Panda Training (KFP 3 - Rewrite + Extended Scene)
Kung Fu Panda (2016)
Word Count: +2,590
Li Shan helps Tigress with Lei Lei, just not the way she initially hopes or expects. aka: An alternative scene in the training montage, right when Tigress is seen passing behind Li Shan and Mr. Ping, which expanded further than intended lulul non-direct follow up to "Mei Mei Rejects"
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From where he stood on the wooden platform, Po began dividing the pandas into groups. Master Tigress, Li Shan, and Mr. Ping watched with confusion, and they weren't alone in it as the other pandas bore the same expression. However, unlike the others, they were quickly becoming excited, seeing the rise in their spirits in their eyes.
Po's dad were quick to join the commotion, despite being assigned to help take care the youngest cubs.
Master Tigress? Not so much.
As confused as she was when Po came to his realization, she had remained the same while following him around. It was an... interesting way of teaching, she had noted, but she wasn't surprised. This was Po, after all. What seemed unconventional and irrational to others, was a normality and advantage for the panda, so when weapons were being introduced, she decided to step in to help.
And she would've had it not been for the little panda following her around, pulling her attention away, long enough for Po to move on to another group.
Lei Lei was insistent in following her around, and Tigress tried discouraging and distracting her but nothing worked. The little girl was extremely stubborn, and whenever the tiger was nearly successful in her side quest, Lei Lei would start pouting, tearing up. Her acts slowly convinced the feline to lessen her attempts to push her away.
Now, she felt like she was reaching her limit, as Lei Lei latched onto her leg once more when she reached the small bridge near the waterwheel. Tigress hoped that some point, someone would pull Lei Lei away but all she saw were the pandas pointing at them, chuckling at the sight or waving at her. She eventually realized that they believed she was voluntarily watching Lei Lei for the time being. For more than a few minutes.
A few minutes watching a child would've been fine. Any longer, however, bothered her. However, Lei Lei wasn't the problem. Children weren't the problem. If anything, she had a soft spot for them.
The problem wasn't an outlier, rather, it was within her: her childhood. Lei Lei clearly showed a strong attachment towards her, and it frightened her. Tigress believed that she wasn't capable of taking care of a child for more than a few minutes, and Lei Lei's attachment was making it difficult for her.
It reminded her too strongly of her past, of her childhood. The one thing she never wished to happen to anyone else, and she believed that Lei Lei would be better under someone else's care. Under someone who actually knew what they were doing.
She'd become so focused on shaking Lei Lei away, who did nothing but giggle about, that she didn't notice Li Shan approaching.
"Alright, Lei Lei!" he cooed, reaching to grab her, grabbing the two's attention. "Let go of the lady for now."
Tigress froze and watched, silently thanking him as he succeeded in pulling Lei Lei away. She started a fuss, pouting, and guilt immediately bubbled within Tigress. She hid it, however, forcing an emotionless expression. Now she could focus on training and-
"Hold on!" Li Shan exclaimed, immediately grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her back. "You're forgetting someone!"
Before she could protest, Lei Lei was placed on her back and Tigress, on instinct, bent forward and wrapped her arms behind her, holding her so she wouldn't fall off.
"See? A natural!" he chuckled as she froze in place.
This wasn't what she hoped for.
...but a part of her told her that she should've expected it.
Hearing footsteps grow quieter, Tigress turned. "Wait-!"she whispered hastily, but Li Shan continued, joining Mr. Ping once more. The goose had watched the whole thing, chuckling as he found the scene endearing.
Standing there, Tigress expected to feel annoyed. Instead, she felt a little embarrassed.
No. Flustered. That was it.
Brushing it aside and forcing down her emotions from showing on her face, she went her way. She was lucky Po was still in her view, just barely as he walked around a corner. Mindful of Lei Lei, she rushed after him.
Despite her quick pace, she still fell behind. The distance between them increased, and it was what allowed her to observe everything else going on. It was that inconvenience that let her see how determined the pandas were, using a mixture of traditional and nontraditional fighting techniques. She saw how hammocks were used as catapults, the children using Ti Jianzi with firecrackers, and kitchenware used as weapons. They were using what they had. They were just like Po: resourceful.
It was because of Po's way of being resourceful that she had so much faith in him when Shifu gave him the responsibility of teaching. It was something she'd seen over and over again, but never something she incorporated into her style, simply because it was his style. It didn't mean she wasn't interested. She was, in fact, very much so.
It was she looked forward to the most during the first class, with an expectation of some failure. How downhill it went wasn't close to what she expected.
