Two Stories Collide

The three raced down the mountain to see what the matter was. "Ah," Tigress grunted.

"Are you okay?" Crane asked.

"Yes, just... a little sore in my hip," Tigress said.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

"No!" Tigress quickly answered Po. Crane glanced at Po as if he had asked a stupid question, but the panda slyly smiled at Tigress's glaring scowl. "What is it that's going on down the mountain?"

"You kinda have to see it to believe it."

"Why?" Po asked. Before he could answer, they started to hear a loud commotion near the foot of the mountain. Tigress, Po, and Crane walked to the last step to see a long, long line of male animals. They had flowers, boxes, and bags, and all of them were shouting and yelling at each other. Some of the characters were bandits and soldiers while others looked like officials and common villagers. Shifu made a loud whistle on his flute to call everyone's attention. "AHH! Wow, I didn't realize how loud that flute could get," Po muttered, holding his ears.

"It comes in handy," Shifu said, "Gentlemen, gentlemen! What's all of this about?"

"Where is she? Where is she?"

"That's her!"

"No, you fool. That's Master Tigress. Completely different tiger," The suitors spoke over each other. Po covered his mouth to stop his laughter. He didn't dare look at Tigress who he knew was glaring at him.

"What tiger are you looking for?" Crane asked.

"We're looking for Momoda!"

"Yeah, we want to marry her!"

"WHAT?!" Shifu, the Furious Five, and Po shouted.

Then, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Po fell backward in a fit of laughter, kicking his feet in the air. Shifu rubbed his temples as the suitors squabbled on.

"Her flirts were obviously on me."

"You fool. They were on me. She punched me through a wall. Obviously a woman's way of showing affection," Said a bandit suitor.

"She rubbed her scent on me. Of course, it's going to be me."

Po's laughter slowly died down as he finally got up. He rose his hands over the growling and fidgeting crowd and spoke,

"Guys, guys! I'm sure that Momoda likes all of you because you're all cute in some way, shape, or form," Po smiled. He tried his hardest not to look at Tigress, but it was so tempting to see what kind of face she had right now. "Unfortunately, the mysterious Momoda has left the Valley of Peace forever."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Po, what are you talking about?" Viper asked.

"I spoke with Momoda last night and she said that she's going back home to face her fears."

"Where is her homeland?" asked a suitor.

"In the north, near the Mongolian territory," Shifu explained. "We're sorry to disappoint you men about this... very recent development."

"Awwww."

"Cheer up guys," Po smiled, "There's more fish in the sea."

"But I want a tiger wife," Said a bunny suitor. Po chuckled as the team watched the suitors disperse.

"Po, why would Momoda leave all of a sudden? What was your meeting about?" Shifu asked.

Po sighed, a little heavily. "The whole reason Momoda came here in the first place was to escape her problems back home. But her problems came back to haunt her, even here."

"What were those problems?" Shifu asked.

Po smiled as he looked at everyone. "Kind of the same problem all of you had. Not being yourselves."

"Huh?" Crane said.

"Crane, without Momoda, you wouldn't have found the courage to talk to Min. Monkey, you needed to be humble and realize you don't know everything. Viper needed reassurance in her strength, Master Shifu needed to learn from his mistakes-"

"Again," Shifu muttered.

"And Mantis... actually what did Momoda teach you?"

"Nothing until now," Mantis replied.

"What did you learn?"

"That y'all have problems I never knew about. That's the mark of a baaaadd friend, Po," Mantis said, sticking out his claw. "And it's time to face those problems instead of running from them."

"There's so much pain to face them," Shifu sighed. "It's easier said than done."

"Better done," Viper said, "Than not at all. Po's right. Problems don't solve themselves. We might not be able to fix them the way we want, but we can accept the pain. It's the only way we can be free from them."

"But escaping them isn't the right thing," Po said. "They'll follow you no matter what. No matter who you are." He looked straight at Tigress who allowed herself a smile. "And now, she's one step closer to being truly free," Po smiled. Tigress looked away, feeling her cheeks burn.

"Seems like you've accepted her moving on better than they have," Crane mentioned.

"It's just... nice to know that she's in a better place."

"Hmmm," Shifu smiled. "Maybe we'll never know who she really was, but in a way, I'm glad that she did come here. She's... helped a lot with our... internal problems."

"Hehe," Po smiled. "Alright, let's get back home. I think that's enough excitement for one day."

"But it's still morning," Viper noted.

"And yet I'm already tired," Po sighed.

"With Momoda gone, you won't have to do any more nightly patrols," Crane said.

"Hmmm, I wouldn't say that," Po smirked to himself. He side-glanced Tigress. The tiger couldn't imagine what he meant by that. As the others went back up the mountain, Po pulled Tigress back. "Not you. You have some explaining to do."

Tigress actually gulped. Po had just seen a line of suitors that all claimed she was flirting with them. What would he think? As they went to Mr. Ping's shop, the two of them sat down at the counter. "Po! Master Tigress! It is great to see you," Li-Shan said.

"Oh hey, dad. Where's dad?" Po asked.

The big panda grumbled a bit, "He's... on vacation."

"Vacation?" Po repeated. "Va...cation? Dad hasn't been on vacation since... ever."

"Why?" Tigress asked.

"He would lose too much money," Po muttered.

"Yeah, since I was gone so long, he said I had to pay him back by running the shop by myself," Li-Shan grumbled.

"Oh, hehe, that makes sense," Po replied as they sat down. "Could I get a dumpling? Dragon Warrior sized."

"Make that two."

"WHAT?!" both pandas dropped their jaws.

Tigress shyly bowed her head a bit. "I'm... hungry."

