Kung Fu Panda 3 Movie Novelization Read online

  THANKS

  FOR DOWNLOADING THIS EBOOK!

  We have SO many more books for kids in the in-beTWEEN age that we’d love to share with you! Sign up for our IN THE MIDDLE books newsletter and you’ll receive news about other great books, exclusive excerpts, games, author interviews, and more!

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

  or visit us online to sign up at

  eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/middle

  CHAPTER 1

  Battle in the Spirit Realm

  Master Oogway sat on top of a mountain f loating among the white, f luffy clouds of the Spirit Realm, peacefully meditating with his eyes closed. Peach blossom petals fell from above and landed on his face, tickling his nose.

  “Inner peace, inner peace, itchy nose,” he chanted, sneezing the petal away. “Inner peace.”

  Two curved blades made of jade, each one attached to a chain, suddenly whizzed through the air toward him. Without opening his eyes, Oogway quickly grabbed the nearest one and sent it f lying into the other blade, knocking them both down.

  Oogway opened his eyes to see a massive, muscled yak coming through the clouds toward him, his whole body glowing green with energy. His head was crowned by two huge horns. His black mane hung down his back, and the chains of his blade weapons were wrapped around his wrists.

  “Kai, old friend,” Oogway calmly greeted him.

  “Master Oogway,” said Kai, his voice as dark and deep as the look in his eyes.

  “Our battle ended five hundred years ago,” said Oogway.

  Kai’s angry eyes blazed. “Well, now I’m ready for a rematch.”

  He launched himself through the air at Oogway, slicing through the mountain to reach the tortoise. Chunks of the mountain f loated away.

  “YAAAA!” he cried.

  He sent the two blades hurtling through the air once more. This time Oogway leaped out of the way, swiftly dodging them.

  “You’ve grown stronger,” Oogway remarked.

  He quickly moved his hands, and the shape of a glowing Chinese symbol appeared in the air in front of him. The symbol f lew toward Kai, knocking him down. But Kai jumped right back up.

  “After five hundred years in the Spirit Realm, you pick up a thing or two,” Kai explained, with the hint of a grin on his face. He looked down at the belt around his waist. Several jade amulets dangled from it.

  Oogway stared at the amulets, recognizing the animal shapes of his former students who had ascended into the Spirit Realm. What terrible thing had Kai done?

  “I have taken the chi of every master here. And soon I will have your power too,” he boasted.

  “When will you realize,” Oogway said calmly, “the more you take, the less you have?”

  Kai launched his chain blades once again. They latched on to f loating chunks of mountain. Then he hurled the heavy chunks at Oogway.

  Oogway moved his hands again, creating a shield in the air shaped like a yin-and-yang symbol.

  Smash! The chunks of mountain shattered the shield into pieces. The impact sent Oogway f lying back as Kai’s chains wrapped around him. Kai pulled Oogway closer to him.

  Then Kai began to pull the green chi out of Oogway’s body. As the energy left him, Oogway slowly turned to jade.

  “With your chi I will finally be able to return to the mortal world,” Kai said. “And this time you won’t be there to stop me.”

  “Ah, it was never my destiny to stop you. I have set another on that path,” Oogway promised.

  Then the old master shriveled and shrank until all that was left of him was a small jade amulet. Kai hung it from a cord around his neck, instead of his belt. Everyone would see what he had done to the great Oogway.

  Kai grinned at the amulet. “Then I will find him and take his chi too.”

  Kai let loose a wave of green chi, which enveloped him. A portal opened up between the Spirit Realm and the mortal realm, which took Kai all the way down to Earth.

  CHAPTER 2

  Po the Teacher?

  T he sun slowly rose over the Jade Palace, which sat high on a mountaintop overlooking the Valley of Peace. Every morning, when the villagers in the Valley woke up, they looked at the palace and knew they were safe.

  For inside lived the best kung fu fighters in the land. Master Shifu, their leader. Tigress, Mantis, Monkey, Viper, and Crane: the Furious Five. And the Dragon Warrior himself, the mighty panda called Po.

  That morning Po exploded through the doors of the bunkhouse.

