They stared each other down. Taking in one last good look at one another, each doing one last analysis before Shifu allowed them to fight. Amber eyes clashed with emerald green ones. Both keeping eye contact. Both thinking that if either of them dared to look away it would already mean they had lost.

And none of that changed when the fight started.

"Start!" Shifu shouted eager for the fight to commence. A battle between arguably his best and though he would never say it out loud his favorite student. Of course, he was a bit biased considering she was his adopted daughter but still! Why wouldn't he favor the young tiger? He loved her as if she was his blood daughter. And she was against this surprisingly skillful panther. A panther who seemed to go past the limitations of that of his species in many different aspects. A panther with the weirdest personality imaginable.

This would be an interesting fight, to say the least.

But when he gave them the go-ahead, to his surprise both martial artists remained still, much to his annoyance.

He understood the Panther's reasoning even if he didn't exactly agree with it, but as for Tigress? She had a perfect opportunity to end the fight then and there. She had the speed and the ability to punch this Panther to the wall in a single strike. Yet she remained still.

Why?

Why wasn't she attacking at full force using her opponent's current state of fatigue to her advantage? He was much slower than when he pulled off the one strike pin on Crane earlier. And his strength was also weakened thanks to everyone else. So why? She had the advantage. No, she had the match! And she was refusing to knock the panther down and end it? Why would she do that? Was she hesitant?

No Tigress was never hesitant in a situation like this. So why?

His internal debate was brought to a halt as he took one last look at both of them. He could see the glare that she was giving her opponent much clearer now. And he could see the fatigued but determined look he was giving back. He was battered up a bit due to fighting the rest of the masters that Shifu had trained. Each fight showing just how skillful he was in combat. His skills surpassed Shifu's when he was at his age. He looked a little closer at the two. From the look of it they were having an internal staring contest but at the same time... it was like they were communicating with one another. Without actually speaking.

That made no sense. There wasn't a way to communicate telepathically unless one had been in perfect sync and even then it was more of guessing. But there was another way.

With a spiritual bridge.

But that was impossible. For something like that both masters had to have unlocked inner peace and all of their inner chakras. And he knew for a fact that Tigress only unlocked six out of the seven of them. So communication like that definitely wasn't possible.

Unless someone from the spirit world was doing it for them. But that was the only shortcut. And to the Grandmaster's knowledge, neither of them had a bond with anyone in the spirit world who would do that for them.

So again, why did neither of them move to attack the other?

Tigress stared deeply into the emerald eyes across from her. Owned by her opponent. His battered partially slouched form spoke loads for his current state. He wasn't in any condition to keep a fight going for too long. But she couldn't shake the feeling that he had something up his sleeve. After all, he had already pulled off many surprises. Though if she had to guess he would have maybe one good attack in him before he was unable to continue fighting.

So she definitely had the upper hand.

But she stood her ground. Continuing to survey him. Taking everything into account. His height, reach, state of being, and determined look. She wasn't worried about him beating her. Just cautious. She wouldn't let him take her by surprise.

A thought came to her head at that moment.

The longer she waited the more he recovered. If he recovered her chances of winning would slowly decrease. Might as well attack now then! Was her final thought before she charged at him. Ready to deliver a hard left jab at him.

He easily evaded the attempt though she noticed just how much it took out of him. As he stepped though she could see him wince, though she didn't even hit him. Taking a quick glance around his body she found the source of his pain.

But the source would surprise her further.

His sudden burst of pain seemed to come from his right leg, specifically his knee. As shown by the twitch it had when he winced. The surprising part was no one had struck him there throughout any of his battles. That begged one question.

Why was it causing any pain?

She could easily ask. But asking would probably have to wait until after the fight. And the chances of her getting an answer actually didn't seem that high. Considering his lack of conversing with anyone other than his sister to begin with. She could easily ask her, but for some reason, she wanted to hear it from the Panther. Having his sister talk for him all the time kind of grew annoying quick. She understood the anxiety and other problems he faced but it didn't exactly ease the easily annoyed tiger.

But that would have to wait. Again she had the fight to finish.

Refocusing on her goal once more she looked back at the Panther. She could easily target his weak point, but she didn't want to cause more harm to the area just in case, she did hit hard after all. The last thing anyone needed was to send the Panther to the hospital with a broken knee. She may be a fierce warrior but she wasn't heartless.

