"This...why did she suddenly up and leave?" Fung asked in debelief.

Everyone was gathered around in the center of the Garnet Valley, trying to rethink the events of what has recently happened. They of course achieved a major feat, bring down Mugan and ending her cruel ways for good. However, in the midst of the events, Song seems to have disappeared without anyone's consent. Everyone's looked around for her one more time aside from Crane and Fenghuang's aerial view. She was nowhere in sight.

"She just upped and ran, did she? Well she always seemed to be quite a sneaky one." Monkey said while rubbing his chin and balancing on his tail. "Maybe we we're wrong about her liking to hang out with us."

"No way." Bian Zao yawned, stretching his arms off. "She was a bit of a pain, but she's honestly been having fun ever since the two of us joined you at the same place. I'm guessing that she possibly had something to do that she couldn't stay any longer. Must have been hard for her to suddenly just leave without even saying goodbye."

"How would you know about that, Lazy Ass?" Fenghuang raised an eyebrow.

"I don't. Just a guess. After all, she is a thief. What we don't know and only she does...is what kind of thief she is. She could be a usual run-of-the mill scumbag thief. Or she's maybe of the very few good ones that are hard to understand. And they sometimes like to keep it that way."

Taotie blinked and stared at his son in disbelief. "Those...actually sounds like reasonable explanations. How could you have thought about those?"

Bian Ziao shrugged, scratching his back. "You say that sometimes, the smart people are the laziest. That seems to suit me quite well."

"Hah...you ARE a genius just like me! You're just...highly unmotivated."

"Dude. He's lazy." Mantis deadpanned.

"My son is not lazy. He's just highly unmotivated."

"Okay...just...just tell me something...what the heck is the difference? "

"Lazy people have no desire to do too much. Highly unmotivated people have the goal in mind, by they're just not feeling up to the task." Taotie folded his arms with a grin. "He doesn't have the motivation, but that doesn't mean that he can't do it. It just means that he has to be convinced that he needs to get his rear in gear!"

"Don't you realize how wrong the last part of the sentence sounds?"

"...You're right. That's a strange sentence. There are no gears around here!" Bian Ziao could only sigh and shake his head.

Tigress turned to Bian Ziao. "You defended her without hesitation, Bian Zao. May you explain why?"

The warthog shrugged and managed a small smile. "I actually think she's pretty cool."

"Huh. You really think she's cool?"

"She's not so bad. Troublesome sure, but nothing about her can be considered totally lame."

Monkey snickered. "It almost sounds like you like her." Fung blinked noticeably at this.

"Nah, not really. Just thinks she's pretty cool."

Viper managed a sly smile as she slithered up to him. "You're a better friend than you think you are, Bian Zao. But just out of curiosity...what did you think of Xiao Niao back in Muchang Township? She seemed to be a nice enough gal."

"What? Her?" Bian Zao huffed, even though the blush in his cheeks spoke his true colors. "She's seems far too bubbly once she reunited with her dad. Other than that...she doesn't seem so bad to be around...I guess."

"Well then, I know what I'm gonna do if we somehow manage to meet up again." Viper smiled widely and cheerfully...and it made the teen very uncomfortable, because she was directing it directly at him.

"Hey, can we get back to the important subject, please?" Fung asked in annoyance. Honestly, nobody knew how they got so far off-topic. "We need to know where she went, and we gotta follow her. I am not just gonna sit here and accept that she just abandoned us with a cold heart. She must have a reason for leaving like BZ said. And I'm gonna figure it out."

"Calm down, Fung. We'll find her. The rather difficult part will be how to do that." Shifu stated, ears slightly twitching. "However, you all will have to go on your own. The rest of us will stay here and reside in the Garnet Palace for the time being. The matters and reason Song may have for leaving are still unknown...I have a feeling you folks have a better chance at making a connection and understanding her than we do."

"Yep. You younger brats are flying solo on this one. Helps you move quicker." Fenghuang said while preening her feathers. "You've been doing very well so far without too much of our interference, like I expected. I have a feeling you can manage just fine without us for the time being. Mr. Ping will also stay behind with me. It could be more dangerous than Po will allow him to be involved in. Although I do disagree with one thing. Shifu should still go with you lot."

"Hm?"

