Save Yourself Before Me (Tai Lung)

Chapter Four

"Every morning, except weekends, you will wake up for six o'clock to start training. Come with me." The master motioned Bei to follow, and she complied.

"What will the training consist of?" She asked in her morning voice, still not fully woken up yet.

"You will know soon enough however, every Kung Fu master and trainee must need the proper diet therefore, you will be dining with the exact same foods as me and Tai Lung. If you do not like it, you may leave." He explained, changing the subject. Bei only looked at him confused. She did not intend on leaving so why would Master Shifu consider it? I will not foreshadow, you're going to have to wait. I ain't telling.

"I'm not leaving." She said stubbornly. Master Shifu gave her a side-wards glance and kept walking. He stopped at a door and opened it, revealing a kitchen with a table in the middle of it. Sitting at the table, eating what Bei could only describe was mush, was a white- grey snow leopard of Tai Lung. He noticed the two and stood up respectively, although gave a glare to the female. Ignoring him, Bei sat down and waited. A small bowl of mush slid in front of her. She wrinkled her nose at it in disgust; she daren't touch it. Looking through her lashes at the red panda beside her, she realised he was deliberately watching her, looking for any kind of weaknesses. Bei scowled, and determinedly grabbed the spoon and dug in.

She slowly brought the disgusting stuff towards her mouth, and slowly took a bite. Instantly her face scrunched up in disgust. Tai Lung snickered while Master Shifu held an amused look.

"Urgh. What is this?" She asked, silently pleading that it was some kind of joke.

"That is bean soup. A dish which you will have every morning." Master Shifu answered. Bei looked at him in pleading disbelief. Master Shifu only ignored the stares coming her way, and continued to eat. He ate it like it was the nicest thing on the planet, which only baffled the girl even more. Tai Lung, on the other hand, could barely stop his laughter. Bei glared at him and got an idea. Maybe this will shut him up.

Bei took a big spoonful of death-in-a-bowl and shoved it in her mouth. She chewed and chewed, keeping a vicious death stare on the leopard across from her. Finally, she swallowed and took another bite. All throughout her eating, Tai Lung was stunned into silence, having received the point. He smirked maliciously. Fine. If you want to play that game, then so be it. The game was on.

Doors to the training room swung open and the three animals strolled in. Bei was more entranced by this room than the Hall of Heroes. This room was the training room. It had everything Bei could only have dreamt of. She was giddy with excitement, and it showed as her eyes lit up like a green flame and her tail swished about with eagerness.

Right there, in front of them, was an obstacle course. It was deadly, but that only spurred Bei even more.

"You will spend most of your training in here." Master Shifu started. "Here is where you will learn to control your strength, body and mind. You will become more agile, flexible, strong, faster and more coordinated, and with that your mind will grow to be better, more calculated and less rash." He continued. He motioned to the obstacle course. "Go through it."

"What?!" She sputtered, jolting in surprise. Her tail had immediately stopped twirling, the flame in her eyes dimmed quite considerably. So soon? But it's so rash, so dangerous. How experienced does he think she is?

"You heard me. Go through the obstacle course and we shall see which level you stand." Master Shifu had a subtle grin on his face, where as Tai Lung had a broad smug smile, and he wasn't stopping from showing it. Bei noticed his cockiness and tensed her jaw in determination. She nodded to Master Shifu and lined up. A moment passed, and she leapt into the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion.