He will be fine. Ping said to himself as he continued to cook. He will be fine. He is Po. He is the Dragon Warrior. Of course, he will be fine. He has faced many dangers before, and he always came back home in time for dinner. And this time he is not even alone! He has a companion with himself.

A huge, violent and vile companion who tried to murder him ten years ago and who probably spent all his time on the Spirit Realm thinking on how to do it again once he met Po...

The goose, once more since his son left, caught himself covering his head with his wings and groaning loudly, thinking if he should start flying to the direction his son went then and there and check for himself if he was okay...

"Ping!" Li said, as he peeked his head through the counter. "Another request of noodles for table six, and tables eight and three have requested your new black soup! And we also need more sweet bamboo and beans dumplings for table five! Ping?"

Li noticed how the goose was in a corner, and he soon was going inside, asking what was wrong. Ping, of course, didn't had any reason to lie to his business partner and fellow dad. I mean, why would he, when they bounded so close due to their shared love for their boy that they even had no problems about sleeping in the same bed?

To be honest, Ping liked sleeping on top of that big, squishy belly...

So, of course, he told Li of his worries.

"I just can't help it!" Ping said, "I am just so afraid of something happening to our boy!"

Li, of course, was quick to tranquilize him.

"And you think I am not?" The panda said with a smile. "Of course, I am! But I know that Po can look after himself! He proved it enough times! He certainly proved it back when he fought Kai!"

He placed a hand on Ping's back, gently stroking it, while his other hand gently touched his beak and made the goose look at him.

"Our son will be just fine." Li reassured to the goose. "He will make it back home safe and sound and with a brand-new story to share with us. And we will make another feast on his honor and we are all going to eat our fill as he tells us everything."

Ping looked up at the panda, and then, a smile formed on his beak, as he reached with his wing and gently touched the hand that was touching his beak.

"Uhhhh, excuse me?"

The voice made the two of them to look at the counter and see a rabbit who was looking at the two of them.

"I… Uh... I wanted to ask for a Dragon Warrior-sized dumpling..." He said kind of awkwardly, as he looked at the two of them. "I'm... not interrupting anything, am I?"

The two blinked, and then looked at each other. Suddenly, they were aware of what this situation they were in could look from the outside.

"Nope!"

"No!"

"Not interrupting!"

"Not at all!"

"We were not doing anything!"

"So, you want a dumpling?"

Ping was not the only one that was worried with Po's current status as he was traveling in the company of someone who had once tried to murder him in a quest to stop a great evil from taking over the Tien Spring and destroy life as they knew it.

The people on the Jade Palace were worried as well, with each one of them dealing with the worry on their own personal way.

For Po's six students, this meant doubling down on their training and keeping themselves in top shape, like their teacher instructed them to.

Po could not be the stricter of teachers, but he certainly took teaching seriously ever since the events with Kai and the panda village. Something to do with having realized that he needed to live up to the expectations Oogway had of him, as some of them had heard the panda say in one moment or another.

That was why Doe, who was practically the star of Po's young students, made sure that everyone continued to follow the training schedule that Po left for them, to let his students know what they would be training while he was away on a mission, as it happened before. Today, they were to train in duos, as they would be taking turns forming duos and then having competitions of "protect the flag" and "bamboo-balance race".

Looking from outside, those could look like nothing more than games, but they were more than that. Po certainly had a way of turning even childhood games in ways of training and learning kung fu techniques by focusing them on ways of practicing into the greatest skills that one already has.

Like combining Gator's resilience with Doe's speed and prancing, and Toad's jumping skills with Scorpion's attack speed.

This certainly helped make the training more interesting for them and helped keep them busy with other subjects.

However, that's not to say that their minds were completely off Po, and on the worry of what might happen to him while he was away.

He was their teacher, after all.

More than that, to some of them, the kind, chubby, golden-hearted panda was nearly like a father.

They all respected and cared for him, which was why they could not help but feel worried about him as he was away, even as they focused on training.

"They are sure improving." Crane said as he and the other two watched the six students practicing using the schedule Po gave them.

"My money is on Scorpion this time." Mantis said.

"Your money is always on Scorpion." Monkey said, "Seriously, you bet on him whenever they start practicing like that. If a team has Scorpion in it, then you will surely be rooting for them."

