An Underdog's Knighthood (Story 3 of 4 of my Underdog Series)

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

During the events of the Ridonculous Race, Adam takes this chance to prepare for Mal's inevitable return. But preparing for this fight will test him in every way imaginable, and the start of it all involves him learning about himself. The age of the Cosmic Knight is upon us. Third story in this series. Multiple crossovers including TMNT 2012, Ben 10, Kung Fu Panda and Fairy Tail.

8. Enter the Dragon

(Takes place between during chapters 16-17 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and the Metallians and their ruler Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the wind and lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take their power for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, and in the process the homeworld of the Metalians, Metallum, was destroyed, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallum was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom has overlooked and protected the Valley of Peace for hundreds if not thousands of years, but for much of that time the valley was anything but peaceful. Demons of the Underworld ruled over the valley in darkness and anyone who had dared to enter was either driven out or devoured in an instant. This endless cycle continued until the day came when someone had dared to stand against the hordes demons, a young tortoise by the name of Oogway. What none of us knew was that within Oogway burned a life force fuled by a very rare and unique power, a gift from the universe bestowed upon one single warrior in each generation known as the Hero's Chi. With this incredible new power at his disposal, Oogway was able to drive the demons back to the Underworld and use his Hero's Chi to seal the gateway behind them. But two demons remained, and these two was stronger, faster and smarter than all of the others their names were KePa and Long. Thirsting with a burning desire for vengeance over the loss of their demon brethren, KePa and Long both attacked the exhausted Oogway without mercy and without any hesitation. The battle was fierce, but just as the demon was ready to strike the final fatal blow, at that very moment something magical happened. As Oogway had protected the Valley of Peace, the Sacred Peach Tree now protected Oogway in return. The powers of both heaven and Earth blasted forth from the tree and overcame the combined demon power of KePa and Long."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two figures sat in a simple tavern in the Bamboo Forest of China, one of them being a grey pig and the other being a white leopard, telling the story to a group of bandits consisting of water buffalo and crocodiles "With both of them stripped of their might, KePa and Long both vowed for vengeance and fled, with the power of the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom keeping him trapped in mortal bodies. One of them being the body of a pig, and the other being the body of a leopard."

"Wait hang on a second." one of the water buffalo cut in "So you mean you two are these demon guys KePa and Long?"

"That we are." the leopard, this being Long, gave him a simple nod as the pig, KePa, fraily took a sip of his tea, only for all of those present to burst out laughing, much to their disdain, but they both remained stoic 'Your time will come you worthless peons, just wait and see. Soon you will fully understand what we are truly capable of.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A typical day in the Valley of Peace, and as the name implied, everything was peaceful just like it was meant to be.

Po was scatting and vocalizing his way through the village like he was on top of the world "The panda is on top!"

"You're the best Dragon Warrior." one of the villagers praised him.

Po promptly saved one of the villagers from being crushed by pottery "You alright Mrs Yoon?"

"Oh yes, thank you Po."

"Shoo be doo bop! You know I feel like I've heard of that somewhere before. Oh well, doesn't matter now." he turned to a certain merchant "So are they here yet?" he received a head shake for the negative, which prompted him to do some more scatting.

That was when the Panda Pals rushed up to him "Hey Po come on, we want you to test us some more!"

"Okay but this time I'm gonna give you guys a hard one. I didn't cross the Hinterlands of Jao Dzuh-"

"Oh oh I've got it, that's you beatin Temutai using an improvised fighting style based on your tempestuous friendship with princess Mei Li."

"As oddly specific as that is, yes that's correct."

"What are you kidding me?!" a new voice barked out

"Sorry little guys but I gots to do what I does best." and so he rushed off, unaware of the coming darkness that would soon envelop the Valley of Peace, one that only he and one other would be able to stop.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turns out, Fung and his former Croc Bandits were getting beaten around by a couple of angry water buffalo bandits even though they were dealing a few blows "For crying out loud, you try to start an honest pottery business and then your old buddies try to steal it from you. This is why I put off us going straight for as long as I did."

"Oh get real Fung, you were never a real bandit." the leader of the group just shoved him aside and snatched up their cash box "You see that's how you rob a worthless piece of trash like you, you make it quick and painless."

"I wouldn't be too sure about the painless part." that was when Po revealed himself sitting atop the cart.

"...Oh crud."

"So we're up for the usual today? Good, that's my favorite." so he started beating down the water buffalo and smacking them around like a bunch of rag dolls "Are they here now?" he received another head shake from the merchant and promptly went back to beating down the buffalo and threw them all into each other before tying them all up and reclaiming the money in a spectacular fashion, albeit landing with a very painful split in the process.

Fung gladly took back the money "Thanks for the backup Po, you know I did say before that we were gonna go straight. You okay?"

"Fine, just… a little bit crunched is all." he was helped back to his feet by a certain figure from behind "Hey thanks I… Peng?"

Sure enough, Peng stood before him carrying a sack over his shoulder, which he promptly dropped and bowen in respect "It's good to see you again Dragon Warrior Po, my dearest and closest friend."

"The same to you, so what brings you back to the Valley of Peace? I thought you and Lian were off spreading your Kung Fu Club around China."

"I was, but I came back because I sensed something dire looming over the horizon. I wanted to do what my uncle couldn't, use my kung fu skills to help people."

"Well I'm glad to hear it, but there's nothing looming over the Valley of Peace while the bodaciously awesome Dragon Warrior is in charge!"

"...You never change do you Po?"

"It's my thing not to change, but anyway right now today is a very special day." he turned back to the merchant "Oh come on man, they've gotta be here now."

The merchant shook his head "Sorry Dragon Warrior, they're still not here."

"Oh come on!"

Then an old pig got his attention "Excuse me but will you sign my chest?" he pointed to a large green chest sitting next to him.

"...You know what Peng you go ahead and head on up to the Jade Palace, I'll just stay down here for a little while and enjoy the moment."

"If that's what you think is best then I'll go and meet up with Master Shifu and see what he thinks about this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shifu watched Po make a fool out of himself through a telescope "Just look at him, it's like he was born to make a fool out of himself in front of a large crowd."

"Po is just having some fun, why shouldn't he enjoy the attention?" Monkey received his answer in the form of Tigress punching him in the gut.

"Enjoying the attention is fine Monkey but the problem is that Po is getting caught up in being the Dragon Warrior, and that means that he is losing sight of what made him the Dragon Warrior in the first place."

"I'm afraid that is the least of your concerns at the moment."

Shifu looked up to see Aurora materialize in front of him, with Cody by her side, and he bowed in respect "Lady Aurora, to what do I owe the honor?"

"Nothing good I'm afraid." she gestured over to Cody while he was looking somewhat apprehensive "This boy Shifu, I've brought him to help you with the crisis at hand. They are coming."

Shifu froze "You mean…"

"Yes. Be diligent Master Shifu, only with all of you working as one can you hope to vanquish this threat." and with that she disappeared, leaving Cody behind.

"...So you are the one that Lady Aurora has put so much faith in."

Cody still seemed rather nervous "With all due respect I consider that faith to be misguided, I don't hold any potential or anything like that within me. My brother holds all of that potential not me."

"A lack of confidence, we will have to fix that. But for now…" he looked over "I had hoped that we would have more the time. The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom… it's end will mean the end of the Valley of Peace, perhaps even China, as we know it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The water buffalo and croc bandits were still beating Long and KePa around like they were a bunch of rag dolls "Looks to me like the so called kings of demons aren't such a big deal after all now are they?"

Long was about to reply until he and KePa suddenly felt a surge of energy and they rise back to their feet as if nothing had happened "The tree, it's dying."

"At last, our time as come." as a crimson glow surrounded their bodies as they advanced on the bandits, not even giving them any time to scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Po was still making an ass out of himself in front of the rest of the village "And I call this one the two buns of granite!" he spun around and clenched his buttcheeks, leaving the crowd to awe and causing the Panda Pals to faint "Yeah I know, I'm awesome."

"They're here Dragon Warrior, they're finally here!" the merchant went over to Po with a large box.

"They're here, they're here! They're finally here!" Po rushed over and snatched the box out of his hands "I've worked my whole life for this one moment, and now at long last that moment has finally come!" he held up one of the objects in question, leaving the rest of the crowd to look on in pure awe "At long last I have my own officially licensed, factory made, mint condition Dragon Warrior action figures with seam! Look at me, my awesomeness knows no bounds and no limits!" he posed in front of his statue and threw out a volley of his action figures, earning cheers from the rest of the villagers "Alright you guys go ahead and bask in how awesome I am while I go and show these to Peng and Shifu and the guys." and so he rushed off, leaving the villagers to continue cheering for him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The scene on the Peach Tree Hill was grim.

Shifu had had to explain to Cody, Peng and the Furious Five about the situation regarding the dying Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom "I'm sorry but that is the way that it is."

"Guys guys, guess what!" that was when Po showed up with his box of action figures "You'll never guess what just- Hey what happened to the Peach Tree?"

"I'm afraid that the Peach Tree is dying Po, but I assume that you already knew of this what with all of the meditating that you told us that you've been doing up here."

"Uh… Yeah here's the thing, I might have slightly exaggerated the amount of meditationage that I said I had been doing."

"You've been busy catering to your adoring fans and showboating." Cody muttered.

"Well people do love themselves a good deal of Dragon Warrior so- Hey Shifu quick question, who is this guy?"

