Chapter 6: 'Nothing Comes Easy'

I am sorry about not getting my Christmas special up that I had planned on doing. My uncle passed away the week before Christmas, and coupled with the family getting together, everything in my plans got blown up… So I am just going to continue updating this story and my song-fic story.

I wish you all a very happy New Years and I hope you all reach your resolutions like I hope I will. Also has anyone noticed that the 'Kung-Fu Panda' story thread is now ranked 20th on this site? We are moving up in the world!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kung-Fu Panda… This message will self-destruct in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… (Explodes)

"Do you mean Shen is alive?" Tigress said with a growl as Po sat, bewildered, at the dinning table in the Jade Palace. Everyone in the room feared for their life as they watched the female tiger get all heated up.

Po and Tigress rushed back as soon as they received word that their master needed them, but neither one realized they would be told that Shen was still alive. Tigress got irate at finding out that he was still alive, for obvious reasons being he almost took Po from her.

"We all saw that cannon drop on his head!" She roared.

"Tigress, it's okay. I know we…" Po started but was interrupted by Tigress.

"Okay? Okay!? How can you be okay with it Po? The man that nearly took your life, almost destroyed mine, and not to mention your dad's and the rest of you family here at the palace. Po… the guy that nearly took all of that away… is back." Tigress finished seemingly begging Po to say that everything wasn't okay.

"Well… maybe he wants to reason with us." Po replied hoping Shifu or one of the five would side with him.

Shifu chuckle lightly from the other side of the table causing eyes to turn to him "There is the Po we all know, always seeing the light side in a dark person."

"I did give him a chance to redeem himself right before he 'died'." Po said. " Maybe he changed his mind."

"Po, dude, he lost his leg." Simba spoke up. "Plus, he had me in a position where he could have easily choked me to death. That peacock is not on a peacekeeping mission."

"Alright so he isn't here to be nice… Po said, but before anyone could say anything else a messenger flew into the hall and gave a scroll to Shifu.

"There has been a prison break at the Ling Prison." Shifu read down the letter a little further. "The prisoner that got away is Khan." Shifu sighed and pinched the space between his eyes.

"Well that explains why he was there with Shen. He helped Khan break out, probably to team up and come after Po." Said Simba.

"Well that letter was really helpful." Mantis said sarcastically and for once everyone agreed with him.

After everyone sat quietly for a few moments, Po finally asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "What do we do?"

"Right… what are we going to do…" Shifu asked himself quietly. "Alright, it isn't much but I think it will work for now. Simba and Nala, why don't you go to that prison and get any information you can."

"Yes Master." Simba and Nala bowed to their master and walked out the door. Nala seemed excited to go on here first mission.

"What about me master?" Po asked ready for some Kung-Fu action.

"You are staying here." Shifu plainly said.

"But… why?" Po whined.

"Don't question your master, I have my reasons." Said Shifu. "Tigress can I see you?" Tigress nodded in agreement and followed Shifu out of the dinning hall and around the corner.

"I wanted to tell you that I am keeping Po and the Five close to the palace, due to the looming threat of Shen just incase some harm comes to the village."

"I understand."

'Also, you and Po are to stay at the palace. I understand you two are capable on your own and would love to be alone with each other…" Shifu stopped for a moment to shake the thought from his head and Tigress had a hidden blush under her fur, Shifu then continued. "But I feel that you guys staying inside place grounds will much more beneficial."

"I see, I'll let Po know." Tigress agreed.

"Also I realize you two had a half week left for vacation, and I would understand if you guys would like to continue it."

Tigress was really happy for Po urging her into taking a vacation, she had really needed it to clear her mind but now she was read to back in the training room. She was actually going to try her personal training room in her and Po's house, but because her master wanted them close to the palace that wouldn't be possible. Maybe she could get Po to want to train.

"Thank you, Master." Tigress bowed and began walking towards the dinning hall.

"Oh, and have Crane retrieve Mei-Ling, she could be helpful." Shifu finished and headed into the Hall of Heroes.

Tigress returned back to the dinning table, Po was finishing up telling a story to the rest of the five.

"So I went after him to give him his soup, and I did eventually catch up to him and give him is food. And you know what he did with the food?" Po said as he leaned forward on his chair.

