Legend tells of a legendary warrior, whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend! He travelled the land, in search of worthy foes...

A light breeze carried a trail of peach blossom petals over the legendary warrior's head as he stepped off the little boat and onto the rickety wooden dock that stretched down the river. Staff in hand, he looked up at his destination: a sinister looking building on a tiny island in the middle of the river, an inn crawling with bandits and other distasteful characters. A perfect place to clean up, practice his upper cuts, and nab some nice fat dumplings.

The legendary warrior pulled his rice hat down so it concealed his eyes, and made his way down the dock. Concealing his identity would make the other customers suspicious of him, maybe even provoke them. That was exactly what he wanted.

He reached the door. With one kick he opened it with a bang, startling the hundreds of vicious looking wolves, crocodiles, mountain cats and oxen that filled the darkened room to the brim. Without a word the legendary warrior strode inside, not even glancing at the thugs on either side. He was well aware, however, of the many eyes that followed him to the one empty table that stood in the far corner, bathed in orange light. Peach blossoms floated in the wind outside the window.

A quaking rabbit rushed over and put a small bowl of dumplings on the table then scuttled off. The legendary warrior nodded his thanks and sat down. The moment his rear touched the little stool, there was a rush of wind. In a flash, two dozen bandits were leaning over the other side of the table, glaring at him with pure malice. The legendary warrior disregarded them and picked up his chopsticks. He put the first dumpling in his mouth and started chewing.

Agitated at being ignored, the big ox at the front of the group spoke, "I see you like to chew. Maybe you should chew... ON MY FIST!" He slammed a fist down on the table, rattling the dumplings in the bowl.

The warrior said nothing for his mouth was full. He held up a paw, signaling for the ox to wait a moment. He put the paw down. Then he swallowed. Then the words he was about to speak died in his throat.

"Would you like to chew on my fist?" The ox demanded. "Answer me!"

The legendary warrior was no longer paying attention. Behind the ox, the crowd was parting to make way for the black clothed figure striding slowly towards the table. The legendary warrior stared. He knew this person.

"Oi! Are you deaf?" The ox yelled, but his voice was becoming faint to the warrior's ears.

The black clothed figure reached the table and stepped onto the surface. The ox kept shouting words that could no longer be heard. Crouched low so she and the legendary warrior were nearly at equal eye level, the woman stared at him through the eyeholes of her crimson and black dragon helmet.

"Wake... up... Po..." She whispered. The eyeholes and mouth, once empty black pits, began emanating a burning red fire. "WAKE UP!"

The fire grew and consumed everything.


After the light, there was darkness.

Po's eyes were shut, and he didn't yet have the strength to open them. His ears were working just fine, however, and he could hear the clinking of chains. Then he felt someone slapping cuffs on his left wrist. Then he heard the door open.

"We're nearly finished preparing him for relocation, Mei Ling. This had better be important."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, General. It's about Ember."

"What happened?"

"We're under attack. Ember has taken control of the remaining mortals."

"My god..."

"Lady Nuwang is putting the prisoner's relocation on hold until we've dealt with the situation. She wants to see you, Izumi and Sao at the main headquarters in two days."

"Alright, alright... tell Izumi to meet me in the hall right away."

Po once more fell into oblivion.


Po finally woke up thirty six hours later.

He was in an unusually clean dungeon. Two torches on the walls lit the room. Right across from where the panda was sitting was a typical prison door, heavy and bearing a small barred window. Po looked up at the chain binding his wrist to the wall just above his head. The chain meant for his other wrist dangled limply beside him. Instead of the patched up brown pants he always wore, he was now dressed in a black outfit that was eerily similar to Ember's. Po had a nasty thought and shook his head. He didn't feel anything against his head. Good. At least he wasn't wearing a creepy helmet at well. The chains were long enough that Po could stand. Other than a rumbling in his stomach, he felt okay. He didn't feel like his captors had done anything to him other than keeping him chained up in this cell. Then again, he'd been mostly out of it since he and Tigress were...

Tigress! The Jade Palace!

Po felt sick to his stomach as he remembered. The Jade Palace had been attacked and destroyed. Even worse, the attack had been perpetrated by the same imperial soldiers Emperor Xian had sent for reasons Shifu hadn't had a chance to explain to his students. Po remembered their red eyes. They had clearly been mind controlled. But who could have mind controlled so many people, and why did they do it?

Po tugged at his chain. He had to get out of here. He had to find Tigress, and make sure that the others were okay. How long had it been since the attack? And why hadn't his captors chained his other wrist before leaving him alone.

Po pulled and pulled, until with a loud crunch the other end of the chain came away from the wall, taking a fist-sized chunk of the stone with it. Po grinned in triumph for a split second before the chunk smacked off his forehead.

"YOW!"

Every darn time!

Po rubbed his head irritably before realizing that someone must have heard him. He spun towards the door in a combat stance, ready to take down the guards when they came running.

Seconds passed. The silence was deafening. No-one came.

Finding this very odd, Po picked up the chain and rock. It looked a lot like the meteor hammer he had trained with recently. Po wrapped most of the chain around his arm and held the end just beneath the stone chunk. It would probably make a good weapon.

With that, the panda turned his attention back to the door. One kick ought to get it open. At least until it creaked open on its own.

Po jumped back into his stance, but no guards rushed into the room. Taking a risk, he crept to the open door and peeked out. He saw a darkly lit corridor lined with prison doors just like his own.

