Teaching

Tigress/Po

"All right my Ferocious friends!" The Dragon Warrior excitedly addressed his five "students" lined up in front of him. "It's time we expanded our horizons!"

"I hate it when he calls us that." Monkey whispered to himself, earning a grunt of agreement from the bird standing by his side.

"Today, we are going to start learning each other's styles!" This elicited quite the reaction from the Five, as they all widened their eyes slightly at the idea. Out of respect for their "Master," no one spoke a word yet. As if preparing herself for the upcoming rant, Tigress crossed her arms and stared at her friend with a passive expression.

"Legends of our awesomeness has spread throughout the land." The panda began monologing emphatically. "The devilish lawbreakers of our fantabulous valley now remain hidden in the shadows, afraid. Afraid of the invincible six!" The panda empathized with his fist high in the air. Monkey and Mantis gave each other a side look as if silently shaking their heads at their friend's antics.

"But, we can do better!" He stated with a swipe of his arm to emphasize his point. "And we will! Just imagine how invincible we would be if we knew how to fight like each other! We'd be unstoppable!"

"Ummm..." Crane hummed aloud, but Po continued.

"Mantis could surprise the bandits with the thunderous primate kick, Kiyahhhhh!" Po attempted a kick to mimic his monkey friend, earning an uncomfortable side look from said friend.

"Or Crane could slither away when he's surrounded. Ssssss ssss ssssss." Po landed on his stomach and attempted to slither around. Instead, he ended up squirming about more like a worm. At this, Viper covered her face with her tail in embarrassment.

"Ooooh! Or Monkey could fly with his tail like Crane and throw Mantis to the enemy for a surprise attack!" Po then stood up and attempted to start wiggling his tiny tail as fast as he could; unfortunately, with such a small tail and large body, it looked more like he was attempting to do...something else. Unable to take the awkwardness any more, Viper interrupted his tirade softly.

"Ummm, Po, I get what you are going for...but I don't think any of us are fit to use each other's styles."

"Yeah bud," Mantis readily agreed. "Hate to break it to you, but for one, none of us can actually fly."

"Yeah, Monkey acknowledged. "Trust me, some of us have tried..."

"Plus, it's not like any of you can slither with arms." Viper pointed out.

"Not to mention..." Crane was about to continue before being cut off by Po.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's the quitter's mindset, and none of us are quitters! We are the Sensational Six! We can make it happen! Anything is possible! Besides, all of you are theeeeeee Master's of your own styles. Come on!"

Everyone remained quiet at their friend's certainty. After several moments, Tigress of all people was the one to break.

"I rather like the idea."

"What!?" Everyone, including the Dragon Warrior, all shouted and stared at the feline in disbelief. Tigress stared back at her friends with her arms crossed still crossed. She showed little reaction, eyebrows only raising slightly at the sudden attention. After a moment, she shrugged and clarified.

"Why not? It would be a good opportunity for all of us to expand our horizons. We may not be able to master each other's styles, but even having a foundation for each other's skills would in theory improve our teamwork by helping us understand how each other's mindset in combat."

"Really?" Po asked aloud in shock before catching himself. "I mean, of course! That's exactly why we're doing this! We need better teamwork, read each other's minds in fights! To become the psychic six!" He yelled out with his signature confidence. "Trust me, after this, we will become more invincible than ever before!" The panda finished assuredly.

"Ummmm..." Viper hummed to herself.

"Pleaseeeeeeeee..." Po begged.

The Furious Five looked back and forth amongst each other, as if silently debating the idea. After a couple of minutes, Monkey finally broke the silence.

"Ummm, okay." Monkey reluctantly agreed. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to try."

"Yeeesssss!" Po shouted with a leap in the air, unable to contain his excitement. "This is going to be soooooo great!"

"Okay..." Mantis interrupted. "Sooooo, which style are we learning first?" Mantis asked.

"Not Crane's!" Viper interjected adamantly. "No offense, but I'm not really in a rush to learn how to fly, even if we are substituting."

"None taken," Crane responded with a wave of his wing. "actually, I feel the same way towards your style. The ground and I have a very love/hate relationship."

