because the water was finally getting deeper. As her run began to slow, she turned around and saw the serpent getting ever closer.

Her run was now turned into a fast wade as she walked through the water. Turning around one more time, she had time to see the creature bearing down on her, opening its great maw once more and preparing its leap from the watery sky and down onto her.

Finally, Tigress felt the ground beneath her feet disappear, and taking a deep breath, she dived down into the water just as the serpent snapped its jaw shut over the space her torso had been. Now down inside the water, she looked up to see the creature splash back inside the ceiling of water. Fortunately for her, it seemed as if gravity worked the opposite effect on the creature, pushing it up instead of pulling it down.

But she knew she could not hide in the water forever. She would have to come back up.

Tigress searched around and saw the shelf of earth that she had just leaped off of. She followed it downwards with her eyes and was met with a most welcome sight.

There, several feet below her, it appeared that there was the surface of the water.

Of course, she thought! Just like the water that the serpent swam in, the water below her was its own ceiling. Perhaps this strange world was made up of levels of never-ending rows of water with patches of air between them.

Positioning herself so she was facing downwards, Tigress kicked her legs back and pushed her now young and strong arms outward, pushing her downwards to this "bottom" surface. However, as she approached it, a strange feeling came over her. As she descended, it seemed to her that she was no longer swimming downward, but rather upward. The feeling of gravity seemed to switch like an hourglass being flipped.

As her lungs began to hunger for air, Tigress put all of her focus on pumping her arms and legs through the water. The new surface came closer and closer until finally, she burst through.

---

III. The 12th Century Guaranteed-Eternal-Sanctuary-Schizoid-Man

Taking in deep gulps of air, Tigress searched around, lest the serpent come back and cause her some major problems. But all around, there seemed to be nothing but water. She looked upwards, which she supposed had been downwards only a few minutes ago, and saw yet another "ceiling" of still, floating water hovering several meters above her head.

After searching around, she saw land off in the distance. She immediately began to swim her way to it, eager to begin this little adventure that Oogway had told her about.

As she swam, the first thing that struck her was how easy it now was. She seemed overcome with boundless energy and strength. Was that how she always was when she was young, she wondered? Or did that water from the fountain do something else to her? Either way, she couldn't deny that she loved the feeling, so she wasn't going to complain.

Tigress decided to take a look upwards, and sure enough, the landmass was inching its way into view. As she bent her head back down and concentrated on swimming, she began to think more about what Oogway had said.

Let go of her fears? What was that supposed to mean? She was already dead, so why couldn't she be with Po now? How did her fears "hold her back?" Did everyone who died have to do this little "test," or was fate picking on her once again?

Coming to the conclusion that she would find no answers in asking herself endless questions, Tigress focused on stretching her arms out and pedaling them back in, and kicking her legs up and down in a continuous motion.

After several minutes, Tigress finally felt her paws strike land. She set her feet on the ground below the water and began to wade the rest of the distance to the shore. As she looked around, she realized that this place was different from the last. Even though there was still no Sun or Moon, the watery sky seemed to give off the same blue color that a normal sky did, not the golden hue that the air around the fountain gave off.

As she looked forward, she saw that the land she was headed for was not that same soft, wet grass, but rather a sandy beach. There, on the beach, seemed to be a crowd of people. Tigress lifted her paw up to shield some of the light from her eyes, but because there was no Sun shining down on her from above, it didn't help very much.

Finally setting her feet on the solid earth, Tigress stumbled across the wet sand as the waves of the water gently lapped it over and over again. All around, there seemed to be nothing but the sand of the beach. Not the dry, golden sand of the desert, but rather the soft, white sand found on only a few beaches.

The group of people was only meters away from her now. She raised her arms in the air and waved.

"Hey!" she called out. But no one moved.

As she approached the crowd, she saw that they were all facing away from her. They did not move at all. Tigress finally reached the back of the crowd. In the distance, she could hear someone speaking. She put her paw on the back of a young male ram.

"Hello. Umm, what is this place?"

But the ram did not answer. He didn't even turn his head to the side.

Tigress waved her paw in front of his face and snapped her fingers a few times.

Still nothing.

She leaned forward and gazed into his face. He was staring forward, his eyes wide with amazement and his mouth slightly agape. But he did not move. It seemed as if he was a statue, frozen in time. After looking around, Tigress realized that everyone seemed to be the same way, staring forward with a silent air of awe.

Finally realizing that she could still hear someone speaking, she pushed her way through the still crowd. Surely the speaker would be able to help her.

As she pushed her way through the people, she began to appreciate just how large the crowd really was. It stretched tens upon tens of people to the sides, and even longer from back to front.

Getting closer now, Tigress could make out not one, but two voices. One of them sounded familiar. The other one was much harsher and was evidently trying to speak over the familiar one.

Finally reaching the end of the statue-like crowd, Tigress could make out their words. Pushing her way to the end of the crowd, both a joyous and confusing sight was before her.

In front of the crowd, Po stared forward with his arms crossed and an exasperated look. His look was aimed at a very old goat with faded brown fur.

"Sir, I told you already-" Po began.

"No! No!" the goat shouted back. "You won't trick me, demon! I know your ways!"

Po's brow raised in a classic Po-look that said, "Demon? Really?"

He sighed. "Look, sir-"

But the goat was already back in front of the crowd, grabbing them by the shoulders, shaking them.

"Wake up! Wake up!" he shouted. "Oh, you fools! Again! He's here again! Can't you see he's fooled you all! Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't listen to him!"

Finally, the goat hobbled over to where Tigress was standing. She was a little surprised, as so far, neither of them had taken any notice of her. The goat threw his hooves around her shoulders and looked into her eyes with desperation. His face was covered in sweat and his jaw was trembling with fear.

"Don't fall for his lies! Don't-"

He was now interrupted as Po caught sight of her.

"Tigress!" he shouted out with joy. He quickly ran forward and, brushing the old goat to the side, wrapped his arms around her, to which she quickly replied in kind.

"Oh, Po!" she cried. "You're here! But… but… how?"

Instead of answering, Po pulled a little bit out of her tight embrace, only to tilt his head to the side and kiss her. Of course, the action was welcome to Tigress, but something seemed… different about it. She couldn't recall Po ever kissing her with such passion before.

He must have been really glad to see her, she thought.

After pulling away because they needed air, they left the other's paws on their shoulders and looked into each other's eyes. Tigress was so overcome with joy that she could not say anything. All that seemed to exist to her were those jade eyes she had waited so long to gaze upon.

"Tigress!" he finally said. "I… I've waited for so long now! Where have you been!?"

Tigress tried to answer, but all she could do was laugh in pure joy. As they hugged, she could hear the cries of the crazy old goat fade away into the distance. Finally, they pulled away from each other so that one may look at the other.

Po, like her, was not old anymore, but young again. He must have drunk from the fountain that she had, she thought. Unlike his last time in the Spirit Realm, he didn't wear his golden cape or white, silk outfit. Neither did he have his staff with him. He looked exactly as she remembered him in his youth.

But when she looked into her eyes, that strange feeling that something was off came back to her. When she had looked into her own reflection earlier, her eyes looked the same as they had when she was old. They carried that wisdom with them.

Po's eyes did not look that way.

They burned with the excitement of youth and innocence once again. The look that they had assumed, the look they had as he ascended, was now gone.

Before she had time to contemplate further, Po stretched out his arms.

"Well, welcome to the Spirit Realm!"

Tigress looked around once more, but she could only see the water extend in one direction, the sand in the other, and the watery sky extend in all directions above her.

"Hmm," she replied. "It's not quite like you said it was."

"Oh." His head now drooped down and his excitement seemed to disappear. His head popped back up eventually.

"I suppose you've met with Oogway."

She nodded.

"Then he told you."

"About my "fears?" Yeah, he told me about that. What was he talking about?"

Po once again folded his arms across his chest and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, umm… you see, there's this sort of 'test' you have to pass in order to… uh… get into the Spirit Realm."

Tigress widened her eyes in surprise. "A test? Seriously?"

He sheepishly nodded. "Yeah. It's… kind of weird."

To say that Tigress was bummed out was an understatement. She had finally died! Why couldn't she be with her family now?

She sighed. "Alright, alright. What do I have to do to pass this little test of Oogway's?"

He raised up a finger and wagged it back and forth. "Oh, it's not Oogway's test. No, it's one of the few things even older than him!"

"Did you take it?"

Po smiled for a second, although once again, Tigress felt that feeling creep over her that something was different about this Po.

But as soon as it had come, it was gone. "Oh, yeah," he answered. "I did."

Shrugging her shoulders, Tigress figured that if she was going to be forced to do this, she might as well get it over with.

"Alright," she said. "I'm ready."

"You sure?"

"Well, I don't want to be stuck here forever!"

Po mocked an expression of disappointment, his head drooping down. "Aww. You don't want to be stuck here with me?"

The words caused Tigress to look around her and take in the strange world she now found herself in. It was beautiful in its own way. And as long as any serpents didn't come down from the watery sky, then it too was beautiful, reflecting all that happened below it.

She chuckled at Po's offer. "Well, I must admit it is tempting, but I'm guessing there are other things for us to do in the Spirit Realm than stand here all day."

Po's brow raised in an expression that said "You have no idea."

"Well," she said. "How do I start?"

At her words, Po reached his paw and placed it on her shoulder.

"Just like this."

His paw seemed very warm on her shoulder, and as soon as it made contact, strange things started happening again. The world around her seemed to be melting. The scenery seemed to liquefy and run downwards like wet paint. Everything went silent, and soon, only blurs of color were flashing by, and Tigress covered her eyes with her arm because if she looked any longer, she would surely puke from the dizziness.

Soon, everything seemed to settle down, and Tigress gained the courage to remove her arm from her face. It was very dark, and she had to squint in order to focus.

Eventually, she realized they were in a small, dark room. There was a large desk in the middle of the room, as well as filing cabinets and other organizational material, which led to the conclusion that it was some sort of office. There were two windows, one behind the desk and one to the side, but it was nighttime, and a strong rainstorm pelted down on the windows.

Tigress looked to her side and found Po, who was currently staring forward with a melancholy expression.

"Where are we, Po?" she asked.

Instead of answering, he slowly raised his paw and pointed at the door at the other side of the room. She turned to look, and no sooner than she had, it flew open, letting two people in. Both were covered with wet raincoats, and one seemed to be carrying a small bundle in their arms.

One of the figures ripped off their raincoat, and Tigress gasped.

It was the head caretaker of the Bao-Gu Orphanage. She was slightly younger than she remembered, but there could be no doubt it was her.

"Well," she said to the person she had entered with. "What are we going to do with that thing?"

Her companion, who carried the small bundle, shrugged. "Maybe another orphanage will take her." Based on his tone, Tigress couldn't tell if that was a statement or a question.

"That little monster!?" the caretaker belted out. "Not hardly! They've got better things to do than babysit a bandit in the making!"

It hit Tigress like a brick in the face. The small bundle in the figure still in the raincoat was not a thing, it was a person. And not any person, but it was Tigress herself. She stepped forward and tried to grab the baby from the figure's arms, but when her fingers touched him, they moved right through them, completely unhindered. Meanwhile, the two continued thinking to themselves as if no one was in the room.

Tigress looked back at Po. "What's going on?" she asked.

Po sadly shook his head. "It's only a memory of the past, Tigress. There's nothing we can do to change it. They can't see or hear us."

Looking back upon the two caretakers, she listened to what they were saying to each other.

"Well, we can put her in the safe room," the male ram in the raincoat just finished saying.

"That room!?" the sheep cried out. "But we just got that little… little nut job out of there! I was so glad to see them take him away! I don't want another one!"

"Well, what else do you want me to do?"

"I don't know!" the caretaker snapped. "But she can't stay here! The other children won't be safe as long as she's around! I won't be safe as long as she's around!"

The ram turned his head towards the window. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with an idea.

"Well, it is a rainy night. No one saw us take her off the doorstep."

The caretaker's ears perked up at this. "What do you mean?"

"Since she can't stay here, and she can't stay in other orphanages, why don't we just put her back on the doorstep? She's so young, and it's so wet and cold outside. She'd surely be dead by morning."

Suddenly, the caretaker did the only good thing Tigress would ever see her do. She stepped forward and brought the back of her hoof around, smacking the ram across the face. As he stumbled back, she snatched the baby Tigress from his arms just as he fell down.

"Creep!" she shouted at him. "Get out of here!"

Picking himself up from the floor, the ram raised his hooves with a confused expression. "What!? You just said you-"

"I SAID OUT!"

The caretaker only stood there, trembling in fury, Tigress in her arms, yet she seemed so intimidating that the ram shrunk back, eventually slipping his way out of the door. The sheep continued looking at the door for a few seconds before finally looking down at Tigress. Whatever protectiveness she had felt for the child disappeared as she saw the fangs in her mouth and the claws on the tips of her fingers.

She sighed. "Hmm. The safe room it is then," she said.

Her eyes were already built up with tears at the terrible scene, but Tigress could finally contain them no longer. They freely ran down her face. She knew the caretakers had always been afraid of her, but had they really brought up the idea of killing her? How could they? She felt a small twinge of gratitude to the head caretaker for doing what seemed like her only good deed in life, but those memories were soon followed by all the days she spent in what they called the "safe" room. All the joyless days and hopeless nights.

She didn't notice it at the time, but Po did not come over to comfort her. Instead, he came up behind her and placed his paw on her shoulder once more. It seemed hot. Very hot.

Once again, the room around her seemed to shimmer like melting wax, and then began to run downwards. Instinctively, Tigress threw her arm over her face.

When she removed it, she found herself once again in a dark room. But when she focused, she realized she was back home in the barracks of the Jade Palace. A sudden spark of joy flew in her chest, but when she realized that she was here to face her fears, she immediately knew what she was about to see.

All seemed still within the hall, but the murmur of voices could be heard from one of the rooms. Suddenly, the door slid open and Po stumbled backwards out of it. He turned and started to creep his way down the hall. Tigress instinctively turned her head to her own room. It suddenly opened as Po passed, and a scene that Tigress had replayed in her head one thousand times seemed as if it was going to replay itself just one more time.

"Master Tigress!" Po exclaimed. "Didn't mean to wake you, I'm just… uh-"

"You don't belong here," the younger Tigress told Po, her amber eyes glowing in the dark and staring daggers at the younger Po.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Po replied. "This is your room-"

"-I mean you don't belong in the Jade Palace. You're a disgrace to kung-fu, and if you have any respect for who we are, and what we do, then you will be gone by morning."

The door was then slammed in Po's face, and he was left standing there, his shoulders slumping down and his face covered in disappointment and rejection.

Still, he raised his paw up to the closed door and weakly said, "Big fan!"

The wiser Tigress could take it no longer. She rushed forward, passing the younger Po, and she instinctively reached for the handle, but her paw sank right through it, so she simply stepped forward and passed right through the door, finding herself in her old room. Her younger self was angrily pacing back and forth.

Tigress tried to grab her by the shoulders, but she could not.

"How could you say that!?" she sobbed out. "He's been dreaming his whole life of meeting you! How can you do that to him!?"

For the briefest of moments, the younger Tigress tilted her head up and made eye contact with her, and she almost believed she could hear her, but she quickly turned around again and continued pacing.

Her sobs escaping her, Tigress didn't even realize that her claws were unsheathed.

"Hey! Listen to me! Go to him! Go to him now! You have to apologize! YOU HEAR ME!? You'll regret this forever!"

Realizing that it was hopeless, she leaped back up and ran through the door and into the hall, where the young Po was only halfway down the hall. He must have been standing outside of her door in shock for a few seconds after she had closed it right in his face.

She ran up to him as he walked. She overtook him and saw the face of a person who everyone rejected, including his own childhood hero.