"This young man is named Cody, he has come to assist us in the crisis we currently at the behest of Lady Aurora, one of the Masters of the Mystic Arts on the 10 dimensions." Shifu told him.

"Oh. Huh. Oh oh oh my god I totally forgot, just a few minutes ago I finally achieved my number one lifelong dream!"

"You've achieved humility? Oh wait no, that's my dream."

"No, it's me!" he pulled out one of his action figures, only for it to be swatted away "Hey not cool, I mean sure it's not an exact likeness but-"

"Enough of your prattling panda." Shifu turned to Peng and the Furious Five "You all know what you have to do." they bowed and left, leaving only Shifu, Po and Cody.

"So where are all of them going?"

"I've instructed them to prepare the antiquities of the Jade Palace for transport."

"Wait what, why?"

"The knowledge and wisdom that has been kept within the Jade Palace must endure in case we are unable to stop them."

"Stop who?" asked Cody.

"The two greatest threats the Valley of Peace has ever known, KePa and Long."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Long stared at the burning remains of the tavern and watched as KePa emerged from it through the smoke "Rather over the top was it not?"

"You say that like you would be any different." KePa pointed out dryly "But either way it feels incredible. At last our power is beginning to return to us, when the tree at last dies we'll both be back to full power."

"And then the demons shall reclaim the land that was stolen from us. First we shall conquer the Valley of Peace, then all of China and then finally the very world itself."

"...You are still talking to me right? You're looking at that bamboo tree over there but you're facing the big rock in front of it."

"Stop trying to mess with my mind, let's just go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Po followed Shifu and Cody up into the main hall of the Jade Palace "Shifu wait up, hang on a second?"

"What is it?" Shifu didn't bother turning around.

"Since when did you ever teach us to run away from a fight?"

"We have never faced any foes as powerful as Long and KePa, but then again I assume you already knew that what with all of the studying of the Sacred Scrolls that you claimed to have been doing."

"Okay maybe I've been slacking off on my meditating and my studying and my training but there's more to being the Dragon Warrior than all of that stuff."

"Like what?"

"You did see the action figures before didn't you?"

"...I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Oh come on, don't you think you're overreacting a smidge? You keep saying that we've never fought anyone like KePa, well KePa has never fought anyone like yours truly. All I have to do is unleash some of my bodacious awesomeness on him and he's as good as gone-" he was silenced by a cold glare, but not from Shifu.

As it turns out, Cody was the one shooting him a cold glare "This isn't some joke or your run of the mill thug, we're dealing with actual live demons that will kill you the first chance that they get."

"Hey easy calm down little buddy, it's not like you've gotta fight them on your own."

"...That's just it, I am alone. Look for as long as I can remember it's always been my older brother doing all of the crazy stuff like fighting thugs, saving the world and all of that. I was always just on the sidelines or the occasional sacrificial pawn or kidnap victim because they were trying to get to him, I know I always promised that I would stand by him every step of the way but I never thought I'd actually have to fight."

"So then why did you come here instead of him?"

"You mean aside from being caught up in the heat of the moment? Because there was a part of me that wanted to prove that I had what it takes to stand with him, but now that I'm here I realize that I'm in way over my head. I can't do this alone."

"Welcome to our world." that was when Peng and the rest of the Furious Five "So what do we do next Master Shifu."

"At the moment KePa and Long are most likely on their way to free the rest of their demon brethren." Shifu noted "Because of this we have to-"

"Hang on a second." Po cut in "If these guys want to free the other demons then won't they just go to that mountain that Oogway sealed up."

"And this is why you need to study." Cody pointed out "We're on that mountain, Oogway built the Jade Palace on top of the seal in order to keep it safe, even I know that and I've been in this world for less than a day."

"Wait what, the demons are here?!"

"...I choose not to dignify that with a response." Shifu noted for the second time that day, and likely not for the last time "All of you will head out in different directions, our only hope is that one manages to intercept KePa and Long before the Peach Tree dies and they regain their full power. But under no circumstances are any of you to fight him alone." he gave each of them battle horns "Only as a group will the nine of us have a chance, if you should find him then sound your horns and the rest of us will come running." he received a gesture from Po directing at Crane "Or flying." then one at Viper "Oh for- You know what I mean now go, time is of the essence."

"Right!" and so the eight of them prepared to take off, only for three of them to be stopped at the last second "Panda, Peng, Cody, not you three. Peng, Cody, I need you to address a serious issue that must be resolved before KePa and Long are located." he looked at Cody more directly.

Peng quickly caught onto what he meant "I understand Master Shifu. Cody come with me, I think it's best if you and I do this now." and so he took the quiet Cody and left.

"As for you panda, I need you to go tell the villagers to pack up their valuables and run for their lives. They need to understand that even the formidable Dragon Warrior is a match for the demonic powers of KePa and Long."

Po seemed very reluctant "Hang on a second, isn't that kind of bad for my image and all that jazz? I mean-" he was promptly grabbed by his belly flab.

"This isn't a joke panda! Do you think I give a flying fig about your precious image? This could be the end of all of China!"

"...Fig?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

3 ½ minutes later…

Po finally stopped falling down the stairs to the Jade Palace "Ow, I swear they get longer every time I go down them. No maybe that's just the concussion." he looked down at the action figure in his hand "These two demon guys can't be all that tough, if he was then Shifu would've sent me with the others or at least sent Peng with them too."

"Po, Po over here!" Mr Ping rushed up to him "Son you haven't been around the noodle shop lately, it would be great if you could come by and shake some hooves."

"We may have to put that on hold for the time being dad. Hey everybody listen up, I've got something to tell you!"

"Alright!" a lot of villagers started gathering around "Is it you retelling the story of how you first beat Tai Lung? Oh no, tell us about how you defeated Lord Shen!"

"No no no, those were all pretty cool but-"

"Pretty cool? Come on Po, you never lose. You beat Hundun." this was met with cheers "You beat Scorpion." this was met with more cheers.

"Wow, I…"

"You helped Fung and the Croc Bandits to go straight." hell even Fung was met with cheers for that one.

"Huh. You know I guess I kind of haven't ever lost to anyone, that is so cool!"

They cheered again "Yeah it's wicked bodaci-awesome! So Po, what is it that you wanted to tell us?"

"Oh yeah, that. You all have to know that…"

"Yes?"

"That Shifu wanted me to tell all of you that… that wherever and whenever evil should rear its ugly evilly head your unbeatable Dragon Warrior will never let you down!" he was met with cheers, unaware of the evil presence looming ever closer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Bamboo Forest was so quiet it was unsettling.

Peng led Cody to a small clearing in the forest complete with a simple river and a beautiful waterfall "Here we are."

"What is this place?" asked Cody.

"This is where I trained myself in the ways of Kung Fu based on some scrolls that my uncle left behind, and it's where I come when I need to clear my head."

"So then why did you bother to bring me here?"

"Because I need to talk to you about your own personal pride."

"My what? Look Peng people have called me a lot of things but I'm not really proud of anything about myself, I mean if you look at other people like Po or-" he received a hand held up to his face.

"That right there is exactly your problem Cody, what you lack is any confidence in yourself and in your abilities. You don't believe in yourself because you don't believe in anything that you've accomplished. You have to fix this as soon as you can or else one day you're going to end up second guessing yourself and then you'll end up making a fatal mistake that will cost you everything."

"I know that." Cody hung his head "For ages I've heard people tell me that I need to have more pride in myself. First there's my brother Adam, then my girlfriend Gwen, and now I'm hearing it from you. That's the thing though Peng, I know myself better than anyone else and who I was in the past isn't worthy of praise in the slightest."

"That's all in the past now, you can't let what you were back then dictate who you are in the present and who you're going to become in the future."

"But you don't get it Peng, I was a complete and utter waist when I was a kid. All I did was let myself get beat up every day when I was in middle school until Adam started protecting me after he got over his crippling depression, a whole other story so please don't ask, I kept absorbing every insult thrown my way, and I even failed to act invisible. Not even my own parents gave a damn about me, whoever said that your parents had to love you was a filthy liar! Adam was the only one who truly cared about me for ages, and now he's off doing god knows what while I'm here being useless."

"Enough of that!" Peng gripped Cody by the shoulders "Cody listen to me, you have to calm down."

"I… sorry, I don't know where that came from."

"A strong sense of repressed hostility, you must have been holding it inside of you for all those years. You had it rough as a child, I can't pretend that I understand what you went through but I had it rough too. The difference between us, well aside from species, years Kung Fu training and being related to a vicious monster, is that I learned to accept my problems and push past them, and grow stronger as a result. What I'm trying to say right now is that you were a work on progress when you were little and you're a work in progress now, but what really matters right now is that you're getting better."

"But… I'm still weak, whether I imagine it or not I feel my weakness every day. Does it ever go away?"

"At some point it does but before that can happen you have to accept that it's there, only then will you be able to push past it."

"Yeah… Yeah I guess you're right."

"Yes I suppose you could push past it, or you could both die trying." a deep voice filled the air around them and the air turned thick.

"...Peng."

"I know." Peng's voice was soft, barely a whisper "Don't make any sudden movements or he may end up killing us both on the spot."

"Right." they both slowly turned around "Tell me, are you Long?"

Sure enough, before them stood Long in his leopard form, only now his body had been surrounded by a glowing crimson aura "In the flesh, such as it is. A temporary condition I can assure you."

"What do you want with us?"

