3 years ago…..

A small figure ran quickly through Camelback Mountain, checking behind him to spot any who followed him. He ran tirelessly with a large hammer in his small hands, the rain pouring down on him. Between the size of the hammer and the slippery rain that poured, it was shocking that he hadn't fallen to his feet.

The small figure was none other than a bandit known as Tong Fo, grandson of the late Tong Lo. Tong Fo was a well known bandit throughout China and word had spread that he had stolen the Sacred War Hammer of Lei Lang. One of China's most dangerous weapons that could take out valleys in a matter of seconds. Nearly every bandit wanted it and was now in his hands. He knew at any given moment, one group of bandits would find out he had succeeded to steal it.

Tong Fo didn't fear many bandits, in fact many of them he knew he could beat them rather easily. There was one group of bandits he really feared though.

The Ling Kuei.

Gosh did he hate those guys. Ever since the son of the previous leader, Min, took over, they had become more dangerous than ever and it was freaking out all the bandits. The son was completely mad and everyone feared him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tong Fo froze, seeing a large figure a feet from him. Dammit, who told them he found it? It was the son of Min. He was a large panda, who wore nothing more than just a pair of patch pants without any shoes. A black cloak wrapped around his neck that flew with the wind of the pouring rain and the hood covering his face. He did have a reputation of keeping his identity secret, even from other bandits. "You seem to have something that belongs to me."

"No way." Tong Fo pulled the hammer closer to him. "I stole it first. Not my fault your useless lackeys didn't get to it first." That was a bad move and he realized it quite quickly. His large eyes widened almost as he finished talking.

"Useless lackeys?" He removed his hood to reveal the face of the large panda. Tong Fo recognized the face. He had seen it before but in the valley a very few times. Po Ping, the constable's student.

"Wait, you're that boy from the valley who hangs out with the constable all the time. Po Ping." Tong Fo looked at him carefully. "You're the Crimson Bear?" Po gave him a mischievous smirk that scared him.

"Well, look at that." Po held a blade behind his back. "Looks like the secret is out."

Off in the distance, a group of crocs were halfway up the mountain when they heard the frightening screams of Tong Fo. Screams that were so loud that not even the sound of thunder could mask. The leader of the crocs looked up towards where the screams were coming from, only to see a large figure in a cloak looking down at the bottom. The sounds of something falling down the path distracted them from the figure. They couldn't quite make it out until it got to their feet.

It was the head of Tong Fo. His eyes wide with fear and blood still dripping from his decapitated neck. By the time the crocs looked back up the mountain, whoever had done this, was gone.


Present day….

Tigress sighed as she sat at the kitchen table, fiddling with her paws. Murders wouldn't usually affect her as she had seen many murder scenes before. Though they thankfully didn't happen often, they were a rare occurrence in the valley. Despite all the security they had placed around the valley. Tai-Lung smiled sadly seeing Tigress sitting all alone. He knew this was not new to the valley. This was the third murder scene in four months. He didn't understand how these assassins were getting past guards that stood watch throughout the valley.

"Doesn't get any easier does it sister?" Tai-Lung asked as he sat beside her.

"No." Tigress sighed. "I don't understand how someone can just take someone else's life away."

"Well, not everyone thinks the way we do." Tai Lung smiled softly. "They could also be troubled from a traumatic past and caused them to be the way they are." Tigress sighed, keeping her eyes on her paws.

"I just wish I could have done something more." She admitted.

"Perhaps you can, Tigress." The voice belonging to Oogway directed their attention back to the door of the kitchen. He stood there with a smile and his staff beside him. "I would like to put you and Po to investigate Mr Chen and Bai's murder."

"No disrespect or anything, Master, but are we really sure the panda is trustworthy?" Tai Lung asked. "We barely know the guy."

"This may be true, Tai Lung, which is why I would like Tigress to investigate along with him." Oogway smiled. Tigress and Tai Lung looked at their master confused. Oogway never did anything without reason and would tell them why if he wanted to.

Not seeing a problem with the situation, Tigress bowed to her master.

"I'd be honored."


Po looked up at the sign of the shop above him, unsure if he should go in or not.

Mr Ping's Noodle Hut.

Po couldn't recall this shop being here last he came to the valley. Much less any shop that had his surname on it.

"That's weird." Po thought out loud.

"Po Ping." Po turned to see Master Oogway coming his way along with Master Tigress right behind him.

"Hello Master Oogway." Po bowed respectfully. "I received your scroll that you sent."

