The gong struck as the sun hit its meridian. Instantly they were out of bed, bowing to Master Shifu's small figure with a rushed 'Good Morning Master'. It had not been too long since they'd joined the Jade Palace after the defeat of Boar, but Crane, Monkey, Mantis and Viper had quickly grown accustomed to the rules and regulations.

The red panda replied with his own 'Good morning.' He gave a swift, curt nod in Tigress' direction. The feline bowed low and left without another word. She had been doing this quite often for the past few days and it had not gone unnoticed by the Jade Palace's newer residents. Then Shifu turned to the other four.

"Crane I would like you to spar with Monkey on the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom. Viper, focus on agility on the Thousand Tongues of Flame, Mantis-"

They were surprised when Oogway sauntered in, the old tortoise smiled the way he always did, in a way that seemed to show off limitless wisdom. "Ah Shifu, I was looking for you."

"Grandmaster." The red panda replied. He was always strictly formal. He waited for Oogway to speak, but the old reptile seemed to have no desire to do so. "What is it?" Shifu asked eventually, impatience evident in his tone.

"Oh, I just thought I'd inform you that we need to go shopping for groceries."

Shifu's eye twitched. It took Monkey all the self-control he had not to burst out laughing on the spot. "I will inform Zeng-"

"I gave Zeng the week off." Oogway said lightly. Then, as if anticipating Shifu's reply. "And the other servants as well."

Shifu blinked. "Mantis, you may assist Master Oogw-"

"Oh no Shifu, this is something I'd like us to do together. There's this new spice store that just opened."

Shifu's eye twitched again. "But my students-"

"Too much sunlight will kill a flower, but that does not mean one should plant it in the shadow."

Once more Shifu's eye twitched, but he relented with a sigh. Evidently Oogway was trying to teach him something. Perhaps it was that Inner Peace thing he'd heard the Grandmaster speak of once. "Very well. I shall accompany you. The rest of you, I expect to see training hard until my return."

"Yes Master." The quartet said in unison.

And train they did. Death was sweeter than one of Shifu's legendary scoldings. But even as he broke one of the wooden crocs into splinters, Mantis couldn't help thinking of all the times Tigress had skipped training since they'd joined the palace. "Where does she go?" He asked aloud, to no one in particular.

Viper glanced in his direction before continuing her slithering through the Thousand Tongues of Flame. "No idea." She replied honestly. Mantis was surprised she'd known exactly who he'd been talking about, but then again, she was probably curious as well.

"It must be something important." Monkey theorized, landing next to the green bug, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Why else would Shifu let her miss training?"

"Maybe she's ill." Offered Crane, ever the voice of reason.

Mantis scoffed. "As a semi-professional doctor, I assure you she is not ill."

Viper slithered over to where the green bug stood. "Well if it interests you so much why don't you ask her?"

Mantis frowned. He suppose he could wait until Tigress got back.

Monkey waved away the suggestion. "It's too hot to train inside, and anyways Shifu won't be back until later today. Let's follow her trail."

"That's a violation of privacy." Said Crane, flapping down to where they were.

"No. It's an exercise in subtlety." The insect threw open the doors to the Training Hall, and was greeted by a pleasant breeze of fresh air. Next to the stuffy, humid, death-trap-filled Training Hall the outside world was like a slice of heaven. "Yeah, suit yourselves, I'm going! Monkey, you coming?"

"Sure!"

"B-but what about Master Shifu?" Squawked Crane, knowing full well that if they were caught skipping training they would no doubt endure one of the red panda's legendary scoldings.

"He went to shop for groceries. He won't be back for another few hours. Now come on!"

Tigress couldn't shake off the strange feeling that she was being watched as her feet followed the familiar path to the Bao Gu Feral Asylum. She supposed it was just the summer heat getting to her. Or nervousness. The Asylum Keeper hadn't been very confident about the inspection, and Tigress was determined to know what had happened. The sun was at it's summit by the time she reached the old place.

It was a renovated fortress, abandoned many centuries ago by the Imperial Army, it now served as an asylum for Ferals, animals that had gone back to or had been born with their primeval instincts. The first thing Tigress smelt was something burning. That was never a good sign.

Gangjing worked here, and allowed her to visit whenever he had his shift. He was a small, thin twig otter that reminded her slightly of Crane. Dressed in the bright orange uniform of the asylum and wearing a bandage around his upper muzzle he usually bust a comical sight, mostly because he was usually hyper-ventilating over something as small as the wrong coloured ink.