"Well it's quite simple, we're going to conquer China and you, Cody Anderson, are one of only two pathetic creatures who could possibly stop us. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen, so nothing personal but you're going to have to die." faster than either of them could follow he blitzed forward and stabbed Cody in the chest with his claw, causing him to cough up large amounts of blood in a violent fit.

"Cody no! You're going to pay for that!" Peng dealt Long a fiere barrage of punches and kicks, knocking him to the ground "You're not going to hurt any more innocent people!" he aimed to finish it.

Long blitzed in front of Peng, grabbed him by the ankle and started repeatedly slamming him into the ground in the same way that Hulk did to Loki "What's the matter cub, no more rage filled snarling? No angry roaring? Where is your family spirit?"

"Don't… talk about… my family…" Peng struggled to get to his feet and coughed up a little bit of blood, and he was promptly knocked out cold with a sharp kick to the jaw.

"Well you have spirit I'll give you that, but clearly spirit is the best you can muster. You have no chance of victory against me, not that you ever had a chance to begin with." he unleashed a blast of dark energy, sending Peng flying away through the air "That's one pest down, now to deal with the actual potential threat."

"Why…" injured but still able to move, Cody stumbled his way towards Long before collapsing at his feet "Why… are you… doing this…?"

"The question of the century, not really. The question isn't why child, it's why not. Once KePa and I release our demon brethren who's going to stop us? Not the tortoise Oogway, not your so called Dragon Warrior, not your big brother the Warrior of the Hurricane, and most certainly not you. Now as fun as this has been, I have to run upstairs and see some old friends so I'll have to cut this short. Farewell, child." he fired another dark energy blast at Cody at point blank range, incinerating a good portion of the forest in the blast.

When the blast actually subsided, Cody had completely vanished, as if there wasn't even any dust left behind.

"What a shame, even in this cursed mortal body I don't know my own strength. But I suppose it doesn't matter, once the Peach Tree dies then the real fun can begin." and so he nonchalantly walked off towards his goal: the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shifu placed a gentle hand on the dying husk of the Peach Tree "Please old friend, hang in there for just a little bit longer."

"Talking to a dead thing eh?" a deep voice mocked him from behind "You know that could be considered a sign of insanity."

Shifu whipped around to find KePa and Long standing before him "KePa! Long!" he prepared to charge at the two of them.

KePa stopped Shifu with a simple wave of his hand using his telekinesis "Well at least the rat recognizes us so that's better than nothing I suppose." he swatted Shifu to the ground with a simple wave of his hand.

"So it's true." Long looked up at the Peach Tree "Dear Peach Tree that has been here for thousands of years, you really are dying." this was followed Shifu blowing on his battle horn as hard as he could "Are you going to deal with that?"

"As if you had to ask." KePa levitated into the air and started choking Shifu to death using his telekinesis "None of you know when to give up do you?"

"Yeah no, it's not really our thing." that was when Po arrived on the scene, with the wounded form of Peng slung over his shoulder "Now put my master down before I get mad, and you won't like me when I'm mad. Or when I'm hungry, you wouldn't like me when I'm hungry."

"Oh my, well we wouldn't want that to happen now would we?" KePa dropped Shifu onto the ground "Hey Long let me take this one will you?"

"Do what you please, just remember that I called dibs on the boy." and the Long suddenly dropped off of the edge of the Peach Tree Hill and into the abyss below.

"You know something Panda, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot earlier. I'll tell you what, go ahead and take your best shot and then we'll call it even."

"Po no, don't!" Shifu's cries went unheard.

"Shakaboobie!" Po charged at KePa and dealt him a spin kick to the torso, knocking him back into the Peach Tree, causing the last peach blossom to fall off of its branch, killing the Peach Tree completely, much to the horror of Po, Shifu and Peng, especially as the now dead husk of the tree turned black.

KePa's grin turned malicious "Oopsy, looks like you've really done it now panda." he let out a maniacal cackles as his eyes began to glow crimson and he began to stumble backwards until he fell into the abyss below, followed by a crimson colored blast of electricity from within the clouds but even that quickly died down after a moment.

"...Oh yeah, that's how the Dragon Warrior does things! You mess with the panda, you get the belly flab!" Po started scatting and vocalizing again.

Shifu was quick to kill the mood "Panda."

"I mean technically the both of them fell off of a cliff but we still won."

"Panda."

"Another big victory for the Dragon Warrior-"

"Po, stop it." Peng cut him off "It isn't over. Look down." he pointed to the ominous red lights and booming noises coming from beneath the clouds, followed by a massive shadowy figure revealing itself.

"...Oh crud."

Sure enough, from the abyss emerged none other than KePa, now in his true form, that of a massive crimson dragon "Behold, for I am the real Dragon Warrior!" he breathed out a blast of fire, only for it to be reflected by a blast of dark energy to deflect it.

"I believe that title is reserved for me and me alone." and then from the abyss emerged none other than Long, now taking on the appearance of a humanoid dragon, complete with skin covered with dragon scales, dragon wings, dragon claws, dragon talons and even a long red dragon tail "Only one may be known as the true Dragon Warrior, and that would be me and me alone!" he unleashed a blast of dark energy, narrowly missing the three of them (those three being Po, Shifu and Peng) and his grin turned malicious "This reminds me of the good old days, don't you agree?"

"Indeed, now this is far more like it!" and so the two of them suddenly flew off, leaving only three of our heroes on the Peach Tree Hill.

"...Ow ow ow ow ow!" Po tried to cool down his burning panda buns "Hot butt, hot butt, hot butt! So where did he go!"

Shifu and Peng were quick to realize where they were heading "The Jade Palace."

"Oh no no no!" they all looked over in horror.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By that point Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five all regrouped on the steps in front of the Jade Palace "Which one of you blew their horn?" she received several voices of the negatory in that regard.

Crane was the first one to notice it "Where are Po and the others?"

"Do you think they were the ones to blow their horns?"

"Check it out, I can see them by the Peach Tree." Monkey pointed to where Po, Shifu and Peng were all waving at them frantically from their position on the Peach Tree Hill "Hi guys, good to see you two! Hey where's that other kid Cody?"

Tigress was the only one to realize what they were trying to say "It's KePa and Long, they're both here!"

Sure enough, KePa roared down from the heavens and unleashed a massive blast of fire, destroying the Jade Palace in one fell swoop.

"Move, get out of the way!" Tigress and the others barely had any time to react before the explosion engulfed the entire Jade Palace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It only took a minute for everything to subside, even though the Jade Palace was reduced to nothing but flames and ash scattered across the top of the mountain.

Shifu was the first one to recover from the blast, only to be horrified by what was left after the blast "No…"

Po soon followed and was left completely and utterly mortified "No no no no no! Guys, where are they? Came you see them?"

"I see them, they're down there!" Peng pointed to where the Furious Five were all piled up further down the stairs "Come on, we have to go make sure they're not hurt and then we have to find a way to stop KePa!" and so the three of them rushed off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

KePa looked around at the crater where the Jade Palace once stood "You know now I'm starting to realize what you mean by overkill."

"Does it matter? Now we know where the seal is." Long pointed to the large seal located in the center of the crater "You know what to do, now all we have to do is argue like two demonic idiots over which one of us gets to break the seal in order to unleash the fury of the demon race upon the world."

"Or I can just ignore your prattling and do this." KePa tried to open the seal, only to find that it wouldn't budge "Dammit, Oogway really got this thing on tight."

"And now as retribution for that little stunt, get out of the way!" Long burst upwards into the air and fired an energy blast down at the seal, only for it to be unfazed and reveal a spiritual silhouette of the Yin and Yang symbol "Well that would confirm it, Oogway sealed our brethren away using the Hero's Chi…"

"Which means that we must need the Hero's Chi in order to unseal it. The only question now is, who from this generation has it? There was that one boy that you mentioned beforehand, now I really do wish I had peered into the possibility of warriors from other dimensions having it."

"You had your chance but you chose to spend eons wallowing in your own self pity until the Peach Tree died, at least I took the initiative in that regard. It was that boy yes, but I obliterated him into nothing not long ago. You might still find some of his ashes scattered throughout the forest. Then again the boy was young so that cannot be considered to be the same generation can it? It must be one of those other eight warriors, so now all we have to do is break them one by one until we find it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Guys, you guys!" Po, Shifu and Peng reached the Furious Five on their stairs of what used to be the Jade Palace "You guys are you alright?"

"Not for long!" Monkey pointed upwards.

KePa loomed over all of them, with Long riding on his back "Tell us you pathetic mortals, who among you bares the Hero's Chi?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The scene in the village was utter anarchy.

Mr Ping was trying to calm down the villagers as they started running around in a complete and utter panic "Everyone please remain calm, my son is the Dragon Warrior and he will know what to do!"

"RUN!" Po and the rest of them bolted past them at full speed and began gathering up the villagers as Kepa started torching the village with his fire breath "Come on guys we've gotta move!"

"Oh please stay, I insist." Long fired an energy blast at the statue of Po, obliterating it and many of the surrounding buildings, and he hopped off of KePa's back "Now that's what I like to call a show. Anyway let's get right down to business, in order to release our demon brethren we need the Hero's Chi. I happen to know far more about Chi and the balance between the multiple dimensions of the universe than my very large and rather irritating colleague that can eat you all with one single gulp, so I know that when Oogway ascended to the Spirit Realm the Hero's Chi was re-gifted to one warrior for each of the next two generations that followed. That boy that came from the 8th dimension is nothing but dust and possible scattered drops of blood at this point." this left Peng snarling with rage and Po and the others speechless over the supposed death of Cody at their hands "So the question of the day is, which one of you has it?"

