Author's Note: We finally have some action, albeit not much. There will be more to come though. Now we also see just how Crane and Viper have been affected by the deaths of their parents.

Enjoy.

A Warrior's Limits

Battle cries, yelps of pain and the sounds of punching and kicking reverberate through the air. The source of these sounds lies within a singular building, separated from the majesty of the hall of heroes and more in line with the minimalism of the student barracks. The training hall. A hall filled with devices capable of making even the fiercest of warriors whimper in fear, devices made from Shifu's own design of course. This brutal equipment was never questioned by his students nor Oogway, due to its effectiveness in morphing them into the lethal team they are now. Although Po's experience with this equipment begun in a more… painful manner, he has grown to appreciate its difficulty and is always thankful that those machines didn't kill him the first time he 'used' them.

Another day of training begins as the warriors of the Jade Palace engage in their sparring. Master Viper takes her place upon the swinging clubs of instant oblivion, making sure to keep balance on the spinning logs. Po had given Viper several days off training to let her grieve. Though he wanted to give her a couple more days to get it out of her system, she had insisted that he let her train today and asked Crane to help her prove that she is fine. Crane stands opposite her, maintaining his balance with relative ease but he can't help but to think about the news he had received the night before. Once Po had heard of what happened last night, he almost pleaded with Crane to at least take a day off, but he refused saying that he would be fine. They begin to trade blows.

Master Monkey cautiously walks through the gauntlet of wooden warriors, keeping an eye out for his partner-in-crime. Po had put the boys in here due to wanting to teach Mantis how to use his surroundings to his advantage, meanwhile having Monkey focus on his lacking attentiveness in trying to fish out his buddy from the almost endless sea of warriors. His cheeky blue eyes narrow in concentration, hoping to find the little green warrior. Smack! He blocks one of the wooden arms from behind him, spinning around to see the cause of its movement. Nothing… Until the langur is forced to block another arm from one of the warriors. His eyes dart around. Blue orbs squint in concentration. His ears twitch slightly as he feels the air move from his fur. Snapping his eyes to the right, he is able to see a green blur for a split second until he is forced to block the warriors' limbs once more, the wooden beings moving faster than before.

As Mantis begins his onslaught on Monkey with his wooden puppets, Po and Tigress stand opposite each other. Right on top of the fiery field of death. This training was more to improve Po's attentiveness and agility rather than helping Tigress. She had mastered practically every single training machine at this point, so Po decided to have her practice infusing chi into her attacks more consistently and efficiently. Granted he wasn't able to do so yet, but if anyone was capable of doing it, it would be her. "Ready, Master?" the tiger master inquires with a smirk on her face as she morphs into her ready stance, her paws bathed in a golden light.

Po looks to the palace servant manning the lever to the fire mechanism and nods. The servant nods back, pushing down the lever to activate the field's deadly weapon. Jade eyes gaze into amber as the panda master gives her a cheeky grin and poses in his Kung Fu stance. "You bet I am! Gimme everything you've got, Tigress!" Po yells in excitement.

With pleasure. That adrenaline fuelled thought zips through Tigress' mind as they clash together, trading several blows with multiple golden shockwaves rippling the air. After multiple blocks and dodges, they separate, leaping away from the fire shooting out from below them. They continue this dance of fire and chi powered attacks, seemingly at a stalemate.

This all happens under the watchful eyes of Grandmaster Shifu. Po had asked him to survey them, since he had decided to work on himself today as well as the others. The red panda's steely eyes maintain a warmth in them, obviously proud of all of his former students. However, they also contain a sense of worry. Not just because of the miserable progression in Po's inner peace training, but also because of Viper and Crane's loss of their family. Part of him wanted to tell the panda that it might be best to postpone their inner peace training but realised quickly that it would be unfair on Tigress, knowing of how badly she needs this.