A smile slowly spread on her muzzle as her thoughts continued to wander, still holding onto the little girl attached to her back. At some point, Lei Lei had fallen asleep, snuggling into her back and tugging at Tigress' sleeves like a blanket.
And her heart.
The sweetness and joy of the little panda was getting to her.
The thought of becoming attached to Lei Lei scared her. She already struggled with how attached she'd become with Shifu, the Furious Five, and the Dragon Warrior, the latter especially, over the years. She couldn’t towards Lei Lei, especially because she would leave and seeing how Lei Lei was, she worried how she-
SPLAT!
And just like that, by a snowball nonetheless, Tigress was pulled from her thoughts. As she reached to wipe away the icy mush, Lei Lei beat her to it, her tiny paws shoving away just enough to uncover her eyes. Once her eyes landed on the culprit, she wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Said culprit was surrounded by young panda cubs, who were slightly older than Lei Lei. The young students gasped. "It was Po!" they shrieked, pointing at him. Po smiled sheepishly as Tigress carefully placed Lei Lei down and wiped off the remaining snow from her crook between her brows and snout, remaining silent.
"I-I- Tigress, hi!" spluttered Po. "You see-! Um- Well-!"
Only to find himself on the ground on his back, face covered with snow, seconds later.
She retaliated.
The feline walked over to him, arms folded behind her back, stopping when her toes were inches away from Po's head. As she bent down, Po wiped off the snow, surprised at what he faced.
He expected a frown, but instead, she was smiling. The dark shadow covering her face did nothing to conceal the mirth within her smile.
"I believe that is the goal of such technique. Right, Master?" she teased, punching her fist into the palm of her other paw.
His face was covered in confusion. "Technique?" What is she on about? "I don't remember teaching you guys that during my first class."
"You have," Tigress corrected. "Outside of class."
Po's eyebrows furrowed further.
"The Winter Festival."
It clicked.
She still remembered.
It'd been years since his first Winter Festival as the Dragon Warrior, and the first Winter Festival where the Furious Five and the other Kung Fu masters joined the people's festivities.
Snowball fights was one of them.
Po smiled fondly at the memory.
"She's right, you know!"
The young students, along with Lei Lei, focused on Po, bringing their attention away from the interaction and to his sudden outburst.
"That's how we want those hits to be!" he continued, getting back on his legs as Tigress backed away, giving him space. "Precise and full of power! Now-!" he pointed toward the make-shift training ground. "Try it yourself!"
The children giggled, full of spirit and ready to train once more. As they scrambled off and Lei Lei rushed back to Tigress' side, Po watched his students with pride.
"They'll be fine on their own," Po proclaimed, then turning around to face Tigress.
She bowed, punching a fist into the other, remaining silent, before picking up Lei Lei and putting her on her back. Hunched over, she asked, "Now what?"
There was no demeaning tone in her voice, and neither was there doubt. Instead, there was hope and confidence in his plan. In him. He perked up, smiling and recognizing that tone. That same tone in her voice when he was assigned to lead their classes from now on.
It's a stark contrast to her behavior for the past few hours. Po was well aware of her concerns, knowing that she was following him the entire time. He couldn't blame her. He was unprepared when he found her, still not knowing chi. The best solution was using what they had.
Both masters stood there, staring at one another, but Tigress broke away as she noticed the panda cubs, who were supposed to be training on their own, watching them. She wasn't quick to hide her flustered state as she saw the children giggle but she was quick to shift in place. "Po?"
Snapping out of it, Po straightened up and cleared his throat. If Tigress was sloppy in the way she hid her present state, Po was miles worse. He panicked, stuttering, "What now? Well-" The panda frantically looked around, spotting the children paying him attention. Snapping his fingers near his temple, he winced, looking back at Tigress.
The feline continued watching the ursine, her eyes following his gestures. "Can I help out-?"
"Yes!" he interrupted, stretching his arms forward, gesturing at her whole being. "You're an expert using the nun-chucks! I need you to help Mei Mei with them!"
"...You brought nun-chucks with you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Po simply nodded.
And Tigress simply smiled. "Where's the extra pair?"
. . .
When Po left Mei Mei to her own devices, she continued to practice with the nun-chucks until her frustration began to brew.
...and after hitting Grandma Panda for the second time.
Ending her quick break, she took one final breath and a drink of water before starting up. Swinging the nun-chucks left and right, simultaneously spinning them around, she felt that she was getting closer, but like previous times, she failed. She swung too hard to the back, and the nun-chucks slipped from her grasp, flying in the air...
...and about to hit Po and Master Tigress.
Yet, before Mei Mei could even put her hands around her mouth to call out, Tigress caught the equipment with her bare paw before it struck Po. As careful as she could, having only one hand holding Lei Lei, Tigress handed her over to Po and given the extra nun-chucks he brought. Much to their relief, the little panda didn't fuss, seeming content.
