Chapter 16 : Stronger Thing

"Panda," someone called softly. "Panda."

Slowly, Po opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, but everything came back into focus after several blinks.

A wizened pig and an even older goat were staring down at him with a smile on their lips.

"He's up! He's up!" The pig exclaimed.

Po didn't know who they were, but was sure that they had no ill intentions. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear the dizziness he was experiencing.

"He's still weak." The goat observed.

Po sat up slowly and glanced at his surroundings. He was in a room that was completely empty save for the futon he was now sitting on. Sunlight filtered through an opened window, indicating the current time of the day.

"How are you feeling?" The pig asked.

"Dizzy, but much better." Po answered weakly.

"That's good. We thought you were dead when we found you."

Po recalled the incident on the hill that almost took his life.

"Yeah. We got—wait a minute—" Po looked around again in panic. "Where are my friends?! Didn't they survive as well?! Oh, No. No. No," He covered his face in anguish. "They're dead! It's all my fault! My fault! I should have-!"

"Hey. Calm down, Buddy." The old goat said gently as he placed a hoof on Po's shoulder. "Your friends are fine. They're playing with children outside."

"Oh." Po sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

The goat smiled. "I'm Dao, the leader of this valley. And this," he patted the pig's shoulder. "is my brother, Liu."

"Your brother is a pig?!" Po asked, surprised. "How come?!"

"Something wrong with that?" Liu challenged.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Po was worried that he had offended the pig. He knew that he shouldn't have asked that as he himself had a goose father. "I'm Po."

"We know who you are," said Dao the goat. "Your friends have introduced themselves."

"They have?"

"Yes.

"You… know who we are?" Po asked, pointing his index finger alternatively between himself and the old goat.

"Sure. Crane, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Po. You've all got names that are easily remembered, except for you." Dao finished, pointing at Po. "Why aren't you named by your species just like your friends?"

"Erm, no idea? But that's not what I mean. Do you know who we really are?"

"No, we don't."

So they don't know us. Po thought. The other four seems to be hiding their true identities. Po didn't know why, but he knew that since they made the effort to do it, he should follow suit.

"By the way, where did you find us?"

"Almost twenty feet under the snow? We were surprised when we saw the avalanche which started from atop the hill heading towards our valley."

"I'm sorry for that," said Po.

"Sorry? What for?"

"We might've been the ones who caused it."

"No. It's okay. It wasn't your fault," Dao replied. "No one has ever made it through that hill. It's been years now and we never ever use that path, unless if you have a death wish."

Po laughed when he heard that. "So, what's this place called?"

"The Great Valley. Have you heard about it?"

Po shook his head. "Nope."

"Hah?! You sure?"

"Uh… yes? Why wouldn't I be sure?"

Liu the pig palmed his face. "Oh, boy. This is the like the greatest valley in the whole of China! How could you not heard of it?!"

Po shrugged. "I've know many valleys. But, The Great Valley? Never heard of it before."

"You look pale." Dao interrupted, changing the subject. "Why don't you go enjoy yourself outside? Some fresh air might be good for you."

"Sounds good." Po said as he stood up and made his way wobbly to the door.

Stepping out of the wooded hut, he saw that the valley was surrounded by a fast flowing river. Lush green grass covered the ground where everyone walked on.

As he continued exploring the place, he walked past cheerful villagers chatting and going about their daily life. In the distance he saw a number of children playing tag, screaming blissfully as they ran and tried to catch each other.

Pausing for a moment to take in the peaceful scene, it reminded him a little of the panda village he had lived in before Shen's massacre.

Rounding a corner, Po found his friends surrounded by a number of young kids as they sat on a large rock. It looked like they were entertaining the young ones with stories.

He smiled dreamily when he saw those happy faces, almost as if he could feel what they're feeling. If only Tigress was here with them, it would make it become more perfect.

"Po!" Monkey waved his hand at him as he grinned widely. Po waved back.

"Well, Children," Viper said to them. "Sorry, but we have to go now."

The children groaned in disappoint. "Just one more story?" They pleaded.

"Sorry," said Crane. "Maybe we'll continue it tomorrow."

Crestfallen, the children started to dispersed.

Po ran over to his friends. "Are you guys okay?"

"As you can see," said Monkey cheerfully. "We're perfectly alright."

"I'm not," Crane objected. "Look at my wings." He said indignantly, holding up his bandaged wings.

"I'm sorry, Crane."

"Don't blame yourself, Po," Viper said. "It was an accident."

"But it was my voice that caused it. I put all of you in danger."

"Hey. Have you forgotten? We're warriors," Mantis reminded. "It's almost normal for us to be facing danger."

"Besides, we're on a journey to rescue Tigress," Monkey added. "We'll do anything to get her back."

Po smiled for a second, but upon hearing Tigress' name, his expression turned sombre. "I miss her."

The other four understood how he felt.

"We miss her too," Viper said. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"We're getting close." Viper announced as she jabbed the end of her tail in the direction of the river. "You see it?"

Po squinted his eyes and realized that there was another plot of land in the distance. He nodded.

"That's Darknest Land."

Po gasped. "That's… that's Darknest -?"

"Yep."

Po was speechless for a moment, delighted in knowing that they are so close to their objective.

"We can't waste anymore time!" Po exclaimed. "We got to go now. Come on!"

Just as they were about to start moving, someone called out to them.

"Going somewhere?"

They turned to the speaker.

"Hi, Dao," Po smiled. "Yes, we're leaving now."

"Why are you in such a hurry? It hasn't even been twenty four hours since you arrived."

"Well, we would like to stay, but we've got a job to do."

