The cannonball flew out of Po's hands, heading straight back towards where it had originally been fired from.

He didn't move a muscle from where he had landed after performing his acrobatics, his throwing arm hanging down below him as the rest of his body was leaning over it.

Soon enough, the cannonball hit the target, flying right back into the cannon it was fired from as the weapon immediately exploded.

As Po watched Shen and the gorilla get sent flying by the cannon's explosion, he finally stood up, taking the opportunity to finally relax after what became a very trying few days.

"It's finally over." he said to himself before he made his way over to the edge of the boat he was standing on to dive back into the water and check on the others.

However, to his surprise, he found that not only was there no one in the water, they were all safe and sound on one of the docks spread out along the harbor.

A thought grew at the back of his mind as he wondered just how they managed to get themselves to safety with how injured they were, but his happiness that they were alright overrode his interest in that topic, so he dove back into the water, using one of the nearby pieces of driftwood to help carry him back to them.

Before he could actually get to them, though, his ears caught the sound of a loud groan of despair. Confused, he admittedly wondered where it was coming from for a moment before realizing that it was coming from Shen's boat.

His curiosity overcoming him, Po turned the piece of driftwood he was on, heading over towards where Shen's boat lied, which was somehow still afloat despite looking like a smoking husk.

After climbing up on to the deck, Po got a chance to look around and he found that where the cannon was originally located was a pile of debris. The actual cannon part still appeared to be in one piece, which must have been a testament to the metal it was created with, but everything else was just splinters. The cannon itself was also leaning against two sets of ropes, which admittedly made Po a little wary considering there was no telling how strong it was.

Walking forwards, Po finally noticed Shen himself slowly picking himself up off of the ground, heavily bruised but still somehow conscious.

"How? How did you do it?"

Po stared wide-eyed at Shen for a few seconds, not expecting the peacock to have noticed him there.

"The cannonball throwing? I just loosened up and used the momentum to throw it back."

"No, not that!"

Shen sighed, trying his best not to get worked up.

"I had your family…your entire race murdered! How can you still have obtained peace even after all of that…after everything I've ever done to you? I've practically made your entire bloody life a living hell for my own amusement!"

Po looked away for a moment, unsure of how exactly to explain himself.

"Believe me Shen, I had trouble accepting that for a while. I mean, who wouldn't be angry when you've found out that someone had not only murdered your parents, but your entire race? But then I was taught that it's better to let go of what has happened in your past, because what you are now is the only thing that matters."

Po sighed, glancing over at the kung-fu masters on the dock, who looked positively surprised to find the changes that Po had went through after the last few hours.

After giving them a small smile, Po turned back towards Shen, reaching out with a paw.

"So, does that answer your question?"

Shen stared at Po's paw, stunned as he registered just how badly his plan has blown up in his face. The realization, though, has just ended up making him more desperate, and he quickly hatched a plan.

Shen reached out with his wing, grasping Po by the paw as the panda pulled him up. However, unbeknownst to Po, Shen still had some more knives hidden in his sleeve.

Using a surprising amount of strength for someone as injured as he was, Shen pulled Po forwards, quickly pulling out one of his knives and stabbing it straight into Po's gut in one fluid motion.

Po barely had time to register the pain before he was pushed backwards, the knife still embedded in his gut as the wound began to bleed.

"Po!" yelled Tigress from the dock, shocked at the audacity of Shen's actions.

Growling furiously, she was about to hop on to Shen's boat herself and take on the mad warlord, but before she could do so, she was stopped in her tracks by Master Shifu.

"Stay back, Tigress. Po needs to do this himself."

"Master, what are you talking about? He's wounded!" she said, trying to convince Shifu to let her go.

The red panda, however, remained steadfast.

"That is an order, Master Tigress."

Despite wanting desperately to just say screw his orders, Tigress reluctantly remained where she was, glancing back at the stunned faces of her comrades for a few seconds before returning her focus back to Po's predicament, hoping that he would still be alright.

As for Po himself, things weren't going well. The knife still stuck in his gut limited the amount of blood he was losing, but he was still losing some at a decent rate, which was starting to make him feel light-headed.

He didn't really get much of a chance to try and focus, though, as by the time his brain was starting to decide whether to remove the knife or not, Shen had already pulled out his guandao and jumped forwards, intending to finish the job.

Po managed to dodge the first few slashes, but the sudden movements was starting to make his vision swim, and with a mad peacock on a mission to plant his guandao in the panda's throat, he knew that it was going to be tough to find out exactly where it was coming from.

