Strong

More Secrets

"51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60."

"That'll be enough," Shifu said. Po groaned and plopped to the ground after his push-ups. Sliding the weights off of his back, he stood up and rubbed his wrist, slightly frowning. 

"What's next?"

Shifu looked at the panda. He couldn't make out his emotion. He seemed solemn, tight-lipped like someone stepped on his toe. 

Or his heart. "Take a break. You've done a lot of work." Po nodded and sat crossed legs to meditate. "You seem... more focused."

"Thank you, Master Shifu."

"And bad tempered."

"What makes you say that?" Po muttered. 

"Because our food supply is low," Shifu muttered back. "And you're acting like Tigress."

Po scoffed a bit and looked away, still furrowing his eyebrows. "I thought that was a good thing." 

"Po, what's wrong?" Shifu asked. Just then, Tigress passed through the entrance of the Training Hall. She looked inside, locking eyes with Po. He glared before looking the other way. Tigress continued on, softly walking down the silent halls. "Did something happen between you and Tigress?"

"No."

"Po, please. Carrying anger like this isn't healthy for you. And whatever reason you have for being angry, will it matter in the long run?"

"I think it will," Po grunted out. "Especially this." Shifu furrowed his bushy eyebrows together, but he didn't say a word. A full minute passed before the silence finally got to Po. "Tigress and I... had a... a bit of an argument."

"I got that part," Shifu said. 

"It was... it was about trust," Po said. "She... ugh! None of you guys trust me!" Shifu silently stroked his beard. 

"This is about the wolf, isn't it?" 

Po nodded. "I know he's dangerous and I know he could hurt you guys, but don't you think I know that? Why won't you guys trust me?"

"Because it's not the normal way." Po's eyebrow rose. "Po, you do things that... aren't typical, but they solve the problem. I would have never thought of using the Wuxi Finger Hold on myself to defeat Kai or teach a bunch of pandas to defeat his jombies- I mean jade zombies." 

"Ha, ha! Got you to say it."

"Hmm." Shifu recomposed himself. "Po, your heart is always in the right place. I've seen that for myself. And your actions prove it. It's just... the way it goes is... not always the way we're trained to go. Heh, much like teaching a panda through food isn't how people usually learn Kung Fu."

Po shrugged, "I guess. Maybe you're right." He looked around and noticed something. "Where's Zeng?"

"He's in the dungeon, cleaning." 

"And who's guarding Wolf now?"

"Viper. Why?"

"Just curious," Po said finally smiling. "Alright, now that that's cleared up, let's keep training." As they continued, Zeng the duck gulped and followed the winding steps down to the dungeon. It was always comforting to see the sunlight trickle in at the bottom of the stairs, but normally there wasn't someone IN there to scare him. The duck got to the last stone stair. He saw the black wolf, staring out through the barred window. 

"Oh, hey, Zeng," Viper said, the faintest lift in her voice. No one liked guard duty. "What are you doing here?" 

"I-I-I-I'm here to s-s-s-sweep," Zeng quacked.