Meanwhile, at Chorh-Gom Prison, Tai Lung was glaring intensely as he inserted Zeng's feather into the lock at the center of turtle shell armor.
0:00-3:36
The rest of the guards were sent flying before Zeng's body dropped back to the ground as he coughed out a bit of smoke, then got startled by Vachir's prosthetic horn falling in front of him. "URRRK!" Zeng gasped as he was grabbed at the neck, being lifted up by Tai Lung, as the Snow Leopard beastman looked at him for a moment, shifted back to his human form and sighed.
"I'm glad Shifu sent you. I was beginning to think I had been forgotten." Tai Lung told the goose beastman with creepy tenderness, smoothing Zeng's ruffled feathers, as the escaped kung fu warrior leaned closer to him. "Fly back there and tell them... the real Dragon Warrior is coming home." Zeng nodded in terror as Tai Lung threw him into the air, sending him flying back to the Valley of Peace. "Sunset Shimmer..." Tai Lung wondered, as he remembered seeing Sunset's dream spirit, knowing of her past and training of the Leopard style... His kung fu style. "Your true master is now coming for you." He declared as red lightning struck from the sky behind the prison, casting his long and dark shadow.
Back in the Valley of Peace, the morning gong is rung in the bell tower, as the second it rang, Shifu entered the hallway of the bunkhouse. The Furious Five and Canterlot students, except Applejack and Swampsuke, burst out of their rooms and stand outside their doors, ready for inspection.
"Good morning master!" The Five and CH students greeted in unison, as Shifu saw two doors open and empty, knowing it was Applejack and Swampsuke, and noticed one door remaining closed.
"Panda!" Shifu called out, but recieved no answer. "Panda, wake up!" Shifu ordered as he opened Po's door, only to see it empty, making him chuckle in satisfaction. "He's quit." He said, much to the Canterlot High students' shock.
Later, after Shifu told Luna, Celestia and Dragalchimaru about the panda beastman's "retirement," much to the satisfaction of the vice principle, they, the Five and Canterlot High students approached the training hall courtyard as he and Luna walked with a bit more energy, and Tigress looking equally pleased.
"I can't believe it." Sunset dreaded as her friends agreed.
"What do we do now, Master? With the panda gone, who will be the Dragon Warrior?" Viper asked Shifu.
"All we can do is resume our training and trust that in time, the true Dragon Warrior will be revealed." Shifu answered as he opened the doors to the courtyard, not only finding just Applejack and Swampsuke training, but Po training as well, much to his, Luna and the Furious Five's surprise, Celestia and the CH students' relief and Dragalchimaru's peaking interest. "What are you doing here?!" Shifu asked the panda beastman in shocked anger, making Po look back over his shoulder, seeing Celestia, Luna, the CH students, Dragalchimaru, Shifu and the Five stare at him as he was in the middle of the courtyard, with his legs spread wide apart on two training horses.
"Thought y'all'd be surprised." AJ told them as she kept punching the ironwood trees.
"If you are, I don't blame you. This idiot's got the same amount of annoying determination as he does." Swampsuke said, remembering someone like Po.
"Hey! Huh... Good morning, Master! I just thought I'd warm up a little." Po answered as he tried to lift his right leg, but failed.
"You're stuck." Shifu bluntly said.
"Stuck?! Whaa? Pfft... stuck... does this look stuck to you... Yeah, I'm stuck." Po admitted.
"Help him." Shifu said to Crane.
"Oh dear." Crane groaned as he approached Po.
"I'll assist as well." Rarity said as she jumped onto the training horse on the right.
Rarity began to push Po from the side as Crane gingerly grabbed his waistband, attempting to pull him up by flapping his wings.
"Maybe on three. One. Two-" Po began to count when Crane and Rarity got him off of the training horses as Po flopped onto his back. "Three...!" Po squeaked that last part as he got back onto his feet. "Thank you." Po told Rarity and Crane in gratitude.
"Not at all, darling." Rarity responded with a flip of her hair.
"Don't mention it." Crane said.
"No really, I appreci—" Po tried to explain, but was cut off by Crane. "Ever." The bird beastman added to his statement as he returned to stand by the group, making Po and Rarity fall silent.
