Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The scene starts with a dark field, which is slowly lighting up as the camera zooms over the long field of grass. Then, a figure comes into sight; saw from above as it runs across the field of grass, moving so fast that it is hard to keep up with its movements.

Then, the camera changes the angle, as the figure starts jumping into rocks. One after the other, the figure jumps the rocks, going faster and higher with each rock they climb, while carrying a great staff with themselves.

Then, with a mighty jump, the figure jumps the final rock and makes a moon Sault over the moon. However, instead of falling back to the ground, the figure lands on the waning moon, straightening itself as we look at the figure and we realize it is Master Shifu.

The small red panda spins the staff he carries with himself, before snapping it and making a long line come out of it. And Shifu stands in there, looking like he is fishing while standing on the moon, while the audience looks at the scene as the words DREAMWORKS move up.

Then, the whole logo moves up, as the camera now focus on the scene of a temple in a gorge. The sun rises from the horizon, casting light over the temple, as a gong can be heard in the distance.

That gong always played on the morning. This was the first gong, and it signaled the beginning of a new day on the Ku Shitang Temple.

As the day started, other, smaller gongs sounded over the temple, as a small group of animals dressed in monastery clothing made their way across the barracks of the students, making sure to sound the morning gong so everyone could hear.

After all, some of their members could be quite hard to wake up on the morning. The younger members in particular.

Everyone, form the younger to the eldest of the students of the temple got up and started to get ready for their daily routine, which included washing their faces and necks with fresh water, putting their daily clothes and having a light vegetarian meal, before all of them would go to perform all of the other duties they should.

Ku Shitang was famous for being one of the greatest kung fu temples in China, second only to the legendary Jade Palace, founded by Oogway around five centuries ago. This temple was founded nearly two hundred years later, by one of Oogway's own students, the legendary Master Binturong, famous for both his skills in kung fu and for his spirituality, which made him one of the few masters who could fully master the art of chi taught by Oogway.

And he passed this down to his own students once he founded that temple. He may be long departed, joined the rows of masters in eternal enlightenment on the Spirit Realm, but his legacy lived on that temple, with a huge statue on the center dedicated to him, built by his loyal students after his passing. Now, it was the centerpiece of the temple, where all of the students trained.

Animals of all species, most of them canines and felines of all kinds, trained in order to dominate the teachings of kung fu and to spread it far and wide through their own disciples one day. They would be the ones to keep Oogways teachings alive, for this was one of the main goals of all kung fu masters, either the acknowledged it or not: to keep the wise teachings of spiritual balance and enlightenment of the legendary turtle master alive throughout the centuries and millennia to come.

This was why all of the students of the temple always did their best, so they could uphold the mission of keeping Oogways teachings alive, as well as the mission of keeping peace and order in China by standing on the defense of all who could not defend themselves.

So, from the biggest tiger to the smallest toad, all of the students of the temple continued diligently practicing their routines, perfecting their techniques through repetition, and strengthening both their bodies and their spirits in doing so. All the while, their teacher and supervisor, Master Peafowl, oversaw the work of his devoted students, walking among them with his long tail trailing behind himself, and a smile on his beak as he saw how well all of his students were doing.

Seeing something like that was enough to put a smile on the face of most masters, as they felt the sense of satisfaction and pride for seeing their students doing so diligently and learning so well. It did felt good for any teacher to see the ones they are teaching to take in the lessons so well and learn the subject, even because it meant they were good at teaching as well. It applied to those who taught kung fu as well.

So, the students all continued their lesson, with the occasional lecture from Master Peafowl. While, on the entrance of the temple, a pair of rhinos were standing guard. They were both senior students of the temple as well, and they had been task with guard duty today.

Everyone had to do their part to keep the temple running, once they didn't had servants like the Jade Palace. The Ku Shitang Temple boasted how they taught their students to work hard and not to become arrogant or spoiled by making sure they all had what to do on the temple at all times of the day.

Some of the students cleaned and scrubbed the floors. Some were in charge of cooking, while others would clean all of the dishes later. Some of them would take trips to the nearby river to bring on clean water on a daily basis, to drink, clean and cook.

And others, like those two rhinos, were put on the duty of guarding the gates.

That was an important duty among the students of the temple. To stand guard on the entrances and react properly to anyone who came into the entrance. Students who were looking to join and learn from the local masters were to be scout inside and taken to a master, who would evaluate them and determine if they had what it took, both physically and mentally, to be noble students of the Ku Shitang Temple. Meanwhile, anyone who came this way with the intention of disturbing the peace of the temple was to be repel by the guards and not be allow inside of the temple, that was why the ones on guard duty were usually the more experienced students, the kind who could push any intruders back with ease and preserve the safety and peace of everyone inside of the temple.

Being chose to this duty was a great honor for the students. Even though it was one of the most boring jobs one could have on the temple.

I mean, we are talking about one of the most powerful temples of kung fu of the whole China. With literally hundreds of students inside, and managed by one of the greatest, most legendary masters China has ever produced. Who would be crazy enough to come to the temple with the intentions of causing trouble?

As a result, the temple enjoyed a lot of peace on its own, and the guards had a lot of free time for themselves as they stood on the guard of the main gates of the temple.

"Majong!" Said one of the rhinos, as he made a score as he laid his last stone on the board. "I won again!"

The other rhino scoffed, and he looked back at the other rhino.

"Better 26 out of 50?" He asked, and the other rhino was all about it. They both then reset the game, picking all of their stones again and getting ready to play one more, when one of the rhinos notices something in the distance.

Was that?

"Hey, check it out." He said to the other, and the other rhino looked on the way he was pointing, and soon he saw the same thing his friend did.

It was distant, but it was approaching. Not fast, but it was, with steady and calm steps, as if they didn't had any hurry to get where they needed to be. Nearly like a noble taking a stroll over the province they ruled over.

The two rhinos on red and golden vests got up, picking up their spears and standing in attention while the figure approached, allowing the two to have a better view of them as they walked indirection to the gate.

They could see that the figure was wearing long pants of dark-green coloration. He also wore a black vest, with a hood pulled over his head as he walked closer. He was a reptile, as it was clear by the reptilian muzzle that stuck from under the hood of his dark vest, the long and muscular tail covered in scales moving behind him, and by his bare feet, covered in scales and with black claws on them, as he approached the temple, one calm step at a time.

"Halt!" Said one of the rhinos when the figure was a little over twenty feet from the gate. "You have come all the way to the Ku Shitang Temple. State your name and your business here!"

The figure stopped. His long, forked tongue lapping into the air as he looked at the two. He was tasting their scent.

"I have many names." The figure said to the two of them. "None of which either of you deserve to know."

The rhinos shared a look, before looking back at the newcomer, who was, once more, speaking.

"As for my business here…" He flicked his tongue again, and smirked. "I came to claim the secret that is hidden inside of this temple."

There was a brief silence, and then one of the rhinos asked:

"You came here to study?" It was an honest question. "Like, learn about kung fu and chi and use it to better yourself and China?"

The stranger chuckled. His chuckle causing the skin of the two rhinos to crawl.

"I already did." The reptile said, "And I surpassed all of your pathetic little teachings. Now all that's left for me to do is to take the last secret hidden in tis temple. Even if it means I'll have to take it down brick by brick."

That last statement did put the two rhinos into alarm. Soon, they were both in fighting stance, with their spears pointed at the stranger.

"Okay, whoever you are." Said one of them. "I don't know what your deal is, but if you are here to cause problem, then you might as well turn around now!"

"Leave!" The other rhino said. "Or we will fight you!"

The figure looked at the two for a few moments, and then he smirked.

"Why, I was hoping you would say that..."

The students continued to train around the central statue of Master Binturong. All the while Master Peafowl walked among them, overseeing their technique and style, and correcting whenever he saw a mistake. To his pride, there were very few.

Then, a loud sound cut through the air.

Peafowl's head perked as he looked in the direction from which the sound was coming from. And the sound repeated. Again and again. Each repetition made the sound be a tad bit more desperate.

That was the sound of alarm.

Coming right from the gate.

Without stopping to think, Master Peafowl started walking in that direction. Soon, his students, also knowing this sound and what it meant, decided to follow their master. Some of them stopping only to grab a weapon from the many racks around their training area, and they all went in direction to the main gate, where they knew an intruder was.

The rhino had a panicked expression on his face as he kept hitting the bell, hoping, praying that someone would come to save him.

He was beaten and his horn had its tip chipped off. He looked back at the entrance, at the lizard standing there, holding his friend by the collar of his robes, before dropping him into the ground. The other rhino twitched and writhed on the ground, whimpers escaping his throat as he remained there, with his eyes, previously blue, changed into a deep shade of purple. Pure despair written all over his face.

The lizard paid him no mind, and just left him on the ground while he walked to the other rhino, who started hitting the gong twice as fast, in hopes this would make the reinforcement would arrive faster. However, they were not as fast as the reptile, who soon was arriving at him.

The rhino screamed at the reptile to stay back, begging him to leave him alone. However, all of that turned into unintelligible screaming when a strong purple light took all of the rhino's vision.

By the time help arrived, it was far too late.

Master Peafowl was on the lead, with all of his students coming right after him. He stopped and looked at the scene before him.

The stranger on dark clothing was holding the rhino by the face, his scaly hand glowing purple and covering the rhino's eyes, as the pachyderm twitched, a weak whimper escaping his throat.

The lizard turned his head to the bird's direction, flicking his tongue and smirking, before he let go of the rhino, who fell limp to the ground.

The rhino was whimpering, which soon turned into sobbing, as he curled into a ball, hugging his legs as tears leaked from his eyes.

Like with the other one, the lizard didn't gave him any attention, as he focused his attention on the bird, who looked intently at him as the reptile walked to him with slow steps, seemingly ignoring all of the students surrounding him with spears and poles, all of it pointed at him and ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

All of his attention was in Peafowl. And Peafowl looked back at the stranger, who was not a stranger to him.

He could feel the intruder's chi, and he recognized it. There was no way that he could mistake a chi that felt so vile.

He knew exactly who it was.

"Jiao Din." Peafowl said, speaking the name as it if was a poison he wanted to spit out of his mouth.

The mere mention of this name had an effect on all of the students who were surrounding the intruder. Murmurs arouse as they all talked to each other in whisper, and many, if not all of them, had expressions of growing fear and apprehension on their faces as they looked at the lizard.

The lizard let out a hissing chuckle.

"No one has called by that name in a long time." The lizard said, reaching for the hood over his head and pulling it back. The Komodo dragon looked like one would expect of his species, with dark-green and yellow scales over his face. The only noteworthy thing about his face were his eyes. Normally Komodo dragon's had yellow or green eyes. This one, however, had eyes of a milky white.

He was blind.

However, he was still looking right in direction to Peafowl, as if he could still see him clear as day.

"Master." The Komodo, Jiao Din, said as he put his hands in front of his body, and made a bow to the bird. "Your student has returned home."

Peafowl glared at him with a hard expression.

"You are no longer my student." Peafowl said coldly. "And this is no longer your home."

Jiao Din straightened himself, and then he said, in an indifferent way:

"I know. You made it very clear many years ago... when you took my vision."

The way he spoke the last part could give someone the impression that the Komodo was still slightly upset about that. However, he still kept his composure.

"I assume you know why I'm here, right?" The lizard asked, his muzzle still pointed on his former master's direction, as if he could still see him. Peafowl's expression became even more hostile.

"You still want to access the Tien Spring, so..." The bird asked him, "I denied you access to it decades ago. Why do you think I'll allow you access now?"

"I'm not asking for access." Jiao Din said. "I'll access the Tien Spring, either you allow it or not."

The students around all tensed, and they gripped their weapons harder as they looked at the intruder of their temple with apprehension. Peafowl could only glare at the lizard who once was like a son to him.

"Years ago, I allowed you to leave this temple with your life." The bird said to him. "I did it because, even after your betrayal, I still saw you as a beloved student. I allowed you to leave so you could find the enlightenment I could not give you. However, you have wasted this chance. You went down the path of evil, and you corrupted my teachings for your own personal gain. I no longer see you as a student, so I'll not show you any mercy this time."

Jiao chuckled, his tongue flickering into the air.

"I hoped you would not." He said, "After all, if you decided to hold back, then defeating you would not be as gratifying as I was hoping."

The tension among the students had been growing ever since they found out who their intruder was. It was only a matter of time before the growing tension would be too much for them to handle, and it would explode. It did for one of them. The horse screamed "You insolent monster!" as he rushed ahead to the Komodo, rising his staff and ready to strike the Komodo with it for having dared to threaten the great Master Peafowl.

Peafowl was about to tell his student not to do it, but it was already too late. The student failed to see the glow coming from the scaly hand of Jiao Din, as he didn't moved as the student rushed to him with the staff and then delivered a strike.

What happened next was so fast that most of the students didn't processed what happened right away.

With one fluid motion, Jiao Din rose his hand and stroke, hitting the staff with such precision and strength that it was snapped in half so cleanly it could seem it was cut with a sharp blade. With the same movement, he spread his fingers and wrapped them around the head of the student before he even had a chance to react properly.

However, once the hand, involved in swirling purple energy, firmly grasped his head, he did screamed.

He screamed loudly as he trashed, holding the wrist of the hand holding his head, as the purple energy flowed from the Komodo to him, and then, in less than twenty seconds, his limbs weakened, and then went limp.

The Komodo held him for a few more moments, before letting him go. He slumped into the ground, his eyes having turned purple as he simple stood there on his knees, looking down, his expression one of deep sadness and hopelessness.

Even when Master Peafowl called his name, he simply looked his way with the saddest expression the bird ever saw on someone's face, before closing his eyes and looking away, as if in shame.

Peafowl was in shock, but his shock soon turned into outrage as he realized just what happened.

He'd done it.

He'd actually done it.

"You..." Peafowl said, looking at Jiao Din, who still stood in there with a smile. "You... demon!"

Jiao Din didn't seemed fazed in the slightest.

"The Tien Spring." The Komodo said to him. "Take me to it, and I promise to let the rest of you go."

This caused an immediate reaction from all of the other students. As one, all of them charged to the Komodo, all of them screaming in rage and fury. Even the cries of their teacher were not enough to make them stop, as they could not even be hear above their own battle cries.

However, the Komodo was still not fazed.

As all of the students came into him, he sprung into action himself.

He could be blind, but you could assume he had eyes all around his head with the way he moved and blocked all of the blows that the students tried to deliver his way. He blocked their staffs and spears with his arms and legs, before pushing back and hitting them with his kicks and with swings of his long tail. In some occasions, he would even redirect the blows of the staffs so they would hit another student.

And, of course, there was the purple glow.

The purple glow on both of his hands as he used them to grasp the others by the head, neck or even by the chest, causing them to fall into the ground soon after, with empty expressions on their faces. Some of them shivering, writhing or even sobbing.

Some of them were even screaming as they punched the ground, seemingly in frustrated rage.

All the while, Peafowl told them to stop and retreat, as he knew what was happening, and he knew that they could not win against what this man had to offer.

However, he was not done yet.

As the students seemed to finally caught up to it and started to move back, the Komodo then got into position. He spread his legs and moved his hands in circular motions. His energy moved across his body, from his chest into his limbs, and them back into his chest, and then redirected to his hands, as he placed them together above his head.

Then, as he spread his arms to the side of his head, Peafowl knew what he was doing next. However, he didn't had the chance to warn his students, for then he brought his scaly hands together, clapping them.

A flash of purple shone, as a wave of pure chi flowed from the Komodo outwards, spreading in a ring. His purple chi flowed through each one of the warriors around him, hitting every single one of them with an energy that reached deep inside of them, and they had no way of blocking it.

Save for Peafowl.

With a movement of his wings and spreading his tail fan, he caused his own golden chi to spill forward. This golden energy gathered in front of him, forming a shield with a yin-yang emblem that blocked the incoming purple energy, keeping it from reaching into him and affecting him like it affected everyone else who was wash by it.

Which was the entire temple.

By the time the chi shield that Peafowl had erected came down, all of his students were on the ground. All of them were on varying states of sadness, anger, frustration, anguish and catatonia.

And, in the midst of it all, was Jiao Din, who calmly put his hands together before his body in a neutral position, as his face was turned in the direction of Peafowl, a smirk on his lips and his milky-white eyes seeming like they were focusing right on him.

"Did you liked my technique, master?" He asked, as he gave a few steps in direction to the bird, skillfully avoiding the students who were on his way, scattered across the ground. "I call it 'Jiao Din's Wave of Despair'. What do you think, too fancy? I used to call it Purple Wurple, but everyone who heard it could not keep a straight face. I got tired of the giggling."

If this was serious was hard to say or not. However, Peafowl knew that he was not feeling like laughing. Not when all of his students were reduce to such a state by this demon standing before him.

Yes, because he was a demon. He crossed the line in being simply a villain, and he became a demon.

There was not a single shred of the beloved student that Peafowl once knew left behind on that monster.

He was sure of that, now more than ever.

That was why he would not be holding back.

His muscles tensed under his feathers, which flared as they did. His legs spread as he put his wings to the sides of his body. His chi flowed through his body and into his wings, making their edges emit a soft golden glow as his chi firmed into them.

Meanwhile, the Komodo continued to advance in direction to the bird. He could not see him with his blind eyes, but he was still clear as day in his mind's eye.

He could clearly see the golden shape, which glowed more intensely as his chi flowed across his body, flowing through each one of his chakras and spreading through all of his form, as he got ready for combat.

The greatest amount of chi focused on his legs, on the edges of his wings, and on his tail. As Jiao Din could clearly see by how those parts of his body glowed more than the rest of his body.

"So, that's how we're doing it, huh?" The Komodo asked, smirking at the peafowl, who looked back at him with ferocity. "Fine by me. And, just to remind you, there is no need for you to use your Peafowl Flash. You already blinded me, after all."

The peacock 's answer was a loud cry that his species was known for, what the Komodo answering with a hissing roar, as he charged forward. His own chi activated, spreading through his body, as he got ready for the incoming combat.

As soon as they clashed, it became clear that neither of them would be holding back. The Peafowl moved his leg upward, with a kick so strong that it connected with the Komodo's muzzle with the force of an explosion, with the resulting shockwave being felt several feet away.

However, the Komodo was not faze by it. He reacted by bringing down both his fists into the Peafowl, who jumped back in the nick of time to avoid the blow, which was so strong it caused the ground to literally explode, causing chunks of solid rock to fly everyone.

From there, they both moved across the temple, both of them attacking each other with no mercy as they would strike with a force much greater than anyone would expect from animals their size. That was, in part, thanks to their chi. It coursed through their bodies, increasing their physical capacities beyond the limits of their mortal bodies. So, just like Peafowl's kicks could shatter one of the columns and his wings could slice clearly through solid rock with each swing, so could the punches and kicks of the Komodo shatter parts of the temple violently and his scales were so solid that they could resist the brush of Peafowl's sharpened feathers without as much as showing a single scratch.

After nearly five minutes attacking each other with no mercy or rest, they finally stopped right in the middle of the temple, right in front of Master Binturong's statue. Both of them were in fighting position.

"You have dominated your chi." Peafowl said to Jiao Din, as he panted from the intense five minutes of combat. "And it is not as tainted as it was before."

"Why, thank you." The Komodo dragon said, and then Peafowl said:

"It is even worse. I can feel how filthy it is. How it is soaked with anger and resentment, with greed and ambition and envy. It is like a bad smell that pollutes my lungs and I can even taste it in my throat."

"Seriously?" Jiao Din said to him, "I just showed that I have mastered the chi enough to match you in combat and you cannot say a single good thing? What about a 'well done' or a 'you're really good', or maybe an 'I underestimated you'? Seriously, you have no idea how much I trained on the last thirty years to reach the level I have now!"

"All training of the world makes no difference if you have no balance." Peafowl said. "No matter how powerful you have grown or how much control you acquired over your chi. If your soul and mind are unbalanced, than there is nothing to be proud of."

"Oh, here you come again!" the lizard demanded, now sounding clearly annoyed and angry. "Balance this, balance that, I'm sick and tired of hearing this pile of garbage!"

His scales stood up as he stepped in direction to Peafowl.

"I don't need your balance! I never needed it! And if you still want some proof..."

With that said, the Komodo started making strange noises, nearly as if he was choking. Peafowl looked at him with surprise, as the lizard retched and coughed.

Then, his cheeks puffed. A purple glow could be seen through the skin.

Peafowl's eyes widened as he saw that. He barely had time to jump out of the way as the Komodo opened his mouth. A torrent of purple colored chi, vile and noxious, spilled out of the Komodo's mouth. It was something between a liquid and a flame, and it spilled out with the force of a volcanic eruption.

Peafowl managed to dodge some of it. However, some of the vile chi hit his robe, immediately starting to eat through it like an acid, and prompting Peafowl to remove it as fast as possible before the purple substance reached his body.

However, the greatest brunch of the attack was on the great statue.

The vile chi ate through the rock like boiling water melting through ice. In a matter of seconds, the entire base of the statue had been destroy, and so were the legs of the statue, which soon was crumbling down as the chi destroyed the rock. The entire construction, which stood at the center of the temple for three hundred years, and survived earthquakes and attacks from armies, came down and crashed into the ground on the center of the temple. The sound of its destruction thundering into the gorge where the temple was located.

As the dust settled, Peafowl looked as the Komodo made his way out of the dust and in direction to the bird, a smirk on his lips.

"Say, how do you like my Komodo Breath?" He asked, the biggest arrogant grin anyone has ever seen on his face as he spoke to Peafowl. "If you ask me really nicely, I might consider teaching you how to do it."

Peafowl's answer was to open his beak and let out a cry. A cry laded with his chi, focused on his throat and sent forward like waves of pure sound and energy into the Komodo. Even if the waves were not powerful enough to push the Komodo back hundreds of feet back, which they were, the volume of the chi-charged sound was enough to cause eardrums to explode.

However, the Komodo was not faze by it in the slightest. In fact, he stood in there as if he was enjoying a nice breeze in a hot day.

"And, there is the Cry of Power." Komodo said, still smirking. "Peafowl, you are so predictable."

While shocked that the Komodo resisted his attack so easily, Peafowl didn't relented. He let out another cry as he jumped, his wings and tail flaring as he crossed through the air in direction to the lizard, every one of his feathers emitting a golden glow as he was ready to fight to death.

Meanwhile, the reptile focused his chi on his tail. Right on the tip.

When he felt Peafowl coming within range, he spun his body around quickly, whipping his tail in his direction.

As the very tip of his tail connected, to Peafowl, it was like being hit by a boulder several dozen times his own weight.

He was sent back flying, the wave of chi resulting making every building on the temple shake as Peafowl came crashing into the main building of the temple.

He crashed through the wooden doors, breaking them into smithereens as he skidded through the ground, before stopping right on the yin-yang emblem on the center of the room, filled with statues and banners depicting previous grandmasters of the Ku Shitang Temple. His predecessors.

Peafowl would be embarrassed of writhing in the ground in such an undignified way, was he not so busy trying to breathe and power through the pain he was feeling on the area that had been hit by Jiao Din's tail. Good thing he had powered his body with chi, otherwise the blow he received could have broken all of his bones and reduced his internal organs to mush.

The area hit was already turning a deep purple, which was visible even through the blue fathers of his bare upper body, as now all he was wearing was a pair of beige shorts after disposing of his tainted robe.

A purple that was much more intense than that of any bruise should be...

As Peafowl tried to get up, Jiao Din made his way through the destroyed doors and into the room. His mere presence there seemed to change the air, causing the light of the room to turn purple as he slowly made his way to the writhing avian.

Peafowl was not able to get up until the Komodo dragon was right above him.

Peafowl could not react fast enough to prevent the Komodo from grabbing his head with a hand involved in a purple haze.

Just like his students, he gasped and squirmed as he felt the purple energy having an effect on him.

He could feel it reaching towards him. Touching him. Invading him.

He did his best to try and resist. He did his best to try and repel it, or at least hold it back, with his own chi. However, he could not resist.

As the energy reached him, the fight left him. His body went slack, as a feeling of defeat like nothing he ever felt before took hold of his heart. Followed by a crushing feeling of helplessness and of anguish, as he felt that he failed everyone who came before him.

Just like he always feared would happen.

"How is your balance now, Grandmaster Peafowl?" Jiao Din asked him, and the bird was not able to form proper answers. All he could do was pant heavily, trying his best to prevent himself from sinking even further into his own anguish than he already had. All he could see when he opened his eyes was the color purple, and Jiao Din's smirk.

"Now, about why I came here..."

In a matter of minutes, they were standing before a great wall, which was a giant depiction of Masters Oogway and Binturong together, meditating cross-legged over a pool of water, floating above it as they meditated, and the pool beneath them had waves and swirls of water of golden and blue colors coming out of it.

Jiao Din stood before the wall, composed by hundreds of tiny mosaic-like tiles, each one of a different specific color, which together formed the great image as a whole. His blind eyes prevented him from admiring the work of art. However, he didn't had any interest in it. To be honest, even back when he could still see, he considered the thing an eyesore.

He was holding Peafowl by the head, and he now held the bird right in front of the mosaic wall, the bird's legs dangling limply beneath him, as he was hold by the head before the magnificent work of art.

"Open it." Jiao Din commanded, "Now."

Peafowl didn't wanted to. He wanted to refuse. He knew that he could not do it, for it would mean betraying his predecessor. And his predecessor's predecessor. And every single Grandmaster of the Ku Shitang Temple, all the way back to the great Master Binturong. Betraying all of their sacrifices and efforts, which had all been pass down to him once he had taken his predecessor's place after his passing.

However, he had no other option but to obey.

He had already lost, and there was not enough fight left on him to defy Jiao Din's will.

So, slowly, with the enthusiasm of a man who is standing before the gallows where he will be hanged, Peafowl rose his wing. He ran his feather/fingers over the small tiles that formed the mural, feeling each one of them under his feathery touch, before he stopped with a feather over one of them. Then, he pressed down.

Click

Like a button, the tile sank under the pressure of that feather, before Peafowl moved his feathers over the tiles again, stopping at another tile and them doing the same, pressing it like a button.

Click

Then he did it again with yet another one.

Click*Click*Click

One by one, Peafowl pressed the small buttons hidden among the tiles. Until, with a final press on a final button, which had a symbol of a white and golden yin-yang in it, a loud sound was hear.

Whirring of machine and moving of gears resounded, as the mechanism hidden within the mural came to life for the first time in over eighty years. The mural split itself in two, as the two doors slid each to one side, revealing a gateway hidden behind it, which opened to a staircase that went down.

Jiao Din flicked his forked tongue, tasting the stale air inside of the passage now open before him, as well as something else... Something that made his whole body vibrate with excitement.

It was down there.

It was definitely down there.

After so long...

With a firm grip still in Peafowl's head, Jiao Din stepped into the staircase. It was dark in there, but that was no problem for Jiao Din. His eyes hadn't worked in several years, anyway.

He walked calmly down the staircase presented before him, which went down several meters, into the darkness of the secret chamber hidden beneath the temple. A secret that only the oldest of the students of the temple were allow to know, and that only the Grandmaster of the temple could access.

This had been in there since the beginnings of the temple. No. That had been there long before the temple was even constructed.

And it remained hidden for over three hundred years, only accessible through that one opening, and only on the most dire of situations.

The staircase made a slight curve to the right, spiraling down as Jiao Din went down with his former master still on his grip, his long tail dragging across the steps covered in ancient dust and moss, caking those previously pristine feathers with decades-old grime. Peafowl was too much in a state of defeat to care at this point, his eyes closed as he was carry down.

His eyes opened when he noticed a light ahead, cutting the darkness as they got closer. He could see the light coming from the bottom of the staircase. A luminosity of bluish-golden glow coming from down there, forming a soft shade of green as they approached, and the sound of running water could be heard.

Jiao Din could not see the light. However, he also noticed what was down there. He could see it clearly on his mind's eye. He could feel it there. He could feel it practically pulsating down there like a heart.

It was calling to him.

The Komodo's steps became rushed, as he couldn't contain his excitement anymore. As soon as he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he just dropped Peafowl on the ground, and there the bird remained, completely forgotten by the Komodo as he marveled at what before him.

Sure, his blind eyes could not see the beautiful golden light that emanated from the bluish pond, with lotus flowers of all colors, from pink to pure white, bloomed on lily pads above it. He could not see the vines that sprouted from the pond, which grew all over the cave where the pond was located, sprouting with flowers of vibrant colors, each one glowing with a beautiful light of their own. Neither could he see the statue of no other than Master Binturong by the pond, sitting in it on a lotus position, as he seemed to be in deep meditation, the statue also covered on the vines that bloomed with glowing flowers.

It would be such a beautiful sight for the Komodo, if he was able to see.

However, he was still able to see all he needed.

His mind could see the glow that came from this pond as he came closer, pulsating with a golden glow as he came closer, taking in the huge amount of chi that came from that one pond. That one pond that, over a hundred years ago, saved the life of Peafowl's predecessor, Master Ibex, when he was mortally wounded and no physician on the province was able to save his life. The pond that, before that, was able to save the Emperor's son when he was afflicted by a terrible disease that was said to be incurable, saving the entire dynasty and ensuring the future of their country.

And now, it was before him.

Jiao Din was shaking with excitement as he walked to the pond, and kneeled right by it. His hands were shaking as he slowly approached them from the water, before carefully dipping them on the pond, and feeling that energy he could see right into his scales.

He was there.

After so long, he was finally there.

After so long of plotting, planning and dreaming. After all the efforts he made to acquire the skills since he failed to get it thirty years ago, he was finally there to take it. He would finally be able to... to...

Wait.

There was something wrong.

"No..." Jiao Din said, his excitement dying down as he felt the energy coming from the pond now that he had both of his scaly hands dipped into it.

No. That wasn't right.

"No..." Jiao Din said, as his face started frowning. "No. No. No..."

This pond had a lot of chi gathered in it. More than one could hope to find in any other pond out there. It had so much chi that one could even feel it in the water without any form of training.

But... that was it.

The pond was full of chi and it certainly had healing properties, being able to speed up the healing process of those who would bath in it and cleanse those who drank it of disease and poison, but that was basically about that.

It was just a pond of water full of chi.

Jiao Din was shaking again. However, this time it was of frustration. Of anger.

The Komodo screamed in rage at the edge of the pond. Then, the next sound that resounded on the cave was the sound of Jiao Din's angry steps as he walked to Peafowl, before picking him up roughly and shaking him like a ragdoll.

"You stupid feather duster!" Jiao Din hissed in anger as he shook Peafowl, before slamming him into the ground.

"This is the secret held by the sacred Ku Shitang temple!?" The reptile demanded to the bird. "A stupid pool filled with chi infused water!? This is the reason why you took away my vision!? This is the thing I spent the last thirty years desiring!? This is the secret that Oogway and Binturong found during their legendary peregrination!?"

"This..." Jiao Din said, he was panting as he held down the bird by his neck, and the bird looked back at his face, which was a mask of rage and outrage. "...is the legendary Tien Spring?"

His voice was low and hissing. It was like a veiled threat, promising violent retribution if the answer was "yes". However, there was also a note of despair on his voice, like a child who was speaking to an adult and begging, with all of their heart, for him to tell them that their innocent childhood dreams were real.

Peafowl looked at the face of his former student. Of the one who once filled him with pride, and who looked back at him with admiration and love. Now, that face with milky blind eyes only had rage and resentment.

It made the feeling Peafowl was having now even worse.

With his voice filled with defeat, Peafowl started talking.

"Three hundred years ago..." He said, "Master Oogway and his student, Master Binturong, started a peregrination. Their peregrination was a quest to learn the secrets of chi. Master Oogway already knew some of those secrets from his past experiences, but mastering the chi demands self-knowledge that one can only acquire through personal experiences and enlightenment. So, Oogway and his most skilled student at the time traveled across China, learning from each travel and each tribulation they found on the way, knowing themselves and mastering themselves and, in return, mastering their chi. Through inner peace and enlightenment, they were the first ones to learn all of the secrets of chi."

"During their travels..." Peafowl continued, ignoring the hand squeezing his neck. "They found a place. A place of life and creation. A place that mortal eyes had never seen before. They found the Tien Spring."

Jiao Din already knew the story. They found the Tien Spring and then they reached enlightenment by meditating by its waters, and then they built the Ku Shitang temple on those sacred grounds. That was the story everyone knew.

However, that was not the story that Peafowl told.

"After they meditated over the waters of the Tien Spring for three days and nights, they continued their peregrination." The bird said, in that same monotone, depressed voice. "Their travel ended two years later, when they found this pond of water on the depths of the gorge, which had a great quantity of chi, built over the course of many centuries. They rested their tired bodies on the water, and it alleviated them of their fatigue and strife. They both blessed this pond, and created a temple on the place where their quest ended, where Binturong would pass forward all of the teachings he learned about balance and inner peace. This was the origin of the Ku Shitang temple.

Jiao Din heard all of it, and he processed what he had just been told.

"This... this is not the Tien Spring?" The Komodo asked, in equal parts shocked and relieved.

"No." Peafowl said, then the Komodo tightened his grip on the bird's neck and asked, once more on an angry voice:

"So the stories of the Ku Shitang Temple being built on top of the Tien Spring were all a lie?"

Peafowl took a few moments to answer.

"A ploy." He said, "A ploy created to misdirect those who had greed and ambition on their hearts. To protect the real location of the Tien Spring and ensure that the only ones who would have access to it would be those with noble spirits and worthy hearts."

The Komodo hissed, raising the bird from the ground.

"Where..." he asked, in a slow and threatening voice "Is the real Tien Spring?"

Peafowl wanted to lie. He wanted to lie to protect the secret that had been trusted to him when he assumed as the temple's grandmaster. The secret that had been entrust to him by Master Ibex and by everyone before him.

However, his spirit was weak, and he could not deny the truth to his former student.

"I don't know." Peafowl said, honestly. "All I know are directions. Riddles and clues left behind by Master Binturong, and passed down from grandmaster to grandmaster, from mouth to ear. Only someone deserving, with those clues and directions, will be able to find the Tien Spring, and taste of the same enlightenment that Binturong and Oogway had when they rested over the sacred waters of the spring of creation..."

A low rumbling came from Jiao Din, as he approached his face of Peafowl's face, his breath warming the bird's face. For a moment, it seemed that the lizard was going to bite his head off. However, he then said:

"You..." His voice was dripping with contempt. "Will tell me each one of those directions. No. Better yet, you will be my guide. You will take me to the Tien Spring. You will take me there, and I'll finally get to taste of those waters!"

Once more, Peafowl wanted to protest, but had no heart to do so.

However, he still felt enough spirit left in him to say a warning to the blind reptile:

"The Dragon Warrior will stop you..."

"Dragon Warrior?" Jiao Din said. "Wait, I heard about him. A panda that Oogway chose, right? Lives in the Jade Palace back in the Valley of Peace?"

Yes, he indeed heard about the said panda. To this day, he could not believe that Oogway decided to make a panda a kung fu warrior.

"Rumor has it that he is as just a fat buffoon with a dumpling for a brain, just like the rest of his people." Jiao Din said, remembering the tales he heard about the panda. However, not all stories about the panda were bashing him. And Peafowl made sure to remember the Komodo of it.

"He defeated many great enemies since Oogway elected him." The bird said, "He saved China many times. Five years ago, he fulfilled Oogway's five-hundred years prophecy and defeated Kai the Collector."

"His mastery of chi greatly surpasses even mine." Peafowl said, looking at his student. "And the protection of the Tien Spring is one of his sacred duties. He will know you are after the Spring, and he will come for you. He will stop you, and he will show you no mercy."

The Komodo dragon hissed at Peafowl, and then he said:

"So the fat black and white buffoon will come after me? Well, let him come."

"Let's see if Oogway's chosen one is really all that." The Komodo said, "If he stands in my way, then I'll bring him down, like I did with many other enemies before him. And the world will see that the Dragon Warrior is no match for the Dragon of Chi."

With this said, Jiao Din was ready to leave this place, since there was nothing in there for him.

However, before leaving...

The lizard hissed and growled. Then, he spat. A glob of purple, glowing slime flew from his mouth, sailing through the air and landing right on the center of the pool.

In a few seconds, the point where the spit dropped started to bubble and churn. Purple light emanating from that single point, and spreading outwards, replacing the golden light coming from the blue pond, both of them being replace by a purple coloration that spread through the cave, casting it all in an eerie illumination.

The lotus flowers on the pond all withered and died, as the lily pads sank into the bubbling purple pond.

The vines sprouting from the pond turned black. Their flowers withering into nothing as vicious-looking spikes sprouted from them. Even from the ones around the statue.

And Jiao Din, not seeing nor caring to what was happening, simply turned his back to the pond and walked back up the stairs, dragging Peafowl along with him. The thorny vines around the statue of Master Binturong started to squeeze, causing the statue to crack under the pressure, before it eventually was broken into pieces by the vines, which them lashed around, hitting anything and everything within reach.

What once was a sacred place of healing and purification, now had been turned into a place of vileness and corruption. And the responsible didn't even cared enough to admire his handiwork, as he had much more important goals laying ahead of him.

And he would destroy anyone who dared to stand on his way.

The Spirit Realm

The vision formed on the pool changed and swirled, as the waters into the pond swirled themselves. Like fog dissipating, the images went out of focus and vanished, replaced by a golden color, which now reflected the image of the two figures looking down on the pond.

"Well, that's too bad." The first of the two figures, a turtle, said as he looked down on the pond. "That was a fine statue, my friend. I liked it better than the big one on the center of the temple."

Oogway said that, but the figure by his side didn't really cared for the statues. He was not the kind who minded statues very much. The mammal was busy looking into the pond. He looked at the figure that stared back at him, with dark-gray fur and long whiskers, wearing black and golden clothes, amber-colored eyes looking back deep into his own.

Master Binturong was in deep thought.

"The Tien Spring is in danger." Binturong said, as he stood by the side of his teacher. Oogway could only nod in agreement.

"It seems so."

"Will the Dragon Warrior be able to do it?" Binturong asked, looking deep at the pond. "Will he be able to stop Jiao Din?"

"We went through it already, didn't we?" Oogway asked his student, as he reached forward with a scaly hand, and ran one of his long nails on the waters, causing them to move again. The spiritual waters swirling and causing their images to shift into the pond, going out of focus and vanishing on the golden of that pond that they used to watch over the Mortal Realm.

Binturong had a serious expression on his face.

"He is strong." The bearcat said, "He defeated many enemies. The odds were against him, but he always reached victory. He did every time. He can do now... right?"

Oogway was silent for a few moments, and then he sighed.

"Po has grown so much since he became the Dragon Warrior." The turtle said, as the pond showed another image. This time, it showed one of the past. It was showing the moment when Po was chose as the Dragon Warrior.

"He faced many challenges. Many obstacles and tribulations." The turtle said, as the pond shifted to show Po's trajectory so far. From his hard training with Shifu to the enemies he faced. The times he nearly died and the great victories he had. "And each one of them helped him grow and become stronger. He became a warrior like no one ever saw before. He became every bit of the warrior that I had expected him to become. Every bit of the hero that he was meant to be."

The pond now showed the image of Po, among the people of the Valley of Peace, holding the staff Oogway himself gifted to him and smiling proudly at the people of the Valley of Peace.

"And yet, this will not be enough for him to face what is coming." Oogway said somberly.

"The threat that is looming over China... over all of the Mortal Realm, is far greater than any other Po ever faced before. Even Kai didn't posed as much of a threat as Jiao Din. Even Kai could not threaten Po the way Jiao Din can."

They both looked at the image, which faded, taken by a purple hue that consumed all of the light on the pond.

"Jiao Din's evil is the greatest challenge Po ever faced. And this is a threat that surpasses his own skills."

Heavy silence followed those words.

"So he has no chance of victory." Binturong said, and Oogway agreed.

"None at all..." He said, looking deep into the pond. Then he said:

"Unless he has help."

There was always a "but". That much was a rule. This time, however, the "but" was not a bad thing.

In this case, the "but" actually meant there everything was not lost.

And Binturong was glad for it. But still...

"Master." Binturong said, turning to Oogway, putting his paws before his body and bowing respectfully. "Please, allow me to go back to the Mortal Realm!"

Oogway said nothing to it, and he instead continued to look at the pool, which now showed the image of Jiao Din dragging Peafowl's limp body out of the Ki Shitang Temple. Oogway immediately knew that the peacock had already given the Komodo dragon the first clue, and that Jiao Din would use it to start his journey to the Tien Spring.

They didn't had time to lose.

"Please, let me be the one to go, Master!" Binturong insisted, as Oogway got up, the pond once more swirling. "I shall be the one to help the Dragon Warrior! I'll teach him everything that I can about how to use chi! Together we will stop Jiao Din before he can even come near the Tien Spring! Please!"

There was a silence between the two of them, before Oogway sighed.

"We also talked about this, old friend." The turtle said, turning his head to look at the mammal speaking to him. "You are not the one meant to help him. You are not the one that Po needs."

"And does he needs him!?" Binturong asked, exasperated. "Does he needs someone like him!? I'm sorry, Master, but are you sure it is wise to send him to help the Dragon Warrior?"

"He is the more indicated." Oogway said simply. "With him, Po will have the greatest chance of achieving victory. There is no other way."

"There has to be!" Binturong said, "Master, we cannot trust him to help the Dragon Warrior!"

"Is that so?" Said a third voice, which made Binturong and Oogway look back, at the figure coming at their direction, walking on the bare rock of the floating island where they were.

"Ah, there you are." Oogway said, "Took your sweet time, didn't you?"

"Had to prepare myself." The figure said, calmly walking into the direction of the pond, his form still cloaked in shadows, with only his glowing eyes visible. "After all, this will be my great return to the Mortal Realm. I gotta look my best, don't I?"

"I assume you do." Oogway said, looking at the newcomer with a smile, while Binturong looked at him with mistrust and hostility.

