A/N: And here we are! Finally starting the tournament! There will be a lot of diffenret matches and so, but if you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a review. :) Enjoy the chapter! :D
"Come on, Po – we're going to be late!" Mantis called through the door.
"Just a second!" Po called. All he was really doing was just looking at himself in the mirror in his room. Po didn't want to sound selfish or anything, but he really liked how he looked.
The panda had received a mighty fine outfit, but very different from the one he had worn at the dinner yesterday. Po's tournament outfit was a pair of jade green silk pants with a golden trim. It was very similar to his usual attire, but the quality was much higher.
"Po!" Tigress called.
"Right, I'm done now!" Po called and exited his room. The room wasn't much to talk about – there wasn't other furniture than a bed and an end table.
When Po exited he was met by his friends, all wearing new battle outfits. Their outfits were all formal silk versions of their normal outfits in the same colors as Po's… much to his surprise.
"Wow, we all match!" Po said.
"Yeah, but we also did last evening," Crane said, not sharing the same amusement as Po as the six walked down the hall of the palace. The entire palace had a busy and somewhat stressed aura to it that day; all the otter palace workers were all running around, preparing all sorts of things.
"Guys, they've already started," Tigress said once the six exited the front door of the palace. Tigress was referring to the loud drums that played from the nearby arena.
"Don't worry, Tigress," Po said confidently. "They cannot start without us!"
Making their way down the magnificent staircase, with golden phoenix statues on each side, Po and his friends headed directly for the Arena of the Sacred Flame.
Even from afar, it looked different from the little arena they had at Jade Palace. This one was way, way, bigger, surrounded by tall walls.
"Alright, Shifu said that we had to use the Warrior Gate on the left," Mantis said, pointing towards the left. The six warriors hurried to the gate, stopping to listen to what was happening on the other side.
Just as Po pressed his ear against the gate, he heard a familiar voice say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Arena of the Sacred Flame for the second Tournament of the Rising Phoenix! This is a big day! May the contestants do their best and may the best win!"
Master Chao took a break as the crowd started cheering. After a moment, he continued, "The jury will determine the winners and we will be playing by the standard tournament rules!"
As the crowd went wild again, Po turned to his friends. "Guys, I don't know any tournament rules!"
Monkey and Tigress slapped their foreheads and Crane's lower part of his beak dropped.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Tigress asked annoyed.
"I didn't want to sound stupid!"
"But now you're going to look stupid!" Monkey said.
"And now, we will welcome our contestants!" As soon as these words had left Master Chao's mouth, the gate was opened. Po's heart immediately started beating faster. He hadn't given it much thought, but now it was finally happening!
Po and his friends entered and then it struck him briefly; he couldn't do this! All those people! What if he messed up? He would embarrass Shifu and his friends…
No wait: he had been through worse situations where he had not messed up!
Yeah, of course we can do this, Po thought as he entered. Suddenly he noticed a familiar face on the front row. He immediately recognized the gray feathers and the bushy eyebrows as well as the warm smile.
"Dad?" Po whispered to himself. What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to-…? No, wait, it had all been a build-up for this surprise! Of course!
"Come one, son – you can do it!" Mr. Ping cheered.
Po smiled at his dad for a moment, then continued towards the tribune, which was designated for the Sacred Onyx Council.
Po and his friends walked up to the Selected Six and formed a long line of warriors, facing the Council. Po stood next to Jinshu, who seemed to completely ignore the crowd and everything around him – almost as if none of it mattered to him.
"Grandmasters, introduce the contestants!" Master Chao said. Suddenly Shifu and Junjie entered the field. It seemed a little untraditional, as far as Po knew. The two Grandmasters bowed for the Council quickly. Then Junjie started.
"Honored Onyx Council, allow me to introduce: Cobra! Stag! Gorilla! Lynx! Eagle! And Jinshu – the Selected Six!"
The crowd started cheering. Obviously it seemed that the Selected Six were favorites. It did put Po's mood down for a short while. But then Shifu stepped forwards.
"Honored Council and spectators; I bring you Mantis! Viper! Crane! Monkey! Tigress! And Po – the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior!"
At this, the crowd went completely insane. It was as if each spectator was an entire tribune! Po forgot what he had thought earlier and realized that he and his friends were the favorites of this tournament; at least this far.
"Very well then!" Master Chao had to shout in order to be audible over the large crowd. "The Sacred Onyx Council wishes all warriors the best of luck! Let the tournament… begin!"
The very moment Master Chao said this, fireworks were fired into the sky, making confetti rain over the crowds and the spectators went wild again.
I could get used to this, Po thought to himself with a smile. This wasn't so bad after all!
"The first discipline is Teamwork!" an old-looking otter said, looking at a scroll. He wore some black robes with crimson trims, and he somewhat appeared familiar to Po.
"Teamwork?" Jinshu muttered confused.
"The task: Successfully perform a team-required technique!" the otter shouted. "Masters of the Jade Palace are first!"
"Students," Shifu said determinedly and turned towards his students as the Selected Six and Junjie went to sit on some benches in front of the Council's spectator seats, facing Shifu and the others.
"You already know what to do," Shifu said strictly. "The Pyramid of Fortitude."
"But we haven't practiced that for like ever!" Po protested, but quickly faced that there weren't many options – they didn't know many team-based techniques despite how long they had been together.
