Li, a young lad is sleeping above Ping's noodle shop and is dreaming. He sees himself consumed by a white light and hears voices of how he'll do great things but he doesn't know what these voices are talking about. But then he wakes up from the sunlight beaming at him from the window. He groans at the headache caused from the sunlight and looks around his room as he gets up. He looks at his collection of scrolls that contain stories of various kung fu masters that inspired him, and of the Furious Five, a group of kung fu warriors that protect the people. He sees them as inspiration too but he thinks they're arrogant and so full of themselves. He then looks at all the wood carvings he made based on moments he's seen like a couple hugging or children playing, Li found out that he loved wood carving when he first did at age 12 after Ping allowed him to do it with the wood usually for the kitchen as it was peaceful and taught him patience and determination. And then looks at the scrolls that he used to learn biology and such to learn how to strike at nerve and pressure points to avoid fights. He's been orphaned for as long as he can remember, always wanting to be in a family and people always treated him as trash because they naturally assumed that he would be a streetrat, a thief even though he wasn't that and is actually a caring, selfless and kind person. He can do basic kung fu moves.
"Li, come on down, time for work." Ping said calling to Li from the kitchen. Li makes a kick to the wall to keep his form and then heads to the kitchen. He sees Ping chopping away at some radishes and carrots. Because of Ping, Li has become a great cook, learning from Ping and even surpassing him in areas like tofu and dumplings and is equal in making noodle soup. He washes his hands and starts to cook his trademark spicy dumplings.
"Hey Li, are you alright?" Ping said as he saw Li with a sour look on his face.
"It's nothing, it's just that I had that dream again. I just wish I knew what it means." Li said with frustration in his voice and nearly cut his finger with the knife.
"You'll figure it out eventually. And be careful with that knife, we don't want you to get cut and not be able to make dumplings, bad for business." Ping said. He cares for Li but of course, also his noodle shop. This lightened Li up a bit as he was about to head out of the kitchen and hand out meals for the customers.
"Thanks Ping, I'm grateful you took me in when no one else would." Li said with his back against the door to open it and give out the orders for the customers. Everyone greets Li and are nice to him for once, he felt a bit better because of this. And as he finishes handing out the orders, a bunny charges in and gives a huge announcement.
"Listen everyone, Master Oogway is about to choose who the Dragon Warrior will be out of the Furious Five, it'll start now! Come on!" The bunny shouted to make sure everyone hears and they all left in a hurry. Li at first stood there stunned because the Dragon Warrior is finally coming but he felt annoyed that it would be one of the Five since he felt sour against them. Then he runs to see who will be the Dragon Warrior.
"Better not be Tigress, better not be Tigress." Li said to himself as he ran up the absurdly huge set of stairs leading to the Jade Palace. Out of the Five, Tigress was the one that Li couldn't stand as she just oozed arrogance and selfishness. He finally reached the arena where the Furious Five will be participating to see who will be the Dragon Warrior and it was so full of life with exotic colours and spectators. He then took a seat where he can get a front row seat. Then the legendary Master Oogway stepped forward to the stand, Li has nothing but respect for the turtle even if he is impossibly old. Then by his side, Master Shifu who is considered to be the greatest kung fu teacher in China.
"Let the tournament begin." Oogway said and everyone cheered, except Li who just gave a slow clap. And then out of nowhere the Furious Five shot into the air and landed in the middle of the arena. Then they each partake in a feat to prove their worth for Oogway to choose who will be the Dragon Warrior and everyone, even Li is wowed by some of these feats. Every once in a while, Li notices Oogway looking at him with a smile. Right when Tigress has finished her feat, Oogway turns to Shifu and nods.
"Everyone, Master Oogway is about to choose the Dragon Warrior!" Shifu stated loudly and everyone became quiet and the Five line up facing Oogway. Li is now having butterflies in his stomach as he sees Oogway move off of the stand and to the level of the Five, stepping closer towards them.
"Better not be Tigress, please not her." Li thought while clenching his fists. Then Oogway pulls up his hand and points, at first Li thought it was to Tigress but he saw the hand still moving and it ended up pointing to him. Every spectator looked at Li and then the Five noticed and looked at Li absolutely stunned. Li couldn't believe what is happening, he hasn't done a single thing that would garner him being a kung fu master, he even took very deep breaths and is wide eyed at this. Then Oogway made his way to Li and gestured him to stand up, Li had to so he did and Oogway raised his hand with his staff.
