This chapter didn't really come out as well as I thought it would. But at the very least, I can just get it outta the way now. Things may be turning serious for everyone, depending on the interpretation.

This is more of a chapter that highlights the personality of Lièrén, 'Ànyǐng's mother. Despite not being planned to show up as much as he is, her role around here is still pretty important. How important, will be revealed in different perspectives at a time.

Lets see how it goes.

The party was still a bit stunned by the untamed personality of Ànyǐng's mother, which is a stark contrast to his own. She hopped off the table she was lazily sitting on, walking up to her son. She looked him up and down for a couple minutes, then placed her paws on her hips. "What? You're not gonna hug your mom? I haven't seen you in a long while, ya know. I see you've forgotten how you greet people. Especially family."

Ànyǐng sweatdropped slightly. "M-Mom...sorry about that. I had to follow the Lin Kuei around, I saw and heard them do terrible things, and-"

"Lin Kuei? Don't care. You? Do care. Come hug Mommy." The wolfess reinforced, opening her arms to him. He discarded whatever he had to say at the moment, and hugged her like she requested. The party noticed that she was a couple centimeters shorter than her son, signifying a phenomenal growth spurt. They then released one another and she turned to the party. "So...who are they?"

"They're my friends, Mom."

Lièrén jawdropped, clapping her paws over her cheeks in surprise. "You've finally made some friends?! The friends that actually stick by you and not treat you like shit because you're a wolf?!"

"Aaaaaaannnnnd this suddenly got sad." Crane noted, adjusting his hat.

"Totally." Monkey added.

"You're telling me. It's so hard for my son to find friends that are outside of his own species." The wolfess nodded, folding her arms under her chest...which did little to ease the blush on some of the guys faces. "They think that because a buncha wolves did a lot or morally questionable things in the past that all of them are incapable of changing for the better. Well I say that's-zzzzzzz..."

They were completely blown away by what just happened. One moment she was ranting about how wolves are under the type of oppression that is unreasonable to an extent...and the next, she's fallen asleep out of nowhere, her head lowered. The comical snot bubble was even present, and a bit of drool slid out of her maw.

Everyone blinked.

"Did...did she just...?" Peng asked, head tilted.

"Yep. Apparently." Lian snickered.

The snot bubble immediately popped, and her eyes blinked open. "-completely stupid, if you ask me! Most don't even give us a chance!" Shifu sighed in exasperation...she continued the conversation as if nothing happened! "If there's anything that I'm certain of, is that they're not giving us nearly enough credit as they should be."

"Yeah, we've had multiple negative encounters with wolves, so it's surprising to see the nice ones show their faces once in a while." Fenghuang said. "The Lin Kuei are a pain, but we manage to chase them off when we have the ability. Though it's weird that your son is among them."

"Ever heard of an inside spy? He was supposed to be that. Though of course that couldn't last long, given how much he hates the guys." Lièrén shrugged. "Though in a way, I'm kinda glad he called off his own mission. Because if I had gotten a message that something unfixable has happened to my son...people are gonna start gettin' hurt. And afterwards, I'll be busy washing the blood off of my paws."

Mr. Ping smiled brightly. "Ah yes! Another devoted parent! I always show how devoted I am to my son. Because anyone who made fun of him when he was younger were on the business end of my ladle!"

The wolfess tilted her head. "A ladle, huh?"

Fenghuang huffed, rustling her feathers. "He isn't joking. He's just as good at beating people half to death with that ladle as he is cooking with it. That goose in violent protective mode is one of the very few things in this world that genuinely makes me worry...for the victims."

"Violently protective parents are the best parents." Lièrén grinned toothily.

"In a way, they do have a high ranking up there. If someone's picking on your kid, you won't just let it continue. Violent retaliation is no sure to follow...if it can't be resolved peacefully. As much as I love beating the crap out of assholes who deserve it...pointless fights don't appeal to me as much." Fenghuang sighed. "Though given my mindset and personality, I end up fighting anyway."

