Po really liked the kitchen in the barracks; the ceiling was actually higher than his head, he didn't have to bend down to use the counters, and there were enough stores to fill even a panda's appetite. The fact that he was also cooking for the Furious Five nearly made him bust out his autograph cards again, but he was swiftly finding out that his favorite kung fu masters were just regular people, but kickass. They quarreled and teased and laughed like everybody else did, and – just like everybody else – they could be a little nosy.
"So, if you don't mind me asking…"
Po sighed quietly as he sliced a carrot into his soup pot. People always had to ask.
"What's your name?"
…Oh. He honestly had not expected that question. Po put down his knife and searched through a pocket.
My name is Po.
Nice to meet you
Viper chuckled. "And you," she said with a smile. Po nodded to her and returned the cards.
"Do you have all of those organized in a particular order?" asked Crane. "Because I have never seen you look at them when you're using them."
Po nodded, his paws too busy with the cooking to talk.
"So, about what you said to Shifu-"
Po clenched his eyes tight for a moment, his fingers tensing around the blade and bok choy.
"Were you injured in the attack? I mean, like, is it physical or psychological or-"
Somebody smacked Mantis before he could continue, by the sound of it, but enough had been said. Po half-turned and glared at the Master over his shoulder, brows drawn low and mouth in a firm grimace. Mantis shrank back a bit.
"Sorry."
The Five talked quietly amongst themselves when it became clear that Po could not cook and converse at the same time. He found himself, again, surprised at how normal they were. Whenever he imagined them, they were always readying for battle, striking fear into the hearts of their enemies. If they did something as plebeian as play cards or make tea, in his fantasies, they at least would do a cool pose first. Learning that they were pretty normal actually made them cooler; the fact that just normal people could do such incredible things was even more awesome than the near demi-gods his mind had always constructed them as.
Po served up the soup as they discussed what possibly could have been Oogway and Shifu's 'problem' – the thing that had driven Grandmaster Oogway to choose the Dragon Warrior in the first place, and the thing that Po would – supposedly – have to fix.
"Maybe Oogway's dying," said Mantis as he received his bowl. The others fell silent in surprise, though Tigress and Monkey glared at him angrily.
"What?" he said, casually crawling around his bowl until it was between him and Tigress. "I mean he's like a thousand years old, it's gotta happen sometime-"
"We're not talking about this," Tigress growled. She accepted her bowl from Po and raised a brow at it; Po smiled at her when she glanced at him.
Try our Secret Ingredient Soup!
"Oo, I think I've had this before," said Monkey, digging in eagerly. The rest of the Five followed his leave, making hearty exclamations of delight at the taste of the soup. Even Master Tigress was smiling a bit.
"This is really good," said Mantis. Po waved a paw at him.
My father is the chef at Golden Harvest Noodles
Try our Secret Ingredient Soup!
I don't know, I am sorry
"What, you mean you don't know the secret ingredient," Crane clarified. Po nodded and the others looked rather surprised.
"Regardless, this is amazing," said Viper.
"I promise, Po, nobody cares. I honestly wish my mouth was bigger," said Mantis, making Po grin and the others nod. Tigress didn't comment but he noticed that she was almost done with her bowl, and looked far more relaxed than she had at the beginning of the meal.
"So, what do we think is up with the whole Dragon Warrior thing?" Crane asked.
"A coupe at the Imperial Palace? Maybe a warlord?"
"We could take care of that ourselves," said Tigress, standing up and putting her empty bowl on the counter. The others watched her silently. "The holder of the title is as much a spiritual leader as a kung fu warrior. Whatever the problem is, it would have to be too big for us to solve alone."
Po felt eyes upon him and hastily drank down his soup. He picked a noodle off of his upper lip and gathered up the rest of the bowls, setting them in the basin to soak.
"Any ideas, Po," said Monkey, making him turn around in surprise. He shook his head, gesturing over to Tigress.
I don't know, I'm sorry.
It is an honor to meet you, Grandmaster Oogway.
"Yeah, what could possibly be so big that Master Oogway couldn't fix it," said Viper.
"Oogway has…passed," said a voice from the doorway, making them all turn in surprise. Master Shifu was standing at the entrance, ears downcast, shoulders slumped – and he was carrying Oogway's infamous peach staff. The impact of his words shook the panda, and he sank against the counter, a cold sorrow driving through him.
"Master…" said Tigress quietly, half-standing. "What-"
"-There is no time," Shifu interrupted. "Tai Lung has escaped from prison; he has a day's head start. You Five…"
Shifu paused, rolling the peach staff over in his hands. He seemed to reconsider his words.
