Oogway. A name that little Po was more than familiar with.

Sure, it wouldn't be hard for anyone to remember the name of not only the greatest Kung Fu master in all of China, but also its creator. However, it was a different story for the young panda that was Po. Prior to the wise master's visit in Gongmen, he had not much knowledge about Kung Fu or any martial art for that matter. He did hear some of his mother's friends and people from both his village and city mention it a few times, but nothing interesting enough for his innocent mind to remember.

This all changed the day he came to his mother's restaurant for dinner. Po stared curiously at the tall tortoise - the very first he ever got to see. Noticing his curious stare, Oogway asked him if he wanted to tell him something and, having the curious young mind that he had, Po started asking him one question after the other. 'Who are you?' 'I'm a tortoise... An old tortoise, that is, ha, ha, ha!' 'Are you a monk?' 'Only partially. I do a lot of things these days, but I am mostly known as a Kung Fu master.' 'What's Kung Fu?'

'What's Kung Fu?' Such an innocent question that changed Po's life forever. The more Oogway told him about this mystical art that he created and everything it could allow one to do, the more Po became fascinated about it. Oogway told him about everything you could do by learning Kung Fu, becoming strong enough to defeat bandits, learning techniques and tricks he didn't think existed, and even becoming a hero admired by everyone in China.

His curiosity growing too strong, Po decided to learn more about Kung Fu. He convinced his mother to take him to a public-open Kung Fu training performed by both students and masters of Gongmen City. The showcase did nothing short of amaze him, leaving his jade-green eyes wide open and his love for the newly discovered art on fire. By the end of the presentation, he took an important decision.

"I wanna learn Kung Fu!" he firmly declared with determination. The young panda was sitting next to Grandmaster Oogway who decided to come and eat at his mother's restaurant again that day. Apparently, it was because he adored the tea she was making. But he didn't dislike the food either. "I'm gonna become a Kung Fu master just like you and venture out of Gongmen one day!"

The old tortoise did not respond right away. He just took a small sip of his tea before pulling his shriveled lips up in a smile. "Is that so? Very interesting." He turned his long head to properly look at the child. "But you know, Kung Fu is not just fun and fighting. You're gonna have to put your life on the line to protect innocent people. The risk of getting killed will always be present."

"I'd appreciate if you could avoid using words like 'killed' when talking to my son, Oogway." Both child and elder turned to see the former's mother walking out of the restaurant's kitchen with plates of food on her arms. In spite of her age, Yonggan was still a beautiful giant panda lady. Her light brown dress and stripped belt tied around her waist was a simple outfit, but still elegant nonetheless.

"Sorry, Yonggan, I forgot that I was talking to a child," Oogway mused with a chuckle. Even though his mind sometimes had defaults, Yonggan still liked the old tortoise and enjoyed his company. He took the final sip of his teacup before putting his rice hat on top of his head, taking his cane, and standing up from the table. "I have to go now; my students are awaiting me. Thanks for the tea again, Yonggan."

After giving the right amount of money to the giant panda, Oogway walked out of the restaurant with Po looking in his direction even after he was gone. "You really like him, don't you, Po?" the mother asked her child.

"Totally! He's so awesome! One day, I'm gonna be an awesome Kung Fu master, just like him!" Po replied, jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

"I'm sure you will, Little Lotus," Yonggan mused, calling her son by his nickname. "Now, would the little master be kind enough to help me prepare more tea?"

Despite being very young, Po gad pretty good cooking skills thanks to his mother. She owned a pretty popular restaurant on the very edge of Gongmen City, not too far from their panda village. Not a single day passed without her thanking the gods for allowing her to have a good business and provide everything her little Po needed. She hoped to one day have enough money to enlist him in a school where he could get a proper teaching. With everything that happened in the last three weeks, it would probably be a Kung Fu school.

After helping his mother preparing the tea that she immediately started serving to her customers, Po went to sit down at one of the tables and drawn in his art book. Not that he was particularly good at drawing, but it was still fun to do. He made drawings of Grandmaster Oogway in all sorts of cool poses and doing Kung Fu moves. Yup, he wanted nothing else but learn Kung Fu at this very moment...

