A Better World?
Chapter 11- Bruises that Won't Heal/ It Finally Happens.
The Present
"Tell me Po, what's to stop you becoming a brutal killer?, you've already killed Tai Lung and Shen, why wouldn't you escalate?"
Crane dodged a punch from an irritated Po, Crane retaliated by swiping at his face.
Po grabbed Crane's foot and threw him across the courtyard "You know that Shen brought that cannon down on himself, and what exactly were you and the Five going to do when you left to confront Tai Lung?".
Crane rolled over on his back and got up, "Ok he's got a point there".
Crane took a run up and leapt over Po, when Po looked up the sun got in his eyes which blinded him temporarily, however when he was looking up he saw a familiar figure on the roof.
While Po was rubbing the spots out of his eyes a plan quickly formed.
Crane took his opportunity and launched a kick at Po who was still rubbing the spots out of his eyes.
Po dodged the kick from Crane and countered with an uppercut which found it's mark, Po had kept his eyes closed the entire time.
Crane flew towards a wall and crashed into it leaving an indent.
"I still can't beat him even when he's younger" Crane thought as he laid on the ground.
Po opened his eyes finally and looked at Crane sadly.
"Stop this now Crane, I'm not the panda who's trying to kill you".
Crane got up and brushed the dust of of himself, "No you're not now but you will be".
Po tried to reason with him again, "Instead of fighting me why don't you just help me not become that, talk to me, tell me what I need to do to avoid becoming China's enemy".
Crane scowled at him "I doubt that I can change your destiny, the only thing I can do is try to stop it".
Po decided to think strategically "OK apparently this Crane doesn't have a moral center, does everyone become a jerk in the future?".
Po sighed "Will ending my life really make you feel better? Think about it Crane you'll just be as bad as the Po in your world, you don't have to fight like him to beat him".
Crane considered that for a moment, he shook his head "No I can't risk it, there's too much at stake for me to let you live".
Po could see by Crane's expression that he wasn't going to convince him, Po knew what he had to do, "I'm sorry everyone but I can't take the chance, I love you Tigress I'm just sorry that I never got the chance to tell you".
Po walked over to Crane, "Ok Crane, I refuse to fight you anymore, just kill me and get it over with".
He faced away from Crane and knelt on the ground.
Crane looked at him in shock for a minute before frowning determinedly, he walked over to the rack of weapons and grabbed a dagger off of it.
Crane stood directly behind Po and lifted the dagger up, "For what it's worth Po, I'm sorry".
Po nodded "I understand, just tell Tigress that I love her and that I'm sorry".
Crane remained silent but Po knew he would do as requested.
Crane took a deep breath and swung.
Suddenly a orange and black streak appeared out of nowhere and stopped the blade in it's path.
Tigress glared up at Cane with fire in her eyes, "Leave my panda alone", it wasn't yelled but the fury behind the words could be still be felt. She had blocked the blade in her palm, she suddenly whipped it out of Crane's wing and punched him in the face.
Po whipped his head round at Tigress's voice and stuck his tongue out at Crane for falling for his ruse.
"You didn't honestly think I was just gonna give up did you?" said Po , Tigress broke the dagger into halves and threw them across the courtyard.
"That was a close one" thought Po, "If she had been a second later then that would have been the end of little old me".
Crane shook his head in disbelief, "How?, you couldn't possibly have communicated this plan to one another".
Tigress look quizzically at Po, "Plan?" she asked.
Po blushed lightly "Well I knew you would save me if I let my guard down, it was the only way to get Crane to try and trust me, also I saw you watching us on the roof".
Tigress gasped at his recklessness, "Po you idiot" she hissed "I can't believe you would do something so stupid just to get this traitor to trust you".
Po sighed "Tigress he's scared of me, if we're going to help him then he needs to trust me".
Crane interjected "How did you know?" he asked Tigress.
Tigress glared at him "After what you said yesterday I was suspicious of you wanting to be alone with Po, I went with the others to the kitchen but I excused myself quickly and waited in hiding to see if you would try anything".
She looked at Po and snarled at him "And it was lucky I did".
Po tried to defend himself "Oh come on Tigress, I knew you would get here in time, after last night I know you'll never let me down".
Tigress found it hard to stay angry...but she managed it, she grabbed Crane by the wing and dragged him into Master Shifu while completely ignoring Po.
Po stood by himself in the courtyard before huffing guiltily and walking away.
xxxxx
Tigress threw Crane onto the floor of the training hall, Master Shifu saw her treatment of him and wandered over to investigate.
The rest of the five also saw this and stopped their training to see what had happened.
Shifu looked at Tigress with an eyebrow raised "What is the meaning of this?".
Tigress bowed "Forgive me Master but Crane attempted to assassinate Po".
The five gasped in shock, Shifu looked outraged.
Mantis jumped up the present Crane's shoulder "Wow...you turned into a jerk as well Crane, looks like I'm the only good guy here!" he said triumphantly.
Both Crane's and Viper rolled their eyes.
Tigress simply looked at Mantis "Shut up Mantis", he immediately shut up.
Shifu turned on Crane "If you want us to trust you then trying to kill the Dragon Warrior is not the way to go about it, we'll put you in the cells until we can figure out what to do with you".
Tigress grabbed Crane to put him in the cells but Shifu stopped her,"No Tigress, Monkey and Mantis can do it".
Tigress looked surprised which slowly turned into offense "I can handle him Master" she said irritated.
Shifu nodded "Of course you can, but I need to speak with you alone".