"We need at least one capable elder to accompany them. You also have free time on your hands, and you're also always the one nagging about their safety. So you make sure they'll be alright. But Taotie, Zeng, Mr. Ping, and Mrs. Yoon will just have to stay here with me, where they'll be safe under my protection."

"Since when did I become someone who needed your protection?!" Taotie yelled in frustration.

"Throw a punch and see if it can hurt me." Taotie didn't say much after that. The owl could only smirk at her small victory.

Po just about wakes up from his nap, yawning and scratching his belly. "Hey...ya figure out how we're gonna follow Song, yet?"

"Still nothing...this really sucks. She left us no clues to draw leads, and no tracks to try and follow. What are we supposed to do?" Fung sighed.

Ànyǐng shifted a bit in his seat...then looked up to everyone. "Did she leave anything behind? Anything at all?"

Crane looked around the area around Ping's noodle cart, and managed to find a piece of Song's parasol on the ground. "Hey...I don't think that she knew that a piece of her parasol broke off."

"...That'll be enough." Ànyǐng nodded as he held the broken piece in his hand. This couldn't have happened on it's own, she'd have to to be hitting somebody with it. "It still has her scent. Even if it's slight...I can still track her easily enough."

"Even with such a small line of scent, you can track her without any issues at all?" Po asked curiously. He them smiled widely and hugged the wolf to his rather fluffy and cuddly fur. "You can totally be the tracker! Though Viper could do that easily enough...doesn't make you any less cool though!"

"Of course I could do it too, brother. But I'm forced to admit that Ànyǐng's tracking ability outclasses mine. Tracking isn't impossible for me to do...I just have a really hard time doing it." Viper admitted without really having anything against the thought.

"That's all well and good, but we won't be staying behind, Shifu." Mr. Ping folded his arms. "We all have formed quite a liking to Song, in different ways. Some stranger than others. So as a direct result, we all want to go find her and help her with whatever troubles her."

Shifu turned towards Mr. Ping, sighing. "I was afraid you'd say that. Alright. It looks like no one is being left behind. We're all going to continue traveling together."

"You're giving in already?" Fenghuang asked.

"Would you like to persuade him, then?" The owl had no retort to that, and she accepted the new arrangements with no vocal complaints. "Very good. Now if it isn't too much trouble, we'll be moving forward, to follow Song."

"Wait. Hold it. What about your mom?" Monkey asked Ànyǐng. The wolf shook his head.

"I have plenty of time to see her. Finding your friend is the higher priority for the moment, and I wish to help you do that sooner rather than later. It's not easy for me to say, but she'll have to wait." The wolf said as he made sure his hood and tantō were secure enough. "On any case, we should get moving as soon as possible. More time spent here is the farther she moves away from us."

"Good point, we will be off." Shifu placed his cloak over himself to conceal his face, with Fenghuang doing the same. After that, everyone proceeded to follow the wolf, as he was the one leading. They made sure not to leave behind Mr. Ping's precious noodle cart...

(The Next Day...)

"We covered a lot more ground than we expected. She must have really covered some distance between us while we were distracted." Peng said while scratching his ear. "We still have no idea what would be the reason for her leaving. It must have been pretty serious if she had to leave without a farewell at the least."

"She must have reasons. We'll figure them out when we confront her ourselves." Lian yawned, her arms behind her neck. "I think she's cool too, so I am not a fan of just giving her up."

"I agree. We'll have to help her through whatever is troubling her so much that she feels like she had to leave without warning."

Lian smiled as she grabbed his paw with her own. "Yeah we are." Peng smiled back and gently squeezed her paw in return. Viper smiled widely at the sight.

"Young love...how I missed thee..."

That wasn't Viper's thought. Shifu's ears flickered when he heard the voice in the area around them, and he halted everyone. "Someone is watching us..." They all stiffened at this as Fenghuang and Shifu kept their guards high, observing the area around them with increased focus. "...I'm going ahead to see what it is. The rest of you stay here." He ordered quietly as he moved forward swiftly out of view.

He jumped into an open area and kept looking around with caution. His eyes and ears were on high alert as he wondered who could be spying on them. He hoped it wasn't the Lin Kuei already, that would prove to cause serious problems. Waiting a bit longer, he spotted movement to the west, and he turned around just in time to jump back as something struck the earth where he stood, picking up dirt and creating a small crater. His feet skidded backwards as he glared at the cloaked figure before him.

