Chapter 7: Old Friends

Po trudged out of his dad's noodle shop (or his not-dad? Oh, it didn't really matter, did it?) Slowly walking down the streets to head back to the Jade Palace.

Well, asking his dad for answers hadn't solved anything, and now he was all the way back to square one.

Before he could wallow more in his depressive thoughts, all of a sudden, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo leapt down in front of him, startling the panda.

"Wattup, Po?" Mikey asked cheerfully.

Po jumped slightly at their sudden appearance but quickly turned solemn again.

"Oh, hey guys." He said despondently.

"Something wrong?" Leo asked in concern.

Po sighed. "Nothing. I just… I'm just... not sure who I am right now."

"I thought you were 'The Big Fat Panda'." Raph said jokingly, to which Donnie elbowed him in the side.

Po gave Raph a deadpanned look. "You know what I mean."

Leo sighed as he placed a hand on the panda's shoulder. "Yeah, we do know," He said lightly, "finding out that you're adopted is pretty rough."

Po looked up at him in surprise. "Wha-?! Wait, how did you-?" He then realized it. "You guys were spying on me, weren't you?" Ninjas, right.

The Turtles all collectively winced at that little slip-up, looking rather sheepish.

"Sorry, Po." Donnie was the first to speak. "We, eh, followed you to see if you alright, but then we overheard you and your dad and, uh, we couldn't help but listen in."

"Plus, it was kinda obvious you were adopted, given your a panda and Mr. Ping's a goose." Raph pointed out in a rather less-than-tactfully way, which earned some looks of ire from Leo, Donnie, and even Mikey.

"I know." Po sighed. "But it's not that. Dad just said he found me in a basket one day and that was it. And now I can't stop thinking about how I got there. Who put me there? Where did I really come from?" He then looked up towards the sky which had now turned a bright yellow-golden hue. "And who am I?"

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey gazed at each other, unable to answer any of those questions.

"Well, even if you don't know, that shouldn't matter." Donnie suddenly spoke up, causing Po to look at him. "It doesn't matter where you came from because when it's all said and done, what matters in the end is that you live in the present."

"Wanting answers is fine and dandy, Po," Raph added with a small smirk, "but you're the Dragon Warrior. If anyone can get through this, it's you!"

Mikey then cartwheeled up next to the panda, throwing an arm around his big shoulders. "You gotta live in the moment, dude! Find your own path!"

Po looked down in deep thought. "Find my own path…" He murmured.

"Yeah, there ya go!" Raph grinned, giving the panda friendly smack on the back.

Leo then placed a hand on Po's shoulder. "Po, Master Splinter once said that when you miss people from your past, focus on the people you have now in the moment." He then gestured to his brothers. "But, if you really have to find answers to your past, then we'll help you in any way we can."

Po smiled, feeling his spirits being lifted. "Thanks, guys. You're awesome!" He then turned back to the Jade Palace. "Come on! Let's get back to the palace! I hope those bean buns are still there!"

With that said, Po then rushed up the stairs towards the palace, no doubt going to stuff his face like he usually did.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all looked at each other, grinning like fools.

"Yep, he's back." They all said together.

"Now come on! I want me some of those bean buns!" Mikey rushed after Po up the steps.

"Oh no!" Raph playfully glared at his youngest brother as he chased the orange clad turtle. "You ain't eating all of them before I get some, Mikey!"

Both Leo and Donnie smiled, rolling their eyes playfully at their brothers' antics.

"Shall we, oh brother of mine?" Donnie playfully suggested, gesturing to the steps to the palace.

Leo chuckled, giving a mock bow. "We shall, dear brother." He said in a posh accent before the two of them dashed up the steps.

At the Jade Palace, the Furious Five sat around in the courtyard of the palace, waiting for Po and the Turtles to return.

"Guys, I'm worried about what happened back there in the Musician's Village." Viper finally spoke up.

"I know, why the heck would those wolves want to be stealing stuff like pots and pans instead of gold and silver." Monkey said.

Viper rolled her eyes at her friend's aloofness. "I meant the way Po froze up back there. That's never happened before, has it?"

Mantis grumbled slightly. "Wouldn't be the first time he blew it." He said rather irritably. "He probably got distracted by food again and forgot where he was."

Crane shook his head. "Mantis, Po may be a little… dim-witted at times, but he's not dumb. Or at least… he's not as dumb as Mikey can be at times."

"Yeah, did you see the look on his face when he left?" Monkey asked, remembering the haunted look on Po's face. "It was like he saw a ghost or something."

Tigress nodded as she folded her arms as she frowned. Despite her mind telling her Po was probably fine, she felt her heart going out of its way to worry about him.

She lightly rubbed her temple, what was wrong with her? She had never felt worried like this before. At first, she thought it was because Po was her friend and she had every right to worry about him, but this… this felt like something else. Something far deeper than just friendship.

Tigress shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Whatever it was, it seemed like it had something to do with that symbol on that wolf's arm." She said, remembering seeing Po stare at it before he was hit. "And I think we owe it to Po to find out why."

Viper sighed. "Well, I hope Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey are helping him get out of his funk."

Tigress was about to reply when she heard something, her ears flickering. "Wait, do you hear that?"

The others looked around, listening closely.

"I don't hear anything." Mantis said bluntly.

"Shh!" Tigress shushed him before sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Crane asked.

"Is it Po and the guys?" Monkey added.

"No." Tigress said, sniffing a little more. "It's something… else." Her amber eyes then snapped open. "Quick, scatter."

