Notes From The Underground
Disclaimer: I do not own the Kung Fu Panda franchise or its characters.
Voices
That night at Panda Village, Po was getting anything but a restful night of sleep.
You did this for us, Po!
You're responsible for what happened to us! It's all your fault!
Our existence ended because of you!
"Aaaaahhh!" Po finally woke up from his nightmare.
Huffing profusely, Po looked around the entire room. Everything was still in order, including his action figures. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Same nightmare again," Po looked down.
"Po, are you alright?" a knock was heard at the door.
"Yeah, just gimme a minute," Po got up.
He'd been staying at the Panda Village for a while now and even took up a mentor role to Bao and many of the others kids, training them in the ways of kung fu. They'd even been through multiple adventures together, including going up against dangerous foes like Jindiao and the White Bone Demon.
However, the past few months and years had been pretty peaceful and there hadn't been any real villains to fight for a while. Po scratched his back and opened up the door.
"Oh, hey dads," Po yawned.
"We heard you again and we were concerned," Li Shan told his biological son.
"Oh yeah that," Po admitted. "Same dream as usual."
"You mean the one with all those voices accusing you of ruining their lives?" Li Shan asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," Po admitted. "They've been going on for a while."
"You don't suppose they're ghosts, do you?" asked Mr. Ping.
"It shouldn't be," Li Shan scratched his head. "In all this time, there's never been any haunting here, at least none that I know of."
"Well, I can think of a few people who might want to haunt me," Po rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Mostly people that I've skadooshed in the past like Tai Lung and a few others. But here's the funny thing, most of the voices I hear don't sound remotely like Tai Lung or Shen or even Kai. One of them kinda sounds like a woman"
Li Shan and Mr. Ping looked at each other.
"So ghosts you've never even met before want revenge on you?" asked Mr. Ping. "How does that work exactly?"
"You've never 'skadooshed' a female villain before, have you?" asked Li Shan.
"Hmm," Po gave it some thought. "There was this one foe I had back in the Valley of Peace where I thought she got skadooshed on an adventure but later on, she came back and was like 'OWL BE BACK! MWAHAHAHAHA!'"
"Was it her then?" Li Shan inquired.
"Nah, this voice didn't sound as evil," Po shook his head.
"Say, did you know I actually dated one of Po's villains once?" Mr. Ping nudged Li Shan.
"You did what?!" Li Shan looked surprised.
"Her name was Scorpion," Mr. Ping sounded a bit sad. "Turned out she was just using me to get to Po."
"Well, in any case, this has been going on long enough," Li Shan said to his son and Mr. Ping. "If you're being haunted, I think it's time we tried something else, like a change of scenery for you, Po. Usually ghosts can't follow people from one location to another."
"Hmm, what do you have in mind?" Po looked at his biological father thoughtfully.
"There's an outpost the Panda Village keeps many miles from here," Li Shan went on. "It's a building that can be converted into a home or a shop or a restaurant, whatever you fancy. In the past, whenever any of us had to travel outside the village, we would use it as a rest stop to spend the night."
"And did you also mention it can be converted into a restaurant?" Mr. Ping looked hopeful.
"Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?" Li Shan offered. "What do you say?"
"Hmm, might as well give it a shot," Po conceded, realizing he didn't have many other options right now.
oooo
At the end of the day, Po and the other pandas had moved most of Po and Mr. Ping's possessions towards the new home.
"So, how long is this going to last?" asked Bao.
"Shouldn't be too long," Po sat down, finally putting down the last box of action figures he had in his room. "Just gotta stay here long enough to make those ghosts go away."
"Do you suppose it's Kai?" asked Bao. "Or maybe Jindiao or the White Bone Demon who's doing this to you?"
"Nah, those voices don't sound anything like," confirmed Po. "It was definitely someone else."
"Not gonna lie, we could really use you back at the village," Bao told him.
"Hey listen," Po told him. "Remember the training I gave you and the other kids? All of you at the village have good enough self-defense skills now that you can handle yourselves!"
"You really think so?" asked Bao.
"Hey, I believe in you," Po smiled. "Now all that's left is you all believe in yourselves."
"Man, I can't believe I'm saying this," Bao looked a little sad. "But we're really gonna miss you, Po."
"Don't worry, little man," Po smiled, hugging Bao. "We'll see each other again. Count on it."
oooo
"Morning Po, sleep well?" asked Mr. Ping the next morning.
"It was… restful," Po smiled. "No more nightmares or ghosts hovering over my head."
"Good, you can help me serve these customers," Mr. Ping gave Po his work equipment.