Then he felt his heart begin to pound faster, and not from adrenaline. He sensed that it was coming from nostalgia, but he didn't know how or why that would be. Both his mind and his heart we're certain that this person was someone who knew him.

...then he took a second to try to sense the Chi of the person, and he was surprised to come up with absolutely nothing. Because this one was purposely concealing it, matching the feeling of mysteriousness.

He was left with little time to ponder this feeling as the figure rushed forward and aimed a kick at his head. Snapping out of it in time, he caught the kick and threw the person aside into a bamboo tree, watching the person using the momentum to swing around the tree and slingshot back at him to kick him once again. He moved to defend, but was surprised when he sees his opponent cancel his kick, spin rapidly and thruster their palm at him instead. Once again he dodged by jumping backwards with appropriate timing. Dirt was once again kicked up, and yet another crater formed.

Shifu was trying to keep focus as he found that his heart wouldn't allow him to strike back. He had no idea why this sort of thing would be happening, but once again he was not given much time o properly think about it. Shifu looked up to see that his attacker once again moved to kick him from above, and he again grabbed them by the leg and threw them aside away from him. This time he followed them with a high jump of his own, and with still a bit of doubt in his mind, thruster his palm forward into his attackers midsection, and watched them fall to the ground, dazed.

He landed right on top of the cloaked figure, glaring hard at his attacker. "What brings you here? Why have you been following us?" He didn't realize it until he took time to think back. Besides the familiar feeling of nostalgia welling up within him, he remembered that this person was fighting in a similar fashion to his own style.

...but that couldn't possibly be. There are only two people who could fight exactly like him and be on equal grounds with him. Junjie, and...

"My my...doesn't this bring back memories?" His eyes widened at the feminine voice. It couldn't really be...? The cloak was removed to reveal the face, and he could no longer deny the thought in his mind.

Mei Ling. Not Crane's Mei Ling. HIS Mei Ling. Mei Ling the rogue vixen...

And he was RIGHT on top of her!

Shifu's thought process was broken up for a little bit. The first thing he should have done was ask what the heck was she doing all the way out here and why she had been following him and the others. But his body betrayed him before he could utter a word. The redness now present on his cheeks can properly back this up.

"Well Shifu...what do we have here? After a little playful scuffle, you seem to have ending up pinning down quite a beautiful woman. What will your next move be...? Hm? Oh, your cheeks seem to be getting a bit warm..." The vixen reached up and lightly caressed his cheek, which did very little to calm his nerves. "Are you alright?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Huh...? I just...I mean...I...wait...um..." Shifu's mind was a bit fried at the moment. He knew he had promised to seek Mei Ling out and ask her to return to his side. However...he now realizes that he has forgotten one very crucial detail.

...he definitely NOT READY. He thought he had a bit more time, but this would be quite a serious inconvenience. Not to mention this was incredibly awkward. How would one react to just bumping into their ex without having a plan on how to speak to them. He was heavily unprepared for a confrontation this early.

He was even MORE poorly prepared when the vixen suddenly flipped them over so he was on the bottom and she was on top, pinning his arms down in the process. She gave him her sly fox-like smile, paired with a bright twinkle in her eyes. He could do nothing but stare at her while panicking on the inside, that was her tell when she was going to do something highly mischievous. Luckily for him, they were interrupted.

"SHIFU! We heard fighting from where you leapt off, is everything-" Monkey started, then his words got caught in his throat. Along with a majority of everyone else, who had also decided to follow him. But they we're silent for a very long period of time when it finally passed through their minds that Shifu was being pinned down by a beautiful female fox...and he was doing nothing about it. "...okay...?"

"Oh, this is going to be DELICIOUS." Fenghuang grinned evilly, finding immense amusement at Shifu's embarrassment. The red panda glared at her, while the Mei Ling pinning him down blinked in surprise.

"Huh. I didn't expect them to pick up so quickly. I was hoping they'd take just a bit longer...oh well." Mei Long sighed as she eased off of Shifu and bowed towards the others. "Fancy meeting you lot officially. My name is Mei Ling."

"Oh cool, she has my name!" Golden Cat Mei Ling said a bit amusingly. Po blinked in confusion as he thought about the repercussions of the two of them having the same name. That...was going to be confusing. What's still even more confusing was that Shifu was on familiar terms with this woman, something that Tigress was especially eager to know.