As she decided what she wanted to do she saw that he switched his stance. Though wincing he got into an actual fighting stance, making sure to put his right leg on the backside of his stance. His stance actually nearly mimicked hers. Except his claws weren't out but instead, he had his paws out with only his pinky and ring finger clenched into his palm. From what she could tell it wasn't a real stance he used as it seemed more of a backup plan. His form surprisingly not refined. It wasn't bad form by any means but it was noticeable that it wasn't a form that the panther used often.

She didn't let the change in his form get into her head though as she lunged at him. Adjusting herself mid-air she did a swinging right kick aimed at his waist and he looked ready to evade once more before the pain again surged throughout his body. She thought for a second the fight was over but somehow through the pain, the Panther had switched himself into a blocking position with his left arm. The kick connected with said arm and the impact caused him to slide to the side. Around ten feet from where the impact occurred.

As she charged to deliver her final blow she checked him one last time. What she saw shocked her. For the first time, he outwardly showed his pain as he clenched his teeth. One of his eyes snapped closed as the other focused on her. And for the first time ever Tigress wanted to stop the fight. For the first time in her life, she wanted to just stop the fight. But her pride wouldn't let her. Besides she wouldn't be giving respect to his determination if she just called it off there. He was ready for this, he was choosing to keep the fight going. And it would be disrespectful on her part if she just ended it improperly after all that.

So she was ready to deliver her final attack. She was gonna sweep his legs, though she would aim for his left one, careful not to injure his right leg further.

Jun also readied himself to deliver at least one attack at her. But as he got ready to his knee surged pain once more. Though this time much, much worse than the other two times. It hurt so much for the first time he couldn't hold back from vocalizing it. "Agh!" his yelp in pain reached the ears of the rest as his legs got swept by Tigress.

On his way down he got a glimpse of her face.

She seemed guilty for doing it. Like she knew that he was in pain but felt like she had to continue with the fight. Her face had a look of sorrow. She didn't give him her determined fighters glare as he fell. It was a look of empathy. Or sympathy. Either way, it didn't matter. It was the first time he didn't see her cold glare. Sure he had thought he seen her grin on the way out of the training hall but that was more if speculation because he didn't actually see her face.

He was just thankful that she still fought him even after she noticed his injury. He noticed she noticed when her eye darted from his knee to his face. Another thing he was thankful for was the fact that she didn't target said knee. Mostly after feeling how she kicked. It was like being shot by a cannon. It really hurt! But even with that, she respected his will to continue fighting and ended the fight properly. That alone made him thankful to the tiger. And her fighting skills were as great as the legends said. Even if he only witnessed it for a good twenty seconds or so.

As soon as he made an impact with the ground Tigress stood over him, her fist over him in the international 'give-up the match is over' position. With one arm full stretch out to his face while the other was raised ready to be unleashed on him if he dared to continue. "I...I c-concede" he stammered out.

Tigress sighed in relief, at least he knew when he was beaten. His voice was soft, though it didn't sound like he was angry at his loss. More of like he acknowledged it and was ready to improve.

Everyone else gathered around the two, Shifu ready to finally tell them why they were here. But something stopped him right before he did. That something was Jun.

He was still on the ground, only now he was sitting up and examining his knee.

Shifu had noticed the panther was in pain. But he didn't think much of it as he was focused on the actual fight, not his newcomer's health. Though now that he saw the panther he could see just how hurt he was.

And he didn't look good.

"What's the wrong Panther?" He asked as he examined the knee himself. From the outside, it didn't look in pain.

Jun dismissed the worry with the wave of his hand. He had no choice but to speak though considering it wasn't a yes or no question and his sister wouldn't give them an answer as soon as she put everything together. "I-It's nothing. Happens all the t-time... nothing to- agh!" He was cut off as the pain again surged through his knee as it spread to his leg. For the second time that day, his anxiety suddenly disappeared and caused the quiet feline to vocalize his pain. "Damn! Not again! It's been years!"

"Oh no..." his sister finally spoke herself. Her worried tone made everyone else suddenly grasp just how serious this injury actually was.

