Mantis's heart sank all the way down into his abdominal segment as he looked straight up at where Mei Ling's trail had taken them, falling embers drifting past his crestfallen face. "You have to be kidding." He said in a calm, dull voice.

One hour ago, their search for Mei Ling in the maze of streets that was the Imperial City had brought up a lead thoughtfully provided by Mei Ling herself; a trail of small pieces of red cloth with were soon identified as bits of a red flag. It was Crane who deduced that it was Mei Ling's trail due to his success at capturing a red flag more than two decades ago. For the next sixty minutes they'd followed the line of cloths, along the way running into the occasional enemy. Most were soldiers, some brainwashed, some not. All fell to the combined might of Monkey, Crane and Mantis. Others were crazy eyed citizens or imperial soldiers, victims of Ember's own mind controlling powers. The battles with them were trickier, as the three masters were reluctant to harm innocent civilians, but they were able to manage with tying up the attackers with rope, ribbons, or anything else lying about. However, the worst encounters were the ones where they didn't need to fight. Three times they discovered an entire group of soldiers lying motionless on the pavement, victims of a nerve attack. They were the worst because there was a huge chance that the entity responsible was still close by.

It was right after they'd taken out some brainwashed civilians that they'd reached the point where Mantis was really starting to get sick of the sight of trashed towers.

In this case, it was actually two. Two one hundred foot tall identical towers with red roofs and as wide as the Jade Palace. One was upright and relatively intact. The other had had its foundations blown apart and it was now leaning against its twin at a scarily large angle. Darn this place, he thought. Darn this place and the jerks who wrecked it.

In response to Mantis's statement, Crane spoke. "I know, but the trail goes right into the fallen tower. Also, it's either this or the two hundred goons on the other side of these buildings. Come on, before they take Mei Ling too far."

Mantis grumbled under his breath. Monkey gave a laugh and nudged the bug on his shoulder with his finger. "Hey, don't look so green. We just need to go a couple of floors at the most to get to the other side. That's probably where they've taken her."

So it wasn't so bad this time. Mantis nodded, squared his shoulders and jumped off his buddy to follow Crane through an open window on the bottom floor.

They found another red cloth on the slanted floor of the trashed room they found themselves in. All the furniture, ornaments and smaller objects had slid down and gathered at the lower end of the room, leaving it almost completely bare. "That's one way to clear the floor." Mantis said.

Once Monkey was inside with them they started to cross the room to the open door at the other side.

Krrrrrrrrrrrr...

They stopped dead as the terrible sound ripped through the building. There was a small shudder in the angled floorboards, but nothing more after that. Crane looked at the others. "Okay, if we get into another fight while we're in here... no throwing anyone into walls, okay?" Mantis and Monkey nodded earnestly.

They crept into the central chamber with the wooden staircase leading all the way up to the top. Mantis didn't usually mind stairs, but in this case they were tilted like the rest of the room. That and they were positioned at the higher side, with the rail facing down. He had to watch that he didn't slip through the wooden bars as they slowly made their way up to the next floor, where they found another piece of red cloth by the foot of-

"Gosh darnit." Crane said. "Ember was here." a paralysed rhino

soldier lay propped against the rail. His chest plate had been knocked off, so Mantis could see the faint mark on his skin where Ember had struck his pressure point.

"He hasn't been paralysed for long." Mantis said. "We should keep our voices down."

There was another cloth piece halfway up the stairs to the next floor. Watching out for signs that the rail might give way, they followed the trail upwards. The tower creaked again, and bits of plaster fell past their heads. They reached the next floor and saw another bit of cloth by a nearby door.

Mantis peeked through the bars of the rail down at the paralysed man they'd passed. "I'm not suggesting I de-paralyse him, but I don't think we should just leave him there."

Crane turned round and started back down the stairs. "You're right. I'll go back and get him out of the building. I'll catch up once I'm done."

Monkey went to the door and pushed. It wasn't locked, but something was blocking it on the other side. "Darnit. You know, maybe we should de-paralyse them. We don't know what happens if they still paralysed for too long."

"They'll be fine." Mantis started to push at the door, and Monkey did the same. "I don't know everything about nerve techniques, but I do know that long term paralysis won't hurt them. Tai Lung would know."