"You're losing control," noted Tigress as she walked up to Mei Mei and handed back her nun-chucks. As she did so, she noticed the ribbon wand. "And that?"
"I'm trying to use this-!" Mei Mei shook the wand, "-to my advantage! Po suggested it."
"I see." She focused on the object, wondering the same thing.
Tigress was no stranger to ribbon dancing or ribbon wands, having seen them over the years. Her sister-in-arms, Viper, had once offered to teach her many years ago but she had declined her offer.
She hummed and looked down, glancing back and forth between the two objects. Having experience with nun-chucks, they were the best for close-range attacks, but not so much with long distance attacks-
Her eyes suddenly widened and she looked at the ribbon wand. "Long distance."
Mei Mei tilted her head, one ear perked up and the other flattened, confused.
"You can use it for long-distance attacks," the feline clarified. "Nun-chucks are best used for close-range attacks." She looked back at her own set, fiddling with them. "Let's try something. I have an idea."
Seconds later found Tigress catching a nun-chuck she’d thrown in the air as Mei Mei missed catching it with her ribbon wand. Meanwhile, Po stayed in the same place, sitting down and watching their training go, and holding onto Lei Lei, both observing in awe.
"Again!" Tigress hollered, throwing the second set into the air.
This time, Mei Mei caught it, beginning a consistent streak of catches with quite a few close calls. Satisfied with the streak, Tigress gestured towards the surrounding trees. "Now," she threw a set of nun-chucks at Mei Mei, the latter catching them successfully, "your targets."
The ribbon dancer struggled once again but just like with ribbon dancing, she was determined to do her best. Her ribbon dancing skills came in handy, throwing the nun-chucks in the air with grace, catching them with her ribbon, and striking her targets. Within minutes, she wasn't missing her targets, striking the trunks successfully.
As Tigress was about to call the training a success, Po got up, with Lei Lei following behind and heading straight for the feline. "Ready?"
Looking away from Mei Mei, proud with a gentle smile, she nodded. "Ready," she replied as she kneeled to pick up the toddler.
That's when it happened. They barely caught sight of the ribbon heading straight for them, and both did their best to escape, only to fail for different reasons.
Po's timing was off, having pulled his focus on Tigress too late. On the other paw, Tigress was quick enough to spot it and get back up again, but wasn't able to jump out in time. By the time Po looked over and Tigress stood up, the ribbon wrapped around them tightly, pulling them together and crushing into one another.
Before they could even react, Mei Mei reeled them in, stopping them right before her.
"I figured out another attack, Master Tigress!" beamed Mei Mei, lucky enough that the two masters missed the hint of mischief in her voice and the way she carefully observed them.
Both masters simply stared, eyes gone wide and both equally flustered about their present predicament. Being pressed tightly together, temple-to-temple, side-to-side, they refused to look at one another, so they kept their eyes on the ribbon dancer instead, who waved her nun-chucks around.
"E-Explain," Tigress stuttered, quickly scolding herself her execution.
"Catch, reel, strike!" she giggled, shaking the wand. "Smart, huh?"
Before Tigress could answer, Po blurted out, "Totally! Now could you- uh- let us go?"
Satisfied with their reactions, Mei Mei let them go and spun them away from her, letting the ribbon do its work.
As soon as the ribbon unraveled, both masters got away from the mess of the ribbon. The feline was quick to gain her composure, quickly flattening her fur as she was aware of how it reacted. However, the ursine remained in his flustered state, folding his arms and rubbing his shoulders. He took a quick peak at his friend, unaware that she had to pull herself together, and looked away once her eyes meet his. All of that within a matter of seconds, and Mei Mei saw all of it.
"So...?" Mei Mei teased.
"Gather everyone to the dining court!" Po instructed, clearing his throat and running off before Tigress or Mei Mei could say anything. "We got a plan to discuss!"
Both women nodded and took off as soon as Tigress picked up Lei Lei and Mei Mei gathered her equipment.
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this was sitting in my files for a while and it wasn't until recently that i was able to finish editing and revising.
this is by far the most self indulgent kfp 3 fic i've written by far. this isn't a "i would've liked it better if this happened," this is a "GOD but what if THIS happened?" yk?
fic was inspired by that screenshot AND a scrapped storyboard from KFP 3.
as for the snowball fight mentioned, i cant promise that i'll write a fic about that haha-
i have more fics sitting in my files, waiting to be revised and edited. again for KFP 3. again, can't promise how soon i'll post them.
anyways, hope you enjoyed this fic! ty for reading! :D