"I'm glad you did." Oogway smiled. "I have a request I need to ask of you."

"You have a cryptic way of talking." Po raised a brow.

"You'll get used to it." The way Tigress spoke to him was unlike how she had spoken to him the day before at the crime scene. It was…captivating to him and he wasn't sure why.

"I'd like to put you and Master Tigress in charge of investigating Mr Chen and Miss Bai's murder."

"How can you tell you can trust me?"

"I do not." Oogway admitted. "But I believe you will work just fine with Tigress in this investigation. Regardless if we can trust you or not."

"Hmmm" Po looked at him questionably.

"Though, I do appreciate your honesty, Po." He smiled. "I trust that you know your way around a crime scene, given your past reference?"

"I wouldn't say that but sure." Po shrugged with a smile. "I'll help out. I have nowhere else to be."

"Excellent. I'll leave you to get to know each other." Oogway placed his hand on Tigress's shoulder before whispering to her. "Remember to find information about the scene but also try to make friends with him. Alright?" He whispered with a smile. Tigress raised a brow at him, confused about his intentions, but nodded nonetheless.

"So," Po looked towards her once Oogway left. "Looks like we're working together."

"Yes." Tigress nodded. "While I'm unsure why Oogway wants us working together, that is what he said." She crossed her arms. Po frowned slightly before smiling again.

"Look, we started off on the wrong foot yesterday. Why don't we start over?" Po extended his paw out. "I'm Po Ping. Regular residential panda of China." Tigress raised a brow at him confused at his way of introduction.

"Master Tigress." Tigress finally shook his paw. "But you can just call me Tigress."

"Cool." Po smiled. "So, should we get started?" Tigress nodded in response with a small smile of her own before the pair made their way to Mr Chen's shop.


Meanwhile, off in the forest, a group of bandits looked at the loot they had just stolen from some villagers. This group of bandits were known as…the Croc Bandits. Yup. That's right, The Croc Bandits. They weren't exactly very creative when picking their bandit group name. Then again they just wanted to steal, not do anything that would get them known as dangerous. In fact they were the least dangerous villains.

"Alright boys, how much did we get this time?" Fung asked. He was the leader of the group of bandits. He had also been the one to have the idea of being bandits in the first place. Only recruiting his friends to join him.

"I think we did pretty good." Gahri grinned. First one he ever recruited was his best friend Gahri. Sure he wasn't the smartest but he was also his only friend. The other croc bandits were gathered by chance. "We have lots of gold and-gah!" Gahri screamed when he looked up to look at him.

"What?" Fung looked at him confused before turning around.

"Hello Fung." The voice of Nayi startled Fung to his core. The Croc Bandits wanted no business becoming well renowned villains. They just want to steal and that was all. Unfortunately for them, The Lin Quai always had different plans.

"M-miss Nayi." He stuttered. "How have you been?"

"I'm not here to chit chat, Fung." Nayi walked over to them. Her stance was always menacing to the crocs. In fairness it was menacing to many bandits but Fung was less brave than any other bandits, making them the perfect targets for the Lin Quai. "I'm here because I need you to steal something."

"Steal something?" Fung looked confused. The Lin Quai never asked them to steal anything for them. Like, never. "Us? Are you sure?"

"Don't play games with me, Fung." Nayi showed him her blade. "You guys are the only stupid enough to pull what I need."

"Wow." Ghari slumped. "Harsh."

"But true." Nayi smirked. "Now," She aimed her blade at Fung's throat. "Now, will you do as I say or must blood be spilled?" Fung quivered in fear as the blade nearly pierced his throat. He did not wish to die today nor wanted Nayi to turn the blade towards his crocs. There was only one choice here really.


Po would glance towards Tigress from time to time as they each took sides of the shop, trying to find anything they could have missed the previous day. Po quickly noticed she wasn't much of a talker and he honestly didn't mind it at all. He wasn't either.

Keeping his mouth shut got him where he was now. If he would have spoken back to his father, he wouldn't be the leader of The Lin Quai now. Still, gaining her trust required talking to her and getting to know one another. He needed to get into the palace.

"Found anything?" Po asked, walking over to her.

"Seems like they stole a couple of weapons." Tigress turned around to face him only, to her surprise, Po had walked a little too close to her and their noses nearly made contact.

"Sorry." Po backed up a bit. "I just wanted to take a closer look." He chuckled. "What did they take?" Tigress shook her head, trying to shake off the shock of the sudden closeness before focusing back on the case she had in her paws.

