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"Um… Is this where I sign up for the Kung Fu Club tryouts?" came a nervous, hesitant voice.
Crane looked up from his evaluations sheet and squinted at the large panda standing in front of the table. "Do I know you from somewhere?" A wingtip scratched his beak. "I'm 99% sure I have a class with you."
"Po Ping, eleventh grade, Mrs. Chao's Algebra class," the panda supplied helpfully.
"Yeah…" agreed Mantis, tuning in to the conversation. "And aren't you in the chess club or something, too?"
The panda grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head. "Yeah, I am. Well, I mean, I was. Group Beta-Seven, the junior varsity team. Not enough people signed up this year, though, so they canceled it. Thought I'd try something new."
"What made you pick Kung Fu?" asked Crane.
"Uh… I watch a lot of movies?"
Mantis leaned back to take in all of the panda's bulk. "You sure you're in the right place?"
"Oh let him give it a shot," piped in a female voice. The green form of Viper slithered up to the table, grabbing a pen with her tail and starting to fill out a new eval sheet. She smiled up at Po. "Just so you know, it's club policy that all new tryout candidates do have to go one round against the club president so she can get a feel for your skill level."
"Club president?"
Viper pointed with her tail.
Po turned to see a blur of orange and black engaged in a fast-pitched spar with another tryout hopeful. His mouth went slightly dry.
"Tigress?!" he squeaked.
"Mm-hmm," replied Viper, busy filling out information on his sheet.
Po pointed in disbelief. "That Tigress?!"
"Yup!" Mantis answered, busy taking down his own notes.
"Varsity Team MVP, winner of the regional championship three years in a row, voted Prom Queen two years running Tigress?!"
Viper handed him a sticker with a number on it and smiled. "Good luck!" she told him.
Po gulped, nervously peeling off the sticker and taking his place in line.
There seemed to be an awfully large crowd on the bleachers, and not all of them looked like they were tryouts. From the cheers and shouts of, "Get him, Tigress!" and "Varsity represent!", he had a nagging suspicion that the tryouts had attracted a cadre of non-clubmember fans.
His turn came up all too soon.
"Go get 'em, film buff," sniggered the candidate in line behind him, giving him a shove forward.
Po stumbled, tripping over his feet a moment, then recovered quickly with a nervous laugh.
Tigress adopted a casual pose, her paws on her hips, expression amused.
"You're a new face," she commented. "Done any martial arts before, big guy?"
"Uh… some," he answered, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. "Karate classes when I was little. And then a year and a half under Master Ox from the dojo just up the street." He let out a strained chuckle, suddenly acutely aware of his own gut. "I'm… uh… a bit out of practice."
"I'll go easy on you," Tigress promised, crouching down and readying her stance.
-KFP-
Two minutes later, Po was flat on his back on the practice mat, the loud cheers of the fans in the bleachers ringing in his ears.
Or maybe that was his ears ringing.
He saw Tigress standing over him, upside-down in his vision. She didn't look like she had even broken a sweat.
"Well, your form is terrible, your style is a confusing mishmash of different disciplines, and your physical constitution needs a lot of work before it's remotely ready to handle the rigors of actual Kung Fu," she assessed with a frown. Unexpectedly, she reached down to offer him a hand up. "But you do seem to have a bit of an underlying knack for it," she considered.
Po's ears perked up hopefully. "I do?" he asked.
"You got better as you went. Corrected your mistakes," Tigress explained as she helped him to his feet. "You're out of shape but you learn quick. And we can always use an extra member or two, in case of injury." She poked him in the stomach with a playful smile. "Drop a couple pounds before tryouts are over, and we'll be happy to let you join the club."
"Really?!" Po exclaimed, eyes wide, feeling a jolt of elation. Then he coughed, getting hold of himself. "I mean—that's awesome! Yeah… that's—that's great!" He coughed again, awkwardly. "Um… do we get snacks?"
Tigress's expression went flat, apparently coming to the end of her amusement with him. "Vending machine's outside the gym," she said, tilting her head in that direction. "I do expect some discipline and self-control in my club, Sophomore," she warned.
Heat rushed across his face and he shrunk slightly. "Heh. Right." He backed up off the mat and began to make his hasty retreat, passing by Monkey—the final member of the Varsity team—on his way.
"She likes you!" Monkey whispered encouragingly, giving him a thumbs up.