"What's wrong with your leg? Why is it acting up?" Tigress vocalized everyone's curiosity, though worry was in the back of her voice. Not enough for anyone who didn't know her to detect. Wasn't intended that way, just the way she was being raised like a fighter.

Showing emotion wasn't her strong suit.

Again Jun seemed to be pulled back to his surroundings, and all his anxiety and shyness returned in that instant. "Uh... um... long story,"

Yating sighed, "Not even I know why..."

The new information surprised the masters. His injury was something that not even his sister knew about? Considering what they knew of their backstory that meant it must have happened before Jun was adopted, so it must have been when he was either eleven or younger, considering he was twenty-two and was adopted eleven years prior. Soon enough Yating held her hand out for her brother to grab. He smiled weakly as he accepted it and was suddenly pulled up.

Once he was up he leaned some of his weight on her as he stretched out the leg, it wasn't looking good. It was painful to bend his knee. His joint seemed to cause a great deal of pain as well as his lower thigh. He again winced as he continued to bend and unbend his knee. Getting the muscle loose again, though that did little to help. After a few more moments of doing so, he planted his foot down and winced again. "Th-Thanks, Yating. I-I should be able t-to walk,"

She scoffed at him, "Tch, c'mon Jun. Tell me why that keeps happening to you! And why do you refuse the surgery to treat it?"

The rest looked on in both worry and curiosity. They all wondered how he obtained such an injury. He contemplated the thought in his head before shaking his head. "S-Soon, n-not now. And... no surgery,"

"Why!" Yating shouted back, Shifu looked ready to discipline but ultimately decided against it. This was something that she needed to do and he understood that. Besides she was asking the questions everyone else had wanted to ask.

Jun turned to her, then looked at the sky, before sighing. He looked... hurt. "... Just... no"

With that the conversation was ended, Jun was holding his ground, keeping his secret. Everyone around him growing worried at the reclusive response he gave. He was putting up a wall about whatever caused that injury. It seemed like he was trying to forget that memory in Tigress's eyes. She remembered that look.

She had that similar look before she faced her past about the orphanage. And that past wasn't pretty. So that begged one question to her.

What happened to him?

After the... well awkward event outside the group of animals made their way to the Jade Palace living quarters. Shifu wanted everyone to go into the dining room so he could speak with the two travelers about why they were called here in the first place.

Upon arriving, Po was about to make his way to cook when Yating offered to let Jun cook. Saying it would put him at ease, while she silently told the rest that he was easier to talk to when he was distracted doing something. Something along the lines that things like cooking calmed Jun to the point that his anxiety would fade away.

Needless to say, the rest immediately agreed.

So Jun got to cooking. He had no idea what he would make at first but after looking at the options he decided on making a fish stew. Tigress though grabbed some tofu from the side and decided that would be her dinner for the night.

"Alright, you two were brought here because a great danger is going to arise here in China and Master Oogway said that to defeat this danger we'd need you Panther," Shifu didn't beat around the bush, finding it better to just get the topic out of the way. Rather than try to ease into it.

Actually he didn't even know how he could've eased into it.

Yating looked noticeably surprised as her mouth unconsciously hung open. Her brother, on the other hand, had a more... animated expression. The sudden bombshell made the panther drop the utensil he was holding and him to look at Shifu confused, his expression was that of a horrified one. "hehe... huh... what!?" he struggled out his response, clearly, he didn't expect... that!

"You heard me, Panther,"

Jun looked at the rest of the masters. Their expressions didn't hold any signal of this being a joke. Jun then turned around. Him? An animal to stop great danger? That was sounded like some kind of prophecy from stories he used to read as a kid. But he wasn't anything like the main character from any of those stories. He was just pathetic Jun Li. Not some amazing main character in a book. "U-Um... I think... you g-got the wrong p-panther, sir,"

"I most certainly do not. Master Oogway explained it to be you. You fit his description perfectly,"

"M-Maybe... he... was wrong..?" Jun said as he put ingredients into the pot that he was making his stew in. He internally winced at the fact that somehow he would be trusted to be a protector of China. He wasn't good enough to do that. He was just a common panther who had trouble talking with others. He wasn't some cool protector of China.