Shifu, Taotie, Mr. Ping, and Mei Ling the Fox understood this extremely well, as they somewhat know Fenghuang best. Po might be well aware as well, but is sometimes too far lost in the clouds to focus on it to a highly comprehensive extent. As a result, he might be less aware of how similar he is to Fenghuang in terms of fighting, while his personality remains a bit childlike with hints of maturity...and short bursts of fury for harsh wrongdoings.

"Yeah, I can understand how you can think like that." Lièrén nodded, unfolding her arms and placing them back on her hips. "You have a pact you wanna follow but sometimes it's just so hard to keep it intact...and then you just give into yoir urge to beat the living crap out of somebody because they just bother you so much. And others that just start harming the innocent, or your loved ones just to tick you off. No one ever seems to figure out that that is a horrible idea."

"Let's not forget about also targeting children!" Mr. Ping raised a wing.

"Yeah, that too! I mean...why? Why the kids? Now we all know you wanna be put into the infirmary for months. Or possibly die. Something around those lines."

No argument there. Once again, we go back to how much the panda loves children. Messing with them in his presence...foolish idea.

Speaking of children...

"Mommy!"

The party turns to see a small wolf cub bouncing into view, his bright blue eyes and wagging tail, along with his cheerful smile...made him look absolutely adorable. Lièrén smiled widely. "Haha! There's my little squirt! Zing, guess who's home?"

The wolf cub, identified as Zing, slowly turned towards the other wolf, Ànyǐng. His jaw immediately dropped, and his tail wagged even faster. Without warning, he jumped as high as his small paws could help him go, and he landed against his chest. The older wolf caught him before he could be forced backwards. The party noticed that Ànyǐng's emotional state suddenly took a couple levels for the brighter. The wolf cub nuzzles his cheek happily.

"Bro! You're back!" And there's the reason why. Ànyǐng smiled as he gently hugged the cub in his arms.

"Hey, little buddy." He smiled. Xuě blinked in surprise at how cheerful he's become after having the small cub embrace him. There's no doubt that they deeply care about one another.

"Oh my! He did mention having a little brother the day after he saved me" Mrs. Yoon gasped lightly. "I finally get to see him in person, and he's precious."

"He really is!" Viper squealed, practically turning herself into a spring and bouncing side to side. "I wanna hold him I wanna hold him I WANNA HOLD HIM!"

"Heh. The serpent hath spoken. She shall receive." Lièrén chuckled as she took the cub away from her other son, placing him in Viper's coils.

The serpent wasted no time appreciating the cuteness of this cub wolf. She planted a kiss on both of his cheeks, as well as his forehead, her lipstick leaving slight smears. The wolf cub just blinked in confusion, before he smiled adorably. "You're very pretty, Ms. Snake~"

Yep. If his own cuteness didn't win her over, that definitely did.

"You're such a gentleman, and thank you!" Viper squealed again, nuzzling the wolf cub with hearts popping over her head.

Lièrén smirked. "Oi, Panda. Pup brigade incoming."

"Pup brigade...?"

Po turned around, and his eyes were now set on a small pack of small wolf cubs, ten in total. They all looked at him with great interest sparking into their eyes at the sight of the giant panda. He blinked. "Uh..."

The wolfess smirked. She took a deep breath, and her voice echoed through the village: "PUPPIES! POUNCE THE PANDA!"

"What?! Wait, hold o-" Po held his paws out nervously, as he wasn't ready for the barrage to come. But it didn't matter, the cubs overpowered him easily, and knocked him into the ground. Lièrén laughed in amusement, then pointed towards Mr. Ping, Mrs. Yoon, Zeng,Taotie, Mei Ling, Shifu, and Fenghuang.

"You lot must be in charge of these kids. I have a feeling we're all in for quite a talk. Follow me to my personal den."

They all tilted their heads in confusion, before following the wolfess out of the bar. Fung took a look at the cubs assasulting Po. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, the neighborhood pups are harmless. Besides, they seem to really like him."

