Within her grasp

Chapter 5: Motivation

"You can come in again!" Tigress shouted even as she was fiddling with the last button of her vest.

"About time!" Crane - after events of the past hour, Tigress didn't really feel like calling him Master Crane anymore - complained and pushed open the heavy door with his wing. "It feels like I've been waiting for months!"

She merely rolled her eyes. Bandaging her own shoulder had proven to be more complicated than she had anticipated, but she would never admit that to him. "So?"

"So what?" he asked back, pouring himself a cup of tea.

"The EXPLANATION!" Tigress snapped angrily and briefly considered to slap the cup out of his talons. Yeah, right, her common sense chimed in at the last moment, because it's such a smart idea to attack a Kung Fu Master right after being injured.

He thoughtfully took a sip and gave her a look. "You know," he finally started, "maybe you should try meditating without falling asleep for a change. It would do wonders for your inner peace."

Her claws sprang free before she could stop herself. "INNER PEACE?" she roared, gesturing wildly with her left and slightly less wildly with her right arm to avoid stressing her injured side. "You shot arrows at me! You got me injured in the obstacle course!" She hesitated for a moment. "And you didn't even open your stupid bag yet!"

The bird chuckled quietly and put the cup down again. "True, true, and true. However, all things considered, you did very well in every task!" He stopped laughing and gave her a more serious look. "Which brings me to the question at hand, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," Tigress replied quietly and narrowed her eyes a bit. Apparently, Master Shifu thinks that I'm really bad, compared to how much I trained so far. Crane on the other hand thinks that I'm pretty good, but then he conceded that both views may be right, so what's the deal?

"Well, the answer is very much based on your... somewhat unique situation here." Crane slowly approached her, seemingly oblivious to the way her tail twitched.

Why does he have to be so much like his fighting style? she asked herself and gritted her teeth. Can't he answer a question directly? And what is so unique about my situation, anyway?

"I think I'm right in the sense that your reflexes and your technique are practically at a level above that required for a Master."

Tigress beamed. "You think so?" She had to focus hard to avoid bouncing like a little girl. Praise! Genuine praise! Almost forgot how good that feels!

"However, I think that Master Shifu's evaluation is correct in the sense that the entire package is definitely not at Master level," Crane continued, causing Tigress to discard all thoughts of bouncing.

"...entire package?" she echoed and cocked her head. "If I got the reflexes and the technique down, what's left?" Ugh, I bet it'll be the meditating part.

"It's all up here," the bird simply replied, pointing at his head.

"You mean I need a silly hat, too?" Tigress asked, causing Crane to chuckle softly.

"While I think that you'd look lovely with a hat, I meant... how should I say it... the way you use your skills. Your attitude. Personality. Stuff like that."

There was a long pause. "...what's wrong with my personality?" Tigress finally asked.

He groaned. "Nothing is wrong with it. It's just... you're not making the most out of your talents. You've been going through the motions here in the obstacle course, timing yourself just for the sake of having some sort of incentive. But mastering your style requires more than simply being able to mimic the stances described on the Tiger Style Scroll and being able to perform a small set of movements in the shortest time. It's also about being able to deal with new situations quickly. Aerial combat is one such example where you would have to modify your fighting style a bit in order to survive. Another, far more trivial example would be going through the obstacle course the wrong way. But the moment I took away your memorized paths, you were struggling already. The only thing that saved your life were your superior reflexes, and I think this is why your Master gave you such a bad-."

"Hey now, hold on!" Tigress snapped and gave him a glare that cut off any protest. "I trained under Master Shifu practically every day for more than a decade! I have had more sparring sessions with him than you likely had with... with... anybody!"

"Yes, such practice sessions would normally help you to figure out new ways of applying your skills in a fight," he explained unnecessarily. "But tell me: How often did you beat him?"

She gave him a long stare. "What?"

"How often did you beat him? How often did you feel like it was actual sparring and not just him looking down on you?"

