A/N: Second last Chapter here! A big thank you goes out to all the readers who have favorited, followed and reviewed the story. Doing any of theses three things improves the story's ratings which lets it appeal to more viewers, so again, thank you to all of you who have helped.

Quote of the Chapter:

"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone."

-Robin Williams

Chapter 18

Reunion

As Po held his soulmate up, he never wanted to let go, it had been nearly a month since they had seen each other and it felt like an eternity. And while Po held her up in the air Tigress was very calm, she had missed the Panda dearly for the last 3 weeks and now that he had returned once more to her she felt complete again. After nearly 3 minutes of a tight embrace, Po let Tigress down and said while looking into her eyes "A minute didn't go by when I didn't think about you...I missed you so much..." Tigress could do nothing but smile at how emotional the Panda was, she too was emotional but she loved seeing how happy Po was "me too Po." She said as she once again wrapped her arms around her soulmate's neck. Po just hugged Tigress back, but when he looked at her back he noticed something he hadn't before "it looks nice on you..." He said looking at his golden cloak which he had given to his girlfriend right before he had been captured, she was wearing the cloak right now and as he saw it strapped to her neck he noticed how well it looked on her. "It still belongs to you Po." She said as she unstrapped it off her neck and went to hand it back to the Panda. But Po put his hand on hers and stopped her saying "keep it, I know I told you I would get it back, but it looks better on you." He said this as he took the cloak and once again strapped it to the Tiger's neck. "Po, you don't have to-wait, what happened to your leg!?" Tigress said as she noticed the puncture wound on Po's lower left leg which was bleeding slightly. Po then looked down and also noticed what she was talking about, he had almost forgotten about his injury all together but he said "it's not that bad Tigress, I'll live."

As he said this, the other members of the Furious Five began to regain conscious and got up. Mantis was the first to get up and he said as he rubbed his sore head "I really do wish I was a Cockroach instead..." Then Viper got up and she noticed Po and Tigress speaking to each other and she said "Tigress! Po! You're alright!" Tigress and Po both turned their heads toward the Snake and they both said "Viper!" Tigress and Po ran over to their friends who were now waking up. Viper then replied "Po! How did you overcome Akuma's control over you!?" Po looked to his side and said "well, I have Tigress to thank for that." Tigress just smiled and nodded at the Panda and then saw Crane and Monkey getting up as well. "Ugh, what happened?" Said Monkey as he rubbed his head. "Monkey! Crane!" Po said as he rushed over to help them recover. "Po!? You're back to normal again!?" Monkey said in a happy but also skeptical way not completely sure whether his friend had returned to normal or not. "Yeah! Thanks to Tigress I am. Oh! Crane!" Po responded noticing that Crane was getting back up from the ground as well. He rushed over to the avian and helped Crane get to his feet. "Po? What happened?" Crane asked. "I don't know Crane, I have no memory of what happened when I was under Akuma's control." Po replied in a somewhat sad tone of voice. As the rest of the Five now regrouped, Po said to everyone "I'm sorry for everything guys, for leaving, for worrying everyone, for-" "Po, how can you blame yourself for any of this? Your sacrifice saved Hao and all the other children at the orphanage! And though we missed you a lot, we always held hope that you would return. You always do." Tigress said as she now held Hao so the little Cub was now at eye level with the Panda. Po then looked over at the female Tiger and the White Tiger Cub and he smiled ans replied "I guess I do..."

"Tigress, have you told Po that you're now Hao's mother? Or that he's now learning to be a chef? Or that-" Mantis blurted out before he was interrupted by Po who said in shock "wait what!?" Po's jaw began to jaw began to drop and Tigress began to laugh. "Tigress! I didn't mean to literally 'adopt Hao' when I told you to 'take care of him'..." Po said as he was in shock. Hao also began to laugh at Po's behavior and Tigress responded "well, let's just say I wanted to adopt him." She said this while rubbing Hao's head who she still carried in her arms. "And did you say that Hao is now a Chef!?" Po said having been flustered by all of the information, he grasped his head in his hands in confusion. "Yeah! Well, one in training at least...Hey Po! Guess what! Your Dad's are teaching me how to become a great Chef!" Hao replied to the dumbstruck Panda having become excited once again. Po's jaw collapsed and he asked in a nervous tone "Oh no...Just how much have they told you about me?..." Hao laughed at this and responded "well, Mr Ping told me that you used to talk in your sleep about the Kung Fu a lot..." "AHHH!" Po yelled having been embarrassed as he had hoped that the rest of the Furious Five wouldn't have found out about that. Hao and the rest of the Furious Five began to laugh at the Panda's insecurity. So Hao kept going on "oh! And he also told me that you once believed that you came from an egg..." "NOOOO!" Po once again cried as he hadn't want anyone to know how naive he was when he was younger. "Oh! And he also told me-" Hao continued on before he was interrupted by Po who said "Hao! Please! I think that's quite enough..." Everyone laughed at this and Po hanged his head in shame having had some of his embarrassing secrets revealed.