"She didn't mean it!" Tigress cried. "I didn't mean it! I was just so upset and angry that I didn't get the Dragon Scroll that I… I… I…"

But Po didn't turn to look at her, and she realized that there was nothing she would ever be able to do to change this moment. Tigress collapsed to the ground as Po walked on. She curled her legs up to her chin and sobbed into her knees.

"Oh! How could I be such a… monster!?"

But fortunately, she knew how to fix the problem. She leaped back up again before she had time to completely break down and walked over to the slightly older Po, who had remained standing by the end of the corridor during the entire scene.

She meant to tell Po that she was so sorry, and she just felt that if he looked into her eyes and told her that he forgave her, then she could finally let go of the fear that she had of this memory. But as she approached, she realized that he was quietly sobbing.

"Po!?" she cried out. "What is it?"

Po could only shake his head, but Tigress knew what it was. She threw her arms around his shoulders.

"Po! You know I didn't mean it, right? I'm so sorry I ever said that to you!"

As Po continued sobbing, a new question formed in her mind. Wasn't Po here to help her on this little "test"? So why was he making it harder?

Trying to reign in her emotions, she asked, "Po? Why did you bring me here?"

After a little bit of sniffling, he settled down enough to speak.

"B- because," he began, "because I wanted you to know how it felt when you ripped my heart out."

Tigress let go of Po and took a few steps back in shock. Had he just said that? She couldn't believe her ears. He had forgiven her years ago. She had brought it up so many times, and every time, Po moved mountains to assure her that he loved her. Had he been lying that whole time? Did he want revenge?

That wasn't like Po.

Then it hit Tigress. It wasn't like Po.

She then began to remember that feeling that he was different. His paw on her shoulder had been so hot. His eyes, which no longer contained the wisdom they once had. He was exactly as she remembered him in his youth. Exactly.

Tigress gasped as she began to realize what had happened. She remembered the crazy old goat who was running about the hypnotized crowd on the beach, shouting out "Can't you see he's fooled you all!?"

And she too had been fooled.

Her tears drying fast, Tigress stood up tall and her gaze pierced Po.

"Who are you?" she asked, her tone now cold.

Po continued to sob as if he were heartbroken at the scene that had just taken place, but Tigress now began to understand everything. She stepped forward and grasped Po's wrists, ripping them away from his face.

"What are you!?" she screamed. "What have you done with Po!?"

As he opened his eyes, he looked up at her, and his expression suddenly changed. His tears stopped immediately, and his pouting lips morphed into a twisted grin. Once again, heat radiated from his wrists, and the corridor around her began to melt again. This time, she was determined to keep hold of this creature who was impersonating Po, so she simply focused her eyes on the thing in front of her.

As the world changed into blurry colors, her enemy's eyes changed from their jade green color to a deep crimson, with a fiery orange slit running down the middle of them. As the melting of the world came to its peak, Tigress let out a scream of effort, but she did not let go.

Finally, as if someone had lit a match, the two of them were now in a different place. She let go of the panda's wrists and back away, trying to buy time to examine her surroundings. They were now back in that strange world where the sky was made up of floating water. However, unlike the fountain, the distance between the sky and the ground was much greater now. She looked out and saw the sea to one side and an endless stretch of greenery to the other. She was on a beach once again, but this time, the sea was a great distance below, as they stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the great ocean.

"You know," the panda began. His voice was much lighter now: a female's voice. It sounded eerily similar to her own, except that this one radiated with malice. "You surprised me. I thought you would be less gullible than your fat husband. But it seems like I was wrong."

Tigress raised her brow in surprise. "Po? You tried the same thing on him?"

Smiling once again, the panda took a few steps backward, lifted its paws in the air on either side, and suddenly, flames that seemingly came out of nowhere quickly enveloped the panda. But instead of screaming or running to put it out, he smiled inside of the fire as his flesh and fur began to melt and peel off. It fell to the ground beneath his feet, and after a few seconds, the fire disappeared, and standing before her was herself.

The creature now looked exactly like she had when she was younger. It even wore her old red sleeveless qipao. But much like it had before, her eyes lacked the wisdom they now had, instead mimicking younger versions of themselves.

"Oh, yes," it said, its voice now a replica of Tigress'. "I met him." The creature stepped forward and gently put her paw on Tigress' shoulder, walking around him on the other side and seductively running its paw across Tigress' body in the process.

"But I think I was a little too… forward," the creature said. "He didn't seem to buy it."

Tigress slapped the creature's paw off of her and back away from it.

"Give him back to me!" she shouted.

The creature let out a hiss, much like a snake, and Tigress briefly saw a long forked tongue stick out of its mouth before sliding back in.

"He wasn't mine to take… but you are!"

In anger, Tigress struck a fighting stance. Realizing that she would not be holding anything back against this creature, she unsheathed her claws.

The creature seemed unimpressed. "Claws? Tsk, tsk, tsk, you'll have to do better than that, my darling."

Tigress saw the creature, which still looked exactly as she did, stretch out its arms, and its paws seemed to shed their fur as they too burst into flames. She could see the bones in its paw snap out of place and back in as her paw seemed to grow outward with the fingers elongating, the fur now replaced with dark reptilian scales. Meanwhile, the creature's tail began to do the same, elongating and shedding its striped fur. At the paws, the fingers turned into huge, foot-long claws, and in the tail, the tip of it also turned into a barbed spear-like appendage. To complete the image, at its head, a pair of black horns sprouted and grew, curving back and forth.

Now transformed, the demon struck the same stance that Tigress was using, her tail hovering over her head, ready to strike. It attacked first, swinging its massive left claw, aiming for Tigress' throat. She ducked down and slid under the swing, throwing two quick punches to the demon's exposed side. Instead of attacking with its claws, it twisted even further and Tigress barely had time to react as the tail came speeding toward her chest.

She instantly leaped into the air and out of the way, landing on her feet some distance away. The demon inhaled and breathed out, flames spewing out from its mouth like a mythical dragon. Tigress leaped up into the air once more, this time flying over the demon's head and flipping herself around. As she landed, she threw her arms around the demon's neck to keep it from burning her with its breath. As it struggled, it clawed at her arms, tearing at her flesh. Tigress screamed out in pain, but she held on because she knew the alternative was death.

But could she even die here? She didn't intend to find out.

Tigress expectedly turned around to see its tail getting ready to thrust itself at her once more. Keeping one grip on its throat with one arm, she caught the demon's tail with one paw just as it launched itself at her. She could only hold it a few inches from her face, and its strength was greater than hers. It inched closer and closer, until Tigress finally let go of the demon's throat and gripped the tail with both paws. She then leaned to the side and spun around, putting all her strength into using its tail to throw it through the air.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the demon's feet lose contact with the ground, and she aimed her throw towards the edge of the cliff. It flew through the air, but it did not go over. It reached down with its claws and tail to scrape the ground, preventing it from sliding off the edge. Tigress pressured it, sprinting forward on all fours before leaping up to deliver her double-palm strike.

But just an instant before she had a chance to finish off the demon, its claws shot up from the ground and caught her paws. It then grabbed Tigress by the throat and, with a furious roar, spun around and threw her off the face of the cliff.

Tigress pedaled her arms and legs as she fell, as if somehow she might grab hold of something. But there was nothing, only the top of the cliff with the demon standing victoriously on it, which was speeding away from her. She felt the rush of adrenaline and fear kick in right before she hit the ground.

Then everything went black.

---

IV. Breakfast in the Spirit Realm

"Get up! Come on! We have to get out of here! Come on, get up!"

Tigress heard the female voice call out to her, but everything was still black. What had happened, she wondered? Then, the memory of being thrown off of a cliff by her demonic doppelganger came back to her. Her eyes snapped open, and she stared up at the watery sky that hovered far in the air. The smell of the sea entered her nostrils, and she realized that she was wet, with more water running down the length of her body. She moved her eyes upwards a little and saw the cliff face from which she had just fallen.

"There, that's good!" the voice called out again. "You're awake! Now get up!"

Tigress lifted her head up and looked down at her feet. She was laying down on the beach, with her feet facing the ocean. In fact, she was on the brink of the sand where the water washed over her periodically. She then turned her head to the side where the voice came from, but when she saw who it was, she crawled away.

It was her.

"That demon again!" she thought to herself.

However, the person who stood a few feet from her was dressed differently. She wore a jade green robe with golden designs on it. And the more she saw her, she realized that she did look a little different.

She stepped forward, her paw reaching out for Tigress to help her up.

"No, I'm not that monster," she said, almost as if she had read her mind. "And we have to get out of here before it finds its way down the cliff and finishes you off!"

She spoke with an air of command similar to her own, but the tone was a little different.

"W-who are you?" Tigress stuttered, still trying to refocus after falling off of a cliff. She had no idea how she was still alive. Well, she was already dead, so maybe that had something to do with it. Her look-alike folded her arms across her chest.

"What? You don't recognize me? Well, I suppose you were really little."

Tigress' eyes widened. "M-mom!?"

Her mother cracked a smile. "There we go!" She then reached down once again for her daughter. "Now take my paw and let's go!"

Tigress accepted her paw and she was lifted on her feet. She was stunned, what was her mother doing here?

"B-but-" she stuttered, overwhelmed with both confusion and joy.

"No buts," her mother replied. "Follow me."

She began quickly walking inland toward the cliff face, and Tigress followed. After a few minutes, they reached it, and her mother led her parallel to it, constantly looking up and around as if searching for something.

"How-" Tigress tried once again, but her mother raised her paw in the air, silencing her.

They continued walking along the length of the beach, using the edge of the cliff face to guide them. Eventually, they approached the entrance of what seemed to be a small cave. Her mother walked in and Tigress followed.

She was just about to ask how they were supposed to see without any light, but her question was soon answered when she saw light at the end of the cave before they even lost sight of the light behind them.

"I guess this is more of a tunnel than a cave then," Tigress thought to herself.

At one point, they came in between the two entrances, where light from both ends didn't reach. The two of them were temporarily bathed in darkness, and Tigress could no longer see her mother. With a sudden spark of fear, Tigress reached out her paw, almost expecting her mother to be gone when the light came back. Instead, it brushed against something and she heard-

"I'm still here."

Tigress retracted her paw, relieved. How could her mother even be here, she wondered? Was she allowed to help her through this strange test? And where was her father? And was everyone young in the Spirit Realm? Oogway had looked the same as he always had. Did he ever drink the water from the stone fountain?

As her head began to fill with more and more questions, the pair reached the end of the tunnel and Tigress stopped, taking in the view.

They were no longer in the endless sandy plane they had just come from. In front of Tigress was vivid greenery, with large trees reaching up in the air and the thick bushes and grasses making the path below difficult to navigate. Regardless, her mother seemed to know exactly what she was doing, as she stepped forward into the green mess without any hesitation. It didn't seem possible that there should be a forest when she had just come from a beach that had a sandy plane extending the length of the land for as far as she could see, but she was in the Spirit Realm, after all. Better to not question so many things, or else her head might explode.

Tigress was not so confident, and it didn't go unnoticed by her mother.

She raised her paw up to her again, her palm facing the air. "Come on," she said, this time in a much gentler voice than she had been using. "It's not much farther now."

Taking her palm in her own, she was led through the dense foliage. Both had to use their free paws to swat leaves and branches away from their faces. Suddenly, a question came to Tigress' mind.

"Wait, how do I know you're really my mother? I thought that demon really was Po. And where are you taking me?"

Without even looking back, her mother called back, "If you want to leave, then I can't stop you. But I'll tell you, you won't be able to defeat your demons unless you have someone's blessing."

Stepping over twisted roots, Tigress only became more confused.

"My demons? What do you mean?"

"I'll explain when we eat. Forgive me, I'm very happy to see you, truly I am, even if I'm a little tense right now. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

She wasn't very satisfied with that answer, but she could tell that there would be no other, so Tigress kept silent. However, she did notice that her mother did show some emotion for the first time at the end of her sentence. As they continued their way through the thick woods they found themselves in, Tigress used the opportunity to look around.

The trees were bamboo and the foliage was made up of familiar-looking plants.

"So does the Spirit Realm look like China?" she wondered. "Or does it only look that way for me?"

Far above the canopy lay the water-filled sky, with its ever-present threat of collapse looming in the back of Tigress' mind.

Suddenly, a noise came from ahead of them and her mother threw up her paw, freezing Tigress in her tracks. The sounds of foliage being brushed to the side approached, growing louder and louder, until a bush was suddenly held down by a large paw, revealing a striped face.

"Okay, I think we're safe for now," he said.

Tigress' mother sighed in relief, and then motioned for him to follow, continuing on her way.

Another tiger stepped out from the bush. He also looked to be the same age as both Tigress and her mother. Unlike her mother, he seemed to have less of a commanding presence, but something about the way he looked ahead suggested that he had a sort of silent strength, which was something that Tigress could most certainly connect with.

As he joined the group, he turned to her and smiled.

"Whew! You were so little when I saw you last! Hmm, I wish it could have been me, but it seems that little red panda did a pretty good job of raising you!"

"D-Dad?" Tigress stuttered.

He nodded his head and gave a little mock bow.

"The one and only!"

"B-but… b-"

"Shhh. Now's not the time for questions. Yeah, I know, it's all really confusing, but if you just listen to us for a few minutes, I promise that you'll have an eternity to figure things out."

With that, he turned his head back ahead of him, where his wife was leading the way. Meanwhile, Tigress tried to sort things out. Her parents! They were here! She was finally meeting them! It seemed unreal; she had waited for this opportunity for so long. She had sat endless days on the edge of the broken bed that she used to call her room in the orphanage just waiting for her parents to knock on the door, open it, and take her away. Someplace far, far away, where she could finally be free and loved and each day would be better than the last.

And now that that day was here, her parents seemed to have no better greeting for her than a simple "hello." Had they been waiting for this moment with as much desire as she? Why did they seem so nervous? Was her demonic twin following them? Could it not be killed? Surely all three of them together could defeat it. Then again, Tigress recalled being hurled off a cliff rather easily by the creature. And what was it that her mother had said? Her demons? She had said it as if that thing had actually belonged to her.

Finally, the trio came to a very small clearing. On all sides, it was surrounded by bamboo trees, bushes, and long grasses. In the center, there was a small pile of burned sticks. Raised over it was a small array of supported sticks, large and strong enough to support the weight of a small metal pot. The sticks threaded through the loop of the pot's handle, allowing it to hang over the pile of burned sticks.

Tigress' mother and father each took seats on either side of the pile of sticks and then they beckon her to join them. Hesitantly, she sat down, curious as to what she was supposed to be accomplishing.

Her mother quickly removed the pot from over the fireplace and handed it to her. Tigress slowly removed the lid, revealing a pot full of cooked rice. Almost as if by magic, her mother produced a pair of chopsticks from somewhere within her green robe, handing them to her.

She grabbed them and was then still.

"Come on, you have to eat something before we can let you go on your way," her mother said.

Tigress looked up at her. She wasn't sure of the reason, but she asked her back-

"Why?"

Her father chimed in. "You already drank the water at the fountain, right?"

She nodded.

"And now you have to eat the food. It's really not bad. I made it myself while your mother went out to look for you on the beachside. Come on now."

Giving in to their gentle demands, Tigress, her fingers slightly shaking, as she was still in shock of the whole situation she currently found herself in, pinched a clump of the rice and shoved it in her mouth.

She closed her eyes. She made a sound similar to "Hmmmmh" as she tasted it. Similar to the water of the fountain, it was not just rice, but a paradise for the tastebuds alone.

She didn't notice, but her father gave a contented smile at her satisfaction with his food.

He turned to his wife.

"You see? I always told you I could cook as good as the panda could."

Tigress' eyes shot up. "You mean Po?"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "You," she looked at Tigress, "You need to keep eating. And you," she now looked at her husband, "You need to stop obsessing over him. He's not the competition you make him out to be."

