When Shifu woke the next morning, he had a sudden realization that his headache was gone. It wasn't throbbing anymore, much to his confusion. He'd been bothered by it the past few days, and it suddenly disappeared now? Maybe something had happened that he didn't know about. What exactly, he wasn't sure, but the nagging feeling was also gone; the nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen, and that he was sure was Master Oogway trying to tell him something.
Something important, and not just Po's empty stomach like the panda had told him back in the Hall of Heroes after fainting. The Dragon Warrior had been disappointed when his master ultimately decided to ban the use of Chi, at least for awhile. But it was only for everyone's safety; Shifu wondered if that was the reason his headache had vanished, and if Oogway was once again at peace in the Spirit Realm.
But the smaller panda realized that he was horribly wrong when he discovered what that 'something important' was when he heard a strangled scream coming from outside of the palace.
"Crane! Mantis!" It sounded like Viper, and his assumption was soon confirmed.
Shifu ran down the palace halls to the entrance and stopped short when he spotted the snake, along with Monkey, sitting next to what indeed looked like Crane and Mantis, but it appeared that the latter two were...no. They couldn't be.
He breathed a sigh of relief when it appeared that they were still alive. Alive, but badly hurt. They were lying on the floor, hardly moving.
"What happened?" Shifu questioned, looking over his injured students in shock with wide eyes. Their injuries looked very painful; Crane's wings were bent at odd angles, and neither were moving. Mantis was having difficulty breathing.
Was this what you were trying to tell me? Shifu wondered not to himself, but to his late master. Who could have done this? The palace had been so quiet recently. Had they let their guard down too much with so little activity going on in the Valley? If that was the case, Shifu wasn't about to let it happen again anytime soon.
The Furious Five always had to be ready for whatever was thrown at them next, and they certainly hadn't been expecting something like this.
"I don't know! We just found them like this!" Viper said, her voice frantic. Monkey's eyes were just as wide as he watched over his fallen friends. He wanted to help them in some way, to somehow alleviate their pain, but he knew that trying to move them would only make things worse.
"We have to get help!" he told Shifu, his gaze lowering towards Crane when the bird suddenly began moving. Or attempt to move, at least. He could only manage a slight cringe as he tried lifting one of his twisted wings.
"He—he's..." Crane tried the best he could to form words, but it was very difficult with his beak broken the way it was, especially after having it be snapped shut with such force...
By Kai. But Shifu and the others didn't know that yet. He had to warn them; he had to.
"What is it?" Shifu asked Crane as the bird continued to struggle getting words out. Shifu moved closer, his heart clenching at the fact that Crane could barley speak, let alone move. It looked like someone had performed a nerve attack on him and Mantis.
He had to do something.
An idea began forming in the back of his mind, but Shifu was hesitant. It would mean going against his recent ban on a certain, glowing power. But Crane and Mantis needed medical attention now, and Shifu knew they couldn't wait. With all his research lately on Chi, he hadn't been able to find anything related to Po's fainting spell.
One day, we were badly ambushed. My friend carried me for days looking for help, until we came to a secret village high in the mountains. An ancient place of healing, Shifu remembered Oogway's story in the scrolls.
"Stand back," he told the others firmly, a look of resolve crossing his face as he realized what had to be done. They agreed, though reluctant to move away from their friends in need of help.
What am I doing? He could barely make a flower bloom, much less heal a broken limb. But he had to try. Crane struggled as his master placed a hand on a hurt wing.
"Hold still," Shifu said gently. But Crane resisted. The injured bird shook his head, eyes wide as he tried his best to use his beak, pointing behind the red panda.
Shifu finally got the message, the rest of the Five following suit as they spun around to see the last person that they expected.
No...it couldn't be!
Kai smiled at Shifu's shocked expression, slowly walking towards the smaller panda while the Five members stared on in complete surprise. Kai was back—but how?!
"Where is he?" he asked as he made his way towards the group.
Even amidst his shock, Shifu already guessed who the "he" was that Kai was talking about.
The Dragon Warrior.
Po.
Shifu hadn't seen him since he'd left to go visit the noodle shop the night before. He assumed that Po was still with his dads, so he remained silent.
"How dare you return here," he decided to say instead, sending Kai a glare that clearly meant he wasn't welcomed back with open arms. He realized then that this exact moment must have been what Master Oogway was trying to warn him about with that splitting headache of his.
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Kai said as he continued walking forward. Like Crane, Shifu also noticed that something was very different about the yak. His eyes were yellow instead of green, and he was no longer wearing the pendants of Chi; even Master Oogway's pendant was missing.
What did that mean? Had something happened to Oogway in the Spirit Realm? And what did Kai mean by 'it didn't matter' if he found Po or not?
Shifu gasped, realization hitting him full-force. Something was wrong with Po—something must have happened again!
"No!"
Kai simply chuckled, stopping in his tracks.
"What did you do to him?" Viper demanded, protectively moving back towards Crane and Mantis.
"I haven't done a thing. And you're not going anywhere," the spirit warrior said, flicking a hoof to his right. Shifu followed his gesture to see Monkey attempting to run in the other direction while Kai had been distracted.
But instead of managing to get away...Monkey was yanked backwards by some kind of invisible force.
Shifu's eyes widened at the sight, unsure of what to think as Kai's hooves glowed with a color that he had become somewhat familiar with—the golden color of Chi.
"None of you are," he proclaimed as he shot the golden strands outward and around the Jade Palace.
Shifu instantly realized that he and the Five were trapped by a golden shield—including the pandas that were still inside of the palace and unaware as to what was going on—and the fact that Kai was keeping all of them here so they couldn't get to Po.
But unawares to Kai, he never noticed the last of the Furious Five who could only watch helplessly from behind her hiding spot where she had carefully listened to every word and had seen every action that had taken place, holding a frightened little Lei Lei in her arms.
She didn't know what was going on, or how Kai had returned from the Spirit Realm so soon.
But she knew that she had to get to Po.
