Chapter Text

Kung Fu Panda 1

Darkness was all I could see, after all, I went to sleep at 3 in the morning.

"Little one."

I jumped as my eyes shot open, still seeing nothing but endless blackness. "Hello?" I questioned hearing my voice echo. "Where am I?" The echo was my only reply.

A bright glow illuminated from afar, "Hello there" a bodiless voice says drawing my attention to the yellow light, it was a sphere maybe the size of a golf ball.

"Are you god?" My voice draws off as I roll my eyes, "Dammit that means Dest won that bet."

A small chuckle drew me out of my thoughts as the light lit up more signifying it was talking, "No, a god I am not."

Fucking Yoda?

"Am I dreaming?" The light spun around me, sizing me up,

"Dreaming, not dreaming, what does that matter?" I frown semi-annoyed already. "You are chosen"

"Chosen?" I pause a second, "TO DIE?!" My eyes widened.

"No, no. to help." He laughs, or it laughs.

"Who am I supposed to be helping?" I questioned as pink petals started swarming around us forming their own type of hurricane.

"𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓓𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓸𝓷 𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓻."

☁️⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆☁️⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊☁️⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆☁️

☁️⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊☁️⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆☁️

☁️⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆☁️

☁️⋆ ☾⋆☁️

☁️

Hearing a commotion I prick my eyes open finding myself lying down on the smooth ground. With my vision still blurry all I could do was watch the huge figure in front of me excitedly bounce around.

"The Sacred Hall of Warriors! No way! Look at this place!" It spots something and runs up to it, I tightly shut my eyes pressing my full hand against the ground to push me up.

"Master Flying Rhino's armor. With authentic battle damage!"

The blurriness faded leaving me to see a Panda. A literal Panda! He turns and sees another artifact — a green sword, he runs up to it.

"Whoa... The Sword of Heroes! Said to be so sharp you can cut yourself just by looking—" He stares at it intently, "OW!" Along with my confusion, a smile grew at his childishness, as he shakes his finger and sucks it. He then runs up to an empty display, "The Invisible Trident of Destiny!" He looks up at a painting and gasps. "I've only seen paintings of that painting..."

I manage to push myself into a sitting position as my brain recognizes whatever the hell is going on, "Po?" I mutter in a whisper.

There is no way that in front of me is an animated character, that I used to watch as a kid. "The Dragon Warrior" a voice whispers in my head reminding me of the dream I had. Can that be called a 'dream?' unless-

I pinch myself flinching from the pain of it, yeah no totally not a dream. Feeling a tug on my wrist I look down to see a string, my body scoots against the ground as it pulls me forwards. My eyes follow the string seeing the other end attached to Po's wrist.

He spots an urn that appears to be glowing from the inside and gasps, "Nooo! Ohhhh!" he loudly exclaims running up to it which made me lose balance and flop onto my stomach as I was dragged against the ground.

Oh you've got to be kidding me, I'm supposed to 'Help' this guy; which isn't as bad as being forced to stay by his side 24/7!

"The Legendary Urn of Whispering Warriors... said to contain the souls of the entire Tenshu Army!" He hesitates before coming close to the urn and whispering into it. "Hello?"

I glare at the character as I rub my cheek, which was the part that hit the ground harshly.

"Have you finished sightseeing?" My eyes widened thinking the souls talked back to him.

Po gasps, "Sorry! I should have come to see you first!"

"My patience is wearing thin." Talk about being rude for souls.

"Oh. Well, I mean, it's not like you were going anywhere." Po says, making my smile widen.

"Do turn around." I peek around the Giant Panda to see a smaller character, fu? Fu-something... There are too many fu's in my memory.

"Sure." Po shrugs turning around to see the smaller guy "Hey, how's it going?" he nonchalantly says and turns back to the urn. "Now how do you get five hund— Master Shifu!"

SHIFU! How come I had a hard time remembering that?

Startled, he accidentally knocks over the urn, and there is a ghostly wail as it shatters on the ground. Po, mortified, looks up at Shifu.

"Someone... broke that." Shifu stares at him in silence. So Po attempts to pick up the pieces. "But I'm going to fix it. Do you have some glue?..." He knocks on the urn's display table, and it topples on his head as Shifu continues to stare. "Ow! Ooh. Splinter."

I accidentally snort while watching the hilarious scene in front of me, both characters turn to me.

"You're awake." I push off the ground that I was mopping with my body earlier to fully stand up.

"Where are we?" I questioned as Shifu walked down to me and bowed.

"The Jade palace my lady." he said reaching up for my hand.

"'My lady? The name is Y/n." I correct placing my hand in his small four-fingered one. He slowly led me up towards where Po stood.

The panda with no sense of personal space poked my cheek, "You're weirdly squishy."

"Weird?!" I meant to smack his hand away but to him, it probably didn't even feel like anything.

"What are you?"

"Human" I growl out annoyed by his questioning.

"Please excuse me, Dragon Y/n." I lift my eyebrow confused by the small master's words

"So you're the legendary Dragon Warrior, hmm?" Shifu asks, prompting the tall panda to take his hands off of me.

"Uh... I guess so?"

"Wrong!" Po stiffens as alarmed as I am. "You are not the Dragon Warrior. You will never be the Dragon Warrior until you have learned the secret of the Dragon Scroll." With his staff, he points up at the ceiling at the scroll.

My eyes widen as I feel my neck sting a bit while staring at the scroll. I rub the area feeling a bit uncomfortable with the aggressive intentions of the master.

"Whoa... So how does this work? You have a ladder or trampoline or..." Po asks lightning the mood.

Shifu chuckles coldly. "You think it's that easy? That I'm just going to hand you the secret to limitless power?" He crosses his tiny little arms.

"No, I-"

Shifu approaches Po. "One must first master the highest level of kung fu. And that is clearly impossible if that one is someone like you." My eyes widen at the blatant racism, or well speciesism?

"Someone like me?"

"Yes. Look at you! This fat butt." Okay, that's still mean, he hits Po's butt with his staff, making him cry out. "Flabby arms!" He hits Po's arm.

"Ouch! Those are sensitive in the flabby parts." He mutters, I step a little closer to him rubbing his arm, it's the 21st century we don't fat shame. Well, it would be great if we didn't.

"And this ridiculous belly!" He jabs Po's stomach.

"Hey..." He mutters hiding behind me a bit

"And utter disregard for personal hygiene."

"Now wait a minute. That's a little uncalled for—"

"Don't stand so close, I can smell your breath."

Po steps in front of me pointing at Shifu, "Listen, Oogway said that I was the—"

Suddenly, Shifu grabs Po's outstretched finger and lifts his pinky. Po gasps in horror. "The Wuxi Finger Hold! Not the Wuxi Finger Hold!"

"Ohhh, you know this hold?"

I look at them with crossed arms, I'm so use to the 'nice' Shifu, not this one. Must have been buried deep into my memory.

Po slurred his words "Developed by Master Wuxi in the third dynasty. Yes!" My eyes narrow feeling like the odd one out.

"Oh, then you must know what happens when I flex my pinky..."

"No no no!"

"You know the hardest part of this? The hardest part... is cleaning up afterward."

"Okay! Okay, take it easy!"

"Now listen closely, panda. Oogway may have picked you, but when I'm through with you, I promise you: You're going to wish he hadn't! Are we clear?"

God damn.

"Yeah. We're clear! We're clear! We are so clear."

"Good." He chuckles. "I can't wait to get started." I wouldn't be surprised if he could kill someone, rather scary.

I follow behind Shifu as he leads the way, a gasp leaves me as I'm picked off of the ground, and my head shoots behind me to look at the Panda.

