CHAPTER TEN

Nerves of Steel

It was the most peaceful evening the Valley had ever seen. The stars were bright, and the breeze was warm as it fluttered through the pink petals of the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. Tigress stood by the trunk, watching Oogway perform his meditative tai chi. There wasn't a sound on the mountain where they stood.

Oogway stopped. The light above him turned to gold, and suddenly, he lifted one claw-like pointer upward. "Look," he said, "the moon is full."

Tigress looked - but it wasn't the moon anymore. It was the light of the sun, like a ball of white hot fire...

"He came in glory on a ball of fire!" Oogway chuckled. Squinting, she looked down again - but he was gone.

"Master - ?"

"Whooooaaaa." The enraptured voice behind her made her turn. Po stood there, his eyes wide as he looked not at the place where Oogway had disappeared, but up at the golden, white hot fire. Just as suddenly as he appeared, however, his face changed to an expression that filled Tigress with immense worry.

"Po, get away," she told him. But though he stood right beside her, he didn't seem to hear her. His green eyes grim and determined, he ran and rolled so fast towards the edge of the cliff, he was like a round, black and white swirling blur… like an eternal symbol she knew very well… until he stopped at the edge, poised in his signature Dragon stance.

"Po!" she shouted, but still he didn't listen - she reached a paw out to stop him, but the white hot ball of fire seared its light and nearly blinded her - and then she saw it falling, careening towards him, faster than a lightning bolt -

She tried to say his name again and push him out of its path, but she wasn't fast enough. In fact, she was moving so slowly, she felt like she was running in deep water. "Do not be afraid, Tigress," said Oogway's voice in her ear. But she was very afraid. She couldn't move, and she had to act now, she had to stop it - she couldn't watch him just...

She stretched out her arm - her heart felt like it would burst - but she could only look on as the ball of fire descended upon the Dragon Warrior, and all was lost -

"NO!"

Tigress choked the word back in her throat as her eyes flew open.

She wasn't on the cliff. She wasn't at the Jade Palace. Oogway was gone. She was inside the warm little boat, bound for Gongmen City.

She took several long, deep breaths.

Well. She'd been having this… nightmare off and on for quite a while now. But never like this.

Tigress closed her eyes again and continued breathing. It was bad enough they were heading toward a city of fireworks, held captive by a weapon so powerful, it could stop kung fu. It was bad enough that it had already taken the life of one of the most prolific kung fu legends of all time, Master Thundering Rhino.

Tigress slowed her breathing further, gently flexing her paws. If he was one of the most stalwart, impenetrable warriors, and he couldn't survive it… could they?

She relaxed her wrists. They were a team. Together, they would make sure the weapon would be destroyed. That was their mission. The Dragon Warrior and the Five would do everything in their power to make sure everyone made it home safe - but she knew that despite the danger and the potential cost, their mission was to destroy it, save China, and bring Lord Shen to justice.

Lord Shen… she was certain she'd never heard that name before, but it tickled something in the back of her brain. Like it was from a story or legend she'd heard once in her early childhood, surrounded by hushed whispers... but she couldn't remember. As far as she could tell, he was the son of the peacocks who'd once ruled the city, but been banished - probably because of his power-hungry behavior. But now he was back and had taken the city with a vengeance.

And that's why they were here.

Tigress let out a minute sigh. She had never felt so much uncertainty around a mission before. But she wasn't alone. With the Furious Five, and the Dragon Warrior to lead with his unconventional plans and unwavering spirit, they'd -

"AaaAuUgh!"

Tigress's ear twitched. The cry died out, and she heard the troubled thumps of Po's limbs on the base boards as he sat up, then left the group's sleeping quarters to step out onto the bow.

She must not have been the only one having a bad dream.

She sat up. With more silence than the gentle breeze on the river outside, Tigress left the shelter through the stern side and leapt on top, facing the mast. She crouched in the dark and looked down.

Po stood under the sail. He was practicing what looked like Master Oogway's water challenge… a challenge she'd seen him teach Shifu time and time again. Its practice gave you the ability to roll a single droplet of water from the sky off your limbs and down onto the ground again. At least, that might appear to be the goal. She smiled ruefully. She knew the real goal was internal. Mastery of this practice was only an indication of your perfect harmony with the divine, the universe, and within yourself.

But judging by the way he now yelled in frustration as he ran in circles around the bow and then pounded his forehead into the mast, he wasn't getting close to any of the above.

She stood and cleared her throat. "Ahem."

Po looked up at her, his eyes wide as dinner plates. "Oh - I'm, uh," he tapped his paws into a hold fist salute, "training."

Tigress gave him a small, knowing smile, as she held her paw against the sturdy wooden beam in front of her. "The mast is not a worthy opponent." Something was bothering him, that much had been evident for several days now. It troubled her, but he wasn't going to talk to the Five about it. Now that it was just the two of them awake, she might get a chance to coax it out of him. She launched herself into the air and landed perfectly on the bow in front of him, poised, and held her paw in front of him. "I am ready."

"Okay." Po shuffled back a little bit. "So serious," he mumbled, then mustered his strength and launched the most powerful punch he could against the flat of her paw.

It sounded like a thunderclap across the river. "Yeehahaowww!" he shrieked. He pulled back and knelt down, nursing his bruised knuckle. "I think I prefer the mast."