"I never said anything about competition, I was only making the point that I could cook just as well as he could, if not better."

"What are you talking about?" Tigress asked. "Have you met Po? Is he here too?" A little bit of hope seeped into her voice as she thought that her husband - the real one, at least- might be there.

"Oh yes," her mother answered. "And he's really a wonderful person. Oh, that reminds me, your wedding was beautiful!"

"My wedding?" Tigress asked. "That was years ago."

"Yeah, we don't care that much about time in this place," her father said. "But the wedding was good. Could've used some live musicians though."

"Oh, what are you talking about?" her mother asked. "You were literally crying your eyes out."

"Hmm, I don't remember that."

"You have a bad case of selective memory, my love."

With the sound of something tapping metal, Tigress looked down and saw that she had finished her bowl of rice. She was sad about it for a brief moment: it had been beyond excellent. It was certainly better than any food she had eaten in the Mortal Realm.

The question then came to Tigress: how much better could Po's cooking be within the Spirit Realm? Her taste buds shamelessly lusted for that answer.

As she had been thinking, she noticed that her parents had both fallen silent and now began to stare at her. After a few seconds, her mother looked at her father and gave a short nod, to which he responded in kind. Blinking her way out of her entangling thoughts, she moved her head back and forth between them.

"What?" Tigress asked. She expected some bit of rice to be still stuck to her lips or something. The Five used to stare at her when she did that since it was such an uncommon occurrence.

"It's really you," her mother softly said. Unlike before, her voice wasn't hurried or tense. It took all the sweet time it needed.

"Our daughter," her father whispered. They each now stared at her as if for the first time. They weren't the same people she had been eating with only a few seconds ago.

"What?" Tigress asked in confusion. "You told me you were my parents." Feeling a strong sense of deja vu from her time with Po-who-wasn't-actually-Po-but-rather-a-demon, she stood up, prepared to defend herself from the tricks and lies that the Spirit Realm seemed happy to throw her way.

"Who are you?" she asked. Both of them stood up, but unlike with her demonic look-alike, they did not explode into flames nor did they don any evil smiles, horns, claws, or insanely pointy tails. Instead, they continued to look at her with a warmth she hadn't felt since she was in her husband's arms.

"I am Juédìng, of the tribe of Zìháo," her "mother," said.

"And I am Róngyù, of the tribe of Tānlán," her "father," said.

"So you two are from different clans?"

They each gave a soft smile and nodded.

"My parents," her mother began, "who are your grandparents, were the Chieftains of my clan."

"As were mine," her father added.

Tigress' brow raised in a mixture of surprise and doubt.

"So you guys are Chieftains, hmm? What does that make me, some kind of fairy-tale princess?"

Her parent's eyes dropped to the floor.

"Oh no," her mother replied, "I said our parents were Chieftains, not us."

"What happened to you?"

"We fell in love," her father answered.

As Tigress seemed to visibly relax, now more confident that these were her real parents, or at least confident that they wouldn't try to kill her within the next few minutes, her parents sat down again, gesturing for her to do the same. Once adjusted, Tigress folded her legs and took a good look at the people in front of her.

Her mother looked very similar to her. The pattern of stripes which ran across her face resembled her own and a stranger could have easily mistaken the two for the other. Her eyes also glowed with a deep amber fire, but it was not an angry fire, just as hers had been in her younger days. Instead, her eyes glowed with fierce determination, but also a gentleness that was normally found in the eyes of people who had lived long enough to learn the value of mercy and compassion. She did not have the eyes of the young woman that she appeared to be.

Tigress knew she had drunk from the fountain.

She now turned to look at her father. She didn't share so much with him as far as looks went, and it had the curious effect of producing a strange feeling inside of Tigress. For an instant, she embarrassedly realized that she found her father… attractive. It made her insides curl up, but after all, they were in the Spirit Realm, and therefore all looked to be the same age. For a moment, Tigress wondered why Oogway had not appeared to be young. However, she pushed the thought out of mind as she continued to study her father.

His eyes, more of a golden than an amber, also had that same wise look that her mother's had. But, unlike his wife, he did not appear to be so dedicated to his goals, or at least he did not give that impression on the outside. However, despite the lack of the determination found in his wife's eyes, something about him suggested that he was not one that would be stepped over.

Tigress' observations took place in less than a second, and her parent's soon continued with their tale.

"You see, most of the time, all the tiger clans in south China are fiercely against one another," Juédìng explained. "But at the time, my father attempted to forge an alliance with your father's clan, trying to gain the upper hand over the others. To ease the tensions, a party was held in my father's clan to honor the arrival of the opposing clan's delegates."

Róngyù, his eyes on the ground as he recalled old memories, smiled.

"Yes," he said. "And being the son of a Chieftain, I was naturally expected to go."

They paused for a few seconds, but Tigress was now interested in what they had to say.

"And what happened?"

"Well, I remember being at the party, spending time with the drinks my blessed future father-in-law was offering when a friend of mine, one of the sons of my father's advisors, tapped me on the shoulder. He then pointed to someone in the crowd. I believe they were holding a dance of sorts at the time. My parents were out there, and so were hers. I couldn't see what he was pointed at, so I looked around, and then…"

As his voice drifted off, Juédìng picked up the slack.

"At around the same time, I was supposed to stand at the party and look pretty in the dress they kept for occasions like that. But," she gave a slight chuckle, "I was never really one for standing around or keeping still. I was looking about, when my eyes met your father's. I know sometimes it's hard to believe, but in that one moment, I just… knew."

Róngyù slowly nodded, a smile on his face as the pleasant memories came back to him.

"I knew it too. So I stood up, walked over to her, and I asked her,-"

"-May I have this dance with you?" Juédìng finished. "And so we did. I think our parents were a little surprised, but it didn't seem to bother them. It was a nice symbolic unity of our two clans, so they allowed it. But…" her smile now began to fade. "Letting us dance on that day was an action they would later call a mistake."

"Why?" Tigress asked. "Wouldn't have your marriage been good for both clans?"

"Oh yes," Róngyù answered, "It would have been until a few months later. By then, they had officially joined together, but when they attempted to attack a neighboring clan to plunder their supplies, they were defeated. Each clan was quick to blame the other, and the alliance came to a quick end, pitting us bitter enemies once again."

"But," Juédìng now said, "While they were fooling around, trying to gain silly, worldly, material things, your father and I were pursuing much more noble goals. Everyone knew we had been together ever since the dance, but I don't think anyone ever really knew just how close we became. But when our two clans fell against each other once again, our immediate separation was, of course, expected."

"We refused," Róngyù interrupted, "And neither of our parents took very kindly to it. My own parents told me that if I were ever to see your mother again, they would disown me and cast me out of the clan."

"Mine told me worse," Juédìng recalled with none too much pleasure.

"So, with our backs against the wall, we did the one thing that they never expected us to do. I think they thought we would fold to their threats. But, it backfired on them, because we ran away together. We then became married."

Her father paused, letting the pleasant sensations run through his mind before he came down to earth again and began thinking of the reality of the truth and the nature of his own people.

"But I fear we made a rash decision. Each of our clans deemed us traitors, and they demanded our heads at their feet. They came soon; much sooner than we expected. When we realized that they would come after us, even if it meant abandoning the tribal grounds, we knew that they truly wanted us dead, and they would stop to no end to catch us."

"But as we fled from them," Juédìng added. "I became pregnant. With you."

Tigress eyes widened. She had become so engrossed in her parents' story that she had almost forgotten that she was a part of it.

"But as they came and attacked us again and again, we knew that we could not keep you with us. The farther we ran from them, the farther they chased us. We knew that keeping you with us would only endanger you."

By now, her mother's eyes were growing shiny with tears, and her father's eyes were glued to the floor.

"So you left me at the orphanage," Tigress quietly whispered, finishing the story.

Juédìng nodded. "Yes. We… we didn't want to, and it was the hardest decision we ever made, but… there was no other choice." She closed her eyes as a single tear ran silently down her cheek.

Feeling her own tears build up, Tigress tried her best to hold them back.

"And then what happened?" she asked. "Where did you go after that? What did you do?"

Her father chuckled. "Umm-" he hesitated, "well, they got us."

Her father said it with little emphasis, so his meaning almost slipped by Tigress.

"What!?"

"Yeah," he said with minor disappointment. His tone sounded like Po's whenever he learned that he was on duty for scrubbing the floors in the Hall of Heroes or dusting the artifacts. "They found us one night. And… then we came here."

"Wh… so… you mean they killed you!?"

Both of her parents nodded.

At first, Tigress felt a surge of anger. How could their own clans have them killed? Their own parents? Not even the savage animals of ancient times murdered their children. Did they have less of an understanding of the world than the savages did? But now, with her parents sitting right in front of her, she realized that she was grateful to be there.

Her anger began to ebb away as she looked into her parent's eyes and they looked back at her in the same way that Mr. Ping and Li Shan had looked at Po when they were still alive.

"So what then?" Tigress finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"Well, our troubles weren't exactly over yet," her mother began. "What you're doing right now, what you're about to go through, we had to do it too."

"Oh, yes," her father added. "Everyone must do it in order to prove themselves worthy of being in the Spirit Realm."

"Worthy?" Tigress asked, a fear beginning to grow in the pit of her stomach. "What do you mean?"

Seeing the look of ever-growing concern on her face, her mother reached over with her paw and gently caressed the side of her face.

"Don't look so scared, my daughter. It's well within your power to become worthy. There are many, many people who do, and they do it without any kung-fu training at all. They're just ordinary people. But you… well, I'd say you're pretty far from ordinary."

Taking in a deep breath as she tried to calm down, Tigress nodded.

"So what do I have to do?" she asked.

"You have to face your fears."

Tigress may not have shown it, but the pit in her stomach grew ever-deeper. All of her fears? Could she even name them all? Her fear of failing Shifu, her fear of not being strong enough to protect who she loved, her fear of being too strong and having everyone see her as a monster, or even worse, actually being a monster. How could she face those things?

Having a fairly good idea of where Tigress' thoughts were at the moment, her father stepped in.

"You see, the Spirit Realm knows what your fears are. And it has… interesting ways of manifesting those fears into things you can see and touch. You will know which fear it is you face when you see it."

"And what about that… thing that threw me off of the cliff? First, it imitated Po, but then it looked like me."

Her mother gave a cynical smile. "That is all of your fears, all of your anger, and all of the evil things within you."

Tigress shrank back from the comment. What was her mother trying to say? That she had the potential to become some hideous monster during her life?

"Now, don't take it personally," her mother continued, sensing her displeasure. "Everyone has one, and everyone must face it before they are allowed entry to the Spirit Realm. I faced mine, and your father faced his."

"So it's mine? Why did it look like Po?"

"It's a trick they always try," her father said. "They'll look like the person you care most about. Usually a spouse, but it can also be a parent, sibling, or child. They'll be the first to meet you once you leave the fountain, and they'll try to fool you into driving you deep into your darkest memories until your very spirit is consumed by despair. They try to deny you entrance before you ever have a chance to understand what is happening."

Her father chuckled. "But, you're here now, so I guess that means you got that part figured out."

"And what about you?" Tigress asked. "Why are you here helping me? Are you even allowed to?"

"Sometimes, even the strongest of us could use a little help," Juédìng replied. "But, to answer your question, the parents of a person who has just died are allowed to come and advise them on how to pass this test. Given that they passed it themselves, of course."

Tigress gulped. "And what happens if you don't… pass?"

"Umm," her father hummed. "Well, we don't really know. People who don't pass don't tend to be in the Spirit Realm with us. However, the kind of people that don't make it aren't like you. They're twisted, evil, and wicked to their very core. And there is nothing and no one who can save them. Their demons prevent them from coming here to the Spirit Realm. And then we never see them again."

There was a moment of silence as Tigress tried to digest those words.

"They do seem confident that I'll make it," she thought to herself, trying to improve her mindset on the situation.

"And if I pass?" she asked.

Now, both of her parents smiled. Not a nervous or cynical smile like before, but a truly warm smile.

"Well then," Róngyù said, "Then we'll just have to take you on a tour to see all the people who have been looking forward to seeing you again."

"And no one's been more excited than the panda," Juédìng added. "He's spent a long time preparing this feast just for you. The food you just ate," she gestured to the empty bowl that once held rice, which was still clutched within Tigress' paw, "That was only breakfast. He has your supper waiting for you."

Encouraged by talk of happier subjects than facing her fears or having her spirit denied a reunion with the love of her life, Tigress was now ready to put this mysterious challenge behind her, looking ahead to an eternity with the ones she loved most.

"Alright. So what am I supposed to do now?"

Róngyù turned his head towards his wife. "She's already ready to leave our company. She's certainly your daughter."

"Ba-" Tigress began, but she then paused. She had never had a name for her parents, mostly because of the fact that she had never met them. She had called Shifu "Baba" when she was younger, but it quickly became discouraged after a few years, and she had never been able to shake the habit of simply calling him "Master" after that.

However, the title had not been lost on her father. With a smile, he cupped one paw over his ear.

"Um, what was that?" he asked mischievously, a slight smile on his face.

Tigress smiled, now proud to have another person to bestow the title upon.

"Baba," she finished. She turned to her mother. "Ma-" she paused once again, as the words seemed to stick to the top of her mouth. She had never had anyone to call a mother. The closest thing she ever had to a motherly figure was the caretaker of the orphanage. But now…

"Mama," she finished. Her smile grew wider, and almost without realizing it, she stood up, and her parents did the same.

Before she knew it, she had one arm around her mother and the other around her father, and the three of them embraced for the first time since they had held Tigress as a baby. They stood there for a few moments, each in silent reverence for the precious moment.

Finally, they pulled apart.

"So, do you think you're ready?" her father asked.

With the prospect of eternal happiness with Po, Shifu, her parents, and the rest of the Five once they finished their time in the Mortal Realm, there wasn't very much hesitation on Tigress' part.

"I'm ready."

"Okay," her mother said. "Follow us." With that, she turned around in a seemingly random direction, but she knew better than that.

Once again, they pushed their way through endless shrubbery and low-hanging bamboo limbs. There seemed to be no trail nor any landmark to guide them, Juédìng and Róngyù both walked ahead of Tigress with a purpose that was not lost on her.

After a few minutes, they came to a most curious sight.

In front of the trio was yet another cliffside. However, as Tigress peered up into the far-reaching sky, she realized that it extended all the way upwards to the watery sky above. She turned to look at her parents.

"How…" she began.

"You're about to see many strange things," her father answered. "I can't tell you what exactly, because everyone has different fears and different paths to take. But don't let what you're about to see distract you from what you need to do."

"So… what exactly do I need to do?" Tigress asked once more.

Juédìng smiled. But this smile oozed confidence. "The creature that threw you off that cliff? It was your demon. You must conquer it in order to be reunited with us. Don't be afraid, I know you will do it."

Tigress smiled at her mother's words before looking back at the cliff face.

"Ah," she said. "I think I get it. I came from the water on ground-level. Going back down there again would only take me back to the fountain. So now I need to move up to the water above."

She felt her father's warm paw on her shoulder. "You catch on quick!" he said. "Oh, we'll have lots of fun when you're finished!"

Now confident, Tigress stepped forward to the rocky cliff face. She extended her claws and began to climb up the almost entirely vertical stone wall. She scaled the wall quickly, as she had climbed many within her lifetime. She didn't stop to look down, instead focusing on the approaching ceiling of water that lay above and ahead.

Finally, right as she approached the bottom surface of the floating water, she looked down for the first time. She was terribly high off from the ground, but she was used to heights. Down far below, her parents were barely visible.

But she could hear the call echo from down below, "Good luck!"

With a smile, Tigress turned her head back up. She reached her paws up into the water and sprang upwards into the water.