"Master, I beg you to reconsider." Binturong pleaded to Oogway, "Please, if not me than let's choose someone else. Maybe Thundering Rhino! Maybe his father! Maybe we could send Master Dog! They all could be of great help! Please, anyone but him!"

"Oh, Binturong..." The figure said giving one more step closer. "You're gonna hurt my feelings if you keep going like that."

Biturong looked over his shoulder.

"Why so bitter?" The third animal in there said. "Is that because Oogway was right and all of your students were bested so easily by a single guy? Well, can't say I blame you. I would be mad too if all of my heirs turned out to be such failures."

Binturong turned to him, baring his fangs as he growled at the other animal. He looked ready to charge at him, but Oogway stopped him with a hand on his arm. A single look on the eyes of his teacher and friend was enough to get Binturong to calm down. Not much, but just enough that he no longer wanted to jump at this other guy and beat him to death, what was impossible, since they all were already dead.

"The time has come." Oogway said simply, looking at the third figure, who looked back at the turtle. "The time has come. You shall now return to the Mortal Realm, and you shall help Po defeat Jiao Din. By doing so, you will reach the redemption for the actions committed during the course of your life."

The figure looked at Oogway, and scoffed.

"Redemption? Please. That talk may work with most people, but it will not be so easy with me." He said to the turtle. "You know you will need more than that to get me to help that fat idiot."

Binturong growled at the figure once more, showing clear disgust towards him. Oogway continued:

"Your past sins will be erased and forgiven. Your image, tainted by your actions in life, shall be restored, and you shall be remembered as a hero, rather than a villain. This will be the legacy you shall leave behind in the world by helping save the Tien Spring."

The figure looked at Oogway, and he had a smirk now.

"Sounds good." He said, his eyes glowing in direction to the reptile. "But, there is one more thing I think you are forgetting..."

Oogway looked at him. They both knew well what he was expecting to hear.

"By protecting the Tien Spring, the Universe saw reward you by opening a new path before you." Oogway said to the figure, who waited, still hidden in the shadows. "By helping Po, you will finally be able to get the one thing you have always wanted."

This was what the figure wanted to hear. His smirk widened.

"Now we're talking." He said, as he stepped out of the shadows. His grey fur shone under the light of the Spirit Realm, which reflected on his golden eyes.

"So, let's get going with it." Tai Lung said, looking at Oogway. "I'm dying to see that fat panda again..."

Oogway looked at him, and nodded.

"Very well." Was all he said, and he lifted his hand, a ball of golden chi forming in it. He pointed at Tai Lung, and the ball flew from his hand and hit the leopard.

It didn't caused him any damage, as it spread the golden energy around the leopard, who roared as he felt this energy flowing around and through him. A golden symbol appeared on his left pectoral, right over his heart, and it glowed in a golden light.

The feline started to dematerialize, disintegrating into blue light, which mixed with the golden one. With Oogway's gestures, the blue and golden mass rose into the air, and then it dove into the pond, which turned into a whirlpool of purple shades.

Off Tai Lung went, to the Mortal Realm.

Amidst all the purple, the blue and golden colors flowed, spinning and whirling like smoke in a hurricane, describing complex spirals and curves as they moved across all that purple.

Then, they spun around each other, until they formed a yin-yang symbol.

Then glowing, lustrous silvery letters appeared above, in and beneath the blue and yellow yin-yang.

Chapter Text

Another day dawned, and another morning began.

And everyone moved on with their day.

In the Valley of Peace, everyone proceeded with their day, as they all had something to do. The baker had bread to bake, and the shoemaker had to finish the custom-made sandals with silk covering that the important client requested for the end of the week. The ironsmith had to finish the new batch of kitchen knives to be deliver to the merchant who would sell them on the Valley and on all of the neighborhood areas.

Everyone had something to do. Everyone had a task to perform and a duty to fulfill. Everyone has a mission they needed to perform so the Valley could function normally and everyone could live their lives to the fullest. It was as if every single person that lived in this valley was the piece of a greater mechanism. Every piece needed to be right in place so the machine could continue functioning normally and with as much precision as possible.

Society was like that. Everyone had a purpose, a mission they should perform so society could continue to function. From the humblest artisan to the most influent politician, everyone had a duty for with the community and society.

Including the kung fu masters.

Their duty was to continue Oogway's mission. To protect the valley and its inhabitants while keeping the legacy of Grandmaster Oogway alive. This was a duty they performed, and which all of them were honor to follow.

Everyone looked up at the kung fu masters of the Valley of Peace, who dedicated their time in defending the Valley from any and all threats and training themselves so they could become better and better. All of them led by a master who took the role of the teacher and guided the other masters into becoming the best versions of themselves that they could possibly be.

For years, this role of teacher fell on the shoulders of the legendary Master Shifu, who trained the Furious Five. However, in the last five years, this role has been performed by another one of the masters, whom Shifu himself trained. Perhaps the most talented and most amazing Kung Fu warrior and hero that the Valley has seen since Oogway himself.

The role of teacher of the Jade Palace now befell over the shoulders of Master Po Ping, the great Dragon Warrior. And he was in the middle of a lesson.

"Move up and keep your wings straight!" Po instructed as he oversaw the training. "Fly through those rings as if they were on fire! Touch the edges and you feathers go up in flames! Very good! Girls, keep moving your bodies, you do' want to be caught on those moving thingies! Trust me, it is not a good experience! That's right, with fast and precise movements! And you, don't forget to take advantage of your size! Whoever tells you that being small is a weakness has never meet someone like you! It is your greatest strength! That's right, very good!"

Po continued to give commands to the training animals, who moved back and forth as they occupied different areas of the training course. Each one of them followed their instructions of the panda very efficiently, and said instructions proved to be the best possible to help them perfect their style on each part of the obstacle course they were facing.

Someone who had watched Po's first lesson five years ago would mention on the difference from what happened then to what was happening now, and all of them would agree that this new training was going much better than that one of half-a-decade ago.

Truth to be told, Po was not the best to give lessons back on the day, as his first attempt to train the Furious Five ended in bruises, in a dislocated shoulder and on some second-degree burns. However, after training an entire village of pandas into kung fu warriors to face a Spirit Warrior's army of jade zombies, some could say that Po has gotten the hang of this teaching business.

He certainly was doing a much better job teaching the eleven animals who were training on the field.

Yes, eleven. The Furious Five plus Po's six new students.

A gong was heard into a distance, and Po then stomped hard into the ground.

"Aaaaand, time!" Po announced, and all of the students knew that this was the sign for them to stop training and all gather before Po.

Tigress, Viper, Mantis, Monkey and Crane all gathered before Po. And so did the other six, all of them in line. First of all, there was a water deer, and she stood right by Crane's side, with her hands together behind her back as she stood to attention, waiting for the next instructions, wearing a vest of blue coloration with black spiral motifs in it and a black pair of long pants similar to Tigress'.

By her side stood a pair of other individuals, nearly identical. This pair of swallows had the same blueish and red on their feathers, and the only thing that could tell the two apart was the clothes they wore, as one wore a black jacket and the other wore white, and they wore the same purple pants. They stood side by side, with their smart eyes in attention and their black beaks chirping just for a moment before they settled to attention and waited alongside the animal standing next to them.

This next animal was threatening looking, and many thought that his kind had a bad reputation. This scorpion had an exoskeleton of a very black coloration and red eyes. This appearance certainly helped pass fear, alongside with his claws and his stinger, both which had a red coloration that horribly looked like blood, but was just the natural color of those areas of his body. He had his claws down, closed and united before his body. It was his kind's version of an attentive and respectful pose.

By his side, there was a bigger animal. This amphibian has strong legs and a bulbous body, with thick legs and a thick body that kind of looked like muscle-gut. However, despite his volume, he was shorter than Shifu, albeit he had a pretty big mouth. His skin was slimy and with dull shades of grayish green, and his eyes were yellow with long pupils. He was wearing clothes of a dark brown coloration, both the jacket and the pants, and he had a small black hat on his head. The toad stood in attention as well, with a grumpy expression on his face.

Finally, right by the toad's side, stood what could be the biggest of them all. He, like Po, didn't wore any shirt, only a pair of long white shorts, with a huge opening on his back to allow his thick and muscular tail to go through. He had scales of a dark-green coloration. Someone could mistake him for a crocodile, but looking intently revealed that he was not. For example, that his snout was different, and his teeth did not showed when his mouth was close. He stood in a very lax position compared to the others, and he looked at the sides nearly as if distracted, until the toad used his long tongue like a whip to hit the back of his head and make him pay attention.

Those six new animals were younger than the other animals on the room, as their ages varied from sixteen to eighteen. All of them were Po's students, having become so one year ago, all within a few weeks from each other. The swallows, who were identical twins, became his students at the same time, and they were the first ones, followed by the toad, then the gator, then the girl deer, and then the scorpion.

Po meet each one on a different situation, and on each time he saw potential on them. Enough to offer for them to come to the Jade Palace and become his students. They all agreed, and now they studied under Po, training under his command alongside the Furious Five to one day become the next generation of kung fu masters.

And they have all done great so far.

"Okay, guys, today was great." Po said to his students, as he walked before them like a general walking through his troops. "Furious Five, you guys are succeeding in keeping yourself on an acceptable level of awesomeness, great job. The rest of you, you are also doing very great at your training! A few more years and you will one day be as awesome as the Five. Keep up the good work!"

Po turned around as he reached the end of the line, in which the gator was standing and making a salute. Once more, the toad slapped him in the back of the head with a whip of his tongue, to make him get into a proper position as Po continued walking before them.

"And all I can say to all of you is... you are all doing great, my awesome crew of awesome warriors and warriors-in-training!"

"Thank you, Master!" The eleven animals all said as they bow to the panda, and Po then turned to them all.

"So, with this, I think you have earned a break from training, since it is time for lunch and you are all probably as hungry as I am! So, our next stop is down on the village for a lunch at my dads' restaurant! My treat!"

The swallows both sang in joy and the scorpion jumped in place as he swung his claws. The toad had an indifferent expression on his face while the gator clapped his scaly hands happily, looking like a child rather than the eighteen-year-old massive alligator he was. The rest was pretty much blasé on it, as they already knew it was that day of the week again.

Po soon was guiding all of his friends and students down the stairs and in direction to the restaurant. The panda, of course, was on the lead and he took time to high-five everyone who was on his way as they walked straight to the restaurant, with the other eleven animals having to go pretty fast to keep up with the panda.

Yeah, Po was more mature after a number of years being the Dragon Warrior and after the challenges he had to face to come to where he was now. However, in the end, Po would never stop being himself. This was probably one of his best qualities, and one that all of his friends and students certainly could love about him. Even though sometimes the panda could be a little insufferable to the more serious ones.

"And, we have arrived!" Po said as he got into the entrance of the restaurant, making a dramatic pose, while the others all stood behind him in neutral stances. Meanwhile, everyone on the restaurant cheered as the same panda whose image was adorning all of the walls in posters arrived to join them for his weekly visit.

To many fans, it was the perfect chance to get autographs. Soon, however, Po and the others were making their way into the restaurant, as they greeted two familiar figures.

"Po, my boy!" Li said as he hugged his son, lifting him from the ground with a very firm hug, "How nice of you to come, we were waiting for you!"

"Not for us?" The alligator asked. This time it was Mr. Ping the one who answered, as the goose came right by the side of the two pandas.

"Why, of course." He said, looking at him. "All of our son's friends and students are more than welcome here, and have special discount. Free deserts if you have bought at least three items of the menu."

The alligator cheered as he heard that, sounding really exciting, while the toad on his head seemed stoic like a stone statue as he stayed on all fours in the traditional toad position, so still that someone could even mistake him for some weird hat.

Soon, Li was taking all of their notes, with all of them asking for something they were in the mood or for one of their favorite dishes. All save for the alligator, who said:

"Whatever you have is fine for me!"

Li took it in and soon he was giving Ping their orders, before going to take the requests of the other patrons, as well as to take their orders to their tables, what was considerably easier for him than it was for Po, considering that the restaurant itself was bigger since Ping earned enough money to buy the abandoned construction right at the side. From there, breaking the wall between them and reforming the restaurant to make it bigger was simple, and business has been booming ever since.

The eleven animals on the table all chatted with each other, until Li came back with all of their orders.

"Mr. Li, do you have any news from the panda village?" the scorpion asked to the panda, who soon was answering:

"Oh, yes. Got a letter just yesterday. Everything is going swimmingly back there. The guy I put to manage the village in my place is doing a great job. Oh, by the way, Po, your cousins both say that they want to come visit for New Years', and asked if you could prepare a room up in the Jade Palace for them."

"Yeah, I'll do it." Po said as his huge bowl of dumplings was place before him just as he finished signing yet another Dragon Warrior mug. "And, Dad? Do you miss being the leader of the village?"

"A little bit, yeah." Li said, "But, honestly, it is kind of a weight off my shoulders. Managing an entire village is not an easy task, I'll tell you. Also, I get to live near you and have you visiting regularly. I really don't regret having accepted Ping's offer to manage the restaurant with him."

"And I couldn't ask for a better business partner." Ping said as he came into view carrying a bow with himself. "And this here, is for you, my son's scaly student."

"Yay!" the alligator said as he saw the bowl on Ping's wing and he was soon asking if this was the famous "secret ingredient soup".

"Oh, no, this is something else." Ping said to him, "It is a new recipe."

"Oh, boy..." Mantis said as he was right by the scorpion's side on the table as they shared a bowl of noodles. Both of them all of a sudden looked worried, and so did the rest of the animals sitting on their table. Even the alligator stopped smiling as Ping placed the bowl before him, and he looked at it as if it contained poison.

They all certainly remembered the last "new recipes" that Ping had offered to them. The goose was a genius when it came to noodles, but his experimentations with flavors could be a bit... hazardous.

They still remembered that one new recipe that Monkey tried and that made him throw up immediately. And keep throwing up for nearly an entire hour afterwards.

The following one was give to Tigress, who thought she could take a suspicious-looking soup with no problems, considering she survived a direct blast from a cannon. It seemed fine at first but, as Tigress was halfway done with it, she all of a sudden got so sick that she fainted on the spot, and the others had to rush her to the nearest doctor as fast as they could so she could have her stomach emptied.

The next one was one that Crane tried up, and it nearly destroyed his vocal cords. He was unable to even speak for a month afterwards.

The one after that did not really made it to anyone's mouth. It smelled so strange and had such a weird coloration that even Po, who was always about trying new foods and known for his iron stomach, vehemently refused to try it.

And now there was yet another new recipe, and everyone was looking at that bowl with dread.

"So?" Ping asked, causing the alligator to look at him. "Go on, try it!" The goose urged him, and the gator looked at him for a while, before looking back at the bowl, which was strangely black in coloration. The reptile swallowed a lump on his throat as he took a spoon offered by the goose, and everyone else was on edge, as they were all ready to rush the gator to the nearest doctor to treat food poisoning.

"Think Gator will be okay?" the Scorpion asked to Mantis. "Should we just let him try it? Wouldn't it be better to spill a little of it on that plant on the corner and see if it dies?" Mantis didn't said anything in return, but he did thought it would be a good idea.

The gator was very hesitant to take a sip of the black soup. So hesitant that it crossed on being comic. Eventually, someone seemed like they have had enough.

The toad sitting on his head whipped his tongue, snatching the spoon from the alligator's hand and grabbing it on his own, smaller hands. Everyone looked as he unceremoniously took the entire spoonful in one go.

Everyone looked at the toad, waiting to see if he would be dropping dead on the spot. However, instead, the amphibian only said:

"Good soup."

Everyone blinked, as they looked at the toad for a few moments. Gator, who had the spoon returned to him by the little amphibian on his head, decided to actually try the soup himself, and his eyes bulged open.

"Oh, my swamp! That's delicious!" He said in surprise, and he started taking spoonful after spoonful of the black soup, while everyone looked at him with surprise.

"Mr. Ping, this soup is amazing!" Gator said to the goose. "Seriously, you guys should try this! It is so good!" He continued to viciously consume the soup, with Mr. Ping being very happy that his new soup was approved.

"Great, I'll be putting it on the menu tomorrow! Thanks a lot, Gator, my boy."

"And Toad too, since he proved it too." Li said as he referred to the small amphibian who was still on Gator's head, eating toad-sized dumplings. "By the way, I thought toads' tongues were not that long."

Toad looked at him, and then croaked:

"Part frog... from my mother's side."

This did caused Tigress and Crane to share a look in surprise.

This was the first time that they ever heard Toad mention anything about his family, and he, like the others, have been with them for around a year now.

In fact, both Po and the Furious five knew little to nothing about Po's six students. They hardly knew their names, as the six, much like the Furious Five, went by the name of their species. The water deer, for example, was "Doe", while the alligator was "Gator". The two birds were known as "Swallow One" and "Swallow Two".

And all of them barely ever talked about the life they had before meeting Po and becoming his students.

They knew that the Swallows were orphans, and so was Gator, who grew up alone on his swamp since he was eleven, but none of them ever elaborated further about the life they had before being invite to come back to the Jade Palace to study under the Dragon Warrior. Doe and Scorpion, on their end, flat out refused to answer to any questions regarding their past, including any question about their families or homes, nearly as if they wanted to forget whatever past they had before living with them on the Palace.

And Toad... well, Toad simply didn't spoke. The amphibian showed to be the silent type. A man of action rather than words, as Po had put it. It was rare to hear the amphibian say more than two or three phrases a day, and said phrases were usually short. This often led to a lot of awkward silences whenever someone tried to have a conversation with him, to the point where most had just gave up trying to ask him questions. Save for Gator, who would have long one-sided talks with the amphibian about all manners of topics while Toad, still like a statue, just listened to everything, only occasionally croaking before Gator would resume.

Could those two be consider friends, or something similar? Po thought it did, as he mentioned the guys did seemed pretty close, even though the Five didn't really saw it the same way.

"Seriously, Mr. Ping, I loved this new soup!" Gator said to the goose, "It has this tangy flavor that hits like a punch to the snout and I love it! What is that?"

"Well, I do plan to keep this recipe a secret." The goose said to the crocodilian as he picked up his bowl, and he was getting ready to bring another upon Gator's request. "But I can tell you that the tangy flavor is probably the squid ink. I heard once that people in Japan use it to cook, so I decided to give it a try. It is the main ingredient of the new Black Soup."

"Oh, that's why it is this color." Gator said, "I'll have as many as you have, please!"

Ping was only glad to bring Gator what he requested.

"Wait..." Swallow Two said as he reflected on the revealed main ingredient, and then he turned to his brother. "But, ain't the squids' ink their-"

Whatever it was that Swallow Two was going to say was, perhaps thankfully, interrupted by a familiar gong sounding in the distance.

"Oh, boy." Po said, as he looked up from his bowl of noodles and in the direction from which the gongs were coming. "Looks like job is calling, guys!"

With this, Po swallowed down all of his noodles at once, while he and the Five all got up and went along to fulfill the mission. The other six were about to go with them, but Tigress stopped them:

"You are not ready yet, leave this to us."

"Dads! Save the dumplings I ordered, I'll be back to grab them later! And put it all on my bill!" Po yelled as he went along with the Five to fulfill his duty as the Dragon Warrior and protect the valley. Ping waved at their boy as he went his way, while Li looked at their departing form with apprehension, what Ping noticed.

"Still worried, Li?" Ping asked to the panda, who sighed.

"I really can't help it. I'll always feel worried whenever Po goes to fight those bad guys. I know it is his job, but still..."

"Oh, don't worry, he will be fine." Ping said to him, patting him on the belly. "It is our boy we are talking about. He can handle anything."

Li continued to look the direction Po go, but he had to admit that Ping was right. This was Po they were talking about. He defeated Kai, for crying out loud. He surely could take care of some invaders.

"Now, you better go deliver the orders for tables 3, 6, 8, 11 and 16, and don't forget to smile." Ping said, handing a lot of bowls to Li with a variety of foods, and the panda dad soon had to focus on serving the foods for the clients, all the while wishing that they could hire a few waiters. And suspecting that Ping made him wait on the tables exactly to save the money he would pay a waiter.

"I just wish they would let us go this time." Gator said as he and the others sat on the table, eating their food.

As the students all continued eating, the full-fledge masters made their way throughout the village in direction to the mission they had to fulfil.

It was not that hard to find out where the problem was. They just needed to see what direction the villagers were running from and run in direction to it.

That's the difference between a hero and normal person. Po thought to himself, Which direction they run to when there's danger!

As they continued running, the villagers who passed by them were quick to inform them what was happening.

"Bandits! On the center!" Screamed a running pig.

"A whole gang of them!" Said a rabbit who ran past with his many children holding his hands.

"Get them, Po!" Said a female pig who passed by them.

"We're counting on you, Dragon Warrior!" Said yet another one, and this one high-fived Po on his way, and the panda was glad to high-five him, as his way of promising that he would take those bandits down.

Crane, who used his wings to fly and his keen sight to see ahead, was able to catch sight of the said bandits, and he was soon flying back to his friends and telling them what to expect:

"They are pricklenapes, big ones. Around fifteen of them. The spikes on their backs seem pretty sharp."

"They spikes might be sharp, but our will to fight is sharper!" was Po's answer, as he and the Five charged forward, ready to chase those criminals out of the Valley of Peace.

They found the reptiles that Crane saw, and they knew that they were pretty big, with one of them standing around the same height of Po's chest, what was considerably bigger than most of their species. They were all wearing black clothes with grey pieces of armor, and they seemed to be busy stealing from the nearby houses and chariots, when the kung fu masters showed up.

The bandits reacted to the presence of the good guys as one would expect: raising their weapons and attacking while hissing and screeching at them like mad lizards. Just like that, the battle between the kung fu masters and the pricklenape bandits started.

Well, calling it a "fight" would not be very precise. After all, those lizards didn't had much chance against highly-trained kung fu warriors. The battle was soon shifting in favor of the warriors, and they were easily pushing the bad guys back, as they swung their weapons wildly and even tried attacking with their spikes, curling into balls and rushing into the kung fu warriors like spinning spiked ball.

Po even commented on how that move the lizards made was impressive, and even tried to name it, but he soon had to focus back on the fight when one of them came dangerously close to his face. Po was soon turning this little tactic against the lizards themselves, by grabbing them on the air while they were still spinning and flinging them back at the other lizards, causing them to yell and to duck out of the way of danger. One of them ended stuck into a wooden pillar, as the spikes of his back sank into the wood and left him trapped upside-down, asking his friends to help him. However, they were too busy trying to escape from the warriors.

That was when the bandits brought about a makeshift weapon that was akin to a rocket-launcher, and that propelled heavy balls of metal with the help of gunpowder on the back end, in a manner much similar to a handheld cannon.

This forced the kung fu master's into defensive, as one of those metal balls hit tigress square in the shoulder, sending her back several feet and making her land groaning and holding her shoulder in pain.

This put everyone in attention. Those things they were holding could not be like Shen's cannons, even thought they were clearly inspire by them, but if they could actually hurt Tigress, of all people, then those things were no joke at all.

The masters had no choice but to dodge the next ball shot, as two more pairs of lizards came holding identical weapons, and they kept firing at the masters in volley, with two of them firing at them while the other one reloaded, and then they repeated. Some blows came very close to hitting them, and they did caused some damage to the structures around them.

And, as if that was not enough, the other lizards, the ones who were not carrying the miniature cannons, were all over the warriors, trying to hit them with their weapons and with their "spinning lizard ball of prickling". This certainly made things a bit difficult to the kung fu warriors to keep up with the onslaught that the lizards were suddenly showing.

"Ugh!" Mantis said, as he had to dodge both a metal ball and a blade in quick succession. "How are we suppose to fight when they keep shooting things at us!?"

He had said that right when he was right to Po's side, and the panda quickly had a plan.

"By shooting something back!" Po said and, before Mantis could voice any protests to what the panda just said, grabbed the small green, grabbed a hollowed out bamboo tube, stuffed the bug inside and got ready.

"Kung Fu Green Dart! Go!" Po said, as he took a huge breath and blew on the bamboo as hard as he possibly could. Mantis was fire from the bamboo at high speed, flying in direction to the lizards who had just finished reloading their cannon. While surprised for this, Mantis was, while still in midair, recover and get prepared to deliver the blow he knew that Po knew he could make.

Mantis hit one of them square on the face, sending him flying back several feet, and it resulted into the heavy weapon being drop to the ground by the other one.

Mantis then attacked the other lizard who had been helping hold the weapon, hitting points on both of his arms, causing them both to go limp nearly instantly, as the lizard screamed. Not out of pain, but out of shock that he could no longer feel his arms, which were both limp as noodles.

Mantis would have told him that this would only last for a couple hours, but he was more focused on the other guys with the hand cannons.

Fast as a green lightning, Mantis jumped into the other pair of lizards carrying the miniature cannons. Mantis, however, didn't focused on them, but on the weapon they were carrying. Those weapons were definitely not like Shen's cannons, finely crafted with quality metal and fancily decorated with a dragon theme. They were crude, seemed to have been made in a hurry and with clear points where they were very weak. Those were the points where Mantis aimed, hitting those areas while moving through the cannon as great speed, causing it to fall apart in the seams and from the scaly hands of the lizards.

The other pair of lizards didn't had time to react as Mantis then jumped into their weapon and did the exact same thing.

With the handheld cannons taken care off, the battle once more shifted to the side of the kung fu masters, and from there it was pretty easy.

Po and the Five dealt with the criminals pretty fast, and soon they were all scatter around like broken dolls, all of them groaning and trying to get up, with the coins and valuables they were trying to loot left on the ground practically untouched.

"And that's how we do it." Po said proudly, before turning to his friends and congratulating all of them on the good work, with Monkey giving his pal a high-five. Now they could work on making sure that those guys would be sent to prison to pay for the crime that they had just tried to commit.

In this, Po looked over and saw that one of the bandits was trying to escape. He was wearing an eyepatch, and he was their leader. Po knew it because, during the while fight, he was the one who barked orders to the other lizards, telling them what to do to fight the kung fu masters, and also constantly reminding them not to lose their loot. Curiously, that guy barking orders was the only one who didn't tried to engage in battle in any way... And now he was trying to run for it, carrying whatever he could on his arms.

Well, not on the Dragon Warrior's watch!

Po soon used his great speed to rush to the lizard. He grabbed him by the tail and flipped him over, making him fall to the ground and drop his entire loot while in the air, and Po skillfully grabbed it all in one arm while the other one held the lizard's tail, before letting him go as he was now laying flat on the ground.

Po took a time to take a look into the objects that the lizard stole, which included a statuette of pearly-white jade, a bunch of jewelry that probably belonged to some lady, and a finally decorated knife that looked more like a dagger.

"Cool knife." Po said, as he grabbed the blade and looked at it on his hand, while some people, who had been hiding in there, came out and they were already applauding the Dragon Warrior. Po, of course, received their applause and he then turned his attention back to the lizard, who was groaning as he got up.

"And you..." Po said, ready to tell the lizard that he was going to jail now. However, the lizard saw the panda coming in his direction, pointing the blade to him, and his eyes widened in panic.

"NO!" The lizard said scrambling back. "Please, don't kill me!"

Po was caught off guard.

"What?"

"Please!" The lizard said once more, pleading. "I'll leave and never come back! It was not even my idea to come in the first place! Please, spare my life, please!"

"Wha..." Po said, looking at him. "W-what are you talking about? I'm not going to kill you!"

"You're not?" Someone asked, and Po turned to look at who was talking, and it was a sheep. "Why not? He attacked us and tried to steal our things! And he broke my house! He deserves to pay!"

"Well... I think you're right." Po said, causing the bandit to start pleading for him life again. "But, I'm not going to kill him for it! I'm no killer!"

This caused both the sheep and the bandit to look at him with surprise.

"What do you mean you're no killer?" The bandit said, causing Po to look his way. "You killed Tai Lung, didn't you?"

Po was in shock as he heard the bandit say that.

"I heard the story. You beat him up and then exploded him with the Wuxi Finger Hold when he was pleading for his life. You even smiled when you did it!"

"W-what? No! I didn't..." Po said, but he paused and looked at the lizard, who was looking at him with fear, his eyes still on the blade Po was holding on his hand. "I-I didn't... I didn't meant to... I'm not a..."

Po seemed to be having a crisis, and the lizard looked at him while backing away as quickly as he could. That was when his hand touched something has he was backing away.

The one handheld cannon they still had left. Fully loaded and with the torch that lighted it right by the side.

Not wasting this chance, the lizard took the heavy weapon and the torch and lighted the fuse while pointing it at the panda.

"Po!" Tigress cried out, rushing to him alongside Viper, but the fuse was already lit, and the weapon fired.

The iron ball flew out of the weapon and hit Po right on the stomach, sending him flying back and slamming into his two friends and making them crash into one of the houses.

With this chance, the bandits all managed to escape by attacking the remaining three masters, who were surprise by this.

They were soon on their feet, with the leader barking orders at them while carrying the cannon, and the lizards all managed to escape, as none of the townsfolk dared to stand on their way when they had weapons and that thing.

And they still managed to carry some money and valuables with them.

Meanwhile, the masters recovered, with Po being help out of the house by Tigress and Viper. The panda still looked pretty winded, and everyone was pretty worried with him for having been hit square on by that thing.

Well, almost everyone.

"Why didn't you stopped them!?" The sheep yelled at the panda. "You basically let them escape! And they took my money! Those were my savings!"

Po said nothing in return, as he was still recovering his breath. The sheep scoffed.

"Some hero..." The sheep said, as he made his way out of there to see if any of his possessions was still salvageable. All the while, Po looked at his departing form.

"Well, he does has kind of a point..." Someone whispered.

"Did he really let the bandits get away?"

"Well, not on purpose, but still..."

Po looked around as he heard those whispers, and then he looked down. His friends were all around him, checking to see if he was okay, but Po could hardly hear them over the whispering, as well as of the words that the eye-patch lizard said...

Chapter Text

Sparrow One flew right, and his brother, Sparrow Two, flew left. They flew amidst the many training dummies, hitting them with their legs as they flew right into them as missiles, causing them to spin around before they resumed flying. All the while, they kept a level of synchronicity that would lead anyone to think that they had done it a thousand times already. They described perfect circles in the air as they flew among the dummies as if they were flying between an army of enemies, delivering strikes with their small legs and beaks with surprising force for animals their size.

Above them, two other animals were training on the bladed swinging rings. Scorpion was showing that he had some inclination towards acrobatics, as he jumped in between the rings while holding on to them with his pinchers and with his tail. Toad was with him, and he was much less flashy than the trapeze-like movements of the venomous invertebrate, as he simply jumped in between the rings while following Scorpion, all the while they traded tail and tongue blows, having an acrobatic battle while jumping in between the rings. However, in no moment did Scorpion actually tried to sting the amphibian, as he only ever tried to hit with the blunt end of his tail.

As they did this, Doe was on the Fiery Pit, and she was moving her legs from side to side, as she avoided each eruption of flame coming from below. Her ears flicked as she caught in the subtle sounds of the mechanism responsible for those fire burst clicking, allowing her to move her body out of harm's way. And it was not only stepping aside. She was doing complex movements like the kung fu stances and blows that she learned from her teacher, putting each one of them to use as she avoided the fire, as if she was actually performing those moves while avoiding blows coming from an actual adversary. She even got time to make some handstands and complex jumps as she stepped out of the fire's way, showing that she had a real nimble and gracious style.

Lastly, Gator was right at the beginning of the obstacle course, moving the best he could. He was not the most coordinate of guys when it came to being on land. Actually, he was a bit clumsy. He certainly found it hard to keep up with the moving parts under his feet, as his short legs could not give him a wide array of movement. Luckily, he made up for it with immediate reaction time. He was able to duck out of the way nearly immediately when a great weight was swinging his way with the spiked side. When the blunt side came, he could easily push it back with a swift swing of his tail. His tail whip was quite powerful, and their teacher often said that, with enough practice, he could it one of his signature moves, just like Master Croc did before him. All he needed was to keep training.

All of them just needed to keep training and they would become even better.

However, since they were only practicing for only one year, they were bond to make mistakes at some point.

This time, the mistake was on Scorpions part, as he made a desperate move to avoid Toad's tongue, which nearly hit him square on the face. This caused the invertebrate to react by instinct. His tail moved, the stinger ready to strike. However, on that split second, Scorpion realized what he was about to do and jumped back. This caused him to fall out of the swinging rings and down into the training dummies.

He landed right on Sparrow Two's back, causing them both to cry in surprise as they fell and got hit by the spinning tail of a dummy. Sparrow One saw what happened to his twin, and allowed it to distract him. This ended up with him also being hit and swung away by the arm of another dummy.

As a result Sparrow One was sent to one side of the training course, while Sparrow Two and Scorpion were sent to another. Sparrow Two and Scorpion hit Gator on the back of the head, causing him to look back asking "what" and causing him to be hit by one of the swinging weights (luckily, by a side without any spikes), and land back heavily, with the two smaller animals still on his head. Meanwhile, Sparrow One was sent to the middle of the Fiery Pit, and he was about to be blasted by one of the fire burst, when Doe, hearing the mechanism under him, quickly jumped and scooped him out of the way seconds before the pillar of fire burst upwards.

All the while, Toad watched from his spot into one of the swinging rings, with a calm, stony and indifferent expression, before letting out a single croak.

"Okay, that could have gone better." Doe said, as she walked to her friend with Sparrow One on her arms. Toad jumped down from the rings and landed on the ground, while Gator got up from it with Sparrow Two and Scorpion still on his head.

"Yeah, we did it worse before, I suppose." Sparrow Two said.

"Anyone knows who did what wrong this time?" Gator asked, and Scorpion looked down, seeming ashamed of himself.

"Master, what do you think?" Doe said, expecting an answer from the person who had been watching them train. However, she got none.

"Master?"

Soon, everyone was looking in direction to their teacher. Po was still standing there, with the staff on his hand and standing as if he was overseeing everything. However, he didn't seemed like he was watching pretty much anything, as he had his eyes on the ground and looked to be in deep thought.

"Master Po?"

Once more, the panda didn't answered, and this caused the six present animals to become increasingly worried.

"Master?" Doe said, as she approached, and placed a hand on Po's shoulder. This caused the panda to jump back a little, startled.

"Master?" Doe said, as she saw Po's reaction. "Is everything alright?"

Po looked at her for a few moments, and then at the rest of his students, all of which looked back at him with worried expressions.

"I... Uhhh, yes... Yes!" Po said, recomposing himself and getting on his formal teacher pose. Which was a lot similar to his "dramatic hero pose". "Everything is alright with your technique, guys. You all are doing amazing on your training. It is clearly showing results."

"Thank you, Master." Gator said happily, as his long scaly tail wagged behind him, just as the one of a dog would. The rest of Po's students, however, continued to look at the panda with worry.

"Master Po?" Swallow Two asked him. "Is something wrong?" He was asking out of worry, and Po looked at him before saying that it was "everything fine, everything peachy, everything bodaciously awesome like usual for the great Dragon Warrior". However, he may have forced it too much, because his students clearly saw through him.

"Is this about the bandits who got away today?" Doe asked. As always, she was the smarter and most perceptive of all of six of Po's students. Po looked at her for a moment, and he thought of maybe denying it, but he was pretty sure that this would be a bit insulting to those animals who learned under him. By now they knew him for long enough to know when he was trying to diverge attention from a problem.

Po simply sighed and looked down. His silence spoke all they needed to know. Which was good, because the panda was pretty sure that talking would only make him make a fool of himself and make him feel even worse.

"Hey, don't worry about it, master." Scorpion said, looking up at the panda. "The Five are looking for the bandits like you told them to. I'm sure they will find them and bring them back with whatever they have taken."

"They wouldn't have to if I didn't had let them escape in the first place." Po said, more to himself than to his students. They shared looks among themselves, and they all knew that they needed to say something to their master.

Gator beat them all to it.

"Hey, it's okay to make mistakes, Master." The big scaly young man did. "I mean, we just made a pretty big one during training."

"Wait, you did?" Po said, looking at him in surprise. Man, he must have really been distracted if he didn't saw that.

"Yeah, and that's alright." Gator said, "Because you always tell us that making mistakes is how we learn and become even better."

"Yeah... I did said that." Po said, being able to smile a little bit, and so did the others.

However, that was when Gator continued to talk.

"And you prove it yourself by always making mistakes!" The reptile said, still smiling. "Like on that time last week when you slipped on the waxed floor and broke the Urn of Whispering Warriors for the fourth time since you moved into the Jade Palace. Or before that when you thought that the Bowl of Sacred Meditation was a new cooking pan and you cooked sticky rice balls on it. Or the time before that when you spilled tea on the lap of the nobleman who came from the Forbidden City to see how the Jade palace looked after being rebuilt..."

He continued, not noticing that Po's smile had disappeared at his talking.

"It is really inspirational for us. After all, if our teacher, the great Dragon Warrior, can make such dumb mistakes on a regular basis, then it is okay for us to make one or two while we are still learning, right?" He said, turning to his friends. "Right?"

He failed to notice how Sparrows were shaking their heads in unison, how Scorpion was covering his mouth with his pinchers, and how Doe had face-palmed while he continued to talk. Toad just croaked without showing any emotion.

As for Po... well, he looked pretty much as one would expect after this.

"Yeah... I guess..." Po said, and everyone looked his way.

"Master..." Doe said, but Po didn't gave her the chance to speak, for he then said:

"You know, I think that is enough training for now. You guys can do whatever you want until dinner. I'll just... go take a walk."

With this, Po left the training hall, leaving all of them looking at his departing form.

"Guys, I think Master Po is feeling down..." Gator said, and then all of the five others looked his way with varying expressions.

Po did went for a walk.

And he could not stop thinking of what happened today. Of how he lost his focus and allowed for a group of bandits to escape with the possessions of some of the residents of the valley.

"Some hero." Had said the sheep, who seemed pretty beamed for losing his stuff. Po thought of going to apologize to him and offer to buy him new stuff to replace the one lost, and maybe to give him some money for his savings. But he was talked out of it by his friends, who told him "not to talk to that jerk".

The words of the sheep still got to Po. As did the words whispered by the rest of the villagers who had witnessed his failure.

All because the leader of the bandits had brought up how he had... how he had...

"Did you guys hear?" Said voice, which caused Po to pause and listen.

"What, about how the Dragon Warrior let those bandits escape?"

"Yeah, that."

"I heard about it, man, can you believe it? You would think a guy who saved China a few times already would have been able to deal with a bunch of lizards."

"Man, that must be so embarrassing to him."

"I heard that some people lost some pretty expensive valuables because of his screw up."

"Think he is losing his touch? I mean, it has been a few years since he actually went on an adventure to save the world. Maybe he is slacking."

"I don't think the Dragon Warrior would slack."

"Well, maybe a decent Dragon Warrior would not slack."

The servants, who completely failed to notice Po's presence due to being using a different stone path than his, laughed at this. Unaware that the people they were talking about was hearing every word that they were saying.

"Well, we can only hope he will get back in shape soon. It would be really bad if he made some big screw up on something important."

"You mean, like destroying a whole village by accident while trying to save it? Think the universe would take back his Dragon Warrior status if he screwed up that bad?"

"I'm pretty sure it would. It would have been better if he had stayed just a cook if he was going to do something that dumb."

"Hey, guys, come on, give him a break." Said one of the servants. "Let's not forget that he already saved the Valley and China a lot of times since he became the Dragon Warrior. And that he got rid of Tai Lung for us!"

The other two agreed with him.

"Yeah, I'm glad that the Master Po murdered that criminal."

"Yeah, he certainly got his hands dirty to none of us needed to."

"Is it true that he laughed while he killed him?"

As the four of them left, Po remained where he was for a few moments. Then, he continued his way.

Now he had even more on his mind after hearing what they said.

If the servants of the Jade Palace are thinking that of me... Po wondered to himself. What is the rest of the Valley thinking?

Po had been particularly shake by the mentions of the universe taking back his Dragon Warrior title.

Was that even possible? Something like that could happen if the universe reconsidered and decided that he was not up to the challenge?

That thought filled Po with dread. The thought that the universe could take back what it gave to him, and that he would end up back at square zero...

Back when everyone looked at him and only saw a loser...

Po shook his head, groaning. Man, why did those things still happened? He was the Dragon Warrior! He proved it more than enough times! He defeated Kai and everything! Why did he sometimes still felt like the clumsy friendless panda he was before Oogway pointed at him when he landed right in the middle of the arena?

He should be way past this by now!

With a sigh, the panda knew what he was suppose to do.

He wondered if Shifu was done with his evening meditation...

Soon, the panda had made his way to the place where Shifu was meditating. It still baffled Po how many meditation places the Jade Palace had, most of it carved into caves hidden just alongside the mountain.

Po himself has lived there for nearly a decade and he still hadn't found all of them. And he still asked himself how there could be so many. Oogway must have been one busy turtle when he first built the Jade Palace.

Shifu was on his favored spot, with Oogway's staff on his tiny hands and in a meditating position as he stood before a great wall with a mighty dragon carved into it. Water fell from two small waterfalls from the sides of the wall, dripping in the stones and gently flowing around the stone where Shifu was standing. It helped with the atmosphere of peace and quiet of that cave, and helped anyone in there of find peace.

As Shifu clearly was.

And, as usual, Po was in there to put an end to his peace.

"Hello, Dragon Warrior." Po said, before the panda could even say a word to him. Po was amazed that Shifu could notice his presence when he did not made a sound. To be honest, Shifu knew that Po was in there because this was the most peaceful he had felt in several weeks, and that was usually when Po appeared to bother him with something.

"So, what is the reason for you to interrupt my meditation today?" the smaller master asked the panda, as he had pretty much grown used to Po's interruptions over the course of the years they had been a part of each other's lives.

Po was a bit awkward, what was not that unusual when the panda had something bothering him for real.