"How so?" Monkey grunted. The door started to open just a little, and they could see the big dragon statue that was blocking their path.

"You know how Tai Lung was still at the top of his game even though he was immobilised for two decades? Well, Master Shifu suggested once that it was because the tortoise shell had stopped the flow of chi. He guessed that because the chi flow had completely stopped, his body's condition was more of less preserved. So when he came out he was exactly the same as when he went in." Mantis stopped pushing as a troubling though struck him. "You know something? Master Shifu also mentioned that the big casket Ember came out of had needles just like the ones in Tai Lung's shell."

"What's your point? Keep pushing."

"Look, Oogway designed the tortoise shell himself. You don't suppose that..."

Monkey swiftly hit Mantis with his tail. "Are you nuts? There is no way Oogway is connected to Ember. No. Freaking. Way."

Mantis felt a little stupid. "You're right. I don't know what I'm thinking. Let's just get this thing open."

"Let's try one big push. On three." Monkey and Mantis braced themselves. "One... two... three!"

On three they slammed against the door. The force of two kung fu masters sent the statue skidding away from the door as it flew open and their momentum sent them staggering into the big room. Mantis took a moment to rub his aching shoulder, before he saw the big shape charging at the unbalanced Monkey and forgot all about his pain. "Monkey!"

Mantis's shout came too late as the crazy-eyed buffalo slammed into Mantis, knocking him to the sloped floor and pinning him. Three more came running from a dark corner, and then Mantis had his thingies full holding them off. Their skin was too thick to use pressure points, so Mantis settled for brute strength, throwing the first buffalo into the second and taking out both at once. He threw the third over his head and onto the floor and turned to the fourth trying to punch Monkey's lights out.

But then someone got there first. They kicked the buffalo off of Monkey and struck them right between the eyes with a broken staff, knocking them out for the count. "Mei Ling?" Monkey said before Mantis could.

"You okay?" Mei Ling asked before dropping to her knees, breathing heavily. Mantis's relief quickly evaporated.

"Am I okay?" Monkey got up and rushed to her side along with Mantis. "You really don't look good."

"How did you escape Ember's minions?" Mantis asked.

"They ran into a group of Long Feng's soldiers. I took out the ones dragging me and ran for it while they were busy duking it out." Mei Ling said. She put a paw on her bloody leg. "This leg didn't make things easy. Wait a minute, where's Crane?"

"Outside. Come on, we need to get you someplace safe before you get worse." Monkey helped her to her feet. "We're gonna need to plan, too."

"For what?" Mei Ling asked.

"To do what we came here to do." Mantis said, having already known the answer. "We're going to rescue the royal family."


Po hit the roof so hard he went straight through it, slamming into the floor below. Dust, wood and broken tiles rained down on his body as his vision doubled. He rolled onto his side, gasping, and raised a paw to the sore spot on his body where the creature had slammed him into the masked man. It seemed like anything could pass for a meteor hammer nowadays.

The rainfall of broken roof bits soon ceased, and peace fell over the bedroom he had fallen into. Embers floated softly in the room through the open ceiling, dissipating harmlessly on the floor. When he could breathe normally again, Po got up on his knees. His shoulder was so sore he couldn't move his arm. A trickle of dust fell on his head and he looked up. There was a ragged hole in the roof where he'd fallen through, but there was no sign of the creature or the masked man. Good.

Po stood up, rubbing all the parts of his body that hurt. And by parts, he meant all of him. He rubbed his shoulder, his arms, his legs, and the itch on his chest... Po froze. He rubbed the back of his neck. His mouth fell open and his heart skipped a beat. The Heart of China was gone. "Aw maaaaan!" Po stood up and spun round on the spot, but so no sign of the necklace. He searched under the bed, the table next to it, and under the broken tiles. He groaned and looked up to the hole in the roof. Thanks a lot, stupid shadow monster. Why the heck was it even here?

He kicked some tiles. He kicked some more. The tiles went flying, revealing a slit burnt in the floorboards. A slit wide enough for a large emerald to fall through. Po leapt down and put one eye to the hole. He saw the orange glow of candlelight illuminating the corner of a table. There was a flash of movement, but it could have been anything. The hole went down to the lower floor.