His blue orbs switch between each training ground, taking mental notes on each of the warrior's forms. Tigress: Perfect stance and timing with the field. Po: I… have no idea what he is doing but knowing him it will probably work. Monkey: Good blocking, but he cannot rely on just defence here, he needs to pick out Mantis. As his thoughts turn to the insect, he narrows his eyes in an attempt to focus on him. Mantis: … I can't see him… And I don't know whether it is because of his size or because he is hiding well… I'll just have to assume both. As his eyes switch to the swinging clubs of instant oblivion his eyes narrow once more. Crane: His balance is somewhat off, and his attacks look like they're barely thought out. Switching his attention to Viper, he notices the snake using her body like a whip to strike Crane… and that's it. Throughout the whole of their sparring session, she had barely used a single defensive manoeuvre and didn't even try to use her lithe body to restrict his movement. Not only that, but her attacks were far more aggressive than usual. She is barely using her style. As the grandmaster continues gazing at the fight before him, he mentally slaps himself at seeing the number of openings not being used by either warrior.

Leaping off his staff he quickly runs to the fiery field of death, seeing Po get kicked off the field by Tigress with golden chi trailing off her foot. Po grimaces in slight pain as he sits up and congratulates his feline partner, "Do you ever stop being awesome!?"

She chuckles slightly at his kind words and helps him up, "For you? Never." She replies with a small smile on her face, their paws still connected. They gaze into each other's eyes. Po staring in pure admiration and Tigress staring in appreciation of his unwavering joy. Her smile soon gains a mischievous flair as she walks back towards the field. She takes her Kung Fu stance, her eyes hungry for a good fight.

Po smirks back, accepting her wordless challenge. "Get ready to feel the thunder!"

"I'm afraid we don't have time for that." Shifu's gruff voice stops the two warriors in their tracks. They both bow towards their former master, with Po giving him a concerned glance. "Take a look at Crane and Viper."

The panda master looks over to the swinging clubs, seeing Crane's sloppy form and Viper's overly aggressive attacks. This is what I was afraid would happen. He mentally sighs. "Alright everyone! We'll take a break!" This announcement cause Crane and Viper to leap off the spinning log, whilst Monkey and Mantis remain frozen within the gauntlet. "Sparring will continue after… uh…" He looks towards Tigress and quickly whispers, "Would half an hour work?" She responds in a half-hearted shrug. "We'll continue in half an hour!" Po declares.

Seeing exactly where Mantis is, Master Monkey punches the bug out of the gauntlet. "Ha! I win!" He celebrates, not noticing the spinning warrior that Mantis was on until… Smack! His eyes widen as his hands down to his tenders, "Ow."

As his high-pitched whine reaches the green insect, Mantis bursts into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "*Wheeze* Serves you right!" He manages to yell between laughs. Monkey stumbles out of the gauntlet, managing to avoid creating a chain reaction of spinning warriors and glares at Mantis. "Hey! Don't look at me like that. You tried to cheat, monkey boy." He reprimands the langur.

"I still won." Monkey whimpers once more.

"You know that doesn't count." Mantis chuckles, "You're just annoyed that you were in an unwinnable battle." He stops his prideful showboating to look at Crane slinking out of the training hall, "Hey Crane! You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." An absentminded mumble is the only response given as the Avian walks off.

The green insect sighs in pity, "Poor guy." His hazel orbs stare at the retreating bird, fully aware of his pain. Mantis' mother had passed months prior and he was barely able to do Kung Fu for a few weeks. How he managed to move on from that is still beyond him. It hurt. Badly. Well… It's not as bad as… No. Not now. He pushes his ravenous memories aside, knowing that if he opens them up right now, he might not be able to keep his anger in.

He is snapped out of his thoughts as Monkey motions to their serpent comrade with his head, "He's not the only one." Mantis turns his head to Viper who is also leaving the training hall. However, the expression on her face is something that neither of the boys are used to seeing. Anger. Her sky-blue eyes hold more venom in them than her fangs ever could and the smile that would usually grace her face is wiped clean off. Even the way she slithers out holds some kind of pent up aggression. If they didn't know any better, they would've thought that their two female comrades have switched bodies. Then they notice her quickly glare at Po before leaving. As for why she had done so, they would prefer not to risk incurring the wrath of the angry woman. They had learned that lesson from Tigress years ago.

