Tales of the Tigress Read online

  “Hmm . . . okay.” Po grunted under the weight of the training equipment.

  The masters of the Jade Palace stood at attention. A platform draped with a fancy silk curtain was carried up the steps by a team of goat attendants.

  The first attendant, Wu Yong, stepped forward. “Mistress Mugan!” he announced.

  The curtain was drawn. A cascade of bubbles fluttered before their eyes. Po and the Furious Five gasped. “Whoaaaa! Check it out!”

  Underneath the curtain was a water-filled tank. Glaring out with piercing jade-green eyes was . . . a fish!

  “Are you serious?” Po laughed.

  Mistress Mugan was very serious.

  “We must talk now!” she told Master Shifu. “In private.”

  Po didn’t get it. Why was Mugan at the Jade Palace? And what did she want with Master Shifu? Something about this was definitely fishy.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Po and the Furious Five waited while the kung fu masters spoke behind closed doors. A stony-faced attendant stood at attention, guarding the door.

  “Hey, buddy,” Po told the attendant. “Know what’s going on in there?”

  The guard stood stiff as a nunchaku, staring straight ahead.

  At last the door flew open and Master Shifu stepped out. Behind him was Mugan, who didn’t waste time. She got right to the point. . . .

  “My top warrior is no longer able to fulfill his duties,” Mugan said. “I’m here seeking his replacement.”

  Mugan glared at the Furious Five. “Shifu has graciously agreed to let me offer the position to one of you five,” she said.

  Po did the math. Hey, wait! There were six of them—including him!

  “If you think one of us six is going to leave the Jade Palace—” Po started to say.

  “I wasn’t talking to you, panda!” Mugan cut in. “I’m talking to real warriors who didn’t bungle their way to the top!”

  “Did she just insult me?” Po whispered.

  “Yeah,” Monkey whispered back.

  Mugan then warned the Furious Five that the Garnet Palace was a place of absolute order and dedication to kung fu.

  “You will have until this evening to give an answer!” Mugan snapped.

  Po smirked. As if that was going to happen!

  At dinner, Po, Monkey, Crane, Viper, and Mantis yukked it up over their noodles.

  “Who does Mistress Mugan think she is?” Po laughed. “Who’d want to leave the Jade Palace and live with her?”

  “Me!” Tigress blurted.

  What? Po turned to stare at Tigress. She had to be kidding, right? Wrong!

  “I’ve already talked with Mistress Mugan,” Tigress explained. “I’m going with her. We leave tonight.”

  Tigress’ words hit Po like a ton of wet wontons. Tigress? Leave? No way!

  “But you belong at the Jade Palace,” Po insisted. “It’s your home, and you love it here!”

  “Not anymore,” Tigress said.

  “Since when?” Po demanded.

  “Since you arrived!” Tigress snapped. “Before you came, we didn’t talk about food all the time. We took kung fu seriously!”

  “I take kung fu seriously,” Po insisted.

  Tigress rolled her eyes and said, “You spent all of yesterday’s training showing Monkey how to make fart noises with his armpit!”

  Po begged Tigress to stay. He promised to change, but it was no use.

  “I don’t belong here anymore,” Tigress said.

  It wasn’t long before Tigress was standing at the palace gate with her silk bag packed. Master Shifu, Po, and the Furious Five Minus One came to say good-bye.

  “Tigress, are you sure this is what you want?” Shifu asked. He didn’t want Tigress to go either, but he knew she had to follow her own path.

  “Yes, Master,” Tigress replied softly. She then walked over to Mugan’s tank.

  “Once we leave, you become a warrior of the Garnet Palace,” Mugan said. “There is no coming back.”

  “I understand,” Tigress said.

  As Tigress followed the procession down the steps, she glanced back. The masters of the Jade Palace looked sad to see her go.

  But the saddest face belonged to Po.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “It’s been a long journey,” Mugan told Tigress as they approached the Garnet Palace. “Rest. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow’s training.”

  Tigress didn’t want to rest. She wanted to show off her kung fu skills. “I’m ready to begin now!” she declared.

  Leaping high, Tigress spun around and around in the air. The second her paws touched the ground, she turned her strength on an army of iron training beasts, smashing them with expert strikes and kicks. She was amazing.

  “Hi-yaa!” Tigress shouted when she was done. She smiled at Mistress Mugan.

  Was she a kung fu superstar or what?

  “You’re very powerful,” Mugan agreed. Then she scowled and said, “But you lack precision. Let’s see how you do against an opponent.”

  “Who?” Tigress asked.

  “Me!” Mistress Mugan replied.

  Tigress chuckled to herself. She had heard of the Dragon Form, Snake Form, and Leopard Form, but the Fish Form? Seriously?

  “With respect, Mistress,” Tigress said. “I—”

  WHOOSH!

  Mugan shot up out of the tank. She rocketed straight to Tigress, whacking her head with a string of tail slaps. The ferocious fish then switched directions and shot toward a row of water-filled urns!

  Tigress watched as Mugan splashed from urn to urn. After refueling, Mugan zoomed back to Tigress, slitting her jacket with razor-sharp fins.

  “That was amazing!” Tigress gasped when Mugan was back in her tank.

  “That was precision!” Mugan said.

  Tigress was ready to rest in her new bare-bones room. She sat on her small cot and unpacked. She was surprised to see wooden statues of Po, Monkey, Crane, Viper, and Mantis spill out of her bag onto the bed—so did a note. . . .

  “‘So you’ll never forget us,’” Tigress read aloud. “‘Love, Po.’”

