Chapter 3: The Notebook

By EDT

Disclaimer:

Kung Fu Panda and its characters are owned by Dreamworks SKG. The following material is intended to entertain free of charge and without profit.

Chapter 3: The Journal

Nighttime fell and the skies of the Wandering Realm were colored a rich dark amethyst. Tigress, Po, Lin, and Suon were all gathered around the campfire. Tigress had a blanket wrapped around her and since the battle with Master Salamander she developed a cold. In response to her sneezing and running nose, Po decided to cook some noodle soup to help relieve Tigress's ailment.

Master Tigress sneezed again.

The little fawn, named Lin, looked very concern at the feline master and scooted close to her. "Are you alright, Master Tigress?"

"I'm fine, little one. It's only a slight cold," Tigress said, her voice was warm, and she smiled.

Tigress saw Lin looking over to Suon sitting across the campfire. The young fawn flickered her large ears nervously and slid closer to Tigress.

"He gives me the creeps," Lin said of the black bear.

"It's ok, I won't let him hurt you."

"Nor do I have the intention," Suon said in a dour tone of voice.

Lin only stuck her tongue at the black bear in response.

"What's your role in all of this?" Po asked Suon as he scooped a serving of noodles into several small bowls.

"I'm merely a guide on your journey."

"So what are you a master of, anyways?" The panda asked as he handed the Black bear a serving of noodle soup.

"I'm the master of servants in the Onyx Palace. I am also the gatekeeper of this realm. As appointed by the Jade Emperor himself to keep mortal travelers from getting lost."

"Does that mean you're supposed to be a neutral party?"

"In theory," Suon said.

Tigress noticed a perplexed look on Po's face after hearing the black bear's rather cryptic answer. "I wouldn't even bother trying to figure him out," she said to the Dragon Warrior.

"Yeah," Po said.

Tigress noticed that Suon was sniffing his bowl rather curiously and seemed hesitant to eat the soup.

"You don't like noodle soup?" Po asked.

"No it's not that," Suon said. "It's just that I haven't had any food from the mortal realm in ages."

"Well then, now's a good a time as any to try some of my family's famous noodle soup."

Tigress and Po watched as the black bear sipped from the broth rather gingerly. The expression on Suon looked as though he was immensely savoring the flavors of the noodle soup. A nice change from his perpetually glum look.

"Well?" Po asked. "Do you like it?"

Suon smacked his mouth as if the motion would prolong the flavors on his taste buds and looked at PO with a hint of approval in his eyes. "Good."

"You're just bursting with joy," Po said of Suon and sighed. The panda handed a different bowl of noodles over to Tigress along with a pair of chopsticks.

She sniffed the aroma of the broth and immediately felt warm and smiled softly. "It smells good."

"I did my best," Po said. "Now don't hesitate to ask for seconds. I didn't bring any dew from any gingko leaves so you're just going to have to put up with some wholesome noodle soup."

After battling in the cold waters against Master Salamander, she wasn't inclined to argue with the panda. With chopstick in paw, she wrapped the noodles around the utensils and started slurping up the noodles. Gracefully, of course.

"This is what I needed," she said. "Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me," he said. "It's the least I can do, since I can't fight alongside you. I'll do my best to help you through this mess any way I can."

After devouring all the noodles, Tigress grabbed a small blanket from Po's wooden back pack and wrapped it around young Lin. "So tell me about your family, Lin," she said.

Lin looked rather sad and wrapped the blanket around herself tight. "I-I dont have a family."

Tigress froze and found herself at a loss for words. "I...I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"It's alright. I lost my family during the great floods of the Yellow River. It took me a couple of years to get over that loss but living at the Bao Gu Orphanage has helped me tremendously."

"Really? That's very interesting because I used to live there."

"No way!" Lin said excitedly and gazed into Tigress with those big brown eyes. "You were an orphan too?"

Tigress nodded.

"How did you end up at the orphanage?"

For a moment, Tigress wasn't sure how to answer because she herself wasn't sure. "I...don't remember, to be quite honest,"she said. "I was very young. Now...it really doesn't matter, you know?"

"That's right! You're a great kung fu master now! I wanna be strong like you!"

Tigress chuckled at the youngster's remark. "It's time for you to get some sleep," she said as she patted the deer on the head.

The fawn settled into a sleeping position but she still looked as though she needed to say something before turning in for the night. "Master Tigress?"

"Yes, Lin?"

"Promise me you will rescue the other two orphans, ok? They're the closest thing I have for a family."

"I promise," she said with determination in her voice. "I'm not going to leave a child behind."

After Tigress tucked the fawn away. She looked over to Suon's part of the campfire and saw that he was already on his side fast asleep. Slightly out of her view, Po was on his belly doing something behind the campfire, she crept in closer to investigate what he was doing. When she went around the fire, she sneezed again which alerted Po her close proximity. She saw a small journal in front of the Panda and he was writing into it.

"What are you doing Po?" Tigress asked.

"Oh I'm just writing all that I've seen today in this journal."

"How come?"

"I remembered Master Shifu saying that Oogway didn't remember anything from his journey here. So I figured I should write our account on paper. Just in case we forget when we return home, we can read about it."

"I'm impressed," Tigress said. "Seems so simple, I don't know why I didn't think of that."

"Because you were too worried about more important things," Po said.

Tigress only smiled at his remark.

"Besides, I can't be a good witness if I don't write any of this stuff down."

"Try to tone down some of the extreme adjectives, ok?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know," Tigress said. "Words like totally awesome, or bodacity, or extreme righteousness. I don't want this account to be all bravado, ok?"

Po chuckled almost in a wry manner. "No gaurantees, Master Tigress. You fight. I write. Besides, it couldn't be helped if this journal ends up being one of the premier documents of kung fu history. We will let our readers decide if it deserves to be among the great echelons of folk history!"

Tigress lifted an eyebrow and grinned at him. "Right," she said and laid down. Her back faced away from Po. "Good night, Po."

"Good night, Tigress," he said.

"Po?"

"Yeah?"

Inside her blanket, Tigress tucked her legs against her chest and felt slightly hesitant. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too."

Their was a long silence between her and Po.

"Rest up and sweet dreams," Po finally said to her.

To Be Continued...

I hope you enjoyed that peaceful chapter! Please leave C and C!