Shifu recovered from his semi-frozen state to see that everyone's eyes we're on him, as if waiting for him to explain. Except for Taotie and Fenghuang, who already knew the entire story. He sighed silently as he had no other choice but to comply with their silent demand. He wouldn't tell them the entire story, but he would tell them the more important details of it.

They were continuing their discussion on the matter as they continued on their current path.

"Wow...that's pretty surprising, Shifu. There is quite a lot we don't know about you, after all." Crane said, still trying to wrap his head around the details he's been given.

"So in the end you chose honor over love...and that didn't work out very well for either of you." Viper said sadly as she was coiled around Po's arm, looking at Shifu with sympathy.

"It was one difficult decision out of many, many others..." Shifu said grimly. "And yet I still ponder whether I did the right thing or not."

"I don't think that choice even HAD a right or wrong answer." Mantis cut in. "It didn't matter what you picked, you'd still lose!"

"...I know..."

With the revelation of Shifu and Mei Ling's relationship, they we're slowly beginning to understand just how taxing that trying to uphold the honor of Kung Fu was on poor Shifu. He was forced to give up someone that he really loved. And that was just one painful decision out of many.

As for Mei Ling herself, she had a bit of troubled times herself. Always being on the run from authority figures and trying not to get captured. Her thieving habits have persisted, even after all of these years. She had run into a bit of misfortune when she was traveling. She DID have a lot of treasure on her, but that was lost when they caught up to her and she was forced to leave it all behind. Once again she's left with very little in her possession. And he could tell this was no lie. Her clothes were torn and dirty under her cloak, and she wasn't left with any money at all. It's difficult, being a fugitive.

But now with this rather unexpected reunion, they've reached a new problem. What was he going to do now? Ever since they met up again, Shifu has been very quiet. He would keep his distance from his old flame as much as he possibly could. Whether he knew he was doing this or not was up for speculation. The awkward silence was staggering. Fenghuang however, was enjoying every moment of it. It wasn't often that she got to see Shifu feeling completely on edge because of a fellow female.

Taotie finally decided to interfere, talking his shoulder. "Hey!" He then pulled them to the side, telling the others to keep moving, then faced his best friend with annoyance. "What the heck is wrong with you?"

"...nothing."

"Nothing huh?"

"Not a thing, Taotie."

"Sure about that?"

"Absolutely."

"Oh, then we can just keep going then since you seem to be completely alright."

"Really?"

"NO!" The warthog grabbed his shoulders forcefully. "Why are you so silent?! Your ex-girlfriend is traveling with us now and you can't even look her in the eye! Didn't you say that you were interested in getting back together with her?"

"I know what I said, alright. I just...didn't expect to see her again so soon...I don't think I'm ready."

"Okay, this is reasonable. When do you think you will be ready?"

Shifu scratched his ears awkwardly and smiled weakly at Taotie. "Um...a couple...years?"

PINCH!

"AH!" Shifu yelped in pain as the warthog harshly pinched his ear and pulled him towards him to talk directly in his ear.

"Shifu, I know you're horribly nervous, but you need to get over that REALLY quickly!" Taotie sternly told him. "First you managed to somehow reconcile with me, then you got a second chance by meeting Tai Lung's nephew, and now there's this! Do you seriously think that you can just sit around and not take up these opportunities?"

"...You make a valid point..."

"I know I do! You don't have to go all lovey-dovey again, but for heaven's sake say SOMETHING!"

Shifu managed to get his ear back at last, flinching slightly from the pain that was just caused on it. He then gazed at the vixen ahead of him...she was patiently waiting for the two of them to catch up. He sighed as he readjusted his cloak and gripped Oogway's staff. "I suppose...speaking with her shouldn't be that big of a problem..."

"There, see? One step at a time."

"Woah! I wasn't even paying attention to that!" Mantis suddenly said aloud, as he raised a foreleg and pointed straight ahead. "Yo guys, there's my village up ahead!"

"No way, are you for real?!" Po said with awe and surprise. "Ah sweet! I can't wait to check it out!"

Mantis sighed a bit. "Meh. Don't expect too much. Without me and Lidong to liven things up around here, the place is honestly pretty boring." He hopped on top of Po's head. "But hey, at least I have my Mom to visit. That's definitely a plus. However...I may have...caused a bit of trouble for the villagers with my...overconfidence in my speed. I wasn't a complete jerk, but I was really annoying about it. I'm not sure how they'll react to me coming back after a couple years."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

"MANTIS!"