  “Justice! The most important meal of the day!” he cried as he bounded down the mountain toward the village.

  The Furious Five followed him. Tigress moved with agile grace. Monkey propelled himself with his long arms. Mantis hopped with amazing speed. Viper’s body smoothly glided down the rocks. And Crane soared above them all.

  They landed awesomely . . . in front of Mr. Ping’s noodle shop. “Let’s have, um, two spring rolls—” Po began, placing their order.

  “Three,” Monkey cut in.

  “Spicy tofu bun,” added Crane.

  “The spicy noodle soup for Tigress,” Po put in. “Did you want extra sauce for that?”

  “She wants it on the side,” Monkey said.

  “On the side,” Tigress confirmed, crossing her arms.

  Once they had their lunch, Po and the Furious Five ran through the valley once again as villagers called from windows and gathered on the streets.

  “Go, Dragon Warrior!” they cheered. “Defend our valley!”

  Po and the Five sprinted and jumped, darting between their adoring fans. Then Po led them back up the mountain.

  “Yee-ha!” Po cheered, striking a dramatic kung fu pose as he landed back outside the Jade Palace. But, looking around, he saw the others weren’t posing with him. “You guys aren’t doing the dramatic pose, are you?”

  “I’m doing the dramatic slouch,” Crane said.

  “You guys, never underestimate the power of the dramatic entrance,” Po told them. “I’ve heard of some masters who could win a fight just by throwing open a door. Shuh-sha!”

  He moved to kick open the door of the training hall when Master Shifu stepped in front of him.

  “Dramatic entrance?” Master Shifu asked, raising an eyebrow. A red panda, Master Shifu barely came up to Po’s waist—but he could topple the big panda with just one look.

  “Master Shifu, I, uh . . . ,” Po began, embarrassed.

  “The Dragon Warrior is correct!” Master Shifu interrupted, surprising Po. “Before the battle of the fist comes the battle of the mind. Hence . . . the dramatic entrance.”

  Master Shifu turned and leaped through the doors to the training hall. Rows of crossbow-wielding geese fired f laming arrows, lighting the cauldrons that lined the hall.

  Poof! They exploded into f lames.

  “Whoa, nice dramatic entrance,” said Po, impressed. “What’s the occasion?”

  “Today will be my final class,” Master Shifu replied.

  “Your final . . . Wait, I didn’t even know you were sick!” Po said. “Although you have been looking a little—”

  “I’m not sick!” Master Shifu protested.

  “—healthy. A little healthy. A lot, actually,” Po said, trying to recover.

  Master Shifu took a deep breath. “My final class, because from now on, your training will be in the hands of the Dragon Warrior!”

  The Furious Five looked at Master Shifu like he was crazy.

  “WHAT?!” Po shouted, once he realized what Master Shifu had said. He leaned over and whispered loudly into Master Shifu’s ear, “Me? Teach? I mean, why not Tigress? She’s always telling everyone what to do.”

  “Be quie
t, Po,” Tigress commanded.

  “See what I mean?” Po asked.

  “Tigress is not the Dragon Warrior. You are,” Master Shifu replied firmly.

  A feeling of panic started to well inside Po. Before he became the Dragon Warrior, he was just a humble noodle-shop server who looked up to the Furious Five as his heroes. Then Master Shifu had taught him how to harness his inner strength to perform feats of amazing awesomeness, and he had become a kung fu hero too. Fighting evil bad guys? That came easy to him now. But teaching . . .

  “Come on, they’re the Five,” Po said. “What could I teach them?”

  “There is always something more to learn, even for a master,” Master Shifu replied. “For instance, let me show you another move . . . the dramatic exit.”

  Master Shifu pointed his staff across the hall. “What’s that?!” he cried.

  Po and the Furious Five turned to look, and when they turned back, Master Shifu was gone.

  “Where’d he go?!” Po asked.

  Then he noticed that the Furious Five were all standing at attention.

  “Master,” they said, bowing to Po.

  “We await your instructions, Master,” Crane said.

  “All you have to lose is our respect,” Tigress said, her golden eyes fixed on him.