Tigress nodded hesitantly, Shifu turned to the five "Monkey and Mantis take him to the cells" he gestured towards Crane. Monkey and Mantis sauntered over and dragged Crane away to the cells.
"Crane and Viper, leave us".
As soon as Crane and Viper left Shifu looked at Tigress and sighed, "What is troubling you Tigress?".
Tigress tried not to give herself away "Nothing Master".
Shifu smirked "Now Tigress, we both know that isn't true".
Tigress cursed internally at her master's observational skills.
Tigress huffed "Po nearly died and the clumsy idiot would of been if I hadn't been there".
Shifu chuckled at Tigress's lousy attempt at covering up her emotions.
"Tigress are you in love with Po?" he asked suddenly.
Tigress blushed heavily and refused to look Shifu in the eye, "N-no Master of course not", it was a lame deflection and they both knew it.
Shifu smiled "Well then if you don't then why did you follow him and Crane, you know he can defend himself and you're quite clearly scared that he was going to die".
Tigress looked shocked "So being afraid of losing him means that I love him?".
Shifu shook his head "No, I believe you are more scared of him dying without him knowing about your feelings for him, tell me Tigress, do you intend on pursuing these feelings?".
Tigress had been rumbled so she decided to just be honest "Yes Master, I do love him, but I don't know if I should act on them, I..I'm scared that he would reject me".
Shifu raised an eyebrow "Tigress you know him better then anyone, do you really think he doesn't feel the same way".
Tigress didn't say anything, she just looked at the ground ashamed.
Shifu saw her apprehension "Tigress, you have my blessing, but it is your choice what to do with it".
Shifu left Tigress alone in the training hall with her thoughts.
xxxxx
Monkey and Mantis threw Crane into the cell, he landed on the floor with a groan.
Monkey shut the cell door.
"Welcome to the Jade Palace Inn, unfortunately we don't give the five-star treatment to dirt bags" said Monkey with a smirk.
Crane got up sharply and ran over to the door.
"Let me out you're making a big mistake, he's going to kill you all".
Mantis yelled back "Enjoy your stay".
Crane began to panic "No Wait!" he said while shaking the bars on the door.
Monkey and Mantis just ignored him and walked back to the barracks.
Crane sat down dejectedly "I'm a sitting duck here, I have to find a way out".
xxxxx
Po had walked up to the Sacred Peach Tree to meditate. He sat down underneath it and began to slow his breathing down.
"Tigress was right, that was a stupid risk, if she hadn't been there then I would've died, I would've left her and Dad all alone".
Po gasped in shock "I completely forgot about Dad, he doesn't know about any of this, maybe he shouldn't, it might be a bit much for him to know I'm a insane murderer in the future".
Po sighed, all of the weeks events, the date with Tigress and their growing relationship coupled with Future Crane's arrival and the news that his future self was on his way to kill all who stood in his way were finally starting to get to him.
He preferred it when he was fighting someone like Tai Lung or Ke-Pa, just when he had to fight evil without making any hard choices.
After a while he decided that he should go find Tigress and apologies to her about his recklessness.
He stood up, brushed the dirt off of himself, took a deep breath to calm his nerves and walked back to the barracks to find her.
xxxxx
Po walked into the barracks and went straight to his and the fives rooms.
He stood in front of Tigress's room and knocked twice, no answer.
"Tigress, hello?" he called out softly, still no answer, he pushed the door open slowly just in case she was actually in there.
Her room was deserted, Po closed the door on his way out and went to look in the kitchen.
When Po entered the kitchen he saw Crane and Viper deep in conversation, they looked like nothing else in the world mattered to them at that point, he smiled softly, Tigress clearly wasn't here so he decided to leave them in peace.
The last place to look was the Training Hall, Po could tell from the noise coming from the inside that this the place he should of looked in the first place.
He waited until the noise died down before approaching the entrance.
He pushed the door open hesitantly and peeked inside.
Tigress was sitting on the floor, surrounding her were splinters and chunks of wood which had come from the equipment that she had destroyed.
Po moved towards her slowly before realizing that startling her probably wasn't the best thing to do.
"Tigress, are you ok?" Po asked.
Tigress's ears perked up at the sound of his voice but apart from that she showed no recognition that she had heard him.
"I'm fine Po" she said unconvincingly.
"Really?" said Po, "Because I think that those dummies you destroyed would disagree".
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Look Tigress, I'm sorry, it was a stupid plan but we need Crane to trust me if we're going to win".
Tigress pushed Po off of her roughly and stood up with her back to him, "Po you moron, have you thought he might of told you that story just so he could get you to doubt yourself, how do you know that he's not the evil one?", Tigress turned round and started to scowl at Po but this didn't seem to bother him.
Po blinked at her before answering "No Tigress, I don't believe that, I see real fear in his eyes whenever he looks at me, and I don't think Master Shifu would miss a trick do you?".
Tigress ignored him "You could of died Po, and for such a pointless reason, have you thought of what would happen if you died?", she started to lose her anger slightly "Your dad would be heartbroken as would the rest of the five and Shifu".
Po started to feel really guilty, he noticed however she didn't mention herself.
"What about you?".
Tigress looked away "I already told you Po, I couldn't live without you".
Po gasped in realization at what she was implying.
"No Tigress, you can't mean that".
Tigress looked back at him into his eyes, "I also can't live without telling you something, something that I've wanted to tell you for a long time".
Po felt his chest tighten in anticipation and he held his breath.
"I Love you Po".