"The universe has brought us the Dragon Warrior." Oogway said. Then there was a huge round of cheering and applause. It was just too much for Li that he fainted but was catched by Oogway. The rest was all black to Li.
"Oh, what an absurd dream, it was so real I actually thought I was the Dragon Warrior." Li said to himself as he found himself in a light sleep before he would wake up. He then wakes up and is confused where he is as he's in this grand hall surrounded by objects. Then he shot up wide awake and realises that it all wasn't a dream as he found himself in the Hall of Heroes in the Jade Palace.
"Oh man, this ain't a dream. But why me?" Li said to himself as he got up and looked around the hall noticing all of the objects that are associated with legendary kung fu masters. But then he stops dead in his tracks as he sees Shifu standing there in front of a pool with a blank look on his face.
"Your name is Li right?" Shifu said in a flat voice. Li is now nervous as he didn't know what to expect.
"Yes. Sorry, this must be a mistake, I'm not even skilled enough to be the Dragon Warrior. I mean I can do the basics and know nerve and pressure points but that's it." Li said to make sure that it wasn't his fault. Shifu just stared at him.
"Calm down, I was shocked to say the least but Master Oogway said that it wasn't an accident and that we should just move on and keep going." Shifu said with hints of frustration in his voice. Li was totally confused, how could it not be an accident, but then remembered how Oogway is supposed to be the wisest and most knowledgeable kung fu master of all time.
"So, now what?" Li said.
"Well, if what you say is true, we should start your training right now. Follow me." Shifu said gesturing at Li to follow him, which he did sticking close to him as they head to the Training Hall. And Li felt awkward since the Five were there training as though they were taking their anger out from what happened earlier in the day. And he just stood there now with a blank look on his face.
"Can I start simple to ease myself in?" Li said.
"If you think it's better then yes. And every time, address me as Master." Shifu said. Li then looked and saw a dummy which he felt would be the best way to ease in. Then he noticed the Furious Five all walking up to him and he didn't even feel intimidated.
"Well, well, well, the Furious Five. Sorry for stealing your shot to be annoying." Li said to the Five, though he was mainly talking about Tigress and she didn't look too happy at that comment.
"Alright Li, go ahead." Shifu said to Li as he stood with the Five to see what Li had to offer. Li took a stance and threw a very powerful punch that made the dummy fly back and bounce off the wall, Li had supernaturally quick reaction time and threw a powerful kick that propelled the dummy through the roof. And the Five and Shifu just stood there with their jaws open as they couldn't believe the strength this streetrat had.
"I might have to take it up a notch, Master." Li said as he noticed a portion of the hall that had these dummies with arms to deflect. He charges at them and jumps to get to them and he flawlessly passes through them. Again, the Five and Shifu stood there with their jaws open. Li just assumed that it was just luck, but he shouldn't since he always had sharp and quick reaction times from being an orphan on the streets paying attention to every little detail with his senses.
"Li, your full training starts tomorrow, Five dismissed." Shifu said in utter shock. The Five bowed to their master and walked out of the Training Hall. Li noticed it was getting late and followed the Five but he didn't get too close as he heard them talking about him.
"How is he capable of doing that?" Crane said.
"He's supposed to be a streetrat." Mantis said.
"He might actually steal Tigress's thunder." Monkey joked but was silenced by Tigress's growl.
"Come on guys, Oogway must have chosen him for a reason." Viper said.
"That old turtle must be losing it for choosing that little twerp." Tigress said with clear anger in her voice. Li heard all of this and he is being judged again, this hurts him further. He then entered the barracks as he hears everyone enter their respected rooms and tries to get to his room quietly, he nearly succeeded because just as he is about to enter his room, Tigress opens her door and gives Li a dark stare.
"You don't belong here, Oogway chose you by mistake, and if you know what's right, you should be gone by morning." Tigress said coldly then closes the door in front of Li. He just stood there taking in what she just said and decides to go for a walk around the palace. He notices a tree with beautiful petals and peaches so he walks to it and grabs a peach to eat it. Whenever he's upset he eats something to cope with the stress. He then sits down and looks at the gorgeous view. Little did he know that Oogway walked up to him.