"THE PUPPIES ARE ALL OVER ME! AND THEY TICKLE!" Po's laughter filled the area as the puppies were all over him. A couple of them were harmlessly and playfully biting his ears and softly headbutting his head, another of portion of them were nudging and licking his cheeks, and a majority of them were bouncing on his large trampoline-like belly, which was the main source of all the laughter from he and them. The females, Tigress subtly included, chuckled at how adorable this was.

Everyone sans Po followed Lièrén into her private den. It was quite roomy, more than any of them expected. There wasn't much to placed inside of it, to their surprise. At best, she had a simple finger painting that most likely belongs to her younger son, and there was a constant stream of water flowing from one open end to the next, which seems to be coming from the waterfall, and it was deep enough to sit in. Two separate walls were on each side, which may serve to block any leftover fur and residue for her to clean out later. There were also a couple flowers placed around said picture, which were most likely picked for her.

She spread her arms out. "Here we are, this is where I sleep. And sometimes bathe. Speaking of baths...Zing? C'mere sweetie."

"Kay Mommy!" Zing yipped as he crawled out of Vipers coils and ran up to his mother's legs. She picked him up and turned towards the group.

"Gimme a couple moments." She said as she carried the cub behind a long thread of cloth at the back of the den, which was closet to the waterfall stream. The party was a bit confused about what she was doing...and they were wide-eyed when she saw her clothes being hung over a nearby rock. They immediately turned away for a moment as she stepped out from behind the cover. She slowly stepped into the stream of water, with Zing in tow. She made sure he entered the water safely, and began washing his head. "Kay, whatcha wanna talk about?" She was at first confused by the surprised look on their faces, until she finally understood, and laughed. "Haha! Oh, this? Yeah, we don't really have a bathhouse. Doesn't mean we don't want one. But despite the nice things these fellow wolves say about me, I'm actually the most recent resident here. They just used the waterfall to bathed and I'm like 'Eh, why not?'"

Ànyǐng facepalmed a bit. "Mom...you can't just strip down and begin bathing in the river streams in front of guests..."

"Why not? They're not doing anything that suggests that it's a bad idea." She shrugged simply. Zing laughed as she splashed a bit more water over his head. "They're also not seeing much of what might get their immediate attention." She rose a bit. "Unless..."

"NO! Just...just stay where you are." Ànyǐng muttered, shaking his head.

"My goodness, Ànyǐng. You act like you're embarrassed of your mother or something." She said with a mock tone of offense, while he sighed again. "Okay for real, what's the deal here?"

"U-Uh...we were...w-we were just...um..." Crane blushed furiously, his hat lowered. "Is she really just going to-"

"She looks like she is." Fenghuang said to answer. "Here's the gist of it. We have an important place to be. We figured that we'd have your son check in with you first, just to soothe his own worries."

"Oh that's nice. I was wondering if he'd be wondering about me." Lièrén giggled as she lightly washed Zing's back. "Like his little brother, he's such a Mamma's Boy."

The teen wolf facepalmed harder in an attempt to hide the growing blush on his face. The mischievous and slightly accusing look from Xuě didn't help, not even a little bit. "Mom, we have somewhere to be, and we could really use some help on how to get to Mount Penglai."

"Mount Penglai? The secretive city/mountain with tall walls and gates that are supposed to lock everything and everyone out? HA! What a joke." She chuckled. "I've snuck in there plenty of times and no one's ever caught sight of me. I swear, they're a bunch of idiots, if they think they can just keep those people locked in there forever."

"Wow...she actually managed to get in and out multiple times, undetected!" Mantis called out. Then he frowned. "Wait a minute...what do you mean 'locked in'?"

"People behind those walls aren't happy, kid." She explained, lightly kissing the top of her younger sons head, making him giggle a little. "Let's say that the leader of that city is a total prick who thinks shutting out the entire world is the true answer to make that city truly orderly and peaceful. It's more like a prison. It smells, the people are miserable, they're pissed at their new 'leader' and they want a new one. Basic dictator situation, thing."

