It's quite a long trek ahead for them. But they were able to make it with time to spare. It was actually quite surprising in a way. Especially for Po. Running...was not always his thing. But when he actually had a goal in mind, he was able to overcome the weaknesses of being chubby, and reach that goal with nothing but determination. He only wished that determination didn't take so much energy.

Po tends to be lazy. He is a panda after all, and most of the time he just wants to chill. But he had to disband that laziness for the moment, for he was needed for something important. He was helping Crane and Mei Ling keep their school completely ransacked. Despite both of them disliking the school for a similar reason, they weren't going to allow it to be susceptible to ransacking, either. It was clear enough though, that they did not want to stay there. Though Crane needed a bit more of a push in order to actually take the chance. He was being pushed by Mei Ling, and he would be caught by Po. It sounded like a strange way to view these turns of events, but it was true.

Crane doubted he would ever understand how Po could act so carefree. He could tell from the short time he's known him that he's a cheerful jolly nice guy...unless you provoke him. But Fenghuang informed him that ticking off Po is not easy to do. He prefers to settle most things in a rather casual manner, as he doesn't like settling things while having hatred on his mind. Po is all about making friends. The only weakness in this mindset is his naivety. When Crane asked what this meant, the answer was unexpected.

"When I was training him as a cub, he once made 'friends' with a couple bandits around in the area." Fenghuang explained. "Turns out they were just using him as a bargaining chip for robbing every joint possible in the area. I was able to stop them of coursec but Po was left wondering. He asked me 'Where did my new friends go?' I told him 'Those aren't your friends, Po. They were bandits trying to use you.' And then HE respond '...I was kidnapped by bandits?!'" Fenghuang rubbed her forehead with her wing. "I figured out then and there that training him would be difficult at best."

Crane tilted his head. "So...he's pretty stupid?"

"He's definitely not one of the smartest. But that may be the influence from his father, who's quite a scatterbrain himself. When all is said and done though, they're pretty cool guys."

Crane accepted this information, and allowed his mind to return to the important objective. He was still intimidated. One could tell through his violently shaking legs. He's trying to force them to stop, but it isn't working at the moment. After a couple moments of constant shaking, he got them to stop at last. No way, Crane. You can't be scared right now. This isn't the time! You've made your point, stick to it! But what if I-No. But how do I-Stop it! Maybe if I just-Don't you dare! mean-

SLAP!

"OW!" Crane rubbed his now red cheek that's currently stinging in pain, as he looked down to the irritated glare of Fenghuang.

"I can tell you were having a mental argument with yourself, judging by your facial expressions. That was me saying SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"Y-Y-Y-Yes M-Ma'am... He whimpered, shivering under her razor-sharp gaze. And the next moment, her gaze was back to casual and relaxed, followed by a small smile.

"Glad we understand each other, Long Legs."

"Uh...Long Legs?"

"Master Fenghuang is giving nicknames to people in our group." Po said. "I'm Panda. Monkey is Primate. Tigress is Stripes. Master Shifu is Midget. Dad is Godfeathers. Zeng is Palace Servant. Fung is Scales. And Mei Ling is...um..."

"She'll be dubbed 'Golden Cat'. Because of her fur and eyes. Plus It's kinda in her species name." Fenghuang filled in.

Mei Ling placed a thumb on her chin, thinking about the nickname. "Golden Cat...hm...I think I can work with that."

Crane hung his head in a fit of embarassment. "Why is her nickname so much cooler than mine...?" He said in a depressed tone. Mei Ling patted his back in an attempt to make him feel better. It helped, at least a little bit. He no longer looked depressed at least. But he did feel a bit cheated.

They eventually made it to the open yard of the Lee Da Academy. It did not look like anyone within the complex was awake at the moment, so they felt like they could stand guard without getting caught. They formed a line which would prevent anyone from entering without fighting past them. Well...Mei Ling, Po, and Crane were standing in a line. Fenghuang was perched on top of the building, none of them even heard her move. She was standing in front of the moon, her feathers rustling in the wind, as well as her robe.

