Taotie worked all night. In the morning, his first prototype of chi extractor, as he called it, was finished. "The evil genius strikes again!" the warthog shouted, happy.

Fenghuang woke up after hearing his loud noises. "Is it done?"

"You can wait for a better version, otherwise this one should be fine." He handed over the gun.

"How does this work? I have to shoot, then what?" the owl asked impatiently.

"Listen carefully. This is a prototype. It won't be able to shoot more than five times," Taotie explained.

"You'll make another one. That's not the problem." She grinned.

"If my theory is correct, successfully hitting a human will drain all their chi, but I don't know what happens if you hit one of us."

Fenghuang seemed interested to find out. "You deserve some rest, don't you think?" She pointed the gun at him.

"Wait!" He slowly walked backwards, raising his hooves. "What about more guns?! You need me!"

She moved closer to him. An eerie grin appeared on her face. "Don't worry, you won't die! It's just for fun!" Her new gun brimmed with energy, then fired.

Taotie was struck by the beam, and he screamed in pain. He could feel the energy being sucked from his body. It flew out into the whirlpool that was the gun. The engineer then fell to the floor, unconscious.

"That's all?!" she yelled, upset and berating the fainted warthog as if he could somehow listen. "I hope it works! For your sake!" She flew away towards the village.

-

Shifu, like he did everyday, walked through the hallway and proceeded to wake up everyone earlier than normal.

"Wake up, students!" he shouted outside the rooms. "We have a lot of things to do this morning. We'll start sooner than normal!"

The five stood up from their room like they always did when their master called them, but Po didn't join them.

The red panda slammed Po's door and commanded angrily, "PO, I TOLD YOU TO WAKE UP!" Then, he took some deep breaths, and his anger ebbed. He cleared his throat. "You have important business today."

Last night, Fulvio had asked Po if he could sleep with him, precisely on top of him. Po agreed… But, in that very moment, he forgot. He abruptly stood, causing him to throw the human to the floor.

"I'm sorry Master…" Po yawned. "I'm up!" Then he realized that he pushed Fulvio face first on the ground. His eyes widened, and he emerged into a panicked state. His paws waved wildly. "I'M SORRY! I usually sleep alone!" He picked Fulvio up and sat him down properly.

"We'll see you in the training hall within five minutes, not a moment longer." Shifu turned his back to the door and walked away.

"Don't worry, I understand." Fulvio sighed to himself. He had been enjoying the warmth of Po's fur while he slept. He then raised his head and opened the window.

Po watched Fulvio for a moment. "What are you doing?" he asked, thinking it odd.

"This?" He pointed outside. "It's a shortcut to the training hall," Fulvio explained, smiling at him.

Po rubbed his head, thinking about it. "I don't get it…" He peered out the window to see what the human was talking about. There wasn't a secret shortcut to his knowledge.

"Give me your paw. I'll show you," the human replied with an ominous smile.

"O-Okay..." He nodded uncertainly. The panda lent the human his paw. He decided to trust him.

As soon as he placed his paw in his hand, Fulvio shapeshifted into a panda and threw him out the window. Po bounced a couple of times before landing in front of the humans' hut below.

"This is a time I should say, 'Don't you dare do this again,'" Po commented, still sprawled out on the ground.

"Sort of." Satisfied, Fulvio walked towards him, turning back into a human.

All the humans exited their huts to check out what happened. "You shouldn't use your power for playing around," Leo scolded Fulvio after opening the door.

"Don't be so harsh on him! That is something I would do as well," Emily said, defending him.

"We should head into the training hall now. Everyone's waiting," Simon reminded before walking away.

Mark ignored everyone and followed them shortly after. The human saw the panda laying on the ground, specifically in the path he was walking. Instead of walking around Po, Mark walked over him. However, he was too light to even faze the panda. It was the thought of doing so that would bother anyone.

