Chapter Nineteen- Home

Chao, Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang traveled on foot down the mountain to meet with their armies. Po and the Five approached them first. All six warriors were thoroughly confused at the sight of a young human sleeping in Chao's arms.

"Who's this?" Po asked.

"The Siren's Gem." Fenghuang replied.

"Also known as Siren Jin." Junjie added. Everyone stared.

"That is the reason we got into an almost war with a crazy Komodo dragon?" Fung asked.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Tigress asked.

"Still up on the mountain." Shifu said. "Crane, could you retrieve him?" The avian seemed a little confused, but flew off.

"I can't believe all this happened because of a kid." Song sighed.

"A special kid." Chao corrected.

"It's over now." Shifu assured. "Jiao-long has been defeated. We can go home." He looked around. "What happened to the Rebel Army?"

"They left." Viper said. "Didn't want to be captured and put in jail, but gave us the excuse that they had to go home."

Junjie laughed. "Oh well. What are you going to do?"

"I'm with Shifu." Po said. "Let's go home." Not a single soul argued. When Crane returned with a still unconscious Jiao-long, the Jade Palace Army went back to the Jade Palace. Along the way, the members of the army split up. Dosu and Sai So started their journey back home. The Ladies of the Shade, along with Song, continued their travels with the promise to keep in touch. Peng did the same, intent on continuing his search for his uncle. Temutai and his warriors split off to go home. Jong left with his men back to his lands. Fung and his gang were the last to leave. Once at the Jade Palace, there was a bit of discussion about the Mongolian Fist Demon. Luckily, the little blue creature now looked to his jar like a home, and gladly went back inside to rest from the constant battles. The rest of the group split off to sleep. The Five and Po went to their respective rooms and instantly fell asleep. Junjie and Fenghuang had to share the guest bedroom.

"How is that, after all these years, there's only one other room?" Junjie grumbled.

"Just go to bed." Shifu yawned.

Junjie groaned and shut the door. "Crazy old man."

"I heard that!" Shifu called as he walked off.

Junjie groaned again. "Stupid big ears."

"Heard that, too!"

Junjie groaned one last time before climbing into a tatami. He pulled the blanket over him. Fenghuang wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and fell asleep standing up in the corner.

Shifu continued down the hallway and through the palace until he reached the infirmary. Chao and Siren were in one of the rooms. Siren was fast asleep on the bed, tucked in and peaceful. Chao was next to her bed, meditating. Shifu walked up and patted Siren's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Shifu turned to Chao. The elder master was smiling. "Thank you, for keeping your promise."

Shifu looked back at Siren and could just see the glint of the gold locket around Siren's neck. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I'm a man of my word."

Chao glanced towards his daughter. "The doctor says she's fine, just tired. May not wake up until day after tomorrow, but she'll need her sleep."

"That's good." Shifu nodded. "I'm glad she's safe. But I never doubted that she'd be ok. She's strong and smart. Like her mother. And you, of course."

Chao laughed a little. "You really think she'll be ok?"

"She'll be fine." Shifu assured. "She's stronger than you give her credit for."

Chao sighed. "I give her plenty of credit. I just worry about her. I'm her father, it's my job."

"Well I'm sure she'd say 'you're fired' if she were awake." Shifu said. The two of them chuckled. "Don't worry about her; Siren will be fine." Shifu walked to the door. "You're welcome to take the cot at the foot of the bed." He walked off to his room. Chao glanced at the cot before turning to Siren again. He gently petted her head.

"You're so strong." He breathed with realization.

Siren didn't wake up the next morning. Everyone else slept in till noon. The Five and Po weren't exactly glad to have Fenghuang and Junjie in the Jade Palace, but they agreed to put up with them for one day. That one day was spent for resting. Chao never left Siren's bedside. He hardly ate; Po kindly brought him some food for lunch and dinner, but Chao wasn't very hungry. He was anxious for Siren to wake up but she was sound asleep for the entire day. Sometimes, Chao would check for Siren's pulse to make sure she was still alive.

Po came for Chao's dinner dishes and found the old master sitting next to Siren's bed.

"Thank you for the food." Chao said as Po gathered the dirty dishes.

"No problem." Po shrugged. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"No, thank you." Chao said, staring at Siren.

Po stole a glance at Siren. She was mostly covered by the blanket so that only her head and eyes were visible. She's awfully pretty. Po thought. "You know, she's going to be fine."