Crane looked more nervous by this. "She was serious about not interfering."

"That's good. She can fairly evaluate you that way. It wouldn't be too fair if she fought alongside us. It would be over in mere moments." Po said, as his straw hat hung behind his head as he waited patiently for what would happen next.

And as they predicted, the BlackHoof Boars did indeed arrive on time. There wasn't too many, but there was definitely enough to fill up a portion of the yard. There were smaller ones, ones that were twice their size, and the biggest one of all was easily identified as the leader of the whole gang. It didn't take much to recognize him. They all had hostile looks on their faces, giving the image of savage bandits.

Crane was a bit intimidated, again. Po and Mei Ling looked like they could care less. Po just looked incredibly bored. Mei Ling merely looked annoyed.

"Hey...what are you all doing here? No one is supposed to be here! Everyone is supposed to be asleep!" One of the boars complained.

" Dude. One of your buddies ratted you out. Now you'll never get past us. Because we won't allow it." Po said, yawning slightly.

"What?! Who would do that?! Was that the newbie? Good gosh I hate that guy! He's completely useless!" The leader stomped his feet. "Bah. It doesn't matter either way. You three can either move out of the way, or we'll move you ourselves!"

"W-We can't do that! This is our school, you can't just ransack it just because you think you can!" Crane shouted. "Now either you guys turn around and leave, or-"

"Or what?" They asked. Crane found his words caught in his beak, and he found himself hesitating again.

"Hey! Don't pick on him! It's his first day!" Mei Ling shouted.

"That's it. I'm gonna have to kick your butts, because you guys are a bunch of jerks." Po said with narrowed eyes.

Po didn't bother waiting for a response, as he rushed forward and struck one of the boars in the chest. The first strike was made, the other boars took this as an invitation to attack. Crane was not fully prepared, so he understandably jumped back. Mei Ling on the other hand, was more prepared than he was, so she placed her staff in her gloved paws and she headed forward for an attack.

Crane was still feeling very nervous inside, but he finally pushed it to the side, due to adrenaline. He could see many axes and maces trying to smash his head in, he used his wings to defend from all sides, and knock many of them over. Most of them found the energy to stand up, and found their enemy was nowhere to be seen. Until they were smashed into the ground by Crane jumping up in the air and he bringing both his legs down on them. He then hopped off and landed on the ground safely. He sees them struggle to stand back up, and he looked down at his wing in a fit of surprise. He was actually pretty strong...he had been underestimating himself more than he thought. With newfound confidence, he sets his hat into place and flies forward.

Mei Ling was standing in a ring of her enemies, her staff in one paw and the other paw lies on her hip. "Really...? Ganging up on a girl? Have you no shame?" She said with a scolding tone. Then she laughed. "Ha! I'm just kidding. Come get me!" A scolding tone combined with it being a front was enough for them to get mad enough to charge at her. She just casually twirled her staff around, waiting for them to foolishly get close to her. In a manner of moments she stopped the charge by spinning her staff rapidly above her head, both ends harshly impacting their skulls multiple times in a manner of seconds, and when she stopped spinning the staff, they were all holding their heads in pain before they all fell to the ground unconscious. She looked around, paw again on her hip. "Yeah...you should probably stay down. Because you most likely suck as bandits. No hard feelings."

Fenghuang raised an eyebrow. I have no idea why...but those two will be quite...interesting.

Po stood across the leader, looking fully prepared to punch his face in. While looking like a nice guy. "Sure you wanna do this, bro? I'm fully prepared to let you off scott-free if you just walk away. No one else has to get hurt. Just walk away." He shrugged. "Although I have nothing against beating the crap out of you, either. I'm just letting you decide how this ends."

The BlackHoof Boar clan lies scattered and unconscious around the Leader. He was incredibly angry. "How does this happen?! You all are practically kids! And YOU! You're just a fat panda!"