"I see you found the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom." Oogway said. This made Li sharply turn to him with a shocked look on his face.
"Is that what this is? So sorry, I assumed it was a normal peach tree." Li said with guilt. Oogway just simply smiled at him.
"It's alright, I believe you eat when you're upset." Oogway said.
"Yeah." Li said with his head facing the ground.
"What's wrong, Li?" Oogway said.
"I've just had another round of people judging me again. I'm so sick and tired of it. They all just can't seem to look past the exterior. The Five seriously hate me. I feel like I should just step down being the Dragon Warrior." Li said letting it all out after keeping it bottled up. He then sat on the ground.
"You shouldn't let them get to you as they don't know what you've been through. After all, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present." Oogway said with a smile in his face and walks to leave Li to himself and hits the tree with his staff for a peach to land in Li's hand. Li took in what he was told and realises he has to push forward, he told himself throughout his life to not give up and he won't do that now. Since he didn't feel sleepy, he decided to kill time by working out by doing push and pull ups, and then a jog through the palace grounds. Then he notices a pile of wood and a shed with some equipment, he decides he'll now do a wood carving, this time of Master Oogway to remind him to push forward.
"Man, I love wood carving." Li said to himself as he carved the piece of wood in the courtyard in front of the Training Hall. It took all night to finish carving Oogway and he was so focused to finish it that right when he did finish it, Shifu and and the Five found him sitting there.
"Li? What are you doing here?" Shifu said. This got Li out of his focus and saw them all. He paid attention to Tigress and saw a look of frustration and anger at the fact that he didn't do as she told him.
"Good morning, Master. I couldn't get to sleep so I worked out and just finished this." Li said and gestured to the Oogway carving. Shifu looks at it and is awestruck.
"You made this?" Shifu and Viper asked. Li simply nodded in response. They were stunned at how detailed it was.
"You should see all the other ones I made at Ping's." Li said being proud of his work and the response it got.
"I've been wood carving for 12 years and it taught me patience and determination." Li said. This makes Shifu look at Li and ultimately realises there's more to him than he thought.
"Alright, let's get started." Shifu said and then snapped his fingers which made the Five stand in formation to the side and Li stood up and put the wood carving in Shifu's hands to look out for it.
"Li, you've proven that you have what it takes. Now we'll push you to your limits. You'll face each member of the Five and we'll see what your strengths and weaknesses are. Viper, you're first." Shifu said. Li wasn't even scared and found the idea of a challenge interesting. Viper and Li positioned themselves to fight.
"You ready?" Viper said.
"Yeah." Li said. Then right when Li replied, Viper moved to strike him and he narrowly missed her tail, then he grabbed that tail and slammed Viper to the ground and struck her at a nerve that stopped her from being able to slither.
"What the-? How'd you do that?" Viper said shocked at how she's unable to move.
"I studied biology and can strike at nerve and pressure points on anybody. But I won't resort to it all the time as I'd only do it against opponents that I can't fight straightforwardly." Li said, feeling sorry for Viper, so he fixed her back up and is back to normal and then he bowed to Viper then to Shifu. The rest of the Five are surprised yet again.
"Impressive. Monkey." Shifu said and Monkey takes Viper's place and pulls out 2 staffs for him and Li to use. Without saying anything Monkey attacks Li and they both narrowly miss the other and it was such a tight match that Shifu was on edge. Monkey had just barely won with the use of his tail.
"What a tight match. It seems you need to work on dealing with opponents that use more than their limbs." Shifu said to Li who is breathing heavily with sweat dripping down his face.
"Yeah, Master. Thanks for that Monkey, it was fun." Li said bowing to Monkey.
"No problem. It's been a while since I last had a challenge." Monkey said bowing to Li. He and everyone were surprised to hear Li say that it was fun, no one thought kung fu was fun.
"Crane." Shifu said. And just like that, Crane flies to face Li and their sparring leads to Li realising he needs to work on dealing with opponents that have wings even though he won the fight. Then he fought against Mantis and it was the tightest fight to date because Mantis is absurdly fast and small and Li just barely won against him.
