A Long-winded Journey
I do not own Kung Fu Panda.
It was a day like any other in the Valley of Peace; the sun shone upon the greenery, casting a slight glow that resembled the glow of chi, the living energy that coursed through all living beings. The town, as usual, was bustling with activity as street merchants called out to anyone who passed by their stalls. The intensity of the noise reverberated throughout the streets, echoing all the way up the thousand steps to the fabled Jade Palace.
It was on this day that a certain tiger was in the training hall as usual; Perfecting her techniques and, as always, working hard without any rest. In truth, Tigress struggled to rest and was always on her toes, ready for the next mission.
She swerved through the wooden warriors, dodging and weaving as the rotating arms came around, attempting to throw her off balance. Her heightened feline senses studied the situation around her. Turning around, she threw a lethal double-palm strike toward the swinging club of oblivion that approached, smashing it into debris. The aftermath was scattered all over the place.
Something was troubling her mind as she trained. Her way of dealing with thoughts and complicated feelings was to take out her frustration on the equipment and channel it, as a way to get more training done. She sought solace through this way of facing her feelings. She was not one to express emotion easily. This skill was honed through years of training and discipline that had become second nature to her. A result of the training that Master Shifu had put her through.
After everything she had been through in Gongmen with Po, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to her home. All she could remember was Bao Gu and the suffering she went through there, being a tiger cub in an orphanage full of cattle. It was all going horribly until Master Shifu came along, almost like a God, and understood Tigress for who she truly was. Soon after, Shifu grew cold and distant, ever since Tai Lung set waste to the valley and was thrown into Chor-Gom.
Tigress wanted to know what happened to her parents, she wanted to know what happened to her home. She simultaneously somersaulted, then took a glance around, recognizing the damage she had just caused to the training hall. She shrugged and walked out, brushing off the aches in her limbs to dinner as she heard the distant call of a panda way off into the distance. Tigress strutted towards the source of Po's voice
"DINNER'S READY!", She heard Po exclaim.
"Hey Tigress" Po called out to Tigress cheerfully, with his signature stupid smile on his face, the one he usually greeted her with.
"Hey Po." She grunted as she walked by him into the kitchen.
She was greeted by the various aromas from dishes Po had prepared for her, the rest of the five, and Master Shifu. Another week had gone by with no missions except for the occasional bandit raid by those troublesome Crocs or other wannabe villains.
Tigress sat down and picked up her chopsticks grabbing her bowl of spicy noodle soup while the others sat down, ready to tuck in. All that could be heard was the sound of slurping and chewing as Mantis and Monkey downed their bowls, the loudest of everyone there was Chef Po. He had already finished his bowl of soup within seconds of getting his paws on it.
'Oh, Po, what a journey you've been on, look at how far you have come.' Tigress thought to herself. 'From that hopeless panda you started as, to proving to everyone that you were much more.'
'I am not proud to admit it, but I was not fond of you at all when I first laid eyes on you. I just saw you as a nuisance limiting my potential as a Kung Fu warrior.' Tigress's train of thought continued.
'But now I see that you are so much more; that I'm so much more. I don't need to be the Dragon Warrior to be a formidable respected Kung Fu warrior. I don't need a title to be strong and protect those who can not protect themselves.'
Tigress couldn't help but recite their latest journey to Gongmen city and what they had gone through there, especially Po.
'I wonder what it must feel like to find out about your origins no matter how bad they might be,' Tigress silently pondered, 'I was there for Po when he found out about his, and I'm sure he'll be there for me.'
Tigress peeked upwards from her bowl and saw the panda wink at her, leaving her freezing on the spot. Her tail, which was fluttering about in anticipation earlier, froze as stiff as a stick. her face was devoid of any emotion. Po chuckled to himself as he caught her reaction.
Tigress had barely picked at her food and had been so lost in thought that Master Shifu noticed. He decided to confront her about it.
"What's wrong Tigress?" Shifu exclaimed in a curious tone with one eyebrow raised. "You seem lost in thought."
Tigress shook away her wariness and, with no change in her expression, locked eyes with her master.
"Something is troubling my mind," she muttered, unable to keep eye contact. Once again Tigress glanced down at her soup.
This confused the others including Shifu, as Tigress was not one to back down from a confrontation. She usually stood her ground, Fearlessly.
"We're here for you sister, what's on your mind?" Viper exclaimed in a motherly tone.
Tigress sighed deeply, "It's just, ever since our mission to Gongmen I can't help but be curious. What happened to my parents? Where am I from?"
Considering the fate of the pandas, Tigress shuddered thinking about the possibilities.
"I want to find out what happened, I need to know," Tigress explained "Maybe then I can live in peace?"