"Awww...thanks!" Po says, placing a paw on his heart. "That's so nice of you to say!" He then deadpanned. "I grew up around insults towards my weight, bro. You'll have to do better than that." The boar leader shouted loud and charged the panda. Po smirked. "Hard way it is, then!" He sees the mace coming overhead, and easily blocks it with both of his paws, rebounded it and did another palm strike to knock him off balance. He then ran forward, jumped up and kicked in the face to knock him into the ground. He sees him try to get back up, but sees that he's merely on one knee,trying to hold himself up. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you THAT hard. You really didn't think this entire thing through, didn't you? That's okay, I don't think much either." Po then checked to see if he was perfectly standing across from him, and he nodded. "Alright dude. Since you seemingly cannot make another move, I'll make one myself." He then steadied himself, and he charged the large boar with a confident smile. When he stopped right in front of rhe boar, he waved. "Hey dude."

"Wha-?" Po punched him in the ribs, very hard, enough for the boar's eyes to white out then completely lose consciousness as he slouched on his shoulder.

"There ya go dude. Take a little nap." Po patted his back, and dropped him on the ground, dusting off his paws and scanning the area around him. All of the boars were beaten and unconscious. He placed his hat on his head, and whistled. "Welp. Looks like that's all of them."

"PO! We're here to he-" Po turned to see the others finally catch up to them. The one who shouted was Fung, who just now figured out that the battle was done. "What? It's already over? I missed the beatdown?!"

"Yup. Sorry bro."

Fung's eye twitched, as he grabbed his helmet and threw it into the ground. "Agh, darn it!"

(Later)

"So, Fenghuang. What did you think of Crane and Mei Ling?" Shifu asked, as everyone was currently resting at Yan Fan's house after fending off the bandit horde.

The owl nods while raising her wing towards her fellow avian and his feline friend. "Oh yes. They'll fit in just fine. And I'm not just saying that. They'll really fit in." She took a quick look at Mr. Ping, who was still gazing at the Peach Petal that he found. They both agreed to keep it secret until they could confirm their suspicions.

"Glad to hear that."

Monkey looked to the side, and could see Po put on a serious look on his face. While he was chewing a dumpling in his mouth. "Woah dude, what's with the serious look? Something wrong?"

Po swallows his dumpling, wipes his mouth, and gazes at Crane and Mei Ling with a serious gaze. "It's food that you guys are being recruited into our team. But you have to pass the final test. The initiation."

"Initiation?" Crane and Mei Ling said at the same time. If this was a serious test, they would be ready for it.

Po still had that serious look, as he sees them look nervously at him. "You two have to..." He them smiled widely, and spread his arms out wide. "Give me a hug."

Crane beak-dropped. Mei Ling tilted his head. "Are...you being serious?"

"You better believe he is." Fung said to them in a jokingly serious tone. "He hugged Tigress first, then he hugged me, then he hugged Monkey. To make your joining of the team official...you must hug the panda." Fung's pointing at them and Po's smiling face made them realize that they were not joking. Po really expected them to hug him.

"Come on and hug me, buddies. Please?" Po asked nicely. "Come ooooonn. Ya know ya wanna." He began waving his arms up and down, waiting patiently.

Crane and Mei Ling were left in a fit of surprise. Then the latter shrugged. "What the heck." The feline smiled and opened her arms to Po and they embraced one another in a friendly manner. She nuzzled into his fur. "So amazingly soft...and warm..."

"Yeah. I get that all the time." He releases Mei Ling and turns to Crane. "Your turn. This is a bro hug. Join the bros." He didn't give him much fime to react, as he grabbed his wing and pulled him into a hug anyway. Crane was surprised, but he hugged him back with little reluctance. He was dropped and Po fist-pumped. "BROS!"

"BROS!" Monkey and Fung chanted. Crane was a little nervous at first, but he overcomes it and wing-pumped. "Bros!"