But as everyone was laughing, Viper noticed another figure who was watching the spectacle from not too far away. "Wait...Tai Lung!?" The snake said in shock. All of the other members of the Furious Five excluding Tigress looked over to the Snow Leopard who was watching them. "Wait what!?" They almost all said in unison and got into their fighting stances facing the Snow Leopard. "Easy guys! Don't worry, he's on our side now..." Po tried to reason with the four Masters. "Po! He's pure evil! Don't you remember what he did to Shifu! To you! To the Valley-" The four almost said in sync but they were interrupted by Po again "I know, and I condemn those actions, but I also believe that he deserves a second chance. Everyone does..." Po said trying once again to reason with the unruly Masters. To his relief, the Masters all stood down and Viper said "I hope you know what you're doing brother..." Po nodded to her and went over to talk to the Leopard. "I know we've had our qualms in the past Tai Lung, but will you join the us at the Jade Palace and protect the valley of peace again?" Po said reaching is hand out as if to shake the Leopard's hand. Tai Lung listened to the Panda and then looked behind the Panda and saw Tigress who looked much more calm than the other's as she nodded to him from behind the Panda. "It has been to long since I've actually done something useful with my life...Yes, I will help you to protect the valley." Tai Lung said as he reached out and shook the Panda's hand.

"This doesn't feel right..." Said Mantis who was now perched on Monkey's shoulder to see better. "Maybe so, but I trust Po's judgment on this one." Viper replied to the insect. "Viper!? You can't be serious! That guy tried to kill us once and almost killed Po!" Mantis tried to argue with the snake's reasoning. "It's not our call to make Mantis, if Po truly believes that Tai Lung can or has changed for the better then we will stand with him, his judgment hasn't always been the best among the wise Kung Fu Masters, but he always sees the good in people. And plus, Tai Lung did just fight off nearly 50 Bandits on his own, had he and Shifu not come when they did, we would all be dead." Tigress explained to the skeptical insect. "But-" Mantis still tried to argue until Monkey interrupted "I'm with Po on this one too, I mean sure Tai Lung has been evil in the past, but that doesn't make him evil now. What if everyone believed that people who make a bad mistake will always be evil, nobody would ever trust anyone." As Monkey said this, they all noticed the Panda shaking hands with the Snow Leopard. "Wait, I'm confused, didn't Tai Lung just help us to take out all those bad guys? So why does everyone not want to allow him to join us?" Hao asked having been confused by the Master's argument having not knowing the Snow Leopard's sketchy past. "Well Hao, that's a long story for another time." Tigress told the Cub who she still held in her arms.

"But you know I'm still going to want that rematch right?" Tai Lung said to Po as the two shook hands. Po just laughed and said "I would have it no other way." The two the released their hands and went to join the others. When the two joined the others Po said Tai Lung, meet Hao Liang. Hao, meet Tai Lung." Po introduced the Snow Leopard to the White Tiger Cub. Tai Lung, to the others surprise respectfully bowed to the young White Tiger Cub and said "greetings young one." Hao couldn't bow back as he was still in Tigress' grasp but he still respectfully replied "hello Master Tai Lung." Once the Masters were all acquainted, Po asked "I trust that you all evacuated the village during this whole ordeal?" Tigress nodded as she said "I did, I had a feeling that something would happen today so Hao and I helped them to evacuate earlier today." Po smiled and said "Thank you Tigress, now since the whole ordeal is over we can let them know that the valley is safe again." The others nodded at the Panda's idea and they went to the neighbor village which the village residents had fled to.

Hours Later in the Neighbor Village

Po and the rest of the Furious Five had arrived at the village where the residents had fled, they were now letting the citizens know that the valley was safe from the tyrant's invasion. Most of the citizens were thrilled to hear the news, not only because it meant they could once again return to their homes, but it also meant that the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five had stopped another threat to the entire country. The Masters had split into smaller groups so they could inform more of the citizens in a shorter time, however they had left Tai Lung back in the village to aid Shifu with taking the Bandits to Chor Ghom. This was mostly because they all agreed that the citizens would likely be afraid of the Snow Leopard, after all, he was very well known in the Valley of Peace. Right now, Po, Tigress and Hao were letting some of the last of the citizens know that the valley was once again safe, however while they were on their way through the streets of the village, Po noticed a familiar looking cart. "Wait, I recognize that cart...Dad! Dad!" Po nearly shouted as he left the two felines and ran to the cart quickly. It was then that two simultaneous shouts came from the cart "Po!?" Tigress and Hao just watched as two people came out from behind of the cart and ran up to hug the Panda. "Po! It is you!" "Lotus! You're back!" Po's two fathers almost said in unison as they ran up to hug their son. "Dads! I missed you so much!" Po said as the three all hugged each other. "Son! We were worried sick about you!"

