Hello there!

Wait, a third chapter, you're wondering? Well, I'm glad you asked.

You see, I'm just experimenting on how I want to post my stories. I mean, do I want to post one chapter at a time, or do like three at a time? I've decided on the three at a time strategy. So, we'll see how it goes.

On with the show!

Qian's Pharmacy- Morning

The bamboo door opened, and the round ram walked inside, an unusual spring in his step. He shut the door behind him with his foot, and then put the large box he carried on the counter.

Qian took a few matches and lit some candles to give the place better lighting. It attracted more customers. Not that herbs made him that much money. No, the money was to be found in his laboratory/basement.

Qian rested his hooves on his wide hips and gave a soft smile. His memories flashed back to earlier in the morning.

He had just been on the streets to buy his herbs from the scattered street vendors so that he could bring them all to one convenient location. He had heard the news from one of the vendors.

"Did you hear the news?" the vendor had asked him, eager for gossip and the pleasure of telling the ram first.

Qian could care less about the vendor, but he did need his goods, so he couldn't afford to be rude. So, as he passed some coins in exchange for the herbs, he blandly asked, "No. What happened?"

The vendor had looked both ways, as if he wanted to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. Then he softly whispered, "Master Croc was just assassinated the other day. They say his head was all blown apart."

At first, the words had no effect on the ram.

"Master who?" he had briefly wondered.

When he remembered, it had taken all of Qian's willpower to stop himself from breaking out in a dance. He merely coughed and spat out, "That's… unfortunate. Good day."

He then quickly snatched his goods and turned away, a wide grin on his face.

"Oh my," he had thought to himself in joy. "It works. It really works. I did it. I did it! I am the greatest inventor ever! I even killed the great Master Croc!" For a brief moment, he actually remembered his employee who he had managed nearly every day for the last few years.

"Oh, I guess this means he finally grew the balls to do it. Well, isn't that nice? At least now he isn't such a loser anymore."

By now, back in the pharmacy, Qian began to do Shao's old job of stocking the shelves on the walls, getting ready for a day of both legal and illegal business. He dusted off a few places, such as some shelves and the counter, and then grabbed his stool from the corner, placed it behind the counter, and then sat on it, taking a break after he had restocked the shelves.

He rested in his usual method, by crossing his arms across his chest and closing his eyes.

But he could not quiet his mind today. He had done it, he had made a real weapon! And now he knew it worked! It had realistic uses!

The truth was that Qian cared very little about his employee. He cared even less about his little prejudice against predators. Qian loved predators. They walked in almost every day, buying useless trinkets over and over again.

But he needed Shao to do his dirty work. He wasn't going to try out his weapon on someone else. He would certainly get caught. And he couldn't sell it to any of the bandits. Then they might have finally succeeded in killing the Furious Five, and then who would he sell to? But his naive little friend? He was perfect for the job. A stupid, expendable test subject.

Stupid because he knew that Shao meant it when he said that he would never tell anyone about the object. If they had exchanged places, Qian would have sold that weapon to the highest bidder in a heartbeat. But not Shao. He knew that his narrow-minded little self was hell-bent on his mission to "purify" his little corner of the world. Qian was smarter than that, or so he thought. He didn't choose sides, he didn't join, didn't commit. Where was the profit in that? Better to be in between both sides, and sell to all. Let the two sides kill each other, and then only the sideless ones emerge from the ashes.

Expendable because he didn't care about the goat. In all honesty, he had expected Shao to be captured and then executed for his crimes. But that didn't matter to Qian. As long as he proved that his weapon was satisfactory, then Shao stopped being useful, and started being a liability. Actually, he really didn't want Shao to come back at all. Qian knew that they would be searching for him, looking to bag the one who had a huge price on his head. And if he came back to the pharmacy, it would only tie the goat and the ram together, and if Shao was discovered, Qian would fall with him.

That was why there was a twinge of disappointment within the ram when he hadn't heard that they had arrested the assassin. So he got away, Qian thought to himself. And he knew that his employee was stupid, so where else would he go except for back home? Who else would he come to but the person who gifted him with his weapon?

So now, Qian's thoughts turned to what was next. What state would the goat be in when he came back. Qian knew he had no guts. Would he be a quivering mess, terrified and confused? Or would he be thinking about his goal, determined to finish it?

What would happen if he really decided to go after Master Tigress, Qian wondered? He had already succeeded in killing Master Croc with nothing but a wooden shaft, a small metal ball, and a twisted determination. The Masters of the Jade Palace didn't shy away from the limelight. Every time they walked through the streets, even to simply get a simple meal from Ping's Noodle Shop, it was like a parade, with crowds of people cheering close by them, only an arm's length away. It would be very easy to get in the crowd, let them get close, and finish the job. Sure, it would be risky, as everyone would see him, but Qian knew that Shao was so stupid that he was willing to give his life for his cause.

