A/N: Hello everyone! It is I, Le Kung Fu Dude, bringing you yet another chapter! Thanks for all of the support and the reviews I've gotten this far - it really motivates me to continue! So I've decided that I will do my best to update this story at least once a week; or maybe four or five times a month. I do have some other fanfiction projects, but I will keep them and start uploading as we near the end of this story, so that I can continue with the weekly updates. Again, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this far; you guys are awesome!
"The rules are simple!" Master Chao explained. "The one to fall off loses; you may only stand on one foot. The team with the most victories out of three wins… Begin!"
The gong rang and Monkey took a quick breath of excitement as his first match began. The rules of the tournament were that each Master would have to pick a respective Master, whom he believed had the skill to win the match. And for the balance match, Master Shifu had picked none other than Monkey.
And who was Monkey up against? He was literally up against Jinshu. Literally because they were standing high on a pole this very moment – a tall and somewhat thin pole.
Watching from the sidelines, Junjie smiled. He was certain that his grandson had what was needed to win – he had trained him as his prime student after all. At least until he had had to leave him by that Kung Fu Academy. But from what Junjie had seen, they had trained him well.
Jinshu and monkey both lifted their right legs, so that the legs they preferred for fighting were free to use.
Monkey was the one to make the first move, striking a punch towards Jinshu. The silver fox blocked it with his left fist, pushing it aside, trying to make Monkey lose his balance. But the primate did not fall of the pole with the help of his hand-like feet.
Soon Monkey landed several strikes against Jinshu; both with his hands, but also his feet.
Finally Jinshu also smashed a punch against Monkey's chest, almost causing him to fall off. A faint, white light of chi energy emitted from the silver fox's hand.
Monkey was greatly surprised by the force of the attack as the crowd around them cheered.
Junjie on the other hand was only pleased. It seemed that Jinshu could be the ultimate weapon, which would grant his team the victory… although there was one other potential candidate out of the Six.
Returning his attention to the battle, Junjie smiled as he saw his grandson smash punch after punch against Monkey.
Shifu on the other hand wasn't too fond of how it looked. Maybe he had chosen the wrong student for the task… Crane was the one who specified in balance after all.
Po mentally agreed, even though he was still cheering for his friend. After all, Monkey's hand-like feet seemed to prove useful for holding onto the pole.
Monkey blocked yet another punch, countering with one towards Jinshu. It successfully hit the silver fox, almost causing him to fall off the pole.
"Yeah, that's how you do it!" Po cheered for his friend as the fight continued.
"Don't think so, panda!" Eagle said with a cocky snicker. She had her arms crossed and a very confident look in her eyes – just like the rest of her team, actually.
And just as she said that, Monkey punched towards Jinshu again, but the silver fox blocked it with his right shin, surprising everyone; this far the two had only used their fists fir fighting – using one's feet was somewhat more risky as that required more balance.
Jinshu sent a sneaky grin to Monkey, then swept his fist away with his right leg, then kicked him repeatedly in the side of his torso.
From the looks of it, Po could tell that Jinshu kicked with an incredible force.
Kick after kick smashed against Monkey for about ten seconds… but it was about two kicks per second!
Shifu and Junjie were equally astonished – Shifu had never had a student who could perform such a display of strength, accuracy and speed at the same time… and neither had Junjie!
"What the…?" Po's jaw almost dropped.
"I've never seen such technique, Master," Tigress said and turned to Shifu.
"Don't look at me – I haven't either!" Shifu told his student. He then turned towards Junjie. "Where has he learned that?"
"Who knows?" Junjie asked with a shrug and a satisfied chuckle. "My boy is full of surprises, isn't he?"
"Monkey!" Po cried, making Shifu return his attention towards the arena again. Just as Shifu looked back again, Monkey hit the ground hard. For a moment he didn't move. Some of the otters that worked at the palace hurried over to help Monkey to his feet as Master Chao got up.
"The first round goes to Jinshu of the Selected Six!" he announced, which got a wide mix of opinions from the crowd – but the majority was cheering for Jinshu. Just as this happened, a torch by one of the arena's ends was lit, symbolizing that one match had been won by the Selected Six.
With a faint smile after seeing his grandfather's satisfied smile, Jinshu made a graceful jump off of the pole, landing elegantly beside Monkey.
