Chapter 2

by: WhiteGloves

Thank you, readers for the review! :)

For the continuation...!

The sun brightly shone above the sky and the Valley of Peace remained peaceful.

Inside the village, to a small noodles restaurant, the head cook- actually the only cook- was really busy.

"Eat as many as you can, you can't find this kind of special recipe in the Jade Palace," Mr. Ping, Po's foster father said, as he served the Five and his son his most famous tofu and noodles dish at breakfast.

"Mmm, thanks dad." Po answered as he served himself with some noodles. "Nothing beats home food… but I'm not saying other food is not delicious."

"Everything for you is delicious." Mantis pointed out and the rest of them snickered.

"Yeah, and that's a good thing being a panda." Po grinned as slurped down the soup of his noodles.

"Your cooking is the best, Mr. Ping," Tigress said politely as she ate quietly on the square table.

"Yeah," Monkey piped up as he swooped down the rest of his noodles, "It tastes a lot like Po's cooking, but more deliciously still."

"I told you, right?" Po finished his tofu, "He has the best secret recipe in town!"

He smiled at his father who smiled back.

"Oh, before I forget," the old goose said as he hurried back to the kitchen. He went out after a few moments carrying a large basket and went over to where Po and the rest were sitting then said, "Give this to Master Shifu as a token of my gratitude."

"Gratitude for what? Is this some kind of food exchange?" Po asked blankly as he held out his paws to take the basket. "If so I'm the right medium- delivery food master."

"Just give it to him son; it's only a couple of sweet bun and cider."

Po's eyes lightened.

"Sweet bun and cider?"

Mr. Ping was about to hand the basket to Po, but then decided against it and handed it to the surprised Tigress.

"You give this to Master Shifu," the goose smiled, "Just to be safe."

"Dad!" Po complained as the others laughed at him.

Tigress held the basket with care and smiled kindly at Mr. Ping.

The Palace bell sounded.

"Alright, it's time to go." Viper said from her side and everyone politely bid Mr. Ping a goodbye. The goose saw them till the entrance of his restaurant and waved his wing with a satisfied smile.

"Bye'." Po waved at his dad.

"Face it; even Mr. Ping doesn't trust you with food." Crane told Po as they walked up the thousand stairs. The panda shrugged the comment away with his fluffy shoulders and answered,

"He was just being nice, he could see my arms are always loaded with kungfu arts action- watcha-!" he started these arm-crossing-actions that made the others look at each other meaningfully, but with no ill thoughts. "And besides," the panda continued as they clambered, "Tigress is the toughest one here so she gotta do all the hardcore actions!"

"Like carrying a picnic basket, you mean?" Mantis grinned at him and the others snickered again. The panda sighed at them having finally feel defeat so he turned instead to the only one who wasn't laughing at him: Tigress.

Tigress was looking straight ahead calmly while listening to the others. Po advanced beside her and the tiger gave him a side look.

"You know, my dad used to let me deliver the orders to some customer before." he told her conversationally. Tigress merely glanced sideways at him but didn't say anything. "I always do the cooking too like noodles, soup, even veggies, I tell you! So I don't know the deal but I'm sure he'd realized I can still do it even though I'm the Dragon Warrior now. So you know what, Tigress, the baskets perfectly safe with me."

"Po," Tigress said after awhile, "This is Shifu's."

"I know," nodded the happy panda enthusiastically and encouragingly, "Bur look here! I'm the panda whose cuddly they say and carrying a basket is my thing! You- you on the other hand is a hero for hardcore! I can't let my hero carry things like baskets, you know what I mean?"

"No." Tigress said without much consideration.

"He's blabbing again." Crane muttered to the others with a knowing look.

"Hehe…he'll get it from her." Monkey muttered back.

Po rounded on Tigress that made her stop on her tracks.

"Tigress, okay I will tell you the truth." he said slowly with his paws up to stop the tiger from moving, "In that basket you are holding right now is my- eternal happiness! It's like my dream inside another dream- and I kept dreaming about it even though I'm awake. So there- I said it."