What would happen then? The Dragon Warrior was the heart of the group, everyone in the Valley was well aware of that, but Master Tigress was the on-field commander, giving out orders with zero hesitation and absolute certainty. Would they be as effective without her? Would her friends be able to cope with the grief and hold off a renewed attack from the bandits? And there would be a renewed attack. If word got out that Master Tigress had been killed, it would show the bandits that the dreaded Furious Five were, in fact, mortal, and could be defeated. They would swarm in their maximum numbers and push harder than they ever had, motivated by the slim glimmer of hope.

The back door opened up, interrupting Qian from his thoughts. He opened up his eyes, and saw the same rhino that had bought from him on the same fateful day that he had introduced Shao to his creation. Qian gave a silent prayer that the small rhino wasn't still mad about his previous treatment in the shop.

Qian stood up and put on his customer service smile. "Good morning! Can I help you with anything?"

Instead of responding, the rhino walked over to the front door, turned around, and leaned his wide back against the bamboo door. He folded his arms across his chest and stared off into the distance.

After a few seconds of silence, Qian took it upon himself to believe that he hadn't heard him.

"Hi, is there anything I can get you?"

Finally, the rhino turned his head toward the ram and replied, "Nah. I ain't here to buy nothin'. The boss just wants me to make sure ya don't leave."

There was silence as Qian let those words sink in.

"What?" Qian thought as his stomach dropped. "Make sure I don't leave? The boss? Who's the boss?" The bandits had always known that his shop was a place where they could buy some interesting toys, but the bandit leader himself had never made an appearance, instead letting his servants buy his toys for him. Why did he want to see him now?

"What? What do you want with me?" Qian asked, trying his best to keep his voice calm.

Did they know that his trinkets didn't really work? Did they know that Qian was swindling them, tricking them into buying useless toys over and over again? What were they going to do to him?

The rhino didn't respond, staring off into space instead.

All Qian could do was sit there, waiting for his fate to come to him.

The Jade Palace- Morning

When the morning gong rang in the morning, everyone was in for a surprise.

In the past, Master Shifu had always been standing in the hallway minutes before it even rang. He hadn't needed the gong to wake him up, his routine did that for him. He always woke up before the Sun rose, and was already prepared for the day before anyone else was even up.

But recently, the aging master hadn't been quite as strict. There was one time that he had been a few seconds late for the gong, and his students quickly became worried that something had happened to him. It simply never crossed their minds that their master could possibly be late for the morning gong.

This morning was one such morning. The gong rang, its echoes spreading out across the valley.

Everyone immediately exited from their rooms, unanimously shouting- "Good morning, master!"

But two people were missing. The Dragon Warrior was late, but that was normal. He always dragged a few seconds behind. But the bigger surprise was that Master Tigress was not in the hall. And Master Shifu hadn't arrived either. The Five looked around, unsure if they should break their position or not.

But their question was answered when a black and white blur flew out of Tigress' room and blasted into his own across the hall. It was then did the Five understand what had been going on.

Tigress emerged from her room, looking like her usual self. Her golden hanfu wasn't even ruffled. Po then emerged from his room, wearing a guilty smile on his face.

The Five looked at them with smiles, Monkey and Mantis' being much more mischievous then Crane's or Viper's. Before Po or Tigress had a chance to defend themselves, Master Shifu rounded the corner, postponing any and all teasing that may have occurred.

"Good morning, master!" they repeated, Po and Tigress joining the group this time.

Shifu saw the look on Po's face, but he pretended not to know what it meant. Even though he hadn't seen anything, he already knew.

"Good morning, students." He usually gave the instructions for training, but today was different. There was something on everyone's minds.

"You may have today off," he said, much to his students' surprise.

"Although I can see some of you already began without my permission," he added with a slight smile, his eyes drifting over to Po. Everyone had to stifle a laugh, everyone except for Po and Tigress, who could only look straight ahead, embarrassed.

As everyone began to file down to the kitchen, Shifu stuck his paw out, stopping Po in his tracks. Tigress, who was right next to him, stopped with him, but Shifu calmly said-

"You may go, Tigress. I have something I want to tell the Dragon Warrior."

Tigress stood there for a second, doubtfully looking at Po. But Po nodded with a reassuring look, and Tigress turned to leave.

Po looked down at Shifu, truly frightened at what Shifu may have been thinking.

"Master, we didn't-"

But Shifu held his paw up, shutting Po up.

"No, I know you didn't…. do anything," the red panda replied, trying to find the best way to word that specific word.

Po gave a sigh of relief, as he had been hoping to walk away from the situation with his life.

"Oh, thanks. I just thought that-"

But Shifu put his paw up once again, and Po fell silent once more.

"But," Shifu started. The way he worded it made Po think that it was in the best interest of his own safety to follow his next order.

"You will not be sleeping together until after you're married. Not before. Do you understand that?"

"But Master, we're not going to-"

"Do you understand?" Shifu interrupted. His voice had a sharper edge this time.

Po nodded, and replied, "Yes, Master."