Her hands moved through the air on their own, describing vague circles. "Never, of course! I mean... hello? He's Master Shifu! He's almost a Grand Master!" He once made me hit the ground while studying his monthly reports, for crying out loud! And Crane asks me if I ever beat him?

Much to her surprise, Crane remained completely calm. "Exactly." After taking a brief look around, he motioned her towards the training dummy. "Here, we got this-"

"Adversary," Tigress filled in the name automatically, having accepted by now that Crane wouldn't give her straight answers. "We call it 'The Adversary'," she explained when he gave her a questioning look.

"Right, right." He gave it a light nudge, making the painted and inflated leather sack wobble back and forth. "So, we got this... Adversary. Okay?"

"...yeah, and?"

"Can you do a handstand on it?"

"Um." She frowned deeply. "This... isn't exactly what it's normally used for. You see, it-"

"Yes, yes, I know what it's used for." He sighed dramatically. "We had one of those at the Floating Temple, too. Even though ours didn't have a face... or ears..."

Tigress decided that this was not the time to mention that Master Shifu had decorated it for Tai Lung because she feared that bringing this up would only derail the conversation. "And you want me to do a handstand on its head?"

"I do, yes." When he noticed her suspicious glance, he stepped away from it. "No, I won't prod it while you're on it. And I also won't throw anything or do anything else like that. Just... do it, please."

She cocked her way this way and that, trying to imagine the way the dummy would sway once she jumped onto it. Then, finally, she placed her hands on its head and kicked herself off the ground. "Oh boy come on can do it don't don't don't yeah that's it nice and whoa now!" The Adversary swayed a lot more than she had imagined, but her feline agility, combined with her Kung Fu training, helped her keep her balance. After a few seconds, she had managed to reduce her own movements to a minimum and sighed happily. "There we go. Happy?"

"Yes, very nice indeed!" Crane - he looked absolutely ridiculous from her upside down point of view - gave her an encouraging smile. "And now switch to just one hand."

"...what?"

"Raise one hand and balance on the other one," Crane patiently clarified his instructions.

It's hard enough to balance like this, and now he wants me to use just one hand? This is ridiculous! She was about to tell him just that, but then reconsidered her plan. No. Ridiculous it might be, but it shouldn't be impossible. I think I can do it, so why not give it a try? If I quit now, he'll just think Master Shifu's low opinion of me is completely correct! This is about technique and reflexes! Things he just praised! After taking a deep breath, she started to shift her left hand to the edge of the dummy's head. Don't rush it. Easy now... Finally, she had reached the edge and slowly let her hand slip off the leathery surface.

The flaw in her plan hit her right before her body started to fall. CENTER OF GRAVITY, FOR CRYING OUT- Her reflexes kicked in automatically, extending her free arm towards the ground and using it to guide her into a quick roll. -LOUD! Dammit! "Gimme another try," she hissed instantly without even looking at Crane.

After two more tries, she actually managed to stay balanced for a few seconds before the dummy swayed out of control. "Almost got it," she muttered even as she placed her hands on its head again.

"No, it's fine."

Tigress froze. It only now hit her that he had watched her in silence so far. "But," she started, gesturing at the Adversary, "I can do this! I swear! It just takes some-"

"Don't worry, I know." He smiled gently. "But now I want you to try something else."

Totally could've done it. Just one or two more tries... She huffed and gave the training dummy a glare. "Fine, what now?"

"Use only one finger."

...come again? "One... finger?" The feline's eyes moved to the Adversary, then back to Crane. "You want me to balance? On its head? Using only one finger?"

"I do." The bird was looking awfully smug.

"Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight." She crossed her arms, waiting for him to laugh and tell her that this was just some obscure Floating Temple joke. When Crane simple gave her an expectant look, she shook her head. "That's impossible. Really. I can barely balance on one hand, and you expect me to just use one finger? That's not even worth trying!"

He bowed slightly. "Correct."

Not even Master Oogway could understand this crazy bird. "You mean you expected this?"