"Even if we knew we would never tell you." Peng snarled "I'd die before I gave anything to you murderers!"

"Oh but I think that you will, because if you don't then my very large companion here will start to devour your precious villagers here by the clawful. And as you can see he has claws the size of the panda's stomach, and that's saying something."

"Speaking of which…" Shifu promptly rounded on Po "Panda you were supposed to evacuate the village."

Po cringed "Yeah I know but when I saw KePa get to the village I-"

"You saw him here and you didn't even blow your horn to signal the rest of us?"

"He looked like some weak little pig so I just thought, I thought I could handle it."

"You… I can't even begin to describe how angry I am panda, if we survive this then I won't even be able to think of a punishment befitting of this!"

"How about this?" Long swatted Po aside with a single sweep of his claw, sending him crashing into a nearby building "Does that work?"

"...Good enough for me."

"My punishments always are, especially for heroes who don't turn out to be all that heroic."

"He's no hero, he's nothing but a self centered lout who put his own ego ahead of those who depended on him." this was met with looks of dismay from the others, Peng more than any of the Furious Five.

"You know as much as I hate getting in the middle of your little family squabble, it just so happens that I am LOSINg MY PATIENCE!" KePa roared.

Shifu stepped forward "I am the master of the Jade Palace, and I am also the holder of the incredible power that you seek." he was promptly lifted into the air by KePa through his telekinesis.

Po finally pulled himself out of the wreckage and witnessed the scene in front of his eyes, much to his horror "Master Shifu no!"

"I don't want to hear anything that you have to say, the lives of everyone here are in grave danger because of you!"

"But-"

"Just get out of my sight, you are of no use to any of us!"

"Shifu…"

"Oh isn't this rich?" Long leaned back against some rubble and grabbed a random bowl of bean buns "Live entertainment, it's so rare and what better form than getting a chance to watch you flee from your own village drowning in your own shame and disgrace."

Po said nothing. Now succumbing to his own shame and made to feel even worse under the glares of anger and disappointment from the villagers, he slowly sulked his way out of the village and out of the Valley of Peace entirely.

"Po hold on!" Mr Ping ran after him as fast as he could waddle "Son, son hold on, wait up for me!"

"Okay that was very entertaining." Long downed the last bean bun and threw the empty bowl up at KePa.

"Hey, I told you to stop doing that!"

"You did, and I ignored your endless whining. At least I shut up." he turned his attention back to the villagers "Now all bow down to me, the new and true Dragon Warrior and my faithful sidekick!"

"Yes, bow down before- Sidekick?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours of walking passed, and the skies of China were turning more and more gray by the minute.

Po finally ran out of energy and sat down on some random rock "Okay hold on dad, I've gotta sit down for a second."

"Fine, because we're already here." Mr Ping gestured to a random spot on the road "What do you think, it's a great location for the new noodle shop now isn't it? Lucky for us this spot isn't taken."

"Noodle shop?"

"You know Po this could really turn out to be a good thing, just you and me and noodles just like the old days before you got… Well you know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Things were getting worse back in the village.

KePa still had Shifu in a telekinetic chokehold "And now all we have to do is get the Hero's Chi out of this fool and then we will be able to release our demon brethren." he threw Shifu to the ground and swatted Peng and the Furious Five aside across the village with a single sweep of his claw.

Long just slapped his own face "You do realize that if you smash the rat to bits then the Hero's Chi inside if him will just dissipate and fly away and then we'll never be able to free our brethren from Oogway's seal."

"...I knew that."

"He didn't know that, he also didn't know that we need to use Zhuangzi's Funnel in order to do it."

"Enough of your prattling! Now then, let's put these pathetic villagers to use once we gather all of the pieces."

"No need to lose your temper, we've already had one win at the moment. I did kill the other boy with the Hero's Chi, and now that he's no longer in this world who else is there that could stop us?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cody opened his eyes and looked around as he found himself in what looked like a golden lake with a small island and a peach tree in the center of it "Where… Where am I?"

"We're in the Spirit Realm of the world of Kung Fu Panda."

Cody's head snapped up and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Gwen…?"

Sure enough, Gwen sat before him in one of the branches of the Peach Tree "Relax we're not dead, Adam and Aurora sent me here a little while ago using that stupid Wuxi Finger Hold. It actually works, go figure, and then Adam found your body in the Bamboo Forest, used the Wuxi Finger Hold on you and then sent you here. You've been out for a few hours or so."

"But then… why are you here?"

"Because Adam told me about what you were doing here, he knew you were gonna start wallowing in your own self pity over having to do this alone."

"Well isn't that just like him." Cody let out a sigh and laid down on the grass "I just don't have it in me Gwen, I'm not the reincarnation of some ancient powerful being like Adam or the one to inherit some ancient family power like Alejandro is. I'm just a weakling and a loser."

"...Maybe you are weak." she leapt down in front of him "Listen to me Cody, you might be weak but you are definitely not a loser and you're above feeling sorry for yourself like this. You might not be the strongest guy in body but your heart is bigger than anyone else in all of these 10 dimensions, why else would I have fallen in love with you?"

"Gwen…"

"Well isn't this touching." a hauntingly familiar voice taunted.

Cody froze and slowly looked back, and his expression changed into one of terror "No… it can't be… Tai Lung…"

Sure enough, before him stood Tai Lung, although his expression was far more stoic than it was malicious, which contrasted from what it used to be "So you are the one said to possess it, the gift from the universe."

"What are you talking about, what do you want with me?"

"It's not a matter of what I want with you, it's a matter of what I want inside of you." the landscape surrounding the three of them turned a disturbing shade of green "That miserable panda took the power of the Dragon Scroll, that power should've belonged to me! But now I can collect something even better, now that I'm stuck here I can't get it from that panda but thanks to that wretched dragon I can collect it from you instead."

"I don't know what you're talking about but whatever you want I don't have it, do I look like someone who could have that kind of power?"

"And there it is, it's simple being wasted on the likes of a boy who doesn't even have faith in himself. Your teachers must be ashamed, well allow me to fix that." he blitzed forward and slugged Cody in the gut, causing him to cough up blood, and followed up with a blast of lightning, sending Cody tumbling backwards across the lake "In my time here in the Spirit Realm I've mastered the Seven Impossible Moves, just now that was the secret of the Iron Heart and Jin Tian's Tempest. Next here comes the Thundering Wind Hammer!" he spun around like a tornado and unleashed a powerful blast of wind, sending Cody crashing into a nearby mountain but also blowing Gwen away into the tree, apparently knocking her out cold.

Cody struggled to lift his head and was horrified "Gwen… no…"

"Oh so you care for the girl do you? Well then, let's make a trade shall we?" Tai Lung blitzed over to where Gwen lay and grabbed her by the throat "Give me what it is that I want or this girl will suffer a pain worse than hell, and keeping in mind that we're already in the Spirit Realm her suffering will never end."

"You…" summoning strength that he never even knew that he had, Cody began to stagger his way forward, his eyes burning with rage "Don't you dare… If you dare… lay one hand… on her… I will… I will wipe you off of the face of this realm!" with a sudden burst of strength he charged at Tai Lung in a rage and was suddenly bathed in a beautiful golden light that covered the entire Spirit Realm.

'So that's it, he's finally awakened his true potential. You see boy, this is exactly what I was talking about."

When the light subsided slightly, Cody revealed himself, now clad in a blue Chinese style battle outfit with a golden plane and a black trim on the front of it (think of Kurama's outfit from Yu Yu Hakusho only gold and black instead of yellow and blue), as well as a golden cape fluttering behind him, and his body was radiating a golden energy, much to his awe "Woah, this is… phenomenal."

"Tell me boy, who are you?"

"...To be totally honest, I've been asking myself that question ever since I got to this world, but now I think I finally found the answer." he started spreading golden energy through the air by waving around his hands "I am Cody Anderson, younger brother of Adam Anderson, inheritor of a great gift, a student, perhaps a future teacher, I am all of these things." the golden energy took on the avatar of a massive energy dragon "I am the hero that this world needs, the hero that my brother needs to save him from the path of vengeance, I will hold for him the faith that he does not hold in himself, I will be his guiding light as he has been for me. For as long as he has been in my life Adam has never even once given up, and now that I have inherited from him his will to protect others I won't give up either!" the dragon avatar dissipated as did the golden glow around Cody's body, and yet its presence could still be felt "Adam has always been a hero to me even if he doesn't see himself as one, now it's my turn to be a hero to him, and to the people who need me. Come Tai Lung, let us finish this as a battle between a great Kung Fu master who submerged himself in darkness and a young child who has inherited the greatest gift that the universe can give in the form of the Hero's Chi."

"Very well then, I will grant you this wish and make your end swift!" Tai Lung charged forward and unleashed a Mongolian Fireball.

Cody summoned some Chi into his hand like an energy blade and cut through the fireball with a single wave of his hand "Now it's my turn!" he summoned a whip made up of his chi and used it to swing Tai Lung around through the air, then began repeatedly punching him "And now for the follow up." he fired a blast of energy at Tai Lung, sending him tumbling back "So you said that you had mastered the Seven Impossible Moves?"'

"Indeed I did, so far you've seen Jin Tian's Tempest, the Thundering Wind Hammer as well the great Mongolian Fireball. There are four more left, the first of those the Great Ocean of Zhanmadao!" he clasped his hands together and summoned a massive wave of water from beneath them.

Cody cut through it with ease "Next."

