3. Expectations and Fears

With warble, Mr. Ping and Mr. Han walked through the rows of seats with souvenir and noodle carts. "Dragon Warrior souvenirs!" the gander shouted. "Everyone who buys a noodle cup gets a plush panda with it!"

"Over here!"

Immediately, Mr. Ping dragged everything with him into the corner from which the voice had come. It was a hooded figure in the farthest corner of the stands in the upper tiers.

Mr. Ping eyed the person a little suspiciously, who was wrapped up unusually thick by summer standards. But a buyer was a buyer, which is why he also offered him something.

"Good day sir. What would you like to order?"

The large enveloped figure cleared his throat. "How many pandas do I get when I buy twenty noodle bowls?"

"Twenty?" Mr. Ping's eyes widened and he briefly exchanged a look with Mr. Han. "Oh, I don't know if we can give so many at once…"

"I pay more."

The figure reached into a pouch attached to his coat and the hood slipped down a bit.

Mr. Ping's beak stayed open for a moment when he recognized the face below. "King Wang? You here, too?!"

"Sssh! I'm here incognito!" the king of the Huns whispered to him. "Nobody should know that I'm here, but I didn't want to miss anything from this competition."

Mr. Ping needed a moment to recover from the surprise. "Oh... oh... I'm very happy to hear that... I mean... it's just been so long since we last... how long was that now? Over 4 years, I think…"

Mr. Ping frowned and mentally started doing the math again while the Hun King looked at him expectantly. "So what about the pandas now?"

"Oh, oh, yes... how many did you want?"

A few rows away, Shen and his family settled down. Shenmi jumped excitedly up and down a chair while Xia and Yin-Yu were busy letting Zedong, Fantao and Jian come to an agreement about who could sit next to whom.

Shen took no notice of all the hustle and bustle and just stared grimly into the arena, where a long table had been set up on the edge where the jury would take their seats.

The old goat gave him a concerned look and stroked her beard. "Shen, you can't keep him under your wing forever. At some point, there will come a time for everyone to break away from their parents."

The white peacock raised his beak rebelliously. "His deeds will come back to me. I just want to avoid that he brings shame on us."

The goat's eyes darkened and she tapped the wooden floor with her cane. "Well, I think what he's doing here is by far not the same as you did…"

Shen's cutting sidelong glance brought her to a shocked silence for a short time, which is why she quickly corrected herself. "What I mean by that is that at some point he will go his own way. Shen, he's already 24 years old. At his age, you had long been on your own…"

Shen rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yes, yes, yes. I no longer had any parents who would dictate anything to me. But was it right from your point of view?"

The goat looked down in sadness. Was that really right?

"Well, well! Sir! Are you here, too?"

Shen turned in surprise. He knew that voice.

In the next moment, an excited gander came towards them. "What a surprise!" Mr. Ping shouted. "Today you can really meet everyone and everything here." His gaze fell on the children. "And you brought your whole family with you. How nice! Then I'll finally get to know them. Po told me so much about them."

Shen didn't know what to say at first, so he hastily bowed, even though he might not have intended to. Inwardly, he still had an aversion to Po's circle of friends, which he didn't want to show for the sake of his wife. The others welcomed him all the more. Yin-Yu and Xia, who knew Mr. Ping from before, nodded gently to him.

"Hello," Xia said politely while holding the wriggling Zedong in her wings.

Yin-Yu smiled at him, too. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Now, now!" Mr. Ping protested with played indignation. "I must be there when my son is fighting here. I'm so proud of him."

The goat became frightened when she saw Shen tensed up again. Quickly, she put a hoof on his wing and approached Mr. Ping. "Uh, maybe the kids would like to eat something."

"Oh, yes, I want noodles!" Fantao shouted and jumped from the chair.

"Me too, me too!" Zedong agreed and freed himself from the grip of his big sister.

"You're probably Zedong," Mr. Ping said after a moment's thought. "Then you must be Shenmi. The color of her father and the eyes of the mother. How nice!"

"Can I get a panda, too?" Fantao asked when he saw a plush panda on the souvenir cart.

"We still have to hold some new," the gander said. "One of here has already bought everything from us."

Shen's displeasure grew again. Not because the children wanted panda dolls too, but because his eyes fell on the arena again.

Thoughtfully, Po trotted through the corridors past the changing rooms. All kung fu fighters from many countries were present. Here and there Po waved in a corner and wished the participants all the best.

"Good luck, buddy. - You look good."

Shortly before the exit into the arena, he paused when he saw his five friends approaching. "Hey guys! At least with you everything is the same."

"Are you alright, Po?" Monkey asked. "Shifu said, you had a discussion at the entrance."

The panda rubbed his neck. "Yes, yes. It was only…"

At that moment, Sheng passed them. "Greetings," he said and bowed.

Crane's jaw dropped briefly. "He's here, too?"

Po couldn't answer the question anymore. When he saw Master Storming Ox and Master Croc, he went straight to the ox.