"Apologies." She looked down at her paw. Funny, he'd hit her padded palm with the firmest part of his paw, and yet he was hurt far more. "I used to punch the ironwood trees by the palace to train," she told him. She hadn't really realized just how much number her nerves were until now. She had gotten used to the pain. "Now," she looked back at him, dropping her paw to her side, "I feel nothing."

Po gazed up at her, mouth agape. "That is severely cool."

The Dragon Warrior never could fail to make her smile. Tigress bowed her head. He'd never understand what his admiration meant to her. But she wasn't about to let him off the hook. Firm, she held up her palm. "Again."

Po punched his fists and feet at Tigress's paw, starting a routine, loose training session. "So, uh," he said, "this punching iron wood trees - how long did ya have to do that?"

His fist met her palm again. She held it as she answered, "Twenty years," with a little smirk.

Sure enough, he shrunk back. "Oh... twenty - twenty years. Yeewssh," he shuddered. "Is there any, ya know - faster way until you don't - you know - feel anything?"

She smiled at him. "No. And besides - " She clutched his fist, redirected his force, and sent him spinning down onto the floor of the bow. She watched his cushioned impact as he landed stomach up, a little dazed. "I don't think hard style is… your thing."

He glanced at his belly. "Oh," he said. The truth was, Tigress would never want him to change it - to do so would rid him of his greatest strengths. He had to know that by now. But now wasn't the time to discuss that - she watched him slowly sit up, his eyes retreating once again to that far off place of worry.

She knelt next to him."Po, why are you really out here?"

The answer she got was not one she expected. "I just found out that my dad - isn't really my dad." Po grimaced at her.

She furrowed her brow. "Your dad - the goose."

He nodded. About a hundred thoughts went through her head at once - this whole time, he was raised by a goose - and hadn't known he was adopted? Had this been the thing that was worrying him so much recently? Just like her, he didn't know who his real parents were either? Did he have any understanding of how biology worked? But eventually she just settled on the sentiment, "That must have been quite a shock."

He paused, then nodded again. "Yeah."

Tigress watched him closely. "And this bothers you?" She leaned closer. If it did, she wanted to know why; she hoped that it would no longer drive him to distraction, but she was also curious for her own reasons…

The Dragon Warrior's eyes widened a bit. "Are you kidding me? We're warriors, right?" he shrugged confidently, then straightened. "Nerves of steel! Souls of platinum!" A smile spread across his face when he looked back at her. "Like you! So hard core, you don't feel anything."

Po chuckled and landed a friendly punch on her shoulder, but she didn't notice. His words had stopped her heart for a moment - he really thought that she didn't feel anything? That the numbed nerves in her limbs meant she felt nothing inside either? After he'd shown her the wisdom of the Dragon Scroll? After everything they'd been through together? This was how he really saw her… An emotionless warrior of steel. Hard core, like… like the peach stone. Yes, she had always wanted to be indestructible, impenetrable warrior, but that didn't mean…

'For someone with such a vibrant inner life, Tigress, you are too concerned with what can only be seen on the surface.' More of Oogway's final words to her slid to the front of her memory without warning. True, she generally didn't like to share her innermost thoughts and feelings with her comrades unless it served them. But it would seem that she spent so much time training her body to be as unyielding as steel, she had unconsciously trained herself to hide all show of inner feeling as well. Much like her dear Master Shifu once had... But that didn't mean it wasn't there. Yet it shocked her to think that Po, out of all of them, thought of her this way. And it frankly distressed her a bit too. He was open and warm to her in a way that no one else had ever been. He was the reason Master Shifu was at peace… He had shown her how to be better than herself…. Didn't he know how much he had changed her life?

But it was clear he wasn't going to open up more if she wasn't. She opened her mouth. "I was…"

"So, what are you guys talking about?"

Tigress's ears flattened as Mantis unexpectedly emerged from the shelter of the boat, followed by Viper, and Crane.

"Nothing…" Po said nervously. "Nothing."

Viper gave him a look, then turned to Crane. "Po's having Daddy Issues."

Tigress's tail flicked to the side. How much had they heard? She looked over her shoulder as Mantis said contentedly, "Man, I'm so lucky, I don't have any problems with my dad. Maybe it's cuz Mom ate his head before I was born. I dunno!"

"Mantis!" Viper hissed. "This isn't about you! Po is the one freaking out."

Tigress turned fully to face the pointed bow of the little boat. In the distance, the sun was rising - and in front of it, loomed the silhouette of an assemblance of extravagant buildings…

"I'm not freaking out," Po assured them in a low voice.

"Po," Tigress said softly.

"I'm freaking - in!"

She turned to him. "Po!"

"What?"

"We're here." The others followed her gaze to see the sprawling maze of a once-thriving city. "Gongmen City."

Their travels had come to an end. Regardless of the nightmares they endured: whatever happened next, the fate of their mission - of their lives, and of kung fu - would be met here.

Author's Note

Thanks again, TheAlienHeart, Ace-Risk, gsmith1030, Th3F4lcon-Bl4ckBlu3, Left for Red, 3431jess, Mystery, and ThunderyAsh625 for your wonderful, thoughtful reviews!