---

V. The Queen of Huòxǔ and The Lamia

It seemed very dangerous as Tigress looked down. She felt as if she were at the bottom of a lake, but below her feet, instead of solid earth, was the surface of the water. Turning her head upwards, Tigress saw that there was another surface. But unlike before, instead of the entire surface showing light, there only appeared to be a small hole available for her to travel to. Much like the small holes that appeared in the ice of the Arctic, it appeared as if it were her only option.

Immediately, she began kicking her legs and pushing her arms out to the side, pulling her upwards to the small hole. As she got closer and closer, she began to realize that the hole was not as small as she had first thought. It was the size of a small pond, and she would very easily fit through.

Finally, Tigress burst through the hole and sucked in a huge gulp of air. Blinking the water out of her eyes, she darted her head back and forth as she tried to take in her surroundings.

She seemed to be in some kind of very small pool. It was only about six or seven feet across. It was sunken in the ground, and was surrounded by a foot of earth on every side. Tigress pedaled to the edge and threw her arms over and onto the earth. She pulled herself out of the pool and sat down on the edge with her legs still dangling in the water, and then she looked around.

All Tigress could see was a seemingly endless flat plane of warm, wet grass, much like the grass at the fountain. All around, the earth was dotted with small pools, much like the one she was in. A glance upwards revealed the sky of water hovering high above her. She looked behind her, expecting to find more flat land filled with pools, but instead, there was another forest of bamboo. It was rather close in fact. She looked to both sides, but it seemed as if the forest extended forever in both directions. Once again, even though there was no Sun in the sky, a gold-tinted light filled the earth around her.

Tigress, her golden hanfu now wet, pulled her legs out from the pool and began to stand up, but just as she straightened herself, she heard someone clear their voice to the side of her. She instantly swung her head to the side, expecting a threat.

Instead, she found a young male peacock looking at her with a blank expression. His feathers were blue, so the first thoughts of Shen that flew through her mind were quickly extinguished. He wore a yellow robe made of silk. As Tigress looked in his eyes, he looked back with a sort of blankness in his eyes that Tigress couldn't quite place. It wasn't as if he weren't being rude in his expression, but rather as if his mind was someplace far away. He certainly didn't seem to be there, in that moment.

After concluding that this peacock wasn't a threat, Tigress finally said-

"Hello. Who are you?"

The peacock blinked a few times, and then finally seemed to see Tigress for the first time. However, his eyes still seemed to be devoid of all emotion.

"Oh, yes," he said. His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. "I am Shuǐxiān. I'm here to take you to my Queen."

"Your Queen?"

"Yes. She has heard of your coming, and much desires to meet you."

Tigress paused for a moment to think about what she should do. Her parents had told her that she would have to face her greatest fears if she were to be worthy of the Spirit Realm. Being greeted by a meek peacock was not exactly what she had been expecting for the trial her parents had been warning her about. However, she thought about how her "inner demon", as her parents had called it, had tricked her into thinking that it was actually Po. Was this a similar case? Was this peacock trying to lead her astray?

However, Tigress didn't see many alternatives, and she thought that perhaps she was supposed to follow this peacock and meet his "queen" in order to progress on her path.

So, she nodded.

"Alright. I'll come with you."

"Very well. Follow me."

Shuǐxiān turned around toward the bamboo forest and began walking towards it. Tigress walked along until she was by his side. He stared forward into the distance and said nothing, but since she had some spare time, Tigress thought that perhaps he could answer a few of her questions.

"Where are we?"

"I don't really know," he responded, not even turning his head to look at her.

"You don't know? Well, how long have you been here?"

"I don't know. As long as I can remember." He said the words with no concern, as if his lack of knowledge of the place he was in wasn't a problem of his.

"You mean you don't remember a time before this place?"

"No. I've always been here. I've been serving my Queen for as long as I can remember."

Tigress was about to say more, until she realized something. This peacock may not have been a person at all. He may have been nothing more than her imagination. Or a spirit of some sort. After all, she was in the Spirit Realm. Maybe, he only existed to aid others on their own quests to happiness. That might explain the blank look in his eyes and his monotone voice. Perhaps it didn't think like a mortal did.

"So, who are you? Did you have parents?" Tigress asked, hoping to get a response different from 'I don't know.'

"Yes," he responded, but he then went silent for a second. Tigress rolled her eyes, as she thought that she was going to have to ask him every question individually, but either he sensed her frustration or he had simply paused to gather his thoughts, because he continued speaking.

"I did not know my parents. I have only been with my Queen and her court members since I can recall."

"So what do you do here? Do other people come out of these pools?"

"Other people? No. You're the only person I've ever seen besides my Queen. She always told me there were other people, but I didn't know she was telling the truth."

"And what do you do normally?"

"I wander around the forests and gather flowers for my Queen."

"What!? All the time? Is that all you do?"

"Yes."

Once again, his voice was monotone, and he seemed to care very little about the fact that he had done nothing but pick flowers for his entire life. The more she spoke with him, the more that she became convinced that she was not speaking with another mortal. By now, they had entered the bamboo forest. It was much like the one her parents had taken her inside. Once again, there seemed to be no path, but the peacock seemed to know where he was going. Out of immediate questions to ask, not that he would be able to help her very much, Tigress decided to spend the rest of the trip in silence, retreating into her thoughts.

"What am I supposed to do here?" she asked herself. There didn't seem to be any immediate threat. Where was the creature that had thrown her off of the cliff? Was it lurking just behind a tree or crouching behind a bush, waiting to strike? Somehow, Tigress had the sensation that it wasn't going to try and challenge her to a battle of strength. Her parents had said that everyone must conquer their demons in order to be granted access into the Spirit Realm, but very few people knew kung-fu or something like it. So surely there must be other ways to do battle with this demon of hers.

They continued to walk on in silence, stepping over twisting roots and ducking under low-hanging branches. Picking up her ears, she realized that she could hear the sound of birds. Not the call of sentient birds, such as Crane, but rather the chirping sound of the wild birds. The small kind that lived their lives in the treetops, just as they had been doing for millions of years. It was strange, there hadn't been any birds in the forest her parents had met her in.

Eventually, they came upon a clearing within the forest. It was decently sized: about the dimensions of Mr. Ping's noodle shop, with its eating area, kitchen, and house combined. Looking around, a sight to behold lay in front of her eyes. Tigress stepped back in shock.

Shuǐxiān stepped in front of her and bowed to the figure that sat on the wooden throne, getting all the way down on his knees and planting his face in the dirt, throwing the tips of his feathers upwards.

"Oh, my Queen," he said, "I have brought you the visitor just as you have requested."

As he bowed, Tigress looked around.

The clearing was arranged in a rectangular shape, the distance between her and the Queen making up the long side. On the opposite side of the rectangular clearing, sat what appeared to be the oldest peacock she had ever seen. She, like Shuǐxiān, wore what appeared to be a yellow silk robe, but it was so dirty, faded, wrinkled, and torn that it almost appeared to be brown. Her feathers also were once blue, but they were now a baby-blue so bright that they almost appeared to be white. Her face was terribly wrinkled with age; the feathers on the top of her head had all fallen out what seemed to be ages ago. But her eyes… her milky white eyes had no life in them at all.

As Tigress looked closer, she noticed that she was not sitting on her throne, but rather entangled in it. Her throne was made up of a miraculously thick tangle of tree roots that rested at the base of an enormous tree, curiously making up the shape of a throne. But some of the roots appeared to be wrapped around her, trapping her within their hold. She had her throne, but it appeared that it would never let her go.

Turning her head to the sides, Tigress realized that they weren't the only people there. Well, the only living people, at least.

On the edges of the clearing, in identical tree-root thrones, sat six bodies, three on each side. On the thrones sat the skeletons of other peacocks, but only their bones remained, their rotting flesh still clinging in some spots. However, quite mysteriously, their clothes seemed to be perfectly intact. The skeletons wore the outfits of kings, queens, emperors, and empresses. Reds and yellows and purples of the finest of fine silks, jewelry and precious stones, trimmings of gold and silver, but it didn't appear to be very much use to their dead wearers.

As Shuǐxiān finished his sentence to his queen, Tigress turned her attention back to her. Her head hung down as if she were asleep, but her white eyes were still open.

They did not move at all. It was at that moment that Tigress realized that she was dead, just like the rest of her woodland court.

Tigress turned her eyes back to the young peacock, who now stood back up, as if waiting for an answer from the dead body.

Of course, her first instinct was to run. Some place, any place. As long as it was far from this horrifying sight. But something told her to stay, as if this was where she was meant to be. She decided to listen to that feeling.

"Pardon me, my queen?" Shuǐxiān asked the corpse as if she was still alive. He stepped forward towards her and turned around, leaning down and putting his ear up to her mouth. His eyes seemed to be focused, as if he were listening to the faintest of whispers. He nodded as if she had said something.

He looked back at Tigress. "My queen welcomes you, but she is greatly saddened to tell you that you must wait a few minutes while she has her lunch."

Tigress was about to try and tell the peacock that the body wasn't saying anything, but instead she waited to see what would happen. The peacock took a few steps to the side, where a small pile of freshly picked flowers laid. He picked up four of them and then walked back to the body, where he held them up to those dead eyes.

"Will these suit your appetite, your Majesty?" he asked. There was no response, but he paused as if it were speaking, and then responded. "Very well."

Setting three down to the side, he held up one to the mouth of the body, using his free wing to gently open her beak. He then placed the flower into her beak, folding the stem so it would fit. He then slowly moved her beak up and down, making her chew the flower. He then softly rubbed her throat, which caused the body's reflexes to swallow.

Tigress had to turn away from the scene, as her stomach was becoming heavy and her head light. She felt as if she might vomit at any moment. Watching this freak show was not exactly what she had been expecting, and she didn't see how it was supposed to help her with anything.

Soon, the peacock had finished "feeding" his queen, and he bent down once again to place his ear next to her mouth.

He looked back up at Tigress again. "My queen welcomes you, Master Tigress of the Valley of Peace."

Tigress was taken aback. "How do you know my name?"

Putting his ear back to the corpse as if waiting for an answer, he finally responded-

"She says that she had ears in many places, and it is her business to know what happens within her kingdom."

"Her kingdom?"

"Yes. The forest, the pools, all that you see, it all belongs to her. All of it was made just for her; it is for her to rule."

Tigress paused for a few minutes, trying to come up with the right words.

"I see," she said. "And what does your queen wish to speak with me about?"

The peacock leaned once again to the corpse's mouth.

"She wishes to tell you a story," he said.

Tigress felt as if she were wasting time in this strange place, and she desperately wanted to get out and do something that seemed useful, but once again, she felt as if this were the spot she needed to be in.

"I'm listening," she finally answered.

The peacock nodded, and then proceeded.

"Very well. She says… there was once a panther. He was young and carefree. One day, he came across a field of fine green grass inside of a forest. He looked to his left and he looked to his right, but there was no one there. He was entirely alone. The only sound was that of a few birds chirping in the trees. And so, quite sure of being alone, the panther decided to strip his clothes and put them aside."

Tigress remained motionless, but became more and more concerned about the complete insanity of this young peacock.

"You see," he continued, still leaning down to the corpse's mouth as if she were telling him what to say. "The grass was long and soft, and the Sun had just come over the horizon, so the grass was still wet. It was so inviting that he lay down on the grass, naked, and rolled around, covering his fur with the pure water and brushing himself against the blades of grass. Now, whistling was a hobby of his, and so in his pleasure, he began to whistle out loud. It sounded something like this…"

The peacock concentrated and then whistled out a tune from his beak. For some strange reason, the eerie tune, which to her sounded like raindrops, stuck in her memory.

He quickly finished the tune and proceeded with his strange tale.

"Now, it just so happened that the particular sound of his whistle matched the sound of raindrops to ears that are under the earth. The earthworms, which lingered in the earth below him in their hundreds, felt the vibrations of the sound reach them, and they mistakenly believed that it was raining. For an earthworm, rain means that it's time to mate, or time to eat, but usually both at the same time. And so the earthworms emerged from the earth underneath the panther, and they crawled their way on his skin, climbing up and up his body, trying to reach the highest point so that they may feel the rain on their slimy skin. There were so many that they almost completely covered the panther, but he was enjoying his rolling around in the grass so much that he did not take notice."

"Eventually, the birds that lived within the trees had begun to notice all these worms, and they much desired to claim them for their own meals. They began to line the branches on the edges of the clearing, attempting to devise a way to get to the worms without getting crushed by the panther. More and more began to line up, first in their tens, then in their hundreds, until there were thousands. But the panther, in his pleasure, still did not take notice."

"Soon, the panther whistled again. It went something like this…"

Once again, the peacock concentrated and began to whistle. This time, it sounded very much like the chirping of birds.

"Now, it just so happened that the particular sound of his whistle also was a call that those birds made to each other. It was a call that meant… that supper's ready."

By now, the peacock, still leaning by his queen's mouth, was smiling, clearly enjoying his telling of the story.

"And then, the birds having heard that whistle, they all took flight from the branches and swooped down on the panther, descending from the sky like a dark cloud. The sound of thousands of wings made the panther open his eyes and see what was happening, but it was already too late. The birds were soon covering him, pecking the earthworms from his flesh, but so ferocious were their bites, and so ravenous was their hunger, that the birds' every peck tore bits of the flesh from his bones. The panther screamed, squirming to become free, but there were so many birds blanketing him that it was impossible. Little by little, they picked the flesh right off of his bones, and once every worm was consumed and their hunger satisfied, the birds took flight once more, leaving the panther's body behind. They had not consumed all of him, so much of his bloody flesh still clung on to him, and he even had a few bits of fur in their right places. But for the most part, the bones were exposed, and he was clearly dead. Meanwhile, the birds, remorseless of their deed, forgetful of the entire incident already, went back to their homes in the trees, their bellies full and their supper finished."

The peacock then stopped and looked at Tigress, almost as if expecting applause.

That was far from the case. Instead, she was only becoming more and more horrified at the sick tale he had just told with the tone of a bedtime story. Before she had time to respond, the peacock's eyes focused on the imaginary words that his queen was saying to him.

"Oh, well, my queen says it has been a pleasure to meet you, and that she has greatly enjoyed speaking with you, but she is very tired after telling you that story, and now, she must rest. If you want, I may escort you back to the pools outside of this forest so you may continue on your journey."

Sensing an opportunity to leave that sick place, Tigress quickly gave a forced smile and bowed.

"Thank you, your majesty," she said, her words directed to the corpse. She hoped her gesture would please the peacock. Right before the peacock joined her, he quickly turned back to the body, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"Sleep well, Mother," he quietly said, almost too softly for her to hear.

Tigress saw the love in the peacock's eyes, and finally understood. And when she did, she felt her heart break just a little bit.

With a smile on his face as if nothing was wrong, he turned to Tigress and walked past her, beckoning her to follow. She eagerly joined him on his way out of the woodland court.

They walked in silence for a few moments, until Shuǐxiān said-

"Did you find yourself in awe at the sight of her Majesty?"

"I found myself in a lot of things," Tigress thought to herself.

"Yes," she responded, as it was an answer that would appease him more than her initial thought.

"I do hope you'll forgive me, but do you think you could find the right pool by yourself?"

Tigress' gut suddenly got much tighter.

"The right pool? What do you mean? I have to pick one out of all of them?"

"If you wish to continue on your journey…" the peacock calmly said, as if it made no difference to him. "... then yes, you must find the right pool. Don't worry too much. You'll know it when you see it."

"Are you sure you just couldn't show me?" Tigress asked hopefully.

"Oh, I would very much like to, but you see, I'm forbidden from venturing out of the forest and onto the plains."

Tigress raised her brow. "Forbidden? But didn't you come to greet me when I first came out?"