Shifu nodded in satisfaction. "Good. You may go."

Knowing that he had dodged a bullet, Po quickly walked toward the kitchen.

Qian's Pharmacy-Night

The rhino had become a statue. He hadn't moved all day long. Even when Qian got off of his stool to walk around after what felt like hours, the rhino didn't move. He was going to do exactly what he was told to do. He was going to stand right there, leaning on the front door until his "boss" came. Even if it took all day.

Qian walked around to stretch his legs, but the rhino's beady eyes had followed him the entire time. Qian spent the hours on his stool, nervously contemplating what the bandits could possibly want with him. His biggest concern was that they now realized that he had been swindling them with his useless trinkets.

Hours had passed, all of them pure agony and anticipation for the ram. When the Sun had finally set and the people left the streets, there was a knock on the door. But it had a special kind of pattern to it; it was not a knock of a simple customer.

The rhino, turning from his spot for the first time since the morning, opened the door and stepped to the side.

First to enter was another rhino. He was followed by a leopard. And following him, lowering his head to avoid hitting his head on the doorframe, came in Duan Jing himself. He wore his usual attire of simple black cloth pants, with a large belt holding it in place. He was then followed by a lion and wolf.

They silently trudged in the shop, the two rhinos standing in front of the back entrance, the leopard standing in front of the door that led to the stairwell, and the lion and wolf standing in front of the main entrance.

Meanwhile, the bandit leader stood right in front of the counter with a twisted smile, as if he was ordering something.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence as Qian fearfully looked around. But none of the bandits would look at him; they only stared off into the distance. Only Duan Jing was looking at the ram.

With a gulp, the ram looked up at the enormous crocodile, who seemed to take up all the space in the small shop by himself.

"M… may I… h-help y-you, s-sir?" Qian stuttered, failing at hiding his fear.

"Yes, you can," the bandit replied. He pointed right below Qian. "I would like that stool very much, please." The way he worded "please" told Qian that it was a good idea to give him the stool.

He quickly got up and handed him the stool across the counter. The croc took it, adding, "Thank you, my good man."

When he was finally seated and Qian now stood up, the crocodile gave a happy sigh, clasping his claws together.

"I assume you've heard the news?" he politely asked.

"W-what news?" Qian managed to get out.

"Why, surely you've heard by now of the death of Master Croc over in Gongmen City!? Come on, everyone's heard about that one!" he said in mock surprise. It wasn't a tone that Qian liked. It suggested that the bandit leader knew something. Something he didn't want him to know.

"Well, yeah, I heard about it," Qian replied, managing to cut off his stutter as he talked more. "But what's that got to do with me?"

"Ah, that's where you're wrong," Duan Jing replied, putting his claw up in the air to prevent Qian from interrupting him. "You see, I do think that has something to do with you."

Qian gulped once again, and the crocodile rested his elbows on the counter as he began to speak.

"You know, I've never been to this little craphole, but my men have told me about it. The Pharmacist, they call you. You run this little joint as a humble businessman, but you have that little side business downstairs, don't you?" At this, the bandit's eyes drifted to the door at the back of the shop.

"I know about the little toys you sell my men. I don't mind. They can spend their money however they want to. You know, most of them blow it away in alcohol faster than you could ever imagine. But not me." The crocodile patted himself on the stomach. "Nope, ol' Duan here is smarter than that. I'm saving it all up until I can get some nice things. But, anyway, I'm getting off my point. What I was trying to say was that I understand that you fancy yourself an inventor."

On the inside, Qian recoiled at his words, taking it as an insult to what he thought was incomparable skill and talent.

"And I know you whip up new toys for us to play with. Well, when I heard about the kind of… injury that my fellow croc sustained to his pretty little face, well, you can understand that it kind of reminded me of some of the things that you make. I know you've never made anything that useful before, but, hey, there's always a first time. So I wondered to myself if you, by any chance, had something to do with this new, fancy little weapon that busted up Croc's face."

Duan Jing rested the bottom of his snout on his right paw, resting the elbow on the table, leaning forward and making the ram even more uncomfortable in the process.

"Now, I know that this is probably a coincidence, but I was simply curious. I mean, it couldn't hurt to ask you. If you had nothing to do with it, then at least I tried. But if you did…" the croc smiled, which finished the sentence more effectively than any words ever could.

"So," the croc slowly said. "I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me if you would happen to know anything about that new, little weapon that killed Master Croc?"

Qian gulped, and weakly shook his head from side to side.

Duan Jing's forked tongue slid out from his lips and licked them. "Uh-huh," was all he replied.

He then turned to the side and looked at the leopard by the door that led to the basement.

"Why don't you open that door for us, my good man? I think we might all need to take a small trip down there."

Yeah, so if you all were expecting Shao to go on a killing spree right after Master Croc, then yeah… That's not exactly the plan. Don't worry, we'll get there, we'll get there, I promise, it'll just take a little more time.

And until that time comes, I hope you all keep being awesome!