The insect sighed as he recognized that annoying voice anywhere. "Guys...might wanna just...spread out and have a look around? This is personal stuff." All of them we're confused by what this meant, but they shrugged and moved away from Mantis. The only ones who stayed were Po and Crane. Mantis then turned towards the voice with a rather bored face."Hiii...Dosu."

"Don't 'Hi Dosu' me you girlfriend-stealing jerk!" Another mantis hopped up to him and shouted in his face. Unlike him, he was brown. In both skin-color and she color."So you finally decided to show your face after three years!"

"Dude...I didn't steal your girlfriend. SHE DUMPED YOU! Then she tried to throw herself on me, and she failed." Mantis groaned. He has been through this so many times that he's beginning to lose his patience over it. And his patience is very low to begin with.

"Exactly! She keeps preferring you over me! So I'm trying to prove to her that I'm better!"

"Dude. I'm not interested in her. Or in ANY female mantis ever! Seriously, you can have her, I don't care!" Mantis sighed. "I've been repeating this for so long...I swear I'm not gonna keep dealing with it. Oh I wish that Lidong was here..."

"Why you...darn you for acting like the bigger person! You're not better than me, Mantis! Hao Ming doesn't deserve you!"

"...Dosu. Do you...do you live in your own little world?" Mantis asked him. "Does your world consist of some crazy messed up worship towards Hao Ming, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure that she hates how clingy you act towards her? While I don't really hate her, she should really fix her attitude." Crane raised his head to stare at him strangely. "Trust me Crane, I'm on the mark."

Dosu kept walking around Mantis, glaring angrily. "She just can't stop talking about you. How good you are, how cool you are, your amazingness...and she says these things right in front of me! Do you have any idea how that feels?!"

Mantis groaned. "Have you ever thought about...oh I dunno...getting over her?"

"I can't do that, man! I love her too much to just let her go like this, letting things end as they have! But she'll never come back to me if she's constantly thinking about you!" Dosu kept getting in his supposed rival's face, who wasn't paying too much attention to him.

Mantis's face became more bored than before. "Well tell her this: Just forget about me, find someone else, and leave me alone. Because unlike Dosu, I plan to live my entire life with my head intact, thank you very much! I can, and always will, love only one female mantis in my life. My mom." Mantis sighed. "Now Dosu...can you just back off for a while, I wanna introduce my friends here to my mom. Then maybe we're gonna get some grub or something." He mumbled the last part as he rubbed his currently empty stomach. Po seemed to really like this idea.

Dosu shook his head furiously. "You're not going anywhere until we settle this! She'll be back eventually, and she'll finally see that I'm the better one suited for her!"

"You mean she MOVED AWAY?! And you still insist on pulling this act on me? You're crazy!" Mantis sighed in aggravation. The poor jerk was so obsessed he was willing to pick a fight over someone who isn't there to see it. Hao Ming must have ditched him and just picked a different place to live. Mantis actually felt sorry for her.. Then he pointed his foreleg forward. "Look, it's Hao Ming! She's back!"

"My sweet is here?!" Dosu shouted as he turned around with hearts in his eyes.

"...Now's our chance guys, let's make a run for it!" Mantis whispered. With no other prompt needed, they ran off as quietly as possible, trying not to draw Dosu back to their direction. They left him looking around hopefully for Hao Ming.

Mantis allowed them to slow down when they were finally out of sight, and allowed them to follow him to his mother's house. With a couple of well-placed knocks on the door, it opened up to reveal the female mantis behind it. His mother looked very much like him, as well as an older version of Hao Ming. She gasped when she saw her son standing before her.

"Mantis...? You actually came to visit your mum?" She said in surprise.

He rubbed his neck slightly with a nervous smile. "Yup...hi Mom." She didn't hesitate to hug him tightly, as she looked overhead.

"Oh? These two aren't your usual company. Where's Lidong?"

"We went our separate ways for now. He's gonna try and get his act together. As for these two, they're Po and Crane respectively. The Big Guy, and the Mamma's Boy."

"What do you call yourself, then?!" Crane retorted.

"My mom didn't try to shelter me from the outside world, dude." Mantis smirked. Crane glared at him for this. "Anyway, these are my friends. I have plenty more just looking around the village, ya know? Checking out where I grew up, that kind of stuff."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you two boys. I'm Qiǎncǎo." She smiled at the both of them. "Would you boys like to come in? I didn't really expect visitors today, but I still have quite an amount of snacks for you three."