"That place is under dictator influence? In that case we HAVE to go. To help those people out. Because I can say for certain that living under a dictators paw is anything but fun." Monkey said.

"It most certainly isn't. Unfortunately we have a lot of people like that in different places. That's why-zzzzzzzz..."

Shifu's eyes twitched. She did again, while submerged in water, no less!

Ànyǐng sighed as he clapped twice loudly, waking her up. "-there's plenty of good guys that are willing to beat the crap out of those who oppress the weak. I'll take a pretty good guess and say that your panda friend out there is one of those good guys."

"You seem to have taken a positive interest in Po, due to the focused gaze you gave him earlier and the tone you mentioned him with. Is there a reason for that?" Shifu asked curiously.

"He's a fluffy ball of fun. What other reason do I need?" She shrugged. "I have nothing to worry about from him. Despite being little furry troublemakers, the cubs of this little den of ours instinctively tell who has good character. They like the panda, so I like the panda. Of course this doesn't always work, but I find other ways."

She finished cleaning her cub, and she set on on the ground. He shook rapidly, sending water all over the place and his fur went 'poof!' It only made him laugh. "Big bro! I'm so fluffy now!"

"I see that." Ànyǐng smiled at his brother's antics. "Now go grab one of the towels and dry yourself off. Remember that shaking doesn't always work out completely."

"Okay!" Zing nodded as he skipped out of the den after drying himself by more excessive shaking and a towel, as well as his clothes, in hand.

"He's such an adorable little squirt, isn't he?" Lièrén smiled softly, pushing back some of her fur. "Anyway, Mount Penglai. That's your next destination, and ya need me to take you there?"

"That's about the gist of it." Mei Ling the Fox nodded.

"Well that's cool. I guess I can help you lot get there. Buuuuuut..." Of course there was a catch. "You're gonna have to do something for me first." Shifu sighed while rubbing his temple. The wolfess noticed and smiled widely. "That's right! Ya got a sidequest to complete!"

"A sidequest?"

"Yeah. It's a quest on the side. What are you, a dumbass?" She rose an eyebrow in amusement of Shifu's twitching eye. She then took on a slightly more serious face. "There's some camp a long ways away from here, but not too far so that the den can't be seen from the trees. Some chumps like to keep causing a ruckus for when we try to head out and get necessary junk outside our village. They keep attacking caravans that go outta their way to deliver goods here, and a majority of it ends up gone. Some return with barely any of their items left, while some don't make it at all. I need you to get them out of here."

"You haven't requested help yet?"

"Do you really think that many people will go out of their way to help wolves? Dude, I think I need to be straighter with you: They don't like us. You guys look decent enough to want to help us, so I'm asking you to help us out. In return, I'll take you to Mount Penglai, easily. Then that blackbuck guy of yours-"

"That's me!"

"-can unlock the gates after kicking the control freak's ass. Sound like a suitable plan to you?"

"Sure! We're totally up for it!" Lian said as she wrapped an arm around Peng and Bian Zao, pulling them close to her. The former was smiling, while the other rolled his eyes but smirked a bit.

"Glad we can come to a compromise. Now go on and get ready. I'm not finished soaking here." Lièrén sank a bit into the water with her eyes closed. She did look like she wanted a bathhouse, but is content to work with what she has. The rest of the group nodded and exited the den one after another. Song stayed behind, which took the wolfess's notice. "What? Ya need something?"

"Yeah, actually. You have two sons. I know this is probably too personal...but were you ever married?"

"Nope. Zing is adopted. As for Ànyǐng...he was a surprise."

"You weren't planning on him?"

