Bisa was never that much of a morning person. I mean, he could be a light sleeper, as he woke up with any sound loud enough. However, he was never one on the mood to wake up on the morning, especially if it was still dark outside.
However, that morning was not like many others.
As Bisa felt his sleep being disturbed by the distant sound of a gong. That was how the Valley of Peace usually woke up, and that was how this Komodo dragon, who was staying in an inn on the Valley, woke up on that morning.
Like most mornings, he groaned and turned on the bed, and he was ready to give himself "five more minutes" of sleep that would probably result on him only waking up close to lunch, when his eyes snapped open as he remembered why today was so special.
It was the first day of his training with Po!
Bisa could still not believe it. He could still not believe that Po himself came to him and asked him if he'd like to learn kung fu from him.
He was going to learn with the Dragon Warrior himself!
But, wait... Po was not the Dragon Warrior anymore...
But still, he was Po!
And that was enough for Bisa to jump out of the bed and rush to do what he had to do in the morning to start his day. He washed his face and chest, placed his long-sleeved jacket and rushed out with some water still dripping from his scaly muzzle. He ordered some light breakfast and he ate it all quickly, taking into consideration what Po told him on the previous night:
"I won't go easy on you. So, I recommend you don't eat too much in the morning tomorrow. If you do, you will probably vomit, and I don't want to see your puke. Even looking at your face already makes me want to vomit myself."
Most of the people of the inn shared looks. Some of them seemed quite worried, but Bisa failed to notice any of those looks they were trading. He was too pumped up with the idea of Po training him.
As soon as he was done with breakfast, he went out on the street, and he practically sprinted across the village all the way to the restaurant. Once in there, he stood like a statue with his hands behind his back.
He waited.
And waited.
He didn't move, except for the occasional twitch of his tail and the occasional flick of his forked tongue in the air.
He should have waited for around thirty minutes barely moving, until he heard the gates unlocking.
The panda on the other side opened them, and Bisa immediately greeted him.
"Good morning, master!"
Bisa greeted him properly, putting his fist against his open palm and bowing to him. Po looked at him with a frown. Wait, was he frowning? It was hard to say, Bisa realized that his face had been like that since he first saw him on the previous day. At least on all the times they met.
"Step to the side." Po said coldly. "Over that corner, and don't move until I come out."
"Yes, master." Bisa said, bowing once more and he walked to where Po indicated, while the panda looked at him, before scoffing and shaking his head as he went back to what the had to do in the morning.
Bisa stayed right there as Po continued to open his restaurant in the morning, as if today was a day like any other, not the day when Ping Xiao Po, who swore never to have anything to do with kung fu ever again five years ago, would be teaching kung fu to a Komodo dragon, of all possible species.
And, of course, the rumors had already spread, as some people looked at the Komodo dragon standing close to the restaurant like a soldier. Some of them pointed to him, and they all talked to each other. Those who were on the inn last night and witnessed when Po himself came to the lizard and asked him to be his student, relayed the events to those who weren't, and those later ones could hardly believe what they were hearing from the formers.
This, of course, included some of Po's own staff, as they arrived and saw the same lizard from yesterday standing by the side of the restaurant, patiently waiting. Among them was Jia, who was, as usual, the first one to arrive, and she was surprised for seeing the Komodo from yesterday coming back.
And even more surprised when she heard why he was even there.
"Take care of everything, Jia." Po said, as he gave his main employee her apron. "Put Guo to cook, he knows all the recipes. Take care of the restaurant. And don't let anyone cause any kind of problem. I will be back in time to help with lunch."
With this said, Po did, for the first time in five years, left the restaurant in the morning, before the breakfast service. This was not something Po would do under normal conditions. Even on the few times she saw him leave the restaurant before he closed himself in there for good three years ago, he never did so during breakfast, lunch or dinner time. He was always there for the meal rush.
However, there he was, leaving the restaurant with his employees in charge of running everything, walking away with a Komodo dragon coming right by his side.
And a lot of people were looking their way as they walked across the street, many of them with surprised expressions on their faces as they saw this.
Po did his best to ignore them and, as much as he hated to admit, the lizard walking by his side was actually helping by yapping non-stop.
"Master, I am so, so thankful for the chance to learn from you..."
Po's eye was twitching slightly as they continued their way, as he was trying way too hard not turn around and throttle that lizard then and there.
"By the way, my name is Bisa." He said in between bonds of blabbering, to what Po answered with:
"I didn't ask."
And the lizard went right back into talking, saying how honored he was from learning from Po, and how much he respected and admired him, and how he would do anything that Po told him to during training.
"You will do anything I tell you?" Po asked, causing the lizard to pause.
"Yes, master! Anything!"
"Oh, good... Then shut the fuck up." Po said to him, and Bisa looked at him for a moment, before lowering his head and remaining silent during the rest of their walk, what Po was actually thankful for.
Until fifteen minutes later.
"Uhhh, Master?" Bisa said, looking over his shoulder. "I think the Jade Palace is that way..." He was pointing on the opposite direction they were going.
"Didn't I told you to shut up?" Was Po's answer, and it was enough to make Bisa go back to being silent. They continued their walk for ten more minutes, before Po took them into a bamboo-surrounded area, revealing a clearing of nearly thirty feet wide inside of it.
"Get ready, we are going to start your training." Po said to the lizard without looking at him. Bisa looked around.
"Wait... here?" The lizard asked, and Po looked over his shoulder.
