"This is not what I was thinking," the girl sighed as Viper brought her back to the palace, abruptly stopping in front of Leo's hut instead of her own.

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that. I'm sure this is a better place for you right now. Were you thinking of leaving the palace?" She cheerfully replied with a warm smile, then knocked on the door of Leo's hut with her tail.

"Who's there?" The human on the inside asked. He sounded busy.

"I'm back! I brought Emily," the serpent greeted, sliding the door open.

"Oh, I see. Please come inside; I need some help from another human..." Leo addressed the scroll he was holding which was most likely another theory of his.

"That's great..." the fox sarcastically commented, walking inside.

After his training ended, the cheetah didn't really know what to do. Extremely bored, he tried to peek into Rebecca's stuff, but Viper defended that scroll as if it were a small child she had to protect no matter what. He laid himself against one of the columns outside the palace, noticing the the place where Monkey had scolded him the first time they argued.

"That's where we started..." the simian stated, jumping down from the palace's roof to land next to him.

"I wasn't thinking about it," Mark coldly opposed, crossing his arms.

"I know you were. Don't lie to me," Monkey smirked, handing over an apple.

The cheetah looked at it, taking it from his hand reluctantly. "Thanks..."

"Shifu said Crane kicked your butt."

Mark just bit into the apple before spitting it out at his friend's taunt. "THAT'S A LIE!"

"He didn't really say that," Monkey laughed, enjoying the human's reaction, "I just said what I understood."

"Crane has a crush on Rebecca..." He trailed off, looking away as if he wanted to hide his emotions on the matter.

"Really?! That's a surprise..," the simian exclaimed, thinking about another love interest of his.

"Is that even possible? I heard about couples staying together even if countries were separating them, but we're talking about two worlds and two species who shouldn't have met in the first place."

"Don't ask me. I don't know anything about these things." Monkey narrowed his eyes and walked closer towards him, "But I know something. You have a crush on her too."

Mark bit into the apple to hide his blush, but it didn't work as he thought. It was the fruit that hid among the cheetah's furry cheeks, "Who told you..?"

"The ones who saw you and Rebecca hanging out like a couple at Seawe. Holding each other's paw...wing," Monkey joked again and his laughter grew louder as the human's reaction got worse.

As the situation calmed down the human glanced over to him and, with a serious tone he never used before, asked, "Monkey, can I ask you a favor?" The cheetah waited until he saw his friend nod, "I don't think it will end well."

"Crane's a good guy. Don't say that. I'm sure he won't touch you anymore." A warm smile appeared on his face.

Mark continued, ignoring what Monkey just said, "I'd like you to step aside if that happens."

"I can't do that. Crane's a kung-fu master with more than fifteen years of experience!"

"Monkey, please. I need to," the human begged, showing an odd emotion.

"You won't stand a chance! You're not like Emily who awoke those chi powers..." The annoyed simian explained. The fact that someone like her, who didn't know anything about kung-fu, could use chi out of the blue, was unfair.

"I don't care..." Mark remarked with determination.

"What about your beliefs then? You could die, not that Crane would go that far, but...your survival thingy?" The ape hoped to change his mind once again by facing him with the truth until the human gave up.

"That's the reason why I have to. In my entire life I've never once felt alive. When I trained with Simon and he landed a hit on me, I discovered something new; something I had forgotten a long time ago..."

"How hard did Simon hit your head?" Monkey mocked, but deep down he saw something in Mark completely different. He changed so fast, yet he couldn't just…let him indirectly kill himself.

"This is not the time to be joking around..."

"I'm not joking. You're being reckless here! I understand your desire to change and I respect that, but-"

"I'm glad you wish to know more about yourself no matter the price. I'll be honored to support your choice, young warrior."

Shifu walked in, interrupting their conversation. He eavesdropped the entire thing, but the red panda didn't plan to interfere until he heard Mark's desire.

"Master are you sure about this? He could get himself hurt...or worse," The kung fu master pleaded hopelessly, trying to oppose a choice that wasn't going to be changed.

"We all have a path to walk to discover who we truly are. As I said to a certain panda in another occasion, 'you must set yourself to fail if you wish to grow as a person.'" The old master stated, portraying his wisdom again, "Please do if you think it is the right decision. I want you to pursue it until the end."