"The Quake of Khan!" Tai Lung slammed his fist into the ground, creating a quake that shook the very Spirit Realm itself.

Cody slammed his foot into the ground, creating a counter quake "Two more, let's get through them all."

"The Great Darkness of Shantou!" Tai Lung fired off a blast of dark black colored chi forward at high speeds.

Cody countered with a blast of his own chi "The last one, show me what it is so I can find a way back to the mortal realm."

"The last but most powerful move, the Great Light of Yao!" Tai Lung fired off a golden colored blast of chi from his mouth.

Cody countered with his own golden colored blast of chi, sending Tai Lung tumbling back into the golden colored pond "Come on, let's end this."

"Very well, this battle ends now!" Tai Lung charged forward with the last of his strength and prepared one final attack.

That is, before a certain figure stopped both of them in their tracks "I believe that will be enough for now."

Cody's eyes nearly bulged out of his head for the second time that day "No way, it just can't be… Oogway?"

Sure enough, before the two of them stood none other than the great master Oogway, with a fully healed Gwen right behind him, and he was holding a jade staff with the symbol for Yin and Yang on the end of it "You have become strong young Cody, it would appear that I had been right after all."

"So then, it's really you… You know you actually look extra shiny right now."

"As do you."

"I know right, this cape feels amazing especially when I run with it."

"It does indeed suit you young one, you have grown much as of recently both in body and in spirit as I had hoped you would when I sent that message to Aurora."

"You mean you knew that I was supposed to inherit the Hero's Chi? You knew that out of everyone in the universe it chose me?"

"Yes, because the universe needed you. You finally became the man that the universe had intended you to be."

"But how did you know that I could?"

"The universe sent me a message, and when I saw you I saw one of the few who could unite the 10 dimensions, and one who is truly worthy of this." he held out his staff "Take it, you have more than earned it and you will continue to earn it."

"Me? But I couldn't possibly-"

"Just take it already." Gwen cut him off "He has like 5 more all bigger than that one lined up at the base of that mountain, and besides we need that thing if we're going to get back to the world of the living."

"...Oh. Well then." he slowly accepted the staff "So we can use this staff to get back to the real world?"

Oogway shrugged "Who knows? I never bothered to try it, and they do not need me to win this fight. They have you, you have proven yourself to be what they need. That is why I tested you before." he gestured to Tai Lung.

"You mean… he was a test?"

"Indeed, and you passed. Now go forth young Cody, live your life."

"...Thank you." he gave a respectful bow to Oogway, as well as one to Tai Lung, with both of them returning it, and he gently took Gwen's hand in his "Come on Gwen, we've got a world to save."

"Quite acting so noble." Gwen just shot him a smirk and pecked him on the cheek.

"What? I'm a hero now, that's how heroes talk." and with that, they disappeared in a brilliant golden light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and things had died down in the Valley of Peace at least for the moment, and so a certain few had taken the noodle shop as a hiding place.

"I'm worried about Shifu." Viper muttered.

Monkey nodded "I know, we have to do whatever it takes to rescue him."

"Not just that though, I mean the way that he treated Po before."

"Hey Po blew it all on his own." Mantis pointed out "He had his head so far up his a- action figure that he couldn't see straight. Yeah action figure, that's what I totally meant to say."

"But sending him away during the middle of this whole crisis, it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do now. Look I don't want to go against Shifu anymore than the rest of you do but Po is still the Dragon Warrior."

Peng nodded "Viper is right, and if we want to have any chance against KePa and Long then we're going to need all of the help we can get. We need to get Po back, especially after what happened to Cody in that fight against Long.

"Which reminds me…" Monkey sounded uneasy "Is that kid really… you know?"

"I saw Long vaporize him with my own eyes, there's no way anyone could survive an attack like that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ping was hard at work making preparations on the new noodle shop, only to notice Po looking downcast "Son is something wrong?"

"...Is something wrong?" and just like that the cork popped on the bottle of Po's anger and frustration "Are you for real right now dad, is something wrong? You know what's wrong! I lived at the Jade Palace, I had adoring fans and I even had factory made action figures of myself with the belly fat and everything! I hung out with the greatest Kung Fu masters alive and now it's all gone, and now my friends and my whole village and maybe even China are in serious danger because of me!"

"So stop feeling sorry for yourself and go save them."

"What? Dad it's impossible, you're out of your mind! I can't beat KePa and Long, Master Shifu doesn't even want me there, everyone there hates me, I lost everything!" he slumped against the new building.

"...You lost everything huh, what are you talking about? I'm the crazy one then? Well tell me this son, what did you have the day that you pulled that noodle cart up to the Jade Palace and became the Dragon Warrior? Fans, action figure things made of cheap plastic, fancy pants friends that can make things explode with their minds?"

"No."

"No and I'm pretty sure that Shifu didn't want you there then, talk about impossible right? But as it turns out son, you already had everything you needed. And here's the thing Po, everything that you had then you still have even now in your heart. Love is what took you up there, you loved Kung Fu and what is it that you love now?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tigress and Peng quickly broke into the prison where Shifu was being held captive "Master Shifu are you alright? Don't worry, we're getting you out." they prepared to break down the door.

"No don't!" Shifu stopped them before they could.

"What do you mean no?" asked Peng.

"I have a plan, there is a chance to take at least KePa down, as a group I think you two and the rest of the Furious Five could defeat him."

"...Master Shifu I know you're angry with Po over what happened but we need him in order to win this fight, after we get you out I'm going to find him and bring him back."

"What? No you can't!"

"But he's valuable!" Tigress protested.

"That's the problem, he's too valuable."

"I don't understand."

"I didn't send him away because I was angry. Tigress, Peng, I need you two to listen to me very carefully. I do not have the Hero's Chi. Po does." this left Tigress speechless.

Peng was the first one to regain his voice "You mean that Po is the key that the demons need to break the seal, you sent him away in order to protect him."

"And to protect everyone else, if he return and KePa and Long get his Chi then we will all be doomed."

"...What do we have to do?" asked Tigress.

"KePa will have to surround me with Zhuangzi's Funnel and crush me in an attempt to extract the Hero's Chi, the energy from the funnel will make him weak and that is the moment the six of you will attack."

"Very well, we- Wait a second, how will you survive that?"

"I won't, as long as KePa and Long believe that I have the Hero's Chi he will be unable to release the other demons. We must keep Po away until KePa is dealt with, then he must be brought back to use his Hero's Chi to defeat Long but until then we must take advantage of our… opportunities."

"An opportunity that will kill you! Master, I…"

"I know that you are one for emotional words Tigress, but I also know that out of all of those that I have ever taught you above all understand the need for sacrifice."

"...Yes master, I do."

"No go and get everyone ready." and so they left without a another single word.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Peng and Tigress rendezvoused with the rest of the Furious Five on the roof "Alright, we're back now."

"Where's Shifu?" asked Monkey.

"He's staying there, he refused to come with us."

"What, why? You know what forget it. Shifu's lost it, let's go find Po and bring him back home already."

"NO! Listen to me Master Monkey, Po coming back now is the worst possible thing that could happen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Po kept on tossing and turning until he finally sat up and sadly looked down at his own action figure "Who am I kidding? Shifu was right, I'm no hero. I'm just a big fat panda."

"No you're not just a big fat panda." a voice echoed "You are the big fat panda."

Po froze and slowly looked up, and his expression changed to one of horror "Tai Lung…"

Sure enough, before him stood Tai Lung, his body being surrounded by a blue glow "Calm yourself panda, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to talk."

"You're not gonna try to kill me for what happened the last time we met? You know when I used the Wuxi Finger Hold on you and sent you into the Spirit Realm and now that I hear it out loud I probably shouldn't have mentioned that."

"Well believe it or not I'm grateful that you did. You know you really do have a lot of time to think when you're dead, it gives you the chance you need to see what you could've become in life if you had walked down a different path, and see just how much of your own potential you had wasted." he gripped his fist slightly "I never wanted to hurt any of them, I just wanted what I had been led to believe was mine. I let myself get consumed by those ideals so heavily that when I was told by Oogway that I wasn't the one, I couldn't accept it. My denial turned to rage and hatred and I spent so long brooding over my lusting for power, for the Dragon Scroll. After the panda defeated me and sent me here using the Wuxi Finger Hold, I found Oogway waiting for me there. He told me just that I needed to relax a little bit, to take some time and smell the roses lined up along my path, and that life or the after life could turn out to be a lot of fun if I would allow it to be. Despite my initial anger and reluctance I did take his advice after some time had passed, and since then I've been able to see things that I was never able to see before, and things I was never able to hear. I've been watching my only nephew go down the path that he had chosen, I'm just glad the Dragon Warrior was able to stop him from making the same mistakes that I had made."

"Yeah well so much for that, because of my screw up all of my friends and the Valley of Peace, not to mention that they used to be your friends and your home, and maybe even China as a whole are in serious danger. Everything that I had because I was the Dragon Warrior is all gone and all because I didn't listen to Shifu and started acting like a total loser! I thought it was more important to be treated like a hero than to act like one, just like how you were! But now that I think about it, maybe if you had been the Dragon Warrior then we wouldn't have ended up in this mess. Not to mention Peng wouldn't have quit Kung Fu the way that he did."

"...Panda. Po. Look at me." Tai Lung forced Po to look at him and punched him in the face, sending.

"Ow, hey what the heck was-"

"Grow. Up."

"What?"