"Sheesh," Po shook his head. "I can't catch a break, can I?"
Po noted the new customers they had at their new home/restaurant. They were a contingent of rhino soldiers.
"Hey Dragon Master!" the rhino captain waved.
"Sup guys?" Po went over and gave them their food. "Anything new?"
"Oh yeah, the Emperor passed a new decree," the head rhino informed him. "We were going from town to town to officially declare it."
"Oh?" Po was surprised. "What about?"
"Our illustrious leader has decided to invoke an ancient divine right that goes back to a legal code established even before the legend of the Dragon Warrior came about," the rhino captain replied.
"Wow, sounds pretty important," admitted Po.
"The first Emperor of China established a ceremonial code declaring the divine right to grant and remove titles as he sees fit," the rhino captain continued. "Our current Emperor has re-invoked that divine right once more and given himself that authority which the ancient Emperors had."
"So if he wanted, he could just take away my title as chef?" asked Mr. Ping.
"Theoretically yes," the rhino captain confirmed. "But I wouldn't worry about it. His majesty is highly unlikely to go to some random cook he's never met before and take away his title."
"Wow, so he could also officially disqualify me from being Dragon Master?" asked Po.
"In theory," the rhino captain slurped down some noodles. "But I wouldn't worry about that either. The Emperor knows how much of a hero you are and he's not gonna go after China's greatest champion."
"Cool, so it's like one of those laws that's official but never gets enforced," Po grinned. "Kinda like that one I heard before in that city where it's illegal to forget your wife's birthday."
"You could say that," the rhino replied. "It's mostly a ceremonial thing. His majesty isn't going to go on a rampage just taking away people's occupational titles."
oooo
That night, Po was tossing and turning in his bed once more.
You're a murderer, Po! A murderer!
"No… no," Po mumbled in his sleep. "Not again!"
It's your fault this happened to us, Dragon Master!
"Aaaaahhh!" Po woke up again drenched in sweat.
"Po, are you alright?" asked Mr. Ping, entering Po's room after hearing his adoptive son's cries of pain.
"Oh man, same nightmares," Po muttered. "Same voices."
"It's them again, isn't it?" asked Mr. Ping. "And here I thought moving to a new location would help!"
"It did briefly," Po got up, rubbing his eyes. "But now they're back again."
"What do we do, son?" asked Mr. Ping.
"Well, if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that sometimes, even the Dragon Master needs help," Po finally admitted.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" asked his father.
"Yeah, some old friends I haven't seen in a while," Po declared resolutely.
oooo
In the Valley of Peace, the Furious Five were still more than capable of holding their own against hostile bandits and marauders who still occasionally threatened the peace.
On the ground were the scattered unconscious bodies of all the croc bandits the Furious Five had beaten up.
Before them was a large, hulking warsuit with designs reminiscent of ancient dragons.
"It took me a lot of time, money, and preparation," Tong Fo told the Furious Five. "But with the Heilong armor, the Valley of Peace is finally gonna belong to yours truly!"
"We'll just see about that," Tigress stretched out her claws.
"Yes we will."
Suddenly, the Furious Five turned to the side, as did Tong Fo.
"What?!" Tong Fo cried out.
"Po, you're back!" Monkey cried out.
"Just in time, too!" Crane exclaimed.
"Hey guys, long time no see," Po waved.
"Dragon Warrior, you're back?!" Tong Fo growled.
"It's Dragon MASTER now," Po reminded him. "You probably haven't been paying much attention these past few years but I've leveled up."
"Is that so?" Tong Fo used his warsuit to crack both knuckles. "Well guess what? So have I!"
"Mind if I take this one, guys?" Po asked the Furious Five politely.
"He's all yours," Tigress smiled.
"Yeah, it's been forever since you've fought any of your Valley Rogues," Mantis pointed out.
Tong Fo walked up towards Po in his massive dragon warsuit.
"This is the Heilong armor," Tong Fo informed him. "It cost me a fortune but it was well worth it. To me, you're just an annoying, buzzing insect!"
"You're wrong about one thing," Po informed him, taking a deep breath.
"What's that?" demanded Tong Fo.
"I'm not just a random buzzing insect," Po said calmly with an invisible, zen-like aura in his voice. "I AM the insect."
Something in Po's voice made Tong Fo snap. Angrily, he punched down at Po who avoided it like Tong Fo was punching at him in slow motion.
"What?!" Tong Fo was briefly surprised. "Well no matter! You can't dodge forever!"
Tong Fo's fists powered up with a golden chi as he punched at Po. The large panda ducked and weaved past the hits effortlessly despite being theoretically a large and easy target that Tong Fo should have been able to strike.