"Alright Li, I hope you're ready because you're about to face my best student, Master Tigress." Shifu said. Li noticed the hesitance in Shifu's voice when he said that Tigress is his best student, it's as though he's holding some info. And then Li faces Tigress and for the first time. Li felt some form of fear when she stared at him. Her eyes were blank and spoke out anger and fury at him. Then she became a blur charging right at him and missed by the skin of his by luck he threw a kick that knocked the wind out of her. This turned out to be a bad move though as her temper took over her body and struck Li in the back and left arm leaving claw marks on him and knocked him out from the searing pain. Before he fully blacks out he hears voices yelling and arguing.
"What happened?" Li said waking up lying on his chest and seeing that he's in his room and Viper and Mantis were looking at him with worry and concern.
"Take it easy Li, you got struck by Tigress and they're pretty bad wounds. We took care of it and you'll heal by tomorrow thankfully." Viper said stroking Li's face with her tail.
"I heard some yelling before I blacked out, what was that about?" Li asked sitting up on his bed noticing bandages wrapped around him.
"That was me and Shifu arguing with Tigress about striking you down like that. Taking advantage of you being new and venting her anger out." Viper explained with frustration in her voice. Li is now hating Tigress further.
"I think it's because I seemingly took her title away from her." Li shot out of his mouth.
"What?" Viper and Mantis said in unison.
"She believes that she's the true Dragon Warrior and thinks that a streetrat took it from her as an insult to her!" Li shouted, though he is now scared that Tigress might've heard that.
"Calm down. No one here is calling you a streetrat." Mantis said.
"Don't. Lie. To. Me. I heard you last night, you called me a streetrat. And I can't stand it, do you know what it's like to be an orphan all your life and live on the streets making sure you get through life?" Li said angrily with his head hanging down. Viper and Mantis and now Crane and Monkey (who peeked through slides to the other rooms) just stood there looking at each other in guilt.
"Sorry." Mantis said now feeling guilty.
"Shifu had a student before you lot didn't he?" Li asked out of nowhere. This made everyone present sharply look at him.
"What gave you that idea?" Crane asked.
"I noticed how Shifu said of how Tigress is his best student. It's as though he remembered he had one before her that was better. Is it true?" Li said. They all nodded and right when Viper was about to say something, Tigress slammed the doors open.
"You're talking about Tai Lung." Tigress said in a cold manner. This made everyone look at her.
"Wait, Tai Lung? The first student to master the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu? The one who went to jail?" Li asked hoping Tigress won't punch him in the face. Then Tigress explained the whole story of Tai Lung and Li realised that Shifu didn't give any form of love to Tigress that he gave to Tai Lung which helped in Tai Lung's turn.
"He believes he can set things right by finding the true Dragon Warrior and yet he is stuck with you, a little good for nothing streetrat who was just lucky." Tigress said and that was just the last straw for Li, he shot right up kicking the bed so hard it flew and hit the wall and is face to face to Tigress with a look of absolute fury. Tigress grew nervous for once.
"I've always hated you out of the Five. I always thought you were so full of yourself and arrogant, turns out I'm right. And to think that I saw you lot as inspiration for making me want to do kung fu through the years, also just so you know, all of this is giving me a purpose in life, something I've been looking for for all of my life." Li said barely containing his temper. He then storms out with his shirt to put back on and the Five stood there stunned and Tigress is now starting to second guess her thoughts on Li.
"I can't believe it. I feel as though I should leave." Li said to himself as he is cooking some dumplings and noodle soup so that he could cope with his anger. The Five excluding Tigress followed Li into the kitchen and felt so sorry for him that they sat at the table.
"We're sorry. We just didn't know." Viper said in a motherly manner. This made Li melt a bit as he knew she meant it. And he notices the wood carving of Oogway he made and remembered that he can't give up.
"No problem, in fact, I'm cooking right now, want to eat?" Li said. And they all nodded. They were getting excited to see how his food tasted as it smelt so good. After the wait, Li's finished.
"Order up." Li said as he placed his spicy dumplings in the middle of the table and the bowls of noodle soup to the Five. He then takes his bowl and sits with them. He waited to eat to see their reactions.
"Wow, this is fantastic." Monkey said.