"What? Not good enough for you?"
"No... I mean, it's not that!" Bisa said, being careful as not to say anything that could upset his teacher. "Is just that... when you told me you would train me I... kind of thought we would be doing it in the Jade Palace."
"Well, we are not." Po said to him. "Now stop yapping and start getting ready."
"But, wait. Why are we not going to be training there, master?" Bisa said, looking at the panda as he ripped a long piece of bamboo from the ground, and he was currently seeming like he was measuring it. "I mean, you trained there back on the day, right? Back when you were the Dragon Warrior. I kind of assumed you would be taking me there to train me too. The place was like your home, right? You surely have fond memories of there..."
At this point, Po was pretty much at his limit. He did gain a much shorter fuse with the passage of years.
"Okay, now listen here!" Po said, turning around just as he snapped the long bamboo he had on his hands in two as if it was a chopstick. "If we are doing this, then I have some ground rules, and I want you to listen to them well!"
The tone Po used made Bisa immediately stand into attention.
"Yes, master!"
"First!" Po said, "Stop calling me 'master'! I renounced that title back when I renounced kung fu! I'm no longer a master, just like I am no longer the Dragon Warrior! I am Ping Xiao Po! To you I am Mister Ping! Got it?"
There was no way that Bisa, when being talked to like that, could say anything other than:
"Yes, Mister Ping!"
"Good. Second..." Po continued, "You don't talk about my past! That's none of your business! You don't speak of anything regarding my time as a kung fu master, and you don't ask any questions regarding it unless I specifically say you can! In fact, you don't mention or ask anything about my past unless I say you can! And I do mean ANYTHING! Is that clear?"
"Clear as crystal, Mister Ping." Bisa said. Then he asked:
"But, why I cannot ask about your past? I mean, is there a reason? Is it because you don't like talking about it? It has to do with your scars? Because they look-YOUCH!"
Bisa's words were interrupted when Po roughly slapped his hand away as the Komodo tried to put a finger on the scar on the panda's chest. The metallic hand certainly hit with a slap way harder than a normal hand would.
"The reason you can't ask, like I already said, is because it's none of your business!" Po said to him impatiently.
"And, while we are at it, here is rule number three! You do not make physical contact with me under any circumstance! Before yesterday, I managed to go for years without being touched by a scaly, and I want to go back to it! Get it?"
"Y-yes..." Bisa said, fanning his hand to make the pain go away. Po looked at him for another second, before he said:
"Good. Now let's begin."
And he tossed one of the two bamboo staffs he now had to the lizard, who caught it startled.
"Get ready."
"What?"
Just as Bisa asked that question, a swing from a bamboo hit him square in the jaw, causing him to spin in the air and land heavily into the ground.
Po, who had been the one to hit him, looked at the lizard, who was struggling to get up.
"Seriously?" The panda asked, looking as the lizard. "You know, I was kind of expecting more from the way you handled those boars yesterday."
"I-I wasn't ready!" Bisa said, as he go up.
"Are you now?"
"Wait, what?"
Another hit from the bamboo, this time a jab with the tip right at his chest, causing the lizard to stumble back. However, this time he managed to keep his footing, and look back at the panda as he rubbed his chest.
"Would you mind telling me when you are ready?" Po said, sounding impatient.
"Right, right! Sorry!" Bisa said, and then he closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath through his nostrils, and them released it through his mouth. Then he got into position with his legs slightly apart and his hands holding the staff as he looked at the panda.
"Ready."
And that was when Po struck again. This time, however, Bisa was ready, and he was able to block that blow.
And the second as well.
He barely blocked the third.
The fourth, fifth and sixth all connected, causing the lizard to double over in pain as his side, face and neck were all hit.
"It this is the best you can do, then it is a miracle you survived that fight yesterday." Po said coldly to him. "Get your shit together."
The lizard said he would, and then he got back to his feet, before they resumed.
The lizard was, Po had to admit, decent. He had speed and precision and, based on what he was yesterday, he certainly had strength. However, he had no real battle experience, as he showed that he didn't had the skill needed to properly block Po's attacks once the panda started speeding up, even though he clearly had sharp reflexes to react to danger.
"Ouch..." The lizard said "Mr. Ping, can we make a pause? I am getting a little bruised..."
Po's answer to that was to slap him into the chest with his bamboo staff so hard that the lizard was propelled a few feet back and landed on his back.
"Did that hurt?" Po asked him. "Well, it would have hurt more if it was a mace. If it was an axe or a sword, you would be dead! Your enemies will not stop only because you ask nicely! You do something like that in the middle of the battle and you will be a dead body and they will make a new pair of boots with your scaly hide! Now get up and grab that bamboo!"
Bisa did as he was told, and he was soon on his feet again, and ready for another round of sparring.
Next, Po came up with something different, as he picked up pebbles from around the clearing and started to toss them into the lizard, who had to either dodge or block them with his staff.
"Okay, I think I got it!" The Komodo said, and to that, Po made a move where he tossed two pebbles at once. Bisa blocked the first, but the second one hit him in the waist, causing him to double over in pain.
It was followed by another two. One hitting him in the shoulder, and the other one hit him right in the forehead, causing him to drop to the ground.
"Did you still got it?" Po asked. "If those were arrows or throwing knives, then you would be dead by now! Don't let it get to your head, you idiot! And never assume that you will be attacked by a single enemy! Now get up, we are not done yet!"