"Hey, I just like the kid, okay?" Mantis said, "He reminds me of myself."

"As in, being small and with no internal bones?" Monkey joked.

"Watch it, banana-breath." Mantis said, and Monkey could only laugh, as he knew that he had won an argument whenever Mantis resorted to that kind of insult. They had known each other for long enough to have this kind of intimacy, after all.

And that was how they noticed that Crane, despite his calm demeanor, was unusually distant now.

"Still worried about Po and the girls?" Monkey asked to the avian. Crane looked at him for a moment, before sighing, and confirming that he was.

"It is not even just Tai Lung." Crane said, "It is this whole Tien Spring story. I mean, of course I know the legend. I read about it when I was younger, it was one of the things that made me want to be a kung fu master. It is a big thing... and it could only be threatened by something really big."

Monkey and Mantis shared a look. Yeah, they both could understand where the avian was coming from. After all, they knew the legend as well. The Tien Spring was the source of all life in the world. It was something so big and powerful that the universe charged Oogway, and consequently his future successor, with protecting it for eternity.

Anything that threatened the Tien Spring, would threaten the entire world.

That was how the legends went.

So, a danger that threatened the Tien Spring was certainly not something to be taken lightly. Especially when they themselves have witnessed what this evil was capable of. And, if Tai Lung's words were worth anything at all, this was but a sample of the kinds of things that Jiao Din could do with his chi.

He was dangerous, and this was more than enough reason for Crane to be worried with his friends.

Especially...

"Well, I am sure they will be fine." Mantis said, "I mean, it is Po we are talking about! He is the frigging Dragon Warrior! Of course, he can take care of some old lizard."

"Even if he is a master of chi?" Crane asked. It was a genuine question.

"Oh, come on, you are talking as if Po himself is not!" Mantis said, "Did you forgot that he saved us all from spending the rest of eternity as green trinkets hanging from that bull's belt? If he defeated Kai when he was powered with all our chi, then he certainly can take care of some lizard. Especially if he has Tigress and Viper backing him up. I am sure they will not let anything happen to him."

"Yeah." Monkey said, and then his smirk became mischievous. "Especially Viper."

"Oh, that's right." Mantis said, looking at the simian. "I am sure that our favorite danger noodle will never let anything happen to her big and squishy panda."

"She will surely show hell to anyone who tries." Monkey said, and they both chuckled. However, Crane did not.

He instead looked at the two of them with a confused expression.

"Excuse me?" He asked, looking at them. That was when the two looked back at him.

"Oh, yeah. You also don't know, right?" Monkey asked, "Sometimes I forget that not everyone is as perceptive as us."

"Yeah, besides, it is not as if Viper's signals are all that clear." Mantis said, "It is only because we both pay attention to who likes or dislikes who around the Jade Palace."

"Pfft, yeah! As if that was even a thing before Po came along." Monkey said, "Yeah, that panda certainly flipped everything upside down since he showed up."

Crane looked at them both, his mind coming to grips with what they were saying.

"Wait..." the crane said to the two of them. "You mean... Po and Viper..."

"Well, not really." Mantis said, "Not yet, at least. They would be, if Viper had her way. And if Po was not so clueless."

"You know, I think she is planning to confess to him." Monkey said, "I once caught her talking to a panda doll and it nearly seemed she was rehearsing something. And I am sure that I heard the words 'I love you' and 'I want to be your wife'. Oh, and she also said, 'I might not have limbs, but I can still hug you'!"

"Heh! She certainly got that from one of those cheesy romances she likes to read!" Mantis said, "She is thinking she will be like the heroines and get an extravagant wedding right after confessing her feelings."

"And she will want Po to dress appropriately for the occasion." Monkey said, "Because she surely will not want to get married to a guy wearing a pair of tattered shorts."

They both laughed.

"Think she will want us to dress appropriately too?" Mantis asked, "Well, I would need to have a formal robe tailored for me. Crane, would you wear one of your silk robes for Po and Viper's wed-"

The bug trailed as soon as he saw the expression on the avian's face.

"Crane? Buddy? What happened?" He asked, and then Crane looked at the two of them. He said nothing, as he only turned his head away, and he seemed to be having an inner turmoil.