Tigress looked to Shifu "Master, I will never find inner peace unless I come to terms with my past and am at peace with it, whatever happened." She bellowed in a serious tone, clearly on edge.
Her nostrils flared and her tail stiffened as her claws threatened to unsheath. No one had seen Tigress as serious as she was right now, and that was saying something.
"Tigress, might I remind you that there are no signs of any living tigers as of now, and no one has heard from them in many years," Shifu explained bluntly. "A journey without any leads would be a complete waste of time, especially considering that anything could happen while you leave," Shifu briefed her, ignoring the state that Tigress was in at that moment.
"Master, with all due respect, we've been around without a mission for too long. The only threats we've dealt with have been bandits and nothing else, you don't need me for these puny threats." Tigress reasoned, gesturing her open paw towards the group.
"Any of the five could defeat these bandits single-handedly." spat the aggravated tiger.
"Are you suggesting that you want to go on this mission alone?" questioned Shifu, clearly not approving of the plan she wanted to go through with.
"If I have to go alone so be it" Tigress declared in a cold tone, not wavering even in the slightest of the long trek ahead of her.
She had to know where she came from, and who she was. It was Po's mission that had brought her to her senses, she had never been curious about what had happened until the panda had figured out his origins.
Tigress' insides boiled. She recalled how she had been raised so senseless like she wasn't a living being like everyone else. It was her master whom she had once seen as a father who drilled her into this war machine. As a result, she strove to honor the art of Kung fu and rest at nothing to save everyone who couldn't protect themselves, without thinking about whether she made it out alive or not.
Was she not supposed to care about herself?
Did her life not matter at all to him or her?
She didn't know what, or even, how to feel until Po had strutted into her affairs and brought her to her senses. He brought the colour into her life that she so desperately needed. Colour, which she had been deprived of ever since before she was a kid.
"I cannot allow such a dangerous mission." Shifu exclaimed seriously, tapping his staff on the ground in irritation "Especially considering that you don't have any leads to the rough whereabouts of these tigers, assuming that they're still living."
Tigress' vein on her head bulged. She had finally had enough of all those years staying completely obedient to her master. For once she wanted to do something herself, she felt it was a necessity, she needed her individuality.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH THIS," Tigress snapped suddenly,
"ALL THESE YEARS DOING WHATEVER YOU TELL ME TO DO, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS AND DO WHAT I WANT TO DO!" Tigress yelled, her nostrils flaring as she stood up and punched the table.
The bowl in front of her shattered, shards of ceramic flying in different directions most of them covering Tigress. She ignored them in her rage as her claws unsheathed and she let out a guttural roar.
"I just want to find out who I am, I know there's more to life than Kung fu," Tigress started to tear up. "Po helped me see that, but if I want to figure it out I'm going to need to find out what happened first," she concluded as tears started to roll down her face.
She sobbed, turning around to shield her broken state from the others; using her large paws to wipe the tears away. Suddenly Tigress felt huge, plush arms wrap around her, and so she nestled herself into the warm embrace of the cuddly warmth that was Po.
"I'll go with her Master Shifu." Po Announced, as he rubbed Tigress' back attempting to soothe her. "Don't worry this has to happen for the good of Tigress, it's the least I could do for her after she helped me get through my trauma."
Tigress' muffled voice responded from the inside of their embrace. "Po I couldn't ask you to do that, not after everything you've done for us."
"I want to do this Tigress, not just because you were there for me but, because I want to do it for you," Po reassured Tigress locking eyes with her as she gazed into his jade orbs.
Po had the most serious and committed expression on his face that he'd ever had, which was saying something. Po was not one to be serious, usually.
Monkey and Mantis were too busy giggling in the background to comment on what was going on, but it was clear what they were laughing at as Po stood there with Tigress in his arms.
"Hey Po, just don't come back with a bunch of panda/ tiger babies. It's going to be a challenge feeding all those mouths after having to cook for us." chuckled Mantis.
Monkey could only cover his mouth to prevent a sequence of giggles from escaping.
Tigress responded with a growl towards them which silenced them.
Crane did not want to participate in whatever conversation was happening at that moment. So to prevent an early death he knew Tigress would be more than happy to gift them, he pushed his hat down over his eyes and tried his best to finish the rest of his meal.
Viper whipped Mantis and Monkey with her tail in response to their insensitive comments.
"Now now boys, I don't want you two joking around about whatever is going on between Po and Tigress; maybe you two are just jealous of what those two have," said Viper slyly, giving them dirty looks.
"Pfft," responded Mantis while Monkey just looked down into his bowl, "Yeah well, maybe you and Crane have something to say for yourselves?" Mantis shot back at Viper, which caused her to blush deeply as Crane coughed and looked in the opposite direction.
"Nothing's going on between us," muttered Viper coyly as she looked down into her bowl.
