Chapter Text
The dragon warrior asked too many questions. Though perhaps they were biased because the furious five never asked questions. Not during training.
If they were doing something wrong, Master Shifu would tell them. No doubt about that. It was never uncommon for the red panda to stop you mid exercise and pull apart everything you were doing wrong.
So as you could probably guess… It was a little confusing.
“Master Shifu?”
All eyes discreetly shot to the newest member of their group. He didn’t seem to be doing very well where he was on top of his pole.
“I know this is supposed to be a balancing exercise and meditation, but I’m focusing so much on not falling over that I can’t even try to do that with my eyes open .” As if demonstrating his instability, he teetered forwards rather dangerously. Crane, who was on the pole in front of him, squawked in fear of being fallen on but the panda managed to right himself before doing so. “Am I doing this wrong?”
And they supposed this was where the question was necessary because, as Shifu would quickly deduce from a short observation of his stance, his form was identical to the rest of the Furious Five’s. Slightly bent knee, relaxed shoulders, leg at a perfect 90 degree angle, and arms low and gently clasped together over his front. Shifu hummed. Then he shot up the poles, bounding off of them to gain height and shaking his other students (though they remained steady) and while in the air, he quickly adjusted Po’s stance. Foot slightly more tilted, hips slightly less tilted, center of gravity shifted slightly back.
A relieved and satisfied smile spread across Po’s face.
“Ah, there we go. Thank you, Master Shifu.”
The panda then wiggled his shoulders a bit and sunk into the position a little further before closing his eyes. That little wiggle was Po’s… unique way of saying “meditation time” without interrupting anyone else’s meditation. Though it was a bit too late for that. Everyone, besides maybe Tigress, would say they were thoroughly interrupted after that.
Shifu gave a non comitial hum in response from where he stood on Crane’s hat.
“An unstable stance is a warrior’s undoing,” Shifu stated. “But if that is all it takes to defeat you…”
Shifu zipped around at lightning speed, bounding against the other poles again. Then he kicked Po’s pole. If the short master had so desired he could have snapped it in half with that kick. But instead he struck it just hard enough so that it took violently. Po’s stance did not move one bit. When the shaking stopped and he had neglected to even slightly falter, a victorious grin spread across the panda’s face. The same (though much more subdued) smile invaded Shifu’s expression as well before he flipped away and landed on his staff once more to resume the meditation.
…
“What do you mean, he smiled??” Monkey asked.
“I mean, he smiled !” Viper repeated.
“Shifu smiled…” Crane repeated, disbelievingly. “ After Po broke a rule to ask a question? If I’d done that he would have kicked me off my pole!”
Viper’s tongue flicked out, slightly perturbed by that statement. “You really think Shifu would have punished you like that for wanting to be better?”
“Not for wanting to be better but…” he puffed a hesitant breath as he searched for the correct way to word his next sentence. “Shifu… knows when we’re doing something wrong. And he’s not shy about telling us.” There was a murmur of agreement from Mantis, almost like a scoff. “So if you’re still having trouble when you’re doing everything right, then that just means you have to practice more… right?”
“Shifu didn’t seem to think so,” Monkey reminded them. “Afterall, he adjusted his stance, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, that’s the other weird thing,” Mantis stated. “He was doing it right. Why did Shifu change his stance like that?”
“Maybe we could make like Po and… ask him?” Monkey offered.
There was a short beat of silence before a bit of laughter. But it was subdued and thoughtful. The panda’s antics usually had that effect on them.
This wasn’t a new occurrence. The first time it happened was on the very first day of training after he defeated Tai Lung.
“Master Shifu, the Tumbling Floor of Death (which was not its name) creaked REALLY LOUDLY when I stepped on it just now. Is that normal? Or am I gonna break it?”
Instead of snapping at him or making a witty remark or even simply ignoring the question, Shifu instead had the panda show him and deduced that the training equipment should be reinforced, just in case.
It didn’t stop there. It wasn’t constant, it wasn’t everyday, but it was consistent.
“Are you sure getting my leg up that high is possible for me?”
“Where am I supposed to put my other arm again?”
“How do I build power in that strike? It feels a little lackluster.”
“*Wheeze* Is it supposed to feel like my organs are being strung on a needle and pulled out through my throat? Yes? Good to know.”
“Can I go over there to throw up real quick…? Thanks.”
Where? Can I? Why? How? When? In which way? No matter the nature of Po’s questions, they were always answered and he would always adjust accordingly. He never asked the same one twice. Once he got his answer he took it and made it work. Even if the answer was just “practice more”, which they were shocked to find was not said to him very often.
They stayed silent about this in front of Po and their master but discussed it greatly in private… However, Tigress didn’t say anything at all. She didn’t engage in the little gossip her teammates buzzed with. Instead she pondered it on her own.
She wondered what it could mean, that Master Shifu had bestowed this right upon his newest pupil. Perhaps he was simply trying to get Po up to the Five’s level as soon as possible and was thus a bit lenient with his disciplining. Perhaps the Dragon Warrior had found himself as Shifu’s new favorite. Or perhaps the opposite and Shifu could see that he needed the extra help so much more.
