"Leaving Home"


Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Metal against marble.

Harsh.

Unforgiving.

Calculated.

"This is a disgrace."

"Silence - I'm thinking."

The old soothsayer - beard just wilting a bit in the harsh unfamiliarity of the room - groaned. She grasped her face with anxiety, watching the peacock order his wolf underlings around, throwing out valuables and deface the room.

The throne room.

The soothsayer sniffled. Since Gongmen City had been lost, Shen had taken it upon himself to restructure the entire Palace - starting with the throne room.

Chairs had been demolished. Paintings and antique kung fu artifacts auctioned off - or melted for scrap metal. The beautiful furniture and rugs that adorned the large space were simply trashed.

In the center of the multi-pillared, completely bare room - a large metal cannon sat idly.

"You like it?" Shen noted, smiling at the old goat. "Adds a touch of - ambience to the room."

"It's a disgrace," the soothsayer whispered, revulsing inside. "You're a disgrace."

"I am an innovator," Shen forced, bringing his face close to the goat's. "A leader. A changer."

"No one would do this," the soothsayer emphasized. "Your parents taught you better."

"My parents threw me out," Shen spat, feathers bristling. "Out of my own house."

"Because you disgraced them," the goat fired back, eyes watering mildly. "The - the boy I knew long ago - what happened to him?"

Shen moved away, covering his face.

He looked at the large cannon. There was a bittersweet love to coming back here, the sense of rejoice mixed with hatred - the Palace represented everything he had loathed about his parents: the pointless furniture, the excessive decorum, the superficial mentalities - no one would have thought that he could become what he was today.

So it was doubt that was fuelling him - years of doubt, from everyone around him.

"Tell me Shen," the goat continued, daring to walk closer. "How could you stoop this low? Stoop low enough - to steal technology? From the vilest race of them all?"

The peacock grinned, eyebrows angling cruelly downward. "I am not like the rest of China, Soothsayer - world domination can't be bigoted."

"You cannibalized weapons from the only people we all must be united against," the Soothsayer gently argued. "If you think what you did to the pandas was cruel - think of the Seekers - "

"I AM NOT INTERESTED IN HISTORY!" Shen roared, silencing the goat immediately. "I - I care about the future. Tomorrow."

The goat whimpered, tilting her head down.

"And tomorrow - China shall know who I am," Shen finished.

The peacock marched away, giving more orders to the wolves. The Soothsayer watched him for a while, acknowledging that he felt completely unrecognizable.

. . .

As it turned out, Shifu was even more anxious than he had appeared.

Gongmen City hadn't merely been taken over by Shen and his army of wolves - it had been effectively repopulated, a great number of its Palace guards killed or imprisoned, and a constant stream of wolf soldiers had sieged and completely controlled the city. Bordering provinces - fearing Shen and his "weapon" - did not dare to fight the foreign invaders or do battle against the entire wolf army.

Shifu had given an intermediate amount of information, barely enough to proceed on. Some facts were immediately uncovered: that Shen had some history with Gongmen City, that he was previously banished from ruling it, and that he was explicitly connected to a "horrific weapon".

Alf had his doubts. Shifu's description of a weapon that "breathes fire and spits metal" felt exaggerated - the Seeker much more likely thought Shen had repurposed some sort of machine into firing metal at a high speed. His first thought had been a firework, substantiated by public belief that peacocks had invented fireworks long ago - but Alf was unsure how Shen had managed to transform that into a weapon.

All of this was immaterial however, as Shifu had ordered the Five and Po to deploy themselves to Gongmen City - notably leaving out Alf's name.

Which was fine for the Seeker. Nearly all of his "missions" with the Five and Po had to be orchestrated in some weird manner, where he would hide and avoid contact with the members of the Jade Palace for the majority of the fighting, and wear thick, dark garments that covered him fully - head to toe. Alf had moved past the stage of feeling offended, and merely felt grateful to get the Palace all to himself for once.

"Po," Alf called out, walking the dormitory hall carefully. "Where are you, bro?"

Alf kept his ears ready for any sound. In the dim moonlight, filtering past the thick bamboo layering and walls - Po's room was active and full of hushed voices.

"Looks like the gang's all there…" Alf muttered to himself, walking to the panda's room.

Tonight was the anniversary of Mr. Ping's death - which might have perfectly explained Po's freezing incident as well. Alf's thoughts were that the panda had seen something that day in the Musician's Village - something that reminded him of his late father, which completely shocked the Dragon Warrior into inaction. However, he had been through the same thing with Po last year - the day was hard, and Po's energy levels were low throughout the entire twenty-four hours, but he always got through it. Usually it would be Alf and Yu offering support - with some of the Five occasionally dropping in to comfort Po.

