Chapter 12: The Tragedy of Tai Lung

Po let out a yelp as Mantis placed another acupuncture needle into his back to help sooth the pain, Viper, Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey sitting in the room with them.

Donnie at first had volunteered to help Mantis with giving Po some medical attention, but Mantis insisted he could do it himself despite the purple clad turtle's protests.

"OW! I thought you said acupuncture would make me feel better!" Po cried, his voice reaching a high-pitch on the last word when Mantis stuck another needle into his shoulder blade.

"Trust me, it will." Mantis said, holding a handful of needles in his pincers. "It's just not easy finding the right nerve points under all this…"

"Fat?" Po asked dully.

"Fur, I was gonna say fur." Mantis said, removing a needle and going to another part of Po's back.

"Sure you were." Po mumbled sarcastically.

"Who am I to judge a warrior based on his size?" Mantis commented, feeling tapping the panda's back for nerves. "I mean, look at me."

Po looked over his left shoulder but couldn't find him.

"I'm over here." Mantis said from Po's right shoulder before jabbing another needle in.

"Ah-HAH!" Po screeched.

"Maybe you should take a look at this again." Viper said, holding up a diagram of acupuncture meridians (onto which someone had overlaid a drawing of a panda).

Donatello pinched the bridge between his nose. "Are you sure you don't need help with this?" He asked dryly.

"I got it, I got it." Mantis insisted, peeking over Po's shoulder and looking at the diagram. "Oh! Okay."


Monkey sat on his tail in a cross-legged position, attempting to meditate and quiet his mind so as to relax after the long day…

… only to be interrupted by Po's screaming and laughing.

Cracking his eyes open, Monkey let out an annoyed sigh before plugging his ears to block out the noise.


At the same time, Crane was drawing calligraphy, which was his own personal hobby, on some parchment in his room.

As he drew the brush across the paper, a particularly loud yelp from Po startled him and caused him to smear the ink on the parchment.


Back in Po's room, the panda finally settled down as Mantis stopped putting in needles every few seconds.

"I know Master Shifu's trying to inspire me and the guys and all, but if I didn't know any better… I'd say he's trying to get rid of us." Po said, chuckling a little.

"Well, he kinda i-" Mikey was about to say when Raph quickly slapped his hand over the party turtle's mouth, shaking his head.

Leo and Donnie exchanged nervous glances with Viper and Mantis before they grinned awkwardly at the panda as Po's chuckles faded.

"Man, could those fights have been any more embarrassing?" Raph questioned irritably, his pride a bit bruised since their sparring sessions earlier that day.

"Sure, we could've been hit in the face with pies." Mikey said.

That got a snicker out of Mantis, who quickly shut up when he received a stern look from Viper.

"Shifu may be trying to get rid of us, but that doesn't mean we're gonna give up so easily." Leo stated firmly.

"I know he can seem kind of heartless…" Mantis began, violently jabbing another needle into Po, "but, you know, he wasn't always like that."

"No…" Po said in disbelief.


Tigress strolled through the darkened hallways, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. She had returned from the training hall after making sure everything was still functioning properly and was about to head back to her room to meditate when she heard the sounds of chatter coming from the panda's room.

"According to legend," Her ear twitched as Viper spoke in a stage whisper, "there was once a time Master Shifu actually used to smile."

For a moment, Tigress' heart skipped a beat. Oh… they were talking about that legend, weren't they?

And who else knew that legend better than Master Shifu, Master Oogway…

… and herself?

"Nooo…" The panda said in further disbelief.

"Yes." Mantis stated.

"That guy? Smile?" She heard one of the turtles, Raphael she recalled his name was, say in surprised and equally disbelieving tone. "You're kidding."

From the other side of the door, Tigress noticed the silhouette of Viper shake her head.

"But that was before…" Viper trailed off.

"Before what?" The panda asked.

Tigress then threw open the doors. "Before Tai Lung." She told them.

"Uh, yeah, we're not really supposed to talk about him." Crane said from behind the parchment screen wall to his room.

"Well, if they're going to stay here, they should know." Tigress said, eyeing the panda and the four young turtles. And if they were going to hear the story, they would at least hear it right.

The turtle with the blue mask, Leonardo, shifted his gaze around slightly. "So… who is Tai Lung?" He asked.

"Guys, guys," Po said, raising his paw, "I know about Tai Lung. He was a student, the first ever to master the Thousand…" He trailed off and shrunk back as Tigress gave him a piercing stare, "... Scrolls of… kung fu… and… then he turned bad… and… now he's in jail."

"He wasn't just a student…" Tigress stated, beginning the story…


Many years ago, a younger Shifu opened the gates to the Jade Palace and was surprised to find a baby snow leopard on the steps of the Palace, swaddled in cloth.

Surprised, Shifu picked the cub up and took him into the Palace.

"Shifu found him as a cub."

The young Tai Lung giggled as Shifu fed him in the morning, the red panda smiling fondly before the young cub ripped off one of Shifu's whiskers.

