Lion's Oneshot of Kung Fu Panda Oneshots

The Daughter of Tigress

Come on, like this isn't going to happen? ;)

She had gotten into the habit of doing this, though no one in the Jade Palace knew why. She kicked the sand sacked dummy to the corner with an impressive high kick. You wouldn't expect a child to hit that hard, let alone someone like her. But the little one had a way of surprising people. She liked the training, just like her mentor, but it was especially fun to kick the punching dummy around like the hackeysacks the boy pandas played with. After she had done her kick, she was still in the high kicking form like the wooden figurine she had. She looked over to see if she was doing it right, which indeed she was. Not bad for a little panda. Lei-Lei decided to take a break from training and find her mentor, Tigress. Tigress loved and protected Lei-Lei like she was her own child. In fact, almost everyone had a hard time even coming near Lei-Lei because of Tigress's watchful eye. The only person Tigress was really comfortable with was Po and the other pandas. Not even Master Shifu could play with Lei-Lei without Tigress being there, though she was more relaxed with him watching over her.

Lei-Lei, of course, didn't mind. She loved being in the Jade Palace and she loved her 'Big Stripey Baby' friend. She still didn't call her Tigress, which was okay with Tigress, for some reason. Lei-Lei walked to the kitchen. Her parents had died from a disease that swept through the panda village a long time ago. For a long time, the whole village took care of her. Now the Jade Palace took care of her, namely Tigress. Upon coming to the kitchen, Lei-Lei had walked into a heated conversation between Tigress, Monkey, and Po. Tigress wasn't as vocal as Po was being, but Lei-Lei could tell that Po was angry, even though he was trying to restrain it. "What do you mean give up on children? That's ridiculous!" Po exclaimed. Master Monkey could understand the two's outrage, but it was a harmless topic, or so he thought.

"I'm just saying. More and more kids are not as disciplined and encouraged as when we were growing up. It's a different age and era now," Monkey said. "Tigress, you noticed that more and more of the bandits are becoming younger and younger in age. There is coming a time where children will be as crazy and bad as bandits are now."

"We understand that," Tigress replied, "What we don't understand is why you say we should give up at that time?"

"Because at that time, the trend will be different. Because people don't want to discipline their children like they were, they use a lighter form of discipline or none at all. You and I both know that without structure and teaching, a person is practically hopeless, Tigress," Monkey said, making a personal connection for Tigress. She remained silent, but Po continued.

"Monkey, that doesn't mean we do nothing."

"I'm not saying that. Think of it like this. Every child doesn't like rules, right? But we know from our hard lives that rules are protection, not restrictions. Societies work better on rules than liberties, we know that for a fact, for if we have no law, we have no crime," Monkey elaborated, "I'm saying that down the line, our children will want to have fewer rules, thereby having less structure and safety. There does have to be a balance of rules and laws because you can't make everything a crime. But-"

"Get to the point, Monkey," Tigress quickly said.

"All I'm saying is the future just seems a little bleak. I just feel that there will come a time where people will act on what they feel rather than what they know," Monkey said.

"Stripey Baby," Lei-Lei said softly. Everyone looked at her, surprised that she was there. Tigress went over to her and picked her up. "What are you guys fighting about?" She couldn't really understand what they were discussing, but she knew it was something to cause conflict. Tigress smiled when she picked Lei-Lei up.

"We're not fighting Lei-Lei. We're just talking... loudly," Tigress explained, "But even if the future does look bleak, Monkey, we still have the assurance of a brighter future."