"I did, but only because there was no other way for me to take you to my queen."

"Why are you forbidden from going there? What's wrong with that place?"

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with it. It's what's wrong with me."

"That's an understatement," Tigress thought to herself.

"You see, my queen forbids me from going there because of my family curse. My great-great-grandfather once did something; something far out his bounds. And so he and his lineage were cursed forever."

The peacock went silent, continuing to stare forward into the distance with a blank expression.

"So… what's the curse?" Tigress eventually asked, now curious to know the answer.

"My great-great-grandfather was only ever concerned with himself, so it was a fitting punishment that when he saw his own reflection in the water, he fell in love with his own image. He remained there in that very spot until the very earth swallowed him, leaving behind only a flower in his memory."

While Tigress was thinking to herself of just how insane this peacock was, he was busy rummaging through the inside of his robe, looking for something. He then pulled something out and held his wing open for Tigress to see.

It was a white rose. The stem had been cut, leaving only the petal behind.

"The flower left behind never died, even when cut. It became a family heirloom, serving as a reminder to us that we may never see our own reflections."

Tigress looked down at the flower. It still looked fresh, and she couldn't make up her mind whether he had made up this story and had just cut that rose a few hours ago, or whether he was telling the truth, or at least what he believed to be the truth. Regardless, the peacock put the flower, or his great-great-grandfather, one of the two, back in his pocket.

After a few more minutes of silent walking, they soon came upon the edge of the forest. Shuǐxiān stopped and turned to look at Tigress.

He bowed. "It has been a pleasure meeting you, Master Tigress. Your husband awaits you. He is most anxious now."

Tigress stepped back in shock. "Po? How do you know about him?"

The peacock placed his wing on his stomach. "I know nothing. My queen whispered it to me as I fed her. She is very wise."

Unsure of what to say, Tigress finally settled on placing her fist on her palm, and bowing. "Thank you, Shuǐxiān."

He returned the gesture. "The pleasure was all mine. Now, if you don't mind, I must go and collect more flowers for my queen's supper."

"Of course. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." With that, he turned around and walked back into the forest.

Tigress shook her head. "Well, he was… interesting," she thought. Turning around, Tigress walked back into the plane of pools. Looking around, she realized that there were hundreds. How would she ever find the right one?

"The peacock said I would know it when I saw it," she thought. With that in mind, she set out to look at the pools and see which one was different from the others. As she searched, her brain wandered back to what it had just seen. Who was that peacock? Did he really exist at all? What was the purpose of her meeting him? The only helpful thing he did was walk her back out of the woods and back to the pools. Did he really believe that his mother was alive on that wooden throne, with its roots wrapped around her? Was the whole court his family? Was he destined to end up like them?

As Tigress thought about these things, she noticed from the corner of her eye a shadow growing at her feet. When it became big enough, she looked down and realized that it was not her own. It seemed to grow bigger as she looked at it. Yes, now it was almost covering up her own shadow, although as she thought about it, she didn't know how she could even be casting a shadow since there was no apparent Sun, and the light seemingly came from everywhere. But it still got bigger, and suddenly the hairs on the back of Tigress' neck stood up. She looked up just in time and vaulted out of the way just as-

Swish!

A huge claw sliced through the air and was a quarter of a second off from decapitating Tigress. She landed on the grass on all fours and looked up, only to see an unwelcome sight.

Her demonic doppelganger was back. Only this time, she was flying through the air on a pair of massive wings, covered with pitch-black feathers. She landed on the ground several feet in front of Tigress, and looked up at her with a smile. As her wings neatly folded themselves across her back, she spoke.

"Going so soon?"

However, Tigress was in no mood to converse with the evil parts of herself. There was only one thing keeping her from Po, and it was standing a few feet away from her. She struck her kung-fu stance, but her enemy mirrored her movements. The only exception was that her claws were much, much longer and sharper.

With a snarl, Tigress got down on all fours and sprinted to the demon, which readied itself for an attack. Tigress leaped through the air, claws extended, hoping to end the fight quickly. But faster than seemed possible, the demon side-stepped her leap and used her wing to shove Tigress off-balance mid-air, causing her to land on the ground and roll a few feet.

Just as she stopped rolling and looked up again, the demon was already upon her, lifting its massive tail up in the air with its deadly spike at the end. It thrust its tail downwards, and Tigress had to give a massive effort to hop her grounded body a little to the side just as the tail impaled the ground where she had just lain. Using a similar tactic from last time, Tigress reached out and snatched the end of the demon's tail. With a hiss, it spread out its wings again and took a short burst of flight into the sky, dragging Tigress with her as she clung to her tail. She then back-flipped in mid-air and slung Tigress off of her tail and sent her crashing to the ground.

Again, Tigress had to roll to avoid the demon as it came hurtling to the ground. Just as she was getting up, it was upon her again, swinging its massive right claw at her. Tigress ducked down and slipped under the powerful swing, using her rotational momentum to deliver a kick across the side of its face and followed it up with a strong punch to the face. The blow seemed to disorient it for a brief second, so Tigress continued to attack, unsheathing her claws and digging them across the side of its face. It recoiled from the blow and back away, clutching the sides of its face.

Finally beginning to have hope that she could defeat this creature, Tigress allowed it to back away so she could catch her own breath.

The demon pulled its claw away from its face. Scratch marks now streaked down her face, and she looked at her claw. She looked back up at Tigress and smiled.

"A drop of blood. Impressive."

Just as the two combatants were preparing for a second assault, a confused voice cut through the air.

"Master Tigress? What's going on? What is that thing?"

Both Tigress and her evil twin looked to the side, only to see the peacock standing there with a mildly interested look. The demon looked back at Tigress and then gave a wicked grin, and Tigress knew exactly what she was thinking.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" she shouted to Shuǐxiān, but it was already too late. The demon spread her wings, flying straight at the peacock. Only as she came hurtling towards him did he understand that he probably shouldn't be there, but as he stumbled backward, she snatched him up with her claws.

"NO!" Tigress screamed, sprinting as hard as she ever had, following the demon as it flew through the air, desperately trying to save Shuǐxiān.

Tigress nearly expected the demon to fly higher and higher and then drop him, but instead, if flew low to the ground with the peacock in its grasp, far ahead of Tigress. She eventually flew down to the ground and stopped by a pool, letting the peacock go, which sent him rolling a few feet. He came to a stop at the very edge of the pool. Taking a few steps, the demon grasped the peacock's head in its claws and held it down to the pool's surface, but he closed his eyes, not allowing himself to see his own reflection.

With a hiss of annoyance, the demon used its other claw and stabbed Shuǐxiān right through the back, its huge claws impaling him and coming out of his stomach, covered in his blood. He screamed out in agony, but he kept his eyes shut.

With a burning anger, Tigress had finally caught up with the two, and she leaped at the demon's back, sending the two of them plunging into the pool, but during the collision, Shuǐxiān had opened his eyes for the briefest of seconds and saw his own face in the pool right before he fell into it.

All three plunged into the pool with a great splash, but Tigress now had a slight advantage as she still clung to the demon's back. It crawled out of the pool, not able to stand up with Tigress bearing down on it. It tried to unfurl its wings, but Tigress was pinning them down underneath her as she held on to the creature's torso.

For a reason Tigress would never understand, she suddenly heard the chirping of a bird. She swung her head to the side and saw that they were now very close to the trees. At that moment, she understood why she had to come here. It didn't make much sense, but she was in the Spirit Realm, after all.

Still holding on to the creature's back and keeping it on its knees, Tigress gathered her breath and began to whistle. It almost sounded like the pitter-patter of rain. It was just as she remembered the peacock doing it. Almost to Tigress' disbelief, huge, thick earthworms instantly began to flood out of the ground below them, quickly crawling up the demon's arms and legs.

Sensing what she was trying to do, the demon now put forth a renewed effort to shake Tigress off of her, but her grip was too strong. Swinging her head to the side again, Tigress now saw that hundreds of birds had gathered on the edges of the forest, covering every branch. She held on longer, allowing the worms to cover as much of the demon as possible. They went everywhere, inside its red qipao that matched Tigress' old one, inside its black silk pants, inside its mouth and ears.

When Tigress thought it was enough, she whistled once more, just as Shuǐxiān had done. It sounded much like the call of birds. On cue, the birds took flight from their branches in the hundreds, descending upon them like a cloud. As it approached, Tigress let go of the demon and ran away just as the swarm of birds reached them. The edge of the cloud still surrounded Tigress, turning her world dark with the avalanche of noise that came from the hundreds of wings. They flew into her, scratching and bruising her on their path. Putting her arms over her face, Tigress forced her way out of the crowd of birds, falling upon the grass.

She turned to look. The birds were swarming over the demon to the point where it was no longer visible, and then more birds surrounded them. As more and more layers of birds surrounded the creature, the mass of birds began to hover over the ground, lifting the demon up into the air. As more joined in, the birds took flight as a single mass, flying up and away towards the forest until they disappeared from view and the flapping of their wings could no longer be heard.

As Tigress saw her own evils defeated, she looked around for the peacock, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Shuǐxiān!?" she cried out, beggining to fear the worst. The pool…

She sprinted back into the pool that they had all fallen into and divided inside. As she peered down, she saw that this pool did not extend downwards into another section of the Spirit Realm. Instead, it had a bottom surface made of rock a few feet below. And at the bottom was Shuǐxiān, still staring upwards with open eyes, perfectly still.

Tigress swam down and took him up in her arms. Kicking her legs, she made it back up to the surface. Laying the peacock down onto the grass, Tigress looked down, horrified.

Shuǐxiān's wound was still bleeding; multiple huge stab wounds could be seen all the way through his body if not for all the blood. But more disturbingly was the way he was looking up to the sky with an expression of love still on his face. Of course, Tigress thought. He had seen his reflection before he had fallen in, and the curse had taken hold. He had become incapacitated as he fell in love with his reflection. And with his own face in mind, he had drowned at the bottom of the pool.

In denial, Tigress shook him. "Wake up! Wake up!" But the peacock was limp.

With a terrible feeling creeping on her, Tigress rested her head on his thin chest and let the tears flow. It was all her fault, she thought. He might have been healed from the wounds. But her own careless actions had caused him to see his reflection. And what chance he might have had to survive his wounds were taken from him.

Picking her head back up, Tigress looked down at him with red eyes. Sniffling, Tigress stuck her fingers out and closed the peacock's eyes. As she continued to grieve over his body, she suddenly felt the earth shake from beneath her. It threw her on her bottom, and she watched in horror as tree roots and long vines shot up from the earth and wrapped themselves around Shuǐxiān and began to pull him downwards. Scrambling back up, Tigress fell at his side and tried fruitlessly to stop his descent. But it was hopeless, and as he sank further and further, the earth began to close on top of him. Finally, it shut again, leaving Tigress helpless.

As soon as it shut, something sprouted from the ground. It seemed to be a small stem. It grew up and up into the air, until finally, a tiny bud appeared on its tip. As if living its life in a few seconds, the bud burst open and became a fully grown blue flower.

The flower then stopped growing, and dangled in front of Tigress like any other flower might.

Bending down, Tigress looked upon it in shock. In that spot, a living being had once lain. Now, there was only a flower to show for him.

"It's… it's my fault," she thought again to herself. She had recklessly killed someone. As a fresh burst of tears fell from her watery eyes, she stood up and began to wander the plain again, half-searching for the "right" pool and half grieving for Shuǐxiān's death and her own part to blame for it.

As she walked, she began to wonder to herself. Was the peacock really alive in the first place? Or was he just an illusion, something the Spirit Realm created in this "test," meant to make her feel guilty? Did he really have a mind or spirit of his own, or had he done exactly what he was meant to do? Had he really been wandering the forests, collecting flowers for his dead mother who he pretended was still alive?

As these questions flooded Tigress' mind, she heard a familiar voice call-

"It must be hard finding the right pool, huh?"

Turning her head, her spirits soared as she approached the pool from which the welcome voice had come. When she came upon it, she gasped, and then smiled.

"I know. They all look the same. But only one of them has an awesome panda in it!"

Down in the pool, with his arms hanging back on the earth, Po was half-submerged in the water, looking up at Tigress with a bright smile and shiny eyes. She stared down at him in disbelief.

"But… But…" she stuttered.

Po put his finger to his lips. "Shhhh" he replied, his voice soft and gentle. "No need for words now, Ti. Congratulations! You did it! You're finally… alive!"

Still standing there in disbelief, Tigress felt a shadow of a doubt crawl over her, as this scene seemed very familiar to her.

"Wait," she said, "how do I know you're really… you?"

Po opened up his mouth to answer, but his eyes shifted as he realized he couldn't think of anything good to say. However, the gesture was very Po-like, and some of Tigress' fears were eased.

"Umm… you know, that's actually a pretty good question. Hmm. I don't- oh, wait! I got it! Why don't you ask me a question only I would know the answer to?"

Racking her brain, Tigress finally settled upon a question. "Okay. So… how-"

"-Twenty-three," Po interrupted, catching Tigress by surprise.

"How did you-" she began.

"-Oh, come on, that one was easy," he answered with a smile. Tigress looked at that smile, becoming more and more confident that she wasn't being tricked this time. Could it be, she wondered? Could this really be Po?

Looking a little bit upwards, she noticed that Po's regular pants were laying on the edge of the pool. Peering back down at him with eyes wide with realization, Po's smile only grew wider. He held out his arms, lifting them from the water.

"What can I say? I've been waiting for this for such a long time! I thought you might enjoy just a little gift!"

Looking around, Tigress squatted down on her knees.

"I mean, are you sure? Did I pass this little test I was supposed to?"

"Yep! I think your victory went sailing over the treetops, carried away by those birds. I must admit, that was probably the most epic thing I've ever seen! I mean, my skadoosh-ing thing was pretty awesome, but getting pecked to death by a million birds!? Now that's worth some style points!"

Inside Tigress' mind, something didn't set very well. It didn't seem like her journey was over yet. After all, what had she done? She defeated her demon only after she was told how to do so, and she had let…

At the memory, Tigress' head dropped, but Po seemed to instantly pick up on her thoughts.

"You don't have to worry about that peacock. He never existed in the first place."

"What?" she responded, shocked.

"Oh, yeah. That's what the Spirit Realm does to you. It makes you see things that aren't there that play off of your fears. In this case, your fear of-"

"-Not being able to protect people," Tigress finished. "But I don't understand. I failed. He died."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Did you ever fail while you were alive?"

Tigress racked her brain, but couldn't recall a similar situation. "Well… no."

"Exactly! That's why there's no reason to be afraid of that anymore! You already did what you set out to do. You protected people, and you didn't fail! So why are you still afraid?"

Realizing the logic in his words, a tear of joy fell down Tigress' cheek.

"It's really you this time, isn't it?"

Po grinned. "Hey, they tried the same thing on me when I died. But that fake Tigress wasn't you. There's only one Tigress that I know."

Crying out a shout of victory, Tigress leaped into the pool with Po, splashing water all over his face. She was now quite in the mood to receive the gift he had planned for her. If this was the Spirit Realm, then she had a good sensation that she was going to like it.

Taking off her golden hanfu and slipping out from her black silk pants, she tossed all of her clothes to the edge of the pool. She could see Po looking on, suppressing his own smile. As she undid her chest bindings and removed her undergarments, she didn't take the time to look at Po in the eyes carefully.

His eyes still lacked the wisdom that he had when he died.

As she finished, she threw her arms around Po and the two embraced in the pool. Laughing with tears of joy coming out of her eyes, Tigress couldn't help but shake in her lover's warm hug.

"So," Po eagerly whispered into her ear. "Are you ready for your present? For the… supper I prepared for you?"

Pulling away from his hug but still leaving her paws on his shoulders, Tigress looked at Po and smiled. She nodded.