"Oh... Uhhh, yeah. The... reason..." Po said, looking at the small master. "The reason why I wanted to talk to you. Yeah... that. You see. The reason is... well, of course there is a reason. I mean, there would not be without a reason, there would? If course I have a reason. And the reason is that... well, I am the teacher now and everything, but you are still the master... I mean, technically speaking. You are still the guy in here to who we come to talk when something happens and... well, let's be honest, I kind of still need the help."

Po admitted it pretty readily, and this caused the small master to raise an eyebrow at him.

"So, there reason I'm here today is...well, you see. Things happen and sometimes we need to talk to the big guy, and you are the big buy on the Jade Palace. So, when a thing happens and you need to talk to the big guy, you gotta talk to him. That's how it is. And this brings me to-"

"It's about how those bandits escaped after you dropped your guard, ain't it?" Shifu deadpanned, as he was starting to get tired of Po's rambling. The Dragon Warrior still talked way too much sometimes.

Po looked at the red panda for a while.

"Oh... so, you knew that?"

"I heard about it." Shifu said simply.

"From... the universe?"

"From a sheep who came in here to complain about how you let lizard bandits escape with his life savings and how he wanted the Jade Palace to reimburse him."

"Oh... right, of course." Po said, feeling like a goof for jumping right into the exoteric conclusions.

"If you already knew, why you asked why I came?"

"To see if you'd give me a direct answer or if you would try and make up some kind of excuse." Shifu said, "I have come to find your excuses to be quite amusing." The small master had a smirk on his lips as he said that to the panda. One that Po could almost chalk up as mean, but that he knew deep down that was not mean-spirited in any way. He and Shifu respected each other too much for that.

So, now that the cards were on the table, Po could open up to Shifu, like he already did before.

He opened up to him how it was frustrating to let himself be distracted by what the leader of the bandits did and lower his guard enough that they were able to blast him and escape with the possessions and money of some of the villagers.

"It shouldn't happen, you know?" Po said as he rambled. "I mean, I'm the Dragon Warrior! Come on! I defeated a whole army of boats armed with cannons! I defeated an army of jombies with my own army of fighting pandas! I defeated Tai Lung... I should not have been beaten down to a bunch of cheap criminals! How could this happen?"

Shifu looked at the panda for a few moments.

"Because you are Po." He said simply, and the panda looked at him.

"Huh?"

"You are Po." Shifu said to him, "You are a person who makes mistakes. Like everyone else."

Po looked at Shifu, waiting for him to add a "but" in there. However, Shifu was not adding the "but".

"But... but I'm the Dragon Warrior! I have been for almost ten years now! I should be above making mistakes like that!"

"But you are clearly not." Shifu said, as he turned his back on Po, calmly going back to his spot on the rock where he had been training.

"But how so!?" Po was growing a bit loud now, what prompted Shifu to tell him not to be so loud like that, as he was still trying to meditate.

" Master, I am the Dragon Warrior." Po said to the small master. "I should not make mistakes like that of today. Or like that sticky rice situation with the Sacred Meditation Bowl, or with breaking the urn again, or that thing with the clothes of the nobleman, which I had to clean myself after." Po added the last part a little under his breath, as he remembered how he had to spend a while rubbing those fine garments with his hands as delicately as he could to get the stains out without damaging the fine silk.

"How come I still make stupid things like that?" Po said to the small master, looking at him for answers. Shifu calmly made the final pose of his meditation session, before turning to look at Po and saying simply:

"Because you are not perfect, Po."

The panda looked at the small master for a few moments.

"But, shouldn't I be?"

"Oh, definitely not." Shifu said to the panda, who looked back at him.

"Master, sorry to say that, but you've been better at this offering support stuff." Po said, and then Shifu spoke to the panda:

"Po, being perfect is impossible." Shifu said to the panda. "People can spend their entire lives trying to be perfect, and come as close to it as possible, but no one can truly be perfect. We all have flaws and limitations. In your case, those flaws reflect as difficulty to pay attention and immaturity, in most cases. I can name a few others, but I don't want to make you feel bad."

Shifu was saying all of that very casually, while Po continued to look at him. The expression on the panda made it obvious that he was already feeling bad with what Shifu was telling him. This prompted the master to just tackle the big issue in there.

"Po." Shifu said, and then he pointed with his staff. "Look at this."

Po did, and he looked at the effigy of the dragon sculpted into the wall of the cave.

"It looks good, I guess." Po said, "Fearsome, awesome, all kinds of... 'somes'."

"And, what about this, over here?" Shifu asked, pointing specifically for something on the engraved image. To the yin-yang sphere that was set in between the clawed hands of the dragon.

"Oh, that?" Po asked, looking at it. "That's a yin-yang." He was said that the same way a child would say.

"And what do you understand by yin-yang, Dragon Warrior?" Shifu asked his student, and Po said:

"Well, it is two different things in the universe. Like, light and dark, good and evil, hot and cold, awesome and lame. You know, this kind of thing." Po said, showing that he was no ignorant on the matter. However, his understanding of it was superficial, and this meant that Shifu would have to be the one to fill him in.

"It also represents balance." Shifu said to the panda. "It represents how two opposite things complete and balance each other. How they create a harmony that is essential for everything in the universe to work. A harmony without which the world would suffer. As well as the people."

Po looked at Shifu as the small master explained this to him. "And this does not only refers to the great things in the universe, but the things inside each individual. Including me and you."

"Ohhhh." Po said, in amazement, and the small master continued:

"Yin represents the negative parts, like the darkness and the evil. Yang, on it's end, represents the positive parts, like light and good."

"Right, got it." Po said, "Yang is good, Yin is bad."

"Wrong." Shifu said immediately. "Yin and Yang are both good. And they are both bad."

Po blinked, looking at the small master.

"Okay, you lost me."

"It is all about balance, Po." Shifu said, "Yin and Yang are two parts of a whole. They are two parts that complete each other, and if one of them was absent, or even stronger than the other, then the balance is lost. Harmony is lost. And without harmony, well, there can only be problem."

"So, in order for balance to be maintained, it is important for the positive and negative forces to be balanced." Shifu continued, "There need to be equal amounts of light and darkness in the world. Equal amounts of good and evil. And equal amounts of positivity and negativity."

"Wait." Po said, trying to keep up with what Shifu was telling him. "So, are you telling me that too much good is a bad thing? How does that makes sense?"

Shifu could understand that Po was having trouble to keep up. Firstly, because it was not a simple concept. Second, because he was Po.

"Let me use an example." Shifu said, "Serenity is an important quality, as it means peace and non-aggression."

"That is good." Po said, and Shifu continued:

"But, imagine a person who is so serene, so calm and collected that they won't even react to evil acts occurring right before them." Shifu explained to Po. "That would be bad, wouldn't it?"

Po had to admit that it would be.

"So, even if a person has serenity, they would need... un-serenity so they would not just stand there and let bad things happen?" Po rationalized, and Shifu nodded at him.

"Yes, Po, that's correct." Shifu said to the panda. "Both serenity and its opposite need to be present in an individual for their chi to be balanced. For them to be in true internal harmony and be able to work properly as part of the universe. Those two things are essential, like all opposites. This is why Yin and Yang both have seeds of each other inside themselves." Shifu pointed at the dark and light spheres that the light and dark parts of the symbol had. "This means that they can never exist fully without the presence of the other. That with their absence, the harmony would be forever lost. Too much positivity will lead to unbalance and disharmony, just as much as too much negativity would."

Po could only looking at the small master.

"So... I should not be too good?" Po asked, "What, you mean I should try being a little bad and that would help me improve my game? Like, I should help Monkey with his pranks or maybe throw mud on a person on the street?"

"Po, what I'm trying to say is..." Shifu said to the panda, "You have flaws, just like you have qualities."

"Yes, you are immature and you don't focus. But you also have a kind heart and a honest nature. Those qualities balance your flaws, and they help you achieve harmony. This, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons why you are such an amazing warrior, and such a natural talent in kung fu." Shifu said to his student, and Po reflected on it.

"Everyone has flaws, negative aspects of their personality and of their hearts. Be it impatience, self-doubt, lack of attention, or, in Monkey's case, a penchant for juvenile pranks. They are important parts of who they are, just like their righteousness, bravery, generosity and integrity. Rejecting those negative parts, or trying to get rid of them, would eventually cause you to become unbalanced, and then bad things would happen."

"So, don't reject those bad parts of yourself." Shifu said to the panda. "Try and accepting them. See how they help make you the person you are. Conquer yourself by facing your doubts and fears and growing. Accept all parts of yourself, even the ones you are not entirely proud of. This is what makes a great kung fu master, like the one that you already are."

Po reflected on what Shifu just told him, and he couldn't help but reflect deeply on this. He never knew that the symbol of yin and yang had such a deep meaning. It was mind-boggling...

Po was about to ask Shifu another question, but he found out that Shifu was gone by the time he looked up. He looked to the sides and to everywhere else, but the small master was nowhere to be see.

Man, he's been doing that a lot lately. Po thought. I wonder if it is because he wants to avoid me because I always interrupt him...

As Shifu was gone, leaving Po with his latest lesson to reflect on and ponder, Po looked back at the effigy of the dragon. At the yin-yang symbol the dragon hand between its hands.

Spiritual balance. Everyone had flaws and qualities.

From what Shifu explained, Po understood that this meant that every good person in the world had at least one evil part inside of them. Right?

So, in that case, the evil people could also have a little bit of good inside of them. Right? That made sense...

And, in that case, this meant that Tai Lung...

As Po was busy making reflections, a figure was approaching him from the darkness of the cave. The figure was more silent than Po himself could ever hope to be. Silent enough that Shifu himself, with his gigantic ears and his decades of kung fu training, was not able to notice their presence at all.

So, it was no surprise that Po could not detect the presence of the figure either. They slowly approached the panda, their body tensing as they looked at the panda. How they wanted to just jump on him... but they couldn't. It was not part of the plan.

Instead, they were just going to...

"Hey, Po!"

The sudden voice made the figure retreat into the shadows reflexively at the same time it made Po turn around to see two familiar forms coming to him.

"Monkey!" Po said, "Crane!"

"Hey, Po." Monkey said as he and the avian both approached the panda. "We've been looking for you. Doe and the others said you ended the training session earlier because you were not feeling okay."

"Po..." Crane said, as he approached the panda. "Are you still upset about...?"

"So, you guys caught the bandits?" Po asked before the avian could finish the question. "Did you got back the things they stole?"

Monkey and Crane both shook their heads.

"They were too much ahead of us." Monkey said to the panda. "We followed their track for a while, but we lost it after they crossed the Valley's boundary and into the rocky fields that lead to the Wusuo Mountains."

"They could either have gone to the mountains, to the long fields on the West or to the nearest village up North. We had no way of knowing where they went." Crane said to the panda. "I even tried to fly high and see if I could find any trait of them, but it is as if they vanished. Sorry, Po."

The panda looked down, saying to his friends it was okay. However, the expression on his face made it seem that it was not okay. It made the two of his friends worried.

"Hey, don't worry, pal." Monkey said, comforting the panda. "If they ever come back, we will get them for sure. I mean, not that they would be crazy enough to come back, of course. No one would dare to try and go against us after they just escaped by pure dumb luck."

"Yeah." Crane said to the panda, placing a wing on his shoulder. "Say, what about we all go have dinner. You can make us something nice for tonight."

With this, the two of them were taking the panda away from the cave and back into the palace. All the while the figure continued to watch from the shadows of the cave as they departed, their golden eyes glowing in dark, as they decided to wait for another occasion in which the panda was alone to approach him...

"We will be celebrating tonight, my friends!" The leader of the reptiles said as the rest of his men followed him. "We ended up with less than expected, but we still got a lot!"

"Yeah, this statute in here is certainly worth some pretty yuan." One of them said, and the others agreed. They were still moving as fast as they could, as they wanted to get as far from the Valley of Peace and from the kung fu masters of that place as they could before they eventually found them.

They didn't wanted to test their luck after they managed to even escape after being nearly caught.

However, the fact that they managed to escape in the first place certainly did something for their self-stem.

"I still can't believe you did it, boss!" Said another one of the spiky lizards, "You actually managed to outsmart the Dragon Warrior himself! You are so cool!"

"Well, I don't want to brag." The leader of the lizards said, "I mean, he is a panda, after all. You guys know from the stories how easy to trick they are. But, I have to recognize that it was pretty clever of me to have the quickness of thinking to know what to say to throw him off balance."

The boss was certainly enjoying it very much, as all of his followers thought he was great after he had pulled that one out, even when he himself was not sure how he managed to. Can you blame a guy for milking the situation and enjoying the attention and admiration of his men while he could?

"This proves that those kung fu warriors are not all that they sell themselves to be." The lizard said as he climbed on a few rocks. "They can be outsmarted by great guys like myself!"

He was bragging to his men while making a dramatic pose that would make Po himself proud. He completely failed to notice the figure moving above him, as the rocks he chose to stand on stayed right on the bottom of a small cliff.

"Yes, you can outsmart those good guys." He continued to brag to them. "All you need is wits, resolve of mind, and an unshakable and fearless temperament. Like mine!"

Just as he finished saying those words, the figure on top of the cliff jumped, landing on his feet right by the side of the lizard, who screamed like a little girl and scrambled to his men, who were startled as well, trying to figure out where the figure came from.

The Komodo, on his end, simply flicked his tongue as he stood there, with all of the smaller lizards looking his way, as well as at the peacock he was holding by the neck and that, for a terrifying moment, they thought was dead. However, they noticed the peacock was still breathing, and he only seemed to be limp on the scaly hand of his captor.

For a long moment, they all looked at the Komodo, who then said:

"I need to arrive at the Musuo Mountains. Would any of you gentlemen be kind enough to point the direction?"

The lizards looked at each other and then at the Komodo.

"Uhhh, is that way, sir." Said one of them, pointing at the direction.

"Wait, I think he is blind." Said another one of them, and that was when the rest of the lizards noticed the milky eyes of the bigger lizard. However, the Komodo simply thanked them for the information, and he started to walk on the direction the other lizard pointed.

"What's with the peacock?" One of them asked the Komodo, and the taller lizard said:

"None of your business. Now get out of my way, I have something of the most vital importance to do and I cannot waste my time on a bunch of worthless losers."

"Hey!" The boss of the lizards said, "Be careful with who you call losers! Just today we managed to defeat the Dragon Warrior!"

This caused the Komodo to stop dead on his tracks.

"Really?" The bigger lizard asked, without turning around. "You have defeated the Dragon Warrior?"

"Hell yeah we did!" The lizard said to the Komodo.

"Have you ended his life?" The Komodo said, sounding hopeful. After all, it would be much more convenient to him if the panda was dead. However, the leader admitted that they did not.

"But I blasted him with a mini cannon!" The leader said, "I managed to distract him with my words and blast him with it while he lost is focus! We managed to escape thanks to this, and we even got some loot to boot!"

All of the lizards agree with that, all of them saying how great their boss was. The Komodo now had turned to face the smaller lizard, with a smirk on his face.

"Well, that is still pretty impressive." The Komodo said, walked to the smaller lizard. "You know, I am doing a certain thing that might call the attention of the Dragon Warrior. I was planning on dealing with him if he came after me, but I just had another idea."

He stopped right before the smaller lizard.

"Perhaps you could deal with him for me." He said, "You could go back there and deal with him for me. I mean, you managed to outsmart him once, you surely can do it again, right? And this time, I want you to only stop after his heart has stopped beating."

The boss looked at him, and then he looked at the rest of his men, all of them suddenly weary of the Komodo.

"Yeahhhh, right..." He said, turning to look at the Komodo. "Look, is not as if I'm afraid of going back, or anything, but I kind of prefer not to push my luck." He was looking at the face of the blind Komodo, and so he didn't noticed how the hand of the bigger lizard started faintly glowing purple.

"So, I'm not going to risk having me and my men arrested by going back there. So, if you really want the panda dead so much, I guess you can hire- AHHH!" The voice of the boss was suddenly cut when the Komodo's hand shot forward and grabbed his neck. A burst of purple light came from his hand as it grasped on the smaller lizard, and it made all of the other criminals jump back as they watched the scene unfolding before them.

After a few seconds, the Komodo let go of the smaller lizard, letting him fall to the ground.

The smaller lizard screamed, gasped and writhed in the ground as the purple light continued to shine on his neck, and spread across the rest of his body. His eyes turned purple as he continued to scream and cry. Soon, however, those cries were turning into hisses and huffing, and even into growling and snarling.

The lizards all watched in horror as they saw what was happening to their boss. And they had even more horror on their faces as they saw that the Komodo now was focusing all of his attention on them, his hand once more glowing purple.

"You are losers. All of you." Jiao Din said to them, smirking cruelly as he did. "But, you can still be of some use to me."

More flashes of purple illuminated the night, followed by screams that were soon turning into bestial roars...

Chapter Text

Dinner was not usually that quiet. Usually Po had a lot to say to everyone, or a few commentaries to make, or even some new idea that he had recently and wanted to share with everyone (what usually turned out to be something completely "out there"). This time, however, Po was eerily quiet.

Even when Monkey and Mantis started making jokes and when Gator started asking dumb questions like he usually did, Po was still silent, eating the noodles he cooked for his friends and students and himself, as he looked down at his bowl, seeming to be in deep thought about something.

Po was acting so unlike he normally did that everyone on the table got worried, and many of them tried talking to the panda, but Po seemed like he wasn't much in a talking mood today. Dinner ended awkwardly before they all retreated to their sleeping quarters.

Po would usually take time to read some of his favorite scrolls or to play with his action figures a little bit. He had new ones that he made on the image of his new students. However, this time he didn't actually felt like doing any of that. He just laid on his bed and rested.

Some of the others were worried that Po was so quiet and tried to talk to him through the paper screens separating their bedrooms. However, the panda's answers were quick and polite, and he eventually told the guys that he just wanted to sleep a bit.

This was what it took for everyone to decide that it was better to let Po be. Including Viper, who was just about to go on his bedroom and talk to him, but was convinced not to by Crane, who placed a wing on her back and shook his beak to her, telling her silently to just let it be. The serpent was down-crested as she made her way to her own sleeping quarters, before curling on a pile of coils and going to sleep.

Po, on his end, took unusually long to go to sleep, as he tossed and turned on his bed, sometimes laying on his side, sometimes on his back looking at the ceiling, sometimes on his chest with his face on his pillow.

Eventually, he finally caught on to sleep. However, even then, he continued tossing and turning...

"Don't worry, everyone!" Po said, as he arrived on the center of the village, wearing his complete Dragon Warrior outfit and carrying Oogway's staff on his hand. "The Dragon Warrior has arrived to save the day!"

He expected everyone to be happy for seeing him and to cheer that he was in there. However, that was not what happened.

"Dragon Warrior? You?" One bunny said, looking at the panda. "Pff! Yeah, right!"

Po blinked, looking at the bunny.

"Wait, what?"

"Dude, you are a screw up!" Said a pig standing next to the bunny. "A screw up cannot be the Dragon Warrior! You are too dumb to have a title so important."

As he said that, everyone around Po started agreeing.

"He makes mistakes all the time!"

"He is such an idiot!"

"If he was smarter, maybe."

"He has had this title for how many years now? He has learned nothing!"

"He is a joke!"

"He doesn't deserve to be the Dragon Warrior."

"W-wait..." Po said, looking at everyone, "G-guys... w-why are you all...? Hey!"

Po said, as the staff suddenly flew out of his hand, flying off into the distance and disappearing.

"He is not a warrior."

"Was he ever?"

As they continued to say those things, Po felt a thug on his neck. His golden cape was being pulled, and it eventually snapped off his neck and flopped to the ground, turned into some old and dirty rag.

"He is supposed to be everyone's protector?"

"Now that's a laugh!"

"He couldn't even serve tables right when he was just a waiter!"

Po looked around, seeing how everyone seemed to become more and more hostile towards him. The hat he was wearing turned into a basket, flopping over his eyes before it fell from his head and into the ground. Po looked down, and he saw that his fancy shirt was unweaving itself, turning into strings by his side and leaving him now only wearing his tattered shorts.

"Can you believe Oogway made him the Dragon Warrior?"

"That turtle was completely senile!"

"He cannot be Dragon Warrior! He is a loser!"

"He has always been a loser!"

"He will always be a loser!"

"N-no..." Po said, looking around at everyone, "I-I..."

Then, Po felt a breeze in a place he was not supposed to. He looked down to find out his shorts had fallen off, and he was now naked.

Everyone laughed. They all laughed as they pointed at him, calling him a loser, an idiot and a disgrace. They were all laughing so hard that their voices resounded on Po's ears and reverberated through his core.

Po was unable to say or do anything other than uselessly try to cover himself and move back, trying in vain to escape their laughing and pointing. To escape their ridicule.

"Good thing you lost your title, loser!" One of them said, the bunny now had pointy horns in between his ears.

"It would be so embarrassing for someone like you to be our hero!" Said the pig to the panda, showing off how he now had razor-sharp teeth on his mouth, before continuing laughing like a demon as he pointed at the panda.

Everything had changed from the previous, golden color to a shade of purple, as Po looked around, as everyone looked like monsters and continued to laugh and mock him cruelly, calling him all kinds of names as they pointed his way.

He felt like running away. He felt like crying.

However, before he could:

"You know what else is embarrassing?" said a voice that sounded eerily familiar to the panda, causing him to stop on his tracks and slowly turn to look behind himself.

He nearly peed himself at what he saw.

The figure behind him was just a skeleton with pieces of grayish flesh and patches of fur attached to it. However, the eyes were still in there, and they were as golden as the first time that Po saw them, so there was no way he would mistake them both.

As well as the voice.

"It is embarrassing that I ended up losing my life to a pathetic little loser like this fat panda!" Tai Lung said as he pointed at Po with a bony finger. "Well, not too late to fix up something, right?"

"N-no..." Po said, too scared to move as Tai Lung's skeletal form walked to him. Opening his mouth and distending them like Viper said when she was really hungry during lunch.

"No... no... NOOOOOOOOO!" Po cried out as those unhinging jaws came over him, filling his vision as if he was being swallowed whole into a huge tunnel.

This tunnel continued, and eventually opened into a great pond, formed by a golden and blue yin-yang symbol.

Then, a figure came from the corner, a purple dragon that circled the pond, wrapping its long body around it, and causing the pond to change on the same ghastly purple color that formed its body. Then, the dragon turned to look at the viewer and lunged, it's jaws wide open.

Po gasped as he shot up from his bed. He was covered in sweat, and his fur was clinging uncomfortably to his body. The panda was in high alert after this dream, and he frantically looked to all sides as he recovered his breath, reminding himself of where he was and of what was currently happening.

The panda's breathing normalized. However, the dream he just had was still vivid on his mind. Every detail of it.

Po remained on his bed, sitting as he reflected on things, before he decided he didn't wanted to stay on bed. He knew he would not be able to get to sleep again. So, the panda instead got up and took a walk.

Leaving the sleeping quarters was no big deal. Po was much better at moving silently now than he was back when he was first on those same quarters. Stealth mode was still not his strongest mode, but he was able to walk out of the sleeping quarters while making minimal noise, and not waking up anyone who was in there. Not even Tigress, who was a surprisingly light sleeper.

Po made his way across the desert palace, and eventually made his way into the outside. The breath of the cold air should be enough to cleanse his thoughts and help him relax a bit. However, Po was still tense.

He was tense with everything that happened. He was tense with his dream, and with the events of today.

The way he lowered his guard and allowed himself to be knocked down and let the bandits escape with the loot. Man, that was a rookie mistake. The kind he should no longer make.

He had been a kung fu master for nearly ten years, he should no longer make mistakes like that!

Okay, Shifu told him that it was normal to make mistakes and have doubts, but still!

What if next time he screwed up something really big? Something really important? What if next time he ended up losing his game and allowed an entire village to be torched to the ground? What if he accidentally angered a powerful lord and started a war that would last for centuries? What if he was designated to protect the Emperor himself and ended up messing that up and allow him to be kidnapped, or even murdered by assassins?

If he made a mistake like that, it was most likely that people would want him to renounce his title of Dragon Warrior. Some could even say that he never should have been the Dragon Warrior on the first place, if he would make a mistake like that.

They would say that Oogway was the one who made a mistake by naming him the Dragon Warrior on the first place.

...

Had he made a mistake?

Was Po becoming the Dragon Warrior a mistake from Oogway's part? Or the Universe's?

Would the Universe realize its mistake if Po screwed up too hard? Like doing any of the things mentioned above?

Would that be enough to make the universe take back the title of Dragon Warrior and demote him back to the loser he was before?

A big, fat, goofy and clumsy panda who was so incompetent the only job he could find was being a waiter on his own father's restaurant?

A panda so stupid that he would never achieve to be anything on his life, and would spend all of his days messing up and being the butt of everyone's joke and the laughing stock of the Jade Palace?

So unpopular that he would have no friends, as no one would want to risk being around him and become the butt of other people's jokes as well? A panda who, while not being a complete outcast, was not the kind who had any people who would be his friend, and had to resort to spending most of his time alone sculpting action figures and playing with them all by himself, what would only add to his reputation of being an immature loser and making him even more friendless?

Po sighed, as he reflected on if that was even possible, and if it actually ended up happening.

I mean, it didn't seem likely, at least in Po's opinion, but the very idea made his stomach feel tight...

No, wait. That was probably hunger.

Was it hunger? Po thought it was. That was probably why he resorted to eating when he felt upset. Food had always been a thing that brought him joy, so it was no surprise it turned into a coping mechanism for when he was having a bad time.

Po made his way to a certain spot, all the while he continued to think of other things that have happened, and how they seemed like they reflected on his dream.

He still felt the heebie-jeebies when he remembered the skeletal leopard glaring at him with his golden eyes.

Tai Lung was a foe Po would never forget, for a variety of reasons.

In part, because he was the first foe he ever faced as the Dragon Warrior. And because Po had to eliminate him.

But... did Po really had to eliminate him? Was that really needed? Couldn't he have found another way to stop him that didn't involve skaddoshing him with the Wuxi Finger Hold?

Po didn't gave it much though for the first days after the event, but he eventually started to think about it. Like, a lot.

He didn't thought about it as often now, but it still popped on his mind from time to time. The scared look on Tai Lung's face... And Po himself was smirking.

The panda groaned, as the feeling on his stomach got stronger, and caused him to speed up his step to get to where he was supposed to go as fast as possible.

The Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom was still right where Po last saw it. However, it was no longer the only tree on that hill. A new peach tree grew by its side, born from a seed planted in there around the same time that Po became the Dragon Warrior. The two trees were very similar, but the younger tree had grown a bit bulkier than the other, and on a different style to its thicker branches.

Some wondered what this could mean for a while, as the peach tree remained the only tree on that hill for literal centuries, and now there was a second tree making it company. Some thought it could be a sign or maybe an omen of something to come. Others thought it were only two trees growing close to each other.

To Po, it meant twice as many peaches.

Those peaches were probably the sweeter that Po ever had, and they were so tender and juicy that biting in them felt delightful.

Man, Po loved those peaches!

All Po needed to do was give a kick and a punch on the trunk of each one of the trees and the peaches fell.

He made a considerable amount of peaches fall from both of the trees. Po picked a lot of them on his arms, and he started eating them one by one with big bites, moaning to himself as he felt the delightful juice dancing on his taste-buds. All his worries and doubts were forgotten, as the joy of eating and filling his stomach were able to erase all the strife that had been plaguing the panda's heart and mind.

Even the horrifying end of the nightmare he had was all but forgotten as he delivered himself to the joy of eating like only a panda could.

He would eat half of them and take the rest back home to share with everyone. This season's peaches were particularly good...

The panda was so busy delighting himself with the peaches that he failed to notice a figure coming up behind him.

This figure moved like a shadow behind the Dragon Warrior, each step being more silent than a snowflake landing on the ground, as the figure came from behind, closer and closer to their target, to the one they had been following for all night now, waiting for a chance like this one.

A chance to come closer and to get to the panda when no one else was around.

The figure tensed, claws unsheathing as the muscles tensed, as if getting ready to a fight. The figure stopped a few feet away from the panda, who was, quite literally, stuffing his mouth full of peach. The figure adopted a fighting pose, and then...

"Panda..." the figure said, and this caused Po to turn around to see who was it that was talking to him (he assumed to, since he was the only panda on that hill right now). As he did, his eyes widened, his arms went slack, allowing the peaches he was carrying to fall to the ground as the panda stared at the person talking to him.

At Tai Lung.

The leopard had an intense look on his golden eyes, as he glared at the panda in a fighting stance, nearly as if he was waiting for the panda's first strike.

However, this strike did not come. Po just stood in there, arms hanging limply as he looked at the leopard. The peaches on his mouth also falling from his mouth, joining the other peaches on the ground, and he just continued looking.

The leopard then rose an eyebrow, as the panda was not charging at him like he thought he would, and just kept looking at him like an idiot.

"You-" Tai Lung said. As soon as he said that one word, Po let out a scream.

A loud, panicked scream that caught the leopard off guard, nearly making him jump back as he looked at the screaming panda, who only stopped his scream when he ran out of breath.

"W-what...?" Tai Lung tried to say, but he was only more interrupted by Po.

"A GHOST!" The panda screamed, throwing his arms up in panic. "IT'S A GHOST!"

He then turned around and ran as fast as his chubby legs could carry him, all the while screaming:

"TAI LUNG'S GHOST HAS COME BACK TO HAUNT MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Back on the hill, the leopard remained, frozen in place, trying to understand what had just happened.

"Huh?" was all that he managed to say, as he had a baffled expression on his face.

Everyone on the Jade Palace was having a good night's sleep. They were tired after a long day, and they all could very well use the night to rest and recover so they could do everything over on the following day.

That was usually how things went around there, and they often were able to have peaceful nights and wake up rested and recovered on the following day.

This night, however, was not like usual.

Shifu was the first one to rise from his bed, as his sensitive ears picked the sound on the distance.

"Po?" The small master said, looking over at the direction of the sound of panic on the familiar voice of the panda.

And it was getting louder as the owner of the voice got closer.

Po was screaming at the top of his lungs as he made his way into the living quarters, causing nearly everyone to wake up on a startle. Some of them were confused and took a while to understand what was going on, but they eventually all understood that it was the Dragon Warrior screaming.

And they all rushed to see what was going on.

Doe and Monkey both rushed to the outside, to see what was going on, and to see if there was any sign of invaders. Crane and the Swallows took off to the air, to see if there was any danger at the distance. Meanwhile, the rest of them looked through the quarters, looking for trouble and, more importantly, for Po.

Viper was the one who found him and called all the others, who soon were seeing that the panda was...

Curled in fetal position in a corner of the kitchen, rocking back and forth and muttering to himself.

"He was out there... he was out there... he was out there and he's come for me..."

"Po?" Viper asked, "Po, are you okay?"

"Po, what happened? Why were you screaming?" Tigress asked, "Did something happened? Were you attacked?"

"He was out there... he was out there... he was not a skeleton, but he was out there... just like in my nightmare..."

"What? Nightmare?" Doe asked, looking at the panda, who continued to rock back and forth while he continued muttering.

"Wait, did you wake us up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare?" Mantis asked, sounding annoyed.

"Was it one of those when you are naked in front of the whole village again?" Crane asked, "You have a lot of those, don't you?"

"I was naked." Po said, stopping rocking, but he was still trembling. "But that's not it. No, it's him. He was out there. He was out there like in my nightmare. I saw him. I saw him!"

Everyone tried to make heads and tails about what Po was saying, but the panda seemed like he was too nervous to form coherent sentences. He just kept repeating that "he was out there", and that he "saw him".

"Panda!" Shifu said, having grown tired of the Dragon Warrior's babbling, and demanding him to tell them who or what he was talking about.

"TAI LUNG!" Po blurted out, startling everyone, including Shifu. "Tai Lung was out there! He was behind me! Just like in my nightmare! I saw him! His ghost! He came for me! He is after me because I skadooshed him, and he has come back from the grave to take me with him! Like on those horror stories! He has come for me!"

Everyone looked at Po, and they all shared looks as the panda continued to ramble on about how Tai Lung had come back to haunt him, and how he is after revenge against Po for blasting him.

From what they could understand, apparently Po had a nightmare about Tai Lung coming back from the grave to pursue him, and that clearly terrified him. As it was clear by the way that Po was rambling out of nervousness, and by the way that Po started sucking on his thumb as he went back to rocking back and forth...

"Hmmm, hey guys..." Said a new voice as a figure came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes as he carried a lot of plush toys on his arms. It was Gator. "I heard someone screaming, what is going on?" He sounded groggy, as if he just woke up.

"Po had a nightmare and is panicking over it." Mantis said, gesturing to the panda, who was not curled on a ball on the ground as he sucked on his thumb.

"Oh... was one of those where he is naked in front of the whole village?" Gator asked.

Meanwhile, Viper was talking to the panda.

"Po..." she said, as carefully and kindly as she could. "It's okay, it was just a nightmare. Tai Lung is not out there. It's fine. Don't worry, you're safe."

Po looked at her, his thumb still on his mouth, and he relaxed a little bit as he saw her gentle eyes.

"Look, why don't you drink some tea to calm down and then we get you back to bed? How does it sound?" Viper asked, and Po was in for it.

After a few cups of some calming tea that Doe prepared for him (which was very good, by the way), Po was taken by her and Viper back to his bedroom, and they assured him it was everything fine before leaving him on his bedroom to sleep, with a lantern left in there to illuminate the room to make him feel a bit safer.

Po then stayed in bed. However, he was not able to go back to sleep.

First, it was because of his conflicting feelings about what happened earlier on that day. Now, however, was for a different reason.

Po had stopping mumbling and sucking on his thumb, but he was still trembling on his bed, as he pulled his covers all the way up to his snout like when he was a cub and was afraid of the dark. His green eyes darted back and forth on the bedroom, looking at every shadow, seeing if there was anything standing on the corner of his bedroom, moving on the corner of his eyes or spying on him through the window.

He spent the rest of the nigh awake, looking for that pair of golden eyes...

Chapter Text

A good night sleep is always the best to wake up in the morning ready for a new day with new challenges ahead of you.

That is, if you have managed to sleep at all.

Po had been unable to close his eyes all night. His encounter with Tai Lung's ghost left him more than a little mentally scarred. The panda found himself unable to even think of closing his eyes, afraid that, if he did, then Tai Lung's spirit would come to his bedroom while he was out cold and do unspeakable things to him, leaving whatever was left to be found by the other residents in the morning.

As a result, while everyone woke up feeling refreshed and ready for a new day, Po was tired and stressed out.

The panda's eye was twitching as he stood while his students all continued to train. They were doing very good today, as it seemed that tonight had been good to them and allowed them to wake up all pumped up.

Po didn't noticed, though, he was too busy looking over his shoulder, as if afraid that someone would try to sneak on him while he had his back turned to the wall.

Someone who, perhaps, could pass through walls...

"Master?"

"Pah!" Po cried in surprise, nearly jumping back as he looked at who talked to him.

Doe was standing before him, and she, like the other five students, was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Master, are you okay?" Scorpion said, as he was by Swallows One and Two side. "You have been weird all morning."

"W-what?" Po asked, "Weird? Me?"

"Yeah, you." Gator said. On his head, Toad croaked, apparently in agreement.

"You were still wide awake when we checked on you with the morning gong." Swallow One said, "You were staring at the ceiling as if there was something up there."

"You were jumpy at the breakfast table." Swallow Two continued. "You were hardly even touching your food! And when Monkey joked about Tai Lung's ghost having placed a curse on you, you had a panic attack or something."

Po reflected on what they were saying, and he realized that he could have handled Monkey's joke better back at the breakfast table. He only realized his freak out was too big when he noticed how everyone at the table was taring at him with a surprised, even shocked, expression.

Po really wanted to be able to disappear at that moment.

"O-oh... yeah... you see, about that is just I... I have been, a bit insomniac tonight." Po said, what was not really a lie. An insomniac was someone who could not sleep, and Po indeed could not sleep on that night.

"Master..." Doe asked, "Is this about the nightmare you had last night? The one about Tai Lung's ghost?"

It was not a nightmare! He was there! Po wanted to say, but he knew that if he did it would only seem like he was freaking out about a dream and trying to say that it was real. That would make him seem crazy.

And even sadder and more pathetic than he already made himself look last night.

Po made out some excuse. He was too distracted to even later remember what he told them. He simply told them that he would be catching a break and try to clear his head, and that they should continue training.

"Don't beat yourself too hard." Toad said, surprising Po and everyone. "I didn't had many teachers before but, from the ones I had, you are surely the best."

Po looked at Toad in surprise. This was one of the longest phrases that he ever heard the amphibian say on the year he had known him.

The others were surprised too, but they all agreed with Toad, and they all let Po know how much they admired and respected him.

Po would be lying if he said that hearing his students say that to him didn't warmed him up inside. It even helped him recover some of the appetite that he was lacking during breakfast. Enough for Po to want to make a quick snack on the kitchen.

Po left them to train as he went to try and get his head back on the game. Despite Toad's advice, Po was still nervous. He was nervous because of what happened last night.

I mean, he had a meeting with a dead guy in the flesh. Or... ghost flesh? Po was not sure how it worked, but he knew that Tai Lung had been in there.

He had come back and came for him. Po had the impression that he could still see those glowing golden eyes on the darkness of the night as he stood just a few feet away from him.

Curious, Tai Lung's ghost was a lot less ethereal than he supposed he would be...

Will he come back? Po caught himself thinking. He seemed mad at me. Why he is coming back now, after so long? Will I have to fight him? How do you even fight a ghost? Will it be the same way I fought Kai? Will I need everyone to lend me their chi again?

As Po reflected on that, he nearly bumped into someone as he was walking to the kitchen.

Feline! Was the first thing that Po's brain noticed as he saw the figure walking before him. He jumped back, immediately getting into fighting position, with Oogway's staff pointed at the figure before him. However, as he took a second to look, he realized that this figure was definitely not Tai Lung.

"Still a little jumpy, Dragon Warrior?" Tigress asked to the panda, and Po looked at her with surprise.

"I-I was just... training my dramatic pose! You know how much I love them, don't you?"

Did she buy it? Po asked himself, but seeing the way she was looking at him, his money would be on "no".

"Is this still about Tai Lung's ghost?" She asked him.

Once more, Po considering lying, but he knew immediately that Tigress would not buy that either, and he just sighed in defeat.

"You really got scared bad, didn't you?" There was no irony that Po could perceive on Tigress' voice. However, Po was never the best in perceiving stuff. As far as he knew, Tigress could be mocking him, and he would not even notice.

"Am I an idiot?" Po asked to Tigress. "Did Oogway made a mistake?"

Tigress looked at him. The panda sighed.

"How can the Dragon Warrior do as much stupid things as I do? Shouldn't the guy chosen by the universe be better than that?" Po asked, sounding that he was talking to himself as much as to Tigress. "I mean, I should be the Valley's greatest protector! A hero for others to look up and count on! How can I be that if I keep screwing up? How can people count on me if I keep making mistakes? How can I be looked up to if I let everyone down?"

Po sighed, looking at the ground.

"Sometimes, I wonder if Oogway made a mistake choosing me as the Dragon Warrior."

For a long moment, he only kept looking at the ground, not saying a word as he reflected on all the times he screwed up since he became the Dragon Warrior. Tigress looked at him, before saying:

"You have some weird ideas sometimes. You are a bit childish sometimes and fail to focus and take things seriously. You also make more mistakes than anyone else on the Jade Palace..."

Po looked down even more, and then Tigress continued:

"But you have defeated Tai Lung when all of us failed."

Po looked up at her, and she was looking at him as she said that.

"You also managed to save China from a crazy warlord who wanted to take over with his army of cannons." Tigress said, "You have also turned a whole village of pandas into kung fu warriors to fight the jade army of an evil spirit warrior. And, according to Shifu, you have mastered both inner peace and chi faster than any other person on the whole history of kung fu."

Po looked at Tigress, and she feline opened a smile to him. It was rare to see Tigress smile like that, but she was giving that smile just for him.

"I have to confess, back when Oogway first chose you, I was sure that he had made a mistake." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But, now that I have fought by your side and known you for so long, I think that he didn't."

She then leaned over and whispered on his ear:

"And, even in the case he did, I'd still think it was the best mistake he could have possibly made."

Po's eyes widened. He could feel his face heating up as the breath of the tigress tickled the fur of his ear as she whispered those kind words on his ear. His heart sped up for a moment, his whole body and face freezing as the feline moved away from him and continued her way.

As she did, she passed by a figure that had been watching them for a few seconds and saw clearly the way that the feline leaned over to talk to him.

"Morning, Viper." Tigress said, going her way as the serpent greeted her back, with a smile that might have been just a tad bit too big, before turning her eyes back to the panda, who was still frozen in place.

She looked at him for a few moments, before slithering to him and calling him by his name.

Hearing Viper's voice snapped Po back to reality, and the panda soon was looking at her, greeting her.

"So, how you doing?" She asked, and Po told her that he was "still trying to get on his game".

Viper nodded at him, and then she said:

"Hey, Po?"

"Yeah?"

"I just want to say that you are the coolest guy I've ever met." She spoke, and the panda looked at her.

"Oh, because I am the Dragon Warrior?"

"Because you are you." Viper told him. "I'm serious. You are brave enough to risk your life for the right thing, and you are kinder than any other person I ever knew. And you are never afraid of being yourself, no matter what happens."

Po looked at her.

"Yeah... and I sometimes screw up. Like yesterday..." Po said, and Viper was quick to tell him:

"Those lizards cheated!" She was so incisive when saying that the panda was caught off guard. She seemed to have realized that she snapped, so she continued, calmer now:

"You were only having a bad day. You were not on your game yesterday, and those lizards took advantage of it." She sounded like she knew what she was talking about. "Everyone has bad days. I had some, Tigress had some, believe it or not, even Shifu had some!"