"Uhhh, okay. Ummm. Two Dragon Warrior-sized dumplings coming up." Li-Shan went back and started on the food.

Po grinned from ear to ear, "Seems like your nightly strolls have a hunger price."

"Po, please don't," Tigress groaned, trying to hide her face. "I'm sorry I-"

"I'm not angry. I'm just curious. Why flirt with so many guys?"

"I wasn't... trying to. It's just... I felt a lot more confident as her and... well, I turned out to be more outgoing... and unintentionally flirtatious."

"I can see," Po smirked.

"It's just... I can't remember a time I've heard someone call me... beautiful and lovely."

"What?" Po's smirk vanished. "Tigress you are beautiful. Awesomely beautiful. Why would no one tell you that?"

Tigress gave a small smirk, "I guess people are too afraid of me to get to know me. Or maybe I just push people away too much. Or both."

"Here you go," Li-Shan presented the food, "Two Dragon Warrior-sized dumplings."

"Thanks Dad." Po said. He blinked and began to eat his food when he noticed Tigress had already eaten half of her dumpling with her small chopsticks in a matter of seconds. "What the! How did you!"

"What?"

"I... uh... never mind," Po mumbled. "I guess I'm just realizing that... there's a loooot about you that I don't know about."

"You wouldn't be the first," Tigress sighed.

Po gently took her hand and smiled, "But I'm willing to try."

The tiger smiled back. "I'm sorry you had to deal with the 'suitors'. It's just... nice to be told you're beautiful for once."

"Tigress, you're always beautiful. Fiercely beautiful too."

Tigress's smile widened, "Thanks, Po."

"Ahh, but I'm going to miss her now that she's finally gone. All that's left of her is her sweet cinnamon smell."

Tigress rose an eyebrow. "Cinnamon?"

"It was the perfume she wore. You wouldn't understand," Po replied with a smirk.

Tigress was simply speechless.

Night came. For the first time in a while, all of the Jade Palace warriors slept on the mountain. It had been several months since their chase with Momoda, but now they could finally all rest.

Except one.

Tigress watched until Monkey blew out his lantern. She moved out of her room, barely making a creak in the floorboards. She snuck over to the Hall of Heroes. The thick haunting silence and darkness comforted her; it meant Shifu was asleep. She moved down the spiraling stairs where the Shift Stones resided. She deactivated the trap mechanism. For a moment, she thought about how Po could have gotten past the security. He wasn't known for thinking about traps first. She chuckled at memories of the panda blundering his way through traps and snares without getting seriously harmed. She would have to ask him when she placed the stone back. She walked down the hall, took the fake stone out, and placed the real Shift Stone back into the box before closing the lid.

A deep breath came through her lungs.

It was over.

Momoda was gone.

But her actions would still have some consequences.

"Thinking of a late-night stroll, Momoda?" Said a well-known voice behind her. She didn't even turn around. She didn't need to. Her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth.

"How long?" Was all she could ask the red panda.

"Recently, actually," Shifu said, lighting a lantern he held in his hand. "Her story and yours matched a lot. And what Po said made me think about the Shift Stones. The fact that we kept losing Momoda in bars and the canine masters kept crashing into 'innocent' ducks and rabbits made me think of them. But it all came together only after I met Momoda." He took a deep sigh. "And since you were the last one who had access to the Shift Stones-"

Suddenly, Tigress fell to the ground, bowing before her master. Her body shivered horribly, and she shut her eyes as tight as possible. But the tears kept rolling down her face, crashing to the ground. "I'm so sorry Master Shifu," She cried. "I... I should've just... I'm just as corrupt as Tai Lung! I...I understand if you want to punish me. I'm... I'm sorry."

"Punish you?" Master Shifu said, lifting her head up, "For what? Trying to be free from the cage I put you in? No, you're much better than Tai Lung. I should've said this more often but I am proud of who you are. And who you've become. When I overheard you and Po that day I tackled you, I knew that Momoda's problem struck close to home."

Tigress's tears kept rolling down her cheeks. The red panda gently helped her up to her knees and sighed, "Tigress, I am so sorry for placing this burden on you. You should be free to do, say, and be what you want. You're old enough to handle the consequences on your own." He rested his hand on her leg. "You don't need to be a completely different person. I'm sorry, Tigress. I was so focused on what I wanted you to be, that I didn't see you for who you are... not my greatest student, but Tigress. Master Tigress," Shifu smiled. Tigress shivered and quivered. She suddenly launched at Master Shifu, picking him up as they hugged each other.

"Thank you... Baba," Tigress said tearfully.

"And don't worry," He smiled as Tigress set him down. "I won't tell the others."

"Thank you, Master Shifu. And I'm terribly sorry about hurting you when you first met Momoda. I was dealing with a lot of... pent-up aggression."

Shifu laughed, "I completely forgot about that to be honest. But it would explain the bars and taverns."

"It would?"

"It's the first place to find people willing to fight," Shifu smiled. "Come now, let's go to sleep. You definitely deserve it."

Tigress sighed, collapsing her shoulders a bit. Her hips started to ache and the droop in her eyes became almost too much. It seemed like all at once, her body wanted to sleep. "Yes, Master Shifu," She croaked.

"I must ask. Why Momoda?" Shifu smiled.

Tigress blushed, "The... persona let me just be... well, all I wanted to be and more. Without limit... and... at that moment I really wanted to embarrass Po."

"So you used the name to forever be a prank for him?"

"And for his many ridiculous antics."

"A great lesson. Hmmm," Shifu said, looking back at the Shift Stone.

"Master Shifu," Tigress said in a warning tone.

"Ha Ha, I was just thinking... Master Tigress."

The two walked back out. They came in as master and pupil and left as father and daughter.

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