"I'm ready. I've been ready for a long time now."

Grabbing her by the waist, Po pulled Tigress back to him and the two began to do a little bit more than embrace. For one outside of the pool, the sounds of very pleased growls were the first to be heard. Then, Tigress moaned with pleasure as Po began to take his rough tongue and let it travel up and down the side of Tigress' neck. But just before they could begin the next stage of their activity, Tigress felt Po's tongue slide across the back of her neck. She relished the sensation, but when she stopped and realized that she was actually carrasing Po's face in her paws, she wondered how his tongue could be behind her head.

She opened up her eyes, and saw quite a sight. Po's head was in front of her, but his tongue somehow extended from his mouth all the way around the back of her neck, and it was still sliding all the way around, trying to complete its journey all the way around her neck.

When Tigress realized what was going on, her head nearly exploded with fury.

Just as Po's tongue almost made its way fully around the length of her throat, she snatched it up in her paw, and furiously dug her free paw into Po's face, pulling his two-foot-long tongue out of his mouth. Po began to scream with pain, but she felt no pity towards him. With her anger now unrivaled, and a physical strength to match it, Tigress belted out a furious roar as she pushed Po's face back with her paw, her claws digging into his skin, and her other paw pulling his tongue out of his mouth, stretching it longer and longer.

Snarling, Tigress pulled and pulled until the pressure was too much. With one of the most sickening snaps she had ever heard, Po's tongue was ripped right out of his mouth, and left dangling in Tigress' paw. Without his tongue, all Po could do was make a strange combination of the most pathetic of whimpers and most heart-throbbing of groans as blood spewed out from his mouth.

"You can't fool me again," she viciously whispered in her head.

She snatched his head with both paws and dragged him from out of the side of the pool and into the center. Pushing with all of her strength, she forced Po backward until his head was underneath the water. With her pupils now slits, her claws extended, and her sharp fangs baring at the panda, he struggled in her grasp and desperately fought for air. Bubbles spewed out from his mouth and traveled upwards the few inches of water that separated him from the air.

Po thrashed about, trying to hit Tigress, scratch her, kick her, anything. But all his attempts were in vain. Her anger was too great and her strength too much for him. Slowly, Po began to stop fighting so hard, an empty look coming over his eyes. Tigress put all of her strength into pushing him downwards, until finally, Po stopped moving at all. His paws, which had been clutching Tigress' arms, fruitlessly trying to rip her paws off of his face and throat, lost their grip and fell down into the pool, motionless. Still, Tigress held him, clutching his face and forcing it down, making sure that he was dead. Her arms still shaking with fury, she finally let go of Po after a few minutes, letting his body bob up and down the surface of the water as his natural bouncy took hold.

As her rage subsided, she looked down at Po's faded jade eyes that stared up into the sky with no emotion. A few moments passed, and nothing happened. Soon, a deep pit opened up inside of Tigress. She had been so sure that she had been fooled once again by her demon, that it had taken the shape of Po just like before and had tried to murder her in the pool, but now, as she gazed upon Po's dead eyes, doubt began to flood the feline.

His tongueless mouth agape, Po slowly began to sink in the pool.

Fear now gripping her, Tigress desperately tried to justify her actions. There was no way Po's tongue could have been so long. Surely the demon was trying to wrap it around her throat and then kill her, right? And besides, she should have been on a better guard than that. She hadn't seen Po in months, but she had known him for years. He never, not even once, greeted her after a long absence by offering his body. He much preferred a simple hug and kiss. Their more intimate moments only came when both of them wanted it. More specifically, after both had wanted it for a good amount of time but were still struggling to put their wish into words. They had never requested the other on a whim like that.

But as Tigress stook naked in the pool, Po's body still lay at the bottom. It couldn't really be Po, or could it…?

Suddenly, filled with shame and disgust at her behavior, she crawled out of the pool, her fur dripping. She quickly put her clothes back on, casting worried glances at the pool, hoping that the body would burst into flames like it had done before and turn back into its true form. She wasn't sure why, but as she slid her wet arms back into the sleeves of her golden hanfu, Tigress was suddenly hit with the memory of how she had got it in the first place.

All that trouble he had gone through during that Winter Festival, just for her…

As she finished getting dressed, Tigress walked back over to the edge of the pool and knelt down. Po's body still had not changed.

As fear began to grip her heart, she recalled how savagely she had acted. Pangs of horrifying guilt now flooded her as she recalled ripping his tongue from out of his mouth, and then brutally drowning him in her arms. Hadn't she trained for years upon years to keep her anger under control? Wasn't it to prevent her from doing anything like that? To prevent her from anyone seeing her as a… monster? Lifting her paws up, Tigress looked down at the pads of her paws in fear. Was this who she was?

Her chest begging to heave with a flood of emotions, Tigress began to fear the worst. Was that Po in the bottom of the pool? Had she just murdered him? No, she thought. That was impossible. She would never hurt Po. She couldn't. She…

"I'm a monster," were the words that went through Tigress' head. Regardless of who was at the bottom of the pool, she had viciously killed them in an honorless way that brought only shame.

Almost as if on cue, the water began to bubble violently, and Tigress could no longer see beneath the surface. Backing up, Tigress was internally relieved as she knew that she had not hurt Po. But her problems were far from over as something burst out from the water and hovered over the pool as it spread out its black wings.

The demon, now back in its true form, looking exactly like Tigress, with the exception of claws, horns, a barbed tail, and wings, gazed down on the feline with a wicked smile. It opened up its maw, revealing a set of fangs much sharper and deadlier than Tigress' own. From the depths of its mouth, something seemed to grow. Larger and larger it got, until a fully-grown forked tongue replaced the missing one.

"I didn't expect you to be so feisty," it said. "Let's see how fiesty you are when I take you to see my king."

Swooping down on its wings, the demon snatched Tigress in its arms and held her tightly as they flew through the air together. Tigress struggled to break free, but she now found her usually reliable strength outmatched.

As the demon flew through the air, it suddenly took a sharp upward turn right above another pool, before flipping over and propelling the two downwards into the pool at a speed almost faster than could be seen.

The two plunged into the pool, and, after the ripples subsided, the two of them were seen no more in the plain of the pools.

---

VI. The Court of the Crimson King

With the speed of the fall pushing them along, Tigress and her demon went flying down the water together. Looking up, Tigress could see the "bottom" of the water approaching, and once again, she felt the strange sensation as if she were being flipped in an hourglass. Suddenly, it no longer felt as if she were moving downwards, but rather moving upwards.

Before she knew what was happening, the two burst through the surface of the water. As soon as they were through, Tigress' demon dropped her, and Tigress fell back into the water. As the demon flew away, Tigress coughed back up water and swung her head around as she tried to remain afloat.

When she saw the world around her, her eyes went wide.

Tigress seemed to be swimming in the ocean. Not too far away, perhaps half of a mile, she could see land, with a village by the shore. However, the sky was tinted a deep crimson color, but Tigress could not understand why. She looked up, and much to her surprise, the watery ceiling was gone, replaced with a night sky with a full moon that was blood-red. The light from the moon was so intense that it made everything below it a similar color. As Tigress looked back at the village, she could see that many parts of it were on fire, and it wasn't terribly difficult to understand why.

Coming out of the sea, massive dragons were bursting up and out of the water, flying through the air by moving their huge tails back and forth like a snake. As Tigress looked on, she felt the water below her blast her with a wave of pressure, and as she turned, a dragon's head emerged, about the size of Mr. Ping's entire restaurant, which was then followed by a body longer than many of the streets in the Valley of Peace and just as wide. As it flew up, Tigress saw its crimson scales shine in the blood-red light.

Following its flight, Tigress saw as the dragon, as well as others, swooped down upon the village and opened their enormous maws, columns of fire spewing out from them and obliterating anything in their path, and setting fire anything close to it.

"Now this is more like I expected," Tigress glumly thought to herself.

As she became more comfortable with treading water as the waves gently pushed her up and down, and the adrenaline from battling her demon slightly faded, she noticed a faint screeching sound, but it was blended and mixed together like a swarm of bees. Looking upon the village, she saw a large mountain that stood on the edge of it. At least, she thought it was a mountain upon first sight, but it was actually a volcano, but lava didn't come out of it.

Instead, thousands upon thousands of demons, similar to Tigress' own, humanoid with sets of black feathered wings, poured out of the mouth of the volcano, descending upon the village like a black plague.

Unsure of where to go or what to do, Tigress remained treading water for a few seconds until her decision was made for her.

Once again feeling a change in pressure within the water, Tigress was suddenly lifted up into the air. Looking down with shock, she realized that one of the dragons had come up right underneath her and she now had a place right at the base of its neck. As the dragon flew up into the air, Tigress desperately grabbed two of its dinner-plate-sized scales and held on for dear life as she looked to the side and saw herself rising from sea-level at a rapid pace. It only took a few seconds for her to be at a height at which getting off the dragon was no longer an option.

Her eyes wide with fear, Tigress found herself riding on the back of a fully-fledged fire-breathing dragon. However, she didn't really have time to relish how it might have looked from an outside perspective, because she was much too busy clinging to the dragon's scales as the wind blew harder and harder upon her as the dragon flew higher and higher. Her wet hanfu flapping in the cold wind and her head blown back, Tigress felt her grip slipping as they approached the village.

Finally, the pressure was too much, and Tigress' fingers could hold on no longer. She slipped from the base of the dragon's neck and began to tumble down the length of its body. As she rolled, she desperately waved her arms about, trying to grab another one of its scales so she could avoid falling to death. But her spin was out of control, and all she could see was the sky, the dragon's back, and parts of the village spin by her view multiple times every second. As she continued to tumble, she knew that she had to be nearing the end of the dragon's tail and didn't have much time left.

Miraculously, the tips of her right paw made contact with the tip of a scale, and Tigress put all of her energy and willpower into squeezing her fingers hard enough to stop her momentum. She managed to hold on, and she jerked to a sudden stop and fell on the back of the dragon. With her other paw, she grabbed another scale and held on tightly, this time laying flat instead of sitting upright, so that the wind could only roar in her ears instead of knocking her off of the creature's back completely.

As the village came closer and closer, Tigress decided to look behind her and nearly screamed out in surprise as she saw the tip of the dragon's tail only a few feet away.

Looking back in front of her, the dragon started to dip its head down and its whole body soon followed. Nearing the village, the dragon fell into a slow, but steady dive. As the surface of the earth came nearer, Tigress realized that her best chance to get off was when it spewed the flames out of its mouth, as she had seen the other dragons get very close to the rooftops of the village when they attacked.

Getting closer and closer now, Tigress prepared herself as the dragon opened its mouth, getting ready to assault the village with its flames. Finally, much to Tigress relief, they found themselves no longer over the sea, but over land.

Soon, it was time. The dragon got the lowest it was going to get, flying its enormous snake-like body over the village. Tigress let go of the two scales she had gripped so tightly before and fell off of its tail, down into the open air. With a much more bearable distance to fall from, Tigress righted herself in mid-air and faced downward, pinning her arms and legs back to shoot through the air without spinning. As the curved rooftop rapidly approached, much like the one she had fallen on when she most wisely decided to pursue Tai-Lung on her own, she readied herself for impact.

Hitting the curved tiles of the roof, Tigress slid down and used her speed to leap from the edge of the roof and over the street, landing on the next roof with a thump!

Finally on the surface again, Tigress gave a little prayer of thanks. She didn't know how Crane or any other avians could fly. That was the most terrifying thing she had ever done.

Catching her breath, Tigress looked up and saw the dragon she had been riding spitting fire on the village, destroying everything in the straight line underneath it. Climbing up the curved roof, Tigress reached the tip where the two curves met and looked around her.

In the streets, she was shocked to find some people running for their lives. When she realized that most of the people were bunnies, pigs, and geese, she felt her stomach sink. Looking around at the rooftops, she began to recall their familiarity. To confirm her fears, Tigress looked up at the volcano. On the side of it that faced the village, she saw a large building burning in a massive inferno. Tigress knew where she was.

She was in the Valley of Peace.

This couldn't be real, Tigress thought. It all had to be her imagination, the Spirit Realm playing with her mind. After all, the Valley wasn't even by the sea. But no matter how hard Tigress tried to deny it, she could not deny her eyes and ears, and those told her that the Valley was burning. Then, the sound of a colony of flapping wings reached her ears.

Off in the distance, in the part of the Valley closest to the mountain, the demons had entered, and they now flooded the streets, filling every street and flooding down more. Then, a thunderous roar hit her ears, and Tigress turned up and saw another dragon swooping down from the direction of the sea and she was right in its path. It opened its maw, and flames spewed from its mouth a good distance from Tigress, but the dragon flew quickly, and the distance between her and becoming a pile of ash quickly decreased.

With her adrenaline back in her body, Tigress scrambled across the roof and began to leap from rooftop to rooftop, keeping traction by digging her claws into the tiles and balancing on all fours. Tigress was moving to the side of the flames, but they covered a wide area, and they were almost upon her now. Putting everything she had into sprinting forward, the flames came so close that Tigress leaped from the roof she was on, hoping that it was enough. She flew across another street and almost didn't reach the other roof, but she lifted her paws up and caught the edge of the roof. Dangling there, she turned her head around just in time to see the rows of buildings across the street get hit with the flames and become obliterated.

Sighing with relief, Tigress scrambled up on the roof and looked around once more. On her left, she could see the flat, stone rooftops that made up the shops of the Valley. Leaping her way across more rooftops to make her way there, she finally landed upon a flat roof and was able to stand upright. Down in the streets below her, the demons were flowing down the street like a river. The people still in the streets were swept up like by the tidal wave of demons as if nothing were there at all.

Beginning to panic, Tigress clutched the sides of her head with her paws and desperately thought, "What am I supposed to do!?"

But before the hopelessness of the situation could fully embrace her, she heard a voice speak in her mind.

"The creature that threw you off that cliff? It was your demon. You must conquer it in order to be reunited with us."

Tigress knew it was her own memory, but she could have sworn some outside source put that thought in her head during that moment. Conquer her demon? In all of this? How was she supposed to-

Suddenly, she understood.

Tigress turned around to look across the roof. The shop she stood upon was a rather large one, and it would suffice for her purpose.

"Hey!" she called out. "I know you're out there! Come out and face me!"

On cue, the air in the center of the roof burst into flame, and when the flame burned out, a familiar adversary stood in her view. The demon seemed occupied at the moment, as it carried something in both of its claws. With horror, Tigress realized that the long, white things it carried were in fact, spines. Ripped out of their owner's backs, the demon now stood with the end of one of the spines in its mouth, sucking out the bone marrow from it like candy.

When it finished, it tossed both of the spines aside.

"So," it said, its long forked tongue licking its lips in either anticipation or the food it had just consumed, "Tired of running, hmm?"

Striking her fighting stance, Tigress growled back, "I'll never run from you again."

Looking down at Tigress' stance with an unimpressed look, the demon broke into a smile. Catching fire once more, a suit of armor, just as members of the Chinese military wore, with a large slab of metal over its chest and back, held around the neck and shoulders, as wells as a plate protecting the front of the legs, and a helmet with two holes to allow its horns to slip through. To complete the look, the demon pulled out the sword from its sheath, and as soon as the blade made contact with the air, it burst into flames. Now, with its deadly claws, spiked tail, black wings, two horns, battle armor, and flaming sword, the demon seemed just slightly more prepared than Tigress did.

"Oh, come on," she internally groaned to herself.

This time, instead of dashing forward, she and her enemy slowly circled the other around the edges of the roof, the demons below swarming the streets and posing a deadly trap for either combatant who fell into them. The two foes looked each other up and down, both wary of the other. Finally, Tigress took a step forward and her demon followed suit, sending the two on a collision course on the center of the roof.