"You mean, like when I was chosen Dragon Warrior?" Po asked, and he and Viper looked at each other for a few seconds, before both of them started to chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess that was not the best day he had, but I am talking about something else." Viper said, and then she resumed:

"My point is, having a bad day is normal. It happens to literally everyone. So, don't get too upset if you have one or two."

She looked at him, and then she spoke:

"You are the Dragon Warrior, and you proved that you deserve this title. It doens't matter what some angry sheep has to say about it. You are still our Dragon Warrior, and you will always be."

Po looked at her, and he could tell that she really meant every word she was saying. This certainly made Po smile.

"Thanks, Viper. It means a lot."

Po really meant it, just like Viper did. She smiled at him.

"Po..." Viper said, looking the panda in the eyes as he kneeled in front of her, her tail slowly moving to his hand. "I really think you are one of the most amazing guys I've ever met."

She wrapped the tip of her tail around his hand and squeezed it very gently. Po, surprised, looked at it, and then back at Viper. She was looking at him.

"That's why, for the longest time..." Viper said, leaning in closer. "I have wanted to tell you that-"

However, Viper didn't had time to say what was it that she wanted to tell Po. For, in the distance, a familiar gong sounded.

"The village is under attack!" Po said as he stood up quickly, his hand slipping free from Viper's tail, as the urgency of the matter made him forget all the rest.

"We gotta go, Viper! Quick!" Po said, as he rushed forward. Viper looked at him as he went, as the alarm gong still sounded in the distance.

The serpent groaned to himself.

Ugh! Seriously, Universe!? Viper thought as she started slithering quickly after the panda. Now, of all times!?

However, Viper would have time to be upset at the Universe's terrible timing later. Now she had a duty to perform by the side of the Dragon Warrior. Her and the other members of the Furious Five, who were meeting with them on their way down the stairs, all of them showing great feats of speed and agility as they did, jumping across the many steps and landing at the feet of the stairs before they took of running, jumping, flying and slithering at great speeds.

On their way, they passed by villagers, who were yelling at them that "they've come back!" while pointing on the direction they were running from and continuing their retreat to a safe place.

On their way there, they passed by a familiar face...

"Hey, panda!" The sheep said as he ran, looking straight at Po, "Don't screw up this time!"

Po slowed down for the briefest of seconds, before he gained speed once again, looking forward with a determined look on his face as he led the Furious Five to the center of the village, where they found...

"These guys again?" Mantis said as they all stopped to see who were their enemies and found out that they were the same pricklenaples of yesterday.

Those guys had apparently had the nerve to come back!

"Well, at least that saves is trouble of having to look for them." Mantis said, as he and the others looked at the guys. This time they didn't had the cannons. In fact, they didn't even had any weapons. They were just... standing there. Walking, as if aimlessly, while grunting and hissing, some of them were knocking over a few stands and stomping on the fruits and vegetables, while at least two of them were slamming their heads on nearby walls.

"I got this." Po said, cracking his neck and knuckles as he walked to the lizard guys. He wanted to get them himself. This was the perfect opportunity to redeem himself after yesterday's fiasco.

"Po, wait!" Tigress said, taking in the weird way the pricklenackles were behaving. "There is something wrong! Wait! Po!"

However, the panda didn't listen to Tigress, as he went right to the lizards, standing before them:

"Enemies of justice!" He said, as he stood before the leader of the lizards. He was easy to spot due to his eyepatch. Why was it that the leaders of criminal bands tended to have only one eye?

"You have a lot of nerve coming back to this village after what you did!" Po said to the lizards. "Be ready to answer for your crimes!"

Po stood in fighting stance before the lizards, waiting for them to come at him...

They didn't.

They just continued what they were doing, seeming as if they didn't even notice the panda's presence.

"So, you think you can ignore the paragons of justice?" Po asked, looking at them. "Well, that won't stand! We are the defenders of this Valley, and we don't forgive those who come here causing problem! You will return all you stole and you will be sent to prison to atone for your sins! Surrender now and we shall show you mercy!"

The lizards continued what they were doing. One of them was sitting in a corner, gently butting his head on the wall of a house. One was stomping on crushed apples savagely, as if he hated apples. One was curled in a ball, whimpering softly.

Their leader, on his end, was just standing before Po, his head twitching to the side, as if he had a tic on his neck. The side of his face also twitched.

Po looked at all of them.

"Po!" Tigress said to the panda, as she, like everyone else, noticed that there was something off about those lizards. There was just something about them that was much different from yesterday.

Something VERY wrong.

Even Po was noticing that they were acting weird.

"Are you... guys going to surrender?" Po asked, looking at them all. "Because, it kind of would be nice if you guys did. You see, if you return the things you stole, you might even get a reduced sentence."

The leader of the bandits stopped twitching. He looked at the panda. That was when Po saw the tear tracks.

Purple tears streaming down the lizard's face, coming from his purple eye...

Wait, his eye was not purple yesterday. Was it?

"Uhhh, sir?" Po asked, as the lizard started coughing, and then retching. Then he vomited.

His vomit was purple, and it bubbled and emitted purple smoke from it. It reeked like nothing Po ever smelled before.

Even the panda knew that was not normal.

"Dude!" Po said, now worried with the bandit. "Are you okay?" He asked, reaching his hand towards him as he continued to retch.

"Po, get away from them!" Tigress said urgently, but it was too late.

The Lizard Boss' hand shot out and grasped Po's wrist. His hand was smaller than Po's, and it could hardly grasp around the panda's whole wrist, but he more than made for it with an iron grip so hard it made Tigress' seem weak.

The lizard hissed as he twisted Po's wrist, causing the panda to cry out in pain and surprise. That was when the lizard pulled, and Po saw himself took off his feet as the lizard spun him into the air and tossed him.

Tigress was ready, and she managed to catch Po, as the panda was thrown right into her. She was, however, forced back a few feet reeling on the ground by the sheer momentum of the throw, the soles of her shoes digging into the ground as she steadied herself so she would not actually go down into the ground.

As she and Po recovered, they looked at each other for a moment, before they turned their eyes quickly at the lizard boss, who was hissing as he glared at the two with purple eyes.

Then, he started to twitch again. Then to spasm.

His body changed before their eyes, as muscles expanded and bone popped bigger. The natural coloration of his scales changing to a deep purple as he grew bigger and bigger, his clothes tearing off his body until all he was wearing was his fundoshi. The eyepatch on his face fell, revealing an eye-socket filled with burning purple flames.

His hissing grew into a growling, and then into roaring, as he opened his mouth and flashed his huge fangs to the kung fu masters, all of which watched in shock.

"...eww." Was all that Mantis managed to say after witnessing this gruesome transformation from a normal lizard into a literal monster.

A transformation that soon happened to all other lizards, who hissed and growled and roared as they change into the same type of monster that their boss just turned into, with some slightly differences, as one of them had much longer spikes than the others, while another one had a huge, gaping mouth that nearly seemed to be dislodged.

However, they all had the same thing in common: they all were glaring with sheer, unadulterated hatred towards the kung fu masters.

"That's..." Po said, looking at them. "scarier than Tai Lung's ghost..."

The Boss roared, and with that, all the monsters attacked.

The masters, of course, didn't just stood there and allowed themselves to be attacked. They jumped out of the way, with Tigress hurling Po up before jumping after him, and the panda quickly got the hang of it and used a belly-thrust to send the feline flying to one of the monsters, on one of their rehearsed techniques. The impact was so great that was nearly like an explosion to everyone around.

The Boss, however, only stumbled slightly, as he shook his head as the feline jumped out of his head, landing on the ground behind him at the same time that Po landed on his back, quickly getting back to his feet as the monster turned to look their way.

"Okay, today just went from regular to freaky in record time." Po said, looking at Tigress, and the feline, for once, had to agree with Po fully on this.

Meanwhile, the Lizard Boss, now the Monster Boss, let out a huge, monstrous roar, which was echoed by his transformed followers.

Their roars were so loud that they echoed through all of the Valley of Peace. Including on the Jade Palace, where a big eared master got his meditation interrupted by the loud sounds in the distance, which he was pretty sure no natural animal could produce...

Meanwhile, the masters were all trying their best to deal with the monsters. It was though, as this transformation not only made the lizards bigger, but also turned them a lot stronger and tougher. I mean, their leader could take a direct kick from Tigress on the face and just shake it off! Come on!

However, those were the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior himself who w are talking about here. They are legendary warriors of great skill and even greater bravery. They would not back down only because they were faced by a few monsters. They continued to fight them with as much spirit as they did before this freaky transformation, as sudden and disturbing as it may be.

And they actually manage to push the monsters into a corner with their skills.

Crane had the natural advantage of flying. And his Wings of Justice could produce blasts of wind that were nearly like blasts of sheer kinetic force, which managed to push the monsters back. Mantis and Monkey, using this chance, held Viper from both ends and stretched her like a rope to trip one of the monsters, making all of the others fall back into a pile.

All the while, Tigress and Po both worked together like a pro duo to bring down the boss. Po would go forward and hit him with his belly, disorientating him so Tigress could jump forward and slam both her fist on his temple. Then Tigress would grab Po by the hands and spin him around, tossing him into the great lizard like a big, black and white wrecking ball.

And, as Po bounced on the body of the monster, Tigress picked him up and flung him back at him, with Po gladly serving as a projectile to hit their monster with the "Living Cannon Ball of Oblivion". This was one of the things that he practiced along with Tigress, as another one of his unusual techniques that could be comic as well as highly effective.

After all, not everyone could handle having a two-hundred pounds panda tossed at them like a dodgeball. Especially over and over again. Po's own natural resilience to damage allowed him to keep this up for way longer than most of his adversaries.

Even when Tigress hit him with her two hands in a blow, sending him flying like a literal cannonball into the Monster Boss, sending him flying back and landing into a house, just like he had done with Po just the previous day with the hand-held cannon.

"Ha!" Po said as he was caught up by Tigress and placed into the ground. The panda was relying on her for support for, while he was resilient to damage, something like that was still enough to make him a little woozy. "This is the kung fu of the Jade Palace's masters for you! Still time to surrender!"

However, the monster showed no intention to surrender. As he got up, slowly but surely, and glared at the masters with both his good eye and his purple fire-filled eye-socket. Then, with a roar, the fire on his eye shot forward in a ball of purple flames.

Tigress and Po had both to dodge to avoid the fireball, which flew past them and exploded into one of the houses, producing a very strong blast that nearly threw them both back. And it was only the first of the many fireballs that came out of the eye-socket of Monster Boss.

And he was not the only one to display sudden freaky abilities.

The one with the big spikes could shot them with great speed, causing them to pierce anything, before new spikes grew nearly instantly from his body. The one with the distended mouth could let out screams that produced sonic attacks that could cause rocks to shatter completely.

This certainly proved to be more than a little challenge to the masters of the Jade Palace.

In fact, the monsters were managing to completely turn the tables on them.

Crane had to make crazy areal stunts to avoid the spikes. So had Viper to slither faster than she ever moved before to avoid the spikes that fell from the sky on her direction like a rain of spears. Monkey had to jump from one place to the other to avoid being blasted by the sound waves.

Not to mention about Mantis, who was barely keeping up with all that craziness.

"How can this Friday be so freaky!?" Mantis cried in frustration, just as he was hit by the gigantic fist of one of the monsters, which sent him flying like a green bullet that missed Monkey by a few inches, causing the simian to lose his balance due to surprise and stumble back, just when a spike was coming his way.

Then, a small blur came out of nowhere, hitting the spike with a staff and kicking it back to the creature, who hit it away with its huge hand.

"Master Shifu!" Monkey said, in surprise, to what the small master said:

"What, in name of the Eight Immortals, is happening here!?"

"Oh, nothing much..." Mantis said, as he got out of the wall he got embedded into by the force of the blow. "Just yesterday's lizards who came back and turned into monsters and now are fighting us with their special powers, that's all."

"When did our lives got so strange?" Crane asked, as he flew closer to his pals, right when some of the creatures roared and charged their way.

"Think about it later!" Shifu said, "Now we fight for our lives!"

And they were. So were Tigress and Po, who had to constantly dodge the explosive purple fireballs of the one-eyed monster, who roared as he fired a volley of those bombing projectiles their way, forcing them to move constantly to avoid the fireballs, and let me tell you, it was not very easy, but they still managed, somehow.

They even managed to keep scoring blows at the monster. Including one where they both charged forward, both slamming their fists on the creature's face so hard it bellowed in fury as it stumbled back, holding it's pained face with its hands.

"Alright, monster!" Po said, "Now we bring you down!"

The monster shook his head, and he smirked.

"Oh, really?" He asked, with a distorted, monstrous voice. "Like you should have done yesterday, panda?"

Po paused at this.

"What?"

"You wasted your chance to stop us yesterday." The Monster Boss said, removing one of his hands from his face to look at the panda with one purple eye as he continued to smirk. "You didn't, and here we are now. We are going to destroy your precious valley and kill everyone you know and love, all because you didn't stopped us when you got the chance. Quite the Dragon Warrior you are, no?"

Po paused, the sudden words of the monster getting to him. This was the opening the monster needed, as he uncovered the other half of his face, shooting a fireball from his eye-socket straight at the panda.

"PO!" Tigress said, tackling Po was getting him out of the way right as the fireball hit. The explosion was pretty strong, and sent both of them hurling back, as they both reeled into the ground.

Po groaned as he got up, and he then looked at Tigress, who was laying on the ground unconscious.

She had apparently taken most of the brunch of the impact, just like what happened with Shen's cannon.

"Tigress..." Po said, reaching for her, only for a voice to call him back.

"She is hurt because of you." Monster Boss now had Po's full attention. "She is hurt because your screw up of yesterday. Because you wasted a chance when it presented to you by being a stupid panda. It is your fault she is hurt now. It is your fault that everyone will be getting hurt today."

Po looked at him, and he looked around.

His friends were having problem with the monsters. Even Shifu was currently being backed on a corner by the much bigger creatures. At this rate, they would all be killed.

And then the monsters would proceed to destroy the village and kill everyone else.

Was it really his fault?

Was it really because he screwed up the day before?

The idea that it was weighed heavily on the panda's chest.

"Some hero you are." Monster Boss said, "Now, you die like one."

And with that the eye-socket of the monster started burning even brighter with purple flames, getting ready to let out a fireball that would completely obliterate the panda.

Suddenly, the air was pierced by a roar, as a blur flew through the air and landed on the back of the monster head right when he fired, causing him to miss his attack. The purple fireball flew over Po's head, causing him to recoil due to the heat, but otherwise missing him completely, and exploding far away from him.

The blur made a moonsault over the monster's head and landed before him. Then, this figure put both hands forward, as they glowed with their own blue flames, which fired into the monster, causing him to scream in pain as he retreated several steps back, holding his head as he shook from side to side.

Po looked in surprise, as the figure stood with its back turned to him, before looking over their shoulder to look at him with a familiar pair of golden eyes.

"You..." Po said, as he looked at the figure, knowing exactly who it was. Tai Lung then said, with a cold voice:

"Don't just lay low and admit defeat, panda. It is beneath someone who holds the title of Dragon Warrior. Now get that fat butt of yours off the ground and help me out."

With this, Tai Lung turned his attention back to the Monster Boss, who was recovering and glaring at him with anger. Tai Lung growled at him, as his hands ignited in blue flames, and he charged at the monster.

Monster Boss fired more purple fireballs at the leopard, only for him to retaliate with his own flaming fists, hitting the fireballs with them and causing them to explode in rains of purple and blue sparks, as the snow leopard didn't slowed down even a little and continued forward until he was close enough to start punching the bigger monster, slamming his flaming fists at him with violent impacts.

Po could only watch in shock.

Is he… helping me? Wait, didn't he come back from the grave to have revenge on me? Po thought, his mind trying to take a grip on what was happening. A groan coming by his side made him turn his head to look.

Tigress was stirring, but it was clear that moving was a great effort for her. As po looked her way, he took in how wounded she seemed.

She could not continue to fight. And the other ones would not hold back for much longer.

They needed him. Even if this was his fault, they all needed him now.

This was what motivated Po to get back to his feet and charge into battle once more, just as Tigress lifted her head and looked at the panda charging into battle before she could tell him to wait...

Tai Lung was still trying to make the big guy reel back, but it was a great challenge and his increased size and strength. Not to mention he, much like a certain fat panda, was surprisingly fast for someone his size.

That was why Tai Lung nearly felt glad when the help came. Even if this help was someone who he honestly could not stand.

Po came in like he usually did, slamming his stomach into Monster Boss' face and dazed him enough for Tai Lung to deliver a double flaming punch, causing the monster to fall back and land heavily on the ground, now truly dazed.

Tai Lung grunted, as he cracked his flaming knuckles, while the panda stood by his side.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Po said, looking at the blue flames. "Is this some kind of ghost ability? Are those the flames of the underworld that people talk about on horror stories? Wait, you don't plan to use those on me later, do you? Or are you really a friendly ghost?"

Tai Lung wanted to give the panda a few answers. However, he didn't had time, as he saw that Monster Boss was already starting to get up.

"Dammit, they are more resilient than I thought." The leopard said. "They might just be a challenge too great for me..."

"Wait, so you can't defeat them?" Po asked, to what the leopard said:

"Not without a lot of effort." He then turned to the panda, "But you can defeat them."

"Wait, I can? How?" Po asked, to what the leopard said:

"By doing exactly as I say."

As everyone around continued fighting, Tai Lung gave Po a series of instructions, which the panda paid very close attention to, even as Monster Boss was getting up while holding his head, before turning his gaze to the leopard and panda, and growling at the two of them.

"...then you project your chi forwards by thrusting your hands and focusing all your aggression." Tai Lung finished, just as Monster Boss roared as he got ready to attack them again.

"Got it!" Was all Po had time to say, before he did as the leopard instructed, focusing the chi from his body into his arms and hands, and using his anger to make the chi ignite.

It produced an effect nearly immediately. Po's paws erupted in golden flames at the same time the lizard monster shot another fireball at him, which Po blocked with his hands, generating an explosion of purple and golden sparks, as the panda reeled back, but was completely unarmed, much to Monster Boss's shock and confusion.

"Wooooow..." Po said, as he looked at his paws, enveloped in bright golden fire. "Next. Level. Awesome!"

Lizard Boss recovered, and roared at the panda, charging at him just as Po finished following the leopard's instructions and thrust both of his hands forward, sending a stream of golden flames washing over the monster.

All the while, Tai Lung could only look in shock.

It took me two years of practice in the Spirit Realm to figure out how to do that right... The leopard thought to himself as he looked at the panda, who figure out the same trick mere seconds after a brief explanation.

As Po fired his golden flames on the Monster Boss, the creature howled in what seemed to be pain. Po stopped, and the golden flames continued to burn on the monster, who roared and howled as he was affected by the flames, causing everyone to stop and look his way as he burned and... shrunk?

Slowly, the howls of pain stopped, as Monster Boss became smaller and smaller, until he was back on the size he originally was. The golden flames ended, leaving behind a normal pricklenackle, with one eye closed and the other one only slightly open as he swayed back and forth as he stood there only on his fundoshi, before he groaned and dropped on his face on the ground.

Everyone looked at the lizard, before all eyes turned to the panda.

The monsters then roared as they all charged at the black and white warrior. This, of course, prompted an immediate reacting from the others. Including from Tai Lung, who jumped in front of the panda and slammed his flaming fists on the first monsters that was coming the Dragon Warrior's way.

"Wait..." Mantis said, "Is that...?"

"No way!" Crane said, as they looked in direction to the snow leopard who was currently protecting Po from the monsters, giving the panda the chance to use his golden flames on them like he did to their boss.

As soon as the monsters were hit by the panda's golden flames, they would howl in agony as the flames washed over them, causing them to shrink and to change back to normal, leaving them as normal lizards only on their underwear and looking dazed and tired, with some of them dropping to the ground alongside their boss.

Po was not sure how he was even doing it, but he knew that he was, and that it was working. So, he continued doing it, turning the monsters back into lizards with his golden flames.

He was going to call them "Dragon Warrior Force".

As the monsters turned back into lizards, the people who didn't fled and were only hiding were all looking, and many of them were cheering for the Dragon Warrior as he defeated the monsters and saved the day once more.

Then, the last one of the monsters, the one with a tail that split in three when he transformed, attacked Po with his three tails, wrapping them around his waist and around his arms, immobilizing them and leaving the panda unable to fight back.

Po squirmed on the grasp of those whip-like appendages, as the monster brought him closer to his face, opening his mouth as if getting ready to eat the panda.

No! Tai Lung thought when he looked to the side and saw that Po was about to be devoured. I need that panda to live!

And Tai Lung was not the only one who wanted to protect Po. All of his friends, including Tigress, all attacked the monster, and they managed to cause the monster to let go of Po, causing him to fall down into the ground, dizzy from the experience, as all of his friends attacked the monster and forced it back. At least until the monster whipped his triple tail and smacked all of them back, making them crash into a nearby house.

Po was getting up, as the monster charged at him again. That was when Tai Lung once more jumped on the way, thrusting his flaming paws forward and letting out a stream of blue flames into the monster's open mouth.

The monster swallowed the flames, making a sick expression, before coughing out smoke.

"Now!" Tai Lung said, turning to look at the panda and Po followed his lead and focused his chi once more, igniting his golden flames and releasing them on the monster.

Like all others, the monster roared in pain, waving its members and whipping its three tails, which merged back into one as it shrunk back to the size of a pricklenackle. And the lizard on his underwear blinked as he looked around, seeming confused for being in the middle of a village, before realizing that he was only on his underwear in public and using his hands to cover himself.

Po was panting after this whole ordeal, and he looked around, taking in the scene that followed all that craziness. And then his eyes landed at the snow leopard, who was now looking at him with his golden eyes.

"Thank you." Po said, bowing to the leopard, who looked back at him with surprise.

"Thank you for coming back from your grave to help me." Po said, causing the leopard's expression to get even more surprised, then the panda added:

"Well, I'm just glad that you are not one of those spirits who are only after revenge... I mean, unless you saved me from them to take me with you..." Po paused after that. "Wait, you did saved me to take me to the grave with you? I mean, you are not that resented of a ghost, are you? Are you?"

Before Po could continue his questions, a hand shot forward, grabbing his muzzle and pulling him closer.

"I...!" Tai Lung snarled right to Po's face. "Am not a ghost! You stupid panda!"

Po blinked, looking at the snow leopard's golden eyes as the feline grasped his lower muzzle.

"You're not?" Po asked, what seemed to infuriate the snow leopard even more.

"Idiot..." Tai Lung said, as he pushed him back, causing the panda to stumble back and land on his butt. Po continued to look at the snow leopard with surprise.

"You... are not a ghost..." Po said, looking at the feline with bewilderment, and what Tai Lung could identify as... relief?

"I'm not a murderer..." Po said, looking at him.

"YOU!" Said a voice, causing both the panda and the snow leopard to look and see all of Po's friends come at him, all of them glaring daggers at the snow leopard and seeming like they were ready to fight.

Tai Lung looked at all of them.

"Seriously?" He asked, as he looked at all of the six warriors who looked ready to go to battle with him. Including Shifu, who was pointing Oogway's staff at him.

"Step away from the panda slowly." Viper said, as her usually kind features were showing nothing but pure aggression towards the snow leopard, like that of her five peers. They all remembered very well their last encounter with the snow leopard.

"Okay, first of all, you all can relax." Tai Lung said to all the six of them. "I didn't come here to kill your panda. The fact I just saved his sorry fat ass should be enough proof of that."

They didn't lower their stances to it, and instead they all continued to glare at the snow leopard.

"Why are you here?" Shifu asked to the snow leopard, "How can you be here?

Tai Lung only looked back at him. Then he chuckled.

"Well..." Tai Lung said, casually scratching his chest. "Let's just say an old acquittance has finally recognized my value."'

Shifu looked at him in confusion, and then, as Tai Lung casually scratched his left pectoral, Shifu noticed something on his fur. A familiar marking in golden.

"That's..." Shifu said, looking at the mark. "That's Oogway's crest!"

Tai Lung smirked.

"That senile turtle thought you could use some help." Tai Lung said to them. "And, considering what I just saw, I think he was right."

The seven warriors continued to look at Tai Lung. And they were not the only ones.

"Is that really..." Someone on the crowd said, as the villagers were looking at the snow leopard, many of them having already figure out who he was and seeming like they could not believe it.

Tai Lung's smirk widened as he looked at them, and the addressed all of them.

"That's right, dear denizens of the Valley of Peace. Your eyes don't deceive you."

He had his arms open, as if he was a noble hero who just returned home from a long peregrination.

"Tai Lung is back."

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Po turned out not to be as annoying as Tai Lung was expecting him to be.

I mean, he was annoying nonetheless, but not as much as the snow leopard had imagined him to be.

He was mouthy, but he did shut up when Tai Lung told him that he wanted some silence. He was pathetic as he tried to go through the obstacles on their way, showing difficulty on things that the snow leopard thought to be easy to overcome, but he turned out to be more capable than the feline imagined, as he could, with certain struggle follow Tai Lung without being left behind.

All in all, his presence on this travel was being only mildly annoying. However, that didn't mean that his mere presence was not annoying at all. Especially with how often he stopped to play with those ridiculous dolls of his'!

And he even invited Tai Lung to play along with him like a child!

"Oh, come on!" Po said, "Just give it a try! Here, you can be you! I made it on the week after... you know, our fight. Oh, why don't we recreate our fight with them!?"

"I am not a child." Tai Lung said to the panda. "And neither are you, so put those stupid dolls away! We are nearly on the mountain!"

"Oh, great, I was getting so tired!" Po said as he started rushing forward, tossing the one toy he had on his hand to Tai Lung as he went, causing the snow leopard to reflexively catch it.

He was going to just toss it away, but he stopped to look at it for a moment.

So, he made it himself? He thought as he looked at the toy that had his likeness. He got my proportions right. That panda might not be as incompetent as I thought. He might be able to get a job as a crafter after I take his place and kick him down the stairs of the Palace...

Tai Lung continued to look at the doll as he went after the panda. As he did, he failed to notice the two figures that have been following them for the last two days since they left the Valley of Peace.

Viper had a natural knack for subtlety and silent approach, what one could attribute to her species, as racist as that could sound. The fact was that she could slither while producing little to no sound, and that made her perfect for the task of following the two of them right behind them. She was nearly undetectable.

Tigress was not bad on stealth. She was certainly better on "stealth mode" than Po. However, she was not as good on it as Viper. So, she stayed a little further behind, allowing Viper to go forward and keep a close eye to the two of them, and be ready to call Tigress to help her in the case of Tai Lung trying anything, so they could work together in beating him up.

Alright, maybe Tai Lung has won them both and the rest of the Five in the past, but they have trained a bit harder ever since, and they were confident that they could take on him. Especially if Po would be there fighting alongside them. There was no way Tai Lung would beat all three of them at once now that they were stronger and had the Dragon Warrior with them.

So, he better not try touching on their beloved panda.

Meanwhile, Tai Lung was not aware of the murderous intent of the snake coming right behind him as he went after the panda, silently swearing that she would eat his heart for dinner if he as much as laid a finger on a single fur of that panda's cute little head.

He went with the panda all the way up the mountain they were both climbing. Those were the Musuo Mountains, and the one that interested them the most was the one in the middle, which was by far the highest of them all, and they knew that they were the ones where what they looked for was.

That was what they talked about once they stopped, with Po resting and coughing hard as he had his hands on his knees and he looked like he was trying to not lose his breakfast.

No stamina at all... Tai Lung thought as he saw the panda retching and trying to hold his meal down. I heard that pandas didn't really had resistance, despite being quite though, but shees! Has this panda even been training at all on the last decade? Doesn't looks like it. I mean, he is still as fat as when I fought him.

"Right, I am fine!" Po said as he recovered. He then looked up, seeing the position of the sun in relation to them, and a smile came to his features.

"Okay then, time to break for lunch!"

Tai Lung could only roll his eyes as the panda opened that backpack of his' and started removing the things he would use as an ingredient to cook them food. So, as they set a fire that the panda was using to cook.

"Why going so far just to make food?" Tai Lung said as he looked at the panda. "We can just eat those vegetables you brought raw. And why did those fathers of yours packed dumplings!? Those things go bad after a few days, you know?"

"Hey, you cannot just eat anything." Po said to him. "Food is something to be enjoyed and appreciated, so you gotta make it worthy of being eaten."

"That's panda talk." Tai Lung said, crossing his arms as he looked at the panda. "Food is a necessity. Just something your body requires to keep working. It doesn't need to be fancy. In fact, it doesn't even need to taste good, it just needs to be edible. That is all that a true warrior's body needs."

"Man, that sounds lame!" Po said to the leopard. "Dude, life needs a little flavor! A little sweet and spice! As much as I love kung fu, it is not all that there is to life! There is more! Like delicious food that makes your mouth water and your tongue feels like it is in a party! Here, let me cook you something, you will love it! Dad taught me this new recipe he came up with and that it is one of the best I ever had!"

Po then put himself to cook, all the while trying to make conversation with Tai Lung and ask him if he had any preference for flavor or was allergic to rosemary.

He was being incredibly friendly with the snow leopard, what Tai Lung still found to be baffling.

Did he completely forgot that Tai Lung had literally tried to murder him on their first meeting? He was talking to him as if he was an old friend that he has not seen in years, instead of a mortal enemy that he once fought to death.

This was just another proof that pandas seemed to be incapable of holding a grudge.

"And, how does Jiao Din turn those guys into monsters?" Po said, "I mean, can you do that by putting your chi in someone else? I never knew that."

"Only if your chi causes an imbalance on the person's own chi." Tai Lung said to the panda.

"The balance of chi on the body is what determines ones mental and physical balance." Tai Lung explained to the panda as the black and white ursine continued preparing the food. "If your chi is imbalanced, then it will result in imbalance in both your mind and your body."

"Like, turning into a monster?" Po asked, "Is that what can happens if your chi is not balanced?"

"Normally it doesn't go this far." Tai lung said to him. "Normally, any physical manifestation of chi imbalance is more like a sickness. Like feeling sluggish or even in pain. It never manifests as a physical transformation. But, this is not a normal case. Jiao Din's chi is so imbalanced, so corrupted and vile, that putting it into a living being will cause them to actually change physically. Often suffering transformations that reflect their fears, vices and desires."

"Wow..." Po said, "And, about the mental part you mentioned..."

"In this case, we are talking about feeling of sadness, fear, hopelessness, even anger." Tai Lung said, "If Jiao Din decides to use his chi to affect a person mentally instead of physically, then he can drain them of all of their will to fight, sow seeds of doubt and fear on their minds, and even make them so furious that they will turn on their own allies."

"Man, corrupted chi is dangerous!" was all Po could say after hearing this, to what Tai Lung agreed that it was.

"And, if Jiao Din manages to reach the Tien Spring, he could infect the whole spring with his vile chi. And, if he did, then the chi would spread across the whole world like a plague until everything was infected with that lizard's corrupted chi. I guess you can imagine how bad that would be, right?"

Oh, Po certainly could. Now he understood perfectly why it was so important for them to get to Jiao Din and prevent him from making it anywhere near the Tien Spring. The future of the entire world depended on them stopping him.

No biggie. The Dragon Warrior certainly would solve this easily now that he had the help of a guy sent to him by Oogway himself.

"So, we have to go all the way to the top of the mountain and find a cave in the face of it that is illuminated by the sun when it is rising?" Po asked, and Tai Lung confirmed.

"That's what the poem says."

Po nodded, and he decided to just take Tai Lung's word for it. He really understood close to nothing about poetry.

"Right. And when we get there?"

"A new clue will be waiting for us inside." Tai Lung said.

"Really? I thought you said that the Dragon Scroll had the clues."

"It has half of them." Tai Lung said. "The other half will be encountered on each step of our journey."

"So, half of the clues that lead to the Tien Spring are on the scroll, but we have to go to the places that the half on the scroll points to find the other half of the clues?"

Okay, Tai Lung was not sure what exactly the panda meant, but he decided to clarify, just in case of the panda was misunderstanding it, what he thought very likely.

"Each clue is divided in two halves." Tai Lung said to the panda. "The first clue, which pointed to the Musuo Mountains, was a complete clue on itself. From there on, all clues are in two parts. One part will be on each stage of our travel, and the other parts are all in the scroll. When we arrive at the cave, there will be half of the clue waiting for us, and we will need the scroll to get the other half. By putting the two together, we will have the complete clue that will lead us to our next stop."

Tai Lung explained slowly and carefully, as if to a child.

"Do you understand it, panda?"

He, once more, asked Po as if he was a child. And the panda, seeming unaware of the mockery that Tai Lung was giving him, simply nodded and said:

"Okay, got it! Combine what we find on the cave with what is in the scroll, so we know exactly where to go next." Po said, and Tai Lung thought that maybe the panda was not as stupid as he spent the last decade thinking.

Then the panda nearly set his own pants on fire while stirring the flames for the small pot he set up.

"Okay, done!" Po said, as he poured himself and Tai Lung... whatever it was that he just cooked. "A little flavor for life to make everything better! Have a try and tell me if it is not delicious!"

Once more, the panda was proving to be way too kind to the snow leopard. Tai Lung took the food, which he was pretty sure that the panda had not slipped any poison in, especially when he had served a whole bowl of the thing for himself.

"What exactly is this?" Tai Lung said as he looked at the food.

"Just something using rosemary and a few ingredients." Po said, "Come on, give it a taste."

The excitement Po had in sharing it with the snow leopard was really child-like. The kind that made it honestly hard to say no to. So, Tai Lung just decide to try it on.

He let it run on his tongue for a while to get a taste, while Po kept looking at him.

"So...?" The panda asked expectantly. After a moment of silent, Tai Lung said:

"This... is actually pretty good."

"I know, right?" Po said, before starting to eat his own, making out exaggerated delighted sounds as he did, what actually made him seem like a big child. Tai Lung looked at him with a raised eyebrow, before going back to eating his own bowl of food.

Truth was, that food was more than just "pretty good". It was the best thing Tai Lung ever ate. However, the snow leopard was not about to admit it to the panda. And he certainly was not about to make a scene out of it like the panda was.

And yet, Po still found time to try to make conversation with him. This time tackling on the theme of the Spirit Realm.

"I have only been there once, but it seemed like an amazing place!" Po said, "And you was there for a lot longer! Man, you must have seen such amazing things in there! Met amazing people!"

"Well, to be honest, I spent most of my time meditating alone." Tai Lung admitted. "I mean, there was nothing much left to do after I ended up there."

He looked at Po as he said that. He didn't spoke it with his words, but the way he looked at the panda made his thoughts on the "how I even got in there on the first place" rather obvious.

"Oh... yeah..." Po said to the snow leopard, looking down. "Sorry about that again."

That was the fifth or sixth time that the panda apologized for sending Tai Lung to the Spirit Realm on the last two days of travel. And, each time that he apologized to the snow leopard, the panda seemed more and more sorry for having done it, as his apologizes sounded more sincere.

That fat bastard was weak.

"So, you meditated to gain enlightenment, huh?" Po said, "Did you had a revelation?"

"Yes." Tai Lung said, and he looked the panda in the eyes.

"That Oogway made a mistake by making you the Dragon Warrior."

That was all Tai Lung said before he focused back on his food, while Po looked at him for a few moments, before saying "riiiiight" and started eating himself.

He didn't know that, while Tai Lung savored that delicious food that the panda made for him, he was thinking on how this mistake would be rectified soon enough.

Man, that panda knows how to cook! Tai Ling thought as he finished the rest of his meal faster than he did for anything else in a long time. Forget being a crafter! If he can learn to keep his mouth shut, I might just make him my personal cook at the Jade Palace once I am in control! Heck, this food is so good I am considering tolerating him!

Soon, however, the meal was done, and Tai Lung told Po that they could be continuing their way to the top. Soon, he and the panda were rising camp and moving on, and so were the two ladies who were following them right behind.

The more they walked, the rougher the terrain ahead of them became, much to Po's dismay. However, after a certain point, Po was able to keep up better as the terrain stabilized. They were now passing by an old forest that was formed by petrified trees, all of them looking like stalagmites with branching tips that were not too much different from the lower teeth of a gigantic monster ready to chew on them.

"And so, the two warriors continued their adventure..." Po narrated, now holding the dolls of himself and Tai Lung before his eyes and making them move as if they were walking. "On their quest for the evil Komodo dragon, they were now passing by the Forest of Terrifying Trees, on the Musuo Mountains, looking for the Riddle Cave, where they shall know the direction to the next stage of their adventure. What dangers lay ahead of them? What challenges will they have to overcome? And will Tai Lung stop frowning so much by the time they finally arrive there? Those questions hang in the air as they move forward without rest nor hesitation on their brave hearts..."

"Panda!" Tai Lung snapped, snatching one of the dolls from Po's hand so quickly that Po had the impression that the snow leopard had intended to rip his whole hand off, what was not that far from the truth, to be honest.

"I will not stop frowning until the end of this adventure for a number of reasons..." The snow leopard's voice dropped to a dangerously low tone that would have terrified most of the people, and even Po was slightly uneasy as the snow leopard looked at him.

"Starting with the fact that I'm in the company of someone who blasted me into the Spirit Realm after stealing my title, and who will not stop making such a ridiculous monologue with those ridiculous dolls!"

He tossed one of the dolls aside as he said that and kept glaring at the panda. Po, on his end, looked back at him.

"Okay, first, about the monologue, I am just trying to think of how I will narrate this story to the people when I am back home." Po said to him. "And I already apologized a lot of times for sending you to the Spirit Realm!"

Po walked a bit forward, and he kneeled to pick up his doll.

"As for the thing of 'stealing your title', well..." Po looked over his shoulder. "I don't think you can actually say that I 'stole' it when you never actually had the title, just saying."

There was no malice on the panda's words. He was only saying a fact. For it was a fact that Tai Lung was never the Dragon Warrior.

However, even Po was not meaning to say those words as an insult, they still stung into the snow leopard.

A growl escaped from his throat as he bared his fangs as the panda, his claws unsheathing as he walked to the panda with fast steps, his hands ready to grasp the panda and tear him apart then and there.

Po was unaware, as he was looking if his precious collectible had not been damaged by being thrown like that. Viper, on her end, saw this from where she was hiding, and her whole body tensed, as she was ready to lunge at Tai Lung like a scaly arrow that would wrap around his neck and suffocate him to death.

Except that she stopped just as Tai Lung did.

The feline was breathing heavily as he had his hands just inches away from Po's head. It would be so easy for him to just grasp it and crush that empty skull. Or twist his head hard enough to shatter his fat neck completely. Or perhaps he could just rip his head off his shoulders altogether. His hands were even shaking with rage as he was about to do that.

However, he held back, his hands curling into fists.

Keep it together, Tai Lung... He thought to himself, as he steadied himself. Do not lose your cool. That was how this imbecile managed to defeat you in the first place, because you lost control of your emotions and made one stupid decision after the other. You could have defeated him if you had just not lost your calm back on the day. Don't let your anger ruin everything a second time.

The snow leopard took a deep breath, his hands relaxing as his claws sheathed again.

Stick to the plan. Guide the panda to the Tien Spring, put an end to the lizard, and take the panda's place as the Dragon Warrior. The snow leopard thought, while he heard Po go on about how the foot of that little toy of his' had been damaged by Tai Lung flinging it like that, and how it would be hard to fix.

Then rip out the panda's vocal cords so I will never have to hear his blasted voice again!

"Let's just keep going." Tai Lung said finally, to what Po agreed, and they continued their way into the forest of petrified trees.

However, as they continued forward, the terrain ahead of them once more suffered a change.

The ground felt different in there, feeling softer. And... stickier?

Not only that, but the branches of the petrified trees also seemed different in there. Whereas the ones from a while before were completely empty, those had something hanging in and on them, shaking slightly with the breeze that passed by and carrying a characteristic smell with them. However, those were definitely not leaves. They were...

"Webs?" Po said as he looked at the things hanging from the dead trees. "Is there a clan of spiders living in the Musuo Mountains?"

"Not that I ever heard of..." Tai Lung said, feeling a shiver run down his spine. The fur on his body, especially his forearms, the back of his neck, and across his tail, was standing on end. "Something is off. Stay on guard."

"Right!" Po said, as he spun the Staff of Wisdom, holding it with both hands as he walked forward, ready to use it to defend himself and face any danger that came their way.

The more they walked, the more uneasy they both felt.

The air was heavy with a strong scent, both sulfuric and electric. The fur on their bodies was standing as they walked deeper into the dead forest. Each tree had more and more webbing the deeper they walked, coating the trees into masses of silk that danced softly in the wind, giving the whole place a phantasmagoric look. And those webs were not white like normal, but they had a purple tint into them, and this same tint caused the light of the sun that passed through them and reflected on them to come out with a purple shade, what only made the place look all the eerier with that purple coloration tinting everything.

"Is this all work of Jiao Din?" Po asked, as he looked at the amount of webbing that there was on the trees, and thinking that the Komodo dragon should have been busy to make all of that... wait, could Komodo dragons even make web?

"Yes and no." Tai Lung said, "Eyes peeled. This place reeks of danger."

"It kind of smells like that old storage house where Shifu used to keep the backup scrolls." Po said, "Me and my friends went there to get the backups of all of the scrolls that got destroyed when Kai attacked the Jade Palace."

"Hush, panda!" Tai Lung said harshly. Not only because he was tired of hearing the panda go on and on no stop, but also because he had heard something among the trees around them.

Something fast.

Something big.

Something with many legs...

Po seemed to be less aware of what the snow leopard was perceiving, but he certainly knew that something was up. He could feel something in there with them that made him really uneasy.

And soon, he would come to understand why.

It all began when he felt something wrapping on his ankle.

Po nearly jumped, but he looked down, and saw it was just a strand of that purple web. Po calmed down and just shook it off his ankle before resuming walking close to Tai Lung. However, he barely gave three steps before he felt it again, and he looked down to see that another strand of that weird web had wrapped around his ankle.