"What's wrong with you?" I question squirming in his hold. "It's not polite to pick a woman without warning," I say setting my hand on his paws to ensure I don't fall and hurt myself.

"You're shaped so weirdly." My stare turns into a glare, "Keep insulting me Panda Bear and I'll whack the shit out of you."

His eyes pop open widely, "Insult? No-"

Both our attention was grabbed by the rest of the characters training, speechless we watched the group, "They are the furious Five" he explained to me, "That one is Crane." I look over to the bird-like character deflecting arrows while balancing on half of a jade-colored turtle shell.

"Tigeress" A tiger leaps onto the shell and briefly spars with Crane.

"Mantis," I think some of these names the author just gave up on, the praying mantis weaves his way through an army of wooden crocodile warriors.

"Viper" the snake evades fire spurts on the Field of Fiery Death.

"And Monkey" a monkey swings across the seven-talon rings.

Tigress dodges the swinging spiked clubs on spinning serpent logs, then smashes one with her bare fists. A piece of the club strikes Po on the head since I luckily pulled my body into the fetal position.

"Let's begin." Shifu says prompting Po to let me down.

"Wait wait wait! What?" He stares at the fearsome course in front of him. "Now?"

"Yes, now. Unless you think that the great Oogway was wrong, and you are not the Dragon Warrior?..."

"Oh, okay. Well... I don't know if I can do all of those moves..." He nervously says as I watch their interaction.

"Well, if we don't try, we'll never know, will we?" He begins walking along the side of the course, and Po and I follow.

"Uh, yeah. It's just— maybe we can find something more suited to my level..." The panda says as I look at all the equipment.

"And what level is that?"

"Well, ya know... I'm not a master, but uh, let's just start at zero. Level Zero." I smile a bit at the thought.

"There is no such thing as Level Zero." Shifu laughs, and yet the Panda's attention is grabbed by something. "Hey! Maybe I can start with that!" he points and runs over to a friendly-looking bandit dummy.

"That? We use that for training children. And for propping the door open when it's hot. But if you insist..."

I stand a few inches away, only now noticing the five gather around Po as well as me.

"Whoa. The Furious Five. You're so much bigger than your action figures — except for you, Mantis. You're about the same." I look down at the green mantis holding in a laugh.

Mantis's antennas twitch as he glares, and Po uncomfortably looks away from him.

"Go ahead, panda. Show us what you can do."

He hesitates, "Um, are they going to watch? Or should I just wait until they get back to work or something?..."

"Hit it."

"Okay. I mean I just ate, so I'm still digesting. So my kung fu might not be as good as later on..." He stalls

"Just hit it!"

The Panda pauses, "Alright..." He turns to the dummy. "Whatcha got? You got nothin' 'cause I got it right here. You picking on my friends?" I cover my mouth as he begins dancing on the spot. "Get ready to feel the thunder. I'm comin' at him with the crazy feet. Whatcha gonna do about my crazy feet? I'm a blur. I'm a blur. You have never seen bear style, you only seen praying Mantis! OR... I could come at you Monkey style." he makes monkey sounds somehow managing to embarrass me. "OR... I'm comin' at ya snikity-snake..."

"Would you hit it!?" Shifu asks losing his patients

Po stops dancing. "Alright... Alright." Hesitantly, he very lightly hits the dummy with his fist. It rocks back into place. That was too cute.

"Why don't you try again? A little harder." He does just that and this time, Po knocks the dummy all the way backward. "How's tha—"

WHACK! The dummy rights itself and whacks Po, sending him flying backward. I shriek as I'm pulled in his direction grabbing onto a pole to stop myself from being pulled onto the training course with him.

Po struggles to balance on the serpent logs and eventually ends up doing a painful split on two of them. "Ow! Oh, that hurts!" He looks up and sees a spiky tethered ball, which hits and sends Po flying into the jade turtle exercise, I sigh being yanked in his direction, as the exercise rattles him around.

"Feeling a little nauseous..." He says causing me to quietly agree, as I fix my roughed-up hair.

The turtle spills him out and he stumbles into the army of wooden warriors, and proceeds to whack every part of his body.

"Ow, those are hard! Ooh! I think I—" The last dummy whaps him in the crotch and everything becomes still. I cringe peaking over at him, "Oooohoohoo... my tenders."

"Come on Po." I gently say holding my hand out to the hurt animal, He struggles to get on his feet, takes one step, and reaches out to me ultimately hitting a dummy arm...and immediately gets pummeled all over again. Po comes out the other side battered and bruised and finds he is standing on the Field of Fiery Death.

"Uh oh." We both say, I close my eyes hiding behind Tigress to not view the pain he was enduring since she also aided in keeping me from flying off to join the fire exercise. After a while, he comes crawling towards us, dazed and charred, with the little tuft on his head on fire.

"How did I do?" he asks gasping for breath.

"There is now a Level Zero." Shifu says putting out the little fire with his fingers.

I make my way to him sitting on my knees as I pet his head down to his back to comfort him. "You did well for the first time, I think." I gently say getting a pained smile out of him.

A/N - My friend is the cause of this, he brought up the legends of awesomeness and made me remember my childhood. So here we are!

Chapter Text

A Dragon Warriors Human

“So that's what it's for?” He asks looking at the string that connected him to me.

“To keep you with me?” I hum shrugging my shoulders, “That's what it has been doing.”

I look up at him, it's kinda weird to see your childhood right in front of you.

Gently, I slapped his arm, “So try to not be brash.” I mutter, causing him to look down at me.

He opens his mouth to say something but is cut off hearing other voices.

“There's no words.” Mantis?

“No denying that.” Crane

“I don't understand what Master Oogway was thinking. The poor guy's just going to get himself killed!”

I sigh leaning against a stone.

“He is so mighty! The Dragon Warrior... fell out of the sky on a ball of fire!”

“When he walks, the very ground shakes!” Po looks down sadly as most of them laugh.

“One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu.” Tigress says prompting more comments.

“Yeah, or could at least touch his toes.”

“Or even see his toes.”

The fat jokes are getting old you assholes, they were never funny.

Po emerges from behind the rock, he attempts to look at his toes but just sees his gut. The panda lifts up his stomach, leans forward... leans... leans... and I stop him before he manages to fall.

“Po, touching or seeing your toes don't matter. Don’t let that talk get to you.” I hold his cheeks forcing him to look down at me, “Okay?” I ask gently.

“Your eyes are a weird shape.”

I frown at his insult, slapping his arm, “What did I tell you?” I ask with a glare.

“I mean-”

I started walking to the building without listening to the rest of what he was about to say.

Po peeks around the corner as the five blow out the candles in their rooms.

“Okay.” He sighs out.

He tip-toes into the hall. SQUEAK. The floorboards strain beneath him. SQUEAK.

“Great,” he whispers as I walk behind him with a lifted eyebrow

He takes a gentle step.

Cre-e-e-a-a—CHUNK! Po's foot goes through the floor, scaring me. Po tries to recover. SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK! THUNK! Po rolls his ankle and stumbles through a bedroom door. I quickly rush up peaking into the room, seeing him look at Crane nervously.

“Oh hey... hi. You're up.”

“Am now." he glances at me, "Dragon Y/n” he nods in my position and I send a wave.

“I was just, uh... Some day, huh? That kung fu stuff is hard work, right? Your biceps sore?”

Crane looks at his wing, “Um... I've had a long and rather disappointing day, so uh...yeah, I should probably get to sleep now.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, of course.” He turns to leave

“Okay, thanks.” the bird responds in relief.