"Woah," Alf let out, pushing into the large room. "Guess I'm late to - whatever this is."

The Five were huddled around Po, watching the panda sit in his cot and sigh. He smiled a bit when he saw Alf however.

"We're talking to Po about the thing," Viper offered, slithering into a side wall to relax against it. "The thing he keeps denying."

"I didn't freeze," Po denied vehemently, rubbing at his eyes. "My arm got tired and I started slipping. That's all."

"You didn't slip, Po," Tigress countered immediately. "And if you pull that kind of stunt when we're in Gongmen, someone's gonna get hurt."

Alf walked into the room, taking a seat by the side wall opposite to Viper. Po groaned, getting up to pace around the room.

"It's more than just for us, big guy," Mantis genuinely tried. "Think about if that happened when an arrow's inches from your heart. We couldn't live with ourselves if that's how you ended up - yanno…"

"Dead?" Crane bluntly stated.

"Crane!" Monkey broke in, jumping into the air to lightly shove the bird back.

Po laughed, shaking his head and paws at the Five. "Trust me guys - no one's gonna get hurt on my watch. It was just my stomach, I swear!"

Alf - as well as half of the Five - found this profoundly unconvincing. However, there were more pressing matters to attend to, and given that an appropriate amount of time had already been spent trying to make Po confide in them - it was better to start talking about Gongmen City.

"It's not too far from here, is it?" Alf spoke broadly, itching the sore spot next to his collar. "Gongmen City. What is it - like a week?"

"Try eleven days," Crane noted, sighing as he found a nearby cabinet to perch on. "It's gonna be one long ride…"

"We might have to go by boat too," Viper added.

"You sure it's eleven days, dude?" Alf questioned, standing up.

Crane huffed, pulling out a small scroll. He walked to Alf, unfurling a painstakingly-detailed map - complete with topography, natural landscapes, and markers.

"This is us," Crane pointed out, putting a small feather on an embellished "X" on the right side of the map. "And this is…"

Crane traced a straight line from the right edge to the upper left, where an "O" was established - cutting through drawings of mountains, rivers, and fictionalized provinces.

"...Gongmen City." Crane finished. "See? Using the scale of the map - it'd be around 10 and a half days."

The rest of the Five nodded their heads in agreement. Po pretended to understand what Crane had just said.

"Right…" Alf agreed reluctantly. "...that's if you guys take that route. But if you do this…"

The rest of the Five and Po rounded upon Alf and Crane. The Seeker traced a thin finger from the "X" to the "O" - but instead of a straight line, it curved slightly up and down - through more mountains, and avoiding the province altogether. Alf also drew the path more sea-faring, with more of it crossing larger stretches of water.

"That's literally more distance," Viper noted.

"And it takes us through more water!" Mantis noted.

There were more protests, but Alf responded to them quickly. "Guys! Guys! It'll take less time. I never said it'll be shorter."

"I dunno bro," Po remarked. "Seems kinda longer."

"Po, you don't even understand what the map means," Tigress noted with a smirk.

"Yeah I do!" the panda defended quickly. "Curves are longer than straight lines. Easy!"

Alf shook his head in frustration. "Look - the path that you guys were going on - it takes you through the province, and it cuts right through the Easterly Trade Winds. It's monsoon season!"

"I'm sorry - freaking wind is a factor now?" Mantis cut in.

The Five laughed, agreeing with Crane as he mimicked Alf reciting his wind argument.

"It can be," Alf corrected, ignoring the chuckling. "That wind blows down and is reinforced from those tall mountains…"

Alf pointed to Crane's line, connecting it to the mountain range surrounding it.

"... your guys' speed will get cut in half. You'll literally be traveling opposite to the wind. But if you can ride the wave like in my path…"

Alf traced his curved path again.

"... you go with the wind, for most of it. Sure you'll have to travel a little more - but you can keep up the speed."

Crane grabbed the map in jealousy, staring at the path Alf had drawn. He was joined by Mantis and Monkey, who stared at the new path with careful discrimination. Viper slithered up to Po's shoulder, trying to get a better look at Alf.

"Alyssa, why do you even care about which way we're heading?" Tigress asked, keeping an amused but interested stare at Alf. "Shouldn't you be celebrating that you get the Palace to yourself for a month? Considering that you're not going..."

"Oh I am celebrating, don't worry about that," Alf fired back, smiling. "I just wanna make sure you guys don't waste time - that's all."

