A/N: And here is the next chapter! First I just want to thank everyone who commented so far for the nice words on the previous chapter - it means a lot and really encourages me to continue this story. :) Again, thanks to all of you!
Anyways, I hope you will like this chapter as well - enjoy! :D

"Whew!" Po said in an exhausted tone of voice as he lay down on the floor of the Training Hall. Po and his friends had been training all day and now Shifu had finally decided to let them go.

It had been about ten hours of training with no breaks and it had gotten so hot in the Training Hall, so Shifu had actually had to use the Adversary dummy to keep the doors to the Hall open.

"I'm done," Po gasped in exhaustion. It was also one of the few times that Po had gotten to see his friends look very exhausted – they were used to more training than Po, so they rarely looked truly tired.

"Yeah, me too," Mantis agreed. "I need something to drink."

"Students, you did a good job today," Master Shifu said and walked over next to the lying Po. But Master Shifu quickly moved a few feet away once the smell of sweaty panda hit his nostrils. "I expect the same from you tomorrow."

"The same?" Po groaned, letting the back of his head fall back and hit the wooden floor. "I'll be dead before the tournament if we keep this up!"

"Well, panda, you have about a week to adapt," Shifu said, keeping up his somewhat stiff teacher attitude. "But I expect that you can."

"You do?" Po asked, actually a bit surprised. "Thanks, Shifu!"

"Don't mention it," Shifu whispered. "Ever."

"Oh."

Po finally got up and followed the others on the way out. He was completely exhausted still, but he had one more thing he felt that he had to do before going to bed.

He looked to the west sky. The sun hadn't set yet, but it wouldn't be long.

"Hey Po, we're going to eat dinner soon," Monkey said. "Are you coming too?"

"Sorry guys, but I have something to take care of first," Po said with a somewhat sneaky smile.

"Oh-ho, and what could that be?" Monkey said in a teasing tone of voice, adding a blink.

"Hey, not like that," Po said with a chuckle. "But I'll see if I can catch you later."

The tired panda hurried over to the gates of Jade Palace to the… staircase. Great, this wasn't exactly what Po needed right now. But he had to do it – even with his hatred for stairs.

And even on the way down, Po couldn't stop thinking about the tournament. It was the first time that he would take part in something that big, at least something that didn't regards saving someone's life.

Oh, how he couldn't wait to get there – and seeing the capitol for the first time would also be awesome!

Once Po had finally gotten down, he immediately set for his father's noodle shop. Po knew that it was about closing time, so he figured that there weren't so many customers at the moment.

When Po arrived he was happily greeted by the last leaving customers. Po smilingly greeted them as well.

Entering the restaurant, he found his father bringing some used bowls from one of the tables to the desk. Even without looking, Mr. Ping said, "I'm terribly sorry, but we're closed now – please come back tomorrow."

"Dad, it's me," Po said, chuckling. Mr. Ping almost dropped the dishes, then looked up.

"Po – my son!" the old goose said excitedly. After placing the dishes by the rest, he hurried over and gave Po a hug. "How have you been? You look hungry!"

"Well, I was planning on eating with the others later," Po said and scratched the back on his head.

"Sure you don't want a dumpling or two?" Mr. Ping chuckled with a raised eyebrow. Po stopped for a moment… he was hungry…

"Alright, why not?" Po answered, getting a happy chuckle from his father. Mr. Ping walked over to the kitchen table and grabbed a bowl of dumplings. "You know, I actually came to tell you something."

"And what is that?" Mr. Ping asked as Po grabbed one of the white orbs of deliciousness.

"You remember that tournament I wanted to go see some years ago?" Po asked as he started eating the first dumpling.

Mr. Ping nodded. "Of course I do – you wanted to go so badly… but unfortunately we couldn't. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it takes place again in a week," Po replied.

"Hmm? So you plan of going this time?" Mr. Ping asked curiously.

"No, dad, even better!" Po said excitedly after swallowing the dumpling, quickly grabbing another. "The Furious Five and I are all going to participate!"

"Wait, that means that you'll be going to the capitol, right?" Mr. Ping asked, sounding more surprised than joyful.

"Yes, of course," Po replied. "Isn't it just-…?"

"Terrible!" Mr. Ping said, surprising Po greatly.

"Why terrible?"

"It's dangerous, Po!" Mr. Ping said, switching to his usual worrywart mood.

"But dad, it's just Kung Fu," Po started, trying to calm down his father. But Mr. Ping was worried for a whole different reason.

"I mean the city itself," Mr. Ping said worriedly. "There may be thugs and gangs and-…"

"Dad, it's fine," Po said, trying to calm down his father. "I know how to defend myself – besides; I'm with Shifu and the Five, right?"

"But-…"

"Dad, I'll be okay," Po promised. "But I was wondering if you'd want to come along and see it."

