Hello there!

Here I am again with another chapter! Hope you like it!

On with the show!

The crowded streets of Gongmen City were busy in the mornings. In a small noodle shop in the streets, a goat quietly sat in the corner, eating his meal. How strange to only buy one bag, he thought to himself.

Even though it was busy, the breakfast hours had already passed, and the shop wasn't crowded. Still, Shao's eyes darted around, eyeing everyone else as if they knew what he was there for. Of course, he was only being paranoid, as no one did. Eventually, he calmed down enough to focus on his meal, which was cold by now.

As he ate, he wondered how he was actually going to do it.

"I mean, I can't just waltz in the tower, shoot him, and waltz out," he thought to himself. "But I didn't come this far just to fail."

But how? Maybe he could ring the attack bell, and summon him that way.

"No, that would draw way too much attention." Back to the drawing board. Actually, the more he thought about that one, the stupider and stupider it became.

Maybe he could sneak in somehow? But how? They didn't just anybody in there. Only the masters and the servants-

As the idea struck him, he accidentally swallowed his noodles the wrong way and had to cough them back up, stirring up a small scene. After he recovered, though, the people in the shop went back to their meals and their conversations.

"That's it!" he thought. "I can sneak in as a servant. All I need to do is…"

His stomach dropped at the next thought. He would have to kidnap one of the servants and steal their outfits. On top of that, the method would only work if nobody thought something was suspicious.

But, as he pressed his mind, no more ideas came to him. It seemed to be the only option. After he stole the outfit, he could go in with the rest of them inside the building. Then, he could wait around until he could find Master Croc, and then complete his mission.

How odd it was, he thought to himself. Here he was, eating noodles like any other person, plotting ways to end someone's life as if it was just another part of the day.

"To-do list," Shao thought to himself with sarcasm and bitterness. "Nine o'clock: go to the market; remember to buy those rare herbs for the pharmacy. Twelve o'clock: buy two lunches; one for me and one for that homeless pig whose name I still don't know. Four o'clock: kill a kung-fu master in preparation for more; try and not get caught in the process."

After his meal, he left the shop. At first, he had planned to go straight back to his room at the inn, but he decided that he needed to take a detour and see something.

So, he walked through the streets, seemingly invisible to everyone else. As he passed by and saw the faces, saw the people, he realized something. This place was just like the Valley of Peace. The people were the same. And, after all, it was the people that make a culture. Not the buildings, not the architecture, but the people.

And people were the same, no matter where you went.

As those thoughts went through his head, Shao finally came to a small square. People were coming and going, and the bright reds and yellows shone on the sides where small shops were set up. Strung up above the square were thick strings that supported the red paper lamps; currently unlit, considering that it was daytime.

The goat walked to the edge of the square, where he leaned his forearms across the railings.

Across a short distance was the courtyard to the Tower of Sacred Flame. He had heard of it, but seeing it was a completely different experience. First of all was its sheer height. Shao almost lost its tip in the sun shining in his eyes. Next was the sheer detail. Even after the original had been destroyed in the fight between the Five and Shen, it had been rebuilt with just as much, if not more, love and attention.

In the middle of the courtyard was an object. Shao squinted his eyes and tried to make out what it was. When he realized what it was, he found himself short of breath.

While the ground around it had long been repaired, Master Thundering Rhino's warhammer still stood firmly in the ground.

"Oh, can I really do this?" Shao thought to himself. "Am I really doing the right thing? I mean, sure, predators might be a danger to everyone with their physical advantages, and they might be part of an outdated system of nature, but is killing them really the answer?"

"Oh, come on," a voice inside him said. "You've seen it for yourself. She's dangerous. Who knows when she might snap and hurt one of the Jade Palace masters? And the same goes for Master Croc. No, it's better this way."

With that thought, Shao turned away from the awe-inspiring sight and headed back to his room at the inn.

As he was walking back, the thought occurred to him that in order to do this, he would also have to kidnap someone.

"Oh well," he thought to himself. "I guess the rabbit hole goes deeper than I thought.

"Breath in." Hold it for a few seconds.

"Breathe out." Exhale.

"Breath in"

"Breath out."