“It's just... I'm such a big fan.” He says turning back, causing a sigh to leave me. “You guys were totally amazing at the Battle of Weeping River. Outnumbered a thousand to one, but you didn't stop, and then you just... WA-YA-HA-HA HI-YAH!”

Po does a spastic series of kung fu moves and... RIP... kicks his foot through the paper wall. “Ooh, sorry about that.”

“Look, you don't belong here.”

Po looks stung to be hearing this from one of his heroes, “I know. I know. You're right. I just— my whole life, I've dreamed of—”

Crane stops Po before he embarrasses himself even more, “No no no... I meant you don't belong here. I mean, in this room. This is my room. Property of Crane.”

“Oh, okay. Right right. Yeah, you want to get to sleep.” He says ridding himself of a mortified look and begins backing out of the room.

“Yeah.”

“I'm keepin' you up. We got big things tomorrow.” he starts shutting the door. “Alright. You're awesome. Last thing I'm gonna say. Okay. Bye bye.”

Po shuts the door, I cross my arms as he stands there looking at the paper door, Crane makes a noise making. Po suddenly opens the door poking his head in with an eager smile.

“What was that?”

“I didn't say anything.”

“Okay. Alright. Goodnight. Sleep well.”

This time I closed the door pushing the pandaman so he wouldn't attempt to go back in, “Seemed a little bit awkward…”

“No- I barely noticed.”

Po shakes his head at me, turns, and walks down the hall to find a vacant room for us.

CREAK-CREAK...

Tigress opens the door next to us. Po winces, as I grab onto him still a bit scared.

“Master Tigress! Didn't mean to wake you. I was just, uh—”

“You don't belong here.” Tigress scares me sometimes, those glowing eyes of hers, clinging onto Po I hide behind him a bit.

“Uh, yeah, of course. This is your room—”

Tigress approaches and glares at him. “I mean... you don't belong in the Jade Palace. You're a disgrace to kung fu, and if you have any respect for who we are and what we do, you will be gone by morning.”

She closes the door, causing Po’s eyes to flatten sadly, “Big fan…” He dejectedly says.

With the big panda walking away I jogged to keep up with him, he gasps seeing a tree.

“Why is it so high up?” I question tiredly, I wouldn't say I like walking, especially when I'm tired. The panda looks back at me, I hold my hands up to him, probably very childlike. Even so, he leans down and picks me up allowing me to sit on his arm as he continues to hike up making it to the top he sets me down.

I watch his sad movements as he sits on the edge of the cliff, I do the same taking a seat beside him.

He turns to me his mouth already full of peaches, “Didja want some?” He asks holding one up to me.

I take it from him turning it around to inspect. “Thank you.” I softly mutter. Glancing back up at him he was chomping on them while still looking at me, I take a bite out of mine and smile at its sweet taste.

“I meant good weird.” he looked away from me, referring to the earlier 'insults'

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You think I'm pretty?” I question taking another bite.

“There's no other human to compare you with-”

I glare at him turning away from him myself.

“So I guess so.”

Ignoring his backhanded comment, I lean on his shoulder watching the sunset with him.

“I see you have found the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.” The both of us spin around, Po drops the peaches in his arms in shock as we stare at the Master turtle, Oogway.

“Is that what this is? I am so sorry. I thought it was just a regular peach tree.” He says with a full mouth.

“I understand. You eat when you are upset.”

Po spits out the remaining peaches and slurs words together, “Upset? I'm not upset. What makes you think I'm upset?”

“So why are you upset?”

I gently set my hand down on his, there's no use trying to lie to Oogway.

He sighs standing up, “I probably sucked more today than anyone in the history of kung fu, in the history of China, in the history of sucking.”

I hum taking another bite of the fruit.

“Probably.” Oogway repeats.

“And the Five... man, you should have seen them, they totally hate me.”

“Totally.”

“How's Shifu ever gonna turn me into the Dragon Warrior?” He lifts his belly and drops it, causing it to bounce until he stops with his paw. He sighs, “I mean, I'm not like the Five. I've got no claws, no wings, no venom. Even Mantis has those…” I smile as he imitates a mantis's front legs “...thingies. Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.”

Po sits back down, his back to Oogway, I look between the two not knowing what to say.

“Quit, don't quit. Noodles, don't noodles.” Po and I look back at him, confused. “You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There's a saying: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

My eyes widen at his quote, damn I remember that one.

Oogway hits the tree with his staff as he walks away, and a peach falls into Po's open paw. Po smiles as he watches the tortoise leave.

He turns back to me, bumping my shoulder playfully, “Your mark is glowing.”

I raise my eyebrow at him, “Mark? What mark?”

His paw moves to my neck I pull away when the area heated up, “What is it?” I question running my hand over it.

“A dragon?” He questions assuming I already knew what it was.

“Oh great, I'm branded.” I roll my eyes covering it feeling uneasy.

“I think it looks cool on you.”

Peaking over at him my hand drops a bit, “You think so?” I question getting a nod out of him. Attempting to hide the smile forming on my face he bumps me again with his arm.

“You ready to go practice?” I frown as he stuffs the fruit into his mouth.

“I’m ready to go to sleep,” I mutter.

He smiles standing up anyway “You can nap on the way there.”

I was about to protest once he picked me up, but his body was rather comfortable, I lay my head down between the crook of his neck, yawning a bit as he started on the way down.

Chapter Text

A Dragon Warrior's Human

I blankly stared at the Panda who was looking away from me embarrassed, “How did this happen?” I question patting my hair down after my nap on the ground.

He was in the middle of the splits on top of two boards.

“Uh, just practicing.” He mutters, I roll my eyes walking closer to him.

“Let's go dragon warrior.” I sarcastically say grabbing his arms.

The both of us pause as the doors open, “What are you doing here?!” I quickly release him leading him to go back into the same position he was.

“Hey! Huh... Good morning, Master! I just thought I'd warm up a little.” He tries to lift one leg but fails.

“You're stuck.”

“Stuck?! Whaa? Pfft... stuck... does this look stuck to you... Yeah, I'm stuck.” I shake my head at him as he looks down embarrassed.

“Help him.” Shifu says to Crane causing the male to move up to Po, “Oh dear.” he mutters

Crane approaches, gingerly grabs Po's waistband, and attempts to pull him up by flapping his wings.

“Maybe on three. One. Two-” Po tries to instruct, Crane pulls him up and Po flops onto his back. He gets up to his feet and thanks him

“Don't mention it.”

“No really, I appreci—” “Ever.”

Po falls silent as Crane returns to stand by the group. I looked around nervous by the mood the group was producing.

“You actually thought you could learn to do a full split in one night? It takes years to develop one's flexibility…” Shifu flings two boards into the air, and Tigress steps forward. “and years longer to apply it in combat.”

He snaps his fingers. Instantly, Tigress leaps up and executes a perfect split kick.

Po holds his arm over my head as broken chunks of board land all around us, a large one knocking him on the head. He leans down and picks up the piece of splintered board hiding it behind his back.

“Put that down! The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones.”

“Yeah, excellent!” He chucks away the chunk.

“Let's get started.” Shifu snaps his fingers. The Furious Five gather in a line in the courtyard and Viper and Po face off.

I tilt my head sitting on the ground.

“Are you ready?” Viper asks.

“I was born ready—” Viper lashes out with her tail, flings Po into the air, and brings him crashing back down on his head.

“OW! Oh…” I worriedly stare at him.

“I'm sorry, brother! I thought you said you were ready!” She apologies.

“That was awesome! Let's go again.” He says saluting meaning to continue.

