Unusual Changes

"Superior speed, much faster agility, and more feral instincts. Very interesting," Vince observed. The white tiger, which was Po, was chasing Leng around the secluded area.

"Okay that's good. Now WHY IS HE CHASING ME!" Leng shouted as he ran from the huge tiger behind him.

"You're prey. Kind of like cat and mouse," Vince simply said. "But I'm never going to get any tests done on his strength if he's running around like that. Shifu said he was tame, hmm." Vince pondered.

"Vince! Now would be a very good time to come up with an idea! WHOA!" Leng shouted as he dodged another attack.

"Okay, stop and he will stop chasing you," Vince stated.

"WHAT! That's the WORST idea that you've ever thought of!"

"Just do it!" Vince retorted. Leng gulped as he finally stopped and the tiger came his way. Po jumped on Leng and growled at him. Then...he just rubbed his head like a kitten that wanted to be petted. Leng laughed.

"Okay, okay, good kitten," Leng laughed. Vince petted the top of Po's head making him purr. Leng got out from underneath him. "So, the kind Po's still in there." The tiger looked at the duck. "Can you understand us?" The tiger just tilted it's head. "I wonder, what exactly is happening?"

"I don't know," Vince responded. Vince went over to a big rock that he couldn't lift. "Po, can you lift this?" the tiger walked over and moved the rock like a light chair. He used his hind legs, got his hands underneath the rock and lifted it over his head. "Thank you, Po. You can put it down." As the tiger started to play with the rock as a scratching post. "Well, we know that he can understand us. Why he can't seem to talk is beyond me. His strength isn't twice as what it use to be. It's three times that! I've never seen something like this." Po purred as he rubbed his body against Vince's legs.

"But why does he act friendly like Po and why does this occur?" Leng asked.

"I don't know. We'll just have to wait until morning. Go on Po, go and protect the village," Vince ushered. The tiger soon ran down the mountain. "Come on, let's get some sleep." The next morning, they woke up and looked around for Po. Vince and Leng were surprised to see that Po was still a tiger as he just paced around in a circle. He finally laid down and curled up into a ball. Suddenly, the magic swirls of black and white surrounded Po and he was back to his slim panda form. Vince sighed relief as the others started to wake up. Po yawned in a downward dog pose. Po looked at Vince and Leng staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" Po asked.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Leng questioned.

"I remember you asking me a lot of strange questions, and then you asked me to sleep," Po replied.

"Did you have any strange dreams?" Vince asked.

"Well, I did have a dream where I was chasing Leng around, then lifted something heavy looking and then I remember something about a pig being launched in the air?" Po said.

"Oh, that's why the reports said something about a pig bandit landing in jail from the sky," Leng muttered to Vince. Vince rolled his eyes.

"Listen Po, what we thought that you were actually came true. You are the white tiger," Vince said. Po's eyes widened, "But I wouldn't tell the others. Not yet anyway, until we can figure this thing out."

"So what, I'm like this 9 foot big tiger that roams around and destroys anything in his path?"

"Not really," Leng said after Po's outburst. "But the important thing now is that you see to Tigress." Vince and Po looked at the little duck.

"What does the cat have to do with him?" Vince asked.

"Well, she wasn't particularly happy seeing you with some other girl. I would go talk to her," Leng advised. Po nodded as he stood up and went to the training hall where the tiger in question was practicing like mad. The others, minus Shifu, were watching in horror as Tigress punched the wooden dummy and practically ate the wood pieces as she gnawed on one of the pieces. Po joined the others.

"How long has she been like this?" Po asked Crane.

"It started yesterday. We don't know why she's like this," Crane answered. Po sighed as Tigress smashed another wooden dummy.

"I do. Can you guys give us some privacy for a moment?" Po asked. They all nodded as they filed out. Po sucked in air deeply and shouted "TIGRESS!" This snapped Tigress out of her rage to look at the panda. When she realized who it was, she started to calmly fight with the dummy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Dragon Warrior," Tigress muttered. Po's head translated that to: "No, I'm not, please help me!"

"If it makes it any better, I didn't go out with her and she was crazy," Po said. Tigress turned her head sharply at him with a surprised look.

"How did you knowww-" Po's smirk brought back Tigress's pride,"that I don't have any idea about what you are talking about?" Po sighed as he stepped closer to her.

"Tigress, I saw you when I was with the girl and Leng told me that you practically trashed this place like you are now. Look, I'm sorry if what happened upset you," Po said resting his hand on her shoulder.

"Ow," Tigress said quietly. Po retracted the hand to see sharp claws that retracted at his will.

"Oops sorry," Po said nervous.

"It's okay and...I should be sorry. You should be able to make your decisions without me getting...upset," Tigress apologized. Po opened his arms with a smile. Tigress could never say no to that smile, so she hugged him while he hugged back. Then Po did something that was very weird. He continually brushed the side of his head against Tigress' head. And he purred. "Po, stop that," Tigress said only chuckling at his childish ways. But Po didn't realize that he was doing it. When she said that, he jump back in horror and concern.