Today he was hyper-ventilating as well, but it was over a pile of bean buns that had somehow caught fire. Tigress almost laughed at the redness of his face as he tried to blow the flames out with his lungs alone. But she was too well-trained for that.

Instead she grabbed a bucket of water and splashed it over the pastries. The otter fell back with an enormous sigh.

"I thought I could open a bakery." He explained once he'd caught his breath and began searching his belt for the keys. "To make more money you know." He finally found the right one and lead her into the castle.

"I knew she was on a top secret mission!" Monkey grinned. "You all owe me a cookie!"

"I wasn't even in the bet." Viper hissed.

Mantis pointed his 'thingie' at the abandoned castle. "What do you think she's doing in this old fortress?"

"It's not a fortress. It's the Bao Gu Feral Asylum." Crane supplied.

"How do you know that?" Mantis said, eyes wide with wonder.

"It says so right there, see?" The waterfowl pointed at an old, dilapidated poster hanging from the walls.

"Oh right."

"Come on." Monkey insisted. "Let's see what she's up to."

"Guys I really don't think Tigress would like us tailing her like this." This was from Viper, who was probably right.

"We made it this far though." Monkey half-begged, half-pointed out.

"And she would have told us anyways so no harm done, right?" Mantis said, settling that argument.

Gangjing was hyper-ventilating again. The otter was desperately breathing into a paper bag, letting it well up before he sucked the air back into his lungs.

"Closing?" Tigress repeated dumbly.

"Not- enough –funds." The otter confirmed, breathing in and out of the bag.

The feline stared at her parents. Both were large and muscled and shared an enclosure. Both had instincts that told them to hunt and kill. Yet neither had ever harmed her on one of her many visits. Or Gangjing, who was easily perfect prey. They were harmless beings, only held back by some mishap in their minds that prevented them from thinking normally.

"Where are they all going?" Tigress asked, dreading the answer. Back at the orphanage the trips to this place had been her only relief, her only contact with something alive that was not a frightened child or an equally frightened adult. She had not been an orphan... merely someone who couldn't count on her parents to be parents.

The otter took a huge gulp of breath. "Well, if this place does close down Meixhing Peaks, I think that's what it's called, is more than willing to take in all our herbivores but... I haven't found a place willing to take in the predators. At least not yet."

Tigress let her mother nuzzle against her paw, while the otter continued to take huge breaths of air.

"I don't know what we'll do about your parents. But I'm sure we'll figure something out. I was even thinking I could start a bakery and make some money from that."

Tigress closed her eyes. This place couldn't close. Her parents would probably get moved to the other side of China, and then how was she supposed to visit them? And from what she'd seen of Gangjing's cooking she doubted the bakery plan would hold water.

"No. This place can't close." She said with determination. Where there was a will, there was a way.

"Your parents are feral?!" The noise made her jump, and she turned. Viper had the grace to look sheepish, Monkey's and Crane's jaws hung open and Mantis had been the one who had asked the question. Gangjing seemed to have fainted.

She felt a small growl rising inside her. Now they'd just think she was a monster like all the kids in the orphanage. "Yes." She said, very forcefully.

Mantis must have realized his tone was wrong, for he was quick to apologize. "Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. I don't have anything against that, I just...didn't know."

"We're sorry we followed you." Viper supplied. "We were just curious as to where you went."

"Yeah." Crane agreed. Then he pointed at Monkey and Mantis. "It was their idea."

"Was not!" Mantis shot back. "Actually yeah, it kind of was. Hey! It's not like I forced you to come!"

Tigress raised a paw. "It's fine." She turned back to her parents, who were eyeing the new arrivals with interest, sniffing the air to see what to make of them. "And yes. My parents are feral." She reached out her paw and gently stroked the top of her father's head. She said it as challengingly as she could, daring any of them to make some foul comment.

Viper slithered forwards. "It was still wrong for us to follow you."

There was an awkward silence.

Then Mantis supplied. "We can't let this place close down."

Tigress turned back to him. "How long were you eavesdropping for?"

"Long enough to realize how important this place is to you." Provided Monkey, neatly dodging the question.

She didn't let it show, but she was touched by the sincerity in his voice. The simian put his hands in his pocket and began rummaging them for something. "I can supply, twenty five yuan." She didn't let her disappointment show either.

Crane pulled out a few more coins. "Here's seventeen, no eighteen."