"The things you're saying now are like you think you're the only one suffering but I think it goes without saying that literally every master in the Jade Palace has some stories for you and I can assume that they all end with them coming to the Jade Palace. And before you start whining about Master Shifu not even wanting you there, again, and I get it, take a good long moment to consider that he was actually my father for all of my life as well as my teacher, and that doesn't even come close to the complete tragedy of parenthood that is Crane. I mean just go ahead and look at him."

"Yeah, not my best idea."

"But not your worst, believe me I've seen them. Anyway you think you're better than everyone else and yet here you sit on your hide, the good panda doing absolutely nothing, and while evil triumphs and your rigid cowardice crumbles into dust stained with the blood of all of those you love, the only victory that could be afforded to you is that you lived through the hell submersed in your own shame. You were a coward and a failure to your last whimper. Of fear and love, I fear not that my memory will die, but that all that I am that survives within my nephew Peng will die with him. So please panda, not just for the sake of your loved ones and your home, not even for the sake of China, but for the sake of yourself, stop holding back." and with that, he disappeared.

"What…" Po looked down at his action figure and let out a groan "Ghost and potential moral compass Tai Lung is right, I can't just bail on them now." and the next thing he knew he suddenly found himself running forward at full speed.

Not long after that Mr Ping woke up "Po, son where are you?" he looked down and found the action figure sitting all alone, and he gave a small fond smile "That's my boy, now go get them son."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the skies were grey over China, reflecting the grim situation at hand.

Po was running through the Bamboo Forest as has as his legs would carry him, his mind racing at the same pace "Whatever happens, please just let me make it in time."

"You say that like you can actually win." Long suddenly dropped down in front of him "But here is the cold hard truth of this situation, don't have a chance of winning and you never did."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

"Are you that stubborn or that stupid?"

"I'm not going to say it again, if I have to force my way through then I will." he got into a stance and prepared to charge him.

That is, before a brilliant golden light shining overhead, and when the light dissipated in its place was Cody, now back in his old clothes but still holding the Yin Yang staff, with Gwen right by his side "No, that will be me."

"Cody! You're…"

"Still alive? You can thank my brother Adam for that, he found me and used the Wuxi Finger Hold to sent me to the Spirit Realm. I went there, fought Tai Lung and awakened the Hero's Chi lying dormant inside my body. Oh and Oogway says hi." he gestured to his new staff "He even gave me this, but now I'm back and I'm finally ready to fight."

"Cody, look I…"

"Hold that thought." Cody blitzed over to Long and dealt him a swift kick to the torso, sending him crashing into a nearby mountain, then blitzed back over to Po "Listen Po, I can handle this guy by myself but even with Long being out of the picture there is still KePa that we have to deal with. That's your job Dragon Warrior, protect your home and your world."

"...Got it. And Cody? Thank you." and so without another thought on the subject Po took off for the Valley of Peace.

"Gwen stay back, just let me handle this." Cody raised his staff.

"As if you had to ask, but just be careful okay? The last thing I need is to explain to my mom that my boyfriend got killed by a dragon." and so Gwen backed off a very great distance from the scene.

Cody took a stance "Go ahead and get up Long, I know that an attack like that wouldn't have hurt you."

Sure enough, Long emerged from the rubble with only a few mere scratches "So you've awakened your true potential have you? Excellent, killing you wouldn't be that fun if I didn't get a challenge out of it."

"Well you're about to get your last challenge, the real fight is about to begin." with a burst of speed, Cody blitzed forward through Long, leaving a massive crater where he had been standing and giving Long a deep gash across his shoulder.

"So you're faster now, not bad at all but don't get too arrogant just because you're glowing." Long blitzed forward and fired off a barrage of punches and kicks.

Cody dodged and blocked every attack thrown at him with ease and countered with one punch to the face and one kick to the torso, sending Long stumbling back.

Long burst up into the air and fired a dark ball of energy forward.

Cody cut through the dark energy ball with his Yin Yang staff, shattering the attack and leaving black flames scattered around the battlefield.

"You cancelled it out eh? No matter, I'm just getting started!" the two of them started trading punches, though he was the only one taking any damage, so he gave up on that and started firing off a barrage of energy blasts.

Cody did a series of backflips to dodge the barrage, leaving a nearby mountain to be decimated as a result, and he blitzed forward and began his counterattack, in which he fired off a barrage of punches, kicks and slashes from his new staff.

Long powered through the assaulty and dealt Cody a slash across the face using his dragon claws.

Cody wasn't fazed in the slightest by the attack and fired a blast of Chi at Long's torso at point blank range, sending him flying through the air and crashing into the side of the mountain "So that's where we'll finish it." and Cody blitzed away.

Gwen, having been forced to the sidelines, watched as the two of them had disappeared 'Cody, you'd better come back alive, if you die then I swear I will kill you.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cody appeared on the side of the mountain in front of a pile of rubble "Get up, there's no way that was enough to take you out."

Sure enough, Long burst up from the rubble, now covered in several heavy cuts with black blood running down his body, and he was panting heavily "I can't believe you would overwhelm me with this much power, but don't think I'm going down that easily. Still though I commend you for actually actually managing to wound me, as a reward you'll get to see something truly special: my FULL POWER!" his body was engulfed in a fiery crimson aura that shook the entire mountain itself and covered it in a fiery storm of energy. When everything settled down Long's body was now much bulkier and his wounds had been healed, and his body was crackling with crimson electricity.

Cody found himself sweating slightly 'I can sense it, his power has increased dramatically. He's definitely done playing around, if I'm gonna end this then I've gotta do it now.'

"This is what the true Dragon Warrior is capable of, you should feel honored that it's this power that will end your insignificant life!" Long charged forward and he and Cody began clashing in mid air, trading even blows with neither one of them gaining any leeway over the other one.

That is, until Cody managed to catch Long's fist "I'm not giving up you know, no matter what happens I'm going to win this fight!"

"You say that like you can!" Long fired a blast of dark energy at Cody from his free hand, sending him tumbling backwards, and fired back with a new purple one of even greater potency than before, which divided into a number of little blast that converged on Cody and exploded all over him, engulfing him in an explosion.

Cody burst forwards from within the smoke and fired off a barrage of punches and swings from his staff.

Long dodged, blocked and countered every strike until he managed to catch Cody in a brief power struggle "To think you still have this much power left? You're one persistent bastard I'll give you that much." the force of the clash began to break apart the face of the mountain itself until they ended up in a brief beam struggle between two energy blasts, which he promptly won out, sending Cody flying through the air and crashing to the ground in a heap.

When the smoke cleared and everything finally died down, it revealed Cody lying on the ground in a crater, coughing up blood by the gallons, and yet despite this he slowly forced himself back to his feet "No… not yet… I'm not done yet…"

"Okay this just went from fun to being kind of annoying, seriously where do you get this much stamina from anyway?"

"Like I said, this isn't over yet."

"How, How is it that after all of that you have the strength left to stand?"

"My brother Adam had enough faith in me to let me come here, and Gwen had enough faith in me that she came here after me, and Oogway even had enough faith in me to give me this awesome staff. They had faith in me, the least that I can do is have faith in myself and put their teachings to good use!"

"Oh please, you think that can stand up to my power? I won't say that your faith in them isn't commendable but it's not going to be enough for you to defeat me."

"I think we're about to see about that." Cody held up his staff and was suddenly engulfed in a golden light.

"What is this, what are you doing? No, it can't be that…"

"You'd better believe it is. Thanks to this staff I can store some of my Hero's Cho into it and charge it up for one massive attack that I unleash all at once. I like to call this move my Hero's Light!"

"Shut up! You still don't get it, why do you insist on standing in my way?!"

"You're the one who still doesn't get it Long, you've waited for 1,000 years for the sake of a fight that you're about to lose." and with that, Cody brought down the staff, resulting in a blinding light engulfing the area.

"I cannot… be defeated! Not… by the likes… OF YOU!" Long could only roar in agony as he was vaporized on the spot by the blast.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle was over, the land had been decimated but Long had been vanquished, and Cody had won the day.

Cody hit the ground in the Bamboo Forest with a loud thud, leaving a small crater from the impact, but he quickly bounced back "Wow what a rush, man I feel like I'm on top of the world…" and then he fell forward.

That was when a certain someone blitzed in front of him and caught him on his back will a fond smile filled with pride "Hey."

"Adam… you're here…"

"Someone had to send you and Gwen to the Spirit Realm with the Wuxi Finger Hold so you could meet up with Master Oogway and Tai Lung, but you really stepped up today and you came through on all of it like a champ. You've grown stronger than even I thought possible, I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you right now."

"Thank you, but there's something that I need to say to you first." Cody pulled himself back onto his own feet "What I said to Tai Lung in the Spirit Realm is true. Adam you're amazing in just about every sense of the word, I know that better than anyone. You protect those who can't protect themselves, you protect them even when they refuse your help, you bring out the best in people, you make friends out of almost everyone he meets, and you have faith in everyone. But the problem with that is that you refuses to have any faith in yourself. You constantly promise to me, to Bridgette and to the rest of them that you won't let yourself journey down the path of vengeance, and yet all this time you've never made that promise to yourself. You have faith in everyone else so it's time someone else had faith in you for once, and that person will is going to be me. So please Adam, let me be your hero."

"...Well if your mind is made up then there's no use trying to change your mind, but if you wanna be my knight in shining armor or whatever then be that to Gwen first."

"Oh crap where is she?"