"Not even slightly. He was a shock indeed, but I decided to keep him. His father...isn't the best person. Hell, I might even be worse. But unlike him, I had no reason to leave my son behind when he was conceived. We weren't married, and we were in heat, and we just happened to see one another...then stuff happened." She shrugged. "I'm not looking for a lifelong partner, if that's what you're thinking. No, I mostly mingle nowadays." She looked the snow leopard up and down...and smirked. "Impressive hips ya got there~"

"W-What!?" Song stepped back, shocked. "I...You're...?!"

"Yeah, I can see it. You look like a person who's skilled in the art of seduction. Well you've definitely got the body for it~"

"H-HOLD ON A SECOND!" Song shook her head, slightly confused. "When you had your first son, you were in heat, and you found the wolf you did it with super attractive. And yet here you are, eying me like that..."

"Yeah. I learned something interesting about myself some time after my first son was born. You see, a lotta people prefer that you either find one gender attractive, or the other." She rose her paws with a cheerful smile. "As for me, I land squarely in the middle."

...Oh.

...Oh.

...OH.

Lièrén saw realization dawn upon her face, and she found even more amusement in it. "You look surprised about something. Guess I really threw you for a loop, huh?" She waved her off. "Go on. You all need to get ready to move. Unless...you wanna join me."

"N-No thank you." Song turned and left the wolfess alone, while she herself was left to her thoughts. Song had been skillful at lying for a very long time, so she has a good chance of guessing when someone is telling one. This works on many occasions except for Po, who has no talent for lying whatsoever. And yet this wolfess...something about her is throwing Song off. She hasn't told a lie, yet it feels like she's not saying the entire truth. Except for that last part, that was one-hundred percent truth. The other things are somewhat less than one-hundred percent.

The wolfess, as strange as she is, might know more than she lets on...

The party regrouped to the edge of the village, where the wolves respected their space...and found the time to roughhouse among themselves.

"This place is quite lively, I must say!" Master Yao smiled. "Whoever said wolves can't be good citizens aren't very nice."

"What about you, Panda?" Fenghuang turned to her student, who was lying against the wall, looking dazed.

"The puppies...they cuddled me half to death, Master...I couldn't fight back...they were too cute...they completely overwhelmed me..." He stood up and lightly grabbed her by her cloak. "I've seen cute things, Master! CUTE THINGS!"

"Honestly, who can blame him? They're small, but they're also very overwhelming." Viper smiled, lightly swaying side to side. "Overwhelmingly adorable!"

"I think you're missing the point, sis. These little balls of fur could conquer China effortlessly!"

"Okay, let's not get crazy." Crane suggested. Then he paused in deep thought. "...unless we're already crazy."

"Let's focus a bit here." Shifu called out, gaining everyone's attention. "Despite what we initially thought, it seems this village is having troubles with supply routes. Someone continues to hijack their caravans whenever they get close enough. We need to infiltrate their camp and stop them. Though some of us will have to stay here to make sure they don't try and rampage through the place during our absence." Shifu looked to the side. "I will take the lead."

"As will I." Mei Ling the fox said readily, gaining Shifu's confused look. "You really got hurt from our conflict with Master Ding, and you haven't completely recovered yet. I have to keep an eye on you so you don't do anything reckless."

"Reckless? Me? I'll have you know, I'm probably the one who exercises the most caution, since Po and Fenghuang are unpredictable."

"I dunno what you mean." Po said absentmindly, too focused on Master Yao."So you're saying...the Iron Heart multiplies your physical strength a thousand fold...the Clap of Stillness freezes the movement of anyone nearby...Jin Tian's Tempest gives you the power to shoot lightning out of your paws..." Bian Zao's eyes perked up at this. "...the Yangtze Spleen Punch knocks out everyone within a 100-yard radius...and the Wings of Light gives you the power to fly. Those are the Five Mystical Kung Fu Secrets?"

"Yes." Yao's simple answer almost threw Shifu completely off-balance.

Po's mind took a while to process this...then his eyes sparkled and he giddily began hopping up and down. "All five of them sound so awesome! Do you think you can show me sometime? You know, after we deal with those cruddy caravan hijackers?"