"ALERT! ALERT, EVERYONE!" The calm and pleasant silence of the restaurant was broken to pieces by a pig villager who rushed in through the circular entrance, his face twisted by panic. "BANDITS! BANDITS ARE ATTACKING! RUN!"

Po's jade green eyes blinked many times, wondering why everyone in the restaurant started screaming and running in every direction, turning tables around and dropping food on the floor. His mother quickly appeared through the commotion, her green eyes desperately searching for her son. "Po!" she exclaimed upon finding him and wasted no time taking his plump figure in her arms.

"What's going on, mom? Why is everyone running?" the cub innocently asked.

"There's no time to explain, Po! We must get inside the house and lock ourselves in! Now!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Before Yonggan could reach for it, an arrow went to pierce the house's door, stopping her in her tracks. A group of scary-looking coyotes, crocs, and boars were standing in the entrance way of the restaurant... and they were all equipped with sharp weapons! "Well, well, what do we have here?" a boar asked, his lips twisted into a sadistic smirk.

"Don't you dare get anywhere near me or my son!" Yonggan ordered, struggling to not show the slightest bit of fear.

"Calm down, lady. Just obey what we say and nothing will happen to any of you. Come on, boys, group them up with the others."

As much as she wanted to fight back, the giant panda mother knew this would only bring harm to her son and herself. Even the most determined mom in the world would not be able to fight those bandits back without getting cut down. Having no better solution at the moment, she walked along as a croc bandit grabbed her arm and dragged her away. However, she made it clear that they would not take her son away from her.

"Nice and plump, I like it," the croc said with a disgusting smirk that almost made Yonggan gag.

The two pandas were brought in the middle of the street their restaurant was located on and to a group of villagers and citizens gathered in the same spot. Bandits were surrounding them from every direction, preventing any possibility for escaping. Yonggan clutched her son really hard, sweat forming on her fur with her eyes narrowed.

"Is that all of them?" a boar asked.

"Yes, pretty much. Couldn't find the others; they probably ran away," the same croc who took Yonggan away explained. He walked in circles around the group of terrified animals like a shark ready to bounce on its prey. "With all these guys, I'm sure we can get enough money on the black market to last for another month. It's true that most of them are pretty old (Yonggan noticed he briefly stared in her direction during that remark), but there are also young ones. There are a lot of contacts who'll be ready to buy them all..."

So this was their plan? They were going to sell them on the black market as slaves for profit? This reality caused a lump to form in Yonggan's throat and even more sweat to come out on her fur. True to be told, she could probably survive working as a slave - she ran a restaurant and raised a kid all by herself after all. It was for her son that she was worried; he wouldn't be able to survive such a dangerous life. She needed to find a way out of this and fast!

However, before the bandits could do anything, a green flash passed before them and two members of the group were knocked to the ground in a matter of seconds. A new croc stood between the criminals and innocent villagers, a glare in his golden-yellow eyes. Instead of a threatening presence, like that of the other croc, this one instead emanated an aura of valiance and good intentions. "Vengeance is served!" he declared with taking a fighting stance.

Po's green eyes scanned this reptile. His stance... Was it a... Kung Fu stance?

A strong roar thundered from above just before a massive ox came to crash down on another bandit, knocking him out with all of his weight, and roll back at the croc's side. "You don't have to say this every time we start a battle, you know!" he remarked.

"Hey, if we are to start a fight, I wanna do it with a cool catchphrase!" the croc replied in annoyance without releasing his stance.

"Master Croc! Master Ox! We are saved!" one of the villagers exclaimed in relief, all the others shouting afterwards. All trace of fear faded from their faces, replaced by hope and happiness.

Soon, the fight began with Master Croc swinging his tail to knock the bandits away while Master Ox sent them to the ground with powerful punches. Po did not miss a single second of the action. In spite of the numbers' difference, nothing could stop the two masters who were dominating the brawl. They were moving with such precision - it looked like they were always at the right place at the right time!