"Was it you who put Sheng on the list of participants?"

"Of course," Master Ox said irrelevantly, as if he wasn't interested at all.

"But why did you just leave him like that?" Po wanted to know.

"Why not? He's of legal age, isn't he?"

"Please don't tell me you're only doing it to offend Shen."

"We have to go," was Master Ox's only answer and turned away.

In confusion, Po looked after the two great masters. "Hey! It's not even certain that I'll win…"

He ran after the two masters to the gate. There he stopped while the two masters were greeted by a cheering crowd. Carefully, the panda peeked outside and watched the ox and crocodile sit down at the table.

Po frowned thoughtfully. Could Master Ox have intended to cause Shen defeat if his son lost?

Po's gaze wandered across the stands. He recognized the white figure of Shen immediately. He thought that their eyes would meet, which in turn made Po's fur stand on end. What if he even had to face Sheng? Would he be able to bring himself to fight him?

At that moment, Shifu passed him. "Well, good luck, Po-"

"Master Shifu!" Po shouted and grabbed the master by the shirt. "I think, I'm ill!"

"Po, you have stage fright."

"No, it's not! It's just... I can't compete! I have to go into hiatus for today!"

Master Shifu pushed him away. "Po, about the thing from before, you shouldn't get confused."

"That has nothing to do with confusion. It's just that…" His gaze wandered back outside to the masters, and the terrible thought grew in Po that Master Ox even wanted him to face Sheng. However, he did not want to say this in front of his teacher and looked for another excuse.

"There are so many people out there!" he babbled on. "And they all expect me to win. What if I make a mistake? What if I fail? Oh no, now I've already said the word! Now I'm really failing! - I'm sorry, I can't enter today."

But Master Shifu only narrowed his eyes and walked past the desperate panda. "Excuse me, Po. I have to go to the jury table."

"Master! You can't leave me here now!"

But Shifu didn't seem to hear him anymore and went Master Ox and Master Croc at the jury table next to the battlefield.

"Po, why are you so excited?"

In surprise, Po looked up where Mantis had taken place on his head.

Sighing, the panda sagged his shoulders. "Oh, I don't know what to do either," he replied helplessly.

"Is it because of Sheng?"

Po turned to Tigress, but Sheng was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?"

"He wished you the best of luck," Viper said, curling up next to her tiger friend.

Po raised his eyebrows. "Did he indeed?"

"Po, it would be possible that he would be eliminated in the preliminary rounds," Monkey said, who had already guessed Po's fears.

"True that. Then you don't have to compete against him anymore," Crane added.

Mantis vibrated with his antennas. "It would be good if you won against that one." He pointed to a large Asian black bear, who was massaging his fists with a grim growl.

Po looked at the stocky bear in amazement. "Oh, where did he come from?"

"From Japan as far as I know," Mantis replied.

"Oh, so a direct neighbor."

"And a close relative," Viper added.

"Po," Tigress started again. "No matter how the result will turn out, I'm sure that nobody will hold anything against you."

Po swallowed hard. The only question was whether the participants or the spectators would resent him for something.

"Po, you have to go out!" Viper reported. "It begins!"

Po jumped up. "Oh, oh, oh, oh... okay..." He looked around contritely. "And you are not mad because I'm the only one of us who fights?"

"Go on now!" Crane urged him and pushed the panda forward. "You have to be the first to get out."

"Do I really have to...?"

But his friends did not let him finish and pushed him to the front line, where all participants had already lined up at the entrance. So Po had no choice, but to go first into the arena if the rest of the fighters wanted to enter.

Po's knees went weak as he started to move. An announcer annunciated the arriving participants. "And here you see the Dragon Warrior only and in person!"

As soon as Po stepped into the sunlight, the crowd immediately shouted in chorus: "Dragon Warrior! Dragon Warrior!"

Mr. Ping cheered his son the loudest and, in another corner, too, cheering whistles sounded from a hooded figure.

For a moment, Po was so overwhelmed by this greeting that he forgot everything around him. "Wow, that's... that's really cool."

The panda squinted behind, where the other participants followed him in a row. Somehow Po felt a bit ridiculous. He was the Dragon Warrior, but by no means the world champion... Or was a Dragon Warrior automatically considering a champion? Again, the strong pressure to perform crept up inside him.

Outside in the arena, they lined up in a row. Then Master Ox rose and read the list of participants, each stepping forward and bowing to the jury. Almost five people down the line, the panda recognized the blue-green-and-white piebald peacock. Po was feeling queasy again and his gaze wandered briefly up to Shen. The glare of the white former warlord made the panda even more fearful. His thoughts tumbled through his head like ping-pong balls. He didn't even hear how the masters read the rules again. It was only when his name was mentioned that he came back down to earth.

"The Dragon Warrior opens the competitive games and is the first to compete," Master Shifu announced, pointing to Po.

The panda turned pale around the tip of his nose. "Great."