A/N: And... here's another bridge-chapter... Again, kind of pointless, but I felt like it was time to update this story, so... well, here goes... ^^;


"Interfere with your tournament activities?" Lynx asked. "You're the idiots who're trying to ruin it for us!

"We are not involved in the tournament itself – that kind of waste is out of word for us," Yuan said arrogantly. He stepped a little closer, causing them all to flinch shortly, ready in case he did anything. "There is no reason to be afraid, Dragon Warrior – I will not hurt you."

"Then why don't you let us go?" Mantis wanted to know.

"I said I would not hurt him – I was talking in singular," Yuan growled at Mantis. "However, if we could get the Dragon Warrior to join our ranks… now that would be a great milestone for the Council."

"Like I would ever join you," Po said sassily. "You guys see Kung Fu as a tool of war, isn't that all you see?"

"Partially, yes," Yuan admitted. "But there is so much more to Kung Fu. It is not a stupid game that you can have tournaments based around; it is not just something you Master easily; Kung Fu is an art!"

"Po did master it pretty quickly," Monkey said, which the rest of his friends – and Po – all agreed on.

"That is only to be expected by the Dragon Warrior," Yuan said. "Now, Dragon Warrior, will you join us? If not, you are against us – by definition that is."

"Then I will be against you," Po said. "I cannot turn down justice for injustice."

"We all have our own definition of justice here, it seems," Yuan said, then snapped his fingers. "Destroy them."

Yuan's minions soon attacked the ten. Being surrounded and outnumbered seemed like bad odds, but there was nothing to do, but to fight their way out.

Po jumped forwards, blocking an incoming punch from the wolf before him. Blocking another punch as well, Po jumped into the air and kicked him in the chest.

Suddenly someone jumped against Po, pushing him aside. As Po hit the ground, he saw that it was in fact Lynx. Looking back at where they had been seconds ago, he saw a clutch of quills stuck in the wall.

Lynx quickly jumped towards the counter of the restaurant (The owner had fled a long time ago) and grabbed a handful of chopsticks in each hand. As the porcupine that had fired the quills attempted the same, Lynx would throw chopsticks in response.

Po had to admit that he was impressed by Lynx's skills. Po saw that Lynx was running out of chopsticks and quickly jumped past the lynx and hitting the porcupine with kick as well.

"That was close," Po said after knocking out the porcupine.

"Eh… very close in fact," Lynx said. He then pointed towards his own head. "You've got a quill there."

Po reached up to feel and flinched as he realized it. "Ouch… would you… remove it?"

Lynx quickly pulled it out, getting another 'ouch' out of Po. Po thanked him and added, "I was never a fan of acupuncture."

Meanwhile, Mantis and Stag were fighting together against some of Yuan's other minions. The small insects had an easy time defeating the minions, even despite the huge size difference. Using sheer force, Stag grabbed a hold of a wolf's ankle with his antlers, then spread out his wings and flew upwards, smashing the wolf against one of his teammates.

As Stag threw a pig into the air, Mantis delivered a flying jump-kick to him, making him crash against a table. As another minion tried to attack Mantis with a club weapon, Mantis jumped up, punched the club away, spun around midair and kicked him in the head.

"We need to get out of here," Po told Gorilla.

"Agreed," the large primate replied. "It'll be easier for us to fight outside."

"You're not going anywhere," Yuan said and blocked their way. He drew another dagger and held it towards the group in a threatening manner.

"Let me take this one!" Lynx said and jumped in front of the two, throwing chopsticks at Yuan, much like Po had seen Yuan himself throw daggers.

Yuan grabbed his dagger backhand style and with a few quick slashes, he turned the projectile turned chopsticks into nothing but splinters.

"You really thought you could defeat me with chopsticks?" Yuan asked harassingly. "I am your superior."

"Being older doesn't always mean you're superior," Gorilla pointed out. At this Yuan jumped forwards with a slash. The three jumped aside and as soon as Yuan landed, a dual gust from Crane and Eagle's strong wings distracted him by whirling up dust from the floor.

This was the perfect chance to escape and all ten warriors took it. Getting outside into the city, they immediately headed for the palace.

"We need to distract them," Crane told Eagle, who muttered bitterly, finding it cowardly to flee. She eventually agreed and the two avians set for one of the stands that had spice from India. Flapping their wings as powerfully as they could, they managed to whip up a small storm of spice against Yuan and his minions.