Tigress raised her eyebrow in a familiar fashion. Po nodded at her encouragingly. The others watched them as they waited on the steps ahead.

The tiger weighed her stare at the panda who gulped at the way she was looking at him. Po felt the intensity of the gaze and fidgeted.

"There's the stare." Crane muttered to Monkey.

Tigress then took a step near Po who took a little step backward in turn.

"It's coming." Monkey muttered.

"Po," Tigress said with her eyes as sharp as usual, "Your 'eternal happiness' will only last for ten seconds of eating and the next day you'll have another dream. My duty is to deliver this to Master Shifu and if you don't get out of the way you will feel eternal regret, and I don't mean it in a happy way."

Crane and Monkey looked at each other and winked.

Po didn't move a muscle but looked hesitant.

"Uh…" he said while blinking, "Is that a 'no'?"

Tigresses rolled her eyes and pushed pass the panda while the others shook their heads in disbelief.

They were just continuing the steps when there was the emergency call from the village they have just been from.

"What? More bandits?" Viper asked as the Five and Po looked at the lower village.

"Why do I have the feeling someone's stopping us from meeting Master Shifu?" Crane asked as he took flight.

"Same here," Viper answered, "I haven't seen him yet."

"Let's go." Tigress called, leaving the picnic basket on the stairs.

Po saw the opportunity and made a go for the basket but then found himself flying miles away: Crane had grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Wrong side, Po!" Crane told him with a wink and they flew down the village.

"Focus!" Tigress called as she jumped out of sight.

"I'll focus on getting my hands on some cider!" the panda shouted enthusiastically as they surged downward.

It took them seconds to reach where the commotion was coming from and when they did they saw the village in wreck. All the village people were either getting up from the ground or helping others to do so.

"What?" Panda muttered as he looked around with his mouth half open. "We just left this place a minute ago…"

Tigress went over a fallen bunny and helped her to sit up.

"Who did this?" she asked.

"It was… a monster…" she whispered.

Po and the others looked at each other.

*.*.*.*

Master Shifu was frowning as he touched his cane. He was inside the palace vicinity and facing the Furious Five and Po. They had just brought him the news and the basket.

"What did the villagers say about that attacker again?" he asked in complete bewilderment as he looked up at the warriors.

"They said it was a strong creature with its face hidden in black cloak." Mantis answered promptly as the others nod their head.

"According to them, this creature stepped out from the shadows and the next moment they knew they were all being attacked one by one." Tigress added with a serious frown too.

"That's crazy, we've just left there," Po reasoned out loud as he stepped near Shifu, "its like- we've just turned our head the other way and the next we knew everyone was upside down."

Shifu looked troubled, but his troubled face turned into amusement as he raised one eyebrow at Po who was advancing on the basket from Mr. Ping.

"Ahem." he called to the panda that looked up to see everyone look at him.

"Uh…" he started in that familiar thinking voice he has, "I was just- just…"

"I think we must patrol the village in case the creature returns." Tigress suggested as her eyes shifted from Po to Shifu. "No matter what kind of creature he is it is important to protect the village."

"You are right," Shifu gave her an approving nod as he addressed everyone as a whole. "Whoever this creature is it is a must to rid of him before anyone could get serious injury. Patrol the village in the morning and take shifts in the evening. We will take this threat seriously…"

"Yes, Master." they all answered as they bowed their heads with their fist together.

"And Po," added Shifu as an afterthought as they glanced at the panda who was in the act of peering inside the basket, "Leave the basket alone. You'll freak it out."

Po glanced down at the basket in wonder.

*.*.*.*

The warriors have been surrounding the whole village for the next few hours. Crane is seen flying across the village, looking here and there for any sign of commotion. Time had slipped by and the sky was orange for the sun was ready to set.

Po is then seen jumping up a rooftop and tapping his stomach.