"No… What?" Monkey and Mantis asked, obviously into Po's story.

"Gave it to some orphans on the street. Turns out every time he visited dad's shop he was actually buying food for homeless kids."

The five minus tigress 'awed' at the ending of Po's story. Not that she didn't car, actually she was very touched about someone doing this for children that are in the same position that she was in many years ago, she just didn't want to show it.

"Well if you are all done… Crane Master Shifu wants you to retrieve your girlfriend, she could help us with our Shen problem." Tigress bluntly stated and Crane went red in the face.

"She isn't my…" Crane started saying but quickly stopped when Tigress gave him a 'We all know it' look. "Right… I'll head out here in a few minutes." He sheepishly sighed and walked out of the dinning hall and Tigress turned her sights on her mate.

"So Po, Shifu would like us to stay inside palace grounds." Tigress took a seat next to him.

"Until this thing with Shen is over?" Po looked a little uneasy.

"Yeah, and we can continue our vacation but…" Tigress scooted closer to Po and put one of her paws on Po's. Her tail began trace its way up Po's back making him shiver.

Po looked over at her. "But what?"

"I would love to have a spar with you, and maybe some training time." Tigress whispered in Po's ear.

"And w-what's in it f-for me?" stuttered Po.

Tigress' tail found itself moving slowly underneath his chin. " I guess you will just have to find out." She purred and started walking to the door. Po, somewhat hypnotized, followed her out.

Monkey and Mantis sat with their mouths hung opened as if their jaws were on hinges. "What just happened" was all they could say.

WITH SIMBA AND NALA

"Yes! My first mission!" Nala said with excitement.

"Yeah I remember mine." Simba was walking next to her.

"Was it hard?" Nala go serious for a moment.

"Nah… just some bandits. Nothing hard." He did his best to look tough.

Nala giggled and pushed him. "Please, knowing you, you probably were scared.

"Well, inside I was, but I couldn't show it so that the innocent villagers who were near by, didn't get scared themselves. I had to show I could handle the situation." Simba grinned and looked over at her.

"I know… you always had a good heart." Nala walked a little closer to him making Simba blush. "At least my strong handsome man will keep me safe."

"You know it." Simba grinned.

After hours and hours of walking they had made it to the prison, where a gaping hole in the side of a large stonewall met them as they came down the trail. Many guards were moving rubble and prisoners. They both noticed one guard directing all the work and decided to go up and talk to him.

"Hurry up! We have to get all the prisoners moved to Chor Gom before nightfall." The rhino was giving orders left and right.

"Yes Sgt. Chou, right away."

"So are you the one in charge?" Simba said.

"Huh? Who…?" The rhino mumble and looked behind him and saw Simba standing there with Nala. "Oh, Master Simba I had no idea you were coming." And he bowed immediately.

"Really? How does word spread so fast in this country?" Simba asked Nala, but she could only shrug and shake her head.

"Maybe Shifu has really good connections?" Nala suggested.

"Who do I owe the honor of having one of the Jade Palace members at my prison?" The Sergeant stood up.

"The one that made that hole in your prison." Said Simba.

"Shen…" The rhino lowed his voice to a near growl.

"And… one prisoner is gone. Khan."

"Yeah, so now we are relocating everybody in that prison wing until repairs can be made." He pointed at the walking prisoners.

"I see. Is everyone ok?"

"No, two of my best men didn't survive the blast."

"So sorry to hear that." Nala said sincerely.

"Do you happen to know how big Shen's army was that night? Simba was looking at the hole in the wall.

"Not very much, a hundred soldiers maybe, but that had that weapon of his he created." The Sergeant paused for a moment remembering something that one of his soldiers had said. "Oh, and supposedly some of Shen's troops are still around…" an arrow, which had slammed into his left shoulder, cut off the Sergeant. Some of the wolves had stayed behind and had been lurking around the prison, as if they were waiting for Simba and Nala to be there.

"Nala get down!" Simba yelled and shoved her to the ground behind a wall just as another arrow lodged itself in the ground right they were standing. Thinking fast, Simba grabbed a shield that was lying on the ground next to them. "Follow me." He said to Nala.

