This may be hard for you to believe, but I do NOT own Kung Fu Panda. SHHHH! It's a secret.

KUNG FU PANDA

Po's Death

Chapter 1

"All that matters is who you choose to be now."

Po is standing next to Shen on the wrecked boat. The cannon is just above them both, supported by a bunch of ropes. Po is trying to make peace with the peacock, but...

"You're right. Then I choose THIS!" Shen says as blades appear from under the peacock's feathers, and he takes a swing at Po and misses.

He keeps trying to kill the panda, but he is unsuccessful. Then eventually he manages to hit the panda in the face. Po stumbles back with his paw on his cheek. He checks his paw for blood. It is a little harder to see on his black fur. But he doesn't have time to find out, because Shen now comes at him with his long sword-type weapon.

As Po dodges the attacks, Shen doesn't realize that he is accidentally cutting the ropes that are supporting the cannon. When he cuts enough of the ropes, the cannon starts to fall. Po tries to run away.

But the peacock jumps at him. "No!"

He lands behind Po and grabs his leg, causing him to fall. Then the cannon lands on both of them, destroying the boat along with them. Masters Shifu, Ox, Croc, and the Furious Five watch in horror.

"Po!" Tigress waits for a while for a reply from the Dragon Warrior. She yells again. "Po!"

Then she lets go of the floating piece of debris and starts swimming towards where the boat was.

Crane reaches out to her, trying to stop her. "Tigress, wait!"

She doesn't pay attention. She swims as hard as she can, using pieces of the boat if she can. Then she stops for a while and looks around for Po.

"Po?!"

When there is no answer, she starts to panic. Tears fill her eyes as she begins to fear the worse, but she tries not to let any fall.

Then she sees Po not too far away from her, floating facedown in the water. Her eyes widen, and she swims as fast as she can to him. When she reaches him, the way his back looks, his spine had been snapped in half.

Tigress almost feels sick as she flips Po over. Then pulls him by the arm to the nearest piece of the boat big enough to hold both of them and still keep floating. She climbs on first and grabs Po under his arms and pulls him up. The piece of debris rocks a little bit when Po is released, but Tigress manages to keep her balance.

Then she drops onto her knees next to Po, completely devastated.

"Po?"

No answer.

She places one paw on the wood to hold herself up, and her other on the other side of Po for the same reason as she leans closer to his ears.

"Po?"

Then she presses her ear against the panda's chest to check for a heartbeat, even though she knows that he is dead and will never come back.

She lifts her head to see Po's face. She tries to stop the tears from falling, but they start sliding down her cheeks. She holds onto his paw with one of hers, and she rubs the top of the panda's head with the other. Then she slowly moves her head down to his, and gives him a kiss on top of his head. Her bottom lip starts to quiver while she starts rubbing the top of Po's hand with the same paw that rubbed his head.

Master Shifu walks up to her after floating on a piece of wood to get to her. He stands there staring at the panda's lifeless body, and tears start to form in his eyes, but he tries to hold them back. He looks up at Tigress, who looks away, ashamed of her crying, ashamed of not being the hardcore warrior she grew up to be.

Shifu sighs sadly and puts a paw on her arm. He can feel her body jolt from her quiet sobs. Then he says softly, "Tigress, we must go. We will bring Po's body back to the Valley of Peace. Let us go."

Tigress looks down at her master. She gently puts the panda's paw down and slightly holds both of her paws towards the red panda. Shifu is confused, but he moves closer to her, walking between her arms. Then he is gently picked up off his feet and brought to Tigress's shoulder, and is wrapped in a hug. He is shocked by this action for a second, but then he allows his adopted daughter to hold him. When he manages to get his arms free, he hugs her back.

She sobs loudly, not wanting to let go, not wanting to be separated from the comfort she had never experienced before.