Chapter 5

Po ran as fast as he could back to the village. But before he could make it…

THUD!

Po skidded to a stop at who had suddenly appeared before him. He scowled, growled and clenched his fists. He was not in the mood to deal with him right now.

"Dragon Warrior! Today is the day you will finally be DEFEATED! VICTORY WILL BE MINE!" he yelled, ending with a maniacal laugh.

"I don't have time to deal with you now, Temutai." Po sternly stated to the huge water buffalo.

"Are you saying you don't want to FIGHT ME!" Temutai yelled.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Po replied, his scowl intensifying and clenched fists tightening.

"GOOD! Then my victory will just be that MUCH QUICKER AND EASIER!" Temutai continued. "WARRIORS!" he yelled out. In no time, all the Quidan Warriors appeared; surrounding Po, preventing him from escaping. This really pissed the panda off.

"WARRIORS OF THE QUIDAN! ATTAAAAAAAAAACK!" Temutai commanded. All the warriors lunged at Po.

At the Jade Palace, in Tigress' room…

"I look ridiculous." Tigress stated in annoyance as she looked at herself in a body length mirror. She had on a beautiful red Chinese gown with gold flower patterns. Very much similar to her vest, but with much more detail. She also had a gold head piece upon her head, similar to the one she wore during the winter festival. It was brought in along with all the other materials needed to prepare her for the ceremony.

"Nonsense, darling! You look BEAUTIFUL! Oh! Any man would drop dead at your feet at the sight of you!" Mrs. Zing gushed excitedly.

Tigress turned her head to face the sheep. "Why would they do that? It's just a dress... and makeup." She stated. She looked at herself in the mirror again. "A lot of makeup. And my most hated attire." Tigress thought with a small scowl.

"It's just an expression, dear. Don't take it so literal." Mrs. Zing told the feline. "Now, the two candidates should-"

A knock on the door interrupted her. Everyone looked to the door to see the silhouette of Crane on the other side. Mrs. Zing was ready to scold him, but he spoke up before she could.

"Um, Mrs. Zing?" he asked, unsure if she was in the room.

"Yes, Master Crane." She replied sweetly, with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"Oh good, you're in there." He sighed in relief. "Um, your candidates for the ceremony are here." he informed.

"Oh, wonderful!" Mrs. Zing happily exclaimed. "Thank you, Master Crane. Tell them I'll be right with them in a moment."

"You're welcome." Crane replied, before making his leave.

"Ok Master Tigress, I am going to get our candidates ready, and I will come get you when we are ready to begin the ceremony." Mrs. Zing told Tigress, while heading to exit the room.

Tigress gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine." She softly stated in reply.

"I'm coming with you, Mrs. Zing. I'd like to have a look at them to see if I approve." Shifu stated, following after the sheep. He stopped for a moment and turned to face Tigress. "You really do look beautiful, Tigress." He told her with a smile.

Tigress simply nodded towards her Master. He soon exited the room, following after the sheep to the Hall of Heroes. Once they were gone, Viper slithered over to the feline, who continued to look at herself in the mirror, still not liking the way she looked.

Tigress eyed the serpent from the corner of her eye. "Are you going to say I look beautiful, too?" she deadpanned.

Viper gave the feline a gentle smile. "You really do, Tigress." She told her. "The matchmaker wasn't kidding though. Guys would drop at her feet at the sight of her. Though Po would most likely be speechless if he sees her like this." Viper thought.

"Although…" Viper said, with her tail under her chin as she observed the feline. "I think they may have gone a little overboard with the makeup."

"A little?!" Tigress said sternly, but not loudly. "It's worse than when the bunny twins had put makeup on me when I was sick!" she exclaimed, with a small growl.

Viper giggled. "Do you want me to…" she trailed off, knowing the feline knew what she was asking.

"Please do!" Tigress replied, and then sat on her bed. It almost sounded like she was begging. "I feel like I'm carrying an iron turtle shell on my face."

She may have exaggerated that, but that's how she could describe the amount of makeup on her face.

Viper simply smiled at the Tiger Master and began fixing the makeup on her face.

Shifu and Mrs Zing were making their way to the Hall of Heroes in silence, until Mrs. Zing decided to speak up.

"Trust me, Master Shifu. You will definitely approve of the choices I've made for Master Tigress." She exclaimed excitedly.

"I will be the judge of that, Mrs Zing." Shifu stated. "However, whether I approve or not may not matter. This is, after all, Tigress' decision. And I trust her to make the very best."

"Yes, of course, Master Shifu. It is her life." Mrs Zing agreed. "But I am confident; she will definitely be fond of one of them."

Shifu merely hummed and rolled his eyes in response. The sheep clearly didn't know Tigress.

They made it to the Hall of Heroes and opened the door. When they did, they saw Crane, Monkey and Mantis conversing with two beings in the middle of the hall. Shifu assumed they were the candidates. From what he could see, one was a snow leopard and the other was a lynx.

"Oh boy… Tigress is going to have a field day with this leopard." Shifu thought, knowing how the female tiger had a very strong hatred for leopards. "This lynx seems ok though."

"Good afternoon, gentlemen!" Mrs. Zing enthusiastically greeted the candidates, cutting them off their little conversation with the Masters. The two looked behind them, since their backs were to the door, to see the Matchmaker and Master Shifu, standing a few feet away from them.