"I'm sorry for what my friend did..." Leo apologized for him. Mark simply left without turning back.

"It's alright." The Dragon Warrior stood up. "Everyone has a different way to handle this situation, right? I can't understand how it feels to live in a world you know nothing about."

Leo moved his gaze from the panda to the nonchalant stomper who was still in sight. "I'm trying to help him, but I need more time. I'm sure he wants to change as well."

"I… really don't think that showed the will of someone who wants to change," Emily added skeptically, then crossed her arms.

Rebecca rushed towards the training hall, but not for the same reason everyone was heading there. She stopped next to Mark as soon as she reached him. Along the path, nobody talked. Rebecca had no idea what to say, impulsive as she was. She headed there without thinking of what to do next.

Mark stopped suddenly. The girl did the same. He resumed walking, and she followed. Mark growled, until finally he couldn't take it anymore. "What are you doing?" he snapped, annoyed.

"What am I doing?" she mumbled, panicking. She floundered for excuses. "Nothing special! Just walking with my dear friend towards the training hall!" She felt uncomfortable knowing that what she just said sounded really stupid.

"Again with that thing…" He looked thoughtful. "What's the point of it?"

The girl's eyes widened, then she froze for a couple of seconds. She pondered the meaning of his words. 'Is that supposed to be a joke? Is he mocking me? What kind of a question is that?' These and other thoughts came across her mind. "A friend is someone who you can rely on…"

"Really…? I never did that in my life. The only person I'm relying on is me," Mark admitted, showing some understanding for what she said. The mess in his mind wasn't cleared, though.

"Well…" Rebecca grabbed his arm, wrapping herself around it. "You can count me in."

She caught him off guard. Mark winced back, freeing himself from her hold. Afterwards he blushed, recognizing the feeling to be the one he felt yesterday with Leo. "D-Don't do that, okay?!"

Rebecca laughed. In that moment Mark walked faster, leaving her behind. "I'm sorry!" she shouted after him. "Don't be afraid to trust the others! They really care about us! Especially Monkey for you!"

That weird feeling of embarrassment Mark felt soon turned into a guilty one. He should have done that from the start, but nobody actually taught him how to do it.

-

Shifu started to talk as soon as everyone arrived. "Welcome to the hall of training. Here you all will train until you unlock your hidden powers. For now, I'll test these two humans." He pointed his staff at Simon and Fulvio.

Simon turned into a crocodile. "I'm ready for anything. Are we going to fight?"

"Please go easy on me!" Fulvio begged for his life, worried.

"Me?" Shifu's eyes widened when the human said that. "This is a misunderstanding. I won't fight you," he accurately stated.

Fulvio breathed a sigh of relief. "For a moment I thought I was going to fight…"

"You'll fight each other. That's what I wanted to say." Shifu cut in, crumbling Fulvio's dreams.

"I don't know anything! Zero! Nada! What do you want to see!?" he panicked, fumbling an excuse.

Shifu faced Fulvio. "Do you think Simon is a kung fu master?"

"Fine… I give up. I'll give it a try." He consented and sighed, shapeshifting into a panda.

The wise master started the fight, but no one moved. The panda clearly didn't know what to do. The crocodile, in contrast, had no reasons to not attack him.

"Would you like to start?" Shifu inquired, slightly irritated.

"I was waiting for him to attack first," the crocodile replied. "Look at him; he's shivering."

Fulvio winced. "I am in no condition to attack first! Just make this quick, okay?"

"This is so boring…" Mark stated disinterestedly. He sighed and shook his head. His thoughts were clear. 'I have no reasons to stay here any longer,' he thought, leaving silently.

The red panda noticed him, though. He glanced over to Monkey, then the door, communicating with his eyes. The simian bowed and headed outside.

"Ok, you know what? You're right." Simon grinned and rushed towards Fulvio. "I'm coming!"

-

Mark, meanwhile, was leaning against one of the columns outside, lost in thought.

