Dear Diary,

Today is my first day attending Bao Mi Academy. I'm a bit nervous and excited but come on! It's Bao Mi Academy! The best Shifter Academy in all of China!

I was a bit surprised that I Shifted to a panda on my twelfth birthday. I thought I was going to be a goose, like my dad, but at least I was like Dad: big belly, furry, and proud of it! We all have a specific animal to Shift to, which is basically shapeshifting but without any consequences. Most of the villagers here are goats and sheep and stuff, so I was more than surprised that I was a panda. Isn't that great?

But anyway, I'm super excited. I heard that the Furious Five attended Bao Mi. Who are the Furious Five, you ask? Well, Diary, only the most amazing Shifters ever! And the most popular. Each are identified by certain articles of clothing or whatever. They only go by the animals they Shift to. No one knows their true names; isn't that mysteriously awesome?

I'm hyped. Can't you tell? Super hyped. Well! I gotta go now! Dad's calling.

Po

"Po!" Mr. Ping banged on his son's door in exasperation. "I better see you outside and in the car in three minutes!"

"Coming, Dad!" Po shoved his diary into his suitcase and quickly dragged it outside to where Li Shan was waiting.

"You ready to go, son?" he asked, grinning as he shoved the suitcase into the trunk of the car and slammed the door shut.

"Uh huh, yeah, I'm so pumped for this!" Po hopped into the car, as Li Shan pressed the gas pedal and they sped away.

Bao Mi was just as awesome as Po had expected. The academy was full of students - some in their Shifted form, and the rest in their human form. Po struggled to catch a glimpse of their faces to try to find the Five as Li Shan unloaded his baggage.

"You're supposed to go check in with Headmaster Shifu," Li Shan told his son as he handed him the handle of his suitcase. "Have fun!"

"Call us often, son!" Mr. Ping added, poking his head out of the passenger side.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Dad," Po whispered, glancing furtively over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching. "Thanks for taking me. I'm gonna go now."

"You forgot these," Mr. Ping continued, taking no notice of Po's embarrassment. He handed his son five figurines, each shaped like a member of the Furious Five.

"Dad!" Po muttered, trying to push them back into the car before anyone noticed. "I don't need these here!"

"Oh alright," Mr. Ping sighed. "I don't know what happened. You used to love playing with your action figures."

"Dad, I can't bring them to the Academy!" Po protested, already backing away from the car, intent on ending the conversation as soon as he could. "Just-just keep them safe for me, okay?"

Mr. Ping just laughed. "Of course, son. Have a good time!"

"Don't starve!" Li Shan added, laughing as Mr. Ping shot a glare in his direction.

"Bye!" Po waved to both of his dads before hurrying towards the school. He nearly bumped into someone in his haste and was sent flying. He quickly got to his feet, face burning. It was only his first day and he already made a fool out of himself. "Sorry, sorry, are you okay?"

The 'someone' he had bumped just smiled sweetly. She was in her Shifted form: a panda. As Po examined her closely (obviously not because she was attractive) he noticed bright pink ribbons sticking out of her schoolbag. She's a ribbon dancer? Ohhhh man, I'm in trouble, right? "Oh no, that's totally fine! You new here? What's your name? Mine's Mei Mei."

"Oh, uh, right." Po tended to lose his ability to speak around girls so he just blurted, "It's Po. I was wondering if you could tell me where Headmaster Shifu's office is?"

"It's down the hall and to the left," Mei Mei answered, still smiling. Po had to remind himself to look casual. "He's probably not busy now, so you can just knock on the door."

"Okay, thanks," Po rushed away. Reeeally need to work on talking to pretty girls.

"Bye!" she called as he was swallowed up by a wave of students. Everyone in his way quickly parted for him, giving him rather weird looks; he was the only one not in the school uniform and it made him stand out, especially with his shabby clothing and overlarge suitcase.

Po somehow managed to fumble his way to a large set of green and golden doors, marked Headmaster. Remembering Mei Mei's advice, he knocked.

There was a moment's pause before the doors opened and an old red panda -Po assumed he was Shifu, or at least the Shifted form of him - stood in the doorway. "Are you Po Ping?" he asked, scrutinizing the young man in front of him.

"I, uh, yeah. I am." Po stuttered, trying to remember his manners. Was he supposed to bow or something? What did people do when they meet highly distinguished headmasters from top schools?

"Excellent." Shifu pulled a scroll out of nowhere and studied it a moment before snapping it shut. "You have been homeschooled for the first part of your education, yes? So we can just put you into rotation without any problems?"

"Yeah."

"Good." There was another pause before Shifu added, "Because you enrolled late, I'll just have your to-be-roommate also show you around campus. Crane? Would you mind?"

Crane? There was only one 'Crane' Po had ever heard of, and if he was correct...

The young man that came out of Shifu's office was wearing a Asian farmer's hat. Okay, calm down Po, it could just be someone who looks like someone else. He held himself upright like he was afraid of bumping into everyone, like social contact could kill him, especially from a roommate he probably would be forced to talk to. He's got the social awkwardness down cold. Could it be? Po, being the expert scrutinizer (as he liked to call himself since his dad taught him to study people like he studied fruit for bruises) noticed the newcomer's hazel eyes, which, added up to the hat and the posture, were a dead giveaway. No way...