Shifu snaps moving to the next trial Monkey twirls a bamboo staff, he lunges at Po, who is also wielding a staff, I breathe out watching the bear take a comical beating.

Po and Crane prepare to spar atop the turtle bowl. CRASH. Po falls in and is tossed around like a sack of soup. Crane hovers above the bowl and looks to Shifu.

Angered, Shifu snaps again, my eyes are drowsy due to it already being sundown.

I watch Po falling on his face at the work of some invisible opponent, or just the tiny Mantis. Shifu smiles hoping he will give up soon. Flat on his back, Po manages a salute.

This time, Shifu has had it. “I've been taking it easy on you, panda, but no more! Your next opponent... will be me.”

Po peaks up looking over his stomach, “Alright! Yeah, let's go!”

I looked over at the others seeing worried looks on their faces, which didn't help my anxiety at all.

“Step forth.”

Po doesn't even finish the step as Shifu whirls him around with no effort and and throws him to the floor pinning his arm behind him.

“The true path to victory is to find your opponent's weakness and make him suffer for it.”

“Oh ho, yeah!” Po says in pain yet still happy. Shifu throws Po around again.

“To take his strength and use it against him.” Shifu kicks Po repeatedly in the face. He throws him to the floor again and grips Po by the nose. “Until he finally falls, or quits.”

Despite what Shifu is trying to do, Po is totally inspired. “But a real warrior never quits. Don't worry, Master, I will never quit!” He replies nasally.

At his breaking point, Shifu flings Po into the air and then leaps at him with a flying kick. Po crashes out of the door and tumbles down the steps.

I shriek being pulled along as I use my hands to grip the ground trying to not fall down those stairs and kill myself.

“Stop rolling!” I screech at him feeling my hands begging to scrape on the ground as i continue to save my own life.

— — — — —

“Sorry.” I listen to Po’s sad voice as I soak in the warmed-up pond.

He's sitting behind a rock while I bathe because hygiene is important to me.

I sigh looking over at him, “It's alright, you didn't do anything wrong.” I gently say moving on to cleaning my hair.

“Are your hands alright?”

I look down at my scratched-up hands watching the water drain out of the openings, “I’ll live” I mutter. I step over to the shallow end, covering parts of my body with my arms as I make my way over to the clothes the others got for me.

Since it's technically ancient China the clothing is kinda, never gonna give me my jeans back, sad face.

I pulled the kimono shirt on, then the long skirt that reached my ankles, the bow on the skirt was rather hard to do. “Po?” His ears perk up as he looks over to me, “Can you help me?” I ask gesturing to the tie. He glanced over me making me nervous in his gaze. Walking over he wraps it around the top of the skirt doing what looks like a perfect bow to me.

“Thank you” I mutter looking away from him.

— — — — —

Sitting in our bunkhouse room that evening, Po was yelling in pain as I was getting my hand attended to.

“Aaaoo...whoohoo...EEEee...hee- hee... OW! I thought you said acupuncture would make me feel” I look over at the bear as Mantis holds a handful of needles and sticks him again. “better!”

“Trust me, it will. It's just not easy finding the right nerve points under all this…”

“Fat?”

“Fur, I was going to say fur.” he removes the needle and moves to another part of Po's back. As I turned back to Viper who was managing to wrap my hand up carefully.

“Sure you were.” Po skeptically says.

“Who am I to judge a warrior based on his size? I mean... look at me. I'm over here.” He jabs another needle into Po.

“Ah-HAH!”

“Maybe you should take a look at this again.” Viper released me picking up a diagram with her tail, of acupuncture meridians onto which someone has overlaid a drawing of a panda.

“Oh! Okay.”

“Ow! Don't…” He laughs making me chuckle a bit myself as I combed my hands through my hair gently.

“Stop it, stop... YOW!... I know Master Shifu's trying to inspire me and all, but if I didn't know any better... I'd say he was trying to get rid of me.”

Po chuckles but me and the other two look at each other and smile awkwardly. Po notices it and his chuckle fades.

“I know he can seem kind of heartless…” Mantis violently jabs another needle in Po.

“Ah!”

‘But, you know, he wasn't always like that.”

“According to legend, there was once a time when Master Shifu actually used to smile.”

“No…” Po gasps

“But that was before…” Viper hesitates

“Before what?”

Tigress enters the room, “Before Tai Lung.”

“Uh, yeah, we're not really supposed to talk about him,” Crane says from his room, his silhouette was on the wall.

“Well, if he's going to stay here, he should know.” The tiger girl says.

“Guys, guys. I know about Tai Lung.. He was a student, the first ever to master the thousand... scrolls of... kung fu…” Tigress gives Po a piercing stare. He nervously trails off. “and... then he turned bad... and... now he's in jail…” I hum quietly

“He wasn't just a student. Shifu found him as a cub. And he raised him as his son....and when the boy showed talent in kung fu... Shifu trained him. He believed in him. He told him he was destined for greatness. It was never enough for Tai Lung. He wanted the Dragon Scroll. But Oogway saw darkness in his heart and refused. Outraged, Tai Lung laid waste to the valley. He tried to take the scroll by force. And Shifu had to destroy what he had created. But how could he?”

I look at her feeling pain in my heart at the story.

“Shifu loved Tai Lung like he'd never loved anyone before… or since. And now he has a chance to make things right, to train the true Dragon Warrior. And he's stuck with you... a big, fat panda who treats it like a joke.”

I gasped loudly feeling a real pain in my chest, my neck burned as I looked up to see Po making a frozen googly-eyed face “Doieeeee…”

Viper looks at me worried as I fall to the ground clutching my chest, trying to breathe in oxygen I couldn't get.

“Oh, that is it!” Tigress says raising her fists.

Mantis pops up on Po's face and halts Tigress. “Wait! My fault! I accidentally tweaked his facial nerve.” Po falls face-first to the floor, revealing his back is covered with needles. I attempt to reach out for him, feeling faint, “And may have also stopped his heart.”

“Fix him” I mutter glaring at the insect, finally plummeting into darkness.

Chapter Text

A Dragon Warrior's Human

“...So I'm like, fine, you may be a wolf, you may be the scariest bandit in Haijin Province…”

I hum lightly cleaning up after Po as he cooks dinner for everyone. He chops a radish mid-air and the slices fall into the pot. Viper, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane are listening to his story with amused skepticism, but Tigress ignores him completely. Like normally.

“...but you're a lousy tipper.” Po nods to the table signifying me to take a seat, which I do.

“Really? So... how'd you get out of there alive?” Crane asks causing him to falter “I mean, I didn't actually say that, but I thought it... in... in my mind.”

Po flips some bowls and expertly lines them up on his arm. He ladles soup into them.

“If he... could read my mind, he'd have been like, ‘What?’” I roll my eyes as he makes his way over to us, “Order up!” he slides out the bowls of noodle soup to all of us minus Tigress, who already has a plate of tofu.

“Hope you like it.” He takes a seat beside me as I pick up the soup spoon eating some myself. And holy shit was it good!

“This is really good!" Mantis compliments happily.

“No, c'mon. You should try my dad's secret ingredient soup. He actually... knows the secret ingredient.” He bashfully replies.

“What are you talking about? This is amazing.” Viper agrees.

“Wow, you're a really good cook.” I nod with Crane.

“I wish my mouth was bigger.”

“Tigress, you've got to try this.” Monkey implies turning to the only one without it.

Tigress picks up her plate and picks up a piece of tofu with her chopsticks, ignoring the noodles. “It is said that the Dragon Warrior can survive for months at a time on nothing but the dew of a single gingko leaf and the energy of the universe.”