Po was running out of ideas. The feeling of being useless and totally unnecessary was something he had forgotten a long time ago when working with his adoptive father. He couldn't do anything but wait.

"Po. You look teary. Did something happen?" Tigress asked the panda who had just reached his favorite place.

Said panda, overwhelmed by his thoughts, walked towards the Sacred Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. It was the place he liked the most when upset because of the calm vibes which always helped him to gather new strength to stand up and persevere. He didn't notice Tigress though. She was there from the beginning, sitting on the edge of the cliff, staring at the gorgeous landscape. It wasn't just Po's favorite place after all.

"Oh...hey Tigress. Sorry I didn't see you," he replied, sitting next to her. "Things didn't go as I thought they would."

"You messed up, didn't you?"

"I-I didn't! I tried to help everyone out, but they all pushed me away..."

"I can't tell you if that was a bad choice or a good one unless you decide to tell me what happened..."

Po lowered his ears as his face saddened, remembering the tears, the words, their voices and their faces. He couldn't bring himself to talk. Tigress stood up, and the panda slightly turned his face to follow her movements. If she wanted to know, why was she leaving? The feline gently touched the tree. A peach fell off and she took it from the ground before returning and handing it to Po. "Here, this should help you."

Tigress' kind gesture made the Dragon Warrior blush. After the first bite, he slowly explained the situation or what he understood from it.

"And that's all. I failed again when I tried to get inside Simon's hut, where Fulvio hid, then I went here hoping to cool down a little..." Po sighed, swallowing the peach.

"This must be really hard for everyone. You did what you could. Now please don't push yourself and wait..."

"I can't stop thinking about it... I keep saying that if I was going to say something different maybe I could have-"

Tigress hushed him, placing her paw into his. "It's okay. I'm here and I'll try to help you, alright? Just like you helped me. We're friends after all."

Po slowly moved his head closer to her and broke down, embracing the feline happily.

"Thank you. You've always been here to help me and I never got the chance to say how glad I am to have you by my side."

"Actually...I am the one who owes you, Po," Tigress admitted, relaxing into the panda's hug, "You...truly are the best thing that's happened in my life."

"Tigress, there's something I've always wanted to say, but I never had the courage to do it."

The feline felt weird. Something hard struck her chest,causing her heart to skip a beat. Unsettled, she had to stand up. "Okay, what is it?"

Po glanced over at his distressed friend. "You okay? You don't look so good..."

"Yes, I think I'm fine. Maybe I meditated for too long..." She honestly replied, oblivious to the real reason.

"Do you need something to eat? Maybe you're just-"

"I wanna hear the thing," Tigress cut him off, eager to discover what he was going to say.

"Oh, yeah...that thing," the bear remarked with hesitation. He couldn't handle the weight of another failure, and Tigress' reaction caused him to doubt himself.

"I'm listening..."

"I...wasn't able to give Fulvio the action figure," Po avoided the question, changing the topic.

"I see," the feline replied, noticing his quick change.

"I guess we'll just wait and see how this thing evolves...right?"

"As I said, I'll think of something. Keep it with you for now." Tigress walked away leaving Po alone, "I'll come back when I have an idea."

The Pool of Sacred Tears was a place meant for people looking for an answer who needed guidance. Crane instinctively went there, not knowing a better place where he could be alone, to think about the event that had just transpired. The one who attacked Mark wasn't him, but a monster buried within that took advantage of his thoughts. He didn't understand the reason causing him to behave like that! Everyone had dark thoughts; those that shouldn't be touched and brought to life.

"There you are..." the crocodile greeted, looking at a stationary Crane on top of the mountain. "Um...it's an atmospheric place, I'll give you that," Simon commented, glancing around the new landscape having never been there before.

"Please, leave me alone. I'm seeking for an answer through meditation," the bird replied, staring down at him with a depressed expression.

Simon grinned, "It's been in front of you from the beginning. Are you blind or are you avoiding it on purpose?"

Crane turned away, "I don't know what you're talking about. I can't control myself and I don't know why."

"You should be smarter than that. You know what's going on. You can't keep your true feelings hidden inside."

Crane jumped down and landed right next to him. "I don't like this. I've been able to do it since I was studying Kung-Fu at Lee Da Academy. Why all of a sudden did I go crazy?" He vented, not being able to bottle things up anymore.

