R&R. That's all there is to say. Thanks.
For the first time since he came to the Jade Palace, Po did not stay asleep when the morning gong rang.
The moment after he heard the ringing in his ears, Po's eyes shot open. Of course, being neither swift nor agile, Po still failed to exit his room at the exact same time as the Furious Five, but all the same he ignored the sudden throbbing in his still very sore head, rushed to the door, stepped outside his room, and called 'good morning, Master.'
Naturally Shifu was surprised when Po emerged from his room only two seconds after the others. Tigress's eyes were also slightly widened as she stared at the panda standing opposite her, forgetting to straighten his back and put his paws behind already mentioned back.
"Nice of you to get up for once." he said, not unkindly. "There will be no training today, children." he said when Su and Pong also emerged from their respective rooms. "I and my older students have some business to attend to today. You will be having the day off."
"Master Shifu, I don't know what else to do." Su piped up.
"How about I take you to my dad's for the day?" Po gave the younger panda a wide smile. Su felt her cheeks grow hot under his smile, which while bigger than Tigress's possessed the same soothing warmth. "Would you like that?"
"Okay." Su said, glad for the opportunity to practice her other skills; before coming to the palace, she had gone to a weekly cooking class with the other kids in her village.
"Master Shifu, would that be okay?" Po turned to Shifu.
"Of course, Po. But first I must brief you all in the kitchen. You may take Su to the village before you begin your duties."
"Should I wait in my room?" Su asked.
"If you wish to, yes. Pong, you may return to your family in the village."
"Okay! See ya, Su!" Pong waved his friend goodbye and disappeared up the corridor, while Su retreated back inside her bedroom.
"Alright, everyone into the kitchen at once." Shifu said. "And Po, congratulations on improving your punctuality."
As everyone headed towards the kitchen, Po's eyes momentarily met Tigress's. She flashed him a small smile. Not a sarcastic 'honestly' smile, but a genuine 'well done' smile. Again, Po felt his insides turn to jelly. Already, his 'training' to become a better person was paying off.
As Po stepped into the kitchen, he mused that he had no idea when the Winter Feast had ended last night. As the panda sat down at the table with his friends, he had a sinking feeling that they weren't here to have breakfast.
"Will we be having breakfast before or after?" he asked tentatively after his stomach rumbled suddenly.
"This a very serious matter, Po, so no." Shifu said.
"What's the emergency, Master?" Viper asked.
Shifu cleared his throat before speaking.
"Last night, Emperor Xian informed me of a crisis unfolding in the Himalayan Mountains." he said. "Quite a while ago, an ancient fortress was discovered, completely abandoned, but not quite in danger of collapse. General Tujiu decided to secure the site and refurbish it for the Imperial Army's purposes."
"So what's the problem?" Crane asked.
"Yeah, who's the dumb bandit causing trouble for those poor soldiers?" Po exclaimed with his typical enthusiasm.
"Over the past several weeks, soldiers have begun disappearing in the mountains surrounding the fortress and coming back as corpses." Shifu went on. "According to the reports, the culprit or culprits have more than enough strength to rip a full grown gorilla limb from limb."
The room was suddenly deathly quiet. Po's enthusiastic grin changed to a mouth half open with horror.
"Nearly sixty soldiers have died so far. Because General Tujiu seemed unable to handle the situation by himself, Emperor Xian sent an order for him to-" Shifu stopped speaking when he saw that Monkey had gone rigid. "Is everything all right, Monkey?"
"Huh?" Monkey blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, Master. I'm just a little shocked, that's all."
"Hmmm..." Shifu eyed the primate. Of course it was natural for Monkey to be stunned after what the red panda himself had just revealed, but there was something in Monkey's expression that made Shifu very slightly suspicious. In the end, he shrugged it off, stepped away from Monkey, and resumed speaking.
"As I was saying, Emperor Xian sent an order for the general to evacuate himself and his soldiers from the site for their on safety until they could better figure out the enemy. As you can guess, the general has not budged. Either he is disobeying the emperor or the messages were intercepted by the culprit."
"Do they have any idea what is killing the soldiers?" Monkey asked.
"No. General Tujiu seems convinced that mountain bandits are responsible for the recent fatalities. But the emperor and the other generals aren't so sure. I and the emperor have recently spoken with the Masters' Council, and they agree that swift action must be taken."
"So they came to us." Tigress said.
"Correct." Shifu replied. "No matter what General Tujiu says, the soldiers up there need urgent assistance. And so the emperor has requested that we travel up to the mountains ourselves to help fix the situation and prevent any more deaths."
"W-wait, what?!" Po exclaimed. "Aren't the mountains half way across China?!"
"Is there a problem?" Shifu asked testily.
"No... but the emperor isn't really expecting us to walk all the way there, right?"
"Yes, Po. Would you rather I chuck you all the way across the country?"
"No!"
"Good."
"What kind of fortress is this, Master?" Mantis asked.
"I think you know." Shifu said. "You remember the Temple of Heroes, right?"
"You're talking about that crazy place with all those booby traps?" Mantis asked. "Yeah, I remember that!"
"Fortunately this time the booby traps are inactive." Shifu said. "According to reports, the mechanisms were broken when the army first arrived."
"When do we leave?" Tigress asked.
"This morning if possible. We will most likely be gone for at least a month, so I suggest you all start packing the moment this discussion is over."
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Monkey suddenly exclaimed, nearly leaping from his seat. "Let's get up to those mountains and take this killer down!"
"Calm down, Monkey." Shifu said with a raised eyebrow. "We still have an issue to deal with before we leave. Everything else has been taken care of, but there is still the matter of finding a place for Su while we are gone. Emperor Xian's family will be inhabiting the palace during our absence, so Su will need to find an alternative residence."
