Emperor of Japan


"So Po, about the katana?" Mantis grinned as they sat in the barracks.

Po sighed, "Leave it alone, guys. It's special for... a reason." Then Tigress came glaring at a shamefaced Po.

"You guys still fighting? So Po stepped on your tail and you tumbled down the stairs into a pot of noodles. It was an accident, even though the town laughed about it for a while?" the simian snickered.

"Shut it, Monkey." Tigress and Po grumbled.

Just then Zeng came in. "Master Shifu wants you all in the Hall." The team rushed to the Hall of Heroes and saw a familiar prawn with a sword by his side.

"Master Yijiro," Tigress excitedly said, bowing, "Have you come to visit us? It will be a nice change of pace to have a real warrior here." She looked over to Po with a low eyelid smirk. The panda rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. He couldn't be bothered with her antics. Yijiro was a Japanese Samurai prawn that helped Po and Tigress with a Japanese villain that invaded their land. Of course, Po thought they didn't need him in their first encounter, and the situation became complicated. Needless to say, the panda's jealousy caused some problems, but Tigress became very intrigued by the prawn's samurai ways. Whether or not she was intrigued because he was a prawn and she a feline was never really clarified.

"It is great to see you all, especially you Master Tigress. But today, I've only come as a messenger to the Dragon Warrior," Yijiro said.

"Who is the message from?" Monkey asked.

"From the very Emperor of Japan," The prawn replied. Po's face went white...er as Yijiro unfurled a scroll. "He says that he's coming to meet the Dragon Warrior in person for an important mission. This is a grand honor, Po-san. The Emperor of Japan is the greatest Samurai ever."

"I know." Po gritted out, dragging his hand down the side of his face.

"You don't seem excited," Viper said.

"Well, the thing is...I ...have to...go to...the...market outside of the valley and it's a two-day, possibly month, journey."

"It says here that if you leave the valley, you will be killed," Yijiro said.

Po flinched as everyone gasped. "Abba would put that in there."

"What?" Tigress asked.

"Nothing. Um...how about this? You tell the Emperor to meet me here. Knowing him, he's probably right behind you so." Po dashed out the door. Nobody could answer why the panda was so shaky. Tigress grumbled,

"We'll just have to stall the Emperor while Po does... whatever crazy thing he's doing." Everyone agreed.

About an hour later, they heard trumpets signaling the arrival of the Emperor. A regal duck walked up to announce him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jade Palace, it is with great honor that I present to you the most powerful, mag-"

"WINDBAG! SHUT UP!" Shouted the couple coming up the stairs. Strangely enough, the Royal couple didn't dress in fine clothing. They were just in regular clothes. The Emperor was a 6'1" slightly lanky gray wolf with a dark jade vest with black lining and pants. He looked like he was married to a 5'9" orange cat with a dark purple vest of her own and bright white pants with a sword on her side. The wolf had two swords, one on each side. As the masters bowed, they looked at each other under raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders. It's fairly unusual for royalty to have swords on them.

"Hello, I am Emperor Lee of Japan. It is great to see the Masters of the Jade Palace."

"It's a grand honor that the Emperor of Japan graces us with his presence," Master Shifu said.

Lee looked around, frowning when he couldn't find something. His wife voiced his question. "Is... is the Dragon Warrior here?"

"And you are my lady?" Shifu asked shakily.

"She is Queen Mei. Now um...where is the Dragon Warrior? We've come a long way to see him," Lee asked impatiently. Shifu and the others looked at each other.

"Your Excellency, maybe you would like to see the Jade Palace before you meet the Dragon War-"

"Oh for the love of- Where is Po?!" Lee and Mei shouted. Eyes went wide with shock. Tigress spoke first.

"How do you know his name... Y-Your Majesties?" The wolf and cat glanced at each other. Breathing out a laugh, Mei shook her head, placing her hands on her hips.

Lee sighed, "We...know...many things about the panda that you probably don't. Now, where is he?" He nearly growled.

They were silent for a while before Master Shifu said, "He's at his father's shop, making noodles."

"Down at Pings. Windbag, give us our cloaks. Come on Mei, we can catch him by surprise," Lee smiled as they both rushed down the mountain. The Furious Five, Yijiro, and Shifu stared at each other with the widest eyes, continually shrugging their shoulders and tilting their heads.

Meanwhile, Po was serving two new people who came in with cloaks on. "Welcome to Mr. Ping's noodle shop. What would you like?"

"I would like my panda friend to actually greet me," the hooded man said.

