The Lion and the Leopard

Training Methods

Over the course of several weeks, Leo had honed his training in the Field of Fiery Death. He tried not to rely so heavily on his senses and instead just try not be in the way of the flames when they happened.

Tigress often watched him, her paws itched as she wished to join him. But she remained on the side lines, simply watching. Sometimes Leo would catch her mimicking his moves, but he did not mind.

Day after day, the lions life became routine. He would wake up before dawn, eat breakfast, train until nightfall, eat dinner and then go to bed. And Leo Lung hated it. He tried to spice up his life however he could: trying a new training method, sparing with Shifu, and he even tried hiding behind some bushes and scaring the palace staff. Leo thought it was fun, it brought a sense of adrenaline and excitement that he never really felt anymore during training. But the geese obviously did not feel the same way, and they told Shifu about it right afterward. Leo went to bed hungry that night.

Even though Leo filled his day up with training, he was very bored. The Field of Fiery Death and the Wooden Warrior could only keep him busy for so long before he sought something else to do. He even tried training with the dummy that he and Tai Lung practiced with when they were children. Shifu, also not liking this, stopped Leo, claiming he needed a "more worthy opponent than this thing."

Leo even tried cutting back on his training and simply wandering around the Jade Palace, thinking to himself. He thought about everything, from the villagers in the Valley of Peace to what he would be having for dinner that night. It would probably be soup. He tried playing games with himself: Leo tried to count all the different types of trees on the Palace grounds, but gave up after only counting ironwood trees and cherry trees. One day, while staring blankly at the training dummy, Leo thought to himself.

{Maybe if Master Shifu puts something new in the training hall.}

Leo beamed at the idea. There were so many things he could train with! Ideas swirled through his head, some brilliant and some not so brilliant. Leo ran out of the Training Hall, almost bumping into Tigress. Leo muttered a quick apology and ran back to his room, Tigress staring after him, the confusion clear on her face.

He burst into his room and looked for ink and parchment. Maybe he could draw something and present it to Shifu. If Shifu liked it maybe he could get some construction animals to build it!

Leo sat down on his cot of a bed and began to brainstorm. He thought about the Wooden Warriors in the training hall. They only had one. Maybe he could get more! Or even a whole army!

Without even writing anything down, the lion ran out of his room, nearly tripping over the very red panda he was looking for. Leo skidded to a stop. Shifu gazed at him, confusion written clearly on his face,

"Tigress told me you were acting strange. Is something wrong?" Shifu asked.

"No! The opposite!" Leo exclaimed. Shifu looked slightly taken aback. Leo proceeded to tell Shifu of his idea. And once he started, he didn't stop. The words kept spilling out of his mouth, telling his master of all of his ideas.

Once the lion was finished, Shifu was stunned into silence. Once he found his voice, he spoke up, "How long have you been thinking of all of these ideas?"

"Well, I mean, some of them came to me just now, but think abou-"

"Leo Lung, if you want some of these things in the Training Hall, we can make it happen. But you will have to tell the construction workers what you want." Shifu smiled. Honestly, he liked some of the ideas.

Over the course of four months, the Training Hall got three new additions. Two of them were Leo's suggestions, while Tigress suggested the third. Leo had suggested the Army of Wooden Warriors, which the training animal would have to fight their way through, and the Seven-Talon Rings, which the animal would have to leap through, or they could get cut by the talon-like hooks lining the edges of the rings. Tigress, who wanted to suggest a training prop like her brother, simply suggested a Jade Bowl that two animals would have to balance and fight in.

Shifu liked the ideas and hired some more construction workers to implement the ideas. Leo was excited, especially for the Army of Wooden Warriors and the Seven-Taloned Rings. He didn't really know about Tigress's idea, but he kept an open mind.

But once the construction animals hung up the Seven-Talon Rings, Leo had second thoughts. Those hoops were tiny! There was no way he could leap through that and not get stuck. A frown creased his muzzle. The lion had assumed that Shifu knew to get rings large enough for him to at least fit through. But he did not let that ruin his day. He still had the Army of Wooden Warriors, or as Shifu called it, the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors.

Leo spent the days experimenting different tactics of beating the Wooden Warriors, everything from simply running through to fighting each individual warrior. He enjoyed this much more than simply one wooden warrior. The Army of the Wooden Warriors presented him with a challenge- as opposed to the single warrior, which he could beat even if he wasn't trying.

He tried to leap through the Seven-Talon Rings, but quickly gave up on them after he almost hung himself. He tried not to remember the horror of leaping through one of the smaller rings and only his head fitting through. He got stuck and could not breath. He struggled and, when darkness started dancing near the edge of his vision, Leo summoned all of his strength and broke the ring into splinters, falling to the ground below. Thoroughly embarrassed and his heart still pounding from the terrifying experience, Leo counted his blessings that he was still alive and breathing and ended training for the day. He would leave the Seven-Talon rings to smaller animals like Shifu and Tigress, at least until Tigress grew too big for them. He also did not want to explain to Shifu why one of the rings was broken into two on the floor.

But once Tigress' Jade Bowl, or as Shifu called it, the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, was finished, Leo was eager to try it out. Of course, being the one who thought of it, Tigress wanted to test it out with him. Leo had second thoughts, Tigress was still only a cub and was much smaller than him. He did not want to risk hurting her.

But his thoughts of hurting her quickly vanished as he leapt onto the edge of the inverted dome. The two cats balanced precariously on the edge. Leo, having bigger paws and weighing more than Tigress, had to be extremely careful about his footing. Every time he shifted his weight he risked either falling into the bowl or falling back and hitting the ground.

Leo slowly edged towards Tigress, keeping his balance as steady as possible. But, as he steadied himself, his confidence grew and he glanced up at Tigress, a smirk creasing his muzzle, "Ready when you are." He said, placing himself into a sparring stance.

Tigress smiled and crouched, leaping at her brother and landing a front kick to his chest. Leo, slightly winded, backed up, only to have one of his large paws slip off the edge of the bowl and the jade tortoise tilt dangerously close in his favor. Both of the felines wobbled slightly, but Leo managed to steady himself and Tigress quickly regained her footing.

As the spar continued, the two began to gain confidence in their movements. Instead of spending their time trying to secure a footing and balance themselves, they starting actually sparring with each other.

This continued for several days. As opposed to simply training against the Wooden Warriors of the Field of Fiery Death, he now spent a lot of his time on the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, working on his balance and footing.

As Leo trained, he often imagined what else could be put into the Training Hall. But he quickly gave up on day-dreaming during training when he clumsily fell into the Jade tortoise and spent too much time trying to get out.