"There! All done!" Master Croc exclaimed once all the bandits were lying on the ground, knocked unconscious. "I totally defeated the most of them!"

"Not at all; I took down more of them than you did!" Master Ox argued.

"You lie, as always; I counted by myself! It's 12 against 9!"

"LIAR!"

The villagers blinked their eyes, seeing the two masters arguing so casually, as if it was normal for them to take out bandit attacks like this. In a sense, it was. Unfortunately, while no one was looking, the croc bandit from earlier who grabbed Yonggan suddenly wrapped an arm around a poor female goat, holding a knife to her throat. Her eyes widened and her whole body froze on the spot.

The two masters saw this at the same time as the others, and moved on to make the save. "Stop! Don't move! Not a single step!" the bandit ordered, pressing the blade of his weapon against the goat's neck hard enough for some blood to come out.

Groaning, Master Croc and Ox released their fighting stances and the villagers stepped away from the bandit. Nobody dared doing a single move by fear of getting that poor lady goat hurt or killed. "She's innocent, man! Let her go!" Ox half-demanded half-ordered.

"And give up on my only ticket out of this mess? Not happening!"

"Alright, what do you want in exchange for her life?" Croc asked, trying to be the peacemaker of the situation.

"I want a lot of things! First..."

As the bandit started listing all the things he wanted, Po couldn't help but stare alternately at him and everyone else around. The two masters were not taking this criminal down as they did with all the others and, despite being just a cub, Po understood why. Doing anything right now would surely get that poor lady hurt. But they couldn't just let this bandit get away with what he did, right?

It was then that an idea popped into his young mind. He was so small that everybody around forgot about him. So what if he could...? Yes, he had to give it a try. He was going to become a Kung Fu master one day, so he had to be brave after all!

Yonggan's face winced as the bandit continued listing his demands in exchange for the goat's life. It felt so disgusting and revolting to use a woman as a shield... but she couldn't do anything about it right now. She reached her paw down to press her son against her for reassurance. But her paw touched empty air. After trying to reach lower a few times, the mother looked down and her heart almost skipped a beat when she saw her cub no longer there. "Po?" Her eyes searched frantically around until she spotted a ball of black and white fur sneaking its way behind the croc bandit. "Oh my god, PO!"

Luckily, the mother's shocked scream did not alert the bandit, allowing Po to keep crawling in his back. Once he got close enough, the cub grabbed the croc's exposed leg with his little paws and planted his teeth into the scales. The sudden pain that pierced his limb caused the bandit to let out a yelp of pain and, in the process, pull his knife away from the goat's throat.

Seeing an opening, Master Croc whipped a stone on the ground with his tail, sending it flying straight into the bandit's face. Blood and teeth flew across the air as the reptile's head flew back and his figure collapsed on the floor, the lady goat immediately running into the safety of her husband's arms, and Po stepping out of the way to avoid the falling bandit.

"PO!" Yonggan rushed at her son's side and picked him up in her arms, hugging him tightly as if letting go even a bit would cause him to disappear. "You're okay? You're not hurt?"

"No, I'm okay, mommy," the cub replied.

Once she received the confirmation she wanted, the giant panda held her son forward so that she could look at him with a firm look. "What were you thinking jumping on an armed bandit like this, young man? Do you know how reckless that was?"

"Your mother is right, you know," Master Ox remarked as he approached the two pandas. "It's not a good idea to approach danger like this and without proper supervision."

"Aww, cut the kid some slack, Ox," Master Croc interfered. "It's thanks to his intervention that we saved that girl. Nice job, little guy." The master's expression changed upon meeting the threatening glare of the kid's mother. "But, hum, it's true that it was dangerous. Try not to make a habit out of it, okay?"

Po blinked his eyes like a curious kid not understanding the situation. "But mom, I have to be brave if I wanna become a Kung Fu master too. Grandmaster Oogway said it." A big grin formed on his face. "And that's what I'm gonna do!"

