A Teaching Moment

"So you want me to teach him some defense moves?" Po asked Tigress. The tiger nodded. "Awesome! Wait why?" He asked her suspiciously.

"Well, I can't let Lillia train him," Tigress said looking accusingly at the lamb.

"I don't know why." She said all too innocently, "I would be the perfect teacher. He would have the perfect motivation to come to training on time."

"A sword in the throat?" Po guessed.

"Exactly," Lillia replied. Po and Tigress sighed.

"Okay, but why not the others?"

"Your fighting style is very unpredictable. Besides, you're a great teacher now," Tigress said.

"Now? You mean I wasn't a great teacher before my fight with Kai?"

"No," Tigress replied bluntly. "You weren't."

"Yeah you're right," Po mumbled. "Okay, I'll teach him." With that, they went into the Training Hall where Maz was waiting for the panda. Tigress and Lillia sat on the sidelines. "Okay, Maz. I'm here to teach you."

"Really? Cool!" Maz said excitedly.

"I know right!" Po replied.

"It's a little scary how similar they are," Lillia said.

"They aren't that similar," Tigress replied, "Maz is excitable but can be very shy. Of course, I could be confusing shyness with his fear of you." Lillia smiled contently. "Po, on the other hand, is very clumsy and childish sometimes. He's also very honest and loyal," Tigress smiled. She blushed when she saw Lillia's smirk.

"You've been keeping notes," Lillia teased.

"So there are a lot of styles and ways to fight. You already know that" Po instructed, "But what you don't know is that each person is different. You have to figure out what punch to do for which kind of person. Battling a rhino is different than battling a... mouse. Now for your kind, lions, there's a simple way to take a lion down and then run for it. Like this." Po then placed his foot behind Maz's left foot and yanked his tail. While Maz stiffened, Po punched Maz square in the stomach. He threw the lion to the ground and kept his hand pressed against his stomach.

"Whoa," Tigress said. Lillia pathetically struggled to not laugh.

"Got it?"

"Sure," Maz wheezed out.

"Now this is only to stun them. You'll have about two minutes before they come back to full strength," Po explained as he pulled Maz up from the ground. Tigress and Lillia came up to them.

"Where did you learn that? I've never seen that Kung Fu moves," Tigress commented.

"Yeah, and can I learn it for tackling lions as well," Lillia asked eagerly. Maz worriedly looked at Po, wondering if he was actually going to do it. Po simply ignored Lillia.

"I came up with the move before I came to the Jade Palace," Po explained. The others were confused.

"How could you learn something like that?" Tigress asked. "I mean, given the place you were in, I wouldn't expect you to figure out something like that."

"And again, can I learn it," Lillia asked.

"No, and I've actually done studies," Po replied.

"Studies," Maz asked.

"Yes, before I came to the Jade Palace, I was a part of this science group that studies the natural tendencies of people and of people of different species. I learned some interesting quirks that helped me understand certain people. That's why my action figures are so lifelike," Po replied.

"So, you came up with a defense move by studying how people act?" Tigress said slowly. She was trying to piece together how Po exactly came up with this.

"There were some weaknesses that we figured out about all species. I learned that move studying male snow leopards."

"Why male snow leopards," Lillia asked.

"Because of their size difference, we actually decided to classify them with bigger felines. I mean, come on, you've seen Tai-Lung, Tigress. Compare someone like him with someone like Master Leopard," Po explained. Tigress nodded in agreement.

"Wow, but why haven't you done any of that when you first came here?" Tigress asked.

"My life wasn't in trouble and it wasn't Kung Fu. It was just exploiting the weaknesses in different species. Plus, I really wanted to learn Kung Fu at the time," Po answered, dusting off Maz. "Sorry for being so hard."

"That's fine, but next time can I not be the example," Maz said moving his back around to relieve some of the pain.

"Can I make him be the example?" Lillia asked.

"No," Tigress and Po answered.

"Now, you have some training with Master Shifu," Po said. Maz nodded and went to the Hall of Heroes.

"Why is he learning about government management? He's not the person on the throne," Lillia asked.

"A prince still has to learn about the system of managing a kingdom. Because of how the system is set up, he can be an aid to his brother," Tigress explained.

"Hmm," Lillia huffed. "Well, I better make sure no sudden wolves are after him." She went to look after Maz.

"This is going to be filled with problems," Po sighed.

"They'll get along eventually. You and I did," Tigress said.

"Yeah, but pandas didn't kill your family," Po replied. "That's going to be a major stumbling step for them."

"But the emperor killed Maz's father, so they should understand each other," Tigress offered.

"I don't know," Po said defeated, "Maybe I made a mistake when I tricked her into this."

"There are no mistakes," Tigress wisely said.

"Okay, I hope so," Po muttered.

"How come you never told me about the studies?" Tigress asked.

"I didn't think it was exciting," Po shrugged.

"But your action figure collection is?" Tigress smirked.

"Yes," Po argued. Tigress shook her head.

Meanwhile, Lillia was watching over Maz in his room with his political 'homework'. She yawned. Maz yawned as well. "Mrow!" Lillia's ears perked up as Maz flinched to try and hide it. His yawn sounded like a cute little cub.

"Was that you?" Lillia asked.

"N-no no. My... desk squeaked," Maz obviously lied. Lillia smirked.

"Aw, does the lion hate his yawn?" Lillia teased. Maz sighed.

"Why are you like this to me?" Maz asked.

"You should know," Lillia said seriously.

"But I don't. Look, I know that some of the lions have done you wrong, but I'm not like them," Maz said. Lillia's glare stayed on the lion. She scoffed.

"You lions are all the same," She said going out the door, "You don't even know what it's like to be me." She left him alone to do the rest of his work. Maz sighed.

"What did we do?" Maz asked himself.

Continued...