-''So, how is the godly world?'' Viper asked curiously as she chewed and swallowed another dumpling that Po had served. The one who everybody has come to know as Kajirn, a young and experienced fighter, actually turned out to be Karjak, the God who was believed to have created Kung Fu along with Master Oogway, his brother. This came as quite a shock for the group of Kung Fu fighters, especially Master Shifu.
-''Well…'' Karjak began shortly as he ate up another dumpling. ''It's not as godly as you may think, Master Viper. We Gods fight, argue and yell just as much as you here in the mortal do. As a matter of fact, one of the lesser Gods, my cousin, tried to steal one of my belongings. After I had caught him, I had to literally use some tweezers to get it out from him. He was that stubborn!'' Karjak chuckled slightly after telling the short story. ''I haven't caught him stealing ever since, and that was a mighty thousands of years ago.''
-''Wow. So, there are like, god Gods, bad Cops, like that?'' Po then exclaimed excitedly as he pictured the thought within his head.
-''You have no idea how right you are, Dragon Warrior.'' Karjak started to sound more serious now. ''My brother, Xiton, is the God of pretty much everything that is destruction, and he seeks to destroy this entire universe and bring about oblivion. He has tried that once already, and we stopped him. His underling Coran, a lesser god, decided then to try and gather up the four Orbs of elements to grant Xiton enough power to defeat the Gods who were on my side. Luckily, I managed to win a hand-to-hand against him, and he has feared me ever since. Now, it's not like any of the other Gods hasn't feared me, but his fear grew greater than everybody else. In our fight at the craftsmen's village, he tried to sound brave and strong, but he was really…''
-''Scared shitless? That is awesome!'' Po then interrupted.
-''Well, that's a phrase that could describe it.'' The God then replied shortly, placing two dumplings at a time in his mouth.
-''But what happened to Xiton? Did he just give up after Coran failed?'' Mantis then asked. Shifu then decided to join in on the conversation.
-''Legend says that he fought one last fight, which he lost. He was then banished to a place called ''The Underworld''. There he was to stay for the remainder of the millennium. He promised to stay calm, but now he is at it again, stronger than ever.''
-''That is correct.'' Karjak confirmed Shifu's statement. ''Xiton was beat in his final fight, and he swore revenge. When he had done his time in prison, he gave a promise that he would keep to his end of the world, but apparently, that was a lie.''
-''Aw, come on! You never trust a bad guy who says something like that!'' Monkey then exclaimed, earning a compassionate look from Karjak.
-''Perhaps you are right, Master of the Monkey Style. Maybe he did blow us. Like Po did when he distracted you with a piece of wood and Mantis and then stole your almond cookies.'' At this statement, Monkey immediately went into some kind of state that heavily utilized denying in stuttering. When he realized that he was beaten, he quickly quieted down and felt some kind of blush creep on his face. Everyone, including Karjak, laughed loudly.
-''That was fairly funny.'' Tigress said shortly, speaking for the first time at the table.
-''Yeah, I had always pictured Gods as grumpy, dry-humored pouting old men!'' Crane then said slightly exaggeratingly, earning a friendly glare from the God.
-''Well, even though I am a God, I know how to have fun, Master King of the Air. And I am certainly not a grumpy old man who does not know how to tell jokes!'' Karjak shouted playfully. Everyone was having a good time.
-''Ah, the soup is done!'' Po then said enthusiastically as he got up from his seat and went over to the stove. He had to mind not stepping on Tigress' tail.
-''Man, am I looking forwards to this!'' Mantis said as he clapped his hands together.
-''Totally.'' Tigress and Viper said in unison as Po came back to the table, a set of bowls in his arms.
-''I'll assure you, Mighty One…'' Viper began, already having grabbed a spoon. ''Po is a really good cook.'' Karjak let a smile appear on his lips as he slowly put a spoon of the famous soup in his mouth.
The taste was incredible. Karjak felt like he hadn't ever eaten something nearly half as good as this soup before.
-''Oh man!'' Karjak said, sounding very delighted. ''And here I think my sister has good cooking, just look at this!'' Karjak almost literally threw the soup into his mouth, spoon by spoon.
-''Seems like somebody likes your food, Po.'' Tigress said in an encouraging voice. Po smiled at her before sitting down again.
-''Now, after we have eaten our food, let's get back to training.'' Master Shifu announced as he finished his bowl of soup. The other masters and the God nodded in understanding as they started to finish theirs as well.
Meanwhile, in a large small cave a long way from the Jade Palace, a very familiar snow leopard met up with a just as familiar peacock. The peacock was wearing a white rob with a wide robe that was covering his face. Almost all his body was covered in metal and a sharp, curved looking dagger was emitted from a small holster-like appendage hanging from the peacock's waist.
-''Hello, dear friend.'' Tai Lung snickered as he leaned against one of the cave walls.
-''Enough chit-chatting already.'' Shen snarled as he unsheathed the small dagger, which turned out to be a very long sword with a serrated edge. ''Where's Rat?'' Tai Lung laughed loudly.
-''You think I'm just going to throw him over to you? Just like that? He works for me, Shen, and no one else.'' Shen growled, dangerously barring the long sword.
-''You better watch yourself, bastard. You're playing with dangerous forces. Now, I ask again. Where. Is. Rat?''
Tai Lung kept chuckling silently. He then called something out loud.
-''Rat, you stinking rodent! Get out here! You have a visitor!'' Tai Lung yelled. Seconds later, a small rodent came out of one of the small side tunnels. He had a long nose, short brown fur, short pointy bent ears as well as being very skinny.