After narrowly dodging a few more swipes from Shen's weapon, Po made a move to grab Shen and disarm him, but the mad peacock narrowly avoided it, jumping out of the way as he flung a knife in Po's direction, followed by a few more once he landed back on his feet.

The first knife ended up catching Po on the cheek, shaving off a few inches of his fur but thankfully not causing any damage. Po was ready for the other knives, though, as he quickly grabbed a piece of wood from nearby, the knives harmlessly thudding into the plank.

Throwing the board away, Po ducked another swipe, only for his ears to catch the sound of rope snapping in half. He unfortunately couldn't find out exactly where that noise came from if he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders, but he had a general idea of what had happened.

"Shen, wait! You're only going to cause your own destruction if you continue like this." he said during a lull in the action.

This warning only served to infuriate Shen, as it reminded him of the prophecy which led to all of this happening. Rushing forwards, Shen flung his guandao, intending for it to land right in Po's face.

However, the panda ended up ducking, and the sharp edge of the guandao ended up cutting through the other rope holding the cannon off of the ground.

Realizing what was happening, Po rushed forwards, ignoring the pain in his gut as he jumped off of the boat, somehow noticing Shen's eyes being closed as he was crushed by the cannon, almost as if the peacock had finally accepted his fate.

Once he hit the water, barely managing to avoid the explosion of the cannon, Po quickly climbed up on to another piece of driftwood, lying down on his back so that he didn't lie right on the knife.

Once the adrenaline finally wore off, the pain returned in full force, and it took all of Po's willpower not to immediately go into the fetal position and cry, knowing that not only would that makes things worse in terms of the knife, but he would also most likely end up sinking into the water.

Thankfully, he didn't have to do any real movements, as he heard someone dive into the water nearby. When he began to feel the piece of driftwood moving, he slowly managed to pick his head up and find Tigress helping to pull him towards the dock.

"Tigress?" Po said weakly.

"Keep quiet, Po. We're going to do all we can to stop the bleeding."

Po remained silent, glancing down and noticing the red stain that was continuing to spread along his stomach.

"Oh. Forgot it was there for a second."

Tigress was about ready to admonish him for speaking despite her orders, but she figured it was probably just his woozy state that's causing him to act this way.

With Crane's help (despite the injured wing he suffered in the blast), Tigress was able to pull Po up on to the dock, and once the panda was safely on dry land, she immediately turned towards Master Shifu, who was looking on contemplatively as he watched Po's chest rise and fall as he breathed.

"Master, we need to find some bandages before Po bleeds to death."

This comment thankfully pulled Shifu out of his thoughts, and he quickly went into action to save his student. Turning towards the crowd that had gathered along the harbor, he cleared his throat and raised his paws into the air before beginning to speak, projecting his voice as loudly as he could manage over the murmur of the crowd.

"If there is anyone of you in this crowd who has any experience with medicine, please step forwards. We need all of the help we can get to save the Dragon Warrior's life."

Shifu lowered his paws back to his sides, a strained look on his face as he hoped that someone would step forwards.

Thankfully, there was someone in the crowd who stepped forwards, an old rabbit who looked a little apprehensive thanks to the stares that came from everyone else.

"Excuse me, Master. I'm a doctor." he said, his strong voice betraying his age.

Shifu quickly walked over to the rabbit, grabbing his paw as he spoke.

"Great. Do you have any medical supplies with you?"

"Not with me, but my clinic is nearby. I can run over and get them for you." said the rabbit, slightly taken aback by Shifu's desperate tone.

"That would be wonderful. Please, hurry!"

Shifu let go of the rabbit's hand, gently pushing him back into the city limits.

As the doctor continued to make his way through the city, everyone else stood vigil as they watched Po intently, waiting for anything to happen that would force them to intervene.

Thankfully, outside of the worrying amount of blood that Po had lost, he seemed to still be holding on. This did not make things any easier for the Furious Five and Shifu, as they were beginning to worry that the rabbit doctor was taking a little too long.

Eventually, the doctor returned, and just in time as when he took a look at Po, he found that the panda was beginning to get pale, so he quickly went to work.

"Please give me some space. I don't have much time." he said, shooing everyone around Po away as he kneeled down to get to work.

"Now, I'm going to have to remove the knife before I can get to work. This will most likely hurt." said the doctor as he got a good grip on the knife, preparing to make the extraction.

"It's fine, doc. I'll survive." said Po, although his voice sounded very distant.

