Some time earlier...

Tigress had seen Ember's paralyzed victims. She knew there was no point in running. But she had the crystal dagger. If it could hurt the creature, perhaps it could hurt Ember too. Ignoring the accumulated aches and pains, she charged head on at the Dragon Empress.

As she thrust the dagger towards Ember's chest, she felt the entity grab her wrist. With one arm she spun Tigress round, sending her staggering in the opposite direction. "If this is how you always react to praise, no wonder Shifu never gave you any."

Tigress spun back round, snarling. A voice in the back of her head warned her against reacting to Ember's comment. "Going to paralyse me too?"

"Maybe." Tigress actually felt some invisible thing lightly stroke the inside of her stomach. She stepped backward, out of the thing's reach, maintaining composure but inwardly stunned at the blatant violation. "Or I could just burn you to death. See if you can still stab me when your skin is melting from your arms."

You're disgusting, Tigress thought. "It's Ember, right? What do you want with Po?"

"Answers." Ember said at once, a sharp edge to her voice now. "He has them and I want them."

Tigress pointed the dagger right at Ember's face. "Leave him alone. Find answers somewhere else."

"There is nowhere else." Ember tilted her head, taking an unusual interest in Tigress's forehead. "Unless..."

Tigress realised what she was going to do. She went into her stance as Ember approached, but then solid, burning heat shoved her against the shelves, pinning her like a noodle shop poster. Ember strode right up to her, black eyeholes staring into her soul- Thunk!

The arrow that struck the side of Ember's helmet burned and disintegrated. Without even flinching, Ember looked to the entrance, her eyeholes emitting a burning red light. The solid faded disappeared, and Tigress fell away from the shelves.

A criminally insane looking Long Feng cursed and pulled a lever on his reloadable crossbow, loading another arrow. "Die, witch!"

Ember let out a quiet snarl as she lifted her arm in an upward motion. A streak of fire shot across the floor towards the rhino, who rolled to the side to dodge. He straightened and fired. Ember caught the arrow and crushed it in two. "Enough."

She held her open palm out towards the rhino. Long Feng disappeared in a massive fireball that tore right through the wall behind him. Tigress fell back and covered her face as the blistering heat hit her like a tidal wave. She did not lower her arms until the roar of the fire subsided and the overwhelming smell of burning wood hit her. Her jaw dropped. It wasn't just the wall. The entire side of the building was gone, a great burning hole framing a night sky and ember snow. Long Feng couldn't have possibly survived.

Ember was staring at the carnage she had inflicted, her back to Tigress. The feline stood up, hoping that the Dragon Empress did not possess Shifu's near-supernatural hearing. Not wasting a second, she thrust the dagger towards Ember's body.

Ember spun round and grabbed Tigress's wrist with one hand. With the other hand she wrenched the dagger from Tigress's grip and then swung, throwing Tigress across the large room. The feline hit the bit of intact wall beneath the gaping hole. The pain in her ribs was so great that she blacked out for a few seconds. When she came to, Ember was lifting her off the ground by the collar. In her other hand, she held the dagger. "If there are no more interruptions..."

Oh, you're going to get interrupted, alright! Tigress reached behind her. Her paw touched a loose bit of wood as long and thin as a staff. She grabbed the wood and swung with all her might.

It caught Ember in the side of the head and shattered. Flaming bits of wood fell on the black fabric of her clothing, which immediately caught fire.

Ember hadn't even flinched at the blow. Tigress was beginning to think she had made a fatal mistake when Ember looked down at the flames spreading across her body. The fire didn't seem to be actually burning away at her, but Ember's demeanour had changed. Tigress could tell in the way that Ember's breathing hitched, and she dropped the feline without so much as looking at her. Tigress fell to the ground, sustaining several more bruises from the fall, and watched as Ember started hyperventilating. She gripped her helmet, squeezing so hard the helmet cracked between the eyeholes. The Dragon Empress fell to her knees as the flames completely engulfed her, not burning her but causing her unimaginable pain nevertheless.

Then, as Tigress continued to watch in amazement, her eyeholes started leaking. Not fire, but a clear liquid with a crimson lustre as it reflected the fire. She's crying, Tigress's eyes widened at the realisation. What did I do?

Ember's breathing slowly returned to normal. The fire died, revealing no damage to Ember's body whatsoever. Still on her knees, Ember let out a guttural, chilling snarl. Her hands became quaking fists. Tears soaked the face of her helmet.

"Damn you to hell, sister."