"Stay for a night." He suggested. "I want to introduce you all to my people. It'll be fun."

"It's a tempting suggestion, Dao," Po tried to refuse the offer. "But again, we're sorry. We really need to—"

"Come on. I insist. We can show you more of our valley." Dao added. "On top of that, aren't you all tired after your journey?"

They stared to each other for a minute.

"I see your wing is still injured." Dao gestured to Crane. "I know someone who can heal it within five hours."

Po looked at his friends, raising his eyebrows as if asking 'How'. But they just shrugged, clearly indicating that the decision was up to him.

"Okay," He conceded. "We'll stay till tomorrow." After the incident on the hill, it was indeed a good idea to recuperate before to continuing their journey.

"Just enjoy our valley," said Dao before leaving them.

"Thanks, Dao." Po called out to him.

"We're wasting time." Mantis grumbled unhappily.

"But it's not a bad idea, right?" Po asked. "At least, we get to rest."

"I agree," said Monkey. "Anyway, we have to get another boat to cross the river again. These people might lend us one."

They strolled through the valley, breathing in the cool crisp air and enjoying the beautiful scenery all around them.

"Why didn't you guys tell them that we're The Dragon Warrior and The Furious Five?" Po asked after a while.

"It's for our safety,"Crane explained. "The most important thing when you're on a mission is to keep a low profile. Don't let anyone know who you really are."

That night

Po and the four, along with the rest of the villagers, were gathered on the open field. Some were playing music, some were dancing and others were chatting with each other around the roaring campfire.

The four were playing with the children again. Although Po was also good with children, he wasn't in the mood today to join them today.

He saw Liu sitting alone away from the crowd. Unsure of whether what he was doing was right, Po approached him.

"Liu."

Liu titled his head. "Hi, Po. You're not joining them?"

"Nah. What about you?"

"I'm not used to noisiness."

"Can I join you?"

"Sure."

Po sat beside him. "This place is great."

"Told you."

"Yeah, you did. If we weren't involved in the avalanche, we would never have known about this place."

Liu chuckled. "What made you brave enough to pass through that hill?"

"We didn't intend to do it at first. It was only because we couldn't find a boat to cross Chojiang River."

"Chojiang River? Where are you travelling to?"

"We're on rescue Mission. One of our comrade was taken away to Darknest Land and—oops—" Po realized that he had just spilled the beans on his mission. Crane had reminded him to not reveal anything to anyone

Liu was surprised. "Darknest Land?" he asked. "You said Darknest Land?"

"Uh. Yeah, I did."

Liu tapped his forehead. "My Gosh! The tigers captured your friend too?"

"Yes. They—hey! Did you say tigers? W-what do you know about Darknest Land?"

"Plenty."

"Can you tell me everything you know about it?" Po asked in attempt to gather some information.

"Sure. Darknest Land is led by a cunning emperor called Tiger. It's inhabited only by tigers and should have been named Predator Land instead."

"You hate tigers?"

"Absolutely. They're the creatures responsible for the extinction of dragons in the war a thousand years ago. Haven't you heard of it?"

He nodded.

"From that war, we realized that tigers don't deserve to live in this world. They must be destroyed."

Po was speechless upon hearing that, worried about how Tigress would react if she knew about this.

"Some of us tried to attack them by sending assassins," Liu continued. "Sadly, the last time I heard, they were caught. I don't know if they're still alive. What the tigers want is just to take over all of China again."

Po remained silent and didn't comment on what he said.

"You said your comrade was taken away to Darknest Land?" Liu asked. "Why?"

"She… she… was trying to attack the tigers." Po lied. He knew that he couldn't tell Liu that Tigress was a tiger as he was a tiger hater. "Actually, we were attacking them too, but they captured her as she was the leader of our group."

"I hope your comrade is still alive, Po. The Emperor has no mercy to intruders. He's very cruel."

Po gasped in shocked.

"Oh, I'm sure they won't do anything to her." Liu backtracked hastily, realizing that he had just reminded Po of his troubles.

Po gulped. "I hope so."

"You miss her?"

"Oh, Liu. You can't possibly know how much I miss her. I can't forget anything about her. Her face, her smile, her voice, her—"

"You loved her?"

He sighed. "Yes." A dreamy look radiated from his eyes until he corrected what he meant nervously. "B-but just as a friend."

Liu chuckled. He wasn't born yesterday to learn how Po's feeling towards his lost comrade. "Ah, young love. Always beautiful." He mused. "I can still remember the first time I fell in love with a girl. At that time, I was even willing to sacrifice myself just to see her smile."

"Can I ask you something else?" Po asked as he felt uneasy with Dao's teasing him.

"Sure Po. Go on."

"Here. Uhm," Po was unsure of how to continue without revealing his secret. "What do you think a person should do if he's destined to kill the one he cares to bring peace to his people?"

Liu frowned in puzzlement. "Is there someone who's like that? Who?"

"Well. It's If. Only If."

"It's odd that he have to sacrifice his dearest person for the safety of his people."

"He doesn't have any other choice."

"You're wrong," denied Liu. "everyone has a choice. His path may have been chosen for him by destiny, but that doesn't mean that he has to follow it."

"But isn't his path already decided?"

"Po. Our hearts and minds are stronger. Destiny may dictate the path to follow, but if we chose to do otherwise, who's to stop us?"

Po's troubled expression melted into one of realization. Everyone has a choice in deciding their own destiny. This could be what Long meant about changing your own fate. It's up to the strength of your heart.

"You know, Liu," said Po grinning. "You've just solved my biggest problem."