Author's Note: This is my first Fan-Fiction. I've always enjoyed the Kung Fu Panda films, and after reading many stories I've been inspired to create my own. This is my version of the 3rd installment of the series with an ending.

I hope you all will enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Kung Fu Panda.

~Chapter One~
[At the Jade Palace]

The sun was falling in the province of the Valley of Peace, and while so coming back from his father's restaurant the Dragon Warrior sauntered inside the Training Hall of the Jade Palace; not to practice with the training mechanisms nor with the weapons that are here, but because earlier ago before visiting his father he was told by his friend (when he asked) that she would be here spending her time in training.

When entering—currently huffing mildly from walking up the countless stone steps of stairs up the mountain from the valley—he saw her on the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. He closed one of the double doors he used behind him with calm, walked and sat by the far left side end of the room beside the Adversary on the floorboards surrounding the layout of the five mechanisms. When seated he leaned against the wall, stretched out his legs, settled his paws over his lap and watched his friend: the honorable, loyal, fearless striped feline warrior that he had known and admired since he was a child, boldly practicing on the daring machine.

She moved smoothly, avoiding every of the seven wooden clubs and their perilous spikes of metal as they went swinging at her vigorously by their thick chains, whilst not losing her balance traversing with caution on the five spinning serpent-like logs beneath her feet. As always, Po was fascinated by her agility and sense of concentration; applaud by her proficient moves and her influential heart of heroism.

By now the sun's amber hue of orange and yellow gleamed down through the ceiling above them which revealed the heavens, bestowing its light upon the interior of the room, and on the female tiger. Po gawped as the orange of her fur was brightening in its glow, sometimes even her eyes in the certain moments of her movements, leaving the rest to shine off from her silk attire. He couldn't help but let his lips form a smile by this entrancing sight. He sighed, now respiring serenely; feeling inside of his chest a comfortable, warm, soothing sensation of contentment from his heart.

Time went on as the panda was lost staring in awe. He sat there in place neither thinking nor caring about the time that had now passed. At some point though he heard one of the double doors open and then briefly closed, hearing his name being called afterwards. Po wished that it hadn't been so that he could continue to watch the fearless feline dance along with the machine, but because its been called he had no choice but to now look away, at least for the moment—knowing it would be rude if he wouldn't respond to his caller. When turning his attention he saw that it was Mantis, who was crawling his way toward Po.

"Hey big guy," he said to the panda standing alongside; "I saw you come in here earlier. How was everything with your dad?"

"Good. He's doing really well," Po said smiling. "We ate and talked."

"That's good. Did you tell him about what happened in Gongmen City?"

"Yeah, I told him about how we stopped Shen, his army, and his weapons; how we saved the city, China, and Kung Fu."

"Was he stoked?"

"When he saw me, he was definitely," Po said, remembering the ecstatic look of happiness he saw from his father's face, the loving hugs they embraced together; "I couldn't have been happier. While I told him about everything he seemed so, although I'm sure he was more worried of what I went through than being excited, which makes sense since he's my dad, you know?" He paused briefly. "There were some things that I couldn't tell him about, like that time when I got struck by one of the weapons in the factory. Knowing him, he would be devastated; especially for when we have to leave the valley again when fighting another enemy."

After listening to this, Mantis reminisced that moment of night in Gongmen City where he and the others without Po were in the Fireworks Factory attempting to bring the building down along with the weapons that were stored inside with burning kegs of explosive powder, but immediately extinguished the fuses once they saw that the Dragon Warrior himself was there; and of that time saw him being blasted away from their sights and out of the building by Shen.

"Best idea not to mention that to an apprehensive father who loves you Po," he said to the panda thoughtfully. "At least not for now. Right now we should just enjoy ourselves without worries."

"I agree," Po said nodding.

"Although, you have to admit, it would be an awesome story to tell, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it would," he chucked softly. Po then thought about the battles that he and the Five had fought together from that day. "We sure went through a lot—fighting I mean," he said with his eyes facing down. I almost died. And I found out who I really was, and what happened… to my parents and people, he thought to himself.