"This is Crane, from the Furious Five," Shifu said. "He'll be your roommate and tour guide this year."

It was all Po could do to hold in an excited squeal. Of all the students in Bao Mi Academy, his roommate was one of the Five! How lucky was that?

"Hey. I'm Po Ping," Po managed to say, holding out his hand. Crane shook it, looking slightly awkward at the whole interaction.

Crane bowed his head slightly as he retracted his hand rather quickly. "Crane."

Po nodded eagerly, eyes wide with excitement, but Crane barely looked at him and instead turned to face down the hallway. "Our room is this way."

Po didn't notice Shifu retreating into his office, a knowing smile gracing his lips.

"I just wanna say," Po said, the words spilling out of his mouth in large clumps, "I'm a big fan of you guys. I'm really happy that-"

Crane just seemed to tune him out while he still managed to nod along politely.

"-and I don't think that-oh gods, is that our room?"

They had arrived at the dorms; they weren't fancy or anything, but it was better than Po had hoped. He honestly didn't even know what he was expecting. Maybe this whole Wow I'm at the Bao Mi Academy what do I do situation was going to his head.

Or maybe not, because he still couldn't get over the fact he was standing in the halls of the Bao Mi Academy, whose difficult tests and strict criteria made even the best students steer away from it on their career paths. Po, whose marks were just average by his dad's standards and over-average by his other dad's standards, felt that maybe there was a mistake in the letter process and they mixed him up for someone else.

Crane gave him a confused look. "Yeah. Have you ever had a room before?" he asked drily.

"Yeah, but it's so much cooler at the Academy!" Po exclaimed rushing inside and dumping his suitcase onto the empty bed. He took a glance at Crane's side of the room. The walls were covered in calligraphy, black ink swirling across the pages plastered to the wall, reading bao mi, secrets. Po didn't get a chance to look at the rest because his suitcase fell on his foot.

"Ow!" While the cry didn't cause any concern from the avian Shifter standing in the doorway, it did cause for attention.

"Careful with that," Crane said. "There are rooms under us too."

"Yeah, sorry." Po hauled the suitcase back onto the bed and opened it. "Do I, uh, unpack now?"

Crane shrugged, eyes flicking down the hall before settling back on the other student. "If you want to, I guess you could."

"Great!" Po pulled his blankets out of the top compartment with a grunt and fanned it out over the mattress, balancing the suitcase on his knee until they were stable. Tossing his pillow to the head of the bed with one hand, he managed to pull out some of his posters. Crane raised an eyebrow, seeing himself and the rest of the Furious Five on one of them. Po noticed his staring and quickly shoved it back into his suitcase. "You, uh, weren't supposed to see that."

"No, it's fine," Crane replied. "It's just a bit unsettling that you have that. On another note, where'd you even get that?"

"I made it," Po said, and even he couldn't ignore the flash of amazement that was shadowed upon the avian Shifter before morphing into neutrality.

"Really? You like us that much?"

Po nodded, face flushing for the second time in twenty minutes. "You guys are basically my idols."

Crane looked uncomfortable at that. "Yeah, um, we are just normal Shifters, you know."

"But you're so cool!"

"And what exactly made us cool?" Crane challenged.

Po opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. It took a few more tries before sighing in defeat. "I don't know. It's just- I always looked up to you guys, but I guess I never thought really why I did."

Crane studied him for a moment before shrugging. "Doesn't really matter I guess. Mantis and Monkey would love to hear you love us that much."

"Really? Am I gonna meet them?" Po threw the rest of the contents of his suitcase onto his bed and shoved the empty bag to the foot of the bed. "And Viper and Tigress?"

"Eventually," Crane sighed, "they're going to wonder about the new roommate I have so yes," he gave Po a hesitant smile. "you will."

"Wow, I can't wait!" Po grinned. "It'll be even better than seeing this bedroom!"

Crane just chuckled, giving Po's heart a little jump in excitement because while Crane was known for being a bit sarcastic at times, he had never heard him laugh in person. "If you're going to be impressed by a bedroom, then wait until you see the rest of the campus."

Po stared. "There's more?"

"Of course there is," Crane replied. "You thought the Academy was made of dorms and offices?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Have you ever been to an academy before?"

"No. I was homeschooled," Po explained. "I'm kinda new to this whole 'campus' thing."

"Hm." Crane's eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, to give you the gist of it, since we live here, we also need places to go to eat and stuff. Things we normally would have to leave to find is all here. Basically, it's a small neighborhood. I don't really know how else to put it."

"Cool!" Po cast a look around the room he and Crane shared. Still not going to get over the fact that I'm sharing a room with Crane, one of the Five!

"Ready to go?"

"Wait, what, now?" Po whipped his head back to look at the other student in shock.

Crane gave a half-grin, already Shifting into his animal: a crane. "Would you rather we wait?"

"No? Isn't that a given?" Po asked, Shifting as well.

"Fair enough," Crane responded, eyes glinting slightly. "Let's go."