"Oh really? Cool!" Po then twiddled his fingers and rocked back and forth. "Sooooo...is it true that you ate your husband?"

SLAP!

"You don't just ask something like that out of the blue." Crane grumbled, his wing pointed sideways, as he had just slapped Po upside the head.

"No...it's quite alright. I've fully accepted what had already happened." She said with a sigh. "I truly did love that man. He was such an understanding and kind person, as well as an outstanding lover. He didn't even resist when instincts kicked in and I couldn't stop myself...he was completely willing and understanding. Yes...it was quite a sad day." She looked up at the ceiling. "...At least he was delicious..."

Po and Crane once again had immense shivers go up their spines. Especially Mantis. Thinking back to his father's fate always made him uneasy. Her mother always noticed, and did her best to comfort him. Crane shook his head and attempted to change the subject. "Anyway...how about the snacks? How are they...?"

"Oh yes! I don't know if it will suffice, but I have plenty of apples that I gathered from the trees around here. They're very fresh."

"That'll do. That'll do nicely."

"Yep. Nothing like fruit to brighten up your day." Po smiled.

With an air of relaxation taking over the once tense air, Po and Mantis were currently munching on their fruit as a whole. Crane preferred to have them sliced into a couple ǎncǎo continued to smile at the trio as they ate their snacks. "So what brings you boys here, aside from my son visiting me?"

"To tell you the truth, mom...we're having a bit of a rough time. One of our friends kind of...ran out on us, and now we're trying to find her. One of our other friends has her scent and we're currently following it. We just happened to pass through here and I figured, why not say hi to Mom while I'm here?" Mantis looked to the side. "I already ran into Dosu, and that was unpleasant enough."

"Oh you poor, poor baby." She said with immense sympathy. She knew that his confrontations with Dosu were totally pointless and he'd rather not deal with them. She wasn't particularly fond of Dosu either, but her patience has much more endurance than her son's. "That aside, you said you were looking for a friend of yours?"

"Yep. She's a snow leopardess. Comes with a signature parasol, she's sly thief, also pretty sneaky. Not to mention, she is pretty cute."

"Snow leopard...? Thief...? Signature Parasol...? ...Cute...?" She repeated for herself, as she turned her head to look at the boys. "She wouldn't happen to be a member of the Ladies Of The Shade...would she?"

"Eh? Ladies of the Shade?"

"...I see." Qiǎncǎo sighed. "If you're thinking of bringing your friend back, it will prove to be quite a difficult task."

"Why do you say that, Mom?"

The female Mantis hopped off their table so that she could close the door slightly. She then turned towards the boys again. "The Ladies Of The Shade...they're a nomadic group of thieves that usie their skills of dancing, trickery, thievery, and deception in order to improve their own sense of living. And as the name suggests, it's an all-female group. All of them are snow leopards. It appears that this 'Song' is a definite member of the group."

"No way...are you serious?" Crane asked. "Song isn't just a regular thief...she's a professional at it. And there's an entire group just like her. Sheesh...how are we supposed to deal with that?"

"Isn't it obvious? We go and get her." Po said simply, still eating plenty of apples.

"Seriously? Po...are you sure...?"

"Course I am. Besides, Fung seems pretty determined to go and get her. He'll probably go without us if we give up chasing her. So we'll just follow her and see what's up. And if things play out nicely, we can take care of her business AND get her to keep traveling with us. Win, win, and win!"

"Sounds like a decent enough plan to me." Mantis agreed.

"That's not a very detailed plan though." Crane sighed.

"Well nonetheless, we got our answer. Now we just gotta figure out where she's going."

"If I recall correctly, their most recent camp is somewhere around the Canyon of Shrieking Wind. Though it might be a matter of time before they get moving again, so you might want to be quick."

Mantis smiled. "This is definitely gonna help us out! Thanks a lot, Mom!"

"Oh, you're quite welcome, dear. Also, you don't have to stay here longer than you have to. Your friend here seems eager to chase after your retreating other friend." Qiǎncǎo nodded honestly. Mantis having many more friends was enough of a status update for her. She now knows he's doing well, and that's all that truly mattered to her.