Minutes later, Po burst into the library to find it empty. When he saw the hole in the side of the building, the sheer size confirmed that no mere cannon had caused this. "Woah... that is so cool... and a little scary."

"You're right. It is scary." Po turned. He felt a jolt in his chest as he recognised the pretty panther sitting on top of a shelf.

"You!" Po started spinning his rock and chain, memories of Tigress being encased in amethyst boiling his blood. "If you think capturing me will go as easy as last time, you've got another thing coming!"

"Quiet, panda." Hei Nuwang said. "I just want to talk."

"Oh good! In fact, I have a few choice words for you! Come on down and I'll shove 'em down your throat!"

Hei Nuwang grimaced, but quickly covered her irritation with a smile. "We have the same problem, panda. You know who I'm talking about."

"Yeah, I do. And truth be told, you kinda deserve it."

In the obliterated room next door, burning wood fell from what remained of the ceiling and crashed to the floor.

"No. I don't." Hei Nuwang said coldly, eyes flashing. "I am trying to do what's best for the universe, and neither your or Ember seem to understand that."

"And how is destroying the Jade Palace and invading the Imperial City best for the universe?!"

"As I said, you wouldn't understand. That's not the point." Hei Nuwang slid off the shelf, landing gracefully on the floor before the panda. "Ember has taken my people, and now yours. Unfortunately you are the only one who can stop her."

"What do you mean, my people?" Po demanded. Then he realised the answer, and his heart almost stopped. The rock and chain fell from his paws. "No..."

"Yes. Ember has her now, and we both know who is to blame." Po looked away from Hei Nuwang's accusing glare. "Panda, look. You may be the reason Tigress is in danger, but you also have the best chance of saving her."

Po stared. "How?"

"You are Ember's weakness, and you can make her suffer for it." Hei Nuwang tossed something towards Po. Po caught it, and it turned out to be a weird looking crystal dagger. Hei Nuwang folded her arms. "When you stab Ember with this dagger, her powers will be disabled, temporarily. You are the only one she will get close to, panda. Use that to your advantage."

Po turned the dagger in his paws. He couldn't trust Hei Nuwang, not really. She was responsible for nearly every horrible thing that has happened in the last two months. As far as he was concerned, she was just as evil as Ember was, maybe even eviler.

But a best friend's life was at stake.

"Do you know where I can find her?"

"Good boy." Hei Nuwang's smile was deceptively gorgeous. "Try the throne room. The building is completely empty. Good luck!"

A purple pillar formed beneath Hei Nuwang, lifting her through the hole. Po watched her go, his mouth agape. As evil as she was, that was a pretty bodacious way to make a villainous exit.

Hang on, Tigress. The Dragon Warrior is coming.

Po tucked the dagger in his belt and went out the normal way.

Reaching the exit of the passage at the outskirts of the city did not go smoothly.

No matter how many times Xian, Crane, Mantis, Mei Ling, Haoxin, Zun Chunhua and Monkey tried to explain that they could not return to the tower, Mr. Ping would not stop struggling. "My son is back there! I will not leave him behind!" He yelled, completely forgetting that Xian was the son of heaven. "Let me go, limp beak!"

Eagle. Jr. did not let go. "Mr. Ping, the entrance has been completely sealed. Even if we could climb the shaft, we can't break through solid stone."

Monkey stepped forward. "Mr. Ping, we're not abandoning him. Once we've got you and the royals to safety, we're going back to try and retake the palace."

"But my little panda..."

"Is tougher than you think. I bet a hundred yuan he'll still be alive and kicking when we get there."

Mr. Ping stopped struggling. Either Monkey had gotten through to him or he'd finally realised that resistance was futile. He hung his head. "When you see him, tell him he's grounded until the next dynasty."

"Is it safe to let you go, now?" Eagle Jr. asked.

Mr. Ping glowered at his captor. "For now. I don't know how safe you'll be when his other father finds out you left Po in the middle of a warzone."

"We'll take our chances." Eagle Jr. released his talons from the back of Mr. Ping's robe. Haoxin wandered over and gave Mr. Ping a kiss to comfort him.

With the tempestuous noodle chef placated for the time being, they continued down the passage. When they reached the end, Xian, Crane and Monkey worked together to push at the stone door, and when it was fully opened they all stepped out into the decrepit shack. Xian crossed the rotten floor and looked out the moss-covered window. His heart ached as he looked upon his ruined city.