Viper offered a few of her own, bringing the total up to.

"Fifty!" Mantis declared, then deflated. "Somehow I doubt that's gonna be enough."

Tigress turned away. "Thanks anyways guys but... it's not in our paws."

"I may have one idea." Crane offered.

"Cleaning?" Tigress didn't know whether or not to hope he was joking.

Crane grinned. "You'd be surprised how much they pay janitors. Plus I have work experience. Observe."

It was called the Shushi Inn, and after a dramatic accident involving half a table leg and a bottle of sake, was short a janitor. Situated on the outskirts of the Valley of Peace it brought many customers, and that meant it's cleaner was very well payed. Or at least the avian said so.

Crane walked up to the pig at the bar. "Hi there, I'm here for the job interview."

The pig didn't look up at him. "Experience?"

"I was a janitor at two Kung Fu schools."

"Name?"

"Crane."

The pig looked up, and his eyes widened suddenly. His previously monotone voice was replaced with ecstatic fanboyish-ness and Crane was taken aback by the abrupt change in character. "But you're one of those Jade Palace heroes! I can't let you work for me! Think of all the reviews! Shushi Inn enslaves Kung Fu Prodigee! I'd be ruined! RUINED!"

Crane blinked. "W-what?"

"You saved my business!" The pig declared in jubilation. "I simply must buy you something!"

Twenty minutes later, after being seated and served the most expensive dish the inn served (on the house) the five walked out. Crane blinked. "I think this is the first time someone has not asked me to clean something."

Monkey placed his hand on the avian's shoulder. "Don't worry buddy. I have a back-up plan."

"Then I said- that's not my wife! It's a banana!" Tigress facepalmed, Crane's lower beak hung open and Viper cringed. The monkey stared expectantly at his audience. One scruffy, teenage panda who was clapping so hard he broke into a sweat. "Thank you! Thank you! Please, help fund the Bao Gu Feral Asylum."

"Er- right lemme see what I've got here." The panda dug his paws into his brown pants, searching, searching, searching. He pulled out exactly three yuan. "I was gonna buy lunch with this, but it's for a good cause, amiright?" The coins filled their still-empty sack only slightly more. The panda opened his mouth, probably to say more, when a voice cut him short.

"PO! Come on! You need to do this delivery before the soup gets too cold."

"Er, coming dad!" The panda raced out the door, turning back only to throw in a whispered 'long live Bao Gu'.

"Fifty three yuan." Mantis said, as optimistically as he could.

Tigress growled. "This isn't enough."

"Don't worry Tigress, my dad will help out." Viper said cheerfully. "It's not like he had to repair half the village or something."

"I just had to repair half the village." The old snake gasped after Viper had explained to him her and her friends need for funds.

Viper gazed at him in unparalleled horror. He smiled slightly. "Don't worry child. I will try and reach out to some friends of mine who may be able to help. Remember, where there is a will-"

"There's a way." Viper finished. The two snakes hugged and Tigress had to fight down the small stab of jealousy she couldn't help feeling. She could never finish her parent's sentences... they didn't really communicate in sentences.

The quintet turned away. Viper was optimistic about the results, but Tigress was too worried to think properly. They couldn't truly be her parents in any meaningful way, but they were her parents, and they meant the world to her.

"There's still one thing we haven't tried out." Mantis piped up.

"No!" Viper exclaimed.

"Not acupuncture." Monkey agreed.

"Not after what you did to Shifu!" Crane added.

"Do you want us to loose money?" Tigress demanded.

"I wasn't going to say acupuncture." The insect shot back, his thingies crossed over his chest.

"BOUNTY HUNTING!" He said, showering them in wanted posters. "Catch any one of these guys and we'll have more than enough yuan to buy five asylums and fifty Gangjings!"

"That's not a bad plan." Monkey mused.

"Yeah, only thing we're going to have to worry about is the fact that half of these guys are professional killers." Crane muttered.

"And Shifu." Monkey added.

Then everyone straightened up suddenly. "SHIFU!"

It was a miracle they got to the Jade Palace before Shifu. They reached the Training Hall, panting and dripping in sweat, just as the red panda walked in to check on them.

Shifu raised an eyebrow at the copious puddles around his students. "That's enough for today." He said. Even Tigress was drenched in sweat, and she's had the morning off! "Be wary not to overexert yourselves. I shall supervise your training tomorrow."