As Tigress watched the happy family reuniting, she just smiled and held Hao's hand and said "Po's fathers might be a bit weird sometimes, but their love for their son is unparalleled." Hao just replied "they are so lucky to have Po for a son! He is really awesome!" Tigress looked down at her Cub and smiled while dreamily saying "indeed they are..." Tigress loved watching how sentimental Po and his fathers got when they were reunited, even though it wasn't her, she still felt happiness for the family. "Wait Po! Why have you returned? Has the valley been saved again?" Mr Ping said as he let go of the Panda after a long hug. Po smiled at this and replied "yes Dad, the valley is safe now." Li Shan then cheered as he enthusiastically said "wow! Way to Son you guys are really something, I can't imagine what the valley would be without you!" But right after he said this Li Shan noticed something "wait Lotus, look at your left leg! Are you alright!?" Po had almost forgotten about the injury to his left leg once again but he responded "it's not serious Dad, I'll live." "No it's not! Dad (Li Shan and Mr Ping call each other 'Dad') and I will help to heal your leg with our Chi!" Li Shan impulsively replied looking at Mr Ping who had the same idea. "Are you sure that's a great idea Dads?" Po replied skeptically as he hadn't seen his fathers perform the Chi technique in months. "Nonsense Po, we're your Dads." Mr Ping said as he and Li Shan both ran through the movements in the healing technique. Then, both the fathers said in sync "double Dad magical healing powers!" (I made them say this cause I thought it was hilarious when they said 'double Dad defense' in the third movie) They both then extended their right hands forward and bright golden light shewn from the palms of their hands. Within seconds, Po's leg wound was fully healed and he was able to walk without a limp. "Wow! Thanks Dads! I didn't realize you both could do the Chi technique so well!" Po said surprised at how quickly his fathers had healed the wound in his leg. "Well Son, nothing can stop a pair of Dads from helping their Son! No matter what it is!" Li Shan replied to Po. "I guess so...Well thanks a lot Dads! But Tigress and I better get back to telling the last of the citizens the news about the valley." Po replied as he hugged both of his fathers one more time and went to head over to the felines. "Alright Son, take care of yourself!" Mr Ping replied as he waved to Po. "See you later Dads!" Po waved back and he joined Tigress and Hao.

"Had your family time?" Tigress said to him with a smile as they began to walk away from the noodle cart and went to go spread the news to more citizens. Po chuckled and replied "sorry about that, it's just been nearly a month since I've seen either of them." Po replied rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's alright Po, seeing how much your father's love you brings warm to my heart." She replied still smiling. Po just smiled and nodded, then he said "common, we still have some citizens we have to tell the good news to, and then we can go home." Hao's ears perked up as he excitedly said "we can go back to the valley soon!? Does that mean that I'll be able to go and work in the shop with Mr Ping again!?" Po just rubbed his eyes while shaking his head at the Cub's antics, while Tigress smiled and replied to the Cub "of course Hao, but it's been a long day today so you can go to see Mr Ping in the shop tomorrow instead." Hao seemed disappointed but he decided to stay patient as he knew he would get a chance to continue pursuing his passion. "Okay Mamma, but I want to go see if Mr Ping will have started up the shop first thing in the morning tomorrow!" Hao said. Tigress chuckled and replied "of course, Hao." "Yay! Thanks Mom!" Hao excitedly replied as he ran through the street happily. Po was still not used to hearing Hao call Tigress his mother and at first it was hard to believe that Tigress had actually adopted the Cub. But now it was beginning to make a lot of sense, even just from looking at the enthusiastic Cub, Po could recognize many traits and characteristics that he once displayed as a child, a very vibrant attitude and a keen interest in food to name a few. "You know, at first I was a little skeptical about you being his Mother, but now that I watch the two of you together, I can't imagine a better Mother-Son relationship." Po spoke to Tigress out of earshot from Hao. Tigress raised an eyebrow and replied "you were skeptical about me being a mother? Do you not trust me?" Po nervously cringed and said "N-No! That's not what I meant! What I meant to say was-" "It's alright Po, I understand what you meant, I'm just messing with you." Tigress interrupted the stuttering Panda with a slight chuckle as she nudged his shoulder with her elbow. Po then wiped the sweat off his face with his hand and said "Phew! You really had me going there Tigress!" Tigress merely laughed at the Panda's fear and she leaned her head against his shoulder and held his left paw in her right paw "I love you..." She said dreamily while she rested her head on the Panda's strong broad shoulder. Po was taken back by her behavior, but he made no effort to stop her and instead welcomed the affection as he also leaned his head over her head which was perched on top of his shoulders "I love you too..."