  Po gulped. How could he possibly teach the Furious Five?

  But he had to try. Master Shifu had asked him to do it.

  Mantis turned to Po hopefully. “Seriously, how bad can it be?”

  A few minutes later Mantis had his answer: “Very bad! Very, very bad!”

  The Training Hall was set up like an extreme obstacle course. Sharp blades, when set in motion, swung like pendulums. Arrows whizzed across the hall at unexpected moments. Flames shot up as if out of nowhere.

  Po was nervously calling out commands from Master Shifu’s seat as the Furious Five jumped and f lew through the course.

  “Monkey, Immovable Mountain Stance!” he yelled.

  “Yes, Master,” Monkey replied. He froze atop one of the Training Hall machines, motionless, until . . .

  Crunch! Monkey fell into the gears of the machine.

  “Uh, I mean . . .” Po turned to the other four. “Tigress, Tornado Backf lip!”

  “Yes, Master,” Tigress said dutifully. She f lipped backward—right into a giant swinging ball of fire.

  “Oh, fire!” Po cried in alarm.

  “Fire!” repeated the crossbow-wielding geese.

  The geese shot their arrows at Tigress.

  “Sorry!” Po yelled, as one hit her in the butt. “Crane, go high, I mean, low! Oh!”

  Crane swooped high and then dipped low—just as Viper was speeding past. She clotheslined him and he landed on tiny Mantis.

  “Ah! My claw thingy!” Mantis cried.

  Po tried to make things better by shouting more commands.

  “Totem Pole Poison Technique! Swarming Insect Bite with Yellow Tail, Yellow Jacket, spicy . . .”

  “Oof!”

  “Ow!”

  “Ouch!”

  The cries of the Furious Five rang through the palace as Po’s directions kept causing them to crash into obstacles—and into one another.

  Exhausted and beaten up, the Furious Five fell into a tangled heap on the training room f loor.

  “Good job, Po,” Viper groaned, trying to be encouraging.

  “Did you at least learn a little something?” Po asked, wincing.

  “Yes,” Tigress said. “I learned that you can’t teach.”

  “And that Tigress is f lammable,” Crane added.

  Po’s face fell . . . then the roof of the Training Hall fell too.

  CHAPTER 3

  The Power of Chi

  T hat evening Po walked sadly through the sculpture garden. He saw a few of the palace geese pass by and he hid.

  “I’m glad we’re not Po right now!” said one of the geese.

  “What a loser!” said another.

  “What was Shifu thinking?”

  “What was Oogway thinking?”

  Then they noticed Po hiding beside them.

  “I think he heard us,” one of the guards said.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Po replied, coming out of his hiding spot.

  “He said you’re a loser,” the first guard said, toddling off with the others.

  Po looked up at the statue of Oogway, the elderly tortoise who had been the senior master of the Jade Palace before Master Shifu. It was Oogway who had named Po the Dragon Warrior, shortly before he ascended into the Spirit Realm.

  “Sorry, Oogway,” Po said to the statue. He sighed, then turned to go and ran into Master Shifu.

  “Ahh!” Po cried. “Would you stop doing that?”

  “How was your first day teaching?” Master Shifu asked.

  “Humiliating.”

  “I heard.”

  “Who told you? Did Tigress tell you?”

  “I heard . . . the roof collapse, the cries of pain. And Tigress told me.”

  “Yeah, well, did she also tell you that it’ll never happen again?” Po snapped. “Because I am done.”

  “Teaching? Or being humiliated?” Shifu asked.

  “Both! I don’t know why you ever thought I could teach that class.”

  Shifu looked at Po calmly. “If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are now.”

  “I don’t wanna be more!” Po cried. “I like who I am.”

  Shifu shook his head. “You don’t even know who you are.”

  “Of course I do,” Po said. “I’m the Dragon Warrior.”

  “And what exactly does that mean, Dragon Warrior?”

  “It means, you know, just going around and punching and kicking. Defending the Valley and stuff.”

  “Punching and kicking? You think that is what the great Master Oogway saw for you? A five-hundred-year-old prophesy fulfilled so you could spend your days ‘kicking butt’ and running through the town high-fiving bunnies?”