"He…can only be stopped by the Dragon Warrior," he said, the words sounding as though they were unwillingly wrenched from him. Po felt a shiver at his words. He had to be kidding.
"Master, please," said Tigress, pushing back her chair and standing fully. "Let us stop Tai Lung; this is what you've trained us for."
"Oogway did not choose the Dragon Warrior in vain," said Shifu, half to himself. He shook his head and firmly planted the staff on the floor, not noticing as Po inched himself along the counter and out the door.
"It is not your destiny to defeat Tai Lung," he heard Shifu say, but he was too far down the corridor to hear the rest. His heart was hammering against his ribcage and his limbs felt shaky. They weren't actually expecting him to fight against Tai Lung, were they? They couldn't!
Po angrily shook his head, clearing brief bursts of fire from behind his eyes as he broke into a sprint, heading out of the barracks and toward the village. There was no way, no way in hell-
A blur shot by him and landed at the top of the staircase he was running for. He stopped short, nearly colliding with Master Shifu, who pointed that staff at him.
"You cannot leave."
Po lightly pushed the staff aside and tried to dodge around him, only to find himself twirled around and farther away from the staircase. He clawed his paws in the air, knowing that few of his cards would work for what he wanted to say.
I cannot do this.
Shifu angrily flicked at the card.
"You can, panda, because you are the Dragon Warrior!"
Po grimaced at him, shakily trying to write on a blank. Shifu poked him with the staff and he smacked it away.
"Enough with the cards, panda! You need to prepare-"
I can't fight Tai Lung!
I am not the Dragon Warrior!
"You are what Oogway chose you to be," Shifu said angrily. Po started to write again, only to find his card and pencil knocked out of his fingers. Po very nearly snapped at Shifu, but turned around and tried to walk away again. He was blocked, and the anger the simmered beneath his mellow temperament flared.
"I may have doubted you at first – "
Po rolled his eyes and gestured expansively. No, really?
"But now I ask you to trust in your master as I have come to trust in-"
Po sliced his paws through the air and angrily shook them at his belly, agitatedly pacing and turning in the spot. You are not my master, he gestured, knowing full well that Shifu only got more annoyed. How in the hells are you supposed to turn me in the Dragon Warrior? You're trying to say that you'll teach me, but you've been trying to get rid of me ever since I got here!
Shifu, although surprised at his sudden lashing out, seemed to understand the last part and he defensively clenched the staff in his hands.
"Yes, I was trying to get rid of you," he said, "That is irrelevant at this point. Focusing on your training is the most important-"
There is no training, Po gestured, cutting him off again. Oogway was wrong! I was wrong! I'm not the damn Dragon Warrior! This is not happening!
"Then why didn't you quit!"
Do you have ANY idea what it's like being ME, Po gestured wildly, making Shifu duck out of the way as his paws cut through the air. You have – you don't – to not only be the Valley's biggest, fattest freak, but a silent one as well? You have no idea what I've had to deal with all these years!
"Panda-"
I thought that if anybody could change me, if anybody could make me ANYTHING else, it was YOU! You're supposed to be the greatest kung fu teacher in all of China!
Shifu caught Po's arm with the staff, knocking to the side. Po ground his teeth and picked up his pencil and blank card.
"Desist with the useless gestures, panda, there is no time to deal with-with this right now! You – will you stop that!"
Shifu reached to swipe the card out of his paw but Po caught his wrist. He held it lightly but firmly as he continued to write with his other hand.
How are you supposed to turn ME into the Dragon Warrior?
Shifu wrenched his hand out of Po's grasp and Po shoved the card in front of his face. He knocked it aside, and Po showed it to him again. Shifu was silent for a moment and Po waved the card, tapping at a word with one claw.
How
Shifu clutched at Oogway's staff, his eyes searching as if the answer would be written in the air.
How
Po's fingers shook as he angrily tapped at the word, poking a small hole in the paper.
HOW
"I don't know, panda!" Shifu knocked the card from his fingers and they both watched as it fluttered softly to the ground. Shifu tapped the staff against the dirt, and sighed heavily.
"I…I don't know," he murmured. Po stared at him for a long moment, but he didn't meet his eyes, and Po stood, brushed off his knees, and walked again to the staircase. This time, nobody stopped him.
Tigress watched the furious one-sided battle with a sunken feeling in her gut. As the panda walked past Shifu and down the stairs, dragging his feet, a feeling of disappointment bloomed through her, hot and bitter. She had expected…something. Maybe the panda to stay, or reveal some hidden talent or knowledge; surely there had to be a reason behind Oogway's choice that they had missed?
