Chapter 4

Morning broke over the valley of peace. Po was awoken by a bird singing on an above branch. Opening his eyes slowly, he began to remember his and Tigress's little altercation the night before. Sighing deeply, he got ready for whatever she was about to do to him. Flipping over, he said, "Tigress, are you awa...." he didn't complete the sentence, because Tigress was no longer there.

Getting up, he looked around for her, but she was long gone. "Where could she have....aw man, she didn't." He heard a roar in the distance coming from the palace. "She did."

At the palace....

Tigress was way over her head when she decided to go on without Po. The dragon had her on the run once again as she couldn't find one single weapon that was effective against it. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, so she accidentally ran into a dead end. Having nowhere to go, she prepared herself mentally for her imminent fate. The dragon reared its powerful head back and prepared to strike, until, "Hey, scaly!" The dragon turned to see Po standing behind it with the best hero pose he could do.

"Nobody messes with my friend, so get ready to feel the THUNDA!" He charged at the dragon, fist pulled back, and with one powerful swing, he slammed it into the dragons leg. Bad idea.

"YEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!" Po screamed as he held his hand and kissed it in a desperate attempt to relieve the pain.

"Did you really think that was going to work?" Tigress asked rhetorically. "No, but hey, I tried." He argued as the dragon focused its attention on him. Po quickly dodged the wall of flame then created by the powerful creature. Only, after doing so, he was trapped against a wall by the beast, who pulled its four clawed hand back to finish off its prey. Only when it brought it down, Po was already gone. HMMM? The dragon wondered as it looked around for its would be meal.

Po and Tigress materialized in front of the door from where the whole thing started. Catching their breaths, they looked each other in the eyes, trying to fight back the awkwardness of the moment. Before either of them could say anything, Tigress heard the dragon coming and pulled Po into the treasure room before it could see them.

"Whew, for a second there, I thought we were goners." Po stated in relief as he looked at his savior. She was still catching her breath, but he could tell even then that she was still feeling bad about the night before. Po decided that if ever there was a time for them to talk, being hunted by a thirty foot tall dragon was it.

"Tigress, about last night.....I'm sorry....I didn't mean to make you-"

"What.....dishonor myself.....reveal my weaker side.....of course you didn't. You never MEAN to do anything, you just do." She turned her back to him and put her hand on the wall to hold herself up. After a few seconds of silence, Po spoke out. "Listen Tigress....I know how you feel....thinking that your father isn't proud of you."

"Shifu is not my father Po."

"No...not in blood....but in spirit he is. And if there's anyone out there who knows what your feeling right now, it's me." Po took a seat next to where Tigress was standing and continued his story. "When I was a little kid, I first started liking Kung Fu when I wasn't even old enough to talk. My dad thinks my first words were 'Noodle soup' when in reality they were 'Kung Fu', those were just the words he heard. He was so proud of his noodle loving son that he started teaching me to cook just a few days after that. He always believed I was destined to take over the family business, but I never really wanted to, while at the same time, I didn't want to disappoint him by saying otherwise. When I was chosen by Master Oogway to be the Dragon Warrior, and those chair carrier guys were taking me up to the palace, I looked back to the front doors of the arena and saw my dad, lowering his head and walking back towards the stairs to his noodle shop. I felt so terrible on the way up to the palace that at one point I wanted to jump off the chair and run back down to my dad. The only thing that stopped me was that I was sorta...stuck in the chair. On the day that Tai Lung attacked, I found my dad at his noodle shop, packing up his supplies onto a cart. While we were walking out of the city, I told my dad that I didn't think that noodles were my destiny. Then my dad told me that the secret ingredient in his secret ingredient soup was....nothing. After that, it helped me figure out that the Dragon Scroll wasn't the secret to limitless power....I was. After I defeated Tai Lung, my dad finally said the words I had wanted him to say all along, I'm proud of you son! All because I believed in myself, something you haven't been doing. So even though it may look like Shifu isn't proud of you...he really is." Tigress looked at her reflection in the puddle of tears she had shed during Po's story. Upon looking, she finally understood what Po had been saying. If she wanted Shifu to be proud of her, and maybe even love her, all she had to do was believe in herself.

She raised her head up to look at Po, walked over to him, and hugged him. "Thank you Po.....and I'm sorry for the way I treated you. Please forgive me." Trying her best to hold back more tears, Po simply looked at her and said, "Ah, no worries, I'm just glad we're friends now." The moment was broken by the sound of loud banging and roaring sounds coming from the door. The dragon had found them!

