"A New Routine"


Po's father - Mr. Ping - had perished.

Although Alf didn't realize it - mainly because he had spent the past few weeks hiding by the rock Yu had shown him, well outside the Valley - the goose was implicated to have died by Tai Lung's hands, via strangulation. From what Alf could discern, from stealing bits of news scrolls and covertly spying on guard investigations - as soon as the snow leopard had arrived in the Valley, the closest structure to him was Mr. Ping's noodle shop. This left the talkative goose directly in the master's path. Guards had apparently found several purple markings near the goose's throat, confirming suspicions of how Mr. Ping had passed.

Po had not taken it too well. Considering that a public notice was put out for Alf's live capture, the Seeker found it incredibly hard to go back to the Palace and comfort Po - ironically the one place where Alf was not in danger - and get more details. From discrete conversations with Yu - again, by that secretive rock - Po had apparently sprinted through the five stages of grief. In a saddening twist, the panda was not able to fully realize any of the stages.

It was impossible to deny it, so Po skipped that stage.

The panda could not be angry anymore, considering that the cause behind it was dead.

There was no bargaining to be had, considering how irreversible death was.

And Po was currently in a depression. Publicly, it only taken him a few days to accept it, organize Mr. Ping's small funeral (which Alf spied on, hiding well away in a tall tree branch), and make his last words - but Alf wondered whether it was possible for Po to truly reach acceptance.

The Seeker himself didn't have too many positive experiences with Mr. Ping. Most of their interactions ended with pots being thrown or the guards being called to get that scummy fleshie - but in an awkward sense, Alf had found the diminutive, non-threatening goose endearing. Most importantly, Mr. Ping seemed to have Po's best interests at heart - something that even Alf could not attest to doing, all the time.

So despite the obvious rhino lookout patrols scouring the streets for him, the constant guard presence inside the Jade Palace, Alf had - today at least - elected to respond to Shifu's call.

Technically, he was coming to the Palace to see his new bed, and have his first real meal.

Actually, Alf wanted to see Po.

Alf had managed to outsmart the patrols. They were positioned more heavily at night, perhaps thinking that Alf would try to break in under the stealthy, misty night of darkness, ignoring the midday times - after all, what kind of public enemy would break into the most heavily secured area in the Valley - at noon?

Alf would.

He gently tiptoed on the Palace Courtyard walls, watching a grand total of just two rhino guards patrol the perimeter - completely unaware of Alf's presence.

He jumped gently downwards, feet making contact with the hard, stony path that was leading to the dormitories.

Alf smiled, noon sunlight fully hitting him - bright, strong, and utterly uncompromised.

He noted that most of the Palace had been rebuilt - or at least, the areas damaged from Tai Lung's rage. Palace walls were revitalized with help from Zeng and local pig workers, while the exterior Courtyard flooring was currently being given a brand new, fresh set of layering.

Alf turned his vision up to the bright dormitories flicking ahead, all rooms dark.

He sighed, knowing that Shifu had told to meet him there. The Seeker made his way slowly up the stone steps, admiring the natural fauna around him - never before appreciated - small bamboo trees, piles of boulders, a thick overcoat of grassy land, and the usual aesthetic quality that the Jade Palace was associated with.

Alf didn't understand what exactly to make of the situation. On one hand, Shifu had been unbearably demanding - forcing Alf to make peace with the fact that he would be vilified in the villagers' eyes, avoid all public contact with any members of the Jade Palace, and overall suppress any information regarding the actual events leading up to Tai Lung's defeat.

Yet after a few weeks of hiding and introspection, Alf had begun to understand the precarious situation Shifu was in. The massive deaths and body count caused by Tai Lung's unexpected return to the Valley (technically connected to the Five, but Shifu had again left that out of his public story), combined with the collapse and destructuring of Chorh-Gom prison, left the Jade Palace in the unusual situation of explaining a series of events that seemed every bit related to incompetence.

So - in theory - tying the most hated person in the Valley to a sequence of tragic, vile, and despicable actions - was quite smart. And Shifu had thrown in a bed and free food! And kung fu training!

Yet Alf felt uneasy. There had been something that night - something in the cold detachment that Shifu had seen him with, something about the casual acceptance that concealing the truth was okay, something very dark and personal to Shifu - all of it made Alf question what he was getting himself into.

But he put that aside, already at the only, single-doored entrance to the dormitories. In truth, it didn't matter what he thought of the situation now - only thing that mattered now, was how Alf chose to react to it.

The brown lock clicked, and the wood swung open with a slight twist. Master Shifu appeared, limp fixed and injuries mostly healed.

"Thank you for coming, Seeker," Shifu noted. "Come inside. I'll show you to your room."

"Thanks," Alf returned, stepping into the wood paneling with a flourish. Shifu closed the door behind him. "How's the Valley looking? Stability-wise?"