Mantis sighs again, "We have to do something, man. It sucks to see them so… miserable." He mutters, his usually cocky and loud-mouthed self now withered to a downcast little speck.

Monkey ponders for a few seconds, flicking through his mental catalogue of jokes and pranks. His eyes widen as a light goes off in his mind. "I've got just the prank to cheer them up!" He yells with a wide smile on his face.

"Lemme hear It." Mantis encourages the Langur with an enthusiastic grin on his face and jumps onto his shoulder. Monkey whispers his idea to the green insect, his hazel eyes widening as he struggles to hold in his laughter at just the thought of the prank. "That is so *snort* Hold on" He lets out a giggle, "I think it's impossible not to laugh at that. I'm in."

"But will it make Shifu laugh? After all he has been dealing with the whole missing people thing." Monkey quickly mentions, cautious of getting under their former master's skin.

Mantis gives his friend a disbelieving look, "As I've said, it's impossible not to laugh at that prank, Monkey. Besides, I'm sure what is happening in Xiwang valley is nothing to worry about. Probably a few drunken people passed out near the woods or something." He says nonchalantly, slightly snickering at the thought of a few sheep walking drunkenly in the woods. Before long, he snaps out of his reverie, just realising that they are the only two left in the hall.

"C'mon, let's have some snacks." Monkey says cheerfully.

Mantis briefly stops him, "Uh… thing is. I kinda want to see Po about the whole… inner peace thing. I can come with you to get a bite, but I'll need to leave like right after."

"Oh, sure. No problem." Monkey replies, somewhat surprised by his buddy's decision. They leave the training hall.

As they make their way to the kitchen, they can slightly hear the patter of webbed feet on the floor until they see Zeng, the palace messenger, bound around the corner in front of them in a nervous frenzy. The black duck shivers and quakes in his golden messenger outfit, a habit that always eluded the masters. They could never quite tell whether he was nervous in the moment, or if that is simply how he is. "A message for you, Master Monkey." He says in a trembling voice.

"Um… Thanks, Zeng." Monkey awkwardly says, confused as to why he would get a message. Zeng bows to the masters before waddling away, his nervous gait still present.

"Uh, you want me to…?" Mantis trails off, asking if he wants any privacy.

"Nah, it's probably some fan mail or something." He brushes off his friend's concern as he slowly opens the scroll.

"Pfft! Fan mail, gimme a break." The green insect snickers and looks off to the side, thinking of a good joke for the situation, "The day you get fan mail, is the day that Tigress makes out with Po. And I seriously doubt… that is ever…" Mantis trails off, seeing Monkey seemingly frozen. "Hey, buddy. You okay?" After getting no response, he jumps onto the langur's shoulder.

His buddy's usually mischievous blue eyes are now deformed in terror, his pupils shrunken to the point of being microscopic. A slight twitch can be seen coming from his lower right eye lid, his jaw clenched. Mantis could hear Monkey heavily breathing through his nose, his hands trembling. Upon further inspection, he notices that his friend's eyes are still fully focused on the scroll in front of it. He looks to the scroll and skims through it until he reaches a particular part of it.

"Your brother, Wu-Kong, was assassinated during the night. We found the culprit, but he had also been found dead from an apparent suicide."

Hazel orbs bulge out of their sockets. Monkey's brother!? No. There's no way. He reads through that part once more, refusing to believe it is true. But it is. Mantis looks to his friend once more, seeing the pain and guilt in his eyes. He knew exactly how Monkey felt about imprisoning his brother, so he could only imagine what his friend is going through right now. The bug attempts to comfort the langur with a tender voice, "I'm so sorry, man."

Monkey blinks for the first time in the last few minutes, his trance now broken. "Uh. Right." An emotionless whisper seeps out of him.

Mantis begins to sweat, hazel eyes staring into blue. "Listen, buddy. You can talk to me. Okay? Just… Everything will be okay. Alright?" Panicked stutters roll out from his mouth, unable to recognise the broken man before him and trying everything he can to get the Monkey that he knows back.