  “Yes?” answered Po in a tiny voice.

  “No!” Shifu said firmly. “Oogway saw greatness in you, Po. Against my better judgment. More than you can see in yourself. Incredible power awaits you. Power beyond anything you can imagine.”

  Master Shifu stood up and began a series of slow, practiced movements. As he moved, a golden light began to gather in his hands. He brought his hands together and then directed the f lowing energy toward a tiny f lower bud at the base of the Oogway statue. The bud immediately opened to reveal a beautiful f lower.

  Po stared at him in wonder. “Whoa! What was that?”

  “That was chi.”

  “Whoa . . . what’s chi?” Po asked.

  “The energy that f lows through all living things,” Master Shifu explained.

  Po’s eyes widened. “So . . . you’re saying if I teach, I’ll be able to do cool stuff like that?”

  “No, I’m saying if you teach, then I’ll be able to do cool stuff like that,” Master Shifu replied. “Mastering chi requires mastery of self. Oogway sat alone in a cave for thirty years asking one question: ‘Who am I?’ I’m lucky if I get five minutes before you interrupt—”

  “Aww, so now I have to sit alone in a cave for thirty years?” Po whined.

  “Eventually. After you master teaching,” Master Shifu said.

  “Teaching?” Po asked. “There’s no way I’m ever going to be like you.”

  “I’m not trying to turn you into me,” Master Shifu said. “I’m trying to turn you into you.”

  He plucked the f lower, handed it to Po, and walked off.

  Po was more confused than before. “Turn me into me? Wait a second, that makes no—” He called after Master Shifu. “Almost there, Shifu! Just a little more confusing and you’ll be the next Oogway!”

  Po looked up at the Oogway statue. “Oh sorry, no offense, Master Oogway,” he said. “I’ll let you get back to your eternal peace.”

  CHAPTER 4

  A Stranger
in the Valley

  Kaboom! A chi portal split open, carving a massive crater into the ground. Kai emerged from the glowing green portal, his eyes blazing with chi energy.

  He had landed in a field being farmed by a rabbit and a goose. He shot out his blades to keep the farmers from f leeing. Terrified by the sight of Kai, the goose laid an egg.

  “What is this place?” Kai asked.

  “Uh . . . my brother’s farm?” the rabbit ventured.

  “Ah.” Kai nodded. “If I stepped on you, would you die?”

  The frightened goose dropped a few more eggs.

  “Yes?” the rabbit replied nervously.

  Kai grinned. “The mortal realm.” He had returned, finally, after five hundred years!

  He looked down at the Oogway amulet around his neck.

  “You hear that, Oogway? I’m back,” he said. He raised his muscled arms in the air. “Kai has returned!”

  The rabbit and the goose looked blankly at each other.

  “Who?” asked the rabbit.

  “Kai. General Kai. Supreme Warlord of all China,” Kai said.

  The two farmers shrugged.

  “The Jade Slayer. Master of Pain. You may know me as the Beast of Vengeance. Maker of Widows?” Kai tried.

  The goose shook his head.

  Kai sighed. “Okay. I used to work with Oogway.”

  The rabbit and goose lit up.

  “Oh, Master Oogway! Now he was a great warrior!” said the rabbit.

  The goose nodded. “Everyone knows Master Oogway. The wise and mighty—”

  “Okay, enough,” Kai said. He took several amulets from his belt and tossed them onto the ground. They transformed into kung fu masters made of jade.

  “Find Oogway’s students and bring them to me!” Kai ordered.

  The jade masters, now under Kai’s control, ran off. Kai lifted up Oogway’s amulet.

  “By the time I am done with them, Oogway, there will be no one left who will even remember your name. Kai is coming.”

  Ghostly green chi illuminated Kai’s face as the rabbit and goose shivered with fear.

  That same night, Po visited his dad’s noodle shop. Mr. Ping was a goose who had adopted Po when he was just a baby. Through the years, he always made sure the growing panda had plenty of noodles and dumplings to eat. And he was always a good listener when Po was sad or worried.