Phase One

"I understand Zan," Po smiled. "If Master Shifu will agree with it." Shifu nodded. "Okay then, I'll go with Monkey and Viper and-"

"Actually, I would like you, Tigress, and Crane to do this," Shifu replied. Po and Tigress glanced at each other. They both looked away.

"Okay," Crane said before anyone could argue.

"Then it's settled then," Shifu affirmed, "Po, Tigress, and Crane will go back to Zan's kingdom, search around, and see what is the situation there...and to find his mother and father if they're there."

"Bu-" Both Po and Tigress started.

"Now, pack your things, you're leaving," Shifu said. The three went away. "I hope this plan of yours works little one." Zan rolled his eyes.

"Master Shifu, must you call me 'little one' now? I'm eleven and taller than you now," Zan complained. Shifu smiled.

"I'm sorry, Zan. It's hard to remember that. It seems like just yesterday that you were nine." Zan scratched his back head grumbling. "Still messing with that one back feather, aren't you?"

"Feathers, I don't know why they stick up only in the back. The front of my head is just smooth down and when you get to the back its all spiky." Zan said.

"I don't know," Viper commented. "They seem nice. With them slick back like that, it makes you look cool, like you're built for speed." Zan smirked proudly. Shifu rolled his eyes.

"Well, now that we're done with that part of the plan, it's time that Zan do something I've been waiting for him to do," Shifu smiled evilly.

"Uh no," Zan muttered.

"NO! I WON'T!" Zan shouted scrapping the ground to get away from Ai, Viper, and Ruby pulling him into the clothing store.

"Come on, Zan," Ruby said struggling. "You're just trying new clothes. Wow he's strong."

"I KNOW, AND WITH YOU GUYS IT WILL TAKE FOREVER!" Zan shot back. His duck feet now had little claws at the end, giving him a grip on the ground.

"Just...get IN!" Viper shouted finally getting Zan to fall into the clothing store. "Now, Ruby and Ai get something for Zan. We need to get him a new look."

"What's wrong with my old blue robes," Zan asked.

"They're just that, 'old'," Ai remarked. Zan pouted.

"Don't worry. We'll find something great for you," Ruby smiled. The girls searched the store for something while Zan just watched them. He looked at himself in a mirror. Viper was right. The feathers sticking up at the back of his head did make him look cool. It made look like he was built for top speed. (He kinda had a Sonic look). He brushed through the slick back back feathers then looked at his own feathers. They still had their sharp edges but he was molting again. He looked in the mirror again. He was taller than a lot of duck his age and was as tall as Zeng. He looked at Ai. The eleven-year old crane was getting taller by the minute, though she was still a little shorter than Zan. She was also getting more beautiful but Zan wasn't at the age yet to pick up on this.

Ruby, who was now thirteen years old, had reached her range of changes. Still taller than Zan (Foxes here tend to shrink to the height of Shifu as they age into their mid-70s) she still held a type of "older sister" over Zan, but Zan had grown become the leader of the group. Her iconic red dress was replaced with a delicate green dress that had the same greenness as Viper's skin.

"Zan, how about this," Ruby said wrapping Zan around in a pink vest and white pants. Zan quickly got out the outfit before anyone saw him. "Okay, maybe not. Oooh about this? No," Ruby kept searching. Zan casually browsed the place to see if there was anything interesting. Then he saw a red robe and a black belt next to it.

"Hmm, maybe this," Zan thought to himself. He grabbed the plain red robe and black belt and went into the changing room. Meanwhile, the group was looking for Zan.

"Where is he," Ai asked.

"The duck? He went into the changing room to try on something," the little bunny manager said. Ruby, Ai, and Viper looked at each other.

"HE wanted to try on something? This I have to see," Ruby said. A little while later, Zan emerged with the red robe on him and the black belt around his waist. He spun around for them to see.

"Well, what do you think," Zan asked.

"It looks...GREAT!" They all said excitedly. They dragged him through the cashier, paid her, and ran back up the mountain.

"It looks very good," Mantis said as they came up the mountain. "Okay, I want to ask you something. Why did you want to wait two years for this part of your plan to work?"