"Right here." Gwen emerged from the bamboo trees, cutting them down with her Dragonfang, and she pulled Cody into a tight hug "You had me worried you reckless little idiot, never scare me like that again. Honestly, there's never a dull moment with either one of you two idiots around is there?"

"Well we're Anderson men, it's what we do."

"As much as I'd like to wrap this up here keep in mind that we've still got another dragon to defeat." Adam pointed out.

"And then you're swoop in and steal the win like you always do?"

"Nope, just gonna provide the miracle that does make sure they win. You don't need me to win against those kinds of things anymore Cody, you proved that here today. You finally get what I've been trying to teach you for a really long time. It's not about beating the crap out of everybody, it's about protecting what you believe in. I believe in people, and I believe in you more than anyone else. Come on, let's go save the world of Kung Fu Panda."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The skies were an unsettling shade of gray over the Valley of Peace as everyone was being forced by KePa into helping with the construction of Zhuangzi's Funnel.

Peng and the Furious Five watched the construction continue "This is it, he's almost ready to do it."

"That's one heck of a barbecue." Mantis noted.

"They're building Zhuangzi's Funnel, KePa plans to use it to free the other demons that were sealed away by Master Oogway."

"By crushing Shifu, are you serious?"

"I don't like it anymore than the rest of you do but unless we find some sort of miracle I don't think we have any other choice, now when KePa is weakened that's when we attack."

"This whole thing is a big circle of stink." Mantis grumbled.

"I know that Master Mantis but I just don't see any other way of doing this, keep in mind that Master Shifu is the one who came up with this plan so he understands that his sacrifice is for the best. It has to be."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The construction continued.

KePa leered down at the villagers being forced to build the funnel, then at Shifu where he was being restrained above the funnel "You know I'm sort of enjoying all of this extra effort, as if I'm actually earning it. It should make the release of all of my fellow demon brethren that much more enjoyable, especially when I get to rub it in Long's face that he wasn't even here to see it happen. What's the matter rat man, nothing to say? No pithy wisdom that you learned from Oogway, no lofty moral judgements designed to piss me off?"

"What should happen will happen." was all Shifu said.

"Oh I see, zen like acceptance and resignation to your fate. That's oh so very master like of you, well then Shifu I couldn't agree anymore if I tried. Your time is fleeting anyway, one more piece and the funnel will be ready and then the real fun will begin." he flew up into the air in triumph just as the last piece of the funnel was put in place "At last the time has come, now release him!" he had some random bandit that he threatened into helping him cut the ropes, dropping Shifu into the funnel and towards his inevitable demise "Now then, let's get the real party started already!" he started squeezing Zhuangzi's Funnel, putting himself into a trance as he did so, his eyes glowing a menacing shade of crimson, with blue lights bursting out from within the funnel, causing Shifu to cry out in pain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Peng cringed at the sound of Shifu's cries of pain but braced himself "Remember everyone, this is what Shifu wanted. It's almost time, get ready."

"Shifu!" a new voice cried out.

Peng whipped around and found Po standing at the top of the Jade Palace stairs "Po, no this is horrible!"

"What are we gonna do?" asked Mantis.

"All of you stick to Master Shifu's plan, I'll stall Po for as long as I can and hopefully get him away from here."

"But if this is going to work then we'll need you too!"

"You have obligations to protect the Valley of Peace and Shifu is your master, as his students it's only right that you be the ones to finish it. Now just go!" he bolted off, with the rest of them taking off in the opposite direction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Po took a moment to catch his breath but then prepared to go save Shifu "Alright Shifu just hang on, I'm coming!"

"Po don't!" Peng dropped down in front of him "Listen to me."

"Peng come on, we've gotta save Shifu!"

"No Po, we don't." and so Peng charged at Po at full speed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By this point Tigress and the others, albeit with some clear difficulty, had managed to successfully tie up KePa while he was squeezing the funnel "Yes, we got him!" they tried to tie him tighter as he squeezed tighter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Shifu no!" Po tried to force his way forward, only to find Peng blocking his way "Peng get out of the way, I have to get through!"

"No Po, you don't get it!" Peng tried to force him back in a desperate attempt "I can't let you get through to-"

"Peng if I don't get in there then he's going to kill Shifu!"

"I know."

"Are you completely out of your mind?!"

"Po you need to listen to me-"

"No Peng, you need to listen to me! I have to save Shifu! This is my fault."

Peng said nothing.

"This is my fault Peng, I'm the one who cause this so maybe I can fix it. I even met Long on the way here, then Cody showed up and he had the Hero's Chi, and then I saw this huge light and I just knew that he had won! He actually destroyed Long! We can win this, if I can save Shifu then he can take KePa down and save everyone. The least I can do is save him. Please Peng, let me make things right."

"Po… I…"

"Peng we need you!" Tigress and the others were still struggling to keep KePa under control while he was in his trance.

"...I'm sorry Po, but this is the way it has to be." and so Peng leapt off to join the others in their struggle, in which he and the rest of the Furious Five began attacking KePa relentlessly in any way that they could.

Unfortunately, this failed when KePa snapped out of his trance and started crushing them using his telekinesis as he broke free of his restraints "Oh yeah sure, attack a guy while he's in a trance why don't you? Yeah well guess what, you failed." he started crushing the funnel with his bare claws "And now that all of you peons are down for the count I can finally take you all out." he closed his fist and started crushing them all, laughing maniacally as he revelled in their suffering.

However, Po had taken this chance to haul Shifu out of the funnel "Just hang on Shifu, I've got you!"

"Panda… no…" Shifu's voice was hoarse.

"Try not to talk, I'm gonna get you out of here."

"It's you…"

"Yeah Shifu, it's me."

"No panda, it's actually you…"

"Wait what are you talking about?"

"It's you, you have the Hero's Chi."

Po's face lit up in realization at this "Wait… I-"

"The panda?" unfortunately, KePa heard this along with him and promptly used his telekinesis to throw Shifu off of the funnel and Po into it, and he squeezed it, shattering the funnel in a blinding blue light "Yes, at last it is done! If only Long were here to see this, I could gloat right in front of his smug face!"

Once the light dissipated, Shifu and the others found Po buried under some of the scattered debris of the funnel "Po…"

KePa on the other hand ripped the top off of the seal and peered down it "At long last the day has come, now my demon brethren you have been freed!"

Sure enough, with a rage filled shriek, the massive horde of demons burst upwards from within the seal and covered the skies.

"Yes my brethren, at last you are free! Destroy them destroy them all! Leave none of them alive!"

"Everyone hurry and clear out!" Peng quickly gestured for everyone to get out there, to which they had no objections "Master Shifu, everyone we have to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving him!" Shifu turned to Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five "All of you hurry and get the villagers to safety, whatever it takes get them as far away from the village as you possibly can."

"But what about-" their protects were quickly cut off.

"I said GO!" and that sent them on their way.

"Master Shifu, is he-" Peng was cut off when Po gave a weak cough "Po!"

"He's still alive, that's a relief."

"But I doubt he has long, his Hero's Chi has been drained so he can't have much time. What can we do for him?"

"I don't know, I… Wait a moment, the Peach Tree! We have to take him to the Peach Tree so it can restore him just like it did for Oogway!"

"Then we have to hurry." they both slung Po's arms around each of their shoulders and made a beeline for the Peach Tree.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The situation was grim.

KePa and his demons were rampaging through the village causing havoc everywhere they turned, with the Furious Five struggling to even protect the villagers let alone attack "This little show is just the beginning, soon we will have all of China and then the world will grovel before us! We will wipe all mortals right off of the face of this planet, and then the 10 dimensions themselves will be at our mercy!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By this point Shifu and Peng had successfully dragged Po all the way to the hill that houses the now dead Peach Tree "Please Po, hang on for just a little bit longer."

"Master Shifu, just look at it." Peng muttered "The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, the tree is dead."

"Looks can often be deceiving Peng, the Peach Tree saved Oogway in his most desperate hour of need and now it will do the same for Po. It has to."

"I hope so Master Shifu, I really really do." so they pulled Po up to the Peach Tree and placed his hand on it, only for it to crumble into ash and scatter away into the wind.

Shifu was left horrified, but he quickly regained his composure "I… I'm sorry panda… I truly am…"

"No…" Po's voice was soft, hoarse and strained "I'm the one… who's… sorry…"

"Try not to talk Po, save your strength." Peng told him.

"No… I have to say this… This was all my fault… If I would've listened to you instead of…" he cringed in pain.

"It's alright panda." Shifu tried to console him.

"No, no it's not alright. I let it go to my head just like I always do, I thought it was more important to be treated like a hero than to act like one. I just wish… that I could've had… another… chance…" and with that, he fell still and fell backwards.

"...It's over. Po is gone, and KePa has won."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Shifu whipped around to find Cody being backed by both Adam and Gwen "Cody, you… you're alive."

"And Long is not." Cody held up his staff "You can thank Master Oogway for that, he taught me how to use the Hero's Chi properly."

"I see…" he hung his head "But Po is…"

"You yourself said less than 5 minutes ago that looks can be deceiving, I think you oughta take your own advice chipmunk." Adam pointed to a small plant sitting next to Po's body, glowing a certain shade of gold "Take a look at that for example."

"That… That's a Peach Tree sapling!" this was followed by Po being enveloped in the golden light and lifted high into the air "It's restoring his life force, restoring his Hero's Chi!"

"So it wasn't the Peach Tree itself that saved Po in his hour of need but rather a sapling for a new Peach Tree, kind of symbolic of the new generation when you think about it. You've gotta give it to Oogway, that brilliant bastard definitely knows how to plan ahead."