Monkey finally reached him. "Hey, what's going on? Why are you outside?"

"I want to be alone. That's how I always was. Let me be alone." The human turned his head away, as if he didn't even wish to look at the monkey.

"I can't."

Mark turned his head to him. "Huh?" It was as simple as turning away, wasn't it? He didn't understand why he had to be here besides taking orders.

Monkey raised his head and stared seriously at the boy. He was the most serious Mark has ever seen him. "No one deserves to be alone. That's awful. I know how it feels like."

Mark gritted his teeth together. His face was drawn in shadow, and his fists trembled. "Do you understand that I lied from the beginning?" he hissed between his grinding teeth. The human was trying so hard to push him away.

"About what?"

"About everything. I don't like this place. I don't like being here. I don't like being forced to live with you people."

Monkey frowned. "Like it or not, you're here now. Your presence is necessary. You probably won't care if our world or yours get destroyed by some creature trapped in another dimension, but you have to because if these two worlds die, you'll die with them." Monkey forced him to accept the simple and plain truth since he didn't know how else to convince him to get back inside.

Mark didn't reply. Monkey waited until the human walked inside silently. The simian felt guilty, but couldn't think of a better solution.

"I thought you guys were fighting. What's that? A dance?" Mark mocked as soon as he entered the training hall.

Simon was struggling to even catch Fulvio. Not because his opponent was a good fighter and easily dodged, but because the panda was running away.

"Are you going to fight back or what?!" Simon yelled at him.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?! I don't know anything about fighting!" Fulvio cried out with a tired tone.

"Fine. I won't waste time with you!" The crocodile, instead of continuing to try, grabbed him and threw him inside the training course on the rolling logs. Then he activated it.

Fulvio struggled to keep some sort of balance, but they were too fast! He flew away, landing in the section with the barbed logs. Fulvio tried to stand without touching them. However, he knocked into one accidentally, creating some sort of chain reaction. They began to strike him countless times everywhere. "Help..." the panda whispered, in too much pain to speak.

"I have to help him!" Po stood up, preparing to intervene. He couldn't bear to stand by while his friend was in pain.

Tigress grabbed his arm. "Stop. Don't interfere."

"I… I remember this." Po whispered, biting his lip. "This makes me feel sad. I can't look at it..."

After a while, Fulvio successfully escaped, crawling out and breathing a sigh of relief. He was covered in bruises. "Please, can we stop now?"

Simon reached him and helped him stand up. "You know that we didn't even fight yet, right?"

"I'm not a warrior! I-I don't even know how to punch someone!" Fulvio groaned.

In the meantime, what they didn't notice was that they were still inside the training course, just another section of it. They were in the section with the spiked logs hanging from the roof. They were slowly swinging upon them until one went down close enough to hit Simon, who wasn't looking.

"WATCH OUT, SIMON!" Fulvio put himself between Simon and the log and punched where there weren't any spikes. He broke it, but screamed in pain shortly after. The log, meanwhile, shattered into a million pieces, the wood chips clattering against the floor.

The crocodile frowned at him when he turned around. He was surprised, but also dismayed. "What kind of sick game are you playing with me?!" he screamed. "You told me that you don't know how to fight, yet you saved me by breaking that with one paw!"

"I… I don't know! I did that without thinking! I wanted to save you!" Fulvio commented shyly.

Some fragments of the spiked log Fulvio broke fell towards The Five and the humans. Something triggered Mark to rush and shield Rebecca with his body, but made it look like he was just passing by. He grimaced with his arm raised over them to shield their heads. The debris then clattered to the floor harmlessly.

"That was very nice of you. Thanks," Rebecca noted, smiling at him from under his arm. "And you said you didn't care."

"Don't get confused by appearances. I didn't do anything special," Mark replied, pretending to be cold. After a moment, he turned towards Monkey and saw him with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

Shifu started to talk to the humans again. "You learned your first lesson, young student. Maybe two," he specified, nodding at Fulvio. He then turned. "Tigress told me that you, Simon, already know about the fighting reason."

