At the Jade Palace, it was dawn, Shifu sat under the peach tree with Oogway's staff, deep in thought, probably having been there all night, But then he sensed many presences behind Shifu, looking behind him, seeing it was the students of Canterlot High.
"Good morning, Master Shifu..." They said with a lack of energy from last night except Swampsuke who said nothing.
Then Luna, Celestia and Dragalchimaru showed up behind them. But before they could say anything, everyone heard a faint voice in the distance.
"Yah! Hai!" The voice yelled, convincing the kung fu masters and CH students to investigate it, starting with the training hall, but it was empty. They kept hearing the noise, and it was coming from the bunkhouse. At the bunkhouse, when they turned a corner, they saw Po's shadow as the panda beastman performed some amazing kung fu.
"Hai...yah! Wai-ya!" Po yelled as everyone entered the kitchen, finding Po punch through a cupboard door with his bare fist, coming out with food and continued to stuff his face. But when the panda beastman saw Shifu and the others, he stopped mid-munch, as everyone eyed Po in silence with the panda beastman silently eyeing them in return. The masters and students surveyed the room, with Rarity filled with dread and awe in the same time; broken lock, smashed doors, unhinged cabinets. It seemed Po could do some kung fu after all, having trashed the entire room, as the panda beastman belched, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "What? I eat when I'm upset, okay?" Po said with his mouth full, feeling annoyed, as everyone seemed to have a glimmer in their eyes, getting the exact same idea.
"Oh, no need to explain. I just thought you might be Monkey. He hides his almond cookies on the top shelf." Shifu explained as he and everyone else left and hid outside the doorway, waiting to see if Shifu's hunch was correct. Po looked to the shelf with a smile, and sneaked out of sight. *KLUMP! KLONK! THUNK!* They rushed back inside and found themselves amazed, finding Po perched atop the high shelves, jamming cookies from a jar into his mouth, his legs in a split. The four kung-fu masters' disbelief turned into wise smiles as the students smiled in awe and joy for the panda beastman. But when Po saw them, he stopped eating.
"Don't tell Monkey." Po requested with his mouth full, as Shifu stepped forward.
"Look at you..." Shifu awed.
"Yeah, I know. I disgust you and Master Luna." Po sighed.
"No, Po, what Shifu meant was... How did you get up there?" Celestia asked.
"I don't know. I guess I— I don't know. I was getting a cookie..." Po shrugged as he looked at the cookie, unable to help himself from eating it.
"You're ten feet above the ground with a perfect split." Dragalchimaru added.
"No, this... this is just an..." Po slowed as his eyes widened, beginning to slip. "accident." Po finished when, *WHOOMP!* he slipped and crashed into the kitchen floor as the cookie rolled to Shifu, who picked it up.
"There are no accidents." Shifu said, quoting Master Oogway.
"Come on, you all." Luna ushered.
"We've got major training to do." Celestia added.
"By the time we're done, you'll be Kung-Fu Masters." Dragalchimaru said as Po picked himself up from the pile of pans and stared alongside the students of Canterlot High as Shifu and the other kung-fu masters walked off.
"I think they're right, we better be ready." Sunset told her friends as they all nodded in agreement.
Later, high up in the Wudang Mountains, Shifu lead Po, who is weighed down with a large backpack and breathing hard, with the other kung-fu masters leading the CH students up a rocky path.
"I know you and the other masters are trying to be all mystical and kung fu-ey, but could any of you at least tell us where we're going?" Po panted.
"Yes, I quite agree with Po here, my legs are killing me." Rarity whined as the kung-fu masters kept walking.
Later, Shifu, Celestia, Luna and Dragalchimaru were sitting on rocks in front of a still pool, morning mist partially obscuring the immediate area. Winded and wheezing, Po staggered his way next to Shifu, collapsed to the ground and discarded the backpack, as the Canterlot High students caught up with the kung-fu masters, with Rarity, Fluttershy and Sunset out of breath as well. Shifu and the other kung-fu masters breathed in the morning mist, their eyes closed, as Po crawled towards the pool in disbelief.