Shifu's whiskers twitched, choosing not to show his face to Alf as he lead him down the narrow hallway leading to the dormitories. "Workable. Most of them still have their doubts about what happened, but everyone seems confident in the capabilities of the Jade Palace once more…"

Alf sighed. "That's good."

Shifu picked up his pace. "And, forgive the question - but what exactly was that punch all about?"

It took a few moments for Alf to understand what Shifu was referring to.

That punch. The sudden burst of enraged energy, the feeling of absolute hatred surging through Alf - culminating in a punch that sent Tai Lung flying away from Yu.

"I - I don't know," Alf responded honestly. "Anything the legends say about Seekers being able to do that?"

"Hmph," Shifu grumbled. "Legends are usually helpful when it comes to these things - but very little information comes up when dealing with Seeker history…"

"Yeah," Alf noted. "That seems to be everybody's response to it…"

"You're not thinking of delving further into the history, are you?" Shifu queried suddenly, voice high and tense. "Leave it alone. Some knowledge is better left unknown."

This seemed remarkably similar to the previous conversation that Alf had with Shifu, with the exact same philosophy.

And it pissed him off.

"No," Alf firmly lied. "No plans to investigate. Gonna keep what's in the past - in the past."

"Good," Shifu agreed. "Here we are."

Alf stopped, confused at what he was supposed to be looking at. They had already crossed all the dormitories, and from all indications - there hadn't been any extra rooms built. Shifu pointed to a small trap door hidden underneath a cupboard, swinging it open to reveal a flight of stairs leading downward.

"Follow me," the old master quietly commanded.

Alf followed Shifu down the stairs. It was leading well down, way below the foundation of the Palace - Alf would have gauged it to be at least fifty or sixty steps of very steep, very misshapen movements downward. Light was growing fainter and fainter by the moment, with the steps beginning to chip away with every foot Alf placed on them.

Finally, Alf reached level ground and complete darkness. He heard Shifu's voice somewhere, along with the characteristic fumbling sound of the master reaching for a flint.

"Just - give me a moment…"

Skrit.

A burst of small light.

Alf's eyes closed slightly to readjust to the new ambient light, watching Shifu hold a small torch away from him to illustrate the whole room.

Alf fought the urge to vomit.

The flooring of the "room" was not made out of stony layering, let alone bamboo like the rest of the dormitories. There was raw dirt everywhere.

Actual dirt.

Walls were a slight step up - with stones, or really just chunks of boulders - mashed together and placed at an angle to each other, jutting out at weird positions. The boulders had vast patches of moss stuck to their sides, with a plethora of random insects crawling around the entire space.

But the ceiling was truly the most bizarre of of them all - raw bamboo pipes, spun together around heavy rocks - almost like some sort of drainage system.

"I - I apologize for offering you this," Shifu interrupted. "But - the Palace has a lot of visitors, and will have more now, especially knowing that Tai Lung was here. And - well - "

"You can't afford to be seen housing a Seeker," Alf finished, gritting his teeth. "Especially this Seeker."

"Yes - yes," Shifu agreed, turning to face the room like Alf. "This isn't technically supposed to be a room - erm - this is just the space underneath the drainage pipes - where excess runoff, the Valley's waste, and the Palace's - well, garbage - flows through."

Alf stood silently. The room didn't have any furnishings as well, let alone a bed.

"I - I'm sorry I can't do better," Shifu emphasized, ignoring how unconvincing this sounded to Alf. "Just be careful with the ceiling - it can leak from time to time."

The Seeker snorted. "Well - at least now I'll know what everyone's been eating every day…"

And just from the corner of his eye, although Alf might have hallucinated it, given how dark the environment was - Shifu's mouth curved gently into a half-smile, eyes flickering in the torch light as he subsequently restrained himself.

"Right - well - I should be getting back to the graveyard," Shifu noted, handing the torch off to Alf. "I have to go see my so - erm - Tai Lung. Make sure all the preparations are done…"

And for the first time, Alf felt a bit of sympathy for the old Master. He noted how slow and prolonged Shifu's steps were, just forcing the master up the stone steps leading out of the room.

"Master Shifu," Alf called out, as the red panda stopped midway. "I'm sorry. About your son."

Alf could only see Shifu's back. After a few seconds of silence, Shifu turned his head around half-heartedly, nodding gently before proceeding back up the steps.

"Your training starts tomorrow," Shifu's voice called out. "Be ready before dawn."

With that, Shifu's footsteps receded into silence.

Alf went back to admiring his new room. He kicked away a few insects that clambered onto his pant legs, wondering who he would have to beg to get himself an extra cot - or perhaps even, a small broom. Alf had laid down on dirt before, and it was surprisingly comfortable - it was just the insects that ended up being the problem. The wall's moss were perhaps impossible to remove, and the ceiling - considering that it literally constituted a part of the entire Valley itself - was untouchable.