"Master Oogway is never wrong," Shifu's voice was assertive and intimidating, it made Jun want to hide. "He said that you were gonna be the deciding factor on whether China survives or not. And after evaluating you today I can see what he means. You have amazing skill Panther,"

Jun winced at the statement. "N-No... I don't. I... I'm pathetic okay? I'm just... a common panther. I can't even... converse with people. I-I-I overthink everything! I have an injured leg. I-I, I'm just Jun Li. Not some... amazing panther meant to save China,"

Hearing those words took Shifu by surprise. The panther had only seen his flaws. He somehow didn't see just how skilled he was. Shifu looked to the panther's sister. The jaguar looked at him with a sad expression. She looked like she wanted to say something but she seemed to hold it back. Which left the duty to Shifu.

"What are you talking about! You're awesome!" Po suddenly spoke up. He had a rare frown. A frown not created by anger, but rather of irritation and confusion. "You defeated five of the six masters of the Jade Palace. You showed the best skill by a first timer in the Jade Palace training hall, beating the best rookie time! And you stood standing against a full-fledged kick from Master Tigress! You know how hard that is!? And you did that all on an empty stomach! That's quite the feat!"

The sudden realization hit everyone.

Jun had fought them all on an empty stomach, after running through the obstacles in the training hall and carrying his sister up half the stairs to the Jade Palace! His full strength was still unknown then! That or maybe he just had less energy then he would usually have. Jun took a moment to take in the words Po said.

"He's right you know,"

Her sudden vocalization stunned everyone, including the newcomers. Her voice was unusually kind. Jun seemingly in a trance, as if commanded to by her voice turned to look at her. "Wh-Wh... uh... huh?" He failed to form a coherent sentence. But she got the message.

On a rare occasion Tigress actually chuckled. "I said he's right. Not many people are able to stay standing after taking and impact from one of my attacks. And you somehow did it on an injured leg. And with a sloppy stance. Quite impressive," She smiled for a second before she continued to eat her tofu.

Suddenly the panther felt some pride. Maybe he wasn't so pathetic after all. Just maybe.

The sudden silence though not awkward felt a bit uneasy for some of the current residents. "Okay now with the big bombshell out of the way. Tell us about yourselves," Crane took it upon himself to start the conversation.

Yating smiled, "Where do we start?" She seemed to be contemplating what she should talk about first.

"Uh oh," Jun spoke up with a chuckle. "Might wanna be a little more specific! She'll talk until next Tuesday with a question like that!" He continued to laugh as he added some spices to the stew he was making. Again suddenly his anxiety was gone and he spoke normally. Though his voice remained quiet and gentle.

His normal speech served to surprise the residents of the Jade Palace for mere seconds. Looking to Yating she had a grin on her face as she fist-bumped the air as if she just completed the hardest task in the world. "Um, okay. Where are you two from?"

Yating's face dropped. The happy energetic look that they grew used to associating with her was replaced with one of sorrow. "We're from the village Yaxin (Ya-zhin),"

The rest of their expressions immediately dropped. Everyone in China heard about what happened to that village already a couple of months back. How it suddenly burned down. "I'm sorry to hear that," Shifu voiced his apology, his tone empathetic.

"Ha! Don't worry about it. It was two months ago already... I just... don't understand why yet," She tried to sound happy but that proved challenging. She was noticeably hurt.

"Why what?" Po asked. In hindsight probably wasn't the best idea. But he didn't think about that before he asked the question.

"Why we were attacked,"

Everyone was shocked. Shifu especially. To their knowledge, the village had just burned down accidentally. Nothing in the scroll said anything about an attack. "Wait what? We never heard that the village was attacked,"

They looked to Yating for an answer but she fell silent. Suddenly a bunch of bowls made their way around the table. After Jun served everyone their meal he looked to his sister and sighed. The subject was still too much for her to talk about. Which left the answering to him. "We were attacked by an army. Around sixty to seventy men and women. Lead by two masked figures,"

"That many people for such a small village?"

"Yeah, we never understood it either. Our village had around thirty maybe forty residents. And all of them were slaughtered. All of them except Yating and I. We had escaped into a nearby forest... after... failing to save our parents. We've been searching for a place to call home ever since. Yating suggested we stay in the Valley of Peace so here we are," Jun's anxiety seemed to be overpowered by his heavy sorrow and from what they could gather... guilt.