"True, but it's what we do," said Mantis replying from the words that came out of the panda's mouth. "As the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, we fight with our lives on the line to defend the arts of Kung Fu, China, as well as our valley. But, it's our privilege to protect the innocent, the weak, and the ones we care for."

Po lifted his eyes upon Tigress and repeated in a hush tone: "The ones we care for…" He watched as she just then leaped from the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion to the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors; striking, deflecting and guarding every hit that came at her. In that instant Po remembered that surprising sympathetic hug she gave him in the Gongmen Jail. It was warm, and beautiful, although at the same time he found it shocking and unreal. "The hardcore do understand… But I can't watch my friend be killed…" Those were the words she said to him when looking in his eyes, and in hers he knew that that was the absolute truth. Tigress… you were protecting me, so I wouldn't do something so stupid to get myself killed, he thought. I'm sorry for not following your orders… He then recalled at that moment when he was about to get shot at again by Shen's weapon at close range by the harbor, where Tigress in time pushed him out-of-the-way and obtained the injuries that could have been his; that could have been fatal. Tigress… you make my heart wonder…

Mantis watched as Po was thinking and gazing at her. For a while since during their voyage returning home did he have an ambiguous notion about the panda as well as for the female tiger. He hoped himself onto the Adversary. After a short moment of silence between him and Po, hearing only Master Tigress and the sounds of the wooden warriors colliding against her paws, arms, and legs, he asked: "Mind if I ask you about something, Po?"

"Yeah, sure," said the Dragon Warrior breaking away from his thoughts, redirecting his eyes back to Mantis. "What's up?"

"I've noticed for a while," the bug began in a low tone, "you and Tigress have been… well… have seemed to be… close, to each other. And just between you and me—no one else needs to know this—um, do you… do you like Tigress, Po?"

Po's eyes grew wide as his heart began beating in a fastening pace. "Uh… Well, y-yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I like her? I mean she's my friend and we work together as a team," he answered back.

"I mean, more than as a friend?" Mantis prodded further. "Like… like, like her?"

From this the Giant Panda felt his cheeks beginning to heat up; his heart now thumping more rapid and firm; perhaps even cold sweat starting to develop—though he hoped not. Desperately he was trying not to let any of this be shown in front of Mantis. It was true that he and Tigress had been together more frequently since after the encounters from the demented white peacock and his rapacious desire to conquer China. And while so, he realized when being with her that his heart grew more for her company. He enjoyed being around with her, talking to her, fighting alongside and sparing with her. He always wondered if she felt the same way, as to why she seemed to have softened up towards him from her previous hardcore demeanor. Never had he told anyone about his fondness for her, not even his father, but now being enforced to tell the truth had made this moment become an awkward predicament for the panda—he didn't like to lie. But he was anxious to say it; afraid of what the outcome may be. "Um… I…"

Fortuitously one of the double doors abruptly opened and Po heard his name being called again by someone else. He turned his head toward that way and saw that it was the Golden Langur who just stepped foot into the room.

"Oh good," Po heard him say; "you guys are here," and watched as Monkey closed the door and ambled his way toward him and Mantis.

Monkey, you saved me, the panda thought in relief. Thank you!

"What's going on?" Mantis inquired the primate.

"I was searching for you guys around the palace," Monkey replied. He turned his eyes to the Giant Panda and said: "It's almost time for dinner, and we need our chef in the kitchen."

"Is it already that time?" Po turned and looked up to the sky through the ceiling. Not before had he realized that the sun's amber hue of light died shining through the rectangular opening. The sky beyond was darkening its way toward nightfall. Man time flies, he thought to himself. And even though Po had already eaten with his father earlier at his restaurant, now thinking of tonight's dinner had brought his appetite back alive. He rubbed his paws together, licking his lips. "What are we having?"

"Well, after hearing that you went to visit your dad," Monkey began saying, "I hope you don't mind that Viper and I were thinking about your noodle soup while we went to the market. We hadn't had it for a while, so we had the idea to gather the ingredients."

"Yes! The perfect way to end the day," the bug cheered.

Hearing his friends about this, Po emitted a warming smile of contentment. He was grateful that they had relished the soup that he had learned from his adoptive father.

