The Fest

"Po's learned his lesson. Now you must learn yours," I told Tigress the next day. "You have to learn how to get outside of your comfort zone. Now I feel a little hypocritical about this because I don't like getting outside my comfort zone. But ever since I've come here, I've gotten used to it." Tigress looked at me strangely."Anyways, we'll be doing something that I know Po has been wanting you to do." Her eyes widened.

"You're not serious," she said.

"Tigress you got to understand that...well, he just wanted you to see it," Krystal added trying to soften the blow. Tigress was still in avoidance.

"No, no, not-"

"Kung Fu Fan Festival!" Po exclaimed as he stormed in. "The Fest! I'm so excited that you agreed to go with me Tigress. I honestly didn't think you would go!"

"Yes, me too," She replied glaring at a smiling me.

"You see, Po. Tigress needs to figure out how to read situational things. The only way to do that is to experience things like this. Trust me, I don't like being in large groups either but I'll tell you a secret." I whispered to her. "I. suck it. up!" I grinned at her scowling face. "Come on, we have a festival to go to!"

"GRRRR!" Tigress growled lowly.

"Don't worry, I'll be with you all the way," Krystal said. "Besides, it could be fun."

"A festival of Kung Fu GEEKS that all are overly excited to see one of the warriors of the Jade Palace AND they all act like Po? Sure," She muttered. So we made our way down the mountain and to the festival. The number of rabbits, bunnies, goats, pigs, and deer that were here really alarmed me. By the time we got there, Po was already enmeshed into the mass. As though Krystal read my mind, she started to look for Po. I knew it would take some time. Though Po is a huge giant panda, he can be lost fairly easily. I chuckled as she started to call for Po. I looked over to Tigress. She wasn't the happiest person there. "Lighten up! What's the difference in one day? Besides, Po's really happy, if we could find him," I muttered. A bunny fan was standing next to us and looked at us, rather Tigress, with worship in his eyes.

"Um...Hi," Tigress said raising her hand up slightly. The bunny just continued to stare at her.

"Sign my heart," He said in a creepy whisper. I quickly move Tigress and me to a...safer location.

"Okay, so maybe people here aren't very...calm about their appreciation of you, but isn't good to get some good approval and appreciation?"

"I get that enough from Po," She rolled her eyes. I sighed. There was no winning with her.

"Hey, to be honest, I'm kind of like these guys," I said. Tigress looked me weirdly in the eye. "Hey don't be so surprised. When it comes to technology, I do get kind of giddy. HEHEHEHEHE!" I laughed. Tigress stepped back a bit. "The point is that we all have our strange quirks that make us special." I could see out of the corner of my eye that Krystal and Po were riding on a crowd wave. Well...Krystal was. Po was trying to, but I think the crowd understood how heavy he was.

"What's your point, Lion? Why do I have to do this?"

"Tigress, I've learned that you can have more flexibility and more fun being outside of your comfort zone...responsibly anyways." Tigress looked confused. "Not everything permissible is beneficial. Like I don't recommend you to drink under any circumstances. But this is good for you. Who knows you'll probably see a side of Po you've never seen before." Tigress rolled her eyes. Just then, a dog in a dark red robe came towards us. His ears were pointed at the end, he had brown fur, his snout was pointed also, and his eyes were gray. His stature was lanky, probably about late teens. He was about my height. But he had a shy atmosphere on him. The dirty clothes made me think he was just another person at the fest.

"Excuse me," He said kindly yet nervously,"Are you Master Tigress?"

"Yes," She replied simply. The dog bowed.

"I am Lee. It is a pleasure to meet you. I've always wanted to meet the leader of the Jade Palace." Tigress smirked, but I could tell she was a little impressed.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," She smirked.

"Of course, I didn't want to give you the wrong idea," Lee apologized.

"That accent, you're not from around here are you," I asked.

"No, my home is pretty far away. I came here for the festival though I don't want to attract much attention," He replied.

"Who are you here with," I asked.

"My wife and another person." This surprised both Tigress and me. "Is that the Dragon Warrior?" We both nodded. Then an idea came into mine.

