Not Quite So Hardcore

"So," Po said as he watched the fireworks explode in the sky, "anybody else hungry?"

The warriors around him laughed.

"I suppose we could have a celebratory dinner in your honor, Po," Shifu replied. "You have saved Gongmen City, and therefore China. You will have many people wanting to express their gratitude."

"As long as there's food, I am there," Po said, turning toward the city, where hundreds of spectators were still cheering him on.

The masters walked down the dock toward them. They all shook hands and hugged children as everyone continued to cheer and thank them profusely as they passed.

"Thank you, Dragon Warrior," a young sheep told Po. "If you're ever in need of upholstery, I own the best shop in the city! Stop by anytime. Ask for Meifeng."

Po nodded, knowing that was her way of expressing her gratitude. "Thank you, Meifeng. I'll keep that in mind."

Out of nowhere, a group of children burrowed through the crowd and tackled Po off his feet. All of them started speaking at once, so he had no idea what they were saying, especially over the roar of the surrounding crowd who cheered and laughed at his predicament.

"Hey! Hey!" Po protested with a laugh. "One at a time!"

"How did you do that!" one of the piglet children asked in awe.

"Oh, I don't know," Po shrugged. "Just —" He thought for a moment when he thought about the lesson he'd learned when he'd defeated Tai Lung. He smiled. "I believed in myself."

The kids gasped with admiration.

"Cool!" one of the goat children exclaimed.

"But, uh, don't try that at home, okay?" Po said skeptically.

"Aww!" the children cried.

"Were you scared?" another piglet asked.

Po smiled. "At first, yes," he admitted. "I only had one chance to win. But once I stopped thinking about it and let it flow, all my fear just drained out of me."

"Whoa!" the kids exclaimed.

"Could you teach us how to do that?" one asked, which made the rest perk up with excitement and anticipation.

The panda laughed. "I'd love to, but I don't think any of your parents would approve," he said. "Maybe someday."

The children looked disappointed but seemed to be too infatuated with Po's victory to let it last long.

"That was so cool, though!" the piglet said. "They way you were just like ha! hiya! hua!"

Following the piglet's rendition of Po's kung fu, the children joined in and executed their own versions, constantly exclaiming how cool it was and which parts were their favorites. While they acted it out, Po chuckled and glanced up, where he saw Tigress standing a few meters away, watching him with her arms folded, a smile across her face. She nodded respectfully toward him before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

Po was brought back to reality with the children's action noises.

". . . and the way he was all shwa! hitya!" one of the children exclaimed.

He chuckled again and he frowned as his tummy rumbled, reminding him of his hunger. The children gasped.

"The Dragon Warrior is hungry!" one exclaimed as if it were worse than Shen nearly taking over China.

"Come on! Come on!" the children probed as they grabbed Po's paws and dragged him through the crowd, stumbling and knocking into people and carts. "We know just the place!"

— § —

Later on that evening, the celebrations had not ceased. Of course, there were several major repairs to the city to be done, but with everyone so happy, they thought it better to save the tedious task for the following day. Finally, after celebrating with several of Gongmen's citizens and having plenty of wonderful food, Po was able to break away from the crowd for some time to himself. He realized he hadn't really had much time to reflect on everything he'd discovered about himself in this journey — on what he'd discovered about his past.

The only area that was vacant was the part of the city near the harbor. With a sigh, he stooped over the water's edge and stared at his reflection. Then he dipped his paws in and washed his face. When he looked back at his reflection, he saw Tigress' reflection next to his and turned around.

"Hey," Tigress said softly. "What are you doing out here?"

"I just . . . needed some time to myself," Po answered hesitantly. "What about you?"

Tigress smiled softly. "It seems you and I had the same idea. I've been over here for about fifteen minutes." She looked out at the water. "It's peaceful, isn't it?"

Po followed her gaze. "Yeah, if you ignore the broken ship parts everywhere," he said. He looked back to Tigress, who sat next to him.