"Don't look for an answer you already know, Crane. Just go. He's waiting for you." The crocodile addressed, pointing his claw towards the palace.

Crane stared down. It was hard for him to accept the part of himself he suppressed for such a long time. He raised his wings and flew back to the palace. Simon didn't seem satisfied with the results he obtained. The feeling of Crane not actually acknowledging his dark side bothered him. He seemed more intent to accept it passively. Simon hurried back, curios to know the ending.

Emily sat on Mark's bed and explained what had happened so far. This time she broke down, tears streaming down her face, once she reached the end. Something she couldn't do before. What right did she have to cry? She was the reason why her friends were suffering right now!

"Hey, it's okay. I'll fix this. I can go and explain what you-" Viper tried to reassure her, but she shook her head while sobbing, so there was nothing she could do.

"You must understand! I thought that if he was going to hate me then it would have been less painful than making him despair later..." Emily sobbed, patting the snake's head with kindness.

"I see. This is such a weird turn of events..." Leo murmured, sitting next to her. "Here, take this and clean yourself." The lion pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over.

The girl reluctantly took it and blew everything out. Her eyes widened as soon as it touched her skin. The cloth was so soft and delicate. The fox stared at it, noticing it was handmade with a name sewed on the bottom left corner. "Leopold..."

The boy, shocked, looked at her, "What is it?" He totally forgot about the name on it.

"Is that your name? I thought it was Leonard..." Emily inquired.

For Viper it didn't really matter. Until now she thought Leo was his entire name, so she wasn't as surprised as the fox.

"Yeah...it is, but please, call me Leo." He blushed, while pushing away Emily's attempt to return the used handkerchief.

"You're right, I should wash it first."

"No," He stopped her, grabbing her arm, "You can do it later. You should rest and listen to me now..."

Emily laid on the bed again, while Leo went to pick a scroll out of his mess on the table cluttered with paper and ink.

"I was thinking about our situation for quite a while and I couldn't stop thinking that something was...off."

"We're in another world, surrounded by talking animals…"

From the first moment they arrived, everything was crazy and unnatural. Saying that something was off felt like their situation was actually normal.

"It's about how we ended up here," Leo explained, seeing her skeptic reaction.

"Can we even answer that?" Emily asked, thinking how pointless the discussion was.

"I'd like to do it. It can lead us one step closer to the truth."

"Fine. What did you discover?" She laid down on the bed, laying her head on the pillow.

"I believe you thought about it since your unfortunate incident and now I'm sure we didn't leave our world at all."

"Of course. I had the same idea. When we talked about how we arrived here and nobody was carrying a telephone, wasn't that weird?"

"What's a…telephone?" Viper questioned, slithering next to the fox.

"I already explained what a car is, and I don't even know if that will create problems. We shouldn't talk about things that don't exist in this world yet," Leo replied. "At first I thought this universe simply removed stuff that could have caused a problem, like a paradox or an error inside the timeline, but it wasn't right. It's a cumbersome reason that won't really work with the elements I have here."

"Listen, I'd like to keep this conversation going, but I'm not really in the mood for this…"

"I'm almost done, let me finish. I'll get straight to the point. You're not dead."

"You can't be sure of that."

"We can't be here unless we're alive inside our world as well."

"And why is that?!" Emily questioned, the anger in her voice muffled by the pillow.

"Because what has been brought here are our souls. Our bodies are still there, probably on the ground somewhere. Not really sure."

"There's no proof that can support such a crazy theory…"

"I'm wearing it right now," the boy said, pointing at his human clothes.

Emily instantly raised her head to look at him. "You...what? Don't tell me you're planning to remove them."

"UH?! NO!" Leo cried out, scared of what she thought, "These clothes shouldn't be on me. My latest memory before coming here was about doing some research before an exam and I wasn't wearing this."

"Maybe you're mistaken…"

"There has been an incident inside my house. A huge chandelier fell off and destroyed the main hall. I was wearing these clothes when it happened and… some glass hit me, ruining my favorite shirt. I had to throw it away since I couldn't go around with so many holes, yet look at me now. It's brand new."

"You could have-"

"Duplicates? No, this shirt is the only type I have. Want to know when it happened? One month before I got dragged here."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would it…"

"I don't know. There must be a reason… Maybe to leave us a clue?"

