School. Sucks. That's my only excuse for this extremely late update.

Please don't kill me! It was just my birthday!

LTspade: *sighs* Listen bro, I really don't wanna make you not tell anyone who this is about. Not bad, just... honorable ;) Lovable though! :( I didn't mean to take your intrest hostage. And kill the bunny! It's cousins (the plot bunnies) stole my plot for "Threatened"! Retribution! Lol, jk ;) Love ya!

Everyone else: Thank you for the reviews, Favorites, and Alerts! You all maked me smile :)

All of your reviews amuse me XD You'll find out why later.

DISCLAIMER: I own a pairs of sock! :)

~Kitty~

If Mantis told himself he had the suckiest week ever last week, he would hit himself. He was close to knocking his brains out in boredom, but even that wouldn't be very entertaining.

Viper had dragged Tigress shopping. The feline actually liked going shopping, it was just the crowd that got to her. Po was down at his father's noodle shop, and so was Master Shifu. Po was giving his father a break, managing the noodle shop all on his own so the goose could play Master Shifu in a game of Mahjong. In other words (well, in Mantis's words), the others were showing off their ability to leave the Jade Palace.

Monkey wouldn't come out of his room. He would just be sitting there on his tail, trying to meditate but visibly failing. He would pretend not to hear someone talk until they finally left.

Crane was in his room and refused to talk to anyone too. Mantis didn't know why. He had tried to talk to him, but he just refused and slammed the door shut. He looked extremely mad and wouldn't talk to Mantis or Monkey.

Out of the two of them (he knew for a fact that it wasn't himself), he suspected Crane. It was always the quiet ones. He barely shared his past beyond his days at Lee Da Kung Fu Academy (A/N: I think this is what it is), only explaining his parents and a few siblings. He wouldn't elaborate any further.

Monkey was a possibility. He had explained about his life before he was defeated by Master Oogway. He had a few sisters (Mantis shuddered; the only brother), but his parents had died in a bandit raid. They had all went their separate ways, but Monkey knew where all of his sisters were. He became a homeless animal- roaming the streets with no real purpose. Then he found the joy of pranking. He said he was "addicted" and that Oogway "taught him self control".

Mantis scoffed. No real man had self control.

Well, in his book.

And it was a pretty detailed book, thank you very much.

Mantis scurried out into the hallway. He dodged all of the squeaky floorboards (he barely weighed anything, but one can never be too careful). He made his way outside.

He was bored. And to put it simple, he wasn't going to wait around until some panther he didn't even know attacked one of his friends (he flinched at the rude realization that he was abandoning his friends, but he honestly didn't care at that point). All he wanted to do was have a little fun.

A little was a deadly understatement.

~Later~

"HE DID WHAT?"

His students flinched at their master's outburst. Po was lucky; he had been sent to stand guard at the palace entrance in case Mantis came back or in case Zui decided to show up. Master Shifu paced inside Mantis's empty room, chewing his students out until they thought their ears literally had bite marks on them.

"Master-"

Shifu interupted and ignored Crane. "And you were all off in your own little worlds while Mantis went missing!"

"No offense, master," Viper said, uncharacteristically defying Shifu, "but weren't you playing a game of Mahjong?"

His ears lowered on his head. He looked down. "You are right. I am sorry." Looking back up, he glanced at them. "I am just worried." His tone turned more rushed and panicked sounding as he thought of the possibilities.

"He could have been abducted, or ran away, or ran away to confront this Zui without our help! He could be this Wu Yong!"

"Master, let us go look for him," Tigress said.

He sighed. "No. It would only be you, Viper, and Po. Crane and Monkey could not go. There is still a possibility that they could be Wu Yong."

"Master Shifu!"

Their heads snapped toward Po as he ran into Mantis's room. He panted and wheezed. "Master, Mantis was attacked!"

He held up the broken body of their friend.

Viper sprang into action.

"Set him down on the bed," she ordered, immediately going into, what Po liked to call, "nurse mode". "I need to examine his injuries."

Po did as he was told. He turned to the others.

"What happened?" Master Shifu demanded.

"I-I was just standing there, and then this shadow swung through the trees and dropped him on the ground!" He shouted. "I was gonna go after him- you know, let him feel the thundah!- but I almost squished Mantis! I didn't even see him there at first! So the guy just disappears! And I picked up Mantis and ran all the way in here!"

"So," Shifu said, looking at Mantis as Viper bandaged him. "This is not Wu Yong?"

"How can you say it's not him?" Po asked. "He just got his butt handed to him by the guy who wrote the letter- I think." His voice turned to a mutter. "I didn't really, you know, get a good look at him..."

"He is not Wu Yong because Zui strongly implied that Wu Yong would die for his actions, whatever they may be," he added under his breath. "Mantis is alive, no? And Zui would not have delivered him back to us. He wants us to take him seriously, and to make us fear him."

He stood up straighter and looked his students in the eyes. "But he will not win, because the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior can and will always win against dark and conspiring forces. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nodded, Po a little hesitant. "Good."

"Pretty speech."

They all turned to the bed. Mantis sat up, cringing a little in pain.

"Are you okay?" Viper asked.

"Oh sure, I was just ambushed by a panther and- totally kicked ass, by the way- but almost saw a pretty bright light which was strangely yellow and not white- despite what people may tell you, it's yellowy. But other than that, I'm a FREAKIN RAY OF SUNSHINE."

"Why did you leave?" Tigress asked.

"I left because I was bored," he complained. "So I went to the village and was connecting with some old friends, but then this freakin ninja drop-kicks me!" He turned to Tigress. "I really never thought I'd say this, but thank you for that part of training. If it wasn't for you, I really would have died.

"Anyway, so the dude's like 'This will be a message to your little warrior friends and the despicable Wu Yong.' So I'm like okay, this guy's crazy, but then he starts zippin around me and slashing me with a dagger- for the record, I didn't even know anyone could hit a bug with a freakin knife!- so I jump at him. We fight, he wins. By the way, he totally looks worse than me. Just pointing that out.

"So while I'm fighting to stay conscious, he says 'Tell Wu Yong that he has five more days to confront me by himself or all of his friends slowly fall by my paws' or something along the lines of that."

Mantis paused, looking upset. "He said 'The tiger is next.'"

Tigress's eyes turned to slits.

Master Shifu snarled. He turned to Crane and Monkey, who were mainly silent since the arrival of the letter. "Which one of you is Wu Yong?"

They glanced at each other, but stayed quiet.

Master Shifu glared. "I want an answer by tonight! I will not have another student defeated by him!"

"Master, I can take care of myself," Tigress said, sounding insulted.

"I will not have you on a hit list of a very powerful and crazy panther," he said, then sighed. "None of you."

"Well, we can't just beat it out of them!" Po shouted.

Shifu glared at them. He then sighed. "I will be in my room. Stay safe."

When he left, they all looked at the two accused. "Who is it?" Viper asked. "Who is Wu Yong?"

Only one could answer that, and he stayed in a guilty silence.

~Kitty~

Aha! Now we realize that Mantis is not Wu Yong :) I feel pretty proud, but I refuse to acknowledge that unless I get some reviews! Please contribute to my ego :)

Let me know what you think!

~Kitty~