"I still can't believe you did that," she said, still staring out at the water. "And so easily. I still question if it was just some illusion concocted by being shot with a canon."

Po smiled, knowing that was just Tigress' subtle way of joking. Then he frowned. "Wait, didn't you —?" He thought back to the moment just before the cannon fired. It'd been aimed at him. "You pushed me out of the way," he realized.

Tigress frowned and glanced at him for a moment, and then looked back out at the water. "More or less," she said quietly.

Po stared at her. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

Tigress looked down at the ground. "I wasn't going to watch you be killed twice," she admitted.

Po suddenly felt guilty. How had he not realized the she'd saved his life before now? He put a paw on her shoulder. "Thank you, Tigress. I owe you," he said.

Tigress smiled and looked at him. "You saved China. I think we can call your debt repaid," she said.

Po sighed softly. Then he reached over and hugged her tightly.

"Ow," Tigress complained, pushing him away.

Po pulled away, stunned and confused at the gesture. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tigress insisted, holding her ribs. "Just still a little sore," she added quietly.

The Dragon Warrior frowned. "But, back on the boat," he said, pondering the conversation they'd had, "I thought you said you couldn't feel anything."

Tigress looked at him, her eyes glowing seriously in the retreating sun. "No one's immune to everything, Po," she said.

Po held eye contact for a few moments. Then his brow pinched. "You were about to say something. Before the rest of the Five joined us. What was it?"

Tigress looked back out at the water, pondering if she really wanted to tell him what she was going to tell him on that boat. Expressing her feelings and reflecting on her past life were not things that she enjoyed doing. She looked back to Po and was reminded of why she wanted to tell him. In his own way, he admired her. Her strength, her courage. But he was misled in his beliefs. As flattered as she really was that Po thought she was invincible, she couldn't let him go on thinking that, trying to live up to her standards. It wasn't fun being the way she was, and it wasn't meant to be. Po was the type of guy that needed a little fun in his life. Otherwise, he might explode.

"I was six when I first started punching those ironwood trees," she began. "It was shortly after I had moved to the Jade Palace. Master Shifu was still hung up over Tai Lung, and I was nothing but a disappointment in everything I did. Never good enough. After a few weeks, Master Shifu wanted to know why my knuckles were always swollen and sore, so he followed me out one evening. He watched me train for two hours and didn't reveal himself until I was heading back to the Jade Palace.

"He asked me why I was punching the ironwood trees. I confessed to him that I wanted to get better. I wanted to . . . make him proud of me. Master Shifu looked less than pleased. He told me to follow him and I did. He took me to the infirmary, where he started to treat my paws in silence. He made a solution that took away the pain instantly. The throbbing just stopped. He knelt down next to me and told me that he couldn't stop me from training how I pleased. But he warned me that there had been only one that he knew of before me that trained this way, a warrior from the fifth dynasty. He said they had to train this way for many years before it paid off. But it came with a consequence.

"He said that level of hardcore training changed him. He lost most of his sense of pain. Everyone thought he was immune to everything, even him. It got to his head. One day he went on a mission he would never return from. The Valley was at a loss. He was a great warrior, despite his arrogance."

She paused for a moment to assess Po's reaction. He was just watching her, listening intently. He took the opportunity to interject a question.

"So why did you keep doing it?" Po asked.

Tigress looked down. "My father never cared for me. Not the way a father should. When I was invited to live and train at the Jade Palace, he sent me on my way without so much as a goodbye. And my mother died in childbirth. Master Shifu was as close a real father as I've ever had. Nothing could hurt worse than not earning his approval. I wanted him to love me like he loved Tai Lung."

Po suddenly felt her pain. "You were tired of being you?" he said, remembering how he felt when Master Shifu asked him why he'd stayed at the Jade Palace even though he knew he was trying to get rid of him. Yeah, I stayed. I stayed because 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.

