One of the hardest things Tigress had to do in her life was leaving her children to go on a mission. She and Po were to leave the next morning, and no matter how hard the Dragon Warrior tried to convince Shifu that they couldn't leave their kids, the red panda was firm on his order for them to go and help find survivors and tend to the wounded in a far off village that had recently been attacked and mysteriously burnt down. The village was low on resources, so they had to bring food and water as well as medicine.

"It would be so much easier if we could just fly there," Po had tried to sway their master. "I change into a dragon, we fly and get this stuff to them faster!"

"And risk you being seen by the great Dragon Slayer?" Shifu countered. "Not a very good idea, panda. You have a family to think about now."

"Then why are you making us leave them? If I just change and get to the village, we can be back sooner!" It didn't make any sense! Neither he or Tigress wanted to leave the kids alone in the palace. Well, they wouldn't be alone—they would still have Li, Mr. Ping if he wasn't too busy and Shifu himself plus the other pandas—but it was still hard to leave them alone without mom and dad, especially since they were just beginning to walk. His staff was also not an option; while it had the special ability of transportation if one concentrated, Po doubted that it could send all six of them—including all the bags filled with the necessary items—to the village and back. They didn't want to risk losing anything in the process, so they were forced to travel by foot.

"The children will be safe in the palace with us," Shifu said as comfortingly as he could, though he could tell that it wasn't working.

"And what if the Dragon Slayer comes here?"

"There wouldn't be a dragon for him to slay, would there? He would not have a reason to attack the palace."

Po turned away from his master, letting out a frustrated sigh. He knew that he couldn't argue any further with Shifu.

"You still have duties as the Dragon Warrior," he reminded him. "We count on you to pull through with those duties, and you cannot just go to this village and then leave. These people need you."

Thanks for the reminder.

It wasn't that Po didn't want to help—he really did. He knew that there were people out there who needed the Dragon Warrior's help.

It was just so hard having to leave behind his son and daughter.

xxxx

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of them," Li said gently as Po, Tigress and the Five had everything packed and ready to go.

Po was still tempted to just change into a dragon and take off with the luggage, but he decided against facing the consequences that such an act would bring.

The group was standing on the edge of the Jade Palace steps, preparing to head off on a long journey. Po stared out into the distance—if he squinted, he could see a bit of dark smoke that billowed out into a large cloud.

What could have caused such a big fire? he couldn't help but wonder. His attention was brought back to the others when he felt a soft and light tap on his leg. Glancing down, his heart melted when he saw his daughter asking to be picked up.

He obliged, bending over so he could give her a hug.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Little Lotus," he said sorrowfully. She whined, her grip on him tightening as he attempted to put her back down. Li gladly took her in his arms, sending Po a reassuring smile.

Tigress was having an equally hard time with Chao. He wouldn't let go of her, and Tigress didn't want to let go of him. But like the Dragon Warrior, she knew that she had duties to the people around her, especially when they were in need like the people who needed their help in the destroyed village.

"We can play together!" Bao said in excitement at the thought of having two cubs to play with. Tigress smiled and nodded at his enthusiasm; Bao and Lei Lei both had been very good sports about giving the kids some new friends to play with so that they would be used to other people.

Tigress reluctantly handed Chao over to Li; he had no problem with carrying two frisky cubs.

"I'll be back soon," was all she could say. She'd known that this day would come—the day when she would have to leave on a mission. Once the kids were old enough, Shifu had been firm that things would carry on as normal, that they would have to get used to mom and dad going away every now and then.

They couldn't just stop doing their jobs because they were parents now.

xxxx

The village was a wreck. They'd arrived after three days, and they hadn't been sure what to expect after such a big fire.

It had been anything but this.

There was debris everywhere. Houses had caved in and there was the smell of scorched wood and ash, causing Po to cough upon entering.

"What happened?" Mantis had to wonder as he and the Five walked through the torn village.

It was nearly empty, but there were still a few residents trying to clean up and salvage what they could; it was then that Po realized he just couldn't have come to drop off the items and then leave. These people needed them, just as Shifu said.

"It was horrible," they heard a voice say suddenly. Turning, they saw a shaken little bunny cowering underneath a fallen, dirty and blackened beam. Tigress immediately went to go help him, lifting the beam effortlessly so that he could get out from under it.

But the poor bunny didn't move, remaining cowered on the ground. Tigress put the beam to the side and knelt down next to him for at least some comfort as he told his story and relived the terrible moment.

"T-they w-were huge," he stammered, blue eyes wide as he glanced frantically this way and that; his main focus was on the sky above them. The Five glanced up along with him to see if anything concerning was there, but only white smoke trailed off from the destroyed houses.

"What was huge?" Viper questioned gently so as not to scare the bunny further.

"There were these huge creatures," the bunny explained the best that he could. Tigress reached into a bag for a bottle of water that he could drink, and he nodded thankfully as he sipped. "They were just HUGE and breathed fire, they set everything on fire—"

"Wait, creatures that were huge and breathed fire?" Po asked, eyes wide. Huge and breathed fire...they'd known that the village had been under attack, but not by who. A few days earlier, Shifu had warned him about a Dragon Slayer that had threatened to invade the Valley. He had an inkling of what creatures that the bunny could possibly be talking about; he was suddenly glad that he hadn't turned into a fire breathing dragon after what the village had gone through.

But it wasn't possible! Shifu had said that these creatures hadn't been seen for thousands of years...

"Po, what is it?" he barely heard Tigress ask. Her voice was firm but worried as she watched his expression turn from confusion to fear.

It was starting to come together, and it was then that he heard it: a little voice scream in the back of his head, and he was sure that it wasn't just his imagination. It was a real voice flowing through his mind like whenever he would talk with Tigress as a dragon.

Daddy!

It was Lotus.

Snapping his head backwards, Po was absolutely horrified to see fresh, black smoke rising in the far off distance.

The Valley of Peace was under attack.