With a yell, the demon raised its sword and slashed diagonally downwards, which was avoided by Tigress as she slid underneath the blow. However, the demon had expected that move, so as the swing missed Tigress, it used its momentum to keep turning and take a stab at Tigress with its tail. Seeing it just in time, Tigress leaned back just far enough to avoid being stabbed, the tail flying over her.

Turning back to the demon, she saw it flap its wings and take a short burst in the air. However, instead of flying, it turned its wings back to her and shoved a massive wall of air in her direction. The strong wind gust blew Tigress off balance, and the demon swooped down and snatched Tigress by the tip of her hanfu with its free claw. As Tigress tried to scratch the claw, pulling to get free, the two flew across the rooftops. Turning her head, Tigress realized that they were headed for the streets, where she would be dropped and then swallowed by the hoard of demons.

Turning her head back, Tigress leaned backward and swung her legs forward with all of her might, bringing them above her head, and she kicked the demon in the chest. The impact forced it to let her go, and she fell onto another rooftop. Turning around, the demon flew down to meet her.

This time, Tigress decided to attack first. Just as the demon landed on its feet, Tigress dashed forward, bringing her fist across her side and towards the demon's face. It dodged the blow, but Tigress followed it up by bringing her other fist towards her enemy, landing a solid blow on the creature's chest plate. It stumbled back a few steps, and Tigress sprinted forward, leaping up and placing her foot on the demon's shoulder, using her foot as leverage as she brought her other foot upwards in an attempt to shatter the demon's jaw in mid-backflip, but her plan was thwarted as the demon raised its claws and caught Tigress foot right before it made contact with its chin. With her foot in its grasp, it swung Tigress around and threw her through the air.

Tigress caught the ground with all fours, but felt her back feet make contact with the raised part of the roof that marked the edge. As she stood up, the demon had cocked its sword back, and it now swung it forward, releasing it and sending it flying towards Tigress, the flaming blade spinning around as it hurtled towards her. Tigress leaped up in the air just in time to avoid it, but when she landed, she noticed that the demon's claw was still bent forward, almost as if…

As the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, Tigress suddenly ducked down as the blade came flying through the air and made its way back to its owner's claws. When the demon caught it, it raised it above its head and brought the blade down over Tigress. Raising her paws, Tigress caught the demon's claws, and the two engaged in a battle of strength as they both held the sword in the air.

Each pushing forward, the two stepped around the rooftop as if in a dance, before the demon brought its leg up and kicked Tigress in the chest, sending her stumbling. The demon leaped forward and, with a swipe of its paw, gashed Tigress across the chest, leaving behind multiple wounds.

"Ahhh!" she yelled out, clutching her chest and recoiling from the strike. But the demon showed no mercy, and was soon upon her. It reached out with its free claw and clutched Tigress by the throat, lifting her up into the air and then slamming her down on the roof. Now toying with its victim, the demon stabbed its flaming blade in the roof and clenched that claw in a fist, bringing it down on Tigress' exposed face. The impact hit Tigress so hard that when her head made contact with the stone roof, it shattered, and a hole a foot wide appeared.

With a twisted grin, the demon stood up and lifted its foot in the air, bringing it down on Tigress' chest. The blow sent Tigress straight through the bottom of the roof, the stone giving way to the power of the blow.

Tigress fell through the building's multiple floors, smashing through the wooden floors until she finally landed on the stone floor of the bottom level. She groaned out in terrible pain. Summing all of her strength, Tigress slowly got up and looked around.

She was in some sort of clothing market, with rows upon rows of robes, dresses, pants, and other outfits, hanging on racks. Looking down, Tigress saw the tears through her golden hanfu, with blood begging to stain the edges of her scratches. Now aching all over, Tigress began to desperately think of a way to win this battle. Conquer her demon? She couldn't even land more than a single blow in. She was already being toyed with, as the demon had multiple chances to kill her yet chose to put her through further pain.

Backing away from the series of holes she had just been kicked through, she heard the flapping of huge wings descend from above, and the demon hovered down from the hole in the ceiling, its expression a clear indication that it was deeply enjoying itself. As it landed, Tigress continued to back away, trying to buy herself time to think.

"Look at you," the demon called out as it continued to flap its wings and hover in the air. "I thought you were supposed to be a formidable kung-fu master. That no one could match your strength! Those who did evil shook at the footsteps of Master Tigress! You didn't even use your claws, because you didn't need them to wipe out legions of foes! Your roar was a warning that their lives were at stake! And now look at you! Ha! A monster!? You're no monster! You're pathetic, worthless, weak! Without the panda, you are helpless! You aren't even worthy of being my master's slave!"

As it spoke, Tigress tried to argue against its words in her head, but she found herself unable to do so. After all, without Po, she would have failed countless times. Without him, Tai-Lung would have killed Shifu and laid waste to the Valley of Peace, Shen would have conquered all of China, and Kai would have taken the spirits of her and all of the other pandas. What had she done?

She had failed. That's what she was. A failure.

Gritting her teeth in anger, she knew this was her last chance. If she couldn't win here, she would never see Po again. She would never see her brothers, her sister, her fathers, her mother, or her children. That couldn't happen. With a cry of desperation, Tigress limped to the demon as fast as she could.

As she approached, the demon smiled and put its sword back into its sheath.

"Yeah, come on," it whispered to itself in anticipation.

Tigress threw a punch with her right paw, but it was too slow, and the demon dodged it. Tigress unsheathed her claws and took a swipe at her foe with her left paw, but it caught her wrist in mid-swing and brought its own fist across Tigress' face. Blood was spewed out of Tigress' mouth as the blow made contact with her jaw. Still holding on to her wrist, the demon brought its fist into Tigress' stomach, punching her again and again. The blows were so powerful that Tigress' feet jumped a few inches in the air with every blow.

Then, the demon gripped her wrist tightly and swung her across the shop, sending her crashing into a large wooden shelf, knocking it down.

Tigress' insides were screaming to get up, but her body was too beaten to reply. Her eyes were swollen and she saw three of everything, her chest was bleeding at dangerous levels, soaking the front of her hanfu, and her insides felt like a liquid after those blows. She didn't know if she could die in the Spirit Realm, but the possibility seemed to be becoming a reality.

As she tried to get up, the demon had reached her. It reached down and picked her up by the throat, pushing her forward and slamming her against the wall. Tigress clawed the wrist, identical to her own, for breath as she was lifted in the air. In response, the demon slammed its free fist into Tigress' face, knocking her head through the stone wall. It then pulled her back and grabbed her by her armpits, lifting her up in the air. It then took flight, flying straight upwards, smashing Tigress through multiple floors.

They finally burst through the ceiling of the shop, and the demon threw Tigress into the ceiling, cackling with a mad joy all the while.

Tigress fell flat on her face and remained that way.

She was in fact, still conscious, but she was so weak that she could no longer get up. The only movement she could make was the motion of breathing. She could hear the demon wildly laughing and flying about in the air in celebration, and she realized that this was the end.

But just before she accepted her fate, one memory went through her head. She didn't know why she had it, and she would never discover why.

It was the image of Po, his stomach on the cold, hard stone, his paw being painfully bent backward by Shifu. The Sun was setting on the disappointing day after Po had been selected as Dragon Warrior. Smiling through the pain, Po called out-

"Don't worry, Master Shifu! I will never quit!"

Then, she remembered what her parents had told her.

"You have to face your fears."

Her fears? What were her fears? At the word, the image of Po lying there in the pool, just after she had drowned him, came to her mind. The fear that she was a monster? That was something that had been drilled in her head since she was a child. But then, she recalled what Po- but really the demon- had told her.

"Did you ever fail while you were alive?"

No, she hadn't. She had never killed anyone like she had tried to kill the demon in the pool. She had used her strength and her power for good, to protect people. And the fear of not being strong enough? All of her loved ones lived natural lives. Without her, Po would have taken the shot from Shen's cannon, and only she was physically strong enough to take the blow. He would have died if she hadn't sacrificed her own body. Her fear that Shifu wasn't proud of her? That all of her work was not enough? Only she had been present during his final moments as the pink petals floated around him and he seemingly backed up on the air.

"Tigress, my daughter, I have made many mistakes in my life. I have only ever done one thing perfectly, without any fault, and that was choosing you for my daughter. You are the bravest, strongest, kindest, humblest person I have ever met. I cannot tell you that I am proud of you, because pride is not a grand enough word." He then had chuckled. "One day, I might actually grow up and not be such a fool, and when I do, I want to be like you. I love you Tigress, and I will be waiting for the day where you pick my tiny self up and embrace me once more."

Now that she thought of it, why she was so afraid? She didn't have to conquer her fears. She had already conquered them.

Suddenly, Tigress felt something very strange happen to her. Her ears had been assaulted with sound only seconds before, with the burning of buildings, the screeches of the demons, the roar of the dragons, and the celebratory howls of her own mirror image, flying above her. But now, all of it went quiet. And then, the terrible pain all over her body seemed to subside. All she could hear was the sound of her own breath, and all she could feel was her own heartbeat, slowing down to a steadier pace within her chest.

And then, she felt herself let go of her fears. With images of Po, of Shifu, of the Five, and of her children in her mind, Tigress found the strength to move her paw and plant it on the stone ceiling. She lifted her knee up, rose from the ceiling, and stood once more.

The demon, which had been celebrating all this time, mistakenly believing her to be dead, now stopped flying and hovered in the air, now with a shocked look on its face and its mouth slightly ajar.

Tigress looked up at the demon, her vision sharper than ever before.

"I'm not a monster," she calmly called out to the evil part of her. And as Tigress believed her own words, she suddenly felt her paw become warm, and she glanced down to see it glowing with a yellow light.

Looking back up, she called out, "I'm not a failure!" Now, her other paw was glowing, and the demon was hissing in anger.

"I… am…" she sighed as the perfect answer came to her. "... Tigress."

Able to contain it no longer, the demon opened its maw and let loose a terrible shriek, swooping down on Tigress at blinding speed. But Tigress was now ready for anything it had for her, and she leaped up in the air, turning around mid-jump and snatching the demon's back. The creature now flew at its top speed, its wings flapping impossibly fast as they zipped across the streets, making everything below seem a blur. But Tigress locked her legs around the demon's torso, and was able to sit up and bring her fists down on the demon's head, pounding it with blow after blow with her chi-infused paws.

The demon screeched out in pain at the blows, but it continued to fly towards the mountain, and as Tigress looked up, she noticed that they were flying over the Ten Thousand Steps. Nearly a thousand passed by her sight every second, so fast were they flying.

Realizing that her blows weren't doing enough, Tigress reached down and snatched one of the demon's black wings in mid-flap, causing both of them to lose altitude as only one wing was generating any lift. Putting one paw against her demon's back and the other on the base of its wing, Tigress pulled with all of her strength, and the creature shrieked out in agony. But the force was too much, and the base of the wing began to rip out of its roots of flesh, until Tigress ripped it completely off and discarded it to the ground below.

Shrieking, the two now fell downwards in a spin. As they fell, Tigress grabbed the demon and positioned it so that its back would take the impact of their fall. Finally, they crashed down to the earth. The demon was smashed into the earth while Tigress went flying over it. She regained her balance and landed on all fours, looking around. With a smile, she realized she was in a very familiar place.

The courtyard of the Jade Palace.

Looking to the side, she could see the Palace burning to the ground, but it didn't concern her much. The stands to their sides were still intact, so she didn't have to be immediately worried about catching on fire. She turned her head back to the one thing that prevented her from getting back to Po.

Standing up, the demon folded its one wing across its back as it grimaced in pain. The stone where it landed was cracked, and Tigress could now see that the creature was mortal. It was a pitiful sight. She saw… herself. The creature looked exactly like her. Same fur, same stripes, same body. Tigress strangely found herself pitying the wretched creature. It knew nothing of love, and it never would. Only the self-destructing hatred that it was made out of.

The demon pointed up to the burning Palace. "Look!" it cried, "Your home burns!"

"No," Tigress calmly answered. "I protected my home for all my life. And now, my children protect it. The Valley still stands."

Sticking out its forked tongue and hissing in anger, the demon reached up and removed its helmet, crushing it in its claws with pure rage. As it dropped the metal ball on the ground, it reached into its sheath and pulled out its flaming sword, ready for battle.

"Let's finish this!" it cried, and for once, Tigress couldn't agree more.

The two walked forward, but before they reached each other, the demon spewed forth a burst of flame. However, instead of dodging, Tigress held her paw out and channeled her chi into it. When the flame made contact with her paw, a golden light spread out like a shield, diverting the fire in different directions. As soon as the fire stopped burning, the demon was already upon Tigress, and it tackled her to the ground.

With a wild look in its crimson eyes, it raised its sword and brought it down on Tigress, but she caught the claw gripping the sword with her paw. She was then able to wiggle her torso free from the weight of the demon and brought her foot into her foe's jaw, sending it flying several feet backward. Tigress flipped back on her feet, and the demon stood up, raising its blade up. The two advanced toward each other again, and the demon took a slash at Tigress, but she dodged it and used her momentum to duck downwards and deliver a sweeping kick to the demon's legs. It brought its legs out from under it, and Tigress caught its feet as it fell, and swung the creature over her head, and slammed it face-first into the stone below them. Tigress bent down to deliver another blow to the demon's back, but it gave out a wild kick, which sent her stumbling back a few feet.

With the aid of its sword as a cane, the demon shakily got back on its feet and turned to face Tigress. This time, the anger was replaced with a weary look. But there was something else in the demon's eyes.

Fear.

Tigress only smiled.

The creature walked forward, intensely staring at Tigress the entire time. Tigress made no motions at all, letting it come to her. When it reached her, it slowly slashed at her with its blade, but it was easily dodged, and with chi-infused fists, Tigress punched her foe across the face. The blow disoriented the demon, and Tigress began a complete beatdown of her enemy, striking it again and again across the face, each blow knocking out teeth and spewing blood from its mouth. Blow…. after blow… after blow.

The demon was now helpless, it could only shuffle backward as Tigress wrecked its face. Finally, it sunk down on its knees. Tigress reared back and focused all of her energy within her paws.

She then thrust them forward in her signature double-palm strike, and a burst of chi went off just as her palms made contact with the demon's chest. The blow send the creature flying across the courtyard until it smashed into one of the stone pillars underneath the stands. It remained motionless for a few seconds, until it finally rose on one knee and looked up at Tigress.

As it saw Tigress slowly walking towards it, prepared to end its miserable existence, it tried one last attack.

It swung its flaming blade, and it spun horizontally towards Tigress. But she leaped up into the air and avoided the blade. But once again, the demon held out its claw and summoned the blade back to it.

But Tigress was ready for this, and just as she approached the demon, she reached her paw backward without needing to look, and the hilt of the demon's blade slid right into her paw. She raised the blade up, and, with her touch, her chi ran up the blade, extinguishing its demonic flame and replacing it with a steel blade that glowed with energy.

She looked back down at her foe. Standing on one knee, her demonic mirror image was beaten to a pulp, its face a bloody mess, its armor broken in many places, and one horn even snapped off. It was looking up at her in pure terror, its eyes begging for mercy.

But she knew this was not a mortal, and it would do everything in its power to kill her if it were allowed to live. It did not deserve mercy.

Tigress brought the blade back and then thrust it forward into the demon's stomach, pushing it all the way through its back.

It gasped out, its eyes growing wide and its mouth hanging open. It stumbled backward until its back was on the stone pillar once more, grasping its wound with its claws. The demon slowly slid downwards on its back, gasping for air it would not get. Its bottom reached the ground, and it looked back up at Tigress once more, this time with a completely blank expression. Finally, with its energy spent, its eyes fell downwards and its claws fell limp.

Tigress heard the creature give a final sigh, and then, somehow, its skin began to darken. It was cracking, hardening, greying.