"What the...?" Po said, shaking his ankle again to get rid of that strand, and he resumed walking. Only for three strands of web to wrap around his ankle.

"Hey! What gives?" Po said, as he started shaking his leg to get rid of those. However, they were stuck this time. Not only that, but those strings were starting to get stuck on his other ankle as well.

Soon, the panda was hopping and dancing into place as he tried to shake those webs out of his legs, but they were fast stuck. And there were more of them coming! They were wrapping themselves around his ankles and even of his wrists, nearly as if they were alive!

Soon, the Dragon Warrior's antics were caught by his travel companion, and the snow leopard could only look at the panda hopping around and flailing his arms.

"Panda! What the heck are you doing!?" He said to him, completely exasperated and sounding a lot like Shifu. "Stop playing with those webs!"

"I'm not!" Po said, "The webs are playing with me!"

Just as Po finished saying this, more webs come, and they wrapped around Po's torso and even around his neck. Then, next thing Po knew, was that the web strands that wrapped around him started pulling, causing the panda to be pushed back and forth by them, nearly like a puppet being tossed around by its' strings.

Tai Lung quickly realized that the panda was not playing around, and he watched in astonishment as the webs pulled him in all directions, causing him to drop the Staff of Wisdom, before tossing him in direction to a great curtain of web that had been built in between two particularly big fossilized trees. The panda was then stuck into it like a moth, trying vainly to wriggle himself free but only getting himself more stuck in the process.

"T-Tai Lung?" Po said, "A little help, please?"

The snow leopard did not immediately go to help. He was too busy looking intently at the figure that was coming behind the webs, and which the panda failed to notice, at least until he heard its' chilling voice.

"Well, well, well. Just look what has landed on my web..."

Po looked to the side to see... the biggest spider he ever imagined he would see on his life!

Each one of her legs was as long and thick as one of those threes, and she towered over him as she looked down on him with her twelve glowing yellow eyes with pupils shaped like four-pointed stars, which contrasted with the pure purple of her exoskeleton.

"A helpless little morsel!" She said, looking down at the panda. "And this one looks super tasty..."

"Oh..." Po said. "Uhhh, hi?"

She leaned over, approached her fanged face of the panda.

"Your smell is not the most alluring, but you certainly look tasty. With the right amount of fat and muscle. Oh, you must be so easy to chew! I am going to enjoy eating you!"

Po squirmed, but he was really stuck into the web, and he was not able to escape as the spider licked her chops, as she mentioned how Po would be her first panda, and how she hoped he would not give her indigestion.

"W-wait! Wait!" Po said, "Look, if you are hungry, I can cook something to you! Maybe noodles? You like noodles? No? Then what about soy and bean dumplings! I just need some soy... and beans... and dumpling dough!"

"I wonder if you taste like bear, or more like something else?" She said, as she was approaching the panda while ignoring everything he was trying to say to her. She looked like she was ready to open her mouth and sink her fangs into him, when a rock came flying and hit her right into one of her eyes.

"OUCH!? Hey, what's the big idea!?" She said, looking at the one who threw the rock at her, and it was Tai Lung.

"Step away from the panda, now." Tai Lung said, as he had another rock on his hand, and he was ready to throw that one on the spider as well. She looked at him and she chittered in anger, before saying:

"Why does everyone always interrupt my snacks!? I am just trying to eat!"

"Well, look for something else to eat, that panda is with me!" Tai Lung said to her.

"No way! That lizard who came here before you two promised this panda as my meal!" She said, gesturing to Po. "You know how rare it is to get the chance to eat an endangered animal? I am not passing this up!"

"Let. The panda. Go." Tai Lung said slowly, as he squeezed the rock he had on his hand, crushing it until it was nothing more than dust, which he let fall from his hand right on the spider's sight. "I need him."

However, the spider was not one to get so easily intimidated.

"No!" The spider said. "I am eating this panda! I will inject my stomach acids in him and then I'll drink his liquefied inwards! You can have the husk after I'm done!"

"I'm sorry, don't the panda get a saying in this?" Po asked.

"No!" The spider said, as she slapped one of her legs on Po's mouth. As a result, Po's lips were sealed shut by a layer of web, rendering his speech to nothing more than muffled screams and groans.

"Oh, thanks for that!" Tai Lung said, "Seriously, I have been tolerating his yapping for the past two days, it is so good to finally have him silent. But I still need him, so step back from the panda now. This is your last chance, bug!"

"BUG!?" The spider blurted out, looking at the snow leopard in rage. "I am an arachnid, you stupid pussycat!" And she chittered in rage as she attacked the snow leopard. Tai Lung answered in kind, as he roared as he charged forward, claws unsheathed and his blue chi already filling his hands as he got ready to fight.

The impact between the two was so intense that it resounded all over the side of the mountain. Waves and sparks of blue and purple flew everywhere as Tai Lung's hands collided with the spider's head.

The spider, however, showing to have a resilience that matched her size, shook her head before charging at the snow leopard once more, trying to stab him with the tips of her legs, which were as sharp as spears. Tai Lung dodged them with skill, often using his hands to deflect and block the blows, before he jumped forward and used a drop kick on the spider, causing her face to slam on the ground so hard a small crater formed, and then he jumped back as the spider got up once more and lifted her legs again.

This time, however, the webs around started to move, and they went for Tai Lung, just like they did for Po, aiming to trap him as well. However, the snow leopard was prepared for this, and he was faster than Po. He managed to dodge most of the webs, being able to avoid them completely and still attack the spider, even having the chance to use a little of his nerve-attack blows, which had been enhanced by the mastery of chi that he achieved during his meditations on the Spirit Realm for over ten years.

However, against the spider's evil chi-enhanced body and capacities, even Tai Lung found it hard to keep fighting. For that was when, as he was attacking, the strands of silk managed to finally grab his wrists. In just a few seconds, Tai Lung's hands had been forced together and wrapped in a thick ball of web, connected to the ground by a strand of silk that was as thick and strong as an iron cable.

"Ha!" The spider said, "I got you now! I will have you as my entrée and then I'll devour the panda next!"

However, as she tried to attack the snow leopard, Tai Lung proved that having his hands stuck was no impediment for him, as he started fighting the spider off with only his legs, jumping and kicking her with no mercy. One of those kicks was so strong that the spider was sent flying into the air and landed flat on her back with a booming sound.

As the spider flailed her legs and cursed while on her back, desperately trying to get back to the right position, the snow leopard freed himself from the webs by calling onto his chi and burning it with his chi-based blue flames. His hands were still flaming as he turned to face the spider and charged at her once more.

All the while, Po had been trying to pull himself free from that web, but it was finding it hard. However, he had an idea as soon s he saw Tai Lung freeing himself from his webs by burning them with his chi.

He could free himself with the Dragon Warrior Force!

And it worked!

Po just had to focus his chi and ignite it like Tai Lung taught him, and he was able to burn right through the web with his golden flames. He was soon freeing himself as the entire curtain of web he was stuck into burst into flames, and he even removed the web on his mouth by burning through it with is golden chi, before turning his attention to Tai Lung, who was still fighting the spider.

Po was soon rushing into action and joining the snow leopard with the fight, but not before retrieving the Staff of Wisdom and rushing into action to help Tai Lung. Soon, the leopard and panda were fighting together against the spider, both doing their part as they attacked and dodged the blows of the spider to the best of their capacities.

And it was quite hard, especially when the spider showed that she could release a spray of purple-colored venom that was like an acid, as it burned through some fossilized trees that were on the way as the two of them jumped out of the path.

"Don't wanna be sprayed by that." Po said.

"Well, duh!" Tai Lung said back, before the two of them had to jump out of the way once more.

They both failed to notice the two females watching from hiding, crouched in between the web-filled trees as they watched from a distance, both of them ready to jump into action in the case Po needed them.

If Tai Lung needed them... well, too bad for him.

"Will you two stop fighting already!?" The spider said, "I just want to eat that panda!"

"Why is she so keen on eating me!?" Po asked Tai Lung as both landed back from being pushed by her legs.

"Well, maybe she thinks you are delicious food that is worth being eaten." The snow leopard said with a smirk as he looked at the panda. Then, he choked as a strand of web wrapped around his neck and he was swung around and collided with a three so hard that the tree broke apart like a chopstick as Tai Lung crashed right through it.

This left Po alone to fight the spider, who was attacking him with four of her eight legs, and some of her blows came way too close for comfort.

In fact, one of the grazed so close on his skin it drew blood.

As Po stumbled back, nearly dropping the Staff of Wisdom again, he covered the shallow wound on his arm with his other hand and looked at the spider.

She had a little bit of his blood on tip sharp tip of her leg. She looked at it for a moment, before taking it to her mouth and slurping on it.

Her eyes widened, and her whole body shuddered as she delighted on the flavor that danced on her tongue.

"Oh, wow! Pandas are delicious!" She practically squealed. "Oh, I am so going to eat every last bite of you, fat little morsel!" She was walking to him with a wicked smile on her big mouth and with a glint on all her eyes as she glared at the panda with hunger.

"And then, I am going to look for that secret village where the rest of you pandas are said to live, and I'll eat every single one I can get my webs into." She said, "But first, I will pass by that little Valley of yours to see if there is any other panda there for me to eat."

As the spider was coming in direction to Po, both Viper and Tigress were both getting ready to charge and save their friend.

However, Tai Lung beat them to it.

He roared as he jumped on the back of the spider's head. He had one of the web curtains on his hands, and now he used it against the spider by wrapping it around her head and squeezing, as if he wanted to suffocate her.

The web did not suffocate her, but it blinded her and made her flail around, trying to get it out of her face as she screamed curses at the snow leopard who was doing that to her. Meanwhile, Tai Lung continued to pull on the webbing on her face with all his strength, causing her to tumble around as her head was pulled in every which way by the leopard's tugs.

All the while Po looked in shock.

Man, that was so cool! But also so terrifying!

This spider was like a demon! Could they even win? Could they achieve victory over something like that? Po was honestly not sure.

Right now, he wished that he could do something about it and help Tai Lung. He wished that he had something he could use to fight!

Well, he had his chi and the staff of wisdom, but would that be enough? Po wished that he had something more.

Man, how he wished he had followed Doe's advice to take a real weapon with them!

Just as Po was thinking that, he noticed a glow coming from in front of him.

The Dragon Scroll!

It dropped off Tai Lung's belt while they fought, and it landed unfurled on the ground. And Po had been touching it with the tip of the staff while he was channeling his chi through it while preparing to charge and fight the spider!

Talk about luck! Or destiny, whatever you prefer to call it.

For, as Po's chi washed through the scroll, the previous thing that was in it, the poem that told them where to go, vanished and was replaced with a series of drawings and instructions.

Drawings that depicted the Staff of Wisdom itself! And how to make it...

"No. Way." Po said as he read the instructions, shock and awe all over his face.

"ENOUGH!" The spider said, her voice muffled by the webbing being pulled over her face. She lifted her legs, and it caused the webs all around her to lift into strands, and to go straight for the snow leopard, drawn by his chi and wrapping around his wrists and pulling him out of her back as they holstered him into the air, while the snow leopard was now unable to free himself.

The spider grabbed the web on her face with one leg and pulled it, tearing only some of it, but it was enough to free her eyes so she could look at the leopard, and then prepare to deliver one of her sharp leg tips straight into his heart.

However, that was when Po rushed forward, a determined look on his face as he did exactly as the Dragon Scroll instructed him. He spun the Staff of Wisdom as he focused his chi through it, focusing it all on the very top of it, causing it to glow golden as he jumped into the air in direction to Tai Lung just as the spider attacked with her leg.

With a series of movements, Po batted the leg away and sliced clean through the webs, freeing Tai Lung.

Soon, Po was landing on the ground with Tai Lung in one of his arms like a damsel who was just rescued while the spider stumbled back.

Quite comical, considering that Tai Lung was at least a whole head taller than the panda.

"What the..." Tai Lung said, confused by what just happened, and then he looked at the panda, and at the staff he was still holding with his other hand. He was in for a shock when he looked at the tip of the staff and noticed that the staff no longer had a yin-yang emblem on its tip, but an ornated, sharp-looking, leaf-shaped blade.

The Staff of Wisdom turned into a spear!

"Are you kidding me!?" Tai Lung said in shock. Meanwhile, the spider lifted her legs once more, causing nearly all the webs around to lift as glowing strings of purple silk and charge at the two warriors.

Po reacted immediately, channeling chi through the staff, now a spear, as he placed Tai Lung behind him and acted as his protector.

Each movement of the chi-charged spear was enough to slice through each of the strands of silk clean. Not only that, but it was as if the reach of the spear was nearly tripled by the chi, allowing the panda to slice through them before they even came close to the two of them, as all of them fell to the ground inert and devoid of any chi right after being sliced by the attack of the spear, which Po showed to be able to swing like a pro.

Has the panda always been this good with a spear!? Was all that Tai Lung could think as he saw how the panda sliced through the hundreds of strands of silk coming their way nearly effortlessly.

Eventually, the spider got tired of it, and she charged forward, her legs ready to strike the panda all at once.

That was when Tai Lung snapped out of his shock and attacked, telling the panda to "get down!" as he but both of his hands forward, sending his flaming blue chi forward, incinerating the strands that were coming as a stream of the fiery chi was aimed right at the head of the spider, causing the webs in it to ignite, making the spider back away and scream in surprise.

That was when Po decided to put an end to this. So, he focused a good deal of his chi into the tip of the spear. It ignited with the golden flames of Po's Dragon Warrior Force, and then, with a few swings, which spread the golden flames everywhere with each spin of the spear, Po slammed the blade into the ground.

Then, like fire spreading through straw, the golden flames spread quickly into the webs like a wave, burning them all into literally nothingness in seconds. Tai Lung jumped back in surprise, and so did Tigress and Viper from where they were watching in hiding, but the golden flames did nothing to them. They did, however, did something to the spider, clinging to her and spreading over her body as she squirmed.

She chittered as she danced around on her eight legs. Her body was shrinking as she returned to the size and color she normally had. By the end of it, she had shrunk back to her normal size, losing her purple coloration and the extra eyes as she landed flat on her abdomen on the ground, the golden flames on her body going out completely, just like the flames that were on the trees and the ground, as all of the corrupted purple webs had been destroyed, leaving anything behind.

"Ohhhh..." the spider groaned, as she tried to get up, only to have the green blade of the Spear of Wisdom pointed at her.

"Don't move." Po said to her as he looked at her. And, of course, the spider didn't dare to move.

"Well, that was quite impressive." Tai Lung said, referring to what the panda just did.

"Thanks!" Po said, "I kind of improvised, you know?"

"That was obvious." Tai Lung said matter-of-factly. "But, how did you know your chi fire was not going to set me on fire as well?"

Po blinked, looking at him.

"What."

"Wait..." Tai Lung said, "You were not sure if your fire was going to set me on fire or not!?"

Po blinked again, and then he looked away.

"I... didn't really thought about it..." He admitted, while Tai Lung could only look at him with a "are you friggin serious!?" look. Po decided to diverge the subject by looking at the spider and pressuring her for answers about Jiao Din.

"H-he passed by here a while before you guys did!" she said, sounding distressed. "He attacked me and then did that crazy purple thing in me! Told me to wait here and devour a panda who came through! I-I didn't want to, but I was so hungry after that thing hit me! I couldn't think right! I am so sorry! Please, you gotta help me! Please!"

Tai Lung scoffed at this spider. If there was one thing he could recognize, was bad acting. However, it seemed Po was not that good at recognizing it, because he was soon lowering his spear while saying that they could help her. He was about to offer his hand at the very venomous spider who had been trying to kill them just moments ago, when Tai Lung stopped him.

"What do you think you are doing!?"

"I am helping someone in need!" Po said, as if not understanding the problem.

"You mean, the someone who had wanted to devour you just a few minutes ago!?"

"Hey, she needs our help!"

"She is an enemy!"

"It was not her fault!"

"How do you know that!?" Tai Lung said, growing more and more exasperated at how gullible that stupid panda was. "Just because she told you!?"

"Well, yeah!" Po said, looking at him.

"Haven't Shifu taught you to never lower your guard with an enemy? Haven't he taught you to never give them your back!?" Tai Lung asked.

"Well, he taught me to help those who need it!" Po said, "Him and all of the other masters who I admired since I was a teen! A great warrior must help and protect all of those who need! This is what Oogway was all about! And that is what I stand for! So, if someone in front of my is needing help, you can bet I will help them!"

As Po was saying that to Tai Lung, he had his back fully turned to the spider, who decided to use this chance.

With a cry, she jumped with her legs all outstretched and her fangs bared, ready to poison that panda with her bite and doom him to a painful demise. At least this way she would have the satisfaction of getting another taste of him...

However, Tai Lung was faster. He moved past the panda and slammed his hand into the spider, sending her hard into the ground.

She was shaking her head and looking up.

The last thing she saw was Tai Lung's foot coming down on her.

The sickening sound resounded on the forest, followed by the gasp of a panda and the sound of his spear clattering into the ground as he dropped it in shock.

Tai Lung remained where he was for a few moments.

"This." He said, looking back at the panda with an indifferent expression. "Is why you don't turn your back on your enemies." He then lifted his foot from what he just stepped on, looking at the bottom of it.

"Ugh, nasty..."

He seemed only a tad bit disgusted by it. Meanwhile, Po was downright horrified. So much that, the next thing he did was turn around and start puking.

The panda emptied his stomach, and that was even more disgusting to the snow leopard. However, he was still composed as he simply wiped the sole of his shoe clean on a nearby rock, before walking to the panda, who was still retching and gasping.

"You done?" The leopard said as he stood by the panda's side, holding the spear he dropped.

"Y-you..." Po said, still gasping and trying not to vomit again. "Y-you k-... y-you killed..." Po turned to look at him. The leopard had a hard expression on his face as he looked at the panda.

"You killed her." Po finally managed to get out. "You killed her!"

"Yes." The snow leopard said. "What about it?"

The snow leopard's nonchalant attitude shocked Po even more than the gruesome scene of a few moments ago.

"Why did you do it!?" Po said, looking at him.

"Why?" Tai Lung asked, "Are you kidding me?"

"You didn't had to do it!" Po blurted at him. He looked at what was left of the spider, only to fell his stomach lurching again. "You didn't had to kill her..."

"What, I was supposed to let the one who tried to kill both of us just go so she could try again in the future?" Tai Lung demanded of the "Or maybe to try and kill someone else?" The leopard demanded. "Is that what you would have done?"

Tia Lung looked right into the eyes of the panda as he waited for his answer, but Po gave none. Ironically, his silence was all the answer Tai Lung needed, and he scoffed.

"You really are weak, panda." The snow leopard said to him. "You are too nice. A warrior needs to be able to do things like that."

"You say that you admired warriors like Shifu when you were younger? That you learned from them that you need to protect and help those who need help? Well, here is something that you still have not figure out yet, panda: saving and protecting innocents is only a part of what a warrior does. A warrior also has to end their enemies. They have to punish those who have hurt innocents and, in last case, make sure they can never do it again. Like I just did."

Tai Lung gestured to the remains of the spider, which Po refused to look at.

"A warrior gets the job done when he needs to." Tai Lung concluded. "I was pretty sure that you already knew that, considering that you didn't hesitated to finish me off. At least, I didn't saw any hesitation when you had that smug smile on your face right before blasting me into nothingness."

Po flinched as he heard those words.

"But now you are squeamish about finishing off your enemies?" Tai Lung said to the panda. Po looked down, and the leopard scoffed, before tossing the spear back at him.

"Get your head on the game, panda." Tai Lung said to him. "If you want to save the Tien Spring, then you have to. Because, believe me, when we catch up with Jiao Din, talking him into giving up will not be an option."

With that said, Tai Lung turned around and started walking again. Po looked at him, before looking back at the staff he was holding on his hands. He looked at the blade on top of it, seeing his own reflection on it before the spear morphed back into the regular yin-yang it was before.

"We gotta go now, Dragon Warrior..." Tai Lung said, the mockery clear on his voice (for more reasons than one) as he looked over his shoulder at the panda.

Po then started following him, all the while his mind kept replaying everything he just witnessed and was told...

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

It still amazed Po how quickly one could travel when they put their minds to it.

It took him and Tai Lung two days of travel to get from the Valley of Peace to the Wusuo Mountains. Now, they were on their way to the Qinghai Lake.

More precisely, they were on their way to the Mian Ying town, which was on the very edge of the lake. An entire settlement who survived purely thanks to the lake. Well, not from its water, of course, since it was not fit to be consumed due to being salty (Po still could not understand how, since it was so far from the ocean), they got their water from the rains of the region. However, they did make their living from the kelp that grew into the lake, for not only it was their main source of food but also something that they made money by gathering and selling to others as a gourmet ingredient, making it their main source of revenue.

And, according to what Po heard, they were absolutely delicious.

Which was one of the reasons why the panda had a spring on his step as he made his way in direction to the village, wanting nothing more than to get in there so he could try out one of those kelp-based dishes that his father told him so much about and that he said he used to love as a hatchling.

Maybe Po would get a few of their snacks and take them back home for his dads. His goose dad would certainly be happy for trying them out again, and his panda dad would certainly love to try them since he loved food as much as Po himself.

They had cleared most of the distance from the Wusuo Mountains to there in a day and a half. Even though Tai Lung was clearly hesitant to go there.

It is nearly as if he is afraid of being there... Po thought to himself as he looked at Tai Lung. It was so obvious that the snow leopard was not comfortable, even though he vehemently denied that there was anything wrong whenever Po asked if he was okay. Sometimes even snapping at the panda before falling back into silence as they continued their travel in direction to that village.

Then, on that night, when Po and Tai Lung stopped for dinner and rest, Po told him that they would be arriving there on the following day, and how excited he was to be there, the feline looked at him as if the panda had told him that they were walking to the most dangerous place in China, if not the world.

As they got ready to sleep, and Po wondered why the snow leopard was suddenly so afraid of a village near a lake, it suddenly hit him.

Wait... is he... afraid of water? I mean, I heard that felines disliked it, but I thought that was just a thing people said. I mean, Tigress never seemed to have a problem with water, but Crane said that tigers are kind of the exception...

On the following morning, they resumed their travel after a substantial breakfast (especially Po) and just after a few more hours they were arriving there.

"Wooooooooooah!" Po said as he looked at the scene before him. The Qinghai Lake was on the bottom of a basin, a great depression that was nearly like a ravine, or a giant natural bowl formed on the earth and where the water flowed down and accumulated at the bottom. In this case, we are talking about the water that came from the rains of the region and from over fifty rivers that ran nearby and whose part of their water leaked down the basin all the way to the lake that formed on the bottom of it.

And the lake was big!

I mean, it was the biggest lake of all of China, after all. So big and deep that people even called it the Northeastern Miniature Sea.

It certainly smelled like the sea as Po could catch a whiff of the smell of salt water that was on the lake. And it also had a richer, spicier smell, nearly as if it was... soup?

"Okay then." Po said, spinning the Staff of Wisdom on his hand and hitting the ground with it to make a dramatic point. "Let's go down there."

With this, he went down, and Tai Lung followed him. However, the feline was clearly reluctant, as he continued to follow the panda all the way down the basin, which was a kind of steep way down due to the bowl-like topography of the natural ground, what meant that Po was not much walking down as he was stumbling and rolling down like a panda. Soon, making it down to the edge of the lake, where laid a single village.

This village, a small town built alongside the edge of the lake, was built in a way to cling to the walls of the basin, all the way down to where the waterline was. It was quite a sight to see, as the city seemed to be almost diagonal, making it quite the different place to be. To Po, it was certainly quite the sight to see there when he went down there.

But, before there, he stopped to ask for information to the first person he med there, who turned out to be a water deer who looked a whole lot like Doe.

"Oh, my! The Dragon Warrior himself visiting our village! What an honor!" The cervine said as he looked at the panda. "My sons are both big fans of yours. Say, would you mind giving an autograph to..."

The tusked animal stopped dead on his tracks as soon as he laid eyes on Tai Lung, stopping pretty much like he would if hit by modern-day road lights. Tai Lung, still edgy, and noticing that the water deer was looking his way, decided to ask, sounding quite impatient:

"What!?"

To that, the deer only looked at him for a few more moments, before he rushed out of there running as fast as his hooved feet could carry him and screaming like made as he went down on the village, leaving the two to watch him go and stand in there, before trading a look.

"You are not much of a people person, are you?" Po asked to the snow leopard, who scoffed.

"Blame it on being remembered as a renegade kung fu master with a penchant for violence. No, shall we go?"

Tai Lung still seemed on a bad mood as they made their way into the village. Po, however, seemed a lot more in the mood to be marveled with this interesting concept of a diagonal city. By one hand, the city had a lot of stairs, and stairs, as Po well knew, were a panda's natural enemy, all because of their asthma. By another, however, the city itself was different from what Po knew, and it was just as beautiful as Po's goose dad always told him, being the kind of place where one could easily get lost if they didn't pay attention to where they were going.

After they figured out how to orientate themselves, however, they were soon walking across the village, trying to get some information that could help them. However, getting information proved to be hard, as everyone who looked at the snow leopard immediately got defensive. They screamed, they ran, they ducked under the nearest thing for cover, they slammed the doors or windows on their faces and refused to open no matter how much Po knocked, thinks like that.

"I'm used to it." Tai Lung said to the panda.

"Really?"

"I have been growing used to it ever since I was twelve." The snow leopard had a deadpan face as he said that. "Consequence of being a big and strong carnivore that makes small and frail creatures like pigs and bunnies uncomfortable only by being there."

Po looked at the snow leopard as he spoke that. He reminded himself of Tigress who, at a young age in an orphanage, was feared by the villagers due to being different from the other children who were up for adoption in there.

"Maybe if you tried putting up a friendly smile..." Po tried, but he was interrupted by his own growling stomach.

"Man, I'm hungry..."

"When are you not?" Tai Lung seemed quite annoyed at the panda. Po, however, did not let it hurt him. He instead decided that, since it was near lunch time, they should look for some place to eat and fill their stomachs before continuing with their travel. The snow leopard already learned not to discuss with the panda at this point, and just go along with him and not make this travel any more annoying than it already was.

Luckily, the panda had brought money with him in the case of an eventual situation like that. So, they could very well go into the first restaurant they found so they could order some food.

And the whole place became vacant of people as soon as they made their way inside. It seems that Tai Lung's fame was big enough that people wanted to avoid him at all costs as soon as they caught sight of him.

The leopard stood by the side of the panda as they both looked into the restaurant which, around fifteen seconds ago, was filled with people, and now had only the staff in there, most of which were bundled on a corner looking with fear at the leopard standing by the side of the panda with the staff.

"Uhhhh, table for two?"

The staff continued to look at the two of them. Then, one of them, a female pig, came forward, and she informed them that they would see a table for the two right then and there.

"And you, stop making a fool out of yourselves!" The sow was now speaking to the rest of the staff. "I do not want something like what happened with that bunch of crocodiles who came by last week! All of you, get to work! I am tired of telling you that a client is a client!"

Soon, the panda and leopard were both sitting in a table by the window, which was cleaned of the half-eaten food that was in there so they could have their orders brought to them.

Po wished he had brought more money, so he could order for more things of the menu. However, he could only order so much, and everything seemed so good! And most of it was kelp-based.

"Man, this is so delicious!" Po said as he stuffed his mouth with the kelp and rice steamy buns and the kelp-wrapped fried tofu cubes. Meanwhile, Tai Lung was having just a bowl of rice with mushrooms.

"You sure you don't want any of mine?" Po was offering one of his kelp-based dishes to the snow leopard. "They are deli-kelpious!"

The snow leopard looked at the panda with a deadpan stare.

"Okay, that stank, but those definitely do not! Come, just give them a try!"

"I'm fine." Tai Lung was still eating his own food, and the panda continued to insist.

"I'm not eating something that grows inside of the water!" Tai Lung finally snapped at the panda. "Fishes relieve themselves in the water!"

"Wow, you really hate water, don't you?" Po asked, to what the feline said under his breath:

"You have no idea."

He sounded bitter as he said that, and Po could not help but look at him with a raised eyebrow, what Tai Lung noticed.

"I just don't feel like eating water grass, is all." The feline looked at the panda as he spoke that. "I prefer my food with more substance."

"Then you should definitely try the xian-hu kelp." Said the sow as she came back to the two with cups of tea.

"It grows in this very same lake, and it is unique to this region." She said, as she placed the cups on the table, with Po thanking her for it. "The water that comes to the bottom of this depression from the rain and rivers takes a lot of the minerals of the soil on its way down. That is why the Qinghai Lake is salty despite having no direct connection with the ocean. Not only that, but the many minerals of the soil also give the water special qualities, causing the kelps that grow on the lake to have a unique flavor and texture, as well as making them extremely nutritious and very filling. You cannot find kelp like the xian-hu in any other region across all of China."

"I believe it." Po said, popping another one of the kelpie treats on his mouth and making delighted sounds as he chewed, much for the snow leopard's annoyance. "Man, those are as good as my dad told me! Can I order some of them to go?"

"Of course." The sow smiled to the panda. "We still have some of the kelp to make a few more. You are in luck."

"How do you even get those?" Tai Lung asked, out of curiosity, to the sow who didn't showed any visible fear of him. "Do you fish them out of the water? Or do you have the fishes pick them for you? You know, after peeing in the water around them?"

"We have divers who go into the water to get the kelps for us." The sow seemed unaffected by the snow leopard's sarcasm and hostility. "The otters do an excellent job going down deep in the lake to get some of the best kelps for both the restaurants and the markets. As well as to have it shipped to other villages of the province."

"Yeah, I did notice a lot of otters going around the village." Po said, remembering the small guys in shorts that he saw going back and forth, or better saying up and down, into the village. Before they, like everyone else, ran on the other way screaming when they saw Tai Lung. "So, they basically do the whole job?"

"Well, not only them." The sow said, "Most of the kelp harvesters are otters, of course, but they are not the only ones. Some others dive to get the kelp. Like my husband..."

She looked down as she said that, and Po, being who he was, could not help but ask her what the problem was.

"My husband went collect kelps a while ago." She said, "He was going in the middle of the lake because he wanted to get some of the best for the upcoming celebration we would be making. Said he would be back by sundown but... he didn't come back. I... I have not heard in a long time. He never went this long without any news. I am worried that something may have happened."

She then looked at the panda.

"Dragon Warrior... I know that you are probably in here on a mission, but... if it is not asking too much, could you please try and find out if my husband is okay? Please, I am so worried with him!"

Po looked at her as she made that request. Tai Lung, on his end, already knew where this was going, and he knew the panda's answer before he spoke:

"I'll find your husband, ma'am." Po said to the sow. "Do not worry, I will make sure he comes back safe and sound."

"Po!" Tai Lung said to the panda, pulling him closer and saying to him in a low voice:

"We cannot waste time!"

"Helping people is not wasting time!"

"We have a mission! We cannot get distracted by helping some sod who got lost while diving for kelp and is now probably sleeping on the bottom of the lake!"

"You don't know that!"

"We are running on a schedule! We are literally on a race!"

"We have time to help! Come on, she is worried with her husband!"

"Every hour we lose with those smaller problems is a whole hour Jiao Din gets ahead of us! At this rate we will not be able to get him before he reaches the spring and we will both be meeting Oogway on the Spirit Realm and explaining to him how we allowed that blasted lizard to take over the Tien Spring because you decided to waste our precious time looking for some lost swine!"

They were talking in a low voice. However, the fact that the swine in question was so close to them made it that she could hear everything they were whispering.

"Wait, lizard?" She looked at the two. "You are talking about that Komodo dragon who came here a couple days ago asking about a symbol? The one who was carrying a peacock with him?"

"Yeah, that very same!" Po was suddenly anxious as he looked at the sow. "You saw where he went?"

"No, but I heard that he was asking around for a certain information, before getting a boat and roaming into the lake."

"He... he roamed into..." Tai Lung seemed suddenly nervous at the prospect of the person they were chasing after having gone into the lake.

"Right. Speaking of which..." Po said, picking a napkin from the table and using the soot of the tip of a burning incense on the table to draw a symbol on it. "What can you tell us about this symbol here?"

She looked at the symbol that the panda had drawn on the napkin. Po was not the best at drawing, but he was decent enough that he managed to create a loyal reproduction of the symbol they saw on the cave. She then recognized it.

"Yes, I know it!" She said to them, "This symbol is on the side of a rocky island that is on the very center of the lake."

"O-on..." Tai lung's face was slowly draining of color. "On the... on the center of..."

"Great!" Po said, apparently unaware of what was happening to the snow leopard right by his side. "Now we know where to go!"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, and he seemed to be about to say something to him, when suddenly:

"AHHHHHH!"

The scream from the outside made the two of them jolt and look at the window in time to see a lot of people running past it in panic, followed by the shadow of something big that passed, quite literally, flying right in front of the restaurant.

Something that carried the smell of the salt water of the lake.

"What was that!?" Po was baffled. Tai Lung, however, was suddenly in control again.

"Problem." Tai Lung was up, and he was rushing out of the restaurant. Po was going right behind him, after paying the food and apologizing, as well as saying that he would come back for those kelp dumplings to go. He then rushed out with the staff on his hand, already channeling his chi through it to change it into a spear, just in case.

Meanwhile the sow looked at them go through the window, and she managed to catch a glimpse of the thing that was flying by the edge and scaring everyone, and her eyes widened.

"What the-"

"-jumping dumplings!" Po let out as he saw that thing. That made the snow leopard stop and look at him with a "say what now?" expression, completely forgetting about the thing that was currently terrorizing the shore of the lake. And that was no little thing, considering it was...

"Is that a flying manta ray!?" Po pointed at it with the Spear of Wisdom, and Tai Lung felt like saying something sarcastic, was not for the giant, flying manta with a purple body and eyes red as blood screeching loudly, before opening his mouth and spewing a great amount of a purple liquid into the shore.

Anything and everything that was touched by this purple goop instantaneously started to fizzle and bubble, and to melt away into nothingness. It didn't matter if it was metal, stone or wood, it all melted away the same. So, it was safe to say that any flesh and bone would suffer the exact same fate.

"Eeewwww." Po said, "What did that guy ate!?"

"I don't know..." Tai Lung said, just s the creature turned to look at the two of them. "But I have the impression that we are both on the menu now."

And Tai Lung was not wrong. The creature looked at the two of them, seeing their auras. Their chi. The energy that he was told to look for by the one who changed him into what he was now. As soon as he saw it, he knew exactly what he had to do:

Destroy at all costs.

With a screech, the creature lunged at them, flapping his wing-like membranes that normally served for swimming, and getting ready to strike at the two.

"Dodge!"

Tai Lung's cry came on the right moment, for it allowed the two of them to jump out of the way just as the manta started spewing his purple acid on the two, creating a stream of melted material as he continued to fly past the two of them, and the two masters did not wasted time into going into the offensive.

Tai Lung screamed as he jumped like only a skilled kung fu master could, making it into the roofs of the houses, and started to jump into them and from them to those of the houses on the upper layers of the diagonal city, while Po remained where he was, spinning the spear and causing it to ignite into golden flames with his chi.

With swings of his spear, Po released balls of incandescent golden chi into the manta, who dodged each flying ball that came its way while continuing to fly in direction to the panda, coming closer and closer as he was getting ready for yet another attack.

However, as the flying water creature flew in direction to the panda, he completely forgot about the snow leopard, who then used this chance to jump on him and land right on his back, sinking his claws into his back, what drew a pained screech from the monster.

The creature, however, continued to fly in direction to Po, who was looking at it as it came closer to him.

It is coming... Po thought as he saw it coming. I... I gotta attack... Po was thinking his hand gripping the handle of the Spear of Wisdom harder. I... I gotta do it... I... I gotta do what I must!

Po looked at the manta, that was coming closer and closer to him, with Tai Lung still digging his claws on his back.

Po held the spear on an attacking position with a single hand, as the creature was approaching him. He was about to strike as the creature was approaching fast when.

"No!" Said someone, as something grabbed the spear from behind, causing Po to look back, and he was surprised for seeing a small otter holding the end opposite to the spear's blade.

"Don't do this!" The little otter pleaded, looking at the panda, who looked at him with surprise.

"Wha...?" Po said, looking at the otter in confusion, before his attention was called back to the monster by his screech. Po looked at him, and he saw that the creature had an open mouth filled with sharp teeth and that it was coming for him.

Panicking, Po reacted by pure instinct, as he jumped and, with a upper-cut kick, he jammed his foot right into the chin (wait, do manta rays have chins?) of the attacker while making a backflip, causing the creature to resume flying, this time nearly stumbling as her tried to keep himself up, with Tai Lung having to struggle to hold on to his back.

But he was Tai Lung. No way he would just be shaken off that easily. He held on, and he started climbing closer to the manta's head. He lifted his hand and he was ready to bring down on the enemy's eyes when he noticed the thing he was riding had adopted a descending fly angle.

Tai Lung realized, with horror, that the creature was diving straight onto the water.

He only had time to let go and hurriedly jump off the creature's back just as it dove straight into the water.

Tai Lung stumbled and skidded across the ground of the village's harbor, managing to stop himself by sinking his claws into the wooden platform of the harbor before he fell over and into the water.

His legs were desperately kicking, his feet coming just inches away from the water as he held onto the best he could to the pier. When his tail accidently touched the water, he let out what was nearly a yowl as he propelled himself into the harbor, panting as he looked back at the edge of the pier, and at the water of the lake where he nearly fell.

He could hardly see the other side with how big and vast the lake was.

So much water...

"Tai Lung!" Po called him as the panda came rushing to meet him. "You okay, pal?"

Before Tai Lung could answer to that, the manta emerged from the water once more, and immediately started spewing a torrent of the purple bile into the snow leopard's direction, and Tai Lung needed to quickly jump sideways to avoid it, and Po's feet skidded to a stop as he immediately bent his back as much as he could to avoid being hit. The acid caused some damage on the constructions directly behind him, causing the villagers to run scared while screaming.

The manta remained hoovering above the water, gliding above it like a vulture over a dead body, before turning around and once more going into the attack. This time, however, the manta used his stinger. It glowed, and then fired a lighting so focused and intense that, had Tai Lung and Po been born centuries in the future, they would call it a laser.

Tai Lung jumped out of the way as the purple laser-like lightning hit the place where he'd just been standing. The explosion could be compared to a generous amount of black powder, and it left a charred black hole on the pier.

Tai Lung looked at it, before looking back at the manta and growling, just as the creature started firing again.

Tai Lung dodged and jumped out of the way as each beam from his attacker's tail came a bit too close for comfort, and he was moving away from the pier and into the city. What meant that the beams were starting to come close to hitting the villagers.

"No!" Po said, as he jumped just as one of the beams aimed at Tai Lung came close to hitting a pair of otters, which the panda scooped into his arm and out of harm's way as he stumbled into action, before placing them both safely of the ground.

"Tai Lung! Go back to the pier!"

"What?" The snow leopard looked at the panda.

"The attacks are coming to close to the villagers! Go to the pier!"

"No way!"

"Look, I don't care if you are afraid of water! This is putting the villagers in danger!"

"I'm not afraid of the water!"

"Uh, yes you are!"

"I fear nothing!"

"Then you will have no problem going to the pier!"

Tai Lung was about to say something back, when another beam came dangerously close to him, exploding some pieces of the rocky ground between him and the panda and causing him to stand back.

"Go!" Po said to him. "I will help the villagers and I will join you as fast as I can!"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, and he wanted to say something to him.

"Unless you are scared!" The panda said to the snow leopard with a smug look, and Tai Lung right now wanted to charge at the panda and claw that smile off his muzzle. However, he instead decided to focus his attention at the manta, who was still trying to attack him.

With a feral growl, Tai Lung charged forward on all fours, before jumping amazingly high with his fists lifted and, just as the manta was opening his mouth, he slammed both of his closed fists into the manta's head so hard he was sent crashing down the pier.

Meanwhile, Po was walking around, helping the villagers who had been caught on the cross-fire of their battle. He was helping those who had gotten stuck under some debris and helping someone who hurt their leg when she fell by carrying her on his shoulder and taking them to a safe place.

Tai Lung and the manta wrestled while this. The manta took it to flying, only for Tai Lung, jumping on the houses near the lake and on the ships on the pier, caught up with the manta, grabbing on his wing and using it as a leverage to deliver three kicks to the creature's stomach, chest and mouth. This caused the purple creature to scream in pain, and immediately dive right into the water, causing Tai Lung to, once more, jump off him before he was able to drag him to the water with him.

Tai Lung looked at the area where the manta had emerged for a few seconds, when only his stinger tail emerged from the water, aimed right at the snow leopard.

Once more, Tai Lung stepped out of the way and the beam of lightning went right past him, causing his fur to stand due to the static that was dangerously close to his body. The beam continued and, only by a miracle, it failed to hit some villagers who Po was helping, causing the panda to stumble back and look at the source of the attack.

Just as he did, the stinger fired yet another beam, which Tai Lung dodged, and this one also continued in direction to the villagers.

Po immediately jumped into action, channeling his chi into the Spear of Wisdom and then swinging the blade forward.

His golden chi parred the purple attack, causing sparks of both colors to fly anywhere. Po had to firm himself on the ground to keep himself from being blown back, but he managed to firm his feet hard enough for him to stand his ground, and it allowed him to block the attack completely and saving the villagers.

However, the manta continued to fire the beams.

"Everyone, get behind me!" Po didn't need to say twice, and the villagers got behind him, as the panda powered the spear with his chi, creating an aura of golden light around it and he then used it to block the beams. With each swing and spin, the panda parred the lines of lightning as if he was blocking blows from a weapon, and he did so without missing even one, making sure that no harm would come to the innocent denizens who were taking shelter behind him.

All the while, Tai Lung continued to avoid the beams, dodging each one of them as the manta continued trying to attack him. At some point, Tai Lung has had enough, and he decided that it was time to fight back.