Mantis wiped his mouth and stood up. "Thanks for the refreshing apples, Mum. I really do wish I could stay longer and just chat. But I got places to be, ya know?"

"I got it, sweetie. I just want you to stay out of trouble. Well...more trouble than what you already place yourself in. Heard a bit about your occasional rampages because someone mentions our...miniscule presence." Mantis sighed a bit from that. It was definitely true that he tends to go out of control when his size is mocked. It doesn't end well for the ones who mess with him over that.

Po stood up. "Really wish our chat could last longer, really. You seem like a super cool lady. But we have to keep moving before we lose Song's scent trail."

(Meanwhile)

Shifu was feeling understandably uncomfortable with the current circumstances. Mei Ling the rogue, his former lover, was sitting in literal spaces near him, and he couldn't muster up the bravery to look her in the eye. Despite Taotie's 'encouragement' he still felt far too nervous to actually say something to her. He feels utterly pathetic, because this was one of the goals he had set for himself.

In total honesty...he didn't feel as if he deserved to talk to her, much less try to reconcile with her. Despite the obvious signs that she was more than ready to do the same. He lacked the bravery after all, despite what he promised himself. Guess this was one of the burdens he's placed himself by giving up on his title. He still had to make difficult decisions that would still have a major impact on his future.

...oh how he wished Oogway was still in this world with him.

"...hey." He blinked and turned around to see the vixen he was thinking about, looking at him with her paws clasped together and her ears flattened to her head. His own ears flattened to his head as he smiled weakly at her. She returned the weak smile. "Can...can I talk to you...?"

"Um...of course..." Shifu patted the ground beside him, and she silently complied. There was a long, awkward silence that passed over them, as neither of them could find the motivation to start a conversation.

...

...

...

...

"...Hey!" They shouted at the same time. The realization of this made them blush and look away from one another. They slowly returned to gazing at one another after a minute."...So I was wondering if-" Nope, still speaking in sync. "My apologies for-no MY apologies-wait who's apologizing-can you stop that plea-how is this still happe-"

...This was getting them nowhere.

Shifu cleared his throat. "Uh...ladies first?" He said, very weakly.

"Ehehehe...thank you..." she said with a weak laugh. "Listen, Shifu...I'm sorry about earlier. I was honestly planning to approach you more carefully and with more subtlety...but I got too excited and that plan suddenly destroyed itself. I heard about your...situation. and I was honestly worried about you."

"Yes. I was going through quite a difficult time, and Is didn't have a lot of choices left. I have eventually disbanded the fact that I needed to keep bearing the honor of the Valley of Peace...seeing that it has been has been eradicated...something I might have been able to stop if had been there. I have thrown my pride into the wind, and I'm sticking to that choice. Though I'm finding myself still burdened with a heavy feeling, still. My friends have recently attacked and defeated Master Mugan to free the Garnet Valley from her abuse. I didn't have a big issue with it, besides the fact that it could bring unwanted attention."

"They didn't see your face, did they?" Shifu shook his head quietly. "Okay. So as long as they don't connect that kind of conflict to you, I don't think you have too much to worry about aside from cautious eyes looking at everyone in suspicion."

"I agree. If a pattern like that continues, we may have a difficult time moving around. Though I might not have too much of a say in it, with these young ones deciding our paths."

"Hm. They're quite a handful, is what you're saying..." she snickered quietly. He nodded with a slight chuckle. "Shifu...my behavior before...again, that was a bit unnecessary, I agree. But I really am glad that you're safe."

"The same goes for you. So...are you still up to your thieving ways...?"

"Somewhat."

"Figures. Though now I'm not being so harsh about it, sense I'm somewhat abandoning the code of honor I placed in myself. That died with the Valley, and with Oogway." Shifu sighed. "That was a rather unfortunate day..."

Mei Ling scooter over closer to him, and ensnared him in a soft embrace. "I'm honesty very sorry about your loss. I knew how much they meant to you, and how much you tried to keep the peace. Unfortunately that wasn't going so well..."

"I know. Oogway did his best. Though I sensed even he was growing doubtful that he could keep it for so long. He could do a lot of things...but he couldn't do everything. I may have made the mistake of thinking that he could..." His ears once again pressed against his head. "There are times when I figure it would not matter if I did something different back then or not. Some things are just bound to go horribly wrong..."