"Eh. It's a start. We'll work on it." Monkey rubbed his chin. He then turned to Mei Ling. "Anyway, now we turn our attention to our first gorgeous girl in the room." He could hear Tigress growl, and he sweated nervously. "N-No, that's not what I-"

"I know what you meant." Tigress snarled. She looked at the recruits list really quickly before she could start hitting the primate. "Viper. Viper is next. We'll head out in the morning."

Everyone in the room nodded. Then Monkey turned to Mei Ling and Crane. "So...what's the relationship between you guys?"

Crane was finally able ro relax, and answer Monkey's question. "Well obviously we're very close. Mei Ling is my best friend. And up until now, she's been my only friend. Her parents were already lost, so we were always hanging out together when we were not in the Lee Da Academy. Other times we would just hang out at home." He smiled. "We did a ton of things together. Ya know, we did kid stuff. Played hide-and-seek, Chinese Checkers, which is the only thing she could never beat me at.(Mei Ling pouts) We also did a lot of calligraphy together. And-"

"We even bathed together." Mei Ling adds with sly intent. She could see Crane' intense blush, and she smirked. "In fact...we still kinda do."

"MEI LING!" Crane shouted in protest. "Don't give them the wrong idea! I TOLD you we can't do that anymore! We're young adults, now! And you're...you're...you know!"

"But it's so fun to see your reaction to it every time I just appear in the water out of nowhere." She snickered. "Plus we're childhood friends, what's the big deal?"

"That maybe, just maybe, at our current ageit might be a bit inappropriate?!" It was pretty clear that Crane was the noticably more innocent one. Understandable, being raised by his mother. She genuinely didn't see anything wromg with bathing with him. As in just him and her.

Monkey placed a hand on his head. "Crane...you bathed...with a female Kung Fu Prodigy...who is like, super hot. How'd ya do it, man?" Crane then realized that Monkey was going along with this on purpose...and he didn't find that amusing at all. "Wait...that also means..."

"Yep. He's the only one who knows what it is." Mei Ling confirmed. "And even right now, he wishes he didn't."

Crane's face couldn't stop glowing red, and he tried to cover his face with his hat. "Why must you torment me...?"

Mei Ling playfully punches his shoulder. "Lighten up, will you? If you want me to stop it so much...then I will."

He sighed with relief. "Yes. Thank you."

Yan Fan meanwhile patted Crane's shoulder, allowing him to turns towards her after his newfound friends were done embarassing him. "This is it, Crane. You'll be heading out of here, soon. I...can no longer keep you in the safety of my wings. I had wished constantly for this day to never come...even though I knew it was inevitable. I'll be alone for quite a time, now." Yan Fan sighed. "I think I should form a knitting club or something. I need friends to hang out with, now that you'll be heading out. Out into the dangerous world...and I cannot stop you."

Crane smiled, holding her wings in his own. "Don't worry about me, Mom. You can see I'm in good hands, right? Plus I'll be writing to you as much as I possibly can."

"Hopefully you won't make ME send them all..." Zeng said with a shiver. That would be a lot of long flights. Hi wings we're still tired from the last one.

"As I was saying, my new friends have my back now. I'll be fine."

Yan Fan smiled. "You're right, honey." She turned to the others. "I hope he's right about this. I have to let him step out ofthe nest on his own. I'm leaving him in your care now, please treat him well."

"You have our word. We'll take good care of him." Mei Ling smiled. "You know me by now, I'll never stop looking after Crane."

"Don't rush yourself, child. What about you being a student of the Lee Da Academy?" Shifu asked.

Mr. Ping grinned. "I have a pretty good idea."

(The Next Morning)

"WHAT?! What do you mean you're dropping out?! The students could see their instructor looking in disbelief as Mei Ling wad packing up her things. Crane was doing the same. "I can understand Crane leaving, but why you, Mei Ling?!"