The doctor steeled himself for a moment, counting down from three before finally removing the knife in one fluid motion.

Predictably, Po yelled in pain, everyone around him wincing as the wound began to bleed freely once more.

Moving fast, the doctor pulled the wound open, making sure that there was no internal damage before pulling it back together, grabbing a needle and thread out of the bag that he used to carry his supplies.

Threading the needle, the doctor began stitching up the wound, his pace much higher than someone of his age would normally be able to move, which was surprising to the kung-fu masters around him.

Finally, the wound was fully closed, and he gestured towards Tigress, who walked forwards and kneeled down next to him.

"Your friend here has lost a fair share of blood, but I think that he should still be alright. He'll need to rest here for a few days before I'd feel safe letting him return home with all of you."

Tigress was slightly caught off guard by the rabbit's request, not expecting to have to spend extra days inside the confines of Gongmen, but if it meant Po being okay, she would be fine with it.

After relaying the message to Master Shifu, who looked slightly disappointed at having to leave the Jade Palace alone for longer, Tigress turned back towards the doctor, who had signaled for more help.

"I would appreciate it if you could give me a hand cleaning all of the blood off so that we can get some bandages on him."

"We?" asked Tigress, puzzled.

"Yes, we! Do you really expect me to be able to lift a three hundred pound panda?" he asked, gesturing towards Po as he spoke.

Admittedly the topic of Po's weight had never come up during his time at the Jade Palace, but even she could find it a little bit hard to believe that he was that heavy, even with the muscle replacing the fat he originally had. Still, she figured that even then the doctor would have had trouble.

"Apologies. Let me help you." she said, bowing slightly before bending down for assistance.

Everyone else watched, remaining silent as Tigress and the doctor cleaned as much of the blood off of Po as they could manage before finally wrapping him up in bandages, Tigress helping to move Po as the doctor did the wrapping.

Finally satisfied, the doctor snapped his bag shut, giving the masters a bow of respect before making his way back into the crowd. However, before he could do so, Master Shifu stepped forwards.

"Wait!"

"Yes?" said the doctor, turning his head back around.

"I apologize for holding you up, but I must thank you personally for saving the Dragon Warrior's life."

The doctor looked slightly puzzled, but he willingly walked back over to Shifu, shaking the red panda's paw before the latter spoke up once more.

"By the way, I've noticed how quickly you work for someone of your age. If I may ask, the Valley of Peace could use someone of your expertise. Would you happen to be interested?"

The doctor paused, adopting a surprised look on his face for a few seconds before lightly shaking his head.

"I would love to, Master Shifu, but my place is here in Gongmen. The people need me, especially now that Shen is no more."

"I understand." said Shifu, bowing once more.

Once the doctor rejoined the crowd, Shifu turned to face the others, only to be surprised to find Po already sitting up. He was about to make a move to force him to lie back down, but Tigress beat him to the punch.

Instead of actually doing what Shifu was planning on, though, Tigress wrapped her arms around the panda in an unmistakable hug, Crane's beak falling open once more as everyone else looked on.

"That was pretty hardcore what you did out there." said Tigress, only to freeze when she felt strong arms being wrapped around her own shoulders.

"I learned it from you." said Po quietly before releasing his grip.

Tigress didn't move from her position, still stunned from the display of affection she received, as well as Po's…less than cordial tone.

As for the panda himself, he slowly turned himself around to face the others, careful not to aggravate his injuries.

"Master Shifu!"

Shifu gave Po a warm smile before speaking.

"I see that you've finally achieved inner peace…and at such a young age." he said, slightly put off by how quickly the panda achieved it compared to himself.

"Well, I learned it from a great teacher." said Po, giving Shifu a smile of his own.

Despite wanting to keep up appearances around everyone, Shifu couldn't help but feel a rush of gratitude from the compliment.

Turning away from the others so that they couldn't see the expression on his face, Shifu addressed them with an air of authority, wanting to move on more than anything.

"Master Tigress, once you and the rest of the Five feel they are ready, I would like you all to assist in the rebuilding effort. We have a few days to spare while the Dragon Warrior recovers, so I feel we should put this free time to good use."

"What about you, Master?"

"I, Master Crane, will join you soon. Right now I must work on finding a boat that will return us to the Valley as soon as Po has recovered. It worries me greatly to leave the Jade Palace alone for so long."

Everyone nodded before heading off towards the city, leading different parts of the crowd of people off to different areas as they began preparations for the repair project.

Satisfied with the progress they were making, Shifu turned to the only two masters still left standing with him on the dock, Master Storming Ox and Master Croc.