And from there, they passed to an exercise were Bisa would hold a big rock they found on the clearing over his head, while Po attacked his legs with the bamboo. Bisa had to constantly move his feet to avoid being hit while he held the rock above his head with both arms. Po didn't relent, as he kept swinging the bamboo into the lizard's legs as they moved out of the way as quickly as the Komodo could manage. When he figured he could use his long tail to block the incoming attacks, Po started using the second bamboo to attack his legs as well, and Bisa nearly buckled over when both his legs were hit at once. He dropped the rock, and it fell on his tail, making him cry out in agony as he pulled his wounded limb from under the rock. Luckily, it was not broken.
This kind of training persisted for the next two hours and, by the end of it, Bisa was sweaty, panting, and slightly bruised from Po's style of training.
"Now... what to do with you next?" The panda said, as he had his back turned to the Komodo as he looked around the clearing to see if there was anything else he could use.
"Maybe I could set up some of those bamboos as a training course for balance. With a few sharp ones at the bottom to give that extra encouragement... but I would have to dig a ditch. Shit, will I have to get supplies from the village?"
The panda was talking to himself, and the Komodo was behind him, hearing what the panda was saying. Then, he decided to give his two cents:
"Or we could go to the Jade Palace."
"No." Was Po's instant answer to that suggestion.
"They have a training hall filled with all kinds of things. We wouldn't have to improvise anything."
"We are not going there."
"Why not?"
"Because I said so!" Po snapped at the lizard, who recoiled as the panda turned to yell at him. The panda glared at the reptile for a moment more, before he scoffed and went back to trying to think how else he could train that stupid scaly.
Then, Bisa said:
"I would love to see the place where you trained..."
Po looked over his shoulder, glaring at the lizard with the one healthy eye he had left. Bisa looked up at him.
"I heard all of the stories of you." Bisa said to him. "Of how much of a hero you are... or used to be. And, I kind of want to be like you, you know?" He was looking embarrassed as he said those things, kind of like a child. "And, well, to be a hero like you were, I think that training on the same place you did before you help. So, we could go up there and use the same training hall you once did? If you agree? I really would like to be like you, Mr. Ping."
He said that to the panda, and Po could only look back at him with his one single green eye in silent for a while.
I must be losing my mind...
That was all that Po could think to himself as he started climbing the long stairway with Bisa right behind him. The eyes of the villagers on the two of them as they made their way up. Many of them looked surprised, and a lot of them whispering among themselves, trying to figure out if what they were seeing was real.
If Po, who had been avoiding going anywhere near those stairs for the past five years, was actually climbing them again in direction to the Jade Palace.
And, let me say, it was not an easy journey to the top.
It was always though for Po to go up those stairs. However, maybe because it had been five years since he last did, but he was nearly ready to pass out by the time he finally arrived at the top.
Seriously, his vision was blurry and he could see stars dancing before his eyes. His breath was short and labored, with his insides feeling like they were on fire. He was trying as hard as he could not to start coughing now.
"Are you okay?" Bisa asked as he walked to the panda, a hand stretched as it to touch his shoulder. Po noticed it, and he growled:
"Rule number three!"
This caused Bisa to retreat immediately, and he looked at the panda as he panted as if he had just run three marathons. He almost looked sickened.
"Are you going to throw up?" The lizard asked to the panda.
"No..." Po answered but, a few seconds, and a few gasping pants after, he also said "Maybe..."
Luckily, he didn't, as he supported his hands on his knees and lowered his head, closing his mouth and taking deep breaths through his nose, before he steadied himself.
"I'm fine." The panda was talking to both Bisa and himself as he said those words. Then, he walked forward, telling the Komodo to follow him.
As he walked in, he called the attention of a few servants who were swiping the place. As soon as they caught sight of the panda, their beaks hung agape, and their eyes went wide. One of them even dropped his broom while his wings remained on the very same position. It was nearly as if they could not believe what they were seeing.
Po would have ignored them, but then he stopped by one who looked like he had been just talking to another one of the geese when the panda came.
"Hey, Zeng." The panda said, and the goose blinked, looking at the panda as if he didn't know how to react to his presence.
"H-huh?"
"Is the Training Hall empty?"
That was a casual question that the panda asked coldly to the goose, who looked back at him.
"Y-you are here..."
This seemed to be all that the goose could say. It apparent that he was still assimilating it. Po, however, didn't had patience for this.
The panda snapped his metallic fingers before the goose's beak, as if doing so to snap him off a trance, as he asked:
"Is anyone using the Training Hall now?"
This seemed to do the trick, for Zeng recovered, and he told Po that no one was using the Training Hall, as the Five were still out on mission and Shifu was currently meditating.
"Good." The panda said, "In that case, I will be using it."
Zeng's beak hung open as the panda said those words, but the panda ignored him and just told the lizard behind him to come along. They made their way to the training hall with the geese who were the servants of the Jade Palace staring at them both.
Po swung the doors open, and he was met with a familiar sight.
Five years.
Nearly six.
That was how long it had been since he'd last walked through those doors. The place was pretty much like he remembered.
Well, mostly.
The panda remembered how Crane mentioned they had made renovations to the place. In fact, some of the things in there seemed new. Like the swinging bladed rings, which's blades now resembled flames, or the field of training dummies (which made Po sick now, for the fact they resembled crocodiles) which had been altered to have a more dragon-like design. There were even some additions made to the field that Po didn't remembered on the old days, like a pair of swinging metal balls between each part of the course, apparently put in there for extra difficulty.