"Sure, I'd love to. Sounds like fun!"

"That Jin Tian's Tempest does not sound lame at all." Bian Zao managed a small smile. Taotie noticed this, and sighed.

"Great. He's taken an interest in shooting lightning bolts. I don't want to know where that might lead..."

"Probably somewhere filled with lightning." Taotie just looked at Po in exasperation, before he shook his head and walked off. "What? Was it something I said?"

"It's alright Po." Fung said, patting his shoulder lightly before turning towards the exit. "It's probably best that we not bring Yao outside, yet. They might try and snatch him away. We really don't want that on our list of problems." Fung turned around...a dotted outline of Master by Yao remained. Fung's eyes bulged out of his head. "What the...where'd he go?!"

"Onward my friends! To adventure!" They heard Master Yao echo from the woods, and Tigress facepalmed, before chasing after him on all fours.

"Master Yao, you can't just run off like that!"

"Oh for the love of...darn it!" Fung rubbed his snout before running off with Tigress. Po, Song, and Fenghuang also decided to chase him down.

Shifu was the last to move, but he slid to a stop and pointed to the others. "Guidelines have changed, it seems. We're going to get Master Yao. The rest of you stay where you are!" He advised as he turned and dashed swiftly, his form disappearing faster than the others. Like she insisted, Mei Ling immediately followed him.

Peng sighed and awkwardly scratched his ear. "And the chaos starts back up..."

"I'm beginning to like Master Yao. He's got no care for the danger, he's just looking for a good time." Lian smiled. "He might unconsciously really want to explore without any restraints on him. I know I would wanna stretch my legs a bit if I was locked in a box for sixty-five years."

"Duuude...I can't even survive five minutes sitting perfectly still in total silence without falling asleep." Mantis groaned lowly, sitting on Crane's hat. "Much less sixty-five years."

"Ditto. That'd be maddening. Who knows? Maybe that's why he's so in the clouds." The rest of the party seemed to agree with this statement...

(With the others chasing Master Yao)

"I told you we should have just left him to fend for himself! Then we wouldn't have to deal with this crap!" Fenghuang shouted down to Tigress while flying overhead, keeping the others below her within her sights.

"That wasn't an option for me, even if he is a bit troubling to deal with." Tigress insisted while her running speed steadily increases, maintaining a vague but trusted scent on Master Yao's trail. She had a feeling he would start doing this sooner or later, she's only surprised he didn't do it right off the bat. Many people aren't disciplined enough to handle decades of silence with almost no outside interference of any kind. She knows Master Yao by now. He isn't one who will sit still for anything. Even if it certainly wasn't within his personality to say so, she could tell he was pretty sick of the prospect of living the rest of his life in a tight box because someone might abuse the secrets be possesses. Tigress didn't find that to be a proper way to live. So she at least gained an understanding on his willingness to just venture off on his own accord.

She wasn't mad, far from it. She was just a bit irritated that she wasn't able to sense him move at all. And she was also worried that he might get hurt. His fragile body is highly unlikely to be durable enough to endure a strong enough attack, it's why she wanted to keep him within their vision. Obviously they have to improve on that. But it wasn't that burdening on her. It's still better than locking him in a box with no contact to the outside world.

Judging by the expression on Po's face and the attitude he showed towards Yao earliee he totally agreed with her. Being taught by Master Fenghuang, he takes the concept of freedom to serious degrees. So hearing that this blackbuck kept himself in a box for a majority of his life just to preserve dangerous secrets...he didn't find that fair. There's no way that the blackbuck came up with that idea himself, and the panda wanted to beat the crap out of the heartless morons that gave it to him. He deserves to live how he wants, without anyone forcing him to do otherwise. Everyone does.

However, those that abuse their freedoms in order to intentionally and wrongfully harm others...it's on the short list of things that can make the otherwise bright, cheerful and goofy bear very...very angry.

"How can someone so frail-looking move so fast anyway?!" Fung snarled in irritation as he tried to keep up with the others, keeping his helmet on balance.