"You actually thought you could learn to do a full split in one night? It takes years to develop one's flexibility..." Shifu began as he flung two boards into the air, with Tigress stepping forward.
"And more years to use it in battle." Luna finished as Shifu snapped his fingers, instantly followed by Tigress leaping up and executing a perfect split kick, leaving Po awestruck and all of the Canterlot students amazed. Tigress landed on all fours and glared at Po as she returned to Shifu's side, with the broken chunks of board land all around Po and Rarity, followed by a large one bounce off of his head. The panda beastman picked up the piece of splintered board and hid it behind his back.
"Put that down! The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones." Shifu told Po, who chucked away the chunk of shattered board.
"Yeah, excellent!" Po said with enthusiasm with his fist in his palm.
"Training begins now." Luna declared as Shifu snapped his fingers, making the Furious Five gather in a line in the courtyard, with Viper and Po facing off.
"Are you ready?" Viper asked Po.
"I was born ready—OW!" Po yelped as Viper lashed out with her tail, flinging Po into the air and brought him crashing back down on his head. "Oh..."
"I'm sorry, brother! I thought you said you were ready!" Viper apologized, as Po was impressed and not deterred by what happened.
"That was awesome! Let's go again." Po said with a salute, that being his fist in his palm.
After that, Viper faced off against Fluttershy.
"Are you ready?" The snake beastman asked the timid girl.
"Oh... I hope so." Fluttershy answered, before instinctively dodging a whiplash from Viper's tail. "EEP!"
The two viper style warriors sparred, with Viper trying to distract Fluttershy with a thrust of the tip of her tail, followed with an attempt to wrap herself around the timid girl's body. But Fluttershy dodged it and countered with fluid and swift strike at Viper's neck, landing a blow, followed by a firm and tight grapple around Viper's serpentine body. The spar then ended, with Fluttershy and the victor.
"You're certainly getting better, Fluttershy." Viper complimented, making the shy girl blush.
"Oh, um... It was just a reflex or instinct." Fluttershy humbly responded in slight embarrassment.
But Po's determination irritated Shifu and Luna, as the red panda beastman snapped his fingers, leading to Po being up against Monkey, as the monkey beastman twirled a bamboo staff. Monkey then lunged at Po, whom is also wielding a bamboo staff, as the panda beastman got struck from both sides, then blocked a downward swing, much to Po's excitement, but his celebration was cut short as he was hit on the head, finishing Po's comical beating.
After that, Monkey faced off against Pinkie.
"Let's do this!" Pinkie cheered as she lunged at Monkey with her own bamboo staff, who blocked it with his staff.
"I saw that coming." Monkey told Pinkie, before noticing her standing low.
"But I bet you won't see this coming!" Pinkie responded as she spun her staff, pushing Monkey's away and whacked his face.
"Oof!" Monkey yelped as he recovered from that, as the spar ended, Pinkie winning the exercise. "Not bad."
"Thanks!" Pinkie responded with a smile.
After that, it was Crane against Rarity, on top of the turtle bowl.
"Better be ready." Crane warned the fashionista.
"Of course I'm prepared." Rarity responded as she took the white crane wing stance, ready to defend against the bird beastman's attacks.
Crane nodded as he flew up and down, thrusting his left leg forward, but Rarity predicted that as she blocked it with her left forearm and circled her right hand over Crane's leg, redirecting the attack, followed by her striking Crane with her left hand formed into the shape of a crane's beak, knocking him back while still retaining her balance, winning the sparring match.
"Good job. You really don't miss any details, do you?" Crane asked Rarity.
"Of course, whenever I see an opportunity, I have a chance to take it." Rarity responded.
Later, it was Mantis against Rainbow Dash and Raptor.
"Alright you two, let's see how fast you are now!" Mantis told the two sport captains as he leaped forward in his mantis beastman form, ready to attack them.
"You want speed?" RD rhetorically asked as she and Raptor began dodging Mantis' attacks
"You got speed!" Raptor answered as both he and Rainbow Dash kept avoiding the mantis beastman's strikes until he was between the two of them, allowing the two daredevils to strike quickly and accurately, hitting Mantis as he morphed back to his human form, ending the training session with the two speedsters as the winners.