"You can personally see him," I said with a bright smile.

"Uh no, that look on your face is never good," Tigress observed. Before anyone could say anything, I rushed over to the center, where the crowd was, and got everyone's attention as they quiet down. They also put Krystal down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time for us to have the Kung Fu Fan Festival Battle. This time, it is swordplay." Everyone cheered. "Now we will choose people at random." I quickly pointed to Po and Lee. Lee looked like a newborn baby with BIG eyes. As the crowd dragged him into the circle with Po, the two were presented with wooden play swords. "Rules are simple. The person who defeats the other wins. Now Fight!"

"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" Exclaimed the crowd. I snuck back to where Tigress was. I could see that Krystal was with her.

"Why on earth did you do that, Lion," Krystal asked me with a scowling face.

"I think I know who this is. If I'm right, he's another legend. Krystal, while they're fighting, look for a prawn and a tan orangish cat about 5'9"." She nodded and went her way. Meanwhile, Tigress was entranced by the way Po and Lee were fighting. Lee swung his sword down on Po. Po blocked the strike and pushed him back. To be quite honest, you would have to be here to understand it. I was never good with describing fights. Po swung his sword at his torso. Lee jumped back and thrust his sword. Po dodged out of the way.

"Parry, parry, thrust, thrust," Po said as Lee did each move. Po parried back. "Good!"

"I didn't think Po was so good at the sword," Tigress observed.

"I think Po's part of a legend. Just let this play out," I said to her.

"You're very good," Lee grunted as he dodged a near miss. "A lot of your swordsmen styles follow some of the samurai ways of Japan."

"Yeah, well. I've never been to Japan, but I've been sword fighting for a long time." Po said as he lunged forward. He did a shoulder roll and popped back up. Po swung from the left side, but they were caught in a stalemate, each trying to push the other back. "You're not bad yourself."

"I've had some formal practice," Lee said proudly. He managed to duck underneath Po. They slowly paced around each other with ready swords. "Though, I don't think it will do me any good against someone like you." Just then Krystal came back with a the tan orangish cat and the prawn. Tigress recognized the prawn.

"Master Yijiro?!" She said surprised. She quickly composed herself as she bowed. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same, but knowing Po-san, I believe we're here for the same reasons," The prawn replied. I could tell Tigress was still giddy around Yijiro. I guess Demi also gave me the ability to see tigers blush.

"And who is this," I asked.

"This is Mai," Yijiro said. Before he could say anything more, I bowed.

"It is an honor to see you, Milady," I respectfully replied. "I think your husband has found his match."

"How do you know that he's my husband," She asked. I smiled knowingly.

"I know a lot about you and your husband, Lady Samurai." She and Yijiro gasped. Suddenly, a bunch of oxen burst through the festival paper walls. The crowd was in a panic. Yijiro and Mai quickly surrounded Lee, who had stopped his fight with Po. Yijiro gave him his swords.

"It's Temuti's men!" Tigress shouted.

"They've come for Master Lee," Yijiro said. I saw a blacksmith shop within one of the vendors. I quickly raided the place, found two swords, and rushed back, giving Po one of the swords.

"Now to put those sword skills to use," I instructed. We charged at the horde of oxen. I had always been a hard hitting swordsmen so with my extra strength, the oxen didn't stand a chance.

"You know," Lee told Po as they fought the oxen together. "You never explained how you trained." He cut the spear of one ox in half straight down the middle.

"Well, (grunt) I use to play with some of my friends. When they started complaining about how hard I would strike them, they stopped playing with me," Po explained as he parried the oncoming ox's strike and kicked him back. "But I kept playing with my play swords. My friends said I was so good. (HIYA!) They named me-"

"Don't tell me," I interrupted as I jumped over an ox, cut his armor in half, and left him half naked, running for his mommy, "They called you Zaber."

"Yeah, how did you know," he asked. I swung right through the armor of the last oxen.

"Lucky guess," I muttered, sheathing the sword in its case. "Looks like Krystal and Tigress are holding out pretty well." Po saw them working as a ferocious team, twin kicking the big oxen away. When all of them were finally done with, we all gathered together.