There is silence as everyone realizes that Po has been put down yet again.

I roll my eyes turning to look at the panda character, “It's the best thing I’ve ever had.” I say almost practically finishing my food.

“It's the only ‘food’ you've had here.” he smiles looking down at me.

“And the only thing I need.” I joke nudging him with my shoulder.

He looks at me nervously and quickly picks up his bowl taking a giant gulp. When he lowers the bowl, we see a noodle hanging from his face, causing Mantis to snicker.

“What?” Po asks looking at him.

“Oh, nothing... Master Shifu!”

I lightly laugh with the rest of them as Po realizes he's wearing a noodle mustache. He plays it up, picking up a chopstick and pretending it's Shifu's staff.

“You will never be the Dragon Warrior unless you lose five hundred pounds and brush your teeth!”

I think brushing your teeth is very important.

“What is that noise you're making? Laughter? I never heard of it! Work hard, Panda. And maybe, someday…” He picks up two empty bowls and holds them up like ears. “... you will have ears like mine!”

This gag has the Five in near-hysterics. Suddenly, they stop laughing. I look around him to reveal Shifu has entered behind Po, who is still holding up the 'ears'. He is holding Oogway's staff and has one hell of a scowl on his face.

“Ears. It's not working for you? I thought they were pretty good.” Po asks looking back to the stone-faced group

“It's Shifu.” Monkey whispers.

“Of course it's Shifu. What do you think I'm doing?” He looks at me and I point behind him. Po turns and finally sees Shifu standing there, doing a slow burn. In mortification and shock, he slaps the bowls to his chest.

“Ooh! Master Shifu! I…”

Po slurps up the noodle mustache and lowers his arms... the bowls stick to his chest like a bra. The Five burst out laughing. I smile lightly.

“You think this is funny?! Tai Lung has escaped from prison and you're acting like children!”

“What?” Po asks dumbstruck

“He is coming for the Dragon Scroll, and you are the only one who can stop him!”

The bowls fall off, and clatter on the floor. A beat passes as this sinks in... then Po starts to laugh. “And here I am saying you got no sense of humor. I'm gonna... stop Tai Lung…”

Shifu just stares at him, deadly serious.

“What, you're serious? And I have to... uh... Master Oogway will stop him! He did it before, he'll do it again.”

Shifu snaps, “Oogway cannot!” He softens as he looks down at Oogway's staff. “Not anymore.” My eyes widen in shock, that lovable tortoise. “Our only hope... is the Dragon Warrior.”

“The panda?” Tigress asks.

“Yes, the panda!”

Tigress pushes the chair back as she stands up. “Master, please! Let us stop Tai Lung, this is what you've trained us for!”

My eyes widen as I’m pulled out of my seat, managing to travel into the dark. The string attached to me pulled me in the direction of where Po was running off, who was screaming at the top of his lungs as he raced down the stairs in total panic. He is almost to the top of the stairs leading down to the village when Shifu suddenly jumps in front of him out of nowhere. Po skids to a stop. Stopping the force on my body.

“You cannot leave! A real warrior never quits!”

“Watch me!” He tries to maneuver around Shifu but is redirected back. “Oh come on! How am I supposed to beat Tai Lung? I can't even beat you to the stairs.”

“You will beat him because you are the Dragon Warrior!” Shifu pokes Po in the belly with the staff, keeping him back.

“Ow! You don't believe that!” Shifu hits him again. “Ow! You never believed that! From the first moment I got here, you've been trying to get rid of me!”

Po attempts to maneuver again, but Shifu sweeps his legs from under him, causing him to fall on his back. Shifu points the staff at his face.

“Yes! I was! But now I ask you to trust in your master as I have come to trust in mine.”

“You're not my master.” He shoves the staff away. “And I'm not the Dragon Warrior.” I flinch feeling a sting on my neck.

“Then why didn't you quit?! You knew I was trying to get rid of you, and yet you stayed!”

“Yeah, I stayed.” Po gets to his feet. “I stayed because though every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt... but it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me.” Silence, “I stayed because I thought if anyone could change me... could make me... not me, it was you! The greatest kung fu teacher in all of China!”

“But I can change you! I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior! And I will!”

“Oh come on! Tai Lung is on his way here right now! And even if it takes him a hundred years to get here, how are you... gonna change this…” He indicates to his belly “...into the Dragon Warrior?! Huh?” feeling tears weld up in my eyes I bite my lip trying to forget the emotional scene.

Shifu opens his mouth... and freezes.

“How... how?”

Shifu closes his mouth, still speechless.

“HOW?!”

“I DON'T KNOW!” Shifu yells out the answer in frustration. Then he sighs deeply, realizing what this means. “I don't know.”

Po's anger changes to sadness. “That's what I thought.”

Shifu walks away, leaving the path open to Po. The Panda looks at me then away, he sighs plopping down onto the top of the stairs.

Frowning I sit down back to back with him, leaning to see the stars that plagued the sky.

Silence was all that was needed, it was all we had anyway. Laying my head on his shoulder blade I memorize the softness in his fur, “Pandaman.” He grunts not saying a word. “Wanna go raid the kitchen?” I ask.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
“What about this one?” I nod as he handed me a chip. “Hai...yah! Wai-ya!”

Po punches through a cupboard door with his bare fist, coming out with food and proceeding to stuff his face. He reaches back in pulling something out for me. He stops mid-munch and looks at the doorway, I turn away and see Shifu, he surveys the room... broken lock, smashed doors, unhinged cabinets... the supposedly useless panda has completely trashed the kitchen. Po belches, bringing Shifu's attention back to him.

Po hands me another chip which I happily chop down on,

“What? I eat when I'm upset, okay?” He mutters annoyed through the food in his mouth.

“Oh, no need to explain. I just thought you might be Monkey. He hides his almond cookies on the top shelf.” I smile as Shifu calmly exits.

Looking over to Po my eyes shimmer with excitement, Po looks to the shelf, he smiles, and sneaks to the side. KLUMP! KLONK! THUNK! Shifu rushes back inside and is amazed to find Po perched atop the high shelves, jamming cookies from a jar into his mouth, his legs in a split. He hands me a cookie and I reach up to grab it from him. Po spots him and stops eating, “Don't tell Monkey.”

Shifu steps forward “Look at you…”

“Yeah, I know. I disgust you.”

“No no, I mean... how did you get up there?”

“I don't know. I guess I— I don't know. I was getting a cookie…” He looks at the cookie and can't help but eat it.

“And yet you are ten feet off the ground... and have done a perfect split.”

“No, this... this is just an…” Po's eyes widen as he begins to slip, I take a step back. “Accident.”

WHOOMP!

Po slips and crashes to the kitchen floor.

A cookie rolls over to Shifu. He picks it up. “There are no accidents. Come with me.”

Po picks himself up from the pile of pans and stares as Shifu walks off.

Ah a training montage! How exciting!

— — — — — — — — —

Not exciting at all, out of breath I sit on the ground getting dragged upon the Wudang Mountains, as Shifu leads Po, who is weighed down with a large backpack and breathing hard. The bumpy ground hurt like hell but I'll take being lazy over any scratches.

“I know you're trying to be all mystical and kung fu-ey, but could you at least tell us where we're going?” Po pants out.

Shifu just continues walking.

Finally walking on my own I glare at the master who sat on a rock in front of a still pool, morning mist partially obscuring the immediate area. Winded and wheezing, Po staggers his way next to Shifu, collapses to the ground, and discards the backpack. Shifu breathes in the morning mist, his eyes closed, as Po crawls towards the pool in disbelief. I plop down on the ground breathing heavily.

