Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda. I do own the OCs.
"Po, get away from him!" Tigress said as she was grabbed by a gorilla. She fought to break free of his grasp as she saw Po talking to Lord Shen. She then saw Shen jump on top of his weapon and light it. She continued to try to break free of the gorilla's grasp and when she did she heard the weapon fire. "Noooooo" she cried and she saw her best friend get blasted by Shen's weapon. The force of the weapon was so powerful that it knocked her onto the ground, unconscious.
Then she woke up, breathing hard and sweating. She could tell by how dark it was that it was still night. She worriedly glanced over across the dark room to where Po was, and saw that he was sound asleep. She let out a sigh and then glanced up at the ceiling. Why is this still bothering me? She thought. She knew that she was not going to fall back asleep, so she just stared at the ceiling—deep in thought—until the Sun rose.
After the Sun began to rise, Po stretched and then sat up at the edge of his bed. Still half asleep, "Mornin' Tigress, you're up early," he said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah," she responded, "I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep."
"I hate when that happens," he said in a tired voice. He then shook himself in an attempt to wake up.
Tigress then stood, "You'd better get ready, Po, because we must meet with Zhou soon."
"OK," he replied and then got himself ready.
After Po finished getting ready, he and his fellow warriors went to Zhou's room.
Zhou saw the warriors enter the room, "Good morning, warriors. I have your next task. At the boarder there are guards. I believe that they are not on full alert and possibly allowing the Liaos to enter. I need you all to go and secretly observe them. If you see that they are not doing their job right then you send them to me, got it?"
"How long do you want us to watch them?" Po asked.
"As long as it take to create a hypothesis."
The warriors gave a collective yes and then left. On their way out, Po remembered that Shifu had given him a scroll to master while he was away, he then thought, Oh no Oh no, I've got to get the scroll. Po then ran into his room and went through his bag, grabbed the scroll and ran back to the group.
"What's the matter Dragon Warrior," Baonu asked as Po reached the group.
"Oh nothing just had to grab this scroll. Master Shifu wanted me to master it while I'm here," Po said.
Baonu froze when he heard the name Shifu. Shifu is their master? He thought. I'm going to talk to Zhou later. He added.
The warriors walked through the evening metropolis, when the villager began to retire to their homes for the night. Even though most of the villagers were now in their homes, the streets were still moderately crowded.
"This city has quite the nightlife." Monkey said.
"It does, the citizens like to indulge themselves in nightly festivities such as, drinking and eating."
"Is there a curfew?" Crane asked.
"No but the citizens tend not to stay out too late in light of recent events."
"Makes sense, they don't want to get hurt." Mantis said.
"So you never have any problems with the citizens late at night?" Viper asked.
"Rarely, the citizen seem to behave themselves late at night."
"Probably because they don't want a curfew to be put in place." Mantis commented.
"That's the most likely reason, just so long as they keep it that way, there will be no curfew."
"So this town is free of crime?" Crane asked.
"Oh no, we have plenty of that, but it happens mostly during the day, when the vendors are out. One time, probably a year after I first started the job I was sent out to deal with a thief who had supposedly stolen one hundred yuan from a vendor, a kindly old female goose. She described the thief as a tall black leopard, which confused me because aside from Zhou and I, there are no other felines living here. Still I went in search for this leopard and, well, to make long story short, I had traveled around the city about five times only to end up right where I'd started. So I decided to ask her again, maybe get some more details. So I approach the vendor and asked, "Can you give me some more details on this leopard?" And she replied, "What leopard?" I can just imagine how I must have looked, so anyway, I reminded her and said "The leopard that you said stole one hundred yuan from you?" Then she got hostile and threatened me, saying "You're not getting my money!" I threw my hands up in an attempt to calm her down and said, "Miss, I'm not here to steal from you, I'm here to help catch the thief that stole your money." Then she looks up and says, "Will you help me catch the leopard?" Well, after many dead end questions I gave up and walked over to a vendor directly across from her. I asked him if he'd seen any leopards by her stand. He laughed and said, "You must be new around here—that lady over there, a black leopard stole from her over ten years ago. Hit her in the head pretty good, can't remember anything now." I felt bad for her, poor lady lost her memory after being attacked. She passed away four days later."
"Wow," Monkey began, "how sad."
"It is, but that kind of thing happens every now and then. None of you have ever had a similar experience?"
"Once," Tigress said.
"But we don't like to talk about it," Monkey added.
"Understandable, things like that are never easy." He glance up at the waning gibbous peaking over the northeastern mountains, "We must pick up the pace if we are to complete our task."