But there wasn't, and Oogway – his reasons, his power, and his kindness – was lost to them.
The soft pads of her shoes grounded themselves on the tiles of the rooftop for a moment longer, and then she launched herself into the air, angled to descend in a controlled fall down the side of the mountain. With the panda unable to fight, and Oogway gone, her decision was made: she would have to stop Tai Lung.
Tigress's memories of the snow leopard were hazy at best. She remembered being nervous around someone so big and strong, much stronger than she had been at the time; she remembered a feeling of awe at his skills and strength. They had not interacted much; Tai Lung had been busy finishing with the Thousand Scrolls and she had been busy training and adjusting to her new life. They had only really seen each other at mealtimes, and rarely talked outside of polite pleasantries; what nineteen-year-old had time or interest for talking to a seven-year-old child anyways? In less than a week, Tai Lung had been imprisoned.
She knew of his power, his knowledge, and his talent – but he had been locked away, unable to move for twenty years. She had trained herself to her breaking limits and then farther; her strength and skills were unmatched across China, and she would pit them against Tai Lung, for better or for worse.
The addition of her teammates interrupted her thoughts, but bolstered her spirits, and as they sprinted across the rooftops of the village she felt more confident than ever of success against the Jade Palace's disgraced student.
Dawn bloomed hazy and red through the bared branches of the Sacred Peach Tree, filtering a warm greyish light onto the grounds of the Jade Palace, but Shifu barely noticed. He stood leaning on his Master's staff, as he had leaned on his Master's arm when he was a child and scared. His hip giving him too much trouble to sit down, he had stood stiffly in meditation and prayer all night:
Meditation because he still had no idea what to do about Tai Lung…and prayer because he had returned to the kitchen to find his students gone, only a brief note from Crane informing him of what they had done. Before he could stop it he wondered which of his students he had seen for the last time.
The Valley would have to be evacuated, he knew, but not yet. Given the distance from the prison to the Valley, it would be a while before Tai Lung and his students met, and he clutched at the hope that they would prove capable. Bandits – mercenaries – warlords – armies had fallen to the team…but they had never fought a foe like his son.
A sharp crash reached his twitching ear, breaking his thoughts. What was that panda up to?
He turned his attention to the rising sun, only to have it captured again by another sound, too faint to truly make out. Perhaps his students had returned?
The sounds turned to individual clatters and crashes as he tiredly navigated his way across the rocky grounds, letting his ears lead his exhausted body. He finally stood in front of the barracks, and sure enough, there was the crash of a breaking bowl. He really hoped that bandits had not been stupid enough to raid the place – he was too tired and heart-worn to deal with them right now. Nevertheless, he limped inside and down the hall, coming to stand at the open doorway of the storeroom.
The source of noise was, surprisingly, the panda – Shifu had thought that he had left. Instead, he watched as the bear waved his arms through the air – was that Tiger style?! – and smashed his fist through a cabinet door, tearing it out to shove a rice biscuit in his mouth. He chewed happily until he caught sight of Shifu standing in the doorway. Shifu ignored the panda in favor of examining the truly horrific level of damage.
Bandits would have been a kindness. There was debris and broken crockery everywhere: pots, jars, and boxes emptied of their contents and strewn about the floor; the high cabinet doors – how had he reached them? – had holes punched straight through them and their locks, and others were hanging by one hinge, if not torn off completely. Shifu looked to the side, to the doors of the storeroom – they were crooked in their frames, and the lock…the lock was broken, chain links wrenched apart and dangling. A hiccup brought his attention back to the panda, who straightened. He wiped the back of his paw against his mouth, brows drawing down in a defensive frown; wood splinters replaced crumbs on his cheeks.
Something lit inside Shifu's mind. The panda - the panda – had been doing kung fu. The panda had enough strength to wrench apart a chain. The panda had broken every lock in the storeroom without injuring himself.
Oogway…may actually have been on to something.
"Oh, no need to explain," Shifu said, raising a hand as the bear began to dig through his pockets.
"I just thought you might be Monkey; he hides his almond cookies on the top shelf."
He took his leave of the storeroom calmly before jamming himself against the wall, listening intently as surprisingly light footsteps crossed the kitchen, bowls crashed to the ground, and a ceramic jar rattled. He ducked back into the room to find the panda on the highest shelf, suspended between to supporting beams, legs splayed painlessly as he dug through a blue jar and ate the treats within. Shifu walked up to him with a glint in his eye and an idea in his head. Where had the panda learned such skills?