"Yes Master." They said in unison. In truth they were only drenched due to having to ford a river to get here in time.

Shifu turned, only to find Master Oogway standing in front of him, holding not one but two flyers.

Oh no. Was all Shifu had time to think.

"I think it's time we took a well-earned vacation." The old turtle said, smiling widely. Tigress thought she saw him wink at her, but wasn't truly sure.

"B-b-but Master Oogway. They're training. I must-"

"They trained very hard today, but you were not here to supervise it." The turtle said, as if he could read the red panda's mind. "Is that right?"

The Furious Five were quick to supply a lot of 'yes'es and 'absolutely's and 'very hard'.

Oogway smiled. "You see. Come now Shifu. When was the last time you left this Palace?"

Today! When you took me to the spice shop and made me try a spoonful of cinnamon! "B-but Master Oogway-" Shifu continued to protest as the tortoise walked him out the Training Hall. The last time the old tortoise had snatched a flyer from out of thin air the red panda had been bed-ridden for most of a day.

The door closed behind them.

"Thank Oogway, am I right guys?" Mantis chirruped. The insect did a little chuckle. "Imagine if we'd come a minute after Shifu got here?"

"I hardly imagine that's something to laugh about." Crane said with a shiver. The avian then shook his wings, revealing a dozen wanted posters they had taken to study.

Monkey picked one up. "Hey, this one's not bad. Large bounty. Doesn't look too deadly. Gutou Daisui."

The Five peered into the pink, pouchy face of a lynx staring up at them. He didn't look very deadly.

Then all their eyes darted to the price.

"Oh yeah! We are so gonna get this guy!"

Footnote: Yup this is the second fic I'm remaking a second time.

Secrets of the Scroll technically made The Five non-cannon, but that's not the real reason I'm doing this (though I suppose it is an added bonus?) It's just I wanted some practice writing the Five before I started my bigger fic (coming soon) involving them. Plus with Assassination Games pushed into the back-burner (timeline issues, I don't wanna do an X-Men) this also gives me the opportunity to write a bit more on Gutou Daisui (yay) I am keeping my old The Five, and obviously like all my other remakes I'm going to 'rebuild' the pillar, so any event referenced to this story in others will still happen.

The style of the other Fives were kinda hard to decide on coz I spent a lot of time with the group getting together to begin with, but now that Secrets of the Scroll has done that part for me I can now focus on the 'maintaining of a team'. This story is on the short side though (unfortunately?) but is probably better written. Another thing that bugged me was that because the old Fives were meant to be a major part of worldbuilding I crammed a lot of stuff into it. But since I introduced the Underworld in The Heist I don't need to do that here. I will also use my OCs less, mainly because I've used them in other places. Gutou, Jixiao, Juda and Chi are all returning, mind you, but as fun as it is getting inside their heads, it is entertaining and in the case of this fic, useful, to see them from someone else's perspective.

Also I decided I'd take the Tigress' parents are feral idea I came up with and make it canon in my AU. I think it's something that hasn't been done before, despite the fact that a lot of fics have Tigress' parents in one role or another. It's one of the few ideas I have that I can say is totally mine so I'll play along with it. Though I admit not mentioning that in the synopsis may have given off false vibes regarding what this story's about.

Gangjing is a minor character who was originally meant to have a much larger role in a similar fic... but things were getting complicated. I don't want my fics to feel repetitive, and everything in that story felt like I'd done it somewhere before. So he's basically a minor character you shouldn't really worry about (though in one of the original drafts he was the big bad).

Also I like writing the Oogway Shifu dynamic quite a lot. Shifu's so respectful of him but disagrees with almost everything he says but at the same time understands that he's so much wiser than him. It's confusing. If you would consider Oogway to be a reptilian Dumbledore (and I suppose that makes Kai Grindelwald? Though that does have some... implications) then Shifu is Harry Potter? XD

And yes, this Five has a Po cameo too. The last one had a minor (none-speaking) role and I can't remember the original all that well to be honest (only that Han Guan was a one-dimensional villain in it... man my AUs changed).

This fic brings a lot of nostalgia, because it was the first one I wrote (many years ago, before I could write decently) and it seems fitting it gets a revamp. Especially with my newfound semi-comedic tone.

I would like to point out that I am writing my other fics, but I won't be publishing for a while more (I do have a large chunk of House of Tamod finished though). This is already half-done, so I suppose publishing it is fine.

That's enough for now, enjoy and Update soon.