It took them a few moments to realize and, when they did, their eyes slowly widened.

"Viper..." Monkey said, looking down as his mind connected the dots, before he looked back at the avian.

"Crane, do you have feelings for...?"

"I'm gonna fly around the village a little!" Crane said suddenly as he stood up and startled the two of them and left by flying before either Mantis or Monkey could stop him.

As they watched Crane vanish into the distance, flying fast as if to escape something, they shared another look, and they realized what a mistake they had just made.

"Oh man..." Mantis said, "We are not as perceptive as we thought..."

Inner peace... Inner peace... Inner peace...

Shifu continued to repeat it on his mind.

However, he found it considerably harder now than usual to achieve a state of inner peace. It was hard to focus on becoming one with the universe and sharing of its flow of energy when you were constantly thinking if your student was going to come back alive without being torn to shreds by his first ever enemy.

Shifu just could not help it.

He cared about Po.

He would never admit it aloud for other people, but he did care about him. Why would he not, when it was Po who saved him and all the Valley from falling victim to Tai Lung's clutches?

He had been the one to bring Shifu peace by helping him confront his own flaws and his past, and to recognize where his problems laid and how he could become better.

Shifu owed a lot to that fat buffoon.

He even dared to say that he loved him.

Which was why he was also so worried about him having anything done to him by his travel companion. A snow leopard who once tried to murder them both.

And whom Shifu also once loved.

Shifu never though he would be seeing Tai Lung again on his lifetime. However, it seemed that fate had different plans in store.

Was he really the best available option? I mean, Shifu trusted Oogway's decisions and plans, but he could not help but think that there could have been dozens of better options.

Options that certainly would not interfere so much with his meditation.

Ever since that day when Tai Lung returned, and then departed with Po on this mission, Shifu found it hard to find peace.

And, while it was mostly out of worry about the panda, it was also the very fact that Tai Lung had come back at all.

Seeing the snow leopard who he thought was gone forever after more than a decade has caused something to stir in the depths of Shifu's mind. Memoires that he thought he had long made peace with started to resurface for him, as if they were never gone at all.

Memories of the past. Of how Tai Lung tried to kill him. Of his own guilt for what his own actions caused Tai Lung to become. Of regret for having done those things.

However, not all memories were bad.

That was the worst of all.

Some of those memories were happy...

"Dad! Dad!" The little ball of fur of a snow leopard kitten said. "I think I got it right this time! Look!"

Shifu looked his way, and he watched as the small snow leopard then did a move with a stretched leg and kick.

"Hya! Omph!"

Tai Lung somehow managed to kick his own forehead and land on his back on the ground.

Shifu had to fight back the urge to laugh at this little stunt the eight-years-old boy just pulled, and he walked to him, seeing how he was clearly dizzy, before shaking his head.

"That... was actually quite impressive." Shifu said to him with a smile. "But you do know that you are supposed to hit your enemy, and not yourself, right?"

"I know that!" Tai Lung said, as he quickly got up. "Is just that I... came up with a new technique! You see, the purpose of this is to confuse and distract your opponent by making them think you have knocked yourself out, so they lower your guard! This way you have a chance to surprise then! Hya! Aya!"

Tai Lung finished with some quick movements of his furry paws for dramatic effect. Shifu could only chuckle.

"Now that sounds like it will be an interesting technique to see in combat." He said, as he walked by the side of the cub, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I wonder what other techniques you will come up with on your own."

"Oh! I will come up with many!" Tai Lung said to his master. "I will come on with at least a hundred, no, a thousand new techniques! And they will all be amazing! I will go down on history as one of the greatest masters of all time!"

"Oh, my!" Shifu said to him. "At this rate you might just end up becoming the Dragon Warrior!"

Tai Lung blinked, and he looked at him.

"Dragon Warrior?" The cub asked, and Shifu told him about this old legend. The prophecy of a warrior who was said to be a natural kung fu talent of the likes could bring a new age to kung fu just by existing. A talented individual who would be granted great powers by the universe through his skills and power and would be a champion of all of China like no other warrior alive.

"Wooooow! That's so cool!" Tai Lung said, "I wanna be the Dragon Warrior!"

