"Come on guys! Just down this trail!" Monkey exclaimed with Mantis chilling on his usual spot upon the primate's shoulder, the two group jokesters leading the way down the orange encrusted forest with the autumn breeze cooling the air, the rest of the Jade Palace warriors just right on their tail.

Po, the more enthusiastic one in the bunch despite the weather, looked around the forest in glee as he noticed how the change of the seasons affected the leaves greatly by the way they're sprinkled with colors of warm red, gold and brown, and how they gracelessly yet gently fell from their branches and down on the ground. He had no idea what Monkey and Mantis had planned this time, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy the scenery on this little hike with his friends to the fullest. It had been a while since they all just took a minute to relax and hang out together considering how busy his schedule had become since Shifu retired. And with him becoming a chi master and now a successor to the great Master Oogway naturally took up a lot of the poor panda's time. So this little trip that Monkey and Mantis planned was the break Po definitely needed with his friends.

Still, he couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling in his gut that he was trying so hard to push aside. He somehow felt like a lamb being lured to a slaughter. He didn't know if he was looking too much into it, or maybe it was his gut either reminding him to eat or if it was some 'Dragon Warrior; one with the universe' shtick, but even still' it was best for him to not act upon his worry, and did his best to shove any negative thoughts from this experience to the side as much as possible.

Soon his smile turned into a small frown his mind started to plague him with those dreadful thoughts, despite him trying to keep an upbeat attitude. What if this was a sign from the universe? What if he was wrong to force these feelings aside?... Well he has no choice; he's supposed to be a light of hope for everyone. Just like Oogway foretold, just like Shifu trained him to be; he has to keep this happy-go-lucky front, to remain strong for everyone else. He cannot let his own emotions or twisted thoughts get in the way of being there for everyone, not again... If he does... well then, what kind of Dragon Warrior is he...

Okay... maybe he was looking too much into it. Even he realised this when Tigress finally noticed his crestfallen expression and placed a comforting paw on his shoulder, alerting his attention, "Hey... are you alright?" She asked, rightfully concerned.

Po slightly blushed in embarrassment and put on a queasy smile whilst rubbing the back of his head, "Uh... yeah I'm fine! Why do you ask?" He asked nervously.

"You just seemed... distraught. Is something wrong?"

Po waved his hand dismissively and scoffed, "Pfft! Nah! Just a little distracted, that's all! And a little concerned to what Monkey and Mantis both have planned, hehe..."

Tigress showed her natural cold face and cocked up her eyebrow. They both knew she wasn't buying his fluke. Yet when she opened her mouth to protest, they were immediately interrupted by the familiar pranking duo, "WE'RE HERE!"

The remaining four warriors who were falling behind Monkey and Mantis raced after the two and reached up to the top of a hill they were walking through, looking overhead at the grassy meadow that reached on for acres, with a mysteriously large and jaded boulder standing tall in the centre, illuminated by the sun's setting light.

"Wow..." Viper gawked in awe before Monkey and Mantis broke from the group again and raced down the hill to get to the structure, both exclaiming behind him.

"COME ON, GUYS!"
"LAST ONE THERE IS A ROTTEN DUMPLING!"

Master Tigress rolled her eyes as Crane hollered behind Monkey and flew down after him, soon being followed by a now bouncy Po, a already excited Viper and the amused feline.

They all raced down the small hill, with Po boosting the challenge by hunching over in his usual panda-roll technique that he learned from his panda father and zooming past the others, making them cheer for him as they ran after him before wincing as they watched Po bang into the jade exterior.

"Ouch... that's gonna hurt in the morning..." Mantis muttered as Tigress rushed towards the panda's side on instinct, "Po! Are you alright!?" She asked worriedly as she held his head gently in her arms.

Po groaned as he quickly came to and lazily waved his arms in the air... "That... was... AWESOME!" He eventually exclaimed as he removed himself from the now relieved tiger, "Can we do that again!?"