"And he raised him as his son."

A slightly older Tai Lung then approached the training dummy in the training hall. Curiously, he playfully pounced on it and jumped back as it rebounded. He then performed a perfect side-kick, sending the dummy flying across the room and into the wall.

"And when the boy showed talent in kung fu, Shifu trained him. He believed in him."

Shifu approached the snow leopard cub, impressed as Tai Lung nuzzled him affectionately. Shifu then began teaching the young cub more advanced moves, with the young Tai Lung taking it all in and learning very quickly.

"He told him he was destined for greatness."

Tai Lung blocked and struck the arms of the wooden warrior in the training hall, his movements quick and precise and certainly impressive for one his age.

"It was never enough for Tai Lung."

Years later, Tai Lung had grown up into a young adult, blocking and kicking dozens of wooden warriors before performing a spinning kick that shattered them all at once, impressing Shifu as he stood proudly, Shifu watching his son with intense pride.

"He wanted the Dragon Scroll."

However, off to the side, Oogway watched the snow leopard with a solemn look as he shook his head.

"But Oogway saw darkness in his heart and refused."

Tai Lung went through the village in the Valley of Peace enraged, releasing his fury on all of the valley and destroying everything in his path as the citizens fled in terror.

"Outraged, Tai Lung laid waste to the valley."

Returning to the Jade Palace, Tai Lung burst through the doors to the Hall of Heroes with a loud roar where Shifu and Oogway waited for him.

"He tried to take the scroll by force. And Shifu had to destroy what he had created."

Shifu then leapt at Tai Lung, prepared to deliver a kick, flying closer and closer as he prepared himself…

only to see the young loving cub he had raised so many years ago. His beloved son.

And because of that, he faltered.

"But how could he?"

With Shifu pulling his kick short, Tai Lung countered by blocking the weak kick before delivering a devastating punch that sent Shifu flying back towards the pool below the scroll.

Now that his former master was out of the way, Tai Lung leapt towards the Dragon Scroll, but was intercepted by Oogway with a series of lightning quick strikes to his pressure points.

Tai Lung collapsed in a heap, unconscious.

Shifu struggled to get up, his leg undoubtedly broken as he looked upon what his beloved student had become with sadness and disbelief.

He crawled over and reached out to touch his son one last time…

but found that he couldn't.

"Shifu loved Tai Lung like he'd never loved anyone before…"

A few years later, a young Tigress went through her motions fluidly before laying a strong punch on the training dummy and knocking it into the wall in the same manner as Tai Lung.

She turned to her master, eagerly awaiting any sort of praise or affection he might give her…

only to be disappointed and left crestfallen as Shifu corrected her form before storming off. Nothing more.

Tigress looked saddened, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she was once again denied the affection of a parent she always craved.

"... or since."


As Tigress finished the story, her cold and heartless demeanor seemed to break a little as a crestfallen look crossed her face while Po and the turtles sat stunned silent while Crane and Monkey peeked in through the wall doors.

However, that saddened expression was soon wiped from her face as her hardened facade took over again.

"And now he has a chance to make things right, to train the true Dragon Warrior." Tigress said, now speaking directly to Po. "And he's stuck with you… a big, fat panda who treats it like a joke."

Po returned her gaze with a solemn look, and for a moment, it seemed she had finally gotten to him.

Then suddenly, his eyes crossed as he stuck out his tongue in probably the silliest expression anyone had ever seen. "Doieeeeee…"

Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, Viper, Crane and Monkey's jaws all comically dropped, their eyes replaced with wide white disks in shock.

And as for Tigress, in that one moment, all of the fury and pent up anger she had kept down inside her for so long finally took over as her eye twitched.

"OH, THAT'S IT!" She snapped as her paw shot up, claws unsheathed as she was practically fuming.

"WAIT! My fault!" Mantis cried, jumping onto the panda's nose. "I accidentally tweaked his facial nerve!"

Everyone stepped back as Po slumped forward onto the floor, his back covered in dozens of needles. "And… may have also stopped his heart." Mantis added sheepishly as he poked the panda's twitching cheek.

Donnie slapped a palm to his face. "That's it, I'm taking over."


Shifu sat cross-legged in the training hall in deep meditation, surrounded by lit candles as he breathed in and out. However, meditating was proving rather difficult for him as he fidgeted incessantly.

"Inner peace… inner peace…" He murmured to himself. "I-in… in-in… inner peace." His ear twitched as a very faint flapping sound in the distance did not help matters. "Would whoever is making that flapping sound, quiet down!?" He barked.

Silence.

Satisfied, Shifu resumed his meditation. "Inner…"

With a loud wump, something dropped in from the open ceiling and landed on the floor behind him.

Scowling, Shifu got up, ready to give whoever had disturbed his meditation a piece of his mind and probably a good beating when he saw it was none other than Zeng, looking completely out of breath.

"Oh, Zeng." Shifu smiled. "Excellent. I could use some good news right now."

Zeng opened his beak, but then closed it, having anything but good news.