"You'd be shocked due to how much energy the elderly can still store." Tigress noted, leaping over a log and landed on the ground perfectly, her momentum continuous. "Underestimating them wouldn't be very smart. Especially someone with a mindset like Master Yao's."

"I see the moron now...and he looks like he's in trouble. Unsurprising." Fenghuang spotted the blackbuck sitting around and admiring the complex patterns of a leaf...while a hook sword was being pressed lightly against his neck. He was surrounded by wolves...different wolves that had an aura of hostility clouding over their heads. "That idiot seriously doesn't realize how much danger he's in...and for what?!"

"Ah...what a pleasant pattern. It gives off a special sense of tranquility and variety. No two leaves are exactly the same." Yao blinked as he finally noticed the wolves surrounding him at sword-point...and he smiled. "Oh hello there! I didn't notice you! Sorry about that!"

"This old twig-like geezer is Master Yao?" One of the wolves blinked in disbelief, the one pointing his hook sword at him. "They're all gettin' pretty old and senile, aren't they?"

"Oooh! A hook sword!" Yao beamed, lightly touching it without cutting himself. He then held it in both paws, examining it with extreme interest. "Such fine weapon craftsmanship is difficult to come by these days! These are much rarer than one might think!" The wolf looked on in confusion, before pulling the sword away with a harsh yank. "You're all also and feel very fuzzy! But not as fuzzy as my friend Fuzzy!"

"Ugh...what does that even mean?!"

"Doesn't matter. We have him secured. Now we just have to-" The wolf's ears flickered for a moment as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, narrowly avoiding a strong stomp from Fenghuang, which made a crater in the ground. Her reaction was to look up slowly and smile.

"Well well, lookie here. These wolves are a bit more competent than most." She said while tucking in her wings, as the others caught up with her. "That's actually pretty helpful for my student. The tougher the enemies, the stronger he will get. That goes for the others."

"That's right, fellas." Po walked in front, arms folded. "The better the challenge, the bigger the payoff. Although I'm not against having an easy day, either." The wolves narrowed their eyes, glaring at the bear before them. This confused him a bit, and he rubbed his cheek. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

The wolves began murmuring among themselves, unheard by Po and Fenghuang. Though Shifu's ears easily picked up on their words. "A panda. And all the way out here...Shen isn't gonna like this. He'll be livid, actually."

"Shen...?" Shifu narrowed his eyes. The wolves caught a glimpse of Shifu and Fenghuang, and they growled at the obvious disadvantage. And yet...

"...This is rather serious news. We'll have to report back to them about this random development." The wolves murmured quietly, slowly backing away. "But at the very least...we'll have something to slow the two Masters down. Retreating to Mount Penglai is our best bet right now. We have forces there that's tough enough to bring them down." The apparent leader snarled silently, as he began to fully back away.

"Hold it, wolves! You're much less nice than the wolves in that village! We're gonna take you down!" Po shouted aloud as he ran towards the wolves. One of them narrowed their eyes while appearing in front of the panda and swinging their hook sword at him. He was about to dodge it with ease...until he was slowed by a symbol on the wolf's shoulder. A metal plating...with the image of flames.

The roaring flames scorched the fields...

The screams of terror filled the skies...

The howls of wolves sounded through the night...

The scent of blood and ash tainted the air...

The eye of the peacock flared down upon them and unleashed it's merciless fury upon the land...

...and all he could do at the time was cry in the radish basket, begging his mother to return him to her warm embrace where he belonged.

...But nobody came.

Time caught up with Po at last, but the flashback dulled his reaction time, and he jumped back only after getting a slash across his cheek. He skidded backwards a little until he stopped completely, then stared at the wolves in shock. The one who attacked smirked at his cheap slash. Po could only stare at the wolves in shock. They all had the same symbol on their metal plating. And on top of that, they looked incredibly skilled. Po gathered whatever thoughts he could and managed to form a question.