That did spark a memory on the panda's mind:
"You know what would be super cool? If we added swigging metal balls! I mean, not like the swinging ones we already have, just plain metal balls. We could put them between each stage of the course, and we would have to time the right moment to jump from one stage to the other to avoid being hit! I know that the training course has been the same for centuries, but would it not be awesome if we put this new thing in?"
Was this what the bird was referring when he talked about the "renovations he would like"?
"Mister Ping?" Bisa's voice made the panda look over his shoulder, to see the Komodo looking at him with a certain worry. The panda was about to say something back, when another familiar voice called:
"Master Po!"
The panda blinked, looking at the quickly approaching figure of Zeng, as the messenger goose was coming at him.
"Master Po! You are back! You are actually back!" The goose said, sounding like a child as he looked up at the panda. "And you are here to train! Did... did you like what we did with the Training Hall?"
He sounded like a child showing a drawing to an adult, hoping that they would like.
Po looked at him, before looking away.
"Oh... I see... well, anyways, welcome back!" Zeng said, still sounding happy just for the panda being there.
Po, however, seemed like he wanted to shoot him down quickly.
"I am only here to train him." The panda gestured to the Komodo dragon, and Zeng looked at him with surprise. It was as if he had only now noticed that reptile's presence.
"Okay, now." Po turned to the lizard. "You can start now."
Bisa blinked.
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me."
"B-but... the legendary obstacle course?"
"Yes."
"I mean, just like that?"
"Yes."
"Shouldn't I prepare first or-"
"It was your fucking idea to come here!" The panda snapped at Bisa, causing both him and Zeng to flinch. "So don't you dare wimp out now! Not after I had all that trouble to climb those motherfucking stairs!"
"I-I'm not wimping out!" The lizard said quickly in his defense. "I just... just think that the obstacle course is a bit too much for me. I mean, don't you have something easier first? Like, I don't know, a level zero?"
Po growled. This caused Bisa to give a step back.
"Get into the starting line and get ready to make the course on my command." Po said to the lizard, enunciating each word. "Now."
"Yes sir!" Bisa said, rushing forward and standing at the designed starting line. Meanwhile, Po turned to Zeng.
"Since you are here, you might as well be useful. Mark his time."
The goose was a bit taken aback, but he did as it was requested of him, and he used the big hourglass mounted by the side of the obstacle course to mark how quickly the lizard could make it.
"Now!" The panda's command was sudden and sharp. Bisa hesitated a little before charging in, his foot pressing on the pressure plate at the beginning that started the course.
He went about as well as one would expect for a first timer. He barely avoided the spiked sides of the swing clubs, before being tossed into the next stage by one of their blunt sides. He then tried to swing into the rings only to nearly cut his hands on the flame-shaped blades. Then he landed on the Jade Turtle, and he stood on top of it trying to block the arrows, but he ended up falling inside of it and just crawling around it on all fours as he tried to avoid the incoming arrows.
After finally making it out of there, Bisa made his way to the dummies, and he did surprisingly well in there. However, both the lizard and the panda watching from the sidelines were in for a shock when one of the dragon-headed dummies suddenly spat a cloud of sparks and smoke from its mouth, causing the Komodo to yell in shock and bump into a dummy that started a chain reaction. Bisa was then crawling his way out of the dummy field while, above him, the dummies spat clouds of sparks from the openings on their mouths. He even managed to avoid the swing balls without being hit by them, just for a change, just by crawling beneath them.
However, that was when he saw himself in the middle of the Pit of Fiery Doom.
A few fiery bursts later, which caused Zeng to flinch while Po remained unmoving, and Bisa was limping his way out of the obstacle course and to Po.
"H-how I did?" Bisa asked, to what Po's answered:
"Pathetic."
"Well, you got it in six minutes and twenty-eight seconds." Zeng said as he stopped the hourglass by turning it into the horizontal and seeing the time markings. "Quite good for a beginner. I mean, nowhere near what Po used to do back on the day. He could clear the obstacle course on two minutes flat on his best days."
"Anyways, you did poorly." The panda interjected. "Get on the starting line and go again."
"Can't I take a break first?"
"Life gives you no breaks!" Po said harshly. "Go again!"
"Uhh, Master Po?"
"What!?" The panda snapped at Zeng as the goose said that, and this caused the avian to recoil, before he said:
"M-Maybe you could go next..." Th avian offered. "Just to, you know, show him how it's done?"
Po glared at the goose in away that said that he would kill him with his eye if he could.
"Oh, that would be great!" Bisa said, sounding suddenly excited. "It would be such an honor to see you in action! It would be totally awesome!"
Po's head snapped at him, and he looked at the lizard, who looked at him with the admiration of a fan.
Like Po himself once looked at certain people.
"Oh, for the love of... Fine!" The panda said, "But I'm only doing it once, so pay attention!"
With this, Po marched to the begging, while Bisa took place by Zeng's side. The Komodo was excited for the prospect of seeing Po in action, while Zeng to the hourglass ready to mark time once more.
The panda, however, seemed to have forgotten about the two of them. He was too focused on the task at hand, as he got ready.
As he did, he looked at the path ahead of him, and it sparked all kinds of memories for him.
About that very same course, about the palace it was a part of, and about the people in there.
Good memories.
And bad ones.