"He is brilliant, he must've known about this happening all along!"

Po was enveloped even further by the golden light as it took the shape of the Peach Tree, and he opened his eyes as he was lowered back to the ground "So what did I miss?"

"You're alive!" Peng suddenly wrapped Po in a bone crushing hug, only to step back after a few seconds "And I'm happy. About that. Master."

"Don't pull a Tigress on me Peng, come here!" Po pulled him into a bone crushing hug, causing him to squeal in pain.

"Getting Owen flashbacks here." Gwen muttered, with Adam and Cody nodding in agreement in sage like fashions.

"Anyway thanks little buddy, but you know I feel kind of weird."

"Word of advice big guy, check it." Adam nonchalantly gestured to the demon that was about to attack them from behind.

"I've got it!" Po hit the demon with a blast of chi, vaporizing in on the spot "Woah… AWESOME!"

"I'll say, looks like the Peach Tree sapling not just trestored your chi but took it a step further and enhanced it to the point where you're still weaker than I am." Adam was promptly smacked upside the head by Cody and Gwen "Ow!"

"Woah, so what do I do with it?"

"I'll tell you what to do with it, kick some dragon ass and you save the world."

"...Cool." and so he jumped off of the hill and flew off towards the village.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be good." Adam laid down on the hill and pulled a bag of popcorn out of god knows where.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The scene in the village was utter chaos, but the light of hope had been lit anew.

Po dropped down in front of KePa looking more confident than ever before, with Cody right beside him "Hey there, how ya doin?"

"The panda, alive? No that's impossible how can this be?"

"Truth be told I'm not really sure, I think it was some kind of weird mystical magical thing or something."

"I already told you three times, it was the Peach Tree sapling." Cody just palmed his face "How many times do I have to go through this with you?"

"As many times as it takes for me to do this." Po fired a blast of Hero's Chi at one of the random demons "How's that?"

"Nothing compared to this." Cody fired two blasts, one from his hand and one from his staff, killing 10 demons all at once "Take notes panda."

"The Hero's Chi?! Attack them, devour them, destroy them!"

"Not today chachis!" Cody and Po both took to the air and began blasting one demon after another using the Hero's Cho, at least until they ended up getting dog piled "There's too many of them!"

"Follow my lead, I've got an idea!" Po dropped down to the ground, leaving them to dog pile each other in mid air "They're following us everywhere we go right? I say we just let them follow!"

"Good enough for me!" and so the two of them hit the ground and took off running up the stairs of the Jade Palace.

"Whatever happens, do not let him escape!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Po and Cody led the demon horde up to where the Jade Palace once stood "Stay back little buddy, this one is all mine." and so Po summoned a small ball of Hero's Chi as the demons closed in.

Cody looked back and saw Adam, Gwen, Peng and the rest of them appear "Don't help him, he's got this one in the bag."

"Hey you guys hungry?" Po held up his ball of chi "Come and get it!" he leapt back into the seal, with the demon horde chasing after him, which was followed by a loud rumbling.

"...Yeah this might be a good time to take cover."

Sure enough, at that moment Po burst back up from within the seal, kicked the lid back onto the top of it, and sealed it shut once again, before collapsing on the ground "Oh man… totally exhausted…"

"Yeah I feel you." Cody sat down next to him "Defeating a dragon from hell like Long really takes it out of you, I'm used to my brother doing this stuff not me. Now I feel a little bit nauseous doing it myself."

"That goes away. Eventually."

"God I hope so-"

"NO!" now absolutely livid over the death of Long and the rest of his demon brethren being sealed once again, KePa dealt Cody a sharp tail attack out of pure rage, sending him tumbling backwards and knocking his Yin Yang staff out of his hands "I swear by all that is dark and vile in this world, this day will see the Hero's Chi eradicated from this world and all of the 10 dimensions!"

Cody tried to hit KePa with a blast of chi from his bare hands, only to find himself coming up short 'Dammit, I've drained my Hero's Chi and without my staff I can't recharge myself! I'm sorry guys, maybe this is all that I'm meant to have.'

"Get a grip already you idiot!" believe it or not it was Adam who snapped him out of his mini funk "What the hell are you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself for? Are you seriously cool with getting your ass kicked in front of Gwen like this?" he pointed to Gwen "You lose to that overgrown lizard and I will kick your ass to kingdom come!"

'Adam… I won't let you down!"

"Don't hold your breath!" KePa started pummeling Cody, slamming him into things, blasting him with electricity and attempting to crush him with his telekinesis, before flinging him high into the dark clouds looming over China.

Adam looked up and held out his arm in front of the others "Po is tapped out of his Hero's Chi and Cody is running on fumes."

"So then…" Gwen trailed off.

"Yep, KePa doesn't stand a chance."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

KePa continued torturing Cody with his electricity powers, leaving him hurtling down towards the ground below "I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm before I devour you whole you pathetic insect!"

"No… I can't… lose… I WON'T LOSE TO YOU!" Cody managed to fire another blast of Hero's Chi, hitting KePa in the face.

"No, this can't be happening! It's just not possible! You're just worm, you're nothing but an ant! YOU'RE A MORTAL!"

"You're damn right I am! And on behalf of all mortals from across the 10 dimensions I say to you… Skadoosh! Hero's Light!" and with that, Cody used the last of his strength to unleash one final blast of Hero's Light, engulfing KePa in a brilliant golden light that ended the battle once and for all.

At long last, it was over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few days passed, and things had died down, with everyone returning to their respective homes and lives.

Shifu finished reading to Po the story of his newly written legend "And so as Po had protected the Valley of Peace, the Peach Tree now protected Po. So what do you think?"

Po gave a simple shrug "I don't know if I'm that deserving of a legend or all that Shifu, but what matters is that we're safe again thanks to the Peach Tree. And to Cody and those other guys from that other dimension."

"Partially to them yes but it's also thanks to you Po, it was your selfless actions that saved all of us and the rest of the world."

"I guess…" Po looked up to see Mr Ping flying onto the scene "Dad? Dad over here!"

"Son you're alright!" Mr Ping caught Po in a quick hug and turned to Shifu as he pulled out a small box "I brought what you had asked me to."

"Excellent, Po I have something that I want to you see." Shifu opened the box and pulled out one of Po's custom made action figures.

Po let out a nervous chuckle "Thanks Shifu but I'm not too sure that I want that, it doesn't really seem all that important anymore."

"Who said it was for you? This one belongs to me."

"...Well how about that." Po looked out at the vast lands of China, with Shifu and Mr Ping both right by his side.

A/N:

This chapter was a crossover with Kung Fu Panda, or more specifically the special Enter the Dragon. I'm not sure if this episode is considered non canon or just acts as the chronological series finale aired out of order, but I thought it would be cool to do something like this. It was either this or do the Teen Titans movie Trouble in Tokyo where I say that Aurora was Raven's teacher but I figured this would be a better fit considering what I have planned for the third story of the trilogy. I already have it planned out: The four Turtle dimensions (5 counting Dimension X), the Underdog dimension, the Ben 10 dimension, the Kung Fu Panda dimension, and two others, one that will be featured in a later chapter and one that I plan to save as a surprise for the final story of the trilogy.

If the scene in the beginning with Po and Fung and the former Croc Bandits is anything to go by, this takes place after Po the Croc, so now the Crocs are out of prison and are trying to go straight.

The idea of having Cody fight the spirit of Tai Lung and then having him return to help in the fight against Long and KePa was an idea that just popped into my head and I decided to roll with it. His speech about his rode to redemption is loosely based on the speech that Makarov gave Laxus when he kicked him out of Fairy Tail. I think it's fitting don't you?

Tai Lung's speech to Po is loosely based on the one that Android 16 gives Gohan in DBZ Abridged episode 60 part 1, it was a fantastic speech for a fantastic episode that was totally worth the wait. Oh and for those of you who weren't aware, TeamFourStar will be doing a fourth season.

I know Jin Tian's Tempest isn't stated to be one of the Seven Impossible Moves but I just thought it would be fun to see the other five that were never mentioned. I created four of my own though based on other elemental properties in the form of the Great Ocean of Zhanmadao (Water), the Quake of Khan (Earth), the Great Darkness of Shantou (Yin) and the Great Light of Yao (Yang).

That scene with Cody and Oogway in the Spirit Realm is based on the scene from Kung Fu Panda 3, I thought it would be neat for Cody to meet his predecessor in mastery of the Hero's Chi, and I even gave him the Yin Yang Staff that Po originally got.

I added Gwen in to motivate Cody along with Adam because he can't be the solution to every problem, and I think it's with his character that he wants Cody to be able to stand on his own when he's gone (considering his fated final battle with Mal and his own recurring doubts as to whether or not he'll actually survive).

I added Peng into this chapter because he's one of my favorite Kung Fu Panda characters of all time and I was super pissed that he only appeared in 3 episodes, one for each season.

Long's transformation into a humanoid dragon form is loosely based on the transformation that Natsu undertakes in the movie Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, what with the red dragon wings, the dragon claws, the dragon talons on the feet and the dragon tail. I didn't give him a transformation into a full dragon like KePa because I wanted him and Cody to have an actual proper fight scene.

That scene with Cody and Oogway in the Spirit Realm is based on the scene from Kung Fu Panda 3, I thought it would be neat for Cody to meet his predecessor in mastery of the Hero's Chi and I even gave him the Yin Yang Staff that Po originally got.