"Inner peace…"

"Inner-"

The meditative thought was interrupted by a drip of water on her head.

"Inner pe-" Drip.

"Inn-" Drip.

Tigress was beginning to understand Po's frustration with inner peace back on the boat on the way to Gongmen. With a growl, she broke her stance and walked over to the edge of the Dragon Grotto, overlooking the hills around them.

It really was beautiful. The green hills rolled on for what seemed like forever, and the clouds in the blue sky gently floated by. There was also the silence. The silence covered up everything in it.

However, Tigress wasn't taking much notice of the hills, or the sky, or the silence. No, she was focused on being at a hump in her new training. Her training for inner peace.

When Po had announced that they would begin working on it, it had been a little scary. After all, the greatest opponent of all was the one in your own head; in your own heart. To Tigress, the scariest opponent wasn't Tai Lung, it wasn't Shen, it wasn't even Kai. No, Tigress was more afraid of Tigress than anyone else. After all, who was in the greatest position to hurt someone she loved? She was.

But that was the very reason that she needed to gain inner peace. So that she would never have to be concerned about that. So, this was the third day in a row that she had been up to the Dragon Grotto to perfect inner peace, just as Shifu came to the same place to meditate.

But her progress had been slow. She was beginning to think that she was doing something wrong. When Po had achieved inner peace, it was because there had been an obstacle; there had been an immediate need. It was actually kind of unfair, Tigress thought.

"Po's kind of like a lump of coal," she thought with a hint of jealousy. "Just apply pressure and he turns into a diamond."

But why could the same not be said for her, she wondered? It wasn't like her life had been easy. In fact, quite the opposite. Opposed to Po, her life had actually been much harder. Ever since she could remember, she had lived in that terrible orphanage. Even after she had gotten out, she only had a momentary lapse of happiness. It was quickly consumed by an overly-critical Shifu and an Oogway who, while still kind to her, didn't kill himself to try to stop it.

But, Tigress thought, Oogway actually turned out to be right, as usual. She would go on to meet the Five and later Po, all of which would change her life for the better. Did Oogway really see the future, she wondered? It certainly seemed like it. It was almost uncanny how accurate his predictions were, no matter how stupid they seemed at the time.

But still, the orphanage, the harsh training, the ironwood trees, the three losses of Po had certainly taken a toll on her. Every event changed her, made her both stronger and wiser. But she still doubted herself, she still felt fear, and she couldn't get rid of it. Why was it that Po could so easily find inner peace and master Chi? She had been training for more than twenty years; he had only been training for about five. They did the same things, they had the same teacher, they lived in the same place. So what did he have that she didn't!?

With a slightly calmer attitude, Tigress tried to go back to meditating. She went back to the inner parts of the cave (in a different spot than where the water was dripping), and struck her stance. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing once more.

"Breath in…"

"Breath out…"

"Inner peace…"

"Inner peace…"

Inner peace just wasn't coming to her. With a huff, she broke her stance again and started toward the way back to the palace when an amused voice cut through the silence.

"How are you planning to find inner peace like that?"

Tigress turned back around to look at the Dragon Warrior, casually sitting on a stone with his new staff in paw and a soft smile on his face. Tigress' initial reaction was surprise.

"Wait, did you actually just sneak up on me?"

Po's smile grew ever wider. "I guess I did." He stood up, proud of his accomplishment. "Come back. You won't find inner peace in your bed."

Tigress raised a brow. "And I'll find it here?"

"Maybe."

"Hmm. Alright." With that, Tigress walked back to the center of the grotto.

Tigress folded her arms across her chest. "I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm doing the motions, I'm doing the self-meditating. What am I missing?"

Po put his free paw under his chin. "Hmm. And what did you discover during your meditation?"

Tigress was a little thrown off by Po's unusually mature attitude and comment. So, she thought, it would be a perfect opportunity to tease him about it. "Oh, when did you become so wise?"

Po's maturness melted away in his signature goofy smile. "Hmm, about a week ago," was the response.

"Alright," Tigress said with a soft smile. "So, Dragon Warrior, what do I need to do?"