So, by focusing his chi, the snow leopard once more created an ignition on his paws, and shot them forward, aiming at the water.

The blue flames hit the water just as the stinger sank back into safety. However, "safety" was quite relative here, since the flames were so intense that they were causing the water to boil.

I'm gonna cook this frigging fish! Tai Lung thought as he continued to fire his flaming chi into the water, causing it to heat up and start boiling quickly. The snow leopard even spread out his flames when he noticed the shadow of the manta on the water trying to move away. He would make sure that this fish had no escape.

By the time he was done, practically all the water near the pier was boiling and letting out steam. A strong scent like that of soup coming from that salty lake water.

Tai Lung panted as he looked at this, and he thought that he had gotten the manta.

That was when the fish erupted from the water, steam coming out of his body as he screeched, before letting out another torrent of purple bile in direction to the snow leopard. Tai Lung once more jumped out of the way and the stream continued, coming in direction to Po and the villagers.

The panda acted by pure instinct. He swung the Spear of Wisdom, letting his chi flow from it into the air in front of him, gathering and forming a screen. It was like building a wall with sand in order to stop the tide of the river. It was not ideal, but it was the best Po could do in the spring of a moment.

And it worked.

The purple bile collided with the golden energy, causing it to be blocked, with the substance spraying everywhere while Po had to pour his chi forward in order to keep the golden wall he erected from washing away with the purple tide.

Seeing this, Tai Lung knew that he had to do something, so he looked around and he saw a smaller boat that he could use. With an axe kick, the snow leopard caused the vessel to flip into the air and, with a jump and a powerful spinning kick, the sent the boat in direction to the manta.

The fish only barely managed to avoid the boat, which hit his side and caused him to tumble down into the pier, stunned.

"I got you now!" Tai Lung growled, lifting his paw, causing it to ignite with his blue chi as he got ready to tear that fish to shreds.

"No!" Someone grabbed the snow leopard's leg, causing him to look down and see three bunny children holding his leg.

"Don't do this!"

"Don't hurt him!"

"Please, don't hurt the leader!"

"What the!?" Tai Lung said, "Get off me!"

He was about to shake his leg to get the bunnies off, when the manta suddenly recovered and then attacked.

A beam from the stinger caused the ground to explode, causing the snow leopard to be flung backwards. The three bunnies went into the air and, as the manta sprung into the air, the three bunnies were right into his mouth, which closed around them.

This, obviously, horrified everyone who saw it, including Po.

The manta dove back into the water. Tai Lung was getting up, while Po rushed forward in direction to the water, the Spear of Wisdom in hand, and he jumped right into it without thinking twice.

As he jumped into the water, while ignoring the cuddle sting on his eyes from opening them on this water, Po quickly saw himself having to stop to orientate himself as he caught sight of the manta coming on his direction, his mouth open and ready to chomp at the panda.

Po answered by swinging the spear and hitting the manta into the face with the flat part of it, causing the fish to swim back. However, he was soon coming back for the panda, who then saw himself charging his spear once more with his chi.

Just as Po tried to thrust the spear, he caught himself traveling forward at a high speed, moving right past the manta, who dodged out of the way, while the panda stopped into the water and looked in surprise at the spear, taking a moment to understand what just happened.

As he did, Po suddenly saw himself with a new way of fighting the manta.

Just as the manta tried to lunge at him to bite him again, the panda once more thrust the chi-charged spear, this time to the side and, just as he expected, the panda was propelled like a missile across the water.

From there, the two of them proceeded to fight each other inside of the other by dashing across the salty liquid like a pair of missiles. Dancing around each other, charging at each other while dodging the other's charge. The manta would try to sting Po with his stinger, which glowed purple as he tried to attack the panda, only for Po to use the chi power of his spear to move out of the way and then try to attack the manta back. When the spear and stinger collided, they released a wave of purple and golden that was visible from the surface, where Tai Lung was standing, looking down at the water and trying to see what was happening down there.

Meanwhile, Po could feel his lungs tightening as he had spent too long under the water, and he then decided that it was better to try and get this over with as quickly as possible. So, charging his chi, he thrust in the spear, propelling both it and him straight at the manta.

The fish opened his mouth and spewed a cloud of purple into the panda. His golden charge was like a protective shell around him, causing to him cut through the purple bile like an arrow piercing through smoke, and going straight to the manta.

From the surface, there was a huge flash of golden, which caused Tai Lung to shield his eyes as he gave a step back. Then, as the glow subsided, the snow leopard continued to look down on the water. One second. Two. Five. Ten.

By the fifteen seconds mark, the surface of the water suddenly erupted. The manta screeched loudly as he made it out of the water and into the harbor.

With Po ridding on his back.

The manta let out a gargled sound as he landed on the pier with the panda on top of him. This caused a bunny to come out of his mouth flying and land on the ground. His mother quickly came for him, calling his name.

"That's one!" Po said, and then he slammed both his heels into the sides of the manta, causing him to belch out another bunny, which the mother also caught.

"Two!" Po said, and then, getting prepared, he propelled himself nearly three feet into the air above the manta, before falling back into him and eliciting another gargle out of him as the final bunny came out and was received by the mother.

"Three!"

Po had a smile on his face, as the mother hugged all three bunnies. He failed to notice that, behind him, the stinger was lifting, and it was glowing purple as it pointed straight behind the panda's head.

Tai Lung, however, noticed.

He grasped that tail with both his hands and pulled hard, causing Po to fall flat on his chest as the manta was puled from under him. The stinger fired a beam of purple, which damaged the harbor as Tai Lung swung him around, before tossing him up. Then, with a swing of his foot, the leopard caused another damaged boat, this one slightly bigger than the one he used a few minutes ago, to go high into the air, right above the manta.

With an impressive jump, Tai Lung was right above said boat, and he then said it straight down with a downwards kick.

The boat crashed on top of the manta, causing him to screech as he was nearly crushed by the weight of the water vessel landing on him. And, on top of it all, he was also trapped under the debris of the broken boat, unable to free himself, as he squirmed and screeched.

Po had already gotten up, and he was looking at the manta as Tai Lung landed behind him.

"Now, panda!" The snow leopard's voice came, causing Po to look at him. "Before he frees himself! Finish him off!"

Po looked at the snow leopard, and then he looked back at the manta, who was screeching and squirming. It did look like he was trying to free himself. If he did, he would start attacking them again, and maybe put the villagers in danger.

Po took the spear on both hands, and he started walking to the manta, a fierce expression on his face as he got ready to attack.

Then, the manta let out a different sound. A loud, pitiful wail that was nearly like a cry of pain.

That sound, coupled with the expression of pain as the manta looked at him, made Po stop on his tracks.

He just continued to look at the manta, who wailed again.

He sounded to be in pain. Had... had he broke something from Tai Lung's last attack?

"What are you waiting for!?" Tai Lung demanded. "Finish him!"

Po looked at the snow leopard behind himself, and then back at the manta, right on time to see the fish give him one of the most pitiful looks Po ever saw on someone else's face.

"I-I..." Po said, looking at him, before taking a step back and lowering the spear. "I... can't..."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Tai Lung sounded pretty much done. He walked forward.

"Give me that!" He snatched the spear from the panda's hands. "I'll do it myself!"

"What? No! Tai Lung, wait!" Po was trying to stop him. The leopard only stopped to look back at him.

"You are too soft, panda!" He roared, causing Po to step back. "From my past experiences with you, I assumed that you at least had what it took to get the job done! But it seems I was wrong! You can't even finish off someone who was literally trying to kill you!"

"No wonder Oogway sent me here! At this rate, you will not be able to put an end to that lizard!" The snow leopard said. Then, his voice lowered as he glared at the panda.

"Honestly... how could Oogway think you were more fit to be a Dragon Warrior than me?" the leopard continued to look at the panda. "What he was thinking by making someone so spineless, so weak, the Dragon Warrior?"

Po flinched as he was said those words, and Tai Lung didn't even give him any attention. He turned his attention entirely at the manta, who was still wailing pitifully.

Unlike Po, however, the leopard was not moved at all. He gripped harder at the handle of the spear, and he approached the immobilized monster, lifting the spear and getting ready to put an end to him.

Then, something came out of nowhere and hit him on the side of the face.

It was a bundle of those kelps.

"What the!?" Tai Lung said, looking over in time for another one of those bundles to hit him right on the face, sticking to it and forcing the leopard to have to pull it out.

"What's the big idea!?" The snow leopard demanded, looking at who was tossing those at him. It were the bunnies Po rescued from the manta.

"Stay away from the leader!" One of the bunnies said, as he and his brothers prepared more balls made of those kelps into balls.

"What?" Tai Lung asked, looking at them.

"You cannot hurt the village's leader!" Another bunny said.

"Leave him alone!" The third one said, as he threw another one of those balls into the snow leopard. The boy certainly had a strong arm, as Tai Lung had to be quick to dodge the ball of kelp that was thrown at him. He even growled at the boy, but he was unimpressed.

"Leader?" Po said to himself, taking in what the bunnies said. As his mind processed it, he could only look at the manta in surprise.

"That... that is the village's leader?"

"Get away from him!" The bunny said, as they continued to throw balls of kelp on the leopard. Tai Lung was starting to get fed up with it.

He had half a mind to go in there and give those kids a lesson. However, he instead focused his attention on the manta, and he was going to take it all out on him.

However, the rest of the village was soon joining the kids.

"Don't do this!"

"He is our leader!"

"You can't!"

"Don't you dare harm him!"

"Are you all serious!?" Tai Lung said, looking at all of them. "He was trying to destroy your village, dammit!"

"Duan!" Said a familiar voice to both Tai Lung and Po, and they saw the sow from the restaurant coming in there, running and looking frantic.

"Stop! That's my husband!"

"Say wha-?" Po said, as he looked as the sow rushed to the manta's side, and started to talk to the manta, who apparently was the husband who she told the two was worried about, and whose name was Duan.

"Duan! Duan, honey! What happened to you! Duan! It's me, Xu Ya!"

The manta screeched then, starling her and causing her to give a step back. The transmuted manta continued to trash, now seeming more frantic, as if he could not wait to get from under those debris and resume on whatever he was doing.

"Duan..." She said, looking at him and feeling her heart breaking for seeing him like this.

Po looked at this, and he knew that he had to do something.

"Gimme." Po said as he walked forward, snatching the spear from Tai Lung's hands and walking to the sow and the manta.

"No!" Xu Ya said as she noticed the panda saying, standing between him and the manta, nearly as if to protect him. Po took a moment to understand, but then he realized it was because he had the spear on his hand.

"No! No, that's not it!" Po said, and then he focused his chi on the spear, causing the tip to change back into the top of the staff. "Please, I am not going to hurt him! I want to help! Please... just let me help."

The sow looked at the panda and, seeing the sincerity on his eyes, she slowly moved out of the way, allowing Po to face the manta directly, and the purple animal was nearly freeing himself from the debris by now.

The Dragon Warrior had to act quickly.

So, taking the staff with both his hands, Po activated his chi, causing the tip of the staff to emit golden light.

At first, it was flaming. However, as Po started swinging the staff in circular motions, the flames became more like a soft plume. A mist of golden light that the panda swirled around in spirals and rings. They were beautiful, and that much even Tai Lung could see.

Then, with a soft, fluid motion, Po sent those spiraling rings into the manta.

The creature screeched as the mist-like swirling chi hit him. However, only on the beginning, as he soon was relaxing as the golden light hit and washed over him like water. Water that carried away everything that clinging to him, taking away the dirt and leaving him clean and fresh.

The purple washed away from his body, vanished into the air like smoke. His purple body returned to its usual color of blue with green and yellow streaks. His body became smaller as the rest of the debris fell off him. His fangs became less sharp, and his stinger no longer looked like a murder weapon, instead looking like the stinger of a manta is normally supposed to look.

By the end of it, he gasped as he opened his eyes. They were to back to their normal honey coloration, and he looked around frantically, as if he had woken up from a dream, and had no idea of where he was.

"Duan!" Xu Ya said, coming forward. "Duan! My love! Are you okay?"

The manta looked at her.

"X-Xu Ya..." He said, his voice was sweet and gentle. "I-I... I was... I was in the lake... I was looking for kelp when... t-there was this cloud under the water and... and I saw purple..."

"A-and there was this... this lizard..." He said, looking as if he was trying to recall the details of a dream he had.

No. Not a dream.

It had been a nightmare.

"H-he told me to come back and... and wait, and I..." He looked up at her. "I-I could not stop. I could only do what he told me. I-I could not stop myself from doing those things! I didn't want to but I... I couldn't think! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, honey." She said, hugging him around the neck. "It is all okay. You are fine now."

For a long moment, they just remained like this, with the two hugging the manta while he rested his head against hers'. Then, he opened his eyes, to see the panda.

"You..." He said, looking at the panda, and Po suddenly saw himself being the center of the attention once more.

"You protected the people of my village from me." The manta spoke to him. "And you saved me as well... thank you."

With this, the manta bowed his head to the panda. The sow mimicked this movement. And rest of the villagers followed suit, bowing their heads to the panda.

Po, on his end, could think of nothing more than to return the gesture, putting his hands together and bowing his head to them as well.

All the while Tai Lung stood behind him, seeing as the panda received all this respect from the people of the village that they both just saved...

They all failed to notice the figure that was flapping his wings above them, before turning around and dashing forward in flying.

He flew for a few hours, leaving behind the village and the lake, and eventually reaching for the one person who he was told to report to.

Jiao Din, once more, noticed the bird coming from a distance away, as he already memorized what his chi signature was like.

He already knew what it was about before he even opened his beak.

"Those two are certainly more annoying than I initially thought." The Komodo said, as the barbet hoovered around his head as he continued to walk with Peacock on his grip without slowing down his step.

"And the panda purified the manta with his chi?"

"Yes, sir!" The barbet confirmed. "He swung that jade-colored staff of his and he used this golden magic that was a lot like yours, except that it undid what you did! It was so cool..."

"The Staff of Wisdom." Jiao Din said, "I heard about it. A trinket the panda brought back from the Spirit Realm. Sounds like something interesting to own. I don't need it, of course, I have a much better control of my chi than that idiot, but it would certainly make for a nice trophy."

"So, what will you do now, sir?" Peng Mao asked, to what, much to his surprise, the Komodo said:

"Nothing... I already did something."

He had a smirk on his muzzle as he said those words.

A while ago...

Jiao Din just arrived on the other side of the lake. The boat that guided him there was on the other end, and the Komodo calmly stepped out of it.

He already knew the clue, and he knew where to go for next.

He grasped Peng Mao and gave him instructions to go back to the Main Ying village and stay there until Tai Lung and the Dragon Warrior arrived. He was told very explicitly to not come back to him until the two have arrived on the village, and that he should come to inform him if they had either managed to defeat the manta he left to deal with them or if the manta killed them, before tossing him into the air and letting him fly back.

Jiao Din was confident that the manta would deal with those two. His chi changed him a lot, mostly because of the manta's own inner darkness. He would certainly deal with those two.

But, just in case those two, by some miracle, managed to pass by him...

The Komodo turned around, dropping Peacock while his hands shot forward to grab the tortoise and the chicken. They had roamed the boat that guided him to the rocky island on the center of the lake, and then to the other side. Now, they would serve for a different purpose.

Peacock remained on the ground as the flashes of purple happened. He didn't used this chance to try and escape. He still didn't have the heart to do so.

Eventually, Jiao Din let go of the two, giving them both instructions to wait for the panda and snow leopard near the island. He then grabbed Peacock again and started carrying him away while the two animals who he just infected with his chi changed, their groans and caws turning into growling and screeching.

Then, the newly mutated creatures were ready to make their way back to the island, where they would wait for the two.

However, this time they did not went into the boat.

Instead, one of them jumped into the water and started swimming fast, while the other one took it to the air with flaps of wings...

Chapter Text

The sun was about to set. The light as it lowered into the horizon was of an orangish hue, which reflected on the water of the lake as Tai Lung looked down at it. He saw the ripples on the water as the boat him and the panda were in was towed through the lake all the way in direction to the center.

He felt shivers as he saw those ripples into the water, but he tried to focus on them as not to look up and around and take in that he was on the center of the biggest frigging lake in China, surrounded by water from all sides.

He'd rather look down and try to focus on his own reflection than to look up and remember that there was water all around him while he and the panda shared a relatively small boat, which the people of the village gave them in return to "the panda's" act of heroism.

Completely ignoring how Tai Lung played a part on it...

"You guys sure I don't need to pay for the boat?" Po asked to the villagers as they prepared the boat. "I mean, I have money. Not much, but I have."

"Please, Dragon Warrior." Said Duan, now back into the water as he looked at the panda from there. "This is the very least we can do for the heroism you showed in saving all of us, myself included. I will even tow you and your companion myself to the center of the lake to show my appreciation. It is my honor to do it for such a kind and noble hero."

"Wow... you are too nice." The panda said, blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck.

All the while, Tai Lung was at a certain distance, watching it all with crossed arms.

He watched as the panda was complimented by everyone. As everyone told him what a great hero he was and how they would be giving him a boat, food and even a lift in exchange for nothing just for being a hero.

And those same people would look at him with mistrust and walk away as soon as the leopard came near them.

As if he was an even worse monster than their very leader was less than an hour ago.

That difference on how they treated him and Po was not lost to Tai Lung, and it was enough to make the feline's blood boil as he glared at the panda.

All because he is the one with the Dragon Warrior title. Tai Lung thought bitterly as he looked at the panda. That could be me being praised and admired by all. That should be me. That will be me by the time this is all over.

Tai Lung continued to glare at the panda with bitter eyes, while Po was too busy asking questions about the boat and accepting the kelpie-based food he was being offered, most of which he ate without a second thought.

No wonder he was so fat... and yet it seemed that everything came so easily for that stupid flabby bastard...

"He is not weak."

"What?" Tai Lung turned to look at the person who suddenly talked to him, diverging his attention from the panda. He was greeted with Xu Ya, the manta ray's wife, glaring at him the same way he assumed he was glaring at the fat panda.

"Valuing life is not a weakness." The sow said to the leopard, her expression serious. "And dismissing it is not a strength."

Tai Lung looked at her, and then he sighed.

"Alright, alright, I get it." He said to her, sounding annoyed. "He saved your husband, so he is the hero. I wanted to kill him, so I am the scumbag. You are making your point well. But let me tell you something..."

He walked closer to her. She didn't shy away like everyone else. Not even as he leaned forward and lifted a finger to her.

"If the panda was not around to turn him back to normal, he would have continued to destroy your village until someone came and stopped him." Tai Lung was looking at her dead in the eye as he said that. "So, you have to ask yourself: if someone came and put an end to your husband to save the village, would they be the scumbag, or the hero?"

She said nothing, and only glared back at him.

"Everyone speaks of how the greatest heroes save people, but they forget about the other part of being a hero. The part where the hero has to punish the bad guys." Tai Lung said to her. "Yes, because if no one does it, they will just come back to cause more trouble. So, someone needs to do it. Someone needs to stop those villains and monsters from doing as they please. And, sometimes, the only way to do it is by..."

And Tai Lung passed a finger through his neck.

"You get me?"

Xu Ya looked at him for a few more seconds, before asking:

"Is this what you think being a hero resumes itself to?"

"Well, that's what being a warrior is." Tai Lung said back to her, straightening himself. "To do what has to be done and ending your enemies."

"By 'enemies', you mean anyone who displeases you?"

"Don't give me that, you know what I mean." Tai Lung said to her. "You cannot just be nice to everyone. You need to be firm and do what must be done when the moment asks for it. And that is the kind of thing that requires strength."

"It is not the only kind of strength." Xu Ya was looking at him as she spoke that. "There are other ways of showing strength."

"There may be." The leopard was looking back at her. "But, depending on the situation, a certain type of strength might be the only solution, if you want to save people."

"So, it is all about strength to you?" Xu Ya asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

She glared at him, and then scoffed.

"You are a fool."

"Watch it, sow." Tai Lung said to her.

"Or what? Will you use your strength to make me take back my words?" She was defiant as she asked that question. "Will you threaten to hurt me, or actually hurt me until I beg for your forgiveness? Is that how you solve your problems? With your strength?"

She gave a step forward, nearly as if intentionally deifying him.

"Is that how you planned to solve everything had you been made Dragon Warrior?"

"No." Tai Lung said as he glared at her.

"Well, I find it hard to believe, considering how you reacted when you were denied the title."

Tai Lung snarled as he was told that, and the sow, once more, seemed unimpressed.

"And now you bare your fangs hoping to scare me into submission." She spoke. "Intimidation through threat of violence, that seems to be all you are capable of, just like any other lowlife thug."

"You say that a warrior does what it has to do? Well, let me tell you that this might be enough to be a warrior, but when it comes to being a hero, there is much more than that."

Tai Lung looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she could only look back at him, seeing how he seemed to not even understand what she was trying to say. That was when she decided she was just wasting her time talking to him, and that she should just end this now.

"That panda might not be as much of a warrior as you." She spoke. "But you are nowhere near the hero he is. And we all can only thank all the Immortals that he is the Dragon Warrior and not you."

With that said, the sow turned around and walked away, leaving the leopard to look at her, still gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. However, as he reflected about what she just said, he could not help but lower his head, as he was in deep thought.

"Tai Lung!" Po's voice snapped the leopard back to reality. "They got out boat ready! Duan says that if we go now, we can get there while there's still daylight!"

That was around one hour ago, and the words of the sow still resonated on his head, echoing as he tried to decipher the meaning on what she said.

Was being a warrior really that different from being a hero? But shouldn't both be the same?

Weren't heroes those who fought and defeated the enemies who no one else could? Were they not the ones who brought down evildoers and made sure they never hurt anyone again? Weren't heroes the ones who smashed anyone who threated the order on their territory and threatened those who lived in it?

Wasn't it what being a hero was about? At least, that was what Tai Lung always got from the stories he heard. In that case, only being the strongest of them all should be enough to be the greatest hero of all, worthy of being the Dragon Warrior.

There was more to being a hero?

Tai Lung looked up as he thought about it, and regretted it instantly, as he was reminded of how much water was around him.

He could only look down again, as he tried to force himself to remain focused on something else, like his own breathing, all to avoid thinking about all the water in that lake.

Way more than the water on the one lake back on the Valley of Peace.

And, as fate would have it, that was one of the occasions where Po showed that he was more perceptive than most people, including Tai Lung, gave him credit for. He noticed that Tai Lung was feeling uncomfortable and decided to try and talk to him.

"Hey, Tai Lung?"

"What?" The snow leopard sounded like he had no patience for whatever foolishness Po was even trying to talk with him. However, the panda either didn't notice the veiled "don't talk to me for something stupid" on the feline's voice or didn't minded it too much.

"You okay?"

Tai Lung scoffed, turning his head away and seeming like he was starting to sulk even harder. Po took that as a "no".

"Right." He said, "So, anything I can do to help?"

"You can pass your Dragon Warrior title to me so I can finally fulfil my destiny." Tai Lung spoke with no humor on his voice. Po looked at him, before saying:

"Well, I can do something else if you want."

"What are you even doing?" Tai Lung said to him, turning to look the panda in the eyes. "Why are you even caring if I feel okay or not?"

"Because we are..." Po was about to say "friends", but he realized that Tai Lung himself didn't believed that. So, the panda instead said:

"We are allies in saving the Tien Spring. We are a team. Of course, I will care if a teammate of mine is troubled. I would do the same if it was one of the Five, or if it was one of my students."

"Well, I am neither." Tai Lung was still hostile. "So, you have no reason to worry about me."

"But you really seem troubled with something." Po insisted. "Are you sure there is nothing that I can do to help you? Would you like one of the kelpie snacks? I ate most of them, but there are a few left. Maybe you will feel better if you have something in your stomach. I always feel better after eating-"

"Just because you are a poor fat fool who gets as happy as a little brat when you eat anything doesn't means I am the same." Tai Lung snapped at the panda, caused him to recoil. Tai Lung snarled at him.

"Just look at you. All worried about me as if I have been your friend since forever when I literally tried to kill you in the past." He said, glaring at the panda. "You put your guard down completely right after I saved you. Just like you did back with the spider. You would be a corpse being slurped by her if I had not jumped to save your sorry, fat neck."

Po flinched more with each word that came out of the leopard's mouth, while Tai Lung only continued to glare at him.

"I already knew you were an idiot, panda." The leopard said to him. "But you still manage to surprise me with how much of a gullible fool you are. Maybe it's because you are way too nice. You drop your guard way too easily and just put your trust in other people as if everyone is as kind and childish as you. Maybe that's why you don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done and end your enemies. And I still think you should fix that if you want to have any hope of stopping Jiao Din from getting to the Tien Spring, because if you don't, then the whole world ending will be on you."

Without saying another word or waiting to see if Po had anything to say back to him, Tai Lung turned and walked to the other end of the boat, and he just sat in there and went back to looking at his own reflection on the rippling water, while Po looked back at him, before looking down himself.

He was deep in thought at what the leopard just said to him.

It still sounded insightfully harsh.

"Am..." The panda said, looking at his reflection. "Am I really... too nice?"

"Well, that depends on what 'too nice' means."

Po had not been expecting this answer, and he looked in surprise forward, at the manta who was pulling the boat along.

"Sorry, really couldn't help but overhear." Duan apologized to the panda. "You know, this is a small boat, and you kind of have a loud voice most of the time."

Po said to him it was okay. However, he once more asked Duan if he thought that he was too nice to people, and if Tai Lung was right. The manta chose his words carefully as he spoke next:

"Well, you know, that really is a tricky question. By one side, you did save me instead of killing me, and I am very thankful for that, just like everyone on my village, including my wife."

Po knew that there was a "but" coming ahead.

"By the other, however, there is the fact that, if you could not have changed me back to normal, I would have continued to attack and put everyone on the village in danger. And, if that happened, then I think I would have preferred if you had offed me to save everyone rather than trying to spare me and cost the lives of many people I know and love."

Po looked down as the manta said that to him.

"Now, don't take me wrong. Being nice is not a bad thing, not at all." Duan said, wanting to make sure that the panda was not misunderstanding him. "But, sometimes, you have to know when there is no other option. You need to know when someone before you cannot be saved, and to accept that you will need to do what it must be done to keep them from hurting anyone else. That is part of life, sadly, and, as far as I can tell, it is part of being a warrior."

Po reflected on what Duan said to him.

He then remembered something else, memories of a few days ago.

The memories of the time he fought those bandits and ended up letting them escape. He remembered how he allowed his guard to drop when he was confronted with the possibility of taking the life of their leader. How that sheep admonished him for having let them escape. And the same bandits ended up coming back to threaten the valley, this time as monsters. Po, once more, realized that it would not have happened if he had not allowed himself to be shaken in the first time they arrived.

Po also remembered what Shifu told him on that night. About how balance was important.

Of how both good and bad parts of oneself were needed to make one a balanced person.

Could this be what Shifu had meant back then?

That Po was too nice to people. That he was being too nice to the bad guys?

Po always considered being kind a good thing. I mean, everyone told kids to be nice to people, and even as adults you are expected to be kind to the people around you, from the neighbors to the strangers.

But, if the people in question are attacking you and the ones you love, then is it a mistake to be kind to them?

Did it really make Po weak? All because he was too kind to his enemies?

It did seem like what Shifu had told him. Of the whole balance thing. Po was kind, and everyone around him told him that. But maybe that had become a bad thing in excess? Could it be that Po needed to start applying some unkindness on his life to become a better warrior? A warrior that would "do what he had to" when the moment called for it?

Would that make him stronger?

Would that make him a better Dragon Warrior?

Would that make him truly worthy?

"Okay, guys! We are almost there!" Duan said to the two passengers of the boat he was towing, and this made the two of them look up and ahead, and soon they could see it, coming closer and closer as they approached it.

Just as they were told, it was a big rocky formation on the center of the lake. A great island that was like a big rock formation, all made by solid dark stone, which projected outwards in curious angles and formations and nearly seemed like a curious sculpture that someone had placed right on the center of the to be a little something for the eyes for those who ventured so far into it.

It was nice to look at, to say the truth.

"Woah..." That was all Po could say as they approached the island and Duan started to circle it with the boat, allowing the two warriors to look at it from all sides.

"As you can see, it is the island you seek." Duan said to the two as they passed by a side of the island. As they did, the two could see, right on the stone wall on the side of said island, the same symbol of the cave, carved into the solid rock.

"Right, so the next clue is here." Po said, looking at the island. "So, do we have to keep looking until we see something?"

Tai Lung, on his end, just tilted his head to the side slightly.

"I think that might be it." The leopard was pointing to something on the island. Po followed his hand, and he saw that there was a great slab of dark stone on the tip of one of the stone cliffs that projected out of the island like petals from a lotus flower. It was smooth and of a much darker color than the rest of the rock that formed the island, making one assume that it was not a natural part of the island, but had, instead, been placed there intentionally.

"Right!" Po said, "Duan, can you drop us on it, please?"

"Right away." Duan said, and he started approaching the rocky shore of the small island. As they did, however, there was something lurking around them.

Something that Tai Lung noticed with his sharp senses.

"So, you think this one might be a more direct clue?" Po asked, not noticing what Tai Lung had. "Like, go to 'that direction' or 'that place' and look for 'the big face in the mountain' or 'the biggest tree of the region' or something like that?"

"Shh!"

"I mean, it would be nice if this was something easy to understand. After all, we need to get to the Spring before Jiao Din makes it there, so it would be better if we had some easy-to-follow instructions, no? Maybe even some shortcut."

"Stop talking!" Tai Lung growled, as he noticed yet another sound around him. This time a splashing sound like the surface of the water being disturbed. He could also hear the distant sound of... wings flapping?

"Dude, I am just making a commentary!" Po said, "Look, I know you don't like me and stuff for the whole Dragon Warrior stuff, but you could at least not be so aggressive all the time! Serious, chill out a little!"

"Will you just shut up!?" Tai Lung snapped. "I'm trying to listen!"

Just as he said those words, something emerged from the water.

The two looked in surprise as the thing emerged from the water. With a huge body enveloped in a shell with barbed edges, small horns protruding from his head, and a huge mouth opened and with a beak so sharp it might as well be part of an actual weapon.

The two of them had only a split-second to react as they both jumped back just as the monster that jumped out of the water with the jaws outstretched and long claws ready to tear to shred literally dove mouth-first into their boat.

They avoided a grizzly fate by jumping out of the boat right as the monsters closed his jaws on it, crushing it to smithereens as water splashed to all directions.

Po and Tai Lung flew into the air, propelled by the sheer power with which the monster collided with the boat and water. They both were unable to do anything as they spun into the air and then started falling.

Luckily, Duan was there, and he propelled himself out of the water and caught them on his back and hoovered over the water as the two warriors, especially Tai Lung, held on to his "wings" hard. So hard, in fact, that the manta had to tell the snow leopard to mind his claws.

"Was that a tortoise!?" Po said as re recovered from the shock. One hand firmly gripping the Staff of Wisdom while the other one was holding onto Duan's wing. "Guys, was that an actual tortoise? I mean, it looked like a tortoise, but one that Jiao Din did something with... wait, you can fly!?" Po was asking that to Duan. "I mean, you can actually fly!? I thought that was a strange power that Jiao Din gave you when he transformed you!"

"Hold on!" Duan said, and then he made a sudden spinning flip to the side, as he had to move out of the way to dodge a stream of water.

From the lake, the tortoise poked his head out of the lake and propelled a stream of water from his mouth with such force that, when Duan moved out of the way to dodge it, the stream cut clean through one of the cliffs of rock of the island, causing it to drop into the lake and sink out of sight.

"We definitely don't want to be hit by that!" Duan spoke as he continued to fly, the tortoise on the water still swimming after them, spitting water on their direction at any chance he got.

"Wait a minute, how can he swin!?" Po said, "I mean, he is a tortoise! They should not be able to swim, right!?"

"Is that seriously what you are worried with right now!?" Tai Lung demanded of the panda, as another stream of water came dangerously close to the three travelers, prompting Duan to make a spin to avoid it.

"This is not going to work!" Duan said, "Look, I will drop you two into the island and then I will dive back into the water! Maybe I can make that thing leave you alone by distracting it!"

"No, that's too dangerous!" Po said, but Tai Lung said:

"I am in favor of that plan!"

He just wanted to get to firm and dry ground instead of being hoovering so precariously over the water.

However, fate had never been kind like that to Tai Lung, and it seemed not to have any intention to start now.

"BUK-BUK-KAKAW!"

This one loud sound made Tai Lung and Po look above, just in time to see a big purple shadow falling over them. Wings outstretched and talons ready to attack them.

"Oh, come on!" Was all Tai Lung had time to say before Duan had to make a mortal spin to dodge. However, this figure still managed to hit them by spinning around and jamming its taloned foot on the side of the manta's body, causing Duan to be tossed around like a ragdoll.

The two mammals on his back were flung across the air, with Po landing and rolling around, the Staff of Wisdom ending trapped into a crevice on the rock. Meanwhile, Tai Lung ended up sinking his claws into one of the rock formations in order to avoid being flung right into the lake and falling into the cold, salty water.

Duan, meanwhile, landed on the rocky side of the island, and the event knocked the wind out of him. He was trying to get up, when suddenly two figures came at him, one of them jumping out of the water and the other one diving from the sky in his direction.

The tortoise slammed a clawed hand on one of his wings, while the flying feathered monster that looked like a giant purple chicken pinned the other one with its taloned feet.

"H-hey!" Duan said, squirming as he felt his wings being pressed so hard against the solid rock of the island that it bruised them.

"L-let me go!" Duan said, squirming around, trying to hit his assailants with his stinger, buy having no success. "Let me go now!"

"We are not, Duan!" The tortoise said, with a distorted voice. "We don't take orders from you anymore!"

"I said let me go!" Duan demanded, squirming. "How do you know my name!?"

"What?" The chicken-like monster was the one who spoke now, with a voice as distorted as the tortoise's. "Don't tell me you can no longer recognize your old friends, Duan? Or being made the leader made you forget we even exist?"

The manta blinked, looking at the two, and then he suddenly recognized the two, his eyes widening.

"Lai!?" Duan said, looking at the chicken, and the at the tortoise, "Shao!? Is that you two!?"

"Yes! That's right!" The tortoise said to the manta, snarling at him as he pressed him down onto the stone. "We are the two guys who first welcomed you into our village when you came here from the-Immortals-know-where with nothing to your name, you flat fish!"

"We were the ones who helped you get settled!" Lai said to the manta, "We were the ones who gave you a place on our village! We took pity on you after that whole 'I have nowhere to go, please, help me leave my bad past behind!'" He said that with the same exact voice as Duan. "It was so pitiful it convinced us to help you!" he said that

"And you thanked us by making us look like fools in front of everyone!" Shao snarled at him. "You won the entire village with your skills and before we knew it, everyone loved you!"

"Everyone was like 'it is so cool that he can both fly and swim too' or 'he can go and get the best kelpies on the center of the lake and also go visit the nearby villages' and you were all 'that's right, I am awesome guys' it was sickening!" The chicken said, imitating different voices as he quoted, ending with Duan's own voice at the end.

"And in the end, when the previous leader was to resign, it should be one of us taking his place! We were his apprentices, after all! We spent years kissing up to him!" Shao said, now practically foaming from the mouth. "You stole what was rightfully ours! All because you could both swim and fly, while we could do neither!"

"But not anymore! Now Shao can swim faster than you ever could, and I can fly higher than you can ever hope to!" Lai yelled at the manta. "So, do you think you deserve to be a leader more than us!? Do you!? Look in our eyes and tell us if you do!"

And with that, the chicken stretched his wings, causing his feathers to stand straight, and they shone like blades on the final lights of the day.

Duan squirmed, trying to free himself, but he was unable to, and the two of them were about to attack, when Po came out of nowhere, crying like a madman and slamming into the tortoise right on the face with a powerful belly-flop. This caused the tortoise to let go of the manta as he slammed into the chicken due to being thrown off-balance by the impact of the panda slamming on his face.

"Are you okay?" Po asked to Duan once the two attackers had been knocked down, to what the manta cried out in pain as he tried to move, saying that his wings were both bruised. Po was, naturally, soon on to helping him move, but that was when the bad guys recovered and, with furious cries, tried to attack both the panda and that manta.

Tai Lung then jumped into action, delivering a kick right to the tortoise's face and causing him to stumble back. Then, using the momentum, he gave a mortal backflip and landed with both feet on the chicken's head, before giving a spinning kick to his face that made spit fly off his beak.

This was enough to push them both back enough that Po was able to help Duan move away from the scene, making sure he was okay before rushing to Tai Lung's side and joining him in battle.

And it was quite the battle. I mean, the two warriors were fighting two monsters a lot bigger than themselves. Although they had done it a few times already since the beginning of the adventure, and they were not about to fear some big guys now. They already knew how to fight them anyways.

So, as they both stepped forward, they both did the exact same thing at the exact same time, with Tai Lung creating blue fire between his hands while Po created golden, and they both propelled them forward as streams of flaming chi by thrusting their fists forward.

This time, however, their attacks were ineffective.

The tortoise, reacting immediately, shrunk into his shell, as it spun with its curved side turned to the warriors. As their streams of flames hit the hardened purple surface, they spread out and caused no effect whatsoever.

Neither Tai Lung's blue flames nor Po's golden ones produced any visible effect, as the chicken safely hide behind the shell of the tortoise until the streams stopped.

"That... was unexpected." Po said as he looked at the shell. Then, the chicken jumped on top of it and, with a loud "BUK-KAW!" shot his feathers forward in direction to them, prompting the two to bend their bodies and stumble backwards to avoid the feathers, sharp like deadly metal blades, from hitting them and possibly slicing them to bits.

"Now what?"

"Now we fight the traditional way!" Tai Lung said.

"What's traditional about any of the fights we had so far!?"

"Just shut up and start punching them!"

And Po did. He and Tai Lung went on offensive, but they quickly found out it was hard to fight those two, as the chicken would resort to hiding behind the tortoise, whose shell, as they found out, was impervious to chi and nigh indestructible, and then would strike at them with his sharpened feathers. This did make the battle quite unbalanced for the two of them, as Po realized once a swipe from the wings of the chicken grazed him so close that it made him lose some of his fur, albeit it produced no real damage.

"Okay, I think this is not working!" Po said to the snow leopard. "We need a plan! Like, right now!"

"Do you have any ideas?" Tai Lung said, as he kicked a spiked rock that was on the side, sending it hurling to the chicken, who simply ducked under the tortoise and let the rock shatter against the shell the reptile was hiding inside.

That was when an idea hit Po.

"Hey! What if we tried to attack the tortoise through one of the openings of the shell?" The panda offered, and Tai Lung looked at him with surprise.

"That's... actually a good idea. Let's do this!" The leopard then ignited his hands with blue chi.

"Right, you go ahead, I'll join you soon!"

"Wait, what? Wait a minute! Where are you going!?"

"To get my staff back!" Po said, as he started to make his way to where the Staff of Wisdom was stuck. "You hold them back for me! I will be back lickety-split!"

"Wha- are you kidding me!?" Tai Lung said as he watched the panda move away, before growling.

"Fine! Whatever! I don't need that buffoon's help anyways!"

And with that, the snow leopard went into attack once more. And this time, he made a jump right as the chicken was hiding behind the tortoise anyways. However, instead of attacking the shell, like he did, Tai Lung's jump propelled him above them, and then, as he saw his chance, he thrust both of his paws forward and shot two balls of fire.

One of them hit the chicken on the face. The other one went through one of the shell's openings and hit the tortoise, also right on the face.

The two of them screeched and were soon rubbing their faces free of the searing blue flames, and that was when Tai Lung used this chance to attack, as he slammed both of his feet on the chicken's head so hard it slammed into the ground, and then he jumped off him and into the tortoise, and started to squeeze his neck.

While Po was currently holding on to the staff of wisdom, trying with all his strength to pull it free, the snow leopard was currently squeezing the tortoise's neck. It seemed he was trying to suffocate him, but the way he was looking like he was trying to make the neck twist also gave the impression that he was trying to literally snap that shelled reptile's neck.

Just imagine he is Oogway... Tai Lung said to himself as he tried to put as much strength as he could into his arms and finish off that lizard before the chicken recovered and came to help him. Even as the tortoise tried to reach with his hands and pull him out, Tai Lung would just kick his hands off and continue what he was doing. Even when he the tortoise tried to retreat his head into his shell, Tai Lung would plant his feet into the rims to keep him from recoiling and just continue squeezing his neck.

The neck proved too tough to be snapped, but Tai Lung was still chocking him, as the tortoise was desperately trying to draw a breath as the snow leopard continued to squeeze. As the tortoise went to his hand and knees, Tai Lung thought that he was about to take out one of his opponents.

Then, however, the tortoise made a mad dash and jumped into the water. Seeing this happening, Tai Lung panicked and quickly let go of the neck and jumped off the tortoise and into the rocky island.

As the tortoise splashed into the water, Tai Lung sank his claws into the island as he skidded to a stop right at the edge of the lake, and quickly scrambled back into the land, the fur on his entire body standing on end.

What a close call...

He was panting as he got back to his feet, and then, behind him, the tortoise pushed his head out of the water, and then opened his mouth to spill a stream of water that missed Tai Lung by just a few inches, severely damaging the rocks right behind the snow leopard.

As he realized the danger he was into now, Tai Lung had to jump and stumble out of the way, while the tortoise still tried to hit him with a stream of water under so much pressure that it sliced through solid rock like a hot knife through butter. And, as Tai Lung jumped to avoid the stream, it cut through the island like crazy, causing Duan to recoil and crawl out of the way to avoid debris, and it came very close to hitting Po as he was still trying to pull the Staff of Wisdom out of the crevice it got stuck into.

Luckily, as the stream of water cut through the rock projection Po was in, not only it knocked the panda back, but it also caused the staff to finally come lose from where it was stuck. So, as Po laid with his back on the rock, with the staff on his hand, he smiled.