With a smile of superiority Jinshu made his way past Monkey, whom he sent a short smile of victory.
"Monkey! Are you okay?" Viper asked her friend once the primate was back on the bench with the others.
"Yes, of course," Monkey said, though he hadn't been able to walk properly over to the bench, while Jinshu had seemingly strutting over to the bench. "I just need a break."
"Warriors, round two is about to begin! Choose your participants!" Master Chao announced.
Po and his friends all fell silent and looked to Shifu. The red panda seemed to be in deep thoughts for a moment, trying to decide who would fight. Shifu knew that he couldn't afford to make the same mistake twice.
"I won't make the same mistake," Shifu muttered to himself. He snapped his fingers and said, "Crane, you're up."
"Yes, Master Shifu," the bird replied and flew towards the pole in the middle of the arena. As he did, the crowd started cheering for him, filling him with refreshed hope for a chance of victory.
Back on the bench, Junjie was still trying to make up his mind. He knew that he wouldn't be allowed to make Jinshu fight twice, even despite how much he wanted to. He then turned to a very different member – third in command. "Lynx, you will take care of this round."
"Of course, Master," the small feline said in an upbeat tone of voice and jumped off the bench and ran towards the pole, which he was supposed to stand on. And once he got to it, he realized just how tall it was.
Scratching his head, the lynx tried to figure out how to climb it. He quickly decided to extend his claws and used them to elegantly climb up – more or less.
"Alright, that was easy," Lynx said, once he had gotten to the top.
"Contestants ready?" Master Chao asked. "Begin!"
As soon as the gong rang, the two warriors lifted their right legs, balancing on the left.
"Come on, Crane; you can do it!" Mantis cheered, which was surprisingly loud in contrast to his body size. And soon the rest of his teammates joined in as well.
Crane smiled to himself as he heard his friends cheering for him. He did notice the somewhat odd fact that none of Lynx's teammates were cheering for him though. But Crane had figured that he and his friends had a much closer relationship than the Selected Six had – that probably explained the lack of team spirit.
Lynx was the first to attack, using a very direct punching technique. Crane fluidly blocked it with both of his wings. Still holding Lynx's hand in a tight grip between his wings, Crane kicked him in the chest with his free foot.
Lynx almost fell off of the pole because of this unexpected technique. But the little feline used his left foot to spin around himself in a perfect circle, resulting in him almost hitting Crane in the head.
Crane just barely managed to block with his one wing and even struggled, trying to regain his balance afterwards. Lynx took advantage of this and jumped off the pole, kicking towards Crane midair.
But Crane amazingly managed to dodge; still standing on the pole, he brought his body into a horizontal angle, amazingly still balancing. Lynx wasn't as lucky; the feline had used too much force and literally flew over Crane.
"And the second round goes to Crane of the Furious Five!" Just as Master Chao announced this, Crane managed to catch Lynx with his right foot, still managing to keep himself in the horizontal position.
"Hey, let go," Lynx growled.
"But…"
"I'm a lynx, I'll be fine," Lynx said annoyed.
"Cats like me, we always land on our…" Crane didn't reply, but simply obeyed. Coincidentally Lynx landed flat on his stomach instead of on his feet. "… feet…"
"Pathetic," Jinshu said and crossed his arms as the torch in the opposite end of the arena was lit, representing Po and the Furious Five's victory.
Po was surprised to hear this; he would never say such a thing about his own teammate! Po was unable to understand how they could call themselves a team when they acted so coldly towards each other.
"And now we will move on to the final round!" Master Chao announced, causing the crowd to cheer very loud. "This far it is a tie between the Furious Five and the Selected Six – we will find our winners in this following round!"
"Uh! Shifu, let me go!" Po suddenly said. He had been observing the matches and it actually looked kind of fun.
"You? Panda, I'm afraid that you don't have the… capacities to do this." Shifu's face changed into a very dull one, just about the same he had had back when he talked to Po for the first time ever.
"Aww, come on, Master Shifu! Please, I promise I will win!" Po pleaded. With a very heavy sigh, Shifu finally gave in. "Yes! Don't worry, Master, I won't disappoint you!"
"Is it me, or is Shifu getting soft?" Monkey whispered to Viper, but Shifu seemingly heard this, responding by clearing his throat in a stern manner. Monkey quickly stopped what he was about to say and suddenly got a whole lot more interested in the match.