Mei Ling couldn't find a proper retort to this at the moment, as he seems very convinced by this line of thinking. Without another word, she kept him within her soft embrace. She didn't cross any boundaries, yet she didn't let go of him, either. He was content with this, as he just closed his eyes and allowed her to hold him.

If there was some plan on them getting back together...enacting it now would not be a proper time.

"Finally." Fenghuang sighed as she saw Po, Mantis, and Crane returning. "You three are finally back. Did you find out anything aside from meeting familiar people?"

"We sure did. We now know where Song is going, and we should be heading there soon if we want to catch her." Mantis noted.

"Good. Lets get going right away!" Fung sat up quickly. Everyone seemed just a hit puzzled by the croc's ever growing eagerness, but they chose not to bring it up. They had better things to do for the moment. One of their own had just run off without an explanation or even a goodbye.

They were going to find her.

(Meanwhile)

Song sighed. She had forgotten that from her position with her friends back at the Garnet Valley, her base was a very far distance. But it didn't matter to her anymore. She had made it past the Canyon of Shrieking Wind by now, and she had reached the Ladies Of the Shade camp.

She was WAY overdo on her return time.

"...I'm late." Song said quietly as she continued to walk towards the camp. She had the treasure she gathered in tow, now she just had to finish up here. Though she was still worried about the possibility of things going wrong. Everything had to progress smoothly, or else her efforts would be for nothing. She sighed. "Girls...please be alright. This isn't a time where we can be reckless. Were almost there..."

"Well well, look who it is!"

"AH!" Song gasped in pain as she was roughly knocked to the ground by the swipe of a rough tail. She groaned as she tried to recover, only to find the same tail wrspping around her neck and lifting her up painfully, leaving her struggling to breathe. "Gck...wha...?"

"If it isn't our favorite delivery girl, Song?" A large croc folded his arms as his tail choked Song, and his much smaller subordinates were taking apart her bag of treasures.

"Wow! She's brought a really big haul this time! She must have been really determined this time!"

"Is that so? The boss will be very happy to hear that." He grinned as he brought Song closer to him, caressing her cheek...she felt disgusted. "Very good, Song. You're contributing very nicely to your mission, aren't you? Yes indeed, you're doing a great job. The Ladies of the Shade have quite a big advantage having you around. You'll be able to free them all in no time!" His tail uncurled from her neck, and she collasped onto the ground, gasping for breath. He laughed cruelly as he called his men over and had them return to the camp with her treasures. "Ya coming or what, Song?! Don't wanna keep the others waiting, do you! They're VERY worried! Hahaha!"

Song growled as her eyes slitted. She stood up and followed the band of crocs quietly. They're acting a bit more obnoxiously than usual...well it doesn't matter. I've kept my end of the agreement. Her claws slid out slightly. If they double-crossed me at the last moment, there WILL be hell to pay...

(Unknown)

"Well boys, look at what we have here?" Heilang smirked as he held up a tied up Master Rooster by the feet. It was once again a somewhat difficult battle, but again they we're ultimately successful. "Our target was quite the resourceful one. He really knew what he was doing when we confronted him. Unfortunately for him, I usually come prepared for a fight, too."

"...I got careless. Silly me." Rooster sighed in embarrassment. "Age must have made me sloppy if I got myself caught and subdued by a bunch of dogs..."

"Save your big talk, Rooster. You're lucky we don't consider you dinner." Heilang rolled his eyes. "Anyway, let's get going. We have both Master Snow Leopard and Master Rooster in tow now."

"Wait...Snow Leopard...? What are you mongrels up to?" Rooster said cautiously, and a bit worriedly. Hearing that they have also subdued one of his old comrades was a surefire way of confirming that something was up.

"What are we up to...? Eh, I don't feel like explaining into you, as I already did not once. Snow Leopard will fill you in on other details." Heilang grinned. "Long Story short...you and your old team...are gonna have a little reunion." One of the other wolves threw a punch at the helpless Roosters head right when the sentence finished. Groaning in pain and blood now slightly dripping from his head, he could do nothing as unconsciousness took over him. He was then stuffed in a bag and thrown over another wolf's shoulder, as Heilang began leading them to their next location.

"Whether you want to or not..."

Again, not too much happens in this one. However...once the next chapter hits, things begin to get a bit more serious. As you can see with Song situation and the Lin Kuei's movements. Hopefully I do well.

...I dunno.

Welp, this is farewell...for now...