The Dragon Warrior wasn't sure how long the trip had been. Whenever he traveled with Master Tigress, he always seemed to forget the concept of time. He and his best friend were very good at keeping each other distracted from the tiredness of a long trip throughout their travels but….this? Why did he agree to come along?
"It's not that bad." Tigress chuckled. The panda looked at the challenge ahead of them and then at his best friend. His mouth agape in shock at the sight.
"Master Tigress," he began very seriously. "I have fought many evil doers in my short time of being Dragon Warrior but this?" He gestured to the set of stairs in front of them.
The two had arrived at Wung Ho Valley just a few hours prior. The Dragon Warrior had been rather hungry when they arrived. Needless to say they stopped by a local restaurant for a rather large meal.
Wung Ho Valley was the home of The Opal Palace, where Master Chicken and Master Boar resided along with their students. The Opal Palace was probably one of the largest Kung Fu palaces in all of China. It was probably bigger than the Jade Palace due to the training that went on behind closed doors. Unfortunately for Po, The Opal Palace also had the largest set of stairs. Totaling to one-thousand and six-hundred stairs. That was nearly twice the size of The Jade Palace. Seriously, who invented stairs?
"You'll be fine." Tigress began to walk up the stairs, keeping a steady pace for the Dragon Warrior to catch up. He was soooo not looking forward to climbing these stairs.
Inside of The Opal Palace stood a female tiger, who seemed to be 16 years of age. The young tigress stood around 5 foot 8, quite tall for her age. Her stripes resembled her sister's quite a bit and the red marking under her right eye was a bit smaller than when she was a child.
"Come on MaSha! You won't hurt me." The words of encouragement from a young tiger rang in her ears. His name was Prince Yang. Or just Yang. He did not like being called Prince. He is a young black and white tiger about MaSha's age. He sported a yellow marking under his left eye.
"Last time you said that, you were in a coma for a week." MaSha rolled her eyes. The two had decided to train in The Palace Arena as they waited for MaSha's sister to arrive. They knew she would arrive any day now and MaSha was super excited to see her sister again.
"Last time, you were mad at me for taking the last bean bun." Yang smirked. "Come on. Take your best shot." He stood across the arena from her. He knew she was quite powerful, even at her young age. MaSha smirked before taking her stance. She took a deep breath and began to relax as her hands glowed red. Yang was still mesmerized by the way she controlled her "curse" as she called it. For someone who had gone through so much trauma in her young years, she was very peaceful and relaxed through her movements.
He supposed being able to see her sister once a year and having the rest of her family living nearby helped her with that. MaSha made a semi large orb with both of her paws, her eyes glowed as the orb formed into a tiger. Yang readied himself with his own chin to protect himself from her blast.
MaSha looked at him, not breaking focus, before allowing the blast to go straight at him. Unfortunately the two teens miscalculated how fast the blast was going and knocked the poor Prince into the wall behind him.
"Yang!" MaSha gasped before running to him. Yang groaned as he body fell to the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" MaSha looked at him with worry. She kneeled beside him as he groaned. He opened his eyes to look at her.
"You've gotten stronger." He chuckled.
"I told you, you wouldn't be able to handle it." MaSha sighed.
"Hey at least I'm not in a coma this time." Yang smiled. MaSha returned the smile softly.
"I supposed not." The two smiled at each other. Yellow eyes looking into red ones. Yang always loved MaSha's eyes. She always said she hated them cus they were her mother's eyes but to him, they were MaSha's.
"MaSha! MaSha!" The voice of the Zin interrupted the young teens' small moment. Zin was The Opal Palace's messenger goose. "She's coming up the stairs!" MaSha's eyes suddenly shone with excitement, completely forgetting about Yang as she stood and ran towards the door. Yang sighed as she had left and their moment was ruined.
"Are you okay Prince Yang?" Zin helped him up.
"I'm fine. Thank you Zin. Can you make sure Master Tigress's room is ready?"
"Of course, your highness. Should I prepare one for the Dragon Warrior as well?" Zin asked. Yang raised a brow.
"Is he with her?"
"Sure seems like him."
"Yeah sure. Go ahead." Yang dismissed the older goose and walked outside the palace doors to where MaSha eagerly stood. "Seems your sister brought a guest."
"Really?" MaSha looked at him. "Don't tell me it's Monkey again." She frowned.
"I don't think he's the Dragon Warrior." Yang chuckled. MaSha looked towards the stairs, not seeing a sight of her sister quite yet, much less the Dragon Warrior.
