The Way Back
Chapter 9- Goodbye
Po landed on his face with a heavy thud, he groaned as he sat up.
He suddenly remembered what he had done, "I did it...I tested it and it worked".
He took in his surroundings, he was back in his room at the Jade Palace, unfortunately it was only his room in the future, Po also observed that it was also day time, the sun shone brilliantly through his window.
"It seems like it takes a while for me to move anywhere, I thought it would've been instantaneous...but it wasn't", he grumbled internally, it just meant Tigress would have to wait a bit longer.
"But at least I can attempt travel with it, now I just have to see whether I can attempt time travel" he thought, Po focused on the positives after all he was nearly there.
Po breathed deeply and felt the nectar flow through him, "Wow, it's still there...and it still freaks me out having this...thing live inside me...it feels like another person". Po snapped out of his daydream and focused on the mission.
"Time to say my goodbyes, I'll gather the stuff I want to take with me, then I'll find the others", Po moved to his desk and collected everything he wanted to bring with him, he took his letters to Tigress (because he wanted to show her that she was always at the forefront of his mind), the notepad which he had written any notes or research materials after all he might need these in the future and finally he put a Tigress action figure which he had made in the box with everything else.
He lifted it up with a groan and carried it over to the Hall of Heroes, two rhino were once again situated outside the door, they looked bored and it seemed like they had been there for hours.
"Hey guys, how's is going?" said Po cheerfully.
They immediately snapped to attention and saluted Po, "G-good morning Dragon Warrior".
Po chuckled "Come on you I already told you...just call me Po".
The guards relaxed a bit "Sorry Po...it's just th-", Po cut him off "I know why just make sure you don't confuse me with him".
Po decided to lighten the mood "So have you guys seen the other masters? I kinda need to see them".
They both shook their heads "No, sorry Po".
Po shrugged and bid them farewell, he walked over to the door, opened it and called out to the five "VIPER...MANTIS...MONKEY!", no response.
He left the box there and went to the training hall, when he arrived there to his surprise none of them were present in the hall.
Po scratched his head, "Why do I always need to spend hours looking for people, it'd be much easier if we had some way of communicating with each other then I woul-".
Zeng suddenly fell through the open door "Master Po! Master Po!", Po ran over to the palace messenger and put him back upright.
Po kneeled down to the goose's level, "What's all the panic for Zeng? And where are the other master?".
The palace messenger straightened out his clothing "I can answer both Dragon Warrior, they are in the village fighting off some bandits".
Po gasped "Why are there bandits in the valley?".
Zeng shrugged exasperatedly "I don't know!, maybe they assumed because there hadn't been sightings of any of the masters that it was unprotected".
Po stood up "Well time to show them that it isn't".
He ran out of the hall and made his way down to the Valley, he leaped down the stairs two at a time until he slipped and fell down the rest of the way.
Po crashed at the bottom and groaned, "I haven't done that in a while" he grumbled.
He could faintly hear the sounds of battle, The Dragon Warrior quickly picked himself up and made his way into the fray.
xxxxx
Monkey barely dodged an arrow, it grazed his arm and drew blood, he gasped and his good arm instinctively went to it to protect it.
The battle had started off well but was slowly going into the wolf bandit's favor, the rhino guards had been taken out and only himself, Mantis and Viper were left standing.
Mantis and Viper had arrived back in the Valley about half an hour ago and intercepted the bandits while on the way back to the palace, the guards had informed Monkey and they had been fighting for about twenty minutes.
Monkey was snapped out of his thoughts by Viper colliding into him, "Sorry Monkey, he sneaked up on me".
Monkey groaned in pain "There's only three of us left, so why did it have to be you that landed on me? If it was Mantis I wouldn't have felt it", Viper rolled her eyes "Jeez, even when things look this bad he can still make a joke".
The aforementioned Master of the Mantis style hit a nearby wall and slid down it, "Yeah guys this isn't going well, anyone got a plan?" he said, Mantis tried to sound confident but Monkey and Viper could detect the fear in his voice, he thought they were going to die here... and they couldn't find a reason to disagree with him.
Monkey stood up shakily "No I don't, but if this is it then we're going to go out fighting". Viper and Mantis nodded in agreement and they formed up to make their final stand.