"If I'm alive I must be in some sort of coma. I can't be sure of what happened to me and I don't want to put his hopes high."

"You're carrying a weight not meant for one person. You sure about this?"

"I think I'll manage, now let me sleep for some days," she sarcastically commented.

"Wait! You need to eat!" Viper hissed with worry.

"...I think I'll pass," the fox slightly raised her paw, then let it fall down.

"We'll bring something here," Leo suggested.

"Thanks, Leopold."

"PLEASE DON'T CALL ME THAT," the boy yelled, embarrassed.

"Is something wrong? Don't you like your name?" the serpent looked at him, concerned.

"There's nothing to talk about, let's just drop it." The lion turned away and resumed his writings.

Crane reached the palace's entrance pretty fast while Simon was still on his way there. He saw Mark, but the bird also noticed Monkey right next to him and Master Shifu not so far from them. The situation made him hesitate and his landing wasn't a steady one, just like the crocodile thought. He didn't even know why he was doing it.

"What do you want? Why are you back?" Mark coldly asked, as if the palace was his territory and Crane wasn't welcomed there.

Monkey glanced towards the cheetah; he didn't like how that sounded.

"Listen, I want to talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

"Mark, please... Crane's trying to atone for what he did. You can't turn him down like that..." The simian said, supporting his old friend.

"Can't we put this whole thing behind?" Crane insisted.

"I'm not going to accept your apologies."

"What? Why?" Monkey asked, since the bird wasn't doing it.

"Don't you get it? He doesn't really mean it. Crane just wants to end this thing that's annoying him," the cheetah replied, upset.

"That's a lie! You don't know me! How can you say such things?" The bird stared at him, showing again his unstable emotions.

"Mark please don't push this thing any further, I'd like to avoid it..." the simian said, looking at how upset the bird was.

"No, Monkey. This is stupid. Am I forced to accept his apologies just because he asked for it? He doesn't even care about having them or not. What he really wants is Rebecca and I'm standing in his way." The boy struck a fighting pose, knowing what was going to happen.

"You...why? What makes you feel so special? Why were you the one who was chosen? I JUST WANTED SOMEONE TO NOT FEEL ALONE ANYMORE."

Crane literally jumped on him, driven by his rage. He wasn't even using kung-fu!

"Mark!" Monkey called out, looking at the two rolling around the place.

Mark used his tail to block the wings that were trying to suffocate him and grabbed his beak, freeing himself and throwing Crane away.

"You promised!" He replied, pointing his paw at him.

"Hey Monkey, what's going on? You look stressed." Mantis greeted, climbing on his shoulder, "I heard them screaming. Is everything alright?"

"Y-Yes! Why do you ask me? They are sparring! Can't you see?" The ape wasn't really good at lying under pressure as he pointed at the two warriors who clearly wanted to kill each other.

"Oh, I guess that's fine. I'm going to call Leo. He should watch it. He shut himself in from the very first moment his training ended," the bug explained, jumping down.

"No, no, no wait!" Monkey instantly declined, then moved his paw at him impulsively.

"What is it?" He asked, confused by that weird behavior.

Monkey, even if he wanted to, couldn't do anything to stop this thing and when he realized it a sigh escaped his mouth. "Nothing..." As soon as the bug disappeared inside Leo's hut, the simian turned back to them and crossed his arms. "Please be careful..."

The bird recovered from his impulsive attacks and started to fight again as a real kung-fu master should. It wasn't a good thing for the cheetah since Crane began to fly. Mark simply stared at the filthy animal using his special advantage.

"Ka-Kaw!" He shouted from the sky, performing Wings of Justice.

Mark crossed his arms and used them as a shield to block it. It seemed like a good amount of wind, so there was nothing to be so afraid of. The draft hit and slightly slid him away. The cheetah admitted that, indeed, it hurt.

"Look at the birdie!" The human laughed, "Flapping his wings, throwing air at me. I'm okay, don't worry! I'm not feeling hot or anything."

Mark knew that his opponent was way stronger than him, plus he wasn't even able to reach him right now. Crane could have just stayed there in the air and abused his technique as a good way to torture him. He hoped to drag him back to the ground with some good old taunts.

"I'll show you…" said bird murmured, moving his wings even faster. He usually did two of them, but with Mark's taunting and the hate he felt for him, Crane repeated the attack relentlessly.

