The Mess

"No? What do you mean 'no'?" Vince asked, "The whole reason we made sure that the others didn't know is because you didn't know how to manage Fang Po. Why don't you want to tell them yet."

"I want to do more with this. I'll be better than the Midnight Stranger. I'll be helping others when the others can't. Plus, my body is at rest when I'm in this state. So I won't feel the least tired," Fang Po said excitedly. Leng's eye brows went up and his smug smile returned.

"You just want to impress Tigress, don't you?" Leng replied.

"And then there's that plus," Fang Po shrugged guiltily smiling.

"I don't like it," Vince said bluntly, "You're playing with people's emotions." Fang Po rolled his eyes.

"I'm not playing with their emotions. I'm just using this to help people...and my friends," Fang Po said innocently. Vince sighed.

"Why do you want to do this in the first place?" he asked confused.

"Because I want to know if Ti-I mean my friends will care the same for me if I'm a different person. Do they truly like me the way I am? Plus," Po said changing back into the lovable panda with spiky black hair, "I want to test this thing out." His mischievous smile shown brightly. Vince groaned.

"Sure, let's see how long you can keep this up," Vince muttered.

Viper was hitting the dummies in the Training Hall room. With one swipe of her tail, the wooden pieces were in shatters. Vince was right when he said her tail was the strongest part on her body. She wiped the sweat off her head. "That was a nice workout," Viper sighed. She heard a noise; a familiar one. She rolled her eyes. "Crane you can come out now. I know you're there."

"I...I..I.i i I wasn't spying this time," Crane rushed out saying.

"This time?" Viper asked.

"Never Mind!" Crane exclaimed, "Look I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be a creeper or something." Crane looked down at the floor ashamed.

"Oh, Crane," Viper said compassionately touching the side of his face with her palm, "You being a creeper is something Mantis would do to women. You're not a creeper yet."

"Yet?"

"Never mind!" Viper replied teasingly. Crane laughed.

"Look, Viper. I'm sorry for...spying on you. I don't want you to think I'm-"

"Oh no I'm okay with it. I've had to get use to men looking at me a lot lately," Viper said looking about the Training Hall absentmindedly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Crane said gritting a little through the beak. Viper spun around and looked at him with an all-too-knowing smile. "What?"

"Is that jealousy I hear?" She said smiling.

"No! I'm not jealous!" Crane shot back.

"Then why does it bother you that other men see me?" Viper asked still smiling. Crane was caught again.

"Well...I um huh you see...I um ugh-" Then Leng came in with Master Vince.

"Hello!" Leng greeted happily.

"THANK YOU!" Crane exclaimed, "You're here to train with Viper, right?"

"Uh"

"Great! I'll go and see what Tigress is up to," Crane said racing out the room. Leng looked at Vince then Viper.

"What was that?" Leng asked a giggling walking serpent.

"Oh nothing. What's up?" Viper asked dismissing the earlier happening.

"We need you to play seductress," Vince said confusing her.

"What on Earth do you mean?" she asked.

"We want to test this 'Fang Po's' heart in front of Crane and Tigress," Leng said smiling. Viper frowned.

"Why do want me to do this?" Viper asked.

"Because, we're trying to force SOME people to tell the truth," Vince said emphasizing the some, "Just please do this thing for us." Viper was silent for a while.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Viper grumbled.

"We'll take that as a 'yes'," Leng said, "Here's what we'll do."

Viper stood leaning her back against the wall of a house. The night was partly cloudy with the increasing clouds. Tigress and Crane were on nightly patrol, and she assumed that they were on the other side of the village. In actuality, they were standing out of site looking at her. Wondering what she was doing waiting outside at night, they decided to spy on her. Well, Crane decided to spy. Tigress just agreed for the whining to stop. Leng and Vince watch from atop the mountain through a telescope. They could see all the drama. Just then, Fang Po landed on a roof in the moonlight. Viper had to admit Fang Po was very devilishly handsome from this view. Fang Po leapt from the roof to the ground.

"Master Viper?" Fang Po said in a questioning voice, "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh! I...I just wanted to see what you looked like in person," Viper quickly recovered.

"What are they saying?" Crane asked getting jealous from the sudden appearance of Fang Po.

"I don't know. Quiet!" Tigress hushed.

"Well, here I am," Fang Po smiled. They started to walk. "So why are you here?"

"Well, um...I was...Uh!" She cried as she and Fang Po tripped over something. Viper was on top Fang Po. The wood sounding "CREAK" from Crane's mouth dropping could be heard. In fact, when he did that, Viper immediately looked over to where Crane and Tigress were standing out in the open. "Crane! This is not what it looks like." Crane just shook his head and with a flap of his wings, took to flight. Viper chased after him. This left Tigress and Fang Po standing there.

"What was all that about?" He asked. Tigress shrugged.

"I have no idea," Tigress said very calmly. Fang Po was nervous around her.

"So, you don't have any problems with it?" He asked the tigress. Tigress looked at him with a confused look.

"Why should I be? It was an honest accident, right?" Tigress replied shrugging it off.

"Yeah of course," Fang Po answered readily, "I didn't mean to trip her up. Especially landing in that position. Oh this is going to be very very bad!" Tigress came closer to the tiger.

"So, you can talk," Tigress said. Fang Po nodded. "So why did you kiss me when we first met?" Fang Po was in a hole now.

"Um...I have to go!" He said dashing off in a flash, before Tigress could mutter wait. Tigress chuckled a little.

"Great, now I have two men that aren't scared of me...sorta," Tigress said to herself.

"LENG! VINCE!" Viper shouted as she slammed the door to the Training Hall room open.

"Uh oh," Vince squeaked. Viper rushed towards him angrily swiping at him.

"WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU MAKE ME DO THAT! NOW CRANE HATES ME!" Viper screamed with tears in her eyes.

"Look, I saw the whole thing. I never intended for that to happen. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," Vince said holding her swinging hands in place. Viper cried on his shoulder. Then Fang Po came in. Viper lifted her head to look menacingly at the white tiger.

"What are YOU doing here?" she said with venom.

"Look, you two are responsible for this mess. And now we are in a deeper mess than you two anticipated," Fang Po grumbled. Viper's mouth dropped.

"You KNEW about this!" she screamed.

"No no, I was surprised that you were there. I didn't expect you to be out, honestly," Fang Po said defensively.

"Then why are you here?" She asked.

"That's for us. We know him," Vince explained. Suddenly, "OH BLOODHOUNDS NO!" Vince shouted out loud for no apparent reason. The three looked at him to see his eyes were wide and his hands covered his open mouth. "We're screwed up more than we think we are!"

"What do you mean?" Fang Po asked.

"You can never tell Tigress who you really are!" The three stood there in confused shock.

to be continued.

Trivia

1. Why does Po not want to tell the others that he's Fang Po? (according to Leng)

2. What happened to Fang Po and Viper that makes Crane extremely upset?

3. Why do you think Po could never tell Tigress he is Fang Po? (Opinion question)

answers to chapter 8

1. no

2. Food

3. Gaining harmony with it.