The small white wolf slammed open the doors to the Training Hall, fallowed closely by the terrified Po. The Furious Five yelled loud kung fu noises as they practiced and Po stared about him in awe.
Tigress was using the powerful tiger technique to dodge the Swinging Claws while balancing firmly on the twirling wooden snakes beneath her. Crane leaped through the air, landing light as a crane on the Jade Torroise and using his forepaws and arms to defend himself from shooting arrows. Tigress gave a huge twirling leap to land on the Jade Tortoise with Crane and began to fight him with various skillful kung fu moves. Mantis used his small stature to bounces as nimbly and quickly as a praying mantis through the Gator Gauntlet. Viper twirled and danced as agile as a snake, sometimes turning on one paw or leaping into the air to avoid the Field of Flames. Monkey swung from a forepaw or hindpaw, managing to be accurate as a monkey and swing through the Seven Talon Rings. Focusing on Tigress once more, Po watching her amazing kung fu as she confidently avoided the Swinging Claws and swirled around to smash one with her furious power, sending splinters of wood flying and one iron studded chunk directly into Po's head.
"Ow! Ooh, ow," he yelped.
"Let's begin," Master Shifu ignored his pained cry.
"Wait wait wait, what?" Po looked at the now empty and very dangerous training course, "Now?"
"Yes, now. Unless you think the great Oogway was wrong and you are not the Dragon Warrior," he replied.
"Oh. Okay, well, I don't know if I can do all of those moves," Po whimpered, but Master Shifu only laughed.
"Well, if we don't try, we'll never know, will we?" he asked, limping along the wooden halls toward the Furious Five.
"Uh, yeah, it's just, maybe we can find something more suited to my level," Po stammered.
"And what level is that?" Master Shifu skeptically asked.
"Well, you know, I'm not a master, but, uh, let's just start at zero. Level zero," Po suggested, only for Master Shifu to laugh at him again.
"Oh no, there is no such thing as level zero," he replied.
"Hey, maybe I can start with that," Po pointed with a forepaw and loped off for it. He knew it was much too easy, but he couldn't train like the Furious Five.
"That? We use that for training children and for propping the door open when it's hot, but if you insist," Master Shifu growled.
Po stared with awe as the Furious Five approached them, and gasped, "Whoa. The Furious Five. You're so much bigger than your action figures, except for you Mantis. You're about the same."
"Go ahead wolf. Show us what you can do," Master Shifu motioned to the training dummy that Po wanted to practice on.
"Um, are they going to watch or should I just wait until they get back to work or something?" he nervously asked.
"Hit it," Master Shifu ordered.
"Okay, yeah, I mean, I just ate. Um, so I'm still digesting, so my kung fu might not be as good as later on," Po muttered.
"Just hit it," Master Shifu snapped.
"Alright. Whatcha got? You got nothing cause I got it right here. You picking on my friends? Get ready to feel the thunder," Po growled at the dummy, skipping around on his paws, "Come on with the crazy feet. Whatcha going to do about the crazy feet? Alright, come on, I'm a blur. I'm a blur. You never seen thunder style. You only seen praying mantis or monkey style or snikkety snake."
"Would you hit it?" Master Shifu roared angrily.
"Alright, alright," Po stopped his ranting and lightly tapped it with a forepaw.
"Why don't you try again, a little harder?" Master Shifu sarcastically asked him.
"How's that?" Po barked, slamming it as hard as he could, only to yelp in pain as it bounced back, knocked his tooth out, and knocked him into the training course. The Furious Five moved forwards to help him, but Master Shifu motioned for them to stay back and smiled.
Stumbling as fast as he could on the twirling snakes, Po yelped, "Oh. Oh that hurts," as he did the splits. One of the Swinging Claws smacked him right in the muzzle, causing him to go flying into the Jade Tortoise, where he rolled about.
"This will be easier than I thought," Master Shifu commented as the Furious Five watched Po with different expressions.
"Getting a little nauseous," Po said as he stumbled, yelping, through the Gator Gauntlet, getting hit everywhere, "Oh, those are hard. Ooh! My tenders. Ooh." Resting with a forepaw on one of the gators, he yelped as he was hit more and finally walked onto the Field of Flames. He was in more pain than he had ever been. "Uh oh," he muttered as he looked down and then began yowling in pain as The Furious Five winced to see him blasted by the fire jets, burning some of his fur and definitely causing him a lot of soreness. Finally crawling over to them, Po gasped, "How did I do?"
