4 chapters to go...
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Valley gongs went off in the brink of morning, the whole Valley of Peace called to wake up and start their days. All the way up in the Jade Palace, on cue, just as they always did before, the Furious Five jumped right out of their beds and headed out their doors to greet the red panda master.
"Good morning, Master." They all said in unison.
But Shifu couldn't care about protocol right now. He was trying to find someone...
"Panda?" He called.
No answer.
"Panda!"
Still no answer.
Tigress looked to the door ahead of her. Was this where Lotus was meant to stay? She didn't know why, but the concept of that as well as the implications made her smile a bit as her heart thumped for a moment.
She had to admit, though she was tempted to go after her friend yesterday, she felt more of a need to retreat to her room and deal with the mixed emotions she has had over the last few days. With the title, with the growing resentment towards Shifu... with Lotus.
The minor eyebags she has grown to have would tell you how long she stayed up to 'clear her head'.
And all her conclusions gave her was that... she just genuinely wanted him here.
Unfortunately, Shifu's patience was done for, and so with no more waiting, he stormed to the door and busted it open, "Wake up!" he proclaimed, but stopped once he looked into the room.
There was no panda.
The thought internally crushed Tigress behind the smirking Shifu as he announced with glee, "He's quit."
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The Furious Five and their master walked up together to the court yard in haste, though Tigress felt herself trailing behind, not trying to make herself noticed.
She didn't show any signs of sadness, other than the small sight of her rubbing her knuckles behind her back. Her ears perked when Viper slithered up to Shifu. "What do we do now, Master? With the panda gone? Who will be the new Dragon Warrior?"
Shifu proudly looked back at the rest of his students, "All we can do is resume our training and trust that, in time, the true Dragon Warrior will be revealed."
He opened the doors to the court yard and felt his smile drop instantly, while Tigress perked her head up, as everyone graced their sights at the 'Dragon Warrior' ahead of them, on a couple of wooden bars, trying to do the splits.
Emphasis on trying.
"What are you doing here!?" Shifu asked harshly, alerting Lotus' attention.
He looked behind him and saw everyone's mixed faces as he meekly bowed, "Hah! Hi! G-good morning, Masters! I just uh... thought I'd warm up a little..." He pretended to stretch before quickly trying to get his leg off the wooden bar.
It was at this moment everyone took a good look at his predicament, and Tigress internally face-palmed herself once she realised that, during the months of training Lotus, she forgot to exercise one thing...
His flexibility.
The others seemed to have noticed as well. Viper, Mantis and Monkey chuckled under their breaths wile Crane and Shifu shared a look of distain towards the struggling ursine.
"You're stuck," The red panda pointed out.
"Stuck?" Lotus panicked, "Nah? What? Me, stuck? No! Pffft haha! O-of course not! This is just one of my—yeah, I'm stuck." He finally muttered, defeated with himself.
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Lotus
Fanfictionwhat would've happened if just before the carriage that carried the radish basket with Po in it was about to leave, Li Shan found his son and raised him alone? how would Po end up? and what happens when a gorgeous tiger is assigned to now protect th...