"What about mine?" Mantis asked, pointing to himself with his left appendage.

"Can't say I'm ready to spend all day learning how to hop around." Monkey responded.

"Hey, hopping around is not that easy!" Mantis countered offended.

"And that's why we want to wait." Crane acknowledged with a nod of certainty, whether to appease the bug or just out of laziness, no one knew.

"Monkey?" Viper suggested.

"Not me. I'd have to figure something out about all of your lack of a flexible tail." He explained.

"Guess that leaves...Tigress." Mantis stated, with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. At this, all the warriors turned their eyes to their feline friend. At the sudden attention shift, she blinked twice yet didn't say a word in response.

"Well, hardstyle is simple enough." Monkey admitted. "Not like we need to fly around or anything. Still..."

"Isn't her style a bit..." Mantis began, but couldn't seem to finish. Still, most understood his concern.

"What do you think Tigress?" Viper questioned in an attempt to avoid the awkward conversation. The tiger stood and scanned her friends' questioning gazes with her arms still crossed. After a few seconds, she shrugged once again and responded.

"I don't see any reason why not. Anyone can learn the style. It merely takes a lot of practice."

"Perfect!" Po shouted excitedly. "Tigress, for the next week, you will be our teacher! Teach us your ways, oh great one! We'll all be hardcore warriors in no time!"

Po then gave her a bow, causing the others to almost reluctantly follow suit. At this, she finally uncrossed her arms and stared back silently, examining her students. After a few seconds, she addressed them.

"All right then, meet me at the foot of the valley in an hour. I will take you to the training grounds from there." With that, Tigress bowed back to her friends and began walking down the stairs to the valley. When she was outside of earshot, Monkey jumped in front of Po and slapped him.

"Owwww!" Po yelled in annoyance.

"Are you crazy! You are having Tigress teach us!" He exclaimed with fear in his voice.

"What?" Po asked, completely oblivious to the issue. "Just 'cause she's tough in her training, doesn't mean she'll be a bad teacher. Besides, if you thought that way, why didn't you say anything!" Po challenged.

"I'm trying not to be squashed like a bug anytime soon, thank you very much!" Mantis retorted for the primate.

"Po, you've seen her spar! You know how intense she can be!" Viper explained, anger clear in her voice as well.

"Oh come on, you guys are over-reacting!" Po dismissed.

"We better be!" Monkey threatened. "Cause if its as bad as we are all thinking it'll be, I'm totally blaming you!"

"Oh come on! We'll be fine. You guys are making a big deal over nothing. We'll be hardcore warriors in no time!" Po assured his friends.

"Well...knowing Tigress, it'll probably just be a bunch of sparring. Tough, but nothing we haven't handled before." Crane stated optimistically.

"Okay, okay," Monkey reluctantly accepted, finally calming down. "Maybe I'm just overreacting. Its not like she's ever taught anything before. I mean, how hard can it be?"

"I'M DYING!" Monkey yelled in the middle of the forest.

"I'M ALREADY DEAD!" Po countered just as loudly.

There, he and his four fellow students were each striking their assigned ironwood tree repeatedly, but each in their unique way. Crane was smacking the tree as best as he could with his wings, Po and Monkey were striking theirs with their bare fists, which were now completely beet red, Mantis was striking his with every angle of his...thingies, and Viper...poor Viper. She was using her tail at first, but Tigress wanted them to harden both of their "fists." So there she was, banging her head against her tree, to "strengthen" her skull. All of this was happening while Tigress walked around, inspecting each of them like a drill sergeant, making sure that their form was perfect.

"Keep at it! You all still have a ways to go before your strikes will become firm enough!"

"If we survive this...dun...I'm so going to...dun...get you for this Po!" Monkey threatened.

"Too late...dun...already dead...dun...passed the light a while ago...dun...this is must be the other side of the spirit world...dun..." Po retorted jokingly (or not) in between strikes.

"Keep going." She commanded, ignoring their pleas. "200 more strikes for each hand; then, we will call it a night."

"I don't...dun...even have any...dun...hands!" Mantis pointed out in between strikes.