Po's shoulders tensed. His eyes, both the blind and healthy one, looked forward with ferocity.
Then, with a step forward pressing down on the pressure plate, Po started.
For the first time in nearly six years, Po charged into the obstacle course.
It was a pleasant day today.
The sun was shining. There was a pleasant breeze blowing from the North. The fain smell of grass and peach blossoms could be felt in the air as the wind swirled around with pink peach petals.
This was a perfect day for Shifu to just sit by the edge of the Peach Hill and meditate, eyes closed, legs crossed in lotus, with his hands in the right position as he continued to breathe in and out through his nostrils calmly, trying to focus his mind on nothing more than his own breathing so he could share of the flow of energy of the universe.
If only his own mind would allow him this time...
"Are you sure you got this, Po?" It was Tigress who asked, and the panda could only nod.
"Sure, I am! I will be tracking down those criminals and bring back all the things they stole! You guys can count on me!"
The Five and Shifu all shared a look, and they smiled.
"If you say so."
"We are counting on you, buddy."
"Please, come back safe."
"And remember, we all will be out on mission by the time you come back." Shifu reminded the panda. "Try not to set the Palace on fire during our absence."
Shifu said that, but he didn't believed Po would end up going that far. He smiled as he looked at the panda, actually.
"I know we can count on you, Po. And you can always count on us. Don't ever forget that."
Po nodded, as she said he would not.
Shifu felt his chest tightening, and he started taking deeper breaths.
"Inner peace... Inner Peace... Inner peace..."
"S-stop!" Po said, "Please, stop!"
However, they didn't stop. They didn't stop kicking him while the panda was down, curled into a ball with his body covered by the cloak.
They only stopped when Shifu, who had a stony expression on his face, finally lifted a hand. Only then the Five finally stopped beating the panda.
Then, Shifu came to him.
"You disgraced us." Shifu said as he walked to the panda. "You disgraced this Palace. You disgraced the title of Dragon Warrior and the memory of Oogway." There was no kindness on his voice as h spoke to the panda.
"You do not deserve our mercy. In fact, you deserve the exact opposite."
"I-I did nothing wrong..." The panda said, and Shifu kicked him hard, making him roll into the ground.
"You, haven't you!?" The small master said. "Stop trying to evade responsibility, you disgrace! Accept the punishment for your actions!"
"I did nothing wrong!"
"Keep saying that as much as you want, but we all know the truth!" Shifu said to the panda, as he walked to him. "We all know what you did, and we know that you deserved to lose the Dragon Warrior title! You should never have received it in the first place!"
Po was trembling, his body, covered by the cloak, was shivering as if the panda was trying to hold back sobs.
"You deserved all the misfortunes that befell on you for the past few months, just like you deserve all the others that will befall you in the future."
Po looked up. His cheeks were stayed with tears.
"Please... please, just let me explain..."
The panda's pleading, however, was ignored, as Shifu once more kicked the panda, causing him to fly and land just outside of the gates.
"Leave now!" Shifu said, "While you still can!"
"And don't you ever dare to come back!" Tigress said to him.
"If we ever see you coming here again, you will not be leave alive." Monkey said coldly, as all of them turned their backs to the panda.
The gates closed, locking the panda on the other side. Even so, Shifu could still hear his sobs...
"Inner peace..." Shifu kept repeating, trying to still his thoughts and focus on his breath.
"Inner... inner peace..."
"Po...?" Tigress asked, as she, Shifu and the others made their way into the destroyed restaurant. The place had been charred down by the fire, and it was hardly inhabitable anymore. And yet, there Po was, sitting on the remains of a burned down chair. His back was turned to them and, without the cloak, they all could see it was covered in vicious scars.
The mere sight of them was enough to make even Shifu feel queasy.
"What do you want?" The panda asked of them with a cold voice.
"You... you have really been living here since you came back?" It was Viper who asked, as she looked at the panda. To that, Po answered:
"It's my house... where else would I live? Not on the Jade Palace, of course, after you all kicked me out."
Something about the way the panda said it made all six unease.
That didn't sound like the Po they knew...
"Po? Buddy?" Monkey said, trying to approach him, but the panda snapped:
"You haven't answered to my question! Why are you here?"
"We... came to see you..." Crane said, "We needed to see you here after... after the Five Elements."
"Oh, yeah..." The panda said, "That..."
There was no emotion whatsoever on the panda's voice as he said those words. This made the six animals share looks.
"We were worried with you and... we wanted to see if you were okay." Tigress said, and the panda paused, before another cold answer came:
"Worried with me?... You are worried with me now?"
The panda then got up, and he turned around.
This caused the six to flinch as they saw the panda's face. As they saw that scar running over his now blind left eye. And as they saw the stumps of his hands as he put them on plain view.
"Do I look like I am okay?"
He did not, all of them could easily see that. Not only for his scars and the lack of hands, but from the very look on his face and the tone of his voice.
"Po..." Viper said, "Y-your hands..."
"Don't give me that look." The panda said to the snake bitterly. "Don't you dare look at me with pity. I still have more limbs than you will ever have."
Viper gasped, and so did the others, as they heard something like that come out of Po's mouth.
"Hey, dude!" Mantis said, "No need to be so rude!"
"Shut your shithole you pint-sized piece of shit!" Po snapped, and this only shocked the six of them even more.
"How dare you come here!?" The panda demanded of them. "How dare you say you are worried with me!? How dare you come here and pretend that we get along after how you treated me!? You bunch of motherfucking traitors!"