-''You called me, Master?'' Rat said weakly as he walked up to Tai Lung. Tai Lung gave him a light smack across the back of his head, causing him to grunt slightly in pain.
-''Rat, I'd like you to meet Lord Shen. He is an evil, twisted psychopath who doesn't know what thinking is.'' Tai Lung said with a mock friendly voice.
-''Very funny.'' Shen scoffed as he looked at the small rodent. ''Alright, listen. Since you are apparently of no use whatsoever in any kind of fighting, you are going on a little 'stealth' mission. Obey, and you'll get rewarded. Refuse, and get killed. How does that sound?'' Shen said in what sounded like a very threatening voice.
-''I-I'm listening.'' Rat said weakly, doing his best to conceal his fear. Shen walked over to the small rat and placed the tip of his sword-like weapon at the rat's throat.
-''Okay, the mission is simple.'' Lord Shen began with some kind of mock enthusiasm in his voice. ''I want you to sneak into the Valley of Peace, and infiltrate yourself into the Jade Palace. Try to offer your services, and they'll let you in for sure. Then, as you spend time with those ridiculous Kung Fu fighters, make sure that you find out all of their secrets, all their weaknesses, everything. What they are planning.'' Shen then grabbed Rat by his throat with one sharp wing. ''Are we clear?'' he asked.
-''Y-Yes, Lord Shen! Clear as crystal!'' Rat swallowed in fear but did a pretty good job in concealing it. ''But how will I get them to believe me?''
-''Use that sharp tongue of yours, that's the only good thing you have.'' Lord Shen snarled as he forcefully pushed Rat towards the cave entrance. ''Now go, and don't return until you have all of their secrets.'' Shen watched as Rat stumbled towards the exit of the cave.
Back at the Jade Palace, the entire gang was gathered in the Training Hall. Monkey and Crane were currently sparring against each other on the Jade Bowl, and Po went through agility courses along with Viper and Tigress. Mantis was occupied in training his reflexes by using a machine that threw ninja stars at him.
Shifu was watching over all of the students alongside with Karjak.
-''They are evolving well.'' Karjak said shortly to no one in particular. Karjak nodded in agreement but a trace of disappointment in his voice.
-''They are, but they need to raise the tempo. At this rate, it'll take forever for them to learn anything more.'' He then raised his voice. ''Come on now, students. You'll need to raise the tempo if you're going to learn anything at all! Mantis, you'll need to deflect those projectiles more accurately in order to use the move properly. Tigress, you need to increase your speed. Xiton's forces have great ferocity and you'll need to counter it with speed. That goes for you too, Viper. Agility beats strength. Come on!'' Karjak shouted with his warm voice. It seemed that his energy spread out to the training students, because at once it seemed like their tempo increased several times over.
-''Whoa… Where did I get all that energy from?'' Monkey asked, feeling his energy rapidly increase. Monkey's punches and kicks increased in strength, speed and also quantity. Crane could also feel it, the energy surging through his body, not only restoring lost energy but increased it as well. The battle between the primate and the bird heated up quickly, and none of them even decreased on the tempo.
-''Come on, Po. Keep going.'' Viper said to Po, whose tempo had started to decrease very slightly. When the energy reached him as well, he immediately sped up his actions, wondering where the energy had come from.
When the day had ended, every single Kung Fu fighter was exhausted. The energy that Karjak had given them had run out, and physical effort took out its rights. At dinner, everyone ate with great appetite.
-''Wow. I've almost never trained this hard in my whole life for a complete day.'' Tigress exhaled as she was still very tired from the intense training. Po had proceeded to cook the food, just as usual.
-''I am proud to call you my friends. Tomorrow, you will not be forced to go through training again.'' As for me, I must go back to the Godly realm, but worry not. I'll be back in the early morning.'' Karjak announced before starting on the pre-meals consisting of dumplings and tofu. The rest of the dinner, everyone talked and told jokes and such with great friendship.
When it was time to go to sleep, Po found that it was pretty hard to do so. Ever since he confessed his love to Tigress, he had felt closer to her than ever before. And as the great panda was thinking about Tigress, said feline was just standing in front of Po's door.
-''Oh, come in.'' Po said as he heard knocking at the door. Tigress slowly opened the door and stepped into the small room.
-''Hi, Tigress! Do you want anything?'' Po asked kindly, motioning for Tigress to sit down on the bed beside him. She did so with a smile and then sighed, still feeling tired. Po was then pretty shocked as Tigress placed her head on Po's chest. Slightly, only very slightly, Po wrapped one arm around the lithe tiger.
-''Can't I just say hi to the one I love? Or have you forgotten that already?'' Tigress asked with a fairly serious tone in her voice.
-''Of course not. I could never forget one like you.'' Po then placed one gentle kiss on Tigress' forehead, to which she responded to with a kiss right back on his lips. Eventually, the kiss grew passionate and the two Kung Fu fighters had a duel with their tongues, battling the other one for dominance over the territory.
Eventually, they parted the kiss in need of air, and their rapid breathing now broke the silence.
-''I love you, Po.'' Tigress said as she kissed him again on his cheek.
-''I love you too, Tigress.'' Po said and hugged her for one last time. Then, she quietly left the room.
(A/N: Usually, I don't place authors notes here, but there is a small reference in this story.
Shen's body has been covered in metal. What is it a reference to? The first one who answers correctly will be mentioned in the next chapter. Not that it's much, I just thought it would be fun.)