"What about my dad's place?" Po asked. "She can sleep in my old bedroom, and he'd love to have her."
"An excellent idea, Po." Shifu nodded in agreement. "You may take her down there before you begin packing. You may go."
"We're still having breakfast, right?" the panda asked as he got up first and headed for the door. When he opened it, he got a surprise when he found little Su standing right in front of him, staring up at him with wide eyes."
"Hey, Su. I thought you were waiting in your room."
"I needed to pee." Su said. Po frowned when he realized that her expression was one of shock and horror.
"Su, are you alright?"
"M-m-Master Po..." Su whimpered.
"Su?"
"I... er..."
"Why don't you tell me about it while we're heading to my dad's?" Po asked. He gently ushered her down the corridor while Shifu dismissed his other students.
Su seemed very quiet, even quieter than usual, as they descended the thousand stairs and made their way through the village. This began to worry Po, especially when she didn't answer his frequent questions concerning her mood. It wasn't until they were halfway across the stone bridge that he finally stopped, making Su also stop and turn to him in confusion.
"Come on, Su. What is it?" He asked. "What's wrong?"
Su didn't reply at first, but then her dark blue eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him.
"Is it true?" she asked. "Is something really happening in the mountains?"
"Yep." said Po. "Nothing for you to worry about. Me and the other grown ups can take care of..."
"What do you mean, 'nothing to worry about'?!" Su suddenly cried, making Po jump.
"Well, S-Su, I meant that it doesn't really concern you." Po replied, now thoroughly perplexed.
"Yes it does!" Su retorted a flash of anger crossing her features. "You have to take me with you!"
"Su, it's too dangerous!" Po exclaimed. "You're just a kid."
"I don't care!" Su retorted. "I have to help-"
"What's all the yelling about?"
Po and Su turned their heads to see a middle aged goose approaching.
"I could hear you all the way from my shop." said Mr. Ping. His apron bore fresh stains and he was holding his B ladle, having been in the middle of cooking the first batch of noodles when he had heard Su yelling. "Is everything all right?"
"Po won't let me go with them to the mountains!" Su cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Po.
"Mountains?"
"That's why we were heading for your shop, dad." Po said. "Me and the others are going on a mission and we won't be back for a least a month."
"A month?!" Mr. Ping nearly dropped his ladle. "I won't be seeing you for a month?!"
"Dad, it's no big deal." Po fought the urge to roll his eyes. "The royal family will be living in the Jade Palace during that time. We were wondering if Su could stay with you for the time being."
Mr. Ping turned his attention to the little girl shyly shifting her feet. As the little panda cub looked up at him with timid sapphire blue eyes, his beak curled into a grin.
"Of course, I would love to have her!" He beamed. Without saying another word to Po, he grabbed Su's little paw and half-dragged her down the road to his noodle shop.
Po rolled his eyes now that his father's back was turned, and was about to make his way back to the palace when his stomach rumbled again. He patted his stomach, remembering that he hadn't had breakfast yet. Figuring that getting a snack before heading back wouldn't hurt, he turned round and followed Su and Mr. Ping.
Mr. Ping and Su were already in the kitchen by the time he'd reached the entrance. As Po made his way through the outdoors eating area (empty, since the customers hadn't arrived yet), he could hear Mr. Ping speaking in a rapid and joyful tone.
"Oh this is going to be just like old times! We're going to have so much fun together! I can teach you everything I know about noodles! I can teach you how to make perfect soft-crunch noodles! We can play mahjong every day! I can show you all my pictures of my best times with Po!"
Po chuckled as he reached the kitchen and stepped inside to find the goose already showing Su a small collection of 'snapshots'. Su looked at each one with mild interest, and giggled when the goose showed her the 'giving Po a piggy back ride' picture. However, when she saw Po come in, she got up from the little stool and gave him a glare that made the panda recoil.
"Why can't I go?" she demanded. "Why won't you let me come with you to the mountains?"
"I already told you, Su. It's too dangerous." Po replied with a sigh.
"But-"
"What about your parents? How would they feel if you got hurt?"
At that, Su fell silent.
Mildly wondering what had gotten into her so suddenly, Po turned to Mr. Ping.
"Dad, are those noodles finished yet?"
"No, but there is some stinky tofu on the bench over there. You can have some of that if you're feeling hungry."
Po nodded in thanks and with a small knife, cut out a slice of tofu the size of a dinner plate. And another slice. And another slice. He wrinkled his nose as he lifted the plate; this tofu had extra, extra stink.
"Po, are you sure you should be having that much tofu?" Mr. Ping asked. "You'll stink like a dead horse in august!"
"Aw come on. What's the harm in a little stink?" Po asked.
"What would Master Shifu and the Five say?"
"Dad, it'll be fine. Besides, I'm starving." Po lifted the first stinky slice of tofu to his mouth...
"Po!"
Po froze when he heard a very familiar voice; someone was approaching the noodle shop.
"Po?"
"Tigress!" Po gasped. His glanced down at his large plate of stinky tofu, glanced at the entrance to the noodle shop, then quick as lighting flung the plate into the fire beneath the stove, just as the striped feline stepped into view.
"Come on, Po." Tigress said as she approached the kitchen. "Shifu wants you to get a move on."
"But I've been been down here for ten minutes!" Po exclaimed indignantly.
"I know, but we just been told that there have been two more deaths." Po's jaw slammed shut, and Su turned pale. "We have to be on our way within half an hour."
"T-two more deaths?" Mr. Ping whispered, eyes wide as the plate which Po had just smashed.
"Master Tigress, you have to let me go with you!" Su cried. "Please!"
"Su, it's too dangerous. We can't let you." Tigress replied without looking at her.
"But-"
"No!" Tigress grabbed Po's arm and dragged him from the restaurant.