  Tigress threw the statues and note under the bed. She had no time for play. It was time for serious kung fu training. That meant no dolls, no distractions, and no Po!

  Back at the Jade Palace, Po had a statue too—of Tigress.

  “The Jade Palace is your home!” Po told the doll. “You’ve got to come back!”

  The next morning, Tigress began her first day of training. She hung from a pole and did a hundred gut-crunching pull-ups. She gritted her teeth while balancing rice bowls on her head, shoulders, and knees. She struck the iron beasts so hard, their heads spun around and around!

  When she was done, Tigress turned to Mugan. How was that for precision? But the finicky fish shook her head.

  The next morning, Tigress tried again. She balanced bigger and heavier rice bowls on her head, shoulders, and knees. She chopped boards in half with her claw. She balanced crushing weights across her shoulders.

  Mugan still wasn’t sold. It was back to the chopping board for Tigress. Again!

  Tigress’ stripes were in a twist. What did it take to please the great Mistress Mugan?

  Wu Yong was one of Mugan’s guards. Tigress had a question for him.

  “Wu Yong?” Tigress asked the next morning before training. “What happened to Mistress Mugan’s last warrior?”

  “He failed her.” Wu Yong sighed. “He trained day and night, but no matter how hard he tried, Mugan was never satisfied.”

  Never satisfied? Tigress’ eyes popped wide open. That sounded familiar!

  “Year after year he tried to improve,” Wu Yong said, “until at last his body began to fail him. He had lived his whole life for kung fu. Without it, he has nothing else. . . . He is broken.”

  Tigress gulped. Was that her fate? Would Mistress Mugan break her body and spirit too? But as she stared at the old goat’s sad face, it suddenly clicked. . . .

  “It’s you
!” Tigress gasped. “You were the last warrior!”

  Suddenly, Mugan appeared at Tigress’ door. “What’s taking so long?” she demanded as Wu Yong scurried out.

  This time Tigress turned to her inner strength. Holding her head high, she said, “Mistress Mugan, I think I’ve made a terrible mistake. I’m afraid I must return to the Jade Palace.”

  A smile spread across Mugan’s face. “I understand completely,” she said.

  “Thank you!” Tigress said, but then the door shut with a BANG!

  “You belong to me now!” Mugan told Tigress through a small window on the door. “And like the others before you, I will break you!”

  Tigress pushed and pounded, but the bolted door stayed shut. She wouldn’t be going back to the Jade Palace anytime soon. In fact, she wouldn’t be going anywhere. Tigress was trapped!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Po knocked on the door of the Garnet Palace. He didn’t know Tigress was in danger, only that she had to come home!

  “I want to see Tigress,” Po insisted as Mugan’s face appeared at the door.

  “She wants nothing to do with you!” Mugan snapped. “Now leave!”

  Mugan left an attendant to guard the door. Po surprised him with a swift power punch and then slipped inside. He called Tigress’ name as he quickly rushed through the palace.

  “In here, Po!” Tigress called back. “Down the hall!”

  Po followed Tigress’ voice to a door. He could see her eyes through the small window.

  “I know you said I don’t take kung fu seriously,” Po said, “but I’m going to change!”

  “Po—” Tigress started to say.

  “The Jade Palace is as much your home as it is mine,” Po cut in. “And . . . can you open the door, so we can discuss it?”

  “I can’t!” Tigress said. “I’m locked in. Get me out of here!”

  It was Po to the rescue as he charged the door, smashing it down with his shoulder. Tigress was free!

  “Don’t you dare change!” Tigress told Po with a playful punch. “Now let’s get out of here!”

  Po and Tigress made their way out of the palace and through the courtyard. Halfway through, they were stopped by a furious Mugan!

  “This is your home!” Mugan told Tigress. “You were born to train with me and devote yourself totally to kung fu!”

  Tigress remembered Wu Yong’s story. “There’s more to life than kung fu!” she said.

  “Like what?” Mugan shouted.

  “Like this!” Tigress stuck her paw under her armpit and then squeaked out a pretty awesome fart noise!

  “Nice!” Po laughed. Until . . .

  WHOOSH! Mugan shot up out of the tank. She tail slapped Tigress and Po and then zoomed to the urns to power up.

  Po watched Mugan splash into the urns, one by one. So that was the secret to her power! Without those urns, the great Mistress Mugan was just another fish out of water!

  “That’s it!” Po declared.

  The stone urns were heavy, but so was Po. He smashed them to the ground, one by one. In a panic, Mugan splashed into the nearest fountain. Grabbing a heavy stone slab, Po covered the fountain—and Mugan. Who was trapped now?

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Mugan shouted at Tigress through the glass. “You’re mine!”

  But Tigress didn’t belong to anyone but herself!

  “You know what, Mistress?” Tigress said coolly. “You really need to lighten up!”

  “Thank you,” Wu Yong whispered to Tigress and Po. “She’s a real . . . meanie.”

  Side by side, Tigress and Po walked away from the sputtering Mugan. It was time to go back to the Jade Palace. It was time to go home!

  “So . . . do you want to learn how to burp-talk?” Po asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Tigress said with a smile.

  Po smiled too. From this moment on, things would be awesome again. And Tigress was right—there were other things in life besides kung fu. Like bean buns . . . and noodles . . . and spring rolls!

  And great friends.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  This Simon Spotlight edition June 2015

  © 2015 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. NICKELODEON and all related logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Based on the feature film “Kung Fu Panda,” © 2008 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2828-6 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2829-3 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2830-9 (eBook)