"Why was it again that you wanted to kill me?" Po asked Jie as he hit the little mouse with a punch. Po was actually being a little careful – mainly because he didn't want squished mouse on his hands, but also because he wanted to know what Jie's intentions were… before he fled or before he was defeated by Po and his friends.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Jie replied calmly as he jumped into the air and spun around himself in a three-sixty movement, almost hitting Po in the face with his sword. "But don't worry; I'll let you know… before you'll eventually fall."

"Unless I defeat you first," Po said cockily and lifted his foot above the ground as Jie tried to slash it. Instead of stomping on him as you'd think, Po wasted this opportunity and went back to fighting Jie.

Suddenly the little mouse disappeared from Po's sight. For a short moment, Po was completely disoriented and looked around in confusion. Where'd he go? Suddenly his question was answered by a strong pain in his left leg. "Ouch, hey, that hurt!"

"Oh, but the fight's only just begun, Dragon Warrior," Jie said and brought his sword up in a defensive position. Maybe it was just Po's imagination, but was that blood dripping off the blade? Maybe he should be more careful… nah, as long as he'd win the fight, who cared?

Suddenly Jie jumped surprisingly high into the air – at level with Po's face. Po quickly covered his face with his right arm, feeling a stinging pain as Jie's sword left another wound. But hey, rather on the arm than in the face, right, Po thought.

Po jumped backwards and avoided another slash from Jie's miniature sword. It wasn't because it was that dangerous – sure he had taken a bit of damage from the sharp blade and sure he had gotten a few injuries on his arms, hands and legs already … but hey, he was Po the Dragon Warrior, right? Like another regular foe could bring him down – and one as little as Jie? Never!

Jie could tell that his sword had already left its marks on the big panda and could almost see how Po's movements had gotten slower and more cautious, as to hinder his wounds from hurting when he fought.

Po dodged a few more slashes from Jie's sword, but suddenly he felt another strong pain in his knee as Jie's sword left another wound. Po fell to his knees and groaned in pain. Having the cold wind blow against his open wounds was almost unbearable and Po's body almost hurt too much to even move.

Tigress could clearly tell that Po had been taking Jie too lightly. Through many years of experience, she had learned that foes could be equally difficult no matter how big they were – look at Mantis for example – a lesson she had had to learn the hard way. Now she was only worried about her big friend. No, Tigress couldn't just watch from a sideline – she had to help her friend. Tigress quickly made her way towards Jie and Po. It was one of the few times that they had fought opponents that wielded weapons, and due to them not having any, it was a little hard to be even.

As Jie jumped into the air and was about to slash Po in the face to finish him off, the little mouse was sent flying through the air by a massive punch from Tigress. But Jie knew that the second phase of his plan had succeeded: weaken and intimidate the opponent.

Before Jie hit the ground, he was caught by Onibuto's small, yet strong arms. The powerful rhinoceros beetle put down his Master and Jie turned to Po and the Furious Five. "Just wait Dragon Warrior, we'll be back."

"Po, are you okay?" Tigress asked in a worried voice as her big friend almost fell over and Tigress quickly supported him by her shoulder. She could clearly tell that Po was nearly worn out and Jie had injured him too much.

"Ouch, careful," Po told the palace worker with a grimace. He and the Five were back at the Jade Palace and they had their injuries taken care of by the geese that worked in the palace. Po was the one who was injured the most, but the others had also gotten a few bruises and wounds here and there – Crane even had wounds in his back caused by Qing's talons. The six students had tried their best, but yet they had only barely survived the fight. Were they getting weaker?

Suddenly the door was opened and Master Shifu entered. The old master had a very worried look on his face and the six students all remained silent as they waited for their Master to speak. Shifu let his eyes glide over them all, seeing all their injuries. "So?"

"So what?" Po asked confused, but flinched as another wound was being cleaned with a cloth.

"Aren't you going to tell me exactly what happened?" Master Shifu asked impatiently. The six students all knew that it wasn't because he didn't care about them and their injuries. No, it was because Master Shifu was worried; he knew that they had all been trained all their lives – save for Po – and the fact that someone almost had been able to kill them, was shocking for Shifu… never had they ever been this close to being killed.