Chao looked up at Po. "How can you be sure?"

"Honestly, I can't." Po admitted. "But no good comes from looking on the down side. I always try and look for an upside, even if there isn't one."

"Why?" Chao asked. "How can you do that and not….." Chao thought for a moment. "There's not going to be a bright side to every situation, so how can you still search for one?"

Po shrugged. "It gives me hope." He walked off. "You can't lose hope, or else it means you've given up."

Chao glanced back at Siren after Po had left. He smiled softly and went to sleep.

The next morning, Siren sat up and stretched. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked over and saw Chao asleep on the cot at the foot of her bed. She stood and put another blanket on top of him. She carefully tiptoed out of the room, wrapping her cloak around her shoulders. She walked out of the infirmary, heading for the kitchen. She was starving. She approached the kitchen doors and stopped when she heard voices. Siren peered around the corner shyly. She recognized the Furious Five from the poster she had of them and a panda: the Dragon Warrior.

Tigress spotted the girl first. "Siren?"

Siren started a little, but cautiously walked into the doorway.

"So this is the Siren's Gem?" Mantis said. "Well, I'll give you credit for being pretty."

Siren giggled a little. "It is an honor to be in your presence." She bowed in respect to the kung fu masters.

"No need to be formal." Tigress assured as she approached Siren. She put an arm around the human's shoulders and led her to the table. "How are you feeling?"

"Little hungry." Siren shrugged. Her stomach growled loudly. "Very hungry."

"Got some breakfast coming up!" Po announced. "How about some stir fry on rice?"

"Perfect." Siren sighed. Po chuckled and served up a bowl of food for the girl. Siren could hardly wait for the chopsticks before she started eating. Though she was as polite as can be her bowl was empty in less than a minute.

"Talk about hungry." Monkey laughed. "I don't think even Po can eat that fast!"

"Hey!" Po pouted.

Siren covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "Um, can I have a little more, please?"

"Of course." Po immediately put more food in her bowl. "I bed Jiao-long didn't feed you very well."

"It's not that." Siren assured. "I've just been asleep for almost two days."

"Hey, I found this after the battle." Crane said. "Is it yours?"

"My Bo!" Siren exclaimed. She gratefully took her staff and held it close. She spun it around a few times, but got a little dizzy and had to sit down.

"You sure you're feeling better?" Viper asked. "We could see your powers from the bottom of the mountain. You were amazing!"

"I'm fine." Siren assured. "I've slept and ate and I can go back to my normal life." She sighed. "I'm just glad I can go home with Dad."

Po shook his head. "I still can't believe the Master Chao is your dad! That's so cool!"

"Yeah, it has its perks." Siren smiled. She finished her food and pushed the bowl aside. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, we were about to go training." Tigress said.

"But we can give you a tour of the palace if you want." Crane offered.

"I used to live here." Siren said. "Can I train with you? I'm a little out of practice." The Five and Po were a little wary, but agreed that the young human could join them. The seven of them walked off to the Training Hall to start their daily routine, long overdue. Each of the Five took some time to practice on their normal training equipment before watching Po blunder his way through the course. Siren tried not to laugh, but it was a little hard not to after watching the panda get beat up by a machine.

"That's so cool." Siren breathed. "You guys are truly awesome."

"You wanna try?" Monkey offered.

Siren's eyes brightened as she nodded eagerly. She handed Tigress her Bo for safekeeping and stood ready at the edge of the equipment. Siren took a deep breath, and leaped into action. She moved gracefully across the wooden spinning logs and blocked a club from colliding with her skull. Then she jumped to the Jade Bowl and skillfully deflected arrows sent her way. She darted through the wooden warriors and smashed one to pieces before jumping to the fire field. She moved about, avoiding any column of fire that shot near her bare feet. For a finale, Siren leaped high into the air and grabbed the rings hanging from the ceiling. She swung from ring to ring like a monkey before doing a flip and landing in front of the Five and Po.

Everyone stared.

"That was awesome!" Po exclaimed. "That was better than Peng!"

"Chao taught you well." Tigress nodded in agreement.

"Siren!"

The group turned as Chao came into the doorway. He was breathing hard, like he had just run fifty miles in ten seconds.

"Have you seen Siren?" he asked worriedly. "She wasn't in bed when I woke up and I can't find her anywhere!"