Simba held up the shield in front of him and Nala crouched behind him and they slowly inched themselves forward towards the archer. Every now and then an arrow would clang of the shield or land next to them. Once they were close enough to the shooter Simba stood up and threw the shield as hard as he could at the archer's head, knocking him out.

"Well that was…" but that was all he could say when three more wolves jumped out of the tree line and he noticed a worried look on Nala's face.

"Nala just remember your training and you will be fine." He encouraged her.

"I know, I got this." Nala reassured him.

Simba struck first at one of the wolves and he was nearly able to dodge it but the punch connected in the wolf's stomach. The wolf reacted with a kick aimed at Simba's leg, attempting to injure him. Simba was able to block it with his paw and the wolf's buddy then came into help, now Simba had to keep an eye two of them at the same time. The wolf on his right struck first but was easily blocked and Simba noticed another fist coming in his direction and blocked it too. At this point Simba now had an arm of each wolf in each of his paws and all Simba did was grin. Simba pressed down on of the wolf's arms down making him cringe in pain then let go of the other wolf's arm. With a spin kick to the back of the head of the wolf on his right, dropping them both. Simba watched as the conscious wolf struggle to get out from underneath his unconscious comrade.

Nala was defending against the wolf she was fighting the best she could. She blocked every punch that was thrown at her, but she was quickly losing steam and Simba saw this and decided to intervene.

"Hey mutt! Over here." Simba shouted.

Looking away from Nala for a moment the wolf realized his mistake. As he turned back to face Nala he was conscious long enough to see a fist hit his chin. Nala's punch laid the wolf out.

"Thanks." Nala managed to say between heavy breaths.

"No problem, I saw he was giving you some trouble and…" Simba saw the wolf that had been trapped under his buddy, was now running towards them with a knife in hand. Simba reacted quickly by pushing Nala out of the way of the knife just in time as the wolf tackled him to the ground. The wolf was on top of Simba snarling and growling, scratching at him, and attempting to stab him with the knife.

Nala looked up from the ground and saw Simba holding the arm of the wolf that held the knife, and it was inching closer to his neck. "Oh no." Nala said under her breath and began to look around for a weapon to help him, and then she saw the bow from the archer laying on the ground. Nala got up and ran for it, she picked it up and turned on her heels, aimed, and fired.

Simba noticed the wolf wasn't struggling anymore and jerked to the side. Then he noticed the arrow in the wolf's side. Looking at the direction from where the arrow was fired from, he saw his love holding the bow.

"Good shot." He mumbled and pushed the body off him so he could get to his feet.

"I still got it." Nala looked at the bow.

"Yeah, after all those years you still know how to shoot a bow and arrow." Simba smiled a little. " I think your better with that then you will be with Kung-Fu, no offense."

"None taken, actually I think your right."

"Well when we get back, I'm talking to Shifu about your training." Simba looked at the bodies on the ground. "Let's clean this up first before head back."

UNKNOWN LOCATION…

"I have already tried that!" Khan roared.

"Yes, but now we have an army." Shen retorted. "A thousand strong!" He yelled into the courtyard receiving a roar of applause from the wolf troops.

"And just how do you plan to get your hands on Tigress? She if the most volatile thing I've fought against." Khan began to argue again. "Plus, when I had the Dragon Warrior in my hands and she fought harder than he did!"

"The Dragon Warrior won't be able to stand when he sees his love crumpled on the ground." Shen spit. "I don't wish to piss off the Furious Five over a petty tomb raid! I want to end them, make them no more, make them feel the pain I felt. Get it?" Shen was now in the face of Khan."

"When the Five and the Dragon Warrior fall, so does China."

Uh, Oh… Shen and Khan are planning something and Nala has found… rather remembered an old talent. How will Tigress's and Po's spar go over? And Crane is on his way to visit and bring back Mei-Ling. Whew… I better get started on the next chapter.

Also, If you see any mistakes in the chapters, pleas don't be afraid to PM about them. Sometimes I do miss some mistakes.

Sorry for this late and sort of short update. I'm hoping to have another chapter of the DJ Simba593's Collection up by the end of the week, but life hasn't been kind to me lately sooo… I never know. Thanks for being patient though. Simba593 Over and Out.