"Po?" Tigress said, as she retreated a step, and so did the others. She never saw that expression on Po's face. None of them ever saw the panda so furious.
"Not a single one of you seemed worried with me while you were kicking me!" The panda yelled at them. "None of you seemed liked you have a FLYING FUCK about me when I was asking you guys to help me! Not when you all kicked me down the stairs and said I would be dead if I went there again! None of you even cared to help me! None of you! So, don't you now come and pretend like you give a shit about me! I know very well that is not truth! You are all a bunch of arrogant backstabbing shitheads!"
They all retreated a step as they heard that. As the panda yelled those things at him with a look of pure fury on his face as blood leaked out of his nostrils.
"Po?" Viper asked, slowly slithering away. The panda had a murderous expression on his face as he turned to her.
"And YOU!" He pointed one of his stumps at the snake. "You are the WORST of them all you... you... you SCALY WORM!"
Viper gasped in shock and horror, and so did the others. None of them could believe those words just came out of Po's mouth.
"Get out!" The panda yelled at them. "Get out now! This is my house! You are not supposed to be here! Leave! Leave now! I don't want to see any of you here again! Get out of my house! NOW!"
The panda continued to yell at them. His yells, however, turned into another sound.
Into growling. Into bellowing.
Into the furious sounds of a feral panda, as he slammed his stumps into the ground hard enough to crack it. And he continued to growl loudly at them, as they all made their way out of the restaurant.
All of them, including Shifu, were deeply disturbed by what they just witnessed.
"I-Inner peace..." Shifu said, his voice starting to crack. "I-Inner peace... I-inner p-peace... Inner... Inner..."
He tried to focus. He tried to organize his thoughts. He tried to focus on reaching serenity, but it was useless.
He could not stop the flow of memories.
Which eventually led to the last time he saw Po.
"Po, please listen!" Shifu said, looking at the panda, who now had another addition to his scars: An X on his chest, which nearly costed him his life.
"Why!?" The panda demanded. "Why should I listen to you!? You never wanted to listen to me!"
Shifu flinched as he heard that.
"Just get the fuck out of my restaurant!" The panda demanded. "Get out of here, now! I have to finish fixing this place up!"
"Po, please!" Shifu said, "I know that the way the Five and I treated you was wrong! I'm sorry about it! But there was a reason why we did it!"
"The reason was that you didn't cared about me!" The panda yelled at him, towering over the small master. "The reason why that, even though you all looked at me with so much pride for the years I have known you, you all stopped considering me important on the second you thought I was a failure! Just like every single fucker of this rotten country!"
"No! Po, it's not like that!"
"The fuck it isn't!" The panda was furious at him. A fury that Shifu still thought did not believed on the face of that kind panda whom he had know for years. "You spent years treasuring me and treating me like your star student, but as soon as I failed to your expectations, you tossed me to the curb! I became just something you wanted to get rid of to protect your precious reputation!"
"Just like TAI LUNG!"
Those words affected the small master, who gave a step back, and could not give an answer to that.
"Yes, that was why you were so keen on having me leave and never come back was it?" Po asked to the panda. "Because you didn't wanted to be reminded of how much of a failure you were. A failure as a master, and a failure as a father. You knew that you would be reminded of that each time you looked at me, and that was why you wanted me out of your hair. You did it to Tai Lung by sending him to a prison, but I was never that important, was I? I was the kind of embarrassment that you could easily get rid of and forget existed just by kicking me out. I guess that, in this point, it was a good thing that you didn't cared about me as much as you cared about your fucking son! Even though, like it was with me, you only cared about him until the moment he was no longer something for you to brag about!"
Shifu was shaking. He was trying to fight back the tears as Po's words hit him right where they hit the most.
"But... you did teach me something very important." The panda leaned forward. "You taught me that, when push comes to shove, the only one you can count is yourself. That things like comradery and gratitude are nothing more than stupid notions that we make up to convince ourselves that the strangers who we fight alongside actually give a fuck about us. That, just like we were born alone, we all eventually die alone, so we should never expect for people to actually be there for us when we need them the most."
The next words dripped with contempt and resentment:
"So, thank you for this final lesson, master."
"Po..." Shifu said, his voice starting to break "I-I was trying to-"
"Shut it!" The panda silenced him with a scream. "Shut your fucking mouth! I don't want to hear your excuses! I don't want to hear your apologies! Just shut the fuck up, because I don't want to hear your voice ever again! I'd like to rip your hand off with my new hands and toss it in the trash just so I would never have to hear you talk again!"
Each word Po said to the small master dripped with rage and contempt. It caused Shifu to shrink even more under his tirade, while the panda looked at him while breathing deeply through his nose.
"Leave..." the panda said coldly, as he got up and turned around, going back to working on fixing the restaurant. For that, he was using his new prosthetic hands, which the Emperor himself had custom-made for him.
"Po..."
"Leave!"
"Po, please, listen to me!"
"I said leave!"
"Po, please!" Shifu was pleading. Something he almost never did, but that he was doing at that very moment. "If you just let me explain-"
However, Po had no intention of letting Shifu explain anything.
"I SAID-" The panda reached for a nearby cleaver, holding it with his mechanical hand, before turning around to face Shifu, the blade lifted high.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Then, on the split second before the blade swung down at him, in Shifu's mind's eye, the growling panda was replaced by a roaring snow leopard.
