Chapter One: Another Day Off
It was a beautiful morning in Valley of Peace, the sun rose slowly from behind the Jade Palace as its shine covered the valley. Just a few minutes after the sun rose, the morning gong rang, all of the five masters on the Jade Palace immediately appeared in front of their respected bedrooms, "Good morning master!" they all chorused to their Grand Master at the end of the hallway
"Morning, students. Now I believe yesterday's homecoming day off relaxed your nerves?"
"Yes master, it did," replied Tigress
"Yeah it was relaxing, considering we haven't got any day off since like…ever," Mantis chirped in, and then he squealed –literally- as Viper whip his head with her tail, silenced him, "Whoops, was that out loud?" he whispered to himself while rubbed the spot where Viper hit him
"So, as you can see Po hasn't comeback here due to his duty as a son," Shifu started, "So I have given you another day off for today,"
All the eye of the five welled in surprise, Monkey jumped happily and screamed like a child, "Woohoo!"
"But," their celebration cut short by Shifu's voice," I want all of you here at the Jade Palace at the end of the day, and that include Po," then he smiled, "Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes master!" The five chorused again and all of the head out of the barracks, and went to the courtyard. They all agreed to go down to the valley and ate breakfast in Mr. Ping's rather than tried to cook for themselves. Before Po's arrival, they have their own personal cook at the jade palace but the cook retired after his services are no longer needed because the Dragon Warrior is an excellent chef. At first Tigress volunteered to cook for them, but the rest of the five strongly refused. As a Tiger that only ate steamed tofu before Po came along, her cooking is not really that impressive. As Monkey put it 'tasted like old flea'
"So, what do you guys think he did at his dad's?" Viper being the most friendly yet reasonable among the five, asked the rest of his comrades
"Polishing the scratches at his Tigress doll and probably slept with it in his hand," Mantis instantly said without a thought, mainly because Mantis never put thoughts in his sentences at all.
Heard Mantis's comment Tigress face burned red with embarrassment as she shot a 'I-Kill-You' glare at Mantis silenced him immediately
"Aw, come on Tigress. You know Po can't take a day without you, at least he has your doll version," Monkey added
"Especially after what happen TWiCE at Gongmen city," Crane added, and chuckled lightly while the other –except Tigress- laughed
"Nothing's going on between Po and I," Tigress defended herself, sure she have been soft on him and they become friends right? Why do they think that she related to Po somehow in a romantic way?
"I think it's kind of sweet," Viper smiled at her, "With all the hugging going on there back at Gongmen, you two become incredibly close,"
"Yeah, not to mention you are the one who started the hug," Crane pressed the point there
"It was just a friendly hug guys, hurrgh. Why can't you guys accept that he and I just friends?" Tigress snapped out of frustration to both the avian and the reptile.
"Tigress, it take more then to be friends with you to get a hug like that, I only got it because I'm like a sister to you," Viper defended
"And Po, is the only GUY you ever hug. You didn't even hug Master Shifu!" Monkey pointed out
"I do understand Po…," Mantis imitated the way Tigress talk to Po at the prison; of course he exaggerated it with girlish gestures. After that both Monkey and Mantis laughed… hard
"I do not sound like that!" Tigress snapped, awfully frustrated at her comrades comment
After a moment they arrived at Mr. Ping's noodle shop, they entered the noodle shop to see Po, told a story to a bunch of little bunnies and gooses of the village. All of them looked really excited at the story and Po was telling them about the battle on Gongmen City with The Furious Five.
"…And then, Tigress pushed me out of the way from Shen's deadly cannonball. She took the hit, for me! Thankfully, she didn't die but then… I avenged her with a new technique called Inner Peace," Po paused for a moment at put his hands in a meditative pose as he took a deep breath. The rest of the little bunnies and gooses just awed at the story. Tigress heard his words as she came in with the rest of the five. She smiled when she sees Po surrounded by a bunch of awestruck kids as he told their battle stories. He looked really cute and manly at the same time with the kids, wait did I just thought that? No, no he's just an awesome panda that can surpass Shifu in matter of months and also cute boy with man appearance…stop! Okay, maybe I have a little crush on him but it wouldn't hurt right? Tigress stopped as she felt Viper nudged her and winked. The smile that Tigress put upon seeing Po didn't go unnoticed by the five. She blushed lightly and whispered to Viper, "Oh, shut up" but Viper just kept smiling.
"Oh, hey guys! I was just talking about you. Boys and girls…meet the awesome Furious Five," Po noticed his friends at the door at greeted them.
"Hey Po!" Monkey waved
"How it's going big buddy!" Mantis greeted and jumped at Po's shoulder
"Nah, just telling our adventures to these kids, maybe you guys can help out! Come in," Po gestured at the five to come in and take a seat. The kids shouted at them immediately
"Master Monkey! Come and sit with me!" they all shouted asking the rest of the five to sit with them. The five accepted. Crane sat cross legged with a goose at his side, Viper coiled up at two bunny girls, Mantis just stand on a shoulder of young bunny, Monkey sat at the table with two bunnies dangling at his side and one on his tail while Tigress took a seat beside Po and sat with a shy girl bunny on her lap. Viper smiled widely at the sight. However Mantis cannot resist the urge to tease both of them.
"Okay, you can continue the story Po… and Mrs. Po," Mantis cracked earning a laugh from the whole group.
"Haha, alright guys… settle down now," Po tried to calm them while forcing his blush from showing to his face, and same thing for Tigress.
"Let's continue, so after I deflected each of his cannonballs and destroyed all of his ships, we went face to face…" Po trailed off before he could finish, he was interrupted by a goose
"Wow! You guys have a full contact?" the goose asked in awe
"Well, yeah I did…" Po answered before continuing," Anyway, of course he's beaten by my pure awesomeness and he's finally dead by his own cannon. The cannon fall over him," Po cringed as he remembered this; the rest of the group also winced a little.
"Awesome!" the kids cheered, Po just gave his signature grin. A while later a thundering grumble came out of nowhere. Everybody suddenly stopped and stared at Po, "angry belly!" suddenly someone pointed at Po's belly
"What? That wasn't me…" he defended while his stomach grumbled again, louder this time, "Ok, that was me," Po sighed in defeat as the kids laughed while the five just smiled, and Monkey raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"Okay, that your stomach is protesting, why don't you make us all a food?" Tigress suggesting looked at Po, the kids and the rest of the five agreed
"Yeah, we haven't eat anything since we left the palace," Mantis argued, pursuing Po to make lunch
"Haha, okay guys, take it easy. Now, who want some of Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup?" he asked and everybody cheered and raised their hand, Po chuckled heartily at their reaction. He stood up and went to the kitchen to make some of his famous noodle soup, and then he called Tigress in for a minute," Tigress!"
"What is it?" she replied looking at the kitchen
"Can you please…um…entertain those kids while I'm cooking?" He asked rather sheepishly, "'Cause… y'know, they can be impatient,"
"Sure thing Po," she smiled at him and turn her attention toward the kids