"Oh, you do?" Shifu asked, smirking. "Well, it will not be easy, I'll tell you. The Dragon Warrior is a warrior of great skill and talent, and you will have to train a lot to get there. It will demand a lot of you, both physically and mentally. I myself didn't became the Dragon Warrior, and Oogway himself trained me."

As expected, this kind of talk did make the cub a little discouraged. He looked down. Shifu, on his end, looked up.

"To think that my student, my son, would be able to become the Dragon Warrior..." Shifu said, looking up. "That would make me so happy."

Tai Lung looked at him, but Shifu did not noticed.

"It would bring me so much pride to know that I was the one that helped you achieve this..."

Tai Lung looked at him, seeing the look on his face as he looked at the sky and said those words. It was nearly as if Shifu had forgotten that he was there.

Tai Lung, however, reminded him.

"I will do it!"

Shifu blinked, looking at him as if suddenly waking up from a dream.

"I will become the Dragon Warrior!" Tai Lung said proudly. "I will make it for you, dad! You can be sure of that!"

The determination on the eyes of the snow leopard was so intense that it honestly caught Shifu completely off guard. He could only stare at the cub in surprise, and then, as he thought about it, he could not help but smile as he could already picture it.

Tai Lung, the Dragon Warrior.

That did sound good.

It sounded... right.

"Well... in that case." Shifu said, "We better start preparing you as soon as possible."

Tai Lung smiled and said that he was ready.

"I know you are." Shifu said to him. "And I know that you will make me proud."

He didn't.

In the end, he did not make Shifu proud.

Quite the opposite.

All because that stupid, senile turtle decided that Tai Lung was not fit to be Dragon Warrior because he had "darkness on his heart".

And, instead, he decided to make that thing the Dragon Warrior instead!

Bah! He couldn't even climb the mountain by himself! Tai Lung had to help him during most of the way! He was honestly getting tired of dragging his fat ass uphill!

At least he finally shut his trap. The snow leopard thought as he gave the panda his hand, helping him climb into the rocky formation by tossing him up and causing him to land flat on his chest on the surface above. After which Tai Lung himself jumped upwards and landed on his feet by his side before walking calmly forward.

Po, on his end, would quickly get to his feet and resume walking behind the leopard, always carrying the Staff of Wisdom on his hand and not saying a single word.

Po didn't really feel like saying anything ever since the forest of webs and the spider.

The panda just could not get that image out of his head. It kept replaying over and over again, and each time it did it caused the panda to shudder and feel like he needed to hold down his stomach's contents.

The most shocking to him had been, however, how the snow leopard seemed absolutely indifferent to how he just took someone's life in a gruesome manner. As if it was no different than crumpling an old scroll and tossing it out.

As if this was not news to him.

"A warrior gets the job done when he needs to." Those harsh words coming from the snow leopard were also ringing on the panda's mind ever since he said them a few hours ago.

Those words were... direct, but also somewhat... insightful? Well, at least the snow leopard said them in a way that made it seem that they were words of wisdom that the panda should be taking seriously if he wanted to make it far in life.

A warrior gets the job done.

Po knew what those words meant. He knew what it was that a warrior was supposed to do when he had to.

He knew what this part of being a warrior was. He heard enough legends about it and read enough stories about the great kung fu masters to know what they were expected to do when the situation called for it.

However, when it came to actually doing it...

Po just could not imagine himself being this kind of guy.

But still...

"You didn't hesitate to finish me off."

The panda shook his head, trying to focus on continuing their travel upwards towards the top of the mountain, trying to use the fact that it was an arduous terrain to try and keep himself distracted from letting his mind wander.

All the while, he and Tai Lung still failed to notice the long, sinuous reptile slithering across the rocks and bushes behind them and following them close behind as they continued to climb and climb.

Until, eventually, they reached the tip.

The cave was disguised on the side of the mountain, positioned in such a way that it was, most certainly, illuminated by the light of the sun while it was rising in the morning. They both made their way inside, with Tai Lung skillfully and gracefully landing on all fours on the entrance before straightening himself, while Po had to struggle to pull himself up, and then he ended on his back on the cave floor, breathing heavily through his mouth as he stared at the stalactites in the ceiling.

