Love of the Dragon Warrior

Kung fu Kickoff, part 2

Po stared at the top of the staff which was now broken. The tip had snapped clean off and now lay on the floor just under the spiral beams.

"Master Shifu is going to kill me and frame me on the walls in the Sacred Hall of Warriors...." Po said nervously.

"Not if I tell him what happened," Song promised, picking up the pieces of the staff. "I should have been more careful."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault the beam got all wonky. I shouldn't have let you guys use these...."

Po glanced over at the door in thought. Frowned. Then looked a little hopeful. "Wait, I wonder if Master Leopard knows how to fix it," he wondered out loud. He helped Song to her feet and walked with her out of the training hall where the girls turned to look in their direction. Ordai was sitting on the steps while Master Leopard practiced some of her stances with Tai Lin. Destiny and Lu-Shi were nowhere to be found, but this was because, as Po found out, they had gone off to bed.

"Why are you out here?" Ordai asked once the pleasantries were all out of the way. "You still have about three minutes."

"We wanted to ask Leopard if she knew anything about fixing broken weapons," Po explained sheepishly.

Master Leopard stopped in surprise. "What happened?" she asked quickly. "What broke?"

Song held up the staff and its tip, to which Leopard simply responded by sharply intaking a breath.

"Oh boy," she commented. "That'll take me a moment...."

"Is it that bad?" Song asked.

"The fire staff takes a little time to fix. It's not like it's never been broken before, but getting it back in working order will take me at least a half hour or so...."

She walked over to Song and carefully took the broken staff from her. After examining it and making sure no pieces were missing, she said, "I'll be back in a little bit." and then left the training grounds.

"I hope she can fix it," Song said a little nervously. "The last thing I want is your friends on my back about it."

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell Shifu I let you guys train with it if he gets mad. Plus, if it is fixable, it won't be much of an issue. Promise."

The master gently patted Song's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. Song turned her head to look at him and smile. "You're sweet," she said. She squeezed his paw with her own and added, "Well, while we still have time, what should we do?"

"Actually you only have a minute of time left," Ordai told them from the training hall steps. "You spent most of it asking Leopard for help fixing the fire staff."

"Oh? Well, I guess maybe I should call it a night. I'll stay here and see how the staff turns out before heading off to sleep."

She then walked over to sit next to Ordai as Tai Lin came up to Po. "I guess it's my turn then," she commented.

Po led her into the training hall, apologizing to Song for having to cut their time short, and then turning his attention to Tai Lin.

"I'm a blank canvas!" Tai Lin told him with a determined expression. "Teach me something."

"Sure," Po told her, jumping down to the training hall's pit. "I guess since the staff is out of commission, we can always practice some stances with the fan."

Po remembered dropping the fan to help Song and neither of them had gone back to pick it up or even move it. So he was thoroughly confused when he couldn't find the fan anywhere. And then after a minute of looking around, he was starting to panic.