A/N:And here's the first battle! I know, this is pretty short, most of these will probably be. But either way, I hope you'll like this. :) Also, I'm adding some small segments with some development for each character - something that happens before the final rounds. :D

Eagle restlessly walked back and forth in her room. She was trying to decide what to do with herself – her patience was wearing thin! She didn't have all day! The tournament… Everything she had trained for… It was today! She couldn't just sit still and wait! She had-…

Suddenly it knocked on her door. Eagle quickly turned around and hurried towards her door. She was hoping for Junjie telling her that the tournament was about to begin. But it wasn't.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Eagle asked surprised. The older eagle stepped inside. As usual, he was wearing just about the most expensive-looking outfit that anyone could wear, according to Eagle. Eagle had never been too fond of that kind of stuff though.

"What do you think I'm here for?" he asked, smiling. "I'm here to see my daughter take part in the tournament."

"But… I thought you wouldn't show up at all," Eagle said surprised. True, her father hadn't showed up before to see her, but now he had… Of course Eagle hadn't expected his arrival.

"What? I may be busy, but of course I'd see my daughter take part in the finals," her father said. "I could only see you one day, so I chose today as it seems the most important."

Eagle truly was surprised. Not so much by his choice, but again, because he even showed up.

"Thanks," Eagle said, truly grateful for her father showing up. Eagle knew that her father was always busy due to being a rich salesman. He owned a lot of stuff and he was mostly known for selling old artifacts to people on the black market. But yet, he had taken the time to come and see her. "It really means a lot."

"I know." The older eagle then sent her a somewhat sad, yet still happy smile. "I know your mother would have been proud of you."

"Yeah…" Eagle stopped herself for a moment. "I wish she could have been here."

The two avians fell quiet for a moment. It was strange to Eagle to be having a tender moment like this… But just as long as none of her team members knew, she could still keep up her personal façade.

"I'll be seeing you in the arena," her father said with a smile, about to leave. "Well, not actually, but… You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do… See you, dad," Eagle said.

The entire arena remained quiet as the first two names were picked from the two bowls. Po almost yelled for Master Chao to hurry up as the reptilian's hand worked slowly on picking names, stirring around in the bowls.

Finally Master Chao picked two names. For a moment he looked at them. He then turned to the contestants in the arena. "The first battle is: Master Tigress versus Master Eagle!"

The crowd started cheering and after sending Tigress a quick smile, Po and the other contestants walked over to their usual benches. Just as he sat down, Po looked up to see the torches that counted the two teams' points, but was surprised to find that they weren't lit.

"Hey, Master Shifu, why aren't the torches lit?" Po asked.

"Simple," Junjie said from the other bench. "Both teams were equal, so the Council decided to reset the score… But I guess they didn't tell you, did they, Shifu?"

"And they told you, Junjie?" Shifu asked, his voice full of doubt. "Who did you have to eavesdrop on to get that information?"

Po carefully looked from Master to Master. Sitting in between the two, Po wished that he was the size of Mantis or at least sat elsewhere, so that he could be free of their crossfire of words. But fortunately the two decided to let their arguing wait.

Looking towards the center of the arena, Po watched Tigress and Eagle prepare themselves. Po was already trying to decide who would most likely win. Of course, Eagle could fly, was fairly strong and, from what Po had seen, pretty skilled with Kung Fu.

But then again, she was up against Tigress; Tigress was very strong, very quick and all around awesome when it came to Kung Fu! Po decided that he had gotten a conclusion to his inner conversation; Tigress would win – that was how it would have to be!

Finally the gong rang and the two women started circling around one another. The two continued for a little while and as soon as Po started cheering for Tigress, she made the first strike.

Tigress' first punch was dodged by Eagle, who jumped backwards. Eagle then counterattacked with a kick, which Tigress blocked with her wrist. Tigress then forced Eagle's leg away and countered with a jumping spin kick, which Eagle blocked with her wing.

Next Eagle moved under Tigress' leg and slashed towards Tigress with her wing. Tigress swiftly turned around, blocked the attack and hit Eagle with both her palms. This knocked Eagle slightly backwards and the crowd cheered for Tigress.

"That's how you do it!" Monkey cheered on the bench.

"Yeah; way to go, Tigress!" Mantis cheered.

