"I spy, with my little eye… something… white!"

"Snow!" Po and Tigress spoke simultaneously.

"Wrong!" Viper exclaimed cheerfully. "Try again."

Blowing onto his paws, all Po could think about was the Valley of Peace. As a cub, Po would wake up every winter and look out his bedroom window to find the neighbor's window ledge draped in six inches of snow. He would then proceed to grab the crimson scarf the nice old lady next door had once made him and spend two hours making snow-pandas in the snow that had collected in the outdoor eating area of the restaurant. Around noon his father would praise him on his art and then call his son inside. Po would then spend the rest of the morning eating noodle bowl after noodle bowl while his father swept away the remaining snow just in time for the first customers to arrive.

Po turned his head as he walked and looked up at the cliff they were travelling alongside. The cliff face was ragged and covered in mounds of snow.

Here in the Himalayas, winter was nothing like it was in the Valley of Peace. Even the slightest breeze was like someone poking an icicle through their thick coats and pressing it against their skin. The snow was thick like jam and hard to walk through. There was also the ever-present danger of hidden crevasses. Three hours into their journey and they had already come across two. Not for the first time, Po wished he was back in the Jade Palace munching on Monkey's delicious almond cookies.

"Clouds." Po suggested as they walked.

"Try again!"

Before they had left, Po had asked Eagle Jr. to join them on their search, but the avian had refused, both because even though he was now out of bed his wing had yet to fully heal, and because he had made a vow to stay by the emperor's side and protect him with his life. Even though he had refused, Eagle Jr. had given each of the masters a meter long stick, with the advice to poke the ground in front of them as they walked to check for crevasses. So far the sticks had proven to be life saving-

"Gah!" Po yelped as he poked the ground in front of him and the snow suddenly collapsed to reveal a large hole. "Guys, watch out! Here's another one!"

"Po, get back!" Tigress carefully traversed the surrounding area, poking the snow with her stick until she had uncovered a crack nearly thirty feet long.

"Stay close, we're going to have to go around this." Tigress said. "And keep away from the edges."

"Remind me to kill Monkey once we find him." Po muttered.

Once all three of them had successfully evaded the crevasse, Tigress pulled out a map and drew a small symbol on it with a charcoal stick. There were two more symbols on the path they had drawn across the paper.

Because Monkey had covered his tracks very well, they had no trail to work with, so Eagle Jr. had spent the previous night plotting a path on the map, based on everything they had learned so far; all the deaths had occurred in the western area of the mountain, and judging from evidence found on a piece of a lotka paper lantern, the Yeti's lair was probably located near some old ruins that has so far gone undiscovered. And since Monkey knew all this, it was almost certain that the western area was where he had gone, and so his friends would follow him there.

"Po, walk a little slower from now on." Viper said. "You nearly went right over the edge."

"I know, sorry." Po mumbled. "Wait a sec, I've got it! Something beginning with white… your snow suit!"

"Yes!" Viper lifted her tail, which was clothed in Haoxin de Nushi's special snow suit along with the rest of her body.

"Okay, my turn." Po said. "I spy with my little eye… something beginning with-"

"Po!" Tigress snapped suddenly. "That's enough! We are wandering through a dangerous area and we cannot afford to get distracted!"

The feline stormed off ahead, leaving Po and Viper to stare at her retreating back. The panda's shoulders slumped.

"She's still mad at me isn't she?"

"It's not you, Po." Viper replied gently. "She's concerned about Monkey. We all are."

Po merely sighed.

"I hope you're right." he said.

"Come on!" Tigress called at that moment. Po and Viper rushed to catch up with her.

After a few minutes of silent walking, eyes and ears out for their missing friends, Tigress again checked the map.

"We should reach the rock where you were ambushed in about an hour." Tigress said. By 'you' she meant Po. "Once we get there we can eat that lunch we packed."

"Oh! Er… was that for all of us?"

Tigress turned on Po in disbelief.

"Po!"

"Kidding!" Po retreated five steps. "I'm just kidding! I though cracking a little joke would calm our nerves."

"Then don't." Tigress growled.

"Sorry."

Tigress huffed and resumed her walking.

Viper gave Po a look that practically screamed, "what is wrong with you?" before following her.

Po mentally kicked himself in the head and gnashed his teeth together. When was he going to learn to grow up?

Oh well, it wasn't like the coldest and most dangerous mountain in the continent was the most appropriate place for kissing and making up. That would have to wait until they found Monkey and got their tails back to the relative safety of the fortress.

Po dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a handful of the little red fruits he had scavenged from the kitchen. They weren't exactly peaches, but he always liked to munch on some sweet fruit for when he was down in the dumps…


Tigress's head was lowered as she led the threesome across the landscape.

She knew she was being too harsh on the panda, and she hated herself for it. He was only trying to lift their spirits after all, what with so many people dead and Monkey probably already one of them.

He probably thinks I'm still angry at him for what happened the other night. Once we find Monkey, I'm going to have to set things right and-

"GAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA AHHHH!"

Tigress spun around so fast she actually stumbled.

Twenty feet behind her and Viper, Po was running towards the cliff at a speed she wouldn't have thought possible for the large panda. His screams muffled by both paws clamped over his mouth, eyes streaming, Po took a leaping dive into the snowdrift at the base of the cliff and disappeared in an explosion of white.