"I needed to prime them a bit," Zan said with a wicked smile. He was right too. All these two years, Zan had been making sure that Tigress and Po spent more time closer together at least physically. A purposefully placed spot of oil on the sparring floor where they fought would always cause them to fall on each other. At first they would be mad at each other, but they quickly became silent at the closeness. Then, Zan would always make sure that they were always in the Training Hall when he was training and then have Master Shifu call him 'incidentally' leaving the two alone in the Training Hall for, sometimes, hours. All of it was part of his plan. "Now, I need Master Monkey to message Qiang to come here and Master Viper to contact Song."

"I thought you were going to get Tigress and Po together," Viper asked.

"I am, but I need these two together."

"Zan," Viper said laughing at his idea, "I don't think that Song would go for some random person that you find, especially one that use to be the boyfriend of Tigress." Zan waved her away.

"Advice received. No use," He murmured. "But in either case, I will have them in the same area. Trust me on this." Then Zan rushed over to Master Shifu where he had to do prince lessons.

"Do you think it will work," Ai asked.

"We've gotten this far, and Zan has done a lot to ensure that they aren't awkward with each other anymore. Maybe it can," Monkey shrugged.

"I hope so," Mantis muttered, "With those two always doing things like this, it's like a striptease."

"What's that," Ruby asked.

"Nothing," Viper sighed, slapping Mantis off the shoulder of Monkey, "He's just being silly."

"Ow," Mantis moaned from the ground.

"Anyways, Monkey, Viper, let's get to contacting," Ai instructed. It took two days for the message to get to the destination and two more days for Song and Qiang to get to the Valley of Peace. Zan was sitting down looking over a scroll Master Shifu gave him. Then Ai flew into the Hall of Heroes with enthusiasm.

"They're here, they're here! Aang and Zang just saw them coming in on the south and east sides of the village," She said excitedly. Zan threw the scroll down and ran outside with Ai. "So what's your plan now?" Zan thought about it for a while.

"Let them meet up with Master Viper and Master Monkey first, so they don't suspect anything. Then you go to meet Song and I'll meet Qiang." Ai nodded and was about to fly off when Zan stopped her. "I have to make sure that Master Viper and Master Monkey meet them first. I'll go tell them now." Zan rushed to Training Hall where Viper and Monkey were with Master Shifu. Zan bowed respectfully as he zoomed in. "Master Shifu, is it okay that I borrow Master Viper and Master Monkey for a while. I need their help with something personal," Zan said making sure that there was no room for argument. Shifu stood silent for a while and then agreed. Viper and Monkey were grabbed by the tail and hand and were dragged out. Zan quickly explained his plan to them.

"You really are going with this plan, aren't you," Monkey stated.

"Wasn't that obvious? Now, go on and get to your stations," Zan said like a commander.

Song was casually browsing around the shops to see anything interesting. "Song," Exclaimed Viper in elation. Song turned around to see Viper rushing up and wrapping around the snow leopard. Song laughed as she was nearly thrown off.

"It's good to see you too, Viper. You seem much happier than when I last came here," Song mentioned. Viper smiled.

"Well, a lot has happened. So, how was your trip here?"

"It was okay. And how is everyone at the Jade Palace," Song asked.

"They're fine. It's a lot calmer now," Viper sighed.

"How about Po? I know that he must be having a tough time," Song said sadly, but Viper held her smile.

"Well, at first, he and Tigress were at wits ends with each other."

"I can imagine that," Song muttered.

"But he came to his senses and is back to his old self. And we have a little friend of ours that helped," Viper smiled. Just then Ai flew in behind them with a huge cheeky smile. Viper was a little surprised to see her, and a little worried to see her. If she was here then something in Zan's plan was about to happen.

"Oh, is this the friend you were talking about," Song asked smiling at the little crane.

"Well, one of them," Viper said cautiously. She didn't trust Ai with that smile.

"Hello, my name is Ai," The little crane said. "Would you like a tour of our village?"

"Well actually I already-"

"GOOD!" Ai exclaimed as she grabbed Song's hand and raced around town, leaving Viper standing there.

"This is going to be interesting," Viper thought to herself.

to be continued.