Chapter Three: A Simple Mission

The Dragon Warrior watched as another bolt of lightning struck the mountains beyond. Sitting patiently in the lotus position, he gazed at the darkened horizon from the rear patio of the Jade Palace. The storm had been encroaching in on the Valley of Peace slowly over the past hour, and it was almost ready to unleash its fury upon the pristine terrain below. He marveled at the spectacle of it all: the heavy clouds seeping over the peaks in the distance, the strikes of white fire lashing the landscape like a whip. A sudden gust of wind that unsettled his fur announced that the moment he had been waiting for was nearly here. Making sure to maintain a composed Tai Chi stance, the panda gently placed the jade staff he received from Master Oogway in the Spirit Realm on the ground.

His eyes closed, Po breathed in as deep as his lungs would allow and readied himself for his Inner Peace Technique with a slow drag of his right paw pad. His entire body was loose and relaxed, but he ensured that every slight movement was fully intentional and controlled. And then, without even having to look, he saw it: the first drop of rain plummeting toward him. Its presence was more a feeling then something he could see, and he knew exactly when and where it would fall.

His figure recoiled ever so slightly, and his arm extended up to meet it in stride, halting its descent with his paw. His limbs working in tandem, Po moved the drop towards the core of his form with an immaculate grace about his motion. The sky had opened now, and a cascading deluge engulfed him. There were countless drops of rain torrenting against his fur, but he did not feel them; he was fixated inseparably on a single orb out of an infinite stillicide of water. He passed the drop between his arms, slowly working it toward the ground. Not even the vicious lightning strikes nor the roar of thunder nearby could rouse him from the trance. He was making sure to take his time, as he derived a unique pleasure from this part of the technique. In this perfect moment there was no discord; there was only tranquility. There was no right or wrong; only the pure balance between them. The panda could now see every facet of his own being coalesced at once, visions of his friends, his family, the people that were both, and himself at the center of it all. Po had come to learn that Inner Peace was in fact a mirror, not of the body but of the soul, and it was the truest way of understanding oneself.

At last, Po surrendered the drop of liquid to the growing stream around him and the visions ceased. As he opened his eyes once more, he took in the undeniable power of nature. Despite the hail of water slicking down the fur on his muzzle, he was sporting an ample smile. Every time he practiced this technique he was reminded of how he had defeated Lord Shen, saving China and Kung Fu itself in the process. Even after thwarting the Beast of Vengeance, he still considered it his greatest triumph, and he reveled in the fact that his fellow masters had seemed to have a newfound respect for him after what transpired in Gongmen City.

Po regretted that with his more recent mastery of Chi, he had less and less chances to give himself this ultimate spiritual balance. As he mulled over this last thought, it finally dawned on him that he was now hopelessly drenched, the fur on the undersides of his arms hanging down as it absorbed the water. He retrieved his yin-yang staff and made a quick break for the shelter of the Hall of Warriors... or whatever was left of it; the repairs were coming along slowly after Kai had taken out most of the first level of the palace.

The only light in the entire room came from the candles surrounding the Moon Pool at the far end of the half-collapsed hall. As Po approached the illuminated area through the ruins, he became aware of the fact that a certain red panda had been watching him with amusement; he had seen how hastily Po had barged in and comically tripped over debris several times to escape the onslaught of water.

Leaving a trail of puddles in his wake, the soaked bear still gave his master a proper greeting with a bow.

"Good morning, Master Shifu."

Shifu returned his bow and motioned for him to come closer to the candles to dry off a little. The red panda had seemingly found the only place in the room where rain wasn't trickling in, the sound of rushing water audible all around them. Po noticed that his master was sitting on the fallen golden dragon head that had once held the Dragon Scroll in its jaws; the metal that comprised it was starting to oxidize slightly as the months of exposure to the elements wore on. Gathered around the area were the surviving artifacts of the Hall of Warriors.

"Practicing Inner Peace in a lightning storm again?"

"Whaaaat? No, I was jus-" Shifu's devilish smirk had revealed itself in full force. "Okay, yeah. You got me."

The red panda smiled and raised his brows at the bear's sudden confession. Po was an unbelievably bad liar.

"Oh, nothing to be ashamed of, Dragon Warrior. That is, at least, until a lightning strike turns you into an ash pile."

The two exchanged a little chuckle. It reminded Po how much better life had been at the Jade Palace since Shifu had lightened up some; he did have to admit it wasn't a great idea to keep going out into lightning storms, though. That would be a very un-poetic way to top off.