"Dad, relax." Siren revealed herself. "I'm fine."

Chao sighed. "I thought I told you not to scare me like that."

Siren shrugged. "It's my job."

Chao narrowed his eyes, but smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Siren said. "The Dragon Warrior can cook pretty well."

Po shrugged. "Just trying to help."

"Well, once you've been rested enough, we can go home." Chao said. "I've been gone from the council for a while and they'll need answers."

Siren looked concerned. "We'll come back, right?"

"Of course." Chao assured. "The Jade Palace is just as much our home as Ziben is." He walked off. "Stay out of trouble!"

Siren smirked. "Trouble is my middle name." Everyone laughed.

Shifu meditated with some incense in front of him. He breathed evenly, calming his thoughts. The battle against Jiao-long was one of his toughest yet. But now, the crazy Komodo dragon was in Chorh-Gom Prison, and hopefully will remain there. Shifu's ears flicked to the door as it opened. He turned and saw Junjie and Fenghuang.

"Thought we ought to say 'Goodbye'." Fenghuang announced. "We're about to head off."

"Leaving already?" Shifu asked.

"I don't think your students want us here." Junjie said. "It'd be best if we left."

"Very well." Shifu nodded. He stood and looked at each warrior before him. He punched his fist to his palm and bowed to him. "Thank you. I never thought I'd actually work with those I considered enemies, but you've proven yourselves. You helped save Siren."

"It was out pleasure." Fenghuang assured.

"We care about her." Junjie added. "Just like you and Chao." He and Fenghuang bowed back to Shifu.

"Well, I'm off." Fenghuang said. "I must plot my next plan to take over the Jade Palace."

"Or you could leave us alone." Shifu suggested. Fenghuang raised an eyebrow, and Shifu shrugged.

Fenghuang shook her head. "Farewell, gentlemen. Take care." She traveled down the hall and flew off into the distance.

Junjie smiled. "I wonder if I should've told her that members of the Tri-Dragon of Death can't kill each other."

Shifu shook his head. "That ought to put a damper on her plans." He glanced at Junjie. The old fox looked exhausted, even with a day's rest. "You sure you won't stick around for a little longer?"

Junjie's smile shrank. "I can't stay."

"Junjie, out of everyone in the Rebel Army, you have proven yourself the most." Shifu told him. "I trust you."

Junjie nodded. "I know. But can things go back to normal? This isn't like when we were younger; I've done things I'm not that proud of. I've tried to kill you. Your students aren't fond of me. I don't think Chao has forgiven me for what I've done. Siren knows me and looks to me like family. As much as I want things to return to normal, it just can't happen. Not now, at least."

Shifu sighed. "So what will you do?"

"Let me lay low for a while." Junjie said. "Who knows? Maybe things can return to normal. Just not now."

Shifu nodded. "If you're really willing to change, we can give it a try. We used to be brothers, after all."

Junjie smiled softly. "Thanks, Shifu." He turned and ran off. Shifu looked out the door, but the fox was gone. At his feet was the book about the Tri-Dragon of Death. Shifu picked it up and ran his hand across the cover. He smiled and went to put the book in his room.

After three more days of resting, Chao and Siren decided to head for home.

"You're sure you feel ok to travel?" Po asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about me." Siren assured. "I could take on an army of elephants."

"We'll be fine." Chao added. "We shouldn't reach much, if any, trouble along the way."

"You must come back soon." Tigress insisted.

"Absolutely." Siren smiled. Tigress returned the smile.

"We'd best be going." Chao said. "Thank you all for what you've done. You helped save not only China, but my daughter as well. I am forever in your thanks."

"Not at all." Shifu bowed. The Five and Po followed suit. Chao and Siren returned the gesture before turning to leave. Before leaving, Siren suddenly ran back up the stairs, knelt down, and pulled Shifu into one of her bone-crushing hugs.

"Thank you." She whispered. "For everything."

Shifu returned the hug. Suddenly, he felt something warm on his chest. When Siren pulled away, he saw the golden locket around her neck. Was it just him, or was the locket glowing? Siren smiled and stood up. She spun around and ran back to her father, Bo staff in hand. Her shoulder-length hair had been braided and flew behind her.

"We'll definitely see them again, won't we?" Mantis guessed.

Shifu smiled. "Absolutely.