"Why didn't Shifu teach me that too when I arrived?" Po whispered to Tigress.

"Because I never wanted to show you anything." Shifu overheard him and answered for Tigress. "For me you were just a burden, then all those things happened with one day for training you… I needed to speed up."

Po frowned, but he knew that already, making it easy to just let it go.

"Is he saying that my fighting reason is to protect the others?" Fulvio thought out loud. "I'm not so sure about that…"

"Your second lesson is to not trust your mind too much. You need to keep a perfect balance of both."

Shifu sent the humans away, concluding their first lesson to have breakfast while The Five and Po began their daily chi training.

"Who wants to cook?" Leo asked the others.

"I want to do it! I have something special in mind!" Rebecca stood up, walking towards the kitchen stove. "Mark! Come with me! I need some help!"

"Uh?! I've never cooked!" he complained.

"Who cares? I need some help. Trust me, it will be fun!" she said, bringing him along. The man couldn't argue; he was already almost there.

Fulvio didn't follow them inside the kitchen. Instead, he turned around and headed outside, mumbling some sort of excuse about going to the bathroom. What he really wanted was to be alone for bit; he was not used to this and what had happened disturbed him.

"Where are you going?" Someone spotted him walking down the thousand steps.

"Me?" he laughed awkwardly. "I was going to the bathroom!" He quickly turned around like that was the right way.

Emily teased him, pointing to where the bathroom actually was. He didn't turn. "I hope you know that you failed twice."

"That's because I was going to… get back my stone, yes! It fell down and it could be tragic if I..."

"Please stop," the girl cut in. "Just tell me the truth."

"I wanted to visit the village again… and maybe later ask for something to eat at Po's dad's," he admitted, walking back and giving up the idea.

She stopped him. "And now why are you going back? I never said don't go..."

He blinked. "Really?"

She nodded. "But I want to come along," she whispered.

"Fine. I have a very special place for you that is rather unique, just for you." The panda picked up the famous crate.

She frowned, looking at it. "Are you serious? Do I really have to get in there?"

"Well… Do you have a better idea?"

Emily muttered, accepting it. "But at least let me walk down the stairs alone..."

Fulvio agreed, probably to not burden himself carrying her the whole way down there. "Sounds good to me."

They didn't talk. They had different reasons to be there; however, similarly, both wanted some time alone to think about what happened so far.

"When did it happen?" he asked shyly, breaking the silence. It felt awkward to be around someone yet not talk; it was weird for him.

"I don't remember it clearly…" she admitted. "It probably wasn't important…" Her tone slightly changed when she said that. Maybe she was hiding something, but Fulvio wouldn't know.

"I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have…" He instantly tried to apologize.

"No, no. It's okay." She smiled. "You wanted to talk, am I right? But as far as I can see, you're bad at it."

Fulvio blushed. Because of his strong shyness, he fell silent.

Emily noticed she messed up. She quickly turned to change the subject. "We arrived..." She pointed towards the box. "Time to get this over with..." She gulped nervously. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

-

"Good morning," Fulvio said as soon as Po's fathers saw him walking inside.

"Good… morning?" Li Shan repeated, confused to see him there.

The goose peeked outside, seeing him approaching. "What are you doing here alone? Where's Po?"

"Yeah… 'Alone,'" Emily said, mumbling inside the box. Fulvio, alarmed, glanced over them hoping they didn't hear anything.

"I bet he's still training at the palace!" Ping sighed. "These days he shows up less and less."

"C'mon, don't put yourself down." Li stated encouragingly. "He promised to stay with us every day the next holiday."

"I know…" Ping complained. "But I can't wait so long!"

"We were going to eat something." The older panda turned towards the kitchen. "Do you want to join us?" he asked the human.