"Looks like the Wei Li." She commented. "One of the most powerful weapons in China." Po made a quick mental note that she was smart. "How and why did Mr Chen have this?" She asked herself.

"Maybe he was repairing it?" Po suggested.

"It's possible." Tigress sighed before looking at him. "Do you have any knowledge of the Li weapons?"

"Admittedly," Po chuckled. "I do. Li weapons can cut through the muscle and bone of any creature. They were illegal up until a few weeks ago. Not easy to repair though."

"Then the one that was stolen must still have some damage to it or be freshly fixed.." Tigress smiled. "That at least gives us a reason as to why Mr Chen had it."

"Best weapons repair pig in the land." Po smiled. "Well…used to be anyways." He joked, only to receive a glare from her. "Sorry. Too soon?"


Tigress sighed looking at the box in front of her. The pair sat at a table on the back of Mr Ping's Noodle Shop looking over what they had found in the shop along with a menu.

"Are the noodles here good?" Po asked, looking over the menu.

"Only the best ones in the valley." Tigress commented more focused on the items in front of her than the menu.

"Really?" Po looked up at her. "Why do you say that?"

"Because they are?" She raised a brow at him.

"Isn't it the only noodle shop in the valley though?"

"Well…yeah I suppose." Tigress shrugged. "But there have been other noodle shops in the valley but they kind of closed down recently."

"Then I guess Mr Ping can say he really does have the best noodles then." Po smiled. "I think I'll order some. Would you like anything? My treat." He offered.

"No thanks." Tigress looked back at the items in front of her. "I'm trying to figure out how to connect these objects." Besides the box, they had found a piece of a torn shirt, a freshly cleaned knife, patches of wolf hair and torn armor cloth and spikes. Po knew where all these items were from. He had some of his wolves place it in the crime scene the previous night and thankfully, they had done a good job at placing it where Tigress would have believed they had missed it. He really did have a great crew he could rely on….most of the time.

"A snack wouldn't hurt now would it?" Po smiled. "Let me treat you to something. Yeah?" Tigress looked up at him once again and smiled lightly.

"Alright. I'll have what you're having then." Po smiled brightly before getting up to order at the window. Tigress watched him go with a smile of her own. In the short time they had spent investigating, he had been nothing but nice and a gentleman. It had taken her by surprise when Oogway had asked her to investigate with the panda they barely knew. The shock did not wear off when he revealed his true intentions to her. Shifu had told her multiple times to meet with the matchmaker but she personally did not wish to be told what family she was best married into. Like Oogway had thought her years ago, she wished to fall in love naturally. Oogway was by no means playing matchmaker as they had a murder to solve but the thought was nice….she supposed.

Nothing like getting to know someone over dead bodies. She thought with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Po walked over to the counter to order, waiting patiently in line for his turn. He noticed an old goose working alongside a much younger goose, presumably his son. They both worked effortlessly with each other, taking orders and serving plates with smiles on both of their faces. Po smiled as well, assuming the two had a good relationship to work so well in sync.

Po's relationship with his own father wasn't the greatest but not the worst either. Given who he was raised by and how he came out to be, their relationship had been pretty good. Still he wished his relationship with his father could have been better before his death five years ago.

"Hello, how can we help you?" The elder goose asked him, interrupting him from his thoughts.

"Can I have two secret ingredient soups and an order of bean buns?" Po asked politely.

"Certainly." The goose smiled, heading to get his order ready.

"That will be thirteen yuan." The younger goose told him. Po handed the younger goose the exact change before taking his tray back to his and Tigress's table.

"Anything to connect them yet?" Po asked, sitting across from her and giving her her bowl.

"Well the fur is certainly from a wolf in the area….probably." She sighed

"That certainly doesn't narrow down the search." Po picked up his chopsticks. "Too many wolves all over."

"Yes but I thought we wanted evidence against the Crimson Bear?"

"We don't even know if the Crimson Bear is an actual bear, Tigress." Po pointed out. "They could be anything!

"I suppose." Tigress sighed looking down at the items. "It's just too similar to their type of crime though."

"Don't let your food get cold." Po pointed to her bowl. "I'm sure we'll crack this case." Tigress sighed before beginning to eat along with Po.

As she ate, she did not notice how the kind and gentle eyes that she had been speaking to all day turned dark and vile.

She's smarter than I thought.


Trust me on this, this is going somewhere...dark. Got to give you the light hearted stuff first