"Yeah yeah sure," laughed Mantis.
"Sounds like to me that we're in a room full of love birds," giggled Monkey as he bit into an almond cookie.
"SHUT UP MONKEY!" Tigress and Viper yelled in sync as they both glared from either side of the room.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry!" Monkey cried out with his hands in the air as he looked away.
Master Shifu sighed aloud and gazed over the group, slightly uncomfortable with what was unfolding in front of him.
Shifu spoke. "Very well then, you leave at dawn tomorrow. I suggest you start packing for the journey and rest well."
Shifu had his head resting on his palm as he finished off his meal, and got up to leave. "It sounds to me that there's going to be a long trek ahead of you two,"
"Thank you, Master." Tigress cried out and bowed to the leaving Master. His footsteps could be heard down the hall as he plodded away for a much-needed meditation session.
"Well I guess we should get packing and then go to sleep," recounted Po as he started creeping his way towards the door, surely to walk out and gather his belongings.
His Belongings mainly included the many action figures of his friends that he owned despite knowing them personally and hanging out with them every day.
"I best be gathering my belongings as well" muttered Tigress as she walked off on her way to the barracks, her tail swaying between her legs in anticipation of the journey ahead of them the next day.
So many questions were swirling around her head.
Were her parents alive?
Where did she come from?
What happened?
For now, she had to keep a clear conscience to focus on the task at hand, she didn't have that many belongings anyway.
'I'll probably just pack a spare change of clothes and some provisions of food and water; tofu it is," she thought to herself.
THE NEXT DAY:
At the crack of dawn, Tigress and Po stood at the gates of the Jade Palace ready to leave for the journey ahead of them.
It was challenging to get the sleeping panda out of his bed. However, Tigress eventually got him up after threatening to leave for the journey without breakfast. It had seemed to work as he scrambled out of the bed, tripping over and smacking his head on the ground much to Tigress' amusement.
Tigress stood with her paws behind her back honourably; As if on any other mission. Po was busy rummaging through his bag to make sure he had everything he needed.
"I think that's everything," Po announced to his friends who had come to see the two off. Po zipped his bag up, threw it over his shoulder onto his back, then fasted the straps.
"Did you have to bring that much stuff, including your action figures?" Tigress questioned him looking as if she had enough.
"Well yeah, these things are really important to me." Po nodded at her while he tapped his fingers together in awkwardness with a nervous look in his eyes.
"Oh alright then," sighed Tigress. "We'd best leave now," she announced as she stepped forward and bowed towards Master Shifu.
"I think we can spare the honour this time Tigress, this is a serious journey you're headed on," Shifu spoke softly, subtle regret in his tone. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you in the past and how I haven't treated you the best" Shifu continued, looking down at the ground.
"I don't expect you to forgive me; I just want to let you know that deep down, after everything you've been through, I love you. I am very proud of you." Shifu lifted his eyes from the ground to meet Tigress'.
Po nudged Tigress and gave her a reassuring smile, letting her know it was okay to show her state of mind at the moment. He wouldn't think any less of her.
She flew forward and hugged Master Shifu, "Thank you, Master." was all she could respond with.
Her mind was a swirling tornado at that moment.
"We should leave now," Tigress exclaimed, already walking out of the gates.
"Bye Tigress!" Viper called after her all the while being suffocated in a hug by Po who already had Crane, Monkey, and Mantis in his arms.
"Bye, guys! You're all awesome remember that!" Po told all of them and bowed to Master Shifu, then unannounced, pulled him into the embrace as well.
"Get your paws off me panda!" Shifu told Po off, as he jumped back and bowed once again.
"Uh yes, sorry Master," Po fell on his back and scrambled to his paws before taking off towards the leaving tiger in the distance. "Wait up Tigress!" Po cried out to her as she continued to strut into the distance.
END CHAPTER!
Haha, Typical Tigress huh? I'll always love that character and the rest of them of course but Tigress is my favourite after all. But yeah what'd you think about the first chapter there's going to be a lot more coming soon don't worry. I'm going to be putting a lot of ideas and planning into this to try and make it as imaginative and good as possible. After all, we don't know who Tigress's parents are and where she came from or what happened as of yet, so it does require me to make it all up so that's a heads up. But do read and review honestly. I'm always open to criticism so I can get it right next time but do balance it out with what I did well as well just so it doesn't seem pessimistic lmao. But anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter and more will be coming soon on this Tigress Tale as she and Po start their long trek on a journey to find Tigress her inner peace with Po as a friend and possibly even moreā¦. Hehe guess you'll find out soon, I love these two.
Note: Credit to ArbyNewSkiis for proofreading and editing to make it flow better, so thank you!
And that's all for now.
T.S OUT!