"Looks like they scared away most of the fans," Yijiro observed, "I didn't know that you were so knowledgeable in the arts of the samurai at such a young age, Po-san." Po rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well, it was just child's play," He replied.

"So the better question is why the emperor and empress of Japan are in China at a Kung Fu Fan Festival full of...Genuinely Enthusiastic Enjoyers of Knowledges," I said carefully. Po thought about it.

"Doesn't that just spell out gOW" I punched him in the ribs.

"Well," Mai looked at Lee straight in the eye. He shrunk a little. "Lee here is a geek as well." I smiled.

"There's nothing wrong with being excited over some of this stuff. Just...try to keep it in a healthy margin," I replied.

"Thank you so much for helping us, Mr.-"

"Lion," I replied to Yijiro.

"If there is anything at all we can do to repay the favor," Lee said. I remembered something.

"Actually, do you know Leo, the Demon Fighter?" I asked. Mai and Lee nodded. "Bring him to the Jade Palace when you come here. I would like to meet him." They looked uneasily at each other.

"What's the matter," Krystal questioned, noticing their unease.

"It's just that-"

"Don't worry," I interrupted, "I'll make sure Krystal and Tigress are on their best behavior AND that they understand." The couple looked a little relieved.

"Until we meet again then," Yijiro bowed, ready to leave. As they left, Krystal and Tigress cast hard looks at me.

"Now before you say anything, let me explained," I defended as we went back to the Jade Palace. "Leo is the Demon Fighter."

"The one that is said to break people in two just by looking at them," Po finished excitedly. I nodded.

"Yes, but he's very shy when you get to know him. He also has had...bad experiences with tigers." They looked at me with curiosity laced in their faces. "His parents were killed by a tiger."

"No," Krystal gasped quietly. I exhaled through my nose. Tigress had her mouth slightly open in shock. Po's sad expression was apparent.

"Ever since then...he's been afraid of tigers."

"Then why would you bring him to a place with two of them," Po asked.

"Because" I paused for a moment, "He may know Tigress's parents." Everyone was silent. "I'm not sure if he does, and if he does, we must give him time to tell us. He is fragile. Be patient Tigress." I gave a reassuring smile. "Come on, let's go to the palace." As we ascended the steps, I smirked at Tigress. "At least, you can't say the festival was boring," I smiled cockily. Tigress only glared at me for a while, then scoffed a smirk.

"You had no idea this would happen," Tigress replied.

"Your point," I came back. She just shook her head.

"Thanks," She quietly smiled.

"So how does this Leo person know where Tigress' parents are," Krystal asked when we were in the room alone.

"Leo is another character that I drew up," I answered.

"You drew him without parents," she said upset. I threw my hands up in defense.

"I didn't think these things would come alive, Krystal. If I did, I would have been more careful about how I wrote these things. I'm sorry." Krystal still seemed upset. "Look, you know me well enough to know that if I could change things I would." She was still upset. "Why are you upset?" She sat down on the bed and looked at the ground for a while.

"Why didn't you write about my parents? Why didn't you save them?" She asked quietly. I felt immensely guilty. I rose up from the bed and mindlessly walked around the room. What could I tell her that she would understand? I just sighed. The truth she would understand.

"I...never did," I said. Krystal looked at me quizzically. "The story where we are together we actually are six hundred years old. Your parents died because of a war in my kingdom. But that never happened so I didn't have any control over that. I never wrote your family or Mistress Jun. Though, I wish I could've so I could prevent it." My back sagged as I stared sadly at the floor. Krystal hugged me, surprising me.

"I'm sorry for accusing you of something you didn't do. I didn't mean to make you feel bad," She apologized. I was still upset about it. No, you can't be sad about it. She's right. You had no idea about it. It was an innocent thing. You can't let her be responsible for your emotions, I thought to myself. I hugged her back. "Besides, I think it was for the best. I wouldn't have met Mistress Jun and I wouldn't have met you," She said looking at me with a smile. I smiled back.

After that, I wrote all of these things in my journal.

to be continued.

Author's question: Can someone please explain what the "fourth wall" is?