“You... dragged us... all the way out here... for a bath?!”

Thats what i need right now

Sighing, Po begins to pat his armpits with water.

“Panda, we do not wash our pits in The Pool of Sacred Tears.” Shifu says making Po quickly stop, realizing.

“The pool of…”

Shifu jumps off the rock as the mist begins to thin. “This is where Oogway unraveled the mysteries of harmony and focus. This is the birthplace... of kung fu.”

In pure amazement and disbelief, Po slaps a paw on his heart as the sunlight shines through and the camera pulls over them to reveal they are standing on rock shapes that resemble a yin-yang symbol. Shifu leaps atop one of a rock and looks down at Po.

I stare at them in annoyance still tuckered out.

“Do you want to learn kung fu?”

“Yeah…” He mutters awestruck

“Then I am... your... master!”

“Okay!”

Tears of joy well up in Po's eyes making me awe.

“Don't cry.” Shifu commands

“Okay.” Po sniffs wipes his nose, and smiles.

They set up a few meters from me, I turn on my side leaning my chin on my palm staring,

“When you focus on kung fu... when you concentrate...you stink.” Wow, Po's face falls instantly. “But perhaps that is my fault.” Surprised, I looked up at the two. “I cannot train you the way I have trained the Five. I now see that the way to get through to you... is with this.” Shifu produces a bowl of dumplings.

“Oh great, `cause I am hungry.” He reaches for the bowl. Shifu chuckles and pulls it out of his reach.

“Good. When you have been trained, you may eat.”

I groan, please earn it soon I’m starving.

Po scowls as Shifu eats a dumpling and walks off.

“Let us begin.”

Po's training unfolds over the next several days... He does sit-ups while dangling on a tree branch by his legs, a long drop below him and Shifu with a bowl of dumplings above: the branch snaps partially. Po nearly falls but manages to rescue the dumplings. Then the branch breaks and Po falls out of sight, while Shifu rescues the dumplings himself... “Oh, I hate this training!” I shout being pulled down with him.

Later, in a clearing, Shifu gives Po a bowl, but seconds later attacks him with a staff. Po manages to fend him off for three seconds before Shifu smashes the bowl...

Later, in the grass field, Po lunges at Shifu for an elusive dumpling which the master keeps tossing out of his reach... Then Po is forced to do push-ups above a bed of hot coals while attempting to reach a bowl of food with his tongue each time he lowers himself...

Then Po and Shifu are standing on rocks while Po is balancing several bowls of soup on his body... Back in the clearing, Po sneaks towards a large pot. Shifu is nowhere in sight. Just as Po reaches into the pot with a bowl, Shifu leaps out of nowhere and attacks him with his staff. Po manages to block Shifu several times but is unable to stop him from smacking the bowl with his paws. Balancing on the pot with his staff, Shifu proceeds to slurp the soup. Po tries to knock the staff from under him, but it smacks his nose and returns to its position.

As his training progresses, Po steadily becomes efficient at kung fu, able to mimic Shifu's elaborate kung fu moves, push up with one finger, and block all of Shifu's attacks.

One day, Shifu sets a bowl of dumplings and two empty bowls on a boulder. He picks up a pair of chopsticks, and hands one to me.

“After you, panda.”

Po stops short, suspicious. “That's it? No situps? N-no... no ten-mile hikes?”

“I vowed to train you... and you have been trained. You are free to eat.”

Still suspicious, Po sits down opposite Shifu. To which I sit beside him. He cautiously picks up a pair of chopsticks and grabs a dumpling.

“Enjoy.” Shifu says, Po smiles and raises the dumpling to his mouth. WHOOSH! Shifu snatches the dumpling away and eats it himself.

“Hey!”

“I said you are free to eat. Have a dumpling. If you don’t eat, Dragon Y/n can't eat.”

Po reaches again. Shifu leaps across the table and kicks the dumpling into the air. “Hey!”

I’m better off eating leaves again.

Shifu eats it and Po scowls. The two glare at each other… oh. it's on now.

“You are free... to eat!”

“Am I?!”

“Are you?!”

Po and Shifu ready their chopsticks. My stomach growls loudly prompting Po to slam the table and send the bowl of dumplings airborne. Shifu jumps up and eats all of them except one. Back and forth, Po and Shifu spar, vying for the dumpling.

I follow the pair around annoyed but intrigued.

Until there is only one Shifu tries every trick to keep the dumpling away from Po. He hides it underneath one of the bowls. As Shifu puts the other two bowls down, he turns the array of overturned bowls into a shell game, sliding the bowls around at top speed to hide the dumpling. When Shifu finished his hiding, Po found the right bowl.

“WHOO!”

Shifu uses his chopsticks as weapons to smack Po's chopsticks away. He attacks Po with his bamboo staff. But Po skillfully manages to best Shifu for the final dumpling, using his belly to bounce the dumpling away from Shifu and nab it in his chopsticks.

I happily cheer from how awesome that was deep down. Shifu smiles. Po has passed the final test. Shifu gestures silently... now Po is free to eat.

Po walks over to me surprising Shifu, “I’m not hungry.” he says holding the food up to my mouth. I happily open my mouth taking it from his chopsticks. Chewing I smack his hand away as he pokes my protruding cheeks. He smiles turning back to Shifu, “Master.” He salutes.

The both of them bow to each other.

Po was the one to carry me down as I feigned laziness, which he never questioned.

“You have done well, Panda.” I slowly climb down from his back

“Done well? Done well?! I've done awesome!” He swings his belly around and knocks Shifu off balance, though he quickly regains his dignity.

“The mark of a true hero is humility. But yes...you have done…” Shifu playfully punches Po in the side hard enough for him to stagger. “...awesome.” My smile brightens as I laugh along with their antics.

Their chuckles falter when they hear an approaching flapping sound. An indistinct figure appears in the clouds behind them... it's Crane.

Crane carries the five to the palace grounds, crashing in a heap. His paralyzed comrades are scattered in the middle of the courtyard. “What happened?” I ask, kneeling in front of the crane.

Po throws his backpack aside and runs over to them. “They're dead?! No, they're breathing! They're asleep?! No, their eyes are open…”

“We were no match... for his nerve attack.”

“He has gotten stronger…” Shifu mutters He presses some pressure points on Mantis's chest, freeing him.

“Who? Tai Lung? Stronger?”

Shifu starts freeing Monkey while Po leans over them. Monkey releases suddenly from his paralysis... and delivers a punch to Po's head.

“He's too fast!” He slowly realizes where he is. “Sorry, Po.”

Shifu kneels before Tigress and works to free her. She revives with a gasp.

“I thought we could stop him.” She mutters ashamed. I stand up joining alongside po.

“He could have killed you.”

“Why didn't he?” I question grabbing onto Po’s hand worried.

“So they could come back and strike fear into our hearts. But it won't work.” While he says this, he frees Viper.

“Uh, it might... I mean, a little. I'm pretty scared.” Po mutters making me smile a bit.

“You can defeat him, panda!” Shifu says.

“Are you kidding? If they can't…” Around us, the Five are exhausted and beaten. “They're five masters. I'm just one me.”

“But you will have the one thing that no one else does.”

Chapter Text

My eyes widen as we stare at the Dragon Scroll resting in the mouth of the golden dragon on the ceiling. Po stares at Shifu... then looks up at the Scroll. Then back at Shifu...

“You really... believe I'm ready?”

“You are... Po.”

They look at each other, I cover my mouth not trying to interrupt this big moment.