Shifu gasped as he crumbled.
He buried his face on his hands as he took deep, gasping breaths. His body was shaking as the memoires passed.
However, the damage was already done.
Shifu had failed to reach inner peace.
Again.
"Why do I still try?" the red panda asked himself as he wiped away the few tears that were coming out, before he sighed.
Then he got up and started making his way back to the Jade Palace.
However, he stopped after just a couple steps, as it was too difficult to walk.
"Dammit." Shifu muttered under his breath. "This thing is jamming again..."
He then lifted the bottom of his robe, leaning into a tree as he checked for his leg.
After fumbling with it for a while, the whole leg detached from his thigh, before the red panda reattached the prothesis, causing it to click as it was put in place.
It was a fine craftsmanship, nearly as good as Po's hands. However, it had been jamming a lot lately. Perhaps he needed to take it to be checked?
It was okay now, as Shifu tested it a little bit, before he lowered his robe to hide his mechanical leg. As he did, he stopped to look at the tree he had been leaning over.
For years, there had been two peach trees on that hill. One of which had started to grow right after Po's victory over Tai Lung. However, half-a-decade ago, one of the two trees suddenly fell ill and started losing its petals.
It was, much to everyone's surprise, the youngest of the two trees. The older one was still as healthy as ever while the younger one quickly deteriorated. No one knew why, but they knew it had started right after the Forbidden Company took Po away. The leaves kept falling and falling during the time Po was gone, and the last ones left fell off on the days following the panda's return.
The tree was pretty much dead by the time that the Chameleon's plot was discovered, and a lot of people still attributed it to Po turning his back on China, kung fu and the Jade Palace.
No... Shifu thought, looking up at the empty branched of the tree as he had a hand on its cold bark. We were the ones who turned our backs on him... and it was when he needed us the most.
Shifu looked down, sighing as he pressed his hand on the tree's trunk. Many told him that they should just cut down the tree, since it has been dead for a long time, before the trunk rot and the tree toppled by itself. However, Shifu never could bring himself to give the order to do so.
He didn't have the heart to do it.
"Master Shifu!" The voice suddenly brought Shifu down from his reflections, causing him to look in time to see one of the servants flying at him very quickly. "Master Shifu!"
The goose arrived, and he was panting, honking as he breathed, and he was trying to recover his breath to tell the little master something.
"What is it?" Shifu asked, "Have the Five come back?"
"Y-yes..." the goose said, "I saw them while I was flying... they were going to the Training Hall."
Shifu nodded.
"Good, I will go there to see them."
"B-but wait, that is not why-"
"You can take a break now."
"But, master Shifu!"
"I have to go oversee my students' training now, so please." Shifu had a hand up as he said that, and he walked away from the goose, who looked like he still had something important to say to the small master.
Shifu, on his end, went down to the Training Hall, and he was surprised for seeing a bunch of the Palace's servants gathered before the closed doors of the Training Hall, sounds that denoted training coming from the inside.
What are all of them doing here? Shifu thought as he saw the geese gathered before the doors, some of them whispering to each other in an excited murmur. Meanwhile, the sound of something being broken came from the inside of he Training Hall. Sounded like Tigress demolishing another one of the swinging clubs.
Well, at least my students are working hard...
Then more shattering sounds came from the inside, which told Shifu that, whoever was doing it, was going all out.
"You are quite inspired today my students." Shifu said to himself. "Well done."
"Thank you, master... Master!?"
Shifu looked to the side with wide eyes, and he was shocked to see the Five looking at him with equally wide eyes.
"What the... what are you doing out here!?" Shifu asked, surprised. "Why aren't you training!?"
"W-we were going to..." Monkey said. "But, when we arrived, the doors were closed, and we could hear someone already inside. We thought it was you, so we decided not to disturb... but, you are out here..."
Monkey looked as confused as Shifu was feeling right now. That was when the goose came again:
"I was trying to tell you, Master Shifu!" He stumbled as he arrived. "The Five are not the ones using the Training Hall! I only saw them on my way to the peach hill when I was going to tell you!"
"Wait, tell me what?" Shifu asked. "Who is training?"
Shifu and the Five were not ready for the goose's answer:
"It's Master Po!"
Po was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't even notice the doors opening and six figures rushing inside.
He continued to jump from ring to ring, holding onto them with his mechanical hands as he swung his body around as if he weighed only a third of what he did. Then, by letting go of the last one, he landed on the Jade Turtle rolled into a ball, and he rolled inside of it like a marble on a bowl, before skillfully balancing himself on the edges and parrying the arrows with his mechanical hands. He even grabbed one of them and threw it back at the crossbow that fired it, effectively destroying.
Then, he jumped past the two swinging iron balls and into the dummy field. He walked through it while blocking the spin of the dummies' limbs. When they started spitting sparks and smoke on him, Po growled as he started punching. Each blow of his hands sent a head flying off or downright broke the entire dummy.
Then, as he moved past them, he stood on the Fiery Pit. He felt carefully, hearing the clicks as the mechanism bellow used gunpowder to produce columns of flames. He was able to sense each one, and to dodge them before they erupted and, after dodging precisely ten of them, the panda jumped back, making a mortal backflip before landing on the end of the obstacle course, panting slightly.
"Zeng!" Po said, "Time!"
The goose was quick to answer:
"Two minutes and twelve seconds! You are almost there, Po!"