"Hmm. I have an idea." With that, he gently placed his staff on the ground and walked over to her. He stood directly behind her, and then gently grabbed the back of Tigress' paws with his own.

"What are you doing?" Tigress asked, more out of curiosity than out of a dislike of being touched.

"Shhh," Po responded. "Just… feel my breath. Breath with me."

And that's exactly what they did. Tigress could feel the rise and fall of Po's chest on her back. So, she copied it, as well as holding her paws out alongside Po's and placing her legs so they were directly in front of Po's. If Po wasn't so much wider at the waist, you might not have seen him if you had been standing in front of Tigress.

Tigress closed her eyes and breathed. But most importantly, she felt. She could feel his breathing, his heartbeat, the gentle breeze, the cool air around her, the sound of her and Po's breath cutting through the silence. All of it, which had somehow escaped her just a few minutes ago, was now upon her senses in full force.

But why? What was different?

Tigress didn't have to think very hard to answer that one. Po. Po was what was different. And that had pretty much been the narrative of her life for the last few years. Po was what had been different in her life. But why was it that he had such a calming presence to her? Why was it that he seemingly made everything better?

Actually, Tigress had been thinking about the answers to these questions for quite a while. It took her a while to piece it together, but she was now fairly confident in the answer, even if it did scare her.

She was in love.

She didn't want to accept it at first. There was no time for love. Or was there? Could she really have a relationship with all the training she had to do to keep herself in pristine condition?

Well, regardless of time, she had thought to herself, was there any place for love? She was a warrior, and love could only be used as leverage against her. Love made her weak and vulnerable. Or did it? Or did it make her stronger, ever more determined to fight harder than ever before as she protected what mattered most?

After much deliberation, Tigress had come to the conclusion that she was in love, and she just couldn't help it. She knew that she couldn't spend the rest of her life without telling him. He just completed her. Her seriousness with his goofiness, her grace with his clumsiness, her shut-away emotions with his warmth, her need for love and his willingness to give it: all of it completed the other like a Yin-Yang symbol.

There was only one obstacle in her way. She had to tell him.

But telling him turned out to be the hardest part. How could she tell him something like that? How would he react? If he didn't feel the same way, then everything would become awkward really fast. At first, she had been confident in his love. But, after further thinking, she wasn't so sure. She was his idol, that was for sure, but was she anything more than that? Or was she only a representation of kung-fu which Po had a crush on? There was no way to be sure. Of course, she could just ask him. So why was that so hard!? Why!?

Finally, after what felt like not enough time, Po broke his stance from directly behind Tigress. Tigress, in a much better mood now, turned back around to face him.

"So, how do you feel now?"

Tigress gave a pleasant sigh. "Much better now. Thank you, Po."

At that moment, a rumbling sound was heard. Po rubbed his belly. "Ooh. Meditating makes me hungry. You wanna grab lunch?"

He heard it in the wind. He saw it in the sky. He thought it was the end.

Actually, his imagination was just running wild. The rhino was much too high to see anything as it really was. All he knew was that he was being chased by a monstrous demoness. She was made of pure flame, with five forked tongues that came out and licked the air, as if she was tasting him from all that distance. She had to be at least twice his height, and a voice like thunder and footsteps like earthquakes. She wasn't even running, she was floating towards him, never getting any closer, but never getting any further either.

Why did these kinds of things always happen to him, the rhino wondered? As he stumbled along, he passed by horrors of all kinds, most of which he had already seen at least once before in his life. Such was the imagination of people that decided to ingest such items into their bodies.

Said demoness was actually Lianmin, who was simply jogging behind the rhino. There wasn't any fire, and there weren't any forked tongues. Actually, she wasn't even trying very hard. If she wanted to, she could've gotten down on all fours and really took off, but she knew that Peng got his kicks out of this little game.

The rhino stumbled his drunken way down the streets. He was muttering and groaning all kinds of sounds and noises, none of them coherent. When he rounded the corner, there was a blur and a loud-

Crack!

The rhino was now flat on his back, unconscious. Peng stood up over him with a snapped bamboo staff. The other half was now on the ground.

"Aww," he groaned. "Now I gotta get another one."