Tigress studied him. "Yes," she said after a pause. "And then," she continued, looking back out at the water, "as the years passed and he still compared me to him, even after the Five had joined together, I came to a realization. I wasn't going to live up to Tai Lung's legacy in Master Shifu's heart. I wasn't going to be good enough —"

"Tigress, that's not true," Po interrupted.

"I know that now," Tigress said, looking at him. "But then, that was how I felt. It made me angry. Unfocused. In my struggle to be better, it negatively affected my performance. I realized that my feelings were my downfall. Feeling angry, or sad, it caused me to perform even worse, which gained me even more disapproval from Master Shifu. So I . . . stopped feeling." She looked back out at the water.

Po watched her, in shock from all the information he'd just learned about Tigress. Something told him she'd never been very open to anyone about this, possibly about anything.

"Whoa," he said. "Not that I don't care about you or your past, but why are you telling me this now?"

Tigress looked back at him, and then to the ground. "You look up to me, Po. I see how upset you feel when I beat you in sparring. You feel like you've disappointed me. Like you disappointed yourself for not being as good as me. I want you to know you shouldn't feel that way. You shouldn't feel like you have to live up to my standards. It's not fun being me — keeping your feelings buried inside, never letting yourself feel anything. If either of us should strive to be like the other, it is I you," she finished, looking back up at him.

Po's eyes widened at that. "You . . . look up to me?" he asked incredulously.

Tigress smiled. "You are the Dragon Warrior. For years, I thought it would be me. If I could be the Dragon Warrior, maybe Master Shifu would finally have a reason to be proud of me. I thought the Dragon Warrior would have to be someone like me, someone that didn't — couldn't — feel anything. But I was wrong."

Po suddenly felt extremely honored. Tigress, the Tigress, admired him. This was like a dream come true. For several moments, they held eye contact as he tried to decide how to respond. For someone so hardcore, she actually had quite a softer side. Po liked this side.

"Your turn," Tigress said finally, breaking the silence and looking out at the water again. The sun barely showed over the horizon now.

"What?" Po asked in confusion.

"I told you something about my past, now you tell me something about yours," Tigress said.

Po hesitated but decided that if Tigress was brave enough to share such an intricate detail about her past with him, he should be able to tell her about his.

"Well . . . after I was shot by that canon, I ended up in, uh . . . in the village where I was born," he started. Tigress looked at him, unexpectedly taken aback.

"Po, you don't have to —"

"No, I want to," Po said. "I need to get it off my chest."

Tigress relaxed, completely intrigued. "Then by all means."

Po took a deep breath. "That old goat lady was there, the one with the misleading beard?" Tigress nodded, trying not to roll her eyes. "She helped me remember my past, what really happened that night. It was just another day in the village when Shen's army attacked. My mom grabbed me and took off while my dad fought off the advancing wolves. She ran through the woods until she stumbled upon my other dad's village. Y'know, Mr. Ping?" Tigress just nodded. Of course she knew who he was talking about, but she figured sarcasm would be a bit insensitive here. "She left me in the radish basket to protect me. She left me there so she could divert the attention of the wolves and I'd be safe. That's when my dad — my stepdad — took me in and raised me as his own."

Tigress nodded again, this time more thoughtfully. "Do you . . . think they're still alive?" she asked.

He thought for a moment. "I don't know. With Shen's army, you'd think it'd be extremely unlikely, but . . ." His voice trailed.

"But what?" Tigress probed.

Po met her eye. "But I just . . . I just have this feeling, deep down in my gut," he said.

Tigress let off a small smile. "Are you sure it's not hunger?" she asked.

The panda smiled and rolled his eyes. "No, I know what hunger feels like, trust me," he insisted. "This is different."

"Then perhaps you should listen to it," Tigress suggested.

Po nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe I should," he said thoughtfully, looking at the ground. "But there's something else I need to do first."

"What's that?" Tigress asked curiously.

Po smiled at her. "I need to go find some radish baskets."

Author's Note: I have not had the pleasure of seeing the third movie yet, so if anything in this ficlet is contradictory to it, I would not have the knowledge. So please, no spoilers. Hope you enjoyed!