"Finished with the peach trees?" Tigress asked as she dropped on the roof after him. Po rounded on her in surprise then shook his head furiously but his mouth gave him away.

It was bulging with peaches. Tigress smirked and crossed her arms.

"You gotta find out a new way to deny things, d'you know that?" she asked.

Po gave a wrenching gulp and then faced the tiger.

"I was hungry- we've been patrolling for hours! We almost skipped lunch if my stomach did not remind me about it."

Tigress watched as the panda looked out to the whole village.

"What do you think?" she asked him.

"Whoever attacked awhile ago must be some lunatic who was so hungry he started attacking anyone." Po answered as Tigress stood beside him and they watched the whole village together. "And I'm gonna be walking the same path later."

"Do you think that?" Tigress asked quietly.

"I'll think likely if we continue skipping meals."

Tigress looked at him with a slight frown on her face.

"Be serious. What we saw awhile ago is enough to tell me we are dealing with someone we should never underestimate."

Po sighed as he heard this.

"It's not like I'm just cool about everything or underestimating anyone," he said in a calm and sincere voice as he looked at Tigress who looked back, "It's awesomeness I know but- I have a strong belief that I can deal with this if I am with you guys."

Tigress' eyes widened a little.

"I believe we are stronger if we are all together. We can defeat anyone if we work together." he continued more as he stared ahead with his eyes shining, "Everything's possible… and I know I can rely on you so much, Tigress. If you are there I know everything's gonna be fine. You are one hardcore hero than I am, get that?"

Tigress looked as if she had just received the dragon scroll. She cleared her throat but did not say anything as they both watched the sunset.

"Do you hear something?" Po asked suddenly and both of them looked up to see Crane flying at them in a hurry.

"At the border!" he shouted in a straight voice, "We found him! He's fighting with the others!"

Tigress and Po didn't waste any time as they jumped from the rooftop easily and ran to where Crane was heading.

It didn't take them long to reach the place and when they got there it shook them up to see the three- Monkey, Viper and Mantis- down and defeated on the ground.

"What the-!" Po, Tigress and Crane hurried to them but something in black cloak fell down the ground between them and their friends.

Po's mouth fell open as he looked at the creature's firm feet, up to his cloaked body, to his face half hidden in the shadow of his hood. Tigress gritted her teeth as she positioned for an attack.

"Who are you?" she demanded. The creature's only golden eye merely stared at her.

"You don't remember?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Hey-!" Po suddenly shouted, "Those are my friends you bad guy, how dare you hurt them? I feel my fists shouting for justice!"

The mysterious creature's eye gleamed. Po made the first attack with Crane behind him.

"Hiyaa!"

The mysterious creature raised a paw, and in one swift movement, grabbed Po by the wrist and threw him away like a piece of apple. Po went flying away directly to Crane who caught him but wasn't able to control the force. The two warriors hit the nearby tree and dropped on the ground with a thud.

Tigress saw this and attacked too but the creature caught her around the neck and pushed her to a tree trunk. He started strangling her and she tried her best to break free.

"You really don't remember me?" the creature hissed, "Pity… since I wasn't able to forget you for the past 15 years."

And Tigress' eyes widened as the creature finally removed his hood and showed his eye-patched face. She recognized the sabre-toothed at once and this made her stare for a long moment.

"You!"

Kuma smiled and gripped her neck tightly once more but before he could say anything he noticed the panda and the bird getting up from the corner of his eyes. He frowned and then turned at the tiger again.

"I know you realize my strength now and know what will happen if I decide to destroy everything on my way. So if you have the guts and you think you can stop me, I'll just be around, waiting. And don't be a fool, you know better than to tag anyone along."

"Hey you- I'm not done with you yet!" Po shouted as he looked up, but when he did he only saw Tigress there. The creature was gone.

Crane went to check the others at once but Po was staring at the tiger with a curious expression on his face.

"You okay?"

Tigress looked at him for a whole ten seconds, before finally nodding her head.

"Yeah… it's nothing."

-TBC-

Thanks for reading!