"Tigress, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Po, it's alright. You were just playing around," Tigress eased his fears. She wondered why he was so frightful.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I have to go to get cat-nip, I MEAN VINCE!" Po corrected as he then ran out...on all fours. Tigress was very confused. Vince and Leng were in the kitchen brainstorming an idea for what to do with Po when Po rushed in. "Guys, you're right. I am the tiger!"

"Uh yeah, we know. We saw. We were all there. So how did Tigress take your talk?" Leng asked.

"It was fine, but she was weirded out when I hurt her with my sharp claws, rubbing my head against her and purring, and me mentioning cat-nip!" Po explained. Vince and Leng looked at each other. Leng bursted out in laughter. "It's not funny! What if I do something weird in front of them?"

"What worries me more is your other side. It seems that you could understand us, but you had no control over your words or actions. It's like you were a completely different person," Vince said thinking out loud.

"So what? Do we go somewhere where we can fix this," Po wondered hopefully. Vince shook his head.

"No, not yet anyway. We must understand what exactly is wrong first," Vince explained as Po threw up his hands. "Hey, you wanted this body."

"I have no problems with the body! I'm just worried that I'll run off my friends by doing something weird!" Po countered.

"You mean, more than you usually do?" Leng questioned.

"Yes," Po said slowly understanding the insult, "HEY!" Leng laughed. Vince quickly quieted the ruckus.

"Guys! We need to be serious about this. Let's check on Viper to see if there's any strange things going on with her," Vince suggested. The three went down to the village where Viper was looking at a dress by the pig lady, along with Crane. This made the trio decide to watch Viper from afar.

"Oh, I like this," Viper said twirling around with a vibrant red dress. She continued to look through the line of clothes. Just then, a big boar came rudely in trying to sauce up to Viper. Crane, though a little shaky about it, made the boar go away. The boar tried to hit him, but with one move Crane had him on the ground. As he scrambled out of the shop, Viper looked at Crane with an all-too-knowing smirk.

"What?" Crane asked.

"What was that about?" Viper asked still having the smirk.

"I was just making sure that the boar didn't hurt you," Crane said defensively.

"Okay this is getting boring, she's fine let's go," Vince said bored already going back up the mountain. As the three went back up the mountain, Crane and Viper still talked.

"You know that I can protect myself. Were you jealous?"

"WHAT!? No! How could I ever be jealous?" Crane said as his voice cracked. His cheeks now reddened as his embarrassment grew. Viper giggled.

"You're so funny," Viper smiled. Crane nervously laughed it off. Meanwhile, the three went back up the stairs.

"Well, we know now that Viper's not affected. So it's only with Po. We'll have to keep watch over you when you go into 'fang mode,'" Vince said.

"'Fang mode'?" Po asked.

"He means when you become a tiger," Leng explained. "Come on, we're almost at the top."

"You're leaving?" Po asked the little bug. Mantis had just told the rest of the team and Po that he was leaving the Jade Palace. Master Shifu and the bug had already talked about it. It was literally just the next day. "Why?"

"My mother just died and I need to be with my family now to support them. Plus I got an offer there that would help my village. I'm sorry Po," Mantis replied. Po was upset.

"Well, I understand," Po sighed, "Just make sure that you come and visit some times, alright?" Mantis smiled. Viper, Crane, and Monkey all crowded around the bug.

"We'll miss you, you little runt," Viper said. With a spring of his feet, he jumped out the door. Po just stared out the doorway with a sad expression.

"Po, are you okay?" Viper asked. Po shook out of his trance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Po said faking a smile. He looked around to see where was Tigress. He set off to look for her.

"So if Mantis is gone, who will fulfill his place?" Viper asked Master Shifu.

"Master Ving-Vong will. I hope that you'll welcome him to your team," the red panda said as he went off to meditate. Vince noticed their sad expressions.

"I know that I can't be another Mantis for you guys," He sighed, "But I will try my best to help you guys."

"It's fine," Monkey said quietly, missing the little critter on his shoulder, "It doesn't even seem like you've just been introduced. It feels like you've always been here. It's just...Mantis is our friend."

"I understand," Vince said sadly. Then he looked around wondering where Tigress was. "Hey, where's Tigress?"

"I don't know. Probably training. Po's probably checking on her right now," Viper guessed. Monkey chuckled a little.

"Like Mantis said, 'She needs to take care of her panda'" Everyone laughed.

to be continued.

Trivia

1. What happened with Tigress and Po's talk?

2. What color was the dress that Viper was looking at?

3. Who's leaving?

Answer to chapter 6

1. Claws

2. "If you lose your true self, you'll spiral out of control

3. Because a girl asked Po out.