"Haha! Maybe later, buddy!" Monkey laughed as he pat Po on the back before moving to the front with Mantis, "Right now we're on an adventure!"

Crane finally observed this jaded boulder and felt his beak frown as he deadpanned, "So you led us all the way out here... to see a green rock?"

"Actually no!" Viper encouraged, observing this peculiar structure, "It is in fact a rock covering... another... rock..."

Mantis finally rolled his eyes, "For the love of the Spirit Realm—It's not a rock! It's a cave! Look..." He hopped off Monkey's shoulder and ducked under the little crack at the bottom of the passageway and crept inside, "See? There's literally a cave in here! It's just blocked by this big lug." His voice echoed before he popped out and joined the others, "I tried lifting it off before but it won't budge."

Tigress simply rolled her sleeves and approached the boulder herself, "Alright everyone stand back; I got this."

"Uh... Tigress?" Mantis piped up as he hopped on Crane's hat, "No disrespect, but besides you and Po, I'm the strongest one when it comes to lifting here, heck, I can carry Po for crying out loud! so if I can't lift this big guy up, I don't think you can ei—"

"RAAAGH!"
THUD
"—ther..."

The insect squeaked as he just witnessed Tigress groan and successfully lift up the boulder, throwing it over almost everyone's heads and aside some trees in the distance.

The Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five all slowly turn their heads from the fallen boulder to gawk at Master Tigress, who was just dusting her paws before taking a glance at her friends, "What?" She asked cluelessly.

Po, being the fanboy he was, obviously broke into a wide smile with his eyes dilating, "WHOA-HO-HO! THAT WAS AMAZING! H-HOW- HOW DID YOU EVEN—OH-HO MAN!"

"Easy Po, if you're not careful with your words you might just burst!" Viper's motherly instincts kicked in as she giggled at Po's adorable reaction.

"SORRY, SORRY, IT'S JUST—" He quickly moved up to Tigress, who was grinning herself, and bounced on his feet excitedly as if he was gonna get her autograph, like he hasn't been working with his idol for half a decade, "THAT WAS INSANELY COOL, TI!"

Tigress simply smiled and pat Po's head in amusement, "Thank you Po... now, shall we?" She gestured everyone inside, causing them to cheer as they followed suit.

As they all walked in however, they all instantly found something off about this place.

"Huh... I remember it being much smaller on the outside..." Mantis mumbled as they all looked up the seemingly endless void right ahead of them.

Tigress picked up a stray pebble and threw it into the abyss, twitching her ear for any sounds of it dropping. After what felt like two minutes, she heard a very distant and faint plop, making her wonder just how long the void truly goes.

"Crane," She turned to the avian, "Do you think you can fly ahead and see how long this cave really is from your perspective. We need a birds eye view."

Without any arguments, Crane tipped his hat and picked up wind in his wings, making him fly forward into the darkness.

After a short while, Crane finally returned in a huff, leaning on Monkey for support. "Well?" The primate asked gently, "What did you see, bird brain?"

Crane wheezed in exhaustion, "It just keeps going! There doesn't seem to be an end to this cave!"

"Uh... that's kinda... ooky spooky..." Po gulped as the uneasy feeling in his gut increased expeditiously. "Um... maybe we should go back...?" He twiddled his thumbs.

"No way!" Mantis hopped forward, "And miss out on this adventure!? There could be so much explored here!"

"S-still," Po quivered as he looked around anxiously, "I have a bad feeling about this place... I mean, don't you think it's a little suspicious to have this cave conveniently show up in the middle of the woods? It just feels almost... eerie..."

"You're not telling me the Dragon Warrior is scared," The insect master teased with an arrogant smirk.

Po was about to scoff and lie through his teeth, claiming he wasn't scared of anything, when Tigress quickly budded in for him, "Hold on, Po, don't fall into Mantis' pressure. Perhaps you are right, maybe there was a good reason why the boulder was blocking this cave after all; we should probably leave now before we end up making a huge mistake."

