The excited villagers cheered.
“And to start the festivities, the annual children’s kung-fu matches!” Po cried.
The villagers groaned.
Po frowned. What was so bad about the children’s matches?
He quickly found out.
The kids were well . . . still learning. A pig and a bunny got into a slap fight. A goat and another bunny accidentally bonked heads together. A tiny goose was too afraid to use his kung fu. Before he knew it, Po was dozing off—and so was Temutai.
Shifu nudged them awake.
“You guys are awesome!” Po said as the young future warriors lined up in front of him, with hopeful smiles on their faces. “It’s gonna be real tough to pick a winner.”
“Wait,” Temutai cried. “I have one more competitor. My little nephew, Jing Mei!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The platform shook as the young water buffalo stomped toward them. He towered over the other kids and was as wide as all of them put together.
“Ready, Uncle,” he said in a deep voice.
“Your ‘little’ nephew?” Po asked in disbelief.
“You should see his sister!” Temutai said.
“Okay, so I guess we should match him up with . . . ,” Po began, but all the other kids fled in terror.
“Get that guy from the next valley!” Lam the rabbit called out. “Peng can fight him! Peng can beat him!”
He pointed to a young leopard pushing a merchant’s cart. Everyone looked at him.
“No, Lam,” the young leopard said.
Jing Mei jumped off the platform.
“Yaaa!” He swatted at Peng’s cart, knocking it over!
“Well, if you put it that way, okay,” Peng said calmly.
Peng and Jing Mei climbed onto the stage and faced each other.
“Are you sure about this?” Po asked Peng.
“I am, Dragon Warrior,” Peng replied.
“Okay, good luck then,” Po said. That kid was gonna need it! “Fighters . . . begin!”
Jing Mei charged across the stage and started aiming punches at Peng. Peng took hold of Jing Mei’s hand. He used the huge water buffalo’s own force against him, easily tossing him across the stage.
“Ooooh,” the crowd gasped.
Jing Mei got back on his feet, and Peng moved quickly, tossing him across the stage again. Angry, Jing Mei got up and charged Peng. Peng hit him with a series of quick, spinning kicks.
Jing Mei went down—and this time, he stayed down.
“The winner is Peng!” Po announced.
Temutai glared at his nephew. “I knew I should have brought your sister!” he growled.
“He’s amazing!” Po said. Then he noticed Peng trying to slip away. “Hold on there, genius! That was some awesome kung fu. Where did you train?”
“Nowhere,” Peng replied. “I have no formal training, except in pottery.”
Po couldn’t believe it. “You totally have to train with us at the Jade Palace!”
Temutai stomped up. “Nonsense! A warrior such as this needs to train with us in the Qidan!”