"I never thought food would taste so good." Crane said.
"Thank the gods I have a small mouth." Mantis said.
"How do you do it? These dumplings are perfection." Viper said. Li now felt better.
"Thank Mr. Ping for how good I am. I'm the best when it comes to dumplings. And tofu. Though I still don't know how Ping makes his Secret Ingredient Soup." Li said as he indulged himself to his dumplings and soup.
"These are too good, you should be the cook from now on." Mantis said.
"Why, who does the cooking here?" Li asked feeling a whole lot better now being complimented.
"Tigress, and she usually just does plain tofu." Monkey said.
"Urgh, plain tofu? How bland, I can make the stuff actually delicious." Li said.
"It just so happens to be her favourite food." Shifu said. This made everyone jump in their seats as he stood there with Oogway's staff behind Li and Tigress stood there with Shifu with a blank look on her face.
"What are you doing with Oogway's staff?" Viper asked.
"He's just passed onto the Spirit Realm." Shifu said with pain in his voice.
"WHAT?!" Everyone yelled in unison, shocked at this news.
"But we can't think about that. We have a big problem, Tai Lung has escaped from prison and is heading his way here right now. He is going to try and get the Dragon Scroll and you Li, have to stop him." Shifu explained. Li just stood there speechless at this news, Tai Lung has actually broken out and now he has to try and stop him.
"I have no choice. I'll start training in the morning." Li said to Shifu trying to contain his worry. And so he leaves to his room and goes to sleep. And right before he went into a deep sleep, he heard multiple footsteps, the Five were going to go and face Tai Lung by themselves.
"What's wrong with them? Hungry for more fame?" Li said to himself. Then he had a dream of Tai Lung beating him to a pulp and then decided to insult him by calling him a streetrat, a piece of trash and a lonely boy. This makes him wake up sweating and wide awake. He sees that it's very early in the morning and so he goes to the pantry to make something to eat but he remembers that Oogway has passed and now he himself has to beat who was once Shifu's best student. This is all making him be in a temper and smash the pantry apart just to eat whatever since he needs to eat so that he can cope with his temper. He made some moves that he didn't think he'd do and grabbed some food items. He yells in frustration and anger and when he throws a kick into a cabinet full of rice cakes and grabs one to eat, he notices Shifu in the doorway with his jaw dropped at what he's seeing.
"Sorry, I eat when I'm upset." Li said with his head hanging down. Shifu though just made a grin.
"It's alright, I thought you were Monkey, he has almond cookies on the top shelf." Shifu said and walked away, though he just hid to see how Li will get the cookies. Li adores almond cookies and was so desperate to have some that without knowing it, he did the splits and kept form while having the cookies all to himself. He then noticed Shifu looking at him in awe.
"You'd better not tell Monkey." Li said while pointing a finger at Shifu.
"How'd you get up there?" Shifu said with hints of surprise in his voice.
"I don't know, I guess my perfect memory lets me mimic kung fu moves, it's why I'm so good at wood carving." Li said. This made Shifu have a lightbulb moment.
"Pack up some essentials, I want to take you someplace." Shifu said. Then he left. Li is confused but ultimately lands on the ground and grabs some essentials that would be needed. Shortly after, he meets up with Shifu and then they go for a hike through a trail in the mountains and after a long hike which Li found relaxing, they reached a natural pool.
"What is this place?" Li asked Shifu as he felt as though there were others standing with them.
"This is the Pool of Sacred Tears. The birthplace of kung fu." Shifu said and this makes Li fall to his knees with his mouth open as he cannot believe where he is. Then they both walked to a field that has natural rock formations crop up here and there.
"Here we will further your training. Now given how we don't have much time, it'll be quicker than when I trained the Five. But from what you told me, we might get you ready to be the Dragon Warrior and fight Tai Lung." Shifu said on a rock facing Li. As the next few days went on, Li became a great kung fu warrior. His perfect memory helped him so much in performing some very complex moves and techniques. And his feelings for Shifu are growing, to be more than just master and student, Li is starting to see Shifu as though he was the father he was always looking for because even though Ping looked after him, Li considered him a dear friend. By the end Shifu sparred with Li to see how he's doing and Li is already at a level of being a kung fu warrior.
"Well done, Li. You're ready. You're ready to take to the Dragon Scroll and be the Dragon Warrior." Shifu said with a sense of hope.
"Thank you, Master." Li said as he bowed to him. The 2 then walk back to the Jade Palace and just as they're about to enter the Hall of Heroes, they hear flapping of wings and see Crane flying, carrying the rest of the Five in his feet. He then lands and catches his breath.
"What the actual hell happened?" Li said to Crane and then looked at the Five noticing that they look as though they're frozen.
"His nerve attack, we weren't prepared." Crane said taking deep breaths.
"Tai Lung must be getting stronger." Shifu said as he gets the Five back to normal. The last to be woken up is Tigress and she looked shaken up.
"I thought we could stop him." Tigress said with disappointment in her voice.
"He could've killed you." Shifu said.
"Why didn't he?" Viper asked wrapping around Li's leg for comfort. Li felt warm inside to see her go for him for comfort.
"So that you can come back to strike fear into our hearts." Shifu explained.
"But Master, if these guys can't take him down, how can I?" Li said with hints of fear in his voice.
"Because you'll have the thing that will make you able to defeat him." Shifu said firmly to calm Li down. They all then entered the Hall of Heroes and Shifu grabbed Oogway's staff and made motions that caused petals to move and make the Dragon Scroll come down.
"Here it is. Read it and fulfill your destiny." Shifu said to Li holding the scroll for Li to grasp. Li grabs it and opens it rather slowly. But when he opens it, he is just shocked to say the least.
"WHAT?! It's blank!" Li said fully stunned.
"What?!" Shifu asked who is also stunned at this news.
"I don't get this. Was Oogway really just a crazy old turtle the whole time?" Li said perplexed as to what this all means.
"There's no way, he was supposed to be wiser than us all." Shifu answered back.
"It doesn't matter now, he actually might've picked me by accident. I guess I'm not the Dragon Warrior." Li said feeling defeated.
"But who will stop Tai Lung? At this rate, he'll destroy everything." Crane said.
"No, evacuate everyone out of the Valley." Shifu said.
"But what about you, Master?" Tigress said. Shifu made a face that showed that he will hate saying what he's about to say to his students.
"I'll fend him off long enough for you all to leave safely." Shifu said. This made everyone there look at him with their eyes wide open, especially Li and Tigress.
"But Shifu, he'll kill you." Li said with worry and then something sparked in him. It was a worry towards Shifu.
"It's time for me to make up for my mistakes. I couldn't be more proud than I am now to be your master to all of you. Farewell." Shifu said with acceptance and bowed to his students and they in return, bow to him. They walk away and start to evacuate the Valley except for Li who now truly feels defeated since there's nothing he can do to stop Tai Lung, but as he is walking he bumps into Ping.
"Li! What's wrong?" Ping said concerned noticing Li's face. Li just sat on the ground looking at the Dragon Scroll in his hand.
"Have you ever been disappointed when something special turns out to be nothing but absolute trollop?" Li said in frustration.
"Why?" Ping said.
"Never mind, and by the way, are you ever gonna tell what's the deal with the Secret Ingredient Soup?" Li asked wanting to take his mind off the recent events.
"Yeah, I might as well, the secret ingredient turns out to be nothing at all." Ping said. The revelation is shocking to Li in every way.
"Are you serious? No special spices or sauces?" Li asked, puzzled.
"Yeah. if you want something to be special, you just have to believe it's special." Ping further explained. Hearing this makes Li shoot up on his feet and look at the Dragon Scroll again at its gold interior which works as a mirror. Li finally understands.
"There's no secret ingredient. Ping, you're an accidental genius. Go with everyone else, I need to go and stop Tai Lung." Li said as he hugs Ping and rushes to the stairs leading up to the Jade Palace. Not one ounce of his body wanted to stop moving which was further motivated when he hears sounds of yelling, crashing and fire which means that Tai Lung is fighting Shifu. He manages to get to the Palace right when Tai Lung is about to strike Shifu.
"Hey, Tai Lung!" Li yelled at the snow leopard being slightly out of breath from the run up the stairs.
"Who are you?" Tai Lung said with a voice that oozes arrogance, even more than Tigress which makes Li despise Tai Lung with a passion.