Alf wondered where the entire system would empty to. The ocean? Were there even any oceans near China?

Why did no one in the Valley bothered to leave, go out and explore - or even plan stuff?

"Ah - there you are Alice."

Alf rotated his head. In the dim torch light, he could see Master Tigress confidently making her way down the steps, paws loose and relaxed as her nose twitched in deep revulsion. Her injuries had gotten better too, with only one or two purple splotches just off the right side of cheek - and Alf had guessed that the rib injuries and knee fracture had healed by now.

"By the Scrolls - what is that smell?" Tigress asked, nose still twitching.

"My room," Alf answered simply. "You planning to drop the girl names anytime soon?"

"You planning to suddenly grow fur and get taller?" Tigress countered, smirk back.

Alf sighed, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of this argument.

"Come upstairs," Tigress demanded. "Po's making lunch."

A lighthearted appeal. Alf smiled, putting out the torch as he followed Tigress up the steps leading out of the room.

He wondered what questions were still left unanswered by the villagers. From what it seemed to Alf, most of the Valley had no interest in participating in global affairs, learning about the world, or even finding anything new outside of their own lives. It sort of explained why asking questions concerning the Seekers were fundamentally wrong - it wasn't that history didn't exist: it was that for Alf's questions, the Valley would be useless to answer them.

That made Alf's mission harder, but not impossible. He would just have to find the answers somewhere else.

He had to.

"So - are you and the fox a thing?" Tigress asked.

Alf stuttered, surprised to hear her break the silence - and also satisfied to have his face behind hers, out of her vision.

"Uh - what?" Alf replied back. "A thing? Whaddya mean - like a thing? Like are we things? Yeah - I mean we're all things by nature - I mean - "

"You're blushing," Tigress promptly deduced. "I can sense it."

"What - no I'm not!" Alf quickly defended, wondering which of her highly-tuned senses had detected it. "How is that even possible? I mean - I get you're super trained and all but - "

They had reached the top of the stairs. Tigress and Alf made their way past the trap door, as Alf kicked it shut behind him.

Tigress promptly swiveled around to face him, noon sun now illuminating every feature on Alf's face.

"No, we're not - like - together together," Alf emphasized, feeling the sense of red flushing gather in his cheeks. "I mean - we're together as friends, not as - well, not together, more like enjoy the intimacy of - wait no! I mean enjoy the company of well - yanno - together."

Alf wanted to shove his head into the nearest bamboo pillar. Tigress kept an amused stare at him, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Girls…" Tigress noted, walking away from Alf and in the direction of the Jade Palace dining area. "... so overdramatic…"

Alf sighed.

He followed Tigress down a narrow hallway, turning with her as she lead them both into a large dining area.

Alf had very seldom seen it before - and he had much less been allowed to stand in it.

The space was small but homely. The walls were coated with cupboards, cooking utensils, and a variety of cutlery. Bags of ingredients were stuffed around the entire space, while the ceiling had a large chandelier of torches hanging down gently. In the very middle of the room, there was a table seating the Five - Monkey and Crane were talking with each other, Viper was drawing something, and Tigress sat down at the far edge.

Mantis pushed a seat away from the table. "Alf! Sit down bro!"

"In a minute," Alf noted.

Mantis merely shrugged his shoulders, but had failed to notice what Alf was focusing on - a large black and white panda, frame sagging against the cupboards while cooking a hot batch of noodles - uncharacteristically silent, back turned to the Five, and hadn't even noticed that Alf had come into the room.

The boy walked quickly over to Po, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Hmm - what? Oh - Alf," Po noted, weak smile forming while flipping noodles. "Hey man."

"I'm sorry dude," Alf whispered, keeping a hand on Po's shoulder. "I - I wanted to come earlier but - yanno…"

"Don't sweat it," Po returned, keeping his eyes on the flipped noodles. "Seriously."

Alf wasn't satisfied with this. He brought his voice very low, very gentle, and most of all - very honest.

"It won't go away," Alf stated, voice quiet enough where only Po could hear. "I'm not gonna bullshit you."

This seemed to catch the panda's attention. He finally turned to Alf.

"It's gonna eat at you for a few more weeks - maybe a month, or even a year - " Alf continued. " - and even after that, that same feeling is gonna come back. Again. And again. And again."

Po gulped, throat tightening.

"But the one thing you can count on," Alf noted. "Is that no matter how bad it gets - or how bad those memories will feel - there's always gonna be people that love you. Who'll help you get through it."

Po's eyes watered a bit.

Alf grinned, flicking Po on his broad chest. "You always got me, man."

