They had never been to a city like this before.
Gongmen? Gongmen was probably only around half the size of _, and with less than a quarter of the population diversity to boost. The Five and the Dragon Warrior could not help but marvel (a little bit) at the sprawling metropolis before their feet. Crane's suggestion of keeping close together was quite a good one, because as they entered the gates they discovered how easily one could get lost here. The numbers of different species meant that they did not stick out from the crowds as they had in Gongmen, where the greatest cultural diversity lived in the lords and kung fu masters of the city. Not the case here.
"Wow. This really IS a big place-"
"Hey, watch it!" A pig on a fast-moving rickshaw barrelled past Crane, cutting his step and his sentence short. The Master huffed in surprised indignity, stamping down the foot that had been lifted to walk. A threesome consisting of two cranes and an egret giggled behind their wings; Crane ignored them and rejoined his companions. Po and Monkey were having a great time pointing out the different peoples of the city.
"Oh hey! Look at that guy! I've never seen a camel, man!"
"What do you suppose that is?" Monkey whispered, looking at an enormously fat, pinkish-grey creature with gigantic teeth hiding inside it's wide mouth. Po shrugged.
"I don't know but I don't - WOAH. Look, Tigress, look, a tiger!"
The panda grabbed Tigress's arm and pointed discretely at the tall tiger with the shaggy sideburns, who was looking at a spice stall. Tigress loosened his grip, but she smiled a bit.
"Yes, Po, and there's a white one over there. Are you going to be doing this all day?" The Five were perfectly aware that Po had been nowhere else but Gongmen City and the Valley of Peace, but this was about to go overboard. If he kept geeking out he'd start making a spectacle. In fact, he already was.
"Oh, come on, Tigress, I've never seen so many people in my LIFE. I mean look at that guy! He's an elephant! How cool is that?" Tigress and Crane exchanged looks as Po kept looking around excitedly. At least the others seemed to be having almost as good a time as Po; Monkey had already spotted another golden langour and several of the more common simians shopping or walking around. Viper, looking all around, didn't notice she was about to bump into somebody until she actually did. They collided hard, and the ensuing tangle knocked over a small bin of ginger roots.
"Oh! I am so sorry, I really didn't mean-"
The snake she had hit hissed and drew himself up hautily, raising a huge hood around his head and glaring at her before slithering away, once or twice glancing back venomously. Viper watched him leave and whistled softly.
"Wow..."
"Alright, let's not get separated again, Viper, Crane.." Tigress gathered them all together again and they kept on through the city. Po shrugged a shoulder toward Mantis, who was perched on the back of Monkey's neck, half-buried in his fur.
"What's with you, Mantis?" The insect glanced up at him.
"I just saw nearly half a dozen lady mantises up in that stall back there," he whispered conspiratorily, pressed flat against the back of Monkey's skull. Po frowned.
"Why...?"
"If you only knew, man."
Two extremely dressed-up ladies, both of them mountain cats, followed by another dressed-up tigress, shuffled past in quick, fluid steps, huge swatches of fabric covering their bodies to the point that they almost had no form. The group let them pass - geila, gasha, something like that, Monkey said, not from around here. Hell, half the people in the city were not from around here. Viper was still half-grinning from her encounter with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Twenty-Feet-Long. Tigress was grimacing as she stared straight ahead, a little annoyed because another tiger and his panther friend had made what could very appropriately be called cat-calls at her. In fact, each warrior seemed to have some sort of encounter, directly or indirectly, with a member of their own or at least a close enough species. Except for one.
"I don't see any pandas, though, Po," said Monkey, still looking at the enormous diversity the city had to offer. Po choked out a laugh.
"Ha ha, yeah." And that's all he said about the remark.
Tigress looked at him curiously; he didn't seem to want to watch the people around anymore. She sidled up to his side as they cut a small pathway through the throngs of people. Though she looked ahead, her eyes darted everywhere, a manouever of both wariness and curiosity; though most of the group blended in, people still watched them.
Po was attracting attention.
It couldn't be that he was the Dragon Warrior; people couldn't just look at every panda they see and believe he's the Dragon Warrior - she and the others often had to announce, especially on missions in places with more cultural diversity than home, who exactly they were. Their summons to the palace was a private correspondence, so only the royal family were expecting them, and though it was now widely known that the famed Dragon Warrior was a panda, as far as anybody knew Po could just be another panda living in the city.
But Tigress narrowed her eyes. Monkey was right; out of all the creatures within the city, walking the streets, the only giant panda among them was the one walking right beside her. And not only had Po not seemed very surprised, he seemed almost to be expecting this.
She was softly jerked out of her reverie when, speak of the devil, he touched her arm. Up above, rising rather high above them, the walls of the palace.
"We're here," Po said. Without ceremony, he knocked on the red and gilt doors.
I don't own Kung Fu Panda, man.
I never can get a comprehensive story up and so shall have to resort to drabbles if I want to be doing this. The story is that the six warriors are off on another mission, this time to protect the daughter of the lord of the city (original, right?).