Tai Lung looked at him, and he could not help but scoff as he rolled his eyes, before telling the panda to "quit wimping around and get his fat ass moving". Po did as he was told, and he soon was on his feet, still panting as he walked alongside the snow leopard into the cave.

"Woooooaah!" Po said as they walked into the place, finding out that the "cave" was more like a temple on the inside, with perfectly smooth and clear floor that reflected them like a mirror and natural formations on the inside that were like beautiful pillars holding the ceiling above them. Not to mention that luminescent moss that was all around the cave and that granted the illumination they needed to see clearly as they walked deeper and deeper into the cave.

This certainly seemed like a place where one would hide the secret for the location of a sacred place.

"Soooo... what exactly are we looking for here?" Po asked, as he looked around the place, taking in how beautiful it is.

Tai Lung's answer to that was simply:

"We will know when we see it."

"So, you don't know either?" Po asked.

"What about we go back to silence now?" Tai Lung asked the panda back and they both resumed to just walk into the cave, both looking for what could be the clue they were looking for...

It didn't take them that long to find it.

As they walked across the cave, they soon came across something. It was like a statue of both a turtle and a binturong. Po quickly recognized the turtle in the statue as no other than Oogway. So, the binturong could be no other than THE Master Binturong.

They were standing side by side, each one balancing in a single leg with one hand in a position as if meditating. Oogway's left hand and Binturong's right one forming a circle together with their indexes and thumbs. Inside of the circle, was a piece of stone carved like a symbol, literally floating inside of the circle that the two animals formed with their hands.

"That gotta be a clue." Po said, looking at the statue. Tai Lung, on his end, was looking intently at the symbol floating into the center of the statue. No doubt that one was the clue they were looking for.

Or, more precisely, it was one half of the clue that would lead them to the next stage of their travel. And now, for the other one...

"Okay, panda." Tai Lung says, pulling the scroll and unfurling it for the panda. "Do your thing."

Po looks at him, and he then nods, outstretching his hand and focusing his chi, causing it to flow forward like a cloud of golden energy, which washed over the scroll.

Soon, the contents of the reflective surface once more changed. Now they showed...

"A nursery rhyme?" Po said, looking at it and seeing how the lines now formed a verse that really seemed like something that you would sing for children to get them to sleep. "How is this a clue?" Po said, looking at the lines and not being able to help but think that they were... familiar.

"No idea." Tai Lung said, looking back at the statue and pointing at the floating symbol. "That thing should make the clue make sense. But, honestly, I don't know how it adds up."

"You know, it kind of looks like the tattoo you have on your chest..." Po said, looking at it and then at the snow leopard's chest, while the feline, exasperated, could only say:

"For the fifteenth time, it is not a tattoo! It is a symbol imprinted on me with chi by Oogway as part of our agreement for him to send me back to the Mortal Realm! It is the symbol of my commitment to this mission of helping you, and it will remain on my chest until my duty is fulfilled and we have saved the Tien Spring!"

"Looks like a tattoo..." Po said, causing the snow leopard to glare at him once more. The panda, however, did not realized that, for he was too busy looking at the scroll, once more reading through the lines of the verse, mumbling it to himself and trying to figure out why it sounded so darn familiar.

Tai Lung, seeing the panda so focused, could not help but raise an eyebrow at the panda, before rolling his eyes and then looking back at the symbol.

"Oogway said that the two halves of the clue should work together to let us know where we should go for the next clue." He said to the panda. Looking at it. "But he also said that we would have to figure out the solution ourselves. That the purpose of the clues was to make sure that only someone deserving would be able to find the Tien Spring. We gotta be able to figure out what they mean and how they match."

Po was only half-hearing what Tai Lung was saying. He was focused on looking through the verses, and he was starting to remember where he heard them before.

"Maybe we should meditate about it." Tai Lung said to the panda. "I mean, it is not supposed to be easy, after all. It is not as if we could just look at them for a couple minutes and then figure out-"

"The Mian Ying town!" Po suddenly exclaimed, startling the snow leopard.

"What?" Tai Lung said, looking at him in shock.

"The Mian Ying town!" Po said, looking back at the snow leopard. "This is what this rhyme refers to!"