"You... dragged us... all the way out here... for a bath?!" Po panted as he began to pat his armpits with water.
"A bath, I could do with, but not in there." Rarity said.
"Panda, we do not wash our pits in The Pool of Sacred Tears." Shifu told Po, making him quickly stop in realization.
"The pool of..." Po trailed off in awe as Shifu, Celestia, Luna and Dragalchimaru jumped off the rocks with the mist beginning to thin.
"This is where Oogway unraveled the mysteries of harmony and focus." Celestia explained.
"This is the birthplace... of kung fu." Shifu and Celestia said in unison, leaving Po and the students from Canterlot High in pure amazement and disbelief as the panda beastman slapped a paw on his heart with the sunlight shining through. And then Sunset's eyes glowed, seeing this mountaintop she, the kung-fu masters and all of her friends were standing resemble a yin yang symbol, and a younger Oogway doing kung fu moves on a rock, before she returned to the real world, seeing along with everyone else, Shifu leap atop on that same rock, who looked down at Po.
"Do you want to learn kung fu?" Shifu asked Po.
"Yeah..." Po answered, awestruck.
"Then I am... your... master!" Shifu declared.
"And we will all help you." Celestia added, referring to herself, her sister, Dragalchimaru, and her students.
"Okay!" Po accepted as tears of joy welled up in his eyes.
"Don't cry." Shifu told Po, as the giant panda beastman sniffed.
"Okay." Po said once more as he wiped his nose, then smiled.
Later, Shifu and Po faced each other on an open field of green grass with the other kung-fu masters and students from Canterlot High watching.
"When you focus on kung fu... when you concentrate...you stink." Shifu said bluntly, making Po's face fall.
"Listen everyone, training for all of you may be complete, but there is one more thing you need to do before the six of you, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and some others are ready for the scrolls of harmony. You all need to help Po train to become the Dragon Warrior." Celestia instructed the students.
"Yes, Principal Celestia." The students agreed with a kung-fu salute.
"But perhaps that is my fault." Shifu continued, making Po look up. "I cannot train you the way I have trained the Five. I now see that the way to get through to you... is with this." Shifu finished as he held a bowl of dumplings.
"Oh great, `cause I am hungry." Po said as he reached for the bowl, only to be pulled out of his reach by a chuckling Shifu.
"Good. When you have been trained, you may eat." Shifu said, making Po scowl as the red panda beastman ate a dumpling and started walking off. "Let us begin."
Po's training unfolds over the next several days...
Po did sit ups while dangling on a tree branch by his legs, a long drop below him and Shifu with a bowl of dumplings above: the branch snapped partially. Po nearly fell but managed to rescue the dumplings, before the branch broke off completely, making Po fall out of sight, while Shifu rescued the dumplings himself...
Later, in a clearing, Swampsuke gave Po a bowl, but seconds later attacked him with his kunai. Po manages to fend him off for three seconds before Swampsuke sliced the bowl...
Later, in the grass field, Po lunged at Pinkie for an elusive dumpling which the party girl kept tossing out of his reach...
Then Po was forced to do push ups above a bed of hot coals while attempting to reach a bowl of food with his tongue each time he lowered himself...
Then Po and Rarity were standing on rocks while Po was balancing several bowls of soup on his body...
Back in the clearing, Po snuck towards a large pot, seeing no one in sight. Just as Po reaches into the pot with a bowl, Soulfire leapt out of nowhere and attacked him with an aura bone (Bone Attack). Po manages to block Soulfire several times, but is unable to stop him from smacking the bowl from his paws. Balancing on the pot with his bone, Soulfire proceeds to slurp the soup. Po tried to knock the bone from under him, but it smacked his nose and returned to its position.
As his training progressed, Po steadily became efficient at kung fu, able to mimic Shifu's elaborate kung fu moves, push up with one finger, and block all of Shifu's attacks along with sparring against the others, matching their prowess.