"Stay still, panda!" demanded Tong Fo.
Po somersaulted over one of Tong Fo's punches and landed on the Heilong armor's shoulder pad.
"Some of your weapons have changed," Po told Tong Fo calmly. "But you haven't changed."
"Oh yeah?" Tong Fo took advantage of the situation to grab Po by both feet, holding him upside down.
Tong Fo flung Po across the town but Po, while in mid-air, grabbed on to the crest of a building and spun himself back into a standing position.
"It's over, Dragon Warrior!" Tong Fo raised a fist, gathering more golden chi. "I'm ending this and carving my victory over your tombstone!"
The yellow chi turned red as Tong Fo unleashed the full power of the armor at Po. A red chi blast flew towards Po as the rest of the Furious Five tensed up.
"Po, what're you doing?!" Tigress demanded.
"I am the insect," Po whispered calmly.
As the red chi blast came closer, Po caught the blast with his hand and spun himself around multiple times in the air, going with the flow and allowing himself to become one with the attack.
"Maybe I spoke too soon," Tigress smiled once again, realizing that Po knew what he was doing all along.
After spinning in the air a few times like a glowing red lantern, Po redirected the chi blast back at Tong Fo and his armor.
"Oh no," Tong Fo tried to raise both hands up in a defensive position.
The chi blast struck the Heilong armor, utterly destroying it and sending Tong Fo flying into the air screaming. Before long, Tong Fo fell back down on the ground with some charred fur and smoke emerging from his diminutive body.
"Gotta admit, I was not expecting that," the loris crime lord admitted painfully.
Immediately, Viper came in, wrapping herself around his body and tying him up neatly.
"Hey! That's too tight!" Tong Fo complained.
"Oh grow up, you big baby," Viper gave the loris an extra squeeze. "Po, it's good to see you again!"
"Yeah, we thought you'd never return after you went to the Panda Village," Monkey told him.
"Guys, it's good to be back," Po gave Monkey a hug.
He also moved in to give Tigress a hug but a quick death glare stopped him.
"So, uh, where's Shifu?" asked Po.
"He's in the Jade Palace," Tigress responded.
"Yeah, he'll be really happy to see you again, Po," Viper added.
"Great," Po smiled. "In the meantime, why don't we bring Tong Fo into custody and then—"
"Whoa, is that you again, Po?!"
One of the croc bandits with Tong Fo raised his head. It was none other than one of Po's old frenemies, Fung.
"Hey Fung," Po waved. "I know it's been a while but I'm gonna have to make this a quickie."
"But you just came back into town," Fung protested. "Don't you wanna hang out?"
"I'd love to," Po told him. "But you see, I have something else going on."
"But we can go get noodles together!" Fung cried.
"Noodles you stole or bought?" asked Po.
"Uh…"
"I thought so," Po grabbed Fung by the scruff of the neck. "C'mere Fung, let's get you back to Chorh-Gom!"
"Darn it!"
oooo
"Master Shifu, look who it is!" Crane called out.
The diminutive kung fu master stopped his meditation and opened up an eye.
Before him were the Furious Five and one student he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Po!" Shifu cried. "You've come back to us!"
"Hello Master Shifu," Po bowed in humility. "It's good to be back."
"Po wasn't lying when he said he leveled up," Mantis informed their master. "You should've seen him out there taking on Tong Fo in the Heilong armor."
"Amazing," Shifu exclaimed. "That mystical armor once brought all of China to its knees many centuries ago under a warlord. If you were able to defeat Tong Fo with that armor in less than a day, then I truly don't have much left to teach you."
"Actually Master," Po admitted. "There is still more you can teach me. You see, I have a problem right now and sometimes, there are just some things I can't solve by punching away at it."
"Really?" Master Shifu looked surprised. "What problem would that be?"
"I'm being haunted," Po told Shifu. "I keep hearing ghostly voices every night accusing me of being a murderer."
"Hmm, could it be Tai Lung's vengeful spirit?" asked Shifu. "Or perhaps Ke-Pa trying to rise from the grave again?"
"No, those voices didn't sound like any of my enemies," Po replied.
"This is indeed unsettling," admitted Shifu. "Panda, we've both dealt with the supernatural before but never a case where spirits you've never met begin to accuse you of being a murderer."
"I know," Po frowned. "It's not the best feeling in the world."
"Po, come with me," Shifu beckoned his former student. "It's time we got to the bottom of this."
To be continued.
Author's Note: This series is going to try and bridge the gap between the previous TV shows and some of the continuity issues in The Dragon Knight.