3. Silver Fire

"Look! Over there is the Jade Palace," Po announced proudly, pointing up the mountain while keeping his paw on Yong's shoulder and accompanying him on the way.

Yong was less impressed. "My military museum is by far much larger and more magnificent than this one."

Po lowered his arm somewhat sobered, but immediately he became curious again. "Tell me honestly," Po whispered to Yong. "Are you here in civilian clothes or are you on a secret mission?"

Yong raised his hand in warning. "I told you, I'm retired."

"Yes, yes, but isn't that also a disguise? You can tell me, I'm the Dragon Warrior…"

At that moment, everyone heard the cries of children not far away.

Po immediately ended his questioning and changed his course.

"Excuse me for a moment. Someone needs help right now." He lleft Yong standing there and raced down a dirt path to the left. Then he jumped through the bushes and shouted loudly: "Here is your hero! Who is in danger?"

Disillusioned, Po dropped his paws again when he only saw children clamber in a tree.

"Hey, kids, get down!" an old rabbit shouted with a walking stick. "Don't go on this tree! It's unstable."

Now Yong and the Furious Five joined them. They all looked up to see a gigantic tree rising up in front of them.

"He doesn't look that unstable," Monkey said.

"Beetles have eaten him inside," the old rabbit explained to them after he had shooed the children down from the branches.

"But it still looks very healthy," Po intervened. "It even still has leaves…"

"Those are the leaves of a strangler fig," the old rabbit interrupted. "This gave the tree the final grave and squeezed all the life out of it. Be careful." The old rabbit swung his cane again, then he hobbled away.

Po scratched his forehead. "I know this tree since I was a child. I often climbed on it and kept a lookout."

Mantis smirked. "Well, unfortunately those days are over now. Besides, you would hardly be able to stay on a branch."

Po sucked in his stomach in indignation. "Hey! I even lost some weight."

Monkey covered his mouth, giggling. "Are you sure, Po? On vacation you spent most of your time at the buffet."

Po crossed his arms. "Just because the food was so good. You have to treat yourself sometimes… but I moved every day."

Viper smiled. "Yes, just turned around on the beach chair for a moment."

Po turned up his nose. "You just didn't look when I did my exercises. You have to be fit for an emergency. Even on vacation, a crime can happen every…" A clearing of Yong's throat made him jump. "Oh yes. We'd better get on to the Jade Palace."

Yong twirled his long beard. "It would make me happy very much."

The friends looked at each other questioningly.

"Seems to be very important," Po whispered excitedly to his five friends.

It didn't take long and after a short distance they had reached the first houses of the village. Po couldn't resist giving Yong a little introduction.

"So what do you say about our village? Looks beautiful, doesn't it? Although there are fights here from time to time, everything is always cleaned up afterward. You don't see a single speck of dust on the way. And everything is extremely peaceful… For a Valley of Peace…"

"Po!"

Po stopped dead in his tracks and pricked up his ears. He knew that voice. He looked further out into the street and saw… his mouth dropped open. "Dad?"

Li Shan, his biological father, was actually standing not far away in front of him on the street with his arms outstretched. "Hey, how's my favorite son?"

Po was still a little take by surprise. "Dad? Hey, Dad!" He ran up to him and gave him a big hug. "I didn't even know you were here."

Li patted him on the back as he pulled away from the hug. "We thought we'd surprise you when you and the others come back from vacation."

Po laughed. "Ha, ha, yeah, sure… wait. … We?"

In the next moment another, albeit younger, panda appeared next to him.

"Dim?" Po looked at his cousin with wide eyes. "Who is there more?"

Li smiled. "Well, your cousins, grandma, Mei-Mei, Lei-Lei…"

"Actually everyone," Dim concluded the list.

"That's a big surprise."

"Po, we have to go," Tigress urged.

"Okay, got it." Po hastily walked backwards towards the Jade Palace. "We have to go! See you later, Dad! We have to bring a guest to Master Shifu. But I'll come back as soon as possible. We'll meet at my dad's restaurant. So I mean my first dad... well, my first dad that I've known for a long time... well, you know. See you soon!" With these words, he rushed after the others.

Groaning, Po climbed the last steps. "You have to accustom yourself to these stairs," he gasped under the reprimanding looks of his five friends. But even Yong didn't seem out of breath at all from climbing the stairs, which surprised Po at first. But then the panda bravely got up and knocked on the door of the Jade Palace.

