Meet My Brother: Tai-gee

After about two months, the Furious Five, Shifu, and Po arrived at the Valley of Peace. Weary with their trip, the team climbed up the mountain and rested in their beds for a while. Master Shifu talked to the Masters of the Council and bid them farewell. Then trouble arose. Zeng came in flapping when the group was having lunch. "The village is being robbed by croc bandits," he said Po and the Furious Five moaned.

"WE JUST got back," Mantis exclaimed as they went out the door. They got down the mountain to see people running for their lives. The village was overrun by croc bandits.

"Take all the stuff boys," Li-Dong said.

"Li-dong," The gang growled.

"You were expecting the emperor?" Li-dong laughed. "Get them!" Po and the Furious Five battled them but there was too many of them.

"Gangway!" shouted a person on a fast moving cart. The cart bowled over the crocs. The mysterious person on the cart jumped off and started fighting along side. "You know, I'm really needing some leather clothes for my cousin," the person laughed as he punched one of the crocs. He was wearing a white cat mask with a black ninja suit on. Po smiled as he continued to fight. The Furious Five stood back in amazement as Po and this mysterious masked person fought side by side. After the lesser crocs were defeated, Li-Dong came charging at Po and the mystery person. Po smiled.

"Top down?" He asked. The masked man nodded. When Li-Dong came into range, the masked man jumped into the air and kicked Li-Dong in the face. When Li-Dong fell down, the man flung Po into the air and Po came crashing down on Li-Dong with a devastating blow. Li-Dong was defeated. Po and the masked man shook hands as the village cried,

"Hooray for the Dragon Warrior and Tai-gee." The Furious Five were stunned as the cheering calmed down. Tai-gee was giving Po a playful noogie. The two were laughing as the others came up to him.

"Oh, that reminds me," Po remembered, "Everyone this is Tai-gee, my brother." The Furious Five immediately surrounded Tai-gee asking and complementing him, and they were amazed by his moves. Po was left out, but he smiled as he saw his brother being accept well. Tai-gee looked back to see Po walking away. He reached out and grabbed Po by the arm.

"Oh-no you don't. You're coming with me. You're not going to play loner anymore," Tai-gee said smirking. Though the others had no clue what he was talking about, Po smiled at his attempt. As they walked up the mountain again. Po introduced Tai-gee to Shifu. Tai-Lung was nervous. What if Shifu somehow recognized him? Shifu scanned Tai-gee up and down.

"Well, he seems very capable. You can stay with us and train," Shifu offered. Po rolled his eyes. It was déjà vu all over again. He had seen the same thing done with Peng; being accepted so easily. Tai-gee chuckled nervously.

"Well...if Po will have me," Tai-gee said. Po smiled.

"Of course, you're my brother," Po said and the Furious Five surrounded Tai-gee again once more. Po started to walk away to the Peach Sapling. He sat there and started to meditate until...

"You've been doing a lot of meditation, panda," Said a voice. Po actually growled a little at the inconvenience. He looked around to see an orange cat standing behind him.

"Hey, Tigress. What's up?" Po asked trying to meditate again.

"Just wanting to know. You're not jealous of your brother or anything, right?" Tigress said cautiously.

"No," Po simply said, "I'm different from when Peng came."

"Oh, so you're not the least bit concerned about how easily he was accepted into the Jade Palace?" Tigress asked almost in a mocking voice.

"Actually, I'm glad that he was. I was worried that you guys wouldn't accept him," Po replied trying to get rid of her.

"So you're okay with it?" she asked. Po was getting tired of Tigress's persistence.

"Master Tigress, don't take this the wrong way, but is there a specific reason why you're here? I'm kind of trying to meditate," Po finally said. This made Tigress a little angry.

"Why? It's not like you ever focus on anything. Why do you need to focus?" Po was about to fire back when Tai-gee came up the mountain.

"Hey guys! How's it going?" He asked cheerfully.

"Nothing," both of them growled. Tai-gee could sense some tension.

"Anyways, I'll leave you two in peace," Tigress bowed and left. Tai-gee sat down by Po.

"So, are you okay?" Tai-Lung asked concerned. Po snapped.

"Why is it that everyone keeps asking me that?!" he yelled. Tai-Lung flinched back.

"I was just asking," Tai-Lung said defensively. Po calmed down.

"Sorry, I'm just under a lot of stress right now," Po sighed.

"Stress or anger?" his brother questioned. "Why are you this way?"

"Because of you," Po said accusingly.

"Me? Is it because of how the Masters accepted me because I-"

"Not that," Po interrupted, "It's the fact that you're trying to be attached to the people." Tai-Lung was confused.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"In your case, no. If people were to see you now, they would kick you out in a heartbeat. We just need more time for the people to see your heroic deeds."

"Maybe the people don't need to see how much of a hero I am. Maybe the people need to see how much of a change I've become," Tai-gee explained. Po yawned.

"Even so, we can not let your secret out. Not yet. Not until the Furious Five and Shifu trust you."

"And when will that be?" Tai-gee asked.

"Five years, at least," Po said regrettably. Tai-gee was speechless. "You have to remember the scar you left on this village."

"I guess you're right," Tai-gee said standing up, "Well, I have to go to bed while you go to Tigress."

"Why?"

"To apologize. Just because she was kind of mocking you doesn't give you the right to be mean," he said going down the mountain. Po swallowed his pride and managed to go to Tigress to ask forgiveness. It didn't make it any easier that she reluctantly accepted it. Viper saw this and addressed Tigress about it.

"Why are you like this?" she asked her after Po left.

"Like what?" Tigress asked back.

"Why are you so mean to Po? I thought that he was improving until now," Viper replied.

"He's just becoming more irritating, that's all," Tigress answered in a huff.

"Really? I thought since he was getting more and more distant that you would be happy," Viper said innocently. Tigress was a little confused.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Well, it just seemed that every time you and Po were in the same room, he would either humiliate himself or you would become angry at him. You guys can't occupy the same space with each other without something going wrong. So since he seemed to be withdrawing a little, I would think that he wouldn't be angering you," Viper confessed.

"You're making it sound like I'm the one at fault here," Tigress said defensively. Viper stared accusingly at Tigress.

"Tigress, Po is our teammate. He does some things that are a little silly, but you can't just dog him down. Just tell me the true reason why your upset." Tigress was silent for a moment.

"Well, I went up the mountain to see Po to make sure that what happened with Peng didn't happen again. But Po seemed irritated by my presence and persistence because he was trying to meditate."

"Why is it so bad for him to meditate?"

"Because Po's PO! Why would he ever meditate willingly?" Viper finally caught on to something.

"Oh, I get it," she said fully understanding, "You're angry because Po's changing." Tigress was about to protest but said nothing. She was right. Tigress didn't like things suddenly changing on her, especially people close to her. But Viper was right, she had no right to harass Po like that. She laughed a little. Usually, Po would harass her. Now it was the other way around. Tigress went out the room to ask for Po's forgiveness which he gladly gave. Of course, Viper and Tigress didn't know that Tai-gee was listening.