"Just come," Viper noted, playfully weaving around Alf's leg. "Who knows? Maybe we'd need some help…"

"Yeah, not gonna work," Alf cut across, pointing at his collar. "This thing doesn't do so well around water, remember? And we have to go by sea a lot so…"

"Yeah right," Po quipped. "You're just scared of Shifu getting mad…"

"That too," Alf agreed, smiling.

"We can always hide you in a bag or something…" Crane interrupted, keeping his focus on the map.

The rest of the Five laughed, going to huddle around Crane and inspect Alf's noted path. Alf took the time to usher Po a few feet away, placing a hand on his significantly larger friend.

"Dude, was it about your dad?" Alf whispered. "You know. It's his anniversary and all…"

"No," Po firmly rejected, green eyes moistening for a bit before the panda turned away. "But - it felt like something. Something old."

"So you did see something," Alf wondered out loud. "What was it?"

"Some weird tattoo," Po noted with a heavy breath. "I don't know - it was like this weird, red ring of circles and stuff."

Alf searched his own memory, trying to find any connection between the circles and Po's own freezing incident. It could have been pointless however, considering that he had never known much of Po's earliest years - only of his youth.

"You know, I sometimes wonder why I'm like the only panda in the Valley," Po interrupted quietly, turning to make sure the Five were still discussing over the map. "You ever seen any other pandas?"

Alf shook his head gently. "No man - but then again, I've never gone beyond the Valley."

Po chortled. "Just us then huh? Just a couple of outcasts…"

"Whatever is going on with you bro," Alf started confidently, punching Po in his large belly. "We'll find out. Don't worry. Even I sometimes - "

Alf stopped himself, about to reveal the recent string of nightmares that had been plaguing him.

Sure, there were great similarities in their experiences. But Alf felt it disrespectful to compare his nightmares - which came at random times, with no sense at all - to something like Po's thing, which seemed to be a very specific trigger. He also had no clue what exactly Po was recalling by seeing that tattoo, but he knew that it bothered the panda greatly.

"Sometimes what, Alf?" Po asked again.

"Okay fine!" Crane rejoined the conversation, shoving the map into a cabinet beside him. "We'll take your wind-adjusted route…"

"You're such a freakin' nerd," Mantis proclaimed, hopping atop Alf's shoulder. "Must be a Seeker thing."

Alf smiled. "Must be."

. . .

Yu's favorite time of day was night time.

She didn't know exactly what drew her to it. Perhaps it was the absence of villagers, or the cool breeze that wafted over the entire Valley, or the moonlight that bounced off every single reflective surface - water, armor, shiny buildings, glass - which made the whole area look peaceful.

But mostly, it was the isolation.

She trotted down the lone path, idly kicking small stones and pebbles away from her as the thick, uninhibited grassland emerged - characteristic of one being outside the Valley. She turned back, seeing the mild glimmers of the Jade Palace and the Valley of Peace just begin to fade into darkness. She kept her eyes forward, puzzled to find a sitting, nearly motionless figure sit atop the rock.

The rock.

"What happened?" Yu called out to the figure, stopping her pace when she was close to the boulder. "Ceiling leaking again?"

Alf smiled, a scroll clutched in between his fingertips. "Nah - just needed some space to think."

Yu hopped atop the large, spiked rock. She handed Alf a small tiffin.

"Eat Alf," the fox implored. "You look hungry."

Alf turned to look at Yu, smiling gently before opening the container to see a few dumplings. He watched her ravenously devour her own dumplings, second container obviously in her hands already.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Alf asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yu kept chewing, waiting until after the dumpling was done. "I dunno. I can sense it."

Alf snorted. "Sense it?"

"Sometimes you don't talk," Yu noted. "Sometimes you spend the entire day just being quiet."

Alf huffed. "Maybe I'm just a quiet guy…"

Yu gave him a bored expression.

"Po's going through some things," Alf stated, popping a dumpling into his mouth. "He won't really tell me what. I feel like the shittiest friend ever."

Now the fox was growing interested. She pursed her lips and stared at the brilliant night sky - twinkling stars catching Alf's attention as well.

"Maybe he doesn't wanna talk about it," Yu argued. "A lot of people don't like being annoyed to confide if they've gone through some stuff."

"Yeah but he's the freaking Dragon Warrior," Alf delivered, laughing. "If he freezes when a wolf swings an ax at him… well - "

He paused, shaking off that thought.

"I just hope I can figure it out soon," Alf finished, cramming another dumpling into his mouth.

Yu grinned, finishing the remainder of dumplings in her container as she turned her body to face Alf.

"So - how's your things?" she asked gently, looking at the scroll Alf still had grasped in his free hand. "Before I came - you were reading our anonymous friend's message, right?"