The preying mantis rolled his eyes again, "Well of course you would agree with him..." He muttered under his breath, causing Po to perk his ears up in confusion and Tigress to growl maliciously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The panda asked innocently, making Tigress slightly blush as she merely dismissed Mantis' comment, "I'd rather not say... All you need to know is that Mantis is currently walking on very thin ice..." She snarled whilst giving the bug a deadly stare, making him feel smaller than he already was.

"O-okay! That's enough, you two!" Viper laughed nervously as she gathered Crane and Po to join herself and Tigress in a little huddle, "Tigress—guys, be nice. It's obvious Mantis and Monkey are doing this for us, can't we just... check it out for a little while? I mean, it could be fun, right?"

"But what if it's one of those sick pranks those two want to pull on us?" Crane retaliated, having Tigress nod in agreement, as she also knew first hand how logical that conclusion would be considering how Monkey and Mantis usually initiate these kinds of tricks.

"You guys, please! When was the last time we genuinely had an adventure like this? We're either split apart on missions, Po is either training the pandas, achieving his Dragon Warrior duties plus his new grand master duties or visiting his dads, or we're all just sitting awkwardly at the dinner table. Everything's changed since Shifu retired, we haven't even had any time to actually have a break to just... talk. Shouldn't we give this a chance?"

Po, Tigress, and Crane glanced at each other, and then at the pleading faces on Monkey, Mantis, and Viper. The tiger master was the first to sigh in defeat, "I have a bad feeling about this... I'm in."

"Wait what—" Po spluttered, genuinely shocked that Tigress of all people was the first to agree.

Crane playfully rolled his eyes at the panda's reaction and grinned, "For Viper and Monkey's sake... I'm also in!"

"Whoo hoo! That's my bird brain!" Monkey exclaimed happily and pat the avian on the back.

Tigress grinned at all her comrades and turned to the panda, who was still suspiciously hesitant about this idea. In a form of comfort, she gently lent out her hand and smiled softly, "Well? Are you coming, Dragon Warrior?"

Po finally sagged his shoulders, knowing he couldn't resist Tigress when she was this sweet, and slowly yet softly lifted his own hand to hold her lent out paw. She took a step towards him and whispered reassuringly in his ear whilst the others were still distracted, "Don't worry, I don't mind you holding my hand if you get scared. We're going through this together, alright?"

The Dragon Warrior couldn't help but melt into Tigress' embrace and words, so he finally gave a small nod and smile as the feline pulled him towards the group. "He's in."

The group cheered again as Po shot a sheepish grin towards his friends whilst Viper quickly slithered out of the cave to pick up a long and thick branch before meeting back up with her comrades. "First we need some light, we don't wanna be consumed by literal darkness as we travel down the cave—Tigress?" The snake asked politely as she handed over the branch to the feline.

Tigress begrudgingly let go of Po's paw and held the branch up against the jade concrete wall, extracting her claw nails so she could scrape against the wall; with the combination of her sharp nails and the piece of rock colliding to make sparks against the wood, eventually starting a fire.

Po, of course, broke out into his childish fanboy nature again as he trembled and pointed towards the torch, "D-did you just—... start a fire... with your claws?" He softly asked, genuinely dumbstruck.

The hardcore master shrugged, "Well... yeah?" She replied humbly, making Po reach out towards her shoulders and shake her rapidly, "HOW IN THE MORTAL REALM DO YOU JUST GET COOLER BY THE DAY!?"

"Po. Please. You're pushing it."

"Sorry! Sorry..." The panda released timidly as he backed up, managing to finally compose himself.

Tigress had to grin again in fondness as she took Po's hand and let them both take the lead this time, "Alright, this way everyone. We will merely browse around for a bit before it gets too dark. Then we shall leave, understand?" She instructed, to which her colleagues agreed to as it seemed like a fair trade...

Or so they thought.