It looked like the afternoon was going to be clear for Monkey and Crane. Though it was a shocking and embarrassing outing (to the others, as well as Monkey and Crane) when the others discovered Crane and Monkey up to a physical contact that wasn't even close to training, it turned out for the best. Po and Viper were the most understanding of them all about their relationship. And the others accepted it.
So today was supposed to be their first outing an a recognized couple. At least, it was supposed to be. They hadn't even left Monkey's room when Po knocked.
"Looks like Po learned to knock first." Crane said.
"Well, after last time he didn't..." Monkey started to say.
"Monkey? Crane? You in there? Shifu wants to see us all in the grand hall right away." Po said.
Well, that ruined their plans.
"We'll be right there." Crane said.
Once Po walked away Crane sighed and looked to Monkey.
"Looks like the outing will have to wait."
Monkey only grinned and gave a quick kiss to the side of Cranes neck.
"It can wait. We have plenty of time."
Soon, the Furious Five and Po were gathered before Shifu. Shifu seemed bothered. Not the most bothered he ever seemed, but whatever news he had couldn't be good.
"You're all here? Good. It seems we have a issue to deal with. One that you might find worrisome, Crane."
Crane blinked, shocked he had been addressed.
"I'm not sure how many of you have heard of "Crane village". While the village isn't exclusively home to cranes, they do number a high population of them. And lately that number has been decreasing. Since there had been no bodies discovered it was thought this was a series of kidnappings. Two days ago, those suspicions were confirmed."
"Did they catch the kidnapper in the act?" Tigress asked.
"Not quite. It's more the fact that one of the cranes that was kidnapped a couple of years ago escaped." Shifu said.
"Oh. So we're going to go kick some kidnapper tail then?" Po asked before the look Shifu gave made Po revise his thought. "Orrrr not? But if we have a witness who knows where they are-"
"Who knows where what is again?" a voice asked next to Po.
Po was starting to answer back to that question when his brain processed that he did not know that voice at all. He glanced to his right and came face to beak with a rather disheveled looking Red-Crowned crane. For some reason Po noted that the bird had a rather dried out Lilly pad draped over his back.
"Whoa! When did you... whoever you are, get in here?" Po asked.
"Mmmm, let's see. You were eating something when I got here. And making a funny noise when you did." the crane said, then proceeded to try and imitate the sound he had heard earlier.
It must had been a good impression because Monkey and Mantis were cracking up, Crane, Viper, and Tigress seemed amused, and Shifu was hiding a smile behind his sleeve.
"I do not sound like that. Though... if I did I'd say that's a good impression of how I would sound like." Po said.
"This is Fu. He was discovered walking down a road to the Crane village while in a rather confused state. Those who found him thought it was shock but..." Shifu started when Fu stated poking at Shifu's ears with his beak.
"You have big twitchy ears." Fu said.
"As you can see, he's not entirely... there, anymore." Shifu finished.
"So you mean, he's crazy?" Mantis asked.
"Mantis!" Viper hissed.
"I'm just saying that it's going to be hard to get information out of a crazy guy."
Viper's light swat with the tail end of her body shut Mantis up. Fu did not seemed bothered by the talk of his mental state. Instead he was humming to himself rather cheerfully. He then seem to suddenly spot Crane. A wide grin came to his beak and he stepped over to Crane.
"Hi! Did you get away too? That's great! We're get away buddies!" Fu said.
"Uhh, no. I'm sorry but I didn't escape from anywhere." Crane said, hoping the truth would not upset Fu.
Fu frowned slightly, though it appeared to be more a frown of confusion then anything else.
"Oh. I guess that's why your wing tips grew back so fast. Because they never got clipped."
That last comment made Crane's eyes widen and he looked at Fu's wings. As Fu's words suggested, his wings had been slipped.
"What sicko does this?" Crane found himself whispering.
"Wait, so he can't fly?" Po asked.
Crane shook his head.
"As of now, no. I mean, eventually he will be again but... people don't do this! To clip a birds wings is to cripple them." Crane cried.
"More of a reason to find out who is behind this and stop them." Shifu said.
"No offense Master Shifu, but why are we the ones to deal with... him?" Tigress asked, pointing over to Fu who was now gazing at his reflection in the dragon pool.
"Because, he escaped. And I doubt those who captured him in the first place will leave him be." Shifu said. "So for now, we are the ones to keep him safe."
"I think he's drowning in the dragon pool." Monkey said.
Shifu glanced to the dragon pool to see Monkey was right. One quick rescue later, Shifu was coming to really regret this assignment.