"Because things are getting pretty boring around here. The challenges here are gone." Mei Ling say honestly. "I can't test myself anymore by staying here. If I wanna do that, I gotta head out with Crane." She brought her satchel over her shoulder, and she turned to the class. "Besides...I've grown tired of your arrogant attitudes. There's confidence, then there's being a jerk. You all are usually the latter. Not gonna stick around that. So I'm out."

One of the younger rhinos have had enough. He stomped right in front of her, growling in her face. She didn't even flinch. "Again with the bird! Most of the things you did here was because of him! What makes him so special!? Why him?!"

She took on a very deadpan look, but her eyes were filled with genuine passion. "Because unlike all of you...Crane is never afraid to be himself. You all kept putting him down and really hurt his feelings, but he never stopped being himself. That's why I always believed in him. His days as a janitor are done. Just like me being a student here, I'm done. Thanks for all you've done for us, but we're moving on. Goodbye, have a nice life, Lee Da Academy. Come on, Crane." They both nodded, and headed out the doors.

They could stil hear the protests for Mei Ling to come back. "You can't leave! You're our Star Student! Who will represent us now?!"

"Not my problem. Bye bye!~" She cheerfully waved them farewell without turning around. All of them nearly fell to the ground out of sheer depression.

The others were waiting for the duo, Po most noticably. "Ready to go, guys?"

"Yes. Let's go." Crane says, his mind now completely made up. He was about to step forward-

"CRANE!" Yan Fan shouted, and it made him jump in surprise and turn to see his mother fold her wings and tap her talons. "Where's my goodbye kiss?"

"MOOOOOOOOM! Not in front of my new friends!" Crane shouted in embarrassment.

"Oh...I see how it is. You're leaving your mother all alone and you think you're too grown up to even kiss her goodbye...*sniff*..." Yan Fan whispered, covering her face with one wing as she fake cried, keeping one eye open to see his reaction.

"Uuuuuggghhh..." Crane groaned. He then walked over to her and affectionately kissed her cheek, combined withba hug, which brought a bright smile to her face. He smiled as well. "Bye Mom."

"I wish you well, sweetheart." She said, caressing his cheeks, before reluctantly letting him go. "You all better take good care of my baby!" Crane groaned again.

"You can count on us, Ma'am!" Po sent her a thumbs up.

Monkey snickered as Crane passed by him. "Wow, dude. I didn't think you could be such a Momma's Boy. Don't deny it, I see it all over your face."

"Utter one more word. Just one. I'll peck your eyes out." Crane glared.

Monkey threw his hands up. "Alright alright, I'm sorry." He then whispered: "Baby." PECK! "AGH! MY HEAD!"

"I WARNED YOU! NOW HOLD STILL!" Crane screeched in anger as he chased a retreating Monkey around, repeatedly pecking his head.

"OW! OW! OUCH! I'M SORRY! SORRY! GAH! I'M SAID I'M SORRY!" Monkey cried out in pain as he covered the top ofhis head to feebly defend from Crane's peck assault. Everyone else laughed at the display(minus Shifu) and Tigress only mildly chuckled.

Yan Fan giggled at the scene most of all. She then looked to the sky. Línghún...can you hear me? Can you hear my voice...? I just wanted to tell you...that you don't have to worry about our son anymore. He's no longer the fragile bird he was in the beginning, always falling over because of his weak body. Ever since you left us, me and Mei Ling always had to set him upright. She looked back down again at the scene of Crane angrily chasing Monkey and the others laughing at it. She smiled while wiping a small tear away.

Now he's finally strong enough...to stand on his own legs...

(Unknown Village)

The green snake wakes up with a tired yawn, strwtching her tail and opening her ocean blue eyes to the bright sunlight shining in her room. She rubbed her eyes with her tail. "Okay, Mr. Sun, I'm awake. No need to blind me." She mumbled.

"Viper, my dear! Are you awake yet?" A deep voice called out to her. The one named Viper turned to her door and smiled.