Mr. Ping sighed in a sad tone of voice. "I-I'm sorry, son. But I have to stay with the restaurant."

"Wait, so you choose the restaurant over me?" Po asked, but immediately regretted it when he saw his father's sad face. "I'm sorry, dad – it's just… this tournament means a lot to me and-…"

"I understand," Mr. Ping said sadly. "And you'd wish that your old father could come and see you. And I am truly sorry, but I can't."

"It's fine, dad," Po lied with a fake smile, since he didn't want the old goose to feel sad. "I'll buy you a souvenir or something."

"Oh, that isn't necessary," Mr. Ping said with a smile. "Just do your best – make me proud."

Jinshu clenched his fist as hard as he could, focusing all of his energy into his hand. He then smashed it against the wooden dummy. The dummy was engineered so that it would spin at various points when hit, and so it did.

As one of the wooden arms, armed with a few metallic knobs, swung towards him, Jinshu ducked, made a spin, then countered the dummy with several powerful punches.

"Fancy moves, Gray," a voice spoke from behind Jinshu once he was done. The silver fox turned around and saw Eagle standing by the wall.

"… What do you want?" Jinshu asked after observing the avian for a little while. Just by judging her stance, he knew that there was something up.

"I want to tell you something," she replied and walked a few steps towards him, still keeping quite a distance between the two. "I'm going to follow you as a part of the team."

"I'm quite flattered," Jinshu said coldly.

"But not because of you," she said. "I'll do it because I respect Junjie."

"Fine by me," Jinshu said. He then raised an eyebrow and said, "We all have our reasons for being here, right?"

Suddenly the doors to the training hall opened. Junjie and the remaining four members entered. "Please save that for the training I have for you today, dear grandson."

Jinshu just bowed for his Master in response and along with Eagle he walked over to the others, forming a line before Junjie.

"Now that we're all gathered," Junjie started. "We will start the first official training session. I have brought you your first challenge as a team."

Junjie snapped his fingers and the door opened once more. This time five clouded leopards entered. Jinshu recognized them as his grandfather's own take on a perfect team – Junjie's Furious Five.

Standing between the two groups, the old Master moved out of the way and said, "Begin."

Barely had Junjie said it before the clouded leopards took on a battle stance. They all wore exactly the same outfits and they looked so similar that it would be a pain to distinguish them from one another.

Jinshu and the others took on a battle stance. As they did, Eagle pointed out, "I think this is where you act like a leader."

"Good idea," Jinshu said. "Lynx and Stag, take the one on the far right; Gorilla, the one on the far left; Cobra, the one on the right; and Eagle, you take on the girl."

"And which one is that?" she asked annoyed. Insulted, one of the clouded leopards growled at Eagle, which just so happened to be the one on the left – the only one that Jinshu hadn't specifically mentioned.

Jinshu took on a defensive stance as his opponent got closer to him. As the clouded leopard punched towards Jinshu, he blocked it with his right hand. Jinshu then flicked his wrist and countered with a punch with his left hand.

Jinshu then aimed a powerful kick at the clouded leopard, but he blocked it with hand. Quickly Jinshu brought down his leg, then quickly spun around in a circle and hit the side of the clouded leopard's torso.

Briefly Jinshu looked around. It did seem that these warriors that his grandfather had found were skilled – to say the least. All of them, even the tiny Master Stag, seemed to already have the upper hand against the team of clouded leopards.

To briefly touch upon it, the tiny stag beetle was fast and very hard to hit; the eagle's powerful wings made her able to fight while airborne; the great gorilla's raw strength seemed unmatchable; the lynx's fast movements and unpredictable attacks easily outmatched the bigger feline; and the cobra even seemed to know some kind of hypnosis, since he had an easy time confusing his foe with his tail.

To sum it all up shortly, the Five lost. Soon the six had knocked the five clouded leopards to the ground.

"Exceptional," Junjie said. He had been watching the battles all along and he had to say that he was satisfied – to say the least. He then turned to his previous five students. "You five, get out of here – you are no longer needed."

Grumbling various things to themselves, feeling let down and betrayed by their old Master.

"Who were those guys?" Cobra asked. "They were nothing but lunch meat!"

Being slightly disturbed by his somewhat literal and serious tone, Junjie cleared his throat before answering. "Well, those were the Furious Five – my Furious Five."

"And you just told them to leave?" Gorilla asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing his massive arms across his even more massive chest. "I take it you're getting rid of them for us… am I right, Master?"

Junjie nodded with a sneaky smile. "Indeed – I have no need for them anymore… not now that I have you."

"But wouldn't you have been better off if you had two teams for the tournament?" Gorilla asked, sounding very technical.

"I would have," Junjie agreed. "But the rules don't allow that – besides, no Furious Five can beat you – the Selected Six."