Rise of the Tiger

Vince awoke to loud ringing gong in his ear. "Bloody heck that's loud!" He exclaimed as he got up and out to see the Furious Five prepared to see Master Shifu. They noticed that Po wasn't up yet.

"Po, wake up," Master Shifu said opening the door. Po rolled around. Everyone came in and Po was still sleeping soundly. Tigress shook Po. Po shot up and clutched his hands around Tigress's shoulders. Tigress strangely felt some pain in her arms. Po's eyes were dilated wide and he seemed to gurgle a little. Po slowly came out of it and let go of Tigress.

"Po are you okay?" Viper asked now int a green dress. Po blinked as he pupils returned to normal.

"Yeah, I...I guess I was just...jumpy," Po said holding his head. Po looked at his body. He still had the body. Something didn't feel right though.

"Come on, maybe you're just very hungry," Monkey said helping the slim panda up. As the group filed out, Leng saw something on Po's bed that made his eyes widened.

"Um...Vince!" He called as he hurried down the hall. The others were just sitting down as Leng rushed in by Vince. "Vince, there's something I-"

"Hold on, Shifu's just tell us something," Vince whispered.

"Wait, so this thing not only beat the wolves but threw them into the Qi-don territory, which is about 30 miles away!" Mantis asked incredulous.

"Yes, and they say that the creature is on the side of good," Master Shifu said recounting the event that happened last night. Po stood up and walked out to go down the mountain for his dad's shop. "The most remarkable thing is that they say it was a huge white tiger," Shifu continued. Vince spat out the drink he had, calmly put down the cup and shouted.

"Po! Come back here." Leng and Vince went after the panda. The whole room wondered what was that about. Vince and Leng raced down where Po was just beginning his trip down the steps. "WAIT!" Vince shouted. "We have to talk to you for a moment."

"Um...sure but can't it wait until I come back up?" Po asked.

"When do you come back to the Jade Palace?" Leng questioned with a worried look.

"Near nighttime."

"Then it can't wait!" Leng replied.

"What's wrong? Why are you two so edgy?" Po asked weirded out.

"We may have a theory of where all your extra strength went. Actually, go to your father shop, but come here as soon as you see sunset, okay?" Vince pleaded.

"O...kay," Po replied as climbed down the steps.

"Why did you do that? You know he's the tiger," Leng whispered confused.

"I know, but what if the thing doesn't come out until nightfall. It's completely possible. Let's just wait and see what happens," Vince explained as they went back to the Jade Palace.

"I wonder if his dad will recognize him," Leng wondered. The walking snake just laughed.

Po finally reached the bottom of the steps. Almost immediately eyes were on him. He could see that everyone was whispering, he even heard a few girls giggle. Po wore a smug little smile as he went into the shop. Old Po was gone, for all he knew. "Hey, dad," Po said smiling. Mr. Ping looked at Po with a weird face.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I've seen you before," Mr. Ping replied.

"Dad it's me, Po!" Po laughed. Mr. Ping's eyes widened.

"Quick, where are Po's dolls?" He quizzed.

"On the window where they should be and they're action figures, not dolls," Po corrected. Mr. Ping's eyes widened even more.

"It is you," The goose said overjoyed wrapping his wings around him, "What happened to you? You look completely different."

"Well, things happened," Po said choosing his words carefully.

"And your head. Your top fur is completely black and full," Mr. Ping said as he racked his hands through Po's hair. "What happened to you?!"

"Like I said a lot of things. Here let me help you with the food," Po offered. It wasn't even minutes before Mr. Ping asked.

"So, do you like the 'new you'?" Po smiled even wider.

"Yeah, it's totally awesome!" Po exclaimed.

"Well, be careful Po," Mr. Ping said. Po frowned at his father.

"What do you mean?"

"This 'New you' is physically great and all, but if you lose your true self, you will spiral out of control," Mr. Ping ominously warned. As he went back to chopping onions, Po was still wondering what his father meant by that.

"Quickly, we have to replace this bed before anyone sees it," Vince hurriedly told Leng as they took the torn bed out the window. They didn't want to bring it through the door because that would arouse some suspicion. As the two chucked the bed out the window, Master Tigress just came in.

"Master Vince?" She asked as Vince and Leng turned around in tension. Had she seen them? "What are you doing in Po's bedroom?"

"Uhh, just cleaning it up for him. We had to get him a new bed, the old one had a lot of cracks in the support," Vince replied. It wasn't a total lie. Po's new weight did ease the bed's weakened support. That and the claw marks. "And may I ask why are you looking for him?"

"Um...I just wanted to see if he was still around, but I see he's already gone down the mountain," she replied letting a frown emerge from he stoic face. Leng picked up on this.

"And what might you be wanting to tell the young available panda?" Leng smiled with a smirk. Tigress glared at the little duck and growled through the teeth, saying.

"I'm going to go workout." With that she was off her way. Vince glared down the duck.

"That was completely unnecessary, Leng," Vince scolded.

"Did you want her to figure out what we were doing? Besides, all I said was that Po was available and young. Isn't that the truth?" Leng reasoned. Vince shook his head.

The sunset soon started to set across the horizon and a duck and walking snake were anxiously waiting for Po. Soon, they saw the slim panda and hurried him to a secluded place on the Jade Palace grounds. "Seriously guys, what is wrong?" Po asked.

"Nothing nothing," Vince said trying not to let Po know.

"Vince, he's going to figure out. Might as well tell him,"

"Tell me what?" Po asked, wondering what Leng was talking about. Vince huffed a sigh.

"Do you remember Shifu talking about a creature that was going around saving people?" Vince asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, we think that creature is you, because Shifu said it a white tiger with tremendous strength," Vince said. Po was weirded out.

"And you think I'm that tiger?" Po asked. The two nodded. "What, so I'm this powerful white tiger that can change at nighttime? That's ridiculous. You're as crazy as that girl that asked me out today."

"Yeah well...wait a minute, a girl asked you out and you refused?" Leng questioned.

"Yeah well, she was just asking me out because of my new look. When I talked to her, I could tell she was one of those girls that just raids the pockets," Po replied.

"Did anyone else see you with her?" Leng wondered.

"Well," Po started running his hand through his black spiky hair, "Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Tigress."

"That's why she was wrecking the dummies," Leng said quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing, right now we want you to go to sleep," Vince said. Po started to rest on his side as his eyes slowly went shut.

"Do you think that it will actually work?" Leng asked as Po was sleeping.

"Who knows," Vince shrugged as they sat down. "Maybe he's not the tiger." Just then they noticed a magic black and white swirl surrounding Po. Before their eyes, they saw a growling menacing tiger looking straight at them! If it were on it's hind legs, it would be taller than Vince by 1/4 of a foot, and Po and Vince were the same height. Never before had Vince and Leng seen a true symbol of power and strength as what stood before them. Tai-Lung would cower at this. "Or maybe he is," was all Vince could say. Suddenly, the tiger lunged forward at them in attack.

to be continued.

Trivia

1. What did Leng see in Po's bed that morning?

2. What did Mr. Ping say that weirded out Po?

3. Why did Tigress wreck the wooden dummies? (According Leng)

Answers to chapter 4

1. Head horns

2. He should be able to have more strength

3. A white tiger