"If I may ask Masters, what is it that you wish to do now that Lord Shen has been defeated?"

"Well, I suppose the only real option for us to take control of the city ourselves." said Ox. "The people need someone to look up to while they are rebuilding."

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Master Ox." said Shifu.

"As for me, I'm going to start helping with the repairs." said Master Croc.

Before he could actually leave, though, Shifu held up his paw.

"Before that, would you mind if you two could do me one favor?"

Neither Ox nor Croc answered, but the expressions on their faces told Master Shifu that they were listening.

"You two are the only ones strong enough, so I would appreciate it if you could help Master Po here to a bed so that he may recover." he said, gesturing towards the panda in question who looked like his pride wouldn't be able to take this kind of action.

"Oh no, Master Shifu. I'll be alright. I can get to a bed myself."

"I'm afraid that wasn't a suggestion, Dragon Warrior. I do not want to risk you reopening your wound and extending our stay here."

Po still wanted to try and argue against this humiliating event, but Shifu remained firm, so reluctantly Po was forced to allow Master Ox and Master Croc to carry him as the four masters made their way to a place where Po could recover.

The few days passed without any real incidents outside of Po repeatedly trying to sneak out of his appointed recovery room (which was the bedroom of a family that was more than happy to help) to assist with the repairs.

Luckily, every time that happened he was soon caught and forced back into bed by Shifu or one of the Furious Five. It ended up getting to the point, though, where Mantis was forced to paralyze Po's limbs with nerve attacks so that the panda couldn't move.

Eventually, though, the day came when the boat would arrive that would take all of the kung-fu masters back home, and Po was ready and raring to go, having recovered to the point where Shifu was satisfied that he wouldn't rip his stitches open if he bent the wrong way.

Still, the red panda thought it would be better for Po to at least have some assistance to the boat, so as the six of them made their way over to it, Tigress remained nearby, having initially wanted to put Po's arm around her shoulders to help him out. Po shot that down immediately, though.

The boat soon pulled out of the harbor, and everyone took a look at the slowly retreating form of Gongmen City, happy that things were going right for once.

After a long boat ride and long period of travel, the six kung-fu masters finally returned to the Valley of Peace, ready to finally return to the Jade Palace after a long time away.

However, Po had something else in mind, as he turned to face his dad's noodle shop.

"I'll meet you guys up at the palace later. I have someone to talk to."

Without waiting for an answer, Po began walking towards the shop, ducking under the archway as he was quickly jumped by Mr. Ping, the goose wrapping his wings around Po's midsection in an unmistakable hug.

"You're back!" he said, a smile on his face. "So…did you save China?"

"Yep, I did. Did you manage things alright without me?"

"Oh yes. It was difficult, but luckily the turnout over the last few days was pretty manageable. Enough about that, though! You must be hungry!"

"Don't worry about it, dad. I can cook!"

"No, don't be silly. You've been away for ten years. No one can remember this kind of recipe after that long."

"Well…I tried it once after coming back. It didn't turn out so bad." said Po, although he did look a little apprehensive.

Mr. Ping couldn't help but smile, though, despite the way things were going.

"Come on, Po, I'll cook. You just need some time to knock some of that rust off, and then you'll be back to wowing everyone in no time!"

Po couldn't help but chuckle as he was led into the kitchen, happy that he still had a father that loved him dearly.

The Valley of Peace was finally able to get back to normal once the masters have returned. Things were a little different outside of the valley, however.

Hundreds of miles away, on top of one of the mountains of China, there sat a singular shrine, a figure inside a green cloak sitting within the boundaries of said shrine in deep concentration.

His concentration was soon broken, though, as his eyes flew open in surprise. As the figure registered what had just happened, he stood up, revealing himself to be a male panda, and there was one thing that ran through his mind as he looked down at the village below him, where there was an entire colony of pandas living their lives.

"My son is alive!"

And that brings our story to a close. I really hope that you've enjoyed the story throughout the five or so months I took to complete it.

Anyway, I can imagine there's at least some of you who'd like to see a sequel to this, most likely adapting Kung Fu Panda 3. Unfortunately, there's really not much I can do outside of resetting Po's character development, which even if I was willing to do wouldn't even make a difference in the story. However, there is one part of KFP3 that I think I can work with. It'll probably only be a one or two shot, so I wouldn't expect much. Oh, and this will also address some of the other unanswered questions, so please keep an eye out for it.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for supporting my work. I'll see you guys soon!

RK