One day, Shifu set a bowl of dumplings and two empty bowls on a boulder as he picked up a pair of chopsticks.
Meanwhile in a small distance...
"Well done everyone, you trained very well alongside Po." Celestia said, as her students cheered while Swampsuke gave a small smirk.
"But if Po passes this final exercise, all of you will be ready for the scrolls." Luna said, catching all of the students' attention, especially Swampsuke's.
"So let's watch the show." Dragalchimaru simply said with an amused grin as everyone started watching what was going on with Shifu.
"After you, panda." Shifu politely said, before Po stopped short, feeling suspicious.
"That's it? No sit ups? N-no... no ten mile hikes?" Po asked in confusion.
"I vowed to train you... and you have been trained, along with the Canterlot High students who trained alongside you. You are free to eat." Shifu answered as Po, still feeling suspicious, sat down on the opposite side, cautiously picking up a pair of chopsticks, and grabbed a dumpling with them. "Enjoy."
Po smiled at that and raised the dumpling to his mouth when...
WHOOSH!
"Hey!" Po said, after Shifu snatched the dumpling away and ate it himself.
"What the?!" The Canterlot High students, except Swampsuke who was slightly surprised by the speed, gasped.
"I said you are free to eat. Have a dumpling." Shifu said as Po reached toward another dumpling, when the red panda beastman leapt across the table and kicked the dumpling into the air.
"Huh?!" The aforementioned students gasped again.
"Hey!" Po yelled in annoyance as Shifu ate it. He scowled at his master as the two glared at each other...
It's on now!
"You are free... to eat!" Shifu said in a different tone as Po caught onto his plan.
"Am I?!" Po questioned.
"Are you?!" Shifu agreed as the two of them readied their chopsticks. Po slammed the table, sending the bowl of dumplings airborne as Shifu jumped up and ate all of them except one. Back and forth, Po and Shifu sparred, vying for the dumpling, until there was only one as Shifu tried every trick to keep the dumpling away from Po. He hid it underneath one of the bowls as Shifu puts the other two bowls down, he turns the array of overturned bowls into a shell game, sliding the bowls around at top speed to hide the dumpling. When Shifu finished his hiding, Po found the right bowl.
"WHOO!" Po cheered as he and Shifu kept going at it.
"Ooh! This is intense!" Rainbow Dash, Raptor, Soulfire and Makoto uttered.
"Gah! I can't take this food fight intensity!" Pinkie cried out as they saw Shifu used his chopsticks as weapons to smack Po's chopsticks away. The dumpling was launched into the air as Shifu threw one of his chopsticks onto it, making the dumpling stuck on a tree. Po and Shifu continued to battle each other as the dumpling slid down the chopstick and eventually fell off. Po knocked Shifu out of the way, trying to get the dumpling to fall into his mouth, when Shifu came back and closed the giant panda beastman's mouth, allowing the dumpling to bounce off of him, bouncing away on the ground. Po ran after it, when Shifu tossed away his chopsticks and started attacking Po with his bamboo staff. But Po skillfully managed to best Shifu for the final dumpling, using his belly to bounce the dumpling away from Shifu and nabbed it in his chopsticks, leaving the spectators to look in awe and Shifu smiled. Po had passed the final test, as Shifu gestured silently... now Po is free to eat. But then Po tossed the dumpling into Shifu's open paw, making the kung-fu master look up at him, surprised.
"I'm not hungry." Po simply said as Shifu smiled, tossing the dumpling away, which was eaten by a very quick Pinkie Pie, who returned to the others. "Master." Po added as he saluted to Shifu, with the red panda beastman bowing back to him. The spectators smiled at the performance.
Meanwhile, the Five raced toward the Thread of Hope, a rope bridge that stretched between mountain peaks above a huge abyss shrouded in mist. Tai Lung is racing across the long bridge as both sides stop at opposite ends of the last section of bridge, and eye each other. Tai Lung roared and raced across the bridge towards the Five.