The cheetah's eyes widened as he jumped backwards as many times as needed as another attack came towards him, but as he struggled to dodge each attack, he realized that his plan would fail and he needed to find another way. When his body met one of the columns Shifu's words rang in his head; just like Crane, he had to use his own advantage.

Mark climbed the column and stopped only when he was high enough to reach Crane by jumping from there. The human was able to catch him, stopping the bird's momentum by grabbing him by his wings. They fell and the bird made sure he wasn't going to be the one crushed on the wall. The kung-fu master twisted his body, bringing Mark into his place. Luckily for him, the fall didn't do any damage, but put the cheetah into a bad position where Crane was able to punch him freely.

"Someone like you…who only thinks about himself. You don't deserve the things you got," the bird said, as soon as they landed.

"At least I always say what I think…" Mark coughed, his necklace glowing like it agreed.

The human, still holding on to his wings, gripped them harder, raised his legs and started kicking him. After a few hits the bird struggled free, throwing him away.

Mantis, Leo and Viper arrived to see the 'sparring match' while Simon leaned on a wall far away. The serpent, as soon as she saw them, slithered as fast as she could to get to them. She didn't like what was happening, nor the fact that nobody was interfering to stop them.

"What are you doing?!" She asked, upset, to the ape who stepped in her way.

"Mark wants to do it, please don't go," Monkey said to her, stretching his hand to not let her go further. His body and his words said no, but he sounded like he wanted to stop them.

"You don't understand… Crane won't be able to handle himself. This is going to be worse than it already is!" She remarked, trying to go past him. The things she and Rebecca discovered about the bite weren't lies.

"I know he's acting weird, but…we're talking about Crane. He's the one who controls himself the most; only Tigress is better than him at that." The simian obviously didn't believe her. Someone so quiet and introverted like him couldn't just go on a rampage all of a sudden.

Utter chaos of voices rang everywhere. Leo, Mantis, Viper and Monkey arguing to go through while Crane and Mark kept offending each other. Their voices reached Rebecca, who had shut herself inside her hut since she got back to the palace. She was still stuck inside her head with her thoughts, if they weren't so loud the swan wasn't going to notice them. The girl's eyes widened as she stood up and ran towards the window to check on the situation. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw her friends fighting each other.

"Why are you all like this..?" She whispered, laying her head on the wall.

"MARK COULD GET HIMSELF KILLED!" Viper's voice reached her, "WE HAVE TO STOP CRANE. NOW!"

The swan gasped and instantly ran outside towards the two warriors. Monkey stopped her as well as Viper, who was paralyzed, looking at her. She didn't want to let her see this.

"Let me go through," the girl insisted, upset.

"I'm sorry I can-"

Everyone widened their eyes, shocked. Rebecca slapped Monkey without hesitation and stated, "What you're doing isn't being a good friend", then walked past him. The ape followed her with his eyes while cuddling his red cheek.

Crane kicked Mark against the column. It was now clear who was going to win the fight. The bird grabbed the human's neck with his left foot trying to strangle him. Rebecca flew there and pushed him away with her wings. Free from Crane's grasp, the cheetah slid and fell on to the ground.

"WHO DID TH-!" the bird yelled, out of his mind, until he saw Rebecca. Instantly, with wide eyes, he muted himself while the swan helped Mark out.

"I did it. Got anything to say?" She looked at him with a disgusted expression.

"Rebecca, listen…this is all a misunderstanding." Crane stood up and walked towards them.

"Don't come closer," she threatened.

Rebecca checked Mark and luckily there weren't any serious wounds, but there were scratches everywhere. If she hadn't stopped him, something bad would have happened for sure.

"You okay?"

He coughed again, "I'm fine. Why are you here? I said to not interfere…"

"I can't stand you guys," she said, helping him to get up, "This isn't a choice you can make on your own." Rebecca brought him to Mantis, Leo and Viper. "Please take care of him now and don't let him come anywhere close."

Crane flew towards them, trying to explain and clear himself of any blame, "Rebecca, I need to talk with you."

"I don't wanna hear anything from you now and forever," she said, spreading her wings, "You're not the person I thought you were. You're awful."

The bird went to catch her, causing her to break down, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Rebecca soared into the sky and flew away, followed right after by Crane.