Po furrowed his eyebrows, saying, "I... don't think we have that on the menu."

"Zing-Zing," He took off his hood, "It's me, Lee."

"OH MY GOSH!" Po gasped as he hugged his long lost brother. Mei took off her hood too, and Po hugged her tightly, briefly lifting her off the ground.

"Mei! It's so good to see you guys," Po said. "So you guys must be here with Abba?" Their laughter disappeared as Lee and Mei sadly looked at each other.

"Po, um...Abba's dead," Lee lamented.

The panda stumbled back into a chair and sat. He threw his hands on his head and shakily sighed, "I should have been there."

Mei petted him on the back, "You didn't know. There was nothing you could do. He had a complication with his heart. No one saw it coming."

"But I should have been there." Po sighed, sniffling. Then he realized something that made him snap out of his despair. "So wait. Who's the new Emperor?"

"I am, of course," Lee said. Po's eyes popped open.

"So that means that you and Mei are...HA! Congratulations! I knew you would come around," the panda smirked at Lee's shaky grin.

"On the bright side, we're finally together. But Po, we have to tell the others," Mei stated. Nodding, Po got up, went to the kitchen, and retrieved the katana.

"You still kept it," Lee said slightly amazed.

"It was the only thing that I had left to remember you guys," Po smiled. Mei and Lee hugged the panda as they came up the mountain.


"Ladies and gentlemen of the-"

"Windbag, cut it short!" Po shouted at the duck.

"Presenting Emperor Lee, Empress Mei, and Prince Po," Windbag finished.

"Prince?!" The Five, Shifu, and Yijiro all exclaimed.

Po rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah well, I'll explain over lunch."

"Good, because I'm starved. I could use some of your cooking," Lee said, going to the kitchen.


Po finished his drink and started the tale, "Well, I was picked on a lot when I was little, so I ran away when I was twelve. I snuck on a ship heading for Japan, and when I got to the shore, I walked all the way to Tokyo. I was cold, lost, hungry, and sleeping in the dumps. Then I bumped into Lee when he was being held up by bandits. I tried helping him... but I...ended up getting beaten by the bandits as well, but it was enough time for Lee to get his sword and defeat the bandits."

"After we ran off the bandits, I brought Po back to the palace to treat his wounds. I originally disguised myself as a commoner just to feel normal," Lee sighed. He rolled his eyes as a small chuckle exited Mei's mouth. "Anyways, when I introduced Po to my father, my father decided to keep him. After a while, Po showed great potential for being a samurai, so Bao-Ai started to train him along with me." Lee's maw split into a great grin as he looked at his wife. "About a month later, Mei came in as a gift from the Chinese Emperor. At first, Mei was a menace to everyone in the palace, and she took a special dislike to me. She even told us that she would kill me and roast the panda!" Lee exclaimed, half-laughing.

"I said I was sorry," Mei said innocently.

"Anyways, Mei started to warm up to Po first. Of course, Po was the glue to help me actually like Mei. I use to absolutely hate her! No offense, honey," Lee said, defensively hugging Mei.

"How did Po do for a samurai?" Monkey asked.

"Oh, well, Bao-Ai saw that Po would NOT follow the old fighting ways for the life of him, but Po came up with brand new techniques. He became one of the best samurais in history; I think he's even better than Mei or me," Lee stated.

"But that's impossible! You and Empress Mei are the legendary Emperor Samurais," Yijiro exclaimed.

Lee shook his head. "We weren't always called that. We use to be called something else." Just then, they heard a noise coming from the Hall of Heroes. Everyone rushed in and found a bunch of big croc bandits stealing the artifacts. The Furious Five and Shifu were about to take care of it, but Lee stopped them.

"Let the old Samurais deal with this," Lee said, throwing Po his sword, "You think you still got it?" Po took the katana out of its case, letting the inscription gleam in the light.

"I'm ready," Po smirked.

"Impossible," Yijiro gasped as he read the inscription. His jaw dropped and his stalky eyes went round. Scanning Po's frame, Yijiro shook his head and gawked again. "It can't be."

"What is it?" Tigress asked.