Fulvio was going to answer, but Emily did it from inside the box, making it awkward. "Yes! I'm starving!"

"I told you to stay silent!" he whispered back.

"Why?!" she shouted even louder than before. "Po told me that his parents know about us!" She opened the little prison and went outside.

"That isn't the reason why you were there!" Fulvio stated, covering her with his giant body. "This is a restaurant, you know. Now it's empty because it's morning, but soon enough it won't be! You can't just walk around like we normally do!"

"Oh! Another human!" Ping stared at her, trying to spot every possible difference from the other one he saw yesterday. "You are completely different from the one I met yesterday!"

"It's obvious that I am totally different!" Emily commented, upset. She was taking it personally. "I'm a girl! You saw a boy yesterday!"

"A loud one…" he muttered, trying to keep it inside.

"You're lucky that I eat more than I need to!" Li Shan grinned, walking towards them carrying noodles soups, bean buns, and dumplings on a tray.

"You should eat less! I can't afford a bigger kitchen!" Ping mocked.

While eating together, they shared amongst each other stories of their worlds. They were discussing what they usually did and ate.

"You don't know how much I wanted to laugh." Emily was now telling them about their first day of training. Fulvio's first one, specifically.

"Please, can we talk about something else?" Fulvio's white fluffy panda face slowly turned red.

Li Shan changed topic to something more interesting and serious. "I want you to know that I sent a message to the Panda Village yesterday. We'll probably receive an answer soon."

Fulvio's face brightened. He clasped his paws over his bowl. "That's great! Thank you! I hope this will help us find more information as soon as possible."

Ping saw that they didn't eat enough, or maybe he's used to watching too many pandas eat. "Do you need something else to eat?"

Li was going to ask for it, but the goose glared at him with a scowl. He instantly gave up, slumping his shoulders.

-

Fenghuang was on her way to the palace, but she didn't seem sure about a direct attack. She flapped her wings mindlessly while she mulled over these issues. 'I can't fight so many people… I need to think about something that will give me some time. A distraction!' The owl then flew back towards the bamboo forest; she needed to get some people on her side.

'Where are those stupid crocodiles when you need them…' she thought impatiently. Her eyes scanned the forest for them, but none of them were in sight. Her features downturned into a scowl. She didn't have time for this.

Then, a brilliant idea suddenly struck her!

"Oh no! I'm lost! I'm all alone in this scary forest! I have a lot of money and I can be the perfect prey for the bandits! What will this poor, little and beautiful girl do now?" She tried to make her voice more "cute," but it turned out pretty badly.

Fung fell for the trap anyway and attacked her. Their skills didn't compare. She was much stronger than him. After blocking his first attack, the owl easily put the crocodile down, knocking him into the ground with her sharp claw.

"You're not a poor little girl!" he tried to talk, but she was choking him. "Nor a beautiful one!" She pressed down, suffocating him more.

Seeing that, the other crocodiles hid, scared. A grin spread across her face after seeing this. She said, "I have a question for you. Do you care about your life?" Fenghuang she couldn't help but find glee in torturing others.

Fung couldn't breath. He tried his best to nod back.

"Good boy. I have a job for you!" She released him.

The crocodile inhaled more than usual, trying to fill his lungs and extinguish the pain caused by her. His eyes flitted back to her when she spoke anew. He cringed, but he had no choice but to listen to her demands.

"You have to go to the village with your… uh… junk, and do what you want. I need a distraction! You have to lure all the Five and the Dragon Warrior to you."

Fung did not have any other options; he had to accept her request. "Ok, ok! I'll do it, you stupid mad bird..."

Her evil grin widened, an eerie expression crossing Fenghuang's face. "Then get to it if you value your life!" She left them with terrified looks on their faces. She raised her wings, then lifted off into the sky. She flew towards the palace once more. The grin never left.

Her evil plan was finally coming to fruition!