Seeing their reaction, Po couldn't help but imagine how painful it must have been to be overwhelmed with spice – they got in their eyes and everything! Grimacing from the thought, Po eventually continued along with the others.

"Come on, it's right this way," Gorilla said as they all ran. A lot of people stared and even seemed to recognize the ten. But Po and the others didn't care; they simply kept running.

Seeing the palace up ahead, Po sighed with relief and along with the others, they made the final run for it.

"Cobra!" Gorilla said, wanting Cobra to hypnotize the guards in order to get inside. The reptile jumped onto Gorilla's one should and as Gorilla stretched his arm forwards, Cobra snaked his way around it and eventually launched himself from the large primate's hand.

Flying through the air, Cobra elegantly landed in front of the guards that guarded the door. Before any of the two boars could ask any questions, Cobra expanded his frill and started swaying back and forth. As the hypnosis started taking effect, the others reached Cobra and made their way inside.

"That was close," Crane sighed and landed beside Po.

"I still don't get why we had to flee," Eagle said.

"Because we were late," Stag said sarcastically.

"Actually you were – dinner is served soon." Everyone jumped when they heard Jinshu's voice. They all turned around and saw the silver fox standing there, a sly grin on his face.

"You're lucky any of the Masters weren't here," Tigress said, entering the scene. She walked up next to Jinshu, standing unusually close to him. But other than that, they both kept up their usual calm attitudes.

"Not quite." This time everyone froze. Turning around, they all found Master Shifu and Master Chao.

"We are so dead," Po whispered to Gorilla, who almost looked like he had seen a ghost.

"I believe so, Panda," Shifu said, a stern, unimpressed expression on his face. He then turned to Tigress and Jinshu. "You two; go prepare yourselves for the dinner – get dressed up – we will take a quick talk to your teammates."

"Sounds fine by me," Jinshu said and turned around. Alongside Tigress the two walked towards the barracks as Shifu and Chao started their lecture. Po sighed deeply, but then as he looked out of the corner of his eye, he saw something he had never expected to see: Jinshu's paw strived Tigress' as they walked and eventually he took her paw in his! The weirdest part however; she returned it!

"Panda, are you listening?" Shifu growled at Po. Snapping back to what was right in front of him, Po looked down at Shifu again.

"Yeah, of course," Po said, trying to sound convincing.

Shifu didn't seem quite convinced by the panda. "Just know that I'm disappointed in you – all of you."

"Shifu, allow me to do this," Master Chao said. Shifu simply nodded and bowed, withdrawing.

"I hope you all understand why you have upset us," Master Chao said, his cold reptilian stare hitting all of them. "Yuan is a dangerous man. His words can almost convince anyone… or throw anyone into despair."

"But we survived," Po said, causing him to get his foot stomped by Gorilla as this wasn't the right time to be saying such a thing.

"That could have been luck," Master Chao said. He then looked at Eagle. "And I am certain that at least some of you gladly would have stayed and taken up the fight against them."

"But we did fight them for a while," Eagle said, clenching her wing feathers together like a fist. "And they were easy to handle!"

"You might say that now," Master Chao said. "But what will you do the day you're faced with all of his followers?"

"There are more people supporting Yuan than you would believe," Master Chao said calmly. "Most people don't talk about it – Yuan's group is suppressed by society."

"So we're just supposed to stay here and hide like cowards?" Eagle asked.

"As long as there's food," Cobra muttered, getting quite the glare from Eagle.

"You will all have to remain at the palace – for your own safety," Master Chao said. "And remember: if you do not, you may not be as lucky next time."


The dinner was kind of awkward. At least to Po. Everyone just sat there, eating – not a word was spoken.

Ai Long sat along with the other council members in the middle. Po saw her looking up, from side to side at her fellow members. But none of them spoke. Po remained quiet as he watched her look over at Shifu, sending him a little smile. But this smile was not returned. Ai Long sighed to herself and looked down at her plate.

Po almost couldn't stand the silence and looked at his friends. They remained quiet as well. Po looked over at Tigress. She sat next to Jinshu. What he had seen earlier… was it really true or had it been some kind of decoy?

But to Po, it seemed very unlikely; the two just sat there, not even looking at each other. No, of course they hadn't been holding hands! How ridiculous wouldn't that be?