The panda glanced at him, kept chewing, and then froze, looking at him in sheer terror. His eyes flickered between Shifu and the jar of cookies, and he slowly pushed the jar out of sight behind him, shaking his head minutely. Shifu was still looking at how he was positioned.
"Look at you," he murmured, half to himself. The panda rolled his eyes and dug for another cookie, eating it with a grimace.
"How did you get up there?"
Another cookie disappeared as the bear shrugged. He looked from the jar to Shifu and shook his head, waving a cookie in the air before eating it.
"You do realize that you are ten feet off the ground," said Shifu incredulously, "And have done a perfect split?"
The panda looked down at his legs, frowning and shaking his head, but the beams beneath him began to creak, and his weight finally brought him crashing back to the ground amongst the debris. A cookie rolled away from his inert form and Shifu snatched it from the floor, tapping it gently with his fingers.
There are no accidents, he thought. He looked back to the panda who was watching him with wide eyes, wood chips and grains of rice covering him and one foot stuck in the cookie jar, a far cry from the limber…dare he say it...warrior that Shifu had just caught a glimpse of. Shifu waved at the panda with the treat.
We're going to need a bigger storeroom, he thought.
Po enjoyed hiking as much as anybody, but…well actually…to be completely honest, maybe he…
…Actually, no – he hated hiking. What was the point of all this pain?
He dragged and stumbled up the mountain, the humid summer prickling under his thick coat until he felt like he was going to melt, or drown. Drown in his own melting flesh?
He finally made it to the rock the red panda was sitting upon, and crashed. Drowning in his own melting flesh sounded decidedly accurate.
He fought the urge to just slide directly into the cold pool that sat amid fields of grass and the rocks that emerged from them, splashing the majority of his torso instead.
"Panda," said Shifu behind him. Po clenched his jaw and continued washing, making sure the cold water reached his skin.
"We do not wash our pits in the Pool of Sacred Tears," said Shifu chidingly.
Po froze.
The Pool of Sacred Tears.
The Pool made of tears that were sacred because a thousand years ago Oogway had seen the misery surrounding him and wept enough to fill the pool.
And Po.
Had.
Washed in it.
He delicately but urgently shook the tear-water off of his paw, glancing behind to Shifu as the small master stepped forward.
"This is where Oogway unraveled the secrets of harmony and focus," said Shifu quietly. "This is the birthplace of kung fu."
Po felt a jolt in his heart and he clutched at his chest, barely watching as Shifu launched himself atop a huge rock.
He was standing in the birthplace of the awesomest thing in the world! Kung fu had been developed right here!
"Do you want to learn kung fu?"
Po looked up, wincing at the light that shone from behind Shifu, and something swelled inside him. He had never been asked this question, had never discussed this subject with anyone before…
…And he nodded.
Shifu jumped down from the rock, landing in a crouch in front of Po. He looked the panda up and down and Po felt himself draw up instead of shrinking as usual; he refused to cower or slouch in the birthplace of kung fu.
Shifu seemed to measure him up, and to Po's surprise he caught a faint smile on the master's lips.
"Then let's get started," said he.
A/N: I tend to make Mantis my butt-monkey – but he's just so good at it.
I love the conversation they have in the kitchen, and changing this scene to fit the story was really difficult; I've been sitting on the first page, completely stuck, for months.
My cat graciously woke me up this morning by sneezing on my mouth.
Hoh boy – the confrontation scene between Shifu and Po took forever, let me tell you; that was a challenge to do. I wanted to have Po lose his temper, since it's really a one-sided fight because Shifu doesn't know his sign language and knocks away his cards; I wanted that to be a big deal. Like, that's the only way for Po to communicate with people and Shifu's shutting him down. It's so fun to make him be a monumental asshole. Reminder that he's harsher with Po this time because he gets more impatient with him, and probably also feels a little insulted that he not only has to train a big, fat panda, but a mute one as well. This is totally his fault and he'll come to realize that Po's a gigantic, silent badass. Po himself is a little testier mainly because he's had to put up with so much shit over the years. He holds back his emotions far more that canon!Po does, and this makes him more serious but also have more explosive bouts of temper when he does let loose.
My favorite part to write was Po catching Shifu's wrist when he tries to knock the pencil out of his hand again. I was like ooooohhhhh no you didn't! I loved writing that part.
Sorry that this took so long, but I've got a job now and foster kittens and had little inspiration for a long time, so my apologies to any and all who were looking forward to a sooner chapter.