"I am! I'll be out in a minute!" Viper shouted back. Young Lady Viper, 20 years old. Nice young snake who tries to be friendly to everyone. She placed her signature lotus flower clips on her head and slithered outside of her room. She met face to face with her Master..

Lord Fu-Xi.

"Did you sleep well, little sister?" He smiled, petting her head, listening to her hiss in happiness. She looks up happily at the large cobra before her.

"I sure did, Master Fu-Xi! Oops! I mean big brother!" She giggled.

"I'm glad you did. Very glad. Are you going outside? If you are, do I need to remind you of your only rule?"

She shook her head. "I know it. Don't interact with the two-leggers."

"Good girl. Slither along, now." He gently pushed her away, hearing her laugh again. "Ah...Ssssuch a ssssweet girl she issss.." he turns to the shadows, seeing the very hateful glare of the Great Master Viper. "Isn't ssshe?"

"Don't act innocent around me, Fu-Xi." The older Master spat. "You can't expect to keep her under your hood forever."

"Oh...but I can." He slithered past the Master, smirking. "I provided her with support, not you. I'm helping her true potential, you didn't even try. And finally...two-leggers killed her unborn sisters, while you were defanged. It's clear who the superior role model is, and always will be." He hissed mockingly as he slithered away. "Hope you and your wife have a good morning." he said politely, with a wave of his tail.

Master Viper hissed, curled up his tail, and smashed it into the ground, creating a medium sized hole.

Curse him...

(Unknown Outskirts)

"Okay, the village should be around here, somewhere " A green mantis said with confidence, riding atop the head of a crocodile...a REALLY big crocodile.

"Mantis. We won't find a village here, I assure you. That map is zero helpful." His companion, the giant croc he was riding on, was Lidong. Much much higger than other crocs. Mantis is 21, while Lidong was 20.

"Zero helpful makes no sense! It's 'no help at all'. And of course it's a helpful map. We're almost there." Mantis said glaring back at Lidong's eyes, before turning back around. He had Lidong push a tree aside so he could look. "Right over there we can see-"

It wasn't anything special. It was just a cliff leading to a very long drop. Mantis was sure the kap would lead to the village they were looking for, but it seems like they were conned.

"...the village we're looking for..." Mantis said, disappointed. He crumpled up the useless map up and threw it off the cliff in anger. "That rhino asshole lied to us!"

"I told you that map was no good." Lidong muttered. "Now what do we do?"

"We have no choice. We gotta wonder until we can find someone with actual directions. Come on, big guy."

Lidong sighed as he turned and walked the other way, his walk makes a small quake with every step. "You should have let me pound his face in and give us an actual map. Then we wouldn't have to deal with this crap."

"That's your answer to everything. Unlike you, I actually want to leave a town without being chased out by an angry mob because you couldn't help but punch some guy in the face."

"For your information, YOU started the last mob." Lidong deadpanned.

"They told me I was too small to get a drink! I wasn't going to just take that and leave!"

"And look where that's got us. The overall lesson here...is that you suck."

"No, YOU suck! You Overgrown Lizard!" Mantis hopped on his snout, pointing a pincer at his eye, and they glared at each other.

"Little Bug!"

"Bumbling Behemoth!"

" Tiny Insect!"

"Giant Bastard!"

"Pint-Sized Jackass!"

"TAKE THAT BACK!"

"MAKE ME!"

Their shouting match continued as they disappeared back into the forest. One would think because of this exchange that they hated one another. They'd be wrong. Because these two are one of the strangest but truly genuine pair of best friends one would ever see.

Now this is the time where things get a bit more serious. Because the first three recruits just involved petty bandits and/or lackeys from a higher-up. But now we have someone who can actually threaten to the heroes lives. Which will also make this recruiting MUCH more difficult.

One will need some VERY heavy convincing. The other just gets caught in the crossfire. This...won't be very fun...not for them, anyway.

Reviews are helpful. Very much so. See you later!