It was turning to stone.

Soon enough, a stone statue of her mortal enemy lay before her, its dead eyes still open and its own blade now calcified through its stone body. As soon as if finished, the body of the demon began to crumble, and it all was turned into dust until only the head remained. When its head hit the ground, a massive wave of energy shot out from it, washing down upon the Valley of Peace. Tigress looked to her side, and she heard the wail of thousands of demons as one of their comrades was taken away from the realm of existence.

Meanwhile, Tigress closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had done it. She had conquered her fears and defeated her inner demons, quite literally. She was now… worthy of being with Po. However, when she opened her eyes again, she saw that she was still in the courtyard of the Palace, and a quick glance revealed that both the Valley and the Palace were still burning.

"So… now what?" Tigress thought to herself, exasperated. Hadn't she been through enough already?

After deciding to have a closer look at the Valley, Tigress bend down and picked up the stone head of the demon, holding it by its one lone horn. Lifting it up, Tigress walked over to the large double doors and pushed one open. She peered down on the Valley, and her eyes grew wide when she saw the hoards of demons flying straight for her. The dragons, the winged humanoids, all of them were coming for her.

Slowly, but calmly, Tigress just shut the door again.

She backed up into the center of the courtyard, her eyes glued to the door as she heard the hoards come for her, the flapping of their wings, their screeches, shrieks, roars, and other various sounds getting louder and louder in her ears.

Finally, just as it seemed that the sounds were just on the other side of the door, the doors burst open and hundreds of demons came flooding through. Like her own demon, they were all normal animals- pigs, geese, bunnies, rhinos, boars, leopards, lions, tigers, and all other kinds of species. But they also had black feathered wings, impossibly long barbed tails, huge claws, horns, and crimson eyes. She could also see the dragons begin the circle above her, creating a huge mass of movement all around.

The demons began to file in the stands as if they were coming to watch something, but others continued to press forward towards Tigress. They came for her, their claws extended and the hate evident in their eyes. Soon, the stands were filled as the demons squeezed together and the lighter ones simply laid on top of the larger ones, and the courtyard could not hold anyone else. The demons still in the back took flight with the dragons and circled above, making the sky so thick with their bodies that the sky was no longer visible.

Beginning to fear that perhaps she hadn't passed, Tigress desperately thrust the stone head of her demon forward just as the massive crowd approached her. They seemed to recoil at the sight, unable to touch it and hating the sight of it. Sensing their weakness, Tigress stuck the head forward, sweeping it back and forth to force the crowd back.

The strategy seemed to be working until-

BOOM!

The entire earth seemed to shake as if struck by a massive blow. Suddenly, all the demons and dragons, which had been producing deafening noise, went silent. All the creaturs in mid-flight swooped down and rested on the ground of the mountain that surrounded the Jade Palace. The demons in the crowd fell in a massive hush, and Tigress realized that their faces all now pointed towards the tip of the mountain on which the Palace rested. The crowd in front of her back away, pushing themselves towards the edges of the courtyard, leaving the path to the double-doors clear for Tigress to run to.

BOOM!

The earth shook again, and Tigress stumbled down on the ground as she lost her balance. She dropped the head, and it went rolling away from her, but no one seemed to notice.

Suddenly, the demons brought their claws up and began… clapping.

Then they began to cheer, to whoop and scream with delight.

Soon, the air was filled with the applause of the residents of the bottom depths of the Spirit Realm. It was so loud that Tigress was forced to cover her ears with her paws.

Now, Tigress turned her head to look at the mountaintop, which was now open, as the demons had burst forth from it when she had first arrived in this cursed place. As she looked, fear gripped her heart. Had she failed? What had she done wrong? Why wasn't it over yet? As her pupils dilated with fear and her heart raced, Tigress bore witness to one of the strangest sights she would ever see.

The entire top of the mountain… exploded.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The light was so intense that Tigress brought her arm up and shielded her eyes.

Everything around her went silent, the cheers, claps, and whoops of the demons were now gone. Removing her arm from her eyes, Tigress looked back up at the mountain. Around the top, a massive black cloud of ash and fire swirled around, its heat and friction so intense that massive bolts of red lightning flew within it and without it.

As Tigress and the demons continued the watch, there was total silence.

Then, the earth began to rumble, and the cloud's crimson lightning flashes, which lit up the cloud, began to show a silhouette with every flash. Its head came from the opening of the top of the mountain, and its neck was next, followed by its paws. Its' body soon followed, until the silhouette now took shape. The creature inside cocked its head back and let loose an ear-sliting roar.

Tigress clutched her ears once again and fell to the ground, squirming in agony at the terrible, terrible sound. Meanwhile, the demons erupted in cheers again and began to celebrate.

When the sound finally subdued, Tigress, her eyes red with tears, looked back up.

The cloud was now gone. Standing on the top of the mountain was a familiar figure. It was a dragon, but not like the others. It was a hundred times larger. Much, much larger than she remembered him. It was a crimson dragon, but on the sides of its snake-like body, it had four paws to stand on. Its square-jawed head surveyed all below it as if it belonged to him, and its eyes of flame didn't seem like the rest of the demons, wild and hateful. No, the eyes of pure flame seethed evil in its purest of forms. The dragon's lips twisted into a smile.

Tigress saw him, and knew she gazed upon Ke-Pa, the King of Demons.

And he was not like before. It was now his time.

With only two enormous strides, Ke-Pa reached the Jade Palace, which, while burning, still stood. Ke-Pa raised his front paw and brought it down, flattening the Jade Palace in one fell blow. Tigress gasped out in shock and horror, making the first sound since everyone had gone silent.

She didn't know how, but the Demon King seemed to have heard her tiny gasp. He looked towards her, and soon, his eyes locked with her own. Tigress cowered and crawled back in fear at his direct gaze; there was nothing more terrifying than those eyes.

"Hello, Tigress," Ke-Pa said, his voice booming and shaking the earth, flowing down on the Valley like a black tidal wave. "Long time, no see, hmm?"

Tigress was unable to respond, but as her instincts kicked in, she stood up and turned around, sprining as fast as she had ever sprinted towards the double doors. As she fled, the demons roared and laughed, mocking her flight. But she didn't care, she just had to run, and run, and run…

Tigress leaped down the Ten Thousand Steps ten at a time, but she soon lost her footing and found herself rolling and bouncing down the steps. The stone steps scratched and beat her body with every blow, but she kept falling and falling. Meanwhile, as she fell, she felt the earth rumble once again and she knew that it was Ke-Pa's footsteps.

After a few painful minutes, Tigress finally reached the bottom of the steps. Rolling on the stone streets, she was able to come to a stop. Turning her head back up the steps, she saw Ke-Pa reach the first of the steps, and then he leaped forward and flew through the sky, his body curving back and forth like a serpent, sliding through the blood-red sky.

As he flew, she could have sworn that he tilted his head to the side, peered down at her, and winked.

Then, Ke-Pa looked down at the Valley of Peace and opened his maw.

Tigress could only helplessly watch as flames tens upon tens of streets wide fall upon the Valley of Peace. The buildings struck by his flame were instantly disintegrated on a scale she could never imagine. One straight swoop of his flame was large enough to obliterate a third of the Valley. Only ash was left.

The Demon King soon reached the end of the Valley, and he quickly turned around in his flight and spewed his flame on the next section of the Valley, completely destroying it. Tears of horror fell down Tigress' face as she was certain that she had failed her test; that she was destined to have her Spirit as this nightmare's slave.

With most of the Valley destroyed, Ke-Pa made one final swoop and breathed his destruction upon the rest of the Valley, wiping it from existence.

Meanwhile, Tigress tried to think, to figure out a way to escape. But fear gripped her mind, and she couldn't think. She could only feel, and the primary feeling flowing through her was terror.

Finally, after her home was nothing but ash and smoke, Ke-Pa flew down to the ground and stood atop his work, standing proud. His head then turned to Tigress, and he smiled again.

"Now it's your turn," he said, his voice hurting her ears even though his head was miles away.

Tigress cried out in fear, knowing there was no escape from her fate.

With incomprehensible strides, Ke-Pa quickly covered the miles in between them. He then stood looming above her, looking down like a mountain looks at an ant.

He reached out with his paw, ready to take Tigress for his own and add her to his collection, but then-

---

VII. Supper's Ready

-the strangest of things happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tigress saw something appear. Even though Ke-Pa's palace-sized paw was reaching down for her, she felt compelled to turn her head and look.

Out on the center of the ashes of the Valley, stood a bell tower of white stone. But just not any bell tower. It seemed to glow with a white light that did not become the place she was in. Then, the silver bell swung and its sound rang loud and clear.

Gong!

When the bell rang, beams of white light spewed out from it. As Tigress watched, the beams seemed to cut through the toxic air she found herself in, destroying it, melting it. The beams reached Ke-Pa, and he recoiled his paw, his grin turning into a look of fear. He turned his massive head around. When he saw the tower, he reared his head back and roared out-

"NO! GET HIM!"

With those words, Ke-Pa took flight once again, and his demon army, still sitting on the Jade Palace Courtyard and the surrounding mountain, all took flight behind their master. They rushed upon the tower, but the bell rang again.

Gong!

Once again, the beams of white light shot out from the bell, seemingly destroying the reality Tigress found herself in. As the beams shone on the demon army, they screeched out in pain, but they continued to fly towards the tower in an attempt to destroy it.

The fastest of Ke-Pa's demons reached the base of the tower, and they began to swarm up it like the earthworms had crawled over her demon.

"What's happening?" Tigress thought, confused at the strange sight. Why did the demons hate the tower so much? And who was ringing the bell?

Gong!

A new wave of white beams shone down on them, and this time, it was too much.

The demons froze in place and screamed. The ones that had begun to crawl up the walls of the tower now fell off. As Tigress looked on, she saw as the beams of light hit the demons' skin, and they began to melt and evaporate at its intensity. First, their eyes melted and ran down their faces in a white liquid. Then, their wings burst into white flames, completely destroying them. Finally, their very skin began to become a liquid, running down and evaporating as it ran down.

Tigress saw as the entire army simply vaporized out of existance, their wails filling the air. Meanwhile, Ke-Pa, with his enormous size, was able to last the longest. He turned back to face Tigress, his face contorted with pain. Finally, as his body began to dissolve from tail up, the white flames consuming his body, his face finally went blank and his firey eyes went out.

And then, the King of the Demons fell. His impact with the ground shook the earth once more, but the white flames quickly traveled up his back, disintegrating his back paws, and then his back, followed by his front paws. The flames then traveled up his neck and consumed his head before going out, leaving nothing behind.

With Ke-Pa's death, nothing except her and the tower remained. The Valley and the army that had destroyed it was nothing but ash and smoke, and only the blood-red sky remained.

Gong!

But the bell rang once more, and that soon was destroyed. The beams of light now shot out everywhere, and they destroyed everything in their path. The rocks, the air, the ground, the sky, all of it seemed to shatter at the light's touch. When the beams hit Tigress, she threw her arms up in defense, fearing the worst, but the light did not hurt her.

Instead, it embraced her like an old friend, wrapping itself around her and warming her. It gently lifted Tigress up into the sky and allowed her to witness all that was happening.

All around, the world was being destroyed. The crimson light that emanated from the blood moon was no match for the white light that came from the bell tower. The entire world seemed to be cracking, falling apart, melting, vaporizing…

Then… the world shattered, and was replaced with a new one.

Tigress looked around in wonder at the sight around her.

"Oh my…" was all she could say in her head.

The shattered rocks of the world she had just been in now floated in a golden air. She looked up and down and realized that she too was floating in this white, golden light. As she continued to look around, it seemed that the expanse of light was infinite.

A smile came across Tigress' face as she knew that she had made it to the Spirit Realm. Her test was finally over.

Looking back towards the bell, she felt compelled to go towards it. At first, she tried moving her legs, but she remained floating in place. So instead, Tigress simply willed herself forward, and behold, she began to float forward towards the white tower. She almost giggled at the sensation, becoming more and more elated as she began to understand that her troubles were over.

As she grew ever closer, she squinted her eyes and looked upon the top of the tower.

Where the opening for the bell was, a figure was standing right next to the rope that was used to ring the bell. He was standing there, looking at her. Incomprehensible joy filled Tigress as she came closer and recognized the figure.

Now, Tigress was upon the top of the tower. She floated down underneath the silver bell and placed her feet on its white stone. She looked at the person across from her. He walked towards her and slowly wrapped his arms around Tigress, and she responded by wrapper hers around the back of his neck.

"I've been so far from your loving arms, but now… now I'm back again," she thought to herself, tears running down her face.

In Po's embrace, Tigress felt something strange happening. It was similar to what happened when she drank the water from the fountain, but this time, it felt even better. She could feel her very spirit escaping her mortal body, taking on its true form, pure and sacred. As if she were shedding ever-changing colors, her mortal body fell away from her, cast into the depths of light below, and only her spirit remained, ignited by Po's touch.

After what felt like hours, they pulled away from each other, but continued to hold the others' shoulders.

As Tigress stared into Po's loving eyes, she finally saw the wisdom that he had when he died, and she knew this was no trick or illusion.

"Hey, Ti," Po quietly said, almost as if his words might spoil the precious moment.

"Hey, Po," Tigress responded, unsure of what else to say. Both of them were soaring on the inside, truly experiencing the meaning of the word joy for the first time.

"I've… been waiting for a while," Po said, chuckling in his happiness.

As a smile spread on Tigress' face, she quietly replied- "Yeah. Me too."

At the meekness of both of their words, Tigress and Po both burst out into laughter as they embraced each other once again, both knowing that no words could describe what they were feeling inside.

After they pulled apart once again, both smiling at the other as they gazed into each other's eyes, Po finally seemed to remember something.

"Oh, that's right! I have something pretty awesome to show you."

Tigress playfully raised her brow. "Awesome? How awesome?"

Po responded in kind with mock consideration. "How awesome, hmm? Well now, let me think… It's like… skadoosh-level awesome!"

"That seems worth my time. Care to show me?"

Sporting that goofy grin of his, Po took Tigress' paw in his own and led her off of the tower. As soon as they stepped off of it, they floated in the light once more. Each willed themselves forward, and they began to move.

Po led her through the maze of broken boulders that remained from her previous adventure. To Tigress, it seemed as if they were lost, but Po seemed to know where he was going, so she followed his lead.

Finally, Tigress could see an enormous rock in the distance. It was perfectly flat at the bottom, rounded in a perfect circle, large enough the fit a large city on top. Tigress and Po were coming at if from a bottom angle, so she couldn't see what was on top of the rock, but when she glanced at Po and noticed his expression, she knew he had taken this angle on purpose.

The suspense building within Tigress, they finally rounded one last boulder and came to a rest on it, stopping so Tigress could see what was on top of the rock.

When she saw it, her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. No other place would ever come close. As she continued to stare and gawk, Po excitedly squirmed beside her.

Tigress turned her head to Po.

"Are you serious?"

He eagerly shook his head.

"We can go there?"

"Hey," Po answered, the excitement in his voice almost causing his head to explode, "Your supper's in there waiting for you. I spent a really long time making it. It's gonna be awesome! Come on, everyone's already at the table waiting for us to arrive!"

Looking back towards the city of light, Tigress took Po's paw, and together, they moved towards it.

And in that moment, Tigress' story did not end.

It began.

---

Hmm, hmm, hm-hm, hm-hm, hmm, la, la-la la, la, la-

What, you're still reading after all these words? Wow. I'm impressed. You've got pretty good reading stamina if you just swallowed all of that. What was I doing, you ask? Oh, nothing, I was just humming the guitar part at the end of Supper's Ready. I can't help but playing it in my head as I read that last scene.

Well, that was so fun! I hope I'll see you around!

Keep being awesome!