Po had a funny feeling that he was being watched, yet he saw nobody. The corridor showed no signs of life. "Where is everyone?" Po wondered out loud. Maybe this was part of the reason no-one had bothered to cuff his other arm. Maybe they had never had the chance.

With this disturbing thought, Po stepped into the deserted corridor. It was like something out of a horror story, but Po steeled his nerve and kept walking. Tigress or the others might be in the other cells. Unfortunately each one he peeked in was empty. What he did find was a set of keys hanging from a hook on the corridor wall. He tested five keys before finding one that unlocked his cuff. At least he was no longer chained to his makeshift weapon, but the fact that his friends weren't here was a bit of a let down.

Disappointed, Po turned his attention to the stone steps at the end of the corridor. He travelled up them to the next floor.

What he found made his bedroom in the Jade Palace look like an immaculate paradise.

A labyrinth of corridors full of discarded, broken weapons: beheaded maces, cracked axes and shattered swords. Broken down doors, damaged walls, overturned tables, rubble strewn about, fallen torches causing knocked down chairs to catch fire. Worst of all was the red stains.

But there were no bodies.

Something really bad had happened here. It must have something to do with what this Mei Ling person, hopefully not one of the two Mei Lings he knew, had said about being under attack. And that meant that Ember was responsible. Not good.

Po was glad that he'd kept the chain, but he should probably find another weapon. Three of the dozens of decimated rooms were armories. He checked all three, found nothing but broken wood and metal, and ultimately found what he needed in a kitchen of all places.

A fully intact, recently cleaned frying pan.

For now, it would have to do.

Po slid the frying [an carefully into his belt and filled his empty stomach with a bowl of dumplings that had been left untouched on the scratched table.

The moment he swallowed the last dumpling, he heard the door creak open behind him.

Po whirled around. He blinked at the person standing in the doorway. At first he thought it was Ember, but this person wasn't wearing a helmet, but a traditional silver theatre mask. They were dressed all in black, their skin or fur completely covered so their species was unidentifiable. Po could tell from the build, however, that they were male.

The masked man stared at Po, as if startled to see him there. Not taking any chances, Po pulled out the frying pan and went into his stance.

Crash!

Po jumped as he heard the sound of a wall breaking down coming from outside in the corridor. The masked man turned his head sharply to the source of the noise, which Po couldn't see, cursed under his breath and ran out of sight. Seconds later a large black blur passed the doorway in pursuit.

Po waited for three full minutes before moving. Who was that guy, and what the heck was that thing? It had moved so fast that he hadn't seen anything that could describe it.

Never mind that, he decided. He still had much more to explore. Tigress and the others may still be around here somewhere, if they were still alive. Po scolded himself for thinking that last bit.

They were alive. They had to be.

Gripping his frying pan, Po stepped back out into the corridor. He saw no sign of the masked man or the black creature. Thank heck for that. A frying pan wouldn't be of much help against that thing.

It was a while before he found the courage to continue onward.

After spending an hour or two fruitlessly searching for his brown pants, Po found a small square room that was different from the others. It was split down the middle by a set of thick bars and a sturdy metal door. On Po's side there was a table, a chair, and a stack of papers. Just like everywhere else, the room was lit with flaming torches. This must be the prison exit. Po reached for the door, hoping that it was unlocked.

The torches flickered and went out.

Po was blinded, his outstretched arm frozen in place. Now what?

Two seconds later, he got his answer. He felt a presence by his left side. He turned to face it.

The eyeholes of Ember's dragon helmet glowed red in the darkness as she stared at him in silent observation. She was close enough to touch.

Close enough to reach out and snap his neck like a twig.

Po wanted to ask her if she was responsible for the attack, but he was too terrified to speak. He was staring at someone who had set a crazy yeti on him and his friends, could paralyze dozens of people without touching them, and had burned General Tujiu into ash.

Who was now very capable of doing the exact same thing to Po.

The Dragon Empress inched towards him. Po was rooted to the spot. Running would be pointless.

Who are you? She whispered.

Po felt something poking through his eyes like needles. Was she trying to mess with his mind again?

"No." He said. He found the strength to step away from her, and the poking sensation disappeared. "I'm not gonna let you pull that trick again."

Ember's eyeholes glowed with more ferocity, and the poking sensation returned. Po winced and clenched his teeth, but thought back to his training. After the incident with the mind controlling sorceress of the Song Province, Shifu had taught him and the others to resist mental attacks.

Fight it. Don't let her in. Raise all barriers. Think about Tigress. You have to get out of here and find her.

He clenched his fists as Ember's attack intensified. His eyes felt like they were on fire, and they were starting to weep.

And then as quickly as she started, she stopped. Po wiped his eyes quickly and glared at her.

Ember's dragon mask was fixed in the same fierce expression, but he knew that she was glaring back.

I understand, Po. You don't want to die. But it's the only way.

"No." Po said. "It isn't gonna happen."

Ember hissed. The fires in her eyes went out, and then Po saw nothing more.

The torches came back to life and the room returned to normal. Po was alone once more, but he didn't feel relieved at all.

She would be back. He knew it.

Po's eyes still felt wet and he rubbed them. He caught sight of his damp paw when he stopped. The black glove was stained red.

Horrified, Po rubbed at his eyes with both paws, and didn't stop until his eyelids were sore.

Holy clustercrap, was I bleeding?! Darnit, I gotta get out of here!

He rushed to the door and shoved it open. He stepped through the bars and to the other side.

One arm holding the makeshift meteor hammer, the other holding the frying pan, Po continued on to what he dearly hoped was freedom.