Oogway's staff hangs on a rack surrounded by candles. Above the staff is a portrait of Oogway performing his usual Tai Chi beneath the peach tree. As we all stand by, Shifu carries the staff over to the reflecting pool. Shifu bows his head, then, eyes still closed, he raises the staff up above his head.

We watch, expectantly as Shifu whirls the staff. The peach blossom petals rise in a flickering, spinning cloud up from the pool. The gentle tornado rises up around the ceiling carving that holds the Dragon Scroll. The petals loosen the scroll from the dragon's mouth and it falls. At the last second, Shifu reaches out with the staff to catch the scroll on the end of it. He turns to Po, holding it out.

“Behold. The Dragon Scroll... It is yours.”

Po reaches for the scroll but hesitates. “Wait... what happens when I read it?”

“No one knows, but legend says you will be able to hear a butterfly's wing-beat.”

“Whoa! Really? That's cool.”

“Yes. And see light in the deepest cave. You will feel the universe in motion around you.”

Po gets overexcited, “Wow! Can I punch through walls? Can I do a quadruple backflip? Will I have invisibility—”

“Focus... focus.” I pat his back helping to bring him back.

“Huh? Oh, yeah... yeah.”

“Read it, Po, and fulfill your destiny. Read it and become... the Dragon Warrior!” My neck tingles at that word. I rub it as the Panda takes the scroll. Then he grasps the tube and tries to pull the top off it. It doesn't budge. He strains at it.

“It's impossible to open.” He strains again. He tries to bite it off… I sigh holding my hand out to him, he passes it to me allowing me to easily pop it off and pass it back.

“Thank you. I probably loosened it up for you though... Okay, here goes.”

Po starts to unroll the scroll, the golden light bathing his face. Across the scroll we see Shifu, excited that he is witness to history... On Po's face as he finishes opening the scroll... then… “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” I jumped back as he looked utterly terrified. “It's blank!”

“What!?”

“Here! Look!” Po tries to show Shifu the scroll. Shifu covers his eyes and turns his head away.

“No! I am forbidden to look upon…” But he can't help himself. He takes a peek. Then he grabs it off Po. He turns it around, then upside down. He closes it and opens it again, astonished. “Blank? I don't...I don't understand.”

“Okay. So like, Oogway... was just a crazy old turtle after all?” I slap the Panda’s arm.

“No. Oogway was wiser than us all.”

“Oh, come on! Face it. He picked me by accident. Of course I'm not the Dragon Warrior. Who am I kidding?”

I look down at the scroll, seeing myself reflect on it. “No, you’re reading into it too much.” I look down at Po handing it to him, “The real meaning of-”

“Your eyes” I glared at him holding the scroll in a threatening manner, “Insult me again and I'll hit you so hard you invert colors.”

Po sits heavily on the floor, dejected, making me realize my nowhere anger. I sit down next to him setting my head on his shoulder.

“But who will stop Tai Lung?” Tigress asks.

“He'll destroy everything... and everyone.” Crane mutters

Shifu gazes down at his reflection in the moon pool for a long moment, He looks oddly calm as he turns around.

“No.”

I set his scroll in his paw squeezing it to let him know that I’m here.

“Evacuate the Valley. You must protect the villagers from Tai Lung's rage.”

“What about you?” I question standing up.

“I will fight him.”

“What?” Po asks as stunned as I was.

“I can hold him off long enough for everyone to escape.”

“But, Shifu, he'll kill you.”

“Then I will finally have paid for my mistake.”

I look down not wanting to start crying by looking at his face.

“Listen to me, all of you. It is time for you to continue your journey without me. I am very proud to have been your master.” Shifu salutes them, and we salute back. Po is heartbroken as Shifu turns away, I grab his paw tugging him with the rest.

We arrive where the villagers are already scrambling to get out of the valley.

“We've got to get them out safely.” Tigress says.

Monkey picks up a small child, “Come, little one. Let's find your mama.” he says, leaping away.

“Viper, gather the southern farmers. Mantis, the north. Crane, light the way.”Tigress passes Crane a lantern; they split up and begin helping the villagers evacuate. Leaving the two of us. He tightens his hold around my hand and slowly makes his way through the bustling town.

“Look, it's the Dragon Warrior.” A person skeptically says we glance at the pigs, not making a comment. He pulls me into a noodle shop

“Hey, Dad.” He sadly says.

I back away from the two letting them have their moment, “Po!” Seeing Po, Po's father hurries over and wraps his arms around his son. Po bends down to reciprocate the hug, as Po's dad pulls away, having fastened an apron around Po's waist.

“Good to have you back, son!” His eyes look over to me, “Who is this?”

“Dad this is Y/n, Y/n my dad.” I smile, “Hello Mr.”

Po leans down to my ear, “Ping”

“Mr. Ping.” I say.

He smiles and goes back to packing things up.

“Let's go, Po.”

Mr Ping struggles to pull the cart full of belongings. Po takes the burden for him, and we all leave the shop, possibly forever. Po glances back at the palace.

“So for our next shop, it's time to face it... the future of noodles is dice-cut vegetables, no longer slices.” Mr. Ping starts to walk off, unaware that Po is slowing down I peak over his shoulder checking on him.

He walks back to his son sympathetically. “Er, Po... I'm sorry things didn't work out. It just... wasn't meant to be.”

Po slumps against the cart.

“Po, forget everything else. Your destiny still awaits. We are noodle folk... broth runs deep through our veins!”

“I don't know, Dad. Honestly, sometimes I can't believe I'm actually your son.” my eyes widen as I step away.

Mr Ping is also taken aback. “Po, I think it's time I told you something I should have told you a long time ago…”

YOUR ADOPTED!

“Okay…” He looks up.

Mr Ping pauses dramatically… “The secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup!”

Damn it.

“Oh.” Po mutter feigning excitement

“C'mere! The secret ingredient is... nothing!”

Po leans back in surprise, “Huh?”

“You heard me. Nothing. There is no secret ingredient!”

“Wait wait wait...it's just plain old noodle soup? You don't add some kind of special sauce or something?”

“Don't have to.”

I smile grabbing onto his arm, “To make something special, you just have to believe it's special.” I say.

Po looks at his father and then at me with a dawning realization. He picks up the Scroll and looks down at the golden reflective surface. For a moment, Po stares at his reflection on the scroll, then his eyes widen.

“There is no secret ingredient…”

Po looks at his confused father and then turns back to look at the palace as thunderclouds gather. He quickly wraps his arm under my legs picking me up, starting towards the palace.

— — — — — — — — —

He sets me down behind the door, as he breathes.

“Hey!”

Tai Lung turns to find Po standing in the doorway, gasping for breath.

“Huff... huff... huff... Stairs... huff…” He manages to let out even though he’s out of breath.

Tai Lung stares at the panda. “Who are you?”

“Buddy... I... am the Dragon Warrior!” He exhales hard “Huhhh…”

Tai Lung raises up in amused disbelief. “You?! Him?! He's a panda. You're a panda. What are you gonna do, big guy? Sit on me?”

“Don't tempt me. Haha. No. I'm gonna use this!” Po holds out the Dragon Scroll. “You want it? Come and get it.”

From out of nowhere, Tai Lung punches Po across the room, grabbing the scroll knocked from Po's paws.

“Finally... AH!” Po bounces off a nearby pillar and slams back into Tai Lung, sending him flying into a column. Tai Lung recovers, astonished. Surprised that he had actually landed a blow, Po puts on a brave face and strikes a pose. Tai Lung charges at him on all fours. Po turns to run. “Oh... WOW!”