"I… Just…" The langur interrupts his friend's haphazard attempts at comforting him. After letting out a disheartened sigh, Master Monkey pitifully requests, "Could you… Just… I need a minute. Okay… I just… I-I need some time to think. So… Why don't you just go to that… inner peace thing… I'll be fine here."

"Are you sure? Cause if you want, I will be right here." His green comrade implores, his eyes pleading for his friend to be okay.

"No… I'll be fine, Mantis… Really." Yet another pitiful, almost lifeless, response from the langur. He begins walking to the kitchen, hoping that no one else would be there.

Mantis heaves a sigh as he gazes at Monkey's retreating form, "Alright. But the second I am done with that; I am coming straight back here! Okay!" He declares before running off to what he knows is one of Po's favourite spots, the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom.

Meanwhile that Panda in question sits underneath the splendid pink and white petals of said tree, meditating on what he should do to help Viper and Crane. You cannot provide each one of the five the things they need to grow, but that doesn't mean you don't have to be there. Oogway's wise words had given Po the strength to continue on with his training just a day ago. Now, he finds it much harder to agree considering the circumstances involving his serpent and avian comrades. Will it be enough? I mean, I have been there for Crane and he just wanders off. As for Viper… If I try to help her, she is just going to brush me off and say she's fine. It's like there is a second Tigress now… Not that that's a bad thing. It's just that she isn't acting like herself right now. Po's mind swarms with thought of what to do and what he shouldn't do until the final thing Oogway promised him to do came up again. Don't give up on them, Po. Don't abandon them like I had abandoned Jingxi. Po sighs thoughtfully, hoping that everything will turn out for the best. "I'll try, Master. I'll try." He breathes out in an uncharacteristically quiet whisper.

He turns his head around as his ears twitch at the sound of Mantis jumping up the steps. "Hey, Po." A downcast greeting seeps out of the usually loud insect.

The dragon warrior notices his friend's odd behaviour almost instantly, "Hey. What's wrong, buddy? You seem kinda depressed."

Yet another sigh exits Mantis' mouth as he mutters, "Something happened involving Monkey."

Jade eyes widen in response, "What's going on?" He implores in utter seriousness.

Mantis shakes his head before explaining, "It's personal stuff. I can't say. If you wanna know, then you'll have to ask him yourself. Okay?" Po begrudgingly nods as he prepares to stand up. The green bug stops him, "Actually, that's not the reason why I am here… Um… I am here for the… inner peace training." His depressed voice now meanders into a nervous tone.

Po's eyebrow raises in confusion, "Um… Don't you think that can wait, Mantis?"

The insect shakes his head once again, "Monkey said he wants to be alone for a bit and told me to do what I was gonna do before… the thing… happened. So… I came here." His nervousness once again takes hold of his voice, as he realises, he would have to recount a truly horrifying memory. One that he would prefer to be erased from his mind. But fate is often not kind. He hops over to sit beside Po. After noticing the panda's still confused face, he simply asks, "What?"

"How do you know what I wanted you to do before I even said it?" Referring to how Mantis knew that he wanted him to speak about his problems. Before Mantis could even answer, Po quickly states, "I got it! You're psychic! A mind reader!" A brief silence fills the grounds of the sacred peach tree. Until Mantis begins to snicker at Po's ridiculous guess, "Huh? No? Okay… you used a secret Kung Fu move that only people who have trained for 10+ years are capable of knowing… Wait, wait! No! You ar-

"Tigress told me." He finally decided to end the panda's crazy ramblings, lightly chuckling as Po pouts like a little child.

"Oh… I knew that." He simply utters and chuckles meekly at his over-excitement. "Well, okay… What's bothering you, Mantis?" His jade eyes adopt a concerning glint as he focuses his gaze on the nervous bug.

Mantis takes a deep breath, the destructive waves of that memory already crashing within his mind. "It was… just a regular solo mission. Nothing special. Just… help out the village nearby. Protect the people. Everything just… normal." He remembers the humble village. Their patchy clothes. Their simple houses. Their caring people. The very people he protected many years ago. "This was, I think… A year or 2 before you arrived." Using his incredible speed, he struck at the nerves of every bandit he could see, paralysing them instantly. Crowds of people cheered him on as he took down the croc and boar bandits with ease. "I fought a bunch of bandits, y'know. Stunning them left and right. Those guys never stood a chance."

