Emperor of Japan

"So are you going to tell us about the katana, Po?" Mantis pressured. The Furious Five were in the kitchen up the Jade Palace mountain. It had been a week since the team found out about the katana. Po sighed.

"Leave it alone, guys. It's a personal family heirloom. It's dear to me for a reason," Po said. Then Tigress came in. She glared at Po who looked shamefully at the floor.

"You guys are still getting over that fight you had?" Monkey asked snickering.

"Shut it, Monkey!" Tigress and Po exclaimed. The day before, Po had accidentally tripped over Tigress and made her tumble all the way down the stairs into a pot of noodles. Everyone in town laughed about it. So Tigress blamed Po for it. Just then Zeng came in.

"Master Shifu wants you in the Hall of Heroes," He instructed. Soon the team was in the hall. There they saw a familiar prawn.

"Master Yijiro," Tigress said bowing excitedly, "What are you doing here?" She looked over with an evil smirk to see if Po was jealous. Po saw this and rolled his eyes.

"It is great to see you all, especially you Master Tigress. But today, I've only come as a messenger to the Dragon Warrior," Yijiro said. Everyone, including Po, was surprised.

"Who is the message from?" Monkey asked.

"From the very Emperor of Japan," The prawn replied. Po's face immediately paled as Yijiro unfurled a scroll. "He says that he's coming to meet the Dragon Warrior in person. He's heard so many things about him that he wants to finally greet him. This is a grand honor, Po-san. The Emperor of Japan is the greatest Samurai ever."

"I know," Po muttered.

"You don't seemed excited as you usually do," Viper said worried.

"Well the thing is...I ...have to...go to...the...market outside of the valley and it's a two day journey," Po fibbed gradually making his way to the door.

"Um...actually it says here if you leave the valley, that you will be killed," Yijiro said as everyone gasped. Po flinched when he heard that.

"Abba would put that in there," Po muttered lowly.

"What?" Tigress asked.

"Nothing. Um...how about this? You tell the Emperor to meet me here. Knowing him, he's probably right behind you so," Po said dashing out the door. Everyone looked confusedly at each other. About an hour later, they heard trumpets signaling the arrival of the Emperor. A certain duck was at the top to announce him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jade Palace, it is with great honor that I present to you the powerful, mag-"

"SHUT UP YOU OLD WINDBAG! Shouted the couple coming up the stairs. Strangely, the Emperor didn't dress in fine clothing. Just regular clothes, so did his wife. Another strange thing was that he was a 6'1" wolf and was married to a 5'9" cat.

"Hello, I am Emperor Lee of Japan. It is great to see the Masters of the Jade Palace," Lee said.

"It's a grand honor that the Emperor of Japan graces us with his presence," Master Shifu and the others bowed low to the ground.

"Oh, please stop with the pleasantries," Lee replied.

"Where's the panda?" The cat asked.

"And you are my queen?" Shifu asked.

"She is Queen Mei. Now um...where is the Dragon Warrior?" Lee asked impatiently. Shifu and the others looked at each other with nervousness.

"My Excellence, maybe you would like to see the Jade Palace before you meet the Dragon War-"

"Where is Po?!" Lee and Mei questioned impatiently. Everyone was shocked.

"How do you know his name, your Majesty?" Tigress wondered. The wolf and cat looked at each other.

"We...know...many things about the panda that you probably don't. Now where is he?" Lee nearly growled.

"He's at his father shop, making noodles," Master Shifu explained.

"Down at old Ping's. Come on Mei, we can catch him by surprise," Lee said as they both rushed down the mountain. The Furious Five, Yijiro, and Shifu stared at each other very confused. What did Po have to do with the Emperor of Japan?

Meanwhile, Po was serving another bowl of noodles to table five. Then two new people came in. "Welcome to Mr. Ping's noodle shop. What would you like?"

"I would like a panda that I had in my childhood to actually greet me and tell me how he's doing," the hooded man said. Po was confused.

"I don't think we have that on the menu," Po replied.

"Zing-Zing," The hooded man said as he took off his hood, "It's me, Lee." Po gasped as he hugged his long lost brother. Mei took off her hood, too.

"Mei! It's so good to see you guys," Po greeted, giving them both a well deserved hug. "So you guys must be here with Abba?" Lee and Mei looked sadly at each other.

"Po, um...Abba's dead," Lee lamented. Po sat in shock. He shook his head sadly putting it in his hands.

"I should have been there," Po cried. Mei petted him on the back.

"You didn't know. There was nothing you could do. He had a complication with his heart. No one saw it coming," Mei explained.

"But I should have been there. I shouldn't have come back," Po blamed himself, then he realized something, "So wait. Who's the new Emperor?"

"I am," Lee said as if it were a dumb question. Po's eyes popped opened.

"So that means that you and Mei are...HA! Our old man owes me big time," Po said.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"Well, the only reason why father was against you falling in love with Mei was because he didn't want to lose a bet we made," Po explained.

"You mean that our Abba gave me so much grief about that because he didn't want to lose a stupid bet!" Lee said angrily.

"Oh come on, it was funny," Po said. Lee rubbed his head in frustration. Mei smiled as she grabbed Lee's arm.

"It's alright, Lee. On the bright side, we're finally together. But Po, we're going to have to explain to the others how you know us," Mei stated. Po got up, went to the kitchen, and retrieved the katana that was stolen. It was the exact same sword that Bao-Ai gave him on his 45th birthday party.

"You still kept it," Lee said slightly amazed.

"It was the only thing that I had left to remember you guys by," Po said thoughtfully. Mei and Lee hugged the panda as they came up the mountain.

to be continued