"Alright, let's do this! Chef Po is ready," he asserted with enthusiasm while getting himself onto his feet.

"Good!" Tigress called out. Everyone turned and saw her with the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, fighting three at the time with quickness and accuracy without the slightest fault in the process. She kept this up for seconds longer as everyone watched. She then leaped and twirled herself high into the air above the mechanism with a summersault at its peak. As she came falling down she twirled her body again and landed on all fours between the spacing of the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors and the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom.

Although Po had grown up with his knowledge of skill and wisdom from the masters he had trained with and had the privilege of knowing throughout his whole time being the Dragon Warrior, he couldn't though escape away from his inner childish demeanor of being a fan-boy for Tigress still. Once she had performed that maneuver, his face shined with excitement and adoration again.

She walked up the side steps onto the floorboards surrounding the layout of the five mechanisms. She came up and stopped beside the panda, standing with her composure. Her face damped in her diligent sweat, her breaths panting marginally, not showing the signs of fatigue.

The Giant Panda tamed to diminish his inner fan-boy, knowing that Tigress grows annoyed by it when it would overwhelm him. He made sure that his face was also in control from showing the obvious.

"Finished?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied nonchalantly.

"Great," he said smiling at her. "Let's have some home welcoming soup!"

"Yes, lets." She gave him a small smile in return, looking into his green eyes. "But first I'll need to cleanse myself, and then I will join you all." She then began walking away toward the doors.

Even though the smiles were always small, the Dragon Warrior found them all to being beautiful coming from the feline. And looking at her amber-colored irises was something that he believed he could never get bored with. If he could, he would probably stare into those bright eyes with her enchanting face all day. Just stare and adore them. Adore her.

"Alright, let's go then," Mantis spoke out, "I'm starving!"

"That's something I'd expect Po to say," Monkey said chuckling.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Po said playfully. Then sharply out of nowhere, not even to the panda did he expect his stomach to growl so loudly in response. Everyone looked at it, including the panda himself who placed his paws on his large belly slightly embarrassed.

"No need to," said Tigress with her paw touching one of the unopened doors, responding to what Monkey had said after hearing Po's stomach. She locked her eyes at the Dragon Warrior for a second with another small smile and then opened both doors wide enough for her to exit though and left closing them.

Po followed behind Monkey and Mantis, being the last to exit out of the Training Hall after making sure that everything was off and in its place. When he turned around after closing the doors he saw that already both Monkey and Mantis were on the courtyard, but what caught his attention was the striped feline leaning beside one of the pillars next to the small stairway. He saw that her eyes were closed while her arms crossed over her chest. She was waiting for him, and Po felt delighted that she did.

"So you decided to skip the bath after all and eat first, huh? Excellent choice," he said to her lightheartedly.

Tigress opened her eyes hearing the panda's voice and giggled softly. She unfolded her arms as Po came walking down and joined beside him down the stairs heading toward the barracks, before the sun would descent completely and the night would loom.

Earlier in time, inside the Jade Palace at the end of the Sacred Hall of Warriors in the Moon Pool's chamber—below the resting place of where the Dragon Scroll was once held in the statue of the golden dragon's mouth—Master Shifu sat alone in front of the pool with his staff lying beside him. Surrounded by the hundreds of lit candles, he was meditating in peace with the universe in a lotus position, flowing with his energy just as the pink petals of the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom were settling serenely on the turquoise waters.

As well as meditating is the way to promote relaxation, build internal energy and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness, this too was the way for Master Shifu to travel to the place where his old wise friend now remained in peace. A place where the grass he's essence now sat upon was so evergreen; where he saw a calming stream come from a gentle waterfall; where the wind he felt blew ever so softly at the touch of his face and fur, picking up the scattered pink petals from the many trees that surrounded him to dance. A beautiful place that he came to visit at time by the subconscious of his mind through his inner peace.

"Hello, Master," Shifu spoke out in the open, looking forward with a smile.

In front of the Red Panda the wind blew and gathered the pink petals together in front of him, and like how Shifu remembered how his friend left the world of the living when his time arrived, Grandmaster Oogway reappeared in the same way, revealing his welcoming smile.

"Hello again, my old friend," he said to him.