"There is now a level zero," Master Shifu replied, extinguishing a small flame on his head with a small forepaw.
Later, that night, as they went trekking back to their bedrooms, The Furious Five conversed.
"There's no words," Monkey sighed.
"No denying that," Crane replied.
"I don't know what Master Oogway was thinking. The poor guy's just going to get himself killed," Viper whimpered.
"He is so mighty. The Dragon Warrior fell out of the sky on a ball of fire," Crane mocked.
"When he walks, the very ground shakes," Mantis teased, much to the others' amusement.
"One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu," Tigress snarled, still furious that she had not been chosen and angry at the others for not taking this seriously.
"Yeah, or could at least touch his toes," Crane said.
"Or even see his toes," Monkey added, and the others laughed.
Po peered out from behind a rock and watched dismally as his idols made fun of him. Pulling up his round belly, he tried to peer at his toes, but lost his balance and fell with an, "Ow."
As the night past further, the Furious Five had all settled in their rooms and were blowing their candles out. It had been a long and stressful day.
"Okay," Po murmured, slowly and as quietly as he could, padding down the hall. Creaks and groans of the floorboards told him he was unsuccessful. "Great," he muttered. Finally, he yelped as his hindpaw burst though the floor. Giving up, he ran along the hall, accidentally bursting into Crane's room, who was curled up and trying to sleep. "Oh, hey. Hi, you're up," he awkwardly said.
"Am now," Crane replied.
"I was just, uh, some day, huh? That kung fu stuff is hard work right? Are your biceps sore?" Po asked.
"Um, I've had a long and rather disappointing day, so, uh, yeah, I should probably get to sleep now," Crane muttered.
"Yeah yeah yeah, of course," Po replied.
"Okay, thanks," Crane agreed.
"It's just, aw man, I'm such a big fan. You guys were totally amazing at the Battle of Weeping River, outnumbered a thousand to one, but you didn't stop, and then you just-" he began to punch and kick, accidentally ending up making a hole in the screen wall. He mentally cursed himself. "Ooh, sorry about that," he murmured.
"Uh, look, you don't belong here," Crane sighed.
"I know. I know. You're right. I don't have the-I just-my whole life I've dreamed of-" he started.
"No no no, I meant you don't belong here, I mean in this room. This is my room, property of Crane," Crane laughed.
"Oh. Okay. Right right. So, yeah, you want to get to sleep. I'm keeping you up. We've got big things tomorrow," Po awkwardly said, "Alright, you're awesome. Last thing I'm going to say. Okay bye-bye." Leaving, he shut the door. Crane sighed and Po immediately opened the door again, "What was that?"
"I didn't say anything," Crane replied.
"Okay. Alright. Good night. Sleep well," Po shut the door again and Crane thumped a forepaw to his head in exhasperation.
"Seemed a little bit awkward," Po sighed. Moving on, he gasped as the brindle she-wolf opened her door. "Master Tigress! Didn't mean to wake you. Just, uh-" he stammered.
"You don't belong here!" she snapped.
"Uh, yeah yeah, or course, this is your room," Po peered into it, looking at his idol's room. She was so beautiful…
"I mean, you don't belong in the Jade Palace. You're a disgrace to kung fu and if you have any respect for who we are and what we do, you will be gone by morning," she growled, slamming the door in his face.
"Big fan," Po called appeasingly, but she did not reply.
Giving up, he wandered and found his way to a secluded area where he could mourn. He hadn't meant to upset everyone.
"I see you have found the sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom," Master Oogway commented as he neared Po.
Po turned, yelping as he dropped his mouthload of peaches. "Is that what this is? I am so sorry. I thought this was just a regular peach tree," he mumbled.
"I understand. You eat when you are upset," Master Oogway said.
Upset? I'm not upset. What makes you think I'm upset?" Po guiltily asked.
"So why are you upset?" Master Oogway returned.
"I probably sucked more today than anyone in the history of kung fu. In the history of China. In the history of sucking," Po sighed.
"Probably," Master Oogway agreed.
"And the five. Man, you should have seen them. They totally hate me," Po wailed.
"Totally," the silver wolf affirmed.
"How's Shifu going to turn me into the Dragon Warrior? I mean, I'm not like the five. Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles," Po whimpered, sitting down in despair.
"Quit? Don't quit? Noodles? Don't noodles? You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There's a saying. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is gift. That is why it is called the present," Master Oogway wisely told him, padding away and using his staff to bump the tree. A single peach fell into Po's paw and he looked at it in amazement. Maybe he wasn't such a failure after all.