"I was hoping for it," he told her and gestured at the dummy. "You illustrated my point nicely!"

"There was a point?"

He hopped onto the Adversary's head. Tigress noted that he didn't do a handstand, only to remind herself that he didn't have hands to begin with. Besides, his hat would fall off if he tried to balance on his wings, she reasoned, then almost snickered when she realized how silly the thought had been.

"See, you were able to do a handstand with relative ease," he interrupted her thoughts. "That is where your Kung Fu training is right now." He then lifted one leg, stretching his large wings out for extra balance. "Balancing on one hand was a challenge for you. It was something you couldn't do right now-"

"But I would've been able to do it after a while," Tigress quickly added, even though she wasn't quite sure if she was protesting or merely completing his sentence.

"Exactly," he replied and waved his free foot. "This... is the level of a Master." Tigress opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it and instead just frowned. When he realized that she wasn't going to say anything, Crane flapped his wings once to hop off the Adversary.

"And the single finger?" Tigress finally asked. She had a good idea where this was going by now, but she wasn't quite sure what the bigger lesson would be.

"That would be Master Shifu's level." He shrugged. "Okay, actually, his level would be equal to, what, balancing on your whiskers or something, but I didn't want to make it too obvious or over the top."

"And the point I illustrated is...?"

He looked straight into her eyes. "That your perspective is off." When he saw her eyes turning into narrow slits, he sighed. "Let me put it this way: Next to Master Shifu, you will always look like a rookie student. Your chances of beating him are practically zero. So I think you stopped trying." Crane gave her a helpless shrug. "I deeply apologize if I'm wrong, of course. But you're the only student here, so you lack people to compare yourself to. All you see is Master Shifu and how you can never reach him. And why bother improving when the gap between you and him will always be nearly infinite? So you don't give it all you got and just go through the motions, to put it harshly."

This is nonsense! Tigress averted her eyes and started to pace. What does he know about my time here? Nothing, that's what! Training with Master Shifu got me where I'm now! But there was another thought nagging at her: Well, yeah, but where would I be if I had had some competition at my level? Would I have given more if- She shook her head. Stop it! You're already assuming that he is right about you not giving it all! And he's not! He's wrong! I gave it all I got! All the time! Right? ...right?

The self-delusion lasted for less than ten seconds. Yeah, right.

Deep down, she knew he was right. Or at least that he wasn't quite as wrong as she would have liked. The sparring match with him felt... different than those with Master Shifu. Did I really lose my drive over the years? Could it be this simple? She frowned. Some competition might have fueled my motivation, and maybe the rest would have fallen into place then...

She shook her head. No use worrying over what might have been. I've been Master Shifu's sole student, and I'm close to becoming a Master! All I need is... is... motivation: The knowledge that he is somebody I can defeat if I give my best... and maybe improve in one or two small fields. She turned to face him and smirked. "I think I understand now, Crane."

"You do?" he asked and cocked his head, clearly not having expected this sort of reaction.

"You're a Master, so once I manage to solidly drive you into the ground, I can ask Master Shifu about my title, right?" You see, bird, this is the way of the tiger: We see our goal, and then we move in for the kill. No long-winded wing-waving, no fancy pirouettes, no detours.

Crane chuckled quietly. "Not how I would have phrased it, but yes. I will try to pinpoint the areas which you should train a bit more, and through some light sparring, we will-" He blinked when he saw her shifting into her fighting stance. "What are you doing?"

"Sparring," Tigress told him and flashed him a smug grin.

"You're injured," he pointed out, barely managing to hide his amused expression.

"I'm motivated, Crane," she countered and flexed her muscles.

"Why did you stop calling me 'Master Crane'? Is it because of the arrows? Or still because of the bag?" He snickered quietly. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. Let your Master teach you some respect..."

My cockiness will be my undoing, Tigress realized when he assumed his own fighting stance. But I promise: No matter how often you smack me down, Crane, I will defeat you. "Let's do this..." she whispered and smirked.