"I am the Dragon Warrior." Li said.
"You. A little streetrat? What are you gonna do, little boy? Slap my hand?" Tai Lung shot, mockingly at Li. Now Li's temper is boiling.
"I'll do worse, trust me. I'm gonna use this. If you want it, come and get it asswipe." Li said angrily teasing Tai Lung with the Dragon Scroll, then in milliseconds , Tai Lung was right in front of Li and punched him sending him flying but then with his feet he landed on a pillar and pushed himself back to Tai Lung and punch him with so much strength that Tai Lung caused the pillar he crashed into crack and crumble.
"Come on! Is that all you got?!" Li challenged Tai Lung. And then the both of them are thrown through the air thanks to Tai Lung lunging at Li to get the scroll. Then they go down the stairs by Li being on top of Tai Lung kicking or punching him in the face or stomach and then the scroll is propelled off of Li's hand and lands on the ground. Tai Lung charges for the scroll but then Li grabs his tail and throws him to the ground and kicks his leg, then hits a nerve to try and subdue him but nothing happens as Tai Lung strikes Li by leaving claw marks on his chest and right shoulder which strikes so much pain in Li.
"Nice try, but no good." Tai Lung said. He then runs to get the scroll but Li has some strength left in him to run for Tai Lung and stop him by charging at him and wrestle him to the ground but Tai Lung elbows Li in the stomach which knocks the wind out of Li and stops fighting because of the pain kicking back in. He grabs his stomach all curled up on the ground and sees Tai Lung walking to the scroll and picking it up.
"What a fool. At last, I'll be the Dragon Warrior." Tai Lung said in a voice full of arrogance. He opens the scroll and has the same shocked look on his face that Li had when he saw the scroll.
"There's nothing. What the hell?" Tai Lung exploded. Li chuckled at this and got back on his feet.
"You clearly don't get it, you blind kitty." Li mocked Tai Lung.
"There's no secret ingredient." Li said and then felt a light and ticklish rush in his stomach which came from Tai Lung's nerve attack.
"Mate, what are you doing, tickling me?" Li said trying not to laugh because the pain gets worse if he does. This makes Tai Lung angry and throws more punches that make Li more ticklish until he can't handle it and catches Tai Lung's fist and crush it causing his fingers to break. With this Li gets back on his feet.
"You can't beat me, you're just a streetrat." Tai Lung said with fear in his voice. And this time, Li's anger fully exploded and was present in his face and he grasped Tai Lung's other fist aiming for him.
"I. Am. Not. A. Streetrat." Li said in an intimidating manner and this made Tai Lung actually scared. He then remembered that he actually knows a secret and complicated move and decides to use it. He simply put up his pinkie finger and Tai Lung gasped in fear.
"No, not the Wuxi Finger Hold. You're just bluffing, Shifu didn't teach you that." Tai Lung said.
"I actually figured it out by myself, how's that for a streetrat?" Li said coldly. He then flexed his pinkie and Tai Lung was erased from existence with a ring of energy dispersing. And there's nothing but dust filling the air. Li feels so tired and painful so he goes to the healer's hut and heals his new wounds and wraps himself up in bandages. And as he walks out, the villagers see him and stare at him for conformation on Tai Lung's fate.
"Tai Lung is defeated." Li said, and then everyone there cheered and called Li the Dragon Warrior, finally accepting him and treating him as a person for once now. This makes Li shed tears as he's now finally accepted by the people. And as they cheered Li sees the Furious Five stand there.
"Hi." Li simply said. Then Tigress stepped forward.
"Master." Tigress said. Then the rest of the Five repeat and they all bow to Li. He couldn't believe it, he's fully accepted now, especially by Tigress. She even smiles at Li, this makes Li shed more tears.
"Master. Master Shifu, I gotta go." Li said remembering Shifu is probably hurt and he needs to see if he's okay. Everything was blocked and he just focused on getting to Shifu, in no time, he found himself in front of Shifu.
"Shifu, Shifu, say something." Li said with worry as he hoped that he wasn't dead.
"Li, you're alive." Shifu said weakly.
"Yeah, I actually beat Tai Lung." Li said lovingly as he stroked Shifu's head.