"Come on Po, we're almost there." Tigress looked down at the crawling panda. Po was panting heavily as he climbed the stairs. Surely one would have thought that after two years of climbing the Jade Palace stairs, the great Dragon Warrior would have grown used to climbing them.
"How…are…you…still…standing?!" Po asked in between huffs. Tigress rolled her eyes with a smile of amusement. It was kind of free entertainment for her.
"Oh she's going to love you." Tigress chuckled to herself. MaSha had a habit of teasing others about the stairs. MaSha was probably the fastest climber the Opal Palace had seen and she loved to tease others with a small threat of shoving them down them. Not that she ever followed through with it….yet.
"Tigress!" Tigress's ears perked up at the sound of her sister's voice. She turned around to see MaSha eagerly waiting for her at the top. Po was still crawling when he saw a smaller tiger running up to Tigress. Even on stairs, Tigress was able to catch the smaller tiger without toppling over. "You're finally here!" MaSha laughed as she hugged her sister tightly. Po wasn't sure if it was a good idea to stand up when he saw the other tiger. His brain was in shock of actually seeing another tiger. Not only that, she was hugging Master Tigress!
"Did you have a growth spurt?" Tigress chuckled, getting a good look at her sister.
"Nah." MaSha shook her head. "I was already tall when you left."
"Yeah, she hasn't grown a bit." Yang walked down the stairs. Three tigers?! Po's eyes widened.
"Hello to you too Yang." Tigress shook her head.
"Hello Tigress." Yang smiled. Tigress looked back at the struggling panda, just a few feet from them and chuckled at his confused and shocked face.
"You must be The Dragon Warrior." Yang walked over to the panda offering to help him stand. "I'm Prince Yang. Pleasure to meet you." Po couldn't believe his eyes. He had never seen other tigers aside from Tigress. Much less one that looked almost identical to Tigress. "Let's get you inside." Yang chuckled as he helped the tired panda up the last set of stairs.
"That's seriously the Dragon Warrior?" MaSha looked at her sister. "I thought you had better standards." Tigress rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Come on. Let's go back inside." Tigress hugged her sister with one arm.
—
Once the group had settled down at the kitchen, Yang gave Po a glass of water which he gladly chugged down rather quickly. He sighed in satisfaction from the freshness of the water. MaSha looked at him with curiosity. Last time she had seen a panda was when she was just a child, over 10 years ago. Tigress sat beside her unsure if she should say something to Po about his manners.
"Thank you." Po finally told Yang. Yang smiled with a nod as he sat beside the panda. Yang turned to the sisters, seeing their expressions. MaSha's definitely amused him as she wasn't used to seeing many creatures outside of the Palace.
"Are you done?" MaSha asked with a bit of an annoyed tone.
"MaSha." Tigress scolded her. MaSha shrugged in response. Po looked at the two women in front of him. One scolded at the younger one, who he assumed didn't already like him. Great.
"Uh yeah." Po chuckled nervously. "Sorry." His ears flattened a bit. MaSha quickly noticed this and wasn't sure what to do. Her sister and other masters knew she was like this but not the panda. Tigress sighed before looking at Po.
"Yang, MaSha. I'm sure Zin already informed you but this is Master Po, The Dragon Warrior." Tigress finally told them. Po smiled nervously at them, not really liking the look he was getting from MaSha. Gosh, she really looked like Tigress, like a lot! "Po, this is Prince Yang of The Gansu Province." Yang smiled brightly at him. "And this is my sister, MaSha."
Po's world seemed to stop for a moment. Tigress has a sister! No wonder they look so much alike!
"You have a sister!" Po stood excitedly. MaSha was taken back by his sudden reaction. Was he suddenly not tired anymore? "Oh my gosh! That's so awesome!" He marveled. Tigress smiled at him softly.
"You never told him?" MaSha looked at Tigress, still surprised by the Dragon Warrior's reaction.
"It never came up." Tigress chuckled.
"That's why you disappear for a whole month!" Po chuckled. "If I had known why, I wouldn't have asked." Po grabbed his head. Po quickly ran over to MaSha's side and gave her a respectful bow. "It's an honor to finally meet you MaSha." MaSha looked at her sister, quite confused. Tigress simply shoved her a bit, making MaSha stand up and bow back.
"Pleasure meeting you as well, Dragon Warrior."
Get ready for shenanigans :)