Tigress stopped walking and pointed upward, "The rooftops, we can observe them from up there."
Baonu looked up at the rooftops and nodded, "Very well, we shall observe them from up there."
The warriors then got into their positions on the rooftops and watched the guards patrol the boarder. They noticed that the soldiers were on high alert so Po decided that now would be a good time to take a look at the next lesson in the scroll.
Lesson two: Assisting others
Help another person achieve inner peace.
Po mentally laughed, 'That's simple enough.' He then noticed that there was a note at the bottom of the page, from Shifu.
Easier said than done, the note read.
Po deadpanned, 'Of course!'
he then noticed that there was a note at the bottom of the first lesson which read, 'Po, you have already achieved this lesson at Gongmen harbor.'
He sighed in relief, I'm glad that I only have two lessons instead of three. Po then began to think of whom he should help achieve inner peace. Well I think my best choice would be Tigress, I mean, she's always there for me when I need help, so it's the least I could do for her, Po thought. "Hey, Tigress?" he said in an attempt to get the busy feline's attention.
"Po, now's not the time for talking," Tigress said.
Po quickly quieted himself and joined the group in observing the guards.
After a while, Tigress turned to Baonu, "I think the guards are doing fine, should we return to the palace?"
Baonu agreed, saying, "Yeah, good idea."
As the warriors were heading back, Po stopped as he saw Bianhuren walking down the street. Po then pulled Tigress aside and said; "Hey, I need to talk to my father, he's right there," Po said as he pointed to where the panda was walking, "Can you guys just go ahead without me?"
Tigress looked unsure and said, "I don't know, Po—," Po then cut her off.
"Please, Tigress, I need to clear things up with him," Po begged.
Tigress hesitated for a moment but eventually gave in, "Alright, just don't take too long and don't get lost either, got it?"
"I won't, don't worry," Po said and then took off.
As Tigress made it back to her group, she covered for Po saying that he left his scroll back on the roof that they were watching the guards from and that he would catch up with them later.
Po ran to his father, "Bianhuren, it's me Po."
The panda turned around when he heard the voice, "Po, what are you doing?"
"I was just wondering if we could talk now?" Po said.
"I don't see why not," the elder panda said. "Follow me, we'll talk at my house." He added.
Po agreed and followed him to his house.
Once the Furious Five and Baonu had returned to the palace, they met with Zhou who was eager to hear their report, "Well, what did you find?" The feline asked.
"The guards are fully alert and focused on their job," Tigress informed.
"Good to hear, we will figure this thing out, don't worry. For now you all can just return to your rooms and await your next mission," Zhou informed.
The warriors all bowed and then left for their rooms.
Once the warriors left the room Baonu turned to Zhou.
The feline noticed to look of uncertainty on his face, "Is there a problem Baonu?"
"Malady, forgive me but the Dragon Warrior informed me that they have a master named Shifu—is that the same Shifu that we brought here?"
Zhou arched an eyebrow in suspicion, "It is."
"Do they even know that he is here?" Baonu asked.
"Where are you going with this Baonu?" Zhou asked.
"Do they know he's here?" He repeated.
"They don't."
"What," Baonu yelled in surprise and anger, "What did Shifu do? What if they find out that he is here?"
Zhou then became enraged, She slammed a fist on the table, "What Shifu did is none of your business, and they won't find out because you are going to keep your mouth shut, or else I will shut it for you—permanently! Now do I make myself clear?"
When Baonu hesitated, Zhou threatened, "Give me a reason Baonu, and I will make your pelt my new carpet!"
He remained silent.
"Last chance Baonu; tell me that you will keep your mouth shut."
Baonu clenched his fists, "Yes, malady,"
"Good," Zhou spat out with much hatred. "I've kept my eye on you for a while now, and how you have become close to the Dragon Warrior, so I have decided that you can no longer be trusted and that it is time to get someone new to take your place in this mission."
"What, who?" Baonu asked.
"An adept force, more capable than any man could be," Zhou stated.
"Who?!" Baonu demanded.
Zhou became angry at his demand,"What position are you? I don't care what level of authority you think you have but, you do not have the authority to throw out demands at me!" Zhou angrily yelled, "The person that will be taking your place is already here—," Zhou was cut off by knocking at the door, "How convenient, that must be them!"
As the door opened three figures entered.
Zhou then opened her arms, "Baonu, Meet... the Wu Sisters!"
A/N:Sorry for the short chapter, but that is as long as I wanted the scene to be. Now the story will get intense.