Nearly an Hour Later

The last of the residents of the valley had been informed about the news about the defeat of another menace and the new found peace. Po and the Furious Five along with little Hao were returning to the valley from the mountain pass and were making good progress until they heard several stomach growls. "Umm, oh this is embarrassing, I don't think I've had anthing to eat in about a day..." Po said hearing the sound that his stomach made. Hao also said "Mom, I'm hungry, how long until we get home?" Tigress just shook her head and rubbed her eyes in annoyance "we have to get back to the palace before either of you are fed..." She said trying to give the two the best answer she could to the two gluttons. "Ugghhh but it's so far!..." Both Hao and Po said in Unison. All the other Furious Five laughed at this and they kept on their journey.

Later that Day

The others had returned to the Palace without either Po or Hao dying of starvation on the way, Shifu and Tai Lung had also returned from bringing the Bandits to the prison guards who would deliver the mercenaries to Chor Gohm Prison. Once everyone had regrouped at the Palace, they had held a large feast to honor their accomplishment as well as Tai Lung's redemption. Both Hao and Po helped to prepare the feast and during this time Po had taught Hao some more cooking tips and tricks which made the Cub quite excited and willing to learn even more. The feast had more than accommodated the appetite of the Tiger Cub and the Giant Panda to their relief and had been. The weirdest thing about the entire feast was that it was the first meal that Tai Lung had eaten in nearly 4 years, since it is impossible to starve in the spirit realm, but the Snow Leopard did not dislike the meal, rather he enjoyed it. He had never known that the Panda was such a good cook, in fact he really hadn't known much about the Panda at all, besides the fact that he was very persistent and a good fighter. As they all ate the their meals, Po told stories about how he nearly escaped Akuma's encampment and also told some of the stories of his previous adventures to Hao who listened attentively as the Tiger Cub was interested in the Panda's stories. "So you're saying that you nearly escaped that huge encampment that Akuma had? What happened then? Crane asked Po during their conversation. Po nodded and replied so that everyone could hear him "yes, I was very close to escaping that place, just after they brought me to that prison, they locked me up. But I broke right through the chains that were attached to my arms and managed to get out of the cell undetected." The others were very interested in the story and Monkey asked "How did you break out of those chain shackles Po?" Po looked at the Simian and replied "well Monkey, I had saved a lot of my energy on the way there so I focused my Chi to increase my physical strength and then all it took was a good pull." "Ahh, I see, so what did you do once you got out of your cell? Surely there must have been some guards roaming the Prison halls?" Monkey replied with another question. Po smiled and said "Yeah, there were, but I sneakily roamed through the halls until I stumbled across a room called the Powder Room, the room was almost completely dark and it was filled with large barrels filled with the same substance that Shen used as fuse for his Cannons." Everyone was listening, waiting to hear what happened next. "So I set fire to the barrels and it created a massive explosion, so I escaped through the massive crater in the building, but unfortunately on the way out my green tunic caught fire so I had to discard it." Po said this as he pointed to the new green tunic that he had changed into once he had returned to the Palace. Then he continued "I was so close to escaping until I was shot in the leg and in the chest by an archer while I was rushing to get out, and it slowed me down enough for Akmua and his mercenaries to catch up to me and apprehend me." Po said this as he pointed to the areas on his body where the arrows had pierced his skin.

