The Curious Tale Of Momoda

Who am I?

If you could be anyone else, who would you be?

The time was back. Back when everything made sense in the world. But all of a sudden it didn't. When the deeper darkness would conceal the treasures and pains of others. Until they couldn't. And the truest evil was easy, and the smallest truth hard. This story, unlike others, is not about one lesson or another idea. This story tells the tale of a curious creature by the name of Momoda. 

It was early in the afternoon. The season slowly thawing from its icy grip. The team had just come back to the mountain from one of Po's affairs gone wild. Crane was the first to sigh out of relief. "Those were a lot of bandits. Good job getting them to believe you, Po."

"Yeah, just... never have an idea like that again, okay?" Monkey panted. 

"Hehe, sorry guys. I really messed up," Po groaned. He looked at the majestic red palace doors with green encrusted Chinese fan palms. Master Shifu was probably waiting for him inside the Hall of Heroes. The panda gulped. "Hopefully, Shifu isn't too mad at me." He opened them up to see a glaring red panda leaning on his master's staff next to an upright and poised Tigress. "Welp, a panda can dream."

"Po!" Shifu called. "What is the meaning of this?!" 

"Wait, wait, I can explain. Right guys? Guys?" The poor panda saw none of his comrades behind him. "Of course," Po sighed. 

Shifu stretched out his hand. "Hand it over."

"Aw, man. Come on," Po whined. The red panda's glare didn't budge. Po produced from his pocket a bright red stone that had been the start of his whole misadventure. "Look, Master Shifu, I'm really sorry. I just-"

"Po, what you did was reckless and irresponsible," Shifu took a breath after his scolding. "But the threat was neutralized, so there might not be as much damage."

"That's a good thing... right?"

"You're still in trouble, Po."

"Right," Po sighed. Shifu placed the red stone into a box that Master Tigress held. It joined its brother as Tigress closed the lid. "I'm sorry Master Shifu. I just thought it would be a good idea."

"Using the Shift Stones to turn yourself into a boar just so you can get an action figure of Master Ox is not a good idea, Po," Shifu replied. 

"But it was a limited edition!" 

Shifu groaned, "Master Tigress, could you please put this back in proper storage? Where the panda won't get it."

"Hey! It wasn't entirely my fault. And we managed to get those bandits by surprise."

"Only because they thought you were their leader," Shifu pointed out. Po sighed in defeat. The red panda rubbed the temples of his skull as Tigress left the hall. "Sometimes, I wonder why you do these things."

"I'm sorry, Master Shifu."

"Now if you were like Tigress, I wouldn't have to-" 

"Wait, what?" Po's eyes widened and shrank back down into a narrowed stare. "You're seriously comparing me to Tigress?"

"What's the matter with that?"

Po puffed out his chest a bit. "What's so wrong with me that you think being like Tigress is going to fix everything?"

"She doesn't do the things you do," Shifu replied. 

"So just because she's your little miss perfect student, I should be exactly like her?" 

"It wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah, it would!" Po remarked. "Because being me is what took down Tai Lung, Shen, Kai, and every other bandit in the valley." He crossed his big plushy arms with a scowl. "I thought you finally accepted me for who I am, Shifu."