A wolf boss stepped forward in front of the twenty or so wolves that were left, he had a smug grin on his face and a very vicious looking chain hammer wrapped up in his left hand.
"Ha ha, looks like you've lost you scum" the other wolves laughed, " You're not so tough without your leader. Where's your precious Dragon Warrior now?
Mantis replied "Oh he's...out and about".
The wolf boss unfurled the chain hammer from his hand and started to swing it to build up momentum, "It doesn't matter where he is insect he won't save you now".
"I disagree", suddenly Po landed on the wolf and took him out, the other wolves started to cower in fear at the sight of what they thought was the Dragon Warrior.
Po stood up to his full height "Okay I'm gonna give you all a chance to leave so you don't end up like your leader here" Po kicked the wolf boss to prove his point, "When you run away I want you to tell everyone you meet that this Valley is protected by The Dragon Warrior and The Furious Five and anyone who wants to take it will suffer a painful beat down".
The wolves stared at him, there was a tension because they didn't know how unhinged the Dragon Warrior actually was.
Po suddenly roared very loudly, the wolves ran away quickly, many were nearly trampled underfoot in their fear and panic.
Po picked up the injured wolf boss and looked him dead in the eye "If you ever come back here ever again then I will hunt you down and kill you...have you got that?" he said coldly.
The wolf boss nodded frantically, Po let go of him and he ran away.
Po turned to his friends who were all wearing shocked expressions.
Po waled over to them "Is everybody alright?", Mantis spoke up "Can I just be the first one to say never do that again, that was scary".
Po blushed "Sorry, maybe I did go a bit overboard".
Viper smiled warmly at him "Evil doesn't suit you Po", she asked the question on everybody's lips, "How did you get back here so fast? Me and Mantis only got here about forty minutes ago".
Po chuckled and gestured towards the rhino guards "Maybe we should see if their okay first".
The others agreed and set to work getting the injured guards some medical assistance.
When they had finished they went back to the palace and gathered in the Hall of Heroes.
Po quickly brought Monkey up to speed about his, Viper's and Mantis's experience in Gongmen City. Monkey saved any questions he might of had until Po had finished his tale.
Po took a deep breath and started to explain to them what had happened, his finding of the nectar, ingesting it and testing it out were all met with gasps.
When he had finished there was an awkward silence, "So how many more times can you teleport?" asked Mantis.
Po frowned in thought "I can probably only make one more trip and you all know where my destination is".
They nodded, it was finally time to say goodbye.
"I want to thank you all for helping me and looking after me since I came to this place, it's been...educational" said Po sadly.
Monkey shook his head "No Po, thank you, we've still got a long way to go before we're free from guilt but thanks to you we have a place to start" he bowed "Thank you Dragon Warrior".
Mantis yelled "WE? I was the only one here who stayed a good guy, you guys were the evil ones".
The others chuckled at Mantis's explosion.
Viper slithered forward and hugged Po tightly, "I hope you and Tigress are happy together, I know that it'll be rough when you first see her but I know that you two are destined to be with each other".
Po smiled warmly at her "Thanks Viper, I know that if you all work together that you can help rebuild this place...after all you are the Furious Five...well Three".
Po picked his box up and started to harness his inner chi, the nectar's effect was dissipating but there was maybe enough for a trip.
Po could feel himself start to disappear, "Goodbye everyone I hope I can see you all again", his voice was becoming more ghostly.
Mantis rolled his eyes "You're going to in a minute big guy, see ya".
Po vanished in a brilliant bright light, the master covered their eyes. When they removed them Po was no longer there.
Mantis smiled "Guys".
The others looked at him, "Let's go and do some good".
Monkey and Viper nodded and they all walked out into the Valley ready to right the wrongs that had been made.
xxxxx
This trip was different, all Po could see was rainbows upon rainbows of color. He marveled at the sight, "Wow, it goes on as far as the eye can see".
"I've come so far, waited so long just to see everyone again. The long nights, the research. But it will all be worth it to see her again"
He suddenly landed with on his face with a thud in a familiar looking hall, it was the Hall of Heroes.
Po stood up and sighed "Why is it always the face?, seriously".
Po took in his surroundings and he realized with dread that "I haven't gone anywhere", he fell to his knees and moaned in despair, he pounded the floor with his fist.
He familiar sensed a presence and whirled around to face it.
"Po?".