Po had promised Tigress that he would look after the gem. It was one of the last things he did before she disappeared. He stood up and went to the door.

Just like in the noodle shop, the stairs were right outside the door, leading into what looked like a kitchen. He took the first step down, and the step creaked. Po heard a sound below and froze. Eventually he took another step. Creak. "Not again." Po muttered. He looked at the remaining dozen steps. "Darn it all to heck."

Creacreacreacreacreacreacreacreacreacreacreacreak!

By the time Po reached the bottom he was cringing in monumental embarrassment. Wood hadn't strained beneath his weight like that since the floor in the barracks was last repaired. Feeling like an idiot, Po looked around the room. He was indeed inside a basic kitchen, one with a soaking wet floor, but there was no table lit by candlelight. Maybe that door by the stove led to the room beneath the bedroom. He slowly opened the door and went through.

There was a table with a flickering candle on top, but that wasn't all. There was translucent snow lightly dusting the floor, slightly bigger chunks of ice scattered amongst it. The source of the weird mess was a figure hunched over a chunk of ice the size of a chair in one corner of the room. Wondering where the heck the guy got a piece of ice that big from, Po started to unravel his rock and chain, but then he saw that the guy wasn't wearing armour. His muscles relaxed. It was the first civilian he'd found since arriving in that boat. He must have been hiding here all this time. Po took a step forward, eager for information. There was little chance that this person would have the answers, but he had to try.

"Uh, hey there." Po spoke up, sheepishly waving a paw as he wondered if the guy had heard his journey down the noisy stairs or his fall through the roof. "I don't know if you heard that earlier, but a big monster kinda dropped me through your roof. Nothing scary. A little scary, but I'm okay, and I'm really sorry about your roof. Guy?" Po frowned. The guy hadn't reacted at all. Maybe if Po went up to him, he would notice. So Po stepped up to the guy, getting close enough to see that he was furiously chipping away at the ice with a carving knife, causing bits of ice and snow to fall and cover the floor. A long thin piece came away, and the guy finally stood up and faced him. He was a pig with weird looking glassy eyes.

Po swallowed. "Hey, it's me. Po Ping. The Dragon Warrior. You may have heard of me. I save the day every day with the Furious Five. You haven't seen Master Tigress or her friends around here, have you?"

The pig raised his head. "You're the one the Empress wants most."

Po raised his eyebrows. His gut was suddenly telling him to leave. Now. "Okay, I guess not. I should probably be going." As he turned, he saw a glint of green by one of the table legs. His heart leaping, Po raced forward and grabbed the Heart of China. He sighed in relief and put it back around his neck.

Chink.

Po turned round and his relief evaporated as he saw the long piece of ice rushing at his face. He leapt aside to avoid the pig's swing and went into his stance. A civilian attacking with an ice club. That was a first.

Staring at the shocked panda with glazed brown eyes, the pig slowly advanced.

Po raised his fists. "Stop..." He said. "... I said stop!"

He didn't stop. Po grimaced. He couldn't punch an innocent civilian who obviously wasn't in his right mind. When the pig got close enough, Po dodged his second swing and clamped his fingers on his attacker's shoulder. The nerve pinch swiftly brought him down, and the ice piece fell from his grip. Po instinctively grabbed the ice to stop it from landing on his foot, and stared down at the improvised weapon. The painful cold... the water soaking his fur as the ice began to thaw... somehow he remembered the feeling before. Suddenly he realised his heart was racing and dropped the ice. Something was nagging at him, trying to push itself to the front of his mind but being held back by inexplicable fear.

The civilian would be okay. Po wiped his damp paw on his pants, found the back door and walked into a dark alley stocked with piles of barrels. Po stood there, clutching the Heart of China, wondering where the hell he was supposed to go, when he saw the dagger pinning a scroll to one of the barrels. There were tell-tale burn marks on the barrel. Po pulled out the dagger and unrolled the scroll. He raised his eyebrows. It was a kung fu permit. Why would Ember leave this of all things? Unless she wanted him to go to the place where this permit came from.

There was a flash of red, and then Po looked up to see Ember perched on a barrel at the summit of the pile, eyeholes glowing like the falling embers.

"The wall is burning down, Po, and memories are seeping through... and when they do... I'll be coming for you..."