The Curious Tale Of Momoda

Her History

Another few days went by and Momoda was nowhere to be seen. It had been a whole five months since the mysterious tiger first appeared on the scene, and the group wasn't any closer to figuring out who she was or why she was there. "I think we should go south. She might be there," Po said. The panda seem to have a lead, though he wouldn't say what it was. The gang had to have faith that Po knew what he was doing, even when Po didn't seem to know what he was doing. He wanted Crane, Viper, Mantis, and Monkey to go with him to find her, leaving Tigress and Shifu alone to watch the village. Since Tigress had trained too much in Shifu's and everyone else's opinion, he decided to take up the patrols by himself. "Master Shifu, I-"

"That's enough," Shifu replied gently. "I don't want you exerting yourself more than you already have. You've done a lot of work to prepare yourself. Now, you need a lot of rest."

"Yes Master Shifu," Tigress relented. As she retired to her room, Shifu turned his attention to Po.

"Are you sure that she's in the southern part? It makes no sense for her to be there."

"Does anything Momoda do make sense?" Po asked. Shifu shrugged. He had a point. "Besides, she's a South China tiger, they're usually in the lower part of China. Or at least they were."

"Were?"

"I haven't really seen another tiger since Momoda or Tigress. This will be interesting."

"Still, be careful," Shifu warned.

"We will," Po said, bowing to his master.

"And don't get distracted by her, Po."

"Hey! The others get distracted too!"

"Yes, but she likes you," Shifu smirked, "Whether you like her is a whole subject we'll talk about when you come back."

"Super," Po groaned in dread. "And Master Shifu, please keep an eye on Tigress."

"I will," Shifu smiled. Po didn't smile back. He just stared in the direction that Tigress went and joined the others at the start of the palace steps. "Take care and be careful." Waving them off, Shifu watched his pupils set off down into the village and out of the valley. It was late in the afternoon and the bright blue sky slowly turned orange, pink, and red. Master Shifu would periodically check on Tigress in her room. She would either be meditating or sleeping, but each time he visited, it would bring a small smile to his face.

At least she was resting.

Night finally came. Shifu traveled down into the village where he walked the lonely streets. Lanterns and candles slowly flickered out as the crescent moon quietly moved across the sky. He whispered to himself. "Hmm, Po's actions are concerning. More so than Momoda's. I hope he knows what he's doing." Shifu stopped in the middle of the streets and facepalmed himself. "Who am I kidding? No one knows what that panda is doing." He glanced at the glowing moon above silently shining its light back down onto the way to the Huai Difang tavern. Shifu couldn't get Po's words out of his head. "The village is quiet."

Maybe the panda was right. Maybe he was still judging a book by its cover. The red panda sighed as he stared down the moonlit street.

"Momoda isn't the only one I've been misjudging," He muttered. His careless words had caused enough damage.

"Could Po be right? Am I making the same mistake that I made of Tai Lung with the others?" The red panda stopped, peering into some vanishing point down the street. "How do I stop this from happening again?"

"Maybe," said a voice from above, "Start figuring out who they are, rather than who you want them to be?" Shifu looked up. One figure stood on a rooftop in the moonlight with arms crossed and glaring red eyes that penetrated the darkness. She jumped off and landed right in front of him. Her stare was evenly set on Shifu, never wavering in its intense rage. At least, that's what Shifu thought it was.