Tigress took a half step backwards and blocked an incoming punch from Eagle, then countered with a kick, which Eagle then bowed to dodge. Next up Eagle pulled a little back, then jumped towards Tigress with a kick.

Dodging Eagle's talons, Tigress did a roll on the ground, then quickly got up, just in time to block another kick. Eagle had stayed in the air and had easily redirected her kick, but the avian was surprised to see that Tigress still managed to block her attack.

As Po knew just how strong and fierce Tigress was when fighting, he had to give Eagle props for making such a formidable foe for Tigress – it looked like the two could fight forever with no conclusion!

Eagle jumped up, did a backflip and on the way down, once she faced Tigress again, she did a cross chop with her wings, which Tigress just barely dodged. Po knew that Tigress didn't fight with her full strength, considering that the rules were against 'Brute use of force'… But that was just how Tigress fought, Po thought.

"I wish that rule about using force wasn't in effect," Po told his teammates as they watched the two women fight.

"Yeah, if it was, Tigress would easily win this one," Crane agreed. Everyone agreed and even Shifu said that he wished that the rule wasn't in effect. But as Po thought about it, he realized that the Selected Six's powerhouse, Gorilla, would pose a large threat to him and the Five. So maybe it was a good thing.

Tigress jumped forwards with a roar and a punch, which Eagle blocked with a cross formation with her wings, then forced Tigress forwards and at the same time tried to throw the feline on to the ground.

In return, Tigress turned around and delivered a punch to Eagle's chest, knocking the avian a bit backwards. Next Tigress sent a rain of quick punches towards Eagle, but the avian managed to block most of them, although a few did hit her successfully. But Eagle did manage to hit Tigress a few times as well.

Next Tigress jumped up and hit Eagle with a kick. Tigress then followed up with a few punches, which Eagle did manage to block. Before she knew it, Tigress' feet were swept away by Eagle, doing a spin.

Tigress almost fell, but managed to do a backflip and land back on her feet again, taking on a battle stance, causing the crowd to cheer loudly.

"Show-off," Po heard Lynx chuckle from the other bench, although there was a teasing tone to it. Looking back on the arena, Po watched Eagle suddenly take off, fly high into air.

From Tigress' perspective, Eagle became hard to see as the sun was almost right above the avian. Tigress narrowed her eyes, having a hard time looking up towards the sun without getting blinded from the immense light.

Suddenly, like a lightning strike of feathers, Eagle descended at full speed. Being blinded by the sun, Tigress almost couldn't see her until she was mere inches from being hit.

Tigress took one step backwards, turned around in a circle and in one swift motion hit Eagle with a powerful round house kick, adding a fierce roar. Once Eagle landed, she was surprised to find herself outside the ring that the two had been fighting in. She had lost.

"And the winner is Master Tigress of the Furious Five!" master Chao announced, getting a loud roar of cheers from the crowd. Meanwhile Eagle grumbled something that was impossible to hear and brushed some dust off her clothes.

Eagle got up and she and Tigress walked towards the benches side by side. Tigress was smiling faintly and panting, something unusual. When Po noticed this, he guessed that it was because she had been somewhat nervous and the tension had finally let up.

"Way to go, Tigress!" Viper cheered once she sat back down.

"Yeah, that was so awesome!" Po agreed.

"Really, this must have been one of your finest battles!" Mantis said. All of their cheering really did make Tigress happy on the inside and she almost had to force herself not to smile – otherwise it'd just look… silly, according to her… But she did give off a faint smile.

"Good job, Tigress," Shifu said, a faint smile on his face as well. Satisfied with her own performance, Tigress sat down next to Shifu.

Suddenly the entire arena fell quiet as Master Chao was about to pick the contestants for the next match. The entire arena fell quiet, just like they had before the previous match – just as if they were afraid they wouldn't hear whatever Master Chao would say.

As Eagle got up, her sharp eyes quickly found her father in the crowd. Eagle was of course afraid that he'd be disappointed with her loss, but he just smiled at her. It surprised her a bit, but she eventually smiled back, realizing that he was still proud of her.

Besides, there were more rounds to come, so hopefully Eagle would get to have another go. But Eagle was still happy as long as she knew her father wasn't disappointed.

Knowing just how famous her father was among his peers and the hopes he had for her, Eagle was still surprised that he didn't mind her failure; he just sent her a reassuring smile.