The leopard swiftly turned towards them and bowed. The lynx politely excused himself from the Masters, before also turning around and bowing towards the two. Shifu quickly took note of this.

"A thousand pardons, Madame Zing. We aren't too early or too late are we?" The Lynx politely asked. The Leopard rolled his eyes at the lynx's gesture. Again, Shifu took note.

"Oh, of course not! In fact, you're right on time." Mrs Zing replied. The Lynx sighed in relief and gave a gentle smile, while the Leopard stood proud with a smug grin.

"Master Tigress will be with us shortly. But first, introductions." Mrs Zing stated. She then cleared her throat.

"Master Shifu, may I introduce you to Rong," she pointed towards the Leopard, who proudly stepped forward and bowed to the Great Master. Shifu bowed in return.

Rong had a well-built body. He was practically all muscle. The kind of body that would have women falling at his feet.

"And, Renshu." She pointed toward the Lynx, who stepped forward as well.

Renshu, unlike Rong, did have muscle but they weren't as noticeable as the leopard. His body build was a lot closer to Tigress'.

"It is a great honour to meet you, Grandmaster Shifu." Renshu greeted as he bowed toward the great Kung Fu Master.

"The pleasure is mine." Shifu replied, bowing as well.

"Well, Master Shifu? What do you think? Are they suitable candidates for your daughter?" Mrs Zing asked.

Shifu observed the two felines before him. One stood tall and proud, while the other stood up straight with a gentle smile.

"Hmm…" Shifu began. "From where I stand, you two do make acceptable candidates to win over my daughter." He told them. "However, it is not my position to choose. Even if I may prefer one of you over the other, this is my daughter's decision to make. I trust her judgement. So whoever she chooses, I will accept with open arms."

The two nodded in understanding of the Grandmaster.

"Wonderful!" Mrs Zing beamed with excitement. "Now that we have been acquainted, I shall retrieve the Woman of the Hour." She informed, leaving the three in the Hall. Once she was gone, Shifu turned back to the two candidates.

"I would like the wish you two the best of luck. My daughter is not the easiest person to impress. So do your best." He told them.

Rong gave a confident grin, while Renshu nodded in understanding.

Shifu then made his way to the Moon Pool, and sat there to meditate while he waited on Tigress' arrival.

"…Almooost… … … There!" Viper exclaimed, having finished fixing the feline's makeup. "What do you think?" she asked, while putting the makeup products away.

Tigress looked in the mirror and gave a small smile. She then gave a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Viper."

"I aim to please. You are most welcome." Viper replied.

"As much as I would prefer to not wear any makeup, I don't want the old goat to have a fit if she saw that I took off all the makeup." Tigress stated.

"Um… she's a sheep, Tigress."

"I am aware." Tigress dully replied.

Viper gave the feline a strange look, before giggling when she caught on.

Shortly after, the two heard a knock on the door, before it opened to reveal the Matchmaker.

"OK, Tigress! Time to-" Mrs Zing froze at the sight of the feline. Her left eye twitched a few times. "Oh… I see you've, um, made a few changes." She said, a bit annoyed.

"Now listen here, Mrs Zing.I mean no disrespect, but I already don't like the idea of this, and I already allowed you to get me into my most loathed attire. But I draw the line at makeup. And in all honestly, in my opinion, I looked like a clown. So yes, I changed the makeup. You can at least allow me the option of what goes on my face! And you should be grateful I allowed some makeup!" Tigress firmly told the sheep.

Mrs Zing sighed and looked up at the feline. "Ok, Master Tigress. And you are right. You already don't want to go through with this so I should have at least given you an option on your attire. But, are you comfortable now?" she asked, worried the feline might want to change her outfit too.

"I'll accept the rest of the attire. Mainly because it closely resembles the color and pattern of my vest. The headpiece is fine as well." Tigress told the old sheep.

"Wonderful! I'm glad to hear it!" Mrs Zing beamed. "Now come. We mustn't keep everyone waiting."

Tigress nodded before she and Viper followed the Matchmaker out of her room, and head toward the Hall of Heroes.

When they got to the Hall of Heroes, Tigress had to bite her tongue to keep from growling and to retrain herself when she saw one of the candidates.

"Uh oh…" Viper thought, when she saw one of the candidates. She looked up at the feline to see her reaction, and it was as she expected. The tiger was doing her best to not lunge at the leopard.

The three made their way to the Sacred Moon Pool, where Shifu stood waiting for them. Tigress kept looking forward in order to keep her attention off the candidates, but mainly the leopard. From her peripheral vision, she saw the lynx bow towards her as she passed by them.

"At least one of them has the common courtesy to show some respect." Tigress thought. She, along with Viper and Mrs. Zing finally stood at the Sacred Moon Pool. They bowed toward Master Shifu, who bowed in return, before they all turned to face the two beings in the middle of the hall.

Mrs Zing cleared her throat. "Now that Master Tigress and our candidates are here, we can begin the ceremony." She announced.

Update: 04.10.2015

I know there are errors in there for sure. I hope there aren't any that will cause any confusion. Lately I've been feeling like my brain has turned to mush. I barely draw; I can't completely focus on my writing. When I try to work on my stories, I tend to put in words that have no reason to be the sentence, I'm constantly making spelling errors. UGH! I feel like I'm turning dumb.

Anywho, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Again, I'll try my best to try to update faster. I want to finish this story before KFP3 comes out.

Stay Awesome! :D

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