Alf sighed, taking a bite of another dumpling. "Thought the cool air and breeze would help me out here. Just pissed me off and made me cold…"

Yu nudged Alf's fingers, silently pulling the scroll out of his grasp. "Let's see here…"

"Please don't - " Alf began.

"By China's end, and by China's beginning," Yu read, ignoring Alf. "By your start, and your finish, six is there, but five should beware."

"Oooohhh," Alf vocalized mockingly, widening his eyes in sarcasm. "So scary…"

"If it's answers to your past that you seek, then seek, Seeker," Yu continued pointing at Alf in mock dramatism. "Or be weak."

Yu laughed uproariously, putting the scroll into a pocket in her garment. "Man, I liked the book so much better… actually had so much repetitive, but at least useful information."

Alf put down his container, standing up dramatically to stare at Yu. "Watch this. Here's my response…"

Yu smiled, watching Alf oscillate on the rock and gesticulate wildly, in a feigned, mystical sense.

"By my asshole, and by my eyeballs," Alf started.

Yu giggled, covering her mouth with a thin paw.

"By Shifu's armpits, and by Tigress' tail…"

Yu cackled, lying down on the boulder as she clutched her stomach.

"One is a number, but two is a slightly bigger number…"

Yu rolled over, snickering so hard that her eyes started tearing up.

"If it's being a total dick you seek, then seek, Seeker… or kiss my right asscheek!"

Yu laughed wildly, rolling off the boulder to fall down the grassland. Alf stopped his mocking movements, smile fading as he jumped down to see if she was okay.

Yet she kept laughing, chest wheezing without stoppage.

"A - A - Asscheek…" Yu let out, breathing in short bursts between laughs. "By the Scrolls - that was good…"

Alf grinned, pulling her to a sitting position. They leaned against the rock, Yu still letting out small giggles every now and then.

"Dick you seek… by the Scrolls…"

"Slow down, hehe," Alf chortled. "Don't want you to choke on a dumpling or anything."

Yu smiled.

She stared more intently at Alf. Although by any sane person's metric, he was much more relaxed these days - it was with Yu that he seemed truly uninhibited. Tonight was just one of countless memories that Yu had recalled - most of which, ended with him somehow making her reel over from laughter.

And he had been remarkably accommodating of her. Despite possessing little to no information on her background (much less where she lived) - Alf was always decent, good-hearted, and respectable around her. Yu had seen him after a hard day of training, where Shifu had punished him numerous times - and at his best.

When he had defeated Tai Lung.

That no one was allowed to know about.

Yu put a paw on his hand, grasping it tightly. "You're really funny, Alf."

"I try," the Seeker replied, good-natured smile back.

Yu's eyes were unavoidably drawn to the metal collar, sitting defiantly on Alf's neck.

"Been a while since Shifu's used that on you, huh?" Yu noted, running her fingers over the cold, impassive metal.

"About a week," Alf responded quietly, extending his neck closer so she could brush her paws against the metal more. "He finds something every time - I'm sure he has some quota he has to meet."

Yu's eyes glazed over, sliding a finger in between the collar and Alf's neck, brushing over bare, twisted flesh. "You - you don't notice it anymore, do you?"

Alf turned his gaze to the ground, tired. "I stopped noticing it a long time ago."

Yu's throat seized. Alf hadn't shown any emotion, hadn't even raised or altered his tone, but Yu felt the need to inch closer to him, digging in both paws in between his neck and the collar.

"Maybe after we find some real stuff - um - about the Seekers," Yu began, trying to massage the damaged skin. "Maybe this all changes."

Alf gave her a genuine, completely calm smile. "If you say so - I can believe it."

Yu edged closer to him. She kept her paws around his neck and collar, running them back and forth as Alf tilted his head up and sighed in enjoyment.

She made eye contact with him. Green eyes met his brown.

A peculiar sense in her chest. Her heart felt like it was having a seizure.

She shut off her mind. Yu leaned forward, closing her eyes and gently pursing her lips.

THUMP.

Yu's lips made solid contact with hard rock.

"Augh! What the - " the fox let out, spitting out pebbles and dust.

She looked down on the ground, seeing Alf lay down - eyes glazed over and body completely still.

Yu stared upwards.

A large panda - with a praying mantis on his wide shoulders - stared back at the pair with giggling expressions.

"PO! MANTIS!" Yu screamed, moving to Alf's motionless body. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"In my defense, I was thinking about doing this like waaaaay before," Mantis noted. "But Po wanted to see if you crazy kids would end up - yanno…"

"Po," Yu spat, voice angered. "What. The. Hell."