Her comrades had laughed at the idea of doing what was necessary to get a definitive answer. To ask. It was true that this was an unwise option. They were already reeling on how Po got away with questioning their master, they were not about to try it themselves… but maybe… maybe she could ask Po instead? He may not know what was going through Shifu’s mind but the panda could at least provide insight into why he wasn’t afraid to ask.
…
“Whew!” Po whistled as he slumped out of the training hall alongside his classmates.
As per usual, the five were utterly unbothered by the strenuous activity they’d just been through but Po was heaving for breath and sweating. They didn’t fault him for it. Afterall, he still managed to keep up with them, even if it took him more effort. And the big grin on his face despite his exhaustion was admirable.
He hadn’t asked any questions this time. Afterall, they were simply repeating a skill set that he’d already asked a question on. Therefore, there was no easy way to segway into asking him about this. Tigress wondered if she should wait. Wait until he asked something again and then wait until after practice to ask him. But it was never set in stone when his next question would be. Occasionally he went over a week without asking anything. And why not just bring it up now? He’d asked a question only yesterday, it wouldn’t be too unusual. But she had to bring him away to ask in privet-
“Hey, Po?”
“Wassup, Monkey?” The panda replied.
“How do you survive questioning Shifu like that?” Monkey asked.
Tigress’s surprise did not present on her face in the slightest. In fact, on the outside, her momentary glance at them was the only indication that she was even remotely interested.
Po was surprised and interested too… but also a little confused.
“Uh… when do I question Shifu?” He asked.
The Furious Five all either gaped at him or merely raised an eyebrow.
“All the time!” Mantis exclaimed. “Just yesterday you interrupted meditation for it!”
Po now seemed to grasp what they were talking about.
“Well sure I asked a question but I wasn’t questioning Shifu…” he offered. “Well, I guess I was questioning him cuz I wanted an answer but I wasn’t saying that he made a mistake. I was just asking him to correct mine. I mean, how am I supposed to do better if I don’t know how?”
“Po, buddy, you shouldn’t have to ask,” Crane stated. “When we make mistakes, Shifu knows and he corrects us right away.”
“Yeah, he does that for me too,” Po stated.
They all, slowly, realized that this was true. Shifu corrected his stance or strike or balance unprompted as normal way more than Po asked questions. They also realized he only ever asked after Shifu was no longer nitpicking him.
“So, what?” Viper asked. “Are you saying he… ignores some things?… Misses some things?”
“Well… yeah.”
Okay, this was actual insanity. Now he was admitting out loud that Shifu made mistakes and he was still alive? What the heck?
“But, I mean, it’s not his fault,” Po pushed. “He’s just never trained someone like me.”
By this time they had left the palace all together. They all had plans on where to go prior to the conversation but now they were all just following Po… Tigress included.
“Someone… like… you…?” Viper echoed.
She didn’t seem to like that wording. Po was oblivious.
“Yeah, you know…” his nonchalance washed away in an instant, despite his expression never changing from an easy smile. There was now a small tension in the way he held himself and his next words felt forced. “I’m… chunky. I’m built differently… from you.”
“We’re all built differently,” Monkey tried to argue.
“Yeah, we’re all different animals here,” Crane added.
Po smiled but they were fighting back grimaces. Who were they to say that kind of thing? To reassure him like that when they themselves had mocked him for being “built differently”? (None of them were aware that Po had heard it either).
“True,” Po granted them. “But are any of you thrown off balance by your own gut?”
Eyes involuntarily snapped to the panda’s… ample front but they quickly moved away as soon as they did so.
“Or feet that are disproportionately smaller than the rest of you?” Po continued. “Or shorter legs compared to your arms? Or reduced mobility due to there being too much of… you?”
The furious five lit up in realization…. Of course. Sure they were all different animals but those differences were obvious and had obvious consequences. Viper had no arms so she basically had to make up every movement that was built for a legged creature. But besides that, she was encouraged to improvise. Crane couldn’t punch with his wings so he deflected instead. Monkey’s differences only had advantages as his balance and feet were an extra edge to everything. And Mantis… well Mantis was small but he could also hold up an entire bridge with five other, much bigger, animals on it. Tigress was just built for kung fu, though. She didn’t even have anything to overcome. At least not physically…
But Po? He wasn’t just built differently, it was almost like he wasn’t built for kung fu. Everything about his body from his stamina to his breath control fought against him… yet he was still really good at it.
“Shifu and I quickly figured out that his usual teaching style kinda just doesn’t work on me,” Po continued to explain. “We did a lot of stuff really differently when we were on our training field trip. But now we’re back here with you guys so I kinda just gotta deal. It’s easier now that I have the basics down but the fact still remains that a lot of stuff you do just does not work for me. So if I find something that isn’t working… I ask questions.”
It was so simple wasn't it? In many ways, Some of their prior theories had been correct. He did need extra help, Shifu was trying to get him up to speed… and the panda was a bit closer to their master than they were. Afterall, the red panda had made his once rigid teaching form flexible to accommodate Po. And it seemed…
Po lightly roundhouse kicked the peach tree of heavenly wisdom, much to their shock. Then to their further shock, exactly six peaches fell from the tree and he caught all of them, even balancing one that was about to hit the ground on his foot before throwing it in the air again and catching it in his mouth. He made a garbling noise that sounded like the phrase “want one?” As he presented them with the peaches.
It was working.