"...who the hell are you?"

"Figure it out, chubs. If you survive, that is." The wolf scoffed, as he threw something at the ground. Smoke filled the area. And when it cleared, the wolves were gone. Po was left there, dreadfully confused over what had just transpired.

It's not just a nightmare now. It's now a full-on vision of SOMETHING. But I can't understand what it is. I wonder...

"Panda! What was that about?! You just froze up and got your cheek slashed!" Fenghuang fluttered her wings, clearly upset about her student's poor reaction time. But when she saw his eyes dull a bit under his hat, she dropped her complaints and intead took on a more concerned expression and aura. "Po...? Are you alright?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Tigress piped up. "What happened?"

"I...I don't know. Everything just stopped for me. There was a flash of white, I heard things, and..." Po groaned and lightly rubbed his head, which was getting to ache. "Damn it...I don't know what's going on..." But now I'm sure if it. That wasn't just a nightmare I was seeing, after all. Not when I'm seeing it during the day, too! "Those wolves...they probably won't be back. I guess Shifu and Fenghuang spooked them off. We should probably head back and see Lièrén, tell her we've done her job, and that we're ready to go to Mount Penglai."

"Way ahead of you, Panda." He turned around to see that the wolfess was back, and she brought the others along as well. He was about to ask when she found the time to do this if they weren't gone for very long, but she quickly cut him off. "I had a feeling you'd be done pretty quickly. So no need to worry about getting ready. Let's just get a move on. I'll take you straight to the mountain."

"Thank you. Your help is well appreciated." Shifu nodded lightly. The wolfess grinned at this, before she pointed forward and began her march. Soon enough, the others began following her, while a duo lagged behind a bit to check on Po. It was Tigress and Fung.

"Dude...you were seriously out of it for a couple moments. Are you sure you're alright?" Fung asked, patting his shoulder. Tigress looked just as worried, as they wish to tend to his wound sooner rather than later.

"It's not gonna interfere with what we're trying to do. That I'll make sure of." Po said, trying to sound reassuring. But all he did was make Tigress worry more. Because he didn't really answer the question the way they'd like, and it didn't look like they'll be getting anything else from him. Not right now.

Fenghuang had her eyes on the panda as well, just as worried about him as the others. She had plenty of questions and none of the answers. Such as why this wolfess is so willing to help them? Who was the goat teen, and why did her chi consist of snow and ice? And those wolves...definitely not the Lin Kuei. But who did they belong to, and why did Po suddenly freak out at the sight of the symbol?

"It seems our young panda friend is beginning to remember things quite unpleasant." Master Yao said, gaining the owls raised eye of confusion. "Some memories are instinctively repressed due to being mentally unable to handle it at the time, like young Tigress for a rampaging Tai Lung. They may not be remembered for years, until something that relates to it triggers a reaction. Our fuzzy panda friend must have been through something terrible that relates to that symbol, hence why he froze up when he did."

She pondered these words. For fifteen years, she couldn't think of anything that they've been through that may have scarred Po for life.

Unless...

That can't be! The pandas completely disappeared after the attempted genocide on their homeland! Even we couldnt find them!

Attempted genocide...Fenghuang has always wondered just how he was able to survive such w thing. Now he was beginning to remember...and it didn't look like he had a choice in the matter.

All the while, she noticed that Lièrén was still staring at the panda as she walked, observing his currently blank face with non-hostile curiousity as well something else she couldn't put her beak on. She knows something, and the thought of her keeping a serious secret regarding Po, made the owl's eyes narrow.

What's your game, she-wolf...?

Whatever could the she-wolf be hiding? Is there information about Po that she knows and the others don't...?

...Maybe. I dunno. Why are you asking me?

Just kidding. She has motives, but not the kind most might expect. But maybe they do expect it, and just doesn't say it.

...Whatever.

Next Chapter...is out when it's how. I think we know how this goes by now. Not trying to be rude. Just...sayin'...

Well, bye~