"We can still do it," Tigress said confidently and calmly. "Just no pirouettes, Po."
"Hey, that was only one time!" Po said with a slight chuckle. The six warriors walked to the middle of the arena, preparing themselves to perform the move.
Standing on a line with their arms behind their backs, the six faced the Council as well as their Master and the competitive team.
"What move will you perform?" Master Chao asked.
"We will show you the Pyramid of Fortitude," Po replied. Master Chao looked a little surprised, but he looked very little amused, due to the classic move.
"So shall it be," the otter next to Chao said. "Begin!"
Po and the Furious Five quickly bowed to the Council, then Tigress, Monkey and Crane formed a line. One after one, they all jumped to the side; Tigress to the left and Monkey to the right.
After a short series of poses, with a cheering crowd in the background, Tigress and Monkey held onto each other's hands, forming the bottom of the Pyramid. Landing elegantly on one foot with his wings above his head, Crane formed the next segment. Soon Viper and Mantis joined as well on top of Crane's hat.
Now it was Po's turn. He took a quick deep breath, then jumped forwards, landing on his hands, then using the strength in his arms to push himself off the ground with several flips in the air. He amazingly managed to land on top of Mantis' claws, completing the Pyramid of Fortitude.
Watching from the sidelines, Shifu was proud and satisfied with the result of his students' perfect performance of the move. Junjie on the other hand wasn't very amused – and neither were his students.
"How retro of them," Eagle commented.
"Yeah, that move is on crutches!" "It's funny because it's true," Cobra and Stag agreed.
Master Chao looked to the side at the otter and at Ai Long. The three talked for a while and meanwhile Po turned to his friends.
"Look guys, it went perfect!" he said happily.
"You better save the celebration for a little while," Crane said, sounding somewhat anxious.
"What, why?"
"Because it's time for the points to be given now," Tigress replied, putting her arms behind her back.
"Points?" Po muttered. Now he felt the nervousness returned. What if they didn't like it?! Or what if they had actually accidentally messed up during their performance?!
"Well, quite a remarkable level of perfection," Master Chao finally said, resulting in a cheer from the crowd. "Do you have anything to add, Master Zihao?"
The otter beside Master Chao seemed to think about it for a moment. "Not much… other than the fact that it is quite a classic… but it is still very enjoyable to see it being used at this day and age."
The crowd cheered for a while, and suddenly Master Chao surprised Po and his friends; "And now the Selected Six will perform their move."
"Wait, weren't we supposed to get points now?" Po asked confused as the crowd started cheering.
"I guess so," Crane replied.
"You don't know?"
"None of us know, Po," Monkey replied.
"We only watched the previous tournament and even then, the rules were different," Viper explained with a nod.
"Hmm…" It all appeared strange to Po… but he was sure Master Chao and the rest of the Council had it all under control. So he and his friends just walked over to the bench to watch the opposing team.
"Highly honored Council," Jinshu started, hands on his back. "My teammates and I will be performing the Double-Trinity Devine."
"I've never heard of that technique before," Po pointed out, scratching the back of his head.
"Quite exciting, isn't it, panda?" Junjie asked with a snicker from his seat above the six benched warriors.
"I guess…"
"Very well," Master Chao said. "Begin!"
Forming a line with Jinshu in the middle, the Selected Six bowed for the Onyx Council.
Jinshu struck a battle pose then switched to another one, which he kept up as Eagle and Lynx on each of his sides also struck various poses. Finally the three jumped high into the air with a very slow backflip.
From Po's perspective it didn't look like they would be able to make the backflips. Po then looked down and saw Cobra, Stag and Gorilla strike various poses as well.
Looking up again, Po saw that, amazingly enough, Jinshu and the others did manage the backflips. They then landed in between the others, facing the opposite direction.
As the crowd cheered, the Selected Six started running. Jinshu, Eagle and Lynx ran in one direction, Gorilla, Stag and Cobra in another. After a few meters, they all jumped. They almost seemed to fly backwards against one another!
While the Six were in the air, they suddenly made backflips with half-spins as well, so that they were flying towards each other with their feet first. Finally meeting, hitting each other's feet with a kick, they all finally landed after doing a backflip.
The crowd went wild at this, Po and the Furious Five's (Even Tigress') jaw dropped and Shifu's ears got into a very awkward position. How had that move been possible?! It must have taken years of training! Even so, how were the Six able to coordinate without looking at each other at all – they barely did!
"Quite impressive," Master Chao said with a smile, clapping along with the crowd. "Not a move we see very often."
"Indeed," Master Zihao said, sounding very amused. "And a rather original pick, if you ask me."
"But the Pyramid of Fortitude is a classic," Master Ai Long tried to say, but the other council members seemed to ignore her. She just sighed and decided that it wasn't worth it to try and convince them.
"I'd say that this round goes to Junjie and the Selected Six," Master Chao announced, causing uproar amongst the crowd – both applauses and cheers, but also complaints (Especially from Mr. Ping's seat).
"Wait, they just judge everything like that?" Po asked confused, not really seeing any structural critique.
"They take a lot of things into account," Shifu replied calmly as the Selected Six walked over to sit down by their Master. "So it's only fair."
Po thought that it sounded like Shifu was already giving up… But hey; they still had more disciplines to compete in, right?
"Honored guests and contestants!" Master Chao started. "We will now move onto the next discipline: Balance!"