Strong

Becoming Strong

Heat surged in the blackness, and fire sprouted out all around him. The flames rose high over his head to an unseen blackened ceiling. Po's lungs cried for air. He looked up past the towering flames and saw four pairs of yellow glowing eyes on gigantic silhouettes, glaring down at his inferior body. His heart thumped in his chest. He heard the sharp ringing echo in the air and clasped his hands to his ears. Suddenly, the floor gave way, and Po fell down, down, down.

Crash!

"OOWWW! What the huh! What's going on!" Po ripped the blanket off of him. He was on the floor of his bedroom, with no flames or eyes insight. "Whew, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm good. I uh... I should... get some food," Po panted. He struggled to his feet, but something nagged at him. His vision grew hazy. The posters and leftover bowls in his room looked blurry and darker. His heart thumped louder and louder in his skull until a loud white noise rang in his ears. He could hear nothing, but he walked forward. Each step wobbled as he pressed on.

He got to the kitchen. He didn't know how, but as Po crashed into a chair, he clamped his hands over his ears. The ring chimed in sync with his banging heart. "Calm down, Po. Calm down." His vision got darker and darker, and the ringing was as loud as a gong.

But then, his heart slowed down. Its thumping gently relaxed into a soft melodious pumping. His sight cleared, and Po saw the wooden table, the chairs, and the kitchen in its usual disarray. The panda gasped as he relaxed into his chair.

A panic attack. He usually got them when something traumatic was going on.

Po plopped his elbows on the table, staring into the wood. All he could think of was the rhino guard's warning about his strength. "What if the guards are right? What if I'm not strong enough?"

He wasn't strong enough. Try as he might, he wasn't. Po tried shaking his head free of the dark thoughts, but they were too far deep... and familiar.

He remembered the last time he thought he was useless. It was with Tai-Lung. But these guards and Platon all made it seem that this criminal guy was on a different level. How was he supposed to be strong enough?

Then, like a little tiny bunny valiantly standing with her wooden sword drawn against the fierce wild horde, a thought came into Po's head.

Then get stronger.

Po looked out the window. The sun was ready to burst forth for a new day. Might as well try. The panda stood up, still shaky, and declared, "Alright, let's do this."

Meanwhile, Mr. Three and Mr. Four guarded Platon's guest house. It stood behind the Hall of Heroes; they could see the Training Hall down the other mountain peak. Mr. Four's mouth was wide open with drool pouring down his jaw, though he wasn't snoring. Mr. Three rolled his eyes. His partner wasn't always like this, but ever since they started protecting Blackie and Platon, they felt a little more at ease with intruders. Mr. Three looked up at the disappearing stars, a sight he rarely got to see in that cave. "Rahh! Dang it! Who left that there? Oh wait, that was me." Mr. Three turned his head. The voice came from the Training Hall. Getting up, he looked over and saw the unmistakable black and white fur of the Dragon Warrior going into the Training Hall.

"He doesn't seem like the early-riser," Mr. Three said. He looked back at his slumbering friend and shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to get to know the guy better." The rhino made his way over to the Training Hall and found Po practicing his Kung Fu moves on one of the wooden dummies.

"WAH! HA OW!" Which he promptly got whacked by. "UGGHH! Alright, one of these days, I'm gonna beat you," Po pout, angrily pointing his finger at the wooden dummy.

"You know."

"WAHHH!"

"That's not the kind of strength I meant," Mr. Three said.