"I wanna take him to Gongmen City!" Po let out, whining. "And he's never gonna disobey Shifu so I just - yanno - decided to… kidnap him, I guess?"

Yu's mouth went agape.

"Which I guess makes you a witness," Mantis stated. "So - guess we gotta take 'em both!"

"Sounds fair to me," Po agreed, mischievous grin spread on his face.

"MANTIS," Yu forced, staring at the green insect approaching with great frustration. "DON'T. YOU. DARE…"

But Yu felt a pinprick of pressure on her neck, consciousness giving way to blissful sleep.

. . .

"The Seeker and the fox have to go deliver food to the Grand Council?" Shifu questioned with interest, watching Po and the Five load up giant bags filled with food and other resources. "I - I've never heard of such a thing…"

"Trust me, it's legit Master," Po noted, shoving a particularly heavy bag over his shoulders as he looked out at the rest of the Valley - standing on top of the Thousand Steps leading to the Jade Palace. "Very formal, very dignified stuff…"

Shifu watched Po struggle with the inordinately heavy bag, as the Five rounded him as they stood at the entrance, staring out at the misty white fog that always came in the early mornings. Most of the Valley was still sleeping - evident by the lack of light that one could see this high up.

"They both didn't tell me before leaving," Shifu noted, voice low and angry. "This - this will lead to consequences when they get back…"

Po gulped, realizing how much trouble he had just gotten Alf and Yu into. "Uh - yeah I mean - if you say so…"

The Five had finished packing, slinging each bag over their shoulder or some key food into their pockets. Po bowed respectfully to Master Shifu, the Five following shortly afterwards as Shifu whisked his green drape behind him, gentle smile back.

"Go Po," Shifu urged, looking at the six masters with pride. "Go - and save kung fu."

"But I just got kung fu!" the panda groaned.

"Debatable," Tigress snarked.

"And now - you must save it!" Shifu focused again, tapping Po on the belly.

"But how can I stop something that stops kung fu?" Po questioned, mouth agape.

"Maybe learn proper kung fu first," Tigress interrupted again.

"Remember Dragon Warrior," Shifu emphasized. "Anything is possible with inner peace. You will practice that - won't you?"

"Inner peace? Pshhh!" Po shrugged off. "I got that. Don't even worry about it!"

Master Shifu smiled, momentarily distracted as Zeng flew in, urgent to deliver a message. Po watched the two discuss and walk away for a moment.

"Po!" Mantis urged. "Ahem - our bags are waking up…"

The panda oscillated his gaze, seeing two of the bags the Five had packed - both jilted slightly, cloth beginning to poke out.

Po spinkicked, aiming for the head of the bags.

WHUMP.

The bags stopped moving.

"They're gonna kill you when they wake up," Monkey denoted. "You do know that, right?"

Po scoffed, returning to his attentive pose as Shifu shooed Zeng away and made his way back to the group, offering a final bow.

"Go students - go and save Gongmen City!" Shifu dramatized.

"Gongmen City - you are going down! I mean - Shen is going down!" Po vocalized, staring at the sky meaninglessly. He turned to Tigress. "Any witty joke you wanna say now, Ti?"

"Your fly is undone," Tigress casually answered back.

Po gasped, blushing immediately. He turned his head down.

He first realized that two paws had shoved him to the ground.

He then realized that the Five were laughing above him.

Then he realized Tigress was standing atop him, snickering mildly.

Then he realized his pants didn't even have a "fly".

"Come on big fella," Crane assuaged, patting the downed panda. "Plenty of time to win our respect back…"

Po grinned.


A/N

Yay! More Shen and everyone! (And I guess my chapters have permanently been pushed past 4k+ words now...)

Shen and the Soothsayer got some fantastic relationship moments together, that I hope to explore some more as the story progresses. It's sort of like Shifu and Tai Lung, but more respectful? IDK. I'll figure out.

And… AYU shippers go wild! XDXD. Never thought my fic would get a ship name, lol. But you can thank Mantis/Po for breaking up that beautiful moment.

One PM'er said there's lots of plotlines to keep track of - and I sorta agree? I don't want to act like this fic's all crazy complex and fancy - because frankly, I don't have the intelligence to do that. But there lots of "balls rolling" so to speak - so enjoy keeping track of them all. :D

"Support is amazing!"

clarifybooleanlogic = true

;) (don't rage at me if it's not proper code I know nothing about programming XDXD)

~TW

P.S: I've decided to stick to one scheduled time for publishing - every Friday at midnight GMT - or if you're American (half-most of my viewers are) - around 5pm PST.

I'm mentioning midnight, Greenwich Mean Time bc I like international standards. :D (AND FFNET IS INTERNATIONAL WOOOO)