"Because I don't think we're gonna live much longer." Po said as the door began to crack and splinter due to the strength being exerted on it. Tigress looked at the door, then at Po, then around the room for anything that would even remotely useful. They backed up in the process and bumped into what appeared to be a whole wall of scrolls. Tigress then had an idea.

"Quick Po, look through these scrolls for anything about that box you saw!" Po nodded his head and began sorting through all the scrolls for anything about dragons or jeweled boxes with her. While searching, they could hear the door getting weaker and weaker by the minute, all the time marveling at the integrity of the door for it to last this long. Just as it seemed that they were done for.... "EUREKA! I found it!" Po yelled as he opened the scroll and skimmed through it. The box was called the Crystal Box of Draconus, and was created in the Ming Dynasty by mage whose village was repeatedly being terrorized by a fierce dragon. He mustered all the chi and magic that he could and one day managed to transform the powerful beast into a lizard and trap it in an enchanted jeweled box, which would keep it from reverting back into a dragon. Upon reading further, Po found the spell he used to transform the dragon into a lizard, but realized one very important detail....he didn't know magic.

"Okay I found the way to change it back into a lizard, but ...."

"But what?"

"You wouldn't happen to know magic would you?"

"No."

"Then we are totally and completely screwed." He said as the door finally gave way and revealed the cause of their problems. Thinking fast, Tigress picked up the very shield she found the lizard under the day before and threw it at the dragons mouth, temporarily keeping its mouth open and distracting it. They seized the opportunity and ran underneath the dragons legs into the hallway.

"What are we gonna do now. Neither of us know magic and even if we did, the dude who did this originally had to save up chi and magic for days in order to do it." Po stated pessimistically while running for the front hall. Tigress pondered the question and had an idea.

"We may not know magic, but that doesn't mean we can't try. If we get him into the front hall, we will have enough room to do the spell."

"But what about all the power we need to do it."

"We'll do it together. Out combined chi will give us enough power to do it." Po still looked skeptical.

"Po, you just told me that I should believe in myself, and right now I believe we can do this." Tigress gave Po what he hadn't seen her do in a long time...a smile. He smiled back and they headed for the front hall.

They entered the hall and stopped halfway through and turned to face the dragon. At this point, Po thought of one question they had somehow overlooked.

"How are we gonna get it to stand still?" Tigress had to admit she hadn't thought of that. She then looked around and saw the giant, golden sculpture of a dragon in which the Dragon Scroll used to preside.

"I have an idea, but I'll need a distraction."

"One distraction, comin' up!" Po yelled as he drew the dragons attention away from Tigress to allow her to work. The amazing thing about Po was that he was incredibly nimble when it came to avoiding being eaten. Tigress jumped her way up to the sculpture and one by one, kicked and punched the main moorings out. After leaving a few moorings left to keep the sculpture up for a little bit longer, it was ready to go.

"PO, lure it under the sculpture!" Po happily obliged and ran under the golden dragon and, timing it just right, jumped out of the way, leaving the dragon under the sculpture.

"NOW!!!" Po screamed as Tigress destroyed the last of the moorings, allowing the sculpture to fall onto the dragon, pinning it down.

Tigress jumped down next to Po, who had already opened the scroll to reveal the spell. Channeling their Chi together, they started to chant the ancient spell in perfect unison. After what seemed like an eternity, the dragon began to glow along with Po and Tigress. Finishing the spell, the two warriors braced themselves for whatever may happen. The room was filled with the light from the glowing dragon, which lasted for about a minute. The light finally subsided, and they opened their eyes to reveal both the box and the dragon-turned lizard. Reacting quickly, Po picked up the box, Tigress picked up the lizard, and they both placed it into the box. After closing the box, the four clawed lock swiftly latched back into place with a loud thwack. The hall fell silent....it was finally over.

"WE DID IT!" They yelled in universal joy as they hugged each other. After about a minute, they broke the hug and walked back to the treasure room, placing the box back on the shelf.

Surveying the damage, they were amazed that the dragon hadn't completely destroyed everything. Tigress broke the silence in the front hall. "Po....thank you for believing in me...like I should have done a long time ago."

"No problem. So.....does that mean we're cool now?"

"Of course." They then shook hands and, once again, engaged in a friendly hug. The moment was broken however by an unexpected 'Ahem' from behind them. They turned to see a messenger duck.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I have a message from Shifu."

"Oh, OK what is it?" Po asked.