It didn't take long before the door was opened by Master Shifu.

"Hey!" Po greeted exuberantly. "Master Shifu, look here! It's your Great Uncle Yong!"

But instead of an answer from his master, Master Shifu slammed the door shut again.

Po stared at the closed door in astonishment. "Hey! Is it always like this now?"

He pushed the door open and peered through the crack. Master Shifu was standing a few meters further into the hall with his back turned to him.

Po entered hesitantly and walked towards him. "Tell me, do you always slam the door in front of each of your relatives, master?" He still remembered Shifu doing the same to his father when he came to the Jade Palace. * When Master Shifu still made no move to turn around, Po leaned down to him and whispered. "Don't you like your great uncle? Or is he a thief like your father… I meant, ex-thief?"

Finally, Shifu turned to him. His face stony and dark. "He has a habit of interfering in things that are none of his business."

"The corners aren't swept clean enough," Yong's chiding voice came from a corner. "The floor urgently needs to be mopped. This armor needs to be oiled again. The vases are not dusted well enough. My military museum is far cleaner than this junk room."

Shifu put his ears back. "That's exactly what I mean."

"That's just my habit," his great uncle Yong chided him and stroked his long beard. "Everything in my military museum always has to be immaculate and clean. I demand from each of my employees discipline and exemplary and honorable behavior as befits a dignified legacy of history..."

"And why are you here now and not in your museum, where you belong and can spy on the tourists?" Shifu interrupted him bitingly.

Po got big ears. "He's spying on the tourists?"

"Anyone can steal something," Yong defended himself.

Shifu didn't address the topic, but just continued talking. "Or has the Emperor of China ordered you to inspect every museum for cleanliness?"

"No, that's not why I'm here," Yong explained calmly. "As you know, I have been supervising the Military Museum in Beijing since I retired…"

"That's what I said the whole time!"

"You just said "museum." In reality, it's a museum of our military history and…"

Shifu let out an annoyed sigh and put his ears back again.

Yong raised his nose in the air. "I always prefer to be a stickler for details. In the army, we always had to record and name everything precisely... Any inaccuracy could lead to misunderstandings and..."

"Yes, yes," Shifu admitted defeat, "okay, a military museum."

"And it contains the largest weapons collection in all of China," Yong continued.

Po got very wobbly feet. "As far as I know, even from some famous kung fu warriors, too. We would love to have some here in the hall, but the Emperor of China insisted on having them in his city..."

"And that's exactly what it's about," Yong interrupted him.

Po's jaw dropped. "How so? Does that mean, we'll get some of them?! That's kung fu awesome!"

Yong raised his hand in warning. "I was not finished yet."

"I'm sorry." Po remorsefully ducked his head and decided to press his lips together from now on.

Yong rubbed his temples, shaking his head. "No, what I mean to say is that one of them was stolen."

The friends looked at each other in surprise.

"What exactly kind of weapon is it?" Tigress wanted to know.

Po didn't understand the excitement either. "Is it a large destructive cannon? Or a normal hand weapon?"

Yong didn't answer immediately. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a large, rolled-up sheet of paper. "It's a firearm or shotgun, also known as "Silver Fire." He unrolled the roll of paper. An elongated object was depicted on it. The width end, apparently the handle, was slightly lowered and was made of wood, while the rest was made of metal and formed into a kind of long tube.

Monkey inclined his head. "What is that supposed to be? I've never seen anything like that before."

Tigress narrowed her eyes to take a closer look at the picture. "You talked about a firearm. Is that some kind of cannon?"

Yong shook his head. "It's the similar type but it's much smaller."

Po spoke up. "How small exactly?"

Yong raised his hand and held it as high as he could go above his head. "That size exactly."

He looked at them suspiciously, as if he was expecting a dwarf joke at any moment.

Po, on the other hand, was surprised at this size. "So small? Uh, that doesn't mean you're small, I just meant that such a small weapon is supposed to be so dangerous? Or does it shoot arrows?"

Yong put his hand into his pocket and pulled out something small. "It fires these metal projectiles." He held out a small oval bullet that was barely bigger than a little finger.

Po scratched his head. "Mmph. This little thing fires cute mini things like that? Well then it's not that serious. I've fought fire cannons before. I hit them with my bare paws..."