The other Five nodded before they noiselessly hid themselves around the courtyard just as whatever was approaching arrived.

"Man, I wish elevators had been invented around this time."

Peeking out from their hiding spots, the Five were surprised to see a young dog carrying several wooden weapons on his back and a young lioness wearing a black jumpsuit with a yellow outline.

"Feels like… my legs are… disconnected from my body." April panted, leaning on her knees, both she and Casey were exhausted after climbing the thousand steps to the palace.

"Well… at least we made it." Casey pointed out, leaning against his hockey stick to stabilize himself. "Now we just gotta… find the guys."

The two were about to search around the place when the Five decided it would be a good time to come out of their hiding spots.

Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis leapt out from their hiding spots and landed in front of the two, taking combative stances, startling April and Casey.

"Who are you?!" Tigress demanded.

April and Casey held up their hands in surrender, surprised.

"Wow, easy there!" April said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "We're just looking for some friends of ours!"

"And who are these friends of yours, exactly?" Viper questioned intently.

"Why should we tell you?" Casey questioned, holding his hockey stick out in a threatening manner. "For all we know, you've got the people we're looking for held captive here!" He accused them.

This, of course, only served to escalate the growing tension even more as the Five looked ready to attack and Casey looked like he was ready to fight as well, with April being in the middle futilely trying to calm everyone down.

Meanwhile at the thousand steps, Po and the Turtles were rushing up the steps, all of them laughing joyfully as they playfully raced up the steps like a bunch of children.

But as they neared the steps towards the top, they quickly heard the sounds of commotion.

"Stand down, and we won't hurt you!" shouted a voice that was unmistakably Tigress.

"Oh, yeah? How 'bout I bust some of your fangs first, then we talk!" Another voice retorted, one that sounded oddly familiar to the Turtles.

Arriving at the top of the stairs, Po, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were stunned to see the Five confronting two oddly-dressed animals, one a lioness and the other a husky dog.

"Woah, what's going on here?" Po asked as they stood at the entrance to the palace courtyard.

"Looks like we've got a couple raiders here." Raph said, already reaching for his sais.

Donnie, however, quickly grabbed his hot-headed older brother's arm to stop him. "Wait, do you see what they're wearing?"

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey looked closely at the lioness and the husky dog, who didn't appear to be any older than them.

The husky had a variety of baseball bats and hockey sticks strapped to his back via leather strap, wearing slightly ripped jeans.

The lioness wore a tight-fitting black jumpsuit with a yellow outline that looked really familiar, along with ginger orange hair tied back into a ponytail.

But what really stood out to them was the metal mask on the husky's head and the Hamato clan tanto on the lioness' back, causing the Turtles' eyes to all slowly widen.

"April?! Casey?!" Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all exclaimed in shock, running over to their two human-turned animal friends.

"You know these guys?!" April, Casey, Po, and the Five all questioned, pointing to each other.

Their bafflement was ignored as the Turtles quickly swarmed their human-turned animal friends.

"Dudes, what are you guys doing here?!" Mikey cried.

"Forget that, how the heck are you even here?" Raph questioned.

"We were looking for you guys, yo! You've been gone for weeks!" Casey told them, much to the Turtles' surprise.

"Weeks?" Leo whispered in disbelief, lowering his voice so that Po and the Five wouldn't overhear them. "But we've been here for months!"

April and Casey blinked in surprise.

"We tried to find you guys by using the Kraang psychic neurotransmitter, but then something went wrong and the next thing we knew, we woke up here." April explained before glancing down at her paws. "And looking like this, no less."

"Well, I think you look really nice." Donnie blurted out shyly, taking her paws into his hands.

April averted her eyes, her cheeks lighting up in a light blush as a small smile came onto her lips. "Thanks, Dee." She replied quietly.

"And look at you, Jones," Raph said, playfully throwing an arm around his best friend's shoulder, "you actually look pretty awesome like this."

Casey chuckled, giving Raph a fist bump. "Thanks, dude."

Just then, they heard the sounds of someone clearing their throat and turned around to see Po and the Fives staring at them inquisitively.

"Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, who are these two?" Tigress questioned.

"Yeah, since you guys obviously seem to know them." Po added.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey glanced at each other before shifting their gazes to April and Casey, who stood awkwardly behind them.

"Guys, this is April and Casey. April, Casey, this is Po, Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis." Leo quickly explained.

"April and Casey are friends of ours from… Europe." Donnie lied, since North America had likely not been found at this time and wouldn't be for several hundred years. "England, to be exact."

"So they're foreigners?" Mantis asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Raph confirmed.

Viper slithered up to them, all hostility gone as she held out her tail in greeting. "Well, it's always nice to meet foreigners." She smiled.

Lightly, April lightly shook Viper's tail with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, it's nice to meet you too." She said before shooting the Turtles a look that said 'explanations later'.

"Well, I guess if your friends of the guys, your friends of ours." Crane said, shaking Casey's paw.

Everyone stood around in a bit of an awkward silence, not really sure what more to say or do.

"So…" Raph finally broke the silence. "... how are we gonna explain this to-"

"Explain what?"

The Turtles, Po, April, Casey, and the Five turned to see Shifu standing right in front of them, a frown evident on his face

"Master Shifu!" Leo exclaimed as he, his brothers, Po, and the Five bowed respectfully. "We can explain."

Shifu eyed April and Casey with slight suspicion. "Yes, please explain why you have brought two complete strangers to our sacred temple!" The red panda said sternly.

Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all winced sheepishly, likely figuring that they had a lot of explaining to do.