This elicited a small chuckle from his mother, before she resumed her usual tone. "Come on. Let's get this one back to where he belongs."

With that, she bent down and hoisted the rhino on her shoulders. Together, they headed to the local prison.

As they walked, they didn't do too much talking. They never talked very much while on the job. It just seemed unprofessional, and Lianmin was the living embodiment of professionalism. Of course, Peng, who learned by watching carefully, followed his mother's example.

That didn't stop his thoughts from roaming, though. There was one memory that he liked to drift back to, though.

He had never had the greatest relationship with his mother. She was always so busy with her work prodding criminals from their holes with amazing expertise that she simply never had much time for him. Of course, he had always understood that all her work was for him. His father, wherever his sorry ass was slinking now, certainly wasn't there. In fact, Peng's father was more of a fiction than a memory. He had never actually met him, as he seemed to only be interested in making a child. But the responsibilities that came afterward? He hadn't been down for that.

So when he was old enough to help her, he did the best he could. Making pottery was a relaxing activity for him. There was nothing, no worries, no stress. Only the rotation of the pots and his paws shaping it, making it like he wanted it to be. If only he could do the same for his life.

But after he became a little older, a strange thing happened. It was just like any other day at his small pottery shop when the old tortoise came in. He didn't know it at the time, but Grandmaster Oogway had decided to pay him a visit. Of course, Peng, still a child, didn't know who he was. He only saw an old tortoise with nothing but a simple staff.

After offering him food and drink, the tortoise had told him something that changed his life. That his uncle had been a kung-fu master in a valley nearby. Peng never knew he had an uncle. If he did, his mother had certainly never told him. After looking down at his paws for just the slightest of a second to think, he had looked back up at the tortoise, but he was gone. Peng had looked under the table. He wasn't there. He looked around the small shop. He wasn't there. He walked outside onto the street. He wasn't there either.

So, in that moment, his whole direction in life changed. If his uncle could be a kung-fu master, why couldn't he? So, behind his mother's back, he did all he could to learn kung-fu. He snatched scrolls upon scrolls from wherever he could get his paws into, and devoured them all. Slowly, he became what he considered to be fairly decent. But, when he felt he was ready, he decided that he needed to see his uncle. By now, Peng had figured out who the tortoise was, and his importance in the creation of kung-fu. To say he felt honored didn't give it enough credit. If he was important enough to be visited by Oogway, then he surely had one heck of a destiny before him.

The hardest part of it was telling his mother. Everything. He hadn't told her anything since the tortoise's visit. He had to tell her about him, about his uncle, about his training. He had expected her to be angry. He had expected her to scold him for not telling her about it.

But she didn't.

Lianmin was no fool herself, and she believed her son. She could see the truth in his eyes. Oogway really had come to see him. And Oogway never did anything unless there was an incredibly complex reason behind it. So, she supported his quest to find his uncle, who she wasn't aware of. She had never met her parents: she had been raised by a family of leopards in the valley. They loved her like their own, but when she was a teenager, they had told her that she wasn't actually their own. She had been on their doorstep when she was still a baby. So it was perfectly possible that she had a brother that she didn't know about.

So she let him go on his quest. She trusted him to follow his heart wherever it led him.

Which was why it was so disappointing to learn the truth. The truth that his uncle was nothing more than a dead criminal. At first, he had been angry. Not so much at the fact that the Dragon Warrior had killed his uncle. No, what made him angry was that the Dragon Warrior had taken his dreams away from him. His dreams of training under a loving uncle were just as disintegrated as his uncle was.

But when he finally came to the realization that it was just not meant to be, and he had accepted it, he felt a lot better about himself. After all, Oogway didn't make mistakes. Even though he couldn't see them yet, Oogway must have had his reasons.

He had continued with his little kung-fu club for a small time, but he soon realized that he was wasting his skills. He had fought the Dragon Warrior and kept him on his toes, despite the fact that he was just a teenager! Well, if Peng was being honest, deep down, he knew that the Dragon Warrior had been going easy on him during their fight. Still though, if he could do that, he might be able to put his skills to better use.