"Emperor Lee and Mei are legendary fighters, but they use to be an ultimate Samurai trio," Yijiro said. Lee pulled out his two dual swords, rushed forward, and slashed through the crocs' weapons and swords. "Emperor Lee is named the Two-side Samurai because of the dual katanas." Mei swung her sword out, crashed to her knees, and slid under the crocs. Popping up, she kicked one croc down and cut her blade through the back armor of the other. Before the crocodile behind her could grab her, Mei stabbed her sword to the ground, stood on it with her hands, wrapped her nibble legs around the croc's neck, and threw him over to the other downed reptiles. "Empress Mei is named The Lady Samurai because she's the only woman samurai. But then that means that Po is-"

"You aren't getting away that easily," said the lead crocodile about to grab Lee. But Po cut in the way. (hehe puns). The panda swung his sword, cutting through the croc's armor, and then Po slashed through the other crocs with lightning speed. A big mark on the floor bore his mark.

"What are you?" The lead croc stuttered.

"The name is Zaber," Po cooly said as he looked at the big 'z' on the floor, "Now, get out." The reptiles scampered away. Po turned around to see a slack-jawed Furious Five, Shifu, and Yijiro.

"You're the legendary Zaber? THE Zaber? The strongest one of the Legendary Samurai Trio? The one who helped to unify Japan? But how? He disappeared five years ago," Yijiro said.

"Has it really been five years since I left Japan?" Po asked Mei.

"Oh five years, two months, six weeks, four days, three hours, forty-five minutes, and one, two, three seconds. But who's counting?"

"Hehe," Po nervously laughed, avoiding her leer. "Um... sorry about the mess, Master Shifu."

"I think this is the one time I won't scowl you for this," Shifu slowly said. His eyes were still plastered white as he scanned the room. "You never cease to amaze me, Po."

"So now that we got that out of the way. Why did you actually come here? I mean you already knew where I was," Po asked.

The wolf rubbed the back of his head, "Well, we wanted to find you, but we're here to find someone else. The Jin-Min Warrior."

"Who... or what is that?" Monkey asked.

"The Jin-Min are the rivals of the Japanese empire. They're a...bunch of cats that use to terrorize the Japanese coast. Lee and I fought them so many times," Po sighed. "The Jin-Min warrior is prophesied to bring the Jin-Min honor and glory. But, Lee, the Jin-Min warrior is a myth."

"That's what we thought until we asked Abba's spies about the myth. The prophecy said that the Jin-Min warrior would be an orphan child that would grow up into a warrior of incredible strength."

"Originally, we thought this wasn't true because the Jin-Min doesn't have that many orphans who are warriors. But every time we looked into stray tigers, they would turn up false as I'm sure you know, Po," Mei grumbled, crossing her arms. The panda darted his eyes everywhere as the room of eyes zoomed on him.

"W-w-w-what makes you think I would know."

"Because one particular Jin-Min spy recently gave us information about the legend AFTER Bao-Ai died. Apparently, there was one orphan cat that grew up to be a mighty warrior. A baby tiger that grew up in the Bao-goo Orphanage," Lee said. Gasping, everyone stared at Tigress. She couldn't express the deep shock; she could only slightly drop her jaw. "And since you've been the deepest into Jin-Min territory AND you were in charge of the spies at one point, you would have had direct contact with the mother and father of that child, right Po?"

Po sighed and gazed at the ground as his shoulders sagged and his eyes closed, "Yes, I knew." Tigress shot her gaze at the panda.

"You knew? You mean, you knew where I was born from the very beginning? You knew that I was destined to be a villain?" Tigress lowly growled out. Po nodded sadly, opening his eyes.

"Yes, when I was deep in Jin-Min country as a spy, I ran into your parents. At the time, they were officials for the ruling leader of the Jin-Min. When I was a spy, I told them about my Valley of Peace life instead of my samurai one. It's when they told me about the Jin-Min warrior in detail that I told them about you. They said they would help us defeat the Jin-Min if I could keep you safe and out of the war. So I did by not telling you," Po solemnly finished. Tigress's glare grew with her roar. Po didn't flinch when she lunged at him, slashing and swiping her claws near his face; the team struggled to keep her back.

"YOU STUPID PANDA! HOW COULD YOU?! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Tigress yelled.

When they finally calmed her down, enough not to worry about her actually spilling blood, she charged down to the Training Hall; tears brimmed down her cheeks. Everyone coldly glared at Po. The panda took a deep breath and straightened up. The mustered dignity in his eyes took everyone off guard. He spoke low and slow, "You're all right, I was stupid. But I was trying to protect her and you guys. You'll do anything to protect the people you care about, even if it means not telling the truth. That is the way of the Samurai." Lee patted him on the back. "And she already didn't like me today."

"Well, time for damage control. Come on, let's go find the tiger," Lee said.

Continued...