I watched amused as Tai Lung quickly caught up and they both sailed off the palace steps. My eyes widen as I'm pulled along, I try to keep up step after step seeing as Po clings to the scroll. Tai Lung delivers a punch and sends him crashing onto the arena rooftops below and bouncing off into a tree. Tai Lung roars and pounces; Po rolls down off a tree and uses the recoil to whip back and smash Tai Lung. He briefly skids across the rooftop and comes right back at Po. He knocks Po down the long flight of stairs and chases after him.

“Po, my legs are starting to hurt.” I groan to myself chasing after the Panda.

Down the stairs, Po and Tai Lung grapple for the scroll. Po is oblivious to the effects of crashing downstairs and his voluminous butt presses down on Tai Lung's head.

As they crash through the gateway to the village the scroll is knocked loose. Po is separated from Tai Lung and crashes into a noodle cart. Tai Lung goes for the scroll but Po snatches it away using a noodle lasso.

I lose sight of them for a minute as I continue to follow the force pulling me.

Po gets thrown into a fireworks booth as Tai Lung chases down the scroll. Then… “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!!!” “Oh shit,” I scream as my feet lift off the ground at the speed I was being pulled at. Falling onto the ground my body comes to a rolling stop as I look up to see

The scroll flies out of Tai Lung’s paw and lands in the mouth of an ornamental rooftop dragon. Po looks back at Tai Lung, who sees where the scroll has landed and restarts his pursuit. My eyes widen as Po effortlessly scales the building.

“The scroll has given him power! NO!” Tai Lung growls. Enraged, he takes a giant leap and kicks the wall of the building, causing it to crumble. Po struggles to reach the scroll as he is chased by Tai Lung, though manages to keep the leopard at bay by kicking dozens of roof tiles into his face. Amazingly, Po skips across the falling roof tiles to reach the scroll in mid-air and grabs it... just as Tai Lung leaps up behind him and unleashes a punishing blow that sends Po smashing into the ground outside Mr Ping's noodle shop. As Tai Lung lands, he delivers a final devastating punch, sending up a huge mushroom cloud.

I cover my eyes until the dust settles getting closer and yet still hiding, seeing Tai Lung looms over a stunned Po in the impact crater. He picks up the scroll. He relishes having the secret to limitless power in his grasp at last.

“Finally... oh yes... the power of the Dragon Scroll... is... MINE!” He opens the scroll... and his triumph turns to horror as he stares at the blank surface. “It's NOTHING!!”

Po slowly gets to his feet, wincing. “It's okay. I didn't get it the first time either.”

“What?” Tai Lung asks in disbelief.

“There is no secret ingredient.”

Tai Lung tosses down the scroll in anger. Po looks down at the scroll and gazes at his reflection. “It's just you.” Tai Lung looks at the scroll... then snarls and lunges at Po.

“RRRAAAH!”

“AAAAGGGHH!” Tai Lung strikes Po's nerve points in a last effort borne out of frustration. Po collapses to the ground... and begins giggling. Tai Lung looks down at his paw in confusion and strikes Po again. And again... and again... Po's body fat is keeping Tai Lung's nerve attack from having any effect except to tickle him.

“Stop! Stop it! I'm gonna pee! Don't! Don't!” I smile from behind the wall, not worried about the giant panda.

Frustrated, Tai Lung delivers a double-fisted punch to Po's belly. The shockwave ripples through Po's entire body and his arms come back and strike Tai Lung, sending the leopard crashing back into the noodle shop. Po looks at his paws, amazed at what he just did.

Tai Lung rises from the rubble and runs at Po again. But Po strikes back, using an unorthodox panda-style technique, even getting Tai Lung to chomp down on his own tail. Po gives Tai Lung a butt bump that sends him crashing into a building. Tai Lung emerges and now really mad, attempts one more lunge at Po. But Po prepares... and Tai Lung is swiftly met by Po's IRON BELLY! He is launched into the air and disappears into the clouds. Po waits... and waits... until finally, Tai Lung reappears in the sky and crashes into the ground.

Tai Lung climbs out of the leopard-shaped hole, battered, but still defiant. He staggers toward Po, breathing heavily, “You... can't defeat me... you... you're just a big... fat... panda!” Tai Lung lunges at Po one last time... SCHWING! Po grabs his finger. Tai Lung's eyes go wide.

“I'm not a big, fat panda... I'm THE big, fat panda!” Po's pinky pops up.

Tai Lung gasps. “The Wuxi Finger Hold!”

“Oh, you know this hold?”

“You're bluffing... you're bluffing! Shifu didn't teach you that!”

“Nope.

Tai Lung looks up hopeful.

I figured it out.” Po flexes his pinky. “Skadoosh!”

An explosion of golden, rippling energy flows through the Valley of Peace I quickly hide again closing my eyes from the blow.

“Y/n?” I peek around the corner and see Po, he relaxes looking at my messed-up image.

Proudly I hold my hand up for a high five, “Good job Po” I say walking up to him. At the last moment, he picks me up in a hug, surprised I stare down at him for a second before wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m so proud of you.” I whisper.

"I didn't hurt you too bad did I?"

I laugh at his question keeping my hands on his chubby cheeks, "I'll live." I say leaning into him once again. He laughs spinning the both of us around a bit.

“Look! The Dragon Warrior.” we look to where the voice came from in the dusty area. It settles, allowing us to see the others from the village. I push out of Po’s grip as they cheer for him. Po's father emerges from the crowd as the villagers try and fail to lift Po on their shoulders.

“That's my boy! That big, lovely kung fu warrior is my son!” Father and son run to each other and hug. “Thanks, Dad.”

I poke his shoulder pointing to the Five, “Hey, guys.”

Tigress steps forward. “Master.” Tigress bows, and then smiles at Po. Her comrades and then the villagers follow. “Master.”

“Master?” He gasps “Master Shifu!”

Po races past the villagers toward the Jade Palace. I frown being pulled behind him as he climbs the steps. Then more steps. we arrive breathlessly at the Jade Palace. Shifu is still lying in the scroll room, his eyes closed. Po rushes to his side.

“Master! Shifu! Shifu! Are you okay?”

Shifu weakly opens his eyes, “Po.. Y/n... you're alive... Or we're all dead.” he deadpans

“No, Master, I didn't die. I defeated Tai Lung!”

“You did?” he asks astonished

Po smiles and nods. Shifu smiles as he becomes filled with inner peace. “Wow... It is as Oogway... foretold. You are... the Dragon Warrior. You have brought peace... to this Valley... and... and to me. Thank you... thank you, Po... thank you... thank you... thank you…” Shifu closes his eyes and becomes still.

Po stares at him for a long moment and starts freaking out. “No... Master! No, no, no! Don't die, Shifu, please…”

Shifu's eyes snap open, “I'm not dying, you idio... ah... Dragon Warrior.” Shifu closes his eyes and smiles serenely. “I'm simply... at peace. Finally..”

“Oh... So, um, I should... stop talking?”

“Yes” I mutter walking up to them. “If you can.”

Po lies down and meditates next to Shifu. Looking at his stomach I smile stepping over him and laying down on him, he flinches before setting an arm on my back keeping me from falling off. Then Po starts fidgeting and tries to keep from saying something to Shifu, but finds it difficult. He opens his mouth like he's about to say something, but he stops himself. He fidgets for a moment, I groan as my stomach growls.

“You two wanna get something to eat?” I question peaking at the both of them Po nods instantly.

Shifu opens his eyes and sighs deeply. For a long moment, he says nothing. And then...

“Yeah.”