"Wow, it is as Oogway foretold, you really are the Dragon Warrior." Shifu said feeling warmth by Li stroking him.
"You've brought peace to this valley, and to me, thank you." Shifu said. This is when Li took the opportunity and kissed Shifu on the forehead and rested his forehead against Shifu's. Shifu was shocked at first but then he relaxed and closed his eyes in relaxation and put his hand on Li's cheek. They then broke apart.
"I love you, Shifu, as a father and I want to thank you and Oogway for finally giving me a purpose in life." Li said with warmth.
"I'm touched Li, I'd be proud to be your adoptive father." Shifu said with pride and Li hugged him in huge embrace crying with happiness now that he has a family to call his own.
"Thank you so much baba. I now have a family." Li said choking up with joy and tears running down his face and landing on Shifu's head.
"Want something to eat?" Li asked his new father.
"Yeah, I hear your cooking is good." Shifu said. The 2 injured kung fu masters then walk to the barracks where the kitchen is and Li cooks his trademark dumplings and sits with Shifu and eat while resting because of their injuries. Shifu like the Five excluding Tigress was blown away by how good the food is and compliments Li.
"How did you defeat Tai Lung?" Shifu asked in curiosity. The Furious Five were walking into the kitchen when Shifu asked this and Li and Shifu didn't know they were there.
"Believe it or not, I used the Wuxi Finger Hold." Li replied and Shifu spat his food out and the Five all ran in with shocked looks on their faces with their mouths open.
"You know how to use the Wuxi Finger Hold?! How?!" Shifu asked in total disbelief.
"I have scrolls that detail legends and stories of kung fu masters and with Master Wuxi, I figured out how to do the hold." Li explained to Shifu and the Five and they seriously cannot believe what he told them.
"You are without a doubt full of surprises, young man." Shifu said with a smirk as he ate another dumpling. The Five then sit down with them and Li decides to cook for them as well, this time though, he decides to make his special tofu dish. When he hands the food out to everyone, they all are hesitant at first because of it being tofu but when Viper takes the first bite and has her mind blown yet again, everyone digs in and enjoys the tofu.
"Wow. This tofu is fantastic." Crane said.
"I gotta say, this isn't bad, it's even better than the tofu I cook." Tigress said.
"Well since I'm gonna live here now, I wouldn't mind being the palace cook as well." Li said with a smile and the Five looked at him curiously.
"You're gonna live here?" Viper asked.
"Well, yeah, because I'm the Dragon Warrior and also because Shifu has agreed to adopt me." Li said and the last point made Tigress look at both Li and Shifu.
"Master, is he telling the truth?" Tigress asked.
"Yes, Tigress. I've decided to adopt him and he will live and train with us. And I think it's best for all of us to rest for the next 2 days to relax and heal ourselves" Shifu said and the Five were happy to hear this as they like Li. And they all felt that they needed the rest. They all finished their food and they went to try and kill the free time they have, but Li decided to go to Ping's and get his stuff from his bedroom and move them to his room in the palace barracks. He grabbed all the scrolls and wood carvings and told Ping he'd now be living at the Jade Palace. Li then got to the barracks and put all of his belongings in his room to fill it up as it was empty. Li realised that there's no shelves so he makes some next to the window and puts up all of his wood carvings and went back to the kitchen and grabbed the Oogway carving and put it on a shelf.
"There, much better." Li said to himself and then took his shirt off and took off the bandages for the wounds that Tigress inflicted on him and saw that the wounds are healed though he still has to wait to take the bandages from Tai Lung's strikes off. Tigress looks at Li, whose back is facing her and she notices the wounds she left on him and now is starting some guilt for what she did.
"Hey, Li." Tigress said in a shy manner. This makes Li stop dead in his tracks and turn to Tigress who is standing in the doorway.
"What is it?" Li said while sitting down on his bed.
"I want to say that I'm impressed that you took down Tai Lung, and you managed to…. prove us wrong." Tigress said. Li couldn't help but notice that she's not ready yet to say sorry and he can see that she's holding back tears for what she did to him but he doesn't want to push any further. Then she walked away before Li could say anything. Li simply decides to just go to sleep for now.
"I now have a home, and a family." Li said to himself smiling before drifting off to sleep.