"Well…" Po started and everyone's eyes turned towards him. "There was this guy, Jie… He and his… I don't know if you can call them friends; they traveled with him and all, but they didn't seem to…"

"Po," Tigress interrupted him, reminding him that he was losing the point.

"Oh, right…" Po said. "Well, they came to the village and started wrecking the marketplace… we went to stop, but…"

"But what?" Master Shifu asked with a raised eyebrow. He already had a bad feeling about what he the answer he was expecting.

"They were too powerful," Monkey sighed. Monkey was usually so jolly and sassy, but seeing him like this was certainly a rarity, but none of the others seemed to take note of this, as there were more important things to go over.

"That's what I was afraid of," Master Shifu said and sighed. "What did they want?"

"Well… that Jie-guy said that he wanted to…" Po stopped midsentence. "… Kill me…"

"What did he say?" Shifu asked, seemingly rather disturbed by this. He gave Po the usual 'what have you done now'-look, at least that's what Po called it. Po kind of had the feeling that Shifu suspected Po to have something to do with this; maybe someone who wanted revenge on him, but no – Po knew Jie's reasons… really bad reasons, but still reasons.

"That's what he said," Po explained. "He didn't say why though…"

"This is bad…" Shifu muttered to himself. The old, red panda seemed to be in deep thoughts and didn't say a word for a moment. The six students waited in silence as the geese took care of their wounds. Tigress was the only one who had actually been able to defeat her opponent, Meili, but even so, she had struggled greatly to do so. Were the Jien Fong really that much stronger than they, or were the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five getting weaker than they used to be? The only thing that could help this would be more training.

"Master Shifu, if they return…" Crane started, but stopped himself midsentence.

"… then we'll have to become stronger," Tigress finished the sentence with a determined face on. Po on the other hand was a little more worried about facing Jie and the Jien Fong again. After all, it was his life that was at stake.

"Yeah, I need to pay back that stupid beetle!" Mantis said in an upbeat voice. His battle with Onibuto hadn't been much of a success from Mantis side, so he was ready for a second round, wounded or not.

"Guys, I think you've forgotten one big detail," Viper suddenly said and everyone looked towards her. "Jie is after Po, so if they return, they'll most likely distract us by fighting us and then Jie will have a perfect chance to finish off Po all alone."

"Good point, Viper," Master Shifu said wisely and seemed to think for a few more moments before continuing. "Po, you will have to remain in Jade Palace until the Jien Fong is defeated."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait… wait…" Po protested. He didn't want to just stay inside the palace like a scared… mouse! No, why should he? He was the Dragon Warrior! "I'm not just staying in here – you guys need me!"

"Po, I'm sorry, but that's just how it has to be," Tigress growled sternly, surprising everyone greatly.

"Shifu…" Po tried to convince his Master, but all he got from it was Shifu shaking his head. Po sighed. But… if he stayed in the palace, what could he do to help? Meditate and hope for the best?

"But… I'm a hero… and if I can't fight…" Po stopped for a second. "If I can't fight, then I guess… I'm not a hero anymore…"

Everyone seemed to disagree. They all knew that Po had learned several things while staying in Jade Palace. But there was still one thing he needed to learn. The others had learned it long ago; you didn't need to fight in order to be a hero – what makes you a hero is that you keep fighting, but not necessarily with your fists. Ergo, Po could still be the hero he wanted to be, and the hero that the people of China loved and idolized… even stuck inside the palace, he would still be a hero. But no, he would have to learn that for himself.

"Students, you need to prepare yourselves to fight off the Jien Fong again," Shifu said determined. Shifu walked towards the door in the room. "We'll start tomorrow. Po?"

"Yeah?"

"Even though you're bound to stay at the palace, this also means you," Shifu explained as he left the room.

"Aw, really?" Po complained. Great, he couldn't leave the Jade Palace, but he would still have to train, just like the others, who were allowed to leave! Urgh, what else could you expect from Shifu? After their Master left, the six remained silent, left alone with their wounds and the geese that were treating them.