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, Tai Lung had to continue to jump out of the way to avoid stream. Luckily, it was starting to become weaker. So, when Tai Lung slipped on the water left on the moss-covered stony ground and lost his footing for a moment, the stream of water that hit him was not strong enough to rip him apart, but it was still strong enough to push him back with the strong of a firehose and push him against the rock wall, and was soaked and panting by the time the stream ended, falling to his hands and knees while the tortoise jumped out of the water.

Tai Lung was getting up, when the turtle wrapped his hand around his waist, holding him as it brought him closer to his mouth. Tai Lung looked up and saw those jaws stretching open, ready to take a huge bite out of him.

Luckily, that was when Po came in crashing into the tortoise's face again, slamming in it hard enough to cause the big shelled reptile to stumble back, while the panda landed on his feet, spinning the staff on his hand and causing it to light up with golden color, and the panda started spinning it.

As he did, Tai Lung freed himself by slamming both his fists on the hand holding him, shocking its owner enough that the tortoise let go of him, and he jumped back to the ground, landing on all fours. Right at this moment, Po swung the staff a final time, releasing a great dragon of golden chi that flew in direction to the tortoise.

Seeing the golden being flying in his direction, the tortoise retreated into his shell, turning the curved part to the dragon flying his way, hoping it would just collide with the shell and cause it no harm.

However, he was not prepared to the skill of that panda.

With a swing of the staff, Po made the dragon move forward. Then, with a downwards movement, he caused the dragon to dive down, right in direction to the opening of the tortoise's shell, and the reptile hiding inside looking with wide eyes.

The dragon sank into the opening, and the entire shell shook and then shone in a bright golden light, which caused both Tai Lung and Po to cover their eyes. By the time the light subsided, they looked to see the shell, now of the normal size, spinning in the ground until it stopped while upside-down, and then the head and limbs of the tortoise inside came out, showing that he was normal now, and groaning weakly as he laid on his back.

"Well, I guess that does it, huh?" Po said with a smirk. Tai Lung, on his end, turned to look at the panda.

"How did you figured how to do that?" Tai Lung asked, "The scroll cannot have taught it, I still have it."

"Oh, the dragon thingy? I figured it out myself." Po said to Tai Lung. "I figured how to do that when I was trying to do that big dragon energy thing back when I fought Kai, but I guess it works different on the Mortal Realm, because I can only create those small dragons, and I can only do it if I have the staff."

"Oh... that's... actually quite impressive." Tai Lung begrudgingly admitted. Then he turned his attention back to the tortoise.

"So, I guess there is one more to go... where is he!?"

Tai Lung had turned to look at the chicken, only to see that he was gone. Po looked back too, and soon the two of them were back to back, both ready to use their chi as soon as they saw the enemy coming to them.

They had both forgotten that this chicken, unlike other of his kind, could fly.

The loud bukacking came from above just as two pairs of taloned feet came and grasped the two. Po and Tai Lung were dizzy as they were holstered in the air, and then slammed on top of the island, causing the wind to be knocked out of them, as the chicken stood above the two of them.

"You two..." The chicken cawed right on their faces, "You are just as arrogant and full of yourselves as that stupid manta! You, panda, with your 'I am the Dragon Warrior, I am the best and all of that!', and you with your 'I am the strongest of them all and I can face two giant monsters no problem!'!"

"Man, how can you make voices so well?" Po said, looking up at him. "Is it a natural skill, like Duan's flying? Because if it is, you could make a killing at parties!"

"Shut up!" The chicken yelled back at the panda. "I will peck your limbs and internal organs out one by one, and then I will take your heads to Jiao Din! Once I do, he will let me stay like this forever! I will be the king of the skies! BUK-KAW-KAW!"

The chicken let out a huge cry to the skies above, which echoed all around. Po and Tai Lung could not help but share a look at this, before the chicken turned his attention back at the two.

"Now! Enough stalling! Let's get this over with!"

And he then started pecking.

Even pinned down by his talons, Po and Tai Lung could move enough to get their arms and heads out of the way, the impacts of the beak on the rock leaving holes in it and causing the entire island to shake. Duan felt it from where he was hiding and, on the corner where the big slab of stone that was the next clue shook and moved ever so slightly closer to the edge.

The chicken let out a furious cry, as he was tired of not being able to just put an end to those two. Tai Lung and Po shared a look, and they knew only by looking at each other that they needed to do something now or it would be too late.

They both then put their fists together in front of their chests, focusing their chi and causing it to ignite in golden and blue balls.

Just as the chicken dove in direction to the two of the with his beak agape, the two of them fired the balls at the same time.

The balls met and merged as they entered the beak, which closed around the merged ball. The chicken's eyes widened as he instinctively swallowed.

For a few moments, it was as if the whole scene had frozen in place, with the chicken looking at the two of them with wide eyes, while they stared back. Then, a loud grumbling was heard coming from within the big avian, and then, the chicken started looking sick.

Then, the chicken's beak opened as he let out a huge belch right on the two warrior's faces, which could be heard all the way to the shores of the lake.

"Ewwwwww." Po said as he felt the smell of that belch, and Tai Lung also looked positively sickened by this.

Then, the chicken let out a huge cry to the heavens, flapping his wings and flailing his legs, causing the two warriors to be tossed away into one of the rock formations of the island. The chicken continued to caw hard, as a light shone inside of him, emitting beams of golden and blue light coming from deep within.

Then, with a huge flash, visible from miles away, and which caused Jiao Din, many miles away, to stop on his tracks and look back in attention, the chicken reverted to normal.

"Bu-kaaaaaaaaaawwww..." The chicken groaned as he laid on his back with his legs in the air. Meanwhile, Po was getting up, still dizzy from what happened.

What just happened? The panda caught himself thinking. However, as he looked to the side, he forgot about it, as he saw that the slab with the clue was right on the edge of its rocky formation, and very precariously, as said rocky formation was broke at that area and crumbling.

It was going to fall into the water!

"Oh, shoot!" Po said, getting up and getting ready to go, when he suddenly heard:

"Help!"

Po stopped and looked at a corner, and he saw Tai Lung in there. The snow leopard had nearly been tossed over the edge, and he was now desperately holding on the to the rock as he hanged above the lake's water.

"Help!" The snow leopard cried out. "Help me, please!"

"Tai Lung? What are you doing?"

"Well, I am not enjoying myself, that's for sure!" The leopard snapped at the panda. "Help me here!"

"What, you can't climb up yourself?"

"This thing is covered in moss! I can't get a grip!" Tai Lung's hand slipped as he said this, and he desperately tried to sink his claws into the rock, but even that was only enough to barely give him a grip. "Stop wasting time and help me out!"

Po looked at him, and then at the side, to see more of the rock formation crumbling down, and the slab was starting to tilt over and about to fall.

"I have to save the clue!" Po said, pointing at the slab. "I'll be back in a moment!"

"No! You have to help me! I can't hold on!"

"We can't lose the clue!"

"Help me!"

"I'll only take two minutes!"

"I can't hold for two minutes! Please! Save me!"

"Save you? Look, don't you think you are being a little dramatic with that fear of water?"

"You don't understand!" Tai Lung sounded positively desperate.

"Look, it is not that big of a deal!" Po sounded a bit exasperated. "It is not that big of a drop! You can make it! So what if you will get a little wet? You can just make it back to the island yourself!"

"No, I can't!"

"Of course, you can! You just have to get in position to dive and then you swim back to-"

At that point, Tai Lung screamed on top of his lungs:

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIIIIIIIIM!"

As he said that, his paws slipped off the edge, and he cried out as he fell all the way into the lake with a splash.

Meanwhile, the panda was left frozen in place, looking down as his brain processed what he just heard.

"... what?"

He continued to look down, and he saw as bubbles came out of the spot where the leopard splashed, but no sign of the leopard. After nearly five seconds, Po finally snapped out of it.

"Hang on!" The panda said, as he stopped thinking about anything else and just jumped into the lake, looking to save Tai Lung.

Just as the panda jumped after the snow leopard, the slab of stone also fell from the stone formation, one of them hitting the water right after the other. The slab of stone sank about as fast as one would expect, but the panda didn't notice, because he was too busy swimming in direction to the snow leopard who was also sinking alarmingly fast, all the while flailing and struggling but failing to reduce his descent even a little.

That warrior, who normally was stoic and knew exactly what to do in a moment of distress, found himself so overcame with panic that he could not stop and orient himself as he continued to sink, flailing his limbs wildly as he was overcome with flashbacks.

Of the last time he dropped into a lake just like that. Of how cold the water felt. Of how he could not stop himself from sinking, as he looked up and saw the figure of Master Shifu desperately swimming after him to rescue him before it was too late.

He was in the same situation now, complete with looking up and seeing a figure frantically swimming in his direction.

But it was not exactly the same.

And, just as Tai Lung's vision was darkening as his lungs expelled the stale air they had been holding, all he could think was that the one swimming towards him was not Shifu...

Tai Lung's eyes snapped open as he gasped. He was laying somewhere, blinked and looked around in shock, before taking another, much deeper and drawn out gasp for breath as he jolted in a sitting position.

He looked around, seeing, for sure, that he was no longer into the lake.

The lake didn't have floating pieces of rock into the air, some of them with cherry and peach blossoms in full bloom and spreading petals everywhere.

He was back in the Spirit World.

Tai Lung blinked, taking in where he was, and what it meant for him to be there again.

And then frustration started to grow on him.

"Are you kidding me!?" The leopard growled to himself, as his anger started to grow.

This was not how it was supposed to go!

This was not what that stupid turtle promised him!

"Hello, Tai Lung."

The voice made the snow leopard turn around immediately.

"You!"

Oogway was not fazed by this outburst from the leopard. He only took another sip of his tea, looking at the snow leopard with a calm expression.

"Nice of you to come back so soon." The turtle said to him. "Care for some tea?" He offered the cup to Tai Lung, but the snow leopard only snapped at him.

"You and your stupid tea! You lied to me!" The snow leopard got up on his feet and walked to him, each step cracking the stone under his feet with how hard the snow leopard stomped.

"You told me I would get to become the next Dragon Warrior! That I would live in the Mortal Realm again and have the title I always deserved!" He was roaring at the turtle, but Oogway seemed unfazed still. "You tricked me you dirty lying turtle!"

"I never lie, Tai Lung." Oogway said to the leopard with a serene expression and a smile. "And I never tricked you."

"You never told me I would have to go into a giant lake!" The snow leopard shot back. "You knew I never learned to swim! You should have told me!"

"If I did, then you would have been less inclined to go." Oogway's answer was simple, and it caused the snow leopard to snarl at him in frustration, while the turtle only continued to sip from his tea.

"Was all of this just a sham!?" Tai Lung demanded. "Was all of it just for the stupid panda to have some company!? Was that why you sent me back!? Just so I could drown in a stupid lake!?"

"No." Oogway said to him. "I sent you because the universe had plans for you."

"Yeah! Drowning me into a salty lake!" Tai Lung roared back, and then he turned around walking to a boulder and shattering it with a single punch.

"I was supposed to make a comeback and fulfill my destiny!" Tai Lung said. "Instead I ended up back here! This was not how it was supposed to go!"

"Is that so?" Oogway asked, and then Tai Lung turned back at him.

"Why are you so calm!? With me here the panda now has no help to defeat Jiao Din! He cannot save the Tien Spring without my help! You said that yourself! Or was that another lie you told me just so you could see me fall flat on my face and see my dreams shattered again!? Do you enjoy seeing me suffering!?"

"I don't take joy on anyone's suffering, Tai Lung." Oogway said with a serious expression, looking back at the snow leopard. "I never took any joy on what happened to you. None of it."

The leopard looked back at him with an angry expression, before turning away from him.

"Is this my fate?" Tai Lung asked, "To have my hopes raised only to have them destroyed? To think that my dream is right in front of me just to have it taken away?"

Tai Lung was looking at the distance.

"Was I really never meant to become the Dragon Warrior at all?"

He was asking that to himself more than to Oogway. However, Oogway's answer surprised him:

"You were meant to, at one point."

He blinked, and then he looked back at the turtle.

"What."

"There was a moment in the past when I could see a future where you became the Dragon Warrior." Oogway said, "Back when Shifu was training you." He looked at the snow leopard. "And you could have been a very good one."

Tai Lung continued to look at him.

"I... Wha... what are you on about!?" Tai Lung was confused. "If that's the case, then why you told me I was not!? Why you told me that I had darkness in my heart and could not become a Dragon Warrior!? That was what you said to me and Shifu back then! That I had darkness in me!"

"Everyone has." Oogway said simply. "Tai Lung, all living beings have both light and darkness in them. Even me. Even Po, believe it or not. Of course, you had darkness in your heart, as much as everyone else. You could still have become the Dragon Warrior, though."

"Then why you didn't just give me the title!?" Tai Lung demanded. "You just told me I was not the Dragon Warrior! You knew how much it meant to me, and you just told me I could not have the title! And you even kept looking at me while you said that right to my face! Ugh, I still remember the look on your face, and it still pisses me off! It was the same look you had whenever..."

Tai Lung trailed, and he was silent for a few moments, before looking down.

"Whenever you were giving me a lesson... and wanted me to... to figure out what you were trying to teach me..."

As he said that to himself, Tai Lung suddenly had an epiphany. An enlightenment about what happened decades ago. As this realization dawned on him, his eyes widened.

"That... that was test?"

He looked at Oogway, who looked back at him with that same serene expression.

"Telling me I was not the Dragon Warrior... was a test... to see if I was the Dragon Warrior!?"

Tai Lung could hardly believe it. That was just...too ludicrous! But the look on Oogway's face told him it was, and then his words confirmed it.

"If you had darkness in your heart was not the matter, Tai Lung." Oogway put his cup down and got up as he looked at Tai Lung. "The matter was if you were able to manage your darkness or not."

Tai Lung blinked.

"If you had taken what I said to you with serenity, if you had understood words and my decision, and accepted the designs of the universe for you and the future, then I would have handed the Dragon Scroll to you myself and presented you to China as my successor." Oogway spoke those words with uncanny naturality. "But, when you failed to accept it, when you allowed your darkness to take hold of you and took out your frustration and anger on the innocent villagers, the universe decided you were not worthy. At that moment, the future where you were the Dragon Warrior vanished from my sight."

Tai Lung stared at the turtle, his mind reeling as it tried to process everything he just heard.

Then, as it did, he started to shake. His teeth gritted as he looked at that turtle.

That turtle who just told him just three minutes ago that he never lied, and just admitted having lied straight to his face. That turtle who knew he could have become the Dragon Warrior and decided to deny him that by putting him through a completely arbitrary test just because he decided it was a good idea.

He could have become the Dragon Warrior back there! But because of Oogway's "test" he was instead sent to Chor Gom for twenty years, and then after that he spent over a decade in the Spirit Realm eating himself away in frustration and rage and cursing that panda who gained the title without ever having to go through any kind of test, just because that blasted turtle decided so!

At that moment, more than ever, Tai Lung felt that he had been cheated out of his destiny.

"You... senile turtle..." Tai Lung growled, as he gave slow steps in direction to Oogway. "You conniving old sod..." His claws unsheathed, as he towered over Oogway, who only continued to look at him with that same expression, as if nothing in the universe could shake him up.

That only made Tai Lung even more furious.

"YOU SONOVA-"

Just as Tai Lung tried to lunge at Oogway, aiming to get his claws on him and tear him apart, he was held back by a sudden, powerful gust of wind, that made him stumble back.

"What the-!?" Tai Lung looked at his own claws, and then back at Oogway, how was still looking back at him. He then tried to lunge at him again, only for the gust of wind to come back, and push him even further away from the turtle.

"How are you doing this!?" Tai Lung demanded, to what Oogway simply said he was doing nothing. Then another gust of wind came, and Tai Lung was pushed even further back.

"Your mission is not over yet, Tai Lung." Oogway said, pointing at Tai Lung's chest, where his crest was still emitting a soft golden light, as he walked in direction to the snow leopard, who was still pushed back by sudden gusts of wind, which carried a strange, salty smell. "You still have a duty to fulfill. You have to help Po and earn your redemption for your past misdeeds. This is a chance many would do anything to have, and it would be very sad to see you waste it out of petty pride and ambition. So, continue your path, help Po save the Tien Spring, and find out what you lacked all those years."

Tai Lung had stopped right on the edge of the floating island he was into with Oogway, his toes on the very edge as he struggled to balance himself. Oogway was just a foot away from him, and he said:

"Do this, and you will finally have the one thing you always wanted, and it will bring you as much joy as you always thought it would."

Tai Lung looked at the turtle, who then leaned forward.

And blew at him.

Just as he blew, another powerful gust of wind, the strongest of them all, came and swept Tai Lung with the force of a hurricane. The snow leopard cried out as he was blown across the air of the Spirit Realm, everything fading into the distance...

Once more, Tai Lung's eyes snapped open as he woke up with a jolt. A coughing fit hit him as his lung expelled the water that filled them, and then he desperately took deep breaths of fresh air.

"Tai Lung!" Po's voice said, causing the coughing and spluttering leopard to look up, at the panda looking at him with a relieved look on his eyes.

"You are alive! Man, I am so glad! I thought you were a goner... again!"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, and he took a while to understand what happened. The panda had saved his life.

"You lost the clue..." The snow leopard said to the panda as he still spluttered and spat some water.

"We can figure out something else." Po said to him, as he held the snow leopard on his arms. "I am just glad you are okay."

Tai Lung looked at the panda as he held him like that. This caused him to look away, as this reminded him of a time when Shifu also held him like that after saving him from drowning, just like that panda just did.

This was just like back on that day. Except for...

"What is this taste in my mouth?" Tai Lung asked himself, and Po then said:

"Oh, that's the kelpie."

"What? Did I swallowed those while I was drowning?"

"No, that's from the snacks I ate."

Tai Lung looked at Po after he said that, blinking.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I pulled you out of the water, but then I realized you were not breathing, so I had to do that resuscitation thing on you." Po admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "You know... mouth-to-mouth?"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, his brain getting a grip on what the panda just said as his tongue clicked on his own mouth, feeling that strong salty flavor.

Then the feline shoved the panda roughly, scrambled all the way to the edge of the rocky island and started throwing up into the lake.

Chapter Text

Man, this lake is not only big. It's deep too...

That was the thought on Po's head as he held on to Duan's back. The manta was descending, and he was doing so in a pace that the panda would be comfortable with.

Well, "comfortable" was a relative term when you were talking about going down into the deep water. After all, it was hard to feel comfortable with the feeling of being squeezed from all sides by the weight of all the water on top of you. Po felt his ears pop as they continued to descend, and he was having an uncomfortable feeling on his insides as the pressure was making something to them.

Not to mention that, the deeper they went, the darker and colder it got.

Luckily, for that, Po was able to work something as he had the Staff of Wisdom back on his hands before they started descending. He was able to channel his chi into it, to make it produce a golden, warm light that offered both luminosity and heat for the cold and dark depths of the lake. This allowed Po to see the path as they went down, and he could see that the island they were into was the top of what was nearly a mountain on the inside of the lake.

And, as Duan guided him down, Po soon could see something on the side of the said mountain, caught in between a few rocky crevices.

It was the stone slab that contained the first half of their next clue. Exactly the one thing that they dove to look for.

Po tapped Duan's back and gestured as he had his cheeks puffed from holding his breath. The manta swan to the crevice where the slab had gotten stuck, and soon Po was working on it.

He pulled as hard as he could, trying to get the thing out of the crevice so he could pull it back to the top of the island. However, the thing was fast stuck in there. The only thing Po managed to do was burn his oxygen reserves faster, making his lung feel tight and making the panda groan as he held his mouth, looking more frantic by the second.

Luckily, Duan was in there and, just as Po could no longer hold it, he put a wing around the panda and pulled him close until his muzzle was pressed right on the manta's gills.

Right then, a wave of bubbles started flowing from the gills. Po's eyes widened.

Fresh air!

Opening his mouth, Po let out all the stale air from his lungs before sealing his lips around Duan's gills and sucking the fresh air straight out of them until his lungs were full.

After this, Po nodded at Duan for the help, with the manta nodding back at him. Then, he once more tried to pull the slab out.

Nope, he could not pull it loose. Even if he could, it was so heavy that it would, most likely, get the two of them dragged down if they tried to haul it upwards.

Time for plan B.

With a piece of wood from their broken boat, and a sharp rock gotten rom the surface, Po put himself to start writing.

The staff, charged with his chi, provide all the light Po needed to read, although he did have to swim upside down to be able to read what was written on the slab, due to the position in which it was stuck. So, by using the sharp rock as a pen, he carved the words on the piece of wood, transcribing them as he read from the slab.

It took a while to do it and, as he was in the middle, he had to tap Duan's shoulder and point at his own muzzle to signal he needed more air. Duan let the panda suck more oxygen out of his gills before going back right to copying.

Once he was done, Po made a thumbs-up gesture to the manta, who nodded at him and then swam around the panda, allowing Po to grab into his back once more as he quickly carried the ursine all the way back to the surface, where they broke out of the lake all at once and jumped right back into the rocky island, where Tai Lung was waiting, sitting on the ground near the tortoise and chicken they had tied up with strong algae from the lake.

"You took your sweet time down there, didn't you?" the snow leopard asked as the panda and manta returned to the island, sitting with his knees close to his chest as he looked at them. "I'm surprise at how long you can hold your breath."

"Oh, Duan helped me with that." Po said, "He let me suck his gills."

"Wait, suck his what!?" The snow leopard sounded shocked.

"His gills." Po said, and the leopard blinked.

"Oh... right."

"Yeah, did you know air just pours out of them!?" Po said, sounding as amazed as a child who sees a neat trick for the first time.

"Well, it's no big deal." Duan said, "Me and my brothers did it all the time when we were younger. But it was the first time that I burped underwater in years..."

"Wait, 'burped'?" Po said, looking surprised. "Those were burps? I breathed your burps?" He looked at the manta for a while.

"That's... awesome! A little gross, but awesome!"

Tai Lung rolled his eyes and shook his head as he looked away. Meanwhile, Duan explained that it was not exactly "burping", but more like just letting out the extra oxygen he got out of the water while he was breathing through his gills, since he, like over half of the fish, ended up taking more oxygen than he needed to breathe and ended up releasing it as bubbles. He was still a teenager when he realized he could give these bubbles of fresh air for another animal to breathe in case they needed.

"Yeah, yeah, that's all very interesting." Tai Lung said as Duan explained how his underwater breathing worked as the panda asked. "Can we focus on the clue, please?"

"Oh, yeah right! I got it." Po said, showing the piece of wood where he carved the clue, and he and Tai Lung read it under the moonlight. It was another poem, a long one, and it spoke about moving sands and rock formations over which the sun shone. About shadows and the wind singing a song for the lonely travelers.

"Wow... that's beautiful." Po said as she read the poem one last time, now being able to enjoy it now that he was not rushing to finish copying it while feeling like his lungs were going to pop.

"And now... for the second part." Tai Lung said, pulling the Dragon Scroll from his belt and letting Po touch it while focusing his chi. As they did, the scroll revealed new words.

It was a single phrase:

"Seven steps at a time"

"What does that mean?" Po asked as he looked at the words and tried to figure out what they could mean.

"That's for us to figure out..." Tai Lung said, and he and Po were soon pondering how the two clues came together. Po read and re-read the poem a couple times, and he repeated the words of the scroll to himself as he ran his eyes over the ones written on the slab of wood.

"You know, you actually have a good handwriting." Tai Lung said, and Po looked at him in surprise.

Did... did Tai Lung just complimented him?

"Well, it's true." Tai Lung said, "I mean, you were doing it underwater, and you still made it readable. Did you took calligraphy courses?"

"Not really, I am just good at writing, I think?" Po said, "I even found out a way to do it better. You just make in groups of ideograms. Like, you divide the entire phrase you are copying into small groups of three and you treat each group like an individual task of the whole. This way you can keep your focus and make the writing in stages instead of trying to do the one thing at once."

"Does that works?" Duan asked, as he had made his way closer to the two warriors.

"Well, it does to me. I find it easy to write down long things if I am doing it three ideograms at a... time..."

Po then went silent, staring at the void.

"Dragon Warrior?" Duan asked, but he was ignored. Instead, Po focused his attention back to the piece of wood.

"Seven at a time..."

Then, he started counting the ideograms.

The other two looked at him, as his eyes slowly widened.

"Guys..." Po looked at the two. "I think I figured it out!"

Seven steps at a time. As in, each ideogram was a step, and once you reached the seventh, you picked the one ideogram and then started again until the next seventh.

That was the secret of this clue!

They needed to read each seventh ideogram of the poem!

Tai Lung was honestly baffled by this.

That... could not be it. There was no way it could be that simple.

But, as it turns out, it apparently was.

It was simplistic nearly to a childish level, and yet it was somehow ingenious in a way that only a sage would be able to think of.

Following this logic, and reading each seventh ideogram of the poem, they came up with a new phrase.

"Among moving sands, sunless singing rocks surround the direction."

"That... makes about as much sense as the scroll's clue..." Po said, and they both looked at it, and then Duan was the one who chimmed in:

"The Desert of the Singing Rocks!"

They looked at him.

"It is a place that I passed on my way to this lake many years ago!" Duan explained to the two. "It is called like that because, inside the desert, there is a set of rocks that actually sing!"

"Really!? Are they magic!? What music they sing!? Is it the Plum Blossom Melody? I love that song!" Po asked, excited at the prospect of real singing rocks. Duan, however, explained that the rocks didn't really singed, but more like whistled.

"It is because of their shape." Duan explained. "They have holes in them. When the wind passes through those holes, they produce a sound of whistling that many say is the 'song' of the rocks. Some even say that this singing holds the secrets of the whole universe, if you just listen close enough, and that you can find the answer to any question if you learn how to interpret it."

"That's awesome!" Po said, "Man, I so want to hear a bunch of rocks singing!"

"They are on the extreme north of the desert, protected by a dome of natural rock." Duan said, "Because of that dome, no matter what time of the day it is, the sunlight never reaches them."

"That's definitely it." Tai Lung concluded. "We gotta get there."

"Right! Then we gotta swim to the other side of the lake and-" Po was saying, but he trailed as he remembered. He looked at Tai Lung, who was looking away with a grumpy expression.

"Or... we figure some other plan." Po said, rubbing the back of his neck. That was when Duan said:

"I can definitely help with that."

Soon, the two warriors were holding firmly into his wings, as he looked forward into the lake.

Tai Lung, in fact, was holding so firmly that Duan had to, once more, tell him to mind the claws.

"Okay now! Here we go!"

Duan launched himself forwards, using a crack of his whip-like tail to shoot himself up into the air. Keeping his wings spread, and flapping them, Duan managed to catch an ascending draft that carried the three of them right up.

"Woooohooooo! That's so coooooool!" Po said as he held onto Duan's left wing, while Tai Lung clutched tightly to the other one.

Duan circled around the island, using the updrafts to gain more altitude before taking in the direction towards the edge of the lake, while Po was still crying out in excitement as they were flying. The panda was certainly having a much better time than the snow leopard, who was looking down, but not at the water. In fact, he seemed like he was trying to hide from the water by lowering his face close to Duan's skin, as a kitten hiding from a stranger behind his mother's leg.

"You okay, buddy?" Po asked, and Tai Lung's answer was:

"I almost drowned, got a mouth-to-mouth from you, of all people, and I am still on the middle of a giant lake risking drowning a second time. I don't know that is your definition of 'okay', but I am pretty sure I don't fit in it."

Po flinched a bit at his answer.

"Well... I hope you feel better soon... and I will give you... some space. Yeah! Some space. No asking or hounding you for answers or anything like that. Yeah!"

And Po looked away, although he kept the next thirty second casting glances at Tai Lung, what the snow leopard, of course, noticed right away.

That panda stunk at being subtle about things. It was just so obvious he wanted to ask it was offending for him to pretend he didn't.

"I was eight years old the first time I almost drowned." Tai Lung said. Po looked his way as he did. "I had some difficulties to focus, and Shifu decided to get me to meditate to improve my focus. But it was not really working. That was when he had the idea of taking me to the Pool of Heavenly Tears. He thought that being in the birthplace of Kung Fu would help me overcome my focus problems."

Tai Lung sighed.

"I was on the edge of the stone formation. I climbed there when Shifu was distracted. I swear it looked like he was going to have an aneurism when he saw me up there. It was quite funny, actually." The leopard was speaking of this memory of the past. "I was so amused that I slipped and fell right into the lake."

He sighed.

"Do you know there is a legend that says that the Pool of Sacred Tear is bottomless? That anything that sinks in it just keeps sinking forever? Well, imagine how remembering that when you are an eight-years-old cub who hadn't learned to swim yet feels while you are literally sinking into the said pool."

Po said nothing in return. He could only imagine how terrifying that felt for the little cub. To think that he would just continue to sink forever... Heck, he would be scared if he was on the same situation, and he was on his early thirties!

Really early. Like, very... he was not old.

"I was lucky Shifu was there and that he was a much better swimmer than me." Tai Lung continued. "He pulled me out of the water and made sure I was okay. Well, I didn't drown, but I was never so scared in my life. I couldn't stop hugging him as he took me back to the palace."

The snow leopard ventured to look at the panda, who was looking at him.

"That was the day I decided that I would never have anything to do with any more water than it would fit in a tub again." This was the conclusion that the snow leopard made. "As a consequence, I never really learned how to swim, since I refused to come close to any river or lake after this... until today."

He looked away again.

"And, on the first time in decades I come close to a lake again, I nearly drown again... guess I should try harder to stay away from water."

Po looked at him for a moment, and then he said:

"Or maybe you could try diving again!"

Tai Lung looked at the panda with a deadpan expression.

"I don't know if you are joking or if you are suggesting this so you can get rid of me, but either way, I would tie rocks to your feet and throw you in this lake myself."

"I am serious!" Po said, "I mean, not about wanting you to die! I am saying that maybe, instead of running from your problem with water, you could try and face it!"

"By nearly drowning a third time?"

"By learning to swim!" Po said to him. "The whole problem is that you don't know how to, right? Well then you just need to learn to swim! I can teach you!"

Tai Lung looked at him for a moment.

"Yeah, that will be a hard pass for me."

"Come on, I can teach you!" Po said, "I learned to swim when I was seven, and I never forgot! I can teach you like my dad taught me! You have no problems with water if it is in a tub, right? That's great! Let's start by putting you in a tub and training some movements! But, wait, where we will find a tub now?"

The snow leopard decided to do the best thing he could in a moment like that: completely ignore the panda.

"Okay, guys! We are nearly on the edge of the lake!" Duan said, "Both of you hold on tight, we will be going up now!"

"Wait, up?" Po asked, and Duan said:

"Well, since I am taking both of you on my back, I might as well take you guys as far as I can! And here is the updraft!"

With that said, Duan suddenly shot up as he rode on the upwards wind, shocking the two warriors and forcing them to hold on to his wings hard as the manta glided uphill until he came out of the gorge where the lake was, and then he was soon gliding them into the distance, riding the winds in direction to the desert.

Just two minutes after they made it out of the crater, a boat arrived on the shore on the direction they gone to.

It was moving quite fast, and it pretty much crashed into the shore with how hard it had hit. It had hit hard because one of the two people inside had been roaming with all the strength her arms could muster, which was NOT little.

"Come in, Tigress!" Viper said. "We cannot lose them!"

With this, Tigress dropped the roams, which were pretty much ruined by now, and she and Viper went as fast as they could up the hill and after the two who were having a significant advantage due to being ridding on the back of a flying manta ray...

Most people did not realize how hard flying was.

Those who could fly understood. They understood how much strength you needed on your wings and chest to be able to flap hard enough to be able to keep yourself airborne. Even more if you were taking off from the ground and gaining altitude, I mean, we are talking about winning against gravity here.

You needed to be strong to fly. And Crane was strong. His wings and legs could be thin, but that was because most of his muscles were compacted on his torso, where it was the most needed to movement his wings with enough force to produce lift and keep himself airborne. That was what made most people think of him as weak for many years of his life.

Some still did.

They didn't understand the amount of compacted bird muscle you needed to be able to fly. And to keep flying for hours and hours, as you made laps around the Valley, going over every village one, two, three, four times, and then moving to the next, and then doing the lap once more.

He did it until his chest was hurting from flapping his wings for so long. He would have continued until his heart gave out, was not for his common sense telling him not to do something so stupid.

That was why Crane instead landed right on the entrance of the village an walked all the way to a place where he could rest and eat something. He was starving, and his chest was hurting. He was pretty sure he would have regretted having pushed himself so hard in the morning.

"Crane? You okay?"

The voice snapped the avian out of his reflections, as he looked up at the panda who asked him that.

"You have been just sitting there looking at your empty plate for a while..." Li said to him, sounding worried. "And you looked to be... pretty out there."

"O-oh... Y-yeah... Yeah! I mean, I am fine. Just... got a lot in my head right now."

"Oh, thinking a lot about things, huh?" Li asked to the avian. Crane then said:

"Yeah, actually I am trying not to think. Anyways, I think I am done with dinner. Can I have the bill, please?"

"Right away." Li then went to ask Ping for the tab for Crane's table, and the avian sighed as he looked down.

Yes, Crane had been trying not to think all day. That was what make more laps by flying around the Valley than an Olympic marathonist was all about. He was just trying to keep his head empty. To not think of what he learned just a day prior.

On that previous day, Crane also flew around until he was tired. Not as much as he did today though. He hoped that tiring himself enough would be what it took to empty his head of thoughts.

Of the thought of Viper and Po.

Of the panda who came out of nowhere by falling out of the sky being the one to be with the kindest, sweetest and most beautiful girl he ever knew when Crane himself had known her for full six years before him.

It took him over a year to get over the fact that Viper had called Po "cute" on the very day they met him. That was even the reason why Crane had been so dismissive with the panda back when they met, maybe even more than the others, but not as much as Tigress.

Crane himself didn't understood, on the beginning, why he had been so cold and abrasive with the panda, simply because Viper referred to him as cute. It was by thinking about it that Crane came to realize his own feelings towards the snake. After that, he could hardly ever look at Viper the same way again, even though he had been able to disguise it well enough that no one else ever noticed.

That panda really shook up their lives.

Overtime, Crane got over it, as he had convinced himself that Viper was only being Viper. Only the sweet and gentle snake that he knew for so long, and that was nice even with a clumsy guy who made a fool out of himself most of the time. I mean, it was not as if she had "feelings" for him, right?

But, as it turned out, she had.

And Crane had been oblivious to it until forced to confront it, just like he had been to his own feelings towards the snake.

Had Viper always had those feelings for Po, and that was why she called him cute back then? Or did Viper only saw him as endearing, and the feelings she had for him now came later?

Either way, they put Crane on the very same stinking predicament.

He loved Viper. He knew that now. He loved her and he wanted her to love him back.

And he cared for Po. He was his friend. They didn't start off on the best terms, but they became great friends, and Crane liked and respected the panda like few other people on his life.

Viper loved Po. Enough that she would be with him if she could.

That very thought was enough to make Crane's heart ache more than all the effort he made throughout the day by flying.

"This is as far as I can take you two." The manta said to the two of them as they stood before him, while he was inside of a pond. "I would like to take you further, but there is no more ponds, rivers or lakes for miles ahead, and I cannot risk being away from water for too long. You know, being a fish and all."

"We understand." Po said, "Still, you helped us cover a lot of ground. Thanks a lot, Duan. We very much appreciate it."

"Good luck saving the world, both of you." Duan said, "And, once more, thank you for saving my life and village."

With that said, Duan dove into the pond, preparing and then taking off it and into the air, using his wings to keep himself into the air as he started flying back on the direction he came, back to the lake.

"He's a really swell guy, ain't he?" Po asked as he waved goodbye to the manta. Tai Lung had his arms crossed as he shrugged.

"Meh, he's alright, I guess. Now, what about we continue our way?"

"Yes, that's right!" Po said, "And, meanwhile, we can continue with the plans for your swimming lessons."

Tai Lung couldn't help but groan.

The way the panda insistent on things was possibly one of the most annoying things about him.

Tai Lung tried to ignore him, hoping that he would take the hint and just drop the matter entirely. However, he should have realized two things about Po by now.

One, the panda was not the type who just dropped things.

Second, he was quite bad at taking hints.

"Most animals float naturally, unless they are squirming a lot." Po said to the leopard. "So, the secret to keep yourself afloat when you are not good swimming is to not move too much. If you can, try stretching your body and laying on the horizontal on the water. With your face up so you can keep it above the water and breathe, of course. Just try to relax and let your body float like a leaf on the surface. Even I can do that and look at me!"

Po had his arms stretched to show his big, bulky panda body, which few people would say could float like a leaf upon laying eyes on it for the first time. The leopard only looked at him, shrugged, and then continued walking.

And Po, of course, continued to follow him, and to give him "pointers and tips" of how to proceed. He even made sure to give Tai Lung some demonstrations of how to swing by laying on some rocks and trees on the way and showing him the proper technique.

"It is all about using your limbs on the right rhythm." Po said as he laid on the horizontal branch of a twisted tree on their way.

"You cannot just flail them. This way you won't go anywhere but down. You gotta focus on where you want to go and move yourself on that direction by pulling and pushing the water. Use your arms to pull and your legs to push. Swing and kick, like this. This is the most basic way to swim if you don't know how. Wide movements with your arms and kicking motions with your legs, as if you are fighting! In this case, you are fighting the water. If you sink, the water wins. You don't want to lose to the water, do you?"

Tai Lung growled at the panda as he asked that question.

"Yeah, I thought so. So, you gotta fight the water, and that is the way to do it! Do it and you can defeat the water!"

Tai Lung just stared at the panda for another moment, before scoffing and continuing his way.

Man, he is really not invested... Po looked at the feline who continued his way. Maybe he cannot see himself doing it? Wait, maybe if I... And the panda dug into his backpack, pulling something else from it.

Tai Lung was about ready to snap at the panda as he came in front of him again.

"Okay, I gonna show you some other styles of swimming now." The panda said and pulled a plush from his back. "You see, there are several, and you can use the one you think suits you the best. There are a lot of them to pick."

Tai Lung now was staring. He was staring with a look of surprise, with wide eyes. Po took this as a sign that he had managed to capture his attention into the swimming lessons. However, that was actually not what got the leopard's attention.

The feline swung his hand at the panda. Not to hit him, but to snatch the plush off hid hands and to look at it.

"Uhh, Tai Lung?" Po asked as the leopard continued to stare at the doll as if he could not believe his eyes.

"Where did you got this!?" Tai Lung asked, looking at the panda.

"Uhhh, Shifu gave it to me right after our battle ten years ago?" Po asked, "He said that it was something he had kept for years, but that he needed to move on or something? Told me to get rid of it, but I didn't feel like I could. I mean, he seemed attached to that and sad for giving it to me. I decided to keep it in case Shifu ever asked for it back."

Tai Lung stared at the panda. And then he looked back at the doll.

"Shifu... kept it?"

Po looked at the feline for a while longer.

"What's going on?"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, and then he sighed.

The doll was that of a plushy snow-leopard wearing red pants and a green jacket. And Tai Lung, instead of saying anything to the panda, just lifted the doll's jacket, revealing something written underneath it.

"Oh, I never saw that before!" Po said, and he started reading what was written on the back of the snow leopard plush. "Hello, my name is Fang. If you find me, this means I am lost. Please, take me back to the Jade Palace and give me back to my friend... Tai Lung..."

Po's eyes were wide, as realization dawned on him.

"This... this was yours!?"

Po seemed shocked. This caused Tai Lung to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Was the panda shocked for knowing Tai Lung used to own a toy?

"No need to be so surprised. Everyone has had at least one toy when they were children. You still have all of yours, apparently." He said to Po, before looking back at the doll. "Shifu gave him to me when I was five. I remember it because it was the first gift I got from anyone, and I was very happy. I barely let go of it ever since. Used to carry Fang everywhere I went, and spent hours talking to him and playing with him around. I used to tell him all my secrets."

"D'awwww, that's so sweet." Po had a smile on his face as he spoke those words. Tai Lung felt an impulse to swing his claws on that smiling face but held back.

"Well, he used to be my only friend back on the day." Tai Lung said, "It was either talk to him or to the walls of the palace."

"Oh... you... didn't had any friends?" Po asked, and Tai Lung sighed.

"Remember the thing about a carnivore being scary? Well, that also applies when you are a child. The other kids don't want to be around you, or their parents don't let them. Besides, the fact I lived way above the village on the Palace made it hard for people to come visit. So, it was basically only me, Shifu and that old turtle. And the servants, but I honestly hardly paid too much attention to them."

"So, basically this stuffed toy was my only friend." Tai Lung said, looking at him. "He kind of made up for the lack of real friends."

Po looked at him, and he nodded unconsciously.

"I know the feeling..." the panda said without even realizing it. Tai Lung cast a glance at him, before looking back at the toy.

"But, as I grew up, I ended up realizing that playing with a toy was not the same as playing with other kids. I still played with it, but I didn't have a friend of flesh and bone to play tag or some other game..." Tai Lung spoke, and now it seemed that he was talking a little bit to himself as well.

"Back then... that was the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world."

"To play tag or some other game?" Po asked. Tai Lung fought back the urge to slap his own face and drag his hand across it.

"A friend, panda." Tai Lung said, and Po said a "Ohhhh" while nodding.

The snow leopard then sighed.

"Anyways, I grew up and realized that playing with a doll was a waste of time. People do realize it as they grow up, or most of them." He looked at Po, nearly as if he wanted the panda to take the hint, what Po kind of did. "I tossed it away after I turned ten. Just dropped it by the side of the palace and expected it not to show up again... I can't believe Shifu kept it."

Po looked at the snow leopard before speaking again:

"Maybe he wanted to have something to remind him of you." Tai Lung looked at the panda as he spoke that. "Most dads would do that, according to both of mine. Shifu raised you since you were a cub, so you were his son, even after everything that happened. He still loved you, and he wanted to have something to remember the happy days of your cubhood."