"Wait, how do you know?" Tai Lung asked, snatching the scroll from the panda and reading it. Po, of course, explained gladly to him:

"My dad, the goose dad, used to sing this song for me when I was a cub! He learned it when he visited the Mian Ying town. It is a traditional nursery rhyme from their village, and he learned it from the times when he was a gooseling and went there with his dad for family vacations! He always told me that he would one day take me there so I could prove of their delicious kelp snacks! He never did because we were always busy with the restaurant, but I always dreamed of visiting the place! Man, I can't believe I didn't recognize the song right away when dad used to sing it to me nearly every night when I was younger!"

Tai Lung looked at the panda, and then back at the nursery rhyme, which spoke of flowing kelps and of light reflected on the water surface.

"W-wait..." Tai Lung said, as something clicked on his mind. "Mian Ying town... I-isn't that the town that is right by..."

"Right by the edge of the Qinqhai Lake." Po confirmed, "The biggest lake in all China."

Tai Lung blinked, looking away from the scroll and looking into the distance with wide eyes.

Po noticed the sudden change on the feline's stance and how he became silent suddenly.

"Tai Lung?" Po asked, suddenly worried by the shift on the snow leopard's behavior. "Dude? Are you okay?"

"Wha-what?" Tai Lung said, "M-me? I-I am fine... I am fine! I mean, of course I am fine! Why would I not be fine! I am more than fine!"

The way he said that startled the panda a bit, making him move back a step.

Tai Lung looked at him with wide eyes for a moment as he breathed deeply, before recovering hid composure, but only slightly, and saying:

"Well, we know where to go next, right? Then what are we waiting for? Let's just go at once!"

Tai Lung didn't even wait for Po's answer, before he made his way out of the cave, while Po looked at him, still reeling from the outburst that the snow leopard just showed.

"Now, panda!" Tai Lung called him from the entrance, and this caused Po to finally recover and go after him. As they both made their way out of the cave, they, once more, failed to notice the green snake that was on the cave with them, and heard every single word of what they said.

Mian Ying town, huh? Alright them. Viper thought before she snaked her way back, aiming to meet with Tigress, who was waiting a little behind, to tell her what their next destination was so they could keep up with those two and keep looking out after Po.

However, even Viper herself failed to notice that she was not the only one who had been watching the two animals. As the small, green-feathered barbet was well hidden within the rocks of the cave and only came out of it once the cave was completely empty.

Once he did, he flapped his wings, propelling his body as fast as he possibly could, aiming to arrive on the Mian Ying town before those two did.

"Keep roaming, you two." Jiao Din said to the two animals currently roaming into the boat that he was in with his peafowl prisoner. The tortoise and chicken, both with deep purple eyes, did as they were commanded, following the instructions of the Komodo as he sat into the boat as those two roamed him deeper into the lake, the smell of salt water overwhelming as he stuck his tongue out to taste it.

He hated this salty taste. He grew sick of it after spending all his childhood and most of his teenage years by the shore of the island where he lived before coming to China after greatness, many years ago. He had hoped to never have to be near salt water again, and here it was, in a lake within the continent filled to the brim with this kind of undrinkable water.

It is just for now. Jiao Din said to himself silently. This is a necessary step to achieve what you have looked for so long. Once you have it, you will never have to come near it again. Just power up through it a little more.

That was when something disturbed him, as he felt a familiar presence approaching through the air at fast pace.

He inclined his head out of the way right on time as a green missile passed by his head and slammed into the boat.

"Hello, Peng Mao." Jiao Din said to the barbet, as he steadied himself, taking deep, gasping breaths after how much he flew to be able to arrive in there.

"J-Jiao Din... sir... *wheeze* I-I came with n-news..." He said, and the lizard already knew what it was about.

"The panda made it to the cave." The Komodo asked.

"Y-yessir."

"And he figured out where the next clue leads."

"Yes."

"Dammit..." The Komodo said, "To be able to figure it out with just one half of the clue... I guess I really underestimated that panda..."

"Well, the scroll helped him." Peng Mao said, and this immediately caught the attention of the lizard.

"What scroll?"