Po smiles lightly at Mantis, knowing full well how dangerous he could really be in a fight.

"But more kept coming. They just… didn't stop." Endless hordes of bandits kept running at Mantis, unable to catch the speedy insect. More and more fell in a massive heap of conscious yet frozen bodies. He had hoped that that was the last of them. His hopes were quickly dashed when he saw three more bandits with crossbows aimed at the crowd of supporting villagers. "And then… There were three of them left. They all had crossbows… Aimed at the villagers." He jumped into action the second he saw them, speeding between the three and taking them down as quickly as he could. "I tried to stop them… I moved as fast as I could, and I took them down." He looked down towards the defeated boars and noticed something. The crossbow bolts had been fired.

"I wasn't fast enough."

Mantis shot his head towards the crowd of villagers to see one of them had been shot in the arm. "One guy got hit… right in the shoulder. His arm was pretty much useless after that wound, so… they amputated it." He continued looking around the crowd, seeing one of the bolts on the ground with no blood on it whatsoever. Hazel orbs searched for the final bolt, until they reached a new crowd that gathered around in a circle, obscuring what was in the centre. "And someone else got hit…" Mantis' breathing becomes heavier as he clenches his jaw, a useless attempt at keeping his anger in. The crowd had slowly made way for Mantis. His eyes widened in horror.

"A little girl." Hazel eyes are forcibly shut as the insect's face contorts in a deep sense of self-loathing. Jade eyes adopt a deep sympathy and are glazed with understanding.

Right in the centre of her chest. The sharp edge of the bolt poked out of her back as several of the citizens couldn't help but stare in disbelief. Cries of agony left the father that sat right by the poor girl's corpse. The father and insect's eyes met, both sharing the same message. Pain. Mantis continued to stare at the lifeless girl that laid on the street, whilst the father commenced his pain ridden cries once more. His tears flooded the dirt street as something deep within Mantis began to stir. A deep disappointment aimed towards himself.

As his memory slips back into the recesses of his mind, Mantis opens his eyes, anger and disappointment blended in his hazel orbs. He stares off into the horizon, trying to keep his building fury in check.

Po looks at his friend, seeing his burning rage and thinks back to when he had fought Tai Lung and Shen. When he had tried to give them a second chance. When they had refused and died. "You can't save everyone." He mutters in despair, knowing full well of Mantis' pain and disappointment.

"That isn't an excuse, Po!" Mantis exclaims, his blood boiling and his hazel eyes turning red. "I should've been able to protect them! But no! I wasn't fast enough!" His yells become even louder as his rage reaches its breaking point, "I should've been able to fight Kai! But no! I wasn't strong enough! If I can't protect! If I can't fight! Then what kind of warrior am I!?" His final scream retains such fury that the ground beneath them shudders.

Tears lace his eyes, wanting desperately to come out. He swipes them away as his breathing becomes heavier. "I may look happy, Po. But deep down… I feel… Like I am useless. All my strength, my speed… All of this and yet I still fail everyone." He starts to snicker, "It's funny how I can lift people 100 times my size, yet I still have so many limits. It's like some kind of sick joke." His face contorts back into a deep frown, his eyes now tired and festering in the aftermath of his rage. "I'll see you later, Po." Mantis mutters in a hoarse voice and hops down the stairs, away from the peach tree.

For that whole time, Po had been shocked into silence. He truly couldn't say anything to what Mantis had told him. Mostly, because they were thoughts he once had about himself. Even if he knew how he had managed to be rid of that self-loathing, it wasn't sure to work on Mantis. Different people react to different things. You can't save everyone. Something he regretted saying the second he said it, since it's something he doesn't believe in either. No matter what, he would always try to save everyone. Including the very people who hurt him most. Yet, when it came time to help his friend… He had no clue on what to say. Downtrodden jade eyes look upon one of the peaches of the sacred tree as his black paw gently picks it up. His earlier confidence and surety now crushed, all he can do is merely eat the peach and look at the horizon. Hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.