"Cut it!" Tigress ordered as the others slashed at the ropes securing the bridge to the mountain. Tai Lung was almost upon them when Tigress cut the final rope, but he was too close—Tigress launched herself into him, kicking him back. The two felines end up in the middle of the bridge just as it starts to tumble into the canyon below as the other four of the Five grabbed the support ropes and held on for dear life. While Tigress maintained a combative pose, Tai Lung casually leaned on one of the ropes.
"Where's the Dragon Warrior and the Warriors of Harmony?" Tai Lung asked.
"How do you know you're not looking at her?" Tigress responded, making Tai Lung laugh as he saw through that lie.
"You think I'm a fool? I know you're not the Dragon Warrior. None of you!" Tai Lung said, making Tigress growl, knowing her bluff was foiled as her comrades exchanged quick, worried looks, while Tai Lung walked along the rope without effort. "I heard how he fell out of the sky on a ball of fire... that he's a warrior unlike anything the world has ever seen. And six of the seven Warriors of Harmony, hailing from the town of Canterlot City."
The Five exchange quick, confused looks at that. "Po and Pinkie Pie?!" Monkey wondered.
"Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy?!" Viper added.
"Rarity and Applejack?!" Crane gasped.
"Rainbow Dash and the others?!" Mantis asked.
"So those are their names... Po. Sunset Shimmer. Rainbow Dash. Applejack. Rarity. Fluttershy. And Pinkie Pie. Finally, worthy opponents. Our battle will be legendary!" Tai Lung declared with his fist in the air as Tigress charged at him, beginning the battle. Tigress and Tai Lung exchanged blows as they hang from the bridge as Tigress puts up a very good fight, but soon Tai Lung began getting the upper hand.
"We've got this. Help her!" Monkey said as Crane and Viper gave him and Mantis their support ropes.
Tai Lung kicked Tigress, sending her slamming through dozens of board before stopping. While she was stunned, Tai Lung grabs the ropes and twisted them, making them close on Tigress's throat with the tiger beastman choking. At that moment, Viper lunged at Tai Lung, causing him to let go of the ropes, freeing Tigress and making her plummet down into the gorge... but Crane managed to catch her. Viper wraps herself around Tai Lung's neck and wrist and punches him repeatedly with his own fist, before Tai Lung manages to get a paw around Viper's 'throat'.
"Monkey!" Viper choked, calling out to her ape friend.
"Go!" Mantis said as Monkey handed over his rope and joined the battle, leaving Mantis to hold up the bridge and its occupants all by himself. "Ack! What was I thinking?!"
Monkey leapt into action, kicking Tai Lung in the chest away from Viper and sending him crashing onto the slats. Mantis groans as he fights to keep a hold of the ropes while Tai lung got back to his feet and started running back to them, switching between ropes as Crane flew up with Tigress dangling from his legs.
"Mantis!" Tigress ordered as Mantis whipped his end of the rope, sending a sine wave shooting toward Tai Lung. The rope whips Tai Lung in the face and he gets stunned, allowing the Five to see their chance. "Now!"
Working as a team, the Five kicked Tai Lung's butt every which way. Then Crane wrapped Tai Lung in one of the ropes, and Tigress slashed the last rope holding him up, making Tai Lung plummet down... down... disappearing into the mist. A distant crunch implied that he has crashed into the far mountain as Mantis whipped his end of the rope, returning his buddies safely to the mountain. The Five look breathless, but relieved, but the relief is short-lived... Tigress notices that the other end of the bridge is circling the far mountain peak, making her eyes go wide with dread. The rope whips up, but Tai Lung isn't there, the with a crash, he suddenly appeared behind the Five, making them turn around, startled.
"Shifu taught you well..." Tai Lung started as he struck Monkey in the chest, making him freeze and collapse instantly, as the other members of Five gasped in horror. "But he didn't teach you everything." Tai Lung finished as he lunged at the rest of the five...
To be continued...