Why would he be guilty though?

"We're really sorry to hear that," Po said as he looked down at his untouched bowl. It was insane to think that Po hadn't already scarfed down the food in front of him. Though it didn't surprise anyone all that much. He was focused on the information he just received from Jun.

"Um... uh... anyway... sorry... uh... any more... um... questions?" Jun tried to steer the conversation elsewhere. Anything to get Yating out of her current state of sorrow.

"Um yeah. Why the hell do you stutter so much?" Mantis asked. The stuttering had really bothered the bug. Even if he wouldn't say it out loud, he made it obvious.

"Social anxiety... and shyness,"

"Yeah but like, why are you like that? Not to be rude or anything but you're... pretty pathetic in that regard,"

The panther winced slightly at the use of that word. "Um... personal,"

"Wait there's actually a story for that? Yating?" Mantis suddenly went to the jaguar for answers.

To his dismay though she simply shrugged, "That's also something he never told me. He was just always like that for me. Took him a good three weeks to talk to me. And another two months to stop stuttering. Since then he has come a long way though. Last time he spoke to someone like a genuine conversation it took him maybe about a week or two to open up to them. Although you guys are making him go at an even faster pace. If I was to guess keep going at this rate and he might get rid of his stutter in a good three to five days!"

"TMI sis. TMI"

"Hush child"

"I'm older than you!"

"Eat your food before I take it,"

Jun at that moment shut his mouth, but not before rolling his eyes and mumbling something along the lines of, "I made it,"

Watching the two go back and forth was surprisingly funny and pleasant to the rest of the residents that were in the room. They couldn't help but smile. Well, Shifu held his back but the rest did. Tigress took a moment to observe the two of them. At the moment Jun was just eating his food, seeming to enjoy every last bite while thanking whoever he was thanking. Yating had very well animated her enjoyment of the food that her brother cooked. Looking to everyone else they were also showing just how much they were enjoying the meal. It made Tigress curious on what it tasted like. She had Po's soup every once in a while and it was good, but it wasn't good to the point where everyone was struggling to take a second to not be eating. They had started to fight for the pot wanting seconds.

All the while that was going on Jun was smiling with a bit of pride, he seemed like he just achieved greatness by making the Jade Palace residents such good food. Yating all the while chuckled at the masters as she secretly stole a second serving from the pot as the rest continued to fight to fill their bowls. It was a civilized fight, of course, no one was loud, but glares were given and careful scooping of the stew took place but it was a fight all the same. Some people did exchange a few fighting words, others bribed.

It was a comedic scene to the tiger. She kind of wanted to try it now.

Screw it, why not have a taste of the food.

With that thought, she grabbed a bowl and scooped up a serving of the stew. As the aroma invaded her nostrils her stomach immediately felt empty. Her mouth started to water in anticipation and she had no intention of waiting. So took a spoon full and took a bite.

The taste was amazing. Fish clashed with vegetables in a way Tigress had never tasted before, the tender fishes together mixed with the broth left her mouth wanting more. The juice that squirted out as she bit down making her need each bite more than the last.

To say the least, the dish was absolutely amazing.

Jun looked at her as she took each bite, she seemed to really enjoy the meal he prepared. It gave him a little confidence, he seemed to start on the right paw with the Furious Five, Dragon Warrior, and Grandmaster Shifu. It made him happy. He looked at his sister, to which they gave each other a grin. She reached her fist out to him to bump. He happily accepted the gesture. He was genuinely happy with how today had turned out.

"Jun, Yating, would you two like to become residents of the Jade Palace?"

The question came as a surprise to the siblings. For a while now they had wanted a place to call home. For a while, they had no place to stay. And now so suddenly Grandmaster Shifu was giving them the opportunity to stay in the Jade Palace along with some of the greatest Kung Fu fighters of all time!

"Certainly... i-if it isn't a p-problem,"

Who wouldn't accept that offer?

Oh man, this was a fun write. I really like this story and the characters I created.

Speaking of which what do you all like about the characters. I find Mantis and Tigress a little hard to write.

And a little insight on Jun. He is based on a mixture of me and one of my favorite characters in anime.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see all you amazing people in the next one!