The panda sighed, and he looked back at the obstacle course as the other geese were already replacing the swinging clubs and the dummies Po broke on his last run. He was nearly on his time again. He just needed to go one more time and- wait...
Why was he thinking about going again?
Why was he worried with that fucking record!?
He didn't even want to come there in the first place!
"Po!" A voice said. A familiar one. Po looked up to see six figures coming to him. On the very front, a green limbless thing was slithering on his direction.
"You came back!"
Po stepped back, growling as he got into fighting position. This caused the six figures to stop dead on their tracks. Including Viper, whose smile dropped nearly immediately as she saw Po glaring at her as he growled and held both his fists up.
For a long moment, they only looked at each other, before Po slowly put his arms down, the tension leaving his body, but the glare was still on his eyes as he looked at the snake. Then, he turned his look at the rest of the group.
"Sup?" He said, sounding casual, as he looked at all of them.
"Hey..." Tigress said, after a long silence. "You... you actually came back."
"What about it?" Po said to them. "Are you going to kill me for coming here?"
The way he asked that made all of them flinch.
"No, Po." Shifu said walking forward. "We are actually happy for seeing you here."
The panda looked at him for a moment. And he saw... sincerity (?) on Shifu's eyes.
"I needed a place for training." Po looked away as he said that. "And this is the best you can find on the region."
"I knew it!" The voice came from a small green blur that jumped from the ground right into Po's shoulder and started hugging his face.
"Hey!"
"I knew you would not be gone forever man!" Mantis said as he continued to hug the panda's head. "You just love kung fu too much for that! I knew you just needed some time to come around!"
Po's scowl deepened as he felt the bug hugging him.
Po soon reached for the bug and grabbed him with his mechanical fingers, before tossing him to Monkey.
"I'm not here because I want to!" Po said to the six of them, feeling like he had to make things very clear. "I am here on business!"
"Business?" Monkey asked, as Mantis recovered on top of his head. "Like, business from your restaurant?"
"He is referring to me!" Said a voice that caused all the six masters to turn to see a Komodo dragon walking forward. He had a lifted hand as he walked to them, and he said:
"I kind of convinced Mr. Ping that coming here would be good. You know, better for training than that clearing down on the village..."
The six of them looked at the lizard.
"Who are you?" Mantis asked.
"Oh, I... I'm Bisa. Hi." The lizard said sounding awkward. "Wow, I cannot believe I am talking to Master Shifu and the Furious Five! Man, I have those dolls of you guys, and you all look exactly like them! Except much bigger! Except for you, Mantis, you are about the same..."
They all continued to stare the lizard, what was starting to make the lizard uncomfortable, and that was when Zeng chimed in:
"Bisa tried the obstacle course but, he didn't do it well. So, Po decided to go once so he could show his student how it was done. But he got upset because he was off his time by nearly four minutes, so he decided to go a few more times to recover his timing, and he is almost doing it!"
The Five and Shifu all processed what they just heard. And there was one part of what Zeng said that captured their attention:
"His... student?"
"Oh yeah!" Bisa was smiling. "Mister Ping is teaching me kung fu."
Shifu looked at him for a few seconds, before turning his wide eyes at Po.
"You... you are teaching?" He asked, and Po looked away.
"You are teaching a Komodo dragon!?" Monkey sounded like he could not believe it, and this only made the panda scowl even harder. Monkey turned to the lizard.
"How did you convince Po to teach you!?"
He was genuinely asking, and he was surprised when Bisa said he didn't convinced Po to do anything.
"Honestly, I was really surprised when he came to me and asked me if I wanted to learn kung fu from him."
"He asked you to be his student!?" It was Viper's turn to sound baffled as she asked that question.
"Yeah, it was out of nowhere too." Bisa explained. "It was past dinner, and I was on the inn I am staying-"
"Enough of this!" Po snapped, causing everyone to flinch as he yelled. He then stopped and took a deep breath.
"Alright, just to sum it up." The panda said, "This guy is my 'student'..." Po threw in air-quotes, for some reason. "And I needed a place to train him. Somehow, he convinced me to come here, and now here I am! So, what I want to know is, will you let me use this place to give him kung fu lessons? Or do I need to go back to the clearing to dig a pit with bamboo stakes at the bottom?"
They all were looking at the panda, who looked at all of them.
"So?"
Silence followed, and then Shifu said:
"You can use the Jade Palace to train your student Po. You have every right to."
He even bowed to Po as he said that. The panda looked at him, his expression softening ever so slightly, what the Five and Bisa noticed. However, Po's face hardened once again.
"Okay then." The panda said casually, with a "whatever" tone, before he turned to the Komodo.
"So, I was going to go one time, I went four, now it's your turn. Go to the starting line."
"Actually, I was thinking that if you go one more time maybe I could-" Bisa was saying, but Po cut him off.
"Go the starting line now! Go, go, go, go, go!"
Under that, Bisa could do nothing more than scramble as he rushed to the beginning of the obstacle course while saying "yes, sir!". Po looked at him go, before turning at the others, who were still looking at him.
"What!?"
The panda sounded impatient. Annoyed, even. Shifu, however, had a soft tone as he said:
"We are just happy that you returned to the Jade Palace."
Po looked at the small master, and then at the others. They all had those expressions as they looked at him.
Tigress. Crane. Mantis. Monkey. Even Zeng.
Viper...
"Don't get used to it." The panda said, looking away as he went to get in position to see Bisa going through the obstacle course again.