"It's just that we haven't been doing anything interesting around here lately, so I've been kind of bored."

"Bored? How fortunate for you, then; it just so happens that I have a new mission for you."

Predictably, the Dragon Warrior was ecstatic at the news. The Jade Palace Masters hadn't had a real mission for some time now, not since the arrival of Kai, and that had been more terrifying than anything else. Of course, there was always the usual bandit raid to keep him and his fellow masters occupied, but they were almost always small-time pushovers that caved instantly to their bodacity; in fact, most of the time they would just give up without a fight. While it was great that the local lowlifes knew just how great you were at handing out ass-kickings, this was significantly less fun.

"Yes! Finally!" He pumped the air with his fist. "It's zombies, isn't it? Punching dead guys is the best!"

"It is not zombies."

"Ah, then it's The Crustacean Menace of Zhejiang!"

"It is not… whatever that is… either."

The giant panda proceeded to start rambling about increasingly obscure and ridiculous enemy hordes, much to his master's annoyance. When he had heard quite enough, Shifu silenced him by raising his arm in the "Please shut up, Po" gesture that the enthusiastic warrior knew only too well, and he looked rather deflated.

"The task I am asking of you, Dragon Warrior, is actually quite simple."

Po perked up once more with insatiable curiosity.

"I have received word from the northern provinces that the infamous Kung Fu relic, the Dagger of Deng-Wa, has been located. Someone in the city of Xiangyang has put it up for sale to the highest bidder. I want you to find the current holder of the relic, compensate them handsomely, and return with it so we may keep it safe here in the Hall of Warriors." He looked at the destruction around him with a sigh, as he was reminded how much things have changed of late.

"AWESOME! But… Master Shifu isn't that thing kind of, you know, dangerous? Isn't that what the evil Deng-Wa warlords used to nearly conquer all of China?"

"Yes, that's the one; the dagger has had many users over the ages. I suspect Master Oogway had a record of the relic's true origin, but as you can see the Jade Palace Library… no longer exists. The weapon's unique power has not been seen on the battlefield in over two centuries."

"How does the power work?"

"No-one really knows. It has the reputation of making its wielder nigh invincible; I suspect it has some kind of Chi enhancement, but it's just a hunch. The only thing most scholars are sure of is that the dagger has a unique design: the blade is unusually curved, like a snake."

"That's like, super cool…" He saw Shifu's brow furrow at him. "…in a frightening, evil-y, bad kind of way, of course!" Po had caught his tongue, chuckling nervously.

"The weapon has never once been used for good, so 'cool' is hardly the best term for it."

Shifu leaped atop of Oogway's staff and looked the bear eye to eye, annotating each word with his features to make sure he was perfectly clear.

"You should take every precaution when transporting such an artifact. In the wrong paws, the weapon would cause complete chaos! The journey will be a long one; you may select two of the Five to go with you."

The Dragon Warrior had been at least momentarily frightened by his master's proximity and fierce demeanor, but when hearing the last part, he became elated once more.

"Alright! Road trip!" Shifu started to frown again. "I won't let you down Master Shifu! One seriously spooky shiv coming right up!"

And with that, the masters exchanged bows and Po started out of the hall, the storm outside having lightened up enough for him to make it to the barracks unscathed.

"I have every faith in you Dragon Warrior." Shifu said, too quiet for Po to hear, as the panda was already outside.

Gods, I hope he takes Tigress with him. She's the only one I trust to carry that thing.

Po didn't exactly have the best record with Kung Fu artifacts. The red panda glanced over at the particularly unlucky Urn of Whispering Warriors with a pronounced cringe.

Author's Notes:

- This will be, without a doubt, the shortest chapter I will write for a long time; I liked the way this scene ended so I made it a chapter break, but it will be very rare for me to post something in the future where the actual content amounts to less than 2K words

- Unfortunately, I can also guarantee that I will not be posting 3 chapters within 48 hours again; this was only possible because all I had to do was edit content that was more or less completed already

- One of the hardest things for me in writing this is trying to create authentic dialogue for Po - he is completely unpredictable at times, and this makes simulating how he would react to certain situations somewhat difficult

- The only thing that is comparable in relative difficulty is trying to approach the extremely complex psyche of Tigress, but you will get to see my feeble attempt at that next chapter :)

- The Crustacean Menace of Zhejiang... now that is what I should have wrote my fanfic about!

- Writing of chapter four is underway, and I'm hoping to get it out by the end of the week; please let me know what you thought/what can be improved in a review!