"You are right." She acknowledged, shifting her attention to the bug. "Do an extra 50 on each appendage. They may need more reinforcing than a fist."

"That's...dun...not what I meeheheeaantttt." Mantis cried out with tears falling out of his eyes from the pain.

"Tigress!" Po yelled out to his friend, getting her attention. "You said it took you...dun...20 years of this...dun...to get to where you are now...dun...right?"

"Correct." She responded simply. At this realization, everyone's heart dropped.

"You don't mean...dun...you're going to make us..." Crane began to ask but was cut off.

"No, that would be impossible." She returned, answering the question before it was even asked. "I only have a week, so I am upping the intensity to help you as much as possible within the short timeframe."

"Ahhh...dun...okay..." Po acknowledged, relief clear in his voice. "cause I was going to say...dun...it feels like we've already...dun... been at this for 15..."

"Hours?" Crane asked.

"Years..." Po clarified.

The sounds of striking and grunting continued echoing across the forest for another hour, like wolves howling against a thunderstorm...except much less dignified. Despite their obvious struggles, the trainees s diligently continued their reps throughout the night.

After noticing that she could no longer hear the sounds of striking wood, Tigress addressed her students. "All right. Everyone appears to have completed their reps. Crane?" She began her impromptu role call.

"Done..." He answered sitting at the foot of his tree, massaging his wings as best as he could.

"Mantis?"

"I think I lost a thingy..." At a glare from his friend, he answered quickly. "Yes, yes, I swear!"

"Viper." There was no reply after several seconds. "Viper." Tigress then made her way to Viper's tree to check on her progress.

There, she found the unconscious body of her scaly ally, with a huge lump on her head. As she stared at the sleeping snake, Po wormed his way to the feline's side, with both his arms sliding as dead-weight against the ground. When he finally reached her, he flipped over to his back and stared into the sky with relief, struggling to even remain conscious.

"Huffff! Wow! Huffff! You make...hufff...Shifu's training seem...huff...so easy." He puffed out. After allowing himself a chance to catch his breath, he commented on the snake's demise. "At least she doesn't have to feel our pain anymore..."

Tigress didn't say anything in response. She merely continued staring at her unconscious friend.

"She did well." Tigress eventually acknowledged, more to herself than to Po. "This is what the style is about. Pushing past one's limits to create new ones." Tigress complimented. She then turned her attention to her nearest friend. "Monkey, carry her back into town."

"...sorry, I can't feel my arms." Tigress was about to pressure the primate into completing the task but noticed that both his arms were indeed laying at his side, seemingly paralyzed.

"Crane."

"There is no way I can fly now..." He pointed still rubbing his sore wings.

The orange feline remained quiet. She then turned back to face her sleeping reptilian friend. Silence filled the air for several moments before being interrupted.

"Perhaps I pushed them a bit too far." Tigress acknowledged aloud, as though the thought had just crossed her mind.

"You think!" Po complained. "Ughhh, this was my worst idea yet..."

At this, Tigress smirked. "I disagree. All things considered, you all did quite well. One more week of this and everyone will be on their way to making the style their own."

"That is if we can survive first." Po sighed to himself.

"I believe in them." She responded simply, the same cool smirk plastered on her face.

"I don't!" Mantis yelled back.

"That is fine." She retorted her humor fading. She cooly fixed her now hardened gaze upon her insect prey causing him to flinch. "Believing in you is my job, not yours. You will start believing when you see the results."

"Mommy..." Mantis squeaked aloud.

"Wow," Po gasped out loud. "that is easily the wisest thing I've heard you say all day." As the exhaustion kicked in and he began to lose consciousness, he spoke his final words with his failing voice. "Too bad I'll be too scarred to remember it..."

A/N: Always a blast doing the light hearted ones XD. Hope you all enjoyed it. Next one with probably be a bit heavier again.

Also, thanks so much for the support and reviews everyone! They mean a lot, and encourage me to send these out sooner. Trying to do better with edits though, since I try to send them out as soon as I have time and tend to miss errors. Anyway, I'll keep at it as best as I can, don't worry. Until next time!