"We should rest here for a bit." He said. There was no furniture, so they all sat down on the floor, with the exception of the kung fu masters who kept watch through the windows and open door. In minutes Zan fell asleep in his mother's embrace, unwittingly immobilizing her. Right next to her, Haoxin and Mr. Ping held each other's wings, staring at nothing. A thought that had been nagging Xian for months made him speak. "Mr. Ping, you've obviously spent a lot of time around pandas. Would you say that they all have special powers?"

"Special powers?" Mr. Ping asked, blinking. "Oh no, they're just as normal as geese and tigers. Except for my son, of course. Why on earth would you ask such a thing?"

Xian knelt down before the two geese and pulled up his sleeve, revealing the faint scar where Tujiu's exploding powder keg had inflicted its worst injury. "You were told about what happened in the Himalayas, weren't you? When Tujiu tried to kill me?" Mr. Ping looked at the scar, and then at Xian's face. He nodded. "When the barrel exploded, a piece of wood hit my arm and severed an artery. If it weren't for the little girl, I would have bled to death in the throne room."

Haoxin hugged Mr. Ping's arm, sniffling a little. Mr. Ping stared at Xian. "Su? What did she do?"

"I don't know." Xian lowered his sleeve. "All I remember is everyone's hands on me, trying to stop the bleeding as much as they could. I could feel myself slipping away. Then I felt Su's hands go very cold. I don't know if it was chi or what, but I felt something come out of her. The next thing I knew, the medic was panicking over how my wounds had started healing on their own."

Mr. Ping was looking faint. "Are... are you sure it was her?"

"Yes." Xian said. "I don't know how, and I have a feeling she doesn't either, but she saved me. Probably the same way she saved you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Months ago, you were on death's door yourself. From what I heard the doctor had been about to pronounce you dead by the time Po returned from the Himalayas. But then all of a sudden..." He snapped his fingers. "You just jump up and throw yourself into Po's belly, a picture of health. That's not normal, and you know it. Su healed you, didn't she?"

Xian frowned when Mr. Ping shook his head. "I'm sorry, your highness, but she couldn't have. She didn't come near me until after I woke up."

Xian leaned closer. "If Su didn't heal you, then who did?"

Mr. Ping shook his head again. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't remember much after I collapsed."

Haoxin stroked his shoulder. "What do you remember?" Zun Chunhua stayed silent, deciding to stay out of the conversation.

Mr Ping removed his noodle hat and turned it over in his feathered fingers. "I remember some... strange dream that I had, about a creature I had never seen before."

"Go on." Xian said gently. He adjusted himself into a lotus position.

Mr. Ping spoke in short, broken sentences as he described what little memories he could recall. "It was black all over, except for the red helmet. It was leaning over me, touching my forehead. It seemed to be looking for something, but I didn't have it. It noticed whatever was ruining my body, burned it away with a great red light, and left." Mr. Ping closed his eyes in distress and rubbed his face. "I must sound ridiculous, blathering about stupid dreams."

"No, no. Go on." Xian said.

"The strangest thing was when I had a dream within a dream."

"Wha- what?"

"I'm describing it as best as I can." Mr. Ping pouted. "Basically, while this creature was rummaging through my mind, I saw this crazy vision. Maybe I had somehow entered her mind by mistake, I don't know!" Mr. Ping waved his wings, irritated by the weird looks Xian and Haoxin were giving him. "In this vision, the creature was doing the same darn burning thing to you!" He pointed to Haoxin, who recoiled in shock.

"Me?!"

Xian couldn't speak. It was true that Haoxin had fallen deathly ill herself many years ago, but he, Yujin and Haoxin's family had all been there when Haoxin suddenly came back from death's door. Ember had most certainly not been present. So what did Mr. Ping's 'dream within a dream' mean? "Mr. Ping, that was the Dragon Empress."

Mr. Ping looked like he'd just walked into his shop to find it on fire. "E-Ember? In my noodle shop? Oh goodness, I might pass out!"

"Don't." Eagle Jr. said from the other side from the room.

Haoxin wrung her fingers. "So... the Dragon Empress healed you?" Mr. Ping's pale head nodded. The two geese locked eyes. "How could she have healed me, too?"

After five seconds of silence, Xian saw both pairs of eyes slowly widen. Their beaks fell open. Mr. Ping's noodle hat slipped from his fingers and Haoxin put her wings up to her mouth. Xian nearly fell backwards when both geese suddenly shouted to be returned to the palace.

Looks like Mr. Ping and Haoxin have figured it out! Have you?

Also, I hope you know what you're doing, Po!

R&R, thanks!