"Phew, that was easy!" It was after quite a bit of trouble that Po finally got onto the pole. He did a few quick punches into the air to get warm. Once the crowd saw that the Dragon Warrior himself would finally take part, they went completely crazy, cheering incredibly loud.
Po smiled and waved around, but his smile faded a little when he saw who he was up against: Gorilla.
The huge primate made his way to the top of the pole by climbing, using both his hands and hand-like feet. Soon Gorilla stood on his pole and Po was surprised as how quick the large primate seemed to gain balance.
"Contestants ready?" Master Chao asked. "Begin!"
As soon as the gong rang, Po and Gorilla lifted their right legs. Gorilla seemed to have an easier time balancing than Po had, and the panda was already afraid that he had made a mistake by entering.
Gorilla punched towards Po, but Po blocked using his own hand, but soon the primate used his left fist as well to send a devastating punch towards Po.
This punch hit Po in the chest. The sheer force of the impact alone surprised Po greatly and Gorilla nearly managed to get Po to fall off.
"Whew, that was close," Po said once he had regained his balance and went to attack Gorilla with a punching attack.
"Not close enough unfortunately," Gorilla said. But if I have calculated everything right, I should still be able to get you to fall."
"You calculate stuff like that?" Po asked confused blocking another punch.
"I calculate…" Gorilla then blocked a kick from Po. "… everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything," Gorilla replied. "Now shut up and let me annihilate you!"
Gorilla pushed Po's foot away, then hit his chest with a powerful punch, almost causing him to fall off. This time, Gorilla took a quick look at the way that Po was trying to regain balance. He figured that this was the chance.
Gorilla then jumped towards Po with his hand-like feet first, formed into two fists.
Luckily, due to his trying to balance, Po managed to (Unintentionally) avoid getting hit by Gorilla's attack. The entire crowd held their breath as they watched Gorilla fly past Po.
Suddenly it was as if everything went in slow motion; Gorilla flew past Po, but somehow managed to do some sideways flips in the air, also hitting Po's shoulder in the process.
Now it caused Po to lose his balance for real. Now he also fell towards the ground beneath.
"Interesting," Junjie chuckled to himself, though not many shared his opinion.
"Master, technically we just lost," Cobra informed his Master. "Gorilla was the first to lose his…"
"Doesn't play a role," Stag interrupted his teammate. "It comes down to who hits the ground first."
"Duh, does not!" Cobra hissed and soon he and Stag had a somewhat noisy argument.
Meanwhile, Po's friends were all watching.
"Come on!" Mantis said as he watched his friend fall. "All that fat's got to help him!"
"Mantis, fat only floats, it does not levitate," Viper said.
"Still, maybe it could help him," Mantis muttered.
Finally one of them hit the ground – Gorilla; Po followed short after. They both landed on their backs and maybe it was just her imagination, but Tigress was sure that she could feel it in the ground.
"And the winner is the Po, the Dragon Warrior!" Master Chao announced, causing the crowd to cheer louder than they had earlier that day.
Shifu smiled with satisfaction, then looked over at Junjie, who looked rather devastated. Sending his rival a little smile, Shifu said, "Quite interesting in fact, Junjie."
Po made his way over to his friends as the second torch in Po and his friends' end of the arena was lit.
"Po, you did it!" Crane said excitedly.
"Good job, my friend," Monkey said and patted Po on the shoulder, seemingly still a little numb from the battle he had lost to Jinshu.
"Congratulations, Panda," Shifu told his student. "I knew you could do it… although I did have my doubts."
"Hehe, thanks, Shifu!" Po said as the crowd kept cheering. Some fireworks was also being fired into the air, but due to the remaining bit of sunlight, it was a little hard to see. Po was very surprised that the tournament was already over though.
"We congratulate the winners of the first day of the tournament – the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five!" Master Zihao cheered out loud, sharing the joy with the crowd. "What an outstanding final match!"
With a smile, Ai Long jumped off of the tribune and down into the arena, much surprising, given her age. She walked over to Po and his friends. "You did so well, everyone! Congratulations!"
"Thank you, Ai Long," Shifu replied. "I am also very proud of my students."
"Of course, who would not be?" she asked. "Now, go prepare yourselves; there will be a party tonight!"