That night on Top of a Familiar Mountaintop

Po was sitting underneath the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom looking down upon the village houses where there were some houses which were lit up, while others were turning out their lights for the night. This was a nice sight to say the least, but Po was not in a content mood at the moment, right now he was reminiscing a horrible event that he had been forced to watch. Right now he was remembering the female Brown Bear who had died at the hands of the Komodo Dragon, this memory still haunted him as he had never seen anyone die in such a way. And although Bao Ni had agreed to accept the consequences of her actions, Po still felt that some of the blame fell on him a he could not protect her. As he remembered one of the last things she had said before she died, a tear fell from his eye 'just promise me Po...That you will...Keep protecting the innocent...' Po then spoke to himself in a sad tone almost crying "but I couldn't even save you...How can I possibly protect anyone else?" He continued talking to himself "I can't protect the innocent from harm, hell, I can barely even protect my own home..." Po said to himself with very little confidence in his own ability. But then a voice from behind surprised the Panda as it said "Po...Why do you say such things about yourself?..." Po was startled by this as he thought he was alone on the peak. "Who's there!? Oh, Tigress...It's just you..." Po said as he turned around to see his girlfriend standing a couple of feet behind him. Tigress joked "well, I guess I can sneak up on you after all..." But unfortunately Po did not laugh at this joke, he instead turned his back to looking at the village houses as he let out a sigh. Tigress knew something was really bothering him and she asked "Po, the village is safe, Akuma is now behind bars, what's still bothering you?" She said this as she walked up and sat beside him. Po frowned and looked down and said "but at what cost, I nearly killed everyone...If it hadn't been for you I wo-" Po went on until Tigress put her paw over his mouth and interrupted him saying "you weren't in control of your actions Po, much like the Kung Fu Masters who were controlled by Kai at the Panda village. And there's no guarantee that you would have killed anyone, I know that you aren't capable of such a thing, even if you are being controlled by someone else..." Tigress tried to knock some sense into the Panda who was moping.

"It's not just that Tigress, I didn't tell any of you this mostly because Hao was in our presence, but before Akuma invaded my mind, he killed a friend that I made at the prison right in front of me...And I couldn't do anything to stop it..." Po said as he moved Tigress' paw out of the way of his mouth, he began to shed tears as he said this. Tigress frowned hearing this, but she let the Panda continue "after I fainted from blood loss during my escape attempt, I woke up in an operating room in the Prison and the healer who treated me was a female Brown Bear named Bao Ni..." Tigress then developed a thought in her head and began to get a bit more defensive 'she better not have done anything to him...' But she snapped out of her trance and continued listening to the Panda "we became good friends in the Prison, in fact she was the only friend I had I that hell hole. She would visit me even when I was locked behind bars and she would ask me questions about my past and I would ask her about her past as well..." As he said this, Po thought 'I had better not mention the part where she confessed her love to me...' But he continued "and then one day, she came to visit me again, but shortly after she left, Akuma and his thugs brought her back to my cell after they had probably tortured her and Akuma killed her right in front of me..." Po now had tears falling from his eyes as he reminisced the horrible memory. Tigress was stunned, she had never heard of anyone doing anything so heartless, she put her arm over Po's shoulder and said "That's horrible Po..." Po then turned his head and looked the female Tiger right in the eyes as he said "I-I just don't want to lose you the same way Tigress, I took a knife in the heart because I love you more than anything..." As he said this Po hugged Tigress very tightly almost crying as he was very emotional. Tigress just hugged her Panda back and replied in a comforting tone "I love you too Po."

The two held onto each other for nearly 5 minutes not speaking or moving, they just embraced each other lovingly. But then Po broke the silence and the hug as he said "thank you..." Tigress nodded and without warning, she pressed her lips against his and began to undo his green tunic pressing her paws on his bare chest and pushing him to the ground, he recovered quickly and he leaned into the kiss letting her slowly push him to the ground. After nearly a minute, the two broke apart for air and Po looked up to the female Tiger who was right on top of him and he said "you really need to let me know when your going to do that next time, you catch me by surprise every time..." Tigress chuckled as she replied "but that would spoil all the fun wouldn't it?" Tigress responded with a mischievous smile on her face as she looked down at her Panda who she had pinned to the ground. Po replied "you're right, it would." Tigress still smiled as she continued "would you like to continue this somewhere more private?..." As she said this Po looked a bit nervous and he asked her "umm, what do you mean by 'continue'..." Tigress once again smiled mischievously as she responded to the clueless Panda "I'm sure you know what I mean handsome..." Po gulped and said "Oh no...You don't mean what I think you do, do you?" Tigress licked her lips as in a seductive way as she said "mmhhmm..." Tigress then got up from him and dragged the Panda by the arm saying "you have been practicing to increase your stamina so this should be easy for you Po." Po just let the female Tiger drag him but he nervously replied "but this isn't what I was training for..." and as she dragged him towards the hot springs far from the Palace he said "please Tigress, I just got back..." Tigress just smiled at his skepticism and replied oh common Po, we can still have a little fun..."

And you can probably guess what happened from there...

A/N: Chapter 18 done! Sorry it took so long to finish, but thanks to everyone for waiting patiently. As always be sure to Favorite or Follow the story if you enjoyed it, and also

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