When he had returned to his mother and told her everything that had happened, she did something that completely blew his mind: she hugged him and cried. Peng couldn't remember his mother ever crying. He could also count on his paw the number of times she had hugged him.

He wasn't sure why his mother had been so upset about it. Was it that she did, in fact, have a brother, who actually turned out to be one of the world's most dangerous criminals? Did she feel like she was forced to carry that legacy on her shoulders? Or was it that Peng's dreams were gone?

He hadn't been sure, and he still wasn't sure. But after that moment, something seemed different between the two of them. It was like that broke much of the ice that their distance had caused. When Peng told her that he was confident in his ability to help her with her dangerous line of work, she had, much to his surprise, accepted.

And that was how he found himself in the position he was today. But after all he had gone through, Peng still felt as if something was missing. What was it that he was needed for? After all, Oogway didn't show up for just anyone…

Shao slinked around the street connecting to the square of the Tower of Sacred Flame. In his paw was a simple white cloth. Soaked within it was a small amount of liquid that he had prepared in his room at the inn earlier in the day. He had worked at Qian's pharmacy for years, and he had certainly learned a few things during his time there. It only took a surprising mix of a few household herbs and plants to make a scent that put anyone who sniffed it to sleep for hours.

The goat had made up his mind. Everyone in the tower had to eat, so it made sense that some servants had the duty of venturing out into the streets to collect food from the vendors. He was hoping that whoever came out would be alone, that way he could follow them into the streets until no one was looking. It was evening now, and the streets were a lot less crowded than they had been earlier in the morning. It wouldn't be too hard to find an empty spot in the street.

So, in the meantime, he walked around the ends of the streets connecting to the square of the tower, keeping an eye out for anyone who came out of it.

Time passed, and no one did. Of course, with only time to himself, he couldn't help but think of what he was actually going to do when he was in the tower. If he looked like a servant, and the other servants actually bought it, he couldn't avoid duties forever. And if he was caught in places he wasn't supposed to be in, it would certainly raise some suspension. And above all, he couldn't let himself get caught.

As he looked up at the tower, he finally appreciated it's immense size. How would he find a single person in there, he wondered? He didn't even know for sure if Master Croc was there. He might have been away on a mission, and maybe Shao's whole plan would be ruined. With a sigh, he realized that he was seriously unprepared for this.

It had all been done in such a rush. His packing, his trip on the ferry, his arrival into Gongmen. He wanted to do it as quickly as possible, before he actually came to his senses and booked the next ferry home. The question that really plagued him, though, was this: could he really do it? Could he really pull that trigger? If he didn't, he would surely be imprisoned for life. If he did, he would be a wanted criminal and be sought after forever, so they could imprison him for life. Either way, he was putting himself in a lot more trouble than he wanted to be in.

The logical choice seemed to be to pack his things and leave. But could he really live with himself after that? He knew this was it: this small surge of courage was all that he had. He knew that if he left now, he would never come back. So, the question remained: was he really strong enough to do the right thing, no matter what it meant for him personally?

His thoughts were interrupted when something caught the corner of his eye. He turned to look, and there it was. His chance for making it all happen.

Another young goat, about his own age. He was definitely coming from the Tower, but Shao hadn't seen what door he had come from. The robe he wore was a simple plain white color, but it was made of silk, signifying the wealth of the city. He dutifully pushed along an empty cart, undoubtedly, heading for the markets in the streets. Actually, Shao thought it was fairly clever. They came for food right before the shops closed, when there wouldn't be a crowd to get in the servants' way.

Unfortunately, it also worked out in Shao's favor quite nicely. He positioned himself in a dark corner, letting the shadows of the twilight envelop him.

As the servant came closer and closer, the goat's breathing grew faster and shallower, and his heartbeat became louder and faster.

This was it, he thought. This was the choice. He could pull out now, and live the rest of his life in peace. But would he really be able to rest, knowing he let the right choice slip through his hooves?

He knew the answer to his question. So when the other goat finally passed by him and started to gain some distance from him in the opposite direction, it was with a pounding heart did Shao begin to quietly follow.

Well, what did you think? Please, as usual, leave a review if you liked it (and if you didn't like it, then you can still leave a review!)

Keep being awesome!