He fell silent as Yong simply threw the metal bullet onto his stomach.

"Did that hurt?" Yong asked without a wince.

"Not at all," Po replied, rubbing his stomach. "Although I have a little more… fur on my belly… Ouch!"

Yong had rolled up the paper and had slapped it around the panda's ears.

"Then imagine the throwing speed a hundred times faster!" Yong reprimanded him loudly indignantly. "This "cute" little weapon can perforate wooden walls, clothing, and bodies! Although this weapon is barely larger than a bow, its power is devastating and not nearly as "easy" to capture as a cannonball. It's an invention from the unknown west of the world. Weapons had been invented there that fire several of these tiny projectiles at incredible speed. Once it enters the body, it can cause significant damage - worse than an arrow piercing the body."

The color drained from Po's face, which you couldn't see because he had his fur covering it. Only the tip of his nose turned a little pale.

The others were also silent, only Tigress dared to utter a few words after a few seconds. "So, is this 'Silver Fire' extremely dangerous?"

Yong narrowed his eyes. "Deadly dangerous. Therefore, it's impossible to imagine what would happen if the person, who stole it, could use it to cause damage. We don't even know whether the person stole it out of greed or misuse of weapons."

"Why greed?" Crane asked.

"It's a rare collector's item. Perhaps even the only one left of its kind in all of China. But if that were the case, he would hardly have taken all the ammunition with him..."

"Ammunition?" Mantis asked.

Yong picked up the metal bullet again. "Also called cartridges, this loads it. 9 shots can be fired in a row. Then it has to be loaded with new bullets… but we have much more important things to do now."

Now Shifu started to speak again. "We?"

Yong turned to him with a serious look. "Whoever stole it will definitely have a use for it. Therefore, everything must be done to find it again."

Po took a step forward. "And you thought of us?"

Yong cleared his throat. "All help is needed."

"So you can count on us at any time!" Po immediately ran towards the exit, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. "But how are we supposed to find it? China is big."

Yong twirled his long beard. "Well, a message has come to me."

Po jumped up. "From the universe?"

"No, from a messenger. He reported that the weapon was last seen near a village on Lake Lantian. That was the final clue."

Shifu had concerns. "But if this weapon is so dangerous, how should my students fight against it?"

"I thought your warriors were the best in all of China," Yong reassured him.

"That's true," Po agreed. "We are the unbeatable kung fu team. We'll manage it somehow." Po smiled encouragingly, but he couldn't get a smile out of Shifu.

"Isn't there anything that can stop this weapon?" Tigress asked.

Yong twirled his mustache again. "Well, in our experience, these bullets cannot penetrate thick metal or stone walls. And I'm never wrong."

Po raised his eyebrows. "Really never?"

Yong narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "If I had ever been wrong in the war, it would have cost me my head. - But anyway. This weapon is dangerous! If you use it incorrectly, you can cause a lot of harm. So go! You have to find it!"

"These are still my warriors," Shifu intervened, offended, "and I still decide when they leave."

Yong lifted his chin. "And when will you give them the order?"

Shifu let a few seconds pass. "Well… now!"

Po saluted. "Got it! That shouldn't be a problem for sixth masters, should it, guys?"

"I still ask you to be careful," Shifu warned.

"He's not entirely wrong," Yong chimed in again. "Think about the danger of this weapon. The bullets are faster than a fired arrow."

Po nodded. "Sure. We'll just stop by my dad's first to let them know that we're leaving immediately."

"Your village people should be careful for the next few days," Yong said.

"How come?"

"There's a big storm coming." Yong marched past the group and stepped outside the door, sniffing the air. "It will actually be a very bad storm."

Po looked up at the sunlit sky, where there was barely a cloud to be seen. "So I don't see anything."

"I can sense a storm from miles away," Yong insisted. "I can feel it in my ears when the air pressure changes."

Po looked at him admiringly with wide eyes. "Wow! Is there anything you can't do?"

Yong turned to him with a reassuring expression. "Yes – being mistaken. Because I'm never wrong."

* Kung Fu Panda – Legends of Awesomeness, Season 1, Episode 25: „Father Crime".

The weapon, that Young showed, was a Winchester rifle. You can see it better in my chapter on wattpad.