Tai Lung looked at the panda for a while, and then he looked back at the toy on his hands. His expression was... soft. Softer than Po ever saw before.

However, that only lasted for around ten seconds.

"And then, after you defeated me, he just got rid of it." He had an indifferent expression as he looked back at the panda, tossing the toy back at him. "Yeah, that certainly is fatherly love."

And, without saying another word, he continued his way, with Po soon following behind him, still holding the doll on his hands.

"So... why did you named him Fang? I mean, it was you, or did Shifu chose the name? Like, 'this is Fang, and he will be your new friend'?"

Tai Lung groaned. Why couldn't the panda just shut up!?

"I chose the name." Tai Lung said, more because he wanted to end the conversation and get this over with. "I always liked the name Fang. I think it has style."

"Cool!" Po said back, "It's a good name, but I would have chosen a name like Tao or Ling, I prefer them. Or maybe I'd chose a name like Bo. You know, because it rhymes with mine? Po, Bo, you imagine me presenting myself and my little pal Bo to my friends? I could also name him Little Po, but that would be too silly. Besides, I heard some people say it is kind of lame when children name their toys after themselves."

"Oh, yeah. And we all know you would avoid anything that's lame, no?" Tai Lung said, "Because you are the great Dragon Warrior. As cool as that chicken said when he was imitating you."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that." Po said, "That was so cool! I mean, it was really rude of him to mock me that way, but it was so cool he could imitate me so well! He also made a good impression of you."

"Yeah, yeah..." Tai Lung seemed annoyed, but then he stopped. "Wait, what?"

"What?" Po said, confused by Tai Lung's confusion.

"What was that you said about an impression of me?" The snow leopard was looking at the panda as he asked that question.

"Oh, that? I was just saying how well that chicken could imitate you. He managed to do your tone really well and he spoke just like you. Seriously, I think he really got your essence."

Tai Lung blinked.

"Wait..." The snow leopard's brain was processing what the panda just said to him. "Back then, when that giant chicken made fun of me... he... he was imitating me?"

"Uhhh, yes?" Po said. "I mean, wasn't it obvious? I mean, when you mock a person like that you usually try to speak just like the person you are mocking. And that was pretty much you, you know?"

Tai Lung blinked.

"That... that was my voice?"

The snow leopard said that to himself, as he remembered the voice that the chicken made.

The voice Po claimed was his'.

A person's voice never sounds to others the way it sounds to themselves. Tai Lung was aware of that. He knew that his own voice would always sound different to his own ears than to everyone else.

But still, that voice that the chicken did was... a lot less intimidating and imposing than Tai Lung had imagined. Actually, it was kind of high pitched and goofy.

"That... was such a silly voice!" The snow leopard said, and then he turned to the panda. "I-I don't sound like that, do I?"

He seemed aggravated as he looked at the panda, who could only look back at him, unsure of what to say as the feline looked at him as if desperately waiting for confirmation.

Then Po's eyes shifted and...

"Oh, look! There's light in there!" The panda pointed into the distance, where light was clearly visible. "Maybe it's a village! We can ask them for directions! Come, come, come!"

And Po took Tai Lung there by grabbing his hand and pulling him along, and the surprised leopard went with him. As they both went ahead, both failed to notice the figures of Tigress and Viper coming behind them, spotting the same lights and, figuring out they would be going there, started heading on that very direction.

It was, indeed, a village. It preceded the desert, and the people there lived closely by it. There were a lot of animals in there who were specialized in walking through the arid terrain, either be it to guide caravans through it or to look for roots, flowers and other ingredients one could find in that desolated scenery.

And, as they saw Tai Lung and realized who he was, they reacted pretty much like the people of the previous village.

"He is with me! He is a friend!" Po quickly said as he tranquilized everyone, explaining a quick sum-up of the whole thing and letting them know that Tai Lung was not a threat and that he, much like Po, was there to help. The people of the village seemed to take Po's word for it, although they still looked at the snow leopard with a little bit of mistrust as the two warriors were taken to meet the village's elder, who was a beetle and very receptive to the two.

"Yes, I know the place you are referring to." The beetle with a jade ring being used as a neck decoration said. "Our desert's famous singing stones. They are pretty popular among the travelers. Everyone wants to go in there and hear their ethereal melody for themselves. Just last week I took a whole family of rabbits on vacation to see them. Let me tell you, they had the more rambunctious children I've met in years, but even those fifty-four little rascals quieted down once they started hearing the song of the rocks. It is really something beautiful."

"Yeah, it must really be." Po said, "Mister Elder Beetle, could you take is there, by any chance? We really need to reach those rocks."

"Why, of course I can!" The beetle said proudly. "I have been going back and forth on that desert since I was a little nymph ridding on my mama's back! I know where everything is, and I will take you young lads there!"

"You will." Said a new voice, and an elderly gerbil woman came forward. "But not tonight. You know that it is late, and your sense of direction is not what is used to be."

"Woman, my sense of direction is as good as ever." The beetle said stubbornly, to what the gerbil lady said:

"So, is that why you ended up going to the kitchen while trying to find the bathroom and ended up taking a bath on the soup, no? He will be taking you two there in the morning, meanwhile, you can spend the night in our village. We will arrange a hut for the night."

"Thank you, ma'am, that's really kind of you." Po said as he bowed. "So, I assume you are his caretaker, or something?" That was when the beetle said:

"She is my wife."

Po said nothing in return, and only stared at the two, along with Tai Lung.

"Is that a problem?" The gerbil said to the two of them as she pulled the beetle closer to herself.

"Not at all, ma'am." Po said quickly, as he did not want to upset their hosts, but he was still reeling from the information...

Meanwhile, up above, a small green figure was watching them before flying away at top speed in direction to the middle of the desert.

It was late at night. The stars were shinning way above on the clear sky. It was a beautiful night, devoid of any cloud and offering a clear sight of everything above for someone down bellow to look and be in wonder.

If they were not blind, that is.

Master Peacock was not blind.

"You used to love watching the stars..." The avian said as he was being carried by the Komodo. "You used to say that one day you would be like them. Shining so bright that everyone would be looking your way. You said you wanted to inspire and amaze the others. That you wanted to be an example for them to follow. That you wanted them to look at you and see more than just a Komodo dragon. For them to see someone who they would admire and love..."

Jiao Din said nothing in return, as he only continued to walk forward in direction to the center of the desert, guided by his other senses and by his deep perception of chi, harnessed over the course of decades since his vision was taken by that very same bird who he was carrying by the neck.

"It's not too late." Peafowl was once more pleading. "You can still become a beloved and admired hero like you always wanted. You can stop this. You can stop this madness now while there's still time. Please, kid, you have to reconsider."

"You should consider keeping your beak close from now on." Jiao Din squeezed slightly on the neck of the peafowl, pouring a tad bit of his purple chi on it, causing the bird to let out a pained caw. "The only reason I've not ripped it out of your face yet is because I need you to tell me the other half of the clues. But don't you think you can test my patience. Speak only when I ask you questions from now on."

He approached Peacock's face of his own.

"As for those old dreams of mine? I put them to rest long ago and replaced them with new ones. And I will see them fulfilled one way or another, and no one will get on my way."

Just after he said that, the lizard noticed a familiar presence approaching.

Peng Mao landed heavily on the ground, panting as he had been flying for a while, trying to find Jiao Din across this big desert before finally catching sight of him.

"You better have good news." The lizard said, and the bird, after recovering his breath, said:

"T-Tai Lung and the Dragon Warrior passed by the monsters you left behind! They figured out the clue and stopped by a village and they are just a couple clicks behind us! They will he coming this way as soon as the sun rises, and they will have an experienced guide with them!"

"Did those two really defeated the two I sent to stop them?" The lizard asked, and the bird was soon giving him a brief description of the fight they had, and he seemed to give emphasis on how cool they both looked as they fought the two monsters.

"Did the panda created a chi construct?" Jiao Din said, and he did sound impressed, even more as Peng Mao told him that the Dragon Warrior controlled it with movements of his staff.

"That's not an easy task by any means. Even I cannot do something like that. And he also figured the clue in just minutes while I took nearly two hours... guess I underestimated that fat bastard, after all." The lizard admitted to himself.

"Oh, yeah! I gotta say, I never really believed those stories about the Dragon Warrior they told, but I totally believe them now! The panda is so cool..."

"He is annoying." The lizard growled, causing Peng Mao to flinch. "Ugh, I hate being tailed. I need to get those two off my back so I can focus on getting to the Tien Spring. Maybe I should leave another surprise for them..." He stopped for a moment to pay attention to his surroundings, his chi perception picking something.

"Yeah, that will do."

The lizard walked to something nearby, and he crouched to it and soon held his hand over it, pouring his purple chi into it.

As he did, the flowers on that small patch of needlegrass started to change colors to a deep purple...

Chapter Text

Shifu was sitting in a lotus position. One perfect for meditation, and the small master was trying to focus his mind and calm the thoughts that have been creeping into his head for the last few days ever since the Dragon Warrior departed on his latest mission.

Even now, as he was deep in meditation, he found the same thoughts coming at him. Worrying, even terrifying. And all of them far too valid, despite what Shifu tried to tell himself.

Then, his ear twitched. A sound came. Steps. Heavy steps, moving up the stairs.

"Po?" Shifu opened his eyes, looking over to see a big figure making it to the top of the stairs, the Staff of Wisdom on their hand.

"Po!" Shifu could not contain himself. He got up and rushed to the panda, all his worries giving way to a sense of relief so profound it made Shifu drop completely his stoic posture and rush up to Po, wanting to tell him how glad he was for seeing him again.

However, as he approached, that relief washed away, as it was replaced by another feeling.

One of sheer, undiluted horror.

"Hello, Shifu." Tai Lung said as he lifted his head, removing the straw hat, smirking down at Shifu. "I have come back. This time to stay."

Shifu looked at him. He could not form any answer. Not as he looked at what Tai Lung had draped over his shoulders.

It was a pelt.

A black and white panda pelt.

"It's quite comfy, you know?" Tai Lung said, running a hand over the fur with one hand, while the other one held the Staff of Wisdom. "And it kept me warm all the way back. Guess that panda was not completely useless, after all."

Tai Lung moved his arm, letting the pelt move to the side to reveal something else he had on him. A panda skull, hanging from his belt.

"And he was delicious." Tai Lung said, and he let out a belch, small tufts of black and white fur coming out of his mouth as he did, grinning down at Shifu while the small master gave a step back, shaking his head in disbelief and denial.

"Oh, what's with that face, Shifu?" Tai Lung asked, smirking as he approached the small master. "You are looking like some tragedy just happened. This is a moment to celebrate! Not only the Tien Spring is safe, but the stupid panda who was parading around pretending to be a great warrior is now gone for good! Now you have a REAL Dragon Warrior! And that is no other than your original star student! Aren't you happy, Shifu?"

When the small master hesitated, then Tai Lung's grin turned into a growl his eyes shining blue while his hands erupted in blue flames.

"TELL ME YOU ARE HAPPY!"

Shifu gasped as his eyes snapped open.

He was still in lotus position. The same one he had been in for over three hours.

He had not got up. He had not turned around to look at the door. Because no one came.

It was all a nightmare. It happened sometimes, a dream or nightmare coming to you when you were on that state of semi-consciousness, the one space between being awake and asleep that you reached when you were in deep meditation.

It was just a dream.

Or was it the universe trying to send you a message?

Just as Shifu had that last, troubling thought, he heard something. Something behind him, coming from the stairs.

Steps.

Shifu felt his stomach and heart both drop and tie together into a single knot. However, he soon realized that those steps were way too light to be either Po or Tai Lung's. Those were the steps of avian feet.

"Hello, Crane." Shifu said without turning around. Behind him, the avian bowed to the small master, wishing him a good morning.

"Oh? It's morning already?"

"Well, yeah..." Crane said, "Didn't you hear the gong?"

"Not really." Shifu said, "I was in deep meditation."

"Oh... Well, the sun rose, and everyone started doing things already. The servants are cleaning all the rooms, and Monkey and Mantis went to the nearby village for supplies."

"And the other students?"

"Already on the training hall following the schedule Po left." Crane said, "They are all pretty hard workers, those kids."

"I assume so." Shifu said, "Po did a good job making sure they follow training. He made his students more disciplined than himself, that's for sure." Shifu said, smiling as he spoke that, successfully hiding the tension of the horrifying vision he had a few minutes ago behind humor. "And, what about you? Don't you have anything to do today? Perhaps join Po's students on their training?"

"Yeah, I'll have to pass..." Crane said, stretching his neck and wings. "Got some cramps here."

"From training?"

"More from flying." Crane said, "Made a lot of laps around the Valley yesterday."

"Admirable." Shifu said, "I'd recommend you use an ointment for your muscles and then repeat it. It will help you build resistance."

"Yeah, I would take the ointment, that's for sure..." Crane said, "Pretty sure Po had a whole vial of it, but I have no idea where he left it."

"Probably under his bed."

"Looked there already."

"I see..." Shifu said, "Master Crane, you sound... troubled."

"Guess I do, don't I?" Crane said, looking down. After a few moments, Shifu invited him to join him in meditation, and Crane accepted, and he now stood by the side of the small master on his own version of a meditation pose which, in case of a bird such as himself, reflected on him standing on a single leg with the other one in an angle.

And, without saying a word, the two of the masters continued to meditate while, down the stairs, Po's five students continued training, with Doe being the one to encourage all of them, delivering themselves fully into the training to improve their moves and personal styles.

They kept training, just like Crane and Shifu kept meditating, all with the same purpose in mind:

To diverge their minds of the amount of worry they felt in relation to Po, as the panda was on a mission of great danger, where the risks were high and from which he may never return.

He could be going through serious tribulations on that very moment.

Or he could be having a hefty breakfast, courtesy of the people of the village who were sure to give the visiting hero a lot of pampering.

"Man, it totally rocks being the Dragon Warrior in moments like that!" Po said as he ate his fill of the foods the village was offering. "I swear, this is exactly what I imagined making a food tour through China would feel like!"

Tai Lung, on his end, limited himself to eat more moderately than the panda, just enough to satiate his body's needs. Although he had to admit, the food they were serving was quite good.

"And did you really make this using a flower from the desert?" Po asked to the village leader, as the beetle was sitting on the table alongside his gerbil wife.

"Yes, the desert-grass flower. It is a rare plant that blooms in out desert and that can be used as a seasoning in a lot of dishes. It is a little charm that our desert has, alongside the Singing Rocks that give it its name."

Tai Lung nodded alongside Po at this. Hard to believe all those varied dishes, from sour dumplings to sweets, were all made with the same flower, and that they were all delicious.

It certainly made up for the sleepless night he had to spend while on that same small hut with the panda.

Man, his snoring was so much harder to ignore on an enclosed space!

Tai Lung spent half of the night trying to hold himself back from suffocating that fat bastard to death with a pillow...

"Man, that was a nice breakfast." Po slapped his belly as he said those words, causing it to sway with the motion. Elder Beetle laughed at this.

"Why, won't you look at that, honey? This panda eats even more than your mother after she quit chewing on sticks!"

His wife slapped him behind the antenna for the commentary, what made him laugh even harder. All the while Po and Tai Lung watched them.

"So... how long have you two been married again?" Tai Lung asked while, by his side, Po wanted to ask a different question. However, he didn't had time, because that was when the beetle said that, since they were done eating, then they might as well get going.

"Be sure not to get lost. If you do, pay close attention to the sun to know which sides are east and west so you can find your way back. Be sure to keep your eyes close to the rocks, you remember the reference points, don't you?"

"Oh, get off my back, you old furball." The beetle said, "I have been walking through this desert my whole life. I'm pretty sure I can do my way across it without getting lost. I'll be back in time for dinner."

"You better do." She said to him, "If you are not here by dinnertime, I'll be going into that desert and dragging you out of there by your horn." With that said, she leaned forward and kissed him. He returned the tender kiss.

"Be careful."

"I will. Thank you, honey."

Then she turned to the panda and snow leopard. "And you two be sure not to let anything bad happen to my husband or you will regret it." She said in all seriousness with a threatening expression that rivaled Tigress'.

With this, the married couple separated, and the beetle looked up to see Tai Lung and Po staring at him. The former with a raised eyebrow, and the second with both his eyebrows up.

"What can I say? She can't handle the idea of ever losing such a catch. So, you guys still want to see the rocks?" The beetle asked with a jovial expression and tone, "Come with me if you do, and try not to stay too behind, you won't believe how easy it is to get lost in this desert if you don't know the path."

So, with the beetle as their guide, pointing the direction with his small hands, the two warriors entered the desert, their feet sinking into the sand as they forced their way through them while feeling how hot it was against their shoes, with Po being particularly vocal about how hot the sand was, only for the beetle to laugh about it and telling that it got worse close to midday, so they should hurry.

And, as it would not be another way in this story, Viper and Tigress were both right behind them, watching from a distance and following the three. Tigress ran through the desert with difficulty, as her hands and feet sank into it as she ran on all fours, while Viper found herself easily gliding through the sand with diagonal slithering motions. Both were able to stay safely out of sight of them while they went ahead with their guide.

And, just as the gerbil wife warned them, the beetle's sense of direction was not exactly the best.

Not when he had to stop every thirty minutes to see if he could "recognize anything" as he looked around, asked Po to toss him up, and even went down to lick the sand a bit.

"Sometimes you can recognize the area you are in by how salty the sand tastes." The beetle explained to them. And Po, because he is Po, of course, tried it out by licking the sand himself, only to regret it instantly while Tai Lung facepalming while letting out an exasperated sigh.

This was taking way. Too. Long.

First the guys making them lose time in the morning by cooking a whole breakfast from scratch to "gain the strength to travel the desert", with the panda getting full behind it (because of course he would), but now they were wasting precious time with a guide who could hardly find his own butt without help.

At this rate, Jiao Din would reach the spring while they were still stuck on this frigging desert trying to find a bunch of whistling rocks that could give them the next clue.

And I'll not become the next Dragon Warrior if we fail this mission... Tai Lung was looking at the panda as he thought that, seeing as he was tapping his own tongue to free it of sand. Even thought I may not deserve it half as much as Po does.

Tai Lung blinked, his eyes widening at his own thoughts.

Where did that came from!?

"Man, too bad Yan is not here." Elder Beetle was rubbing the back of his head. "He would know right away which direction to go. He knows this desert better than me... Okay, I think I remember now!" The beetle said after licking the sand one more time. "I think we are close to the Broken Neck Formation. It is a bunch of rocks that I used as reference point all the time when I was younger. I'm sure that we will be able to find the way as soon as we see it."

"Are you sure?" Tai Lung sounded reasonably cautious as he asked that. "We can't afford to get lost in the middle of a desert today."

"Oh, I am sure, young lad." The beetle said. "Back when my wife and I were still dating, I used the rock as reference whenever I needed to be sure where to go to for our dates. Was never late once. Well, except that one time when I nearly got buried alive during a sandstorm, and that she still doesn't let me forget about..."

"Wow, she sounds like something." Po said to the beetle, who laughed.

"Oh, you can bet she is, my pudgy pal. And I would not trade her love for anything in the entire universe."

"That sounds amazing. Having a person like that..." Po said, and then, surprisingly, he said nothing more. Although Tai Lung could tell, from the look on his face, that the panda wanted to ask something...

And soon, they were on their path across the desert towards what the beetle said the formation was.

After nearly an hour of walking, Tai Lung was about to ask the beetle if he had gotten lost, when they spotted something into the distance.

"There they are!" The beetle said and, with his encouragement, the two warriors pressed forward until they had arrived into the formation, which was so wonky that one could wonder if there was magic keeping it in place, or if it did so out of sheer strength of will.

"Does it kind of look like a bunch of dumplings stacked on top of each other?" Po asked, craning his neck to the side. "Or maybe a bunch of noodles spilling out of a bowl?"

"It looks like a pair of broken maces to me." Tai Lung said as he craned his neck to the opposite side. They both also craned their necks to the opposite side and, surprisingly, still saw completely different things.

"Yeah, some people have seriously sprained their necks trying to figure out what that formation looks like." The beetle said, "That's why they call it 'broken neck'. To me, it is just what it is. And, because it looks so unique, I know which part of it points in which direction, which is why it makes for such a great reference point." And he jumped from Po's head to the formation and started scurrying around it on his six legs.

"Now, this side points northeast, towards my village..." He scurried from one point to the other. "And this one points towards the mountains. And the singing rocks are located northwest, to which this side points..." He stopped, and then clapped two pairs of hands. "That's it, folks! The rocks are on that direction, no doubt! We just gotta keep walking and we will arrive in a great bolder and then we turn right and go straight until we see the dome! This time I'm absolutely sure!"

"Sweet!" Po said, "So, what are we waiting for! Let's get going, guys!"

And with that, the small group was going forward once more. And, if the beetle was to be trusted, then they would be taking a while to arrive there. So, maybe they should chat to try and pass their time.

"So... Elder Beetle?" The panda was asking to the bug sitting on his shoulder. "You and your wife... how did you two met?"

"Oh, ho, ho! I'll tell you, my boy!" The beetle said, and he went on a story that was, in all honesty, quite interesting, which included an ambush by a bunch of scorpions and snakes on the edge of the desert and a secret tunnel they used to escape to safety from the bandits who were trying to take them to be sold as slaves.

"And, on the end of it all, she told me that the most dangerous part of the adventure was trying on my hand-made flower dumplings!" The beetle concluded. "I mean, I was not the best cook back on the day, but she didn't need to say it like that. She always had a mean streak, that furry hag..."

Even though he said that, all that there was on his face was tenderness as this memory he had of his dear wife. One of the many memories of her that were so dear to him. It really seemed like they loved each other.

Po thought it was very beautiful story, as well as the feeling related to it.

None of them, not even Tai Lung, noticed how something was lurking around them, deep into the sand...

Jiao Din paced back and forth. As he did, he muttered to himself, hissing and grunting as he did. Sounds that were drowned by the whistling going on around him.

By the immortals, that sound was annoying!

How come people wanted to come there just to hear it? It was unbearable! It hurt his eardrums and made him lose his focus while he was trying to make heads and tails out of the clue. Because of it, he ended up taking longer than he needed to finally figure it out.

"That's it." Jiao Din said finally. "Yes, that's gotta be it. There can be no other answer."

"Oh, you know where we are headed now?" Said a voice, it was Peng Mao, who had been perked on one of the rocks and now was instead perked on the Komodo's head. "You know where to go next, boss?"

"Oh, I do..." Jiao Din said, in a low his, one of his fists, the one that was not holding peacock, clenching. "And I'll be the only one!"

Suddenly, he let out a cry as he swung his fist. As he did, he hit the rock slab that contained the clue, causing it to shatter into hundreds of pieces, which spread across the ground like scattered marbles, each one containing a small piece of the clue left by Oogway and Binturong.

Saying Peng Mao was startled would have been an understatement.

"What the heck, boss!?" The little bird said. Jindiao, however, ignored his question, and instead only turned to him and said:

"Go back, keep an eye on them and make sure they can't follow me."

"What, me!?"

"Yes, you!"

"B-but... What!?" Peng Mao blurted out. "What can I even do against those guys? What can I even do to stop them!? I don't know kung fu, and I am a tenth of their size!"

"Figure something else." Jindiao said something to him. "Poison their food, make them get lost, anything. Just make sure they do not reach me. I'm tired of those two following me and I want to make sure there isn't any possibility of them reaching me before I can get to the Tien Spring and claim its power for myself."

"Right... uhh, I've been meaning to ask, boss..." Peng Mao was careful when asking it:

"Why are you so interested on this Tien Spring? I mean, I get that it is, like the source of all chi, and you can have power beyond all dreams if you get there and drink from the water in it and stuff, but do you really need to? I mean, you are so powerful already, why do you want even more power?"

Jiao Din's answer was sure and unwavering.

"Because I deserve it. Because I worked hard for years and struggled and suffered while looking for this type of glory and power. Because I, for all the pain I've been through, for all the mockery and condescending I received my whole life, I deserve nothing more than greatness, despite me having venom or not!"

Jiao Din was getting louder as he spoke, and he was practically yelling at the heavens at the end.

"Do you hear me, father!? I'll show you that being born without venom doesn't make me a failure!" He yelled at the void, panting after this as he snarled. Peng Mao could only look.

"Riiiiight." The bird spoke after a few seconds, "Seems like you got some daddy issues going on there. I mean, I kind of get it, I never got along with my own dad as well. He always called be dumb for wanting to make a living from making miniature hats from blades of grass. Well, he was kind of right about it because I never managed to make it as big as I hoped with my 'greenie hatties', but still..."

"Go and keep watch on those two!" Jiao Din cut the bird as he yelled. "Go, go, go, go!"

And Peng Mao, of course, could do nothing more than what he was told, flying fast towards the desert while the blind Komodo, still with Peafowl on his hand, started making on the opposite direction, knowing well where he was supposed o go from there, and hoping that destroying the clue and the little surprise he left among the sands of the desert would be enough to get those two out of his scales for good...

"... and you put an arm forward after the other in an arc, like this. Always remember to keep your head above the water between each arc so you can breathe." Po said, making sure to demonstrate what he was saying all this, including taking in big, dramatic gasps of air as he moved as if he was swimming through water as he walked right by the side of the leopard, who looked annoyed.

The beetle, on the other hand, looked quite amused with this.

"My, my, Dragon Warrior, you certainly have a nice technique for your swimming."

"Thanks. My goose dad gave me swimming lessons when I was little. He is pretty good at it, you know, because he is a goose and they spend a lot of time on rivers and lakes..."

"Why are you even doing it!?" Tai Lung said, "We are in the middle of a desert with no water for miles!"

"Why, because I need to teach you how to swim!" Po spoke as if that was the world's most obvious thing. "Just because we are not around water, it doesn't mean I can't teach you how to swim! After all, you need to learn it to solve your problem with water."

"I already have a solution for it." Tai Lung spoke that firmly. "To stay on dry land and avoid falling in any body of water for the rest of my life. It worked wonders for me for decades."

"Yeah, but it might not work always!" Po said, "Just yesterday you had to go on a lake and nearly drowned! What if it happens again?! You cannot live your life by avoiding troubles! You gotta face them! Or at least be ready for when they come! That's why learning how to swim is the best call for you!"

"He is right, you know?" The beetle chimed in again, causing Tai Lung to look at him. "When I was young, I used to be terrified of cacti because of how easy it was to get prickled. Was so scared there were parts of the desert I avoided like the plague. Then my wife once told me to quit whining and man up and face my problems. And I did! Sure, it was mostly, because I was more scared of her than any cactus, but still, my life became much easier when I stopped letting the cacti control me."

"And like you can't let the water control you!" Po said, "It's like I said! You gotta do it like you are fighting the water! Fight until you win!"

"Nice philosophy there." The beetle was in full agreement with the panda, and Tai Lung could only groan as he pinched the bridge of his snout.

Oh, for the love of the heavens, another one like the panda. And this one is pocket-sized.

"Look, pay close attention!" Po said, once more laying down to demonstrate, moving his arms and legs and basically crawling through the sand as if he was swimming. "See how I'm fighting? And with style? You can do that too once you're in the water. Do that and you will win the water, dude!"

"Will you cut that out!?" Tai Lung had enough of this foolery at this point. "Why are you even insisting in teaching me!? What, you think I'll be a dead weight and that you will waste time helping me in case we come across more water!? Is that what this is!?"

"No! Of course not!" Po said, "I just want to help you."

Tai Ling found that hard to believe.

"Why would you want to help me!? I am Tai Lung! I am your enemy! I tried to kill you back on our first meeting! I mocked you back when we met while I beat you up!"

"So what?" Po asked, as if he did not understand what the problem was. "I mean, Shifu did the same thing to me when he was trying to get me to leave."

Tai Lung only stared at the panda. He looked at him as if he was a being from another realm that was well beyond his understanding.

"How..." Tai Lung said, looking at the panda. "How come you cannot resent me? How come you don't hate me even a little bit? Do you seriously not hold a grudge against me?"

Po looked at him for a few moments, before saying:

"Well... not really. I mean, yeah, you tried to kill me and stuff, but I don't really think much about it. I guess I was never one to hold grudges, you know?" Po rubbed the back of his head. "To be honest, I always kind of felt bad for how it ended years ago... you know, about skaddoshing you?"

Tai Lung blinked.

"You... felt bad about sending me to the Spirit Realm?"

"Yeah? I mean, kinda?" Po said, "I know I was smiling and stuff but, that was most because of the moment. Afterwards I felt bad. Like, really bad. But, I kind of forgot all about it with time and training and missions... until a few days ago."

Po looked at Tai Lung.

"I'd really like to apologize for that."

He... he was... apologizing?

Was he, the panda who Tai Lung beaten and nearly killed, apologizing to the same snow leopard who nearly murdered him?

For real?

"And, well, since I kind of feel like a regular apology would not be enough then... I think I could try and help you learn how to swim? You know, to make up for it in away?"

Tai Lung continued to stare at him, his brain still trying to wrap itself around what he just heard.

About how the panda was going through the effort of teaching Tai Lung to swim as a way of redeeming himself for killing him after Tai Lung tried to kill the panda himself.

"Well, sounds like you two have quite a complicated thing going on, no?" Elder Beetle said as he now stood on top of the panda's head. "I'd recommend one of our traditional dishes with the flower of our desert, that's usually how I apologize to my wife when we had a fight. Which, is actually once every week."

"Oh? And it helps?" Po asked, while Tai Lung continued to look at the two, his brain still processing things.

"Well, it certainly does. Either it is a savory flower and ginger soup or a sweet bean and flower dumpling, it always helps smooth things over for when we are about to make peace."

"Yeah, I noticed a lot of those dishes on the breakfast this morning. Didn't knew you could make all of that with a flower."

"Oh, you can with this one." The betel confirmed. "It is a very special flower. It changes flavors depending on what you do with it. It can turn sour if you dry it out, savory if you fry it, and sweet if you steam it. It's a very versatile ingredient."

"Man, that's so cool!" Po mentioned. "How have I never heard about that?"

"Well, it is probably most because this flower is only native to this desert." Elder Beetle answered. "It is hard to find, and we don't sell it to others. We mostly use it for our own culinary, and sometimes we crush it to serve as an ingredient for incense."

Po looked around as the beetle spoke, and then he saw something that made him double-take.

"Wait, is that one it?" Po pointed on a direction where there was a small patch of grass with flowers growing on it. He rushed to it and then kneeled.

"I mean, that is it, isn't it? It is a flower, growing on this desert, in a patch of grass..."

"Well, kinda." Elder beetle was looking at the flowers. "It looks like it."

Tai Lung, on his end, was still standing right there, his gaze lost in the distance as he was still trying to make a coherent association with what he heard from the panda with all that he thought he knew...

How come one feel bad about ending an enemy that tried to end them first? It made no sense. Was that panda really that forgiving and kind?

Was he really that... pure?

Was he always that pure?

Was that why...?

"But it's strange..." Elder beetle scratched his chin. "Those flowers should only grow on the extreme south of the desert, not on the North. Also, I never saw any flower with that deep shade of purple..."

"Wait, purple!?" Tai Lung suddenly said, just as Po was reaching out for the flowers. "Po, stop!"

"What? What happened?" Po looked at Tai Lung as he rushed to him, telling him to stay away from those flowers.

"Why?"

"Panda, what color were every single danger we faced on the way here!?" Tai Lung asked, "Every creature that was tainted by Jiao Din's chi and that he left behind to try and kill us!?"

Po blinked, looking in between the snow leopard and the flowers.

"Wait... are you saying that Jiao Din did something to those flowers?"

"Well, it seems suspicious that they were right here where we were supposed to pass!"

"Well, I see your point but... seriously? They are just flowers, dude."

"You should not underestimate what one can do with chi!" Tai Lung said, "You saw how he can turn small lizards and roosters into monsters! Do you really think he would not be able to turn flowers into traps!? Why were you even about to get them, anyways!?"

"To take them to my dad." Po said simply. "They are a super cool ingredient and I bet he would be able to do something great with it. I'd love to eat some noodles made with this."

"Do your brain keeps thinking on food all the time!?" Tai Lung sounded exasperated.

"Not all the time." Po said to him, "Just around half of the time. It spends the other half thinking about kung fu."

Tai Lung wanted to drag his hand over his face. And then over that panda's, with his claws unsheathed.

"Man, they smell nice." Po said, "Tasty too..."

"Don't smell them! They could be a trap! They could have poison, or maybe infect you with chi and turn you into a monster as well!"

"Dude, chill!" Po said to the leopard. "Look, I really think you are being paranoid here. They are just flowers..."

As Po said those words, he reached out for the flowers, and plucked one of them from the grass.

As soon as he did it, long tendrils sprouted from the ground and, before anyone there could even blink, they wrapped around Po and Tai Lung's wrists and ankles.

For a long moment, the scene was frozen, and Tai Lung, with a dead-pan tone, said to the panda:

"I'm sorry, you were saying...?"

Before Po could even think of an answer to that, the vines holstered them into the air. Po cried out as he and Tai Lung were snatched off their feet, with both the Staff and Elder Beetle falling to the sandy ground as the two warriors were now on the air. Po had his hands and feet pointed up by the vines, while Tai Lung was forced into a spread-eagle position by the vines, struggling as he tried to free himself, but found out he could not.

Meanwhile, something happened. The sand around the patch of grass with flowers shifted and then it lifted. Something came from the sand, with the patch of grass on top being like the tip of an iceberg and the rest of it suddenly pulled itself out of the water.

Expect that, instead of a mountain of ice, it was a creature made of twisting tangling vines and roots taking the form of arms and legs connected to a circular, bulbous torso, with sand leaking through the gaps as it stood up and looked at them with five gigantic flowers that seemed to work like eyes, letting out a loud, guttural sound as it looked at the two of them.

"Wow..." Po said, "That would be so awesome if it was not so scary."

And then, the creature let out its own version of a roar. One that sounded like a tree being ripped off the floor and toppling over. A sound that probably had something to do with the fact that the vines that formed its' main torsos started untangling so they could open like a big, ominous maw. The two warriors could do nothing as they were both pulled inside, with Po letting out a loud scream as the vines closed around them, the mouth sealing around the two of them.

Down there, Elder Beetle looked in horror as the two mammals he was with were devoured by a monster desert flower, which stood there for a few seconds, before turning around and starting to walk away.

It only gave five steps before it stopped, taking a hand to its body while smoke and blue light started showing through the vines. And then, it started inflating, as if a great pressure was building inside of it, especially on the back.

And then, flames exploded, bursting the vines. It was followed by a panda cry as Tai Lung came flying through the back with Po carried in one arm, landing on the sand and both rolling onto it as the plant monster stumbled.

Tai Lung was quickly on his feet, a hand in the sand while the other was unsheathing its claws as he got ready to attack and fight with all he had.

And Po? The panda was spitting sand as he got up from having faceplanted into the desert ground.

Meanwhile, the plant monster was firming its' feet (or what was passing by feet) into the ground, as the vines grew. They stretched and multiplied. Their wrapped around themselves and reformed the part of the monster that was burned away by Tai Lung's flames. The two watched as the creature regenerated before turning to "face" them.

"Oh, brilliant." Tai Lung said, sounding annoyed.

Then, the creature let out a roar (or whatever passed by a roar when the creature in question produced noise by rattling and hustling the many dry vines that formed its body) and attacked the two.

Immediately, the two warriors needed to jump out of the way to avoid a giant fist, which immediately exploded in vines that lashed all around like whips, forcing them to keep jumping to avoid the many attacking tendrils. Once more, they both proved why they were two legendary warriors, as they managed to avoid every single one of the flailing vines, now that they could clearly see them coming.

I still get shocked at how quick and flexible that panda is while being so fat. Tai Lung could not help but think this as he saw how Po made backflips with the same ease and speed as the leopard himself, and they both nearly did it synchronized, as they both avoided coming tendrils, much to Elder Beetle's amazement.

"Wow! That was a close one!" Po said as he felt one of the tendrils, this one covered in thorns, graze dangerously close to the skin of his belly, taking out some fur from it. Tai Lung experienced something similar, with one of those tendrils ripping out one of his whiskers, causing him to hiss in pain and be quite mad at that plant.

"Enough of this!" Tai Lung focused his chi once more, igniting his hands into blue flames and then shot them into the monster, which stumbled back as its vines were set ablaze.

Now, if you are expecting Tai Lung's flames to simply burn the monster to a crisp, well, if it was that easy then this would be a boring part for the story, no?

The thing about this monster was that its vines were mostly dry on the surface, but that was because they had a lot of moistness on the inside, much like a cactus, and this moisture prevented the fire from burning too deeply into them. And, what was burned was quickly recovered as more vines grew with a supernatural speed to replace the ones that were destroyed. As a result, the monster could heal from its wounds almost as fast as Tai Lung could inflict them with his chi-infused fire, resulting into a stalemate that the creature soon turned around by using vines from its arms to attack, forcing Tai Lung and Po to once more go into defense to avoid suffering serious damage.

"Okay, I think we will need a new strategy." Po said, to what Tai Lung answered:

"You got any ideas?"

"Let me think... okay, I got this!"

And the panda charged forward, with Tai Lung yelling at him at "what was he doing". The next set of vines that came his way, Po jumped out of the way of most of them and, when one of them came just at the right angle, he grabbed onto it and swung around with a movement he learned from watching Monkey swing in chains.

The panda took it to the air, spinning like a ball, and then he dove straight towards the flower monster's face, fist ready to deliver an attack as Po charged it with golden chi.

However, before he could deliver an attack, the monster's flower-eyes bloomed and let out a cloud of purple that caused the panda to cry out and go down, stumbling and choking into the ground. Tai Lung had to rush to pull the panda out of the way before the plant monster could crush him with a foot.

"Well, that didn't work, did it?" Tai Lung said as he held the panda, and then he had to jump out of the next five blows the monster tried to deliver on them.

While still carrying Po.

"Are you enjoying being carried!?" Tai Lung just had to jump out of the way of a lot of vines. "Get up and start moving!"

"I-I can't!" Po said, "I can't move my limbs!"

"What!?"

"I can't move my body!"

Tai Lung then had drag Po out of the way as the monster attacked them with vines, having to move while making sense of what the panda told him.

That cloud the creature sprayed on him! Was it a paralyzing poison of some kind!? Dammit!

The monster gave no respite, and only continued attacking. Tai Lung, seeing no other choice, tossed Po high up in the air. The panda screamed as he went very high, while Tai Lung severed one of the arms of the monster with a kung fu chop, and then sent more flames towards it to make it stumble back before catching the panda while he was falling.

"Good move!" Po said, smiling as adrenaline was coursing through him, even though he could still not move.

"Dammit!" The leopard said, "I can't fight while carrying you!"

"Maybe we can do something!?" Po offered. "The pressure point thing can paralyze people maybe it can make me move again! Do it a try!"

"It doesn't work on you, remember!?"

"Oh, that was before I lost weight!" Po said to the leopard. "Now that I have less fat pressure points work better on me!"

"Wait, really!?"

"Yeah! Shifu tried, and it work now! Something about the protective layer of fat under my skin being thinner now! Come on, give it a try!"

Tai Lung was considering it. However, be fore he could, something happened behind them.

The arm Tai Lung severed planted itself into the ground, unraveling in many vines that, immediately, were lured by the chi signature of the two of them. They barely had time to react before they were both snatched by vines that were now squeezing at the two of them, with Po being unable to fight them as they squeezed him like a stress-ball while Tai Lung had to struggle to try and free his arms.

"Oh, give me a break!" Tai Lung demanded, with vines constantly tying themselves around his wrists and pulling him back while Po's cheeks puffed as the vines around his middle squeezed hard on him as if he was a zit they were trying to pop. Meanwhile, the flower monster recovered, and was, once more, walking towards them.

"Oh, no..." Po said as he saw that, and he thought about what to do. That was when he decided to try the Dragon Warrior Force again. He closed his eyes and focused, what was not easy, and then he managed to ignite his paws on golden flames despite the numbness on his limbs.

The vines hissed and backed away like dark tendrils retreating from sunlight, letting Po flop down. By his side, Tai Lung did the same, igniting his hands into blue flames and burning through the vines as he fought his way out.

Just as the monster was nearly on to them, Tai Lung reached for Po to pull him out of there.

As his blue-flamed paw touched Po's golden one, something happened. The golden and blue chi swirled around each other and then mixed. Then, it expanded outwards.

The vines were reduced to nothing in a second. The monster was pushed back while parts of its body were incinerated. And even Tai Lung and Po were flung in different directions while, at a distance, Elder Beetle quickly ducked to avoid a wave of airborne sand caused by this.

Whatever "this" was.

What the heck was that!? Tai Lung was looking at his hand, seeing the sparks of blue and golden fizzle out with a shocked expression, before looking at Po in time to see the panda, groaning, stretch his limbs and then get on his hands and knees.

"H-hey... I can move again!" Po sounded happy, not being anywhere near as shocked as Tai Lung clearly was.

As the two of them were recovering, the flower monster than roared and pointed its remaining arm towards Tai Lung, shooting vines that ended in tips sharp as spears straight to the leopard.

"Tai Lung!" Po yelled as he saw that and rushed forward. Tai Lung looked to the side to see the vines coming towards him and didn't had time to react as Po jumped on the way just as they were about to hit the feline.

And stop in the middle of the air as a loud booming sound came as something came and crushed the flower monster.

Po landed into the sand, both him and Tai lung surprised they were not killed, and they both looked at the vines, which twitched into the air, before slumping limply to the ground and starting to wither away.

They followed the line of the disintegrating vines and saw that now there was a giant foot of stone where the plant monster had been.

And said foot was connected to a giant stone leg. Which was connected to a giant stone hip. Which was part of a giant stone body. With a giant stone head now looking down at the two of them...