"Ahem, 'Dear Po and Tigress, how are you? I hope you two are getting along and our trip has been shortened a day due to a faster than expected peace treaty. So we should be there a few hours after this messenger duck arrives. Signed, Shifu.'"

"Well isn't that nice of him, checking up on us."

"Yes, that quite considerate of...." They both realized at the same time.

"A FEW HOURS!" Looking around again, they saw how much damage there was left to repair.

"Yep, so if I were you, I'd try to tidy up a little before he gets back." Both Po and Tigress turned to stare menacingly at the duck, who decided that now was the time to leave.

"I'll....be going now." he turned and fled out what used to be the palace door. Realizing they were doomed, they sat against the wall.

Po suggested, "Well.....maybe he won't notice the damage."

A few hours later.....

He noticed. They had never seen Shifu this angry since the day Mantis accidentally kicked over his sapling peach tree during meditation. He screamed so many obscenities that everyone cringed upon hearing them.

"PO, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WERE SO IRRESPONSIBLE! I ASK YOU TO DO ONE SIMPLE THING, NOT TO BREAK ANYTHING, SO WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU BREAK EVERYTHING!!!" Po hanged his head in shame while Tigress simply looked on.

"I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU SUCH A LONG PUNISHMENT, FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL REFER TO IT AS THE 'PO PUNISHMENT'!" Tigress couldn't stand it anymore, so she stepped forward.

"Master, don't blame Po. It was my fault." Everyone was shocked at her statement, especially Po.

"It was my cruel treatment of Po that made him try to find someway to find acceptance with me. If anyone should be punished....it should be me, not Po." Shifu considered this for a few seconds and made a decision.

"Very well. You will both be punished. You shall both not only repair the palace completely, but you shall also give it a fresh coat of paint afterward. Is that understood?" Tigress and Po stood together and bowed. "Yes Master!"

While the others rushed to their rooms to assess the damage, Po and Tigress walked toward the supply shed to begin repairing the damage.

"Tigress, may I speak to you for a moment?" Shifu asked, catching her off guard. She turned to stand in front of him with Po looking on. "Not you Po, just Tigress." Po then exited the room, heading for the shed.

"Tigress, why did you admit to your part in this catastrophe? I thought you didn't like Po."

"I didn't Master, it was that hatred that led to this. You see, the reason why I felt that way was because....I felt that he was stealing you from me." Shifu raised an eyebrow.

"Stealing me?"

"Yes. Every day since you brought me here from the orphanage, I have been trying my hardest to make you feel proud. But every time I tried, you would simply turn me away. When the tournament came, I felt that I finally had my chance to make you proud, but-"

"Then Po came along." Shifu finished, starting to understand what she was saying.

"Yes. I felt like I had lost my chance. Then when Tai Lung escaped, I thought that if I managed to defeat him, you would finally be proud of me. When I didn't and Po did, I began to feel like I had lost your pride and in a way......your love." Shifu closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Well Tigress, for your recent change of heart and quick thinking in this time of crisis, along with all your years of hard training and work.....I can honestly say.....I have never been prouder of you." This statement forced Tigress to raise her head to look at Shifu straight in the eyes. Unable to contain herself, she lunged forward and hugged him like she had never hugged anyone before. "Thank you Master......thank you."

"You are welcome." Little did they know that outside of the hall stood Po, along with the rest of the Furious Five. All of whom were either shedding at least a single tear or all out balling.

"You can come out now." Shifu declared. Po and the others then stepped into the hall, obviously embarrassed about being caught. Releasing Shifu from their hug, she switched back to her usual intimidating persona.

"If any of you go around the Valley telling everyone about me going soft, I will tie you to wall and kick you through it. Understand?"

"Crystal!" They all shouted in unison. Crane, Mantis, Viper, and Monkey exited the hall followed soon after by Shifu who had to survey to rest of the damage. This left only Tigress and Po alone in the front hall. "See? I told you he was proud of you." Po pointed out.

"Yes you did. Thank you."

"No problem. Well, I guess we'd better get to fixing the place, huh?"

"I suppose."

"I'm just that none of the Kung Fu relics were damaged during the fight, or we'd be in even bigger trouble."

"Indeed." They walked together toward the shed while they talked, but were suddenly stopped by Shifu's distant yell of, "What happened to the Sacred Shield of Warriors!! TIGRESS.....POOOOO!"

They looked at each other for a second.

"HE DID IT!"

"SHE DID IT!"

Done! Phew, this is the first multi-chapter story I've actually completed. Hope you liked it. R&R.