"Yeah! We won!" Raptor cheered.
"We're awesome!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"So you got me when I was small, don't let it get to your head." Mantis congratulated them with a warning.
Later, it was Tigress vs. Applejack.
"Y'all ready to do this?" AJ asked the tiger beastman as she took a battle stance with her legs and arms.
"Ready." Tigress answered calmly as she took a battle stance of her own.
Applejack made the first move with charging forward with a Tiger Claw Strike, which Tigress stopped with her palm, while AJ, fortunately, didn't feel any pain that time, and lowered herself, executing the Tiger Front Sweep, surprising the tiger beastman as she fell to the ground, finishing the training spar, with Applejack doing better.
"You're improving, Applejack." Tigress congratulated the farmer, who responded with a tip of her hat.
"Thanks, Tigress. But that was just luck, since y'all and the rest of the Five are better at these kung fu styles than me and mah friends." Aj responded with modesty.
Later, Po and Crane prepare to spar atop the turtle bowl, when Po tried to kick him, only to... *CRASH.* ...fall into the bowl and started being tossed around like a sack of soup, as Crane hovered above the bowl, looking at Shifu and the other masters.
With he and Luna being angry by this predicament, Shifu snapped his fingers once more, leading to Po being attacked and thrown around by an unknown source. This kept going until sunset, when Po was thrown onto his back, as the unknown attacker jumped back to Shifu, revealed to have been Mantis, with the red panda beastman and Luna smiling at the situation Po was in. But unfortunately, the two of them had absolutely enough of this when Po managed to salute once more.
"I've been taking it easy on you, panda, but no more! Your next opponent... will be me." Shifu declared, much to Po's excitement and Luna's relief, who knew will put the panda beastman in his place.
"Alright! Yeah, let's go!" Po cheered as the Five, Celestia and Canterlot High students, except Swampsuke, exchanged worried looks, while Dragalchimaru had an intrigued look.
"Step forth:" Shifu began when Po began to move, but couldn't finish his step as the red panda beastman whirled him around with no effort and threw Po to the floor, pinning his arm behind the panda beastman. "The true path to victory is to find your opponent's weakness and make him suffer for it."
"Oh ho, yeah!" Po responded in delighted pain, as Shifu threw him around again.
"To take his strength and use it against him." Shifu continued, as he kicked Po repeatedly in the face, then threw him to the floor again, gripping Po by the nose. "Until he finally falls, or quits."
Instead of being completely intimidated, Po was totally inspired. "But a real warrior never quits. Don't worry, Master, I will never quit!" Po nasally declared, pushing Shifu and Luna to their breaking point, as the red panda beastman flung Po into the air and leapt at him with a flying kick, sending the giant panda beastman crashing out of the doors and tumbling down the steps. The Furious Five and Canterlot High students walked outside and watched him fall.
"If he's smart, he won't come back up those steps." Tigress said in annoyance.
"But he will." Monkey responded, knowing that nothing could stop that panda from trying again, as Tigress walked back inside, followed by Swampsuke, who scoffed.
"Ah'll admit, that big feller's got guts." Applejack said.
"I know, right! That makes him cool!" Pinkie cheered.
"Oh... I hope he'll be alright." Fluttershy timidly said.
"He's not gonna quit, is he?" Viper asked.
"He's not gonna quit bouncin', I'll tell ya that." Mantis answered as started laughing, but Viper silenced him with a stern hiss, same with Fluttershy quieting the mantis beastman with a firm stare.
"If that was a joke, Mantis, that wasn't funny." Raptor said, not happy about that insult.
"Not cool." Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Po might survive the way down, but his legs might give out on the way up." Soulfire noted.
"Yeah, that's not gonna be good for him." Makoto agreed.
"The poor dear might be hurt though, darling." Rarity added.
"C'mon everyone, we need to help Po get back up here." Sunset told them as she and her Canterlot High friends went down the mountain steps to follow Po and help him get back to the Jade Palace, with Po yelling painfully in the distance as he continued to tumble...
To be continued...