"Some magic scroll that he is carrying with him!" The bird said, "Sir, you had to see it! Uhh, I mean... well, it was impressive! He just held out his paw to the scroll and bathed it into his golden magic thing and words appeared on the blank surface! It was so cool!"

The lizard heard this, and then he scoffed.

Of course. The panda had access to the other half of the clues.

Jiao Din must have figured out that Oogway would have left the clues written somewhere for his successor to find.

"And now he is coming here after you!" Peng Mao said, "He and Tai Lung!"

That caused a reaction.

The tortoise and chicken stopped roaming, and both stared at the bird.

"Say that again." Jiao Din said, paying close attention to the barbet. "I could swear I heard you say the name 'Tai Lung'."

"I did, sir!" The bird said, "Tai Lung is back, and he is with the Dragon Warrior!"

The lizard hissed, leaning forward in a threatening way towards the bird, making him recoil.

"Tai Lung is dead."

"Well, he is not anymore sir!" The bird said, "I'm saying the truth, sir! It was Tai Lung! I mean, I only saw pictures of him, but I am pretty sure it was him, and I could not believe my eyes too! I heard him and the panda talking, something about Oogway having used some sort of pact to send him back to here from the Spirit Realm to help save the Tien Spring or something."

Jiao Din heard it very attentively, his mind processing everything that he was being told by this bird.

It seemed unbelievable, alright. However, when you took in consideration the kinds of things that were said to be possible with the correct use of chi... yeah, for someone to return to the Mortal Realm with the help of powerful chi magic was not beyond the realms of the possibility, especially since it already happened five years ago. It would be even more believable if the universe itself had decided that this was something that needed to happen.

"So, Master Oogway has sent Tai Lung to help the panda stop me?" The lizard said, "I have been wondering what that sudden chi disturbance I felt a week ago was..."

As he reflected on that, the lizard could not help but chuckle as to what this meant.

Oogway himself did not thought the panda could stop him. That said a lot about this whole situation, and about the faith that the old dead turtle had on his supposed heir.

However, he also could not help but get more than a little bit worried.

Tai Lung, coming back?

Now that was something that he didn't had on his plans.

Of course, the renegade disciple of Master Shifu and rejected Dragon Warrior was a strange option to be sent back to help protect the Tien Spring, but that did not change the fact that he was one of the more skilled and of the strongest warriors China has ever known. Perhaps more than the panda himself, even though said panda managed, by some miracle, to emerge victorious against him.

Jiao Din had not been all that worried about the panda. He knew he could take on him. Mostly. However, if the panda was coming towards him with Tai Lung in tow...

"So, how are we going to deal with them, sir?" Peng Mao asked.

"I'm sorry, 'we'?"

"So, I was thinking that we could set a stakeout up ahead and wait for them and then ambush them into a great nautical battle! I have always wanted to be part of a nautical battle! Oh, and you can even use your purple magic on them! You could turn the panda into a giant fat slug! That would be fun to see-Uff!"

The ranting of the bird was cut short as Jiao Din's hand shot forward and wrapped around him tightly.

"You mean, the purple magic that I said I could use on you like you saw me use on the spider back in the forest, but instead gave you the option of serving me willingly?" The lizard said, bringing the bird closer to his face.

"Remember that I decided to employ you because of your wings! Not your brain, and certainly not your beak! Leave the thinking to me, and don't you dare to try and tell me what to do!"

The lizard was quite threatening as he said those words to the bird, who could only squeak out a "yes sir", before Jiao Din tossed him into the floor of the boat.

"So... what are you going to do about them, sir?" Peng Mao asked, looking at him. That was when the lizard scoffed.

"I am not being distracted from my goal by those two." The lizard said firmly. "But I also cannot just let them follow me like that. It is annoying to be tailed."

He then smirked, as he focused his attention on something else that his developed chi perception could sense. Something in the water...

"I guess I will leave another little surprise for them."

With that said, he leaned over the edge of the boat and dipped his hand into the water.

As he did, he leaked his chi into the salty water, making it spread like a purple stain into the liquid, not dissimilar to the ink cloud of squids. It filled the water behind and around the boat, until it eventually found the thing that the Komodo felt.

Flashes were seen above the surface of the water. The thing under there squirmed and convulsed with each purple flash. And, with each purple flash, it shifted...