Three days passed since the whole bandit accident. The villagers slowly recovered and returned to their every day lives. One thing did change though; everybody heard about how a young panda cub helped two Kung Fu masters saving one life. Even though she did not want to encourage her son to be so reckless and obvious to danger, his mother couldn't deny that she was happy of all the positive attention he was receiving with all the customers of her restaurant praising the little boy. Even Grandmaster Oogway heard about it.

"Guess what they say is true; courage can come from anywhere at anytime," the old tortoise mused to himself. "I have no doubt the Gongmen Kung Fu Academy will accept you as a student once you are old enough, little Po."

Po, his mother, and many other villagers, most of whom had been implied in the bandit accident, were standing at the entrance of Gongmen City as the day had come for the old master to leave them after three weeks spent amongst them. "Do you really have to go, Grandmaster?" Po asked, his cute face twisted by sadness.

"I'm afraid I have to, little one. Even though I'm not the youngest one around, I still want to do as much as I can for China." The old master then kneeled down and gently patted the cub's head with his hand. "But fear not; farewells are only goodbyes lasting a bit longer. Our paths will probably cross again one day."

Hearing this brought a little more joy to Po's spirits, and he wiped some tears away, giving a bright smile. "And when that day comes, I'll be a great Kung Fu master, even more than you and the two from the other day! It's a promise!"

"Is that so?" Oogway asked with an amused smile. Waiting for a few seconds, he brought his hand up to take his rice hat off and then leaned down to pull it on top of Po's little head, his face completely hidden by the larger object. "If that is really your goal, then you will need a hat. Every time you look at it, remember that promise you just made me. Alright?"

The little cub gave a big, cheery smile while lifting his new hat with one paw. Before departing, Oogway had an important thought on his mind regarding the child.

"This kid is special. He will become an important figure for the next generation of Kung Fu masters..."

Author's note: 'Another KFP story?!' you say? Well, yes, I've had this in mind for a long time now, so I finally decided to start it. It doesn't mean I'm cancelling my other story "Southeast Kung Fu Championship" though, no worries.

I originally intended to publish this story on the 1st January 2021, but looks like it's gonna be the 1st December after all. Guess I was too excited to wait another month XD

Now, you need to know that this story takes place in an AU version of the KFP world with elements of my own creation that never appeared in any of the films, TV shows, or even video games. In other words, it's my own little fantasy world with stories taking place in it. One good example is that some animals might have anatomies different from those we usually see in the KFP medias (ex: a panda with a thin waist). I just had the idea of playing around with the DNA of this world's animals and make them different for some. Think about it: in the real world, humans are different in terms of appearance with some being born very tall, very small, with missing limbs, a special type of hair, or even a different color skin. So why wouldn't it be the same for the animals of KFP?

This story will be very, but, like, VERY long. I have enough ideas to make this go up to around 200 chapters! We're mostly gonna follow the adventures of Po and his friends, but I'd like to make it a whole world alive with factions, political alliances and all kinds of stuff everywhere. In other words, I want the world to exist outside the main character, as any long-term stories should do.

Before you point it out, yes, Oogway giving his rice hat to Po was a reference to Shanks giving his straw hat to Luffy in One Piece. Since we see Po wearing one in most medias, I decided why not giving him one right off the bat with a special meaning to it? Also, if I called Master Storming Ox just 'Master Ox' in this chapter, it's because at this moment, he's still just training and hasn't earned his full master name yet.

There is one major factor to take in consideration for the next chapter: in this story, the Panda Massacre from the second movie did not happen, so Po grew up in Gongmen City instead of the Valley of Peace. His mother is still alive, as you can already see from this prologue. I decided to call her 'Yonggan' which means 'Brave' in Chinese. The decision comes from the fact that she gave her life for her son in the second movie and, to do that, you gotta be really brave. As for Po's father... that's another topic. But don't worry; Po will still be the lovely chubby panda that we know. And we'll also see familiar characters like Shifu and the Furious Five. I'll try to keep them in-character as much as I can despite this being an AU.

Well, I think I said enough in this AN. So I'm gonna conclude this prologue by saying thank you for reading this so far, hope you'll enjoy it, and may the gods watch over you all.