A silence. Po kept a vivid stare at Alf, not saying anything as he examined the Seeker's features - completely unabashed, unrestricted, and honest.

"Thanks Alf," Po let out at last.

And it seemed better - or at least - good enough to where Alf was satisfied. Po's grin had returned - maybe not in the exact same manner as before, but that was to be expected.

The enthusiasm was back.

The joy was back.

And he would get better. With time.

Even Alf would.

"So - Monkey - " Po mentioned, sitting down on a chair positioned at the head of the table. " - any chance you could get those autographs?"

The Five burst into laughter and jokes once more. Alf smiled, watching Viper urge him to take Mantis' offered seat.

He made his way over, gradually taking his place at the table before yet another voice interrupted the conversation.

A silver fox appeared at the dining entrance.

"Sorry I'm late, Po," Yu noted, carrying a large bag over her shoulder. "Where do you want these?"

"Right by the shelf to your right," Po asked, mouthful of noodles obstructing his speech. "And come sit down with us - relax from your catering duties for a while!"

Yu smiled at this. Alf kicked another chair out of its place, patting the seat as Yu eyed him with a grin. She put the bag where Po had designated, then took her place next to Alf.

"Nice," Alf acknowledged. "Does he know that's basically the food we stole from his house? Back when we were trying to run away?"

Yu giggled madly, punching Alf to keep him quiet. "Shhh - don't shout it out you moron…"

Alf shook his head, smiling and then crossing his arms on the table. He looked at Yu with tilted eyes.

"So - why didn't you run away?" Alf queried casually.

Yu smiled, looking downward. Alf took the pause to look around him.

Po was seated at the center of the table, cracking jokes that made the Five burst into splits - laughing for an inordinate amount of time. There were noodles being eaten, smiles all around, and jokes being thrown around like light dumplings. Each of the members seated at the table - felt comfortable to Alf now. They weren't looking at Po with jealousy anymore, or looking at Alf with disgust - it all felt natural now. Understandable. Normal.

And despite his room, despite Shifu, despite the collar that was still on him - and Alf genuinely didn't know if it would ever leave him…

… and despite all the answers Alf knew he had to find for himself, and despite the fact that his body was aching immeasurably, the Valley hated him, and that tomorrow would be a tough day for training… nothing felt undefeatable anymore. Nothing made Alf feel pathetic anymore.

He didn't feel alone.

Things felt - upward.

Mobile.

Possible.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of Tigress - moving her gaze from Po goofing around - to Alf and Yu. Her orange eyes met with Alf's brown ones, gentle snicker stretched across her face - avidly observing the interactions between Alf and Yu.

"Because you changed my mind," Yu finally responded.

The fox looked at Alf straight in the eyes. She had never before noted their aged look - the rest of Alf definitely felt and looked like fourteen, but his eyes were deeply recessed and the brow was strong. His gaze wasn't piercing, nor was it happy and open - it was matured, deep-set and calm.

It made her feel very confident. In control.

Yu eventually caught wind of Tigress staring at them both. "Why is she staring at us?"

Tigress' snicker morphed into a wide smirk yet again, as she turned her attention back to her food in victory.

"Just ignore her," Alf sighed, receiving a bowl of noodles pushed across the table from Po. He took a small slurp.

"How is it?" Yu questioned.

Alf's lips curved into a tiny, but resolute smile. "Good… worth it."

And Yu immediately understood what he was talking about.


END OF KUNG FU PANDA (ACT I)


A/N

WEEE O WEEEE - END OF KFP 1! FINALLY!

I hope the ending went well for everybody. I tried to incorporate as many plotlines as possible, tie them up neatly, while obviously advancing overall themes and questions that will get carried into KFP 2 and beyond. I also tried to make it simple and light (but thematically satisfying), a sort of fitting end to all the madness and chaos that happened the last few chapters.

I feel like taking a break, but then again I'm super pumped so I might just keep writing after just a few days of break.

Stick with it! Next up, and coming soon - KFP 2!

I love you guys. That's how much the support means to me. :)

~TW

P.S: DragonChronicle - no, it won't be an alien invasion story! XD. I usually don't confirm/deny rumors just 'cause I like to keep it fun, but this speculation made so much sense given what I was writing - after reading over the last chapter again, that seems like a perfectly logical conclusion. (XD again)

So ya - I'm not that adventurous - but you are right, it definitely will be a unique part of the story, and add a new spin on things moving forward.

P.P.S: I hope no one thinks im a cocky piece of sh - lol. I def. Take writing too seriously, and by no means I consider myself good, or even mediocre - I'm still learning. These longass A/N's aren't me to self-praise - it's genuinely 'cuz I love KFP - and everything associated with it. Writing is a cool way to express that :D

And I'm gonna shut up now, before I embarrass myself anymore. See you guys soon - when KFP 2 starts!

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