"Po?!" Tigress yelled.

For a moment all was silent, and then Po's upper half emerged from the snowdrift. A second look showed Tigress and Viper that his mouth was stuffed with snow.

"WAWAZ ZAT?!" Po yelled, his voice loud despite the snow falling from his open mouth and his bulging eyes. "WAZEHELWAZAT?!"

"Po! Keep your voice down!" Viper called. "You'll cause an avalanche!"

"WAT? YERTOOFAWAWAY!"

"Po!" Tigress called. "Stop shouting!"

"WAT?! OH! YUWANWETOSTOSHOWTI-"

WHUMP!

"Po!"

Tigress and Viper rushed towards the mound of snow that had just fallen and buried the panda. As they got closer, Po's head and shoulders emerged from the pile, his expression one of embarrassed anger.

"OKAY, WHO THREW THAT?"

WHUMP!

Tigress reached the pile first and started digging. Viper reached them a second later and together the women dug their comrade out of the snow. By then his face was red as a beetroot.

"Come on, let's back away from the cliff." Tigress and Viper pulled the panda away from the base of the cliff. Once they were sure they were safe, both women turned on Po.

"Po, care to start explaining?" Tigress asked. Po started speaking at once.

"I ate a few of these fruits I took from the kitchen before we left." Po pulled out several thin red objects. "It felt like I had eaten the sun and washed it down with lava!"

"Let me see that." Viper took one of the 'fruits' and examined it. Suddenly she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Tigress demanded.

"Po, we can't leave you alone with food for a minute, can we?" Viper once she had calmed down. "These aren't fruit, these are red pimentos!"

"Pimenwhat?"

"Red peppers!"

Tigress suddenly realized that absurdity of what had just happened.

Po, the lover of food and son of a talented chef, had mistaken a spicy vegetable for a fruit.

"P-Po." She stuttered, feeling a laugh building up in her chest. "P-Po, you…" She bit back a smile as her stomach began to convulse with suppressed laughter.

"Tigress?" Po asked.

"Po, you s-stupid panda…" She started to chuckle, a fist covering her mouth.

Why is it that the panda who annoyed her more than anyone was also the panda who made her smile more than anyone?

"W-what are we going to d-do with you?" She snickered.

Po looked away bashfully.

Viper merely stared at her friend's out of character behavior.

"Er… should we press on?" Viper eventually spoke.

Tigress managed to stop laughing long enough to take a deep breath and regain her composure.

"You're right." She said. "Po, where's your travel pack and stick?"

"Oh darn, I dropped them when I ate those peppers. I'll be right back." Po turned round and began walking to the trail of footprints the trio had made minutes before.

He took three steps before the snow collapsed beneath his feet.

"Po!" Tigress and Viper yelled and reached for him at the same time.

Tigress managed to dig her fingers into the fabric of Po's coat before his weight dragged them both through the snow and into the darkness.


"Rrrrrggghhh! Come on! Push!" Mantis strained as he pushed at one of the massive gears of a big room that looked like the interior of one of Taotie's elaborate inventions. "Come on, move you stupid thing! Mush!"

Crane emerged from the top of the stairs that led into the room. He rolled his eyes at the sight of the tiny bug furiously pushing at the big gear.

"Mantis, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get this stupid room to work!" Mantis grunted in exertion until his arms slipped and he fell to the wooden platform in the middle of the room with a soft thud. "Owww…"

"I've just been told that Shifu wants us to give up on the room and help set up the defenses." Crane said with no sympathy whatsoever. "Come on, get up."

"Alright, alright, hang on a sec…" Mantis got up and mumbled under his breath. "Pencil neck."

"I heard that." Crane said.

"Whatever."

"Just come on! And watch where you step. Remember some of these floorboards are pretty rotten!"

"Okay! Jeez…"

Mantis followed the avian to the bottom platform. Crane had been edgy since Viper and the others had left to search for Monkey. Once or twice Mantis had heard Crane mutter under his breath about all the things he would do to the primate once they brought him back.

If they brought him back.

Don't think like that! Monkey's okay. He's gotta be. Monkey, you idiot. What are you thinking?

"Mantis, come on!"

"Al…right!"

Mantis took one last look around at the room as he followed Crane towards the exit, and that was when he noticed something unusual about the bottom of the left hand wall.

"Hey, Crane."

"What?" the avian replied without turning his head.

"Is it me, or does that machinery go through the floor?"

"Huh?"

Mantis hopped over to the point of interest. Indeed, there were several slits in the floor where the gears and columns went through.

"Where do you think this leads to?" Mantis asked.

"Right beneath us is a series of corridors and a few rooms which may be where the prison guards used to sleep." Crane said. "I didn't see any machinery there."

"Maybe it's hidden by walls or something." Mantis said. "This wall makes up the exterior of the tower. Maybe the machinery runs down the side of the building."

At that moment he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Mantis turned around.

"Su?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

The cub had a small smile on her face.

"I think I've figured it all out." Su said.

"Figured out what?" Mantis asked.

"Do you know where Master Shifu is? He's not in the foundry anymore."

"He must have gone back into the main building." Crane said. "Do you want us to-"

Creeeaaak…

They suddenly heard a sound coming from the floorboards they were standing on.

"Oh he-"

The floor collapsed.